001stands one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Recommended motion to approve the revised August 26, 2025 board of education meeting agenda as presented. >> I'll make a motion. I'll second it. >> Any discussion? All those in favor? Opposed? Motion passes. Dr. Spado superintendent update. Uh first on the agenda says we have our presentation of climate survey data from Mr. Alex, director of data. >> All right. Good evening everybody. My name is Alex Dan. I'm the director of data here. Um when I saw Miss Pek yesterday at the curriculum committee meeting I totally 33 slides and she told me I better speak fast. So went back and about 12 more. So there's about 44 4 there are extra copies on the counter if you'd like copy of the presentation. Um I'm
002going to talk about some of our school climate survey result from last year. Um we do a lot of different surveys. There's surveys for each elementary building we give to third graders. um the intermediate school students have one, the junior high and high school students. We also had a survey for the staff in the district and for parents and guardians. So all those results are summarized in this report here. This is the second year we've been using a company called Thought Exchange that the district has used for for multiple things in the past. Uh it's a really great platform. So the presentation was put together by me. It's only that at work. Uh so jumping right into the we'll start with the students first student overview looking at the high school. Um just trying to
003compare last year to this year. There were less recipients less respondents um in pretty much every building except for Marble Town. So that's something that we're going to work on for next year. Making sure that we open windows for a little longer. Making sure that we increase communication to make sure that we get just some key findings. Um when we analyze the results from last year to this year, um I'm not going to read through all of them and why I have paper copies for everybody. And this will be posted after probably in a week or two. Um but you can read through a lot of the key findings are are pretty similar year over year. So while we saw some growth in certain areas, some of those main concerns are still there. Um but
004we'll get more into that as we go through each individual group. So looking at the high school first, some key strengths that we saw some good areas of growth. Um 93% of the students identified that they have friends at school. Uh and 89% of students responded that there's a teacher or an adult who cares about that. So those were some areas that uh we're really proud of. And then this year we added a question uh Miss Toro added some really good questions to this in which ways do you feel most engaged in your learning. So we wanted to get the feedback directly from the students on what they what they enjoy in their class how teaching methods they like like project based learning like being collaborative working with their hands. So those results are here
005and then for other uh there's a little summary of some of the responses themselves. Um the biggest focus was on project based learning, working with their hands, working collaborative collaboratively with their classmates um and connecting with lessons. It's a real life experience. Another question that we added was, "What is one thing teachers could do to help you feel more invested or in control of your learning?" Um, and then again, here's just some key responses that they had and then trying to find that that common ground between more interactive, less busy work. And it's a lot of the same supplements as the slide course, making sure that that students are engaged, that they're they're hands-on, they're learning, they're moving. It's not just kind of sit and talk to. Make sure that our classroom of 21st century,
006as Dr. Spado likes to say. And then some areas for opportunities for growth. Um, if I were to report bullying or harassment, I believe a teacher administrator would do something to stop it. Only 40% of our students agree with that. Um, and this school helps students resolve conflicts with one another, 28%. So, those are areas that we're going to look at um with our building leadership teams, with our counselors, with our great service providers uh to really try to to get those numbers. Another question that was added, if you could change one thing about school, what would it be? Um, a lot of the sentiment from the students and and even from the staff was um addressing the bullying, harassment, and vaping situations that are happening in the building. uh adjustments. >> I'm sorry. Can
007you say general? You're involving students and staff. >> This sur this was just from the student survey itself. So, but when we get to the staff results, you'll see they had a lot of similar concerns. Um some students talked about adjusting the school schedule, later start times, which I know was brought up in the past. um shortening the class blocks, which is something that we're going to look at this year with a committee to look at our scheduling. Um longer breaks and opening more bathrooms. Um they want more engaging and hands-on teaching and learning methods, which we talked about. Uh better food options that came up basically in all all the student surveys. So, that's something we're going to have to look at with our food service director. Um and then introducing more AP classes,
