001e it's quite all right good all right good evening everyone and thank you for attending the January 24th meeting of the Chester Union Free School District Board of Education meeting if everyone would please rise for the pledge I pled algian 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 and if we can have a motion to adopt tonight's agenda I'll make that motion to adopt tonight's agenda second all in favor I I any opposed okay um I will need a motion to approve the board meeting minutes from our last meeting on January 10th I make the motion to approve board minute meetings from January 10th I'll second are there any corrections additions hearing none all in
002favor I any opposed thank you let's jump right into presentations Miss Garcia you're up Happy New Year everyone thank you you too okay so I'm going to keep my first uh board report of 2024 Jordan sweets um starting with on January 12th we had our halfday conference day and I'm just going to touch upon two major highlights of that day uh since you have the agenda one was that all the faculty in the entire District worked collaboratively to develop course descriptions they generated them revised it edit it and um the goal is that all of course this subscriptions in all grade level and all content areas will be completed by May to get them all board approved by you um and we'll have a course description we'll have a booklet and then they'll be able
003to be up and running on our district website so that's uh we made a lot of progress there and they were all updated in edge of Planet so that's a plus the second highlight was that um the teachers in K to 2 and grades 3 to 12 were able to have professional development to evaluate uh gizmos which is like a science investigations uh resource and we received very good feedback and you have a link to the emails that Mr Flanigan and I received from the academy teachers um with that resource which was pretty cool and the English Department contined to evaluate and get professional development on the ELA pilot uh for grade six through 12 the next item is um the annual professional performance review a and professional learning plan committee that consists of Administrators
004uh teachers union members and faculty members have been meeting and the goal has been to update the goals and Nar them down for professional learning and we finally finished all six we now would it done we had like eight uh last year and then they found we fine- tuned them so now we have six that are act they smart goals they're actually doable and so we're very proud of the work just to do a quick overview um like for example is to provide uh learning opportunities that focuses on assessment data and student work to plan um to drive instruction we're focusing on improving cultural responsive and inclusive practices that support a welcoming and affirming environment for all students provide more PD on stamp Prof um Project based learning technology uh and strategies to promote critical
005thinking collaboration and literacy skills in students aligning uh The Curriculum maps through edop planet and using the plc's uh and the teacher leaders to actually teach the other teachers to do the inservice academy that wraps it all up if you have any questions about those goals I'll be able to give feedback on that uh the other item is on the I ready we've had inclement weather interruptions so the testing continues and it's like rollover minutes uh so we'll be testing through February second week of February but py was a hit uh so I thought it was going to be a little bit corny to have pory in the middle school but the middle schoolers loved it because it reminded them of elementary school so they knew who he was so that was kind of funny
006but that kind of motivated them to take the assessment serious um so that was great and for the parents who are watching at home tomorrow we have our fourth family instructional Academy which is going to be a coffee and conversation and the theme is new year new Solutions so so the parents have been registering uh to take the class but we're having conversations on topic that they present and the idea is to have a solution based mindset right so the only way we can make improvements uh in our school district in our buildings uh and instructional practices and parent involvement would be to identify areas of concerns and provide solutions to make 2024 awesome and and there is an update on the last bullet on the today's students tomorrow's teacher the induction has been moved
007to February so that date it's not it's not going to be next week it's going to be in February so that's uh to be determined date and that's it that it was short short question but comprehensive so thank you does anyone have any questions for Miss Garcia no I wanted to thank you for how detailed and informative your reports always are and um thank you for including the positive feedback section I think it's such a great thing for us as a board to see to get the perspective of the staff we've done so much and in such a small window of time we've done great things um so it's nice to hear from the staff and to see how actively involved they are in being able to look at the programs pilot the programs and
008to find out that more importantly they feel that they'll be beneficial and useful to them so thank you for including that section I liked being able to peek into that survey and see kind of what the response was from the staff so was wonderful thank you welcome any other questions anyone else no no thank you thank you Mr duet you're up come on down good evening everyone so you have dates for you first we will start with academic eligibility uh as we like to highlight each month we are still trending with nice low numbers nice low percentages for academic eligibility for athletics we only had three students building wide that were identified as academically restricted for any sports at any point during this last uh 5we period uh that represents less than 2% of all
009of our student athletes at Chester Academy uh our academic study hall attendance has been fantastic everybody's doing what they're supposed to be doing we are setting our students up for we talked about this I talked about this at the last meeting you know we can identify our students as academically you know deficient in whether it's restriction or probation but what are we doing about it so we have our students attending the study halls and I'll be curious because next week after this Friday is the end of the marking period so next Wednesday Thursday we'll have the fail report and I'm looking forward to seeing positive numbers as far as how many students were in the academic study halls and how many have come off that list and hopefully it's a much lower number that goes
010back on which is ultimately our goal in the ever world uh changing world of Athletics as I gave you my report uh last week well just only been a few days and there's all kinds of stuff to update you on because this time of SE time of year this part of the Season things get a little bit busy with playoffs and we have division championships and wrestling section championships and things like that um I did highlight a few of our athletes who had some success over the last few weeks but I want to update that because if you had seen our social media post you will know that the indoor track and field team had their division championships this past weekend and we had some division Champions so ernette won the 1,00 meter and the
