001e e e I will now take roll call please respond with pres when I call your name Mr Kio presi pres M pres Mrs H Johnson present Mrs pen present thank you AUM is present we can now proceed with the meeting please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance followed by a moment of silence and remembrance of 911 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 Liberty and Jus for all thank you can I have a motion to adopt tonight's agenda I'll make that motion I'll second all in favor I I so passed can I have a motion to approve the board minutes meeting of August 21st is there any questions first of all okay can I have a
002motion I move to approve the board minutes of August 20th I'll second all in favor I thank you so passes that moves us into presentations Mrs bch come on down good evening thank you for having me thank you superintendent O'Hara Board of Education I'm so happy to be here for for my first presentation of the year uh everybody loves September uh I'm so excited to see the kids back um you know fall is one of my favorite times of year and part of that is all about school starting again um and it really has been nice to see all the kids and the teachers and everybody back in the building in the summertime uh elementary schools can be a little Eerie with no kids or staff um it's quiet and it's not really meant to
003be that quiet so I do enjoy being back um okay so tonight um my enrollment uh will start there as of September 4th the first day of school CES has 395 students enrolled in school uh at this time last year our enrollment was 390 um so our numbers are holding strong and that speaks to that we had a very large fifth grade class of 77 students move on to the academy so I thought we would see a dip in our enrollment um but current Curr L we have 69 kindergarten students uh which was not exactly what we expected but it's good news for CES and it has helped us to keep our enrollment High um so we are very happy with 395 students okay uh I'd like to share some of the summer work that
004we did uh this summer leading up to preparing for opening the school year um some of the things that I'm going to discuss are um linked to District goal one and District goal two um promoting an environment that prioritizes diversity equity and inclusion uh where everyone feels safe valued respected and empowered and to provide Innovative dat Innovative data driven and career connected learning experiences uh so first that starts with our summer committee work um and our work together on committees um we established our committee objectives for this year so a little history on committees at CES and throughout the district um we have established committies in the building and then the teachers um sign up for the committee that they would like to be on um and we have extended our committee work from the
005year into the summer to set our goals for the coming year we reflect on what we did the year previous and then we set our goals for the coming year um so each of um the teacher committees met this summer and we set collaborative objectives for the Committees um the Committees include a PBIS committee uh advisory committee an mtss committee a Dei committee a curriculum committee and a green team committee um we also this summer had summer curriculum uh pilot training uh which was uh available to our CES teachers on August 26th um and for those and that was for our new uh piloted program the Scholastic literacy program for our K through 5 students um we are really looking forward to uh using this program um for the students that could not attend on
006uh August 26 they actually received training today so we had a bunch of Subs in the building this afternoon and there was a three-hour training today so that everybody feels equipped to get started with the new program that we are piloting this year so that we can really give it all of our effort um and really review the program with feeling like we were prepared to teach it other summer work uh several teachers worked on leveling and updating and cleaning out and relocating our old book room um these books will be used uh as leveled books um at that teachers have access to to send home with students so kids are going home with books that are on their level in hand uh to be reading at night and isn't that what we want books
007in hand um so we're very excited about that uh teachers will have access to that at all times to be sending home books with students uh and the reason we relocated it is because we got a new Scholastic book room um this uh summer so that room has been put in place and teachers are going to receive training on utilizing that room October 31st so that's for our small group instruction they have access to it already now and some of them are going to get in there and say I'm ready to you know self-learn a bit uh but they will receive official training on October 31st from Scholastic as well um teachers spent time working on curriculum lighting uh for edup Planet our fifth grade teacher spent time collaborating and getting ready to teach uh
008all subjects in their rooms we had a change in our um format for our fifth grade they used to be departmentalized uh and based on uh data and um developmental appropriateness we decided to move back to a um not uh departmentalized um format and uh the teachers got to spend some time together this summer to work on preparing each other they haven't taught the other subjects in a while um but they did get that time they've received all the training for Scholastic everybody is ready to teach all the subjects areas uh as well uh our enl teacher Alana Carr attended a several day conference in Albany to work on an exam examin the Nisa slat tests which are the enl state tests um and where she got to provide feedback to the state regarding specifically
009uh the first grade NIS slat field test uh they examined wording of questions they gave feedback on pictures uh that were unclear and made sure that the questions and items were not culturally biased uh and were fair and Equitable to all students regardless of their background um so there was teachers from all of New York State working in collaboration um and uh Alana carnrite did attend and she's looking forward to being part of more of these kinds of committees I think she really liked the work that they did together um and she is uh potentially looking to be a part of a committee on New York State ELA test passages writing and question Construction in the same kind of format um okay moving on uh progress towards our District's goal number three strength and communication
010and engagement opportunities across multiple platform forms uh so as part of uh CES our fifth graders are like our quote unquote seniors uh and they do have a large celebration at the end of the year besides their moving up ceremony um and parents are a huge part of fundraising and planning and I work in collaboration with them uh for planning the fifth grade end ofe celebration so I have already begun uh one parent is taking the lead on this and we have met already and we are setting a family meeting for fifth grade parents sometime in October to start to collaborate and make sure that we're ready for that end of year party uh I really enjoy that work that I do with the fifth grade families I get some insight um we also work
