001Good evening and thank you for joining us this evening. I'd like to call this meeting to order. Can I get someone to move action 1.02 to approve the agenda? >> Move it. >> Second. >> Lori and Nick. >> Yeah. >> All those in favor? >> I opposed abstaining. passes 500. In the event of an emergency and we need to evacuate the building, we do have two points of exit from and exit from our room. If you could please go out to the nearest store and go as far away from the building as possible. Would you please join me for the pledge of allegiance? I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >>
002There is nobody signed up for public forum this evening. Action 1.06. Could somebody move to approve the February 10th regular meeting minutes? >> Move it. >> Second. Nick and Jess. All those in favor? >> I opposed >> abstaining. Passes 500. We have a lot of fun things happening over the next month. Um you can follow along in your president's report, but I'm going to kind of skip around a little bit. I kind of lumped us together. So, uh for our regular meetings, we have a policy meeting on the 25th. We do have a regular board meeting on the 10th and the 24th as well as our next budget meeting will be on the 10th. Health and safety on the 17th and policy meeting on March 18th. We also have our title one family engagement coming
003up on March 2nd. You can go to either the 9:00 or the 6:30 meeting. They are both in person and virtual. On March 9th, there is no school for students. It's superintendent day. Our battle of the books began yesterday with a fairrave uh Lanigan and Graanby. They will be February 27th. Baloney [clears throat] on March 4th. And then you have your district battle of the books coming up on the 11th here at 9:15 in the uh Ed Cent's auditorium. And our county battle of the books is March 16th. Uh, one of my favorite times a year is music in our schools month is coming up in March. Uh, will be kicked off by our corks players musical of Greece. That will be going from March 12th through the 14th with a 7:30 performance each night
004and a 2:00 p.m. matinea on Saturday. I believe that the alumni night is Friday, March 13th. And then all of those wonderful concerts that will be coming up. Graanby is on March 16th, Bali on March 17th, Fairgrave and Lanigan are both on March 18th. The junior high school and the GRB are together on March 19th at Jay Bodley. There is also a district art show that's um on March 19th and that starts at 5:00 at the high school. And our all county orchestra music festival will be March 20th and the 21st. And then the orchestra for junior high and GRB will be on March 25th. and Horus will be with the junior high and uh high school uh at the 23rd. Those will be at 6:30 at GRB on March 4th. For those in the
005community who are interested in running for our three positions that will be up for the board, you will be able to pick those up starting on March 4th here at the superintendent's office. Um, they will be available at the packets with Miss Trude there. Like I said, there are three seats available. All petitions must be filed to the district clerk by 5:00 on April 20th. If you have any questions with that, you can contact the district clerk, which is Mrs. Trude, at 3155935511. I hope that we get some good interest in our community. Like I said, we have three seats available. With that, there is a lot of fun things coming up in the next month. >> Um, but that's all we have for right now. I do want to welcome Mrs. Griffin who will
006be helping us out uh while she fills in for Mrs. um Hutchinson who had to step down. Um, and we will be doing your oath of office a little bit later in in the program. But thank you so much for stepping up and helping us out in this time. >> Thank you. Thank you for having me back. Trusting me. All right, with that, Mr. Lawrence, I'm going to pass it on over to you. >> All right, so we do have uh three updates, superintendent report updates tonight. The first one, we have several administrators joining us this evening from building level, district level uh to discuss our state assessment 2024 2025 state assessment uh results as well as our accountability updates. I'll turn things over to Mrs. Hendrickson to kick us off. who will then turn
007it over to me. >> Oh, sorry. Missed that one. [laughter] >> Uh, while the admin team, I don't know if you want to get yourself situated to present, uh, we will get going. We can, uh, start off as always, we kind of start with our mission, our vision, mission, and values. Uh, and the idea here is to really coordinate like the purpose of the school from the individual student level all the way up to like the state level. That's I mean part of this assessment program is it's what the state does for accountability. We have to measure up uh with certain areas where they set us benchmarks and then we look at our own internal systems. We really have focused on growth and um moving our kids forward from their present level to the next
008level as they move through this. So um part of that is it goes with our strategic coherence plan which again you've seen these three concentric circles but that idea of uh promoting a positive culture which people feel that they belong and they're they're part of the the team the group wherever they are functioning within our district. Uh the systems and structures that support the student learning uh what we do how we respond uh our multi-tered system of support and then looking at our learning wellness and life pathways. Those are the the avenues the the different opportunities that our kids have uh for learning not just the academic learning but the social emotional learning as well and looking at what kind of opportunities and pathways they have as they go forward. So all of that in
009mind, a lot of those go back one more, I'm sorry. All of that in mind, one of the things with our systems and structures is um we are a professional learning community. Uh and part of that network of our professional learning is looking at um those professional learning community questions which are what are our students learning which is that's that's our curriculum. How do we know those are the assessments that they take and then what are we doing for the students who have already reached the benchmark and what are we doing for students who have not yet reach the benchmark that's our multi-tered system of support. So a lot of the focus here is what does our tier one look like? What do all kids get an exposure to get taught and then what are
010we doing to meet the kid the needs of the kids that need additional support whether they've already met the goal or they have yet to meet the goal. So, you'll see with some of these assessments, we're going to really focus on growth, where we're going um over the course of time. Now, we're good. >> With that, we're going to get started. I like to welcome. >> Good evening, everyone. I'm going to apologize ahead of time because as soon as I'm done, I'm going to sneak out so I can get over to help support the sectional games that are going on over at the high school. So, um >> thank you for doing that. >> Sure. Absolutely. All right. [clears throat] So, we're going to take a look at our regent uh results from um last
011year. Um these are our math and ELA regent exams. Um as you can see um our scores over here in terms of students uh scoring proficient uh are in the blue column over there. Um the only comparison that I can give you from last year to this year because ELA has been completed um is that ELA exam. Last year we were at 77% um compared to the 75% New York State. Um we just scored 84 or 85 this past January. Um which is another great jump for us. Um our students are doing well. Um [clears throat] >> and to point out those are 10th graders taking >> correct those are 10th graders taking it at the midway point through 10th grade year. [snorts] So we test our students in 10th grade January. Other schools will
012do them June >> of their junior year. >> Are we the only district in our county that's doing a 10th graders? >> No, because I know PE does nth grade actually. >> Okay. >> Um Okay. >> So, there are some that go outside of junior year, but most most of them are junior year. >> Okay. >> Um I do want to point out the geometry results there. the the second one from the bottom that 4% that is the old common core last administration of the old common core assessment [clears throat] given in August [cough] so there were not very many students who took that um and so that is that test is no longer given [cough] [clears throat] >> okay so science and social studies regences um there are a couple of outliers in this
013one I have to point out to you um the living environment um regent exam that very first row that is the old exam. Um the sciences when they out when they rolled out the nextG science standards the they gave four concurrent exam administrations with the old exam and the new. So the life science biology the one that's June only the one the second row that is the new standards when you look at those results and compare them to the state averages there [clears throat] were lots of schools around the state who did not offer or teach the new standards last year and they taught only the old standards. So our we went with the new standards last year and we've been teaching them now for for a little bit. So even though those results of
