001Open session. The board has been in executive session since 6:00 to discuss three legal matters and two personnel matters. If we could please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisibley and justice for all. >> You have introductions. Dave Hurst, >> Catherine Nadow, >> John Walston, >> Merida Morardi, Holly Denbach, Jody Monroe, >> Robert Tunan, >> Lauren Graaso, Rose. >> Uh, and Euan McNe is not able to be here tonight. Um, do we have any pig or students with us tonight? Whole pack. Thanks for coming, guys. Um, your obligation is to stay until the meeting is over or nine o'clock, whichever one comes first. And don't leave without signing out on one of
002the sheets. It's up here at the um board table. That way you get credit for being here. Uh first up is our approval of minutes. It is recommended by the superintendent that the board of education approve the minutes from the November 19th, 2025 regular board meeting. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? All in favor? I. Any opposed? Any extensions? That carries. Uh item three, meeting reports. And first is our superintendence report. Sure. Thank you. I'd like to congratulate three of our high school student musicians who were selected to participate um in the 2025 NISMA Conference Allstate Music Festival, which is going to be held December 4th through the 7th in Rochester. Uh congratulations to Ben Cross, Michael Jansen, and Kier McNe. Um I'd also like to congratulate our girls uh varsity cross country
003team. Oh, on Saturday, November 22nd, they finished second at the Federation Championships. So, they will be qualif that qualified them to compete in the Nike Cross Country Nationals for the fourth consecutive year. Um, so they're heading to Portland, Oregon for this weekend and we'll know how they did. At our next board meeting, our fall athletes will be coming. So, we'll be able to recognize them and any other fall teams. Also, I wanted to provide an update on the zones of attendance committee. Uh we did add another committee meeting that was scheduled for yesterday. Uh so with the snow day, that's been rescheduled for tomorrow. Uh the goal of that meeting is to review the community feedback that we received through the forum. Um and also any emails we've received and to re-evaluate the NPUs, the
004neighborhood planning units uh for moves to various buildings. Uh uh the group will be working on the target enrollment numbers for each building that was presented at the forum and determining which um neighborhood planning units help get close to those numbers. The target enrollment numbers still allow for uh at least one available room in each building, which we talked about wanting some flexibility. Uh moving forward, we also have another scheduled meeting on December 10th, which that was originally planned for, and our hope is to be able to review those new options based on the meeting tomorrow. And those will be presented to the board of education at the December 17th meeting for um options for consideration. And that's my report for this evening. Um, for the board report, I also wanted to recognize the uh
005the girls cross country team and just let everybody know, I'm pretty sure it's being live streamed. So, if anyone's interested in following along with their um running adventures out west, um you can look for that. Um and I also wanted to um remind everybody um about the caring and sharing food drive um and remind people to contribute to that. Um does anyone have anything else, Bob? Yeah, I just want to give a shout out to the uh to the varsity hockey team and the coaching staff. Um they put together a an event every year around Thanksgiving uh sort of a come together for the for the alumni and they have an alumni game. I think it's just a a great tradition for for Bethlehem for people to come back and reconnect and you know have
006a have a fun time and I just thought it that we went and saw it this year and it was great and I thought it's a great tradition. So, shout out to the to the varsity team and the coaches for keeping that going. >> Rose, did you have anything you want to add? >> Um, yeah. I have something to add to the food drive. I have some more information. The student senate is hosting um a drop off donation food drive on the 5th, this Friday. Um, and you can just drive by in front of the athletic entrance and there'll be a donation box to put stuff and you don't even have to get out of your car. And there's also going to be donation boxes um in the main foyer through the 12th. >> And
007do you know is that also at um our other school buildings as well? >> No, for now it's just the high school or I think you'd have to contact a principal at the building. >> Okay. >> But so far as I know it's like there's donation boxes for this specific food drive in the high school. >> Okay. questions. Um, I don't think there's anyone here from the middle school to do a student report, but I'm just double checking. Um, and I will move on to our presentation this evening, and it is on high school CTE, student internships, and workforce development. So, I will turn it over to uh I guess to Jim. Good evening everyone. Um so I'm Jim Smith. I'm the uh social study supervisor and business supervisor. Um before I start um I'll
008just clarify. Um I help with the food drive every year. Um so the middle school and the elementary schools have their own donations in each building. Each home room or room does their own does their own box. So if you have to if you're an elementary student, just bring it to your bring it to your room and they'll take care of it. and the on andm staff brings it here on Thursday night before the the big push. So, and the board of eds welcome to uh join and help uh organize the food on Friday morning if you'd like in Jim A. Uh it's always a lot of fun. So, yeah, uh Friday the 12th, next Friday. Yes. So, you're more than welcome to watch the student senate do their thing. It's uh pretty impressive. So,
009um so uh good evening board of uh board of ed, superintendent Monroe, uh community members. Uh, like I said, I'm Jim Smith, supervisor for social studies and business. Uh, tonight I am joined by a dedicated team to present an update on Bethlehem's ongoing efforts to expand career exploration and workforce development opportunities for our students. Um, before we get into the presentation, I would like to introduce some of the key [snorts] partners that we've uh that we've uh forged the relationships with. Um, first is assistant principal uh Kim Sparkman from high school. Um, she is the driving force behind this. um she's going to present uh the second half of this and you're in for a treat uh and she'll she'll make you want to buy everything we're we're selling here. Um so um she comes
010from a career in technical education. Uh she's developed dozens of relationships with business uh partners and community partners uh in the in the area. Um and she is bringing that energy and enthusiasm for this for this initiative uh to the district. Uh we have members of the capital region workforce development board uh executive director Brian Williams um and assistant director for business services uh Tim Drawbridge. Uh both Mr. Williams and Mr. Drawbridge work with businesses in the surrounding uh counties uh to help create pathways for career development, economic growth within local communities. Uh they're the bridge between the school and uh employers. Um we'd also like to thank on behalf of all the students of Bethlehem, Mr. drawbridge for the snow for the snow day yesterday. We know that was all you're doing. Um so,
