001Good evening. Welcome to the Marcellus Central School District Board of Education meeting. Today is Monday, April 20th, 2026. Will you all stand for the Pledge of Allegiance? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Recognition? All right. We have lots of recognitions tonight, and I just want to give a shout-out to all of the students' names that you see on the screen. These students last week were inducted into the OCM BOCES National Technical Honor Society. And just again, so many of our students who were inducted certainly made us proud. Brian Cevey, myself, Heather Arcese, and Jen Baker were all there to congratulate these students. So, just a big accomplishment for them, but
002also for Marcellus. Just a a little highlight. Red Theater came last week, and in fact, some people that are here are in this picture. They did a Aesop's Fables for our students at the elementary level, and it was certainly enjoyed by all. It was fun to to watch students just sort of enthralled by the by the theater. I will say that is one thing I think about this district that we start just that exposure to theater at a young age for our students, even with the third-grade play. And I do think obviously it pays off if you come to any of our high school musicals. We we really do a great job preparing students from a young age. Our UK students have had the pleasure of spending some time at our egg center. So, Joe
003Killian, Caitlin Eaton, and some of our other CTE teachers, along with some of our CTE students in these photos, have been helping our UPK students work on a Mother's Day project, and I don't want to spill the beans and reveal what it is, but it's just been awesome to see them engaged and interacting, and as you can see, hands-on learning for some of our UPK students. And then, we held a CTE night last week, and here are just some photos of the different areas of the agricultural and science center. We have students that were in the greenhouse giving tours, students in the main area with the sawmill giving tours and showing their projects, and then some students that are part of the FCCLA academy. They actually are presenting some of their work here in this
004photo that they will be sharing at Nationals in Washington, D.C. this summer. So, it was a great night, and we were appreciative of all the people who came out to enjoy the offerings and just sort of understand what's going on in our CTE department. And that is it. And on to superintendent's report. So, a couple things. We have three board candidates. Um We have three positions open. Two of those positions are 3-year terms, and one of them is a 2-year term that was vacated by Josh Matuszak. So, we have three board candidates who submitted their paperwork by 5:00 p.m. today. They are Shawn Eady, Jessika Johnson, and Pete Chapman. So, the three of them will run. The person with the top the two people with the top two votes will get the three-year terms and
005the person with the least votes will get the two-year term. I do want to just mention I-Ready is a progress monitoring system that we use in the district. We recently shifted to using I-Ready and the rationale behind that is we really were looking for a system that would encompass really our K-8 so that students when they leave KCH in third grade and they go to fourth grade at DMS, the data would go with them and it would be easily understood by the teachers at fourth grade. Right now just full disclosure there is a lawsuit going on with I-Ready and questions around data privacy. Bob has been working closely with Mike Dingman our director of technology. The first thing we did is ensure that we have a DPA agreement in place and so if you remember
006that's one of the things that New York State requires when a school district engages with a company a software company a DPA data privacy agreement has to be in place and so we do have that in place. I-Ready has assured us that our data is protected and students data is protected and has stated clearly that there is no merit to the lawsuit. We still obviously will be watching very carefully to make sure and pay attention to the latest developments. The state budget is still not done yet. So if you're following the news the state budget has not come out from what we're hearing I think done is certainly mid-May which will be right in time for you know our elections and our budget vote. So we're still waiting for that because to some extent we
007just want to ensure what we forecasted for the revenues that we're expecting are indeed accurate. And then until that comes in mid-May, um we won't know for sure. Again, we put our best guess forward, but um we will be waiting and and looking at those runs closely when they finally come out. Right now, our um all all of our building principals are working on schedules for next year. Um so, grades seven or seven through 12, Stephanie Rice and Brian Stevie are working closely. Um and also uh Stephanie or I'm sorry, Kathy Mahoney and Lauren are working closely on scheduling classes, um sectioning, as well as with support from Julie Dermody Latham, our director of special ed. So, um we're hoping to have that information likely by mid-May to end of May to um be able
008to communicate that uh to our staff. Um and then we are in the midst, full swing, preparing for end of year events. This time of year starts getting very busy just with concerts, uh ceremonies to honor our eighth graders, uh graduation, National Honor Society. So, um we are in full swing uh preparing for all of those end of year events. And then, I do want to just welcome uh many of our uh K-6 staff here with us tonight. I don't want to steal Bob's thunder, um but I will say for for the past 2 years, we have been on a mission um to really research and adopt a new ELA program. Our current program, Wonders, it we adopted over 10 years ago. Um and as all of you know, with the science of reading, there's
009a lot um that we now know that we didn't know back then. So, um we really have been on a mission and Bob has done an exceptional job working with our UPK or UPK-6 staff um to really find the right program for Marcellus. And so but So welcome everyone. Thanks team for being here tonight. As Jean said, we are currently working with Wonders. It's a program that was devised in 2014. So we are aging out along with our literacy attestation that we need to provide for the state now along with changes in science of reading. It was time. Originally when the team came together, we thought this would be a one-year venture, but now we're on year two. And hopefully that will convey the message that we really take in the time and steps necessary
