001All right, good evening everyone. Um, today is um, Thursday, September 25th. Welcome to tonight's Hide Park Central School District Board of Education meeting. I'd like to call tonight's meeting to order. At this time, can I get a motion to adjurnn to executive session for the purpose of discussing promotion, discipline, suspension, dismissal, or removal of a particular person or persons? >> So move. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I oppose. >> Motion carry. We're now in executive session. This is This is tools. All right. Good evening everyone. At this time, I'd like to return to open session. And if we can please rise 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,
002indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. >> We have no modifications of the agenda. So, can I get a motion to adopt tonight's agenda? >> So, moved, Christine. >> Second, Tibis. >> All those in favor? >> Opposed? Motion carried. Uh 5.1 upcoming events. Uh the only thing on the calendar is October 9th is our next board of education meeting at district office and open session begins at 7 p.m. Uh moving on to 6.1 Pride. >> Um so at FDR they would like to acknowledge all the students and staff that are participating in spirit week for homecoming. They are also looking forward to a great homecoming game Friday and a dance on Saturday night. Ralph FAR had removed the staff nights last week which about 62% of families attended. This is up almost 10%
003from the year before. And then coming up in the next few days, they have picture day on October 1st and fire safety day on October 6th. And then lastly at Violet Avenue, Mrs. Ellis ENL students have been learning about Hispanic Heritage Month, which started on September 15th and ends October 15th. Each week the students in grades second through fifth have been and will be listening to voodoo alouds, learning about the countries that celebrate and up learning about famous people such as Rita, Roberto Fanti and that >> it all right. Thank you. You have anything else? >> Yes. So I do have some pride here and I'm glad to see this scholar here with us today. So I wish I had a picture of him today because he's looking really sharp. But uh on behalf of
004the entire uh central high park central school district, I'd like to congratulate Roman Peton on his achievement as a national merit scholarship semifinalist. For those of you that may not be aware uh of the magnitude of this achievement, uh 16,000 students are selected across the nation, which is less than 1% of all the students in public education, which is over 49 million students. So, I just want to congratulate him for that huge accomplishment. And let's give him a round of applause. >> Gentlemen, that that's a testament to all the hard work, dedication that you're putting into your studies. Continue to to to to do great things. We we look forward to hearing about all the great things you'll be doing in the future. Um, and the second item that I do want to recognize is
005that our school district has been selected um to be part of the League of Innovation. um which is a a organization. It's a global nonprofit uh working to expand opportunities for every learner by bridging solutions across research, practice and technology. Uh we were selected from a competitive pool of of school districts across the nation uh based on our educational leadership. Um demonstration uh toward commitment to excellence, innovation in terms of vision for for school districts, uh different achieve achievements and a collaborative spirit. Um, so we're looking forward to the opportunities that come with this uh accomplishment um and this this network of of different schools that are looking to to reimagine uh education to continue to prepare our students for for the future. Um, so I just want to thank a number of individuals that
006that um helped me in the interview process. There was an interview process and we didn't even know we were going to be interviewed. So I want to thank Melissa who was part of it. uh Rick uh work who was also part uh of the uh interview process and I'm just looking forward to the possibilities from this network of of great leaders across the nation. And at this time I'm going to turn it over to Melissa Lawson, our assistant superintendent for student supports. >> Thank you. Have um Joanna Murphy to join me at the podium. Oh, and Jen Melia, thank you. >> So, we're very excited to recognize two staff members today for our portrait of an educator. And um we want to highlight our employees who ha exhibit the the character traits that we're looking
007for including confident learner, responsible citizen, critical thinker, adaptable innovator, and effective communicator. So um this this month we are recognizing folks from our special education department. So, I'm going to turn things over to Joanna who has a few words to say about each awardee this evening. >> Thank you everyone. I'm Joanna Murphy, director of special education. And I'm going to talk a little bit about one of our awardes tonight and Jen Melissa, our coordinator for the secondary special education program. We'll talk about our other ones. Um, so the mission of the HUD Park Central School District is to empower all learners to be successful members of our dynamic society. In our district, there is someone who quietly but consistently works really hard to move that mission forward. Um, and that person is Terry Scott, the
008senior account clerk assigned to the special education department. As a confident learner, Terry has developed extensive knowledge of all things budget related. She has learned to navigate the very complex world of special education financing and makes it look easy. She really works hard with me to bring my vision for special education to life in our district. As a critical thinker, she's always a few steps ahead, anticipating our needs and being very solution focused, attacking any challenges that we face to get students what they need. She's an effective communicator. She's responsive, approachable. Um, our special education staff in the buildings know they can always count on her for equipment, supplies, um, any resource they need to meet the needs of our students. She's a responsible citizen, taking her role extremely seriously. She um, she understands the
