001Well, good evening everybody. Welcome to our work session. Motion to go into work session. Second. All in favor? I opposed. So carried. We'll start off as soon as I look at the work session agenda. I have it here. All right, Mr. Tahada. We have many marauders. I love this. Well, is it on? Yes. I want to start by saying thank you to the board and to everyone that's here for the opportunity to share some truly amazing things that are happening at Garner Manor. As you know, we have wonderful scholars and uh we're very focused on making sure that our scholars have as many opportunities as possible to shine not only academically but um in leadership ways and uh social emotionally as well. And we're able to do that thanks to the support of our amazing
002staff who are extremely innovative and always thinking about ways to improve what we already do. So tonight you're going to hear from two educators who are the epitome of innovation and creativity. I have to tell you they their brain I just don't know how it works. they are always thinking about our kids, our building and what we can do to make it even better. Um, so late last year we had a faculty meeting and at the faculty meeting the staff was engaged in a powerful conversation about how important it is to give our students leadership roles. Um, and uh, we were thinking about what can we do at our school to make sure that our students can shine and be leaders. Well, this dynamic duo comprised of Miss Jackson and Miss Pate approached Mr. Brown
003and I with a brilliant idea soon after that meeting. They introduced to us a new initiative appropriately named the Mini Marauders. And um this initiative was backed by extensive research that they did on their own where they explored ambassador programs, uh leadership clubs, safety patrols, uh clubs around Long Island school districts and across the country because of course they were doing good research to make sure they found the best of everything and put it together and make it so that it was gardener manner ready. So, they presented us with a thoughtful and well ststructured plan tailored to our school community. Mr. Brown and I were impressed. And so, tonight you will be impressed too because you will learn how the mini Marada program began, how the school community has embraced it, and thank you. Bless
004you. And how our scholars truly live leadership every day. So, I'm going to pass it over to the duo of Miss Jackson and Miss Pa. Thank you for your support with this amazing work. And I'm sure you will be impressed by these leaders, too, when you hear from them. Hello. Thank you, Mr. Tahada, for those kind words. Um, how do we get Oh, okay. So, we are very proud introduce you to the mini oh we are very proud to introduce you to the uh mini marauder leadership program. So why mini marauders? To piggyback on what Miss Sada had already said, late last year, um we were tasked with trying to find something that we could do with our school community that would get the kids involved. Um foster leadership skills, um and you know, kind
005of get them to hold the other kids accountable for what's happening in the hallways, what's happening on buses and things like that. So, Mrs. Jackson and I sat down and we came up with um the mini marauders. uh we kind of were like throwing ideas together and she I was like what did you do when you were younger? What did I and then we did research and and this is how it was born. So the mini marauders is an initiative that is designed to empower fifth grade students at gardener manner through active leadership roles. Um students foster a positive and welcoming learning environment for their school community and they do this by participating in uh valuable activities and um they learn leadership skills and teamwork. Okay. So, how it works, how we're like, how do
006we we we wanted to open to everybody, but we wanted to make sure that the students that were a part of the program really wanted it, really wanted to be a part of it and they knew how special it was. Can you go? So, we're we're being broadcast. Oh, okay. Sorry. We hear you fine, but they want to hear you. Okay. Um, so part of the membership is they have to apply. They have to fill out an application and explain why they want to be part of the mini marauders. Also, they have to be um backed up by a staff member. So, they can pick any staff member in the building who can kind of like okay them. Um we have meetings twice a month before school so it doesn't interfere with any other programs
007or before school or after school club. So, they can still participate in all of that. And then the activities that they are part of, we have different leadership activities. They're part of school spirit activities. Volunteer work is a huge thing. and also community building in our building like our school community but also the outside beayhore community and letting them know like even though they're they're mini they still have a voice and they have an impact in our community and kind of setting that into them now so as they move on to the middle school to the high school to college or whatever they want to do they have that already like in their minds. So [Laughter] uh the program is broken into um different initiatives. So we have the safety patrol, we have the kindness
008squad, and then we do volunteer work as well. The first thing that we're going to talk about is our safety patrol. Um we try to focus on one aspect at a time. So the safety patrol was that first thing that we decided to um kind of put all of our you know make sure that that was solid. So the safety patrol what they do is they monitor areas around the school set areas before and after school. It's about a what 5 10 minute post where they're in the hallways active with their badges. You can see them now with their badges. They also have stop signs and they are out in the trenches making sure that the halls of Gardner Manor are safe and they do that by reporting unsafe situations and just being a presence.
009We go through extensive training to make sure that the students are doing this in an appropriate way. We talk about voice level and and the way you say things to your class, your peers. Um and we do role playing to make sure that they are practicing, you know. Um, and they help during arrival and dismissal times uh at Gardener Manor. Oh, and we are registered through AAA, so we're AAA certified, so we're legit. Yes, that's cool. That's really cool. Here are some of our mini marauders in uh action. We did have a training and induction ceremony on our first meeting. We recently implemented some outdoor patrol posts where the students are helping during the um loading and well just the loading of buses during uh dismissal. And here is one of our marauders during their
010hallway post. Oh, and I'd like to now introduce you to two marauders, Aubrey and Sienna, who are going to talk to you a little bit about safety patrol. [Applause] Being on safety patrol means being responsible and dependable. We have to be on time, pay attention, and set a good example. What I like about being on safety patrol is the responsibility. For example, if someone falls, I help them up. If someone's stuff falls out their bag, I pick it up for them. Safety patrol has helped me become a better leader because of the responsibility. [Applause] One way we show leadership is by being part of the safety patrol. We help students safe during arrival and dismissal. One thing I do as part of safety patrol is help other students say stay safe in the hallways and
011outside. I think this job is important because it reminds everyone to be safe and walk responsibly in the halls. [Applause] All right. So now safety patrol is a huge part of it. But now we also wanted to add another element because what else do we do but add more elements. We wanted to um initiate a kindness squad. How can we promote um a healthy caring family environment in gardener manner? So we hold schoolwide initiatives. Um I have we they mentor younger students. They promote school spirit with theme days and they help teachers that might need assistance. And the most important part of this is all the ideas that have come that we've done have come from the students. So we go to at our meetings, we brainstorm, okay, how can we um promote kindness this
012month? What can we do to help younger students? What kind of theme days could we do? What teachers do we think we need help? It all comes from them. It's all their ideas. So it's not us telling them what to do. It's them telling us what they think that we should do to help make gardener manner better. Um so one of the things that um Arya is going to talk about it part of the kindness squad was we hosted a kindness week in December and again it was all their ideas. In December we hosted a special kindness week. Each day had a spirit theme and a kindness challenge, like wear orange to brighten someone's day or inside out day to show that kindness comes from the inside. We also decorated the windows with hearts that
013had kind messages to lift people's spirits. My favorite part of kindness week was hanging hearts because I got to spend time with my friends. I also enjoyed writing kind messages to people to make their day better. I love letting people know that they're amazing and are loved. [Applause] All right. So, another part of many maras, it came a little bit later. We thought, okay, so we have all these students, they're will they're love to help. Like they love to sign up for Well, I do too. So, you could see we love to sign up for things. They love to help. How could we let them help? So we came up with this idea of having them do volunteer work and how because we we kind of we have older students so older children so we
