Budget Hearing, Meeting the Candidates, BOE Meeting

001when I move here. What do you think? [Music] Can you see that? All right, good evening everyone. Welcome to our public hearing and meet the board of education candidates. Uh if you don't know me, my name is Paul Scero and it's a privilege honor to serve as a superintendent of schools around Valley Central School District. Uh we do have questions. If you want to ask the board of education candidates, we have index cards up here. So you can write your question on the index card and our moderator uh John Soy will ask those questions uh to the candidates this evening. But before we do meet the candidates, so we do have our public hearing for for the budget and Miss Tabitha, our assistant superintendent uh of business services will be discussing uh the public budget

002hearing. Thank you. Can I take this off of here? I don't I don't see well on this very small [Music] screen. Everybody safe. I'm not blocking anybody. [Music] All right. Good evening everybody. Good evening uh board candidates. I'm excited to hear all the questions about to come. Um this is my fifth time presenting um the the budget. This is the final version um with cliffnote version. I promise I'm not going to go into super detail because I'm sure everybody knows what I'm going to say. a snapshot of our projected expenditures. We're looking at a 2.32% increase year-over-year from 2425 to 2526. And we were we are experiencing a de a um a loss in some aid and some other categories. So we we were showing a projected decrease in our revenue which created a budget

003gap at the very top. That's our our projected expenditures. In the middle here we're talking about our projected revenues. This includes our uh proposed tax levy increase of 4.18 or 16, excuse me, which is a revenue uh generator of about $1 million. We have other revenue um sources as well. The state aid uh is a revenue source. As many know, the budget for the state has not passed yet. So, we're still going with the governor's numbers which were back in January. Then we have our shortfall of about $4 million that we have proposed to fund with um appropriated fund balance and appropriated reserves. Here's a breakdown of a comparison of our expenditures and our three-part expense budget. There are three parts to our budget. The program budget, the administrative budget, and the capital budget. As

004you can see, uh year-over-year we're staying flat. So our bud our program budget is still 75%. Our capital budget is still 15% and our administrative budget is still 10%. Broken down in numbers, our program in 2425 budget was $58 million. In 2526 it's 60 increase of about 1.7 or 3%. capital expenditures, our capital budget, which also includes our operations of plant and maintenance, uh, maintaining our facilities, and our debt, it's going up about or going down by about 343,000. We did have some debt fall off our administrative budget which is going to be central administration um anything that supports the board of education and our building supervision that's going to be going up by about 463,000 or 6%. Overall we have a 2% increase. Bigger question what is a contingency budget and what does it

005mean? So, if our budget goes out to vote and it is not um it doesn't win, it's defeated, we are looking at having to go out at a second vote where we would have to consider changing some things, making some more cuts, decreasing the tax levy increase. By doing that, obviously, we're going to have to start looking at different program offerings, different um contractual obligations, and things of that nature. If it's defeated a second time, the board of education would then have to automatically go to a contingency budget. It's very complicated. What's in a contingency budget? You're um basically stripped down to what's required to educate a student. Um classroom uh education and regular home to school transportation. Um there's an administrative cap. Um but there would be a loss in programs to students. We

006really don't want to go to a contingency budget, but it's important to discuss it. Everybody understands what that means. Contingency budget is going to be a reduction and it will have an impact on programs for students. If you have more questions about the budget after today, there is a wonderful video on our website and a lot of resources including our budget statement and our budget, our property tax report card, all the different things that tell you what's going on in our budget, different line items, things of that nature. Please visit the website. Here's our lovely nine candidates for three seats. I borrowed these pictures from the Bluestone Press. Didn't ask permission. Sorry. And there's your voting information. We are having the vote on May 20th at the district office, which is right across the parking

007lot. Polls open at 7:00 a.m. and they're open until 9:00 p.m. We hope to see everybody there to support the budget. If you have questions about how do you qualify to vote, we have a a greatformational part on our website that'll give you all the information you need to know on how you qualify to vote on our budget. Any questions? Short and sweet to the point. gonna go to the uh meet the candidate night. I have a question on your how you figure out the cost per student. Okay. Okay. If you take the $80 million and you divide it by the number of students you have, it comes out to be $47,000 per student. You guys come out with a figure of 30 some thousand for students. I I can't understand how transportation that's comes

008out. All that budget $80 million goes to the students and that has to be part of the budget. And if you look down, you go on the internet and you see how much each school pay, they've got you listed as 48 or $47,000 per student. They don't have it that figure that you got. Are you talking about the article in the paper? Huh? Are you talking about the article in the paper? Yeah. In the blue stone press. Yeah. Okay. Um the cost per student calculation that the state utilizes is based on actual expenditures and it's usually available to anybody in any facet to go on the data.gov New York State. If you look on there in the 2022 um year, which is the last year that they have of valid money spent per student, it's

009about 35,000. That was for 2022. That does not take into account Boseies or transportation or debt. Yes, those things are needed to support students in their education, but is not a direct cost to students. When we're looking at cost per student, we're looking at programs offered to students by the student body. So, technically, you would just take salaries and the benefits of the employees here and divide that by your enrollment. Our enrollment is projected to be 1,700. We always want to project a little bit higher than has been in the past because we don't want to come up short if we have an influx of people moving into the area. So our cost per student is a lot more complicated than just taking the budget and dividing it by the enrollment from last year. There's

010a lot more that goes into it. [Music] So it still comes out to be if you figure by the number of students still comes out to be $47,000 per student. If we exclude the items that the New York State um Office of Education tells us we exclude in the cost per student, it's going to be that $32,000 number. That's very misleading because you shouldn't be spending any money on anything else other than students. And that's what your budget is. Well, our transportation budget, for example, also supports students that don't go to this school. So we are required by New York State to transport students that may decide to go to a private education within a distance from the district. We have to transport them just like any student that attends here. If we take the

011entire cost of our transportation and apply it to the students here, that's not a true figure either. Still students transport. So that should be part of Sure. But it's hard to disseminate one student on a bus that's going to a private placement and another student that's coming here. They all get on the same bus and then they go where they need to go from here. Additionally, both these programs are supported by state aid and so is [Music] transportation. Any other questions? All right, good luck everybody. [Music] Hi everybody. My name is uh John Soy. I'm a teacher here at the high school. I'm going to be uh kind of moderating this meet the candidates tonight. I have questions that have been written out on index cards. If you didn't get a chance, they are here.

012Um, and I'm going to be reading out these cards. Just so the candidates know, I'm going to try to mix up where we start. So, I'll start on this end for one round and come back the other way for the other round. Every candidate will have an opportunity. Thank you, sir. Every candidate will have an opportunity to answer a question. Okay. I personally want to just say before we even start that I think it's really commendable when people step up and serve their community. So, I want to thank you guys for putting yourself out there. I appreciate that. So, we're going to start on this side. Um, here's the question. I can repeat it. I got it out of cards. I'll reread it if you need it to be heard again. If you anybody can't

013hear me, ask me to speak up. As a board member, your main responsibilities will be creating and adhering to policies as well as creating a fair and sound budget. Can you explain what experience you have in these areas and how you will apply it to your role as a board member? You uh I would also probably introduce yourself. Sure. Does this work? Can you all hear me? Um I'm Demidy Palmer Smith. I'm a Ronda Valley parent resident since 2015 and uh this is my second time with you. I was here last year. So good to be back. Good to see you all. to see so many people running this year. Um, in regards to the budget, so my experience is in education. I've been working in education since 2007. First as a teacher and as

014a public school leader. I had leadership roles in helping start up a K through five school and helping determine the budget for the new school as well as starting a school-based nonprofit program. So developing the budget and allocating all the funds for any college access and success work that we were doing within the school. I also manage budgets in my current work. I still I work for an education nonprofit called EEL education and run a program designed to support secondary and post-secary success for over 30 high schools public high schools across the country. And I manage the budget for that program as well. So I have lots of experience managing budgets. And I also think that one of the the challenges in our community is a lack of transparency around the budget and confusion. I

015think your question was so great. I had that same question when I looked at the paper um and I was happy to get that clarification. But I think one of the things that's important to know is that our schools are really tied to our community, right? Strong schools mean strong communities and we need a strong budget to support that. We also need to be responsible about how we use the budget. And when I approach budgeting in my own work, I always use a datadriven approach. I look at what's working, what's not working, what should we keep funding, what should we not keep funding, what are the highest impact programs that we can support. And I'll just give one example that I know about in our own district. We fund dual enrollment programs in the high

016school, which is amazing. It's amazing that we're giving students access to diverse, rigorous college level courses and those courses can cost us money and there are other options like early college programs that reduce that funding for schools, actually eliminate the funding for schools. Colleges take on the cost. Families and schools are not responsible. So, as part of my role on the board, I would be looking at those individual programs to see what is high impact, where can we save money, where do we need to allocate money? Thank you. Sure. As a board member, your main responsibilities will be to creating and adhering to policies as well as creating a fair and sound budget. Can you explain what experience you have in those areas and how you apply it to your role as a board member?

017Sure. Um, so first off, my name is Paul Bogart. I am a lifelong resident of the Rondout School District. Born and raised in Stone Ridge. Um, graduated Rondout 2004. um had a great run experience. Uh proud father of twin daughters are in fifth grade in the intermediate school. Um a wonderful wife who's sitting in the back, Jennifer who also graduated from um I also spent a lot of time volunteering in community. Um I've been a volunteer firefighter in Stone Ridge for 23 years. Um and I am in my 15th year as the fire chief of that department. Um one of my responsibilities in the department is to set up a budget. we budget and you know our money comes from taxpayers. Um so you know we have a 2% tax cap as well. Um you

018know and if we go over that we have to referendum for that. So um I've been highly involved with those budgets for 15 years now. I'm in my 15th year. Thank you. Hi. So I'm Carrie Cousins. Um I let me tell you a little bit. Um so I moved to Khan uh with my family um with my husband and my two kids in 2008 and then in 2015 uh we moved to Akard to start our small business um Hudson Valley Air Farm. Um but before I uh began to farm full-time, I worked in education for 28 years. Um so mostly that was in education um administration. Um so I was part of the leadership team there. I directed the auxiliary programs which is um you know after school programs um summer camp programs that sort

019of thing. Um and I was also the staff coordinator so I was in charge of um monthly meetings, training, professional development and that sort of thing for staff. Um, so my experience with with with all of those roles or all of those hats um had to do with um building programs, best practices, developing initiatives um department of health regulations, following those human resources, um overseeing budget for sure and um our intention was always to put student needs um at the center while also being fiscally responsible. Um the budget that I oversaw for auxiliary programs um ranged between uh one and $1.5 million. So definitely not close to 80 million. Um but we were in charge of making sure um the money was used well that it really supported our mission as a school. Um and

