5-11-26 BOE Meeting (Public Hearing/Regular Meeting)

001start tonight's meeting in uh with the uh flag salute. >> I 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. >> Okay, I have one blue card, so I will read. The board of education has set aside this time for an opportunity for community to address the board to allow for public participation appeared not to exceed 30 minutes shall be set aside during I know I need to do the agenda. Um but I'll read this first. >> But I don't Is he going in open forum or the open public hearing? >> Oh, that's right, too. >> So, let's I'll make a motion. >> Yeah, if I could get a a motion to approve uh

002tonight's meeting agenda. >> I'll motion. >> I'll second. Any discussion? Are those in favor? Okay. >> Yes. >> Do we need a motion to open the public hearing? >> Okay. >> Yep. You can make the motion. >> I'll make a motion to open the public hearing. >> Any discussion? >> Okay. >> And I think Tom's going to start us off, right? >> Yeah. with the >> well it's just open this is the opportunity for >> but Moren to just come right there to the mic. >> Oh okay sir spiel she'll get up and say is there anybody here that would like to so this is the required public hearing session. Um oh maybe I had turn it on. Yeah, we're getting to the end. We have a total timeline that we have to follow when

003it comes to the budget vote and everything that leads up to it. Next Tuesday, the third Tuesday in May is always the vote across New York State. And as you work back, the budget notice was due in the mail by May 13th and it's out now with a big budget newsletter. And right at that point between the 5th and the 12th is the required public hearing, which is what this part is tonight. There's many New York State requirements and they're kind of hard for people to understand all of them. So that's why we put out the newsletter to go along with it. All districts must present their budgets every year for approval. They're voted on third t third Tuesday in May. They all must be prepared in three categories. The program, the administrative, and the

004capital. A public hearing must be held, which is this. Board member vacancies must be filled by the voters. The um section 495 real tax property law needs to be put out there. But copies of the budget must be available to the public. The required budget notice must go out to the public, which is what's on the back of the newsletter. Everything must be mailed and done by May 13th. We must also have out a property tax report card, administrative salaries, and the district report card. All of that stuff is available on the back table, and it's also all available on the website. This is the district notice, the required district notice. It's very hard to understand, and it doesn't clearly give you the information that some people are looking for. Actually, Tom emailed me this

005weekend with the one from his district and he's like, I don't understand what's the tax levy increase. And I'm like, well, it doesn't actually say that, but that's the required format. So, I tried to put some slides together that actually goes through it for everybody. This we've had our budget revenues for the last two or three months and have been discussing them. As we know, our district is predominantly driven by state aid and the rest of our money really comes from the tax levy. Both items which are capped at certain amounts. So it doesn't leave us a lot of room to move. Our categories of expenditures, we look at them in these are called object codes, which is what most people present and how we have to keep track of our numbers as far as

006filing ST3s and year-end reports. So the bulk of our money is spent on salary and the fringe benefits associated with them. We pay money to city bosies for various budget lines that are on the document. Our debt service is essentially our mortgage payments for our capital projects and everything else except for the utilities and fuel is is put into the other which is actually one of the smaller percentages of our budget. But if you look at these total expenditures across the bottom, this is the required way. The three categories that are supposed to be presented with the budget notice, it's the exact same totals on the bottom. It's just in a different set of categories. There's a lot less information in this way of presenting it than there is in ours, but that is the

007required three categories. Basically 75% of our budget is program, 16% of it is capital which includes the debt service and the custodial maintenance areas and 9% of it is administrative. Those are the three percentages that are the required um public notice. Our budget, our goals this year to close our deficits were to use district reserves and savings, increase the tax levy. It's going to be 2.99% and decrease costs. We are the main goal is to keep programming in place. We are making no additions and we're trying to maintain the progress that's been accomplished. Everything that we are trying to do as far as reductions go is driven by the declining enrollment which is still estimated to decline based on live birth rates is where this data comes from. This does not take into consideration anything

008potentially in the future to do with micron. So the budget increase is 3.28% 28% the tax levy increase is 2.99% and then we're using savings and reserves. If you look at the full budget document in the red parts are the savings and reserves and um you can see they're highlighted and those are give or take one-time pieces that we are putting in there. We've been doing that for a couple years now which is slowly making our fund balance go down. our expenditures or I'm sorry, our revenues just in a pi graph. As you can see, the state aid and the tax levy make up the bulk of our revenues. The tax levy is a three-piece puzzle. Your tax rate that is what's on your bill when you get the bill is made up of three

009parts. It takes the levy which we assess. It incorporates the town assessments and the New York state equalization rate. We tax across 11 townships and three counties. So the rates are different on every township that we have. So basically you take the levy as a total that's the total amount that we can raise. It's going to be divided up in different pies based on the tax rates and they're calculated by dividing the assessed value of the community adjusted by the state equalization rates. >> Moren, if I could just stop you for a second because I know that there is a lot of community members that are currently getting tax assessments in the mail from their towns. Um, and there's a lot of, you know, talk online about the increases that people are experiencing. I just

010want to make clear, we have nothing to do with any of that. >> No, we only are the one piece. We put out the levy. >> Hold on. A perfect example of that are the two straight years not long ago that we went out with a 0% tax levy increase, but people's assessments were going up. So, they were thinking that we were actually not going out with a zero, which we were going out with a zero. But that's the whole equalization rate. >> Yep. And the whole assessment piece as we look at this um this is a good example of that. I don't know if I can. This is the tax rate estimated. All we're doing right now is giving an estimate because we don't know what the town assessment rates are going to be

011or the equalization rates are going to be and those don't come out and get tallied until August. Right now assessments are going on are going out in May. You can go to your assessor and talk to them about that. In August that information is given to us and then we put the levy over it. So right now as we estimate this for next year based just on the one factor the rate per thousand would be $12.98 right because right now our actual over here in August is what does come out in the end. So in the end last year our tax rate per true was $12.60. So the estimated increase is $12.98. So that 38 cents is the increase per thousand that we can estimate right now. But if you look at this entire graph

012always our estimate is higher than the actual because the assessments keep increasing and the the spread of the pie. I guess it's hard to explain makes the rate go down based on more factors than just what we know now. So we're estimating the 38 cent per thousand increase. So essentially $100,000 as of assessments are $38. Chances of that being that high are low, but that's the best estimate that we can give out at this time with the factors that we know. >> And if I can just add a bit to that slide. So there's some confusion when people say, "Oh, okay. Well, last year it passed by like a thousand votes when you went out at 3%." The second second time we went out, but they said, so they're like, "We're not really worried this

013time, but even at 299, we see other districts in our county going out at like 235." And what I had to explain to them was that when we go out at 299, that brings in $960,000. When a district, let's say like West Tennessee, goes out with 2.35, they're bringing in almost $4 million. And so when you look at Skinny Atlas or FM or other ones, it it's not so much what's the percentage, it's what is it actually bringing in, which is the whole wealth index for that district. So it's not just looking at that percentage, it's looking at what it actually brings in. These are the full t full full value tax rates from last year across asiggo county. So we are in the yellow. So we are definitely right in the middle of what's

014happening in the county. Um Fulton, Hannibal, Phoenix are have a much higher tax rate than we do. Basically Mexico is close to us. the smaller districts, APW and um Hannibal or Sandy Creek down there in the end are a lot smaller and a Swiggo city and Fulton city they're cities so it's a little bit different the way their assessments work compared to the central school districts. This is just our tax rate on true. And so, as you can see, our rate is going down. And that's a factor of basically not going to our cap every year when we're doing the zeros and we're not going to the the 6.83 or 38, whatever it was last year. We're losing rate. So, it's essentially the um we could have taxed and didn't tax or didn't get the

015tax. So on the proposition, next Tuesday, a a week from tomorrow will be the general fund budget is always proposition number one. So when you vote for the budget, all you're voting for is a total expenditure line. You're really not voting for what exactly is in the budget per se andor where the money's coming from. It's just the total expenditures. Proposition number two is for the transportation. We've got six I think six gas diesel buses, big buses, three small buses, and two um transit vans. And then the state also requires us to let the libraries put their propositions depending on how the library is formed. I should clarify that um they can ride their propositions on our voting procedure. So this is the Central Square Library increasing their levy by $30,000 in addition to the

016current $95,000 that they currently assess across the district's voters. We also have three seats with three-year terms that are being voted on during this budget vote. There are five candidates that are running for the board. We have Amy Connelly as a candidate. Casey my is up for reelection and is running. Tim Hart is a candidate. Steve Patch is up for re-election and is running. And Christy Fishman is up for re-election and is running. So the board um the board members will be voted on also next Tuesday. So we try to end this with a few little good newses to remember what is it what is is it why are we here and that it's all about the kids. So I think it's very important to remember and to understand that this year Central Square District

017did like it led us county in our math and ELA scores. We've made great advances. 50% of the students met or exceeded standards for ELA, 46% for math, and our standing across the whole county was the highest in both those areas. Our National Honors Society had 36 new inductees this year. DECA took 19 students that to actually I should say took their students to state and 19 of our students placed. We had notable achievements in almost all athletic departments. Um, three of our high school students competed at the state levels in track and field. The bowling team was section three champions. The our music went to the American Coral Directors Association conference. We had productions um War of the Worlds, lay miz, and I believe there was a middle school one that going on now.

