001Tell me when you're ready. I'll start. I'll be be efficient here. Good evening. Welcome to the May 12th, 2026 work and special session of the board of education. This is Joe Silio, president of the board of education speaking. Thank you for attending in person or through Zoom. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. >> Pledge of Allegiance. due notice of the meeting is provided to the public and each member of the board of education is required by law. I'll take attendance. Joe Silio, president, present. Kristen Papus, vice president Liz Gaffne, trustee Aaron Dbridge, trustee Deborah Gapani, trustee Dr. Kassum Singha, superintendent of schools. Dana DiCapu, Assistant Superintendent for Business and Finance and District Clerk. Nin McLaclin, assistant superintendent for human resources and leadership. Dr. Alice Powman, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction. At this time,
002we're going to go to the literacy review. Dr. SH, would you like to go forward with the presentation or are you handing off? Do you want us >> Yeah, I just take it to the seat. Okay. Good evening. It's a pleasure to be back again this evening to provide the literacy review update to the board. So earlier today, the literacy review team met in the middle school learning commons to continue our review process. And during our meeting, we reviewed stakeholder feedback connected to amplify CKLA, shared pilot teacher updates, and provided the team access to some student artifacts from the beginning of our third pilot cycle involving my view literacy K to 5 and benchmark advance 3 to 5. I have also provided the board with folders that include today's meeting agenda, the feedback from amplify
003CKLA and the artifacts that were provided. Since our last board update, I have combi compiled and analyzed feedback from teachers, administrators, families, and students connected to the Amplify CKLA pilot, which I will share this evening before transitioning into updates on our current implementation work. And I'd like to first revisit the slide that outlines our literacy pilot timeline across grades K to 5. As you can see, each pilot cycle includes a launch meeting, an implementation window, a structured feedback process involving teachers, administrators, students, and families. And we have now completed our first uh two K to2 pilot cycles involving benchmark advance and amplify CKLA. And we're currently in the midst of our third pilot cycle with my view literacy K to5 and benchmark advance 3 to 5 which started last week. We have a total of
00428 classrooms piloting at this time. That's 39 teachers and 11 special education teachers. um that's in our that are in our ICT classrooms. So, this process is intentionally designed to ensure that decisions are grounded in classroom implementation, student work, stakeholder feedback, and ongoing reflection and analysis. Before I begin sharing the feedback from Amplify CKLA, I'd like to remind the board that the comprehensive benchmark advanced KTO2 feedback we reviewed during our April meeting is posted on the district website. I'd also like to frame how the feedback shared this evening has been organized. We analyze both quantitative and qualitative feedback from teachers, administrators, students, and families. The quantitative feedback reflects numerical ratings across specific categories while qualitative feedback captures the themes, observations, experiences, and reflections shared by stakeholders. Student feedback was gathered qualitatively to ensure we were
005able to capture developmentally appropriate and accurate insights from our K2 students. I'll begin with the teacher feedback connected to amplify CKLA. This quantitative data reflects teacher ratings on a scale of one to five across multiple instructional categories with one indicating strongly disagree and five indicating strongly agree. As you can see on the graph, the highest ratings emerged around materials which received a 4.2, planning, which received a 4.0, assessment alignment, and student learning both in the mid-3 range. These ratings suggest that the teacher saw strengths in the organization of materials, the structure of lessons, and opportunities for vocabulary and oral language development within the resource. Where lower ratings emerged around differentiation, which received a 2.5, hometoschool connection, which received a 2.1, and confidence in long-term implementation, which received a 2.6. What this tells us is that
006while teachers recognize strengths in oral language, vocabulary, and story engagement, they also raise questions around balancing reading, writing, foundational skills, instruction, and differentiation to support all learners effectively. When we look at the qualitative feedback from the teachers, we begin to understand what is driving those ratings. Teachers consistently identified strengths in oral language development, vocabulary instruction, student discussion opportunities, and engagement with folktales and stories. Teachers noted that students were actively using sophisticated vocabulary and making meaningful thematic connections across stories and texts. At the same time, several opportunities for growth emerged, including the balance between listening and active reading, writing stamina and writing progression, and alignment to foundational skills instruction. Teachers also expressed concerns that students often did not have text physically in front of them during instruction, limiting opportunities for active reading and independent application of