014thought like our kids volunteer all the time they could do it. They're many but they could do it. Um so they earn volunteer credits. Their goal is to earn 10 volunteer credits by June. Some of them spoiler alert are like at 12 15 already. Um but the credits um work with there's like one credit for assisting at school events or helping out in classrooms or the library. half credits could be uh preparing donation items, doing kindness crafts or like 0.25 credits could be hanging posters or handing out flyers. So, we wanted to make sure they can be responsible, strong work e ethic. Um they participate in in the school environment. Um they go through Google classroom, they sign, we put a post up, like a little posting, they sign up for it, they get picked
015for the posting and they show up and they volunteer. Um next one. So we have two students to kind of explain to you a little bit with library helper and helping out with the different um school events. So that is Arya and [Applause] Margaret. Volunteering is more than just helping out. It makes our school feel more like a family. Whether it's helping out at the bus driver breakfast or the Black History Month celebration, we get to make people feel seen and appreciated. My favorite event I helped with was when we had to make cards for sick kids. I love to draw and write. I enjoyed creating and sharing joy through my art and words. At our school, students get the chance to be helpers in so many ways. Some of us help in the library,
016others at special events like the Veterans Day breakfast or the holiday concert. Volunteering is our way of giving back and showing pride in our school community. I've done a lot of the volunteering opportunities. One of them is being a library helper where I help check out books and assist Miss Moss in the library. I've also handed out flyers and put up posters. It feels really good to be trusted to do tasks on my own and I love knowing I'm making a difference. We also give back to the community in other ways. So to the wider beayshore community, we um in January had a coat drive and we have Brennan who's going to speak a little bit about that. This project was really important to us because it showed us how a small act of kindness,
017like giving away a coat you don't wear, can make a big difference in someone's life. This made me exciting knowing that I was helping other people. I was also helping to set a good example for younger kids. And I'd like to mention that we were able to collect over a 100 coats to donate to the Long Island Homeless Coalition. Okay. Um, another way we um are implementing community service is by making cards for hospitalized children. Um so students created heartfelt cards filled with positive messages and colorful drawings um for children in the hospital. Um this thoughtful gest this thoughtful gesture was a great way to spread joy and bring smiles to young patients. Um and the students were able to receive volunteer credits for every card that they were a um able to create. And
018these are actual examples of students uh cards that they made. So they did a great job. Now, here's the fun part. We need money to fund our club. So, we said, "Okay, we're doing all these great things and we want to do more on a bigger scale." So, we needed to find ways to fund raise. So, one of the fundraisers that we have going on now, and the students will speak a little bit more to it, is the Savers donation fundraiser. And May 10th, hopefully everyone's free. Um, we're having a car wash, which is going to be super exciting to get your car washed by a mini marauder. So, I have Kaia and Lori to talk a little bit about that. We are currently hosting a donation drive for a local thrift store. We are
019collecting clothes, books, toys, and more to donate. It's been really cool to see how many people have brought things to help others. I believe that donating to a thrift store helps the community because some families might not be able to afford new clothes. Getting gently used clothes for half the price can make a big a big difference. I mean, wouldn't you rather help out a family than just throw your clothes away? Yes. Hosting a car wash will help raise money for future kindness projects. It's a fun way to work together as a team while doing something good for the community. We can't wait to see how much we raise. I'm looking forward to working together with the other mini marauders and raising money to host more fun and exciting [Applause] events. So another aspect of
020being a mini marauder is to continue to learn and evolve. So recently we had leadership training done by community officer Allison where he came and visited us one morning one of our at one of our meetings. He spoke with the kids about leadership skills, how those leadership skills can transform to later career um aspirations and how being a leader has its impact and it's like a domino effect. When someone sees when you model expected behavior, you will see that outcome in your community. So, um the students really enjoyed their visit because they got to explore a real cop car. Not going to lie, I wanted to uh siren do the siren, too. So, we were all really excited and um they took away with them some really great uh messages about making a difference in
021their school community. Right. So, we started thinking ahead to next year and thinking about some future mini marauders. So, we started um a fourth grade training program. So about two, three weeks ago, we did the application process again and we chose our fourth grade mini marauders. And right now they're in their probation training program. Um, and the fifth graders are helping us train them. And so that way when we start in September, we can hit the ground running. We can start right away with putting them into safety patrol roles, putting them into volunteer roles, and they'll already know everything and know everything to do. So hopefully it'll be seamless in September. So that's really that's been really exciting, too. And hopefully to keep going with that. So every like every year we just have a
022new set of mini marauders ready to go from September. All right. We also um this week actually um are going to be v visiting Mary G. Clarkson to help out teachers and students. Um part of our fundraising um efforts will go towards a new PL playground at Gardener Manor. Um, our mini marauders will also be assisting with the third grade orientation at Gardener Manor. And then f another some other future things. We want to open a marauder market. We love little marauder things. So, we need a school store. We're hoping to start next year. We're hoping to do a welcome week in September for all the students when they come in. And then hopefully our fundraising efforts, we can um raise funds for author visits for our school so that the whole school can benefit
023from everything that we're doing. So, those are some plans that we have. I'm sure more will pop up over the summer, but those are our initial plans for next year. And we just wanted to close off and just let them again speak and let them know why many marauders matter to them. All right, so we have Charlie up first, then Julie, and then Ka. What I love about being in the main mares is that I get to help keep scholars safe at gardener manner. It feels amazing to know that Gardner Manor is a safer place because of the many marauders and the job we do. Being a part of this group has taught me to the value of teamwork. We work together on so many things and I've learned that small actions can make a
024big impact when we support each other. I feel proud to be a mini marauder because I get to volunteer whenever it's helping in the library or around the halls. I feel good to be someone to be someone others can count on. Being a mini marauder means being able to help kids, teachers, and our school to make a difference. I love that we get to fundra for our school and for our community. For example, we get to make cards for hospitalized kids. I also love that May Marers doesn't just keep the kids in the hall safe, but also helps the community. [Applause] Thank you for your time. Amazing. Amazing. Thank you very much. You're from one big marauder. big marauder. We're all a lot of she's a mara now. She's an honorary marauder. Now from the
025school and I'm going to face you guys are my heroes. You are my heroes because that's what we're pals and that's why we sit here and I just found my replacements. Yeah. What a great job. So proud of you. It's unbelievable. Great program. Take a picture. Yeah. Good. Take a picture. And uh just before we will take a picture, when's that car wash again? May 10th. May 10th. Oh, good. All right. All right. So, if you're getting rid of any clothes or anything, you drop off. You know when we'll make your Yeah, we can post that. Absolutely. Is my daughter's coming to your class? Friday. Oh, yes. Yeah. She's so excited. She's really excited. You better tell them trucks. I might have got I might have to drive the truck. More soap. Can we take
026a photo? None of us like to be in Mr. Mr. I told him how amazing you were. This is my little Okay, ready? Everyone's gonna look right here first. Big smiles. One, two, three. Okay. Now, don't hold your parents pictures. created those new pretty close. All right, be safe out there, guys. Couple times. Great job looking at me. That's why. Thank you. Feel sorry for Mrs. Dela University. Gota. Speaking of which, we'll move ahead now. Stella University, you still here? We can move on. Uh, Mr. Agustinino, you ready? Yeah. Okay, Chris. Thanks. I got to follow that group. you follow it. I'll get my car washed that day, too. I can guarantee you. So, thank you everybody for having me here tonight. Um, couple things. So, when I first started here, for me personally, mental
