001Good evening everyone. We have returned from executive session to our public session of this meeting. I would ask we call um the role. Miss Jordan here. Mr. Spicer is excused. Dr. Collins here. Miss Anderson here. Mr. Ryder here. Miss Fitzgerald is excused. Miss Corson here. Mr. Fitzpatrick here. Mr. Lamb here. And if we can stand for the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. We have one action coming out of executive session B59 non-aligned. Be it resolved in accordance with section 1A of policy number 9215 entitled non-aligned employees salary benefits and conditions of employment that the board of education here right approves a 5.7% increase to the salaries of the positions and
002current titles in such policy effective July 1, 2025. So second All in favor of BOE59. Any opposed? BO59 is approved. We have um the minutes from the May 21st meeting to be approved and a second. Any discussion on the minutes from May 21st? All in favor? I Any oppose? And the minutes are approved our public comment session. We have speakers. Good evening everyone. We are about to enter the portion of the meeting where we welcome public comments. Although state law does not require that we hold a public comment period, we feel it is crucial that we hear from our community about their concerns. The board is here to listen. Your concerns and questions may be addressed at a future meeting of the board or you may be contacted by the appropriate staff member or administrator.
003If you have a prepared if you have prepared a written statement and do not have the opportunity to present it, please leave it with the clerk of the board who will that all trustees receive it. Each speaker will have five three minutes and in this public comment period will not exceed 30 minutes in total. It is important to note that state and federal privacy laws and collective bargaining agreements prevent us from discussing certain topics in this venue, including the names of specific employees or students and pending grievances or negotiation. Any speaker who does not adhere to these posted guidelines will forfeit the remainder of their time. I will just add that naming employees either for positive or negative reasons will not be allowed. Thank you for your adherence to the rules and your interest in
004the continuous improvement of our district. Alex Billy, members of the board, two weeks ago, Dr. Palino said that the cost for people at G. No names, please, was $2,000 more than any other school in the district. The newspaper printed that, but that was 100% false. I watched the video of the meeting. Anthony knew that math was wrong. I had my CPA compiler data. It was not difficult. You can see that the Monasuri coach, the Monasuri consultant, and Monasuri training for all 43 teachers comes out to a little less than 2,000 per per pupil. So, we think that's where he got the 2,000 from. But even if you were to add a full 2,000 onto the actual cost per pupil at GW as reported by the New York State Financial Transparency Report, you'll see that the
005cost per pupil at GW is still lower than the state average, lower than the county average, and it is in fact the lowest cost per pupil in the entire district. In 2024, even after adding that $2,000, GW spent over $13,000 less per pupil than Meer Elementary. That amounts to over 50% of GW's entire budget. That is simply unacceptable. That single school spent almost as much as two GWs. And we're saying that Monasuri is too expensive. The superintendent falsely represented GW as spending $2,000 more than any other school, not including Monasuri coach, consultant, and training. When in actuality, even when you add it all up and add it on top, GW continues to be the least funded school in the entire district. Anthony was right. I'm sorry. The math was wrong. And we all saw that
006no one took the time to check it. The decision was made in haste. Maybe you're thinking that the superintendent wouldn't make a mistake like that, but here's another example that's very easy to understand. The superintendent said that JFK had eight teaching assistants and GW had 22. Everyone accepted that, too, and the newspapers printed it. Did anyone realize that JFK does not have a preschool? GW has almost 100 preK students. They are legally required to have those additional 10 teaching assistants and those are paid by universal prek. Comparing the number of teaching assistants at JFK and GW makes absolutely no sense. Members of the board, we cannot upend the lives of an entire community based on these types of simple math errors. This is a disgrace. Our children deserve better than this. My son goes to
007GW. Your time is up. Thank you. [Music] [Applause] You want me to take those? Marielle Fiori. Hello. So we wrote a letter signed by PTO presidents current and former also parents that are in some way related to leadership positions at the school. We haven't received any response to our letter. So I just want to reiterate that we are formally protesting the decision of the board of education on June 4th to end the Montesori program at George Washington Elementary School. This vote was introduced unexpectedly not listed on the public agenda violating not only community trust but also may go against the principles of transparency and accountability allowed in the New York's meeting open meetings law. The superintendent talked about the meeting by acknowledging that the issue was not on the agenda. Yes. Used yet used the
008superintendent report session to address the public comment period from 521 and deliver a lengthy and impromptu case against the Montesori program at George Washington Elementary. The conversation too quickly escalated into a full-blown discussion about the future of the Montasuri program and the board member Mark Ryder moved to vote to dismantle a program with nearly two decades of community investment without notice of the chance for public input. The program has deep community roots and a strong optin demand. As you mentioned also during this meeting over 76 kids opt in to come into that school. Yet misleading claims about its effectiveness and cost were presented at the board meeting to justify its elimination. This comes after the school budget for 2025 2026 had already been voted on and approved by the constituents of the city of Kingston.
