001some smiling faces first week of school we're good if we could all please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all good evening to the board welcome to the September 14th Chester Union Free School District Board of Education meeting I will need a motion 1.4 to adopt tonight's agenda I'll make that motion second is there any discussion all in favor any opposed and I'll need a motion 1.5 to approve the board meeting minutes of August 17 2022 I'll make that motion a second is there any discussion or any issues with the draft I had none hearing none all in favor opposed it's our real first board meeting
002of the new school year so we're the board is very excited for tonight's presentations from our from our principals so tonight we're going to start off in elementary world that's bullsh welcome congratulations on another exciting year thank you Miss O'Hara Mr sambets and the board of education for having me here tonight I'm going to start off with uh CES enrollment as of September 9th Chester Elementary School has 384 students enrolled with two additional students in the process of registering as well as just yesterday another two in the process of registering at this time last year enrollment was about 188 was actually 188 students so we are trending about the same and at the end of the 21-22 school year we ended the year with 387 students so our enrollment is maintaining okay so some of
003the start of the Year updates um I'd like to discuss some of the events that have already taken place um first event of the year was the PTA sponsored ice cream social on Wednesday August 31st the PTA hosted ice cream social by grade level throughout the afternoon in front of CES I am always happy to be partnering with the PTA and this was yet another event that did not disappoint it was a good opportunity for students to get together prior to school starting back up and was especially nice to see some of our newly registered students come out and meet some of their classmates meet some of the other families the teachers and myself of course this event connects to District goal number seven ensuring the safety and social emotional well-being of students faculty and
004staff as we are always looking out for the Social and emotional well-being of our students in this event helped with that a couple of other events that connect to that same goal number seven were the Pre-K orientation and the kindergarten orientation on September 1st these events gave our youngest students and families an opportunity to ease some of their anxiety and Jitters about coming to school for the first time we reviewed what the daily schedule would look like had tours of the classrooms met the teachers and they got to see the classrooms that they would be starting the school year in and the highlight of the day of course was the bus ride um everybody was very excited to get on that bus I'm not so sure the parents were as excited as the kids but
005they were good sports and they did so as well thank you to Mr Hannon for coordinating the bus and for speaking to our families about bus safety he did speak to each group that rode the bus and that was nice too um the first day of school 2022 was a wet one uh it seems that is the trend in my principal ship at Chester Elementary School last year opening day was also very soggy uh even with the rain it was a great day and we were so happy to see all the students back at school much of the first weeks of school at CES are getting back into the routines and learning all the systems of a new class or a grade there has been a heavy focus on safety which again aligns with District
006goal number seven this week I met with each grade level to review the code of conduct and how it pertains to them at CES these have been very productive meetings and many of the questions and inquiries that came from our students were around expectations during safety drills they wanted to make sure that they were prepared for those drills and knew how they were supposed to behave this is important to mention as it is important for our students to know that they are safe and feel safe while they are at school so then they can learn more effectively knowing that they are in a safe environment one other event happening this week which also connects to that same goal it will be Friday we will be holding our PBIS kickoff assemblies PBIS or positive behavior incentives
007interventions and supports is a school-wide positive behavior incentive program that at one time was alive and well and functioning at CES the pause in the use of PBIS had to do with covid and its disruption to how certain components could be utilized for instance the handing out of the incentive chips and the large Gatherings of students for assemblies I want to thank the PBIS committee that last year reassembled and willingly has been meeting with me and working to get PBIS up and going again the official start will be Friday and this also aligns to District goal 7. We are continuing to utilize Choose Love curriculum with additional SEL supports in elementary school teachers are implementing Choose Love lessons at all grade levels on Wednesday again this aligns to District goal number seven we will be
008having open house the first traditional in-person open house since 2019. Pre-K to second grade is tomorrow evening at 7 pm and third through fifth is next Wednesday the 21st at 7 pm we are so happy to be opening our doors to families to come see their kids classrooms and meet their teachers in person families will learn about the expectations for the grade level their child is in and learn about all the great things that their kids are going to be learning about this year we also have begun the year with a new math program the ready classroom in which teachers have received professional development and will continue to as the school year progresses implementation has begun in classrooms and feedback from teachers has been generally positive this program encourages mathematical discourse discourse and students talking
009about their own understanding of the mathematics and explaining their thought process when solving problems this is a shift for our students and teachers that we are very excited about we also are continuing the use of Foundations which is our phonics and decoding program in pre-k K and first and this year we have grown it to Second Grade we have had teachers that have an expertise in this program model in classrooms in the second grade already this year this is an absolute help and support for their understanding of the program and its components and elements this on-site support is in valuable to the growth of the academic programs at CES the implementation and continuation of these programs aligns with District goal number one fostering a learning experience that provides a foundation for College and Career Readiness
010inclusive of communication collaboration creativity Innovation and creating lifelong learners District goal number three is to continue and attract and retain highly qualified staff who are student-centered future focused team driven and committed to Excellence we have hired three new members of the CES family and I say family for a reason we very much are a family at the elementary school we have hired three new members to start with us the 2022-23 school year I would like to say a formal welcome to Miss Ashley McLean our new first grade teacher she has been a reliable building substitute for several years as well as completed her student teaching in 2018 at CES Ashley already felt very much like a part of the family and we are so glad that she has officially joined us as well we welcome
011Miss Mora Mandela teachers aide at CES she as well subbed for the majority of last year and was a constant in a room that had several transitions she is reliable and the students gravitate towards her we are also fortunate to have her be a part of our team lastly we hired Mrs Jennifer O'Leary as a school monitor Mrs O'Leary II subbed for the majority of last year as a monitor and did an excellent job besides that she is also our PTA president and her being in this role helps her to also fulfill and know the needs of the school and support the PTA in our work with them I'll close out by mentioning the c-e-s-p-t-a and all they have done and have planned for the upcoming school year they spent in excess of time and
012effort in revamping The Faculty Lounge at CES for the teachers to return this school year it is beautiful and we thank them very much some of the events they are coordinating for this fall include a kickball event a kickball family event on Sunday September 25th at full Scholastic Book Fair in October and a fall festival and trunk or treat on Sunday October 23rd we look forward to our continued partnership with the PTA and all we can do together for the children of Chester Elementary School the next PTA meeting for your information is Thursday September 22nd at 7 30 pm I'll take any questions that's it Mary Kate it may have been raining on opening day yes it might have rained one or two drops I believe right it was a little bit of rain just
013just a little but I'll tell you that every photograph and video out of that school it was very bright and sunshiny did you see my umbrella on every on every one of your faces and those kids you wouldn't have known the rain outside the excitement coming back in from you and your staff it made it all worthwhile it wasn't good don't worry about the rain and maybe we'll order it up again next week yeah maybe it's just you know a positive start to the year you know what's always incredible is when you see that opening day and everyone out there in the parking lot getting the kids in it didn't derail anything and you guys work as a well-oiled machine as always and it was great to see it on our first day with the
014staff in here your staff excited you know they did all sit in their corner like usual but we'll try to get them into the mainstream but uh they're a family but but like always they make it exciting over there and you guys do a great job I'm never gonna speak again at the board meetings because I'm going to turn it over to the board for their opening day comments to you Mary Kate they have any questions no just to add to that the level of Engagement that just carried throughout the week since opening day has been absolutely wonderful every morning I drop off since the first day of school so thank you yes no problem we're very happy we're very excited to be back um you're very proud you're interested in your report about the
015parent involvement that's really key and I think that shows through so it's very exciting to see that going on too so great job as always thank you and we love your reports by the way thank you I only hope that John Flanagan can meet that standard John Flanagan is never Under Pressure that's for sure is that what we're saying now he's never under pressure no thank you very much thank you for the opportunity to present here tonight the best part of my report is that I'm going to keep it on the briefer side because I have some people here that are going to speak tonight and I'll bring them up in just a little bit and everybody knows they would love to hear from them more than hearing from me so uh welcome back everybody
016we're excited to have everybody back here for the school year it's been a great start to the year we had a we had a very smooth start and you know I I'm really excited about the climate in the building the feeling that's going on the student uh the students themselves their behavior how they conduct themselves has been phenomenal I'm very proud and it's like people came back with a fresh outlook on the 2022-23 school year and we're up and running we too had grade level assemblies to start the year where we set expectations to be very clear and it seems that our students are very receptive and excited to have those expectations and understand that this is going to be a a fun and exciting year and one where we could have a a great
