001Okay, I would like to uh call our reorganizational meeting to order and um we'll start with the recommended actions. This is uh essentially a consent agenda for uh reorganization, appointments and authorizations and so forth. Numbers 1 through on the reorganizational agenda. Could I have a motion, please, to So moved. Uh I'm sorry. Uh I should have asked if there was uh are any items that uh any board members would like to have taken out for further discussion. Okay. Uh did you get the uh the motion and second? Okay. Thank you very much. Uh any comments or questions on the consent agenda for the reorganizational meet uh portion? All in favor? Any opposed? Very good. The reorganization meeting uh has come to a close with that action and we'll go directly into our Oh, we do.
002Okay, very good. Thank you. U I would like to ask for a motion to close the reorganizational session. So moved. Second. Comments or questions? All in favor? Any opposed? Now, we'll move on to our regular board meeting agenda. And first up, uh, we have a public hearing on the district safety plan. Mr. Oliver. This thing working. Good evening, Board of Education. I'm here with uh my role as district uh safety team chairperson tonight just to give you a quick overview on the district safety plan. This is one of two mandatory submissions that we have to do over the summer for New York State Department of Education regard to safety. There's this and then the building level emergency response plans. Uh the document you should all have and you should all have had a chance to
003take a look at right now is just an updated plan from last year. Uh there's no major changes with the exception of a little semantical change to the emergency response protocols which oddly enough we have to revise again because New York State just put out new guidance on it yesterday. Uh but the plan is very much an overview for our responses and everything we would do with school safety. It identifies all the key stakeholders from all the buildings as well as everybody at the district level and talks at a global way about how we would respond to emergencies. This is very familiar. It's very similar. No major changes from what you've seen last year. So, if there's any questions, I'm happy to answer them. Uh, and if not, and just so everybody understands too, this
004now will then open up the mandatory 30-day comment period, which will get us in time for the August board meeting for approval. Then we can submit it by September 1 as statuto required to guess I have just one clarifying question. This document is public, correct? Correct. And the building level plans are not public. Correct. The emergency response plans for each of the five buildings are submitted directly to state ed and only accessible to law enforcement and other first responders and obviously state ed as well. And as you would expect, there's a lot more detail and specificity in the build in the building submissions to state ed. Correct. Uh that does get published. As you can see, there's phone numbers and other identifying information in there. Obviously, that all gets redacted when it gets published out
005publicly. Uh, so people can read the plan but not have access to any personal identifiable information for anybody. Is there a chance that we could add a statement under the uh response to the pandemic? Some sort of a statement that a pandemic has to be called by a certain organization because it doesn't clearly state in there when and or when what signifies a pandemic, but it's got a whole list of things that we're going to do. So, I want to be sure that someone doesn't universally unilaterally start pandemic protocols when there hasn't been one called. Yeah. I without being on the spot, that actually makes a lot of sense that you would put on some sort of a governmental entity identifying that a pandemic has been called. I think that's I don't know. It's understood,
006but I just this is written into a plan that anyone can read. So, without that clarifier, I feel like it should be there. I don't know what that does to the timeline for the public hearing if we have to amend it or if that's something we could do after tonight. I could submit it on as a concern. Yeah. Yeah. I think if we simply add the uh the beautiful term we like to use an emergency services and just s simply put um under the direction of an authority with jurisdiction. Yes. And then that would qualify and it could be state, could be federal, could be but it says pandemic. So, who has a juris clearly state who has a jurisdiction to call a pandemic? In the last one, it was New York State Department of
007Health. It would probably be a federal department of health or a state department of health, I would guess. But I like Ron's verbiage better. It's a little bit more generic. Um, it's that catch catch all that we like. Yeah. They ever end it yet, by the way? Yes. I believe that was ended by President Okay. All right. I believe. Okay. Any other questions from anybody? Okay. Thank you, Mr. Thanks. Thank you, Mr. Oliver. Uh, next, uh, we have, uh, opportunity for communications from the public and press. And do we have anyone who would like to make a statement before the board? Please, if you would identify yourself, got it. Oh, wow. My goodness. So, good evening, Superintendent Burke, board members, and administrators. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to speak tonight. For those of
