Middletown City School Board Meeting 10-01-2020

001adi we'd like to call to order uh the regular meeting the october 1st 2020 uh regular meeting of the enlarged city school district board of education at this time we're going to ask mr cresenzo if you would please lead us in the pledge of allegiance if you could please just remain standing for one moment our mr uh perino is going to lead us in a moment of silence mr perino moment of silence this evening is for justice ruth bader ginsburg served more than 27 years on the united states supreme court only the second woman appointed to the supreme court the first being of course carol day o'connor on her wall of her chambers joseph ginberg had a saying from the book of deuteronomy justice justice you shall pursue in the words of chief justice john

002roberts our nation has lost a jurors of historic stature future generations will remember ruth bader ginsburg as a tireless and resolute champion of justice please remember justice ginberg and your thoughts and prayers thank you i'd like to remember the 200 000 people in our country who have perished from the coronavirus this is not an accurate statistical analysis but there are prop approximately 300 people living in orange county if you look to your left you look to your right those people are missing out of three hundred thousand two hundred people thousand people missing i mean it's not a statistically accurate example but it gives you the feeling the impact that these were family members mothers fathers children so i think they deserve a moment of silence also [Music] thank you thank you mr perino and mr

003crescenzo uh mr perino could you also please read the mission of the enlarged city school district in middletown please thank you president william we strive to provide fiscally sound education opportunities in a safe environment that continuously supports our diverse student population we will enable all students to graduate to reach their full potential to become lifelong learners and to be comprehend competitive productive members of society thank you thank you mr perino roll call mrs clark [Music] here [Music] here thank you mr clark i entertain a promotion for the approval of our agenda tonight please moved and seconded any discussion all in favor opposed so passes entertain a motion for the approval of our regular um minutes from our september 17th 2020 meeting please move to second day any discussion all in favor opposed so passes uh

004moving on to our personnel action items if there's no objection we will do our personnel memorandum 11a instructional and our personnel memorandum 11b non-instructional together may have a motion for such please so move moved and seconded any discussion all in favor all right opposed so passes uh turn you now into the hands of of mrs creedon for the introduction of personnel tonight mrs creatine thanks thank you pastor williams um tonight we are going to introduce to the community all of the new staff that was hired over the summer months and through this september at our two middle schools last week we did our last board meeting we did the high school and so tonight is the two middle schools so i'm going to invite up to um the podium miss camilla doma and her team

005twin towers middle school to introduce the new staff assistant superintendent mrs creedon president of the board of education pastor williams vice president mr bison the rest of the board of education tonight the twin towers middle school administration team has the pleasure of introducing to you five new educators they arrange an experience from first year teachers to a veteran teacher of eight years they have come to work in middletown from places as far as buffalo to right here in middletown several these educators have served their communities in a variety of ways such as mission trips to support communities in puerto rico cuba and fiji along with a professional firefighter and emt the first introduction is danielle defeo mrs defeo is a graduate of marist college she is a new energetic teacher with a solid foundation for

006teaching and learning her volunteer experiences along for student teaching experiences have provided her a well-rounded understanding of diverse cultures and learners these attributes are apparent when observing her interactions with scholars during remote learning welcome danielle defam good evening thank you so much it's an honor and privilege to begin my teaching career here in middletown and i'm excited and looking forward to all the opportunities and experiences that it will bring welcome [Applause] hi everyone this next teacher comes from a place that's dear to my heart buffalo new york he started as an english teacher then his love of the french language moved him into teaching french he has a ton of experience with curriculum development and makes learning a new language fun and exciting i am proud to introduce peter cavanagh i just like to say

007thank you so much for the opportunity to teach for middletown it's not where i began my career but it is ultimately where i hope to continue it stay with it and finish it french positions are not easy to find throughout the state and so when you find one in a school where your administrative team and your colleagues not only want to collaborate with you but support you especially out for throughout the first month of of something that um you know we've all dealt with virtual learning which can be chaotic is something really special so i consider myself amongst some very very fortunate educators so thank you for taking a chance and believing okay our next new teacher is a graduate of middletown she attended corley elementary now presidential mechanics elementary now carter and monhanget which

008we won't hold against her in middletown high school although she is new to teaching she has been moving full throttle with building relationships with her students and making learning engaging i am proud to introduce danielle tope good evening first and foremost i would just like to thank you the middletown city school district for this opportunity i'm um i am grateful to be able to be a part of this opportunity a part of this community that i was brought up in as miss mitten said and i also just want to thank my team at twin for being so welcoming and supportive throughout this journey so far and i know we will continue to do great things thank you good evening uh our next teacher is our eighth grade pre-engineering teacher he has shown a deep knowledge

009of stem has already begun to engage scholars in a variety of topics with his background in computer science from lehman college he is able to provide the scholar for the necessary tools to understand not only the what's but the whys and hows of stem it's my pleasure to introduce luke mcpartlin hello everyone it's a pleasure to meet all of you i am nothing but excited for this opportunity middletown has a fantastic stem program i have been offered jobs where i would essentially be playing minecraft with kids all day or teaching them how to type on keyboards the work i'm doing here is exciting it's meaningful the kids are getting a lot done and it is an absolute honor to be working with all of you so thank you [Music] okay last but certainly not least

010is our new eighth grade social studies teacher he came to this year with a plethora of distance learning experience even though it's being his first year and already hit the ground running his lessons so far have been dynamic and bring to life historical events he consistently pushes the scholars to think critically and to recognize how the past plays a pivotal role in their own lives it is my pleasure to introduce brian stavener thank you all very much i just want to thank mr doma definitely for bringing me on board along with the administration and the staff at twin towers they've welcomed me with open arms and it's been a very exciting experience so far i want to thank mr del maro and miss creeden for also bringing me on board in the middletown community thank

011you to the school board members as well as all of the staff down at central office i look forward to growing as an educator and as a person in the middletown school community thank you thank you and now mr redonia and his team will come up and introduce to the community the new members of the mon hagan middle school staff good evening mr del moro mrs creighton mr tuttle president pastor williams vice president tobias and members of the board of education tonight montague middle school has the pleasure of introducing to you formally six of our seven new teachers this year and they are new teachers um they are doing an amazing job to this point uh it it absolutely amazes me to see we were we were worried about new teachers coming in in this

012environment and by this environment i mean with the pandemic remote learning and all the challenges that teachers face and i have to tell you it's like that's all they've done because that's all they've done so they're doing a really great job of it first person i'd like to introduce you to is miss alice alyssa grieco she's a special education social studies teacher from mercy college she was previously a teaching assistant in chappaqua where she gained some experience with swd populations and iep goal tracking which is really important to us she's working right now with technology to create breakout rooms where she can deliver content and develop relationships strong relationships with our children which again is a challenge because we haven't met many of them yet so miss alyssa grieco hi everyone i'm so excited to

013be here and starting my teaching career here in middletown even though this year is starting off differently i'm so excited for this opportunity and to begin working with my students so thank you so much this is a great honor and i'm so excited for this year [Applause] next we have miss alana magnon alana went to oneonta and received a master's from manhattanville although i didn't know alana prior to her coming here the connection that we had is that she worked student taught i'm sorry student taught in brewster prior to coming here i taught in brewster so i have a little pipeline where student teachers come in and do a really amazing job i get phone calls like hey i got a good one so we obviously interviewed them and and she was very impressive and

014has been off to a great start as well she also student taught in summers during her master's program she's adjusting really well to teaching in a pandemic utilizing technology to engage students in a digital classroom in an ais environment which is very challenging as well because it's so personalized so i'd like to introduce you to miss alana magnon good evening good evening everyone thank you so much for having me tonight and uh yes this is not exactly how i thought my first year full-time teaching was going to begin but that's okay i'm really excited and i've had a great experience so far i think it's the time where our students need more support than ever so i'm really excited to have the opportunity to be that person for them and help them every way in

015any way that i possibly can so thank you so much for the opportunity [Applause] good evening i'm going to introduce miss eva van den mark she is the new 7th 8th grade ais math teacher at monhagan middle school and she is a graduate from mount singh mary college prior to coming to monhagen she was a regents math teacher at cornwall central high school and has already demonstrated her willingness to collaborate with other teachers about different virtual learning modalities that would enhance student engagement and participation during remote learning thank you everyone good evening um although this year is starting off like none other i'm really excited that this is the district that i'm in for my first year being full-time and i'd like to thank everyone for the opportunity [Applause] next i would like to introduce

