EUFSD - Board of Education Meeting - 9/9/25

001Everything we have we have for after party. >> Good evening everyone. Welcome to our October audit committee meeting. We are going to get started. I'll ask you to please take your seats. Are we Oh, yes. Yeah. Forgot about that. >> Yeah. We doing a pledge now or we do it at the general meeting. Okay. >> All right. So, we have with us tonight Mr. Chris Schneider from the RS Abrams. That is our internal audit company. Chris, come on up. >> Hello. Okay, great. So again, my name is Chris Schneider. I'm from RS Abrams. We the internal auditors for this district. What was presented earlier in the audit committee meeting or the the session prior to this board of ed meeting was three reports that we issued this year. There are two cycle reports which are

002intensive deep dives into a particular area meaning processes procedures etc and some testing that we do as what as well as what we call a risk assessment update report. So again per per NYSED regulations and requirements we do this risk assessment update on an annual basis and then the district elects to engage us to do two cycle reports. Again a very deep dive into particular areas. That risk assessment update report is a lot higher level across a spectrum of different processes and procedures. And again from those reports we provide the district with some recommendations based on our findings and observations and then give them again recommendations and things to work on going forward that we'd recommend that they put into place. So um this year we looked at two cycles those being facilities maintenance and

003information technology. Again these are selected based on conversations with the board with management and based on our risk assessments. Um from that we had a series of findings and recommendations which are detailed in the report which the again was discussed prior to this meeting and then additionally from that risk assessment update we have similarly findings and recommendations and again there will be determinations made for what will be done in fiscal year 26 in terms of those intensive cycle reviews. With that I'll pause to see if there's any questions from anyone. Sure, >> Miss Lewis. Come on up to the microphone. >> Good evening. Um, my name is Michelle Lewis. Did you say you identified some risk assessments during the audit in this in that report? >> Yes. >> Or was it presented only to the

004board? >> No. Th those will be publicly available. So they'll get posted on the website and they get submitted to the New York State Education Department. The results of those >> and can you define what fiscal year 26 actually um means in terms for your audit cycle? >> Sure. Yeah. So that would mean from July 1st 2025 through June 30th 2026. So if you're asking for prior year, the one I'm speaking to right now, that would be from July 1st, 2024 to June 30th, 2025. >> But you presented the risk assessments already. So you will be identifi the risks that were identified from the previous period is going to be taken in consideration for this fiscal. >> Yes, absolutely. So the way it works is that we do the work that I just mentioned and

005then in aggregate you consider all of the various areas, processes, procedures, our risk determinations around those areas. You develop a plan for next year in terms of those cycles that you would then look at. So areas to do what we call a deep dive. So it's looking specifically at certain areas, certain risks, etc. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any other questions? Any questions from the committee? >> I have a question. Um, in the report on information technology uh from the procedures performed section, there was mention of two selected locations on page three of that area that verified physical controls. What two selections uh were the uh observations done at? >> Sure. Um >> what two locations? I'm sorry. >> I sent those in an email. Do you want to pull my laptop up

006because I can go through those series of questions that we had discussed. So there's again I know there's multiple elementary schools here. We had selected two of those six. Again, that's just based on random sampling. Typically in any sort of audit, you're not going to do 100% of testing of anything. >> All right. >> Yep, you sure can. >> Hi, good evening. Um, on pages four and five, uh, it addressed high priority work orders. I wanted to know what measures will ensure high priority work orders are addressed within reasonable time frames. What did you >> So again, we're not we're not defining what should be high versus medium versus low. Our recommendation there is that the Helix Intel system that the district utilizes can be utilized to set priority orders. And our recommendation is essentially

007that there be purposeful levels of priority attributed to tasks such that high priority tasks can be dealt with first. Um for example, well actually a pretty good example that gives some context here, right? So as part of our work, I was added to get access to that system. As a result of having access to that system, I get emails probably every 30 minutes for various requests around different work orders. So the recommendation is specifically around can the staff and the director of facilities properly attribute levels of priority so that again if something is an emergency it's done first. If something's super low priority and doesn't need to be done right now that it's given the right level of priority so that again the resources are most effectively used and time you know most effectively spent.

008>> Anyone else? Anyone else? So, um, in the, uh, district's corrective action plan, there were a couple of, um, postdated corrective actions, uh, for March 2026 and December 31st, 2025. Do you all come back to uh, get a midyear status or do you just revisit those when you come back at the at next year if you're appointed? >> Good question. So typically the way it works is again we're talking about those two cycle reports and then also the risk assessment update that happens on an annual basis. So in terms of following up on those findings from one report to the next year um we will definitely be looking at that at the very least in advance of this meeting. So within a year but if the ask is to do that more frequently or sooner

009we can certainly do that. Again we will comment next year specifically which you'll also see in current year's report at the very end. There's a status of prior findings report section. Um we do specifically touch upon here's what we touched upon last year. Here's what we think needed to be implemented and addressed and then here's the status of that implementation whether it was implemented not implemented partially etc. >> That's all I have. Anyone else? Anyone from the audience from the from the committee? >> All right. Thank you so much. Great Mr. Stein. >> Thank you everybody. appreciate it. >> Um, we can't go into public, >> right? >> Yeah, we got five minutes. So, this concludes the audit committee meeting, but we can't open the public committee until 8 o'clock. So, hang out with us

010for five minutes. All right. >> Yes. >> Oh, I don't have a motion for that. You have it. Okay. So, don't wait. Yeah. All right. Go ahead. >> I move that the audit committee recommend to the board of education the acceptance of the internal audit report on information technology completed by RS Abrams. >> Move. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Thank you. I move that the audit committee recommend to the board of education the acceptance of the internal audit report on facilities maintenance. >> Second. >> Um I move that the audit committee recommend to the board of education the acceptance of the internal audit report on facilities maintenance completed by RS Abrams. >> Moved. >> All in favor? >> I Okay. I move that the audit committee recommend to the board of

011education the approval of the corrective action plan for the internal audit report on information technology completed by RS Abrams. >> Move. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Okay. I move that the audit committee recommend to the board of education the approved corrective action plan for the internal audit report on facilities maintenance completed by RS Abrams. Move. >> All in favor? >> I. And lastly, um, I move that the audit committee recommend to the board of education the approval of the corrective action plan for the risk assessment update report completed by RS Abrams. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Thank you. That concludes the audit committee. >> Thank you. All right. How we doing on time? Minister, >> we still have three minutes, so we can't start the public meeting

012until 8 o'clock. >> Thank you. Welcome everyone to the regular board of education. Pat, am I loud enough this time? Am I good on sound? >> Yeah. >> No. He said I wasn't loud enough. How's my sound? >> Okay. What do you say? >> Okay. Okay, you can start. >> Good evening everyone. I'm Cynthia Cassim, the very proud principal of the Dutch Broadway School. Welcome you to September's board meeting. If everyone could please rise for the pledge of allegiance. Salute and pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, well under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right, I'll turn the mic over to Miss Tiffany Capers, board president. >> Thank you, Miss Cassim. Um, does your clerk let the

013record reflect that all board members are present? Yeah. Yeah. Uh, may I have a motion to approve the meeting minutes for the regular meeting of August 19th? >> Thank you, Mr. Palmer. Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Ramos. All in favor? >> I. >> Motion carries. Do we have any correspondence? >> Thank you. All right. Good evening everyone and welcome to our September board meeting. As we begin a new year, I want I want to extend a warm and energetic welcome to all of our students, staff, and families. I'd also like to offer a sincere thank you to everyone who worked over the summer. Um whether you supported our summer programs or uh which you'll hear more about later this evening or if you contributed to our building renovations, your dedication is always appreciated by the

014board of education. [Applause] We are very excited and looking forward to this year. Uh we it will be filled with learning, happiness and success. So again, thank you for all that you do and here's to a great school year ahead. Thank you. May I have the high school report? >> Yes. >> Good evening everyone. I'm sorry. Good evening, Elmont Union Free School District community. Welcome back to a brand new school year. We hope all of our families had a restful and joyful summer and we're excited to begin this new chapter with energy, excellence, and Elmont pride. Here's what's been happening in our high schools to kick off the 2025 2026 school year. Elmont Memorial High School is beaming with pride. The class of 2025 earned a whopping 7.3 million in scholarship awards, including one student