0111500 meter Michael hitchko won the hammer throw who's currently ranked 20th in the nation and we had the 4x4 relay team which is zo Arnette Alexa yande zo Henny and Esmeralda Flores Fernandez all section champions uh no excuse me division Champions the section Championship is going to be held on February 9th at West Point so if anybody is looking to see how our hamiltonians are doing in person they'll be at West Point at the Fieldhouse just a note if you do go to West Point it is considered a special event you do not need a special past to get on West Point for that particular event you can just show up with your government approved ID and you can get on to the uh onto West Point for that event wrestling will have their sectional
012championships on February 11th and one last note the boys basketball girls basketball team are both trending towards the playoffs right now the seedings meeting will be in the middle of winter break and the sectional tournament will be the last week of February just so everybody can put that on your calendar and hopefully we'll see you hopefully we'll be hosting a home game and we can see you for some of those uh a couple other highlights the girls arsing wrestler wrestling team had three wrestlers placed in the top four at the Eastern State classic which is a very PR prestigious tournament 43 teams were there and we represented very well speaking of the girls wrestling team we did hold our first girls wrestling meet with a whole list of schools that came uh I did want
013to give a special thank you to the Goan school district and especially the athletic director Mr George St Lawrence and hopefully he's watching but if he's not I will play this for him later uh he they have been goin's been very very good to us we talked about this previously with what they did for us for homecoming uh having that many girls in the gym at one time and having a single mat makes it a very long evening and we were able to secure with the help of buildings and grounds we were able to go to Goan borrow their competition wrestling mat side by side with our own which I had given pictures in the report and we were able to hold a side bys side uh wrestling meet that night keeps it under two
014hours parents were thrilled were able to pack the stands because everybody's wrestling right away uh you know we're not there for 3 four hours getting it done on February 2nd we're going to do it all over again we've already contacted Goan we're going to bring the Matt back one more time uh but without their help this would have been a very difficult meet to hold and we've had some outstanding relationships some of our neighboring school districts for example Washingtonville in the spring they help us out with our track uh track team which is why we'll have another home track meet on April 22nd at Washingtonville that'll be our home meet so our local districts have really stepped up to help us and it's much appreciated and I wouldn't I wouldn't want to go through this
015year without at least giving all of them a great thank you all right so exit survey update we did get a significant response to our uh survey updates uh for the first time around it it was a good response we got a lot of parents a lot of student athletes had a lot of student athlete responses primarily positive uh a few things that uh you know uniforms and facilities and things like that that we wanted to address with the public a little bit and I was able to meet with some of these parents and and I know we've had the conversation about uh you know emails collecting emails not collecting emails we had that conversation at my last board presentation one of the topics that came up when I met with some of the parents
016is I wouldn't know who to talk to if I didn't collect some of the emails so we're still talking about which way to go with this but reflecting on it having conversations with the parents with the student athletes with the administration I would like to be able to call people and have those conversations and one of the things we're talking about doing is possibly getting together as a group and having these conversations so we're going to have information coming out about that in the next few weeks possibly talking about forming a committee something like that where we can get that information have a nice dialogue we have more open communication between the athletic department and the community so if you have your ideas stay tuned we'll be sending messages out and hopefully we can bring
017those in and have some meaningful conversations about them social media update we're up to 621 posts last time I wrote this I think we're actually getting cruising closer to 650 at this point uh one of the things that we are going to be posting shortly this will be the last thing I have for this presentation because it's most important spring Sports is coming up so think warm weather even though we're talking about two-hour delays and snow days and everything else believe it or not we are going to be opening registration for spring Sports on February 12th so I'm going to give you a list list of important dates this will all be posted on the website our social media sites we'll put this out as a school messenger through a letter future board presentations and
018also our morning announcements all this mis information will be put out February 7th 8th and March 13th the school is offering sports physicals in the nurse's office those are by appointment only so please call the school ask for the nurse's office and we will schedule an appointment for you if that is needed February 12th as I mentioned is open registration for spring Sports you can go on the Chester ufsd website under Athletics and click on register for sports we bringing directly to the family ID website tryouts March 11th which is about a month and a half away we've got our JV and varsity baseball girls varsity lacrosse Varsity JV softball boys and girls varsity track and field then the a week later March 18th we have tryouts for modified sports baseball girls lacrosse and softball
019look for more information about spring Sports in the coming weeks on our social media as well as chesterufsd.org I believe that is all of it a lot of information in a short period of time it was was like speed dating for sports um thank you no you did Cover a lot then it was a lot of stuff that we've been you know mulling over and talking about so it's nice to see things coming to fruition and and forming so thank you for taking the initiative on all of those fronts does anyone have any questions questions for Mr J good report thank you thank you have a wonderful evening you too Mr Spence good evening how's everybody doing this night good thank you good to see everybody um you have my board report and I'm not
