001If we could please stand for the pledge of allegiance if you are able. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Can our student board member please read our mission statement? Our vision is for our students to grow into critical thinkers and lifelong learners with integrity, confidence, and compassion. Our mission is to create an inclusive, welcoming educational community where all students can find their purpose and achieve their goals. >> Recommended motion to approve the revised February 11th, 2026 board of education meeting agenda as presented. >> Make the motion. I'll second it. >> Any discussion? All those in favor? opposed. Motion carries. >> Dr. Next agenda is a reconfiguration presentation by myself.
002President, members of the board, members of community, thank you for being here this evening. Just want to go over uh just why we're here and what our what our district stands for and kind of what our vision and mission is going to be uh over the next uh few years is just moving the district forward. And and our theme is, you know, we want to be a world premier school district where our students are future ready and productive citizens. We want to make sure we create a culture uh that fosters collaboration uh and innovation. And you know, our formula for for success is that we have a premier district. You know, we have premier people, really great people uh in our community, in our district. uh more premier people we have, the more premier schools
003we have, and that'll equate to us being a a world premier school district moving forward. Of >> course, [clears throat] our top priority in our district is safety, making sure our students uh are safe. You know, we have a code of conduct, implement that with Fidelity, we added our our cell phone policy to that this year. uh create a lot of channels for monitoring student activity uh through our electronic uh systems to track students through smart pass and go guardian vegan to to look and see what they're doing uh on on the internet as well too. And uh we're looking at putting into uh action a K through 12 systemic uh social emotional learning curriculum agreement selection process. Our second big goal is academic excellence. Uh our our new reality is 46% of our students
004are are meeting proficiency from the 25 ELA state assessment. That's a 13% increase from from last year. Uh our new goal this year is 51% of our students in grades three through eight. We'll meet proficiency on the 26 ELA state assessment. We hope to reach that goal uh when we take that assessment again in April. And uh we've already had some benchmarks this year uh with our state testing. And a big shout out to Miss Toro and the high school staff uh as 107 students at um took the ELA regency in 11th grade uh 89% [clears throat] of the students uh pass that. So want to give them a shout out and round of applause. And we have math goals, too. You know, we want to make sure students are reading on grade level, but
005we also want to make sure students can do numerousy on grade level, too. And we have double digit increases in our math scores. And we're looking to increase uh those scores, those scores as well. And then our our big third goal is, you know, we want to be fiscally responsible as a school district to our to our community. I feel like we have a fiduciary responsibility to the community to making sure we are very uh cognizant of using public funds. So, we want to oversee and develop the and execute the district budget. Uh last year's budget only had a 2.2% increase and 74% of the community who voted were were in favor of the budget. And leading into that, uh we're looking at um reconfiguration. Uh we are exploring a unified uh 4 through8 middle
006school. Uh we're planning for student success and being fiscally responsible. It's the reasons we're we're le leading in this direction and this proposed change uh would be in the best interest of students and aligns with our organizational goals and reconfiguration to a single middle school is to raise is a way to rightsize our structure to our current enrollment trends. uh the resources will still be kept on students. Uh it's going to help protect academic programs, extracurriculars, and supports over time and we're hoping to see a gradual fis fiscal impact over several years. You can see our current enrollment here and you can see the the trends that we're we're we're moving towards. Uh you see Marble Town's enrollment is projected to go three students down. Hansson's projected to go one student up. The intermediate school's
007projected to go 10 students up. The junior high 13 students down. The high school 28 students down from this year. And overall we're at 1619 according to beds beds data for this year. And we're projected our enrollment for next year is is 1586 students. Look at our historical enrollment at the uh intermediate uh junior high school. Uh when it was a middle school, grades five grade back in 2011 2012, there were 626 students there. Uh when Rosendelle Elementary closed and the students, the fourth grade students moved into the complex in 2012 2013. Uh there was 776 students in that school. And currently uh when it is a fourth through eighth grade school or any mean junior high we're at 608. So we actually had more students in the school when it was a 5 through8
008middle school back in 1112. Uh enrollment continues to climb regionally and statewide. You know you see what is doing closing schools going to a single complex. Uh new is having discussions about reconfiguration as well. Uh and Kingston's new Kingston's enrollment continues to decline. It's not just a a round out problem. It's also county across is uh looking at ways to to be fiscally responsible moving forward. [clears throat] So the current configuration uh of the administration of of the buildings, you know, Khansson, Marbletown each have a principal, not an assistant principal. The intermediate school this year has a principal and a half of a assistant principal. Uh the junior high school has a principal and one assistant principal. And then the high school has uh one principal and one and a half uh assistant principal. So
009this leadership model reflects uh you know prior uh enrollment levels. Then we look to the proposed configuration of the administration of the buildings. Uh you see have a principal, Marble Town will still have a principal. Uh the junior high I would recommend to have one principal with two assistant principles. Then the high school also will have one principal uh and two assistant principles which will hopefully lead to clear leadership alignment and and continuity of support. >> You say four through eight, right? >> So four through eight. >> Yeah. So again, uh proposed configuration is unified uh grades four through eight middle school uh with one principal, two assistant principles. Again, looking at cohesive leadership and consistent support and then also the high school benefit as as well to receiving full-time AP support. We'll have so
010we'll basically want the same configuration of administration uh with the high school and and the proposed unified middle school. So what does not change? Uh again we're not closing a building. Uh we're not rec relocating classrooms. Uh there's no changes to instruction. You know fourth grade will remain self-contained. Fifth grade will will be remain teamed and sixth sixth through 8th will be continue to be departmentalized and no changes to transportation or food service. How students will benefit from uh the proposed reconfiguration. you know, going to one school, identity and culture, smoother grade transitions, unified student supports, and again, we're trying to protect programs and and all extracurricular activities. Uh, community engagement next steps. So, I' I've met with staff over at the intermediate junior high school to uh garner their feedback. We sent out a
011community feedback form. Uh, I'm doing the board of education presentation this evening. And then we're continuing the communication and transparency throughout throughout this process. And from the community feedback form, we've analyzed that and some things really did um pop out. Uh looking at age gap in developmental appropriateness. Is this the reason we're doing it? You know, the community feel strongly about this. Uh music program protection, making sure our band chorus staffing [clears throat] remain intact. uh looking at class sizes is that going to have an impact and uh also looking at you know is there also reasons to do this is looking at the age gap and with the behavior and the safety and and the discipline capacity that's that's in the in the building [clears throat] right now. Uh also part of this is
012we haven't forgot about fourth grade. Uh we know the community wants us to explore options and move the fourth grade back to Konson uh and Marbletown uh on the board of agenda uh this evening. Uh the administration is recommending contracting an ex external consultant uh for this and next year to give um their their their opinions and they can maybe see things from a different lens and give us some ideas that may maybe we didn't uh think of internally. you know, we we created a fourth grade committee. Uh we met, we we analyzed, we we came up with some ideas, we looked at transportation, we looked at attendance lines. Really couldn't come up with a fiscal responsible option uh to move [clears throat] the fourth grade back, but we're hoping maybe this consultant give us
013other options and other ideas uh for us to pursue. And that's my presentation for Rick Vers. Any questions from our board members? Thank you, Paul. Mr. G, our assistant of business service will do our initial budget presentation. I like to stand on that side. So, I'm moving this because I'm tripping over it before. >> I like to stand because I fidget when I sit. So, just keeps me standing still. All right. So, um that time of the year to start talking about next year. I know that seems strange, but that's how we how we work here. Um so, it's February 11th, and all the information that I'm going to present to you in this presentation is based on data to today up until today. So, know that this is not solidified. There's this preliminary numbers
