001Good evening everybody. We want to welcome you to the Enlarged City School District of Middletown Board of Education meeting for Thursday, August 14th, 2025. I want to thank members of our public for being patient. We were a little bit late. We had um four wonderful interviews in executive session. Um two of them with uh two individuals who will now become members of the Middletown Board of Education as our student reps in Eden Lugo and Nepor Patel. Um they will be sworn in next week. They will be sworn in next week as new members of the Middletown Board of Education. So, we congratulate them. And then we also did a couple of interviews with two uh new individuals who you will meet later on today. They're not new to the district, but new to a new
002position, new positions here in Middletown, and we were very excited to interview with them, which is why we were a little bit late um this evening. Um so, at this time, a reminder that this agenda was prepared in advance of tonight's meeting. The final agenda for tonight's meeting is subject to change at the time of the meeting. Any changes will be noted at the time they are made and again after the meeting on the public board minutes which are available on the district's website. And madame vice president in Spanish please. And we'd also like to remind everyone that translation and interpretation services are available during this meeting. If you need assistance, please let us know and we'll be happy to accommodate you. And at this time, if we could please rise for our pledge of
003allegiance led by Mr. Andrew Moore. To the flag of the United States of America to the standy and justice for all. >> Any moments of silence, Mr. Fino? >> Thank you. And now for the mission of the Enlarged City School District of Middletown. Mr. Bison. >> Thank you, Mr. Estrada. The mission of the enlarged city school district of Middletown. We strive to provide physically sound educational opportunities in a safe environment that continuously support our diverse student population. We will enable all students to graduate to reach their full potential to become lifelong learners and to become competitive, productive members of society. >> Thank you, Miss Tobias. And roll call. Miss Monerie. >> Dr. De Jesus. Mr. Estrada >> here. >> Mr. Moore >> here. >> Mr. Parino >> here. >> Mr. Rhett. >> Miss Romero >>
004here. >> Miss Tobias >> here. >> Mr. Freddy Williams. >> Pastor Williams >> here. >> Thank you. >> And Dr. De Jesus and Mr. Red are on vacation this week. I need a motion to approve tonight's agenda. >> Moved by Miss Tobias, seconded by Mr. Freddy Williams. Any discussion? All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion carries. 70. I need approval for the regular meeting minutes from July 31st, 2025. >> So move. >> Moved by Mr. Moore, seconded by Mr. Perino. Any discussion? >> All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion carries. 70. I need approval for the special meeting minutes from August 7th, 2025. >> Moved by Mr. Bias and seconded by Mr. Perino. Any discussion? All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion carries 70. And now for our action items this evening.
005Uh we'll run through all of the action items and then we'll have some personnel introductions uh by our superintendent. So I need approval for personnel memorandum 4A numbers one through two. >> Moved by Mr. Moore, seconded by Pastor Williams. Any discussion? All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion carries. 70. I need approval for instructional personnel memorandum 4B numbers 1 through 10. >> Moved by Pastor Williams. >> Seconded by Freddy Williams. Any discussion? All those in favor? >> I. Any opposed? Motion carries. 70. I need approval for non-instructional personnel memorandum 4C numbers 1 through six. >> Moved by Mr. Perino. >> Seconded by Mr. Moore. Any discussion? All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion carries 70. I need approval for financial financial memorandum 5D numbers one through five. >> Moved by Mr. Tobias. >>
006Seconded by Mr. Parino. Any discussion? All those in favor? >> I. Any opposed? Motion carries. 70. I need approval for special services memorandum 4E numbers 1 through two. >> Moved by Pastor Williams, seconded by Miss Tobias. Any discussion? All those in favor? >> I'm sorry. Moved by I'm sorry, Freddy made the original motion and then seconded by Mr. Tobias. All those in favor? >> I. Any opposed? Motion carries. 70. I'm usually pretty good with the hearing of the names. I missed that one. I need approval for change orders 3F number one. >> Moved by Miss Tobias and seconded by Mr. Parino. Uh, Bill, can you give us some insight? >> So, this um this change order is related to the Cherry Street storm drainage work and is to provide and install an additional catch basin
007where the new storm drain intersects an existing sewer line. >> Great. Thank you. Any questions? >> Okay, Mr. Pina, >> just one thing. Um, Bill and I on any of these change orders, we discuss them before the meeting and if there's any major questions, I bring them to the change order committee. So, >> thank you. >> We're not just approving these. >> Yeah, >> we understand these. >> And as Mr. Pino has mentioned before, it may sound like we're just going through this very quickly, but most of these items have been presented to the board last week and we have a week to ask any questions and get any concerns uh clarified beforehand. So, and Mr. Parino does that for the change order committee. Thank you, Mr. Perino. Any further discussion? All those in favor?
008>> I. Any opposed? Motion carries 70. I need approval of the dignity for all students act DASA coordinators. Moved by Mr. Tobias and seconded by Mr. Moore. Any discussion? >> All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion carries. 70. I need approval of emergency building air conditioners at Presidential Park Elementary. >> Moved by Pastor Williams, seconded by Mr. Freddy Williams. And if I can ask the superintendent, um we had some issues with Presidential Park um over the last week that have resulted in this particular uh motion being presented to the board this evening. If she can give us some background in how we're going to pay for it. >> Sure. Thank you. Um so this uh resolution is to authorize um the uh district to utilize fund balance to pay for the emergency repairs that
009will be associated with the um fault of the presidential park air conditioners so that we can both um investigate a long-term solution so that we have air conditioning in that school without um any delay as well as um the potential rental of um mobile air conditioning units so that there's um no gap between um our ability to open school on time. >> So for folks out in the public um who may see trailers with air conditionings uh for Presidential Park, that's just a short-term solution to make sure that there's air conditioning in place in the building by the time school starts in September. In the meantime, and we do unfortunately expect that this is probably going to be a three to5 million dollar fix. Um over at Presidential, the um air conditioning units there from
010when the building was built are are coming up on their shelf life, so to speak. Um and so this will give the the short-term fix with the trailer air conditioners will allow the district time to really put out to bid the long-term solution um to the problem. So no effect on the taxpayers's uh base as we you know we always talk about here about making sure we have a healthy fund balance and we've been criticized sometimes by the state of New York for having too much of a healthy fund balance. But the reason why we have a healthy fund balance is to whenever we borrow money our interest rates are low because we have one of the best moody ratings in the state of New York when it comes to a school district and also
011for emergencies. exactly just like this. Um, so kudos to not only this board but previous boards over decades. That's been the philosophy of this school district uh in regards to making sure that we maintain a healthy fund balance. And now you know the reason why. >> Yeah. And tonight's resolution um set aside um $3 million of that fund balance so that we can um begin to um resolve this the problem. >> Are there any any other questions? Seeing none, all those in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion carries. 70. And now, um, as we've completed our action items, we'd like to, um, congratulate some folks who were on this tonight's personnel memorandum. And I'll hand it over to our superintendent, Amy Cedan, to help with introductions. >> Great. So, thank you very much. Um, tonight it