016miss olivia trubig she is a new art teacher at monhegan middle school and a graduate from long island university who is a lead replacement digital photography teacher at middletown high school which prepared her to be sensitive to the nuances of forming positive relationships providing a safe and nurturing environment and maintaining a positive outlook for all of her students [Applause] hello i just want to say thank you for this opportunity i have both a passion for teaching and for art and i'm glad that i have this opportunity to live out that passion i'm very happy to be in middletown city school district and i thank you for this opportunity [Applause] good evening everyone i have the absolute pleasure of introducing our last two new teachers both of these teachers have a special place in my heart

017because we have brought them from the purple and gold wildcats like myself to the blue and gold bears so i'm very excited about that our first new teacher that i'm introducing is miss kristen price who is with us for our new enl position after graduating from saint mary's with a degree in history and special education kristin went to work at port jervis high school as a special education history teacher from there she then moved on to the bronx as a global history teacher at the new world high school which was which is an international high school where she worked with english language learners and students with disabilities while she was there she received her tesl degree and then moved from the bronx up to warwick where she taught at park elementary school from there she

018took some time off and we are very happy that she is back with us we are very fortunate to have scooped her up and she has been doing a great job in meeting all of our students virtually so far kristin price [Applause] hello i want to say thank you to the board and miss creeden and mr del moro and to my administration and so far every person i have encountered has been so kind and so helpful from the security to personnel to especially my administration my fellow teachers everyone's working so hard especially during this time and it's really exciting and it's amazing to see all the work that's going into preparing for the students and i just want to also say that i'm really excited to be teaching the english language learners in middletown and

019i hope i can get them to celebrate their differences and to really thrive in the community and thank you so much for this [Applause] opportunity and our last teacher that we'll be introducing tonight is ms charlie carter who's teaching sixth grade ela and social studies for us and although i was not present for charlie's interview it's easy to see how dominic and ashley were overwhelmed with her sense of humor and personality although charlie just graduated from hofstra university she has always known and wanted to be a teacher and it is literally in her blood while in college charlie completed her student teaching at herrick's union free school district and new hyde park both on long island during her time at hofstra she was also an r.a a senior r.a a peer teacher and an assistant

020teacher for a local after school program in high school charlie was a member of the warwick valley soccer program and she continued to play on hofstra's club team so if anyone has an in with dave coats she would like to help coach the girls or boys soccer team in hopes of again beating warwick having known charlie for a number of years it is my absolute pleasure to welcome her to the mon hagan family [Applause] good evening everyone i just wanted to say thank you for this opportunity i've been welcomed with open arms and i'm excited to start my career in middletown with such a more supportive staff new and old-timers and to really be hands-on with english and social studies which is definitely one of my passions so thank you again for the opportunity good

021fortune to all of you and welcome yes well welcome moving on recognition announcements community reports uh is there is there anything pressing or anything that we that we need to know can we uh allow mr gomez you have something absolutely please okay well welcome everyone to the 2020-2021 school year it's our open prayer will be an outstanding year for our children uh just reminding everyone that we it's also the time of the year where we celebrate childhood cancer awareness month and to keep in mind all children throughout the united states and around the world who are battling cancer we've seen that here in our district and that stands solidarity with childhood cancer awareness month so we could beat this disease and make it something of the past okay that's one thing another issue within our

022community has been human trafficking i had the opportunity of participating in a human trafficking anti-human trafficking march organized by parents in monroe village here in orange county and i believe this week district attorney dave hubler announced he's starting an initiative against human trafficking that's something important i think that would encourage our our district and school districts to cooperate with every year i believe over 800 000 children nationwide that become victim of human trafficking new york state is one of the underground networks where this occurs and we must make sure our children both boys and girls are aware and are kept safe and sound that's all i have to say thank you mr farino thank you president williams i'd just like to thank our dedicated administrative and instructional staff for the work they've been doing this

023summer and they work that they will be doing and have been doing in the fall and i just want to say thank you especially to central administration mr del morro is a year member of this district mrs creeden i believe is 20 years and mr tuttle is 15 years i don't believe the comprehensive plan for the district would have been possible and so efficiently conceived without without these individuals i remember a time where we had and i think mr scott is in the audience now i remember a time when we had something like 10 superintendents in 12 years so it's important that you have longevity in the superintendent's position we have that you know although we love middletown i'm a graduate of middletown high school i've been associated with this district for decades and decades

024most people however when they assume the superintendency they stay the average stay is about three years middletown is looked at for superintendents unfortunately as a stepping stone we don't have this right now we didn't have it with kenny's when we don't have it with richard delmar who spent his whole virtually his whole life in this district mrs creed in 20 years mr total 15 years a 1 increase in the tax levy thank you mr tuttle and the rest of the central administration mr tuttle took the lead in there so again i just like to express the appreciation to these individuals they are worth every penny of what we are paying them and then some if you didn't have the central administration the tax levy on each household would be lowered by fifty dollars approximately fifty

025dollars average so isn't it worth it to have good people at the helm thank you i'm done thank you anybody else no i i'll reserve my my community um not any of my community announcements until next year we uh the reason i say that is because uh i'm longing for the times that we can we can begin to um again accentuate uh many of the positives that we have going in our in our school community uh with the challenges of of covet 19 and uh all of the things that's occurring in our society right now uh with re-entry with the struggles of reentry and all those different things we have not taken the time to to talk about the the good stuff uh that's that that is happening in the midst of the bad stuff

026and i i tend to believe that um at some point we have to allow the good to far far outweigh the bad um uh and i'm not saying that doesn't doesn't mean that we don't we don't pay attention to to the bad so i i guess for me i'm gonna have to reserve my my comments until until 2021 after after that i'll leave comments to anybody else who's left here so we'll move on i'm sorry i'm i'm you all have to understand i'm not in the good place today uh uh so as we as and and that's not has anything to do with anything else that's happening this is uh the anniversary of the day that we buried uh the greatest man that ever lived as far as i'm concerned and so it's been a

027hard day for me so uh i'm just uh i'm i'm i laugh my way through things i laugh my way through things moving on uh our opportunity to the to address the board uh uh we might just as a reminder again uh you have four minutes you have four minutes uh to uh to address the board mr kucinzo i believe has the timer he has signs that we know that we normally do raise during this time we we listen but uh we we strive not to dialogue but i do want you to understand that we do we are listening and we are hearing and and we do address we will address uh all of the concerns either at a later date or in poor uh person in person directly so uh if you sign in

028you can sign in at the podium and and take your four minutes my name is maria blonde i've been an educator for 35 years after the horrific murder of george floyd i decided to become actively anti-racist and a stronger white ally for people who do not have the white privilege i do i was troubled by the superintendent's less than impressive response to the murder of george floyd and the civil unrest in the country while my two daughters attended middletown schools from kindergarten through graduation and received an excellent education i am fearful for my biracial grandson attending this district education systems have the power to educate or miseducate to empower or disempower all these factors led me to help write a petition for the middletown school district to establish a culture of anti-racism and social equity

029from the top down our petition has over 600 signatures and asked the district leaders along with school board members to investigate and address five tenants backed by research we sent the petition to all board of education members and district administrators on august 12th along with a letter from alumni kaylee brooks which outlines specific instances of racism she experienced within the schools my heart breaks for kaylee and i wonder how many more of the 5 800 students of color have experienced trauma due to racism in this district to the board of education the superintendent who receives over 370 thousand dollars per year in salary and benefits can talk a good talk running circles around the truth that this school district has serious systemic racism issues of which he is the leader let me share a few

030examples the petition suggests five categories which are all vital in addressing disparities racism and inequitable practices that plague all students has this petition or any components of it been distributed and discussed among educators in the school at the encouragement of the superintendent i don't believe so and we should be asking ourselves why not when the petition team meets with the superintendent to address the requests of the petition and bring up issues of race the superintendent seems to think it's his job to tout all the wonderful things the district's doing or going to do as if we are giving them an award instead we're asking the superintendent to listen to students and staff members of color within the district take our petition seriously creating expectations and action steps there's proof middletown needs systemic change bishop james

031rollins former naacp president in middletown is our mentor he will be guiding us behind the scenes until he is done teaching in november i stand here today as an ally alongside these next speakers who are students parents grandparents and community members i hope the school district administrators and board of education will embrace and be responsive to the culture of anti-racism and social equity the petition promotes you have had seven weeks and a day to study these documents and i'm asking anybody who wants to photograph or taken a video of this vote but i'm asking for a show of hands of the board of education members and everyone in front of the room who supports this petition wow one hand one hand up front this blonde i'm not i don't dialogue but what i will i