010to make sure that we have the best program in place for students. And tonight, what you will hear is not me, but the team will be here. So I'd like to before we introduce the team, just recognize individuals who are not here tonight that participated. Mindy Dixie is off at a baseball game with Carter tonight. She was looking forward to being here, but I think now that the sun has cleared up, she's even more excited to be outside. Colleen Frost, Sophie Jackson also have been participating on the team with along with Tory Earsley and Tracy O'Connell. So at this time, I'm going to invite the team to come up and stand and give their presentation. You're going to hear from them. Each team has a category of our highlight experience to talk about. Anywhere from
011the advantages to the process to some of the stumbling blocks that we've run into, but also George and Amy Momence and Abby are going to finish tonight with just some anecdotal evidence from students as well. So my pleasure to introduce Denise Moniz and Kelly Petrolo, second grade teachers. They're going to be talking about the process. We also have Jules Wagner. She's our RTI specialist and she's going to be talking about the connection to the science of reading. We also have up to supporting the science of reading the science is going going Sue Batch. Maybe who's going to be here tonight, but could be, but she's here. Then intervention materials because with our curriculum, there are intervention materials that can be connected to the core curriculum. Hugely important for our students. Cindy, Lauren, and Maureen Manfer
012are going to be introducing that. Followed by advantages to Benchmark assessment, that will be Jules Sheridan and Diane Eady. And then McKenzie, Jill, and Meg Russo are going to talk about some of the challenges that we have faced. Followed by anecdotal evidence with Mo and George. Sandy is here. Sandy, please join us. We know that you're not going to be speaking tonight, but we do want to hear just have you present with us. So, I'm going to just start with um, Denise and Kelly. They're going to each give you about a 1 to 2-minute presentation, and then we'll offer invite questions at the end. So, we Kelly and I are just going to take a couple of minutes just to kind of talk about the steps that the district put into place for us to
013ensure that we could be as successful as we could with the program. So, we started off last summer with our training. The Benchmark advanced team came in to train us. I think we were trained for maybe two full days, I believe it was. Those days were overwhelming. It was a lot of information because they really kind of touched on every component, and I can assure you that when we all left, our heads were spinning. But, what was great about it is we were followed up throughout the school year with Benchmark advanced coming back in, and the trainings, we were able to dive deeper, and we were broken up. So, like Kelly and I often just sat with just the two of us and the trainer. So, we were broken into smaller groups so they could
014really answer the questions that we might have. And then we got to the point where Um, we were able to kind of through Bob, tailor what they were going to come and show us. So, if we wanted to kind of work on the small group instruction, that's kind of what they tailored to. So, that's awesome. But, I can personally say, and I think I can speak for most of the people standing up here, one of the best things that I think the administration did for us was to respect our need and our want for release time. It was a really overwhelming process. And so, when we went to Bob and then our building principals and said, "Can we get some release time so we can work as a team to sit and troubleshoot and sometimes
015make supplemental materials up that make our lives easier." And Jules Wagner would often join in and help us troubleshoot. That for me personally is what got me past the hump of being overwhelmed to it was manageable and we started working through things together. And Kelly's going to continue on with some other things we put for us. And so, you know, you mentioned Jules already. Jules was a great resource for us. So, whenever we kind of got hung up on something or we needed questions answered or we needed to dive a little deeper, she was like our go-to person. She would connect with Benchmark. Benchmark would get back to her. She'd get back with us. She was great at, you know, and still is. Every week or two she checks in, "How are you doing? Do
016you need anything?" Um, great team teamwork together. Um, she also helped us create book lists that have been very beneficial to the students and us during the instruction process. Um, and um, the collaborative meetings that Bob's put in place, like once a month he'd get all of us together. So, we could kind of just see, you know, what are other grade levels feeling or are we seeing the same things or just to see some of the curriculum across the board and how it will spiral. So, that was very helpful. Um, he also helped us to share some of our challenges that we're having and then he would go back to Benchmark and say, "Listen, they're having trouble with this. What else can you do for us?" And so that was very helpful to us. And
017we just appreciate having a whole year for the pilot because I feel like only a couple months you don't really get the full feel of a program. So having the whole entire year to really see it from beginning to end, it's really now starting to make more sense to us and now we're all feeling I think for the most part mostly more comfortable in knowing the routine and what's expected of us and what's expected of the kids and we're seeing some good results from it. So looking forward to what's to come. Yes. All right, I'm going to cover two parts. So I've been the K-6 literacy coach and I must get to work with all these incredible educators and it's been an unbelievable experience to walk into the different classrooms and see the amazing things
018that are happening with our students and and these incredible educators that we have here at Marshall, so we're very lucky. So the first I'll do is a reading league report overview. I think most of us are familiar with the reading league but they take all of the ELA curriculums as many as they can and they provide an overview report and they go through different science of reading standards in terms of meets or mostly meets and they red flag any areas that are against or not aligned with the research that we currently have on reading. So their key findings were that all the areas really met or mostly met which is incredible. We looked at so many different reports when we started with this process, we looked at all these different curriculums and many of them
