001Okay. Good, good evening. I'd like to call tonight's meeting to order. Today is uh December 11, 2025. Welcome to the Hide Park Central School District Board of Education meeting. At this time, can I get a motion to adjurnn to executive session for the purpose of discussing promotion discipline of a particular person or persons and to discuss privilege matters with legal counsel? >> So moved. >> Second, Christine. >> Any discussion? All those in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carried. We're now in executive session. My name is Dr. Pedro Roman, the proud superintendent of our amazing district, and it's truly an honor to stand here before you this evening. Thank you to all of our guests that are here today, our school, our community members that are in attendance. So when this beautiful building was originally constructed,
002likely as most likely part of the visionary New Deal era projects, it embodied a powerful American idea and that is in times of challenge we invest in our people and we invest in our future. This auditorium was built on the foundation of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's belief that public works are not just expenses, but lasting community assets, giving back the local economy through jobs, offering vital spaces for education, art, and civic life. Today, our renovation project echoes that same notion. We are not simply fixing an auditorium. We are honoring and revitalizing the initial public trust. We're ensuring that the promise of a quality comprehensive education for every student endures in a modern 21st century setting. My profound thanks go out to our board of education, our community, CS Arch who is here today, Matt Zakowski,
003uh the Palumbo group, the DT, the district leadership team. Do we have any members from the district leadership team or now known as the future forward facilities forum? All right, we have a couple. We have a couple. Our past superintendent, we have Aviva uh Kafka who's here and Carol Pickering. Thank you so much for being here. Uh, and we have a number of other individuals, uh, like Melinda Deo, um, Principal Shaw, who will be speaking to you very shortly. And once again, I just can't, um, amplify enough our our amazing community for their commitment to this shared vision of public investment. At this time, I want to call up uh, please help me welcome our board of ed uh, education president, Mr. Michael Ziggorski. Thank you. On behalf of the board of education, it is
004my honor to welcome you here this evening. When my kids attended the school well over a decade ago, I would sit in these seats and wonder, geez, we need to really uh renovate this uh auditorium. It's beautiful in structure, but it was definitely dated. So, I'm really happy that we finally were able to see that vision come true. Um, I am This space represents more than new seats, fresh paint, and modern technology. It represents our community's ongoing commitment to our students. I want to thank everyone who is involved in this project. But I especially want to thank our taxpayers who have supported this capital project. Without their continued support, this and many other district-wide improvements would not be possible. So, Thank you, President Zagorski. At this time, please join me in welcoming the school principal
005of Havlin Middle School, Mr. Eric Shaw. Good evening. I look around, I look at some people in the audience. I just want to say we did it. It's a big do big deal. a long time coming. But October 5th, 1940, this is where our story begins. On this day, President Roosevelt dedicated our building as the new school in the High Park Central School District. In his dedication, President Roosevelt remarked, "In terms of dollars and cents, we can make no sounder investment." Reflecting on the previous school, he also said, "Since the old school had given 70 years of service to this town, we can be sure the new building, the new one, this one, will be used 100 years from now." Today, we continue to honor that vision and express our deepest gratitude to the High
006Park Central School District community, our board of education, district leadership, former facility steering forum members, staff, all of you have worked tirelessly to bring capital improvements to fruition. Your commitment ensures our historic building continues to serve generations of students. Investment in our facilities is not only an investment in our students learning, growth, and future, but it's an investment in our community. The new enhancements in our auditorium provide an appropriately designed learning and performing space for our orchestras, bands, and choirs. These upgrades include new lighting, carpeting, seating, improved handicap accessibility, as well as a ma modern sound and lightboard area. Additionally, the the team carefully restored some of the glazing and the painting in the historic architectural ceiling, preserving the building's timeless beauty. These improvements have also created an opportunity for four different elementary buildings to
007come together as one to unify to strengthen our sense of community and shared purpose in this space. Students have already expressed to me their excitement about the upgraded space sharing that's inspiring and energizing to perform, learn, and collaborate in. Community members and I have spoken community members I've spoke with during various events uh will also express and share their excitement as well, expressing pride in seeing their children and grandchildren perform in such a beautiful space and admiration for the district and preserving it. Many of these individuals are former students themselves, adding again a special sense of his history and continuity. In addition to the functional functionality, special care was also taken to honor the auditorium's historical character, working with retired history teacher Linda Buché, who's with us tonight, who conducted a thorough research and informed
008the team to ensure that we preserve that nature. And wherever we could, while still being fiscally sound, we did. The original aesthetics of this space were thoughtfully restored, preserving the beaut beauty and legacy of this historic building. Thank you for preserving our past while investing in our students, our community, and the generations for tomorrow. At this time, I would like to call up Matthew Zkowski, principal architect. Please join me in welcoming him to the stage. >> Thank you, sir. Uh, good evening, Superintendent Roman, Principal Shaw, Board of Education, and the community members of Hyde Park. It's a true honor for me um as design principal with CSRH to be involved in this project. Um, and I hope you are as thrilled with the finished product as our company, and I personally am. Uh, we spent
009the last several years on a capital project. This was phase two of three. uh we're focusing on uh the uh high school and most of the elementary schools now, but this space in general, it was grand when we got here. It needed a little bit of love. Um we hel we held true to all the architectural details in this space and we just wanted to upgrade a little bit um in spaces that needed it. Um and hopefully again you are as uh proud and thrilled with the finished product as we are. Thank you very much for the uh for the few minutes tonight. appreciate it. >> So, we would like to once again just thank you uh for being here for those that were part of this process helping to make this vision a reality.
010And uh just want to give you an opportunity to kind of walk around uh and take a look once we do our ribbon cutting. Uh it will be an opportunity for you to take a look at the stage and lights and check out the seats. Um it's a beautiful uh space and we want to make sure that our community enjoys it. So at this time I'm going to call up um our board of education, our cabinet, um our past superintendent so that we can actually go ahead and do the actual ribbon cutting and any members from the DT if you're here please come on up. This world is beautiful. Can you see everyone? Okay, I got it. Careful. Going down the steps, girl. part of your baby too. body. My name is Steven Gati, treasurer
011for Hide Park Central School District. We're conducting this public hearing regarding the volunteer firefighters and ambulance workers partial tax exemption to outline the specific decisions made by the board and the fiscal impact these exemptions will have on our taxpayers. The board has adopted to offer this exemption as and has defined these specific criteria for eligibility. There were five key decision points resolved by the board. Service requirement. To qualify, a volunteer must have completed three years of service. The exemption amount. The board set the exemption at 10% of the property's assessed value. Permanency. The volunteers who complete 20 years of service. The exemption becomes permanent provided the property remains their primary residence. Surviving spouses. The board included a provision to extend this exemption to the unremarried surviving spouse of a volunteer who had completed 20 years
012of service and line of duty. The exemption will continue for an unremarried surviving spouse in the tragic event of a line of duty death. It's important to understand how this functions fiscally. Granting these exemptions does not negatively impact the district's ability to levy or collect property taxes. The exemption is applied to the taxable assessed value, which is the full property value adjusted by the local equalization rate. Essentially, the district's total tax levy is distributed among the randing taxable assessed values after these exemptions are removed. This results in a slight shift in the tax burden. Districtwide, we anticipate approximately 80 qualified volunteers. The majority are within the town of Hide Park, specifically from the Roosevelt District with 55 volunteers. Financially, the total exemption for all volunteers is approximately $47,435 across the district or approximately 0.069% of
013the total levy. Since the tax levy remains the same, providing a break to volunteers means a nominal increase for other taxpayers. This slide shows current taxes based on assessed home values ranging from $150,000 to $400,000. At the top, we can see the cost of taxes without the exemption. Below that is the cost with the 10% exemption. And at the bottom is the difference. For a home assessed at $200,000 in Hyde Park, a homeowner will see an estimated increase of $6.15. In Pleasant Valley, the increase is roughly $31. In Clinton, the increase is roughly $2.37. For a home assessed at $400,000 in Hide Park, the increase is estimated to be $12.30. Pleasant Valley approximately $62. These figures illustrate that while the exemption provides meaningful support to our first responders, the financial impact on individual nonvolunteer households
014is minimal. For those eligible who wish to submit or renew this exemption, you must contact the assessor for the town in which your property is located. We've provided the contact information of the assessors for each town in our district here for your convenience. Thank you all for your time. Any questions? All right. I I think we're going to see if anybody want from the public wants to comment on the the we'll we'll take care of the public hearing for the firefighter exemption first and then we'll move on to the safety plan. So, if anybody would like to have any comments at this time, please uh come to the podium. How about now? There we go. Good evening, members of the board of education. My name is Dan Nichols. I'm uh one of the fire commissioners
015with the Roosevelt Fire District and past chief here to support the uh tax exemption proposal in front of you. Uh first off like to thank the members of the board, the members that attended the community chat, uh Linda Steinberg and the staff who over the last couple years helped us put this program together and this presentation before you, the volunteer firefighters of all of the town of High Park or the High Park Central School District D districts, which covers eight different fire districts um that service the five towns listed on the uh roster that you saw on the screen. Um, you know, we sub a majority of the volunteers is is the only response that we have um through the fire district. Most of your schools protected by volunteer firefighters. Um, we do have a
016um great volunteer program through all of the fire districts. They're all doing great. Um, and what this does is it's just another tool in our toolbox to say when volunteering throughout the five towns. Um, your volunteer service is appreciated. Um, we can't pay by law any volunteer. Okay? We can't do a stipen program or pay by call. It's just against the law. So creative ways to uh retain current volunteers and to recruit new volunteers um is so important for us to get to. Um and this is just another tool in the toolbox to do so. As far as the impact um it's interesting because um because of the assessment differential in the town of High Park versus the neighbors, it looks like the town of High Park taxpayers within the school district would pay more.
