001Sorry. >> It's all right. >> Preemptive. >> Okay. Can I get a motion to go into work session? >> Motion. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. All right. Another great meeting. We love having kids here. So, welcome for coming out. Thank you for coming out on a cold night. So I guess we're starting with Bashar Middle School student conference day. Mr. McDougall, Mr. Ro >> and he'll tell us who else he brought with him. >> Brought everybody. >> You brought everybody. He can tell us. >> Safety and numbers. >> Yeah. >> Hey, Lauren. How you doing? Yeah. Lauren. Lauren. Lauren, come up here. >> Come on up here. Good evening everyone. How are you? >> So I have a whole posi with us for on behalf of the Beayshore Middle School >> to
002talk about student conference day. >> So at the Beayshore Middle School, everything that we do um goes back to our central mission uh the mission statement that we have as a as a district. Um, for me, I don't think it's necessary to reinvent the wheel because the, you know, our our purpose for why we show up every day is is right there in black and white. And in the spirit of student conference day, I'd like to focus on the fourth bullet point of our mission statement that children will achieve optimum wellness within a healthy learning environment. And we know that the middle years are critical for the development of students to turn into healthy individuals. And health can mean a lot of different things. And in 2025, we try to take the approach of providing
003students with a a day that fe that focuses on the issues that are pertinent to them. Um, student conference day is something that happens every November. It's during our half-day schedule where students um you know and teachers rather have the opportunity to meet with um you know parents for conferences. And this year it was on uh November the 7th. We had a half-day program that offered really a variety of experiences. It's student conference day is something that started with I think goes back a few decades. Pet was run by Peter Michaelman at one point who was affiliated with Boseies. Uh we all know Peter, we all respect the work that he did. And through the years it's sort of evolved, but it's always gone back to providing students with, you know, um something that would
004raise awareness about pertinent issues, help to boost their social emotional health. Um provide them with strategies for dealing with challenges, whatever those might be, you know, as as the years have moved on. Because as we I said before that middle year uh period of students development is so important for giving them the strength to you know deal with things that they've never had to deal with before as they've moved from elementary um into the middleear program before they get to high school. Things like you know bullying, things like navigating friendships, things like navigating social media, standing up for what's right, um you know, reaching out for help if those situations might might be needed. So student conference day is something that's multifaceted. Typically through the years we've had guest speakers, workshops, activities, and student facilitators.
005Um, and each year it's focused around a specific theme. So this year's theme was fuel your mind, body, and spirit. So this is a herculan effort that really involves a lot of different stakeholders. And I'd like to bring on Lauren Leio now to talk about the coordination and scheduling of the event. Good evening everyone. Um so this event is really a buildingwide effort. It requires a lot of stakeholders to get involved to make sure that our students get the best experience during this day. Um prior to the event we created a rotational schedule, the administrative team and myself. Uh this rotational schedule allows the students to flow through three 40-minute periods or sessions I should say in which they get a variety of experiences including two keynote speakers from Boseis. Yes, program speakers as well
006as other experiences I know Miss Roelme will share as well as Miss O Sullivan will share in the next couple of slides. Um but the staff also receives um this rotational schedule prior. It shows it details the grade level um rotations for everyone but also where they start at the beginning of the day because it is a bit different than their typical schedule. Sixth grade will start with their homebased teacher where our seventh and eighth graders depends on the class. It starts with a social studies teacher and period and then we designate them a classroom that's available. Staff also is split. They're they're either covering a class or they're also covering a presentation location during that time. U they get this in advance to really make sure that the transitions during this day are smooth
007but also um to set that expectation for the day so everybody knows where to go and it flows really well. Um so that being said you know an event of the size really requires precision behind the scenes. We coordinate with our support team prior. This includes custodial staff, technology team, food service team as well as custodial staff as well. um you know they really really helped to make this day a success. Um they set the you know they really did a great job on the infrastructure as well as the uh safety requirements to make sure that this day runs smoothly for us. So huge shout out to them as well. Um and lastly I just want to highlight two of our groups of students who played key leadership roles during this day. This was our
008uh Basher High School peer support program as well as our um the other one was our bear with me a second peer support and um >> honor society. Yes, thank you. Honor society students. So, our honor society students, they greeted our presenters but escorted them down to where they needed to go. And our peer support came over with Dr. Katie Kelly. They presented to our uh students and really shared some personal experiences, personal stories that um made a positive impact on their life and they shared that with our middle schoolers to really give them some, you know, some eyeopening experiences, maybe also to connect with some of our students as well. So that this way um they can take them home with them and maybe guide them on their path as they move into high
009school as well. Um so it was a really great opportunity for these students to have some leadership real world leadership skill sets but also they added a great great um important role in making our day a wonderful success. So I'm going to share or pass it off to Miss O Sullivan who's going to talk about a day of play which was one of the experiences during this day. Thank you. >> Good evening. Thank you so much for allowing me to be here. Um day of play is personal for me. Um, some of you may or may not know I learned of Day of Play from my late brother who was a principal and a teacher in Sioset and he brought it to Sioset schools, uh, Southwood Middle School as well as now Thompson is also
010going to be doing it this year. Um, and Day of Play is a wonderful experience for the students to really explore a lot of social emotional skills and practice them without the threats or the I shouldn't say threats but maybe the um stressors of academics. So, while the students just think they're playing, they're actually practicing so many skills. They're taking turns. They're cheering one another on. They're working collaboratively. They are problem solving. Um, they're sometimes demonstrating some patience with one another, learning some new skills from one another as well, new games that I saw students playing games all throughout the day. It was magical to watch um students from who maybe never have opportunities to work together are now working together to complete games. There was a wild cornhole game going on in the hallway
011that Mr. Pashkin saw. Um, in a very controlled wild cornhole game. Very, very controlled. No, no issues really throughout the day. There were no issues whatsoever. The kids were smiling, laughing, speaking to one another. I heard from a teacher that um students she never had seen interacting were interacting with one another and then it carried through and they became more friendly because they had an opportunity just to talk to one another. Not to run to the next class or get the next book or make sure you're on time and oh I have to write that down. It was just an opportunity for them to connect socially. And in today's world, I have to say I think it's a wonderful thing to see them connect socially without a screen. So, it was a beautiful, wonderful day.
