001Good evening and welcome to the October 22nd board of education meeting for the Chester Union Free School District. Mrs. Ian Musi, can you please take role? >> Yes, please respond with present when I call your name. Mrs. Dersio, >> present. >> Mrs. Negger, >> present. >> Mrs. Arnette, >> present. >> Mrs. Hines Johnson, >> and Mrs. Pena, >> present. Forum is present. We can now proceed with the meeting. Thank you so much. Can we please stand for the pledge of allegiance? >> 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. Can I please have a motion to adopt tonight's agenda? >> I'll make that motion. I'll second. >> All in favor? >> I.
002>> Motion pass. >> Can I please have a motion to approve the board meeting minutes of October 8th, 2025? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. Motion pass. That brings us to tonight's presentations. Mrs. Garcia. >> Good evening everyone. I will begin my first update by addressing district number one. Um I'll give an update on promoting world language. So um the month three weeks I was able to go inside see as a classroom. The teachers were able to sign up for me to be a mystery leader. And one of the goals were elevating uh rising voices um elevating Latino stories. So I was able to go into every class from prek all the way to fifth grade. I visited 22 classrooms I read to each class and then I designed little writing literacy activities
003at the end of each lesson. Um it was such a amazing experience and I want to thank the teachers who took the time to take images and pictures. I posted that um this week and they took the time to capture experiences. Um I did lessons on collaborative coloring in prek. I taught them how to write a friendly letter and how to address an envelope in grade five. We did a community matching game in kindergarten. I taught them how to generate monops in grade three. And I did a lesson in class and we did a story about the murals that they do in communities in California. And then she drew up this giant mural that the students were able to draw murals collaboratively together in the class. And I was in a fourth grade class and
004that was great. I'm going to continue doing this. The this idea came from in 2022. Uh I started going to the classrooms and I was bringing awareness to VIGO. I realized that my face kind of distracted students. So I went in and did mystery reading and teachers signed up and I was able to read different picture books on the Lego. I continue to do that because I know that's been three years ago and now the students are like, "Oh, what's going on with your face?" So I'm doing that again um for uh the month of uh February for Black History Month. I will be doing the same thing. So it's coming from the Rising Voices Library from the Scholastic Literacy and I'll be doing um it's called Celebrating Black and Latino Voice. So all the
005things you have different things. So I'm going to read them over and then in March they also have another series called empowering girls in stein lit school. Uh on October 10th uh we did a welcoming and affirming lunchroom experience in collaboration with Mr. Fanigan and assistant principal Mr. Aguilar. Uh we did domino stations at the elementary school. I mean at the academy. So uh we did it our entire lunch periods. We played music. Um we had different stations. The most amazing thing was that staff members came down to learn. They were student experts who took the time to teach other students how to play. And the kids were willing to just learn and try something new. And um last week I on my office door. There's a student who was asking where are the dominoes?
006So, donating like three sets uh that I had uh to the to the lunchroom. So, that was pretty good. And I want to uh provide thanks to Miss Berto and it was spin-off. Oh, thank you. Oh, no. I'm not. um to Miss Berettto and Chester PTSA and SEPSA for collaborating on collecting board games, playing cards, and activities for students to engage in dur during uh lunchtime. So, they've got a lot of donations. So, thank you to all the families out there who donated um things for the students, especially in the winter. Uh we need to keep them busy. Uh so district goal number two, we have our superintendent half-day conference on October 31st coming up and we're focusing on two major things. One is safety uh overview of new protocols, lockdown protocols related to the
007safety capital projects and incident command. Um and then we're going to have synergy training and professional time provided for the teachers to apply um the new learning and an update on goals one and three. So last time I last month I reported that we did a survey for uh communication efforts improvements for uh families who don't speak uh who speak languages other than English. I resend an email uh to allow the parents using uh parent square they're able to reply faster than a s than the form and it was pretty cool that I was receiving emails in other languages and then the emails I'm able to correct it. I got Ukrainian, I got emails in Spanish from parents um and then it was able to translate it in English. Um we had uh others uh
008reply directly through the messaging system on parent square. Um it's not uh we need to improve the responses. So that's the next step either to uh call the parents. Uh so we need to try to guess the majority of the parents who replied said that they appreciated the district efforts in providing English and Spanish uh information in both languages that made it easier for them and others says that they were using translation services uh on Google translate to translate things. um the family instructional academy we had we still have to uh postponed and reschedu the ENL orientation and Hispanic heritage month. We're waiting on the dates so that we're not going to cancel that. We're going to just reschedule that. We're trying to come up with a time when all the ENL teachers are um
009are available. And October 30th, we're having uh tricks and treats of using tech tools, family communication support. So, uh, Mr. uh, Schwarskoff and myself, we're going to be providing dropins support. So, parents could just come in from 5 to 7:00 p.m., get a trick and a treat. So, we're going to have it in here in the auditorium uh, to provide support on synergy, parent view, how parents uh, navigate how to sign up for parent teacher conferences, whatever the tech support that they need. We're going to be available for two hours for them to come in. They don't have to stay for the entire time, but we're offering support for that. And are there any questions? Um, I just wanted um we're talking about communication and obviously we're always looking to improve. Um we're so happy
010and we appreciate you taking the extra step when um some the responses from parent um square you know were not where we wanted it to be. So um Miss O'Hara shared with us that you reached out to some of our families via email like you said with the Google translate piece and we got a better response. So, um the board sincerely appreciates, you know, that I think it's the one thing that does make Chester very special is because of our numbers, we can give that individual attention, um to get the feedback we need to keep moving in a positive direction is immensely appreciated. >> You're welcome. >> Any other questions? >> Uh I wanted to thank you for the report also and also for bringing in something new and engaging um every month, especially to
011the elementary school. You can tell from the photos that the kids really appreciated it. Um the only question that I had was with regard to the seal of biiteracy. I was just wondering if um what the numbers were trending this year compared to last year because I know it was a newer program and I was just curious how many kids were participating this year. >> In our first year we had uh seven students. Last year we increased our number. We always have a lot of students that qualify but then they have to be willing to complete the the work that requires for the seal. So they have to do presentations uh in both languages. Uh so last year we had I I shared the data. I didn't print it out but I do remember what