018Yep. >> Yep. Um and we had actually a couple of workshops or after school look at me, I'm threes. They had one at Cole and where was the other one? Hastings. So that was from the worked with the county to work with that which was awesome. So we just want everybody to remember that it's very important to come out to vote. Your vote counts. It's next Tuesday, a week from today. We have three voting sites. The American Legion here in Central Square, the VFW in Constantia, and the Burton site this year is going to be in the elementary school. So, is there any questions? >> So, before we open it up, >> okay, >> to anybody that wants to have anything to say as part of the open hearing again, I just want to just

019underscore a couple of the key things that you said. First, our scores have risen to be the best in the county and it doesn't happen by just happen stance. So, the training, the professional development, the people that you see at that table right there, our teachers, our administrators across the board, all of the positions are all doing exactly what we tked them to do. And we're very happy to see the results, especially for our massive literacy initiative. That it means something. We we're seeing the highest graduation rates that we've had in the 10 years that I've been superintendent and I know beyond that. We're very proud of our three pathways that we have. The traditional college and career pathway which is not the number one service served pathway. The the number one served pathway are

020the kids that are going either to a two-year college or right into the workforce. And so when you look at our co our traditional college and um university pathway, our 26 college courses that we offer here at the high school, I have had more parents than I can count tell me how much thousands of dollars that we've saved because basically their kids are metriculated as sophomores. uh he said that I can share I'm going to former board President Andrew Andrew Martin's daughter Katie who gra is graduating one full year early from University of Buffalo premed with all the college courses that she took that cost the families nothing and the reason why they cost the families nothing is because it wasn't fair and I said this when we had the forum here a few weeks

021ago in this very room that it's not fair to have a kid sitting in that room in any of those college, dual credit courses whose family can afford to pay. And now when the kid gets a good grade in that class, it also is their college credit, which is a huge savings because if they if they had to take that on a college campus, it would be in the high thousands to take that course compared to the students sitting next to them that would also could get the same grade but only get high school credit instead of college credit because the parent couldn't afford that portion of what it is even though it's significantly cheaper than in that college campus. So we paid for that. We also send more kids to city Bosey's programs their

022uh skill trades CTE than we've ever sent. So when I came here it was kind of capped unofficially but it was around 75. If you go back 11 years ago we have 185 kids pursuing their dreams many of which go on to do that trade and use those certifications to make a great living. So we're proud of that. And then we have probably the strongest military pathway out of any of the schools that I've ever worked for of how many kids every year get accepted or go into the military and list. But also it seems like every other year we have a student that gets accepted into one of the elite militarymies. Um which is very very impressive. With all of that being said, obviously that there is a cost and um I'm not I

023can't call people. I can't tell them to go out, vote yes for the budget, but I can tell them to go out and vote. And what we put out there, we feel is a great program. The board has supported us in our efforts with whatever career pathway that these students want that they have a great opportunity. We have very safe schools. I see a couple of our special patrol officers here. We have a special patrol officer in every building and we will continue to have six special patrol officers. There was a thought that was going through our mind with the proximity of the troopers barracks as close as it is basically in uh Hastings's backyard, but it's still not having a person in that building and given everything that's going on society and the tragedy

024that that was an investment that we needed to make and that we need to to maintain. So, we're we did a multi-million dollar capital project not that many years ago that really fortified our schools. We have the ballistic, you know, proof glass and the the locked in vestibule area where it's every building just has one way to get in and out. And after seeing what's happened in many districts across the state and the country, nobody asks me anymore, why does it have to be like a prison? It's so hard to get in. Nobody calls me and asks me that. But they did several years ago. And I guess it's kind of unfortunate that they don't have to call and ask me anymore because now they know just by turning on the news, flipping up, turning

025on their computer and reading what's going on out there. Um, so with all of that, I think that the 2.99% again, that's $38 on a $100,000 house, $76 on a $200,000 house, $114,000, $114 on a $300,000 house is a sound investment. Like she said, $76 million is already set with contracts, right? Contractual obligations, whether that's our teachers, whether that's our custodians, whether that's administrators, whether that's district office administrators, those are competitive salaries because we want to be able to hire and retain the very best. And we feel that the 2.99% will help us. Like Moren said, we're in a very difficult spot because there's a cap on the only two revenue sources that a district has. The foundation aid, which is the largest portion of state aid, is capped at right now 1% increase. And

026the other part is the the taxes. So it's not just rural districts that are struggling, wealthier districts that always relied on the property tax because they don't really need the state aid. So for the wealthier districts, it's we get $68 million in state aid. Wealthier districts get a far smaller amount, but now their property tax is capped as well, so they can't rely on that. So this crisis, this formula that's outdated that really was in place in 2007, hadn't changed till 2025, really needs to be thrown out and completely changed because there's no way a district can sustain and bring in the very best teachers and the best administrators, the best district office, best everybody and continue to do all of these uh most of them unfunded mandates from the state without the money to

027be able to do that. We are the largest employer in all of Asiggo County with almost 800 employees and part of that are their health benefits and people could say well cut the health benefits, cut the salaries. When you do that, you will see a direct correlation to the state test scores to graduation rate because I can name a bunch of school districts where they aren't paying competitive rate for their teacher salaries or their admin or their superintendent or the people that sit at that table right there. And unfortunately, the staff they get are the staff that weren't didn't get jobs in the other districts. And so it's it's really important to remember that as well. With that being said, Moren, I'll kick it back to you and then kick it to the crowd. >>

028Yeah. So, it is a public hearing which normally there's no participation from the crowd, but if there are questions, they can be entertained by us in the board tonight. >> Morning. Quick thing. Um, Westman, they're back. I know. Before we used to be in Cole or in Constantia, we're still here at the square. >> Okay. >> West Monroe. No, if you're on that side of 81, you're at at VFW. >> The VFW. Okay. Because I know last year we had to come. >> Yeah. >> We did. We had to come. >> Did we change it some, Pearl? >> Yes. >> Maybe a little bit. >> Okay. >> No. No. No. Last year there were some people know why they had to drive all the way. And we did >> there was a couple of roads,

029>> a couple of the roads that were difficult. >> Yes. But to say that Mil Westman Row is over there, I wouldn't go that far. It was a couple of roads. >> We live very close to the Constant line and we had to come here to >> What I would say, good question. What I would say is this. On our website, they have a link that says if you're registered and where you're going to vote. >> I would assume it's going to say exactly where it was switched to last year. >> Okay. but it's right on our website and it if you click on that >> and if you can't get it for some reason call Pearl because she's got access to all of the data. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Anybody support the

030board have any questions? >> Well, as always, thanks. >> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. >> Might be my last. >> That was Moren's last presentation as she is retiring. If I could get a motion to adjourn the open public hearing. >> I'll make a motion. >> Get a second. Any discussion? All those in favor. Okay. On to the open regular meeting. Um, >> do we have to open it, Pearl? >> Yes. >> All right. Can I get a motion to open the regular meeting? I'll make a motion. >> Any discussion? All those in favor? Um I'm going to make one change to the agenda to approve the agenda. Um underneath the open regular meeting, can I get a motion to approve tonight's agenda for the open meeting? >> I'll second. >> Not discussion. What

031do you change? I'm I'm going to put the pro approval of the meeting agenda under because I don't think we did that. >> Okay. >> All those in favor? >> Okay. On to the community open forum. I will read this again. The board of education has set it aside time for an opportunity for the community to address the board to allow public participation. A period not to exceed 30 minutes shall be set aside during the first part of each board meeting. Presentation should be as brief as possible. The board will not permit in public session discussion involving individual district personnel or students. Comments should be related to school matters and be limited to two minutes. I have one that is signed up. Randy, take it away. All right. Can you guys hear? Jeez. All right.

032So, you can't tell people to come out and vote yes. But I have no such restriction. Everybody tell everybody you know, find 10 people, drive them out, get them to the vote. Find every person you know, make a game of it, maybe go out and have coffee afterwards. But every parent should be finding everybody they know and bring them out and vote yes for this. We do not want to be coming back in this room in a few weeks and having to make a decision about what else it is that we need to let go of. So to that end, I know that some people may know I've been going around knocking doors and I have flyers that have the information. I have the the link where people can check their registration, some impacts of

033the budget, what it means to vote. Yes, that 38 per every 100,000. Hey, it's cheaper than a Netflix subscription. I already like that line. That's a good one. But I've been out there and it's it's not hard. If you want to talk to your friends and tell them what it means to convince people it's $38 per 100,000. It's not that much. Somebody's struggling. There are tax exemptions that they can go on the site. Meen, thank you very much for handing me some, you know, some of the information about that. the village, the town of Hastings, the county of Oswiggo all participate in programs that if you're somebody that's struggling with property taxes on a fixed income, you can get some money back. Won't work until next year, but it's something. Um, something else I've been

034working on, Tom, you were just talking about is foundation aid. Last year, when we sat in this room, when that budget failed, when you guys came out aggressively at 6.8, which I thought was the right move, too, Dave, you said something that really got under my skin. you were talking that's our money. That is our money that's getting sent to Albany that we're not getting back to pay for our schools. And I took that personally. You're 100% right with that. So, I spent this year trying to figure out what it is that I can do and making as many connections as I can to try to figure out how do we advocate for that. Couple weeks ago, I had an opportunity to go down to Albany, speak in front of m probably about a dozen

035members of the assembly, half dozen members of the Senate. I got to speak with the Senate majority leader and the only thing that I talked to them about while everyone else was, you know, kissing butts and doing all the things that people like to do when they're talking to folks down in Albany was saying foundation aid means a ton to our district. I told them how every year we have to sit in the room and we have to make decisions. What is it that we're going to get rid of this year? How we lost our late bus and what that means that now there are students that don't have opportunities unless they have parents that can drive them in and out of here. I told them about how you guys are always here making decisions

036about um how we can do more with less. How we have administrators, teachers, you folks taking on multiple roles to keep the impact from the students. Good job for all of that. So, we went from I I stood in a room of 400 people, union leaders, congressmen, and I told them what foundation aid means to us. So, they're all still pushing for that 2% right now. It's the executive that's still kind of fighting them over that 1%. So, next ask. I know I already asked a lot of people to call uh Senator Ryan and Assemblyman Barkley. Call the executive. Call Kathy Hokll. I know everybody's got a pretty strong opinion about her. Lord knows I do, too. >> Tell her 1% is what you That's nonsense. With the way that inflation's going up, fuel costs,

037healthcare, it's just not going to be enough. We are expecting micron that's going to come in and it's going to bring in a younger population. not at a rate that's going to do anything for me. My son's in the second grade and I've been watching the speed that the county has been preparing for Micron to come here and it's not going to be fast enough. I know that you guys are going to be in this room and that you're going to make decisions that are going to be in the best interest of those students. Amazing. Thank you. But until we get the state to listen, we're going to be back here again next year. We're going to be making difficult decisions and we're going to be fighting sports, music, no more. So, I'm going to

038be working a petitioning process this year where I'm going to try to get me uh members from all around the county to tell Albany time to throw this equation out and fix this. Either that or give us what was it? 7% is what we would need to maintain every function year on. >> So, I know that's a lot to ask. I take five. >> I take two at this point. I know >> for this year. >> Yeah. >> But again, uh by the time we get to where my son is in school, >> you know, in high school, what else are we going to have to getting rid of? And I see you guys working hard to try to maintain what we got. And thank you very much. Also, hey, Saturday, you all did a

039really good job. Thank you. >> Thank you, Randy. Thank you for all you're doing. >> Okay. Thank you very much. On to item D, special presentation to the board. Rosanna Bane. >> Hello. Hello. >> I'm not usually held back by a mic. I'm gonna have to move around a little bit. >> I I generally have room to dance. No. Um, my name is Roseanne Bane. I am the assistant um superintendent at city Boseies and um I know many of your faces but not all of them. Background information is just I'm a Swiggo County girl graduated in 1983 from Mexico High School. Yes, that makes me 61 years old. And I've always had a a general care and concern about the kids from Asiggo County. And that's kind of why I've stuck around even though I'm