012is really um, exciting to welcome Julie Dominguez Post um, to the podium as our brand new director of ENL World Languages. Um, and Julie is um, taking this position uh, because Linda Rivera Brat um is retiring and so it is an honor to welcome Julie um, in the position officially. Thank you, Julie. Is it on? Okay. Romero director. Department. [Music] Um so good evening President Estrada, Vice President Romero and Board of Education Superintendent Cedon. Um, I am very honored to accept the position as director of bilingual ENL and world languages. This really has been a dream of mine since I was a young girl. Um, I always said that my passion was language. Um, I told the story earlier of, um, you know, going to Mexico with my family as a child and packing up
013my teachers materials and bringing them with me and having a little circle in the middle of the PBLO to teach English to um, my friends, my cousins. And that really ignited the passion for um, the teaching language. um as my masters my undergrad um my experience as an educator bilingual ENL educator has really set forth um the foundation to be able to support scholars different family situations have also um supported and in understanding right the difficulties and the layers of language learning language acquisition and understanding the community and working with the community um I'm 100% dedicated ated to this district to this position um to the work to collaborating with everybody. There has been tremendous work that has already um been done in the district in our bilingual and our world languages department. So I
014am excited to continue um that amazing work and collaborating with everybody. Um thank you for your support and looking forward to the work that to have together. So thank you. >> Awesome. Thank you, Julie, and congratulations again. And I just want to acknowledge that our um thoughts and prayers continue to be um with Mrs. Linda Rivera Brat and her family at the unfortunate passing of her father. Um so I know that she would want to be here this evening to um celebrate this and she fully supports this next transition. Um so I just wanted to um you know, let her know that we're still thinking of her and keeping her in our hearts. And after we have our our next introduction, um I'm gonna call for a moment of silence for her dad. I do
015have um the obituary and I'll read some of the the awards for him. Mr. Rivera was my neighbor for seven years um a while back. So he he he'll be sorely missed not only for the uh Rivera family, but uh in general in the community because he he was a community guy. So >> okay, at this time I am going to ask Mrs. Karina Asavdo to come to the podium um with our brand new dean of students, Miss Supora Nuome. Good evening everyone. I am very excited to be here. Good evening to our committee members, our board president, our vice president, to our steam board members, our superintendent of schools. I am pleased to introduce the newly appointed uh dean of cohort 2025, Savora Newsome. Mrs. Nuome brings us nearly 20 years of experience as
016both community leader and educator. She holds a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Brooklyn College, a master's in educational leadership from Long Island University, and a master's in adolescent education from Mount St. Mary's. Most recently, Miss Newsome served at Twin Towers Middle School. She also brings valuable experience for her service, and I thank you for your service in the military. Please join me in welcoming her to our cohort 2025, where she will definitely make a positive impact. [Applause] Thank you so much, Mrs. Asdo. Um, I just want to thank you all for your vote of confidence. Um, I know she shared, "I've been here working and uh, living in this community for the past 20 years. Um, bulk of that time have been spent as a transitional bilingual math teacher at Twin Towers. Um, I'm going
017to miss my Twin Towers family, but I am in debt to them for my growth as an educator. Um, I'm also so excited to join cohort 2025 team and continue to support scholars and their families in this new role. Thank you. So, we as a board were were greatly impressed uh by both candidates um for their new positions. we are in in strong position as there's transitions in in both areas and we have a lot of confidence in in both of them. So congratulations and welcome to continue your dedication to our our midi bears uh uh overall in the district and here at the high school especially as well. Um, so at this time I'm gonna uh just read uh the obituary obituary for Carlos Charlie Rivera. Uh Carlos Charlie Rivera, a cherished husband, father,
018father-in-law, grandfather, greatgrandfather, brother, brother-in-law, uncle, and friend, passed away peacefully on August 8th, 2025 at the age of 88 in Middletown. Born on November 12th, 1936 in Manhattan, Charlie lived a life marked by dedication, service, and a deep love for his family and community. He attended PS62 in the Bronx and the Manhattan High School of Aviation Trades. He was an avid swimmer and water safety instructor who saved the lives of many as a highly skilled lifeguard at South Beach in Staten Island and Rockaway Beach in uh Rus Park. Charlie's service to the country as an Army veteran, achieving the rank of sergeant first class spoke to a strong sense of duty and patriotism. He also served with distinction distinction as a detective second grade in the NYPD's Bronx Homicide Task Force, where his sharp instincts
019and dedication to justice were recognized by everyone who worked with him. Charlie's passion and commitment to law enforcement and public service were also matched by his philanthropy. He was a humble gentleman with a big bright smile who aimed to promote the welfare of others and generously helped those in need. He was also a lifelong member of the NYPD Hispanic Society, the Association of Retired Hispanic Police and the NYPD, the the Detectives Endowment Association and the Honor Legion of the Police Department of the City of New York. Charlie received numerous awards, commendations, and exceptional merits during his lifetime for outstanding police work, valor, and community service. He was recognized by the Havstra Elks Lodge number 877 and supported the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund along with many non-for-profit organizations. As a retiree from the NYPD,
020he worked for Pinkerton Securities and Middletown's regional economic community action program known as Recap here locally, ensuring the safety of others and helping people while positively changing their lives. He was predescased by his father Jose Antonio Ria and his mother Panchita Gonzalez. Charlie is survived by his beloved wife Nilalina Ria with whom he shared 65 years of love and cherish memories. He was a loving fathers to his three children uh Charles Chaz I knew him as Rivera and his wife Elsie Garcia Rivera, David Rivera and his wife Bridget Koka Rivera and Linda Rivera Brat, our own Linda here at Middletown and her husband Anthony Brought. His legacy continues through his five uh grandchildren and two great grandchildren who will miss his guidance and warmth. He also leaves behind his sister Gloria Edrich, halfb brotherther Jose,
021Joe Antonio Rivera Jr., her half sister Lydia and several nieces and nephews all of whom will remember Charlie for his steadfast presence and his kind heart. So at this time, if we can have a moment of silence for Carlos Charlie Ria. Thank you. And our prayers continue with the uh Rivera family. And we'll move on now to our spotlight in excellence, our leader and me. I'll hand it over to our superintendent. >> Thank you. I'm going to invite um Mrs. Hall and Mrs. Tagy up to the podium. um to begin their presentation amplifying the work we've done all year on leader me and updating us on some next steps and I think they have some special scholar um accompaniment to support the presentation All right. Thank you so much, Bryce. All right. So, good evening
022everyone. U Miss Hall and I are honored to be here this evening alongside our fellow fellow scholar district leaders Abby, Drew, Bryce, and Emily as we celebrate our first year of implementing Leader Me here in Middletown. Tonight, you'll hear from our incredible Lighthouse Scholar Ambassadors standing behind us as they share their leadership experiences and what they're most excited about as we enter the upcoming school year. To begin, please welcome Abby Fabian from Mont Hagen Middle School's lighthouse team. My name is Abby Fabian. I attended Mahagen Middle School. As a member of the Lighthouse team, I've been working on a development project to improve the school academically by creating stronger social bonds between students and teachers. From what I observed, teachers that students actually get along with are more respectful and volunteer more. Students and teachers