007skills. Overall, the feedback suggests that while the resource supports vocabulary and listening comprehension, teachers are looking for stronger balance between reading, writing, foundational skills, and differentiation for support for all learners. Our family feedback provides another important lens into how students are experiencing literacy learning beyond the classroom. Quantitatively, the highest ratings were connected to student work visibility and communication from school. Families were often able to see evidence of learning through writing samples, notebooks, and the work that came home at the end of the pilot cycle. Qualitatively, families noted that students enjoyed the fiction stories, particularly fairy tales and folktales, and some families observed students producing longer written responses and sounding out words more frequently. At the same time, families raise questions around visibility into daily instruction, foundational skills development, and overall understanding of the program during
008the pilot cycle. This feedback reinforces the importance of communication, clarity, and ensuring that families understand what students are learning and how literacy skills are being developed. It should also be noted that during a pilot process, communication and student work sent home may not occur as frequently as it would during a full implementation. Throughout the pilot, we need to collect, analyze, and monitor student work and instructional experiences closely. Once a resource is adopted, this feedback will absolutely be taken into consideration as we think about more frequent communication and additional opportunities for student work to be shared with families. The administrator feedback provided a systems level perspective on implementation and classroom instruction. Administrators identified strengths in vocabulary development, oral language opportunities, knowledge building through connected text, structured instructional routines. Administrators also observe students actively engaged in discussion
009and making connections across stories and themes. At the same time, administrators consistently raise questions around the balance between listening and active reading, writing opportunities and writing stamina, differentiation and accessibility of materials and alignment to foundational in skills instruction. There was also discussion around the level of implementation support and the need for additional structures to support teachers during a roll out. Overall, administrators recognize strengths in discussion and vocabulary development while emphasizing the importance of balancing listening comprehension with active student reading, writing, and independence. For K to2 students, as I mentioned earlier, we used the qualitative approach to gather feedback. Again, given their developmental level, open-ended conversations and observations provided a more accurate picture of their experiences rather than a numerical scale. Students shared that they enjoyed fairy tales and narrative stories, visuals and illustrations, and opportunities
010for discussion and conversation. They also expressed interest in topics such as aviation, history, fictional myths depending on the grade level. But at the same time, students identified challenges relating to writing space and graphic organizers, the length of the lessons, and the repetition across the stories. This tells us that students were engaged by the content in stories while also highlighting areas where pacing, structure, and writing supports may need refinement. So, uh, with that being said, we're going to go to the teacher quantitative feedback comparison. This slide compares teacher quantitative feedback across benchmark advance and amplify CKLA. As you can see, Benchmark Advance received consistently higher ratings across categories related to engagement, learning, differentiation, professional learning support, overall impact, and confidence. While Amplify CLA demonstrated strengths in oral language and vocabulary opportunities, the comparison highlights clear differences
011in teacher perceptions related to implementation, differentiation, and instructional support. This slide compares administrator feedback across both resources. Administrators rated benchmark advance significantly higher across all categories, particularly in coherence and alignment, professional learning support, tier one instruction. These ratings closely align with the qualitative themes we reviewed earlier regarding instructional balance, implementation structures, and accessibility of materials. This slide compares the family feedback across both resources. While both programs demonstrated positive ratings around communication and student work visibility, Benchmark Advance received consistently higher ratings overall, particularly in student engagement, students talking about literacy learning at home, and visibility into learning experiences. These ratings reinforce the importance of ensuring that learning remains visible and understandable to families throughout implementation. At this point in the process, after many classroom visits, observations, classroom teaching and student learning, analysis of student work, and