011uh we've also developed a partnership with DreamLink New York. Uh Dream Link New York reports directly to the New York State Department of Labor. Uh DreamLink New York helps provide resources and assists in developing post-secary transition plans for students with disabilities. Uh information was already shared earlier this year about that program uh to students through the SASS office. Uh if anyone would like more information about that they can contact assess office uh and the program that they have available. U also with us evening uh this evening are Mr. Myar Patel and Mr. Zach F. Uh Mr. Patel and Mr. F are members of the social and business department and they teach our CIP courses and our GW web courses which is uh part of the presentation tonight. Um the goal of our team is very
012simple. We want to ensure every student graduates with meaningful exposure to real world craft uh real world career pathways and access to skills that are required in the evolving economy. Um do I have the clicker Andrew? I do. Perfect. Um so our district mission emphasizes academics, character, uh community, and wellness. Uh these foundation, uh commitments directly support our efforts to prepare students for life beyond high school. The workforce development aligns with each of these areas by promoting strong academic academics, building character, strengthening the community uh connections, and supporting student well-being. Uh all of this will help students long after they cross the graduation stage. Bethlehem has a longstanding partnership with Capitol Region Boseies and our CTE program. Um we currently have access to a wide wide array of career and technical education programs through capital
013region Boseies. These programs provide exposure to high demand hands-on career opportunities uh that complement academic coursework. As you can see by this slide here, there are several programs our students may choose from starting in their junior year. Students are transported uh to the CTE campus in Albany for half-day training and academic programming that aligns with their career pathway. This list of the students uh this list of the students of the programs that are are currently enrolled in. However, there are additional programs available. Uh the variety ensures students can explore pathways aligned to their interest and the work regional workforce needs. Uh there's probably double the programs that are up here. uh they just we don't have any students currently enrolled in those programs so they're not on the on the slides. Uh but if there
014is a interest in it there's probably a CTE program for it. Um so here are some of our students actually uh at the CTE campus. Um the new campus in Albany uh out by the airport has uh state-of-the-art standard um standard um I should say industry standard uh facilities and labs for students to uh have their learning opportunities. Um, if you have not had the chance to get to the CTE campus, I highly recommend it. It is simply amazing. Uh, the access the students have uh for the training simulators uh and the people they bring in uh are just it's top-notch and it's a it's a really really really really cool facility. Um, so I would recommend if you get a chance to take a tour of that facility, uh, they're always welcoming uh members
015of boards and schools to come out and take a look at what's available for students. Um so uh our students consistently express the value of these programs. They build confidence, gain direction, experience through authentic learning, uh environments that are connected to local industries and professionals. Um you can see that these are current students who are um that are enrolled. Um you can take a look at, you know, all the good things they have to say about the program that they that they are currently taking. Uh so just some more data and enrollment numbers that you know usually people like to hear about. Uh so this is a this is about a 10 year uh 10-year span of um courses our our Betham students have taken. I think it adds up to about 476 CTE courses.
016Uh student interest has remained strong over the past 10 years. These programs have such a strong reputation that there's often a weight list especially for uh the newer programs uh in the area like welding. Um each CTE program has artic articulation agreement with local colleges and the technical training centers. So if a student does decide they want to continue this in college uh their credits will transfer with them. Um so right now if you look at this welding um we we keep we keep getting shut out of welding because so many kids want to take it. Um I think if we give this presentation in two years uh that will probably be the the top uh the top one. Um electrical trades has been strong for a number of years. Um so uh that's our
017that's what's currently happening at at CTE with our um on the campus and students that are here here in Bethlehem for half a day and then are um you know over at CTE for half a day. There's both a morning and an afternoon session. Uh CAP Boseis has done a nice job uh recently and they've actually added more afternoon and more morning courses uh with the expanded with the expanded building that they have. So actually more students have had the opportunity to get over uh to get over there. Um I think uh anecdotally we've spent we sent a bus and a half over the past few years. Now we're spending now we're sending two buses uh two full buses of students over uh one in the morning and one in the afternoon which has been
018great. Um so uh so those are the students who will do I said a half day at BC and a half day over at CTE. Uh currently uh we have uh programs here at school that are available for students who do not want to go and uh do technical training at CTE. Um so our workforce inel initiative uh initiative is going to support all of our students providing exposure to career skills and their needed path for graduation. The two um options we have for students currently uh at BC um are uh career exploration internship program and general work experience program. Uh both courses connect students with local businesses as they explore their interest. CIP is an internshipbased uh course where students can intern with local professionals. They gain exposure to professions in which they may
019wish to pursue. Uh they also can receive up to, I believe, two credits over the course of two years. Um Geb allows students to earn a high school credit as they actively work in the community. Students in both courses meet with their teachers, Mr. Patel and Mr. F on a regular basis. They review logs, they do journaling, and uh most importantly, they are taught soft skills uh and workplace etiquette. Um they students will do a 40 hours 40 hours to start in the classroom class >> in class. >> Uh 27 >> 27 in the beginning. Yeah. So students will do a 27 27 in one class and 40 in the other class uh of soft skills and career development, resume writing, uh cover letters, uh job search, how to apply for jobs, uh in the