040very eligible for retirement because this thing called New York inspires I think is that impactful is that important to the kids especially the kids in Asiggo County. A quick background story when I first started teaching at APW I'm certified in English and social studies. I taught both at the same time. So the kids had two credits when they came to my room and it was an exceptional program with kids doing very well, especially students with disabilities. Because when you combine the content together and you make sense of like US history and US literature, kids are like, "Oh, that makes sense." Right? Well, unfortunately, APW had to cut my program because of an unfunded mandate. And the fact that the program was working for kids, the fact that the program had, you know, underserved, underprivileged kids

041that were soaring was irrelevant because they had to meet this new mandate called AIS, which was something the state added in a positive way to get kids academic intervention services. But what that meant, especially in a small school, is that when you looked at my class, which was a double period, because kids were getting two credits, suddenly they couldn't fit SIS in because it was a singleton. So I offered I said it was like, let's make a deal. I said, I don't need 90 minutes a day with them. You give me 45 and I can get them through both the standards in both areas. And you know what? They couldn't do that because of Carnegie units and because of seat time. And every child has to have 180 minutes per week in a 40-week year

042in order to earn one credit. So even though I could get kids across the threshold to earn both those credits, in half the time my program had to be cancelled. A year and a half later, I became an administrator, right? Because I'm like, I have I can't do it like this. And the reason I tell you that story is because if New York Inspires existed back in 2003, I might still be teaching. I might not have ever stepped into um the role of an administrator because if New York Inspires existed, those unfunded type mandates would not have existed. My program would not have had to have been cancelled. So that's why I'm out and I'm sharing. I want people to have the facts of what we know so far about what this thing New York

043Inspires is and to be able to think almost creatively about it. um because it isn't another add-on. So, you probably have all heard of the blue ribbon commission. You're not going to hear about that anymore. It's it's done. But the state had a blue ribbon commission and this commission was brought forward with stakeholders from every area imaginable. They collected more input than any state initiative known about what do we need to do to improve education in New York State. And that blue ribbon commission in November of 2024 presented um to the board of regents. So they presented the results of their three years of research to the board of regents. The board of regents feedback was the group that was the most impactful to them were the students who spoke about what their education was

044like and what they would like it to be like in the future. So the board of regents then took the recommendations from that blue ribbon commission and they put those recommendations out into this blue ribbon commission booklet. They asked for feedback from around the state. They received a ton of feedback and then New York State Education Department created New York Inspires. So now you won't hear about Blue Ribbon Commission anymore. New York Inspires is the name of what's moving forward for us as a state. So a lot of people have heard about this thing called the portrait of a graduate. And they'll say, "I want to do a training on the portrait of the graduate. The portrait of the portrait, the portrait of the portrait." And I'm like, "Okay, settle down because we're forgetting parts

045of it." What they did is they said, "From all of that information that we received, there's more. We need transformation in this state, not add-ons, not small changes, transformations." So, what they did is they created four transformations. These are essentially the four themes or the four buckets of transforming education in New York State. The first bucket is adopt a New York State portrait of a graduate. The second bucket is we're going to redefine what a credit is, redefine time, redefine what a learning experience is. The third is we are going to sunset diploma assessment requirements. We are one of only a very few states that have what's called a dual-edged sword to graduation where students have to earn credits and they have to pass five assessments. In the majority of states, students just have to

046earn credit to graduate. And in our state, students have to earn credits and pass five specific assessments. And finally, the other transformation is moving to only one high school diploma. Right now, New York State, we have three. And believe it or not, we do not have a state transcript. And I review transcripts for school districts to help them determine, you know, can a student graduate? And it's like you need a Rosetta Stone between when some they all look absolutely different. So by the end of New York Inspires, every school district in New York State has to have the exact same transcript. So these are some monumental changes as a state. Any questions about this first? Just this is how we got to where we are. Does >> this apply to private schools as well? >>

047It does not apply to private schools unless your school accepts certain funding. So some schools that are parochial do accept funding for title for reading. So different rules apply depending on what your school accepts. Schools that do not accept any federal or state funding are are do not have to adhere to this to this. different >> the colleges are part of this and I've presented at Sunni Swiggo there's a lot of concern about transcript um but before the transcripts start rolling in with this information I do think that it will be resolved >> anything else So why this the reason that all these changes happened folks the majority of them go back to equity equity like you know Tom was sharing well I think we have this or we have that in our district and

048that's fantastic but a district 10 down miles down the road doesn't have it but then a district 10 miles down the road this way has three times as much as you. So what the education department found, our commissioner found, and they said is that your zip code should not determine your opportunities in New York State and that right now in New York State, your zip code determines your opportunity. So that's problematic. Secondarily, all of the research, and I I do apologize. I left the copies I had for you on my desk. Pearl has this and there are um there's information attached to it if you want to look at any of the statistics. But identity has a huge impact on graduation in New York State. So, if you happen to be a student with a

049disability, if you happen to be a student who is um black or brown and male, it's it's a combination for the lowest graduation rates in New York State. So, number one was there's some inequities. We need to look at our requirements, look at our opportunities. Are they meeting the needs of all students? And we have had such a complianced driven system. You can look at a poor guidance counselor and they have this checklist and they're not able to talk to a student maybe about their future goals because they're like, "All right, you've taken the global studies three times. We need to get you through it by, you know, you're going to go to AIS. you're g the compliance has driven the career pathways out of a lot of kids' lives. Instead of being in classes

050that are of interest to their career, they're often in classes to meet a checklist. And the state has said that has had unintended consequences. college and career readiness. As much as we we say those words, the state has found there's only a certain number of students getting those skills. And employers tell us kids are great when we give them a list and they'll do what'sever on the list, but when the list is done, they're kind of like waiting, you know, not having to critically think as much because of a complian system. students, the inevitable question, when am I ever going to use this? And oftentimes a teacher not able to answer except it's in the curriculum guide. So that doesn't excite any of us and it certainly doesn't excite students when they don't have a

051connection to why they are learning something. And in the most successful systems, just like in the most successful workplaces, there's agency or choice. You have a little choice about what you're going to do with your career as a student. But when you have a compliance system, there's no area in the schedule for you to have real choice. Oh, maybe you get one elective in three years. And finally, the state found that across the state from school district to school district and within school districts, they were inconsistent. Meaning that rules and things at this elementary school in this district didn't match the rules and expectations at this the middle school in the same district. And so they found that over and over again. So there's like portrait of a graduate is designed to create that coherence

052no matter what building you're in. So that's the why. And this is the schedule. So last year was planning. Did you miss it? It confused me when I saw this because I said we didn't have a planning year. That was the state's planning year. right now 2025 through 2027 it's called installation that's what we're in right now and installation I call it bringing on hearts and minds this is a two-year period to teach people about it for the state to make the changes they need to to regulations to get teachers starting to think about how they would adjust how schedules might have to change what might look different in transportation etc. Installation is a phased in system. This is your chance to think work as districts to talk about to plan but not full implementation.

053Initial implementation begins in the fall of 2027. And so the kids that are currently in 10th grade, when they graduate, they're going to be the first group impacted by New York Inspires. So it's not full implementation yet, but that group of kids will be the first ones. And then finally, by the fall of 2029, every school district in New York State has to have full implementation and scaling up of the things I'm going to share with you about New York Inspires. Any questions before I move on? >> I I do. Um, is there plans to provide funding to do all of this, you know, like additional money? Because I I and I know this isn't you. >> No. Um, but the state took at least three years, right, to get its head wrapped around what

054it wants to do and it wants the districts to do. But in the two years that we're going to be implementing it, um I just wonder if they've thought about the fact that we will also still be providing a full-time education to these students on top of implementing. So it's like another task for us to accomplish, training the teachers, reorganizing schedules, but we're also going to be doing all the things that we normally have to do to get ready for that school year as it was before implementation. And so I'm just wondering if there's been any discussion about providing additional funding to the schools to be implementing this by 2027 2029. >> Yeah. So the funding discussion isn't one that happens with my level except to say that >> sure that it happens but except

055to say that some of those unfunded mandates um are definitely going away. And when you when we go further in the presentation and you know for example that regent exams are no longer going to be required to graduate, what does summer school funding look like when you don't have to worry about kids actually passing an exam? Because I can tell you from my experience in regional summer school, that's our number one goal all the time is to get kids through regent exams. Well, if that's not the goal anymore, how can that funding be used differently? The state has worked the last five years on something called the plan pilot which is in three Boseies and 30 districts creating brand new assessments which are related to authentic assessments and all of that's going to be provided

056to districts for free. They have some planning but and I do believe there will be a little more flexibility in the budget for mandates changing but I can't say that there any line item for the budget. >> Just to underscore that real quickly and it's perfect that you're the person that's here right now. >> So sometimes it's not a mandate but they come out with the priority right. So before the pandemic, we didn't have any counselors in our elementary buildings. We didn't have any social workers in our elementary buildings. That was a plan that we were looking to do before the pandemic hit, but that's when then Governor Cuomo had talked about the 20% cut to to education. So we were bracing for millions of dollars of a gap. And so that kind of derailed

057that. Then co then we realized we can do it. Then the co money went away. But that's that's almost a million dollars that we're paying now that we weren't before. >> And there's not a week that goes by that we don't have an elementary or middle or high school student getting an ambulance like we did today for a mental health check because students talking about self harm. And so that's where I think some parents because they're the ones that come to board meetings or they're the ones whose kids are in, you know, a lot of the the sports or band that maybe they're they're not dealing with the same level of crisis. Doesn't mean it's not happening here, but it is happening here. And so we can't eliminate that counseling supports and social workers. So

058that wasn't a mandate that the state said, "Hey, you have to have this many counselors, social workers." But for us to be able to sustain that and provide what we used to have a record number of kids that we would have they would be in major crisis and we'd have to constantly evacuate classrooms. People would call they call me they call board members. That has dwindled down significantly because we have the counselors and those kids are getting the sports that they need. >> And so I just wanted to be able to say that because even though that's not an actual mandate, that's a reality that we had to heavily invest in. >> You're preaching to the choir here, Tom. >> That's what I'm saying. Well, the reason why I said I'm glad you're here is

059you opened our eyes several years ago and then you actually updated >> things that we don't want to be number one in. Right. County is number one in suicide. We're number one in adolescent depression and anxiety, >> obesity, >> the the need for quality food and the the food deserts that we're that we're in. >> Yeah. I I guess um if I were to put it up front because I did meet with your business officials about this already, so Moren could tell you. I put together pages of hey, here are some resource considerations for you, things that you could back off of, things that you might want to add to, things that you want to think about in the future. Because for this to be done correctly, you're going to need more guidance counselors or

