001The meeting is called to order. I'll let the record show that Mr. Marshall is not in attendance. All other board members are. Please stand and join us for 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. >> There any questions? Are there any questions on the agenda or are there any changes that you know >> just the executive since you got moved up? >> Yeah. Other thing we're going to do is under D. We're just going to flip the order of the presentation so that our visitor can leave to stay for the entire meeting. >> Good idea. So, can we have a motion to approve the agenda? I'll >>
002move it. >> Thank you. Second. >> Second. >> Thank you. All in favor? >> I opposed. Abstain. Motion passes. Now, can I get a motion? Hold on. Now to move into executive session. Upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools and pursuant to education law, the board will be adjourning to executive session to discuss matters leading to student disciplinary matters, a title n matter and other personnel matters regarding employment. >> I move it. >> I second it. >> Thank you. All in favor? >> I opposed. Motion passes. This is going to be about 10 minutes. for community comments. >> No. >> Thanks. Let us move on. >> So, we have some presentations this evening. We have to switch the order. So, our first presentation is going to be SRO update. >> So, I'd like to
003welcome Detective Sergeant Zack Anst. He is going to uh give the board kind of a update and some information around SRO's and was available to answer questions as well. No slides, right? >> Well, that's the camera so that everyone in the community would see you if you stood here. And I will move over there. Yes. >> All right. So, good evening, folks. As Dr. Lloyd said, my name is Zach. I'm a sergeant in charge of our school resource officer program. I also run our training division at the sheriff's office. Uh, fun fact about myself, I am also a school board member in a district within Wayne County. So, thank you folks for what you do. I know it is a very thankless job and uh I appreciate what you folks do. Uh so, Dr. Lloyd
004asked me here tonight to speak with you folks about the school resource officers. I know it is something that Marian has inquired about uh quite often for the last couple years and staffing has been a problem of ours. Uh we've always been on board. Unfortunately, we needed a body before we can give you folks a body. It looks like, fingers crossed, pending any major complications or issues, come September, we will be fully staffed as an agency. Us fully staffed as an agency frees up a position to come to Marian Central School District if you folks are still willing and interested. Um, so I know just some of the base questions that you folks had that Dr. Lloyd sent to me. Uh, my under sheriff Tammy Rindock was able to look at some of those questions
005as well. when it comes down to finite numbers, she's going to be the best uh person for Dr. Lloyd to work with numbers wise. Uh but just some base stuff that I can cover from my end. Uh we offer two options in our uh resource officer. You can either do a 10-month contract or a 12-month contract. 12-month, they're here all year long. They are yours. Uh the 10-month, there is a caveat. So, I guess I should say there's three options. 10-month, you can pay for summer school option as well. So, if you folks do run summer school, the SRO will be assigned for summer school. Usually once summer school's up, that will then bring the SRO back to the road patrol for usually a two to three week period once summer school gets going and
006ends. Um, as far as overtime, I know that got brought up. that is something that is pre- um rolled into the cost for the year. Um so there is a certain dollar amount that's rolled in. Most of our SRO's do meet that threshold because of how much the schools ask of them for after school activities. Uh but if they go over that threshold, we do not build a school. The county then puts that into our is the sheriff's office overtime uh budgets. Uh I know one of the questions was what are the hours? We have a contract which you folks as schoolboard members are I'm sure very aware of contracts and unions. Uh our contracted hours are 7:30 to 3:30 for the SRO. We do not allow them to flex hours. So for example, tonight
007you have a large board meeting. Uh you are looking to have an SRO here. We will not allow them to flex say noon to 8 to not incur overtime that day. We absolutely will approve. All their overtime goes through me. They have to request approval for it. I've never said no. We're never going to say no. If the school is requesting it, we will do our best if the SRO cannot be there to find either a deputy that is um currently working to at least be very present at an event or we will post the overtime for a deputy that's off to work the event. Uh there's been times where schools have requested multiple deputies due to a very large game. Uh we know there's going to be issues at that game. We've had issues
008before. we will assign the SRO and a lot overtime for a second deputy. A lot of the times if those deputies can't pick that up, I will come work that with our SRO to assist. >> Um some of the other questions I'm trying to think just to make sure I >> I printed them so I can >> Perfect. >> Um so things like if you can give just a glimpse of like what might be some typical SRO activities or duties or what might a typical day look like? >> Yeah. So, I have invited uh Deputy Felicia Stevens here tonight. She has been an SRO for two districts. >> Yes. >> And has currently uh moved into a juvenile deputy position in our juvenile division handling all juvenile crimes. So, I asked her here tonight. Uh
009I was an SRO for three weeks and then I got promoted. So, I don't really have good answers as to what the SRO's I know what they do daily, but she can speak more of what the nitty-gritty of the SRO and their role is. So, I will absolutely let her answer questions, give whatever you folks have for her. >> Um, so typical day, um, we start before or I start before the kids get here. So, I try to be, uh, my previous district had three different buildings. So you guys only have two, so it's a little bit easier to manage. Um, but I would be here for drop off in the morning before drop off happens. So, um, usually some of the more iffy times for things to happen are going to be, um, in
010the morning when the kids get there and in the afternoon when the kids are leaving. Um, so I make sure that I'm present for both of them. Depending on the weather, I will say I'll get out and chitchat with the kids and do all that stuff. Um, and then immediately after that, I go and run a door check. So, I'll check the perimeter of each building, make sure all the doors are secure the way that they're supposed to, make sure there's no broken windows, anything like that. Um, in between there, building relationships with um, the students, and then after that, it really depends on the day. So, those are the things that I'm going to do every single day. Um, the same thing with uh, the kids going home. like I make sure that I'm
011outside and I'm present and I can see everybody and I can see parents or whoever different vehicles coming in and out. Um because there's two buildings um going back and forth. There's a parking lot check usually once I go from one building to the next. I'm going to drive around see if I see anyone sitting in their car or um any suspicious activity like that making sure there's no students leaving. Um, I typically get invited, at least the last district I went to, actually both both districts. Um, I get invited to disciplinary hearings, um, any meetings, anything with, um, like staff members being let go, things like that, things that you think that there might be an issue, um, or if I have a particularly good rapport with a student um, and they want me