023that interact in friendly terms are set to be more trusting of a student. I'm looking forward to the results of our district working together to make this place a better school for us all. Thank you, Abby. Next up is our lice lighthouse scholar ambassador, Drew Moore, eighth grader at Monthagen Middle School. [Applause] My My name is Drew Moore and I attended Mhagen Middle School. As a member of the Lighthouse team, I've learned how to speak up confidently and think outside of the box. I'm looking forward to making the school a comfortable place to be at and gaining responsibility for big projects around the school. I want to motivate motivate students to speak up and have studentled classes all around. I'm really proud of how this allows students and staff to use their voice to state
024their ideas for how they want to see the schools in the future. [Applause] Okay, great job, Drew. Next up is Lighthouse Scholar Ambassador Bryce Turager um from Twin Towers Middle School's Lighthouse team entering eighth grader. [Applause] My name is Bryce and I attended Twin Towers Middle School. As a member of my lighthouse team, I have been trying to help my fellow classmates improve their grades using student portal, making them aware of their assignments and grades. I'm very much looking forward to making the school better place for my following years. [Applause] Great job, Grace. And last but not least, we have returning graduate um from Middletown High School this year, Lighthouse Scholar Ambassador Emily uh Pat Batantes, who is going to be taking her leadership skills next year to >> Yukon. [Applause] Hello everyone. Um, as
025a member of the Lighthouse team, I've provided a new I've been provided a new outlook on how to improve the school environment, which made us conscious of how our role within the school affects everyone around us. We were brought together as students and teachers to show we are more similar than different, allowing us to have a better view and more respect for our teachers. It also showed the younger students how to be goal oriented and allowed me to find my voice in a room of important adults and showed me how to create a strong voice. I'm looking forward to going off to college. I will be attending Yukon with hopes of being as involved in school over there as I was in Middletown High School. Thank you. >> Okay, so thank you to our Lighthouse
026Scholar Ambassadors for sharing your inspiring um journeys and your voice. Um this year was truly amazing teaming alongside of these scholars. We had several opportunities to team with some of them in some of our district leadership meetings. Um and it was truly a pleasure getting to work alongside them as district leaders. To amplify what you just heard, we have a um video that we're going to share with you um that highlights all the powerful moments and the journey that we've embarked on so far with Leader and Me here in Middletown. Sorry about that. >> Technical difficulties. >> Yeah, it's at the top, but we lost the mouse. >> Oh, okay. >> Oh, got it. They took us all about the professionals. Year [Music] one of Leader and Me at Middletown City Schools has been about
027planting seeds of leadership, ownership, and possibility. And already, we're seeing them take root. This year, over 700 staff members across the district have participated in foundational leader me training, diving deep into the seven habits and learning how to model and empower leadership in our school community. Our scholars, educators, and staff have worked alongside one another to begin setting personal and academic goals for themselves and the larger school community, tracking progress, and celebrating success every step of the way. From kindergarten to high school, scholars are discovering the power of being proactive, putting first things first, seeking first to understand, and keeping the end in mind. Scholar leadership roles have been introduced and set up in all secondary buildings, giving scholars ownership of daily routines, events, academic plans, buildingwide culture, and even peer mentorship. They're learning that
028everyone has a role to play in creating a positive school culture and understanding that here in Middletown, they have a seat at the table for their voice to be heard. Scholars voices are rising across our district. Scholars are finding their voice and learning how to lead with purpose. Whether through morning announcements, schoolwide events, or lighthouse team initiatives, >> we've taken our first steps in measuring progress with the MRA survey, gathering valuable insights from scholars, staff, and the larger school community. This data is helping us reflect, adjust, plan, and continue to build an inclusive school culture of leadership for all. I would say that leader in me is the program that brings the best environment for your teachers and your students to learn and teach in. They listen to my ideas, how I'm feeling. >> I
029wanted to get involved because like I want to be able to like help out and communicate with other people. >> I just thought it sounded fun and interesting cuz like you get to talk about how to better the school and teach students and teachers how to be leaders. >> It makes sure that everyone is comfortable in an environment where they feel welcome. It's a safe place where you could come in and you could talk about your ideas and how you feel. You yourself can make the school that you're in a better place. It's just the beginning, but the impact is already visible in year 1. As we move into year two, we remain committed to our vision, a district where every scholar knows they are seen, heard, and capable of leading. We're taking intentional steps
030to strengthen the partnership between our schools and the broader community by involving families and caregivers in our leader and me journey. We will offer opportunities for community members to participate in professional development sessions alongside our staff, creating a shared language of leadership that extends beyond our school walls. Through workshops, collaborative planning meetings, and school events, we aim to co-create a culture where leadership is nurtured in every setting. home, school, and the community. Whether through service projects, mentoring, or simply learning about the seven habits together, we believe our collective efforts will help every scholar grow into their leadership potential. We embed this work into all aspects of the scholar experience, including our clubs and athletic programs. Coaches and club advisers will be supported in integrating the seven habits into team building, goal setting, and reflective practices,
031reinforcing leadership as a daily mindset from the field to the stage to scholarly government and beyond. Our scholars will have ongoing opportunities to lead purposefully, collaborate effectively, and contribute meaningfully to their school communities. Leadership isn't just something we teach. It's something we live together because here in Middletown, we are all leaders and legacy makers. [Applause] >> Okay. So, um we want to give it up for our tech tech team for just supporting us with that video. They were amazing and we so um just as we look ahead and keeping the end in mind we want to look um into the upcoming school year and our focus will be with advancing to core 2 which emphasizes deepening leadership practices and empowering scholars to see themselves as capable leaders. Uh the next phase will expand beyond the
032classroom implementation. So, we're looking at our lighthouse teams and just expanding and building scholars at the elementary level, fostering a greater community engagement through family workshops and opportunities to bring those seven habits to real life practical practices. And by involving parents and community members, uh, local organizations, we aim to create a shared leadership culture that supports both academic and excellence and the development of lifelong scholars, ensuring that they're not only prepared for success in the classroom, but responsible citizens in their community. And we, Nicole and I always share this and Christine Dume, our other partner, you know, this was a heavy lift. This was a large charge and we're just excited about the impact that we've had this year as our initial year and just going forward how we want to build these practices in