020going to uh read it to you there's a couple things I would like to touch upon of course from my report and then as always allow time for questions and so forth so um it's amazing I think we're you know nearly that halfe point of the Year already we're approaching Groundhogs Day very soon if you can believe it and we're in FS spring with assessments with testing Miss uh Garcia mentioned all the snow days and snow delays so every time that happens you know we have been adjusting tests adjusting School tools sending School messenger alerts so technology has been involved in all of that as we uh move along and so forth so um Ires have been going well since Miss Garcia talked about that we we'll move on but it's not just Ires you
021know we're doing our regions this week and so forth so we did start scanning our regions uh this afternoon and then it's a process of uh getting the data back through the data warehouse and loading it into school tools and so forth in addition to our CBT simulation days which went well and so forth so um January is definitely testing testing testing but I think it's important to note it's not just testing for testing sake it's it's that continue Improvement uh to evaluate our programs and this is this is the tape measure the ruler if you will to help our teachers to see where students are at this point in time in the middle of the year so it's important and my own students at home are taking region this week and I want to
022see how they're doing so I can evaluate and see you know what they might need help with so with that said I'd like to switch gears a little bit to technology and I did include in my board report a very very short little PowerPoint just showing a couple projects we're working on and so I wanted to just show that and highlight a couple things and and thank the tech team for all the hard work for a number of projects that we've been in the middle of especially in January so you have my report and I'll just open up to show up on the screen behind you uh the very very short not lengthy very short PowerPoint okay so as this loads um you know technology as I said affects all departments it affects all buildings
023um it affects um you know everything we do so um our goal as a tech team we've been kind of talking about this and working on this we've informally come up with a motto um I happen to see the Three Musketeers on cable the other night we're uh using throwing around models and saying all for one one for all uh that's kind of a work in process but we said our mission is to support the district goals of teaching learning school operations and provide real world College internship in a fiscally responsible Manner and we've done that working with our colleges and we've provided a great experience for our college students and for our real Chester employees and and been able to uh you know support all the technology needs around the um District so what
024are the type of things that we've been working on so the tech team has closed approximately 257 work order help Des tickets since the beginning of the year in September now that's the tickets that have been put in the system in addition and you consider the day byday um help that you know people ask for that are not help Des tickets so they've been certainly busy and we've as I mentioned been supporting on a daily basis the IR assessments the cbts and making sure the data is there it's correct we have our special ed modifications and teachers and students are able to get into the assessment and we have Tech team members available for all of those assessments we've been very busy as I mentioned we've been upgrading our 15 new Cisco Network switches now
025not to be technical here for the people at home a network switch is it's kind of like a communication box that you have in your various buildings and your various departments um it's the switch that allows the uh the data to flow between various departments and so forth um you know those switches get too old then you see performance issues in your infrastructure so so we've been working as part of our rate project which Mr Brennan helped with last year uh we got that funded through eate and we've been working with core BTS to replace all of our 15 Network switches with the help of course of Mr Patel and core BTS we submitted our 2024 2025 budget and what we did again in the fall was we reached out to our teachers we did
026our annual survey of their needs making sure software that we have and other items are really useful to the teachers because it's not useful there's no sense continuing it um we continue the replacement of outdated uh classroom Technologies we're down to about four or five smart boards and so um some of those Smart Boards we had when I first came here in 2010 so in this next budget which we'll talk about uh very soon you know the the last four or five smart boards will go byby and we will have brand new new line boards for all classrooms uh we've been working on wiring projects that are relating to Verizon and we've been following following management procedures for Network accounts for cleanup and for data data privacy and updating our server software and network security
027systems I I just mentioned for for a minute the countless hours Mr Patel spends doing software updates on various security systems and uh you know it's become a joke with Tech Team you know Nick what are you doing and it's I'm working on updates so that's an ongoing thing to make sure that we have the latest and the greatest software patches and that we're secure in this very dangerous era of cyber security so here's a little graphic of I I would say three main projects we've been working on so we've been working with three different vendors core BTS that's our Network switches the 9200 series over on the left so they've come out and we've had several phone calls they've configure them and then we're waiting to midwinter break on the 21st when no students
028will be here and we'll have three days to kind of test it and we'll be swapping out the switches we'll be switching the switches if you will and then we will make sure everything is up and running for Monday for students and so forth with the help of core we've been working on the Verizon project I've I've been updating Miss oara and our administrators uh installing the five additional Wi-Fi extenders and checking the performance of that um and that's been really with a great help of our friends Mr D roza and building of grounds running wiring and running cabling as you see one of our interns is over there I just happen to you know um notice him working with Mr battel checking some wiring that we got help from our friends in buildings grounds
029to run for their extenders and of course we've also worked on and now completed something called the the disaster recovery project which means now that we have parody between the two buildings so that if this building suddenly something happen to this building we could be up and running fully from the elementary school or vice versa within a matter of 15 minutes as you know this summer we had a a very large storm which affected the Old Chester Academy that could happen at any time God forbid at one of our buildings now with the disaster covery set up with that sinking even if a building was completely incapacitated God forbid we would be able to turn on a switch and switch over and be up and running within 15 minutes that's a n standard it's something