012in the room for whatever meeting that student is going to be involved in, um, to try to help with that. Um, other than that, it's just calls. So, um, I'm available for anything and everything at my school district. Um, there's anything from suspicious activities to parents calling, having issues, wanting to talk to me, um, crimes committed that I'll handle, special investigations, uh, things like that. So, questions. I don't think I missed anything. Games, events, sometimes board meetings. my last school really wanted me to be at every board meeting. Um, it's a little bit bigger than this group of people. Um, >> what do you mean? >> But, but there are sometimes where you have a certain um topic on the agenda that might be a hot topic and you might think there's going to be
013issues. Um, knock on wood, I haven't had any issues at boarding board meetings, but it could be just because I'm frozen, right? Um, and that's kind of what we're looking for to do with uh board meetings at least. So overall the the main mission of our school resource officer program is safety and security of the building. All right. Our SRO's do a ton of stuff daily. They get involved in a ton of different things. They build great relationships. Um I'm lucky enough I get to go to all the schools, meet with the SRO's, meet with administration, and just see how they interact daily with staff, with students. And it's amazing to see, especially early on in the year, especially if they're a newer SRO. It's definitely, you know, it's weird. There's a cop in the
014building now. We're not used to this. By the end of the year, usually the SRO is the most popular person in that building from my experience, from what I've seen. Um, and like I said, ultimately safety and security is our main mission. Um, I take safety and security very serious due to the fact I have a wife that's a teacher and three school age children. So, ensuring that our SRO's are doing the utmost important stuff daily, ensuring that our buildings are secure. That's what we look for. Uh myself and one of our lieutenants will go around, we'll spot check the SRO's. Hey, where uh what doors are broke in the school? Where do you think it could potentially have problems? If something did occur, whether it be uh active violence, whether it be a weather
015emergency, a major uh pipe burst in the school, what are your plans to ensure safety, security, and getting people in and out of this building in an orderly fashion? We'll ensure that they're consistently learning. They're consistently learning the buildings. Our SRO's I'm big on. I want you walking the halls. I want you visible, but also you should be gathering information. you should know where every door is, every hallway is, all of that. And on the back half of that, and I've I've worked with a bunch of districts. Um, if you folks remember, there was a large incident in Gan in 2022. Um, I was the first arriving supervisor at that incident. So, I carried a lot of that day and a lot of issues we ran into was school mapping. I got handed a black
016and white piece of paper. We think the issues over here, high stress situation, a lot going on. I'm like, "This sheet means nothing to me." I worked with a lot of the schools. I worked with a lot of our SRO's and starting to color code. How can I most easily get to an area where there's an issue? Whether that be once again active violence, medical emergency, whatever we may be called to. Now, that's stuff that your SRO's can assist school administration with starting to work those plans of what it looks like from our lens. We're not here to take over. We are not here to tell you folks what to do. We are here as a partner. We want to work with the district. We want to ensure that you folks feel that your needs
017are met along with ours. We will work together. We will bend in certain situations for you folks. We understand you folks have a job. We have a job and let's meet the middle and overall safety and security for everyone in this building buildings. So, anything else from you folks? I mean, that's a quick down and dirty. We We've seen great success from this program. Yes, I know that I'm here from the sheriff's office talking with you about the school resource officer program, but we really have seen great benefits in it. Um, anywhere from information on what's going on to what kids are hearing to just overall helping them with their daily lives. That's what we're here for. And I think we're pretty good at it. >> Before we had talked about, see if I how
018I want to word this. Um, being able to help like our younger students admit things happening. >> Yep. >> Like there was just a different level that you're able to do to check up on things than a school could do. >> Yep. >> I will let Deputy Steven speak to that because that is her job right now. >> Just we have two new board members. I'm trying to think of all the examples. So, another thing that I forgot to mention that the SRO's do a big part of is teaching. Um, so we'll put on trainings for staff members um for kids. It's it's written in most of our contracts that we're supposed to teach a certain amount of classes or trainings. Um, one of them that's very important is called just listen um for I
019think that's what you're referring to of the little saying that something may or may not have happened. Um and it's really important to learn those things because we don't want to retraumatize the children. Um so you know going about it in a certain way um and we give you all the tools, tips and tricks as to how to do that along with if you have an SRO that makes that job 10 times easier um because you have somebody walking you through um every step of the way. So our SRO's um are should be very well versed in that. Yes. >> Yeah. the the SRO works as in that instance would work as a pipeline from school victim law enforcement to ultimately the child advocacy center. >> So or our juvenile division that steps in and
020kind of helps with that. The SRO would just be a guide in that for everybody. >> But do you find it's easier for kids to come to you than it is >> so to go to someone at school? >> Yeah. So it really depends on the rapport that you build with the with the kids. So, like I said, I've been in two different districts. One of them was very, very difficult. Um, and the only way that I knew what was going on in any situation was building rapport with those those students. Um, so that's at least in my opinion a really big part of the SRO program. Um, I still I just visited my previous school district today and I had every single kid in the hallway coming up to me wanting me to tell
021everything that's happened since the last time I've seen them. Um, so that part is really important. Um, and I'm not going to say that, you know, a police officer is going to be better at listening than, you know, a school staff member, but if if we have the time to build the rapport, then it definitely helps. I've had tons of kids come to me and tell me all sorts of things. Um, so if if you put in the work to build the rapport with the kids, then yeah, absolutely. Um, so I think I know I get caught up in um, you know, you guys are always there for the worst. You know, what happens when a tragedy happens, an active shooter happens, you know, disciplinary action happens. >> What's the best What's the best when
