001No, it's not that. It's just scratchy. I'm not coughing. They're always a little weird. Oh, I probably people are presenting really quick. Yeah, it's Yeah, I Hi. All right. Good evening everybody. Thank you so much for being here this evening. This is a really lovely meeting to come to and I'm really excited to see everybody out here in the audience. Uh we will begin our meeting with the pledge of allegiance. nation. All right. Uh Serena, we did have one change to the agenda, right? Two changes to the agenda. Okay. They are We added running club and oh and we added we added the principal's name now because we can tell you the principal's name. So those are the agenda changes that you will note if you happen to open the agenda before an hour ago.
002All right. Um I don't have anyone signed up for public comment but is there anyone in the audience that did want to address the board before we move on with our business? Okay. All right. Uh, next for board of education minutes. Resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent, the board of education approved the minutes of the regular meeting on May 6th, um, 2025. May I have a motion? Thank you, Francis. A second. Thank you, Tony. Comments or questions? All in favor? Any opposed? Any abstensions? Okay. Uh we are going to do um a few presentations from some clubs and some classes this evening. So we will start with the elementary drama club and I think writing club sort of together. Right. All right. So I'm welcoming Miss Ryan and Mrs. Waltz. [Applause] Oh no, I
003need my phone. Got to get to my phone. They said it would be easy. No, it doesn't come up here. Do I have to do it again? I'm gonna I'm enjoying the suspense. It's very exciting. It's spinning. I shared it with you. Can I come up with you? I've always been worried about the tech. I've got it. Oh, right click. that this isn't as good. Here I am. Well, folks, we are here. Yay. Mrs. Conover, did that count? All of that. All right. So, um, hello everyone. I'm Mrs. Waltz and I'm directing the musical this year and Miss Ryan is assisting with me. We're doing a fifth and sixth grade musical. So, um I won't read everything to you, but this is uh about our elementary musical in the history. Uh the elementary musical started
004back in the 1990s, the early 90s with Tomy, who was a music teacher here for quite a few years, I think 25 plus years, and she started this. So, I have videotapes of plays from like 1992. So, it it has been part of the tradition for a very long time um with the students in fifth or sixth grade depending upon if they're in the over at the elementary building in that year. Um what the theater does for the students is that it offers a lot of great opportunities to practice their acting, uh their projection, their language skills, and they also have to problem solve. When you're doing a scene, sometimes things don't go according to the lines that you've learned and somebody forgets a line or they drop a line or something falls and you
005have to know how to kind of like think on your feet and improvise very quickly. Um, one of the great things about this the elementary program is it helps to feed into the high school program and the uh drama program in the high school. Um over the course of the last two decades when I have done the musical uh one of the things that I have loved is watching the students start to own their their show. And I remember one time listening to the students and hearing them talk about how they wanted to make that scene funnier. And so they they were doing the u they were doing the return of the glass slipper and they were the ugly stepsisters. And so they started talking how they should walk and waddle and then one of
006them should fall a certain way and they were like really honing the skill there. So I think that that's awesome to be able to just overhear them taking it as part of something that they want to do and improve. So that was one of the joyful things um that I have seen uh with the students. Another one was in 2021 I got an out ofthe- blue email from a former parent. Um, some of you might know Boon Lynch. Uh, he graduated back in 2021 and or or maybe a few years before that. I think Mrs. Orton was still here. And I got this beautiful email. It was addressed to Mrs. McCain and myself and she she mentioned that um that Boon had that chance to do the theater in fifth grade and it always stayed
007with him the love of acting and he was very wellrounded and did other sports and other clubs. But we went on to college. He decided to go out for a program in his senior year to be part of the local theater at the college. And they she said that it gave him so much confidence in himself to public speak and it just turned on his love of theater and acting and so it really gave him a very balanced um outlet and and things to do. So it was just like you get one of these emails. I hadn't had Boone in like probably eight years. and then you you get this great email that just like really touches you. So, I think that's a testament to how the program really benefits the kids and the long-term