011with the fifth graders uh once they establish um our fifth grade class representatives which we do in November they're invited to those meetings also to be that student representative and that student voice which is also nice um we have begun to use parents Square as a communication tool um I have been sending out regular messages to families to keep them informed about what's happening at CES including announcing upcoming safety drills uh and information about special events such as today's recognition of the anniversary of 911 I sent a message out to families last night about what some of the things that are going to be happening um at CES today um um we are also supporting the PTA and sepsa uh in ensuring that they have the whole school reach by sending their messages out through
012parents Square which is important instead of the online uh social media platform that not all families subscribe to um they are receiving those messages from the PTA and from the sepsa that we're pushing out through the school so that is important to expand the elementary reach to All Families um and we collect Cate with the PTA and the sepa around events in support of family and school collaboration the PTA um had a very successful ice cream social uh aligned with the student materials drop off in August before school started and as well the SEO was there um and they were providing some sensory safe activities for students uh to participate in so they have been collaborating on events um and of course collaborating with me um okay progress towards goal four uh ensure continual Improvement
013and expansion of District facilities some of the things that have been happening at CES that are exciting uh we have had a lot of progress on the CES Grant funded pollinator Garden um and the ground breaking was this summer uh the sidewalk the raised beds and fencing have been installed it looks beautiful uh if you get an opportunity to come check it out and it's not done yet we the plan is is that um the ribbon cutting uh so to speak will be this spring um and we will have a fully function pollinating Gard pollinator Garden um at CES and students are going to be working on uh problem based learning projects to ensure that we are learning about the proper plants that are you know um native to the region are planted and supporting
014the pollination process um Mrs Kitz and our fifth grade teacher is a big part of the planning as well as Miss Randy um this has been two years in the making and it is very exciting um and we are really looking forward to being able to use that as an outdoor learning space for all of our students um all of the outdated third grade student Furniture including desks and chairs were replaced this summer and the parking lot was lined and numbered and that is to improve safety also um so that our we have established visitor spots for our visitors coming and they're no longer parking in the fire lane uh which is going to support um safety at CES uh school since school has begun we had a successful opening day on September 4th welcoming
015back our students we had our first PB kickoff assembly in the maker space with our youngest students uh which were our prek and kindergarten students they are brand new to school and brand new to everything at CES uh so we did separate their kickoff assembly because it can can be uh overwhelming and it can feel um like a lot for our young ones so we downsized a little bit we moved it to the maker space a little bit more of an intimate setting for them and um we just taught them about um what PBIS is at CES and what the um four tenants of of PBIS are and that is to be responsible ready respectful and safe how they can earn chips what the expectations are when they're at recess when they're in the hall
016um all of those things uh and it went really well um and we had a really good time um and we will have our first kickoff assembly for the rest of the building this Friday September 13th um for the 1st through fifth grade students who are more used to the larger format of the assembly and the excitement and um you know handling that uh that assembly will focus on reminding students of the expectations and how positive behaviors are recognized and rewarded on a consistent basis at CES um some of our upcoming events we're looking forward to open houses for prek and 2 grade next week September 17th and 3rd through 5th September 18th um we have first PTA meeting of the Year September 23rd and sepsa on the 24th we're looking forward to a great
017year uh I am open to any questions that you might have for me does anybody have a question for Mrs you answered most of my questions but I do have one and I think it's more for just transparency can you just explain a little bit about the data that you used for your specific committees like not for specific committees but for your committees like the range of data I know you're probably pulling from different sources sure um so specifically are you talking about um the exam disciplinary Trends in our Dei goals or um that can be a great example if you can address sure sure so I would say that um some of the data that we look at is when are our uh you know behaviors potentially happening um what can we gather from
018those times uh what are the commonalities of those times of day uh what can we do uh to work on helping students in preventing those kinds of behaviors during those times of day what structure can we put in place um some other things uh that we will use data for are um specifically uh looking at our students potential absenteeism rate um and that that's something everybody in New York state is looking at and examining further um and I think that uh when looking at absenteeism we're also looking at other data points we're looking at how anism is affecting our students performance academically um we're looking at what barriers are the family or the student facing or students facing are there commonalities among the students that are having absenteeism issues what can we do as a
019school to support those students and those families in getting their children to school and you know um I would say that all of those data points tell a story and we need to know the story in order to figure out how we become part of that story and how we react to those data points do that answer your question I just yes we did um but again just being clear with everyone to know because there's an objective so just know that everyone the public should know that we look at you guys are looking at different data points different areas to tell that story to figure out that story um to make sure that we're creating a more beautiful story sure sure and and you know um it also ties directly into our mtss process um
020and the mtss uh committee is also shifting to expanding how we collect data what data points we are keeping track of um and how we're reacting to that data so um the intentional use and um our reaction to collecting that data is what we're truly working on um because we can collect all the data we want but if it sits there in data space and we don't use it it's it's important that we're defining how we're using it and that those committees um support that work awesome thank you yeah anything else from a Dei perspective I wanted to share also that this is the first year that I saw on some of that came home earlier on in my second graders folder my fifth graders folder there was questions that the teachers were asking with