009GW has been underfunded, no overfunded. Over the past few years, the budget has shown GW as not only the least funded school in the district, but below the average within the state, county district, and in comparison to other schools. The remarks from the superintendent also neglected to mention a critical factor. Only 40% of current GW teachers are Montasuri trained. This staffing failure along with high turnover and lack of consistent commitment by the building administrative leadership towards Montesori pedagogy points not to a flow in the Montesori method but to the district and school failure to support what it has promised many times to implement. The Montesori program is one of the most cost effective and timeroven options in the district beyond any facts with a worldwide history of success dating back generations globally. Also very troubled
010was the superintendent's framing of parent voices as demanding. Parents were not making any demands. We were asking repeatedly, politely, and in good faith for follow through on commitments made to our children and community. Over the years, we submitted multiple petetitions. The most recent on May 21st with over 200 signatures requesting the district to keep the Montesori program at GW in a two-track system. So the request is that please resign recent the vote from June 4th. Also commit to a full review of the actual causes of the Montesori current challenges inclusive pro public process. Also release the full text of the Montesori report by consultant Elizabeth Slate that she came in May June and please show the performance data by classroom at GW and not the schoolwide. Thank you so much. [Applause] My name is Paul
011Miller. I'm a resident of Kingston, a taxpayer, and uh my nephew attends GW. When I woke up on June 5th and saw the news that the Monas story program at GW was ending, I was disappointed but not surprised. I was surprised, however, after I watched the recording of the board meeting to see board and community members laughing throughout an entire process that you said you took very seriously. I was also surprised to hear the constant reiteration that not a lot of planning was needed and that the program could be ended tomorrow if needed. It seems that you forgot about the hundreds of humans involved, the students at GW, the teachers and staff and the families. You also seem to forget that there's a universal prek program house at GW. If anyone here doesn't know, families
012who received notification that they got into GW's 3K program in May have been told that they will now be attending Kingston Catholic. I'm shocked and disgusted at the complete lack of transparency in your data and the unprofessional nature in which the decision was made. And at the very least, please keep the Children's House intact. It's open to everyone. It's equitable. It's a great program. And most importantly, you receive funding from the state for it, which a point that was conveniently left out on June 4th. Thank you, Leo Butler. I'd like to make the case tonight for keeping just about four Montasauri classrooms at GW this fall. Now, I know it feels like this decision is behind you, but I think we're proving tonight that it was kind of based in perhaps some mudded information um
013and erroneous data. So, I do ask that you just at least give careful consideration to my plea tonight. These are eight reasons why I believe this is the best um and even easiest choice. Number one, you mentioned your concern that the implementation of uh dual track would be an equitability nightmare. Uh, and honestly, it's the first thing that came to my mind as well. It's such an important consideration, but I don't think it's insurmountable. Just as Edson is host to a dual language academy, GW could continue its existing program as part of a dual track offering. Frankly, if a dual track exists in one school, isn't it inequitable to deny it to another? [Applause] It'll be The teachers are already in place. They love their jobs. They love what they do. The school is totally
014set up to do this. Uh, send out a quick email. Well, make a bunch of people happy. Easy win. Number three, the 76 families who requested special permission to attend GW won't feel like the rug was pulled out from underneath them. Consequently, it'll foster trust and good faith in the community. And what could be better for our students? Number four, uh the funding is already allocated. As we talked about tonight, we voted for a school budget under the assumption even the promise in some cases that Montasauri would continue. So allowing these four rooms to operate as a small wing with NGW is an easy way to remain faithful to the budget as we understood it when we voted for it. Number five, our students who were struggling in a conventional setting but who began thriving