033everyday life for our scholars here in Middletown. [Applause] So using those paradigms, we're thinking win-win. Um how our lighthouse and our way with scholars in the community. So we're building school and community lighthouse teams as part of our leader and me journey uh shaping our vision of leadership and student success. So, we want to engage with more community action and making sure that our scholars and families are aware that their voice matters. So, you can connect with us at lighthouse ecsdm.org to join us for collaboration and family and staff community partnership. And so, um, just to echo what Miss Hall was sharing, so next year we're really, uh, this upcoming year, we're really excited to be partnering with, um, the school commu, the school community at large, um, to really join in on the training
034and also join our lighthouse team. So, we I can't echo enough, your voice matters. And if you are interested in joining our lighthouse teams um, in the district and in the school, please email lighthouse at ecscm.org or because we would love to partner with our um community members and and you know have you join us on this journey. >> Thank you Mrs. Tagney and Mrs. Hall. And just so we can make sure that our young people get the flowers that they deserve in terms of volunteering their time to be here this evening, thanking our families for being genuine partners with us on this work. Could you kindly introduce each one of the lighthouse team members that are here this evening again? >> Sure. >> All right. So, first we have Bryce Turwigger, [Applause] Drew Moore,
035[Applause] Abby Fabian, [Applause] and Emily Ratanis. So, we'll go around the table if anybody has any questions. Gee, we have a Drew Moore, too, at our table. >> It's actually Andrew Moore. >> Mr. Moore, Mr. Andrew Moore. >> Um, I say thank you for the great work. Um I definitely seen an opportunity not only for my own my daughter you know taking initiative and joining this force but um I'm going to challenge myself and also Drew because I'm going to bring this into um our space where you know I coach um 13U and 15U girls basketball. So and Drew being one of the leaders I'm going to challenge her to bring this on to uh the team. I feel like there is um tremendous amount of learning opportunities with the habits that are displayed that
036we can definitely benefit from. So sure you have a task this coming fall season and the spring as you know we travel a lot but this is definitely will be a benefit to the team. So thank you uh you continue your work and also this is definitely a stepping stone for your engagement with the community. So I'm looking forward to it. Thanks. >> Thank you. Drew is ready for the challenge by the way. >> Yeah. Yeah, and I just want to add that um you know, we have a new collaboration that began as a board charge with um our leadership team and bringing together our um community athletic partners and district. And one of the first things that we talked about in that is how can we um encourage um the development of um an
037emotional IQ and um habits of highly effective people. And so this summer we um met with u Mrs. Hall and Mrs. tag me and thought about how can we begin to implement this? And so one of the first things that they did was design a personalized training um that was implemented this summer in two different phases. Um last week was the first training and tomorrow is the second training. And so all of our coaches that will be participating as an athletic um supervisory role with us um this year um will be required to participate in a session that does exactly what you just said, Mr. more is how can we bring these habits outside of the classroom and into all the work that we do. Our young people um have the capacity to be a
038leader. >> Thank you Mrs. Ken. Mr. You know, on one of your slides you had make a difference and the individuals who I see here tonight, Tiffany Hall, Nicole Tagy, Julie Dominguez Post, and all the students. You are making a difference in the district. I know Tiffany and Liz Bowler, excellent job this summer in reading. >> Thank you. >> And I asked you about that. You you sent me some material on it. And one of the quotes uh you put down was from Liia Leia Koko who of course was the uh CEO for Wild Ford and and both Ford and Chrysler in a completely rational society. The best of us would be teachers and the rest of us would have to do something else. And we have the best here. Believe me, we have the
039best teachers and we have the best administrators. We saw some uh administrator uh prove this evening and I know she's going to do an excellent job and you're doing an excellent job and I I I know the visit to Thr uh summer Tiffany and the reading program I know that was outstanding. I heard about that >> you told me about but then I heard back channels about us. So, thank you very much for all you do and Nicole and Julie and all the rest of the instructors this evening. Thank you. >> Thank you. I appreciate that. >> Thank you, Mr. Parino, Mr. Bison. >> First of all, thank you for an excellent presentation. Secondly, thank you to the students who so adaptly came in during summer vacation. And thirdly, you made me feel a little
040old because I really remember Stephen Cvy and the seven habits of effective people. So >> yeah, >> um I appreciate that. It was a good trip down memory lane. So thank you and thank you for an excellent presentation. >> Thank you, Mr. Tobias and Pastor. >> Yeah, I I I um I concur. Uh thank you for an excellent presentation to all of you uh scholars that got up here and spoke. Um great job. Great job. You are all such wonderful wonderful um examples uh to us to let us know that our future is really bright. Um and so um and to the to the parent to the parents um congratulations. You got great kids. Uh yeah, this this uh so let me say um I'm all in. Nicole, you already know. Um Tiffany, you already
041know. I'm all in. Whatever whatever I whatever I can do. Um the seven habits of highly effective people is such a powerful that in of itself is so powerful because um for the last 30 years it has been such a staple in leadership in leadership training in circles all over um I you know some years ago I even taugh taught um directly from this particular book even when it comes to dealing with um perspective of how we look at things and how we see things and understanding the different perspectives that people have and the different angles that we look at things and so Um, congratulations, man. I think this is great. Um, Middletown has always been ahead of the curve. We have really been ahead of the curve for many years in trying to provide
042not just not just academic um education for our our young people, but um just developing them as people uh as human beings. And um this is just another example of of how much this district um you know puts behind trying to make sure that we are literally trying to develop whole individuals. >> Um and so congratulations um kudos and I'm looking forward to um to seeing so much more and hearing so much more and being being a part of the process. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Pastor Williams. Vice President Romero. >> Great presentation, Miss Hall, Miss Hagy. Thank you for everything that you do and congratulations to everyone. >> Uh, great job by everyone. Um, I think Bryce, did you do a presentation here at the high school one time? I think that's where
043we met at one time. Um, it was with uh >> STEM program. Correct. So, see, I do remember. I haven't lost my mind yet, but I kind of look at him and he's looking at me and I'm like, I think he wants this chair eventually. So, >> uh, but congratulations to everyone. And um you know my message to uh Abby, Bryce, and Drew especially is a message that I don't know if Emily remembers at graduation that I told everyone, all of our graduates, is that we really need our graduates when they leave this building to be active citizens from day one. There are too many times in this world when once you leave these buildings um and you go on with your lives that you don't become an active citizen and what that usually leads
044to is that you end up finding that other people are making decisions for you and you never want that to happen. You want to be able to have a voice in it. And so watching this program um you know uh for Abby Bryce and Drew especially growing up over the next several years is continue to be active citizens in your school community because then once you graduate that'll transition very easily to college or the workforce or whatever. um you know when we interviewed our student potential student board reps earlier tonight um we talked about them and being active um citizens within the school buildings now. So, I hope as part of this program now that it's growing that they now connect with our student board reps um who will be in place before the school