027health was a huge part of athletics, right? Uh, I I have a daughter who's a college basketball player who struggled with the everyday grind of being an athlete and a student, right? Student athlete, which is huge. Um, and one of the things the college initiative that it's tremendous right now, they have what they, you know, a sports psychologist that comes and sits down with their student athletes. They talk about the anxieties. They talk about the pressures. They talk about the everyday grinds that they're going through. So, I had this opportunity that I I found out that Northwell Health uh hospitals uh doing right now. Currently, there's a group of, you know, psychologists and therapists that are going to school, high schools, and they want to work with student athletes. Um, and they want to do
028this for free. So, that's the the the the main piece also that really helps. Um, one of the one of the the biggest piece of this right now, there's only one other school in Suffach County that's using them, and that's West Babylon. If we were to go forward with it, it would be we would be the second. There's two schools in Nasser County. I think this is going to blow up. I think this is going to be the the future of athletics where we're going to have, you know, you know, I guess I would say therapy for our student athletes when they're struggling, why they're struggling, what they're going through. Like right now, I was just talking with a a kid at the baseball field and he's going through a tough time. Like he can't
029figure out how he can he can't hit the ball. I can't get the ball on the ball. Well, I'm thinking to myself this entire time, if I had this therapist here, I'd have her with that team. Let's talk about your anxieties, what's going through. So, again, that's why I'm here today and and I just want to keep getting better every single day in Beayshore. And this is an opportunity that I don't think we should pass up and I really would love your support with all this questions. You said free. I You said free. Freeze kid. Freeze kid. Um, do you have a kind of a plan on how to allocate the So, what I'm looking to do, you know, and and again, I have like a college mind, right? Like the way they're doing it
030at West Babylon is a little different and I I you know, and I talked to the the lady who's in charge of this. I would like for her whenever we get this going, I would like for her to meet with specific teams first without coaches. I just want team there. I want players to talk to to this therapy therapist to kind of understand what they're going through. Then from there, we would I would like to see her meet with each team, you know, varsity programs. I would say varsity JV, and then just kind of talk about what's going on, then let her make some assessments, what she should do, and then we kind of go from there, basically. So, it's not an exact science even for them yet because it's so new. And I think
031they really she kind of was intrigued with my suggestions because it was kind of going different where they wanted to meet with like the athletes helping athlete kids and and I said I think it would be more beneficial if we met with individual teams. So that's kind of where we went. Do you think they would consider like um I'm just looking like list of concerns, list of stressors, specific even workshops that like a coach can identify. Maybe there's some dynamic going on in the team or there's a bank of workshops that they could work on and a coach could say, "I'd love to have you come in and speak on this topic." Because that's a nice introduction for the kids to this person and then that might lead them to wanting to talk about anything
032else. Yep. And that's and that's the biggest piece because they're not sure what they can say just yet, right? like when you like when and like talking with my daughter about it like she was like we don't know what we were able to say when we first got there and after like two or three times it was all the bank was open they were saying whatever they need but I think it's not it's not the coach it's not somebody in the school district it's not somebody's going to rat them out for something or they can kind of be honest with what what is going on with them they have no agenda they just want to help their minds what they want to do yeah it's nice I'd love to see some some specific like um
033programming like you know come through even. Yeah, I got it. I understand. You know, something to consider. Awesome. Good. Yeah, it's amazing. You know, one of the things is every kid is doing this. So, you can imagine a student athlete who has to balance that with their academics, you know, so absolutely. So, I think that it's an important piece to put together. It's great. I'd love to like, you know, come back hear how it's holding out and what kind of steps you're taking and how they see it working through Beayshore. Yep. I'd like to see. And I would say this, like right now, originally I thought we would maybe start this in September, but speaking with them, Northwell, they're like, "We're we're ready to go. Like we want to come in and meet with some
034teams." And so I'm like, "Listen, I got my baseball and softball team are ready to go right now." Awesome. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you. I'll see you a little bit. See you at I will be uh Does she need a little more time? You ready to go? Estella University ethnic pen. Sure. Absolutely. And I do have copies. [Applause] Don't be shy. We don't bite. All right. Thank you. And you can all have a seat once it's So what size marauders are you? Are you in many midsize? We have the whole size marauders. Um it's nice to actually hear them talk about student leadership because that's very much what we'll be talking about tonight as well. And so we thank you for the opportunity to be here to highlight one of our recent events which is
035our annual ethnic pen student writers conference which is organized by our high school English department in collaboration with some of our amazing student leaders some of whom you see here this evening. Um ethnic pen as you might know is more than just a conference. It's a celebration of identity and storytelling and community through the voices of our student writers. And so tonight, we hope to give you a glimpse into the impact that this event continues to have even after nearly three decades in Beayshore. Since it was established back in 1996 by our English director at the time, Miss Nina Wolf, ethnic pen has become an important tradition for our school. It provides a platform over the past 28 years for our students to express themselves through writing while learning alongside um professional writers and important
036voices in the literary world. We have writing workshops, student led readings, and visits and sessions with other authors that students participate in which help to reinforce our district's commitment to literacy and to student empowerment. And over the years, we have had the honor of hosting a remarkable array of different speakers, writers, and storytellers whose work um really reflects the lived experiences of many of our students and helps inspire them to tell their own stories. And this year was no exception. We had another outstanding lineup of talent who our students did connect to very deeply. We were very honored this year to host Miss Cheryl Wills as our 2025 keynote speaker. Her name may sound familiar to you. She is a professional journalist, an award-winning journalist, a best-selling author, and a historian. She's also a little
037bit of a local celebrity, as we learned. She resides on Long Island. She's a graduate of Unionale High School herself. And her husband is an educator. He's actually an elementary school principal on Long Island. Um, and as we learned when she came as well, she is a multipletime Emmy award winner and she is a pioneering voice in the media known for telling stories that sometimes might otherwise go untold. Um, she has had a large amount of success through her career. She's interviewed presidents, world leaders, public figures, but she has said that perhaps the most fascinating and compelling story she has ever covered has been her own and that of her family's incredible history. And as she shared with our students and our staff during her keynote address, she embarked on really an incredible journey by
038asking questions that had gone unanswered in her family for generations a number of years back. and she uncovered the story of her great great greatgrandfather Sandy Wills, who she learned not only escaped from slavery, but went on to enlist in President Lincoln's army and to become a hero of the Civil War. Um, which was a legacy completely unknown to anyone in her family until she started investigating and started asking questions. And her determination did not stop there. She went on to uncover his remains which had been buried in an unmarked location for many years and through tireless efforts um ensured that he received a proper solders's burial. So it's really it's a it's a remarkable story with a lot of twists and turns. If you are interested in more of the details it's actually um