020classroom. And then uh generally they have eighth period to go off and explore those explore those jobs and those careers. um you know on their own. Um and G Webb um allows students to who are currently working uh so if you work at uh one of the local restaurants, you can actually get uh course credit for that uh for working over for [clears throat] working 150 hours uh through the course of the semester. Excuse [clears throat] me. Uh so the enrollment trends for CIP and GW Webb um they both bounced back nicely from COVID. Don't ask me how during COVID there was the largest number of people with internships. Um but that was that was the number to think about people were working from home at the time. Um so uh so kind of leaving
021that aside though um they have they have uh have had increased enrollment um largely due to the stability now in the business program. Um from postcoid till just a couple years ago we had some turnovers in the business department and recently uh with Mr. Patel and Mr. F kind of taking over those those roles. Uh they've gained a lot of student access and I don't foresee them going anywhere for a long time and hopefully the trends will continue that we'll get more kids uh involved in this. Um 50 local businesses and organizations partner with Bethlehem. Uh they host interns and student workers. Uh major employers, small businesses, community organizations, and obviously we also have our own schools up there as well. uh any with the asterisk next to it is a CIP uh internship post
022and the others are where students are currently uh employed. Uh so those are the courses that are available uh to students right now. Like I like I said, they can receive uh credits uh up to two credits for each class uh over the course of two years. Um and they are available beginning your junior year. Okay. Um which kind of brings me to my next part of this where I'm going to have Kim come up with a lot more energy than me. Um, so we presented the opportunities for students in 11th and 12th grade. Uh, but I want to bring Kim up and present our new efforts in developing workforce opportunities for students through their time here at the high school. >> Thank you. So nice to see you all. Um, so like Jim said,
023what you've heard so far is really about opportunities that we have for 11th and 12th graders, but we're going to look at how we can bring some of these opportunities and scaffold them down to include more opportunities for students. We all live in the capital region. This is a place that we chose to raise our families. We have friends that work here. It's obvious that this is becoming such an important economic hub in the region. We are constantly bombarded with news articles promoting the fact that we have big corporations coming in receiving grant money for all of the training needed for students to be able to go into those jobs. This is just a snippet at some of the new sources that we have seen that show the need for high school students to start
024to get early training and all of the opportunities that come along with that. We're seeing workforce shortages throughout the region. We're seeing increased demand for skilled labor and all the needs to expand technical training and opportunities to allow more students to get training in the area in the hopes that they'll choose to stay local and continue to expand the region's economic development. In the past year alone, there's been 9,600 new jobs that have opened up in the capital region, according to the Department of Labor. So those are new jobs that exist that need talented, dedicated employees to go into. In addition to that, in Bethlehem alone, uh over the next 10 years, we're going to see an increase in the amount of people that are reaching over the age of 65. So they're retiring and
025they don't necessarily all have a plan of what will come next with their business. So this opens up more opportunities for Bethlehem students who can receive training at a younger age and get exposure to those careers with our local companies so that we can start to support some of those needs of the employers. We have some excellent partnerships that have allowed us to really see what do our businesses need. Being able to hear from employers to understand the skills that they're looking for for their employees. And then we have the unique opportunity because we're the school system to be able to start to embed some of those skills into the everyday instruction here at Bethlehem High School. We can start to really hold that accountability so that when our students graduate, they are more prepared
026to step into those jobs and they're ready to bring those soft skills that so many of our employers and our businesses have said they desperately need for their employees to have. If you look at this graph, you can see some of the really important soft skills, including professionalism, punctuality, being able to listen and understand directions, being present, being a self-starter, being motivated, being a problem solver. These are all skills that aren't defined by the content you teach in class. They're part of your character, part of who you become as you mature. And we have that opportunity to shape students into really seeing what that looks like. And those lessons can start at a far younger age than in the high school level. I'm going to actually invite uh Brian Williams up here to come and
027share because this was really his data that he was able to find from many [clears throat] partnerships with local employers including several quotes that we have up here of exactly what our local employers are looking for from our students. >> Thank you. Uh, you know, we talk about soft skills. Uh, and I've actually changed the moniker, they're not soft. These are all the skills that all businesses are looking for for folks. So, we're starting to call them foundational skills because they're actually not soft. They're super important in that. So, you know, as as we talk to businesses on a regular basis, we're hearing that common trend of what the needs are of the business. A lot of them are telling us like, listen, we can train them on such and such of a hard skill
028if they have that foundational stuff. And as you'll see in some of the quotes here from our from our business leaders in healthcare, in manufacturing, um the most important skills that they're looking for is someone who's got a great inquiry of looking to do things, ones that can think on their own. Those critical thinking skills are super important. Whether we're talking banking, whether we're talking finance, whether we're talking HVAC, any of those skills are needed and transferable, right, across different industries. And you, you know, as as we talk through this, as we've been talking through these these initiatives that we're doing in other districts, uh around this, it's not college or career, it's both. Right? So those students that are collegebound from day one, they're choosing a major. Do they know what jobs translate to