019had areas of weakness and when they came out with this report which was quite recent, it really covered all those standards and and really met or mostly met in every area. key findings included in the area of word recognition, explicit systematic decoding that students are learning across all grade levels. So even up through grade six, they're learning how to break down larger multi-syllabic words, they're learning about morphology, so it's not just at that K2 level, which is important. Um they're getting high-interest decodables that align with the content that students are teaching. So again, everything's building on that content rather than just being separate or broken and not aligned. Um within comprehension and vocabulary, the students are accessing those content-rich text sets um that align across the grade levels, so essential questions are building all the
020way through K6, so each unit you're able to really see how students are building vocabulary and background knowledge that's really going to stick and help them to sort of develop all that information as they go. Um and really that alignment piece. Within writing and literacy, it's highly structure structured and integrated with reading, which again the science really tells us that it needs to be that integrated writing where they're adapting it to reading. Um a lot of our teachers here at our K6 level have been Letters trained, um which is another celebration of of Marcela's that our teachers revalue the science of reading. Um so that alignment with Letters was seen within that science of reading report that the Reading League put out. Um and for multi-language learners or that Tier 2, Tier 3 instruction, it's
021really meeting most different variety of learning needs. Um they talk about how it is comprehensive, it has all of these different components, so really that coaching piece, but also that professional development that as uh they said is being prioritized as this the district level is important, um but I think we know that as we're going in and we've been prepared for that as we've gone through this program. Um but really overall they said it's high quality and that it's aligned and has all the pieces that we were looking for within the science. Um the other quick part I'll say to you, I have two parts being that they kind of go together. Um so really how does it support? Um so when we talk about the reading alignment, it's Scarborough's Reading Rope, so you really
022look at two main components. So and I just touched upon a lot of that, but that language comprehension piece, that word recognition piece, and obviously as I talked about many of these components, it has all of those pieces that are needed to form that skilled reader. They brought in Wiley Blevins who is a research-backed person that helped to design their phonics, which is huge. Um, they don't have the three cueing system, which you might have heard from other um curriculums where students are using context cues or guessing at words. They're being explicitly taught how to apply phonics skills and break down words and then be able to access all of these texts. Um, again, they have these 10-unit knowledge-building strands that cycle and we can really see that progression that builds. Um, and the research
023has shown that knowledge about the topic is really critical. So, you used to see in previous curriculums you'd touch upon a skill such as main idea and you'd have a bunch of random texts where main idea was touched upon. Now we know that really that topic building is important. So, again, we're not just focusing on skills, but really students are building that knowledge over time. And really that's where vocabulary develops and again, it's our first year and we're already seeing that skill building and that spiraling, but I think next year the year after we're really going to start to see that layering and um that continuation. Um, but overall it really focuses on metacognition. Students have reading and writing booklets um where they get to think, but I think it's really not only teaching kids
024how to read, but really become thinking as they read, which is the ultimate goal. Okay. Well, that goes kind of along with what I'm going to talk about because um I want to talk about how it's integrated with the science and social studies. So, um Jules mentioned that it's kind of a knowledge-building framework and there are 10 different units and they all have to do with social studies and science topics. So, rather than teaching the literacy in isolation, it's kind of embedded into the science and social studies topics, which is great. Um, I teach third grade. I've had a few years of kids. Um, the great part about it is that we're constantly using um those texts. There's a variety of texts that we're using to teach it all within those topics. Um, I brought
025a couple. For example, third grade does weather and climate. So, all of these different texts they're reading about in their literacy block and, you know, building using teaching all the same skills with all the different texts. Um, there's a huge variety of different kinds of texts. There's different informa- informational texts, primary source texts, realistic and her- historical fiction, poetry. It's all kind of built around the same knowledge-building topics. Um, in addition to that, there's 10 different um, small group books per unit um, with additional background-building knowledge. Um, there's explicit instruction. So, then they might be reading about a science topic. Um, we're giving them the vocabulary so they can get through with those texts. Um, and as a teacher, it just really helps that we can kind of use some of our science and social
026studies time for more of those hands-on activities rather than doing all of the, you know, instruction and the building the background. You know, we can do a lot of that during our DLA time. Um, it also provides opportunities to build in some research um, and inquiry. Each unit kind of culminates with a um, research and inquiry project, which has been great to get the kids to research on that topic. Um, so it's been nice to implement as kind of a bridge between literacy and social studies and science. And it just matches the New York State standards for science and social studies really well. All right, and I'm going to go that step further. She talked to to you guys about what is happening in the third grade classroom. My students are special education students who
027are going to that tier three level of students, and my students are in the benchmark classes. So, I was fortunate enough that I was allowed to look at the materials that Benchmark had to help these students who are struggling in the classroom. So, the two that I have used this year with my students were this is called Steps to Advance and this goes directly with what they're doing in the classroom. It provides the kids with additional background knowledge, additional vocab words that they might have missed along the way. Um the words that have multiple meanings. Those things are all included in here and it provides them with additional readings so that they can actually have been exposed to it. So, when I do it the week before, they're going to do it in the classroom.
