001Welcome to the Monday, June 2nd, 2025 regular board of education meeting for the Marcela Central School District. Please join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance 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. Evening. We'll begin with recognition. So, um, a couple things that I want to just make sure that I recognize. Um, Zack Arthur is a high school English teacher here and he recently had uh co-authored an article that was published in the National Council of Teachers of English in their English journal. And if you know anything about that English journal, it is hard to um have them accept the publication. So kudos to Zach. Um the article is titled Teaching in
002a Time of Censorship. Um so just a shout out to him. um a lot of hard work and effort that went into that and um again just from some of his experience. I also want to just recognize we had our high school chorus concert last week and uh it's such a touching moment because as you imagine many of the students that were singing in the chorus, this is their last high school chorus concert and so uh it was quite a tribute for our senior students and um it was incredible. Beautiful. There's just a shot of all of them. I think Brian is very sad, too. Just the realization that this is the last time the seniors will be on stage. And then finally, our ribbon cutting. So, on Saturday, we held our ribbon cutting and
003pancake breakfast in honor of the career exploration and agricultural sciences complex being officially opened for business. Um, and you can see again, this is why we're doing it. All the students that were front and center and were part of this experience cutting that ribbon. Um, it was quite an event. And thank you to all the board members who attended. Um, our administrative team, our CTE teachers, and all the students who really came out and volunteered their time to help us, too. So, kudos to them. They helped um, just do some of the touring throughout the facility. Here are some other [Music] pictures. And then this is our CTE department. And you can see that they're holding a signed tractor compliments of Monroe tractor. So that was given to the district by Monroe Tractor, which if
004you have any sense of how uh costly a tractor is, um quite a quite a gift. And so um just a big thank you to them as well. It was a great event. Yes. And that's it for presentations. Ready for recognition? Shifting into presentations. All right. At this time, we'll move on to presentations. So, um just a quick view of our DMS auditorium project. You can see it's pretty well torn apart. Um we Tony, myself, and Ryan uh worked with the architects um just last week to select colors. And honestly, the colors are not going to be drastically different from what they are now. Um, however, we did um we are shifting the curtain colors. So, the curtain, if you remember, there's like a ruby red right now. It's actually going to be the Mustang
005green. And then the back curtains are going to be black. And we ended up um for multi multitude of reasons, black seems to be the the preferred color with um you know, just dramas and theaters. But if you could see the curtains right now that are there that are cream colored, you will know why we selected back. They just are horrendously dirty. So, you know, black will will sort of mask the dirt and and stains. So, um I I think we'll be in a good good space. I love the idea of the green. That'll look so sharp against the green. And the seating actually that was chosen has some green accents, too. So, it's all going to pull together really nicely. That's great. What color is it high school? I don't know. Is it red?
006So then uh the shifting to the next presentation, I do want to just talk briefly about the smartphone ban. And I I say smartphone ban. If you read through this, and I won't I won't bore you with reading through this whole thing, but it's uh New York State has created a new law that goes into effect for the 2520 school year that prohibits the student use of internet enabled devices during the instructional day. And so, it's really bellto. Obviously, students do have, you know, computers, we have laptops, um primarily for them to do instructional work. That will still continue. um what what students don't have access to on their Chromebooks is social media and and obviously it's all for educational purposes. The the big um shift here is going to be smartphones. And so um
007we as an administrative team have been talking tirelessly just about all right how are we going to lift this? What's our plan going to be? Um and so the 2526 planning we are going to develop an implementation plan. Right now um the plan is for students to uh power down their cell phones in the very beginning of the day and put them away in their backpacks. Um and that goes for any it has to go for Apple watches, anything that is enabled uh to the internet. And so, um, we're we're still talking and we'll by next Wednesday, the 11th, when we do our parent forum, we'll have the specifics of what we'll do if a student violates that. Um, right now, we are contemplating having parents be the ones to have to pick up the
008cell phone if the student violates that. Um, we we still are going to be in discussions on Wednesday. We have another admin meeting. Um but for us we feel like that really may be the only way for us to ensure that students are following this rule. Um again when I talk I've talked to many parents about this the the tricky part for us is this becomes an administrative nightmare to some extent and so we do need to partner with families to help us um in ensuring that students are following the law like we are too. Um so what what we're doing right now is in the implementation plan and then we'll get to the policy development and so um from there we'll we have to notice families regarding how to make contact during the day.