029that major afterwards? Many cases have we talked to our higher education partners, they don't. Those business majors, those English majors, even those engineering majors, what type of engineering are we talking electrical? We talking mechanical? like what type of skills do you need outside of the STEM, math, and science aspects of it? We we uh we did some production interviews with um some folks up at Global Foundaries up in Malta and a young female engineer we did some interviews with and she said the number one skill she uses is not engineering, it's communication. She has to communicate with her folks on the floor. She has to communicate with suppliers. She has to commu communicate with the customers. So all of these things are really embedded into all the programs that you're offering here at Bethlehem. And
030you know what we we do within our workforce system is ensure that the businesses have those skills that they need. I often say the businesses are the end users of what we're all doing, right? Um especially in the higher education world, right? Um, so what we're seeing from our colleges and universities, University of Aubony a prime example, they're coming to us saying, can you connect us to the businesses? We want to make sure our curriculum is aligning with what the needs of the businesses are around this. So I think it's important to note that this data, this information is not just coming from this is the great thing to do, right? This is coming directly from, in my mind, the end users of what they're looking at. And really, you know, what what Tim and
031I do on a regular basis is that business intelligence with the businesses and bring it back to our partners, whether it be higher education, whether it be economic development, whether it be the K12 system and talk about how we can make sure that pipeline is being built for the businesses in that respect. I think that's one thing I think that the businesses we talk to on a regular basis and I've charged him with kind of bridging that connection between the businesses and the the school systems because we have the businesses that are in many cases right down the road saying, "Yeah, I'd really like to get in contact with the school, but we don't know how to do that." And then we have the schools that are saying, "We really want to get in contact
032with that business right down the road. We're going to act as that bridge right for that." And I'll be honest with you, the businesses in our region, they are putting all their eggs in the basket of of your students. They think that's going to solve their labor crisis. Now, we tell them on a regular basis, you got to have multipronged approach uh through all this because I believe it's this year in this country is the largest graduating class we're going to see in the next 12 years at least. So, we need to be doing a lot more than just looking at that. Honestly, businesses in this region are hungry for your students. So, we need to make sure we have them prepared for what their needs are on that. So, yeah. >> So, we have
033on the board here our our goals, what we're looking to do with this. First, we want to ensure that every student that graduates from Bethlehem has real career exposure, and that may include internship experiences. We also want to help local employers fill job vacancies and plan for their retirement so that there is a plan of secession. And finally, we want to strengthen the pipeline that connects Bethlehem Central High School to the greater Capitol region in workforce development. And this progression cannot just exist in one isolated grade. It has to scaffold down. Looking at the high school specifically, we can see in nth grade students will be able to have further career explorations. What that can look like is set up in career cafes where we invite employers in from different uh job clusters to be
034able to meet with students and talk about what it's like to be an ER nurse or what it's involved in being a lawyer downtown in Delmare. So, they can have those conversations and they can get used to speaking to professionals in that role and talk about what it was like when they went to college and and what their experiences were. We also have our central foyer visits which I'll show you in a second. and then having our ninth graders take a career interest inventory so they can start to really think about what am I good at, what am I interested in, and how can I use that to eventually make money. In 10th graders will have more soft skills embedded into the courses that we already offer and be able to send more students out
035on job sites through field trips. In 11th and 12th grade, they're now qualified for CIP or GWIP or into CTE, so they can really start to take advantage of earning high school credits and getting out and actually working one-on-one with employers in the region. And then as a wraparound service, we're working with the Bethlehem Chamber of Commerce to look at what can we do to support students that have already graduated that might have gone off, gotten a degree, gotten advanced training, and then decided, I want to come back to this region, and I want to raise my family here. what kind of jobs are out there. So, working with the chamber to connect our graduates with businesses in the area that are looking for employees. I mentioned the central foyer visit and that was something
036that we just did our first one on about three weeks ago where we chose a career cluster. In this case, it was advanced manufacturing which is a real need in the community in the area. We have some really big companies that are desperate for employees. So, we invited them in to actually set up shop in our central foyer and they had all of these hands-on activities. We had students driving hydro cars and we had students making slime, wasabic, all of these different hands-on activities, including a training unit from Skenctity Community College. And they were able to just see the stuff and play and talk to the companies about what these jobs are. And for many, myself included, I wasn't entirely sure what these companies did even though they're in my backyard. So, it was about
037that exposure. It's about bringing the companies in to meet our students. We were very fortunate to have Tim Drawbridge come and actually be part of that. So, I'm going to invite him up to kind of talk about what he was able to see and also what other types of connections were able to make as you see some pictures of our kids on that day. So vibe and energy were pretty much the theme I got right off the rip and talking and dvtailing off of what Brian said talking to our businesses doesn't matter if it was Sebic plug power Owens Corning wear multiple hats here and some of you probably realized with girls volleyball that you know I've called your session two championships the last two years um we've let me ask I'll step back ask
038the students all seniors or Oh yes. Can you tell me what workforce is? >> There's there's no wrong answer. >> Okay. I'll ask the board. Can you tell me what workforce is? >> Again, no wrong answer. >> I like your definition. >> We're going with our definition. >> All right. I started this position a year ago October and that was pretty much the biggest question everybody asked me. Okay, workforce has become the hot sexy topic no matter what angle, avenue or perspective you have in 2025. There was an energy. There was a vibe. Partnerships coming together. And the reason I go back to the playbyplay is because Connor Jax is a student in your school. He's a Bosei student, too. Connor Jax has been running camera on the NFHS broadcast with me and a former