060school counselors because right now most of your counselors like have this list A through J and they get five minutes per year with each child. Well, if you're doing an individual pathway for a child, if you are trying to set up work-based learning experiences for them, if you are going to be counting credits differently, counting assessments differently, the person currently doing that job is going to need a lot more than five minutes per child. And I know from my experience with the high school, you know, as high school principal that lists often were put together that way. per year, you get six minutes per child, you know, and a lot of schools might look at and say, "Okay, we're gonna have to look at what we have for staffing and do we need work-based learning

061coordinators? Do we need counselors? Do we need someone to help put together these plans for kids? >> And the reality is 40% of our kids are being raised by their grandparents right now. And in some elementaryaries, it's about 60 65%. and they don't have the ability to sit with their kids like a lot of the parents do and go over all of these things, look at course cataloges and whatnot. They just don't. No. >> So, to your point, it's now expected that the school needs to to do that. >> And I think we all know that making a choice about your career and what you want to do as a senior is a little too late, right? Like that a lot of this discussion and excitement needs to happen in the middle school in in

062younger ages. Well, and I think I mean you're the one holding a pointer, so you're going to take all the bluntly responsibility of this, right? >> Really broad. >> Um, but it it's it's astonishing to me that the state is going to dictate if if you're really going to change the system, it needs to start at the top, right? And that, you know, to Christiey's point, you've, you know, the state has had three years to kind of figure out that there was a problem, right? We're here locally, you know, at at this table of elected officials because that's what we are, right? And we have a a table over there of fine fine administrators. We can figure this out. You know, the point blank as far as I'm concerned, it's just get out of our

063way. stop telling us what to do and how best to serve the students and and how to go. It's really that simple. You know, pathways and career opportunities, we're already doing that at Central Square. I mean, even if you're saying, "Well, you're going to need more counselors." Well, that's an unfunded mandate, >> Right. Right. Because a counselor counselor is pretty expensive. It's about $120,000 a year all said and done, right? You're going to say, "We're going to need three more." I mean it I mean we added a counselor here but how how you going to do a CTE and we've been working on it here for the district for a year right with Boseies but what's the progress compared to a Liverpool who's standing up a brand new school for their CTE program so you

064know there there's a lot of inequities and if you just as I see it in my nine years being on this board if you just the state just get out of the way because what happens I I lived in New York City for 10 years. I'm I'm an alum of Central Square. It's a lot different in New York City than it is in Central Square. Okay? It's a lot different in Long Island. So, if you're, you know, I had the distinct opportunity to go to the regent's board meeting with Tom and I looked in that room and listened to the speeches and I said, I could fix this if I fired every single one that would that attended that meeting that come from the state. Okay? There was more backs slapping, handgrabbing. Oh, look at

065what we've done. It has nothing to do with Central Square. Long Island has nothing to do with Central Square. get out of our way. And I know you're holding. >> So, what I could say to you is this. I've been I've been in education a while. To me, this is the most freeing of anything I've seen in my 30 plus years. So, it may not be what you're dreaming of, but it's a lot better than anything I've seen before. >> No. And I get it. And I understand one more thing to his point. >> It's our money. It's our money. It's not the state's money. They're not holding fake sales to raise funding. It comes down to funding. It comes down to great teachers and a and a great way to educate kids and to

066have >> a a a seven-year plus plan. Seven years, you're going to have seven graduating classes by that time. It just doesn't the last thing that I'll say because I know you got a great presentation is that the state's priority and I hear it all the time and that is to make sure that we can actually provide our students with the pathway of in the skills trade because we know there's a massive shortage across New York State across the country but they say that but if they really want to put the money where their mouth is and they know that both these programs really we can't afford to start it they're junior and senior year but if they really recognizes that that pathway really has to start in middle school with providing those pre-apprenticeships and

067then when the time they get to high school, there could be those kids that become our dropout rate, but they're amazing hands-on that they want to work in the skills trade that if they could literally start high school in 9th and 10th grade and we had the money to be able to do that to say if there were both these programs that that would be a gamecher not only for the kids but for all of these companies that are screaming out. You were in the room with the Chiefs when the guy were you were there right when the guy came in >> from the construction union. >> Yes. And he was saying that there's a need right now for thousands and thousands of jobs where kids will be able to walk right in $100,000 jobs

068as technicians. They they just they can't fill those jobs and it's only going to be even more when Mike Grant comes. So, if the state could recognize that and redo how they're doing their funding to say, "Okay, we're woefully underserving our school, our 700 school districts with the money that we're giving them in foundation aid, but yet we want them to accomplish A, B, and C, but we're not really giving them the money to fund a program that's adequate to accomplish that." >> Right. >> Yeah. And I it it you know, and I've never heard the administration more excited about this this getting rid of of of of the barriers and the guard rails and >> some of the barriers. I mean, it's the state. >> Yeah. So, it's >> they'll throw something at us.

069I mean, we're excited about it, but it's not >> Let's go. >> Well, >> let's go. >> But I think it's a good place to start. I mean, I >> I've had a kid in my own home, right, who was an amazing hands-on student, right? I can give that kid anything, but he can think of six different solutions that nobody else can figure out. And, you know, he's 19 years old and he just got moved up to a position, but struggled in school and he didn't struggle in school because we don't have an awesome district because we have an awesome district that when he moved here he was significantly behind in reading within a few years he was caught up in exceeding right because of what we do here but the dilemma was no matter

070how well he would test here and no matter how well he would perform in his classroom he couldn't pass the regions test right to get a region's diploma to tell him he was good enough but he was brilliant and he was passing his class and he was passing the test that we g him And as teacher just said, some kids aren't good test takers and those kids fall through cracks. So like, am I excited that they're finally recognizing that they're out of touch with what their kids need and they weren't testing them on the right stuff to begin with? Absolutely. I just wish that they would start to fund all of their bright ideas so that all of us didn't have to fulfill. But I do think it's a good place to start. And I

071will say that um when you talk about the the timeline, we've met with some of the border regions members have come to our um county meetings for superintendent and they're like, "We think it's moving way too slow." And then school districts around the state are going, "You're going way too fast." So it like you said that not every region is the same and some regions are louder and so the the feedback is has been mixed and I think that for our teachers you when you hear the rest of this I think that the approach is decent um to get change started while still giving people time to make those changes. If you know you you sit on a board you've heard of part 100 regulations. These are all of the regulations that have to be

072amended in order to make New York Inspires works. So, I like to share this just to show that it's not simply another add-on. They are changing everything from general school requirements all the way down to summer school requirements and everything in the middle. And they actually, unlike other times in my career, they actually have these scheduled like as to when they're discussing them, when they're voting on them, they have a plan um so that these changes can take place simultaneous to their timeline. So this is a busy slide, but to give you an idea of that timeline push. So, kids who are currently in 11th and 12th grade, that's cohort 2023 and prior, they're under the old system, meaning they need 22 credits and they need the five um assessments to graduate. They can get

073one of the three diplomas. And yet the one thing the state put in place, and this is just a fairness thing, the kids that graduate before this group, they had COVID exemptions for their regences. The kids that are sitting in high school with them right now in 10th grade are going to have complete exemption from all regent exams. you've got this little group of 11th and 12th graders who do not have any of those types of exemptions. So, the state did do an emergency um exemption that students can request an exemption due to major life events. Only the students that are in 11th and 12th grade. You won't need it if you're in nth and tth grade because you're not going to need an exemption. Now, the exemption language is um loose and a little

074bit liberal up to a superintendent to determine if the event is considered major. My cat got hit on the morning of the test. I was very up because the regent's exam has to be taken between this hour and this hour and you can't take it at another time, right? So there was was that a major life event or you know my dad died two months ago? I'm still processing that. I haven't been you know I can't think straight. I can't sit. It is up to superintendent to make these determinations. That's the only thing different for students in 11th and 12th grade that this exemption exists for them. Now, when you get to your kids that are currently in eighth, ninth, and tth grade, this the phase in starts. It's still 22 credits, but you'll notice

075it does not say regent exams. So, the students that are currently in 10th grade will have their diploma assessments, what it's called decoupled. Decoupled means removed from law, no longer required to graduate. and one diploma. So, kids that are in 10th grade, they'll no longer be having to choose or earn local regents or regions with advanced designation. They will earn one New York State diploma, but that diploma will have seals and endorsements that will designate differences. So something that a student did like technical endorsement, a science endorsement, every student's diploma will look a little bit different based on their skill set. Now, kids that are currently in sixth and seventh grade. For them, the new credit requirements will be in place by the time they get to nth grade. More seals and endorsements will be

076available and diploma assessments. The regences will be sunset. The difference between decoupled and sunset is this. Decoupled is remove from requirement to graduate. Sunset is cannot be used to determine whether a child passes a class. It cannot be used for students averages because they're not a zero through 100 scale. So sun suns setting the regences means they can still be used but they can't be used to determine whether a child earns credit. So that's that's what that means. And finally, by 2029, that's our current fifth graders, full implementation, their credits will be proficiency in learning standards and portrait of a graduate, one diploma, and that statewide transcript. >> And on the first one, that first column, it's important that everyone realizes, uh, Steve Pat, board president, just said that we had added a counselor to

077the high school. Here's another perfect example on why we needed to do that. So, let's say a grandparent who's raising a kid passed away, but that other grandparent doesn't realize that that could be an exemption and they're not going to do that, but the counselor knows what the kid went through, saw the kid struggled and failed the test and said they've come to me to say, "Tom, this kid's eligible for this whether the parent is aware of it or not." But again, that and that takes work with all the list of kids for them to know what's going on with their kids. >> And some of the other exemptions that we have like, you know, the safety net of a superintendent determination that requires a parent to request it, but this does not require a

078parent to request it. We find a lot of students who fell through those cracks um because their parents were not available to request it for them. So this portrait of a graduate, the portrait of the graduate is actually the anchor of the entire system. That's why you hear a lot about it. And it is um the destination for all students K through 12. And the elementary builds the base of these competencies. The middle school expands the capacity. And then by high school, you need to be demonstrating verb verbing those readiness. So the portrait looks like this and it outlines the shared vision for student success. So that idea of creative innovation, critical thinking, effective communication >> looks also familiar. >> Well, and you will you will see that the there's been controversy from people who

079are like, well, we kind of have this already. Can we keep ours or do we have to adopt the states? This these are the words that are going to be on the statewide transcript. So if if school districts have developed their own with a little bit of different wording, it will just become confusing. >> I think those are were our words 10 years ago. Global citizen, effective communicator, critical thinker. I mean >> I think they >> we're using these words now, but we had a lot more. >> Yeah. >> But it's literally looks exactly the same way as it did as the attributes and competencies of the central square learner nine years ago. So the change that they made between when they first introduced it and finalized it is that the culturally responsive sustaining education

080piece is the bullseye. That equity piece is that always in the mind they didn't want it to be a piece of the pie so that some people did it and some didn't. So it is the centerpiece. So this is competencies are being built for this and at all grade levels meaning when I used to teach social studies for example I'd say pelpeneisian war we'll talk about that for two minutes and I have to move to the next one that the curriculum was so so there was so much breath to breath to the state is now saying that instead of the that content being you know an inch deep it's now going to be you know a mile deep you know and that in the sense that we are reducing standards instead of adding to them.