020like Rondal we also um always intended for uh teaching and learning to be a good portion of the budget. most of the budget also 75 to 80%. Um uh for nine years I um was one of the chairs of the planning committee um for the nice days division heads and after school directors conference um nice means um New York State Association of Independent Schools. Um so as part of that um and as part of the role that I played um for 28 years I do have experience in policy following regulations looking at the state regulations um and really just making sure that we are using our funds in a way that makes sense um and is really um supporting students for what they need. Um, also I'm currently serving um and have served um uh

021since about three years ago on the Rhonda Valley School District Equity Council. Um that was really my first experience in learning more about the district, meeting teachers, some administrators, um and a number of fellow parents. Um I'm also on the town of Rochester's agricultural advisory committee and a member of the Rod Valley Growers Association. In terms of budget and farming, I don't have a whole lot to share in that way yet. Thank you. Is it on? Hi, I'm Lucy Sickle. I was school nurse here at Broad for 30 years. I re thankfully retired in 2021. So, I too am on a fixed budget as a retiree. So, I fully get being fiscally responsible with the budget because things are not getting cheaper anymore. Um, as part of my school nurse responsibilities, I had a budget

022I had to develop for my office uh, every year and I was on the school board from 2021 to 2024. U, part of that was on the budget committee. So again, it was developing the budget for the community to vote on, trying to be as fiscally responsible as we could to provide programs that our kids need so that they can go out and become the best people they can be, you know, after they graduate. and also being responsible with the dollars because like I said I pay taxes too. So I know the feeling that you know we don't want to raise taxes. We want to get the most bang for our buck. Um I also uh wasn't I'm on the uh I'm the representative for Rhonda on the county uh Bosey's board of ed and

023again there I'm on the uh budget and audit committee and we have a significantly higher budget um than the 80 million here and part of our responsibility we meet every month to discuss the budget where we can cut how we can get most you know use out of it. So I have a lot of experience with that. Um, I've gone to the, uh, New York State School Board Association, uh, classes and how to develop budget, how to be fiscally responsible, and that's been a big help. Thank you. Hello. Good evening, everyone. My name is Sid Hans. I'm This is the first time that I've ever run for something like this, so I apologize in advance for my nerves. Um for the past 25 years I've served individuals with developmental disabilities. Um I started off working

024in the house. Um and then I went from a supervisory position. Now I serve them indirectly working for the New York City justice center. Basically, we are a call center similar to um OCFSCR where we take allegations of abuse and neglect across all of New York State. I began working there in 2013. The agency opened in 2013. So, basically, we were a brand new state agency. No policy, nothing. Just a bunch of phones with people calling across the state calling in allegations of abuse. During this time, I was part of the team that created the policy um across the intake unit. Um I supervised about 50 people that take the phone calls during during the overnight. Um in regards to budget, I don't really have too much experience in that. I can tell you that

025now. I do own a small business along with my brother and my cousin called Holdings. We um own several properties in Kingston, New York. And the main reason I'm running for school board, two of the reasons are right there, my sons, Chase and Spencer, and all of their friends. And um that's me. Thank you. Thank you. Hi everyone. I'm Don Van Clee. I um I currently sit on the school board. I am running for an additional term. So um my my experience in policy and budget is is pretty vast. So I've sat and chaired on the policy committee for the school board uh and for Ronda Valley and I've also sat on uh budget committees and I chaired this past year. Um policy is important because it's what the school board does. um we can

026create policy, we can approve policy and then um the administration and the teachers have guidance, the students have guidance to get through um whatever obstacle, whatever ruling, whatever is going on, they have that. Um so we have created a lot of policies. We work with New York State School Board Association to make sure our policies are um legal, to make sure that they are um current and to make sure that they really impact the students positively um and help uh the school stay in a um a good a good light when it comes to um different things that are going on federally or um within the state. So policy is a very important piece of what we do here on the school board. Um and then budget. Budget is the next biggest thing that we

027do or they're pretty much they're lined up. Um so in the past seven to eight years we have well even longer than that but um we have only come in at the cab twice. What we really focus on or what I have focused on on the budget is making sure our students have what they need to be successful in today's world and today's world is ever changing. So sometimes um we think we're lined up uh perfectly for it and then we have to make adjustments. Um we did um really work on rigor in the high school. We worked on um fundamentals in the elementary schools through 8th grade to make sure all students um walk out of bond out um really understanding how to read, how to write, how to compute math, how to be

028successful in our future or their futures. So all of that gets taken into consideration with the budget. We um always I know I always look at um programs and making sure the kids can get everything that they need and the teachers have the development they need to be able to deliver that. Um this year our school budget did go um up above 80%. It was the smallest increase we've had in several years. Um it really went up because of payroll and because of benefits. the students um we did not have to impact um negatively programming and that's what we look for um that's what I look for I want to make sure that we can our kids can graduate from Rhonda and they can move on in whatever they want to do um so that's

029the important pieces for me for the budget and for policy thank you good evening everybody uh my name is Justin Swisser and like Paul I'm a lifelong resident of Ronda Valley. I went to school here. I graduated in 2008. Um my wife Jacqueline was my high school sweetheart. Um she also graduated here. And we have two young children that were raising here in this district. And um you know, I'm running for this board because I truly truly care about this district. You know, from my time here as a student to when I came back to volunteer as a coach to now um and forever, you know. So I'm not I'm not on here just with an agenda. I'm on here to ensure that this school is successful um now and in the future. Um my

030qualifications, I'm currently a high school business teacher in the Cornwall Central School District, so not far from here. I've been there for 10 years. And my wife Jacqueline is a a first grade teacher at Marbletown Elementary. She's been there for eight years. My family's been in education. Both my parents, my grandparents, they were they were public educators as well. Um you know, so I think I really know about education. I'm involved in education and everything that's going on right now in it um in public education and my experience in terms of budgeting. Um you know, I think anybody that knows me would say that I'm financially responsible um and I'm a money guy. Uh you know, I got my undergraduate degree in accounting. I then got my MBA and I worked at uh for two

031CPAs in Kingston um for about four years before I became a teacher. I currently still teach business classes. So, I teach accounting every single day. Um, I teach business management. I teach financial financial literacy. And, you know, I run I run a business in the community. Uh, I'm a landlord in the community. And, you know, I have a lot of experience, you know, managing finances and making sure they're efficient. Um, so as a board member, I think I could serve you very well, and it would be my honor. Thank you. Hi, good evening. I'm Margot Sanchez. Thank you very much for being here, for having this forum, and to all the candidates for uh your willingness to serve the district. I have an eighth grader in his first year at Rondout this year and a

032fifth grader at High Meadow School in Stone Ridge uh where I'm also the communications manager. Our family moved to Marbletown from St. Louis, Missouri in 2018. Um, we're now closer to my husband's roots uh in New York City. We're a multi-racial family with mixed religious and economic backgrounds and we feel very much at home here in the Roundout Valley. So, uh, my experiences in budget and policy related to education um, are in three areas. First, as a founding board member of a daycare in St. Louis uh, that my son attended. Then uh as for four years um as a university professor involved in university governance uh where we dealt with all of the policies and budget decisions for the full faculty. Um I also spent five years in an administrative role in independent schools doing

033communications work but also sharing the load with my other administrators when it comes to decision-makings across the school. uh in the in uh terms of budget, something I think is really important is recognizing that our school and our budget exist in the economic context of our world and this is um a pretty complex time to be navigating uh that context. Um, so that's something I would want to lean into is looking at the realities of this moment. Um, that has come up in the context of this budget, uh, with the impacts of wealth moving into our region, which is wonderful in many ways, but has driven up property values, increased tax burden, and led to some shortfalls in the budget through other means. Um, so I think it's really important that we both take advantage

034of the abundance in our community and also mitigate the impacts on people who are negatively affected um, by this influx of wealth. We can look to leverage countywide resources in the way that Boseies does. Uh, and we already have alternative sources of revenue, some discussed here. We have the Rondout Valley Education Foundation. How can we lean into some of those resources um in creative ways? Policy is sort of what drives me to this um campaign in the first place. Um, in St. Louis, I worked with a group that was studying the underlying causes of the Ferguson uprising. Um, and I took two really important things away from that work. One, I believe that public education has the power to transform lives and communities. And two, that what that transformation looks like is up to us.

035And it's every decision that we make that we are shaping that. Every decision is an opportunity to bend this needle toward our mission and our vision and our values. So, every policy decision matters, no matter how small and boring. Um, and that's something I want to keep at the forefront. uh should I be on the the board here. Um and in particular, I'd like to apply the equity lens tool that I developed as part of the district equity council you've heard about tonight, which is really just a series of questions uh that we would use to be sure that we are doing comprehensive and inclusive factf finding and that we're really hearing from the community in budget and policy decisions. Thank you. Uh good evening everybody. U my name is Vanessa Green. I am a

036resident as of 2016. I did grow up 30 minutes away in Pine Bush, so I come from my small town. Also, my husband's a lifelong resident. I have a sixth grader in the middle school and I have a second grader at Marbletown Elementary. I have been the PTA president for the last four years and I was the vice president of the PTA at Marbletown prior to that. And I also was the board president of the Hurley nursery school in Kingston for four years also. Um, so when it comes to budgets, I've been implementing and planning budgets since 2018, both for nonprofit organizations, so obviously our funding is much tighter and harder to come about. Um, I learned policy the hard way with COVID, um, and learned how to write all sorts of policies in all

037sorts of different ways. Um, but being thrown into it is pretty much the best way to learn it. Um, I do look into our policies here and I would love to be a part of that discussion more if I get to be on the board. So, Thank you everybody. The second question, we're going to start with Miss Green. We're to come down uh the other way. So, if you catch your breath, this is a shorter a shorter question. Awesome. Um, do you have K12 age children and do all of them attend Rhonda? I kind of already answered that. So yes, I do. Um I have a sixth grader who has been in Rondout since kindergarten. So he went through Marbletown Elementary and he's currently in the last year's intermediate school experience and will be moving

038upstairs to the seventh grade level in the fall. And I also have a second grader who's been in Marble Town since kindergarten. So the only thing I did not do here was prek. Thank you. I have one student who is in the junior high in eighth grade. This is his first year here. My other child attends High Meadow School, which is an independent school within our district uh in Stone Ridge. Uh full disclosure, I have never attended a public school. So, this is our family. My husband has, but this is uh my my first time in public school as a parent uh and as a student. But that said, I've had personal and professional experience with a lot of different school models uh and school communities. And I'd like to think that that flexibility and