039co-orker up the hill at Channel 10, teaching our students different things you may or may not have an interest in. Does anybody know what they want to do after graduation? What do you want to do? Psychology. >> Psychology. Welding >> welding >> media performance >> art science engineering >> all right so I'll dubtail off with something me and Brian were just talking about what aspect of mechanical engineering do you want to kind of hone in on >> the automotive and aerospace >> fantastic fantastic answer which goes to Jimmy's point about welding. You said welding, right? The HVC classes with welding are constantly filled. And this one of the partners we've been able to put together and I was here during that career fair a couple of well a couple of days ago, couple of weeks
040ago, the way time moves so quickly. It was an energy. There's a curiosity. If you don't know what you want to do upon high school graduation, that's fine. We have to give you a starting point in order for you to be able to kind of figure out what you want to be able to do. I loved sports when I was a kid. I loved weather. Obviously, dad obviously won out when it came to let's kind of lean toward a desk job. And that's kind of the challenges that we also hear regarding, okay, I want you to do this. This is what we've done on our family. But how can we kind of open up everybody's perspective, students, parents, family, and having this opportunity in the hall, three businesses, and then the next day we're on
041a Zoom call with CSX, another business 10 minutes down the road. You know, one of the things I think it was you, Jimmy, um, and I it's always constantly talked about our students go away to college, do they come back? If you noticed with the quotes that were presented by Andre Chrispholey, uh, Bill Ross, Jim Hurley, you know, they are looking to be able to have that direct connection to our future workforce. And, you know, I put it kind of put it in this perspective. Is it about connections? It's all about connections. and trying to evolve the whole process where you can take it from not just being the last 6 months of your senior year. Take it back to being your junior year, freshman, sophomore year. Talk about soft skills. Don't look at the
042adults on the other side of the room and say, "You guys won't let us use our phones." Because what we hear from the businesses, can we keep them off their phones? I talked to the guys with Lebella outside the TV station about a month and a half ago, leaving the workforce job to the TV job on a Friday. If we can keep the kids off the phones, you can't be on a paver, you can't be welding, and you can't be doing electrical work if you're on your phone. Um, we assembled this together based on listening to the business partners. Um, because we had to close that gap and close that connection. We had a meeting 83 days ago, August 9th. Um, and this has all come together this quick. So, kudos to you, Kim, and
043Jimmy. um for bringing it together. [clears throat] And the thing is is that if you can bring it together even not quicker but in a collaborative way, I said this in our board meeting the last two times, if you can put the differences aside and we all work together, we can do great things. And I think there's an opportunity here that's being presented where we've heard things from the businesses. We have assembled our business service partners together. It was the five of us in one meeting, additional partners with the Dream League navigators trying to now throw pre-apprenticeship stuff your way earlier this week that we can keep building on this. And the more information, knowledge is power. We've heard it for years. The more information we can put in front of our students to make
044choices will give them an opportunity for success. Thank you for letting me having the opportunity to speak tonight. Always say thank you guys. >> Thank you. >> So in summary of our next steps, um like I said, career exposure for all, guaranteeing each student completes at least one structured career exploration experience before graduation. And that can look in very many different ways and include all of the career clusters that we've heard and all of these partnerships that we continue to develop. We're looking at increasing incre uh internships and we can see from Jimmy's data that the enrollment into those classes has already taken off this past year. We only want to see more of that to include. And one part that I haven't mentioned that was still pretty new to us is looking at how
045we can collaborate with other school districts in the region as well. working with our friends in other districts who are also here to serve the communities and here to serve our businesses, but most importantly here to serve all of our students so that they can realize exactly what their dreams are and we can help them get there and a little bit about why it matters. Obviously, we all chose to to work for this community and to build these opportunities. So, it's something that I think we're all very passionate about and excited to continue the work that's already been happening and look at new partnerships to be able to add more to it in the future. So, with that, I invite Jimmy back up here so we can uh answer any questions that you might have
046or comments you want to make. >> Sure. Um, I'll start by just um sort of echoing what you said. Um I think I mentioned at our last board meeting, but Jody uh you and Meredith and I had a chance to um visit the Boseis campus um a few weeks ago now and we're all so impressed by the facilities that they have out there. It really is kind of amazing the amount of the equipment and the programs and what is available. Um I had a did have a question with respect to the the CIP the internship programs. if you have a um if there's a business in the area that um would like to have an intern and be part of that um program, how do they how would they do that and do you have
047to vet them in some way and you know how does that work? >> So uh most of so most of the internship programs the students will find themselves uh usually through some sort of connection they have uh outside. Uh Mr. Patel has a a pretty robust network of uh you know interns or uh businesses that will call on um every on a yearto-year basis. Uh and it's and it some of your business owners you know fluctuates year to year whether or not you can you know have an intern or take an intern. Um but uh we will call on some of the same same folks year in year out and some folks are great about taking our students and some you know have experiences like no we can't do it this year or um you
048know we we'll wait a year and come back. Uh most of our students do uh do find those on their own uh with some assistance from from Mr. Patel. And then the vetting process um they Mr. Patel will will go through the the process of the student. He'll contact the employer um and we make sure that they're you know not working for wages and [laughter] following all the labor laws. Uh and then Mr. Patel will vet them, you know, through through his through his uh side of it. So, >> and then related to that is sort of how are we advertising to our students that they have this option um to do an internship and get credit for it. >> So, that's our um so the the board presentation came at the exact right time.
