BCSD Board of Education meeting 10/22/2025

001How you doing? Good. Thank you. Uh if we could reconvene our meeting to open session. The board has been in executive session since 6:00 to discuss three legal matters, a contractual matter, and two personnel matters. Uh, 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 which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. uh introductions and we can start with you John. >> John Mc Phillips, Dave Hurst, John Walston, >> you Mcnite McLaren, Holly Dylan, >> Jody Monroe, >> Robert Teen, >> Lauren Gracelo, Katherine Nadow, Claire Legayou. Um and uh thank you to Slingerlands for hosting us this evening. Um do we have any Pig or SUPA students visiting this evening? Welcome. Thanks for

002coming. Um, you guys need to stay until the meeting is over or 9:00, whichever one comes first. Um, and don't leave without signing out on one of the sheets um that are up here scattered around the 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 October 8th, 2025 regular board meeting. >> So moved. Second. >> Any discussion? All in favor? >> I. Any opposed? Any abstensions? That passes. Item three, meeting reports. And first is our superintendent report. >> Sure. Uh, thank you. Um, so on Monday we had our superintendent conference day and we had a 60 plus sessions I think for all of our staff to participate in. I did

003uh include the schedule in the board updates so you guys can take a look and just see the different offerings we have. I really want to thank uh Dave Hurst. He was the master behind all the scheduling and logistics of it. So it was really a great day. We had a lot of positive feedback from staff and there were just various sessions. It was open to anyone. So it we was a combination of our own staff who put together professional development. We had some outside presenters as well. So I think the day was a was a hit. So great. >> Um the other thing I did want to report on is bus patrol. So as you know our buses have cameras and when cars pass the buses uh they get issued a ticket. So this

004is just for the month of September uh which has gone down since we implemented the cameras. Uh but we had there were 29 tickets issued in September. Uh the highest or highest monthly tickets issued to date. Um the beginning of the year typically is a little bit higher. Uh it was split. They do give you a breakdown of when are the tickets issued. morning or afternoon and they were pretty consistent. I think half of it was almost a 5050 split and they also provide a map of where tickets are issued and you can see uh the hot spots as they refer to them as. So, and then they provide us with an annual report. So, I just thought it was interesting uh to share uh and remind people that it is really important when you

005see a bus and they're stopped and they're flashing lights around the stop sign is out to please stop. So, um just an update on that. Um so, we have seen some effectiveness with this. And then the last thing I wanted to share is we do have a presentation tonight on the zones of attendance. And I wanted to just remind people about uh the process for when this started. This started last year when we started well we had some discussions even prior but really when we looked at our enroll enrollment trends at the elementary level our enrollment K5 has declined um just about 20 and a half% since 20056. the patterns have changed significantly. Um in 2011 when we closed Clarksville we redistricted those students between generally Eagle and Slingerlands. Enrollment has shifted um from Hamigrell

006Slingerlands and Ellir to Glenmont and Eagle and Eagle and Glenmont are pretty much either at or a little beyond capacity. So the enrollment distribution changes. We've obviously had some housing development over time and as existing houses turn over that also makes a difference in where kids are residing and how that impacts enrollment. So some of the this was actually a slide from last May. The discussions were to really balance class sizes across the five elementary schools, optimize our resources as well as our facilities and reduce the need for transfer of students to balance enrollment. So those were kind of the um issues that we were dealing with. This again is a slide from May of last year where you can see this reflects the shifting enrollment in the change in significantly for Eagle and Glenmont

007and the significant decline in enrollment from Slingerlands, Hamigrell and Ellir. And the next slide is just the overall projections. This is from the capital region planning commission which is available on the website and you can see the change in enrollment and you can see where that's going to potentially shift back up slightly. Uh so I just wanted to remind everyone that is when we initiated this process when we did the RFP to hire consultants to work with the committee and the reasons behind that. So just a quick update on that before Tyler presents their update a little later in the board meeting. Katherine has questions. >> Yeah. Um I' I've heard some community members asking if we can release all of the information that we shared with Tyler in order to make sure that everybody

008has access to the same information. And I was wondering if you could speak a little bit to what was shared and you know what makes how how we're approaching this from a community engagement perspective. >> So there h we have provided updates. We actually will provide another update after the board meeting. The information that Tyler has has a lot of lot of sensitive student data. So that could not be shared with the community. Obviously the Capitol Region Planning Commission reports are available that we've been working with them for over 10 years now. Those are available on the website. Our enrollment information is available both through our board presentations and general information on our website. uh this uh the elementary zones the maps for each elementary school are also posted on our website under the same

009information. I know some of the PTAs asked for that. Um but the general that all the information that is provided to Tyler has sensitive student information that that's not even shared with the committee members. >> What type what type of like what do you mean by sensitive student >> student ID student names last name first name where they reside. Yeah. >> Thank you. Y >> any other questions? >> Okay. >> Uh next is our board report. Um I attended the um virtually um because that's how they did it again this year. The NISSBA annual business meeting uh last week. Um it lasted for a um robust six hours. Um and the delegates considered um all 37 of the proposals that were submitted. Um and by the end of the evening, the delegates had adopted 24

010um uh advocacy positions. Those positions will main remain in effect for five years unless they're achieved sooner or otherwise are rendered moot. And the NISBA government uh relations team will work towards advancing those proposals. Um there was not anything that was particularly um that passed that was particularly controversial. Um one uh interesting one that uh and we'll see if it ends up going anywhere was the idea of having recess counting toward instructional time. Um so again uh these are uh you know these were adopted as things that uh all the different delegates wanted NISBA to advocate for. Um whether or not they actually come to fruition is a different story. Um next uh I'm going down to the NISSBA conference tomorrow and I think um Dave you're going as well. So we will um report

011back on that afterwards. And I also wanted to remind all of the board members that the U music faculty recital is taking place on Monday um at 7 o'clock and it's always a great performance. So I really encourage everybody to go if you can >> at the high school. >> Yeah. Uh anybody have anything else they wanted to share? Katherine, >> I just want to highlight I wasn't able to attend, but earlier this week uh the special ed PTA um had its uh October meeting discussed a lot of different um topics and information um everything from different subcommittees that the PTA is putting together on different issues to different opportunities for folks to engage. Um, so I just wanted to as it's our our newest parent teacher association, it's one that spans um all the

012buildings in the district and um applies to to our entire community. I wanted to share that and just let folks know that they can continue, you know, you can sign up to become a member anytime. The meetings are happening um on in person uh as well as online. So can attend either way. They're hybrid meetings. Um, and keep your eye on your inboxes. They're going out, the notices are going out through Parent Square. Um, and other places, too. >> Thanks. You, did you? >> A couple really small things. Um, I've appreciated Hispanic herit Hispanic Heritage Month. I like to see the variety of events. Um, in particular, I thought we should acknowledge the most competitive event of the month, which was the the guacamole contest, and we had a repeat champion team. So, James Albon,

013Ryan Cheng, Shawn Doyle repeated their title as best guacamole in the high school. More seriously, it's also obviously college application time. And so certainly as a parent of a senior going through this, I want to empathize with everyone else doing that and thank the counseling office of the high school who are handling all those recommendation letters and the really increased workload that's going on right now. So thanks for that. >> Uh next are our student reports. Um Claire, I'll turn it over to you. Yeah, this October has been filled with various activities and events across our school to celebrate the recent um Hispanic Heritage Month. Several high school students visited the elementary schools to read books featuring Hispanic authors and stories. The visits were very successful. The kids were super engaged and it was really

014inspiring to see that connection between the young students and their high school role models. Over at the middle school, there was a salads for kids day and I believe over 800 free salads were served and it was made entirely with vegetables grown in the school. And big thanks to the garden club and the PTO and um this month has been a very exciting time. It's been full of events that promotes wellness and brought the community together. >> Thank you. >> Um and do we have um anyone here from the middle school? Salad for kids day on October 10th serving over 800 free salads completely with vegetables from the middle school. Special thanks to Mr. was our character. Students from all teams and recognized the following perspective creativity. The BCMS Halloween ball is back and bigger

015than ever thanks to our PTO who is taking over running our haunted house. The ball is on the 24th and once again we hope to have over 1,000 students and adults in costume. We want to congratulate all of our fall sports teams who are having successful seasons. >> The BCMS musical has started up and we had our auditions the first week of October and rehearsals are underway. This this year's show was Newsies Junior. The last the show will be in the late January after the holidays. >> We hope you all have a ghostly Halloween. >> Thank you. Uh and then [Applause] Um I think we have some uh friends from Slingerlands uh here this evening also to present to us. >> So why don't we have all the students that are speaking everyone stand up.

