001Did you get a picture taken? Yes. Oh, great. One minute. And we still have two minutes to start. Oh, okay. Mhm. Okay. 8:13. What time? We're fine. Keeping with being efficient. We have pictures. We're just waving. [Laughter] I think we're just waiting for Oh, right here. There you go. Great. Thanks. Thank you. And thanks for helping. Welcome to the July 1st, 2025 reorganizational meeting and regular session of the board of education of the Garden City Union Free School District. Thank you for attending in person or through Zoom. May I please have a motion to appoint the district clerk, Miss Dana DiCapua, as temporary chair of the meeting? So moved. That second. All in favor? I. The motion passes. Dana will assume control of the meeting until a board president is elected and sworn in. Good
002evening, everybody, and thank you for joining us tonight. I would like to ask that the oath of allegiance be administered to our newest uh board trustees, Erin Drich and Deborah Kani. Sam. So, at this time, I'll do it one at a time. So I would ask for Miss Erin Dbridge to come to to rise and um stand in the middle of the floor and I can administer the oath at that time. I mayoritution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and Constitution of New York and the Constitution and that I will faithfully describe the duty of the office of trustee of the board of education. I will faithfully disced of the Garden City School District of Garden City School District. I'm going to defend my according to the
003best. Congratulations. Thank you. Please raise your right hand. I state your name. I doare that I will support the Constitution of United States. of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New York State that I discharge the duty of the office of trustee of the board of education of the board of education according to the best. Thank you very much. Can I have everyone stand for the pledge of allegiance? I to the flag of the United States of America to the republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Due notice of today's meeting has been served to all members of the board of education pursu pursuant to the requirements of law. Tina, will you please take attendance? Trustee present. Trustee present trustee
004present trustee present trustee present superintendent of school presents for business and finance present mlin superintendent for human resources and leadership development Dr. Alice, assistant superintendent for tur instruction district present. Thank you. At this time, I would like to ask for nominations of one board member to serve as president during the ensuing school year. To serve as president of board of education. Thank you. Any other nominations? I'm usually going to close the nominations at this time and I will ask for a motion that Joe Silio serve as president of the board of education during the ensuing official school year. So move. Second. Okay. Official. Thank you. We're going to ask Mr. IO to take the oath of allegiance for the office of president of the board of education. And then I don't At this time, I
005would like to call for nominations for the office of vice president of the board of education. Um, I'd like to nominate Kristen Papus. Are there any other nominations at this time? At this time, may I have a motion that Kristen Papus will serve as the vice president of the board of education during the ensuing official school year? All in favor? I. Congratulations. She you get to sworn in it as well. At this time, I have a motion that the board of education appoints Stan DiCapio as district clerk for the 2025 2026 school year. All in favor? I. Dan, please. I can take your o Say your name. I, Dana, do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States
006and the Constitution of the State of New York and the Constitution of the State of New York. that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of district clerk of the board of education of district clerk of the board of education of the garden city union preschool district of the garden city union preschool district according to the best of my ability or to the best of my ability Dr. At this time, will you now take your oath of office? I state your name. I, Kasum Sa, do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I'll support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New York and the Constitution of the
007State of New York and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office and I will faithfully discharge the duties of this office of the Superintendent of Schools of the Superintendent of Schools of the Garden City Union Free School District. of the Garden City Union Free School District according to the best of my ability. according to the best of my ability. Thank you. At this time, may I have a motion that the following board members be appointed to the following committees for the 2025 2026 school year for the village of Garden City uh board um Miss Aaron Dbridge, Miss Kristen Papis, and Miss Deb Kapani. for the Boseies uh board, Miss Apani and Miss Dbr. For the audit committee, Mr. Silio and Mrs. Dbridge for the legislative affairs committee, Miss Gaffne and Miss Papus.