015in Montasauri setting sometimes because of neurological conditions that made their recommend, you know, the moving alphabet, the texture, uh, letters of my story program. Um, these students will now have to be upended. Number six, the families who prefer a more traditional educational setting will be able to move in that direction. Even at W. The dual track will make most possible people happy and will be of best service to our diverse student population. Will keep choice available. Number seven, got more. It'll be a chance to execute Monttoauri in a 100% faithful manner and it'll be manageable. It's no secret that over the years GW has struggled to see true fidelity in the implementation of Montasauri when we know that worldwide Montasuri is a proven approach for struggling learners like some of our L's we've got to
016ask the question why isn't it playing out in our district and I think a lot of us know that it had to do with implementation not the method right um so with a forum program with it more accurate meaningful data so we can make sure we're truly doing our due diligence in order to set our students up for success. Thank you. And then finally, make us happy. Thank you. Hello everyone. I am here today to tell a story, a multi-generational story about Monasuri and why replacing it with something else is not going to be the same. This right here is the monastery movable alphabet. And I'd like to tell you about why it's so important. When one of my children was small in kindergarten, pre kindergarten, um we she would describe that page when she
017looked at a page, the letters walked. It took us a long time to figure out what was going on. And it turned out that her were not properly. So when she looked at a page of black and white written text in the typical workbooks that children work in, it turned out that the words were swimming like one of those seeing eye maps. What one of the things that they pushed us to was to get her into a monastery program where she could have develop a relationship with letters that was not two-dimensional. This resonated with me because I also did not have that disability. But when I was a child, I had a much more common problem, which was struggling with reversals that B, D, P, and Q all look like sticks with bubbles attached. But
018with a monastery moving alphabet, I could hold them. I could flip those letters around, and I could develop my own relationship with those letters before I had to move into the adult world of black and white printed two-dimensional text. This is not a new fad curriculum, not the coolest new thing. This is something that Maria Monastery developed and launched in 1907 for children who were low income and who struggled in many ways. This is something that has proven itself all around the world for thousands and thousands of children and that people pay a lot of money for to go to private school. There are 300 other public schools around the country that successfully implement this. The other eight in New York State have much lower parent or student teacher ratios, an average of 17. Our
019classes had about 25 to 29. This is not a failing of Monasuri and there is no reason to take this approach away from thousands of children in our district who need something like this because those problems with reading are not always diagnosed. Kids don't know how they're supposed to see. So these tools have been provided for us. They've been proven over time. And we cannot let false data drive this decision to take this investment that our community has made away from all of these children. [Applause] That ends our public comment session. Unless there's someone that did not have a chance to sign up. That brings us to the [Music] What is your name, please? My name is Marie Miller. I'm a Kingston resident and a parent of GW. I'd like to continue my husband's speech
020from before um concerning my son at GW. He's six years old and his math is better than the math that was done on the June 4th meeting. If your kids went to GW and you know it was great, great. with great teachers and this school had been underfunded year after year. Would you let this stand? Kids across the district apply to go to GW. The prek program has a weight list year after year. Despite having the highest need, it is spending 10,000 less per student than the district average. That's almost half of what some of the wider schools are spending. Is that equitable? We can't allow these types of decisions to be made based on false pretenses. If you want to restore faith in this process and in this body, we must do undo the
021horrific mistake tonight. We can't allow this to play out in the courts. We must reinstate the monastery program. Thank you. [Applause] That brings us to the superintendent report. Dr. Young, thank you. Uh, first in the superintendent report, I have our director of prevention and safety who's going to our district safety plan as well as give a brief SRO report, Mr. Parker. Sorry for the crookedness. All right. Good evening all and welcome to the 2026 2526 districtwide safety plan overview. I'm Lan Parker, coordinator of prevention and safety for Kingston City Schools. And this is the time when we present the district-wide plan to the board, the community, and make it available for a 30-day comment period on our website. Tonight, the plan will be presented in four sections. One, creating and maintaining a safe learning environment.
