001e e sure on your mhm good evening I'll call the meeting to order at this time we'll have members of Boy Scout Troop 51 lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance a pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States America and to the rep for it stands one na God indivisible with liy first item on the agenda tonight is the approval or revision of the agenda and I do have a request for the board in regards to um revise in the agenda but first is there a motion to approve thank you Daryl second thank you Kelly um so we have a number of of our students who have come to speak to the board this evening in regards to mental health issues and I want to make sure that they get their time
002and we all know our public comment session is limited to 3 minutes um we also would like to um have um Mr Furlong leave a little early this evening and with those two things in mind and also keeping in mind that we do have a lot of folks who want to hear the mental health pres or discussion that we're going to have I'm thinking it may be a good idea if we were to move um public comment down on the agenda so that um our next item of business would be the full budget presentation followed by the superintendent report the 2031 because that that is um mostly in regards to mental health uh we would follow that report with public comment um for everyone with the exception of we have eight students who have signed
003up to speak about mental health and I don't want to cut any of them off um I know we all want to hear what they need to say so um they could be moved if um to under when we go to committee reports under um Hannah's report um the student report that would allow them because I know some of them are they have a lot to say and I know they're not going to take 10 20 minutes but you know four five six minutes I I I don't want to you know disrupt our process for public comment but I do want to make sure the kids are heard tonight and we can discuss other opportunities for them as well so with that being said um I do want to request that we amend the agenda
004to move 2.01 budget presentation up to 1.03 and 2.03 superintendence report up to become 1.05 and I believe there's another item for consent agenda Sherry yes uh I want to include sorry um give me just a minute to find it there it is so we would like to the Board of Education would like to appoint Matthew Fletcher as a designated 504 hearing officer so that would go under consent agenda as item 6.07 because there is a hearing that we want to him to be able to um oversee um and not have that delayed so that would be item 6.07 appointment of Matthew Fletcher as the 504 impartial hearing officer yes as a designated 504 hearing officer okay thank you further any questions or thoughts from the board could we leave that separate just so we
005can get a little bit more background information on that and how it's come up where we need to do this right I mean I know that you said it was an emergency appointment but we don't have any background or anything on this first we hearing of it yeah we just heard from legal counsel today parents have requested they've gone through the csse process they believe it to be a 504 we appoint the 504 hearing officers as needed much like we do during the reorg for csse so uh we're hoping to do it tonight yes it's last minute because we just heard from legal counsel today but if we delay action it pushes that whole 504 hearing off for another month thank you uh yes I would just like to add that um I think it
006would be very uh helpful and important to move uh the eight students who want to speak uh under the student representative section just so they have the time needed to um speak I know a lot of students have worked very hard on what they've uh written to come present tonight and it takes a lot of courage to come up and speak so I hope we can uh move it to the student portion for them thank you thank you Hannah okay anything else for the agenda all right um so is there then a motion to approve the amended agenda with those changes thank you Daryl second from Dan any discussion the will the um appointment of the 504 officer be a separate item or should it go under consent I don't know where we landed on
007that Sor yes do you need that pulled out Elena is it fine where it is well cig already gave some background so fine at this point okay so that will be under consent consent agenda is 6.06 seven so we had a first from Daryl and a second from Dan any further discussion all those in favor indicate I I anyone opposed or abstaining all right so we will now go to item 1.04 which is going to be our proposed full budget presentation now Mr Fong good evening everyone I know that the board has uh seen uh the proposed budget in uh previous forms uh during the workshops uh what I'll try and do is hit the highlights and also what has changed since our last last budget Workshop so this evening uh we're going to cover
008again uh revenues uh and for the most part our revenues are made up of you know state aid uh property tax levy and other revenues we'll also cover uh the proposed expenditures for the 2223 budget year I will also cover the bus proposition and last but not least the remaining budget calendar so as a general overview and once again this has really not changed since our uh previous budget discussions you know first and foremost um the budget maintains all existing programs and is in alignment with our District's strategic plan and I think that's important to note because we do have the um we do have the U four priority areas and I think the board is well aware aware of those priority areas but I just want to make sure that everybody is aware that
009those areas do have significant funding um designated for each of those areas um we do see some significant increases this next year uh we do have new debt uh from the um recently completed building projects at Wellwood Enders Road and the high school we're also looking at increasing the budgetary appropriation as you all know for um what we call Capital transfer projects uh to better secure Ender Road and um ventilation at pville elementary and we also have um costs increasing in our special education area uh the remaining cost increases really you contractual in terms of U Collective bargain agreements and we are also seeing like everybody in their personal lives inflationary cost increases that being said the tax of increase is Project to be 1.8% and the last time we talked it was 1.9 once
010the New York state budget was finalized we took some additional state aid and we fin tune some of our other revenues and we were able to get the uh tax of down to 1.8% it is important to note and we'll cover this um in a few slides the tax rate is expected to decrease significantly so over overview you know once again up until uh tonight's meeting we were working with the governor's executive budget proposal now that we have a state budget we can finalize the uh Revenue side uh related to state aid uh the tax will be inre increase once again is well below what we've established uh or is established for us under New York state law and other revenues have been tweaked a little bit since last time but are pretty much a
011fairly insignificant amount of our budget this is our state aid uh line by line and uh we did receive a little bit less in Foundation aid but still still a significant increase year to the year of $2.8 million you can see some of the other areas of state aid are grow grow uh es especially the uh areas of Transportation Aid and building Aid uh high cost Aid is also up uh in total we're up about $3.5 million as for the tax cby limit uh while the Consumer Price Index was uh 4.7% uh this past year we are capped at 2% uh by education law uh we're looking at a taxable growth factor that we get uh real brick and mortar growth in the district of a little more than a quarter per. and our Capital
012exclusion remained about the same died a little bit because some additional building aid but virtually the same as last time we talked uh there really no other qualifying exclusions and pilot agreements have really a minimal impact on the levy limit um so our Levy limit is really 2.91% but as we talked before we didn't need to go go there because of the significant increase in Foundation Aid so we're looking at just an increase uh on the levy of 1.8% that balance our budget so the result is a levy of uh $ 67.5 million increase of almost 1.2 million you know if you look back over the last few years and this is really important to note that whatever Levy we establish the tax rate is actually decreased uh over that time and that's because the
013tax base has been expanding and that's even uh more so this next year uh because we've heard that there's some significant increases in an assessment we'll talk about that in the next slide but that will really drive that tax rate um down into a negative category so last time we gave a couple of examples um we were able to find T net information and this is basically uh a pretty hard estimate on the information that we have currently as to what the real picture is going to be in terms of the tax rate uh and now this is town of man leas which is about 82% of our total uh School District in terms of uh fair market value so we're expecting that overall on average the uh increase in assessments could be about $13,000
014so if we follow the math here you know basically the assess this past year around $100,000 now becomes 113,000 we're looking at now a 1.8% increase in the levy but we calculate that the tax rate in the town of man leas and also in the town of dwit is going to decrease by 11 and A4 per. so if we look at an actual tax bill on that $100,000 property the current tax rate of 2524 and change results in a bill of $ 225248 cense we look at now a new tax rate that 11.25% decrease times 113,000 the bill is $2,532 which is really only an increase of $726 cents you know on a percentage basis that tax bill only went up. 29% so you know it's really important to note is that as our tax
015base increases it's able to spread that Levy over over a larger base and that's in most years this year with significant increases in assessment that were really driven by home sales last year we're seeing uh you know a fairly minimal impact on the individual's tax bill now last time we met we talked about there was a question about town of pompy specifically and town of pompy does not reassess like the town of man leus or the town of dwit where they do not send out a reassessment each year so basically that assessment stays in place until they do what's called a revaluation but in the meantime uh there is an equalization rate set which equalizes quite literally um the fair market value of properties between towns so in the town of pompy and once again
016this is estimated data based upon the information we have currently while the taxable value stays at 100,000 the Equalization rate is dropping from 89% to 78% this next year so if we look at you know the 1.8% in the tax levy it results in a 1.27% increase in the tax rate and that tax bill on that $100,000 property you can see increases from $2,836 to $2,872 an increase of $363 which oh by the way that percentage increase is the same as the tax rate increase now just to kind of highlight how the equals at rates work if you were to take the um if you were to take the tax rate in the town of pompy in the current year the $28.35 and multiply that times the 89 Equalization rate oops let's go backwards that
017that ah sorry about that so if you were to take there we go if you were to take the tax rate $20.36 and multiply that or I'm sorry yeah multiply that by 89 which was the equalization rate that's what you're going to get you're going to get that tax rate in the town of mainley us a 2524 okay so taking the current rate times Equalization rate brings you back to the current town of manle as tax bill the same thing if you were to take that $100,000 property and divide by now 78 which is z equation rate you're get a full market value of 12825 if you took that 12825 and multiply it by the new tax rate at 2240 you're going to get 2872 and I think it comes out to 79 cents So
018within 10 cents of the tax bill that you would get uh either way so I guess my point I know the math you know people who are math challenged um might have a hard time following that but Equalization rates do work out and how they equalize not only the fair market value but also the tax rate as well other revenues as I mentioned before we uh changed them uh in few different places uh the most significant of which was the interest income we increased that significantly uh we do know that interest rates are going up the Federal Reserve is increasing rates uh over this next year and we do know that our interest rates that will be getting will increase as well so we significantly increased our interest income for this next year as for
019the expenditure side of the budget uh I think it's important to note that um you know we are increasing our funding to support the district strategic plan and that includes additional funding for mental health services I know there's a lot of people who are coming here to speak about that tonight but we have been increasing uh funding in that area not only in the current year that we're in but also for this next budget year as well uh payroll is based on proposed Staffing um and also on existing Collective bargain agreements at the same time uh we are projecting changes that have yet to be finalized because of ongoing contract negotiations we are also seeing some cost increases in the area of health insurance and teachers retirement system costs so let's look at the instructional
020program we have to present the budget in What's called the three-part program the first part being the instructional program and this is for the most part uh very similar to what we saw in the third budget Workshop uh one of the difference I do want to highlight is on the second page which is really we did increase uh special education again slightly and I also just wanted to highlight uh this area down here the guidance Health Services social worker psychologist that area is probably the most significant increase in terms of percentage increase of any line item in the budget you know we're up over 10% um almost 12% on that one line item uh special education is probably the second highest percentage increase which is a little bit less than 10% I just think it's
021important to point out that we are uh putting more financial resources in that area as for the administrative budget this did not change and really hasn't changed since our first U First Look at the preliminary budget uh the same goes for the capital um part of our budget which is the third part of the three-part budget as for transfer to Capital uh we are increasing this significantly uh this is really used for limited scope capital projects and as I mentioned before we're looking to utilize that to create a more secure entrance front entrance at Enders Road Elementary uh we're also looking at some security gr upgrades at both Enders Road and fville Elementary and those are security upgrades that we've already Incorporated at other buildings uh and we're also looking at approving the ventilation system
022at faville elementary including the addition of air conditioning uh pending voter and State education department approval that project won't commence until June of 23 with an estimated completion date of September 23 and last but not least uh that cost will be um covered by New York state in terms of building Aid which will cover 71.2% % of that cost uh we also like to highlight employee benefits because it is a significant part of our budget and this is a recap of all the the different cost or line items within the employee benefits area uh you can see that the Employee Retirement System uh is actually decreasing significantly that percentage had been the same for years and U they've made significant changes this next year where the percentage uh that we're paying is decreasing significantly um
023you can see that teachers retirement system is up slightly as is social security but the most significant increas is in the health insurance and really it's Health uh Dental Envision the premiums are remaining flat this next year it's really the health insurance that's that's going up uh overall benefits are going up about 3/4 of a million dollar and looking at the total budget uh we're looking at a 5.9% increase uh the total budget for next year will be 98 m939 um but if you were to really take a look at what's driving that uh there's really you know one-time things related to the transfer to Capital uh increases in special education they're outside the norm and if you take that coupled with the additional debt uh our budget the rest of our budget's really going
024up 3.4% which is usually about where we we nor are as a school district so in summary um you know we're looking at proposed increases um really uh inflation is is one factor uh one thing I didn't highlight was diesel fuel costs uh they're up significantly as people have seen when they pull up to the gas station uh costs been up significantly there and our diesel fuel is um uh we're seeing the same in that regard uh new debt and uh increas in the budgetary appropriation for capital projects and increases in special education uh state aid continues to ride that wave of having Foundation Aid fully funded uh we plan on seeing an additional $2.8 million increase in Foundation Aid next year meaning for the 20324 budget year but I think the one thing that
025I know the paper and the the newspaper article highlighted the budget increase but to me the real news is that the tax ly increase is 1.8% which is fairly low and even better yet the tax rate is decreasing by over a 10% and you'll see that decrease once again in the town of Manus the town of dwit uh we do have a few properties in the town of cenovia and town of Sullivan uh those rates will also be decreasing uh the only town that won't be decreasing will be the town of pomi but we're seeing uh basically a nominal 1.27% increase in the town of pomi and the budget does include funding to support the district strategic plan and currently there's no plans for any reductions to any of the programs that we currently offer