039going to be the subject of an upcoming Netflix special as she shared with us when she came. It's really astounding. And what's even more amazing is that through this process, she went on to write a series of best-selling books about her family um for all ages, which you can see here. So, she really embodies the idea that writing is power and through writing we can help to understand the past, preserve legacy for the future, um and even inspire change, which is really the exact theme and message of ethnic pen overall. So when she came, she told our students she felt like she was the perfect guest for us and we really could not agree more, especially after meeting her and hearing her her incredible story. Um, in order to prepare for her event, for her
040visit rather, and for the event, our wonderful teacher committee again created a comprehensive curriculum, this time focusing on the importance of history and the power of personal narrative. And our students had the chance to learn about Miss Wills and to read part of her memoir and also to explore their own family histories a little bit through interviews they conducted with relatives and family members as part of this project. Um, and for their final writing pieces, they actually developed and crafted their own personal family narratives using the interview questions as well as historical research much in the spirit of Cheryl Wills and her work. And we have some of our students who are here this evening who will share an excerpt from their original writing pieces with us. Just to provide you with some highlights from
041the day of the event which took place a few weeks back. Uh we started our day we had an outstanding set of performances from our Beayshore High School harmonires who sound beautiful as always. Miss Wills uh gave an inspiring keynote address and we even had time for a Q&A session afterwards. Um and our students asked some very insightful and reflective questions. So much so that our speaker even asked if we had planned or planted some of them in advance. And and the truth is we didn't. Um they really our students displayed such a quality of curiosity and and a depth of thought. It was very impressive. And I think we are all very proud of what a wonderful audience they were that morning. Um, and just to sort of illustrate how captivated they were by
042our speaker and the story that she had to share, I think the pictures really tell the whole tale here. We had so many students who were lined up afterwards just to meet her, take a picture with her, shake her hand. They wanted to ask her more questions. Uh many wanted to take a picture with a copy of the Emancipation Proclamation that she had been gifted that she brought with her to Beayshore and it was just it was wonderful to see them so excited about meeting a writer to meet a journalist and to interact with this important historical document. I think it was really it was it was I thought it was a very special moment. Um, and I think that their reaction really speaks to how moved everybody was by the story that she had
043to share. After our assembly, our students had the chance to participate in a number of writing workshops throughout the day. Cheryl Wills herself led some special breakout sessions for our journalism and broadcast journalism students. as you can see here, um, as a veteran in the field. She, um, as if you look closely, you can actually see some of our students interviewing her. And we have a few of our journalism students here tonight who will share, um, their experiences with Ethnic Pen and with her this year. And if you look closely, if you look even closer, you can also see an Emmy. She brought one of her Emmy awards with her to Beayshore. She let our I want to know who Oh, she let them all hold it. She let them take she let them take
044pictures with it. Um and it was a very unique um bold unique and a hands-on experience I think that let them connect with her and her accomplishments firsthand and maybe even for some um maybe for a moment even envision themselves with that same level of success one day. So it it was really wonderful and throughout the day our students got the chance to participate in other workshops with visiting authors, poets, writers that we had. You can see some of the highlights here. Um many of which had a focus on personal narrative just due to our theme for the year and also our keynote address. And we had several of our guest facilitators who are also Basher graduates themselves who've gone on to professional careers as writers. And I think that was another very special connection
045for our current students just to meet our graduates to see the successes they've had particularly in this field. Um they serve as wonderful role models and I think it's always nice to see graduates to come back to see what they've achieved but even better when they want to share that expertise and those experiences with our current school community. There's really it's really nothing better than that. Um, and all of our authors and visitors and our teacher and student committees were celebrated at the end of the day with a lunchon as you see here where they had a chance to just reflect on the entire day. Um, and so this evening what we would love to do if if there's still time if time permits. Okay, good. Um, students. Perfect. I I knew you would say
046that. Um, thank you. we we would be very proud to showcase the work of our student writers who will be sharing original pieces inspired by ethnic pen. Um and so the first student that I'd like to invite up to share his work is actually a member of our planning committee. He's been on the ethnic pen committee for all four years that he's been in high school. He's a senior now and he actually wrote about his experiences with ethnic pen for his college essay. Um and so he'll be sharing an excerpt from his college essay with us this evening. Please welcome Jaden Chambers. Hello. It was a chilly afternoon in the early autumn and I found myself stepping into a classroom filled with unfamiliar faces with me. I had my backpack and a lingering sense of
047confusion. Standing there, I quickly realized I was in the wrong room and a blanket of embarrassment settled slowly over my shoulders. Mr. Ramirez, my English teacher, was running the meeting in that room on that day. Jaden, he invited me. Come on in. What I hadn't known at the time is that this meeting would mark the beginning of the change in the way I viewed the world. With a simple room mistake, I was now going to be a part of the ethnic pen student committee. Ethnic pen is an annual literary conference held at Bashore High School. Every year we host guest writers, Frank McCort, Julia Alvarez, Elizabeth Estvido to name a few, and ask those writers to speak with and work with our students in an effort to promote equity, diversity, and inclusion through the arts.
048Although I didn't know much about what I was signing up for, something in me told me to accept Mr. Ramirez's invitation. Since I had missed many of the meetings, I had missed some of the initial planning phase, but I was not going to let that stop me from contributing all that I could to this event. I walked into the meeting as confidently as I could. With my lack of knowledge, I made it my mission to be as attentive as possible and ask questions of my peers in order to learn. I became a small part of this meeting event and couldn't wait to hear our keynote address. Joy Harjo, the US poet laurate. She spoke with our student body and gave beautiful insight to the motivations and cultural aspects that influenced and pushed not only her
049but also her work. Hearing her experience and learning about her growing up as a Native American allowed me to open a door I would never have been able to and expanded my perspective further. This experiences was truly enriching and insightful and I wanted to be a bigger part of the process that brought her to our school. Part of being a bigger part of this celebration of writing was reading from my own work at the ethnic pen lunchonian. At the prospect of this that first year, I felt the worst case of imposttor syndrome. Why was I here? I didn't deserve to be here. I wasn't talented. The only reason that I was sitting here was because of a mistake. Swallowing these insecurities, I began to read the poem I had written. And the emotions contained in
050my piece leaked off of my phone. painting my fingers and staining my brain and eventually my heart. There was no room for embarrassment. I was sharing my story. I looked up and was surprised to see the genuine awe in the crowd of eyes and even more surprised when I was later greeted with compliments. This entire day was transformative for me. I knew that I wanted to share the power of writing with my school community. Now, this year, becoming co-chair of the ethnic pen committee, I feel as if it is the culmination of a journey that began with shy uncertainty and has blossomed into a resilient, passionate commitment to both leadership and cultural exploration. Over two years, I've grown within this program, absorbing its lessons in empathy and diverse perspectives. I am no longer the freshman
051controlled by his blanket of embarrassment. I am now a senior poised to lead with conviction, ready to shape and enrich this experience. As I step into this role, I see it not only as a position, but as an invitation to embrace and celebrate the world in all its complexity and beauty. Thank you. You're going to be a freshman next year again and you're never going to sell yourself short again. That's amazing. Really? Congrats. Beautiful writing and beautiful speaking. Like your presentation of it was amazing. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Don't be embarrassed. Thank you, Jaden. And Jaden's done a lot of hard work over the last few years, too, helping to organize our event. So, thank you, Jaden. Um, the next group of students I'd like to just call up one at a time, are ethnic pen
