001Good evening and welcome to the December 17th board of education meeting for the Chester Union Free School District. Mrs. Can you please take roll call? >> Present. Johnson >> Thank you. Can we please stand for the pledge of allegiance? I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> Can I please have a motion to adopt tonight's agenda? >> I'll make that motion. Second. >> All in favor? Okay, Motion passed. Can I please have a motion to approve board meeting minutes of December 3rd, 2025? >> I'll make the motion. >> I'll second. >> All in favor? >> Motion pass. That brings us to this evening's presentation. Mrs. Garcia. Good evening everyone and happy holidays.
002Um I have a lot of instructional updates to share with you on this 67th school day of this is the 67th day of the school and CES had an amazing time today uh part of their spirit week hence our 67th uh t-shirt that was made by students upstairs and Rod uh Mr. Rodman in the tech uh maker space. So uh we'll get to that when I talk about the family instructional academy theme. So I'll begin with uh district goal number two. Uh I want to give an update of some uh professional learning that's been taking place. So at the start of this month uh December 5th on Friday uh Mr. Flanigan uh uh covered math teachers. They were all able to attend a professional uh workshop where they were able to navigate uh magma math
003which is a mathematics AI tool which was mindblowing. There's a lot of AI uh tools uh for students and teachers but is always uh in the humanities and science. So it's rare to find a platform that allows uh students to navigate the math problems. So, um, they were able to, uh, be introduced to the program. They've been playing around with it, uh, uh, with free access so far. So, Magma, uh, math allows students to show their mathematical thinking uh, through a iPad or in their Chromebooks digitally. Uh, they can write it or they can type it. And then uh the little lava pops up and it guides the students mathematical thinking without giving them an answer. Uh and then while a teacher is working with the student independently the little lava is supporting the 20some
004students in the class and then the teacher is able to open up everyone's screen anonymously and decide okay which problem is correct which one is not and then they can press play and see every step by step how the student process the math problem. So it actually reinforces like the way that there's more than one way to solve a mathematical problem. So uh we're looking at it. The teachers are evaluating it to see if something that they might budget for for next year. So uh they're playing around with the platform uh right now and they love the features. So um it was all the middle school and high school teachers um in the session and they got um positive uh feedback. Then on m the following week on December 8th uh CUSC faculty uh we
005attended the U BOC uh regional conference for educators called teaching in the age of AI. Um, I want to thank uh CS, Miss uh Jennifer Rendy attended. uh Chris Deleo and Lisa Edwards participated and myself and they had designated um courses that people were able to uh participate in and uh the teachers actually loved uh we had it was eye opening to see there were some reluctant teachers obviously English they're worried about how students are submitting assignments and passing it off as their own and then there's the debate on you know we can ban platform forms in schools but then students are using it at home. So we have to get ahead of it and teach them how to e ethically use the digital platforms are there. So a lot of the teachers wanted to
006take uh the micro credentials uh that is offered through both. So it has different pathways that they're able to sign up for. There are pathways for leaders, their pathways for elementary school teachers, for secondary school teachers, for uh TAs, uh par professionals and service providers. So um we uh have several interests uh from the three that attended to participate that participate in that and all they have to do is take five classes um some are virtual some are in person in uh Bosei. So I thought it was informative. I participated one with district leaders um and how to implement our district policy and how does that look like in the classroom. So I thought it was very informative. Uh next we have the at the middle school level when uh we first started implementing the
007Ivetti diagnostic uh the teachers were concerned about uh the middle school uh involvement and taking the diagnostic and the my path seriously. So uh with Miss Styler and some of the middle school teachers we've been meeting since I think last year trying to come up with a way to incentivize student progress. So they want they started an I Ready uh challenge. So um I was able to meet with individual teachers. I wanted to thank uh Rachel Loftess and Lisa Tevis in the special education department for laminating the posters. I had a couple of samples and I reached out to Ire and they shipped us like 10 uh stacks of of posters and I was able to laminate and give some to CES and to the teachers. So, at the academy, they're focusing on math and
008reading. And at CES, uh I was able to distribute the charts to them today. So, they haven't rolled it out yet. We're starting in January. Um they're going to focus on mathematics. Um so, how this is so every teacher received a laminated poster and uh the teachers in some classes, they're making it interactive. So, when the students uh complete a lesson, they'll come up and they do a little check. So, it's like a pictograph. And then what I do is that I use the I Ready uh personalized instruction uh report and I tally up all the grades together. So, what's on the third floor in this school, it has grade six, seventh, and eighth. So, it's not about just the individual student performance is a collective seventh grade, a collective eighth, a collective sixth. Even
009if let's say I wasn't able to complete two lessons today, I did one, that one point still contributes to that grade level. So then there is like great tension and fun uh between the middle school. So the top uh based on December 12th data, 8th grade is in the lead in reading and in math uh eighth grade is in the lead as well. And at CES, we're starting uh an lower elementary competition and upper elementary school. So right now, based on the results from year to date, I do year to date. So from September all the way now to December 15th, first grade is in the lead with reading uh well actually with math. Are you ready? And third grade is in the lead for the upper elementary with uh fifth grade is in second
