001today is the holy cow I going to say December I'm looking at the three there March 11th 2025 holy God it's been one of those days hope everybody out chance to enjoy the sunshine today it was beautiful out there felt Lake spring finally baseball Seasons around the corner let's call this me the order um if you can join me in the Pledge of Allegiance please pledge of alleg allegiance to the flag the United States of America and to the Republic which it stands God indivisible liberty and justice for all first I'd like to entertain a motion to uh to address executive session to address employment history and matters leading to the appointment of an individual do I have a motion I move second second all those in favor I carried we are now in executive
002session we have a few matters to discuss and we'll be you right back to join all you fine folks out here e e e all right thank you thank you for all your patience everyone appreciate it moving uh need to make a motion to add an item to the retirement and resignation to our agenda this will be part C under one under the Personnel recommendations do I have a motion second second favor recommendation of the superintendent of schools the board does hereby approve the following routine matters the Board of Education minutes for February 11th 2025 the csse recommendations listed here in your packet as well as the treasur report to State dated December 24th and January 25th do I have a motion so move second second all those in favor I'm sorry any discussion all
003those in favor opposed carried moving on to presentations first up is contic canistota you want to say just is a brief introduction hard to believe it's 3 years since we've cannesota began our association with connected so it's um gone fast but it's been a productive impact time impactful partnership and so um I'll turn it over to Melissa and she can take it away but we want to thank them for um their partnership because it's been very helpful to cannesota kids and families good where do where do people typically look like like you like I don't want have my back anyone so so thank you thank you thank you for the introduction I'm Melissa Roy I'm the co-leader of the connected initiative um we're so grateful to have canow to be a part of our initiative
004we actually have 13 districts and I name them all if we were going to hear um but I won't take up the time because they're not as important as canot anyway so um so 55 community schools um so when we went when we partnered with um with you all to become a community school that's what we're doing is building a community school so um I won't take up a ton of time because Tracy put me on notice that I can't take up a ton of time um because I tend to be a talker um but basically in the last this is our third year we have invited the community into the school to offer more resources and services and um and really focus on your students and just have more people helping um with the
005connected initiative specifically what we focus on is ensuring that every student is ready to learn okay so there's a lot of Community Schools way of doing things but our initiative really does focus at the end of the day of making sure that the kid who ends up in class is ready to learn that if they're having struggles such as homelessness or food insecurity or mental health or dental struggles or anything that we're there to make sure that those are put in place in order for them just to sit and focus because you have amazing teachers you have amazing Administration you have an amazing building that only looks like it's going to get more amazing cuz I saw the pictures um and we want the the the kids to be able to engage that and enjoy
006that so I put a couple slides together um here's a couple of highlights you might recognize a few people and then we have nothing we don't have anything actually that was it that was that's it I'll just I'll just talk numbers now so we have the next slide actually shows some impact and when we look at impact for um for one of our components which is Link Link is link um students and families to any resources or services that they may need um and I think there was a few hundred there was a few hundred made in the last two or three years um and so will and his team will and Denise really work with families to provide upate your number oh beautiful so in the past three years link that component that infrastructure
007that will and Denise helped with um uh we had 78 link grer so that means we assisted 718 students in their families with whatever struggles they were having and hopefully we came out on top of the other end will surprisingly although he's dressed like one today it's not a doctor or a dentist or um I don't know what else you pretending to do um but we work with those Community Partners and so will and his team has have made Partnerships with literally hundreds of places with those resources and services so we can do easy handoffs andm and warm handoffs um sometimes link are tangible items that that students are missing um they could be school supplies clothing winter boots Etc uh food Etc and that's all in that link refer as well um the second
008thing that our connected schools really push and really try to build is to bring the community into our classrooms and so in the last couple years we've provided 131 um classroom programming so that looks like um an English class the science class an elementary Class inviting for not po exion or snap ad in or a local public library or firemen or the American Heart Association um and so that your students are not only meeting people of the community but they're learning from the community and hopefully that has a trickle down effect that when they you know get older they have more of a sense of belonging or when they're in the commity they recognize people of the community and that just build your community even more um and that's great to have your community in
009the building more and our kids learning from different people and our students love it typically they get their hands dirty those days they learn something different and they're learning from someone different which is always just fun um the third thing that our initiative focuses on is having a space within Al buildings that really speaks to those tangible items um the and go no questions asked um this is about the kid who shows up without a lunch for whatever reason and go and and grab some food the kid who forgets The Notebook you go in and grab the notebook a backpack um shoes clothing um hygiene we really push schol high school we really push that hygiene that deodorant it's always we keep hundreds under death see I know I've been in enough high school and
010middle school is actually worse than High schol um so but it's available and and Will's got some nice H can Do's provides some nice space um and those students all day long every day can go in and grab and go and grab and go no Stigma it's there how do we get the stuff we get the stuff by a lot of purchasing power because we're buying for 55 schools and then of course we're always welcoming donations um one of the things that we didn't expect when we built these hubs were how much the grow grocery item the food component was going to matter and snack component um it was after we built the hubs that we realized how many students needed After School meals um that that was really a component of students that were
011staying either late for the play which I think is going on now right or last week um but they were here for a long time um the play football Etc sometimes kids get here at 7 in the morning and they're not leaving till 9 10:00 at night and I'll share with you in another school district not canona we had a kid who passed out um and they called the ambulance and it was basically because the kid hadn't eaten since 7 in the morning so um so we have after school meals available um and then it also spoke to homes that just simply didn't have enough food and I know that you're not in erida County but just two weeks ago in Era County was it was just announced that one out of every three homes
012in Onida county has food andc that's horrific it's horrible um I'm sure that Madison County is not far behind um New York State um that our that our houses are just really struggling with food doesn't even matter your income at this point because food is so expensive um so our hubs have also really worked on getting food General groceries out to household whether that's parents or caregivers coming to us and us giving them a box of food whether it's the food giveaways that we've done the open hubs that we've done or I'll be quite honest with you that there's students who bring home groceries with them in their backpacks to go home and make their meals um but it's always available no questions asked um we try to get as nutritious as we can but
