001Oh my gosh. >> Sorry, I'm not used to that. [clears throat] >> Yes. So, we have returned from executive session to our public session of this meeting. If we could please call the role. We have a prom clerk of the board this evening. Dr. Catalino. >> Thank you, Miss Anderson. Um, Mr. Kpatrick >> here. >> Dr. Barnaby >> here. >> Mr. Spicer >> here. >> Mr. Ryder here. Mr. Lamb here. Uh, Dr. Collins, Miss Coromes, and >> Miss Karns are excused. >> And the president, are you here? >> Here. If we could stand for the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the stands, one nation, indivisibley and justice for all. We do have one resolution coming out of executive session. [clears throat] Be it resolved that the
002board hereby authorizes his president to sign an agreement with the Honeywell Law Firm, PLLC, to serve as special counsel to the district as set forth in a document entitled School District Legal Council Agreement dated December 8th, 2025 as presented to the board at this meeting. So, >> a copy of said agreement shall be incorporated by reference within the minutes of this meeting. So move second. >> I think we will call the role on this. >> Mr. Kpatrick, >> yes. >> Dr. Harvey, >> yes. >> Mr. Spicer, >> yes. >> Mr. Lamb, >> yes. >> Miss Anderson, >> yes. >> Mr. Ryder, >> yes. Five, yes. One. >> So, the resolution is approved. >> That brings us to our um approval of minutes from the November 19th meeting >> second. >> Any discussion on the um
003minutes from November 19th? >> Um Mr. Fitzpatrick >> the votes come out of executive session I was not here for that. and then >> so just the vote to come out executive. >> Yes. >> You weren't present for it. That's why it needs to come back. >> Right. I'll have that. >> Make no changes. >> You could accept it with the change. >> Can we accept it with those >> and I'll second it. >> All in favor of accepting the November 19th minutes with the changes. >> Any opposed are approved. That brings us to public participation. I don't know if we had a signup sheet tonight or not. Is there anyone here that would like address the board hearing. And seeing none, that will move us into the superintendent report. Dr. Pedalina. >> Thank you,
004Miss Anderson. Uh, first our superintendent report, we are going to hear from Miss Sickles, the principal of Crosby Elementary School. We can get our technical assistance. to come and talk about what we've been up to at Crosby Elementary. Um, and also I just wanted to tell you how proud and happy I am to um form and shape a space where kids can decide and witness who they are and who they can become. So, I'm going to jump right in. We'll talk about Crosby's demographics. We are currently at 317 students. We are an L school. We are a title one school with 53% of our students who are classified as economically disadvantaged. And I'm proud to say back on December 1st, and I don't think it's changed much, we were at a 95% attendance rate since
005the beginning of the school year. Here's a little more on our demographics. This is just the makeup of our student body. And here are uh as I said before we are 53% are economically disadvantaged. We have 35 L's that makes up 11% of our our student body. We have 90 uh special education students. That's actually 28% I don't know what happened there but it's 28% of our of our population. Uh we have 42 students in special classes which we have four of. We have 26 students in ICT. We have four ICT and we have 22 students in related service only. We have 14 students that have 504 accommodation plans and we have 32 students who are uh with Crosby on special permission. So our first step goal is to improve literacy skills and I know
006across the district we are working hard to do that and the first thing we have to do is to make sure that we're teaching CKLA with fidelity and the feedback that I received from both students and faculty is that um it is groundbreaking in the information that students are having access to that um the students are learning things in elementary school that they have not had an opportunity to do before. Uh and the teachers say as difficult as it is to unpack a new curriculum, they're excited because it is new and different and they're learning along the way as well. Um we are working on foundational skills with with phonics. We're using our I Ready diagnostics to help us to identify the school the skill deficits and using those resources for uh tier one um
007or for tier 2 win time um support vocabulary which has been historically um something that Crosby has struggled with. We have been working hard um in past years we've had vocabulary of the week. This year we tied it to CKLA and arguing idiom of the week. So kids can see that um words don't have to be literal. They can be they can mean something that they don't actually the words don't actually mean what they say. So we can kind of have some fun with language. Um and they're learning in a way that they they um interact with it weekly and create sentences with these idioms in it so that they can maybe be part of their everyday vocabulary. Uh the readalouds are a big part of the CKLA program already. So that is it's rich
008in vocabulary and background knowledge. The other piece that's important is keyboarding skills to make sure that all students have are proficient by the time they reach third grade. So when the computer based testing for New York State rolls around, the proficiency um won't be a barrier. And this is an example of what that looks like. We have something for the um the entire year. So this week we're working on um getting out of hand and what that might mean. So it's a lot of fun. We've had a lot of lot of fun with uh with learning different ways to to uh express uh language. Our second step goal is to improve basic fact fluency. And um the things that we've changed this year is to make sure that every single day students have an opportunity
009to practice basic uh fact fluency. um it's scheduled every single day. And the other piece too is to make sure that there's homework and we can partner with our families uh parents to to help with um with mastery so that those foundational skills can be built and then um more complex math can be built upon it. Some of the professional development we have had and will continue to have so far this year, we've had CKLA trainers come to the the building. They've done demo lessons. Uh they've done planning with teachers. They they've done some walkthroughs. Monthly at our faculty meetings, teachers collaborate and support each other with tips and tricks and things that they've learned along the way that they can help to um help with whatever is coming their way as far as difficulties.