012the collection of feedback from all stakeholder groups, we have collectively made the decision to not continue piloting amplified CKLA with our three through five classrooms. We do recognize that we did not pilot the skills component of this resource and instead focused on the knowledge building component as we remained committed to and continue using foundations in CA in grades K to three due to the strong student outcomes we are seeing with that resource. While we recognize strengths within the resource, particularly in oral language, vocabulary, and discussion opportunities, the overall data and classroom observations indicated that it does not fully meet the needs of all learners across grades K to2. As we know, the foundational literacy experiences students receive in the primary grades are critical. If a resource is not adequ adequately supporting all learners in K
013to2, it becomes increasingly difficult to close learning gaps as students move into grades three through five. As a result, we will continue moving forward with the remaining two pilot resources as we work toward identifying the strongest possible instructional support for all students. So at this time um should I move on to the next cycle or do we want questions about amplify? >> Move on. >> Okay. Okay. So now I'd like to transition to our current implementation work involving my view literacy K to 5 and benchmark advance 3 to 5. Similar to previous pilot cycles, we began with launch meetings designed to build understanding of the resources and instructional structures. Since then, teachers have participated in ongoing literacy coach check-ins, additional professional learning opportunities, assessment deep dives, open dialogue, and support structures. We have also coordinated
014on-site consultant visits where lessons are modeled, teachers co-plan, and questions are addressed directly within the classrooms. This reflects a supported implementation model where professional learning and classroom practice remain closely connected. This slide captures moments from our my view literacy KTO5 launch meeting. The purpose of this session was to build understanding of the resource together. Teachers engaged directly with the materials, explored instructional structures, collaborated with colleagues, and began thinking about how the resource would translate into classroom practice. These launches are an important part of the process because implementation begins with building shared understanding and creating opportunities for teachers to ask questions, collaborate, and learn together. This slide reflects our benchmark advanced 3 through5 launch meeting. Similar to the My View launch, teachers had opportunities to explore the resource, examine instructional structures, engage in collaborative dialogue, and
015begin planning for classroom implementation. This slide captures consultant visits connected to my view literacy K2 classrooms. During these visits, consultants modeled lessons which included premeings and debriefing and response to any questions about the resource. Across classrooms, students were actively engaged in reading, discussion, vocabulary work, collaborative learning experiences. These visits provide another important layer of support as teachers continue implementing the resource in real time. This slide highlights my view literacy implementation across grades three through five. What we are seeing across classrooms are students actively closely reading texts, annotating them, discussing ideas collaboratively, and applying vocabulary and comprehension strategies. This slide reflects benchmark advance implementation across grades three through five in Stuart School. The classrooms depicted here show students engaged in a variety of literacy experiences, including collaborative discussion, reading comprehension, vocabulary development, and teacher guided instruction.
016These classroom visits continue to help us better understand how the resource functions within actual instructional settings. And here you can see the three through five benchmark advanced classrooms at Stratford School. What stands out across these visits is the level of student participation, classroom discussion, and interaction with text. As the pilot continues, these classrooms experiences remain an important component of our review process. When the literacy review team met today, we reviewed the amplify CKLA feedback in depth and compared it to the benchmark advance. Pilot teachers also shared updates on their own implementation experiences as well as feedback from colleagues during the past week. In addition, each group was given access to the initial collection of student artifacts from my view literacy K to5 and benchmark advance 3 to 5 to review. This process allows us to
017move beyond the feedback alone and begin grounding our conversations in actual student work and evidence of learning. I also want to note that pilot cycle 3 only began last week on May 4th. So the collection of student artifacts is still in its very early stages. So as we move forward, we will continue gathering feedback, analyzing artifacts, and refining our understanding of each resource to ensure that any future decision remains grounded in evidence, implementation experience, and what is best for students. This is a slide that highlights uh kindergarten my view literacy some student artifacts from our pilot. In these examples, students are building academic vocabulary, engaging in oral language and vocabulary development activities and beginning to write personal narratives using sequencing words such as first, next, and then. The next slide highlights grade one my view.