039having seen so many different things that we could do, all of the different ways teachers can teach, all the different ways students can learn, um could be of service here in in our district, too. Thank you. Um yes, I do have a kindergartener right there, Cashton Swisser. So, he started at Marbletown Elementary this year. He also did attend preK at the wonderful Leman Children's Center. Um, and I myself went through this school all the way from Leman right through my senior year. Um, and I believe in public education and I think it's the best experience for our students and I think Rhonda over the years has done a phenomenal job and I want to continue that success for a long time. Oh, I also have a one and a halfyear-old who will go through this

040one. Um I um I have a soon to be 35-year-old stepdaughter who went through Rondout. Um we are moving her back home to Rondout. So her her son, my grandson can attend in the fall. He'll be in second grade. Um my son, my husband and I have a son who um is graduating from Olter, please. Um and no, he's doing great. um and he'll be doing that in the fall. And he went through Rondout um kindergarten through his senior year. And um and my husband went to Rondout and his dad went to Rondout. It's a a family history of enjoying Rond. Hi. Um I have a 21-year-old. He attended Kingston High School. He's currently in a role in his junior year at Sunni studying computer science. I have a recently newly 10-year-old um Chase who

041is currently um fourth grade middle school roundup. And I also have a 8-year-old Spencer who um attends Marble Town Elementary School. Um Mr. Davenport over there knows my boys very well. Um and uh yeah, thank you. Well, if I told you I had children in K12, I'd either be lying or be a medical. So, both my children graduated uh from Rhonda. My son Chris graduated in uh 2002. He's an air traffic controller. He went on to a four-year degree after going to Bose since he took aviation, which is what really got him going in that career. And he started the career. My daughter Cara graduated in 2000 and she is a graphic design artist. She graduated from RIT and works there now in their department. So I currently have no children in the school, hence

042I sleep late. Um I have two kids. Sorry. Sorry. Um I have two kids. I have uh my daughter Ruby um is a senior in college. So um she graduates in about a week and a half. I'm so excited. Um, and she is she's getting her degree in neuroscience and she's m minoring in Mandarin Chinese. Um, and she will be prevet. Um, but she gets to take a gap year. So, we have her home for a year which I'm super excited about. Um, and then I have a son. Um, his name is Hutch. Uh, he's a junior at Roundup Valley High School. Um, and a proud game wrestler. Um, yes. I have um twin daughters. They're both they're both 11. They are currently in the fifth grade. Um along with myself who graduated here in

0432004 and my wife graduated in 2002. I have a third grader at Marbletown Elementary and I have a fifth grader who is at High Meadow. This is his first year at High Meadow. So my two kids have spent eight collective years in the Rond district and I'm a product of public schools. I have always worked in or with public schools and it's why I'm running a second year in a row because I believe so deeply that public schools should provide an excellent, safe, supportive environment for every child and I hope that my oldest son will be able to come back soon and feel like he can be well supported and run that district. Thank you all. And we're gonna start back with you here. Another shorter one. Uh, do you support passing the 2025 budget?

044That's an easy one. I do support it for the reasons that Tabitha shared with us that if we do not pass it, we go to a contingenc contingency budget, which is not a good thing for our district. It means that we lose access to programs. We have less money to work with for our students. So, I do think that we should pass the budget. I also will say this goes back to the transparency uh challenge in our community. I would love to see in the future opportunities for the public to ask more questions in the process leading up to the vote so that they know very clearly what's involved and feel like they're voting for something that they believe in versus just passing the vote so that we don't lose programs for our students. Uh

045I too um support passing the budget. Um, I remember as a as a high school student here, um, back in the early 2000s, um, times were a little bit tougher then with with the budget actually passing. Um, sometimes we go down when we go to an austerity budget. And I remember as a as a student athlete, um, you know, the things that they talked about a lot was um, you know, the potential of cutting these programs, athletics and other programs and, you know, the different clubs that we have. Um I I want to make sure that my kids don't have to go through that and that everybody else's kids don't have to go through that. We need to figure out a way um you know unfortunately enrollment's going down but our budget's going up. So

046we need to figure out a way to kind of balance those two find the happy medium um but you know we cannot take programs away from our kids. I also agree um in terms of passing a budget in terms of what what I know. So I know based on um watching the YouTube videos and seeing Tabitha present the the many different budgets over and over um as they change and adapt a little bit. Um, I've also looked at the website. Um, and I appreciate being able to see like in these large buckets like programs, we know it's salaries, it's transportation, we know those pieces, but I I don't think that I have access um to able to be able to drill down to even more specific detail, which is what I would want. Um, also

047just um, you know, in terms of equity, I'm also just curious about um, how the budget is used uh, by schools. So, it's kind of one big bucket for the district. And that makes sense, right? Like I'm sure, you know, we don't want to put, you know, 500 pages on the website perhaps. Um, but I am really interested in understanding more. Um, and I'm understanding I'm I'm interested in being um a bit more transparent if possible about what we're spending and why. Um, also I know Margot had mentioned the equity lens tool. I would be interested when uh decisions are being made about the budget and using that tool um to notice what the impact would be, what perspectives maybe we sort of haven't heard about yet or haven't thought about, you know, in terms

048of the folks in the room. Um, and like Paul, I'm curious about um what what does a contingency plan look like? What is being eliminated? And is what is being eliminated something that is so incredibly core and important to our students well-being um in the school? And I am thinking athletics, arts, perhaps a programs, all of those kinds of things. I do support the budget because I know um having been on the board and the people in the back row who are on the board now, I know what goes in to developing the budget, to looking at the programs, to looking at everything um our our kids deserve. And having worked here 30 years, I've been through contingency budgets. And as Paul said, the first things to go are things that are not mandated by

049the state, which are such things as um JD varsity teams, things like that, music programs, anything that is cut to the bone. And for there were several years where the budget was put in I think because of public you know and I I get it being taxpayer public outcry of you know we can't afford more and more and more that we sometimes the it was below the cap and that wasn't a good thing either because then you're trying next year you're trying to play catchup because nothing gets cheaper everything goes up year after year so it's a fine balance but I know the people in background I said I know they work hard um and they don't add extravagant things into the budget and it's it's a well thought out. So I do support the

050budget. Thank you. Um I also um support the budget. I think one of the first things, you know, we consider is tax increases and how it will affect our family and, you know, whether or not over overall is is it worth it. And over the past, you know, couple of years, the the board has done well to um create budgets that there, you know, was not a tax increase. Um I send my kids to school every day and you know, just in today's environment, it's just I worry for my kids. I worry I just want my kids to be, you know, get the education that they deserve as well as every other child. So I think the board did well in creating this budget. I think you know the stuff that they added to the

051budget from what I saw on the YouTube videos um was good as well. So absolutely I do support 256. Hi. Um absolutely I support the budget. Um we looked at so many things and you know we talked about the budget at the school board meetings um probably four or five times to try and make sure that the public understood all the different pieces. And you know, in our committee meetings, we talked about all the different things like what needs to be in, how can we um review something because we don't we don't want our teachers coming in being worried like, you know, will I have a job? Yeah. We're we're supporting our teachers. We're supporting our students. We don't want them worried. Am I going to have sports? So, we look at every vacancy that

052comes up, whether it's to retirement or someone moves. And um the administration does a really great job of looking at do we need this position? Does it mean much higher classroom sizes? Does it mean that we can, you know, shuffle some things around and the kids still get that same education? Um and the administration worked hard on that this year. The principles all give their input. the um the ad the assistant superintendents and the superintendents all have input as well as the board and the budget committee to make sure that we keep programming, we keep class sizes as low as we can um with with within reason um to make sure that we're offering um a lot of different things. We have um so many different programs and we have uh the arts, we have

053music, we have sports. um we really um look at the whole child um the whole student and and we are able we were able to do that this year um with and I'm going to say only and I don't want to minimize it but a 2.3% increase and that's the lowest increase we've had in a few years. Um I know we went to the tax cap but that's for many reasons and one of the biggest reasons is our houses are assessed at much higher because so many people moved into the area in 2021 2022. our property values went up. Um our assessments went up and um we're now considered an affluent area and that reduces our state aid. So um that's the like thing with this budget why we had to go to the tax

054cap. We had to use um uh funds um from other places like uh revenue um funds from our um you know reserve funds. we we just want to make sure we keep the students um and the staff ready to go and ready to make sure they do everything. So, I absolutely support this budget um and I hopefully will um uh be looking at a a positive, you know, the the budget pass in on May 20th. Um yes, I also support the 2526 budget. I do also understand the concern by people in the public when they they see the number um and they see $47,000 per pupil when other schools are much lower than that. Um I also see the concern from the students and the staff when when they hear about the budget, you know,

055possibly not passing just like Paul when I was here as a student, we had to deal with issues like that. Um you know, things like teachers their copies and papers being rationed. um you know things like that are all not good for the educational experience uh which is the most important thing. I do think you know there there's probably room for improvement and as a board member I would love to be a part of that process. Um you know there's neighboring school districts that maybe have some pointers and advice that they could give us. Um, you know, like I mentioned, I work in Cornwall and they actually, you know, consistently have one of the lowest cost per pupil. And, you know, maybe we can get some advice from them on what we can do to

056improve our uh, yes, I do support the 2526 budget. Um, I don't like paying taxes, but I do appreciate that taxes serve the public good. This is how we support our shared infrastructure and public schools are part of this shared infrastructure and it is an investment in families um a part of our community that don't receive a lot of attention and really really need support. Um it's also an investment in young people who as we see here are likely to stay in our community and become some of the adults leading the way for us. So, I I think it's a really vital, one of the most important investments that we make financially and in other ways in our community. Um, and on the board, I'd be excited to understand better how particular decisions about the

057budget are aligning with our mission. Um, which is something that doesn't always come through to me in the in the clear, but um, you know, there's limited time for what we learn in this room. Um, so that would be something I'd be excited to know since that's at the heart of our work. Um, I also do support our school budget. Um, I come from a school district where we did actually lose all of our funding and went into a contingency plan. It was uh a brutal school year. We lost a lot of classmates to our private schools, families transferred out of districts. I couldn't imagine my children having to suffer through that or our teachers having to worry about anything within their buildings, their jobs, their supplies. Um, as a taxpayer, the budget numbers are

058scary and I do understand that, but I do agree with Margot that we are investing in our future and this is a very small community and we want to try and keep some people in our community and this promotes that for us. As we can see, we have our teachers that stay and they grow up. And as I've been here, I've seen more and more that that's who stays. It's our education base. So, I think supporting our schools is our top priority for this community. Okay, thank you. This next question, we're going to start with Mr. Hemes in the middle and then if we could go from Mr. Hemes to Miss Vancickle and we'll loop around. Um, this some of these things have been touched on, but I'm going to read every question. What drives