014and there's a lot of work still to be done. this way or you >> It's kind of slow. >> I You tell me. >> Just go the next one. Yeah, that's fine. Um All right. So, I think it's always important to center ourselves on what's important here. Why are we all here? What are we doing? What does this budget need to support? And that's um reiterating what our mission and vision are. We're here for students. Everything we do, all decisions we make is to make sure we're providing the proper uh resources to create that premier school district going forward. Here's a brief list of some of achievements, things that the budget supports, um things that the community is supporting to make us a premier school district. So, we have academic um type of things. So,
015we have the fastbridge data screener, we have the envision math curriculum, and as you saw in Dr. Fero's presentation. We're seeing results, right? These things are happening and good things are coming out of it. Um, we have a lot of student well-being. We're very focused on that. We're working on an SEAL program. We have uh award-winning music program. We have really, really uh successful athletes. We've got great supports for the mental health side of things. We're looking to monitor and be keep our kids safe every day. So, we work really hard uh when we build the budget to make sure that we keep these things in place. So here's our preliminary numbers. So the first column is what was current what's happening currently. So the budget that was approved by the um by the community
016was an 80,470,116. Preliminarily, based on uh projections and estimates, we're looking at an $84,152317 budget going into next year, which is a $3,682 or $82,21 increase or 4 and a half% almost 4.6%. On the flip side of that, how do we pay for all that is our revenues? last year's projected revenues balance out the budget as you see currently right now we do have a dis difference right that's always the case in February because the numbers that are presented in the preliminary revenue does not include any appropriation of fund balance which is excess funds remaining from the current budget into the next year or utilization of reserves. So based on not using any money from anywhere else but what we know right now we are at a negative from last year of two almost $3
017million 361%. So there's a difference right we already see that here this is just based on this difference is just based on what last year's revenue was or the current year's revenue and the preliminary next year's revenue. Nothing to do with the expenditures. We're getting there. Next slide. broken down by expenditure category. Our salary rates, this is the current year. This is what we're projecting. So, we're looking at a half a million dollar increase on salaries. 200,000 almost three on pensions. TRS is the teachers retirement system. ERS is the employee retirement system. And SSA is social security, FICA, Medicaid. All the things are required to contribute. That is just to contribute for active employees currently in place. Then we have our health insurance benefits. As you can see, it's a really big number. Preliminarily, we
018are looking at a 16% increase in our premiums this year. That is going to equate to a two and a half $2.1 million increase on our expenditures all by itself. So out of the 3 million, 3.6 million, 2.1 is just health insurance premium increase. All other items are contractual. Supplies is going up a little bit. Um a lot of that is driven by um things you have to purchase for to maintain our facilities to provide uh curriculum materials for for teachers um and other things like that. Occupational ed stands for our curricula our career tech education. So that's just one facet of our Boseies program. So we we spend 1.5. It's going up about 62,000. That's also an estimated number. That's based on 120 kids. We actually send about 150. Boseies calculates that rate on
019a three-year average. So, we're not actually paying for every seat. Um, but each seat is about $20,000. Our debt service is the same. This is one of my wild cards. I don't have the current estimates for next year for our debt. This is um all things that we've borrowed previously. Boseies um borrowing for their capital project. So if you're familiar with the area I park, we are a part investor in that program um as required as a component district of Boseies and these other items stayed the same. [clears throat] I want to focus on the areas that are increasing but mostly this one. I want to explain why you're seeing a difference of 14% when I'm telling you 16. Health insurance and benefits means more than just our premiums. We pay for health insurance. We
020pay two different health plans plus we pay for a buyout plus we pay other contractual benefits as a part of um individuals contract. So in in totality for that specific budget line it's 14.95 but for the premium by itself it's 16%. So we're already absorbing some of that increase by not increasing other things but I just wanted to bring that to everybody's attention. It is the largest increase across the board. Next one. So when we look at the health insurance because it's the biggest portion of it. This is the historical information on what the district pays as a whole including the employee contribution. So insurance plans include this total includes what we pay and what employees pay on their behalf. So it's the two parts in totality. You'll see that we're seeing [clears throat] increases
021but not like this. OU stands for orange olster Bosei. We participate in their health uh insurance consortium. So we negotiate on behalf with in conjunction with other schools at Olster County, Orange County, excuse me. We don't have a lot of employees who partake. I will talk about that in a minute. Uh in this particular plan, the figure you see for 2526 is just a projection based on current we pay based on uh claims on each month. So this number is an estimate um but it's about what we've spent previously. a little bit less, but it could be a little bit more. It really just depends. This is the big number, right? MVP, that's our other plan that we offer. That's going up that 16%. And that's [clears throat] based off of again estimates. This value
022could be more. Uh we've only paid through February. Here's a breakdown of who partakes in our health insurance and what we've covered health insurance. This first column is our retirey column. Contractually, we are required to cover health insurance and retirement. 406 retirees are still active on our health insurance plan. So, that's part of our premium. 342 is our active. Just kind of a food for thought. um of the 406 they pay varying amounts of the health insurance but um not the same as what an active employee would. So here's a breakdown of our expenditures versus our revenue to get our gap. We'll talk about the red number in a minute. Talked about the 84 million 152 317. What makes up our revenue? These are just three buckets. Um, in another presentation I will break down
023our revenue more uh clearly, but this is just buckets of money. The top one is our tax levy. This is with a proposed increase of 3.83% which equates to $1.7 million in additional revenue if we were to raise the levy. State aid is only going up by 1%. We'll talk about that in a minute. And that can change, right? That is preliminary. The governor releases her budget in January and then the legislature releases their budget in April. In case you're wondering, we have to approve our budget before April. So, we're we're working through it. We base it typically on the estimates from the first uh from the January or the governor's budget. Any extra becomes part of your fund balance for next year. And miscellaneous is going to be things like interest uh tuition that
024we charge for special ed kids to come here and participate in our programs and things of that nature. So, as you can see right now, we're looking at a shortfall of our expenditures minus our revenue, meaning we don't have enough revenue to cover what we are projecting as our expenditures. About 6.584 million to fill. Last year, as a reference, was about 4 million. [clears throat] So we with that health insurance increase, we're seeing that 2% cause an increase in our deficit or our what they call gap. Here's a breakdown of our state aid uh year-over-year. As I said, we didn't get a large increase, but this is generating an additional $372,5868 um 20 this current year to next year. and keep going. This is how we calculate the tax levy. We'll see this present. This
025will come in all of my presentations. I like to be transparent. It's a very complicated calculation. Ultimately, we take the current year's um tax levy, increase it by the allowable growth factor, which is set by the county. That gets us this number. We add in the pilots that we collected in the prior year and subtract out our exclusions from the prior year. Um exclusions equal uh the items that we the money that we receive back for any debt we take on. So when we take on debt for a capital project, we receive aid back from the state. That becomes an exclusion from your tax levy. That gets us to this number. Then we can grow it by the 2% here. We get to this number. You subtract out the pilots were expected for this year
026which is about 47,000. Then you add in exclusions for this year. Now again this number is the same as this one because I do not have new debt numbers. This will change over time. This number uh percentage of levy increase could go up, could go down, but as we stand right now keeping everything the same with our debt, we have a potential to increase our levy by 3.83%. Um, I also want to talk about the tax exemption that was um, approved last year that did not show up on uh, senior citizens tax bills this year. Um, we did not make the deadline of March 1st to have the approval of this new SK scale. So therefore, and I'm going to post this on the website too for people to reference. But if you are a
