001I got it. I got it. All right, guys. We're going to take a moment. We're going to open up uh our public session. We're going to take a moment to do the pledge of >> allegiance. flag United States of America to stand forum. Um the the members we have present this evening president Brian Kennedy, Vice President Thomas Cena Herell, uh Dr. Dawn Perry is absent this evening. We have trustee Shauna Walsh and trustee Mr. John Toms. And we're also missing Miss Clar Tezar, our student exeicio. >> So, we're gonna go right into the superintendent report. >> All right. Thank you. Good evening, everyone. Thank you for joining us tonight. Uh, this has been for those of you who had the opportunity to see it. This has been a very exciting um last weekend we had
002to play The Sound of Music. And I have to say that the students as well as the pit crew as well as the director Miss Hawin uh the pream director Miss Green all did an amazing job. For those of you who did not have the opportunity to see the play, you really missed a very incredible. Not only were the kids incredible, the uh everything about it was incredible. It was great to see that we finally had a play in the newly renovated auditorium. So that was an amazing thing to kind of finally see because there was so much work and time that went into planning the auditori planning for the renovation and actually to see a play performed in the space was just really really great. There was at one point we did add an
003electronic back backdrop that replaced sort of the backdrop that we had in the past and it sort of brought life to the play which was incredible. We also had this one particular moment in the play that the lights itself simulated the sound of thunder. So they changed colors and that was a great thing. We had a great sound person that was able to kind of manipulate the sound uh the light pattern to allow us the ability to do that. So like I said, congratulations to everyone that was part of the play that the crew, the pig crew, all the behind the scenes and thank you all to the parents that had a big role because one of the things that we forget when uh a school persona played like that is that it takes a
004tremendous amount of time. the students and the adults have to commit to months of play practice. So, the fact that they were able to put something as magical as they did over the weekend, Friday was 7:00, Saturday was 7:00 as well, and then they had their final um performance on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. And it was truly one of the best plays that I've ever seen. This is my 21st play that I've witnessed here in Central. So, congratulations to everyone. And I see some of our elementary teachers were present there as well. Thank you all for coming. And I just want to say that also congratulations to Justin. He plays sport in New York State in his weight class. He uh is an amazing student athlete and he really serves sets really well. So congratulations
005to Justin. Also congratulations to Ma Cole for indoor track and field. She is leaving on Friday to the New York State Championship meet and she actually made it to qualify for national. She is the first female student in Sen's history that made the national team. So congratulations to finally I wanted to address something over over the last few days we have received some concerns regarding elementary in terms of the cleanliness of some of our spaces. So I met I had the opportunity to meet with the CNC faculty council on Monday. I think we had a really um great conversation. Some of these teachers were brought up. So Tuesday morning I conducted a walkthrough of the elementary school with my school maintenance crew and we identified some of the things that we have to consider. We
006created about a page and a half of things that we have to look at. A lot of the things that we have to address are pretty much cosmetic in nature. There's things that we have to clean up. There's some painting that we have to do. There's a couple hand dryers and a couple bathrooms that we have to address. And we have to enforce some protocols with our custodians to make sure that every space is being addressed in a timely fashion. Uh we are in the process now of correcting those things. So I think within a couple weeks a lot of the things that were identified to me uh will be addressed. I'm happy to report that uh and hopefully it is going to look a little different as time goes by. I do want to
007note that we have done a lot of work in the center school district over the last year and last year. There's been a lot of time that our maintenance crew facilities have dedicated to different spaces within the district as a whole. So the elementary school has always been one of our major priorities. We are now shifting most of our attention to the elementary school because some of the major projects that we had at the secondary complex is now complete. So the auditorium project the renovation of the library renovation of all the spaces that we had at the secondary complex was something that we were doing because it was timesensitive because we were working on the timeline of the vendors that he is working. So now that those projects are completed now our focus is is