009So that's one of the requirements of this law we have to let families know in August if you want to reach your child during the day these are the ways to do it. Um and then beginning in September of this should say actually 2026 beginning in September of 2026 we have to publish data relating to this law. So any um discipline referrals because of it um and how the implementation went. And so you will see here I have uh implementation plan stakeholder surveys. So last week in Parent Square, I sent out a communication to all families just about this new law and created a very simple stakeholder survey so that we can get feedback from parents. What are your questions and concerns about this new law? Um and is there anything else that you, you
010know, you're still wondering about? Uh in addition, we sent that same survey out to our staff and um the community forum is Wednesday the 11th. So that Brian Cy and I are going to oversee that and lead that. Um so that will give us some input and then as a board together um we'll work on that policy. Um and then from there obviously we'll publish in our calendar and communications that go home from building leaders how parents can get a hold of their children during the day. Um, and honestly, it's probably going to be the oldfashioned days where they call the school and get this message to my my child. Um, and then again, beginning in 2026, we'll be publishing available on our website by law all of the discipline referrals um, and our implementation
011of this new policy. And so June 11th um at the high school auditorium I am welcoming students, parents, community members, whoever wants to come and hear um just again the the sort of what we are currently doing, what the shift is going to be. Um and really I want to hear parent concerns so that we that will formulate our policy. um you know if parents are concerned about coming maybe we we shift and they there's like one one mistake and then the parent has to come in. So we'll we'll talk through that. I'll get that feedback. I have already had a tremendous response from the survey that I've sent out. Um and honestly what it seems like one of the questions that I asked was what do you think about this law? Do you agree
012with it? Yes or no? And overwhelmingly it's yes for both staff and um parents. There are some nos, so I don't want to say that everybody. Um, but overwhelmingly I think people see this as a great thing. Um, I will tell you just from my own experience walking into the high school building, how you will often see, and this is not unique to Marcellus. This happens everywhere. Um, you will often see students sitting at the hightop tables when you walk into the front door and they're all sitting together, but they're they're staring at their phones during, you know, whether it's a study hall or lunch break. So, this will inhibit that. They will have to engage with each other. And I think that's the purpose of of where we're going and why we're doing this.
013Seven. 7 p.m. Yes. Thank you for that. 7 p.m. on June 11th in the high school auditorium. And like I said, Mr. CB and I are It's really I mean, although we do have to think about our younger grade levels, 712 seems to be the most impacted because they have had the most freedom with their cell phones. are there. It's more regulated at the younger grade levels, although we still will have that policy in place for all grade levels. It's going to be a big shift for the older kids. You know, they're so connected to their phones. I'm I'm curious if the kids have started to talk about it. Are you hearing? Interestingly enough, I don't think a stop kids in the hallway, hey, do you know next year? How do you how are you
014feeling about this? And they all sort of what? But I'm sure with my email I'm sure with my communication with parents and these kids are starting to to figure that out. So yeah, I'm hopeful that we'll get a good system in place and um you know hopefully people cooperate and understand this is not the district. This is a New York state law and we're just following that. um changes there. Um you know, I don't know if if there's a mission or something with this band. Is it more social emotional safety or both? I think it's social emotional primarily um and distraction, you know. Um I think kids will tell you in fact um I hold my superintendent student cabinet every couple months and I I did um last week hold it and it was interesting.