022Two, the SAVE Act in New York State required teams and plans. Three, the district-wide versus building level safety plans. And four, the new requirements for the 2526 plan. We at KSD KCSD strive to be a space where students and staff and visitors feel free to express themselves, seek understanding, and build me meaningful relationships. It should be a place where individuals can discover who they are without fear or judgment or preconceived notions. A place of both victories and setbacks, of achievements and challenges, a place where mistakes are part of the journey. And forgiveness is part of the culture. Above all, it should be a place that feels safe and is safe emotionally, intellectually, and physically. To create an educational space that provides all this requires three components: physical safety, behavioral supports, and a positive climate. We
023must all also be prepared. Prepared for any event that may threaten the work we're doing. Our responsibility and mission are to prevent unwanted outcomes before they occur. Mitigate situations by deescalating them before or as they arise. Protect the school and everyone within it within it. Respond quickly and effectively when action is needed and also recover after a situation has grown beyond our control and bought been brought to an end. This is how we preserve the space we built, a space of safety, growth, and belonging. According to FEMA, achieving the five mission areas requires the combined effort of the whole community. This means teamwork, planning, public information, early warning, and operational coordination. We continue to build on these areas by holding comprehensive drills and training with first responders. We have advanced communication systems with local emergency
024services. We have the largest and most active critical stress management team in Oster County. We also have deeprooted commun community partnerships supporting recovery and well-being. We've worked diligently to embody this approach by having monthly collaborations with emergency services and agencies, participating in the Olser County Preparedness Task Force, cross country ef crosscount efforts with Duchess County and other counties, and key achievements with our 50 member districtwide safety committee. This is what it means to be prepared not just in policy, but in practice. Together we are building a culture of safety, resilience, and shared responsibility based on NICED and FEMA. Schools are encouraged to adopt a comprehensive approach to safety that includes intelligence and information sharing, collaborating with law enforcement, community partners, and internal staff to identify and respond to threats early. Interdiction, taking proactive steps to
025disrupt potential threats before they materialize. Screening and searching, implementing procedures to detect weapons, contraband, and other threats at entry points. Detection. We use surveillance and monitoring systems and behavioral threat assessments to identify risks. The districtwide safety committee worked diligently to add, improve, and maintain intelligence and information by meeting monthly with this law with law enforcement and uh information shared with schools and first responders from the Capitol region all the way down to Westchester County. We use access control and identity verification with the Raptor system and door numbering. We have cyber security, surveillance expansion, and emergency response systems. We went from 258 cameras to 574 cameras. threat assessment and critical incident stress management teams, anonymous reporting and SRO programs, licensed and trained security officers. Training offered uh to the safety staff and monitors and SRO this
026year included threat identification, emergency response, deescalation, stop to bleed, high level listening, effective supervision, and understanding individual needs to ensure effective response and recovery. We prioritize infrastructure readiness and strong partnerships with health, social service, and cultural organizations. We conduct all required and additional safety drills, including lockdowns, bus evacuations, and add CPR drills evaluated by local fire departments. Our staff receives expertled training and threat assessment and incident command. We maintain uh direct radio links with Kingston Police and Olter County Emergency Services for seamless communication during emergencies. Our 25 member critical stress management team, widely respected across the county, is prepared for any recovery effort. Long-standing relationships with organizations like Family of Woodstock, Aster, Brothers at Bar, CCe, Harami, and the YMCA foster a supportive network that strengthens community resilience and healing. The Safe Schools Against Violence
027and Education Act established in 2000 was designed to enhance school safety and prevent violence. A key requirement of the law is the creation of comprehensive safety plans at both the district and building levels. These plans outline how schools will prevent, respond to, and manage emergencies and acts of violence through coordinated strategies in prevention, intervention, and uh crisis response. the teams. The districtwide safety team is led by the board, the superintendent or designate and is responsible for the district-wide safety plan, while the building level safety response planning team is led by the building principal and is responsible for building the building level response plan. The building level team is also responsible for designating the building's the emergency response team and post response team. The emergency response team is activated in response to crises such as medical
028emergency or lockout. Many times it is made up of nurses, fizzed teachers, custodians, and clerical staff. While the postresponse team comes into play after an event has ended. The they support admin response team members, students, parents, and the school community with emotional support and mental health assistance. Membership tends to be made up of mental health professionals, counselors, and crisis Team membership. A team. Our districtwide team is made up of representatives of the school board, teachers, administrators, parent organizations, community members, bus drivers, and monitors, school safety personnel, and law enforcement reps. We look at the safety goals of the district from a bird's eyee view and support the building level teams by supplying guidance, information, and resources. Our building level emergency response planning teams are made up of building principles, teachers, custodians, community members, SRO, psychologists,