017time and do it in a very safe manner the school year got off to such a smooth start it wouldn't get off to a smooth start without the support we have over the summer and people like Kathy battiato Kim Fusco Mr Aguilar um you know our our staff in the main office Patty Goodrich that really helped put all the pieces together to get us here so I I really thank them as day one was great it was a little rainy I don't go out into the parking lot as much as Mary Kate certainly to get kids out we know you know right but I did get an umbrella and walk out to the drop-off spot if that gets me any points so um so then and it was nice to see and even in in
018the rain and everybody had their new Nikes on they still had Smiles on their face drudging through the wet grass so we're excited our enrollment this year is is down a little bit from last year about 27 students at the time of this report since then we've had some we've had some enrollees coming in so our current enrollment is 569 and we we've been getting a steady flow of enrollees coming into the school since the start of the school year so I'll be able to update that in October the first week at the Academy the first two weeks you do see a lot of enrollment it's it's pretty standard for the first four years I've been here when you see that so the October report will probably be a little bit more reflective on where
019our numbers are going to be for the year than the September report so that's just to keep everybody give you something to look forward to for next month similar to Mary Kate our our Third District goal of attracting and retaining highly qualified Personnel I'm really excited for our new staff I've had an opportunity to go around and see all of our new teachers and see them in their element and we made some really good choices this year and so I thank my hiring committees that were able to give feedback and helping us get the right people on board you know sometimes having different perspectives to find people and the right people you know you go to the people that have been here for a while and that really know the culture so our committees did
020a great job you know jillianella who's now our monitoring reader anybody that comes to the school you'll see Jill when you come in Jill's learning everything from from A to Z in Chester Academy to who forgets their lunch every day to you know to our safety protocol so you learn everything in that role Laney villette is off to an awesome start teaching uh primarily the English the English tens and in English 12 and she's off and running Amanda Monroe is just loved by the middle school students teaching art you know we're really excited about her and Dante rodeljik has done a great job in chemistry so far and actually not just chemistry but he picked up a a section when we really needed it at the end of the summer of Mat 7 AIS which
021really makes him a hero because finding someone to teach math 7ais at the end of the summer is not an easy task so we thank Dante for that and he's off to a great start also in line with Goal one in terms of fostering learning experiences and providing a foundation for College and Career Readiness I I did include some things in my report but on a different note uh you know we have some new courses here at Chester Academy that were built for a reason we had a tremendous interest in our building in exercise science a lot of students looking out at different programs for exercise science that weren't able to work into into their schedules with ctec and so we were able to start our own exercise science course with Mr marsilio and it's
022off and running everybody loves it this morning outside the the hallway where the superintendent's office was there were students doing uh doing physical fitness tests and you know they were jumping and measuring and all kinds of interesting I just I walked down I've never heard usually you hear trumpets down that hallway and we were able to see people jumping and measuring and really applying the science to what they're learning about their muscles their body the training aspects of it and they're just getting started so we're we're really excited for that class that Mr marsilio if you're ever in the building first period pop your head in here the dance class is usually rolling right here on the stage it's the first year we have dance and Miss Daly who's our health teacher it's actually a
023certified dance instructor in New York state and with New York State teacher certification in that area and she uh she has the kids on stage it's electric in here you hear the music pumping you hear people having a great time so two exciting electives and I'll continue to report on different electives that we've started throughout the course of the school year um but the real exciting thing and the reason we're here tonight is I as I open up my laptop here and I apologize Miss O'Hara I promise I will get you the clicker button back here um is that we have a couple of students here we have Sarah Hong and we have uh Trista calpo here from our senior class our senior class officers who are here tonight and Mrs Styler who's also here
024as well who's the senior class advisor and I am I'll be calling Tech help by the way Jorge has been a star since he got here excellent consummate professional he's been helping out in so many areas and now he's going to help me oh look at this Jorge it worked all right thank you Michelle sounds surprised why don't you guys come on up no I wasn't surprised I I knew what would happen so I just needed him to walk towards the equipment we're gonna get started in a minute here I'm gonna give everybody a copy it's our favorite part of the year ouch thank you good Joe Montana reference yes you reach back a little bit for that one yeah so yeah just move up there and I'll click it with you thank you okay
025so first of all I want to thank Miss O'Hara and Mr Sam Fitz and the board for um having us here today my name is Sarah Hong and I have been a class of 2023 president for four years and it's not used we're friends we're gonna we're gonna real quickly bring Jorge back up it's always Mr Flanagan small believe me hi uh I'm Krista calpo I've been the class of 2023's treasure for the last seven six years six years um in our class made the first ever senior middle school senior trip so our eighth grade send off where we went to Hershey for a day um unfortunately it was last due to coven it was last year our class coordinated the most successful I was told prom in Chester City so yep so to start
026off um the class of 2023 um senior trip the students of the senior class are invited to participate if they're in good academic standing and there's around 100 students and there is pretty high interest especially because we haven't been able to go to Disney in a pretty long time yeah we have a lot of people and I told that I told the ladies that I would jump in on this next slide we have a lot of people interested but with the understanding that there's an expectation in getting there we have to be doing what we're doing we're students first and that it's important to be in good standing um so all rules and regulations for the school district would be enforced and would apply while on Disney property so they are they are all accountable
027to the code of conduct and they need students breaking the rules would be sent home immediately at their own expense so we put that out there we generally don't anticipate having those kind of issues but it's an expectation that we set because it is a school trip the senior trip is completely self-funded by the students attending the trip and any students failing more than one subject at any time payment is due to reserve their spot will not be permitted on the trip so academic we want to make sure everybody gets to graduation that's the most important thing so there's an academic standard here there is uh no time frame per name it as of just yet but any senior like we said failing more than one subject at the end of the second marking period
028will not be able to even make the down payment on that so it gives people a goal they want to get to Disney we get working we keep our grades up and students that have had major disciplinary problems during the school year including out of school suspension or superintendent's hearing during the school year uh may be excluded from the trip upon an appeal and ruling and review of the situation we think those situations very serious if we're going to do trust that we're going to bring you to Florida we're going to bring you to Orlando into Disney we're going to make sure that everybody that that's gone there has on that's all so as we have mentioned we will be going to Orlando Florida and we'll be visiting Disney World and Universal Studios so our
029first day will be March 10th the Friday we will depart from any New York City airport or Newark to Orlando and once we arrive at Orlando Airport the tour escort will meet us at arrival collect our luggage and transfer us to Disney's Port Orleans Riverside Resort so unfortunately the local motor coach from the airport to the hotel the Magical Express has been discontinued so we will not be able to ride that but once we are at the resort we will be able to use the two-day premium park hopper to Disney's Typhoon Lagoon or the Blizzard Beach Water Park it is noted that while some rooms may be available early check-in time will be closer to 4 pm so as soon as we do arrive we after we check in we will be able to go
030to the Typhoon Lagoon or the water park sorry so yeah included is the total meal package it's a hundred dollars and twenty five dollars per day it can be used accordingly whichever how you want it how the students want to um the next day will be March 11th Saturday so at 9 00 a.m We Will depart for Disney's Hollywood Studios Disney's Animal Kingdom Magic Kingdom or Epcot Center and we will spend around the whole day there and then return to the hotel from the theme parks on Disney transportation on the Sunday around 8 30 we will depart for Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure the private charter bus is available on this day so we will be writing that and once the park closes which is around 6 PM but it will differ around the
031time and if we will depart the park for the hotel and then our Monday is our last day so in the morning we will pack check out and store the luggage at the hotel and depart for Disney's Hollywood Studios Disney's Animal Kingdom Magic Kingdom or Epcot Center and after we spend the day there we will depart for the airport on the private motor coach from the hotel and once we're at the airport we will go to any New York City airport or Newark as we will probably yeah all right um all payments will be required full 90 days prior to the arrival date for all of themed Parks Park ticket and meal vouchers groups must also choose and confirm theme parks daily as a group upon purchasing tickets as you can see the pricing differs
032for uh amount of occupancy per room and note above prices don't include uh the airfare which will depend you know as we get closer to the to the day we can't book the airfare until we get approval first because the rates change pretty quickly in Daily so we're anticipating that it could be in like the 300. um so one complimentary double occupancy chaperone land package will be given per every 10 feet students so that means one chaperone per 10 students and there is a minimum of 25 students to receive it but I have no doubt that more than 20 students will be able to participate so the payment schedule is that 400 per person along the side copy of the contract is due 10 days after the airline seats are confirmed which will be soon