009weight of her responsibility to get students what they need. She acts as a sense of duty. Um, and it's not for recognition. It's because she really does care. Um, she's an adaptive innovator, problem solver. She has streamlined processes, invented systems, um, has an incredible skill set, and has helped our office run efficiently. Um, and Terry's going to be retiring in a year, which we celebrate for her. uh but we know that her absence will leave a void in our office and she's the type of employee who makes a lasting impact not just through her work but through her devotion to our district. None of us know what we would do without Terry. I'm gonna talk a little bit about Kathy that as a secondary coordinator I get to work with her regularly and I'm very
010lucky. So Kathy Kathy consistently places students at the heart of everything she does. Through frequent and empathetic communication, she builds strong relationships with her students, their families, and her colleagues. In the classroom, she excels with differentiated instruction and serves as a model in the area of co-eing. Kathy embraces change and new challenges with ease, always doing it with a positive attitude and a smile. We're all very lucky to to work with Kathy and have her donate. teaching. >> Love it. Love it. >> You want to do pictures or >> Yeah, let's Is that okay? >> Are you sure? >> Yeah, we always do. Let's do it. Yeah. And then also take a picture. You can do it. [Laughter] >> You want to separate it? Good. Thank you. All right. with you. [Music] >> All right,
011moving on to 7.1 uh our superintendent report. >> So, I have a couple of uh announcements. uh first and foremost um for our student uh leaders across the district, we will begin the superintendent student advisory council. Again, I'm really looking forward to that. Applications have been sent out to students. So for those that are are new to this um students actually complete an application so that they can be student leaders in their respective schools and uh we have an opportunity to listen to some of their concerns some of the things that they want to do to improve student experiences at each of the schools. So I'm really excited um about our work this year. Uh secondly um I want to share that I had the opportunity to participate in a superintendent roundt at Sunni new
012um focus on the science of of reading. Uh we had an opportunity to meet with the president uh Dr. Wheeler and uh several um district superintendent from the area and we were really talking about some of the challenges um that we're currently facing, some of the opportunities with the new initiatives uh coming from the state and how can we kind of work together in partnership to address some of the some of those challenges. Um so we're really looking forward to ongoing conversation around some of those areas that we've outlined. And then uh lastly, I want to uh just say thank you to our teachers, thank you to our support staff, thank you to our leaders. Uh I really feel that we've we are off to a really good start to the school year. Um, our
013teachers are working very hard to implement a new reading program and we've seen some amazing work uh already taking place with student engagement in our classes and just looking forward to the amazing things that are going to happen uh with the district focusing on literacy across across um the system. Um, I do want to just acknowledge that, you know, w with every new school year, we have new students and some students do need a little bit more love, a little bit more attention, a little bit more support, and and our staff are willing to roll up their sleeves um and and do that difficult work. Uh sometimes, you know, students are exhibiting behaviors that that they're looking for ways to communicate and sometimes it doesn't align with um school um appropriate behaviors. And so we
014really have to kind of work together to help them to teach them behaviors or skills that need to be learned. similar to reading, similar to um you know when you go to a doctor, you know, you're looking to address something, some sort of ailment and they're doing some uh some work around uh identifying what the issue is, prescribing interventions and strategies and then monitoring that. Um and so that's what our our teams are doing. Um, and and I I I do understand that sometimes that's a challenge for for staff and recognizing the fact that it is hard work. Um, but we have kids in front of us. That's why we do what we do. Um, and so just continuing to work in collaboration. We are fortunate to have such a strong people personnel support team
015with counselors, uh, social workers, psychologists in every school. That is that's amazing. uh for our district to have that level of support in our schools, but we do know that some some additional uh students do need a little bit more attention and support and and that's why we're here. Um so just want to say thank you to all the staff um that do that work on the front lines and you know their their hard work doesn't go unnoticed and we appreciate you know them always putting kids first. Um that concludes my my items. >> Okay. Any anyone from cabinet? >> Two two small items. Um on tonight's uh new business is the guidance advisory plan for this school year. I want to acknowledge all the hard hard work that Melissa Reer has done to get