032will say this uh uh you know and i understand what you're saying i think that the board has the right to to say whether they support or not support i don't think that this particular asking for show hands from the board at this time is is proper to to ask them this their decision if they so do do so my my my uh statements my statements in the past have been known and my uh my actions my actions have already been known so i i don't uh we're here to listen um and i i don't mean to i don't it's not that word it's negative and it's not a negative against anything that's being said it's not it's not anything to to say that we don't support we're here to listen and my my i'll

033speak for myself i'll speak for myself i won't speak for anybody else my actions my life and what i've what i've worked for and worked hard is is already has already been seen and already been done my record speaks for itself um and so i hope that you would accept that from me and accept that uh at this particular stage and we'll address will address the board if the board so desires to address it later we will do so with you uh that i do promise just don't know what to say to that to be honest but uh i hope you will take this petition seriously it's it's very well researched and there's a lot of support there's even been people across new york state that want to use it and as a model for

034schools in new york state and the petition started here so i i hope that we can break new ground good evening everyone my name is co-pastor pamela c rollins i am the co-pastor of the tabernacle located here in the city of middletown i've been a resident of the city of middletown for 24 years and i live in the fourth ward i am also the grandmother of three grand three granddaughters of three granddaughters that attend school in this district my oldest granddaughter is in high school my nine-year-old granddaughter is at carter elementary and my six-year-old granddaughter is at maple hill elementary in your gifted and talented program where she takes one day of spanish and her in all of her classes and the next day in english when i first moved here to the city of

035middletown the first thing i was told that it was a racist place to live i really never tried to go off of what other people say to me i tried to see for myself which i did i experienced it 25 years ago at orange county community college in my very first nursing class where there was a mixed class of students and i believe i and myself and one other lady we were the oldest two in the classes returning adult students to school and this is what our not our white nursing instructor told us to look to the left and look to the right of you because most of you won't make it that was my first encounter of racism in the city of middletown i'm not just here in support of my grandchildren but of

036all children and teachers that will give our children a fair education there are other grandmothers that came tonight not just to support their grandchildren but all children and i would like the coalition of grandmothers that we've just started to please stand as we build on this some are missing because they're in class tonight as we've been told bishop rollins is not here because he's teaching the class we're not just here in support of the students and the teachers but we're also here in support of a lady by the name of mrs maria blonde i've known mrs blond for at least 22 years of the 25 years that i've lived in the city of middletown because she was my advisor at orange county community college and she was also my math professor my first experience with

037mrs blonde was a day that we were told to look to our left and look to our right that most of us were not going to make it and i remember going to her as my advisor and even today it bothers me because i cried so fiercely that day because i was so hurt i was hurt as an adult and as a black woman and i remember mrs blonde taking me around the entire campus of orange county community college and what she said to me was to forge ahead black lives do matter we say all lives matter but black lives do matter so can you imagine if a little black boy in our school district is told that he's going to be no more than a bomb and to go to prison me as a

038black woman as an adult at that time was in tears can you imagine what it would do to our children we are not just here to represent my grandchildren or this grandmother's grandchildren we're here to represent all children of color so we have some concerns we're concerned about one of the teachers a social studies teacher that posted something on her facebook page that was racist dismissive tone and also talking about the coronavirus that she said was fake which we now know is not fake because we have over 200 000 deaths so i have a couple of questions to the board please what caused her to post these comments is she still a teacher in the city of middletown and large school district what are you doing to investigate her harmful teaching practices is there training

039to bring restorative justice to educate her and therapy for the children that she's mistreated is there training to bring restorative justice to educate her and therapy for the trauma and mistreatment of black and brown students who she has caused harm we support this petition and hope that this board of education and educators will embrace a culture of anti-racism and social equity of our petition this is what we're here tonight not just as grandmothers we didn't come out just to represent our own but we came out to represent every child in the enlarged school district of middletown whether they be white black hispanic i don't care if they're polka dots we stand tonight to represent them and if this teacher is still working in our district and you're doing nothing to re-educate her then we the

040grandmothers the coalition of grandmothers we're going to be here until she's not we are here to represent every child and mrs maria blonde she took up a call that nobody else would take up so for those that would want to know who this white woman is her name is maria blonde and she's a just and fair woman and i can attest to that because i as i previously stated i was one of her students over 15 years ago i'm 59 soon to be 59 years old and i would have never thought that i would be standing here in 2020 saying what i have to say today so i hope you would give ear to what is so important to every parent every teacher in this district that maybe would want to speak but afraid of

041jeopardizing their jobs thank you very much um good evening and thank you to superintendent del mora assistant superintendent creeden board president williams vice president tobiason and members of the board i am here speaking in front of you today to bring the issue of inequality and inequity in middletown to light my name is sam mcilroy and i am a sophomore at middletown high school i wrote a letter to the board in early august outlining my concerns with the inequality and injustice against bypoc students a lack of inclusion in our curriculum and social studies and english classes and the lack of diversity in the faculty and staff within middletown schools my letter was met with several responses from the board members as well as the superintendent and the assistant superintendent i and maria blonde met with some

042of you before the school year began in order to figure out the best course of action moving forward in that meeting we discussed kaylee brooks's letter which she had written and sent to the board in july the dignity for all students act or daca and ways that we could better middletown for its students following that meeting i began working with mrs sorrentino and mr whitaker at mhs on building a culture of social acceptance and dignity for my peers and the students to come we are continuing our work and i will be working on the formation of a diversity club in the high school and potentially other buildings these conversations and actions are welcome and good but they are not enough as i am here now i would like to read a part of my letter

043which i feel is the most relevant and includes things that the community and the board need to be reminded of unfortunately it is not apparent to me and others that there is a sense of urgency to address these issues in the enlarged city school district of middletown as we are aware middletown is a city of diversity and many backgrounds there are people of all different racial and ethnic backgrounds living here their children attend the schools with their friends and peers yet the environment that my friends and i are in is unfortunately not free of bias and we are not all treated equitably while you claim to rise up with us you shut down any allegations of racism within your schools and are not taking seriously the need to provide anti-racism and anti-bias training for all

044staff you claim to ensure equity for all students yet you have tighter restrictions on girls and you do not provide adequate support for lgbtq plus students in bathrooms expressions counseling and the like you claim to provide quality instruction yet the curriculum we are taught whitewashes major historical events and focuses heavily on white street male history instead of teaching everything you claim to be against systemic racism yet teachers who make racist comments or make or use microaggressions in class towards bypass students are still teaching without a clear effort to train them in anti-racism and anti-bias behavior you claim to do better for you yet you fail to recognize the apparent discrimination and bias against students and their families you cannot do better if we tell you what we are experiencing and then have our concerns minimized

045or ignored that is gaslighting and it is not acceptable you claim to rise up with us yet you have fallen behind and are trying to drag us down with you you middletown cannot claim to stand with the community if you ignore the issues in your schools the video that was created was nice but it did not cost anyone anything nobody is asking for a supportive video and if the video does not actually lead to positive changes then the message of those cut together clips of everyone joining hands to the tune of andre day will just ring hollow this was written following or the release of a video by the middletown school district which claimed to stand with students and families yet as i speak today while our initial meeting was productive there needs to be

046more progress in implementing suggestions that were made and addressed in order to make a change for the student body you need to hear the voices of the students and community i propose that the district take the following actions you nee i propose that the district take the following actions in in for one implementing a district-wide survey of students to hear what they have to say two implement anti-racism and anti-bias training for all staff three conduct a k-12 curriculum review to decolonize the social studies and ela curricula and for at all levels consider appointing an additional daca coordinate coordinator who is a member of the bipap community i sincerely hope you take these suggestions into consideration and we are able to continue working together in the future thank you for your time hello my name is

047valerie white and i am a community member each dignity for all students act or daca coordinator is appointed to listen and to respond to students educators and staff who feel they're being bullied or discriminated against as well as create a culture of inclusion and fair treatment of all within schools i've heard there's a dasa coordinator in the district who carries around a donald trump book and disregards the seriousness of covet 19 by not wearing a mask how many students of color will feel comfortable talking with this person about any kind of discrimination they've experienced in the school this is an example of systemic racism a remedy we suggest is appointing an dasa coordinator of color to work alongside this core data i am a supporter of this petition and hope this board of education and

048educators will embrace a culture of anti-racism and social equity that our petition prom promotes unfortunately i don't feel very confident in that in terms of your lack of response evening i come to you today to speak on several levels i am a minister in training at the tabernacle of middletown but i'm also a realtor and as each and every one of you know that our home base is our tax base and if we don't have a feeling of diversity which middletown is but in when when a parent is thinking about sending their child to the middletown schools they want to see teachers that look like them it is already proven through research that children do much better when they have teachers that look like them 67 percent of our student body is black or latino