010They talk it through. They help each other. So, it's really great that we have that monthly um opportunity. Coming up in January, we have an I Ready lesson study cycle coming up that will include learning walks, planning sessions, taught modeled lessons and then debrief sessions. So the the staff is looking forward to the opportunity to to get dive deeper into the high curriculum. Part of our building leadership team has been to um take our set goals and uh apply task teams. Every single staff member at Crosby is part of one of these teams based on their skill set, based on their interests. So this year we created a math task team and that team is setting up and developing a climate and culture at Crosby that um is letting stu all students know that they
011are mathematicians that math is all around them showing them what real world math looks like and um that it's not just a subject they're learning it's something that they they're immersed in every day. So that that is a big piece of it. Our reading task team has been developed for several years. They are um they focus on celebrating literacy, making sure that kids feel like readers, feel like writers. They uh and they celebrate all of their their literacy accomplishments. Our PBIS and SEAL attendance task teams, they work on the culture of the building. So PBIS, that's working on student behaviors. For SEAL, we want students to feel a sense of belonging. We want them to feel welcome they when they walk into the building. We want them to feel part of the fabric of what
012Crosby is. And then the attendance part is spearheaded by Leandias, our social worker, who does an excellent job at partnering with families to see if she can learn and help with any barriers that are keeping students from coming to school on time every day. This is just an example of how we celebrate students uh weekly. Um uh the first week of the month we celebrate recess and cafeteria behaviors. Those things are nominated by our wonderful lunch monitors. The second week of the month we focus on the theme of the month. This month is self-control. Self-control to students at the elementary level is the ability to stop and think before you speak and act. And I think we could all kind of use a little practice in that. But we do practice that regularly. Um so
013students that are exhibiting that behavior they can be nominated uh to be student of the week. The third week of the month is most improved student that can be with um that can be with attendance that can be with classwork that could be with behavior and the last week of the month we celebrate attendance and any student that had excellent attendance during that month get automatically uh nominated. We do have some family engagement celebrations coming up. The math task team is working on a family fun night or math night um that's coming up in January. We are looking forward to our second annual ENL potluck dinner. We It was well attended last year. We're hoping to include more families this year. Our annual literacy celebration happens in May. That's where we showcase to parents and
014the the entire building all of the work that students have done throughout the school year. And then our wonderful PTO uh has opportunities every month to for families to they do a dine and donate where families get together at at local restaurants and dine together and spend time together, get to know each other outside of school and um which just um strength strengthens our our uh Crosby family. So what does the data say? So the fall I Ready data Of course, we want students to be in the green area. Those are kids that are at or above grade level coming into the fall. Typically, I think as we all know by now, the yellow is where students usually fall at the beginning of the school year. We want that percentage, that 46% percentage to go
015down and the green percentages to go up. So, we'll look for that growth in January and then again in June. The two columns on the right, those students are um receiving tier 2 supports during win time or tier three um AIS intervention by a specialist. So this is a breakdown of the grades. Uh just you can see where the bands lie in each of the grades. The trends that we saw for reading is not a surprise. It's something that we've been working toward and that is vocabulary and reading comprehension. So, that's something that we're going to continue to work on and we're hoping that C that the CKLA program will um help us to bridge that gap. Moving to math, same thing. We want them to be in green and yellow. We do better in
016math at Crosby. We're a much stronger um building in math and reading, so we're hoping that we can improve on both areas. Again, the two columns on the right are students that are tier two in win time or tier three um either special ed or or tier three interventions. And here's the breakdown for the math. And the trend there is basic math facts. It's um number and operations. It's just adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing, and they're figuring it out for each problem, and they're making careless mistakes. So, if they can get those things mastered, those things will will improve. So, I'm moving on to New York State assessment data. What I want to show you is just one cohort of kids that were in third grade when they moved to fourth grade to show you the
017growth. So, this was ELA. In the blue column, you can see uh in 2023 2024, those students were in grade three. They had a 34% u proficiency in ELA. when they took the same exa the same kids took the fourth grade exam last spring, they had 47.1% proficiency, which was a 13.1% uh cohort growth, which is wonderful and great. And that is what's helping us to stay as a school in good standing. Moving on to math, same thing, same cohort. In in 2023, 2024, we had a 53.19% proficiency rate. And in last year in the spring we had 56.9%. Which was a 3.71% cohort growth. Another great example of the hard work the staff and the students are doing at Crosby. Um they are the staff is working hard and students are working hard. So
018I just wanted to end with this that kind of for me it feels like it it embodies what Crosby is. As important as the academics are and they are. We work hard every day. I just wanted to kind of highlight and showcase that a school includes not just the books, but the laughter, the resilience, and the thousand tiny victories that we get to witness every single day as these babies grow and succeed on a daily basis. I want to thank every single person listed on this slide. Without all of the support from every single person on this slide, we couldn't do what we do at Crosby. And I'm thankful on behalf of the staff, faculty, and staff. Thankful to all of you. >> Any questions for me, Dr. Bern? >> I'm curious who all the
019people are behind you. I see like sweaters. I'm just curious. Are these folks? >> Two of my two of my people in the back there. >> Yeah. Awesome. >> To see Mr. Lamb, >> I just would like to thank you. Crosby is a fun place to be and it it has always been a fun place, but it's getting more and more and you can see that kids are happy learning. Um, so thank you for all your hard work, your staff. >> Thank you, Mr. >> Other comments or questions? Well, Crosby, as we know, is very close to my heart. Um, thank you very much. There's so many good things that I heard tonight and I'm I'm happy for you and this school and especially the kids. >> Thank you so much. Appreciate it. >> Thank
020you. >> And we do know that Miss Sickles missed her concert today >> tonight to be here after the snow cancellation. So, thank you. Thank you for that. >> Thank you. >> And uh but Mr. Crest did step up and he's filling in as as the MC for tonight. Thank you. Uh, next we have Mr. Parker, our director of safety and pre prevention. This security report [clears throat] Uh good evening and welcome. [clears throat] Thank you for joining us tonight at the December 16th KCSD board education meeting. This evening uh we are presenting uh an update of our SRO program. Tonight we'll be touching on three topics of the SRO program. Its history, mission and purpose, the SRO contract, and the day in the life of an SRO. The history, mission, and purpose of school
021resource officers. The school resource officer program has a rich history dating back to the 1950s when schools first partnered with law enforcement to strengthen relationships between police and youth. A model that has grown to include more than 23,000 officers nationwide today. At its core, NRO is a sworn law enforcement professional trained in school-based policing and crisis response, working collaboratively with the educational within the educational environment. The mission of the program is to enhance both physical and emotional safety for students and staff while supporting the district's comprehensive safety plan through positive daily engagement. Its purpose extends beyond security, fostering a safe and inclusive climate, building trust between students and law enforcement, and encouraging active participation in school life. SRO's operate under the guidance of KCSD administrators. tailoring law enforcement practices to the school context and engaging
022in in events and activities that strengthen community ties. Selection for this role is rigorous, emphasizing training, character, cultural competence, deescalation skills, sound judgment, and a commitment to outreach. Qualities that ensure SRO serve as approachable, trusted partners in creating a secure and supportive learning environment. What is an SRO? To tell you who they are, allow me to mention it or not. A school resource officer is not a security guard, although they helped to secure 11 different school campuses in a central office and a warehouse culminating in 17 buildings in more than 1 million uh 313,000 ft of educational space. They are not monitors although they help us to monitor approximately 1100 individuals and 6,400 students not including visitors parents sporting event attendees and after school event visitors. They are not administrators although they help ensure the
023students that students teachers and families have the resources they need to help the school meet educational standards. They are not teachers although they spent their summer teaching students in our summer programs. A school resource officer is a law enforcement officer carefully selected and specifically trained to work collaboratively in the school environment and within the school community. Training. Training to become an SRO [clears throat] SRO in New York State. You must first be a sworn police or peace officer. The core requirement is completing a DCJS approved sort of training course such as a five-day program certified by the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services and the State of New York Police Juvenile Officers Association. This course covers topics like school safety planning, juvenile law, behavioral threat assessment, communication skills, and classroom engagement. Additional optional