008going to be the elementary school. So we are doing that immediately started today. I had to give a lot of credit to maintenance and ground or jump in to progress some of the concerns that we identified. So I think within a couple weeks like I said that we're going to see some improvement at the elementary. It's it's an ongoing process. So >> I just want to have tonight. Does anybody have any questions or comments for Dr. S? >> All right. So, we're going to move on to committee reports. Just to put it out there, he opened up the agenda item. So, when I talk agenda item, elementary school is that point where you can also speak. So, committee reports. Um, I'm going to go down uh community connections. So, we've been a little spotty in
009a sense, but we've been out in the community. What I mean by that is we pushed out to the Boseies nights because we wanted families to go check out Boseies. So we used community connections. We pushed that out. A lot of families that did take advantage to go check out the Boseies programs. John and I went uh ourselves. We divided and conquered. It was actually really good to see what we're spending our money on um and what our kids can get. The other one is Jamie and I we went to a chamber of commerce night. So we went and met with the local businesses and we got to kind of network in that regard. So community connection sometimes is brick and mortar and sometimes we're just going out to try to really build what we
010need to do in order to help our students but also the school system. So I just want to kind of put that out there. Our next meeting hopefully will be more of a a brickandmortar building wise because obviously as we go we like to try to make sure that we hear the voices inside as we do things. Uh the I'm going curriculum and technology. So that last meeting was uh yesterday. Um I'm going to kind of tag team with Dr. botra on this one so I don't totally forget Dawn takes really good notes on these meetings. Um I'm not as talented as that. But at the end of the day yesterday there was a lot that went on from K through 12. So it wasn't just a conversation about an individualized building. It was a
011conversation about what's going on at the high school, the middle school, and then in that elementary school discussions about the I Ready programming, the implementation. We got to see samples of the the reading programs that the kids are getting. uh during those meetings, they're helpful because we get to hear a little bit um from sometimes the trenches, sometimes the parents, and then they get to go back and really work on it. We have a lot of upcoming events that was presented to us there. PSATs are going to be going on as well as SATs March 24th. Am I wrong on that one, Dr. Botcha? 24th. >> 24th. Uh we have the uh what was the other one? We're going to be having a job fair on student job fair at the high school. Uh a
012personal finance workshop with a date to be determined uh coming up this spring. We are also planning an NCAA information night as well as a college essay writing workshop for students and families. So that was the the quick synopsis obviously an hourong conversation and then we also brought back if you saw last meeting we brought back the grading systems the policy of the grading systems to the committee so that the committee then can discuss that as a whole they then brought it back to the board um again this is policy this isn't protocol right this is a policy not procedures I should say procedures get created after policy is done that's where the trenches and you guys all communicate we just do this from policy standpoint so this was the grading system conversation the feedback
013that we kind of saw. Sometimes there's going to be conversations that we do in policy that need to go back to the committees and then when the committees come back with some recommendations for us, we as then as a working board will then look further into the details. So that's kind of how we're trying to bounce it back and forth. Um any questions for curriculum or good? All right. Facilities, health, and safety. So, we haven't met in facilities health and safety since January 7th. We have an upcoming meeting. I believe it's next Wednesday. Uh, but there's a few things besides what Dr. Sodto had mentioned about the elementary school that I just wanted to let the board know. Um, about uh just so you know, we had the elementary boiler. Uh, actually over the summer
014we spent about $35,000 on renovating it or trying to get it to the current status it's at. Unfortunately, last week the elementary school boiler had a a problem uh kind of section of it um was had to be taken out. Um so now they were able to take a section out, condense the boiler, so it's not as efficient as it was uh with with the section in it. This boiler is from the 1970s. Um, just letting you know, we're probably looking at a a boiler down the road, uh, sooner than later, uh, with the way that the repairs have been going, um, because we still haven't even received the bill for the last repair. Um, let's see. Oh, there was also two plumbing uh issues in the elementary school uh due to the cold weather