012There's a couple pictures here um of the students playing and they really enjoyed every minute of being together um just playing games with one another and practicing social skills without realizing they were practicing the social skills. So, it was magical and I hope that we get an opportunity to do this again because it's amazing and the research behind it is fantastic. If you're interested, there's a website global global school day of play with a ton of research on how play actually helps students to learn um so many skills and it transfers over to their academics as well. So, and I'm going to pass it on to Miss Raquelme. Thank you. >> Good evening everyone. Thank you for allowing me to be here. Um I'd like to speak about a couple of our presenters that we
013had for student conference day this year. Um, the first one I'd like to highlight is Gio Ramos, um, who works with an organization called Box Out Bullying. And he was new to us. The whole organization was new to us this student conference day. Um, I did get his information off of our Bosey's arts and education website. And he had a really wonderful uh, presentation for our students. Um, all of the entire school, each grade level did get a chance to see GIO and he spoke a lot about anti-bullying with a focus on raising awareness for the bystander. So kind of equipping the bystander with tools and strategies to handle um you know bullying situations and to not kind of take a backseat and stand back and not really do much. Um he also spoke about
014positive peer relationships which is extremely important for middle schoolers to hear about because in today's day and age um our middle schoolers or pre-teens or teenagers are so immersed in the online world um that they don't really get a chance to or as many chances as they used to to um practice face-toface socialization. So anytime they can you know hear some encouraging words or strategies on how to um build positive peer relationships it is beneficial for them. So he had a wonderful presentation for our students. It was interactive. Um he also incorporated some hip-hop and some poetry which really allowed the students to connect with the message. So he was wonderful. Our next um presenter that I'm going to speak about is Mr. Michael Sweetney. Um he has been with us for student conference day
015for a couple of years now. Um he's a former NBA player, very tall guy. Um he um played for the New York Knicks and the Chicago Bulls and his story is a very um deep and profound one. Um he actually was dealing with the loss of his father during his rookie season or before his rookie season and he really spiraled into a depression. So he tells our students about how he went through that and the strategies and tools that he used to overcome it. Um so it was really about mental health awareness which is important not only for our students to hear but really everyone during this day and age. Um life is hard. So um anytime someone can provide some encouraging words on how to kind of um overcome um hard times then um
016I believe is beneficial. Um he also focused on asking for help and of course as I mentioned overcoming challenges. So the kids loved him. It was very interactive um and they were very in tune to his message. Um there was a couple of questions about if he knew LeBron James. Um but lots of questions. Yes. But um overall they were very in tune with the message. So he was also a wonderful speaker. Um Shadrach Bokei was with us this year. He is just amazing. There's I I can't say enough about how um our students, our staff members loved his presentation. Um he is an awardwinning actor and director. He um won some awards with the NAACP. Um he was involved in a series directed by Spike Lee. Um so he's very accomplished. Um he's also
017a director and he's a mo motivational speaker. Um so he um has done a couple of presentations on Long Island. He's um pretty well known. His uh presentation really focused on resilience, focused on supporting others. um he told the story about his um childhood in Liberia. Um and there was a civil war going on at the time and he really focused on a situation where um there was a lot of violence going on and his mother actually physically shielded him from some violence that was happening and um covered him. So he uses that as a metaphor for supporting others, covering others, being there for others, um providing them with support. Um so it was extremely interactive. The students loved it, the teachers loved it, all staff members loved it. He went around asking students um
018who covers them, who supports you and they named teachers, they named you know people in their personal lives, they named their friends. So um in addition to it being a very uh powerful message, it was also fun for the kids. They loved it. Um and it was, you know, all about positive thinking and encouragement. and he's a wonderful, wonderful speaker and we're hoping to work with him in the future as well. So, those were three of our um speakers. We did have more um but those were the three I wanted to highlight. And now I wanted to introduce Sebastian Mora who is one of our seventh grade students who would like to share a bit about Shadrach Bokei's amazing performance. But before I uh hand it over to him, I just wanted to say we're
019extremely grateful for all of our presenters that shared powerful positive messages with our students. It's very very important for students to hear positivity especially in this day and age when life seems to be getting harder. So I want to thank everyone involved with making this day a success for our students. So here's Sebastian. >> Thank you. >> Um so um personally I feel like Shadow's presentation was my favorite because he was very active with us. He was walking all around the auditorium asking people questions. He was very like he's like I've seen a lot of speakers and he was definitely top one. He was the best one I've ever seen. Most motivation I've ever had in my life. I can tell you that. And when I was up there with him, he had me fry
020an egg. He didn't mean that literally, but he had me like he pointed out where there was a fridge, a stove, a cabinet, and um like where all this stuff was. Then everybody in the auditorium, they were like laughing, screaming, like there was a lot. I was overwhelmed. Then after he asked me, "Why didn't you do it right?" I was like, I I didn't know what to say to him. And then he calmed down the auditorium, asked them why they were laughing, said, "You guys need to cover him." Like his mom did in Liberia. >> And and then um he helped me out. And at the end, as you can see, like gave me a high five for completing the activity. Well, and there was one thing that he pointed out is that I had