022you show up for work? What's the best thing? >> The building rapport with with children. Yeah, that's the absolute best. Um, and and you can ask any SRO. We all do this. Sometimes you get a, you know, brief 20 minutes or whatever. Like a lot of us like to pop into gym class or whatever, you know, if the teacher allows it, whatever class they like to go to and like sit down and hang out with the kids at lunch. That's a big one. I know that when I worked the road, I came here every lunch period I could just to walk around and say hi to the kids and like that kind of thing. And that will it tells you a lot. It definitely helps build rapport. Um but it's like it's those moments that
023are the best. First first time you get into school first thing in the morning. I don't know why I love the kids first thing in the morning. They're all sleepy. but it starts them off on like a good a good day. Um so >> yeah, I know some of the district we we've had um one does this quite often actually if students are you know in a certain class they earn whatever points they can go have lunch with the SRO. So they'll go to their office, they'll bring their lunches in there and have lunch with the SRO. So that's that's stuff that a lot of districts do and it's just come to sit down and I I think where a lot of it comes down to as children see cops as authority but then when
024they can go sit down and talk with them they realize we're people too. We will sit there and talk with you. Most of us are dads, moms, whatever it may be. We're there to talk with you just like you're one of our children. And I can I will speak for the SRO's. These buildings have turned into their children as well. I they care that much and it's amazing to see especially SRO's that have been in buildings for years now how much they are valuing students and that is it's great to see because it's it's success in our program that we are keeping our schools safe but it's a success that we are having those positive interactions with youth and that's very important. That was actually I feel like that connects to like one of the
025board's other questions and I feel like what you're describing is you know an SRO that has a very strong relationship with the school and the community but what happens if you get somebody that like the district feels like this isn't quite the right fit for us. Is there any like flexibility in >> Yes. Yes. Uh we have unfortunately run into that. Um sometimes personalities are personalities and they don't mix. >> Uh so we have run into that and we will remove the SRO. Uh we will of course I will meet with uh school staff or school administration. Uh we will talk about the problems. We will usually give that uh SRO kind of a a little talk of hey it's time to step things up. Here's some of the problems. Let's get them fixed. If
026it continues to be a problem, we will absolutely remove them and we will replace with another individual or deputy I should say. I think it's also important too to know that at least in my experience and a lot of the other SROS that I've spoken to like the admin of the school and the sheriff's that like that's the team right so like everyone communicates as to like expectations and you know we kind of like weirdly fall under two umbrellas um so it's not like you know you get an SRO and you're never going to see them or talk to them again um they're at the meetings or you know phone call away for anything that needs to be corrected or discussed or um anything like that. So I don't think we run into >> No,
027it's not too often. No, >> I think we've quelled a lot of issues with clearcut. >> Here's what the school expects. Here's what we expect. And we sit down in a room and we ensure everyone's comfortable and okay with expectations from both sides. And we just make sure the cards are on the table. We don't want any secrets from either side. Um I'm not, you know, trying to say tell Dr. Lloyd said do this when she didn't. Like we are clear-cut what's expected, what the school expects out you, what I expect out of you, and what the children expect out of you. So we we make sure to have those conversations, especially uh Marian, if you folks do choose to go with an SRO, it'll be your first one. So that will be important very
028important especially at the beginning of we keep that uh uh contact along with our SRO and we get those clear defined rules of what's expected from you what's expected from me and how we can make sure that we have that great working relationship. >> With that said um do the officers then do they kind of like apply for the position? >> Yeah. So we have >> you're going. >> So you can have both. So uh when the position opens, we'll put an internal posting up at the agency. Um I know there are people interested in coming to Marion as the SRO. So I don't think we'll have issues filling that. Uh but ultimately if nobody puts in and the posting expires, whoever is the junior deputy will be sent to the school. I can tell
029you that has happened once and it lasted I think for two or three months. Not because of anything bad happening, just someone else was like, "You know what? I'm ready now." So, we've not had anybody assigned to a school long term that was forced there. >> And then just to confirm, so currently it's not a possibility for two districts to share an SRO even if it's an even split, like even if it's a Perfect 5050. I know that >> I do not have that answer. That that would be uh under sheriff could definitely give that answer. I I do not know. >> Okay. She had said previously that that wasn't like it's a 1.0 know, >> okay, >> position, but >> just, you know, thinking of like ways of >> having the support of an
030SRO and managing cost, thinking about like if a share is a possibility. Um, and I that's just one thing that >> Yeah, I 100% understand. Um, I would caution against that just because of the fact of that's a lot of work for that SRO >> and it's now taken away from that focus of don't know what plans are but Mary and Williamson decide we're going to be one big happy family. The SRO is going to split. That's three buildings in Williamson they're accountable for. That's two buildings here and a little bit of travel. So, you know, god forbid something happens here, but they're in Williamson that day. Now, you know, Marian's going to feel like, well, we're paying for an SRO, too. What's the point of them being in Williamson, for example? >> Or if
031one has more frequent calls than the other, right? So, you guys, I've watched you guys on the map forever and ever to see how many calls come out here. Um, you guys don't call 911 a whole lot. Um, and when you have an SRO in your building, it's going to be very different because you have somebody right here to be like, "Hey, what do you think about this? What do you think about that?" That might be something that we're looking into. Um, so if Williamson has one, and they're quite frequently using that SRO, you guys >> might not be as as noisy, for lack of better words. Um, and I I would hate for you to get the short end of that stick. >> You mentioned worst days. Do you feel districts that have an
032SRO are more prepared for worst days? >> 100%. >> Yes. >> Uh yes. So I another once again in charge of our training division. Um I'm also in charge of our active threat program. So preparing for that worst day. Um our SRO's I do uh usually over school breaks I'll pick a day or two that will go to our active threat training. So, they get more training than most of our deputies do and act of threat response. Uh, but also I'll hold SRO meetings with them and I'll throw situations at them. We'll do little tabletop exercises. So, it it the training wise of it, they get a ton of training there, but also their boots on the ground. I can tell you I I can go around to each of my SRO's and say, "What
