001Yeah, it's good. >> All right, guys. We apologize for the delay. We just had to get our technology up and running. Um, at this time, I am going to do a call for the public session. We're going to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. Pledge Allegiance. >> To the flag >> of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> All right, at this time we're going to turn it over to Dr. Soto for the Superintendent's Report. >> Good evening, everyone. I want to thank you for your patience. We did have some issues regarding our main uh live stream technology. Unfortunately, the technician that usually operates it just told us that she was sick today. So, I want to
002thank our Assistant Superintendent for Business, Mr. Rosario, for stepping in and getting it working for us. So, thank you Fernando. Uh couple things, we had a really exciting week last last week. We had a budget vote. I want to take a moment to thank the entire Center Moriches community for coming out and voting and supporting our budget. I want to congratulate uh Dr. DePari and Mr. Rob, a new board member, to um to the Board of Education. Their term will start July 1st, uh 2026. It'll go for 3 years. I also want to take a moment to thank um my friend to the right, uh Ms. Thomasina Harrell, and of course Clara Tabin for their years of service to the board. In June, which is our celebratory month, we do have uh Teacher of the
003Year, Paraprofessional of the Year. It's the It's the uh meeting that we do celebrate those that are up for tenure for recommendation to the Board of Education. At that time, we will do something a little more um celebratory for two um exiting board members and everyone else coming in. But, I do want to take a moment to thank them for that. I also want to extend a thank you to Dr. Botcha and the the team that supported the Melting Pot of America, which is the celebration that we had at the secondary complex to celebrate the 250th year of America's Independence. I think it was a great event. I know there was a lot of work. I volunteered to help her and she said, "No, I'm fine." I She didn't want me to do any of
004the decorations, nothing. I've been doing it for years now, but thank you, Dr. Botzer, and your entire team for all of the things that you did for us. All right. Um at this time, I am going to turn it back over to the board. Thank you. >> So, committee reports. Um at this time, the audit was obviously this meeting. We had it prior. Um community connections, that last meeting was 5/7. Curriculum technology, the last meeting 5/12. Do we have an update on that? >> Um so, curriculum and technology uh committee met on May 12th at 4:00 p.m. Um we discussed a few items. First, we discussed the New York State testing participation this year in terms of ELA and mathematics assessment. Approximately 65% of students participated in our exams this year. Um and we continue
005to rely on our local benchmark assessments because it gives us an accurate um and informs our instructional decision-making on a daily basis since we only have 65% of our students participating. In addition, uh we talked about the i-Ready June diagnostic and that will we will be rolling that out in the beginning of June for our students to see their growth from September until June. Um we also discussed preparation for our next year in the elementary school with magnetic literacy and new units that were recently shared with us from Curriculum Associates and we are meeting to discuss with curriculum committees at the elementary school regarding social studies and science and integration in ELA. In addition, we talked about we also discussed supporting students and families through communication. We were discussing how to give our parents more
006information regarding feedback on how their child is doing throughout the year and what that might look like. Does it look like fall diagnostic results with additional information regarding individual student progress and available supports, check-ins, parent communication, positive parent communication in addition to calling home for different reasons. So we discussed a lot of opportunities that we can expand on in terms of communication. And then we really just talked about the upcoming events, the melting pot as Dr. Soto mentioned. Our 11th grade is going to be participating on May 29th in a college essay writing workshop where they will have direct instruction from a college writing expert on how to craft personal statements and supplemental essays for their college applications coming up. And then on June 3rd, we have a college essay writing workshop for parents that
007will do the same thing so that they can support their kids at home. >> Any questions from the boards or Facilities, health and safety. Who wants to take that update? >> So we facilities health and safety committee met on May 20th for p.m. in this room. Had a lot going on, a lot coming up also. We talked about the boiler at the elementary school. Again, it's it's it's had some troubles in the last couple years. Still waiting to see have some experts coming in to look at it. As of right now, it's 1.2 million dollars if we were to get a brand new boiler. Uh Also, to see if it is something that feasibly if we can still repair it. So, that's something we have experts looking at that and getting back to us about