027senior citizen and you meet the qualifications per uh form RP467 and you fill that out and bring it to your assessor's office, this is what you could be eligible for depending on how you fill out that form. Any uh all these forms have to be turned in not to the county. You you fill out your application and you bring it to your local assessor, but wherever you live, that assessor's office. And I'll put this on the website. We also approved um the volunteer firefighter and ambulance tax credit. That additionally also is not going to take effect until your tax bills that come out in August. So you'll see these changes if you apply and you qualify on your tax bill when you get it in August or September of this year. Again, you have to
028fill out this form RP466H to your assessor's office and they determine if you qualify for this exemption. So, how do we close the gap? What we're doing currently is we're evaluating staffing levels across the board based on student need and district need um and having um conversations with district leadership to see what we can do there. Areas of opportunity is determining if we want to reinvest any additional funds that we have remaining at the end of this year or reserves. The debt values, as I said, are not up to date. That's an area of opportunity. They could be less, could be more. Um, we're evaluating our Bose services, looking at ways to save money through Bosey's co-ers. Uh, we spend just as referenced in the current year about $6 million at Boseies. Um, a caveat
029to that is we receive aid back. About 30% of what we spend, we get back an aid in the following year. And then I'm working um with my colleagues to negotiate with the health insurance company to see if we have any more movement or ways we can reduce that increase. Um, the moral of the story is our claims are exceeding our premiums. So, we're spending more we have more people utilizing the insurance than they anticipated. and therefore they're not making any money on us. So, they need to increase. >> Uh this is what's left of our our budget uh timeline. Our next budget presentation will be uh at the budget workshop on the 18th um because today the 11th and then we'll follow those steps going forward. Any questions from the board? >> Yes, I
030am. [clears throat] Excuse me. Uh, in the, uh, slide that you talk about the two different insurance premiums, MVP versus, you know, new, you just tell us maybe why it was significantly different. >> Why? So, the story really is this slide, right? So, >> no. up. >> Well, the reason why you're seeing this number lower is based on the number of people who subscribe, right? So, we only have approximately, if you go to the next slide, Paul 17732. That's only people that are subscribing as compared to um I think we have about 300 and 350 people that participate in MVP and about 200 that participate in OU around about. So the difference is the premium difference isn't that like the individual's premium. So an individual plan and a family plan it's not significantly different. There
031is a difference in cost um but the people who utilize it is is the difference. That's why you're seeing a $2 million as opposed to 10 million. You're paying for 300 versus 200. >> The premium went up for both plans, right? This is not a problem that's specific to our district, right? Like I know you mentioned the planes exceed what people are paying, but this is something that districts across the board are seeing right now. >> It's trends in health insurance, right? So, we're past the pandemic and people are going back to the doctor. there's increases in um highc cost payments, people that are very sick. Um we also have people that are trying to maintain their health, right? So they're going to the doctor making sure they stay healthy, getting physicals, um seeing specialists,
032things like that. All those things are what health insurance is for. But just like your car insurance, when you use it, they raise your rate next time you renew. It's the same kind of idea. we're using the health insurance which is what it's intended for but the health insurance company and um also to say that the health insurance company is basing this increase on 2425 data because that's depleted we may see an an even more significant increase if the trends happen that way people go to the ER they're getting specialty prescriptions all those things are using your insurance and causing claims to be higher than what they anticipated And the only other question I have to senior assistants that we said that this is going to take effect in August >> for the tax exemption.
033>> Yeah. >> Well, it takes it's in effect as of this tax season. >> Yeah. But the next tax bill, anybody, anybody property owners received their tax bill in January for their property, it was not on there because it doesn't take effect because of when we approved it until the 26 tax season. So until August and then next January 2027, they'll also see on their property tax on their property tax. >> Yeah. So the school tax bill will will reflect it >> in August. [clears throat] August 26 when we said well technically you probably hit your tax bill Sep we have to have it to you by September 1st but you can really see it in September. I'm saying August because that's when in my mind tax starts that's when I start prepping um with
034my team. So >> shut in August probably in >> January. >> Thank you. >> If the public has questions about this, when is the time for them to ask? Budget workshop next week. >> Budget workshop is >> that's a workshop for the board. >> Um they can always submit questions um and directly or >> Yeah. Just through the business office. Yep. The phone number is on the website if I'm able to answer. Again, a lot of these numbers are preliminary in nature. They're not set, right? The board hasn't approved the budget. We haven't gone to that type of vote. We're still working out numbers. We're still looking at staffing levels. So, there's these numbers should be improving every time I I come up and present. And once we get to the point where the board
035is approving uh the budget, that might be a better time to start asking questions. But I'm always open to have discussion if people are interested. >> This is what I do. This is what I love to do. So >> you you'll get a little overwhelmed with the data I would give you. But and and at this point um you you'll basically be updating us at every board meeting. So we'll get a new update at every board meeting until we adopt until we get to the one we do. >> Questions. Thank you. >> Thanks. >> Okay, we are moving on to public comment. Um, a reminder of a few of our uh policy meetings. I'm not I don't get to read all of that to you. Um, please make sure that uh you did fill out
036one of the forms. Um, so if you did not, please do so. If you are intending um to uh to have a public comment, we would do appreciate that with some contact information. >> The forms in the back right there. There is a three minute time limit and we do have several of you that do want to speak. So I am going to keep you to those three minutes. Um, please make sure you do state your name so we know who you are. Uh, please make sure you are not mentioning any personnel, any uh specific names. Um, keep the uh your comments uh for a general tone. Okay. Again, uh also uh no uh obscene language or anything. Yes. Okay. Um, Diana is Hello. I'm here to urge you to pass the resolution ensuring safe
037schools specifically for our immigrant students, families, and for all. I'm Diana Zuckerberman. I've lived in our Rondel School District for about 30 years. My son graduated from here in 2007. I was a dedicated Landout Spanish teacher for 27 years, teaching thousands of students K through 12 in all buildings. I was the advisor to the award-winning high school human rights club for about a decade before I retired in June 2025. I have deep insight into our school district. In fact, the superintendent has told me I need blue. Which is why I know that passing the resolution to protect our immigrant community would be a major step to build a community of trust and safety for all. As long as people here are being discriminated against, we have work to do as a school community. From my
038bond students and colleagues, I heard story after story of personal experiences of people feeling marginalized, discriminated against, and targeted, expressing our community's need for safety and an inclusive environment. My wish for our Rondout school district is that the decision makers and people in positions of power truly learn to value all of its members, including people who offer different cultural perspectives and who come from different cultural backgrounds. My wish for Rhondo is to develop cultural sensitivity, awareness, understanding, and appreciation. And as our student board member said, compassion, which were always my goals as a Spanish teacher and human rights club advisor here, so community members are treated with dignity and feel valued and respected. It's our responsibility to educate all students in a safe environment. We're counting on you to pass the resolution written with guidance
039from NEA, National Education Association, Tech Students, and Families from ICE. This is an opportunity to transform Randall's reputation into a commitment to our community that all students, staff, and community members are safe, welcome, included, and valued. and that the district stands in solidarity with potentially vulnerable community [clears throat] members. Um, please contact me to discuss this further and to use the superintendent's words of having a world premier school district, which I love that vision. Um, to me that would include making sure that the diverse people of the world feel welcome, safe, and included with compassion and a commitment to their well-being. Thank you. Hello. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. I'm Margot Sanchez, parent to a student in the high school. Um, and it's my fourth year serving on the district equity council.
