Huntington UFSD Board of Education Meeting 9/30/25

001Good evening everyone. Welcome to the September 30th board of education meeting. Can I have a motion to open the meeting? Tom and second by Jenna. All in favor? Great. It is upon recommendation from the superintendent of schools that the board of education enter into executive session to discuss specific legal collective bargaining personnel and other matters in accordance with the opening open meetings law. Can I get a motion to enter into exec Annie and a second by John? All in favor? That's everyone. Great. We'll be back uh at 7:30. Um Mr. Palasios and Mrs. Donovan will be with us at that point. Thank you. >> Good evening. Welcome back. Can I please have a motion to exit the executive session and re-enter the public meeting? Teresa 1, John 2. All in favor? That's everyone. Let's all

002please rise for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance 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. >> In case of an emergency, please direct yourselves to the illuminated exit signs in the back and the side of the auditorium. This is a smoke-free building. And we'll jump right into our approvals. First one on is the board of education meeting minutes of September 8th, 2025. It is upon recommendation from the superintendent of schools that the board of education approved minutes from the meeting of the Huntington Union Free School District Board of Education dated September 8th, 2025. Can I have a motion, please? Kelly one, Tom two. All in favor? That's everyone. We have a couple of

003FI FYIs. A budget transfers, a claims audit report. Any questions or comments? All right. And we'll move over to the treasures report. Treasures report from August 2025. It is upon recommendation from the superintendent of schools that the board of education approve the August 2025 treasures report. Can I have a motion please? Teresa 1, Annie 2. All in favor? That is everyone. And finally from the approval section, the warrants certified 910 2022 and 924 2025. It is upon recommendation from the superintendent of schools that the board of education approve the attached warrants which was certified for payment on September 10th, 2025 and September 24th, 2025. Can I have a motion, please? Kelly 1, Jenna 2. All in favor? That's everyone. All right. Board communications. I'll put it out to our Well, actually, let let's start with

004let's start with Emily. Good evening board and community members. I hope you all had a great month of September. Quarter 1 progress check ends on October 3rd and I advise students to check their grades in e school and keep up with their schoolwork. Teachers offer morning and afternoon extra help. Additionally, some honor societies will be offering tutoring sessions throughout the upcoming months. Science honor society on Wednesdays and the library and math honor society on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:30 to 3:30. These are great resources to um use to fully grasp essential concepts in core subjects. This past week, Huntington school spirit has been an all-time high. Friday on September 26th, the high school conducted its first under the lights soccer game. Huntington vers Northport, and it was an intense game until the very end. Last

005Saturday, the high school football team played a competitive and exciting game against Center Reach. The varsity football team won with a score of 56-13. Therefore, congratulations to all the players. Their hard work is paying off. Huntington celebrated their seniors on the team, congratulating them for their effort and commitment to the school. It was great to see Huntington's school spirit rise to the occasion. The video broadcasting crew has been hard at work in the school. They have been able to broadcast live during our daily announcements. Students are taking video broadcasting one to train and learn how to edit on Premiere, the app used to create the content made by the video broadcasting team. These students stay informed of significant events that occur in our school and community and craft scripts to produce creative and informative videos

006for the whole school to see. And lastly, I would like to talk about the new cell phone policy and how that has affected our school environment. Many students have found different ways to utilize their time off the cell phones. The school is filled with students making new friends and using their free time wisely on school work. I actually had a great experience one time during my lunch period. My friends and I were in the library playing this game called impostor where we cut pieces of paper and write one word and one of the pieces of paper has the word impostor. So everyone goes around saying one word to describe the word that was given and the person who received the paper with imposter tries their best not to get caught. After a while other students

007joined us and at some point everyone in the library is playing the game with us. It was great to connect with our peers and get to know new people that we don't know we that we didn't know before. I also saw students making bracelets, drawing and reading or simply doing homework. Staff members and students have noticed this in the first month as well. Although the the cell phone policy has been a big adjustment for everyone, it has had positive impacts in our environment. That is all. Thank you for for your time, >> Emily. It's really nice to hear that perspective. I'm glad it's working out for you and the students particularly with the with the phones and uh homecoming seemed to be a lot of fun starting from Friday all the way through the weekend.

008Yeah. Um it's open to the reg to all of our board members now. >> I've got something. >> So just to echo what you said, I had asked my daughter and I was planning on saying this before you you said that. So I'm so glad that it's been universal throughout the school, but I asked her the other day, how is it without having your phone? And you know, she used to text me throughout the day for various things. And she said, "It's actually been really nice. The kids um during the the hallway in passing, they're not on their phones and you're talking to people before the teachers start speaking." And she said, like, "I've had more conversations this year than she has the previous year, like the entire year." So, um I just wanted to

009share that with everybody. I think it's been something that we were all a little bit nervous about and it's just had so many awesome, you know, ramifications. Um and then homecoming, of course. I just want to commend everybody who took part in that and it was a fantastic game. I want to thank Miss Brown and administration also for making accommodations for the kids to be able to still sell what they were going to sell at the bonfire. I know that was really fun to be able to have the different stands to go through. Um so just thanks and a whole lot of Huntington Pride this weekend. Echo all of that. Um, I also wanted to just take the opportunity to shout out the Huntington Blue Devil Marching Band who is off to an amazing season

010so far. Um, they're in their third week of competition and I believe they're ranked fourth nationally at this point which is pretty big. Um, and I just wanted to let everybody know that they are having a fundraising campaign um that has started and is ongoing to help support um kids going to Disney. they have the opportunity to go to Disney in February and perform down Main Street and um it's a nice trip that's been approved. Um there should be about 80 kids going. So if you're interested in making a contribution or you feel like you could spread the word um you can reach out to a band member or a band parent uh member to do so. >> Teresa, is there a website or a link somewhere we can go for that? There is there's

011a vertical raise um is the platform that they're using and there is also a GoFundMe um page that you can also use. >> Okay. Thank you. Anyone else? >> Yeah, just a quick one echoing everything else from homecoming. What a lovely week and uh just to really know uh um the community that we have here in Huntington, how fortunate we all are. Um in terms of the boosters uh the booster club for our athletic programs and for various activities. We had very successful um fundraiser September 12th over the American Legion Hall honoring John Lurco, a local community member and former student and uh children went here. Uh, but we raised over $20,000 uh for that. It was very exciting and very appreciative. Um, yeah, we're very appreciative. >> Want to help the band out? No,

012I'm just kidding. >> Yeah. Um, but uh just want to thank everyone for showing up and uh it's one of these things again that shows the strong community that we have here in Huntington. So, thank you. >> Anyone else? >> Let's do one real quick. I just wanted to uh in the past couple weeks I went to three uh meet the teacher nights. So I want to thank all the teachers and staff and building principles and custodians for putting together a very wonderful evening and the buildings look terrific and the teachers were very impressive. So thank you. >> It's all yours. >> All right. I will be brief tonight because we have several presentations. So I'm going to shorten this this portion. Uh, I would just like to thank everyone involved with homecoming. Um, from

013our security to town, the the town with all the road closures, our teachers, club adviserss, HBDMBB, our PTAs, athletes, administrators, the second precinct who was present uh on most of the corners as we walked down the streets. Well, actually, I I did ride in a golf cart, which was a little bit upsetting to me, but I had hurt my foot, so I was just uh I didn't get to walk this year, but it was still wonderful. Um, thank you for the support of the board of education and the marching band was wonderful at halftime. Um, our football team did a phenomenal job. It was really a truly great weekend of of good good spirit here in Huntington. Um, I would just like to remind everyone that uh families of students in grades 4 through nine.

