001Okay. Let's get started. Okay. Good evening everyone. I'd like to call this meeting to order. Please rise for the pledge of >> allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty, >> with liberty and justice for all. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] A [Music] [Applause] [Music] Good evening everyone. And I'll ask you to all please join me in a moment of silence as we remember the life of John Daryus Carr, a 2024 graduate of Spring Valley High School who tragically lost his life on September 20th. Thank you, Superintendent Belusco, who's uh attending tonight's meeting via Zoom. Um, good evening everyone. Fire exits are located in the sides of the room in front and back. In the event of
002a fire, you will hear a fire alarm at that time. At that time, please move in a calm and orderly fashion to the nearest exit. We'll now make a motion to open the floor for public speaking. Do I have a second? >> Second by Vice President McIll. All those in favor say I. >> Anyone opposed? Motion carries. >> Speaker number one. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, parents, and most importantly, I want to dedicate this speech to the incredible world's famous marching band students. I'm beyond thrilled to stand before you today and celebrate an unforgettable weekend that we had. Our marching band outstanding performance earned first place at their second competition this Saturday. But that's not all. two weeks ago. Also, they secured second place on their very first competition this season. These achievements are a
003testament to the band's tireless efforts and dedication and passion. As we watch as parents, we saw our students take the field. I was struck by sheer diversity and talent that makes our marching band the world's famous East Rample marching band. Each of one of them brought their unique energy and skills and performances to create truly an unforgettable experience. But we couldn't have done it without our exceptional leadership and guidance from our directors. So thank you Mr. Smith, Miss Carbone, Mr. Springer, Mr. Cicles, Mr. Booth, Mr. Vasquez, Mr. Frammheim, and Miss Tfileleti for your amazing work. Woohoo. I also want to share a spe something for the kids in our district. You are brave, smart, and capable individuals that deserve only respect, kindness, and compassion. No matter your statue, and doesn't defy your worth. It's okay
004to be scared, anxious, and overwhelming by what is happening in our world right now. But remember, be part of the resilient and strong community. We are part of a community that has faced many challenges throughout history. You have the power to make positive impacts by getting your education. Nourish your talented talents and cap captivate the passion that you have and convert it into success and power. You're not alone and this community will defend you. Also, I want to congratulate the STEM innovation program that happened over the summer. And I want them to be recognized publicly at a board meeting as soon as possible as those kids did an incredible job earning scholarships and should be promoted now also here, but also in our websites all over the place to show that we support our students
005in every stage of their education. Thank you. [Applause] Thank you. Speaker number two. >> Hi, my name is Madison Ma and I'm here to talk about Marget Elementary buses. When I go home, my face is all red and the buses is really hot. Feels like I can't breathe in the bus. [Applause] Thank you. Speaker number three. >> Good evening. I find it very disturbing, actually not so much as a disappointment for me to see that channel 12 News had uh right here in this very room, a special meeting about busing that only included the private community members. It was emergency meeting, but meanwhile, we all have busing issues. Can I say segregation and separation at its best? You want people in this community to get in line and to become one and whole, but yet
006you have a meeting in the same room with a specific group and not united with minorities and the private community, which means this is segregation. This is discrimination. This involves the entire community, not the superintendent on channel 12 news and everybody else. We're just a private community. The message you're sending is we still can't trust you. It still can't happen. This is wrong and completely disturbing, irrational. What type of thoughts were there instead of inviting the entire community? Everybody is iate. Everybody's messed up with the buses. Every child counts. Every individual count. I bleed the same blood as each and every single person in this county. We all should be treated the same. Yet, we're not. The divide has to stop. And the school district just showed that point that there is still a divide
007and they created it. And yet, everybody wants us to calm down and mellow down when you just showed something to us and it was on the news. How can we? How many schools have classrooms where you have a teacher aid in the classroom teaching the class and somebody on the computer teaching? How many teachers are we short? How long has this been going on? Children cannot learn like this because you need to fill up spots. I can't have a headteer on the computer teaching while a TA is sitting there. What are you doing? Wasting dollars. If you don't have the teachers, let's get them. You know why we don't have them? because of the bad reputation that was created. And everybody wants to fill up and play hierarchy and say, "Well, you be quiet. You
008be quiet. You don't ask questions. You don't ask this or anything else." Instead of everybody opening their mouth, the board has a right to ask questions, has a right to communicate because this is how issues get solved. Students that sit in positions have a right to ask questions. You write them down, but there's no changes and they're not being heard. They're sitting right there. Okay, we are human beings. Another question, we got daycare centers open. Um, I mean, not ECC programs in other districts. Are they basically registered with the Office of Children and Family Services? Is this something that should be done? Is it uh uh right to ask that? Thank you very much and have a good day. >> Speaker number four. [Music] I can't get this. >> Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Gracias.
009district. [Music] I neglectly. Exchange. being a Director Mestas. [Applause] Thank you. Speaker number five. Fuel ches. I can come. We can See, I'm going to concern is um about the water of the school. Um I was thirsty that day. Rojo. for me. Oh yes. Okay. [Applause] Thank you. That concludes public speaking. Um, we will now move on to the superintendent report. Interendusco, please take it away. Okay. Uh, hello everyone. Good evening. I I'm sorry I am having difficulty hearing I as I believe are all the members who were here virtually. I want to apologize that I'm not there uh in person um at a conference but I'm happy to be here uh now. I do want to just um I just want to respond to one of the comments I was able to hear clearly
010and that was the concern that we met with the uh non-public principles. I want to just inform you that it is true we did uh meet with the non-public principles here. Um there was as you know quite a number of them but I want you to also know that we meet with the public principles regularly. It's much easier for us to communicate with them as they're members of our uh public school community and we you know communicate with them regularly via Zoom and in meetings and pick up the phone. But communicating with the non-public principles is much more challenging and at their request we uh had a meeting to try to understand their concerns as a group. So I just wanted you to know that we are are doing our best to um to address
011the transportation concerns that uh everyone is having. And so I want to just acknowledge that we we know that this has been a very difficult time uh regarding transportation. Uh we are working very hard to try to uh do the best that we can to respond to the issues as they arise. Uh we did we did develop hotlines and we did uh provide additional clerical help. A number of folks from different departments came and helped. They're still helping. Um and uh we have made some headway but we still have a ways to go. We will be speaking with the board and I want you to know as well that we uh will be um having some help. We have a consultant and a consultant team coming on board who um have worked with uh districts
012that are challenged with this um complex this complex transportation system that we find ourselves with. um in uh East Ramode as you know we have to support the transportation of 45,000 students which is really um one of the most challenging uh things that we face as a district and in the state of New York we other than New York City we've the the district that is most challenged with transportation issues. So please I appreciate your patience. I thank you for that. I know it's been very difficult for everyone. We are working on it. We hope to see uh continued improvement. Um in addition, um so if you if you continue to have problems, we do have this hotline number. Please use it. We do have Spanish speaking folks available as well. Um in addition, we
013have um a newsletter that will be on the website and updated every two weeks. It's called the Ramapo Recap and in there you will see transportation updates as well as other updates. So, please keep an eye out for that. In addition, I just wanted to continue to speak to everyone about our initiative to ensure that we have an active vibrant PTA in every single school. Um, we have been working with our principles and our assistant principles. Um, and we've been asking them to reach out to parents. I know that they've been doing so. parents have been signing up um on um parent night and um and I know that we've got a lot of new folks who have signed on. We're really excited. I know that Sonia spent a lot of time on the family
014university talking about the PTA. uh if you want to hear uh what we discussed during the family university, you can go to that QR code at the bottom right hand corner of the slide and you could um access uh a video of that evening. Uh we're going to continue to reach out to parents throughout the year. Um and uh we encourage all parents to uh consider joining the PTA for their schools, helping in fundraising, in networking, in in having parents become um more engaged in all school activities and uh just helping us to build a a more positive school community. So we really want you to partner with us and to uh you know consider joining the PTA. Uh and to facilitate that as well as to uh improve our ability to communicate with parents,
015we um are initiating a challenge amongst the schools. We are asking the buildings to reach out to the families to ask them to update parent contact information. Um uh we're looking for uh all parents to make sure that we have accurate email and telephone numbers, parent names, uh for all students. So um you will be receiving um some forms. They'll be sent home uh paper forms. There will also be digital forms that will be available online. And uh you will be hearing from your building principles regarding this. And to just make it um a little bit fun and more more creative, um we are um creating a contest and a competition between the schools. We're asking um we're inviting all uh cabinet level administrators to donate $5 if they wish um to a pot. The