014the living environment exam look low, that's because those were students who had taken the exam in previous years under the old curriculum. And so they were still trying to pass that exam under the old curriculum even though we weren't teaching the old curriculum. So that's why that looks as low as it does. Um the same is true for the third row down which is earth science. It's in the same exact boat is the living environment. There were schools around the the state who taught the old curriculum. We did not. We moved to the earth and space science curriculum last year. That's the fourth row down. So, the majority of our students took that exam. Uh, another um thing to take note on this one is physics that June only exam that is the last administration
015that we are giving of the physics regents in our district. And the reason for that is because the next generation physics standards which are out this year for the new exam, they do not align with the we offer CCC physics. They don't align the curriculums with each other. So we are going to continue with college physics and just not offer the regent's exam because the curriculums don't align. So that's the last time we'll be giving the physics regents. [clears throat] >> And just to throw in at that point students would have already met their their science >> science criteria. Yep. Yep. For graduation. That's their fourth option. Uh sometimes third depending upon actually most fourth cuz most of those kids that take physics actually took uh earth science in 8th grade. So that would be
016their fourth science generally in 11th grade. [snorts] So here is [clears throat] a comparison of 24 the 2024 region's proficiency across the county um and how we did in each area uh county comparison wise. Um, as you can see, we we do a pretty decent job across the county with our our scores um and how our kids are doing. And then here's the same results from the 2025 um region's proficiency across the county. Again, our students do very well. All right. So the success that we have um on these regences couldn't be had without our our comrades in arms in elementary and in the junior high. So the results that you'll see and the growth that our students are making in these three through eight assessments is really indicating and culminating with their ability to
017be successful on regious exams. Again, our students do very well as students grow from their testing that they start in third grade through eighth grade. So with that, Miss Leno from >> Tim Jim, did you need any of >> Do you have any specific reason why? >> Okay. >> We've seen I mean, you're all working together, but what changed >> in terms of the results? >> Yeah. I mean, I've always heard we worked together, but we worked together. We got good [clears throat] results. So, what was different this time? >> Um, I wouldn't say that things are different. I think what what's important to point out is that and you're going to hear this from Miss Serno [clears throat] and and others is that when you look at our three rate assessments, they're they're not
018as high as we want them to be. >> Comparatively across the state, they're okay, but what you're going to see is growth that students make from third grade through 8th grade. And the biggest difference that you're going to notice and you're going to see that will be pointed out is that our students that come into Fton schools in kindergarten are far behind other students across the state. And so even though our scores aren't as high as we want them to be yearbyear, they are growing every year that they take the assessment. Some of that has to do with it the familiarity with the exam and then obviously the preparation. But again, what I go back to is even though the scores aren't where we want them to be in elementary school, what really matters is
019can they pass assessments to graduate and we're seeing that we're seeing those kids do well in high school. >> I think another contributing factor is our collaboration. We have strong PLTs that are um constantly talking and we have vertical and horizontal u meetings where our teachers at the elementary, junior high, and high school are speaking together and sharing strategies. So that's been a piece that I think is important. So as our students are going through and transitioning, they're seeing the same strategy, not having to learn those pieces over and over again. So I think that speaks to it as well. >> So we want to hang on to that. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> And we're [clears throat] expanding on that. >> We're expanding on that. I mean, we're currently talking about because a lot
020of our tests that we've gone to, especially at the regions level, and I can say specifically in the life [clears throat] science, bio, and earth science, um, or sorry, earth and space sciences, those exams are incredibly heavy on reading. Um, way more so than they were before. And they've always been a reading test, but now it's like to the nth degree. >> And it's different type of reading, >> very much so. So there's lots of graphs, lots of diagrams, lots of tables, lots of experts or excerpts um with paragraphs that students have to read and then pull information out of there. So one [clears throat] of the reasons why the assessment scores at those exam levels like the earth science one the state state average was like a mid-50s um for the for us at
021the high school it was like 70 something. They taught differently than the bio group did. And there's a really heavy focus on reading. And those strategies we're we're talking about are strategies that we're trying to employ districtwide. So that as Cedric said, as students are experiencing in in elementary school, they're going to be the same type of strategies they're experiencing with us to help prepare them for those tests and do even better. >> Thank you. And one last question, if I may, Mrs. Hendrickson um [clears throat] when do you predominantly provide the time for the collaboration to occur? When do we provide >> Yes. When is that time provided? >> It's different at each level. About the secondary level, it's within their day as a collaboration bell. Um and then at the elementary level, we
022typically have it between 8:30 and 9:30 in the morning or 2:30 to 3:30 at the end of the day. Only [snorts] once a week for each of the grade levels where at the high school and junior high, they have it um daily but for a shorter night. [clears throat] So, how do you collaborate across all the grades? >> We will have um ECC and SEC, which is our elementary curriculum counselor and our secondary, and we'll have days either during the summer or during the school year where we'll pull K12 teachers together. Um, another thing we've done is had our junior high staff go up to the high school to help score the regences. So, they're actually seeing how their students are performing and then afterwards they'll [clears throat] debrief and see what are our students
023doing well in, what strategies are they implementing, where can we strengthen. and I can say that the junior high teachers go right back and immediately um make adjustments um to their instruction. So I think that's had a huge impact since we've shifted having them having them score together. That in itself is >> PD >> and you know to that point that the elementary curriculum council and the secondary curriculum council works really hard independently as a secondary group and an elementary group to come up with strategies and then we share them together because there's some crossover with staff that are running both of those like Mr. and Mrs. Henderson. So we see what strategies that are working at the elementary and what's working at the secondary and then we have crossover which happens. So a lot
024of our work happens in those two. >> Thank you. >> Thanks Mr. Murray. >> Enjoy the games. >> I say before you head out how are the girls doing? >> I haven't heard yet. >> Oh you hadn't looked. >> They're winning but I don't know how I know that. >> Okay. [laughter] >> This is true. >> Very well. >> All right. Well, be good luck over there. >> Hi everybody. >> So, going really off of what Nate was just Nate just ended with in terms of strategies that were we are using. I know vocabulary, I know we're not we haven't gotten to the data yet, but vocabulary is one of the big um one of the big fives of literacy and we are working together during our elementary curriculum councils and our secondary curriculum councils
025to align the strategies that we are using um elementary through high school. So that's just one example of how of what we're focusing on um to improve our state assessment scores as well because a lot of the state assessments use vocabulary that um is at a higher level. So we're just we're collaborating and um working together on choosing words that we need to make sure that we are >> so [laughter] higher level. >> So we're not dumbing down any curriculum. >> No. Okay. >> No. No. and and even getting to the point of how to um unpack multi-elabic words, teaching uh systematically how to isolate prefixes and suffixes that are systematic. So even when you encounter a word that you may not be able to decode, you can pull pieces of that to inference and
026make those higher level um contributions. >> Yes. So let's we'll look at our our data for 3 through 8. We'll start with ELA. Um just like the the the charts in the graphs before you'll see on the far right hand side our proficient levels three and four um from 2023 to 2025. Um you will see an an increase um in our proficiency level. They're not you know we look at them and you know we definitely think that there are areas of of for growth. Um so looking deeper into the data though um something that we we're noticing um there have been improvements in uh in third, fourth, fifth and sixth grade proficiency from 2024 to 2025. Um 8th grade remains um the the strongest right now um with 43% proficient um in 2025. Um just