017Um, but the fact is is that with the nomaly 35% assessment differential, the it's about the same. Okay, the average home would pay about $4 more in school taxes no matter where you're at. It fluctuates by a dollar. Um, but that benefit, you know, is to reflect over 80 volunteers providing generally over a 100 hours of service to the community. Um, not only through training, but through responses and, um, other emergency events that we respond to. So, um, we think that this is a a great thing on behalf of all the volunteers and please raise your hand if you're a volunteer firefighter to attend tonight to support this. Um, and also Chief Bowman from the Fairview Fire District also joining in tonight. Um, we appreciate your support and um, look forward to continuing to serve
018you. If this I'll just make the final statement. If by chance when this is enacted it doesn't feel as it was intended to that you feel the impact is different than what you thought it would be um or hopefully it gets a lot of volunteers to come in the door right and we need to talk about the impact we're willing to reopen the conversation so I just want to put that in front of the board okay as you know nobody knows what it looks like until it actually happens so as an example since that number you saw there's eight more volunteers in the Roosevelt Fire District alone that would qualify. So, just to kind of give you a holistic look at what's happening. So, thank you for your time. All right. Anyone else any comments?
019All right. So, I think we would end the public hearing for the fire fighter exemption. So, I know you guys all got a meeting to go to. So, He won't be rude if you leave. So, you're more than welcome to uh go and then we'll start the next public hearing. >> Okay. Good evening everyone. I'm Melissa Lawson, assistant superintendent for student supports and I am here to talk to you this evening about some changes to our district safety plan. Um, anytime we have a change to our safety plan, we are required by law to bring it to a public hearing and have a 30-day public comment period. So, I'm going to outline the changes which are related to DESHA's law, which is a cardiac emergency response plan. As I said, uh, our our district safety
020plan is updated annually. The board already approved the plan this summer and uh we have some changes that we are required to make because there's new legislation. So when that happens, we must come to a public hearing and have 30 days of public comment and then the board will adopt the new plan um in January. So DESHA's law basically uh states that we have to have a cardiac emergency response plan to ensure that there is a coordinated and prompt response to incidents of cardiac arrests. So, um, our school district is in really good shape as where this is concerned because we have some really strong practices already in our plans and in our uh, building emergency response teams and safety teams. So, what the law requires is that every building have a cardiac emergency response
021team. We have an AED team in each building that responds when there is a need. So that is already covered. It we are to provide CPR and AED training to relevant staff. Um we have excellent trainers. One of them is here tonight, Sue Cerulei. Um and we have to maintain updated records of our staff that are trained in CPR and AED. We also have to make sure that AED placement is appropriate and accessible to all and we have to make sure that our AED machines are maintained on a regular basis. We have to have communication protocols established as well as drill requirements that are new. Um, as I said, we are in really good shape because we already have AED drills on a regular basis in the buildings. The law also requires continuous improvement through
022an annual review process and uh any incidents that do occur, they require a post incident brief, which we already do. Um, the other piece is we need to coordinate with EMS staff annually. We are very fortunate because we have EMS staff as part of our district save team already. So they will review the district plan on an annual basis and give us feedback. And that's really the gist of the changes that will be added to our plan. Are there any questions? >> Would anyone like to make a comment? Okay, thank you very much. >> Thanks, Melissa. So, at this time, we'll end the public hearing for the um safety plan and we'll switch over to the regular meeting. All right. So, at this time, I would like to return to open session. And can we
023please stand for the pledge of allegiance? >> I pledge of 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. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Okay. I don't Did you get this from >> Neil? It's on there. Okay. So, we don't have any agenda modifications. Um, can I get a motion to adopt tonight's agenda? >> Moved, Margaret. >> Second, Christine. >> All those in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carried. Moving on to 7.1, upcoming events. Uh, Tuesday, December 16th, the uh, Netherwood Winter Concert will be at Netherwood at 7 PM. Wednesday, December 17th, family resource center holiday event at Hide Park Elementary, and that'll be from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday or Thursday, December 18th, uh,
024Violet A winter concert, and that'll be at Violet A at 7 p.m. Uh, Monday, December 22nd through Friday, January 2nd, winter recess, all buildings closed. Um, so that would be the winter break. Wednesday, January 7th, is the Ralph R. Smith Winter Concert, and that'll be at FDR at 7 PM. And then January 8th, that'll be a Thursday, January 8th, the next uh board of education meeting will be at Ralph R. Smith. Open session will start at 7 p.m. >> Any other events? >> I just wanted to highlight that the family resource holiday event, the location has changed to North Park. We've had such a good turnout and requests that we can't accommodate all the families at HB. >> Okay. >> I'm sure some calendar online will get updated, right? Okay. Okay. Moving on to 8.1
025Pride. Good evening, uh, board members, uh, community. So, one of the things that we actually focused on during the month of November were the themes of giving thanks and being kind. And I want to recognize Ralph R. Smith, uh, Principal Darling, the entire staff and support team there, students, families. They actually engaged in a collection of cereal boxes to donate to the local food pantry. And uh what they did with the boxes were they did this domino effect where they lined up all hundred plus uh cereal boxes and then just tip them over and just watch them uh go down. So uh they had a a really good time uh doing that and doing something good for our community. Uh, additionally, uh, in preparation for the extra calories, uh, that many of us, uh, put
026on during, uh, the h during the holiday holidays, uh, North Park uh, elementary school uh, and Violet A uh, school had their turkey trots and you can see some of the, uh, highlights in the pictures up up above. Um and uh just want to give both uh schools a shout out because it was a great event. Well attended, the students were engaged and had a great time and and all while practicing some wellness uh activities. Okay, good evening everyone. Make sure I've got the right one in front of me. Um, so I have the pleasure of highlighting our artist and musician of the month. The first student is Britney Zeridita and she is a seventh grader at Havlin Middle School and her teacher Alicia Jasmine writes, "Brittany was in my sixth grade art class and
027I could see potential with her beautiful drawings. I'm lucky to have her in my seventh grade art class as well. And she was chosen as artist of the month because she is enthusiastic, hardworking, kind, and pushes herself to try new things. Britney says, "I like I feel like art is another way to show who you are, and your art never lies. It shows what you are on the inside." She effortlessly works with all mediums to create art that inspires others. And I believe Britney is here with us this evening. So Britney, come on up. Great job. Okay. I also have the pleasure of recognizing a musician of the month. Isabella Watkins is a fifth grader at Ralph R. Smith Elementary School. Isabella is a multi-talented musician from Ralph R. Smith. She is in both orchestra