033and um four hundred dollars per person is through 90 days prior to the arrival of the park which is December 10th and the rooming list is due also 90 days prior the arrival date which is also December 10th and the balance payment is due January 9th which is 60 days prior to the arrival date so the chaperones um obviously Mr Flanagan will be with us and Miss styler and um the rest of the our chaperones are not exactly confirmed however there are a lot of interests in the chaperones yeah yeah but it would also depend on how many people decide how many students to decide to go so so our tour company is graduates on tour and I am pretty sure Mr petrolak has used this tour company for quite a long time and yeah
034and our hotel is Disney's Port Orleans Resort and I'll speak to grads on tour in terms of using grads on tour so when we had to cancel our trip back in 2020 due to Covenant Mr Kershaw is very familiar with the scenario she was one of the parents that were affected here Brad's on tour worked really hard for us we wound up in the end we're working with major corporations that don't have uh refund policies like Disney and American Airlines and all of it that we were working with at the time and grads on tour worked really hard and we were able to provide full refunds for every one of our students and that says something about the company they didn't just look at us and say well hey you know it's not going to
035work out they continued to work with us even in cancellation and wanted to win our business back when we were ready to return and I believe that's it any questions I'm waiting I'm hoping and praying that first I'll say to you today very thorough presentation you get bonus points for throwing in Mr petrolack I'm sure he'll be proud he might be watching this meeting from wherever it is lounging um put on a serious note so the board it has always been very important that this trip going on wherever wherever the students come together we're very thankful that you're here this early in the year it's important that you get a jump on it because it's it's not a lot of fun when you're trying to it's a lot of work that you guys have in
036front of you as a board we know there's been many a year where they're up against the clock and whatever their initial plans were never came to fruition so we appreciate that you're here this early and all the thought time and effort that went into it um I think it's important as a senior class the senior trip is an important event in your senior year any other board members have any comments questions concerns I mean as a parent of both children lost out on the Disney because of covet I am just absolutely thrilled to see it you know return because it definitely is a highlight of your experience here at Chester Academy so there's one big stipulation the other good thing about this year being in March your trip we require the two of you
037or whoever you designate to come back to the board because next year's class everything that you guys do what they do next year rides on Mr Flanigan was talking about yelling the behavior in the park and we've had very good success those senior classes go down there it's been a long long time since there's ever been any kind of an issue we don't expect that we never expect that from Chester anyway because we know the type of students that we have so you have to come back and report to the board if this board is so inclined to prove this so I'm going to turn to the board and ask for a motion on the senior trip I'd like to make a motion that the board approves the proposed Florida senior trip for 20 20
03823. is there a second I'm a second is there any discussion looks like a great trip lots of planning is put into it so all in favor aye congratulations good luck on the rest of your plan a nice job on your presentation we won't hold any of the microphone stuff from Mr Flanagan I'll bring Mr Aguilar back a t-shirt yeah I'm sure he's not happy with that nice job you guys don't have to sit through the rest of the meeting you know that's unless you know foreign thank you Mr Flanagan yeah is there any other questions I had a couple just to say to you John um first uh after our walkthrough of the building I know we've already said oh I said it in our group with our staff and it's opening um great
039job by Matt DeRozan's team everything that went on in this building and your team all through the summer I don't know if anyone's aware the library is in a truncated place this year because of all the work going on for our new stem lab in the library so all the work that went on this summer to move was at the shop also I mean there was all a lot of incredible work that went on to reconfigure just to go through a normal day in the district so I want to congratulate you your team Matt and his team on really making the building you wouldn't know that that happened you know to walk down the hallways unless you stuck your head in the old library so really great job on that uh the buildings look amazing
040as always I wanted to compliment everyone on the new logo in the gymnasium be crazy if we didn't make a big deal about that it really came out amazing this down it did an incredible job yeah Emily did that right so painted that it's just ridiculously incredible that she did that and everyone working together to get that done but I always rant about the buildings and Matt and his team but it's really the people in it that bring this building to life like you were talking about it might have been rainy like in the elementary but you guys do a great job here at you and Rondo do a great job of making sure that the one thing about this year that I think is important that we talk about the academy and Kathy talked
041about it is you know that feeling of what's acceptable it's not acceptable and I think you guys set an amazing tone walking into this year and having your opening assemblies to set that proper tone and to make sure that our culture is in place throughout the whole building which is really it's important and it shows and it shows in everything that you guys do so that would be my gum I didn't want you to escape away without us uh saying that to you and is there anything else from the board everyone's very quiet idea but no thank you thank you and part of the dynamic duo Mr Aguilar welcome to 2022-2023. good evening everyone good evening Mr sambitz members of the Board of Education superintendo Ohio I can't tell you once again how proud I
042am standing in front of you very excited excited with this brand new year excited what the district has done with the support of this community and this great Board of Education we have a new motto I can't tell you how much I've used it every single day when I'm talking to young people it's a constant reminder of what we are all doing for the future of our students for students by a team group of individuals dedicated for children so I'm proud to be part of that team once again in a new role and very excited I had an opportunity as and I don't want to steal the Thunder but I have to share with our new website uh having an opportunity to sit down and write a letter and following the footsteps of uh you
043know my partner in crime uh Mr Flanagan I realize as I was able to reflect uh 29 years in education I never knew that would ever happen to myself but what's great is the line that I was able to come up with on the Fly because you know what it's so true if you need to find me I'll be on the sidelines of being a stance I'll be somewhere close cheering on our kids because that's what's that's what matters here at Chester is our kids so thank you again moving forward uh quickly as you were able to take a look at my report uh just touching base on the academic eligibility just a reminder to all this includes individuals our students who are involved 6 through 12 in athletics and or activities including clubs again
044here at the Academy we review each five-week progress report and also the 10-week marketing period students have opportunities if they're unsuccessful if they're unsuccessful in one class they are placed on academic probation if they're unsuccessful in two classes or more it's academic restriction in probation they're still able to play in practice still attend these clubs if they're on restriction they're able to practice but what's great here about the academy is that there are several opportunities for our kids to get back on track not one or two but nine for the from the dedicated staff here at the Academy study sessions after school with our teachers peer tutoring when available teacher assistance after school one-on-one usually we just have to have that scheduled teacher availability access to our school counselors as you know we've expanded the
045Google Classroom great phenomenal tool for our kids is if they're unable to meet with a teacher a quick email that's that's a standard down for our kids of course our NHS tutoring students also have the ability if they want an account to check on their grades we'll make it happen for them usually with the older kids but the best part as as I've learned with through my own boys the the family nightly conversations with a schooltool you're able to check and see on the progress and have those great conversations why isn't why is this not completed why did you get this grade hey a quick email find out and that's what's great so again we have many opportunities because again we want our kids to be successful and following District goals I can share with
046you uh what what I've able to do with our or with our kids so far I had a great opportunity to reaching out to four of my students in the Middle School seventh and eighth grade as they were the tour guides for our sixth grade orientation I give props to uh Grassi and Clark from grade seven Mr tiger Mr Green from grade eight and that's what we want to do because I see and a lot of people see those are going to be our future leaders and I can't wait as they get older and they come through the academy what roles they will play I'm having fun I have to share with you as uh you know it's we usually celebrate everyone's birthday well so far since uh September uh our first day of school
047here digital birthday wishes have been sent to our students from grades of 6 through 12. I can't tell you how fun that is but also when I see the kids in the hallway and you get the thank you just because someone reached out and was able to do that so again we are we also have that opportunity to do that I've had a a great time promoting students from our Middle School junior junior leadership Orange all right again look at the future leadership here for our students what they will end up because our teachers foresee that these kids are going to be successful and that's Chloe McKenzie and uh Gabrielle from our eighth grade class and recently I've been working with Mr Sean Cunningham the middle school and with our superintendent you know when we
048talk about having professionals come in we have our professionals here and we want to highlight that and that's our faculty and staff so that our open houses you'll see you know what the background what they needed to do to become that professional the colleges that they went to and what's great is that we have alumni here that have come back to give back so just very happy that I'm able to share that with you once again and promote that and again uh a little side uh token as uh you know we celebrated our first day Mr Sanders as you were here uh each of you the Boardman uh Board of Education members just a small token you know to be part of this team part of this movement part of this culture of what we're