040I'm here tonight to call on the board of education to adopt a resolution to reaffirm, codify, and strengthen its commitment to protecting our school community in the face of ISIS's unlawful and violent detainment and detention practices. As you know, the resolution to this effect was adopted by the Kingston City School District Board last month. It was created with guidance from the NEA and NYCLU. It has the support of Olter Immigrant Defense Network with whom I know the department is already working. News or sorry the uh district is already working. New is now moving a resolution draft to its policy committee and tonight community members are introducing the resolution in sovereignties as well. I believe many people here tonight in this room came to support this resolution. Uh if you came for that reason or if
041you're if you're raise your hand. >> Thank you. Thank you. There are so many important reasons to take this step, unorthodox as it may be. I want to focus on what our vision and mission read at the beginning of tonight's meeting and referenced number of times call on us to do. Our vision is for students to grow into critical thinkers and lifelong learners with integrity, confidence, and compassion. In this moment, critical thinking asks us, whatever our views on immigration as a whole, to recognize that the lawless, violent tactics being employed by ICE are not okay. They violate our civil and human rights and they undermine the rule of law. We must name that a line has been crossed. Integrity asks us to act in line with our values even when it conflicts with our politics.
042Confidence calls on us to take action even when the way is unclear. And compassion calls on us to act for the good of others. In this case, our friends, family, and neighbors facing the impact of ICE. Maybe especially when it's uncomfortable for ourselves. Our mission is to create an inclusive, welcoming educational community where all students can find their purpose and achieve their goals. This means being fully prepared ourselves and helping families fully prepare for what happens when ICE enforcement touches our school community. It also means naming our opposition to racist profiling by ICE and naming our support for black, brown, and immigrant families in our schools, especially on the part of our leaders. Givens are not givens anymore. That officials will follow the laws that rights will be respected. Fear is a normal reaction to
043violence and chaos. But we can choose to respond with love and care. And that's what this resolution represents. I hope the board will work together to advance a version of the resolution as soon as possible. Thank you. >> I apologize. who do not know how to say the last name. Emma, >> how do you say how do you say it? >> Thank you. Sorry. >> Hi everyone. I'm Emma. I live in Hill and I'm a daughter of seventh grade here at the junior high. I'm also here to urge the board to pass the safe schools resolution. Uh this issue is very personal to me. For over 20 years, I've worked with immigrant families and mixed status families across New York State, including here in Olster County. which means I've witnessed uh firsthand more times than
044I can possibly count the devastation caused by our country's broken immigration system. Um I've seen parents forcibly separated from their children, detained and deported without access to legal representation. I've seen children left behind with no one to care for them. It's devastating. There really aren't words adequate to express the degree of suffering and completely unnecessary suffering and harm, psychological harm, financial harm, every kind of harm experienced by children and families under these circumstances. This is not a new problem. Uh but the cruelty, the spectacle of cruelty that we're witnessing across the country now has reached a level that is really impossible for any of us to ignore. And it's pretty undeniable that our uh federal agents are routinely violating the civil, constitutional, and human rights of both immigrants and native US citizens alike. There are
045certainly limits to what a school district can do to protect immigrant students and families. Um but by passing a safe schools resolution, the district has an opportunity here to adopt clear protocols regarding any future interactions with federal agents and um the protection of students and family sensitive personal information. It would also have the added benefit of demonstrating special care for the students and families in our district who are especially vulnerable at this time. And I just want to say for anyone concerned about what this resolution would mean, I want to clarify that it in no way interferes with legitimate law enforcement activities. What the resolution would do is direct district personnel and contractors to exercise their constitutionally effective legal rights, comply with New York State education law, improve communication practices, and ensure access to appropriate
046resources, training, and trauma support. And in closing, I just want to offer myself as a resource to the district. I'm not an attorney. Um, but in my professional capacity, I'm very routinely involved with community legal education programs that intersect with this issue and I am also very familiar with the resources legal and otherwise available to uh immigrant families in our area. So, um I will I I have approved on this one. Uh Ronda Valley District. >> Oh, sorry. South I'll write their name. >> Thank you so much. I would appreciate that. >> Yeah. Um, my name is Eva. I'm a local business owner, property owner, former employer of Rhond Valley students, and an Award resident. I did email superintendent with some of my own thoughts, but tonight I'm going to read a letter from my
047neighbor who can't be here. Um, Ed and Ingred are 80 plus years old, have lived in Akward for 50 years, have been uh teachers in the Rhonda Valley for 30 years, um, and did send a letter that I'd like to read on their behalf. to the board of education. My wife and I have given over 30 years each in teaching and protecting our children in the Ronda Valley school system. We are retired but very concerned for the current political state of affairs. During our tenure, this area relied heavily on immigrant and migrant families and their children. They gave much to us and were commendable community families. They worked hard and we reaped the benefits as a community. It is our turn to give that caring back. We owe them much. We cannot let them down.