028and chorus. Isabella plays the bass in the orchestra. Miss McCann, the orchestra director, says that Isabella always tries her best in rehearsal and has a great attitude as she learns new things. Isabella is a talented singer as well. What makes her voice so special is that she is able to be creative through her voice, adding her own spin to the songs she sings. Isabella works hard, is kind to others, and always does her best. It's a pleasure to have her as a student. Isabella says that she loves music because music makes you feel good. Congratulations, Isabelle. And I think she's here as well. So proud of you. Good job. The next point of pride uh is the recognition for coach Braggs. Um I want to thank our board president and vice president for working alongside
029community uh members to find a way to recognize coach Braggs for his um contributions to many many individuals that showed up in board meetings uh at the event. He was really moved by the recognition. Um, I want to give kudos to the team that really rallied behind him uh and and find a way to honor him. I also want to give a shout out to our athletic director uh Beth Fletcher who helped to coordinate the event. Um, and I also want to recognize um some of our board members who were at the event with with me uh Carl uh Christine Margaret. Uh I just want to thank you uh for for being in attendance in that uh at the heartfelt ceremony. Uh we're going to begin uh working with the uh or continue working with
030the future focus facilities forum and a committee that Beth Fletcher is helping me coordinate to provide some input on some design. So more information will be coming on uh what that's going to look like at our um at our field. That concludes uh Pride. Oh, I'll pass it over to uh Principal Shaw. >> Good evening everybody. It is my absolute pleasure pleasure to present pride on behalf of Havlin Middle School this evening. You we ask our teachers and our staff members to think about students who exemplify the portrait of a learner in our building and we ask them to uh share why that is and we have two wonderful students to present this evening. We had many students nominated but these two really stood out this year and I want to say thank you for
031that and do some recognition. So uh in alphabetical order. Uh first uh our portrait of a learner nomination is for Adriana Atkins who was nominated by Miss Holton, one of our reading teachers. Adria Atkins is a sixth grade student who truly embodies all aspects of our portrait attributes each day in my AVID class. As a confident learner, Adriana approaches every lesson with curiosity and enthusiasm. She is consistently focused, eager to participate, and unafraid to ask thoughtful questions or share new ideas. Her positive attitude toward learning helps create a classroom environment where others feel encouraged to engage as well. Adriana is also an effective communicator. Whether contributing to discussions or collaborating with peers, she's expresses her thoughts clearly and listens with genuine attention. Her willingness to speak up and listens and to listen just as carefully
032strengthens our classroom community. As an adaptable adaptable innovator, she embraces feedback with maturity and uses it to improve her work. Adriana adjusts quickly when routines shift or new challenges arise and she approaches change with a calm solutionoriented attitude that inspires her peers. As a critical thinker, Adriana actively reflects on her work, striving to understand concepts deeply and imply them meaningfully. She shows maturity in the way that she evaluates information and seeks to improve her thinking. And finally, as a responsible citizen, she is a wonderful role model. She is dependable, kind, and motivated to do her best every single day. Her strong work ethic and respectful behavior have a positive impact on everyone around her. Overall, Adriana is a pleasure to have in class and exemplifies what it means to be a dedicated, thoughtful learner. Congratulations,
033Adriana. Come on up. Come look here for a second. >> On behalf of the High Park Central School, Hav Middle School, your teachers and staff, we want to say congratulations. Would you mind maybe saying the board must thank you too? That's okay. I couldn't miss this opportunity for our second portrait of a learner. And this is Azriela Vansteinberg. >> She where is she stuck up? Good to see you. So I will share excuse my my back but I want to share what it's a summary because she was actually nominated by four different teachers. So yes, that I think that's an accomplishment itself. So Mrs. Neman, Miss O'Grady, Mrs. Stigerwald, and Mr. Winer. They say Azie exemplifies every aspect of our portrait of a learner. This is a summary of what they all said. As a
034confident learner, she approaches challenges with determination, enthusiasm, and strong work ethic. Coaches and teachers consistently describe her as someone who quote truly wants to learn and knows what hard work and dedication looks like. She asks thoughtful questions, seeks support when needed, and uses each experience as an opportunity to grow, returning, quote, "even more excited after moments of frustration." Even after moments of frustration on the court. As an effective communicator, as expresses her ideas clearly, listens with sincerity, and contributes meaningful to group work, meaningfully to group work. Whether in class discussions or on the basketball court, she communicates inc encouragement and positivity. Her coaches highlight how she quote showed up for her teammates, cheering them on, guiding them through new skills, and supporting them during practices, games, and her teachers say even in the hallways as
035he demonstrates her strength as an adaptable innovator by adjusting seamlessly to new situations. As one of the few experienced players in a largely beginner basketball team, she remains patient, flexible, and uplifting. She embraces the challenges, helping teammates learn the game while modeling resilience and creativity and problem solving. As a critical thinker, Azie reflects deeply on her actions and the impacts on others. She uses setbacks as learning moments and thoughtfully analyzes situations such as recognizing when frustration occurs and shifting her mindset to better support others. and herself. Teachers note her ability to make connections, think carefully, and evaluate discussions with her insight. Finally, Azie is a shining example of what a responsible citizen is. She consistently shows kindness, integrity, and empathy. Qualities highlighted in a moment when she immediately helped a student who had fallen in
036the hallway despite not even knowing them well. She later expressed that, you know, she could have done something different. Sometimes, like, you don't want to laugh at someone. You don't want to be unkind. You want to do what's right every time. demonstrating moral courage and compassion. Teachers describe her as someone who quote wants to feel wants everyone to feel included and who will stand up for what is right and who steps in whenever someone needs help. As he balances academic commitment, athletic leadership, empathy, and integrity, making her truly deserving as a candidate, as a portrait of a High Park Central School District learner. Congratulations, Azie. Congratulations to you. Great job. That's a nice certificate. Turn face your mom for a second. I'm sure they're going to want to take a picture, right? Why don't you
037hold that? You hold that. That's yours. Thank you. >> Congratulations, B. When you're around long enough, you get to see your students students realize success. Congratulations. Now, we have a a wonderful opportunity to recognize two of our employees as a a portrait of a High Park Central School District employee. And like our other decision-making, these are peer- nominated folks who um rose to really exemplify what it means to be a portrait of an employee. And Miss Armstrong actually had two nominations. I do leave those uh anonymous allowing people to really put forward their thoughts. So I'll share some of the summary between the both. And Karen, you're a true example of a portrait of an employee. She consistently demonstrates what it means to be a confident learner, an effective communicator, an adaptable innovator, a critical
038thinker, and a responsible citizen. She is quote always willing to help out a colleague. She shares her ideas of her amazing lessons and is a great hallway mate. I enjoy talking with her about ideas because Karen is always quote willing to listen to willing to listen and often shares her ideas to collaboratively create great end results. Every day it's evident that Karen quote is there for her students and also her colleagues. As a confident learner, Karen is constantly learning new ideas and strategies such as witsy to integrate into the her materials and shows that she is a lifelong learner. She goes above and beyond every year selecting and creating materials for the sixth grade big read, ensuring that all students, not just in her class, but at the grade have high quality, engaging resources and