008which is hard for a small district like this. and we kind of talked about a little bit at the treatment committee meeting yesterday. We're kind of alternating, you know, so we're offering certain AP courses this year. Next year, we'll offer some other ones. So, it's been working fairly well, I would say, over the last couple years. Just making sure that every other year the students have options to be taking MP courses. Um, and then other options for graduation paths beyond standard exams like regent. So, we're going to see that that the state pushes the portrait of a graduate. So, that's already going to be happening. Um, students did identify they want more access to their cell phones. Sharing for a little wakeup call on that aspect there, but um so some highlights there. And then
009what makes you feel good about school? Uh big thing was the social connections. The the word bubble here. Friends came up obviously a lot. That's why it's in the middle. Um, supportive teachers. The students really feel supported by their teachers and their administrators here. Um, sports and extracurricular activities. We offer a lot of organizations that the students are participating in. Um, and then just receiving recognition for the making sure they're getting a positive feedback from all the teachers, administrators, and staff. Um, it helps contribute to their sense of accomplishment. And then there was requests to kind of compare some of last year's results to this year's results. Um we did change some of the surveys. We shortened them by about half. U so some of the questions that were in last year's survey aren't in
010this year's and vice versa. So this isn't all the questions that were the same, but these are some of the ones that that saw the biggest changes. Um so things like belonging. Belonging was a real focus in a lot of our buildings. So seeing that increase and the sense of belonging from students uh it's a little hard to read but that's 47 to 67 62 or 67% so we did see an increase there of students who agree that they have that sense of belonging uh students respect one another saw an a pretty significant increase students get along well saw an increase here uh the classes are interesting right so that's very important as we work on engagement make sure students are invested and engaged with their classes Um, we did see uh some it's it's
011a decrease, right, in agreement. Students are often bullied, but that's what we want. So, we want a decrease in agreement and an increase in disagreement. So, students are saying that they're not often bullied. That's good. Then, one area that we're going to continue to work on is making sure that we're providing culturally reflective materials. That's something that we're working with NYU. Now they're starting to look at the curriculum pieces too. >> Can I ask a question? >> Sure. >> Um, do you also have this data like maybe even just these six questions going back like to 2021 like is it possible to look at the trends over like a fiveyear period or >> I can look back and see which questions we have then we did change platforms so it's not to pull it. So
012like I said this is the second year we've used thought exchange that these are a little easier to get but we try to pick that up. >> And am I remembering correctly that like this year you know there will be le there are less questions but that like maybe every five years or something like that you go back to like the longer version. So that was that was kind of the the thought process when we did that is that a lot of the feedback from the teachers from students from the parents even the surve were too long. Um in the old platform it looked like oh it's only 80 questions but within some of those questions it was 10 other questions. So when we went to thought exchange we had to start listing out each
013question individually and it was like 160 something like oh hey it really is too long. So we wanted to shorten it. We did a little bit of that last year, but it was still pretty significant long. Um, so we did cut it down most of the surveys by about half with the thought being that every three to five years, we'll use the longer survey. That way we can continue to practice monitoring. And the other thought to that is if we if we're looking at that stuff every year, it's not really giving us time to see the information. Some of these things are going to take a little while. And so we're still going to be progress monitoring to do that using this as an inter. >> All right. So switching over to the junior high.
014Um some of their strengths I have friends at schools same as the high school 93% uh 79% identified a teacher or an adult who cares about them. Some opportunities for growth. Uh students respect one another. only 29% of students agree with that. So that's they they're working on and at this school students talk about the importance of understanding their own feelings and feelings of others only 7%. So that's something that that building is going to focus on and work on and we are as a district to make sure that we're you know increasing respect and understanding to our students. >> Which ways do you feel most engaged in your learning? uh similar to the high school, they really like working on projects and hands-on stuff, having choices um in how they learn and how they
015show what they know, which I thought was interesting. Um class discussions was the third highest 39% and again just some some of the other responses are summarized there and then the year-to-year comparison here. So we saw some uh increases in teachers giving individual attentions individual attention to the student when they need it. Um here's the year-to-year comparison. Students respect one another. So do see some decreases there. Um which is why we're focus on that. Things I learn in school are important to me. We saw some increases there which is good. Similar school uh that sense of belonging which they have been working on. It was part of their strategic goals. uh we saw some increases in so we're excited about that growth. Um, wish that wasn't in the way, but students at the school get