008the boiler at the elementary school. I feel like I've mentioned this every single time we've talked about facilities. So, I'm going to hopefully uh have maybe one or two more meetings where I mention that and we have something good to say. Uh solar panels we talked about up at the secondary campus. They're running I believe at 95% optimization. So, that's pretty good. Um we're hoping to get a little bit higher, but uh we're getting there. Uh maintenance uh updates around the district uh besides the everyday uh dealing with work orders. Um there's been painting that's been going on. Uh working on the baseball fields, running electrical to different uh parts of buildings, outside of buildings. Um again, all in-house with our own uh employees, which has been great. Um let's see here. Changing locks, painting,
009um working on the APR uh at Clayton Huey. Uh these are some things that we're going to be doing over the summer. Uh the summer time it's going to be like a beehive of activity throughout the district. There's a lot of big projects that are going to be being done here. For example, uh the Clayton Huey bathroom is going to be completely done. There's going to be another bathroom that's going to be done at Clayton Huey over the summer. Um you know, I lost track, but there's so many How many Yeah, there's a lot of items that are going to be taken care of and attacked this summer. Um we also talked about the upcoming fire drills. I believe we've got two more fire drills, two more lockdowns. I believe Parent Square sent out I
010don't know if it was today or yesterday that there's going to be a lockdown at the secondary campus coming up. So, that was communicated to the community that uh we're going to be doing that. So, uh a lot of stuff going on and a lot more stuff going to be going on in the next month or so with our facilities. So, that's it. >> Thank you. Um health and wellness, who wants to take that one? >> Um I think I've got that all together. >> Perfect. So, policy committee, again, we're still waiting for us to get updated versions of it and then we will continue on. The policy this year was a tremendous year of growth in terms of policy. Um so, we will hopefully continue that once we get our record straight back to
011us from this van and then we can move forward. >> Perfect. >> Um if I could just say one add one thing to my um superintendent's report, I neglected to congratulate our two new student ex-officio members. For next year, we have Alex Fossa, who is a current 10th grader, who who will be in 11th grade next year. And we have Emily George, an 11th grader who's going to be a senior next year. One of the things that we talked about as a board, as an administrative team, was that Clara did an amazing job this year. She really was. Uh but it's a lot, especially for a senior, to take on alone. So, we think that it might be a better sort of collaborative marriage if we have two students, one that can fill in for
012the other. So, we do have two students joining us next year and we're very excited that they will be joining us. Thank you. >> The committee reports are pretty much done. Um again, putting the information out there as much as we can with the committee reports. Stay tuned if there's other ones that will be up and coming, which I believe at the end of this I will let you know. Questions and comments regarding tonight's agenda only. Questions and comments regarding tonight's agenda only. This is an opportunity for persons who wish to speak or have written letters to the board regarding topics that are included on this agenda. Speakers are asked to sign in. Sign in with the district clerk. There's a book in the back of the room to make it easy. Prior to approaching
013the board, indicate your topic of comment. Keep comments brief and speak for no longer than 3 minutes. Refrain from discussing matters involving specific district personnel or individual students, meaning their their names. Please stand and speak into the microphone so that everyone here and those joining us on live stream can hear you clearly. Members of the public will have the opportunity to speak about any topic at the end of the meeting. So, anybody that wants to speak on tonight's agenda. >> If there's a teacher that's being excessive, is that on the agenda? >> Yeah, that would count. >> It would count? >> Absolutely. >> So, if someone says my name, it >> Absolutely. >> Can I >> Excuse me, Blanca. Okay, can I stop you one second? Um the families cannot hear that mic. So, I'm
014not sure, Fernando, if the mic is on. It may not be on. I apologize. >> I don't want to >> the statement again. Let me just try >> All right. I'm going to give you this one. Yeah, but >> No, just want to see if that's on. >> It's not. Let me >> Okay. >> Fernando, can you check if we're getting Do I just use that? >> Testing. Am I being heard now? >> You should be. >> Should I start over? >> It's totally up to you. if you want everyone to hear >> want everyone to hear. >> Then I would say yes. >> Yes, okay. Uh good evening board members, Superintendent Soto, community members, educators, and parents. My name is Andrea Bronca and not only am I a parent to an elementary school and