021regards to access to resources everything from do you have an access to a printer at home to your a desktop at home um one of the questions even was also um how many books do you have at your library at home 0 to 5 5 to 15 more than that so I thought it was great that we're looking at that and I'm sure that was intentional but I I I think it's wonderful that teachers are looking into that as as well the information that was pulled within the first week of school which is great yes uh and I think that um Equity is on all of our minds and how we are leveling the playing field for all of our students and making sure that we are giving them equity and access to all of
022their education uh and what that means um so yes that does lend to those conversations that we're having at the elementary school and at the District of course um I only had one other question coming into the meeting but you you touched on it already so I wanted to thank you for highlighting all like the professional development taking place because I know that with this year with the fifth grade being not departmentalized that was a question for families about what that was going to look like and how the year would progress um so it sounds like there's been a lot of thought that went into the decision to do this and it'll be interesting to see what that looks like at the end of this first year right because we've done that yeah and I
023can be a little more specific um so besides uh that they did work together this summer um they all are certified elementary teachers and through that training uh you are prepared to teach any subject uh at any grade level um and there could be a move at any time that you are in a newer circumstance than you've been used to for some years um but I did think that it was valuable for them to have that time together um as well so you know in all the years past just because they were not teaching mathematics they were not um excused from the development so they were professionally developed on any of the programs that we brought in um it wasn't like a well I don't teach that so I'm just not going to attend that
024no they attend um and they want to know and they all attend also with that mindset like I could be teaching this at any time I could change grade levels and you know I need to know what I'm going to be walking into thank you um just on behalf of the board we just wanted to commend you and um all your staff you know usually the summer is supposed to be a time when you kind of dial it back a little and takes I mean the amount of committees and work that was done on behalf of our students and the district is really um frankly mind-blowing and remarkable so we sincerely thank you for um those efforts I have to say um it is a unique scenario at CES and at any time in the
025summer if you were to pull it in that parking lot it's half full and the teachers are there whether they're they're specifically working on something or they're just stopping by because they're like oh I had this thing for my classroom and I'm going to they're setting up weeks in advance they're contacting buildings and grounds and saying when can I get in my classroom to get ready for kids so um it is unique I I have to say my own experiences previous to being at Chester I have never seen so many staff in uh during the summertime months as I have here so that does speak to their level of commitment and dedication um to to the success of our students here at Chester so uh we are very blessed to have such committed amazing teachers
026please let them know that it is seen and it is sincerely appreciated I will anything else no thank you very much Happy September happy new school year Mr Flanigan good evening everyone I'm getting used to this now this is new this angles and changes here uh thank you for the opportunity to present tonight the Board of Education uh thank you to our superintendent the board Welcome to our new board members Miss hin Johnson Pena uh I've had great opportunity to know you for several years now so I'm excited to have you here everybody else welcome back another great year here um so I wanted to go through a few highlights from our report and take some questions um first and foremost our opening day our opening week was very smooth I I I kind of
027said to some people down the line I almost felt like it could have been the middle of a week from last year there weren't a lot of the same opening day problems and confusions and I think a tribute to that and you know looking at our elementary school our sixth graders transition in very well this year um I didn't see any crying I'm going to be honest with you I didn't see any tears from the sixth grade which which is always great you know um they're doing a great job with lunch our ninth graders from from 8th grade are transitioning well I think there's some great systems in place um our students are always helpful to each other the older students are very much take a mentorship role with the younger students um so I'm
028I'm really uh I'm really excited for a New Year students are coming in um I know you saw some of my communications over the summer we're not seeing cell phones um you know in classrooms which is great there was a couple of minor issues we addressed early on but students are are listening to the rules and there's an understanding and we talked as a faculty that we have to be accountable to ourselves in order for students to be accountable to that to that practice and that policy and you know we need to make sure that we're all on the same page because if teacher a is very much you know following and holding people accountable to a policy on electronic devices and teacher B isn't it hurts teacher a teacher c teacher D teacher e
029so we took a we took a stance that we all needed to be accountable to each other and we've seen great results so far along with other things like students coming in and making sure they're not walking around with hoods on um students that are you know making sure they're getting places on time not walking in the hallways um teachers issuing passes so teachers that are on Hall Duty know where they're going and so we we we've seen a really nice start to the school year uh some of our numbers early on we are our enrollment held steady and actually improved by five students but those numbers actually if if you really dive into them they don't tell the full story because we had a very large graduating senior class for us of 96 students
030so and we have a class moving in of 72 students into that senior role so that's a large disparity but when you look at the numbers as they come in um from for for example last year our sixth grade students there were 65 students that number went up to 67 last year our seventh grade had 70 students that number went up to 72 our eighth grade had 75 students that number in ninth grade jumped to 95 partially with the increased enrollment from Greenwood Lake which was an increased number enrollment as well um where we had uh in the past we were we were seeing classes and enrollments of Green Lake of of sometimes four in five students jumped to nine students last year so that was a nice little Improvement our number of uh ninth
031graders stayed steady went up to from 78 to 79 an interesting anomaly here our 10th grade class of 83 students went up to 90 students in 11th grade so an interesting year for that number to grow in in a high school um and our current Juni current our last year's Junior class of 72 went up to 74 so it shows you know we have a very good school um people want to be here they don't want to leave here they want to come here and so I think it's a real tribute to our staff to our teachers to miss Hara and uh you know to all the systems that are in place and I can see that number continuing to increase over the years which which is really great um we have some great new
