001God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> So, for time's sake, I'm going to turn it over quickly to Ricardo and then we can get to the concert. >> All right. Good evening, everyone. We have a very special evening tonight. We are uh we have our ele elementary performers here that is going to adorn us with some holiday music. So, at this time, I'm going to turn it over to Miss Beasu and our elementary performers. >> Do you guys want to go on the other side? Wait, what? Good job. There you go. You know, comet and doer of all shinse And if you ever reeerude Christmas, Santa came to say ho ho ho with your nose so bright tonight as they shouted out the redeer What page jingle bell? My dr >> two. Yeah.
002Heat. Heat. Heat. Must be sweet. We're good. Who comes around night? Santa comes around on a special night. Special night. That's white. Must be Santa. Must be Santa. Santa Claus. Santa cap on head suit that's redeard that's white Santa Claus got a big red cherry Cherry knows who this ho ho ho ho ho ho cherry knows cap on head suit that's red special night beard that's white must be Santa must be Santa Claus very soon will come our way will come our Eight little reindeer pull his sleigh pull his sleigh sleigh come ho ho cherry nose cap on head suit that's red night beard that's white Santa must be Santa Claus dancerid Blitz dancer slay come our way. Ho ho ho. Cherry nose cap on head suit that's red. Special night beard that's white. Must
003be Santa. Must be Santa. Santa Claus Must be Santa. Santa Claus. Are you is that >> if anybody wants to come up and take some pictures of the kids while they're still on stage, please do so. >> We're here forever. >> Yes. >> I just want to say a couple things. Um students, you all were amazing. For those of you that attended the elementary concert last night, it was a great concert. You all did a great job. I give all of you a tremendous amount of credit because this is your second night in a row performing and you all were amazing. And as the community is aware, we did just recently renovated the auditorium. Uh it was a three-month process and it's it was finally completed last week. So, I can't imagine a better way
004to open up the new auditorium to have our elementary students perform. So, thank you all. Great. Great job. Again, we will give our parents and community members time to take pictures and then we're going to let all of you get the kids home because it is a second school night in a row and I know the kids are tired because this is my third night out and I'm exhausted right now as well. So, so please take your time. >> Guys, guys, just hang out. >> I want to smile pretty. >> Okay. I don't even know what I can put on the website. website all chairs and stands. Please put them back up the other side. Around the street, not take them home. I'll get this. Thank you. >> Mr. Oh, no. It was for you.
005I bought a pack. You want to see your back? Rich Wagner, if you don't take one of those agendas back there, if you don't take an agenda back there, I print agendas just for you. I'm going to save a stack of Look like you have nappy We're looking I'm so confused. What are you doing? >> So, my birthday is tomorrow and district office we whenever someone has a birthday we do like a breakfast and lunch so she was planning on Dr. planning to make something. So, she brings it in today. Beautiful. I wasn't even I was at a superintendent meeting and I find out she brings this whole dish like >> and a lot of coffee. >> Yeah. Everything. >> Wrong day. >> Yes. But tomorrow I get nothing. >> Yeah. >> I I was
006I was the first one. I'm like Yeah. And I was eating for like 10 minutes. All right. So, if anybody wants an agenda, it's actually in the back over there by the book. Um, so little little uh bit of a hidden spot, but if you'd like one, it's up there. We've had a few people ask. Uh, so we're going to continue. Uh, that was pretty amazing. The last few nights have been pretty amazing uh to to get a use of this auditorium. I'm sure every board member is super proud of that moment. So, I'm going to pass it over to the superintendent for the superintendent report. All right, the final thing on the superintendent report is I think the uh community is aware that at the elementary level, we did implement a brand new format
007for our report cards that went out this first trimester. So we wanted to provide the community with an overview of one the rationale behind the report card two the implementation and some of the feedback that we've been receiving. So at this time I'm going to turn it over to our elementary um principal Dr. Fernandez and our assistant superintendent for curriculum Dr. Botcher to present a brief overview on the implementation of the elementary report card. Okay. Good evening everyone. You can see that right? Okay. Um I just want to first of all congratulate the students that were up here tonight. That was >> if I could interject one second. I'm sorry. I'm also going to include our um elementary assistant principal, Miss Jackson, in the presentation. My apologies, Miss Jackson. >> That's okay. We were going
008to invite her up anyway. Thank you, Dr. Stoodto. So, good evening, board of ed community. Thank you for um allowing us to um go over some of the elements of the brand new elementary school report card. Um, we just really wanted to start with acknowledging that this work was um, a year-long process before many of us were involved and we're happy to be able to present here tonight on the final product, but also knowing that um, a group of thoughtful educators really put this together and we want to honor that. So, we're starting out tonight by talking about the rationale behind why this report card was created and um some of the very important key elements that are attached to this report card. So, first of all, the district embarked on a journey of a