021the the egg carton in my hand. I put it here. He said he was talking about natural instinct, which is the one his mother have to save his life in Liberia. Thank you. >> So, you know, just to, you know, express how much of a group effort this is. We have, you know, we have a math teacher, we have our dean of students, we have a social worker, a student, everybody coming together, um, you know, for the sake of of benefiting our kids. And, you know, we could not do this without the generous support of the board of education. So, we're here tonight, you know, not only to share with you information about uh student conference day, but also just to thank you for the support of uh of the Beayshore Middle School and our
022and our our students there. So, thank you our district administrators and our board members for for the support. >> Absolutely. >> Come next year. >> VIP with reserved parking. >> No, I I'll get there early enough. >> She wants to high five the speakers. >> That's great. >> I just It's really fabulous. it. That picture there is actually Sebastian as you can see right there getting the high five. If you have any questions, we'd be happy to answer those for you. Now, >> the smile on your face in that picture is all I needed to say. >> You know, I'll tell you the truth. If I could ever go back and make the changes in my life, this is where at junior in the middle school, >> Yeah. >> is where we make them all.
023I'm sure people on the board here, you do that stuff. You could change a lot of things if you go out there and I I I would love to admit my mistakes and go back and go to middle school and change the things that I really did. middle school is the biggest part of your life and you guys really need to share that word and bring that back. You you should bring that back to your your friends and don't be scared to ask those questions. Don't be scared to go. Like I said, there's many things that I would have liked to done, but I would really go back right now and know where I made those changes and they would have been in that middle school and they would have been that part of my
024life. I would have changed to make a difference. And you can really make a difference if you really put your head down and keep going the way you are. And you talk about friends and lifelong friends and all that stuff sharing those relationship with one another. The bullying don't as big as I am can't be a bully. I never was a bully. You always got to be everybody's friend. And that's important. So, good job you guys. >> I was at the middle school today and I could just see the positive energy throughout the middle school with, you know, Duncan is doing principal, Miss Galuchcci, Mr. Oblage, Miss Leio, and the whole staff is just doing an amazing job over there. When I was over there today, you could just see it in the hallways with
025the teachers excited to come to work every day and the kids just how they're treating each other. No, >> it's obvious the enthusiasm in your presentation. It's just uh makes I know it makes everybody up here feel great >> just to listen to it. >> We're fortunate enough to cover each other. >> Very good. Thank you. >> Takes a team. It takes a team. That's right. It takes a team. >> Thank you everybody. [Applause] >> All right. So, we're excited to have Garner Manor and South Country Schools here together um for a presentation on the Veterans Day celebration. And of course, we have the kids, which is the most important. Sorry. >> Hi, how are you? >> How you doing? Good. >> Yeah. Good evening. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Um on behalf
026of both Garden Manor and South Country, we are excited to be here tonight to share how both communities, school communities celebrate and honor our veterans. This microphone. Okay. Um, having joined the Garden Mana family this year, it really is a privilege and honor to become part of this wonderful event that was extremely heartfelt and impactful. On a personal note, it really touched my heart. And um, at the end of it, I actually had to stop and pause and just take it all in. Um and hopefully you'll hear that from both presentations today. Um the celebration exists at Garden Manner specifically thanks to initiative and vision of our assistant principal Miss Liz Tah Miss Liz Tahada an amazing amazing assistant principal. Welcome um who was instrumental in bringing this um event to um our students. Um
027Mr. Sahara will share a little bit of the history, how it developed over time and also recognize some of the wonderful people slash committee that formed over the years um who are actually here in our audience today. So I'm just going to pass it over to Miss Tada. >> Thank you, Miss Fadila. And thank you to uh the board for having us here tonight. Um when I arrived at Garner Manor four years ago, um I knew that I wanted to create something meaningful, um an opportunity for our students to really celebrate veterans and understand why it's important to celebrate them. But I also felt it was important for students to really hone in on the veterans in their lives. Um I presented this um idea to uh Mr. Brown who was completely on board with
028it. And then we presented it to the staff. The staff along with our amazing PFA jumped on board. Loved it. Like let's do it. Um and then we quickly formed a small committee and uh several of those committee members are here tonight. We have Miss Margarite Cubic, Kelly Owen, Christine McCarthy, and Stephanie Cox. and Jen Franco. That first year, we held our inaugural breakfast with your vet event. Students invited their special veteran and our entire school community came together to celebrate and recognize them. We want to thank you, the board members and district members for your ongoing support as many of you have attended this event as well. Since then, breakfast with your veteran has grown into one of the most anticipated celebrations at Gardenner Manor School. Each year, the event becomes even more meaningful,
029more touching, more special to our students, families, and staff. Tonight, you will hear from some of our students who will speak about their special veteran. At this time, I would like to invite two of our committee members, Ms. Cox and Miss Lyn Franco to come up and share some special details with you about this amazing day. >> Yes. Okay. Good morning. Good morning. That's how tired I am. Um good evening. I just want to tell you that this is um an honor to be here tonight and to tell you a little bit about this group. Miss Tahada did bring it to us and we all jumped on board to go along with her. Um, again, what she did say, this is a school community event. It's just not about us. The whole school gets involved