026our students we know that we have a pretty solid program here at fful meas and we want to continue that as for Universal pre uh New York State when they passed their budget increased our funding uh before uh passing the budget we were going to get about $453,000 they increased that to almost $713,000 uh they did not change the per child allocation of $5,400 but basically allowed us to purchase more slots or offer more um services to more students so we're looking at now of being able to service 132 children those are four year olds um we currently do not have the space to offer that program inhouse however we did go out for request for proposal and I know the board is looking at that on their agenda this evening um we have reviewed
027the proposals I know the committee has gone through the selection proog progress or process and hopefully the board will approve those contracts tonight or award those contracts tonight uh we would be looking at starting that program in September uh at the beginning of the normal school year as for buses I know that the governor um has proposed or has passed in the law that we would need to switch over to electric buses uh by 2035 totally switch over and I think it's in 5 years we have to begin that process um you know there was a board meeting not that long ago where some people spoke about you know would the district consider purchasing electric buses we continue to look at you know what we would need to do in that regard um there is
028a cost issue um you know as with our normal bus purchase that the cost doesn't hit for another year uh but be able to turn over the buses and my understanding is the batteries is a significant cost going forward because they have to be replaced every couple years and I know the last time we looked at it it was about $444,000 to replace the batteries on one bus so um there's other issues in terms of how far can you drive with electric buses um and we have to you know really do a pretty significant study on that I'm sure the technology has changed over the last couple years so the technology will continue to get better um but these buses will probably be the the old diesel buses um but we will definitely uh work
029on a project to study electric buses in the future because we have to we're going to have to make that switch at some point in time uh the bus replacement uh proposition that will be up for voters this year is a replacement of six buses um that's one additional than we normally replace but we are looking at having some additional Transportation needs because of the U Universal pre program as for future workshops this is pretty much it you know the board will be hopefully adopting the proposed budget at tonight's meeting uh we will have a budget hearing uh on May 9th just to make sure that the public is well aware of what's in the budget for next year and then there will be the actual budget vote which is the universal vote date the
030third Tuesday in May this year um May 17th I know the board has seen this several times but are there any questions um so on the issue of the electric buses you said that we have to start that process in five years um and there's a big cost associated with that so um I personally I think I mean we should start now not waiting you know as far out as possible but in terms of funding the state's not providing us a lot of resources towards that is that correct well and and just to clarify I wasn't saying that we should really put us off because we don't have to start until 5 years we really need to take a hard look at it now what we need because you know we would need to put
031in charging stations I know that there are some grants that are available to put charging stations and I know that the uh the person who came a board meeting or two ago had talked about the funding that's available that funding is really the difference between your transportation Aid because we will get Transportation Aid on the purchase of those buses and the the total cost of the buses they won't fund the full purchase price um you know currently our transportation Aid ratio is over 70% so we get the majority of that back in trans Transportation Aid um but I think it's more of the logistics of you know how far will they go on a charge are there places that we could recharge you know at the destination um you think of some of our longer
032trips really there are sports trips and field trips uh so you know we'd have to be very uh conscious of how far we can travel on a charge um and you know weather could have an effect you know in colder weather usually batteries uh discharge faster than in warmer weather so these are all things we're going to have to take into consideration um we will have to retrain you know our mechanics uh because they're you know they've been working on diesel buses their entire career so there's there's a lot that's going to need to go into the planning process for this but I agree with you that you know we need to start now on this I sounds like one of our long-term facilities plans where there's going to be a lot that has to
033be done over time so I mean that's something that you all are going to start I assume talking to us more at board meetings and you know year by year what we're going to have to accomplish okay other questions comments from the board okay y I just thank you B I just for the 223,000 that's being allocated for mental health have we decided how those funds will be used yet or that's still in play I would probably want to defer to to Dr Ty on that because he probably has more of the details I know he's given me the numbers but I know he's going to be reporting out I believe during his his superintendent report as well yeah we are looking to increase uh the family school the aens by two more in the
034budget and then as you'll hear in my report we're kicking around the idea of a coordinator for social emotional health Community engagement family engagement partner ships and mental health which would be an administrative position to support those funds for the new potential new position would also be covered by that increase yes they're in the budget okay so I just thanks Bill for that I just want to make sure I understand that increase amount so it's not 220 23,000 of new funding some of that some portion of that is salary increases for existing staff right so like like what I'm curious about is what's what's the dollar amount of new funding I don't have the exact dollar amount of my fingertips but I could get that to you do you know just the approximate breakdown on
035it or well if if not then Le is fine but you know you can probably use a rough estimate of what the salary increases would be so the overall increase is 12% so you could probably back that out you could say the remainder is probably you know a rough estimate as to what the increase was for that you know beyond current Staffing okay thank you Mr Gordon isn't here this evening due to a prior commitment but we all always look at class sizes as he meets with the building administrators so there are new positions in the budget to account for an influx of students and as the board knows during the pandemic when many families elected to keep children at home and now we're seeing them return to school we try to anticipate and Advance
036the need for uh keeping class sizes lower and then I could be happy to send you more detailed information tomorrow to the W board any additional questions or comments for bill on the budget no thank you very much okay so next on the agenda we're going to go to the superintendent's report thank you president Mims uh this is the general report I'll save the covid report for later in the agenda the board can find the handout uh under 2.03 under the old agenda under strategic planning and capital project updates our strategic planning continues to move forward with weekly meetings on the design of the high school for the Recently approved Capital Improvement project these weekly meetings have addressed Mechanical plumbing electrical improvements as well as classroom upgrades and renderings for the new additions including the
037technology Suite uh and the expanded cafeteria student Commons area most recently over the holiday break an acoustical acoustic iCal engineering firm was retained to explore the architectural and technological solutions that are possible for the High School auditorium in terms of Milestones The Architects have submitted the schematic design to State Ed we anticipate moving through the design development process in an effort to submit the construction documents by early October or end of September and this will allow us to bid the work in midwinter of 2023 in order to get the community the best possible prices for work to start in the spring of 2023 upk update as you are aware I will ask you later in the agenda to award the upk Partnerships to those cbos those community- based organizations seeking to collaborate with the school
038district in this endeavor following your award a lottery will be held for the available seats in the late spring with the increase in funding the district will eventually be able to offer 132 seats that being said and assuming an affirmative board action this evening we will definitely be able to award 91 seats in the upcoming lottery I had the pleasure of working uh with Mami Evans and doing site visits uh prior to the vacation period uh for those who submitted proposals under Dei update as mentioned before our district administrators are working with faculty and staff to better understand the culturally responsive sustaining education framework the CRS education framework has been part of the conversation at District curriculum Council and will be part of our May 17th 2022 professional learning day which will focus on the
039framework as well now that the policy committee and district office administration have wrapped up their work on the draft policy and the accompanying administrative regulation the plan is to memorialize our commitment to this work with a revision to the district's mission statement and building action plans in time for the new upcoming school year under mental health update our mental health clinician partner Dr Melissa Carman reached out to school district Personnel to offer her assistance with respect to three new initiatives because her team had access and the exposure to school mental health needs of the students in the district they began to have conversations on how to implement the feedback provided by the students and their families as such these initiatives range from facilitating student Focus Group to exploring ways to infuse mental health into the
040curriculum specifically Dr Carman would like to promote student L groups that will work with her team to provide mental health awareness and Outreach to the greater School Community this could include uh Mental Health Awareness Day in collaboration with the YMCA of Central New York the village of Manlius and the central New York mental health counseling as well as the school district and this would just be one of many other events events she would also like to facilitate focus groups to offer the Board of Education mental health recommendations to be implemented during the upcoming school year finally Dr Carmen suggests creating a mental health curriculum to be integrated into the ELA writing curriculum for all high school students Andor several one-hour workshops that can be presented in multiple small group settings and Dr Carman has offered
041to help train the teachers and facilitators to implement this curriculum in terms of our internal conversations and mental health health updates since the Autumn Dr Carman and our director of Counseling Services Miss Heidi green have collaborated to create a triage system for school counselors and family school liaison to determine the urgency of Mental Health Services needed by the students this has been done obviously since the Inception of the school year during a teamto team meeting in November the counselors and the central New York Mental Health Counselors and the entire counseling team of the district met to discuss assessment referral and the communication plan it should be noted that the CNY MHC has provided support to nearly 70 students in the FM District as you heard in the budget presentation the district is planning for the
042addition of two more Family School leaon positions in addition to having internal conversations about a coordinator for social emotional Learning Community Partnerships and family engagement and that's just one possible title in order to support the work of the teachers the counselors and the family school Liaisons and last but not least as indicated in the Thursday letter and discussed at our last meeting we have received requests to give back snow days or emergency closing days at either the Memorial Day weekend as some other school districts have done so or to recognize the end of Ramadan at edel fur we have two remaining emergency closing days of the three originally scheduled while both proposals have Merit especially during what has been a very difficult year of the pandemic I'm inclined to be protective of the last two
043emergency closing days especially with snow in the forecast for tomorrow I do not believe that we can use one day before Memorial Day Without recognizing eel fur which would exhaust both of the remaining emergency closing days that being said I continue to be hopeful that the the New York State Senate bill s151 which uh remains in the education committee will gain Traction in order to allow schools to recognize additional cultural and religious holidays simply reput my recommendation stands from before when I am open as I indicated in the Thursday letter to engendering a conversation among the entire governance team regarding my recommendation that ends my report thank you Dr T um one thing I didn't see mentioned in here maybe I missed it was there was that um funding that the governor um mention the
044grant 50 million in in grant funding that school districts can apply for um is I believe our district is going to be applying for that but I'm curious as to how we're going to include um community and or are we going to include the community and students in um the application process yeah definitely we're still in the process of discussing that internally it's a competitive grant program so even though we may apply we may not receive the funding that's why we Face budgeted what we can into the current budget going forward while still being responsible to the taxpayer and when do you think you're going to finalize what that new position looks like tentatively coordinator of social emotional Learning Community Partnerships and family engagement when do you think what's your timeline for finalizing the title
045the job description and then like the hiring process to get someone in to do that work at this point uh to be determined but as much as we can do before the start of the school year such as the tele mental health we'd like to get it started as soon as we can at the beginning of the year but it may linger into the fall any other questions for Dr Tyson his report yeah so I appreciate the update on on Dr carman's recommendations or Outreach to the district but what's the district's position on what she's offered and what might we be doing in that regard and what might not we be doing uh internally we've talked about having focus groups I've had a chance to speak to the high school administration and that's something they'd
046like to move forward and I think it's going to be important to have regular ongoing communication not a One-Shot deal but also at the same time we see the Merit in having school personel be part of it in order to uh put the needed work into the budget but we also see a need to have somebody like Dr Carmen uh and her Associates help facilitate it in order to get unfettered um honest candid opinions from the students as well without worrying that's School Personnel are in the room so we would like to run both focus groups moving forward so we've had those conversations to begin so just one part of it that kind of jumped out to me that I certainly hope is part of the consideration in this was her recommendation as as you
047had reported to us of uh creating a mental health curriculum adopted into the ELA writing program but it specifically says for all high school students I I would hope as we explore expansion of that that we're not waiting till high school because what we know what we've all learned is this starts much earlier than high school so that I understand you were just reporting what her recommendations were and I I fully understand that but but would I be correct in assuming that we will be looking at that holistically at all levels of schooling I think we'd have to and itd have to be age dependent too in terms of what we discuss with the students but I think as has been pointed out by the administrators and I give them a lot of credit for
048this uh you know we bring things up uh whether it's through orientation parent information nights uh link crew and it's great to give that information but until you need it it's kind of like out of sight out of mind so I think by embedding it into the curriculum and it may be in subtle ways it'll give us an opportunity to have increase our frequency to be able to bring it up so hopefully we catch somebody when they need the information not giving it at the beginning of the year and hoping they remember it down the road at some time then I'm sorry my last question on this is um I don't know what we're going to hear later tonight I'm not going to get forecast to what we're going to hear later tonight right um
049but what I did see circulating over the last week which I really appreciated seeing was a student originated survey that a great many of number of students completed uh I don't know what the results of that are we we we when I I hope we hear those um but I think that that's a teaching tool that we can also keep looking at is you know we we had a wonderful presentation on our health services emotional health services November but validating what we're hearing that we think we're doing from those who are receiving it is is equally critical and and I hope that you know this was a student L effort as I understand it with this survey but I hope going forward that we engage our student body on a regular basis as you said