049doing here with this brand new motto that's just phenomenal for our kids thank you Mr Aguilar you're a very enthusiastic oh yeah and I have to bring it home after Mr Flanagan listen we know that we know that you are your part of the heart and soul of our district so you are in the right place for this District as we move forward um I appreciate all the effort that's gone in that opening day here was incredible the staff meeting it was really a great job and I reported to the board it was opening day I said sohara an email just saying that I haven't felt that that excited in 15 years of doing this I think I said it that day to you all it was really a almost like a breath of fresh
050air but of the same people that know that we're heading in a Direction that's an incredible path for our students so it lives and breathes in all of you and we appreciate that uh there any questions comments from Mr Aguilar I just have one comment I I just wanted to thank you for reminding our students and our parents of all of the resources that are available if a student is struggling um you know whether it's going to a peer tutoring session the teacher um you know we all learn a little differently and sometimes you need a different approach to make it click so by having all of the different options available you know hopefully all of our students will be set up for success and not struggle thank you for reminding everyone I think also
051that we didn't bring up I should have done it to poor John Flanagan but um to the both of you your your work's cut after this year I was happy to see in our student report is that you have 31 Greenwood Lake students this year which is incredible it's an incredible jump over the last couple of years um that just shows you that the choosing of coming to our district is uh growing more and more popular because of what we do here that's not by mistake that we're just happy to get more students that's it you know dipped out of the last couple years it's because of what you guys do every day here so that hard work pays off and those students coming here they're getting more out of it than they even know
052so that says a lot speaks to a lot of uh the both of you in this District so thank you for that and with that thank you sir thank you thank you Rachel you've got to work on after you tonight no some hard acts to follow let me introduce our assistant superintendent as my chair sinks to the ground you see it you gave me that yeah right on cutie on either side of Mrs O'Hara that happens I look giant if anyone doesn't know we have a sinking chair so just look for the sinking board member everybody I'm not that tall good evening good evening I have the pleasure to share some highlights which Mr Sam Metz gave a beautiful intro to um for the beginning of the school year so uh Miss Garcia did a
053wonderful job holding our new teacher orientation in late August uh teachers had the opportunity to learn about our district receive technology access and supports learn about PD opportunities and mentoring among many other learnings for the day they also had the opportunity to meet Mrs O'Hara Mr Spence Mr Flanagan Miss Bosch and myself and it was a really great positive day we're so happy to welcome those members to our staff uh also opening day and I couldn't agree more with what Mr sambet said that there was such a positive energy um that day so thank you to everybody because um you could feel it it was it was in every person that was in the room um Friday September 2nd we held opening day uh Miss O'Hara Mr sambets Miss Garcia Mr Flanagan and Miss Bosch
054uh all spoke for our opening um ceremonies and um we introduced the new school motto which is really more of a school culture and it is student-centered future focused team driven you've heard it referenced already this evening by Mr Aguilar and previously by Miss O'Hara and um we're already embodying this new uh way about Chester so it's really been here all along but um we have the words and the logo to go with it now uh District district goals were presented to our staff and um will be presented to you later this evening so that you're all informed as well new staff were introduced and Veteran staff were recognized I want to give a big extra shout out and thank you to our staff recognized for 25 years so we have Leanne Brophy Noreen clerken
055Danielle Jemison and Kevin mcentee also I would be remiss if I did not throw in Karen Flynn who actually is 26 years but got skipped over so uh Karen Flynn you may know her as Karen laforge is at year 26. congratulations yep who's that right yep no uh so thank you to all of those really dedicated members of our staff the day continued with a very important fire safety and emergency protocol training that was organized by Miss O'Hara and Mr DeRosa we had Joe Russo assistant director of operations for and BOCES environmental health and safety consultant as well as Dwayne Lopez emergency planning technician through OU BOCES who presented some really important information we went over fire safety we went out over shell procedures and other other tips that the staff really need to know
056in order to keep our schools safe we were also joined by Officer Byrd from the Town of Chester Chief McGuire from the Town of Chester sergeant iannuzzi from the village of Chester and under Sheriff weed from Orange County Sheriff's Office so we really had a presence there that day and it's wonderful to see the collaboration helping to keep our kids safe so that they can learn teachers in grades k through eight um had a wonderful professional development organized by Miss Garcia to learn iready math curriculum that we have already launched this year and then teachers who were not part of that were with Miss Garcia involved in a best practices training focused on literacy across the content areas so we've got some wonderful feedback from that as well and then the day concluded with building
057meetings that targeted safety protocols as well as school specific objectives based on our district goals so it was a very busy day uh packed full of information but um as we've already mentioned it was it was a great day with positive energy and a lot of good feedback so thank you yes I think you left for your support I think you left out one thing yes but I'll embarrass her in one second um are there any questions are there any questions so there's someone in the room who is the star I think of of the morning she was mentioned a few times yes so miss Garcia really put everything like she always does I imagine her making dinner at night is that much exciting but her music selection her getting the crowd up and going
058it was really that's what I talk about I think that's it it's a stream that runs through our district all the time a lot to your credit that you bring that enthusiasm every day in everything that you do and you know we it sometimes we do so many things that we forget to mention that but I can't thank you enough because that really made a big difference in showing everyone and if you just look back over the last couple of years I went on to the website that next day and I told Kathy I was like my phone actually came up with um you know memories of the past couple years you know it's always around that day and I saw the 2016 seven and went back a couple of years and I thought as
059I was sitting there my uptight suit in my corner and I looked at the last couple of years and I thought about that day that I spent with you it that's what I meant about it was a breath of fresh air and a relaxed feeling of this is where we're going and we're all going together so that's what made that day very special and I a lot thanks to your enthusiasm and leaving that so thank you for that I didn't want to I wanted to make sure that we pointed that out absolutely so are there any other questions thank you anything else concludes my presentation good because I really want to drag it out because you don't know what's coming next as we turn to miss O'Hara in the next five hours before she starts
060I does anyone need a break I just want to say that for everyone watching in case they drift off right in case people watching at home drift off that everything that we present is completely important and I always say to our staff I think I said it last year and the year before when you guys started also when they were going to present to the board it's important to the board whatever it is that you're presenting I don't care if it's 30 minutes long or an hour long because what's important to you is what's important to our kids and that's what the Board needs to see so it you know we used to joke about some of our presentations whether it was data or it's important that we're hearing it and that's why I always
061Jive her because Kathy is very passionate and this year it should say it a lot to people that everything we've been talking about so far if you haven't seen that it's different it's because of her vision so I always want to throw that in and I look forward to your passion of your presentation so don't you do you I always do so buckle up Miss O'Hara welcome to 2022-2023 thank you I kept going giving like signals that uh I was up next so thank you for having it ready to go and uh I I do want to also make mention it's truly a gift to be in the position of seeing the first day of school from a pre-kindergarten student walking through the door to a senior and to see all the excited faces and
062we're literally in the second week it's honestly uh day seven and I'm walking around the building and it's as if we were here for three months uh everyone is in a routine I see the excitement I see the positive energy and it is truly a reflection and I'm so appreciative of certainly the Board of Education and their support the administrative team is phenomenal um from every aspect and all of the work that was done over the summer is a tribute to to what you see in place now so I again want to say thank you and it's it's pretty exciting to to walk around and it feels like we have been here for months it's also a reflection of our teachers and staff and their efforts the character of our students as well as the
063support of our parents family and community members so thank you uh here we go here we go very exciting so as I talk about and present to you the district goals for 22 23. that's reflective of what our Target is right so what are the areas that we want to improve and you've certainly heard it throughout this evening I'm so not used to sitting down to do a presentation usually I'm moving around as Miss Garcia knows be sure that um but so the goals are are where do we need to be and as mentioned several times this evening this is our culture right this is what we're about from a teacher perspective from somebody who drives our students on the bus to the custodian to the superintendent and every level of our organization parents included
064are about students right that's why we're here future focus on presenting the district goals because where do we hope to be where will we be let me be clear about that by the end of this year future Focus has to do with everything from our Innovative educational plan to how we focus on each student in the classroom where are they today and where do we want them to be at the end of the year it's applicable across all areas and then how do we get there no matter what the district goal is no matter what the objective is uh really we can't get there unless we have a team driven approach and that's across all levels right so we have a supportive Board of Education that's a instrumental team to ensure that we can achieve