027to go a little bit deeper if we are looking at the level ones and we are looking at the level ones by cohort you will see in 2023 our third graders that were 60%. um in 2024 they were our fourth graders um at 59% and then at fifth grade were 40%. So the numbers of our level ones are are decreasing which indicates our level twos and level threes are increasing. Um so we there is there is growth to be made and we have um And it's the it's the same thing for our grade four um level ones. In fifth grade, they go to 46% and then back down in grade 6 to 39%. So um we're we're looking at we're looking at growth um in those in those areas. In this slide, um this is
028our county comparison by grade level. So, you'll see that grades seven and eight ranked second um which is a three-way tie. Um third through six remain lower um relative to our county our county peers. Um the early grade uh levels are going are remaining our priority um in terms of reading instruction and teaching the kids um to learn how to read. So, we're really focusing on the science of reading and those foundational skills and um you know, just talking about our vocabulary and making sure that all students have that same level of vocabulary instruction. >> So, I think going back to to Gina's point, when you look Can you go back one slide? When you look, we're the only district in the county where our highest percentage is in seventh and eighth grade. You'll see,
029and this is a national trend as well, fifth grade kids start to flatten out a little bit. Our kids continue to grow from third through fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth grade. And I think that goes to Nate's point, too. We're getting them regent ready and high school ready as a result of that. So there there's not much of a fall off. And in fact, you can see there's a pretty significant jump um even from 7th to 8th. So that goes back to some of that instruction, some of that readiness and higher level kind of instruction where kids can start to apply and synthesize what they're learning. >> And Jeff, even though like we said, maybe not compared countywide some of the numbers, but again, do we see our kids starting, you know, at a
030lower base for some of the because like you said, there's the growth. Do we seem to find we have a higher maybe lower starting rate? So, you know, so you're still having growth, but compared countywide >> for for math and ELA, we've talked like for instance, the dibbles, the dynamic indicators of basic uh early literacy skills, our kids at kindergarten come in significantly less prepared and by the time we get them school ready after a couple years, they've caught up or are closing those gaps. >> So, when you say our kindergarteners, I we do pre preK. So, are we talking the kids outside the prek program or are we talking the entire group >> when you say they come in behind in kindergarten? >> The entire group. >> Okay. >> so we have some pre-k
031that are coming in significantly behind is what I think I'm hearing. >> Yes. But we are starting to see now um our students who are in prek coming into kindergarten better prepared. They're already knowing our systems. They're using the same curriculum. They're using Cella or they're using Hagerty. all of those. So that's, you know, it takes two to, you know, three to five years to see change and I we're seeing that now when we're analyzing um the kindergarten data, but still coming in significantly behind, but that's had a huge impact of helping them transition. I also want to point out in 8th grade we have our capstone project which is really that's interdisciplinary opportunity for our students and I think that's had a huge impact on our students being able to practice skills across content
032areas which I think has um is contributing to that growth there and that speaks to the the junior high staff working well together looking for opportunities to collaborate to do STEM and humanities projects. So um >> and they do a number of projects that are >> yeah very strong. So, our Asiggo County ranking um for uh you can see we ranked six uh six sixth with two other um districts in our county. Um we are going to be working really hard next year um on closing these gaps um through the use of our PLT collaboration time um you know where we're analyzing common assessments that we're using and having that time to really dig deeper into the skills that that students need um in order to to close those gaps as well as using that
033time for intentional planning, backwards planning, looking at the end of the unit, seeing what skills need to be taught and you know starting and looking at those essentials, looking at the lessons, picking out the lessons that include those essential skills because those are the ones that we are definitely going know that we need to spend more time on. So, um that that's one of a couple of ways that we are um hopefully going to close the gap. When I look at this, is that still the same that socioeconomic contributes to the ranking? >> Um it looks very similar to me. I'm curious if that's still true. >> I believe so. Um that's not something that we we we talked about that but not necessarily wanted to bring that up. Well, I bring it up because
034that means access to books. >> Yes. >> And and words, which I know are the big >> piece to entering school, whether either at 3K or K. >> So, I do think it is important for people to I I want to take it back to why, which is um most socioeconomic people tend not to have the means to get books like they might like to in the hands of their children. they may live too far away from the library. >> Um, you know, there's things >> and we're trying to um address some of those. We have a program called Look at Three, which we're offering once a month for families to come in with their three-year-olds um to um experience a book, some hands-on experiences that align with the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, >> which
035is which is a >> wonderful thing for our community. Mhm. >> The other thing is we have uh a majority of our UPK students are full day now. >> Um >> and about 70 to 75% are enrolled that are filling the next year's cohort. So that's that's up considerably. So those are both areas that that matter as well like getting early exposure but then having more kids and more time all matters. >> When did we change to fold a UPK? >> Been gradual last three years. We've had a mix gradually over the last three years >> and now we have um almost all we only have one half day program at the Y. >> So going back I think it's it's worth pointing out too when you look at this and you say like 31%
036proficiency that's the average from 3 to 8. If you go back a slide our grade 8 is 43. So where kids are ending is significantly above the average of those. when you look at like an asiggo or a central square, they ended close to 50, but their eighth grade is 43. So that's kind of the danger of averaging that and saying like, oh, where you are in the county, where we are in the county by the time they get to 8th grade is in much better shape than where they started. And I think that's the looking and focusing on the growth is really important, not just looking at those averages and saying, well, >> when you look at that number, you're seeing graduates, correct? >> Correct. I I think that's what people need to understand
037is that that's what the growth you talk about is you're looking for that point when they make it over that hump >> and they now are in that success. >> Well, kids that are continued to be [clears throat] engaged at a high level when they're at at the junior high and high school level are going to be way more likely to to graduate. Those kids that are falling off and and no longer [clears throat] engaged, that's where we we struggle. So, um keeping that at a high level is really important. I think that's a true testament to the professional teachers and and how we care and work. We're connected and >> striving to do better. Um, but have we looked into seeing the difference between So, we're talking about UPK programs being not necessarily all
038in our building. What's the difference between other schools? Are do they only have upk programs in their buildings? um do they have more control over what's being taught versus what's in that those early curriculums? >> I I mean I can't speak to the other um school districts. I believe we have probably the highest portion of them in our >> Okay. >> in our schools >> and we we we have >> but we like um just last just yesterday um Mrs. Gates and I met with the directors and the providers from UPK and we talked about systematically. So all of our UPK's use CLA, use Hagerty, use Eureka, which is all aligned with um them transitioning to kindergarten. >> Have we recently changed that? >> We've always had Ca and Hagerty. We've just um introduced uh
039Eureka, but we were using um still a systematic math system before, but we did more training on that one. And so I think we're seeing a difference, >> but the district share still the administrative portion of UPK. I mean that was obviously district share. >> We provide the administrative oversight. So we the the district does have control over all the classrooms to that end of the >> over what's taught and how it's taught. >> Yeah. The administrative piece. Yes. And they have collaborative PLTs. U Mrs. Gates and Mrs. Bo do a PLT um boot camp for the EPK teachers. So they collaborate as well. So we've tried to really systematize that as do we have different we don't have any uh there's no different requirements between the other schools in our district versus our school.