033students are you worried about?" and they will all have a list of students that they are worried about that they're concerned about that they pay a little extra attention to. So, they're already prepared for that. They've already, you know, they're not singling students out by any means, but they pay attention to what they do. A lot of them have had issues that have been brought to us that we handle, but it's just you have somebody there. You have somebody that is in the building. You have somebody with great knowledge of the building. Those are all huge when it comes to an act of threat response. >> I have a question that I don't want to be inflammatory, but I do want an exchange of information um with the climate of these days. Um it's my
034understanding that Wayne County is not in contractual support or whatever um with any outside federal agencies that might put um some of our immigrant or black and brown community students and families at risk. Yep. >> Is that something that you guys are aware of and can confirm or >> to to my knowledge? I mean that would once again those answers come way higher than me. To my knowledge, we have no signed partnerships with any federal agencies. >> And every district has asked that question because every district has the same. >> We've all got >> Absolutely. Absolutely. Yes. >> Thank you so much. >> Yeah. Thanks for having us. I appreciate Just so everyone knows, >> Mary and Brad, you >> know, I I thank you folks for your time. Um, I really hope we can
035build this partnership. Uh, just for your information. Uh, come September, there will only be one district in Wayne County that's not represented, but two of you folks don't do it, but there will only be one district that is not represented by us come September. So, um, we we got a lot of stake in the game. We're in every building. We take it seriously and we really enjoy being able to provide these assets for you folks. So, hopefully that's something we can make happen. >> So, I appreciate all your folks. Thank you very much. >> For Thank you very much. Absolutely. you. >> All right. >> I don't know if you guys have gear to wear up here or anything, but midyear building updates. Bring my partner with me. So I'm obviously presenting on the mid-year
036building update for MEES. Our academic goal is 80% of K6 students will meet or exceed typical growth targets on a cadence reading and math. um students identified as below or well below benchmark at the end of year at least 50% will demonstrate stretch growth signing progress towards closing achievement gap. So um actually we currently are in the middle of data storming and going through and creating that next benchmark level to um compare to the beginning of the year. We actually have data meetings later this week on later tomorrow on Wednesday and Thursday. Um we also spent some time on our conference day looking over test data and looking at patterns u maybe areas where students are historically or repeatedly um you know not testing as high or areas where we can identify gaps and making
037to shift some instruction to make sure that we take care of those. Um we have a professional learning opportunity on March 4th um with Panorama which is our data dashboard to help this the teachers actually get a better idea of the playbook and inputting um progress monitoring into that as well. We continue to look at the math support at all grade levels and we also have enrichment opportunities for our students. Our second goal is the future focused goal. So, we're talking about cultivating a future of readiness, introducing students to multiple graduation pathways through age appropriate learning experiences that highlight skills, careers, and opportunities. This is really going to come with the future fair. So, they've already started planning for this year's future fair, trying to get a wider array of um uh people to come
038and present to the kids. Uh we're continuing to uh push for field trips. One of really cool example of that is our UPK is actually doing some mini field trips. So for each unit that they're doing, which is about once a month, they're finding some kind of a connection and a mini field trip. So they've taken a field trip up to the high school and they're going to do it again to make connections, real world connections to the content that they're learning in their class. Um it just gives more background knowledge as the kids move through the different grade levels. >> The bus garage and the bus wash, >> huge huge one. >> I actually like to watch the bus wash, too. >> But so that's goal one and goal two. The truth is we
039really couldn't do any of this stuff without our third goal which is all around Whoops. Sorry Jamie. It's >> okay. >> Which is all around the culture. So I'm going to pass it over to her because this is a lot of the work that she does on a daily basis. >> So building culture is kind of my jam. So our goal around this was by the end of 2005 or 2025 go back 2026 academic year. MEES will demonstrate a measurable improvement in school culture, fostering a positive, inclusive, and collaborative environment for all students and staff as well as their families. This improvement will be driven by the implementation of a comprehensive plan focused on celebration and communication. So, some of our highlights are our panorama surveys um that our older students are taking in the
040building. So, it gives us um some insight on how they are um doing with their days in school and out of school. We're having some types of celebrations and um our number of kids and percentage of kids being recognized for their um accomplishments is rising every month and it's great to hear those little individual student stories of right now we're running um kindness week so the little kids um and also the big kids us adults can um fill out some hearts and put them on our heart mass heart tree to celebrate those stories. Um we also have our PBIS structure and our night notes. So, we're celebrating those monthly um with some drawings, some extra special celebrations for those kiddos, recognizing them. Um we have some decreased discipline referrals, which is my jam. Totally. So,
041I have something because I do know that. >> Yes, I do because I pulled up current data today and it's pretty exciting. So, last year from September to um February 10th in 2025, we had 204 referrals at the elementary school. um this year from September until again today, February 10th, I'm happy to report that we are down to 61 total referrals so far this year. So, we're killing it down there and I'm super proud of those kids. >> Yes. >> Um we're also doing lots of mini camps. Um and our enrollment is increasing. Um some feedback that we've gotten is kids want to do more than one mini camp. So, we're trying to figure out ways that we can get them to have multiple mini camp experiences as well as just some parent square engagement
042and keeping that communication going back and forth. So, that's our culture. So, those are all the things we've added a couple things as far as the um celebrations go. We're actually going to add to our little um you know the Marian Elementary sign up front. We're going to add some of our student spotlights out there. So, the kids are nominated by their teachers for the different character trade awards. We announced them on the announcements. We put it in our newsletters. And now we're going to all the things. >> Sounds great. Thank you. And congratulations. >> I slowed down my Hi everybody. >> No time for the best. What the heck? >> I can just All right, we are excited to share with you our update about our building plan. Remember that our goal one was