016along with with each other. Something you saw with respect issue immediate school, their survey is set up a little different. So, it's a lot more quantitative data. So, that the system was able to pull a lot more the summaries of those responses. Uh again, I'm not going to read through them all, but the te the responses were generally positive between the student teacher interactions. Um they did feel like teachers tried to get to know them. They do have some concern about danger just like you saw in some of the other buildings. U but overall it was pretty positive some of the areas that we're going to investigate some of the bullying. Um there were questions about students feeling unsafe and in which different locations bus or classroom and hallway cafeteria. So just looking at some
017of those areas and this year we did give them the opportunity to explain why they feel unsafe because that was something that came up especially in the third grade survey last year that they were saying we felt unsafe in the bathroom why you know you started getting some actual responses one of them because when I flush the toilet it's really loud at the third grade. just trying to to really hone down on why they're feeling that way. >> Was really a focus of ours from the surveys this year. Uh what makes you feel good about school, friendships, the teachers, recess and gym, having those physical activities, the opportunities to get out and play. Uh school activities and clubs, field trips, musical plays, uh sort of were s of excitement for the students. Uh and overall
018the students felt safe. A lot of good feedback from school this year. Did a SWAT analysis here. So we're looking at strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Um some of the strengths like we've talked about friendships, supportive teachers, and you know, enjoyable activities, the extra clubs that we offer. Um some weaknesses, some you know, obviously some bullying concerns. um concerns about the playground. They were really upset when we got out is was closed. Um and food went up again quite a bit. Uh the start time, several students did identify that it's hard for them to get up that early in the morning. Um opportunities, increase recess time, uh improve the lunch quality and more creative or engaging classes. Um and then some safety concerns around bowling. So that's something that we're looking at addressing. uh have
019been or continue to. Uh and then students are teased or or picked on about the race and ethnicity. Um only 35% disagree or strongly disagree. So that's an area we're looking at the feedback from last year to this year. Um students at the school are often bullied. So this these surveys switched to sometime yes, sometimes no or unsure. So it's a little different setup from the older greens. Um but we did see a decrease in yes, but an increase in sometimes. See what that really means. Uh do you feel safe on the bus? Uh we saw an increase here and yes, so that's good. The students felt more safe on the bus this past year. Um do you feel like you belong? We saw a slight increase there, which is something that they were really
020focusing on at the intermediate school. Um, this one we talked about a little bit in the last slide is an area of concern. And then does a school help students resolve conflicts um went up. So really working with our counselors, our administrators are in service providers to work on conflict resolution skills through sixth grade. All right, Khox. So again, just some quantitative data. The students really identified their their feeling of support and care from their teachers and other adults in the building. Um they felt generally safe in the classroom, playgrounds, cafeterias, and buses. Um, there were some concerns, like I said, about the bathrooms to the flushes too loud. They worried that someone's going to walk in on them. Um, but generally overall some really positive results that we saw. There were some reports of
021bullying behavior at at Khan, so that's something that the leadership team there is going to look at and try and figure out. Um the students were pretty uh engaged and excited about the the stuff that they were learning in class and then some areas to investigate some bullying concerns like I talked about safety in some specific areas and teasing about personal body image skin colors. >> What do you like most about school? teachers, their friends, uh they're learning, you know, so much time with their learning, elementary teachers doing a lot of fun activities with them. So that was some of the stuff that was identified, some of the activities, some of the after school clubs. some displays. Again, they like the the positive support and influence they receive in the school. Uh they enjoy building
022friendships, meeting new people. Um, math, reading, and science are commonly mentioned as subjects that participate participants find engaging and enjoyable. Um, they enjoy gym projects, art, soccer, pretty normal things for a third grader to enjoy. >> Your comparisons, are you happy in school stay pretty consistent? Um, do other kids hit or push you at school? That went no. So that that went up. So that's positive. Do you feel like you belong? A pretty good increase in the sense of belonging. Um, the elementary u, same thing. We kind of reduced the amount of bad names and mean jokes in the building, which is good. Students feel safe on the playground and a pretty significant increase on do do you feel safe on the bus? Alex, I can't quite hear you. If you could speak a little.