049Uh so, if you'd like to take an internship course uh second semester or next year, uh please contact your guidance counselor uh and we'll we will make sure that uh that it can may happen for you. Uh but if there's any businesses or local uh business leaders who want to reach out, they can contact me uh right at school. It's jmithschools.org. Uh and they can let me know they might be interested. Um or they can reach out to the counseling department uh and they'll connect you with the with the right people. Um and then we are going to uh you know obviously keep promoting this with our students and I and I think I you know said it once or twice already but um the two gentlemen behind me Mr. Fe and Mr. Battel uh
050their presence with the students and their connection with the students and the relationships that they're forging with them. Uh people are gravitating towards their classes and the students um they they want to be there. Uh so I think you're going to see those numbers just continually to to climb uh through that through that word of mouth and the kids talk. >> Can I add one comment to that real quick just about um how we're adding more businesses to the mix? Um, the Bethlehem Chamber of Commerce has been amazing and essential to this work so far. I put together like a summary of of what we're basically asking to do and they're putting it out in their newsletter and in that there's a link that allows businesses that are might be interested just kind of click
051to con to give us their contact info and then we follow up with a inerson real conversation of what this could look like and what the requirements would be and and kind of what the process is. So, they have been really amazing about connecting us to a lot of the diseases that are right here. >> Katherine, do you have a question? >> Yeah. Um, couple couple similar but but a different shade. I'm also curious about how our students find out about the CTE programs at Boseies and how we're getting the word out about those. Um that's uh so CTE has had a pretty strong following with students uh in nth grade or 10th grade uh who want to uh go through to go down the technical career path. Uh in ninth grade they start talking
052about it. >> They start talking about it in their classes. Um and then in 10th grade there's a field trip students can go on to go see the campus and the um you know optional uh courses that are available there. Then they talk with their counselors and say, "Is this is this, you know, what you think you might would like to do?" Um, and then, you know, it does come with a it does come with a bit of a sacrifice because you're only here in the high school for roughly three three or four periods depending up if you're morning or the afternoon. Um, so they do their core courses here and then they go to CTE to get their remaining of the of the credits. Um, but if the students that decide they want to
053do that through their counselor, through their parents and those conversations, you know, it's as similar as making a schedule for any any, you know, sophomore, junior, senior, you know, parent conversation, counselor conversation, what's your what's your ultimate goal? Um, and if that's a good fit for you, uh, then, you know, the counselors will put them on the on the list. Um, and then some students, you know, decide they want to do it and then they, you know, decide later on they they don't. Um, and then, you know, it's an easy transition up to a point. Um, and then, you know, they have those other options for them. You know, it's it's a word of mouth and the students, they they they really do a good job advert self- advertising. It's, you know, I could give
054you all the stats in the world, but the kids talk and um you know, like I said, that welding program, the kids come back and they just I'm get in the welding program, get in the welding program. Get in the welding program. Um you know, so >> that's wonderful. >> Yeah. Uh first of all, I want to say the counseling department has been amazing over I've used them for probably 10 years plus at networking with different people in the school. Um, so school's really done a great even before all this formal stuff, they've really done a great job. So, uh, we're certainly blessed to be in this this community. Uh, talking about the foundational skills, how are you working to really implement some type of curriculum or embed that in or how are you really
055getting that going to try to develop those skills for the young people coming out of the high school? So we have yeah we have a couple courses within uh that are already exist that kind of support this one is professional communication for example um which is a course available through the English department um we have our business courses we have already uh existing and isolation courses that would include communication that would include all of those things but what our goal is to further bring that out through curriculum council to embed that in more classes so that you're not just in your English class you know learning in English, but you're looking also including um employability outlines that could be brought down to nth grade. >> Great. Thank you. >> Sort of related to that, and
056this might be uh Dave more of a question for um for you, but I'm wondering if we're doing things at the middle school in particular, but maybe even at the elementary school to kind of build some of those foundational skills early on. I mean, even something as simple as learning how to shake somebody's hand. >> Yes. I mean we are doing a lot of that with our social emotional programming. Um that that is a big piece of it is building relationships and how to interact with adults. Um and then at the middle school one of the things we are doing which um we're going to take a look at our six through eight technology sequence. Um because right now the course that we offer in sixth grade it it sort of morphed over time. Um,
057but if you remember the original 10 years ago was students were learning how to use like Google Docs and things like that, which obviously they're all coming into middle school very well verssed in that. So, we're looking at making six through eight um that more of a tech CTE type sequence um where we can expose students to more things in that um as well as something we're working on over the next year or so. Middle school also does a big part with uh developing um character traits and it's something that we pass through to the high school, but we're looking at character traits that would include communication, punctuality, but also love of learning and exploration of thought and those are really um showcased in the middle school and then further taken here with our own
058program. So um it's celebrated which is really an important step. And I should have also added that it's not included in these numbers um at the high school because it doesn't always run as a the kids can't always make it work with the meeting hours. We have a high school technology help desk and we also now have a middle school technology help desk. So students are also doing that not necessarily part of CIP um because it doesn't always work with their schedule in terms of um being able to fulfill all the meeting hours. Um but we also have that >> um speaking beyond that um the Bethlehem Chamber of Commerce has been mentioned a couple times tonight. Last year we were lucky enough um to work with them to create a virtual scavenger hunt. Uh