043all about creating a welcoming and affirming environment for students here. U making sure that they are supported in their learning health and safety. And where are we now? We've been greeting students by name throughout the building. We have implemented trauma-informed practices with all staff. Uh Mrs. Keller House and Miss Bennett, our social worker, did that training recently of all of our students received at least one BKC in both of the first quarters. So that was phenomenal. Thank you to our staff who helped us make that happen. We have completed two quarterly night shield assemblies to celebrate our students accomplishments and those have been a huge success. And we've also completed interrupting harmful comments on the most recent conference day for all of our staff to feel more versed in how to interrupt those hurtful comments
044when they hear them and witness them. Goal two is by 2026 of June, our school will increase the number of students passing all courses from 75% to 80% as measured by clear indicators such as end ofear transcripts. Where are we now in the process? We've completed our teacher clarity refresher um an extension for all teachers. Mrs. Miller did that during our October conference day. um so that all teachers, including those that are new staff, were able to um participate in that to improve instructional practices. Like Mr. Dean said, we've implemented our trauma-informed practices um presentation just recently. We're continuing to um analyze benchmark assessments. We just completed our midterms a couple of weeks ago, which were a success. We are using our tier 2 committee to really dive into that data to start to determine
045appropriate interventions for students. We're monitoring past fail rates for each marking period. And then our project leaders are right now in the midst of doing um like a research study. We're doing a book study on best practices for grading at the secondary level. >> We're happy to report that as of right now at the end of quarter two, we're on track for that 80%. So as long as we can continue that practice in quarter three and four, we should be in good shape in that goal. And our third goal is that every student in grades 9 through 12 will utilize and develop an online Zello portfolio that focuses on the components of the new New York State Portrait of a Graduate. So we completed back in the fall, we completed a training for staff and
046students on Zello and Portrait of a Graduate. And then recently in January, we had our first portfolio day when all students got into Zello and used artifacts from each of their courses to add to their portfolio in Zello. So that's happening. They have a portfolio and it exists in Zel, which is very exciting. Hats off to Mrs. O'Hara for working hard on that. And then our senior exit projects this year will highlight their accomplishments in their portfolio as well as their 4E plan. So we're excited about that work. and that is moving in the right direction as well. Do you have any questions for us? >> That's good. Thank you. Anything you need from us to get to 80% faster? >> No, I think we're we're moving in the right direction on that goal. It's
047a diffic difficult needle to move. Um, and you know, that's kind of why we're doing some work in the grading arena as well as project leaders because some of it is student performance, some of it is grading practices. And so, we've got to figure out as a building how to best approach that. But right now, we're doing our best just to support students so that they can get better grades. >> Thanks everyone. Thank you. >> That doesn't work very true. probably get logged back in. I'm just going to pass. How do you want to do personal? Do you want to say anything? Do we just vote on it? Yes, I think I can say a little bit. >> Okay. >> So, for personnel, we have two um retirements this year. So, um one is Don
048Brennan, an elementary teacher, and one is Mr. Walker. So, we'll celebrate our retirees as a group at the end of the year with the board of education. But um both of these people have been very dedicated to the district in terms of their work with Don with students at the elementary level and really um if you want to go see someone who truly like looks at every child and says these are the strengths that you bring to the table and makes that work in a classroom. Like she does that. She's phenomenal. Um and Mr. Walker. I don't even know what to say about Mr. Walker if I'm honest. I'm going to miss you. >> Is that good or bad? >> No, Rich has come in and, you know, we'll do a little budget update, but
049you know, he's walked us through some times that have been some really difficult financial times. Um, and you know, those are things that he's always done with integrity and we appreciate his time. Absolutely. So, we do need to vote on both of these. We'll do them separately because they're listed separately on here. So, accepting the resignation of Mrs. Vernon. Can we get a motion to move? >> Thank you. Second. >> Second. >> Thank you. All in favor? >> I opposed. Abstained. Motion passes. begin planning a vacation. Up next, Mr. Walker. Is there a motion to allow him to also leave us? >> Thank you. Second. >> Thank you. All in favor? >> I opposed. Abstained. Motion passes. Congratulations. Board of Education reports and discussions. Does anyone have anything they want to report? >> I will
050extend a congratulations to all of our spelling be participants at NES. Um there was maybe 13 participants I believe and a big congratulations to our three going to regionals. >> Fun. >> I attended wrestling sectionals. It was a good day. I will let that be somebody else's. I've attended a lot of the different sportings this winter. It's I love watching the kids. They seem like they're having fun. I don't know if you are, but you seem like they're having fun. Any other reports? >> All right. Then our student representative is next. Um, so as I mentioned at the last board meeting, we had a the girls basketball team had a donut fundraiser and we made over $2,000. Wow. Which was the biggest fundraiser our program has ever had. And we also have a senior night
051this Friday in the Marion gym. Um, on the topic of sports, the boys track team won divisionals and Zach Keing and Brody had their wrestling senior night and Zach also won sectionals, so congrats to him. Um, the Spanish club is hosting their staff versus staff basketball game. Um, it's tomorrow. Um, and it's $5 to attend and $1 to throw a pie at the losing staff member. So whether it's you or your kids, try to get them to come. It's a huge fun thing and it also helps the students pay for their future trips to Spain or Costa Rica. um underassmen were able to visit the WTCC to plan for next year and we had as Mr. D previously said we had a night shield award um celebrating attendance grades and behavior and the kids won
052pizza. We've also have a donut day coming up and um a student came up to me and asked if we could potentially do it in anonymous BKC but for like safety reasons have the school be able to have the email who sent it. Um, this came from someone saying that they wanted to say something to another student, but was a little too scared to have them know it was done, >> but still wanted to reach out and say something nice. So, they were wondering if there was a way for it to be anonymous to the person receiving it, but still have the school be able to know who it is for safety reasons. >> I would think, could it go to an admin? >> It currently go out through this is let me manage Okay.