010place. So um we're starting and then that will motivate the students to do better during the my path. So that just started and uh I would like to then give an advisory curriculum update. Um so we know that in the academy they've been this is like the third year of seven mindsets. So with uh the help of uh Mr. Souza and uh Mr. Flanigan. Uh there was a grant and we were able to provide uh some literature to promote the seven mindsets. Uh and we have like three books. I can show some of it here. So these are some consumables. So all of the advisor's names were put into uh we cut up all the pieces and Mr. Agula took out all the names. So we have uh so all the adviserss will receive a
011type of literature. So this is the ultimate life plan and it's like a consumable. So the teachers are able to write and it focuses on the seven mindsets and they're able to process and have uh it's a they actually write on it and reflect on their life. uh students are awarded the ultimate U uh discovering the ultimate U book and it is the same thing as a consumable and the students are able to write on it as well. And then there is the seven mindsets to live your ultimate life plan. So the names everyone wins something but it's at a different date. So, we mapped out the year starting uh we started this uh November 21st was the first uh winners were announced and then it goes up to every Friday Mr. Flanigan announces the
012seven minds champion over the loudspeaker. So, students, staff, and faculty. Uh and there's about one for each grade uh level. There's three student winners and then we have three teachers as well. So then everyone receives something and then we'll rotate it. And instructional highlights. So there have been some amazing real world applications throughout our school district and I want to address those. So first in math uh if you haven't looked at the Facebook posts, there's pictures of all of the events that I'm speaking of today with the exception of science that's coming up tomorrow. Oh, Miss Bonito had designed a creative lesson that encouraged students to apply their I Ready math skills to real world scenarios through Thanksgiving shopping. Um, she created a scenario where the students were giving a $100 budget uh to go
013shopping uh for Thanksgiving and then she used a ShopRite savings flyers and all the students were looking at it and it was amazing to watch the students negotiate. They're like, "Wait, we can save money. there are two uh uh pie crusts, one is cheaper and then they realized they were adding, they were subtracting, they were multiplying, doing all that and then uh the majority of the class, every every uh collaborative group saved their parents money. So I hope their parents took their kids shopping because they were savvy uh shoppers. And then in science was an amazing I was able to see uh Miss Pochowski fifth grade class um applied the amplify science pilot and it was an amazing uh made of matter lesson and she told the students that they were food scientists and they
014had the lab they reviewed the molecules matter and then they used the the chromatography lab test to uh detect whether red dye 75 five, which is hazardous, um, was detectable inside the liquid and they were like running with it. And when I was looking at the work, I'm like, "Wow, this is like a middle school lesson." And those kids were like engaged and were totally understanding the concept. So, and this is just with the pilot. So, that was amazing. And then technology, uh, Mr. Ronman's design and drawing for production which is the DDP uh class. The students completed a hands-on project uh which was to design the new Chester entrance sign. So they used uh 2D and 3D AutoCAD uh students to actually uh go through the the design process to create what what their
015design would be. And according to Matt D. Rosa, they had like $250,000 uh designs that were outstanding because I was sending him pictures of that. Um and then ironically, while they were presenting, the sign was actually built the day after. Um so, uh the new communication signs are up and Mr. D. Roza will probably uh provide more details about the finished products. And then I have so we have the family instructional academy uh supposed to be tomorrow but um we had to rescheduled it rescheduled it to January 15th Thursday at 6:30. Um that message was sent out. So we're hoping that families who haven't registered it gives them an opportunity to sign up for it. And it's called Tech the Holidays. And I want to show some of the things that the tech elves were
016making upstairs in Mr. Vman's and Mr. Tim Jordan's class. So students were making they're working on designing t-shirts. This is one of the ones that I'm wearing right now. Um they the students are making some designs. This one says Chester Academy. Um using the vinyl. Uh they were doing using the laser to do wood cutting. So this is a pretty cool cell phone holder. So you put your cell phone on here and then the students were designing different things. Um and then the parents once they go over the process. So this was another one on family instructional academy. And I have a whole collection of different things. And in Mr. uh uh Jordan's class, they're actually designing ornaments. They This was one in the 3D printer. This is a little snowman. And they're doing holiday
017coasters. And I want you to check out some of these designs. So, we have a holiday hat. We have the Chester Sea. We have a Christmas tree. And then this one is pretty cool. Was a Thanksgiving coaster. And then this is a little snowflake that they designed with the 3D and they put the light on it. So these are um during the tech the holiday event uh both teachers are going to explain the process. We have student experts who are going to show uh the families how they go about designing and producing and then each family will get to select one of the prizes whether the t-shirt or uh one of the uh holiday coasters u that they will get to win. And I have one more thing to add that is not on here
018because it just took place. I want to give a shout out to uh our new librarian. She uh Katherine Inkladon is doing a winter reading challenge and all the families at CES. We put them today in the mailbox and they're doing a let's get cozy with the good book w uh this winter and then it's like a bingo and the students are going to we're going to use social media so families can share with us at the district uh pictures of their child reading in any of these things and then if they get bingo um they'll bring it in and she's uh thinking of some books and prizes that students will win and she came up with this um we uh We designed the Spanish one as well, so Spanish speaking families can do that.