028So, they they have had that pre-exposure to the content that's going to happen in the classroom, which they'll let you know in a moment what what they feel about that. The other piece though that I was also using was um the Decodable, the phonics intervention. So, this I brought this cuz I'm like as a teacher, this here is a beautiful thing. I would say, "Oh, I did a phonics screener and this child cannot understand the silent E." So, that I pick a packet. This is the kids get a workbook. It gives me a teacher book. It gives me the cards I need to hang up. It gives me everything to really focus in on that skill. It has all of the same pieces of the science of of reading. But then that being said, that
029was my life being easier. What I did is I said to the kids, "Okay, we have to go and talk about what you guys have been using this year. So, can you help me out? Tell me what you like. Which did you prefer? The Steps to Advance or the Decodables?" And this was their answer. I like both. Um I got I got good at reading in books. I can read fast. I used to be slow. In my reader, I sound out big words and the pictures help me. I like to read to all my teachers. Then this student also all of them said they prefer both. They couldn't pick one that they preferred to use than the other. I do better in ELA because I know what to do. I look at all the letters
030when I read a word. I like the games. I like everything and I like the stories. I don't know where to go. Okay. Um, I also prefer both because I can read and practice by myself in the decodables. And in the steps to advance, it helps me to know what will happen next so I'm ready. I can now read long hard words. And then the lights one said, um, I like this the stories in the steps to advance because they're about animals and they're interesting and they're real stories about what happens in the past. I can read more fluently with groups of words. I'm ready. Very special. I thought you guys would want to hear from the kids. What I heard from the kids in the collaboration with the teacher, like for special education and
031gen ed to feel like we were on the same page and I'm supporting them and to have them go back in and what I heard from the kids was I have my hand up now. I actually volunteered to read and so, you know, seeing that success in them and yet me knowing I'm also attacking those skills that they missed along the way is really super exciting. Okay, I'm going to add to what Maureen just talked about as far as the intervention because Benchmark Advance has three different types of intervention. So she talked about two of them which I had access to but being a K3 reading RTI teacher, I focused on one particular kit which also had bags similar to this. They're called skill bags where um, I had a very explicit systematic um, bag
032of materials to teach my students and what was nice for me is that it followed along with what I already teach and had this a very similar lesson plan so it was easy for me to jump right into that. But also it closely aligned to what the classroom teachers were doing in regards to phonics. So if students would come to me and I know what the classroom teachers are doing, I can either pre-teach similar to what Maureen was doing but also I have the materials to keep on teaching the skill if the student has hasn't mastered that yet. Um >> [clears throat] >> In addition to that, um I just want to add a a quick thing about the recent um open house at KG because I actually had parents coming up to me and
033saying, "Oh, Mrs. Warren, those books that you're sending home with, you know, this student and that student and my child, um my my child is really enjoying those and they want to read those to me. They want to get that practice." So, that really um just I That's not anything that I've heard as far as being a reading teacher because my students they're struggling readers, so they're reluctant to read at home. They don't think they're good at it, but they see themselves as readers now. So, that's been a really nice thing for me. So, Benchmark has those materials that I can send home um and and they're enjoying those materials. Um Diana and I are going to talk about advantages to the students that we've noticed and advantages to us as teachers which we're going
034to end up echoing a lot of what you've already heard. Um the stories for the students are really engaging and approachable. We found that not all of them, but most of them they really enjoy sitting and listening to and following along with and they're picking up on um little things throughout the stories. We kind of touch on skills throughout as we read a story, not just comprehension skills, but there's kind of phonics and other skills that are tied in, um grammar and all that, which is nice that as we're reading it's not just comprehension, we're picking out specific words and talking about them. Um the consumable workbooks are really developmentally appropriate which in some other programs they're just not. They're the lines are spaced nicely that they're big enough for the kids to write on
035um because at this school we're first grade at this age some kids are still writing really large. They can't write on those itty-bitty lines and there are programs where the workbooks have little itty-bitty lines that they want them to try to write in. So, to find that the the is appropriate for the kids. They enjoy using the workbooks. They get to take them home with their daughter and they have activities to keep practicing those skills at home with their families, which is really nice. Um and then they have a whole week at least to work on one phonics skill at a time, which is a really nice amount of time for them to be practicing those skills regularly. It's not rushed. And they're picking up on those skills even outside of just our phonics or
036even ELA instruction in other classroom other areas that we're teaching. I noticed kids saying, "Oh, that's got this skill in it." Like there's the AY, there's AI. Um so they're really because they have that amount of time, they're able to retain that information better because they get more practice with it. Um it also comes with a Benchmark app, which we found to be very helpful for the students. The app includes videos, songs, books, and games that align with the phonics instruction and we as teachers are able to assign those to them so that they can work on them. They love the songs. They'll be in class, at least the young ones will be in class and you'll hear them singing along. Though I sometimes have to give them a reminder that there's other kids working
037in the classroom, but um so they really enjoy like their songs and they're fun so they're engaged, but they're also learning while they do it. Um so a lot of repetition of those skills is provided by Benchmark, which really is a huge advantage to the kids. And um Cindy kind of talked about the build-up um comes with consumable books that can be sent home, which is really nice because the kids can keep working on those and there's also packets that you can print out that come with additional at home activities for the kids like little games and fun things they can play at home to work on those skills that they're still working on in in class. My apologies. I am going to be quite repetitive then. Um but as far as advantages for teachers,
038it is very closely aligned with the science of reading. The explicit direct instruction is incredible in there. We are reading and writing about science and social studies. It's not just, you know, we're doing those experiments or hands-on things. We are doing both. And as Jules mentioned, the the consumables, the magazines, the workbooks that that the kids get, all their work is in one place for the most part. And it's a great way to build a relationship with the families and let the families know what's happening when you send that home. There are games to continue building those skills. Another thing we talked about with the Benchmark Universe, which is like the online program, there are tons of resources in there. Sometimes too many, but now that we've gotten into it, I think we've become really