008effect that it has. Um some of the musicals we've done over the years, we did Pinocchio back in um March of 2016. In 2019, we did the fun showact. That was here on this stage. Um Pinocchio was at the elementary stage. Um in 2022, we did the best little theater in town. That was just after we were coming out of COVID. You can see some of them are still like checking out wearing that mask yet, but uh but we used that stage over there. Um two years ago we did the story of the Pied Piper racks which was a lot of fun. I have that on my screen at work. I love those kids. They were awesome. And then this year we are doing the fifth and sixth grade musical Tom Sawyer. So this year
009the fifth and sixth graders are performing the musical Tom Sawyer. We started practices in the elementary During March and part of April, we have started now rehearsing at the high school with our performances on June 11th and 12th starting at 6:30. So, you can see some of the characters and their poses and how they're working hard. Now, this is a few weeks ago here at the high school. They look really happy about this scene, but yes, they're in a church scene right now. So, uh, so that is one of the scenes. Landon is here. He's right there and he's the preacher in it. Landon's our preacher. Um and then some testimonials from a few students have been that um a very busy actor in our show stated I'm learning to have to be loud, you
010have to be focused and you have to become a person like you are like you are them in real life. That part becoming someone else is hard. It's fun because we are doing it with our friends. And another actress said learning how to bring character to life and spending time with my friends is one of the things she loves. I'm learning how to project my voice, how to stay in character about blocking and memorizing lines. I think being in the production has been a wonderful experience. So, those are some testimonies from our current uh fifth and sixth graders. Future goals I have for the elementary musical is that um it stays a healthy, vibrant club here at school. Um one of your dreams is I want I never want the kids to think because you're
011in a small school that you know you can never make it big. You never know where talent is going to come from. And you know, the talents can come from the big schools, but they can also come from our small rural district. And we have had students that have gone on. There's been an opera singer that has gone on and traveled. Um, we've had wrestlers that have gone on and and made the Olympics. Uh, so I want our kids to always dream and dream big. And so I hope they can do that here on the stage here at the elementary and moving on to the high school. Okay. So would you like to add anything, Miss Ryan? I do not, but it is it is a delight to be a part of the production and
012their teacher when they're so young and just being something that you don't always. So it's nice from like the teaching perspective. That's all. Okay. All right. So, thank you very much. Any questions from the board for lovely ladies? All right. Thank you very much, Mrs. Waltz and Miss Ryan. Thank you. Miss Ryan will take off one hat and put on a new hat. Um, Serena, how do you want me to Um, Michael, if you'd like to come up, Landon, I have some friends here who are going to help me. Yeah, that's the class of 20. This one. Just if you have I wear far too many hats. I just submitted the slideshow. So, I do apologize. I'm gonna All right. So, my name is Miss Ryan. I'm a third grade teacher. Oh, sorry. I know
013we're live streaming. I'm sorry. I'm breaking the rules. Um, my name is Miss Ryan. I'm a third grade teacher here at Dwayneburg. Um, I'm also the um I guess the lead of Dwayneburg Running Club, which is for K through six students. And I do have two friends here who are also going to speak on behalf of running club. We have 102 students participating again through grades K through six. And here's a lovely picture of all of them. I am smiling. We did have running club this morning and I am still standing. Um what is running club? Running club is a free and voluntary opportunity. It's part of the inter mural program. Coach Potry started that I think three years ago now and then upon him leaving I did take over running club. I started in
014February this year but I plan to start earlier. um next school year. Um it's a place for them to just have fun, run, be active right before school. It starts at 7:15 promptly and then goes till 7:50 and then the kids go off and enjoy their day. Essentially, the kids just complete laps around the course cone course in the gym. There's a K2 side and a 36 side. So, the younger ones are running l more laps to get to the mile and then the older kids are running less laps to get to the mile. Um, upon completion of the lap, they get a popsicle stick. I do have a lot of parent volunteers. Um, thank you to those parents. I don't see any of them here tonight, but I do I do thank you for
