001After that exam, it is administered by Nate. So, they actually physically come in here and uh Mrs. Penny seems like she she's familiar with this one. So, they do come in, they administer the exam, they proctor the exam. Uh they just need us to do the setup for the exam. They are very clear. They they they help generate a letter that I send out that I sent out to families that basically goes over the procedure. They do tell families that they they are, you know, they are asking them to participate if there's something that they are very concerned about. they have the option to not participate. Um, but that's been communicated and I'll continue to once again do that for anyone that's missed the email in that in that eighth grade as well. Um, as
002it is, uh, you know, it is different. It is the first time I think in in 24 years I've seen it. Um, I know it's been it it kind of works its way around. It's been in certain places. So, um, we are, you know, we're always a partner in education to to people that support children and and we look, you know, we we look to support data and hopefully help build the nation's report card. Um, and so I just want thought I'd throw that out there as it was pretty new to me in terms of, uh, something that we we've received. Tomorrow, uh, a counselor from CEK will be here to talk to our 10th graders. Um, this is one this is really the first step in the process with CEK. Um we do have
003procedures which we will communicate to CEKC families down the road um as stu as as CEKers go out on their visits and we'll then kind of say hey you know CEK um is is an amazing program but if students are attending CEK it's very important for us that they're attending CEK because they really are interested in something that's going to help them advance them towards a college and career readiness path. Um, so we like to make sure that they're that that that they understand what they're getting into. It's a huge commitment over two years. Um, and that they understand that um, you know, you need to also be a very good student here at Chester Academy to make sure that you are on track for graduation and you're, you know, you have really good attendance
004because the district makes a tremendous investment in anyone that goes to CEK. Uh, so we will be starting that process uh, tomorrow. Um the Oh, one thing that I I I really love and everyone had a chance to kind of slide through here today is that what a great job by buildings and grounds who worked with our uh our partners in in the the construction I say our construction partners to really finalize our safety project and have our new entryway, our secure entryway. We're all learning it and how to you know use the phone and press the button. There's all kinds of different buttons to let people in, different doors. Um, but the goal of that is that we create a we create a secure area where we're where we're having people in the building,
005the doors closed, everyone is kind of in a in a secure space, that we're doing our transaction through the window, we're taking people's ID, we we screen every ID that comes into the building to make sure that everything is always safe and that our students are safe for when they're getting picked up. that we're making sure that this is uh specifically someone that's approved to pick up somebody and that um you know Chester Academy who's always dedicated to safety is always just a little bit safer now. So Matt D. Roza and his team I believe were here almost every day over the break um you know except they they they took off the 25th um like many people but were here just about every day and just doing just about everything because they had to
006be here with the construction. So they were finding other tasks to do in addition to the construction and uh really appreciative of that. So thank you Matt. Um congratulations to to you the board as well and Mrs. O'Hara on the fields project because I haven't been up here since the Fields Project has passed. The Chester Union Free School District intercolastics athletics project. What an accomplishment. Um, you know, I was here when when we had our our last vote and the community, you know, and we're here for the community. We're here to listen to the community and the community spoke pretty loudly of what it was looking for if we were asking for a facility like this. And, you know, and so a lot of Mrs. O'Hara was was great about really looking at those concerns
007that were from the past and trying to really use information, speak to people, speak to different groups and to formulate a plan that was what people really wanted and and um you know something that was on campus, something that involved the track, you know, something that involves multiple sports being able to play so that you know so that we can play soccer and football and hopefully lacrosse and and have track meets and and and it really is an awesome opportunity uh for the community as well to come and and and you know sometimes it's sometimes if you know we have an amazing trail but sometimes you want to train and you want to go on the track and you want to run a couple of month not me but you know others others might um
008and and this gives you a nice opportunity to train and so we're we're really appreciative to the community for passing that so thank you um it's a great opportunity for our students once again uh to to echo Miss Bosch. Uh Sepsa had an incredible holiday shop here at Chester Academy. I mean, they brought in a lot. I was really appreciative and impressed by by the work. Our students really took a lot of took full advantage of getting a little holiday shopping done during the lunch periods. So, we're hoping that's something that will continue to Thank you, Sepsa. Um and then finally, uh not here tonight and with Danny Moshart will be our junior board representative. He's already been approved by the board of ed. Danny has a wrestling meet tonight. He's one of our star