052writing concert contest winners. Um, and these students will actually be sharing excerpts from their personal family narratives that they constructed as part of our ethnic pen curriculum. Uh so the first student um who is an 11th grader, she's our first place contest winner. Please welcome Sidi Granados Velasquez. [Applause] Hi. There are no there are no ordinary life. Every life have a story to tell. In 1957 in Central America, specifically in El Salvador, Grandma Santos mother was given birth in a small house with the help of a midwife. Grandma Santos was born as a fifth of six children. She was born into a low income family. for her mother who had one more child after Grandma Santos given birth in a hospital was not an option because even going to a hospital was a privilege the
053Grandma Santo family could not afford. When Grandma Santos or one of her sister or brother got sick, it was not a good thing because all they could do was pray and wait for them to recover. When Grandma Santos turned 12, she moved with her mother and sibling to Honduras. Going to Honduras wasn't the best decision. There was a lot of tension between Honduras and El Salvador. A war between El Salvador and Honduras was raging. Her father went to see his family in Honduras. The census of Salvadorian in Honduras had begun. Grandma Santos and her family decide to return to El Salvador. That same year, the conflict between Honduras and El Salvador officially became a war. The war was called the 100 hour war, but it also known as the Soccer War. According to the historical
054information, one of the causes of the war was that Honduras lost to a Salvabador in a World Cup 1970 qualifying tournament. Just as devotion to religion, MBDs have been a reason for war. Patient for soccer was one of the reason for the 100 hour war. That wasn't the only reason as Honduras and Salvador have been enemies for many years. blaming each other for the problems and their military government and dictator did nothing but increase the tension and conflict. Grandma Santos was deeply afflicted because many Salvadorian families in Honduras refused to leave their homes. She heard the tragic news of Salvadorian babies, women and men murdered in Honduras. Grandma Santos was never able to go to school. Learning to read or write was another privilege that she and her family couldn't afford. She knew she will
055have to work hard to succeed and get ahead. From a very young age, she had already begun to do household chores and do whatever she could to earn money, whether by washing clothes or running errand for others. the scarcity of food and many other necessities for her to work as an adult from a very young age. Thank you. Thank you for sharing. Okay, our uh second place contest winner is also a junior. Please welcome Sidra Munah. [Applause] Hi. Um, the small village of Potokali in 1971 was far from peaceful. The war for Bangladesh's independence was in full blast and the streets were filled with the sounds of gunfire and chaos. My uncle just 20 years old had joined the Bangladesh liberation war to fight for the freedom of his people. He had no experience in
056war but his heart has set on one goal a free Bangladesh. Potakali was once full of life was now full of destruction. But even in the midst of everything falling apart, my uncle and his fellow freedom fighters held on to hope. One day while hiding in the woods near Daka, my uncle found himself facing death. The group had been cornered by Pakistani soldiers. The air was thick with tension and the ground was muddy from the rain. As gunshots echoed in the distance, the worst moment came. A head surgeon of the Pakistani forces pointed a rifle at my uncle, demanding he knew. The barrel of the gun was inches from his chest. It seemed like it was all over. But then something unexpected happened. Among the soldiers was a man my uncle recognized, a distant relative
057named Rahman. Rahman, who had grown up with my uncle's cousins in Bwaali, was now a surgeon in the Pakistani army. He froze when he saw my uncle, his rifle aimed at him. Rahman stepped forward with his voice shaking. "He's family," he pleaded. "He's not your enemy. Let him go." The surgeon hesitated. The next few moments felt like they lasted forever. Finally, in an unexpected act of mercy, the surgeon lowered his rifle. Rafman had saved him. My uncle was free to stand and walk away, still in shock, yet alive. Later, my uncle would hear whispers about how the surgeon had been reluctant to kill him. The war had made everyone question who the real enemy was. My uncle continued to fight for his country and when Bangladesh won its independence, he moved to Dhaka. He began
058a new life as a journalist using his experiences to tell the stories of those who had fought and suffered. His work gained respect and eventually he left Bangladesh for a new beginning in New York City. Thank you. Uh our third place contest winner is a junior as well. Please welcome Sincere Bernach. [Applause] Hello. My great-g grandandmother, Grandma Tier, had her own thoughts and dreams. She was the second born of five eldest siblings, and she's the last one alive. Her comfortable livelihood of waking up to the sun shining and going to sleep with the moon glowing soon disappeared since the land she once loved ceases to exist. Haiti was her whole life. Before the earthquake shook her hometown and brought her to the United States, my great-grandmother resembled a hero in her hometown, Poto Prince. She
059was a well-known prophet who would pass down blessings to several people and keep hope in their lives. She also preached and practiced voodoo to help heal people spiritually. Her deep roots in God helped her work through him as she lay her blessed hands onto the dark souls and watched them become whole again. She loved talking about God and what he has done for her. She was a single mom of five brilliant kids who were very gifted and went to private schools. I'd imagine she was stressed and worked endlessly to make ends meet. But no, my great-grandmother was very resilient and her entire village chipped in to raise five big babies. In return, she prayed for each and every one of those who helped her. In those times, prayers were needed and were treated like gold.
060[Applause] Um, our our next student writer actually unfortunately is not able to be here tonight, but I did want to acknowledge uh sophomore Haley Maldonado. And finally, to round out our uh student writers and our contest winners in the honorable mention category, 11th grader Joshua Perez. Good afternoon. My grandfather's name is Raone Perez. He was born in 1952 in New York City in the back of a taxi. Family tradition has it that the taxi driver's name was also Ramon and due to his help in delivering the baby and quick driving to the hospital afterwards, my great-grandparents named my grandfather after him. My grandfather grew up in the Bronx with his five siblings and frequently made visits to Puerto Rico where our family comes from. When he was 18, still in high school, he met my
061grandmother who at the time was 17. They quickly fell in love. It being the 70s, perhaps they went on dates to the movies in Time Square. When my grandmother turned 18, she found out she was pregnant with my father. I can only imagine how worried they were on how they would provide for the child. At the time, there was heavy stereotyping and racism toward blacks and Hispanics. I can picture my grandfather wondering if he would be like all the other Hispanics and not amount to anything. Fortunately, he did not let the societal expectations hold him back. He got a good job working for General Electric and he managed to work his way out of New York City to Port Jefferson, Long Island. Thank you. My father's name is Raone. That's my middle name, just for
062the heck of it. Um, and finally, our student journalist who had a very unique experience this year, learning alongside an Emmy award-winning news anchor. Um, the first actually is a clip that I want to play for you that features sophomore Abigail Esturius who is a member of our afterchool broadcast news club, a staff member on the Beayshore Buzz and she filmed this actually right before our keynote address and I hope this works. I'm Abigail here with the Behore Buzz at this year's ethnic pen conference. Our guest speaker is Cheryl Wills, an Emmy award-winning journalist based in New York City. She is the author of series of books about her great great-grandfather Sandy Wills, an enslaved Tennessee man who fought for his freedom during the American Civil War. Sherlock has keynoted events all over the world
063and teaches students about her grandfather's service with United States college troops. Today, during period 2, we will have the chance to hear her story. Very nice. Um, our next student journalist is also a member of our media team and she is a staff writer for our high school newspaper, The Maroon Echo. She's going to be reading an excerpt from an article she wrote uh entitled, I met an Emmy award-winning journalist, and here's what I learned. Please welcome sophomore Matteline Boyd. Hi. This year's 2025 ethnic pen conference was truly one to remember. As a student journalist, the experience of having Cheryl Wills come to Beashore High School and being able to spend the day with her was such a privilege. I was lucky enough to be able to interview her face to face and ask all
