BCSD Board of Education meeting 1/7/2026

001Is it summer time? >> Never the right temperature. If we can uh reconvene our meeting to open session, the board has been in executive session since 6:00 to discuss a litigation matter, three personnel matters, and a contractual issue. If we could please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> We can have uh introductions. John McFillips, Dave Hurst, >> Mcnite, >> Holly Dam, Jody [snorts] Monroe, >> Robert Tun, >> Katherine Natto, >> John Walston, >> Clarayu, Rose Pastori, and Lauren Graasso is unable to be here this evening. Um, do we have any Pig or SUPA students visiting us? Welcome. Thanks for coming. Um, you guys are

002required to stay until the meeting is over or 9:00, whichever one comes first. And please don't leave without signing out on one of the signout sheets. sits up here. Um that way you get credit for being here and you don't have to come again, but you'd be more than welcome to do so. Um first up on our agenda is our approval of minutes. It is recommended by the superintendent that the board of education approve the minutes from the December 17th, 2025 regular board meeting. >> So move second. >> Uh any discussion? All in favor? Any opposed? Any abstensions? That carries. Uh item three, meeting reports. And first up is our superintendent report. Sure. Thank you. Um I did want to let the board know and the community know that we will be launching kindergarten registration.

003Um it'll open on January 20th. Uh this year we have made changes to the process hoping to make it easier for families to register. Um so they will be able to do um register entirely online. Um and according to our chief technology officer, they can register everything on their phone if they so choose. Um I'm not sure if I would do that but um anyhow we will be sending out information in the coming days about the process with information about how to register. Uh the other change that we're making is um for students who are enrolled in our UPK program or preschool uh special education program. Those students will not have to reregister um like they did in the past. So but that is not open yet. That won't be open for a little bit

004longer. Um, also I just wanted to provide a little bit of information. I know we have a presentation um from Tyler on the zones, but following the last board meeting before the holiday break, we did schedule an additional committee meeting uh focused on the zones of attendance that was held yesterday. Uh before that meeting, the board did provide Tyler with the feedback based on all the options that um has been reviewed and presented to date. uh Tyler took that and also from their own uh work with the committee incorporated that feedback along with the work completed and developed for revised options that uh will be reviewed tonight. Uh the purpose of yesterday's meeting was really to examine the target enrollment numbers which had been established a while ago, determine which options uh most effectively or

005closely met the goals and priorities [snorts] established for the purp. Um, so after careful review and discussion, the committee did determine that two of the four options best align with the goals and priorities. Uh, again, these will be represented tonight and presented from representatives from Tyler. Um, as well as the rationale for why the committee [clears throat] selected those two options over the others. I also like to take a moment to thank all of the committee members for their time and dedication to this work. uh they have on multiple occasions adjusted their schedules to respond to community feedback uh and to consider additional information uh requested by the board. I know they've also fielded in many questions from their respective constituents to best represent their communities and I'd also like to thank Tyler and the

006Tyler team for their responsiveness and flexibility uh and adjusting their schedules to support the process. Um, and that's everything I have for the superintendent report for today. Great. Any questions for Jody? >> Uh, next up is the board report. Um, and um I want to wish everybody a happy new year to start things off. Um, I it's hard to believe it's 2026. Um, and uh, just to remind everybody if they're um, hopefully I'm not there's no middle school students here stealing your funding, but I remind everyone that uh, Newsies is um, happening at the middle school next weekend. Um, so I'm uh, I'm looking forward to seeing that production. Does anybody have anything else they want to share? um not not [snorts] a sharing and I don't want to get ahead of anybody here, but

007I'm just wondering looking at the um looking at the agenda for today, we're going to have the um presentation on the zone of attendance and then public comment um and then action items. I'm wondering if we could u add to the agenda to come back and have a board discussion after we hear public comment uh to talk a little bit further about the the proposals and the feedback and to figure out kind of how we want to set ourselves up for the next for our next meeting. >> Okay. Um so uh probably the easiest way to do that is um because we would need uh need board u consensus to um addend item to the agenda. So um I would say it is >> uh I'll make a proposal and maybe you can make a

008motion. Um that it is recommended that the uh board add um item 5A uh additional board discussion on zones of attendance. >> Yes, it would it would be 5B. >> 5 but that's all. Yeah. Yeah. 5B. Sorry about that. >> Yeah. To to add a to add discussion. Yeah. So I would like to move that I second. >> All in favor? >> I. Any opposed? >> Yeah. Okay. >> So, we can do that. If for any reason I fly by that out of habit, just stop. >> We'll do. Thank you. >> Um, and student reports. >> Our students [laughter] and man action club in BCHS had the opportunity to witness Governor Kathy Hogle to speak today about her introduction of the new legislation targeting um gun safety. And it was really cool on how um

009the process to see how the state leaders are responding to promote um safety concerns. And it was a very great opportunity to see other students from other school districts like in Manhattan and Staten Island um come together and unite in this um to make a safer community in New York. And later on we're going to meet again in for advocacy day in March in the capital and we're going to have more discussions on um um preventing gun violence. >> And just to add to the board report, uh if anyone would like to buy Newsies tickets, they're available Saturday, January 10th, the general public from 12 to 2 and Wednesday, January 14th from 5:30 to 7:30. Thank you. Um, any questions for you guys? Um, and I'm scanning. I didn't see any, but I don't [snorts]

010expect them. Um, all right. So, we are going to move on to our presentation this evening. Uh, so I will turn it over to Tyler uh technologies for our zones of attendance committee upd. >> Good evening everybody. Uh my name is Ted theme. I'm with Tyler Technologies. As Jody mentioned, uh we did meet after the last meeting and [clears throat] took some time to review uh the options and and think about some of the feedback that we've been given. Just referring back to the initial schedule, here we are in January. we work through the process and hopefully we're to the point where we can make some final recommendations. Uh in case anybody needs a refresher, the reason we're here is because we have an overenrollment area or over enrollment in two of the elementary schools

011that uh will continue to persist uh in leaving those schools in a crowded situation. Uh for the last couple of meetings here, we've been focusing our efforts on looking at different uh options for moving some of the MPUs between the enrollment zones and running the analysis uh to see what the impact of those moves would be. Uh after the last board meeting, uh Tyler went back and the and the board went back and thinking about some of the comments that have were received at the last board meeting and the board meetings before that, not just the last one, but all the board meetings. Uh we looked at various options uh that tried to address some of these concerns. One, not placing the entire burden on one particular community. uh obviously [clears throat] trying to minimize

012the number of moves of of students uh and also minimizing the moves of students from underenrolled zones uh to other zones. Uh making sure we made [snorts] uh moves that were contiguous and and logical, preserving walkability to the extent possible. And then probably most importantly, making enough of a change so that the building capacities aren't quickly uh consumed, right? and that they fill back up and we're back here again in a short number of time, short number of years, uh, needing to do this process again. So, that begs the question, well, what is enough of a change? And so, I'd like to ask Tim Ammon to come up here and walk us through some of that. >> Thank you, Ted. Uh, good evening, everyone. Again, my name is Tim Hammond. Uh, one of the things

013that we have spoken about frequently here is this question of of trying to minimize moves. And I think a reasonable point that's been brought brought up both at the board meetings and through the committee is what does minimization look like? You know, what what does a minimum number of students look like? And so one of the things that we wanted to provide is an indication of what that what that looks like under the scenarios that we've been developing. Um ultimately I think if we if we look back at the target capacity and we look look at enrollment one of the things that we would see is minimally if if we had exactly the number of kids as we had seats available we would have to move 85 students. However we don't right we have fewer

014than that. And so one of the things that we want to be able to see to try to balance the enrollments between the target capacities and um and what we're trying to achieve across the other criteria that Ted was mentioning about you know maintaining walkability and continuing to try to keep cohorts of students together and all of those things that we've spoken about. Um it means actually that we end up having to move a larger chunk of students. Uh and one of the things that you know as we have worked through the models that we've that we've worked through what we see as a minimum uh it ranges between about 150 and 200 students. So, when we're looking at that movement and you're looking at the counts of of students moving um in a couple

015of instances where we are in and around that 150 range, that is that is approximately the minimum that we think um is going to need to be moved to achieve the balances and to to try to address the criteria that we have been working with from the beginning of this process. >> Thanks, Tim. Uh so we have four options uh to review tonight [clears throat] and I'll walk through the options and we'll talk a little bit bit about them and then we'll we'll uh as we wrap up we'll talk about some of the conclusions uh that the board or that the committee has has come to. The first one is is option 3A and uh let me just get to my notes here. So option 3A is a variation on one of the options that