023>> Sure. Yeah. So, uh, students feel more safe on the playground and significant increase on if they feel safe on the bus. So, like you saw in the intermediate school, students are feeling more safe on the buses, uh, which is good. Then for Marble Town, 90% of students gave positive feedback on their interactions with teachers and other adults. They're generally safe at school, feel safe at school. Um 62% feel like they belong. Again, talk about their friendships, having adults that they can trust and feel supported by. Bullying and teasing does come up as an area to investigate. um you know consistency in the behavior or feedback. So just making sure that we're addressing the behavior in a consistent manner and these stay pretty consistent. Math, science, art, and reading are mentioned as favorable subjects for
024what students like about school. Drama club, music, art projects, school events, pajama day. uh all those fun activities that the students enjoy. We value their connections to teachers and friends, show and tell, field trips, school dances really create a positive experience for us. So, just some areas to look at year-over-year. Again, a pretty significant increase. 40% increase on students feel safe on the bus. Great. >> Smile. Smile. >> Uh, do you feel safe on the playground? Also a significant increase there. Do you have friends at school? Is already pretty there is an increase there. Uh, do you have teachers and other grown-ups that school care about you? Saw an increase there. Um, do other kids hit or push you? the percentage of nos went up. So that's good. Are you happy to be at the
025school? Saw a slight decrease in yeses, a slight increase in some. So some of the time, so pretty flat. All right. So switching over to the staff survey again. Uh reduced number of recipient respondents this year, last year. some of the quantitative data. Um, >> sorry, all staff. >> All staff. Yeah. For all the for all the buildings. Um, generally positive perception of the work environ environment. They do feel a sense of belonging and are treated respect by their colleagues. Um, you know, they have concerns about some of the enforcement and consistency of behavior policies across all the buildings. Um, diversity inclusion efforts to foster respect and understanding of diversity within the school show a mixed response. Some participants agree that programs exist to support diversity, others are dissatisfied with the quantity and quality of
026these programs. So, that's an area that we're working on and looking at. Um and then increasing the communication both at the districtwide level and at the building level to make sure that it's birectional and time something that the district leadership team has identified as goal this year. Um areas to investigate inconsistency and enforcing school rules and policies, communication effectiveness between district and school administrators and staff and implementing restoative practices and availability of diversity folks. Those are areas. Some key strengths. 85% of respondents say they feel respected by their colleagues. Um, and 86% feel that what they teach is connected to the outside outside of the classroom. Some opportunities for growth. Kind of talking about communication. I have an opportunity to contribute my views before decisions are made that affect me. Only 30% of staff with
027that. uh school rules are enforced consistently and fairly only 22% and it's year-over-year results. Uh I feel valued for the work I do. We saw a decrease in agree but an increase in strongly agree. Uh school has enough programs that develop students social and emotional skills stayed pretty flat. agree but decreased and strongly agree and increased to strongly disagree. So some people were very uh animated I guess about their beliefs there. Um school has enough antibbias programs to develop respect for diversity stayed pretty flat but did see an increase in the strong and the disagree school building is clean and wellmaintained went up pretty significantly. So, our facilities and our facial staff are doing a great job. Um, I have a clear understanding of the district priorities and goals stayed pretty flat. So, that's why
028we want to make sure that we're increasing the communication on what the district and building goals are with the entire staff and communication across the core instruction and leadership staff is birectionally soft. That's why the parents and guardians. So we had 233 uh respondents for that. Most of the feedback is generally positive. Uh they feel like we provide a pretty good uh strong educational programming for their students. They're happy with the amount of clubs and organizations and sports programs that we offer. Uh there are concerns about bullying, racial and ethnic conflicts within the buildings. We do they do identify that they are actively participating in school events. Uh but do note that timings of some of those events are a barrier. Some of the areas to investigate, bullying and harassment, celebratory communications, making sure that
029we're having those positive communications with the parents, teachers calling home positive referrals, highlighting like we started to do last year, students of the market, things like that. Some key strengths, the staff at the school treat me with respect. 87% of parents and guardians agreed with that. School buildings are well maintained and clean. 90% guardian opportunities. The schools encourage students to take challenging courses like honors classes, AP and IB, no matter their race, ethnicity, nationality, or cultural background. Um that only really applies to junior high and high school and bullying of students at school and school activities is a problem. 30% disagree or strongly disagree. So we need to get those numbers up. Just looking on how we're going to work on some student engagement, making sure that we have student led workshops, providing feedback forms,
