001Okay, that's good. Okay. Hi. I have three children in Center Avenue, a fourth grader, a third grader, and a kindergartner. And I'm asking for more clarity around the district realignment plan. Obviously, I brought this before the government and they also proceed. Um I know there's going to be a hundred different questions on logistics because most families are going to be impacted differently based on how many kids they have, their ages, how close or far they live to each school, before and after school, all of that stuff that's really not what I want to talk about today. Um I think as parents and community members, we need more information starting at the beginning on what is the problem that this district alignment will solve? It was broadly addressed in a letter to the community, but what
002does it actually mean to potentially enhance student learning, strengthen collaboration among staff, and maintain the fiscal responsibility to the taxpayers? What is the timing on the next steps? When does the committee of educators meet and for how long? When and how will the community input be accepted? What other solutions were looked into and why is alignment the best choice? I understand that we're in the beginning phases, but when something of this magnitude gets introduced without specifics, people are going to speculate and rumors will fill in the blanks when there are no answers, and it's already happening. So, I've heard from more than one person who's heard from more than one person that this is going into effect in September. Um I don't know if that's true, but that's I'm just telling you that's what I'm
003hearing. Um without any details being given to parents at this time, it seems like there's no way that anyone can say that that this will benefit our children. Although growing is strongly still a small taken community, there are many people who have friends, family members, and our neighbors who work at the school, who are on the board. Um even in the beginning in the beginning phase, this plan's getting out. So, it would be much more beneficial to the community to be hearing it from you instead of through other sources. So, that's what I asked if you could. Good question. Yeah, so um we're trying to provide a structure uh and look at all avenues to give our kids the best education. And um at this point, it's only a conversation and it's not a plan
004to really share. As far as a time frame, uh the original thought process was maybe potentially this year if we can get through our committees and through our parent town hall meetings, but uh the more I'm thinking about it, it should be for the 2027 school year. That's that's the thinking now. And before I bring a plan to the community, I need plan uh to work on that with our staff, our teachers, our administrators, our monitors, our secretaries, and clerical. And then I can assure you this is only in transparency that I'm talking about it. I could have we could have talked about it in closed doors and this would came out. Um but this is the way I I I thank you for being patient, but it is only in the discussion exploratory phase.
005We've gone through as many scenarios as we can, so I do understand how it will impact the community and the parents. We're taking that strongly into consideration, but we're not ready to bring you a draft yet. So, my first meeting with the teachers is this Thursday. I have six-hour committees, so I have six hours and it's not just teachers, students, custodians, clericals, over 30 people on the committee, board members. And once we can formulate a plan, uh if we go through that gate and we can we feel like it's a could be a successful plan, we'll present it to the community and as I mentioned in the in the paper, we I'll listen to the community, you can poke holes in it, you can give me the do's and don'ts. Um but it's my job
006to provide to you what I think would be a good structure for our kids. So, with that being said, um there will be more information to come. I will be completely transparent about it and no decisions have been made. I'm just looking at everything right now. And and I I feel like that's my role to do that. And I feel that if I didn't do that, then I wouldn't be doing my job. So, um that's where I am with it. Um I had the okay from the board of education to start discussing with the teachers. I knew it would get out, so therefore I put out a general statement to the community and uh we will be nailing down, you know, details of a draft and we'll be sharing with that you uh sometime after
007the new year. And again, um I I understand the concerns. I do. I see I've been in the district over 30 years. I saw two different superintendents uh try to put forth a plan and um I'm starting to see why why they did. Uh so, I feel like it would be a good opportunity for me to hear from the community uh you know, what their thoughts are. And then at the end of the day, uh if we decide not to go with the plan, we decide not to go with the plan. If we decide that we come up with a plan B that might work, we come up with a plan B. Or we decide that hey, we're going to continue this way, but it's my obligation to show you what will happen if we
008continue this way. So, all that's in the making. I know um we will have a comparison and lining up where we are now, where we'll be with the principal plan, and you know, and so on. I can assure you all that information I'll be sharing with you, but I need time with my staff to really draft a plan. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, uh next Katie Speagle. Hi, I'm Katie. I live here and I have a sixth grader and a third grader here in Chocolate. I'm concerned about the state of ELA instruction in our district. I-Ready always seems to be a focus, but yet it's not a curriculum. ELA is further lacking and far too many children remain stuck in tier two interventions. This is reflecting a system that's not meeting our students' needs.