081So that is a huge shift and a huge change. So, as a district, now is the installation time over the next two summers to be saying already, you know, if you've had this for nine or 10 years and other districts have too, then the leap to say where in this lesson are you using creative innovation? Where are you know that now is that time for that? Um and what the state found is that some students were reaching all the competencies and other kids were not. And they were still graduating but they didn't have the they had not reached the same competencies. And if test scores and regent exams are not available anymore in the same format, then how do you actually measure progress as a district? So the regent's exam story is like this. The

082regent's exams are going to be decoupled. It's expected to be pending the regulatory approval. There's there's pretty strong, you know, sense for approving this. However, they're not being eliminated. They're being reframed. meaning a test, you know, a standardized test can be useful for certain information, right? Um, the best system is probably going to be a marriage of standardized tests and authentic assessment. But we have created as a society in New York State, we have this certain level of pride about our regent exams. In probably the 1970s through n early 1990s there was truth in saying students that passed these at a certain level were more college and career ready. That is no longer the case. Students are passing these assessments and there is not a correlation that they are more prepared for college than somebody

083who did not pass it at the same level. But they're still good standardized tests. So, let's reframe them. If you if a school district still wants to use regent exams, they are still going to be available, but they're a resource. They're not the endgame anymore. And part of the reason is that the regent's exam needs to be an indicator amongst multiple measures that one test doesn't determine everything. So because it is a standardized test, it does not measure authentic learning, meaning application of the skills in a real life situation. So the state now says kids have to demonstrate transfer. How do they take what they learned and transfer it to something other than a standardized test question? So regences, as I said, are still available. They're just not going to be there when it comes

084to determining if you graduate and they're not going to be there in the sense of determining whether or not you pass a class. >> So how do you remain systemic? Then >> the systemic part comes from the portrait of the graduate. >> But if you're saying that the regences are available, but you don't have to take them, am I am I hearing you properly? Then what >> as a school as a school district you make the determinations about in which courses you may or may not offer that as a one form of assessment >> be straight through scheduling. Whenever we talk about college admissions they always say okay you have a math goal like a background that you want. Did you take the top level? No. And we still have some parents that I have

085professional arguments with because they want their kids to be in the top 20, >> which means nothing when they want their kid to get in a top university. They're going to go, "Wait, there were two math courses that were far more rigorous." You chose not to. So your kid can be ninth in the class compared to what? Who cares? >> Right? You're learning more in the in >> if we were a smart district, we would get rid of ranking. But that is like me touching the third rail on a subway. I fry myself. Just like when we talk about any reductions to bands and sports. >> Well, it it's just the truth. It's just the truth. And so if we were to say get rid of ranking because that would be the best, kids would

086actually take the courses that are most rigorous, not the ones that they can get a hundred in, right? >> But in a perfect world, right, their pathway would would map that out. So the goal would be to to your point your your goal would be your pathway and your success not your ranking. >> Right. Correct. >> Correct. >> Right. That that so so it's that it's that groundwork in the beginning. >> Right. >> That we're going to need these 10 counselors. >> 10. I I said you might need a counselor. Then you said three and now you say 10. >> So >> I don't know. We've never met before. But I'm just saying >> 10 or six minutes to at least seven. >> No. But I I understand what you're saying. >> Yeah. So So

087it would really hope it's not a counselor to somebody, >> right? Whatever your pathway is going to be, right? If you if you want to be an engineer, you better be taking all the advanced math and sciences courses if that's your pathway. >> But if you're not going to be an engineer, are you sitting in applied sciences and you know, it's it's whatever whatever you want to be. And I and I we've we've talked about it a lot and it's tough to look at an eighth grader and say, "Well, what do you want to be, little Johnny?" Right. Yeah. Yeah. That's that's >> I was in P I was in PEK interviews last week with eighth graders and we've now started having pictures of like what an engineer does, what an auto mechanic does, what

088and we say to the students, when you think of PEK, which picture would you pick? Like which do you see yourself doing? And that helps us immediately because sometimes kids pick the auto mechanic and they're like, "Isn't that what PEK is?" One person says,"I want to be a cosmetologist." Well, then Pekk's not the program for you. But my parents said I'd get a free degree, you know, like. So, they don't know. They don't know for sure what an engineer does in eighth grade. Some do if they have a dad who's an engineer, mom is an engineer. But when we talk about this idea of going back to your question, Miss Morin, about the the way that one thing regences did was they at the very least I mean when I was teaching regences, I knew

089exactly what to teach. I knew exactly which vocabulary was going to be on that assessment. It gave me a pathway and it gave me a way to compare kids based on how they did on that test. But I also always had authentic assessments and that's when I saw a lot of students shine differently. The number of times that I had a student with a disability that when I questioned them one on- one, they could tell me what I taught. They could tell me the theme, but when they sat down to the pen and paper test, they couldn't they couldn't show me. New York Inspire says what they share with you can be part of formative assessment. you don't have to ignore it anymore because I would be so frustrated saying I know they know it,

090right? But when it comes to the standardization piece, it goes back to portrait of a graduate and standardsbased. Now, this is rocking people's worlds at the high school level to think about standardsbased grading when we've been doing it at the elementary forever, right? But that's one of the best ways to make those some of those determinations is for us to say what are the most important standards and how did this student achieve on that standard and some of that achievement is measuring more than what the student knew at the knowledge level instead of the questions that are just multiple choice. What can they do with what they know? And we see that more through capstone projects and portfolios and internships and project-based learning and community service than we do than we do through a typical

091standardized test. So the state is saying school districts should be considering a marriage of the two. We understand that you still need a a base level of standardization. And we're not saying throw out, you know, the science of reading. We're saying how do kids apply that? Right. So, you were just talking about this, Tom, and you have not seen this slide specifically yet, but as this learning evidence expands, we have to revisit how grades are calculated. If we have students demonstrating their learning in different ways that are not on a typical zero through 100 scale, how do we decide class rank if it doesn't represent a full picture? If if a numerical average doesn't give us a full picture, weighted courses, dual enrollments, internships, how are they valued? um you know and how validictorian, saludiatory,

092honoral and academic awards will be determined in the future. These are kind of board big questions right and how students distinguish themselves for college scholarships, employment and military pathways when the target for graduation has switched. So that's this 2 to fouryear period is for school districts to be thinking about and resources will be provided for. But this slide is still all local decision. >> Well, and that's the thing. It's so outdated, but a lot of some districts still do that where at the elementary level that doesn't say B for ELA, but I had a conversation last week with a teacher was more nostalgia. It would just be easier if it said B. And I would say right, but at the elementary you there's different standards for ELA. Wouldn't you want to know is it vocabulary

093acquisition? Is it phmic awareness? Don't you want to know what your kids struggling with or do you just want to see 85? Right? Like it doesn't show what that is that they need. And then like in the high school it's the same thing is but a big part of it is still like the ranking. You know where's my kids rank? like the top five. >> When I present to kids at New Visions, they're literally they have had to have some separation for counseling the day that report cards come out because someone's like that shifted my grade by this 100th of a percent. I might not be the validictorian. and they're crying and and you know and I I don't mind saying my nephew was the saludiatoran at Mexico and he said it wasn't worth it

094a Rosanne I missed out on so much and >> that across the board >> he goes I he goes I wish I hadn't done that I wish he goes I wish I still you know did as well as I did in school he goes but I wish I hadn't kept reaching for that those extra points here and there but the goal of this is not to remove that academic excellence because what the research tells us is that authentic assessment is actually more demanding and taxing on the brain than memorization. So having to actually perform the skills that we have learned is more definitely has more rigor. So it is in in the colleges that I've met with they agree that knowing more about application of skills is very important to them. So, how do we

095make sure excellence is recognized and it's rigorous, equitable, transparent, but you want to say it's aligned to that future transcript that's going to be going to colleges and the military and employers. So, as you have more information, you'll be able to make some of those decisions. So, are we lowering standards? No. We're raising the level of demonstration of learning. Um, we need clear, credible, local measures of readiness. And some of those local measures, um, you don't have to recreate the wheel with every school in New York State doing this with the curriculum, state development networks for the plan pilot. There's going to be a plethora of resources and but supporting communication plans to families and the communities are important because we've grown up in a system where the regent has nostalgic meaning to people. You

096know the that you know we have a better system because of the regences and that that that was true a long time ago but it's not true today. When you have a residential structures teacher that they're building the slope of a roof and the kids who typically struggle in integrated algebra with Pythagorean theorem, bored out of their minds, failed it twice, but those are the kids that look like they're on a job site with their pencil in their ear making the formulas on the roof, doing the test, the water comes down the right way. I feel with inspired New York is it's given us the autonomy to be able to say all right it's not if this kid can demonstrate that >> they can earn credit >> right >> bam >> there you go the

097state is um on the in the process of and sharing with us you know that they are eliminating seat time so to say that you have to stay in a class for 40 weeks for 180 minutes some kids might need 60 weeks. Some kids might need 20 weeks. And I had kids walk into my US history class who needed zero weeks. You know, they knew more about US history than I did. You know, they could have moved on to something different. If my class wasn't a required credit to graduate, >> my autistic son can teach that history class at West Jenna. >> I would just let him talk. I'm like, "Okay, I believe you. >> You're probably right. I'm probably wrong." You know, so the elimination of seat time requirements, redefining what it means to

098earn a credit, how do you earn a credit? That we'll be getting that information. They say by the end of um this school year, the beginning of the summer, we'll be getting more information about how you what what's a credit, but these this is the statement we've received. Time supports learning. It doesn't prove it. So, every student might need a different amount of time to prove their learning. Some might need a lot less. Some might need a lot more. I know my advanced nephews were frustrated in elementary school and they would be like, "Yeah, I was teaching the other kids." Because I know from being an elementary principal, man, you have kids walk in there. Some have not held a pencil and some have written you a welcoming letter and you know and you're like