016Okay. So, uh, right here you want us. >> Yep. Perfect. >> So, good evening everyone. Um, first of all, my name is Andy Baker. I'm principal here at Singerlands and thank you so much, uh, for, uh, having your meeting here this evening and for everyone in attendance. Um, we're delighted to have, uh, some fifth graders to speak to you on some topics related to my presentation, which is occurring a little later on the joys of elementary school. Uh, so without any further ado, uh, we will bring up our first group of students who are speaking on the topic of, uh, classroom token economy. They are so excited. [Applause] >> Yeah. >> My name is My name is Mason and in our fifth grade class, we have a classroom economy. Every student has a classroom job

017and gets paid with the salary with fake money. Of course, we have to pay rent for our desk at the beginning of the month. We can also shop in a our classroom store that is opened once a month, but we have to be smart about our savings. >> My name is Neilia. Our class econ economy has taught us the importance of being a hard uh working member of our classroom community. Every job is important to keep our classroom running smoothly. Some jobs include our weekly reporters, classroom custodians, morning leader, teachers, teacher assistant, and bankers. Mason and I were bankers in September. Our classroom economy also teaches us real world skills. We don't want to be evicted if we can't afford our desk rent. And if we save our money, we will be able to afford

018more expensive items from the class door as a year goes on. In our classroom, we don't have nightly homework, but we can get paid for doing optional extra work such as monthly STEM projects and fun reading response projects. This month we had the option to design a pumpkin elevator and we will text test them next week. Okay. Our next group of students will be speaking about the Soaring Eagle which is our school newspaper. First [Applause] My name is Reed and the Soaring Eagle is the fourth and fifth grade newspaper club. My sister Lita started it a few years ago with her friends. My favorite article that I wrote was when I interviewed the man next to the school who built his house all by himself. >> Hi, my name's Olivia. Um, the Soaring Eagle meets

019every few weeks after school on Tuesdays. Students come up with all the ideas by themselves. Some topics that are covered are school happenings, reviews, sports, and interviews. We even have opinion pieces pieces like Duncan versus Starbucks and Sephora versus Ulta. >> My name's Zach. And we try so we try and we try to publish three to four issues this with a year. The students and teachers really enjoy reading it. It's a lot of fun to be a part of because you can see your friends and also create something that everyone enjoys. [Applause] Hello, I'm Lily Rose David and I teach fourth and fifth grade orchestra at Hamigrail, Glenmont, Eagle, and Slingerlands. And I was so excited last week when Mr. Baker reached out for us to discuss the joys of elementary because we all know

020orchestra and band are synonymous synonymous sorry with joy. Um we've got some exciting events coming up. Thank you Holly for mentioning at 7 p.m. at the high school the music teachers are going to perform so that our students can hear what they'll sound like when they grow up. And also I'm very excited because next week we have instrument costume day in orchestra where students can dress up their instruments and costumes. We discuss in detail how to do it in a way that doesn't hurt their instruments but they're pretty cute. I'm going to pass them around. Now I've got two orchestra ambassadors with me today. They've got Isa who plays the viola and Nim who plays the cello. And they work very hard and they're also a joy to work with. So they're going to share

021their experience with you. Come on up. [Applause] My name is Okay. My name is Isa. My favorite part of orchestra is every Friday Mrs. David teaches us something new and I am so excited to practice for the week. Also, I have learned how to tune thanks to Mrs. David. At the winter concert last year, I felt pr proud of how far I have come. And as I stood on the stage playing my viola, I thought, "Look at me on this giant stage playing for everyone, kids and adults." Orchestra makes my school day better by working out my brain and seeing Mrs. David, who is super nice, teach me something fun and new. >> Good evening everyone. My name is Na and I'm a fifth grader at Slingerland Elementary. Thank you for letting me have a

022chance to talk about my experience in orchestra playing the cello. I like orchestra because it's fun and I get to learn how to play an instrument. Miss David is an awesome teacher and she makes learning an instrument fun. I've improved in a lot of ways because I practice and challenge myself. But I really improved at smoother bowing and keeping my fingers on the correct spot on the string. A moment that made me feel happy was when I was not good at a part in one of my concert songs called Maiden's Rescue. But I kept practicing that part and now I'm great at that part. Orchestra makes my school day better because I get to learn new things and get better at my concert music. Thank you. >> Thank you guys so much for coming. Can

023you guys all come up here? All of our student um our fifth grade student presenters, I have a pin for you. >> Come on. Come all the way up. >> We don't fight. There we go. >> Nice job so much. Nice job. >> Thank you. >> Nice job. >> Thank you. >> Thanks for coming, you guys. >> Thanks for coming. Thanks so much. >> Thank you. Good job. >> And Mr. Baker, I'm wondering if we might be able to get a copy of the Soaring Eagle. work on our first edition. I'll send it over. >> That would be great. That would be great. Um, thank you so much. And um, and you guys are welcome to um, go home because I'm sure that you have to be up early and back at school, though you

024can also stay if you want. Uh, next on our agenda this evening, um, we have two presentations. And the first presentation is our update on our zones of attendance committee. Thank you and good evening. My name is Ted Theme. I am the vice president and general manager for Tyler Technologies. Uh we've been the school district's transportation software provider for almost 40 years. And uh Bethleam has a very special place in the history and the hearts of the folks at Tyler. I also want to let you know that I am a 40-year resident of the district and so I have a very strong desire to see that this project go well and that there's the best outcome possible for everyone including uh all the students here and the parents in the district. The other thing I

025want to let you know maybe take a little bit of the anxiety out of the room. There have been no decisions made yet. Okay. What we're going to do tonight is report on a work in progress, let you know how far we've gotten, and then we'll talk about the things we still have to do and what will happen before we come back to the board with any recommendations. So, I want to hopefully quiet the rumor mill just a little bit. There we go. Uh so our agenda for tonight and we'll walk through this is we'll go through some work that the zone of attendance committee has put together and and we'll share that the results of that. Uh we will also present the uh results of the class sensitivity analysis looking at the impact of

026various classroom size options. With me here tonight to talk about that is Dr. Ross Haber and he'll do that part of the presentation. We'll also update you on some work that the committee has done to define neighborhood boundaries and we'll explain what that is all about here in a little bit. We'll talk about a community feedback session that we will hold with the district in November and then we'll walk through the timeline and the rest of the work that the consulting team and the committee still have to do. At the end, I'll open it up for questions and I'm gonna ask you to hold your questions until we get through until I we get through all the content. >> Actually, we usually at the what we're gonna have both of our presentations and then we

027have an opportunity for public comment. So, you'll get questions from the board at the end. >> All right. Very good. Thank you. Uh yeah. So, so we'll we'll hold questions until the second presentation. Just to recap the committee members, uh the district leadership here, administration put together a group of 28 people who are working on this project in conjunction with the Tyler consulting team. And there's representation from across the district uh including the administration for example we have our director of transportation director of special education uh the world languages supervisor and we also have representation from each elementary school including the the elementary school administration a parent representative or two and a teacher or two on each one of these committees. I'm not going to read off all the names, but as we go through

028here, you can see all the folks who are participating. We even have two representatives from the high school. The uh the next thing I want to talk about are the prioritization survey results. One of the things that we we asked the uh Oh, okay. All right. Here we go. I thought I was changing that one. Uh, one of the things that we asked the the committee to do was to uh help us understand what was important to the community as we look to balance the enrollment discrepancies that Superintendent Monroe just talked about. And there really five things that we need to think about when we're trying to balance these things all out. First is class size, right? Everybody would like to have as small as class size as practical. Uh we also talked about school

029program equity, the goal of having the same programs available in each uh elementary school building. We also talked about transportation efficiency, something near and dear to our hearts. Uh and as we because as we make changes to the transportation plan or where students are attending, that is going to impact the transportation plan and there's a cost associated with that. Uh we also talked about the desire to minimize movement, right? If we do have to make zone of attendance boundary changes, let's try to minimize those to the greatest extent possible. But again, if we do have to do that, let's maintain neighborhoods so that if we are moving, we're moving a small community, not just identifying a few children or students here and there, but we would move logical groups of communities within the district so

030that that as the students move, they're moving with people that they're in their neighborhoods with. So we asked the the zone of attendance committee to rank these things to do a force ranking. What is most important to you would be first and then what is the least important would be fifth. And so you can see on this slide, and I'll walk you through it here in a second, but you can see on this side the results of that. And what it says here at the bottom is that class size, if we look at just everybody's first choice, class size was the most important, and then school program equity, maintaining neighborhoods, minimizing moving students, and then transportation efficiency was at the end. But very frequently when you're doing a forest ranking analysis, if you're ch if

031you're asked to put things in a certain order, you struggle between what do I want first or second and and so a lot of times you'll put the first two things together because then that tends to bring out the things that are very important and then it puts the other things be uh towards the end. And so that's what happened here. Uh if we looked at on this slide, the combination of everybody's first and second choice, uh school equity ticked up a little bit at 65% and then class size is still at 60%. So those two things are still very important. Uh minimizing uh moves and keeping neighborhoods together uh was at 30% and then transportation again is at the bottom. So what so what is what is the impact of all these things? Uh

032well, it sets the stage on how we're going to look at prioritizing the work of the committee. Uh so we're going to try to balance enrollment class sizes and that may result then in making enrollment boundary changes. If we want to try to keep those class sizes small, then in order to get that uh done equally and equitably across all of the buildings, it invariably will require some movement of zones. Another thing that's sort of less intuitive to understand is that even if one of the schools is kind of at optimal enrollment, there still may be a boundary change because there's a ripple effect as we start moving things around. So, so even if you think your school is unaffected because the the boundary or the enrollment projections look good over the study period, there

033are still could be some enrollment zone changes. And then the third thing here in the kind of so what category is that transportation efficiency is not currently the committee's main concern. Uh we will model that like I said we will model any of the impacts to any transportation uh changes and that then could result in some refinement to the options but right now that's not everybody's top concern. And just to keep this top of mind, if we think of these as interlocking gears, when we turn one of those gears, something else is going to turn downstream from that. So all these things are related to each other. If we keep class size small, given our current situation, we're invariably going to have to make some zone changes. All right, I'm going to ask uh Dr.