012I wrote. Um we had nine students earned the seal last year. And the cool thing about last year, it was our second year. We increased the numbers and not only did we have the seal of biiteracy being earned in English and Spanish, we had two students who earned it in English and in Haitian Creole. So we when we have the students who are interested in their native language, all we have to do is provide them with an assessment. Actually, Dan assisted me in obtaining the test for them to take since we don't offer Haitian Creole. Um, and then it was a community collaboration. So, we had um, Miss uh, Petrop Paulo, she was teaching a ESL class for adults and they were Haitian cre they they were Haitian and they speak Haitian Creole and they
013came in to evaluate the students. Um, and this year we had 21 students right now that qualify in both 11th and 12th grade. So, but then it's about gaining the interest. So that's where I come in and try to do my magic and try to empower the students because it's scary to present um and to speak another language. And remember they are not bilingual, right? It's it's about being um able to being biliterate which means that they were able to speak and read and write in another language. So if you're not practicing the language is kind of difficult. So that's why last year we're in a good uh position because we tested the 11th graders in the Spanish since they were taking the Spanish class. Last year they were taking the college course. So we
014evaluated their presentations. Last year so this year they just have to do the English. So then this year we're targeting the 12th graders and then the curving 11th graders are the juniors that will do the Spanish. So which we're just about building momentum. So we're hoping hopefully we'll increase our numbers. Thank you so much. >> So, we're making progress. And lastly, I want to end my report. Book, you can pass something down. I'm going to provide you with the CUFSD champions of Chester gift to you all. Um, and I will start. So, according to New York State School Board's Association fact sheet, school board appreciation took place last week. They say recognition should be a year-round endeavor, especially when our school board is the best one ever. Being a school board member is not for
015the meek, dedicating their time, six or more hours per week. To honor our board of ed members, I offer this rhyme, a heartfelt token of thanks for their service and time. For guiding our schools with wisdom and care and shaping bright futures for all children to share. Kimberly Dersio. For four dedic devoted years, Kim has served the board with steady grace. From trustee to president, she's led with a steadfast pace. A 30-year plus educator, wise and sincere, she bridges the hearts and minds of those she holds dear. Her life reflects service in all that she's done. From building schools in Honduras beneath the summer sun to coaching Special Olympians with joy and cheer and raising two Chester grass that she holds dear and near. Cavalyn Neggermith. Cavalyn leads with purpose, vision, and heart. For four
016years, she served on the board making, service, and art. With a focus on students, their growth, and their dreams, she works beside others to strengthen our teens. A nonprofit social worker devoted to helping lives mend, caring for their recovery, her compassion knows no end. From New Zealand skies to Switzerland Alps gleam, traveling to 15 countries, fueling an adventurous dream. Diana in her third year of service listens and learns, discovering each spark where the school spirits burn. She shines a light on programs that few may have seen, revealing the treasures of this small school scene. By day, a special education teacher shows patience and care, guiding young learners with lessons to share. By night, she's a mother devoted and true, cheering from the sidelines, but presenting orange and blue. After serving as a board member with
017a heart for young minds, she balances work home and walks where peace she finds. Lisa Hines Johnson is in her second year serves to impact um children's futures with a vision that's clear. and New York City governor deputy commissioners by day steady call yet was once a young reporter cam quarter in all. From high school news to public affairs, she leads with vision and truly cares. As a board of van member, she leads with passion and drive. She serves the community, keeping educational dreams alive. Each choice that she makes, each goal she pursues shapes Bryce's futures ahead for families and our schools. Rosalie Pena is also in her second year on the board, advocates for students, their voices are never ignored. An assistant principal who listens and leads at a steady pace. Her love for
018music, crafts, and creativity lights up every space. She loves interacting with students around the community, collaborating on experiences to reinforce unity. She's a proud Latina and a mother, too. Committed to our schools and the work she pursues. Student representative Brooke Barado, our student voice so bright, ensures all opinions are heard and insight. She reports on all that is Chester and true, highlighting students life in proud orange and blue. Together they lead with wisdom, passion, and care, supporting all stakeholders, ensuring excellence everywhere. With Superintendent O'Hara and the Chester UFSD team, they champion every student success and every dream. So, thank you for your service. >> Thank you so much. >> You're welcome. >> Thank you for >> And thank you for doing your homework. So, that's why I got the content. >> I appreciate it. >>
019Thank you. That brings us next up to Mr. Ducet. >> How am I supposed to follow that? No, that was excellent. Um, I don't have a poem. I apologize. However, I have plenty of updates for you for athletics. uh athletics parents advisory panel met uh and topics we talked about transitioning from family ID to synergy huddle communication communications for families where English is the second language uh Google classroom and then types of communication were all things that came up during our meeting uh we had a lot of good conversation the one thing I did want to mention here so I could say this publicly was I had told the committee that I think we met on a Tuesday and I told them I was going to an athletic director's meeting on Thursday. And for those
020who don't know what happens at these athletic director meetings, this is where we go and we represent Chester and we are a voting member of the OCIA and section 9. So when we want to represent ourselves and make sure we vote in things that favor our district, that's why it's important that we attend these meetings. But we also get into things like this. So we had made this big switch from last year from our school to Arbiter and the launch did not go as section 9 had hoped it would. and we did link everything on the website and all the stuff that we needed was there and we we pushed out publications uh letting people know but it didn't serve the section the way it needed to. So we were supposed to go to that
021meeting on Thursday and this is what I told the committee was the panel that uh you know we were going to get our update. We were promised everything would kind of be fixed. Well much to my surprise when I was at that meeting it it was not what we needed. So we've decided to revert back to our school which is what we were using last year. So the website is in the process of being updated. We're waiting for the new link. It just became active with uh with section 9 in the last couple days. So it's going to look exactly like last year. So basically uh Arbiter bought our school. So the R school platform still existed somewhere and they're basically flipping the switch back on for us to make it work for what we
