001Well, Good evening everyone. Um, we're going to call our uh meeting to order and uh I'd like to start with the pledge to the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. First on our agenda this evening is uh communication from the public and press. Uh, I don't see any press, but I believe I do see a couple of members of the public here. Is there anything that you'd like to uh state by way of a of a statement to the board? >> Yes. Uh, I would like to review some guidelines, please, before you do. Um, we do think it's crucial to hear uh from community me community members about their
002concerns and issues, but we ask to adhere you to adhere to a few guidelines. Please come to the lectern and state your name. Please do uh address the board as a whole and not individual board members. Limit your comments to more than to no more than three minutes. And uh if you can give us any written notes, uh we'd appreciate that as well. Public comment is not a time for back and forth with members of the board. Um if uh we we don't we're not going to be responding to any questions that you may have. Uh we will uh make every effort to answer questions uh and respond to those comments when an adequate answer is researched and we can give to you. Um lastly, and this is very important, uh due to federal and
003state privacy laws, we will not allow comments or questions about any school personnel. Personnel concerns should be addressed privately through administrative channels and we would also uh encourage you and urge you to leave any student names uh out of um your comments. That being said, please uh proceed. Hi, my name is Darcy Fernier. Um, I'm here to speak on behalf of my daughter who has quite frankly been traumatized and I wrote a statement. I'll read it and I've left all the names out. The guidelines were emailed to me so I am prepared. So, first I'd like to express my concern regarding the treatment of students that are placed in ISS and the conduct of the teacher aid assigned to that classroom. Denying children access to the bathroom for an extended periods of time resulting in
004students sitting in soiled or specifically bloody clothing for hours. It's unacceptable. Using bathroom access as a control mechanism is not discipline. It's a violation of basic human dignity and causes significant emotional and psychological harm. Going to the bathroom is a basic human right, not a privilege to be withheld. Multiple parents have reported that students in this classroom are required to sit completely straight and remain still for hours and are publicly humiliated, degraded, and intentionally intimidated. Children sent to this class are not being corrected or supported. They're being bullied. No child should a fear attending school, especially due to the actions of an adult entrusted with their care. I was told that the prince by the principal that not everyone likes everyone, which is not an acceptable response. Respect is not optional in an educational environment.
005I was also told that students are kept in this position specifically so they'll be afraid of ISS. Fear-based punishment, humiliation, and degradation are not appropriate behavioral management tools, and they quite frankly have no place in our school system. The responsibility of the educators and administrators are to educate, empower, and advocate for our children and their safety. not to break them down emotionally to enforce compliance. Discipline should never come at the cost of a child's dignity, physical well-being, or mental health. I'm requesting that this matter be taken seriously and addressed immediately. This includes the review of the ISS practices, bathroom access policies, and the conduct of the staff supervising these students. Children should be able to attend school without fear of mistreatment, intimidation, or humiliation by those in by those in the authority to do so.
006>> Thank you very much. Uh we appreciate your comments. Thank you again. Okay, moving on. Is there anyone uh else uh that has anything they would like to share with the board of education? Okay, hearing none, we'll move on to uh information and reports and we'll start with reports from board members and um Mr. David's student exeicio report. Well, uh, to start, um, the student council is hosting a ski trip in a couple of weeks and, uh, to just to titus for a day. Um, there's not a lot to be said about that. But um as IB classes start to ramp up, the uh Chromebooks become more and more of a concern and and uh to the point where during the school day, I've noticed that both me and my peers are avoiding doing work
007within class period or class time given to us or even study halls to be able to work on um essays and presentations at home with um personal computers. Um [clears throat] a lot of these include the essays given to us by um full full IB class or IB classes in general including internal assessments as as well as uh the um as well as uh theory of knowledge essays. Um, other classes do assign these uh extended um where you have to create extended documents that take long a very long time for Chromebooks to load and become uh unusable, especially when doing research and trying to find uh credible sources as many things including images for presentations. and um a wide variety of sources in um in links. Um yeah, that's that's the main thing I have
008to say about that. But on on another note, the transition from AB or IB to AP, uh I'd like to reiterate that I am in full um support of this as as you will see in this presentation, but there are some things that I think people might miss about IB, but I think in general, um it's a um a move that I am in full support of that was Um, I just I I wish I could have been here for it to to to go through it myself. So, in in terms of credit, first off, the um so there's like three three ways you you get credit for so you get the IB or AP credit through the the school and you get um whatever towards your IB diploma. For colleges, there are two options.
009Either through Sunni Canton, which is accepted at some levels, but a lot of private schools will not accept Sunni Cran credit. Um, the other way is based on the grade you get in the IB class. A lot of schools, especially prestigious schools, will only accept a grade of five to six or maybe just a seven. Um, a couple of schools that I've applied to is so Cornell will only accept a seven or RPI, a um a state school in New York, will only accept a a six or a seven. Um, versus AP, it's similar where Cornell will only accept a five and then RPI will set a four or five. But the boundaries of what percent of students will get these grades is drastically different. Um, for IB classes, anywhere from on average 5 to
01010% of students will get a seven versus AP classes, it's usually anywhere from 10 to 40% of students will get a five. um just just to show how much more accepted AP classes are at college for a variety of reasons that that I will talk about. Um another thing that that is a very large consideration is the difference between SL and HL classes. SL being standard level and HL being higher level. This terminology from the IB is detrimental to themselves as well as making it hard harder for students to get those classes accepted by colleges. Colleges do not look at standard level as the difficulty that it is and more of the inferior version of the HL count of their HL counterparts. when standard level courses are just as hard, if not sometimes harder, because
011you have only a little bit less information in half the year because many HL courses are two years while SLS are one year. um versus AP courses which are all built for one year and um and are much more recognized by colleges with with clear levels and um and specifics on what the class will cover. And as it's been around for longer, colleges know exactly what to accept or expect from AP. Um on the next slide, the rigor and value of AP. Um IB will prepare you for where you're going to go. AP is going to help you get your foot in the door. AP is less rigorous than IB, which in some in some cases you may argue that that A that IB will be better for you because it'll prepare you more. it.
012You'll be more ready for college. You'll be better organized. But on the other hand, you won't get to the places that you would be able to use those use those skills for within with an AP with with AP, you'll be able to get to those places. And then once you're there, you'll learn. And because you're able to take AP courses from your freshman year, so you'll have much more experience for a longer period of time with these harder classes. I feel that you'll be just as prepared, if not more, because you've been dealing it with it for longer and possibly less burned out. Um, the acceptance into prestigious colleges um like okay in my case um I'm applying to a hand handful of colleges of all varieties. some of them being very prestigious. And the
013downside of that is I do not expect to get a seven in a lot of my classes. So 70 maybe 80% of all the classes I take won't really carry over as college credit as as as they would to say Sunni potam or um Sunni can. On top of that, some classes, some colleges require to apply that you take certain classes like University of Toronto requires that you take the highest level of um chemistry that that your school offers and usually being the first level of advanced chemistry like AP or IB chemistry. This school does not offer that. So I had to go through a little bit of a process to get a waiver for that requirement getting it signed by both Mr. Oliver and Mr. Jordan. On the other hand, on the US side,
014Caltech is one of the most uh rigorous um applications requiring a one step further behind the farthest uh calculus we offer. this was not waved and if I want to go to Caltech I will take calculus 2 over the summer. Um yeah the and the final thing the capstone versus IB diploma. I diploma is a little bit more representative col of college in that you have to take certain classes. So, French, history, English, a science, and then another couple classes. The capstone gives you a little bit more wiggle room. It gives you flexibility in what you might want to take, which in for Msina, I think that would offer a lot more variety in what we can offer for AP classes, which would not just help out what what we consider our full IB students,
015which at the in this year is actually just three students. It would it would gener it would generate interest in classes that are maybe less rigorous or maybe more open to students who might not consider IB a possibility. um like um maybe not an AP math class, but maybe there's an AP music or AP ceramics that um that would give college credit to a student that might otherwise not take any college classes in high school. >> Yeah. >> Any questions for Andrew? >> Go ahead. No, you go ahead. >> Okay. Thank you for all the research. You really looked into this. And having said all of that, you're still you're okay with IB >> as it stands. Um, like IB is kind of what I have to deal with, >> but I'm okay with IB,
016but AP is I I'll just say that I I wish I could have been here for AP. >> Okay. Okay. Now with this that's a whole other thing I guess. Yeah. And it's already been decided probably >> with the switch. I'm going back to the Chromebooks now. >> Yeah. >> Will that make a difference with the switch? Will it will the Chromebooks work next year? Will it work better for the other? um from what I know from like my what my friends have to deal with in terms of like writing essays and things um they are shorter but um in certain circumst circumstances it still will not work cuz um the amount of research and >> right the amount of writing that you still have to do is still a lot but it's not quite
017the scale of say your IIA which maybe it's not the 3,000 words, but it's the 22 to 30 pages of graphs that just slows down the Chromebooks. >> APA doesn't really have that equivalent. >> Okay. >> So, I think it would be better, but in c certain areas, especially in like writing, I've noticed that Chromebooks sometimes are a little slow. >> So, And yeah, I'm I guess I'm I'm bothered by the fact that we can't help you out with that. I know we we did push for it a little bit and we're told, well, then the other groups will want it as well, but I think we put a lot of money into special ed, which we should. >> Yeah. >> But I'd like to see something go more toward the advanced students as well.