016uh school that has the highest percentage of parents responding will receive that money for their PTA. So that way we'll support PTA of that school. We'll develop a little competition amongst the schools and we hope to uh improve our parent contact information so that we can communicate more effectively and efficiently with you. I want to uh I think that one of the speakers I was having a really hard time hearing uh all of the speakers but I think that one of them spoke about um our marching band. I want to congratulate them. Uh they have recently won um uh two awards in two distinct competitions on September 20th. Um the band competed at Northern Highlands Regional High School um along with 15 Tri-State bands and they earned second place in group five. And on September
01727th, the band competed at Ramsey High School, earning first place. Next competition, Saturday, October 11th at Ramipo High School at 5:45 p.m. I want to congratulate them and I want to thank Mike Smith. Please join us on October 11th. In addition, I want to make sure that I remind you, you'll receive a few more reminders as well, that on Thursday, October 16th, public schools will be remote that day. Uh we expect that there will be large community gathering entering into Spring Valley. This will um result in heavy traffic in the area. Uh and so to ensure that students are not on buses for hours on end, which would happen, we decided to go remote districtwide. So um here on this particular slide you will see some steps that you can take uh with your child
018to make sure that he or she is ready to participate remotely on October 16th. Uh you will also be receiving this information from your schools and we also have a QR here on this page to help you um prepare for that day. And also I want to just inform everyone of two exciting new initiatives that we have. The first is um on every single board meeting uh from here throughout the end of the year we will have what we call a student outcome section and this will be uh an opportunity for us to share with you some student performance data so that the community and the board are always aware of how our students are doing on assessments. um and how they're doing in in uh school performance. In addition, we have two new members
019of our board. We are very happy to welcome them. These are our student members um from Spring Valley High School. We have Jennifer Robios. She is the primary representative for Spring Valley High School. her alternate representative Stephanie Miss Quiry will be available to join the de the days whenever Jennifer is unable to join us. From Ramapo High School we have Maria Janis. She is our primary uh representative and uh Anderson Allercon is the alternate who will join whenever Maria is unable to attend. Uh you will notice that there is a new section on the agenda and that will be there on every agenda in which they um can express some of the challenges or some of the ideas that they have that they would like the board to consider and the community at large to
020be aware of. We welcome them and we embrace their participation and look forward to having them participate in all board meetings. And now I'm going to pass it on to uh President Rose. >> Thank you, Mr. Lusco. And welcome to all the new student board members, Maria and Jennifer. I met before the meeting, Anderson and Stephanie. Was it nice to meet you both and welcome and looking forward to hearing the student voices. Um we will now welcome Dr. Harold Kohl's the district superintendent of southern Westchester Boseis who's going to give us an update on the superintendent search process. Um we actually have a motion on the agenda tonight as well to do an official appointment but we met with them last board meeting to get the uh conversation started and uh we're proud to present
021them to you tonight. So Dr. Kohl's >> take it away. >> Thank you. Good evening. Um we're happy to be here to help with your superintendent search and um we just have a few things to go through just to share as what the search process would look like and at this point um let's go to next. So we want to just give as an overview as to what it is that we're going to be doing. Um our team is made up of uh Dr. Brendan Lions. He is the uh chief operating officer and deputy district superintendent. James Grotto Jr. who's also our assistant superintendent for his regional services. educational services. So, he's going to be here. The three of us are going to be here through this whole process. Um the first thing to outline
022that D was asked by the board uh to be part of the search as a part of a team. Um we're just going to go through a couple dates that we have down here and look at what we're actually trying to do. So, the first thing we have on here is our stakeholder input that we're looking at having. That input is going to take several different forms. One form is going to be in the form of three different uh superintendent uh presentations to you about um what you are looking for as a superintendent in your community. Um the feedback is from the public. Uh stakeholder information shared is going to be information that's going to allow the board to help with their decision- making as to what to look like uh the superintendent should look
023like and in their decision- making. >> Excuse me. >> We'll ask we'll have we'll ask the public to please Dr. Cole's continue and if after we have questions we can. >> Okay. So the stakeholder meeting is actually going to be the public is going to be coming to these forums to do this. >> Um we're also looking having a survey that's being sent out and we were working on making sure that it's in the languages that are needed for for people to be able to do fill them out. So the stakeholder feedback will be provided. also all the timelines for this process uh as we had up there is um looking at that happening uh with the stakeholder feedback and are also going to be input we're going to have from the public as well
024as as far as stakeholders in the schools being a part of that process as well. Uh all that information is going to come to the board and the board's going to look at it and it's going to have make a decision as to what are the qualifications, the skill set, any ideas that should go into the superintendent should look like and that's going to go into a brochure that's going to go out to the public uh for looking for a search for a superintendent uh on the 5th of November. Uh yep. Um, we're going to give um potential superintendent candidates time to fill the form out and provide you with the uh application, but also sharing their information, making sure they're qualified based upon the things that we put into our search flyer. Uh, and
025then um during the uh early part of January, um Mr. Grotto and I and Dr. Lions will meet to go through a paper screening of who the candidates should look like based upon the feedback given by the board. That will be a criteria. Um from that we'll do a screening and then we'll interview several candidates, potential candidates. And from that screening we'll narrow that number down based upon again the board decision as to what they're looking for down to eight or six to eight or 10 people. Uh at that point those people will be presented to the board. Um and that that presentation will allow next slide uh the board's chance to look at the candidate pool that we had received but also look at the candidates and get the feedback that we received through
026the interviews that we went providing the screening interviews that we provided. Did I forget anything? Okay. All right. Um the the idea is to be able to present to the board those candidates to them at the end of January, beginning of February and they board will through the series of uh search of interviews with them will wind up narrowing that number down to two to three candidates. Um that next step would be in midFebruary the finalists would wind up meeting with the board but they'll also be meeting with a group of stakeholders um students representatives from the different high schools and those students and that feedback from the different people that are stakeholders who are going to help again providing feedback that'll be used as recommendations to the board um for their consideration. Um at
027that point the board will create have a finalist and look at who they're looking at at that point to to appoint to position. So it gives time for the candidate to be uh I think approved during the March meeting. I think it is March. Um and so that that person can give enough notice to wherever they're working uh to be able to give notice so they can wind up starting July 1. Go ahead. So, so just to summarize that the community would have two opportunities to provide input. We will distribute a survey on your website that would go to all of your stakeholders to all your community members who could provide input through a survey. We're also looking at the two to three public forums where we would host both would host a forum for
028people to come in and answer questions, ask questions and provide input that the board would would consider as they decide how they want to advertise who they want to look for, what are the characteristics, what are the qualities. So community members have two options to provide input. Also, you'll see up here employees, stakeholders that are employees would also have the same survey available, but we would also meet with them in person to hear their input to provide to the board. So, just a few things that are important that people would want to know about the process. It's going to be planned and uh organized collaboratively between the board of education and your Boseis team. Everything will be done in person. All of the interviews, all of the meetings, we're not doing any Zoom meetings, preparation
029with stakeholders and board of ed education members will occur throughout the process. And what we mean by that is we will make sure that people know the structure of the process. So when they come into the process, community members and employees, they know how it's going to work and how they would be able to provide input to the board. And the last bullet is really the most important for everybody to know. Everyone already knows it, but we want to make sure that it's there in writing. Hiring the superintendent is the responsibility of the board of education. This board is choosing to do it with significant amount of stakeholder input to consider, but the board makes the decision. Questions? Do you want to open I don't know if you want to open it up to the
030community. You don't. Okay. No, like I said, we're going to be having an open meeting to discuss. You're going to be having a meeting to discuss with the public. Um, and at that point, you know, we'll be happy to open it up to questions unless any other board members have questions. >> We can uh continue on. >> Okay. >> Thanks so much for coming down and uh looking forward. >> Um, and that's I believe Anna. >> Yes. Thank you. So now is um the opportunity for our student members to um share any thoughts that they would like to share. So I'll pass the baton to them. Good e good evening members of the district board educators and fellow parents. My name is Maria Jiannis Mendes and I'm honored here today to speak on behalf of