015a middle school student, I have been a Spanish teacher at William Floyd High School for 23 years. Side note, I am also a graduate of Center Moriches High School. When inquiring about why my daughter's Italian teacher was excessed, I was informed by the district that as of next school year, they will no longer be providing FLES instruction in the elementary school, nor will they continue to offer the Italian language in the middle school. I respectfully ask the board to reconsider these program eliminations. I want to acknowledge the administration's recognition that these decisions are particularly sensitive within an IB district such as ours. However, an IB district should be expanding and protecting language pathways, not dismantling them. The IB language policy states, "The International Baccalaureate is committed to supporting plural linguism pluralism as fundamental to increasing
016intercultural understanding and international mindedness, as well as to providing a variety of cultural and linguistic backgrounds." The removal of FLES appears inconsistent with the IB Primary Years Program emphasis on sustained language acquisition and multilingual learning opportunities. Current middle school Italian students, particularly the seventh graders, are now being asked to switch languages mid-sequence while still being expected to meet New York State checkpoint A expectations in eighth grade. Unlike their peers who began Spanish instruction in sixth grade, these students will enter that assessment pathway without the same preparation, placing them at an academic disadvantage through no fault of their own. While I appreciate the district's acknowledgement that these changes may impact students' ability to meet checkpoint A expectations and pursue the advanced regions diploma pathway, families still have not been provided with a concrete continuity plan explaining
017how these students will remain on equal academic footing with their peers. I reached out to families over the holiday weekend and wanted to share some direct student reflections that stood out to me. I like learning a new language. I feel I can talk to more people in my school. I was excited to get to take Italian because I wanted to feel closer to my family's heritage. FLES has helped me learn Spanish and feel more prepared for middle school. I think it is helpful to start learning at a young age. These are just three examples of the real positive experiences happening in our language classrooms right now. As members of an IB community, we believe these decisions are inconsistent with the values and language philosophy that the district claims to uphold. Our students deserve stability, opportunity,
018and access to the educational pathways they were promised. We are asking for clarity, accountability, and student-centered solutions. Thank you for your time and consideration. >> [applause] >> Can I speak as well? All right. I feel so short. Hello, my name is Carolyn Doyle and I have two sons that attend Clayton Huey Elementary School. I am feeling absolutely blindsided by the announcement that Clayton Huey is cutting the FLES program. Every surrounding school provides secondary language instruction at the elementary level. Taking away FLES at Clayton Huey is a major disservice to our students, the program, our district, and to Senora. Special area classes are crucial to a student's enjoyment of learning and to a well-rounded education. When we first took our tour of Clayton Huey, we were promised art, music, library, STEM, FLES, and gym multiple times
019a week. We sent our children there expecting those special area classes to be provided. Each surrounding school provides these classes, and Clayton Huey needs to as well. Students create relationships with their special area teachers that last for years. I organized last week's bubble run for our slide fundraiser, so I was there, and over the course of the day, I watched all of our special area teachers pitch in happily to make the event a success. The special area teachers knew every student, and those relationships are so important to a child's self-confidence and to their sense of belonging. Cutting FLES now will have repercussions for years to come. Center Moriches High School seeks to recruit East Moriches students. Why would an East Moriches student choose a foreign language program where the students are now years behind Westhampton?
020At every open house, the administration has spoken proudly about the IB status of our school. Why take it away now? I am sure the defense of this will always come down to budget. However, there was no notice, the budget passed, and this was I don't believe the cost savings to be what you think it is. We still need to provide teacher their preps, translation services, and more. We need to find a solution to keep FLES at Clayton Huey for the sake of our students, our IB status, and for Senora, who's not only a teacher, but a leader of her program, a translator, and a community contact for our ENL learners. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Anybody else on anybody else within that same topic that someone I'll be speaking. So, I'm going to allow Dr.