024training such as NASROS, national courses, or specialized workshops on mental health and social media can further enhance effectiveness. Continuous professional development is strongly encouraged to stay current with evolving school practices. Our school resource officers participate in all mandatory staff trainings as well as specialized trainings provided by their respective police departments. These include workplace violence, incident command, student mental health awareness, intervention and referral, school violence, child abuse, special education, conflict management, crowd management, reality based trainings, and firearms rifle reertification. This November, KCSD offered supplemental training in vaping and current drug trends facilitated by the Oolster Provincial Council Prevention Council to address the vaping epidemic and a training on immigration law and policy presented by the Oolster immigrant defense network. These sessions provided critical insights into issues impacting our immigrant community and families and were attended by
025SRO's security staff and monitors, the SRO committee and the contract. In 2020, the SRO [clears throat] and SRO committee was formed to help enhance the SRO program here at KCSD. All contracts were reviewed and decisions made to better the program program's connection with the school district's changes made included a more relaxed uniform to ongoing professional development. A day in the life of an SRO, duties and responsibilities. Every day brings a unique challenge for all of our staff, including our resource officers. In addition to routine responsibilities such as ground checks, traffic detail, delivering suspension letters, and assisting the safety with safety drills, they also participate in parent conferences, collaborate with community agencies and first responders, supporting sporting events, and investigate investigate active and potential threats. While managing these critical tasks, they are expected to foster and
026maintain positive relationship with the school community. responding to our school community. Research shows that strong connections with trusted adults, especially teachers and school staff, significantly reduce school violence by creating a sense of belonging and security, making students less likely to engage in harmful behavior. SRO are required to participate in this process. Last year, they were they were provided a digital log to record interactions ranging from minor encounters to major incidents. This system provided an additional view of SRO activity that revolves around relationship rather than discipline. Last time this year, SRO's logged over 1,000 daily interactions with students, parents, teachers, administrators, faculty, and staff. 80% of these interactions focused on relationship building and general dialogue, while the remaining 20% involved assisting students, faculty, staff, and administrators. [clears throat] SRO involvement. This slide provides an overall of
027some reporting categories that would trigger SRO involvement. It highlights key categories such as fights, vaping, bullying, showing the number of cases recorded last year. The data has I mean sorry the data helps identify patterns in areas where additional support or prevention measures may be needed. SRO involvement can be as simple as testing a vape pen, being directly involved with an investigation, or simply giving legal advice. This slide highlights 2425 school year in the 2526 year to date. It points out incidents that result in disciplinary action and that involve school resource officer. So far this year, approximately 11% of incident types recorded are the types that involve an SRL. The final numbers will depend on how the remainder of the year in the polls. In 2425, uh, white students accounted for 61% of SRO related incidents,
028followed by Hispanic students with 27% and multi-racial students with 19%. Black and African American students represented 15% of incidents while Asian students accounted for 3%. And American Indian Alaskan Native uh students made up 2%. Across every racial and ethnic group, male students were involved in a higher percentage of incidents than female students. Because ethnicity and race are separate fields, students who selected yes for Hispanic ethnicity also have a race designation. So the numbers will overlap and may not exactly jive, but because of the Hispanic designation. Um in 25 26 white students accounted for 38% 49% without the overlap of ethnicity um of SR related incidents followed by Hispanics with 23% and multi-racial students with 21% 28% without the overlap and African-American students represented 13% 17 without the without the overlap of students while Asian students
029and American Indian Alaskan Native students made up 3%. The KCSD school resource officer program continues to grow and play an important role in creating a safe, welcoming, and supportive environment for all students. Our SRO's work closely with staff and families, building meaningful relationships and connections, serving as trusted adults on campus and helping students navigate challenges both inside and outside the classroom. Their commitment to safety, mentorship, and community partnership strengthens and our school climate and reinforces our shared goal of ensuring every student feels secure, respected, and >> thank you. >> Any questions? >> Mr. Ryder and then Dr. B. >> It seems like on the the charts that the alcohol, tobacco, drugs section is up. You know, it's at It was 91 last year. Is a lot of that vaping? >> Yes. >> Is that almost
030all vaping? Probably. >> Yes. >> I say 90% not without doing the numbers. I would gather 90% of it is vaping. >> Um just because you were giving us the number on the graph. So you said in 2023 to 2024 or no sorry 2024 to 2025. >> Yes. >> You gave us the percentages. Can you tell me was there a is the percentage of folks interacting with SRO's proportionate to their race ethnicity makeup at school or is it disproportionate meaning if x percentage of white kids are they also x percent of kids getting interacting with SRO for example >> right that I'd have to research >> that was some of the point of the original that we were trying very much to produce and keep accurate. >> Um, >> without giving any spoilers, we're working
031on something new. I haven't Dr. P yet, >> but um something that's rather than them actually doing a lot themselves, us getting feedback and administrators and so forth survey style >> throughout the year trying to pull a number like that because they wouldn't give us accurate data. It just seems we need to who we were serving >> and ask them how do you feel about this? How many times have you held in what way was it positive or negative? >> You know that type of thing. So we are working and I do this by by so hopefully by the time I come back to you I'll have those numbers. >> Sorry. >> Do you want to go first? >> No, I was just going to I was going to answer your question and I can
032provide that pretty quickly for the rest of the board in comparison and I would say there it's it's virtually identical. That's what it looks like >> to our to our makeup to our student body. >> And the other question for me is, have you ever had access to data that disagregates by kids that might be gender non-conforming >> um >> or gender non-binary depending >> you may not have those data. I'm just asking you to provide that data. >> We haven't been able to collect those. We don't have those data because because that's not one of the that's a voluntary, you know, thing for someone to, you know, give us that information. So, we don't >> it's similar to when people ask, do we know about our our immigrant students? You know, that's not information
033that we solicit. >> So, I don't think we have a great handle on that. A few years ago, we did do a survey. Two years ago, we did do a survey and a surprising number of students did answer the question. >> Yeah. And only final one would be the kids with disabilities. Do you have any of that broken down in those data? >> I can do that. >> Wonderful. Well, I mean, >> yeah, I mean I could go back. I have some stuff in my back pocket. >> Um 23249 that general was 59 students. Special was three. >> It's kind of the same all the way through. Yeah. Um 22 23 there was 180 reporting disciplines involved in this room. Um and that was >> I will say to say well Mr. Parker we prior
034to for the last five years we have not been identified by the state as disproportionate suspension for students especi students who have students with disabilities. Prior to that, for about 25 years, we had been identified as disproportionate as suspensions for students with disabilities. So, that's a >> it's a huge it's a it's a big deal. >> Y >> and I just asked because it's part of our job to ask that there's no accusation that >> Yeah. No, it's it's really >> the new way of gathering data from nationals >> the survey data the qualitative data is going to be super helpful but uh congratulations on like sustaining that progress >> Mr. >> I guess just to follow up on Dr. Bar's question though so because we do so like you' mentioned immigration status as being
035voluntary and I get that but we do We do list gender on there >> and so I'm assuming then the SRO's would just be going off of how they identify the student or >> go what's in our student management system. >> Yeah. >> So does the student management system offer a voluntary nonary? No, it's it's only >> correct. >> Yes. So as far as you know our responsibility as far as the state is concerned we are to report as the gender that you know when we're officially reporting the gender the the birth gender. So we internally yes internally we recognize the um you know students if a student wants to be called a different name or student must be addressed as as you know um a girl if he's a boy we we do that
036but externally as far as our reporting requirements we are not we we have to report as um originally >> registered >> but you Sorry. Trying not to take up too much space, but you could collect additional data. It's just not what's required by this state. Correct. >> Yeah. And like so we we have and I think that's something we can we can do a repeat. We didn't do that same survey last year, but I think that's a survey we can repeat. >> Wonderful. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions or comments? >> Um >> Mr. Parker, can you just review for the board where the SRO are assigned so that everyone has an idea of where We have two SRO at the high school and one SRO at each middle school >> and the um