048We must protect them from a lawless and fiercely incorrect government agenda. Above all, we must protect them from an unauthorized literal presidential military force. Please pass the resolution protecting all of our children and their families. Sincerely, Ingred Chirley. Ingred Sheiley, teacher, Marbletown Elementary School, 31 years, retired, 2000. Edward Chile, teacher. Dean of Students, Middle School, High School, Ronda Valley, also retired 2030 years. Thank you. Lori Rose um I'm also here uh to urge you to please uh pass this resolution um for every reason that's already been stated. I really can't say anything, you know, that would be more eloquent than what already been shared. But I just feel like we have to stand very strong on it um as a community and protect our neighbors and each other in the face of you know just
049unspeakable unspeakable violence and um pain that's being caused by our um our administration. So, um I feel like I could shout it every day, but like immigrants are what make America great, period. Like that's our entire history as a nation. So, I just feel like we just have to keep putting it out there. Um and you know our Statue of Liberty is still standing and everything that that stands for the light that is in her you know whatever that's called is still lit and I think the world is still hoping you know that that will be our future and that people will be welcomed from everywhere who need a safe place to be and to raise their family. And so I feel like it's really great if we could make a statement here. Even though
050it's, you know, a local school board, it is the kind of thing where, you know, every grain of sand is what's going to make, you know, this attempt at fighting back and resisting possible. So I just M >> U R R maybe B I D N >> Hannah soccer. >> Thank you. >> Yes, I'm here because I'm 50 years ago I'm political [clears throat] refugee. We were thrown out. We have to leave Poland in one week because political and understand what my husband was representing. He was like symbol of freedom for entire Soviet block. We we went we landed in France and we have to leave France in two days. America welcome us. We came here on special status which was for spite outstanding scientist and outstanding artist. So we were passed here in two
051days and apply here for to stay this country welcome us. My husband incredible achievement in during his life. He is in 16 around the world. is in art history world art history and I cannot see what's going on recently because I came to country with for freedom for also America was for us something which is going forward with education and with research and suddenly I see copy what I already saw in a system I survive before And I am just asking that people should wake up and think that this country was built on education and on research and where we are going, which way we are going that our children are not safe in this country anymore and immigrants. This is the precious seeds which we could make here in school which supposed to go
052higher and higher. I have my daughter which I raised here. She went to Rando and she is professor in college and I have two children which can which are one is still in random another is 18 years old and he's in RBI senior and he's going toward research and now I'm watching that we have not even we are worried where he will go to research because money cut in this country recently for research and education. So I'm just praying to God that this country will be saved. It gave us freedom. It gave us safetiness and it opportunity to build our life. And let's think about it. We are almost all immigrants here except native Americans and maybe slaves. But otherwise we build this country. We built NASA. We built all those bridges, highways, our engineers
053which came here and we forgot about this who we are and where America standing. So I please think about it. I'm really grateful that feedback. I'm really worried. education that I got here. Um, one of the reasons why I am a professor um and at Orange County Community College. I'm also assistant chair of arts and communication. And during my time in middle school here, I was an immigrant child. I was not a citizen yet. and I felt safe here and I'm really hoping that for others. [snorts] Now I this is maybe not the best night talking about a very big issue but my mom did mention cuts to uh research and all of that and one of the reasons I'm here actually is out of concern for the music program and the consolidation um and
054that's all part of part of this mom said thanks mom for setting it up uh the music program that we have in our school is absolutely outstanding it helps students get into college music programs aren't about just creating a whole bunch of musicians and music teachers. Many of these music students actually go into STEM um and into all kinds of other fields. Uh it makes them really look good on college applications. Please take a look. Uh and uh we this is one of like the best things Wondow has. Um if you don't know Ashley Wow is among the 600 top music communities for um like music sorry communities for music education. Um our students make all counties all states they have incredible achievements. Um so I'm here because I'm concerned with the consolidation that the
055current structure of the music program uh you know be kept the way it is. Um, and what I mean by that is that right now it's been there's a middle school teacher and program, then there's a junior high school teacher and program, and then there's a high school teacher program. This current, you know, is like situation is a trifecta. It is why our program is so successful. And I know because I work and I'm at all those meetings where there are decisions about budgets at my college. And I know how tempting it is when, for example, an instructor retires, you know, when there are structural changes uh to make a cut. It looks really great. And I know how budgets are. I have a budget for my department that I'm part of creating right now.
056But please don't give in to something that makes it look like, oh, this is the easy way out. Please fight for our students. Please fight for the quality of education and opportunities here. So, and as an immigrant, um, I want to thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. >> I don't have a name here, but I have speaking for Lucy. Sorry, I didn't I'm for Lucy and Georgia. So, Lucy, Georgia is the high falls. um co-op general manager. She's also the parent of a daughter in the intermed. [clears throat] Good evening and thank you for the opportunity to speak. I'm [clears throat] a parent in the district and I'm also a local business manager who employs young people from our community, including students in the school district. I'm here to support to support the
057resolution protecting immigrant students and families and ensuring a safe school environment for all. My family is here in the United States because my greatgrandparents immigrated from Ireland and Bulgaria around the turn of the 20th century. Over generations, our family gained the stability and opportunity that citizenship provides. I'm speaking today because I care about the health of our entire community and and the success of all of our kids. In my workplace, I see firsthand how deeply connected students are to their families. When families are stressed or afraid, students carry that with them into school, into their jobs, and into their daily lives. Schools should be places where students can focus on learning, growing, and building their futures. fear and uncertainty undermine that. This resolution helps create clarity, consistency, and compassion in how the district responds to
058situations involving immigration enforcement while still respecting legal requirements. As an employer, I also see how important stability is for young people learning responsibility, teamwork, and confidence through school and work. When students feel safe and supported, they show up, engage, and succeed. That benefits not only those students, but our local workforce and our broader community. To me, this resolution reflects the core purpose of public education to serve every child who walks through the door. It strengthens communication, protects student privacy, and ensures staff have clear guidance during difficult situations. I respect I respectfully urge the board to adopt this resolution and to continue supporting a safe and welcoming learning environment for all students. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. >> Um hello just so my name is Sheila Deorat Gallion. Um I'm a parent of
059a Marbletown third grader and a junior high seventh grader and I'm also directing the middle school play um this year. So I'm involved in one of those extracurricular activities. I want to thank everybody that spoke up about the um resolution. I'm in support of that. But what I'm here to talk about is the consolidation. Um, and I'm I want to bring up that in my role as the middle school director, I know that getting leadership on your side is very important to have any extracurricular program take place. Um, I came to the district um, and I wanted to have a play for my fifth grade daughter and I was told that the teacher that used to do it retired and the play retired with that teacher. So there was no play in the middle school.