018these examples. In these examples, students are making predictions before and during reading, identifying plot elements such as problems and resolutions, and responding to comprehension questions using evidence from the text. In grade two for my view literacy, these examples are showing us how students are making connections between details and key ideas, analyzing how authors use graphic features to support meaning, responding to comprehension questions, and engaging in procedural procedural writing. This slide highlights grade three with my view literacy. Students are analyzingformational text features and exploring structure and meaning of poetry. They're also responding to comprehension questions using evidence from the text and identifying main ideas and supporting details. In grade four, My View literacy, these artifacts are showing how students are closely analyzing characters, actions, and traits, examining structure of opinion writing, and responding to reading through
019extended written responses supported by text evidence. In grade five, my view literacy. These examples are showing the analysis of characters and settings within science fiction texts, examining plot structure through story mapping and developing academic vocabulary connected to themes and meaning. Now to benchmark advance. Um, these grade three artifacts are examples of students closely reading literary texts, analyzing character perspectives and feelings, and writing narrative journal entries from a character's point of view. In benchmark advance grade four, these student artifacts are showing us how students are read uh closely reading historical fiction text, annotating while reading and beginning to work on reading on a reading blueprint focused on understanding different points of view. And in grade five for benchmark advance, these examples are showing how students are closely reading and annotating complex text, identifying vocabulary and literary
020elements, and completing narrative response work connected to characters, setting, events, and theme. This process has always been more than just selecting a resource. It's really been about reflecting on teaching and learning, listening to multiple stakeholder voices, and ensuring that our instructional decisions align with the needs of our students and the vision of our district. As we continue through this work together, we remain committed to observing teaching and learning in classrooms, reflecting on student experiences and outcomes, engaging teachers, administrators, students, and families in the process, strengthening alignment across curriculum, instruction, assessment, and professional learning, and making thoughtful, informed decisions grounded in evidence and feedback. I would like to extend a special thank you to our pilot teachers, literacy coaches, administrators, families, our consultants who have been in constant partnership with us throughout the process, and of
021course our board of education. Thank you for your collaboration, professionalism, and continued commitment to our students and schools. >> Maybe just one question. How how many parents responded in the feedback? I mean, clearly um CKLA is not where we're going to go, but are you getting good parent feedback in this process? >> About 25 families. >> We Yes. And we did set we did send the form out multiple times in different ways. Um but that is what we have. >> We should consider making that part of the kids homework or something that will get parents attention because you know people come Yeah. people come and ask a lot of questions and 25 and I I know it's not you and to get more engagement we consider doing something maybe at the teacher level to get
022more engagement so we get better feed as best the feedback as we can from parents so we don't have conversations a year or two from now that they don't like the program when they didn't respond with the is they providing very specific homework assignments with the parents know or recognize that something's comfortable that's different. >> Yes. Uh and what we've been doing since the the windows are very short um students are continuously working on a text. So they go back to it frequently. So it's been an obstacle to be able to send that home not fully knowing what is needed still to for the students to go back to during the pract the process to reflect on their learning. So we have been holding on to those pieces because part of this process with the
023knowledge building piece so strong in all of these resources they're constantly adding to those blueprints and building on their thinking. So, um, what I had mentioned earlier is because we're closely analyzing all of the work and going back to it, we've been, um, consciously collecting all the work in the folders and then sending everything home at the end. When we have full implementation, we would be sending more um, throughout the process, but there's about a four to five week window. We're looking at >> that. I'm sure the teachers are probably hesitant to c They're also trying this out for the first time, right? >> Yes. Um, well, I don't know if they're hesitant. I think that it's they're still learning the resources and they're not entirely sure what will still be needed for the students
024to go back to to reflect on their learning. So once we send something home, um you know, we don't know if we'll need it back, but we can look at ways to think about uh how we can send some work home midway through perhaps. >> I just had another question too. >> Can I just add something really quickly to that? is we do we have received informal feedback from parents via emails or and even verbal communication around that the kids have come home very excited about what they're learning in these pilot classes. Uh I know with the very first one with the penguin I think it was a penguins unit kids were going home and really talking about the the newsletter and what they were learning in their classroom which was you know which was