015recognized as a prestigious Gates Millennium Scholar. That is legacy in the making. We kick things off early with a welcoming seventh grade orientation on August 25th, helping our newest Spartans start strong. The building officially reopened on Tuesday, September 2nd, and the scholars are already adapting well to the new no cell phone policy. It's been a great start to a way for the day. Meet the teacher night is right around the corner on Thursday, September 18th with both an afternoon and evening session to accommodate families. Invitations have been sent and we're excited to build strong partnerships with parents. Mark your calendars for homecoming on Saturday, October 25th. The parade steps off at 11:45 a.m. followed by our big game against Valley Stream North at 100 p.m. Let's go Spartans. Over the summer, Swanica High School stayed

016vibrant with activity. The counseling department hosted a college boot camp guiding scholars as they begin their post-secary journeys. Families of the incoming class of 2031 also visited to explore the building and meet our team. The Swan Key Club rolled up their sleeves, beautifying the school courtyard and pond while music filled the air during the district's summer concert series held on the lawn of central administration. The class of 2026 started the school year with a heartwarming senior sunrise, gathering together early in the morning to celebrate the start of their final year. A beautiful tradition to begin a memorable chapter. Floral Park High School had a smooth and seamless school opening and students are adjusting well to the district-wide cell phone policy. The away for the day approach is making a positive impact. Our fall sports teams

017are off and running. Go Nights. We're looking forward to a spirited season filled with teamwork and pride. Meet the Teacher Night will be held on Thursday, September 18th, and families have already received communication to help them prepare for an engaging and informative meeting. As we begin this new academic year, we wish all our students, families, faculty, and staff a year filled with learning, growth, and success. Let's make 2025 2026 unforgettable. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Thank you, Miss Battle. Are there any audience members who'd like to speak on agenda items only? >> We'll now have a presentation from our superintendent. [Music] >> Good evening, everyone. Uh, welcome to tonight's board meeting. Since our last board meeting in August, uh we had the opportunity on September 2nd to have our superintendence conference day where we welcome

018back our faculty and staff. Um as a matter of fact, Mrs. Capers were was there to welcome our teachers back to the new school year. And then on September 3rd, we welcomed uh 3,400 wonderful scholars back to school with all their hopes and dreams packed nicely in their backpacks. And we are looking forward to a very successful uh school year. I would be remiss if I didn't take the opportunity to thank our teachers, to thank our administrators, our clerical staff, our teachers aids, our custodial staff, our food services department staff who all worked very hard to welcome our students back to a very smooth opening of school and to do what we believe will be uh um an indication for the next for this school year, a very successful and exciting school year for teachers,

019for our students and teachers. So, thank you to everyone who worked hard over the summer to get our buildings up and ready for our students and teachers. And thank you to everyone who were so instrumental in helping us to have a very smooth opening for the school year. Want to remind our parents that our uh meet the teacher night, our open school nights are coming up and we encourage you to take the opportunity to meet with your your your students teachers to get an overview of our curriculum, our expectations and how we could partner together to ensure that our students will have a successful year. On September 10th, which is tomorrow, um it will be open school night for Alden Terrace. On Tuesday, September 16th, we invite our parents from Covert Avenue and Stewart Manor

020to meet um for open school night. And on Thursday, September 18th, Clara H. Carlson, Dutch Broadway, and Gotham Avenue schools will have their opening school night. So, we encourage you to attend and to hear from our principles and our teachers. I would also like to thank the many teachers and administrators who worked over the summer to uh support our scholars in our summer enrichment programs and our extended school year programs. And so tonight I have some of those individuals here who will give the board and the community an overview of those two programs. And I'm going to introduce uh Mrs. Rita Johnson and Mrs. Magaraji who um saw and um worked with the the enrichment program also Mrs. Wal and Mrs. Triioni who did the extended school year program. And immediately following um those presentations,

021we will hear from um some of our administrative um leadership in the district who will give you an overview of our curriculum and instruction programs and new initiatives that we are implementing for the school year. But before we do so, we also want to honor and pay pay tribute to a few retirees who have given years of yman service to our school district. And so I would like to introduce Dr. MSAS who will talk about our retirees. >> Thank you, Mr. Small. Good evening, members of the board, colleagues, and guests. Tonight, it is both an honor and a privilege to recognize three remarkable individuals whose dedication, service, and leadership have helped shape the daily experiences of countless students in our district. We begin with Miss Celeste Lloyd, our school lunch manager. [Applause] Miss Celeste Lloyd

022is retiring after 22 years of service to our district. Celeste has been the heart of our food service program, ensuring that ensuring not only that our students are nourished, but that they are cared for with kindness and consistency. Her leadership, attention to detail, and commitment to excellence have set a high standard, and her absence will surely be felt in every cafeteria she touched. [Applause] Next, we honor Maria Tuscano, assistant cook at Clara H. Carlson School. [Applause] Mrs. Essano has dedicated 28 years of service to our district. Maria's presence in the kitchen has always gone beyond preparing meals. She created a warm, welcoming environment for our students and staff alike. Her work may have often taken place behind the scenes, but her impact has always been front and center. [Applause] And finally, we celebrate Mr. Eric

023Peeles, a dedicated bus driver in our transportation department. Mr. Peeles has given 18 years of safe, reliable service to the children of our community. Rain or shine, Eric has been a calm and steady presence behind the wheel, ensuring that thousands of rides to and from school were not only safe, but were welcoming. So to Celeste, Maria, and Eric, on behalf of the board of education, the administration, and the entire Elmont community, we extend our deepest appreciation for your years of service, your unwavering commitment, and the legacy of care you leave behind. We wish you joy, rest, and the many rewards of a well-earned retirement. Congratulations. >> I now present to you Mrs. Rita Johnson, uh, Mrs. Marachi, and also Mrs. Wallfall and Mrs. Triioni. [Applause] >> Uh, good evening everyone. My name is Samantha Maragarachi

024and I'm honored to share and present a small glimpse into two wonderful programs that occurred in Elmont over the summer. They were the summer academic enrichment program led by co-principles myself, Miss Rita Johnson, assistant principal, Miss Ariel Paresi, our administrative intern Miss Lindseay Betta, and our extended school year program by principles Miss Dia Wal, Miss Jessica Triioni, Dr. Karen Green, and Mrs. Mary Natoli. So, these programs welcomed 575 of our scholars. The extended school year um the extended school year program ran from July 1st to August 11th. And our academic um summer enrichment program ran from July 1st to July 24th. And now we're going to share with you some wonderful experience that occurred in these two programs over the summer. So, I'm going to start with the summer academic enrichment program which was located

025this year at the Covert Avenue School. Our application went live on May 22nd after board approval and in two weeks we received 501 applications. All of those we were able to enroll in the program. As you can see, our daily attendance rates were at 70% for our 20 sections of grades K through five. And we also had one preKB bridge program that consisted of 16 students. It would not have been possible without the wonderful transportation department that we have which were enabling to shuttle those students to and from their home schools and to the GIO program at the Dutch Broadway School this summer. So, there was a lot going on this summer in our programs and we're so excited about them. Um, we were able to continue to provide education with our English language arts,

026math, and science programs. We reviewed material that students had learned and were able to preview content that would be in the next grade after. We proudly continued our steam readaloud challenges with two new text this year. Rosie Rivia the engineer and Violet the pilot to support our air travel theme. We were also provided many enrichment opportunities which we were able to expand on. As you can see, we expanded our social emotional learning program. Our Lego robotics was expanded in multiple grades um due to the very talented um Miss Mary Jane Hocra who is a Dutch Broadway professional here. Um we had steamart in grades prek to one. Cardio music was brought in by Miss Rachel Felix this summer. Spanish was brought in by Miss Molina for grades two and three. Mr. Julie expanded from where

027he was in grade five and incorporated grade four this summer for stock market literacy. And we had drones by Mr. McBain enriching each child's day with all these activities. >> Hi, my name is Mrs. Johnson. I serve as the co-president, co-principal of the summer academic enrichment program. This summer, we had new initiatives, which was something that Mr. Small wanted us to do, field trips. I've been working this program for seven years and it was a great experience to add this. So we had our on-site math science and we also had off street offsite strips sandy lanes and the cradle of aviation. So that was wonderful and the kids had a great time. Um we had very good feedback from parents. our program events. On week two, we had field day. The children were so excited