015the help. And then students count and report their popsicle sticks as a lap at the conclusion of running club. So, like I said, there's K grades K through six. There's 102 students. And here is every grade level represented. looking fun, lots of smiles again at 7:15 in the morning. Um, so I do have two students here who are going to speak on behalf of um their experiences with running club. Um, I have Michael and Landon. Who would like to go first? Want to go first? I love running club because I get to see my friends and I like to run and get a lot of popsicle sticks. [Applause] Okay. I personally enjoy running club. Like before I say anything, I just want to give a shout out to Miss Walt, Miss Ryan. They can both
016juggle play and running club while I have to deal with classes. So that's to me quite impressive. So I like a round of applause there. Please. Running club. In my opinion, it isn't just something you do for fun. It's something where you can make friends, have fun, h talk to them, and learn more about them personally. And overall, I don't really consider it just something for fun. It's more of something I take seriously because it Yes, it does. It teaches It teaches competitiveness and teaches sportsmanship and teaches the kids to just have a good time while also patting their friend on the back if they don't get as many popsicle sticks as somebody else. Um, here are some milestones for the year. I do have them listed by name and I do um post this
017on Parent Square for families. Um, unfortunately I I can't disclose that information, but I did the math. And we have zero to for the 0 to four mile club, we have 10 students. 5 to9 mile club, we have 20 students. 10 to 14 mile club, we have 46 students. 15 to 19 mile club, we have 20 students. 20 to 24 mile club, we have five students. And we still have some kids riding that fine line at 24 miles. Zero students have yet to meet that 25, but they're right there. And we do have one student who's hit the 30 mile club. He is standing right behind me. Landon is working hard. He is in competition with a second grader at the moment. So, the two of them are going at it and it's been fun.
018Um, and each month, Landon, you have the trophies. I do give a Top Runner trophy with some candy to every grade level K through 6 from January to now. And then we do have an end of year running club picnic on June 18th which will be for running club families and um runners to kind of have that one last moment. And here are some awards that coach P um implemented that I I plan to carry over. Every club member will get a medal and certificate if they have had 50% attendance. Popcorn sale award. We did fund raise popcorn that pays for the t-shirts. I'm wearing the t-shirt from this year as well as we'll fund some of the treats and the trophies for our awards ceremony. Um, there is a most improved runner award. Runup
019awards will go to the highest classroom teacher, home room teacher in K2 and 35. Respectful runner award. You know, there's those kids that every time you hand them a popsicle stick, they say thank you every single time. Um, top male and female runner for grades K through six. family fun award will go to siblings. So, the highest group of siblings who um track the highest amount of miles. And of course, there's the golden sneaker, which is a giant spray painted sneaker that the kid or the child who wins can keep. I did just tell Landon because he is in the lead to receive that that it's not going to be as big because Miss Ryan's feet are not as large as Coach P's. So, it's going to be a medium-sized sneaker, but still something that
020the kids really enjoyed doing, right? And it it does and it's still a lot of fun. It's silly. It's fun. And I do have Coach P to thank for that. And he is truly missed. And I I'm happy to have taken this over and continue that future for Dwayne'sburg. Any questions from the board for Miss Ryan before she takes off? No, I think we're good. Thanks, Miss Ryan. I just like to say it's it's amazing to me that is your mic? I don't know. I'm pretty loud. There's uh about 300 kids in elementary school, K to six. So, you're running a third of involvement in this club. Yeah. I actually was doing the math this morning. I was like, I don't know how many students are in the district, but you did the math for
021me because that's a lot. Yeah, we have about 85. I do take attendance. We have about 85 each, right, each time. So, we're not always at the 102, but that's how many are enrolled. And and drama is available to fifth, fourth and fifth. K through six. K through six. Drama. Drama. Drama. Oh, drama. Sorry. That's okay. Um, in drama in fifth and sixth, we have 36 actors and actresses and we have 10, no, 12, um, tech crew students. So, so that's in the high. So again, about 50% of possible kids that are involved are involved. We do. That's amazing. We have a really good uh representation between the two classes. So that's pretty awesome. Thank you. Thank you. Great. Thank you so much, ladies. Oh, we've got one more thing. And I will say that
