001All right. Good evening everyone. Welcome to our September meeting. If we could rise for the pledge of >> allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Okay. Welcome everyone to our September uh board meeting and welcome back. Uh we are very excited for the 2526 school year. I just want to first uh firstly thank Dr. Siniac and your team for a wonderful uh informational welcome back and opening for the faculty and the staff back in August and uh and a big thank you on behalf of the board to all of our uh principles, administration and faculty staff members uh who really ensured that we had a smooth opening and a great
002first day for our students. Um, last night the board had the privilege of touring all of our buildings. Uh, which was a treat and uh, they're looking beautiful and on behalf of the board again, Mr. Carter, thank you to you and your team. Uh, you're for getting everything done both on the inside and the outside. It looks great and you got everything prepared and and uh, we're very excited for a successful year. I'm going to turn over to Dr. Sia and give you some more uh, details, but we're looking forward to a great year. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Ryan. Welcome to our first board of education meeting of the school year. Uh we did have them in June and July and August, but it's nice to have audience with us now. So, thank
003you for coming and taking time out of your busy week. So, we ended the summer on a high with all of our amazing summer programs. Uh they actually do get better and better each year. And we went right into superintendent conference days, our meet, greet, and a treat. Um, that event is so heartwarming. It allows our students and our parents especially to lessen their anxiety about that first day of school on the Tuesday after Labor Day. This year, we mixed it up a little bit. Our kindergarteners got pencil cases. Our first and second graders got these beautiful little paddles that they can write on. And then our upper grades got almost like little whiteboards. So, we're getting more creative as we move forward with this event. Our opening of schools were amazing. Our central office
004team were all stationed at different schools. Um the weather was truly perfect for the opening of school and I was at Old Mill Old Mill Road and I didn't really see that many tears if any. So um I'm hoping it was like that everywhere and a lot of smiles um both from the parents and the students. We had our first PTA district council this week. love to get together and share. As we say, sharing is caring, learning from one another. It's so nice to see our three schools and the PTA sharing and learning from one another. And that meeting every month really sets up for our wonderful events here for our students. And I know MSKE will give an amazing overview later in our meeting. Uh Camp Avenue has some excitement if you haven't noticed
005driving down Merrick Avenue. Uh the Merrick Belmore Little League has allowed us to have a turf field with a wonderful donation that the board accepted in the spring. Uh we're a little behind schedule because of that awful rain that we had this past Saturday. Um but it should be completed by the end of next week and we are all so looking forward to seeing our students out there on the turf and playing whatever they'd like to play. Uh we have PTA meetings tomorrow night. Uh 700 p.m. at FET, 700 p.m. at Old Mill, and 7:30 at Camp Avenue. I know class meetings and committee chair meetings are also happening. And yes, our building tours last night. Thank you to our board of education for taking another night out of their personal schedule to make at
006time to come and see what an amazing um team we have who put our buildings together. It's almost as if we think they work 24/7 overnight when we're all sleeping. Uh again, thank you, Mr. Carter, to you and your team and thank you to the board of education. Without your support, we would not be able to open our schools and have them look so good. So, thank you so much. >> Great. We can uh have a motion to approve 3A through 3C is listed on the agenda. >> Motion by Tracy, second by Steve. All in favor? I. Motion carries. Public comments as rules listed in four on agenda items only. If we have any public comments on the short agenda, it's okay. Uh a motion to approve 5A through 5B. >> Motion, >> a motion
007by Will, second by Tracy. All in favor? I. Motion carries unanimously. And a motion to approve policy 6A. Motion by uh Mary. Second by Tracy. All in favor? I. Motion carries. A motion to approve our personal actions report 7A. Motion by Mary, seconded by Tracy. All in favor? I. And a motion. Motion passes unanimously. Motion to pass 8A through 8C by by Kathy. Second by Will. All in favor? I. >> Report of the committees. It was a We've only been in school a few days, but we have a lot of reports for you. Uh Ed, do you want to start with the high school report? >> Okay. So, at our uh Central High School meeting on September 3rd, started off with superintendent, Mr. Harrington reported that students districtwide had adapted to the new state cell