030in this. Um, it shows that this it's just our committee, but it's a collective outpouring of gratitude. And that's one of the things in your social emotional learning that we do teach the children about gratitude and giving back. Um, and talking about gratitude, it starts off with the breakfast and I guess there are some pictures up there. Um, with the breakfast, the the staff, the faculty, um, they donate a a breakfast to welcome everybody, making sure everyone feels welcome and loved. The students, their artwork and poem transports the entire I don't know if you can see it up there, but the entire cafeteria um, is like a a visual tribute to the veterans to make them feel welcome and loved. And also the PFA so nicely there it is has uh donated that little arch
031thing there which makes it festival festive and more enjoyable to me the most important part of this is when and I don't know how you girls feel but when the scholar gives their veteran the certificate. >> Um to me that's I don't know that's memorable for me because it makes a a meaningful connection between the generations. Um, that's why I think that's important. In the background, if you can see at the bottom right, there's a presentation going of all the veteran. Each veteran is listed there with their branch, their service, um, how long they were there, a picture of them, and then what's also to me, which is emotional for me, the kids write their veteran something nice. But there is someone sitting here that did not write their veteran something nice. >> You have
032to stay after. >> I had to write. Thank you. All right. Um I like the fact that the students bring the certificates to their veteran um because again that to me makes the connection together. Um the again the decorations throughout the entire um building and in the cafeteria um is by the entire school community making it memorable for all. Um, not only does this benefit the veterans, but it educates our students and instills values of gratitude and civic duty. Um, to go on here, these are examples of what each grade level was presented to do. So, each grade level um was asked assigned a specific project. Third graders drew pictures. The fourth graders did acrostic poems. the fifth graders um did the heartfold thank you notes which it's nice because a lot of the vets
033take the thank you notes home with them which I think is amazing. >> Um these creative and appreciative items really beautify the entire cafeteria and also along the hallways as well. Um besides completing their assignments um that were given to them, you also had some classes that went above and beyond um of what we asked them to do, further showcasing their respect and gratitude for all the veterans. And now I'd like to bring it over to Miss Lefranco. Thank you. Thank you so much for being here. When Miss Tahada asked me to join the committee, I was really excited. This is like my dream to have this at Gardener Manor. You know, this and Flag Day, I'm get really excited about this stuff. So um my job is the biggest thing is everything is arranged
034by branch of service. So as the veterans come in I get the pleasure of checking them in. I check in the student and um as they come in they each get each student gets a button and then we give each um veteran guest a pin which we have for each of you that our students are going to present. So you could hand them out now. Thanks. Okay. So we have one for each of you as well. So, as you see, the button goes to the student and the flag goes to to the veteran. So, thank you, ladies. Everyone gets a little gift tonight. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> And then, um, we segue into the guests being seated by our mini marauders. We have a mini marauder program at Garden Mana,
035so it's nice they're a part of it. Again, they're all seated by branch of service. They have time to socialize with other members, get some breakfast and coffee and talk. And uh so after we do that, we have a little time for everyone to socialize. I again get the pleasure of announcing everybody. So I announce everyone's certificate. Again, we go by branch of military. Every year the Marines do the hurrah. You know, I wait for that. They get excited and um you know, I announce their names and as Miss Cox had mentioned, uh the student comes up and then prevent excuse me, presents their veteran with the with their certificate. So, it's it's really really nice. Um, then we do a group picture. As you could see there on the slide, we have each branch
036of the military and then I think it's in the next one. Oh, it's in the last one, but we do a we do a group picture. Uh, I'll get back to that. But, so that after the other pictures, we segue into the parade. And this is like my favorite part because everybody is so excited. The kids are like lined in the hallway. They're waving their flags. They're high-fiving. They're just like, you could feel the energy. It's like electric and like everyone's excited. And you know, we've built up to this in our class in our classrooms, reading about it, talking about it, decorating for it. So, um, as I said, you could you could feel the excitement. It's it's great. Um, and this year, oh, there's some more of the parade. Wait, I'm sorry. Let me
037It say it says, "Students cheered, clapped, waved flags, created a joyful and patriotic atmosphere as they honored their veterans contributions." So that's a little more. Oh, and then so this last picture that after the parade and everyone's back in the classroom, the uh veterans go back and we get this staff pick and you could see we had about four we did we had 40 veterans this year, men, women, younger, older, different branches. It's it's a really nice mix. Um, and what I want to say is a big thank you to our veterans for attending and those that are here tonight and those that attended, but also to the staff, the custodians who set up, the kitchen staff who cooks, the teachers, the powers, the secretaries who are donating money or, you know, a box of
038cookies, whatever it is. It's like a, you know, people staying late decorating or coming early in the morning. It is like a buildingwide effort. And I'm I'm just proud to say that I've been at Garden Manor almost 30 years now. And it's it's really nice to have this have this uh celebration and as Liz said, it grows every year. So I'm excited to see next year what what else we can do. So and thank you to you guys for for your support. And Mr. Pashkin, as you could see, wait, we'll flip back. He's in there in the parade. Oh, wait. Did I pass it? I passed it. >> Sorry. Oh, I don't know what I did. Okay. I'm sorry. Okay. Clearly, I'm not the technology person. Okay. Thank you. I was trying. Okay. Um, yeah.