015I mean, now that it is a law, we talked about it and this is sometimes the kids in that group, they don't say a ton, but this was a topic they wanted to talk a lot about. And so, um, I think many of them will and did admit, yeah, it's a good thing. It is a distraction for me. Even when I hear the ding and it might be in my bag, I'm dist like my mind starts getting distracted from what the teacher's doing to I wonder who just tried to contact me. So, um I I think kids will eventually probably truly feel better once they give it a month or two months, they might feel free. Um, at the same time, many kids did also express the anxiety of not being able to get a
016hold of their parents because they're just used to that. Um, and and admittedly, I'm a parent that has reached out to my own kids when they were in high school. Hey, don't forget you're you know, you got this going on tonight. So, I I think it's going to be a readjustment for all. Just one question. I think I'm imagining the policy will include some exceptions where kids who have made it for diabetic monitoring and things like that. That's in the law. Yep. That's in the law. So, um, that we're going to have to be very meticulous about, you know, letting people know who so that we're not in a situation where an adult approaches a kid who can have it um to monitor their glucose levels or so, um, that that's all going to be
017in the meeting, but that would definitely be in the policy that those exceptions. So, will you do after this? I I don't know if there's going to be a virtual option for parents who may not be able to attend in person or will there be a follow-up video or a recording of the session that might we're planning to record it so that we'll put it on our website so that anybody can access it. And you know, I'm hopeful anybody who can't attend certainly the survey um and and even some people have said I I can attend, but here are all my thoughts. So, it's really just a matter of our administrative team going through all of that and making sure what I plan to do after this forum is to create almost like a question
018answer type of document so that um anybody who poses questions that can't be at that forum can get those answers in that way too. You know, some people might not want to sit and watch a video, but they'll read through the question and answer. We'll try to attack it on all ends. So, stay tuned. The next presentation I have, I asked um Bob, assistant superintendent, to just give us an update on curriculum um and the work that he has been doing leading into the end of the year and launching into next year. All right. So, welcome everyone. This year, as you may recall, we have been working on the K6 ELA curriculum. So, right now, um, we are looking to replace, just as a recap, our 2013 version of Wonders, it's McGraill product. And before
019we started this, we said, what are all the components that a new curriculum should or is what is best practice? So we have the SEAL component of course we have the culturally responsive and sustaining education initiatives along with computer science and digital literacy along with some of the new mandates from the state of New York which would be having the curriculum be aligned to the science of reading and also being able to attest um that our literacy curriculum is in line with the science of reading and that's a new component this year along with thinking about our elementary schedule is a packed schedule um on a daily basis as many of you already know. So we are looking for a curriculum that supports science and social studies as well. That's a natural blend of the
020reading and the written responses along with supporting the hands-on science component too. So we have narrowed that down to two uh curriculums. One is by McGra Hill and it's the 2023 version of Wonders. And right now there are 14 classrooms piloting that program spread out through K through six. And each of those teachers is teaching two units. And we have a running Google doc that is um framed around two questions. How does this help us focus on the science of reading and then New York State mandates and good literacy practices? But also what are the challenges with the program? What do we see our areas of challenge that we are going to have to supplement additional materials with knowing that any product that we purchase is not going to be 100% everything that we need.
021Uh so that program will end in June and the teachers are working they're almost finishing up. Uh the month of June gets very busy and fragmented schedule-wise. Uh and we've got a really good base of feedback with which to make a decision. So then launching into the 2526 school year, we will be partnering with Benchmark um education company um for their product with Ben, it's called Benchmark Advance and that will be a full one-year pilot with the same 14 teachers spread out through the grade levels and that's going to be of course in September to June. We have managed to take that initial cost of $69,000 to market a program or pilot a program down to 3,400. You might be like, how did we do that? Um we did some really fierce negotiations. Uh we
022do have one other local school district who is not going to adopt benchmark advance. So that helped us um put together some ideas of a consortium through both in order to support but also we'll be taking play uh part in a data study and what benchmark advance will do is with their analytic company through John Hopkins University they will take all of our ELA data our um three times a year benchmarking data and some other sources and they will start to compare the classrooms that are piloting benchmarks with the nonpilot classrooms so that we can actually see the impact in real time. That's why we chose the one-year study in order to make this a really um authentic experience. The good news is we will continue in the other classrooms, the non-benchmark classrooms with wonders.