016that um up and running. and it aligns now with our New York State uh commissioner's regulations and the national ASA model. So, we're excited about that. It also um makes sure that every single lesson that our school counselors are engaged in and intervention is intentionally designed to uh promote specific skills and competencies. So, um, we're really thrilled that this this is all coming together to support our students. Um, and then I just wanted to highlight that um, our director of special education, Joanna Murphy, who's here tonight, is receiving tenure this evening. >> And, you know, she's she's just an amazing partner to work with. So, I appreciate having her on our team. >> That concludes our items. >> Okay, >> moving on to 7.2. Uh, registration and enrollment. Is >> it registration or enrollment or
017summer program? >> The agenda it's registration. We'll go and we'll go with registration first. >> I'll have to scroll through. >> Okay. Good evening everyone. Um, I'm Melissa Lawson, assistant superintendent for student supports, and I'm very excited to have uh my colleague Ola Forcell here tonight, who is our new student supports liaison and oversees the registration department. So we are here to talk about enrollment and registration and all of the very important and uh crucial work that we do in that department as we are most often the very first contact a family has with our district. So it's a very important role that we take very seriously and we exhibit our mission and vision every day when we're working with our families. So the registration department consists of myself now Ola and uh Kelly Budai
018and Lzette Rivera who are student records assistants and work directly with families. Okay. So just like most departments and activities that happen in school district, there are regulations involved. There are laws, regulations, rules, general best practice, procedures and policies. So some of the high higher level policy overreaching regulations for to attend the school district would be the person over the age of five and under the age of 22 has not received a high school diploma is entitled to attend the public school where they reside. school district are not obligated to provide an education to non-residents, but there's provisions for this under the Mckini Bento act, which I'll speak to a little bit in a moment, and that covers students that experience homelessness or temporary housing. The board of education sets policy regarding the acceptance of
019non-residents and if you want to look that up on boards there is a policy number 5112 that speaks to the specific policies for high park central school district. The school district have the right to question resident the residency to determine the obligations to provide an education or educational services. What this means is we have the right to contact parents to reach out should it come to light that maybe the student doesn't really live where they were registered at. And this this provide us with a a way where we can lawfully contact people and and just and sort this sort things out. Basically over the summer we had 106 student they exited and that does not include the seniors and there's 166 students that enrolled and that enrolled and that is not prek or kindergarten. In
020order to accommodate accommodate all of this, we need to have a process a registration process in place. And some of the basic steps that this process follows is at the point of registration, the family must provide the following. Proof of age, a birth certificate, passport, and a New York State ID card. Proof of immunization, proof of residency. ResMDSC has a number of subcategories. And if you're homeowner, you get a school of property tax bill or current build for utilities or something similar to that at your address. If you're a renter in a in an apartment complex, you present your signed lease and one current recurring bill for some form of utilities. If you rent from a private owner, we ask for a current lease and the owner school and property tax bill and one recurring
021bill for that address. So this is for most case our utilities. If if there's no formal lease in place, it doesn't exist, then we ask that people fill out the residency affidavit. It needs to be notorized, which we have a notary here in the in the building. So, it's you pretty easy. It doesn't it doesn't slow things down too much. The Mckin Vento act that I mentioned earlier for unhouse students or students in temporary housing was originally implemented as an effort by the US government in the 19 in the 80s to address housing and and provide services and facilities for homeless people and a and a path forward towards permanent housing. It was later amended to include the right for homeless kids to the have the same right to the same public education as any
022other children. So students experiencing homelessness or in temporary housing are entitled to enroll without the required documentation and that is refers to the documentation that is mentioned in the registration process. Homelessness is defined as individuals who lack fixed, regular, or adequate nighttime housing. If you ever look up some anything about the Mckinto Act, these three things are going to come up all the time. Fixed, regular, and adequate. Fixed simply refers to your your housing has to be attached to the ground. It can't be mobile. So if if you're living in a tent, it's not permanently fixed to the ground. That's what that speaks to. Regular means is just a regular place where you return for your nighttime as your nighttime residence and and you know you you go you go back regularly and it's adequate
023encompasses a wide variety of things. But it means simple. Do you have electricity? Is there heating? And it it's it's quite broad. It's even, you know, we'll take into consideration, are you sleeping on a couch? You know, if you're staying with somebody, if you're staying with a friend, you're sleeping on the couch, it's not considered adequate. School selection either school of origin if if within 50 miles or local school, whichever is in the best interest of the students. This means the student can stay at the school that where they were when they became homeless or they can choose to go to school in the location they're currently at. Mckento guarantees educational rights and supports for students experiencing homelessness. It provides access to the same free and appropriate public education as provided to the children um