030project based learning, which is a real big focus, uh bullying and conflict resolution, peer mediation programs that we're working on with the counselors and social workers, uh awareness campaigns, implementation steps, um working on different committees that will have students advising on them as well. surveys and focus groups. We do a lot of surveys, trading action plans. Our counseling plan uh has been developed over the past year will be coming before the board um next month that identifies and addresses some of these concerns. Um, and then just making sure that we're moderate concern against which I'll talk about and just the comparison year-over-year from some of the staff result some of the parent guarding results. Um, the staff at the school care about my child saw a pretty significant increase and strongly agree to treat school
031responds to my phone calls and messages and emails in a timely fashion. strongly agree went up a little bit, degree went down a little bit, so it stayed pretty consistent. Um, school encouraged me to be an active partner in my child's education. Strong degree went up, degree went down, but again stayed fairly meeting. Uh, and school seeks input from parents when making important decisions. Uh, we did see some decreases there. um which I kind of tribute to the discussions about security guards and stuff like that. Some of the community members not to get involved in that process as much as they would like a couple of if you don't mind check uh with this format which is uh what's the process what it's called the thought exchange. judges just want to make sure this is
032a confidential document. >> Correct. And there would be no retaliation for anybody or against anybody if they were to truthfully and honestly uh fill in the blanks. I think there are areas where you're allowed to fill in uh some personal experiences or things might not be addressed in the questions. >> Yeah, the surveys are completely anonymous. We couldn't get the answers even if we couldn't get the identities even if we wanted to. Cloud exchange continually boosts that cover. There are opportunities for people to comments different questions. Some of those comments do have names in them. Somebody wrote, "Mr. Malik is the nicest teacher in the world. You know that those comments are in there, but we filter those out before we share it." somebody writing something, uh, no one else would see that information, per
033se. You're saying you're filtering out when somebody mentions somebody's name, but but if someone doesn't mention somebody's name and they're mentioning something uh that they feel is not going well, that's not going to be something that's >> But we have that feedback. Yeah. And that's stuff that we look at as leadership. >> But you're not saying who that's coming from, >> correct? No. No, we have no idea. It's anonymous. >> So, I just want Yeah, that's totally anonymous. Uh second thing is I know that this was done uh uh for all the school buildings. I I would be interested in seeing uh other parts of uh the education system also or at least the the the uh the employment of other people and how they feel whether building and grounds. Uh, I don't know if
034we would extend it out to the buses or not, but I think there's some people that might might be left off of this that I would be concerned or, you know, would like to see how how they feel. >> So, anybody who's been employed by Rodn Valley School District, I think we need to have their feelings as well. >> Yeah. And that was something or whatever. >> Yeah, that's something we talked about. maybe even creating a survey for the teachers to get more of the classroom interactions and then one for for all staff as well to get their thoughts and ideas. >> And you know, and I've said it before to to that, you know, uh I'm here to speak for the people who may not be on the higher end of the of scale
035of payment. We're here to speak for for the for the people on the on the lower scale. I want to represent them because I think they need to have a voice as well. Correct. And I don't think they always have a voice. >> I agree. I also I I also think that sometimes when they say things that they could be retaliation, there are times that I've talked to whether it was a teacher or or somebody uh employed somewhere in another area that they're all afraid about retaliation when they say things. But you've assured me that there's no uh that this is all confidential. >> Correct. And I do want to point out that the survey gets sent to anybody who has a R on email. So it goes to all staff. So third staff, custodial
036staff, they all get it. they all have the opportunity to respond to this staff survey. It's more geared toward teachers. So, it's something about potentially either adding more touchston that might be open to everybody or some of the other staff or creat we're seeing hearing a lot about the bullying bullying uh at least in in in the upper grade. I think once the phone policy goes into effect, we're hoping we're going to see different results uh with that hopefully down the road when we do a survey again. Uh and also uh I have a little concern uh with the staff and their feelings about not being connected and supported. So that'll be something that we have to address. the super is this actually happening the steel engagement campaign or is this a suggestion through the
037thought exchange? >> It's it's a suggestion through thought exchange and it's not necessarily a campaign in itself. It's really we're looking at it more as how can we integrate some of those things into the committees and other things that we're going to do including students uh voices which does a lot. We have interviewers in all the different communities. We have school spects here, but making sure that we're getting the student voice and all of those. >> This is a great >> Yeah, >> I'm wondering about disagregating the data. So, um, it still is it's still looking like the teasing, bullying, that sort of thing, those experiences still seem like there's a pretty high percentage of students who are saying that that's happening along with um along with parents. Um, for example, for the questions about