009The lack of curriculum has also created a lack of transparency with parents. Too much time is spent on a computer. For our upper elementary students, the only progress monitoring we receive is an I-Ready parent page three times a year and a report card. We see no rubrics, no assessments, and no writing samples. We see posts on Instagram about small group targeted instruction and it leaves us wondering, how are these groups formed? Is it based on only I-Ready? And if I-Ready is a primary data point, how are we addressing writing? An area where many students are performing far below grade level. My child once again brought home a worksheet on capital letters in third grade. And she scored above average on I-Ready. Report cards tell us where our children fall along certain learning targets, but how
010those grades are actually determined is a mystery. What work, what assessment, what demonstration of knowledge leads to those grades? My child in particular waits to hear the beeps on I-Ready when she gets something wrong and just changes her answers. She's not internalizing the content, she's internalizing how to pass the test, which I know is something this district does not want students to be Parents want to support their kids, but we can't do what what we don't know. We don't know where their strengths and deficits lie. I want to be clear, it's not a criticism of any teacher or any building leader. In fact, every time I reach out, I've seen improvement. Our educators are doing everything they can with the tools they've been given, but the issue is they have not been given the most
011essential tool, a coherent vetted high-quality curriculum. One that has built-in assessments and built-in progress monitoring. I can't help but wonder whether all of this time, energy, and money that has been spent on writing all of this could have been solved by adopting high-quality instructional materials that already exist. Materials that are research-based, aligned to standards, include an intervention supports, and would ultimately be more cost-effective. Our students deserve better. They deserve a system grounded in evidence, transparency, and accountability. Um I can say I did receive the third grade curriculum today, um around 3:00. There in my quick glance, it looks like a lot of the units are from TC. Um Teachers College doesn't even use Teachers College anymore, so I'm wondering if there is plans to develop or research a new curriculum that's proven with research. Thank
012you. Thank you. Thank you. Patricia Kittle. Hello everybody. Um I just want to thank Mr. Gregory for that uh family engagement the other night. I thought it was excellent. Um I think it really hit home to the kids and I think they did a great job um with that, so thank you. Um also, I know you just discussed the Crimson plan. Um I know you're meeting with people. I just had a couple of questions that maybe you could bring up with the teachers or when you speak to them. Um I know that the program was put out a couple of years ago, probably 10 years ago, and it was not voted in. 2012. Yeah, so just wondering if those challenges or issues that were then, are they taken care of? Have you looked into them?
013What the reasoning were that they didn't get passed? Um also, how will the implementation of the program affect the class sizes? So, right now we have different size classes in each school. Will we be getting rid of a teacher if the smaller schools, you know, come together? How will that work? And is there a plan or will there be a plan for specialized teachers in each building? More people coming into each classroom since we will be combining ENL and um inclusion classes, seeing what the um teachers coming into each classroom be. And then if it was adopted, when the plan would begin what you have discussed before. Um also we had in the past, you know if there was issues if there was issues with one child in a school, you were able to maybe
014move the child to another school or transfer if there was a problem with behavior or stuff like that. What is in place for that if there's a behavioral issue in the school? There's no other school to transfer them to or what if they go outside the district? What you What would be the plan implemented for that? So, thank you for listening. Thank you. Thank you for your questions. Thank you for your questions. Okay. Um board member comments? Thank you. Anybody else? No, that's No, that's it. That was it. Did you have to put your name on a list before you speak? Yeah, would you like to speak? I'd like to No, absolutely. Sure. What is your name? Yeah, I got my school. You understand. Can I have your name? So, you got a president board
015member? Yes, I am. Okay, I'd like to give you my my tax returns while I practice it. And that's my name, how much I'm paying, and I'm legal. And to the board, I ask you. You don't receive a salary from the uh the school? No. No. No. Good. You know, I I've seen the bridge and I that you guys uh and uh with all the colors real nice. Got a little late. How can you brag with the best education does not mean the student is going to do good on this test. Do you believe that? Yes, do I believe what? The candy skills, did you have it on the graph? Yes, I do. Best education does not prepare a stu- students for a test. Do you believe that? Does anybody on the board believe that?