008phone ban very smoothly and without any issues or push back. So that was good to hear. Uh the board also honored students for their participation in something called the National Reach Challenge along with their adviser, Mrs. Frank. The National Reach Challenge involves uh students that reach out to a member of the community that's facing a challenge. And I believe this was a handicap student who uh got some assistance carrying around their book bag. It was a pretty elaborate this thing they did, but it was very interesting. Uh at that same meeting, our assistant superintendent Scott Buren reported on the review of the 2425 academic school year. And I'm just going to go through some of the highlights. Uh the district had above average NASA county uh passing averages in all regions exam and subjects. Uh
009the percentage of students designated as regents mastery has increased in seven of the 14 subject areas. Uh participation in AP exam continue to increase. Some of you might know that we were honored okay as the uh middle or the moderate school size AP school of the year uh two years ago. Uh also participation AP exam continues 90% of Belmore students participate in AP or college dual enrollments experiences. District graduation rate remains steady at 97%. Electrical trade program, cosmetology program and culinary arts continue to grow so popular that we actually have to limit the students who apply to those programs. That was me. >> Yes. And we had a great opening uh on all the uh high schools um uh high school I'm sorry school community relations and PTA council Mary. >> Yes. All right. Bear
010with me. I'm going to try to race through it. Ah there's a lot already going on. Camp Avenue meet greet and treat on August 28th was great. They had a PTA table where um they sold camp Avenue merchandise and displayed the upcoming events and how to become a member. They hosted a staff and student lunchon for from capers and everyone apparently loved it. First day they connected with kindergarten parents and talked about what the PTA does um how to get involved and why fundraising is so important. Upcoming events and becoming a member. Reflections kicks off September 25th. Walk to school day is on October 1st. Bookf fair is October 22nd. Pioneer Sports for K and first grader uh registration lottery is open until September 21st. Um welcome back picnic is September is this Friday 5:30
011to 7:30. September 16th obviously for all schools is meet the teacher night and camp Avenue will have a PTA table for uh for the first time and they'll be including um PTA flyers and some other good stuff. Um, yeah, lots of great stuff going on. Fyet, uh, their staff grab and go on October 28th, the first day was a success. The HDF teachers lounge is filled with yummy treats and drinks for the staff to enjoy while setting up their classrooms. The new parent meet and greet was on uh, September 2nd. Also, great success. Parents were able to purchase uh, shirts and merchandise uh, for the district spirit day. Hold on. Parents were able to purchase fyet shirts and merchandise for the for the first time. Um, class captain's meeting, as I said, is tomorrow night
012with the other PTA meet with the PTA meeting. International Walk to School Day, October 1st. Reflections begins October 6th at FET. Reb Ribbon Week is set for October 20th. Um, Fyet's annual outdoor movie night is scheduled also for this Friday. Families are invited to bring dinner and enjoy the Smurfs movie in the field behind the school. New for this year, we have team teamed up with Pizza Cina to offer delicious pizza. Families can pre-order their pizza and have it delivered to the field. Our new FET spiritware store is opening on September 8th and we're very excited to launch our new designs and show our show our HDF pride. Picture day is set for September 25th. Old Mill Road. Um September 29th, we're actually having um the PTA already set up a um a draw along
013virtual draw Rocky from the classroom uh event for the students. So exciting. October 28th is Red Ribbon Week. Yoga instructor. They're talking to a yoga instructor. Um hold on. We have a m magician for fall festival. Uh pretzel sales for sixth graders um is will be a fundraiser that will happen every Wednesday in both the front and the back of the school. Um let's see. Se uh mom's sale will begin September 8th, September 12th. Again, the welcome back picnic. Also the same thing with the uh you can pre-order pizza, full pies or slices, deliver it to Old Mill Road. Um and uh September 15th, Rico's Pizza. 20% of the um total will go back to the OMR PTA. And uh October 9th is the book fair. So great things. And SEPTA, last but certainly not