034Haber to come up and walk us through the class sensitivity analysis. So, good evening. Uh, my name is Ross Haber. I am Which one is the forward? >> Okay. Um, Ross, I'm president owner of Ross Habber Associates. We are working with Tyler to bring this project forward. Um, what I'm going to show over the next few slides is the relationship between class size and instructional space. Smaller the class, the smaller the class size, the more instructional space that's needed. So, if we look at this next Next slide. Okay. What we've done is we've taken two possible class size options. One was a minimum an 18 to 20 range in K5 class size no of 18 class size of no more than 20. The second thing we looked at was looking at a 20 to 24

035class range. what the what the blue lines is showing what the blue bar at the end is showing you that if we go with 18 to 20 we have a deficit districtwide of 12 classrooms. So just by definition it's it we found it not to be possible to go to that level of class size. We just don't have enough instructional space. If we go to the 20 to 24 range we have a surplus of seven rooms districtwide. So again it shows the relationship. The smaller the class size the more instructional space you need. The limitation is the number of classrooms you have available in the district. So again as I said the small class size would show a deficit of 12 classrooms districtwide and um going to the 20 to 24 shows a surplus of

036seven. Now to take this to the next to take a little further to show you how we made this determination. We took the class r class range that we opted to use which is 20 students in kindergarten 22 22 in grades one and two and 24 24 in grades four through four through five and what you're looking at is what using these numbers what the yield would be. So for using Eagle as the example, okay, if we look at kindergarten, the projected number of kindergarten students for the 20 uh 627 school year is 70 students. That's we're projecting in that in Eagle for kindergarten at a class size of 20. Okay, we get we need four classrooms, okay, in this model. And those four classrooms would yield an average class size of 17.42. now and

037and as you go through each one of those things for example grade one projection for next year is 79 in Eagle 22 is the maximum class size and that needs four classrooms so across the board we need 23 classrooms at this model in Eagle we've done that for each of the schools now understand that this is still as we said a work in progress there are a number of things that need to be considered in all of this one of them is that yesterday we made a determination that there are a number of gen ed kids who don't attend this who are don't attend the school for which they're zoned. We don't know why, not special needs kids, special needs kids are out of zone for programmatic purposes, but we need to determine why these

038gened kids are out of zone and what happens if we move them back to the school in which they're zoned. Again, these numbers are very preliminary. They're a work in progress. We still have not f factored in um the impact of students who live out of zone on the schools. Now, we've done this. So, keep in mind, this is not a final, as Ted said, and I must emphasize, this is not a final report. This is not a final finding. This is just the progress, the steps that we're taking to get to that final finding. Just as an example, again, this is the model. Now, if if we had 70 students in kindergarten, you might not go with four sections. You might have to go with three sections, which might enlarge make the class size

039a little bit higher, but maybe more reasonable in terms of instructional space. So again, this is the base from which we're starting. We're starting with the class size that the 20 to 24 and then moving along with that as they hit the projections. We've done this for each of the schools. I'm not going to dwell on each one because the same model for each of these schools. The numbers again, as I said, a work in progress. Each school may have a different number of of children attending out of district or coming in from out of district. Those and we just actually got those numbers just yesterday. So it's important to understand that again work in progress and as I said we've done this for each of the of the elementary schools. Okay. So Ted you

040um so I guess I can finish summary. So what we have now lower class size options uh results in a need for a total number of classrooms that are not available. So again lower the class size the more classes classrooms we need. We've determined at the 20 at the 18 to 20 it's just not viable for the school district. You don't have the space in which to do it. Okay, likely as I said likely the real world adjustment to class sizes. So for we'll mitigate some of this for example if we have 60 63 students we're probably not going to use four classrooms even though if you if you multiply if you divide it by 20 it would show four classrooms but 63 obviously we can go to three classrooms. So again, as we go

041through these things, they mitigate these findings, but this is just the base of what we're doing at at this particular point to date. So Ted, you want to Okay. Okay. Thanks, Dr. Haber. Okay. The next thing we want to talk about are the neighborhood planning units. And again, we will use these units to uh if we end up having to move uh and make enrollment zone changes, we'll use these logical building blocks for that. So, what makes up a neighborhood? That's a great question, right? We we gave the committee some guidelines for helping them determine in their initial round here what to use in determining a neighborhood boundary. I'm sure as you all think about where you live, you all have your own ideas about what constitutes your neighborhood. So things like physical boundaries may

042maybe be a uh a major road, a street, railroad lines, there could be natural boundaries like a river or a large institution could be the dividing area between two neighborhoods. And then we have things that we would call social boundaries. So a subdivision, right? The subdivision got built in roughly the same time. and and we think of that as as a neighborhood. Sometimes could be a change in housing type or land use. Uh could be another thing that would create the sense of neighborhood or change one neighborhood to another. So we gave that guidance to the zone of attendance committee. Those 28 people, we broke them that group down into five areas, five working groups. and they all focused their efforts on one of the elementary school areas to try to identify what they thought

043were the logical boundaries. Now, I'm going to show you a slide here and again this this is a draft. Uh we did this work last Wednesday. We took all the markups back. We put them in the GIS software. We had to do that couple iterations on that and we finished this slide up yesterday morning. So the committee hasn't had a chance to look at it and review it. We still have some questions for the committee. What did you really mean or intend here? Uh and so I'm going to show you the slide, but it is a preliminary slide. And so each one of those colored areas is for the purposes of this project going to be a neighborhood uh group or a neighborhood boundary. And again, you're all trying to figure out where are you

044and that kind of thing. Trust me, we we will make this available and you will have the opportunity to examine it very closely. Uh but not tonight because it's not finalized and there's there's still some things that we're working on. So, this will be what the end product will look like, and you'll be able to identify where your house is and and what uh neighborhood you would be part of. All right, let's talk about the U project approach and timeline. And I'm just going to build this out here. So, we started back in July. We gathered a lot of data. We did some investigation work. We toured all the elementary schools. Uh we gathered a lot of data as Superintendent Monroe said we we have all of the very discreet student data because we need

045to model where folks live and what their program is and what grade they are. Uh in October uh we then did the sensitivity analysis. We've worked on the zone of attendance uh discussion here and we've started to understand facility or or actual classroom usage. We still have some things to do. Uh now that we have the neighborhood boundaries in draft form, we have to finalize those and and see which ones are logical, uh kind of viable, if you will, for a possible move. Uh Dr. Haber will then evaluate what would actually happen if we moved a neighborhood. How many students and in what grades would that actually impact? Uh and especially in the out years of our study period. and then uh transportation consultants will model the transportation impact of those proposed moves. In November,

046we're going to do a couple of things. We're going to have a community feedback session. We'll talk about that in a second. Uh we'll have another committee meeting with the zone of attendance committee to get their feedback and their ideas on some of the options that we'll develop. We'll then do one more round of iteration on modeling the transportation impacts because there's real cost associated with some of these changes. and then we'll hopefully come up with some initial recommendations that we can present to the board in November. Uh in December, we'll be back here. Uh the board could choose to act in December if if everything goes well, but I'm a realist. Sometimes things take longer and so it could be that the project schedule stretches out into January. As I mentioned, we're going to

047have a community feedback session uh right now. Uh the district has scheduled that for November 20th at 6:30 p.m. in the middle school uh LMC. And what we'll do there is we'll walk through the process because there'll be a lot of folks there who have not attended any of the board meetings probably up to this point. So we'll walk through the whole process that we've followed up to that point. We will have maps printed where everybody can look at and and examine the neighborhood boundary definition and get their feedback, get your ideas on, hey, did the committee do it right? Do do you have different ideas on what the neighborhood boundary should be? And we'll also have some proposed options for any zone changes at that time. Again, nothing that we would present on the

04820th would be final. It would be there for public review and comment. And that's all I have. >> Okay. I'm sure there are the board has a number of questions for you, but I'm just going to start with so with that map just to make sure I'm understanding what it is. So that is the result of what you got back from the committee with respect to what they think are neighborhoods. >> Exactly. >> Okay. All right. Um All right. Katherine. >> Um, I've got several, so interrupt and start with a couple and then we'll >> Yeah, perfect. Thank you. Um, my probably one of the first questions that comes to mind for me is just a can we have a conversation about how this uh process moving forward here interplays in the timeline when we're