013it's not often always nutritious sometimes it's just good food but it's um Family oh so 454 families were were secured with grocery items in last couple of years that doesn't count our food giveaways it doesn't count our open house those are just specifically families who needed the food boxes um we also really are always working with our schools as we build this community school to get our community in the school M our parents in the school M so that takes engagement that takes fun activities that takes you know things going on in your school so will and his team provided 120 family engagement activities throughout the last couple years two and I will say that they were fun and creative um Will's a Sports Guide so it often involves a ball of some type um
014but they came and that's good this next slide which is the last slide so don't get nervous is a lot of numbers of impact so we track quite a bit of data um one to look at all our schools to see if schools are struggling more than another school or to see if we see Trends on a county level um we work with uh all Three Counties very closely um and we want them to have information so that when they're talking about allocating funds to change something we want them to really know what's happening so we do track quite a bit of data um we didn't mention snacks we give away thousands and thousands of snacks and this year we did announce a big huge partnership with Chobani uh in the first three months that
015we partnered with Chobani throughout our 55 schools Tak away 98,000 Chobani cups I don't know what they call them Chobani yogur um so 98,000 in the first three months so we're looking to do over a quart million Chobani uh cups um in the first year so can OFA gets as much yogurt as they want kids love it it's great it's free to us it's a huge partnership with Chobani and then as well as the other snacks and things that we provide as well too so so no kid Hunter is really a a a big thing for us um Community Link referrals um our motto is if you see someone struggling get them to us and we'll figure out what the struggle and the hurdle is and we'll get up and over it it doesn't always
016come from the school and your teachers and your social workers sometimes it comes from the community um and the community can make a direct um called to us too and right here I took a look at your I took a look at your new website uh oh there is um which is fabulous you can go on there and make a referral yourself give will a call give Denise a call or our website or Facebook you can um go through that too and it may just be that you're looking for a new dentist are you cutting me off so it may just that you're looking for a new dentist or you're looking for a new primary care or you're looking for a new insurance or whatever I mean this is all about just how we happen
017to have a lot of knowledge of what resources and services are out there um there are some Trends Canastota isn't far off from any other District that we see uh in the first year of connecting canistota mental health was certainly the first big struggle that was the big trun and now in every single District if we if it hasn't surpassed it's moving upwards and try and starting to surpass that food insecurity has certainly taken a leap um and not that mental health has gone down just that food in security has gone up and so we really are working continually writing grants getting support to as get as much food into schools as we possibly can um and that's our main goal is to to meet those hurdles head up if at any point in time
018I think canistota is good about getting out um reports I saw them on the website reports are available we do put a monthly newsletter out that's more of the storytelling of the fun stuff that's out every month too um again we have our website we're on your website um so if you ever have any questions don't ever hesitate to give us I'll give will a call of what's going on or the impact or how you can get involved um we love more and more and more just works right the more that everyone's helping just works and makes everything a little bit better um your return on investment which is for you now I will definitely push this to you so for every dollar that you spend we have hit the $14 in return Mark and
019that's with a number of different things that's with food um so we happen to be purchasing our food at a very low cost at this point due to the extra grants and things that we write um Tracy I don't think it's any big secret Tracy sits on my Board of board of uh Trustees for our initiative um our grant um uh uh counteracted with Grant monies um surpassed a couple million dollars between um the initiative as the whole that offsets the school's cuts and puts more stuff into the school um so food we have an enormous partnership with Walmart that we receive a lot of donations from we have the again enormous partner with Chobani that we re save thousands of dollars worth of goods from um we also have some smaller funds for emergency
020funds will as come across families who just simply need something purchased right whether that's graduation gowns or whether that's you know a gas card or whether there's been a tragedy where you know we need to get a hotel room or things during the tornado we did some assistance for Canastota as well as Rome um so we're constantly really looking at this return on investment um it also um encompasses a lot of volunteer hours and a lot of resources that have been giving to all our schools and services that have been given to our schools so so I think that's my five minutes um any questions for me before I pass it off to someone else okay not everyone at once um I think I'm passing it off to you yes okay I'm going to introduce
021you but I don't even know your name Rosanne Garder I'm going to introduce Rosanne thank you so a lot of what I'm going to say is pretty much a reiteration of this um but but how it affects us so I've been a school nurse for 16 years and I've tried my best to provide all the resources I can for my students however due to limited space and time I have not always been able to provide all the information and services that our students and Community need we are just one piece of of a beautiful puzzle since connected Community Schools have been here I've been able to connect my students and their families with services that would previously have taken valuable time and energy to coordinate and they are so vital to the Health and Welfare
022of our students and families many of those Services as she said are health related such as dental and Mental Health Services helping families with obtaining insurance and finding providers that suit their needs whatever that may be but as we all know it isn't just the health services is that they need to survive and thrive many of our families lack the food and clothing when children are hungry and cold they can't learn when they lack the proper outerwear for cold wet weather their bodies are subject to illness and disease connected Community Schools have been able to provide these valuable assets that can be so lacking in our students homes they have food not just here in the hubs but for the children to snack on but they also provide food for the family by hosting those
023food giveaways they store and provide clothing items that the students can wear not just here at school they can bring them home and wear them every day as a nurse it is our responsibility to teach our students and Families how to be as healthy as they can be with connected Community Schools here to assist us we are able to do so much more it isn't all about the physical needs but it is also about connecting an emotional and social ways as well many times we see students in our offices for various health issues headaches stomach aches sore throats and fatigue we look for the clinical signs but sometimes there are none to be found then in the course of our triage and we discover that they have not been sleeping well and that there are
024issues or events at home that are causing them to experience physical manifestations due to the lack of sleep or stress here too connected Community Schools have been so helpful with one referral they can sit down with the parent and take time to ask questions that can for the most part reveal where the true needs are once those needs are met we see these students begin to do better in school to thrive and they're seing less in the health office and are back in the classrooms where they're able to focus on learning connected Community Schools host a variety of activities and events that bring people together so that they can laugh and have fun our community grows as we meet one another we Network and make those supportive connections so when someone is in need they