038um, bullying based on, for example, racial identity, can we just aggregate that data? So, I'm I'm not just seeing, oh, you 40% agree that that's happening, but I can see what about the percentage of students of color. Like, how many of these folks are saying that that's happening? >> Yeah, we can decide to get the information based on pretty much any area in the survey. So, we we have demographic questions in the surveys. Yeah. >> And then we can decide based on gender, based on >> Okay. Q status based on >> Oh, we can. Okay, that's amazing. >> Ethnicity. So, whatever they identified in the survey, we >> I'd love to look. >> Yeah. >> Have you you have you done that already or >> we've we've looked at it? Generally, we haven't really broken
039it down. We have shared with all the buildings as well. So, they principles have access to go in and some of them have really been trained how to use the system completely. Sure. >> It is something >> and then I just wanted to touch on some of the what do we do with all this? So it's a lot of information. So what do we do with all this information? So over this at summer leadership retreat we provided all this the survey results to each of the individual building leadership teams. We gave them time to kind of look at those things. They use that to inform some of their building goals. uh the district worked with the information to inform some of our strategic goals at the district. Um we obviously identified and issues like that
040are something we have to work on. So we're for this school year we're creating committee to look at different programs and review different programs pick a few pilots and then hopefully implement adapt to the 20167 school year concerns. some of the things really just wanted that I kind of just gave a supplements to this and just to add on to what Alex was talking about. Um but in addition to the strategic goal with the leadership team working on from the climate survey specifically there also strategic goals that are tied into the walkthrough um tool that was used last year for the affirming and welcoming um environments in the school buildings and classrooms. So both of those um areas of information were utilized for at the building level strategic um goals that information was utilized to
041develop those. Um additionally I gave you that sheet that you're holding there on the top that has the tier one, two, and three. That's just to let you know the different SEAL supports or mental health supports that we have at each level. So when you're looking at the tier one, those are things that all students have access to. Tier two, those are maybe small groups or um pockets of of students or areas that we may be pulling aside to be give a little bit more concentrated attention and support to. And then your tier three are supports that we have access to in the district that we may tap into for students that really need individualized um extensive care or support. So those are those are just some resources that we utilize here in the district
042as part of our MCSS. Um, and then the other sheet that I gave you was just, you know, in talking about the campaign or what are we doing once we have, you know, some of this information. So, some of the initiatives that we're really trying to focus on, as Alex stated, um, one of the primary is really looking at what that K through2CL curriculum is going to be. So, that committee will be working this year on that. Um, additionally, we're piloting anal program called Everyday Speech that we're utilizing at the elementary level that really focuses on some of those social skills at a very kind of foundational explicit um basis. So, we'll be piloting that, seeing if that's something that we want to continue or expand upon up the the grade levels. The other thing
043that we're really looking to focus on, we started last year, but we're so I would call this an enhancement, is looking at our SRT process or our student review teams, which is where we really kind of look at students that that need that more individualized or isolated support or assistance and um incorporating empathy interviews, really bringing more student voice to it. A lot of times we think we know what a student is facing or experiencing or what we think would help them. Um, and so the the interviews really kind of help identify for students what their boundaries are um or what their their hurdles are or what's causing them difficulty and really bringing their voice and experience to the table. So, we'll be implementing those K12. Um, really focusing on progress monitoring once we implement
044an intervention, really making sure that we're tracking it to see what's working, what's not. So, we'll be looking at different data points that I've also listed there. um some of them that are kind of new the the fall back. So we've been looking at that at the middle school level but um high school we'll be looking at that next year attendance discipline records. So just wanted to touch on helps as part of our response to this. And can I just also just I just want to make sure that what we learn program and how you work with the staff is that the IEPs and the 504 plans are followed, right? Because it's important that they follow due to the law, right? >> Apologies if you if I just missed this, but who is on the
045student review team? Typically each of the buildings going to be your building principal as the lead and then it's going to be your school counselors, school psychologists, social workers, nurse um teachers or >> teachers are called in on a a case by case or student basis, but the the primary team is going to be your um your mental health support staff. >> I'm sorry. I just wanted to follow up. So if someone feels as though a parent feels as though their IEP plan is not being followed, they follow up with you or >> they start with this the building principal, they go to the special coordinator, they come to me multiple channels. >> I just have one more thing because it goes to kind of two of the comments. So for questions when we disagregate
046the data if we get to a spot where there's less than five respondents who fit in that category it hides the results so even I can't see so it goes to the anonymity partation part so make protecting the student responses so we can't >> I've actually seen data sets That's it standard. >> Alice, I just had a few data questions. Um, looking at the staff, the number of staff who responded, it actually dropped significantly 23 24 by almost 100 people. Is there a particular cohort that didn't respond? >> Um, it was spread out through all the buildings. The window was smaller this year um for the staff survey and I that's a big part of it. I I I would just encourage us to really try to get as many responses as possible. I think