030that we said we have to do that project has now been completed with the help of CSI so so these are some things behind the scenes that have been going on um I wanted to make you aware of and then just in general um we've been continuing you know to check our security cameras we have a monthly check we have ordered new cameras in the budget to make sure we have the latest and the greatest and we've been involved as you know yourself as board members with something called the MFA rollout so MFA again for people at home stands for multiactor or two-factor authentication it's kind of like now when you have a bank account when you log into your bank statement online it's not about passwords anymore because passwords are very very very hackable
031one statistic said that even a 10 digigit password there's tools online within 15 minutes can be hacked easy so more and more insurance companies governments schools are using multifactor we're using the duo keys so I won't belabor it you've all had your Duo key and your basic training that is to say as of this report there were 81 Keys rolled out I'm happy to say we've been rolling them out this month to our teachers and now we're well over 110 into 120 Keys uh by the end of the month our goal is that all teachers and our teacher aids will have their keys and then um then we're going to work with our coaches and then everybody in the district will have MFA set up for Google which is something that we've been talking about
032and working on and and you know that's something that the interns have been very helpful with because they're just an extra set of hands to go out and help people in small groups one by one so um so those are some things from the world of technology I just wanted to kind of stop uh you have the rest of my report which talks about some data items I really don't want to belabor it at this point but I really wanted to just uh thank you for supporting the tech team and our College interns and see at this point if you have any questions for me that I could help with thank you Mr Spence um as always you um delivered a very comprehensive report so thank you very much for doing that um does anyone
033have any questions for Mr Spence all right well we look forward to hearing what the tech department has on the on the budget front and and necessary Replacements and uh you know new purchases excellent going forward so thank you so much okay very good thank you for thank you Mr doosa as always the best for last I know I know always save the best for last I was say so confused when Dia said this is the first report of the year I feel like uh I feel like we're already in June a meeting or something I don't know you just have a lot going on my friend goodness that's what to and snow days of Dy you snow days yes very early mornings we'll get to that uh in one second so um make it
034quick today um on Friday January 12th we did a walk through with nice our uh insurance carrier and um as you know um there's a a bit of a difference between um what we estimate the damage of maple to be versus what ncer came back with our walkth through included Engineers our Engineers uh from L their Engineers uh and their environmental consultant and I think we are much closer now uh than we were there were some items that were missing from their reports so uh we are just waiting now for their revised um their revised number so I I I know I've said this the last two meetings but I really hope that this gets resolved uh within the next week or so and you know uh Mr Brennan's Been instrumental on this so I
035I think I think we're pretty close and we'll have some uh some answers for you uh within the next week or so um the CES main Chester Elementary School main office is about to get a uh makeover so I know this has been a topic of conversation the furniture is old and dated and um starting um February 16th the winter break we are going to gut the entire main office uh all of the administrative offices we're put a new uh reception desk in there carpet paint um and furniture for the administrative offices so I think it's it's been well overdue and uh I think everybody's looking forward to uh seeing uh to seeing this progress um so as you mentioned right the past two weeks or so have been very challenging for facilities departments all
036over Orange County in particular our staff has been here uh every day uh starting at 3:30 and we with again the help of Mr Brennan have um the ability to Salt right uh I won't say that we've done 100% of the salting this we just so you know we've used more salt this year than we probably have in the last two years just given the uh the nature of these storms we're right on the cusp of freezing and uh in order to ensure safe arrival and dismissal for our students um we're we're applying salt pretty regularly as is the DPW so uh I would be remissed not to thank uh Brad Sutton Tyler kryer Brian Rogers Lance Rogan and Mark Reed from the Chester maintenance staff and our custodians who've shown up when we've had
037storms uh Bill kof Kevin Burns Andy HP Ian got and Bob Mains um these folks without any hesitation are in every every time we need them 3:30 in the morning lifting shovels and um running circles around around me so um I'm grateful to have them here and uh they do uh and they have done great job so that is my report for January is there any questions well thank you and as always please extend our thanks to the team um you know we can't get in the building or to the building you know it it changes the complexion of what our day looks like and you know adds unnecessary delays and and absences so thank you for taking care of the safety of the students does anyone have any questions for Mr doosa well we
038look forward to seeing the new 2.0 version of the CES offices when they're completed and thank you for all you're doing with the team to help with that project um and not having to Outsource all of the work that's being done is a tremendous savings to the district so doesn't go unnoticed thank you for mentioning that right we are handling all the demo um and some of the other minor uh maintenance items but um it is a it is a significant saving so thank you for highlighting that thank you thanks guys all right that will bring us to our big report of the night Miss oara thank you good evening everyone the purpose of tonight's presentation of uh midyear report on District goals is to provide a general overview of where we are midy year
039with our objectives in support of 24 I am proud to share thanks to the collaborative efforts of our administrative team teachers staff parents community members local businesses and municipalities together we continue to impact positive change for our students thank you to our board of education for their leadership and continue support of our mission to be student centered future focused and very clear this evening team driven in all that we do the midyear update is extensive so this evening I will highlight only a few key components of each objective the entire 58-page document will be available for your review on our district website later this week so with that said uh the vision and mission of the district has been communicated previously and we continue to expand in each of our district goals and initiatives centered