022Braden killed a giant beetle at Running Club today, right before this picture was taken. Giant. It was like this big. We'll give him a golden beetle. Oh my goodness. Okay. Thank you very much. Uh, next up we have class of 2029. Um, Mrs. DS and Mrs. Goal, I think Hi everyone. I am Christina Goal, one of the school counselors at the high school, as well as um the class of 2029 co-advisor. Unfortunately, Miss DS was unable to be here tonight. Um but I do have a few of my class officers with me who are going to present to you guys um about how our year went. I am Braden. I'm the vice president. Sadly, our president is not here today. And this is Quinn, our treasurer, and this is Anna, our secretary. Our 20254 and
0232025 class fundraisers were a big success with the Halloween bash in October. We made $88458. Um, our next one was Crispy Cream in April 2025. Um, we made $474. Then we had Chipotle. May 2025, we made $113.94. The total we made over this whole year was $1,47252. Uh, our community give back events were the pancake breakfast at the Dansson Fire Company. December 8th, eight students participated in that one. We had two. Uh, and then April 6th was the last one that we just did where five students participated. And these are some of the pictures taken at these events. Okay. Um, our goals that we really want to focus on is we really want to focus on our senior year trip. Um, I know usually this year it's going to be to New Jersey, I'm pretty
024sure. Um, so we want to focus on prom and wherever we want to go. um and any other kind of opportunities that we can take up such as like random little things. Um so yeah, that's kind of it. I would like to thank Miss Gobble and Miss DS for helping us with all the fundraising and letting us be able to do all this stuff for our future of the class. [Applause] I will say I'm impressed with the students thinking ahead this far. This is great. You will be in good shape by senior year. Others could learn from you. Yeah, I I think we're doing well. I mean, as a previous class adviser, I think we're doing really great so far. Just being at the end of our eighth grade year, we have I think a
025bit over 3,000 in our account. So, yeah, we're doing pretty well. Any other questions from the board comments? Thank you guys. Good to see you. Okay. And then our last presentation for the evening is from Mrs. Hildenbrand, the class of 2030. I'm Cameron Connor. I'm the treasurer. I'm Gavin Mensing and I'm our secretary. Uh I'm Jack Gaidell. I'm the VP and sadly our president isn't here today. She's at golf club. So, um I want to put this out here for all kids who are able participate. But our Tuesday, June 4th after school is our pet making meeting and or like and we're making toys for the kid animals at the animal shelter. And here we have some ones that have already been made. And we're also making bracelets and like tugof-war toys. Okay. So, our
026give back was collecting the flight supplies for the uh square animal shelter and we made the animal shelter also sells in there. Our fundraiser this year was the Easter candy fundraiser from Uncle Sam's Candy. [Applause] So, you guys are current seventh graders, right? Oh, Jack's got one more thing to say. We're not done. Also, we would like to announce that our elections for next year's class offices are coming up soon. Very good. Thank you very much, gentlemen. Appreciate it. I don't think we allow electioneering from the from the lectern, Billy. Okay, while Miss Ross gets things set up up there, um we are our our next the next part of our um meeting this evening is to approve tenure appointments and to introduce our new elementary school principal. So, we will be hearing from our
027current principles, I believe, right? Um about our phenomenal teachers. So, I'll just give Miss Ross a few moments to pull that up and then I'll let them take it away. Tada. Look, Declan, I didn't need your help. Progress, not perfection, is my motto. Um, thank you for everyone being here. I love seeing so many faces um in the audience tonight. It really is heartwarming and it's a testament to the teachers that we're granting tenure to tonight. Um, their loved ones, their friends, their colleagues, their supporters. So, thank you for being here and we have a meeting on Tuesday. So, you're all welcome back. I'll bring cookies if that's what it takes. Um, normally in the past, um, you know, in granting tenure, um, I kind of do things a little bit differently. I think it
028should be a celebration, a celebration of their commitment to your children, our our children and to the district going above and beyond. So, I've asked the principles to say a little bit of something um about each of the folks and when you see your beautiful picture coming up um could you please come up to the stage and yes, we're going to take a group photo. All right. So, the first person is Andrew Bartlett. Come on up. Come on down. You're the next [Applause] contestant. So, I did a couple bullet points. Um, I'm not going to read them to you, but as you can see, Andrew has been very involved in the district since he joined us. Um, last year, I have to say, I was very impressed. He actually took on the role in his