031the student body at Rampo High School regarding the some issues that we as students are facing. One of the main issues we've been facing is the um implemented policy that restricts the use of personal electronic devices in our school. Well, we understand the intent behind this policy is to reduce distractions and improve academic focus, but the reality is that it's been creating more obstacles than solutions. I would like to share five key concerns that students are facing every day because of this change. One of the issues is communication barriers. Many students at clubs of ramp rely heavily on social media platforms such as Instagram to share information about uh school events, activities, and after school activities. Since these accounts are often managed through personal devices, the band disrupts a key communication channel. With self access
032to this tools during school hours, students face difficulty staying informed about important events. Relying solely on Schooly for communication has proven ineffective as it is used primarily for classwork. When Schooly is used for announcements, many students have reported that it does not reach a wide audience and often fails to generate awareness. This lack of reliable communication creates confusion and weakens participation in school activities. Another issue we've been having is limitations of school issues Chromebooks. Many students around have concerns about the inequality of school issued Chromebooks. This devices often run slowly face issues such as broken screens or malfunctioning keyboards and are unable to support certain online platforms needed for assignments. For instance, teachers often assign videos hosted on platforms blocked by the school network, such as YouTube, leaving students unable to access the material. In
033addition, websites that provide schooly study aids, practice tests, and memorization tools or um often restricted. This creates a barrier between students and their ability to pursue academic excellency. Particularly those prep preparing for higher education and um XAM students who previously rely on personal laptops for um more faster network now face unnecessary setbacks in completing their work. Restricted access to educational resources. This policy indicates um college um preparation restrictions. Personal laptops often allowed students to access advanced study platforms, academic databases, and other research essentially are used for preparing their higher education. The current restrictions prevent students from developing independent study habits, researching effectively and utilizing widely used academic technologies. This creates a gap between the resources available to rample high school students and many more classwork and group work um difficulties. Students and teachers both report
034frustration with the lack of um fast networking assign where you can um you have problem with group assignments because when forced to rely on uh only a school is devices it's hard for each student to get their work done. For example, personal devices typically have faster network and stronger internet connective and greater compat compatibility with educational platforms. Many students say that work with that work which could be completed in minutes on personal devices now take much longer. Rample High School students school serves one of the most diversityely students populations in Rockland County with families representing a wide range of cultural backgrounds. Many families face financial financial barriers that prevent them from replacing broken devices or providing additional educational resources at home. The school's limited funding for um Chromebooks is a challenge for us as students
035because student um student Chromebooks are often delayed, leaving students without reliable tools for extended periods of time. For example, students from lowincome households who depend on public resources such as free library, free Wi-Fi at libraries or community centers or affected when the school blocks access to certain educational websites on its devices. These students often cannot afford supplemental tools leaving them at a disadvantage compared to peers who can nagavate around these restrictions at home. The new policy, while rooted in an effort to reduce instructions, has created significant challenges in academic performance, communication, and student engagement. The limitations of school issued Chromebooks, particularly their re restricted access to vital academic resources directly affected students preparedness for higher education. without reliable personal devices, students and organizations are left without efficient means to stay connected or complete school work.
036To address the communication barriers, students should be allowed limited access to personal devices during non-instructional times such as club uh such as lunch so clubs and organizations can share updates. A student-ledd bulletin board could be integrated into schooly to centralize announcements and both staff and students should be trained to use schooly more effectively for communication to prevent to improve the limitations of schools Chromebooks. District should increase funding for repairs and upgrades, ensuring devices are fast, reliable, and compatible with essential educational platforms. Websites restricted should be reviewed and revised to allow access to tools like YouTube which are frequently used in assignments. Additionally, the school would offer loaner devices or tech support for students whose Chromebooks are damaged or malfunctioning. To support college readiness, students should be permitted to use personal laptops for academic purposes under
037teacher supervision or with a signed agreement. The school can also provide access to advanced study platforms and academic databases through school accounts and host workshops that teach independent study skills using approved resources. To improve group work and classwork efficiency, personal devices should be used should be allowed for collaboration projects when approved by teachers. Upgrading classroom Wi-Fi and ensuring that capability with educational platforms will help reduce delays and stress. a flexible technology policy that puts learning outcomes over some restrictions that would make classrooms more productive. To address equality concerns, the district should in establish a tech equality fund to help students from lowincome families to access reliable devices. Partnerships with local librarians, local libraries, and community centers can expand access to Wi-Fi and educational tools outside of school. Finally, blocked websites should be reviewed regularly to
038ensure students aren't cut off from free highquality learning resources that support their academic success. We know the goal is to help us focus, but the policy is making it harder to learn, harder to connect, harder to prepare for our future. We're looking for a reconation, not to remove structure, but to restore balance. I hope we can work together to find a solution that supports both academic success and student well-beings. Another concern I would like to do is I would like to go to each school and see what they do for um Hispanic cultural month and other cultural events. I would like to see what kind of events they do to ensure that Hispanic um students are being supported and applauded for their things cuz almost half the school the students in the district are Hispanics,
039African-Americans, and I would like to see what they're doing. And I would like to host a student town hall event for each of the schools. So students can also talk about concerns they have and they can see what we're doing as the college of the as the board of education. That's uh thank you. >> Thank you. >> Yes. Thank you. Um if I just may I I I'm sure that um you know we would like to hear from from our other student rep but I just want to respond a little bit uh because I want you uh first of all I want to thank you very much that was very thoughtful very uh you know very well presented um and I also appreciate all of the recommendations and I'm going to ask if you could
040please provide that in writing um because I liked a lot of the ideas um and I just want to inform uh folks that I I did have the opportunity to meet with um student council groups at both high schools and they both raised this issue and I know it's a very important issue. I have had a few conversations with our assistant superintendent for technology, Mr. Gandhi, on this issue and uh he's also uh he and I have spoken a few times about that and we're we're considering you know different options so that we can support you better. I like some of your ideas. I'd like to see if we can do them. And I also informed you that I'll be inviting Mr. Gandhi to um a meeting with you so that he could meet with
041you and hear your concerns regarding uh technology, you know, in in a in a meeting format. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Lusco. Jennifer, you had anything? Okay. Is there are there any other uh thoughts or um that you would like to share? >> I think Jennifer is going to share now. >> Okay. Good evening. My name is Jennifer Duayos, senior class president at Spring Valley High School. I'm honored to be here today to represent the East Ramapo student body and speak about the issues affecting us. To give an example, as students are going into senior year completely lost. We don't know how to apply for college. We aren't being prepared for SATs. And on top of that, we're now being told that we will no longer have a district-wide day dedicated to taking
042our SATs at school. At the same time, I do want to report good and celebratory things going on at our schools. For instance, our lunchrooms have been completely renovated, and we're grateful for that. And on top of that, we've had over a hundred students wake up extra early to go to our senior sunrises and then still make it to class after. I look forward to advocating for my peers and students that will follow this year. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you very I do just want to comment. I did speak with a group of of students at Spring Valley High School. It's great to be at both of the high schools and we did talk about the concerns that they had regarding preparation for college and I did I just recently met with them
043but I did bring that conversation back to central office and we will be addressing it and again um I look forward to just meeting with you and continuing the conversation. Thank you so much both of you for bringing up some very important issues. And now we're going to move to the next section which again is a new section for us and that is our student outcomes. This will be led by Dr. Gonzalez, our assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction. Dr. Gonzalez. >> Good evening interim superintendent RLCO and greetings to the community. Um so as part of uh as interim superintendent RLCO mentioned as part of our ongoing efforts at every board meeting we will have a section dedicated to discuss student outcomes. And so what we are prepared to share with our community today is