040on that vision and Mission so we'll begin with the first goal this goal primarily uh focuses on three areas so the first goal being promote an environment that prioritizes diversity equity and inclusion where every individual feels safe valued respected and empowered to achieve their Highest Potential safety social emotional well-being diversity Equity inclusion being the themes uh aligned with the objectives in support of this goal we continue this is not new uh beginning last year we've communicated the importance of law enforcement and risk management expertise involved in all facets of our safety protocols and procedures and that is an extensive list we continue to have Chester police officers and Atlas Security on site and add additional security Personnel for a larger event we are and have advanced emergency drills and specialized training for our staff and
041students including uh expect the unexpected uh training that took place this earlier this year and that was building specific so Chester Elementary School and Chester Academy specific um with ongoing uh dialogue with our staff as a component of our continuous Improvement we continue to utilize our bir building emergency response teams uh specific to Chester Elementary School in Chester Academy and we've improved our visitor process just through uh our photo identification passes that's a small uh Improvement but an important one um in terms of social emotional well-being specific to Chester Elementary School we continue to advance PBIS and choose love initiatives uh we have Incorporated a school culture and student behavioral support specialist uh who continues to support our PBIS Choose Love and the newly implement mented uh multi-tiered system systems of supports um inclusive of
042family and school Partnerships all in support of Student Success at Chester Academy um instrumental this year as a new initiative is the advisory model and that incorporates skills uh identified skills specific to each grade level along with the seven mindsets program currently meets twice a month and being in its very first year uh we are very much seeking the input of not only our teachers and staff but also the students as we prepare for identified objectives for improvement for the 24 25 school year we also are continuing at Chester Academy safe School ambassadors program we've moved from outside training to bringing that in-house and if you have taken part or watched and you're welcome to do so um at any point in time there was a safe School Ambassador presentation the students themselves did a
043phenomenal job in communicating um how their how their uh participation in this program makes a difference and how it has improved since bringing it inhouse and all of that is uh in support of a safe and inclusive community amplifying student voice implementing actionable peer support and promoting leadership initiatives and we continue to expand opportunities for staff professional development leadership which Mrs Garcia mentioned this evening uh collaboration input and support report in terms of diversity Equity inclusion we continue to expand our programs and professional development focused on diverse Equitable and inclusive practices uh fifth grade student council has returned to Chester Elementary School providing opportunities for student voice and we're very excited and the teachers have been instrumental and done an immense amount of work in uh putting together and working towards providing our students with
044the opportunity for the New York seal of biliteracy which is significant and the New York seal of Civic Readiness uh in our recent Board of Education meeting uh we have passed the or adopted the district policy on diversity Equity inclusion uh and without going and reading through the policy in itself the district is committed to providing a safe and welcoming environment for all students staff and families and all means all and we continue to provide platforms for student staff and family input because in order for us to expand and improve uh we need to be listening to all stakeholders so we have our CF parent advisory panel in uh the second year our family instructional Academy again uh just communicated we have a meeting uh tomorrow PTSA PTA and newly initiated sepsa this year the
045second goal provide Innovative data supported and engaging learning experiences that Foster College and Career Readiness through highly qualified staff who are student centered future focused and team driven the three main themes of this goal are Innovative engaging learning experiences data supported instruction which you heard a little bit about this evening and highly qualified staff we continue to expand programs and professional development aligned to the New York next Generation learning standards specific to our uh workplace learning program we have now 45 internships place and that number continues to increase and our PK through 12 prek through 12 Career Connections initiative uh continues to provide students with opportunities to connect content area skills directly to applications in varied Industries or careers we continue to integrate technology and multimedia resources create interactive and Innovative learning experiences so beyond
046uh what Mr Spence had shared earlier uh a lot of these components not are not only in the classroom but of course are in our maker spaces so at Chester Elementary School there's two one specific to the engineering design process and the other uh primarily focused on Robotics and that is utilized those spaces are utilized across content and special era special areas we are in our first year of opening the Chester Academy maker space and if you were present at the most recent board meeting uh you saw Mr Rodman present uh quite a comprehensive Ive overview of all of the Innovative learning and collaboration that's taken place in a short amount of time so we're excited about what we've been able to accomplish thus far a tribute to all of the teachers efforts on this
047and Mr Rod Rodman leading a collaborative initiative and we're excited about where we're headed from there as I mentioned uh not only with robotics instruction we continue to utilize the green screen technology uh and we video application software with our CES broadcasting team and CA Newsies and then we have just this year uh through Mr Rodman's efforts a newly implemented podcast uh in addition I ready my path as Mrs Garcia mentioned is a techn technological application that supports our students in their individualized learning and it is based on the assessments that they take uh our teachers have done a phenomenal job between Chester Academy and Chester Elementary School the benefit of being a small District in providing uh collaborative opportunities between our staff uh which our students benefit so um there's been a lot of