009standardsbased report card to really show the growth towards New York State grade level standards and to track progress progress over time. So the New York State standards establish challenging skills and content knowledge expectations for all students in each grade. So a standardsbased report card really describes what the students are able to do in relation to the exact grade level standards and it's a focus on skills and concepts over time. Um the other implementation on this report card was the habits of lifelong learners and citizenship. So this really supports academic learning independence overall and enhances the learn um enhances academic to enhance academic performance. In addition, it supports a real whole child approach and prepare students as they enter middle school and high school. The report card also contains a new performance key which um students
010are scored on excels consistent progressing and needs improvement. This shows um how they demonstrate knowledge in either a deep or a consistent way over time. And one of the very um I'm going to skip I'm not going to skip over yet. I'm sorry. Consistent comments. So one of the things that was very important to the committee was that the teachers had a bank of comments that would remain consistent over time. So from kindergarten to fifth grade being able to have a clear drop- down menu of cons of comments. And finally, uh, one of the cool features is that this is now available on the e-chool parent portal. So, this wasn't in the past viewable, um, through your portal, but now all parents are able to go to standardsbased report card in their e- school portal
011and drop down to see their report card. And you'll be able to see all of the years culminating as we start adding each year. So, we're going to talk a little bit about the report card creation and the implementation. We're going to take you back to last year and discuss some of the things that were implemented over the course of last year up until now. So in the year 2425, there was a report card committee that was comprised of several teachers and administrators in the district. There was a draft of continuum continuum of standards that was presented to the board of education in May 2025. So that identified that continuum identified all of the standards that they want included on the report card. In addition, they started a template design and working with a company
012named Renaissance that really started to produce the design. Um, and I want to commend the team for first of all, that's a that is a heavy lift to go through every standard across all of the grades, kindergarten through fifth grade, and really determine the priority standards and what they wanted to include to maintain a consistent roll out from kindergarten to fifth grade. And then it brought us into 2526 and how we approached this year as Dr. Fernandez and I and Miss McCoy came in together to really review what had been done in 2425. So, I'm going to turn it over to Dr. Fernandez. So, we started over the summer and Mrs. Jackson was really instrumental in just helping us with like understanding the report card, what we where we weren't there for and went over
013each of the standards and again kind of going over which are the standards because there are a lot of standards for each of the grades and you couldn't possibly report on every single one. So it really was a culmination of which standards are those main idea standards, those overarching standards that are the theme that goes from K through fifth grade. When school started, we started right away meeting with faculty. So we had grade level meetings starting in September where we just got the feedback from teachers. We went over the questions and um started filling in teachers that were on a committee so they understood what that new roll out was going to be. And then during uh conference day, we actually met as a faculty meeting and discussed the grade the grades and what that
014looks like all together as a faculty meeting so that we understood the consistency and what grading would look like and what each of those standards means. And how do you assess now on these standards? Because having a standardsbased report card is very different than maybe in the past where grades were based on a test grade and it was more test and that's where the grades came from. This really is a continuum of really deeper thinking and the consistency of those grades. So we had the grade level meetings, faculty meetings, and then we broke up again in grade level meetings to go over any kinds of questions that teachers might have and get consistency with how teachers were grading and what that looks like and where do we how does that come about? Um, and it
015was really a long day of picking brains and a lot of time of going over it and teachers were really great and it was really collaborative to get the feedback from the teachers as well. Um, and we developed that common language of what does that look like and what does this mean and what do standards mean and really diving in deeper into those standards which really align nicely to the Ready curriculum that we that we're using now as well. >> So, as Dr. Fernandez said, being able to be a part of some of those meetings changes very can be very difficult in a lot of ways and this was a big change for teachers and they really did spend a lot of time with administration and with each other as a grade level to um
016really m remain consistent in how they were going to be using these report cards and grading. So I want to just acknowledge that. In addition, some of the things that we implemented were a report card FAQ. we really understood that this is a parent-f facing document and parents need to understand um what this document is going to showcase. So Dr. Fernandez and Miss Jackson developed this FAQ so that parents would know what your new child what your new report card would be covering. Um this obviously was translated into Spanish as well and really just gave parents the opportunity to see what was going to be on the report card before the report card was released. Um, one of the other things that we developed which was directly from the report card committee was the continuum.