040>> The countywide you mean >> countywide? Yeah. I guess it would depend on what they wrote in their their in their grants what they're using. >> Sugo County typically uses the same curriculum. So I would think across the board. >> Yeah. Because >> pretty close >> because we don't just share kids across the buildings. We across the county, we have some right >> kids that are moving across the county and we've realized when we get together too that that that's important that >> page >> the systems we have here in Fton mirror those in Hannibal and Mexico and as we go and like where our kids are moving in and out. >> Sorry to back to you. >> No, you're fine. >> Um so this is a 10-year county comparison. So precoid and postcoid um
041you'll see that there um was steady growth um from 24 to 25 um 26% to 31 but you'll notice like prior to co we were at 29% [snorts] and then in [clears throat] 2022 um we bounced back to 31% which was above what we what we left with. So um we're we're making steady growth um and that recovery is is evident in in our data. So um same type of of chart um there are growth we see growth in grades third three five um six and eight. Um, we were we're looking at uh we were looking at this data a while ago and we're talking about looking at, you know, our level ones from the from 23 to 25 more horizontally than we did diagonally like PLA. Um but we're still noticing that the the
042students um are growing across the cohorts instead of inside the cohort themselves too. So but there are different units to of study. So you will notice ELA tends to be reading is reading right where math it's kind of clustered 3 to 5 6 to 8 it the the way the units are set up they actually go K to2 there the there the story of numbers is K to2 like kids learning about numbers then 3 to 5 is the story of units that's fractions and decimals and how to manipulate numbers add subtract multiply divide but then 6 through 8 is the story of ratios and that gets into that pre-alggebra more advanced kind of math so you do see you'll notice the same kind of growth what Gino was talking about diagonally like if you [laughter]
043look at that third grade cohort 35 39 45 but then when that when that fourth grade cohort hits sixth grade you see a significant drop off that's that new kind of thinking about math and and really you can think of math as almost a different kind of language but you'll notice with um with the postcoid there was more of a drop off from co with math from there was in ELA because if you're not studying that language um as much and more directly [snorts] and we know it's more more exposure to language in homes than there is to to math instruction. So there was a little drop off but we're picking that back up nicely as well. And you'll see when you do look if you take that sixth grade cohort um they do move
044like six seven eight um it is moving in the right direction again uh as we see that's kind of dropping. Um, and then again, the proficiency levels by the time we hit 8th grade, um, we're pretty happy with the fact that our kids are are moving in the right direction. We go from 31% to 44%. And our kids that are doing algebra continue to be pretty successful, >> 100% efficient. >> Are our homeschool students uh placed into this graph, too, or just students that are in our building? >> Just students in our building. >> Okay. So, and it doesn't ever change. Homes school students never get. >> They can choose to so um take a state test. Last year was the first year we had a home school student come in and take a state
045test. So they have an option. So again, um looking at the county comparison, um eighth, uh grade eight, um was our strongest at 51%. Um and grades sixth and seventh, um they were ranked ninth. Um strengthening our tier one um and using our Eureka Squared, which is this is our second full year um using that curriculum. Um, that's going to be something that we're watching closely and making sure that we're, you know, collaborating around those assessments and placing, you know, kids into skills groups and focusing on those skills and strategies to to close that gap. and Jeff. >> Yep. Not being able to see those numbers, but I mean I'm very much, you know, if you get there in the end and you're ahead, you know, the LA previous years don't matter as much if
046you can get to that point. So the growth again like we talked about is important but based off of some of the regions things I know we said it's hard because the old and the new style but do we see that growth continue to excel into the next level too when we hit the high school or does it kind of cap at that eighth or because again math does look different once you start taking more direct classes also depending on what your graduation path is. I think to that point um it's not the same as ELA in that I think honestly if you treat math a little bit like a language for the kids who are focused on that language they continue to excel for the kids who aren't it kind of falls off so
047if you if you are math focused at the high school there are opportunities and you continue to to have a high proficiency level if you don't there there's been more struggle and that's something we've been looking at how do we get to that same point at the junior high I know we've the junior high team. We've talked a lot about this year. How do we get our kids more involved with some of those things that matter? I think you know Ray talked about the capstone project at 8th grade. How do we do some of those same things with math and science to get kids interested in some of those pathways and driving forward? >> And correct me if I'm wrong, but you only need one of the math from most graduation paths, right? >> Correct.
048>> For the regions level, >> right? >> So, and are we finding we're better off, you know, in any of the different ones or is algebra tend to be where we focus as a district? algebra tends to be the most successful. Um, geometry is a is a language within a language and typically the kids who struggle with algebra 1 have more struggle in algebra 2. So, we we make our most hay with with algebra 1 as the as the go-to. And that's something again we're looking at how does that look for kids who are regent ready at the eighth grade level. What did that look like? Um and then opening up more doorways for the high school if they want to or if they want to take some more STEM related or move more into
049the humanities >> and I guess you know >> giving more options >> broader selection. Which one of the regions in the different areas is tends to be our gate for graduation? Is it math? >> No. Um that's a tricky one. >> I mean if you want to look it up at a different point that's fine too. Yeah, we we can dig into that a little bit more. Um, as far as the four plus one, like the four regions is plus one. It it depends hurdle wise. >> Math, I would think. >> That's what I wondered. >> Yeah. >> All right. It's math. >> Math guy doesn't want to admit it. >> I don't want to admit it because I like math, but it's math. So, so not for nothing, um, my personal experiences are this
050about math. >> The bigger the person teaching math toolbox, the more successful the students. >> Agree. >> And I've heard frequently that from kids that have struggled periodically and my recommendation always is go ask another teacher, go find the smartest kid in your class in math and have them um, explain it to you. It's sometimes because of the language is what I'm talking about with the toolbox. Um it's frustrating to have your child come home and say, "I asked the question cuz I'm one of those bothersome parents and you know, but I got the same answer, the same explanation, and I still didn't learn anything." The the the response never changed. So as a from an administrative standpoint of the board, are we filling helping to fill people's tool boxes so that they can they
051have more >> Yes. >> language? >> We are we are constantly [clears throat] looking at that and what what that can look like for our kids because I think and I think you all know this. I get excited about math because I see it as the creative part of math and the thinking part of math rather than than the accounting just crunching numbers part of math. And I think that's what we need to move toward is the understanding and the ability to be creative thinkers in math much like >> I don't want to embarrass any of my children. One of my children struggled with math in fifth grade and at fifth grade had a teacher that had a very big toolbox. >> Yeah. >> And but the one thing that impacted her out of everything
052that teacher did and I will forever be grateful was to say to her it's okay to get it wrong. Just go home and do the work. Bring it in. If it's wrong, we can have a discussion, >> but I can't discuss with you until I see what you do know and what you don't know because I don't know what I didn't convey to you. >> And that piece of advice served that child of mine all through college, all through their master degree, >> well, it would be the equivalent of someone saying to you, you can be a great writer even though you're not a great speller. >> Correct. >> And for a kid, that opens up a lot of doors. kids would just associate with spelling. >> Her anxiety plummeted and all of a sudden
053math became >> a much more fun course through the rest of her school engagement. >> It becomes more accessible. >> We get back to those common strategies that we're identifying that are crosscurricular. So um the writing revolution is um a book that we've been working through and one of the strategies is using because that's so I know the high school is then using that um in the classrooms and and in math to really help kids um have a deeper understanding of what they're learning um versus a multiple choice question because they have to answer those specifically. So when you're talking about building you know strategies and toolboxes that's something that they are focusing on and how to implement that systematically >> and letting kids know it's okay to get it wrong out of the gate.
054It's it's where you end up at the end of the unit. >> New York State just released so a couple years ago they released the literacy briefs. >> Uh and that was like a toolbox how how to best practices with literacy. Uh this year we've done professional development on the numeracy briefs which is which were just released this year and that was a K12. So all of the the teachers have seen that and a lot of that is building our toolboxes and looking at what are we doing instructionally. So it's something that we're we're definitely focused on. Thank you. >> Yeah. >> So, this compares our 10-year county um data. Um you'll see that we're looking at 2425. Um definitely an improvement 29% to 34%. Um it looks like we are rebounding. So, that that's
055positive. Um we'll continue to you know to strengthen our our PLTS and our discussions and common assessments and um our strategies across K12 um to to keep that growing Mr. Sherman. >> So I want to echo all of my colleagues There's a lot of growth to be seen here. And so one of the reports that's come out from the state and they've kind of come back to it is student growth percentiles and I'm going to explain all that in a little bit. This is a little bit of it's a snippet from a New York State sort of fact sheet where they kind of explain what student growth percentiles are. Um it's important to know that this is really based off of the 38 assessments. There isn't any student growth percentiles for regents or anything like
056that. Um because the 38 assessments test standards and they are standardized across the grade level to that curriculum, you can compare from year to year the scaled scores. So that's the actual kind of raw score that the students have. And so what the state has been releasing and this year it became an accountability measure which we actually are doing pretty good with it. Um is the student growth percentiles. So it starts in fourth grade because you have to have two tests. So you have to have a minimum of two tests. You can't show growth unless you have a minimum of two points where you're looking at that growth. So it takes the third grade students who tested in third grade and then the continuously enrolled students in fourth grade and vice versa, fourth to fifth,
057fifth to sixth, sixth to 7th and 7th to 8th. And it looks at their growth from one year to the next. So these are sort of like who is included, who's not included. Obviously grade three is not because there's no other prior test to to show their growth. um it does not include any of those regent exams because they're not comparable to three assessments and it does not include any of our alternative assessments um which I know um Mrs. Slero is going to speak about in just a little bit. So just kind of like the background here and if you move on to the next screen uh uh I had Gemini help me create this lovely infographic kind of explaining student growth percentiles. Uh so basically what it does is in that third let's say
058third grade it takes all the students who had the exact same score. So that's their achievement level. It takes all the students across the entire state who had that exact same score. Then if you'll imagine there's sort of a race that happens in that second year. So in that race of the second year they take that fourth grade test. all the students who started at that point and then finished at a different scale score or a different achievement, it groups them based on their percentile rank. And basically what that means is they say um if you've achieved a 50 um SGP, that means you have achieved the same growth as half of the rest of the state at that same level. So that's typical growth. And there's sort of like a range there. If you'll
059look on the right there, there's sort of these buckets that we talk about. um from 1 to 40 SGP is sort of low growth compared to other students. 41 to 60 is typical growth. And then you've got the 61 to 99 SGP is very high growth. That's means they're beating out, you know, an SGP of 75, 75% of the other students in the state who started at that exact same level. So that's sort of the background. Kind of skip past my little zoom in there. So I want to take a look at our scores. So you'll see here are SGP. So uh if you'll go back just one before because that kind of covers it up. So on the left you'll see the 23 24 performance level. So this is math and ELA combined across
0604 through 8. So this is a big giant bucket of all a lot of kids. And so if you'll see this is where they started in 23 24 and then their SGP how did they rate compared to the rest of the state as they move forward and so if you'll uh go ahead and click on that I want to highlight some growth here. So level ones and twos that started at level ones and twos in the 2324 school year those students typically receive our tier three interventions our academic interventions. That's one of the pieces that we focus on. Of course, we use screening data, classroom data as well as state test data to uh to identify the students. But this these level ones and twos and uh just kind of explain briefly in accountability measures.