016was previously presented. And what we're the idea for 3A was to take areas 53 and 54 uh and change those from uh Eagle to Slayerlands. Uh and uh and you'll see that that is a consistent move throughout all the options that we're going to discuss tonight. Uh some of the other parts of of this particular option would be taking the Murray Road uh neighborhoods which are uh 5758, 89 and 90 and moving those from Eagle to Hammer and then uh as we've been talking about uh NPU 40 would [snorts] move from Sarland to Ellir in the for the 2829 school year. And that is another common theme throughout all of the options here. And then the last part of this would be to take uh areas uh 16 and 8 and move [clears throat] those

017from Glenmont to Hamigril. So the total uh of those moves over the period would be initially 130 students for the 2627 school year and then in total 145 uh students moved. Uh we we did look at the 2026 numbers and it meets the the current objectives for 2627 and then uh ran those out to 3031 and you'll see that some of those uh in the 30 31 are over the target uh but we're a few students over across many many grades, right? And so we're still able to meet the uh using the the idea of the likely number of sections or classes classrooms that would be needed. we're still able to hit the targets here uh for all the schools for all the models Tyler did look at the transportation impact and what is interesting

018and a common theme across all four models is that there is some transportation impact but it's well within the margin of error for what we're doing here for the analysis. So it's a it's a couple of percent different uh in terms of the total cost and it's some of the options have one more bus that would theoretically be needed. Uh but I think for the purposes of the discussion and the modeling the the transportation impact is is very very minimal and there isn't one option that has a significantly greater transportation impact than another of of these four that we're going to talk about tonight. Uh we've also listed uh the number of impacted fifth graders on each of the options. So you'll see here in this case there would be 12 fifth graders in the

01926 27 fifth grade class at Eagle and nine at Glenmont that would be impacted. Uh and if and if an accommodation weren't made then they would move in their last year of elementary school. Uh option 3B is a variation on on option 3A and in 3B we're take instead of moving the Murray Road uh neighborhoods we would be taking uh NPU 51 and that one would go from uh attending Eagle to attending Hammer. And again, if you look at the uh the 2627 numbers, again, all of the targets are met there for 2627 and similar. I think we're a couple of students different uh on on Eagle [clears throat] and Glenmont versus the 3B option. So, very very similar results. And again, no no difference in the transportation impact. There are a few more fifth

020graders uh impacted by this and that just happens to be the as a result of the number of fifth graders that are in those uh NPUs and so there would be 15 at Eagle and nine at Glenmont. Uh option four uh has the most number of moves and and moves the largest number of students. Let me walk through those uh quickly here. So uh the common elements would be 53 and 54 going to Slingerlands 40 going to from Slingerlands to Ellir uh and then we would be moving I'm going to start in the in the lower right where you'd have 8 8.1 uh I think that is 10 and uh 91 and 16 would move from Glenmont to uh Hamigrail and then uh we would have uh um the Murray Road neighborhoods would move from

021uh Eagle to Slingerlands as well. And then n yeah and then 91 would move from Glenmont to Hamburgil. So uh so there's 217 students that are impacted uh on that. Uh it this one if you look at the 3031 does get closest to having all of the uh the targets met but it does move the largest number of students here. And then option five is another option uh that was considered. Again [clears throat] couple of changes here. Uh 53 and 54 are the same. uh 51 uh in this case would go to uh Hammerrail and then we would have uh 78 8.1 10 uh going to Hamigrail and then this one also moves 50.2 and 65.2 from Eagle to uh Slingerlands. So this introduces some non-ontiguous moves which again is not one of the goals

022of the of the of the project. Uh so as the committee looked at these and they can they deliberated on each one of these particular options uh they decided after some some good dialogue here that that five uh doesn't make a lot of sense because of the the non-ontiguous moves doesn't do a great job of balancing uh the enrollment as well. uh option four uh also makes some non-ontiguous moves and the committee started to look at changing and redoing some of option four to the point that it ended up looking a lot like option 3B. Uh the committee did like and thought that uh 3A and 3B uh preserves walkability to some extent. uh it does both of those do move the least number of students and then option 3B actually moves the fewest number

023of neighborhoods and does a pretty good job of moving whole neighborhoods and entire neighborhoods. Uh so so if you look at the recommendations here from the committee which are listed on the maps and at the top of each summary sheet uh the committee's recommendation say on 3A and 3B what they were the closest to meeting the overall goals and of [snorts] the project and options four and five were the furthest from meeting the overall goals of the project. A couple other comments uh from the committee. Um one is that uh there was a suggestion made that the board not wait and Tyler would echo this uh 10 years to look at enrollment projections again. That it would be probably in everybody's interest to uh look at enrollment projections every two to three years uh and

024see what's happening so that we're not waiting 10 years to make uh these moves and and [clears throat] understand what the impacts would be. Uh the committee also talked about uh starting to have some dialogue with the board around what support and what uh accommodations could be made to help the students with the transition. And I know the board's done a great job of that in the past when transitions have been made. And so I think the committee had suggested it'd be a good time to start talking about what those uh tools and ideas would look like. >> What are your questions? Um, since you mentioned the the sort of transition planning, this would be more a question for you, Jody, but can you speak to that a little bit just, you know, ideas? >>

025Um, so I don't have specific ideas, but we've already talked about that with the elementary principles. We've done this before when uh we transitioned [snorts] students from Clarksville to Eagle and Slingerlands. There was a lot of planning to welcome students and families. There were activities planned. Uh we've talked slightly a little bit about, you know, do we do visitations or kind of open houses for students who are moving? Um trying to highlight maybe some of the new things that students will experience at a school they're going to that they've not or coming up with some new things that maybe uh happened at their um former school that could be part [clears throat] become part of the new school. Those are the things that we've done in the past that were wellreceived. Um so I think

026that and obviously working with the um the PTO's PTAs on how they can help support the transitions. They were very helpful in the past. So we would be looking to do some of those things. So more information about what those plans will be once we have the final um decisions on who's moving where and with what buildings and we'll begin kind of getting information out about those plans. >> Okay, great. Just just on that topic, I would also um think that we should be talking about some um maybe social emotional learning classes um you know counselors coming into the classes because it's not just a change for the kids who are moving. It's a change for every kid who oh maybe my friend has moved and now I'm feeling lonely or maybe my teacher that

027I was expecting to have isn't going to be here. You know, there's a lot of changes. So >> yeah, >> we would be doing those even this spring even, >> right? >> Yes, that's an in anticipation. >> Correct. >> Um and then and I think this would again be a question for you is you know one of the to your comment about not waiting so long to um look at this the next time. Um, I know we, you know, started to see some of these numbers about five years ago and, you know, maybe you can speak to [laughter] I think it's I we had >> we had some questions about it. So, so we we did have a pandemic, right? >> Yes. Uh [snorts] so that put a little uh shift in a lot of

028our plans and then coming out of the pandemic uh we kind of wanted to see how things continued to shift and so really we started talking about this about two years ago I guess seeing that this was continuing where we were seeing increased numbers at Glenmont and Hamigrell in trying to maintain the class sizes that we thought were important after the pandemic. Um, so that's really when we started talking about, okay, what do we look at? We looked at flex zones. We talked to other districts and then ultimately decided that we needed to look at potentially making some shifts. So, I agree with Ted. Uh, we did talk about that that looking at um this on a more regular basis would make it a little easier because we could start to see, for example, one

029of the challenges that uh we've talked about in the committee is you can't really predict housing turnover. >> Right. Right. Um, and that can play a big influence in changing enrollment in buildings and I could see that happening in some of the schools. So that we're looking at the more regularly we can see if that's starting to happen. >> And would that allow then for more grandfathering if you had to make changes then >> potentially if you're looking at it on a more regular basis and you're seeing uh for example we're in all these proposals there's a significant number of students moving to Hamigra. If we started to see a large number of housing turnover in Hamigrail and we're starting to see that that building is getting too crowded, we could start looking at that

030and say we're going to look at a zone that has to shift. You could do it on a more transitional basis where the incoming K are going to go here. >> Yeah, I know that the grandfathering question was was is a big comment that we got with regard to this. I think to the extent that we start to look at it a little bit more um regularly, >> right? >> Assuming there's no more pandemics, [laughter] >> let's hope not. >> That would be good. Thank you. >> Yeah. I think just monitoring the enrollment projections, you know, that was Tyler's recommendation. Uh, you know, we don't know what's going to happen, but I think monitoring them and looking at them every two to three years will put the board in much better position in the community.