014least, we are looking forward to the upcoming SEPTA welcome back ice cream social at FET on Wednesday, September 17th at 6 PM. Uh we are planning many different uh many different and new events this year in an effort to increase attendance and our SEPTA membership. So all great things the PTA awesome as as usual and they continue to uh start the year that way >> and it's only been eight days out of words. >> Thank you uh Mr. Carter buildings and grounds report and thank you again for your time last night. We appreciate it. All right, there we go. It's great seeing you all again. Yeah, last night was great and it was uh it was really nice to showcase all the hard work that the custodial unit did. Uh and not just the custodial
015unit, but the grounds unit. If you notice, the outside of the buildings were immaculate for the first day of school. Everything was mowed, edged, string trimmed, and mulched. So, uh kudos to Frank and Anthony as well. Um summer cleaning was crazy from I mean from last month to this month, this is so much has happened. Uh we wrapped up summer cleaning, teachers started coming back, uh furniture gets moved around, and then the first day comes and it's it's a whirlwind. And the first day was just gorgeous, perfect weather. And uh but I agree with you. I didn't see a whole lot of tantrums. Everybody was pretty excited for school. So it was nice to see. And uh and then come the desk adjustments because who got, you know, grew six inches over the summer and
016this one's tall and this one's small. So it was good stuff. Um, Miss Donnelly and I are meeting with the architect tomorrow to uh discuss the camp roof project which is going to get started now. We'll get some drawings together. Uh, we'll work on the the materials we're going to use, get it to the state, get it approved so we can get it uh get a contractor in the spring and be ready to hit the ground next summer. Um, one last project. Oh, of course the uh the turf field is amazing. They they put out a second course of stone today. We're hoping for to see the carpet tomorrow, which would be awesome just to say it. So green. Uh it's going to be amazing. I'm very excited. I think everybody is. Uh so that's
017great. Um we also were able to squeeze in painting the game lines on all of our basketball courts uh throughout the district. So that looks really cool. Sharp, crisp lines for the kids to enjoy. And then uh this year we did something a little different. We had our staff do the gym floors and they came out amazing. And the bonus is we could work around our own schedule a little easier than it was last year with the with the vendor who does every gym floor on Long Island. And it's you get them when they're available or you don't get them at all. So that worked out really well. Uh they did a great job. So, >> and is there a savings with that? >> There is actually a savings and the nice thing is our
018guys get the money for the overtime by doing it on the weekends when it's out of the way. Uh rather than giving it to a big company, we're keeping it in the neighborhood. We're keeping it within our our guys. So, I think that's a plus on its own. >> And you moved the painting in house, which was another savings. >> Tons of painting happened over the summer. >> Uh, yeah, >> we had looked at that two years ago, and we got a a rough estimate of about $100,000. >> Yeah. And that's actually more than It was uh I remember Vinnie was here, so that was a while ago. >> That was a while ago. So, you're talking at least 140 at this point. But to have your guys do it and they are they look
019like professional painters to me. >> Yeah. And it's nice and they just bite off a chunk of the hallway or a stairwell at a time, get it done and it's looking really good. It's looking like a like an elementary school, not like a a marine barracks. >> Just to just to piggy back off what Dr. Siac said, thank you so much Sam for the tour last night. The buildings look amazing. >> They really do. As somebody who worked here over the summer for 20 plus years, I see the work that goes in and how things have to be done so quickly because we have a lot of things going on in the buildings. Everything looks fabulous. Your guys can do everything. A wall needs to go up, the wall goes up. Bookshelves need to be
020built, bookshelves get built. >> Yeah, they they're they're very talented guys and they get a lot they uh they do a lot. >> Yes, they do. So, and they've saved us a lot of money. So, thanks so much. >> They sure do. They they uh you know, we don't have to call out for vendors as much as as we used to. Absolutely. >> Uh these guys are taking on responsibility for the equipment in the buildings and they're doing a lot of the work themselves. So it's good to see. >> Thank you. >> Thanks, Sam. >> I take a little offense to that marine quote. >> Well, you know the green, you know, it's just green. >> Five years ago, nothing wrong. >> Great. Thank you so much. And thank you again to your team. Um
021any Mr. Long, any communications? >> None. Thank you. Uh board members, any unfinished business or new business and any public commenters tonight on anything? Uh okay. As seeing none, I'm going to ask for an endjourment >> by Mary and and second by Tracy. Have a great day night everyone and we'll see you in October. Thank you so much. The candle voice