047it's important that we're hearing voices involved of our staff. So maybe if we need to give more time next year, I would recommend >> Yeah, I I agree. We're definitely going to make the window long longer, but Mr. M too, there are some staff that express fears of, you know, not having the anonymity. Um, I spoke with a union president when we were sending that out to really push home thought it isn't anonymous. There's no way they're going to get some no retribution, none of that stuff. And and he was very supportive. He sent the email out to his union to kind of encourage them to share on their thoughts. >> Thank you. Another just a suggestion. Um, you know, I think when you start looking at all of these these end points, these measures
048on a lighter scale, um, your eyes start jumping quite a bit. It's hard to really truly look at trends. Um, what I might consider, what I what I recommend is if you wait these um these liker responses. So, you know, if strongly agree, for instance, is your your most positive response, you give it a score of four and agree gets three, disagree two, and the trunk disagree one. and then look at the data the trends across years looking at averages of those those results so that you truly can see are we moving in the right direction right are we shifting more towards that that most positive response for the score not that this is bad but I did again I think it's hard to pinpoint with the ups and downs between agree disagree are we
049really moving in the right direction >> thank you >> just one more about the car participation way as well. And I'm just remembering I think it went out in June, right? Where there's like >> it was more towards the end of here. >> Yeah. There's that's just crazy time for parents with kids in schools. So I don't know if there's a way to shift it earlier and do it during >> time where it's more quiet. But similarly with staff like even offering sometimes during PD to complete the survey just like blocking that time. >> Yeah, we we're looking at a bunch of those different options. The survey has kind of been moving each year, you know, depending on just how the school year is going. So this year it was pushed more towards the end.
050Last year was pushed a little earlier because then once you get in April, May testing teachers want testing. >> I also feel those as well. >> Yeah. >> I also feel that staff who are satisfied maybe aren't filling it out. Obviously, they're not they don't have one opinion way one way or the other and maybe the people who are filling it out are feeling certain ways about it. So, you can look at it multiple ways. You know what I'm saying? So, so maybe it's better that not everybody fill I don't know does it is it better that not everybody fills it out because that it'll balance it even more. Is it better that the people who feel like they need to fill it out are throwing it out? But we have uh do staff development
051right where we should be taking time to to do this type of survey so that we are getting good portion of the staff doing that right >> I mean that could be a completion goal too right like we were at this completion rate last year this rate like here's where we want to get and just keep pushing that and I think similar similarly for parents a lot of parents don't know what's happening with the data or don't understand this is way better like documentation is way more digestible than I think in the past. But I think if there's some clear understanding of how important this data is and what's being done with it and how it directly correlates to their child's experience, they want to complete it. So I don't know if there's a way
052to message that, but I I really just think the timing this year was challenging. >> Yeah, I I agree. And we're going to be publishing this exact presentation on the website along with the actual results of the survey without the written comments um on the district website and we push that out to the community as well. So they know that it's there and find it. But then yeah, how are we communicating to everybody that we are taking the feedback and addressing it? What are we doing with that? That's important part of the communication and make creating that feedback. We hear you. We're looking at it and we're looking. >> Just want to say thank you. Appreciate it. >> Thank you, Alex. Anybody else have any questions? >> Thanks, Alex. When can we expect this on
053the web page? >> Uh, I talked to Granny today just because the beginning of school year is so hectic and we're pushing so much out to everybody. she will feel like >> and she'll and it'll also be notified on our social media pages. >> Sure. >> Thank you. >> Public comments. Superintendent update uh recommended motion that the Ron Valley Board of Education approve the agreement between the county bolster and the Ron Valley Central School District for its 2526 school year as presented. I'll make a motion. >> Any discussion? All those in favor? >> Opposed? Motion passes. Uh, Atlas Security Agreement Extension recommend motion that the recommendation of the superintendent of schools effective September 1st, 2025. The board of education of the Ronda Central School District hereby approved the extension of its agreement with Atlas Security
054dated December 10th, 2024 through June 30th, 2029. upon the terms and conditions set forth in a written extension to the agreement between the parties at the rate set forth in the letter dated August 5th, 2025. Hereby authorizes the president of the board of education to execute the extension to the agreement on behalf of the board. Make a motion >> a second. >> Any discussion? >> A board again this is a multi-year agreement. board may enter uh when they do enter a multi-year agreement. Uh there is adequate provisioning agreement for the successing board. This current board to terminate the multi-year agreement upon notice of the party within 30 days. Uh we know this is um you know safety is our top priority school district. Uh the board of education will have a clear goal with this.