032uh courses that we've rolled out for this year and added to our elective we've increased our College uh offerings here at Chester Academy we added and this was a a big Push by the students so I want to give the students credit for this students have wanted a college level chemistry class for years and the interesting thing is Sunni orange is generally our our main partner we work with but you can only work with Sunni orange if your teacher not only has your Masters in Education with a concentration in chemistry for example you have to have a master's in chemistry and so Sunni orange and that and I applaud Sunni orange for holding very high standards to what they you know where they H hire their college professors for so I applaud Sunni orange and
033at the same time we weren't able to our chemistry teacher is an amazing teacher who is certified in education with a concentration in chemistry which you know 95% of teachers generally are certified that way uh but we were able to work with Mount St Mary um and they were they were accepting they interviewed our teacher they're they were willing to partner with us so it's a a brand new partnership with Mount St Mary and chemistry that could prove to be very valuable for us down the line when it comes to retirements we are as a small school we may have a teacher that teaches Sunni orange classes retire and all of a sudden there isn't somebody with that same degree to take it over now we've established a relationship with Mount St Mary so we
034don't have to worry about losing those classes um we also introduced another Sunni orange class in statistics um that is student driven as well students wanted to take statistics uh so that to increase our higher level math science classes I think is is a big win for the academy and then classes that you know people we we we try and listen when people are talking people have talked about why don't we have public speaking so Mrs vet had talked about really wanting to teach public speaking coming out she designed a course she proposed a course it's a great opportunity for students I think it'll be really valuable for everybody to have a public speaking course financial literacy you know for every time you know you kind of hear someone in the community talking and say
035how come you know kids don't know how to balance a checkbook or you know do they know how to make a resume all the all the day-to-day common things that's why we brought financial literacy in and I want to thank Miss oara for really you know kind of being a a driving force to also kind of motivate to get that that program put in place here and then we we've had traditional stem classes in the Middle School in Sixth sth and eth grade and so we've kind of breathed some new life into the into the 7th and eighth grade to do it a little bit differently stem and sixth grade functions very well with the four teachers and the entire class working together on stem based projects and collaboration so it it does work really
036well in seventh grade we wanted to do something a little bit differently so we have Mr Olive and Mr Cunningham who are team teaching a course where they've taken stem in some of the things they've done over the year in the different projects and now we're calling it project-based robotics because they're going to introduce elements of Lego based robotics along with Project based learning um you know they R go rot Goldberg projects they do simp machines they do a lot of these different early engaging things that are going to help our students especially when they they're getting to those higher level classes in the high school of taking Cad and Robotics and mechatronics and then in eighth grade in preparation for the Seal of Civic Readiness Miss Cisco and Miss Mack have taken our eighth
037grade uh curriculum and in our eighth grade stem class and formulated into a Civics Civic Readiness class and as part of the Seal of Civic Readiness and I'm going to get a little bit more into the seal in October part of my presentation uh as part of the Seal of Civic Readiness you can actually start accumulating your points towards your graduation um your your graduation credential for for seal of Civic Readiness with an eighth grade stem project or I'm sorry an eighth grade um Capstone project so all of our students in eth grade this year will do a Capstone project and they'll all leave with one point towards the Seal of Civic Readiness so it's a it's a great way to start um I was before I came here tonight I was tremend tremendously honored
038and just really kind of you know choked up a little bit and taken back every year I I attend the 911 ceremony down in the village and once again just really you know truly emotional and it it's such a beautiful ceremony and the people that put it together are amazing people the Kanas does a great job theyve restored and I'm sure many of you are aware in the community they had they have restored the uh the 911 sculpture in the community so it was the first time I've seen it since they've restored it because the towers were starting to you know to weather and Age and and and lean a little bit so they were able to do a full restoration to to bring them back to their glory in terms of how they've always
039looked um I want to thank miss heeni and miss scall for for being there as well with the band the band performed two songs tonight um the course performed as well we had students that were up there as part of the ceremony from from our Key Club so um you know Saron and and the Kanas and everybody does such a great job and I just really thank them for always just thinking of us and and contining to invite us and as long as they're inviting us we will always be there so um and as speaking of 9/11 today uh we had obviously our our 911 is is a very kind of somber day and and it's a day that affects everybody differently being so close to you know for some of us that how we've
040all lived and experienced 911 um so we we did start our day and we traditionally will do a a little conversation on on the PA with a moment of silence and some discussion on on you know what the events that happen and you know every year that I do that I remember that now we're when now we're 23 years away our oldest student in the school is 18 years old so that is now there's more of a gap that's happening every year but our students are still very engaged and really you know interested in understanding why and what happened not letting it just become another page in the history books and so some of the lessons that I had the opportunity to to engage with teachers with today and get around and talk with them
041and hear about Mr Magie did a did a great lesson today he discussed you know the history and went through the facts of 9/11 but also discuss how it led to many of the agencies that didn't necessarily exist that we really just are are part of our everyday lives now like the homeland security and the TSA and all these things that are just you know very common for us to hear about um Miss da had a had a great lesson where she talked about 911 related illnesses in health class and she in her health class and you know the the impact and the you know the number of people that and we talked about them on the the announcers this morning well the number of people that not only died on 911 but have died