022need. It is a blessing because it is much better. We still did not have access to do our own schedule changes, things like that. So this is a very good thing. And the one great decision they made was they're not going to go back to Arbiter this year. We're going to use our school because we know it works. We know it serves what we need. It serves the communities. They're going to use it for the rest of the year in the hopes that Arbiter gets everything together the way they need to and it'll be ready for September. And we were supposed to have this last summer in an effort to give everybody enough time to kind of get this out to the communities and that's not what happened. So again, this is not under district
023control. This is this is section nine and and Boseies this is under their control. So we kind of have to go with whatever they say we're doing for this. Uh so their plan is they're going to push out a PR campaign and we'll have QR codes for the gym and things like that letting people know, hey, go back to this app. This is what you can scan it, download your app, go back to this. So they're going to do plenty of publication on this. We'll send out our own through parent square through uh we'll put on the website. We'll put on social media. And what they plan to do is next year when we get into this for September, they're going to start July 1st and push out a a a program all summer, a
024PR campaign to let everyone know we're switching. But I got to be honest, one of the thing that they said was that's not guaranteed because if Arbiter does not deliver what we need, they're going to be there has to be other decisions that are going to be made because this has to work for our community. It has to work for our districts as long as well as all the other districts that have to rely on this program. So after all that, I said that on Tuesday. On Thursday, I got there and they hit us with that. So that's kind of where we're at. It's just going to make communication and information so much smoother because it'll go back to what everybody was using before, which is the scheduling will be accurate. The officials use that.
025So it's a live schedule tool because when we have a soccer game and the officials are assigned to that game, they use that app. So it has to be perfect. Otherwise, the officials don't show up at the right location. So, it'll be right what we were using last year, which is good news for everybody. Uh, we also have a couple updates, some facility stuff. We, thank Matt D. Ro and his crew, the softball scoreboard that we had down at Maple Avenue, we added a soccer program to that scoreboard. So, we're able to repurpose that scoreboard and use it for two seasons instead of just one. There, every varsity sport now has an active scoreboard on their property, no matter where we are, including the Chester Commons. So, it is live. it is up to date.
026It some of them are specific to the sport, others are multisport scoreboards. So now that we've completed the renovation of the scoreboards in the gym with the new system from last year, everybody has fully functional and um high quality scoreboards at every location. So there's no more, hey, what's the score? How much time is left? Everybody's going to know sports media class. So, one of the things we had talked about last month and it was in my report, uh, I know we're trying to shift gears with our social media class a little bit, uh, because we had been putting out single posts for each individual sport, for each individual game. And, uh, one of the things that the feedback we've received is trying to add some different information into that. So, one of the things
027we're going to do, and this is a little bit of a process, and I had to talk to my class about it because we were brainstorming ideas on how to make this look professional, what we can do, uh, because I'll give you a good example. On any given day, we could have in the winter is a good example. We could have 11 contests on the same day. That would have required us to have 11 different posts, which is what we were doing, but it floods the social media with content. So, what ends up happening, like anything, we become desensitized to it and we kind of breeze through it. We're not necessarily checking out the work and what the kids are doing. So, what we're going to do instead is we're going to do one pagers
028with the schedule for the day, which if you've noticed in the last two weeks, we started doing that. So, that's phase one. And I've gotten a lot of positive feedback on that because it's one-stop shopping for the schedule. It's all there. And the other thing allows us to do is, and I like to thank Miss Berto because once again, she's given us the links to the yearbook staff uh um club that's been providing all the photos, and we're starting to get those back into the uh post as well. But what we can do is we can get multiple athletes now onto a single post. So we can kind of decorate the whole post with a lot of different kids at once of just, you know, a couple soccer players, a couple this, couple that. We
029keep recycling the same pictures. We don't have to do that anymore. We could put a volleyball player, a soccer player, a football player all in the same post. So it also gives the class something to work on every single day. When we when we had last year, students had two to three posts a week because there was, you know, it depends on how busy the week is. Now we've got every day you have to produce a post with the schedule. Now what we're going to do starting next week is phase two of this is page two. Page two will be the results from the previous day or two. We'll have to see how the turnaround looks on that um of the results of you know how things went in the games that we already posted
030about. So it's nice because it also teaches our students about one of the things I like to push them on is to add uh illustrations, add animations and effects to our post. And as you can see, they've already started growing. You know, we start with a brand new set of students every year. So from September on, we start from scratch. So a lot of students we had last year, they're not taking the course this year. So we have to start over and that learning curve is there. And I'm getting better with it. So the learning curve for the class shortens, but I like to have transitions from page to page and now it forces them to have multi-page posts. So we've done that in the past, but that last page is always, you know, good
031luck or, you know, some message like that. But now it's all informational schedule, transition to another page, results. So, we're going to play around this a little bit because it also it gives them something to do every day, but I also want to include some of those side projects we had mentioned in the past. So, we're going to find ways to also work that in. So, it's a work in progress, but uh I like where it's going and I like the way the posts look a little bit better as well. So, I think it's less is more sometimes and I think that's kind of the direction we're headed in. All right. So, fall sports update. Senior nights were held for all sports with the exception of football. Uh, the pictures are in the on my
032board report. The football game, I just want to make this announcement. It was supposed to be on Halloween. There's a lot going on on Halloween, right? And it's one of those situations where we felt as a district it was better to move this game off of Halloween. So, we're going to be playing the football game and it will also be senior night on October 30th. Same time, same location, 7 o'clock at the Chester Commons. Uh, they're playing so that evening, I believe. So, that should be a good game. And that is going to lead us into our playoff updates for the fall. So, the football team is in the playoffs already. Uh, I believe they're I think that they play O'Neal this week. I believe if they haven't already secured the number one seed, that