064the questions I had. From her experiences down south, uncovering her grandfather's story to hurdles she faced as a broadcast reporter, she she answered all of my questions with such in integrity. As a member of both Beayure Buzz and Maroon Echo, I took pointers from Wills as someone who is a journalist herself. Wills gave advice to our camera crew during the interview on how to direct our cameras in a more efficient way. Our experience meeting her gave us more confidence in the work we do in our club. I appreciated this year's pick for presenters and I think others could agree as well because Will's story is something that you don't hear often. It was fascinating learning about her great greatgrandfather's history and why it is important to her to take action and share his story. Even
065at the end of the conference, so many students were lined up eagerly trying to take pictures with her and ask questions. Although students don't always look forward to school assemblies, this year's presentation stood out as both engaging and enjoyable. I walked out of the school that day learning what truly matters is the knowing my purpose for the cause and the principles behind it. Will spot to find Sandy Will's remains. Even though there was a risk that she would receive criticism and heart and face hardships, she didn't give up because she knew she was fighting to find her great great-grandfather to restore his honor. This made me realize the true meaning of never giving up even when things get hard. I also learned that my reasons have to be louder than all the doubts I can
066have. It was a great opportunity to spend the day with the journalist as a student who takes interest in broadcasting for our school. Ethnic Pen was once again a success and will have many bright futures to come. Thank you. Um, and finally, we have our edi editor-inchief of the Marine Echo, our student newspaper, who will be sharing an excerpt from a powerful article she wrote after interviewing Cheryl Wills. Please welcome uh, senior Jennifer Ampo. [Applause] Hi everyone. Um, like Mel University said, this is the article Maddie and I, um, the article I wrote after Maddie and I interviewed Cheryl Wells. DNA of an American war hero. Cheryl Wills and her journey of honoring her late great great grandfather, a Civil War veteran. On March 28th, Beayshore High School had the honor of hosting author, journalist,
067and Emmy award winner Cheryl Wills as ethnic Pence's keynote speaker. During her presentation, Will shared the story of how she brought honor to her late great great great grandfather Sandy Wills, a Civil War veteran. After an impactful and immersive pre presentation, Will shared more about her journey, difficulties, and inspiration in an interview. Growing up, Wills had many family members around her. Being surrounded by all four grandparents, her ample curiosity consistently pushed her to ask questions about their family's ancestry. I was the only one asking questions when I was a child. I guess it's because I was born a journalist, Will said. Wills knew that getting a proper burial for Sandy Wills was something bigger than herself. It was symbolic of reclaiming her past and legacy. Knowing this, she decided to have the land excavated by
068archaeologists. Although it wasn't guaranteed that she would find any answers, and her family wasn't very optimistic, she had to at least try. No one could guarantee what the outcome would be, Will said. My family told me to let it go, but I refused to let it go. Before the state allowed Wills to dig up the land, they required that the proposal be put in the newspaper for four weeks. And if one person from Hwood County, Tennessee, objected to the excavation, the entire operation would be swiftly shut down. Wills was undoubtedly surprised that not even one person within the former Jim Crow town petitioned the proposal. She even considered the fact that someone from the Moore family could plant someone to petition against it. But for four straight weeks, not a single person objected. That's why
069I felt like this was divine. I felt that it was bigger than me. Will says this had the force of something powerful. Although the Moors eventually came around to Will's mission, they were still confused on why she felt it was necessary. This led to Will sharing her perspective with them as to make as a way to make them understand the best they could. I remember having dinner with them once and they said, "Respectfully, I just don't understand why." And I said, "When you go to that hill, you see the graves of John Moore and Judith Moore. You see your ancestors. Why can't I have that same privilege? My family is under leaves and trees," Will said. Ultimately, Wills was able to uncover and distinguish the remains of Sandy Wills among the graves of 11 others,
070one of which is presumed to belong to Sandy Will's wife, Emma Wills. On May 1st of 2024, the archaeologists dug all the way down. On May 3rd of 2024, they found the teeth of Sandy Wills. And on August 8th and 9th of 2024, Cheryl Wills was able to finally honor Sandy Wills as an American hero. Ever since uncovering her family's past and legacy, Wills has felt a new sense of purpose. I feel like a changed woman. I feel like no one could stop me because I know where my family has been through. Will said, "I have the DNA of a war hero in me." Although Cheryl Wills's story is unique, its message is not unfamiliar to many people. That feeling of not knowing where you come from and overcoming hindrances to one's individualism and expression.
071Always express your individual self. Always be proud. Don't ever let anyone pass judgment on you. Will said that was my message to Beayore High School today. And your legacy is your superpower. Thank you. Thank you. really is a remarkable story. Um, and I just want to thank our student writers for first of all for being here tonight. Thank you all and also for sharing your stories. I think it takes we know it takes a lot of courage to read your writing aloud, especially um some of the personal stories and and feelings that you've shared and um you did a wonderful job. We're very proud of each one of you. So, thank you. I'm Abigail Ster here at the Bayore bus. Sorry, can we take what's that? We take a Yes, absolutely. And as we conclude,
072we also want to just very quickly extend our gratitude to a few of other groups of people um who helped to make this event possible. We want to thank all of you, the board of education and our district leadership for always supporting our students um especially with educational initiatives such as this one. I happen to I'm a little biased but I happen to think that ethnic pen is one of the programs that we offer here that makes beayore so special and exceptional place to go to school and place to work. So thank you for supporting it and allowing it to flourish for 28 years. Uh we want to thank the teacher committee Miss Hanley, Mr. Sullivan and Mr. Ramirez, all of the English teachers in the department as well as Mr. Gordon and the high
073school administrative team for their help and all the student committee members. You see their names there. You see them in the picture. you see them hitting sitting here tonight. It's really a team effort in a lot of ways. Um and so we thank everyone for helping to make this such a memorable event for our students this year. Um and thank you for allowing us to share. Thank you. We grab a picture with you guys. You know the story. Okay. Right here. Big smile. One, two, three. [Applause] Mr. Bentelli, if I could just add as everyone's leaving, I just want to thank Miss Del University for putting this together. Ethnic PEN, as she said, is one of the really unique things about Beayshore. You know, whether we have law day, awareness weekend, ethnic pen is one
074of those events that is unique, very unique to Beayshore. and Miss Wills who was an outstanding speaker and engaged the entire stage uh goes to speak at all schools but at those schools it's an assembly at Beayshore it's an event and it's not just a day we dive in they create a curriculum around it she was as impressed with us as we were with her and to see all of the students at the end just picture the entire pit all of the stairs The entire stage filled with kids waiting to get a picture with her was amazing and actually very emotional as was her speech and all of the things that you heard from the kids today. So again, a big thanks to Miss Del University, of course, all the students and the support from
075the board. Incredible. I I don't know what you want me to say. Do you want me to do the field trip while we're waiting? Yeah. You mean you're getting blindsided on this? Yeah, completely. Okay, real quick. Uh we have a field trip that was presented to us uh that's coming up for the Beayshore crew team, the Boys and Girls crew team. It's in May and it is an overnight field trip, so they are requesting permission to attend. Uh it is in Saratoga Springs. They'll be leaving Friday morning and returning I believe Sunday night. Uh and they are just requesting permissions event that they uh participate in annually. Uh so the coaches were requesting to again participate this year. Okay. Any questions about the the event at all? We have Mr. Agugustino here. I'm sure he
076can help us out. Okay. N good. All right. Thank you. All right. When is it? Okay. I mean, there's only five There's only five five open seats. Yes. Right. There's five five seats for the Eastern SuffK Boseies um board. There's five people running. There's nobody um running against the incumbents. I mean, I've spoke about I think we should probably attend the meeting here and there. We should get a little involved. Maybe NASA Suffach can get involved. just um where their contest their where their community the boards of schools are their community and I think you know just having a little bit more knowledge moving forward but yeah it's five on contestancy so voting their budget yep yep I also I spoke to Susie Lman who happened she was actually at the west I slip um