017So I hope this works for me. Uh, ELA when you sorry this is supposed to link right to the website. on the website we have a K to5 continuum guide and that I hope sorry it is on our website under the elementary school and also um under the curriculum site. This is an overview of kindergarten through fifth grade of how the standards are aligned across the grades and how students are graded from kindergarten to fifth grade where their standards fall. Now you could see obviously in kindergarten we do a lot of work with ELA. So you'll see several different elements that students are graded on and then you start to see the um com you'll start to see the um themes in the standards as you go from first grade to fifth grade. So the
018same document was also created for math which you can see in the same spot which is on the website under elementary school or under um curriculum. So it looks exactly the same um except you have your math standards here. So, if you're interested in learning about how that will look over time, and what's special about this is you can see already how it's going to look for your kindergartenner when they get to fifth grade, um, and what the standards will, uh, be on the report card. So now we're going to talk a little bit about the performance key and communication from teachers because we feel like this is an important piece to review with the community as well. So this is our the new performance key like what I was saying before is very different
019because we're not grading on test but we're grading on standards and not only just on tests but how students are performing in class in their classwork. These involves formative assessments, summitative assessments. So it's really diving in a little bit deeper because we're grading on the standards and the standards are going in a little bit deeper and a little bit more rigorous. um needs improvement is the students really are not demonstrating any kind of knowledge on these standards. They need a lot of support and even with support are not really still grasping that concept. Um progressing is where students are being introduced to these new grade level concepts and students are progressing towards meeting those standards. again that the reading and the math the the New York State standards when you read them is very rigorous
020where they really want you having a deeper understanding and knowledge of that standard which the idea is that they're progressing for the end of the year to meet those standards. Um consistent is once they've been taught the new standards that they're consistently meeting those expectations again using uh formative sense assessments and those summitive assessments and then the E for excels is really demonstrating that deeper knowledge and understanding of grade level expectations and the idea is that this they're consents would be consistently excelling on that application of those concepts and now are able to apply them independently on their own. So we're just high holding a higher standard and really meeting those high expectations and using the standard to drive that instruction which really is helping I think with even teachers instruction and students digging in
021deeper on these different kinds of con uh concepts and then how are we working on communicating with this with families. So we have parent teacher conferences um emails phone calls um we have team meetings parent meetings um using parent square that's kind of how we're really working on um explaining and going over all these you know new standards because it is new for everybody and it's not only new for teachers but it's new for parents and we're getting used to a new way of thinking about report cards because we're no longer just grading on just one test but it's really a culmination of these standards. And just to add on to that a little bit, um, report cards are not the only ways we communicate with parents. So, it's really important that parents understand that
022you should be receiving work and assessments at home. You you probably will be receiving emails, parent square message messages. Um, these are all other ways that we communicate how your child is doing, not just on a trimester report card. So um we uh that concludes our presentation but um if the if you had any questions board of ed and I just want to take an opportunity to also commend the teachers because this is not an easy task to first of all write a new develop a new a new report card and then also implement a new report card and also commend the administration for being boots on ground and really supporting teachers and parents in understanding this report card. Um, thank you so much. I just also wanted to say thank you for the teachers
023and for everyone involved in this. It was a lot of work and I remember from last year when this was first going on and happening. I just had one question. Um, I really love that the report card is on the portal. Um, and I think that parents are appreciating that as well, especially since we have report cards for a middle school and high school on the portal. um now that we've also introduced um the diagnostic for I Ready um and that's been sent over through Parent Square which I also love and I've had a lot of parents um say that great feedback with I Ready I mean with Parents Square. Um, is there do you think there's going to be any um thoughts into going uh putting I Ready assessments um periodically once or twice
024or three times a year onto the um portal so that like elementary students have some summitive assessments or benchmarks that are on the portal just like um middle school and high school um students have frequent assessments. I wouldn't expect elementary students to put all elementary parent uh sorry elementary teachers to put all of their assignments on there at all. But is it possible perhaps um from a technical standpoint this might be for Mr. Noi to maybe put like um an IR assessment on there like that first diagnostic so at least it's in the portal in the same place as the report card. Is that a like from a technical standpoint possible? >> Yes. Thank you for bringing that up. That is something we've been talking about and thinking about because we have um put our
025state assessment scores and things in there. So, it's just another layer now that we're thinking about adding. So, thank you for bringing that up and that's something that Mr. Noi and I and Boseies um and administration would have to work through. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions from the board? >> Um I'm going to skip around just to give an opportunity while you guys are up here if that's okay. Um any questions on tonight's agenda? Uh I'm going to say pertaining to the report card so this way I don't have to keep them the whole night and then we'll come back again to that. So if there's any questions about the report card uh from the community Miss Sonsky, can you come up because um everyone at home won't be able to hear you
026>> because this is connected to the um the live stream. Okay. So, I would like to mention a few concerns over the new standardsbased report card. I'm aware that it was adopted last year and the first time it has been distributed was a few weeks ago before parent conferences. Um, one of the things I noticed was a printed copy was not sent home to families, uh, like we have previously done in the past. It was only online. Um, it was my understanding that it was going to be online and also a digital copy. Uh, I mean a digital copy and also sent home as as a printed copy. Some concerns I have with the new report card is that it's not providing families with the detailed information they need to support their child's learning. where