018>> But that's that's just my take on it. I want to thank you for your work on this presentation. Um, I think you're going to do fine no matter where you go because this is pretty rare. And it's unfortunate that no matter how many questions have been asked over the years that we're just now getting to the chance to get a bite at this and I'm sorry that this is the case. Um, I will say that there is a benefit that I didn't have to take the IV chemistry because uh I I I just I get through with the regions chemistry and so I guess there's that, but >> yeah, >> looks like we're heading in the right direction. I'm sorry you won't be able to participate in that, >> but thank you for your
019efforts and you're a shining example of what we can produce. >> I I uh I hope the future students can take great advantage of this. >> Thanks. >> Um Andrea, I I have a question as well. How are you handling the um are you being given a waiver? Are you able to bring in a PC that is able to help you do the research and the the the document generation and so forth that you need for IB? >> I do it at home on this guy. >> You you do it at home. Okay. So, you're you I I I guess that is what you said. You don't really have the opportunity to work on any of the stuff at school. You have to handle it all at home. This is the second time he's brought
020that same thing up that he he keep there's no chance for them to work in the middle of the day if they get a moment of time because the capacity of the widget isn't there. Well, um yeah, I have I have time in the day. I have a study hall. Sometimes teachers will give you a full class period to work. It's just when I pull up the document, I I type and then 10 seconds later it's there. So >> can I ask a can I ask a few questions? How many students do we have in IB roughly? Does anybody >> um I would say that there are a lot of students in IB but the students that this applies to is dependent on the class. So um classes with a very a lot of writing
021in their IIA would be uh psychology uh business IB or um bio uh math, physics and um statistics as well as those in full IB. Um those would be the classes that would um their students would basically be working mainly at home. Um well number one due to the length of the documents and how long it takes to load them and number two the extensive research that has to be done in on on these documents that is a lot of it is blocked which I'm not sure is something we can solve here >> and but um just holding all those tabs open is also very uh difficult. So, if you had a faster processing PC to use during the school day and a PC that stayed here, would that make your ability to do your
022your IB work uh more efficient? And >> yes. So, I guess kind of what I'm getting at is is, you know, we're probably not talking about a full district replacement of all Chromebooks, but if if we can really look at where we have funds available to to get an idea of the level of PC or the power of PC that these students really require. I feel that we've we've heard this for about five months now and it would be nice to to maybe get a finger on an idea or a cost of how many PCs times whatever the cost may be to really kind of get to the bottom of of this problem. And they said last month that EP could correct the problem. However, um it's still not guaranteed if they're still doing advanced
023coursework. And I think it's our job as board members to make sure that we're giving and all of us in the district to make sure we're giving our kids the tools to be successful. So I just I'd like to have some further discussion or see if we can really get into a a more finite number of what that could really look like and and if the board can authorize that or approve it, you know, that's something that I I personally would would welcome. But um you know I'm just I'm just one >> I I believe that um a couple of months ago that directive was given to Mr. Oliver to take back to the tech group and when it came back if I'm not mistaken and maybe Mrs. Flynn remembers um but the number of
024computers that we would need would be in excess of over $40,000 um for the remainder of this course for the remainder of this year >> for this year. >> Okay. >> There wasn't enough convinced I think at at the adult level you know in the group that was looking at it that the payoff would be there. >> Was there IB teacher input on that as well too? >> Yes, I believe the teachers were consulted with >> consulted too. Okay. All right. Just want to make sure all parties were I believe soed. So, okay, that's good. >> And again, I think as Andrew has said, it's not necessarily for all of the IB classes. It would be some of them. So, not all the teachers necessarily would say, "Yes, I had to have that for my
025program where others were saying yes, it would be beneficial." >> So, then was that 40,000 trimmed down to the IB students? >> It was trimmed down for the ones. >> So, that's right. Right on. Okay. >> I believe that for the students that were enrolled in those types of classes, it was around 20. >> Yeah. Um, again, I don't have the exact number in front of me. >> Yeah, I I remember now. Thanks. >> Could there be a waiver for these students to bring in one of their own personal devices and be left in the classroom? >> I I believe the language in the state law prevents that. >> I'm trying. >> I'm sorry. >> I'm trying. >> There are certain limitations um in terms of students bringing that in. And then the other limitation
026is the policing of of who has what. Um you know we do have exceptions already for students with medical needs especially like with cell phones to monitor diabetic conditions. We also have exceptions um for students with disabilities that may need to have a certain type of personal device that's not necessarily provided by the school. I just find it I find it difficult to sit here and and not be able to come up with a way to to help um you know some of our brightest students get the work done that they need to get done. It's frustrating. Um, anything else from you, Andrew? >> That's it. >> Okay. Thank you very much. Uh, as Kevin said, um, uh, you're well researched and we thank you for all the the information you're bringing back to us.
027Um, next is our policy committee uh, report and that's Trustee Monroe. >> Okay. The policy committee met last week, January 13th. In attendance was Joyce, Tim, Mr. Burke, and myself. Uh we reviewed a number of 5,000 level policies. Uh the first one being 5650. Uh which is energy, water conservation, and recycling of solid waste. This was a review only policy. Uh Mr. Burke reviewed it with uh Mr. Tessier as well, our director of facilities. And uh there were no Eerie one recommendations on this and uh it's currently a active policy. So no change uh review was good there. Policy 5651 which is energy management conservation. Uh the policy committee does recommend to rescend it uh because most of the language in it is no longer um pertains to an active policy. A lot of the
028language and the action items um aren't current practice and most of the language has already been updated through the state education department as part of their requirements. Policy 5740, the use of buses by community groups. Uh that was reviewed. There's no updates there. As well as policy 6530, uh payroll deductions, again reviewed with no updates. Uh policy number 7121, diagnostic screening of students. Uh policy committee recommends to resend this policy. Uh it is not a relevant practice uh of how the district currently operates. Uh there's no diagnostic requirements for students incoming. um and we review through our own um other other approach. Um so we do recommend um working with Mrs. Chapman to sort of rewrite this policy uh that follows our our our actual operations when it comes to diagnos the diagnostic of screening
029students. So, the policy committee is going to be working on that and provide a uh basically a rewrite of that policy uh that's more current. Uh policy 7310, student code of conduct and discipline. Um some small updates to page 11 in language uh where it quotes revisions to personal internet enabled device. Uh that's in the second paragraph and that matches with the new state law and current practice. And then we recommend removing the COVID language which is on page 15 line F policy 7450 video and tape records of conferences, lessons and meetings. Uh that was reviewed. There are no updates recommended to that policy. And then last month uh Joyce had recommended through the NISBA conference that we review our AI uh artificial intelligence policy every six months. So we did review that again. uh
030Mr. Burke looked and there were no updates from Erie 1 and we've had some active discussion about how quickly it's changing. So policy committee will continue to just keep an eye on that and um bring it to the the forefront discussion if we see any major changes or hear from Erie one. Um, and then we got into some additional discussion about policies that weren't on our agenda. And it's actually not a policy per se, but we do have, uh, if you're not aware, we have an athletic code of conduct. And so the policy, the policy committee recommend that, um, we actually look into the athletic code of conduct as it's not a part of our current district policy. And we recommend reviewing this with the AD, the high school principal um next month to to
031really review that code of conduct and um ask any questions and see any see if there's any recommendations from anybody on the policy committee um with the potential to bring this back for a full board review. And I think some of the ideas that um there is a lot of language in there and while we do have a student code of conduct, the athletic code of conduct language is listed a little bit differently and we felt that uh we should really look at bringing this under the policy of of the district as well. So that's kind of the current um state of affairs and policy and what we're working and reviewing right now. So we'll have more updates uh next month after we get a chance to to ask questions and recommendations. Any questions, >>
032Kevin? >> Um, yeah. And with regard to the athletic code of conduct, um, in respect to the district's code of conduct, I almost wonder if you're going to want to spread that out and call it an extracurricular code of conduct because people in musicals and all the rest of those things are left out of that oversight and overarching responsibility to follow a certain set of guidelines. And I'm not saying they're not responsible people, but the athletic seems to be picked out and picked not picked on, but very specified. And there's specific penalties for loss of of games and participation and whatnot and it carries over from year to year and I and I guess the extra the other extracurriculars been left out of that. So if we're going to have it specified for that, why
033wouldn't we spread it out to all those types of things? >> Yeah, Kevin, we did talk about that and it makes sense. One thing we discussed was what becomes extracurricular. Are we talking about Spanish club? Are we talking about chess club? You know, where do we draw the line on what's an extracurricular that we would include in that which is becomes a little difficult when you do that. I I think it needs to be included just where where do we draw the line? So I think in some regards you would you would consider so an athlete maybe maybe the the higher level concern of an athlete is that they're wearing a uniform and representing the school. So wouldn't music or the musical or things like that be the same thing? I don't know the Spanish