028to spend time outside doing different physical activities and that was led by Mi Miss Bennett and Mr. Mr. Johnson. On week three, we had spirit week. The kids went to Washington DC. They wore red, white, and blue. Then they went to Flava. Then they stopped at California. Uh they wore beach wear and then they went back home to Elmont and they were the spirit wear the homeschool spirit wear. During the summer academic program, we had we made four newsletters and thank you very much Miss Rampaul and Miss Harov for coordinating that effort. It was a it was a collaborative effort between the teachers, administration and the tech team. Please visit the website so you could read all of them. I can't go through in detail. This is just the first page. Um, we highlighted every

029week different activities that our children engage in. So, cardio music was one thing, one of the initiatives that we had and we were so proud. Uh, Miss Phelix is a regular classroom teacher and she wanted to, we asked her if she could dance for the students and she was very happy to do so. and the students had a great time doing cardio music and thank you very much. This would not be possible without the commitment and dedication of all our staff and teachers that come back every single year to work this program. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Stacy Warfall and I'm the principal of the Clarage H. Carlson School. I'm here along with Mrs. Triioni. We had an opportunity to supervise the extended school year program which is different than the enrichment. Uh

030you mentioned the ladies mentioned that parents signed up for enrichment. With extended school year there is no sign up. This program is offered to our scholars that have IEPs, individual educational plans, and at their annual review meeting at the end of the school year, it's recommended whether or not they need an extra six weeks of service to help maintain their abilities so that when they get into this new school year, they haven't lost some of the things that we've taught them. So this year we had 98 students enrolled, although there are many a few more students that could have been apart, but maybe they decided to travel or spend time with their family. We ran for 6 weeks from 9:30 to 2:30 at the Alden Terrace School. Uh our daily attendance 82.7% and we were

031able to service kids in K through 5th grade. This year we did have two preK students in our program. A special thank you to our transportation department for transporting our students, our shuttle buses every day and also to our cafeteria staff for the delicious breakfast and lunch that they provided to the students and to the staff. A special thank you also to our teachers. Uh what was nice is we had some teachers who taught the students during the year and kept those students during the summer. So there was a great continuation of what they learned along with many teacher aids that were important. And we also had uh would like to thank our parents for being supportive and bringing the children every day. Uh our maintenance of the students instruction is a little different than

032the program for enrichment because it goes on the goals of the children on their IEP and with that they were able to get ELA math whole group instruction and also gym and music and rotation. And something that's important about this program is helping the students with their daily living skills. So we did a lot of activities with that. With that we had additional support where the children may have received PT, OT, speech. We had a behavior specialist, social worker, psychologist, and we also had our administrative team. >> Good evening everyone. My name is Jessica Trion. I'm an assistant principal over at Covert Avenue and I had the privilege of working uh at for the ESY program over the summer. So along with what Mrs. Wolfall said, um in addition to the mandated services for our

033students, we also tried to make the program fun, engaging, and interactive for our students. So with that, we had various themed weeks that our teachers and support staff aligned their instruction to support our um education in this program. In addition, we went on a lot of field trips. There were field multiple field trips per week. Every week we went into our local businesses. We went to various community centers. The students went to the library or our pizzeras. They went across the street uh to key food. Did food shopping. Uh it was a great experience for all our students. And then in addition to that, we brought some of the fun in-house with us. So, in order to support our local businesses as well as our um our community, we brought them to us where our

034local Home Depot donated crafts for every single child in the program. And we also had a therapy dog come in. We had the Elmont Fire Department come to talk about fire safety. The children were able to explore the trucks. And to help build our homeschool connection, we invited parents and siblings in to read to their children. In addition to all the other culminating activities that go along with our themed weeks, we had parties and parades. So, the program was bumping the whole time and the kids were excited. It was engaging, it was fun, and it was interactive. As part of a culminate activity, we decided that we wanted to have a talent showcase with the students and instead of having them on the school stage, we said we are taking them to the Elmont public

035library on the big stage. So, we practiced that by every week going on the stage at the Alden Terrace School. But this year for our first talent showcase, we had about 90 students on stage. Some families felt, I'm not sure if my child will get up there and get comfortable, but they all did an amazing job. We had live performances, dance, piano, recorder, drumming, singing, building. We also had video submissions because we felt that some students might not be comfortable on stage. So, their family submitted a video. We had students horseback riding videos, art, music, and singing. And what was nice is we had two students that are one currently at Elma High School and one at Sonica High School that were part of the program but came back and sang and they helped to

036MC. So we look forward to having more talent showcases for the students in the program in the school year and also next summer. Thank you. [Applause] So you can see the quote up on the screen that the ESY program was truly outstanding providing my son with consistent support, structure, and meaningful learning opportunities. The dedicated staff created a nurturing environment that helped him thrive both academically and socially over the summer. And that was from Anthony D's mom. And we have to say that the parents, the community, the children, the board of education, thank you for supporting these amazing programs. Mr. small for giving us those extra initiatives this summer. And we just want to say thank you. We really enjoy it and we hope that you enjoy this little clip and get an insight as to

037what they did over the summer. [Music] Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. All right, good evening everyone. My name is Mr. Cavaleri and I currently serve as the interimm director for curriculum and instruction. Um, and I just wanted before we move forward with some of the work that was done this summer to improve our curriculum and our instruction throughout the district, uh, I did want to just give one more big round of applause to our administrators and our staff that run those summer programs. We all know at the end of June it is tiring and these administrators and these staff members uh gave up their summers to lead these programs and um just been speaking with other districts.

038Not many districts um on Long Island offer the opportunities that we're able to offer here in Elmont. And that's a big testament to the board of education, our superintendent, and the community itself um to be able to have these opportunities for our scholars. So, we thank you and we thank everyone in this room for giving us that opportunity. Um, we look forward to continuing that moving forward. In addition to the great things that our scholars had the opportunity to participate in this summer, uh, we also had a team of teachers who represented each of our six buildings throughout the district um, guided by our proud principal of the Dutch Broadway School, Miss Cynthia Cassim. um to update our curriculum resources and make sure that we are continually improving the resources that we have available to

039our scholars throughout the year. Um so I'm going to highlight some of those areas and then talk about some of our program enhancements as well and then we'll dive a little bit deeper into some of these things with Miss Cassim's presentation of what was done over the summer. So, in curriculum enhancements, some of the major things that we worked on this summer was a new science curriculum that focused on handson instruction. We're really excited that that has been rolled out to start this school year. It also enables um our classrooms to have class pets. So, each of our grade levels will have a class pet, which our students will really enjoy. We're really excited about that. But we're more excited about the hands-on opportunities our scholars will have with this new OM science program. In

040addition to that, we also updated our social studies curriculum resources by adopting the new Nassau Bosey's regional social studies curriculum. Um, so we're excited about a new science and social studies program rolling out this year for our scholars. Uh, we have developed quarterly literacy assessments for both reading and writing. So each trimester, we will have a quarterly reading and a quarterly writing assignment that will be recorded on our data grids and used as data to help guide and improve our instruction for our scholars throughout the year. In addition to that, we have updated our academic intervention services progress reports for our students that receive AIS services. We have digitized our go math assessments to continue to prepare our students for computer-based testing and providing our teachers with individualized data to help guide their small groupoup

041instruction and and morning tutorial sessions to individualize instruction for each of our scholars. We have expanded our Heggery phmic awareness program to grade three this year. We have updated our ABA curriculum resources and I have to give a big shout out to Dr. Leande, our interimm director, Dr. Orley Gdan and Miss Stacio Waffle, the principal of Clara Carlson, who over the summer put a team of ABA teachers from each of our three buildings who have those programs together to develop an ABA resources that our scholars and our teachers could benefit from using this year. So, we're very excited about that, those resources that are now available for those ABA programs throughout our district. We also added five new inclusive read titles to our inclusive read program this year. So, we're continuing to build and expand

042on that program. So, we're excited for those five new texts to roll out this year to our scholars in each of our six buildings. In addition to that, our programs and enrichment, we are continuously improving that as well across the district. And this year we are very proud to be able to announce that we have expanded our physical education uh services to twice a week for all students in preK through six. Prior to this year that was only offered to our fifth and sixth graders this year. And moving forward all students prek through six will have fizzed twice a week. So we're very excited about that. Um in addition to that we were also able to um provide a steam prep. This is new for our fifth and sixth graders across the district who already