025have so many places and people to turn to and connected Community Schools have been a valuable asset to build those connections here in our schools in our community and I'm so glad they've [Music] come thank you rosan I appreciate that so if anybody doesn't know me my name is Will Lamont and I'm the project manager here for connected cannesota it's nice to meet you if I haven't already I just wanted to take this time to thank everybody who's been a part of this from it helping us with printers to our admin team being able to help support us with interacting with teachers and getting involved to our students for actually joining us being able to volunteer being able to be here tonight even and our link teams are huge being able to find those families
026that actually need us and being able to help them but importantly so the next thing I wanted to talk about is a new initiative that we're bringing on and is actually going to be called Connect 4 so what that looks like is it's going to have four different pillars just like conect has four different pillars we're going to talk about leadership role modeling for students and then we're also going to have academic and social support so our Juniors and seniors are going to be our leaders for that it's actually already been starting we have about 12 Juniors and seniors that are already involved with this and we actually have Callie purcel here tonight she's been being supported by this initiative and we're excited to hear what she has to say [Music] um I joined Connect
0274 so that I could um talk with new people get my grades up because my grades were bad at the beginning of the year um since I've been in pectore my grades have been way better I'm at least my 80s for most of my classes um and then I would definitely recommend more people to join next year because we play games we connect we set boundaries we just do do a lot of fun things and learn more stuff and from my my helper the person you help me uh they helped me with my work that I needed thank colen do you want to say anything or all right thank you guys so much for having us tonight we really appreciate the time and we're excited to continue support the families where we can oh thank
028you it's great to have you guys on board huge program NSE but that's okay no thank you very much did you guys have any other questions for us before we headed out any questions thank you for all you do sounds good appreciate you guys appr than [Applause] next on the agenda is our principal building updates no hesitation tonight that off street so March as you might recall is Park month so that is pick a reading partner or people as reading Partners so we are taking a March mnus bracket Approach at Peterboro Street this year with picture books so um all of our classes are reading two a week and then V voting on their favorite one and we have a bracket in the main hallway um where we're narrowing things down for the favorite um
029there's a variety of ways to listen to them could be a guest speaker in the classroom could be the teacher reading aloud uh Mrs basell has been recording the book so that's been a fun way for students to um listen to them also and the students are really loving it so I'm sure you remember me um mentioning that March is magical Peter bro Street things just really seem to click for students and it doesn't matter what the grade they're in we're super excited to have second graders with us but things really do start to click and come together and um we're just going great places for the rest of the year so some highlights um kindergarten is immersed in addition and number bonds right now so they're sorting parks and making holes um their wi
030time is very busy our four classes trade kiddos during this time to truly give kids what they need and uh the kids are loving that they love going to a different classroom for a half an hour every day and uh working with different kids and different teachers so um truly again they're getting exactly what they need uh first grade just finished um informational writing on animals and their different habitats their writing skills are really coming along and second grade is starting to discuss plants and uh their functions so we're expanding their thinking with exciting projects to better understand the concept that they're teaching and in math they're also being taught what an algorithm is as a new way to add and subtract so I think every uh every parent in second grade is going to
031be really excited that it's you know time to be working with the actual algorithms now um so and we'll we'll wrap up the month with an author visit um kind of our par culmination uh darl Cobb is coming uh to Peter bro Street and Southside and in addition to being an author of 18 books he is an actor and a musician and a singer so we're really looking forward to um the live music that he will be um you know he'll have playing when the kids come in they're going to learn how to think like a writer through a cookie Caper um and very magical performance it looks like so Mar it hi everyone U just a few updates from Southside tonight um I want to start with the after school program that's up and
032running at Southside and it started March 3rd um and is going to go through April 3rd but it's just a great opportunity um and that boost it's it's really timely a great time of year to implement it and when I'm talking about the Boost it's the Boost in ela and math but they they're physical they got outside today so there's physical activity um they they are provided a nourishing um snack and I saw a girl a fourth grader on on Thursday and she said I'm so tired today but I still have to go to the after school program but it's so much fun I'm going to stay I'm just going to push through you know more or less I'm going to push through it but so they really do enjoy it and it's um I
033know Karen's going to speak a little bit more about it but I can't thank her enough for her investment in time um and her partner Linda CIA and organizing it from buing to Staffing and even instructional delivery so it's just a great opportunity and very timely as i' mentioned because in April we start our testing so Ela testing starts um that month and so fourth grade CBT test is April 9th and 10th and then our third grades students take the uh paper based test on April 29th and 30th um that's followed by the math test um May 6 and 7th so after all of that is done that's when we're going to launch our reading initial um which is going to be the um each book is going to get a copy of The Chocolate
034Touch very similar to the Midas touch but in this um novel anything this little boy touches turns to Chocolate so very entertaining very engaging we do incentives on on morning announcements that after they've read a chapter and they can um answer a question they're going to to get their prizes um we also are partnering with um connected Community Schools for a culminating activity all about chocolate but that's again that partnership and and it's just so great to see their presentation tonight has been so vital this year everything they've done so I can't thank them enough um just a couple save the dates we have April 4th Bingo night is coming up um right in our cafeteria 6:00 to 7:30 it's always a act house um and then in may we are going to have another
035Spring Dance because the first one was so successful so that'll be um on May second and um finishing on a positive as well uh congratulations to third grade again they were the highest attendance in the district again this uh for the month of February at 94.1% so very good out outcome thank you thank you all right goodas so where Ellen ended that's where I'm going to begin talking about attendance the rates came out um no can of still a cup for the middle school but our attendance rates have not gone down at all so we have a lot of work going into contacting families with um connected communities the counselors the teachers having meetings with the administration so um the numbers like I said our attendant rate has not gone down down any from um
036the past month so that is positive um what's going on in the building so um Wendy Satchel came to our Ela and math um department meetings we're looking at those NWA scores and setting goals for our students looking at if they're projected to make the growth that's expected and what to do for students who aren't on track so um putting some extra supports in place for our students um also talking about connected um she wasn't here tonight but Denise Rogan is who is in the Middle School um the students pop down there to see her during lunch every day they she does a terrific Tuesday um she brings guest speakers in um and also she does um monthly activities for our students and the next one's coming up is going to be a karaoke night