031>> It's a little bit like driving a car, right? Small changes, you can make them sooner rather than big swerve back somewhere. And so managing those managing [snorts] those small changes actually and a lot more comfortable for people to keep which is what we see with other customers. >> Um another question that I had and um and I think you had the same question um Yuan uh was whether there's been any discussion of not moving NPU 40, >> right? Um because and we talked about waiting um but then if you look at the projections then Elmir ends up being over and so I don't I don't know if there's if you've had any discussion or thoughts about that. >> So it has been in the moves for the last several iterations of the models at

032the in the early some of the early models it was not being moved. So, but but since since probably two times ago when we were here, it's it has been in the group of of NPUs that have been moving. Now, you know, again, you can look at that 15 um and and decide, you know, when we see when we see in some instances um if we leave it in, we still have a little bit of a similar problem at Elmere from an underenrollment perspective. um and which was one of the reasons why we started talking about moving it in in the first place. Um but but it does have the the opposite effect as we were just talking about when we start to look at it uh from a slinger line standpoint right from the

033drop. So um >> well and if you're moving 15 kids and Elme is ending up 12 kids over that target right it just the math looks like it's you're actually closer if you don't move. >> Yeah it looks like it's a push. Yeah, some of that is because of the way uh it's also when we look in some of the outy years again, >> one of the things that we started doing here is once we had the conversation about the construction component of it and potentially not moving it until 28. Um you see the starting numbers the students actually remain in so in the 26 numbers and then you see and then they move out in 31, right? Because we we make the shift actually in 28 instead of at the beginning or the end,

034right? So, so as a consequence, that pickup that you get with the with the 12 is partially the 15 kids coming in plus the effect of the cohort value, right? So, you get some additional growth out of the cohort value, >> right? I I understand the math. >> Yeah. Um, but you're making it that MPU moving moves Slingons to being less enrolled when it's already underenrolled and makes Elmer overenrolled where it wouldn't be otherwise. >> Yeah. I I think one of the other goals of the committee uh that they asked us to reinforce [clears throat] and I apologize for not mentioning this is that uh was to have two sections at least two sections of every grade in each school. And so that was one of the things early on was uh you know there

035weren't enough students in the current enrollment zone in Ellismir to have two sections of kindergarten this year. And so that that's part of I think the idea here is to make sure that there are enough students going into Ellir so that we can have two sections of every grade. Mhm. >> Um, >> and if I mean the other thing there's there's a there's a timeline factor that I'm hearing you say as well is like this is something that becomes more of an issue as we get closer to 3031. And if that's the case and if our goal is to revisit this not in five or 10 years, but rather in in three years, we would have a better understanding of what those numbers in fact are >> and be able to determine at that point.

036But for but if it allows there at least in 28 29 possibly 20 I mean we don't have the yearbyear here but if what you're saying is it allows us to achieve those the the goal of having two sections per grade and and it you know and and I suppose it's does it immediately bump you know bump us up above and again you know recognizing that these are projections and that no matter that we are not as I've understood this process so far we're not going to wind up with a with a flat, you know, kind of perfect alignment. There will continue to be adjustments made. So, I think it seems as though it would make sense to continue down that path until or unless we know we shouldn't when we get closer to those

037out years um so that we can have the two sections per grade and then otherwise deal with the overage as as needed. During the committee discussions there were originally we there was discussion and on the prior proposals there were other NPUs shifting to Ellir with a larger number of students and then [clears throat] I think the discussion was that was too many students. The fif this MPU I think the committee felt gave Ellir just enough to allow for the two sections and knowing that it would be because of the construction two years out you could revisit that and then if there was an issue you potentially could change it but they felt like it should be identified as part of this process is that >> is the MPU that the committee recommends would be right

038>> slated to move and if something were to happen and we saw a a bump in Elmmeir, which we've not seen, but if possible, they could potentially still stay at Slingerlands because there's capacity there, >> right? That makes perfect sense. >> That makes sense. >> Basically, it's not a flex zone, but it's like, guys, you're the ones that maybe will move if under our current circumstance. >> That would be >> and giving them two years warning seems like a good plan. >> Right. Right. And if if we're proceeding with this, it's like we are planning that you will. Correct. >> Not just that you may be like that is the plan is that you will. And also, if we're revisiting this in just a couple of years, then at, you know, future future us, future

039boards can figure that out. >> Uh, I see that you have Sorry. >> No, go ahead. >> I see that you have the impacted fifth graders. Um, what what does it look like, assuming we don't move those? It looks to me as though you you end up with Eagle still being okay because even if all those 15 stay, you're still 15 under target. Glenmont is still okay. So basically looks like the 3B, which is what I'm looking at, would allow, if we so chose, those fifth graders to stay in that current school. >> Yeah, that [clears throat] is true from a capacity perspective. Um, but allowing those fifth graders to stay will create a bit of a transportation impact. Okay. And and so there's, you know, there's probably another bus or so involved to accommodate

040leaving the the fifth graders in their current school. >> And then am I right too that we would have to I mean that that that may be and I know we've we've heard the request for grandfathering. However, I would be curious of as to what impacts that would have for other younger siblings in the school or other right there are other knock-on effects of that. But >> I mean it might be that some of those families would choose not to grandfather right if if the younger sibling is moving then why not move both siblings. So this is a worst case if everyone chose to grandfather they could. in the the last when Eagle opened and there were some students who there were it was split as to how many not everyone did shows >> right

041that's >> right it was some said we're fine our neighborhood's going um so it was it was mixed how many actually took advantage of that >> did you actually map out the transportation [clears throat] is it doable I mean I understand that you said that you have to add another bus or two but was it something that was possible or was not possible I mean we we didn't model that. Uh but I think in in general, you know, you wor probably worst case you're looking at one more bus per elementary school >> for Eagle and Glenmont. >> Yeah, exactly. For Eagle for the for the students that you would want to stay in that neighborhood, right? >> That's >> I could follow up with Ellen. I mean, that could be impactful for transportation. >> Yeah.

042I think it would be helpful though um as sort of as a the second part of the conversation. So yeah, ju just to know, you know, >> if it's doable or not. And if it's not doable, if it's not doable, it's not, but it would be good to know. Yeah. >> Um, other questions that people have, >> I just want to echo the thanks to the committee. You know, they've done a lot of work and made extra meetings. I appreciate the time. I'm glad we've come to something that to me looks like a much improved set of objectives. here. John >> have a question regarding the buses. Um, you have 60 listed for all of them. Uh, but under option 3B, it's maybe just a typo. It says option 3A. I just want to make

043sure. Is that >> Yeah, that's a typo. >> Okay. So, they're all they're all the same in terms of the bus. >> Correct. >> Thank you. And then I know that the committee has has sent both of these options and [clears throat] we don't see noted here. Um, you know, this one is more than that. Perhaps that was intentional, but I at least want to ask the question, did it seem as though the committee was gravitating more toward A or B? I mean, generally I I think that they thought overall maybe B was a little bit better, but I think they were fine with either. But I think in general the majority of them probably leaned a little bit more toward B. >> B you get you fewer kids trying to cross the bypass, which

044is the big deal. I think that was >> that was I was that your do you talk >> I think there there was a comment made about on B you're if we look at A first right you've got the Murray uh road neighborhoods are are have to go over the bypass to get to Hammerrail whereas if you look at 3B then area 50 neighborhood 51 uh would be going to Hamigrail and I believe it is true that NPU 51 was previously part of Hamigrail and so there's some continuity and and some uh feelings there that that they're part of that community already. I think that's what that that was what kind of leaned them maybe a little more that >> right >> and they're at eagle now they're at eagle now the bypass anyway >>

045no they would they would >> oh you're saying now they do sorry >> yeah they go they go down the extension there >> other questions Meredith um wanted to echo my thanks for the committee they put a lot of work um not only into the committee meetings but in their outreach and discussions with their different schools. So I just wanted to thank them all for that. Um I do think um just based on their recommendations that I would like to focus just on 3A and 3B because they they found that uh options four and five were not um as aligned with our goals. And I like to respect that work and and I agree with it as well. It seems as though 3A and 3B um are the options that best align with the goals.