023So we'll be able to see the wonders impact versus benchmark. So when we get to have a final decision, we will have remarkable data with which to make that decision. So that will help us immensely in putting that together along with the gened classrooms for the benchmark advance. They have a system of response to intervention materials for tiers two and three students that is aligned with their curriculum. right now um Wonders does have that but we usually use teacher created resources or other avenues with which to do this. So that'll be a cohesive program and the data study will include the RTI teachers and the benchmark program versus the non-benchmark program. So we're pretty excited about that piece of it. Um the teachers will have training this summer. The materials are supposed to arrive. Eight
024pallets of materials are coming. Uh so logistically it is an organizational piece that uh Ryan Reefer and I have already worked out and are ready to go. Those will all be delivered to classrooms in response to the early August training date for teachers. And they'll have a training date plus some additional time to work with and experiment with the materials before students arrive. Uh included in the summer communications will be a notice notifying families that your student is enrolled in a classroom that will be participating in the benchmark study. And if they have any questions, of course, um they can certainly reach out to the teacher, the building principal, or myself. So, we're looking forward to that partnership. It'll be exciting at this time next year to see the data start coming in, especially in
025uh January from fall to January. I'm looking forward to that. Uh the other major piece uh that we're looking at curriculum change uh really impacts kindergarten through fourth grade. We have right now currently Carolina science miscellate kits with our current schedule. These are quality materials. Um, don't get me wrong, but with the quality or the schedule for elementary along with the material management and the length of the units, we're going to choose mystery science, which is still hands-on based science, but it is quicker, more manageable units of study for our early elementary in particular, uh, where five and six will remain with the Smithsonian kids for the reason that they are compartmentalized, which means usually just one person teaches the science. and they have the room and that access to keep materials out and ready
026to go. So, those are two um pretty significant exciting changes coming for next year. Uh and at this time next year, we hope to be standing in front of you to say here's our choice. Here's our why and that will look like the team coming to do that presentation because I think the teachers have the best voice and they've actually lived it day in and day out. I just have one question. Sure. So the um the 14 classes that are going to be piloting the benchmark and then the other um classrooms will be doing is it the 2023 wonders that they'll use. It's it's the wonders that we've had. Right. That's correct. Because the 2013 version best that version is no longer available from McGraill. Right. So the next best one is the 2017 version.
027It is closely aligned. That's what teachers are using this year because we had a one-year gap that we needed to fill with the curriculum. So, that is what they're using this year and they'll continue that for next year. Gotcha. It's a great way to look at both of the programs. Yeah, the data study we're really excited about. How did the teachers did teachers volunteer to be a part of the cohort or were they selected? They're random. They did. So, last summer, almost a year ago now, I put out a response that said, "Who would like to be involved?" I went to our grade level content specialists first uh because they have an influence over the team and they work in in a leadership capacity. All of them were willing to do this. Oh wow. So
028then they recruited one other person at their grade level. So there's two people at every grade level. So they have time to collaborate and like hey where did you find that resource? How is this going for you? Uh versus just having just one person at every grade level. And that was their idea not mine. They're like, "We really need someone to bounce our idea off." So, we weighed the cost and the time, etc., and we were able to make that work for them. So, this is a volunteer basis and it honestly, it's been great just to see their teachers be so excited and engaged in the work, you know. Um, it's it's been amazing to watch that. So, thank you. Kudos to B. You have a question. Thanks. Thanks. Thank you. Now Tony Tony's going
029to just do a quick update um of the 2526 districtwide safety plan. So we're about a month ahead of schedule on this uh review as you might imagine with my departure and Don coming in. I'm just trying to check off some some things off the list. This is one of them. So, uh, each year the district-wide safety committee convenes, uh, well, we actually convene three between three and four times a year. And typically in the spring, we have them review any updates to the district-wide safety plan document. Uh so once they've completed that review, we then come to this point where we uh bring the revised uh document to you folks and also you know I guess you could call this a public hearing of sorts uh to give folks an opportunity to hear what