037high school and Bailey are KPD. >> Yes. And uh obviously >> is the town. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Oh, >> sorry. Um last uh time this report was given I had asked just to make sure that the SRO's were involved in the compilation of this not the compilation of the report but the presentation of the report was there coordination this year with the SRO's as far as this or >> uh slightly came through to help us out during a game but um they'd be very happy to participate. Okay. >> Was a little bit of talk of it, but we just didn't. >> Okay. >> That's the best thing. In all honesty, they run a lot past their their police uh superiors. >> Yeah. >> And some of that has to do with how they
038feel. They don't want to expose them sometimes. Sometimes depends on the vibe and the climate honestly. >> Yeah. >> Um not that they didn't because of that. We just honestly just wanted to get together and decide that Yeah. Come on. They would love to answer questions >> and I think we have Middletown at the town's >> there's sick and John >> I just like to everyone to understand that SRO's are not school employees they're law enforcement officers >> correct >> thank you very much Thank you. >> Thank you. >> And last, we have our director of recruitment, retention, and equity, who's going to give us our employment report, is Alexis McCoy. Thanks so much for having me. Um so I'm just going to share about the folks uh that we hired this year and then
039also um some practices we're putting in place uh towards retaining folks as well. Um so between June 1st and August 31st of 2025 um 121 interviews uh for teaching positions were held. So this was just teaching. It did not include TAs, did not include um support staff in the building, just teachers. We were hiring for a total of 23 teaching positions um that were needed. Five of those positions um were filled by transfers um and then 19 were by new hires. Actually, I think it's four. It was five. So, it's four were filled by transfers um and 19 um were new hires. Um for the hiring process, um candidates passed a screening process um and went through multiple interviews. Um so, sometimes screened um if the candidate pool was um in reference to when we
040were hiring elementary teachers, it was much larger. Um so we held more formal screening interviews there um for folks. Um and we looked very specifically at our folks who had double certification. So people who were general education and special education certified or general education um and literacy certified um and then some folks who are general education and um certified to support students who are multilingual learners um which I think demonstrates um you know that was station's idea um that we want to support all of our students all the time even though all the positions that were being hired for were general education in nature um when we were looking at the elementary candidates uh the processes were centralized to support equitable hiring practices that was one of the goals I was given as the director
041um and I support um and then these are the folks who participated um so Dr. P participated superintendent teachers principles vice principles assistant princip library media specialist. Um, everybody participated um in canvasing, screening, and are hiring the new folks who are here with us now. Um, I thought my blues were like very clear, but I feel like even though I changed them, they're not. Um, so the big blue um is the number of elementary teachers that we hired. Um, Spanish is the 10% um that is closest to that wall. Um, and then um our elementary special education um the 10% that is closest to board members um elementary and secondary just as a note even though our elementary buildings go K4 um I listed them as PK6 because that's the certification till sixth grade and
042for secondary those are the folks that were hired for 7 through 12 so doesn't the certification doesn't quite match up to how our buildings are um but these are the percentages of folks that we hired um all open positions were filled so we had highly qualified educator supporting our scholars on day one of school. Um, which I think we were all really excited about. Um, if you only include strictly new hires, 27.8 of our new hires were people of color. Um, if you consider the entire number of positions, that moves down to 21.1. Um, with 23 positions, um, sometimes percentages can be um, not interpreted the same way because it's a small pool. So, I wanted to include the number as well. That percentage represents five new members of our community. Um during the interview
043process, three additional folks indicated they were members of other marginalized groups. Um again, if one only considers new hires, that would make 24.4% of our new hires. Um folks who are from variously historically marginalized groups. Um if you consider the entire number of position that positions, that percentage goes down to 34.8. and that is eight new members of um the Kingston City School District community. It does include the five above, so a total of eight um folks from historically marginalized groups. Um it would also be remiss not to mention um folks inter um existed intersectionalities. Um no one has ever asked to reveal their protected status. Um so these numbers could be inaccurate um because people are not required um to reveal their protective status. Um in reference to retention um I'll talk about what
044we're working on. Um myself and uh my colleague Dr. Cleti are providing new um teacher professional learning. They're with us for 18 hours over the year. Six sessions um three hours each. Um the cabinet has been super supportive. Um it doesn't require teachers coming out of the class. It on providing substitutes. Um but everyone believes that it's a free work for our folks. Um the goal specifically is around understanding our DAP and then how you connect that to your practice in the classroom. So not just kind of lofty goals, but what are the goals that we have as a district and then how do we make that come alive in our classrooms in our spaces with children um so that we're moving towards reaching our goals. We're also providing a similar um experience for our
045staff. Um they're self- selecting. Um our new teachers do all six. Um our existing staff self- select um as to which ones would serve them best. Um we're appreciating our teacher our teachers and staff um more. We're giving them little gifts, sending them cards, letting them know how amazing they are. Um because it's really really hard work. Um and people are rolling out new curriculums and we just want to make sure we're saying thank you and that we see their work um regularly and often. Um we also have our affinity groups. Um the educators of color network is um longstanding. Um we sent out an interest form to staff speaking about many affinity groups. Um we've got uh folks who wanted an access and advocacy which is for neurodyiverent educators. Um so that is new
046this year. Um it's up and running. we are small but length um and it seems that both groups are supportive um to our educators who are here per their um growing forward um we're going to be examining the effectiveness of that professional learning both quantitatively and qualitatively looking at our teachers in line that are decent but also are they feeling supported are they growing as professionals um as we do this because we want to make sure that what we're doing is supporting our teachers educators um expanding support for staff members. Um we're sending out again asking if there are other affinity groups that folks um might need for support. Um and again that was at the request of staff in particular our new staff kind of asking like do you have a group for fair
047educators? Um so we're sending that out seeing if there's interest and if there is um creating that for staff. Um we're now doing um stay and exit interviews. The first round of state interviews is almost over. Um, and we're going to gather that data. Um, it is mostly qualitative in nature. Um, but I'm working on making some quantitative things using coding. Um, so that we can see it both qualitatively and quantitatively from stay and exit interviews. Um, in both cases, we're looking for what are we doing that's positive for staff and what are we doing um that might need to be tweaked in order to support. Um, so those are the things that we're doing. We're taking actionable steps to address that feedback from the stay and exit interviews. Um, both questions, >> questions, comments,
048>> well, we're just hitting all the things that I I most care about in the world today, which is all the good work you all do. Uh, just for my clarity, um, when it comes to training teachers around um the issues that young people with who are gender nonbinary using that pronoun etc in the classroom. um just having been a part of your community, we know that there are some teachers that struggle with that. And so are there any sort of mandatory or highly encouraged courses around ensuring that um people understand the teachers particularly understand um I think we're embedding it in all six sessions. So for new teachers it's required for um for teachers or veteran teachers as Um but specifically um we spent a lot of time talking about it when we were
049first talking about creating welcoming environments um and talking about making sure that we called them by the um that they asked for and then if we made a mistake we made a huge deal of it. We said we were sorry and we got it right. Um and we're also the very next session um is about um cultural responsiveness um within the classroom both in reference to um behaviors that we how we respond to them in a way that honors um students dignity. And so that is also part of it as well. Um to make sure that we're honoring folks cultures and how they show up and who they are um and honoring it as that is what you like. And then for the veteran teachers, it's not required. And then for um our immigrant students
050who we know are experiencing a lot right now um is there similar kind of training opportunities being provided by the district in the state? >> Yes. So that is um you know a huge part you have a growing population of multilingual learners. Um so again that's in the culturally responsive piece like helping folks understand um language needs. One of the requests um that uh Kathy and Dr. are building um is folks have asked about um how do we tell the difference between language needs and special education needs. >> Um so we're discussing that we're talking about that. We're talking about how long it takes um to acquire a language um what a disability looks like when it doesn't. We're also supervised in this district to have a speech language pathologist who's certified to do evaluation.