059you to run for a seat in the on the board of education? What drives you? Today's political climate is very adversarial. Um, I want to make sure my children as well as all the children in the Roundup Valley uh central school district receive a full education in that nothing is taken away from them. Um, thank you working here for 30 years, this district was good to me. I felt that um I feel compelled to give back to the district for the um good opportunities I had here, my children had here. I've always been a volunteer. Um I was fire company marble time for 37 years, the rescue squad for 25 years. I volunteer on both board. I volunteer for the Australian school board association and the New York State school board. So volunteerism is always

060been a part of my life. And I feel that I'm capable of being a good listener, keeping an open mind, not come with an agenda to listen to the people, develop policies that work for everybody. our children are going to have, especially the children coming up in the younger grades, are going to have one heck of a world that they're going to go into. And if we can do something in this school district to make our kids have the tools they need to be successful and to navigate those difficult paths, I think that's probably the best thing we can do for our children. So, uh, what drives me is, um, is is a belief that, um, schools are really the the heart of of the community. Um, and that, um, a person's educational experience significantly

061impacts them as well as the community. Um, one of the things, um, I had mentioned the equity council, um, that a few of us had had had, uh, worked with a few years ago. One of the things that came out of that was looking at the climate survey. So, we were for most of the meetings a group of grown-ups in the room. Um, we we had students attend every once in a while when they could, but students are busy here. Um, and one of the things a subcommittee um that I was working with, one of the things that came up was student voice and really wanting to know what do students really care about? What is their experience? We don't want to just make assumptions about these things. Um, and there's this climate survey, which

062you all probably know about, um, which which the the school administers, uh, once a year. um students fill it out, uh parents, staff. Um and when I read through the climate survey, I was noticing um that there were uh that we didn't get super high marks in in terms of bullying. I saw a lot of bullying. I saw um a lot of references to racist remarks and that sort of thing. Um, for example, because I I I wrote some notes um in the high school and this is uh just this p this is just this current survey which is currently on the website. Um racist remarks were used in the school. 70% of the students agreed or strongly agreed that that was true. Um and that kind of surprised me a bit. Um there are

063also word clouds at the end of um of each survey and for the fourth to second the fourth to sixth graders. Um some of the largest words on a word cloud and the largest word just basically means it's a word that students used the most kind of thing or change recess lunchtime and bullying were the things that sort of came up as things that they wanted to change. So this survey sort of opened my eyes a little bit into some of the things that were coming up for students and at the same time I was holding the fact that I had a student that was a new ninth grader and was so incredibly excited to be here. Um and in terms of climate and culture, um not only did he sort of feel so so

064welcome, um they had there were all of these uh programs um that uh were as far as I know sort of set up to welcome new students and there's something called newcomers of Liftton in which um and I might not get all of this right so apologies but they'll they'll there's a student um who sort of and and two students that are sort of in charge of a group of uh new students um and they do some team building and have conversations. They go on a field trip together. Um there's an open house and they come in and they're able to walk around and um you know get ask questions and get a sense of where things are and that sort of thing. My point is um my son's experience was incredibly good as a

065new student coming in and I could see um that the school, the administrators, the teachers had put so much time and effort um into really creating this warm sort of friendly welcoming space. And at the same time, I'm looking at this climate survey and I'm seeing some things about um basically a lot of a lot of things about bullying and I I have a lot of questions about that. Um, I really sort of want to drill down and disagregate that data a little bit and I want to understand more because I know that the folks who work in the school think about it all of the time. I know teachers are thinking about it and working on this all of the time. Um, and I just have a lot of questions as to how the

066board can be even more perhaps if it's possible supportive. Um, and part of that is digging down and getting a little bit more depth. [Music] Um, so to me, uh, the answer to that question is pretty simple. Um, what drives me to want to be on the board? Um, I had a great experience at Rondell. Um, I bleed blue. I have for a long time. I always will. Um, you know, and being involved with a lot of different things that went on in Rondout and being involved with a lot of things in my community. Um, like I said before, I volunteer as a firefighter. Um, I volunteer as a board member on our little league. I see a lady jersey right there, which is awesome. Um I volunteered uh for 5 years on our um

067rail trail committee in the town. Um I was on our historic preservation committee for a year. Um so volunteering is kind of in my roots and it's in my blood and um you know giving back to the community, giving back to the school that gave so much to me is what drives me. Um I've thought about this for a few years and the time was right. Um, that's pretty much it. I mean, I, you know, I want my kids to have the same experience and your kids to have the same experience that I had here. Well, those of you in the room who know me know that education is my work and my passion. And if you see me outside of this room, it's definitely going to come up in conversation. So, I have always

068been driven to make my community and honestly the world a better place. And I think education is really the solution. And I've had the benefit of seeing so many public schools work so well and provide students with these incredible learning experiences that I want to see here. There are glimpses of that magic that I've seen here throughout my kids' time, but I want to see more. And I really truly believe that every kid deserves an excellent education like you had. I'm hearing so many alumni say that they had an incredible experience. And I want that for all of our kids, too. I also love this community. I've been here since 2015. I grew up in Connecticut, by the way, and spent a lot of time here before we moved up as well. We moved here

069not knowing anyone, just drawn to the community. And since being here, we have really built it into our our village. This is our community of support. And my husband and I are involved in different volunteer aspects. I've been coaching ASOS soccer for more years than I can count. Um, I teach classes at the local gym. I'm involved on any school district committee that invites parents. I'm usually one of the first to raise my hand to be on that. So, I really believe that our schools can be some of the best in the country. And a lot of people have said I don't have an agenda, but my agenda is really just to help us get there. to really make sure that our schools are the best that they can possibly be, that teachers feel supported,

070valued, trusted in their work, and that students show up every day excited to learn and have really meaningful learning experiences in the classroom, but also out in our amazing community. Thank you. Great. Um, so I would like to help open more communication between our families and our board. I would love to see more parent engagement and I want to promote the parent engagement that we already have. Um, as an avid dedicated PTA board member, we do so much in our buildings and I feel like a lot of our families aren't even aware of what goes on and I want more of that to be transparent also along with more openness from our board of education and more together. I love this year that they've started the gender spotlights. I think it's fantastic that our board

071is spending time in our buildings. Um, and I want to just keep that going and I want to be a part of making this district the best that it can actually be. Let's see. Well, other than my mother who is joining us tonight from St. Louis for this event, educators have been really the most important people to me growing up um, and in adulthood, I still quote many of the teachers I've had um, on a really regular basis. Um, this is part of what led me to become an educator. Um, and why I still spend essentially all of my time in schools. Uh, and really it's all an extension of my belief that teaching and learning are sacred and life- saving. Nothing less than that. They are sacred and life- saving to me. And I

072want to join the board um to help connect more of us to that that joy and meaning that really should be at the heart of education, teachers, students, and families. Um and I'll echo what Vanessa says about how much magic is already happening here. A lot of this is getting us all to understand really what that magic is is and have access to it. Okay. Um, so what drives me to be on the board of education is similar to Paul. I bleed blue. Um, you know, I love Rondell. I actually won the school spirit award when I was a senior here. Um, I'm wearing the tie that I wore to prom with my wife right there who's a teacher here. Um, and you know, I I truly care about this district. You know, not just

073for my kids, not just for your kids, but for everybody, you know, now and in the future. Um, and I think, you know, a lot of the same reasons as everybody else, but one thing that's important to me on the board of education is to support the teachers. Um, you know, often times we're concerned with the kids. We're concerned with community and the teachers are the ones doing the work. Um, they're the ones that know best and they're the ones pushed to the side and oftent times catching the blame. Um, so I want to make sure that they're fully supported through board of education. Um, so I um my family has volunteered. My my grandmother was the state president of the New York State PTA and passed um all kinds of laws like the corporal

074punishment law in schools. Um she worked with uh governors to to make that happen. My mom was on the school board in the school I grew up in or the Mun Woodberry um for 15 years. Um, and when I moved into this community in the year 2000, it was important to me to make it my home. Um, I was moving because, you know, my husband, um, lived here his whole life and his daughter lived here and, um, it needed to become just where I belonged. So, I volunteered. I was the I was on the PTA and I was on I became the president of the PTA and then I joined the school board. Um my agenda is very transparent. Um it's about the kids and it's about the staff. It's about giving the teachers everything

075they need to teach the kids so that they can open any door they want to open in their lives. Um and I know that sometimes um we don't communicate that well. Um I know I haven't. Um I know we try and love to that everyone wants more communication because I we'll do as as much as we can. Um and I hope that in the years to come the board keeps communicating and keeps supporting the administration and the teachers. Um it's it's all about them. It's about um when you stand up there and clap for graduation, it's about all those kids walking by so proud of themselves, which they should be. um they graduated high school and they're moving on to a trade, to a trade school, to a four-year college, a two-year college. They're they're

076going to go work, whatever they're going to do, they're thrilled. Um and it's amazing. It it really is. when we um when I was first on the board, we developed um probably seven years ago um a strategic plan and we um we surveyed everyone, teachers, um staff, community, uh business owners, students to really find out where our gaps were, what we needed to work on, and what um and what we did well. Um and we'll be the we were the first ones to say, "Yeah, we had a lot of gaps." um and we probably still do, but we keep working on them and we keep trying to get better. Um and all of the everything that guides us, our mission, our values um is based off of our strategic plan and how we shift to

077to get there. So my ultimate goal is to um I don't know, sit here one day and have everyone know everything that they they need to know um understand all that's done in every school. Um because as a board member, I don't even know every single thing that's done. When I'm walking through the schools, I'm amazed that at the things the teachers are doing with the students. It's just so amazing. Um so my my reason for running is for the community. It's for the kids. It's for us to be the best. Um and I hope I hope I'm able to help us get there. So that's Thank you, Miss Manley. We're gonna come right back to you, Miss Manley. And then Send it towards Mr. Swisser, please. You got it. Uh, this next question, this

078is question five of 15. What is your current understanding of the role of a board member and board of education? Um, so um the uh the board of education as you as you become part of it um it's eye opening. Um we're really governance. We um we oversee things. We create policy. Um when I went to my first schoolboard training, they said the two most important things, well the three most important things you're going to do is you're going to create policy, you're going to um work to get a budget that um the community accepts and it passes, and you're going to hire a superintendent. Um and ultimately, hiring a superintendent is is one of the most important things because it guides the school district. Um, so we're governments. We we don't get into the

079minutia. Um, although sometimes we want to, um, but we don't. We um we support from uh 30,000 ft and we uh make sure that we get the tools um and the everything that's needed for the staff and the administration to do their jobs and to create the best possible atmosphere for our students. Um so it's very different than what you initially think, but it's um it's governance. It's not it's not in the nitty-gritty. Um is that was that the whole question? That was the whole question. Okay. Um okay. Um so you know like she said I think the role of board of education is governance and guiding the district in the right direction. You know making major decisions when needed. Um you know like she said not getting into the day-to-day details all the time.