049also considering the bond projects. um because these are both important and in large ways positive but also big projects. >> Um I can address that. That came up actually in the committee meeting about everyone is aware that there's a proposal in the bond for classroom renovations which um at several of our elementary schools because of the significant work will disrupt those classrooms for a period of time in the year. At this point, I think this process moves forward with what makes sense for potential boundary changes because we do have the issue where Eagle and Glenma are at capacity. I think you all are aware that Elmere had we not and Dr. Haber mentioned this, why are some students attending schools out of their zone? For example, Elmere's kindergarten would not have had enough students to

050even have two sections this year. we were not in Glenmont was over capacity. So I think that that is an immediate need for the coming years to how do we balance those things out. The um bond project is not going to take place for a couple of years given the timing of it. Even though the vote is happening in December, by the time construction is starting, you're talking 2027 and that was a period if you remember Nick and the team presented that construction is going to take place over several summers. So not all of the schools are impacted at any the same time. So there will be a plan for that but yes there will be disruption with that. >> Just before I just want to follow so you're saying that right now I know

051this came up in the presentation there are there are students who already have been >> switched around just to to maintain some sort of uh >> balance balance right because we Since and I think this is important because prior to the pandemic, we had class sizes well above what we've maintained since the pandemic. We had class sizes in, for example, fourth and fifth grade at 27, 28, 29. Since the pandemic, we've tried to keep our class sizes down 18, 20, 22. And so that when we're talking about class size sensitivity, that is so even though our enrollment has declined because We've had smaller class sizes. That is part of the issue. Even with that, however, you still have that trend of Elmere, Slingerlands, and Hammer Girl having significantly less students in facility space that's being

052unused compared to Glenmont and Eagle. >> And do we have a sense of how many kids were affected by that? Well, there's a totally there's about 130 students across the elementary schools who are at schools that are not their home schools and about 60 of those roughly are because of special education or ENL programs program needs that are only hosted in certain buildings. >> So my quick math would be about 40 who are not program didn't go someplace else because of program needs. about 60. >> 60. Yeah. Okay. >> About 60. Yeah. >> Right. >> And how was how were those decisions made? Was that a >> based on who's at capacity when we use that 20 to 22 threshold and who has space? >> Thank you. >> Y >> So families that maybe moved

053into the district over the summer, for example, correct, might not. >> Correct. >> Okay. Um, and I know this was um I think mentioned the last time that we did um any kind of red zoning was when we built Eagle. >> We eagle was built. In fact, >> uh Tyler was involved at that time with um we had to fill Eagle >> and so that was done a very similar committee process. I mean, Ted probably could uh answer how that was done, but we're kind of following that same process, although it was on a much larger scale because we had to fill an entire building. >> Um, this is obviously a much smaller scale. And then when Clarksville was closed, those students primarily were were sent to Slingerlands and Eagle was broken up. And is

054it some is this something that I'm just thinking looking forward like that we probably should have been looking at sooner than we are now or like I'm not sure do other districts do this on a regular basis. >> Do you want to I think >> yeah they do but it you know every district is unique and and there's you know different factors Dr. Haven and I were talking over dinner about a district he's working on in New Jersey that's seen explosive growth right now. Uh reminded me of what was happening in in Bethlehem in 0405 06. So, so I think what we're trying to do with this process is understand what's happening here locally. Uh, and then I I think what would make sense would be to revisit the enrollment projections every couple of years

055and and at least go through the the class size analysis that Dr. Haber is doing so we can look at continue sort of a rolling fiveyear window to understand what okay what's happening now how will that impact us four to five years from now so we can plan appropriately >> and one of the uh individuals who was at the committee meeting Doug Hanlin uh he led the redistricting when Eagle opened but he also I didn't know this he said he also did the same in the 90s and in the 80s So it seems like about every 10year cycle uh that this has been done. >> Yeah. >> Katherine, did you have another >> Yes. Well, first thanks to him for his service over over many decades of helping to work through this. Um so the

056other one of the other questions I have is around um if you would revisit the conversation around timeline students if this goes into effect, will this apply to everyone? Is there conversations around grandfathering for any reason? Is this going to go in stages? Just remind us all what the timeline is for how this rolls out. So, we haven't had discussions yet about grandfathering. Um, I can speak to more. So probably uh what happened when Eagle opened is there was discussion about grandfathering certain students and the board did not um go in favor of that because one they needed to fill Eagle um and also it created a lot of um other issues. Now this is on a much larger scale or smaller scale sorry. So that's a possibility that the committee could consider but I

057think you also have to look at even transportation is listed as the lowest priority. Um that there are transportation implications if you have buses going to a household and bringing students to different buildings. Um you also have the issue of how do you then address the current issues we face by doing allowing grandfathering for maybe some and not all. Um, so those are things I think the committee is going to have to dis discuss further before recommendations come to the board for your consideration. >> And even though it was a low priority, I think you had mentioned you're still going to model the transportation issues. >> Absolutely. Absolutely. We want the board to understand what are the potential cost impacts of any of these changes. >> Thank you. >> You want to hold that Meredith?

058I know you had a question. Um, one thing I wanted to make sure that we are keeping in mind through this committee discussion is um, our special ed program. I saw that Doug um, our head of the special education department is on the committee. Um, do we have any uh, parent members on the committee that also have represent special ed in any rep? They were added once they were formed. They have um they have a representative on the committee now. >> Great. >> And they were at the last committee meeting. >> Okay. Thank you. Um I would just I know there are are so many things to think about in terms of our special ed department and this process, but I just wanted to make sure that's at the forefront of our mind, especially because

059so many spe special ed students are not in their current home uh zone. Um, so I I think we need to have a lot of those discussions about those children especially and disruptions um that we should minimize disruptions for our special ed program. Um, have we, and I'm assuming we have, but I didn't see a discussion of it in this presentation, taken into account, um, potential developments that are have been either approved by the town or or are in the process of being approved and how are we taking that into account? >> Yeah, great great question because there are obviously a few developments going on right now. Uh we have a list of developments and there's an appendix uh slide that h that we have that shows all of the developments that are currently underway

060uh and what their housing type is because different housing types generate different demands on education. Uh so there there are some generally accepted standards around that. Uh so we we've taken those that are that are approved and ongoing or approved and under construction and included those in our model. Uh there are a number of housing developments that are in some form of review and we've listed the ones that we know about on that slide and if something were to you know get approved and and start then we could roll those numbers into the analysis. Katherine, you another >> Yeah. Um on the I mean on the topic of um of special ed students, one of the things that occurred to me as I was listening and watching is we're taking great care around neighborhoods and

061I think that's incredibly important. Um, also for as for our special ed students, I know that cohorts really matter as well as neighborhood um identity. So, who who they're working with and keeping um, you know, keeping those cohorts together whenever possible. So that might be tougher to map, but that's just something that I would encourage, you know, encourage us to consider and keep front of mind. Um, as we move this forward um and then just making sure, you know, associated services that go along with special ed, OT, and PT, um, if we're relocating certain programs, making sure that those, you know, those considerations that every everybody moves together. Um, so just a couple of comments on that front. Okay. >> Um, I had some specific questions about the data in the slides from the elementary

062schools and I understand you're saying that um, that's preliminary data, so I don't necessarily need to get into the weeds about it. Um, but I do want to just make sure that, you know, the data that we're putting out there, um, is is understandable. And I was having a hard time understanding it. Um, so I just wanted to make sure when you say that the target goal in those in those um, graphs, say the target goal for a school, a classroom is 20. Um, But sometimes I would see that um for like I just had an example um in Ellir the target goal was 20 uh students for kindergarten um and then there was a projected 40 kids but then it was said that there'd be three sections of 13 kids each. So I I

063really wasn't understanding how how that worked. >> Yeah, great great eye. Um, great observation and we'll have to go back and actually look at the calculations. I my hunch is that we have a significant digits issue here where we're we're rolling out the uh Do you want me to go back in the slides? >> Yeah, it might be helpful if you want for >> Yeah. >> people following along. So we're talking about say for example one of these slides and I think specifically it was on the Ellir slide 2930 right so I believe what we have here is a significant digits thing where we're we're rolling out a model that is taking projections uh and you know starting in 25 26 and rolling those forward for each grade on each year and So if I

064had to guess that 40 is really 40.5. >> Okay. >> And and so it's displaying one way and it's calculating another way. We'll go back and confirm that. >> Okay. Yeah. And obviously like um when we get more of the human um response to this as opposed to a computer model, >> right? >> Um I would expect that we would have um adjustments to that. AB >> you're you're absolutely right and that's so so we have to layer in as Dr. Dr. Haver was talking about we have to layer in these out of zone students and we've had a lot of discussion the last four or five days around specifically identifying each individual student and then determining how do we handle that student and I think we know which each one of those students are

065as of yesterday. So we've got to go back layer in those changes and then see how those roll through the model for each year for each grade for each school. >> Okay. Thank you. I appreciate that. >> Yeah. No, good question. And I think something else that I think would be helpful just in presenting this information is just knowing exactly how many um instructional spaces there are in each building. >> Yeah, I think we presented that at the last meeting, but maybe tying it into this helpful >> because like I'm looking at it and I'm like, okay, well, is that more or less than we have at Elmir? I don't know off the top of my head. >> Sure. >> Yeah. in part I don't want to say it was intentional because we're being try

066to be very transparent but we haven't gotten to that part yet right and so I didn't want folks drawing conclusions about data that's not finished being developed so >> sure yeah absolutely we can we have some other summary slides we can present next time >> John did you have a question >> have one question when we do see your recommendations will it be one overarching recommendation or will there be option A b and c with considerations or how do you typically present that I hope to have at least two, possibly three options for the board to consider and and we'll be able to identify the number of students, you know, the the the boundaries that will change, the number of students impacted and the transportation cost impacted for each one of those options. >> Okay.