04916 of the teachers are black or latino so you're already starting out with students who don't feel comfortable that they're in a diverse area when parents don't feel like their teeth their students or their kids are in a diverse and acceptable area they do not move here that affects home values and we all know that we need our tax base to be able to fund our schools so i ask that as you're hearing the different people come up and talk about diversity and inclusion think about what it means for our school budget thank you good evening everyone i am elder danita hammock from the tabernacle bishop rollins and co-pastor rollins on my pastors i did not i want to say something to the new staff i did not applaud when you guys were coming up

050and i'll tell you why because if you've been hired to come along into the middletown school district and you're not going to make a difference for all of our children then i cannot applaud you so i what before i applaud you and i will tonight because it's going to be my hope and my prayer that my grandchildren my great-grandchildren are going to have teachers who care about them and not make statements about them being bums and going to jail because they are black so i'm i'm hoping that this administration is going to put something together so that you guys will get diversity training there has to be diversity training and it's okay i understand i don't see many black teachers i look how many of you come in tonight i don't see any black teachers

051i would like to know why i'm hoping someone from the board will be able to tell me what is the curriculum what is the what is the um the requirements why are no black teachers being hired why are there more white teachers and it's really not a color thing anymore it used to be a color thing it's not it's a heart thing it's about teaching all children equally i stand for white children black children reg whatever color i stand for them i support this petition because it has to be about the children i worked with children who are disabled what about them where is when are we going to get to the point where you guys have to sit down and learn about the black race learn about the real real history of the black

052race because i think nobody has the right story we have the story that's in the books that we've been taught please do some research and read our black race is hurting yes i agree all lives matter but they're not killing all lives they're killing black lives i need some i need to know that this board is going to take this up and walk with it and work with it and teach and train the teachers no matter where they come from no matter what color they are so that i can know that my children and everybody else's children are going to be treated equally and fairly thank you [Applause] good evening my name is barbara williams i'm one of the church mothers of the tabernacle here in middletown i remember i grew up in a public

053school system i grew up in the bronx and i remember when my seventh grade teacher because i was in a predominantly white school at the time told me that i would never grow up to be anything more than a cashier at the alexander's department store on fordham road that i carried for a very long time i cannot begin to express to you what that did to me and my self-esteem fortunately i come from a family with strong values and they help me through that but what about the children that don't have that a lot of our children come from homes where the parents may not be well educated and now with this distant learning a lot of our kids are hurting because they don't have internet access their parents don't speak english etc etc but

054i would like for everyone in this room to really stop and think not just about my experience because i went on to do pretty damn well i became a state state-certified substance abuse counselor for 40 years and finally retired but that's besides the point i want you to listen to this question that i have and i want you to ponder it and then i'm going to say goodnight when is it ever appropriate for any so-called educational teacher whatever you're supposed to be as a professional to tell any child that they will never grow to more than a cashier or to tell any child i don't care what color they are that then be nothing but a bum and wind up in prison you have an impact on our children's lives the reality is they spend

055more time with you than they do at home when you add all the hours up what are you doing to our children and when you find those bad apples what are you going to do with them are you going to tell them no no now be nice that's not a nice thing to say or are you going to call them out the way they should be called out because that is emotional and verbal abuse and in any other circumstance in a court of law they'd go to jail have a good evening good evening my name is nicole vancerpool i attend the tabernacle church i moved to middletown 14 years ago because i was born and raised in harlem in grant projects i moved up here to give my five children a chance because i didn't

056want to have them go through the things that they went through in the city i never believed there was racism here until i seen mrs mary's video with moochie merchant back in august i won't say i didn't believe it the first time i experienced it here was with my 14 year old daughter where two young white boys held her down in the back of the school cafeteria and shoved egg rolls down her pants when i asked for the videotapes the person told me and looked at me and actually said to their secretary these people i represent the special needs children the children who can't speak they can't come my son is four years old he's autistic he is non-verbal he cannot come home and tell me if someone did anything to him if someone said

057anything to him i support this position petition and the reason why i do is because the good fair teachers because i've learned that people understand numbers and statistics okay 180 days our children are in school eight hours a day you spend a year 1449 hours with my children that i entrust to you normal child average is in school for 18 years just from elementary to high school it's 25 920 hours i entrust my child to you a teacher spends five hours five five thousand three hundred eight more hours with a child than a parent does you have 5 328 more hours than i do to make a positive influence in my child's life research shows that teachers are the second monumental person in a child's life okay it also shows that teachers are the one

058thing outside of the home because you don't know where these children come from you don't know what they struggle with at home you don't know what they're called at home so you are the next line of defense teaching our children and empowering them you have the ability to impact them in a way that will will go with them past adulthood it also shows that home school internal instructional aside from us parents teaching these things teachers are the second in line who can impact all four of these influences so sitting there and telling a african-american or a brown child that there'll be nothing more than that and will be a bum in the street shame on you teachers change lives they influence lives they impact the opinions and mindsets of how children see themselves and what

059they believe that they will come become as my apostle says and i'm putting this charge on use impact on contact good evening pastor mr perez mr williams st louis good evening is team members of our board community all respectable administrators everyone who does not know me my name is shane johnson i'm an alumni of middletown high school i graduated last year um truth be told i came tonight in good faith you know i enjoyed the splendor i drove here with because when i was approached with the components of tonight's discussion i expected things to be a lot better than the antagonistic you know atmosphere towards our board with the middletown high school i learned and i expected us to be a little more proactive and protective of our students i guess so sorry to say

060i've been a bit disillusioned in the past 10 to 15 minutes as you know i've listened to everybody's stories and for those who do know me i must assure you that you've given me great impetus because for all of my administrators whenever you asked me what i wanted to be in life i don't think i ever awarded you with an answer but i would do that tonight i do want to be an agent of change and tonight has done nothing but reinforce that you know for a community that i love and respect so much for tonight's conversations i've gone away it has is a huge disappointment i don't say that to any of you individually i know you are a great people but i must admit i expected a lot more from you guys and

061i'm shaking and you know i'm a little hot saying this because i do mean that from the bottom of my heart i thought that things would have gone a lot better but um i want to say thank you for you know the help that you're going to give me as we begin to work together because i believe i'm going to impose on you guys a lot more from here on now as i see that you know my voice is probably needed here thank you so much hello can you hear me okay i got this fluffy mask on um my name is norma jean martini i graduated from middletown high school in 2009 i'm here today to read a statement on behalf of kaylee brooks who was at college and could not be here tonight kaylee

062sent a letter to the superintendent the president of the board and a high school principal about the pro the trauma that she experienced and witnessed as a black student in middletown the president of the board replied to kaylee's letter a month after she sent it when someone asked him to the superintendent replied more than 40 days later and the principal has not yet replied kaylee states i don't have much more to say because i'm at a loss for words i believe that the head of the board was sincerely sorry about not reaching out to me but the superintendent was not very remorseful considering he works with people of color i believe that he would listen to my concerns and those of many others talking about how you financially care for our schools doesn't matter if

063students are feeling uncomfortable at school as students are as students we respect our diversity and appreciate each other so i demand that same love and respect from the adults teaching in our schools now i have my own statement as well i am a supporter of the petition to establish an anti-racist and social justice culture in the middletown city school district i'm not a member of the bipop community so i cannot say that i've experienced racism firsthand i do however listen to and believe the stories told by bypac members of this community and i'm here to amplify their voices tonight and inform you that it does in fact exist i feel as a white person growing up in this town that i was not taught the dark history of this area nor was i educated on

064racial issues leaving me ignorant to and unprepared for the real world there was no class no workshop or seminar that i experienced while attending middletown city schools that addressed and educated me on racial issues in black history nor supported me in the unlearning of my racial bias my personal education on this subject was done on my own accord however this is work that many never take the time or have the guidance to do i have many white friends who graduated from the school who are not sympathetic or interested in the black lives matter movement they do not see their privilege and this school system did not guide them racial bias is nearly impossible for white people to see on their own because it's not directed at them the first time i truly experienced it in

065this area was at a black lives matter protest in goshen this year where people yelled racial slurs at us and gave us middle fingers it was directed at me because i was standing within four black people the anger and vile racism i witnessed was terrifying while on a road trip across the united states last year i asked a woman from mississippi what it feels like knowing that your ancestors may have owned slaves she smiled and replied i don't know what does it feel like knowing that your ancestors may have owned slaves i should not have learned at 28 years old that we have had slavery in new york until i should not have learned just this year that route 84 and the broadway school newberg were built on slave cemeteries and that montgomery is home