008For the policy review committee, Miss Gaffne and Miss Kapani. And then for the district safety team, Mr. Silio and Mr. Miss Papis. All in favor? I. At this time, I have a motion to appoint the following board members to to appoint as the liaison of of the of the um property associations for the 2025 2026 school year. For the central property associations, Miss Gaffffne for the Eastern Property Association, Miss Papist and Mrs. Silio. For the Property Owners Association of the Garden City Estates, Miss Kapani. And for the Western Property Owners Association, Miss Dirt. All in favor? I. At this time, to make more efficient use the meeting, the board authorizes the use of a consent agenda as part of the meeting agenda. A consent agenda allows for one motion to approve multiple items and such
009items are identified on the agenda. The president of the board will ask for a motion to approve the consent agenda. We'll ask if board members wish to have discussion or clarification on specific items contained within the agenda. Following the discussion, the board will then vote on the consent agenda motion. In addition, a board member may request to have an item removed from the consent agenda and order a vote on a motion separately. At this time, may I have a motion to approve the consent agenda, which includes business to the board items C1 through C4, district appointment items D1 through D19, business matters items E1 through E11, and special education matters F1 through F5. All in favor? I at this time I have a motion that the board of education adjourns the district reorganization meeting and
010opens the regular session. All in favor? I. At this time, may I have a motion that the board of education accepts the agenda for July 1st, 2021 20 July 1st, 2025 regular session as presented. All in favor? I uh for there's a notice um for the community effective Wednesday, July 2nd, 2025, the districtwide safety program will be plan will be available on the district website for a 30-day public comment period. After such time, the board of education will be adopting the plan. Please send any comments to the district clerk, Mrs. Dicapua, um if you have any comments or questions. at this time. I think Dr. Are you going to go through the the board policies? Sure. So um so um on the agenda we have the annual reading of our board of pol board policies
011and these are policies that um the board reviews each year and there has been no substantive any changes to these policies which um you know which you have there the sexual harassment the responsible use policy the um investments policy purchasing disposal of district property, special educational uh personnel qualification and training and the opioid over uh overdose prevention policies. Again, there's been no changes to these policies and these are just uh policies that we recognize each year and go over it. Thank you. Mrs. DiCapo, can you please provide the treasures report? Certainly. This is the treasurer's report from May 2025. We had a cash balance at the beginning of the month of 45,550,793. During May, we had uh receipts totaling 39,480,681. We had dispersements of 9,280,718, leaving us a closing balance of 75,750,757. Thank you. Thank
012you, Mrs. Dicapia. Dr. SA, would you please provide the superintendent report? Sure. Thank you. First and foremost, I'd like to welcome Miss Capani and Miss Debbridge to to the to our board of education, and we look forward to uh working with you this year. And just some items, graduation was this um Saturday, and we had prom earlier uh uh last week. It was just a incredible event. Our graduation is always very very special and uh we lucked out with the weather and uh and along with the prom, both events were wonderful. We also um today was our first day with our administrative retreat. We have day one today day and again tomorrow we meet the entire team meets and our focus this year is on leadership the portrait of a graduate and then also technology,
013creativity and curiosity. Those were our big themes and um we'll meet again tomorrow and then um we'll share the agenda with the board in the weekly. Um summer programs we have uh camp invention is this week we have uh about a 100 students participating with I think over 20 uh student volunteers also participating our um scope program that starts next week and I know Mr. side who really coordinates that program for us. Each year the enrollment is um gets you know larger and larger and I think we again this year we have a morning and an afternoon program 500 families. So that great. So we we really like the participation and if any of the board members want they want you want to visit any of the programs you're more than welcome to. We are
014um we have that at our middle school. And then our extended school year program which is our special education program that um that also starts next week and that'll be um uh housed at Stratford similar to last year. And um let's just see a couple more items. Um so on the agenda um this evening we have I just wanted to point out two two agenda items. We have uh Miss Akira Reagan who's here with us this evening um as um she's we're recommending her to be our next coordinator for music and the arts and she comes to us with over 15 years of experience uh in that field and predominantly she's she's been at Roosevelt where she started u the summer theater program and really overseeing the u the music program there. So, we uh
015we're excited to have you start with us. And uh I also wanted to mention we have Miss Christine Nugan here also and she is uh um she's being recommended this evening for special education at Stuart's school and we're really excited to have you join us as well, Christine. And uh what and we also have on tonight's agenda um you know I think we I had mentioned uh at one of our meetings we had three students um who won the competition first in math that came in first place. So we did receive a check for $5,000 for that. So we'll be purchasing mathematics um you know in ter uh the manipulatives. So we're really pleased with that. And I also wanted to take a minute to thank our PTA and the booster the booster club. Um
016they had funded the um the lunch for we had a tribute to Christine Kenny right I think it was the right I think it was the last day or the day before last day of school and it was a lovely lovely event and they uh provided the lunch and the refreshment for that for that event. So I'd like to thank them as well. And lastly, um, you know, happy 4th of July to everyone. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Sa. Um, I'd like to second, um, thank you to Mrs. uh, Mrs. Nent, um, for joining us or you will be joining us. And Mrs. Reagan, we appreciate you being here tonight. So, look forward to you doing good things in the district. Is there any other business from the board at this time? city was um
