001good evening ladies and gentlemen welcome to the amville union preschool district our board education combined meeting February 26 2025 the meeting is being called to order at 5:35 pm. currently in attendance at the meeting is myself president miss johon first vice president Carol Seahawk second Vice president Megan mesman um superintendent Dr Gina Talbert trustees Leslie K Caroline Fanning and L pistro it is anticipated that truste Chris Nar should be arriving by 540 as well as our legal counsel um John CH and in terms of Miss batti sister super for finance operation um Dr Wade assistant superintendent for human resources and Miss Mary Stevens the assistant superintendent for C instruction they will join executive session at a later time this evening at this point in time which is 5:36 can I have a motion to go
002into executive session for advice from Council and particular person's employment history than seaw is first is Council expected yes I said Council will be here rly about 5:40 and lese CR second all those in favor I I motion carries 60 it's anticipated that we'll resume open session at 5 excuse me at 7 fine meeting February 26 2025 we are resuming open now at 7:50 the Board of Education met for executive session for advice from Council and particular person's employment history at this point in time please note the exit um to where your seated and please sign your cell phone and please join the board in the Pledge of Allegiance at this point in time I'm going to turn the meeting over to Dr Talbert so good evening to everyone and thank you for uh oh
003how about that how do we stop this beautiful video well let's just enjoy it let's enjoy it hey wow [Music] he e think e yes how exciting is this that's great isn't it so under the coaching leadership of head coach mer Cohen and her exemplary coaching staff tonight we have the incredible honor of celebrating our varsity game day cheerleading team and their outstanding achievements this season our cheerleaders set ambitious goals and they didn't just meet them they exceeded them they qualified for the suffi county championships this fall and then made history by earning a spot in the National Championship in Orlando [Music] Florida but they didn't stop there just a few weeks ago in Orlando this team delivered an incredible semifinal performance that propelled them into the finals where they finished an astonishing night nth
004in the nation to our 14 talented athletes and our phenomenal coaching staff your dedication your passion and your Relentless pursuit of Excellence has made all of us Amityville proud and so at this time um let's receive them as we will give them a round of applause as they receive their acknowledgement from the Board of Education on this all right I don't want to look at them we'll see them when they come around so congratulations to our 11th grade backspot flyer Miss Anaya Ellis if you would come forward when your name is called congratulations to 11th grade backspot Rihanna Gooden our 11th grade base Miss Caya Frost I'll stay here once you get your certificate because you know we got to get a group shot 11th grade base Miss Sage Stevens 11th grade backspot Kayla Gates
00510th grade backspot Jack Scott 10th grade base Anna Maria Gomez 10th grade base Alicia Castro 10th grade vase Naomi Austin 10th grade flyer aah Banning Holmes 10th grade flyer Jenny cadis ninth grade flyer Mariana cedo eighth grade flyer Ella and triago eighth grade base Amaya hendris and starting with our Middle School assistant coach Miss Samantha Reyes Middle School head coach Miss Christina Romero Romeo Junior Varsity head coach Stacy Morant Varsity assistant coach Miss Brienne Musashi I don't want to slaughter it help me out girls [Music] musia and none other soon to be known as a legend around here our vity head coach Miss Meredith Cohen so bard of Ed would you do the honors of coming and standing with our national champs to come and have a photo taken it's our honor and privilege to
006take a picture with you on this evening e e we're so very proud of our cheerleaders and we know they will continue on an upward trajectory and the next time I go home I'm going to bring back my yellow stick too okay and we'll share our Championship sticks I'm pleased to share some encouraging news regarding our districtwide midyear I results across all buildings we have seen some improvement reflecting the hard work and dedication of our Educators and students Scholars I would like to take a moment to acknowledge and thank Miss Mary Stevens for her leadership ship in this work along with our principes teachers and all staff members who have contributed to this progress your commitment to our Student Success is evident in these results it's not where we want to be but it's not
007where we were and it's certainly in the direction of where we're going most importantly I want to recognize our student Scholars for their hard work and determination we're moving upward together and we look forward to to building on this momentum as we continue throughout the year at this time please join me in welcoming Miss Mary Stevens who will give us a brief midyear update thank you Dr Talbert members of the board so as Dr Talbert mentioned we are pleased uh that our results in every building show an improvement over our fall diagnostic these are the results from the January administration of the diagnostic and I did just want to note uh kindergarten scores are not included in this data the kindergarteners we start them a little bit later on the Diagnostic in the fall so
008that they get accustomed to being in school being in kindergarten so they're on a different testing calendar so these are the one through nine results um if you're looking here at the screen the green there are green stripes and a solid green those represent students who are at or above grade level and the red bars on the other end striped and solid are students who are two or more uh levels below grade level so the districtwide results as you can see show Improvement for all buildings in a few minutes we're going to look by building about how students performed the number of students who are performing on grade level in both reading and math has increased between the fall and winter Diagnostics and the number of students to or more grade levels below in both
009reading and math decreased between the fall and winter diagnostic so the key metrics that we're looking at to predict how students are going to perform moving forward and ultimately how they're going to perform on state assessments are typical growth and stretch growth the typical growth is the average growth of students at each grade and placement level so they're being measured against students who at their same grade level and in the same placement level which would be one of those five from that first screen the stretch growth is the growth recommended that would put students who placed below grade level on a path to proficiency and students who placed on grade level on a path toward Advanced proficiency so in these areas we did see achievements that already in this January assessment 44% of students have
010met their typical growth for the year 133% have met their stretch growth and in math 30% of students met their typical growth and 9% of students have met their stretch growth the areas where we see that we need Improvement um students are broken down into groups based on the percent of progress they've made toward those growth goals so the groups are 19% or less and then 20 to 39 40 to 59 60 to 79 880 to 99 and then of course students who've already met their their growth so we're looking for improvement for the groups of students who were 19% or less in their progress toward the growth goal so 33% of our students have made 19% or less progress toward the typical growth in reading and 40% 19% or less in the stretch growth
011in math 29% of students have made 19% or less progress toward that typical goal and 34% of students have made 19% or less progress toward the stretch growth so we do recognize that students across the board made improvements but we're concerned about these groups of students who are making progress at a slower rate um so that's the area we're identifying where students need Improvement and we have to Target our Focus these are the results for students at placement level um so as opposed to the percentages these are actual numbers of students we broke them down by building and in those five placement areas the first number in each box is the number of students who scored at that level in the fall and the second number is the number of students who scored at that
012level in the winter section so as we looked at it for the districtwide uh we're looking at it in the same way that students in those two levels of being on grade level or even moving toward above grade level we saw increases in the number of students at those levels in all three buildings and then one grade level below or uh was the yellow color um so those we also saw Improvement in those areas but more importantly fewer students are scoring below grade level two or three grade levels below and for math we're looking at the same type of results we are student we are seeing St more students scoring in those above grade level onor above grade level and fewer students in the two or three plus uh below grade level so again you're
013looking at the fall number being the first number and the spring number being the second so in looking at what we did to see this Improvement um based on our principes reviewed the data that we received at the end of the school year from last year and set their goals for this school year they came up with action plans after they received the data from the fall they did data reviews so that they could make sure that their goals were still aligned uh with where we needed to go we do continuous data reviews as students are working on um the IR ready program to make sure that we're on the right track we made sure there was focused professional development on vocabulary AC acquisition that was one of the areas where we saw students were
014struggling we had professional developments in math looking at ways that we could improve fluency we also looked at effective co- teing models so ways that students who were in ICT models or enl cohorts with co- teers that we could maximize uh the support we were providing for those students we looked at instructional shifts towards small group instruction and deeper questioning techniques and again as I mentioned focusing on math fact fluency and standards based lessons are transition to the reveal program and focusing on standards based math instruction has really helped in that area as well um at Northwest we are piloting the hegerty program at the first grade level for phonic awareness um we are providing a double dose of Foundations to our language Learners um it's important that they develop an understanding of sounds and
015phonemic awareness so that can begin to provide them additional support in reading and then celebrating our achievements the hard work of our principles and our staff and our students um you know teachers speak with students about where they are on the Continuum and talk about what it means when they reach the next level so celebrating those successes um some of the buildings have boards up where they recognize students who are working independently and celebrate the achievements that they're making and the gains they're making in reading and math um and then finally our action plan now moving forward uh we will continue with professional development provided by I ready and our building administrators reviewing comparative data at a building level a class level and a student level to make sure that we are reaching all of
016our targets um using that data to Target the students who are not on track to make typical growth as I showed in the previous slide using the individualized learning plans that do come with the I program to support those Learners holding regular data meetings to plan for instruction and continue to celebrate the work we're doing we look forward to returning to you in the spring with even better results thank you thank you Miss Stevens does anyone have a question or anything before we move forward I I just have a question um Miss Stevens how many how many reading recovery teachers do we have in Northwest I believe there are three three three okay and how many reading teachers I also wanted to clarify they don't do reading recovery for their full load they are three
017reading recovery train teachers okay who have some case Lo and they using level literacy intervention we are using L okay and Foundations as well correct are we analyzing the question stems to find out exactly where the deficits are and comprehension and aligning curriculum accordingly most definitely we organize groups accordingly excellent thank you any other Lesley I just want to make a made a comment um thank you for this presentation also it's so nice to see growth and positive change and I thank you for that yes hard work go ahead you have a question I'm sorry go ahead thank you for the presentation um I'm always excited when we talk about academics right that's why we're here um I'm happy to see growth too the the the progress um I guess the concern that I keep
018seeing is the drop off from Northwest into pams and then from pams into the middle school how are we addressing that big drop off like it's obviously noticeable how are and if it's continuing how are we going to try to be proactive in that so the work we're doing this year to analyze the data is going to help with that uh we're also planning some sum programs so that those grade levels that are transitioning to other buildings will have support in that area but the the data teams that we put together to really look at specifically we can really drill down on individual students about where they're struggling um and we're expecting to see tremendous growth for these students okay great thanks any other questions before we move forward go thank you once again and
019good evening to everyone before we begin tonight's uh Transportation update I want to take a moment to acknowledge the extensive research that has gone into understanding the history and the evolution of Transportation in the Amityville School District over the past several weeks we have started initial research on this topic and I want to extend my sincere appreciation to our coordinator of Transportation Mr Nate Spence for his dedication to this effort Nate has spent countless hours reviewing historical records and combing through old Board of Education minutes to piece together valuable data that helps inform where we stand today we are certainly looking to see how we can digitize much of this information moving forward so far we have examined records dating back to 1955 through 1972 uncovering key moments that shaped our District's Transportation arrangements to
020this date this historical perspective is critical as we assess our current Transportation policies and explore potential improvements understanding where we've been helps us make informed decisions about where we need to go with that I will turn it over to Mr Spence to share his findings and provide an update on where we stand today with transportation okay everybody thank you for having me so that way I could try to explain some of this information to you as Dr Talbert said we were researching the agenda books from 1955 and I was able to make it to 1972 um the first moment that I found where the Board of Education and the community were speaking about the change in mileage was in 1962 and if we look at the actual document uh it says that they were currently