039instruction. This year, she even connects us with a a wonderful author's visit, demonstrating her proactive approach to learning and enriching experiences for students. Karen exemplifies an effective communicator through her openness, collaboration, and willingness to share resources. She generally generously shares all her materials that she creates over the summer with at times with the entire sixth grade team. She'll share as well as personally recorded or audio books. Let me rephrase that because this is a quote. Personally recorded audio of the book she makes for students who miss school or need that accommodation. Her communication ensures that all students have equitable access to learning and her colleagues can benefit from her expertise. Her work also shows as an adaptable adaptable innovator. Karen thoughtfully sets up field trips each year to quote support understanding of new content, adapting
040experiences to meet students needs. She approaches challenges creativ creatively and consistently seeks ways to improve instruction and engagement. As a critical thinker, Karen reflects on what works best for her students and the team. She thoughtfully designs lessons, materials, and experiences, ensuring they are meaningful, effective, and aligned to students needs and standards. She continually adjusts her instruction to maximize student learning and collaborates to create quote a great end result. Finally, Karen is a responsible citizen in our school community. She supports our improvement efforts, as a standing member of our building leadership team, serves as one of our coordinators for our community night events, and she's always either formally or informally a mentor to our new teachers, guiding and supporting our colleagues while ma modeling professionalism and care. Karen, you are truly an inspiration for your team,
041for the grade, and the school. You embody every aspect of the portrait of employee showing dedication, collaboration, leadership, and everything you do. Thank you, Karen. At this time, it's my my pleasure to invite up Miss Hathaway up to the podium to talk about our final um award this evening. >> Thank you, Mr. Shaw. You're welcome. And thank all of you for this opportunity. I'm going to start with a riddle. What do you get when you cross a nurse with a teacher? A school counselor. Linda Batton possesses all the great qualities of both of her parents' professions and has been sharing them with the Hide Park community for 30 years. And I say the Hide Park community because although she's worked at Havland her entire career, Linda's influence has been felt in all of the Hide
042Park schools. Linda defines her role as an advocate for students and she certainly is. She puts the child in the middle of the discussion and pulls into the circle. I'm sorry. Whomever can help fulfill the child's needs, be they academic, social, emotional, physical, and sometimes even financial once she orchestrated and even helped deliver an entire room set for children when she learned that they had no beds. So, yes, she's absolutely an advocate for children, but she's so much more. She's a leader. She mentors and teaches the newer staff to better understand the community we serve and the resources available. She's a professional. She carries herself with purpose, communicates clearly, and is fundamentally present. She's a resource. She has guided families through the everchanging landscape of early adolescence to strengthen their parenting of and relationship with
043their children. She's a support. Linda avails herself and nurtures faculty and staff when we falter with our own life challenges. And finally, she's an inspiration. She has served as my exemplary role model for my entire career. Thanks, Thank you. Got you. That's it for pride, right? Any other pride would any like to share. All right, moving on to 9.1, the superintendence report with Dr. Roman. Thank you, President uh Zagorski. Two quick things. Uh first one is I want to introduce um one of our newest members to the team. Uh Miss Christina How, she is the interimm assistant superintendent for finance and operations. And for those of you that don't know, she cut her teeth in the district back in the '9s uh in our own business department. Uh and uh she is back here to
044help us in our transition. So just want to welcome her and say uh thank you for your support. And then uh the second thing is I just want to highlight uh all the students from here at Havlin. Uh last night's uh chorus concert was amazing. Uh the the students performed exceptionally well. Uh I want to give kudos to students, our teachers, our families, support staff, uh principal Shaw and the team here, support staff here, as well as our new uh director uh for fine and performing arts, Mr. Matt Funigello, uh who's in the house today. And so just want to say thank you for all the great things that you folks are doing for our kids and our families. So, uh, that concludes my items. >> Okay. Thank you. And I did want to mention
045anyone that was here for student pride, you're more than welcome to leave if you have homework to do and stuff. Um, at this point, uh, 9.2, uh, the Havlin Middle School update with Principal Shaw. We're going to begin our presentation this evening. We do have a couple more students that want to share a little bit. So, for our own inside the building pride, uh I want to invite Miss Reed and Miss Jasmine up to talk a little bit about some of the art that they've been doing in their class. We have some students that want to share a little bit about the art they did and the impact it had on them. So, Miss Jazz, Miss Reed, welcome up. >> All right. Hey everybody. Um, I'm Miss Jasmine. This is Miss Reed. Uh, we're the
046art teachers here at Havlin Middle School, and we teach a choice-based class. So, it's really special to have the our students that are here with us tonight. Um, who decided to participate in our New York State MLK art and essay exhibition. Uh this is from New York State asking for um stuff artwork for the exhibition which will be permanently on display online. So it's really cool that we have so many wonderful people who submitted some stuff for us. Um should we just hit the Okay, great. >> All right, great. Sounds good. So um just kind of going through uh these are all students that decided to make all of these. Um they're they were self-guided. Uh so these are all about kind of what inspired them and so you can see some of the quotes
047uh from our students as they reflected on what what MLK's legacy um means to them. So just some beautiful paintings, artwork uh for you to see. And as we get to our students, we can have them come up and and uh say a few words. Penny, did you want to come up? Hi. Uh, when I made this artwork, I discovered that I can overcome anything. Just whatever comes my way, I can just decide if like something bad happens, I can decide to do anything else to overcome it. And uh, I think MLK's message means that in order for something good to happen, something bad has to happen first. Uh yeah, >> did you want to come up? Uh, hi, my name is Leila. And when people look at my artwork, I want them to see
048the peace and equality that Martin Luther King Jr. was trying to make. What else did I say? >> Thank you. >> Do you want to come up? >> You don't have to. It's okay. >> You don't have to. All right. Um Kina is in the audience, but she made this beautiful drawing of MLK Jr. and um discovered while doing that that MLK Jr. uh was never meant to be killed. He was meant to be here for us um to heal. >> Thank you. >> Hi, I'm Ava from Eighth Grade Studio Art and I really enjoyed making this painting. like just like the experience of like being able to do this. I was very grateful and like it's just experiencing like all these different paints mixing paints together. I I really enjoyed like doing this this
049past weeks like the past couple of weeks. Uh I have Frieza flowers which mean uh freedom and independence and freedom is like a really big thing to me in my world and expressing it in my art. Thank you. >> All right. Um, we have Eliza coming up. >> I can hold it up. >> Okay. >> So, we have a we have a the picture of um the quilt that Eliza made, but we think it looks better in person. So, >> it's a Hello, my name is Eliza. I want people to feel inspired and reminded that everyone has a place in the world. When they look at my quilt, I want them to see how big how small pieces can create a bigger picture. The same way small acts of kindness can create change. Thank you.