044an update to the graduation rates for both Spring Valley High School and Ramapo High School as well as a snapshot of the performance during the August regent administration. Um and so what we have done is we have done a comparison of two separate cohorts of students. A cohort of students is any year that a student enters grade nine that is considered their cohort. So students that entered grade nine in 2021 are graduates of 2025 and students that graduate that entered uh grade nine in 2020 are graduates of the class of 2024. Um, and so if you'll see here on the Spring Valley High School side, um, for the cohort of 2020, um, as of August, because the August graduation rates do impact the overall, uh, graduation rate for the year, um, August of 2024, Spring
045Valley High School's graduation rate was 62.5% with 195 graduates. Um, of those graduates, 22 received local diplomas and four received regions diplomas. Um, conversely, for the year for cohort 2021, those are students that graduated in um, June and August of 2025, the grad rate was at 58.6% with a total number of graduates reaching 259. Of those students, 55 received local diplomas and only nine received regions diplomas. Um and so what you'll notice here is that there is a decline in terms of the overall percentage of students that uh graduated from Spring Valley High School. Um when you look at cohort 2020 and cohort 2021, um I do want to indicate that while there was a decline in the overall um percentage of students that graduate, there was a much higher number of students that graduate
046in the cohort of 2021. Um and so that's a bit of an anomaly, but we're looking into um what would create such a surge in the number of students that we have. Um if you could just go back um to the previous slide, um on the Ramapo side, the graduation rate for the cohort of 2020 uh was at 85.8% that's 283 graduates. Um 30 of them received local diplomas and 54 received regions diplomas. And for the cohort of 2021, those are students that graduated in June and August of 2025. That grad rate is 87.7% or 300 students that graduated. Um, and of them, 46 students received local diplomas and 33 received uh regions diplomas with advanced designations. So from 2020 to 2021 cohorts, uh, Ramapo High School saw an increase of 1.9%age. Dr. Gonzalez, before
047you go to the next slide, >> so maybe we can get an idea because a question came up. We are one district, right? So what what's the cause of, for example, Remipo High School having a higher um graduation rate compared to Spring Valley High School? Can you kind of like share with the the community, you know, as well as the board members like what's what's the difference? like what's happening when we're one district. >> Yeah, certainly. Um that's actually I'm going to address that in um in two slides. If if you just give me a few minutes, Trustee uh Vice President McIll, um if that's okay with you, I can go through the next slide and then I'm going to uh go through some of our findings that relate directly to your question um in
048about two slides. If that's okay. >> Sure. >> Okay, great. Thanks. So this um this gives you a snapshot of the overall uh graduation rate comparison. Right? So in Spring Valley, we can see that for the cohort of 2020 um 62.5% of students graduated, 7.1% of them with a local diploma and only 1.3 with an advanced regions diploma. Um and for Spring Valley in 2021 cohort, 58.6% was the graduation rate um going back to June. and of them 12.4% with local diploma and two uh% with advanced regions diplomas. Um conversely, Ramipo High School for both cohorts 2020 and 2021 had graduation rates of 8 85.8% and 87.7% respectively. Um so if we go to the next slide, I'm going to address some of uh what trustee um vice president McIll is uh is describing. So,
049one of the things that we have found is a um inconsistency and um a lack of understanding on reporting uh metrics across our district. Um just just as one of the the issues that has arisen. Um another issue that has arisen um and we're in the middle we're in the middle of a deep dive. So, we continue to uncover um more and more that will lead us to a a more finite answer. um Trusty McGill um to to answer your question, but one of which is um just a general understanding of um how the information and how the data gets reported to the state. Um also among that is how students are discharged among cohorts. Um so the the the last bullet on this slide says identifying trends and discrepancies influencing graduation outcomes. among that
050is uh the way that students are discharged from school. Um and so it seems as though um there's a a major discrepancy um across our district with how that's being done. We're working to centralize a um a format for that so that we can um accurately and appropriately capture the information and report it to the state education department. We are currently working with several members of the state education department who have made themselves available um not just for training purposes so that our staff knows and understands the the reporting metrics but also um some learnings that need to happen across the district so that we can continue to identify the appropriate ways and measures um with which students should be discharged. Um we did know that um after a meeting with the state that there
051were a large number of um of students that were discharged with um codes that lead to them continuing to count towards your graduation rate. Um in some instances and in other instances there were students that were discharged um for having left the state or left the country that um we need to continue to identify and work to provide the evidence of that to um the state education department so that we can make sure that those are accurately reported um in what's called the data warehouse which is a system that calculates graduation rates for all schools across New York State. Um so th those are largely um the biggest contributors is just lack of um lack of a streamlined process to make sure that students are being discharged appropriately. Um we are looking at um how
052students are placed into schools. Um we know that we we service a a very transient population of students. So as many of them come in and out of our district. We try to make sure that we continue to follow them when they leave the district and even upon registration. Uh making sure that we put systems in place that can place them in the right setting when they come to us. Um in particular um some students that may arrive to us as um safe students, students with interrupted formal education and uh and making sure that we can service them um irrespective of their age and and number of years that that they've been educated. So there there's a number of contributing factors that we're we're looking at to to sort of help us pinpoint that. So,
053um if I may, um just just add um so o over the years I've learned how to um analyze the student data that is released by New York State uh the education department and what we have learned over the years um which has contributed to the difference in graduation rates for Swoo Valley and Rample High school is the fact that we have a lot of Spring Valley's dropout rate and GED transfer is higher at Spring Valley High School than Rample High School. Also, we have students who are placed into the district um at the age of that age out. Uh so they might, you know, be a senior, they're already 20, 21, so they don't get to finish. Um so I just want to make sure that we include that as well as being you
054know one of the reasons why we see the difference. Um I know the the state has not released um the data yet for the graduation rate. So uh and I know at one of our previous meetings that you know this was shared with us numbers were different. So, I'm just hoping that, you know, as the months go on and the state does um release their data that align aligns with what you just shared and at at the same time, we're able to look at it and see how we can come up with a solution um based on their data which includes like I said the GD transfers and the dropout rate as well. >> Yes, Trusty Charles Pierre, that's spot on. That's um that's among the data th those points that you mentioned are among
055the deep dives that we're doing alongside some members from the state education department as well as um members from the Lyric. Um we're also looking to um potentially expand our team to be able to help us to continually track this. Um I think one of the things I heard you mention is um the dropouts and and absences. The state is also um making some course corrections as it relates to um chronic absenteeism. And so as the state continues to change, we also have to adjust. Um so we're looking to build a team to make sure that we can appropriately track all of the students that um uh that may end up becoming dropouts before they reach that point so that we can try and redirect them as best as possible. Um and then lastly um
056a a bit of um good news is that we did see a trend across our August regions administration of students performing at higher rates. Um this looks like a lot to take in. Um but what you need to know is that the red bars for each of the across the bottom are each of the regent examinations that were offered to students during the summer. Um uh the red bars indicate indicate students that tested at level one. The orange bars indicate students that tested at level two. Blue are the students that tested at level three. And the green bars are the students that tested at level four. Um in all uh we tested um 200 I'm sorry 581 tests were administered. Um that's not 581 students. In some cases, students took more than one or two
057or even four um regent exams this August. So, um the teachers that provided the proctoring were quite busy. Um the teachers that uh led summer school um were uh uh the summer school instruction were quite busy um helping to prepare our students for those regions exams. Um just a quick look, what you'll notice is um a a uh pretty significant performance for our students taking algebra 2. While 45% of them tested at level one, 45% of them also le tested at level three um which is a a a pretty high number for um algebra 2 in the summer. Those are generally students that have already taken the test um and are sitting for the assessment a second time. So for them to score that high on the algebra 2 test um as well as chemistry
058and um I believe there was one other global history um had high rates of students performing at levels um two through four. Um generally what you'd like to see is more students testing at levels three and four um or two three and four. Um but what you'll see is that we just we do see that we continue to struggle um with uh algebra um English and uh living environment. And those three exams are generally the exams that are offered to students at the beginning of their high school experience. So um either grade 9 or grade 10. Um we do have a a number of students that um may take algebra over the course of two years. uh but we but by and large most of our students take algebra at the end of one year.