027I usually have it printed. Um, at present, indicators such as progressing or consistent offer almost no meaningful detail. They do not tell us what skills were taught, what our children can or cannot do, or how they can improve. Without clear information tied to actual assignments, assessments, or learning targets, parents are left guessing. Um, I understand it's a standardsbased report card and I appreciate that, but we also need to know what our students are doing in class and how this all connects and where that that um score of progressing or needs improvement or consistent or excel um where that comes from. So, the lack of transparency directly impacts student progress, teacher communication, and family engagement. As students move toward middle school, the need for clear ongoing feedback becomes even more critical. Students deserve to understand exactly
028how they are progressing in each academic area and families deserve to know why a child received a particular uh grade or standard. When an ac uh when an online grading system or detailed progress report is used, students can see the work that contributed to their scores or to their standardbased report uh card. Teachers can document evidence of mastery and families can provide meaningful support at home. This eliminates subjective grading and replaces it with real concrete data. Also, I am aware that progress reports for all grade levels were supposed to have been implemented beginning this school year. Uh I have not seen any progress reports for any grade level. Clarity and accountability should be provided to every grade level K through 12. Families deserve consistent access to progress reports, transparent grading systems, and a clear explanation
029of what mastery looks like. Parents should not be tasked tasked with constantly requesting detailed information from the teacher. Learning objectives should be provided to students and families and a level of excellence should be achievable based on current content learned in class and not information for that they are should know in the following year. Um I've been told in the past that it's based on they could only earn a four. I know it's different this year, but they could only earn a four if they are full grade level ahead. Um hopefully that that has been relayed to all of the staff that they're aware that it's based on what they're learning in class at the current moment. Um the district has an obligation to ensure that curriculum, instruction, and reporting systems are aligned and visible to
030the people most invested in student success. So tonight, I'm asking the board to consider the following questions. How will the district ensure that families receive clear, actionable information about what their children are learning and how they can improve? What tools such as online gradebooks, detailed progress reports, or standard specific rubrics will be implemented at all grade levels to provide transparent ongoing feedback? How will the district ensure consistency and grading practices so that all students, regardless of teacher or school, are evaluated fairly and accurately? What steps will be taken to meaningfully connect student learning, teachers, and families so that communication is not limited to three report cards a year? How are we as a district ensuring that classroom content and information learned is accurately reflected in student outcomes so that the data aligns in all grade
031levels and supports 21st century learning? These are not just procedural questions. They speak to the core of student success and family involvement. A report card should not only be a glimpse into par to parents receive into their child's academic world. Families want to be partners in learning, but we can't do that without access to clear, specific, and timely information. So, I urge the board to pri uh to prioritize a system that provides full transparency and supports students, teachers, and families at every level from kindergarten through grade 12. That's it. Thank you. >> No, I mean, I can address a few things that those were a lot of questions and >> I don't expect you to address. >> No, and and I appreciate it. Let me just say that. Um, our understanding is that those report
032cards were given out of parent teacher conferences. So parents all received a hard copy and if they didn't come to conferences they were mailed home. That's how it was implemented as far as my knowledge. Um >> we did that because it wasn't that differs. And some of the questions that you brought up are up are typical questions when you transition to a standardsbased report card and do require answers. So those are some of the things that we are working on. But um as far as communication with your teacher and curriculum, our expectations are is are that teachers are following the board approved curriculum, the scope and sequence as well as New York State standards. That is our expectation wholeheartedly and I know that that is the case in the classrooms. um as far as um
033actionable and informing you about your student, our expectation is that teachers are communicating with you and that's why we really wanted to ensure that this is not a one time we're giving this to you three times a year. We don't believe in that and I know teachers don't believe in that either. So our hope is our expectation is that they're communicating with you regularly. >> Okay. online. >> Yeah, I do understand that there are opportunities for uh recording grades online so that parents can see them in real time. I do understand that and I know typically our district has um given hard sent the tests home in red folders and things like that. I understand. So that's something we have to you know figure out um how we move forward with that if that's something
034we will move forward with. Um and then the when we sent the I Ready reports home those parent reports we sent them through parent square as um Dr. Deerry mentioned um in addition to hard copies there were very clear listings on there of what your child can do according to the standards and then next steps for your child. So we thought that was like a really informative thing as well. Um, but I love your suggestions and I love your questions and I'd love to have an opportunity to just kind of reflect on them and put something together that makes sense and get some feedback. >> Thank you. >> So, our biggest ask would be is can you just forward that email of all that stuff because there was a lot of details we were all
035writing. Um, but then within curriculum committee it's a great spot to reflect and have those dialogues uh moving forward. Is there anybody else questions on this report card stuff? Just again come up and grant So I guess I just have a question. Um do we look at the report cards and then their I Ready and um potential New York State scores. I personally find for my daughter, I'm finding a huge discrepancy between her report card and her New York State and her I Ready scores. Um, she's progressing or excelling, but I got a letter home that she should attend the literacy academy, which I've asked over the years, should I get her a tutor? I'm worried about her reading comprehension. I've always been told, "No, no, no. Her grades are good. She's showing progress." Um,