016Can I raise my hand if who believes that's true? Can you explain? I'm confused on the question. Can you say it in other words? That tests are not the most important thing. Excuse me? That tests are not the most important thing. It's said that if you get a good education, the best education has no relevance on how you're going to do with it on a test. I believe that. You believe that? You You believe that? >> Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. I believe it's Okay. Total. No problem. >> I've taken all sorts of tests in my life. Not only standardized tests, but civil services, tests in the military. I got a good education and the guy that didn't failed the test. So, that's Excuse me. It gets me crazy when I see things like that. And I
017have a board here which I think most of them agree with me. I want to understand something. Why is it when I was looking at the national ratings that Melbourne is rated 2,946th and my school district that I had my son go to school in and I had to pull my son out of the eighth grade because he was abused is rated 8,443rd. Is that correct? I don't know where you got the information so I can't tell you if it's correct. Excuse me? We know I I Where did you get the information? I hear you what you're saying but I don't know where the information came from. Yeah, it came from the uh US National Review. And you know what's also interesting is if you go online and stuff like that, the different school districts,
018they tell you how much their teachers make, what the proficiency in their students are on different schools in mathematics. These right here, you know that. Nothing. I want to know where my tax money goes. You know, to me that kind of stuff is going to be omitted, that kind of information. The board does. The board sends out a quarterly report and there's nothing in there and you omit it. That's not telling the truth. That's not telling me the truth. I remember for years going before these you people on the board and the educated and when I talked about talking to the educated, they lied right in my face. I remember I had a a board member say I asked the question, "What do you do with an unsatisfactory teacher?" Because I thought my daughter was
019experienced. You know what what the woman said? The teachers, they play in the sand sandbox. We give them a piece of the puzzle. And then what will happen? Could you imagine telling your board something like that? I was at school board meetings where the school board individuals, one of which his name was Sario, I believe, I may be pronouncing it wrong, was breaking the state law. Actually, yeah. How? Because the PTA with their teachers were telling the parents, "Don't allow your kids to take the standardized test because it will make the teachers look bad." So, what did you say in the school board meeting? When you asked about the standardized test, she said, "Don't have to take them." "Don't take them." "We're not going to do nothing unless the state complies with their funds, the
020funding to the school." Breaking the law. I have many instances of the school breaking the law, the state law. And you can get up here and I'll be up here and I'll tell them in the face. I can see you're very upset. Can I just have your name and your information? >> My name? And and your information so maybe you you know we can Thank Thank you. I have everything down. Thank you. We appreciate you coming. Thank you. Um is your phone number on here? I don't I don't want to keep your tax return. No, I don't want your tax. I just want your information. I got to say this at large. Who's that by the year? And can I just have your phone number? So, the school district 1 5 5 6 6 7
0212 8 5 0 5. I thank you, sir. >> Thank you, sir. I will be in touch. One last thing. Thank you, Mr. Barnes. All right. Any other comments? Um Any other comments? Uh first I'd like to say thank you to everybody that came out tonight to speak. Um we take everything that you say to us very seriously and we really appreciate all the information. Um nothing that you tell us is left by the wayside. Um sometimes we're unable to respond but we do take the information that we do get um and we sit and we discuss everything. So, it's very much appreciated and thank you. Um I also want to say uh congratulations to Sherri Polland. When I came on the board, um you couldn't have been a better person. True star way through