015that we had uh the last uh two weeks. So, we had two uh cracked pipes. Uh one happened on a Sunday night. We had an emergency plumbing company come in and fix and locate that pipe. Uh and then actually uh I believe it was what two weeks ago we had um another pipe that was by the gym uh that was actually we found the crack. We actually had our head custodian was able to find and locate and fix that. So, we actually fixed that in house. So, but uh again because of cold weather, we had uh some uh pipes crack. >> That is all I have right now for you. Yeah. >> Uh thank you, John. I just want to mention the two uh plumbing issues that we had. The first one happened on a
016Saturday. We did have to call an emergency plumbing company to come in and repair it. It was done literally overnight. Our school maintenance crew leader, Mr. literally stayed here to about 11:00 at night. Him and I were in communication. They were able to fix it. There was a part that they needed that they had to come back tomorrow in the morning to replace it, which they did. So that morning, so the school itself wasn't affected in any way, shape, or form, which was great. The second pipe that burst was actually underneath the crawl space of the uh main street gym at the elementary school and it was seven different cracked pipes. Uh our school crew maintenance leader, Mr. literally repaired himself, cut the pipes himself. He and that was the night of the board meeting
017and I think I made gest of it that evening because he was literally falling in This is a waste. So you could imagine what he was calling for. >> So he cut the seven portions of the pipe itself. And he did it himself and and made all the corrections, all the repairs that afternoon and came that evening to help us present second budget presentation to the community. So that was a tremendous savings. And when you have someone that is as skilled as Mr. It gives us the opportunity to do that. But when these things come up, he has to address them. That's why sometimes we can't address a single thing. We have to address emergencies and we have to address priorities first. >> So thank you John. >> Thank you John. So, health and wellness.
018>> Um, health and wellness. Our last meeting was February 10th and our next meeting is going to be April 14th. Um, the last meeting we mostly talked about uh updates in CPR training for schools. Um, it was right around PSA day. So a lot of the topic was around that campaign and the activities that the students participated in to celebrate it. >> We also talked about possible physical educational for next year that are going to be available and just you know mental health is a continued topic that we talk about what we can do to help kids. All right. So, we're going to move on to well policy obviously we had like we said we bring things back to committees if we have uh if we need feedback and then we come back there's multiple
019reads within a policy read. So, I hope people understand that sometimes the read the first time and then we'll go back and say well we need to change this language go back and get us some feedback. Sometimes the feedback goes to the educators, sometimes it goes to the administrators, and then from there it comes back to the room, and then we try to look at the full picture and the full 360 of it. So, we're at the point now where it's questions and comments regarding tonight's agenda only. Um, there's a book in the back of the room. So, if you do speak, just make sure you put your information down in there. Is it back there? >> Yeah. >> Um, so I'm going to give you the guidelines for public comment. This opportunity is for
020persons who wish to speak or who have written letters to the board regarding topics that are included on tonight's agenda. Speakers are asked to sign in with district clerk. That would be the back book. 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. Please stand and speak into the microphone so that everyone here and those joining us on the 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 if it's not on the agenda. So, like I said, if there's anybody that wants to stand up to speak, you're more than welcome. >> Sure. Sorry. >> Can Can I Can you just speak
021into the mic because this is being live then anyone at home will be >> Can you hear me? >> Okay. First off, I want to start off. I commend and I don't want mean to be combative by any means. I commend each one of these board members here. They are volunteers. It's a thankless job. I understand that. I wish I could be here more. I have three children at home and a husband who's at work. I actually hired a babysitter to be here tonight because that's how important it is. What? >> Sorry, Lauren Clean. >> Okay. >> Um my concerns I I've done many concerns through email and I've been very unsuccessful. I've had a discussion regarding the fact that the district does not have a for a a middle school Washington DC se trip.