019She designed it on Canva and then it was so cool. I was like, "You need to do this for the middle school, too." And she did it for the middle school. So, all the ELA teachers are distributing this uh to promote literacy. And then I told an email to faculty and staff uh to participate in that too. And then maybe we can read and um upload pictures of reading because reading is important. And I think that's all I have. Any questions? >> I just want to clarify the I Ready um the the chart you said it's um students will get a check mark for lessons completed. >> Lessons completed. >> Completed. Okay. >> Yes. But we we had a conversation because we started with lessons passed. Right. Right. And then in my chart, the one
020that I have collectively, I had the year today. I'm doing lessons past. >> Okay? >> I'm doing lessons past in the race for all sixth, seventh, and eighth, and then the elementary school as well. So, I do the year-to- date because it's just collective together. And in the classroom, the students have their names and then they're doing their tracks when they complete the lesson. And then the the idea is that they're doing it if they do one lesson a week that should be the average a lesson a week. So some teachers are assigning it on Monday do the following Monday some are doing Friday to Friday so that the students could uh pace it and at the elementary school since they don't have onetoone devices they're doing it in class and I saw a lot
021of I ready work today um students doing my path. >> Okay thank you for clarifying >> questions. >> Any other questions? >> Thank you for your very thorough report. You're welcome. >> Mr. Did you set evening everyone? Uh, so start off with the the hopefully does not sound like a broken record because I love to say this every year. Scholar Athlete Awards. uh we get qualified again. So for the fourth straight year, we had several teams qualify for uh scholar athlete, which is 75% of our roster, had a 90 uh an average of 90 or better. That qualifies our team. Four of our fall teams qualify, which puts us right in line to have another award this year. Uh we'll see how the winter goes, see how the spring goes, but we are on pace
022to be a school of excellence distinction again for this year, which would be our fourth straight year, which is fabulous news. Um, winter sports, we had 157 registrations. All of our teams ran. We did not have to uh fold or merge uh any of our teams. As a matter of fact, we had Seward shadow us for winter track this year. Um, they've also brought over a wrestler with us. So, that intermunicipal agreement with Seward has been working very well and it's uh it's been one way this winter. All of them coming to us so far, which is good. Our all of our programs are healthy. Um, we were actually able to take the spring track coach from Seward and hire her as our assistant coach for the winter, which is also an added benefit. She's
023an excellent uh track coach, and that only helps our programs. All teams have begun the regular season, including modified. Uh, believe it or not, we already have to start talking about playoffs. That'll be in uh the wrestling playoffs begin early to midFebruary. And then basketball and our other sports are going to be mid to late February. The track playoffs are also going to be u early February I believe this year, but I have to double check that date because between West Point and the Armory and different places they go, sometimes that meet jumps around a little bit and they're they're talking about adjusting some things. So, I'll keep everybody updated. And believe it or not, we're going to talk about spring sports already. Um, so just to get this information out there because it comes
024up on us quick and also there's some tech issues I wanted to talk about real quick with that registration will open on February 9th. March 9th is our JV and varsity sports. Uh, those are the first day of triyouts and then March 16th will be modified triyouts. So the reason why I bring that up is synergy. Uh we had this conversation in one of my previous board reports about some issues uh registering for winter sports for families who had already registered for fall sports and they had to go through the entire registration process again. There's a lot of questions that they had to answer again and family ID. A lot of that information carried over and autopop populated. One thing I do want to make, so we did change the registration process. I worked with
025uh Mr. Schwarzoff to to and we had a call with the company that we used to fix this. I do want to be clear though that there is something called an interval health history and that is required by uh New York State Education Department 30 days prior to the season starting. There are just certain questions that you must answer because we want to make sure that nothing happened between the fall and the winter to change your health status. So while people may be a little frustrated with the fact that there's a bunch of questions they have to answer, it's for the safety of the student athletes to make sure that we are aware of anything that may have happened. So what we did was we took that health history report and we kind of wiped
026clean part of our registration process and used that as our primary document and they were able to take that and make those all uh uh fillable questions on uh fillable answers I should say uh as part of the synergy program. So when they register they don't have to fill out a form and hand in a form. It'll all be online for them. Academic eligibility has been going well so far. We did have some data which I promised you after our last my last report. We did have 49 total students who are identified as uh part of the academic eligibility policy. Only seven of those students were athletes. And one thing that we are starting to notice is you know we're looking at are they in clubs are the in athletics are they not doing anything
027and how can we reach those students and get them more involved in our study halls and things like that. So now that we have a a a sample of data now and once we get to the end of the second market period, we can look at that first versus second market period, see if it's the same students, different students, and maybe start to reach out to some of those students that we see a pattern. Uh whether it be athletes, clubs, senior privilege, or students who aren't doing anything, right? That those are students we also want to reach out to and see how we can help them. I've been working with Mr. Aguilar and Mr. Flanigan on this. So it's a little too early because we don't have anything to compare the data to. We only