024to other children in and this includes preschool as well these days. It's intended to remove all barriers that could result in student missing and the students missing curricular learning opportunities. The determination that this student is ineligible for McKinto or under McKinto is done by the regist registration department and the Mckina leazison throughout the year. We continue the registration office continues to follow up with the children that are experiencing temporary housing right over their their their families to make one to make sure that they have the services they need and also to you know best case scenario update their registration because they now have permanent housing. >> Well did you you said that the requirements are are waved. Is it just the residency requirement or is it the proof of age and immunization? Is all of
025that waved? >> Initially everything is waved there. The only purpose is to get them into school. After that had happened, they need still they still need to provide the immunization which here in High Park we do by I by contact the nurses for the event of the liome and the nurse helps the students provides resources every day. So eventually we do collect the information that we need but it's not required upfront in order for the student to start school. And lastly here is just u just some numbers to give you an idea what we're dealing with. And 23 24 we had 116 students that were homeless at some point. Last school year 135. This year we're down to 120. And then we have some the foster care numbers here in comparison which is which are
026lower. We got more unhoused kids and kids in temporary house have been in foster care. >> Thank you. And I'll just add that the 120 for this year will change as the year goes on because you know new students come in all the time and uh family circumstances change over time. So um we monitor that closely and uh Oola is our McKenna Vento liaison. So he is working directly with families and uh with agencies to provide resources to support families. And we do receive funding through um grants and through um title grants as well for home families experiencing homelessness so that we can get them any supplies that they need to start the school year. Um, we also provide transportation. So even if they are placed out of district, their school of origin was Hyde
027Park, we do send a bus to bring them to and from school and to and from any activities that they participate in. So we don't want to pro we want to eliminate barriers rather than putting them up. So um I just wanted to provide some updated data regarding enrollment. So I provided a list of the past three years. The numbers for each building are just that what the enrollment was at the beginning of each school year. The district total includes all of the numbers above it plus any outofd district placements or students with disabilities that may be ours but don't attend our schools here in High Park. So you'll notice um that our enrollment has changed from um to 2023 to current. uh there's a difference of 48 students enrolled district-wide. Um and then our
028outofd district students, there's a decrease of 66 over the course of three years. So we are pretty steady in our enrollment. There aren't any drastic changes, but I will note that there are changes at Ralph R. Smith and Violet Avenue this current year because we changed some programs around for uh special education. So, we did move three classrooms from Ralph R. Smith to Violet Avenue. So, you may notice uh some slight changes there. As far as enrollment goes, I also wanted to highlight our graduating seniors and our incoming kindergarteners because they kind of balance each other out every year, but um we did have our graduating seniors there. The numbers are listed there. And where it says plus 3 SACCC, uh the graduating seniors, the number 232, 250, and 242 indicates the regents and local
029diplomas. But we also have special education students who receive the skills and achievement uh commencement credential. And those are for students who um are alternately assessed and have significant disabilities and um weren't able to um achieve a region or local diploma. So I wanted to recognize those numbers as well. And uh much like the previous enrollment slide, the incoming kindergarten numbers include the building numbers, but the total includes students who are placed out of district. So for example, our kindergarteners placed out of district, the difference between the number uh the total of 205 students at in the buildings versus 211 in September of 2023. there are six kindergarteners that were placed out of district that year. The year of 2024, there were five kindergarteners placed out of district and this year we have 12. So,
030um I think that's important to note and highlight. We also uh to deal with registration for our UPK program. We do have 68 spots at HPE. And over the past couple of years, we've been really fortunate that we were add able to add 17 additional slots at Holy Trinity Annex. So we can now accept 95 students there. So, our numbers for enrollment are listed there for the past three years. We tend to fill up uh and have a waiting list this year. We haven't quite reached that mark yet for Holy Trinity annex, but uh typically we do in the in the fall. Any questions about enrollment and registration? So, we have these enrollment studies done I think what every five years or some kind how how do our actual numbers stack up against what they