021doing that so it was currently in effect they were doing under the S required mileage which is what brought about this proposition number two at the standard budget vote unfortunately that was defeated and then in June of 1962 they put a separate proposition for vote for the exact same thing for the mileage of one and a half miles for secondary school and one mile for k28 that was approved and it was passed by uh that proposition moving forward in 1964 the board at that time further stated that they wanted the opportunity should there be any unsafe zones within the school district that they're able to provide transportation charged to the district if there were said unsafe zones that was passed six yes and one no moving further forward 1968 there was a little bit of
022back and forth and the community wanted this to go back to vote again it went to vote in May of 1968 and it was passed and that basically is what I was able to find up to 1972 and just to review with everybody our current mileages are prek to second grade we do a half a mile 3 to five we do a mile 6 to 12 we do a mile and a half the nysed minimums are Arc to 8 2 miles and 9 to 12 3 miles so we used the transfinder software that we upgraded in December to drill down the data so here we're looking at the high school if you look at the map on the left this is what we currently provide for transportation so that way you can understand it the
023blue dots are students that are eligible for transportation now you may see some blue dots that are closer than the mile and a half those are special need students um the map on the right is what would happen if we went with the S minimum three mile plan basically nobody at the high school would receive a vehicle unless they have it in their IEP or a special need request talking about the middle school you can see where the uh magenta dot is in the Center that's where the Middle School is located uh we currently do the transportation for the students in the areas of the blue dot the orange people are Walkers if we look over at the right hand side you'll see that we reduce basically all of the transportation at the top of
024the district with some remaining at the bottom for Park Avenue new intermediate school again the left is what we currently provide the blue dots are students that receive Transportation the orange are Walkers and again on the right hand side if we were to reduce it to the state minimums the orange are the students that would be walking to stool talking about Northwest we currently use the half mile plan there again the magenta square is where the building is located and only the orange people are the Walkers the blue dots are students that receive transportation and the right side is what it would look like if we went with the state minimums and lastly Northeast again blue dots are students that get Transportation yellow people are those students that walk and the magenta square is the
025building location and again you do see some students that are within in the Walker mileage on the right hand side because they're students that have IEP requirements so that's what we would be looking at if we went with the state menim us we have been taking bus counts starting in October we did a few weeks in October a few weeks in December and I'm planning on doing a few weeks moving forward what we found is we do have efficiencies to be able to combine some things things the thing with reducing buses is we also have to keep in mind the traffic and areas and how we get there the other logistical item is a lot of our school buildings get out at very similar times so we have to use our buses accordingly to the
026resources that we're able to use at that time so again there are areas where we can reduce this it just has to be mindful and done with the cooperation of the contractor and I have already had some conversations with them about a month ago talking about our plan to implement these student counts to show how we can reduce some runs with the new RFP coming up with the percentage increase that we're possibly looking at another thing that we can do that's currently not set up in our school district is we can do a child safety zone audit and basically what the Child Safety Zone audit says is if a student is if their most direct walking route to school traverses a hazardous Zone a certain amount of points can be delineated by the area so
027if it has sidewalks if it has a railroad crossing if it has a high speed limit for example Sunrise Highway is 45 and 55 miles per hour through our community so that would give it a high value of points when we can get these child safety zones implemented there's two ways we can do it we can have an organization come in and do it for us or we can complete it ourselves and I've already reached out to Eastern Subic bosies they do do that program and they have done it for other school districts in the past but we also have the capability to do it here so if we want to save some money that that is a possibility and again the point system includes hazards such as highways without sidewalks or shoulders Highway intersections
028Rail Road Crossings and a certain number of points is required for a child's safety zone to be authorized when a child safety zone is authorized we get a higher amount of state A that we wouldn't normally qualify for in areas that are under a mile and a half so this is something that we are looking to move forward with before the end of the school year so we can move into the next school year and hopefully have some child safety zon set up to reduce the amount of Transportation we're paying for inhouse and get some extra state aid and as a reminder humility has never grown by creating barriers we grow when we build Bridges together thank you just a question about the um the Child Safety zones you explained it very clearly how long
029would it take for um this assessment to occur if it was done internally if we had bosies do it it could be a matter of a few months and ideally with everything else that we have going on in the transportation department that is State aidable the uh study for the child safety zone so it would be a quite marginal cost if we had bosis come in and do it and they did say they could get it done with it about two months all right so it would potentially be done before um the budget vote right and because just some my when we look in in in our district and it'll be interesting this is just as the board we have to discuss it and then make a decision but there's a number of areas within
030our district where there are kids who have to walk and I'll just take to to the middle school and there's some students who live close to Southern State Parkway right there on conine Road so you think about that road that they have to travel get across County Line then get down to Broadway and then walk that that entire distance and even coming from Merck Road in East map so it'll be interesting to see what those what the potential um points we could get and if we were able to get some points if we able to get some additional State some eight that'll be um very good so that was just one thing and it's thank you for the presentation because looking at the blue and the orange dots it really makes it quite powerful to
031see that if we went to the S requirements we basically would not be busting any students to our our schools number one and then I look at a AAL challenge because if they don't get busting to come to school they may may they may not come to school so it will indirectly impact us because students would not be here and so we get the we wouldn't get the aid so it's very powerful it's very powerful to take a look at and to also see that it's been in place really since 1968 that we had this smileage in place and I had I reflected back when I graduated and that was 79 and I knew that at that time I couldn't get transportation to the high school that I had to walk because I was under
032that that mileage so thank you for the presentation Megan did you have a question yeah I just have a quick question did our just our our Public School System there are private schools that we bust to also up to 15 miles that is correct or do we do any busing Beyond 15 miles other than our uh special need schools there are a few that should be cut yes okay thank you and just um just very quickly I'm sorry so this not only impacts our our school district eny but also so like St Martin school as well yes that is correct basically nobody at St Martin's would I shouldn't say nobody I believe it cut it back to about 20 students being eligible but that's going off what I remember it might be a little bit
033more or a little bit less but it's it's quite significant right thank you go ahead Ming thank you um the slide that you show the student counts per bus what what's the point of reference how many students are typically on the bus like how many are you planning to be on the bus in regards to how many actually ride the bus so for efficiency in my experience we have been told to create an efficient route you should overstate the amount of students that are on board because a lot of these routes the buses appear to be maxed out however they don't have the amount of riders that show know the amount of students on board you follow so essentially we may have a bus that has 50 students assigned but only 25 or 22 of
034them are riding because they're getting other Transportation or they're walking in right okay um okay so your recommendation at this point is to do the safety child safety zones I would highly suggest exploring child safety zones and in the next two months it is my priority to drill down in our new software with multiple situations and see how that's going to affect the uh bus count for next school year right and as I said I'm certain we can reduce a few things I just don't want to overstate what we can reduce without being Mindful and then reducing too much and then having to give back right okay and I just one more um the this is a we're looking at a six-year contract with a 30% increase in cost is that correct it's a fivey
035year five year up to a fivey year yes and you think it could be up to 30% increase and cost based on the data that I've collected from districts in our surrounding areas that's what they're looking at between 20 to over 30% and it's it's covid it's everything that has affected the busing industry it's the the electric bus mandate the drivers you know they want more pay everybody wants more pay right now so yeah if if EBT can't keep drivers because they give us a contract extension and they can't pay them more then we have a opportunity to get a lack of service that we don't really need um I had I just want to ask a question that you weren't here at the last meeting would it make sense to look at a shorter
036duration cont contracts because the the bus company is packing in a lot of conservatism I would imagine in their contract as they have to project out what are their costs in five years so is does have you considered the idea of a shorter contract so what happened with the last contract term is they gave us the increase for the first year and then every year after that they stated what the increase would be and it was either between 2.5 to 4% and what you see is if you go with a lower contract uh year amount right they're going to charge you a greater first year amount because they're trying to recoup the program costs for the extension of the full contract do you follow um maybe for the for the shorter contract what what happened
037is that then they recap they start all over again because okay yes that's what happen Okay because they are restricted to CPI after the first year so that's the the fiveyear contract is still yes the way to go yes thank you you're welcome just Caroline is going to go next but just one quick question when you say 30% is that over the fiveyear period or 30% that's the first year and then an incremental increase every year after that right thank you good well that's a good segue into my question and you know for the benefit of the audience this is coming up because we do have to sign a new contract and we're preparing to go out to RFP and we need to understand what does RFP include my understanding Mr Spence in the first
038year alone it's going to be potentially a $3 million increase yes that is correct okay um so thank you um I have several questions first um when you mention all the roots there are multiple roots in the afternoon correct for example there's dismissal at all the buildings primary dismissal but then at the secondary level there's secondary yes exactly how many so are those being considered in this and how full empty are those buses it's something that we've been looking at at a peace meal basis to see how we can reduce things um there are certain items that are included with the daily hourly route that we get hourly rate that we get charged for the bus like you're going to get it anyway so you might as well just give the benefit stay late for
039extra heal that is correct that does make sense to me but because sometimes I see a bus it seems like it's mostly empty and I think what a waste but if you're already paying for it maybe it's an environmental waste but it's not a financial waste to the district and that's why it's been so important to me to get actual student counts over a good amount of time so that way we know the actual number over a good span of a few months what's actually using the bus so that way we know if we reduce a certain amount we can schedule probably 75 or 80 students being that the bus holds 66 and fit 40 or 50 on instead of the 20 to 30 that we're getting okay and I think that that's a good
040way to start reducing okay um another question and this is just to clarify um an email exchange the students that are attending St martans they're beholding to the same mileage restrictions as other kids in the district correct that is what is supposed to happen last year when I first started in July we had talked about doing this and then we sent the notification out saying if you're ex distance in this grade you're no longer qualified for a bus and and that's just to bring them into the same exactly our in districts and that's what we're planning on doing for this coming school year as well okay so that will be a change that we need to prepare for yes okay understood um my other question do we currently have any or I think we do
041but maybe you can correct me students who cross Sunrise Highway without a crossing guard I would have to look into that I know that there is a crossing guard shortage and there have been certain situations where because they don't have enough crossing guards we've been seeing police officers in their place for example the Middle School um the beginning of the week was out and he was there for a few days so I know that they're trying to fill those spots but it's just like everywhere else there was a fatality last year and I like I've seen kids I know kids who cross you know um on Bay and that's terrifying so um the the child safety audit would be wonderful and a shortterm I guess I would just want to put a spotlight on that