039good at finding the things that we need. But one of the main things that we really found in first grade, we have been using that build-up program in our small groups. So three times a year we benchmark and we give the students what they call a quick phonics screener. So you can take the results of this assessment, plug it into the Benchmark Universe, and it's going to tell me exactly what skill each student needs to be working on in their small group. So then we can group them and then we go into the build-up kit. We can grab, you know, baggie, maybe one day. But we had those lesson plans available to us in the Benchmark Universe. That was my thought. >> [laughter] >> But literally you can pull up on your computer day one
040of this lesson plan, and as Cindy said, those lesson plans are things that we use to build on our own for our small groups. And it's it's literally what we used to have to build by ourselves. So, to be able to walk into a group and just boop, there we go. We're done. We're good to go. Um has been life-changing. Oh, well, I had stuff written, but now I need to go off of that. >> [laughter] >> So, the UPs program that they're talking about, we teach kindergarten. And one of the things that I had called Bob, and I was like, we need to sit down and talk about this because I in kindergarten, a lot of the learning how to read happens in small group instruction. And at that point in the year, I
041was like, I just I don't see I don't see it in here. Like, what what am I doing? And Jules was like, "Oh, have you heard of the UPs program?" And I was like, "Nope." She was very into the UPs. She was very into the UPs. She was very into the UPs. It's something that like noted in the summertime about the UPs program. So, once we found that, we were like, this is what we needed from the beginning of the year. It's a little bit out of the budget. So, we're still hoping that that'll be included. All right, back to the script. All right. So, uh we're going to talk about some of the disadvantages or the hurdles that we have experienced in here. Yeah. So, you're up. All right. Uh so, one of our
042concerns across many grade levels is those writing versions. Um in many instances, the writing as um elevated very quickly. But, so, for example, in kindergarten, we started out the year very developmentally appropriate, um drawing pictures, learning how to use shapes to draw pictures, labeling our pictures, starting to write beginning sounds as we're labeling. And then, by unit five, it jumped up really quickly what the expectation was. So, we went from labeling, maybe writing a sentence to all of a sudden writing multiple sentences on one topic. So, it's been a challenge to just make sure that we are focusing in on what our kids need and making sure that we're keeping our standards in mind is in that at least at kindergarten and the lower grades almost, our standards still include um that drawing, dictating, and
043writing are all acceptable ones for the kids to be using at this time. So, that was one of the little hurdles that we faced with the writing. Um another hurdle is the spoken sequence. Um it is a lot of content within each unit, and so um you know, we were trying to do each unit with fidelity, but we very quickly realized that if we kept doing that, our time constraints was it wasn't going to work. So, we had to try to like sit down and pick and choose like what parts are we going to reach. I know um we just started unit eight, but there's a lot of grades that are on unit three, unit four, like we're not going to make it through 10 units, and and we're like, "Yeah, if we don't go
044to the zoo, we'll be able to make it all." Like cut out field day, you know, things like that. Um so, that piece is still um figuring out what we can consolidate and what we really need to spend a lot of time on. Yeah. Um another thing that's been a challenge is just the time factor, but we've been thankful enough to have um Bob and our principals give us that release time, which they talked about also, just so that we can plan we can prep things like slideshows or writing packets, um just to have it ready to go when we are when we're getting ready to teach our lessons. So, that's been really helpful this year to have that time, and next year, hopefully, we'll be able to pass on what we've you know, been
045lucky enough to have the time for to our other grade level. Um, how do you say? Yeah. Um, it's not that a lot. Like, it's not a turn key program. We can't just take the book and and teach like we have to do a lot of prepping and we create a slide like it's like, "Oh, we have slides in there." But, it's only for the phonics portion of the lesson. So, um, we've been lucky enough to have that time. Very thankful for that. And we can continue. Um, so coming from it from a higher level standpoint, um, we had a lot of challenges. And I don't like to be the negative naysayer. I'm usually pretty optimistic. Um, but it was really rough for us in the upper grades. Um, we had a lot of stories
046available, but with the way the standards worked, they spiraled really well, but you would stay in the same story with the same standards. And so, technically you were supposed to do three lessons a day. And with the higher level students, they really thought and analyzed questions and thought deeply about their responses. And they really highlighted and emphasized them going back into their text, um, finding really meaningful text evidence and explaining that text evidence. And the kids did really, really well with that, but it took up a lot of time. And so, with that, I felt like there was a standstill where we kind of lived in the same story for weeks upon weeks. And the kids got really, really bored. Um, and so the stories kind of became less interesting. And I know for fifth,
047it was really unengaging depending on the topic that you were looking at for the other level. For instance, yeah. Um, when we had sixth grade students who were doing Study Sync in the other classes, they were very upset when they found out that we were not doing the novel that the other sixth graders were doing. Um, they did Hatchet. They're doing Percy Jackson. Um, they're I think planning on doing I Am Malala. We have not done a single novel this year. Um, whole group in ELA. Um, so, not a whole lot of exposure to build and build interest. So, I just we just felt like they were losing a lot of those like empathy-building skills and connections through the story to characters and really seeing character development because that's not there. We just keep reading
048the same article about Wangari Maathai and how she went for conservation. Um, there was a lot of uh guided and gradual release of responsibility for skills, but I felt like throughout the unit, um, the questions wouldn't always link together. So, one lesson that really stands out in my mind was a question about personification and choosing a specific example of personification in a text, and we modeled that, right, as a class. And then the second step is that, um, they the we I do, we do, you do steps, right? So, the second step is the the we do together, and so we model that. And then the you do question, although it was high rigor, it was so far out there that we didn't model that when the kids had to do that independently, they were