050>> Awesome. Um, this is a piece the students aren't here. Um, but darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that. That was one of his quotes. And then we have a couple more that you can see the improgress at the same time. Lots of uh people were helping each other out. Um and so there's lots of handprints from other students in the classroom. Um really getting involved with collaboration. We have one by Vanessa. Um, I drew this because I want people to feel like they can be like themselves around other people and like they don't have to change themselves for like other people and stuff like that. Yeah. and just a few others that students couldn't be here tonight, but we have some
051drawings and collages. Um, lots of quotes. People really liked looking up all the quotes and seeing ex he's got a lot of beautiful quotes. This beautiful drawing by Andre's favorite. And another drawing by maybe And just some in progress photos for you. >> Is that you? >> Johanna had to leave early, but she worked really hard on this one. And uh she used the quote, "The time is always right to do right. And that's it. Just a special thank you to Miss Reed, Miss Jasmine for their leadership and steutering us through this process. We have um for several years had our art displayed up there, but it's thought it was a good opportunity sort of share with the board some of the other things that are happening in our building that maybe aren't quite as
052widely known. I will if they haven't yet already really encourage our students to as board president said to head on home. There's lots to be done. School comes early tomorrow and our staff who came out to celebrate our portraits of a learner and portrait of employee. Thank you very much and I will certainly understand if you need to go. Thank you. appreciate guys. >> Thank you so much. This thing is uh causing me some challenges here. Think I have it. There we go. So to the board of education, thank you for this opportunity to present Havl Middle School and the uh the work that is happening here as we've since I guess almost one year to the day since we were here in this in this auditorium talking last year. And it's just a really
053great opportunity to highlight uh what the experience is here at Hav Middle School, outcomes for students and sort of discuss the work we've been doing and how it translates to experiences for kids and uh really at times results as well. Our mission to be high park school district is innovative learning environment for all and we empower all learners to be successful members of our dynamic society. We're going to talk our discussion drivers for this evening include celebrating successes, impact of prior investments, current work targets for improvement, and also uh budget recommendations as we're going into that time of the year as well. I start with uh this is our 2025 Hav Middle School community night. It was this past November 5th. And I start with this because this is a exemplifies the work and commitment
054that happens in our building every day for our students. On this evening, this was our 10th annual Havlin Middle School community night. We had over 45 volunteers. There are our employees come in at night to help support an event for families. We served over 230 meals. We had almost 45 vendors. These are community vendors. These are community partners that we've established over the years that come in to bring and provide resources for our students and their families. All local resources throughout the uh Duchess County area. And also it was highlighted by student musical performances. You get dinner and music, our chamber orchestra, our jazz band, uh as well as our modified cheer put on a demonstration. And I just want to thank all of our community sponsors. But it just for me it exemplifies that
055here at Hav Middle School it is challenging. It is rewarding. It is rigorous and it's it's supportive. It's all those things all at the same time. There's not one word that can say what happens here every single day. But it's anchored by the people who come to work here every single day to support our school, our community, and our students. And we do that with passion and drive. That is makes me proud to be here as the principal at Havlin Middle School. You as the board have seen this slide before and this slide is something I hope to continue every year because this slide remembers where we were. It reminds us of the hard work. We talk about return on investment. Like what have we been doing? This is the work we've been doing. We
056were notified in the winter of two 2019 2020 school year that we were identified as a school in need of improvement. And we worked hard over the next couple years. Even years where we weren't even able to get off a list, we still did the work because we knew it was right. Driven by two common commitments you're going to hear later on in the presentation, which is around it boils down to relational capacity and instructional equity. And that's our driving focus. It has been our driving focus for the last five years. And you'll notice at the 23 24 school year, we learned that we are no longer a school need of improvement. We're a local school support and improvement school. Used to be the good standing designation, but they changed it because it shifts mindset
057that you're not finished. Our kids aren't finished. We still need to do the work. And we continue that. And we project that this school year will remain in that status as well. This is pride for me. It's pride because it it tells me what's happening in every classroom every day because the outcomes appear here. And this is what is a look at three years worth of data with the new assessments, the New York State ELA, the New York State math, the the science exam that happens in fifth grade and then again in uh 8th grade as well as our nicer slot scores. And you're going to see increases over the last three years with the same assessment. So it's apples to apples and that's one thing I want to point out because I went back
058to 2018 data because that was the last time the old assessment hit then COVID hit then they trial things and here we are with this this computer-based test which sees increases in all those areas and that also marks it's a hallmark of the work that happens here. Incremental increases are important to note because as you paint a picture over years, those do those those numbers are kids. They're our students and there are students improving every year and we're we're proud of that work. We're not finished and we'll continue that, but it is a point of pride and it really demonstrates the return on the investment of the work that we're doing here at Havlin. We also uh continue our work around engaging students and families to attend school every day. make it count. You know,
059attendance matters. Attend today, achieve tomorrow. And we were like the New York State average in the 22 23 school year post pandemic. New York State census about 25 26% of students weren't attending school. And we fit that mold too. But we've done our work. We saw a huge increase uh coming out of the 23 24 school year with a reduction of almost over 11% or 11%. And then also um last year we saw a dip up but we're continuing to do that work. Right now as the first quarter ended November 7th so recent data we are down to 12.4% chronically absent. So seeing reduce over that reduction over those 13 over three years of 13.2%. It's not because we wish to hope is not a strategy. It's it's because we're continuing our commitment around relational
060capacity. We're taking a deep look at what's happening in our classrooms every single day and making sure that instructional equity and rigor is there. Um the support of our school counselors, the work they're doing with students and families. Um it really is about engaging your data to make sure your data is clean going in so you're looking at the appropriate thing coming out. Otherwise, if it's not clean, you don't know where the where the issue is because your data wasn't clean. We spent a lot of time doing that this year and I'll talk a little bit more about it is really uh engaging the MTSS process with our facilitators and the partnership which is really strong and healthy with our community schools liaison which is foundational work with families to eliminate barriers to uh attending
061school. This is our one of our two wildly important goals tied to the district's wildly important goal. You know, for us, we want to see a decrease uh by 3% of chronic absenteeism from 17.8 to 14.8. Uh and outlining things I've already said around building our process for the multi-tered system of supports, the MTSS, uh partnering with our community school liaison, Soyel Smalls, who's been doing some wonderful work. The chart on the left is data that she's pulling, looking at along with our school counselors to look at who the students are. the data on the right, the left talks about kids who attend every day, but there's also inside that data are kids who aren't attending school, who are actually at the point of chronic absent now, and now's the time to address that. And
062now's to hit it early. And we're working on that. We're providing outreach to gather information. We are partnering with families. We are gathering student voice. These are all plans coming forward but also we're are going to provide an opportunity to at the middle level like competition is important to students and engaging them in that way and uh Miss Smalls has actually created a three- tiered system for at the classroom level at the team level and at the grade level across all three grades. uh it it sort of was foundational work that she engaged our building leadership team with and then she engaged our student support team and then she'll actually be presenting this upcoming Monday at our faculty meeting to get feedback from everybody now to make sure it's going to work as a a
063schoolwide approach and our hope is that that that New Year's new goal, new you mindset provides a springboard for a logical fresh start for kids who might have been struggling but also a good opportunity for kids to set goals around attending Our our second work continuing the idea of the instructional um the uh instructional equity in all classrooms. Uh we align with the district's goal to increase literacy results. For us, we want to increase the outcome of our ELA assessment by 6% from 44.5 to 50.5%. That would be a a big lift, but it's a lift that we're confident we can reach for. Uh we are anchoring that work in uh a program that we started in our school improvement time called writing is thinking through strategic inquiry also known as witsy and is foundational
064work around beginning with sentence writing to excuse me paragraph writing to essay writing. So, Wityy 101 is that sentence structure. 102 is the paragraph structure and 103 is the future. So, we are working with all of our staff. Uh, last uh two years ago, we trained the vast majority in 101 and they're getting 102 this year. And those who were new to our building or didn't have that opportunity are getting 101. And our teachers are really engaging this work in a very deep way. On the the right hand side of the slide, you're gonna see those are just snippets of teachercreated work put into practice. At our faculty meetings, I asked two departments to present the work they're doing around witsy. There's an expectation in the building that we're going to engage it one time