014Uh, the individual score reports are posted for spring 2024. The grade 3 through 8 assessments that were taken, they've been uploaded into the parent portal. Um, and I did send the directions out yesterday with my monthly newsletter. So, if you have a child in grade four through nine, please take a look at those. Um, the meet the teacher nights were phenomenal. Um, again, thank you to our custodial staff, our administrators, our teachers for making that a spectacular night for our parents to really get to know the wonderful programs and the wonderful teachers and support staff that we have in our district so that they can see all the great things their kids will be doing throughout the year. Uh, we also have many fall harvest and family engagement nights coming up. Um, so please check

015out our interactive calendar or the newsletter that I sent out yesterday with that includes the dates and times for pretty much everything. Um, in the area of music, I'd like to congratulate Caitlyn Welnik on bass for being selected into the Scamia All County Middle School Jazz Ensemble. In the area of art, our broadcasting uh, studio has been doing a daily show for the first time this year where in the past they were working on packages that took, you know, a couple of weeks to prepare and then they would release a package. But now they're really doing this every day which is a big change and a big lift and they're really doing a phenomenal job. Um the marching band again earned first place at Brentwood and Copag and we have several upcoming events um October

01612th, 18th, 19th and 26 which is the big championship in Syracuse. Um our adult ed classes begin on October 6th and I looked at the course listings that we have. I think we have 24 courses running for our adults. So wonderful, wonderful program there as well. Um and in in our schools we have established our PBIS programs K to 12. Um our buildings have different themes but all are up and running and there are ideas for the year have been communicated with families and students at this time. Um and there's a lot of momentum in the buildings with regard to PBIS. Our restorative circles h happened in the month of September. There's one per month um at the four through six level and at the high school level um and I believe we have two

017at the middle level and they're usually based on a certain topic and really gives children an opportunity just to continue to cultivate relationships and discuss um things that are taking place in our school environment related to character and social emotional learning. Um I had the opportunity to attend a conference for the last two days. Um, it was the the New York State School Superintendent Conference and it was really a great learning experience for me filled with networking, informative presentations on topics such as artificial intelligent intelligence, portrait of a graduate, the financial outlook that we have in the coming year, which was probably the dreiest workshop that I went to and I went to a few of them on that. So, I I then stopped and went to other things. um special education designations, um AR

018meetings with NICET officials to hear about how districts are implementing all of the changes that the state is pushing forward. Uh so we have lots of great learning that we'll be exploring throughout the upcoming school year and we're really looking forward to it. >> Thank you, Beth. At this moment, we open up our meeting for public commentary. Public commentary is open to residents and employees of the Huntington District. Speakers are limited to three non-transferable minutes per person. There will be a maximum of 30 minutes total for all comments. We will open it up again for a second public commentary toward the end of this meeting. Priority will be given to comments related to today's regular business meeting titled items for discussion and action. Public commentary is a time dedicated to sharing your thoughts with the

019board and your input is valued. It is meant for an expression rather than dialogue. So, please understand that direct discussion with board members or administration will not be part of public commentary. When you approach the podium, please identify your affiliation to the district, whether you're a resident or you're an employee of the district. Use the form at the podium to sign in. Please refrain from naming any student or employees of the district. Public commentary is open. All right. If not, we will have a second one. We'll come back to that. We'll move on to items for discussion and action. First one we have is board of education goals 2025 2026. It is my recommendation from the superintendent of schools that the board consider the attached goals for the school district for the school year 2025

0202026. Can I have a motion please? Teresa 1, Annie 2, and I believe there's a presentation. >> Yeah, I'd just like to comment on on this particular document. This is these are the goals in the strategic plan that we worked on last year that were adopted, but we wanted to formally adopt them for the 2526 school year. And following this, we will be presenting on some specifics of each of these goals that we're looking to implement at the elementary, secondary, and central office level. So, this is more of the formality to approve them and then we'll go into the presentation. >> Any questions, comments? >> Yeah. >> Have a um All in favor? >> I'm sorry. Can I have a motion, please? Well, I made the motion, right? So, yeah. All in favor? That is

021everyone. Thank you. >> Yeah. Moving on to a strategic plan presentation. >> Yeah. You know what? Teresa made a good point just for clarity purposes. cuz I know that what we've labeled it as board of education goals, but they're really the board district goals, right? Okay. >> We can adjust that if you'd like to do that. Yeah. Uh so tonight we are presenting some of the specific things that we'll be working on this year. Um, after we adopted the strategic plan in the spring of 2025, we've done a lot of work with our administrative team at a lot of the meetings that we've had to really dig into the plan and decide who's doing what, when are we doing it because it is a very lengthy document and we wanted to make sure that it

022doesn't sit on a shelf because sometimes when plans like this happen, they sit on a shelf and the work doesn't get done. So, we met a lot, a little more than some people might have wanted to to meet uh over the last five months, but we came up with a document that really assigns who's doing what at what particular time at which level. And if we can check off some of these items year, you know, throughout the year, then we add more of these smaller goals to what we're doing each and every day. And by the end of the third year, hopefully we've accomplished much of what the strategic plan outlined for us. Um, so just to remind everyone, we started the strategic planning process in October of 2024 where we gathered community feedback. Um,

023hold on, let me go back. We gathered community feedback through the thought exchange. And what the thought exchange did was it asked people to really say anything they wanted to about the district, thoughts they had for the district, questions they had in the district. And everyone that went into the platform was able to rank other people's thoughts. So for you know not a great example but if um Mr. Palasios put in that he wanted everybody to, you know, use yellow sponges in the district. Um, then other community members would be able to say, I think that's great. We should have yellow sponges. I'm going to give that a high ranking. Or who cares about sponges? That gets a zero ranking. And over the time that the thought exchange was open, which was a month, it

024naturally rose. Goals rose, ideas rose, the things that were important to our community rose to the top. the things that were ranked low did not rise to the top. So, our strategic plan was really crafted based on that thought exchange and what our community members felt was important as well as our staff members and our administrators who also had access to the thought exchange. In November, uh we met as a board uh like our board and our central office team to strategize our mission and vision and core values um as a small group. And then we also met with a larger group comprised of 60 people. Um there were custodial representation. We had representation from every unit, parents, uh clerical staff members, food service, buildings and grounds, teachers, administrators, teacher assistants. So that's what we

025did in November to really refine what we were doing and come up with a lot of the sub uh divisions that we have today. Then we revised it with our leadership team in February and March and then we communicated the plan out and it was approved in the spring of 2025. So our mission statement and our vision statement are listed here. Our mission is to nurture the whole child academically, socially and emotionally by providing all students with meaningful opportunities and experiences within a caring environment, empowering them to become passionate and productive members of their community. And our vision is that empathy, excellence, and high expectations move us forward as a united community. Together we learn, grow, and thrive. Celebrating achievements and aspir inspiring one another to reach new heights. Together we succeed. The core values

026that came up throughout this process were about excellence and high expectations, collaboration and transparency, children first, compassion and empathy, equity, access and inclusivity and integrity and respect. And the four priority areas which are our big goals that were just adopted that were you know adopted also in the spring. Um academic excellence. We will empower all students with the foundational and advanced skills, confidence, and adaptability needed to thrive in the involving evolving demands of post-secondary education and the modern workforce. The student experience is another big focal point. We will ensure equity, access, and enrichment opportunities for all students through developmentally appropriate practices that meet their diverse needs and foster growth operations. We will enhance and ensure the safety, security, quality of food services, and equitable resource allocations across the district, fostering a supportive and well-resourced environment