077at the town of Icelip um school board at west Icelip and and she welcome like she's kind of like us she's like I love when people come to the meetings and I don't think they do a great job But she's we're more than welcome to and she said if she if we need the calendar again she she sent it over to Kum. So that is any objections we'll go right into public session. I'll take a mo What's that? I'm going something from the back. Go ahead. Oh good. We'll just hold just a second. I'll take motions. I opposed. We'll start with the pledge. Guys, you want to take a s please? Yes. And can we have a moment of silence? We had uh three valuable longtime residents and many other residents in Beayore that have
078passed. But Mr. Datali, Mrs. Matt, and Dennis Costell, all graduates of I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. All right. Welcome to our public session. Just for the record, comments from the audience on agenda items will be heard after the pledge. Uh when I'm done reading this, we'll listen for any uh we'll listen to any comments on on agenda items. Comments on items not on the agenda will be heard after adjournment of the public meeting. Please limit your comments to three minutes. The board may recognize a speaker not more than twice on the same topic. Please feel free to give the board any additional comments in writing. And as
079I always say, we appreciate it if you give us uh what whatever you have to say in writing. When you are recognized, please state your name for the district uh clerk. Neither the board of education nor the superintendent of schools will entertain in public comments relating to a personnel matter or individual students. Please be aware that both staff and student privacy are protected under the law. If you have a personal concern, personnel concern or an issue regarding a staff member or students, please call the superintendent of schools for an appointment. The number is listed on the agenda. Uh with that, do we have any comments on agenda items and agenda items only? All right, then we'll start with our agenda. No, actually do pres Mr. A. Oh, presentation. I'm sorry. I'm going to come up
080and recognize some of our student athletes. So again, thank you for having us here tonight. So in the winter season, we had five student athletes that represented Basher in New York State Championships, uh, track, wrestling, u, two, uh, two female wrestling wrestlers and one male wrestler. So I'm going to bring up my coaches to talk a little bit about those student athletes. Again, thank you for having us here. Uh it was uh you know it's a great honor to be here. First up is Coach Atkins, our girls wrestling coach. Come on up, coach. Bring her with you. Bring them with you. I'll take that. I apologize for you. Take Hello everyone. Thank you. Um for a lot of you, I mean had you as teachers, I had you as principles. um had you my whole
081life. Um it's an honor to be here coaching with you guys. I just completed my seventh season with Behore Girls Wrestling. Um something that you guys all really you really did a great thing. Um and I am so appreciative for all of the support. Um first I would like to recognize Aaliyah Giles. Um she is a freshman for Beayshore. She wrestled for her first year with us this year. She had an outstanding season. Um she took second place at the first ever Suffach County Girls Wrestling Championships. Um only losing to her teammate Sydney, who I will be talking about next. Um incredible girl, incredible student, incredible athlete. Um super proud of her. I'm sure as all of you are as well. So, I do want to recognize Aaliyah [Applause] Giles. Beautiful. Do I? Awesome. And
082next, uh, we have Sydney Fischer. Sydney Fischer, this is her second season wrestling with us. Um, she really came out of her shell this year, as you can see by her head down over there. Um, uh, it took a really long time and I still don't think she understands what she's done this season. Um, out of all of there's not a single girl in Suffach County who's able to beat her. Um, which is fantastic. Uh, wrestling is tough. It's tough on you. It's tough mentally, physically. Um, but she really she's doing a lot of hard work. Um, she took first place at the Suffach County Wrestling Championships and I believe um, you know, next year we're going to get her a lot further than we did this year. Um, again, super proud of her. Um,
083Sydney, come on. [Applause] Good job, girlfriend. Thank you all again. Congratulations. Just kidding. Next up, I'm going to bring up Coach Porcelli, boys. [Applause] Hello everybody. Um, thanks for having us here. Um, and thanks for recognizing uh these uh these athletes. Um, I also want to recognize Josh Hollowman Pollynese. He's a team captain. Um, just a great kid. He he was 41 and4 this year. Uh, he was a league champion. Um, and he placed second in the counties and uh he represented us in the state tournament. Uh, he had 32 pins this year and uh that's the most amount of pins in a season in the 94 years that wrestling we've had a program here. So, that's that's a great accomplishment and uh that's going to be hard to beat. And um he's a NIS
084for scholar athlete. Um he he's uh he's going to win some uh scholarships for section 11 and um he's just uh what every coach would want as a captain. He sets the example. He's a hard worker and um he's just an all-around good kid and he's going to continue wrestling um at Wilks University uh next year. So, uh, we expect great things from him and, uh, uh, it's just, uh, we just want to congratulate Josh. [Applause] Okay, next coach I'm going to bring up is uh, Coach Lewis, who's our girls uh, uh, winter track and spring track. Coach, I haven't seen some of you since I was a student. So, uh, so first and foremost, I want to thank you all for the support. As a bash for grad, it's a extremely daunting task to
085take on, uh, Steve Borbay shoes. So, I try to do my best. So, Maggie's is a bit of a a long winter. So, Maggie started her winter placing third overall in the girls two-mile at the Beantown Classic. At that time she ran a top five USA um 1050 for the two miles. So about a 525 per. She would continue this dominance to go on to run 217 in the girls 800 at the prestigious Hispanic games. She would go on to set a League One competition record, winning the league 3K as well and then placing second in league competition in the girls 4x8 continues. Uh Maggie would be invited to the prestigious Dr. Sanders Scorcher where she would break a beayhore school record set by Mary Liz McCertie in 2005 by running 249 in the 1000.
086Maggie would do it again and set another League One record, breaking Laura Cummings 2004 3K record by running a 957 to win the large school individual championships. With 12 hours of notice, Maggie was asked to race the worldrenowned Milrose Games mile and she had literally just done a workout the day of, so she was a little nervous, but she would go on and again set another school record set by 2007 grad Cali Hogan. Uh ran a 4508 mile. Keeps going if you notice the trend. Um she would then continue to go on and run a state qualls facility record breaking a 2005 record set by Bport Brittany uh Sheffy who went on to become a professional runner and she qualified for the third straight year uh for the winter state championships. She would be selected
087a season MVP by all Suffach coaches. It's a collection we all voted and she was the third distance runner of five runners altogether. Five athletes alto together. Maggie would do it again at the state championship. She would set another school record and personal record in the 1500 by placing third in the state and second in state federation rankings. And finally, because she just had an unbelievable season, she would go to the New Balance National Championship mile where she would break her own school record again, finishing with a 44925 mile, uh, which is 35th still for uh, best in the country right now. So that's Maggie. have a shirt. Thanks, Maggie. Yeah. Congratulations. Oh, that's a great picture, Haley. That is perfect. So, um, to back up her all state field hockey, Haley Nislanski has been
088running track for pretty much on and off since she's been a freshman here. She's been to many national championships, been a part of uh, league titles. Haley started her winter placing fifth overall um, at the prestigious Beantown Classic in the 600, ran a 141. She was a predominant member of our girls 4x8 relay, which Maggie is also on. Um Haley would go on to dominate the 600 by placing first in League One and again a pivotal leg in the girls 4x8. She would place fourth overall in the county qualifying her for the section 11 intersectional relay which is the next best athletes throughout Suffach County. Haley would Haley and another athlete are the predominant reason that they went from ninth to first overall. um when in the process they set a intersectional relay record and
089they won the overall state championships. So Haley was named all state because of that as well. [Applause] We saw the states. Okay. [Applause] Why don't you guys move up front Josh? All right. [Music] Thank you everybody. She runs in the morning. Very excited. Amber, you could leave the baby there. Quiet. All right, we'll continue with our agenda items. Now, I'll take a motion on page A1. Motion to approve the minutes of the executive work and public session of March 31, 2025 and the minutes of the executive work session of April 9, 2025. Motion second. All in favor? Opposed? So carried. Mr. Pashkin. Page B1. On page B1, the board will find a motion to approve the professional staff resi resignations and retirements as listed. We recommend its approval. Motion. Second. Any questions? All in favor?