050some of them are very hesitant to be open if school officials are present and but there are ways to regularly survey our student body and and and what do we do on a regular basis we we praise how wonderfully intelligent and accomplished our students are and in in for for every reason in the world um but by the same token we should then also be looking to and listening to them for their input and feedback on how effective the things are that we believe to be effective so I'm grateful that they did that I look forward to hearing the results hopefully we do um but but I hope that going forward we can continue to engage through surveys and through lots of tools that are available so that we really genuinely know what's being heard
051what they perceive is available what they perceive and believe they need so that we really truly get that feedback in an unfettered um fashion on a regular basis going forward that reflects a lot of what the board has said about what we want to do in terms of student Outreach and um I know we have Hannah here who we're not going to certainly put all this on her shoulder but um has really done a great job in providing that input to us from students I'm very interested in these focus groups and how that can be used to to get feedback from students um I'm also um wondering in terms of having the curriculum in our elementary we had a really wonderful letter from one of our Educators today uh last night about making sure that
052we include the elementary and um younger middle school students in our Outreach efforts and which we all very much appreciate it is this position going to be I mean you're thinking districtwide so that would be someone who would be coordinated in those levels as well correct and wouldn't necessarily have a counselor's case load to Anchor them down they would be a little bit more flexible my other question is in terms of um resources I think you know I really appreciate the focus that our district has made on qualified professionals to support our students because you know I I I teach in another district and it's just there's a huge difference in Services when it's um a person whose background is actually um in mental health and there's a particular um expertise there so um I
053was just wondering with the the funding that the county provides has there been any discussion as to allowing districts to use that money so that they can individually hire Mental Health Providers themselves so that you know we can I think one of the things that's very important I don't think I know it is in our district is the quality of service we want to make sure that the people who are going to be dealing with our children's mental health issues and counseling them are professionals and there's a lot of work that goes into um that background work and then consistency with those people so has there been any discussion or do you I mean I personally would love to reach out to the County to um and I've heard this from other districts as well
054um because I am on the regional Bose seats as well that you know that would be something I think other districts would be open to is being able to direct that funding specifically in their Community is that a conversation that you've had with the county executive um or is that something that you could have with him it's a question we asked earlier in the process I mean number one we said that we would keep an open mind and assess as things move forward so I know there are some districts participating that are pleased others not so pleased and it is anchored on the people that they end up working in their District so one of the things that we remain committed and having our own folks not only were we ahead of the curve and
055we already had them in collective bargaining agreements but uh we had asked the county can we use that grant funding in order to supplement and add to our Family School the A on tier one level services and we were told no that it had to be for the county folks and I understand that what was the reason though it had to be that program they said was legal reason or is just their preference I think in terms and I guess I would have to get something in writing from them but I believe it's because in their grant funding they put their own rfps out proposals from agencies like Helio health or contact Community Services so they were in a sense funneling that information to those agencies and they are qualified agencies but again it depends
056when you're hiring in mass and that's one of the things we were protective about having our own folks so I certainly understand the question was worth asking I'm not upset getting the no but I also know with grant funding as you all know with grant funding eventually that runs out so I think by embedding ours in the budget uh you know putting it in uh with our every other service that we offer will help for it to continue going forward uh for our students without worrying when that grant funding would run out I have a question um I know you stated it was a recommendation to have it uh within the ELA English classes at the high school but my question is would it be possible to have it in other other uh classes at
057the high school just for some students who don't look favorably upon their English class and they want to see mental health being discussed in say their math or science class I think that's something we can take a look at and again that was Dr carman's recommendation and I believe she elected that because she knows that all the way up through senior year there's a requirement to have English where other areas may be an elective so I think gets to try to ensure that it's continuous all the way through 12th grade but certainly as we sit down with the faculty and the administrators and take a look at this and the counseling staff it could be because I think many little lessons mini lessons so to speak in different areas will help reinforce the message that
058help is available that people don't have to go it alone and I think that's what we want to get out there so it's a good point Hanah somewhat related to what Hannah just brought up as we know it's in planning the it could be Ela it could go down to the middle school but as a former teacher and also through the students perspective if this becomes part of a curriculum we're adding one more thing on the teacher plate and I assume I hope that something would also be either taken away or dispersed differently so that this part of the curriculum is not rushed it's not oh goodness I have to fit one more thing in let's see I have to make this a twoe curriculum instead of a three or something like that that all
059of this will be worked into the curriculum and make it so the students feel don't feel rushed so the teachers don't feel like they have one more thing on their shoulders and so that everybody is getting what they need out of this new program again it's just in the works I know but I have to say that you know get it off of my mind and I would totally agree uh again as you said it's in the works and I think we can approach this problem two ways I think we can track down the horse that's running around or we can fix the barn and the barn door and I think I would want to put our efforts into it like you said uh Miss lindar as as we look at the curriculum to be
060able to you know remove selective abandonment on things that aren't important because it isn't just the students that are under stress the teachers are under stress the whole high stakes testing and accountability has put a ton of pressure on everyone uh including principles who get raided so somehow we have to find our way not just to chase the horse down here but to fix the barn door and the barn uh so we can prevent problems not just fix them after they've occurred I totally agree thank you Dr Ty one thing I don't see in here specifically is parent Outreach because one thing I I saw a lot of in some of of the information that students were sharing was that some students are not they're not able to talk to their parents and then you
061know we we have a district that is a pretty competitive District right you have kids who you know it's a district where people are used to for lack of a better way maybe winning a lot and you know we have kids who are taking very high stress core slads and I'm hoping that part of this approach is going to be helping parents you know reaching out to parents as far as you know how they can connect with their kids better and then also you know what their kids academic social Sports Etc all of that together looks like because you know I I remember the days of having you know kids multiple kids in in the high school and middle school Etc I think sometimes you can lose focus as to all how all of that
062is impacting or can impact a child um so I just hope that that's part of the Outreach that we're doing with our community is reaching out to parents and making sure that they're aware of how they can be um what they can do with to help their children and then also the the stress level of kids that comes from having these schedules and that's why the title and again it's a draft title right now in terms of the social emotional Learning Community Partnerships and family engagement stresses that because I think we have to look big picture on something like this I mean it has to be a team effort we say it takes a village to raise a child but uh we really have to believe it and I think having those resources available and
063including uh parents and family members in the conversation as well it's going to open it up and so the stigma that we often hear that's associated with mental health it starts to break down some of those barriers and silos so I totally agree I I'd also sorry I didn't see you um I think that there's some loow hanging fruit in terms of communications that don't cost a thing so um thinking about how you deepen connections between let's say at the younger levels you know parents and teachers and if a child's having difficulty at home but none of it may be witnessed at school which you know is a common thing that you may see no behavioral issues or any evidence of emotional disturbance at school but there's things going on at home that parents feel
064comfortable and like you talked about the stigma coming forward to talk to a teacher directly especially at those younger levels where one or two teachers may be spending the vast majority of time with a student um and that can be really effective in building a safety net of support for that for that child um in addition to all the the wonderful counseling services that are available I think just that onetoone connection that it doesn't always have to be about academics and then I'm also just thinking about our staff and and the stresses and um issues and what we can do to support them in terms of their mental health and I know that there are some Services provided but I hope we can we can deepen those services for them so it's been a very
065difficult couple years and I agree and as the board knows we are part of uh the learn aasa's learning 2025 initiative hoping to change the national narrative and to get away from the high stakes testing and getting back to thinking things big picture uh I think there's just a huge opportunity here not just for the students uh who seem to be the most vulnerable but as you indicated the stress and pressures on the professional staff I think we've got to be able to throttle that back so uh in terms of advocacy and being part of the conversation we've put our foot on the door to be part of that national movement already and I think we're one of 120 school districts uh Nationwide that are part of that conversation um I'm glad to see the
066Dei policy on the agenda tonight because I think that's a piece that uh we need to make sure we can consider when we're looking at our student mental health issues you know I teach in a very diverse district and um I've learned how different cultures um just how you approach different cultures how these issues are dealt within different cultures and not only that you have our lgbtqi community you you have um you know their gender specific issues so as we look to really personalize this you know personalized learning um I think it's it would really be it's really important that we make sure that we're looking at issues that are specific to those groups um so that we're not missing anyone um in the work that we provide so I just I want to dial
067this back to some measurable and planning so when we rolled into Co and everything that was part of Co we collectively made a decision that we were going to add a standing agenda item for Co update and I'd like to make the request that we do the same thing with mental health update mental health progress so that this doesn't become a conversation to look back in board minutes of six months ago and and I I know these conversations are going to ongo and and I know there's a commitment to it but but ultimately I want to make sure that this stays the pieces of it that are applicable to the board level policy setting governance resources stay at our level so that we can stay engaged with that we can explore the things that we
068can and should be exploring um Dr Ty I appreciated your analogy of fixed the Barn Door um you know we we talk a lot about services and what services we should provide but we need to be taking a harder look at how do we alleviate the onset of so much of this and the stresses that have been spoken about and and we know that there are pieces that as a board we can and should look at that we've touched on from time to time and and then we sort of move on to other things and as an example um we've we've talked from time to time about things like homework policies and the impact of those and you and I sat in a seminar a few years ago on on that and some specific work
069done by certain districts on that and you know I I I'll say that that's that's high on my list at the moment coming off of this break that we just had that you know so many needed so desperately and yet I can give you a whole long list of students who were stressed out over this break because they had tests today and tomorrow so they spent breaks studying for exams and and we can do better than that we can we can give opportunities for breaks in managing this workload and this case load so so homework policy is just one piece of that but but my request is that we make this a standing agenda item where we come back to what are we doing what do we need to work on what's next steps until
070we're in a better position than we are in today I I think that's a great idea and I also would propose that this is in no way to minimize the impact of covid but just reading through the updates you have been providing I think they're becoming less and less relevant to the meat of our discussion so if the board agreed to it perhaps swapping and taking out the co update and replacing it with a mental health update I don't think we need two specialized updates every month or every two weeks I think it's a great idea and I think it's give for the community to hear these updates on a regular basis and you know as we develop a timeline for what we're going to accomplish and when and sharing that information um and not
071only putting it on our agenda but also making sure that's part of our community relations so it's going out in our newsletters and it's on our our um social media platforms um so I think it's a great idea any other thoughts I just have a comment um thought comment is that you know we are hearing from our students and we truly appreciate that and Marissa as you stated earlier on um and and Hannah you've said this as well that it's important to continue hearing from our student body but I also think that we need to find a vehicle by which we can hear from our staff um you know in a very sincere way in which we can even respond and be receptive to what it is that we are hearing because you know we
072really do need to be better at responding to staff concerns that's a very good point I mean we've definitely had Outreach from our various unions Dr Ty has the Labor Relations Committee meeting um but I think you I think that's a good idea that we should make sure we're being very responsive to our staff needs um and I don't know if we there was a survey that was done the teachers union did a survey for us on specific issues that may be a way to get feedback although it depends on how many people actually respond to it but I think that's something that you could discuss with your labor relations um group to see how we can get more input from our staff okay so we will add that unless anyone objects to the agenda
073we'll add mental health updates and I think that in community relations and Dei we can talk about um this as well um because it definitely falls under both of them those um different topics all right if there's nothing else under the superintendent report we can calendar do we want to talk about that or is everybody happy with my recommendation I'm sorry can can we just go back second I didn't quite catch that last part about moving it into Dei I know what you had said no no I said they were're not moving it into Dei we certainly can continue to have discussions so as we're moving forward with talking about mental health there are issues that relate to Dei that is to policy we need to be making sure we're talking about at the committee
074level as well okay I I just wanted to make sure the overall discussion was happening at the board level and not right we have discussions in committee and those recommend ations come to the board okay now Dr Ty was about to talk about a snow day well n's still young huh no it's when everybody talks about it nothing happens so you know this I I get it you want to keep the dates I I I understand that but well I understand the merits to both so either I don't want to do one without the other and I do think you know I'm sorry no I mean you're rationale here and you're not wanting to offend anyone I understand that but I think you know as a district we we are committed to moving forward with