029and more. They're specific to that school, and many are also members of the response team. The plans, the district-wide safety plan is a comprehensive overlook at the why of what we do in safety. It focuses on policies, requirements, and regulations and is the foundation of the building level plans. It tells us what we should be doing in respect to New York State and the Department of Ed, as well as any addition the district might need necessary or deemed necessary. It must be explained, shared, overseen, and approved by representatives of the community. The building level plan response plan are the strategy. I'm sorry. The building level response plans are the strategy, ideas and action steps of how an individual school will respond to their individual crisis. It includes includes who's involved and how they will respond
030and proceed. How the kids will proceed, how the adults in the building will proceed, how emergency responders will proceed, how law enforcement will proceed. Its contents are kept under lock and key and can only be viewed and reviewed by that team, that school, the district-wide team members, first responders, law enforcement, and New York State itself. It is not a public document. New York State is now requiring the following standard standardized emergency response tech uh terminology. Schools must now use the following emergency response terms. Shelter or shelter in place. Hold or hold in place. Evacuate. Secure lockout now replaces lock. L lock lockout. So again secure lockout replaces lockout in lockdown. Only the terminology is updated. Procedures are remaining the same. Afterchool events annex. An afterchool events annex has been added to the building level emergency
031response plans within the districtwide safety plan. A brief statement has been added to the section two of the risk reduction/prevention intervention uh section confirming compliance with the new regulations. So in other words for principles that are here there's another annex where we need to plan for after school activities. Um clarify drill requirements. It is not required to hold a drill during an assembly or lunch period if students are provided instruction on drill procedures in the event of a fire during these times. This instruction may be waved if the drill is held. In other words, we no longer had to have to have a drill during lunch or during an assembly if we train the kids how to how to respond in that situation. Or we can just have a drill, one of the two. Uh
032after school program emergency procedures uh a new requirement in the drill section for events involve involving non-regular attendance attendees. The person in charge must notify attendees of emergency procedures. This includes sporting events. Uh updated staff development training training must now include roles of the build building level emergency response planning team. Incident command system roles and responsibilities, procedures for all five emergency response teams, drill procedures including who releases classrooms from lockdown, and policies on violence prevention and mental health. Uh Chris and I will be speaking with event streams about how to proceed with these particular trainings. Um I'd like to touch on the SRO program also real quick. uh our mission statement for our SRO program and it states, "The SRO mission statement reflects the chief goal of the school community partnership with local law enforcement
033to enhance the physical and emotional safety of the diversity, the entire diversity of the KCSD students and staff. Under the guidance of KCSD school administrators, the SRO program will support the districtwide safety plan while pursuing a respectful, harmonious integration with the entire school community. through programming and daily positive interaction. That's an excerpt from our SROU between KCSD and KPD. Our our school resource officers support school safety through peer mediation, safety education for students and parents in collaboration with state staff and law related issues. They attend key meetings, connect families with community services, and help develop safety strategies. SRO's stay alert in the community. They respond to emergencies and take law enforcement action when needed. They do not get involved with school discipline unless the law has been rebroken. Since my last report in December, SRO's
034have locked 718 additional interactions. Most interactions stem from daily patrols, perimeter checks, traffic control, and sporting events. Our SRO work diligently at being authoritative and approachable. 76% of the interactions consist of general dialogue with parents, staff, students, contractors, community members attending after school events and so on. Admin assistance being the next highest at 15% includes assistance with cyber bullying, studentto student threats made outside of school, threats of violence, bake testing, and more. Student initiated assistance at 12% many times stem from issues in the community that may require an order of protection, sexual harassment or abuse, cyber bullying, threats to family members, or reports of misconduct in their neighborhood. Faculty and staff touch base with SRO for general safety concerns in school eyewitness reporting and legal advice. There have been no formal complaints about the SRO
035and zero arrests on campus this year. I may have to correct that last one. We haven't had any uh Make sure I'm in the right place. We haven't had any arrests on campus of our students, but we had did have one arrest uh of a student from Albany who got into a skirmish at one of our basketball games and ended up striking one of our security officers. Um it wasn't wasn't one of our students. It wasn't during school time. It was during an event, but I figured I'd let you know that. Um and we are working uh disagregate all the other data um of incidents which resulted in discipline involving industrial law enforcement as it reflects on race and gender and educational classification. Um I anticipate having this work done once summer programs conclude and
036I will be prepared to present the findings or submit a detailed report which will include the summer months also. Thank you for your presence and any comments or questions, Mr. Ryder. Um, so last night I was in a Oolster County legislative meeting and um the majority leader that there was a contract in front of that body on SRO in the sheriff's office and and the majority leader of that body talked about how he had normally um not supported SRO contracts, but there was something that happened in another state where the SRO's basically lined a field to protect the students from ICE and had had a conversation with the Oster County Sheriff to see if the SRO would do something similar. So, I'm wondering if anything like that conversation has had there been conversations with theus