045year starts. And part of their um role will be for building administration at the high school to allow them some opportunities to go out to all of the buildings and listen to Bryce and listen to Drew and listen to Abby and the kinder gardeners. You know, what interests them? What don't they like about school? What do they like about school? so they can bring that back to the board of education and we can have a little bit more real time uh as far as addressing the concerns of um you know our students. You know, one thing we don't do a great job at at the board level and I've been doing this for 20 years and it's been the same wherever you go is we don't do a lot as far as interconnecting with our
046students. And hopefully that's starting to change over the last couple of years. We're always here at this table. We're worried about parents. We're worried about taxpayers. We're worried about a whole bunch of other stuff, but we kind of forget sometimes that everything we put in place has an impact on our students. And one way you make a policy work is by having the students be involved in how you make up that policy and how you address that policy. It's easier buyin for them at that point in time. But if they're being told they have to do something to where they had no input whatsoever, that's a different story. then it becomes a harder buyin for them. So hopefully this is what's going to connect um not only all the students in all of the buildings
047but them to the board of education as well. So thank you for all your work. >> Thank you. [Applause] >> So now we'll move on to our public participation and an opportunity to address the board of education. The board will designate a portion of its meeting agenda for public comment for a period of up to 40 minutes. Each speaker will be allowed up to four minutes. The public is not permitted to discuss topics under matters involving specific individuals. Speakers must sign in prior to speaking and speakers are not permitted to seed their time to other speakers. Madame Vice President Do we have any takers who'd like to address the board of education at this time? No takers. Okay. Um, did we have any letters to the board of education? No. Thank you, Mrs. Montrey. There
048are no superintendent updates this evening. So, we'll move on to our board of education updates, our community engagement updates. Each member has four minutes and we'll start off with uh Mr. Moore. >> Great. Uh actually have more for the uh conference. Do you want to >> So, we'll move along to Mr. Parino for community engagements. >> Hey, thank you. uh President Estrada, I'm going to start off with a a bit of school history. Uh I received a call from uh uh Jeff Burkeman and Jeff, a former legislator and a member of the uh Thraw Library Board. As a matter of fact, Jeem uh uh Jeff and Rose, they were on the committee to design the new Thraw Library. And uh Jeff's been involved in community affairs. So, he brought me a a photo of the
049opening the groundbreaking of Charlie School. Do you have that? Can we put that up there? Okay, there it is. And uh I this probably dates back to 19 I I would say the s the late winter of 1963, I believe. I think we opened that building in in ' 65. Uh if you look at that photo, uh there are members of the board then. Uh Ray Wood, Dr. Wood who would college professor uh Dr. Mamalock a leader of the going from left to right now a pathologist and chief of staff at one time at uh was Horton Hospital at the time. And the next gentleman very interesting is Will Cox Jones. And Will Cox Jones was actually a dairy and egg farmer. So the district had that kind of a background. Next is Mr. Burkeman.
050Uh dad of Jeff. And then we have the director of facilities, Bill Klene. Uh the next gentleman was kind of a mystery. Uh I I believe I've been doing research on it and I believe that's Charles Shu who was a member of the teachers association at the time going continuing Ken Quick who was a business manager at the time and then at the end to the right is Louise Ellison. I believe Louise was the board president at the time. So there it is. Today we have Presidential Park School, but that's how it all started with the groundbreaking of Chie School and and I I would say as I said in the probably in the late winter of about 60 63. So there it is. The other item I want to mention, uh, this Sunday at
051the Elks Club the 17th, there's going to be a backpack giveaway. Do we have that flyer at all or or not? Right. 10 to 12. And there's going to be, as it said, free backpacks and school supplies and a complimentary hot breakfast. So, the backpacks are loaded with supplies. Uh, there's going to be a special appearance by Eeroy the Elk, the Elks drug-free mascot. Uh, four to 15 will have the opportunity to participate in a soccer shoe at the YMCA. So, you know, the old saying, and it it went out of vogue for some reason, it takes a village to raise a child. And if you think about it, it's true. We're starting off with this program and then Freddy Williams uh the program at Fancher Davage Park along with the police uh uh police
052department and Middletown recreation department. So it it we want the students to be well equipped when they begin school and this is the start of it all. So I'm about done now and I don't want to go over my four. So good. Thank you so much. >> Thank you Mr. Parino. Mr. Bison. >> Nothing at this time. Mr. Escada. Thank you, Miss Tobias and Pastor Williams. >> Uh, no, I don't have anything right now. I have I'll have something later. >> Thank you, Pastor Williams. Vice President Romero. >> Um, I've got a letter to share with everyone on behalf of our Twin Towers Dean of Students, Mr. Damon Nolan, as he will be leaving our district in early September. He says, "Dear Middletown community, it has been an absolute pleasure to serve you over the
053past three years. This has been the opportunity of a lifetime to learn and grow in the most perfect position I could have imagined. The relationships and bonds I have formed along with the precious memories and experiences I have gain gained at Middletown will stay with me forever. to the school board members, superintendent Cedan, assistant superintendent, attendance Adoma, um, and Tuttle, and members of the district leadership team. Thank you for making me a part of the Middletown family. Your tireless dedication to improving outcomes for all of our scholars and ensuring that leaders and staff throughout the district have the resources they need to make things happen is truly inspiring. To my fellow administrators and school staff, it has been my great honor and pleasure to work and learn alongside you. Every day you motiv motivated me
054to be the best version of myself and to continue growing in my role. To the families and scholars of Twin Towers, thank you for welcoming me into the Twin family with open arms. I have loved serving you and getting to know you better. There is so much love and positive energy at Twin and that starts with you. I will miss you and look forward to hearing all about your future successes. This ending is bittersweet. I look forward to my new adventure and challenge as an assistant principal in North Carolina. However, I will be dearly I will dearly miss the Middletown community. Thank you and bless you for this experience. Goodbye, but not farewell. I want to wish him all the best. Mr. Nolan. I wish him infinite blessings and he's going to be missed. Um,
055I think I also have to share something for my fellow board member Freddy Williams. So, this is an event. It's it takes a village. Um, is a back to school event for the community. It's a barbecue and it's going to be held on September 6th at Davage Park from 12 to 4. That's all I got. Thank you. >> It is an awesome uh event that uh Freddy and Mitch Williams uh really helped initiate and um they put in a lot of hard work and literally there'll be a couple thousand people there um like there is each and every year. So, please come out and enjoy it. Um it's a great community event for everybody going back to school. And speaking of back to school, you're done. Okay. Sorry. Thank you. >> Um the I just