008you who do not know me, my name is Angela Wilhelm. I have a son who just graduated and a son who will be entering the junior high here in the fall at Msina Central. Both of my boys are extremely passionate about sports, in particular soccer, and have played since they were three years old. I stand before you tonight as a concerned parent and advocate for the well-being of our student athletes, particularly those involved in the varsity boys soccer program. Last season, several serious serious concerns were raised during a meeting with the athletic director in October and again with Superintendent Burke in November of 24 regarding the coach's treatment of the 2425 varsity soccer boys team, specifically regarding emotional abuse and the damaging impact it has had on the athletes. Throughout last year, several players and
009parents raised concerns about the coach's treatment of the team. This went beyond tough coaching or high expectations. It became a pattern of emotional harm. Athletes were spoken to in a way that was demeaning, belittling, and at times dismissive of their worth as both athletes and young adults. A couple examples that stick with many of us was when the coach told the team he didn't get paid to do extra games. Referring to the team if the team made it past sectionals or I would rather jump off a bridge than be your coach. Imagine how that sounds to a group of young ad adults, excuse me, who show up to practice every day, work hard, hoping for encouragement and investment from the adults who are guiding them. It's it sends a painful message. You're not worth the
010effort. This kind of attitude is not just disappointing, it's emotionally damaging. Our athletes should not have to question whether their coach values them. They shouldn't dread practice or fear of being embarrassed in front of their peers. A high school coach should be a mentor, a motivator, and a role model, not someone who chips away at a player's confidence with sarcastic remarks or emotional neglect. What's most troubling is that despite these issues being brought to the school's attention last year, it feels like very little was done to address them. No meaningful changes, no communication with families, and absolutely no accountability. I'm not here to point fingers or tear anyone down, but I'm here to say enough is enough. I will not let emotional abuse be overlooked just because it doesn't leave visible scars. It is our
011responsibility and your responsibility as the board of education to protect, support, and uplift these student athletes, not to allow them to be broken down by those in positions of authority. There is enough ugliness in the world. We certainly don't need anymore. I respectfully urge the board to pause, re-evaluate this appointment, line 34 on the personnel action report tonight, and truly listen to the voices of the students and families who have been affected. Are you aware that there are only 10 athletes registered for the 2526 varsity boys soccer season? This isn't even enough to feel the team. Some of the most talented upcoming seniors in this program with true potential and passion have lost their love for the game under this coach's leadership. What once brought them joy and purpose has become a source of stress
012and discouragement. Their decision to step back from something they once loved should be a red flag, not just for the soccer program, but for how we evaluate and support those in coaching roles. Mrs. Wilhham, I'm going to ask you to please wrap up your comments. Okay, I have one paragraph. I'm sorry. Athletics are more than just wins and losses. They're about teaching discipline, teamwork, respect, and resilience. Coaches have a profound and lasting influence on our children. When that influence becomes negative, hostile, or fails to support growth and belonging, we must take a hard look at whether we are placing the right leaders in front of our students. Our kids deserve a coach who builds them up, not one who breaks them down. Thank you for your time, your attention, your commitment, and service to our
013students well-being. Thank you, Mrs. Wilhelm. Thank you. Are there any other comments to be made before the board tonight at this time? Hi everybody. Good evening. I think I know everybody, but my name is Chris Lincoln. I work here in the high school uh chorus director among other things. Um I just want to chat with you about some some something right now really quick. Uh good evening, distinguished members of the board of education administration. Thank you for allowing me to share a few words with you tonight. A week and a half ago, I volunteered for and attended my 20th Msina High School graduation. After several weeks of preparation, a long workday on the day of, and the many hours of cleanup following the following week, I felt the same as I have for every single
014graduation I have attended. I feel honored to be a part of this significant capstone event. First, I would like to thank the board and administrators for their support for this event. I'm aware this of the significant effort both financially and physically that this event requires. And as a parent of a graduate last year, one next year, and three more to follow, I am so thankful that we put in this effort. I am also decently aware of the many twists and turns that seem to precede our graduation, and I understand that our circumstances are not perfect or ideal, but I am very proud of Msina's graduation, both as a parent and a faculty member. As I mentioned, this is my 20th high school graduation ceremony here. I have always been involved with graduation through music. But