037as far as any ways that our SSRO would interact with us. I know you've put out a statement um on some things, but has that conversation been had either with the sheriff or with the chief? I've not had that conversation with any of the I mean, I think it'll be something that as a body we may have to consider, but thank you. Any other questions, concerns, comments? Any other questions or comments from Mr. Thank you for this very complete report. I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. [Applause] I just have two other short things report on. Um just one reminder for everyone, the Balora is Monday evening at um the Mount Academy. Also, the senior walkthroughs at the end of the day, end of the school day, our elementary schools when our seniors
038go to their home elementary schools to walk through and say hello with the students and their captains and gowns. It's very nice combination to fit there. And last of all, graduation is Friday 5:00 PM De Stadium. Um, and all our moving up ceremonies was interested. They happened during the day that's on our website on our school calendar. And that was really all I have for you said Friday, but Friday the Wednesday. Any other questions or comments for Dr. All right, that brings us to the um board of education committee reports starting with teaching and learning. Dr. Collins. Okay. Is that all right? So, um the teaching and learning committee just two days ago on June 16th. Um after approving the minutes um we wrapped up from the last meeting a special um special education with
039a few questions and answers. Um Dr. Felichello and Dr. Williams clarified that the goal um of our 1511 classes was to use the full continuous services to the best to best address the needs of students. This was in response to a question by miss but really the majority of the meeting was focused on the school comprehensive education plan the presentations by um principles and just a little context um so the purpose of this meeting is the TNL committee to view the steps uh for schools that are identified by the state for either comprehensive support or targeted support. All schools develop these plans but boards need to approve plans for just things that are required by the state. um for improvement. The set process includes meeting with the building leadership team over several months to review
040data both academic and survey, determine interventions to focus on and then provide strategies for reaching their goals. Um our teams were assisted by anchor education who served as consultants to support the building leaders through this process. Um so the steps were in the board library will be posted once approved by the board they'll be posted on the website. So I'm not going to detail the every um aspect of the steps that were presented by each building principal. Um but I will just highlight a couple of things. Um first I'd like to just um share that we heard about successes from last year's steps. Um so for example the sheltered instruction for English language learners at GW was a result of their set planning and seems to be very effective. Um improved attendance including students our
041own attendance at JFK and effective win which stands for what I mean blocks at both Miller and so uh these are just examples of what was part of the last planning process seems to be working and they're going to be continued moving forward as they're refined. Um so many schools are building on or finding these strategies from last year but in addition to keeping what's working the schools proposed additional strategies. Just a couple of highlights. For example, G at GW there'll be targeted skill instruction in both math and writing um with a real goal of building vocabulary common vocabulary across all students and disciplines. At JFK um real emphasis with on instruct in instructional coaching, the expansion of ballet and building keyboarding skills to help um students better showcase their abilities on computer based assessments.
042And at Edson enhancing the PB restorative practices um supported by professional development for their teachers. At Bailey, the introduction of the AVID binders for seventh graders really honing in on executive skills and teaching students to organize their materials and reflect on learn and at Miller um one of the things that was talked about is character strong social emotional learning program for fifth and sixth graders to promote positive community relationships. So these are just bullet points that came one being selected from each school but the entire plan is in your library and will be on the website. Um they will be approved you know by board in July. So we concluded the meeting by thanking community members and teachers for their service on the board this year. Uh the committee chair designate July will spearhead the
043call for new community members as well as establish the meeting dates. Questions for Dr. Thank you very much. I'm gonna pivot over to Miss Gones because I was not I was absent from that yesterday. Yes, Miss Cor chair the committee that day. Thank you. The audit and finance committee met on Tuesday, June 17th. Um after approving the May 27th minutes, we had um a presentation of both the treasur and claims audit reports, the fund reports, and um I believe it was in your fourth packet that uh we had Miss Carbon uh presented the reserve that she had presented. It's a 12page document. If you have any questions about it, I will happily refer them to Miss Cara to answer. Um, we also discussed u what the focus for the internal auditor should potentially be for
044this coming year. And what we decided was or what was recommended and we agreed to was that it should be in the area of special ed operations. But that assuming that Questar can actually identify an expert that is a nonseason employee to help facilitate that internal audit. Uh so with that, our next meeting was scheduled for July 22nd at um 20 of this coming year and I'm sure the new board chairperson will happily set up the balance of the meetings for that. Any questions that either Mr. Lamb or I can answer? Yeah, I think we need a motion. My understanding is we need a motion uh for the board and that is to accept uh the reserve report that is in your thing that was um that was put forward. It's a fun balance and
045reserve fund plan for 2024 25 balances as of June 30th, 2024. I'll make that motion. Second. Any additional discussion? All in favor of accepting the reserve fund? I. Any opposed? That motion is I have one other brief committee report. Uh the legislative action committee met today and we uh discussed as we mentioned last time our priority for this coming year is going to be actually focusing on funding issues as our top priority. Um we create started to lay out some steps to create a plan for how we could work with administration and are some recommendations about what we will be doing. We actually will start working on this over the summer. So any of you who are interested, this is not an exclusive, this is an inclusive effort of the board. So any of you