075our Dei work and I just don't want I don't feel like that's going to be offensive that if we not able to do to Grant the um the Muslim holiday this year but we give an additional day off to as we've just been sitting here saying a extremely taxed and worn out and stressed Community um but I also understand that you know things happen and and you want to keep those days in reserve um I think at the last discussion I asked if we could reconsider those as we get closer to the end of school year okay can I um if if we were to Grant those to for Memorial Day and for the aid holiday what would happen if we had an emergency closing day before one of those I assume one of those
076like the memorial day would be canceled like what happens yeah I mean we could cancel or or we could wait to schedule them until we get closer I mean we could lose the staff development day although we've made plans for it already and we could put the fal families on remote much like we did last year and we don't have a lot and I'm I'm not being critical I just as a district we do not have a large number of emergency closing days I think next year's calendar which looks like the golf courses I prefer wide and not a lot of danger to get into we only have four days and that's a pretty pretty wide calendar from Labor Day until regions rating Day next year and we only have four emergency closing days yeah
077I think I'd personally be okay with your recommendation um but I do think if we are going to if we are going to want to use the board decides to use them I think we should use them for definitely for the holiday the eat holiday that's I think that's only fair and you know I think other other holiday other religious groups are able to have their holidays and if we have one we should be using it for that but I'm I understand wanting to wait because you never know so I I'm okay with your recommendation Craig um I I feel as well that we should use both for those two reason well for the Memorial Day weekend and the holiday as well I I think it's if I had to only choose one I would
078probably also choose the religious holiday they've been asking for years and oftentimes the holiday does not even fall um on a school day or during the school year okay um you know sometimes they do end up falling during the summer months when school's not in session and I think that hearing what we're hearing and given the conversation that we've had for the past hour or so um I think you should reconsider I do understand then if we have an emergency closing you're have to get that day somewhere but okay what other scenar scenarios could possibly occur rather than giving up staff develop staff development day so if the worst case scenario happened where we give up those two days for extending the Memorial Day weekend and then for the holiday and we end up needing
079an emergency closure what are other options other than giving up a staff development day and having kids go remote which we don't want to do we could push into the rating day like a neighboring District did and have the the students would attend the Friday which I think is what June 205 thank you Dr T the holiday fall on the everyone needed to hear that I understand that that's what would happen but I think everyone needed to hear that so you know know maybe there just needs to be a little bit more of a give and take here so that you know we're hearing what's being said and we can react to it in the right way and for and for some of our I just wanted to point out um the way Eid Falls
080this year at the high school there are AP exams on that day so what would that mean for high school students who have an AP exam if school is closed I know some friends who have the chemistry AP exam on Monday May 2nd so what would that mean for them if we do use it as a closing day great question when we looked at it before it meant the makeups as I looked to my high school principal and director of counseling yes I see yes correct so it would put it would force the students we would be closed the exams would not be offered and it would push those students to the makeup days later in May there's no cake can eat it too so the problem is somebody's ill because they're ill with covid
081or something they may lose that AP exam because there's no fallback position that's a good point that's why I was thinking one and not the other because I knew about the EP exams Danny did you have your hand up I mean we've talked about this in Prior years about the difficulty with how it falls with exams and that's my concern about it if if it was not an exam impact and to me this is an easy answer we give back both days we take the Memorial Day holiday we take the religious holiday no question but it has impact on exams and it's going to impact students and and as just going to school on holidays we we understand that but in my my belief is we should be giving back the one on Memorial Day
082weekend but I don't think we should be impacting this time of year something that has exam day impact that is going to cause scrambling is going to cause rescheduling and then as you said it also puts some students at risk after putting the whole year into the exam of not being able to take that exam um that's a that's a that's it's a really significant impact and I would not want to see us put students in that it's it's an unfortunate timing that it falls into exams but that's not something we have control over the college board if you recall when we did the calendar for the current year we looked ahead and the tentative schedule from the College Board did not have exams on Tuesday May 3rd in fact the neighboring District to remain
083nameless scheduled it in their calendar for Tuesday May 3rd and then as the calendar was solidified the day was actually identified as Monday May 2nd in fact in the next year's calendar we looked online it was listed as Saturday but now it's Friday I think April 21st I'm going by memory so the question is I know the AP exams fall in May and I think the college board made the college try to avoid exams on Tuesday May 3rd but then I think the lines got blurred on when is the holiday and so they are there there are exams scheduled for both the second and the third so I know we've talked about waiting and we have legislation pending that may adjust this and make this decision for us but but so long as it's not
084for us and exams are being scheduled on that day that are not being scheduled by our district but they're just being scheduled I I'm not comfortable closing school on that day and having that impact on students what other people think that we haven't had a chance to speak yet well and so Craig I guess the the question is is that we can't somehow keep one building open to Proctor these exams for students on the second I understand that normally we would close the entire District but if we were trying to give two days for 95% of the student population there's not one way we can keep just the high school open to Proctor just these exams on that one day and have a handful of Administrators and or teachers come in to help Proctor that
085morning Marissa I mean we're talking about I'm trying to come up with a compromise right and then we're not talking about half the staff we're talking about on May 2nd how many students to dance point I don't want to impact any students so give the students the benefit of taking the exam but I think that and again I I'll defer to to you and Dr Kilmer but how many how many staff would we need to practor it and can't we come up with some workaround I guess is my my question I do not know what the registrations are for those exams so um my view is not may not be popular but my recommendation is that we don't give back those days we are in the business of Education that's our business we educate kids
086um this whole giving back days is something that's really new and didn't even exist three or four years ago so my recommendation is now if you say we got to we will figure it out but it will take significant amount of work um and to say to 3,000 students stay home and 200 students come on in let's get this let's get this test done that says something too so I just I think we should be if this is something the board really wants to look at I think we should talk about what this looks like in the future but maybe not this year it does seem like incredibly short notice to try to figure out um the exam piece but I I have a different question and maybe I'm adding another element here but I've
087always not understood the last week of school and the half days that are two hours and I just wonder instead of that could we just end school earlier we're required to have a minimum number of hours even when there is a holiday like juneth in the middle and I believe it's a two- we window that the state look at and the reason we do that and I've shared with parents is as you know when we do our grades for the first quarter our faculty put those grades together for the progress reports in the early second quarter so the problem with the end of the year and the reason we do the half days is it allows the faculty and staff to wrap up the year as the fourth quarter ends there's no G come back
088after July 4th and do the grades in the Fifth Quarter it's the end of the school year so everything has to be done so that's why we do the half days to give the staff staff development time to get the grades and everything wrapped up for the year you're saying that school has to be in session during that time period it's the required to have 180 days and the at the elementary level a minimum of 900 hours for the year at the secondary level 990 hours for the year the Regions exam and rating dat counts as full attendance days at the high school or schools that administer the region exams don't fully understand that piece of it could we not hypothetically have an emergency closure day on the last plan half day I mean we
089have the two days if we didn't give them back right could we not just have a closure day that day if we had one in reserve yes we cannot exceed 186 by the collective bargaining agreement for the fmta but I guess so we are not over 186 so I guess if I understood the question right the the question is if if we were talking about giving back one of these closure days what's the difference between giving it back around Memorial Day weekend and giving it back on June 23rd they're trying to wrap up the school year you're right though finger counting we can do it any time we please but we're trying to wrap up trying to wrap up the year Dr Kilmer just just help me understand it that's all I'm asking for right
090thank you um negative Nelly here so the high school throws a wrench into everything so those last days are all Regents exam days so what you have is you have exam Administration and Grading all throughout that time so our teachers at the high school level don't really have the option or flexibility to not be there in grading Assessments in those last few days does this require a motion my recommendation is not to give the days back it only requires a motion if you seek to overrall I'd just like to throw my two s and uh so we do recognize other religious holidays do we not we do recognize and that's a great question and we did not plan this originally it wasn't based on the religion it was based on number of students and staff
091missing I guess what I'm trying to get at is you know stepping back and looking at this fairly I do know last year you presented data for not only I last year but for the next three or four years so we knew this was coming and I find it hard to believe we're at the 11th hour and we're discussing it now and kind of feel like we're put into a trick box which we are I mean it's a very personal matter for many people in our district and my gut would tell me let's go for it let's go for the two days and we'll cross the bridge and we come to it now what I didn't understand is Dr Kilmer's uh explanation which I thank him for um and it is a very tough situation
092but it it's painful for me especially in light of the individuals that we brought out of Afghanistan that are Muslims that are helped us to not recognize their culture and it's just we got to stop trying to fall into this trap every year of having these discussions and just either we don't recognize any religions or we start saying okay there's a lot more religions we got to recognize out there so at some point we got to come to a a fair way of determining what days we're going to take off and I know it's been a very tough couple of years and I think the community deserves it the teachers deserve it the students deserve it um but I mean I feel also you know the pain of having these exams but um I don't
093know I I think it's a trick box to be put in um but like I said my gut would tell me uh let's go for the two days and again and remember when we set this calendar March of 2020 the intent was not to give Tuesday May 3rd off we made that conscious decision even as the College Board didn't have any exams scheduled for that day I am hopeful the Senate bill s151 passes because not just for us but for all school districts and it outlines the different holidays including dwali and I think there's two or three others listed as well I just think it would operationally Define it for everyone so no my apologies there was no attempt to put in a trick box that's why I made the recommendation I did not to
094give the days back on either case I just don't know how we do one without the other I'm not hearing cons um consensus here I'm hearing some people saying one some people saying too um is there anyone who hasn't shared their thoughts yet who wants to chime in on this only because I haven't shared I'll go with the administrative recommendation because uh it is such a late time and we made the decision long ago that these would be school days darl yes I feel the same way we have to go with Dr Tyson Dr Kilmer's recommendation this time and and I remember the conversation last year and we did make that decision and I think Dr Kilmer is right we are in the business of Education let's do it do it right hopefully we can
095get to the end of the year without incident Kelly did you already give your feedback I can't remember you did okay well and Marissa I'm you know the information that Dr Kilmer gave us gave a lot of clarity so I'm absolutely fine with the recommendations so what I'm seeing is we have a consensus just to follow the recommendation at this time and not make any changes on that all right um any other questions on this report on Dr T's report okay so now we're going to circle back up to public comment so as I mentioned earlier um I'm going to um we have nine students actually not eight who have signed up to speak in regards to mental health if those students want to speak during this public comment session um there's only going to
096be the three minutes that's fine but if not we can have them under Hannah's report so I'm just going to go through the list of people um that we have who have signed up and um give students that option of when they would like to be heard um so first one is Katrina Roman Katrina did you want to go now or do you want to go a little later do you think you have three minutes or longer okay come on up [Applause] de hello okay um I'm a senior at FM high school and before I start I just want to say that like I feel very supported by like the teachers and the community at FM like I love all my teachers and I love the people that I'm surrounded with um I think part
097of the major issues at hand here are the fact that the resources that FM has available are not really like on display to the public um I like we were just made aware of the resources that we have and a lot of people didn't know about them like the psychologist or the family school the aison um and I think that that's really not great because students don't have access to that nor do they know that those Outlets exist um so I think what we need is for FM to implement more outlets for students to express their mental health concerns um I think we need more mental health professionals implemented and I understand that a school's not like a clinic nor is it like a psychiatric word or anything like that but as long as students
098are in the building and are actively attending school they should the school should be able to provide um any sort of support for the students um a lot of kids may not have like safe outlets at home or just the means to talk about what they're struggling with so um more mental health professionals I think would alleviate that stress that some students feel um the family school liaison that we have right now not a lot not a lot of people know about her um and but the people that do she gets so many students there that like I don't think that it's plausible for her to take all those students and that we would need more people to effectively allocate their time to um attending to more students so no one is turned away and
099I understand that like our school counselors have some mental health background and training that's a part of the training that they have to do to do that but in no way is it their complete job to do that they're more they for academic advising and things like that so um I think think having more of a designated focus on mental health professionals would be really beneficial thank you thank you very much oh okay all right um next person who signed up was Jason held on the veterans tax exemption is Jason here yes ma'am good evening my name is Jason held I've been a a resident of the district since about 2012 when I retired from the Army I bought a house in 2016 over here in in Manlius and I just learned about this veteran
100tax exemption when I got my VA disability rating I got an increase and then someone actually my friend Paul here who works with my wife uh on occasion uh said hey you you know you get a a property tax tax exemption make sure you get that so I reached out to my town assessor Brian Fitz and he also and and in this I learned that there the school board can opt into this tax exemption as well so I reached out to Brian Fitz and asked him what his thoughts on it was he told me that it it would have minimal impact across the district because it it spreads the veterans tax burden amongst the other taxpayers so looking at FM District there's about a thousand veterans registered to the school district not all of which