015sometime around 2015 or 2016, my perception and view of our graduation started to change. I began to recognize it for what it I believe it really is, a monumental and significant event in each and every one of these young people's lives. As I sat through these ceremonies, I began to dream of little things to possibly add or change, mostly drawing from my background in life production. I approached our then principal Sarah Boyce and asked her if I might be able to implement some of these changes. She listened to the ideas and told me that some of them scared her a bit, but she agreed and signed off. I don't know what happened, but I became very vested in this ceremony, desperately wanting it to be something for these students and district to be proud of
016and to be something our students would remember forever. I began to realize that for some of our students, this diploma, this accreditation, this affirmation may be the only they receive in their life. This might be the only piece of paper that could remind them that they did accomplish something significant. I find myself thinking of these students at every one of our ceremonies. How great it must feel for them to walk across that stage as they hear their name call before thousands of people and shake hands as they receive their diploma, their proof, complete with their name printed inside that they have accomplished something significant. I smile even now as I think about how these young men and women must be bursting with pride as they feel the flash from their photographer and hear the applause
017of family and friends. What a moment. I'm here sharing this with you tonight simply to say thank you and to encourage you to continue to support our graduation ceremonies. I know it takes effort. I know it takes time and we all know it takes money. But without diminishing all of the many, many significant and life-changing events that happen in our students life between preK and and grade 12, I honestly believe that our high school graduation ceremony is the pinnacle of those events. It capstones 13 years of classes, homework, and tests and as such should be given the appropriate attention and regard. I personally believe that all of us who are employed by the district are working towards that one moment. Whether we be an elementary, junior high or high school teacher, an administrator, support staff
018person, bus driver, smiling cafeteria worker, custodian, or even those folks who work in that mysterious place called CAB. that moment when they walk across that stage on that big field with thousands watching, they hear their name called, they see their name on the screen and they receive that oh so fancy diploma. What a moment. If someone were to ask me what else we could do to make graduation special, sure, I have some more ideas. But what a great ceremony it is and what a uh but those comments are for a different day. Sorry, I lost my place there. I love this school. I love this district. I truly believe we have the best school in the state. I'm so proud and thankful my children attend Msina. I'm thankful I get to be a part of
019our graduation ceremony. I'm honored to be there to cheer our graduates on. I love working to help make it as special and momentous as we can. Finally, thank you once again to our board of education and our administration for supporting this ceremony, many of whom sweat it out with us on graduation night. But what a night it is. the evening air, the clouds, the stars. Hopefully, a moment not too soon forgotten by our graduates and hopefully a night to look forward to for the rest of our student body. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Lincoln. Are there uh any other comments from the public? All right, hearing none, uh we will move on then to information and reports and uh we'll start with with my report. Um and I I guess I I would like to
020piggyback a little bit on uh what Mr. Lincoln just had to say and publicly acknowledge the fact that we had significantly more um high school teacher involvement in graduation this year than we have in previous years. And I just want to thank and acknowledge the the teaching staff for uh for being there. Uh I think it's terribly important. Uh many of the board is there. um we should have a lot of our uh teachers on hand when uh their students are getting diplomas and uh this we we had a a real bump in uh the number that were involved. So I just wanted to acknowledge that and say thank you. Uh my first uh spiel that I wanted to do uh talk about today is uh uh I'm interested in uh appointing a liaison to
021the uh St. Lawrence County School Boards Association, St. Lawrence Lewis County School Boards Association. Uh I would like to appoint myself to be that uh liaison motion and um uh just hoping to uh create some positive ch helping to create some positive change um as far as um trainings and and other types of opportunities that uh uh the association can provide to uh local school boards. Uh the next thing that I have is uh I will be attending the uh rural schools association summer conference uh starting next Sunday uh the 13th through the 15th of July. And uh I believe Mr. Burke, you're going to uh be attending with Mrs. Charleston as well and Mr. Oliver. Great. Uh what will you be uh interested in? So, so the primary thing that I think I'm interested
022in is they're going to be presenting on ummies at the high school level, talk about our attendance issues, how to get students more engaged, also pathways to graduation. It just seems like a perfect opportunity to learn a little bit more about what that looks like in another school, New York State. And if you uh click the link that's provided um you can uh go right to the um um the summer conference website and the agenda is just packed with uh breakout sessions and uh keynote speeches and and that type of thing. Um these things are just so great to uh to to attend and learn from and uh as well as learning from uh our colleagues from other boards of education around New York State and primarily um rural boards. And the next uh event