049completely lost. And it didn't really connect to the personification personification question that we had. And so, I felt like that didn't really give them, um, a service where I would have definitely change that question to reflect what I had modeled. Um, and so, I felt like that happened very often throughout the unit. Um, there was a lot of supplemental work that needed to be created. We had to provide a lot of graphic organizers, not just for our students that need differentiation, but for even our higher-level learners. Um, so, that was just a lot of time on our part. And one thing that I know Sophie Jackson isn't here today, but one thing she's really concerned about is when we look at the i-Ready data and we look at the performance of the students, it seems
050like the higher-level students seem to be making a lot more progress and growth, but then there's still a selection of kids that seem to be left behind. And so that's something that we're really looking at to say like, well, where is the differentiation piece? How can we really support these kids? But it's still really difficult to manage that and we're just worried that it's almost too high and too rigorous where how do we catch these other kids up and see their growth, too? So. Anything you want to add to this? No. We were in the core for 2 months. They lost interest after the program. Right. But you can drop off friend and they like that. So that was fun. You're ready to bring it on home, Mango? Bringing it home. Okay. So we're talking
051about more like student anecdotes and stuff that we've seen in the room and um I like to start with this because I'm pretty sure I like and ran as fast as Mo Man Chachi can run to find Bob Montgomery at the first unit when the vocab word was alighted and I was like, hey, I don't know what that word means. I've never used that word and now I'm like, and he's like, no, it it'll be fine. I'm like, is it? Because alighted and he was like, no, it'll be fine. And I have to tell you, it's like my biggest success story is it means and for those of you that don't know what alighted means, it means to like fly and then land on something like a bird. And I had kids like now even
052if they see that word or they see like a synonym for it, they're like, oh, it's like alighted, Mrs. Man. It's like the bird flying. And I'm like, okay, I didn't need to run after Bob at 7:30 a.m. And so that is things like I think the vocabulary piece, although they are definitely there's some high words in there like alighted. I'm 42 years old. I've never used that word ever. Um but the kids really are grasping it. Um right now we're reading a next up from Holes and the vocab word is detainees and at recess they're like finding detainees in the woods and I'm like, how can that be? Um I was like, you guys are forgetting the context. Um So that's really good and then with that first unit was all about like nature.
053Um George had a really good idea to take our two classes on the nature path, which when you think of mall, you think nature walk. And [clears throat] we went on the M trail. We had them bring a clipboard and paper and we were talking about figurative language and animals and they we spent like an hour Two. on this trail and we had them write everything down that they saw and had them go back and write a descriptive paragraph. So like trying to find those ways that we are still doing what is necessary and what is in the standards, but making it a little more enjoyable and relatable for the kids. Um My class loves to annotate. I mean Jewels will be in my room and like sometimes like are we annotating this and I'm
054like, "Look, they want to know." >> [laughter] >> And they do a really good job. Like they actually they were kind of mad last week at the ELA test. They're like, "How am I supposed to annotate on that?" That's the middle of New York State ad for our next unit. And they're like, "Why are we annotating on our phone?" Um But I think that those kinds of things that it definitely has a high rigor. I'm I'm not going to lie about it. It definitely is. I think that um maybe three, but definitely four or six has that that added added layer that George and I noticed right away, but we are trying to be conscious about making sure that we're still, you know, going on M trail walks and like stuff like that. So. Oh,
055and to go with our nature plan, we are going to plan a field trip to the wild in the fall and kind of use that instead of going on the M trail. We are going to go or both. >> [laughter] >> We are going to quickly go kind of use those figurative writing skills and everything um at the wild and kind of bring it to life in that way for them. Right. Like the framework's there. It's It's just we have to take that leap and kind of do some things outside of the the textbook to make it more engaging. Or that that was a perfect example of the walk. But, right now we just finished We're going a little slower because we get a little distracted and see like, "Oh, we're doing citizenship and government
056the unit unit three and it's about problem and solution." So, Marla and I were like, "Hey, why don't we write a paper, problem and solution in Marcellus?" And had the kids kind of all identify problems and things they wanted to change. Now, the framework was kind of there and the benchmarks, but we kind of ran with it and then made it a little more interesting. So, we had kids want to They created a dog park. They wanted a dog park in Marcellus Park, um a basketball league to get people involved in going to the park more often. We had a lot of kids complain about like their streets and traffic lights and stop signs and the highway superintendent needs to cut things down and open up, you know, for his barn to see the stop
057sign and all these things. So, we wrote these letters and we'll send them. So, the kids found, you know, it was a little dry, but then we spiced it up a little bit and we got through it. They found a lot of value in it. Um just like the walk, there's a lot of field trips I'm thinking in my mind that we can do from all the things that we read. If I can get the money, I'll push you guys to all be great government bio. So, it's been just Yeah, so I think that's it's we're going a little slower than I We're not on unit eight. Uh four or five. Four or four, yeah. But, we're getting there. We're getting there. But, we do see we're taking a little slower and kind of trying
058to fill in those holes. You know, the book I taught sixth grade for 20 years. It is a kind of a hard thing for me not to teach a novel. Um you know, having an excerpt from novel like we just did one for Holes and not being Holes. So, I think, you know, if we do take this program, I think you have to do the novels some way or another. There's something needs to slow down. It gets you to start and finish a book and just like you said, relate to the characters. But there is opportunity in it if we just do it. So, I think you know, I'm I'm up. I'm good. Thanks, team. Uh does anyone have any questions for the team while they're here? Jen. Um briefly you spoke about the ups
059program. Can I get more clarification on what that was? I can I can't It stand on that one, but so it's one of the interventions within the program. So, um there's bunch the phonics intervention, the steps advance, and then um benchmarks ups. And what it is is there's three different kits. There's the spiral up, build up, and start light. That's set up backwards. Start up is more kindergarten um level. The build up is the first grade level, and spiral up would be a second grade level. So, the way that I've utilized utilized those kits is that if I you know, I'm working with a struggling reader. So, if I have third grade students that haven't mastered some of the phonics skills um before they got to third grade, I can use that second grade kit.