042since 911 from 9911 to lated illnesses and these are people we talk about never forgetting these are people we can never forget as well these the ultimate sacrifice that so many people made to be there to try and save people and help people and are paying the price for the long term um Mr paus had a had an interesting lesson where she had uh she had a discussion with the students of her her perspective as a first responder at the time she was a first responder in New York City at the time in 9/11 how the time she spent down there as well as a an interesting video of a of a teacher and a principal who were who were down there as fifth grade students at the time um so they that was really
043you know impactful for our students and uh and Mrs Cisco as well in the Civic Readiness class really Dove and with a kind of a student themed uh documentary that really kind of dug to the to the bottom of of ways to understand talk to students about 911 so thank you to all the staff there's there's a lot I could I could really name it but I think they all really handled it well today um it is just so everyone knows it is Art education week so uh a big shout out to our art Educators in the district Miss kryer Miss lity um you know and even um you know even our our teachers that are that are down working in the elementary school with art um with Emily dck you know they they all
044do a great job Emily does a great job setting the foundation for students to come up here and be successful in art so we thank her um one of the things we wanted we we heard the community that people have asked and always been more a little more interested in finding out more about about clubs and activities and so it is now available on our website clubs and activities are now linked on the Chester Academy page under where it says Chester Academy you can go on it lists the club you know who the ad the current advisor is there's still two or three advisers that we're still looking for but most of them are listed on there a description of the club then if you scroll down there's a nice chart that kind of goes
045through um what days they meet you know um you know what you know what what what the goals are and so on so um everybody that has questions about clubs and just wants some more information can check those out um also um passport I I tried to send a message on parents Square just before that was up we it got up today but I did want to send something on parents Square yesterday that just said here's the ones that have started already here are the days that they're meeting just so everybody knows and then when passport for good rolls out which Mr aular is working very hard on right now with the clubs and activities passport for Good Will Allow students also to log in select their Club sign up for their Club in passport
046for good we'll be able to monitor their their engagement and their activity through passport for good so we'll get some some really good information on that and uh and it'll also log hours for those students if they're doing if they're in Key Club and they're doing community service hours and the National Honor Society it's a really great tool um so we're we're we're excited to use that and then lastly we are always in the process we had several conversations about advisory last year and so one of the things we talked about at the beginning of last year was during the first year of advisory we know we'd have successes we know we'd have things that we needed to look back on and things we would need to to have conversations about and get feedback on
047and we did get that feedback from students from staff from community members so we did have an advisory committee coming over the summer to kind of download that information and debrief to make some of those changes to implement this year so our first advisory will roll out on October 7th we have um we actually have a a small advisory committee that will meet um which I have with with a middle school teacher a high school teacher and a couple of my counselors where we'll select the mindset for the month and then we will work with uh providing some structure for the teachers to plan the lessons themselves during planned faculty meeting time which was always a a struggle last year finding the time to plan advisory for the teachers because we didn't have those specific
048times set aside um so this was it was kind of a a new undertaking for them so we're providing them more time to plan the lessons and uh and are assisting them and allowing them also to differentiate their instruction a little bit more in advisory and make it a little more grade level appropriate so whether you know if you're in sixth grade we'll get all the sixth grade advisor teachers together they'll be able to meet they'll be able to say hey this would be really appropriate based on the mindset of leadership for us to do or 11th grade might be doing something a little bit different 12th grade might be looking a little bit more College based so it's exciting um you know we understand there's always going to be the need for feedback and
049so when we plan advisory we move things around it's going to be on a Monday advisory this year it allows us to see the effectiveness of that mindset over the week and actually then reward students that have really shown that particular quality over the course of the week at the end of the week whether it be something like we're putting them their name on the TV or congratulating on them on the announcements um but every advisory is actually on a faculty meeting day two so we'll go from advisory the students will be dismissed it'll be at the end of the day we'll go right into a faculty meeting and the first question will be to everybody let's talk about advisory and so it's almost where we can get that instant you know um feedback from
050people I'm going to take a breath now but any questions from anybody um I just I just want to say I think there's so many wonderful things happening I think that it sounds like you guys like hit the ground running this year and that's that's awesome um I love that the students advocated for these extra classes and the college love they they talk to you about the needs that they found and that you were able to work it out and to listen to them and to really hear it and meet those that's I think that's a tremendous asset to a small school that you're able to kind of work through that um also lets them know that you're hearing their voice right so that's that's great I also um I think it's great that you're
051starting all the Seal of Civic Readiness things in eth grade it's kind of like coincides with Dei right that you have that Equity piece built right in that you're you're setting the foundation for everything they need moving forward to be able to reach these goals for all students that may not have all of those opportunities so I think that's I think that's a great um it's a great way to transition and to evolve from just St into all of these other um aspects and areas of need um I was wondering a little bit about advisory and passport for good is there is there going to be anything merging with those is there going to be opportunity in advisory this is what I love about passport for good after we met with them passport for good