031put in that enrollment study? >> That's a great question. Um, we are currently engaged in an enrollment study I believe right? Um so we we had the enrollment study completed I think the end of uh 23 24 and we're currently engaged in an attendance boundary. >> Thank you. Yeah. >> But I I don't know the current uh projections that we have or for 10 years. I'm not sure how the uh 202425 or 2526 line up with the projection. >> Yeah, we can look at that. be interesting to see if it's somewhat accurate. >> Right. Right. Any other questions? >> All right. Now, we got to go back to the other ones. Absolutely. >> So, um we wanted to take a little bit of time this evening to share our summer programs with everyone and um
032Megan Delisandre is coming up to join me as well as she was one of our principles for one of our summer programs. We ran some robust programs this year and added some new features. So, we're excited to share about that. Um, so at FDR, we had our summer program and this was really twofold. It was uh regions prep for uh students who needed to take the regents again in the summer and it was also about credit recovery. So, uh, Monica Contrarus was our principal. It wasn't at FDR because of construction, so it was at Havlin Middle School this year. And she did a wonderful job of managing the day-to-day operations for the six-week program. Uh, the region's pass rate is listed here, as well as the classes that she that were able we were able
033to offer. over the summer. Um, typically our pass rates for regions exams in the summer are not uh comparable to during the school year. Um, most students who are taking them uh struggled to pass the first time. We're trying to give them a boost and support them uh and give them an opportunity to take it again. So, um yes, >> these are these are summer passports. >> Yes. and be interesting to know at some point how that changes the overall customer. >> Yeah. So when we listen to Mike Ruella's presentation, we can build some of that in and talk about comparisons for sure. >> Yeah. >> At Havland, we had Summerbridge. It was run by Andre McKvitt, one of our teachers from Havlin Middle School, who's also a certified administrator. and she was very um
034excited to offer students interesting experiences that were really um around project-based learning and getting them excited to come to school and learn over the summer, which is a hard pill to swallow sometimes for for our middle school friends. So, um, she did a lot of community outreach to bring in, uh, community resources to support students and get them excited. And, um, I believe Mr. Tibbitz, your, um, animals were part of that experience. >> See them up there? >> Yeah. Um, so she she had a a great experience with our students and uh got a lot of positive feedback about the experience and I'm going to invite Megan up to talk a little bit about Elementary Summer Bridge. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. Thank you for your time tonight. Um I was eager when Melissa
035had asked if I could join uh because I've been doing the summer program excitedly for the past three summers and I've seen a shift. We've come from Violet Avenue over to North Park. Um we were there even with construction this summer which which added a little bit of an adventure. Um but I wanted to just share some of the goals of the program when I meet with the teachers every year. Um and they've evolved slightly. So the goals that we really try to celebrate and push during the summer programming are up here. We're looking obviously to strengthen foundational skills um academically but keeping students engaged because it is summer. They're there. We want it to be fun, relevant, real um and applicable. So, it really is done um it's a little different and I had
036some of the board members were there and the project- based learning created opportunities and excitement that I think um are not comparable to some of the excitement that comes just from reading an article or a book or just doing a math problem. Um we also believe that the summerbridge program is great for easing that transition between grade levels. Um it's a good way for some of our students who might be more reluctant to come to school to continue with consistency and routines um and just seeing familiar faces. Um and the last piece that we talk about is reinforcing essential concepts and literacy, math, and problem solving but building these real world context. So our students if they are a tiered student receiving academic intervention services and they're at the summerbridge program, they do receive that
037daily 30 minutes of um reading or math support. They also if they're an English native language learner speaker um we had Miss Ellis working in the program and all of those students received their um like a modified version of what they would receive every day of that um English language learning acquisition. Um and I just included some of the pictures up here um the projects just a quick that was it was a lot of fun um and I know Dr. Roman joined us one day. Um I know I Margaret, we had Katie there. We had a whole bunch of people and the the timing couldn't be better. We were looking at construction, but we got to see a planet parade um of our kindergarteners. So every week um they learned about a new planet and
038at the end of the program they had to create their own planet. Um and some of them were simply like Roblox planet and others were a little more complex. Um but they really could tell you what the features were on these planets as they marched around very proudly. um our third grade class they that's up there they all chose a landmark so every week they went to different parts of the world and that final week they actually worked to kind of create a museum exhibit the teacher uh Miss Pankosti and Miss Hardroves taught that class they actually invited every class down um they got plane tickets so we kind of built out this traveling experience they had a passport and our third graders would proudly sit there handing out these passport stamps sharing their constructed