060And they have the skill bags. So, it has a five-day lesson plan in there. Or it also has a one-day lesson plan. So, if I'm just doing a free preview. And then it's got um bunch of quotable text that goes with it. It covers the five areas of uh small group intervention that I would do anyway. So, we're starting with sitting with awareness. We're moving up to phonics. We're doing fluency. We're doing comprehension and vocabulary all within the ups program. So, it's just the three different levels of that kit. And is the ups program not included in this package? So, it is included online for the classroom teachers. For the intervention uh that's what I piloted. So, I think what the classroom teachers would really like is to be able to have their grade level
061kit in their rooms if I'm not We have access in the Benchmark universe to all the lesson plans for that. And we have the Dynamite Decodables, which are what they use in that program. In the kit, though, like you have you have the books in there, you have the lesson plans in there, and then you have black and white take-home copies of those books. >> not included, though. The black and white are not included at all. No. No, it's just the Benchmark Decodables, so we would have to have to pay for those. So, the black and white ones. So, the things that are not included, you had access to while you did the pilot program. Well, because I'm an intervention teacher, yes. Yes. And those intervention materials are just for the younger grades. Is there
062intervention materials for Yes. >> Yeah, there we have um what Maureen had, the Steps to Advance. That's what's for 4-6. Um so, we, you know, I actually have a group right now that is still working on like more like third grade phonics. So, I am able to go in cuz Bob has given like I can get into like K-6 Benchmark. Um so, I can use that. I've also gone to Tracy O'Connor cuz she has access to it. Um but if it's that's more of like a tier three, high tier two kid. Um but if it's a kind of like tier two, maybe tier one with like a little punch kind of thing, um we use the Steps to Advance, which is kind of looking at what the reading and comprehension skills are for like the
063week ahead, but you're doing it before. So, you're giving them That's why Maureen's students said, "Oh, my hand is up now." because they're exposed to like the vocab and the materials and the vocab and comprehension skills before I'm teaching it full group. Um so, they're getting more confidence, they're getting access to another lesson of that same comprehension skill. Um but it's just different as the kids get older like what's type of intervention they need unless they're like a like I said like a high tier two tier three kid. Do you think the intervention materials that you have access to are good for our seventh students? I think it's limited. So, I've been using it in search of support for academic advisory for certain students. And I've been focusing really more on the comprehension book. Um,
064there's also like a fluency, word recognition, things like that. Um, and so I've been living in the comprehension world because that's what my students need. And I think that it's limited because it's again in that it's the same story multiple times looking at different skills instead of creating a little more of um, a variety and there's not a lot of non-fiction text. So, one thing I struggled with when we looked at the I ready's uh, data the last time we met um, in January, February was I had a lot of kids that needed non-fiction support and that wasn't in that. So, I had to turn to our small readers which are also provided with Benchmark, but they're actually meant whole group, but in sixth grade because of our our limited time I use those for
065reading groups during academic advisory. And so that was where the non-fiction came from for students who needed it. I felt like with those books it was limited with the amount of questions they asked. Like it's like the the actual whole group was too much, but then those were too little. And so it'd be like a really random question about vocabulary in like a seven-page chapter of like a non-fiction text. Um, but I use a lot of the comprehension book graphic organizers and changed them to fit the small readers and that worked really well for me, but I had to do that myself. It wasn't like something that was within the curriculum. So, that's just a normal innovation. Yeah, and I did something similar to kind of going off um, what everyone said on that side
066of the view about having the least time and how they're grateful we were for that is not just those intervention kids, but they give you like comprehension quick checks and they give you stuff like that that you can look up the specific skill. It's not as in-depth as that kind of meant for RTI-ish type in intervention. And we met with Jules and kind of looked and was like, "Okay, at this point I need I need a kid who has needs help with central idea." And we found the story that was in there, but then we created a more kind of appropriate scaffolded graphic organizers and questions using what they gave us, but it just goes back to kind of how no program is going to have everything that you need in that moment. And being
067able to have like talking through things and being able to find things and, you know, it does take some tweaking and it does take some support needed, I think, um to make sure, especially for those struggling kids, that you're giving them exactly what they need. Any other questions about the team? All right. Thanks, team. Thank you. I do want to just, again, thank everyone, all of our teachers that are here tonight because, truly, when you ask teachers to help with a pilot, it's it's a huge undertaking and it's they're learning something all over new again. And so, the time and effort that it takes, we are incredibly grateful that all of you who are willing to jump in with us and, you know, again, try to find the perfect program for themselves. So, thank you