037so stay tuned for that coming up in April um I just want to give a shout out to our students um we had a lot of middle school students who participated in the play this past weekend it was an amazing show um it was amazing to see our uh high school students and our rising stars in the middle school and I know a lot of our middle schoolers are also in the community play at the end of the month so look forward to that also want to give a shout out um I'm sure most people know but we're hosting um the all count Music Festival this weekend at our school so thanks to Brett buono Janelle Paton Mike sipley and Crystal Miller for all their hard work um getting that organized uh and last but
038not least um I love when we um our Educators can Inspire um our future Educators so we have actually three students from Sun asgo that needed some um practicum hours so thank you to Megan hoit and um Megan Marshall their two eighth grade teachers um that are hosting some of the students um one of our students walked in today I was like are you a sub he's like I'm not ready for that yet but he did it he's here for practicum so maybe he'll be one of our future teachers so we're happy to have that going on in the village too question okay K thank you hi everybody Mark cowy assistant principal at the high school um kind of picking up on uh what fox said about uh the wizard of O we had a
039wonderful turnout um both nights uh great performance SP on by the high school Middle School uh thank you to all the student performers their families Mr boo Mrs patch and M Miller for all their hard work to make this production a success um we're also excited to announce the canistota business expo taking place this Thursday at 6:00 um we have over 25 local businesses participating in the event um again a big thank you to the cannesota connected Community Schools FBLA and the cannesota junior Chamber of Commerce uh for all their hard work uh this past weekend our Science Olympiad team led by Mr Brian DWI Mr Shan DWI participated in a competition uh at North Junior High School that included 18 other schools from around Central New York the team placed eth overall which is
040a tremendous achievement for our students who started this work back in September um we had several students who placed in the top eight in both individual and team events um and just a couple uh highlights from the media center the woman's History Month Gallery is up um can't spell hero without her uh there's a book crawl on the monitor U the LED monitors in the school and uh there also will be a library media center book display going up on Thursday uh these displays help support a year-long theme of creating empathy through inclusion um the high school chemistry and physics classes are reading across the curriculum this month the chemistry class is reading uh The Disappearing spoon by Sam Kean and the physics class is reading the electric War by ARL and Mike winchill uh
041the two teachers have been collaborating with Mrs labery on these projects uh the Arts and literature Spirit Week encouraging students to read the wizard of O books to go with the musical was a success again we had um all the monitors had you know a display highlighting the play um Mrs L dressed as in a musical theme each day of the week uh Mrs Bon Mrs L are preparing a proposal for a week long arts and literature Spirit Week for the 25 26 school year and um there'll be the first ever high school battle of the Bucks will be competing in the Madison or night bosis wide Battle of the bugs the first week of April thank you thank you moving on our last present I was just going to add we had um Mrs
042tenner was going to give us a little update because we had this new portion of our program um since our last meeting that started which is our after school program where we I believe we have close to 100 students at this point so I just wanted to be able to give you a little update on how they progress I won't reiterate what Ellen said but we do have the greatest participation rate at Southside we have the most third and fourth graders we have more third and fourth graders comb combined in the fourth through eighth grade but it's okay we have almost 100 as Mr beta says we have 95 currently which is great it's it's double than what we had last year so just a little breakdown by um numbers third graders we have 25
043fourth graders we have 27 and then fifth 6 7 8 we've got 14 11 13 and five um in eth grade you can see kind of tails off the kids are more um involved in other programming and things of that nature but we had 14 new enrollments last week and five new this week so we had our teachers recruiting so we're we're super excited to have that many students um and at Southside what's been really great is as Ellen mentioned they're doing the prep for for State Testing and Ela and math at all grade levels but we're also able to offer some exciting I guess opport opportunities for kids to have a little bit of downtime and release and socialize at the same time doing some stem activities seal and physical education um actually at
044both levels with the PE so they got outside this week yesterday and today and that was super exciting and I think for recess as I saw throughout the district as well I just want to give extra special thanks to a few folks in the program I'm probably going to miss somebody but um teachers in general for uh volunteering and wanting to do that but specifically some teachers that helped us make the program actually um happen for us at Southside we had some Peterboro uh staff come up with Mackenzie citro and Rachel manella and one of our prek teachers Kim noakowskiego it wasn't their intention when they applied for the program but um you know they were open to making the program of success po kids so I want to thank them for their flexibility and
045I don't know how I would get through the day or the the afternoon without the secretaries and office staff that we have um Sandy Cary Jennifer Smith Jerry MCD and even Bri budha over at Southside super helpful at tracking things throughout the day kids coming in late absentees it's just a mad house at the end of the day with dismissal so I'm super glad that we have that staff to support us and of course Cindy Clark and R handall making the busing um I would be remiss in not mentioning them couldn't do this program without them and next time I will remember to put in my building request any questions thank you thank you thank you the last presentation we have is the strategic planning process update very quick just wanted to give everybody an
046update because we started talking about this I believe at the January board meeting and then last night we had U our first initial kickoff session where we had uh nice turnout we had probably in the right 3540 people I would say about approximately at some point joining that process uh we made some adjustments on the Fly we wanted to see how many people we had what process was going to work the best to to to sort of make sense of the ideas and how do we categorize them and and that sort of thing so we have I don't know how many sheets of of uh chart paper full of ideas that uh sort of a diverse array of people from the cannesota school Community helped us produce so from people who work at the school
047to uh um parents and just people who are interested in and how do we become the best District that we can passively be so again we can't emphasize enough the fact that this is going to be an ongoing project and it's going to be a very practical project we're not just going to create a document and have it sit on the Shelf it's going to frame everything that we do uh when we look at what do we hope to be for example long term if we look at five years out what things do we want to happen in the district what do we want to look like how do we measure our success and so this group is going to be very instrumental in sort of helping us um Define these categories further and most
048importantly come up with action plans what do we do uh to make sure that we're staying on target to meet those plans so we will update um periodically at board meetings um how are we doing and at times we'll have to make adjustments to that plan is any is any real substantive action plan what was going to have updates but uh again just really appreciate um the the participation I think it was a positive initial start but we need to keep it going and we need to further refine and Define some of the things that we talked about um so that we can be very specific and what our path is forward and U the recurring theme of this whole process is it's going to do several things for us not always it going to