048different experiences uh that the students have been able to benefit from through the collaboration of teachers in both buildings um the maker space in both buildings also provide an opportunity uh to collaborate across multiple um subject areas and diff and disciplines and then we continue to expand upon our High School courses and programs we are in the midst of evaluating uh needs for 2425 as we look to identify areas for improvement and course offerings for the following year as Mrs Garcia mentioned uh we are in the throws of working towards finalizing and meeting our goal for course descriptions and that's going to be a significant uh progress and it will be shared on our website when that is completed and that's just phase one of our vertical alignment uh progression and efforts so in terms
049of data supported instruction providing professional development opportunities that integrate data analysis to support differentiated instruction and optimize student learning so in our next we have uh newly implemented half days of profession professional development thanks to the support of the board of education so in March we have targeted um staff development and collaborate collaborative time and teams to specifically look at student results on assessments inclusive of I ready regions uh New York state test and looking at and just in classroom assessments seeing uh student performance and and where we can adjust and differentiate instruction this also includes the newly implemented uh multi- system of supports multier system of supports uh which incorporates student data and instructional supports uh to ensure Student Success we've also initiated this year uh goal setting and data chats with our students
050so it's not just uh providing the assessment to them but having them be a part of that process in terms of setting goals um and having a conversation about their performance as opposed to just taking the test and isolation Without Really student engagement in that process and we have expanded the I ready diagnostic to ninth grade and that has helped to support students uh in um that was a piloted this year and we have seen success and the teachers have uh opted to continue to move forward with that at that particular grade level highly qualified staff I can't speak enough to the importance of that that's our front-facing right impact for our students so what's been really impactful this year is the professional learning teams that have been put in place both at uh Chester
051Academy and the Committees in place at Chester Elementary School and those are instrumental in hearing teacher input whether it be on the programs that we're piloting or the initiative specific to uh Chester Elementary School and Chester Academy hearing that teacher input um or it's specific to a Content area in where are we what are uh where are we in our objectives for the year um what do we need to tweak based on what we're seeing in student performance or otherwise and what professional development is needed to support teachers in moving forward successfully the new teacher orientation and mentoring program under the leadership of Mrs Garcia continues to expand and improve uh we expand to a two-day training and um each year that we expand and enhance the program it is based on input from the
052previous cohort of first year teachers so you can see the key theme is uh input we continue to provide uh professional development for sta faculty and staff reflective of District district goals and professional growth um many of the uh components on this objective are have already been mentioned right the professional learning communities at Chester Elementary School and Chester Academy professional development and um that specific to St staff feedback on our Third District goal expand opportunities for Meaningful Community engagement communication and Partnerships that support real world application and learning and the three key themes uh in support of this objective are Community engagement communication and Partnerships and learning specific to community engagement we uh continue to expand our informational workshops for parents and families reflective of current needs Mrs Garcia just mentioned uh the family instructional
053Academy we have offered in September uh improving Communication in October the Tricks and Treats of student assessment and data in November student academic supports where we actually had a student panel present to uh offer parents from their perspective uh how you could be successful and what supports are available to take advantage of and then we have one coming up tomorrow so we encourage our families to participate um in addition we have implemented the cfsd parent advisory panel last year that continues this year we recently met last week we have uh cfsd Career Connections family instructional Academy as I mentioned and this year of course um the Maple Avenue task force has been instrumental and having conversations on uh options of consideration that have been presented to the community and as Mr doosa mentioned we're currently
054uh working with nyser with regard to the insurance claims so we will continue to provide opportunity for uh Community input and collaboration as more information becomes available and we appreciate our Partnerships with the PTA PTSA and our newly implemented sepsa uh new this year we have a districtwide newsletter uh coming out every other month so our next one is coming out soon end of January in an effort to provide our families with information on uh District highlights and student initiatives and we we've expanded communication so our website continues to expand we are currently TR uh planning for a transition to final sites so that is in the works um we have transitioned to online registration and uh we continue to enhance all of our social media platforms recognizing that communication is key so that that's
055an ongoing uh component of continuous Improvement as well um I had already mentioned the workplace learning initiative has expanded we have today students tomorrow's teachers um which was uh brought in place last year and um exciting opportunities for our students continue inclusive of the Career Connections which I mentioned earlier goal number four ensure the continual Improvement and expansion of District facilities promoting safety security and student opportunity in the most efficient and economical manner possible key the two key areas being Safety and Security improvements and continual Improv Improvement of expansion and expansion of facilities so you'll see a lot of uh repetition with regard to Safety in this particular goal because safety is the top priority of the district so as mentioned earlier when we evaluate our district safety plans we do ensure that ler enfor