022I've gotten no answers. I was told we'll work on it. Last year I took was told no for this year. We were working on it. Although the all other districts have one. Um my husband and I have sent videos regarding water fountains last year not being worked on. They still don't work. However, this point that I want to talk about this evening is something that I felt the need to be here. Um, my first biggest concern is the plumbing issues. We have students coming into our building from East Merch School District. We are trying to showcase our school that these kids want to come to our high school. We want to make this an appealing district. When you have gym conditions that look like the pictures that I showed you, that things are duct taped.
023What licensed contractors are we getting in to ensure that it's safe? I know Dr. had said that much of the improvement that needs to be made is cosmetic. I think this is more than cosmetic. I don't know if you were aware, but my kindergartener and it it's sad that I have to send my kid to a school like this. I I love being part of this community. It has phenomenal teachers. You do a great job educating children, but when I have to send my kid to school and he has to stand outside in a t-shirt for over 10 minutes because of a faulty fire system alarm, I have an issue with that that this needs to be addressed. And I am not being combative. I think we need to work as a team and we
024need to hear this. The auditorium was cosmetic. This is not cosmetic. This is safety. um going on. Um the ducks that was in the second picture that I presented in the folder, those ducks also look like that during the in the kindergarten wing. This is an easy fix. I mean, a spray bottle, a spray bottle, and some cleaning issues. And I know the union has talked about this. It's been addressed. This is something that needs to be fixed. My son, sadly enough, if you look at that picture underneath the bleachers, um at the beginning of the lacrosse season, he dropped a Hot Wheels car down those bleachers and wanted me to go get it. I told him, "Forget it. We'll buy a new Hot Wheels car because I don't want him playing with something that
025has gone on in that." Um, in terms of the mouse traps that you see in the picture, I'm referring to picture number five that I've numbered for you. So, those are mouse traps. I had a concern. I know it was brought up. The mouse traps have been removed, but the red stain that is above the mouse traps is still currently there. And I'm giving you these pictures because I want you to please add them to your list that you have created on your walkthrough because these are things that need to be addressed immediately. And then if you look at the tater tots, I did send you an email and that that evening you got back to me promptly and said that you had spoken with the build with the building custodians. Those tater tots were
026taken that next morning after your email. Just making you aware of that. This is an easy fix. You take a broom. I mean, I have three little kids. I sweep up my kitchen about 10 times a day. Um going on besides the tater tots as I had addressed in the email picture number seven I am referring to which I have already spoken to Dr. photo about I too went to the Harlem Wizards game. It was the PTA did a phenomenal job. The kids had so much fun. It was amazing. At the start of the game, I used the bathroom and that picture number seven is from Clayton Healey, but I experienced similar conditions at the start of the Harlem Wizards game. I was not a proud community member at that point. And I think these
027are this is not going to take years to fix. These are things that should be fixed like immediately. And I don't just want a prompt response to, oh yes, we will work on it. We'll fix it. I'm still waiting for answers for Washington DC. My answers don't, and I know we're we're a team. We're going to work we need to work on this together. But I think our kids deserve better. Our staff deserves deserves better. And we need to get together. Also, I have a concern. Picture number nine that I have showed you with the hole in the kindergarten wing. You are letting kindergarters, picture number nine, it should be located on there. You are letting kindergarteners walk in a wing where there's a ginormous hole in the heater. That's not safe. I don't feel
028that safe. Like I said, I love Senator Merches. The teachers here are phenomenal. All three of my children are receiving a phenomenal education. Don't love I Ready. I've expressed my concerns with that to Dr. Botcher. But I I think that yes, the auditorium was cosmetic. This is health and safety. If we can find the money to restore auditorium, we need to find the money to restore the health and safety of our children that in include Clayton Huey on a daily basis. And that's all I have to say. Thank you for hearing me. >> So I'm going to say there's there's not much response that we're going to give because it's actions that will create >> the response, right? At the end of the day, actions have to create the response. Actions have to go. There's