066to one of the only marx slave cemeteries in the state i should not have learned just this year that the hudson valley was part of the underground railroad and i should not have learned as an adult on my own accord how to unlearn my racial bias that should not be and cannot be it's possible to think that children and teachers in this district would learn because the district is 67 percent bypack but i'm here to tell you that just because you spend every day in a classroom with people of color does not mean that you will just unlearn your racial bias this is called the work because it is work and this district needs to do better for its children no child should go to school and have a teacher or a fellow classmate make

067them feel misunderstood or uncomfortable because of their color of their skin no child should feel unheard like kaylee brooks just because you do not see this as a problem does not mean it doesn't exist so please listen to the sixty seven percent bypack student population listen to these local residents that are here today who signed the petition being not racist is not enough and this district needs to be anti-racist we need a program put in place in this district that will guide students and teachers to unlearn their bias we need to make sure the local history of people of color in this area is no longer erased we need to be honest with white people about their local history and ancestral bias so not another single white person in this town can say new york

068never had slavery so i'm not racist in a world where brianna taylor's neighbor's wall got more justice than she did this can no longer be we cannot have any more white children or teachers in this school district hurt by poc students because they were not educated by the one system put in place to do just that educate this problem will not just magically disappear and we need to do something and we need to do it with intention i am a wholehearted supporter of this petition and i hope this board of education and educators will embrace the culture of anti-racism and social equity that this petition promotes thank you [Applause] good evening my name is daryl mcelroy i used to serve on the board not too long ago i don't think um i'm a parent educator

069and community member and i wanted to address a few issues tonight first i support the speakers who spoke before me so eloquently on the subject of equity inclusivity and racial justice i also support the petition that has been discussed we have a unique opportunity to make significant progress on these issues it is fitting that this meeting takes place in the middle of hispanic heritage month and on the start of lgbtq history month speaking truth to power is never easy but it is as the late john lewis said good trouble as many of you know i am a social studies teacher and department chair in another local school district even before our nation began its racial reckoning with the tragic murders of brianna taylor ahmad arbury and george floyd we began discussions in my department on

070race and how to change our curriculum that work accelerated and continued in the spring and summer because the pandemic is no excuse to delay change after all justice delayed is justice denied we have undertaken this work examining our own biases implicit or otherwise and reevaluating our curricula because we believe our students deserve an education in history that doesn't whitewash the past in order to make serious political and social change white students and bipark students must learn an accurate history of the world and the united states when it comes to matters of race gender class and sexual orientation gender identity expression but the teachers administration and staff anyone who comes into contact with our students from the bus driver to the cafeteria worker to the safety officer to the school resource officer must also have the

071training and education so they can in their classrooms or in their offices have an inclusive environment when they're dealing with discipline it is fair and just and culturally responsive and that they can also avoid hurtful comments and actions that are spirit murdering their black and brown students and the white students are also harmed when they witness these things because it reinforces racism and white supremacy we need to listen to our babies they are telling us that they are hurting and when we ignore them it makes the problem worse i believe that some in education just don't know what they don't know on these issues and they need the opportunity for personal and professional growth i also believe that our kids are counting on us to do the right thing and we must meet the moment

072i also know personally many of the people on the board and in the administration and i do believe that they are going to take appropriate action and if they don't we will be back i also wanted to address a community concern about the reopening of school i am strongly opposed to the district position that parents are forced to choose between health and the education of their child under the current policy students must either have a medical condition or live with someone who does to continue remote learning beyond the re-entry date other neighboring districts allow parents to make that choice without having to jump through an additional hoop it almost seems like if you live in a wealthier district and a wider district you can make that choice to not jeopardize your kids health and your

073family's health but not here kovid as i think we all know has disproportionately impacted black and brown families across the nation and whether you're a black or brown family or not you shouldn't be put in that position orange county today 56 cases four percent positivity neighboring rockland 184 cases 8.6 positivity exponential growth nothing in the hybrid model that i've seen would preclude allowing a few more students to stay home and in fact it would help teachers and administration maintain the social distancing in the classrooms and in the hallways and in the cafeteria which will be a dystopian experience believe me i know how difficult it is to teach a hybrid class because i've been doing it for the last two weeks we would all agree that in person is the ideal but not at the

074expense of health and safety lastly rumors are swirling about an acceleration of re-entry into the hybrid learning model i hope that is not the case and that you will stick with the planned return dates for a variety of reasons not the least of which is that it is the safest way to protect our kids and our families as of now infinite campus on another last issue i promise i also believe that students in the same household were supposed to be in the same cohort and according to what my wife and i were looking at on infinite campus one daughter is on one schedule and the other daughter is on another so if that is in fact the case uh who do i talk to to get that fixed and the other parents who may be

075in a similar situation because we're kind of relying on my older daughter to provide child care while she's going to school and the other one is you know it's a the whole thing is a mess but thank you is there anybody else oh mr strata and i'm going to ask everybody just to stick around after this is over please for just a few minutes if you don't have to rush out good evening everybody my name is ed estrada a former school board member here at middletown for 13 years i did a couple of years as board president and i want to thank all of you for coming out for bringing a very important subject something that i think in middletown we've battled all our lives you know obviously i'm a man of color as well

076when i first moved into this community in 1976 within a week of being in this school district i got in a fight because the kid called me a speck a few months later our neighbors put dog crap on our front porch and put it on fire during a christmas event they took one of our cars and pushed it into the middle of the road as an adult as a married adult i went to basset furniture anybody ever remember bassett furniture on 211 my wife and i bought a beautiful bedroom set at a certain price thought we were getting a nice little deal and unbeknownst to us one of my best friends came in bought the same set at a different price and i complained to the owner at that time who told me i can't

077be racist because my son has a racist roommate as a black roommate in college that was his response to me racism has existed it exists and it will continue to exist unless we empower people to do something about it and i'm glad for the grandmaster come out mrs rollins i've known your family for ages and you've been important members of our community for a long period of time samantha and shane you were the two most powerful speakers tonight you know the the point samantha brought up the four points i think are something with dialogue that can be incorporated and i don't think there's anybody on that school board that's going to say no to you with thoughtful discussion on how to bring about that change that'll happen and shane keep being a voice for your

078community because it will always be needed when it's quiet is when things happen for the most part that does not shed the responsibility from our parents at home who might be listening because whatever is taught in this district even the changes that we are all looking for and recommending it goes for not if they go home and are taught something else i am the proud father first time i'm saying it publicly even though a lot of people already know but i'm the proud father of a 2017 graduate of this house of the school district who's a member of the lgbtq community i'm the proud father of an autistic child also graduated from this district and although i give a lot of kudos to the school district that made them the individuals who they are i

079give mom and dad and grandma and grandpa and the aunts and uncles and the cousins as much credit as well because they helped mold them as as moral kids growing up as well so let's not shed our responsibilities as parents unfortunately i haven't read the petition yet i've told somebody's going to email it to me it's always been a challenge in this district to hire a diverse faculty and a diverse administration i was glad to see as you can see some of our administrators standing in the back and some who presented some of our new faculty that we have begun a good progress as far as having a diverse administration within the school district the challenges that we've always had here believe it or not are economic mr perino can remind all of us of

080a time when the university of vermont made a deal with the middletown city school district they needed a diverse student population and we needed diverse teachers so there was if he remembers a coalition with the university of vermont that if we were able to have students diverse students go to their campus and learn about teaching and become teachers they would come back to our district as teachers that eventually went down the wayside i don't know what happened with that program but there's always been an eye towards trying to get that level of diversity within our teaching staff and our administrators here i had one gentleman who was really interested in being a principal in the school and we couldn't afford him because he was getting paid so well down in new york city and westchester

081those are the challenges that every school district in orange county faces is that we have our budgets and they don't match anything that a teacher in rocklin or westchester new york city make we have a lot of folks who actually live in our community and are commuting to new york city as teachers and principals we need that talent here i don't know what the answer is from a budget perspective because obviously we have a tax base that we have to keep in mind in regards to the economics of everything so everything i don't want to you know it's a long night i thank all of you for coming out i will do one friendly reminder and i've i've spoken with mrs blond many a time as my years here on the board but let's remember

082to work together on the problem and create solutions to the problem we do not bring hope by tearing people down and i know every single one of these folks mr williams and his barber shop do a tremendous job with our diverse student population and our poor students here in the district pastor williams absolutely right if you heard his comments at the last school board meeting you know where he comes from mr del morrow has given 30 years of service to this diverse school district and his record is impeccable not perfect but none of us here are and we're not saying that we live in a you know that that great land where we can do no wrong every single day we can improve in this school district the moment we think that we have it