049focus this on what's important for the school and what success looks like but it's going to in some ways I think validate some of the ideas that people um have proposed and that they can see what we've talked about in action so in some cases some of those ideas are partially implemented or maybe even in some cases fully implemented we can explain to people here's what it looks like you're right this is this is something that's important we're also going to be able to validate ideas that are not in progress yet but have been suggested through this process so again we can validate that by putting an action plan together and doing that idea or that goal of justice and bringing it to fruition and then I think as important we can look at some
050of the things that maybe we aren't doing and and say well why is there a good reason why is it because it's it's uh it would be an extremely uh expensive and cost prohibitive uh uh item for us or is it that there's some legal issues that would be attached to it or confidentiality issues so even on those cases we want to be able to give an answer to people that okay we've heard theide IDE we've heard the suggestion and maybe we even agree yeah it's good idea but unfortunately it can't happen because of this reason or maybe um it's in some way going to fit into the the eventual timeline you know because again we're looking at multiple years so there we also have to do some prioritizing what can we we can't bite
051up more than we can chew and so that's a process that we'll go through as well so just again really POS positive um process our next session is scheduled for Tuesday March 25th at 6:30 right here in this room if people weren't able to join us for the initial session we still would like to have people join us we can catch you up we will spend some time now that we've had a chance to organize the ideas U put them in a in a real organized fashion we'll spend the bulk of our next meeting trying to Define further what are we saying we have some big categories but we need to be a little bit more specific with what we're actually trying to accomplish and then we'll talk about next steps with how to to
052make some of these things um a real uh doable goal with a accompanying action plan so good start and thank you for everybody's participation and certainly if anybody has questions um we would be glad to answer them if they want to meet or have a phone call or shoot me an email and uh try to answer those questions all right moving on upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools the board does hereby approve the following abpr recertifications for the 2024 2025 school year Kristen Fox do I have a motion I second second any discussion all those in favor I opposed motion carried resolved upon the recommendation of the super of schools the board does hereby approve the time and location change for the budget trustee vote on May 2 2025 the location now will
053be in the high school tunnel the time to vote will be from 1: to 8:00 p.m. do I have a motion vote second second any discussion all those in favor I I opposed motion carried resolved the high recommendation schools the board do hereby approve the 2025 bus proposition resolution and this is a roll call vote trusty kitchen I'm sorry first a motion first a motion I make a motion a second second okay any discussion before we to vote okay trusty kitchen I trusty cvin I myself I trusty wood I trusty sinola I trusty Owens hi trusty Blanchard I motion carried resolve that upon a recommendation of the of schools the board does hereby approve the resolution to increase maximum estimated cost of a capital project do I have a motion salute second second discussion M
054Leon you have a few words for this I know there are some concerns or questions about what exactly this was about if you could just give us a quick synopsis of what this is yep um so first to clarify this Al this is a resolution of the board that will also have a roll call and this will be placed on the um placed on as a a proposition so this will will be a voter item similarly to the bus proposition thank um so just to take back take us back a minute um this is in relation to our $30 million voter approved Capital project that was voted on December of 2023 fast forward we're in March of 2025 um a lot of things happen in that time as we prepare information prepare the plans the
055final plans the details of those plans putting budgets together getting it out to S and as we move through a 12 18mon time period there are certain things that happen um increased material costs inflation and certainly right now um the big thing out there are these pending tariffs that are um going to impact cost this project uh I think we've seen a lot of the big pieces so a lot of times projects have a lot of little pieces in it um and when you get to budget time maybe not everything can be done and there are things that may go off to a priority list um if the dollars when you're getting that final budget together um don't align this project is really heavy on big items our cafeteria our gymnasiums the parking lots um
056and with some of these cost factors um just uh increasing over time of this this 12 16 month timeline there is definitely some concern with the budget and um as as the team has been meeting over the series of months uh the question has been um if we needed to remove something from the project what would it be that are one of these large items if the estimates are higher than what that $30 million um referendum will allow a lot of conversation um around that and uh so so taking a step back and looking at what what would what would happen What would be an item that was not able to be um recognized in that project and is there a way that we are able to increase that allocation if need be so I'll
057take you back to June of last year um one of the items that the board sees on an annual basis is our Reserve plan and we have a Debt Service Reserve so this prompted a lot of conversations um with um our attorneys with the project attorneys with fiscal advisors with multiple Consultants to say the district does have money in The Debt Service Reserve legally the only way that we can utilize that money is one of two ways we can pay down debt or we can uh utilize those funds towards a one-time infrastructure project those are the two legal authorized ways to use that money in Debt Service as we are building that budget out and looking at the costs of the plan that we've been talking about um for the last 12 months in these
058large spaces um for the school district again um I came and said hey let's really investigate is there an opportunity and and what do we need to do to move that money out of debt service and to put it towards the project so that we can capture all of those spaces the auditorium the cafeterias and all of the buildings the gymnasiums the parking lots um and capture all of those so through all of the consultants and um legal consultation we have the legal Authority the board has the legal authority to utilize Debt Service so this is one piece of it it's a ser of processes that need to happen this resolution is the board proving a resolution to put a proposition for the voters okay so the project would now be $ 31,2 127,000 we
059have $1,227 th000 in debt service Reserve so the $30 million voter approved project would become $31 million 227 would not cost us we're using using our debt service money okay so there's no impact to the tax base there's no impact to the original um plan that was rolled out regarding the cost of the project we're taking our debt service money increase in the allocation of the project um really without some real big things happening in the next short term allowing us to capture again all of those large spaces there's not a whole lot of little things in this project that we can back out um so that's all of our gymnasiums the cafeteras the um the parking lots the auditorium the artworks um so again this resolution is the board approving that this will go
060on and the voters will approve if we can take that Debt Service the voters are approving if we can increase the allocation if that happens the board will have a series of resolutions afterwards to move the money from debt service into the general fund then to the capital fund so there's a series that legal will give us the resolutions for does that make sense that we have any questions um I know the the construction committee and finance we've talked about this a little bit and we'll certainly talk about this more um the reason that these resolutions are on the agenda tonight is because they need to be in the legal notices so there's a timeline that we need to hit in order for them to get onto the balance any questions oh that was a