051Um so we're getting her input as well um so that she can um support Thank you. >> Other question, Mr. Spicer. >> Um, just just gratitude because we know recruitment of talent of color in all areas is particularly challenging. Particularly challenging, but also the retention of our professional uh talent of color is is also very challenging. And it can't be accidental. It has to be aggressive. And all of your importance of staying contact w with our professionals of color to let to to to keep in touch with them. How how are they doing? How are they uh moving into a new position is vital because when you feel alone, that's when you really want to leave and and seek larger communities of people who who who want to stay in contact with you, who want
052to constantly make you feel welcome. So, thank you for all of that. It's it's vital. It's vital. Thank you so much. >> Thank you very much. Nice job. >> District updates. Dr. >> I don't have too many updates. We have several uh board reports tonight which cover most of my updates most of the time. So I'm just going to remind everyone that next Tuesday the 23rd we begin a break at the end of the school day. So, the Wednesday the 24th through Monday, January 5th, we will be on um holiday break and I wish everyone a restful holiday break. And that's all I have. >> Thank you. Same to you. >> Any other questions for Dr. Pedalino? >> Dr. Barbe. >> Hi. Um just curious um if you uh if you have had any more
053interactions with any of our immigrant nonprofit community members um in the past month. >> I have not. But we did have a meeting myself with most members of the cabinet. We did meet with our bilingual family workers last Thursday. last Thursday to kind of get their to get their sense so that as you know the policy committee has been working on a statement and we >> kind of trying to help them along. Yeah. Um so Miss Bonville grabbed hold of it and we brought that to the to the bilal workers and said >> What do you think and one of the things you can tell us and also asked what what are we not doing or what can we do better? So we had a lot of good feedback from there. I think the the
054you know I'm going to repeat this so but I just wanted to put it out there. you know, we have set up a communication network with UIDN. So if if something's going down, they know to call Mr. Parker. He's their first, you know, he's he's left, but he's their first. So when he leaves with his phone in his hand, is actually makes me very nervous considering his position. But um so he knows he then immediately looks to see where's that student belong, what's what school are they in, are they relative to this student or that student? And then he then we can let the principles know and then we can put bring our resources uh to bear. as he mentioned in his report, we did have our monitors, our security, and our and our SRO's
055all trained um in the by um UIDN on November 4th. So, that was a really good thing to have done. They also tabled at re recent events, and we're going to invite them to table at more events as as we continue to do them. >> Thank you. >> Um and I do have a a draft copy of the statement um that was worked out in policy and um communications team. I I wasn't prepared to read it tonight because I wanted the board to review it first. Um but >> and if people want to read it and send edits or recommendations or anything to us, we can we will we can do that, look at it and bring it back to the next meeting to kind of formalize it. >> Just a question of is it
056in the policy committee at this point or is it from the district? It's really not in the policy committee because it's not a policy. >> Okay. >> It's just a statement of a public statement. So that's why um um Miss Bonville kind of picked it up and worked on the crafting of it. >> And again, this is supposed to be a statement by the board. We're just trying to help >> resolution, >> right? >> We're just trying to help push it forward this way where we can. >> Great. Well, so this is just for us to take home and review. to review. >> Okay. Thank you. >> It's another example of what doesn't happen when our clerk is not >> Thank you very much. >> I'm just an amateur clerk. I'm not professional clerk. >>
057The temp. >> Uh it brings us to our student representative report which our student reps are not with us tonight. So we will move on to the consent agenda. Are there any items that trustees would like pulled from the consent agenda? >> Mr. Fitzpatrick, >> why? >> I have no idea. >> I don't know. >> It's very possible because it was it was the rescheduled meeting >> and it's not a normal night. >> It's not a normal night. I don't And >> I do think Karen did reach out, so I'm not exactly sure, but if we go over to the fieldhouse at the basketball game, they may be there. I don't know. >> Yeah, I don't we don't know why they're not here. >> I'll pull out donations, please. >> When we when we get
058to that, we haven't gotten there yet. Any [laughter] >> any items to be pulled from the consent agenda? I'll move to approve the consent agenda. >> Seconded. >> Any discussion on items in the consent agenda? >> All in favor? >> Any opposed? So, our consent agenda is approved and I do believe we have some new hires with us. >> We have some new hires and we have some some one person that I'd like to recognize. So, uh, congratulations on Isaac, which I didn't know that was your name, Ike. I've been calling you for a long time. So, I saw Isaac and I thought, who is that? Isaac. Ike Shaw, who is one of our, uh, instructional technology coaches, but he's actually a music teacher. Another thing I didn't know, he's certified music. He's he's receiving
059tenure uh, tonight. So, CONGRATULATIONS. And we have a new director of special education, and he is here with us tonight. This is Brandon Green who is standing right there and our new executive director of special ed, Mr. Kenneth Poka, who is right here. >> Welcome to the Kingston School District and good luck. >> And Dr. Bernay, you can do donations. >> I missed it last time so I got nervous. Okay. As of December 16th, the board of education of the Kingston City City School District hereby accepts the grateful appreciation the following generations to the er Crosby Elementary School Library from the Crosby PTO, a donation of books. Thank you. Thank you. That brings us to the board of education committee reports. >> Um, we never voted on it. We got a a motion to accept
060and a second. >> We voted. >> Well, let's go back. >> That's just the clerk of the board. >> All in favor of accepting the consent agenda. >> Any opposed? >> Thank you, Mr. Spicer. [laughter] >> He was just trying to make the clerk look bad. Our board of education policy >> policy met. Um we have one policy to bring forward for third reading and vote which is 2160. We went through and made the changes basically that were holding this up. Um you can see them there colorcoded. The one word that was a major stumbling block was on line 127 which was the word termination on what termination meant and we clarified that by changing termination to separation. It's any separation from the district. >> So I will move policy 2160. >> I'll second. >>
061Any additional discussion on policy 2160? So, can you I'm sorry we couldn't get it to um could you just say the the change that was made as of the last meeting, but one more time. I'm sorry. >> Um it's really all the blue stuff, but the the major one was on line 127 after termination if we changed the word separation because that was what was holding us back for the most part. Are we okay with that? >> All in favor of 216 I'm sorry 2160. >> Any opposed? >> No. One opposed. The next policy is um for second reading of vote is 8630 computer resources and data management and that policy. We have a second >> second >> discussion on 8630 and it may not apply to this policy as much but how are we
062determining like if there's apps that teachers and other I just know that there's apps that are used and are being used in other districts and are complex makes it so she's practiced a lot more. I think that's phased out and so that's one example but and that may not be appropriate to this policy per se but with the three overall I just want to make sure like how are we making this >> yeah I mean we we really bake it based on I mean I don't know if Dr. that it wants to type in here but or chime in I should say but Ed is the biggest piece and again comp uh compatibility with our with our platforms but do you want to >> along with additional adoptions we also have to you know balance
063what we're doing financially as well so we also look at usage data and then what are the apps that align with the curriculum that we're now Okay. The one piece I'm talking about I think was purchased this year and I think we've already spent the money and now we're facing it out. So I don't >> we could find out. I'm not sure that that >> was necessarily like um >> respond you know what it is. You want to try it? >> Maybe it's she plays the viola, the notes, the tracks. It's It's She practices on that more than she ever has. And I think after this >> Yeah. Because I know that other districts it is compliant on their So I just worry anything that we're setting in these policies make that more strict or