009wrestlers. He's up at Auntie Ora. It just happened to fall on a meeting night. He came into my office very serious and professional to inform me that he would not be able to get here tonight and he apologized and that there's only one other meet that will interfere and otherwise he's clear for the rest of the year. So Danny's very responsible. Um I'm really looking forward to him joining the team. get one for the guys up here, you know, and uh you know, otherwise we are, you know, Danny's uh I think that he'll bring a great perspective as well, especially as we're moving forward with our our field project and and uh you know, a lot of just of another student view as well. Um Danny attends CEK. Danny's a high achieving uh student in
010our building and so we're looking forward to him joining the board. He just wanted to send his regrets for not being here tonight. And uh I'll take any questions from anybody >> really quick. Um two things on buildings and grounds and yes shout out to them because I know we had like weather during the break and while most of us were at home the buildings and grounds across you know the schools were in making sure that things were not falling apart in our buildings while we're gone. So definitely a shout out to buildings and grounds. Um, and then just to clarif uh just clarify or just for parents know if a student is absent on the day of their NATE testing um do they have to do makeup? >> No. >> They're only coming in
011here once. [laughter] >> I also have a comment or thought about the CEK program. I know that students have to make a decision on whether they're going to go full-blown academic or go the CEK way because the commitment is, you know, really critical. But just we're living in a in a world where having multiple streams of income or multiple ways to earn a living are important. So if there's ever a consideration to have for those who decided to pursue, well, I'm going to I'm going to go to college because that's what's right for me right now, but sometime down the line, I would like to learn a trade or pick up a trade. If there's some kind of conversation or connection that can be had at that level with those students, I think that would
012be helpful. >> I think too with with the trades, the trades are unmatchable for us to do. we can't do construction here, you know, we we can't do heavy equipment. There are certain HVAC. There are certain things that we can't do here. There are a lot of programs and where we involve the education where we'll have a student that might, for example, come in and say, you know what, I really want to be a vet. And then they'll look and they'll say, so there's a great vette program. And so what we'll do is we'll sit down and say, okay, so what does a vette do? And let's look at you want to be a vet. So where are you going to need to go to school? What are they requiring? You know, what type of
013courses are going to help you get there? and we let them make an educated decision based on those requirements. So, it's really all dependent on on what the student kind of selects and chooses and then we we sit down with every student that once they make their their selection and they're interested in going to CEK and we kind of then go through that to make sure they understand what that that really looks like or that that's the correct path. you know, one of the ones I I use and there, you know, when students go to, for example, law and leadership at at CEK, there's a lot of avenues you can go in the law and leadership world, whether it's forensics or a lot of things, but if somebody says, "Hey, I really want to be
014a captain in the New York State Police one day." One of the things I'll tell them is, and some people don't think about, like, then you need to be a really good test taker as well. You need to be really observant. You need to be able to understand, you know, what they're looking for when they test you to be a captain in the state police or to move up the ranks and how your degree through college also helps you achieve those areas and rank in certain organizations. So these are things that kids might not think about, but it's important that we are able to as their career adviserss, you know, to be able to say like, oh, you know, it would really benefit you to have a four-year degree at least if you want to
015go into this particular field or, you know, to uh to understand that that your your higher level, you know, reading or public speaking might be something that benefits you, you know, if you're looking to go into that field. So, um, or you know, or this is the perfect trade because everything you have on the table right now tells us that this will be a great avenue of success for you because the trades right now are in real desperate need. There's a lot of opportunities out there. So, uh, my biggest thing is that just people are able to make the informed decision. >> I actually had a CEK question also uh because I know in years past some of the programs are very competitive. They fill up very quickly. Do we know if now that Boseies
016is in the middle of completing their own cattle improvement project and they've expanded the campus, do we know if there's going to be more seats available for some of those programs? Have they indicated if >> So Harry, you look like you're ready to jump in. I get >> Please, please go ahead. [laughter] >> Never get me to stop talking. Um yeah, Boseies has actually there's going to be additional opportunities with programs that they offer. Um but I did want to make mention specific to um entering into the trades. Mr. Flanigan has uh with his staff a significant pro our internship program and actually we had a student who is um now has has joined our facilities team through her participation in electrical internship. So she had done uh she had learned both residential and commercial