052will take the most difficult part of the Seal of Civic Readiness and make it manageable um they will manage the hours and they'll do that by importing our data through our student management system so for example you can get a point in the Seal of Civic Readiness towards your your seal if you pass um if you pass B for each Regent exam you pass so there's potentially two points out there for passing Global and US history so that type of information will just automatically be sucked into passport for good it'll also allow the students to actually look at where they're at towards those seals and the reality is you know with with the Seal of Civic Readiness if students put the work in and if they're graduating from high school and you need to have
053your social studies requirement to graduate from high school they should be able to obtain the Seal of Civic Readiness um you know how they get there is going to be different from for everyone and how much you know in terms of uh how much extra effort you you put in you might be on track to get it sooner um there are certain projects along the way especially when they get into their senior year and and kind of stealing from my presentation for next month um where they'll be working on some really great Community Based Civics based projects uh but it it it's going to be a nice opportunity to really be able to create a little resume for themselves here's my here's my hours I've worked on community service here's my work I did for
054CF Civic Readiness here are the clubs and activities I was a part of and then when they're thinking about writing their college letters or sending these are these are printable things that they can physically tangibly show people which is nice question I just was is that going to be built into advisories The Advisory period or no it won't be it won't be built into advisory it should be something that especially that that that is very standard for students almost like you know it could almost be like checking your email you know anytime you need to get on or you want to show your parents how you're doing on your on your uh your passport for good um it doesn't have a parent login that I'm aware of at this point but I but it something
055that could be shared with students and parents students can share to parents thank you thank you I just wanted to take a second and you know you opened up by saying there was no tears that you thought of I haven't seen them Kim and that is no easy feat with sixth grade and lockers um many many a sixth grader has been left in teach but I but I think that speaks to a large issue of the culture that you and the faculty and staff create at the Academy me even just listening to you know um 9/11 is part of our living history as adults it is truly history for our students and how listening to the lessons that were crafted to to make that marriage happen and you know for most adults it it is
056a very hard day and you know our our Educators you know created lessons and times for you know the kids to learn about that and I I think that is so commendable and um it speaks to the culture that you're you're creating and all everyone is creating here at the Academy and we thank you and that's the key it's it's the culture everyone's creating you know it's not something I can really take credit for you know it really like I it takes a village you know and and everyone's a part of it so thank you for your comprehensive report thank you Mr agular good evening everyone it it's it's always difficult to follow up behind Mr Flanigan uh he just says it all uh I have small tidbits here but uh first of all good
057evening again superintendent Ohara president Mr CIO members of the Board of Education I am thrilled once again as it is another amazing start here at Chester Academy thrilled excitement um not too long ago our gym was almost filled the capacity with fans watching our girls volleyball game as we are currently uh beating our friends from down the road of Route 94 in volleyball it is an amazing year so far and I really have to give thanks uh again under the leadership I am thankful every day working with Mr Flanigan our guidance team our office team but most of all our teachers our faculty our staff and a big thanks to our parents and let me share why so we started the year with the rule and you know policy hate cell phones we're going to
058put them away we had one or two bumps and that's okay we fixed them and I am happy to say in communicating with parents you have our full support a little while ago at a volleyball game Mr AG how are my kids doing we having any problems with the cell phones no if I did I know I can call you you have my support we've changed some rules at home with electronic devices too so that is great to hear I thank our teachers especially in the classroom our staff out in the hallway and every morning you know gentle reminders to our kids and best of all our kids listen and they get it and they understand so uh again I'm looking for another great year from our kids led by our senior class but also
059our seniors of the Middle School in my report I have a quick stpp it of our seniors of the Middle School jumping in and helping out our nearest Edition here at the Academy our sixth grade our eighth graders gave uh tours here around the academy and shared their positive experiences on how they managed through the middle school especially those sixth grade uh trials and tribulations including how to open up a locker how to get to the cafeteria what happens if I need to call my mom or dad and it was amazing it was amazing to see this and I'm so proud of our eighth graders by my seniors of the Middle School um as a small reward a small recognition I was able to send them a digital thank you card to them and their
060parents a small recognition but also to show them what you do matters so again I'd like to thank my excuse my my vision here Annie train Isabella barcone Gren Cambria Noah Keegan Zoe burn Hunter Williams Jaden Francis jayen Foss ma Maya Francis and Zoe ohen I'm so thankful again that's what Chester's all about and you know that because again you've allowed us to have your children here and I can tell you stories of your kids here because I've been I've had that pleasure working with them um I also want to share well we have new students here but we also have new teachers here I had a chance uh talk to our teachers briefly and pop in Mr Jordan how are things going this this is great this is really great talk to Miss scalan
061these kids are great and then we welcome back Mr paus how are we doing this is really good again so I am thrilled to hear that because again as you know we get the best because our kids deserve the best so uh in my next uh uh report uh story I I shared something that I've been doing for quite some time because again in order to get at the best you got throw a little something extra here and there I believe in the school spirit I believe in what we do uh especially the initiative that Mich Hara had had set all of us up about being student sat future focused and team driven it is in ingrained in us and you know our new teacher here miss scanland uh as you see in her uh