027for all students and staff. And last but not least, oh, and I lost it. Family and community engagement. We will actively engage and empower all families as partners in their children's educational journey, fostering meaningful involvement and inclusion from early childhood through grade 12. So what we did over the last few months is we took the 22page document that has many many many um subtext under each of these goals and we started to say what are we attacking first because this is a three-year plan and assigning people. So tonight we have an elementary component that will be shared by Dr. Harris. We have a secondary component that will be shared by Mr. Cusack and the central office component which will be shared by Mr. Hender. This is not the entire plan. We focused on several topics

028under each of these goals and these were the this was done collaboratively with our entire administrative team because these were the things that they felt were essential and starting with. So I will turn it over to Dr. Harris. All right. In regards to the elementary focus, I'll go through each area and then pass it along. Pass the mic. um under academic excellence uh for the area of rigor and programs uh provide ongoing targeted PD opportunities focus on the quality um teaching methodologies. You will see two areas that are focused in effective use of technology which is us continuing to implement appropriate applications of AI in schools for teaching learning operations etc. as well as enhance our vertically aligned framework for technology use, digital citizenship, and digital literacy across all grades. Under the area of student

029experience, um for hands-on experience, research, how to offer stressfree, stress management and mindfulness courses and programs to help students develop resilience and coping skills. Um two areas fall under the mental health support. So those are provide education on the impact of social media, on mental health and responsible use strategies. Uh maybe this goes over into adults too. Um as well as establish a mentorship program connecting older students with younger peers for guidance and support. In the area of operation, we have two that fall under safety and security. So, it's to continue to have a consistent administrative presence during student drop off and dismissal times at all buildings and to continue to and improve upon communication for regular updates to inform the community about safety upgrades, drills, and procedures. Um, which I also think you heard

030as uh Mr. Stein was up here. So, those are already connecting. In the area for resource allocation and class size, it is to continue to utilize the parent square platform to share and update calendar events. So that also means that we will reduce in duplication between what the uh teacher is sending out and the uh building administrator or even central administration is sending out as well as having a central location for parents who have kids in multiple buildings to have all of that information and be able to look back and review. And then lastly for the elementary focus is family and community engagement. So, these are all parent involvements, but continue to leverage neighborhood aids in each building to strengthen communication and connections with our families. Maintain parent liaison roles for newcomers in each building

031to provide support and guidance to our families. And also consider having neighborhood aids support prek parents and enrolling in eSchool, parent portal, and parent square. Some of those can seem simple at times, but the assistance can definitely bridge any of those missing pieces. And Mr. Cusack, thank you, Dr. Harris. Um I'll some of uh our secondary uh components sort of mirror the uh the elementary components. I'll skip over any redundancies, but um in the area of academic excellence, um I'd say at the at the secondary level, uh big focus has been on expanding AP and college dual enrollment uh offerings while also making sure that we have foundational supports in place for kids who may be struggling. So, uh, there's a duality of focus there to make sure that we are ever moving toward, uh,

032kids leaving high school with more and more credit toward college, which is very helpful. I know as the parent of a freshman in college right now, when you don't have to cover every single thing when you get there, that's good. A lot of our kids are leaving with a lot of credits, and we're expanding those those opportunities every day. Um as far as rigor and programs are concerned, we do conduct uh across the district regular evaluations and also focus walks. Focus walks are very short visits to classes uh at different periods of time during that class. Uh our entire administrative and central office team uh do focus walks across the district and we all will have a central um set of look fors. We're working uh together again this year. We look at the prior

033year's observations to see if there are any areas of need and those become our look fors uh as we conduct our focus walks and then we turn that back out to the faculty so that we know kind of where we're looking to uh focus on for the next year and then we develop our professional development opportunities that are attached to what we've seen in the look for. So it's kind of uh a symbiotic relationship between what we see and what we provide to teachers. Um, in terms of skill development, um, we are always, and I think this goes across the board, but particularly at the secondary level, looking to develop, um, realworld experiences for kids, hands-on project-based uh, types of learning. When we worked with um, Finley and surveyed students, one of the things that

034rose to the surface uh, as a a need and a want of the students is more project-based learning. So, we're actually in the process of developing a team of teachers. We're trying to tap into the expertise from the expertise from within um with our teachers who will form a team to do some research uh on project-based learning opportunities and and best practices and also to work from within the staff for things that they've used in the past to share with colleagues. and that'll kind of be piloted at the middle school and then we'll look to expand that um to other buildings as well. In terms of technology and the effective use of technology, of course, AI is really at the central uh at the center of that. um our tech mentors across the district have

035been doing a great job of sort of going gently into the waters of AI uh and sort of turning the curve the the curve between um fear and now future learning and the fact is we all know that if you if you don't use AI you're going to be behind. Um, I'd say one of the best presentations that I saw over the last year or so uh mentioned that teachers really won't be replaced by AI, but teachers who use AI may very well replace those who don't. And so our goal is to make sure that everyone's comfortable with this tech technology and that we are really focusing on how to use it ethically so that students know that it's a tool um to supplement but not to replace uh true authentic learning. Um, so our

036tech mentors are working to develop their next steps uh for the spring, which is a required PD for all of our staff. The student experience um has uh a lot to do with um seeking out grants and um one of the areas where we're still trying to find some uh I guess some leads would be in terms of uh supplementing for field trips and things of that nature. Again, I mentioned project based learning in terms of uh skill development, so I won't go into that further. Um, as far as mental health supports, social media. Oh, sorry. Oh, yeah. I just forgot to press the button. So much for technology, right? Um, so, uh, I'm just talking away. I was wondering. Um, terms of mental health supports, um, the impact of social media, uh, as it

037was mentioned earlier, I think once it's out of everyone's hands. And I was nervous, too. And I was kind of thinking, wow, I'm good time to not be at the high school anymore. I don't want to have to do that and tell everybody they don't have to, you know, they can't be on their phones. But it seems like there's a lot of positivity with that and the response has been be to me anyway better than expected. Um so the cell phone policy is actually you know even though it was statewide uh really revealing as far as mental health is concerned and the impact that social media does have. I think we knew that but now we're seeing in real time how that um how that has worked out. Uh we're looking to continue that. Um

038we do have some plans that will we'll start to roll out in terms of uh parent workshops, staff uh workshops and also things for students uh where we'll delve into perhaps some literature on the topic um and we'll uh explore this a little bit further. And um in terms of operations very similar to what Dr. Harris said uh a key component of you know our visibility is is the drop off and the pickup and uh andor dismissal at all the buildings. That's very important to us and it's uh it's still a focus for us. Um, as far as swipe card entry systems, there are some plans for piloting on a small scale uh some possibilities in terms of swipe uh technology that could be used to uh to help us with student management and um

039working with the high school will be uh rolling out some of those plans very soon. And parent square again as Dr. Harris said, um this is a way for us to keep track and to uh for parents to keep track of things that are coming up and that supports um attendance at events and it also helps to support uh attendance in school because we're using that uh platform to inform parents of of their children's um attendance and we're looking to pilot an expansion of that as well. And as far as family and community engagement, I'll mention and I'll be sending out some messages soon in conjunction with our neighborhood aids. The get connected workshop will be coming up on the 23rd of October. And that is an effort to make sure all parents have access

040to parent square to the eSchool platform um and that they feel very comfortable working within those uh those platforms. That's 4 to 7 on the 23rd of October and I'll be sending out a message to the whole district about it and that's all I have. I will hand it off to Mr. Hender. >> Thank you, Mr. Kuzzac. So, um, as you are aware, we are very collaborative in everything that we do. Um, our administrative team has met multiple occasions to kind of discuss how we're going to attack and attack, um, and and get these goals accomplished. Um, and from the central office focus, of course, we're going to support our administrators and our teachers and our support staff in um, making sure that this uh, strategic plan is put into motion. Um, but as always,