080But I think as a as a public education high school teacher, I think my experience in the dayto-day in the classroom with the students right now, u my wife being in the classroom with the students right now in this district, many of my friends being teachers in this district, I think that can help me bring that perspective to the board, which I think is much needed. Um and I think that would be one of my roles. Uh as others have said, the board uh oversees the superintendent uh and is also there to approve or not um many major decisions and minor decisions um that the administration is making. I think an important role of board members is to ask questions during that process uh that lead to the best possible outcomes for all of the

081stakeholders. Um something that is exciting to me about how school boards operate is that they are governed by open meetings laws which means that all the business of the board goes on in front of the public and all of this back and forth decision-m and exploration happens in front of the public. Um, so I would love to see our board dig more in meetings into the decision-making process so that people have a better understanding and then also seek more input um, so in to inform those decisions. Um, so being a part of the board of ed to me is uh, sorry I wrote my own notes. uh being a team member with openness and working alongside our superintendents and our teachers and to understanding the commitment that we're giving to our district as a whole

082and to make sure that we uphold that commitment to the fullest capacity that we can 15 questions. So total we're answering 15. So I don't want to repeat what others have said. That is all my understanding of the board as well. I'll hone in on two key areas. I think two specific roles of the board are ensuring educational quality, which means selecting highquality instructional materials, also known as curriculum. This is something that I care a lot about. I've talked a lot about students having meaningful learning experiences, and really thinking about how we engage students in the classroom so that they can become critical thinkers. Sydney talked about our our current climate today and it's really important to help our students develop the skills to be able to have a conversation, an informed conversation with someone

083that they disagree with and they can learn those skills through rigorous curriculum um through using evidence from a textbook, not a textbook, an actual physical book. Um so educational quality is a big part of that and then also community and parent engagement. So, um, Vanessa and Marggo talked a little bit about this, but how can we strengthen ties between the board and the community and provide opportunities for the community to connect with the board, not just share comments at an open meeting, but actually have a dialogue, ask questions, have a discussion about things that they care about. That doesn't exist right now. I know it's something that I hear a lot from parents that they want to be able to engage in these discussions about their hopes and concerns for the district. Can you just

084repeat the question? Sure. What is your current understanding of the role of a board member and the board of education? Okay. Um, so I mean obviously right our our role would be to make decisions um you know based off of data, current data, past data um you know and hopefully get some of that information from community input as well. Um you know obviously it's supporting our staff, supporting our students, right? That's our number one goal is to make sure that our staff and our students have a great experience here. Um so definitely what folks said about governance and being fiscally responsible, there is a statemandated course that um anyone who is newly elected is required to take that course. Um also um working with fellow board members and making informed decisions backed by data and

085community input. um doing my homework and my research um before coming to the meetings, listening to experts, um listening to uh students, administrators, faculty, coaches, maintenance and kitchen staff, nurses, psychologists. My point being um the whole community um including neighbors and taxpayers. Um asking a lot of questions and using our equity lens tool and then hoping to work together on a plan that supports everyone's needs. Um like a few others have said um I think transparency is very important. How are we coming to the to these decisions? What data um did we utilize? Which experts did we speak to? How did we solicit um input from from the community? And then um you know what impact uh from whatever decision you know we are making. What kind of impact does that have on different constituents

086in the community? [Music] I think nothing prepares you more to be on the school board than having been on the school board. That that is a big eye opener. I think people look at it and they have great ideas and you you find out you're one of nine. you come together and I think a great board is made up of many people from different backgrounds, different education levels to get a really whole rounded um experience from people from the community. That makes a good board. If there's too many in one specific uh educational thing, I I just think you need to mix it up. That that represents everybody. But it's also a job that um probably no one would say they ever really wanted to do because no you try your best and you you

087know you make your decisions and always someone will be unhappy, someone will be happy. Um if you take the training to be a board member, the one big role you have is you're the fiscal officers for the district. You oversee the budget. That's your that's your one mandated um policy that you have to have. So I think you know the board doesn't get involved in the day-to-day activities in each building for for minute things. You hire people that are capable and competent to do that thing. Um when you come to the board you you take care of the big problems, the big policy changes, the budget, um community involvement. I think that that's your your role as board member. Thanks. Um I think everybody already on all the main points. Um I I think I

088want to be the type of board member that's working on implementing the policies and the budgets, but that's also out in the community um talking to people while while I'm at my son's little league games or or wrestling matches. Um, I want to be the type of board member that's at the schools talking to the students, having conversations with the students, hearing their um, concerns, talking to parents, hearing um, their concerns. Um, thanks. Thank you all. We're going to jump and start with this banicle this time and then work our way down to this side. Keep it moving. U,, we're also going to move you to a threeminut timer. Uh, we had a 5m minute timer, so we're going to try to keep this rolling. Um, I can talk fast. So, here's the next question.

089Number six. There are many candidates in this election. What sets you apart from the other candidates? I've done it before. I've been there and done it. I think we were successful. Um, I missed last year not being on the board. Um, again, it's like family and I think that I have a lot to contribute to being on the board this year. I had the experience of safety always been a big thing. Um probably because of the nursing me, the EMT, the firefighter and um our kids safety in school's always been a big um concern in mine and I think that's one thing I'd like to focus on. Um what sets me apart? Um I might be the only farmer. I've been trying to think about what might make me a little different. Um also I

090guess maybe that I so as a student I attended parochial charter and public schools. So I have I don't know a little bit of experience in lots of different schools. Um I also worked in an independent school. Um, and I I will say in sort of looking back at my um my my educational experiences as a student um and also um working working in schools um that the best practices are really all the same. Like they're very quite quite similar. Project based learning um good teaching and learning like it it you know what that looks like regardless of what type of school um what type of school you're looking at. I also grew up on a farm. I actually used to get up um before school and and milk the cows that we had at

091our house. Um one of my first jobs was actually milking cows at Damon's farm which was on Legged Road. So I feel your pain. Um what sets me apart? Um you know I grew up here. I know what it what it means to live here to be community oriented in your community that you grew up in. Um, as a volunteer firefighter, we enter a lot of these houses, these, um, you know, places that our students are living and I see firsthand the struggles that they have. And, you know, sometimes things are good, sometimes things are bad. Um, you know, I some of these people need assistance. Some of these people need help. Um, you know, it's it's one of those things. There's a fine line. I I'm not allowed to come back and say it

092in in particular in an incident, but um you know, I see the struggles that we have in our community and um you know, I I think having eyes on that sort of stuff um also sets me apart. Is anyone else an identical twin? No, just kidding. Um, so I think a lot about this idea of being locally rooted and globally informed. And for me that applies in two different ways. So one, in my work, I work with schools all over the country. So I've seen some of the best performing public high schools around the country and what they do and I know what those best practices are. Like Carrie said, they're very similar like across their set of best practices that just work. And you can take those best practices and add your spin or

093your special sauce to that and make it your own. But they are best practices for a reason. And I know how to bring those best practices to a district and apply that in a way that is locally rooted and adapts to our specific district. Right? Because Ronda Valley is not like New York City or Los Angeles or the Eastern Sierras of California. with this specific place and we want to be mindful of making sure that we're bringing out the best in our community. Um, the other thing that sets me apart is I'm a first generation American. So, my parents grew up in England and Italy and I have family all over the world and that really informed my upbringing and my ability to see different perspectives and understand different needs and cultures and that's similar

094to the, you know, being globally informed. I've I've how that has informed everything that I've done in my life for my work, the way that I raise my kids, how I interact with people. So those two things, um so I have spent the last nine years of my life dedicating pretty much every free moment I have into my schools and I want to bring that commitment and love and passion to the board and I think that's what sets me apart. I spend hours upon hours within our elementary school um supporting our staff and our teachers and our principles and our students in every way possible. And I think I've established bonds and connections with these people over the last few years that have really helped me see my way as to moving up into the

095next part of being able to help the district as a whole. Could you repeat the question for me? Sure. There are many candidates in this election. What sets you apart from the other candidates? Uh, I think something that has set me apart in a lot of parts of my life is my ability to be in a what I've come to call a bridge position. Um, to work between groups who might have opposing points of view, um, or who have different backgrounds, uh, and my ability to talk across differences. Um, I'm not afraid to have hard conversations. I believe we can have them with respect. Um, I'm not afraid of uh things being unfinished or needing more work or taking more time than we would like. I'm in it for the long haul. Um, and I

096believe that uh the people closest to our problems often have the solutions and are the experts in those problems. Um, and something I've been able to do in my work is be able is find those those folks and um make channels for those who aren't often heard uh to join the conversation. Okay. Uh what sets me apart is I believe um I am in public education right now. As I've stated, I'm 10 years into my career as a high school business teacher. I'm seeing all the things that are going on dayto day in the classroom. My wife, as I've mentioned many times, is an elementary school teacher here at Model Town and has been for the past eight years also in the classroom seeing what's going on. Um, and you know, there's a lot of

097data, there's a lot of fancy terminology out there, but you cannot replace what the teachers are seeing in the classroom. And, and I think that's the most important thing that we need to look at when we're making decisions is what are they seeing, what are they doing. Um, in addition to that, I have a strong business background. As I mentioned, you know, I have a a bachelor's degree in accounting, a master's degree in business, and I worked as an accountant, and accountants are taught to be um conservative financially, which I think is great for a school budget. Um, you know, in my time working as an accountant, I work for hundred million dollar companies down to nonprofits. So, I have experience with a wide range of different financial backgrounds. listening to everyone's differences. We're all

098so similar. Um my I think what sets me apart is um I have a lot of experience be on the board in my business world life. Um recently retired. I um I was the director of um of a call center and um had to deal with a lot of business decisions. Um, I'm on the board for the Tourett Association for Greater New York State. I um participate in services. I participate in lobbying um for for funds um and teaching students uh that have uh Tourette's syndrome, how to be ambassadors for other students um how to um create um fairness, acceptance um for everyone. And I bring all of that with me when I come. Um, I deeply care about the students. I care about how they feel. I care about um, that they want to