055Uh we're going to make sure that we are um looking at data through our safety team. We're going to collect that data. look at product progress monitor that data and report report back out to the board of education uh with findings. >> Yeah. To add to what Dr. Spedara said, the board has um committed to making this actually a board goal. We will be setting our board goals next month. Um and it will be one of our uh board goals on making sure that we do review that data and we review uh the data every year and amend as necessary. if necessary, right, to um to this particular contract. All those in favor? Well, sorry. I have something else to add, which is just I I think, you know, I'm also interested in um for
056the for the um Atlas security guards looking at uh their scope of work and their job description and just making that a bit more clear um and public um for folks to to for folks to see and the way that it is for the SRO's. And I also just wanted to draw attention to the school climate survey and what you shared because I think part of that data collection would be looking at all the different facets of our safety plan, right? So physical security um like mental, emotional, all >> discussion. All those in favor opposed. Motion passes. >> Superintendent school's consent agenda items one through five. Recommend a motion that board approves the consent agenda items one through five as presented. >> I'll make the motion. >> Any discussion? All those in favor? >> Opposed?
057Nancy, do you have anybody? Oh, I didn't even sorry. >> I'm sorry, >> Amy. New art teacher at the junior high school. Um, and apologies. >> I I don't think we've met and so that's why >> we have any should all be anyone else. >> All right. Uh board time. Jim, we'll start. >> Yeah. The policy committee. Uh I guess I'm uh leading the policy committee me uh committee. We will be letting you know when the next meeting will be. >> Do we post those? Yeah. So, we'll let you know. >> Yeah, because those are public. >> Yeah, that's all I have. >> This I was at the first committee meeting yesterday. We got to look at the state test scores and took them up, which is super exciting. We also share coaching and lots
058of great things happening around the um yeah >> and that data will present will be presented to the public ahead audit and budget we met August 12th uh we had the risk assessment I don't need um a lot of the corrective action plans are in place and they're working. Um I don't know anything else that separate so long. >> Yeah. Quite a while. Um and yes, we might have to have one before then. We'll let you know how the audit progresses for the external audit. have to approve that for the October. >> No real update. Um the chair of the facilities committee again we just approved the uh amendment for CPO which has to do with our capital project which is good. So continue moving forward with our capital project. >> And indeed I know
059you weren't here at our last meeting but um Mr. Malik did let us know about the four-way stop sign. >> That's going to be fine. I know that kind of has to do with you. >> Oh they are there. I don't I don't drive that way. I just want to thank for that. >> So, thank you. >> Pay to know people. >> We'll see. >> I'm on the policy committee and we haven't met since board meeting. >> Chris, >> um I just want to echo the test scores. You know, really exciting to see movement there. Um and and you know just to kind of recall what we were looking for in our superintendent when we hired Paul was someone who could really bring that rigor towards academics. Um and and where I'm sitting Paul personally
060I'm seeing a lot of that momentum. I mean we're now seeing it you know in our test scores. You know I know that's just one data point but it's nice to see the momentum. So thank you and and Natalie and the team as well for really giving that academic rigor which is you know what we we should be focused on. So, I'm grateful. Um, best of luck to the teachers, staff starting school up um in in just several days now. I know the summer is coming to a grinding halt, which is maybe depressing for for many of you, but um I'm excited to get my kids back to school. >> So, thank you for for, you know, being dedicated and and take care of our kids and and good luck for an exciting school year.
061>> I concur. Uh good luck to everybody. Um for the board, a reminder uh on Saturday, September 13th is our board retreat. It will be here from 10 to 2. Lunch will be served. Um and our new board members um all three will be attending their new board member training up in Leam in Laam at the end of September. So that's that's that's a great training and they're doing it in person. So I'm hoping we have I can't think of his last name. Jamie Jamie is really he's very very good from NISPA to do training. >> So have have a great time with that. We'll see you before. But >> before you go on to the next I just say something just wanted to share you know share that live here. Uh is that we
062are addressing the lunch or lunches at each of the schools. Okay. And the menus. So I just want people to know that that's in the process. Thanks, J. >> Recommended motion that the board of education approve warrant number one and warrant number two and warrant number three as presented. >> Make any discussion? All those in favor? >> Opposed? Motion passes. Recommended motion to adjourn the August 26, 2025 meeting as presented. >> Motion second. >> Any discussion? All those in favor? >> Have a great night everybody. Drive carefully. So in