041we're going to continue to have regular evaluations, our focus walks, walking through the buildings, um, you know, making sure that, you know, we're seeing specific practices taking place. Um and that also kind of tweaks and helps us when we look at uh devel deliver delivering professional development um and trying to hone in on what our strengths are and what some of our weaknesses are. Um just to make sure that we are really um moving in the right direction um which also goes to provide ongoing targeted PD opportunities um focused on quality teaching methodologies um especially for our new hires. Um whenever we hire a new contingent of teachers, uh we do offer five specific professional developments catered to them, um to get them kind of set up and ready for their career. And then additionally,

042there is a wide wide wide range of topics that are offered in district and our PD um catalog for all of our staff. Um, and then we're just going to continue to focus on best practices for working with our L's, which Miss Morof and her team, um, and all of our building principles have done a wonderful job, and our teachers, of doing that. Um, additionally, um, for the student experience, uh, research, peer-based athletic mentoring opportunities. Mr. Hoops has been pivotal in trying to push that. I know he's done a lot of wonderful things in the area of athletics, PE, and health. Um, additionally, research and develop programs such as an integrated UPK or special class and partner with a community-based organization to serve preschoolers with special needs. During the pandemic, um, there was a decline

043in the number of programs offered for students with disabilities. Um, and that is a a very um important goal for us because we've noticed that if the students don't have the support at the very very very early age, especially students with disabilities, they're coming into our schools at the age of five. um behind even further than they need to be. So that's something that's really important to us. Additionally, uh provide education on the impact of social media, which you've heard over and over again. Um operations, research various swipe card entry systems for our secondary students. Research the cost of assigning security personnel to monitor gym doors at secondary level before and during practices to ensure safety. And then for our food service, create a website, Facebook, and Instagram story and articles to share updates, menu

044offerings, um, as well as some special events that the, uh, food service department has, uh, been doing over the past year and a half. And then for family and community engagement, continue to leverage our neighborhood aids. They're all wonderful. They work very hard. They make great connections with our, uh, our families and with our students. So, we're going to continue to foster them. uh continue to offer English language classes through adult ed programs and other community resources and we have installed the GPS tracking on all buses um and pres-scheduled routes. Of course, there are going to be some glitches and we are we are working through those with um transfinder um as well as with Beacon Mobility to make sure that's up and running um perfectly. And that is our strategic plan. Are there any

045questions? Um I have a question for Mr. Cusack. Um regarding the AI piece of it. So you spoke about how the teachers will be educated on how to best use AI and you may have mentioned this and I missed it so I'm I'm sorry if so. Um will you also be doing the same for students and teaching them how to use AI more ethically and how to use it to their advantage rather than just kind of cutting and pasting? >> Absolutely. That's that's really the focus of our next phase um in working with teachers so that teachers are equipped to do that with their students. Um it's I think in terms of ethics it's very easy to cheat using AI. Um it's also very easy to use it as a a a true way to

046learn more about a subject. And I think that once kids see that for what it is and um you know are able to sort of delve into that a little bit further where it's not we're not just saying you can't use that sorry. Um you know that's that's tempting right when you say this is so powerful this is so great you just can't use it. Um of course that drives people to to try to maybe think about using it in a nefarious way. Um it's human nature to a certain degree and particularly when you're an adolescent but um if you're shown the the pathway to say okay um through for instance um prompt uh engineering right the way that you engineer a prompt can really drive your learning further. Okay, we were just talking today

047about a platform uh notebook LM. I don't know if you're familiar with that but some of you may be. Um, so Notebook LM is a platform where you can take text, scan it, and create a podcast of two people speaking to each other. I defy anybody to really, you know, at first glance anyway, know that it's not two people talking and it's two people talking about a subject. Let's say you have some homework to do. Yes, you could use that to cheat and not read the stuff and and have two people talk about it as you're listening while you're eating a bowl of cereal. That's great. But what if a teacher said, "I want you to actually do this. I want you to take this text tonight and create something else." That may very well

048be a powerful way to learn by using AI rather than using AI to supplant your learning. if we learn how to use AI to drive our learning further, then we're getting somewhere. So, that's that's the goal of our next phase uh of the the PD that'll be given to teachers. >> Thank you. That sounds amazing. >> Anyone else? >> That's really interesting actually, Mr. Cusack, because I was just having this conversation about how, you know, those of us in the room who are older than our children, we we would write every hang on every word that the teacher said, right? but to be able to actually generate um if you're a an audio learner to create um a feedback of two people having a conversation about what you're learning is huge. Um and forgive my

049ignorance, I don't know this. Does our district have something in place um like I know some districts have like Turn It In or um those types of uh AI identification um checkers. They're they're not known to work very well at all and have a lot of bias. So, uh we we do have that, but it is not usually as um effective as they had advertised it to be when >> they shared it a few years ago. >> So, >> okay. >> And then I just wanted to make a a I'm really excited about the mentorship program at the elementary level. Um and I've noticed a huge difference with parent square this year. It looks like it's been expanded and the use of being able to now sign permission slips and you know as we did

050with the internet usage today that seems like it's going really well and streamlining communication for >> yeah parent square is really exploding with more and more features that really help us. There's an attendance u program that we actually just learned about I think it was last week about how it could help us to really look at our attendance data um in a tiered system and things like that. So, it really is expanding in ways that will support us. Um, and I know that even at I believe at the secondary level, I know that some we've been using Remind for a long time. We're going to be looking to get on to student square as of January 1 and we will then not have that subscription. So, we're also looking to have some cost efficiencies by

051reducing the number of platforms we're using and use one platform so that parents know where to go, teachers know where to go, administrators know where to go. We're all in the same place. >> Yeah, I've already seen a big change this year. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Now, we move on to the NISPA 2025 resolution. I believe that's going to be you, Teresa. It's the proposed resolutions that will be considered at the New York State School Board Association's annual meeting on October 16th. >> Yes. Um, this was my first year on the um just just actually for for public knowledge. So there there are two different advocacy associations. Um one is the Nassau SuffK School Boards Association, NISPA, and then there is NISBA, which is the New York State School Boards

052Association. And essentially what they do is um they represent the membership of school districts that participate with them. So, I think there are over 150 school districts on Long Island and about 120 are members of the NASA SuffK school boards and uh they send out surveys every year um and give school districts opportunities to write resolutions which we did last year um which was passed and basically it gets uh it's an opportunity for Nassau and SUFFK to take the temperature of what are the priorities of education on Long Island currently and it kind of gives marching orders for NESPA and NISBA to advocate at the state level. Um, so this is all pure advocacy. Some of these resolutions will live just on a resolutions list and not really get anywhere unless a a legislator decides

053to pick them up and and run with them. Um, but this was my first year on the sort of on the inside in the room where it happens and it was really interesting to see. Um so there were um I don't know if anybody had an opportunity to look through the resolutions but um resolutions are submitted by school districts and then they are reviewed by um the the New York State School Boards Association uh the legislative committee for the NASA Suffic School Boards the executive committee and then they're all voted on uh which Beth um and Dr. Harris attended the uh dinner at the Fox Hall. Was that two weeks ago now? And um that's really where the action happens at that dinner because any anyone who has submitted a resolution has an opportunity to