061lot I appreciate the clarity that's why I knew there was questions I just want to make sure we have the details I'd rather have you spell it out than me try to explain in my own gibberish so okay will vote trusty Blanchard hi trusty Owens hi trusty ciola hi trusty wood I myself I trusty cvin I trusty kitchen I motion carried resolved upon a recommendation of the super of schools the board do hereby approve the secret resolution for the 2025 2026 Capital outlay project do I have a motion so move second second any discussion all those in favor I opposed motion carried resolve the dep recommendation of super of schools the board do hereby approve the user agreement with Madison County to use the voting machines for the school budget vote on May 20th 2025
062so I have a motion some move second second any discussion all those in favor I opposed motion carried resolved upon the recommendation of the of Schools board has hereby approved the combination of the sport ice hockey with cenovia high school for a fee of $1,100 per participant with the understanding that transportation is the parent responsibility for the 2024 20125 school year so I have a motion move second second any discussion all those in favor I opposed motion carried resolve that the board uphold the determination of the Das of coordinator on behalf of a student as reviewed in executive session on January 14 2025 and February 11th 2025 do I have a motion so moved second second all those in favor I opposed carried resolve the the P recommendation of the super of schools the board
063is hereby approve the following policy updates revise and re number policies 7073 to 7104 do I have a motion second second any discussion all those in favor I opposed carried resolve the upon recommendation of the super of schools the board does hereby approve the agreement with Katherine gorola for musical services do I have a motion I vote second second sorry any discussion all those in favor I opposed motion carried resolve the the fin recommendation of the of schools the board does hereby approve the application for corrected tax rules as per the two attachments in your agenda do I have a motion so moved second second any discussion all those in favor I opposed motion carried resolve that upon the recommendations schools the board does hereby approve FBLA to attend a 2025 State leadership conference April
0649th through 11th 2025 the Joseph R fero Rochester Riverside Convention Center Mr Smith is here on behalf of fbl to answer any questions or give any I'll just Qui we're looking to bring 30 students uh 22 in the grades uh 5 through 8 a students in our High School uh and we're as many guys know um very long-standing tradition of attending this event um great for our students great for the recognition uh great for their confidence great for their networking um really is a great great thing for all of them um if everybody has any questions or any process more than open to speak do I have a motion I'll make that motion second second any other discussion all those in favor opposed motion carried thank you Mr yeah thank you good luck to those
065students resolve the dep recommendation of super of schools the board does hereby approve the 2025 2026 student program calendar do I have a motion make that motion second second any discussion all those in favor I opposed motion carried moving on to our student board member update as kitchen uh so this past month we had two athletes in the high school qualified for state championships uh Kieran timan qualified for wrestling and colat qualified for long jump and they both did very well at States uh this past weekend as mentioned we also had our Musical and that went very well we had very High attendance both nights this coming weekend as Miss Fox mentioned we're also hosting area all state that has select musicians from many area schools and it's for both middle school and high school
066and are hosting it here in canistota this year uh this Thursday students against destructive decisions is also organizing Grim Reaper day that aims to educate students on the dangers of certain decisions and the permanent consequences they can have so that's an exciting day coming up and Wednesday March 19th the sth and eighth grade and high school course and band also have their music in our school months concert so all right thank you very much M K well we got to committee reports uh first up academic um we met on February 12th we kind of just recap the presentation we have from the previous um meeting regarding the nwaa Benchmark assessment um we kind of talked about um this the Asma um accountability presentation for the staff back on February 3rd how it was um recepted
067very well by the staff to kind of learn about the success of um some imp you know implementation of how things you know know work you know out our um our standards have were no longer identified so it's something we Waring for staff to see and we have an upcoming meeting again on March 26 okay uh Finance uh we have not met since last meeting um we meet this Thursday and then the 25th and possibly a few others in between there um I do I will say I know Governor has released her budget and it was very positive for us um so we're happy in that respect um and a lot of our um net members and fellow people have been going to Albany to Lobby the legislature to see what else we can do
068um I was there myself one day um to help education so I think it will be a very good budget for us this year at least be of the State uh facilities facilities has not met more meetings to Come As We Begin planning this official roll out the project um we have policy uh we just met um so couple things on the horizon coming in April we're looking to change the policy for the independent uh education evaluation which has to do with the csc's um to comply uh to better comply with law uh the new policy is going to prompt the district to maintain a list of providers instead of using a flat dollar amount new policy has been vetted by lawyers the state Le aison um it should be more helpful for parents to
069help with getting referrals to good providers in a 100 mile radius um so better for kids that's what how it's looking um legal still vetting uh this up uh policy for the student board members we've had one long before it was a requirement but it's going to be a requirement as of next year uh so we're going to be codifying that into policy um it's good uh good practice good to enshrine it in our policy to make sure it sticks with us um couple things we're reviewing uh we had an initial review for a policy for selecting textbooks um we didn't have a formal policy previously but we do have to have one and we should have one as a board so that is in the works and should be forthcoming um we had an
070initial review of our non-resident student admission policy uh we discuss the merits of allowing staff to bring kids to uh Canastota if they live out of District generally everyone's in favor so we're reviewing the verbiage needed to uh put that put that in um some more policies in the works uh are for student medications bus conduct equal opportunity and then music instrument rental so those will be coming down the pipeline thank you uh safety safety met on February 13th we discussed uh the law that's going into effect on September 1st regarding the U maximum temperature in the classrooms uh Nick Campell is working on U you know ensuring our compliance uh with this law with the you know least amount of um interruptions I guess uh due to high temperatures um he's looking at ways
071to bring fresh air into the building um you know getting the morning air um getting additional fans we talked about uh Madison County fire inspections uh they begin on March 15th and they're due by May 1st discuss the emergency response training schedule um there will be an off-site evacuation um exercise with students scheduled in May or early June and communication with outside agencies will be part of the planning uh there's uh the newly required mandated reporter training due by April 1st as of the date of our meeting uh 90% of the staff had completed the training and there was already a plan scheduled for the remaining 10% I think that might actually be on Friday right um just commented about GPS being installed in all Madison County buses to replace the current cell tower system