028have that first mark period, but once we get the second mark period, which is soon, we'll be able to look at those two different lists and compare them and start to come up with a plan, a strategy on how to deal with some of these students and help them. Um, but only seven student athletes from the athletic director perspective is it's fabulous. It's one of the lowest numbers we've had for athletics in several years. Um, what I'm hearing from the students is they like the policy the way it is because it gives them multiple options, multiple pathways to get their credits for the week so they can stay eligible. It's not punitive. It's just there to help them. So, as a result, I'm noticing that their grades are just better uh as a result of
029this. Okay. So, one thing you may have noticed yesterday, uh, we had a triple header in the gym last night. We had a modified game followed by JV, followed by varsity. We had the elementary ugly sweater contest in the middle of all that. It's something that now that we we have a scoreboard down at Maple that we're working on and we're trying to do different things in different parts of the district. As an athletic department, I want to utilize more of the space that we have in the district. So, one of the things we're going to start doing is doing more things like this. So, just keep an eye out. You'll see a schedule. We've got something planned for January 23rd where we're going to have a girls varsity basketball game at 3:30 at the
030academy. The girls JV basketball game will be 3:30 at Maples. They'll be playing at the same time. Boys varsity basketball is going to be followed at 5:00 at the academy followed by a wrestling match at 7 o'clock at the academy. So, we're trying to get just more people in the gym. And we find that when we when we piggyback these games like this, people stay. They show up early, they watch, they stay, they support some sports they may not have normally hung around to watch. And uh I've been talking to coach Marcel, a few other people trying to get the youth groups in to do more of these types of contests and halftime uh experiments that we're going to try just to get some of the elementary kids into the building to get them more
031interested in athletics. >> We had always talked about going to the elementary school and getting our athletes there during fizz classes and different things. And that's a great idea and we've done that before, but I'm we're trying to strategize ways to bring the elementary school to the academy so they can see the varsity teams in action in the gyms doing the different athletic events. So, it's something we're working on. We're playing around with. It's been very successful so far, but stay tuned. We'll have more information on that as we kind of get through some of these things. Uh, also with our teams, and this is a winter and spring idea, uh, information for you. We've had several alumni uh who have become assistant coaches who are coming back to the district and I'm starting to
032notice this more and more and especially with winter we've got a good relationship with a lot of our former students who come in help out with wrestling and basketball and a few different sports. I'm starting now to get applications online through the website through the the you know coach at Chester link that we have on the athletics website already for the spring and these are a lot of these are players who have e they played for me some of them and I'm excited to see them come back I'm going to say we're somewhere in the neighborhood of 8 to 10 assistant coaches who are former Chester athletes and they're coming back and they're and they're starting to see a lot with our intercolastic athletic project that we we're going to be talking about shortly. um
033they're very excited by what's going on here and they want to come back and they want to give back and it's been very exciting to see and some of them are doing an excellent job with us so far. One last thing I want to bring up uh just so this is kind of in the last few days and I wanted to announce this publicly just so everybody is aware that we are aware of this. We've had six or seven issues about with Huddle um because in our communication. So the chat part that we use for Huddle, it's working fine, but for whatever reason, we have some students who are running into roadblocks when they go to register for Huddle and get in. And when we go to approve them, they're getting a a strange screen
034that says that we haven't paid our bill, which we have. Uh so we're not sure where that's coming from. Huddle's aware of it and they're working on the problem. The good news is Google Classroom is always our backup. So no matter what happens, we can always push out messages through Google Classroom, through Parent Square. Uh in addition to we always post our schedule every single day. Uh Jillell posts our schedule on the website. There is no shortage of ways to find the information that you need. And I encourage anyone that's having issues to call the athletic department and we will troubleshoot this for you. I would imagine we'll have this fixed in the next day or two. Um again, they're aware of it and they are working on it. Other than that, it's actually been
035working very very well so far. Uh, I would just want to wish everybody a happy holiday and enjoy your downtime and if you have any questions, fire away. >> I just wanted to um say yes, the having multiple events in one day like yesterday we were here like three three and a half hours and it was great because there was a PTSA meeting. We I was able to kind of join see the first game go the halftime show with the drum line and then the other game. I mean, it was a it was a fun night. Like, I was still wired up last night when I got home because it was so much going on with the sports. And I just it was really nice to see all the kids from both the academy and
036um CES. So, it was it it is a good um thing to do to bring some of the um elementary school kids um for those events because you see them on like Friday nights for football when they're out, you know, running around and and it's so nice to see the whole school community, the whole district. Um, so having them inside the building here, it's is also pretty cool. So I do love that idea because it just it also allows parents to kind of participate in something because it's different times. >> Yep. >> So >> you just gota we have to have more. >> Yeah, >> we need to think bigger, right, with athletics and get more combined events. And I Yes, I agree. >> It was definitely fun yesterday. It was a fun night yesterday
037with the sports. I just wanted to piggyback on that everything that she said and also it's great to do night like nights like that too for parents who have you know students in multiple sports so they're able to be at everything. It also allows the students to support the students so they're not spread throughout the county >> or even you know at Maple Avenue they're able to do it. I hope that we're able to do things like that for senior nights or things like that because then, you know, they're all they're friends. They're >> doing everything together. This is a small school. They want to support each other. And I do know it's been frustrating for students when they have away games or they have, you know, something going on that they can't get to