059So um we do continue to see some concerns and among those concerns are students performing at much higher rates uh in level one across those those examinations that we would like them to to perform u much higher at in particular the English language arts performance. Um obviously knowing that we are a district that services um about 60% of our students as English language learners that is something that's very important to us. The other thing to to just make a notation of for this data set is that these numbers are not disagregated by subgroup. So you you can't see how many of our students are English language learners or how many students with disabilities have fallen into these categories. As we continue to break down this data, I will um provide an update to the board
060accordingly. I just want to um just um suggest perhaps maybe one day we can consider in terms of algebra 1 um consider that making that like a one and a half type of program because um it does give the students an opportunity to take the regions twice. They'll be able to take it in January and hopefully they do pass but if they don't then of course they would take it in June. But there is such a program. Um, and I'm saying that as an educator, I'm a math teacher. I teach algebra 1. And I see the success rate that we have where students that are in that one and a half um program, they're able to get more um um time with with uh the the concepts, the units, the topics to get them to
061be successful on that region's exam. So something I I I want us to consider maybe is just a suggestion as well as the fact too that and I had mentioned it before. I hope that one day um I think we might have it now the decimals program that I had mentioned before is something for us to consider because that tool is studentfriendly and it really helps our students become successful also on that region's exam. Thank you. Um if I may if I may ask regarding the uh inconsistency of the reporting, will the data be adjusted uh retroactive or only going forward through the upcoming years? >> So yes, great question. Uh the the data is um correct on the data warehouse. Um so retroactively it has been corrected. We have met with members of um
062the state education department and ju just for clarity what was reported um prior was not entered into any data portals. Um it was uh it was only reported um publicly in in our setting. Um after meeting with folks after meeting with members from state education department um we're continuing to uh review some of the data sets and as those items need to be course corrected they they are done both retroactively and moving forward. I'm going to say a few words about the smart scholars program um which is yes we have some challenges in the high schools but we also have some bright spots and the smart scholars is definitely one of the bright spots. Um presently this current year we have 160 students in our in each of our two cohorts. We have two cohorts
063in smart scholars. One is computer information systems where the students take college credit bearing courses um in a pathway. This pathway being computer information systems on their way to an associates degree or a bachelor's degree if they pursue that later. And the other pathway is human performance um exercise science the same thing. So the courses that they take are college credit bearing and they can um graduate with a number of college credits that helps them in their um uh two or fouryear college uh career. So, what you see here is last year we had uh 24 students who uh not only graduated but entered into a two or four-year college with an average of 12 credits in computer information systems. And in exercise science, we had 23 of our graduates in the Smart Scholars program
064go on to a two or four-year program and they had an average of 12 credits as well. Um just to give you a sense of what they study in these two pathways in uh some of the courses are criminal justice, intro to psychology, community health and wellness, sports management, career and financial management, social and ethical issues in computing, college writing, college physics, and principles of American government. Um on the right here, what you see is so far we've had these programs for a number of years. We've had many students graduate from them. Um you see here the total number of college credits that both of these programs have given students. So, we've given the students have earned I'll say computer information systems 1,219 college credits and in exercise science 1,26 college credits >> over how
065many years? Over how many students? >> Daniel, >> I'm sorry. >> Over how many years? Over how many students? So computer well I don't have the number of students here but we have had computer information systems for eight years and exercise science for five years. Thank you, Daniel. Sure. Done. >> And so I uh pass the baton back to uh President Rose. Thank you. Thank you, Doc Superintendent Balusco. Thank you, Dr. Gonzalez. And thank you, Dr. Shannahan. Um, okay. We will now move on to consent and agenda items. Do I have a motion for consent and agenda items 1 through 10? [Music] Moved by Mr. Cth. Have a second. >> Second by Vice President McIll. Any discussion? >> Just one quick question. Um I know at the last board meeting we approved um about a
066over 100.2s. Um I noticed there's more points that was added to this agenda. I wanted to know if that's in addition to the ones that were approved at the last board meeting or has there been a change? >> Y Mr. Kravitz. >> Sure. Excuse me. I can take that. Um you'll notice that some of them are additions and some of them are are less. We've hired people. So if we if you look at the agenda where we have rescended prior to start, that means we filled some of those roles so that we were successful. So we didn't need the 0.2s 2s for for some of those and others particularly in some of our higher need positions like teched um those those really challenging ones to fill we've added some point2s for those >> so these
067are in addition to >> some on this list are in addition some are less >> no I know I know there the resend I know is is >> okay minus that the the others are in addition yes to the 112 >> minus correct >> the resend Yeah. >> Um ju just came up with another question too. So do we have um do you have a number of how many uh teachers how many vacancies we have in the classroom at this time? I >> I don't have that right now. I will get that to you. Um I have to add the ones that were assuming everything's going to be approved tonight. I want to add those together and then I'll get that to >> So it' be that total >> correct >> about 200. Okay. Thank
068you. >> Thank you. We have a motion in a second. All those in favor say I. I. And oppose obstain. Motion carries for items 1 through 10. Moving on to action items. Do I have a motion for action items 1 through 22? >> So move. >> Move of Vice President McIll. We have a second. >> Second by Mr. Moses Cau. We'll open it up for discussion. >> I have a question regarding number 18. >> 18. >> Regarding what? >> Number 18. >> A question regarding number 18. Action item number 18. There's a particular contractor that I was specifically told that he's not being renewed because he does not he's not a qualified vendor. And I see that he is being renewed. And I was told specifically by two cabinet members that the vendor is not
069qualified. >> Mr. Stark >> Omar. So my my understanding and I can um get this confirmed um however the uh the contracts that are with um the vendor that you're speaking of are for routes that go to Yoners and um Yoners uh New York requires a special uh license and permit that none of our other vendors have. So, we are using this um operator for uh the the uh buses that we have going to the private uh and public schools in uh in the the city of Yoners. >> I believe there's other schools that this vendor is within the area, not Yoners, that this vendor is providing services to. >> If if that's the case, I'm not aware of that. That was the explanation that I received, but I can uh I can double check
070on that. I will ask to take it off the contracts for now. >> I'm sorry. What was that last part? >> I would really ask that it should be taken off. I think he's asking for that action. I think >> May I just ask a question please? What would be the consequences of rem removing it? >> Um we would be unable to pay the vendor for the services that it's done in the month of September. We would not be able to make payment on any of the contracts until um they were approved by the board. And our next meeting I believe is uh toward the end of October. Are these contracts for work that has been done or is going to be done? >> Uh the for all of the contracts that he are are
071here on this page, all of all of these contractors have been transporting children since the beginning of the school year. >> So if these so for the board's understanding, if these contracts are not approved, we would still owe money to the vendor for the work they've already done. We can't not approve the contract and then say, "Well, they didn't think didn't get approved. Therefore, you're not going to get paid." >> And I I imagine that if if we find a situation where the vendor is doing routes that are uh not in yoners and there are others that are able to do that, the the board would be able to rescend in the future, I believe. Correct. >> Yes. and then move move those rounds. >> I ask a question Douglas as well just for clarification.