039object but also I mean the excitement as they told you about Big Ben where the Roman coliseum was beyond um beyond exciting. Um they all had to show everybody everything. Um so it was really great learning. Um you know fairy tales in first grade, habitats in second grade. There was a lot of really great work that was theme- based that really build vocabulary skills and real real true hands-on experiences um while also building in reading and math. We did have 208 students enrolled. that is lower than it's been in the past three years. Um we only had 189 students finish the program. Um and I share that with you because I've had conversations throughout the summer um with Dr. Roman, with Melissa just about and and even with the teachers about feedback um and every
040time a parent kind of pulled from the program or guardian, we would ask why um because we thought that was important. And and 95% of the time it was and and if you're a parent in the district or you're here, the program runs for two and a half hours a day. So, there's an AM option and a PM option. And our AM option is 8 to 10:30, which is an hour and 20 minutes earlier than our normal elementary school day. Um, and most parents are at work at 10:30. Um, and option B was in the afternoon. So, getting if you're a working family member, how are you going to get your child to us? Um, and so that usually was the biggest barrier that we found. Um, and you know, I've been talking, we're excited
041for opportunities to strengthen the program. Um, the other piece that parents said was some of the students didn't want a school program. They wanted the fun stuff and I'm quoting that. Um, and we talked a little bit about like the Lego program being a really big draw. So, we are, you know, I grabbed that feedback from the the teachers, from families. Um, and I share that here because I'm excited about the opportunity area, whether it's myself or another, um, you know, colleague running that program. I think we really have an opportunity to continue doing learning like this. um that's fun, that's engaging, um and and just keeping kids, you know, moving forward. Uh but that that's that is something I do share as we work to build that. And the last piece that I did
042want to share was um you know, I know Melissa shared data. It's it's a little easier, I think, to find data in a high school setting in a summer program. Um, so we're also exploring ways in 12 days, two and a half hours, it was hard to assess and get data, true data that showed is this really preventing summer slide. Is this really benefiting truly our students in the reading skills or math skills? And you know, I feel strongly in saying yes, but the data it doesn't exist to back that up as of now. So, part of those conversations I look forward to being part of are um just how do we how do we show families the benefit of the summer programming and how do we how do we show our teachers and our
043staff that this is truly worthwhile. Um because I was there every day and I believe in my heart of hearts it was. Um so just working to to navigate those next steps. Um thank you. >> Did you say it was 12 days long? >> 12 days Monday to Thursday which was another piece of it which some families really like for three-day weekends. um which does help on one end, but again, if you're a working parent, that last day and having to find child care >> for that hanging Friday is was a little bit of a sticking point for some of them. Um so, it's just 12 days is the rest of the summer. What do we do with our child? Um so, just a lot of feedback, really great feedback and excited to go back
044to the table and help. >> And how is how is enrollment determined? Is it open enrollment? >> It's open enrollment. Um wants it. Yeah. As much as we say we close it, I will tell you I was taking I was taking kids in. I mean, we were working at transportation. I'm just going to give them a huge shout out. I would call, we'd get kids on the bus within a day or two. Um, as long as there was room because we did smaller buses since air conditioning could be done. Um, but we were taking students if they called and they wanted to be there, we wanted to get them there. Um, so it is open. Uh, classes were under like 14 students for each class. So, it was a really good intimate environment for learning.
045Um, but something that I think we could really enhance as a district to continue to see our our students learn to read better, write better, be stronger in math, and just more confident learners. Any other Yeah, >> this is a a June program. I'm sorry, July program. >> This is July. >> July. >> Yeah, the July. >> If you if you're trying to transition and help students prepare for the for the next year, I know if everyone thought about the timing of it, the closer to the start of school might actually make some more sense. >> Yeah. No, that's a great a great point. And another there was I mean and the teachers in the program I mean a huge shout out to them. There's a picture of us there. We did spirit days every
046Thursday trying to build excitement about school this summer. Um and this was our wear your school colors day so that everybody felt included. Um the teachers had some great feedback too um about how in their minds and some of them had been doing this program since before summerbridge looked like this. Um just in their minds what could this look like? So I've collected all that and again I really look forward to sharing that with Melissa, Dr. Roman and and the team to figure out what we can do to just build this program up. >> Yeah. >> The only thing I would other thing I would do is I would really strongly support the the notion of trying to develop some assessment to the system. >> Abs. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. Definitely. Thank you. All right.