060And so I got involved in the PTA and I got involved with talking to Mr. Cutler and I banged the door down and I went to meetings and I stood up in meetings and I said, "Let's do a play. Let's do a play." And I had to really, really, really struggle to get the play started. If I wasn't um if I hadn't recently resigned from my full-time job and I was like taking a a leave of absence for my health, there would be no theater program. So for me when we talk about extracurriculars will be maintained I know that that is not going to happen without leadership that is prioritizing those things. And so I want to say that when I hear that we're going to go from one principle down to one principle how
061can the culture that's being developed in those younger grades four five six just magically go together with the culture of seven. Um, my daughter switched from the sixth grade to the seventh grade this year and her experience was that she comes home so sad. She misses the joy and the excitement that was in the downstairs in that building. Four, five, and six. I mean, the teachers are so energetic. They're so engaged. There's so much going on. There's secret snowflake. There's spirit week. There's, you know, the fall festival is a full day adventure where they get to go out in the back. I'm involved in the PTA. at our PTA meetings, we hear from the seventh and eighth grade student reps, I don't know anything that's going on. I never hear what's happening in the school.
062And so there's just a communication disconnect between what's happening in the school during the day. Maybe there's an expectation that seventh and eighth graders are responsible and old enough to tell their parents what's going on, but there's just a a sense that when you go upstairs, just kind of all the fun dies. that I mean if you have a middle schooler you know that's what happens and so I am like desperately terrified that that like academics is the most important thing mentality is going to like trickle into the whole building because what we need is kids who want to go to school then they'll learn if they get the if they don't want to go there they're not going to want to go there [laughter] you know so [clears throat] it's like those those those
063things that are not part of any testing that extracurricular activity. Like if I get a full-time job and I can't direct the play next year, is there going to be a teacher that steps up to do it? Is there going to be an administrator in a building who's like, "We've got to have a play for these kids. We've got to connect these kids to the arts." If I'm not doing it kind of as a parent from the side, I I'm concerned about the consolidation from that point of view. So, thank you. the outlet music boosters that um I'm here to talk about music but I do want to say that I'm an immigrant from the Netherlands and I've always thought that around is a very special place and even while this country as a whole
064did not feel safe anymore more this place still does. So I urge the boards will adopt this revolution and keep this place special. Um about the consolidation and the music program, it's already been mentioned, but I just want to stress that music is not free time or waste of time. It's not occupational therapy. It creates better students and better human beings. It fully supports the school's stated mission. Please don't think we can do with less music or less arts. It teaches people to think [clears throat] makes us human. Thank you. >> Where? >> Hi, thank you for letting us speak tonight. Um I'm Claire Wasimman. I'm a Ronda Valley School District uh member of the community. My my children who both graduated from this district. Um I was a substitute teacher here for a number
065of years. Um I'm in support of every everybody who said anything and reiterate all your comments about support of passing a resolution to protect immigrants in our community. They're valuable members and yes, we are all immigrants except for what you said, except for the indigenous people and the slaves. Um, I'm asking for, you know, for the protection of students from unlawful ICE. Unlawful is is like an understatement of the act that um we're witnessing now. um so that all of our immigrant students and members of the community as the the school districts of Kingston and Newport have done and so that everybody feels safe. Thank you. >> Round out music. >> Okay. All right. Um, I'm not prepared, so I'm wing it. Uh, my name is Kaiba. I have a ninth grader and a seventh
066grader. Um, both of them active in the music program. And, uh, we moved here. I'm actually a boomerang. I grew up in the Arlington school district across the river and played a few instruments and, uh, was very active there. Raised our kids in California. We decided, where in the world should we come back? We decided to come back here. Um, so the Hudson Valley of course. So when we discovered that Rondout had a strong music program, we were thrilled. Mr. Cutler actually told us how in comparison with Arlington where they have over 100 staffers, I believe, um, powering their music program, Rondout had at the time, I believe, eight, forgive me if my numbers are off. And all things considered, we were blown away. We thought what a powerhouse Rond out is to be able
067to do what they do with a handful of people. Uh because when I think about an instrument in the hands of my kids, I think about what it meant for me growing up. Um it's not just playing an instrument. It's learning how to do something new. It's learning how to perform, how to be part of an ensemble, how to be a flexible learner. It's good for cognitive development to try something new. It improves your abilities in math and other things to be able to learn an instrument and to have cross disciplinary ways of thinking. Um it's a social activity. It's uh um let's see what else does it offer. It is a vehicle for being considered for college. I think it's an amazing way to stand out to have given yourself as a child the
068chance to develop yourself as a musician. And in particular, what's fascinating about an instrument is that it could be handed to each student. Each student is able to develop themselves as a musician. Every single one. So unlike, you know, being able to be the fastest runner or the highest jumper, everyone really does have the potential to be good at playing an instrument. And it seems like such a small investment if you think about it to like hand them out like candy, but we can't do that. What we can do is recognize that the staff that do power the system that I was describing are what it takes to do that. Um, and to give these kids a chance to both have this wonderful hobby, this social opportunity, this thing that's good for their minds, this
069thing that opens doors to college, and realize that that's quite accessible. But it all depends on having more people to keep that door open. And uh so I was just going to urge you to consider if you're looking at cutting staffing, don't let it be music program. Also, daughter of immigrants, um I I have to say that the world is better for all the different things that we have to offer. My parents came here after a pretty rough time in Europe, but uh dad went on to design chips, mom went on to teach English. We're all part of making this place better. And so the more we protect our people and protect our ideas and protect our safety, the more we can move forward. And anything that gets in the way of that is impeding
070progress and creativity. >> I don't have any other forms up here. I'm also here to talk a little bit about the music and maybe some other things. Um, my name is Danella. I have three kids in Round Out. Um, love the school. Love the music program. Particularly, I think, uh, we have a trio of teachers that are fantastic when it comes to music. I think we got to make sure that we don't treat, uh, Mr. Clinton's retirement um or we do treat it as regretful attrition that we fill that spot uh because he's absolutely was a great teacher but you know I think there's different needs for different ages and there's no way for one teacher to look after those young kids just learning instruments at those ages. So make sure that we refill that
071spot. Um, I also think that with the uh reconfiguration, we shouldn't look to it as translation, you know, like smaller ice cream and smaller boxes of pasta, smaller things of pasta sauce. We should and we should try to make things better, right? So maybe reconfigure it so that we do get music and art and stuff all the time and maybe, you know, because there's something missing when we can only get three months of art for a kid who's 12 years old. That to me is like is fundamentally an issue if we're spending $86 million for our teachers in school. So I hope that we could find that money somehow and if you know there is some attrition because people choose to retire and we don't backfill that that comes back actually and not just in
072some coffer for somebody to save. It comes back as a music teacher. It comes back as an art teacher. It comes back you know as school plays. You know what I mean? because I think that's ultimately what is developed our kids into better human beings. So, uh that's that. Second thing I want to say is like I think uh the board I think the the school uh system might have done a better job with school taxes in the last quarter. I think there was some confusion with tax bills and green bank and all green county bank and all this other stuff. I uh I believe with who paid who didn't pay uh somebody quitting over there and causing some people to end up uh getting charged some late fees that maybe were inappropriate and the
073school system never actually returned some calls uh that were made into them. So, uh hopefully uh that doesn't happen again and I think there should be more transparency if an issue like that happens that the entire district is notified that there may be some uh issues and maybe look to um grant some uh period of time where you wouldn't get fun. So, that's just my thoughts on that. Thank you very much. I do want to thank everybody who we have packed the room. Um we are listening. Okay. I a daughter. My grandfather was one of the lucky that made it on a raft 90 miles. >> Superintendent schools consent agenda items 1 to 12. Recommend a motion that the board approve the revise consent agenda agenda items 1 to 12 as presented. I'll make the
074motions. >> I'll second. >> Any discussion? All those in favor? >> Motion carries. [clears throat] >> Okay. uh for my update. Uh couple of weeks ago, Dr. Spado and I um went uh to a legislative dinner. We did a meet with our local legislators. Um we do that with here. Um it's generally happens right after the governor uh gives her just like Tabitha mentioned before in her uh in her presentation. and uh we talked to them about where the needs are and stuff and they they do they go back and they fight for us and they try to get us a little bit more and a lot of the conversations were around um the new portrait of a graduate um busing um and a lot of unfunded mandates that are coming down from the state.