025in those pilot classrooms. >> Yeah. I actually myself talked to a second grader a second grader at Strapford. She was sitting on the sideline. My son was playing baseball. So, we talked and we spoke about the different units and I asked her like which one she was most excited about, which one she really enjoyed. She said she loved listening to the fairy tale stories, but that she really learned a lot through the penguin. >> Yeah. >> While I was watching Nicholas, >> it was pretty funny because when Dr. Bowman and I were in a classroom when we were doing some walkthroughs together. We asked them which resource they were enjoying. They said, "Well, we we are really enjoying Amplify because we do love listening to the stories." But they realized talking through the reflecting on
026their thinking that the benchmark advance had challenged them more. They said, "It's really hard. It's really hard." But then they said, "But we were learning a lot." You know, so it was interesting to see their metaccognition there, you know, through the process. >> One child, she did mention that the stories were read to her, but that what the fairy tale stories were read to her, but that they weren't doing a lot of their own reading, which is what you mentioned in the presentation, which I think what was some of the shortfall of that program is actually it was a lot of it was being read to them, but then they had >> much of their own reading. And I just want to add that it was being read to them off of the Smartboard. >>
027Yes. Yes. I've seen what the Yeah. >> Right. So, so their uh philosophy around that and it's a very wellrespected resource. Um there are a lot of other districts and you know nationwide that resource is used pretty you know pretty voluminously. So uh they did share with us that it is very different in K to2. there's a lot of knowledge building and oral language and dialogue and discussion. So, we were aware that we were that was the resource that was going to be a little different than the other two. And it was I mean it was recognized immediately by the teachers and the students, you know, and and and it is a great resource. I just think based on what we've seen, it's just not enough for us and for our learners and what our
028learners are needing. um especially in the differentiation area. Um there weren't a lot of materials that were supportive supported. Um our teachers are amazing and they were still creating so many scaffolds and materials which we would do anyway. Whatever we go with um in the future, we the teachers would have to add their own magic to to this resource because they know their learners best. Uh what I will say too is we did receive um and thank you Dr. Sinha for reminding me of this. Um we did receive a lot of unsolicited feedback that wasn't necessarily in the form. Uh but f from families reaching out um to both teachers, myself, I've had many conversations with families. What I will share is the quality of the family feedback has been second to none. I mean
029it is incredible the time that our families really took to provide us with that high quality feedback. It wasn't just a quick let me fill this out, you know. Um, it was, you know, let me take the time and really share what my child is saying, what I'm thinking. It was so specific and we really appreciated that because the quality of that feedback means a lot to us. >> Of course, what do the texts look like? Are they um shorter text or are they um then longer text like novel studies? What does it look like as um progress through the grades? >> So they still have those magazines. Think of like a story. Are you familiar with story works from Scholastic where it's multi-re um so picture that? So they are some a little shorter,
030some a little longer, but parallel to that work that they're doing through close reading and and some shared reading. Um they also have novel studies available. And I did mention I actually opened today at our meeting with something and Dr. Bowman was laughing at me because when I had a few minutes to myself last night, I started reading some articles around um whole class novels and creating and cultivating a joy and a love of reading. And I started thinking to myself, you know, what we do here is so amazing already. You know, we're piloting new programs because we recognize there is a need, but what we have are kids who love to read and we don't want to lose that. So something that is really important to us as we go through this process is
031I was questioning the consultants today all about their novel studies. Now that I know about the resource and we know about the resource, I'm starting to see other things that we might need in the resource, which is exactly that. And both of these resources, I'm thrilled at today's meeting, the feedback I'm getting on my view. I'm absolutely ecstatic because we have two strong resources on the table and they both offer that evidence-based reading literacy strategies that we're looking for, but also parallel to that are cultivating a love and a joy for reading. So, thank you, you know, for mentioning that because I think we do need to or thinking about that and what it looks like because for for older students, we want them reading those whole class novels. >> Yes. it comes with uh
032for my view the novel studies and I asked the consultant today if we can also select if we have choice um in that and she said that we do that it's not just a you know here it is here's your novel study you know we we can select based on what we know about our students so that for me is going to be when I meet with them again benchmark is coming tomorrow to do some more on-site visits that's going to be something I'm leaning into tomorrow to ensure that we have that and it's very still comprehensive uh for our students. >> Also suggestments from the companies about how to still continue allowing some choice where children are still you know reading from books that they are choosing like let's say within the classroom library.