039So, there's Mr. Pashkin. And actually, I just wanted to add to one year I had my dad. He lives in Arizona, but I have him on FaceTime like at the Veterans Breakfast. So, it's it's it's really nice. So, thank you. I'll turn it over to South Country. >> Okay. Thanks. >> Thank you for having us this evening. Um, I'd first like to introduce um, well, as you know, my uh, other half, Mrs. Christine Choco, my assistant principal. We have here uh, Katherine Melendez and Erin Nap, both South Country teachers. And we have several South Country families here joining us, um, for this special event. So, um, this is a newer event at South Country. It began last year. Um, both Katherine and Erin approached Miss Grao and I about wanting to do something special for
040Veterans Day. Um, we graciously agreed and they took it and they ran with it. Um, and as wonderful as a celebration as it was last year, like all good teachers, it ended and they already started planning for next year and how to make it even better. So um at this time I'm going to introduce um Katherine and Erin who are going to speak about the plans that they made and the coordination that they did along with many of our South Country teachers to coordinate the um the grade level projects and um our with our music teacher Mrs. Ovali to get it off the ground. So thanks. >> Hi everyone. Thank you for having me tonight. Um honestly it really started organically. It was something that we realized we had so many alumni in our local
041community and also past alumni of beayore schools that are back in the community that really we just really wanted to celebrate them. Um we knew that this was a teaching moment and we wanted to create a learning experience for all of our students. Last year we invited local and South Country family veterans into our school for a parade around the building. That's really where it started. And from there we realized the excitement. The students were cheering. They lined the hallways. They were so excited to have grandparents, uncles, aunts, moms, dads. In my class alone, I had about six different family members that served in the military. So, it was wonderful. Um, as we learned from reflection, we changed things a little in 2025. We realized we needed to send out a parent square invitation on
042parent uh a save the date on the parent square portal. Um, we got so many more parents this year and family members and grandparents um to be honored for their service. As a school, we wanted to create a memorable experience for our veterans. So, this time we line the hallways with, as we heard from Gardenner Manor did as well, um, decorative and artistic symbols to show our appreciation to them. The students completed grade level activities to express their patriotism and gratitude for our veteran sacrifices. And one other thing that I'm thinking about now that we heard from Garner Manor is just just collaborate. Like I feel like we're collaborating right now and we're can gather some information from them and we can hopefully move forward in the future with it. Thank you. >> Good evening.
043Thank you for having me as well. Uh this year we wanted to create an alignment between the grade levels and elevate our hallways. Together, we help plan activities for each grade level to complete and celebrate their learning. So, this year, we broke it down from third grade, fourth grade, and fifth grade. Our third grade classes and all our ABA classes decorated symbols of patriotism using red, white, and blue hearts. Fourth grade wrote detailed messages of gratitude and shared examples of ways to support the veterans today. They were on um a peace uh plaque and they wrote inside each one. It was It's beautiful. while we have some pictures up there. While the fifth grade wrote heartfelt statements of thanks for veteran services and braveries on symbolic dog tags, and we had them lined up all
044the hallways as well. Everything was showcased throughout the entire building. As we all know, music added to any event creates emotional responses and really brings joy to celebrations. We asked Mrs. Ovali to help teach our students a few patriotic songs to sing during our assembly. She gladly took on the role and shared ideas and ways teachers can actually do it in their own classroom. So it it went on for a few weeks to in preparation of today. At our assembly, all three grade levels participated in song to honor our veterans and after again to listening to all that was done in Garden Manor, I think we can definitely take it to another level next year. So, but we had a great time uh putting it together and so hopefully uh next year it'll be a
045little bit different and and we'll collaborate together. Thank you. >> Thank you, Katherine and Erin. So, um our students and GA and staff gathered together in the cafeteria and we welcomed our veterans. Our veterans were seated on stage. They sang the the students sang three or four different patriotic songs. We welcomed members from all five of the military branches and um we even had some great great-grandparents as well. Um every veteran received a pin of appreciation which was really special and just seeing their faces the when the veterans connected with their students out in the audience. I think that was you know one of my favorite moments seeing them lock eyes and just feeling that moment of of pride. And at the end of the celebration in the cafeteria, the veterans paraded through the decorated
046halls and and similar to Gardener Manor, the kids were cheering, they were shouting, they were um chanting USA. It was really a a special moment. And of course, Mi Mr. Fafy had his boom box ready to go and he he led the parade. Um our students, they cheered with gratitude and appreciation for the veterans. And as you can see, they created some flags and they some of the um projects that were featured in the hallway are in some of the photos. Those are the dog tags and the uh the flag that Katherine referenced before. And then once the uh veterans paraded the hallways, they went into the classrooms for a brief uh Q&A, which was really special. Um, you know, oftentimes students are, you know, um, they're engaged in screen time and everything needs to