029third year as a senior class adviser, which was kind of a big role. Um, and I got to attend prom, not with him as a date, but we got to attend prom together. Um, so he has done a lot of really great things. So, my little piece about Andrew tonight, the little personal aspects, and he does not know that I'm going to share this stuff. Um, so most of you do not know this, but years ago, um, I hired Andrew and another lifetime, um, as a teaching assistant. Actually, I think as an aid and then he became a teaching assistant. Um, we worked together for one year. Um, he continued to stay at that school. I left and came here. Um, so when we did advertise for an English teacher and he applied, he actually
030worked as a TA in Karen Hildbrand's room who was just up here. Um, when he did apply, I interviewed him and waited for the committee to make the decision, but I was very happy when we hired him. So, I was able to hire him again, um, in another district as a full-time New York State employee. Um, so it was very nice. It was kind of like a, you know, reminiscing about life. Um, another thing that some of you probably do not know about Andrew is Andrew is in a he actually is in a heavy metal band. Um, which I'm going to share because I so he does multiple gigs on the weekends. Um, and my secretary lives fairly close to him, so she does get to hear his music. So if you are really into
031heavy metal, um, he really plays well. So um, it is his band. And what is the name of it? Concrete. So if you ever hear concrete is playing, um Andrew Bartlett is the guy that you want to talk to to get you tickets. So um I'm very happy to be able to recommend um Andrew to Kim for tenure tonight. [Applause] And I guess I'm up again. Um, so Shelby, again, you can see that Shelby Shelby is my art teacher. She's the middle school art teacher. This year, she actually does ceramics, which has been quite an undertaking um for her. But one of the things that she has done in the building is Shelby is really open to having kids in her room. So from the very first year that she started until today, whenever Shelby
032eats lunch, she has kids that come up into her room from the cafeteria to hang out, to get to know her, which only encouraged her students to also join her um art program that she does after school, which is just very collective things that the kids get to do. Um so one thing that you might not know about Shelby, Shelby actually has a stuffed coyote, a real stuffed coyote. Um, those of you who have students in the building, you probably have heard about it. The first time she brought it in, I was very terrified because it is a for real stuff coyote and she carries it around and pets it and the kids love it. Um, but she does it because Shelby is also very very very creative in her drawing. So, she does it
033so that the kids can like look at it with fruit and every other object you can imagine. Um, and does a lot of free drawing with the students. So, she's very creative. Um, and I'm very happy to have her. A little note about Shelby. I did see that you have your mom here tonight. So, one of the things that I do have on my notes is that Shelby is very close to her mom, which I got to witness that firsthand when Shelby got hired and she came in here to the district to set up her room. And if you know my office, I got to look out the window and I looked out one summer afternoon and Shelby was sitting at the picnic table with her mom eating lunch. I will never forget that as
034they were setting up her classroom and I thought, how incredibly sweet and how lucky are we as a district to have hired somebody who really values family as much as I do. So again, I'm very thrilled to recommend Shelby um to our Dwayneburg family for her tenure. So congratulations. [Applause] Hello everyone. I am pleased to announce Danielle Cerner. I'm putting up for tenure. Danielle is one of those last of the pandemic hires that we had where we're still wearing masks and we were still quarantining and let's just not go down there for a minute. So that's just we're all um she taught first grade, fifth grade, sixth grade. She has found her niche with sixth grade math. But here's truly what I'd like to say about Miss Cerner. What truly sets Mrs. Cerner apart is
035her ability to meet the diverse needs of her students with grace and effectiveness. She differentiates instruction with care and creativity, ensuring that each learner, regardless of their ability or background, has the support and challenge they need to thrive. Her classroom is a place where curiosity is nurtured, learning is personalized, and every student is empowered to succeed. You've been a wonderful addition to our faculty. So I humbly recommend you to our superintendent for [Applause] tenure, Miss Jenna Veglia or Mrs. Jenna joined us as a seasoned teacher from another district and she joined our faculty as a reading teacher. She stepped in to be one of the first class adviserss for sixth grade and she took on that beast of a elementary school yearbook and we thank her for that. But I do have some other words