046I do see you know we have had a lot of discussions about um and view 50 um 53 and 54 which are the um eagle um and views that most um most likely walk. um they're the ones that are across from the high school that can walk down to Eagle. Um we've had a lot of discussions. I know the committee discussed a lot about the fact that that um is desirable was desirable to keep them an eagle in order to keep eagle more walkable. Um I feel like the committee and my you know I've done my own um research on this have tried many many different ways. We've looked at lots of different options, many ways to try to make it work so that those neighborhoods could stay eagle, but it seems as though um

047we just can't get anything that would work with all of our other objectives to also keep that neighborhood walking to Eagle. Um I think that's why that is not present on any of the options we've been presented with. Um, so that is a goal that isn't being met there, but I I do think that we have attempted to meet that goal um with that neighborhood and it just has not worked >> um with any of the options that we've been trying to to do. Um, one [clears throat] question I have for you, Jody. Um so no matter what options we choose there are going to be changes to traffic flows and certainly increased traffic certainly for um you know Hamigrail and Singerlands who are going to be having more people there. So I would just

048ask that all of our schools have those plans in place about um what we're going to do about increased traffic communicating um perhaps new traffic flows to all of their families not just the new families. Um and especially I'm concerned about um if we go with 3B um there may be a lot of kids who are crossing Murray from Westchester Woods to Hammerrail that we have not previously done that. I know the town has done a lot of work on Murray A um including like installing new speed bumps and everything this year, right? Um, so they've been obviously doing that work, but if we um make a change where now there may be a lot of kids crossing that street in order to go hammer, I think that I would ask you Jod to have

049that conversation with um David Vanluven about what increased safety um increasing the safety among along Murray, right? We're going to be increasing um student walkers and bikers. >> You're thinking about the folks at 51. >> Yeah, because if there I mean you could walk down or bike down Murray to get over to Hamigrail, but Murray is >> sometimes has some speedy drivers on it, >> right? And I know the town has been working on it, but that's something I think that we would have to really push um to make even more safety concerns there. Okay. Um I you know I agree that I I think we um and I should have I think I meant to say this at the outset that we um it seems like based on the the committee's thoughts and the

050discussion that we've had that um from we want to focus in on 3A and 3B. So I just want to make sure that um the any there are any board members that object to that approach. >> Agree objection. >> Okay. >> Approve. Yeah. Support. >> All right. Um, are there other questions on those two options that people have? >> Um, just I had one question on 3B. Um, which I have been leaning towards because I I do think that it makes more sense to have that neighborhood um who that is a little more walkable to Himogrell than crossing the bypass in um option 3A. But 3B I do see um when we go out to 3031 [cough and clears throat] it my reading is that Eagle we are anticipating the Eagle would have um one

051extra section there and in 3A in in 3A we would have 14 students over at Eagle and zero unused sections and 3B we had 17 students over and one unused section. So, it's really to me it sounds like there's only three extra students that would be at Eagle in 3B, but does that balloon it up to >> Yeah. >> not having enough classrooms or >> Well, so yeah. So, it is only three extra stu students across the the the six five sixth grades, right? So, so depending on this the distribution there, it could be fine. there the classroom allocation also includes one extra classroom per building. >> Okay. >> Right. So so basically what 3B is saying is that you would be using >> the one extra classroom classroom >> the spare classroom in Eagle.

052>> So we don't see a logistical problem with having 17 extra students versus 14 extra students. >> That I think is insignificant. And I think that you know when we've talked about the >> projections and the number of sections you know we use the for the formula we use the 18 the you know 20 22 >> knowing that we not they're not caps they're kind of what we try to those are targets that we try to get to but we have sections currently that are above those. We have some that are below that. So when you actually take your number of sections and kids then it may be we have to use that flex classroom or it may be that we're not we could have two available classrooms that year depending on how the sections

053fall. So it just varies from year to year. >> I just wanted to make sure we didn't see a barrier >> from three. No. >> Okay. >> Any other questions at this point on 3A or 3B? Okay, >> thank you. >> Thanks. >> Um, next on our agenda is our recognition of public comment on an agenda item. Um, I currently only have one person who signed up, but I have a feeling that might not be correct. Um, could I just get a show of hands if somebody if you're planning on making a public comment? >> Is that >> There's another sign up over there. Oh, is there another one over there? >> I'm sorry. I'm looking around. >> One more person. Two total. >> One, two, three, four, five. There's another person. Um, Britney, would

054you mind coming up and just being our timekeeper? >> Oh, yeah. So, just as a reminder, um if you are planning to [clears throat] speak that you have, um three minutes to address the board, um Britney is going to um will raise a I think a yellow when you're getting close and then a red when you're at the end. Um and um we will use this time as an opportunity to listen to concerns. >> So, I can keep the screen >> sure moving. I was like, "Where you going?" [laughter] >> Um, I'm gonna take the um I'm gonna take first the two people who signed up and then um and then I will uh take the other people who would like to speak. So, first would be Jeremy Miller. >> Good evening. My name is

055Jeremy Miller. I'm the parent of a fourth grader and a third grader Eagle. and I have another child entering the district in the fall of 2027. I followed the resoning process closely over the last several months and I know the members of the zone of attendance committee, Tyro Technologies, and our district leaders have invested hundreds of hours into this. I certainly haven't been happy with some of the work on this topic, but I recognize the way the task you've been given. It's been said that a gentle answer deflects anger. And I'm not here to cast stones tonight, but to offer a reminder that as you weigh what to do, you let the core values of this district help guide your decision. Throughout this resoning process, I've observed the gap between the district's core values and

056the proposals we've been presented. The district has a value of wellness and that we value active, healthy lifestyles. Yet, these plans reduces the ability for many kids to walk to the closer elementary school. For those who still try to walk, it forces them onto longer routes and busier, higher traffic routes. Furthermore, there are plenty of concerns about the impact this will have on bus commute times for our students. We're adding stress not to our children, not just to our children when it comes to how they're getting to school, but onto the lives of the parents who are already stretched in and stressed out as well. We have a value in this district of academics. The district is committed to instructional excellence, but so far in this process, it's been driven by the number of students

057in buildings, not by the quality of their education. We haven't heard nearly enough from our teachers and educators on how this move impacts what goes on in the classroom. We haven't seen yet how this transition translates into academic growth. We need to understand how this move supports a child's ability to read, to excel in math, and build the essential foundations for academic success. This district has a value of community, but when families are reduced to neighborhood planning units or NPUs, they feel managed rather than heard. It is intentionally turned neighborhood against neighborhood, MPU against NPU, which is the opposite of the community partnerships we all want in this district. When people are talking about getting t-shirts with their MPU on it, that's not community. But here's the opportunity. You can model the district's value of

058character we expect from our students by showing that we value a right result over a rushed result. The strongest thing a leader can do is stop, listen, and find a better way. You have the opportunity right now to be the leaders who listen to the families you serve. The easiest thing to do is to keep moving forward on a broken road. The choice that adds the most value to this district and to its families is to recognize that this process isn't really leading to the outcomes that our childrens deserve. So, let's start a new conversation that puts people before MPUs, students before slide decks. Years from now, let's remember a board that had the strength to pause, the humility to listen, and the vision to get it right for our kids. Thank you. >> Thank

059you, >> Joseph Sto. Let me know when I can start. Go ahead. >> Hi. Um, good evening. My name is Joseph Storch. I'm the parent of a middle schooler and a fourth grader at Eagle. I rise to respectfully urge the board to adopt option 3A. I deeply appreciate living in Bethlehem. I've been privileged to work with schools and school districts across the country, and I wouldn't trade any of them for for what we have here. It is clear that the board, the committee, and Tyler have done a lot of work and heard a lot of feedback. Of the remaining options, 3A is best. Our area, Westchester Woods, or NPU 51, is a nice walkable neighborhood to Eagle Elementary School. Our neighborhood is full of walkers and bikers during the 15 days that it's not snowing.