090I opposed. So carried. Page B2. On page B2, the board will find a motion to approve the professional staff appointments as listed. We recommend its approval. Motion. Second. Any questions? All in favor? I opposed. So carry. Page B3. On page B3, the board will find a motion to approve the professional staff salary changes as listed. We recommend it approval. Motion. Second. Any questions? All in favor? I I opposed. So carried. Page B4 B uh B4A. On page B4 and B4A, the board will find a motion to approve the civil service resignations and retirements as listed. We recommend its approval. Motion. Second. Any questions? All in favor? I opposed. So carried. Page B6. B5. B5, excuse me. On page B5, the board will find a motion to approve the civil service request for leaves as listed.
091We recommend its approval. Motion. Second. Any questions? All in favor? I I opposed. So carried. Page B6. On page B6, the board will find a motion to approve the civil service reinstatements as listed. We recommend its approval. Motion. Second. Any questions? All in favor? I opposed. So carry. Page B7 B7A. On page B7 to B7A, the board will find a motion to approve the civil service appointments as listed. We recommend it approval. Motion. Second. Any questions? All in favor? I opposed. So carried. Page B8, B8A. On page B8 and B8A, the board of find a motion to approve the substitute appointments as listed. We recommend its approval. Motion second. Any questions? All in favor? Opposed? So carried. Page B9, B9A. On page B9 and B9A, the board will find a motion to approve the civil
092service change in assignments as listed. We recommend its approval. Motion second. Any questions? All in favor? I opposed. So carried. Page B10. On page B10, the board will find a motion to approve the coach volunteers as presented for the 2425 school year as listed. We recommend its approval. Motion. Second. Any questions? All in favor? I I opposed. So carried. Page B11. On page B11, the board will find a motion to approve the coach's exchu salaries for the department of health, physical education, athletics for the 24-25 school year as listed. We recommend its approval. Motion. Second. Any questions? All in favor? Opposed? So carried. Miss Fersinger. Page C1. On page C1, the board will find a motion uh designating the Beayshore Board of Education as lead agency and declaring the high school interior reconstruction reconfiguration of
093bathrooms and hallways a secret type two project. We recommend it approval. Second. Any questions? All in favor? I opposed. So carried. Page C2. On page C2, the board will find a motion designating again the Beayshore Board of Education as lead agent uh on the high school interior reconstruction or reconfiguration for purposes of special education classrooms. Uh also declaring this project a secret type two unlisted action. We recommend it approval. Motion. Second. All in favor? I opposed. So carried. C3. C3. C3. C3. And on page C3, the board will find a motion uh designating the board lead agent uh in the middle school interior reconstruction reconfiguration of home room careers and technology uh also known as shop uh and special education classrooms and declaring this as well a type two unlisted action. We recommend approval. Motion.
094Second. Any questions? Just on the question just what what we're adopting with the lead agent. That means we're not hiring a GC. That means we're leading it all by ourselves. Is that correct? No. Lead agent is for secret purposes only. Secret purpose. No. And then we're hiring a GC to do this stuff and all that kind of stuff. There will be and there's going to be a super for this stuff. Yeah. We haven't even designed this yet. But before you can commit any funds that are a part of the transfer to capital in the budget, right, that's being adopted. Prior to even adopting the budget, we have to do I'm just asking. Is that all? Yeah. No, that's fine. You got any other questions? All in favor? I opposed. So carry. Page C4 C4 A
095through S. On pages C4 and C4 A through S, the board will find a motion to accept, approve, and present to the voters an expenditure budget in the amount of 22,138,570 for the operation of the Beayshore UFSD for the fiscal year 2025 2026. We recommend its approval. Motion. Second. Any questions? And without New York State approval yet. Correct. Mhm. Correct. All in favor? I opposed. So carried. Page C5, C5 A through C. On pages C5 and C5 A through C, the board will find a motion to adopt the proposed 2025 2026 property tax report card and distribute said report card within 24 hours as required by law. We recommend it approval. Motion. Second. Any questions? That was a double. You pick. All in favor? I I opposed. So carry. Page C6 C6 A through C.
096On pages C6 and C6 C6 A through C, the board will find a motion to retain Sereni and Associates, Certified Public Accountants as internal auditors for the 202526 school year. Add a fee not to exceed $26,250. We recommend it approval. Motion. Second. Any questions? All in favor? Opposed? So carried. Page C7, C7A, and B. And on pages C7 and C7 A through B, the board will find a motion to declare as obsolete the list of library books from the Behore Middle School and the Gardener Manor School. We recommend it approval. Motion. Second. Any questions? All in favor? I opposed. Dr. Outlaw. Page D1. On page D1, the board will find a motion to adopt the actions taken by the Bashore Committee on Special Education in the CSE minutes as listed as well as the referrals
097for January, February, March, and April of 2025. We recommend its approval. Motion second. Any questions? All in favor? Opposed? So carried. Page D2. On page D2, the board will find a motion to adopt the actions taken by the committee on preschool special education in the minutes as listed. We recommend its approval. Motion second. Any questions? All in favor? I opposed. So carried. Page D3. And on page D3, the board find a motion to adopt the individualized home instruction plans on behalf of the students listed for the 2425 school year. We recommend its approval. Motion second. Any questions? All in favor? I opposed. So carried. Dr. Maloney. Page E1. On page E1, the board a motion to submit the Basia Board of Education collective vote for the 2025 Eastern SuffK budget vote and election. We recommend
098it approval. Motion. Second. Any questions? All in favor? I opposed. So carried. pages uh page E2 E2 A throughg. On page E2 E2 A throughg, the board find a motion to adopt the newly implemented policy exeicio student board member as required by the New York State Department of Education. We recommend it approval. Motion second. Any questions? All in favor? I opposed. So carried. Page E3. On page E3, the board find a motion to resend board policy 432112, use of refocus rooms, physical restraints, and aversives. We recommend it approval. Motion. Second. Any questions? All in favor? I I opposed. So carried. Page E4 E4 A throughG. On page E4, E4 A throughG, the board fired a motion to approve and adopt the revised policy 4231.12 timeout and physical restraints for all students. We recommend it approval.
099Motion. Second. Any questions? That's just renaming the renaming the policy. Yep. And it was presented by Mr. Vera a couple weeks ago. All in favor? I opposed. So carried. And finally, page E5. On page E5, the board filed a motion to approve the memorandum agreement between the Bayer Unifi Free School District and the Beayshore Power Professionals Unit. We recommend it approval. Motion second. Any questions? All in favor? I opposed. So carried. That's the end of our regular agenda. We have nobody listed who has anything to say. Is there anybody who would like to speak tonight? Well, with that, I wish you all a pleasant week. Weather's getting a little bit better. We're going to take a motion to go out of uh public session and back into executive session. Motion. Second. Any questions? All in
100favor? I. Great job. So, carry. Thank you.