067Thank you. >> Y >> All right. Thank you all very very much. See you next month. Um, our next presentation this evening is on uh elementary school culture and so I invite Andy Baker up. >> Okay. Okay. Uh, good evening everyone again. I'm Andy Baker, principal here at Singerlands. I again want to thank the board, Superintendent Monroe, Deputy Superintendent Hurst for um coming to our school this evening and for the privilege to present on this topic. Uh so typically topics range from things like curriculum to transportation to u bond projects. Uh so we think that this is a very nice uh topic to present on. It sort of pauses a moment to really um consider the joy of elementary school that the joys that our students experience every day and what should be um you

068know joyful learning that's happening every day in our in our elementary school. So I'm very um honored to present on this topic tonight and so we'll jump right in. So our uh just hold on a second. There we go. Okay. Uh well, you guys know knows what these are. These are our district mission statements. Very important. So wanted to pause and reflect a moment um so we can uh understand academics, character, community, and wellness that come into play every day in our schools. And really, why does joy matter in our schools? Um it's very research driven. Uh research tells us that when students are enjoying themselves, when they're happy, when they feel happy and safe in school, their learning increases and their connectivity with their peers increases. Um we can see that uh with with

069joy we have building belonging, creating connections that last a lifetime. Um fueling curiosity, nurturing the whole child. Um our routines are really built around um the students are with us all day. So it is really critical that teachers and staff um are very intentional about how we build the daily schedule so that students are engaged. They're transitioning positively from activity to activity and that uh there's a um a sense of engagement both from an academic standpoint but also from um a connectedness with peers and a social standpoint because we really are building the whole child. So you can see that throughout the day um we are uh focused on making sure that uh that it is a joyful experience for them and that those transitions are um are important and that we're providing lots of

070opportunities for interactions. So, we just wanted to take a moment. Uh, I just wanted to also um mention that the students that spoke earlier uh were we did choose those topics and did did have those students choose on topics that were aligned with our topic tonight. We also have throughout the slideshow um I've taken the time to go around and try to find opportunities where joyful learning and and joy is happening in our school and try to embed those in our slideshow. And these are just a couple of examples that are occurring. And really there's for every example there's 10 to 15 more things that are happening. Um we have many buddy classes where we have students getting together across grade levels to engage in activities. Uh that was a STEM activity with our fifth

071and kindergarteners. Uh we had a second grade class uh doing a science lab working with bees and flowers. They were actually simulating um being like bees and bringing the pollen to the flower. That's about as scientific as I I'll get on that because I'll mess it up. Uh we also have uh our new curriculum that we have this year. We really feel that there's a lot of opportunities for uh for joy in learning to read. Um seeing young students learn to read and crack the code as it as it as it were is one of the most rewarding experiences for the child and for the educator. And so we really feel that that's very important. Um and you can see here students that are engaged in uh practicing their reading skills independently. what they've learned,

072they're showing off as they read real text in the classroom. And these are some of these pictures are from our uh cultural festival that we did last year. And we really place a high priority on making sure that we're uh you know, trying to be aware of our cultural differences and being responsive to the the cultures and needs in our building and celebrating our diversity. So, as I said before, very much research driven. When learning is fun, it sticks. What does it mean to stick? It means it really uh is able to be remembered by the student. It really holds on into their into their um learning, into their brain, and into their memory. So, uh when you're talking about STEM challenges, you're talking about outdoor learning, art projects, you're thinking about using the multiple

073modalities of all kinds of learning, visual, um auditory, kinesthetic. And through those modalities, students are increasing their learning. And of course, school isn't just about academics. At the elementary level, uh we're we're really, you know, pleased every day to see students engaging with each other in positive ways, uh making friends, building their confidence, building their social um their social skills. Uh we had that picture on the bottom. We had kids out outside last week. They read a book uh called it was about um my peanut Johnson who was a groundbreaking female baseball player from early 20th century who was playing baseball as a young woman also pursuing a career in medicine and it's a really exciting engaging book. So at the end of the book the fourth graders um the the reading culminated in a

074whiffleball tournament. I really wanted to play but they wouldn't let me because maybe I would have struck out a couple too many kids. Um, but they had such a blast. Uh, and they played against each other and just had a lot of fun. So, with that said, uh we just wanted to pause to really um emphasize the joy of learning to uh remind you that our elementary schools um are first and foremost a place of learning and a place of joyful growth and that we want to work with you in the community to make sure that our students are thriving, that you're engaged, our students are engaged, and that we are um raising happy children. So short presentation. Uh I hope that's okay. I'm sure nobody objects to that. Um and so with that said,

075thank you. >> Thank you, Andy. Does anyone have questions? >> Joyful. >> No. >> All right. Thanks very much. >> Thank you. >> Yep. Uh, next on the agenda tonight is our recognition of public comment on an agenda item. Um, if we have any visitors who would like to address the board on an agenda item, now would be the time to come up to the microphone. Um, each speaker is permitted to speak for three minutes. Um, and just a reminder that the board uses the public comment period as an opportunity to listen to concerns but does not debate issues or enter into a question and answer session. Um, and it is important to remember that commenters should not discuss individual district personnel or students. Um, and we do encourage any speaker to provide the board

076with a written copy of your comments. Um, as we always take those. So, if we have anyone who would like to come up, I don't know. Britney, did we have a signin sheet? No. Okay. >> I feel certain somebody wants to come up. And if you could please state your name, um, that would be great. >> Great. Hi, I'm Lindy Davis and, uh, thank you for allowing us to give comments tonight. My purpose in speaking to you tonight is to highlight potential challenges I see as a parent of elementary stu um, student during this resoning process. In reviewing the materials made available by the board and Tyler Technologies, I'd like to remind you that each of those numbers that you see on those charts is or on the map is a kid and a family.

077Reszoning has the potential to significantly impact our students well-being as these students have moved away from their familiar school and they're going to lose their sense of community. So, I want to highlight two main points tonight. The first one is that the differences in school population sizes did not develop overnight and this will always be a dynamic problem in our district. Some areas have room for growth and others do not. A perfect distribution of students is not going to happen among our five schools without a constant challenge um as we continue to redistrict or reszone. Since it's not a problem that developed overnight, it cannot be fixed overnight without significantly disrupting our students communities. We built these communities. They're wonderful and we love them. Um, so our five elementary schools are small and because of

078this even small population changes will throw off the distribution. Um, we're going to continue to have housing developments that grow. People are going to in 15 years those developments will be empty nesters and we're going to be in the same problem. It doesn't make sense to me to keep going through this uprooting every five or 10 years as you're discussing. uh maybe it makes sense to to consider things like modular classrooms or things that are temporary as each school we have five very tiny schools they're going to they're going to feel the uh population swings. I think it's also extremely important to devel uh to continue the to consider this capital improvement project. I know you say that we would roll the resoning out next year and that wouldn't happen for the next two or

079three years, but you think if you have a kid that's getting moved as a second grader, then as a third or fourth or fifth grader, they might get moved again during that. So even though the projects are not happening at the same time, it it it may affect that certain kids would be moved to two or three different schools. This is a lot going on all at once for our students. Um my second point is my most important point. I'll go quickly because I did take some time already, but I think a gradual roll out will minimize dis disruption and you should allow kids that are out of school to remain at their home school. This should be our number one priority. When we look at those competing priorities, to me, this is number one.