047be animated. Seeing their little faces so engaged in the stories and listening to the experiences that the veterans were sharing was truly a memorable experience. They were very excited to welcome the veterans and listen to their stories and I think it was, you know, the best type of learning experience that we could possibly give our kids. And um after they uh the veterans gathered in the uh classrooms, we met outside for one last photo um by our our fence there. So uh we lost a few veterans along the way. Some were still talking and some had to scoot out. But we did have about oh I think there was almost 30 veterans that joined us and we know that next year we'll have even more. So, and once again, we um at the end of
048the celebration started to already plan for next year. And and seeing how Gardener Manor's uh tradition has grown, I can confidently say that this is something that will continue at South Country um for as long as I'm there, I give you my word, it really was such a wonderful experience. And hearing the feedback from the veterans um after the fact, it was just wonderful. And they were so um happy to be there. They connected with each other, exchanged numbers, some of them, and um told stories about how they've watched, we had a gentleman who was 96 um lived in Beayshore for most of his life, kind of shared how he watched the Beayshore schools kind of evolve over time. So, and you know, he got emotional. I think we all got emotional, but um it
049was really a a wonderful experience and a true learning experience for our kids. So, um at this time, I'm going to ask Miss Choco to come up. She has some friends with her and um they're going to do some some sharing. So some of our students are going to share um some of their thoughts about the event. And one thing I have to say is if we had done the questions in front of in that giant auditorium um I think some of the children would have been fearful but to hear some of the questions and the authenticity that was happening in the classrooms really was remarkable. So first I have Bethany the mic. >> Hi my name is Bethany Sts. I invited my grandpa to the veteran celebration at our school. It was special to
050me because he fought in Vietnam. I am proud to be his granddaughter. [Applause] >> This is Braden. >> Hi, my name is Braden Sawyer. I invited my mom and dad to the veterans celebration at our school. It was special to me because my mom was in the Coast Guard and my dad was in the Marine Corps. >> This is Connor. >> Hi, my name is Connor Sawyer. I invited my mom and dad to the veteran celebration at our school. It was special to me because they served to save the country. [Applause] >> Henry. >> Hi, my name is Henry Coglin. I invited my dad to the veteran celebration at our school. It was special to me because he served our country on a in the Navy on a ship. >> And Masimo. >> Hi, my
051name is Masimo Blendo. I invited my grandpa to the veteran celebration at our school. He was special to me because he sacrificed himself for others and made sure everything was okay for people he helped. [Applause] So, thank you once again to our students and our families, the veterans that once again joined us this evening. We really appreciate you being here. To the cabinet and our board of education, thank you for supporting our efforts. And um to our cabinet members, thank you once again for joining us at our celebration and we really look forward to next year. Um at this time, I think our Gardener Manor friends are going to come back up and um we have some students here who would like to share. So, South Country, you guys can sit down. Thank you, guys.
052My name is >> AJ. My name is AJ. >> My name is AJ and I am from Garner Manor School. I >> invited my mom to the Veterans Day breakfast and party. My veteran is Melanie Hockey and I feel happy and excited about >> honoring here her >> today. Thank you for >> being >> brave and fearless >> for fly >> flying >> in >> helicopters to help people that were >> worked as a Medic. >> Medic. >> In >> the Coast Guard. >> Participating participating in the Veterans Day >> ceremony ceremony at Gardener Manor that made me feel proud and honored. [Applause] Hello. >> Wow, I started on myself. My name is Shiloh Hockey and I am from Gardener Manor School. This year I invited my mom and dad to the Veterans Day breakfast
053and parade. I feel so proud about and about honoring to talk about today. Participating in the Veterans Day ceremony me made me feel really happy. I love the fruit, the the jam and the cookies was yummy and uh the parade made me feel happy. It is important to honor our veterans as much as they done for us. [Applause] >> My name is Hunter Maurici and I am a former Garner Manor. I am from former garner man school. I invited Frank Jenny, my great grandfather who served in the army for to 1959. to the Veterans Day breakfast and parade on November 7th, 2025. I felt super happy about honoring him that day. This is the second time at Garner Manor School that my greatgrandfather has been a part of the Veterans Day celebration participating in the
054Veterans Day celebration. Gunner Manor School made me feel excited because I got to walk down the halls while everybody was cheering for cheering for the veterans. I got to spend more time with my great-grandfather, which me made me feel happy. [Applause] >> Good evening. My name is Grace Niles. This is my sister Abigail Nails and my cousin Laa Malone. We all attend Gardener Manor School. We invited our pop to the Veterans Day breakfast and parade. This is his fourth year attending. He has been to every single one since it started. Our pop's name is Peter Niles. He's a Vietnam veteran. He served in the United States Air Force from 1967 to 1971. And we are very honored to be here with him today. This was my first Veterans Day celebration at Garner Manor. It made
055me feel very special to share this day with my sister, cousin, and most importantly, my pop. Thank you, Garden of Manor Scholars, and um our South Country students uh for speaking so nicely about your veteran. At this time, uh we'd like to clap it up for our veterans who are here today. We thank you all for your service and uh again, thank you to the board and cabinet for letting us speak about this amazing event happening at both of our wonderful intermediate schools. >> All right. Thank you. >> We get the veterans with the kids. >> Yes. >> So, we'll take a picture with the board. All veterans that are here with their many students, please um meet at that end for a group photo. Thanks for watching. What else we got? Come on. back.