061Level ones don't count uh towards our account accountability at all. Level twos count for half of accountability and threes and fours are proficient. So they count full percent for accountability for the state. But our level ones and twos, uh, if you'll click on there, I want to highlight some massive amounts of growth in the low level ones and twos. And I know we talked about this before. We have students who are coming in in a much lower level in our kindergarten, first grade, second grade, third grade, whenever they start school with us. But this is the amount of growth. If you combine those two buckets, those t at typical growth and that high growth, we have a very significant amount of growth in that area. And so I really just wanted to highlight that when
062I was looking at all the data as we were kind of digging through data and looking at all the stuff, I I said, "Wow, this really highlights the work that we are doing with those students who have tested at that level one and level two." Now, this is just ELA only. I'll just highlight again still some pretty significant growth in our level ones and twos. And one of the things I'll point out about level threes and fours, if you started at level four and 23 24 and you stayed at a level four, your growth isn't going to be very much. It's it's next to impossible to show a huge amount of growth because you're already starting at a very high level. Um threes, of course, there could be some growth in [snorts] there as well.
063Uh but I do want to like once again really point out our efforts at the level ones and twos and how that has impacted those students and this is compared across the state. So maybe we don't necessarily see the growth from third to fourth grade the student is still level one but they are growing within that level one and by the time we get to seven 8 and then the regence level we're starting to see those shifts really pay off. So this is sort of like that sort of deep dive inside the level ones and twos and threes and fours of course. >> So Dan, yes, >> I'm totally nerding out with this data, [laughter] >> but so uh I just wondered because you said this is all input from the state, you know, other
064kids in the same positions. >> I mean I don't know if we have done it yet. when we look at because I know like when we look at the countywide it's our county but actually looking at other you know whether it be socioeconomic percentages but districts small cities very similar to ours can we see how our growth rates stack up to theirs >> so the state does not release that okay >> but they do give us all students and then all of our subgroups so we can compare I to the rest of the state for economically disadvantaged [snorts] uh English language learners um students with disabil abilities. So we can look at those subgroups but they don't allow us to see into that box way unfortunately. So we can't just pick and choose and kind
065of say like okay yeah can we pick like big and >> we could ask our friends if they want to share their >> of course >> absolutely won't be a massive amount of data but we could definitely work on something like that and that's something I can actually ask the Rick to kind of take a look into because they the uh central New York regional information center because they have access to multiple Boseies in this whole region so that's something I can take a look at >> what's interesting to me is is that the curve that you showed before in in the picture that was the high the middle was the highest um and that was the most most students advanced in that median range. We actually have in a lot of these levels reverse
066where um you'll see that like the middle is is the least amount and then we're we're kind of getting a lot in like for level one's you know at a lot but then at level four there is that curve drops significantly. M >> um where we're seeing more people at level four, >> it it reverses. So I'm questioning on it it's it's it's reverse of like what that what what the state actually is doing trending wise. >> Yeah. So >> it's completely different. >> So one of the things about that curve is kind of misleading is that it's not a volume curve. It's not including the maximum amount of students who are going to be in that particular. It's just basically kind of trying to express that most students should be at a typical growth
067because they're should be right around 50% in an ideal world. But you're right. If you take a look at our results, they don't necessarily match that 50% rate. So that 41 to 60 is our 50%. That's the typical growth. Um so yeah, you can definitely see that we have at level four there 42%. It's not as much growth as we'd like, right, compared to the rest of the state. Y and then same thing with level freeze. >> Yeah. But the point of watching growth to me is more important. We haven't we got away from that when we switched tests. The old Iowa test, I could literally tell you a grade without knowing what it was because I stayed on the board long enough. And I knew kids by their gra, you know, I knew them
068from elementary school and high school because they statistically stayed very much the same as a group. >> Okay. But you could see growth. >> So you had certain grades that were doing better. >> Yes. >> You could see that you could every now every now and then there's a class that's just filled with outstanding students. It's always bad. I can't explain it. I've asked educators for years. Nobody can explain it, but it happens. And it happens everywhere. It's not unique to us. And so, but the but what what the important piece of information isn't that. It's that when you're tracking growth and you're we're doing something right, as long as kids are gaining knowledge. If we're not seeing a reasonable amount of growth, we should be very worried. And that's my humble opinion. I I
069I get worried when I don't see kids anybody learning. We all should learn something. >> Yep. >> Including me at an age. [laughter] something [snorts and clears throat] new every day. >> Yeah. So, I mean, if you you feel go back to the math one and once again, this is just across four through eight. So, it's a it's kind of averaged a little bit. Um, but we know that we have a little bit of work to do for our threes and fours, right? So, our level threes and fours, we have a little bit more tier one work to do in the regular classroom and the regular instruction to kind of continue their growth as well because we want them to be, of course, in the middle bucket, right? So that's where we want them to
070be. >> We have a lot of STEM jobs coming to the area that need math. >> Absolutely. >> And speaking of STEM, [laughter] moving from math into science, uh so 2024 was the first administration of the five and eight science uh assessments. Um there was a shift. Uh and one thing you'll notice is that we came in and uh we struggled a little bit with that very first year. But what I really want to point out is that huge growth between 24 to 25 big big growth there. Um and in fact we had the largest growth across the county. So you know all the preparation all the work that's been done by the with the investigations which is sort of if you think about the old regions if you took regions regions labs that you
071had to take the investigations are similar to that where they do these state sort of provided labs but at the 3 through 8 level and um it's an experience it's a part of their curriculum but it also helps them prepare for the written tests. So, >> going back to what we said about with with our math and ELA as well, you'll notice eighth grade is where our highest scores are. So, our eighth graders getting ready for high school are the ones that are at the highest performing and we're actually out performing the New York State average for our our eighth grade science, which is a bragging point. >> Absolutely. So, looking forward to continued growth in that area. And then, uh, if there are no questions, I'll be passing it back on. Um, so I'm
072going to be speaking to our New York State alternative assessments. Um, alternate assessments um for eligible students um who have significant cognitive um disabilities. So the student eligibility is determined by the committee on special education. um the eligible students cannot exceed 1% of the assessed students. Uh so to to go a little bit deeper um we the the strong performance in science we have the strongest performance in science um 91% of our eligible students um scored at a level three um and four and it which indicates the effective specialized instruction. um this cohort of students, they do use um an alternate curriculum too. Um they use uh unique as their curriculum. Um so the the assessment itself is computer-based. The elementary for ELA and math is they are assessed annually. Um but in for science
073um is assessed annually in grades five and eight and once only one time at the secondary level. [clears throat] >> So the nicest slot um is our assessment that is administered annually to all of our English language learners um that are enrolled in K in kindergarten through 12th grade. Um it assesses proficiency um in our four areas of listening, speaking, reading and writing. And you can see most of our our students are at the transitioning expanding in commanding levels. And our focus for our English language learners are um going to be our language development. um in all academic areas. And I'll hand it over to Mr. So all this data connects directly to our strategic comparent um outcomes. So we're going to also tie in our midyear update on these. >> So again, tying back