036but yet I'm receiving that letter home because her standard scores on these standardized tests are lower than what she's showing in the classroom. So holistically as a district, do we look at that for every child? Because that means although we might be teaching to a curriculum and standards, how is that transpiring now when they have to take a standardized test? >> Miss uh Miss Morator, if I could just address that question really quickly. U so we have heard it. So we have heard some of the concerns by community members. We do have a literacy academy that will begin in January. Uh we will at the building level identify students that we feel are in need of it. So it is going to run about 16 weeks. So it should address some of the deficits, some
037of the concerns that our teachers as well as our parents have uh regarding some of our elementary students. It's also going to be implemented at the middle school level as well. And when you're looking at a comprehensive diagnostic of a student, you're looking at all the components, not just the New York State assessments um versus the report cards, because we do know that sometimes students don't necessarily perform to the maximum level on a New York State assessment versus what they would in a different environment, in a different setting, different circumstances. So when we're looking at the performance of a child, we have to take a holistic approach. We believe that the report card helps us to move in that direction, especially the piece that is is electronic that now coincides with our middle and high
038school um programs as well. >> I definitely agree like you can't look at one test and decide that's the you know depiction of a child. But if we're teaching to a standard and we're assessing similar to how a standardized test is testing them, I shouldn't have a huge discrepancy. None of us should have a huge discrepancy. There should be like a 10 to 15 point differential, not going from excelling and consistent to now needing literacy academy. So I guess that's my concern is that the information I am given as per a report card on teacher feedback is my child's doing great and then she takes two different types of standardized test New York state assessment as well as I ready and I'm getting completely different feedback which would make me think I should be concerned
039but in the classroom there's no reason for me to be concerned. So I'm just saying are there other students who this is happening and if that is happening then we should take a deeper look into how we are assessing in the classroom I guess is more my question. Thank you for bringing that up. I think that's something to yeah no I think that's something we can definitely look at. >> Any other questions pertaining to the report cards? As you can tell this is kind of a a deep dive with the report card just coming out and the questions that were coming forward. uh we felt that it was a good idea to kind of get this information out there especially when we just implemented something so that people can take a look see what's going
040on and then we get better reflective practice right at the end of the day if we're reflecting and we have reflective practice that we are going to get better that work gets done in that curriculum committee that work gets listening to the voices that come towards us um but ultimately you know it's it's not an easy task like I I've said before I remember going to the library saying what does the reading level H even mean right and then I'd go in and I'd go thank God for the librarian because they'd help me with that. So, those little details that we can reflect upon as this staff is, you know, they've been working diligently. Um, coming into the district within the last 6 months is not an easy task than to implement something. Miss Jackson
041has done a tremendous job of kind of being that middle ground for us to help us get going. And then it's these dialogues that will ultimately lead to hopefully greater success overall for the kids, but then also the teachers because then they get to know what they're teaching. So, any other questions? So the good thing is do you want to take this one? Sure. >> I want to pass it to the >> So one of the things we did, we just recently ratified the set teachers association's contract for the next five years. One condition that we placed within the contract is two things. One is a communication course that all teachers are now utilizing parent square as a communication uh vehicle to communicate with parents and guardians and community members. The second piece is a
042grading um procedure that they must follow at the secondary complex. So that sort of in in our view takes the place of the report card because that does now include a grading or progress indicator that must be submitted every three weeks. uh at the secondary complex elementary. We're still in conversation regarding that as to how that's going to look as to whether or not we're going to implement that in the future. So the the the question in turns is like how do we improve our communication, right? And and when we look at grades and we look at the the information that's going forward, how do we inform parents with the ability to what's going on in the classroom? What Ricard is referring to is in the middle school and high school weeks three 3579 if
043I'm not mistaken roughly would be uh some type of progress report or grades that are on the portal that allow students and families to understand what's going on. The elementary school with the day-to-day process obviously is in the works with our new administration coming over making sure that those dialogues are happening and then again figuring out how do we make sure that we're ensuring that communication is going forward from classroom to home. And you know, it sounds like to me it's something that we're still kind of working through and then you know from there again it's another conversation that has to be had. Any other questions on report cards? All right. I'd like to thank you guys for >> somebody's hand. >> Shauna, sorry. Uh, I just wanted to comment because I do have a
044child in Clayton Huey and um I did find at parent teacher conferences that her um teacher spent a lot of time going over the report card with me. Um I felt like I had a very good understanding of it when I left. I left with a hard copy. So, um I think you know if there was any discretion about how it was handled, I did and I can only speak from my own experience, but um I felt like we spent a lot of time on it and I didn't have any questions when I left. I also find um you know, I know every teacher does things their own way, but I sign a lot of tests, everything that comes home. So I do feel like you know maybe at that level that's one way of
045communicating is that you know they are having you send stuff back. So there is assessments in between that you have an idea of how they're doing. Excellent job. Having an online There's not much. Yeah. I just found like in previous years you went into parent teacher conferences almost kind of blind as far as you've received what came home in the folder and that was it. This year I did find I was able to access stuff through parent square ahead of the conferences. So I felt like I was going into it more prepared with how my daughter was doing, you know. Um, and I did feel like once we were there, you know, we weren't just discussing we were, you know, how she's doing like in a broad spectrum. It was like we went line by