036about Miss for Miss Beglia. Mrs. Begley is a compassionate elementary reading teacher with a strong commitment to student growth and literacy development. known for building supportive relationships with students and creating collaborative learning environment, proactively stepped into the role of a yearbook coordinator, demonstrating leadership, creativity, and a willingness to go above and beyond to contribute to our school community. And I humbly recommend you to our superintendent for tenure. [Applause] So, April Hoffman is the next person that we're going to call to the front. So, as you can see, April is my living environment teacher. Um, one of the things that I will highlight in so far as her academics is when she first got hired, I said to her, "I need you to teach an AP bio course." And she was like, "Okay." So, April went
037online and she found an online AP course that was in another country that took place in another country. So, she logged on and they were in a different time zone. So, April found herself that particular summer, her very first summer here. I believe it was your first summer, second summer taking an online course in the middle of the night. Um, so call that dedication. I think that's dedication. It was Dubai. She actually took it through Dubai, which I thought that was pretty cool. A couple things about April that maybe some of you do not know. So, April was actually born in Colorado. I did not know that till just recently when I mentioned that my son's in Colorado and she's like, I was born there. So, she was born in Colorado. She is a military
038brat. Her father was in the army. So, she has lived all over the country, um, all over the world. She lived in Germany, went to school in Germany for a number of years, which I thought was pretty cool because again, my daughter is stationed in Germany right now at the same base. Um, so, April has a lot of experience. She did come to us from another district um, where she was there for 12 years and has only I got that right. Okay. Um, I thought I was right on that. Um, so she came here with a ton a ton of information and data for us. So, it's been lovely to have her here. A little side note about April that some of you might know, some of you might not. April had her first, not
039her personally, but her her two dogs had their first litter of lab puppies um, last year. So, this school year or at the beginning of the school year. she's had to like go home to take care of puppies and she shares her puppy pictures with everybody. Um so as a dog lover that is something that we have often talked about. So um April has been a wonderful addition to our high school and she's going to teach physics next year too. So um with that I really strongly recommend that and I'm thrilled to do it that she join our tenure faculty. So congratulations April. You might notice that the listings of classes offered by the elementary teachers don't look like the high school teachers, but let me tell you, they teach everything. reading, math, science, social
040studies, how not to uh communicate with your hands, how to use the bathroom and wash your hands when you come out. There is so much more than being in a classroom teacher. It may not look like the nice listing of these wonderful teachers have. But when you are a third grade or fourth grader or reading teacher, you are teaching more. or you are teaching them how to live in a world that is very complicated and how to navigate even in kindergarten how to navigate technology. So I would like to do them justice by saying although it might just say third grade teacher or it might say just reading teacher or a sixth grade teacher there's a whole lot more that goes with that job it is everything and any everything. So, Maddie, Maddie, you also
041came into us at the end at the, uh, tail end of the pandemic. Um, so, uh, you have been a wonderful addition and I'd like to say these few words about you. Um, she's a very quiet, stoic person, so I I know that this is not her favorite thing right now, and I thank her husband for coming with her right now. Mrs. Lamb has demonstrated herself to be a skilled communicator and collaborator. She actively builds strong partnerships with families, fostering a team approach to education that extends beyond the classroom. Parents value her responsiveness and genuine care for their children's growth both academically and socially. She is recognized as a model of effective classroom management. Mrs. Lamb creates a learning environment that is structured, respectful, and nurturing. Her classroom is a place where students feel safe,
042focused, and empowered to take ownership of their learning. And I have never received a student from her classroom that she said, "I've got this. Don't you worry. I will take care of this." And I am more than happy to recommend you to join our tenure [Applause] faculty. So Lindsay I'm going to ask you to come on down. So, Lindsay is our junior senior high school chorus um and and music director. She also came to us right after COVID um and has done a phenomenal job. If you have not had a chance to come see one of her productions, I would tell you you need to this year. And I did tell Lindsay this, although I do think that her productions have been phenomenal. This was probably one of the best. She did the Adams family.