056No funny. >> Great job. [Applause] problem. You got to follow that. >> Yeah, >> we need kids here every meeting. >> Let them clean up. [Music] That was amazing. Okay. So, while that was fabulous, the show must go on >> and nothing's going to beat that. So, next up on our agenda is the IB theater choir and drama field trip. Thank you everyone. >> Have a great night. >> All right. Thank you, Miss Gargan. Uh, as they're leaving, I'll just share I've had the opportunity to go to both presentations. Both, uh, wonderful, great job by both buildings. Uh, seeing some of our former students um, there. Uh, I actually had the opportunity to not only have my dad there, but my a student from my first class um, at the same table. So, that was
057kind of unique. And one of the coolest experiences is watching the veterans interact with each other because they often recognize whether it's a a band or a uh a particular metal or something like that and they talk to each other about their experiences and that was really cool and unique to see. And um the other aspect is you know usually the parents are there and the grandparents are there to recognize the kids but in this particular situation you have the kids there really recognizing the parents and the grandparents which is probably one of the best things that a parent or grandparent could ask for is being recognized by their child or grandchild. So it's really great and both buildings do a fantastic job with that. So just wanted to share that uh the information I'm
058providing uh is regarding a field trip that um the English department in collaboration with cultural arts is interested in attending. And the reason why we're sharing this with you is typically for a new show that we have not uh participated in the in the past, we always make sure that it has been previewed u prior. So this process has taken place for some of the previous performances that we have taken our students to. And in this particular scenario, uh the group has also teamed up with the Beayshore School's Arts Education Fund who is looking to help support and uh supports the uh endeavor and the and the field trip by defaying some of the cost, not all of it, but some of it. So, this is a a relatively new production. It's called Maybe Happy
059Ending. It's on it's in the Blasco Theater in uh on 44th Street uh in New York City. And the group is looking to take uh high school IB theater students, choir and drama students approximately I would say anywhere from you know depending on interest 100 to 150 125 somewhere in that range students. We're not at that point yet where we know exactly the proposed date is we're looking at is spring of 2026 and again Miss Del University um and Mr. Rattello were there to preview the performance um and so I'm speaking on their behalf uh regarding it. This is a a Tony award-winning musical set in a near future Soul, South Korea. It's a very small cast which is kind of interesting and different for the students. Uh it follows two outdated companion robots, Oliver
060and Claire, uh who develop an emotional bond as they explore connection to one another, identity and purpose. Uh the show is is very appropriate for this age level. Um it's actually recommended uh on the site for any ages eight and up and would be perfectly suitable for high school students. No graphic content, violence or any kind of language or or themes are part of the show. Uh it's comparable to a PG rating. Uh the production provides a lot of great uh models of contemporary theater. I think it's nice that they're would have an opportunity to see a different kind of a set. You know, they're used to like these big productions with a big cast. This is, I think, two to four people at most with a tremendous amount of production uh innovative design um
061that bring the elements to life. And um the the score also exposes the the score of the of the uh production also exposes some of our choir music students to modical musical composition and demonstrates the how vocal interpretation can advance the emotional component of the story. So it looks like a really unique experience for our students and again because of the collaboration with the arts education fund and that fact that it's a new endeavor. U we are in a little bit of a uh tight window with having the arts education fund help us because we have uh talking to the theater about holding tickets for our group. So we are uh just bringing this to your attention and and asking for um your approval moving forward with proceeding with the planning of the field trip.
062>> Do they have any idea what the cost per student would be even with the >> I I think that's a great question. We don't have that information yet. I think because it depends on when the and and that may impact the um the cost of the ticket. Um, there's still going to be a cost per student even after that as well, but I I don't have that those details. We can try to get them. >> Yeah. As they roll through. I mean, it sounds great. I just don't want to cost it out for >> Sometimes they do a school showing and they do it just for schools and they do they do a special thing for schools. >> Yeah. >> They might be trying to organize that with other schools. So, >> if that's
063possible, I'm sure that'll be something look for looking forward. I think it is getting very popular as as what we see, you know, with these shows. So, um I think the fact that they're actually the theater is potentially holding tickets for us is um is it's great to begin with and not something that uh normally we would have the ability to utilize. So, that's something that we're looking at, but I can try to get that information. Are they going to take the train to the bus? >> I think because of the size they may have to utilize busing, you know, which is again costly. I think because of the group, it's just it may not be feasible to use multiple train cars. It gets a little bit unwieldy with >> I've done a field trip
064with the social studies department and and the um IB group and I want to say it was about that. >> Okay. >> It was not >> unstressful, but it was. >> Yeah, I understand. I've done it myself with with a big group. I've gone multiple times with the track teams, which is about 80 80 kids for each at least 80. Yeah. >> Um bus and then subway, >> which >> is always fun. >> Yes. Yeah, I've done it, too. It's interesting. Um but yeah, that's it's possibility. >> So, uh we can look at look at that and see if that's possible. Um but yeah, that would be part of the planning process. >> Okay, >> any other questions? >> Supposed to be a good show. >> Yeah. Okay. Thank you. All right, the last thing
065on the agenda is the board policies. First read. Um, I'm going to review them. We're going to be doing some of the board policies over the next few meetings and I get the first batch. Um, I'm actually going to start with the I went over them with the notice of meetings first. Okay. Um the two pages the back page is the me is what we had initially the front page is highlighted the changes in every single one of the um policies where it said shall it was changed to will. So those are several highlighted throughout all the policies. Um again highlighting words just says including the district's website. Some of the things have already happened. um if a meeting will be li live streamed over the internet. Notice will indicate the internet address which we
066have already been doing. So this is just a notice meetings. Now this there is some stuff coming out um about video conferencing. So we don't have a policy on that yet as we review that policy. This could potentially be updated to include that. >> Okay. Okay. >> All right. The second one I was going to go right to regular meetings. I'm doing them out of order from the thing. Sorry. regular meetings. Um again you have the original on the second page. The first page is highlighted all the wills. Um we had in the last one about it being on the Wednesday of each month. Um we have had that's typical. We have had to adjust it. So we just said we'll be the date times and dates will be established at the annual organizational meeting.