046line through her first report card, her test results, and I did feel like we spent a lot like of time on it and I got more information and more insight in the past to specific areas than I have in the past years. >> Any other questions from the board or comments? All right. So, we're going to allow these uh administration team to kind of end their night so they can get home to their families and then we're going to move on uh back to the superintendent's report if I'm not mistaken. Right. >> Yes, that final report actually concluded my report. Thank you. >> Thanks. >> Comm. >> All right. So, now we're going to move on to committee reports. Um, committee reports are a way for us to communicate with the community about what's going
047on in the rooms uh of the five or six committees that we have going on in the district. And then each board member or two board members usually are at each committee depending on what goes on and then obviously community members, teachers, etc. students are a part of it. Uh the audit committee, they last met just prior on the 8th. uh community connections. Last meeting was 107, but there's been so much going on that we've been uh non-stop with the community. I know that Mr. Perry, you wanted to mention under community connections. Did you want to mention the turkey? >> No. Um I guess well Shauna and I have elementary students in the district so we just wanted to shout out to the um turkey trot um and the upcoming um roadrunner program and it
048was just wonderful. We had a lot of parents kind of coming to us and a lot of students who were wearing their shirts and wearing their lanyards and um we just wanted to recognize like the amazing work of like um Mr. Slstein and all of the um you know physical education professionals and people who put that together and the work of administration for allowing that to happen. Um the kids were just so so excited um to be part of that program. Um so just wanted to say thank you. >> Oh yeah. I was fortunate enough to spend um the last few days last week at the holiday boutique and I did see a lot of um the kids were still wearing their lanyards, their t-shirts and it was just really um uplifting to see that
049and I loved the program that it was so inclusive that everybody in the elementary school was able to participate. I thought that was really neat. So I'm very grateful to our gym teachers for providing them that opportunity. And we just wanted to, you know, draw some attention to it because it seemed like such a great program that we don't want it to be like a oneanddone kind of thing, you know, because we really felt like the kids were excited about it and, you know, you want to support the things that get them excited. So that was it. >> I'll just take it to a whole different level. Um, so I've I I don't have students or children in the in the in the elementary school, but I have students that are children that went through
050the Rising Road Runners program and now they're in the high school. One's in the high school, one's in the middle school, and they both actually do uh cross country uh because of the knowledge of uh Rising Road Runners when they were in elementary school. So, it's a it's a great program. Um, and I'm, you know, I've got two athletes because of it. So, thank you. >> So, community Nick connections, one other meeting. Obviously, we have the holiday parade coming up, so keep that in mind. It's a great time, and there's no parking on the streets if everyone's seeing that sign. Um, next committee is curriculum and technology. I'm going to probably combo that between Dawn and Jamie, right? >> Okay. I just have some notes on my phone here. Um so we met November 18th
051and um we spoke about the um upcoming professional development for ENL teachers um and the um oh we mentioned the literacy academy which was mentioned earlier which I think is really exciting for meeting the needs of students that um are need to kind of close those gaps. Um so Dr. Dr. Botcher um explained that there was a grant that was available to pay for it, too. So, even better. Um and that academy was going to run from January 6 to April 14th on Tuesdays and Thursdays for one hour per day immediately after school. Um and students are going to be ba um invited to that or they're probably already invited um based on their I Ready results. And then I I just wanted to share about I Ready. I really love that that program goes
052very granularly into um the areas of improvement and it's adaptive. So um it I think teachers do a great job of teaching, but it's very hard if you have a classroom full of 27 kids to know exactly um where each child has strengths and weaknesses. And so um supporting the teacher in meeting those needs, I Ready can be a great tool. and now we have this additional resource of this literacy academy. So, I think with um all of this support, I'm hoping that we're closing those gaps that the board of education has set out to do with those um board goals. Um they we did speak about I Ready and the diagnostic results and how they were shared. Um they were spoken about um at conferences. They were sent through parent squares. I think that
053they were fairly easy to read. Um, and we also during the committee meeting, um, we talked about midterms. I think that that was really exciting to have a midterm week. Am I saying that right? Um, so this gives students an opportunity to like have um a dedicated week for midterms. And so hopefully this results in um better preparation, maybe better scores. um but we haven't had that I don't think um in the past or maybe many years. So I thought that was great and that thanks to Mrs. Mangonia too for uh the support of that. Um and it says teachers have created midterms for each course in each department utilizing the same format. So um that's also great to have um for consistency purposes for courses culminating in a regent exam. assessments were created using
054previous ex regions exam questions. Um, additional training in artificial intelligence has been happening. Um, we I think that they've been doing some work on notebook LM which is a great resource. It's um becoming more and more uh has more and more resources and uh things for teachers to use. Um they also looks like they did some trainings in Gemini. Um I gave some res add every time I meet I give them probably a deluge of things but I gave them some more additional resources um this past time on some school policy and we did some deep dive here deep dives here on some edtech policies. So to be continued on how that um pans out. Um and we also incorporated digital we oh I tal we talked about um reviewing areas to incorporate more digital
055citizenship for students um because as last year when we tal or earlier in the year when we talked about you know taking away cell phones is not the um magic thing that we think it is and we'd have to go further into curriculum and online well-being and online wellness and um cyber bull bullying and into that curriculum. them a little bit more. Um, so we chatted about that. Um, we dis discussed current math electives at the high school. Um, and also um, reviewing where our financial literacy content is um, and how that pertains to portrait of a graduate. And uh, I think I think that's it. Did I get everything? Okay. And let me know if you have any questions. And then we have facilities, health and safety. They met prior to the last board