034club is out representing the school in the public. Okay. I'm not I don't know the specific things that they do, >> but the presentation of the level of the presentation. I'm not out to minimize any one or maximize another one. >> That's a good answer. >> But that's that's a way to look at it under that kind of umbrella. >> I did have another question about the code of conduct. When's the right time to get into that? >> Anytime. >> Okay. Um, >> we'll also have another bite at the apple uh at um >> Oh, you know, I love some of this stuff. >> Uh, there was a under I think it's under engage in any conduct that endangers the safety of morals, health, or welfare of others. I think it's page it goes over
035to page 14. And under number four, it says discrimination based on a person's actual or perceived race, age, sexual orientation. Use of a recognized guide dog, hearing dog or service dog, color, creed, national origin, ethnic group, religion, religious practice, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, marrow, veteran status, use of a recognized guide dog, hearing dog, or service dog, or disability as a basis for treating another in a negative manner on school property at a school function. So, one of the things that I was heavily involved with in the past and I get very concerned about is is dogs on on the school grounds. We went through exhaustive processes for establishment of very specified criteria for a therapy dog to be in schools. We took into account everyone that's in the school, including those that don't
036like or have an aversion to dogs. So, I look through the policies. I can't find any policy that talks about service dogs. I I don't know. We don't have any guidance that tells us what the metric is for any given dog's classification with reference to that policy. There's no definition that tells me what a service dog is. And not to diminish someone's service dog or importance to that person, but maybe they could order a service dog vest at Walmart and then or off the internet and walk into school with it and say that's my service dog. What are the criteria that we use to define such? >> Since we don't have any um I'm going to presume that our criteria would be that it would have to be a medical report or a medical um
037note from a qualified physician. Um it's really easy. somebody who's visually impaired. That's easy. That's a service dog. >> It could also be somebody who suffers with um seizure disorder because there are dogs that are trained to help with that. And again, that would come from a bonafide um healthc care provider. And then anything else. I mean, this is one of those uh sticky conversations in public because if I say the next part, I'll probably have five or six notes come Monday morning from a from a a physician who says my child or a ch a child needs one for emotional support. >> Well, I mean, >> and that that could go there, but typically when we talk about service dogs, it would have to be something that would fall under the ADA. >> Yeah.
038And again, it a dog a school is is sort of to be a kind of neutral environment. And I've always been averse to dogs being in schools. I just am. I go to the grocery store. I love dogs and I have have had them for a long time. But I don't need to see everybody's dog in the store. And and I and if you do, it's up to you. It's fine. But people also have a right to their privacy from animals in schools. So, I'm also trying to represent that side because most of what that policy does is protect those that are marginalized. So, I'm just trying to represent them. >> And as Forest Gump would say, that's all I got to say about that. >> Do you see a solution as a specific individual
039policy to for service dogs? me. >> That's what I would ask is what's the how how would anyone at the front door when one tries to walk in know how to judge any given four-legged critter that someone's trying to get in? We don't have any basis whatsoever. So, the fact that that's spelled out in that policy is a gaping hole to me that no one is qualified to answer that question because we have nothing to go on. We have no training. I know. And and again, I understand we this there was a very anyone who was on the policy committee with me when we went through the therapy dogs will know that you went through the Kevin Grinder and because I want to represent the whole thing and I want to be very specific and
040it's and it's and it's great, but you also have to represent those that don't like it. So, I just I want to be very clear with that. I it was very confusing when I read that to me and it brought about a very vis visceral response that you're hearing now. >> So, >> should any dog that come on property be known by the property? >> Should they be documented? This dog is known if it's the first time that the dog >> There's one policy on animals. It's 8214. I read it this morning. Does not discuss service dogs. it it starts to get into some of that. But >> if it's always the same dog, it's documented. But if there's a new dog that comes on property, we should have a document supporting that this one
041is qualified to be on the property with school with students. >> So when I think when the language talks about it being the use of a recognized guide dog, I think that's the term right there, the recognized that it has to be >> yes >> approved by a healthcare provider. And I do want to also be a little bit careful because um and some of you have heard me talk about this and we've talked about it with some of our capital project with my wanting to put a fence around harveing, right? Um we go into a real again use the same word again a real sticky situation. and we start talking about dogs on campus when we have the John Story Trail which is used really 24/7 and the number of dogs that we have
042mostly on leashes >> not always um we have no control of those dogs that are out there either. So, um but I I hear what Kevin's saying. Kevin, I can reach back out to our attorney to see if there's any anything that she can come up with. Again, there's no eerie update on this um as a you know, is there something Sorry. Is there policies on uh I don't know dog qualifications or does this board have to determine that? Somebody must have some guidelines at other schools. Of course, I I say that with caution because I'd be more I take a more conservative stance than others. So, it's a board of nine that makes the decision. So, >> let me look and to see what is out there in terms of guide dogs and it
043might be that term recognized. That's what I want to keep going back to. You know, when you talk about a dog that is um approved for the visually impaired, they have to go through all of that training. And I I grew up with a friend who whose family did that and there's qualifications. Um, so maybe it's that qualificate. Maybe that's what we need to put there is that it's recognized, meaning that it's been authorized by a healthare provider and that the dog meets the guidelines for whatever that condition is under some type of a national certification. Honest other than the visually impaired, I don't know what other certs are out there. >> Not all dogs are service dogs, >> right? >> So they need to be recognized and defined and beef up that definition. >>
044That's what we need to And I also have to make sure that those are actually questions that we can ask John Q public who's coming in for a musical. I mean, can I ask a community member? Okay, that's a service dog. >> Well, show me your doctor's note. You need it. And show me your dog's s. And I don't know what the answer is, but let me check on those things with our attorney because some of that might be that fine line. Um, and Kevin, I agree with you. I don't like going into the grocery store anyway, and I don't like going into the grocery store seeing a dog. myself. >> Yeah. >> Oh, yeah. It just >> But >> and I do also have dogs. >> Yep. >> Same. >> Ron mentioned ADA and
045there is a definition. So, it could be as simple as looking at that definition and including it in our policy language or code of conduct language. >> I I think we have a right to ask that question given our uh our responsibility to the public, the students and whatnot. So, it it would bother me immensely if for some reason we're not even allowed to ask the question. But there are things in this policy where things are that protected that you can't ask about it. So, >> and that's what I want to just double check that we're not ending up violating anyone's rights, >> whatever. >> So, that kind of brings up a question as to the um uh whether we tonight adopt uh the student code of conduct policy. Uh for it's up for first
046reading. Should we um when the time comes, should we uh pull that out and request that it go back to to committee and maybe start over with a first reading next month? >> Yeah, we Yeah. policy committee can. >> Yes, absolutely. >> You good with that? >> Okay. >> Can that be the only thing on our agenda? I mean, it's gonna be huge. >> Yeah. Seriously. >> Sorry. Yeah. >> So, so that's that's what we'll do. I think uh when we get to um our uh consent agenda, we'll pull that out and ask for a motion to uh to table it. >> Okay. >> Zach, I have another question. So, under uh resend policies, energy management conservation, why are we rescending that policy? um because the language in that policy um it doesn't pertain to
047the active practices though a lot of those have been updated um in in just other sed language and other policies. Um, so what what was in there is really kind of outdated language for um things like uh what had we discussed, Ron? Um like LED lights or >> Yeah, frankly. There's almost nothing in this policy that we do. Um it's a 20-year-old policy that has not been updated. Um there's so for example, you know, during the regular school workday, all appliances, lighting be turned off when not needed. Is that a policy? That's a guidance. Um when when you start putting the word should um particular attention, again, this is something that's very generic. It's the first time I've ever seen one of these policies in any of my schools. Um then you get down to
048C. Thermostat should be set at 65 to 70°. We now have guidance from NICED in terms of what the temperature should be. Um, and if I try to set 70° in classrooms, there will be a gaggle of people coming to our next board meeting um, to talk about how cold our building is. Um, the other thing is again after hours, weekends, we have energy management systems that have taken over some of those roles and I believe there's even something in here about a um, a task force committee. Yes, an energy conservation task force that's supposed to be um employed. Um Mr. Tessier assured me he has not seen one since he's been here. Um and and I don't know that anyone else recalls one either. Maybe Kevin there was one. >> So >> I don't
049remember. >> It's just not one that we follow. And so much of this is already guided by the state. Um, and I will be, you know, here's the other thing. As we're going into our capital project, and it was same with the last one. There are things that the state of New York requires with energy management, whether it be occupancy sensors and classrooms that don't work, but we put them in until we get complaints and then somehow they get fixed. Um, there are other other things that we have to do that we we just it's part of our capital project. It's outside the scope of really anything that a committee at the local level could come up with. Um so again, this is just a when we looked at this when I when Mr. Tess
050here was looking at it, I was hoping he's going to come back and say, "Yeah, we haven't been doing this, but we should or and his response was, we haven't, and I don't know how we would." Um again, a lot of it's already directed by SED. >> Okay. Um there's uh a few things in working backwards. Uh for temperature is do you is there a um like a maximum temperature like cuz I feel that every every year there's at least one classroom that's like 85°. >> The new laws the new law 65 is the minimum. >> Yeah. And then you have 83 and then 88 is the new regs that trigger things. If it's and there's a specific it's got to be measured >> 30 or 3T I think it's 3 ft in the center