065per week. But if you think about a student that has eight or nine different teachers with every other day classes on their schedule, one time a week times month time the times the six months leading up to the state assessment. We're giving them the opportunities to explore deeper the strategies in writing and that's a critical foundational skill which will help boost our literacy and competency of our students and therefore the end result. hands. You know, this next piece is uh a look at budget uh and some of the budget recommendations, some of the um the requests that I'm really looking at for the needs for Aland Middle School and this idea of investing continuing to invest in the high impact instructional strategies. For us, that means further developing the work in Wity. It's it's building
066103 while those who haven't had 102 yet get that opportunity while also knowing that retirements happen, new people come in and that everyone has to have that exposure. So, we have those resources to do that. Um, a little bit later on this evening, uh, Miss Bill and I are going to talk about increasing exposure for the AVID class for all sixth graders. We also want to really implore the board to consider including student supply money next school year. That was a grant-f funed program for the last three years and that is no longer in place. But for us that levels the playing field in a building that is almost 55% students who are economically disadvantaged. being able to have all students have the this the the same experience with the same supplies and if you
067don't have it or you lost it or it broke, it's available again because those are the things that are going to help kids stay engaged and stay with it and stay part of this the learning experience. Um this year also part of a grant there were some additional monies that are supporting our PBIS program which are going to be tied to our attendance goal and we can't lose sight of that goal. Our kids need to be here every single day. we won't be able to pack them if they're not in the way that we want to and know we can when they're there. Uh we also are asking for a little bit of safety enhancement around first aid kits in our classroom. I'll talk a little bit about that in a in a moment. Excuse
068me. And then the the the big ask is to really take a deep look and allow me to work with the facilities and operations department to to take a look at like a Havlin renewal plan and sort of go back to what we we started this evening off with the ribbon cutting and like what is what do we need to do to ensure that high quality instruction happens in this building. That hundred years from then is 14 years from now. So we have a bit of a springboard. We've begun the work. Things that are really visible here to gutter systems in the back of the building that you never see. Like we've begun the work, but there's also this internal pieces that um need to be addressed and looking at a furniture replacement plan. Uh
069working with the the the uh facilities and operations and the the uh future forward facilities group to discuss locker replacement and outdoor enhancements at student recess. And those are things that um obviously I'm not not all these are next year. This is planning forward so that we can budget adequately for that. And this is a look at the budget. This is a very similar format to you you saw at North Park Elementary when Mr. Allesandre and Mr. Faziola presented. So just you know these are budget lines. Uh the first set of columns is the 26 27th school. That's next year. Uh and then there's projections out to additional years at at um uh a percentage rate that Miss Steinberg provided to the the principles as a a good idea of where it would be. And
070that's our admin admin administrative staff cost, instructional staff, teacher assistants, teachers aids and I guess I'll also point out you guys are familiar with this because you saw it last time, but there are priority markings there, right? So what one is uh regulatory and mandatory two is really evidence-based improvement strategies. Three is program enhancements that support kids that at times almost feel like they feel like they belong in that mandatory but they may not be mandatory but they're essential to the work that we do every day and supervision contractual supplies teacher classroom supplies h uh health office supplies. Continuing on. I'm sorry. I think I um went a little bit too fast there. And then in this that total number is the budget allotted or for Havlin Middle School to function and provide the outcomes
071and support and to meet the needs of our students. That is there at the bottom. And just to sort of for ease of access, a summary page which talks about the staffing cost and benefits. I think it it really needs to be pointed out there. The attendance of PBS support asked for an ask is a $2,000 grant funded uh piece that we got here to help support that work. That would be an additional on top of that bottom number. Uh the the combined school supplies are already I I combined those other pieces that I I just showed you. Uh textbooks are a piece of that as well. Um the counseling office supplies, but then added the the cost that we estimate would be for those first aid kits. God forbid there's an emergency, we have
072other resources for for students and staff during that time, but if we needed first aid kits, we thought our safety team thought about that a lot in terms of how we might continue in the event of um there's the travel conference and mileage code pieces there. The student supply, the last number is the number that uh you know based on this year's purchases, the projection for next year and that would be the other. So those three greens are the additional for um our request for the upcoming school year. So the benefits of investment and recommendations like really looking to increase instructional equity which allows us to have connected practices across all departments, teams and classrooms. like our building has a culture, our sixth grade has a culture, our sixth grade teams have a culture, and
073that's part of the beauty of a teaming model, but from the my view, I want to make sure the experiences are the same no matter which team you're on, that you're still being challenged with rigorous and equitable practices inside the the classroom, utilizing a common writing approach through the Witzy protocols. And then really the next part of the wits that is strategic inquiry like building looking at student work and the impact instruction has on that. Uh looking to uh level learning opportunities with common student supplies. I spoke about that already. I think it's really critical. Uh improve classroom instructional experiencing allows us to and that's around the furniture replacement plan to really build and preserve President Roosevelt's pride while he dedicated this building. Uh again, the PBS incentive supports and then emergency planning. And we're
074going to continue to monitor HMS building wide BLT goals. We're going to measure progress. We're going to assess. We're going to adjust as needed. Uh we're going to review behavioral data through our PBIS program. We're implementing buildingwide. We're looking at the implementation of the building wide tiered attendance as a competition, a friendly competition around the the grade, the team, and the classroom level. We're collaborating with the facilities and operations department uh working on future projects and drip projects and also the future forward facilities to address the capital improvement needs that um those of us who are on the committee uh clearly see and I'll I'll stop there for any questions. >> Any uh questions from anyone comments? I'm just looking at the the chronic absenteeism and >> 2324. Any >> thoughts as to what the
075reason is for the significant increase? >> Well, last year >> my thought there is it's the work because at that point in time we were three years into our school improvement work which we anchored in that relational capacity. I think it's a combination of being purposeful to have a welcoming and engaging environment for students, a place where we engage students around voice and choice and then also I I strongly feel and I still do and I work with our attendance office every day that it comes down to making sure that our data is clean and right and that all of our students are accounted for. It it it it comes from student success teams and home visits and engaging parents. Um, we're hoping to grow that with our connections with our our community schools program
076to reduce it. Uh, but that's my belief as I stand here before the board to say like that's the hard work that happened in our building during that time and I still think we benefit from that because although yeah it it does spike it, it's going to go up and down. Uh, but we're not seeing that 11% spike, 12%, we're not seeing mid20s. >> Thanks. Any other? >> I mentioned this at North Park, so I want to mention it here, too. If we I totally understand the need to um to try and fund the school supplies. Um but I'd like us to look at prioritizing what's working, what's not, because just what we needed during COVID might be different than what we need now. So, I would love to see, you know, instead of it
077being an automatic rollover of we need this much for our school supplies, are there some things that we could do without, you know, um and that's just something to something to think about. Um the question I had was since we're talking about um student attendance and performance, um any feedback on the cell phone policy and how are things going? Sure. >> Student-wise, teacher-wise, instruction. Well, I I think that I I'm safe to say and if our teachers and the staff are still here, and I know our APs are behind me, um I would say that it's probably enhanced our experience here at Hav Middle School, cell phones have not really been a strong issue at all. There are always going to be a few students who need some support, but not risen to the level
078of the oh my gosh floodgates that you might have thought. But I just also want to remind the board that Havlin Middle School was already a no school zone school. Like that wasn't something part of our practice. Um we when I first actually arrived here, they were allowed during lunch. And then the advent of Chromebooks happened and we said kids are not talking to each other. So probably around the 2016 2017 school year, our BLT made a change and we said not during the school day. And um I I I would I have heard so much less about concern over cell phone this year than I have in my 13 years here. So I think it's working well. So I just wanted to say thank you again for the presentations. It's great seeing the students.