053Because I know that it like it collects your email, but um but a student was wondering if it was able to put it under anonymous because maybe it was someone that they weren't too comfortable sending it to and having them know, but they still wanted to recognize them. >> Okay. >> Is that something we do like an announcement about that they can come see you? You think, Mrs. Lovey? >> Yeah, we can talk about it. Yeah, we can bring that up. >> Thank you. Do I need to move again? I just have two short. All right. I just have a short update tonight. Two things. So, circling back to um the conversation that we had started around long-term financial planning and then just uh a little preview of the 2627 school calendar because the board
054will vote on that tonight. So, in terms of the long-term uh financial planning, we had talked about working with Rick Tims. He had presented at 4ount. Um I was under the impression that he did board workshops. Um Rich and I attended his training on financial literacy for schools um that was at Boseies. We connected with him there and said would you be willing to come to Marion for a board workshop and he informed us he doesn't do board workshops anymore. Um he's shifted much more to a consulting role around financial planning. So, he does complete um five-year financial plans for districts. And if you do that five-year financial plan with him, then he'll come in, he reviews the plan with the board, um talks about like district specific data, discusses like the outlook for the
055district and specific next steps. Is there anything left out of that you think in terms of what he does when he comes? Okay. Um and there is a cost to that. So the cost is $5,000 which we can pay for through the general fund. So I just wanted to make the board aware of like that's the work with Rick Tims and make sure that the board is good with us moving ahead to do that. So it won't be a typical um workshop format, but he would come to a meeting and walk through all of this. >> So when he does the meet with the after he'd be at a meeting, people could see it. questions. Okay, so next up is the school calendar. Um, I just tried to like hit the highlights. We have our
056traditional before Labor Day start for staff that we typically do. So staff typically start with us the Thursday before Labor Day, have a long weekend, and are back in on the um Tuesday after Labor Day. We do two staff days before students start. Um that's again the plan for this year. The change is that usually those are two superintendent conference days. This year it's one superintendent conference day and one teacher workday. Um but we will still have four total superintendence conference days. So the traditional September, October or January and then a new one that will be in April that we haven't traditionally had as a superintendent conference day. >> One in April. Does that help you prep them for the next year a little bit? >> Yes. And I think uh quite honestly like when
057you look at how this calendar plays out with the breaks, it's a very long stretch. It's like 10 weeks between the end of spring break and the next break for staff and students. And we felt like >> it's a great time to like build in a day so that like we can do some more prep for the last uh 10 weeks and finish strong. >> I didn't realize you didn't prep. >> No, that makes sense. That makes a lot of sense. Mhm. Uh, one thing for the board to be aware of, usually we have four to five snow days built into our calendar. We don't this year or what in our proposed calendar. There's only two snow days built in. Um, this was a tricky year because of it's such a late start with Labor
058Day. So, making sure that we got to that 180 days with students um without feeling like we're going on till eternity. Um, we only have two snow days built in this year. If we go over those two snow days, we would have to take days back from breaks in order to get to the required 180 student day requirement. And as the board knows, like you would need to approve the proposed calendar. Does anyone have questions about the calendar? Is it possible to do um remote learning if needed instead of taking off? >> That's a great question. We've that is a possibility. We've never done that here. Um I think some of the challenge if you're going to legitimately count it as a remote learning day is that students would be prepared and have all of
059their like Chromebooks and materials at home. And currently we don't send those home every day at every grade level. So, um, but that's something that we could certainly be proactive about. >> Thank you. >> Next up, our school. >> Oh, before we go on, you just have to actually take action to approve the calendar. Sorry. >> Okay. Does anyone have any questions? We please have a motion to approve the calendar. I move it. Thank you. Is there a second? >> Thank you. All in favor? I motion passes. All right. So, uh earlier today we had our second uh budget committee meeting and um I just wanted to share a part of that just two slides. um this is revolving around healthcare. So uh last week uh was my last meeting on the flash uh board
060of directors for the healthcare consortium and u at that that's when we got our new rates for next year. So for next year for Marian the impact is a 14 and a half percent increase um for our under 65 crew whether they're retired or active employees through Excelis. Um that in itself is bad news. But uh even more disturbing news is that in 2027 which would be impact six months of our fiscal year next year um the Medicare rates are going to go up 80%. Uh so what that means is for next year right now we're going to have about 3 20 to $330,000 in new revenue, which is 1% increase in foundation aid, which is 94,000. And then our tax levy increase is going to be another 310 or $20,000 or 210 or 20,000
061to get us to that 320 330 mark. That's our new revenue for next year. Our legacy costs increase alone are 300,000. And then if you throw in the active employees, that's another 340,000. So that's a total of $640,000, which is a 2:1 deficit ratio for health care alone. Um and then on over to the left I was just showing an illustration of the history of what the um under 65 healthcare rates have done. Um you can see that there was a spike um in 2023. Um and the reason why that was so high was actually back in like 2017 there was a 32 to $33 million surplus. And so for the next few years, whenever Excel came out with the rates, they said, "Okay, to break even based on our projections for next year, you
062should raise the rates 12%." And then the board would be like, "Well, we've got 32 to $33 billion. Let's not go out at 12. Let's go out at 8." And then the next year, what happened was the claims were higher than what they projected. So now not only have you eaten 4% but you've eaten more than that because of the unexpected and that happened for a few years. Um so the reserves are completely gone and which resulted in that huge spike in 2023 of 23% and then since then it's been um the last two years it's been over 10%. Uh this is just another illustration of what's been happening with the retirey healthcare. So you can see those are the actual costs uh through 202425 and then 2526 through 2829 based on the projected increases