068all. So, as, um, Mrs. Manchaki said, there really is no perfect program. Bob is going to spend, you know, the next couple weeks just sort of refining the recommendation that we'll put forward. Um and some of that may be modifying the grade levels. It may be we're going to be using a grade three or four. Uh so, in the next few weeks, Bob will get a together recommendation and um we'll put that before the board for just final consideration. Um all right. Uh residents' comment. Uh public expression at the Board of Education meeting is encouraged in a specific portion of the agenda shall provide for this privilege. In most instances, the board shall reserve judgment regarding questions and concerns that are brought to the board's attention at a board meeting as it is typically not
069prudent for the board to make an instantaneous determination. In addition, many issues that are brought to the board's attention do not require a formal determination by the board, but instead are most properly addressed by the superintendent of schools or persons designated by the superintendent without further board action in accordance with board policy 3220 community relations. Do we have any comments? Moving on to business. OCM BOCES administrative budget. Whereas the Board of Cooperative Educational Services for the sole supervisory district of Onondaga, Cortland, and Madison Counties, the BOCES, duly presented its tentative 2026-2027 administrative budget of $11,722,448 at its at its 2026 annual meeting, and whereas the board desires to approve said tentative administrative budget, now therefore be it resolved as follows. Section 1, the BOCES tentative budget of 11,722,448 is hereby approved. Section two, the resolution
070shall take effect immediately. Have a motion. Motion, Jen. Second, me. Emily, any questions? So, just to make sure everybody's clear on this, this is the administrative portion of OCM BOCES budget and every one of the component districts is actually voting tonight or early tomorrow morning on this. There's a there's a timeline, time sensitive for OCM BOCES. So, essentially what you're voting on is that Marcellus takes a portion of pays a portion of that administrative budget. Those are for, you know, services of the of Matt Cook as district superintendent in addition to uh curriculum council, all of our leadership networks that our principals go to, the professional development um that they provide to us. So, um again, we're approving it as is every other component district and we we take on a portion of that. All
071in favor? I. I. Opposed? Carried. Moving on, 5.2, OCM BOCES Board of Education ballot for election. Resolved that the Marcellus Central School District cast its votes for three vacancies, one vote for each vacancy, in the annual election of members of the Board of Cooperative Educational Services as per the attached resolution. May I have a motion? Motion, Kelly. Second. Any questions? So, um if you [clears throat] recall that well, there are three board members running for the OCS ballot Nicholas Blaney who's from Liverpool. Jennifer Welch and if you recall Jennifer Welch is a Marcellus resident. We were offered that spot this year and Jen was willing to take on that role and then Joan Reeves will be the other candidate from Baldwin. So So that's essentially your voting for those three candidates. All in favor? I
072am. Opposed? Carried. 5.3 adoption of the 2026-2027 property tax report card. Excuse me. Resolved that the Board of Education adopts the 2026-2027 property tax report card as presented. Thank you. Second? Any questions on that? I can just figure out the next slide to you and you can show the just the information from the property tax report report card. So this is the information the board's required to adopt annually. We've been through all this as part of the budget process, but it just kind of summarizes it. And then we'll be reporting that to New York State and putting it on the website this week for property owners to be aware of. You see the top the budgeted amount the change between 2025-2026 and 2026-2027 the budget the tax levy and fund balance down bottom. All in
073favor? I am. Opposed? Carried. Moving on to number six personnel approval of personnel items. Resolved that the Board of approves the following personnel items that is 6.11 through 6.17. May I have a motion? Here. You. Second. Thank you. Any questions on that? I just want to point out one thing because I just want to make sure it's very clear. So, you'll see 6.1.7 uh we're sending uh uh Lori Updike as coach. Lori Updike is planning on coaching. Um New York State, the teacher retirement system is getting really funny right now about when somebody retires, you bringing them right back on. So, just honestly to protect Lori and again the pension that she has worked hard for for the past 30 years, um we're we're going to make sure that we rescind for now and then
074in July, that meeting in July when she has not been working, so she's still working here. So, from June 30th to our reorg meeting, there will be a break in what's called a break in service, and then we'll be able to put her forward. Um it's it's we've we've never had this issue, but I think New York State and the teacher retirement system is just um you know, wanting to have that break in service before you reappoint, even though it's not even the same position, you know, she's not being appointed as a teacher, she's ancillary as a coach, but um we're just going to make sure we do it the right way. But, I didn't want anyone to be concerned because we're grateful Lori wants to come back. Thank you. Uh all in favor. Aye.
075Opposed. Carried. Moving on to uh number seven, approval for consent agenda items. Resolved that the Board of Education approves the following consent agenda items at 7.11 through 7.15. May I have a motion? Motion. Second, Jen. Thank you. And Jen, 7.15 there that is for a student who is in attendance in that district way below. Baldwinsville Christian Academy. We have I think one or two students that attend Baldwinsville Christian Academy. So, we pay a portion So, Baldwinsville School District pays for the nurse and health services at Baldwinsville Christian Academy. So, we have to pay a portion of that to reimburse Baldwinsville School District. Excellent. Thank you. Yeah. Okay. All in favor? Opposed? Carried. Uh number eight, entering to executive session. It is resolved that the meeting in public be adjourned and an executive session be convened
076for the purpose of contract negotiations. May I have a motion? Motion. Jen and then Kelly. Thank you. Okay. All in favor? Opposed? Carried. Thank you.