059so local businesses sent in information about their companies um and what they do and the jobs that they have available for um people at their companies. my marketing class came together and developed little web pages for those companies. And then the scavenger hunt went out to kids in the school district, including the middle school kids, where they went through and they had to find details on each web page um about these companies and then they were able to enter prizes um that were given out >> later on in the year. So, >> thank you for sharing that. >> Yeah, you have a question. Um, you mentioned uh that in ninth grade you do a um career interest um inventory. I was just wondering does that continue throughout high school? Like if if a student feels
060like they want to do an inter internship but they have no idea what actually they're interested in. How do how do you help them help guide them? That's kind of the beauty of those early exposures of we mentioned the career cafes that were haven't officially gotten up yet but will be coming shortly but also the central foyer events. We select career clusters that are showcased for a particular time and all students are able to attend during their lunch periods or during their free periods. So through that exposure, they're seeing a lot of careers that they might not necessarily be aware of. And then when they take that career inventory, it's something that exists in the counseling office within their files so that they're able to then continuously visit that as they're doing course selection in
06110th grade and then looking at 11th and 12th grade opportunities. So, it allows students to reflect on maybe what they thought they were like in ninth grade, but they've done some field trips, they've gone to the central foyer events, and they that might change a little bit of their perspectives and being able to be that adaptable as they're doing course selection and as they're looking at what is their plan after graduation. >> Yeah. And and the the the technical answer for all of our questions right now is really it's going to be ongoing because we're getting this thing off the ground. And as we if we present this a year from now um it might look better and different. Um and we're going to learn from hey what is what does a kid in nth
062grade actually need? Um you know as they move through. Um so that first group of students that come through is going to have this kind of you know over the over the course of the four years and then we'll reevaluate it you know as we go forward. Uh and the career cafes will we'll give a a you know a shout out to our Voresville uh friends. It was their idea. Uh they came and visited our career uh our career uh day in the central foyer. Uh and we're going to go up and see uh that one of their career cafes. Uh I think a nursing cluster is their next one that we're going to go visit uh in January. So >> ju just just to add just to add in into it a little bit
063um both on the foundational aspect of it and embedding all of that in into the piece. It it's a great question, right? Because we have found through the years finding out what you don't want to do is just as important as what you do want to do. Um we've had some really good success with our career centers. We always we we operate three career centers here in the region. uh both with um the Skenctity School District as well as the Mahan school district where we have our career center staff that are actually embedded into the schools sitting side by side with the guidance counselors, the school counselors, the social workers and whatnot. So kind of not not to not not to take things away but really to work as a team to to build that
064together for the students um and being part of the workforce system and the career center aspect of it. then provides that transition services post high school as well. So I know state ed often is asking you what's happening with your students afterwards, what's happening two years, three years, four years afterwards and you never get any information back to that. But connecting with our career centers and having our staff be part of that transition plan allows us to get that data back to you. Um and it's been pretty successful for the past three years in both Mahanison and Skenctity. Well, just to dubtail on one reason the conversation started with school districts, we met with about a dozen school districts. Now, I can't help my students after they graduate and it was said by my daughter's
065career counselor at another district. That's where the thoughts started to move forward a year [clears throat] ago, excuse me. and how couple emails over the summer, a mass email has now evolved into all of these conversations. And seeing Boris still here, I'm like, you guys, you and Brian aren't going to be bad. I'm like, are you kidding? Brian's going to be doing cartwheels. Together, we do great things together. >> Katherine, do you have a question? >> Yeah, I was just curious. there's a big difference between the hours required for credit between the um internship program and the work program. Um and I was just curious about could you talk a about that a little bit and how and and why and what are the differences there? >> Um so a lot of times with the
066work program students are coming in already with the job and working. Um with the internship program the first couple weeks you're trying to help them find an internship usually if they don't. Uh, so it's 54 hours um over 20 weeks for the internship, the CIP course, which averages out to about four hours a week if you did it for all 20 weeks. So if you take 3 weeks to find an internship, you have 17 weeks. Um, so it takes a lot of time. Also, you have to think that business is closed at 5:00 usually where people are getting internships. So students don't have as many hours to be able to get um because they're in school most of the day. Our class is eighth period. So they can leave earlier at 117 I think. Um
0677th period ends and they can go to their internship but they just have less available hours to get those. So it's 150 hours for the um the educa uh the sorry the work one uh which averages about to about eight hours a week. Um and the other one's four. So that's I hope that kind of answered your question and I think did you have something? >> Yeah, internship's also one day. Um, so you know, it's difficult to get observational hours for them and they're not technically allowed to with labor laws to do much hands-on stuff. It's mostly an observational experience because if they are providing productivity or value to the business, they should be getting. Um, so that's why the the hours are so different. >> Um, I would also like to thank Mr. Walston.