042absolutely um my final this isn't a question uh this was an idea because I when I heard the numbers a month ago or so that we were gonna have suddenly have to come up with $3 million more has it ever been considered or done that um bus routes change with the season or one way not another for example I think about my own kids I have a middle schooler and a high schooler who luck getting them on the bus in the morning um or getting them to school in the morning but in the afternoon on a beautiful day they don't mind walking home I could see a lot of kids not going to school if they don't get a bus but not minding the walk home from school you follow I absolutely do yes okay
043similarly um that walk is really nice in September October not so nice January February March April um does any District think about that not that I've seen no complicated very complicated but it could save a lot of money if you know I don't no help to us now for this RFP but I'm just putting that idea out there you know sure thank you no problem um once they qualify for transportation we are required to reserve a seat for them regardless so um just for Caroline just so you know at at Sunrise Highway in Albany there's sorry that's what I meant Aly there's there's a coron guard that's there if not there if then the person is not there then there's always the supper County police office because that's the route that I always always travel
044um Wendy and then then Leslie thank you that's a great presentation and it was so well done that the visual really helps us right um I'm really impressed that you looked back to 1956 or whatever it is I'm happy to see that we we had the referendum we weren't sure whatever so I think that clears up um a lot of things um I was going to ask about crossing guards so we have do you um like monitor where the crossing guards are or where they're needed who does that check to see if we have them in all the right spots you know Sunrise Highway Southern State Parkway 110 who who does that is that under transportation no okay so that's not you okay we'll get I'll ask Dr Talbert maybe after um as U you
045said that bosies can do this what would be the cost do you know I believe he said about6 to $10,000 but again don't hold me to that because that's not a paper quote okay and as far as the child safety zone is this something new or has this been around for a long time this has been around i' anded this is something that m buatti in her past School District if I remember correctly I mean it makes a lot of sense there's so many areas that I think we would get so many points for tons of points so um and growing up in the Hudson Valley Sunrise one on 10 yeah that's most school districts up there give out a bus to everybody so there's a plethora of child safety zones that I'm familiar with
046in the areas that I grew up with okay so that's great um the only thing that I would ask is if we can take a vote to okay this yeah when I get when I get finished with everyone making comments we can go from me Chris Leslie just one one thing you spoke about the crossing guard so if we take away the buses from our students we're going to have to increase our crossing guard so that means the village would have to pay more over time for police officers I'm sure and the county will have to pay Nassau County and suffet County so that's another and we're having issues with getting crossing guards now and the safety for of our children are the most important thing and the logistics of how many other students would
047need to be picked up or dropped off at our locations that are already taxed by right pick up and drop off okay so L to think thank you it it was a wonderful presentation thank you my pleasure yeah always happy to help any other any other questions Chris or Carol so um at this point in time Dr talba do you want to hear from the board whether or not we want to have east and S bosis do the um do this analysis yes right so I'll go down Leslie to um okay advise the Child Safety zones are subject to voter approval so but it would have to be on the it would have to be proposition with with the cost all right so we would have to we'd have to um make a motion to
048can we just do I mean that you can do the study without but I just you know the timing right if the timing is just kind of speaking to Mike a little bit more so if the the timing is two months it may not be sufficient to get a proposition on the the ballot all right so we could we could do the study but it may not be able to make it to the to the ballot for this particular year based upon what I'm hearing yes okay by that I'm confused by that so um if I heard John correctly just clarify what you're saying John that if the study was done and if the study showed that right so if you look at the slide for the the definition of a child safety zone once
049properly authorized by the board of educational trustees and the voters of the school district okay that's the transportation may be provided so with respect to you can come up with the child safety Zone you can create the points you can create the program but uh you can't implement it without approval of the voters okay and we won't have it in time for the we won't have it in time for the to put a referendum on the ballot correct because it's going to take two months and then we would need it if if the study goes two months it has to be that's March ail yeah it has to be at least 30 days prior to yeah 45 days um can we build this into the budget then so that we could do it for next
050year and then when we have it back we could put it on the ballot put a referendum in time to was shaking the head yes that would be great we could get consent to move forward with the study then we can do some long range planning so even if we do the study now it could be utilized for next year yes so as a board I'll go down the line I'm in support of doing the study now and just having it in place I am too me too I don't need a motion for this do I John which is a consent consent just to do it right just consent to do the study is there a resolution right so you'd still need a resolution ultimately uh once Administration brings the contract back right so right
051now we're just we're just approving that she can go forward go forward and going to take place proposals for uh the Child Safety study sorry Leslie Chris yes Wendy do we have in the budget to cover this is it coming out of the 2425 budget it would come out of the 2425 budget if we were to implement it before July 1 but but for the study if we give the approval on it do we have money in the budget for it we can do we have we can do it because we need a whole year to study it before before we put it on the ballot next year I just want to make sure we have money we have money for it yes yes okay yes yes yes car so you have consent to move
052forward thank you okay thank you very much once again thank you Mr Spence he's going to need to depart he has um Beth and his family thank you for staying and doing your very best with us we wish you safe travels on the road thank you thank you so I'm going to move forward with the agenda at this point in time is there any Community input on agenda items only at this time so hold hold on one second let me come come to the mic but just go that's okay take your time I'm on a three minute clock yeah that doesn't a couple information items go ahead item 3 B25 what are mcken vento tutors Dr tal it evening those are students who are displaced or may be deemed home homeless students by state guidelines
053um 3B 34 home instructors there are 12 home instructors uh what are the reasons why they are being provided instruction at home is it injury illness uh a suspension so we do have students who require uh instruction outside of the traditional classroom due to the reasons that you just cited and these are teachers who provide that instruction when they're not in the traditional class of the 12 how many are on suspension of the 12 of there are 12 assignments here 34 through 40 45 okay all home instructors how many are because of uh suspension okay I'm going to ask Miss Stevens to just explain how the program works because it's not a one-on-one home tutoring situation and maybe that'll provide a little Clarity so the staff members who are on the list today become part
054of a Cadre of professionals that we use as we need them no I understand that so they're not matched I understand that I'm familiar with home instruction my question is how many were because of uh suspension but they're not matched to individual students are you asking how many students are currently suspended is that your question um we have under 10 at the moment but I don't have an exact number for you under nine okay uh 3B 46 what is steam Academy administrators steam so the steam Academy is science technology engineering stem but we add the a for Arts um and the administrator is overseeing that program okay and my last question uh 3B 57 Saturday parent inment what is that so the program at Northeast is part of our PK Grant to work with parents
055and uh train them in ways that they can be empowered to be partners in their children's education do we monitor the attendance we do and how is that going uh well it hasn't begun yet it hasn't begun yet and same thing with the uh stem do we monitor how many students are attending we will so again that hasn't begun yet we're proposing these staff members thank you thank you good evening good evening I'm Wonder Madam president if you could just explain to me I know some of the surrounding districts like cop does um from K to six three4 of a mile in their busing their their routes and um one mile for 7 to8 and 9th to 12th grade is just one mile so most of the surrounded districts are there or even less are
056they having this the same dilemma that we're having so when when you say the situation right now and I'll pass it to Dr talber in just a minute is that um the cost of busting in general is just going up so and that's that's what the situation is right now so this year we're we're going to be we're being hit with a larger increase in our transportation cost that we have have not seen so the Genesis of this whole argument is just being cost effective yes okay thank you and last comment um boss the girls outdoor track and field head coach is there just one coach for the girls team Dr T believe there is only one coach for the girls team and how many for the boys I think too thank sorry I didn't
057I didn't how many I believe there are two okay thank you any other questions on agenda items I'm Maro um on the I ready presentation I was it was great presentation nice to see that there's improvements but I believe it was at the end of last year in the tide that all those numbers were presented in the tide at the end of the year kind of thing and it was much clearer it was just an All or Nothing thing like k through eight math x amount was on or above or below and same thing for English or however you I think it was just math in English or something like that on the total amount of students and how many were above on on level or above or below so the next time I mean
058can you reiterate that for as a whole like k through eight is x% on or above and X percent is below in math and in English or reading or Ela whatever you I would it was classified so that number was on the the first Slide the colored graph I'd be happy you couldn't even I'd be happy to show it to you later I'm sorry I'd be happy to show it to you later with the numbers okay but yes so it gave the total and what what what is the percent correct on or above and then below Etc okay so you don't you so as a you can't you give me those two numbers right now I can thanks so for reading there was a total of 30 students who were on or above grade level
059oh sorry 30% of students were honor above grade level and 39% below grade level I'm sorry 39% two or more grade levels below grade level two or more below grade level okay for math it was 19% who were on or above grade level and 35% who were two or more grade levels below okay it is an improvement so good great thank you right I'm going to move on to the agenda C have a motion for agenda items three I mean sorry 2a1 through 2a4 motion second Chris Nan is first Megan messon is second any questions regarding any of the minutes um I do oh okay on the um committee policy committee minutes from January 15th um two are going to be on tonight's agenda but it says right above it the following are ready to
060go before the board at the February 26th board meeting I think that needs to be amended because all of these are not going on okay today's amend uh agenda can we just approve contingent upon correcting that that's fine with me um and then there was just a typo on page two of five of January 22nd under board under B board action recommended by the board policy committee it says net it should say next I'm sorry which uh page 205 on the January 22nd under B do you see it yes okay so I guess can we you are you mean for um I'm sorry for to be board action recommend by the board policy um yeah it says we will be provided to the legal team at it should be next board meeting do you see
061that so I'm just wondering do we have to amend the motion that to adjust this because this has to be corrected these minutes John or can I just say we can accept it as it upon yeah so if it's if it's in the document itself and the minute the corrections have been stated then they can be approved as amended okay great um I just had one comment uh we had moved towards identifying the number of people logged in from Zoom Eileen was doing that on the minutes um and it was pretty useful so you're indicating like the number of attendees in person but then also to indicate like on a combined meeting how many people are logged in in by Zoom yeah sometimes if you check with ap we can get the numbers okay thank
062you you're welcome all right so the motion is on the table for 2 A1 to 284 and just to add to it um for the changes that have been recommended as well so all those in favor I I I motion carries 70 can um for agenda item 2B one and two this is policies that we can vote on or we can do in the second reading is I think is this the first reading yeah so I just want to clarify because I think there's still some questions so this is a first reading so we're not going to vote on it so just make sure that you review the policy if you have any recommendations to the policy committee please provide those recommendations to the policy committee um I I just had a question um can
063we just have a status of the other ones from January policy committee when we'll you seeing those um course like those were mentioned in the minutes that we're amending um we're probably have to get back to you because I can't we cannot say as a policy committee um we have to look at I was asking legal oh I I will review the status and get that to the board presid thank you go question yeah um in the in the proposed policies on the first reading I noticed that um it clearly states to have the fingerprint clearance at your own costs um I was wondering about the cprad training cost what up no go ahead I thought I had my name is that GNA be at your own cost or is that I was just curious