054speak to it. There are a lot you know there's an opportunity to ask questions, answer questions and then they are all voted on. Um so in going through the packet um my intention at the October 16th meeting is to um vote sort of in line with what happened at the resolutions dinner. Um we did have a couple of conversations um about this with a few of you. So um there weren't any major glaring concerns. Um number seven in particular um >> the amended one >> was amended actually kind of on the spot because it was uh felt to be just a little bit too wordy. It seems to really be in line with kind of what's happening with the portrait of a graduate. Anyway, um there is during the annual business meeting an opportunity um

055to speak on it. I may speak up and just ask after some conversations we had um about adding a piece for the the 3 to8 um because as the resolution reads um its advocacy for overhaul of the current testing system and kind of just thinking about it that seems like it focuses more on like the secondary but not so much the earlier grades. So, we were talking about maybe possibly mentioning that at the resolutions uh meeting on the 16th, but I'm comfortable in um voting how it kind of sused out here at the resolutions dinner. But if anybody had any um resolutions they had questions about or >> So, if everyone had the opportunity to look at the resolutions, there's three u lines to it. There's the NISPA committee, the executive committee, and then resolutions

056dinner. And you're I guess you're asking us for for our recommendation with regards to how you should vote on 10:16. You're going in line with resolutions dinner. >> Does anybody have any comments, opposition to that, questions? >> If not, vote away. >> Okay. Jenna, did you have any? >> No, I think we already spoke and we're all good. >> Yeah. You know, it was actually really interesting to to be a part of the uh executive committee this year because there was a lot of conversation back and forth and you know, New York State is it's interesting, right? We you know, Long Island produces a lot of the tax money. Um, and so there was a lot of like a protective feeling of, you know, trying to keep our money here. Um, I think was really

057the sentiment. I do have a quick question uh regarding um the amended uh component you were talking about for state >> number seven. >> Yes. >> Um the uh you're talking about uh that it it seemed to be um more about secondary testing. Would this include regions testing that this they were looking to overhaul? And I'm just wondering >> so this >> you know an overhaul of the regent's testing could be uh you know that that could open up a Pandora's box in a lot of ways and I'm wondering what direction uh the thought was on this >> the conversation in the room really focused around the fact that this so um so you know the resolutions that are adopted or accepted by uh at the resolution center then live on the resolutions docket for

058five years. So, our transportation um resolution will expire in five years and we'll need to it will be a sunsetting resolution. It'll be voted on again. So, kind of puts a little fire under me that we have to really get out there and sell our our transportation initiative because I think it's a great idea. Um so, this was a suns setting resolution, right? So, that means this was from 5 years ago as it was submitted at the time by the Albany school board. Um, so the conversation in the room really focused around the fact that it's almost redundant at this point because this kind of work is already happening at the state level where we're reimagining what graduation requirements are going to look like. So the wording of this was I think redundant. Um, so

059that's why the legislative committee recommended just a more streamlined amended version of it. Um, because we don't know what what's coming out of you know the rebon commission and you know all the work that's being done. So, um, just kind of nodding our heads to say yes, we agree that something needs to be about the testing. And Jenna and I spoke about the concerns for 3 to 8, which, you know, if depending on how the conversation goes at the meeting, it's very lengthy. Um, all the school boards are able to log on. It's virtual. Um, and everybody has an opportunity. So, if somebody else brings it up, great. If not, I might bring that up just as an addendum to that like to maybe focus on the 3 to8 as well. But, um, >> Gotcha.

060Thank you. >> Yeah. Yeah, and I'll just add that a lot of what I thought was interesting when Teresa and I spoke was that there were resolutions here that people agreed with the spirit of >> and there came things that were well that's really outside of the scope of any of the boards, right? Or this particular word makes me nervous. >> Um and so I think it also just is a a look into the legislative process. >> Yeah. because there were a lot of resolutions that um were stipulating like curriculum, right, or mandated curriculum rather than mandating standards, right? So when you like we as school board, we we set curriculum, right? Um we don't want the state signing curriculum. So we want local control over kind of, you know, that process. So there was

061a lot of that. There was a lot of like, oh, we do agree with this in theory as a whole, but the way that it was worded. So that that was a lot of sort of the shifting of recommendations and not recommend you know not recommending certain things and some of the amendments. >> Anyone else? All right. Great. There's no action to be taken. Have fun. Moving on to the seal of civic readiness seal of biiteracy presentation. I believe this is uh Mrs. Morov. >> So I think we have Seal of civic readiness is up first. So we will introduce Mr. Libby. >> Mr. Levby first. Okay. >> That one. All right. Very good. Thank you. So, uh it's great to see everybody. Thank you for uh welcoming me to uh take this time to

062present to you uh on a program that we're very very proud of. And uh the results have been um really very strong and have developed over the past uh four years since its inception here uh with Huntington as a piloting district for this state uh initiative. So um I do want to just mention before I get to the slides uh the statistic that uh I did not include in here uh but when we started this three years ago we had 19 students who completed the seal of civic readiness at the foundational level of six points. The following year uh there were 50 50 from 19 to 50 and then last year we had 60 students. So um that's a statistical exponential growth. We're expecting a lot more this year. Uh and we have the wherewithal

063to do it. So um next me. Oh, do I have a clicker? Sorry. Okay. So what is the seal of civic readiness? Uh this honor um distinguishes high school graduates who achieve certain criteria and there are two categories. Uh the first is civic knowledge and how students are advancing their knowledge and their competence and their learning in what civics is. Um and then the second area is actual uh engaging in civic experiences. So when you see the chart, if you were able to preview it or you'll see it in a little bit, um the civic knowledge is the uh left column and uh it has a series of things that I'll show in a second. And then on the right side, the right column is the civic experiences. This seal is affixed to the high

064school diploma and the honor of the seal is recognized by the New York State Department of Education. Um we went through an application process on this the years back when we started and uh are now um in our fourth year. I'd like to explain the requirements. Um so it looks like a lot but um you have to basically earn six points to get the seal. And here in Huntington we call that the core seal, the foundational fundamental seal. Um we've noticed and our committee has recognized over the past couple of years. We have a we have a committee of teachers and myself um who serve as adviserss and reflect on the process annually that what we were noticing was a lot of students were achieving well beyond the six points. um what happens in the

065mind of an adolescent often times when that's the case I'm done right and the motivation to keep going we wanted to add that and we did so we have an 8 10 and 12 point designation which I'll show you in a few minutes but to get the six points you have to earn at least two in that left column the civic uh knowledge column and there are the ways that it can be done I'll explain those a little bit uh on the next slide and And then the right column where you have to the student has to earn um at least two points from the civic experience column. Um and each of those areas of earning points. You you notice the last one alone the civic capstone project can get four points. So right there

066um you know they had to get two points in the left column. They do the civic capstone project and they've got their six points. these students typically are doing quite a few of the other things as well. So that's the point about you know acknowledging students that go beyond the six. All right. So I'd like to explain each of these in the knowledge column. Again two points minimum are required. You get one point just from completing four units of social studies. global 9, 9th grade, global 10, 10th grade, however you take that, AP world or um uh regions and then 11th grade is US history in its different forms and finally 12th grade uh government and economics. So you need that to graduate anyhow. So everybody is starting out of the gate with this one

067point. Secondly, um you can student can get either one or one and a half points per social studies regions exam. So you have the global in 10th grade and the US history and government in 11th grade. If you just look at the points, uh if a student gets mastery in on both of those exams, now they have three points added to their one point. They have four uh and they're very well uh positioned to get the other two required in the right column. Um there's also the option to complete a research project and that's one point across the board. Our students do research projects at every grade level, global nine, global 10 um and onto 11th. Uh you all know I I'm sure our national history day program in which students are doing research projects.