043Um, it was just it was so great. Um, I've se I saw the kids rehearsing, but watching them rehearse and then watching them actually do the performance was pretty incredible. Um, so Lindsay has done a variety of things. You can see all of the courses that she does teach. um just to kind of give students that additional experience in in the theater and in vocals and and just singing in general. Um couple things that maybe you don't know about Lindsay. Um which I'm not going to say anything that's embarrassing. Lindsay. So um Lindsay actually likes to be a princess and does princess parties. So, if you don't know that and you have a little girl who loves princess um or a little boy, um Lindsay does do does do that like moonlighting on the weekends,
044which when I found that out, I was very very I was like, "Wow, how cool is that?" Um, another thing you might not know about Lindsay is when we hired Lindsay, we actually made her come in and stand on the stage and do a lesson on the stage. She had the coolest red pants I think I've ever seen. And I actually said that to her after we hired her. I'm like, "Oh my gosh, you wore red pants. It was very theatrical. I loved it." And you had me sold on that. One other thing that I know that most of you probably do not know about Lindsay is Lindsay is finishing up her master's program. So, for the past two years, Lindsay has had to leave us a little bit early at the end of the
045school year to go to Florida to take her master's program because it's a summer program only. But this year, Lindsay is going to leave us to finish her master's program and she is going to London. Yay. Um, which I think is very cool. Um, to have actually found a program where you can go and experience things that you don't normally experience at like stage or not that there's anything against those music programs, but or crane. Um, so I am very thrilled. I think Lindsay's been a wonderful addition to our faculty. Um, yeah, it's been fun to kind of watch her grow as a teacher. So, I do wholeheartedly recommend Lindsay to be a part of our tenure [Applause] faculty. And then our final person of her tenure is Teresa Crasto. Unfortunately, Teresa could not join
046us tonight. She is in our my math department. Um she has done a variety of things. Also, one of the biggest things that I would like to mention about Teresa is she came to me last year and said, "I really would like to teach in a UHS course." And lo and behold, now I have a uh kelp course. Which we never had before. We always had to take a DL. So, it's pretty impressive that a new teacher untenured was willing to take on a lift like that. I do want to share a couple things because I do know that Teresa would have been here tonight. There's a couple things that I think the board should know and even some of her colleagues who do not know these things about her. Teresa is an avid swimmer.
047She loves to swim. Um I did not know that about her till one summer she told me, "Oh yeah, I've been I just got out of the pool and I'm a swimmer." Okay, well as a mom whose daughter is a swimmer. I thought that was pretty impressive. Um she did have a baby last year. Um so she just celebrated his first or she's getting ready to celebrate his first birthday. She is also very family oriented. She has her grandparents that live with her. That's one of the reasons that she could not be here tonight because she's also when she's not here teaching and the Leo club adviser um and a class adviser. She's the junior class adviser this year, she's home taking care of her grandparents. Um and then one other thing which I found
048out which I thought was super cool this because I don't know much about this. She is a huge Star Wars fan. So any of you who are Star Wars fans, Teresa knows it all. She loves Star Wars. Um, when we were asking her what she wanted for her baby, like for her baby gifts, she actually said, "Um, how about if you get me some baby Star Wars stuff because that's really cool, like sleepers." And so, I did not, you know, when I found that out, I was like, "Oh, I'm not a Star Wars fan, but how cool is that?" So, she's a really big Star Wars fan. So, if you ever want to talk to her about Star Wars, she's your girl. So, and I do wholeheartedly recommend her also for tenure. Um, when I
049hired her, I actually chased her down the walkway before she left the district because we interviewed her with the superintendent in my office and he said, "You need to hire her." I said, "Right now?" Okay. And so I chased her out to her car and offered her the job. So, um, I do recommend her also for tenure. Thank you so much, Miss No, Miss Conover, Mrs. Marvin, uh, for putting that together. I think it's just speaks volumes of the impact of of all eight teachers that were um uh anticipating granting tenure. I do want to get a group shot with the principles up there. The balloons add a nice touch, don't they, Mr. Ryvenberg? out there. All right. Can we give everyone a a round of applause of congratulations to each and every one of
050you? Kim, can I do the resolution now? Uh oh. Hey, Kim. Kim, what? Can I do the resolution now? Yes. Okay. Right. Do your what? I'm going to do the resolution to it. I'm going to make it official right now before we move on. All right. So, be it resolved that the board of education upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools hereby appoints the following instructional employees to tenure in their in the listed tenure areas effective on the date noted. Um, all of which are in September. Uh, I will read their names again. Andrew Bartlett, Teresa Crasto, Donnelly, Lindseay Hec, April Hoffman, Maddie Lamb, Danielle Cerner, Shelby Trilliliger, and Jenna Veglia. May I have a motion? I'll motion. Thank you, Francis. A second. I'll second. Thank you, Ray. Uh, comments or questions? I am