064is it the other one hasn't does the district provide that do the question is for the CPR at the own course it should say also at your own it's at the own course because the go ahead Dr two bullets ahead oh I'm sorry go ahead so the policy for volunteer athletic coach uh was reviewed at the policy meeting there were some recommended changes those changes were forwarded to council Council reviewed and sent back recommended recommendations uh so between our HR office and the district clerk those recommendations have been included uh here on this tonight so I believe it's um in its final stage for a first reading we can always of course trusty mesman hear recommendations but I just wanted to let you know where it was okay thank you I just had the question
065because I it it you know it clearly states to have the fingerprint clearance from New York State education department at your own cost so I just you know just thought of the CPR a I just wanted to clarify is that at the volunteers cost or is that at The District's cost is the CPR AED part of the coaching requirements like the licensing yes so then it it would have been included when they get their coaching license is that correct is that yeah their coaching certification yes because uh one application process number two in the submission of the documentation proof of required coaching certific ation includes first aid CPR AED daau sexual harassment training and concussion management along with the fingerprints which are required at their own cost right so we can always at for the
066policy committee we can always um review before the second reading we we can always clarify it and and add it in if need so I'll just make a okay okay so moving on to agenda item 2c1 um Kevin motion for item 2c1 please so moved second Carol seof is first win canestro is second any questions on this item no see none all those in favor I I I I motion carries 70 for agenda item 2c1 I mean 2c2 can I have a motion for agenda item 2c2 please motion second actually it's Chris ning and Megan mesman um so I will do each one individually if it's okay um all those in favor of Debbie Adams from South Hunton school district for the Western Subic boses Trust Kenedy um I'm recusing myself from both I don't
067have enough information okay all those in favor for um Debbie Adams I'm in favor I'm in favor I'm good it's Chris Caroline and um Megan I don't have any information either can someone provide more background I I don't really know what what we're actually voting for I know that it's for Western suff postes but I don't know anything about them or what all right so so I have for no for Chris Caroline oh I didn't say no so either either we we have we so yeah I'm time out excuse me excuse me excuse me time out so at this point in time what's being looked at is the Western suff bosi um candidates for um Western suff bosis for their board so if there's additional information that's needed we can contact West and sou posies
068to ask for additional information for for the candidates so therefore you can make a a decision about what you would like to do so at this point in time um Carol Leslie and myself had said yes and then the others are abstaining from the votes so that's Caroline Fanning Chris naron Megan mesman and Winnie canestro are all abstaining from these votes and then um Carol Lisa and Leslie are saying yes so what's going to happen and just clarify for me all those in favor will be three and all those abstaining would be I have no idea yeah because what Happ situation so I'm not going to go I'm not going to go I'm not going to go back and forth on this so what will happen so you have three three three zero and and
069that's that's the vote yep so the vote is three for it and four understanding that nomination does not move forward yep does not move forward so three abstain I mean four abstain and three are yes all right right um can I have a motion for agenda item 2c3 please motion second Winnie canestro Chris naring all those in favor item any questions on J item 2c3 all those in favor the other yeah we did it failed same yep three it was three yes and four abstain thank you so all those in favor for two C3 i i i motion carries 70 K motion for agenda item 3 A1 please move it win canest is first second Megan M is second and this information was provided to the board um all those in favor I I I
070I motion carry 70 can I have a motion for agenda items 3 B1 through 3b3 please so moved second Carol seof Chris Saran any questions on these items all those in favor I I I motion carries 70 can I do agenda items 3 B5 down to 3B 145 alog together or does anyone need anything done separately so three 3 B5 down to 3B 145 that's fine I just have a question but I don't need to take a separate vote okay I mean I can do it all together and just um add add names in actually I can do it all together I do it all together okay so can I have a motion for agenda items 3 B5 to 3B 147 I'm move it second can was first Carol seof is second so for agenda
071item um 3B 146 um there is a resolution for that for the interim assistant superintendent for human resources be resolved that that based upon on the recommendation of the superintendent of schools the Board of Education hereby appoints Dr Bridget we to the temporary preem non-pros prary non- tenure seniority bearing position of interim assistant superintendent for human resources effective April 1st 2025 through June 30th 2025 pursuant to the terms and conditions of the agreement between the district and the employee and authorized the board the president educ the president of the Board of Education to execute set Agri on behalf of the board so the name that's being added to 3B 46 is Dr Bridget white right Caroline do you add a question yeah just with regards to the AP Proctors are these actual assignments or people
072in reserve similar to athletic supervisors and chaperon they're in reserve um so it's based on the Proctor schedule and the exams that are going to be running late so okay and AP is that on the weekend or during the school week no they're during the school week okay thank you any other questions on any items here all those in favor I I I motion carries 70 have a motion for agenda item 3 C1 please move it second Winnie kesal is first Chris naron is second any questions on this agenda item all those in favor I I motion carries 70 okay I have a motion for agenda item um 3c2 please move it second wi KES was first Leslie cretz is second um for agenda item 3 C 2B um we just need to make sure
073that we when we approve it that we're going to approve it based on the submission of the roster and we do have the sign affidavit but make sure that we're approving it for once the submission of the roster and the sign affidavit as well which we there's a copy of that yeah for for 3C 2B well in confirmation that the roster is meets meets the guide L yes so the submission of the roster that meets the yes they they know what they know in terms of it has to be the the 75% any other questions about these items all those in favor I I I motion carries 70 can I do um 3C three and four together sure yes C have a motion for agenda item 3 C3 and 3c4 please pleas move second Carol
074seof Leslie cretz any question any questions about these items all those in favor I motion carries 70 have a motion for agenda item 3d1 please second Chris naron Caroline Fanning any questions about this agenda item yes Caroline um okay so going to the treasurers report the expenditure report in many instances it seems our encumbrances are really high and we don't have money in a lot of accounts so I'm just hoping there's an explanation for it and to just give one two simple examples to start is in [Music] um page one 1240 um non-instructional overtime under the superintendent and the business official it looks like we have $44 left in one account and 12 left in another um is that really the case yes that's what we have L at this point just I'm speaking to
075the Mike B thank you yes that's what we have at this point in time okay and just to clarify for the audience this report that I have in front of me goes through till the end of um last year so it's only July to December so six months in we only have $44 left in one account 12 left in another um but then going through the entire report and it's 22 pages long so there's a lot to look over um custodial overtime page three to four I'm looking at that we have nothing left in overtime and a lot encumbered is it really the case that we have nothing left in overtime at the halfway mark actually when an overtime or Cas we will use the amount in the encumbrance it is only when they use
076it that we release the encumbrance so that's that's what's interesting to me or confusing to me so let the report a month prior to this there was only a little bit encumbered anticipating that okay you have to pay it out it seems like everything that was left in that budget line has been encumbered yes um we do must encumbering um and that occurred in December of last year uh just to set the money aside um this is something that you know because as we go through the year and as we come closer to the end of the year then we know exactly what our fund balance will be I I would feel okay with that if this was May but it's only December so to look to see how much money is available it's like
077why to say it's encumbered to me I think of an enum of an encumbrance as being like a check that you wrote that's out you know that just hasn't cashed yet like someone already worked it but it's more like your estimate of what it is going to be that's the encumbrance when it comes to payroll you have to guesstimate what you think the projected cost will be instead outside okay it so you project we're going to spend exactly everything that was in that lineup sometimes we exceed it or sometimes we below it okay okay thank you okay thank you any other questions I don't have a question no ahead you can finish go ahead car last sorry I had the bunch flagged okay encumbrances for field trips uhhuh I thought we weren't taking field trips
078so there was $47,000 budgeted that's been encumbered is that the 47,000 yes the 47,000 I guess is what we had discussed the last month about uh routing software that we had to the the company sent tax the bill late for last year so it's doubling up that's that's this is for you know field but I'm talking about field trips field trip I'm sorry yeah what we did was that we encumbered everything that is in that code in order to set the money aside just like I said before but if we're not taking field trips why did we budget $47,000 for it and what's it what's it encumbered for we have some field trip that is so caring some of them is for music trip yes that wasn't included in my 47 I I know the
079music takes a field trips so when I tallied everything up I deliberately left music out because I know that from nispa and whatnot if I yeah music is would have added 16,000 on its own I don't know of any kids that are taking field trips if we don't use it we'll release it at the end of the year so then it's what the challenge for me then is that when I look at this it's not clear I want to see what money we have left when I look at the encumbered column I think okay that's money that's already been earmarked because it's definitely in use it's in transit like we there's a PO and we have to make sure that we cover our faes to be told that well we might take like as far
080as I know there's no outstanding POS for field trips are there these are open purchase orders that we encumber because the reason why we do that is if we don't do that we don't know how to project fund balance because it may occur it may not occur when we have contractual obligations like salaries that is definite it's easy to encumber there are certain things that you have to estimate based on the prior years experience experiences and sometimes we get into that situation when it comes to items that are not specific so then using the example of um field trips this encumbrance that was done in December was based on the previous years yes okay but I would have thought given all the you know conversation debate about field trips that it was one of the
081things that was we told was being taken away to save money then it wouldn't be in that line which is you know something that happened a long time ago and maybe I could have noticed this back in September but it it's a lot to go through month by month and it feels like you know we're putting money where we don't need it and then not having it available in places where we do need it so um that was $47,000 that was earmarked for field trips that we knew we were never going to take and I guess that's disappointing to me yes yes and when it comes to transportation in particular you cannot transfer anything out of Transportation Transportation stays on its own so whether we take it out or that it has to remain within
082Transportation Budget Transportation budget is very unique if we don't use it at the end of the year we release it into fund balance I know what I'm talking about field trips not Transportation part of Transportation oh it's in it's under that code okay I understand now okay I still think we didn't need to if we knew we were going to cut it we didn't need to put it in there in the first place last April but okay I'll I'll let that go anytime that that the 5500 it's all Transportation yes thank you all right Megan do you have anything and then Chris has something too um so I I had also questions the field trip transportation last month so I guess I was surprised when it still was sitting there just as it was at
083the end of November as an encumbrance as an encumbrance yes um because I thought that that meant that we had $46,000 for transportation for field trips which it sounds like we actually do have 46,000 because you're saying we can't use it for anything else but field trip transportation it goes back to a question that I had asked why didn't we take field um a few meetings ago about the idea of one field trip per class as I know the eth grade doesn't have a field trip the senior class probably doesn't have a field trip just it's just like the one day a year that students really look forward to so we actually have $46,000 incumbered for field trip transportation that can only be used for field trip transportation so I would like the board to
084consider it a little bit further I you know you've heard me say that before um and I so this Appropriations report has a lot of markups on it so I didn't know I'm I guess everyone has the markups do we want to have a clean version that goes on the website do this good that's a good point I I would make sure that we have a clean you know that goes because I was reviewing it myself and I didn't know that was a that you okay thank you thank you CH something uh yes back to the field trip transportation so just trying to see if I understand this correctly so if you didn't budget for it and we then decided at some point this year to have a field trip if you didn't already have
085it built into the budget we wouldn't have been able to do it because you can't transfer the money in yes when it comes to Transportation transportation is one area of fund accounting where you cannot transfer money out or transfer money in you have to stay within that Transportation code the 5500 so but you could trans transferred within the transportation correct but you can't transfer any monies from say instructional code into Transportation but then towards the end of the year once you know 100% that we didn't need any transportation for field trips then you can use it yes we can use it for something else or release it and once you release it it goes into fund balance okay thank you I goe um okay so these reports go to December 31st which is two months