030changes were made to the plan. The plans each year are this the district-wide plan the updates are usually pretty basic. Uh there just a reminder from uh from um times past when we've come to you with the same information. There are building level emergency response plans that are not public documents. Those are those are retained by the buildings and only accessible to the staff in those buildings. Uh that that's a document you that's not brought to you folks for review for obvious reasons. However, the district-wide plan less sensitive information in here. uh it is a public document. Uh so um so I just wanted to share that reminder with you. So the changes uh for next year as I said very basic we update the cover page with some dates and some minor formatting. Uh
031there was one change this year in terminology going back to just about a year ago. The commissioner's regulations updated some terminology to make it a little easier for folks to understand. So um those who are in education will be familiar with the terms lockout and lock down and they were sometimes uh confused and so they changed uh lockout. I say very simple change lockout to secure lockout. So our plan now has that change made throughout whenever we're referencing a lockout situation. And last but not least is just standard uh contact information. So any changes from last year to this year with any of the folks in the district or any any first responders, those changes have been made to this document. Otherwise, it's h pretty much the same as it was last year. And so
032so I've shared the information that we need to share. Uh we're going to post this draft document to our website. We'll give the public a 30 offer them a 30-day public comment period where they can come back with any concerns or suggestions. And then on July 7th at your July 7th board meeting, we'll ask you to accept that document and that document will then be in a form where we can upload it to the state of New York uh so that they're able to make it accessible to the people that that need to see it. So uh so that's it. That's any any questions? Thank you. All right, we'll move on to item number four, residents comments. Public expression at the board of education meetings is encouraged in a specific portion of the agenda shall
033provide 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 prudent for the board to make instantaneous determinations. 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 appropriately 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 residents comments at this time? Okay, we will move on to item number five, business, approval of bus bond resolution. Resolved that the board of education authorizes the issuance of 755,000 serial bonds to pay for the purchase of transportation vehicles approved by vote by voters May
03420th, 2025 as per the attached resolution. And we will all have to vote individually. Before we vote, do we have any questions or comments? So these are I just want to emphasize four 66 passenger gasoline buses. I just want to emphasize that that's what the voters Amy Bartetta. Hi Erica Pada. Hi. And I'm Christine Shay. I Sean Edy. Hi Katherine Branson. Dennis. Hi. Joshua Matusk is not with us tonight. Justin Pritchard. Hi. Moving on to item 5.2, approval of propo a proposed board policy. Resolved that the board of education approves the proposal of the following board policy. Policy number 5685, maximum temperature for school buildings in indoor facilities. Can I have a motion? Second. Second, Catherine. questions or comments before we vote. So, I put this before you as proposed the next meeting. We'll likely
035put it in as first and final reading. Um, if you look at this policy, probably every school around around New York State is adopting this exact policy. So, as you know, New York State um put the law into effect starting with next school year um that schools have to once a room temperature reaches 82 um they have to do some mitigation strategies to bring that temperature down. Once once the room reaches 88 degrees, they have the students and staff need to evacuate that room. So, just to give you a little context, last year, um, if you recall, it's actually surprising thinking that we haven't had this circumstance yet, but we we may still. Um, last year we had a few like in a row three 90 degree days. And so, um, in in seeing that
036forecast, our director of facilities, Ryan Reer and Tony, uh, and myself, we set out communications to staff, um, with many of these mitigation strategies that you see here. So, um, you know, before you leave for the day, close the shades, make sure the windows are shut. Um, it did seem to help quite a bit. the the issue and the concern that we may reach at some point is on that third day of 90 degree temperatures there's only a certain amount of mitigation that will sustain over over time with those high temperatures. So, um, we did Tony, myself and Ryan met recently. Ryan has purchased some portable air conditioners because, um, that's a mitigation strategy that certainly, um, we we can try to bring temperatures down in rooms overnight so that, um, obviously it'll take longer
037to to heat up. So, this policy is simply following the law and um, it some of what is in here we already are doing. Um but the the difference is that the once it reaches 88 the evacuation has to happen. So last year one of the communications that we sent out to staff is in addition to all these strategies to mitigate um if you do need some reprief these are the locations in the building that you can go that are airond conditioned. And so you know at the high school the auditorium is airond conditioned um at DMS the cafeteria is air conditioned room 100 is. So, um that's part of that mitigation, too. And we'll we'll just use that same practice. Um and then I I did build in um more uh emergency close days