068He's been a gracious host of a couple of our students. Um, but one real success story we have is a student that I think spent a year or two with Mr. Walston. um went on is in college now and is actually a manager at uh the new Romos in Anthony. So, we're talking about going right back into the community. Um a lot of those skills that she learned, she's in charge of people 20 years older than there. And I think a lot of that was built um with the education program and the great job that Mr. Wson did with her placement. So, thank you for that. >> Thank you. >> Other questions? >> Yeah. First, thanks for a great presentation and thanks for everybody here for the all the work that went into the to
069the foundation of the presentation. Um, I think it's a great initiative. I think everything that you talked about is is really really important to support. Um, I know you talked a little bit about what happens in 11th and 12th grade and then they take what about 9th and 10th? I mean, maybe I missed it, but I know they take the the surveys and whatnot, but is there any I know you talked a little bit about how, you know, this engages them and they get curious and you get I think if we catch them young, is there any um role for the nth and tth graders to be actually involved in anything like this? >> That that's what we're actually that's what we're developing right now. Um that's the goal uh to bring it down because
070um I think it was missing they do or Mr. we already had the, you know, what do you do for, you know, the 10, how's the 10th grader know they want to go to CTE. Um, sometimes they don't know until May of 10th grade. Uh, when the field trip, I think the field trips in February somewhere in there. Um, so we're trying to bring those opportunities into the nth and tth grade. Uh, one of the things we're going to do is bring the bring the folks to us and push into a class, um, a socialized class or an English class, whatever it might be, and say, "Here are the opportunities that might exist for you at CTE." Um and then you know obviously you know talk to the counselors you know as they develop that
071program. Uh but that's our next that's our next step is how do we get this into ninth and 10th so the students might have a more of a you know direct direct path to how they want to graduate or what they want to do after graduation. Um and you know it's it's going to make connections to the school. It's going to make students want to be here more because they have a they have a goal in mind. >> I think that's right. I mean, I think that if you get a kid curious and just engaged in learning anything, it's going to translate um first of all to the academic classes, I think, to a certain extent, but whatever. Even if it, you know, a year later they say, "I don't like this. I'm going to
072try something else." I just don't think any of the experience is going to be wasted. >> No. No. >> One of the areas that we really see this as it's a partnership between us, the school district, and the businesses, and we're really partnering to help to educate and prepare the students for whatever is next. So in working in concert with each other, we can promote those soft skills and the skills of actually working to be a motivator for students. So yes, you do have to come to high school. Yes, you do have to take your global class and your English class, but also through the school, you are now connected with this person in the community that has the job that you'd like to do. And maybe that person might have had a struggle in
073high school and can they can now be a mentor to our students. So, our biggest goal is to see how we can catch students at a younger age because we know when they're coming in from middle school, students who might really flourish in this type of an environment. >> Well, thanks again. >> Any questions? >> Yes. Thank Thank you all very much. Uh Dr. Hurst didn't know that when he asks Kimai to do something, we overdo it. Uh so your 15 minutes went to an hour and 10. So we apologize for that. [laughter] But thank thank you everybody. >> Thank you. >> Uh next on the agenda is our recognition of public comment on an agenda item. If we have any visitors who would like to address the board on an agenda item, now would
074be the time to come up to the microphone. Uh item six, uh action items. Um a finance action items. It is recommended by the superintendent that the board of education approve the following finance action items 1 through five. So moved. >> Second. >> Uh any discussion? And yes. Shall we just uh discuss for a moment the shift in the date for the item five on here? >> Yes. Thank you. I meant to um just to mention the board [laughter] report >> and I did not. Um obviously because of the weather um we have uh postponed the um the vote on the capital project that um was to occur yesterday and will now be on February 3rd. Okay. >> Um so vote on February 3rd. >> So then um I know the district put a lot
075of effort uh into outreach around yes the date for yesterday. Do we anticipate doing mailings and doing similar outreach in in advance of say that again? February >> February 3rd. >> Third. Thank you. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> And John, could you just speak to why that date has to be um so far from today? >> Certainly. Um, under state state law, before a vote can occur, you need to advertise that vote publicly 45 days in advance of the actual vote date. So with the postponement of the vote yesterday restarts the entire process for a new um new vote date which is why the board tonight has not only the revised resolution. It will also uh translate into a revised public notice that the district clerk and I will work on getting out to the
076newspapers and periodicals record late this week, early part of next week, which will give us enough lead time uh to honor that 45day requirement. February 3rd actually gives us a few days of cushion. uh but February 3rd given the board meeting schedule also made sense given the fact that the board meets on February 4th and they at that point assuming um well actually regardless of the the outcome of that vote will canvas and certify those results. >> Thank you. >> Uh all in favor? >> Any opposed? Any abstensions? That carries. Um uh B, professional personnel action items. It is recommended by the superintendent that the board of education approve the following professional personnel action items 1 through four. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Um any discussion? All in favor? >> I. Any opposed? Any
077abstensions? That carries. Uh D. Uh actually that should be C. Support personnel action items. It is recommended by the superintendent that the board of education approve the following support staff action items one through four. So move >> second. >> Any discussion? >> All in favor? >> I. Any opposed? Any extensions? That carries. D. Other action items. It is recommended by the superintendent that the board of education approve the following action items one and two. So moved. Second. >> 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 any visitors who would like to address the board on a non-aggenda item, now would be the time to come up to the microphone. Item eight, future meetings and events. Um, our next
078regularly scheduled board meeting is on Wednesday, December 17th here at the high school. Um, anticipating executive session at 6 and reconvening to open session at 7:00. Um, and then our meeting after that is Wednesday, January 7th, 2026. Again, here at the high school, anticipating uh executive session at 6:00 and reconvening to open session at 7. Uh, 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. >> And our students, don't forget to come up and sign out before you leave.