065the objectives that we set out to achieve we have to have a very impactful and objective German administrative team which we have that is essential in ensuring that we have a leadership in place to support our teachers and staff our teachers and staff are the ones that are directly working with our students and how important it is that we work in partnership with our teachers and staff to ensure that we're not establishing these goals and objectives in isolation but we're having conversations and we're hearing input from our teachers and staff that we need to take into consideration that we might not be thinking of and the next level on that team driven has to deal with and you'll hear a lot this evening in the district goals about our Partnerships with parents and community members
066because that's another lens and another perception that we need to be listening to because they are also student centered and they want the best experience for their child as they begin here in pre-k or kindergarten on up through 12th grade so I talked about my experience as a teacher here I've shared this many times with our stem vision but it is really applicable to how we educate our students so developing global leaders what are our learning opportunities look like they should always be fostering critical thinking creativity collaboration and communication you just saw our seniors up here presenting to a school board last year I watched our pre-cut and Gardener students up at the front of the room reading sentences to their classmates and it starts literally that young building these skill sets students engage in
067authentic applications what does that mean that means that we're not just reading out of a textbook and answering questions at the end of the chapter when we're learning a concept or a skill we are presenting our students with real world applications and you'll see in the district goals that we are really focused on developing and expanding our business Partnerships if we're bringing a Content or a skill in the classroom can we bring somebody in the community that has that expertise that can make that content or skill come to life uh can we after a group challenge project present to a panel of experts and have them provide the feedback and how much greater does that set the bar for our students experiences if all of our teachers are challenged this year and many are already
068doing this uh in linking learning to one or bringing in one business expertise or professional to the lesson that they have so imagine how this is going to expand imagine being from pre-kindergarten or kindergarten on up through 12th grade and every single year you've had an experience with some sort of career or expertise and how much more there is a potential that something might have sparked your interest to possibly pursue in your future so authentic applications making learning meaningful that it really you wouldn't walk into a classroom where a teacher is presenting a lesson where it really doesn't matter if the students are there how how meaningful and impactful is that we have to engage our Learners we have to present critical thinking there's it's a give and take in order to really develop that
069type of inquiry Innovative Partnerships it's really constantly being future focused because whatever we do this year some of that next year is going to be out of date right because if we're constantly just thinking um and constrained by the walls of our schools and not thinking forward and being future focused to what's happening outside which is constantly changing think of Technology alone well then we're not preparing our students and we have and Mr Aguilar mentioned how when our parents come in for open house you will see the staff at our and the level of expertise that we have in-house that are educating our students and that's important too that's important to show our students that there is a professionalism here there's also a level of perseverance that you need to apply when you pursue a
070career not every class and I talk to my two girls who are in college right now and you know there's some classes they love some classes not there's some classes I took to get to a certain uh by education degree that I loved and some I was like well this is really boring for number one and I don't understand why I have to take it but guess what I have to do this in order to get my degree so having that conversation and being models for our students in terms of our professionalism the level of expertise that we have in the Chester school district is phenomenal and it's really important that we share that with our families and that our students see that as well maybe a student would uh has a aspires to go
071to a particular College they walk by and they see a teacher has attended that college and wouldn't wouldn't that be a great conversation to have what was your experience there we have seven goals each of these goals have um key themes throughout so you'll see everything from what I just talked about that career Readiness College and Career Readiness diversity Equity inclusion and social emotional well-being has to do with how our students feel when they come into our buildings right having that welcoming environment making sure that we're focused not just on the content of what we're presenting to our students but we're actually connecting to our students and we have a positive relationship with our students as always um I just mentioned the fact about our highly qualified staff retaining who we have in place and
072then also attracting staff moving forward we share that same culture of students that are future focused team driven and are committed to Excellence and to that end our constantly lifelong Learners in growing their practice always maintaining the district facilities looking for efficiencies and we're doing that uh currently with Energy savings that are in place and will continue to do that and as always creating him a fiscally responsible budget that reflects the needs of the district while concerned while considering the concerns of the community as well I've mentioned several times and you'll hear it as I go through these the importance of Partnerships and that team driven approach so we're really focused and you've seen in my uh the email that went out the three different ways that you can partner with us this year so
073the parent advisory panel to representatives from each grade level um the workshops that we're going to be offering families and so I will share that information again we have 18 responses thus far and in terms of the Business Partnership piece to that we have everything from occupational therapists to a constructional litigation um position and so it's very exciting it's exciting to see the responses from the parents who are interested in participating and being a part of their child's education safety is is uh obviously first and foremost and you heard Mrs Loftus discuss what we had presented to the staff on our superintendent's conference day matarosa has been phenomenal in leading that initiative and bringing in all areas of expertise so with each goal there's objectives to support that goal right and so our administrative team
074and our staff have action items to support those objectives and to ensure that they are met so foster learning experiences that provide a foundation for College and Career Readiness inclusive about communication collaboration creativity and Innovation creating confident lifelong Learners and we all should be lifelong Learners so I'm not going to repeat that goal but all of these objectives are in support of that goal and the first one Implement programs in professional development in support of the New York next Generation learning standards not typically I would be giving you specifics on my mid-year report but I do have some things to share on each I'll try to keep it brief I can't promise you anything so for the New York connection standards has already been mentioned uh I ready classroom program and K uh kindergarten through
075fifth grade thank you to Mrs Bosch Mrs Garcia for leading that in terms of the professional development ensuring everything is in place and Mrs Loftus has been instrumental to that end as well it's truly a team effort we had some of our staff members many of our staff members come in over the summer for an optional professional development and they again were presented with an extensive professional development at our superintendent's conference day that's just one area expanding community and business Partnerships in support of pre-k through 12 future focused student learning at Chester student learning and the Chester Academy internship program so I already discussed with you that goal of bringing in business Partnerships and expertise and linking our learning to that end we also have with Mr petrolak started this program and it's phenomenal and
076that was the Chester Academy internship program where we have students able to participate with businesses doing internships with something I wasn't able to do until I attended college so what another I mean that's a whole other layer of impact it's one thing to have somebody come in and discuss that you know skill that you're learning and how it applies in in my career or my job it's quite another thing to go to a business and be with uh Shadow somebody or learn those skills and learn the day-to-day and for some folks and some of our students is this is absolutely what I want to do and for some they learn you know what this is not for me and both of those are very meaningful and impactful develop a multitude system of supports that's mtss
077Mrs Loftus is leading this initiative and that's really revamping um it brings another level to how we identify and address start struggling students it's looking at not only the academic component but also the behavioral so looking at the whole child in terms of how we support our students continuing to progress the scope and sequence through vertical quick click curriculum curriculum alignment in all content areas so pre-k through 12. um I'm not a fan of verbiage that uh you know fancy language that wouldn't necessarily be understood scope and sequence that means what's happening in the ELA in kindergarten and then what's happening in first grade so it should build right a scope and sequence and vertical alignment means it should have a very clear progression it shouldn't be that we have gaps in math for example
078or in any of our subject areas so what we're working to do when we started last year but now we have a program in place called eduplanet 21 and Mrs Garcia is leading the initiative on presenting the providing professional development that so that's a program that is going to bring in all of our curriculum from throughout the district right it's going to start with parents will be able to view a given course and a description if it's in third grade for example what's third grade math look like what does the year look like what are my students learning in third grade math Ela science so it's presenting that to our families and having a clear system and foundation in place to build upon We are continuing the upk program we actually have 20 students enrolled