017and uh was looking to go the union route and and is still is uh heading in that direction but getting additional experience following her graduation and and is working matter of fact did the electrical um was on the team that did the electrical for um all the wiring uh for the digital access to our classrooms. So um in addition to CEK sometimes CEK doesn't offer those opportunities and Mr. Flanigan exactly in his conversation directs um to to some of those opportunities even with law enforcement. We have internships in law enforcement. So, um it's really that balance of what's what's the best fit to Mr. Flanigan's point >> and which also as you brought up our our our former student Julie who uh who who's been here helping us out and did our electrical internship last
018year. We currently have now two young ladies who are looking to get involved in electrical internship here already openly speaking with Mr. Jordan who's communicating with Mr. Sutton and which will be really cool. She's kind of a trends setter. So, good for you, Julie. [snorts] >> Any other questions? >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> Good evening. >> Mr. Agular. Good evening everyone. Happy new year. Can't believe it's January once again. I'm proud to stand in front of you just to share the greatness that happens here at the academy. Uh in my report you could see our uh my monthly report regarding our cell phone and electronic device usage. And it's interesting that we had a low number right before the holidays. So uh it was great to see but again I I
019really thank the students, the faculty and staff here for again promoting and reassuring uh and again the helpfulness of our kids here to understand the the why but also following through and and that really starts with our seniors try you know and again Brooke knows I spoke to Brooke and and Zoe and when you get a a you know how's it going how's it going in class and when you hear the reassur the reassurances from the kids, it's fine. It's okay. And like, okay. And that's great. And as you could see, it's really helped out. I will be interested, you know, after the holidays what we'll look like. But I think once again, our kids will rise to the challenge. In my report, you see uh our thank you Chester event. Brooke had mentioned in
020our last meeting last time I came up to pres uh to do my presentation. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get it in because of the dates that crossed by submitting my report. But I did want to recognize our kids. Uh again for helping out um as a reminder, the Thank You Chester event is just a small way that our kids give thanks to the community and that's helping out at uh Shopright of Chester. Kids that came donated at least an hour of their time. And most of these kids, as you know, they're involved in athletics, clubs, and activities. and they came in on one of the busiest days right before Thanksgiving to help out. They help customers our our Chester community here by bagging groceries, escorting them out to their cars and helping them place
021it in their cars and even collecting carts. Uh and again, I'm just so thankful that we were able to do this. We haven't done it in a long time. Uh but again for these kids to to give up their time and do something well and just to say thank you to everyone uh because Chester of uh Shopright of Chester has really come through for our district, not just the academy here. So I wanted to include that. And then uh this was just a great feat. Uh we call the the the holiday hoops Hamiltonian celebration. And again, I there's so many people to thank and it was great to see CES there as they participated in our ugly sweater contest. Um the the the brainchild of Mr. Marcilio, who always does an ugly sweater game, but
022we expanded it. We expanded it so much that we included um we had three games in one day, which is very difficult to have, and kudos to Mr. Ducet for organizing it. But we had our boys modified basketball team play, the JV boys play, and the varsity team play. And that just gave everyone an opportunity, including parents, to come in and see their own child, friends uh you know, participate. But we also included uh with the ugly sweater contest and and the varsity boys uh uh dressed up as they warmed up in ugly sweaters. Uh we had our our guests from CES to participate in the contest and they were escorted by uh my members of the varsity club who helped out and uh created posters and escorted the kids during halftime of the varsity
023game so that the winners from CES would gain points for their PBIS. Uh I also want to share with you that there's more. Uh kudos to uh head coach Ryan Stove and his team and uh coaches uh where the kids uh faculty, staff, and parents celebrated with a little treat uh of hot chocolate and cookies. Uh this was a great event. I look forward that we do it again and that we look for an event to have our girls participate too. And um when you talk about community and and having those opportunities, it's an example of this that we can have. So, uh, again, great job. Um, and right before the break, and and it's interesting that we we were able to accomplish a lot in a small amount of time in December, but we
024had our winter pep rally. And I'm I'm very happy to hear when when when you when you get the feedback not only from students, but from faculty, it was one of the most amazing uh pep rallies that we had. Um, not only, you know, uh, we started off with a bang with Joey Velry with our national anthem, but with our drum line again, and again, kudos to Paige Niles and Zoe Arnette for again leading and, uh, Tyler Clark being the MC for the first time. We had great uh, activities. We had the the tugof-war where the seniors won again. We had our customary uh, musical chairs where the kids enjoyed. We had a basketball skills contest against some of the teachers. and we had a holiday relay race. But the best part was Miss Alvente.