064anything like that. >> No. And and I think if you want us to attach as as um administrative regulations what our process is for for approving or disapproving um apps or programs that teachers want to use and there is a process for them to ask. Okay. If it is that we're talking it was based on us data. >> Okay. >> So we're continuing at the high school as well or >> um they they didn't So it's different. >> Okay. >> So all in favor of um policy 8630 computer resources and data data management. >> I any opposed. >> All right. And the next two policies are 4526.1 and 4526 computer use um acceptable use and uh internet safety. We were eliminating the 0.1 and our big change is we are not eliminating the one because
065it really doesn't say when we studied it carefully it doesn't say the same thing. they're they're not duplicating. So, we don't have two policies that say the same. Um, and to combine them did not work. So, I'm moving both 4526 computer use in instruction and 4526.1 internet safety. >> I'll second. Any discussion on 4526 within 45261.1? All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? >> We we did agree to look at some of the our computer policies more often because of changes that could happen. Um, one of those policies dated back to like 09 and certainly things have changed. So we we will be looking at those every other year as the plan. Our next uh policy meeting, I believe the date is right, January 9th, which is the second Friday because nobody wanted to
066come the first Friday because for some reason they're all staying home. So our next policy meeting will be um January 9th at 9:30 in this room. >> Thank you, Mr. Lamb. I didn't find it. So we met on November 25th. Um we had a discussion over the community member applications um that we had received. We had received three applications from community members wanting to join the committee. Um, we made two appointments. Um, and I don't I haven't heard back whether they accepted or um whether they'll be joining us for the next meeting. Um, but that was for um we had a report from Dr. know that he was sending a letter to the city of Kingston planning board in support of the 21 Elizabeth Street project which we talked about. Um and we kind of
067discussed what the plan was which is cover entr asked about the budget process and the timeline for that. So, um, we had discussed how a February presentation to the full board might be too soon. Um, but they would present to the committee and then to the full board in March and that we would do a January um at the January meeting, we would receive kind of a current budget status where that's at. And then we talked about a state bill um that had passed that raised the ceiling for small city schools. The next meeting is January 27th at 9 a.m. >> Any questions for Mr. >> and facilities? >> Our last meeting was November 18th. So, I will tell you at facilities meetings, we talk about things that have been done and and that we're
068going to do, but because our last meeting was a month ago, all the things I'm going to say that we're going to do, we're probably already done uh between now and our last meeting. So, we we'll begin. The capital project updates for Edson. The fin radiators in were installed and tested in the administrative space. The secure vestable vest if you was completed and clean and is awaiting ADA door operation uh connection which probably happened. Secure vegetable secure advanced tip fuel door was installed. The mail room mailboxes uh were scheduled for delivery on November 20th which meant that happened in Bailey. The window shades were installed. Five out of 100 required reordering due to inter incorrect sizing. Remaining uh uh diminishing walls with uh diminishing walls were taped and painted. Mechanical equipment commissioning nearly complete. Roof
069work was scheduled roof work was scheduled for November 19th. Meaning that happened. We had a kickoff meeting for phase uh now this is about phase two. The kickoff uh meeting was uh was scheduled for November 19th at 9:30. The phase 2 bid documents are targeted for January release. Bids are due uh in February and the district is working on temporary kitchen location. Now for phase three, general work and mechanical plumbing bids are due November 20th. Electrical bids were postpon postponed uh to November 25th. Letters of recommendation for all bid packaging was scheduled to the board of education. They're due by uh December 10th. Like I said, all of this happened. phase forecast uh design pro progress is paused pending the phase three bid review and these are the district-wide facilities updates exterior door numbering numbering
070the walkthroughs were completed at Mahar and Kingston high school the huddle cameras am I saying that right >> y >> the huddle camera installations are underway at the kingston High School Fieldhouse and deep stadium installation is planned for spring season. Winterization is underway. Heating equipment and vestibules are being fine-tuned. Athletic fields are being covered uh including additional covers at deep stadium field practice. The building inspection uh was discussed. Uh Mrs. Spicer reported to the committee that the board consensus was conducted and building level walkthroughs and inspections being planned and Mr. Spicer will coordinate with the board president um board president Andrews and Vice President Collins to establish a schedule that's underway and the meeting was adjourned and our next meeting is January 27th and if we have a board meeting closer to that meeting all
071the information will not be outdated but thank you policy. So just to add to that, the um building principles did complete the building condition report and we have pulled from that information the the high ranking um issues. So Mr. Spicer hasn't had a chance to totally review that report, but I think it would be nice if we could schedule the walkthroughs in January, perhaps before our January 27th meeting. >> And I I did I did want to thank uh uh President uh and Anderson. I said Andrew before Anderson. >> I'm sorry. I did want to thank uh President uh Anderson uh because the list that they created from the data from the principles uh enables us to prioritize which buildings we need to go through first. So thank you for that. >> I think we'll
072walk through all of them because they all have some issues. Many of them identified things that are part of the capital project though. So I tried to indicate that so you and I can get together and a schedule and then send it out to board members for availability. >> Thank you. >> Normally we try and do it late in the afternoon um after dismissal. Principles usually are still there and there's custodial staff. So >> Mr. Lamb, how are we doing with bids coming in with the current economy and stuff? Mhm. We accept it. Had there the phase three bids that you approved today for George Washington and Crosby actually came in slightly under budget. >> Oh my god. >> Not very under budget, but at least under budget. And we know phase one was over
073budget. So we're we're you know slowly chipping away at that over budget piece. >> Thank you, Mr. Spicer. That brings us to um old business. And I did have an item for old business um that relates to our plans to have our communication conversation um that didn't happen. Um and I also have the proposal and again I apologize for the paper copies. The proposal from um ATC And as you read it, you'll you'll see that it's already out of date. She she had made a proposal to meet with us at the December 10th meeting, which we we didn't have, nor did we have an opportunity as a board to decide whether or not we want to um contract with her for this work. So um I know Dr. Bernaby, I I know you have been
074the um person asking most frequently if you'd like to um take a minute to kind of or a few minutes to share what's >> Yeah, sure. Thank you for this proposal. Um there I just want to make sure that the board is clear about my initial proposal which definitely sounded much broader than I intended it to. So while this is a really critical component, I proposed on October 6th after attending a meeting at GW um during which Dr. Pilino spoke to the community that we um find quick time a quick time, you know, expedient time to [clears throat] meet following that meeting. Um and I was encouraged to like, you know, relax a little bit. This is a systems issue. Let's find time by the end of October to meet as a board um to
075discuss what I was interested in discussing which was board practices and policies in terms of our communication and transparency with the community. Um, we saw last week, no not last week, whatever the last board meeting was, a good presentation from the district about their goals and, you know, loving to think about what the details of that plan looks like, but I think we need our own to be in lock step, but also in accountability. So, in addition to that, of course, um, building out our own internal communication norms and agreements is a critical piece of it, but they are they are related, but nevertheless distinct. um both important but I believe that there is a call by the community who have elected us to get better at our own external processes and I don't think