062teacher introduction here we gave her what I what I call right now is just a hambo uh welcome box in the box we had a a Chester magnet some school spirit items including candies but also a t-shirt too that she can wear reflecting on our initiative here at the Academy so I know that later this evening there there'll be another announcement and uh from what I heard I think that was the driving force why we got her because we got her a hambo box but um I have to be honest with you I am just amazed again amazed again here what we're doing here for our kids and again with the support starting from our Board of Education miss oara our administrative team our building principles our faculty our staff uh you know it it
063does take a village you know to come together and uh I continue to be proud of this place it's just amazing thank you again for your support you any questions M regular you always um bring us reports you know highlighting our students and you know as a board that is always just um the feel-good moments absolutely at the end of the day all of us whether you sit on the board you're in the classroom you're an administrator that is the reason we are here so please do not stop doing that that is Oh no I got plenty of stories cuz and and we really enjoyed um your giving us some feedback from the parents um you know with cell phone policy and you know because we don't know um unless we hear how that's you
064know being interpreted and how it's going so we appreciate that I have to be honest with the communication piece huge the phone call the the visiting a game going to a club saying people locally Hi how are you you know and then the other piece is our graduates when you see a family hey how's how's your daughter doing I heard this how's your son doing you know he just graduated so as you know but it's always great stories here that we want to share because we we've got great stories to tell here it's sincerely appreciated thank you again that brings us to the part of the meeting that is public comment related to agenda items you have any public comment that brings us to Round Table Mr har I bet you have something to share
065with us this evening I do thank you and uh I couldn't have a better leading to um what I wanted to start off and say this evening which is a tremendous thank you uh to our administrative team our teachers and staff our parents our students our Board of Education our theme for opening day was stronger together and if you did not see that here this evening it is such a team approach to everything we do from every single person um from the the school board to every staff member and I'm just so very proud to be a part of this and be able to serve uh and work with um such an amazing team and a group of individuals um and that extends to our community so I again um as Mr Flanigan mentioned a
066special thank you to Susan Baron and the Chester quanas for their dedicated efforts in the uh coordinating the annual 911 service um and that that really brings to light right the um how on that event uh and day the support that went out in in bringing people together um so I I thank the Chester guanas for um allowing our students to participate in that and I thank miss heeni and miss scall uh again and our students for their performance so in regard to stronger together we are working to improve our communication Mr fenan touched on parent Square uh thank you for everyone um who has worked to sign up please make sure if you haven't signed up that you do uh so that you can get not only um our notifications from either the elementary
067school the academy or District notifications but you're also um going to be able to receive those emergency notifications so if you need any help if you're if you're having trouble with uh figuring out how to download the app or register please uh contact the main office of either school we'll connect you to our Tech Team we also have an email um you can find on the website because you won't memorize this in hearing me say it but uh our email is Tech Team chesterufsd.org um in addition to improvements that we've been working together as a team to implement is our new website that launched on Friday October 30th so um we will be continuing to make improvements to our website I encourage you to visit as I shared in my welcome letter uh the academic
068tab which has our newly uh published course descriptions from prek through grade 12 and that goes back to a team effort our teachers uh put a tremendous amount of effort into developing those course descriptions um as we work uh for the district and developing vertical alignment so that is on our website under academics and that's through our partnership with edu planet um you will also see that there's parent resources that are newly added um so the course descriptions reference the standards so uh you can go on the parent resource page and find a particular standard in a Content area if you'd like more information so I encourage you to look at that we also received feedback uh last year from our cfsd parent advisory panel that there was some challenges in in navigating just how
069to contact a given staff member so you'll find this year that either at the district level right under the the picture the larger picture on the website you'll see staff directory uh you'll also see it specifically at Chester Elementary School and Chester Academy and obviously if you if you go into to that staff directory it's specific to that building and you'll find a clickable link where you can go uh where you can communicate directly with the teacher um so we will continue in the coming weeks to be uh to add more information to the website as we continue to uh work on uh our efforts to provide information to families that's easily accept accessible and with that said uh this year we transition to a digital student handbook in previous years the printed copy had
070uh no table of condense it had an elementary section and then it had an academy section with repeated topics um and so if you're a parent that has students in both the elementary school and the academy you're first trying to find where that information is and then you're trying to find it in two different locations for your two different students and so not only through the help and support of our director of technology and data management Dan horoff um was a table of context created our administrative team um worked uh quite a bit in consolidating the information and ensuring that it was relevant and applicable uh to what takes place currently so um we hope that's helpful if you click on any Topic in the table of contents it takes you directly to that page
071where that you can find the information so again we'll continue to improve upon that but we're hopeful and also it's translatable right so that all families can have uh Equitable access to that information um so again many thanks to the team and the staff was in teachers and staff was in were involved in that process as well in terms of having discussions on things like uh the dress code and certainly uh personal electronic devices so we thank our students our teachers and staff and our families for supporting our efforts in ensuring that our students St focused during instruction and that they're able to engage uh in face-to-face conversations uh with their peers versus you know head down on a phone so thank you so much for your your support on that you'll also find our