056law enforcement and risk management expertise are involved right that includes the Town of Chester police department Village of Chester police department Orange County Sheriff's Office New York State Police orange olster Bose's health and safety risk management team Atlas security all of which have been involved as we have these conversations for Comm uh continued Improvement safety policies and procedures are included also in our new higher orientation training and newly implemented uh gcn video application training that's uh Global compliance excuse me Global compliance Network we are currently expanding our crowd management operations and training districtwide and as mentioned earlier uh which is a component of Safety and Security evaluating and pursuing options for the Maple Avenue School building and property so uh recently uh we added exterior lighting based on conversations with uh The Village Police Department
057and um we are uh continuing to monitor monitor the building uh in partnership with the police department as it's it's a security risk right with people um able to enter the building uh environmental growth is issues and um safety concerns we continue to upgrade the district computer network infrastructure to improve safety security and efficiency Mr Spence uh already very clearly outlined our initiatives and efforts in those areas including data privacy no before is something that was implemented previously and continues and that's a fishing simulation that happens on a monthly basis um improving access to Wi-Fi Mr Spen me men mentioned is uh instrumental in supporting our Safety and Security improvements as is the duo multiactor authentication um in terms of developing for our continue Improvement and expansion of facilities uh the importance of developing a
058comprehensive plan for voter consideration on the expansion of athletic facilities and safety infrastructure so very excited and appreciative of the Town of Chester as we had a gift of deed for approximately 18.2 six acres of land for potential use of a multi-purpose athletic comp complex for students and surrounding community members completion of a feasibility study which will extend into the 2425 school year will determine the conceptual design and the most coste effective options for future voter consideration so there'll be certainly more information to come um as we expand and continue in that process um we're continuing um um Energy Efficiency plans and as mentioned earlier very excited that the maker space opened in September um and is off and running and our Chester Elementary School main office as Mr doosa just mentioned is on point
059and and targeted for the update beginning in February and lastly our fifth goal to create a fiscally responsible budget that effectively addresses the needs of the district while considering the concerns and input of the community and we will we are not far off from budget presentations uh with regard to district needs we'll continue to access federal and state stimulus funds to support District goals and programs um it's important to note that the c or Community eligibility provision Grant was approved in October as was communicated to families and that provides all students the opportunity to receive a free breakfast and lunch through the end of the 2324 school year and Beyond which is of course contingent upon New York State State funding uh budget implications from the discontinuation of covid stimulus funds are currently evaluated as
060we prepare for the 2425 budget and in terms of evaluating the usefulness of current programs and shifting demographics we are projecting a slight increase in enrollment in 2425 so an increase in expenditures um are anticipated in special education enl Support Services health insurance premiums and and negotiated increases for staff all of which will be communicated in future budget presentations evaluating the financial implications of identified safety and facility improvements districtwide safety and facility improvements will be included in future budget presentations for voter consideration this year uh with potential budget implications for upcoming years if approved all of that will be communicated to our uh in future board of education meetings um and it will will be PL public with regard to the topics for each of those budget presentations and then um as Mr um as
061we had mentioned uh Mr duet uh with regard to our uh partnership with neighboring districts and how impactful that is and important that is and how much we appreciate those Partnerships with regard to providing opportunities for our students so we continue to expand shared services with our neighboring districts that includes our inter Scholastic contract with the Florida school district District um our collaboration and partnership with UB Bose's cooperate purchasing and shared Transportation along with our partnership with Greenwood Lake for students in grades 9 through 12 we will be in terms of communication and Community input um certainly communicating the implications of the property tax levy cap uh will be incorporated into our future budget presentations and then as always the importance of providing opportunities for Community input and engagement again related to the Maple Avenue
062school and future safety and facility improvements subject to voter approval in terms of that communication component we will continue to use our district website newsletters and social media to disseminate budget information and um we'll be uh referring to this repeatedly in our budget presentations with regard to where you can find the information on our website under board of education budget information and that concludes just a very brief believe it or not brief overview of the uh District goals in terms of where we are mid year but I do encourage you to visit our website to really read through uh many of the components that uh we have uh completed thus far that was not identified and shared in the presentation this evening so please uh make sure that you view the district presentation and if
063there are any questions please reach out um do we have any questions this evening no but um I well we can touch base with the rest of the board but I just wanted to thank you for the comprehensive summary of where we are um just so everyone understands when the board and administration meets during the summer to look at the goals for the district each year um there are some very broad goals that are distilled down to very specific goals and this is just a little glimpse of what those goals entail and how each one is being addressed with very specific um programs policies procedures uh and it's commendable to each and every staff member and faculty member of this District that everyone is on board with looking at what is in the best interest
064of the students and the community and achieving those goals so I would like to thank you Miss O'Hara for crafting um such a very comprehensive set of goals that make the district strive to be better than it was last year and better than the year before and next year it'll be better than it was this year so that's very important but it also needs to be said of all of the rest of our administrative team our staff our faculty every employee that comes into this district is an important component of making sure that they understand each of the goals why it's important to us and how we need to work together in that team driven approach to make sure what we're doing every single day is meeting the needs and exceeding the needs and goals