038it. So, by having things like that, you're you're supporting parents, you're supporting the students, you're allowing, like you said, the elementary school students to come and see all of the different possibilities and it's very engaging and it just it uh provides a little bit more community feel, which is great. >> It's fun. It is a I will say it's logistically it's interesting trying to pull it all together, right? contract because of the officials and the league schedules and everything else and certain games can be moved, certain games can't be moved. That gets dictated by league rules. So, it takes a little creativity and Jill's been a big help with that. Um, but yes, I agree. It it the more we can do this, the better off we're going to be. >> I have a quick
039question. The 49 for the academic eligibility, the total students that are that um have academic needs, is that 6 through 12? >> Yes. >> Oh, awesome. Yes, that is the entire building. Uh we're trying to build a, you know, build the data using the entire academy, not just our student athletes like I presented on for so many years now, right? We're trying to we want to know what everybody's doing and what the percentages are of, you know, who's involved, who's not, how we can help. But yeah, that's everybody. >> Thank you for solving huddle issues. >> No problem. In regards to that, just for those who may be listening from home, if they come across this issue, should they go to the coach or directly to the athletic office? >> Uh either one. Uh whatever
040path of least resistance, if they happen to see the coach, that's great. They can always I've had a lot of uh parents and students will screenshot and email it to me, which is very helpful because then I can forward that to Huddle so we can troubleshoot. It's a >> what people have to understand is this is new for a lot of school districts because a lot of the third party apps that people use are not approved by school districts. So we're limited on some of the things that we can choose and not choose. You know, game changer and all these different things. They're not really approved because of the personal information. So something like Huddle is something that the school district purchases. So we have to work through some of these kinks because we need
041to protect our students, you know, privacy. So that's why we're going to stick with this. We're going to make it work, but if you have any issues, forward it directly to me. >> And the backup is Google Classroom. >> Google Classroom and the district website. >> Okay, great. Thank you. >> Any other questions? Thank you so much. >> Mr. Schwarzoff, good afternoon, good evening. Um, I just have a couple things to go over here. We've got uh we had our first successful lockdown this month with the cards working. It took it was a lot. Me and Matt have been working on that for two months. Um, we finally got all of our vendors together, locked it down. We did a lot of programming ourselves, but it worked and everything went smoothly. Um, so it was
042really exciting. The synergy data, the analytics dashboards, the first five should be done on Friday. So hopefully we um will get those delivered and I'll have something to show you guys at the next board meeting or Miss O'Hara probably will. Um the technology department did a very small part of the the uh entrance sign this month. Um but I do want to thank Nick uh for we ran fiber out there. We've never actually had a It's always been wireless. Um, our sign has always been connected to the internet wirelessly from the building. Um, so we took this opportunity being that we were already digging everything up to uh trench fiber out there. So, we have a nice hard hardline connection out there now. Um, sign looks great. Um, most administrators now are trained on how
043to at least design for that sign and then we're getting people trained on how to actually put stuff up on it. Um, we have ordered all of our access points, but we had last month, too, and they're just not being shipped. So, we're hopefully getting them in soon, and then we'll start the um access point install. We did um start and we're about 75% of the way through just in the last day of um creating a meeting space in the cafeteria. We we got that sign created yesterday, the projection screen created yesterday, hung this morning. We got a mini computer in there. We got sound uh set up. We just actually need the projector to be um delivered. So, that should happen in the next couple weeks and we that should be up and running
044soon. Um, we also just replaced our large format printer. It was um it was old in disrepair. So, actually with the new um project that we just got approved, we're going to need a lot of blueprints printed. So, we got one that will do that for us so we don't have to pay each time uh for those to get printed. and um budget season started. So, we're starting to look at next year, what projects we want to do, and um so we're early stages on that. But that's pretty much we've again had kind of a planning month catch up on a lot of things as Synergy has really started to calm down and get um everyone's getting more comfortable with it. So, it's given us a little bit of time to kind of catch up
045on the stuff that we missed in those first couple months of school. You got any questions? >> Thank you so much. >> Mr. D. Rosa, >> you hesitated. Good evening, folks. Uh again, thank you for the opportunity uh to update you on behalf of buildings and grounds. Uh want to segue real quick in two things that Dan had mentioned. one, he implied that I helped with the programming. Anybody who knows me knows that's not true. Uh they these guys have been working very hard on programming the lockdown system. It was a feat uh in and of its own. Multiple systems needed to be integrated. They did a tremendous job. It worked uh flawlessly in our last lockdown. So uh kudos to them. Um and he also implied that they had a small part in the
046sign that that too was false. Um they were a tremendous help. uh Nick and Dan in, you know, wiring it up, running the fiber, and working with our our contractors. So, um again, it's great working with these guys. Did a tremendous amount of work on on both of those items. Um so, our safety project is starting to wind down. Uh we have a big push over this Christmas uh holiday break. Um on Monday, the academy entryway started construction. So, in order to get a jump on this project and ensure that we have a completion by the return in January, um we've built out a construction barrier and our contractors are working isolated inside that barrier. The new storefront at the academy is up. The transaction windows framed out. Um floors and ceilings are demoed. So,