083all right is the day we have it all wrong so let's work together these folks are going to be the answer they will work with you very happily it may not be on a dime unfortunately and that's where you push a little bit more but even i look at mrs blumenau who i sat on the board with and i remember hearing from a government official government official we need to get the jew off the board that was within the last five years so that exists for all of us whether you're black brown puerto rican jewish what have you so let's work together to get it done let's try not to do it by disparaging the board disparaging the superintendent in any way if they're a little slow of footing getting back to you then we'll

084work on that but let's not take our our eye off the prize because when i hear people attacking other people i lose their message i start listening about the attack and not about the substance of what they're talking about so with that thank you very much everybody anybody else one okay hi everyone so i apologize if i stutter or if i have to go over something twice because i don't have a speech planned or anything but the passion i've seen here today has really moved me and i i really want to speak about this um i'm a new pre-engineering teacher coming to the school and i may not book it but my mother was a cuban immigrant and um i i acknowledge that you know i'm i also appear i'm sorry i'm going about this

085doorway i'm the opposite of what he was talking about before i'm commuting up here from yonkers i was offered jobs at a much higher pay rate um to do significantly less if i'm being honest and i i wanted to come here i i'm passionate about these students and i just wanted the grandmothers to know these speakers to know that you have someone who is on your side in these issues um already in my class we've really emphasized uh stem professionals who the students relate to um people like neil degrasse tyson people like frederick douglass the students were assigned to find professionals in stem professions steam professions so are included as well who had similar backgrounds to them similar histories who who they could aspire to be like to who whose jobs like neil degrasse tyson

086an astrophysicist jobs that they could have one day and i just i'm moved by your passion and i really am blown away by everyone here so thank everyone i thank you all thank you is there anybody else i want to i want to first of all take attention out the room um anybody that knows me knows i'm a very passionate person a very passionate speaker i want to take the tension out the room every last one of these board members that sit here at this table applaud each and every one of you for coming to the mic and speaking your courage your boldness your passion the reason that i did what i did at the beginning of this particular dialogue was not to cause tension anybody that knows me here and and and most of

087you all know me the tabernacle the tabernacle is is my family and they know they they know me and uh most you'll know that i've been on the front lines of of pretty much most of the most of the protests and the marches that have been going on those that sit here that are part of my congregation know that i'm a very strategic person and i operate very directly the reason that i did what i did at the beginning of the meeting was because i wanted you to have the opportunity to be able to speak from your complete raw emotion for us to respond at that particular point is not is not an indication of our silence to these issues and to the things that are going on i needed you to speak so that

088we can listen from your raw emotion there's no secret there's no secret that when we first had our first meeting uh with the with the petitions first team that we we walked out of that meeting uh a little confused there was no and there's no secret that when we walked into the meeting all of us every last one of us was uneasy i think that i think that they would admit that as well i i will admit that i came out that meeting and and the events of the next day left me very very upset i don't like having my my words misunderstood and misspoken that's me personally the second meeting i thought was was more productive the thing that i shared as we came out the first meeting and and those that were in

089the meeting said i said i'm hoping that this whether it be a contention or whether it be something that we that we walk out smiling at each other i would hope that it was the beginning of a process that would take us to a better place and that would accomplish all the goals that we actually all do have i grew up in this town i'm third generation middletown i grew up and i said this last week this stuff don't come off i got 56 years as a black man i don't need nobody to tell me how i should feel about being a black man i'm good at speaking for myself and i speak for myself when i say i've i've faced the racism and and faced the struggles not just of this region but all

090over in my travels those that know me i travel all over the world you know experienced it speak from my heart when i tell you that you're not speaking to people who are not listening and people who are not concerned i agree with the tenets and the foundations of the petition i say that i don't feel i should have had to say it because those of you that know me know my actions speak louder i don't expect the board at this particular moment to lift their hands up and say anything i expect them to listen because words are only rhetoric until you have action and so i've already charged this board and they know we've said and we've had discussion and we we we we in fact the truth of the matter is when we

091were coming into this room before you before this meeting started we were in deep discussion over there over in the other room about where do we go from here had nothing to do with with you all coming here tonight because i i sent an email out earlier today welcoming welcoming everybody here tonight and i i hope that you will continue to feel welcomed but i i've charged the board and and and most of you know that i that there is a there is a some of you know there is a resolution from this board that is being prepared we are going through painstakingly going through it together as a board because it cannot be i'll make my own personal statements i told you i can speak good for myself but the statement that comes from

092this board has to be something that every last one of the members of this board has an input on and so i would not release a statement until everybody on the board has had an opportunity to to have input on the resolution with that being said i we did not put it on the agenda tonight because we want to get it right we i hope that everyone will understand that we we want to get it right there's been we've we we've we're not making excuses and we're not making we're not making uh uh uh you know not making uh being silent to the voices that cry out because i'm one of the voices but we want to get it right we want to make sure that when we make our statement that it's the right

093statement and that it addresses the needs and the and the hurts of everybody that's involved we want to make sure that when we speak that we're speaking not just from head but we're speaking from heart because you can say again words are rhetoric you could have stood at that mic tonight and spoke your words and it wouldn't have meant anything if you didn't speak your heart what we heard tonight was your heart and and i can speak for every last one of my colleagues that's sitting here at this table tonight we heard we hear and there's going to be action behind it there's going to be action behind it all i ask for is the patience of the process there's a sense of urgency and and and we we address the sense of urgency but

094there is a there is a process and i'm hoping that we will work together to work through the process that we will have meaningful conversation and not attacks not from our end neither from anybody else's end this district i don't i don't address this district when i talk about the members of of this this community everyone here at this table knows i do not address this district from top to bottom i dress this district from side to side because everybody is valuable everybody everybody is involved in this no matter what position they hold and so again i applaud you i do i applaud you and i thank you for coming tonight i hope that you hear my heart tonight and i hope that you know that that that this this this board we're i as

095as as not as the president of the board not as the president of the board but as a friend and colleague to each and every one of these people that are sitting in this desk they know that i have charged them i've charged them to to move forward and and to make a statement of our belief our intent and our purpose and i'm confident that as we move forward in the midst of all the storms that we face whether it be health crises social crises whatever we face i'm confident that we are all gonna come out at the end of the day i don't always see it i gotta be honest i don't always see it today has not been a good day for me but when i when i go home tonight i'm gonna

096go to bed because i think that because you all have come here to talk tonight because we have taken time to listen and not respond right now our response is not going to make any difference without action i think that i'm going to be able to go to sleep and feel that we've made some steps in the right direction and that we're going to have some victory in this i hope that you hear that and i hope that you i hope that you that you even if you don't believe it right now i hope that at some point at some point you'll be able to see it and grasp hold of the tangible the tangible moves that the district is and will make in order for us to move forward is that all right with

097you thank you thank you guys for listening and thank you guys for coming don't stand for me don't stand for me don't stand for me stan no no no no who i applaud who i applaud tonight i applaud i do applaud and and and ed said it the best i applaud thank you thank you for that but don't stand for me i i applaud all of you that came but mostly i got to say uh daryl daryl i said it before um samantha samantha is a is a jewel shane shane already knows how i feel about them i applaud i applaud them i applaud them i applaud the kelly and and all of those that that spoke up we got to keep moving forward and i hope that we can do that i hope that

098we can do that thank you thank you in fact if you don't mind can can can we applaud samantha kaley and shane tonight can we do that [Applause] all right thank you thank you very much is that did that take the air out out the ball just a little bit did it take a little bit of attention does anybody does anybody feel just a hair better just a hair better i i hope so i hope so um i hope so i really do i hope so we're going to move on and complete our business tonight and move on with our superintendents report turning into the hands of our superintendent mr del maro it's in your hands thank you pastor williams members of the board of education community that here as well as in a remote

099environment at home thank you guys for coming thank you so much again thank you very much pastor williams members of the board of education members of the middletown school community [Music] before i begin with the schedule of the reminding all of the community regarding the re-entry plan that was put out and approved by the state education department i have it on third time's a charm they say so good evening everyone uh pastor williams vice president it's on [Music] members of the board of education in the large city school district community before i will report to the community regarding all the parents guardians caregivers regarding our reentry plan that's been approved by the board of education as well as state education department just like to make a few comments about this evening's opportunity to address the

100board certainly there is no one inside this school district board of education as well as all of the administrators and teachers and support staff administrators and on and on uh all support the positions of equality and the intolerance as i have mentioned at this table over the last two years let alone over the last recent events in our society or country in terms of my responses and what people may feel as passionate or not passionate enough i can only speak from my heart and i still not waver from the moment i arrived in this district many many summers ago so today i have no less passion for every child in this district then than i have now and i've been fortunate and very privileged to have several positions of leadership inside this district as president