074big picture-wise, looking at our strengths within that that inner circle of learning based on what our kids are saying, a lot of it is the connection with the adults. I think we talked a little bit about that. Having more uh experiences and um looking at how we can tie things together is important for them and we offer those things. Looking at the systems that we have in place as far as our multi-tered system of supports that being an integrated framework um our assessment cycles uh beginning, middle and end of the year and then we have for the last couple years as you know been focused on student goal setting K12. Um, so those are systems we're continuing to build and look at. The focus being um closing our gaps, building our instructional toolboxes, and uh
075making sure that we have multiple pathways as we build forward for our kids to to have access to more learning that's applicable to them. >> So for outcome 2, this um focus is on creating predictable and system and structure. So, I think um tonight you heard the theme of growth, collaboration, and um systematizing um strategies, preK12, which um I think we're doing a nice job progressing through those. [snorts] We have alignment through all of our district and building um plans. We have a structured PLC uh cycle with established times for them to meet. We're looking at common assessments and common data points together. Um so moving forward, you know, we're going to continue working on increasing that coherence across all the plans. Um making sure that we're providing clear communication both from the district level
076to teachers to parents. Um and uh making sure that our professional development is all aligned with the data that we're seeing that we need, >> which is of course that's okay. >> Uh did we take the culture one out? >> Where did it go? So if you want to go back the we lost it, but the culture slide if it were there would show that um it looks just like that. Again, the student experience uh the connection with with their peers and with adults uh is pretty solid. Um staff feel the same way. Our families are feeling that way. So as far as our culture and feeling like people belong and welcomed, uh we're at a high level. We we of course want that to be 100% across the board. So, uh, that's something we're
077constantly looking at as well. Um, looking at making sure our communication supports that and, um, we're getting input from our all of our stakeholders, the students, the staff, and the families as we move forward. That's really about like what we do matters and we feel that we belong within our school. >> Quick question, Jeff, on the numbers. Yep. >> Are we showing growth in all those areas right now? I know as you get closer to that 100% it's harder to see, you know, bigger jumps, but the >> I guess the [clears throat] short answer is no. The long answer is yes because it's so close to 100 that we are able to pinpoint kid by kid >> as we look at that. Those are those are what we see in S SGP where the SCP
078I'm sorry is uh anonymous. So we can't look at it there unless someone leaves our name and we follow up. But what we're doing in schools to kind of connect with the kids who are making it known that they are not feeling connected and some of the systems that we have in place um we're finding that you know one at a time we're picking them up and moving forward. >> I think the next few slides might answer um how we can dig into that. Um so to wrap up our presentation tonight we're going to talk about our ESSA accountability. So the mission of New York State is to ensure that every child has access to the highest quality of educational supports um so they can get a rich and full potential. So looking at again
079those positive learning environments. Are we providing a well-rounded um opportunity for them to develop and preparing them for the future? Ignore outcome three. Um and we were just um we've just released the accountability um status. So that that communication was sent out in parent square and is also posted on our website. Jeff's going to speak to the levels that were identified. So uh there there's a pyramid you'll see on the next slide that kind of talks about that idea of t local support, targeted support, additional targeted support, and comprehensive support. That's kind of the progression of how it goes. So in this case, it goes from from uh from right to left as far as the level of support. Um we have as a district we're there. Perfect. Um Fair Grave is currently last year
080was a targeted school. This year it's additional support. Um uh VNE was a targeted school last year continues to be targeted this year which having two schools that are at the targeted level makes our district a targeted district. Um where they look at what we're doing and how we're doing it. Um for Graanby and Lanigan, they're both pre-targeted. um for those subgroups. You can see the identified subgroups over there to the right. Um but again, kind of going with the theme, our three through six uh results aren't fantastic, but our 7 through 12 are moving in the right direction and that shows up for our district and school support models as well because the junior high and G bodley are both in pretty good shape. Even uh looking at the subgroups within um our growth
081model is is moving forward. That was something that we looked at as an admin team to kind of dig into that data as well. So, >> does targeted bring money with it? Some additional resources. >> Targeted money for targeted. Yes. >> Thank you. >> Rene can talk about >> it's not all bad. >> It's not [laughter] all bad. Uh so last week we had our initial meeting with the states and they opened with this um quote um you do not rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems which um they're really focusing on shifting from focusing on individual buildings to systematic coherence. So they're saying, you know, districts are not collection of independent schools. We need to be looking at them as a, you know, as a full
082team, which I was very excited about because this aligns perfectly with our strategic coherence plan. We keep saying we're looking at not individual buildings. We're looking at us as a district. We're not six buildings. We're one building. Um so I think we have laid a really great foundation for writing our plans um moving forward. on this next step on the right hand side, they've developed visual graphics um for us to really lay out the plan. So those are in front of you. Um so going with our next step, we're going to be identifying two teams, one at the district level and then um two for our building. So simultaneously we'll be doing a needs assessment which will consist of a self assessment from ours perspective but we will also be interviewing um and conducting surveys
083to teachers, parents and um students. So Tim when you were talking about um the connection with students we will be doing interviews to target the groups of students to really dig down um to see where there might be a gap. Um so that will be part of that analysis that we'll do. We're going to um analyze that data specifically looking for um gaps and then how we can address those. >> Two quick questions. >> Sure. >> So targeted becomes that way based off the results we had that we talked about before. Correct. >> Correct. >> And do those results factor in if people because people can opt out of the exam. Correct. At the 3 through eight. >> Is that possible? >> We're still doing that. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Some do our refuse. >>
084Yes. >> Yeah. Okay. They just don't come their kids in or don't come. >> Yeah. But >> but I mean so I didn't know if that affects what we get as a total as well for some of those things. >> Previously it did a little more. We haven't had as many opt outs in the last few years. So postco our opt outs are pretty minimal. There are still some but it it has really much >> its drive. Yeah. Exactly. Um so yeah so our next steps will be um creating those the the survey sending those out um between March and June we'll be writing and developing those plans in June we'll bring those plans to you to approve and then we'll start implementing those in September. >> So I will say last year we went
085through this process and built the plan. We didn't get to start implementing last year's plan until this year and then we get this year's accountability which will impact going forward as well. So it's almost like a one-year delay. So that idea of like you move from targeted to additional support. We haven't had a chance to really implement the plan and in what we need to do yet. So we're eager to see that and it's nice to see something like this that says we were already pointed in the right direction based on the work that we did last year. So, our plan that we spent a lot of time developing um has has us pointed in a pretty good direction as far as growth. >> I'd like to thank our presenter tonight questions. >> Thank you.