021Soto and Dr. Bochetti to respond. >> All right, once again, good evening, everyone. I just I want to thank you for coming out and uh, expressing your concern, your opinion in terms of the FLASH program, the Italian program at the secondary complex, at the middle school moving over to the high school eventually. I I do have to say this was a very difficult budgetary process. We engaged in the process for about 6 months. We started with an $810,000 shortfall. We reduced it ultimately at the March meeting to $460,000. We had to find additional savings to present a balanced budget. The only way we could do that is through the look at our program and ultimately our staffing. It is not something that we wanted to do. It's not something that we felt very comfortable in
022doing. It's a very hard decision, but as a Board of Education, as a Superintendent of Schools, as a cabinet, it's our job to present a balanced budget to our community. I think that everyone in this room realizes what is happening across Long Island in terms of education, what is happening to various school districts in terms of the various cuts that you might see, the difficulties in balancing and uh, securing necessary financing. Uh, the only other option beyond cutting a particular program or personnel would have been to pierce the cap. I am a Sachem Central resident. I do not believe that this community would have supported that. So, we did have to make that hard decision. Now, there are some things that were said in terms of the facts that we did not um, state that
023FLASH was part of our decisions in terms of how we balance the budget. That's not correct, ma'am, with all due respect. At the At the April meeting when we adopted the budget, there is a slide that is available. The video is available as well where I personally spoke to that. And the slide actually demonstrates exactly what we had presented to the community and FLES was definitely identified as a program that we were considering at the time ex- accessing to ensure that we balance the budget and present a a fiscally responsible budget to our community. So, I just wanted to clarify that. Um the other thing is that there were some curriculum elements that we are currently looking at. I'm going to ask my assistant superintendent um for curriculum, Dr. Botcher, to kind of fill the
024community in in some of the things we're doing. Sorry, Jamie. I know you have to pick up >> It's okay. It's okay. It's fine. Um the first thing I want to say is as Dr. Soto said, thank you for coming and expressing um your concerns. I think that we all know this these changes weren't changes we necessarily wanted, but were made based on budgetary decisions. With that said in the passing of the budget, we are currently reshaping what language acquisition looks like. So, a ice an isolated FLES program at the elementary school will look different next year. We do need to pull a team together and discuss what that looks like in terms of how we will approach language acquisition from from the PYP lens. You mentioned PYP. This does not remove our PYP accreditation.
025Um we are looking at reshaping what that looks like so that kids can have a multicultural experience through their content areas, through their special areas, um and we're excited to do that. In addition to our students who are the 11 students who are in Italian right now in Italian 7, that would be moving to Italian 8, we are Dr. Reggio and I are actually creating a process in which we can open up potentially a Spanish bridge program, offer supports for kids who would need support or or parents who would want their children to have support for checkpoint A. Um yes, it's true. The seventh graders that are in Italian right now did receive a half of year this year and a half of year last year in Italian, which is the same as their Spanish
026counterparts, except now they're switching language. Um so we do look to support them because their decisions and and what happens to them does matter. Every kid matters, even though it's 11 of them, it matters. So we want to make sure and we will be reaching out to parents. I have reached out to some parents already, um to really discuss that and what your hopes for your child are and what your the supports you may need so that we can build it appropriately. So I do want to say that. Um but we do want to build um a program that really supports language acquisition through all four modalities, reading, writing, speaking, listening, to make sure that they are well prepared for checkpoint A and then of course checkpoint B. Um so we're excited to do that
027and we will be calling parents to see they want to be part of the process. Um so Dr. Fernandez and I at the elementary school and then along with Dr. Reggio at the middle school. >> Thank you. >> Any other comments on tonight's agenda? Okay. Um going to approve of all consent agenda items are as presented. Be it resolved a motion to approve the consent agenda items 10A through 17A. Um and then we're going to pause after we take this vote. So motion to approve consent agenda items 10A through 17A. I just need a motion. Motion, I need a second. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Yes. Um going to turn it back over to Dr. Soto. >> All right. I just want to take a moment to acknowledge a retirement that we have