060The walk, bike, and run day in May is a happening at Eagle. Happily, the vast majority of the route from NPU51 Westchester Woods to Eagle has sidewalks and crosswalks, improving safety all along the route. The kids cross Cherry with a crosswalk and then are on the bike path the entire way until they cross at the crosswalk between the high school and Eagle. Eagle is a true community school for that neighborhood. Hamigrail [snorts] is a wonderful school and in truth not much further as the crow flies. It is certainly closer than Slingerlands, which was a consideration for a while. Also a wonderful school. It would have required a drive for all families. As you noted earlier, Hamigrail is a riskier walk for kids in that neighborhood. Murray Avenue unfortunately features drivers who speed between Cherry and

061the bypass, often on their phones. It is a straightaway and they reach very high speeds. As we can see on the radar sign the town posted, the town recognized this danger and put in speed bumps of sorts, but they are easily defeated by those speeding drivers just driving down the middle of the road. Parents will understandably be a bit more nervous with their kids walking and biking to hammer compared to Eagle. You already believe that 3B will require more buses from that neighborhood. I'd argue that in practice more families may need busing if they are nervous about the walkability as the so the buses may take more time and have to carry more students. For 3B with Area 51 moving to Hamigrail, the neighborhoods that would stay at Eagle are not really walkable to Eagle

062or Hamigrail anyway. It's possible, but it is a very long walk either way. But Area 51 is walkable to Eagle. 3A also has the fewest number of fifth graders moving. 15 students moving is almost a whole class. These children have gone through a global pandemic for which Eagle did an incredible job supporting them and moving for just one year will be disruptive with more uncertainty. The committee has recommended 3A and 3B. There are certainly positives and negatives of each and as the old political saw goes where you stand depends on where you sit. But I would aver that the Westchester Woods neighborhood the walkability has been a boon for Eagle and for the children. It is the safest walk and it is a wonderful school. I urge the board to adopt 3A. Thank you for

063your time and your commitment to hearing from the families. >> Thank you. >> All right. Who else? >> And if you could state your name, please. I don't know if that'll stay or if you'll be able to hear me. Sorry, I'm pretty short. Uh, my name is Alexis Marcus and I am a parent of a current Eagle first grader and then my youngest will be joining in the fall of 2027. So, I do Oh gosh, I broke it. I'm sorry. It's going to tilt down. [laughter] Sorry. Um, I do want to thank the committee for listening to the comments that the town of Clarksville mentioned last time. Um, but I do want to focus on the bus rides for the current plans. I think it's really important to Wow, I really broke it. I'm so

064sorry. It's fine. >> It's okay. Um, >> thank you. Uh, I would ask if the committee can please do some investigation into and releasing the information on what are the current longest bus rides for all schools, all elementary schools, and what are the estimated longest bus rides for the options for 3A and 3B so families can get a better idea of how they're going to be impacted with these changes. And then my other um comment recommendation was uh earlier it was mentioned on how are we going to prepare families for these changes and these moves. And one of the things that was really important to me when um my community was was kind of on the block for looking to move. I immediately called Slingerlands cuz my daughter is uh she is enrolled in the

065OT program at Eagle and that's really important for um for her and I know it is very important for a lot of other um families. So I think it would be beneficial to maybe release for all the schools, you know, what schools participate in enrichments or is it all of them? What schools, you know, how are the schools capers different? Um what are the OT, PT, speech therapists and what can families expect when transitioning when using those programs? What are the PTO's like and how are they different across the schools? Um what are the special school projects and events that each school has that's different than the others? Um, maybe even asking fifth graders who are going to be changing if that is an option, if they're not being grandfathered in, what are they most

066likely looking or what are they most likely scared of or not sure of? And what do they want to hear back from the school that they're transitioning to? And maybe I think probably the most important for a lot of the kids is what do the playgrounds look like? Can they, you know, go and check them out? And can they go and have tours of the school? Um, so those are just some of the things that I think should be sent out to the parents across the district so they can see what school they're in and how is it going to compare to the school that they're going to. Thank you. Thank you. >> Hi, my name is Ashley Zinc. I have Sorry, [clears throat] getting over cold. I have a daughter who's currently attending Eagle

067uh in second grade and then a younger child who will be coming in in 2027. Uh first and I want to preface that for my family, I know that we'll be okay moving. Uh it will be hard, but we have friends at Slingerlands. Uh we're in NPU 54 and I'm confident that we'll adjust after a period of time. Uh that said, I want to highlight something that I think should be looked at more meaningfully by the district because I know how much is it has benefited our NPU community over the last few years and that is walkability. I find it interesting that walkability is still on the list of criteria that's being met. I feel like that's incorrect when you've almost completely eliminated the potential for that with these proposals for Eagle School other than

068Westchester Woods in 3A. Let me paint a picture of what that means for us. Walking to school has done a v had a variety of benefits for our community. We have uh our neighborhood has had significant turnover. When we first moved in a decade ago, there were very few little kids there. uh we've come together and form a tightlyknit group. It's had uh significantly boosted the mental health of not only our kids but the parents. It's had a ripple effect on after school activities. The kids are playing outside every day, stepping away from screens. On bike to school days, we've gathered a huge community. We're walking and helping the kids build resilience year round. They have fun, move their bodies before and after school and genuinely look forward to it every day. Just today, my

069daughter was excitedly running to the snow mountain on the high school parking lot here after school. In my opinion, it is hypocritical to make this change based on the district values that supposedly want to prioritize this type of healthy lifestyle. If this NPU moves, after speaking with a variety of families, I know that most of us will not walk consistently anymore. It would turn what is 50 minutes out of my workday into two hours, which is not feasible. on weather days when we would need to walk instead of bike. There are no sidewalks and it is a safety concern for a variety of reasons for us to be going and walking to Slingerlands. Plus, on the note of transportation, if 9 to 12 students being grandfathered in requires an extra bus, then how does moving

0707 to 12 kids who consistently walk to school uh and not have an impact with that? I also want to counter a statement made here tonight. You were looking at a solution in the last meeting that would have preserved walkability and I understand that you do not have the appetite for considering that. But I urge you to really sit with what this means based on the supposed values of this district. Thank you. >> Thank you. [applause] Anyone else? >> Good evening. My name is John Reiner. I have two boys at Eagle. I think anytime that there's a problem, it's always helpful to consider how we got here. This isn't something that came up overnight. It's not something that came up over one school year. This is years of neglect is how we got here. But

071no matter how we got here, we are here. So, let's talk about the present. This process, I think, could charitably be called a disaster. every time that there is a new proposal that's unveiled is 180 degrees different from what has been there before. I think that parents that have uh spoken from NPU 54 before really hit the nail on the head. We say that we're we care about walkability, but that doesn't seem to be the case. And there is a solution that does meet all the district's stated priorities. That's option number two. And again, I understand that that was not something that's put forth for today, but that is still a part of the administrative record. So if this is something that would have to go to court, that's something that a judge would be

072evaluating whether or not the decision to do something else is arbitrary and capriccious. I think that it wouldn't be terribly difficult for a judge to find that selecting 3, 3, four, or five when option two is available is arbitrary. When we're talking about the district's stated goals that we are supposedly still adhering to, option two has fewer students at all the schools, whereas options 3A and 3B have us going over enrollment at several schools when we're talking about the 5-year mark. So, this is only a temporary solution, whereas option two is a longer term solution. Also, with options 3A and 3B, there are more unused sections. So option two does a better job of that as well. So when you go forward to make your final decision later on this month, I hope that you'll

073give serious consideration to what it would mean if we choose an option that doesn't line up well with all of our stated goals. Option two is the best solution. I understand that that's something that's uncomfortable for one neighborhood, but this whole process has pitted neighborhood against neighborhood. This isn't something that we asked for. It's something that we're being forced into. I really hope that the district will do the right thing by the students because it seems like for the past couple of years the board hasn't been doing that. I hope that changes tonight. Thank you. >> Thank you. [applause] >> All right. I just want to state that option two got in this mess because people have been throwing us under the bus because they want to walk and hearing that just infuriated me. And

074it's I just want to say for three years I've walked to Eagle or not walked I drove the Eagle pick my kid up and I can tell you with certainty and I talked to the principal and the school staff and they already said I sent you emails. They already said they'd work with you to identify these families. There's literally only six families from 54 who walk. That's it. I I I know who they are. I know one of them's over there. I suggested I suggested we we were talking about being flexible with grandfathering in a few years. Why don't we just grandfather in that six families? The principal said she would identify them and then they all get to preserve the walkability and then you also get to move forward with your future plans, which

075is to have whatever all the numbers line up for Slayerlands. And you know, like as we said in the past, Clarksville was promised eagle in 20ou uh 12 years ago. We lost our school. We could walk to Clarksville. We were all living healthy lifestyles and walking to schools. And then they said, "All right, that's gone, but we promise you Eagle." And now they're saying, "Not only can you not walk, but screw them. Let's do it again because we want to walk." And some of the people who are complaining about walking, I've never seen them walk to there. I think they're just using it to manipulate the board. And I'll just call a spade a spade. And I think we should identify the families and we should allow them to grandfather in because it's really one