086ago and I know I've brought this up before so the board doesn't really know how much is in how much is in everything in real time right we're in budget season we have a meeting on Saturday and we only really have these figures going back to December so that makes it difficult for us I guess I I I don't I'm not even sure how this is going to happen Saturday if we don't have real time numbers that's the first thing right because this is two months be behind my next question is we have a School lunch report from September and October we're at the end of February what why why do we only have September and October um school lunch is handled by it's it's on its own you would see when I do the
087presentation on Saturday school lunch is on its own true we have shortage of stuff in the business office and in September and October we are still preparing to finish the PRI years's audit so it takes us a long time to get into this year's accounting because we have to close all the bxs from last year before we start the new year and it takes us a long time to get into that because we have the the the auditor has to review it issue his report and then we roll it over and then continue from there okay my concern is that we have a budget meeting on Saturday and we only have the report up until September and October yes we did bring that up the last time and what I had mentioned was that when
088the treasurer is preparing his report one of the areas that he has to do is the bank reconciliation which is cash and those cash accounts come at the end of the month so for December he doesn't receive the bank statement until January this is why it's about 6 weeks late cash is the most important account on the box and he has to make sure that we reconcile the cash account every month and it is accurate um I hear what you're saying uh my experience is I've always been a month behind um prior to to hear so again I especially budget season I think we should have the information I have a couple of questions within the budget um just to piggyback on what Caroline and Megan said and Chris if we have $47,000 that can't
089be touched it's for field trips rather than put it into the general fund we are here for students why don't we as a board discuss maybe implementing some field trips now that we have $47,000 so that's that's my that's my first question can I jump in sure um we can always release that encumbrance once there's no expenditure that is out there you can always release that encumbrance to do the FI trip if that's what the board chooses to do right so I hear what you're saying I think I think just before that you said we could we have to wait till the end of the year and if it nothing's spent then we can release it into the general fund what I'm saying is if we have $47,000 encumbered all of our children do not
090have field trips we have $47,000 that's been sitting there let's try to give children field trips let's try to give the senior class their trip I think they need a bus every year like I really want to do things for children that directly impact and touch children I definitely agree with you as personally M you know I can I can talk personally now I definitely agree with you what I meant was that if any monies remain at the end of the year that's when it goes into fund balance we are not holding this money no I understand what you're saying at the end if it's not used it will go into Fun balance totally understand it but right now it's there so let's use it on children um a couple of things um you know
091I am concerned with some of the markings on here when I see something circled and says no record or wrong account I get that makes me nervous seeing that um I agree it should be a clean version um there are a couple of questions that I have on here um so I guess you know some of these are salaries on page let me just see what page this is I guess it's page seven and there was nothing budgeted and then we added them so we added I guess a kindergarten teacher secondary ESL okay but um it I know that you have an encumbrance here but there's no it's not budgeted for yes and what happens is at the beginning of especially at the end of last year where there was a lot of uh shift
092in employees yes we come in I actually I come in with the payroll G and we analyze everyone so because when it comes to payroll at the beginning of the year you have only two weeks and you have to pay people so we come back and look at where everyone is we get the building roster we go through each and every one of them to make sure they are the right spark and then we transfer their budget through the payroll process so that is how it is done and we have been keeping up with it in fact we are planning to come to work maybe this Saturday to look at all those things okay great I just have a couple more questions so um on page 15 summer school program administrators $133,000 was budgeted we
093spent almost $122,000 if you look available negative $109,000 we we we spoke about this about two oh we didn't have the Grant and we went ahead with it correct and we spoke about this but if you look at the other codes all the other codes in the 20 2330 in that budget are in the positive so you have to look at all that in totality and if you look at the next the line by line budget coming on Saturday what we did was that we decided to consolidate all those budget codes so it's not spread out it all comes from one code you see that on SED it okay and then just the last thing did we add a new coach there is a coach [Music] um it has under oh I'm sorry let me
094tell you what page it is it's 19 there's Middle School coach High School coach and then there's just coaches a line for coaches that's just over $7,600 but it's not allocated to the middle school the high school yeah that was an error we we're going to correct it okay can we there 7 yes I I know what you're talking about can we correct that when we put the correct version up there no we can't correct it now once the month is closed okay you can change the numbers you have to wait for the subsequent month to change it okay and then I just want to comment on the claims Auditor's report I know that we've been seeing like four um issues with the claims auditor this time it's down to one which is good but
095uh it was uh approved um and po was issued before approval um thank you very much that's it all those in favor I I'm motion carries 70 um have a motion for agenda item 3 E1 through 3 E3 please second Carol seor Winnie canestro any questions on these um contracts and legal have you review the contracts yes all those in favor I I motion carries 70 I have a motion for agenda item 3 F1 please move it second Winnie canestro Leslie cretz any question on this agenda item see any here all those in favor I motion carries 70 up to Old business just a couple things under old business the um the Board of Education um had an opportunity to have a representative from nbra speak to the board about um superintendent midyear evaluation so
096that was informative and from that point the board education will make a decision if they're going to do a superintendent evaluation Retreat that would assist us um as we move forward in the final year evaluation um there's also the opportunity to do um an in-person evaluation I mean inperson Retreat through nisba and that Retreat would roughly be about $2,500 but nisbar is willing to work with us to for a lower price um because of the financial situation that we're in is's also the opportunity through nisba to have a virtual um um superintendent Retreat where that course will be $140 and with that course of $140 um we do have the opportunity to um just have one person register and then everyone could attend that particular virtual um Retreat um the only difference is that with
097the the personal retreat of $2,500 or potentially less it will allow for a customized Retreat for our school board and be reflective for any questions that we have for the virtual Retreat it's open to all school districts um so I just want to give some information on on that and also that the policy committee did meet last night and if I miss anything whether um Chris or Wendy could could jump in there were several several policies that we did review um and that we are going to pass them over to legal for for review and I have to pull it out on my bag but I know one was um was hold on I got extracurricular extracurricular the other one was um bullying apologize it was facilties it was um a sample policy that came
098from with student harassment and bullying prevention and intervention there was a policy there was an exhibit and there was a regulation and at that point in time the policy committee made a decision to um just utilize that nisba policy and pass it over to legal for review also um we review the public use of facilities policy and the cabinet is going to look at creating a regulation for that particular policy and then we looked at the um as Wendy mentioned the co-curricular extracurricular activities policy as well and we looked at the wellness policy or well not Wellness but and please correct me Dr Talbert or um Chris or Wendy it was just it was a mention that was brought up about something with the wellness polic but really we didn't really look at we didn't
099oh the wellness policy we were just looking at um it just probably needs a read adoption but the but the years were incorrect embedded within the policy that needed to be changed correct and we were going to look at student and Personnel electronic devic but um yeah if I could just comment on that didn't make it too far yeah on the cell phone policy there's obviously a need for that um we had uh I think we'll talk about that in a minute with the surveys had been sent out and we received feedback from staff and it's a real issue and the governor has been talking about that and she's been talking about possibly mandating a cell phone policy which certainly makes it easier for districts if the governor passes on a policy but either way
100in preparation we spoke about that how we do need one and the governor had mentioned that you know one of her ideas was like Cubbies for the classrooms so one of the questions I had is in preparation of what's probably going to come down the line for September are we budgeting for that and Dr Talbert and Miss batti said yes so that was good news thank you that's great to hear I I had um a question about I wanted to ask about cell phones so thank you and the wellness this committee so thank you um at one point in time I also asked about uh for the policy committee to try to prioritize an AI policy and we also spoke about the social media policy um and the AI policy you know the conferences that
101we just approved are looking at AI integration and planning in the classroom so I wondered if the administrators that are attending those conferences can provide some sort of feedback to the policy committee and helps you know to start that conversation of developing an AI policy for the district um thank you for bringing it up I'm almost I think nisba has an AI policy as well starting point yeah so I can always ask Lyn to contact nisba for the AI policy and we can put that on the list for when we go to do our next policy committee meeting and you said ai ai policy and what was and social media okay thank you anyone Carol do you have anything um I'm going to mention it's actually in draft form right now but on February 3rd
102the districtwide safety plan committee met and it was Dr talat Dr Wade Olivia batti Steve bonis Tom donu Pete iino and myself and um there were some mandates that came down from the state as far as verbiage changes uh for example Sheltering place is now going to be called shelter walkout is going to be called secure lockout hold in place is going to be called hold and we are going to meet again the end of March to discuss the rest of the draft and move forward from that point thank you Megan do you have anything um yes I have some old business okay okay before I jump to Old any oh this is old yeah sorry um I guess I'm also just just to follow up on what Carol just said I was a little
103confused because the health and safety districtwide policy committee is that what you called that meeting yes okay because I thought I was named in that in the current District health and safety District policy as well safety plan right I thought I was named in that um document as well I think I was the only one that answered the email according to Dr tal so there are two uh types of health and safety committees there's one uh where the um buildings meet regarding health and safety and the address security measures and then there is the um board approved health and safety committee that um yes that we met yesterday right was it yesterday yes yes and so those two committees often you know overlap some of the teachers who attend the health and safety meetings uh
104for the buildings Also may attend the districtwide committee because we did expand those persons who were on the committee remember the list kep expanding but some of them were already on some of the building committees that truste um seof is on okay I okay it sounds like I'm I'm on the districtwide and I was not aware of that meeting so I'm this was a separate meeting Megan this was in regards for the plan for next year safety plan for next year all right so we we'll clarify who who'sa on which we'll clar yeah we'll clarify and make sure that if you if if you're supposed to be attending the meeting we'll we'll make sure that you contact so we'll clarify I I have yeah so I um I just another old business is the mascot
105the status of the mascot I know on on February 3rd I think same day uh did you you hold you held some mascot forums I was wondering how if you the feedback or attendance of those events the uh mascot Forum was held um here in the auditorium we did have some uh in attendance and that committee has formed a task force which will be chaired by U Mr forcus and that next meeting is on March is it the 6 thank you the next meeting is on March the 6 we had student representation parent representation um our president came out in attendance and we had a great discussion we went through the survey results we got good feedback and so the task force is going to take that back and they are going to walk out
106the next steps our deadline is April so they are moving expeditiously and the two high school students uh went back to the high school to um develop some mini surveys to obtain more information that they would like to have and they will be bringing that to the task force as well thank you excellent thank you um I my other old business is the status of the Middle School construction RFP and the timeline for that the timeline actually came yesterday and we'll be including it oh in yes we we'll be sharing it okay yes the timeline for you know the bid and all that Thank You Caroline thank you Lisa um I guess what I would like to pick up here um because I don't know when else to bring it up among the board the
107trustees is committing to a schedule and a tool for the end ofe superintendent evaluation um because we had a lot of you know missteps and miscommunication with regards to the midyear and now it even seems in question whether or not we're going to follow through but we are legally bound to follow through for the end of the year so um are we in agreement that we want to follow the nispa tool since it seems that we're familiar with we we're going to have to stay with the nisb okay for this year that's one I think that what we do need to decide on is if we're going to do a retreat and have them come to do a retreat so therefore the can hear well you already heard the the feedback from this or we're