022and through. Uh thank you to Sophia who you are on the board. Um uh you're very nice. Um great job on Fantastics. I actually saw it um and it was extremely impressive and anybody who's never seen it, wow. Uh I don't know what else to say except wow because you really just blows you away that this is done with kids. Um thank you, Shawn, for your presentation. Um I'm sorry for your loss. You know, uh family is everything and um I I'm sorry. Uh congratulations to Julia and Miss Silver. Um Gregory, wonderful. There's so many people to thank because it was such a great month. Um I really do appreciate everyone's hard work um and everything that everyone does um and it really does make me feel like this is a special place because the
023list was so long, I was not able to keep up with the names. Um so I really do appreciate Thank Thank you. I'll edit all my paperwork but I really do appreciate everyone's hard work and for doing everything to make this East Rockaway. I would also Uh I would also like to tell everyone to have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Um make sure you wear stretchy pants as I do um because Thanksgiving should not be a stressful time for any of us. Um I hope um we get to relax and enjoy each other um and of course eat lots of dessert. Um and again, I've heard everybody tonight um and it has not gone by the wayside so I appreciate it. Thank you. Um congratulations to Mrs. Polland. Uh well deserved. She had She has been and
024is an inspiration to many, many students. Condolences Mrs. Kelly and to Mr. Smiley. Um just a quick word about the Princeton plan. I was on that side of the when Dr. Malucci um presented it to us and I was one of those who totally against it. Um looking it's it's it's just we're just exploring an option, but Bridget, Katie, and Patty, if it does get passed, the teacher I would love to see you guys on the panel for the parents because you have great questions. And um any other questions, you should write down because I know I've been writing everything down because I have a lot of questions and we really do appreciate everything that you guys say. Um and Heather, I would like to maybe discuss the AI stuff with you because I'm so
025confused, but if you can maybe we can uh discuss that one time and we really do appreciate everything everybody has to say and we want to do what's best for our students and um happy Thanksgiving, everybody. I'm going to not going to repeat everything that they said and happy Thanksgiving. Sorry, this is kind of embarrassing, you know, help. Help. And yes, on the Princeton plan, it's no top secret information. It's a collaboration and it's very early. I just want to say one more thing to all of them. They said on a nice positive note, this past weekend, my sister who attended Cedar Avenue Elementary School in the year 2000 made a time capsule, was told to open it 25 years later in Mrs. Mills' enterprise class. She did that and so some hysterical things that
026she opened up last week. But I just want to know if Mrs. Mills is watching. I have no idea where you are. 25 years later, you're still having time capsules with your students and I think that's awesome. Awesome. Great speech. It's okay. Yeah. I just wanted to say as Thanksgiving comes up, I think it's so important to give back to our community through service and I think our district does an amazing job at emphasizing that. I also wanted to say congrats to Mrs. Polwin. You're really an inspiration for all our students here and um appreciation to all veterans on Veterans Day. Congrats to all our sports teams for their achievements and congrats to Queenie and Mel. Thanks, Anthony. Um I just want to talk about the Princeton plan for a minute. Um as Deneen said,
027Aussie, Deneen, and myself all had young kids in 2012 and all three of us got up and spoke about the plan. So, when the administration came to us Oh, yeah. It was the last month before whatever, pretty recently. And um and asked us about it and said, "Look, there are unequal class sizes. At first, we were like, "Well, we we all lived this. We went through this." And they said to us, "What was the biggest obstacle?" We said, "Transportation." We said, "And you know, it's community field schools and transportation." And they said, "Look, we we have This is the reason we think it's good and meaning to even out class sizes and we have some solutions for transportation. So, all they asked us was basically, "Do we have your blessing to just look into it?"
028And And that's what we said. We said, "Sure." And that's what they've started to do. Um now, I can only speak for myself, but we were elected by the community and if if this goes further and the community overwhelmingly wants it, I'll support it. If the community doesn't want it, I won't support it. So, they asked They had a lot of good ideas. They did a lot of work on it. So, they're just exploring it and I hope that kind of helps a little to see where we're at right now. And other than that,