076of and most of 54 if you look I looked at Google maps most of it's only a 3minut difference in walk between Slingerlands but the six families who [clears throat] actually walk are probably the few families that are within that 10-minute walk. So they're the ones that are really affected the most. The other ones are just trying to pile it on. Oh this looks good for us. Let's pile on that. and I don't appreciate that. But I think we should look for flexibility in the trying to preserve those six families the ability to stay to Eagle and it won't affect transportation because they're walking plus they're right around the corner and I think that is thinking outside of the box because as Meredith said as long as much as you play with this you cannot

077figure out how to have 150 170 kids move without moving 54. If you move Clarksville like we just talked about, you're moving 220 kids. That doesn't work. And and that goes against what we were promised. And yeah, I just don't see the point in doing that. So, I I asked that we consider grandfathering those families in. And the principal already said she'd identify those families. So, I don't know if that's an option, but maybe consider that. Thank you. [applause] >> [snorts] >> Um, my name is Stephanie Moon. I am a mom to kids. We live in NPU 54. I know this is a hot topic of contention, but I just again want to reiterate the value um, our families place on our children being outside and active every day. We've literally walked to and from

078school every single day this year. We did it last year. We'll do it next year. Our kids love it. They take great joy in it. It's motivated my fifth grader over there to try to bike to middle school next year. We're trying to instill active lifestyles. Our kids are happy doing this. Even today, as my neighbor Ashley said, they crossed Van Djk. They're running down the sidewalk. This might seem silly and trivial, but they're yelling like to the snow mountain, to the snow mountain. And you see these big group of kids running to the snowbank out there at the corner of Delaware and Van Djk, climbing, waiting to cross into our neighborhood. As my neighbors have said, we gather outside in the morning. We gather outside after school. We've got a very strong sense of

079community. And it just is very upsetting um to think about this being taken away from our families. Um, so I don't know the right solution. I just I [sighs] it's very important to us. We place a lot of value in this and I thought that's what we all shared. Um, and I want to think that we want like happy, active kids outside for this generation, generations to come. I've got three kids at Eagle right now. I have another one that's going to attend kindergarten um in a couple years. And she's on the walks with me every day, too, in her stroller. next year maybe it'll be on her bike with her siblings, but [sighs] it might seem si seem silly and trivial, but it is very important to us. So, I just I don't know

080if you could revisit think of any potential solution to, you know, keep this for us. Um, and sorry I don't have anything prepared. I'm just kind of going with it right now. But that's all I ask and just realize how important it really is to us. Thank you. >> Thank you. [applause] back here. [snorts] >> Thanks. >> Uh, good evening. My name is Lauren Griggs. I am a parent to a kindergartener and a 2-year-old. We live in Clarksville and PU 65.1. And I want to speak to equity. Um I hear so many families talking about walkability and the idea of health and wellness um for the students who are um losing maybe some walkability on their commute to school. And I think that's a wonderful perk. I think it's such a great thing for that

081family. But if you think about equity and you think about um whether a couple of students walking on days when it's nice or writing on days when they're able to um comparing that to uh communities of of 82 kids in 651 that every day need to get on a bus and at the bare minimum ride 40 minutes to school. and you want to take that ride and make it longer to preserve walkability for a few students, that seems like an injustice. And I understand that it's a great um community building activity. I think it's very positive for families. I think that, you know, all of those things are true, but at the same time, it is true that it is not fair to ask students as young as 5 years old to sit on a

082bus for more than an hour every day when they could be only riding for 40 minutes. And you may say, "Oh, the distance between driving to Eagle and driving to Slingerlands is marginal and only a few minutes." But have you ever driven a bus before? And in that busy hour of the day with so many students sitting behind you who all have needs who have been sitting on a bus for a very long time, there are impacts on children's lives for sitting on buses for an extended period of time. It impacts their attendance. It impacts their mental health. It impacts their wellness. I understand that there is a value in walkability and bikeability, but do we put our focus on that to the detriment of so many students who have a necessity to ride the

083bus? That's a question you need to ask yourselves. And I'd hope that you would come up with an answer that feels good to you because I don't think it's fair to ask many many students to ride a bus for a longer period of time just so a few kids can enjoy walking to school. Thank you. [applause] Anybody I have I have I'm from NPU 40. So if anybody wants to continue on the theme of the others, I'm happy to >> feel free to mix it up. >> Okay. All right. >> Good evening everyone. U my name is Joe Pria. I am uh a parent of a daughter in middle school and a son who is in first grade at Slingerlands. Um first off I want to thank everybody board technologies students who are here with

084us. um and really say that, you know, I understand it's a tense and difficult discussion, but we're also part of the same community. We're all part of the same team, right? So, I know there's a lot of energy around it, and I want to acknowledge that. I want to acknowledge our core values, which I believe and trust that this board will use to inform all of their decisions. Those core values of academics, character, community, and wellness. And because I'm trying to speak the language of our team here, I'm going to use some quantitative analysis because that's what we've been talking about today. My son is an NPU 40. He's in in first grade. As I said, NPU40 is 15 students. Let's break that down. 15 students at sixth grade levels, right? On average, that's 2

085to three students per grade level. And if he's moved to Elmmeir, he will be 1.25 of a student that is spread across those two sections. One of our core commitments, and I'll get back there, Mr. McNag. So, when we go to 15 students, two to three per grade, two and a half, right? And then if there's two sections there, we're 1.25. Thank you, sir. I appreciate that. Um, if we move him there, the odds of my son's cohort moving with him are low. It's a 50/50 chance that he will be with another student from his cohort. And as we talked about in previous meetings, the objective is to try to move those cohorts together to the maximum extent possible. So if they are moved, I would respectfully request that the board evaluate that discussion and

086making sure those Slingerland students that I assume are together because I do not have the breakdown of the classes are placed together. I'd like to then talk about the qualitative piece here as Mr. McNe brought up and I apologize miss is it Miss Nato >> had the conversation about the numbers the math maths right if you look at the NPU40 and not moving it now or not moving it at 28 I should say the math still creates an appropriate level of balance for all of our students in those areas while it does not necessarily have two courses or two sections rather of the kindergartens students qualitatively we are now talking about students who are not enrolled old in the Bethlehem school district and making decisions on students that are I would ask you to consider

087that when you think about the NPU40 and I'm going to count to 10 because I have a lot to say and I think that means I have 30 seconds. Oo. All right. All right. So, I talked about us being a part of a team and I want to share with you some of the mantras I share with my team when we do difficult decisions and work on what we work on. One, we need to work slow to work fast, right? Take your time in making this decision. If you need more time, take it. There's a lot of people that are impacted here. Number two, stay ready so we don't have to get ready. I appreciate the conversation that we're going to keep this this this assessment going on the long term. And what I would

088say here is don't just talk about it, be about it. Make it an active subcommittee as part of these reports. Make the registar have active reports out to this community so we don't get here again. I would encourage you to think about that please. Number three, be trans be transparent as possible because the devil's in the details. We can all look at the details and find additional items to help make a informed community-based decision and help you guys do that. And I appreciate you sharing all the data you guys have and taking that feedback and giving more to our communities after every meeting. Last but not least, start green so we can stay green. I'm red so I got to go. So that's perfect time. But I would just encourage you to say we started

089with two schools over in options 3A and 3B. We end up with three red schools. That doesn't make sense to me. Thank you. [applause] Good evening. My name is Andrea Bilsma. I am a parent of a second grade student at Eagle. I live in 65.2. Um, I appreciate the feedback that the the entire Clarksville community had gave at the last meeting. I understand where you guys are coming from because we were there last week or last board meeting. Um, I know that for me, I'm affected in option five and I understand the walkability and I understand that the decisions that were made for all of the parents in this room to choose where they have their living. Um, myself and many of the people in Clarksville chose to live where we chose to live because

090we want land. We want all of that stuff. Um, and we understand that our kids can't walk and we understand that our kids have to ride the bus and we make accommodations for them all the time. Um, but for me and 65.2 to has been broken out of Clarksville. And I keep hearing that the neighborhood is important and we want to keep these kids together. And that's a social emotional issue for these kids, especially in this in that area. Walking is great. It's healthy. It's everything. I get it. Um, our kids don't have that option. But for me personally, my son, the other 13 kids that are impacted by 65.2, they don't have a neighborhood. When my son started kindergarten, he was in with all the kids from Clarksville. Every kid from Clarksville was in