080To my kids who might have to switch right in the middle, this is my number one priority. Okay, these solutions need to be creative. We need to focus on minimizing disruption. um you're going to disrupt communities that we've spent years building and you can easily disrupt them overnight. So, we're part of a very great community. We saw that nice presentation. Each of the schools feels that sense of community. My kids love their school, their playground, their principal, their friends. Um you have to consider that we might be in a very small neighborhood. So, my kids, they relate more to their cohort, like you were saying, rather than their neighborhood. And I would recommend that you think about our kids as in cohorts rather than neighborhoods. And I appreciate you hearing this feedback. And I urge

081you to focus on minimizing or avoiding any disruption for our elementary school kids. Thank you. >> Thank you. [Applause] >> Hi everyone. Uh just want to say thank you to Superintendent Monroe and the members of the board. Uh my name is Adam Sinsky. I am a Hamigrail dad with two children in the school and I'm here today just to read a short letter that is addressed to Superintendent Monroe and the board uh that to date has been signed by 133 Hamigrail parents. Uh this hasn't been sent yet. We're going to be sending it after this meeting. Uh the intent is to urge the board to consider options that impact the fewest number of students possible. And while we're not speaking for uh directly on behalf of any of the other schools, we advocate the same

082thoughtful consideration for all the impacted schools. So this is the letter. Dear Superintendent Monroe and the board members, on behalf of the attached signatorries, please accept this letter as a formal request to keep all currently zoned Hamigrail Elementary students and families within their existing school community. The Hamigrail community takes great pride in the time, energy, and resources invested in fostering strong connections and a deep sense of belonging among its students and families both in and out of school. As reflected in the data and documentation provided by the district thus far, Hamigrail Elementary does not demonstrate a need to remove any actively enrolled students. We respectfully ask that the district preserve the integrity of the current Hamigrail zone and allow families to remain part of the community they have helped build. If one of the primary

083goals of the zones of attendance committee is to limit disruption across a district, the Bethlehem Central uh central board of education should reject any proposal that removes actively enrolled students from a school that is operating under capacity. Thank you for your time and thoughtful consideration on this request made on behalf of all attached signitories. >> Thank you. [Applause] Hello. Um, I have nothing prepared or written down. I'm just going to speak what I feel. Uh, I'm here on behalf of a member of SEPTA and I have a child who has special needs and unfortunately your name. >> Oh, Jessica Fuller. Thank you. Um, unfortunately, this district has moved kids with special needs out of their home zone um, regularly, and I don't understand why that's been acceptable for as long as it has. And the

084fact that now we're just going to do it to every single student is even more um, unbelievable to me. Um, my son is in in third grade, so he's been in the school district for four years, and he's already had to move twice. Um the thought of him maybe having to move again and going to three or even four schools in six years when we've lived in one home the entire time is unbelievable to me. And it seems if the school district is decreasing in size and less and less people are here at the amount that we're paying for school taxes and the thought that families are just expected to allow their kids to be bound from school to school. like why would anybody move to this district knowing what we're paying in school taxes

085and that this is something that's going to be that the board thinks is a great solution. Um, also I appreciate that you're trying to keep neighborhoods together. However, in my neighborhood we have nine kids that started kindergarten this year and then there's one girl in fourth grade. So if you moved my whole neighborhood that fourth grader is essentially being moved on her own. And I think that's probably the case in every single neighborhood. You don't have an even split across every single grade in every single neighborhood. So although I appreciate that that's being considered, I don't think it in um actuality really does a lot for the children who are going to be moved. Um, I mean, I'll say it again. This is a very expensive school district and the families that live here bought

086houses here knowing how expensive it was because they expect their kids to have a sense of normaly and a sense of belonging. Everything Mr. Baker said during his presentation, belonging, community, making friends, getting close to your teachers. This is what you're essentially ripping away from students when you pull them out of the school where they've been for two years, three years, four years, five years. Um, and I just have to have to believe that there's a better way to do it. Maybe kids that are starting kindergarten that don't have older siblings in schools could go to the schools that needs more bodies in them and um do I mean any other alternative, but this one seems like it's seriously lacking. And once again, I had nothing prepared, so my apologies. That was all over the

087place. But I clearly have dealt with my own child being moved. I know how hard it was for him when he started kindergarten. and every single kid in our neighborhood got on one bus and he got on a different bus. It broke my heart. And then unfortunately we were promised the school he started at for his home school would be the school he remained at. And this year he was ripped from that school and forced to go to another one. So makes my blood boil and um it is what it is. But I strongly oppose this whole situation and I know most of the parents in this district that are paying the school taxes are also going to feel that way. Thank you. Thank you. Hi, my name is Morg I don't know if you

088can hear me. My name is Morgan Talbet. Uh my name is Morgan Talbot and three minutes is short so I'm going to stick to my script here. Um I think we're all going to say similar things. My intent here is to help paint uh some deeper pictures um in the hopes that it encourages that we do everything possible to minimize the impact on the on the kids. Uh some complained so in that beautiful letter that he wrote or read to you guys some complained that it was uh lacking because it wasn't data driven but I completely disagree. While data plays a significant role in the decision-making, so should the non-data piece. The piece that says that this isn't about numbers, the piece that recognizes that this is about kids with names and families who have

089invested countless effort and endless hours upon hours working to help build the school community that their kids are in. Hours that should have been gone to should have gone to sleeping or doing hundreds of other things. But they chose to put those hours in because they felt that it was worth it. because in the end it would pay off. And that has been the case, I'm sure, for all the schools, but I'll speak to Hammer Girl specifically. The Hammergirl community is truly a special one. It is a community of good kids and great, trustworthy parents and teachers who have become like aunts and uncles to true lifelong mentors to our kids. It really is a village, and it's one that I myself have put hundreds of hours into helping build. And I'm not alone. The

090community is one that has kept my family from moving home to Southern California and raising our kids around their grandparents, our parents. It takes one heck of a community to make you for want to forego that. Um, but that's what this community is. Um, but what about those who grew up here and never left or chose to come back and specifically waited to purchase a house in the neighborhood of their school choice, squeezing their family into an apartment for years before finding just the right house in the right neighborhood and school that they wanted only to have that now be taken from them three, four, five years into contributing to that school community. And these aren't just hypotheticals. These are real stories of multiple Hammerrell families who live on the outskirts and are now at

091risk of being moved. I am sure that many that that same story goes for other families in the district as well. But more than just having the desire and the goal and the longing even to be at their school of choice, there's also the logistical piece for the family as well. The ability for their kids to walk or bike themselves to school at an early age, not having to add the financial burden or logistical challenge of before and after care. Making sure that they are close enough to walk to grandma's house after school, for example, so that mom and dad could continue working. All of these things roll into the decision-making for where a family ends up living. And now going back to the kids, what about their friendships that they've made? Our kids have

092friends that will no question be their friends for life. I'm still best friends with my best friends from fifth grade in California. And I'm sure that we all have similar situations here. And what about from a teacher's perspective? I'm sure the class sizes will be better, but having a whole new fresh group of kids in there would mean relearning the students, their needs, who who works well together and who doesn't. So, it will be right back to the drawing board with finding that productive classroom flow. In a nutshell, my main argument is this. We live in a time where people are more connected through technology, but truly least connected with their communities than ever before. Here we are so fortunate enough to live in a town and a school district which values clearly in the

093last presentation, connection and community. And all you keep hearing around town is how lucky we are to have the village that we have. Don't go backwards on this. Let's find a solution that moves forward without going backward. We all agree that something needs to be done. Those schools are overpopulated, but let's find a solution that lessens the overall impact for as many as possible. So my proposal here is that we keep the kids who are grades three I mean keep the kids that are um grades three through five where they are. Let them finish out their elementary years with their friends. Let their younger siblings be grandfathered in. Why force those parents to start over from scratch? Make even uh even give those families that are grades three through five which would have to switch.

094Give them the option. Maybe some would be more than fine to move schools. And then again, the overall impact is lessened just a little more. And instead of treating what everyone as though they are numbers and just some additional data, we will appreciate them as families and kids in our community. Thank you. >> Thank you for the opportunity to speak. Uh, my name is Diana Paxerian and I'm the mom of a second grader here at Singerlands who I think should stay and a three-year-old who I think should go to school with his brother. Um, by profession I'm a psychiatric epidemiologist. I did my PhD at John's Hopkins University and a postoc at the National Institute of Mental Health. And I'm saying that because during that time I actually studied um how residential mobility and school

095changes during childhood are associated with negative mental health outcomes later on in life. Um and I think that the issue of moving children from schools that they're currently enrolled in should be given greater importance. Um when children change schools as we've heard mentioned it disrupts their friendship networks. It disrupts networks of parents. Um, it cuts children off from s sources of social support and it increases their exposure to negative treatment by kids in their new school. Um, I think that most people here, as we've heard, probably know the importance of a stable, nurturing environment for child development. And I would urge the board to approve a plan that allows currently enrolled children, especially older ones, um, to stay at their home schools. I noticed after seeing the slides that the committee has a lot of

096teachers and school staff on it and not a lot of parents. And so to me, it doesn't seem surprising that uh, class size and school equity were rated above uh, student moves. But it might be different if you had more parents on the committee. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Hi, my name is Jason Harper. I have two children at Hammer Girl Elementary. We love Hammer Elementary and we love our community. I have some very quick uh points that I just jotted down during this meeting and based on presentation, some of which has already been said to some point. Um, Principal Baker Baker, thank you for the presentation and for the title itself, joy of elementary school because the joy of elementary school is through connections made and cultivated, not spending, not separating families that

097have established connections or the joy or what would be called the joy of elementary. Um, uh, that should be the top priority. I'm sorry that I had that written a lot better on my phone. So, it's the joy of a is making connections and and and cultivating that and now you have this relationship that you're going to just just uh you know uh have for hopefully forever and learn off of each other and and just moving these kids that are already there. You're just separating much of that. Not all of it, but much of it. So, can we consider the grandfathering idea if the board ends up deciding to go this way regardless of this? Um, I'm a little confused about the committee. Uh, it was actually just brought up about how the about the