033game will secure it for them. Soccer, they just won two to one. They beat Seward. Yes. Um they beat Seward two to1 at Seward and that secured the boys they're the number two seed. So they're going to get a home playoff game for the first time in it's been a long time. So uh coach Graci has that team moving in a fantastic direction. He's really built that program up and uh they've earned every bit of that home playoff game. Uh you a winner or tie would have gotten it done it for them pretty much. A loss would have dropped them all the way to a playin game. So it was a high pressure game and and they came through. They beat Burke a couple days ago for the first time in over 10 years at
034least. So, that program has done a lot of a lot of good this year. The girls volleyball team is in contention. If they win uh their next two league games, they're in. Uh uh cross country, we've got the championships coming up. Swimming has a championships coming up. Congratulations to CL Johnson who is swimming at the state championships in Webster, New York coming up on November 21st, November 22nd. That's the second straight year she's going to be up there. So, more information on that. They're also swinging the county championships uh this Friday. Uh if you notice, I'm wearing my breast cancer awareness bow. That was for the volleyball game tonight. We had our uh pink out tonight uh to benefit for cancer awareness. And there's a lot of that going on. You'll start to notice some
035of the things like that. The wrestling team's going to have their polar plunge coming up and you know, we like to do a lot of different community service events coming up. Uh registration for winter sports is coming up. Uh that already started. It opened last Friday. Uh there is weekly announcements going out. We've already posted twice about this. We've already sent out two parent square messages. We're going to continue to send out information uh weekly leading up to uh tryyouts which start November 17th for Varsc and November 24th for Modified. uh the same email that we uh messages on social media and parent square and the website will go out like it does every year with the tryyout schedule which we're going to do a week earlier this year in addition to separating our messages
036for modified and JV varsity. So there'll be separate uh mailers for those two to letting you know who the coaches are, when the tryyouts are, email addresses, contacts, um all that type of stuff. As far as the registrations are concerned, if anybody has issues registering, uh we did on our last post put the contact information for the athletic department. So feel to give us a call if it's a tech issue, we will forward you to the technology department. If it's not, it's just a question about a physical, something like that, we will be happy to answer that for you. So just give us a call and we will help you out with that. See, and I believe I've hit almost everything. I believe that's it. So if you have any questions for me, I'll be
037happy to answer them. >> Can we speak a little bit to the opportunities for seventh and eighth grade students who are don't have a specific sign up? >> Yes. So, so that's tricky. So middle school students, seventh, eighth grade students, and there's a common misconception that uh I'll give you example, varsity indoor track. Uh I know we have a lot of students who in seventh and eighth grade who want to participate in indoor track. unfortunately is a varsityonly sport and we are not allowed to advertise that for seventh and eighth grade students because it is specifically for 9 through 12 students only and that in synergy is limited to only 9 through 12. So if a seventh or eighth grade student goes into athletic registration in synergy they will not see track because legally that
038is not an option for them. Now, there is the athletic placement process that is a state regulated process where a student in the seventh and eighth grade can test up for a varsity sport. However, you are not allowed to use that as a sole reason to give a middle school student an opportunity to participate in track and that is New York State Education Department policy. What has to happen is they have to test up and is for the exceptional athlete only. Uh it can't be used to fill a team. It can't be used for an opportunity. It can't be used for anything of that nature. only if it's an exceptional highass athlete who has an opportunity to excel at the varsity level. If that's the case, all you need to do is go on to
039the Chester UFSD website. There's an A tab. That's uh AP short for the athletic placement process. If you click on that tab, it gives you the packet from the state as well as any information you need and how to contact the athletic department and we will walk you through the process if it's appropriate for that student. There's a lot of factors. There's uh physical maturity, athletic ability, uh mental health, uh if you're able to, you know, uh engage with a high school athlete appropriately. There's a lot of pieces to this and it goes through uh the school's medical director, the athletic director. It goes through a lot of parts of the school district. We will walk you through every single piece of it. All you have to do is give the athletic department a call
040or email my office and we will walk you through it step by step. >> Thank you. >> We have questions. I don't have a question. I was going to just give you feedback with the sports media class and the posting of the daily games. Sometimes I'm like, "Oh, what's what's on tonight or what game?" So, it is very clear. I think I went on earlier today. I was like, "What's going on?" I was like, "Oh, there's volume." >> So, that was a good um kind of good to do that because it is more clear finding the information. >> Yeah. Yeah, you had a chase post before because if there was a lot of games going on that day and this your social media feed, right, isn't always consistent. So, you might see feed from two
041games and then an hour and a half later and the games have already been played, you'll see the last three even though we posted it six hours ago because that's just the way it pops up on your phone, right? So, kind of hunting and finding and swiping through all the different now it's one page, it's there, you know what to look for, it's predictable. I think it makes a lot easier communication wise. I know that's something that We we trying to like push like very open communication, transparent and just available, right? Information available. So that really does help. >> Yeah, absolutely. >> To piggyback off of that also, I love the idea of also streamlining the outcomes of the game because as board members sometimes the next day in the community, I'll just be getting
042a cup of coffee and I'll have like four parents pass me and say, "What was the outcome of the game yesterday?" >> Which is great because the community is invested. Um, so having that information out there and available is is a great idea. >> And the more I thought about this, and it was something that didn't really didn't really occur to me until about four hours ago. The Times Hell Record used to post this stuff every single day. They don't publish it in the paper in the physical copy. I is there even a physical copy anymore? Because I don't see it anywhere. But they do post it on their Twitter page and they do post it on their paid site, but it used to be readily available. You just open the paper when you're in