091his class. That formed his neighborhood. that form friendships with parents that I have that has been broken out in this and it's been broken out for my son who could potentially be going to Slingerlands which I understand is a wonderful school but that's a social emotional impact that's going to affect my son greatly because he is the only second grader in that area. He has no friends going. You've taken away not only a school, his neighborhood, and I get walkability is important, but the emotional health of these kids is important, too, and that needs to be considered. Thank you. [applause] >> If anybody else Oh, almost missed a step there. Hello, my name is Kimberly Luring. Um, I just wanted to state I understand the walkability. I'm from My son is in second grade at

092Eagle. Um, part of group 65.2 um or 65.1, [laughter] I don't know. We're all Clarksville. Um, but I just wanted to restate with the whole walkability. That's wonderful. I really think that's great. But um for me, just coming from my my point of view, um we would obviously drive past Eagle in order to go to Slingerlands, but also for my morning commutes, um I would actually my morning and afternoon commutes from to and from work would add an additional 25 minutes onto my schedule. So, which normally wouldn't be a big deal, but my husband works um an irregular hour, so I tend to be the only parent available and the only care for my children. So, that extra 25 minutes actually very valuable to me. Um, so I understand walkability is very important, but also

093there's other impacts that a lot of us are dealing with in order to support our children. So, I would just like you to keep that in mind. Thank you. And I appreciate also all these additional proposals compared to the last few with proposal one and two. Thank you. >> Thank you. [applause] >> Thank you. >> Hello. My name is Lauren Blazel. I am a parent of two Eagle kiddos in uh first and third grade. Um I am part of 651, but I'm actually not going to talk about that. Um, I'm here because I grew up in the district and I was reszoned myself in third grade. Um, I attended Glenmont for first and second and then I was moved to Hamigrail in third grade. Um, it's all fine. Everything turned out fine. It's great. Um,

094kids are adaptable. They're resilient. Um, they're flexible. And all the families that are going to be moved, um, your kids are going to be okay. Um, but it's not nothing either. Um, I just wanted to say it's, you know, it's a little bit of trauma. So, um, I I would encourage a board to just, uh, try to go with the movement of the fewest kids possible. Um, and that's all I wanted to say. Thanks very much. [applause] >> Anybody else? Okay, double checking. All right, >> this is where we remind you about >> Yes. So, moving on to our new option, new item 5B um additional board discussion um on our different zones options. Um, I think as a starting point, um, at least with respect to the options that we've been discussing tonight, I

095just want to make sure that everyone is still comfortable with just focusing on 3A and 3B. >> I have a procedural question. I'm happy with that. What are we trying to achieve in terms of getting to something that we [clears throat] approve or don't approve? Right? Are we the next the next meeting when there's a scheduled vote approval vote? >> Yeah. >> Are we trying as a board to pick an option and put it up there saying we're going to vote on this one? Yes. No. Are we trying to get two options to choose between? What's our goal of this? >> Um I think either if if the board can reach a consensus on one, terrific. Um I think I I I would recommend no more than two um to be able to put onto

096the agenda for our next meeting. And that's going to need to include things like where the fifth graders are grandfathered in and all that jazz. >> Um, you know, that's a good question. Not not necessarily. Um, because we could I didn't I'd have to look back and see if there was actually a board action on the fifth graders being grandfathers. Are that just something if it requires board action or not? >> Yeah, I have to let me I'll have to look at that and see. We can take a look at what the agenda was from the past. >> Okay. But presumably whatever we're going to vote on, we would know whether we're voting to grandfather fifth graders or whatever details would be. >> Um I know in the the last time the Eagle open there

097were action items that actually had the um movements themselves NPU this like and the mor acted on that. I don't know if there was an action about grandfathering or not. >> It was just done. >> It could have been. Yeah. I don't know. But I can check. >> That's fine now. Yeah. >> Okay. >> So, so, so in this moment, just to sorry, just to say it back, um, if I'm understanding this correctly, we're trying to arrive at least at a decision tonight with which options to move forward for a vote. >> Correct. >> Then we will research whether we would have an additional action on grandfathering. Correct. >> Thank you. Sorry. Thank you. Thank you. Just want to make sure I understand. Um, do you have people have additional comments at this point that

098they would like to >> I guess my my I would have a question about whether it would be possible for us to get information let's say on two of the proposals about average you know the effect on the the bus ride times. There was a question that came up. I think that would be >> that would be I think before next time before the vote that would I think be a you know as at least a consideration that I'd like to >> to have information on >> and you also wanted >> yeah you could and then you also wanted information about the can transportation handle any grandfather correct so yes I think two transportation things one is with with regard to the to the to the idea the potentiality of of grandfathering. Is that an

099option? Because if it's not, then of course that that ends that that that discussion. And then secondly, um for whatever options that we choose to go ahead for the if there's a >> a shift in in ride time, if one >> has difference of of ride times than the other, then that would I think be a a factor that would be >> something that I would like to to have. >> Can I make one comment? >> Sure. >> [cough and clears throat] >> When Tyler did the transportation modeling for all of the scenarios, we modeled transporting every student >> whether they are currently kind of marked as you know they they may walk or they may not. So so the models that you showed that we showed assume every trans every student in that MPU

100was transported. >> Right. >> Yeah. >> Understood. Because I think as a district you have to >> rightact. Exactly. So the so the average ride times and will reflect all of that all every student being transported. >> Sure. Really what I would be interested if there's a huge differential in the right between whatever you know A and B or A and B you know whatever. >> Thank you. >> That >> um yeah and I guess I mean really in between those two it's a question of you know between you're looking at either 51 or 57 58 89 90 what is the difference? Correct. >> There. >> Correct. Right. >> But but also the transportation impacts of bothering the fifth graders. >> Correct. >> Two separate things. Correct. >> Um but and I would just and

101I would be interested to with the ones coming from Glenmont up to Heale. >> Right. Right. And if I can just just get a good clarification on facts here because I can already anticipate some people saying well should we be modeling you know ride every single child riding when we know not every single child rides and you know we know that there are kids who walk or get there other ways or maybe people would propose to transport their own child if given another option something along those lines. So just to restate for facts, the school has to provide, we have to be prepared to provide transportation for every elementary school. >> You have, right? So the the models are based on Yes. what Ted had said that you plan for every student to be transported

102knowing they're not going to. But either way, the bus still has to do that same route, right? Doesn't make sense. >> So even if you're not picking up everyone, you're still pretty much following the same route. So the time doesn't change all that much, >> but I'm also speaking to our obligation to serve our families and our district. We have to plan for that because we are obligated, correct, >> to provide that. >> So in other words, even if you knew that every kid on a particular route >> walked or something, you still have to you still have to provide [snorts] a bus on that route. Correct. >> Yeah. Although if you know like let's say there's a one neighborhood and nobody's taken the bus, then they route it differently. Generally, that's not the case

103where you have a large area because they're, you know, that's none of them are taking the bus >> and because too if somebody called in November and said, "Sorry, my job changed. I do need a bus now." Correct. We still have to >> be prepared to provide that. >> Correct. >> Okay. Thank you. I just wanted to make sure that that was clear. your comments. Um, one other thing I I thought of um that I meant to mention earlier, Jody, is just along with the discussion regarding um reaching out to the town. Um I also would ask that you would reach out to schools out because the changing of the populations is in the school schools is obviously going to change the um number of kids who are attending schools out at each of the

104um locations. Um so I was hoping you could have a conversation with them to see um if they are prepared with these shifts of population and if not what we need to do to get them prepared. Um, and just if you could [cough] report back at our next meeting regarding any conversation you had with them. >> I mean, they are aware this is going on, so I I think they're following it, but >> Right. Yes. >> I just want to make sure that conversation is happening. And then, um, Katherine, I appreciate you asking for this follow-up discussion because I do think it is important for us to listen to all the public comment. Um, in terms of what we need to do at this point to prepare for the next meeting, I think what you're

105asking for is for um us to come to a consensus about which plans you would like to vote on at the next >> meeting. Is that correct? >> Yes. along with if there is as um Bob and Katherine indicated with respect to the transportation information if there's additional there are additional facts that you would want to inform your decision-m um and I mean I as I said before I would support um options 3 and 3B moving forward they were um the committee indicated that those were the two that best met our goals I think based on the numbers that in our discussion as well tonight. Those seem like the most viable options to me. So, I would like that additional transportation information, but um I'm in favor of those two plans moving forward. Okay, >>