075So the state is make mandating you know many things on school districts in general um but they're not giving us the money to be able to handle that. they wanted on the backs of the taxpayers. So our legislators are working very hard to try to that's when explained you know things can move you know um but they are fighting for that. >> So that was that was at park >> uh for time Mr. Mal. >> Yes I just like to give a shout out to Tom Trion our facilities director. uh he's uh been innovated with lots of white stuff coming down from the sky. Uh he's done a marvelous job uh and getting all the schools ready for our staff and students uh along with along with Tom obviously the grounds and maintenance crew and
076also uh the custodians as well. So I just want to give a shout out to all of them. let them know we're very supportive of what they've done. >> Thank you, Mr. >> You're welcome. >> Um, I have a lot of updates today, but first I just wanted to say I'm really inspired by so much of what you all shared tonight. I'm grateful. I know a lot of people in this community have spent a lot of time working on this resolution with people in other districts, which I think is amazing. What else do we have right now and the fact that our communities are working together around some of these things is amazing. Um I would love to see our consider this resolution and look at how there are a number of things listed in
077there. I know there are some things that we're already doing internally, but I'm curious to to cross off those things and make it protocol. Some of the ones that stood out to me were um multilingual communication, which feels a really low hanging fruit for us. We do this in our newsletters, but we don't do it in our systemwide communications. Know your rights training for everyone. Um I also know last year we talked a lot about safety, especially around the SRO's and the guards. And I'm curious how that plays a role in this and how we leveraging that resource if we have um ice trying to enter the building without permission and our protocols fail us. So I yeah I just want to thank everyone who spoke about this. I think um this is what Mar
078said integrity requires us to look beyond our politics. I'm not quoting her perfectly but um regardless of what we believe what we're seeing right now is that ICE creates a safety risk for everyone and I don't think any of us wants that kind of uh situation on our campuses, on our buses, school grounds and our community. So that was one thing. I also just heard so many people talk about our school mission and our desire to have a welcoming affirming environment and um someone said talked about actually music making us human but um I think also caring for each other makes us human and schools are at the heart of our community. So um I just really hope that we all consider how we're caring for all of our all of our students and families.
079Um all right, we had our budget committee meeting right before this. Thank you so much for all the work that you've done, Tabitha, to just share in detail what's happening. I know so much of this is, you know, under control. The health insurance premiums are insane. Um, and I just wanted to let the board know that the tech is looking at creative ways to generate more revenue and really thoughtful about this so that it doesn't all completely fall to taxpayers. Um, Rhonda Valley Education Foundation has some exciting updates. Um, one of the things they are doing, they had a group of fifth graders who petitioned for more books from the series titled Who Lisa, if you know that series, and their librarian, Miss Torlot, who just wrote a novel, um, applied for a grant through
080the foundation was able to add more of these books to the library. The foundation also approved three new grants. One is for a program called All Brains Are Welcome in the Marble Town Library. Um, another one was for a fourth grade field trip from Mid Pines, which aligns with their curriculum and another one was for the end of season field trip for the Round Up Valley High School student newcomers uplifted from Graham. And then one of the policy things that they discussed was just wanting to sync up with the district around grant the grant approval process for to make sure that educators know funds are available for the district before applying for grants through them. Um, we also had the curriculum committee meeting last week and had looked at some really positive data. We looked
081specifically at the midyear fast bridge data for K through nine. So, if you don't know what that is, that's sort of like the the formative assessments, see how our students are doing throughout the year. They do a beginning, middle, and end of year, I believe. And, um, it was really positive overall for the A-reading data. So that's the reading skills showed significant long-term declines in high-risisk and some risk students and it's similar for math. So that all just tells us that our um our tier one interventions are really working and we have been moving on curriculum and math curriculum. So those are doing the job and then um Dr. But er shouted out the the really positive English regions results which we also looked at in the curriculum committee and we also approved a new
082life skills curriculum called learning systems that is going to better support teachers in differentiating and engaging our students. [clears throat] It comes with amazing resources for tracking data and vertical alignment as well. Um, and Meg is also leading the committee to review our social emotional learning curriculum and walk us through the process and timeline for this. And we looked at data for our special education students and our state test scores show we have some areas for improvement. We are second in the county for our graduation rate for students with disabilities, which I think is really amazing. That's a two pages. >> Thank you so much. uh facilities committee. We are continuing our talks with the projects. Uh like to reiterate what uh Mr. Malik said as well as our facilities crew have uh been keeping
083up with all the snow and ground for our children and staff. Um we've had some issues. We have little issue over at Marltown that was rectified pretty quickly. Um so that was a two-hour delay that we had the other day. But uh yeah, we have our next committee meeting on March 9th as well. >> Um okay, so policy committee. Um so, uh Courtney Sand policy services, they are starting our compliance review which we've been talking about. Um and uh through the first week in February um and it should be complete within a month from then. And and what that really means completion is just we'll sort of we will have sort of a list of uh which uh which policies we might need to look at to update. Some maybe we won't meet at all.