072and that should resolve issues with dead spots um you know with our cell tower system uh the spo's report um is just reported that they are checking doors throughout the building consistently to ensure security uh nurses reported um basically you name it as far as illnesses and it was on the rise uh so just again that reminder to cover your mouths and nose when sneezing and washing your hands um Capital Improvement project was discussed we were still waiting we are still waiting for SCB approval and just the the um notation that we're we had a goal to have the contractors and staff members attend safety meetings as part of the construction process okay weet all of them that's all of them right all right moving on up to uh for comment period I'll start us
073off I think I speak to I know a number of uh trustees on this board in particular um have children in the musical um if you didn't get out see it shame on you it was quite the production um I know those kids worked hard um the week before these kids were here from you know 7: in the morning till 10 10:30 at night cramming and trying to get all this stuff pulled together um and they killed it they did it again um so yeah kudos to those kids our staff that help pull together I think it was pretty much a packed house um both nights um so we going to see the community come out and support these kids and uh they did they did an excellent job so crud those to those guys
074any other board comment periods took took the words out of my mouth that was that was all I had okay all right moving on to the superintendent's report I'll just say what they said about the musical it was outstanding it was really packed so it's great to see such a tremendous support so congratulations to everybody involved um Cara it also mentioned I think Miss FOX also mentioned all county is going to be here uh this weekend they'll be here actually in the building Friday as well Friday afternoon into the evening and then really all day Saturdays with culminating with a couple of performances midafternoon I believe it's 2: and 3:15 uh but there's going to be about 250 participants so it's really going to be a large event and and Canastota is happy to be
075the host District this year so um but thank you to uh obviously a lot of work on the end of our um musical staff and so thank thank you to them for uh for uh pulling everything together to make it a good event um we anticipate will be a good event um just a quick mention um of a of budget we talked about Mr Cena mentioned the governor has come out with her budget um plan back in January um today uh is my understanding we've have not had a chance to really um digest that I've started to look at a summary and I couldn't finish it because it's been a busy day um but the one house budget um proposal did come out today and so I'm interested in seeing what's uh what's in that
076that really is sort of the process in the game that you know the state budget has developed from so Governor's proposal and then legislative proposal where where do we end up but it does indicate okay since the governor's proposal what types of uh the lobbying and and uh what's yielded results is and what's reached the years of the Senate and assembly so it will be interesting to see what comes out of that um and again started to look at some preliminary drafts but um there'll be a lot of commentary on that in the coming days now that we actually have that to react to as well so we'll see uh hopefully we have an on time budget by April 1st but uh that was not the case last year and you know we'll hope that
077uh the soon the better um so we will update U obviously our community uh School Community is we get more details on that also another thing that's been in our on our radar for a long time is our Capital project again it is it's disa we're quite disappointed that we're still waiting for the final approval I sound like a broken record on this issue but yes this is the the project that was approved in December of 23 by the tax fairs yet we still wait for our final approval um and so it's um and it is a long process there's a lot involved and there's a lot of detailed and specific plans that need to be vetted and looked at by the state but um we're hoping that we're nearing the Finish Line we're still
078hopeful um that we'll be able to get out to um bed and be able to open bids April and hopefully award bids and I'm looking at at Tracy you know that we're we're hoping um so we've been making the rounds to each of the buildings we'll be talking more on this uh this Friday when we have the staff development day um not only internally with our staff but with parents there is going to be some large scale impacts when we get into this project we will share information as it becomes available and more specific but until we award bids we don't even know who's actually doing the work so it's it's difficult to be extremely precise when we haven't talked to the people we're actually doing now the people who are doing a lot of
079work right now are Nick Campell and his team and we appreciate their efforts but um there's a lot that's on the horizon in anticipation of that we are going to be talking about some things that we are really controlling which is for example April break April break a lot of things are going to happen in preparation for the project so is the project is are the are the contractors going to be here April break no they're not working then uh but our team will be doing a lot because that's when we have access to buildings to pave the way for a smooth start to the project so we will be sharing with the public and internally with our staff and U what types of shifts and adjustments we we need to make in preparation for
080this um this large project and it is going to be again we keep reminding people we're it's going to be a lot keep also reminding people we got through a pandemic and a capital project simultaneously so we can get through it um and when you look at the renderings of what our facilities are going to look like um it's going to be really good things for kids and families when we get to the other side of it so we have to keep we have to keep looking at those pictures um so we're looking at some some things that are less appealing uh we know that we're going to get there eventually um so much more to come and there'll be a lot of updates really in the coming weeks and for the next couple of
081years as we move through the pro the project um it was also mentioned earlier uh the career Expo that's this Thursday invite really anybody who's interested in seeing the businesses uh in our community certainly we want students to be able to participate interested family members people who are just interested in either learning more about potential careers or just businesses in our local uh area and just being more familiar with with what's available and just being a part of that I believe there's close to 4 I think it was 37 something like that uh vendors who are actually going to be participating so pretty good size um event so please join us um 6 to 7:00 on Thursday down in the tunnel area in that in that general area um and you know I we saw
082the presentation from Community Schools earlier you know they've been very instrumental I look at you know uh will um Lamont for example very instrumental in driving some of these types of activities and so um they're intertwined in a lot of things that happen in in the school that's one of them that's right on our Horizon very soon that they're they've been very active and that's a lot of work to coordinate that those large scale events um unless you've done it before unless you've done it before it's hard to really understand all of the different pieces of it so we appreciate and hope they have a a good turnout um um and uh really reward all those those efforts um and then finally uh we wrapped up the winter season uh Cara gave us an update
083on some of the accomplishments of our our students during that winter season and the the musical is a very successful musical in the books and now it keeps rolling because now we get into next week we start the spring Sports season we have 60 something I think today degree weather so hopefully it it lasts for a little bit but we look forward to getting into the the next uh season and hopefully the weather continues to cooperate thank Sean thank you moving on Personnel recommendations all appointments are pending clearance on fingerprinting first up retirements and resignations resolve the upon a recommendation of the Schools board does hereby accept Jennifer Nolan you woke up a letter of resignation as a special education teacher effective June 30th 2025 do I have a motion so moov second second all