106you >> I basically feel the same way and particular I want to note, right, we've had this committee set up. They've done a bunch of work and to my mind been pretty responsive in terms of iterating and arriving at something that feels better. Uh, so I have a little mental inertia I apply to things I want to change or don't want to change, whatever, because there's a bunch of people who've done a bunch of work and they have these two recommendations that seem sensible. I'm a little reluctant to go and then me personally nip. So I I basically echo that, right? I'm happy to have both those two options on a vote for next time. Um, I'm actually going to go I don't live in old Delma. I'm going to go drive and look at

107Murray in particular and see just because it matters to me, right? But that seems like a totally sensible plan. >> Okay, [cough] >> I agree. >> Would you agree? >> Yes. >> Um I agree. And then another just to make sure we're all using the same language when we're talking about grandfathering and grandfathering fifth graders. We are speaking of our current fourth graders. >> Correct. Kids will be fifth grade next year >> and we are speaking of that of those classes. We are, my understanding is we're not speaking of the families of next year's fifth graders. We're talking about the fifth graders themselves if that is if that is indeed part of the consideration. So I just want to level understand that. >> Yes. So it would be so if there were and I think

108this is how it was handled in the past as well. If there were a younger sibling, for example, >> the family would need to decide whether they would both be going to the new school or whether younger sibling is going to the new school and older and fifth grader is staying. >> Okay, that's right. And that is if a grandfathering option works out, we choose to present that. Okay, >> thank you very much for that. Um [snorts] I I'm also fine with um proceeding with 3A and 3B for a vote next week. Um and you know just want to um just give my heartfelt thanks to the community members who have engaged in this process. I have seen many I've seen many familiar faces here of folks that um we've seen over the last several

109months and it is um it is a testament to your devotion to our community and our district and uh and our kids. So, thank you very much for the time and effort that you all have put into pouring over, you know, spending hours of your time on this as well, pouring over these maps and these numbers. Um so, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Um, and yes, I think moving forward and moving forward at the next meeting with these two options is is the be best path forward. >> Question is that next week is that [snorts] >> is it next week? >> Pardon me. Next meeting. Pardon me. Thank you. So sorry. Thank you. [clears throat] >> Yes. >> Yeah, I I agree with me. I think of all the options, uh, given that we

110don't have an option to not move anyone, I think that 3A, 3B is probably the the two two best to to consider for for a final vote. >> Do you guys have any thoughts that you wanted to share? >> Um, yeah, I know three and 3B are the favored plans right now, but I know there's some people that advocated for two, I think. Um, and I was just wondering or suggesting if there was like a plan for making the community aware of what plans are going to be chosen to vote on next during the vote. >> Um, yes. And we've sent out um districtwide communications on this all along the way. Um, and I would recommend that we do that. >> Yeah, we after the meeting. >> Yeah, we're going to be sending something out

111as a followup from the board meeting. we would include that in the communication that the board has decided to move forward with options 3A and 3B for the next meeting and we'll review both of those. So, we'll put that and we have actually the maps and the MPUs on the website for information. >> Okay. >> Yeah, but that's a good point to raise. Thank you. >> Thank you. Do you guys have any um Yeah. And Katherine, I just wanted to echo your comments about um sort of appreciating all the community input we've had in this process. And I particularly wanted to call out I know we've gotten a lot of ideas um along the way. and tonight also about what things we can do to help with the transition >> um and I've been kind

112of keeping a list of some of those um along the way and I think those will um be very valuable and so I just encourage people to continue offering those if they have ideas of um how we can make it um easier for everybody. Um, okay. So, it sounds like, um, we have a consensus to move forward with 3A and 3B for our next meeting. Um, and you'll work on getting that transportation information. Um, so that we can, uh, we have that. Um, and does anyone have anything else they want to add on this at this point? >> Okay. [snorts] Um, moving on to item six, action items. Uh a finance action items. It is recommended by the superintendent that the board of education approve the following finance action items one and two. So move

113>> second. >> Any discussion? All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Any extensions? That carries. B. Professional personnel action items. It is recommended by the superintendent of the board of education. Approve the following professional personnel action items one through five. >> So moved. Second. Uh any discussion? >> I have a perceived Jod or Jo. Why do we approve retirements? Like perhaps if we don't approve it, actually keep saying [laughter] >> we've threatened it sometimes that >> we've tried to keep a couple >> just a formal action so that their end date with the district is official as of this effective date. Most of the time it also impacts retirement. >> Okay. >> Because there's official action items, it then allows us to have this as a vacant position for the following year. I don't

114have a head to make this keep working. >> Yeah, it's too bad. Right. >> Four things. Um but I would um bring with you bringing that up, I would acknowledge that we have a couple of two people on there for tonight that um again a lot of years of service to the district. So >> 33 years, 29 years. >> Recognize that. >> Um so all in favor? >> I. Any opposed? Any abstensions? That carries. Uh C's support personnel action items. It is recommended by the superintendent that the board of education approve the following support staff action items one and two. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Uh any discussion? >> Uh all in favor? >> I. Any opposed? Any abstensions? That carries? D. Other action items? It is recommended by the superintendent of the board

115of education approve the following action item number one. >> That one. Yeah. Second. >> Uh any discussion? All in favor? I. Any opposed? Any abstensions? That carries. Item seven, recognition of public comment on a non-aggenda item. If we have anybody who would like to address the board on a non-aggenda item, now would be the time to come up to the microphone. >> We have one over there. Yeah. >> Oh, sure. >> Hello, I'm Retaj Nas. I'm a member here at Bethleam High School. I'm a senior. I have a sister in the district who is a freshman and I have my two brothers who are both at Glenmont Elementary. Luckily, as far as I know, they're not affected by any zoning policies, but I would like to bring attention to when we talk about these zoning

116issues. The changes it would make to the transportation. When these changes come to the transportation, I want to my focal point is um I would like to bring attention to maybe revisiting the what I believe is called the 2019 bus consultant plan where it talks about bringing the high school start time at um to a later time. I have faced many issues regarding these start times and it is a national issue for kids who start school early in the morning. The science is there. We've all seen it where if students start at the optimal time of 8:30, this this will show better test scores. This will show better academic improvement within students and also better social connections, which is a big issue for kids nowadays, especially now having the yonder pouches. This was a focal

117point. I believe it was 2 years ago when they came in. We want kids to have more face to face connections. I believe moving the start time further um switching the start time for the elementary schools and the high school would be very beneficial to everybody. Um and now with the resoning and that changes to transportation, I want that to be rethought of. I want that to be back on the board of disc like back to be discussed about. Um I don't want my siblings dealing with the issues that I've dealt with. Um whether that be attendance, there are times where I just find it really hard to get up in the morning, especially with teenagers having their circa circadian rhythm just later in the day. It's just a fact of science. But also, as

118well as trying to stay up late for homework, there's a lot of kids who are trying to cram for midterms, especially now. Um that's something not students should not have to deal with. Um, and now with the um discussions of transportation being brought up, I want that to be dis discussed again along with the budget proposal uh soon going to be talked about at the next couple of board meetings that may be being um brought into the discussion of the budget and whatnot as I know that having additional bus drivers was definitely an issue when that was first proposed. And then we had COVID, it got really chaotic. So obviously it was really hard for that to pass. But I'm asking you to rethink this, look back at that proposal, and hopefully have something passed

119to where we can have something beneficial for the students and for any parents that would include something along the lines of starting the high school specifically at a later time. That's all I have to say. Thank you. >> Thank you. [applause] >> Uh do we have any additional visitors who would like to comment on a non-aggenda item? Okay. Um item eight, future meetings and events. Um our next uh regularly scheduled board meeting is on Wednesday, January 21st. Um anticipating executive session at 6:00 and reconvening to open session at 7. Uh note that that is at the middle school. Um [snorts] and Britney, if you could remind us all um that day that we're going to the middle school. Thank you. Um and it's in the middle school library. Uh and then our meeting after that

120is back here at the high school. That's on Wednesday, February 4th. Um and again, anticipating executive session at 6 and reconvening to open session at 7. >> We also have a policy committee meeting January 26. >> Okay. So January 26th and is that at six o'clock? >> Um here at the high school there is a policy committee meeting. Um and then and we also have um the vote February which is February 3rd. Right. So the the on the capital project is February 3rd. >> Um seeing no need to go back into executive session, could I have a motion to adjourn the meeting? >> So moved. >> Second. All in favor? I meeting adjourned.