023that I wanted to just highlight a little bit is the NISBA leadership and education event which is uh in Albany on August 1st and 2nd. I'm planning to attend this as well. Uh there is still time for others of you to uh jump on this and uh take in uh this actually very reasonably priced for a NISBA uh event. very reasonably priced um experience. Um it's it's all self-contained in one hotel. Um lots of workshops, lots of breakout sessions, lots of uh learning opportunities to be had. Next thing that I have is uh we have uh I think everybody uh has indicated their availability for our board of education mini retreat on August 6th. Uh that will be held at the grist mill. Um and uh we may alter that start time of 5:00 PM
024uh a little bit. Uh maybe uh pull it backward a little bit. Um but uh that will definitely be the date um for our retreat. And um in conjunction with that, I just wanted to give everyone a reminder. If you have not completed the board's self-ealuation for last year, uh that will be a topic of conversation at our retreat. Um so if you could uh complete those by um July 15th, that would be very much appreciated. And um we'll move on from there. That's all I have. And I'll turn it now to uh Mr. Burke for reports from administration. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Haggot. Um first up is I'm re recommending to the board that we create a chemistry consultant for this uh 202526 school year. As we know, Mr. Randy Fryman retired after a
025very distinguished career here as a chemistry teacher at Msina Central where his results were truly outstanding. And in order to provide our students with that same type of education and instruction, uh Mr. Fryman has agreed to come back and serve as a consultant for our new teacher who is going to be outstanding. Um but he's also very young in the profession. And uh what we're recommending is that um we'd have up to 30 sessions with Mr. Fryman with our new teacher at $50 per hour. Okay. My second recommendation is that given the needs of our u many of our students mostly with IEPs and 504s medical needs that we create a new um registered nurse position. We primarily service those students that have those medical needs um both in school and certainly when they go
026out on field trips. Um again we have a number of students we can imagine um the types of ailments that they have from um these things to needing um different services throughout medical services throughout the day and medications which only an RN can administer. Likewise, I'm also asking for the creation of a teaching assistant position at the junior high. And right now in our testing room, we currently have it serviced by an aid. However, given the complexity of the work that we're asking the individual to do, it really truly does rise to that of a teaching assistant position, which would also mirror what we already currently have at the high school. So, again, looking at the job duties and the equity with the high school, that would be my recommendation. We also have the 20256
027professional learning plan. This is an annual review and I I'll ask Mrs. Charleston if you have any you'd like to share publicly. This is an annual um really revision. We added in some parts um especially for our English language learners. Uh and Katie Lynch helps us write this each year with the support of our professional development committee members. And I want to thank Mrs. Charleston and and the entire group that's on our PD on our professional development committee. A lot of hard work does go into this even though it's a review. The next item up is we had to go out for bid. Our contract with our previous vendor for snow plowing um had expired. We went out to bid. We received one bid. It is from Dao Electric. There is a um a cost
028increase compared to what we paid. Uh the cost in year one would be $84,000. Second year the cost does drop down to $79,000. And the reason for that according to the uh vendor is they'll be geared up. they'll have the uh leases in place for the equipment, that type of thing. So, the startup cost will be u diminished in year two. That is an increase um from what we paid this past year, which was around 69,000. However, that $69,000 was a stagnant cost for the past five years. So, if you go back five years and you start adding a 3% increase each year, theoretically, we'd be pretty close to the 84,000. I think it ended up being about 81. Um, so it's a big number, but uh trying to do this on our own, I'm
029not sure how we would possibly do it. It would certainly involve hiring at least one, if not two more individuals throughout the winter months, plus getting the equipment. Any questions on the snow plow bid. All right, the final items I have are three donations. $1,500 uh which came from the Rotary Club and that was award those were awarded at the high school awards night. A $100 donation from North Country Savings Bank also awarded at the high school awards night. And $2,000 from the Aderondac for Kids grant and that money is earmarked for our Raider Academy to attend the Olympic Center actually tomorrow. I want to thank all of our donors for uh their generosity. Quick question. In regards to the TA, just for the record, that position will be open to everybody to to apply.