108going to do it virtually so that's the first step and then in the next p will be also the timeline okay if we follow the tool I printed out the page that has the timeline because this is where we seem to get tripped up we know we have to do it but we keep you know there has to be lead time for everyone so um and if you want I print in copies but no I have it I have it in my packet okay can I propose dates for all the spring steps that have to happen so we can put it in our count calendar so we know we're coming up on deadlines so that all of us are on the same page yeah I think we actually you and I had spoke and i'
109spoke to you about helping to establish a timeline remember I think it's I don't think so if you want if you want to give if you want to give the dates and that way the board can review the dates and make a decision if I mean determined if everyone's going to be available on those particular dates because that's going to be the key not everything has to be a meeting it's just like we have to get things done by so go ahead what I propose and does any do you guys have it in front of you do you want to see what I'm talking about no just give the dates and is it easier to email it yeah just won't you just email it to us and that way we can review it allowed to
110do that yeah just email okay it's information all right then I'll leave that I'll leave that go um another separate question is uh for Dr Talbert in the transmittal that you sent home on February 14th you had the list of budget cuts and I just wanted Clarity with regards to the buildings and grounds um so we're going to discuss that on Saturday right I'm sorry go ah is this everything that was cut yes um due to uh the long history of not having a routine maintenance program um or the funding to get everything done the building and grounds director submitted a hefty list of what he would like to see done and majority of it could not be included so what's printed there are the items that didn't make it yes these are the items
111that did not it yes sure thank you lot I just no that's okay I just wasn't sure because you had other sections in here of items that did make it so I just wanted to understand I'm just asking for clarification on the title um okay can you please let us know um where do things stand uh with regards to where kindergarten is going to be next year because at the meeting that you had at Northeast on February 14th or whatever date that was you had talked about moving it which sounds like a big project so can you give us an update so we are currently uh developing the transition plan as to how kindergarten would move to Northeast if that is the end result as we know in developing the budget we are about 7%
112over last year's budget which means we have proposed $124 million budget for the 2526 school year Northeast is housed in that budget we're also aware that um our transportation is being increased by $3 million and so on Saturday we will be filling back the layers to see where we're Landing in terms of um closing that margin we also talked about our governmental officials uh being very Vigilant and supportive in trying to secure the $2 million that we're looking um to cover the expense of Northeast so in terms I'm answering your question about moving kindergarten that that is Our intention and our goal for next year for next year by in April we're looking to have definitive decisions because the adoption date is April 9th May 7th May 7th that's the hearing that's the budget oh
113yes we're adopting in April right in April I think April 9th somewhere around there so we're in the process of developing that plan we've even met with um the leadership of ATA to talk about different strategies in terms of um teacher movement teachers have had the opportunity to submit preference sheets so all of those behind the scenes processes have been put in place um and the plan is being developed we can't make any moves until the dollars are finalized I don't have any experience with moving grades from building to building it would just seem to me that not having an idea until May doesn't leave you much time is that like has it been done before or is we have the concept of what to do but the implementation of it we won't do it
114until it'll all take place after school ends we've already met with building and grounds they understand what has to be done they don't have actual room numbers at this point because we've not finalized the particular staff who would be moving okay thank you I I can tell it's and I don't it it could be for the best and that would be fine I just think that um if people are surprised in the summer even a welcome surprise might c not get a good response okay I just and we have moved grades from building to build building and it was always done successfully over the summer I've seen it happen on several occasions I can thank you I guess I'm just equally concerned about the communication so that teachers parents you know everybody knows it's coming
115and they can get excited rather than feel whoa that came out of you know nowhere and I wasn't prepared right okay Megan just wants to I'm sorry I just just to build off of that um Dr Talbert I had reached out to you with a thought and I just wondered if where it went um I had looked at the with the revital I think it was the revitalization strengths and weaknesses tool it jumped out at me that the enrollment decreases by like 500 600 students between Park and the middle school and then I was thinking forward to well the Middle School construction and phasing the Middle School construction and I reached out to you and I said oh it was just kind of like throwing spaghetti at the wall but what if you moved third
116back to Northwest and sixth back to park to try to retain more students uh since there seems to be a decline in enrollment once the students transition to the middle school and it would help to facilitate the construction if you had less students in the building uh so I had never had a chance to follow back up with you and I I know you do a lot of planning so I just was curious as we're talking about moving kindergarten um if if those ideas were kicked around and where did they land they were kicked around and we went back to the uh origin of the Princeton model that was put in place here in Amityville uh for a reason and um we kind of talk that through a little bit and in terms of the
117major movement um we did not seriously consider moving forward with the major movement of that that would be multiple grades at once but um I think it's still something for us to take under consideration and give further thought to Wendy um I first I forgot to ask can we get those presentations online can we put these online the transportation and the I ready okay great um I have a couple of things but I just wanted to ask you something that you just said about Northeast and I just want to see if I understand this correctly you're asking elected officials for the $2 million you're trying to secure it you want to wait to see if it's finalized and you know because you need the dollars so I guess it's confusing do we have money to
118support Northeast as is or will we only be able to support Northeast if we get $2 million for from an elected official we have Northeast written in the budget of $124 million for 2526 we are at 7% above our budget from last year it is in the budget we will be talking about what that will look like in terms of tax levy as we continue to talk about some of the factors that will impact that so are we relying on the officials no it's in the budget we're relying on us to make the decision as to whether it will remain would we benefit from the 2 million yes and it would make making the decisions internally a lot easier because it would decrease the Delta by 2 million it would lower the tax cap Levy
119which I think we're concerned about because of the equalization rate right now so it would be nice okay um just for old business um I just have a question about the student reps I think the election we talked about with the policies May so is there going to be a roll out for March when is the roll out going to be for this to inform the kids so the kids could get excited and talk about it and then all that so I know Miss Stevens has been in conversation with principal cordone you want to provide an update as to where we are we actually spoke about it this week uh Dr Cardone is going to meet with Miss Wilshire who's the student government adviser and they'll come up with a plan for roll out so
120they scheduled that meeting for next week perfect timing um let me just see if I have anything else old business I think that's all I have for old business Chris Chris I'm sorry yes um here was a meeting a few months ago we had a student that came and spoke about the warrior awareness Club I don't remember if there if it was a definite that it wasn't happening or if there was any conversation about it coming back reason that it came to mind is because it's under any the they have a cash balance and the um extra classroom activity report so if their Club doesn't come back this year what happens to that money does it stay there for the following year yes it it it's a balance sheet item so it carries over unless
121it is dormant for maybe be 2 3 years then based on auditor recommendation we move the money over into Student Government student government is used us to catch it all for most extra classroom activity fund so if there's a club that has remained inactive for a very long time they will recommend that we close it and move any balances to Student Government but if this stays active for one year but not the other what we do is that we keep it open because sometimes it has to go through maybe two or three Cycles before we close it and can I just get confirmation if it's possible for it to come back this year or not we did discuss that matter with the high school and um it's determined that they're looking forward to it for
122next year thank you Leslie anything any any new business at all before we move on any new business um yeah I just I wanted to bring up these surveys that we sent out it was sent out a culture and climate survey to all the schools there was one survey for students and parents and then a separate survey for staff um I know there was concerns about um it being anonymous or not I will tell you that it was Anonymous we have no idea who submitted what but we do have the feedback um the feedback was invaluable um and enlightening um the only issue I had is that we had asked for allowances for people to provide written feedback and that was provided for staff and it wasn't provided for the students and the and the
123parents or Guardians so we don't have any written feed back but the written feedback from staff as a trustee I found really enlightening um and I want to tell you that I heard you there were some um Trends um and some of the trends were supplies um Chromebooks extra chords it taking a long time um more um valuable professional development um there was some curriculum um feedback that they wanted more curriculum support um what else oh cell phones was like really really big um discipline about it being even-handed um we had asked Dr Talbert for um a corrective action plan for this that um I believe that you're you're working on or you're helping and I will say and I don't want to speak for any everybody but they might agree with this it was
124so valuable that I hope that we do this every year because it really gives the staff the opportunity to communicate directly with us so we know what's going on so we have a pulse on them and also for the family and the students although I think that there should be able to have written feedback for that and hopefully you know there were some dips in some areas that we can work with this data and try to uh I think Dr Talbert's working with the building administrators on this right Dr Talbert um to uh really work towards more positive uh solutions for these things and oh let me just see if I have anything else for new business um and that's it thanks any other new business all right Community input regarding non boage in the
125items good evening it's on it's on good evening good evening so I am Rend we can hear you ly just start the 30 minute but we we set res set it to three minutes of to stop it reset it back to three and then the mic is working so just go okay just just start over the 30 minute and three once he starts talking we start to go go ahead so good evening I am Reverend saber mun guzi and I'm the president of the central Long Island NAACP and I'm trying not to be weary uh but this is um kind of EX an exhausting process so I have a question simple question it's not complicated at all and I'm sure all of you have the answer all of you have the right answer to this
126question and the question is in relation to the mentoring program being proposed by the 100 black women organization in terms of the insurance that they have been asked to provide the question is have other organizations that have programs with children in the Amo school district have they also been asked to provide the same level of insurance that's the question you just Bo it I'm not sure if Dr T want answered or Le want answer it we have one other organization who's working in our district and their agreement was made a couple of years ago and they were not required to to have that same level of insurance so there's only one other organization that is that has a program or activities for children in this District there's only one is that what you're telling me
127there's one organization that partners with us during the daytime there are other organizations that may utilize facilities but in terms of partnering with the district to provide service to students on site there's one okay so the keyword is partnering so I I was referring to using facilities uh I didn't get the partnering part so uh other organizations that are using facilities of the amville school district are they being asked to provide the same level of insurance that's the question so I don't know if you want to answer Dr taba or John so the answer is no but you you want to clarify for John so uh so that's not a an an Apples to Apples comparison uh in terms of use of facilities uh those those activities are under the scope of whoever is sponsoring
128that activity uh they're only required uh they are not within the district's uh sponsorship so they're not sponsored by the district so there's a different level of risk with associate associated with use of facilities as opposed to a partnership so the level of insurance uh is different in terms of uh the view of uh n nyser niser is the reciprocal uh that provides Insurance to the district and other school districts in terms of the level of insurance uh recommended for the partnership came from the insurance carrier the level the recommendations for those organizations that utilize school facilities also comes from uh nyser and there are different risks associated with those activities and therefore there are different recommendations from nyser So when you say different risks then that means that the risk R of something happening