084Maybe there are some we don't currently have that we need to create. Um we spent most of our time revising policy 2160, the school district officer code of ethics. Um and we were looking at embedding policy 2510 orient orienting and training new board members um into that policy. So just a goal to make sure that it's complicated. There are some times where we have a bunch of sort of small separate policies and we're when when it makes sense um putting them into a larger policy. Um and we are still working on that one. So that one's not going to come to the board at least um by next meeting. Um number 2330 executive session. Um, that one was, I think, originally adopted in 2001. Uh, we are we're looking at updating that. I don't know
085that there's a lot of work to do on that. It basically just lists the reasons we as board members would move into executive session. Um at the next meeting which is on March 2nd um from 4 to 5 o'clock um I believe we will be discussing 8130 school safety plans and teams 80 uh 8122 automated external defibrillators and 8505 charging meals and other food items. Last one 8520 free meal services. So we're looking at that now and working on that and we'll that'll be sort of workshopped on March 2nd equity council. Um so updates here the know your rights training um has occurred for the mental health professionals um that happened on January 23rd. Um Dr. Brown of NYU CRSSE is continuing work um at the moment with Natalie um for the professional development day
086coming up um in which she'll be working with uh building the building leadership teams um looking at integrating the work um that's been happening into the instructional work and teaching and then those folks will be working uh working with faculty and staff. Um the SEAL curriculum selection process is moving forward. Um February 20th is the demo day. So v vendors will be demoing the curriculum and that will sort of help us decide which curriculum sort of makes sense for us. Um and the uh upcoming subcommittee meeting and regular equity council meeting um will be scheduled soon with me. Did I miss any important details that you want to add in that one? >> You actually hit it all. I did send some dates out. Um so the the real the really important Hudson Hudson Valley
087grown tortilla shift tasting Dr. Spado is there actually so was um principal to off and assistant principal um for a little while. Um so uh Ren Rashon of Crop Shop, Katie Shehan Lopez um who's from the farm to school for CCE um in Celeste Glacia um she is the farm to school coordinator for Milestone Mill um which processes the corn um from Hudson Valley Farmhub trial 12 trial seven varieties of corn um made math out of it created tortillas and they sort of came up with the recipe that um students were were able to die. Um, and the the idea was to try to bring some um local foods um to our to our food to our food system. And um so this is very local. Um the so again the the corn is grown
088very near here um at the farm hub. Um and then it is ground at Milestone Mill. Um and then the um uh corn goes to La Guadal Lupana in Queens and they make ma. Um so they take the organic yellow corn, corn oil, slick lime and salt. Um they mix it, they press it, they cut and they fry it. Um and then um these folks, you know, again, try a bunch of different recipes and they found some tortilla chips that they think are just thin enough um that are good. So the big test was uh was this a day ago or two days ago? Thank you. There you go. Um [laughter] in the high school, um they sort of set up a table with the chips and with some salsa and invited high school students
089to give it a go and try and see what they think. And then we had I wish I had a giant picture for you, but they had a really big um like postit poster up um and you could vote for yes, I like it, no, I don't like it, or do I have any comments? Um and basically everyone liked it except we did get one with the thumbs down. That's okay. Um, and in the comments, uh, kids wrote, "Can I have seconds, thirds? Uh, this would be great with meat in it. Uh, best chips I've had. These are great because they're not soggy. Better than the ones we have now. Uh, better than Chipotle." I think that's a really good one. And then the last one is cured my depression. I was like, "Okay, that's
090good." Okay. Um, so I thought that was really kind of fun um to do that tasting. I'm really glad that students liked it. Um, and let's see. Um, in terms of the Kingston resolution, um, which I have read, um, since it had sort of come out, um, I guess I've sort of been thinking, um, as a new board member that I swore an oath to support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New York, and that my primary duty is to ensure a safe, conducive learning environment for all students. um that our students should be able to learn, play in a concert, act in a play, play a sport, go to practice, come and leave from school without fear, etc. And I think it's our role to put into
091place everything or anything we can always um so that this can be true. Um and I am grateful to the folks at Kingston for developing this resolution. I don't I don't you know when I sort of read through it some of the things make a lot of sense to me for our community others I sort of have questions but the one thing that I do sort of see is that there are a lot of things in that resolution that we I think already do and so I guess one of the things I was thinking about is and is perhaps using our uh our groups our committees to sort of look at and start to pull out what do we already what's already in policy, what protocol do we need? Do we already have and start
092to put that together? Like for example, could the policy committee check for policy that already exists? For example, with the student privacy, data protection and documentation. Um maybe in partnership, the safety and policy committees could look at the safety plan and consider whether whether what we already do um is there like if I shows up at a bus stop or a school event or a parking lot, what's the protocol there? Um, also I think something Diminy mentioned like what's what are the SRO and armed guards responsibilities with regards to ICE, especially if you know [clears throat] our protocol is they don't enter the building um without sort of a chain of command and in the end um council sort of letting us know if they have the right to come in the building. Um but
093what do we do if they don't listen? What do we do if they continue to to walk into the school or what have you? What is our protocol for that? Um, let's see. Equity council I thought could talk about multilingual communication and sort of think about that. Um, I don't know, maybe assistant superintendent me might look at resource connection and trauma support. Um, and and al and when I say look at that, like I'm sure there are things that are already being done and I don't know what those are, but I think that it might be great to have a conversation about that. Um, maybe as a board we would consider the commitment and ongoing development piece. Um, Dr. Spero, of course, the protocols for non-local law enforcement, which we do have one. Um, staff
094training and support and just making sure that everyone really does know what to do. Uh, reporting and compliance, contractor notification, that sort of thing. Um, I think we should consider offering know your rights training uh for faculty, staff, students, and maybe even parents. Um, I think that training would help everyone be safe. Um, and I guess, you know, I think a lot about, you know, I've heard folks say like the as a board member like you shouldn't be political. And I get that and I don't feel like this is I for me I feel like this has to do with a resolution has to do with a promise or a pledge that we as board members believe that we should do everything we can do to make sure that every single student and faculty and
095staff member and coach and kitchen like whoever everybody in our community feels safe and knows what would happen should ICE come to our door because I you know I think they could it could happen and I'd rather sort of be prepared now um and have sort of an agreement as to what we as a board you know collectively um sort of agree to and value um before that happens. [snorts] >> Thank you. Um so the next thing I have uh the staff developmental meeting that happened in February 4th I believe. Um it went well. The staff was wellreceived and they were very open-minded and ready to move forward with initiative. Um second thing uh a new clock system being installed in high school right now. Uh I believe is near being finished. It's in the
096hallways and in the classrooms and eventually the PA system will be connected to those classes. Uh third thing, uh the varsity boys and girls indoor track team took home the title of division champions at their recent division championship meet. >> Uh Matilda the musical will be held on February 21st and 22nd and the go off what you said about the tortilla chip tasting. [laughter] All the students really were excited about the coming of the new school lunches and there was a lot of positive feedback. Thank you so much everybody. >> Um, can I get a recommended motion that the board of education approve consent agenda items four through six as presented? >> I'll make a motion. >> Second. >> Any discussion? All those in favor? >> Opposed? Motion carries. I'd like to make a motion
097to revise the agenda and add executive session after the board president agenda. Um the board may take action after executive session. >> I'll second it. >> Any discussion? >> All those in favor? Okay, we are going to go into executive. So, thank you so much for coming and sticking this out with us. >> [laughter]