099okay I have to teach both of these kids right now same time. Um and then the opposite that some kids need more time for processing without being told they failed. You failed the class now you have to go to summer school or you know it's a standardsbased approach looks a little bit different >> and it's equitable. I say to my kids all the time, I look at them, I'm like, you guys were born on third base and you both think you thought you hit a triple. There are kids that struggle, whose parents don't read to them, don't have the academics, don't give them all of the academic supports that they're starting the race way behind. I kind of feel like this is kind of freeing districts up for the that equity piece. >> The state

100has lists of like recommendations of things you could do. You can share rosters. You can share teachers. Students can move from one grade to another dependent on where they are in specific content areas. You know that don't make it into such a big deal when a child is advanced or behind. You know that there are some of those opportunities. We're going to redefine credits, redefine the learning standards and the assessment systems, program and instructional requirements. Like something that has changed already that you've probably heard about is the um the blue ribbon commission said overwhelmingly people in New York State said kids need financial literacy. Kids need to have more information about finance. And so financial literacy has already that regulation has already been changed. There's now financial literacy requirements for next year. But they have

101left it very um loose in saying that it isn't saying only this type of teacher can teach it and it has to be in this grade. It can be taught by many teachers. It could be taught over a number of years. It could be taught in one class. It could be a business teacher. It could be a math teacher. It could be an English teacher. Who knows? You know, they're not being as strict a as before. Um, but they did put out a suggested, you know, curriculum outline of the things that they think kids need to know to be financially literate in today's society. A big piece is, you know, more and more kids are saying like, I don't know what I want to do, but work-based learning and experiential experiences tell kids it's just

102as important to know you don't want to do something as it is that you like something. or if somebody has told you for instance I went to Boseis for commercial baking all I needed was six months in there to say I like to bake but this is not what I want to do for a living and that saved my parents a lot of money you know at the culinary institute of America which is where I was supposed to be going you know and I immediately was like that's not for me >> we had a parent call us and say your career center is amazing my kid went there for nursing and I'm like oh that's what they're like no they hate the cycle of blood now they realize that's not what they Now I don't

103have to do that. >> You just saved us a ton of money. >> Now areas you might you might have to look at contract negotiations, different things like that might come up is in the idea of scheduling and staffing models with the state saying, you know, that start times can look different. You know, not everybody has to be at school at the same time if you don't want them to be. Like if if you want a lot of high schoolers have spoken to us and said, "If you ran this CTE program from 3:00 to 5, man, I'd be here every day." That 8:00 in the morning stuff, you know, like it's just that idea that like, okay, well, I'd get them here at twilight. Can I do that? Yes, you can. Where before you had

104restrictions on some of that, we're restricted. Right now, we have kids that would be great in a half a day, but the regulations say we have to have a certain number of credits and they have to be here a full day to count for state aid, but the state's now saying if if there is a reason supported by the superintendent, then a student doesn't necessarily have to be there full day to count as full credit. >> You're going to see a lot more of that. Now, when kids say, "My schedule is packed. I but I really want to take this course that now can be offered through distance learning." Then a teacher is going to say, "Well, wait a minute. I can make extra money teaching this course after school and these kids all around

105the county so it's sustainable to be able to do it that way can do it. I definitely see that will be three to four years out. We're going to see a lot more kids taking courses outside the regular school day. >> And that's that what the state's talking about with flexible learning structures. And you mentioned military earlier and when you were speaking, Tom, and you know, yet the only junior ROC in our county is Mexico, right? But Mexico has said we we'll leave a couple seats open for others in the county who might be interested. you're one of the only one of only two districts in this county that have a business program. Don't think that in the other seven districts there's not kids who are like, I'd like to pursue business, right? So, what

106does that look like when we take the positive resources of each place in our region and we share a little bit, right? Because then kids can reach the goals and have those flexible learning opportunities. So the learning will no longer be confined to seat time in Carnegie units. What does work-based learning look like? What is your scheduling, transportation, staffing, partnerships? Who gets access to the opportunities? You might need to revise things and policies about gradings and transcripts moving forward depending on what yours look like. So I already talked about three diplomas going down to one. Students will have multiple ways to show readiness. So the thing is is that this um the diploma becomes the credential, the transcript becomes the evidence. Kids will be carrying a transcript around a lot more than they would be

107a diploma because the transcript is being called the multi-dimensional learner profile. So the idea that this is the profile of everything you've done, what you've accomplished. So it goes from this single metrics to recognizing patterns. So how will distinctions be communicated? You know, how are you going to differentiate yourself? Now we could have unintended consequences of going back to a system that tracks kids if we don't have the counseling pathways ready, you know, for kids to to achieve what they want to achieve. and we talked about some of the regionalization opportunities which quite frankly we play together a lot nicer in this part of the state than they do in other parts of the state. You know, I've been in I present all across the state. I've been in places where county people even people

108within counties they won't even talk to one another, you know, but here like you know when we didn't have enough people to have a hockey team in every district with okay well then we'll have a county hockey team, right? We tend to be a little better at sharing here. Your board lens New York Inspires is not just an instructional shift. It has implications for time, staffing, transportation, partnership, technology, policy, and equity. I do think the state is trying to measure that with releasing the grip on a lot of those regulations to allow districts to have a bit more freedom in making determinations about what a credit looks like, what a pathway looks like. So the this is a lot of words, but these are things like if I were to say to you, these are

109things you might be thinking about in these buckets. What does the student experience look like? What's their voice going to be? Instruction, people in partnerships. Not all the businesses in our region aren't going to want nine districts calling them and saying, "Hey, I need to get internship." So, we've had that talk about they've actually told us that. They've said, "We don't even have a person to like manage that. Is there a person who could manage that for the region or at least help organize all of these different opportunities every school district wants with all of our businesses? You know, so there's lots of things to talk about with those partnerships. The state is really recommending more faculty externships and we're doing that now with getting faculty out into manufacturing sites and businesses. sometimes for a

110few days, sometimes for a few weeks in the summer, and they come back and they're like, "My curriculum makes whole different sense." Now, >> we sent a bunch of teachers to the OCC's clean room for Micron Clean Room, and even the English teacher came out with great ideas. The the whole idea of project-based learning that starts with a driving question going back to what we were doing 20 years ago, right, with that. Yeah. And you know, so if you have a new transcript, that means we need a new, you know, we need new systems for um how the that will be done and what does scheduling look like and equity and access. So you have all these things coming together, but overall, you know, I know we've taken a lot of time tonight, but it's

111an exciting time in my opinion to be in education because I've never heard the state speak so positively about teachers before and say, you know, our teachers need more autonomy. our teachers need the opportunity to teach. You know, that idea that I feel like they're elevating the work that educators already do. They're supporting deep learning, more professional judgment, and meaningful outcomes for every student. So, I think it can bring coherence and equity. I'm hoping it does, you know, but time will tell as these um you know, amendments are coming to regulation. But as we speak now, they've kept their word on everything they've done so far. But I I don't know what the future has in store for us. >> Well, I think any program that that it that that puts more power in a

112teacher in the classroom is is a is a positive. I know it is for for for this district. We have fantastic teachers. if you would just let them go, >> let them do what they want to do, >> we would be better for it because it it's just um there there's great things that happen within this district every single day and it it's you know it's we're we're handcuffed in my opinion of of what we have to do based on what needs to be done and anytime that you know I found in over you know throughout my career is that you you come out with this this wide casting authority and then what happens is that it incrementally comes back in because well this district down here did this, this district down here did that.

113So we're going to have to tighten the reigns where really the freedom in professional educators should be far reaching as far as I'm concerned. So >> I think Tom would tell you that I tend to I break rules more often than other people and I've always been comfortable with that. um it's kind of who I am. So when I see this, I took the PEK program and I I uncuffed everybody and I said, "What do we need to teach these ninth and tth graders who are going to be under these new rules?" And that's why my English and science teachers work together. Now, people will be like, "English and science?" They created the coursework for those kids called environmental literature. and they're outside and they're inside and they're doing plays and you're seeing kids do

114things that I would never imagine especially ninth grade males doing but they absolutely are meeting all of the standards in environmental literature which typically would not have been an allowed course. So I do believe that the opportunity will be there to you know unlock those cuffs. New York State wastes so much money, millions of dollar, billions of dollars on things that it's it's crazy when you look at it. But education, and I've often said, I come from a family, my two brothers and sister are teachers, my c 12 cousins are teachers, my parents were teachers. if they made teaching an 11th month position and put funding in it that teachers would be have substantial pay increases that were were going to be able to keep hiring and retaining the best of the best. But a

115really good teacher will tell you that four days of professional development, right? It's really three days and then the half days that if we had another month that we were able to then say, "Okay, this is what it's going to be." Man, we could do amazing things. The state needs to recognize that and say education should be the very most important impact I think of budget along with safety. >> I have principles looking at the job offers that kids at CTE are getting and they're considering leaving the occupation. You know, we have we had a student leave. You know, they don't even know how to completely read the contract they got from National Grid because in there there was a clause that was mandatory overtime at time and a half and financial literacy. The principal

116sat down and said, "That means you're going to make 110 $110,000 a year." And he's like, "Okay, I think I want to go and work that job, too." So, I get it. >> Do you know if any other states have implemented a learning >> dynamic that this is? >> Yeah. So, Michigan has um been pretty far advanced in standardsbased education and the state has been visiting Michigan, some areas in Maine and I'm forgetting one of my states, but they're they're not the first to do this and they've been watching carefully with the progress in at least two other states. >> So, is there opportunity for this to speed up? I mean, if another state has already implemented it and it's working, >> why does it take us nine years to put this into place in

117our own state? >> I think what happens is that um we have a New York State education department and then we have a New York State legislature obviously and and some of the regulations are also attached to law and you have to get the legislature to vote on things, you know, it's a process. the board of regents meets once a month and you've been to a meeting and getting things >> accomplished >> getting I mean there's times it's like you come out of a meeting and a lot's been accomplished and you don't even realize it's a lot's been accomplished right um so I think that it also is the idea that the teachers on the committees said we need time because you want us to teach kids currently from this these rules schools and then

118you want us to be switching at the same time and to what Tom just said we don't have free time to do that to make the substantial changes and the state has had to make is having to make substantial changes to its own documents >> right but what you're essentially saying it's like we need to get the politics out of education I mean it's the fight the infighting and everything you can't accomplish you can't get the regulatory changes. You can't get the legislation to get on board with certain things because there's too much other political stuff getting in the way. And that's what I I feel like to to Steve's point, they need to just get out of the way and let teachers teach the education. >> The regulation piece that I showed you, >>