101are eligible for the two exemptions that you would have to opt into the alternative veterans exemption for those who serve during a war time and the Cold War veterans exemption for those who served during the Cold War uh we have an aging veteran population uh a large portion of our veterans are actually from the Korean and Vietnam War era uh as you see these gentlemen here I spent a lot of time Mr Delaney here the Memorial Day parades the reverence that this community showed veterans I was just shocked that the the school board hadn't opted into this already so I did hear from you miss Mims and you said that there was a discussion previously where some were in favor and some were not this is a purely elective exemption so for the concerns or
102for those who are more fortunate than others you don't have to you don't have to opt in to the exemption and you can continue to pay your your full share of your tax but with inflation at 82% you know uh the veterans pay increases annually are roughly 2 to 3% yes this last past year was 5.9 but it's still not making up that Gap that you see in inflation so this evening I just ask you to revisit the tax exemption if you'd like to pull the community the New York State Schoolboard Association offers an online seminar that that shows you how to do it step by step I have your contact information and I can send that information to you but I I do implore the board and the community to revisit this on average
103in other school districts of this size $36 per taxpayer I I don't I I find it hard to believe that not everyone in this community would pay an extra $36 thank you thank you and thank you to the veterans who came um as well next we have um Alani Henderson and may Cohen are you speaking together or separately together okay [Applause] did need more oh wait ladies you need more than three minutes correct did you want to do that during under Hannah's report are you are you good with the three minutes you're good with three minutes okay thank you um we are here to represent the black history month performing arts assembly at fate Ville meas High School each year our school puts on an assembly honoring different aspects of black history this year in
104our show titled young gifted in Black passing the torch of black Excellence we honored black excellence in art dance food and music last year however due to covid-19 we were unable to have an in-person show and instead made a video that was set to be released on juneth this video discussed black history in in Syracuse and its suburbs especially the impact of red Lighting in our community it then Segways into student created art music dance and poetry ending with impactful statements made by students of color about their experiences within the district the goal of this video was to raise up black student voices specifically address issues regarding racism within our school as well as encourage other students to become allies the students in our club spent months of hard work into this video we researched
105the history created the script the songs the dances and even edited the video together ourselves however Administration has been evasive with their efforts to show it we have been advocating for our impactful message to be shown since last year the lack of accountability on our school's part to showcase the video is discouraging and further compounds our mental health struggles due to the Daily challenges we face as students of color it is clear that the school's disregard of people of color has a very negative effect on poc's feeling included as a valued part of the FM Community pu people feel unheard and when we do speak about our experience which is what we do in the video the school still continues to allow issues of racism within our school building to persist doing very little to
106educate our white student counterparts we feel that our video will educate V people encourage allyship and overall help students of color feel more welcome in the community thank you thank you uh Michael I believe you needed a little bit more time correct Michael here okay great um Alysa [Applause] bazina hi um I signed up tonight to address the board but I first want to start by addressing the students that are here um your courage is amazing um and on behalf of moms I want to certainly extend my condolences to the loss of your classmate by Suicide um it hasn't gone unnoticed and I know you guys are fighting so hard and we're paying attention um that being said um I'm a mom of a junior um who you know has had his own struggles so
107I wanted to just share a little bit with you about what my experience has been um because I know there's a little bit of confusion not just for students but for parents as well as to what role the school plays what resources are available um my son's guidance counselor is Christen raka who is an absolute gem um she's been such an asset to my son I have her cell phone number she's on speed dial for me um and she's always been an ear for my son and when he came to me saying he needed some further Services she provided me with a list of local professionals um which took over two weeks and over 30 phone calls to actually get him an appointment um I think it's important for us to recognize that all of
108us as humans have moments of varying darkness in our lives um and it's really important to be able to gain a skill set um and have the support necessary to be able to navigate those not just as a FM student but as an adult as as a human and it's not lost upon me that covid-19 has created unusual circumstances um that has exacerbated a lot of these mental health issues whether it be isolation or disruption in you know your day-to-day activities my son had had to stop participating in Lacrosse um things got turned upside down for these kids um but I did want to make sure that I noted um my support for you guys as a collective body body to look at the program that's being offered to you from the county um to
109be able to get licensed mental health professionals in here to support these kids because again the guidance counselors are great but there's so much on their plate already that it's unfair to expect them or the teachers to be able to adequately handle the challenges that are in front of them um and I get that you guys don't have a magic wand this isn't you know a something that you guys can fix overnight it's a complex problem that's going to require a comprehensive solution um but I really do think that there are resources available to us and if we work together we can certainly move things forward and be a light for these kids and M Mims we do have some parents that are working together to get professionals um as well as Community leaders to
110provide those skills for parents like you mentioned um in a group setting so that parents have the skill set to be able to initiate dialogue with their kids to be able to adequately address what's going on at home because as parents were the front line for them so thank you for your time and thank you to the kids Ike wood okay no problem um Anna man [Applause] okay perfect um I would just like to speak to mental health at FM um I first would like to emphasize that FM has served me well academically and the community is composed of teachers that do truly care about the well-being of students beyond the classroom and I am extremely and will always be grateful for them regardless of the mental health services that FM claims to provide they
111are not advertised to students to the degree they should be I have heard numerous instances in which students approaching their academic counselor were often not referred to a trained mental health professional within the community I think it is clear that FM does have the resources and the Personnel to Aid students with mental health related issues but their roles and responsibilities are not publicized to the student body outside of the academic counselers according to an email sent by Dr tyus earlier this year there are homeschool lions and psych psychologists who are trained to work with students experiencing social emotional challenges however very few students know where these resources are located and how to access them it is simply not common knowledge naturally we reach out to our academic C counselors since they are relatively familiar despite
112not being trained mental health professionals however they have a duty to guide students towards the available mental health professionals within the district to provide proper support to those students many of the resources need to be accessible and tailored to students whose parents are not willing to provide Mental Health Resources or simply cannot afford it as many of my friends have experienced home homeschool leaon in that case are not helpful and thus we must expand the possible means of support for these specific children I think one additional support that FM could provide to students to alleviate stress is a manner to provide formal feedback on teachers in the administration many teachers already have adopted this practice in their classroom however those are often the ones who care about the opinions of students however there are teachers
113who unnecessarily stress students and the administration should be aware of these instances to improve the life of students at FM I think the final consensus is that FM has the funding and the resources however due to a lack of organization and commitment to serving the mental health of students in the community we are falling short thank [Applause] you Rebecca sherff first off I too I'm so sorry to the student body because what they endured losing their friend um no child should have to go through that but I'm not here to point fingers or accuse anyone of anything because I believe ultimately we all want to see our kids Happy And thriving I'm here speaking as the mother of a Survivor my daughter Emily shiroff wrote a guest opinion piece for syracuse.com back in September the
114title is incredibly haunting FM's rejection of mental health counselor threatens young lives it upset some in the school district because they thought it made the district look bad that should not have been the takeaway from that what she did was incredibly courageous and opened the door for a lot of these kids and hundreds more who reached out on social media thanking her for speaking up and making it okay for them to publicly discuss their mental health struggles that piece she wrote has been shared 3,000 times from syracuse.com site that alone speaks volumes about the epidemic that we're facing kids hide their pain so well sometimes the signs are there but most times they're not believe me those Smiles can hide a tremendous amount of Darkness that's where having specially trained mental health professionals comes in
115they can distinguish a smile from a cry for help and it's unfair to put that Monumental task on the shoulders of guidance counselors who are already stretch thin these kids are crying for help if what FM offers is enough then why are they begging for help and demanding to be heard they need a forum to speak and actually be listened to because they are the ones that are going through this not you guys not the parents they are please prioritize this because it's a very real epidemic accept any resources offered and if that's not enough then dedicate some of what we already have to providing them with additional resources I don't want another parent to experience the unbearable pain of burying their child because they ended their own life or a parent to sit in
116the ER wondering if they missed anything cuz take it from me it's one of the most horrifying feelings a parent can experience and it shakes you to the core please listen to our kids and actually hear what they're saying we owe it to them thank you Edward Elliot Edward Elliot so Edward you're going to do the three minutes you don't need additional time just check in okay all right um hi like several previous speakers I'd like to First emphasize that I have received a a very high quality education at FM I'm incredibly grateful for everyone involved in that uh however I'd like to um perhaps share some of my experience um although I'm not trivializing anyone else's in doing so um for several months my junior year I felt a complete and abject sense of
117upset the days were a series of dull proceedings I felt miserable depressed and absolutely alone it wasn't all the time but I was terrified because when I looked to the future I couldn't see myself anywhere and at times I couldn't even I wasn't even sure if someone had come up to me uh and asked the question whether I'd be able to say that I really wanted to be alive and I had no one I felt I could talk to additionally I felt I had no right to complain because I live a relatively privileged life and my grades are pretty good I remember being asked how are how are things going and after the person who asked saw my transcript they said they must be good do you know what it feels like to be told
118that your grades are directly equatable to your value it really sucks um the first I've uh I think I've put well I think a lot of students at F found put themselves under a great amount of pressure to do well and the first time I failed a test I cried myself to sleep and the second time I failed a test well it never happened again um I was never able or I haven't been able to tell anyone about this except for a camp counselor who asked me how I was doing perhaps the first time anyone ever asked me and uh cared to hear the response and just in telling them how I felt a great weight was lifted off my shoulder this is the first time I think I've ever told anyone outside of my
119family and that counselor I don't feel comfortable but I feel it's perhaps necessary to come forward um and for as long as I felt alone my junior year I didn't know that FM offered any resources uh I talked to my counselor perhaps seven times every single time another uh cursory check in oh your grades are good well we'll move on and I I don't blame my counselor I think they're overwhelmed um it's not to say that changes um sorry the school owes it to their students to make a change I don't know what those changes are there's probably not just one um but I'm uh dead serious when I say that I had no idea FM offered a homeschool liaison I didn't feel that anyone cared about me um and if you're looking for somewhere
120to start publicizing those resources might be a good idea um also I'd emphasize that students are under a great amount of pressure the hardest decision I ever made was to take a study hall my sophomore year I think that should be required um this isn't an issue to solve one day perhaps a constant unceasing push thanks thank you very much and if you wanted to finish that during Hannah's presentation you're more than welcome to do that um Avery James is Avery James here um Alexis Forbes um forgive me if I mispronounced it is it um Palin okay no worries um all right Charlie [Applause] White okay so I wasn't here last month so I doubled up this month by providing you with two copies of the student initiated petition about grading changes and yes this
121is the lowest hanging fruit you could possibly consider okay students I don't understand why I've been coming here for what three months now four months now giving you 77 names of students who are saying that they find FM's grading policies to be to grading particularly in specific the one where students are given zero grades or 50% grades when they turn in assignments even a minute late okay that is insane okay how can how can students you know you want to do something easy for mental health these students reform grading policy okay start with the loc and this is something you could do right now it's measurable it's concrete you could literally take this into executive session tonight you could vote to ban 0% grades and 50% grades for students and tomorrow morning these students will
122walk into a new world at least on this one particular issue I know there's big Grand plans for mental health and trust me I understand this I've been a licensed clinical social worker for 25 years I train School social workers and people in private practice for a living for through Ruckers University okay and I've been doing that for 11 years so I know all about like what's what's required here for what's going on all right and I'm telling you start with the things you can do right now and I don't understand why I've been coming here for again for for 4 months now presenting the same issue over and over and again and you know I'm going to come back next month I'm going to come back next month I have 13 more names and
123I'm going to come the month after that and a month after that and the month after that and I'm going to keep coming because I have more names to bring of students who signed this petition saying they want let's rid fmhs of theg grading grading when is this going to happen this is easy this is lwh hanging fruit the lowest of the low hanging fruit and I don't understand why you folks here who have all the power to change this you could change this instantly you can change this tonight on behalf of these students and I'm asking you to do it as a as a parent of a student in this District also as a as a a clinical social worker I'm asking you to change this grading policy tonight and make a better day
124for your students tomorrow at this high school and in the middle school thank you [Applause] Joshua Weaver hello everyone my personal story is being in college tutor and children and 911 occurred as a result I was in Afghanistan watched an RPG hit a school this is what veterans endure so that students can have peace at home in school so here I am with four kids of my own in this school system my 5-year-old is smart enough to recognize bullies he said they ruin my day okay just keep those words in mind they ruin my day all I wanted is is an environment where the kids are at peace to focus and learn what I heard at the last meeting is concerning when a student is learning there is enough stress as it is especially at