084those in favor I opposed carried one one abstention one abstention okay thank you resolved that upon a recommendation the school the board does hereby accept Carrie Mal's letter evocable letter of retirement as an elementary teacher effective at the end of the 2024 2025 school year have a motion so moved second second all those in favor opposed carried this is the spot for the new one I mentioned at the beginning of the meeting resolved upon the recommendation super of schools the board does hereby accept guy ain's letter of resignation as a food service helper effective March 5th 2025 do I have a motion some second second all those in favor I opposed motion carried resolved that upon the recommendation of sub of schools the board does hereby accept Susan Mason's erable letter of retirement as a
085special education teacher effective at the end of the 2024 2025 school year do I have a motion so move second second all those in favor I opposed carried resolved that upon the recommendation super of schools the board does hereby accept Kyle Batty's letter of intent to retire at the end of the 2025 2026 school year do I have a motion second second all those in favor I opposed carried resolved that Upon A recommendations of schools the board do hearby accept Carol Wallace's letter of intent to retire at the end of the 2025 20126 school year do I have a motion so moved second second all those in favor I opposed carried resolved upon recommendations C of schools the board does he by accept Kathleen Stockbridge letter of intent to retire at the end of the
0862025 2026 school year do I have a motion so mov second second all those in favor I opposed carried resolve that upon the recommendation superer of schools the board does hereby accept Wendy dun I'm sorry Wendy dun's letter of intent to retire at the end of the 2025 2026 school year do I have a motion so move second second all those in favor I opposed carried resolved that upon the recommendation of the super of schools the board is hereby accept jel Stanley's letter of intent to retire at the end of the 2025 2026 school year do I have a motion second second all those in favor I opposed carried resolved that upon the recommendation of schools the board is hereby accept Dy Baldwin Tully's letter of intent to retire at the end of the 2025
0872026 school year so have a motion so moved second second all those in favor I opposed carried moving on to permanent appointments resolve that upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools the board does hereby appoint Albert picker as a permanent bus driver for $5 oh I'm sorry 5 that would have been terrible right 5.5 hours per day at $254 hour effective March 10th 2025 with a 26 we probationary period do I have a motion sove second second all those in favor I opposed carried resolve that upon the recommendation of the superer of schools the board does hereby appoint Erica gavati as a permanent teacher Aid School monitor at $750 an hour effective March 12th 2025 with a 26 we probationary period do I have a motion moved second second all those in favor I
088opposed carried moving on to substitute appointments resolve the deponent recommendation of the superintendent of schools the board does hereby approve the following substitutes Elbert picker as a substitute bus driver at $25 an hour effected March 3rd 2025 through March 7th 2025 China rolls Matas as a non-certified substitute teacher at $115 a day effect fact of March 12th 202 5 Jessica Apprentice as a non-certified substitute teacher at $115 a day effective March 12 2025 Joseph cerini as a certified substitute teacher at $130 a day effective March 12th 2025 Ethan cette as a non-certified substitute teacher at $115 a day effective March 12th 2025 Pamela Pie as a substitute cleaner at $18.45 an hour substitute food service helper at16 an hour and substitute Buzz attendant at $16.75 an hour effective March 12 2025 and Carrie malof as
089a retired CTA certified substitute teacher at $145 a day effect of July 1st 2025 do I have a motion so V second second all those in favor I opposed carried moving on to Civil Service appointments Jeffrey quo as a probationary bus driver ends 20 I'm sorry February 21st 2025 permanent bus driver effective February 22nd 2025 do I have a motion moov second second all those in favor opposed Carri moving on to other resolved that upon the recommendation of the super tendal schools the board does hereby approve the following teachers and staff for the after school program at $45 an hour for the 2024 2025 school year as per the attachment in your document do I have a motion so moved second second all those in favor I I opposed I'll be abstaining one abstention motion
090carried resolve the upon recommendation of the superent schools the board does hereby approve L sesia and Jennifer curak for the after school assistant coordinators for the 2024 2025 after school program with a $500 stien each do I have a motion MO second second all those in favor I opposed motion carried moving on to coaching resolve the deposit recommendation of the schools the board does hereby appoint the following paid and unpaid coaches for The 2025 spring season as per the attachment in your agenda do I have a motion so Mo second second all those in favor I opposed obing I'm sorry I'll be abstaining one Obion yep moving on public comment period I have a question sure JY last year the capital project was 30 million 25 was the project and then 5 million was out
091of our capital reserve uh 4 million in change 4 million in change I can give you the exact so there's two different funds that's going to be coming out of the capital and this debt the extra 1 million 227 so we have voter approval for a $30 million project okay it is being funded by I don't have the exact number right $4 million in change from our capital reserve the rest we will finance and we'll drive Aid on that financing okay we're going to be asking to use The Debt Service okay to separate entities y okay the other question was this says that the money's is it still in the capital reserve the money which money the 4 million that's coming out of the capital reserve it's in the it's NOP it's been moved it's
092in the capital fund now okay okay that's that's what I was wondering y it was moved out of the capital reserve last year the way that that happened it moved into general fund and then moved into the C okay yes and um the other question was um thank you the hockey the $1,100 per student that's going to the hockey is going to be the school's funding yeah to clarify that this is something we've done it's a number of years I think probably three four years at least it's been it's been that a typical thing what happens is we've had students and we have for at least I think at least four years now maybe more we've had a student who we don't have a hockey team obviously and there are multiple I I'm not sure
093about this year but there were um kovia serves as the host okay district and then we along with I believe said there's several other districts who also funnel into into that program and so they come up with a a calculated you know uh cost to to equitably share that I my question was is it our responsibility yes it is yeah for because we have our student that's it that's all questions I had so we're good than thank you any other comments okay moving on future dates we got a bunch of them here so March 13th um this week we already mentioned the cannesota business expo from 6 to 7:30 down in the tunnel and just to reate because appar I think earlier in my comments I said 600 to 7 it is 7:30 so what
094is notes is correct it is 6:00 to 7:30 and that's down in the tunnel as well as the deato gym the 14th um superintendent conference day 14th to 15th is the All County Music Festival that we're hosting March 18th 7th 8th in high school oh want try remember that music in met music in our school yeah music in our school I I'm like Oh my brain's too tired of it music our school month band and chorus concert it's actually the 19th it's the 19th all right correction so that's March 19th not the 18th um April 3rd the special pet meeting pizza with parents and healthy sleeping habits from 5:00 to 6:30 in the high school media center April 9th 10th and 11th we'll do the ELA State Testing April 12th Junior Prom from 6:00 to
09510: Wolf ACR holy cow we I talking about prom April 16th will be the Bose's vote for a regular Board of Education meeting and then a reminder for those petitioning for um board trustee seats those petitions are due April 21st uh entertain a motion to return to Executive session discuss a Personnel matter leading to employment and employment history do I have a motion make that motion second second all those in favor opposed we are now on Executive session we will not be returning for any additional action items this evening thank you all for coming [Music]