079this year and Mrs Bose mentioned foundations and she's been instrumental in really bringing that program to the level that it needs to be and now it's expanding to through second grade thank you the i-Ready mathematics program was also discussed the i-Ready assessment is well it's the same name it's it's a different component so we used to have nwea and that assessment was given to students at the beginning and the end of the year the difference with iready is it's it's students will be assessed three times a year they're actually going to be assessed shortly and what that does once that assessment is completed the following day the next day we have that information and we're actually able to support our students and provide individualized instruction based on the information provided in that assessment there's another
080layer where the student is given instructional support there's a program where they they are assigned um lessons both in ela and math that also support their learning and growth so it's a multi-tier approach and when I talk about putting systems in place if you we have an assessment the assessment provides us with data and data should be there should be a point of why we're why are we assessing students what are we doing with the data so if for example we find that third grade geometry our students are really performing lower than expected then we look at our edu planet and our scope and sequence and we look at the curriculum in third grade geometry and it defines where perhaps all right let's let's this is an area that we need to improve let's bring
081professional development into that area and so now you have a foundation in place both with your assessment and your program for continuous Improvement and targeted continuous Improvement uh implementing green screen technology in the elementary school media and Robotics lab I've said it before I'll say it again we are one if not the only District that has started the stem initiative at the elementary level with a Makerspace so our maker space has expanded and we will be inviting other districts to um come check out what we're doing with our Young Learners so we just expanded into a second space which is our media and Robotics lab robotics instruction has been happening at the elementary school for years as young as kindergarten our pre-kindergarten students are learning about Robotics and then this year they are going to
082be learning about green screen technology and I believe Mrs Bosch has targeted her fourth grade Learners and we're going to be seeing some exciting things inclusive of a potential news show where the students will be putting on a newscast and guess what go back to real world application why not bring a news reporter in so if you're watching us online tonight and you are a news reporter well actually we'll probably be contacting you but if you happen to be watching uh we'd love for you to come in and work with our fourth graders and share with them your expertise as they're learning to report the news to their Elementary School uh beginning the construction of the Chester Academy Makerspace we mentioned this earlier and again appreciate the efforts of Carolyn diorio e poluski Jeff Rodman
083who revamped and moved their entire space to empty that Library out in preparation for a state-of-the-art area for our students so what we have at the elementary school the instruction is in place here and has progressed to the extent of now let's have this Innovative space where students can learn so that's very exciting and that's underway Mr Flanagan mentioned the High School courses and programs um that have come about and uh I'll mentioned which if you're in tune with our Athletics social media we have a new social media course led by Mr Doucet where students are now in charge of right they're taking the initiative to drive our athletic social media programs so they are out and about taking pictures they are going to Mr Ducette just reported that the students are going to be
084creating a district email a school email where parents community members alumni can upload pictures so if you're at the sporting events these students in this class are going to be developing a venue for everyone to bring in pictures in celebration of Athletics and so and Mrs Garcia is working on the other end to celebrate not only the academics but all our extracurriculars so that all students and all interests are celebrated but this is particularly exciting because these students are in charge and if you go on to the previous um athletic page it'll say we're moving and it you can click on the links and you'll see the difference it's pretty exciting what the students have already developed and they're always ahead of us in technology so um it's very impressive second goal to promote diversity
085Equity inclusion of all persons and groups of people in all District programs and operations and what does that have to do with everybody you know Dei seems to be this uh word uh that people fear or have issues with us D Ice is very simple in that it reflects being kind and being welcoming that's it and when we talk about welcoming it's welcoming all and all means all and that's a simple as what it's about right we have all different students um staff members families are a part of our community in our district and it's our job to have everyone feel welcome and that's what it's about and that is uh obviously one of our goals culturally responsive and inclusive practice that reflect the diversity of our students staff and families and that is truly
086a wonderful thing about Chester we'll be establishing a Dei committee representative students staff parent and Community stakeholders and establishing a district policy statement on diversity Equity inclusion representative of the New York State cultural responsive sustaining framework and last year our staff did some work on that end examining how well or what were the examples of how we were welcoming our students both in the school level in the classroom as well as in the district level and it's just simply reflective of review revised improve in everything that we do students don't feel welcome and they don't feel like they fit then how do we expect them to learn yeah yeah um number three continue to attract and retain the highly qualified staff who are student-centered future focused team driven and committed to Excellence and you will
087see as you walk the building again the highly qualified staff that we have and I'm truly proud and honored to serve this community and to serve the teachers and staff that are here and I have no doubt we're going to achieve these objectives and more as the years progress we are expanding the new teacher orientation and mentoring program Mrs Garcia did a phenomenal job this year with our new teacher orientation program and the other thing that we did is we invited last year's teachers right they just had their first year tell us what we should include in our orientation what did we miss what could we do to make it better and Mrs Garcia actually had one of our Mr Deleo who was on vacation by the way did a nice uh video welcoming our
088new teachers this year despite the fact that the beach was in the background and everybody was a little bit jealous it was it was a great message to our new teachers and we look forward to improving upon that as well as the orientation as well as the mentoring program and professional development is ongoing and I talked about so do you randomly just pick professional development or is it targeted so our teachers this year in their observations are charged with setting two goals for how they want to grow their professional practice everyone here in this room should always be looking to strive right where are you now and where do you want to where do you want to be at no point and then no position should you ever be stagnant or feel like I've reached
089where I've reached the I've reached the max so um that professional development is driven from our teacher goals as well as when we're looking at as I mentioned our curriculum and our assessments that is also going to drive our professional development so it's data driven as well we will be this year talk about team driven this is the first year that we're going to be initiating teacher leaders in content areas in support of progressing our district initiatives and continuous Improvement so you heard uh the team present and mention District goals so it's not something that should just land on a piece of paper or remain on a website never to be seen again until the mid-year report so you can see that it's a team driven approach that we all talk about it but it
090doesn't stop here with our Board of Education and our administrative team our teachers and staff are a part of that as well and a part of driving those objectives and and quite frankly the key component to that ensure all staff is trained in building safety procedures and protocols this is ongoing as mentioned by Mrs Loftus we had a presentation here on superintendent's conference day our team has been has now increased the level of safety meetings that we have to monthly where it used to be quarterly and we are involving as Mrs Loftus shared the expertise of not only the town and Village police departments but also the New York state troopers the Orange County Sheriff's Department as well as the OU BOCES health and safety consultants in all areas of our decisions and our policies
091and protocols so we're not developing those in isolation we have those in place but we're also having uh multiple layers of critique and ensuring an input ensuring that we're in the best place that we can be for our student safety maintain and improve the district facilities in the most efficient and economical economical manner possible um that's ongoing and this is a goal that you typically see from year to year continue to evaluate District safety plans ensuring few law enforcement and risk management expertise are involved in all facets of security protocols and procedures which I just stated and that's so important continue to advance implementation of a district Energy Efficiency plan Mr DeRosa and his team have been phenomenal in those efforts you can see everything from the lighting changes in both buildings matter of fact
092Mr DeRosa just shared with me an energy report from Orange and Rocklin and we were five percent down from where we were in the previous month and I'm sure in this year if we compare at the end of the year and we will the expenses just an electricity alone compare to where we were last year we're going to see a noticeable Improvement upgrade the district computer network infrastructure to improve safety security and efficiency Mr Spence and his team have worked very hard to do that as well as Mr Patel and that's been an ongoing uh partnership with many other agencies that are involved in ensuring our network is safe upgrade existing storage servers to ensure components and performance meet or exceed industry standards evaluate and pursue options to make a lot of school building and
093property obviously that's a big focus of the community and I know an interest of the community so know that we will continue and will be transparent as we look to um possible ideas or next steps for that building and it is has serious implications there and and know the community will be involved continue to assess water treatment options targeting continuous Improvement in current systems goal number six establish Partnerships that engage the community and effort to enhance open communication and family involvement this is a tremendous goal for us this year the Family Partnership partnership component and how wonderful it is that we can all be here tonight in person that Mrs Bosch and Mr Flanagan mentioned events you know we had an ice cream social that couldn't happen uh just not that long ago and parents