056wanted to let the board members know that um Friday, August 22nd at 8:00 a.m. will begin the new teacher orientation. Um I'll be able to just say a couple of words on behalf of the board, just very short, a minute or two. But if my fellow board members would like to be there so we can introduce you to some new faces to Middletown, that would be great. Again, that's Friday, next Friday. I can't believe that the new teacher orientation is already a week from Friday. Um but August 22nd at at 8:00 am and uh we do have a workshop the day before. So I'll remind everybody um about that at that time as well. So and please uh you know be aware that um our district clerk, Mrs. Montrey, uh in her usual stellar fashion
057put out the September calendar um recently. So look at your emails and your calendars because she does a lot of hard work to update it. And just because the president sometimes doesn't look at it like he should doesn't mean the rest of you don't need to look at it. So uh please uh take a look at that. So uh we don't have any student board member reports. We'll start getting those after the first of the year uh 1 of September uh when they start to report at our schoolboard meetings and we'll move on. Are there any committee reports of note? Just yeah. >> Um, Mr. Pino, >> just very quickly, uh, Lenny Zapka um, about two weeks ago or so, invited, uh, Pastor Williams and I, Bishop Williams and I to go see the new
058uh, security system at the school. It's one component of it. It's called the Ronin system. And what it does, it allows uh students to be checked in a lot faster than the previous system. It's a uh it's a non-invasive system. There's no radiation involved in it and uh the the gates can be moved quickly to the athletic field. It's not as cumbersome as the as a former set uh system and it can actually one gate can accommodate 1,000 uh students per uh per gate. So one so it's it's a big improvement. And the second component is going to be the scanner system, the new scanner system. And there's a photo of the uh Ronin uh uh s uh system. You see, I think it's Kenny there working this. And when the and it's tied into
059a little uh uh computer and uh when the lights flash red, then the person uh person is scanned. And there's one of our good security people. So I think it's going to be a big improvement enhancement of our former uh system of admitting students. So that's a committee report for this evening. >> Thank you, Mr. Parino. Just to piggyback quickly on that, um do you think we're going to uh we'd be able to put out like a small video maybe of the use of that before the school? Okay, good. So they are working on a video to put on the website and stuff to just illustrate to parents how the system works before the school year starts. So >> the Ronin system. Yeah. >> And then >> Okay. And then during MIDI move up day
060as well. They're going to be >> just to piggyback on that. I, you know, you all know I had the opportunity um a couple months ago when we first looked at the system to travel to travel to Skenctity who actually utilizes the system and to see it in action to see it in action outside of seeing it here but um to see it in action uh in Skynctity the full system with the scanners and um and with the stansions with the stansions um and uh very it's a very impressive system and I think that it's going to um it's going to be very beneficial in moving moving things along faster and more efficiently >> um but also providing another level of safety and security um that um we so crave so crave and I I
061make sure I make this statement every every time we talk about this and I made this statement to the um representatives from the company um 10 10 12 years ago I would have been um totally completely opposed to this. Um, but in light of in light of the changes in our world and the things that are going on, I am absolutely 100% in support of of these type of systems to make sure that we are keeping our children safe and and the psychology and um mentality behind it can only be addressed by um the way that our the way that our staff approaches it. And I think that we have an excellent security staff that will be a that that have created relationships with our young people that will make this um uh make this
062operate even more efficiently. So I just wanted to add that in. >> Cool. Thank you. Um any more committee reports or is that it John? >> No. You know that scanner system when we were there, the uh uh person, a company representative, he he showed us the uh a a little uh snapshot of a uh a weapon being tried to uh a student was trying to get a weapon into a school and this scanner system and the person tried to dis disguise put it in the bag and disguise it with V. It picked it up. It It's that It's that sensitive. It's It's uh as sensitive as the scanners in the uh in the airport. So, it's uh it's a good system. >> Yeah. I think we just have to continually educate our students on
063making sure that they don't try to pass something because that's where the backlog starts to happen. Now, the good thing with this system is that soon as somebody walks through, if it highlights something, you have the ability to then take that student to the side with another security guard. They're not holding up a line anymore. The line is still going. So, hopefully that'll help with a lot of the backlog there. >> Yep. >> And I think another thing that um the teams will be sharing out with um lots of information as we get ready to head back to school is um some of the shifts that we'll be making with regards to other items that will um not be permitted to come in. um to school which take a lengthy amount of time to check
064through at the arrival process. And some of those include um those um big um Yeti cups and Stanley um cups that um are brought in because those are brought in with items in them and so it requires an additional step for checking them over. Um, and so in order for us to continue to be responsive to our famil family's requests for an efficient process that maintains safety and security, but also gets our young people in schools and in academic settings, um, that's going to be a shift for the academic year. >> So, you just heard it here, probably for the first time, parents and students, be prepared. No Stanley and Yeti cups. Um one of the uh one of the reasons why um central administration and the board of education have gone in this direction
065is because they are social media um you know um illustrations and about um those items being used as weapons now. So we need to unfortunately take the preemptive strike and make sure that that does not happen here. um as far as you know utilizing social media and and showing them how to use Yeti and Stanley um containers in a in in a violent manner. So it's unfortunate um but we go with the flow until we find something better. So thank you uh Mr. Parino. Uh any other committee reports? No committee reports. We'll move on to conferences. And I know Mr. Moore you said you had some stuff on conferences. Yeah. Um, thank you, President Estrada. Um, so two weeks ago, I had opportunity to attend the New York State uh, board association 2025 uh, leadership
066and education conference in Albany with my fellow state um, colleagues um that sits on the board. Uh the sessions really focused on uh some of the realities that many of the districts are facing um in regards to academic stake stakeholder uh data identifying the achievement gaps um attendance patterns and community input and foundations uh for planning. Um they also explored strategic planning process and priorities with stakeholder communication and and progress of monitoring. uh some of the key takeaways um and I think this is going to come up a lot um something that we got a chance to sit in it was actually New York expires it uh discussed the the the new changes that's going to be in place which is like a portrait of the New York State education uh plan to phase out
067the regent exams and um move into more of a a to prepare students and aim them for a critical thinking and problem solving and cultural um compliance with real world skills which I think is probably the best um approach moving forward. Uh someone that has you know you know have an advanced degree in business and understanding the the importance of a capstone project and building a portfolio. I think that's more of a suitable for this particular uh educational um drive and pathway that we're moving forward to and just moving away from just the standardized testing. Um the roll out will would occur in our three phases um which started back actually last year fall and up until 2029. uh the planning impul planning installation implication of the updates of the diploma requirements and assessments and