063and based on obviously what we currently have. Um that's the projected retirey healthcare cost. Um, so you can see that, you know, next year is almost a $300,000 increase. The year after that is $450,000 increase, and then the year after that is over $500,000 increase. Um, it's it's kind of scary. Uh, it's it was like a perfect storm. So what happened was um in the early years the the Medicare rates were getting were starting to get really high. So the board said let's go out for an RFP and we had some strong bids. Etna was a big player back then. And Excelis wanted to retain the business. So they really came in strong with their bid and it literally cut our Medicare rates in half. Um which is why you see the big drop in
06423 24 of 22 almost 23%. But again that was only for the um actually the first six months was 22 23 at almost 11 and then the next year was the full brunt of it at 23%. And then since then, in that first three years, they said, "Okay, we're going to guarantee a 0% increase for year one, a 5% cap for year two, and a 10% cap for year three." And then we'll go whatever the market rates after that. Couple things, other things happened was one, they were obviously very aggressive, but two, the inflation reduction act um which changed the Medicare rule. So instead of having a $8,000 out-of- pocket maximum, it reduced to 2,000. So that naturally the cost had to go somewhere. So that drove the premiums up. Um there was also a
065clause in the initial RFP contract that if the CMS rates certain things happened, then that five or 10% cap was not to be. So this year it was supposed to be a 10% cap, it was actually 15% because of the changes. Um, so that's that's where we're at. Any questions? >> So, none I can ask. >> Okay. So, I just wanted to share the healthcare piece with you. Um, other than that, the budget reading was okay. There's no questions. Uh, as far as the financial report, the next item I have, there's no significant changes from last month's financial report other than him saying there's no changes. Did anyone have questions on? If not, can we get a motion to approve, please? >> Thank you. Is there a second? >> I'll second. >> Thank you. All
066in favor? >> I posted obstain motion passes. We now begin our monthly reporting from the administrators. Mrs. Miller. Okay. So, kind of think back from the last time right after the holiday. So, we had the conference day. Um, I had a wonderful day getting to spend time with K2. We did a lot of curriculum work, specifically focusing on the comprehension curriculum. a lot of games they continue because we didn't buy I think it's law January I think she signed it that all schools had to complete a survey on how they currently are educating on Asian-American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders specifically in our K12 program. So um completed that and we had to identify where we're currently teaching it. If we are we aren't we aren't I mean we do we have pockets out of
067all of it but and then what specific resources and the year of um especially like for our textbooks year of copyright they wanted to know. stuff. Um that was supposed to so for special ed um our annual reviews for students start at the end of February. Um we start with some of our older students who are in special ed programs for ages, you know, 19 through 22. Um we'll have 153 meetings for students who are classified and that's from um you know three year olds up to our students who come to school between the ages of like 18 to 22. Um right now we have seven new referrals for students. There's two at MAS. One was referred by a parent and one by the school. There's five at the senior building. Three of those were
068referred by parents and then two by the school. Um lately I've been working with Mrs. Hair at the elementary school. Some of the things that we've been working on down there is working with teachers to teachers and providers to look at least restrictive environment. We've been specifically focusing on our services that they are thinking about where the services can be and how they can push into classrooms. Um we've also been looking at the need for aid support, remembering that having an aid is pretty restrictive. And so thinking about um how can we support our students in ways um outside of having an aid all day long. Um, and then we've also been working all year too on looking at special education student results on the New York State tests. Um, especially the ELA test and
069how can we improve some of those results for students. Um, we have another consortium students starting with us here in Marian. They're coming from Clyde Savannah and they'll start the week after break. I'm scheduled to have a phone call this week with um Red Jacket Manchester Schwarzville talking about consortium students for next year. Looking at two ninth grade students to continue with us. Um Gananda reached out to us I think yesterday to talk about more potential consortium students next year. They're looking at some kindergarteners and a first grader if we have space for them. And then we are at about 2500 BKC's. Um, here's a great BKC that a ninth grader sent to Mrs. Falling, our art teacher. Um, sometimes students have art every other day. And this is what the student is talking about
070in this BKC. So, they wrote to Mrs. Falling, "When I wanted to drop art, Mrs. Falling helped me realize that even though I was not here as much as the other kids, I could still get the work done and that she believed in me and that I can finish my work even though I'm not here as much as the rest of the class." This made me realize it isn't about the grades, it's about showing what I can do. And so I just thought it was a nice BKC, well written by a student. Sometimes students BKC's are very short, but this was well written. It's more than one sentence. And it just identifies like really like why someone did something to them that like added to it. And so we are having a doughnut day. And
071the spec specific rules are make sure that you really identify like what this person did for you. So I'm sure Mrs. following got this and it's all like oh this really does matter that's all for me thank you um so you already spoke about it but we did have our mess spelling be Atlanta cross was our top B um I'm really proud of the kids because getting up in front of a group of any um anybody whether it's their peers or adults or other people's families and like spelling words is a a challenging thing to do even if they know how to spell it I'm always so impressed by students that um that can get up and stand up and do those things and put themselves in those like risky situations. Um, it shows growth.