072I have two questions. One is were they approved for the bid? I know that um these a lot of these all of these contractors were the bids were approved and now the contracts are following. So, was this one also approved? Then two, if we don't approve the contract, uh what will happen to the students that are being transported tomorrow? >> Number six. >> Okay. >> I believe there's enough there's enough vendors with no vehicles sitting and waiting for work and for tomorrow morning. >> Question. I I don't know the answer to either of those questions. That seems more practical than legal. >> I mean, if we don't have a contract with the vendor, then I suppose the vendor could say, "Then I'm not transporting for you." I don't know what that means in terms of
073students who need to get to Yoners tomorrow, though. If there's someone else who could do it, I don't I I don't It would seem more prudent to approve this and verify what we're I I don't have any information about whether this vendor is a viable vendor or not a viable vendor. So, >> can we approve the contract for, let's say, for another week, for another two weeks, for another month? >> That's not how it's written. We'd have to rewrite the contract. >> It's a yearly contract. >> It's not written that way. I mean, we're approving it or not. >> Well, if somebody's not qualified, he can have license, whatever. If he doesn't, if he's not qualified, he's not qualified. >> Look, if he's not not a qualified contractor, he should be removed. But we know
074the assumption that if he is missing a wheel of a bus, he's not going to take >> I know nothing about the facts behind what's being discussed. If he's not qualified, then he should not be approved. But I cannot tell you whether >> we're going on the assumption that he's qualified what our administration has told us, >> right? Yes. >> Okay. So, we'll go based off that. >> I mean, I just just only thing I'll say about this. I I know our district is very unique um when it comes to the transport transportation department. um if it's possible uh which I know sometimes you know there's emergency that happens but if we can not make it a habit of approving a contract after the fact I think that would help us in this type of
075situation um because clearly they started providing us with service and now we're approving the contract um you know had this been done prior to uh we could have and research based on uh information that was you know provided to board member and then we could have you know been able to make a decision off of that. Um like I said I know transportation is a unique department but um it makes it harder to even you know deny once service has already been provided. So you're you're 100% correct. I agree with you 100%. Um that is the goal that we uh should should have and uh hope to have next year when we're in this situation. We should be approving our summer transportation before the school year ends in uh a meeting in June. and we
076should be approving our um our September one uh or the beginning of the school year transportation contracts during our our August meeting um with all of the changes and the issues that we had this year with the transportation software. Um it kept members of that staff that would that prepare the contracts in in doing other things. Um so not an excuse. I completely and totally agree with what you're saying and um I I hope that we will we will be able to do that um in following years, but there's there's unfortunately nothing that I can say other than I apologize for bringing these to the board at this time because you're right, it should have been before the school year started. >> Thank you. >> So item number Well, I'm sorry, Mr. >> I've been
077trying to get a question in here. Thank you, Mr. Stark. If we for some reason do remove this action item, would it incur any interest additional interest payments to that expense? >> I I don't really know, but I don't know that uh it it could create a situation where where they would stop transporting because they don't have a contract and others have been put put forth. So, and I'm not saying that that's 100% true, but it's something that would certainly be possible. Wow. >> Uh I have a question about the item number six point the health and safety committee and school safety team. How did we choose and how how can one be added to this committee? >> Huh? >> Mr. Lusco >> was >> I'm sorry. Can you can you say that again please?
078>> Uh about the health and safety committee. Um, how does one get added to this committee? >> The the health and safety committee. So, um, I'm going to ask um, Miss Kei to help me with this. Um, only because I'm having a lot of difficulty electronically pulling up the agenda and seeing everyone here. It's very limited what I'm working with. But um the health and we we board appointed a number of people or we asked a number of people to join the health in all of the committees. Is this one of them? I'm sorry that I can't recall. >> No, this is not a board committee. Kathy, can you help us out on this? >> Okay. The the recommendations come from the superintendent's office. My understanding is they reached out to all the schools and
079asked for suggestions. That's what I was >> Thank you. I remember. Yes, I remember now. So, um, yes, um, Angelene has a a practice that she does every year and, uh, she reaches out to all of the, uh, buildings and she asks people if they will like to continue to be on the committee or if there is going to be a replacement. So, the buildings make the recommendations. >> Okay. because that's fine, which is great and I'm happy with everyone that's on the committee, but um seems like some board members were asked about being on the committee and some were not. There are some might be some more board members who'd like to join the committee. Um how would one go about doing that? >> Surely. So, if if board members were not asked, um
080I I'll certainly um um find out from Angeline what her process is for requesting board members uh if they're interested in joining, but of course, any board member can join. So, we're happy to have any board member participate on the committee >> and they would reach out to who to get added. Do we need to >> simply send me an email? I'll be happy to speak to Angeline and we'll make sure that we approve it. Uh, as far as I'm concerned, if it's okay with Douglas, um, if they want to, if they know that they want to participate and want to be on it, we can join, we can add them to the list now. It's fine with me. >> Okay. Um, we can we can at the next meeting just have a motion to
081add additional members to this committee. That's been done in the past. >> Oh, can we just add at this meeting? Okay. Um, does any other board members like to join this committee? >> I would. anyone else? And and again, if anybody chooses to um you know, if anybody wants to think about it and they want to join, please just let me know and uh we'll certainly forward it to uh Kathy for inclusion in the next board meeting. I apologize for um so we're going to amend the motion for item number six. We're going to add Vice President McIll to the member of the committee. So who made the motion? I remember >> Mrs. McIll made the motion. Mr. MCO seconded. >> Okay. Um, Mr. President, would you like to amend the motion to include yourself?
082>> How about someone else make that motion? Can >> we redo the motion? You sure you will make it? You could do it. Are >> we good? Okay. >> Um, just have a question for 17. Um, I know at the last board meeting we approve a school nursing service. Um, I notice on this agenda there's another school nursing service agreement that's being added. Um, can that be explained further, please? >> I um Karen Marone, who was not able to be with us today uh has direct oversight of this. However, uh my understanding and speaking with her, I did speak with her about it is that uh we have a shortage of nurses and um we would like to be able to hire nurses with this agency. So although we may have um often times a
083district, especially one this large, will have contracts with more than one uh agency um to provide this type of service. So, >> do we know how many nurses both agencies will be providing? >> I will ask her for that information. My expectation, which I've explained to her, is that we continue to post and hire our own nur nurses. It's always preferable to have them as our employees rather than agency nurses. I've made that perfectly clear. So, um and I know that um you know, we'll work with HR to make sure that the postings are always up. Um and but we can ask how many at this point in time. I know that we have a shortage of nurses and I think um Mr. Kravitz, we discussed this even today. >> Yes, we did. >> Yeah.