043bagel girls in the morning, grabbing your breakfast, you could open say, "Hey, this happened." That's not posted anymore. So there's really I can't tell you even myself if there's a game that was four hours away somewhere. I'm trying to find it on my phone who won this game and the coaches tell me, but if it wasn't, you know, we're trying to our next opponent, I don't know who won that game. So it was something that did kind of occur to me at that point. The only thing I do want to remind everyone is modified sports. It depends on the sport, but for the most part, we can't post results of modified sports because I'll give you an example, modified basketball, the score resets after every quarter. It goes back to zero zero because it's a
044middle school sport. They're trying to teach kids how to play the fundamentals, good sportsmanship, things like that. Now, we all know that all the parents are over here, you know, they're keeping score. They're counting all the quarter scores, but as a school, we can't report that because that's not the spirit of modified sports. So those score reports will be JV and varsity. Um and again when appropriate. >> I did I had one other question with regard to uh study sessions. So for those students that might struggle with academic eligibility, the study sessions that are offered after school, are they just general sessions? Are they just giving a time and a space for students to come in or do they um support the specific content area that a student might be struggling with? There is a
045drastic change with this. So there are three opportunities. Uh there is a before school 6:50 to 7:30 I believe. There is the lunch period and then there's also after school. They're all 42 minutes for equity. And what we're going to do is it's not just a study hall anymore. So I have a and we're going to be we're in the process of meeting with students. We had to kind of hash out some of the the details of the the first synergy report that we got which went well but we had to look through a little bit figure out what we were doing and we are personally going to meet with each student and each student will get a piece of paper with the uh Google classroom code and they will bring their Chromebook to this
046meeting with myself and Mr. Agular and they will have to register for the AESP program uh which is the Google classroom page that we have. They'll have to register for it right then and there and join that classroom. On that classroom page, it will have a document that lists the new academic eligibility policy and what they need to do to remain eligible. So, there has to be a certain level of accountability on the students, right? So, we can give them the information, but they have to do something with this information. So, we'll set them up for it. They'll see that outline in addition to any announcements I'm going to make. I will run it through that Google Classroom page. There's also a log they need to fill in and that log is going to it
047has their name and then it it uh the date what study session they went to and what they worked on. So it's a digital log and I am I I've already told them this in the meeting. I have the right to go through any entry in that log and say okay you said you worked on this during this study hall show it to me and if you can't produce what you worked on well that tells me that you did not work on that in that particular study session and there will be then you the academic policy has consequences for that we also have a schedule set up Monday through Friday with different teachers in different subject areas it's a big list there's a lot of teachers for a lot of different subject areas so if
048you need help in math if you need help in chemistry if you need help in you know whatever there is a teacher at some point dedicated to that and you can go and get that help and that schedule is also posted in Google classroom so they have an opportunity to go and as long as you get your three points per week each study session is one point you have to get three points per week to say eligible you can pick and choose you could do Monday morning you could do Wednesday during lunch you can do Friday after school you know so you can work around your game schedule your practice schedule doctor's appointment whatever there is opportunities all week there's 15 opportunities piece during the week for you to get three points. And uh it's
049we're trying to be proactive and what we've explained to the students as well is it's not about the classes you're failing. That's part of it, but it's also not staying on top of the classes that maybe you're not failing, but you're struggling with but didn't show up in the fail report or just to because some teachers don't take work late. So in that situation, what do we do? Are you catching up on your past work? Well, no. Maybe we'll sit down and we'll do uh a strategies on for your next test. Study strategies. Let's make a study packet. So, there's a lot of different avenues we're going to take and this is the first time we're doing this. So, we're going to take the feedback and and see what the results look like and see
050what works and see what doesn't and adjust as we go. >> Thank you. >> Questions questions? >> Thank you so much for your report and answering all our questions. Sincerely appreciate it. >> Thank you. We'll even have to call our next presenter. Comes on down. >> Good afternoon. Mine is significantly shorter than all that. Um, how are you guys? Um, district goal number one. We are 97% I think we're actually a little bit higher. We're 99% done with um GCN videos with all the trainings for teachers. So, thank you everyone who participated and got that done. Um, district goal number two, we've been doing a ton of parent square um, trainings this month. So, we knew that going to a new student information system because it touches every single aspect of the school district um
051was a big job. It was going to have bumps. um they are becoming fewer and farther between, thank God. Um so we uh thank you to all the teachers who there's been a ton of teachers that have come to u the tech department to offer suggestions, to offer things that they've found, to come and get training on things. Um and uh so we offered about 10 days worth of additional training just one-on-one with teachers that they can come to my office and and um get training on the 31st and the 4th of October and November. Um we've got two more superintendent conference days that we'll have uh training for synergy grade book and um we sent out a actually Dia helped a ton. She sent out a Google form asking for teacher feedback on what
052they still need help on. And uh so we compiled that, got three sessions that we're going to be doing on the fourth actually led on the 31st, sorry, actually led by um teachers. So they are going to be the trainers for those sessions. Um so I'm really excited about that. Um we do have a family instructional academy on the 30th as well. Um specifically for the communication piece that we had talked about with parents. Um there we we sent our first video out to parents on how to access report cards and progress reports recently and um as we did that I was like man five weeks has already gone by and so we are going to be putting out more videos one longer video coming coming soon on um just an overview of parent view
053that application what it does how to find your child's schedule how to find your child's grades, how to look at real time um updates on what assignments are missing, what their class schedule is the next day, when they have gym, when they have advisory. So that hopefully will be out in the next week and we're going to get that translated into Spanish as well as as we make that. Um we did have a couple of suggestions from parents on the sports registration. Um the first registration it's kind of long and the second one we asked the same questions. Um, so I went back to me and Mike went back to Synergy this past week and asked them if we have a student that already played sports this year, can we have a abbreviated version of