119that's 100% board of regents. >> so they can accomplish that like in their next two years. >> Uh, future teachers for New York. Is this already being taught at the at higher education level to set them up for success >> soon is informed. >> And the state within New York inspires also has a section on new requirements for teacher education systems that have to be implemented in the next two years. >> Okay. >> And um the folks at Sunni Swiggo when I was there they've already started. I mean because quite frankly folks a as much as they might want to say that kids aren't ready for college the kids tell us well all they do is stand there and talk at me like it's not it's it's actually I think high school was more creative

120right they are going through their own revolution at Sunni right now because >> they have lecture halls and so they had a we had a huge discussion in professional development on how they create authentic assessment how they teach teachers how to do authentic assessment. And so they're working on it and they're aware that their um that their teacher education, school psychology, you know, all of those programs need to shift along with this and they have representatives on um all of the committees. There's subcommittees now that are working on these different changes. >> I would be more worried about the efforts for those that have to educate a different way than the kids adopting us. >> Kids coming up, they don't know what they don't know, right? >> Resilient. >> But if people stay with how

121they've always taught >> and have the same expectations and they don't change, >> they will not be successful. >> Correct. Without a doubt. And in every presentation that I've done to teachers, I have a few loud voices of people who are scared. >> Sure. You know, and I and I get it because when I was teaching, my worth was measured by my regent scores. You know, it was frequently I was brought in and like, you know, high fives were in, you got 95% or you got 90, you're doing a great job, you're a good teacher based on my regent scores. So, if we have if we've told people that's what defines a good teacher, and then we say those regentes are going to be gone, of course, it's scary, right? And if you're near the

122end of your career, maybe you're like, I'm not I can't do another change right now. I've been do. So, I think that that's another part of the timing >> is bringing people on board. >> We went through this six years ago when Aaron completely revamped this to the science of reading. There were veteran teachers that were like, "Wait a minute, I do popcorn reading all the time." Things that like literally hurt kids to do right in front of their their peers. >> We changed that. And when we changed that, it was to get the buy in from those veteran teachers that never taught reading that way. And then once we did that to fidelity, the scores took off. Kids were actually able to take that information and transfer their learning or before they weren't able

123to. Now we're doing that with math. But it's it's a huge shift. >> Yeah. >> I appreciate your time so much as I'm sure everyone has today. I just want to change my hat for one second into a parent hat because I have two different kids in two different buckets. >> So what would you say to parents to prepare like for us to in the next I have a freshman and seventh grader for for example. What would you say to them to say hey we should be looking for this like to kind of prepare for the next steps because it is change and it is new and those are scary. I think that the best advice is going to be um related to not students being disrespectful, but students being able to voice their needs

124and their what they need to learn and what their desires are a little bit more. Now, that might rub people the wrong way sometimes, but um this plan does have a lot more student agency in it in the sense of, you know, could you run your own could your child run their own parent teacher conference? You know, like really examine themselves and where their strengths and weaknesses are. That's that's a skill that if kids can get that skill, they'll be very successful in this system. The ability to selfassess is huge and being able to not be ashamed or embarrassed of where you need to improve. That accepting that you know mistakes when we say a mistakes happen and lead to growth but we've been in a system where a mistake has led to negative impact.

125So if we have younger kids coming up I would you know say that trying and not being perfect is okay. it generally leads to growth. Um, and the idea of being willing to try things that make you feel a little uncomfortable, like you don't think that you'd ever want to do that, that at least putting some effort in um to get out of your comfort zone. I think those would be that would be helpful advice to anybody entering this system. students with disabilities. I mean, you're still um this system was partially created for those students, right? So, the idea that um what does achievement look like? What does meeting your goals in your IEP look like? Is it over multiple classes? Is you know, the timing, the amount of time that you get services, all

126of those things will will also be shifting. >> I think like the old system prepared kids and the final goal was getting to the stage. The new system is postgraduation. What are they prepared for? Where the old way was like the the factory model and it was like your goal is to get up there. Then those kids would they'd walk out with their parents, drive home, >> what are they doing, right? >> Where now what I I don't care when they see our graduation, right? What I care about is in two years and four years and six years, where's that kid? Is that did that kid was he one that went to city Boseies? Did are they working like the one I bumped into at Driver's Village making $100,000? He was Bosey's kid. Struggled in

127traditional school, found his niche, right? I care far more about that than the kids that just were handed the diploma. You know what I mean? And I think the new way is going to prepare us. >> Yeah, absolutely. The flexibility in itself where we know each each and every kid in that bucket. Yeah. >> And said, I'd love to go to Bose as an eighth grader. I'm acting out and I'm being really bad in class, but I can weld something. >> I can build tree house really well. So, I get that, too. And I also have a my ninth grader. We're already talking about all of these things, and she's like terrified of a test, but she can self assess and and have a conversation with you just like an adult and is completely ready

128to be a secretary somewhere because she's that smart in that way. >> Yeah. So, I think that those things actually will be honored more for her class as a ninth grader and the assessment options and things that she'll need to graduate are going to look a lot different than what any of us who attended a New York State school in the past, you know, 50 years have had. And it starts with those current 10th graders and and behind them >> Yeah. And um the information I shared with you today was shared on March 9th with every um teacher and teaching assistant in the county in a presentation in which I was filmed. And it was it went out to everybody with a facilitator's guide and people like Erin have asked that every time that there's

129an update that I get filmed and then it comes out to the whole region. And so they've established a YouTube channel and whenever there's a major update we'll be Boseies will be putting out the um updates for ev anybody to see or hear about what the updates are. Okay. >> Well, thank you for your time. I know that went a little longer than thousand questions. >> It's okay. I >> Yeah. Well, welcome to this board. >> Oh, that's it's fine. It's quite normal for me, but >> Thank you so much. >> You're welcome. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. On to item E. Can I get a motion to accept item E in its entirety? >> A motion. >> Any discussion? All those in favor. On to item F, consent agenda. Could I get a motion

130for the consent agenda to be in its entirety? >> Any discussion? All those in favor? Okay. Gee, on to reports. Student rep, did you get all that? We're going to give you a test now. >> I'm sure. First, I'd like to congratulate the board on really um showing our community love and really coming out for our 26 class and offering some sort of solution to our prom situation. I completely understand that safety is our number one priority and that even though we all truly wanted to have prom that we can't be put in a situation like that where something could happen. and to see our community come out and give us all that food and the DJ and all the staff that came to support. It's definitely really upbringing to see everybody come together and

131have our 26 class have something. So, I really appreciate it. Um I'd like to start on um all of the events that Boseies has coming up regarding um either student exams that are coming up to get their certifications and um the celebrations. Um, we have PEK um, OCC graduation coming up. We have the National Technical Honor Society induction ceremony coming up, the nursing assistant pinning ceremony, the PEK senior recognization, the Asiggo County NHS induction, the exception ed end of the year celebration, the CTE end of the year ceremony, the CTE advantage end of the year ceremony, the public safety end of the year ceremony, new visions end of the year ceremony, bridges end of the year ceremony, um care and end of the year celebration in CSMS drive 8ighth grade moving up ceremony. So we

132congrat all of our fellow students in city Boseies that are excelling their education and um going to begin starting their workforce. Um I'd also like to um say that city Boseies did a military fair um this past week and it went super well. All of the students are really into it and exploring all of the different careers. Especially if you're in cosmetology or in any sort of field that doesn't really involve military, it's nice to get that point of view and be able to go out and talk to people and have the opportunity to see a different window that you can have. And the military has so many benefits that it's able to show kids a new path. Um we had a Skills USA um competition came up. All of our Central Square students really

133excelled in it and has really shown leadership coming out and finding new ideas and creativity to be able to complete their activity, whatever the event was. Um we had a job fair at the high school that went really well. All of the students really had some positive comments about it and were really able to explore their different career paths and find opportunities to get connected with people that they couldn't be connected beforehand, especially with our younger students who are still exploring their careers. It was a nice um outlook being able to figure out what they need to do to be able to move on into whatever field that they are going into. Um, we have the end of the year of sports and we have um events coming up. We have regences. We had our

134um advanced classes have their exams this week. So, um, wish them all the best of luck on the results. I know that's really scary and a lot of them are really nervous, but I wish them the best of luck on the results. Um, we have the fifth grade leadership conference coming up. Really excited about that. We're really trying to involve our community and be able to show them a new way to be a leader and to be able to see that there's different parts in being a leader, whether it's community service or being able to just have a small part in a small say that can go a very long way. Um, we have talent show coming up which is super fun. We've had a lot of new people come out and wanting to do

135it, you know, to help our community, you know, see a new side that, you know, is not just, you know, drama club or, you know, a lot of kids are coming out and really supporting this idea. Um, and we had our blood drive which went super super well and a lot of our staff members came out and really showed some love in our community. Also donated a lot of food. Um, I think that's all I have. >> Excellent. That was a great one. >> Thank you. >> Yes. And I don't know how many more you're going to do, but I just want to compliment you on I remember your first time doing that and now and your growth is just spec spectacular. >> Great job. nursing and also her resume was really good. I did

136her senior interview. So, I'm just so proud of you >> and you had an opportunity to be to be like a model student for Boseies, right, to really show that's an amazing pathway to be on. So, I'm glad whenever you have the opportunity, you're always incorporating that as well. I think that's wonderful. >> Okay. So, thank you. Um, board members report. I'll um I'll open up the floor um to what folks want to say and then I'll maybe wrap it up with what I did last week. If anybody would like to speak, >> I assume Tom's going to speak about Saturday, so I don't think I'm not going to waste the public's time speaking about it. >> Uh I just wanted to make one quick comment for the middle school uh credit for what they

137were able to put on with the school musical. uh was there Friday and Saturday uh standing room only and staff jumped right in, made room for for everybody to be able to uh enjoy the show and seeing the staff there supporting the kids uh went very well with everything happening in the community. So kudos to that school. >> Yeah, I was going to say I heard that too. So I hope that's in the works for the future. I had um last week I met with um with uh Mr. WeatherUP and uh Jay Martino to talk about the SPOS's and have them it it was it was a fine meeting. They said hard no about funding it through the county. But um yeah, big surprise. But it um what they charge I I just want to

138say to Tom, I said, you know, we get it at a much better rate, a more reasonable rate going through such a square than what the county charges. They're about they're about 25 to $30,000 more um per SPO. So, you know, when the numbers that they charge and then if you know when I was talking to them about it, the overall total cost that it would be to the county would be would be a lot of money. I think still welldeserving public safety should be up should be at the county level. I expressed that to them. Um, but they they just weren't really buying it. But it was it was it was a good meeting. It was nice. I've never been to the county exec's office um up in Asiggo, but it was um it

139was a good meeting and well represented to sit to talk to two alums, you know, from Central Square. You know, they understood it, but they just didn't have the money. So, >> so they said that it was like a funding issue and not something that they just don't think that they could sell or >> Yeah, it was just it was it it would because he says he goes, "Do you do you realize what my jeopardy would be is if I said, "Well, we're going to pay for Central Square, but we're not going to pay for Palaska and Fulton." And and it was funny because the mayor of Fulton was right after me talking about their shortfall and their budget and and all it is. He goes, He goes, "You're coming with a small request, Steve.