099walk into school and that they want to stay here and they want to graduate. Um, I care deeply about it and I feel I have the tools to continue to help drive that, keep um, driving our graduation rates up. um giving the tools to the the principles and the staff to um improve our state scores. We we keep working on it. Um we're going to keep working on it and I feel I can continue that work. I'm extremely passionate about it. Um I think what sets me apart um is I am not an educator in the public system. Um, I have never served on a board before. Um, but I do have an agenda. And when my son Spencer graduated from kindergarten, part of the services was every child got up on stage and said

100what they wanted to be when they grew up. My son Spencer got up on the stage and said, "I want to be a fashion designer." And I want to help make sure that each of these kids that got up on the stage and said what they wanted to do and what they wanted to be are able to achieve those goals. Thank you. Uh the next question, we're going to start with Mr. Swisser and move towards that side of the board there. Um, some of the test scores have been very low, particularly for middle, intermediate, and high school students. How would you go about helping the district improve the scores? Okay. Um, you know, so improving test scores, it it starts at the foundation, you know, it starts really before students even enter any of our

101buildings, you know, in their youth in their in their infant years, toddler years, and in their prek years. um you know, if they start out with a a poor foundation and it's hard when they come into our building um and then as they go through the the grades, the gap usually widens and I think that's why, you know, we're seeing, you know, the scores as they get older go down um because the gap is widening. So, it really starts at the foundation. I think communication with the the preks that we have in the district. Um ensuring that students come in here, you know, with the right tools and and with good habits is is essential. Um and then obviously in their early years, making sure the learning that they're getting in those grades is giving

102them those basic foundations. Um and then at the middle and high school level, what you can kind of do from there is expectations, standards, accountability. Um you know, I think we all as educators saw it during the pandemic. Um standards and expectations dropped um because we were just trying to make students comfortable and get as much as we possibly could out of them in that situation. And I think it's taken time for those standards and expectations to come back. Um and I think once they're back, we'll see an improvement, you know, but it extends beyond the classroom and what we do here, you know, as a district. It it starts at home as well. Um, and I think that's a big piece of it. And again, a lot of times teachers catch a lot of

103slack for things like that. Um, but you know, it's a it's a a community and a parent approach as well to it. Uh during a couple of the recent board meetings this year, we've heard about a couple of the initiatives um that are ongoing in the district um aimed at addressing this and other things like universal design for learning um and the use of the fast bridge data um to provide targeted support services. I won't go on and on about this, but those both seem to be promising um avenues, structural avenues to address this. I also believe that student achievement is tied to the school climate and culture and fostering that positive school climate uh is that really basic foundation that allows students to achieve in the classroom. Um again, not enough time to talk

104about how we might take one, but we need a holistic approach that really focuses on school climate in all of our decision- making so that in time we can um bolster our students in that way. Um, I actually think that more communication with our teachers who are in the classrooms with our students every single day would be a huge factor in helping to see where our test scores are fluctuating so much. I don't I agree actually with Justin that our teachers take a lot of slack for the test scores and I don't think they have as much control over it as everyone thinks they do. But I think they also know where our students struggle the most and that we need to hear that more openly from them to understand a little better where our

105children need more support and the fast bridge has definitely helped with that. I think I completely agree that teachers get blamed often for test scores and that's not where there should be no blame placed at all. This is about systems and not about individuals. And also want to shout out the teachers because it's teacher appreciation week. So I don't know if there are other teachers in the room but I know there are a few. Um I know how important test scores are as a reflection of the school and I've also been a teacher who has been accountable to test scores. um when I taught in New York City and I also know that that test scores alone and a narrow focus on test scores are not going to get us better test scores. I think

106maybe it was Vanessa who said that the school conditions need to be right to be able to have high test scores. So when I think about that, I think about it in a multi-dimensional way. One, what is the school culture? Do students feel um safe to learn? Do they feel engaged in the classroom? Can they focus in the classroom? Is the content drawing them in? Is the content holding them to high expectations like Justin said so that they are asked to do work that is that that's challenging for them. The goal is not for them to get to the test and ace the test. It's to engage them in work that requires them to have a deeper level of learning so that when they get to the test, it's easy, right? It should not be

107it's a blip for them. Um, I also think that we need high quality instructional materials or curriculum products that that really do that for students that serve as not quite a blueprint but a guide for teachers in the classroom and that teachers need that support so that they feel they feel well supported to provide that kind of high engaged learning environment and implement the curriculum in a way that gets the results that we want. So, all of that is to say, it is not a one-dimensional approach. We're not going to get better test scores by chasing better test scores. There are lots of things that we need to do to create the conditions and the layers that lead to strong test scores. So, um I think one of the things that we need to strongly

108consider and look at even further, I know it's sort of in the process already, um is is about where our fourth graders are. Um, our third grade test scores are rather high. Um, and then as they get into the fourth grade, they start to plummet. And then fifth grade, they're they're pretty bad. Um, I believe the school was pulled and it was around 70% of the people that pulled that were pulled wanted to move fourth grade back to the elementary schools. Um, I think it's something we can do. Um, our enrollment's down. Yes, we closed the school. Um, but our enrollment's down. I mean, I graduated with like a class of like 250 something kids. I think my kids class now is around like 120. So enrollment is down. I think we're able to do

109this. I think we need to figure it out and figure out why that is that from third grade to fourth grade to fifth grade that our test scores are going down. I I also was at the meeting that Margot had mentioned where we heard a bit about Fastbridge and some other ways that the school was looking at and they are tracking test scores and there were a number of places that we were seeing test scores going up perhaps a bit slowly percentage- wise but but a good trend. Um and and also um some of the things that they were doing and thinking about um having teachers pushing in, specialists pushing in. Um so I agreed also with Divinity. Um spending more time teaching to the test doesn't necessarily show that the test scores will go

110up. It doesn't necessarily mean that. Um I'd be interested in hearing more from teachers. What do they notice? When was the test given? Was it given in the same month that it had been given the year before? So is it an apples to apples comparison? Um what do they think they need? What kind of support do they need? And then the other piece that also has been talked about um does students what is the culture and do students have a sense of belonging? Do they feel safe? Are they distracted? Is it a classroom with a lot of kids, a smaller number? Um uh is the curriculum keeping their interest? That sort of thing. As Paul said, um, we got test scores back in like from kindergarten to third grade. They were really good. They dropped

111off in fourth, fifth grade. I'm not so sure it's it's what building they're in, but something changed in fourth grade. Either they didn't teach uh it's either the method of teaching and we felt that we needed to find someone who could help us increase our scores when we look for a new superintendent. And we found uh Dr. Spedaro who has a history of raising test scores in with programs and in schools that he was in South Carolina. I think that's one of the greatest steps that we took to try to raise the scores. I to I when I was here in school, a friend of mine was a biology teacher for like 40 years here and he used to teach biology and he taught it. If you know Mr. brought it. He taught he taught

112it the kids above level like above level what they were going to be tested on. And he used to say to me, "These kids and he took the time to go, look, these kids are reading on a third grade level. How am I supposed to teach them biology when they're reading on a third grade level?" And it was really frustrating for him. I know in high school we had um uh teachers that just would have small groups and and work on reading and skills. I think we need to get back to basics of math, basics of reading. There's some kids in high school can't do their signature. They can only print. You know, I think we we've tried very hard to expand our teaching because sometimes you have to just get back to the basics,

113provide all the support you can um for the kids who are struggling. Teachers are awesome. Um my uh my my boy Spence is uh second grade with Mr. uh Lanes and my uh boy Chase is fourth grade with uh Mr. Donald and they always you know even when you know Spencer gets in trouble always has very high things to say about Mr. Lanes. Um I'm glad the fourth grade class was brought up. I think, you know, Chase is in fourth grade and I think part of his struggle is that we need to remember that these children basically took first grade online. They took first grade at home. Um, and I think that has had an effect on Chase and all of the other fourth graders. So, what I would like to do is have a

114conversation with teachers and administrators. And now that we recognize that these grade levels are having this issue, what can we do to help them get that caught back up? [Music] Can you repeat the question? Sure. Just uh some test scores have been very low, particularly in the middle, intermediate, and high school students. How would you uh go about helping the district improve scores? We um we ended up looking at um how do we get better data so that we can um really understand what what's happening in the classroom. Um the test scores that we're referring to, it's it's one data point. It's it's not the whole child. It's not how they're writing in class. It's not how they're doing um maybe verbally or orally in an exam. Um but what everyone has said is is

115accurate. Like we we are working on um we we purchased we worked with teachers um and administrators and um in a in a committee where we um determined the best um curriculum so that way we could go in and really um teach children um how to uh learn without tears. I think is is what um we refer to it as. And you see the progress happening in first, second, kindergarten, third grade. Um you see progress happening in four through six. But it that group of kids, they spent their really formative years um living through learning how to do all of that at home on an iPad because, you know, we were in in the throws of COVID. Um so we do um need plans to get them um caught up. Um part of those plans

116um we we brought in um different reading programs and taught uh teachers um these reading programs and they um they're really helping students get out of academic intervention and be able to um perform at a at a a grade level um experience. We also are able to um hopefully through um Orton Gillingham and some of the other curriculum that we've put into place not have to classify as many students um and the students in four through eight that are struggling um where we have all the data that um we're able to see what they're struggling in and then we have um interventions in place. So, it's definitely taking more time than I wish it was, but the staff um has development on it. They have a professional development. They um we have coaches that push

117in. Um the principles are actively involved and we're working to to really make sure the whole student is successful. Um we're hopeful. Um and when I say hopeful, it's not just a pipe dream. We're hopeful that we get to all these kids and they're successful by the time they graduate. Um, and we keep talking about it and we keep working on um, what's needed and more curriculum and it's part of why um, you know, we're we don't want to cut programs. We want to make sure our kids continue to get this. So, um, we are very focused. I know I've been very focused on raising the test scores, but I'm also focused on all the other pieces of who that student is. Um because some some people may not test well, but they're just truly

118magnificent in in all the other ways. So, um we have to look at all that data. Thank you. We're going to start this next question with Miss Cassins and go towards Mr. Bobart there. Uh paraphrasing a little bit from uh surveys. U there's been bullying in high school and middle school. Um, students feel that they may not fit in for another reason due to their appearance style. Uh, race, sexual orientation. How do you think the district can best address the issue of bullying? That's a really big question. Um, and I don't I don't have the answer. Um, but I I will say um that I think it's the approach that matters the most. So, I've talked already about the climate survey um which which I really love that that's available for all of us to

119go in and sort of check out. I'm again really interested in disagregating the data so that we can understand um if there's bullying um based on identity um you know what is that looking like? What is the culture that's supporting that? um some of the data in the climate survey um you know it'll ask about about bullying based on specific things and then it will ask um will are there students that would sort of stand up for you and or stand up stand up not for you but stand up um when they hear something um and the the data shows no they don't like 70% of students believe there would be nobody who would say anything and I have a lot of questions about that it's like and and why that feels like a culture

120piece and it also feels like you know there could be a question perhaps that is um you know why do you think a student might sort of stand up to that or say something um and maybe they didn't know what to say right maybe they were worried about them being bullied themselves like this is just so complicated um and I'm super interested in school climate and culture um and I'm really interested um the the work that the equity council had done um uh creating the equity lens tool. Um but also looking at data um and really um having really hard conversations about um why um some issues were sort of bubbling up or um some language, some words were sort of uh being used in the school that are incredibly hurtful. Um why that happens?