033Do they have suggestions for how to like preserve that in some way? I I do appreciate the value of their being teacher guidance and the thinking critical thinking that's going through texts that are connected to each other. But then how do you also work in >> so choice that as well >> while they offer that they are consultants who are representing a resource and this is my purview that I'm speaking to right now from my experiences I do feel that we have such a strong um teaching community and administrative team that we are going to need to really be involved in that piece. of whatever we select, we will still need to add our um we we we still will have the autonomy to make those choices to ensure that's happening. I think it's an
034obligation for us to ensure that's happening to prepare them for middle school to prepare them for high school. Um there's no other choice. So when so the consultants are not the consultants are going to do whatever is best for us. So, we're going to be guiding them to help them help us. Um, I was connected with a couple of districts who are using these resources who also believe in the power of independent reading and choice. And I'm going to be setting up some conversations just to get an idea of how they're implementing that. >> Sure. First of all, this is a great question. It's very thorough. >> Do I have to talk to my talk? >> Yeah. Yes, you do. >> It's not working. >> Um, you did a great job. >> Um, is this
035mostly whole class or is there some small group to it as well? >> Both of the resources on the table have small group components to it. So what we're looking at when we're looking when we selected the three resources we ensured that there were options for small group while we're the pilot is focusing more on whole class tier one we do see the potential and the materials that are included uh for small group there is no shortage of materials for small group in differentiation. Um, thank you for student work and the artifacts. Um, I was wondering, you had mentioned about continuing to use foundations because the data suggests it's working very well for our students. Can you just in a general way um, just clarify for me how that works when you buy a new
036curriculum, but you're still using something that works, but how does that do they work together? Do you not use a component from the say it's benchmark or my view? How does that work? >> It's a great question because I see this as a win-win all around. One reason I see it as a win is we know we have something that works. So what we would do is we would take the word study out of the resource that that time that's allotted in the resource that that the teacher would implement that portion of the resource that would be go back to foundations that time those minutes. So they would not be using that piece of the resource. However, what we have found really strong is that there are so many supportive materials for phonics instruction and
037funological awareness in general and fluency and anything that foundations has available. When we looked at resources, we wanted to ensure that their word study and scope and sequence for phonics principles was really strong and had very close alignment to foundations. So that let's just say in the future, you never ever know um what's going to happen. No plans for it right now. Let's just say that we try out the phonics portion. We pilot that in a couple of classrooms a few years from now to see how does that compare to foundations. I'm confident that with either program, we have two strong word study programs already built in. So we use foundations now with supportive materials for additional um support for our learners who need that practice. So it that's why it's a win-win. >> So
038does that mean he goes away or you keep too? >> Absolutely not. He is staying at right now. I mean look, you never know what the future will hold as we experience the resource in real time and we see uh what it offers but right now he is very strong resource for our students. >> Any other question? >> Thank you Miss Kaufman. Yeah, I know the pilot has been a big undertaking but uh it's gone very well. So, thank you for your leadership in that area. >> There are no further questions. May have a motion to close the public session and open the budget hearing. >> Second. >> All in favor? I. Dr. Sak, can you begin the budget presentation? Yep. This is um you know we were going to go over our budget process
039and uh all the numbers that we have presented to you everything that's in the budget. There's nothing new in today's presentation. You know, as you know, we always start with our mission and vision. I will not read them. You've heard them plenty of times uh from us throughout the presentation. And this presentation will be online for our community members as well. And it includes the um the different uh portions of uh this presentation including the highlights of the budget, the contingency budget, the adopted budget, and what's on the ballot. This again you've seen before our priorities it's always around student success make sure we are engaging with our community looking at growth for our kids social emotional academic growth looking at our facilities and ensuring that we're investing in our um in our not just