067So when we sit down we will try to set the dates. They may or may not be on that Wednesday. Um, typically they will be, but if we have to adjust according to people's calendars and the school calendar. Um, I'm just looking again. In the event that day appointed of the regular meeting falls on a legal holiday, the meeting will be rescheduled again. Instead of shall be, it will be. All regular meetings are open to the public. The district will make all reasonable efforts to ensure the meeting facility provides barrier free access to the physically handicapped and accommodate all members of the public who wish to attend. Um, it's just rewarded. That was already in the policy. It's just rewarded. And then, um, we edited or added, we used to have the director of human
068resources. Now we have the assistant to the superintendent. So, that was edited as well. Any questions on that? Okay. The organizational um board organizational meeting. Um, it looks like there's a little bit more. It's really more things were added. So, we have our original and um then the highlighted I'll just review the highlighting. The board will hold the meeting on a date during the first 15 days in July that is not a legal holiday. We took out that it was going to be in the first week of July. Um we can set that and instead of putting it in, it's just got to be in the first 15 days. So, no no need to lock that in yet. We have the wills that were changed from shall under the o of office. um new this
069year is that newly elected board members who have not already taken the oath um will have to take the oath. If we if you already taken an oath and you're within your term, you do not have to take the oath again. So that's noted here. Um any oaths taken outside organizational meeting will be entered in at the next board meeting. If somebody missed the organizational and had to do it a different time, it would be entered into minutes on the next meeting. Um, no new board members may take office or vote until they have taken the oath of office. >> Is the oath a new state law or >> No, we've always do the oath. >> No, I know, but this seems like we don't have to take it if we already >> you take
070it once a term. >> Once a term now instead of once per year. Yeah, that's new. That's the new >> It's every time there's an election. >> Got it. >> But no, because they're their terms of three years. So, it's it's each person up for election. So there'll be an oath every year but we won't all be taking it >> right. >> So um the board will elect a president and majority of all members is necessary. So again just some little words here the boards will appoint and then tax collector was added. The board will appoint this is uh Roman numeral four appointment of other positions. There were other um titles added. Second page has additional titles that were added. bonding of personnel, different titles that were added um relative to the the original and
071six designations approvals again new new things that were added or rewarded. Okay. And these are the things that we do at the reorg meeting. Authorizations haven't changed. Um, in the bottom it's the board will review and will review and revise attendance policies and then the rest is all preferenced. Any questions? All right. Um, that was easy peasy. Everybody's going to get a turn to do it and go over the policies. If anybody doesn't want to, I do not mind reviewing them. So, if anybody gets called from Caitlyn and says it's your turn and you want to opt out or you're busy, um I don't mind taking that. And that was it. That's our meeting for the night. Um I want to say again that the student day I was really impressed with. Um, and something
072that just came up, what they talked about was the the gentleman who was in the basketball talking about mental health. And just this year, my nephew plays in a semi-pro hockey and they were doing mustaches. They call Movember or something and it's so that people ask them about their mustache because it's it's for awareness for men's mental health. And I think that's really important that we really handle female mental health and men's health mental health very different. So I think it's really great to have this athlete up there speaking to young people, especially young boys about mental health and that it's okay to have struggles. It's okay to talk about it. It's okay to be emotional. It's okay to tap into that. I feel like that's been pushed out for a long time. And I
073like that just really touched me and it just linked to something I was aware of right now. So I just I was really impressed with that. >> I actually and Rob brought it to my attention was about the day of play and I know Mr. Sullivan has wanted to do that for a number of years. Yeah. >> And it was really nice to be able to incorporate that into the day and they've now with our Belo band on cell phones. >> That's one of the things you see kids just interacting. >> Yeah. >> In a different way we haven't seen in a while. It's nice. I think that day of play was as Mr. Sullivan said just kids who normally don't interact with each other were able to, >> you know, engage in a different
074way. >> Yeah, >> it's really great. I I it seemed like a fabulous day. So, I was really really impressed. >> All the buildings are doing great things right now. >> Absolutely. Keep the kids coming. Makes the meetings fun. So, all right, we are a wrap. So, can I get a motion to go out of work session? >> Motion. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. So, carried. Have a great night. Thanks for coming and staying. >> Have a good night. >> You too. >> Yes. >> The next line for the art schools. It's community together. The topic. >> What? community.