068learning expectations and financial literacy and and climate education all will take part within that time period. Um another thing that we learned about was the what I feel like our district is probably light years ahead is that we because we do such a good job you know um Mr. title and um Superintendent Keen as far as forecasting and planning when it comes to financial aspects. Just for example, our situation at um at Presidential Park. Um many other schools are not there yet. uh surprisingly many districts uh they don't they're really on the hopes and prayer that the state and federal will save them year after year as we are in a light years ahead of when it comes to understanding the different initiatives and goals will come from the state level down. So what we
069learned during that time period was many of the school districts are in a a state of uh affair not knowing what the situation will come about when it comes to being fully funded um and with their with their aid especially from the state and also with the federal. So seeing that and knowing that we could actually breathe a breath of fresh air um gave us a lot gave me a little bit more hope. Um I definitely didn't see that on many of the other faces of the school board members that were there unfortunately. Um but it's definitely something to be eye opening knowing that we are definitely ahead of the curve um when it comes to this and actually have a better outlook um moving forward. Um and that would be pretty much it. I
070want to go over my time but definitely was something to learn from from this um leadership educational event and I definitely look forward to continue um engaging you know at the state level to be able to bring that information back to the stakeholders. Thanks. >> Thank you, Mr. Moore. Mr. Perino, I heard you have something on thrral that you wanted to mention. >> Uh, well, I can do the the other >> You could do it now if you want. >> No, it's fine. >> You sure? >> Yeah, that's good. >> Um, so do you have anything about conferences? You're good. Well, the the only other thing I have again I was very very impressed by the reading program that the district ran this summer uh culimating in uh the visit to uh Thraw Library. Um
071I've read that the uh New York uh state reading scores are are up this year. Uh I know in happened to read an article about New York City up. I have no knowledge of what uh how our scores came out but I would bet that our scores because of the reading programs that we've adopted showed a marked increase in reading. uh we move toward the phonics uh program and away from the whole language approach. And we have very very uh dedicated instructors in this uh district and uh in our reading programs and a reading and uh I just want to uh compliment again uh Liz Bowler and Tiffany Hall and the educators who made the reading program a success this summer. Karen Sutton, Ireina Powski, Beth Spears, and Jay Marie Patron. So, good job to
072all. And that's all I'll have tonight. I don't want to believe >> I think Superintendent Cedon wants to add to that. Yeah, I just wanted to acknowledge that um we have a board workshop on uh next week and so the New York State 3 through8 scores for math LA were released um late last week and so we're spending time digging into them and so we'll go through a workshop um with the board to review those results um in a little more detail. Um but yes, the scores are up and we have seen um a um slight increase um in the district in terms of our overall performance of proficiency which we are encouraged about and continue to believe is tied to both our programmatic changes in terms of um what our classrooms look like as
073well as the resources that our educators are accessing and the supports that they get from our instructional team. Um, and so we're excited to dig into information sharing on that, but knowing that we still have much more work to do to close the gap that exists between our proficiency and state proficiency. >> And I want to add that um, one, it's a good indicator that we're seeing an uptick, right? Um, Mr. Perino throughout his career as a board member has always been on top of on top of this and his concerns. um about our lack of proficiency uh in that area. But I I do want the public I've mentioned this I think I mentioned it when I was a schoolboard candidate at a debate. Um and I don't think that and I the reason
074why I say it is because I want the public to understand the unique challenges faced by this specific school district when it comes to state testing at those levels. And the reason why I say that is because we obviously have a shortfall in proficiency at those levels, but yet our graduation rate is at 92 93%. So you wonder what does that mean, right? To me, what that means is that when we have a student who enters our district at the very beginning, they have great outcomes, right? Um the challenge we not only we've had in the past, the challenge we have now and I believe the challenge we will always have in this school district is we provide a lot of support services for our English language learners. We provide a lot of services for
075our students with disabilities. Well, and we're successful in both. What that usually means is that word of mouth, right, in each of those communities are if you have an ELLL student, a son or child or daughter, or if you have a student with disabilities, son or daughter, this is the place to come, right? Um, and I know because when my son who's autistic, when he was two and three years old and my wife worked for the county's um, child protective services and we had a family decision to make on where we wanted our son to have special education services, my wife, who knew all of the districts through her um, job as a social worker for the county, said there's nowhere to go. I'm not moving to Goan. I'm not going nothing against all of
076those, but the supports were here. >> And what that means is that we are always in this district going to have the challenge of educating very early on students who are coming to us with major challenges. some of them from families at home who can't provide homework support because they don't speak the language or students with disabilities who have other challenges to get them to the finish line. So, in my estimation, our scores I I I I really honestly don't think that our scores will ever be on par with the state. And that's not a bad thing. I'm not saying it because we don't have the talent to do it. I'm saying it because we embrace educating students with challenges. And what I hang my hat on as a board member is they're coming in
077with challenges, but they're leaving, you know, 12 years later with a diploma in hand and typically on time. My son who started out at Boseies and was integrated back into the school system graduated with his class on time despite being uh having the challenge of autism. So it can happen when we get them early. You know, some of the challenges we also have, especially here at the high school, is, you know, there are a lot of people out there who's look at this place, right? This is a great place to send your student. If you're coming from New York City, if you're coming from a neighboring district like Newberg who's having challenges um and they come here, it means that we're getting them midstream. Now, we're not getting them at second and third grade. So
078that's an even bigger challenge for the folks especially here at the high school to play catchup with many of our students who are coming in here in eighth or ninth grade, you know, and trying to make sure they stay here and don't drop out. So in my estimation, we will always have challenges on the state test at the lower grades. It doesn't mean we don't acknowledge that we have those issues and we try to get better. to me incremental changes here is probably a bigger jump at another school district because of the type of student challenges that we have at those levels. So, you know, this is not trying to whitewash something. There's an issue and I I uh you know I give uh a lot of kudos to Mr. Perino for constantly each and
079every year saying we need to hold you know not only our teachers and our parents and our students accountable but also the programs that we pay for to try to help them improve. We want to see results even if it's incremental and as um Super Cin was showing me that it's it's a slight increase. I'm like well that's a positive increase but it's going to take a long time to get us to where we need to be. >> Yeah. And I just want to add that um you know when you look back at when we started to make some significant shifts in how we were approaching just what the classroom makeup was, how we were grouping scholars and um assigning teachers and then moved more into the pedagogical approach and the resources that supported that.