040with education but also with our infrastructure. this you'll see um you know we always align our budget with our our goals, priorities and our mission. Um I won't go over every detail in here as it is on on our on our website. What I want to make sure that uh the community understands and the board understands that we really look at our programs, look at our enrollment very carefully. We we had the demographic study done that really drives some of the decisions we make. Um we also look at our controlling costs costs that um you know that we want to ensure that we are uh optimizing our resources here in the district. Uh for example really working with our um state, county and village for the bids and contracts for supplies. We recycle as much
041as possible with our technology. Same thing with transportation. We joined the cons consortium for that. So, we do quite a bit to ensure that we're maximizing our resources. I also wanted to mention again that our district continues to maintain the highest level of credit rating, which is a AAA credit rating. Our adopted budget, you've seen this before. Um it's at $142,385,17 budget-to-budget increase at 3.36% and uh within the projected tax levy increase and the allowable tax levy which is at 2.98%. Uh we have to make sure that our community sees the our budget in this three-part section. So you can see the capital is at 12.93%, administration at 11.56% and majority of our budget which is with our program. This is what touches our students which is at 75.51%. These are those same percentages and
042numbers and these are the major categories for our budget codes. This Mr. Capia has gone over several times. So, I'm not going to go through this these numbers, but you'll see that the um you know the budget tobudget uh the adapted budget numbers and how those codes are allocated. What I did want to um you know mention um with our budget which is not on this presentation but it's on uh other presentation what does this budget have for our students? Um, it supports the bubble that's going into the ninth grade with staffing at the high school. We also have the Bloomberg lab, the new art and physics classrooms that are part of the bond project. Miss Kaufman just talked about the primary resource that's on here budgeted for. We also have the uh for the
043MTSS, a new MTSS platform that we've been piloting this year with the intervention manager. And we have some of the programs that um we really value in our program in our district. The continuation of the morning math and writing at the high school and at the middle school. We are uh investment in updated math resources and our science kits that we our students really uh love those science kits in grades two through five. Um what else? We also have um materials to support um the steam at the middle school and um changes with the scheduling at the middle school with the extended periods u for ELA and mathematics which we'll do summer curriculum writing for professional development is in here our athletic and co-curricular programs we also have um um uh budgeted here in for
044instruments with our performing arts program and of course technology um to ensure that we're up to date with not just monitoring our technology with cyber security and whatnot but we've invested in infrastructure as well um um this is important what happens if the budget fails we we we have three options one is to present the same proposal for a revote present a modified proposal or adopt a contingency budget Um and the contingency budget, it would be for us it would be a reduction of more than $4.6 million. And um you know, we've reviewed this also with our community members before that the tax levy can't be greater than the prior year's actual tax levy. Um all contractual and debt services obligation for 2627 would remain in effect and the board of education would uh determine
045which items fall under the ordinary contingency expenses. On the ballot we have our budget. We also have use of capital reserve that includes the reallocation of unused capital funds, establishing a new capital reserve and election of one board of education trustee. And our budget vote and election is on May 19th. Any questions? Okay, we we I know we've presented this several times. Another thing I wanted to mention on, we also have our students that come in and vote um on different items with the buildings. This year that closes at 8:00 for our parents. Typically, we go till 9:00, but it's going to close at 8:00. So, we encourage our students to come with their families. Thank you. >> There any questions there? Any questions from the public on the budget? Nope. hearing none. May I
046have a motion to close the budget hearing and reopen the public work session? >> Second. >> All in favor? I. >> Do I needed to do anything else? May I have a motion to accept the agenda for May May 12th, 2026 special session as presented? >> All in favor? I. Are there any questions and comments on the agenda? Hi, it's Chapman 70. Hello. Um, I wanted to say that thank you, Miss Cap, because I thought the presentation was great. I loved hearing real feedback, the good and the bad. That was terrific, and that's what we're looking for, not to take another, you know, pilot another system and just put something in place as a placeholder. So, I thought that that was fantastic. I do agree with what Erin said about foundations as well as the