043had fizzed twice a week. So for them, they are now getting a steam prep. And we are very excited to have this opportunity for hands-on coding experiences for our fifth and sixth graders to continue to prepare them for 21st century learning and jobs of the future. So we're very excited about that as well. Uh we have hired three new steam teachers this year to run those programs throughout our six buildings. Um, in addition, we are really excited about a new Plaza theatrical theater program that we are introducing to the district this year. I am proud to announce that our play this year will be Frozen Jr. and all six of our schools will have the opportunity to participate this and it'll be done in pairs. So, our first performance this year will be combining the

044Claraara H. Carlson and the Dutch Broadway schools together to do a production of Frozen Jr. We will then move into the further into the school year where our Steuart Manor and our Covert Avenue schools will pair together to put on a production as well. And then finally, our Olden Paris and our Gotham Avenue schools will pair up to put on a production as well. This is an afterchool program that is run by Plaza Theatrical. Costumes, sound, sets, the works. We're really excited to roll this program out this year for our fifth and sixth grade students. And uh auditions for the Claraara H. Carlson and the Dutch Broadway School start next Monday. So, we're very excited to roll this out. And lastly, um I'm many of us here had the opportunity to see the dancing classrooms

045in action at our tenure reception in June. Um we are proud to say that we are expanding that program to two additional schools this year. Um so, the Gotham Avenue and the Dutch Broadway schools will also be adopting that program as we continue to expand it across the district. I would now like to introduce Miss Cynthia Cassim who'll dive a little bit deeper in some of the work that was done this summer. Good evening. Uh as Mr. Cavaleri mentioned, we were able to expand Hegar. It's a phonics program in addition that we're implementing in addition to foundations. We started this program two years ago with our prek through 2 grade students and now we're expanding it to third grade. Teachers have the resources on the instructional drive to implement 15minute daily lessons. We also expanded

046our inclusive community read library with five additional texts. We are now up to 46 books. Um the texts were actually selected from a list of recommendations from our teachers across the district. And with the addition of these five texts, we introduced two new themes uh socioeconomic differences and multicultural acceptance. Uh reading and writing mini lessons. The instructional coaches revised those pacing guides so that they aligned with the themes. Students are able to analyze author's craft and mimic their style of writing in their own writing. So we were able to align that. We were also able to develop an ill early literacy map for our pre kindergarten students. We never had that before and it outlines the units for the school year for our pre kindergarten program which at the Dutch Broadway School has expanded to

047three classes in the building. So, we're excited about that. We also, as Mr. Cavaleri uh mentioned, developed ELA benchmarks so that the reading assessments mimic the style of questioning that they're going to be asked for the New York State tests. Uh they are going to be given three times during the course of the year. teachers will be able to use that data to uh inform their instruction and develop small group uh instruction and also differentiate for their students accordingly. They're able to also monitor the students progress throughout the year in a more streamlined fashion. In math, as we always do every year, we take the state release questions and we create packets. The teachers use these packets to assign do- Nows, homework, uh small groupoup instruction, and it's just a natural way to embed test

048prep in uh just everyday instruction. Go math tests were now migrated using datamate. Datamate is a platform that's very similar to the platform students are going to be using to take the New York State assessments. So by doing this they'll get familiar with the tools they'll get familiar with the style how to answer questions online so that in the spring when they take the test they are prepared. We also developed which is new the math and scope and sequence for our pre kindergarten program so that it outlines the math units for the teachers throughout the school year. As Mr. Cavalier mentioned we have a new science program. I was actually part of the science committee where we kind of explored different science programs and this program uh in uh incorporated writing incorporated reading it incorporated

049hands-on experiences to really prepare the students not only for um exploration of science concepts but to also prepare them for the New York State test it that they have to take in grade five. Uh they have live animals. Fifth grade is getting ready to get geckos delivered to the building in the next week or so. Uh and I actually because I know a question is probably going to say what what are the live animals for the other grades. So here we go. Kindergarten has beta fish. First grade has hermit crabs. Second grade has meal worms and pill bugs. Third grade has painted lady butterfly eggs. Fourth grade has crayfish and the fifth grade as I mentioned have geckos. Um, with this new program, the committee were able to develop pacing guides so that it gives

050a clear map of how the teachers are going to implement the the units to make sure that all of those units are addressed um within the year. And we also developed teacher prep forms. It's an easy snapshot reference sheet where the teachers can look. They can see what's available to them in the kit, what they have to supply for the uh for the for the units and then also what needs to be ordered so that they're prepared to implement these units. We also adopted a social studies program for our kindergart kindergarten through fifth grade regional social studies. It's teaching students how to analyze documents. They have online resources where they can explore those topics. Uh exploring primary and secondary documents and it encourages uh writing which is something that we want to uh implement across

051the curriculum areas. It is my uh and then the last thing is as he mentioned we uh streamline the academic intervention progress reports so that they reflect the New York next generation standards and it also reflects the objectives that they're addressing in the current programs that Elmont is uh implementing. So, it bring gives me great pleasure to work with a team of teachers who are so passionate about education, know our children, and know what they need. Um, and I just want to say thank you to all of the teachers that I had the privilege of working with. And now I'm turning it over to is it Fernando. There you go. All right. Good evening, everyone. Welcome. Uh, my name is Fernando Darlo. I'm the director of technology for the district. And it's funny that I'm

052following Miss Cassim. Miss Cassim always says he's a proud principal of the Dutch way school. Little fun fact, I'm a proud graduate of the Dutch way school. So I'm very happy. I'm Dutch Broadway lion through and through. So I'm very happy to always come home. Um Dr. Lagande and I are going to share this slide with initiatives. What we want to do is update uh we already updated the staff but also the community on two important technology updates as well as a safety update and then human resources. Um, so I'm going to start off with Parent Square and kind of do the two. So what is Parent Square? We already um informed uh our staff members before they left in June that they were coming back to use this new communication platform. Um and we

053have sent invitations and invites to parents and we wanted to give you a little more information. So basically Parent Square is a unified communication platform. What do I mean by that? There's three things that Parent Square is helping us out with. Number one, direct communication between parents and teachers. Number two, communication between the building administration, central office administration and its parents and its staff. And third, the website. Okay, so that's another important way that the district communicates um with its with its staff and its community. Well, parent, if you think about it, is replacing three different platforms that we had last year. So, in 2425, we were using Remind for parent teacher uh messages. We're using connected for parent and staff uh communications between the district office and and the building and we have a

054website platform called syntax. So with this here with parent square the district has merged three communication platforms into one. We also wanted to let them know the community that another goal that we reached with parent square is we became much more cost-effective and by that I mean is if last year we were paying for three different databases that's three different yearly subscriptions three different maintenance and service contracts. So with parent square we were able to eliminate those and only pay for one. Okay. So uh if you don't mind I have to kind of do double duty. I'm going to grab this and I wanted to show everyone that we created a very uh important resource page. I want to thank Mrs. Wall. Where is she? Miss Waffle. Where is she? Miss Waffle sends me. She's

055like, "Ferno, please." She sends me a sample of another district that had uh parent uh parent square family resources page. And she's like, "Ferno, we need something like this." So, she sent it. We modeled it. And I want to I'm very happy to show this to the community. So, you know where to find it as well as our teachers who are here as well because I think you'll find it helpful. I got it. Okay. I'm sorry. I'm going to have to sit down, but I'll I'll just uh go through this. Oh, no. I didn't want to show that. Hold on. Okay. Oh, loud. Okay. If you look at our This is our current website. Okay. Elmontschools.org. Wait, where is it? Hold on a second. [Music] You got it. Put it on the on the website.