098vote. I mean, I have to echo it seems admin and teachers weigh very heavily on that. Um, the the report we just saw from the from the committee. I don't understand how one parent from each school was expected to get a consensus community opinion to that they could then bring to this this survey of sorts to get that opinion in there. And even if they did, it's se it's so outweighed by the other members of the committee. It doesn't even matter, it seems. So I echo parental have more parents in this decision, please in this helping to make this decision. Um I'm curious how the community meeting that is being held in November will influence the final decision. Uh it I'm I wasn't sure if um Tyler's final report comes out before or after that,

099but is their report actually going to be revised based on this community um um input or is it just I'm just curious how that's going to work. I know you can't answer questions, but maybe clarify that. And finally, um Dr. Haber mentioned, and it was very brief, u the idea of having more classrooms. It seemed to me that was basically out of the question. Understanding this would cost money, but can we see some numbers on it? You know, at least have it as an option to consider instead of this this rearranging of of and separating, you know, kids from their schools potentially. So, thank you for the opportunity to speak in front of you. Um, I I appreciate it. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Hello everyone. Good evening. Um, I I drove here three

100hours to be with you tonight and um, so I'm a little tired, so please bear with me. Um, but I'm very glad to be here and thank you for hearing what I have to share with you. If >> you can tell us your name. >> Oh, yes. For those who don't know me, my name is Dr. Brian Sweeney. I've been an educator for 27 years and I'm the parent of three students in Bethlehem, um, including a second grader at Hamigrael Elementary. I do not speak tonight as someone opposed to the goal of balancing enrollments in the district. The equitable distribution of resources is a fundamental and essential part of good and ethical educational policy. I do stand before you to urge, as many others have tonight, that any resoning plan adopted by the district ensure

101a phased and gradual process that avoids the abrupt relocation of young children still recovering from the upheavalss of the pandemic. When our family moved to this region in 2011, our primary consideration for the place we would make our home was the school district. We chose Bethlehem, and we have never regretted that decision. Over the years, two of our children have flourished at Hamigrail and moved on to the middle school and the high school. And our daughter, our daughter Cesaly is currently a thriving second grader there. Her connection to Hamigrail and ours transcends arbitrary lines on a zoning map. It embodies years as part of this community, volunteer work as room parents and field day volunteers and lip-sync volunteers, the forging of relationships with other families, educators, and staff. The personal state we feel in our

102school is not unique to our family. Across the district, hundreds of families made decisions about where to put down roots, reasonably expecting that the primary school to for which their home was zoned would remain their children's educational home through fifth grade, ensuring continuity during a critical period in childhood, psychological, and emotional development. Any discussion of resoning must honor this human reality. We are not discussing the redistribution of data points on the chart, but children whose developmental, emotional, and social needs should be a top priority for any reasoning plan. It's because of this human reality that I bring four questions and concerns before the board and their questions to consider and I don't expect a response. Um, first, um, I remain puzzled about what methodologies precisely were used to generate the enrollment projections that led to

103this process. Are we certain we are basing consequential decisions on robust longitudinal analysis rather than snapshots that may not reflect medium-term demographic trends? I came here tonight with doubts and with all due respect, my doubts are deeper due to the mathematical errors that have been brought to our attention. Number two, why has this process defaulted to student displacement rather than infrastructure? As others have mentioned before me, students in overcrowded classrooms deserve appropriate learning environments, but the solution may be facilities investment rather than the wholesale redistribution of our town's children. Three plans contemplated by the district involve the relocation of children with the end of this at the end of this school year, including students in schools that are currently underenrolled. I know there is no plan, but this is what we're hearing as inevitable or

104unavoidable. Schools like Hamigrail already have room to welcome students from other schools in a phased in resoning process without the need for abruptly relocating students already enrolled there. The district names enhancing students social emotional wellness as one of its four core values. Let us reflect that the current school children in our elementary schools have already weathered educational and social disruptions of unprecedented magnitude during the CO9 pandemic. To cause voluntary additional upheaval for students still recovering from those disruptions would represent more than bad policy. It would be a betrayal by the district of its own stated values. And lastly, another of the district's core values is strengthening family, school, and community partnership through transparent communication. I ask, as others have asked tonight, why then is the district rushing this decision without time for authentic community involvement?

105Why are parent representatives a small minority of the attendance zone committee? The ACC has only five unelected parent representatives, one from each elementary school. I commend these parents for their work. However, a single parent from each school cannot represent the diverse interests within each school community. And school district faculty, staff, and administrators, according to the very slides we were just shown, outnumber parent members on the committee 14 to five. The limited voice for Bethlehem families in these discussions explains the dismaying fact that the committee has ranked minimizing students moves uh student moves fourth out of five priorities with only 10% naming it their first priority. If parent voices have been given due weight, minimizing social and educational disruption for students would not have ranked fourth. >> Thank you. Thank you, Brian. >> Thank you. And

106and again, if you had if you had more to say that if you have it written down and would like to give it to us, that'd be great. >> Good evening. My name is Ghani Bardy and I'm a Hammigril parent and PTA board member speaking tonight on behalf of families who believe in stability, belonging, and true community partnership. I want to start by recognizing the joy presentation shared tonight by Principal Baker. What an incredible presentation there. There you are. And bringing the kids up here. That was fantastic. On slide one, the district states that elementary school must build belonging and create connections that last a lifetime. On slide four, it proclaims that together is our favorite place to be. But the reasoning proposals being discussed would tear apart the very communities the district is celebrating.

107You cannot claim that belonging, stability, and connection are pillars of elementary joy and then design a plan that dismantles those pillars by moving children away from their friends, their routines, their buddy classrooms, and their school family. This is not just emotional, it is logical. Tyler Tech's own updated presentation showed that the district has already selected higher class-siz targets across grade levels. Those larger targets by Tyler's own projection reduce the capacity imbalance without requiring district-wide upheaval. So I must ask you directly if your own data and chosen class size strategy mitigate the issue, why pursue the most disruptive option, particularly in light of the capital improvement plans that will already disrupt certain schools, including Hamigril. A solution that causes maximum student movement when minimum movement would work is not a responsible solution. And although the timeline

108now includes a community forum in November, scheduling a single meeting after key assumptions are already locked in is not outreach during the process as promised in the district's May 2025 presentation. That is outreach at the end of the process. That is notification, not participation. So tonight, I ask the board to take three steps. Number one, release all underlying enrollment capacity and modeling data immediately. I'm a business consultant and a data scientist. I know that data can be cleansed. And if there's student data in there, take it out. We don't need to see their name, their last name, their address. There's a way to do this. Number two, direct Tyler to produce a minimal disruption scenario that keeps students with their current school communities. Number three, guarantee grandfathering for current students and siblings through fifth grade.

109If the stated goal is to minimize harm, then the policy must reflect that or it's not really about the children. On slide one of the joy presentation, the district says it supports the whole child and that students thrive when joy leads learning. I am simply asking the district to live up to those words, not on slides, but in policy. Protect our children's relationships. protect their belonging. Protect their joy. Thank you. >> Thank you. [Applause] >> Good evening. My name is Rob Smith. I'm a parent in the district. I have an active second grader in the district and an incoming kindergartener next year. Uh and not for nothing, but my second grader and kindergartener are currently zoned for the school that I attended. I've been a resident of the district my entire life. Um, and I'd

110like to preface my statement by saying that I think everybody here realizes that this is a nuanced issue and I don't envy the board in the decisions you're going to have to make. I don't envy the people on the committee that are trying to pick neighborhoods that may end up getting cut from their school communities. Um, but I think that it's something that um, we need to keep in mind that everybody here is hoping for the same outcome, which is the best thing for our communities, for our students, for our schools, and for our district. and we may disagree on that path, but it's important that we're all kind of in the same direction. Um, I have two points I'd like to make just to have in in the dialogue and I'm going to try

111to chop down a lot of the things I have here because I don't need to reiterate what many parents have already said better than I have written here. But the first is that in the May presentation from Superintendent Monroe, it indicated that this is a two-step process. And the first step in the inquiry was whether or not resoning would actually be necessary at this time. And it seems like in everything we've seen, we're rolling past the answer to that first question and going right into what neighborhoods can be moved and what new lines might look like. And so at this point, while we did see some data tonight that indicates that it's possible that resoning may be needed in the future, it hasn't been addressed the extent to which the resoning would be necessary and

112the immediaccy with which we would need to implement that resoning, especially considering, which has been mentioned, the capital project that could be forthcoming in the coming years. And as a few different parents have said, we're talking about potentially reszoning kids for next year. And in the next three years, kids at new schools would be moved again within that building or to different buildings based on construction needs that are also out of those kids controls. It seems like we're opening ourselves up to unnecessary disruption in this whole process. And that brings me to my second point which is about minimizing disruption. Um, it was a point on the slides and I do think that everyone in the district would agree that we want all five elementary schools to be in the best position possible to allow