051of room there are three accepted thermometers that can be used that are already specified and then that temperature has to be taken and at 83 degrees with the temperature taken that means that triggers um mitigated actions that and I can't quote it exactly but the school's got to take actions that you'd shut off the lights you'd start to do things you might open windows If it hits 88°, there's another set of actions. You might move out of the room. That was the newest regulations that came out that are going to force most places into air conditioning. >> And the current language right now with all of those mitigating factors will each one of those mitigating factors, the language was a amended at the last minute in the legislation that says to the extent practical. >>
052What they were afraid of, I think, is that all of a sudden you're going to get to 88 degrees. you have no other place in your building to send the students shut the school down which means a loss of instructional day typically at the end of the school year as people are getting ready for regent's exams. So some practicality came in. Um I'm glad that they gave us the idea of closing the shades to keep the sun out. I don't think we would have thought of that on our own. Um it's a good idea to turn down our lights which are mostly in our case LED. Um, so again, I'm glad that we're getting these practical ideas. Um, >> but again, I think common sense prevails and you know what, and I don't think there
053was anything in there, Kevin, about making sure that there is adequate water supply, which typically we also do on those really hot days. Um, >> speaking of which, >> so it's uh >> there's that max. Um and interestingly enough there is a minimum temperature on buses which is 55 degrees but there is no maximum temperature on buses. Um so we have some things there. Uh same thing with working conditions. There is no maximum working condition temperature for folks that work in the cafeteria or who work out on our athletic fields in the >> kitchen are exempt from that rule. >> Kitchens are exempt as of now. Yeah, >> you know, so again, there's the new law is is a little bit peculiar. >> Um, okay. Next, the dog policy. I I think um you should
054consider like maybe um ending it at a certain point of the day. So, like keeping it from like say 7 to five cuz I know that for the musical last year there was a dog character and that played a important role that um I remember when in fourth grade we had a musical and I uh ran across the stage with a dog mask which was interesting. So, but um I I think it should definitely be in consideration that there are other reasons that a dog could be on school property for valid reasons. >> Sure. And then um for the athletic conduct um I was wondering what is the like kind of kind of language that is different from the normal code code of conduct and why that would apply to extracurricular activities. >> The I'd
055ask the same question back at you. If the extracurricular activities like say the musical don't have any oversight like that, why does athletes have to have it? >> Well, I I I would say that there are like normal code of conduct things that apply to all students. So, I'm wondering what are those extra things under the athletic code of conduct that are necessary for athletes? There's grade. I think there's I don't I can't quote it specifically, Tim. You might know there's grading. There's what? >> Yeah, >> I can speak. >> Sure. Yep. >> Yeah. Obviously, there's a number of different things, Kevin, and you've touched on it. Some there's grading. There's a certain, you know, grades that you have to have. >> Um there's an athletic substance abuse policy. Those are the the big ones.
056So, so for example, why would be if we don't include the musical, um, you could have a a student go out and get busted by the police on a Friday night for having a party and drinking or being brought in for any, you know, offense. And that wouldn't preclude them to from uh being in the musical, but it wouldn't let them run track the next day. I would say that would be probably some of the big things. But I think I I applaud you. I think there's some good things that we should look at on the on the athletic code of conduct and and athlet you know and activities type of stuff. >> Yeah. If I would say if those are the things like you could just apply it across the board to extracurricular activities
057in general. you know, like the [clears throat] there there should be a punishment for being caught with a substance. There there should be a punishment for having um failing grades and maybe that punishment goes to all all students that are taking advantage of these things that to help encourage them to to uh deal with their grades, I guess. >> Yep. One of the things I would just ask all the all the board members to think about as we we enter into these conversations is the purpose of why we're here. And tonight we're going to be asking, you know, to formally retroactively approve another coach for our track that we talked about last meetings. Um you're going to hear in the future about our wrestling program. We've added programs for elementary musicals. And we do all
058of these things for a reason. And having been a coach, an advisor, and a teacher. Kids have to have a reason. And for as much as I want to think that they all came to class and to school every day because my math class, that wasn't the case. The kids that were on my baseball team were more coming to my class and coming to school because of baseball at 3:00. Yes, we need to have standards for participation, but we also I would just ask let's think about the value in placing barriers and what those barriers how far those barriers should go. You know, we have a student athlete, let's take for example, who may be failing two classes. If we say to that in my first school, you fail two classes, you are done for
059five weeks. And five weeks is a season. That's insane. They couldn't come to practice until I broke the policy inadvertently or purposefully. And where do those kids go? They they don't go to study hall. They don't go home and sit at the kitchen table with mom and do their homework. That's not that doesn't work. We don't see these policies when they become barrier policies. they they don't make improvements generally speaking. Now the discipline side, yeah, if I know I'm at a party, I'm going to get busted and I'm not going to be able to play Saturday's game or in sectionals, that's an incentive and maybe that's the type of thing. But I just want to be careful that we don't that we remember our purpose and how do we keep our kids engaged and when
060we look at the number of events that we're sponsoring now our attendance there's got to be correlation between the number of students that are participating and where our attendance rates are going and they're generally increasing. So, let's let's as as we entertain these conversations, let's just be mindful of, okay, how do we make it better to more actively engage our students in productive education um all around? And you know, sometimes you have a student who's failing two classes, but because of sports, they're not failing five. And if you if you if you have a real hard line there, folks, we could miss some kids. We could actually be forcing some to drop out. I really want to keep figuring out how to get I'm not happy right now that every student isn't participating in at
061least one activity. That should be our ultimate goal. Every 7 through 12 student should be engaged in something at school, whether it be a sporting event, a musical, or an art event, whatever it might be. That's our that should be our goal here is how do we entice every one of our kiddos to get involved, be present. Um, and I just want to be careful again. Standards, please. Absolutely. I support it, but not barriers. And I just want to say that because I I want you to go home, you know, think about this for the next month when we come back and have more of these conversations. How do we get our kids here and how do we keep them engaged? Well, we used part of the policy used to be if you were failing
062two classes, you got assigned >> activity period >> with the teachers whose classes that you were failing. And it it went on a rotation basis so that they would get the support to help get their grades up. And the teacher was very specific about you have to make up this homework or you have to do this or you have to retake this or whatever it was. But then when the busing issue became a bigger thing and activity periods were cancelled sometimes, how do you how do you do that, you know? So I I agree that I don't think it should just be a hard you're failing so you're sitting out but it there's got to be some kind of support net because obviously the student needs that help >> and that's exactly and I think
063this this board previous boards have done an outstanding job with your code of conduct because it really currently does address can it always be tweaked and made better absolutely but really those supports are there and it's it's not an all or nothing. And you know, I I've seen Mr. Reagan working with student athletes on whether it be discipline issues or whether it be academics and trying to come up with very viable solutions that help that child grow and still remain engaged. And that's the other part there. We want to always be careful that we don't ever create a policy that says A leads to B and that's it. There has to always be some judgment call. There has to be and there can always be cries. Oh, well, this student got favoritism. I I'll take
064that risk. Um, as long as we're have that ability to be looking at each child uniquely and saying, okay, yeah, you're failing two classes, but golly, you should probably be failing five. >> Um, >> or you're failing one, you shouldn't be failing any. some of I agree with you and and some of the the lessons learned to the to the commitment of the student signing that code of conduct. I believe they have to sign off on that. So it's so you've signed a contract that this is what I will do and this is what I shouldn't do. So some of it is is the learning of a life lesson of consequences. >> That's right. And I and I I don't want to overlook that. I'm not trying to make that the most most important part
065of that. It's not my focus. I agree with your focus, but there's got to be consequences of some sort >> and ways to dig yourself out >> ways to dig yourself out of messes. But >> that that's why I think the language when we get into this is going to be really important because I know Ron gives us a good example there. But um our coaches and our club adviserss, they're all mentors after school, you know, beyond just teaching during the school day. And so knowing that they're they're there, but also if we really think about incentive, right? There's nothing worse than being an athlete and still being held to the standard of having to be physically there whether you can participate or not than not being active at all. So, if there's any going
066if there's going to be any sort of drive or incentive or motivation to get your grades up or to avoid any type of elicit behavior again, um it's going to be watching it in front of your eyes, right? And and seeing it. There's nothing worse than being an athlete and maybe practicing and knowing that you're working hard and not being able to play in the game that weekend because of your grades or whatever happened from the discipline side of it. So part of I think what Ron's getting at too is that yeah there's there's got to be that standard of of discipline but also there's that layer of mentorship, positive adult modeling and then also the drive for incentive. So it's it's going to be a combination and that's why we brought it into discussion.