047we are we are in good shape here. Uh things are moving along very well. The elementary school will start on Friday. So, um there is some activity in the building over the break, namely CIO or town rec uh wreck basketball. Um there will be a disruption to how they enter the building, but it will still be um occupiable. On Friday, we will be demoing the entire front of the entryway of the elementary school. It's a big project. It's very timesensitive and very weather sensitive. So, there's going to be a lot of eyes on this. We plan on being here um every day with the exception of the 25th um to see this project through and I have no um uh no red flags at this point that we won't meet this this deadline of the
048return of school. Um we actually have scheduled a a completion on Friday, January 2nd. So um as they mentioned the uh entrance signs have been installed. Um, what's still outstanding is the shrouding around the sign. So, if you enter or exit the facility, you'll see at the academy that you could see in between the two signs. The shroud shroud is a cladding that matches the color of the signs that covers that up. The elementary school, we're working on a detail for the back of the sign. Um, which is, you know, you could see a wire hanging out. Um, just to kind of neaten that up a little bit. Uh we anticipate that to be completed. Certainly the academy uh science to be completed within the next week. Um I'm not sure how to start the
049next part uh about the intercolastic athletic project, but um that was passed last night. I hope I didn't steal your thunder, but uh there's a very important detail that I have to talk about. Um, which by the way, just to kind of sidetrack, um, tremendous responsibility, right, going forward, and me and Miss O'Hara were talking this morning. Um, we're extremely proud and grateful that the community has entrusted us with this. Um, and it's not a responsibility that we take lightly. Uh, we're excited about the project, but we're also super focused on meeting um, the demands of the community, both from a budgetary and scheduling perspective. So with that, it's important that we all kind of understand what the next steps are. Um I I'm not sure how many people watch this, but communication is going
050to be key. Um tree felling. So the term felling implies laying down trees, right? They will not be removed. New York State has a law which requires all tree removal on any property over one acre to happen between uh January 1st and March 30th. If we miss that window, this project will be delayed by a year. Um so we cannot miss that window. The RFP, which is a request for proposal, has it we're fine-tuning it. We anticipate we'll have that uh completed and ready by tomorrow morning. uh with the RFP officially hitting the papers on Tuesday. So, Tuesday the 23rd, the RFP goes into the papers. We expect uh contractors to come in and bid this project, but understand what the timeline is. Um we expect to have a bidder awarded and vetted by the
051end of January. It takes time, right, to communicate the project. We'll be doing sitewalks. will be doing scope reviews, uh, RFIs, which are requests for informations, that that goes back and forth. Even this kind of 30-day window is a little aggressive. Um, but for 30 days, nothing is going to happen. February 2nd, which is the first Monday in February, we anticipate starting uh the tree felling process. So, the area behind the elementary school and on the third base side of the uh academyy's baseball field, that entire treelined area um will be impacted. So, if you find yourself traveling down Ward Hamiltonian, you will see the trees laying down. It's important because it's going to be somewhat dramatic, right? When you come around, you'll see all of that area has been um the trees have been
052cut down and they're laying down and then nothing's going to happen for about 10 months, right? And and this is this is dictated by law. So, we're going to be able to cut the trees down. They'll lay down the next process would be um continuing the design uh of the of the project. So the official construction documents, bid documents, all that we anticipate to go through June of this year and then you start to bid the project both from a land clearing perspective and a construction perspective. Um, and we expect the land clearing scope of work, which is the removal of those trees and the digging and the actual groundwork uh to start at the end of December, beginning of January 27. So, the reason I bring this up is because you're going to see
053an area with trees laying down and then it's going to look like nothing's happening for a while. And you have to understand we are not allowed to touch those trees uh until we have an approved vendor uh and approved project by SED. So, project will be vetted and designed through June SED review. Hopefully, it'll be less than four months. We don't know. Um and then once it's approved is when immediately we'll remove those trees. At that time during the time of felling there will be protection ground protection um to include uh SWIP which is storm water protection uh plan capturing any runoff that might go into our storm water systems. Uh there will be weekly checks of that site even though there's nothing happening. Um and it's all required by DEEC uh DEEC law. So
054that is the the one thing I tried to express uh last night just so that you know we're all on the same page, everybody understands how the project is going to progress uh and there's no surprises. So hopefully the majority of the community will hear this. Hopefully we can communicate effectively uh that this is going to happen. But um the important thing to remember is the reason we're cutting the trees down now and not uh next year is again New York state law. We got to protect uh um bats which live in the trees and they hibernate in Transennsylvania or wherever they go uh after March uh after December 1st or I'm sorry January 1st. So um with that I will open it up to any questions. There has to be some questions. I I
055don't have any questions, but I wanted to thank you for the transparency because uh I think all of the communication up to this point has just been fantastic and especially like you said moving forward, even if we do send this out in the form of an email, sometimes those things get missed, right? Parents are busy. So even for us as board members, it's great for us to have all of that background because we will most likely be asked by the community even if those emails go out in January or February, by June or July, you know, people might forget. So, um, so thank you. I appreciate the amount of detail that you always put into the report and all of that information. So, >> yeah, the key to this is going to be communication, right?