054that? And but that we just asked the questions that we need as an update since the last uh sports registration and so they are working on that. It's probably about a week or two out. So this registration is going to be what we got to answer the questions. Um, the third one should be a significantly more streamlined version of our sports registration. Um, got a really exciting piece of news because this has been hanging over us for about six months now. Me, uh, and Matt and Brett and the B&G team today along with Nick Patel um, got door access readers installed, programmed, and turned on. So, starting tomorrow morning, all teachers and staff should have access to the interior doors of the school district. Um, again, that's it was about eight hours of clicking today,
055so there's going to be people that need a door opened up to them. We've got an email going out to them tonight to just um explain what to do in in those cases, but that's a huge milestone for the security project. So, the interior doors are getting turned on and the exterior doors should be updated by the end of the day, Thursday or Friday. Um, so very very very excited about that and we want to thank the B&G team for they did a bulk of that work. I kind of came in at the end and programmed it all which is but they did all the work which and they did a great job. Um, other than that I think that's about my report. questions. >> No, but thank you and Mrs. Garcia for in advance
056for next Thursday because as a parent who also is trying to navigate it and has spent a significant amount of time screwing up and going backwards and starting over, it's great that you're going to like even the sports registration, it it took way longer than I should probably admit to figure out how to do it. So, I thank you for next week in advance because I think that's going to be a huge help for parents and decrease frustration. >> Yeah. And we had a parent, the first time they filled it out, they went out and they found the dates for a concussion or a head injury. And the second time they're like, I don't know the date you're like, I want to fill this out on my phone and get my kid registered. Um, you
057you already have that information. I'm like, you're right. We do. Let's let's So, um, I really appreciate the parents that have reached out as well for that. um this we're two months into a massive overhaul of our main database. So um things like that that can make everyone's life easier. That's the reason we did this. So um just getting those suggestions along the way from the end users is really important. So please continue to do that. Um so yeah, thank you for that to those parents. I wanted to share also that um we have heard from several parents that the videos that have gone out already were incredibly helpful. So, so thank you for that. Um and not to add on to what you guys already have to do, but I was wondering in speaking
058with um some of the parents, I was surprised by how many are still unaware that they can get a weekly summary from Google Classroom of their child's progress at the end of the week. Um, and not all parents are aware that they can actually sync up with their child's email. Um, even at home to help support just even as like an incoming middle schooler, just the simple idea of going through like when I opened my middle schooler's email, he probably had like 378 emails and I was like, "Buddy, we have to organize this. We have to So, it was nice for me to be able to log in and see and walk through the process of deleting things that are already completed, creating folders." Um, so I don't know if that's something that we've considered
059sharing out as well in the future about um the opportunities available to parents to really kind of sync in with what the kids are doing on a weekly basis. >> I have a question. Sorry. Um, when you say sync in with their your child's email, what do you mean? >> So I'll get an email like on Fridays that'll say you can see a copy of your Google Classroom. >> Yeah. Through Google Classroom. >> Yeah. Um, so Google made a pretty big change this year where it used to be that once you were signed up for one class, you were signed up for all of your students classes uh with classroom summary. This year, Google made it so that the teacher actually has to turn that on. So there is a um we it's been a
060while since I've been in Google Classroom with the classroom. Um, so when we looked into that today, we realized, um, so we do have to have some internal discussions on whether on how we're going to communicate that to teachers and and what we're going to do with that. But yes, um, we cannot do that as a district. That is a class byclass setting. >> Got it. >> Um, so we do need to reach out to teachers for that. All right. Um, yeah, >> I actually have a question and it's because it just came to me um that I was thinking this week and it's okay if there's no answer and it's something like we'll get back to you. Is there a possible way let's say a student leaves a Chromebook and needs to get on
061to do an assignment at home? Is there a possible way to on the district website for students to log in to get into like their um class like to their apps or or however? >> Yeah, they can sign into any Chrome browser. It does. They don't need their Chromebook. If they if they go home, go to just a regular Google sign in and sign into that browser, they sign into every single one of their apps. They get >> it as Gmail through their like Gmail account. >> Go to Gmail and then go to their um first.st.ufsd.org. Use their password. That will log them in. That'll bring them to their class link. It'll bring them to the bookmarks, everything. >> It's so funny. And and I'm like, that does make sense, but like I was like,
062"Oh, wait. Can we do it?" And I'm looking for maybe like a like a little link or something on the website and I couldn't find it. But now that I think to do it that way, >> but that's it's good to know like I just didn't know how to get in, you know, but that was >> and those are as we become as we get more and more apps that are technology based for our students, it's why the family instructional academy is so important. Um because as parents we we did try this year to limit the number of apps that we send home, especially the ones we use for communication. Um but even when we're trying to limit the apps that we use for communication, we still have two or three, right? Um and that's
063us trying hard to cut it down. So um all of the different apps, we have over 200 instructional apps that we use in in in this district alone. Um, so to the parents that are coming to that family instruction academy, please bring questions on on the app that you're having problems with. Um, the people that we will have there are knowledgeable on all of them and so we can help you get hooked up. We can help you get your parent view set up. We can help you get parent square set up. Um, all of it. So, >> as we're talking about like all those different apps and the questions, circling back to the Google Classroom idea, parent view in speaking out loud about it would probably take the place of having to do something like
064that because within that tab, you do have the posting of weekly assignments, test scores, quizzes. So, as we progress, the need to actually go into each individual classroom would be less necessary. in parent view will the people who use Google classroom that's actually one of the um sessions on the 31st training is the Google sync so getting that Google sync set up properly will allow teachers to the minute they grade stuff in Google classroom it will transfer over to parent view so you'll have and the things that are only in parent view and not in Google classroom parent view is their grade Google classroom is more of some assignments not necessarily all of them >> parent view will give them give give you the most upto-date uh full picture of how your child's doing. >>