067That's why it became part of um the policy committee's idea to really look at absorbing that into the policy as well as not just athletics again extracurriculars as we discussed as well. So looping that all in is is kind of relates back to all those incentives. >> I think Ron said it well. >> Yeah. >> Standards not barriers. That says it all. >> Also just wanted to ask Gavin. So you had started a new kind of mentoring um process with your student athletes who were the captains of the team. And if you could just talk a little bit about that, like do you think that maybe when we're talking about athletic code of conduct that maybe that could also be something where they're involved in making sure that all the members of the team are
068eligible and doing what they need to be doing. >> I mean, I I think it's always good to get your input from your athletes, right, on a number of, you know, subjects. um I would, you know, don't want to overburden them because they've got a lot going on too. So that's, you know, why they have people like me to lean on, but I think it's more um of an educational piece, right? Let them know the ramifications. Um hopefully it's it doesn't have to be a hard lesson as Kevin said, but just to keep them aware of, you know, hey, you've got choices and and if you make bad choices, there's going to be consequences. So I think it and what happens too is there's more of you know when you have good teams it's more
069help within right hey we're not going to we're going to make sure that Johnny or Susie doesn't do things that it's going to be adverse to them and to our teams. So more more of a you know a group approach but yeah I mean I always try to engage them and talk to the captains and say hey how are your teams going you know how do you feel about this or that are there any issues that I should know about to try to head them off before and just to be a little bit more proactive on it. But yeah, >> thanks. >> Any other uh questions or comments on the policy committee report? Hardest working committee ever? >> Oh, I I just had a thought. Um um I was I was thinking about it and
070um I I would say that in general like athletes are more common to care about their sport than than school. Um I I find that some activities students might think of as uh secondary um like I know that a lot of students that go into musical value it very highly but um a lot of times they also really care about the school and like their grades. So they won't they're not really in the group that would be caught failing a class or two. So there there is always that consideration when when you're thinking of like how far you might want to push. Okay. If there are no other uh questions or comments about policy, we'll move on to my report which is very short. Uh we have a a couple of legislative outreach opportunities uh
071that are coming up. the the NISBA area 6 legislative breakfast is February 13th. Uh details are linked on your agenda. Uh that is in Lake Placid. Um at this point um Mr. Burke, Mrs. Murphy, and myself will be attending and uh there's room for more. If you um get your uh request to come along to uh Ashley, she should be able to um get you registered for that tomorrow. Um, we're expecting uh Senator Stack, Assemblyman Cashman from Platsburg, and Assemblyman Simpson uh who's uh from Queensberry uh to be attending that. And on uh February 27th, the St. Lawrence Lewis School Boards Association will be uh having their legislative gathering at the Boseies in Canton. Um and I think that's at 11:00. Senator Sek, Assemblyman Gray, and Senator Walzek will be in attendance there, we believe.
072And um there's Did Are they asking for um like pre-registrations or anything for that or just show up? >> Okay. Let uh let Ashley know if you'd like to attend that as well. And that's all I have. Moving on to uh reports from administration and Mr. Burke. >> So I'd like to ask Mr. Reagan to come forward again and to speak more generally about the athletic department. >> Thank you. Um first I'd like to thank Ron and the board here for giving me the opportunity to speak tonight. My name is Gavin Reagan. I'm the athletic director here at Msina Central and I've been the school's athletic director since September of 2016. There's just three points I'd like to uh talk briefly about tonight. U some of my primary duties here at Msina Central, our athletic
073teams, and lastly, why it's important for our students to participate in athletics. My primary responsibilities, I have a number of them. I administer all aspects of the athletic program. I have developed long and short-term plans to improve our athletic program. I also oversee all budgeting and purchasing for the athletic department. I interview, hire and recommend the appointments of all coaches and conduct their evaluations. We have 50 paid head coaches here at Msina, seven paid assistant coaches and over 40 volunteer coaches. I also schedule all athletic contests at home and away and I am also responsible for carrying out those events along with site supervision. I schedule all transfer stationation in regards to away contest. I re represent the school at league section and state meetings. We provide also we provide leadership training for our athletes
074here at school and in conjunction with section 10. I ascertain the district section 10 and NISVA rules and regulations and make sure they're followed. I compile and distribute team rosters, oversee the dispersement and collection of athletic equipment. I made maintain an adequate inventory of equipment, uniforms, and supplies. I oversee all all of our athletic registration. When I got here in 2016, it was done by paper. We have converted that to an online version. I arranged necessary physical exams for athletes through our school head nurse and Rochester regional. I coordinate with our school nurse any accident reports pertaining to our athletes. I organize and coordinate any play days we might have with the elementary schools. I maintain the school's website pertaining to athletics in particular athletics scheduling and rosters and we're glad to say we're probably
075going to be launching a new site by the end of the month. I oversee all athletic impact testing. I oversee our athletic code of conduct. I oversee any athletic discipline and attend superintendent hearings as needed. I oversee all building use here at Msina Central and that's a duty that was delegated to me after complaining to Pat Brady that the system was antiquated and did not work correctly. Um that also was done by paper and now it's done online. I'm also a leazison to the Msina Central Athletic Hall of Fame and I'm also the president of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Foundation. Next, just a little bit about our teams. We have 50 teams here at Msina Central and we are hoping to add another one next year being girls wrestling. They
076are club team right now. The breakdown is we have 19 teams that compete compete in the fall. 16 teams compete in the winter and 15 teams compete compete in the spring. Msina Central School has the largest number of teams competing in SE all of section 10. During any one season, we have between 370 and 385 athletes participating. That's also the largest number in section 10. We have increased participation by over 15% in the last 10 years. A number of schools in section 10 have seen their athletic numbers decrease. Why have our numbers increased? basically the support that I've had over the years from our administration and our board. We have added new teams since I started. We have added, excuse me, seven new teams since I've started. Boys cr cross cross country at the modified
077and varsity level. Girls cross country at the modified and varsity level. JV volleyball, boys modified track, girls modified track, and we also brought back boys modified indoor track and girls modified indoor track. Now, just a quick look at why it's important for our students to be athletes. Ron touched on this and I couldn't have asked for a better intro. Key findings on academic performance, GPA, and grades. Athletes tend to have a higher GPA. One study has found that 80.1% of athletes have a B have a a B or higher average compared to 70.5% of non-athletes. Another analyst has said that 88% of varsity varsity athletes maintain maintain a B or higher average. Academic achievements athletes often show significant higher percentages in math, science, and English. dropout rate. Student athletes have a significant lower lower risk
078of dropping out, 35% compared to 52.3% of non-athletes. Gender and demographics, female athletes often had higher GPA than male athletes, but both groups have higher have outperformed non-athletes. Behavioral factors. The structure of sports has led to better attendance, less discipline issues with athletes and fewer suspensions. Factors influence success of our athletes. Time management. Athletes must learn to manage their time effectively, balancing practice, games, and schoolwork. Support system. Teammates and coaches provide encouragement and accountability contributing to higher academic focus. Eligibility requirements. Many schools maintain the minimum GPA to participate. We can act as in which can act as an incentive for athletes to maintain their grades. All of these are true here at Msina Central and our athletic program. I took a dive into our senior class this year. Out of the top six academic students
079in this in the senior class, five of them are athletes. That's a testament to our school, our coaches, and the support that I have from this group. Lastly, I've never had the opportunity to publicly say this, but I owe grat of gratitude to Tim Hayes. Tim had ran a wonderful program in Msina Central for years and my first two years he really helped me a lot and set the foundation for where we are right now. So I'd publicly like to thank thank Tim. If there are any questions anybody have I try to entertain and give you an answer. If I don't have an answer I'll follow up with you. >> Thanks Gavin. Yeah, I did have a quick question. It's kind of specific, but what does the conversation look like among section 10 uh athletic
080directors right now in regards to girls football as it seems to be growing in popularity? >> So, girls flag football, yes, has um seen a lot of popularity outside section 10. um the concern that they've had in section 10, it is a spring sport and we haven't seen a large um calling for it in the section of saying they want to play. And what we're seeing is I'm sure we would get athletes that would play. We would don't just we don't have a big enough base of female athletes. It probably might be the detriment of some of the other teams. It probably be just a shifting cuz we've done some, you know, some conversation internally the school. Some athletes might say, "Hey, I might not play softball or track and move over to flag football."