051very impressed with you all. Thank you so much for being in our Dwayneburg family. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Any abstensions? Congratulations. Just a side funny note, don't let those balloons go because Mr. Vivvenberg will will chase me out of the building because there's some laser sensor and if it goes up, it triggers. Look at when I walked in with the balloons, he's like, "You didn't tell me balloons. You can't make sure they don't get away. We don't want this to be monumental night where the fire department shows up." Um, all right. This is what I'm talking about. This is good. Yeah, it's good. He handles me so well. All right, without further ado, um I'd like to invite up to the stage uh Christy Learge. So Christy comes um to us from Kabad
052Crane where she has been an educator and teacher leader and district leader for 10 years now. Um, out of the 28 applicants we received, Christy rose to the top because of her diverse experiences. But then when we screened candidates, the board president and I, it was very clear from the that exact moment we looked at each other and said, "She's our girl." But we knew that we wanted our stakeholders to choose their next principal. So, we were out. We were out of the process. Um, and Christy went through h a long evening going through three different panels of teachers and support staff and community and parent members in which um she got to spend some time with the teaching staff and have dinner with, right? Um, and she rose to the top very quickly. Um
053after deliberating with all the stakeholders who interviewed her, kind of just you know unpacking all the candidates that they interviewed, um it was hands down that teachers and community and family members and parents and we even had one student um said that Christy um they're excited to have Christie lead Dwayneburg Elementary into the future. One of the things that stood out when she was interviewing is that we did have a student on the panel and the parents actually said we loved how Christy interacted with a student. Like that was the selling point, right? You can say what you need to say in an interview. Some people are great at it, but when it's the real deal and the real thing, interacting with kids and that's what where the parents just fell in love with her.
054Um, the way I've described Christie when um people asked and I kept her name quiet. I said she radiates joy. It's like her body vibrates it. And she may be tiny and she has high heels on. um she'll be ditching them soon because when you as a former elementary principal, you need running sneakers. Um and checking with former superintendent and former supervisors, she's tiny but tough and that's what we need, but she is curious and joyful and vulnerable when she needs to be. Um so we're really excited and we'd like to welcome you to the Dwayneburg family because that's how I perceive it. I hope you fall in love as much as I have in the last year. So, congratulations and welcome. [Applause] I won't let it go. I promise. Okay, I'll give her an
055opportunity to say a couple words. I wasn't really prepared for this, but Ham, I'm gonna move this down a little bit. Perfect. I'll figure out how to do that. Hi everyone. I am so excited and so thrilled to be joining your community. Like Kim mentioned, I am coming from a very small community. um been there for the last 10 years and really understand the magic of a small community and I'm just so thrilled to be able to continue my career um in a ve very similar similar place but um I can already tell is very unique and special um in a lot of ways and I'm really looking forward to getting to know everybody and um learning all there is to know about Dwayneburg. So I'm really excited uh to be here and thanks so
056much Okay, I I get to make this official as well. Okay. Uh, be it resolved based upon the recommendation of the superintendent, the board of education approved the appointment of Christina Learge as elementary principal within within the administrative tenure track for a probationary period of four years effective July 1, 2025 to August 31, 2029 at a salary of $83,000 per year. May I have a motion? A motion. Alyssa, a second, Tony. Okay. Um, any comments or questions? Welcome. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Any extensions? Nay. Congratulations. Before you end the meeting, I just want to let everyone know that um in celebration of the tenure teachers, we um have some cookies and Mrs. Marvin can attest they're her favorite cookies on the planet. So, we have some cookies and water and um the folks
057who received tenure as well as um Christy to kind of mingle and socialize, get to know each other a little bit more. She's gonna close the meeting right now. Okay. Okay. Uh yes. All right. Thank you so much everyone for being here this evening. Um the board will be going into executive session momentarily. We do not intend to return to open session. So thank you again for being here for celebrating our teachers and meeting our new principal. And have a great evening. the teachers who just received tenure. I think Trisha needs you for just a one quick minute. Oh, Hello. Hello.