101principle at the elementary level middle school level as well as over in central office and two other leadership positions before assuming a very privileged and very critical role of superintendent to think that the five tenets that were placed in front of me in terms of the petition was not important is so far less than the truth or inaccurate in indeed prior to the petition each one of these tenants educated professional development around racism was provided and will continue to be provided to the staff of intolerance and biases inequities microaggressions etc increased staff diversity we have made strides in this area certainly the challenges of refuntis that were articulated by a member of the community still confront us but nevertheless does not deter us from that ever difficult task of increasing diversity it is the forefront

102of our thinking of our recruitment and hiring curriculum design and reform took place around two years ago when the state education department redesign their social studies and english curriculums that are known more frequently known as the frameworks and regarding the fact of making our students and our schools as well as all of the children in the state of new york more aware of the reality and maybe not just what we read in history books as teachers as educators but what took place many years ago hundreds of years ago and throughout the course of history each of us have to own up to that reality that we have to expand the minds of children that is our role that is our duty to do that and we will continue to do that and make the necessary

103changes colleagues that work with me in these areas of specialization are working in this endeavor currently and have been and will continue to do so analysis of school discipline again prior to the petition we recognize that two years ago when we started our student support work with hiring individuals additional crisis interventionists student support counselors student support administrators sending teams to different school districts about restorative practices and trauma bringing in doctors to work with again in this february prior to covet prior to petition and i bring this up to the petition individuals and their interpretation of that i was seeking awards is so far less than the truth i responded just as i did now to the issues that we're working on and please understand at no point in time are we saying this is the

104be all and end all this is a long journey systematic racism does not end by one pd one workshop no one is saying that this is just the first steps to a long journey in this school district we've recognized that on our own accord even to the point where we initiated on our own which started today and equity and access audit by an independent consultant firm beloved community that is the name of the consultant firm no one asked us to do it no one mandated this no one required us to do this we did this on our own because we recognized the need to have a very systematic look at this organization in every aspect and this comprehensive audit will take a period over weeks where we survey students survey adults all of the adults

105that work in this district as well as community members all have a voice to this process i applaud the board of education i employed all the administrators i applaud all the teachers i applaud the individuals that came here tonight because they did speak from the heart and to say that none of these things exist is again far less than the truth no one no one and matter of fact one of the chief justices said it so clearly we do not hang our civil rights at the schoolhouse gate nor do we bring our constitutional rights and leave them outside absolutely not and that is what needs to be forwarded by everyone that touches a child we are entrusted to the most precious most noblest of duties to influence young men and women to think intelligently to

106think objectively and to think informed and bias and racism and microaggressions cannot and will not be tolerated as i mentioned that in this district and when we are addressed with that we will deal with that all within constitutional rights thank you monday october the 5th as what was put out on january 31st 2020 we have a re-entry plan as we are all on a remote environment at this time due to safety and health as paramount in our decisions for student and staff alike and tonight i'm very pleased to report that monday october the 5th commences our phase-in approach to have children return back to the buildings with our kindergarten grade level as well as some special ed self-contained classes grades k through 12. and we'll be in that schedule for two weeks and then october

107the 19th all of those children re return as well as first grade then the week after that second grade and third grade the week after that and so on and so forth that we get to fifth grade now in that approved plan it says secondary to be determined or to be announced because the complexity of secondary ed and scheduling is far less difficult to plan all the logistics around the guidance that is expected of us from the state education department and the department of health because they're changing classes every so often and a large part of the guidance is to minimize student movement social distancing and so on and so forth so i would just like to remind all the parents that that we are in an a b schedule or alternate schedules because of

108social distancing so all of the children in the classroom cannot come that's in the roster at one time in person at this time because of the requirement of social distancing as i've explained several times before because we still receive those questions why can't all the children come back immediately we have to socially distance the desks we can only get about eight nine in some cases ten because of the size of the classroom at a time so that would mean that a a teacher's roster that may have let's say 24 students 12 would be able to come in or 10 or somewhere in there 10 would remain home but remember some of the children have been eligible to remain home all the time so the rosters aren't filled to capacity in that flex schedule one day

109in one day at home in terms of that class so you have in building learning taking place in person excuse me and then of course virtual at home so we're trying to again look at all of the aspects of this reentry plan and making sure that wherever possible bring back students earlier because the scholars should be in the schools no one has ever said that remote or virtual learning is equal to having that connectivity with the teacher with their classmates with the food service worker with the bus driver with the custodian with the security etc etc the clerical staff as they enter their school nothing measures up to that we know that but i can only applaud our teaching staff and administrators in the buildings and the support administrators for making a very valid attempt

110a diligent one of a robust environment for learning october the 9th was not too far away marks five weeks into the school district already so it is our continued effort to look at how can we bring back more students in a safe manner to protect the scholars as well as the staff that work with them that teach them that nurture them that educate them in an environment that speaks to fairness and equity and in sensitivity so no one in this school district is an opponent an opponent of any of those tenants we applaud them because we believe in them and we will continue to grow as a district and provide the necessary education for our educators they are the leaders of learners and we will support them i want to thank all of the parents

111for your patience because we do realize the hardship believe me from the bottom of my heart this has been a very wrenching time for us in making these decisions because we do realize the need to support your family financially and the impact that people have lost positions why we continue to really out outnumber all of the school districts in distribution of food continuing to do this so that we provide the necessary nourishment for our community we're picking up students in the neighborhoods and bringing them our high schoolers to the ctec programs over at boces because we believe in those students desire in those programs it's not required but we do it because we want to foster their education that's what we believe in this school district do we have areas for improvement absolutely we look

112at that daily and how we can foster critical thinking because regardless and no matter what position no matter what career one seeks comprehension and analysis of text is so critically important numeracy understanding how our minds work and the effects of what's around us portrays to be what's our thinking about all of these are critical pieces to what we do in our classrooms and we certainly don't want to hinder with unacceptable attitudes by individuals we are fortunate that is not a large number but whatever that number is is even if it's one it's unacceptable we want to hear and we will continue to hear and we will seek out the voices of all of the students we can only grow with honest dialogue with a cross-section of all the students all of the staff and that

113is our work ahead of us it's a long journey we welcome it with great intensity and commitment thank you for you uh would you please schedule for the secondary because there's some concern out in the community would you address the schedule for the secondary re-entry because apparently some teachers have made some mention in class about when the freshman we will be returning certainly i was holding off on that and i will make some announcement now i was holding off on that because we're still working on some of the logistics but as the guidance plan indicated secondary students grades 6 through 12 to be determined and the fact of the matter is we're trying to have as we call recall as many students into the building as soon as possible so what has been uh discussed

114is that starting in november right our ninth uh our are on november the ninth you know sixth grade uh we're looking at bringing in remember everything is on an alternate schedule on an a b schedule because of social distancing and then the week after that november 16th seventh grade and then the week after that is thanksgiving week the 23rd of november all six seven and eight grades would be in alternate measure now these are i haven't put them out yet in the community we have told the staffs that had faculty meetings and meetings with committees and grade levels that we're looking at this so that we can make the proper arrangements with the bus companies food service there's so much support behind that needs to be taken care of as far as the high school

115is concerned we were looking at november the 16th ninth grade only that week and then the following week november the 23rd week again that's the week right before the week of thanksgiving all of the grades 9 10 11 and 12. again on an alternating basis all right so um we'll get that out after we have a few final discussions obviously it takes a great amount of effort here uh there's been an increase of numbers i know that it was mentioned by one of our community members there are a significant number of students that have been eligible to remain remote obviously they'll provide some other issues for us to do that as we have remote learning going on on an all year basis and then also on this alternate basis so that we have to prepare

116our students for state exams that as we know right now as i speak on this day of october the first is still in place we're waiting on word from the state education department whether there will be regions this year we were informed this week the superintendents that as that meeting occurred on wednesday yesterday that they're printing the january regions but that we would hear in about three weeks time hopefully whether or not there will be regions but they're printed then preparing them so we need to prepare our students for these exams but also let's think what is on paramount to all of this the connection again between the teacher and the scholar from child to child when the high school came in at the end of june for their graduation garments you should have seen