072chain of communication on our website uh it's in the student handbook it's also on the parent tab all that is is uh a means to support you in who do you contact for a particular answer and oftentimes you start with a teacher right because they have that information they work directly with your student you're going to have the most accurate information and expedited information in terms of any questions or frustrations you may have that's your first point of contact so the whole uh rationale for establishing a chain of communication in any area from academics uh Athletics special education um Behavior who is the first point of contact when you have a concern so that's our efforts to help uh you know open up the lines of communication for you I mentioned the parent advisory panel
073uh parents you'll be receiving information from me next week we have many of our parents that have been on the panel last year uh interested in returning and we have many improvements with regard to uh what takes place in participating in that panel specifically thanks to the efforts of Mr Flanigan and Mrs bch um we have conversations at the district level in the cfsd parent advisory panel but also there's obviously um interest in discussing Elementary specific questions maybe with instruction or curriculum or Academy specific questions and so uh Mr Flanigan and Mrs bch have uh opened up time uh to support parents in those conversations and more information will be coming on that it probably will be aligned perhaps to uh PTA or PTSA meetings uh so you'll have more information that follows on that
074and again that's reflective of our uh parent input for improvements and also the concerted efforts of our building principles uh Mr Flanigan and and Mrs bch and then in addition to that in terms of communication some information was shared at the end of last year but just today uh parents were sent information on the newly implemented Athletics advisory panel so um I believe as soon as he sent that uh we already had uh six parents sign up so this is an opportunity for you to join the Athletics advisory panel that's again dedicated to continuous improvements specific to our Athletics program so if you are a parent of a child who participates in athletics and you see uh or believe there to be opportunities for improvement this is a for for you to share that and
075for us to work together to impact positive change so we encourage you to take part in that and lastly specific to consent agenda item 5.4 I'm extremely pleased to announce the recommended appointment of Nicole dusa as our new assistant superintendent for business Miss dusa was selected after an extensive interview process that included a number of Highly qualified candidates she brings exensive experience from Hudson Valley School Districts having served as both district treasur and school business official Mr susa's credentials include a New York State School District business leader certificate of advanced study a Bachelor of Science and accounting and a master's in Business Administration equipping her with the expertise needed for Effective Financial leadership in our district thank you to the board of education for supporting the opportunity for missusa to collaborate with Mr Brennan and
076our business office team to ensure a smooth transition before Mr Brennan's retirement this collaboration will help maintain the strong fiscal management and effective budgetary planning that have been the Hallmarks of Mr Brennan's tenure we are also extremely proud to announce that Mr Brennan will be honored with the Mid Hudson School study Council Award of Excellence this coming October congratulations to Mr Brennan we are not saying farewell yet we are extremely confident that Miss dza will lead our district with the same commitment to Excellence and we are grateful for the seamless transition facilitated by her partnership with Mr Brennan and the Business Office Team uh following bard of vet approval she will officially begin her role in October on October 11th of 2024 and I know that I speak for the entire cfsd team who administrative
077team who had the opportunity to sit and have conversations uh with Nicole how uh appreciative and excited we are we talk about team constantly and could not think of a better fit to uh join our team and to continue the outstanding um fiscal uh leadership that Mr Brennan has LED and will continue to in the next coming weeks so we're excited to welcome pending board ofed approval on consent agenda item 5.4 that is all does anybody else have anything for Round Table I do I just have a few updates uh for the Orange County School Board uh the first meeting of the Year took place in person on September 4th Sandra ruio who is the president of the New York State School Board Association was the guest speaker and she spoke about the areas that
078niso will continue to focus on um this year to provide adequacy and resources for she shared that there were four areas that were highlighted in a survey that was taken by school board members at the end of last year year um asking them to indicate what they thought would be the greatest challenges for them with this upcoming school year so the four areas that were highlighted by Schoolboard members included fiscal concerns specifically the Redevelopment of the foundation Aid formula artificial intelligence um finding ways to teach students using AI in ways that still promotes critical thinking cell phone bands was the third challenge that they identified and electric buses so she shared that the upcoming Conference in October will have breakout sessions dedicated to discussing all these areas in more detail the guest speaker for the
079conference will actually be an AI robot Sophie that is currently in route from China due to all the logistics of the LED batteries that they have we're getting her here so that should be very interesting and informative uh and then lastly I just wanted to share that niso will be releasing the resolution book this month um that will outline the proposals for the areas that local school boards would like for nisba to prioritize addressing on a legislative level um during their annual business meeting in October so that booklet that was sent out I don't know if anybody received it already that one actually has a few errors in it so that one can be tossed they're going to be sending an updated manual this coming week and uh we also usually get a copy to
080email as well so that voting meeting will be on October 4th um I think last year they offered it virtually but this year it will be in person as well and if you prefer to do it in person um who both options last year also it was last um and the next Orange County school board meeting will be on October 2nd in person it it'll go over in more detail what that resolution process looks like in the voting process thank you for support anybody else have anything for Round Table okay that moves us on to consent agenda uh I'll make a motion to adopt consent agenda items 5.1 through 5.9 second all in favor I so passes that moves us to our final um public comment is anyone who would like to issue public comments
081please come down good evening everyone so although I'm not wearing my Chester t-shirt I am excited and honored to join the district and I look forward to working with you all to ensure fiscal responsibility and support the success of our students so thank you again for the opportunity and I'm excited to get to work get to work with Mr Brennan welcome AB board thank you well thank you and welcome to the tester family thank you very much welcome that brings us to adjournment do I have a motion for ajour I move toour I'll second all in favor I thank you for those of you who tuned in this evening and have a good night