029no excuses for stuff, right? So it to go back and forth in that in my opinion, it doesn't help anybody >> move forward. >> Yeah. So for me, you said it right, like it's a collaborative environment in which we have to try to make sure that the systems in place are sound. >> As we're going through big events, we do have to look, are we understaffing where there's not enough? And that's where we are starting to discuss buildings and policy building policy procedures. So there's a lot of things that are definitely going on that hopefully will help. But I will say the actions of the the basics that you showed us. >> Mhm. >> I agree those are something those on a dayto-day that you know has been brought to the attention now they have
030to kind of live up to the standards and which has been presented from the meetings that we were all discussed or I should say brought brought up to speed about. So I don't know if you want anything or you're good. >> I think I'm good. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Does anybody else have anything for >> Everybody's good. All right. So, I am moving on to uh consent agenda approval, but I'm going to get a I need a motion to pull agenda item 11E uh for a separate vote. So, I just need someone to give me a motion for >> second. All in favor? I >> Yes. It's funny. You never know what to say yes or I, right? >> I seems. >> Um, so I'm going to go of the
031approval of all consented items as presented - 11 >> - 11 E. Be it resolved a motion to approve consent agenda item 9A through 15AUS 11E. Consent agenda items are approved via single vote unless they removed for being agenda item prior to the vote. Do I have a motion? Do I have a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Not yet. >> I separated that. >> Oh, that's >> Yeah. So, all in favor? That's a yes. >> Yes. Motion has four. >> All right. So, now we're going to get a motion uh for agenda item 11E for approval. Do I have a motion? >> Motion. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Okay. All in favor? >> Yes. And we have one >> abstaining. >> Still passes. >> Yes. All right. >>
032I'm going to skip over. Um, so now we're back to the public comment section except now this is on any topic that is not on the agenda. Did I skip anything? No. Um, anything that is not on the agenda item. So, if you want to stand up and speak, just make sure you sign in, mention your name, and then make sure you look into the camera. Same rules apply. Does anybody have anything for not on agenda item? Good. All right. Uh, anybody from the board? I should have done this before. Anyone from the board any items at all? Everybody's good. All right. We are on toformational items. So, next board of education meeting and budget workshop number three is March 25th. That policy committee meeting will start at 5:30, exec at 6, and then action
033meeting will be around 7:00 approximately. Location will be here. The up andcoming district and community events Thursday, Red Devil Pride uh booster club is meeting at 700 p.m. Uh I know they did ask us to try to put that on to parent square, so we got to try to help them out so that it can get out to the community. >> So, I'm going to put it out there. They need people, right? The the Red Devil Pride Booster Club is saying they just need help. So, they need some people. So, be mindful if you're a coach in the district. It's a great opportunity to get in there uh and then help us kind of get those people in place. Uh Wednesday, March 11th, facility, health, and safety committee is at 6 p.m. Sunday 3:15 is
034the Senes St. Patrick's Day parade at 2 p.m. It is not our grounds, but it is obviously going to be part of the sidewalks, right? >> Our and our students will be marching in it. Yes. So, Wednesday 3:18 is the CMPTO meeting at 6:30 in Clayton Hoey cafeteria. Thursday 3:19 Clayton Hoy Science Fair. We don't have the time, so those will go out in Parent Square, I'm assuming. So, Tuesday 3:24 is curriculum and technology committee meeting at 400 p.m. in district office. Monday, March 30th is the high school job fair from 9:30 to 11:30. high schools to looking for life local businesses, please contact Miss Donado in guidance. >> Believe that one parent today too, right? >> Okay. So again, just to kind of go back to the job fair goal is to try to
035get jobs in here so that our kids can get hired and get internships and learn. Um so if there's businesses out there that are looking for people, have them reach out because this is how we kind of frame the next generation in our community. Um motion for a German. Motion. >> All in favor? >> Yes. Thank you guys for coming. >> 7:33. >> Everybody enjoy the night. >> Have a good night.