079The auditorium has never looked better. So it's it's great being here. I have a pet peeve to Carl's point about the uh the absenteeism stuff. The pet peeve is with the state, not with you or not with Havlin. You know, when when students are are sick and they the parents send in a note, the state will still categorize that um as possibly chronically absent. That's my personal pet peeve. >> I share that pee. >> You know, that's uh that's something the state I think needs to work on. But my question is, what do you think is the one thing that the board could do? There's many great things going on. You've outlined that. One one thing that the board could do to assist Havlin at this point. >> You know, I talked to our our
080staff at our last faculty meeting about it. I I I I did mention to them that I really want to impress upon the board that some of the like the classroom furniture pieces are really important because they're essential. When kids walk in the classroom, they automatically will be able to gauge what the experience they believe might be. But we have some furniture that I'm sure that I used in 1985 and some that are probably a little bit older. And just an opportunity to not in a way that's not measured, in a way that's not planned for, but really take a look at those 14 years going to come really quick and that we can stand here with pride when we have our rededication of a 100red years that we know we're meeting the mission not
081only of President Roosevelt had offered us the challenge I'm going to say he offered us, but also that we're meeting the needs of our students in the building, but also the the desks and the chairs and the tables and the experience that's happening and that's where I would like to really because that's where where the real support is going to absolutely be needed. >> Thank you. >> Any other uh questions, comments? All right. Thank you, Mr. Shaw. >> Great. Thank you. >> You're up again. >> Well, I'm actually going to invite Una Miller up, too, who is one of our assistant principles. And Miss Miller also oversees our AVID program in the in the building to help us out with our AVID presentation. And that one just goes to the right. >> Got it. Thank
082you. Good evening everyone. Uh this evening we're very excited to share with you our proposal for a new course offering here at Havland, the AVID Middle School success course for the 2026 2027 school year. This proposal reflects our ongoing commitment to preparing our students for long-term academic success and ensuring that every learner at Havland has access to powerful skills that will make them college and career ready. No. As we begin, it's important to ground this proposal in the district's vision and vi vision and mission. Hide Park Central School District is committed to being an innovative learning environment for all students. Our mission emphasizes empowering every learner to succeed in a dynamic society. The AVID Middle School success course directly aligns with these goals by equipping our students with foundational academic, organizational, and life skills that
083support both immediate and long-term success. This evening's presentation will cover four main areas. First, we'll introduce the AVID Middle School success course itself. Next, we'll provide the rationale uh behind this recommendation, why we believe this course is an essential addition to our sixth grade programming. Then, we'll walk through the course syllabus. And finally, we'll open the floor to your questions. At the sixth grade level, we propose offering a new course titled AVID Middle School Success. This course builds on our district's established commitment to AVID while expanding access so that all students, not only those selective selected for the AVID elective, can benefit from the foundational skills that AVID develops. There are several compelling reasons for introducing this course here at Havland. First, our district has made a significant investment in AVID programming over the years.
084Adding this course ensures that we fully leverage that investment by expanding AVID's reach. Second, this course provides opportunities for all HMS sixth grade students to experience AVID strategies, giving them critical skill development as they enter a new academic stage in middle school, strengthening students academic foundation. Fourth, we anticipate positive impacts on attendance and academic outcomes based on the performance of our existing AVID elective cohort. And finally, this proposal requires no additional cost to the budget as it repurposes existing staffing resources and utilizes existing curricular materials. We also want to share uh the data that supports this proposal. First, our sixth graders currently average 2.36 study hall periods in their schedule. Study halls can be beneficial for some students, but replacing a portion of that time with struct structured explicit skill instruction provides significantly more value.
085Second, attendance data shows a strong correlation between AVID participation and improved attendance. As of November 25th of this year, the schoolwide average daily attendance was 94.4%. While our AVID cohort's ADA was an impressive 97.7%. Third, we see similar trends in academic outcomes. The overall student average in the first marking period at HMS is 86%. While our AVID students are performing notably higher with an average of 91%. These data points reinforce that AVID strategies work and expanding access to them has the potential to elevate outcomes across the entire sixth grade class. Finally, the proposed course would meet every other day for one semester, making it accessible and manageable within our existing schedule. The AVID Middle School success course focuses on the essential skills students need to thrive in middle school and beyond. The syllabus includes foundational
086academic skills. Um in AVID those are wicker which is writing um inquiry collaboration organization and reading an introduction to the AVID college and career readiness framework organization time management and goal setting focused notetaking and active listening inquirybased learning and collaboration reading and writing strategies across the content areas. development of a growth mindset and self- advocacy, early leadership skills, community building and relationship development, and introductory financial literacy concepts. These skills are not only critical for academic learning, but are also lifelong skills that benefit students across all experiences. Thank you so much for your time and attention. Uh we believe this course will significantly strengthen the transition to middle school, support student success, and align with our district's vision of empowering all learners. We're happy to answer any questions that you might have. >> Is this a
087course that we came up with or is it just portable? We're taking it in. >> So this is something that we did some exploration on. This is something that um our AVID site team has been talking about for many years before my time. Um in just seeing need and the benefits that our our AVID elective students get from going through the process of AVID through sixth grade from sixth grade all the way through uh to FDR. Um we do have these resources available um to all of our staff and over the years Mr. shock and share there has been a lot of AVID professional development you know but as he said before people retire we get new folks um and so while we do have a solid uh cohort of AVID trained staff here um
088it's implemented in classes beyond the elective inconsistently and differently um so our AVID site team did do a site visit to Ann Morner Middle School in Austining where they do implement this uh gradewide in sixth grade and also in seventh um to do a little exploration of how this could benefit our students um and really wanting to fill one of those study hall slots um with an instructional period rather than a supervisory period. >> And so in those other districts, they view it as a success. >> Yes, absolutely. I really um in speaking with the teachers and the administration and Dornner specifically, they really do see the impact of how students can then translate these skills in their other classes. >> Okay, good. Thank you. Any other uh questions, comments? >> So, obviously, this would
089be a non-graded class and it would take the place of study halls from what you said. Yeah, I think that's great. That's what I was wondering about. To me, study halls are complete waste of time for for students and if you have something like this where they're getting skills, that's so much better. So, uh so that's great to hear and maybe it'll expand, you know, up the chain. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> I just want to say having spent a few years in the investment industry, I'm thrilled to see basic financial concepts being taught. All I hear people don't make enough money is no, you just spend more than you make and you need to >> learn how to do a budget and the earlier the better. >> And that's a new requirement
090also from the state that needs to start being embedded into our uh instructional program. Um it will also support students when they go into seventh grade into their laws classes as well, giving them a little bit more foundation. >> Okay, thank you. >> Thanks very much. Thank you very much. >> Thanks. All right. Moving on to 10.1, our uh public participation. Can I get a motion to enter our first public participation? >> Second. Christine. >> All those in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carried. Just a reminder, we got a total of three minutes per speaker for a total of 21 minutes will be allotted. Participation uh let's see, we ask that each uh participant provide name and address and that all comments are courteous and respectful of all. Would anyone like to address the board?