047Thank you. In addition, we had Camp Invention led by Kim Nisel. And a few years ago, we added a second week to this program because it was super popular. It's very hands-on. Kids are engaged in STEM activities throughout the day. and uh she just wanted me to highlight that one of our one of the students who was in the program her his sister came to visit and she is the 2025 Miss Black United States a former student of ours Miss uh Ilhani Kre and she came and spoke to the students and the students were very excited about that um and we just wanted to Thank all of the staff that are involved in Camp Invention, but also all the students who come back to volunteer for Camp Invention. So, a lot of our high school
048students and even college students come back because it's such a positive experience for them. Um, so we wanted to highlight that. New this year was our LEGO program and this was fully funded by our stronger connections grant and it ran for a week at Havlin Middle School. We were able to support four classrooms with 58 students altogether and it was all about Lego robotics. So kids were able to design different creations based on challenges they were given and create moving objects to solve problems. So I know Margaret came and visited. The kids were so excited and it was really nice to see so many female students engaged in STEM activities as well. and the staff were just as excited as the kids. Uh so we are looking to continue that in the future and just
049some feedback from teachers. Kids were excited to come back every day. Uh students became faster and more confident each day. It was really nice to see our female students taking to coding. And our students felt great to make new friends and build Legos together. I liked building my hopper and racing it with my friends. Um, so they had a great time and uh I had the pleasure of being the administrator overseeing that and it was it was just awesome to be there and uh get my kid fix over the summer. I don't get that as much anymore. Um, so we are looking forward to using those kits throughout the school year as well. We don't just want those kits sitting on a shelf waiting for next summer. So, we are currently um talking about ways
050that we can get those kits into the hands of kids throughout the school year as well. And we are already planning for the summer of 2026. And some of the things that we are considering is offering a full day option for elementary students. You heard Megan talk about the fact that it is a hardship for families to commit to a two-hour program. So it gives us the opportunity to think creatively and a little bit outside the box around how we can engage our students for a full day program. And some of the things that we're talking about are having an academic piece in the morning and then having an enrichment piece in the afternoon that they can choose from a wide variety of selections. So I'm working with directors right now to identify what those
051possibilities could include including inter murals uh sports activities, music activities, STEM activities, uh book clubs. so that we're we're in engaging and interesting a wide variety of students. So, we will certainly share as we get closer to putting out uh information about summer programs, but we are fortunate that we we do have some funding available through Stronger Connections that we can tie into some of this work. And finally, the other piece as as Megan mentioned and highlighted, we really want to be collecting data on how we are having an impact on our students. And that's a piece that's been missing from our elementary and middle school summer programs. So, we have a lot of good data collection tools that we can build into our summer programs. We just haven't. And it does take time out
052of instruction to do meaningful assessments, but if we move to a full day model, we're going to have that time to do that work. And um I really want to know that we're having an impact on our students achievement and feelings about coming to school. So that's those are some of the things we're going to be working on. >> Any questions? I apologize if you said this and I missed it. The particularly for the the the STEM and the Lego sorry camp invention and and Lego. Uh what grades were those? Were those elementary schools primarily? >> Yes, they are geared towards elementary because >> uh well Lego sorry Lego we had uh six through eight students there as well. >> That's good. You the data are pretty clear that that we lose young women in
053the STEM fields in those middle school years. So, if we really want to support our young women in STEM, we really need to be thinking about the the middle school summer programs. >> Agreed. And what I'll to piggy back off of that, what I saw in the elementary um Lego program was literally groups of girls heads together like with their creation and they would show me what they did and then I'm like well if it works there what about just to see what they do and then heads together and they're figured they never skipped a beat. it was. So, I'm thinking hit the elementary. So, by the time they get to middle school, they're like, I know what I'm doing, right? We've already built some of the positive um feelings about STEM for girls, for
054everybody, but especially for girls. It was just so incredible to watch these. I think they were third through fifth graders um so into it. And another comment you talked about the data and I'm I'm really glad you talked about uh students attitudes because in 12 days I don't know how much academic improvement we can see but perceptual data how students are feeling about their abilities goes a long way when they start in September. if they were sitting around with a bunch of their friends and they were able to solve these problems together, you know, what's their confidence level, their abilities, that's that's some of the data I'd like to see is how they're feeling at the beginning and afterwards specifically about their attitudes towards school because we know that that that's and that's why some