056No, on the new one. No, hold on. On the current. All right. Sorry about that. Here we go. Okay. So, this is our current website, elmontschools.org. Uh, we want to let you know that if you look at resources, if you click on resources on the top, there's going to be a dropown for parents square family resources. There we created a page. Um, it talks about what parent square is. uh some features of parent square how a parent can register um and very important we added this this is a click here v stepby-step guide on how a parent can get the invite and register um very quick easy steps uh uh there's a video tutorial um which is in English and Spanish uh frequently asked questions how do I register for parent square there's also information

057on how to download the app. How do I manage notifications and language settings? Uh it's very important to note here that um parents when they download the app and I'm just let me go through this because there's 10 tips for guardians and uh parents also but this is important. Will parents receive notifications from parent square if they do not sign up for parents square? So, I want to let everyone know that if parents do not download the app and do not register an account, they still will get updates from Parent Square. As long as their phone number and their email is correct um in Parent Square and in e school, they will still get messages. Um obviously the benefit and we're uh encouraging parents to download Parent Square because what they're going to get with

058the app, think about your Facebook or your Instagram feed. You're going to get a beautiful feed of what's going on in your child's school. you're going to be directly connected to your child's teacher. So, we encourage you to do so, but I if a parent does not download or register an account, they will still get um information. Uh it also talks about um if a student is no longer in the in the school, what can they do to unsubscribe, but again, I just wanted to show everybody that this is here um again under resources and parent square family resources. Okay, so I hope that's helpful. Uh, next, like I talked about, we have the website and I am happy to show that our new website for Parent Square looks like this. Um, so we're going

059from this is part of our our home screen now. And in about two weeks, we're going to go to this brand new website. Um, as you can see here, this is a parent square website. This is not live. I just wanted to let everyone know that the district is going to take the two days during the Jewish holiday of Rashashana. Um when schools are closed and parents and teachers will not have to access the website um we're going to go ahead and flip the switch from our syntax site to our parent square site. So everyone's going to see on the homepage they'll see um this is a 30 secondond clip of 5 seconds of each school. So I just wanted to highlight really quick two things. If you notice here we talk about translation. One

060of the things that we wanted to go with parent square is that here this is a Google button and it translates over 180 languages. Okay, so that button is on there everywhere. So I just want to show how easy it is to use. You can just click um Spanish. Hold on. Spanish. And there it translates right into Spanish. Okay. The other dominant language in the Elmont school district are Haitian creole and erdu. So I just want to highlight those hold on that was not Haitian creole but hold on there we go. There's Haitian creole and then there's final one is erdo. Just let you know this button is on every single page. Um this button is on every single page and again we want to do this to give our parents the ability to say

061you know that they can understand and follow everything in their own language. So um that is the Google translate piece. Okay. One other thing I wanted to show um Dutch so Dutch Broadway since we're Dutch Dutch Broadway I just wanted to highlight a quick school. Um, so you'll see Dutch Broadway and this is every single um every single school. So the way this is going to work is the drone footage instead of a 5-second drone footage, it's going to be 15 seconds of the school, which I think we think looks great. Um, the about us is usually the message or an about us about Dutch Broadway. Here I wanted to show you that we have upcoming events. Um, what's going to happen on the Parent Square website is that you're going to have the first

062first six events showing up or the the next six coming up for the school. If the parent does want to see a full calendar, there's a full calendar here and it will show the school's events that your child's go to as well as districtwide events. Um, latest news and this is from districtwide. Okay, so this is important. So these links that parents see here, I just wanted to show you where they are on the old site. So if you go to So if you go on our current site, the links that you see here are all going to be on the bottom on the new parent square site. Those are all here. And finally, what makes what makes us great that is um each uh school building will have their vision statement and their and

063their mission along with how many students they have enrolled and faculty members. So I hope with this too you get a good idea again of of why we joined parent square. Um it really is meeting all our communication needs. Again um this website will be uh visible as of September 24th. Okay. Um I have one more. Okay. So installation of new interior doors. Just quickly um as far as the safety measures. So, we're very happy to say that we're going to be well, first, let me just say this. Let me take everyone back a few years ago of what our security looked like at Dutch Broadway. If you were to be here 3 years ago and you walk through that back door, you would see a teacher aid or someone that we trained on a

064table ringing and buzzing somebody in as they come in and that visitor would sign a visitor's book and we would physically or manually put a visitor's badge on their shirt. Three years on, now we have state-of-the-art vestibules. We have a professional guards with Allied. Each building is outfitted with over 30 interior and exterior cameras. So, we've really come a long way and we wanted to tell the parents and the community that and the staff members that along with improving and doing better, our big safety initiative for this year are going to be the interior security doors. So, starting in the fall, we're going to be replacing 350 um interior doors throughout the district. And those doors will also have lockown capability. So, there's two things that we're going to do with this. Number one, the

065teachers will have a private access with their existing card into their classrooms that only they can get into. And number two, the lockdown capability. So, these doors, these new doors will be outfitted that as soon as a principal or staff member hits that lock down button, instead of a teacher having to worry about look for his or her keys and lock their own door, as long as the door is locked, once that lockown button is pressed, the door automatically locks. So in in essence, we're basically saving the teaching staff time, the 15, 20, 30 seconds it may take them to lock their door so they can focus more on, you know, getting their students hovering in the corner, shutting off the light, and staying quiet. Um, so that's one of the uh safety initiatives. Now,

066the timeline that we put, and this is something that we told the staff, and I'll just finish with this, is we're starting in the fall. We're starting in November. So what's going to happen is in each school, for example, here at Dutch Broadway, you're going to have two sets of vendors. You're going to have the vendors who are going to be they'll say okay we're working on a hallway today. They'll replace all the doors the door vendor and the door vendor will be followed by the security company who this evening that we are working very hard to refine all of our systems and processes and that's no different uh with human resources. So there are three programs that we are launching in the district on October 1st. The frontline absence management platform right now we

067are using a paperbased program. So we're moving away from paperbased and using online platform. So teachers will be able to record their absences online or call into a number and that will enable us to not only manage it, approve it, but it'll be much easier for them. Uh the other program that we're moving again from paperbased to online and also automating our system is through our evaluation process. So every teacher in our district is evaluated uh and is observed. untenure teachers observed three times, two announced, one unannounced, and our tenure teachers observed twice. And so to be able to help our administrators work more efficiently and effectively, uh the Danielson rubric, which is what's used for our teacher evaluations, will be uploaded onto the evaluation platform. In addition to the administrator rubrics, will also be

068on the on the platform. What makes this easier is when we have to report to the state, we do not have to manually calculate using Excel spreadsheets. Those systems are automatically updated into the system that um manages that. The last the last bullet is the employee assistance uh program. We are incredibly excited because we invest in our children and the best investment that we make is our teachers. Happy teachers, happy students. And so with the employee uh assistance program, every single staff member in our district has an opportunity to get the support that they need because everyone's well-being is important. The well-being of our custodians, the well-being of our cafeteria workers. So happy staff, happy students to be able to um give our staff the resources. We will have an online program. So we will

069have an online platform that they will be able to register and confidentially contact either a therapist, life coach or even learn different different aspects of their job. So this system enables them to access 14,000 CO online courses that could also be self-managed. So we're super excited to introduce the EAP program. Thank you. [Applause] Sorry. Okay. We'll now have the report from our attorney. Thank you, President Capers. Uh the first resolution for the board's consideration is be it resolved that upon the recommendation of the audit committee, the Elmont Union Free School District's Board of Education accepts and adopts the independent auditor's report prepared by RS Abrams regarding internal controls related to information technology for the period ending May 31st, 2025. The report on facilities maintenance. the corrective action plan regarding information technology, the corrective action plan

070for facilities maintenance, and the risk assessment update report. Is there a motion? >> Move. >> Thank you. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. All in favor? >> Thank you. Motion carries 70. The next resolution for the board's consideration is be it resolved that the board of education hereby approves an employment agreement with Pamela Stitus as director of curriculum and instruction. Do we have a motion? >> Moved by Mr. Palmer. Is there a second? >> Second by Mr. Ramos. All in favor? >> Thank you. Approved. 70. The next resolution. Be it resolved that the board of education hereby approves an employment agreement with Rita Johnson as interim director of English as a new language, ENL. Is there a motion? >> Moved by Miss Battle. Is there a second? Second. >> Second by Miss

071Capers. All in favor? >> I >> approved 70. And the final resolution for the board's consideration. Be it resolved that the Elmont Board of Education hereby appoints Steve Casarda as the hearing officer in the matter of disciplinary proceedings against employee B. The hearing will be conducted in accordance with civil service law section 75. Hearing officer Casarda is hereby directed to cause a transcript to be made of the hearing which will be referred to the board along with his findings of fact and recommendations as to penalty if any for review and final decision by the board. Be it further resolved that the Elmont Board of Education hereby authorizes the suspension without pay of employee B for up to 30 calendar days. Is there a motion? >> Moved by Miss Capers. Is there a second? >> Seconded

072by Mr. Palmer. All in favor? >> I. >> Approved 70. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Gomez. Members of the board, I seek a motion to approve personnel agenda items 5.1 5 through 5.2 with the exception of 5.1 BH. >> May I have a motion to approve personnel item agenda items 5.1 through 5.2 with the exception of 5.1 item 8. move. >> Thank you, Miss Battle. Second. >> Thank you, Miss Douglas. All in favor? >> Motion carries. >> I seek a motion to approve curriculum agenda items six 6.1. >> May I have a motion to approve curriculum agenda item 6.1? >> I have a motion. >> Thank you, Miss Make. Thank you, Dr. Will Massie. May I have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Miss Battle. All in favor? >> I. >> Motion carries.