056The the key to this project is going to be staying close with the community and letting them know what's happening at every step. Uh, so that's our that's our biggest challenge even more so than the construction aspect of this. I think level setting what we're doing, what the expectation is, uh, is is going to be critical. And I think even construction you can see but the fact that you're saying well for 10 months you might not see anything is so important to make sure everybody knows that because you know once it's it's passed people are going to be looking. Yeah. So I really appreciate you sharing that and continuing to kind of emphasize that over this time because >> two months from now somebody will say what happened. >> Yeah. It's going to be hard
057to miss. Uh it's going to be hard to miss but it's an exciting project. It's going to look great when it's done. um the beginning part of this you know we just got to understand what's happening so >> and I think that's key right you said communication but also I think this entire process another word is education because even with some of the forums the community meetings um we were educated I even reflecting I've learned so much of this process of any major project the process that is definitely like right now you just taught me a science lesson I didn't know a law lesson I'm like oh this is that's why we can't you know that's why it's so pour in the window. So, education and communication, it really has helped um I think bring
058that a community awareness of exactly what is it that we're doing and why we're doing it and why we can't do certain things and you know so I definitely that has helped a lot >> and it's so important of what's in our control and what is not whether it be s you know sed or what I think is important and I assume moving forward you know each monthly you will update um us in the community in terms of where we are and and even if it's just to say paperwork's been filed. >> Yeah, absolutely. Uh I plan on, you know, there's going to be a lot of meetings where I say, "Yeah, we're still waiting for SED approval." Um but uh for those that don't know, SED is our building department, right? So there's a
059lot of misconception about um um who we receive our permits from, who we uh are the construction documents, all that. um we are beholden to the rules and regulations from New York State Education um not local municipalities and all that although they will be included right um we we that's who we receive and and they are extremely busy extremely understaffed um sometimes projects can take as long as six or eight months uh we are hopeful right now their queue is not that long uh it's about four months and we are hopeful to hit that window but I will certainly update uh you guys in the community every step of the way and let you know if anything's moved, if the needle's moved on approvals or anything like that. So, but tremendous, tremendous uh uh night
060last night and um the community spoke, right? So, amazing amazing job to you guys communicating this and pushing it. Um I'm super excited to be a part of this project. them proud to be here and this is a transformative project and I'll stand here and talk about this all day but um it's uh it's a it's a big project with tremendous implication for the community and uh you guys you guys drove this so amazing. >> If I could just comment on um on Friday evening I had the first time to drive through in the dark and see the sign and it it it is so impressive. But what's even more impressive is and we we've hear this over and over um when you guys present is the collaborative effort between our tech and our facilities.
061>> Um not only do we come out with a tremendous product but also nine times out of 10 at a cost saving. >> Yeah. >> Which is is really remarkable. Um and we thank you for that. So, uh, buildings and grounds and it are linked in everything that we do. Um, when Mr. Schwarzoff took over, um, we really kind of bonded, right, on a professional and and personal level. And I think both of our departments now work very very closely and collaboratively together. Um, and uh, it it it bears fruit uh, in everything that we do. So, >> we thank you for that. Yeah, >> department. >> Anything else? >> Thank you. >> Thanks, guys. >> That brings us to our first public comments and seeing that no one has joined us in person, we
062will move to round table. Start from this side. Mrs. Loftess, do you have some things to share with us this evening? >> I do. Uh, you received my report. I really just want to highlight one um item which is our holiday gift giving. So um this is something that my office sort of quietly picked up four years ago. We had historically done holiday gift giving for students in need in the district and different uh folks in the district in both buildings over the years had been the administrators of that. Um and it had discontinued. So, four years ago, um, my office picked it up and I can take no credit because Donna Hart and Dear Dress Falto really do all of the work on this. Um, and they start in August with the preparations for
063this. And there's so many people that assist around um, the district. And I know I will forget someone, so forgive me, but I want to mention a few names of folks who really made it happen. Um, so our counselors and our ENL staff are really integral in helping us to identify families in needs to reach out to those families um and see if they're interested and to gather information about the wants and needs of the students. Um, we have a bunch of folks who help us translate. Uh, Evelyn Contrarus, Maria Hutres Resume, Rolando Agular, Dia. Um, thank you to all of them. Um, because that's really important. Um, and to all the people who take a snowman and buy gifts. So, we make sure every student gets a toy, a need, which is usually shoes
064or a jacket or a clothing item. Um, and then treats for the family are in there as well. Um, and when we can, a ShopRite gift card or or something like that is included. Wrapping paper is in the bundle. So, they get a big bundle of goodies. And this year, we were able to help um 63 students in need. So, um it's really great to see it. I'm like crammed in my office at some points in um December because it all loads into my office in the back there. But, um it's beautiful to see. Um the families are so grateful for the support. Um so, I just wanted to let you know that that was happening and um it's all because of the generosity of our staff. So, very grateful to work with all of