086Thank you. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you very much. We'll move on to uh the the ne next topic. Just a really quick update. Um I know I brought forward I think back in Decemberish uh just with our uh updating our policy manual. Um we've entered into that process now with Erie 1 Boseies. So, they provided us as a district with a questionnaire basically outlining um just kind of the makeup of our district and I filled that out with the help of a couple of folks and sent that back to them. So, they're in the first draft process of our policy manual. So, they'll be um hopefully providing that to us, I'd say in another month or so. um with that first draft, we'll be able to take a look at it. Um highlight
087any areas that we feel like, okay, we we may need a little more focus or change. Um they'll also take a look at our current policies, um and provide us with any feedback regarding what may or may not be there. Um so if there's any policies that they see are glaring that hey, this is this is a policy that you're missing out on, they're going to highlight that for us as a district. um as well as any that seem redundant, they'll do that as well. Um so we should have a pretty good base policy manual to look over from them in about a month here. Um maybe they'll be ahead of schedule. We'll see. Uh this will roll over into next school year as well. So um they'll we'll continue through the process um throughout
088the summer. Um, our current policy manual will stay in place as it is and until they're they're done with this process. So, it's not like we're without policy uh until then and um then hopefully next school year, partway through the year, we'll be able to make the full transition over to the new manual. So, just wanted to give that update. Not nothing too exciting at this point, but just that we're in the process and uh we should be getting more information soon. So, I'm not sure if there's any questions on that. Just um clarification, you say new manual. Is it It's not like it's a totally new manual. >> It's going to be a totally new manual. >> Total. So all the all the current policies will no longer exist. >> Uh yes and no.
089So >> that's what I'm asking. So currently the one of the issues and I mentioned this to the board before you weren't here. Um one of the issues that we had is that our base manual is a NISBA manual. >> Correct. >> We've been getting Eerie one updates on a NISBA manual. So we need to go to >> One or the other. So we we went with the eerie one. >> So that is why it's technically >> yes, we're starting from scratch. Um it would have been too difficult for them to piece mail it together for us. Um however, through the process, we'll have the opportunity to go back through our manual um pull out any regs, things that we know we need to keep in place um based on our district and our needs.
090So that will be a part of the process. So yes, brand new, but will >> the board be looking at all of these policies before the board approves the manual as a whole? >> The policy committee will >> policy committee. We'll we'll be bringing the bulk of it to the policy committee to take a look at but then obviously reporting out here as well >> and really breaking down what's required what's not required what do we have seven things to say one thing all those big areas to really make it easier to not just for us as a district but the people coming in from outside that say you know I want to learn about this right now they might end up seven different places it's all there but trying to make it easier from
091that end too so if someone goes into our system, they're able to find what they're searching for. >> Well, I think that's a good idea. I don't want you to think I'm opposed to the idea. I just am concerned about the uh input, who's getting input before it's adopted. Um I I am one of two of the originals left uh in alive in the community that was the original because when I started there was no policies. >> There was not one. So we developed the policy manual in conjunction with the BA committee, worked with the board, worked with admin and and staff. Um and then it and that was NISBA. >> Okay. >> And then for monetary reasons, we went to Eerie 1 because it's aable. >> Yes. >> Y one of the reasons why
092we >> that is why we have the problems you have with it. So I'm not opposed with fixing those problems. I just have a concern that we don't lose all of the conversations >> from everyone in the community over the course of a number of years and some of those policies have very good reasons why they exist here and they may not exist somewhere else. >> Correct. So those are some of the things they're going to highlight on their end. >> Okay. >> Hey, we notice you have a policy on this. Yeah. >> Typically we don't. Is there a reason why? And um >> and if we don't if we don't I can probably tell you it's because some lawyers said oh you shouldn't have that right >> because it would be too hard it
093would more work for them to represent us >> with the policy that Erie one might say we need >> right yeah so >> but there are some policies that we have to have >> for state policy correct and it's all of our numbers are jumbled up and it's >> but that's why because it was switched from NISA to year one and it was never that was never fixed >> never found the No. Yeah. [laughter] >> Yes. So hopefully that will clean things up quite a bit for us. >> Thank you. >> More to come. >> And last but not least, >> Hooper. >> Yes. Um so before I get to January's financials, uh just we did have the tax cap on the agenda. So, as we talked about in the budget workshop, I was able
094to calculate the tax cap um with the full uh information or more information regarding our pilots. So, um I will submit that to the controller through the website uh by March 1st. Um right now, our tax cap is at 2.85. So, that's what I'll be submitting. [clears throat] That doesn't mean anybody's made a decision on what the tax levy's going to be yet. That's just what we will submit. Um, any final questions on that portion of what we have to do. Um, I also wanted to just let um, everyone out there watching know that there is a section on our website, if you go under departments in the business office, there is a budget section that we're adding slides and information to. If um there are questions or thoughts, there's also a budget email that
095we had last year that's still active. Um so we welcome any thoughts or questions as well from community members. And with that, I'll switch gears to January's financials. All right. So the first slide comparing um 2425 fiscal year to this fiscal year where we were at the same time last year compared to this year in terms of percentages for revenue and expenditures very similar um right around 50% which were past the halfway mark of the fiscal year. So um you know in terms of expenditures that's a decent place to be. In terms of our revenue, um, you know, it's a little closer to the expenditures that I'd like. However, this Thursday, we're expecting a large state aid payment. So, that will be good news for our cash flow. Uh, the breakdown of our different revenue
096sources and where we are year-to- date with the budget. Again, um, the local share, that's, you know, our tax levy. State meaning our state aid. Federal is made up of our Medicaid reimbursements. And then you'll see the space that's uh held for the appropriated reserves which we have not brought over yet. And that makes up the 48%. The expenditure breakdown along with the percentages again um there's nothing uh that I would highlight as an area that's concerning me. Um the benefits line that was more of an area of concern last year is sitting at 54% again better than halfway through our fiscal year. So I'm comfortable with that being uh where we are expense wise in the benefits portion of the budget. You know we are operating within our budget. Um there aren't any lines
097that are uh trending as being over spent this year. So, you know, we're in a much better position at this point in the year than we were at this point in the year for a previous fiscal year. Any questions? That's all I have. >> Thank you. >> All right. Thank you so much, everyone. All right. Action 5.01 accept financials. Can somebody move that? >> Move that. Second. >> All those in favor? >> I opposed. Obstaining. Passes 500. Action 5.02 to accept the donation from the Rotary Club. >> Move it. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I opposed. Abstaining. Passes. 500 action 5.03 to accept a donation from the Fulton Savings Bank. >> Move it. >> Second, >> Lori and Jess. >> All those in favor? >> I >> opposed abstaining. Passes 500. I
098would like to thank both of our community members for those donations that they are going towards our uh city and school synergy programs. So, that was very generous and we appreciate that from both of those uh community members. All right. >> I didn't hear that last part during >> your last sentence. >> We appreciate um them that uh they're bringing their funds to us to help our city and school synergy program. And so that we very much appreciate their donations. >> Thank you. Well, we'll be sending a thank you letter. Kate, do you send those out? Thank you letters. Usually I think they're here, but do we synergy will do that as well? >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> All right. Moving on to our new business. Action 6.01. Approve the committee on special education.