068Um so so that's how many students are already getting that point plus students who do other research projects that are not exactly the national history day but so you see that points in in that lefth hand column. Now the requirements for the experience column on the right side again a twopoint minimum added up to the points on the left side that'll get you to the six. Each of these requires a little bit of explanation. So I'll try to do that in a concise way. the civic engagement project which is 1.5 points. Every student in Huntington High School who goes through 12th grade and takes the government course that they take and they could take it either as participation in government, New York experience, AP African-American studies, AP government and economics or AP macro microeconomics. all

069of those within all of those they do a deliberative forum and they're they're trained in a procedural way to learn how to deliberate and deliberation is something that we've been doing here uh in the social studies program for I I can safely say over two decades. Um it's a wellressearched and evidence-based strategy for positive political discourse. Um, some of you might have heard of the organization called Braver Angels, which is kind of out there right now looking at how you bring people across the political divide in a polarized setting, which we are in and have been in for unfortunately a very long time um together to talk and to respect each other in the process. Uh that's what we teach our students to do in Huntington High School and every student gets that experience through

070the deliberative forum. Uh which I could I'll I'll stop right there but that gets every kid 1.5 because it's happening in the class. You you can see now how many kids are going to be getting six points and beyond. Um this the next two pieces which is the service project Mr. Cusack referred to earlier about you know service learning. Um this particular piece requires 25 hours and the students have to um do just that. Uh be involved with a service project. Um the the next one which is a half point in um a social studies elective class. You see all the different electives that we have up there. Um, and each of those can count for a half point. The students have to write an application of knowledge essay to reflect on how their time

071in that elective class led them to have a civic, you know, mindset. Um, and then the other one is, um, working in the field. Student can get 0.5 uh for this. Um, and I'm sorry I want to go back. I go back. Okay. Um, in addition for this uh half point, let me just see for a second. Um extracurricular programs also apply uh in this uh in this uh area uh which Grand Friends, Natural Helpers, the New World Club, uh I can keep going on and on and on of all these clubs and activities that we have that have that um civic engagement piece to it. Uh again, if the student is striving for the seal and they're going to get this point through their advisor's uh affirmation, they will be submitting an application of

072knowledge reflection to demonstrate um what they learned through the experience. This is the big one. This is how a student gets four points. Uh and this is a capstone project. You see the multiple steps in which the student is identifying an issue. They go through conducting research analysis. They look to develop strategies and solutions and then they they take informed action. Um and I'll show you a few examples. Uh we had uh four students last year who did the capstone project and they got four points and here they are. Um these students were highlighted on our district website when Mr. uh hoops wrote uh the story about students achieving at the platinum level, the highest level in which they got 12 points. They got twice as many points than they needed to get. Um and

073um you see their names. Um I think you might recall those students, Nicholas Pla, Julius Aldos, Anthony Ado, and Nick Francis. Um there's a little quote by me which is a little bit Garyus and uh lequacious which I tend to be. So, >> I'm not going to read it. Okay. Um, basically I'm saying that they did a very good job, an amazing job, these four students. At the bottom is listed the specific project that they had. Nick Pla, uh, who went to Boy State, uh, sponsored by the American Legion and experienced that as a junior. In his senior year, he guided students and mentored those who were going to do it that year and he helped expand the program. Um Julia Aldas who had been involved with the Huntington Youth Court program uh for many

074years served as a mentor to other students who were who are in that. Um and Anthony Ado I think everybody knows I know um Mr. is here and uh had worked very closely with Anthony on his uh Huntington High School blue market and boutique project which is described as a herculean effort. Is that fair? Yes. Um and then Nick Francis did some work at the Theodore Roosevelt Sanctuary in Oyster Bay. So these were four students whose um projects were, you know, outstanding. They were capstone projects. So here is how Huntington is a little bit different with with the seal of civic readiness. As I indicated, six points. Anything up to 7.5 points we've identified as the bronze level. Students did get medals at the end of the year and that is getting the um six

075points required the fundamental level. The second row is getting the seal of civic readiness with distinction and that is eight points and beyond. That is the silver medal and we describe that as beyond the foundational requirements. Third, the seal of civic readiness. These students are leaders. they've accomplished 10 or more points. Um, this is an advanced accomplishment. And then ultimately, the highest is 12 points and above. Um, we had seven students get to this level. Four of which did the capstone and the other three just accumulated 12 points because of all those other areas. Um, and we call them the leader of leaders. Okay. So um the civic project as I mentioned earlier can be is part of the 12th grade social studies class service learning and extracurricular time with a club and uh working

076in the field um has to be approved by the seal of civic readiness because that's another way to earn uh points. So here's a couple of pictures to illustrate some of the various things over the years that students have done in different uh areas. Um, and I also carried along with me a quote from a student who wanted to was I think marching band was preoccupying this young man. So, he asked me to read his quote, which I'd like to do. And, uh, also of course mentioned the social studies enrichment program at Finley, which has direct bearing on another way to get a point. Besides everything I mentioned earlier, a student in middle school can get one point with the middle school capstone project. And we have we have students who now are moving up

077coming to Huntington High School already with that one point through the social studies enrichment class, which we're hoping is going to provide more and more opportunities. So there you have that. Um, and I took along with me a few examples in this little uh container because anytime I'm out and about in the community and talking to people, we're getting ideas from um Habitat for Humanity is one example. If you're patient with me, I will find it. Okay, here it is. And um it's just it's non-stop the amount of opportunities. We started listing them and went on to you know 20 30 uh pure mediation, the Interact Club, Grand Friends Debate Club, New World, Habitat for Humanities, things that are outside of Huntington High School. Um you know, World Hunger Year might have heard of. um

078uh volunteering with a local election could be something that students do and and and because it has so many opportunities and possibilities, that's where the adviserss come in. Um unfortunately, none of the six adviserss could make it tonight, but I function as well in that capacity. Um, and I can tell you as an adviser, uh, it is work, but it's very rewarding when you have those stu students that are assigned to you, and you're seeing what they're coming up with and their ideas and looking for feedback. Um we have some amazing students in this in this uh school district in our high school and um the work that they're afforded the opportunity that they f the opportunities that they find to do civic engaged work is now recognized by us and uh I think that's

079very important and I think I covered everything. I don't know if there's any questions or >> thank you Mr. Levy. We're going to have Miss Morov present and then if there's questions from the board they can ask to to both of you. Thank you very much. >> Good evening. >> So um I will review the seal of biiteracy which we have been um committed to since 2016 since the pilot of for New York State. Uh the seal of biiteracy is as Mr. Levy mentioned a seal that is affixed to the um gra the the graduation their certificate. Um so what's the purpose of the seal? The seal is to promote language within um the high school students. Um to promote cultural diversity, to recognize the value of diversity within our district. Um also to really

080bring the community together. And the great thing about um the seal of biiteracy is that you can also present and defend your home language. So we have a student this year who mentioned that they speak Czech at home and would like to do the seal of bi literacy in that language. So we're trying to find translators. He can take an AP exam. Um so or it's a stamp exam. So there's different ways of getting the seal and we'll go through um the different ways you can earn the seal. So, they must complete a checkpoint C- level world um lang world world language class and that's a point and it's the same as the seal. They need six points. So, three in English and three in a world language. What we typically do is we do

081a portfolio and I'm not really going to go through all of it because we have students who created a video for the board and um they're going to walk everybody through uh their process of going through the presentation and how they receive the seal at the end of graduation. So the students start uh preparing their portfolio in sixth grade at Woodhole and they go through every year adding more to the SEAL every semester and they do it for speaking, listening, reading and writing. They present to the committee which some of the adviserss are here today. We have Kristen Fortunado, uh Gina Mulvo and Lorenna um Hickeyi. They're adviserss and they meet during the seal period. It's on um fourth period uh a days at the high school and that gives them the opportunity to prepare