080Um you see that um in 23 24 our average proficiency rate was around 28% um across the district K um 35 on the ELA exam. And so this year it's 37% when you look at all those grade levels combined. So we closed the gap um you know from an 18% gap where the state was and our performance was to a 16 um point gap um but grew our proficiency by nine points. So that is really something to be proud of. Um and the other piece that we look at is not necessarily just grade bygrade comparison but watching the cohort. So, where were the third graders in 23 24? Where are they now? And when you look at those third graders now, when we started to make that impactful change inside those ELA classrooms, this year,
081our fifth graders are the closest that we have ever been in closing the gap with the state. We went from 45, I'm sorry, our proficiency is 45% proficient um for our fifth graders across the district where the states is 57. So that is evidence that those years of making those changes in third grade, in fourth grade, and now those kids tested as fifth graders this year um is impacting their performance. But to amplify what President Estrada said, this is not um the measure that we really hang our hat on, right? It is a piece of the puzzle and one we watch and one we want to continue to close the gap on, but not the one that we um hang our instructional hat on, >> you know. And I'm glad that you said that. Um,
082Superintendent Creed, uh, I agree I agree with President Estrada. Uh, we're data driven. We've always been very data driven and and our data will never match up um with what the state what the state data says, what they what they uh put out. Uh, one of the reasons is is that because uh it's not just about the collecting of data, but it's also about how you analyze the data and how you disseminate the data. Um, we're sitting right here and we we we we see the things that are being done. We know the things that are being done and I I want to make sure the community understands because it's been a misnomer um over the last over the last five or six years or maybe even longer than that because some of us have
083been around for a little while that that when we celebrate when we celebrate that that means that we think we've made it and that's not the truth. Yeah, >> we celebrate because we we we need to celebrate every every uh bit of progress that we make even if it's small steps. Uh but that does not mean that we that we uh move into a place of apathy. It does not mean that we think that we're stagnant. There is one something my dad used to say um you know to to to us uh even as as we were coming along in ministry. Jesus said there's always work to do. There will always you you will never you will never arrive or finish because as long as we are alive there's growth. As long as you're alive
084there's going to be things that we can learn. We will never learn everything. So there will always be work to do. But we celebrate because because what we used to be and where we used to be where we used to be we're not there no more. So we celebrate but we're also it also gives us the opportunity to be able to to have something even more to look forward to. So there's a continued pressing and a continued pushing that this district has always done. Um Mr. Moore Mr. more um uh said said it even in respects to um the financial outlook of this district. You know, my my my my position and my um you know, having the opportunity to interact with a lot of other districts over the years, um many people are not
085where we are. And that's not to say that we're better than anybody else, but it's to it's to say that there's a different mindset that we have. Um that that we're always looking not just at where we come from, but looking to where we want to go. >> Yeah. And so, uh, you know, we got a couple of districts that that are the same size of ours that if we had this same if they had the same crisis, uh, you know, that we're having right now with the AC system, they would not be able to move and do what it did. We we we some years ago I one of the things that I have the ability to do since I've been on this board since um uh since 2013 is I remember almost almost
086I'm not going to say every but I remember almost every vote that we've taken on major issues and the reason why we've made those decisions and and so I'm able to recall in my mind why we made those decisions what was the purpose behind it and The one thing that I do know is that we had a period of time when they when somebody was complaining when they complained about um our fund balance. You remember that they complained about it. But the reason that we didn't bow down to that is because we knew there would be times like this. And where are we? We're able to operate and it's not hurting us right now. So, you know, uh let's keep let's keep doing what we're doing. Let's keep pressing because there's still going to be
087work to do. Um the and and one final thing on this possibly is it possible to get the um the the results the testing results not on a statewide basis because we get them anyway, but for the 54 small city school districts >> because that's the measure of comparables for us, right? Because the state average includes Yeah. >> You know, there's 700 school districts, right? Right. >> 90% of them do not look like us, right? So, the state average includes those school districts. >> Now, there are fif only 54 small city school districts in the state of New York, of which we are one. And all 54 of them >> um suffer from the same challenges in their student populations. Those are the ones that I want to see where we're at compared to um
088because correct they're the ones that have a student with disability population of 15% or an ELELLL um student population of 15 or 20%. Those are the ones that we should be looking at. We're not we can't compare ourselves to Warwick and Monroe and Min. You know, it's not compare ourselves to every small We can't even compare ourselves to every small city school district, >> but they're the best because they're not all they're the best, >> but they're the best measure that we have because they're not all created equal. >> Now, you're talking about the Pipsies and the Newbergs and the Middletowns and the Elmmyas >> and the Jamestowns >> and the Jamestown. So, I mean, >> it's a different dynamic. >> So, I I think that's we'll get a better grasp. You're right, pastor, that
089it's not going to be a perfect um comparison, but it's going to be the most um attributable um one for us at least to take a look at because if those >> I'm looking at it differently, but I think any small gain is a plus. >> Oh, 100%. 100%. you know, and we and the the but I I don't want because there are folks who want to compare us to the Warwicks and stuff like that. It's just a different world. And so we we have to make sure that we're honest and transparent with our taxpayers, with our parents, and have the correct expectation for our students, not one that's elevated, that's beyond our grasp. because then that's going to make our job tougher. Um because these students are working their butts off. They really are.
090Um they just don't have the same type of resources sometimes, whether it's an economic challenge at home, a parental challenge at home, what have you, it's just a different um thing. Now, if you're going to show me a result that the small city school districts as a whole are at 50% and we're at 30%, then let's have that conversation because then that's different story. So hopefully we can get that information. But thank you Mr. Pino. >> But Mr. Estrada, we took a major li leap last year. Fontis and Panel was was the Bible for teaching, reading uh and and we went out kind of on a limb and looked at another program and brought it in and with the support of our superintendent and with the support of the teachers um and one one of
091my questions was do we have a control group versus a group that stayed um with the old system? What's the comparison there? And that can be very enlightening to us that you know we all feel we made the right move but there's the ammunition that says yes we did. >> Yep. Good point. Good point. Um any other information about conferences or anything like that? No. Um I do >> I'm sorry. Let me just say this um real quick. Uh I I I want to thank all of my colleagues that did go to the um to the Lee convention. Um uh there was a time when many of us didn't go to a lot of the conferences. We were limited to three. Um we started out with five. Um they were calling us the Middletown five.
092Um then the next year we had six. Um this year we're going to have almost seven I think. Um most everybody's going to be most everybody's going to be going. And um and so u there are other conferences in in September I'll be going to um to LA to the um Council of Urban um Boards of Education. Um and so uh I'll be in California for that. That's a part of the um of the National School Boards Association. And then uh next April will be the National School Board Association conference which is going to be in um San Antonio. And so, um, I know I'm going on behalf of NISBA, and I know sometimes we don't think about these things, but I I want to just throw it out there. It might be a good
093idea outside of just me going, but it might be a good idea to to to to pick somebody else maybe to go to the national um, schoolboard conference. I'm just throwing it out there. Well, I know we have to look at look at how that impacts us um uh uh uh as far as our budget is concerned, but um, I did want to throw that out there. It's beneficial. All of all of these these opportunities for to for growth and to learn are beneficial and you see how it impacts uh the district when we come back with that knowledge. I'm not a person that just wants to ride on what everybody else says. I want to know the rocket science of what we do and I need to find it out for myself. So, >>
094thank you. Thank you, pastor. Um >> I just I do have one um question for the board is the New York State. So we need to appoint um Dr. De Jesus um is our believe our NESBA rep, going to be our NISBA rep, but we really need somebody with expertise in the resolutions process as a voting delegate um to help her this year so then she can take over next year as a voting delegate. So, um we'll leave that open for now and maybe we'll discuss it at next week's workshop. Oh, it is. Okay, perfect. for so we can have um a voting delegate in place. Um so seeing nobody has anything else right now. >> Okay. A reminder, summer graduation is next Wednesday, the day before our workshop, August 20th at 2025 at 6
095p.m. If everybody could please RSVP to um Crystal so she can let the superintendent know uh who will be in attendance at summer graduation. Um, our next school board meeting is not a public meeting. It is an action item only in workshop. On Thursday the 21st, we'll also be swearing in our new student board members. It'll be followed by a workshop. And then our next meeting is that when's our f next public meeting? So, we will have a public session for the act to swear in the board members, but the true public meeting is when's the next one? September 4th. We'll have there. So now I'll entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> I'd like to make a motion to adjurnn. >> Mr. Bison has the first. Mr. Perino has a second. Any discussion? All those
096in favor? I. Any opposed? Great meeting everybody. Motion carries. >> 60.