065we've set so that being said thank you um does anyone have any questions for Miss O'Hara on her report thank you it's wonderful well we look forward to seeing what the report is at the end of the year but you certainly have done a fantastic job of keeping us AB breast and keeping us on track to meet the goals and then and you said it uh perfectly in that um you know goals don't live on if they just live on pay or they don't get met when they're just uh identified on paper it is 100% a team approach um again from the administrative team toward our teachers and staff our Partnerships with community and the list goes on so I think um it is uh I create the presentation but in terms of achieving these
066goals it is 100% a team effort so thank you to everyone involved for for their support in helping us to continue to improve terrific thank you um that concludes our presentations for tonight so that'll bring us to our first public comment section if anyone has any public um any comments on agenda items now would be an opportunity to come down seeing no one that will bring us to Roundtable discussion unfortunately our student representative amanii is ill tonight and was unable to join us um we do hope she's feeling better and will be able to join us by our next meeting but um she always comes with well prepared with a report from the student body so we thank her and wish her well in her quick recovery um is there anything else for Round Table
067I'll just give a quick shout out if I may to our um special education PTSA our sepsa who has been present in both buildings most recently giving out some sensory friendly items at the elementary school and some to come at the Academy and also setting up Hydration Stations for our teachers so they are out there and active I know you're hearing about them from everybody but um I just wanted to give them a shout out myself because they are constantly on to the next thing to help support students and teachers so thank you sepsa well thank you for giving that shout out it's welld deserved um they really hit the ground running and it's it's very nice to see the way they have taken to partnering with um with what currently exists with the PTA
068and PTSA and expanding on different um opportunities for parents who may have special needs to address absolutely uh anything else to a round table actually I do have one thing from the business office because of a request from the Board of Ed I've been reviewing the current status and future recommendations for all of the real property tax exemptions that are the perview of the board there are a number of exemptions the the largest of course is the star but as that's a state program there isn't anything a a board of education can do to opt in or opt out so the focus will be on the senior citizens exemptions to update the levels of income at which those exemptions are granted the disabled lowincome exemption the veterans exemptions which are currently at the state maximums
069and I don't know that we'll have any any room to move there also the change in name primarily of the volunteer firefighter and ambulance workers currently the for 4 66f exemption is available to Chester residents and there are currently 14 properties that qualify for that well that's going to go away very soon so we are looking to discuss the adoption of the 4 466a exemption which is a catchall for all of the separately labeled exemptions as well as a cleanup of some of the exemptions that are in place that we may want to discuss opting out of as a school district so we are planning a public hearing prior to presenting resolutions for the Board of Ed action on our next meeting February 14th so if anybody in the community has anything that they want
070to hear about learn about or comment on that would be a great time to do so it'll be right here as part of our Board of Education meeting on February 14th and that advertisement will also be in the papers of that public heing terrific thank you thank you well thank you Mr Brennan we look forward to um opening that dialogue and continuing uh to do what we can to assist the members of the community absolutely Miss oara I just wanted to give a quick thanks to our uh cfsd parent advisory panel members of on in the audience this evening uh for their participation last week on Wednesday January 17th uh we discussed Safety and Security improvements Innovative and engaging learning experiences Dei social emotional well-being data informed instruction and assessment student support for success and
071Mrs Loftus uh joined me in uh that meeting with our parents and we were very appreciative of the input and feedback on areas that we can look to improve and and also just to to listen to our parents uh with regard to any concerns um so thank you for that and just again reminder to come on out tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. here at the Chester Academy maker space for Mrs Garcia's family instructional Academy new year new Solutions coffee and conversations so please come on out um and have an opportunity for some great discussion okay anything else for Round Table I do um I would like to give a quick update on the last Orange County school board meeting which took place on January 10th um although we were not able to attend since that meeting
072conflicted with our own we did receive a detailed summary uh of the topics covered last week uh but over the course of the last few months uh oxa has been actively reaching out to us as well as some of the other surrounding school districts uh to obain feedback on ways to update their legislative platform in preparation for the upcoming Capital conference and Lobby day that are scheduled for February 2nd and February 7th uh guest speakers for the last meeting included aaff and Associates and the lower Hudson education Coalition who we've been invited to consider uh joining um but essentially they just presented on ways that the districts can come together regionally in order to advocate for areas that they feel should be uh legis leg legislative priorities uh for public education um so it's not
073clear at this point if that Lobby day is going to be um in person I think some of the oxa members are planning to attend they are going to try to off for virtual options as well so if we get that information I'll make sure to forward that along in case anybody's interested to attend uh and the next meeting uh for orange count school board will be virtual and will be on February 7th thank you so much uh anyone else all right hearing nothing else um that'll bring us to our consent agenda like to make a motion to approve consent agenda items 5.1 through 5.7 is there a second second uh all in favor I I any opposed okay that um that will carry all of the the consent agenda items to pass um this
074would bring us to our final public comment section if anyone has anything on non-agenda items that they'd like to discuss now would be your opportunity to come down seeing no one that'll bring us to adjournment like to make a motion to adjourn is there a second I'll second all in favor I all right have a good evening and thank you everyone if you have any questions about anything that was discussed tonight please don't hesitate to contact uh the administrative offices