073>> I seek a motion to approve support services. This is agenda item 7.2. >> What about 7.1? >> 7.1. 7.1. A bigger. May I have a motion to approve agenda item 7.1, the committee on special education, the committee on preschool education, and the and the section 504 committee? >> Move. >> Thank you, Mr. Ramos. Second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Dr. Willer Massie. All in favor? >> I. >> Motion carries. >> I seek a motion to approve business agenda items 8.1 through 8.5. May I have a motion to approve business agenda items 8.1 through 8.5? >> Move. >> Thank you, Mr. Ramos. Second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Palmer. All in favor? >> Motion carries. >> I would like um before I conclude my report, I would like to congratulate Mrs. Tidus on a

074new appointment. Mrs. Triioni on her new appointment, Mrs. Johnson on her new appointment and Mr. Cavaleri on his new appointment. Thank you, Madame President. That concludes the superintendent's report. >> Thank you, Mrs. Sw. Do we have any committee reports orformational items? >> All right. Board committee assignments. Uh the board met and discussed these assignments earlier and we we would like to offer the following appointments for our committees. Health and safety, Mr. Palmer and Miss Battle. Facilities, Mr. Khan and Miss Douglas. and policy committee, Dr. Willa Massie and Mr. Ramos. All in favor? >> I. >> Thank you, Mr. Palmer. Second. I heard Miss Battle. >> I'm sorry. I I did that wrong. Yeah, but you guys knew just what to do. Thank you. Thank you. Uh the the motion was Mr. Palmer. The second was

075Battle. All in favor? >> Motion carries. Thank you. Do we have any old business? >> Any new business? Is there anyone in the audience that would like to speak? And I ask that you limit your comments to three minutes. And I remind you that whether it be praise or problem, please refrain from using any of our employee names and that you take your first course of action or either of the two would be to your building administration and then our superintendent. Please state your name and uh your concerns. >> Good evening. I'm Michelle Lewis. Um, I have two concerns. Um, in May, I came up to the board. I presented some questions that were forwarded to the district clerk who forwarded to the attorney. The three questions regarding um the shared responsibility of the review

076of the bylaws, term limits for the board members, and how can we be briefed on which sections were being revised? I heard tonight that there was a committee um just that there was appointment of two members of the board. I just recently heard it. Um I think you just guys voted on it. And I would like to know is that committee the one of the committees that's going to be under consideration and open to the public for participation on the committee. >> U we'll take your question and someone will get back to you. >> Okay. Thank you. So, in May when I forward this, I thought I was going to get a response from um the attorney. So, shall I not respect expect a response? May 22nd it was forwarded. >> Um perhaps there was

077a hiccup, but I did respond. I I don't know if it didn't make its way to you, but I did send the district a response. So, we'll make sure that gets over to you because I received and responded to your question. >> Just follow up and make sure you have the right emails because I didn't get the response. Um, I don't email residents directly, but I provide my response to the district and someone in central administration will send my response to the individual residents. So, we'll make sure you get that. >> So, the response if I go look for it, it would have came from the district clerk, not you. >> It it would I can't say who in central administration would have sent it to you, but I will look into it directly after

078this meeting and make sure that it makes its way over to you. >> Okay. And then so um >> before we move off that, Miss Lewis, we'll just make sure I said before we move on to your next concern, we'll follow up with you with a phone call tomorrow just to make sure. >> Oh, no. Phone calls don't work. You can >> Well, just to make sure that you got the email. I know you want your response in writing. >> I won't be able to. No, I just won't be able to answer your phone during the day. No worries. >> So, I rather it not. >> Okay. And then so the last thing I would like to ask is that um there was a lot of confusion and some fluster regarding a lot of different

079things in the community. But can you clarify to me exactly who votes in the district office when we're seeing those numbers that come in? There is a certain count for the district office. I don't know who could answer that or if I need to forward that as a request if no one knows it tonight. But who who actually votes in the district office? >> When there is election, there's a count that's and the tally there's a a count that's uh acknowledged for voters from the district office. And I would like to just know who votes in the district office. >> Yes, the vote says Elmont Road. Yes. >> Okay. >> We will. >> She has my email and so she can do that. Thank you. >> Good evening. Oh lord. >> Good evening everyone. >>

080Um Reva Whitehead um EIC president as well as Claire H. Carlson treasurer. Um so a you um sorry I don't like microphones. I don't do well with microphones. Anyway, so um I was approached by several parents as well as units in the district um regarding some administration changes. Um I'm just trying to gain clarity on what's going on because I h I don't know how to um what to tell them or how to report back to them. Um I have no idea what's going on. I don't have a clear understanding. So I'm hoping you guys can clear it up for me as well as the wonderful people here. >> Yes. Yes. Thank you, Miss uh Miss Whitehead. I met with I saw you last week and I told you I'd like to schedule a meeting

081with you to go over some of the transitions going on um in the school district um in terms of leadership and initiatives. So, that was part of my reasoning for reach reaching out to you. Um there are some changes with leadership in the district as you can see from the agenda items that were just approved by the board. Uh some of them, for example, Mr. Cabillary sitting here. Um he was an he was the interim director of curriculum instruction last year and he has indicated that he does not want to continue in that role. He was there for a year and so therefore that precipitated a change in the curriculum office. Um I could speak specifically for example um regarding all entries. Uh the the principal uh indicated to us that she would not be

082able to return to start the school year and so therefore we had to find someone uh to cover the building so the building could open smoothly as it did um this school year and therefore we had a we had a a uh reassignment of Mrs. Rodrigo over to all terrace. So there are some things that we didn't have control over that as superintendent I had to advise the board um about the moves that we had to make so that the school system would continue to function so that schools could reopen safely and smoothly and so that we would have instructional leadership building leadership in those buildings. >> Okay. And you may have or you may not have. I'm not sure. But um was the community notified about these changes and that this was going to

083happen that she wasn't going to be returning and >> Yes, the community was in was notified. >> Okay, perfect. >> Thank you, Miss Whitehead. >> Hi, Miss Bean. >> How are you? >> Good evening. Good evening, Michaela Beaman, a Clarage H. Carlson parent. Um first, I want to start off by thanking you for this amazing presentation. I'm very excited about the curriculum, excited about the new people um coming on board, and excited that our superintendent is responsive and meet with people and actually answers emails. I truly appreciate you for that. Um so, first I wanted to ask about the hiring committee. I know we briefly talked about it. Um, one of the concerns that I do have is that speaking about like, you know, the community and community notification, just to give you a little

084bit of uh, context before you came to us, Mr. Small, and gave us all this great work. We had superintendent coming in and a lot of people didn't know what was the criteria that was being used for the superintendent, what are we exactly asking in these interviews? How are we establishing who gets interviewed? So giving that same inquiry into like the teachers that we're bringing in, I would like to know a little bit more about how are we identifying our talent? How are we bringing these people in? And also, you know, we talked about accreditations and how are we really targeting individuals who have the most certifications? Because like as I've been championing for more special education certifications, more gifted and talented, you know, our neighbor right along the border, New York City, they have

085an entire gifted and talented program from kindergarten into fourth grade. So if they're pulling enough people for an entire program for four grades, I I think five grades. I think we can do something similar maybe if we're collaborating, if we're talking with them, like how are you targeting people? How are you getting your pull together? >> Yeah. So, >> oh very good. >> Um in terms of um instructional leaders leadership in the buildings when we hire principles and assistant principles which we have done this year um for each building we typically invite uh u members of the PTA uh the PTA will submit um the parents who will commit who will be part of the committee. Um we also invite uh teachers to be a part of it. So we'll reach out to the teachers