121Um um I too I I don't know if I know what the answer to this question is. Um I have struggled um for a few years with some of my kids or my kids at different times coming home um being bullied at school or on the bus. Um I just think we need to or I would like to at least um you know if I get on the board to see what kind of policies we have in place for this what we can do um what's kind of support that the kids have um you know these kids that are being bold because it happens it happens I know it happens my kids have come home um but you know they there needs to be a place where they're um you know they feel safe to

122go and explain this to somebody um there are staff I know I can speak you know specifically at an intermediate school an intermediate school Um there are places that my kids feel safe to go and and talk about what happened. Um you know and it comes home as well. You know my kids are very open with me and my wife. Um you know they tr we've taught them at a young age if something's bothering you if somebody's bothering you um let us know. And like I said I have twin sisters. So if one doesn't tell the other one's going. So I'm going to find out either way. But I think we need to figure out a way um to really support these kids. Um, but to answer the question, I I don't know what the

123answer is to how how to do that. Thank you. So, I want to just start by saying I think that teachers and school leaders really care about this and I've heard them talk about it and um we have a very student centered staff that doesn't tolerate bullying. I think where I've seen issues is that bullying is often dealt with in isolation with between the two students or with the family and there isn't a a full school culture of accountability. So that goes back to what Carrie was saying about how students may feel like they can't stand up when they hear someone being bullied. Um, I actually think there is a solution because I've seen it work many, many times and it's really just a strong social and emotional learning curriculum. The organization I work for

124does something called Crew. Many of you have heard me talk about it because I am obsessed with Crew. And the way it's structured is it's really like student advisory. They start in kindergarten and every day or at least three days a week students meet in their crew which is a small group of students either within their grade or mixed grades which is nice and it's a time where they are learning these habits of character developing their character becoming ethical people who stand up for each other becoming effective learners and they develop really strong bonds with the other kids in their crew but also their crew leader. So every student has at least one adult in the building who knows them and loves them and is their champion. And when you have a system like that

125in place, there's no tolerance for bullying because the the students themselves will stand up for it. I've also seen in high schools there's peer leaders who run restorative justice justice circles for students who are having conflict. So as students get older, they can be empowered to lead these crew circles and lead these these hard conversations between students. So that would be my approach. I wouldn't want to throw another curriculum on top of teachers knowing what they have right now, but there are building blocks to get there and I can promise you that it works. Um, so I'm going to piggyback a little off of Dimndy because I think that crew sounds fantastic. I do know in our elementary schools we have our no place for hate and I think it has made a huge difference

126in our buildings. It lets the students have a voice in front of their classmates and their friends. Um I feel that if a student feels confident that they will be heard by their administration or their teachers or their peers that they're willing to be more open to talk about things and I think if we could get that comfort level in our buildings we would see a different change. Um, I think I agree that I think implementing another program like that could be great where there's more peer mediation happening instead of just behind the closed doors. Uh, I want to echo that we have many educators, parents, stakeholders of all kind committed to addressing this issue and uh we all worked with many of them on the equity council. We have programs in place like No

127Place for Hate, like newcomers uplifted. We have professional development for staff. So many here are engaged with this issue um and are taking best practices from antibbias and anti-racist education um nationwide and worldwide. Um an example of the kind of problem that we would use these tools to address is the experience of being the only. So when a student isn't surrounded by others who share their identity, they might feel more vulnerable. These are the sorts of lenses we might take um in looking at these issues. And and a couple of ways I can think of um to start that or to move that work forward more would be to consider bringing back our um DEI administrator um who resigned at the end of last year to hold the school all of the folks accountable to

128this work um and to bring back the DEI board committee um which has not convened this year. Again, both as structures within the school to hold this work and safe channels for families, teachers, and students to share their concerns around school culture. Okay. Um, so, you know, I think the biggest thing to solving the bullying issue is it starts at home. Um, it's the way the children are raised, the way their parents teach them. Um, you know, we've been talking a lot tonight about getting the parents involved in decisions in schools and getting the community involved. And I think that's one thing they need to be involved with. Um, you know, I think again it's how you're how you're raised at home teaches you if bullying is okay or not. if you should stand up

129for somebody or not. Um, I'd be interested to see based on the results of the survey if it's social media bullying or if it's physical in the classroom, you know, face to face bullying. I think social media creates many more avenues for bullying. And again, you know, that's a parent decision to allow your student to have social media or not. Um, I think over the years as educators, we've seen so many different initiatives, whether it's crew um no place for hate. My school has safe school ambassadors and yes, in theory they're they're great and if you were in an ideal situation they would work great. Um you know, but that's not the case. And again, it starts at home and I think if you want to get parents involved, I think that's one of the

130first things you should get involved with. John, that's the question again. I just want to make sure I'm sorry. How would you address the issue of bullying by various for various reasons? Um, bullying has been an issue um for years. I know my son is a a student that has been bullied. Um, as a parent who um is living through that, it's it's devastating in so many ways. So, we put together um programs um No Place for Hate, um different training for for staff, different training for administrators. Um and I, you know, I welcome as as a board member, I welcome anything that someone wants to try as long as it's reasonable. Um and the administration and the staff thinks, you know, they can do it. Um you know, we have a lot of programs

131in place. we have a lot of training in place and and we don't want bullying. And um I agree with Margot when you're the one person that's different um sometimes it's hard to to speak up. Um and we need to continue to teach um people how to defend, how to not be um the person that is um watching it happen and not say anything. So for for me it's a continued focus on training, a continued focus on on being there, being supportive, um keeping the programs that we have that we know that work in place and seeing what else we can do. Um it's progressively getting better, but um I would I would love to see it non-existent. [Music] Um I have uh personal experience with bullying. When I was uh you know when I

132was a when I was a kid I was bullied by some other kid and to solve the issue I there were no bus transportation. I would always have to walk a different way home to you know avoid that child you know. And then there's also the mental bullying that happens when I was in high school. Um, I got made fun of because I didn't talk like everyone else. I I talked different. I talked to our articulate or whatever you you want to say. And you know that it's tough. It's tough to deal with and I wish somebody would have seen those warning signs of what was happening in my life to help me address it. Fortunately, um, everything worked out in the end for me personally, but as somebody that would serve on the board,

133listen to all of these different suggestions such as as as the fruit program and, you know, whatever else there is out there, I would be so much more than happy to help get something like that. I think bullying has been around since the start of time. Um, it's it's also not just in school, it's in the community, it's online. Kids go home and they're bullied. They're on their phones on social media and they're bullied in their bedrooms. I mean, you can't get away from it. Used to be like when I was in school, I got bullied for a while, but when I went home, that was it. like you it wasn't that 247 um kind of uh aggravation. And of course back then we're talking in the 70s um the only thing they told you

134if you got bullied was oh ignore it or or the boys like you that's why they bully you like you know I I think we've come a long way. We we do have the DASA uh program here for kids who are bullied to to report bullying. There's um a lot of inservices. There's a lot of training. Teachers, I think, are are really aware of the bullying going on and they do try to create um an atmosphere where the kids are comfortable coming to them and reporting reporting them. But I think as Justin said, starting at home, we really need to instill a sense of um self-confidence in our kids so they make so they're easier for them to deal with this and say stop or I'm going, you know, I'm going to tell somebody. And

135I think that's that's a big part of it. Um, parents do the best they can. I get it. And you can be the best parent and your kid can still be bullied. So, it's it's not I'm not saying it's a lacking on parent part, but I think that's a big issue if you somehow can support parents um have programs for them to come to help them. And I think we're dealing with bullying now um a lot better. I know like when a problem has happened in high school and this comes to the attention, it's dealt with right away. uh there are consequences and I think um usually the person who's bullying probably has just as much issues uh that probably need help with and if we can deal with that aspect too that might help.

136Thanks. We're going to start this next question with Miss Sanchez and we go towards the screen there. This has to do with notifications from the school. Uh we get text notifications about things like yearbooks, sales, and and events. But when it comes to things that might really matter to us, like results of climate and cell phone surveys, we can feel left in the dark. What can the school board do to help this situation? Communication. Communication uh is one of my areas of expertise. And maybe the most simple approach that I would apply to this um is the idea of telling the public what you're going to do, doing it, and then reporting on what you've done. Sounds very basic, but it's actually really hard um to be consistent enough to announce, follow through, and then

137report back on plans as an organization. I don't say that for Rhonda, for any organization. Um so developing a really clear plan to be sure that information is disseminated across multiple channels. For example, I noticed that this meeting was publicized but not in my junior high newsletter. How can we make sure that it's appearing everywhere? How can we make sure that that announcement appears in all languages or folks know how to get it translated? Um, how can we ensure that people understand what happens at this meeting, why they might tune in? Um, I think the equity lens tool is a great great way to look at who is and who isn't being reached by our communications. Um, and I want to say also that the cell phone surve survey seemed to um seem to be

138a great response to community need and to garner a lot of great feedback for really excellent participation in the community um with pretty clear information that we could act on. Uh so I I'm still hopeful that some of that would be reported out and that we might then be able to use that as a process we could apply uh to more of the decisions that we make. folks don't have to give their opinion when they don't have it, but if we don't offer that opportunity, we'll never know what's on people's mind. Um, I actually think our communication has strengthened in the last few years. Um, I don't know if it's because I personally attend meetings and I listen and I log in and I read the items myself. Um, but I do know that if

139you just click on our website, you'll find a lot of what you're looking for. I do think when it comes to certain committees and issues that the community is concerned with that there should be more open discussion forums um instead of just our public hearings where they get to make a comment and actually not get an answer. I think that would be appreciated. But I do think that our communication from our superintendent point of view and our district point of view on topics has actually improved. Yeah, I think communication is uh it's not done in consistent ways throughout the district. So that's perhaps the issue here. We get great reminders from Vanessa for the PTA and I get great newsletters weekly and actually pictures sent to my email weekly from um Michelle Jerich who's my