081And that's basically what has been the the thought process around section 10. I hope that answered it for you. >> Yeah. Thank you. In the same uh vein, what about uh men's volleyball? Is there demand for that? >> Unfortunately, no. I mean, nobody in section 10 there is it just not there has not been um it it just just hasn't been because the large number of athletes and it's it's a fall sport here in section 10 and a large number of the male athletes have been doing either cross country, soccer or football and there just hasn't been a big um ask for it. >> What about swimming for men? Same thing in section Same thing in section 10. >> Un it's unfortunately the only one in section 10 that has it is governor and they
082actually don't swim in governor. They they're in a league in the Frontier League. They don't swim in section 10. >> Is there talks about tennis or pickle ball? >> Not at this point. There has not been. Gavin, have you looked into the um trap shooting that they were interested? I know Rod and GunClump talked about it. I wondered where we're at with that. >> Yeah, we had um we had a little bit of a discussion that our finance committee to tonight. Um yeah, so so we Ron and I met with the trap, the gentleman at the Roden Gun Club. What most schools do, Timmy, is they have the rotten gun club themsself run the trap. And the reason being is the guns that are used. Okay, these are live rounds and live guns. And obviously
083the athletes can't transport them here to school and then bring them to the rod and gun club. And because of their their own um weapons or guns, excuse me, the rod and gun club is kind of shying away from having them house them there, too. So, it's been a tough situation of how they're going to get them them. So, what the rod and gun clubs have done in other areas is they have run it and the parents transport the athletes to the rod and gun club and the the gun club, you know, runs the the trap shooting. Definitely not opposed to them. I said I would be more than happy to try to help them get athletes to do that. Um, also in another vein, anything that's ever come to our athletic department, two things.
084It's basically been athlete driven. We haven't I haven't had one athlete even on our rifle team say, "Hey, I want to start a trap team." And secondly is anybody that wants to come before us, it has to go as a club first and it has to be sponsored outside and paid for outside as you know. So if the rod and gun club wants to do it, more than happy and we push athletes that well that way. Is it right that one of the bonuses of running the trap team would be it's not part of New York State Public High School. So somebody on the rifle on the football team or soccer team, they can shoot at different times and still be involved in that in that program. >> 100%. >> Okay. I just think it's
085a good program to be looking into. when I went to Parishville after I was here, we started one there and um it engages some kids that aren't involved in anything else and it gives kids an opportunity that are involved in sports here that have an interest in that to still be involved even though they're involved in the sport already. So just just what I'm thinking. >> Yeah, I totally agree with you. >> Do we turn down students of certain sports? Is there a lot of sports where we turn down students? And do we consider B teams like another team that would practice and maybe not play as much? But >> I'm not sure if I understand what you mean by turning down. >> Is there sports where there's a such a big demand? Yeah. Cuts.
086Do we like those two those students even if they're not as athletic as the leaders or the better ones, >> can they still practice a sport in a certain environment with coach and support with a facility? I so so across section 10 there's no B teams and not saying that we couldn't do that but across section 10 there's there's no B teams then you're going to run into the expense and the number of coaches that you're going to have to have regarding you know the size of your teams then you're going to have to decide if uh if there's nobody for them to play outside how are they going to get into games you know internally at the varsity I mean if if it was at the modified level. For example, at the modified level,
087it's easy for us in basketball. Let's take boys basketball. We didn't have to do cuts and we kept two teams because a lot of schools at the modified level will have two teams. No school has two teams at JVS. No school has two teams at varsity. So, it's going to be it's going to be tough for me to get those athletes in games at the varsity level. Is there sports that are more popular where we have bigger cuts and do we do something like do we encourage the students to do something else? Is there some another offer for you? >> So, so, so what happens is we regularly, for example, I the our our larger numbers would be in soccer for example in the fall. I regularly have athletes that might be at the modified
088level could conceivably be because that's our largest groups. If they if they get cut from our team, a lot of them will go into like cross country. So yeah, we always and and actually we'll count their practices, some of their practices for their cross country practices, so they'll be right up to speed. So yeah, we totally encourage our athletes, hey, because athletes develop differently, right? So we encourage our athletes if they don't make a particular team, hey, they're more than welcome to go at other teams. And we've also taken it to the extent if if a team where there's no cuts, we've even let athletes register late so they could be able to join that team. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. Gavin, do you want to talk a little bit about the opportunities that
089you've given for the um the um athletes who are Oh, I'm brain cramping right [snorts] here. Um the um you know, your the top two people. No. Uh, like in your athletics, who would be >> male and female athletes or uh, >> no. Um, >> all northerns. Um, I don't know. You're saying one top >> the captains and the co- captains of the team that you've been regularly meeting with them. >> Oh, yeah. just I mean so we've we've taken our athletes to like Clarkson for example to do some training with all ath a number of athletes from across section 10 um they interact with them we've do where actually we've got another one that's going to be coming up in March um and what I've done is I've taken t I think we took
090nine athletes in the fall and we're going to take another nine or 10 athletes you know just to cross-section I'll reach out to our coaches and say, "Hey, who are who are your captains?" Or, "Who do you think potentially will be a captain next year?" Like sometimes we'll do juniors and seniors and sometimes we'll say, "Hey, this athletes, let's get a bunch of sophomores to go." So, we have real formal training that we do a couple times and um just it's more on leadership training, what the expectations are of a captain, you know, what you should look for if a if an athlete struggling. It's it's a pretty rigorous program that they go to a bunch of different groups and uh it's professionally done and it's it's done at Clarkson. So, it's a great opportunity
091for them. And then what we do is when I meet with them on a regular basis, we kind of, you know, uh, get their input and try to reinforce some of those things because the best information I can get from our athletes are are right from our captains and our athletes themselves, especially if somebody and especially if somebody's struggling. We also put uh for section 10 and I don't know if everybody saw it last fall I with with Chad Simpson we had a number of our different captains and they did a PSA on uh mental health and it went out to the section our school did it and went out to the section. So um just some different things like that that we do but thank you. >> Yeah it's great. Thank you. >> Okay.