082to if they have questions or how their presentation is going to go that that's the opportunity that they um have until they defend. So these are the students who created the presentation. We have Sage, Spencer, and Mark who did a Latin presentation. Winnie's going to walk us through uh her uh digital portfolio. Maria Hoste is our English language learner who also took Italian and um completed uh is completing the seal in Spanish as well. So she will get it in three languages this year. And uh Jake is a dual language student who is walk will walk you through an actual presentation that he did with Miss Hickey. So, >> hi. I'm Sage and I'm filling out my seal of by literacy application for Latin and I'm checking to see if I have my points so

083then I could bring it down to guidance. >> Hey, I'm Spencer. I'm an AP Latin student and I'm updating and optimizing my Latin portfolio I've been working on for 5 years. >> Hi, I'm Mark. I'm an AP Latin student and I'm going to be presenting for the Latin seal of biiteracy this year. I'm uh currently picking something that will be my focus for my defense presentation. Oh, bonjour win Francisco. I'm currently in 12th grade as a French AP student and I'm working towards my seal this year. I have been taking French since 7th grade and I've been building my portfolio since then. Every year we start off by putting our goals into our portfolio for the upcoming school year. It really helps structure what we're going to learn that year and how we want what

084part we want to get to. We began by starting off with little bios and then I slowly progressed through my French and was able to write full essays and even a resume in French for myself which will really help me with my future. Continuing on academically, I've really grown as a French speaker and it's really helped me to give even presentations. So, I've learned how to speak about French in multiple subjects, including scientific ones. So, I this is my junior year French dissertation project, and I did it on cloning of endangered species, and I was able to present to my class in a scientific manner, which is really cool considering I want to go into chemistry. I've also been the French class has also helped me with cultural aspects and I've been able to really

085immerse myself in French culture with my fellow students. A big event that definitely helped this was when DRA came and performed a concert at our own school. This was really cool because we got to see a performer um perform in French at our own building and really spread the franophhone culture throughout Huntington. We also had a poetry slammer come in from Quebec and he taught us how to write French poems which is really cool seeing how he does interprets French differently from us. So, the seal I will be going towards this year will really solidify my identity as a French speaker. And it's basically the next step for me as I've been building this portfolio throughout my whole French French learning experience. And it's just what I need to move on in my future as

086into the world as an angophone franophhone. Shadyo on Tyler the creator radio head JPEG mafia e carcy headrest your boy the creatoras Thank you. And Okay, bonjour. I am here with a student of mine, Maria Jose. I'm just going to ask her a couple of questions because she is um hoping to receive the seal this year. So, Maria Jose, what languages are you hoping to receive the seal for? >> I hope to receive the seal for for English, Spanish, and Italian. >> Excellent. Okay. Um The last question, why is learning a language important to you? Learning a language is important to me because um I can learn from other cultures and uh get to know more people and and like maybe other countries and it will give me like opportunity as I said and yeah

087>> excellent very nice good luck. Thank you. >> Okay. So that is more or less the process and as you source a 10th grader doing the presentation they can also do it again in 11th grade they do multiple dry runs especially the dual language students who already met the checkpoint C levels by 10th grade that's why they are typically doing it earlier but um students at 11th grade are the ones that defend their presentations and 12th grade and um The next one it was um the portfolio but we already walked through Winnie's she walked through walked us through it the digital portfolio. So if anyone has any questions or clarifications >> before any questions I just wanted to first thank you Miss Moroff and thank you Mr. Levy. This work's been going on in the

088district for many years uh particularly in the area of biiteracy and with Mr. Levy, we're in our fourth year. Uh, with the changes to portrait of a graduate, although these two are recognized by the department, by the the state ed department, we're looking to explore additional pathways that we could then provide seals for or chords at graduation. And that's really starting to really think about the portrait of a graduate. we can start to explore other opportunities like this like an education type of pathway or perhaps a medical pathway or a legal pathway so that students have some programming around their interests and they can have multiple interests and that's really why we want to have that solid foundation at our elementary level moving into middle school where they're really starting to explore and dabble in

089different areas and different course electives and then at the high school really just continuing to grow that. So, this is really a great model that we're looking and thinking about replicating in other areas as we move over the next couple of years implementing the new graduation requirements and I'll open it up for questions. >> I didn't have a question so much as a comment about um it's exciting how the dovetailing of the learners who lead program is going to get the intermediate kids ready once they're in Finley to kind of start thinking about their civic readiness. um from a much younger age. Now >> to that point, you know, sixth, seventh, and eighth grade is considered middle school. That one point in the capstone uh middle school capstone can with some planning and and design

090be captured by a sixth, seventh or eighth grader. >> Um I forgot to read the quote that the student ask you that >> I would not forgive myself, nor would Ethan. Um in in a sense Ethan wanted to just represent that he himself is going uh toward this uh accomplishment and will strive for the capstone. And in in my case um this is quote uh from Ethan in my case I would like to pursue the idea of helping struggling seniors themselves earn the seal. So he's going to do his capstone project by working he's working as the intern in the social studies department and we're going to determine kids that are kind of like right there five points five and a half and that's going to be his focus uh as his capstone. >> Well

091that that was actually going to be my question is um how how are we promoting this to our students? Uh this is obviously incredible uh an opportunity for them both of these uh seals. How is it getting promoted? How are we pushing kids to do it? If they've they're earning these points as they go along through class, who's motivating them to actually >> complete it? >> Our teachers have been an a huge part of this initiative. Um, when we started the digital portfolio, Kristen Fortunado and I really went into the portfolios and really had everyone believe and this is the best way to show growth within every year. There's um conversation on meet the teacher. Um our adviserss also do videos. We um the honor societies promoted. They're actually part of the presentation. So when

092students defend, we'll have like the president of the honor society ask questions in the target language to involve the students as well. Um and as the portrait of a graduate really comes to be, this is one of the seals, one of the pathways that are going to be available to students. >> And in in the case of the uh seal of civic readiness, in our first year, we were concentrating on seniors uh 19 accomplished it. We have now looked at capturing students from middle school uh through 9th and 10th grade. Uh we had a push at the end of last year for 11th graders. We wanted to start earlier uh through the adviserss and through each of the social studies classes promoting it. Um Miss Deborah Belduchi who was one of these the advisers has

093been for the past three years. She's not doing it this year. Um but uh she helped design all of uh the um material and um you know presentations, shooting it out to each of the social studies teachers. And um effectively um we're want we're looking to capture seniors before it's too late because let's face it, if it's March or April and they're already accepted to college and everything is already going, we're there's there's a you know little thing called senioritis. Um so we we're pushing it forward to a little earlier to to to be working with the students. >> Yeah, I actually had a question um about that as well. So if there's a student um who is interested in pursuing this how and when do they express interest and and who do they go

094to? >> So we have advisors um at the seal of bi literacy team time and all the language teachers speak to the students as well and they motivate them. We want them to apply for the seal. It's voluntary. We don't force kids to do it. We give them an application like you saw the student filling it out. um guidance speaks to them as well and says hey you know you're a junior you already met your checkpoint C classes you're doing well in English and in you know the target language so that's how the application um starts and then they'll go to one of the adviserss during that period and I just have to thank Mr. Kusak who started that seal of biliteracy advisory time to get the the kids connected with the teachers because it's