065Great. >> Thank you so much. >> No problem. >> Thank you so much, >> Mr. D. Rosa. >> Hi guys. Thank you for the opportunity again to update you on buildings and grounds. Want to be super short uh this evening, but uh just want to give an update on the capital project. The CES doors have been received by our general contractor and they are modifying them right now. So, we fully expect them to be installed by Friday of next week, which would be great. They'll be installed and operational and that'll put to rest the door access side of this. Also, thanks to Dan and his team uh for programming all the doors. Tremendous lift. Uh these guys are great to work with. They're, you know, extremely knowledgeable and and fun to be around. So they
066make the work environment uh good. The storefronts which are our secure entryways have also been received by our general contractors and are being modified right now. So we expect uh during the holiday break that those storefronts will be installed and um operational for the start of of uh the the calendar year. Um and then our entry signs. Uh so our entry signs as as you know are new LED message boards uh at at each uh school are due to be delivered on November 12th. Uh we will be installing new footings. So you're going to see the existing signs demoed. There's going to be a short period about I'm going to try to keep it to about a week where we won't have a sign. Um but that'll require us to put in new footings and
067new structure to support the uh larger sign that we're going to be getting. um the to uh to make sure the wind loading and uh structure supports is is accurate. Um this was required because we can't verify the existing structure, right? So we don't know how big the footings are and how deep they are. There's no drawings on it. So to be safe, we decided we're going to redo the structure, have it engineered, um and do it do it the right way. Those signs will be installed and operational by Thanksgiving. My hope is to have it prior, you know, a week or so prior to Thanksgiving. Um, but right now we're on target for that week of uh Thanksgiving break. And then every year for the last four years I've been here, I've had to
068present on this and I I don't like it, but I have to. Uh, we have winterized our buildings and prepared them for the upcoming winter. Uh, our boilers are turned on. PMS done on all of our air handlers. Um, heating systems are operational and ready to go. District equipment is ready. We have stocked up on salt and calcium chloride. So, we are fully prepared for the winter. Um, I uh I was just at the Chester, Florida game uh where I was wind burnt and frozen. So, congratulations to Chester. My son plays soccer for Florida. It was a heartbreaking loss, but uh it was an really fun game to watch and I love when the two schools compete. Uh it's it's really a lot of fun. So, uh that is what I have this week. >>
069Uh if you have any questions, I'd be happy to field them. >> As always, thank you. >> Thanks, guys. Okay, that brings us to our first public comment on agenda items only. Next is round table. >> Okay, good evening everyone. Uh just a few brief reminders. First, tomorrow evening, October 23rd, is our blastoff into steam night at Chester Elementary School. So, that is from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. The event celebrates steam, science, technology, engineering, the arts, and math through hands-on family-friendly activities led by our teachers. Many thanks to Jen Rendy and her team for their creativity, hours of preparation, and enthusiasm in bringing this engaging experience to our students and families. So that is tomorrow. Uh Friday, October 31st is a half day of school for students. In the afternoon, teachers will participate as Miss
070Garcia had mentioned in professional development focused on school safety reflecting the recent improvements completed through our safety capital project which Mr. D. Rosa just mentioned as well as synergy training uh mentioned by Mr. Schwarzoff to continue supporting teachers and staff in this significant transition. And then back one day, Thursday, October 30th, as also mentioned, just as a reminder, hosting the parent view support session, uh, tech support session as a part of our family instructional academy. Thank you, Mrs. Garcia and Mr. Schwarzko for supporting our families. Um, please stop in, ask questions, and uh, have support in and however we can help. And lastly, and um very exciting, I just wanted to provide as an update from our last board of education meeting, planning continues for the intercolastic athletics facility capital project. This update highlights ongoing
071efforts to help our community understand the vision, the impact, and certainly future upcoming opportunities for engagement. All information related to the project is available on the district website under the inner scholastic athletics facility tab which includes key reports, planning documents, and a dedicated email address where questions can be submitted for information and we'll we'll add that to a developed FAQ. A formal presentation, so this is an important date to remember and we'll certainly share on social media, will take place during our next board of education meeting on November 5th. Community members are encouraged to attend in person. Please come out or if unable to certainly watch the live stream recording or you can watch it after the fact uh available on our website as well. In addition, a project video is nearing completion featuring the
072voices and perspectives of our students, teachers, and staff. It's really an important reminder truly that this initiative is far more than uh a football field, multi-purpose field track. It's about our students, our community, and the future of Chester. Earlier today, several students met with me, Mr. Flanigan and Mr. set to view the conceptual design which is on our website and start to see begin to see some of the draft video clips that uh Duchess Boseis has been working on and so appreciative and proud of our students. So today uh we were joined by Brooke Badiato, Zoe Arnett, Zio Henny, Zoe Henny and Michael Catalano. And uh it it's really the the moments in your day where it's um you know this is why we're all here. This is what it's about. So beyond for our
073students and that's every student, not just our student athletes, not just our musicians, every single student. Um including our young learners and uh our kindergarters, our pre-K students. What does the future in Chester look like for them? when you think about coming to Chester as a family or you think about coming to Orange County as a family, what are what are you looking at? Um, if you don't have students that attend Chester, maybe they've graduated, uh, maybe your grandchildren are grown and uh, are no longer in the schools, what does it mean for your property value to have a facility on site? What does it mean for the safety of our students to have a facility where it's a single point of entry? And the list goes on. So, we're very excited uh to be
074engaging in discussion with the community. It's so important um to hear our students and our in in shaping the spaces where they learn, grow, compete. their perspectives are reinforced um certainly reinforces this project again represents more than a facility and um it's the pride and the purpose that our students bring to Chester every day and it certainly represents a legacy that they help build for those who will follow. Tomorrow, additional materials will be added to the district website, including a community engagement timeline leading up to the December 16th referendum vote, which you'll hear about shortly. It is included on the consent agenda. Also um going to be included tomorrow is a gallery of the conceptual design drawings offered to us by the LA group and land associates. I'll reiterate the proposed facility includes a multi