056meeting. So now we're on to health and wellness which met on the December 3rd. >> All right. Um health and wellness met on December 3rd. Um we spent a lot of the time talking about cafeteria options and uh there was a representative from um the agency where we get the food. does seem like kids are eating a lot of fruits, so that's good. Um, they said that they can't keep strawberries there. Um, but it did seem like, you know, she was very open to any feedback. Um, any way of improving it. The biggest complaint the elementary school seemed to be the size of the oven. Um, so that limits them, but otherwise it did seem like uh the kids seem very satisfied with um the options, especially at like the upper levels where they have
057like sandwich bars. Um, so then we talked about bullying. Um, we have the PS I love you coming up. Um, so we also talked about um CPR and AED in the schools. Um, every school is equipped and you know we're trying to get as many people as possible trained. Um, and that was really with a lot about mental health um, and what we can do to improve mental health. Um, and the next meeting is going to be February 10th. So if anybody wants to attend, Tom Cena, do you have anything you want to add? >> Okay. >> Thank you. The uh policy meeting we just met prior to this. It was uh just us and uh going over this round was a lot to deal with special ed. Um so we're slowly going through actually
058pretty pretty swiftly we're going through policy trying to update and look at the things that have not been looked at for years prior. So, policy committee has met. Is there any questions for from any board members about anything committee-wise or anything? Everybody's good. Claire, you good over there? >> All right. >> I mean, I just have a really quick question. Um, might be anecdotal, but about the health and wellness in the cafeteria. Um, my daughter and several of her friends are complaining about the cafeteria food in the elementary level. Um is but um not like is there any way to do a survey um to maybe see across the whole school level um what kids want? Um have we thought about doing that just to see so we can have that inform our decisions. >>
059So that did come up in the meeting as um uh Miss Walsh uh mentioned. Uh so it is something that we are looking at. One of the things that the representative from Witson did uh provide us information on is the fact that a lot of the students are eating a lot more of the options now versus previous years which is good to hear. Uh she was uh very mindful of any suggestions that we may have uh at the meeting in terms of trying to improve the quality and even the selection process. Apparently the kids especially at the elementary school love the tater tots. So that that came up as a point of conversation. Uh but we are so what was great you like you like him as well John. Okay. So what did come up
060was the fact that we are opening a very good collaborative dialogue with Witson that I think wasn't necessarily exercised in the past as actively as it is now. So from my perspective and I think um Shauna you mentioned the same thing. I think it was a great uh conversation with them. I think they were open to whatever ideas we had. They have a um a chef coming in uh once a month. They're introducing new new cuisines to the students. There was a concern regarding the elementary size. So, we are looking at that. Those uh those ideas have budgetary uh factors associated with them. So, it is something that we will be considering for next year's budget. So, this is also something for our student leader to help out with um maybe working with student council
061down at the elementary school to see kind of that feedback. So, this way then you can get some of that information for yourself. Um Dr. Sto uh said something very important. Some of the items that we get that come across to us like the slide from last board meeting, they're budgetary items that we have to try to figure out. Our goal is every year to try to figure them out. But if you look at ever look at the galley kitchen in the high school or if you look at the middle school like they're working in smaller areas than some places. So it is a conversation as we move forward uh to try to figure out so that we can enhance these programs. Um the next one we are up to is questions and comments regarding
062tonight's agenda only. Uh the speakers are asked to sign in with district clerk. The book is up there. So if you spoke already just make sure you sign in. Uh indicate your topic of comment. Keep comments brief and speak for no longer than three minutes. Refrain from discussing matters involving specific district personnel or individual students. Please stand and speak into the microphone which we will hand to you as you can see so that everyone can hear you uh on the live stream. Members of the public will have the opportunity to speak about any other topic at the end of the meeting. Is there any questions or on the agenda for tonight? Going once old. All right. We have uh consent agenda approval. Be it resolved a motion to approve the consent agenda items 9A through
06315N. >> Do I have a motion? >> Motion. >> John Thomas for the motion. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Sea for the second. All in favor? >> Yes. >> Mention one thing. I'd like to um thank on behalf of the entire Santa Merches community, the Quarteri family for donating a very generous gift of $5,000 to be used by the robotics team at the high school. So, thank you to the Quarteri family. They've been very consistent contributors of um everything that we've done here at the high school. So, thank you again. >> All right. So, we have now up to general public comment. Same rules apply as previously stated about 30 seconds ago. Um, does anybody have a general public comment for anything that's not on the agenda? >> Sure. You have three
064minutes. >> Christina Miratory. Um, first Dr. Botcher, I just want to thank you because with the literacy academy, I know you really looked into our grants and you reallocated our funds. So, I really appreciate you being like so diligent and like really with the fine uh fine tooth comb like going through our money and like looking how it's being spent. So, I really appreciate that. Um based on money, I know the budget is budget season is coming up. um is there any way that we can um for the public kind of take a look at like IB and almost like break it down cost um how much it's costing us and then even further per building um at the elementary school all teachers have to be um certified or right they have to go through
065the process if you work at the elementary school middle school is a little different and then the high school is different even further um how many students at the high school are graduating with the IB credential um how many classes we have how many classes that are IB that are also kind of co- sat IB and AP together. Um just so we get an idea of like IB is a costly um it's kind of here we are IB um how many of our students through 12th grade are getting this credential. So if you could just maybe have something for the public to just see um as we discuss the budget coming up. >> That is something um thank you for the question uh Miss Morator that is something we are planning for the budget process.