091Uh, hello. My name's Roman Eton, Free Stoutberg Drive, Hide Park, New York. Um, I just think the AVID course is a really neat idea because I remember back when I was in sixth grade, I had like two or three study halls and like maybe in the first or second one, you're doing something, but by the third one, you're just playing games on your Chromebook. So, I think it would be a really good opportunity to uh teach students important skills and get them ready for life as they move ahead. Thank you. Would anyone else like to address the board? Okay, at this time we'll close public participation and uh thank you Mr. Peton for those comments. All right, moving on to 11.1 board subcommittee reports and prof professional development updates. I think policy met you're getting
092a bunch of policies, a lot of financial stuff, mostly just updating language and got rid of >> what? got rid of a couple of old ones that were included in another one. >> Okay. Uh save committee met. >> Yep. Save committee met on November 19th. Um I want to just make a comment. There's um Melissa Lawson is the uh chair with co-chair with Dan Hurley. And I just want to say what a great job Dan Hurley does as a school psychologist. Um really oversees a big portion of the safety committee. Um he's really really passionate about student safety. Um and that comes through in our meetings. So, we had um a meeting and just I feel like I need to repeat this that it it's a meeting that has representatives from every building in the
093district um in and it includes uh representatives from our local police and fire. So, they're all in the meeting and it's a really uh collaborative tone where people are bringing up observations and and and a lot of people are chiming in on why what's happening and why it's happening. So, it's really a an interesting and productive process. Um, some of the topics we talked about were this the security vestibules and updates on that and walkie-talkies. Um, not a lot that we can I can really really share. Vestibules uh badge readers was one of the things. North Park's parking lot has lighting now. I believe that's complete. Um, and um locking doors in unoccupied rooms. We're trying to streamline some safety protocols. Um but yeah, that's that's pretty much the gist of it. But just want
094to say great job Dan Hurley on all his work that he does for us. >> All right. Thank you. Uh Duchess County School Board. >> The Duchess County School Boards Association met on December 4th, last Thursday evening. It was an in-person meeting at the beautiful DC Boseis conference room. Uh the invitation went out to all board members. Um our colleague Katie actually joined us and it was great seeing her there. Uh we had a big presentation. Um, besides our normal business, we had Patrick Longo who was from the school boards association and he gave a presentation about special needs students, not only from what he's seen in the fields visiting hundreds of districts across the state, but also personal um reflections for himself and his own student. And um really with the eye of explaining
095again, you know, some of these uh needs that board members might not be aware of even if you are educated in special ed law. For example, he was talking about how there is not a set definition still for dyslexia and uh that makes it hard sometimes in uh IEP meetings to uh to give modifications of different sorts. He also shared that um you know in most employers medical insurance plans hearing um issues are not covered by most plans and so forth and you know a lot of board members who are in the room weren't aware of those type things. So it was a lively discussion. It was uh something that um we got a lot of feedback on. Um Gully, our own Gully Stamfords was also in the meeting. He's on the uh school boards
096association and he's our secret weapon for advocating to our local politicians and so forth. So it was a great meeting and it was good to see such a turnout. Okay, thank you. Any other committees? >> One other thing I just wanted to mention um in regard to technology committee. The technology committee didn't meet um in the last couple weeks, but I was selected to participate by New York State in the AP computer science standard setting um that's going on statewide right now. They're uh calculating scores and so forth and how scores should be calculated on the new computer science AP exam. I did that on Tuesday and Wednesday and that's something I'll bring back to our technology committee um as feedback. That's why I mentioned it. >> Okay. All right. Moving on to board discussion
097including consent agenda items. Any any board discussion? Consent agenda item. All right. At this time, we'll move on to 12.1. Can I get a motion uh to approve tonight's consent agenda? >> So moved. Call >> second. Margaret. >> All those in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carried. Moving on to new business 13.1, first consideration for course addition for for AVID that we just saw. Can I get a motion? So moved >> second Christine. Any discussion? >> All those in favor? >> I >> opposed. Motion carried. >> 13.2 uh capital SQ resolution for energy product amendment at Ralph R. Smith for abatement. Can I get a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. Christine. >> Any discussion? All those in favor? I >> opposed. Motion carried. 13.3 Capital Honeywell Energy Performance Contract Amendment number one change order
098one. Can I get a motion? >> So moved. Carl >> seconded. >> Any discussion? All those in favor? >> I >> opposed. Motion carried. uh capital project change order phase 3B. That's part of the $35.7 million phase 3B. Can I get a motion to approve the change order? >> So moved Christine. >> Second, Margaret. >> Any discussion? All those in favor? >> I opposed. >> Motion carried. Tax exempt lease with TD Bank. Can I get a motion for that? So moved Christine >> second Carl. >> Any discussion? >> All those in favor? >> I opposed. >> Motion carried. >> 13.6 is the volunteer firefighters and ambulance workers partial tax exemption. Can I get a motion? >> Some move. Margaret. >> Second. Christine. >> All those in favor? I >> I opposed. Motion carried. And 13.7,
099there's an appeal for an impartial herring decision. 651470. Can I get a motion for that? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? All those in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carried. All right. Can I get a motion to enter our second public participation? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor? I >> I >> opposed. Motion carried. >> Would anyone like to address the board? Same rules apply. Three minutes per speaker, but it'll be limited to 12 minutes. You moved farther away from the last time. Yes, it is. Now, I missed what you said, Mr. Chairman. >> I said you moved farther away from >> Yes. Well, actually, there's an acoustic dead spot right there. And so, uh, fortunately, the boother speakers at the back um, make every word uh, every treasured word
100um, audible. But I did find myself struggling a little to hear what was being said, sitting right there in the front rows. Um, Gully Stanford, 181 uh Marshall Road. Um, very proud uh uh Hide Park resident. Uh, three quick things uh this evening. First of all, just congratulations on this. I'm a 35-y year veteran of the regional theater movement, and I know how absolutely vital it is to the creativity of our youth to provide them with the facilities you've done here, not just in one space, but also uh in the high school as well. Uh it's a magnificent magnificent achievement. It only underscores uh Hyde Park's u contribution you commitment to both the visual uh and the performing arts. So all congratulations on that and it was wonderful to hear the presentation about our students
101who have made that connection between creativity and citizenship which is a hallmark. So I think Franklin and Elellanar are probably very proud uh of the Hide Park Schools uh this evening. Secondly, just from uh uh Boseis um as you know um I'm your representative on the Boseis board and uh just we had a wonderful report uh this last uh week from um Dr. Deluchia, our marvelous um district uh superintendent. Um, and for the first time in in in our history, an interim uh or in living memory, an interim uh report on how we're doing against the goals uh to which you as a community contributed, if you remember last year as we did our strategic plan. Thank you for that. We're really believe that we're moving uh forward with a a wonderful new organizational uh
102setup. the Dr. Chart that Dr. uh Delucia is overseeing um of course um we we we we'd always want to know if we are meeting the expectations uh of uh of our um of of our component districts. So uh but at this point um we're very proud of the fact that we believe we are on track and doing doing adding some uh uh uh good things as well. We're doing a 10th year a 10th grade exploratory for students to come and take a look uh at what's available in career technical. We've added dual enrollment. Uh that was an interesting issue over a couple of years and now that seems to be coming together and we really uh appreciate our number one customer which of course is the hide park schools. And then finally, just to
103advocacy, I do want to thank uh uh Trustee Spence for his exemplary chairmanship uh of the Duchess County School Boards Association. By the way, uh those uh monthly meetings, anybody can tune in on them. And um I'm very pleased that they've instituted now a uh uh the habit of uh Jod Deluchia uh comes to each of these meetings and does do an update from uh from the Boseies because we do want to make sure that our communications with you obviously the superintendent work so closely and the staff uh with our superintendent and staff and I think 1,700 people actually attended uh professional development day uh that we pioneered there just recently. But it's good for the trustees to know as well I think uh what we are trying to do and also to be able
104for us to hear um your your concerns and then um thanks to the school boards association and uh NISBA. Yes, we've got some exciting uh advocacy issues. Um probably on the front burner uh just to conclude, thank you for your tolerance, Mr. President. Uh but on the front burner is this whole question of making um the special education of our preschool students affordable uh because the rates that are set at the state level and at the county level um are not uh uh uh sufficient uh to be able to bring in the service providers which in turn results in an unnecessary expense to you uh uh as as as as a district. So, we're very pleased to say that um the county legislature uh is uh u u uh committed to taking a look at
105the county match or the uh county contribution uh towards the rates for um special education preschool. Uh we've had a chance to talk about it at the school boards association. We'll keep you posted as it goes uh forward because obviously the county legislature um we we all know how to interact with those legislators and hopefully they will look favorably on our recommendations. It's such an honor to represent you uh and um to be a a resident uh of Hyde Park at a time of such um great progress being made uh by you here uh for our students. Thank you very much. Thank you. Anyone else like to address the board? At this time, we'll close public participation. Thank you, Gully, for the comments. Appreciate it. Um, any other matters deemed necessary by the board? Um,
106I don't think we need a second exec, right? No second exec. So, can I get a motion to adjurnn tonight's meeting? >> So, moved it. >> Second, Christine. >> All those in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carried. Meeting adjourned.