028on the agenda, who is Kimberly Peluso who began a career with the district back in 2007 working part-time as a monitor and substitute clerical support before becoming a full-time power professional in September of 2021. Throughout her time in Center Moriches, [snorts] Kim has taken an active and positive role in the school community. The classroom teachers and students she has been paired with have benefited from a vibrant personality and supportive nature. All three of her daughters are graduates of the Center Moriches School District and have gone to successful lives and careers reflecting the strong work ethic and dedication Kim has always demonstrated. We thank you, Kim, for her years of service and wish her many enjoyable days of traveling and boating [snorts] in her retirement. Thank you, Kim. >> I realized the green in the light
029kept going on me. Um, all right, at this time we are back to general public comment. Um, at this time same rules kind of apply. Make sure you sign in the back. >> [clears throat] >> Personnel names uh, are not allowed to be said. This would be a time for anyone to speak that are any non-agenda items. Any question there? Oh, I thought you did that. Did you do this one? >> The PTO donation. Oh, no. >> Good. Sorry, we're just going to give it a a big shout out. >> Um, one other thing I I apologize. Um, so we mentioned we both mentioned, myself and Dr. Bacha, mentioned the melting pot of America. I want to say it could not have been possible if not for the generous contribution of the PTO. They contributed
030about $600 to supplies, things that are necessary to do that. Uh believe it or not, there's a lot of things that we have to purchase, put together. There's arts and crafts that we had students engage in in each classroom. So, and the PTO has always been a great support of the South Orangetown School District. Not only did they provide the monetary support, but they were there during the budget vote. They were um giving out candy, I mean um popcorn and kind of candy. I think at one point they came into the budget vote room. They gave me a a bag of popcorn. So, to the entire PTO and all the volunteers of the PTO, we do thank you for that, for your continued support of what we do in the district and our students and
031the community as a whole. Thank you. >> All right. So, I am on to the point where it is upcoming community uh events and district events. The next Board of Education meeting is Wednesday, June 17th. Executive session, 6:00 p.m. Action meeting or public meeting will be 7:00 p.m. This will be done in the high school auditorium. Upcoming district and community events. Jazz concert and pasta night is on 5/28. That is in the high school gym at 6:00 p.m. On June 4th, the Red Devils Pride Club meeting, high school cafeteria, 7:00 p.m. On June 5th, Clayton Huey field day in school event, 9:15 to 10:00 a.m. The marathon is 10:30 to 1:00. Field day events uh sounds like it follows. June 5th, 8th grade formal, Rock Hill Country Club, 6:30 to 9:30. June 9th is the
032senior awards night, high school auditorium. June 10th is the PTO meeting, Clay- uh Clayton Huey cafeteria, 6:30 p.m. June 12th, senior picnic, senior walk tentative is 10:00 a.m. June 12th again is the 5th grade blowout, Clayton Huey Main Street gym, 6:30 to 8:30. June 12th, last day of classes for high school and middle school. June 14th, varsity awards dinner, Eastwind Caterers, 5:00 to 8:00. June 15th, Clayton Huey Flag Day celebration, that's an in-school 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. back fields. June 15th, middle school fifth grade visit, in-school event, 1:15. June 16th, kindergarten orientation. As you can tell, the end of the year is heavy. >> As well last Last one had a lot of events, too. Um all this stuff is on the district calendar, as well. I believe, right? >> Yes. >> So, if you
033didn't totally listen to me as it was going, it would be there. Um This time, do I have a motion to close? No? >> I >> Sorry. >> I just just um two things. One, as um Mrs. Tenney mentioned, uh all of the events that we have are posted on district calendar. We will be sending out messaging to the community in terms of Parent Square and other um informational things that we send out. So, please just keep an eye for those things as we as Mrs. Tenney mentioned, we do have a lot going on over the next 6 weeks. I can't believe we're closing out the year, but we have the fifth grade moving up. the eighth grade moving up. We have the kindergarten celebration. There's just a lot packed, especially at the elementary, which
034is one of our favorite places to visit. So, um take a look at our calendar. Keep I I know sometimes we inundate the community with messaging through Parent Square, but please take a look, spend uh a few minutes just to uh apprise yourself of some of the great things that we have going on throughout our three buildings. All right? Thank you, everyone. >> Thank you, guys. Everyone, do I have a motion to close? >> Motion. >> Second. >> All in favor. >> Yes. Thank you, guys, for everyone coming out. >> They're both in the >> I already see you. >> You got to sit You got to sit in the car. Pretty square.