092Thank you. And I appreciate everybody's support here. >> Thank you, Gavin. Thank you. >> Okay, moving on. My next item is um a recommendation that the board authorize a donation of used books from Msina Public Library. These books were from a retired uh teacher's classroom, her library of books offered to all the other schools and these are the ones that remain and the library does have interest in taking those. The next is a recommendation that we donate uh five obsolete AEDs to the Msina Fire Department. They will use those for training purposes for um hearts saver CPR AED use. Next recommendation is to donate cheerleading mats. I believe it was about a year and a half ago we purchased new cheerleading mats and these are the obsolete ones. Um and section 10 has an interest
093in taking those off our hands. So that'll get them out of our storage um which is the hallway. Also declaring obsolete um a number of items that are used for hearing and visual um testing um in the nurse's office. These are obsolete, not available to um they've all been replaced at this point and they're really only good for parts. Recommending that the board approve the 202627 school calendar. As I had indicated in my notes, we work backwards. Um the calendar committee works backwards from the last day of regent exams and fits in 180 days before September 1st. Generally speaking, um working around some of the new holidays, that type of thing. So, this has passed the muster of the regional calendar committee. The 18 superintendents have all agreed to take this calendar as it exists
094back to the board. Some of the school boards, some of the superintendents have made some tweaks where they're allowed to have um conference days in August as opposed to just waiting until September. That gives them an extra snow day here or there. We're fine. We're comfortable with the 185. So, and then the final thing I had touched on a little bit earlier, although the board did agree with um hiring an an additional winter track coach, we do need to authorize that and formalize that with the MFT. So, this is a one-year MOA for the remainder of this school year that we would have that additional coach. I'm hoping I come back to you next year with a similar MOA. Those are all of my items. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Burke. Uh we'll move on now
095to recommended actions. And first up is uh our consent agenda. Um I'll start by asking if uh any board members have any items that they would like to see removed from the consent agenda for further discussion. >> 7310. >> Okay. Uh what would you like to have done? That's the student code of conduct and discipline. That's going back to policy. Correct. >> Correct. So would we >> So I I think what we need to do is uh we need to pull it out, consider it separately and um ask for a table. >> Okay. >> Right. >> Yes. >> Okay. Uh any other uh policies to pull or um items to pull out of the consent agenda for um discussion? Okay. Hearing no other items, uh I would ask for a motion for approval of the
096consent agenda minus uh policy the first reading of policy 7310 student code of conduct and discipline. >> So move second. >> I just comment. >> Yeah. Just want to make sure the payroll deduction policy is 6350. Is that correct? because I heard 6530 earlier. Just want to make sure we have the right number. >> It is 6350. >> 6530. When you click on the uh when you click on the policy, it's listed as 6530. Wait, let me blow it up. >> It is a typo. It should read policy 6530. >> Okay. >> Y I don't think we need to do anything with that. We'll just make note of that and change the number. >> [laughter] >> Okay. >> So, we have uh a motion and a second. Any more comments? All in favor on the
097consent agenda? Any opposed? That carries. Uh we'll move on now to other items for action. And uh let's start right out with uh policy se the first reading of policy 7310 student code of conduct and discipline. Do I have a recommendation? >> So moved >> to do what? >> To remove 7310. Table it. >> Table it. >> Okay. We have a motion. >> Second. We have a motion and a second to table policy 7310 for its first reading and take it back to the policy committee. Um, any comments or questions? All those in favor? Any opposed? Okay, that carries. Next is the approval of the book donation to the Msina Public Library. >> So move. >> Second. Any comments or questions? >> What are the What kinds of books are these? >> They came from
098a classroom library. They're mostly novels that were in a classroom um for students to read. They've been read >> so they're little kid books. They're they're young adult perhaps. >> Uh yeah, more grade four, five, six level. >> Okay. >> Used for many years and we're happy that the library can take them. Okay. >> Any other questions or comments? All in favor of that donation? Any opposed? That carries. Uh, approval of the AED donation to Msina Fire Department. >> So move. >> Second. >> Questions or comments? All in favor? >> Opposed? Um and the approval of the uh donate of disposal of the surplus cheerleading mats. >> So move >> second. >> Questions or comments? >> All in favor and uh next uh disposal of the uh hearing and vision testing. >> So move >>
099second. >> Questions? All in favor? Okay, that passes. Next is uh the approval of the 2627 school calendar. >> So move. >> Second. >> Any questions or comments? >> Okay. All in favor? >> Any opposed? Approval of the MOA with the Msina Federation of Teachers for the winter track coach. So move. >> Second. Questions, comments? All in favor? Oppos? And uh lastly, the approval of personnel action items. Mr. Burke, >> I would recommend that the board authorize or re or approve the recommended personnel actions listed as numbers 1 through 24. And in particular, I would like to highly recommend numbers 23 and 24, Miss Taylor Bond and Mr. Matthew Snyder for tenure. >> They will show up at our tenure um reception later in the spring. >> So moved. Second. >> Okay. Any questions or
100comments? All in favor? >> Opposed? That carries. Uh that concludes our business on the agenda except for items of new business. Do uh does anyone on the board have any items they would like on a future agenda? >> I do. Um so it's come to my attention that um this year at the Central New York Scholastic Art Awards that we had several gold key, silver key, and honorable mentions. Um I'd like to request that we have um the art department chairperson come and present with the winners. um and maybe have certificates like we did with the girls volleyball team and yep and acknowledge them and invite their parents. Um I think that it would be a really great thing. Um that department is just really on fire. They're those three people are super dynamic. Um
101they have so many kids involved. We were talking about extracurricular and how important that is. They have so many kids involved in all sorts of extracurricular. Um the reception for the open show which is Msina Central High School students and local artists, adult artists are exhibiting at the library and the opening is Saturday at 11 o'clock, I believe 11 o'clock and awards are 11:30. Um several of the pieces that were not um recognized at the Scholastic Art Show are there. It doesn't mean that they're not that they're inferior in any way. It's just judges tend to look for certain things and and that might not have been theirs, but these are really high caliber. And the unique thing about this show is the students judge the adult artwork and the adults judge the student artwork.
102And so um it's written so there's um critique feedback for both groups which I think is really healthy and it and it helps um helps the whole community. So I would invite anybody to attend that. um their light refreshments and um I'm I'm really impressed by what's going on in in the art department and I love to see that Msina is such a supportive um place for the arts. >> Any other items for future agendas? >> Yes, I it might not be an item for further agenda. Maybe it's a question or a bit of a discussion. Um, as Andrew pointed out and we've heard the the IB program is going to migrate into is going to go away and migrate into some other program. So I'm not sure if everyone's aware but uh there's been
103a practice at at Msina of grading IB at a higher rate more than 100 points that every other student is grade every other curriculum in the school is graded on a a 100 point scale I believe I could be wrong but so IB has been separated somewhere down the line and offered uh more points based on a criteria of rigor or whatever. I I suspect it had to do with uh historically if you go back it probably had to do with who got selected as a validictorian. Uh what I'm curious about is well it bothers me on many fronts that whole system bothers me immensely. Um, again, it's almost visceral because it because because what I see that as as is not a highlight of the rigor of IB, but I see that as also
104a marginalization of the other curricular programs. So, it's it it seems might have seemed good on and and anyone can have their own opinion. I don't like it. I never did when I and I I never knew about it until I've been on the board 17 years. I think Tim told me two years ago about it. I never was aware of it. So anyway, what I'm curious about is will that end when the IB program goes away or will this be morphed into some other adultdriven system that gets the adults what they want? >> Kevin, let me come back to you on that one in February. I want to double check. I believe it's a policy perhaps in terms of grading. I'm not sure if it's just a high school practice as opposed to something
105that may have been approved. Let me get some more information on it and I can get all that to the board out before next fee, you know, before our February meeting. You can take a look at >> I don't believe that's I'll know tomorrow if that's in policy because I'll look tonight, but I don't think it is >> and I'm just not prepared to answer that and I don't know exactly how that's going to roll. Fair. Um, >> and I'd just like to add, I'm pretty sure that other schools uh do the same thing with AP and that it's a weighted grade. Um, I'd just be if you're going to research it, I'd just like to know are there other area schools >> that also weight the grades of AP courses because as Kevin said,
106that'll that'll be something going forward. >> Um, >> yeah. And and go ahead. Sorry, Trish. >> Yep. >> It's It's common with AP. I'm not going to say everywhere because I haven't researched it and I can't I can't say everywhere, but I will say it's common and it's all over. Just, >> you know, why why didn't they just lower everyone else's grade by a certain percentage and leave it at 100 100 point cap just like the rest of us that grew up in the real world? >> Yeah. Um I will say there's like there's a there's other ways like schools do it. Like I know of um a handful of schools that will weight it in terms of 5.0 instead of 4.0. Um but I believe the way we do it at Msina is it
107makes it easier to determine valictorian and saludiatoran and it encourages those students to take on more rigor. If >> so I I'm going to stop you for one second. And I apologize for this, but the determination of validatoran saludiatoran is merely a grade point average. A grade point average is a grade point average. If it's 100 points, it's 100 points. Then maybe you go to diff what's the diff what's the difficulty? Did did we have that many 100s? People getting a 100 average and we needed to go beyond that. Um, I would argue that a lot of classes that students may take their junior and senior year may be considerably easier to get a 100 and those classes would be weighted the same as say taking um, IBOHL. >> Yep. And I would think that
108that would be ever so slightly unfair to the student that is trying to go for that number one grade point average but also wanting to take on as much rigor as they can. >> I I agree with Andrew. I just got >> and uh the the other the other real stick with all this is that for these kids taking these classes, these courses with multipliers, um they reach a point where they have to at they can reach a point where they start cutting some elective courses because a 100 in elective course will drag they are a 100% in the arts. Uh, an artsbased course can pull their grade point average down. And so, um, I I don't know what our practice is here with that if there's opportunities for pass fail or what what all