017a beautiful celebration. Um the speeches that were given by students and I everything was just um it was really a wonderful celebration. So I was honored to be a part of that. Thank you. At this time, does anybody have any questions or comments? Citizens questions or comments? Hi. Uh, Tina Marello, 171 Garden Street. Uh, I wrote this out, so apologies, but Dr. SA and Dr. Bowman, I had sent you guys an email, uh, yesterday with a few questions. Um, one in particular, and just for some background, I have two sons. one will be entering the ninth grade and the other one the sixth grade both in district. So um I have some concerns about the sixth grade ELA curriculum um especially there seems to be changes from when my older son was in sixth. So
018I understand the vocab used to be explicitly taught and the sadly our book was removed. Um, and I believe, well, I do know that the vocab is being taught based on the books that they're currently reading. So, my question to you is, will students be read or multiple questions? Um, will students be reading books on or above sixth grade level? Because my understanding is that has not happened this past year in sixth grade. Are you reinstating explicit vocabulary instruction using the Sadler book, not just using the books that they're reading? And are you going to continue are the teachers still going to be reading aloud to sixth graders or the sixth graders going to be reading independently in class? Uh we did receive your email and we will be getting back to you with the
019and we'll make sure that these questions are also answered. Is there anything you can highlight today at the at the you know like um you know we um the only thing I can highlight for you is um I know you're saying your son is going into ninth grade. There hasn't been changes in that way that you're describing. I'm asking about my incoming sixth grader incoming sixth grader. So um we definitely do not have the sadier book the vocab book and there is no plan to put that at this time. Not at this time. It's not um we do not have that planned. What we what I can give you or or Dr. Bowman can give you is the books that our kids will be reading. We can certainly share that with you. A list of
020books that the our kids read. We can share that. I have a list of ones that were read this year and they're all second to third grade and fourth to fifth grade level. So, will you be upping the Lexile index for the books that are read in class? I don't believe all the books were at the second third grade level. But again, not all. Some were second and third. Some were fourth and fifth. Yes. And I think in the meetings we had discussed the rationale for some of the books that were being uh uh you know chosen to to be read in class or teachers reading, but we can certainly give you an update list. On a personal note, I'm spending a lot of money this summer and I have the last few months helping
021my son become doing reading remediation because the school just has not been up to par with that. So, it's very important to me that when he enters sixth grade that he's reading, he's has access to content that is grade level. So, I do appreciate your reply. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Ingret Rodriguez and I reside at 163 Brook Street. I also have an incoming sixth grader. And it's recently I came to learn that you're also getting rid of grammar and that vocabulary is being taken out of the out of this curriculum, out of the sixth grade curriculum. And I'm shocked because I thought that it was only my child who had a problem with grammar. I spent $4,000 um this year at Huntington Learning Center because my son could not write a sentence
022using correct commas, correct uh capitalization, correct uh punctuation, subjectverb agreement. And I thought it was just my child. But it wasn't until I spoke to another parent and I found out that there's an issue with the reading program here and also the literacy program here. And this this is being evident by what's happening in our English language arts program here and that our students proficient wise are going down and East Meadow is is has a better program than we do. Um, I moved here for our education here system and I was I thought it was just it was an isolated situation with my child and when I learned that they were getting rid of vocabulary books, I went to Sacred Heart Academy. I got those vocabulary books. We filled them out. Grammar was very important.
023How are these students going to write the social studies for for just just their their uh their college essays, their their science exams? writing is integral and I was shocked to find out that this is what's going on here. So, I'd like to know what what is the plan. So, just um to reiterate, we are not removing vocabulary and grammar instruction. There will be continuous vocabulary and grammar instruction that goes on in all grades that is developmentally appropriate so that the kids are able to read and write to the level that they need to to be prepared for those high stakes experiences that you mentioned. Um, we have a number of curriculum projects happening over the summer that are designed to make it so that there is vocabulary instruction that is direct and explicit specifically
024in the middle school to address some of the concerns that you're see that that have been shared. Um, and to make sure that the experiences that children have in each of the classrooms is equivalent. Um, but my understanding is that you're if you're lowering the bar and you know, I only became educated about this about 5 days ago. So, I haven't been able to read through everything and understand all that's going on because literally I just thought it was an issue for my own child. And I'm sitting here saying, "So, I'm spending $4,000 in Huntington Learning Center. Um, and it's it's not an isolated issue. I didn't know our ELA scores were this low, and I didn't know that they had been declining." And there's an issue here. And I understand that you're trying to
025address this issue, but if you're putting second and third grade books, if that's what's in there, and I'm not I haven't been able to patch myself up to speed yet to this level, but if that's what's in there, why are you setting the bar so low for our students? I mean, I don't seem to understand why why it's being set that low. They should be reading grade level appropriate books. And I understand you have students with different different concerns and different issues, but how is this board going to address this specifically? We can we can come back to you. We can look into your questions and and provide you a written response. Okay. Thank you. I look forward to it. Thank you. There any other questions? We're going to use the consent agenda again to
026address uh the regular sessions uh board items. So at this time I have a motion that be resolved that the board of education approves the consent agenda which includes business of the board items H1 through H13, personnel matters items I1 through I10, business office matters J1 through J18 and special education matters K1 through K6. All in favor? I. Is there any new business from the board? Any new business from the administration? Future board of education meeting announcements. Tuesday, August 12th, 2025, regular session at the Garden City High School at 8:15. At this time, may I have a motion that there being no further business to come before the board that the meeting be adjourned. All in favor?