086union who will recommend to us the teachers who will be on the committee and from for all the other bargaining units um we invite um them to sub submit individuals to participate in the committee. So the committee for principles is a very broadbased committee ma made up of stakeholders from the committee from from the the school community um teachers um parents clerical staff uh custodial staff um staff members from the the um food services department and our aids. Um, oftentimes because this was being done over the summer, some people might not able to to come to to the to the committee interviews, but we try to get a broad-based uh community involvement from that school community for for the leadership in the building for principles and and assistant principles. When we do um teachers, we

087also um do um teachers sit on the committee with the building administration and someone from central administration. So, uh, the curriculum director will often times be a part of it. If it's special ed, someone from the special education department will be there, um, and other teachers in the building. And then, um, the committee, um, works its way through those candidates and, um, recommend individuals to central office where Dr. Leande and I and Mr. Cavaleri will also um, um, do those interviews before we recommend someone to um, the board of education. We try to get people who have broad-based certifications. Obviously, we we look for uh teachers who have uh ENL certification because we have a a a large amount of um second language learners. We look for um um teachers who also have a special

088education certification. So when we do um advertise we are trying to get people with multiple certifications because we do know that with those certifications they are trained to meet the diverse needs of our students. Uh you and I have spoken about gifted and talented as you can see that we are doing a significant amount of uh uh initiatives. Um and we have spoken about not that we are opposed to it but the issue is we will not be able to do K through six for um a gifted and talented and it's not something that we have right now because we have to budget for it. So if you can see for example one of the things that the board did on my recommendation this year is we've hired more physical education teachers so that we

089can offer more uh physical education classes to our students. So, um, all students K through, um, preK through six will be getting two periods of physical education as opposed to one where, um, students were getting it. Um, we wrestled with this year h offering a second language in grades five and six. Unfortunately, we were not able to get uh, teachers with that certification. So, we then move in consultations with our principles about offering um, STEM. And so we offered um we hired three teachers um to enable us to offer STEM classes to our fifth and sixth graders because one of the things we want to do is get them better prepared as they're getting ready to go up to the high school. In in in doing so we've um we have engaged the services of

090a consultant to work with the teachers to provide them with the curriculum to provide them with training so that there can be consistency in the quality of the education that the students will be getting in all six buildings. And so we are working on those things. Um we are not ruling out um gifted and talented. It is the fact that we have to be strategic in how we approach it and ensure that we have the appropriate budgetary allowances for that. >> Thank you. And um I do note that you gave me that wonderful answer in email as well. So I do appreciate you now educating the rest of the group for that. I have a followup though now that I've seen you didn't tell me you had this amazing presentation coming up. So from this

091presentation I see that we have so much that we're adding. We're adding enrichment. We're adding all these things. So I have a question about what are the goals that we are actually trying to accomplish by bringing in all this new change and how are we going to measure that objectively? Is it going to be New York State, you know, standardized testing or is there something else that we're going to use to assess how all these changes are really improving our children's education? So the goal as always is to provide our students with the most enriched education opportunities um that we can offer them. Obviously that um we are not only focusing on academics, we're also focusing on the arts. So that's why we're expanding um um the dance and classrooms program. Um in previous years

092it was in one building. This year we've expanded it to two additional buildings. We know that our students must be well-rounded. It's not just academics. We have to do the arts. Not every child come to school want to um engage in academic activity. They have other interests and strengths that we want to focus on. So with um dancing classrooms that's one enrichment that we're providing. The theater program another program that we are offering our students that we believe will get them adequately prepared um and having enrichment tailored to their strengths for for when they move on to the high school. Um we are also doing where um we're enriching our our curriculum. So hands-on experiences for science where they're not learning science but they're doing science and are able to make observations and generalizations across

093the curriculum as they are doing so. But ultimately what we want for our students is for them to achieve at a high level. And that would be measured on the New York State assessments for grades 3 through um six um the math and um English language arts assessments and the grade F five science assessments. So um ultimately we want our students to achieve at a high level and the easiest way to measure that is through the New York State um assessment programs. But if the New York State assessment is just for grades five and grades six, how >> grades three, four, five, and six? >> Yes, my apology. So it's from 3 to six. How are we going to measure the improvements from prek to two? >> Because what the assessments do they they're while

094they are tested in three through six. >> It is testing skills and um content that has also been taught um in the building block um grades in grades K 1 and two. So while those classes are not being tested by New York State, the kids have to be adequately prepared um by the time they get to grade three. So how our children do in grades three through six is is a reflection of the foundational grades preK through grade two. So um so while they're not being assessed in those grades, we're collecting data on them as they're going up so we could know which students need the additional support so that they could be adequately prepared as they go forward. So, and out of curiosity, what data are we collecting? So, it's not going to be

095New York State standardized. >> No, it's not going to be. We have our benchmarking NWA. Um, we have the font panel um benchmarking. We have um chapter test um from from math and we have writing um um prompts that we do to our students, things that we expect them to be able to do. So, while they're not being tested by the state, we're collecting data as they go forward and we're using that data to guide instruction to guide what support we provide them as they go through the grades. >> Can we anticipate a presentation at the end of the school year of like h of how they performed before we did all these great changes to the curriculum and how we're seeing any changes or >> Yes. So, what we normally do last year in

096December, I gave the board, we gave the board, Mr. vocabulary gave the board a presentation in New York State assessments. One of the things we can do at the end of the year is also give um um the board an overview of our local assessments about how our children do. So that's something that we can do. But in December, we'll give um the community and the board um a report and a presentation about how our students have done on the New York State assessments. I am proud to report that we have seen incremental improvements and and so we'll have that presentation in December. You mentioned that we're doing quarterly lit literacy assessments, right? Um with respect to how they're reading. Are we going to be coordinating with our library so that as the students whatever

097let's say if they're reading on a M level >> that there's something in a database where the students can go to the library like I try to take my kids to the library but if the librarian doesn't know what their reading level is and how it's going along with their quarterly literacy assessments I think it'll make it more streamlined. Obviously, one of the things that we do, we want to have strong partnership with the with the local library, right? Um we have programs where I know the younger grades are taken to the library for field trips to get their um to get their library cards, right? Um one of the things that I used to do when I was a principal is the librarian used to come and meet with all the kids in June

098prior to summer to encourage um summer reading and to help them to to make sure that they all have a summer so um have their library cards. Uh but one of the things for me as as a parent and both also for our students when our kids go to the library we want them to be able to choose the book of their choice >> right we don't want it to be something that is being imposed on them. So whether or not they like to read about sports or whatever their choice is because the summer reading program is to encourage kids to read for the enjoyment of reading not for um what is being assigned to them to do. So, while we will continue to build those partnerships and to be um having a close collaboration

099with the librarians, we want to make sure the kids have um the library cards, want to make sure that they visit the library on a regular basis, but we also want to make sure it's being done in a fun way where they're choosing what they want to read as opposed to when they're in school and the teachers are assigning them the reading assignment. And so, for the love of reading, we want to give them that choice and voice when they go to the library during the summertime. I have um one two recommendations and one question. Yes. >> So my one recommendation is with social studies. Yes ma'am. You mentioned having primary and secondary documents. I think in addition to exploring primary and secondary documents, it's important for our children to understand >> sources and bias

100from a source. I think as our children are taking in information, they should be able to understand that what is a reliable source of information like maybe the Washington Post or New York Times as a newspaper article with journalists who have some kind of integrity as opposed to getting your news off of Tik Tok, >> talking to like the the younger generation. A lot of them are getting their news off of Tik Tok from a user who's telling them something. And so I think they should >> I think that's embedded in the instruction when the teachers um have reading with the students. you know, facts, opinions, how do you judge reliable source? It's done as an embedded part of um um the reading instruction um in the classroom. >> Beautiful to hear. The other recommendation

101that I have is we talked about happy teachers. I think we should also with the EAP component um make sure that we have initiatives that are focusing on retention and ensuring healthy workplace climate so that our teachers are having like the overall positive experience. But the question that I have is for security lockdown. We talked about having security here from Allied. Do we have NCPD advertised having liaison patrol every single school? Do we have that in place in our schools? Um and also are we coordinating with NCPD that maybe have offduty police officers serve as security guards as well or are we only doing allied? >> We do all allied now because we have a contract with them. A lot of school districts make the det the the the determination. Do they want to have