038next year. Um really based on just even the winter we had this year, but um knowing too that this was coming, we we may have a circumstance. I just I don't know yet. So this policy is just really putting us in in a place where we're following the regulations and we have to adopt this policy. I think you shared with us that um Mr. Reaper has the ability to monitor the temperature in every room. He does. Yeah. And so that's the trick too. One of the things um you all know if you bring in your own thermometers from home or you purchase them on Amazon and depending on where they are in the room they you know if it's by the window and the sun's beaming and it's going to get to 88 faster. So
039um we we will communicate that to everyone too that Ryan Ryan has a computer system. He can see the room temperatures and every right now he could open up his laptop and see what the temperature temperatures are everywhere. So that will really be the basis for us to to determine again if someone is if it's ridiculously uncomfortable, we're going to help them find that that alternate location. Um and I think with some of our air conditioning purchases, we'll we'll hopefully be able to mitigate it so we don't have to close school. Has there has there been any greater discussion um you had mentioned like you know the high school auditorium it's air conditioned to with the renovations of the BMS auditorium any talk about maybe adding air conditioning into space like that? It would be
040great but as you know we are we're even over in our it's the frustrating part I think and Tony can probably um speak to this too. you know, New York State creates these mandates but doesn't give any funding to help us. So, um I think that's the trick that a lot of districts like ours that have older buildings and um we did not update with air conditioning are are in a little bit of a predicament. So, um I'm hopeful with what we've, you know, we're moving forward with will help um over time certainly, you know, that would be great, but we're going to have to figure out how to fund it. Okay. Any other questions or comments before we vote? All those in favor? Opposed? Carried. Moving on to item six, personnel. Approval of personnel
041items. Resolved that the board of education approves the following personnel items. And you can see those items listed before you. 6.1 through 6.8. Can I have a motion? Motion. Justin. Justin. Second. Erica. Any questions or comments about any of those? Um, I do want to just comment on 6.1.8. So, um, this this was actually laid out in the budget newsletter. So, I I want to assure families that have student athletes, we do have a plan to provide um an athletic trainer. It's just going to be on a part-time basis. Um so, through SOS, but we also have somebody on staff who is going to help support. They're they're just finishing up one little area of certification, but they're going to help support um in this area, too. So, it's we had somebody that was full-time
042that would show up at, you know, 1 2 o'clock in the afternoon, that luxury will be gone, but we will certainly have somebody here um to support our student athletes. Um and so we we do save money reducing from full-time. And correct me if I'm wrong, but our coaching staff has to be um certified in CPR or there's all of the all of that stuff for sure. Um I think the trainer often will you know wrap ankles or wrap knees and so that's something that again the person on staff as well as SOS being at at games in case there's an emergency. Yeah. Yeah. Any other questions or comments about any of those personnel items before we vote? All those in favor? Opposed? Carried. Can I just stop for one second because I do want
043to just formally introduce Matt Serbo. Um Matt is here with us tonight and um he will be our new social studies teacher taking over for Terry Hoy who's retiring. Um we are thrilled to have Matt with us. He comes with a great deal of experience and we know um he will hit the ground running and our students will no doubt benefit from his presence uh here in Marcellis. So congratulations and welcome aboard Matt. Thank you very much. All right, moving on to item number seven, consent agenda. Approval of consent agenda items. You can see them listed before you there. 7.1 through 7.6. Six. Resolve that the board of education approves the following consent agenda items. Can I have a motion? Motion. Sean. Second. Catherine. Questions or comments before we vote? All those in favor? Opposed?
044Carried. Item number eight, informationational items. Okay. So the 2526 student board of education member is Tucker Bernett Bernett. So congratulations to Tucker. Um we'll be putting that out on social media, but I wanted to premere it here. And just a big shout out to Erica Puquatic who came in to help interview. Um and you know Tucker was just incredible and um he will be a gift on this board. you will enjoy him and he um is ready and willing to accept the responsibility of being a student board member and he's so excited to join us. So that's great. Okay, then moving on to item number nine, executive session. Resolve that the meeting in public be adjourned and an executive session be convened for the purpose of discussion of matters relating to personnel and contract negotiations.
045Can I have a motion? Okay, there we go. Um, all those in favor? Opposed? Carried.