046who are interested in joining us with meetings with our legislators and some of the other actions um please let us know. I sent the minutes to Miss Uri and asked her to put them in the board so that you that information. Thank you. Uh the policy committee meets actually on Friday, but uh Mrs. Jordan, I think, would like to give an update. Yes. Um the policy committee meeting is postponed to accommodate the schedules of committee members because of the end of the year commotion. But I did want to respond to the concerns raised by a parent at our last board meeting and clarify the process and responsibilities of the board of ed and policy committee. The first concern raised was the time of meetings not allowing for parent engagement. In fact, the meetings of the
047policy committee as all board committees are open meetings which are open for viewing but not for public comment and participation. These meetings are to allow for critical conversations and questions between board of ed members and those administrators who can inform the board of the most recent legislative action, concerns, necessary action, etc. This is the time board members can interact with all appropriate administration and get pertinent information to inform their decisions and policies and bring that product and information back to the full board. The parent and community engagement prior to this discussion and if any committee requires more input, those stakeholders are invited to present more specific information to the committee prior to any recommendations to the full board. These meetings are work sessions for the policy committee. The time must accommodate the administrative team as
048well as the elected board trustees. This meeting time is adjusted to accommodate the members of the committee and any guests as needed. Specifically, the family engagement or shared decision making happens at both the building level BLTs and district level DLTs, which meet at least three times during this met at least three times this past school year. The complaint of a meeting ending abruptly was due to the lack of respect demonstrated by a few participants. It is unfortunate that such action was required, but no meetings can proceed when participants do not behave in a respectful manner to others present. Another incorrect claim was that parents were stripped of their rights because the plan was never ratified by the committee. Despite the last meeting ending early, every participant received an email so the plan could be evaluated
049and ratified. There was a response form every stakeholder group and the majority rated the plan as consistent or moderate which met the requirements to move the efforts of the group in a presentation to the policy committee. The desire to eliminate the language that gives final authority to the board of ed is required by law since the board cannot delegate its responsibility for anything affecting the budget. Setting the course of study by which students are graded and classified final decision regarding what instructional programs are in a district schools and decisions regarding reorganization of a district school. In fact, the policy provided as evidence or supposed error had that exact stipulation on page two that states quote responsibility of the board of education after seeking endorsement of the plan from the committee of the board of ed
050from the committee the board of education has the final responsibility and authority to adopt and amend the district plan that language is required and cannot be eliminated each plan is unique to meet its district's needs needs. But the final responsibility lies within the purview of the board of education. Kingston City Schools has a long tradition of shared decision making for over 40 years. BLTs and DLTs, safety committees, and suicide prevention committees met in the 80s with representation from all stakeholders and community partners. All of our schools participate in the the evaluation and goal setting process required by of our identified schools because administrators believe it is good practice. I know we will continue to rely on all stakeholders in the future. I want to thank the wonderful team that is the policy committee. They are
051always thoughtful and take the time to consider every aspect of law and policy as much as possible. So the policies we bring to the full board for adoption represent our intent and action as clearly as possible. I have eleated by all of you and have enjoyed our debates over the best word or phrase that will capture our desired communication. It has been a privilege. Thank you, Mrs. Jordan. That brings us to our consent agenda. Are there any trustees who would like items pulled from the consent agenda? Hearing none, we can have a motion to accept the consent agenda. So move second. Any discussion? All in favor? Any oppose? So our consent agenda is approved. We do have a few donations. [Music] The board of education of the Kingston City School District hereby accepts with grateful
052appreciation the following generous donations to Enson Elementary School Library from the Edson PTO. Library books valued at $246 to the Edward R. Crosby Elementary School from Crosby PTO a donation of $11,81087 to be used for a swing set for the Crosby playground and to the JFK elementary school from connect kids field trip grant program. uh field trip grant and the award of $2,000. So, thank you to everyone for those generous donations. Thank you. Brings us to old business. Just by way of an update, the ad hoc uh board handbook committee met today and other than updating um dates, uh we cross reference policies. we're in good ste. The only recommendation that came out that really would not require any change to the policy is that we actually um begin the process of assigning a mentor
053of a city board member to any new member for a one-year period of time. And that's the recommendation that came out from the committee. You had a busy day today. I did. Well, all week I had a big day. And then uh just one other thing that the committee did and and Dr. Pelino is aware of this because we have student exeicio reps joining us. We actually created a onboarding handbook for our student reps which uh we uh forwarded to Dr. Williams who will review it with Dr. can get back to us with any additional um comments, feedback, additions, whatever revisions. So, our goal is to have all of those ready for our first meeting in July. Thank you. Any other old business? Any new business? That brings us to our second public comment section.