129to a child in one program is different than the risk of something happening to a child in another program there's a different there's a different level of the potential for liability so with respect to uh students who are uh or or children who are under the jurisdiction of a outside activity let's say you have Boy Scouts Girl Scouts using our facilities uh those students are in the custody and care of that organization they're not in the custody and care of the school district we only permit the use of facilities pursuant to education law section 4 414 so the risk of the risk to the district with respect to liability from an incident that would happen under this the jurisdiction of the outside uh agency is different with respect to partnership uh those events and activities
130are within the scope of the jurisdiction of the school district and they are under uh the supervision of the school district because they happen during the school day and they happen uh while uh Administration and staff are uh supervising the students so this relationship is considered a partnership is that what you're saying yes so it's a it's a partnership in that um the members of the organization would be on school property during the school day at a time when the students are under the jurisdiction of the school district they're under the custody and care of the school district uh in the role of the parents so that being the case then so let me ask different question you you provided as the attorney you provided anou to the 100 black women organization and the you
131that you initially provided did not have this higher level of insurance in it so the the and still it's a partnership you're saying so I don't understand that was so that so so in terms of the recommendations for the insurance uh the higher level of insurance uh came from the insurance carrier so the insurance carrier had recommended a higher level of insurance uh when we sought out uh when the district sought out the recommendations for insurance so the insurance industry um really across the board has been seeking higher levels of insurance and uh attempting to mitigate the risks uh associated with School District activities and that's why the the insurance is changing so is this something that partnership is this A New Concept concept for for this District I mean because so it's not a
132it's not a new not a new um there's a a pre-existing uh partnership that was referenced by the superintendent that contract is an older contract that was originally used as the basis for um the contract that we're discussing now but when we B went out to in to check on the insurance requirements we were revised by n ship that the insurance requirements had changed so the insurance requirements had increased for Partnerships as recommended by the insurance reciprocal so the liability level is the same or different so the the liability with respect to that other partnership organiz right so the liability is determined by uh by nicer by the reciprocal and they have determined that that uh in in the current uh environment the liability and risk for uh school districts is heightened and therefore they're
133they are recommending greater level of insurance for the those organizations new organization so this other organization is being Grand fed in is that what you're said they're not they're not grandfather then but they will they will be uh their contractors under review and we will we will uh provide uniform level of uh risk for all such organizations so they will be asked to provide the same level of insurance as 100 black women that's what their their agreement will be under review and those we'll provide our recommendations to the board um we always recommend that the Board of Education follow the recommendations of its insurance carrier so in terms of ins re r s you just have to finish up because your time is up okay and I want to make sure everyone has enough time
134so just um okay but it's it's it's it does seem like there's a double standard I mean I I I hear what you're saying but it does seem like it's a double standard whoever is making the standard you're saying it's you know it's the state okay whoever it is it's it's a double standard and again you know as as I indicated you provide anou which did not have this information in it I'm ask just to clarify once again there's there's no double standard in terms of uh the prior agreements the prior agreements were subject to a different standard that was the standard a long time a long time ago or when that was the standard when that the district entered into that agreement when the district went out to its insurance carrier to uh get
135the updated standards those are the standards that uh we were provided and we will provide them across the board thank you okay all right thank hi Margaret chamille so Dr talber in um November I had sent you an email we back in November there was a on the agenda with regards to um consultants and I had we had gone back and forth on email since November and then in December you had finally uh replied with a feline email Five Points five bullet points of Consultants that were being paid out and the reason I had to ask this question was because there was a $177,000 kitchen food service consultant approval that you were voting on and I asked you what the consultant did for $177,000 and so I was curious about that also I think within
136the same meeting there was a an unemployment consultant for $5,900 so then I'd ask all right well we have some these consultants and I'm thinking I'd like to know what this kitchen person does because if there's a staff member or a leader within that kitchen for the for the district or for whatever why are we shelling out 17 grand for something that could probably be done in house so that was my question to you I was asking to be educated I was asking to look at ways of saving money because just in this meeting alone you just raise the kitty $10,000 for the safety thing for you know through bosei so 17 grand that I'm thinking looking outside the box trying to get something done inhouse so that you're not shelling out all these consultant
137fees my consultant question is nonrelated to any special ed it only is above and beyond that not touching special ed just for the AUD a purposes alone so my question to you is we know about the financial this thing is horrendous we know about the financial there was an extra $100,000 there that wasn't utilized because that gentleman left I'd like to know it's nominal but it's money I'm I'm looking to get educated here I'd like to know what a reading consultant does the reading consultant I believe was from the grant there's two of them here listed yeah miss banti those were reading Consultants um from last year that were a part of a grant and those are not here this year if it was reported to you that they are here this year and that
138was an error okay so that's out of the five lines you gave me two of them an error then is that what you telling me evidently so then the food service that you voted on on November 20th was $177,000 and then you gave me an hmb consultant Food Service paid $4 4,363 so is it 17 grand or is it almost 500 5,000 or is it 17 plus the 5,000 and what does the food service position what is the scope of work that they do okay so that same that was part of my email which it answered none of that yes I did respond to you and give you a what the consultant did do Dr talber I think maybe what could be done is um to maybe just provided her the information that she request
139it I provided a job description of the consultant Miss Bazi one consultant is the gentleman and the other is the third party that oversees the the food Service uh program and they are paid from the school lunch fund this is not a general fund expense at all so so then why is it included in an approval of $177,000 that seems like it's coming out of the budget no it is actually part of the school lunch fund and it's paid from the cafeteria fund and the reason why we have them is to make sure that we are in compliance because just like we talk about the transportation RFP we are required to do an RFP for the Food Service program and we have to make sure the Food Service program is self- sustaining and we have
140to make sure that there's compliance the food the contract that they bid for they comply with every term of the agreement and this is a very big help and you know that when it comes to the Food Service program progr that is one of the areas that we do very well in this District so these companies come in to make sure that indeed if they say they are going to sell fresh Bagels they are serving fresh Bagels making sure that if they are supposed to Ser salad they are serving salad and it is fresh if it's cold cut is from the right place so those are the kind of things that they look at and they also want to make sure that the food that we serve the kid have not expired so they do
141a lot of things here expiry dates can be done in house can they not they are yes you you have a point there you have a point there every every every uh head cook is supposed to know their inventory that's not the only thing that we are talking about we have to make sure that the the food that they serve the kids is topnotch but you just said two things you just said it was covered by the food service spell the 17 corre so so why are you voting on $177,000 even if it comes from the Food Service fund the board of education has jurisdiction over it and they have to appoint those Consultants as well so it comes out it doesn't come out of any budget it comes out of itn't we it doesn't
142come from the general fund budget comes from the service you are program so please just finish up as I did with the previous person so and and the $5,900 for an unemployment consultant like what unemployment has consultants if someone gets unemployed they go to unemployment and they get the they get what the information that they need you're paying $6,000 a year but for many layoffs last year so I guess maybe you needed it but thank you well I'm just to be consistent your time is up so I have R excuse your time is up so you have to move on as I did with the last person thank you so much well if the if the email was in the context that I asked it maybe I wouldn't have to be up here at all
143thank you next person please Jacqueline Stevenson what time is the meeting on Sat it's my first question 9 900 am okay because I I don't think it's posted on the website maybe it is but I I didn't see it we do there's reminder that's going out tomorrow about it as well uh regarding Northeast I don't want to open up a can of worms but then again I do uh uh so the 4010 status any updates 40410 applications have been submitted uh there has been some dialogue back and forth in terms of a final decision we're still waiting okay so you're waiting on them to get back to you we're waiting on them at this point to get back to it okay so I wanted to talk about a committee I'm not talking about 402a but
144I know um Miss Johnson at the last one of the meetings you mentioned uh possibly having a committee just to talk about uh Northeast so I I like to look ahead to the Future so wouldn't it be wouldn't it make sense to have a committee to talk about North East not just for immediate needs but for the future so that when next year comes around we're not you know scrounging around having forums trying to figure out if Northeast is going to stay open like a committee that can meet every month every other month of community members administrators to just have an ongoing conversation about Northeast I think that's something that um when Dr tabba did The Forum that was the beginning part of a continuation of the discussion in terms of Northeast so she's going
145to continue with probably addal meeting meetings and discussions on okay um syntax uh will not be doing websites after this year is that correct yes so what is the status of that syntax will continue their web services through next year we are looking to move to the parent Square company um smart site to start our web Services actually they're in the process now things will be um are being built behind the scenes so we're hoping to move into our new system July 1 so centax will be phasing it out but they will have it available one more year okay um Madam president you had mentioned about the superintendent eval uh a few meetings ago that it would be available to the public no I didn't say he was going to be available to if once
146the superintendent valuation is if it's signed off and agreed upon then it's available to the public and that's not that has not occurred okay so when will that happen I'll let you know when it happens for from last year because last year's has not been approved and signed off so therefore we cannot put it up it signs off the superintendent has to review it okay has to have discussion with the board and from that point been evaluated has she there was there was an evaluation that from there was an evaluation that was done that represented the 204 25 no 23 24 school year and that was done in correctly like September so when the when when the when new members had come in so I don't I don't know if that's available to the public
147that's why I just said it's not it's not available to the public but I don't think it's ever available to the public maybe through foil I don't think that no it's not available I think the only time becomes available there's a certain aspect if you can correct me um um John but it once it's been approved by the by the superintendent the board then it's something that may be um accessible to the but it's complete so in in in terms of certain parts of the evaluation may be may be available purum to foil right but that would be that would be uh dependent on a review of the file of the document itself why isn't it we did this in September why isn't it complete it has not been signed off one and we can
148talk about it more but it has not been signed off one okay um there was a board member that expressed concern about high school security and I was just wondering if that has been followed up meaning they went to pick up someone and they were able to get inside so this was mentioned at a a meeting I I don't recall what I don't recall that so we can that board member can speak to that if I don't I don't recall who it was so we we can go from there oh his incident that took place at the middle school yes the high school okay I'm not familiar I'm not too sure but we can find out and let you know on it so we'll find out that I wasn't able I mean I guess it
149would have been a side door you or me uh when there was a side door that was left open thought I was able to get in there was a door that was left open on the side when your concerned with was that you were able to get in yeah that I was able to get security around and then someone said that they would be looking into it so I'm just following up but so the incident was at the middle school high school at the high scho high school and it has been addressed since you brought it up thank you thank you it is up yeah it is stopping no she was stopping it she's been stopping it yeah thank you good evening everyone I have a basic question I am a member of a couple