076it requires us to have extensive conversations however they are important conversations and I just again time time passes everyone's very busy it's now um two months plus one week of the date that I made that request for a singular meeting at first. Um just to discuss what what are the reasons why what are our root causes of why the board has had less than satisfactory communications and transparency out with the community and how can we internally start to brainstorm about how we can get better at that so that we at least have something to to to imagine and it would sit next to what the district is planning to do on their own because these things have to again be in lock step but we can't just rely on the district to do the work
077that we also need to be doing. So, that was my my initial proposal. Um, I'll just say that the proposal when I was out um before I was asked to come on to the board, I had some unmovable work things that I had to attend to. So, I know the conver the initial conversation was had about what to how to move forward using these consultants with whom I have great confidence. The people are some of the best folks in our community and I think they'll do a great job and I know that I know at least one of them um uh professionally. Um however um it doesn't actually fulfill the my main objective which was to begin a conversation in a public session about what we understand to be the requests made of us from
078the community to potentially receive feedback from community members um either through the public meeting or some other format um about ways that we can improve our communications and transparency strategy as a board um within the rules and regulations of our board um and to begin to imagine small steps towards it. And so again, I understand that certain things need to be um guided by an external facilitator. To me, that piece does not need to be guided by an external facilitator, and I'm not sure it's even included on this proposal. So, >> I don't agree with that. first of all that we all even agree on what the communication problem is in the district and I think that's what this was going to address. GW is less than 10% of our district and I watched school
079after school have parents come in here telling us on how happy they are with communication and stuff. I don't think we do a fabulous job at communication until we have what we feel or what we our consensus that is the problem. I I honestly don't think communication was the problem. I sat at that same meeting that you were at and I don't honestly believe that communication was the problem. The problem was there are certain things that this board has knowledge of that is just not able to be shared with the community. And we have a law requirement not to share certain things with the community. And I will not move until we have a consensus of what the real problem is and where the real problem is because the problem wasn't communication. That problem has
080been going on for 16 years in that building and we need to address that before we address a problem that is not necessarily a real problem. I think can I just can I jump in for a sec? >> So, you know, we all sit here and we watch these meetings. So, we start trying to problem solve maybe things you don't want us to problem solve. But we've we have a tool that we use which I know you're all familiar with um sculpt exchange and M. Carvin has been working with Nicole Senior who is our representative from there around the conversations you were all having and what could they do to set up to assist us. So I know Miss Bonville, Miss Carvin and myself are supposed to meet with them again in right after the
081holiday. But I think that gets at exactly what what Mr. Lamb is trying to say. Why don't we get that that you know those data? Why don't we get you know you know obviously this is all you know qualitative. Um but that's kind of what the communication conversation is going to be about. So they worked on several things. I just got one today to to kind of go through and review. Now not that it's my job to review it, but I want to present it to you in its in its best form. Um so I think that that'd be a good way to get the information. So we may all have theories about what the issues are, but maybe we can get the we can get it and put it in front of us and
082even if we know it and maybe the person sitting next to us doesn't know it, we can say we that that would kind of clarify or at least justify, you know, our belief. So I'm willing to continue down that road. Um I think it's it's a tool at our at our disposal that would be um able to at least get that kickstart that I think Dr. Bernabby is talking about >> Dr. Bernabby. >> And just to be clear, what I'm saying is aligned with what you're saying, which is that we need to to gather information across the district about the needs and the requests of the community, and there will be certain things in there, of course, as you were already doing, that the district is dealing with actively. I am saying I believe the
083board has a role to play and that we are leaning on the district to do all of the labor and I don't think that that's correct and I don't think it holds up our end of the bargain and I think you know we are only as strong as we are doing the labor as well. So for me it's not to overstep our boundaries with the district but it's to say we're in lock step with you. These are the these are the areas that and again I'm not just talking about GW. In fact, I hear from our constituents across schools, including the high school, including just across schools and communities. Um, and it's not the full swath of people. There must there may be many many even a majority of people who think we do a
084great job on communications, but that's actually not what I'm talking about. I'm just talking about gathering the qualitative data, understanding the board's role, what we can do better in lock step with the district. Um, and this I think this is fantastic. This is healthy. the proposal that's put forth, but this is actually related. But you know, Dr. Padalino, again, thank you for doing that data gathering. Um, there are many ways to do those data gatherings. Some of it's really simple things that we could have been doing the past two months. Um, you know, listening sessions, and I know those things can devolve. Guess what? We're we're big. We're big kids in this room. Like, we can actually manage conflict in big spaces. So, if we as board members aren't willing to do what the district's
085willing to do, then I'm not sure where we're holding our end of the bargain up. So, I just want to have these conversations. I'm only asking for that. >> And I wasn't saying that we would send that out as the I was I would give it to all of you and you would the board was it would be it would be a board um >> I know >> communication and tailored to which I was just trying to get we were just trying to get the kind of start the snowball from the top of the hill and >> let it roll. >> Mr. Ryder. >> Yeah. Yeah, I mean part of our responsibility is to individually seek out what people hear and that happens when you're out at community events. It happens when you're, you know,
086wherever you are in the grocery store. I I don't know how much as a board like I think I have heard that there's you know complaints of a lack of transparency either on the district or the board but I I don't want to see a parallel communication track where the board as a whole is communicating something because I think what you hear complaints a lot um are also people not understanding the roles of the board >> and roles of the district and so we start having and you know also kind of what Mr. Lamb said is not understanding the difference between confidential information that we learn versus transparency and you're not being transparent while there's certain things that because of education law because of contracts because of all sorts of things we can't be fully
087transparent on it doesn't the and and so sometimes there I think I hear complaints like the board's not being transparent or the district's not being transparent. Um and and it's there's a misunderstanding that we are kind of one like we have a commun district communication Dr. Pedalino is the spokesperson for the district. Maria is the president Anderson is the spokesperson for the board. And I I think that there's just a lot of misunderstanding around that. Um, not that we shouldn't have this conversation when more of us are here. I do think there are two very different conversations like you brought up like our strategies for um communication in a way that you're talking about has to be in public session like this. Um, cannot be in a separate meeting um cannot be in a retreat.