054Is there anyone who would like to address the board? I just wanted to clarify if you just read some messages, Miss Jordan, about the share decision making meeting that was terminated due to unruly behavior or something like that. I was at that meeting there was no unruly behavior. So I would like for you to revise those notes. disrespectful. Disrespectful. Yeah, it was not like that. So, just for the record, I wanted to say that I was there. Anyone else to address the board? Board member announcements. Mr. Lamb. Very briefly, tonight is one of the happiest and saddest nights of the board. And as we send off our retirees who are going to have a wonderful time and I want to thank every one of those retirees for what they did for our children in this
055this district. It is a wonderful career and you made a difference and thank you. And the people who got tenure, congratulations. Um, it's a wonderful career you have ahead of you. A long career you have ahead of you, but enjoy every minute of it. Thank you. Any other announcements? I just wanted to thank Dr. Pedalino and my fellow board members for just a wonderful, wonderful experience. I'm trying not to be emotional, but Um I have really been um privileged to sit with all of you at this table and I appreciate the administrative staff and the teachers and TAs and parents but most of all the students at the district. I hope that I've represented them well. But I want to thank all of you for your service and I really appreciate sitting in this table
056with all of you. Thank you so much. I think the thanks really needs to come from the board to you for your years of service and dedication to the children of this school district. So, thank you and be a friend to the board, please, because you're a wise woman and we appreciate all that you've done. Dr. I think we read the resolution earlier. That was in honor of Suzanne. So, I'm not sure that you can't necessarily read it again, but I just hope you know that um there's no way to capture the what you have given the board over the years and what you've given the district over the 37 years of service to the district. Um but we will miss your leadership and your steadfast commitment to doing the right thing. Thank you so
057much. Mr. Yeah. I mean, you said you had the privilege of serving with the board. I feel like we've all had the privilege working with you and um I felt like your kind of even keel presence has helped um center out myself for one coming in like a little bit like a bull in the work uh challenge job. But thank you for being you and for you know providing a perspective of not just education but um common sense and dignity. So thank you. Thank you. I will end with just a little message. Oh I'm sorry. I'll let you end after you're supposed to get the last word. No you can have the last word for change. Um but tonight's discussion makes me feel that in terms of service or anything, you have to be reflective
058to um try to be effective. And there's a Yiddish saying, but I can't say it in Yiddish, but translated, my parents would always say this to me, on yourself, on someone else you can see a flea, but on yourself you can't see a bear. And so I It's a good way to think about how we have to behave together and move forward and reflect on what what we're bringing to. Dr. P, just very quickly 13 years ago, the first classroom that I visited was Miss Jordan's classroom and they were doing the um I had a dream speech with kindergarteners and I mean it was very impressive. Um, and we joke a lot that that when M. George decided to join the board that I was not very happy. Um, but like most jokes, they all
059have basis and truth. Um, but that being said, uh, having board has been unbelievable asset to me, I think, to the district, the board, to the board as a whole. Her experience in the classroom, her experience as a union official for KTF, helping us just navigate a lot of different and also just bringing your um your wisdom and as Mark said your your even keel event ways um someone who's taught in the elementaryaries the middles the highs in this building so you know it all and all the history and I've really trust you've been a trusted adviser and I appreciate all the help you give me over the years so thank you for running thank you for staying on the court as long as you did and I hope you have a great retirement thank
060you it's been my pleasure I make a motion to announce. So that brings us to a motion to adjourn. I'll make that motion again. All in favor of returning. Any opposed? Thank you very much. Have a great evening. You guys can turn your mics off, please. Build