150of people I'm sorry I'm a member of a couple of organizations and typically there is an executive meeting before we have a general body meeting and that executive meeting kind of mirrors what the regular meeting is going to look like can you share with me because most of your audience in your executive meeting what are you doing that when you come for your regular public meeting it almost doubles and almost triples in time your executive meeting if it's about an hour hour and a half you're going over what you're going to share with the public right no no no so that's what I'm saying please share because it seems awkward that most of your audience has G has gone you're talking about possibly now doing field trips for the children right someone mentioned children hopefully
151how are you going to plan a decent field trip halfway through the year your field trips should in some way reflect the curriculum or something that the children are learning so now you've gone halfway through the school year and you're going to say oh we're going to send them on a field trip if you're going to book anything decent for the children it would have been done a year in advance just help me understand that when you make your statement in the beginning of the year no field that's bogus because they the children should be on some sort of field trip that's aligned with the curriculum that they're learning it's wonderful to see the increase of the scores board it's not going to happen overnight we're not going to see an increase necessarily year by
152year it's going to take time time for the teach teachers to work from the curriculum work with the children their different learning styles their needs it takes time the results are not going to be immediate thank you for the work that you're doing thank you to the teachers the survey that you did it's nice to hear what the teachers have to say I'm more concerned about what the children are saying and the stakeholders as far as the parents the teachers are getting paid their results or their comments reflect how they feel about the administration not necessarily what's going on let's be clear board if there's other additional learning and training that you need to do to understand budgets funding whatever please Avail yourself to it because the the back and forth of of you're having
153to be explained or information has to be explained to you some of the information hopefully you will sleep on your own to better understand so thank you your time yeah thank you and the board does have to does have to go back into executive session for another matter to discuss uh good evening my name is Sheron chuzi I'm the first vice president of the National Coalition of 100 black women suffer County chapter I don't want to give anybody a false impression in the room this process of trying to have this program to benefit the girls in the AM School District started almost two years ago and we went through the process we followed all the direction that was given to us by the district and the legal uh Department we signed anou we submitted thatou
154thatou was okay until we came to this body okay and then we were then told that we were out of compliance as a result of that of compliance we received another mou right which detailed in in detail what the lawyer just said that we needed to go and get a higher level of insurance with the explanation here today saying that we're a different entity now my question is we have always been this entity so why were we not told that this was a partnership in their initiation which had would have cut down on a lot of things number one number two it seemed that we came to a meeting here and then everything went to another Direction without anything in writing to us as to why other than a comment made in this body they
155changed everything right so now we're hearing that we're not a partnership we're a partnership so we're different there's no policy in the district that aligns itself with what you're saying that I've seen so now I'm asking because this is what the precedent that is been set I'm asking for that I want a definition from this board of what a partnership is in detail based on District set forth and also all the things that were just explained to us again after a year and a half of going through this process the lawyer is now telling us which I don't really understand why it is we went to your insurance company when we had an insurance company and we met the guidelines that were initially given to us and all of a sudden now we went to
156two other insurance companies who then of course any insurance company is always trying to keep their liability in check so I'm asking for that in writing also from everything that you told me today because based on what I see there's a glaring inis consistency here glaring and if that's what it is is then that's what it is but now we are asking for it to be in writing to us those things thank you may I respond so with respect to the level of insurance for a particular organization is dependent on the risk assessment uh the district uh pays uh insurance and part of that insurance program is a risk manager uh for that's uh provided by as a service uh for nyip I mean for for nyser and nyser will provide uh recommendations to the
157business office with respect to the appropriate insurance for a given activity uh in this case uh the mou was provided to nicer they reviewed the program that was being uh recommended or under review and the recommendations came back from niser as to the appropriate level of insurance uh with respect to EXC excuse me don't please don't speak out from the audience thank you so with respect to uh the insurance levels recommended by uh niser they were strongly recommended Ed uh to the district uh our recommendation to the board of education and the district is to follow uh the nicer recommend recommendations for a specific level of insurance it is intended to mitigate our risks of liability uh that is a very important topic for school districts and to ensure that uh we meet the requirements
158of our insurance policy and and meet the rec we follow the recommendations of the insurance carrier and that's what happened in this case so with respect to the specific definitions the specific requests uh the response is that uh the review of the document was through the district's insurance carrier the recommendations came back and the district followed those recommendations thank you so at this time Community input Buzz went off so it's it's over so I'm going to pass it over to the to the superintendent um it's it's it's come to an end so I I'm sorry I have to close I have to close it here all right because it the buzzer the buzzer went off the buzzer went off before yeah I'm I'm sorry I have to close it off okay yeah I have to
159close it off all right go ahead um Dr Talbert U um Lynn can you oh go Dr a superintendent report just wanted to uh share with the board and those in attendance um we have been a part of the legislative program I want to thank Miss Stevenson who joined us at the program I think I'm going to need someone to help with the clicker can you go to the next there you go that's it thank you okay uh that was sponsored by Western suff bosies we had an opportunity to uh be in attendance with our assemblyman Mr oaro in terms of our instructional leadership framework our in administrators have been strengthening their roles as instructional leaders and as you can see they're engaged in a pair and share and we talked about how we can
160strengthen our instructional leadership capabilities we also had a part of attending the shared decision-making team meeting at amville high school there with principal Cardone and there's a parent and there were a diverse staff we talked about the code of conduct academic data School culture student engagement and parental involvement while at the high school we had the wonderful opportunity to provide a grand finale as our parade of Champions made their way back to the high school from visiting all of the schools in the district before they left for their Orlando National Cheer competition we were also able to support our music and arts program with Dr Fran Fernandez where they acknowledge superintendence and Central Administration as a part of the suff chapter of ncam and we were able to support at the luncheon the Amityville High
161School hosted a wonderful black history show our students talents were on display and the interact Club supported by the Rotary Club and Miss uh Rankin thank her for her coordination of a wonderful afternoon tonight our boys voice City basketball team played bport High School in the quarter semifinals and we won yay we also want to acknowledge Eric Maha Zavala who's a freshman who placed sixth place in the suffi county wrestling division our scholar athletes are doing big things I am particularly proud of the Edmund W miles Middle School Administration falcony staff and student Scholars they had a robust discussion and creation of a wonderful shared plan on how they can pursue some interests and Pursuits that they discussed at the table they had the wonderful opportunity of reviewing their data uh their survey other data
162sets and they discuss student and staff concern School culture and climate strengthening student adult relationships data decisionmaking and is no top-down approach no necessary corrective measures it's robust discussion and collaboration that resulted in some wonderful wonderful results and so for that uh thank you em your miles for taking things to another level while there we were able to visit some classrooms piano classrooms we saw some beautiful doors decorated for Black History Science and action and our very own Miss Stevens assisting students as we uh visited the classrooms Northwest haded wonderful Black History Month celebration the students did readings and poetry and song and dance and we were glad to be a part of what was happening at our K through2 building Northeast Elementary also had a robust Black History Month combined with Valentine's Day Celebrations
163and you can see all the Joy on our little ones faces they also had posters around the school that showcased their principal their school nurse and a teacher there were lots of posters but that's just a sampling of how they were loving on their staff for Valentine's Day Park Avenue Memorial School we had a midyear review with principal Ed Paya Mr duay um it we were so happy to see the progressive instructional improvements in ready over the last three to four years they talked about the factors that contributed to that Success Through teacher interventions the instructional coaches which did not make it into this year's budget so it's something we want to discuss even again on Saturday the impact that those positions had in terms of bringing um improvements in ela as well as math
164and so as you can see we had wonderful visits in classrooms at Park as well the mascot task force meeting will be chaired by Mr Evan farcus I have the next meeting as March 4th is it March 4th or March 6th if someone can just confirm before we leave and we'll leave an accurate announcement the districtwide black history program is this Thursday February 27 6:30 p.m. at the Amityville High School there will be a special art and music Wing tour for seventh and eighth grade parents and student Scholars on Tuesday March 4th at 700 p.m. in the amville high school cafeteria and the let's talk Community connections will reconvene on Monday March 3rd at 11:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. at Park North conference room we leave you with this quote by Dr Martin Luther King
165Jr in celebrating Black History Month the function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically intelligence plus character that is the goal of true education to our outstanding Administration falcony staff and students for helping us to produce a great monthly report to our Board of Education of The Marvelous things that's happening across the district thank you thank you I'm Dr talber um just one thing that I that I do want to bring up and we did had some of a discussion with it in executive session and I will bring it to the table and I will bring it under um just to state that for myself I am a member of the Hun black women organization and I serve as the role as a financial secretary and as legal had
166mentioned that we that it's recommendation in terms of the type of insurance that we should get from from nysar and so I'm presenting to the Board of Education would we be willing to consider even with the recommendation that um that legal provided if we were be willing to consider to have this organization provide this service to our district so I'm asking the board members to weigh in as whether or not you are interested in considering this um despite the um recommendation from legal I guess I'll jump in um legal council advises against it the insurance company advises against it I happen to be an insurance and license broker um I had mentioned this the insurance company is making a reg recommendation to mitigate any risk to the district it is a tremendous issue if the
167district moves forward to approve something that council is advising us on or our own insurance company is advising on God forbid there's ever a claim we would be responsible I'm not sure that they would cover it they probably wouldn't if they're giving the recommendation we have public meetings stating these are the recommendations and to go against them is not only putting the district at risk I'm not sure that we would be indemnified if we are going against those recommendations that have clearly been put out to us I certainly understand the frustration and the points brought up but we have to file legal guidance and our insurance carriers guidance and we have to uphold our responsibilities and duties um as elected officials into the New York state constitution and new yor and the United States Constitution
168thank thank you anyone else okay are we voting right no I'm just I'm just getting I'm just giving feedback if you want to make an opinion on it or if you want to just discuss more executive session we have to go in and come back out then then that's fine back yeah so we're gonna I'm going to do a motion to go back we have to go back into exact session for a purpose of advice from Legal C move it wi K is first Megan messon is second all those in favor I I 7 Z open at 1133 p.m. and I'm bringing it back up again in regards to the H black women Organization for the for them to come in to bring them M program I'm asking the board education if we want to
169consider it I heard resp resp from wend canestro early on and open I just need to find out from other board members if you want to consider it yes or no so therefore we can put the issue to to today I think if there's an administrator that's what Dr tal said at all times in administrator in the building in the room that's a consideration I don't know I would like for it to work but it seems like too much of a Financial Risk that's that's I just I just need to hear people's responses so therefore we can move forward I'm inclined to follow the advice of legal and not consider it this time okay I agree with um following uh the attorney's legal advice also okay although I would like to have them come in
170absolutely but that's fine that's what once again I go ahead Caroline same here okay fine so that was it I just only person I heard from was Wendy I wanted to make sure everyone had their voice heard so can I have a motion to adjourn at 11:35 Mo second second Chris naring is is First Win keso Second all those in favor I I motion carries 70