125the tail end of a pandemic one of my main points is to counter what I heard in the last school board meeting this was kids in school should be able to talk about sexuality and not have teachers continue with their lesson plans so I researched youth are not inherently prone to Su suicide risk because of their sexual orientation or gender identity but rather placed at higher risk because of how they are mistreated and stigmatized in society so have we solved bullying itself before going on to something else take this with a grain of salt as we are but a fry and a Happy Meal run by a clown in general people can't pick their career before college but some out there want them to pick their sexuality before puberty should we allow during math and
126science kids to talk about sexuality and the students the teachers who have their lesson plans who have their obligations not to be able to say hey I have these pressures on me too don't we need to continue on with class kids should have a Haven school should be one of those Havens without additional stress in my research di thesis model stressors disrupt a person's psychological equilibrium and may catalyze the development of a disorder one thing I will distress stress is generational trauma includes bullying bullying of parents by parents transcends into children finding it acceptable many of you have echoed and I will not say but you yourself president Mims some people are not qualified to do certain things sexuality is something teachers counselors even Dr Ty is not qualified to teach to students it is
127a adult theme doctoral thesis if somebody wants to study that our students should be able to focus on Reading Writing and math [Applause] Alexandra Richmond she's no longer here okay oh I'm sorry um well she would like she can um send that information to the board make sure we look at it um Kate deight DEA gara [Applause] hi folks uh I'm a parent in the district to a child at Fel and a child at Wellwood I've been here before to speak and I just wanted to speak quickly tonight on Dei for the record I'm a queer trans identified parent and I had my first crush on a girl at 12 just so you know thanks thanks for your continued work on Dei and I understand that the policy will be coming soon um and that
128the development of that policy has been ongoing over the last year um I'm glad to hear other folks speaking about low hanging fruit and urgency because I want to just stress um for us to continue the urgency in this work um it's taken us well the current students and alums first presented after the killing of George Floyd in the fall of 2020 and so we're just rolling out a policy now one and a half years later and I know things take time things important like this take time and should be thoughtful and should take a lot of public comment all of those things but I do want to stress that we need to have continued urgency in this area and tonight I think it's important to talk about the overlap of Dei and mental health
129you cannot have a comprehensive Dei program with without a comprehensive mental health program they are not one and the same but they are very much overlapping and that is because students who are trans who do not receive support at home have a 43% rate of suicidal ideation and when they receive support at home it drops to 4% so that is suicide prevention in a Dei program and it is the same I would argue for kids who encounter racial slurs on the playground and bullying that we need teachers and a community and mental health professionals who know and have competency in these areas I would love to suggest that you have a specific Dei standing policy committee or a standing Dei committee to not forget the urgency of this work and if you have a standing
130mental health committee or mental health process ongoing here those two things can interact because they're very very much related to each other and you cannot be Pro mental health without being pro Dei you cannot they are intertwined thank you so much for your service okay so that was the last person we had for public comment and I'm going to circle back in a minute to um the few students who needed some extra time so don't worry I have not forgotten about you we will get to you under Hannah's report shortly um let's go to uh the president's report I'm going to be very brief um I just want to make sure you know been taking a lot of notes Here on things that we're hearing um things that we need to follow up on um
131so we do need to um I think it would be helpful to schedule a Dei committee meeting so we can start talking about the plan for the retreat um with Dr dotton um our super Vel is coming up so please be in the lookout for that email um veterans exemption uh we did have this information from um Mr held um but I think um that is worth having a discussion about at a future meeting there's nothing we could do before March of next year to I believe it's my understanding to to change that if the we have to do it by March 1 we have to do it by March but we couldn't do it like for this year but we could do it for next year okay so with that time frame I think
132um it's worth the board um making sure we have time to discuss that again I think the last time that was discussed was uh four or five years ago and yes we did have folks who are were on both sides of that issue came and discussed it before the board before we made a decision um but I do think we can do some advocacy work in General on that um because one of the reasons why school boards have that as a choice is because the legislature doesn't fund that so so I think um in terms of our um legislative advocacy um and low hanging fruit we can and maybe working with other school boards advocate for the legislature to fully fund their veterans exemption so that it's not an issue in any District um so
133that's something that we could um discuss as part of legislative advocacy work um that along with the electric buses because as Bill said earlier we are on a time um line as far as when that have has to be implement in it but again there's um aspects of that that aren't funded so I think we need to include that in our future legislative advocacy um that was it I mean um we've obviously getting getting a lot of information about mental health we're going to add this to the agenda um so that we do have these discussions and followup um we talked a bit about like how we're going to um hear from students and the best ways to do that and that's definitely um something that I think we should discuss um at a future
134board meeting um maybe those focus groups that Dr carman's looking at doing but um we certainly AR going to forget that that's something that we're going to that we should discuss um so that would be it for my president's report any questions I would add to the advocacy the Senate bill s151 which is thank you adding cultural and religious holidays and pushing for that that's a where is that at in the education committee Senate it's in the education committee senate senate Bill thank you for catching that Rebecca yes just as a point of information we do have a a page on our website that students or parents can go to with many things that we offer for mental health I I yeah that's there but this gener our kids did like how they communicate and
135reaching them um it's not working yeah it's not working there are a lot on they social media but certain social media and then not all kids may be using that so it's going to have to be a variety of different ways that we do this Outreach to kids but whatever it is it needs to be like defined a great deal by the kids is the best way to reach them you know um my students like to text me a lot they don't want to email me they want to text you know and so I and it's I'm not saying we're going to text the mental health information but I'm just saying that we have to figure out from them how they want to get this information and how we can posted I mean there are
136some student groups at the high school um that are centered around mental health that we perhaps can um use for this but um that's a very clear message that kids aren't aware of the services that we have and we need to do a better job of communicating those services to them so um yeah I agree we we have to figure out better ways of doing that oh yes I'm GNA move Hannah okay um if with the if the board's permission um I'm going to uh move Hannah's report up because to Dan's Point our students have a lot of homework they've got to get to so let me if everybody would indulge me on that um because I'm done with my report if we can move Hannah's report up to um under mine um did you
137want to have an opening to that or do you want me to just they can go first they can go first okay all right so the first student I'm make sure I don't forget anybody believe was Michael you wanted to come upcome oh my good evening Board of of Education my name is Michael O young a senior who has been a part of the school district since kindergarten at Enders Road I've been the class office vice president National Honor Society secretary and officer in the student council I am a link crew leader and a dance Marathon MC leading the school's biggest fundraising event of the year I an accomplished musician in the symphony and chamber orchestra I'm involved with many clubs and have a great relationship with the faculty and staff I have 99th percentile
138test scores and will graduate at the top of my class this June I've taken the hardest courses FM has to offer facing the academic rigor that is demanded for distinguished colleges to even notice you in fact I am attending Brown University in the fall to major in public health on the Premed trag Sam I forgot your phone can you bring it up for me please however I do not touch on these things to brag but rather to show who I am who we are as you look around the room you can see FM's pride and FM's Joy they're students sitting with us today are class presidents Science Olympiad captains Model United Nation chairs All State musicians musical leads D1 athletes and everything in between we have trialed and triumphed through every experience FM has to
139offer We Are The Shining product of the pressure cooker that is high school we represent the school but amidst all of these achievements I like most students feel empty and in the past years of high school this emptiness has spiraled into void of depression so depressed to the point where I was in the darkness of my own room staring at pictures of slit wrists and necks like it was eye candy I was so jealous of those pictures wishing I had the confidence to finally rip apart my own skin my own mind had me a 17-year-old with his whole life ahead of him stabbing his wrists and digging Keys into the side of his head my depression led me to driving myself to the Urgent Care on Thanksgiving night missing my last Thanksgiving meal at home
140because I kept repeatedly telling myself I just want everything to end I just want everything to end I just want everything to end I was at a point where I was searching up painless ways to kill myself in my basement seriously trying to figure out out how I could disappear from everyone's lives and who knows if I would be standing here today if I didn't get caught on my computer that night behind my story that I describe is probably one similar to Jay's no one knows how Jay felt in his head but if he felt any way that I did he must have come home after every school day disgusted infuriated and overwhelmed with himself he must not have been able to stand the way he looked or or the way he acted begging to
141magically disappear and not wake up the next day but none of us knew and we will have to live with the preventable pain from Jay's moment of vulnerability for the rest of our lives I promise to speak here tonight to not argue with or berate anyone but to simply just give new and crucial information that cannot be ignored as some of you may know a few months ago I complet I completely opened up about my mental health struggles on Instagram a 10-page essay explaining every thought and every experience I've endured I was sick of hiding but I also believed that this was the best way to show that we are all the same and the perspective I can offer that no other faculty or student can is that along with a community of 1,200 students
142that have banded together with me hundreds of them have reached out to me privately expressing the similarities they share Michael these words make me feel less Alone Michael these I felt like you were reading off the words that race through my head every day Michael I almost killed myself too FM so many students are suicidal and crying for help and if you don't believe me in a survey I conducted last week from a pool of half the student body 700 students 62% of them have recorded that they have had suicidal thoughts and 87% said they have had some form of anxiety depression or severe emptiness Jay was not an outlier rather a part of the disheartening majority 62% 62% of students that walk through the faithful manle doors every morning have wanted to end their
143life look around this room and let it sink in that more than every other student in this room has wanted to kill them self and if you really think about it any percentage above zero should have an urgent call to action half% 1% 3% just one student but instead in this toxic learning environment that 72% of students attest to it has led 62% of them to think that thinking that their life has nothing worth living for and keep in mind as I alluded to before I'm not here to berate any fact faculty in fact some of the counselors have helped me tremendously one might have honestly saved my life but for a dozen counselors to ensure the mental Wellness of 1400 students is impossible look at the graphs 81% of students don't feel comfortable going
144to their counselors 87% do not know there are Family School Liaisons in the school district 98% of students do not know about the three peg 98% of students do not know about the free and effective therapy sessions offered to every student it is evidently clear we are doing something so blatantly wrong for these numbers to be astronomically high 93% of students believe that the administration does not effectively communicate these resources and this detrimental issue will remain if nothing changes and that cannot be ignored most of us here are graduating in two months it is extremely easy for us seniors to honor Jay's life and forget about the entire FM community that we are leaving behind but we are worried for the next Generations of students to come it is far too apparent that depression is
145pervasive in our school and this information simply cannot be ignored anymore these statistics cannot be overlooked and Jay's Life cannot be forgotten we cannot wait for another devastating loss something needs to change and the time is now it rips my heart apart to think that there will be one less person at graduation than on link crew day for the class of 2024 and it is even more heart-wrenching to see a community not enact change for something so easily preventable all of us can do better thank you for your time we love you Jay and we will honor you for the rest of our lives [Applause] thank you ik wood [Applause] uh hello my name is ik wood uh I've been the club I've been presidents of several clubs and I do a lot of like
146Community activism and stuff and I was recently accepted into Lake Syracuse University um that's just to you know similar to like kind of how Mikey did that uh just to show like the type of student I am and who I've been created by uh by FM anyway I I'll start going off the script now um similar to my friends who have spoken before me I too am greatly appreciative of the education that I have received however as my peers have voiced some of the only people who have seen a glimpse of the sadness that I have so diligently hidden away behind a Bright Smile are my closest friends since I moved into this District I have encountered so many instances of malnourished mental health cases that is nearly impossible to even begin to Ballpark a
147number whether it be the battles I luckily won against my own suicidal thoughts or uh a friend waking me up in the early hours of the morning sorry early hours of the morning to tell me can I speak like a little later yes yes of course honey of course [Applause] uh Palin [Applause] first of all I like many of my peers want to say that I'm very grateful for every opportunity that FM has provided me with however to love a community is Having the courage to speak when that Community needs to change and to start I would like to share some messages I have sent to my closest friends in the past two years 9:35 a.m. March 30 2022 I just feel numb nothing a void like a clean stretch of water like I'm floating
148in it forever floating 11:49 p.m. June 21st 2021 I feel like my depression has been getting worse I laid in bed today sad until 5:00 p.m. 9:37 a.m. March 30 2022 I just want to be okay again too much grief time will heal time heals all I know it does in summer of 2021 I was diagnosed with clinical depression and anxiety I do not even remember the amount of times that I did not want to be alive but the reason I am standing here today sharing this information for the first time to an audience is not to ask you for your pity and neither are any of my peers who are speaking before you today we are here because discussion of mental health and the safety and support every student deserves and needs is long
149overdue it is a school district's most basic responsibility to protect its students in the tragic loss of our friend Jay proves that this responsibility was not fulfilled to the best of its ability Jay's death is not in isolation the lack of structural Mental Health Resources information regarding existing Mental Health Resources the lack of care towards recognizing and celebrating the diversity of our student body and the lack of community and mutual care have cultivated a culture built upon ignorance in a survey conducted by FM diversity Coalition in 2020 56% of the hundreds of respondents stated that they do not have a space at school where they feel safe where they feel supported and can freely Express themselves and it comes to no surprise that most of these students are students of color lgbtq plus students and