030Yes, that according to the MFT contract, that would be open for I believe it's seven days. And also to piggyback on what Mr. Haggus said, we did have a number of teachers at graduation. It was really incredible to watch them lining the aisle as our graduates walked between them and we actually had teachers from I think uh just about all the grade levels present. So we did have the high school, we also had some elementary as well. So kudos to them um for as Mr. Lincoln said, you know, it is truly a momentous occasion. It's a culmination of 13 years of study, being diligent, and uh just to have that many teachers there was uh quite quite impressive. And uh hopefully we can double that next year. I'm not sure how, but that's kind of
031the goal. I'd love to see uh our kids have to walk just about the entire aisle through a gauntlet of teachers. I think it just really shows that level of respect. Thank them publicly as well. That's all I have. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Burke. Uh we'll go now into recommended actions. Uh first is a rather abbreviated consent agenda. We actually have more items for uh individual action. Then we do have consent agenda, but uh um do we have any consent agenda items that anyone wants to have pulled for individual vote? Hearing none, I would call for a motion for uh to approve the consent agenda items. Any questions or comments? All in favor? Any opposed? That carries. Moving on now to other items for action. Uh the first thing that uh we have is a
032uh a bond resolution. This was a uh something that that was done in error last month. Um we didn't have a proper motion and second. Uh so essentially what this does is it it authorizes the bonding of $73.8 million for the capital project not to exceed that amount. Um and um I will now properly call for a motion and a second and then we have to have a roll call vote. Have a motion and a second. Uh any questions or comments? Yeah. I I just want to Can you tell us the number again that you put into the motion? Uh the uh the the number that is it a that the resolution authorizes for bonding is 73.8 million. Okay. And there's $6 million in reserve money that adds up to the 79.8 million. Sounds good.
033Any other questions? Okay. I will uh go through the list of trustees. Mr. Hayes, Mr. Beckstead. Yes, Mr. Leblanc. Yes, Mr. Monroe. Yes, Mrs. Daru. Mr. Petta. I uh I vote yes. Uh Mr. Tusa, yep. And Mrs. Murphy? Yes. Okay, we managed to get through that one. Next is uh approval for the St. Lawrence Lewis County School Boards Association liaison. A motion, please. So move. Any questions or comments? All in favor? Opposed? Okay. Approval of the tax collector agreement. Questions or comments? All in favor? Uh, next is the approval of the chemistry consultant stipend. Any questions or comments? All in favor? Any opposed? Uh, next is a resolution for the creation of one registered nurse position. Any questions? Any comments? All in favor? Any opposed? Uh resolution for the creation of one teaching assistant position.
034Second. Any questions or comments? All in favor? Any opposed? Approval of the uh 2526 professional learning plan. Any questions or comments? All in favor? Any opposed? Next is the acceptance of the bids for snowplow contract for 25 through 27. So move. Any questions or comments? All in favor? Any opposed? Uh approval of the uh snowplow contract uh for 25 through 27. No, we what we did is we accepted the bids. So second. Okay. So this is the uh approval of the actual contract for snowplow services 2025 through 27. Any questions or comments? All in favor? Any opposed? Uh next is the M U with the MBA on IT support for Traversa. Second questions, comments? All in favor? Any opposed? Next is a resolution for a paid administrative leave. Questions or comments? All in favor? Opposed?