140Your next one up is is going to be pretty big." So, I mean, I I get I get their position. Not that I agree with it, but that's just me. But, >> well, not for nothing. There's one common aspect in all of these budgetary crisis that are happening and it's what the state's giving us. um what the state's giving the county, what the state's giving the school districts, they don't have the money to pay for the SPOS's and and we will find the money to pay for the SPOS's, but we don't have the money to pay for other things because of that. So, you know, I mean, whoever's got to make the cuts to make the payments, the the commonality among all of this is the amount of the amount of funding that's coming from

141the state and where the money's going. >> Yeah. He he said that his budget 65% of his budget is statemandated. They have to do it. >> Weather up. Yeah. That that 65% of their budget is mandated by by the state. So they're really what they have left over is just not >> Well, it's like what we're dealing with 75%. >> Well, and that's that's exactly the point is that the state tells you how much money they're going to give you and they tell you most of what you have to accomplish with it, which usually eats all of it. And then there's all these other things that everybody wants or or really should be mandated or needed, but you know, and we have to find where within that where within that area we can make cuts

142to pay for the things that are mandated. >> Um, you know, while also providing all the other opportunities and, you know, again, it's just the commonality. I'm going to tell you what you have to do and I'm going to tell you how much money you have to do it with. >> That's it. You know, and there's no other way. I I also have a business. If if I have a business and I know I need to do X, Y, and Z and it's going to cost, you know, this much money, I find another way to get the money. We can't do that. We have two sources really in the grand scheme of things. Taxpayers, which the state tells us what we can do there, and how much money the state's going to give us, which

143they also like to tell us exactly what they're going to do there. So, I mean, there's no other outlet to to find it. And so, unfortunately, we're all in the same boat. and you know he doesn't have the money and I hear that we also obviously again we're finding the money for the SPOS's but that takes it away from something else. So at the end of the day we need more money. >> Correct. But it was a big you know swing and a miss on on on that part. So I just thought I'd let everybody know that that I did to go up. I did meet with them and you know >> Yeah. them to hear you. >> Y >> and it's at least good for them and they're advocating that you know the kids

144are suffering because we're not giving enough money. We don't have enough to give them >> at the end of the day, right? No matter what, no matter what we do, it falls back on some missed opportunity that these kids can have because >> but there is one critical difference between the county and us. The county doesn't have to have the taxpayers approve what their tax rates are going to be. So >> I can slide that right into mine now. You ready? >> Yep, I'm ready. Yes. >> So I was actually going to say this part last, but one of the ne uh one of the things we're going to be talking about executive session because it is has to do negotiations which does require there is the SPOS's. So um it was brought to our

145attention and none of the SPOS's have said to me um hey you know I want this much more money or anything like that. They're standup people. The whole thing that came out that we were the first to have special patrol officers at the beginning of all these school shootings starting about nine years ago was that a a school resource officer is a a police officer that's not retired. And to get one of those in a school was $250,000 for each one. So when I was over at FA uh ESM as a elementary principal, they did contract through uh Manlas to be able or not Manlas uh Syracuse East Syracuse, one of the agencies, the police agencies where it was $250,000 because they were still working. So the district was responsible for their health benefits, the

146whole nine yards, where it was very feasible for us to be able to hire a special patrol officer who had to be a retired police officer and and start them with pay them $45,000. And we weren't responsible for any of their health benefits because they were retired. They were already getting that from the state. So we were able to get three. Then we had pandemic money and we were like, you know what, we can afford to have one in each building. six and then more school shootings. What you just saw recently with Clinton Middle School where thank god that father overheard his daughter late at night on the phone and say saying that what you're saying there's going to be a school shooting and he reported that. So I bring this up because now ours

147are at 45,000 to start. So three of them are up to 50,000. The county sheriff's department funds the SBO program for all of the school districts that don't have a village police that you need to be able to have what we have where they're certified with their guns and all of their requirements. And they're starting them at 65,000. So you can say, hey, you know, people love Central Square. I think that was just evident on Saturday that they love being a part of that. The SPOS's were calling me. What a great community. With that being said, when everyone has bills and rising costs of everything, there's a huge difference between 45,000 and 65,000, right? Um even if it is their second career after retirement, that's still a huge uh discrepancy. So, we're looking now at

148what we can do knowing that we've got to make more of a compensation so we don't lose another one to be able to go and we're closer to home but also make considerably more. But you you hit the nail on the head. People can vote on our budget. They don't vote on the other ones. At the end of the day, things are also going to have to get reduced or cut. So, we have our priorities and we know school safety is paramount. No one questions that. If we removed an SPO from one building, there's no way that I or any of the board can ever say that we weren't reducing safety and security because we would be. The person wouldn't be there. And all the research shows and that if that horrible day ever happened

149literally it's down to the minute of saving lives. So if that person could put you know put that risk down that just saves student lives and staff lives. So, we know that that can't be, but that also goes in there with the counselors and the social workers of what they're doing because in a perfect world, the parents would utilize those resources outside of school. But we don't live in a perfect world and we have more and more grandparents trying to raise their kids. And all of these issues are happening. And we have an amazing counseling support team here at school that deal with such highlevel needs where kids are literally it seems like daily being rushed to uh CPEP at St. Joseph Hospital because they're legitimately after a whole survey showing that they're at risk

150of killing themselves. That's huge. So to your point, there are things that we will have to reduce to stay competitive in those priority areas. That's one of the things that we will be talking about. But shifting to something a little bit more upbeat and happier, the following spring scholar athlete varsity teams in 2026. And I for anybody in the audience that isn't familiar with the qualifications for a um a scholar athlete team. That means that over 75% of the team has over a 90 average. We have some pretty large teams. So that's impressive. I will say I don't know any other district or high school in the region that has had as many scholar athlete teams as we have. Baseball, boys and girls track and field, boys tennis, flag football, girls golf, girls lacrosse, and

151softball all had the scholar athlete recognition, team recognition, which is amazing. And that's that's a testament not only to those parents that say you need to learn responsibilities whether it's a band parent or sports parent. It's interesting our band parents those kids the average is like a 97 GPA. So how they do that in practice 60 hours a week in band is pretty remarkable. Um so there's that. The next ago county athlete of the week was Emily Michaels varsity flag football team. Um that was pretty cool. She was showcased. She was interviewed. She was so articulate um talking about you know how she started with softball and then this became a sport and it's really flourishing. Love seeing her out there on the news in collaboration with MJ Quentynville HME social worker um and saving

152face barber. Do you guys have these pictures in front of you of these kids with their haircuts? >> No. >> Um and two local hair stylists. They provided free haircuts for 17 MH students. >> That's awesome. And as you can see, these kids. Yeah, there you go. Scroll down a little bit. The one little guy loves his mohawk. >> No, go up. Go up. >> I have an opposite mohawk >> right there on the top right. >> Oh, I see him. >> Yeah, he was love showing me that. >> And Steve wanted to know he he has an opposite mohawk. He >> I have an opposite. Yeah. Good count. >> Um they Yep. And uh students had a snack, worked on homework, and played games with our teachers teachers who volunteered to stay after for

153this while they waited for their turn. It was an awesome event and they are hoping to provide it a few more times throughout the school year. MJ is phenomenal. Um, one of our social workers, we always talk about Joe Moscow. We also have other social workers that do a tremendous job. Um, one other quick thing, uni, well, two things. I want talk about the what happened on Saturday, but unified basketball. I'm just blown away how many community members and students and former students come back to watch unified basketball. If you're not familiar with that, it's a team that has special education students u that are have serious impairments, disabilities that are partnered with just general education students. And I got to tell you, my hats off to these students. Uh Preston Lacy was a perfect

154example. Just watching him and some of our other GenEd students really kind of take these special education students under their wing, it brings tears to everybody in the audience. And it's not about us. Like the last one was us versus Swiggo. The kids on both sides don't care about who's on what team. It's so fun. And for those parents that have the high need special education children to see them being able to compete is is what every parent should be able to have regardless of what their children are are going through. So those unified games are great. There's another one coming up I believe on Friday or th what day is it this? >> Wednesday. >> It's Wednesday. Perfect. Um senior ball. So, I just want to give a quick just real quick synopsis of

155what happened. I had sent an email out to staff, but parents probably don't know that I this was brought on my radar at like nine o'clock in the morning because I have a nephew who's police officer in SPD. He's the same nephew that was Michael Jensen's partner on that day in April 14, 2024. If the if the the whack job guy came to the other side of the car, my nephew would have been the one that was killed. He went to the front of the car and shot my nephew's partner, Mike Johnson, who has been at my parents house more times than ever when he was alive to get Sunday dinner with the Kolabo. Just a great person. So, the reason why I was aware of this is I found out from my police friends

156that two officers were shot, but it wasn't Jimmy. And so, I was able to quickly call my sister and my mother who would go into panic mode knowing that he was working down there. And so, that's when I found out. And then I got a call from the police chief and he kind of put it in my mind because yes, I realized that senior ball was that night, but I didn't even connect the dots yet that it was at the on center a block away. I live by like a two hours saying get to the on center. Like that's how I operate, especially on the weekend with so many other balls in the air. So I was able to find out it wasn't him. But then it was like this guy had barricaded himself shooting

157a shotgun out the window. It got to the point where I I was talking with Ryan McMahon on the phone. Kudos to him uh for calling me up knowing that Okay. And I'll just add that um there's no two people that can push stuff harder than Christie and Casey. I I you you guys are unrelenting. I'm telling you. It was unbelievable. What what a what an event. So proud. Um could I get a motion for item H in its entirety? Any discussion? All those in favor? I will make a motion that the Central Square School District Board of Education hereby move into executive session to discuss matters leading up to the tenure of one particular person in the hiring of a special patrol officer and salary with no action to follow. Those are solid words

158for that table over there, I'm sure. >> I'll second. Any discussion?