113all their students to thrive and class size is an important factor in that process and as is resources and equity in terms of um special needs and all of those things. But if we're talking about inspected enrollment trends that are going to need to require reszoning in the next 3 to 5 years based on the six years of data we got, it stands to reason that the students that are actively in their schools who will all be done with school in the next 3 to 5 years for the most part could finish their time at the schools in which they're enrolled without disrupting any of them. This goes further with the capital project where there's a scenario where you could see students being moved multiple times in the next three to four years versus staying

114at a home school that has potential space to allow them to move within the building at least and not be introduced to new school environments and then new rooms within that for ongoing disruption. A thoughtful and paced roll out over a few years or a grandfather any form of it, whatever you want to call it, could alleviate a lot of the stress that are being that is being voiced tonight while also addressing the district's long-term focus of rebalancing the schools in the most equitable way. At the end of the day, I think everyone is here because we want everybody we want all five elementary schools to thrive. And I'm not here, just like Brian said, I'm not here to stand against what ends up being determined to be the best thing for this community. But

115I am here to ask the board to consider outcomes that minimize disruption and avoid taking too broad, sweeping, and sudden strokes when something more subtle and more cautious could have the same end result. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. >> Good evening everybody. Esteemed members of the Bethlehem Board of Education. My name is Amelia Rickweeni. I am 15 years old, a sophomore at BCHHS, and perhaps most importantly, the older sister to a second grader at Hammigrail Elementary. I went to Hamigrail, my brother went to Hamigrail, and now my sister has found her place there, just as we both did. When I was in fourth grade back in 2019, about halfway through the school year, my parents told me they were taking me out of school. It was a Thursday, unlike how most children

116might have been, I was upset because the jump ropeathon, a jump roping competition my friends and I organized, should have been the very next day. The Friday that I missed turned out to be the last day of inerson school because that weekend it was announced that in-person school would be suspended indefinitely. I initially was thrilled. Why wouldn't I be? It seemed like a vacation, but a few weeks turned into a year and a half and then I spent the rest of my elementary school experience isolated from my peers. It wasn't until years later that I found out that the jump ropathon never even ended up happening. Co 19 was an experience that shaped the way that me and my sister's generation grew and developed. My sister was only one year old when quarantine began. She

117spent her first two years of life isolated from most social interactions and her preschool years masked and social distancing. Only now in these last three years has she experienced any degree of normaly finally able to begin to come out of her shell. Something that is only encouraged by the friendships that she has formed at Hamigrail. If she was to be abruptly forced to a completely new school, severing her ties to her friends and to her teachers, it might cause damage that would be even harder to come back from. Finding some sort of stabil sort of stability in this unpredictable world will be hard enough for her and her peers. Please don't take away that community that they have formed and the connections that they have to each other. Heirl was the foundation of my youth.

118Not because of the administration or even because of the name of the building. Um, but as we heard earlier, community and connection are essential to school culture and the joy of students. I flourished at Hamigrail because of the amazing teachers that were there at every step to support me and my mind. I flourished at Hamigrail because of the friendships that I formed. I flourished at Hamigrail because of the wonderful parent volunteers such as my mom and dad who put time, effort, and love into making my childhood magical. From the famous annual lip sync to helping put on field day. We heard tonight that school culture is fostered by community. By removing children from the communities that they, their families, and teachers have built, it goes against everything that this district supposedly stands for. The mental

119health of my little sister and her peers should not suffer due to the influence of abstract arbitrary lines drawn on a map. Ensuring that class sizes are small, the topic that was declared number one priority, is just as important as minimizing student movement, which was voted number four out of five. Ensuring that no child moves more than they have to is synonymous with ensuring children's comfort and stability. And so arguing for small classes without taking that into consideration is wrong. I stand here before you today pleading that you prioritize Bethlehem's children because if not for them, what are schools and their communities for? Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. [Applause] >> Hi, I'm Aaron. Um, I'm a parent from probably the only one here from Glenmont, but Dan, Hammergirl sounds like a utopic

120place. Uh, so what I want to say, I guess I'm not really polished. I got I'm being texted by all my friends from the PTA saying getting up here and say something. So, I'm saying something. Um, so I'm from Glenmont now, but I actually lived in Los Angeles before that. I moved with my daughter and my family um in 2019, right before the pandemic. Uh, one of the reasons we moved to Glenmont in general was because of the school district as a whole, not one school. Uh, we moved here because there was family close. That's always great. That's partly because of the neighborhood we live in. That's a whole district of a neighborhood. The district as a neighborhood. I think one of the things that people are kind of losing track of here is that

121when you look at a district, it's not like you can't get in a car and be 10 minutes in you're in another neighborhood with a different school. But my kid who now is at Glenmont maybe was at uh you know UPK last year and made friends there made friends at child time preschool and that and and I'll facilitate my kids seeing those friends regardless of what school they're at. That's just who I am. um class class sizes. I think maybe I think you guys have talked about it as being the priority and I agree it probably should be because one thing I know about my students experience at school, they spend it with a teacher and if the teacher who my child had as a kindergartener three years ago now has 21 kids and had

12218 kids three years ago, that's a big shift for that teacher. And who wants their child in a class from, you know, a couple years ago they had three less children and now that teacher is dealing with three more kids. Anybody want to take on three extra kids for six hours a day? All right, cool. Uh, so I actually work in strategy and logistics now. So I know what these guys are doing. I know everyone's intent is to balance across the district to make things equitable. That you turn you turn one screw, it affects a domino down the way to mix my metaphors. You know, I do appreciate that there's been trans transparency from the board, at least from my angle. My PTA president has been so forthright, so forthcoming. We spent uh considerable time

123in PTA meetings looking at those neighborhood groups, deciding what made sense, what didn't make sense, families involved, parents involved. So, anybody who says there hasn't been transparency hasn't been participating in my mind. Uh you know, we're all know that our schools are amazing. The whole district is amazing. All right? You got unique unique neighborhoods with unique opportunities and different teachers. You're going to get good experiences and you can't you can't single out one school as sort of the holy grail school when you haven't been part of the others. So, you know, I I think one of the things we just got to remember here is these folks in front of us, they're representing what they can do the best that we can do and we're doing what we should be doing right now, which is

124commenting on it. But we're all in this together. So, let's like understand that and maybe work a little bit more in unison instead of just singling out our area or our our neighborhood as somehow unique and special and and act a little less entitled. That's all I'm going to say. >> Thank you. >> Hello. Uh my name is Brian Lind. Uh I have a son here at Slingerlands. Uh I'm also an alumni of the school. I think I was one of the first students in this gym when it was built. Um, and I just uh the the thing that I think I've been struck by as I've listened to the presentation and uh listened to people speak is that what I worry about is whether or not you have left yourself enough time to listen

125to the community. You have a pretty tight timeline, at least as it was presented, as to when how you're going to turn this around. um taking public comment pretty close to when you're going to make a decision uh around the holidays, which we all know is a difficult time to do anything. Um, and I would just encourage you to really think about the timing of this and how much time you spend on it because the school district in what I have experienced since being back is working a lot and I think this is true in a lot of places in life on efficiency. Uh, and the education of our kids isn't about efficiency. Um so I just encourage you to slow yourselves down and consider the ways in which uh all everyone is impacted by

126this. Um and I also would echo that I think we all um as parents should do the same to realize that kids are resilient and what we do want at the end of the day is equity between all our schools. So thank you. >> Thank you. [Applause] Just going to pause a second just in case there's anybody else. Okay. Uh, next item six, action items. A, finance action items. It is recommended by the superintendent that the board of education approve the following finance action items one through six. >> So moved. Second. >> Uh, any discussion? one just to kind of comment really. So, we have an emergency roof repair. >> Um, and we were talking with John about this earlier. >> It is going to cost slightly more to fix it now than it would

127if we fix it two years from now as the capital plan suggests, but as far as I can tell, we might not have a roof at that point. So, I think it's well worth getting it fixed now. That's all. >> Yeah. Uh, all in favor? >> I. Any opposed? Any abstensions? That carries. B. Professional personnel action items. It is recommended by the superintendent that the board of education approve the following professional personnel action items one through eight. So second >> any discussion? All in favor? I >> I. Any opposed? Any abstensions? That carries. C. Support personnel action items. Uh it is recommended by the superintendent that the board of education approve the following support staff action items one through four. >> So moved. Second. >> Any discussion? All in favor? >> I. Any opposed? Any

128abstensions? That carries? D. Other action items. It is recommended by the superintendent that the board of education approve the following action item number one. >> Second. >> Uh any discussion? All in favor? >> I. Any opposed? Any abstensions? That carries. Item seven, uh 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 is the time to come up to the microphone. Item eight, future meetings and events. Um on hold on a second. Wednesday, October 29th. Um at the high school at 5:00 we have our audit committee meeting and then at 6 o'clock we have our policy committee meeting. Our next regularly scheduled board meeting is on Wednesday, November 5th. Um that is back at the high school um anticipating executive session

129at 6 and reconvening to public session at 7. Um our meeting after that is on Wednesday, November 19th. Um again at the high school and again anticipating executive session at 6 and reconvening to public session at 7 o'clock. Uh, seeing no need to go back into executive session, um, could I have a motion to adjourn the meeting? >> So moved. Second. >> All in favor? >> I. Meeting adjourned.