109goes on uh, now, but uh, that is a problem. I I think that instances like that have uh >> so maybe maybe >> they've really hurt some some program >> so maybe we need a different criteria for selection of valatoran beyond grade point average >> well too Kevin >> I just there's something and maybe you can address this too Andrew there's something to that because when I was talking to the department chair in art he was very excited that IB was going away because he would be able to offer more AP courses in the arts. And what I'm hoping will happen, this is just me, is that more teachers will want to offer an AP course because they can basically write their curriculum. I think there's a few steps that they have to go through
110to make sure that it meets the rigor of AP, but that we with a with a smaller staff, we can offer more advanced courses. So, Kevin, let's say like math isn't a kid's thing, but they're really really good in social studies. They have like that memory that's great for um dates and things like that. they could take a c an AP course in history and then that would have a multiplier and that would actually help their their GPA. I mean, this is all in theory, but I'm hopeful that that's what happens is that more teachers want to participate in the AP program than were able to in the IB program because of certification and that we had to send them away for training and that it took several years for them to get certified. I'm
111just hopeful that this will kind of supplement that. So in doing in doing all this are we eliminating all possibilities of somebody going to Boseis to be validictorian or saludiatoran because they get no they get nothing bonus they can take a you know automotive one that's very tough that some people here in IB wouldn't be able to do are they automatic eliminated from the opportunity to be validictorian because they don't get any bonus points and be able to get above 100 so by doing this are we automatically eliminating any opportunity for both these student to become validictorian. >> It would be much easier if we just made a broad brush statement that IB can or that the validator and saludiatoran can only come from IB. Then it levels the system and there's no expectation. >>
112I think it'd be better to say that the validator and saludiatoran has to come from like the school cuz you can't be validictorian or saludiatoran if you go to like Clarkson for the year and you um >> can you if you go to Boseis? >> No. Well, >> why not? >> No, you could. We don't offer those programs here. I mean, anybody who goes to Bosei should have the opportunity >> ruled out because they because of the weighted grades. >> Yeah. You when you have >> I don't think there's very many teachers at Boseies who give it 100 anyway. >> When you have validictorian that has a 101 average, >> you eliminate anybody from Boseies. >> Yeah. And I'm not >> I don't like it. It doesn't just do that. It eliminates anyone who doesn't
113have who isn't taking courses with the multiplier. If you don't have the multiplier, if you don't have some courses with the multiplier, it's impossible to get a grade point average over 100% and the Val and S typically do. And the top >> the top I don't know 10 15 I'm just guessing. >> So why don't we just say based on that just those two? >> Why don't we just say if you're not taking classes with multipliers, you don't have an opportunity to be that. >> I mean that's what it turns out to. If you're not taking classes with a multiplier, your chances of being valictorian or saludiatoran are eliminated. >> And and as I've gotten older, I I learn new things all the time and I I become aware of things all the time that
114weren't normal to my time of my when I grew up. And it's all the time with with the woke world and whatever. It's a constant evolution of learning new things. But uh it's interesting, I guess, because I I just never assumed that that everyone wasn't going on a 100 point scale. I didn't realize that. And I and I kind of felt foolish as a board member never really hearing that. I started to wonder the first time I was at a board meeting and I heard that a student had more than 100 average. I started going, "Well, I don't know whose calculator they were using." But, >> you know, but I guess I I guess again, I got a lot to learn. >> Well, uh, two two things. I've I've only ever heard of one school
115that uh does not uh grant saludiatoran and validictorian based on grade point average and they were a very selective private school that is uh able to get away with a little bit more of a subjective determining of what qualifies a well-rounded student. that would um make their in in case in this case this year they um their saludiatoran actually holds the highest grade point average but their vowictorian they believe is um involved more I guess but who determines that? How do you come up with a way to say that without angering the the masses? And then the other thing I would say is um >> can I elaborate on that point? >> Yeah, go ahead. >> I don't like the competition of who's going to have the highest number. I would prefer collaboration of the
116top IB students or all the students and then at the end the top 10 or top 15% or top 10 individual would vote on who better represents the school as a valance instead of having people competing and going to see the teacher after class and crying that they want another grade higher. I don't like that. There there are schools that don't recognize valiatoran saludiatoran and recognize say top 10 and there are I would also say at college especially if you're applying at that high level like that you would be in contention for validatoran saludiatoran um don't consider it as heavily as you might think like if you are in the top 10% or 20% say you're getting all A's still um that's usually enough as long as you're doing everything else. You're taking the most
117rigor. Your essays are um as good as they can be. You're in involved in everything you can. I think colleges will accept it just as good as if you were saludiatoran or validictorian. And that's coming from third. So >> yeah, I'm close but not quite. >> I don't mean to take away from your efforts or the rigor of the higher programs. It's just that it's just it's my brain doesn't work that way. I I mean there's three feet in a yard. There's, you know, there's standardized measurements that >> are all the grades considered, Tim, for [snorts] GPA is PE is that grade considered? >> It is. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> So, all the grade it's there's no ungraded every course that you take. >> Theory of knowledge is pass fail. >> Okay. This might
118be again an opportunity where we have to kind of hear both sides because it's really easy to go one way or the other, right? >> And there are schools and Andrew always brings up great points. >> Yep. >> And we talked about some schools having top 10 or top 10%. >> There's a benefit in that in terms of it takes away some of that competition Robera you were talking about. And I've seen we've seen in education where students their parents will force this child to take a certain class because it's going to help them get to that val or s. We also need to hear from our guidance folks because there are some very lucrative scholarships that are out there that are directed to vals and cells and what's that impact look like for our
119students if we were to consider you know dropping val distinction and going to a 10% or top 10 and I don't know what those are but I think we we'd want to have all that information going in we also need to hear you know and so much good discussion going on on this one but I just want to make sure you know I think it's important that we hear on both sides because at some point in Msina's history this was implemented. I don't know the history of it. I don't know the wise of it. Um I can guess. Um but but again that's all it's going to be and I think we need to hear what those were. How valid do those remain today? And is it has enough changed or has enough of our
120opinion changed that it makes sense to uh to alter how that's done? Um but let me go back to Mr. Oliver, probably Mr. Jordan and and some others. What is the history? You know, where did it come from? Why did it come? And let's hear the arguments on both sides. And um not fair probably this year to make the change. But as we talk about long term, >> I thought it was a point of time to bring it up because it because it's changing now. So, I just want to talk about it. >> No, I'm I'm glad you did. I I think it's something that we definitely should research as like a long-term goal. >> You know, maybe as you said, we can't solve it for this year, but >> or maybe even next year,
121but we should really look at it. I remember we used to have that discussion in the building leadership team meetings and all the department chairs had to come together and they had to present why they believed that it should be weighted or shouldn't be weighted including guidance the guidance department chair I think Roy Bixby was the guidance department chair at that time >> so it's quite a way quite quite a time back >> yes it Okay. And and I do want to say so I can save Mr. Petta some sleep time tonight. I'm not finding it in policy. So you can probably >> I didn't I didn't think you would. I was on the policy committee for quite a few years and we never did that or I would have jumped all over it. >>
122Well, you you [laughter] did miss the dogs, >> huh? >> You did miss the dogs. >> No, no, I I caught it tonight. >> I know you did. >> I I knew about the other dog policies. >> I know you did. [laughter] >> Any other uh items for future agendas? >> That's not an agenda. I'd like to comment on the fact that at the beginning of the meeting we had somebody from the public that came and and spoke and it's not easy for people to come come like this and talk about their concerns and the way we answered it I'm I'm not comfortable like like we just moved on like we ignored totally what they just said. I would have liked that we address it and say we're going to come back to you or
123Mr. Mr. Ron's going to get back to them or that we listen and we appreciate it and we're going to take care of that or we're going to address it. It's I feel like we totally ignored them. They just left and we didn't say nothing. >> That was what Paul indicated in the beginning that >> we will not be responding. >> No, but at least >> he he he made reference to that that it could be addressed later once we hear the concerns. >> It may >> but he didn't say anything at the end is what you're saying as they're done. So, you probably are already in communication with them. >> Yes. >> So, that I'm glad to hear now, but I would have liked to hear that earlier before they leave. >> We we
124were sent an an email concerning that earlier today. >> But yeah, that's what I would have liked to hear. Like, you know, I know we know, but the >> they don't maybe they didn't hold, but I feel like we left them dry. Just have it transition transitional sentence just saying thank you. we're going to address it in fails or phone communication. >> I I I tried to be polite and say thank you, but um I I was definitely not interested. >> I felt it was very cold. >> I'm my feeling. >> Okay. >> I would say that if you did uh continue a conversation on that, I would uh >> I might like try to step away cuz I don't really feel comfortable like that. That was kind of a >> um not something I
125would I would like to hear more about. >> No, not that I wanted to drag it. I just wanted to have a closure, some kind of moment or a word, something. >> Paul, if I could just one thing. Um so this has been just a great meeting, not only because of the the solid discussion, but because we could actually hear each other. I was going to say, Mr. Lincoln. >> Yes. Thank you very much, Chris. >> You you you >> 10 out of 10. The setup is the best we ever had. The sound and visual. >> Yep. >> So, I just want to recognize Mr. Lincoln. Uh >> once again, he goes above and beyond. >> And the size of the table also where we feel like we're together instead of being >> Yeah. an
126audience or whatever. >> That helps. We could even hear Rober clearly. >> Yes. [laughter] Um okay I uh we do have need for an executive session uh following the meeting. There will be no um uh action taken following the meeting. Uh but this uh has to do with items uh leading to employment appointment uh discipline etc on partic particular persons or corporations. Um do I have a motion for executive session? Uh all in favor and once again there will be no uh action taken after executive session. >> Thank you very much.