072Uh, in case you guys um haven't been watching TV, uh, there's a group of super cute first graders um, in a stellar roofing commercial. So, um, that happened because one of our students had like memorized it and then the class did it and wanted to send it on to Stellar Roofing, so they did. Well, Stella Roofing visited us. um they dropped off a bunch of um like craft stuff for the kids and um talked about the impact and how they were so glad to see them. Um I stopped in the classroom after that. The kids were making books with the stuff and they were just so excited to show off the um the goodies that were brought over. So they were really thankful for that. Um we mentioned that our uh character trait of the
073month is kindness and this week is kindness week. It always is the week leading up to Valentine's Day. Um our school counselor put out a little menu of things that we're going to do throughout the week um to promote kindness. Um we start our next session of mini camps that started this week I believe as well. Uh one of the highlights that have happened I think this is since we've been here last time is our fifth grade zoo. I don't think I mentioned that last time. So, in the main hallway, like outside of the uh office, we have a bunch of zoo animals uh that the kids actually used math to create. It was a beautiful example of like application and joy in learning and um it was just so much fun. I had gotten
074comments from parents that kids were going home and telling them about this math project they were working on and math can be like a really villainized content area, right? So to hear kids excited um and joyful about learning and projects that they were creating was like super warming to my heart as well. And um and plus I like walking out and like seeing the animals there and telling people careful they're going to bite you. Um and then the one last thing I want to put out there to the board is we do a readaloud in our newsletters and I want to invite you if you're interested to um maybe do a read aloud for our newsletters. We have some dates coming up that aren't filled yet. So if you're interested just let me know. So,
075at the junior senior high school, we completed our midterm and January regions week, and it was a success. We had a total of 819 exams uh throughout the student body that were taken over the 3-day schedule. Um, and it went pretty seamless, which was great. We were able to use our conference day that Friday to really like dive into those as well and provide timely and meaningful feedback. teachers were able to use that time to also provide interventions for students that needed extra support for the end of the quarter. We've used our tier 2 committee meeting on our extended Wednesday to then analyze the midterm data. And um we've been able to um select appropriate academic interventions for students to really support certain content areas and skills um that they they need help with. And
076then our eighth graders right now are working diligently to complete their seal of civic readiness capstone project. I know every year they present to the board, so I'm sure that will be happening soon. Um their presentations to the panel of staff uh will be after break. So um that is something that Mr. Hurland and Mrs. Cook are are working really hard with um for students. So that's exciting to to be able to watch soon. >> Uh I'll follow up a little bit on what Lydia reported. Congratulations to our indoor track team, which is a merch team, Marian Gananda. They competed at Nazareth University in the Wayne Fingerlakes Divisional Championships. The boys team dominated the meet and clenched the win by scoring 151 points. The next closest team was Wayne with 122 points. Uh within that,
077Toby Rogers placed fifth in the weight throw and also threw the shot put. Rean Taylor threw the weight through weight throw. Aaron Meyer and Michael Serbo led the team by each scoring 28 points. Aaron in the 3200,600 and 1,000 meters. Michael in the 3200,600 and 600 meters. Then, as Mrs. Cing alluded to, we have a new sectional champion. Zack Culing is the section five class B1 champion in wrestling. And at the same time, he got his 100th win. So, a very special weekend for Zack. Congratulations to him and his family. Um, and we also are excited to welcome a new student into our agro path program on Thursday. Uh, he is coming to us from Red Jacket. We had another visit today from Bloomfield. Um, and we're hopeful that that works out. And we also
078have some leaders from Wayne Fingerlakes Boseies coming on Thursday to see the program and what it's all about. And I really have to give a shout out to our egg teachers. They are just incredible salespeople of the program. So when folks come and visit and these students come with their parents and their counselor, it's not a hard sell because they have students ready to talk about it. They have animals ready. They have welding machinery ready. So like it's just uh it's an easy sell. People are really impressed when they come here to see the agro path program. coming up. Last meeting I reported that we had I don't remember 26 I think school days until winter break and I'm happy to report that we're down to three. Um we're also looking forward to our presentation
079of Newsies which is coming on March 6th and 7th. Make sure to get your tickets soon if you haven't. Um no you haven't because they're not on sale yet unless you have like VIP access. You haven't yet. And uh believe it or not, if you look outside, it's hard to believe, but spring sports practices begin on the 9th of March. >> Where? >> In the gym and halls. >> So from softball and baseball a lot of fun right there. So from the tech department, we uh end of January is always we work to support the uh especially the high school testing program to make sure that when midterms, you know, they take a midterm and we can get the data turned around so that teachers have um the actionable data for um the conference day
080at the end of the week. So there's a lot of front end and backend work being ready so that one day we can turn those around quickly. So that takes up quite a bit of the end of January. Um, other than that, it's kind of business as usual. We've been running, um, since our last board meeting report, so last month, uh, closed 56 help desk tickets with a first response of 32 minutes. Um, team does a really great job of making sure that that people get the support that they need. That's about it for us. Okay, with no questions, could I please have a motion to approve? >> Thank you. Second. >> Thank you. All in favor? >> I posted. Motion passes. Did anyone sign up for community comments? No. Okay. Would anyone like to
081go home and adjourn our meeting? I need a motion. >> Okay. Second. >> All in favor? >> I post. Motion passes. Thank you all.