150other marginalized groups the students who are part of this 56% are not statistics they sit next to you across from you at your dinner table on the school bus in the empty seat that used to be beside you these are your children your friends your classmates and your siblings how can students be expected to learn and Thrive when over half do not even feel welcomed in the very space that is supposed to protect them we are raising a generation accustomed to grief and despite the anger despite the fury that we rightfully feel I am not here to berate anyone this is a time of unity so often we speak of community of beauty and Excellence but it is moments like these that test if we are true to our words the solution is right in
151front of us from what my peers have stated licensed mental health professionals training programs for parents and Educators more information so students know when and where to seek help there is no reason for anyone to claim that there is no opportunity for change I along with the rest of the student body are eager to engage an introspective dialogue for change structural and intersectional change with the Board of Education with parents and other members of the community may we honor jayou in all he has selflessly given us thank you [Applause] Ike do you want to come back [Applause] up similar to my friends who have spoken before me I too am greatly appreciative of the education that I have received however as many of my peers have voiced some of the only people who have seen
152a glimpse of the sadness that I have so diligently hidden away behind a bright smile are my closest friend since I moved into this District I have encountered so many instances of malnourished mental health cases that it is nearly impossible to even begin to Ballpark a number whether it it whether it be the battles I luckily won against my own suicidal thoughts or a friend waking me up in the early hours of the morning to tell me that they're scared and that this may be their final goodbye but that's the fifth goodbye that they've given me and all I can do is fall prey to a paralysis that lingers my psyche into a resting trance hoping praying that there will be a sixth sessions of me playing armchair therapy with my friends who cut and
153starve themselves because they don't feel accepted by their friends peers or counselors glazed eyes of my Bears who brag about the lack of sleep that they get because of their overexertion toward academics that once energetic friend with infinite energy and effort Spirals and everyone watches as they carve their potential into a dwindled pit of misery avoidance and depression friends I consider family stare me dead in the face reciting Blain and hate crimes that they've experienced and to No Surprise no one was held accountable friends who have come to me sobbing because of sexual assault rape and abuse slurs that I hear while I walk throughout the halls of this quote unquote safe School the death of Jay L this torture environment that we call our prestigious academic culture must change and thus far students have
154been at the forfront of this brutalization do not pretend to be deaf now do not pretend to be deaf because our echoing cries have sang their songs countless times already all of this sounds like someone should be there to help us right and yet somehow the burden of mental health and culture has been almost exclusively placed onto the shoulders of students the semantics of whether or not students know of the pre-existing insufficient and demonstrably defunded Mental Health Resources are not of my concern a bet a petty debate of monetary allocation is inappropriate and wildly infuriating to myself and my suffering peers I cannot watch this epidemic continue to the Youth of our community my friends little siblings I the status quo is not enough now it will not be enough tomorrow and it was certainly
155not enough for Jay I stand here today asking no begging that this be resolved with all your effort this community this community is tired we are worn we have told you this yesterday and we are here telling you now please I beg that this be fixed not 10 years from now or 5 years from now but tomorrow thank [Applause] you hello I'm Michael's father and um Mikey had signed me up to speak for three minutes in case his uh talk went over and wouldn't be allowed um I'm a family practice physician I know the whole Community for decades and I practiced for three decades if I may be please allowed to speak for three minutes I appreciate it okay I fear for the community um um these are the brightest of the students they are
156spectacular I am so proud of Mikey and all of you from the bottom of my heart but I am afraid because this community is exceptional and you've heard them speak of winning not only in sports where I've seen students pushed since kindergarten but they've also been pushed academically and as as a professor myself if this can happen in my family it can happen to any of them the students you hear speak today are from the finest of families I assure you they have all the love in the world and this can happen so in medicine we speak of solutions but that requires identifying the problem the problem is multifactorial social media where they're addicted even as bright as Michael is he can spend eight hours a day on this thing when he tries to take
157a nap it pings probably 60 times an hour he gets phone calls from group chats combining this with the vulnerability of high school where they're trying to learn about their bodies as you mentioned their identity sexually hormones raging this person's hair looks better than mine this person's outfit looks better than mine I got pimples the sports competitions striving for academic Excellence it's too much and their minds in the words of Dr Carmen are rewired by social media so their coping skills are poor what do they turn to more internet more Twitter more Facebook to try to find answers which are erroneous they get false anxiety from multiple commenters who are really not experts about what professional schools will be like what about their future will be like you heard Eddie eloquently speak how terrible it
158is that he was equated to his grades again you have to identify the solution but the problem is multifactorial it's not just addiction to social media but also diminished family time diminished quality of family time and as you've heard speak today we have to improve helping parents and families parentally have counseling groups to try to improve family time and battle this addiction so I applaud all the efforts and all the recommendations from Dr Carmen and the groups to have if you will group sessions to try to tackle all of these facets I worry most about and I'm probably going to have to go over two three minutes forgive me but I worry most about the students to follow as we all know this was an exceptional year 14 students getting into the Ivy Leagues it
159was very competitive and most of those students should have gotten into every school single school they applied to but many of them only in got into one top tier school which tells you that the admissions committees are not paying attention they're going by algorithms this many students from this District Etc these students students need to know Excellence happiness can be pressureless it can be like the spokes wheel of a tire where the goal is the center of the axle but it can be reached by many many paths and that they don't have to have the ivy league education 4% of students worldwide get into Ivy Leagues far more people are successful beyond that you will hear about law firms led by numerous 90 plus perc IV League graduates but there two top most brilliant law
160board directors are not from ivy league education you will hear and read about professors who attended non ivy league undergraduate programs and then gone to eight years of graduate school at an Ivy League where they were stuck up individuals conceited and not the most intelligent dror um um we do need to to stop you I do have another student that needs to speak do appreciate thank you for coming to support your son appreciate that thank you we hope I want to make sure we have time for the the student we do have another student who wants to speak okay I I I'm going to close with just this one comment I've spoken to Dr Carmen and the project teach people in New York the upstate psychiatrist in charge of project teach which is to expand
161emergency help to the primary care level that is the short-term answer in my opinion it's $60,000 to have a mental health provider have a salary and as Dr Ty points out it can't be shortterm right now currently the data I've been told is that there's only $10,000 budgeted and it probably will go to the inner city so it's scary but that's the answer at least the weight time currently is four months for emergency mental health thank you very much doct I just want to be respectful of the students time thank you thank you Hannah [Applause] gger just talk hi I'm a senior up at the high school and I'm super grateful for my education it's been phenomenal um I moved from fabus pompe and I there is a difference I believe it um FM Soares
162above all our neighboring schools and academics and opportunities however we don't hold ourselves to that same standard when it comes to mental health the pressure put on students at FM is incredible I'm touched by the surveys conducted by Palin and Michael students who took it upon themselves went above and beyond their duties as students to learn about mental health at our school I think it's really telling that two students are the ones who have been the ones to collect this data um the notes made by Eddie on grades equating well-being and the fear of wasting a valuable period on a study hall or a lunch resonate deeply with me and many other students this school is filled with high performing students and our assumption that a high performing student taking difficult classes is doing well
163is far from the truth if your ad concern is admission to top tier schools I might remind you that while grades are important a happy student who has found Devotion to something they love that brings them happiness is just if not more effective my best friend who sat at the top of her class suffered through emotional abuse at home and severe depression she came not only to her own counselor but also another however she attempted suicide many times and felt trapped at home and stuck at school not to any fault of our incredible counselors we must remember that for so many students schools an escape from the stresses at home and the toxic environment of social media I have until very very recently believed the only Mental Health Resources at the school offered were our
164academic counselors and from what I've heard the resources that are not our academic counselors are already taxed these academic counselors are incredibly busy overworked difficult to get a meeting with and expected to do a job beyond what they are trained for I say all this not to discredit the incredible work these counselors do on a daily basis but to point out the dichotomy between the administration's perspective and that of the students students need consistent available reliable resources and we need them now I recently met with a counselor in a literal Supply Closet because they don't have an extra room and the proposed Zen Center in the new capital project 5 years from now is a good start but it's not enough nor does it stand up to the urgency of this issue it isn't the
165rare occurrence that a student battles mental health issues but in fact the norm as someone who deals with anxiety PTSD and OCD I can assure you that I'm not a huge fan of public speaking but I'm here today along so many Brave teenagers asking for more telling you need you we need help we have taken our step and now the burden falls on you to hear these pleas and allocate funds to hiring mental health professionals not just psychologists but licensed clinical social workers creating spaces for dealing with the stresses of high school life training teachers on identifying and reaching out to students that are struggling and making these students aware of these resources the board should be proud that they have played a part in raising so many students to be able to stand up
166for what they believe in it is your turn to make us proud by taking action on this urgent issue thank [Applause] you I just want to quickly say that um I have had the privilege of being the student representative for this year um but I would like to just say a special thank you to all the high school students who decided to come to the meeting tonight and to speak up um for mental health and to speak of your own struggles because um these students sitting here are the brightest students we have some of the brightest students we have at FM high school who care about their education who have great relationships with their teachers but who are asking for help they had the courage which is awfully hard to do as a 16 17
167or 18y old to come to the Board of Education meeting to speak while this is live streamed and to share their own personal story so I hope that we can uh have better communication at the high school better education of Mental Health Resources I hope action can be taken soon for the students who decide Ed to speak not only for themselves but for the rest of the student body and that is something that I've tried to do um throughout this whole school year and I'm just grateful that they all decided to come tonight and those who didn't speak just to sit here and applaud and be there for others it means a lot and I hope that um the board can look to try to come up with some sort of uh fix right now
168to be able to help students because as you could see from the students who spoke tonight we're not okay students are not okay right now um not only with the pandemic but it's been a hard year and the loss of Jay's life was uh very difficult for most and it was nice to have spring break that was a week that we got off and yes it was relaxing but we can't forget we cannot just go back to school and pretend like everything's normal noral because it's not normal for uh for us um I just want to make sure that everyone knows that students need help right now we we need more options we need to continue having these discussions about mental health we we need to be able to be there not only for ourselves
169and for uh the students who are graduating the next two month but for future generations to come I know a lot of seniors who came tonight have younger SI and we care so much so I hope um everyone can just collectivize together and put our best efforts forward to help all the students here thank you thank you Hannah and um thank you to all the students who came this evening um thank you for being being very vulnerable and sharing your truth and speaking to the board um it's very much appreciated we I know I believe we we all recognize that we have some work to do I hope that you know our discussion earlier um that you saw that as a good start in what we need to do um as far as the district
170um but again I just want to thank you all for coming and and speaking I know it wasn't easy but um thank you all very much and Hannah you've done so very a lot so much so thank you um I just want to think um take about a f minute break um and then we will continue with the rest of the board agenda thank you I can take conversation all right we're going to call the meeting back to order thank you all right um correct me from if I'm wrong but I believe I'm going to superintendent covid-19 update Dr Ty Oh wait we're back on I didn't know if we ever went off oh we're up okay good just want to make sure all right Dr Ty your covid-19 update begging the board's Indulgence you
171have the report in your file I don't think we need to go through the statistics as we do it helps put it all in perspective uh we have seen an uptick lately we're certainly monitoring it and we're doing another distribution of at home tests this Thursday thank you thank you are there any questions on that report okay um then I'm going to go back to committee and representative updates and entrance of time the minutes are all here is there any committee chair who would like to give a specific update at this point I fa I just found out late this afternoon that I need to be out of town next week and we have had a policy committee meeting scheduled that I believe only two of us could attend so we no longer have Quorum
172thank you so the policy meeting that was scheduled for April 2 26th that has to be canceled as you'll be out of town no because because of the fact that I'm out of town we don't have Quorum because only two of the three committee members can turn you okay okay um quick legislatively aison if nobody else had anything um we did receive the uh packet today about um any the resolutions packet they're due by August 1st there have been times when we've been scrambling in July deciding do we want to submit any resolutions so I wanted to let you know now so we have a few months to decide if we want to submit any resolutions and especially since we just talked about a few issues that we would be asking nisba to advocate for
173okay well thank you for bringing that to our attention early so that we can look through that and then um perhaps the next meeting have a conversation about um the resolution and if we even have one what we want to do about those thank you uh let's see next on the agenda then is approval of the minutes from the March 14th meeting is there a motion to approve the minutes thank you Mark second from Sher and a discussion all those in favor please State I I anyone opposed or abstaining abstaining one extension thank you Rebecca uh three uh next item approval of the minutes from the April 4th meeting is there a motion to approve the minutes thank you darl second from Mark any discussion yeah I just just had one clarification that was on