094in the building could not happen a short time ago so it's a very exciting year with opportunities for our parents to partner not only coming into the building but also to provide their input in a shared partnership for student excellence and so I again invite our families if you're interested in joining our CEO of SD parent advisory panel to please put your information in I will send that email out again with the link if for some reason you are listening tonight and you did not receive it that means we don't have your updated contact information so it's really important that we get that so if you did not get that email you don't know what I'm talking about call your school either the Elementary main office or the academy so that we can ensure that
095you get all messages going forward because there will be a lot because we truly want to partner with you and it's exciting um provide information workshops for um I'm sorry the first goal increase opportunities for family and Community involvement and input so again I just mentioned our parent advisory panel we're also going to be putting together and Mrs Garcia's leading the effort for informative workshops for our parents and part of that email and that link asks your input on what type of workshops would you like us to provide for you what information would you like to learn as a parent that would be helpful in supporting your students expand communication opportunities with enl families through venues that promote interactive dialogue you'll notice on our new website at the very top you can select a language
096of your choice that will help you you know it makes it more user friendly for all of our families and we want to ensure that we open up the lines of communication no matter what the language is and that's very important to us expand opportunities for school events reinforce reinforcing the partnership and learning that's already taken place so there's some things that I can share this evening that we're not even at the mid-year report that we're already working on I don't know if we have some kickball teams yet for the 25th um it's bringing back memories memories of elementary school for May but um I might give it a try we'll see so these are all very exciting things that um we're working together with our families and it's great for the students to see
097too provide a forum for input on the updated District website targeting continuous improvement in our communication structure so know that while that website has been shared it's it's not finished it's not done there's going to be more information provided to you but I would say by the we'll have it up for um through the it's going to stay up but I would say at the end of October I will be sharing information or providing a venue for families to provide input right so this works well but did you would you consider adding this and that's really the website is for our families um it's for our students as well so we want to ensure that it's user friendly that it has the information that's easy easily accessible and if there's something that we need to
098improve we want to hear about it so that we can take action on it expand District communication highlighting student achievement in all areas all areas I mentioned this the sports social media class that's targeted to Athletics and I also mentioned Miss Garcia's role right director of curriculum instruction and communication there's a reason for the end communication piece and she's already if you've noticed been putting on Facebook celebrations of first week of school and what's really important and what we we don't want to see is solely focused on academics or Athletics we also want to see highlights of our music program and our theater and all the other things that we offer as a district it's so important to highlight all students and that goes with Dei right all means all not only in welcoming everyone
099but in celebrating what we have to offer our students in this District goal number seven ensuring the safety and social emotional well-being of all students faculty and staff and you'll see some of the objectives are repetitive and that is intentional because they flow in and out of some of these District goals do the level of importance so first and foremost continue to provide mental health and Fel support programs for our students faculty and staff and we talk about safety in a building right being preventative versus reactive so ensuring that our students feel welcome feel safe that they have a connection that they have a positive relationship with the teacher is so important before we even talk about those safety measures that we have in place you've heard this before so all of our safety procedures
100and down to our building emergency procedures every layer every aspect from our fire drills to this lock just mentioned shells shelter in place hold in place lock down lock out our staff members are trained on that we will be having drills throughout the year beyond the required drills that are provided to us are given to us with the state that we have to do but it's so important to not just drill in the standard expected in between the Bells we're not doing that we will be drilling at multiple times throughout the year so that we are prepared in the case of an emergency right and our and our teams are prepared and we've been working very hard on this and I again thank Mr DeRosa for his efforts in leading this supporting this initiative with
101our local law enforcement and risk management expertise I've already discussed the expansion of District safety meetings to ensure continual review and Improvement of procedures and protocols we'll have something in place we do a drill and that's a perfect time frame where we come together and then we debrief so after we have a drill it's not just to check the box we completed a drill we come together as an administrative team including the staff and we get input what worked well what didn't work well this is not something that we we looked at or thought of we now need to bring this in and improve this area so it's constantly the drills are not just to to train and um have it be second nature individual as to what we would do and react in an
102emergency situation it's also to check our safety protocols and find out and make sure that those there are no gaps or that if there are opportunities to fix something that we do so install additional Wi-Fi access points around the exterior of the Chester Academy and Chester Elementary School that has already taken place and that is so that local law enforcement at the outside of our business our buildings would have access to cameras that view the interior ballrooms and in all buildings and continue to assess and improve security cameras within and outside of District facilities that has taken place last year and has can we continue to expand upon that I have more to say done no one has nodded off but in all seriousness seriousness this is truly it's not just words on a page
103it's not just going to land it will be updated on our website I welcome the opportunity for any questions on this our parent advisory panel I am going to extend that I said that it would close on the 16th so I'll extend that for another week so that parents and community members families have the opportunity to either Express an interest in the in joining the parent panel or sharing your business expertise or sharing with us a workshop that they would like us to offer so um I'm very excited for the year I couldn't be more thankful and appreciative of the staff that I have the wonderful opportunity to work with as I mentioned before I've been here for 20 years many of the teachers have been my colleagues um it's it's truly amazing what we've
104accomplished as a team just from July to date and it's reflection of the people that we have in place and again thank you I'm excited for the year we'll draft the knife thank you I'm not done thanks to Mrs Loftus who would like me to also uh we do have uh we were we just received additional covid uh test kits so if you we are sending them home with students as needed but if you're a family or if you would like to um have a receive a test kit please reach out to either building and we'll make arrangements to get those to you thank you Miss Loftus you really are going to reaches what I'm here for the assistant any questions are there any questions I dare you I don't have a question but I
105do have a comment I really um I'm very excited to see what this has developed into when we met in July at our board retreat and we talked even longer than tonight um about the district goals and where we saw the district going um we developed the broad overview and to see what you have worked with all of the other administrators and all of the staff to develop very targeted goals and aspirations uh it's really um quite a credit in the short amount of time to see what has transpired and to see that they're being implemented as we speak it as you said it's not words on a piece of paper it's being translated to the culture of how we function every day in our buildings so um kudos thank you nicely done kudos to
106our team and our and our staff so it's a great place to be yeah just to piggyback off of that um when we talked about the goals in July initially my thought was this would be so great if we can get the parent advisory Council up and running within like a year's time and here we are two weeks into the year and we already have the emails are already going out I know Miss Garcia's already met with the PTA a few weeks ago and from what I understand that was a really positive meeting we already have 18 parents signed up so I also can't believe how quickly this this went ahead so it's it's very impressive I uh I have in my papers here and you'll probably hope that I don't find it but I
107had copied the some of the responses because I said it was I was it was really uh impactful to read the parents rationale for for why they wanted to be involved and uh even the construction litigation gentleman that that offered his expertise and um you know why he wanted to share that with students and through what lens and uh you know the parent that is a teacher but that believes so strongly in you know modeling for her child the partnership for a parent to be involved in education my mom was an educator and always although the principal probably didn't appreciate it was speaking with the principal quite often as I grew on but that involvement right that that it really shows the importance of education and um really uh education is a means to achieve
108a goal whatever that goal is even if it's not College even if you're going into a specific career what we're providing our students and what our parents expect is a foundation to excel in whatever our students hopes and dreams lead them so and we have a phenomenal administrative team supportive Board of Education and amazing teachers and staff to make it happen so it's going to be exciting here anyone else so you know we can't uh it's been said that a house built on a cheap foundation right you can't stand and we heard a lot about foundations tonight and you know it's important to remember that most of the administrative team here built on the foundation of our past superintendents who had the foresight to bring in all these people that have created where we are