095so busy that they know that fourth period on a days those teachers will be there and then what about from the social studies piece of it. >> Yeah. So uh similarly um the students uh we send out a Google form in all of the social studies classes demonstrating uh highly interested sign me up tomorrow to I'm interested I want to learn a little bit more to no thank you I'm going to move on and then we capture those students uh through the classes and through the form and then uh the next step is to go down to guidance so there's a dedicated guidance counselor for each seal uh it's >> alo it's dedicated to my >> for biliteracy and uh Lauren Brunoni is uh the lead uh guidance counselor for for the seal of civic

096readiness and students initiate that way. They go she is going to have a pretty busy uh next couple of weeks. Um and then we get to a point where okay students haven't met the deadline and then I capture all the rest after that. Uh the lingering ones um and then they go through and then they're assigned their adviser. That's the point at which all the work begins. >> And what grade does that does that form go out? Um we've like I said earlier, we've been doing it consistently with 12th grade. Now we're doing it with 11th and 12th grade. Okay. But because that's the point at which you start to accumulate, you want to get it on your um college um CV or >> So one one more question about that. So if they are

097if they don't yet have it or won't yet complete it until after they've applied to colleges, can is there a way that they can speak to the fact that they're in the process of this? So what we do on the transcripts when they're in the process, we'll do candidate for seal upon graduation. That's already on the transcript. So when they apply, they can speak to it and it'll say upon graduation. So >> perfect. Great. >> Thank you. >> I just want to piggyback on a few of the thoughts that were here. Uh just add a little bit of something. Uh the the personalization of these of of this education. You can take social studies, you can take a language, but to be able to have this high achieving component uh that students can take with

098them is really immeasurable. My my daughter got the seal with Madamu uh in French which was an amazing thing. Uh she followed up through college with it. uh will be traveling overseas and studying and uh you know it just follows them and really appreciative of of what was you know the opportunity was given to her and and and along with that the sealless civic readiness as Mr. believe it was po uh you know discussing before that how important it is in our society always but you know we could see the need for it uh to have civil discourse and to be involved and to be critical thinkers about how we look at things is is amazing and I really just want to commend you because I know you go above and beyond what the others

099in the state will do with the seal of civic readiness with the with the medals and the different levels that are there to really encourage students again another level of personalization that I think uh really uh pushes forward that you you see in Huntington, you just do not see in other districts, you know, so you know, uh as some parents over here on this side of the table are asking about their kids and thinking about what their kids could do, I would just recommend to everybody uh if there is a uh every every person, every parent that is they have a child that has a special interest in a particular subject, there is so you know so many opportunities out there to really, you know, run with it. And uh I would just really recommend

100especially with the seal of civic readiness. I'm really really happy. I know that uh Mr. Levy and I talked about you know having u increased the amount of students that have been taking it. Um and I just you know continue to encourage it. So thank you both. >> Welcome. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Now we move on to curriculum and instruction. Mr. Kuzzac. >> Good evening again. It is upon recommendation from the superintendent of schools that the board of education approve CSSE and CPSSE submissions as delineated. >> Can I have a motion? Jenna one, Kelly 2. All in favor? That's everyone. Personnel, Mr. Hender. >> It is upon recommendation from the superintendent of schools that the board of education approve personnel items on schedules 1 2 3 5 6 8 10 11

10113 15 16 and 22. >> Can I have a motion, please? John one, Teresa 2. All in favor? That's everyone. >> I have two quick announcements. We uh the board just appointed two longtime uh faculty members in the capacity to be leaders in Huntington. The first is Nancy Allard who was just appointed as the director of DPO CIO IT and library media. Congratulations. [Applause] and leading our science department uh in the coordinator capacity is Danielle Ragson. Congratulations. We look forward to the wonderful things you will continue to do. >> It's wonderful news. And on to business, Dr. Harris. >> All right. It's a two-parter. It is upon recommendation from the Superintendent of Schools that the board of education approve items I through K2 and L through M. >> Can I have a motion, please? Tom

102one, Kelly two. All in favor? That's everyone. >> Okay. It is upon recommendation from the superintendent of schools that the board of education approve item K3. >> Can I have a motion, please? Um, wait a second. Is this one one second? >> Okay. Um, Annie one, John two. All in favor? Um, and this one I am going to uh not vote on it because of the potential affiliation with uh Northwell. >> And then I believe we have some donations. >> We do. I'm happy to accept these. Uh Miss Kathleen Garcia is presenting a donation of various school supplies to Jefferson Primary. This uh donation has an approximate value of $70. So thank you, Miss Garcia. [Applause] And the Girl Scouts always coming through. Uh, Girl Scout troop uh 1669 is presenting a donation of 16

103calming kits for classrooms to the Washington Primary School. This donation has an approximate value of $1,000 and will satisfy the requirements uh of the girls obtaining their silver and bronze awards. So, congratulations to them. [Applause] and Orland and Cohen Orthopedic Group is presenting a donation of a hydrocolator heating unit. I I don't even know what that is. >> Um to the Huntington High School athletic department. This highquality stainless steel ULlisted unit maintains temperature consistent hot packs for the athletic training room. Sounds like it's needed. This donation has an approximate value of $1,445. So, thank you to Orland and Cohen. [Applause] >> And we open it up again for public commentary. Same rules apply as earlier. >> Sure. Yep. Come on up. >> Okay. I'll just give you a quick 30 second um heads up before

104the timer is about to >> Yeah, I'll give you a thumbs up. Okay, >> there we go. You got it. Hi everybody who's looking online. >> Uh good evening. My name is Dean Gregory. I'm the parent of two children in the district. I'd like to raise a concern about the district's use of social emotional learning through community building circles. While I support teaching kindness and respect, the way these circles are run feels less like academics and more like therapy sessions. Students are told what happens in the circle stays in the circle and even teachers have described them that way. Yet, parents were never asked for consent or given clear information about what these circles involve. Adding to the concern, students are being asked to complete forms of questions such as whether they want to uh

105help with grief, uh divorce, stress, bullying, self-esteem, etc. Serious issues that should be addressed obviously in a counselor's office, not in the classroom without parental knowledge or permission. When did school become a psychiatrist's office? When parents request to opt out, we're told our children can just sit quietly. Requests for meaningful academic alternatives have been honored or have not been honored rather. This puts families in a difficult position of having the school assume authority over children's emotional and psychological development without our informed consent. Meanwhile, uh meanwhile, our district's uh academic performance is already below state averages. 46 proficiency in both math and reading compared to 52 and 49 statewide. If those are the accurate numbers, not obviously dialogue, but those are real numbers. I think uh I believe the district's priority should be raising academic achievement,

106not running programs that blur the line between education and therapy. I respectfully ask the board to ensure transparency with parents about the true nature of these SEAL circles and forms, provide a clear opt out option with real academic alternatives, and focus on strengthening academic performance so our children are better prepared for the future. Thank you for the time and consideration. Thank you. Right, moving on to closing remarks by board members. >> Um, I just wanted to one say that I'm excited about a lot of the things that are going on in Huntington. Thank you for the presentations about the seals of biiteracy and civic readiness. And I'm excited to hear Miss McCoy say that she looks to these as examples for how we can adopt the portrait of a graduate and what that will look

107like here. And I just want to let the community know I recently learned that there's a thought exchange going on at the state level that allows us to express our ideas much like what we did here in Huntington. Um so that's if you're someone who's interested in this, it's a great way to one have more information yourself and two get involved. Anyone else? Motion to adjurnn. Kelly one, Teresa two. All in favor? I don't know why I went those two ways. Uh, that's it. Thank you everyone.