088Like that's that's pretty clear. Our internal communications and how we communicate with each other is is great for this. Um, and you know, I think is the goal to prove this in January if people get to look at it >> as opposed to tonight probably and then set a track. And >> I think >> Dr. Barnaby, you'd be okay if this is a little bit slower process as long as the other conversations starting to happen. So I know it feels like January might be a busy meeting, but maybe we can carve out some time then whatever to continue this conversation when we have a full board um but gathering the information and or way to is that what you're looking at? >> Yeah, we're just looking for an avenue that avenue. It's not that you're
089putting out surveys. >> We wouldn't do it. We would present it to all of you but you would decide. >> Okay. >> And we have done listening sessions in the past that the be conversation if we could find it a different terms and I don't think anybody on the board is opposed to you know having those sessions what we did find frequently though is a question would be asked or a comment would be made and the person that had to answer the question was Dr. Palino because it was about the function of the district and what was happening so Mr. Ryder is correct. There's a fine line and we have to be careful that that we know where that line is. >> Dr. I understand I really I I I understand that there is a
090misconstring of what the board does and that there's a misunderstanding sometimes of the limits of what we can share and can't share. But it's still our job to be there and to hear from the public and to say sometimes over and over again which I saw on October 6, I think it was October 6th um of this year where you know Dr. Pedalinos I wish I could I wish I could answer that question but here's what I can say and I do think that the board can say things like that's not in the scope of the board. This is what's in the scope of the board but when my parents are committee members that come to any of us we don't we say I can't discuss the individual matters of of what's happening in the
091district. But I but you can share with me what you're thinking about policy. We can talk about I it's like a human interaction thing. So there's lots of things like that we can do and must do in my opinion that complement and work in lock step with the district. I don't think it's about having two communications plans. It's about thinking internally about what we can do in our elected positions that go above and beyond these meetings that allow people to feel that at least there's an opportunity for them to be heard beyond these meetings because these meetings aren't accessible to all of our community even though they're public, right? And so that's what I'm requesting for us to consider and continue having conversations about. Um, and I don't know the rules so I have to
092look them up. Maybe you know all the rules by heart at this point but um or maybe your lawyer I still there. Oh yeah, there you are. But um just like how do we just go about having um conversations with the community? Just listening like how do we how do we find out what's going on? If everyone thinks it's great, well, let's find that out. If everyone if people have specific suggestions when they see the word transparency, let's find out what that means. So I'm I'm excited for those conversations. That's why I'm here. And to not be able to have them, it doesn't feel like I'm doing my job. Are you asking? >> No, I'm just saying I just pointed at you to be like the lawyer can tell us how we're allowed to do
093things, but we need to do it either way. >> Thank you, Mr. >> I guess my only thought like no one's stopping you individually as a board member from having those conversations and gathering that information. And so it just is whether it actually is worthwhile and makes sense as a board to have something like that. I've been an advocate for listening sessions and so I I'm I'm open to that. I just I don't know if that's always even the best mechanism to get because it's a public meeting, right? And not everybody is the same people who don't want to come here don't want to go there often times but >> right >> we should do everything that we can possibly >> I agree with you that the strategy has to be thought through and we
094have to try a bunch of things to figure it out and being in lock step with the district so we're not like cross purposes but I'm not I'm not giving a specific suggestion that would be thinking I know what the answer is I just want to have a conversation that's really what I'm trying to do >> and I I think we're in agreement The conversation has to continue and if you can take a little time to review that proposal and and I will be in touch with Eva because the dates have to change and the whole the whole plan needs to be updated if we move forward. How many hours we do I mean it seems like to have two to three hour meeting and then half hour meeting between the nine of us the
09510 of us >> well I think the initial proposal for the two to three hour I mean that wasn't going to happen on December 10th anyway because we had uh it was a regular board meeting the that would be kind of like a retreat session that we have done in the past well so like the what's the projected on the last page >> something like that. >> Someone in that in that realm hour with all the nine of us and then an hour. >> So maybe 37500 >> two people right at the rate. >> Oh two. >> Do you know How much we paid the last time they came? >> I do not have that information. >> Okay. >> Used to be 17. >> We do have money. >> The board has a budget to
096do this. And actually we usually budget for the board members to go to the >> to go to the uh conference and >> only one bid. So we have money in the budget that the board can use that's been approved. >> Great. >> Okay. >> You clarify with that. So the 30 minute 30 minutes. So I was thinking but it's 30 minutes oneonone but there's two of them. So it's really we're paying for an hour of time. >> We should we should clarify that. I vote I vote to clarify that. My guess is >> one. You think just one of them? >> It's one on one. >> Yeah, one on one. >> My guess is that they wouldn't be there, but who knows? We should clarify. >> I think they're just splitting the work. So,
097I think it would not be times two. >> That proposal, >> right? >> That proposal came out of just making sure that the voice of every board member was heard in terms of what their concerns are regarding communication. So, to have a one-on-one session would enable them gather that information. >> It's kind of like Boseies did with the phone calls when the district planned this. >> Yes. I mean, we had we all every single one of us got had a phone call that >> had a conversation with the person through >> Sandy Kley. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Can I ask? Yeah. And clarify if it's the one like the one onone and we're only each meeting if they split it up like Dr. speak to this because this is work you do, but like
098if one of them is taking four and one's taking five, I feel like there's sure they could get together and share that information, but you're not hearing the same thing. You're not the same person hearing nine times. I feel like a facilitator, it should either be all of the like I don't know. >> Yeah, generally they have a set of questions they ask and so they're taking those during questions and generally they'll have the same questions, but we can ask. I mean it's not uncommon practice to have two like a team and then they share what they learned and then build something and generally it's so that they can generate themes right and understand dynamics. So they're both I mean they work together they're trained probably in the same methodology. It's pretty common to split
099up the work but we we should get information if if people are curious but it's it's pretty common >> okay and we'll follow up with our Any other old business? Any new business? >> I I have one piece of new and I I don't like to spring things on, but there was an email that some of the board members received um on kind of a request for um the district to provide lunches to one of the private school. So, in my little bit of research, like it was quick. It's like because we We provide lunch for all students. Is there some kind of requirement that we >> No. >> Okay. >> Our attorneys here provides that school in the state of New York by the state's deadline for the free money based on their student
100population. So it's Okay. But there so there's new and that was brand new because there's new guidance lines that came out for the 2526 year and then there was also something that specifically talked about because we are that that districts that provide free lunch to all that there might be a requirement to provide lunch. meals to >> maybe an ability to contract certainly deliver their own students themselves. So I could do but this was only today >> and we're we're willing to work with them. So I've already started talking with Joe B and and Mrs. carbon about you know do they need assistance in apply you know in understanding how to how to apply do they even know they can apply because this isn't coming from their administration the questions are coming from the and
101also there's also a requirement for data sharing if they are going to apply and we are going to um provide certain things for their students there's there's a lot of different things that go on there so again we didn't have this request from the administration um we have this request from a parent so we but we are willing to engage engage in conversation with the um with the administration about it and and see is there some avenue where we could we could assist even if it's just assisting in the applications because Joe and his team know how to do that. I have multiple nonprofits in the district. >> Right. >> And some may not want it. Some may already have their own setup and it's part of their tuition or whatever. So, I don't know.
102But, you know, again, we'll listen to anybody wants to talk to us about >> the schools have to do the application. Correct. >> Correct. Yes. >> And does it matter that some of our many of our private schools draw from um outside of the Kingston school district? not in terms of school. >> So their application, not ours. >> So like I said, we're willing to engage and and discuss and we can assist um in any way they would like. >> Any other new business? Board member announcements, >> public participation. Anyone would like to speak to the public session. Do we have a second? Can I ask for clarification or not? >> Well, you would have to second and then we have to have >> discussion. Second discussion about what what we're trying to do here.
103>> Have a discussion on matters that public safety Is it a specific situation? It's a topic that we've like it's a discussion that we've had before and I'm not sure what how we justify having this conversation probably >> I call the question I'm sorry >> all in favor of going into executive session to discuss matters of public safety. >> I opposed. >> Nay. >> We don't have a vote. >> 42. I'll make a motion to the meeting. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Any opposed? >> Thank you all. >> Miss Harris, could you stay for one minute? I just want to ask a question. >> I hope everyone has a merry Christmas. of