109today you know and I said that essential breath of fresh air this year is just a culmination of everything that's gone on over the last six to ten years of building our district we are lucky that we've gotten to direct where we're going but there's been Vision that has come into it to help steer us and building this house is really it's such an accomplishment to feel that we are leaving this district and building it into something that everyone can be proud of going forward our past superintendents and our Administration really have all brought us to this point so it's it's really important that we recognize that because we wouldn't be here if it weren't for that so we appreciate all of you um Kathy Kathy's Vision as you heard it tonight it's pure passion
110and I said it since day one when she started when she's left teaching particularly in our district and we started giving her other avenues when she started steering herself in different directions that was an eye-opener for me I'll never forget it and it's it's brought us to this point tonight where we're seeing it all come to fruition so we appreciate we appreciate your passion you could you could speak for 10 hours it really you know it's it means something because you can see it's it's true passion from the heart so yes you're absolutely right I thank uh Sean Michelle previous superintendent who took us to all districts to see and Mr petrolak uh certainly wouldn't be sitting here this evening working with the amazing team who you know two two teachers here um that are
111now in administrative roles and that was Sean's vision for developing leaders from within and Mr petrolak's support has been phenomenal and has been an amazing role model so um and you've been here throughout so the board has been yeah thank you and with that I I'm sure I'm good yeah um it'll bring us our first public comment but I wanted to bring up edistrada if he wanted to I know he probably wasn't prepared to at our I don't see anyone else from the Public Public I see our staff our Administration but if you wanted to say a few words tonight and we appreciate so edistrada is our on our BOCES board and he's representing BOCES and each year they uh gift the each School District with one of the representatives to be the go-to person
112between the BOCES board and the school district so if you wanted to come up and I just want you know I didn't want to put you on the spot but uh I'll introduce myself to those of you who do not know me uh my name is Etta strata um I am I believe in my fourth year now as a trustee at Orange Ulster BOCES um spent 13 years on the Middletown School Board a couple years as its president uh before I retired in 2017 when my youngest graduated from the school district there um I'm the liaison from OU BOCES for both Chester and Middletown so my role here over the next years to instead of watching you guys on television is to be here physically now uh that we've kind of gotten past the uh
113covid situation and um and then report back to BOCES what you guys discuss with your areas of concern are what your um any needs that you might have um I heard you mention um BOCES on several occasions in regards to health and safety that we provide Chester this year currently has about 119 students through special education and Career Tech from Chester that are taking part in the services that BOCES provides as well as some of the professional development and other areas that we provide as support for the school districts as well I am also for you guys already know I grew up in Chester many many years ago my dad used to drive produce trucks from the black dirt Farms down to Hunts Point I lived right on the old Brown building right on Main
114Street so grew up there with my family before we moved to Middletown back in 1976 so I know Chester pretty well though I went to Catholic school at the time because I went to Saint Columba at the time when it was opened before that but most of my friends here were from Chester high school at the time as well the only thing I got to mention is whatever you're paying Mrs Garcia her name comes up on everybody's radar so great job uh from what I can gather that's an outsider being here and I just keep hearing the name so she's got to be doing some outstanding stuff for you but thank you for the time and if you guys need anything um when I come back at your next meeting I'll have some business cards
115for you so if you wanted to contact me directly uh by all means and um we're also our contact information is on the OU BOCES website as well thank you thank you and I I put it on the spot to come out but um you know it's important for the community BOCES is an essential Cog to our program at Chester and to really most of the component school districts that participate with BOCES our program couldn't Thrive without boasting so we know how important that they they are for those families that use BOCES services and a lot of our students that had said go to ctec and the special education they're essential and you know this year BOCES has a giant project coming up for their for BOCES and I know the Public's going to start
116hearing about that we're going to have some stuff on our school website also there's going to be a large community vote in each School District that actually both seasons is gonna they're gonna run that actually in each School District uh hoping sites out here have been fighting foreign it's important for our public to understand to us as a board we we understand it and appreciate I'm sure a lot of parents do the importance of Boces in New York state and in our school district so that's why these votes are very important but it's it's on the public also to come out and vote and that's why that campaign is going to be coming out just like a school district in your own home there's a lot of work that has to happen to keep your
117home afloat to keep school districts afloat and BOCES being were a component of that um it's important that the public understands the necessity of services that BOCES provide so um as a board you know we know that and we appreciate and we appreciate it yes because Ed will be here it'll be here to help with that yeah and we appreciate that that's why I really didn't want to put you on the spot tonight but we really appreciate it yeah we appreciate that you're here is there anyone else for tonight's public comment right I I you guys sure so that'll bring us to our consent agenda I'm sorry round table first yeah thank God we'll go to number four round table for tonight's Round Table did you have anything for round two I was going to
118share the covet test but the assistant superintendent had me include that earlier so I do not [Laughter] [Music] so as uh members of Orange County School boards also this year Caroline is our representative and we had a meeting this month and I will turn it over to Carol that's right so the Orange County School Board Association held their first in-person meeting uh last Wednesday it's the first in-person meeting that they've had in over two years because of covid so I had the pleasure of attending as the Delegate for our board and I attended with what I thought was a pretty good understanding of what the Orange County School Board Association does based on the school governance training that Kim and I attended back in June but I found myself really impressed and Blown Away by
119the extent of what this group does um this was a great group of professionals that are really committed to working together to make changes on a local and state level based on feedback that they're getting from their respective school districts so the the amount of resources and material that they shared with one another was really impressive as well as the way that they coordinate advocacy efforts on behalf of public school education so last week's meeting included a presentation by Regent Francis Willis who has over 50 years experience in education I believe 16 of those were as superintendent and some of the conversations that we had centered around revising the public school experience after covid we also discussed some of the resolutions that are currently being promoted by the School Board Association such as adopting higher
120standards as well as more State funding for the areas of Arts and Music we also reviewed the level of the Region's commitment to Dei diversity equity and inclusion and social emotional learning after covid was a highlight of the discussions as well so really a lot of the discussions that we had last week I felt really mirrored a lot of the conversations that were already actively having as a school district um so I you know again I just really wanted to thank Miss O'Hara and this new administrative team that is going into uh this new year with the amount of work that has already gone into setting up our students and parents for what's going to be another great year excellent it was a really good meeting it really was whatever yeah and Ed gonna test
121that Orange County school board meetings that's why we go there and that feedback is so important from the other districts you realize you're not in it alone and it's really great feedback so and you're going to be an excellent representative thank you I guess we'll always be there Laura Clinton's for punishment we just like to see it anything else for Round Table okay I will look it together with that you didn't have anything right I I thought okay it's my chair sinks in the ground we're gonna turn to then the consent agenda chairs and the board table would be uh we'll need consent agenda I'd like to make a motion that the board adopt consent agenda items 5.1 through 5.3 and 5.5 through 5.17 tabling 5.4 for a later date is there a second second
122is there any discussion hearing none all in favor any opposed that'll bring us our second public comment but I imagine might go like the first okay and that means I'll just need one more motion for the night what motion would that be so 7.3 uh motion to adjourn is there a second I'll second any discussion I'd like to thank everyone for being here tonight and everyone watching online at home and something that Miss O'Hara said in the middle of her amazing presentation is key to everyone at home and every parent who didn't think they got who didn't hear about an email or who didn't get an email or um their classroom teacher that they might have not gotten a text or something to that effect if there is something like that please call the school
123district if they're in the Academy please call the office if they are in the elementary please call the elementary school we will get your answer there and I know it's a great support system of parents but sometimes some of the parents have already had kids in the district and those things might have changed I saw a little bit of that over the last week on social network so that there's some change that might have happened and you I want to make sure everyone at home is getting the right information and there's one other thing I asked all our teachers to do on our opening day was that listen we have the most caring professionals in Chester that care about every one of your students and our parents to make sure that they're having a successful
124education here at Chester so we I've asked all our teachers to make that extra effort that if a parent has reached out to please make sure that you were reaching back out and make that extra effort to make sure that we're touching base with all those parents who are reaching out to us and that's key you heard from Miss O'Hara it's key our communication to the district our families is to make sure that everyone is talking back and forth to each other so we don't have that family who didn't get the email they don't think or there's some Gap happening if you haven't gotten that then we probably don't have the right information from you because there's so much information going out it's essential that you have that in information every day and with that
125thank you everyone for coming all in favor bye and everyone