174page two where it said I had inquired about setting tax rates I hadn't asked about setting tax rates I asked for clarification that the tax rate proposal on the presentation was not the same for all towns involved okay I hear Sarah will take care of that anything else for the minutes okay so with that change and is there um motion to approve the amended minutes so thank you Kelly second from Jason any further discussion all those in favor please State I I anyone opposed or abstaining excuse me next on the agenda item adoption of the 2022 23 budget is there motion me that it be resolved the Board of Education of the favorable man Central School District hereby adopts the 20 2223 budget as presented on April excuse me 18th 2022 is there a motion
175thank you Sherry second from Daryl any discussion all those in favor please State I I anyone opposed or abstaining sorry my voice seems to be leaving me um next is the adoption of the 2022 23 property tax report card is there a motion that it be resolved that the faal man Board of Education ad stops the 2022 23 OC os's oops I'm sorry went to the wrong one skipped over that one like this not the right one um is there a motion that it be resolved the Board of Education of the fav manle Central School District hereby adopts the 2022 23 property tax report card is presented on April 18th is there a motion thank you Sherry and a second thank you Kelly any discussion quick question Dr Ty on the report card it shows
176uh enrollment for the district are we anticipating a slight decrease in enrollment next year I think that's from the projections I know Mr Furlong isn't here to answer that but uh it's based on the cohort survival method so it isn't it's anticipated it's not actual and he's conservative as we know in his estimates so he plans worst case scenario hopes we exceed that thank you okay so we had a first and a second all those in favor please indicate I I anyone opposed or abstaining all right next um OC and Bose's administrative budget is there a motion that it be resolved with theable m e Board of Education adopts the 2022 23 ocm Bose's administrative budget as presented in the amount of 9, 3,563 there motion thank you Sherry second thank excuse me thank you
177Mark any discussion all those in favor please indicate I I anyone opposed or abstaining next uh resolution ocm Bose's ballot for election is there a motion that the favorable man leus Board of Education agrees to cast its vote in the annual election of members of the board of Cooperative Education Services for the person or persons indicated on the ballot there a motion thank you Rebecca second from Sher any any discussion all those in favor please indicate I I anyone opposed or abstaining item 3.07 policy in first reading uh oops be [Music] resolved um right so we've got the is it resolved that the Board of Education of the favorable M Central School District the policy be moved into second reading at the next board meeting uh it's our Dei policy is there a motion thank
178you Sherry second thank you Kelly discussion there was just one I'm sorry go ahead I'm sorry uh just a very simple question uh why are we going with Equity diversity and inclusion that was going to be my question I I have a yes that was my question the title is equity diversity and inclusion as opposed to diversity equity and inclusion at the policy committee that was how it was presented to us from the uh administrative team but that was an option actually I think they you know they changed it that way but left it as an option so we went with it okay in the crsc framework it refers to as educational Equity diversity and inclusion in some parts but it really I think we moved education to the end correct it was part of
179it was tracing from the CRS which as you said was educational Equity was the lead to it and we had it already in there and that was how it came back and went through cabinet so that was this has gone through not just policy committee but cabinet wrote the first as I understand it blessed the revisions um and got us to where we are today okay wondering if it's going to lead to any confusion I would prefer it just be simply diversity equity and inclusion I mean I don't mind the ineducation part but I think struck me because if we start using the acronym EDI I mean I could see why we wouldn't want to use IED but I I mean it just and then that comes up again under account ability transparency I mean
180I there's smarter people that are you know putting this forth than me but I I just don't you know it doesn't sound like they were I mean it sounds like from what you said Sher is presented as an option not as something that they were particularly uh I believe it started in the paragraph about accountability transparency review that's where they switched the wording and so we said let's make it track together so we switched the title I think if if I remember remembering that correctly um but those two we just wanted to make the match and since one had been changed we changed the other and we were pulling and making a parallel structure with crsc but uh I think the administration would be fine going back to Dei yeah I'd like to make that
181change Dei I can read the text oh if he could do jokes I could read texts care that one I guess I just want to I I now that this work is evolving across you know not just in schools but across the community I'm seeing lots of different acronyms pop up there's like you know there's belonging welcoming is being added so I don't think it matters at least to me I think this is fine especially if it tracks with the framework I just think the important thing is that we need to be consistent um across all of our material so whatever we land on um you know I think at some point it becomes I I mean a little bit semantic but again I I've seen there's so many new acronyms out there that I
182just think we just need to land on one and if it makes sense to track the crsc then I think that that makes sense I I appreciate the feedback from the back row that they would be fine with that change so um I Ian I definitely I would like to see that made other people's thoughts it is come full circle I don't want to speak for the committee they can do that on their own as well but I mean it just we came back it's like my dissertation committee you come back to where you started and you're at a point where I think you can defend it on all angles so I think we mean what we say I think we're happy with any iteration and Dei is consistent with what you're seeing across the
183state so I I would just want to see what the consensus of the board is because we haven't heard from everybody and I prefer Dei because I think that's how we've presented to our community over these last two years I mean it's sort of the least of my concerns I'd rather talk about the meat of the policy but I know we have to land somewhere so I would say we have already kind of thrown our hat in the ring of Dei so I I would really defer to Administration based on what the crsc framework how that's tracking I don't have a a strong opinion opinion on it I I'm just going to say very simply it was intentional of how it was done but sitting here tonight I couldn't care less what order words on
184the title of a policy just whatever I I don't care I said it's the it's the meat of the policy that matters the wording the wording of the title is it sounds that we have consensus on that particular issue to move on but to Rebecca's Point Let's get into the meat of it and see if people have any concerns about what's written in the actual policy beyond the title so are we jumping in yes yes please so one question I had was the paragraph above the goals let's see I guess it's the first it's hard with the track changes but the all children paragraph second sentence talks about Equitable access to learning opportunities that enable them to thrive and I guess I'm just sort of thinking more globally about you know the conversations we've had
185tonight do we just want to limit it to learning opportunities or to Opportunities because I think you could expand Beyond learning opportunities to other opportunities that the school can offer would it be educational opportunities then it is so I'm I'm proposing possibly removing the word educational or or adding other what we talked about was really much to the point of what Dr Kilmer said earlier today we're in the business of Education everything we do has an educational core to it whether it's extracurriculars whether it's Athletics everything we do has an educational core to it which is why we landed and which is why I believe the administration landed on educational opportunity with conversation about literally every word comma and period through this policy any other thoughts can I just say while we're waiting for people
186to maybe say something I just want to thank everyone who had their hand in reviewing this including the policy committee and the administration um I'm sure that people will have something to say positive and negative and I see this as a starting point and in you know in no way should anyone take this as the final word I think we're all still learning and again like we have to start somewhere and I think I think this is a good place to start and we'll see over the next year to 5 10 where this needs to go so I just appreciate the effort and the thoughtfulness that went into this so there was just there was just one word I think that was missing out of the last revision on this which was where it references
187establishing a committee um that the committee is in that sentence is supposed to the name of the committee is supposed to mirror the title of the policy so whatever the title gets changed too it's it it was missing in education as part of the name of the committee um just so that that was consistent and it's the same thing in the regg that isn't really our purview um but I I also want to just acknowledge I know cabinet has spent a lot of time on this cabinet spent a lot of time on this last summer cabinet spent time on it again this year going through it and it's been very intentional for some kid can look at this and say that it's a brief policy and some will look at it and argue perhaps that
188it's too brief a policy but it's very intentional that it's Broad and encompassing so that it can be fluid and applicable to the needs of our community the needs of our students and needs of our staff where they need to be met so it was very intentionally done in the way that it was done and I'm very appreciative of the time the cabinet spend on that any other feedback on the policy other than Dei change okay all right kind of absorbing and thinking back to when I read it late last night but um in terms of the accountability paragraph that first sentence was deleted the FM school districts dedicating time energy and resources to develop an equitable inclusive and diverse and welcoming environment for all and then to this end and it said what the
189district would do I'm just curious why that was deleted which were duplicity duplicity to references there were earlier in the policy that was really the primary in part when we used our welcoming statement if I recall correct on the the first paragraph because that whole area in red was transplanted from our welcoming statement so that made the accountability sentence obsolete it would be great to see the clean version of this because it's hard to read it through without with all the red lines because we didn't this is the first time seeing it so I don't know if that's something that could be distributed before a second in advance I just retyped it because I can't deal with the red we can get that out to you as early as the Thursday L okay thank you
190thank you okay all righty so uh vote then to move that um all those in favor State I I anyone opposed or abstaining all right next on the agenda oh the RFP award for Universal pre kindergart is there a motion that it be resolved that the Board of Education approves the award of the contract for Universal pre kindergarten program services pursuant to the RFP and amend them and that the proposed terms of contract attached to the RFP are hereby approved and the superintendent of schools is authorized and directed to execute the same on behalf of the school district and to take all steps necessary to carry out the terms of such agreement is there a motion thank you darl and a second from Sher any discussion I did respond to Jason's last email indicating that
191this was sent to legal counsel for review and as you can see with the increased funding based on his earlier question we are able to accommodate up to 91 now instead of 84 and possibly uh the additional seats and shining stars uh in the event parents can trans transport on their own uh that last classroom would be open uh from 9 to 2 instead of 8:30 to 130 which would be the other placements so what we're trying to maximize as close as we can get with these two providers towards the 132 which the funding will allow Craig and I think you know also to administrative Point too um you know for the community's benefit so they understand the state led us to believe all along we were getting funding for 84 seats so we adequately
192planned for the anticipated funding at the 11th Hour what two weeks ago they in the final budget changed a pen stroke and all of a sudden gave us extra funding so it's not as though we are intentionally turning down this funding we quite honestly had no idea it was coming until two weeks ago um you know Craig to the extent that there's anything and I don't know that there is that we can do to to maximize those seats I I hope we'll be able to do it we can uh put out another RFP this is the literal and figurative bird in the hand at this point but we can do another RFP and you can and the hyperlinks that I sent in my first response to your inquiry it had the reg uh the guidance
193from uh State Ed which indicated what a uh community- based organization is within your boundaries and outside your boundaries so that does give us options to go beyond our boundaries and ask for a variance as it said but we could issue another RFP not only for those internal but external good question so mine isn't a specific question on this although I have one I'll get to in a second but just procedurally again when we have resolutions that specifically reference documents like this references the rfpa addendum and the proposed terms of contract if if we could include those as part of administrative or executive content with this so that we have reference to what it is we're talking about in these resolutions that would be extremely helpful my one specific question on this that I only
194have is reading it and if you don't have the answers tonight that's fine just it's some point um is where liability falls under the contract since we haven't seen it for responsibility for screening the providers if there are any issues or liability issues that do arise out of pre are we fully subbing this out or is this district end I just I'd be curious to know where that lies they needed to provide Certificate of Insurance so the liability is on them I'm sure indirectly it'll come back on us because technically the program is ours in terms of the supervision and staff providing staff development but in order to respond to the RFP they had to provide a Certificate of Insurance all those in favor indicate I I anyone opposed or abstaining great moment for the
195community okay next board development as discussed earlier we are working on the retreat um CM School boards Association recognition program they have a board member of achievement um program if folks want to take a look at that and see if they want to nominate anyone um working agenda items you know we're going to make that change to our agenda as far as mental health updat so we'll be getting uh more information there uh potential consideration for future meetings um I talked earlier about um following up on the veterans exemption um discussion as well as the electrical I'm sorry electric buses and also the legislation in regards to the um Muslim holidays so those are I would put under um considerations for future meetings once we get more information uh future meetings calendar so our next
196meeting um is May 9th budget hearing and then oh our superintendent evaluation just want to get folks feedback on that you know traditionally we meet before the budget vote to do our superintendent evaluation and um we've had it in different locations we've had it over point in the wrong direction at the um the conference center um we've had it at Wellwood before and this meeting location proposed is the fail Library where we've done it for a number of years uh if folks are okay with that if you want to go back to the conference center in terms of is there any preference of the board fail works okay all right we'll keep it there then all right and then please note the earlier start for the June 13th meeting at 5:00 pm because we're going
197to um have the retreat dinner on that date okay all right consented um excuse me I'm sorry audit shifted correct chairperson next day right I think the 14th all right consent agenda is there a motion to approve the consent agenda including the new item of the appointment of the 504 hearing officer Kelly second from Daryl all those in favor please State I I anyone opposed or abstaining all right um we do not have the need for executive session tonight is there a motion to adjourn our meeting oh Kelly sorry second darl Dan well we have mental health we have mental health on our agenda and I think we um and when we look at Agenda planning for our next meeting we've gotten that documentation we've gotten um we've heard so much from our students so
198I I think that this is something you discuss at the next possible meeting under mental health um you know um I think that would be ideal I just like to add that we have had someone come to the meeting four times to talk about the grading policy so whether that's rolled into Mental Health or not I think we'd be remiss to not at least adjust that and move forward in one way or another yes I actually mentioned that to Dr Ty that um it's definitely time to give the gentleman a final answer one way or another on that so my opinion but yes I think that would be a good idea and I will ask that in the parking lot for those continued discussions with mental health that homework policy remains on that list I'm
199sorry what darl all right so at a first and second any further discussion all those in favor indicate I I anyone opposed or abstain all right meetings a Jour thank you all for