066We are going to take a deeper more detailed look at every department. Um the academic program is definitely one of them. IB is a cornerstone of the center school district. So all the information that all the questions that you have will be provided in a very comprehensive way. Uh when we begin the budget process or budget uh season begins for us almost like now. Our first budget workshop will be January 14th which will be the next board of education meeting. At that meeting, we will begin to provide more comprehensive detailed analysis of everything we're doing from buildings and grounds to athletics to the academic program as well. >> Awesome. And if you like I said just include maybe like population. >> Yep. We sure will. >> I know it's usually budget is like more like
067doesn't go as indepth at least in the previous No. Our goal. >> Our goal is going to be a lot. >> Our goal is to be open in detail, take a deep dive, take a look at everything as Dr. Stoodto said so that we can actually sit take and understand what's kind of coming at us but then also what's working what's not what what we need to improve upon how do we improve it how do we reach the goals of the board and then from there how do we reach the department goals from the department goals that's why there would be a budget increase right so when we look at it it's not just a standpoint of let's do this it's going to be why right it's like the educator educator line what's the why
068um any questions or any comments from or general comments from the board >> we're going to Chris, Miss Mortori, we're going to be complete transparency on this >> and from now on with everything. We have to be this way because the the community did a wonderful job with letting us have this beautiful auditorium. So, we need to make sure that you see, you know, and what we're doing. >> Thank you. I appreciate it. >> Mr. Wagner. >> Yes. >> Oh, good evening. I have two questions. Uh, one, I know the numbers probably aren't available yet, but when they are, the final numbers, will they be posted for the auditorium? Specifically, in comparison to what the estimates were, they were broken down not too deeply, but you know, AV and seats and floors and whatnot. >>
069Uh, we definitely will, Mr. Ragna. Uh, so right now I can say that looking at the preliminary budget, we have not exceeded the $1.2 million that, uh, the community voted on in May. >> Good. Excellent. >> Which is a good thing. >> Yeah, sure. for sure. Um, second question is something that I would like to see um an expanded call it offseason training for our athletes. I know that during the summer there was uh a a strength training conditioning uh program that was run. I'd love to see that in the winter. I know my son just finished football. Um he it was been fantastic for him. He's doing goalgetters during the day at school. He's not doing a winter sport right now. Um I know many athletes are. So, it kind of it's tough to
070to everybody's doing many different things. I'd like to see that program that was in the summer expanded to all year round for all of our athletes. >> Okay. Thank you. Thank you for that comment. Something once again we would have to look at that wasn't budgeted for. So, we would have to see how if we can do that if we can do it this year. If not, we can definitely plan for next year as we move forward. >> Great. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> And just to make sure that when they did that over the summer, it was open to anybody, right? So, athlete or not, the goal is to health have the health and wellness asset as aspect in all students. Um, just they had to make the choice to go. It was
071early sometimes. >> Any other questions or comments? Clara, do you have anything that you would feel good? >> Um, all right. So, we're up toformational items. I'm going to run through the list uh as we go. Uh, tomorrow, December 11th, is the middle school concert at 7:00 p.m. It feels really good to come and sit in seats that don't have holes in them. They were very comfortable. Um, you you could see the pride in the community. It just feels good. Uh, so if we keep this momentum, we're in a good spot. Friday, December 12th is a community tree and Monura lighting at King Cullen. Uh, CM music is performing. Saturday, December 13th, is the CM pray to Lights at 6 PM. As you've seen around, there is no parking on the streets, so I'll just
072keep spreading that word for them. Tuesday, December 16th, curriculum and tech committee meeting, 6 p.m. Wednesday, December 17th, Candy Cane Lane at high school from 5 to 7:00 p.m. Thursday, December 18th, the high school winter concert, 7:00 p.m. Friday, December 19th, Clayton Hill report cards plus high school middle school second quarter halfway point. Tuesday, December 23rd, early dismissal drill districtwide, if I'm not mistaken, is that um the annual thing that they do every year, right? >> So, just keep that in mind that the kids will be coming home a little bit earlier. Um from there, let's see. Schools closed winter recess 12:24, back in session 15. Wednesday, January 7th, facility, health, and safety committee. Thursday, January 8th, IB info night and college info night. Um, any other additional items that I missed from anywhere that
073anyone is a part of? >> Good. All right. I get a motion to adjurnn. >> Motion. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Yes. I I I thank you