084Vacancies we have currently in the district for nurses. >> So we have about 20 sorry about 29 nurses so far within our our public schools. I think it's 29 within our public schools. Um, we also have needs outside of our public school. >> I'm sorry. We have 29 total or 29 vacancies. >> No, no, not 29 vacancies. We have but we also have depending on needs of students and I think that's where some of the contract agency work comes in as students um needs are some some are changing some have specific needs onetoone nurses those are a little more in flux and that's one of the things where I think some of the agencies are are covering. >> Okay. Thank you. Yeah. And Sabrina, my understanding from past years is that the district has hired
085more than one agency as a conduit to get um nurses in. >> Correct. >> So, I remember seeing more than one contract over the years. >> I think they why they weren't on the same agenda, I don't know, but I think that we just got it ready at different times. >> I I also remember from the previous years there was a discussion there was a discussion about the unions agreeing on this. No, >> they they do if there are people in the union that can do the work. It typically we only use the agency nurses when all the nurses in the union are otherwise occupied and we have to we have a need to fill we go to the agencies to fill that need. But we do try and we we always give the nursing
086opportunities to people that are in the union first. on September 2nd um item was removed from the action items the healthy smiles contract and it was supposed to be on today. Is the reason why it's not on today? >> I I I'm sorry but I don't have that specific information. I would need to um request that from Karen Maronei. So the question is um um the agreement with can you just remind me the name please? Healthy smiles. Healthy smiles. >> I'm sorry. >> Healthy smiles. >> Smiles. >> Thank you. Um, we'll get that we'll get that information for you. >> I believe I believe Mr. Feder sent the email before the board meeting requesting information on that. So, if we can Yeah. >> update what's I'm sorry about that. So, I I'll we'll find out.
087>> Okay. >> And we'll get right back to you on it. >> Thank you. Do we know how many students in for the nonpublic schools are already in the system for the the schools the contracts will be able to bill comes October 1st, two days from now? >> Are you referring to the the non-public students in the transportation software? >> Correct. >> Um I I don't have that information here, but I will get an update for the board and uh send that to you all by email. Yeah, I think it's important that we get a clear transportation update. What's the status? How many students are still are not registered or not in the system? Don't have buses, don't have stop, etc. Because we we were getting in the beginning before the school started and then
088we haven't been, you know, so we'd like to get an update where we're up to like how we doing >> and yes, with real numbers, please. We will we will get that to you before the end of the week. >> Thank you. >> Um >> but I can I just just to let you know the the numbers are excuse me substantially lower than uh what they were the last time that we that we had this conversation. So >> okay, >> we're making we're making strides. I was also concerned by one of the uh schools um that everything is already set with their school and um it was a email that went out that new IDs will be generated or whatever is going to be generated and that school wants to be secured that their data
089is not going to be touched. >> Yes. So, we we we've had some communications with uh the non-public schools about uh providing um data back to the district with the conversation that we would potentially be redoing the roots and and so on. We will be looking into that uh further as we meet with the um consultant that we have coming in. Um so, there is not a final decision that has been made on that. Um, and we're going to be considering um that um if things have been straightened out that we that we may may or may not need to to go in that direction. >> In reference to in to the consultant, was there an RFP um put out or something somebody was selected just >> uh No, but we'll we'll be discussing that
090with you um in executive session. Um, are these consultants on the agenda right now or No. No. Okay. Can we can we move those action items? >> Yeah, they're not on they're not on the agenda. >> Oh, they're not the agenda. >> I don't know if Are we going to need to approve it at some point or >> No. What's this different than all other consultants that we have approved in the past? >> Yeah. >> Eric, can you provide a little background? We can certainly provide background. Are are you I'm not sure that I understand the question. Are you asking? >> My question is we've we're constantly approving consultants >> all different kind of consultants on the agenda. >> What's different? >> Okay. Uh yeah. So, this this particular vendor is a part of a
091um what what's called a TIPS contract, which is a a cooperative that is um um bid according to the laws of New York State's um general municipal law bidding requirements. They are a part of this um consortium or um and uh East Ramapo is also a member of that. So we have access to them. Uh so that the uh we do not we're not required to do an RFP or a bid process on them because it's already been bid. We're using the rates that are in the we would be using the rates that are in the in the bid that exists. But wouldn't we still need to uh to President Rose's point, wouldn't we still need to at least approve an agreement to know what that that agreement looks like that they will be carrying
092forth with the services that they'll be providing to the district? >> Um I Mr. Ghart, >> I'm sorry. If the RFP is what >> the question was, um, to President Rose's point, wouldn't the board need to approve an agreement with these with these with these consultants um to be able to provide the services to the district? because in the past we've we've approved agreements uh for the consultants in different areas. >> Yeah, normally that's how we would do it. I'm not sure. >> So I think the question if there's a >> if there's a consultant that works through Boseies then sometimes the we can rely on the co-ervice arrangement with Boseies to to hire a consultant through Boseies. But if it's an independent outside consultant like the person that we recently hired for buildings and
093grounds for example, yeah, you need to approve that. >> So in this case to uh to once again to President Rose's point, what makes this one any different to where the board is not where it doesn't have to be bought before the board for approval? >> I'm not sure it is. Eric, is there a reason that the board wouldn't >> the what I what I mentioned was that this this is through uh a TIPS contract that that we are we are a member of a cooperative group that uh these services are offered through >> but we still approve that we a the board typically authorizes even when we go through cooperative bidding. >> Okay. Then we will have to get that to the board. >> So it would have to go before the board. >>
094Yeah. Typically the so the tips process is a process through which the coop the the cooperative bidding the the the competitive bidding is done by another public agency. We rely on that process and then accept someone who's gone through and been accepted through that other process. That's perfectly fine. Typically the board and we've done over the years we've had a number of of of uh vendors that have provided services to the district through TIPS and other cooperative consortiums. Um we did that for a bunch of different vendors in during the construction project. The board always authorized always greenlighted that with an action. We're still paying those entities. It's just that we're not going through the formal RFP process to to look at vendors, select vendors. It's essentially already been done for us. We still approve
095the payment to those vendors. >> Correct. >> Yeah. May >> May I ask a question, please? Um I I hear you and I'm concerned. Um our next board meeting is on October 21st. I think that um Eric and I or Eric was under the impression, right, that we we could pursue um you know him him starting we could allow him to start. Yes. >> Um >> so we have a month's worth of work or 21 days worth of work with the transportation department. Is there any way that we could add this onto the agenda at this last last minute to say okay until October 21st so we could allow him to start? Well, maybe let's meet with them. >> Must be done retroactively. >> Let's meet with them an exec perhaps when we come out
096of exec. >> Okay. >> And then you could do it you could do it after. >> You could certainly do it retroactively. >> Or we could do it retroactively. >> We don't want to work stuff. We just want to make sure we're comfortable with the >> consultant. No, that's we don't currently have an agreement drafted >> for them to know what language >> we have. >> Typically, we don't do a separate agreement when there's a cooperative bid. We rely on it being vetted and let by another public entity >> and that there's there's an agreement already in place. We >> accept the terms of that that have that's already been done. >> No, no. What I'm saying is that we don't have it tonight in front of us to look at to approve. >> Right.