025Miss Alvente closed the evening, excuse me, closed the presentation with a three-ong rendition. And can I tell you it it was amazing where the kids had the spotlight on Miss Elemente. They focused not only on her, but on our logo and even our Hamiltonian dancing uh uh under the under the spotlight. But then watching seeing our kids swaying together, singing together, hugging together in the holiday season, it was great to see because that's the school. That's the school that I'm proud of. So again, fantastic job. And lastly, and and I want to tie this in because I I can't tell you how excited I am when I hear about this new complex that again and and Mr. O'Hara knows it's for the kids, mostly for the kids. So, I was able to see uh Mr.
026Robin invited me into his class and uh wanted to show me again in his CAD class that his kids were already working on in preparation of creating their own signs. Chester Academy signs. How appropriate. So he invited me in. Come in, take a look. What do you think? Again, our students were amazing. uh you know right in the maker space but the presentation again on the 86 in TV and watching these kids and again having them explain the process of where did this idea come from and when you hear that they did the research they looked at other schools they looked at other schools locally they looked at schools you know from outside New York State and even one copied used a font for the University of Florida um the Gators, which I shared with
027them that I always look at them first because I like their style. So, I look forward to the future because again, with the newest addition we now have here at Chester Academy, having them be included in the vision of what they can add, including signage andor branding. So, again, we're setting our kids up again for success and having that commitment again of uh pride. So, thank you again everyone. I mean that's that's my report. I I can't tell you how energetic I feel about sharing that with all of you. >> Any questions? >> As always, thank you for sharing the highlights of our students and in this case our faculty. Um much appreciated by the board. >> Thank you. Thank you all. Before we move to our uh first public comments, I want to give
028the opportunity to our fifth grade student representatives. If you would like to um leave and go home and do homework or relax, um you can do so at this this time, you are more than welcome. We'll take a brief pause. So, you guys >> Great job. Great job. >> Nice job, guys. >> Great job. They did a fantastic job. >> I love them. Why not? Grandparents are coming. It's great. It's okay. [laughter] >> We'll move on to our first public comment. Seeing that everyone has left the building, [laughter] we will move on to a round table. Turn to the side first. Mr. O'Hara, I'm sure you have something to share in the new year. >> I do. >> Uh, again, just so impressed by the elementary students in fifth grade. Um, thank you, Mr. Flanigan,
029uh, Mr. Aguilar, Mrs. Bo, just um team effort on everything and just so appreciative of all you each do uh to bring continued progress and improvement to our district. So, uh, wanted to reiterate our appreciation to the community, uh, following the recent vote in support of the Intercolastic Athletic Facility Capital Project, which has been mentioned a few times this evening. I do want to mention that on the website, uh, you'll see a newly created tab at the top. Uh, thank you, Mrs. Zanuzi, for your efforts on this titled latest updates. And so, in keeping with the title, uh, if you click on that tab, you will see the latest updates. So, um, following the, uh, vote passing, our community engagement continues and we will, uh, make every effort to keep you informed as, uh, the
030project, uh, timeline progresses. So, if you click on that right now, you will see that the next step uh, that was shared in Mr. D. Rosa's recent report at our last budget meeting is tree felling, and that will begin on that's targeted to begin on Monday, February 2nd. and that's in accordance with required environmental timelines. Additional details on that, including dates, uh, such as the bid walk this Friday, are included on [snorts] that website. We're also going to keep open the dedicated email address. So, if by chance uh something arises, a question, certainly more than welcome to give us a call. Uh but you're also welcome to uh pose that question to the dedicated email address and we'll add it to the updated FAQ specific to uh latest updates. Um construction uh Mr. Flanigan mentioned
031of the new secure visitor entryways at both Chester Academy and Chester Elementary School um occurred as Mr. Flanigan mentioned literally every single day over break. And thank you again to Mr. D. Rosa and his team. Um, and this is the first week with the new protocols and we actually have a meeting at the end of the week to as with everything to reflect on uh a new initiative, a new safety protocol. Um, is there any opportunities for improvement? How did it go? So that we are constantly pivoting um to advance safety and security throughout the district. So uh very excited about that and that is a reflection of the safety capital project that was approved previously. parent advisory panel. I'll be sending out a message tomorrow for our parent advisory panel group. We have our
032second meeting scheduled for Wednesday, January 14th. As uh promised, a survey will go out to the group um with regard to, as always, they have a topic where they we seek input on uh their feedback on which drives opportunities for improvement through the lens of our parents districtwide. And then Friday, January 16th, next week is a half day of school for students uh because we have professional development scheduled for our staff. And that's all I have this evening. >> Thank you. This side of the table, >> I do uh have an update for Orange County School Board. Orange County School Boards hosted their first meeting of the year uh yesterday evening virtually. There was two presenters who joined us virtually. Brian Fesler was the first presenter. He is NISBA's chief advocacy officer for governmental relations.