117the look on their faces and the hugs that they gave each other because they missed each other or when parents came to pick up chromebooks at the various diplomas deployments and the fact that we had all you know some of the students there even though they were in the cars with their parents the excitement cannot be dismissed the importance of that coupled with obviously cannot substitute in-person teaching for remote to the extent we're in that because we have no choice so these are issues and certainly not everyone's going to agree with them but we work with them not against anyone and we listen very carefully and we realize we cannot make everyone happy with all the decisions but i can assure you we make it with foresight and the interest of each child in this

118district's benefit we really do so those are the plans so far obviously um you know we will address any of the logistic issues and then by case-by-case basis you're welcome let's let's let's go ahead and move on and and and and get everybody home tonight moving on to our action items action items need a motion for the approval of financial memorandum number 10 please so move moved and seconded any discussion in favor opposed so passes need a motion for the approval of our special services memorandum number seven shall move any discussion all in favor all right opposed so passes need approval of our district-wide safety plan for 2020 2021 moved and seconded any discussion all in favor all right opposed so passes approval of our moa directors and supervisors may have a motion please shall

119move [Music] any discussion all in favor opposed it so passes approval of our moa school administrators association there we go it's been moved in second to any discussion all in favor aye aye opposed so passes approval of of resolution superintendent employees medical examination authorization second moved and seconded any discussion all in favor opposed so passes uh committee committee reports the audit committee um mr bison i turn it into your hands thank you pastor the audit committee met last last thursday september 24th i believe that everyone has a copy of the minutes of the june 30th 2020 meeting i need a motion to accept the minutes i have i have an approval okay in a second by pastor any discussion hearing none the motion to approve the minutes passes at the september 24th meeting we approved

120the weekly claim via email for june 29th july 22nd august 3rd 9th august 17th 24th 31st and september 7 and 14. we did have questions that were submitted by the audit committee and which we did have a response to so we need for the board to approve um my report saying that these were reviewed so i'm looking for a motion so move on okay any discussion there hearing none that was approved we also reviewed on the treasurer's report we had at our meeting on our auditors and they presented us with the draft and uh believe that this is available to all um with regards to [Music] the financial statement ending june 30th 2020. one of the things that i know this district has been criticized in the past for the large i want to i'm

121doing this the amount that we had in our reserve fund in 2016 our reserve fund had approximately 27 million dollars today our reserve fund has approximately 10 million dollars we have used the amount in the reserve fund to help reduce our tax rates as well as some other projects i don't want anyone out there in the audience to think that this district is trying to have a large reserve fund that is far from the truth um andy harris from the accounting firm reviewed the document as i said with us we do have some comments that we addressed with him and i don't know i have other members of the committee here does anyone want to make a comment john or yeah i'll make one comment and that is a you have to understand everyone that

122a reserve fund is necessary you don't know when unforeseen expenses come up if you have to replace a water heater it's not like replacing a water heater in your home the the water heaters in the buildings amounted thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars things like that come up which you can't anticipate and as a director of facilities mr bartlett can vouch for me on that mike do you have anything um that you'd like to go over with us that i might have missed yeah no i'd just like to thank the committee for having the meetings and approving all the monthly documents i think our finance staff who does a great job maintaining the books and getting all the audit information out in a timely manner we have over 200 million dollar budget and so

123it's a lot of moving parts a lot of pos are processed a lot of accounts payable a lot of taxes are received so we do a great job there just one point of clarity um with that reserve uh that was actually the unappropriated fund balance that those amounts so nowhere is that june 30th when you have money left over from not spending enough that's what they call unappropriated fund balance that was 2016 that was the 27 million dollars we had left over so now we're down to 10 million which is five percent of the budget and legally we need to be at four percent so we've cut that down having all the extra funds and that's one of the things that comptroller came in and talked to us about and really uh slapped our hands

124about having too much appro unappropriated fund balance at the end of each year so um just keep in mind this is a year you're going to really want some reserves for the next three years it's going to be a tough road for us state 8 is going to be tough so we're going to really start buckling down on our finances so again thank you everybody for your efforts and the next audit committee meeting is january 29th 2021. thank you thank you any other committees external orders sorry i was just um we need to approve the external auditor's report i have a motion from mr cresenzo i need a second a second second pastor williams any discussion hearing none all in favor aye thank you it is approved thank you mr bison um to to um

125to what will probably be one of the most important [Music] committees going forward from here based on what we're going to have to face as mr tuttle was talking about with with funding fair funding fair funding is going to be an extremely vital part of what we do right now um it's gonna require us to step outside of the box of some of the things that we're doing and really um uh hold you know albany's feet to the fire so um with that being said uh mr gomez thank you mr president we held our first fair funding committee for the 2020-2021 school year on september 30th we were joined by our new committee member mrs hugheson along with frank lichtman and mr tuttle and the focus of our discussion was the possible impact and scenarios

126of the interest of the 20 budget cuts announced earlier this summer by the governor of the state of new york in our discussion we addressed the fact that over half or 56 to 58 percent of our financing is based on state aid a 20 cut could amount up to 23 a loss of 23 million dollars in revenue and while we received i believe for september most of the uh our aid or what we were expecting at the time the big challenge as noted by mr tuttle of the conclusion of mrs tobias outstanding report will be for the next year or or the future the near future and i think our district one thing that we were discussing the very wise and prudent steps our district has taken uh in taking fiscally fiscal uh uh responsible

127steps to ensure that our financial house remain in order uh sometimes in prior board meetings we raise the issue by exploring things such as a buying freeze hiring freeze maybe uh retirement packages incentives as well and i know our district has taken prudence steps along those lines to the extent to minimize any possibility of on painful layoffs so we kept our house in order we kept uh and that's very good and that's again it goes to what was said by miss tobias and uh and by mr perino the importance of having a rainy day a reserve fund a a strong reserve fund because that will have us prepare not all for future challenges as we have been able to keep our tax levy below the cap afford our our residents a lowest possible tax rate

128possible when it comes to the property taxes in the midst of living one of the most highly taxed states so that's something our district could be proud of and and i mean as we look at the projected uh budget cuts there is a possibility that may be less uh or the twenty percent for hyannis district uh i think or ten percent maybe ten percent but still that's a lot of that is we're talking in the millions of dollars range and the the word out there in the i guess in the state politics arena there's a lot of pressure uh on the governor to take a look at what his counterpart in ohio uh what governor mike dewine has done who are also facing uh budget uh very stringent budget having to cut education budgets the

129they've protected haines districts as most as possible to ensure that there's equity and the children those districts are not at a worse disadvantage i suppose children in the more affluent districts um okay so this is taking good steps to savings and i agree with the words of our wonderful president pastor williams that we need to work encourage the state to think out of the box to take steps that will encourage a strong pro-growth economic policies in our state that will promote will will see a greater tax base as opposed to a greater tax burden and that the state legislature deliver in the areas of reform promise the new majority in the state senate promised education funding reform a lot of things have occurred unfortunately the pandemic but that needs to be back on the agenda

130and also the promise that's been out there circulating since the days of governor rockefeller around the time i was born of attending unfunded dandy reform which our current governor also pledged to do over a decade ago when he succeeded governor patterson i think it's time we deliver there so our company is exploring uh maybe putting a letter on behalf of our district with the support of our board to the governor and other elected officials to for them to take the lead and think outside of the box when it comes to financing so that our districts could be our our ship of state can move forward strong for our children to the future in fact we i think it might be nice to invite the governor to come over and visit and take and see uh

131taxpayer dollars at work in a public school district that we could feel proud of and again i my my voice my vote of confidence to our superintendent for his leadership to provide all our children a wonderful education mr gomez is our members of the community invited to your most definitely and again we since we are this is being a recorder for midi tv we well we invite members of the community to join we do have we have had members of the community so uh and we always welcome more and i think more there's more and more numbers we might have more power okay thank you thank you any other committee no all right um i don't think anybody is opposed to us admitting hold on over here oh i'm sorry okay oh i can't just

132really quickly i can't start my class is not working i want to thank the people who addressed at the mic today for their courage and expressing their feelings and never ever be frightened or whatever the right word is to come in and talk to this board of education in this administration that's why we're here we work for you please come in ed estrada you're always the voice of reason and thank you so much for everything you said tonight at the mic it really wrapped everything up superintendent delmar thank you for explaining the first part of your superintendent's report explaining where we are where we're going with this issue that we're not standing still we're moving forward constantly we have been for a long time thank you for that president williams i'm going to call you

133pastor williams thank you for speaking from your heart you soothed me my emotions whatever um i heard everything you said you always speak from your heart and i truly appreciate that very much so thank you so much now can i say go ahead motion to adjourn you've been motioned to adjourn all in favor thank you everybody have a good night our next meeting is going to be october 15th i'm sorry we will see you then have a great evening everybody you