097Althity of it is that you're probably not changing anything because it's already >> correct. Well, we would want to see what it looks. >> You don't you can't read it and say, "Oh, I understand the terms we're agreeing to." That's right. >> I believe the terms are typical always, but uh our district is unique with different needs for that has to be specified in the agreement. >> Okay. So, we're not >> You said we could do it retroactively if if we're satisfied with that. I think that's a that we have a proposal on the work that's going to be done and we can share we we planned on sharing that with you in in uh in executive session. >> Okay. So let let's let's get to it then. Okay. Let's uh vote on the motion
098action items 1 through 22. We have a motion and a and the amended motion. Thank you Mr. Simon God. Um for amended item actions 1 through 22. All those in favor say I. Anyone opposed? I oppose abstain. >> What happens to 18? >> Sorry. >> What happens to 18? >> What happened? We put it up for vote. And if you'd like to vote no on something, you're titled and welcome to. Motion carries. Moving on to information and reports from the board. Vice President. >> Yeah. I just wanted to um report what took place at the last teacher center policy committee meeting. Um that soon there will be a brochure for upcoming class or or workshops. Um also and this is good for the teachers. Um, also there will be another um, they were talking about
099another mentor training that's going to be taking place. Hopefully this mentor refresher workshop will be held sometime in in next month in October of 2025. Um, and as you see even, you know, the teacher center runs great programs for our teachers. Um, so I I can hope that we continue to support the uh te teacher center um policy committee as much as we can. They're also going to be having a spring dinner meeting um they they mentioned the spring dinner meeting, I'm sorry. Um which was very successful the last school year and they're looking forward to doing the same um this upcoming year. And that is the report in regards to the teacher center policy committee. And I just want to just say to um all our fall athletic programs um keep striving athletically as
100well as academically and to our school board members. Um yes, your voice matters and we are so delighted to have you. And the last thing which was also mentioned and I wanted to mention it just again congratulations to our wonderful East Rample marching band. Um thank you Mr. Smith and staff for all your hard work and dedic dedication given to our students. Thank you to um our they have the East Rample Central School District band parents that are out there supporting the children. It's great to see that that our our parents are involved. But thank you for a few moments. >> Um >> thank you I would like to share that uh we also had our DEI committee meeting uh last week. Um some of the things we covered uh had to do with setting
101goals with students um setting outcomes updates on the board agendas um which we saw tonight uh which would be aligned with our long um term strategic planning. Um as mentioned earlier uh we talked about how we are looking to um get more parents involved in PTA and SEPTA. Uh I know uh Mr. Fusco Anna has established a parent group that she's been meeting with and um you know she'll be doing her follow-up with that as well. Um, and lastly with the the at the diversity committee meeting, we also talked about a CTE committee where we would do an audit of the programs. Um, we want to be able to improve and expand the offerings um in our district uh making sure that it aligns with requirements with New York State um the New York State
102Education Department. Also, I just want to share and uh invite all of our community members, our parents, our staff um I know it was mentioned on the on the the on the screen with the student uh superintendent report um to our East Rample marching band competition which will be held October 11th at Rample High School. Um they're asking, you know, the supporters to please wear either white, orange, green to show their support. Uh tickets for adults is $10 and tickets for students will be $5. Also on October 18th, our East Rampa marching band will be performing at the MetLife Stadium. Um, this is something where only 60 bands out of the tri-state gets in and our world famous East Rample marching band will be part of that on October 18th. Saturday, our family resource coordinators
103uh held their annual color run. Um, it was a very great turnout. Um I just want to say kudos to our F FRC's who are always um finding different ways to engage with our parents community and students. And lastly, one more. I just want to share a concern. Um, and I just want to make it clear too that um, you know, this is not frustration with, as some of you may know, uh, there was a cancellation of the football game this Friday. Um, my frustration is not with the cancellation, but with the complete lack of communication, planning, and consideration surrounding the decision. coaches and staff that the very people who were closest with our student athletes were not consulted and families were not informed in a timely or transparent way. This was supposed to be
104senior night, a milestone moment that our players and families have been waiting for. Because we have a combined team, the last two home games were meant to be dedicated to our seniors. We recognize our Spring Valley students at our Valley home game, which would have been Friday. Um, and our RAP Rample seniors uh will be honored at the next home game at Rample High School. We only had three home games scheduled this season and now one and now with one canceled, our seniors may not be able to get the opportunity to be recognized at their respective schools. But what makes this decision even more troubling is its inconsistency. if safety was really was truly the concern. Um, you know, I just have a few questions. For example, why were games and practices continuing all week
105without security? No other games were cancelled, which only raises further questions about fairness, consistency, and the process behind the decision. This kind of unexplained action undermines trust and sends a disheartening message to our players, families, and community. Decisions of the mag of this magnitude cannot be made in isolation. They demand transparency, consistency, and collaboration with those most directly impacted. Moving forward, our students and families deserve better communication, stronger leadership, and decisions that reflect both safety and respect. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> I have a concern, >> Mr. Feder. Um there's this there's a special ed committee that was formed a couple of months ago and the meetings are being postponed constantly and we need clarification on that. And second concern in the special ed committee is in the special ed department is that phone
106calls are not being responded to to parents. I' I'd like to respond I'd like to respond to um trustee um Charles Pierre comments. I understand that the community is very upset about the cancellation of the game and I understand how very disappointing that might be. I I do want to explain that um we acted when we had the information and we did collaborate with a number of people including the superintendent of Mount Vernon. Um but the game was scheduled to be played uh against Mount Vernon. He was in agreement that um he did not feel comfortable that this game should continue. As soon as we could, we informed everyone. Uh the uh athletic director was involved. He informed the the head coach. Uh we also uh I spoke uh worked with um with um assistant
107superintendent Mr. Gandhi and uh we communicated with parents as soon as we could. As you know, we were closed on Tuesday and Wednesday. On Thursday morning, I was breached of the entire incident, the very tragic incident and um in an abundance of of caution, we decided that we were going to go for safety first and that's why we canceled it. Again, I know that this is a very disappointing decision for many people. I support the uh teams, I support the sports, but we were in very uncertain waters. And again, this is a decision that was made jointly with the superintendent of Mount Vernon. Regarding the question about special education, not to cut you off, but as I stated in the beginning, the frustration had nothing to do with the cancellation. everyone is okay agreed with
108the game being cancelled that Friday night due to safety reasons. What I'm saying is that there was a lack of communication and transparency where we weren't notified, coaches weren't notified till the morning of the football game. It's a communication not a it's not a it's not a it's not a cancellation. It's not the fact that it was canceled. It was the fact that it wasn't communicated properly. And uh like I said um you know this is not our first time we've dealt with this situation. We've had um process and protocols put in place in the past where certain people are included in the conversation and that wasn't done. So you know even with the rescheduling we don't know if the game it will be rescheduled. And just to be clear too that same >> school
109that was uh supposed to play that Friday came on Monday and played our volleyball team. So once again, it's about consistency throughout and communication and being transparent. >> Okay. Thank you. I I I don't want to belabor the point. I I I I think we see it differently. Um in terms of the special education committee, I think what happened there was that it was rescheduled, but unfortunately um it was scheduled for a day uh uh a day that we were off. So I believe it was scheduled for September 24th and I uh had to inform that we're off that day and so that's why it was rescheduled. So we agreed we would meet monthly. Um we had a very successful meeting. Our last meeting was very successful. Uh we were able to um uh let
110you know that most if not all of the related services uh that we were unable to meet and provide last year will now be provided to the non-public students. We had a couple of areas which were resource room teachers that we discussed. Uh but the OTP and psychologist services were able to provide. So we're really happy about that. Um and so the next meeting was scheduled on a day where school was closed and uh I've asked um uh Angeline Mentor to reschedu it. Now I'm not sure when she did that. I don't know what date that is, but if that was scheduled too far in advance and you'd like it to be scheduled closer, I'm happy to ask her to do that. >> Okay. Thank you. Future meeting dates. A regular meeting is scheduled for
111Tuesday, October 21st, 2025. Please note the other location. It will be at the auditorium at Spring Valley High School starting at 7:30 p.m. Again, this will not be over here. It will be in the auditorium of Spring Valley High School. Actually, right across the street towards uh in the auditorium of Spring Valley High School, 361, Route 59, Spring Valley, New York, not across the street, around the corner essentially. Um, moving on to written communication. Since last board meeting, the board received a letter from Commissioner Rosa regarding special conditions being placed on certain federal funding for 25 2025 and 26. I will now make a motion to enter executive session. Do I have a second? Second by Mr. Simon Coff. All those in favor say I. Anyone opposed? Motion carries. Thank you all and have a
112good night. >> I'll just add that it's >> Oh, I'm sorry, Kathy. What were we going to be discussing? uh discuss the possible employment of particular persons or corporations. We do not expect action following. >> Thank you. We wait. >> We may we may >> uh Mr. uh Stark is corrected me. We may expect action. >> Thank you all. Have a good night.