075multisport field eight lane track grandstand seating with a press box fieldhouse for both home and visiting teams with public restrooms community friendly concession area secure accessible entryways. The project also qualifies, which is really important to highlight, for about 30% in New York State building aid for qualifying costs, uh, helping offset the amount that is passed along to the taxpayer, which you'll hear about in our upcoming, uh, presentations. So, in addition to the board of education meeting on November 5th, we have community forums planned for November 12th. That's open to anyone in the public. Come ask questions. Um, and also November 19th. So, you'll see all of those dates in the community engagement timeline that'll be uploaded tomorrow on the website. Um, again, it's really not it's beyond just the field facility in itself. It's beyond
076just looking at it as a field, a track. It's about creating a space where students, families, community members can come together. A place that reflects Chester pride, strengthens our sense of community, and helps attract families who see Chester as a place to learn, grow, and belong. So, this leads to the proposition on the consent agenda this evening, where the board will consider setting the referendum date of December 16th and moving forward based on the project's estimated total cost and the planned allocation of capital reserves to help offset the taxpayer impact. That's what is included on the consent agenda this evening. Um, in an effort to tie um, everything together that Mr. So Har just shared with us. Um for those present this evening and those listening, this evening, the board of education will act to
077approve a resolution authorizing a special school district meeting of the qualified voters of the Chester Union Free School District to be held on December 16th, 2025 in the Chester Academy band room located at 64 Hamiltonian Avenue, Chester, New York. The purpose of this special school district meeting is to present to the voters voters a proposition for the construction of an intercolastic athletic facility including a multi-purpose synthetic turf field within an eight lane track, a fieldhouse with locker rooms, public restrooms, secure storage, meeting rooms, grandstand seating, and other related improvements. The polls will be open from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. on December 16th. To support transparency and community engagement, please visit the district website under intercolastic athletics project for additional information. You're also welcome to share any questions using the dedicated email address provided on
078that page. A formal presentation will take place at the November 5th board of education meeting, followed by two community forums on November 12th at 700 p.m. in the Chester Academy Auditorium and on November 19th at 11:30 a.m. at the Town of Chester Senior Center. We encourage all community members to attend these sessions, learn more about the projects and share their feedback as we plan for the future of our students and community. >> Does anyone have anything else to share for round table? >> I did actually just want to uh thank Mrs. Arnette for participating in the annual business meeting um for NISBA uh that was held on October 16th. I think this year's meeting was only six and a half hours. >> Yep. >> In length. So, thank you very much for the time that
079you put into that. Uh it's a very uh important annual meeting in that um board member representative from the district votes on proposed uh bylaw amendments and resolutions that MSBA then uses as a platform for advocacy efforts on the state level. Um so thank you for that. Um and then I just wanted to share that uh Mrs. Dersio and Miss O'Hare and I will be participating in the NISBA convention that um will be held tomorrow uh through Saturday uh in Manhattan. So we're very much looking forward to that and appreciate the opportunity to go. It's really a wonderful way for us to look at best practice, see how other board members um are governing and to bring back information that uh can help continue to support the goals of the district. We have this is
080our fourth year attending and um every year that we've gone we've have found it to be an incredibly valuable use of our time. So um thank you for that opportunity. >> Anyone else? Miss Badiano, do you have anything to share with us? >> Yes. So um first I'm very sorry I had to miss the last meeting for my soccer game, but I hope you all had a great board of education appreciation week. Um the senior versus junior powderpuff game that was originally to be October 11th. Well, I believe it's rescheduled officially to the 28th at 8:00 p.m. at the Commons. Uh medical club met this Monday and begin discussing possible projects for the year to spread knowledge on medicine and those who are interested. Uh the class of 2026 is working on the senior t-shirt
081and sweatshirt design now and those designs will be submitted by mid November. Um homecoming was a memorable and successful night and it's usually not for like profit but we did end up making about $300 to use towards our caps and gowns funds. Uh yearbook club is meeting tomorrow to begin designing the pages because we got all the photos of our sports teams, clubs, spirit weeks, and extracurricular stuff. And they also won third place for the best page in last year's yearbook. And they're officially in the Hall of Fame for the 2025 Peekaboo yearbooks out of hundreds of schools around the world, which is great. Uh Project Adventure went on a hiking trip last Wednesday to Sam's Point, and the seniors had a lot of No complaints about the from the adviserss or the guides. The
082NHS induction took place on October 15th where we inducted many new juniors and seniors and Mr. Stove attended to give a a speech which is very nice to the audience. Kika met on the 7th and they have the town cleanup this Saturday. And they also are going to be doing a Thanksgiving rose sale, like bouquet of roses to fund raise towards the LTC conference, which is like uh a meeting in the spring that helps train future key club leaders. And then lastly, student council also met today and they just discussed approvals for the class of 2027 and 2020 and other club updates. That's all I have for today. Well, thank you for that. Very comprehensive. Appreciate it. Anything else before we brings us to consent agenda? >> I would like to make a motion to
083adopt consent agenda items 5.1 through 5.8. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Consent agenda items pass. That brings us to our second public comment. Anyone wishing to come up to speak? Please come and state your name and your address, please. >> I'm Nicole Man. I live at 38 Cherrywood in Arcadia Hills. I just had a question about how scheduling works for parent teacher conferences. Um I've noticed the last few years both schools do it on the same night. Um and just wasn't sure if there's a reasoning for that. Um because as a parent who has a student in each school, it makes it extremely difficult. I have to like really hope that I'm getting in a really early slot or a really late slot at one of the schools in order to
084facilitate being able to go um to both and was just wondering why I know with back to school night they're separate nights and why that isn't the same uh process for parent teacher conferences because I mean we are a very small district. It's only two schools and it just seemed very strange that they're always on the same night. >> We will certainly um you know look into I I we cannot give an answer off of the it's traditionally been that but just because it's traditionally doesn't we will certainly um you know speak to um the administrators in both building and you know follow up with the response. >> Thank you. Thank you. Can I have a motion to adjurnn? >> I'll make that motion. >> I'll second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Thank
085you to all our families and community members that tuned in at home. Our next board of education meeting, which is a very important one, will be November 5th. Thank you and have a good night.