035And uh next we have a resolution to establish the superintendent salary. Any questions or comments? All in favor? Any opposed? And uh next we'll turn it over to Mr. Burke for personnel action items. Mr. Hagot, I recommend approval of action items on personnel listed as 1 through 228 with the exception of I would ask that we pull numbers 34 and number 71. We have a motion and a second. Any questions or comments? All in favor? Any opposed? For item number 34, I would ask that the board consider tableabling this until a future meeting. Second. Questions or comments? All in favor? Any opposed? And number 71, I do recommend for approval. So move. Okay, we have a motion and a second. Questions or comments? All in favor? Any opposed? And any abstensions? I would need to
036abstain because this applies to my lovely wife getting that stipen. Correct. Okay, that carries. And finally, we have a resolution for a sick leave allowance. Any questions or comments? All in favor? Any opposed? That carries. Moving on to uh our new business. And uh do we have any items for uh discussion at future board meetings? I am concerned about um the cell phone policy and um our um following the new state guidelines as put forth by the governor. Um so if Zach if we could talk about that maybe at the next board meeting that particular policy just to make sure that it covers all of the bases that we need it to cover so that we're in compliance with the state when we roll out the next school year. Yeah. Yeah, I can also get
037with Ashley too and I'll I'll make sure that uh gets put on the policy committee agenda and we'll do a second review as well and then maybe a link on on the next board agenda. Yep. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Any other items for future agendas, Mr. Haget? How are we um generating the board retreat agenda? like are we are we all inputting what we want to talk about or you certainly can um I I I would be coming up with an agenda with uh the help of Mr. Burke and and Ashley. Um I have some things that that you know I certainly want to to go over. Um but as far as other items that you would like to discuss, you're certainly welcome to send any of those my way. So just email you with
038any items. And then what about our goals for the upcoming school year? Are we doing that at the retreat as well? That is uh certainly something that I would like to to discuss is some goal setting ideas for next for this coming school year. Okay. Okay. Thank you. When is that retreat for teachers, administrators or administrators? you have a retreat as well which is at the end of August. Well, so so the administrator um the instructional leaders, most of us will be getting together. Um we're going to Lake Placid tomorrow for the regional leadership conference and on Thursday we'll take some time just to meet on our own. That'll be pretty much our retreat. And then as it relates to uh new teachers, um new staff, that is August 25th. All administrators are going to
039that. Not all of our instructional leaders um can make it, but the ones that can. Yes. And I'm sorry, when did you say the new staff orientation was 21st? Okay. And are we making a policy that the um board of education is invited to the lunchon portion? Okay. So, you'll be reaching out to us at some point. Okay. Um, one other um item that I'd like to put out there is if uh as far as uh board advisory committees are concerned, if you have a strong preference for one committee or another, uh please do let me know that. I I have some ideas in mind for who I would like to place where, but would certainly like to know if you have a strong preference for one committee or another or some. How do you
040want that? An email. Yeah, email's fine. Any other uh items for future agendas? A comment. Looks good. The room tonight, the work that we done. Yes, we like it. I I wanted to ask about that as well. Is is everyone happy with our We talked about it last time and I think we addressed a lot of the concerns and benefits that we had. So, great. I I I'll be uh eager to to check it out on YouTube and see what it looks like. It's not about YouTube. It's about here. I don't care about YouTube. No, I agree. This uh this is very acceptable. It's It's nice to to be able to I have to look through Kevin's head to see Joyce, but other than other than that Well, I hope that you can't Okay, hearing
041uh no other items for future agendas to consider. Uh I would open it up once again for communications from the public press even though there's no press here. And uh seeing that no one come is coming to the podium uh I would um entertain a motion for adjournment. Second. All in favor. Very good. Thank you. Appreciate everyone's attendance tonight. Let's have a good year.