102retired um police officers as their security staff? Do they want to have um people who have um guns as as part of their security staff? Um so that's a district that that's a decision that as a district if push come to shove that we'll have to make. Do we want to have that in our buildings or do we are we satisfied um with the current arrangement that we have with allied security? So far we are satisfied with them and so I don't think the board and I are at the stage where we have to reconsider that um security arrangement but it's not something that we're ruling out. If the if the security atmosphere across the district changes, then that's a discussion the board and I will have to have about whether or not we have

103police officers and whether or not we want someone on school campus with with weapons with our students. >> All right. Thank you so much for your time and for your efforts. >> Thank you, Miss Beman. >> Hi, Miss Crick. >> How are you? >> Good. Um, take these off. Okay. So, I'm going on my 10th year here at Dutch Broadway. Um, actually, yeah. Um, one of my concerns is I feel like we're still chasing clean water >> in the buildings. >> Clean water to drink. Um, in June, as you guys know and everyone knows, we had like unprecedented heat waves experiences in this gym. we were dying during different events and things. But um I had a unique event where my daughter's class, they went on a trip, >> which was cool, but they left

104a hot school, >> got on a hot bus, >> and they were forbidden from bringing their water bottles with them, >> I don't allow my daughter to drink the water in the school because I know the history of the water and the lead and every just in general. So now with our current lead reports, I'm wondering where are we with bringing the lead faucets and the kitchens and Alden and Gotham and Stewart Manor? Why are we still chasing this kind of basic thing of having lead free water where we give food to the kids for the kids to drink >> and things of that nature. >> Okay. Um what I can do I could follow up with the building to see what is the practice in terms of students having water bottles on their desk.

105Um I am not particularly opposed to children having water bottles on a field trip especially during the summer. So, I would have to um ask some questions to get a a proper answer for you. >> Well, can the board is there something that would preclude the board from making a rule >> that children can have water if they need it? >> Students could have water if they need it. I I think I'm putting on my hat as a former principal and teacher is the fact that sometimes the bottle water um the bottle on the desk can be a distraction with students, but we're not opposed to it. I would have to do more investigation to figure out what was happening in June, especially it's the end of the school year. It was very hot. Whether

106or not students were denied the opportunity to bring water bottles with them, >> right? Well, this is not in the school. This was they went out. >> Yes. So, that's what I'm saying. Why? I don't understand why that would happen. So, let me do some check. Let me do some checking to see what happened with that. >> Okay. And then what is where are we with the lead situation with all of these different >> with the lead situation that we have? We had about four or five um faucets that were um put out of service, right? >> Um we changed um Mr. Walker, you could help me out here. We changed the the >> the faucets um and we are still working on a fix for those four four um um faucets. Um those faucets

107are off. They are not accessible to children, so they're not a threat to students or staff. >> Okay. But we from the report we have about 70 throughout the district that are out of service. >> So it seems like the trend is we find lead no more. We shut it off but why are we not fixing replacing you know these things so that they're >> I could tell you those things were off before they were off before my tenure year. I don't know the reason behind why they were off. >> Um so that is something and I wouldn't be able to tell you why they were turned off. Right. I could tell you for example in this current um um situation we have for example a faucet that's in the basement of PPS nobody goes

108on there nobody uses it right but it was tested so I could see a decision being made that since it's not being used why are we having it on anyway you know um so >> 70 and these are portable >> but those were done over many years and I couldn't speak to why they were turned off >> can Miss Capers since I think you've been here the longest. Do you know >> why we haven't, you know, addressed all of these? >> Someone will look into it and get back to you. >> Okay. So, that means we don't know. >> Okay. Um, the other thing I wanted to ask about was the air conditioning. >> Like, it's been technically years now since we voted approved. >> We still like what why do we not have the

109people like, "Oh, it's up there." And I'm like where you know we died in the not died but you know um during graduation time some I was one of the families that died in here then had to go to the library and die waiting outside to get in. You know it's a happy teacher, happy staff. Y'all need happy parents too, right? Because happy parents are going to really be the crux of happy children. So I still and I do have a sentiment that parents are kind of our comfort is not necessarily always on the top of the list. >> Yes. Um I'm happy to report that um we are in the process of installing the transformers that will power the new um HVAC system. Um one building so far has had a transformer in installed

110and connected. three buildings is transformers were were um installed at uh Stewart Manor, Covert Avenue, and Gotham Avenue. Um Stewart Manor is now up and fully functioning and now the contractors are making a time frame for um doing the others. I don't know the time frame for this one. What I will tell you though is how our hope and our goal is to have the transformers up and ready um by spring of 2026 so that we'll be having we'll have it ready the AC ready for the the the heat season starting in June. >> Okay. And one more thing on the parent side of things. One of my ongoing issues, as some of you may know, has been a lack of inclusion of parents in the reading structure at our schools. >> You mentioned Fontis

111and Panel still, you know, >> I am at least um stimulated that we're making changes, >> but we also know that again Fountain of Panel has been found to have been controversial research wise. So, we're still using kind of what everyone else has kind of done away with or many have done away with. So, we're we're behind with that. And then the other thing is that, you know, three kids here, >> I cannot remember ever being given a breakdown of what these assessments include, the running record, per se. We get a a random letter on uh in conference and that's all we ever know. And it's hard to assist your child when you don't really understand what their status is in their reading development. >> So, I don't know if any of these programs you

112mentioned have the structure to accommodate parent coaching and parent assistance. It can't just be the teachers. >> Absolutely. So here's what we I know we would have to do better and we will endeavor to do that is something akin to parent university where we will have regular workshops where our reading teachers or building administrators will have the opportunity to go over with the principal with their parents what is the curriculum what are the assessments we do how do we use those assessments to drive instruction and how can parent support users at at home and support their students. We will endeavor to do a better job at that. um just give us some time to work on that. >> Okay. But what I'm really asking for is customized feedback. >> Yes. No, that would be part

113of it. We get if I'm not mistaken I think we get like 15 minutes is it for parent teacher conference and you know so >> with parent teacher conference is you we have those during the course of the year but you can schedule a meeting at any point to go even though you just get those 15 minutes to schedule additional time to have those questions answered with your your child's teacher. >> Okay. But I hope that the goal is for everyone to get that feedback automatically. If other parents need it, they can do so. I'm saying to you that if you are not satisfied with the parent teacher conference time aotment, you can schedule an additional meeting with parents to go over your child's >> My concern is not I just mentioned that as a

114reference. My point is that >> we don't get a breakdown of what these reading assessments entail for our child. So in other words, even New York State, when they take New York State, when we get the results later, they tell us where they were weak, where they were strong. We don't get that here >> at all. I don't think I've ever gotten it. And so that is why I'm continuing to push for reading programs that will give us real time feedback because also too by the time we get the assessment from running record it's three three and a half months later you can't catch your child you know where they may have been in October if you don't get that information until December. >> Okay. So, we need something that in real time the parents

115and we shouldn't have to chase it. It shouldn't have to be, oh, I'm a hands-on mom, so I find out what my kid is doing and where they are and what they need. We need something where in real time, parents can get regular. Just like with math, in in math, we get the the tests, we know where they are, you know, what they got wrong, this and that. We need something where parents can assist their kids in an ongoing manner throughout the school year, not just, you know, quarterly or in February for part. >> Thank you, Miss Craig. Anyone else? >> Super quick question, I promise. So, I just got a message from someone asking um they're used to getting um notifications from the district um via the app, but now that they've switched the

116app, is there going to be some way of like like can can community members um join the parent square app? Probably not, but um yes, >> we could find out about that. Right now, we're using um people who are in our student management system, e school, which is what generates it. Those are our parents. Um we would have to um have more dialogue with parent square about people who are not part of our student management system. >> Okay, perfect. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Whitehead. Anyone else? All right, our next regular meeting of the board of education and another audit committee meeting is Tuesday, October 14th at 7:30 p.m. at Gotham Avenue School. May I have a motion to adjour adjourn the public meeting? Thank you, Mr. Ramos. Second, Mr. Palmer. >> Second, Miss

117M. Sorry. >> Thank you, Mr. Palmer. Second, Miss Douglas. All in favor? I. >> Motion carries. Thank you. Motion carries. Have a good night.