055kids are like, I don't want to do the school thing over the summer because school's hard for them and these alternative And if programs are really the way to to kind of reel them in, yeah, >> you do want to recognize um both Melissa Lawson and Melissa Rosario. Um, we had a number of family engagement events taking place this summer where families were able to go down to the Bronx Zoo, to the Eric Carl Museum, and to the museum in Pikipsy, the Children's Museum free at no cost and college tours at no cost u because of the strong connections grant. So, uh, kudos to to the team for for increasing family engagement over the summertime and, uh, the the feedback, perceptual feedback on that was really positive. So, thank you. >> Thank you. Um, the
056other thing I I would feel terrible if I didn't say is I I really want to recognize transportation and food service. Um because we were able to feed every child breakfast, lunch um and you know without the quick turnaround time with transportation. They're just so easy to work with and just really want our kids to be engaged here and we can't do that without good blessing services. So, um, and to all the teachers and faculty and staff and families that trusted us every day with their kids. So, yeah. >> Thank you. >> Thanks. At this time, can I get a motion to open public participation? >> So, moved. Second. >> All those in favor? opposed. Motion carried. Uh just a reminder, a total of three minutes per speaker or a total of 21 minutes will
057be allotted for the first segment of public participation on the agenda. Um please provide your name and address when you reach the podium. Would anyone like to address the board? All right. We will close public participation. 9.1 uh board subcommittee reports and professional development updates. Did any committees meet >> policy met last week? We have no policies for you today, but I think a lot of the policies are covered by some presentation u who's eligible school and the district and the requirements and vaccination that kind of stuff. most of which were waiting on legal interpretation of some of the things that came down. board follow >> save committee met um for our beginning of the year and our co-chair Dan Hurley is here this evening um and we we just talked about you know things
058that have come up over the summer uh to keep an eye on you know trends and things like that that are happening with social media as well as just our our safety protocols and plans for the beginning of the school here the technology committee met and um they were excited that the school district was part of the League of Innovative Schools and apparently there's an AI PD uh program in that league that they're thinking to apply for for teachers. Um they discussed the board policy suggestions on AI because AI now is a big factor and looked over the NISBA suggestions for policies and they basically decided on an integrated policy where instead of writing a whole different one for AI, they're going to go into the policies and just adjust them a bit because AI
059can fit under plagiarism, it can fit under academic integrity, things like that. So they want to collaborate with both the PD committee and the policy not policy the um code of conduct committee. >> Good. No other committees. All right. No professional development. All right. Moving on to 9.2 board discussion including any consent agenda items. And there's an item here. I don't know if it's just a mistake in the agenda. It It's like contracts. I don't know. That doesn't seem like it. >> Didn't understand it. >> Yeah. I don't know why that's And I think it's just not supposed to be there. Okay. Any consent agenda items or any other board discussions? >> Are we going to move an item? Are we going to remove an item from the uh >> to everybody? All right. So,
060one item in the consent agenda under the actually the personnel agenda 10.14, there was actually um an erroneous um uh substitute uh appointment that wasn't supposed to be there. So, we deleted that out of there at about 6:30 this evening. We deleted the air. Um so, it was adjusted prior to the meeting in case anybody was wondering. you mind if I mention about the contracts? >> No, go ahead. >> So, I see that it's under board discussion. I think that should have been a consent agenda item um for the board just to accept receiving the report. Uh last year we changed the policy regarding purchasing or that the superintendent can approve certain contracts up to a dollar amount. But in the policy, we had said that we would still provide a list of all those
061contracts to the board so they would see what was approved. >> Okay. >> So that that was the most recent uh report for that information. >> Okay. >> I can talk to the district clerk about adding that to the next agenda. >> But does it need to be accepted or is this simply just information that you're >> Well, it's information. I think the resolution would have been like to just that acknowledged it or accept it. I'm not sure if it has to be accepted, but perhaps just acknowledged. because it's not on here as a >> an action so it must be just acknowledged >> maybe it doesn't need to maybe >> perhaps under >> I don't think it needs to be discussion >> maybe just a description of what >> what it's in there for
062you know because it just popped in there with just the attachment so you know that description would have been fine >> okay item one that does have an action [Music] I don't go with >> it's just part of the consent. Anything in there is part of the consent. So, >> all right. Can I get a motion to approve tonight's consent agenda? >> So moved. Katie >> second. >> All those in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carried. >> Can we just pause and it's official now? Congratulations to Joanna. >> Congratulations. >> All right. New business. Um, can I get a motion to approve the Hide Park Central School District School Counseling Guidance Advisory Plan? >> So, moved. Christine. >> Second. >> Any discussion? All those in favor? I >> opposed. Motion carried. Uh, can I get
063a motion uh to enter our second public participation? >> Move to second. >> All those in favor? Opposed? Motion carried. Um, same rules apply as the first one, but we will limit it to 12 minutes total. Would anyone like to address the board? Okay. At this time, we'll close public participation. Uh 13.1, any other matters deemed necessary by the board. All right. No need for a second executive session. So, at this time, can I get a motion to adjurnn tonight's meeting? >> So, move that. >> Second. >> All those in favor? I opposed. Motion carried.