099>> Move it. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I >> opposed. Staining passes 500. Action 6.20. We have a resolution to appoint our board of education member to fill a vacancy that was opened. So >> second >> Nick and Lori. Okay. All right. Second. So the following resolution was moved by Nick, seconded by Lori, whereas a member of the board of education resigned his or her position effective January 27th of 2026. And whereas in accordance with section 252 of the New York education law, the remaining members of the board of education desire to appoint a qualified person to fill the vacancy, whereas Robin Griffin has been determined to be qualified to serve as the member of the district's board of education. Now, therefore, it is hereby resolved that Robin Griffin is appointed to
100fill the vacancy of the district's board of education and shall hold office until the next regularly scheduled election, which is May 19th, 2026. Robin Griffin shall be administered the oath of office at tonight's meeting with the regular board of education. Robin Griffin shall take office immediately upon filling of her fi filling of her official oath of the office with the district clerk. All those in favor >> I >> opposed [snorts] abstaining passes 500. And again, Robin, we thank you so much for filling in in our time of need here in the district and we appreciate uh all that you bring. >> You're you're welcome very much. I I hope I live up to your expectations. >> All right. Okay. Moving on to action 6.3 which is the oath of office. I do hereby pledge and
101declare. >> Do I have that? >> I am going to sign it and then >> Oh, okay. >> I'm going to read it first and then I'm going to send it down to you to sign. >> Okay. So, I should say Robin do hereby does hereby pledge and declare that she will support the Constitution of the United States in the Constitution of the State of New York and that she will fulfill faithfully discharge the duties of the position of the Fulton City School District Board of Education member according to the best of her ability. Do you agree? >> I do. So, >> all right. I'm going to sign this and then I'm going to send this down to you. >> Actually, it's going to be you. [laughter] >> I changed Yep. >> Yes. I've signed
102a few. >> You are officially one of us again for the next couple of meetings. >> Thank you. >> All right. Thank you very much. >> Does this mean you wish me to start voting on it? We do wish you to start voting from here on out while you are with us through the end the middle of May. >> Okay. So, we are going to move on to personnel which is action 7.01. And I'm going to ask my colleagues if they would be interested in batching 7.127.10. >> Move that. Second. >> All those in favor? I >> I >> opposed. Abstaining. passes 6 0. Great. So, with that, we're going to move into our board forum. And Mr. Connor, would you like to start us off this evening? >> Sure. You know, I like to
103see it already over here. I get to go first. [laughter] >> That's your new seat. >> Not always. I like to switch it up. But >> so I'd like to thank for our state assessment report. I I think out of the four years I've been here, that was one of, if not the clearest and the best conversation we've really had around that. So I really appreciate all the work that everyone involved had to do with that because it was one of, like I said, one of the better, if not the best, that we've had since I've been on the board. I'd like to thank the work that our superintendent is doing with the policies. I think, you know, when I can go on and find some that haven't been reviewed longer than I've been alive,
104you know, we might want to do a little check up on some of those. So, I think all these are great places that we're spending our time and energy and looking. And again, as Brenda mentioned earlier with things coming up in March with music in our schools month, the play, all these things, and of course, all the students even right now competing in sectionals and different events. I just want to say continue on. Good luck. and for those, you know, next month, I'm excited to see what you put forward and put out to the community. >> All right. Thank you, Mrs. O'Brien. >> Yes. Um Tim really said it. You know, good luck to all the the students that are currently in sectionals right now and will be and coming up with I can't wait
105to see all of the recitals and the plays. Um and thank you um to our our our our uh administration team of really going through and looking at um what's happening education wise, how our students are learning and how they can be better learning um and for coming up with plans. Um, and yes, thank you for doing that. And I look forward to seeing the increased trajectory and and I'm glad that uh our kids are doing well, you know, when it comes down to 8th grade and and that's that's that's exciting to see that they're they're overcoming those leaps and even um in some cases doing better than the state, which is awesome. Um, and Miss Hooper, thank you very much for all the nitty-gritty with the numbers and answering my questions with that. I
106appreciate you. >> All right, Miss Prop, >> I can't really add too much to that, but um the state assessment that that was great. It's great to know where our kids are because, you know, you just sit there and okay, they're going to school, but where are they? How well are they doing? And it's great to hear they are doing very well. So, thank you for all your work on that. Um, thank you to the Rotary and Fulton Savings Bank. Thank you, Miss Hooper, for always making the budget a little easier to understand. Um, welcome, Mrs. Griffin. I'm happy you're here because you are a wealth of experience and that that'll be very helpful. And again, thank you for trusting me. >> Yeah, [laughter] >> Mr. Did you learn? >> Um, first of all, the
107most important thank you probably for accepting which nobody will qualify. >> I'm humbled and and again, we're not done yet. [laughter] You won't regret it. You're >> welcome. >> Thank you. >> Um, thank you to Rotary and Savings Bank. Any donation is always appreciated. >> And, uh, thank you to the assessment team for all the hard work that goes into that. Um, I know Doug and your admin team as well as the schools uh put for work into it. It's it's evident just by the amount of information that they provided. Maybe we could do that in two settings next time. [laughter] >> I forgot to tell you a lot. >> If the board's doing it right, it is a long. >> All right, Mrs. Griffin, >> I just want to start with thanks. My thanks
108to the members of the community that contributed to the donations to the program, the school district and city. That always makes my heart full. Um, we are better when we work together and anytime I see that it it I get a little bit of goosebumps. So, I'm most grateful for that. Um, I want to thank administration, uh, Mrs. Hooper in particular for tolerating me coming in with, uh, questions that you may not have been fully prepared for. I mean, you're prepared. You just didn't know I was going to ask that, but you are a wealth [laughter] of information, which I appreciate your expertise. Um, I find it helpful. Um, it it's going to be a tough budget year. I'm going to say that right up front because you know me, I'm all about I've lived
109a lot of budgets, a lot of very difficult budgets, and a few years where it was so easy I couldn't stand it. [laughter] I I was heard to say, I know I said more than once, it I felt like money was being thrown at us. I wasn't used to that and so it's gone as I knew it would be. We're at we're over the cliff and I just, you know, for the benefit of the people watching, we knew this was going to happen. Um, if we could have been given the same level of support that we received during the co years, we certainly would be in a different place right now. It it but again, it's not because people are not watching resources and your dollars. um people watch very carefully, but we still have
110lots of work to do and a commitment to fulfill as many needs as we can for our students. It doesn't mean we're going to fill all of them because it's insatiable those needs and so we'll fill as many as we can as a district and I look forward to working with this team, a different team for me and I've worked with a lot of teams but I'm really looking forward to working with you folks on finding our way through this um difficult time and doing the best we can uh for what we can offer our community and our students in particular for the next year. >> Thank you. Um I'm my colleagues have said it all. So all the thanks and the kudos to everybody and everything. I just wanted to add a couple of
111things. Um I just a reminder out to the community. For those of you who are wishing to uh reach out to the board of education, you can reach us and this is for those questions that have to do with policy or with um finances. Uh if there's something you really need us to know, you can reach us at [email protected]. If it is something to do with the day-to-day operations or something that uh we need to get you into the right um direction, um Mrs. Trude is always available and her uh email is dtrude at fulton.cny.org. However, if it comes to the clerk, myself and Mrs. True, we'll make sure that your questions are to the right uh person and you will get your answers. Um we appreciate any input that we get or any questions
112we get from our community. Also, um we had a health and safety um committee meeting this afternoon and I know that Mrs. Hutchinson had been on a subcommittee for our workplace violence um data information group subcommittee and um we're just kind of going to throw it out there. If anybody is interested at this point um let me know because Mr. Kapani will be putting another meeting coming up soon and we're going to want to make sure that we have board representation on that committee. >> Do you want me to do that till I leave? >> I mean, if it takes the pressure off, I can I can do that till the next person. So, you have one more person. >> Okay. If everybody else is good with Mrs. Griffin filling in, that would be wonderful
113for you to step up. >> You just have to let me know when >> we I will let you know as soon as Mr. Kapani sets up that next meeting which should be sometime that maybe after the first week of March, second week of March, they should be setting that up. So yes, thank you so much for stepping up. We appreciate you. >> I I March 17th. >> We have he about it. >> No, not that one. >> Okay. Not that one. >> Okay. So there is that. Uh Mrs. Shrew, did we win? >> No, we did not. I'm very sad. The girls >> One basket. >> Oh, one basket. Well, our girls played very well um this season and we appreciate all what they did out there on the court and the boys are
114playing right now. >> The boys are playing right now. Okay. >> Haven't gotten an update. >> All right. So, you know, maybe uh we can run over and support the boys if you guys don't have anything else going on um after the meeting. Um I am just going to go ahead and move on to the next part which would have been public forum but we do not have anybody here. So, we are all set. No executive session. We're still nothing has come up. So we're going to go ahead and bypass that >> and we're going to go ahead and move on to adjournment action 9.01. Somebody move it. >> Move it. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I opposed. Passes 600. Thank you everyone for joining us this evening.