065them. Any questions on anything on my report tonight? >> Just have a question about the holiday gift giving and thank you for that. That's amazing. If um people outside of the staff wanted to participate and contribute, is that a possibility? >> Um it's done for this year, but uh that's definitely something we should consider for next year. Thank you for bringing that up. Yeah, that's a great idea. >> Another question. >> So, thank you so much for sharing. >> Absolutely. Happy holidays. >> Thank you, >> Miss O'Hara. I know you have something to say. >> And there's so many different ways to say it, but it it really um leads with appreciation and uh with the with the vote yesterday and all of the efforts of the board of education. Uh truly thanking the community
066for the tremendous support for this project. And again, what what makes it special is not one person leading this, not five people leading this. Um, this was truly a collective effort of our board of education, our administrative team, each and every person, teachers, staff, students, family, our community members. Uh it's really amazing and what makes Chester so special to see everyone come together in a shared belief in the importance investing in the future of our students, our schools, and our community. And uh I'd say it's impossible to thank each and every person. Uh it's so important too to reflect on those that came before us. our former board of education, uh, Superintendent Shawn Michelle, Superintendent Dennis Petrillock, everybody in this district continues to work together, unified towards continuous improvement and and we see that happening
067just in some of the things we talked about this evening. Um, I do want to make mention of our parent advisory panel, our athletics, parent athletics panel, our community panel, our PTA, our PTSA. We're grateful to students and staff who participated in the district video really compelling uh making point of what this project is about. uh the why. And to all those who engaged, you see just so many different people coming out, whether it be social media, phone call, an email, uh conversations, uh that encouraged families and friends to participate, whether asking a question that added to our FAQ, or uh promoting folks to vote, what whatever that vote may be. Um it's really uh made this achievement a defining milestone for our district and how special it is that such a collective effort. Um
068I want to thank our assistant superintendent for business Nicole Dusa for her lovely headgear this evening. Truly uh uh in all seriousness for the diligent work that um went behind this. Um it's so important that the financials are on point in support of the board of education and all of your due diligence ensuring uh what we put forth to our voters um reflects um financial fiscal responsibility and you've done a phenomenal job. I also especially want to thank Mr. Matt D. Rosa. Uh countless hours spent collaborating with our partners Land Associates, the LA Group, Triton Construction, and this has gone on for years. Um, I also want to thank the town of Chester for their partnership and support in this as we progress this initiative. Um, Mike Dette, your your efforts in getting our students
069together for the video with our Duchess Boseies and MJB communications Dan um Schwarzoff you know signs just went out our welcome signs and lo and behold we have information on the capital project as soon as they went up. So, thank you and Dia uh Garcia leading also the communication on Facebook. Um our entire administrative team uh such a collective effort and then certainly district clerk Lindseay Inuzi who has been um you know the behind the scenes on so many aspects even to the website um and adding every aspect to the website. I do want to reinforce in terms of keeping the community updated that's not going away simply because uh this vote has passed. So that will remain uh a source of information and updates. Um also the email the dedicated email address will remain.
070So if you happen to see something you have a question uh that will be there for you to reach out and certainly you know you we're a phone call away. So, uh, I just want to thank truly everyone on our administrative team, all of the the unified efforts of the board and the continued vision for continuous improvement, and we couldn't be more appreciative and excited for the future for our students, our schools, and the Chester community. So, um, thank you so much again and we look forward to keeping you informed. And uh last but not least, uh just a reminder that uh winter break takes place from Monday, December 22nd through Friday, January 2nd with students returning to school on Monday, January 5th. So we wish our students, staff, and families a joyful holiday season,
071a restful break, and certainly a happy new year. We have very many exciting things uh in uh the months ahead. You will be seeing a midyear update as always in the month of January on our district goals. Uh so be looking for that in our second January board of education meeting on the 21st. And that is all I have for this evening. >> Pretty exciting. >> You have anything from this side of the table to share? >> Um on behalf of the board of education, we would like to sincerely thank all the community members who came out yesterday to vote. The show of community support will help propel us into the next stage of bringing an intercolastic athletic facility to our campus. To say we are excited about the endeavor is a huge understatement. I've
072been a public educator for the past 33 years. Until I was sitting in this seat, I had no idea of what a huge undertaking it is to bring a capital project of this magnitude to the taxpayers for a vote. As a board of education, we would like to acknowledge and sincerely thank the administrators, teachers, coaches, students, community members, town of Chester, LAN Associates, and the LA group LA group who uni unselfishly gave of their time to bring us to this point. All of you went above and beyond your prescribed roles in this district. The countless nights away from family did not go unnoticed. We are grateful for your perseverance and commitment to the Chester Union Free School District. We look forward to our continued partnership in bringing this project to fruition. And with that, we'll
073move to consent agenda. I would like to make a motion to adopt consent agenda items 5.1 through 5.10. I'll second. >> All in favor? >> I consent agenda item consent agenda items pass. That brings us to our second public comment. Seeing that no one has joined us in person, um before we make a motion for adjournment, on behalf of the board of education, we'd like to wish all our families a very happy and healthy holiday season. And we look forward to our continued partnership in the new year. And with that, can I please have a motion for German? >> I'll make a motion. >> I'll second. >> All in favor? I >> motion meeting is adjourned.