033Brian shared his perspective on the upcoming state budget negotiations and his projections on how funding might look going into next year. Uh compared to where the state budget was at the beginning of the school year, it seems that the state aid cut concerns have subsided somewhat. Uh the state is still projecting a bit of a deficit, but not to the extent that they had initially thought in September, which is good news for districts across New York State. Um, there was also some questions that came up from Orange County schoolboard members about concerns with regard to uh whether the universal meal funding will continue into next year considering um some of the concerns that came up with food stamp benefit cuts that occurred this past fall. Um, however, at this time it doesn't seem that uh
034there will be any changes to free lunches um at this point, although we won't know for certain until the proposed budget is officially submitted to the state on January 20th. Uh Patrick Longo was uh the second presenter through NISBA. He provided some great information on different student recognition programs that they have available uh through the program. A summary of those programs was sent out to all board members and there's more detailed descriptions available online um if any of the districts uh who are interested would like to submit student nominations. And then lastly, NISBA's lobby day is scheduled for February 11th in Albany. Um, Orange County School Boards provided their advocacy platform to board members and they're looking for feedback and suggestions for board members as they prepare to meet with legislators in February. They're uh
035welcoming anyone who's interested to join them on lobby day on the 11th. Um, and also for those who cannot be there in person, there's also going to be a half-day virtual option for the capital conference that will be available on February 6th. So, if anyone's interested, you can let me know. or we can email Karen Meyer if you'd like to attend. That's it. Thank you. Anything else before we move to Brooke? >> Happy New Year. Do you have anything to share? >> Oh, yes. Happy New Year. I hope everyone had a great holiday season. So, the week of December 15th to the 19th, we had our winter spirit week and pep rally. And as Mr. said the winter pep rally organized by varsity club was one of the most successful and engaging ones yet featuring
036Miss Alventi singing holiday carols during that week. Student council ran hot chocolate sales during lunch periods and the profit will be counted at the next meeting on the 14th but there were so many sales that they ran out of cups. So I think it was a success. Um the voice ensemble went on a caring trip to the elementary school on the 19th and then we also did a mystery reading to the students. So it was very nice time. There's a key club meeting next Tuesday on the 13th and over winter break key club and band members did the bell ringing and they also played carols with their instruments outside of shop right for the Salvation Army. [snorts] Um, as Mr. Flanigan mentioned earlier, we had alumni from last year come in to speak to the
037seniors and juniors about their college experience and how they've navigated such a big change. And this was very helpful to hear I thought as a senior going off to college next fall. There will be a senior class meeting this Thursday to finalize our senior shirt design. But we and it was already selected. We just have to start designing the shirt and getting the sales out there. And then lastly, the project adventure snow tubing trip was approved and permission slips are due this Friday. The trip will be February 6th at Mountain Creek and it's no cost for the students. >> Thank you. >> Anything else? >> Okay, that moves us to consent agenda. I would like to make a motion to adopt consent agenda items 5.1 through 5.6. I'll second. >> All in favor? >> Consent
038agenda items pass. And that brings us to our second public comment. Seeing that no one is in person, can I please have a motion to adjurnn? >> I'll make that motion. >> Second. >> All in favor? I >> motion is adjourned. Um good evening and um please join us for our next board of education meeting on January 21st. Thank you and good night.