047fact that our children do love to read. I wanted to ask just something a little bit outside of the box when we're looking at so many things and we're looking so much in the classroom. I noticed that in library they tend to do a lot of work on computers and so on. Are we looking maybe to something kind of changing that? Not that it's a bad idea and it's very important especially in elementary going into middle school and high school to learn how to do the research. Um, and it's a great time for them to learn, but just seeing it as an opportunity, especially when we don't have kids going by themselves to the library yet, but seeing it as an opportunity to maybe kind of get them a little bit more pre-ereading and teaching
048them what they can do. And then hopefully that will go, you know, a love of reading will become a love of writing and will help everything lift up. I'm going to take this one. Um, so one of the things that we've been working on this year, beginning in the primaries, but all the way through, is reducing the amount of technology that's used specifically, you're asking, in library. And so I'm going to address library. So the students in the primary buildings are going to the library as is the case with their special schedule. And we've really made an under the guidance of Mrs. Magcguire who oversees our libraries media specialists concerted effort to reduce the amount of time and the amount of the amount of um events that take place using technology and and working to
049have the unit or the theme that's being addressed in classrooms reflected in the books that she pulls to do a readaloud to have the kids practice looking around and picking out books to bring home. So, we're working towards that in the library for sure. We've also been looking at the circulation data at the middle school and the high school to see where it is. Um, and one of the things that we're looking forward to doing in the middle school with the explicit writing class, um, which I would just like to say we're looking to rebrand to interdisciplinary writing instead of writing across the curriculum due to the unfortunate acronym. Um, we are hoping to increase the amount of time that kids spend in the library as part of that course so that they can, again,
050similar to what you're saying, increase the volume of books that are coming in and out of their hands over the course of the year. It's not just to clarify, it's not necessarily taking them away from technology because I I mean I just think today the having high schoolers um and you know looking at colleges doing everything I do understand the need for technology and I and having kids who did have exploratory in middle school which I know they won't be having but having it and then having them understand how to look things up, what to write and so on. I fully believe in it. I'm not saying to step away from it, but I think that teaching them young how to um how to explore themselves, to read, to look for things just as you
051guys were saying. >> So that's more of what I meant. You're answering the same just >> yep, we agree it's that's the tension. You know, the technology is here. We need to teach and equip students with how to utilize it and how to make sure that they're in the driver's seat. but at the same time make sure that >> that's what it is and not being told what to read and what to research and how to do it but having them navigate within a certain subject. So again the more we read the smarter we are the better we know how to write that you know so whatever sparks um yeah absolutely >> thank you making sure um at this time to make efficient use of the meeting the board of education authorizes the use of
052the consent agenda. The consent agenda allows for one motion to approve multiple items that are identified in the agenda. At the the president of the board will ask for the motion to approve the consent agenda and ask if board members wish to have a discussion or clarification on specific items within that agenda. Following the discussion, the board would then vote on the consent agenda motion. In addition, a board member may request to have one item removed and discussed separately. At this time, may I have a motion to approve the consent agenda, which includes personnel matters E1 through E4, business office matters F1 through F2? >> All in favor? I. Is there any new business from the administration? >> I just wanted to mention and remind our uh families that our school will be open on
053May 22nd. I know I put that in my letter, but I just want to make sure um we say that a few more times. >> We'll uh we'll keep saying it and sending out reminders. Announcements. Future board of education meeting is Tuesday, May 19th, 2026. It's a regular session, 7:30 here at the Garden City High School. Remember, go out and vote that day as well. Uh again, um please tell your friends as well. And if there's no further uh business, may I have a motion that there's no f further business to come before the board and that the meeting be adjourned. Second. >> All in favor?