140son's third grade teacher and newsletters from the elementary school. So there are lots of communications happening but it's not consistent and I think there are very few communications happening about board initiatives or policies and parents don't always know where to go to get that information. A lot of times it is posted on the website. People can tune they can come to the meetings which I often do or tune into the live stream but they don't always know to do that. There's no followup to that. So I think there is a there are grounds for strengthening our communication and establishing clear processes that allow for for families to be involved. So similar to what Margot said, you know, reporting on what your plan is, but also approaching decisions with a consistent in a consistent manner. So

141using the equity lens tool, doing a survey, um meeting as a committee, a public committee for people which people can attend. then sharing out the results from the survey. They're just some missed steps. And I would also say that for me as a parent, part of the feeling of not knowing what's happening in the schools or getting notifications is actually just not getting to be in the schools that much. I want to be in my children's classrooms. I want to see the work they're doing. This year, the third grade, um, they did a project where they created a Greek landmark out of packing peanuts. And then they did a museum walk and they they researched this landmark. They wrote about it. They had to present it and the whole community, all their their family were

142able to come and see their their project. They felt really proud and engaged. And for me, I got to see what they had been working on and hear the excitement from my son leading up to that. So, I would like more opportunities like that, more celebrations of learning where students are developing those public speaking skills and showing off their work to people that they care about. Um, I too would have to agree with Vanessa. Um, you know, my my children being in their sixth year in the district, I do believe that the communication has gotten better. Um, I remember when they first started sending out the messages and phone calls and robocalls, like you very rarely ever got them. Now I get them all the time. Um, you know, and I understand that there's some

143things that obviously just can't be put out right away. I know there's a lot of I' I've heard a lot of talk about um, you know, some of the lockdowns and and lockouts and stuff like that. Um, I think the school does a very good job of getting what information they can out to us in a timely manner. They can't put out a lot of information in those situations. I understand that. Um I've been involved in those situations. Um you know, but I think they do a very good job of getting that information out when they were able to get that information out. Um you know, so in general, I would say that the the communication um from the school district, whether it be PTSA, the the district itself, the superintendent, um you know, emails,

144so on so forth, has has improved tremendously over the last few years. Um, so I get communications, I guess, as a high school parent and of course I can I can go in and look at the website. There is a lot of information that's pushed out to us and and this has been mentioned, but I do think sometimes the the something that I would think is super super important is the thing that perhaps I didn't know about. Um, I get a newsletter from the uh high school principal. I love that. I read it from top to bottom. Um, and I have my calendar out. I write down all the dates I need to remember and all of that. So, I feel like I'm sort of in the know so I don't miss events or anything

145like that. Um, or exam weeks and all of those sorts of things. Um, there's also a social media presence. Every once in a while in my Facebook, I'll see like, I don't know, something happening in the middle school and it's like a cake, you know, a cake hitting a middle middle school teacher's face or whatever that I don't even know what that was. I just saw that picture. Well, it was pi day. Oh, thank you. It wasn't a cake, it was a pie. Um, so I feel like I see sort of little glimpses in that way. Um, parent teacher conferences. So, I go to all of them every time, including my kids study hall and I'm usually the only one and the teacher's like, "It's study hall." And I'm like, "I know, but is my

146kid doing homework? What's he doing? Go pooping off or I'm just interested in going through his day." And the thing I wonder about always the question for me is why are there not more parents? And I don't know maybe parents are super busy at that time and can't make it but like many times I will go to the class and there might be three other fellow parents there. One every once in a while there'll be five or six and that feels sort of like a crowded room. And I'm really curious about that. I'm curious I'm curious about the scheduling. I'm curious why parents aren't as interested in coming in. It's it's truly a question for me. Um I think the open house is great. Um there's a lot of events that I think are are

147really amazing. Um during parent teacher conferences, I think this was the first time in the high school this year they did something called an expo. So um the hallways were just super crowded with all kinds of projects and poetry and all of these things. Um, and it was a real like like Dimidy says, a real celebration of learning. Um, and it really looked like kind of like the best work. Um, anyway, it was it was amazing and I loved walking through and just reading through students. I don't know classes my kid hasn't been in and seeing what they've been working on, what do they care about, that sort of thing. Um, I do wonder, um, we do have a number of Spanish language speakers and I wonder, um, what that feels like in the school

148community. I don't know how much is translated for them. I don't know how that works for parent teacher conferences. If the teacher doesn't doesn't speak Spanish, um, and if there's a parent that doesn't speak English, how are they getting that information or having that connection with the teacher? Um yeah, and I guess the last thing just there is so much information and it's so amazing and so much work goes into sharing with all of us what's happening. Um but when something like I the armed guards decision sort of happened and that I was a little bit blindsided by it and fair enough I may have missed a communication about it but that feels really important um that it can be that can be triggering for some folks in our community. Um, and I would hope

149that there would be more conversation about that. Um, and that there would be an opportunity to hear sort of multiple perspectives about what that might feel like for a particular students. questions. Back in I think it was 2023, um the board asked a lot of the principles to uh try to really you know put forth more newsletters and we saw a really big up uptick in the information getting out like said high school justice uh as one example because I I was privy to get receiving that is a really excellent example of that. Um, Facebook again, I'm always seeing things, you know, coming up kids, what they're doing in the classrooms. Um, and it always it always impresses upon me the smiles on their faces. These kids are having a great time. Um, I one

150example of that is uh I remember when they started the um um the basketball league for for special needs kids and now they had the bowling and and the pictures that were I think there had been 30 pictures. uh the kids all big smiles on their faces all having a you know a great time and and the kids in special ed help and the kids in regular ed helping them you know being their mentors for them so I think we have been have improved in our communication it's always encouraging to tell to see parents come to the board meetings come to see what's going on because a lot of times they say they don't know what's going on but there's like maybe four or five six people at a board meeting you really can get

151a lot of information that way um there are presentations there's you know policy discussion so that's another thing that people can just come and be you know be a part be an integral part of it uh repeat the question one more time please sure uh in terms of communication we get a lot of communications about uh yearbook sales and such but when there's important surveys like cell phone policy uh climate change we get left in the dark how would you improve communication okay Um, so I I agree that the communication is inconsistent. Um, you know, I've got a child in Marletown Elementary School. I'm getting a call from Marble Town every day and and and newsletter. Um, so I, you know, they're pretty wellversed on everything happening in Mtown. With, um, the middle school, not

152so much. um you know, we do get letters and flyers sent home, but um you know, we're not, you know, as aware of everything going on in the middle school as we are in in the elementary school. So, I think using uh communication systems such as uh they use in the middle school in the elementary school is a um great idea. I think it's also important that we recognize that not everyone in our community has, you know, uh social media or or web access or you know we also spoke spoke about different languages. I work for New York State. Um, as as I work in a call center, as part of this, we are, you know, we have to make sure we have a translation line where if somebody calls and speaks whatever language, we

153can call a translation line and have that language translated, whether it's 2:00 in the afternoon or 4:00 in the morning. Um, I also um heard conversation about the armed guard decision when I was out uh doing my petitioning. That's one of the areas that you know somebody brought to my attention was that you know uh the school district did this and I was never made aware and um you know I we had a conversation about it but I would like to also uh help to make sure that you know when there are decisions made like this that everyone within the community is made aware. communication. Um I think we've gotten better. I think we can always get better. Um I think um the schools or each school has improved their communication. I know as a

154board we try and put um as much out. It's probably inconsistent and and we need to get better. Um, one of the things that I I think we need to continue to do is get each thing out via the website, via Facebook, via um the ROOC calls. But the ROOC calls only go to certain people. Um, so the whole community can't get that roocall. Um, the whole community can't get Facebook. We don't have emails for the whole community. So we rely on um the newspaper. We rely on um these meetings. We live stream them. Uh we rely on um a lot of different avenues, but not everyone views every piece that we that we work on. So, we have to just keep trying different avenues and we have to keep trying to reach everyone. Um

155and we have to we just have to keep trying. We've gotten better and we will continue to get better. I I would love to say at some point we're at 100%. But I know that we miss people um throughout all of our decisions, some of our decisions. Um it's important as a board member that um everyone is informed. So we do we do try. Um unfortunately we're not always successful. So, um I would I would just look for other avenues to get people um to all be aware. I don't know what that is. As we keep looking for things, I know we developed a thought exchange. Um that seemed to work, but then we also had people that didn't see it. Um we do surveys. We also have people that didn't know the surveys were

156out. So, um maybe we do all the things um for each piece, but then but then that becomes really inundating the public with with what we want. So, I I don't know the answer. I just know that we keep trying different um different ways and hopefully um we we hit it 100% at some point. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, um, in terms of like communication on what's happening in the schools and events going on, I think as everybody said, the principles and the teachers do a great job of that. Um, if people are looking to be informed about um, big ticket items, I think great thing is come to the the board meetings. Um, you know, as Miss Vanco mentioned, not too many people do that. Also, you know, you can always look at the board

157minutes after the fact. Um, and and a lot of information is on the website. I think we live in the information age and if you really want to find something out um you can find it out. Um there may be better systems for you know getting that information directly to the public. Um you know but again I I think the information is there if people want it and you know we could look into other options. Thank you. Uh in the interest of time we're going to fold a question into the final comments here. Um and Mr. Goldberg, we're going to start with you and come down this way and then work our way around. Here's the final question. Any closing comments you might want? Um, how would your membership on the board significantly impact the

158outcomes? Question. We saved it for last. Can you just repeat one more time? Sure. How would your membership on the board significantly impact the outcomes? Um so I feel like I I bring a unique um point of view. Um I don't have have an education background. Um I don't have I'm not a part of um different groups and different organizations but I I consider myself a local person very community oriented. Um I feel I can bring a different angle than um somebody else. And I think it was Miss Vanc said you know different points of views from different people on a board make a successful board. if we have nine people that have the same point of views, we're not going to get anywhere. Um, so I feel that I could bring a different point

159of view to the board. Um, in closing, I would just like to say, um, you know, I know the armed security has been a huge topic. Um, and you know, people were kind of surprised by how it happened. Um, I attended here 25 years ago and we had armed security then. So, it's nothing new. Um, it's been around for 25 years. We had a state trooper in the high school 25 years ago. So, um, you know, if we can do things to make our schools and our kids safer, I'm all for it. Um, you know, maybe the communication could have been a little bit better, that's possible. But this is not something new. Um, I also, just looking around the room tonight, um, I see a lot of my old teachers here, which I think

160is pretty cool. Um, that some of these people are still involved with our school district. I see Mrs. Miller, who was my music teacher in Marble Town. Mrs. Mioli was an English teacher of mine in high school. Coach Malik was my gym teacher, football coach. Chris Renza is running around somewhere. He was one of my football coaches as well. So, I think it's pretty cool. School nurse, my school nurse is still here. Um, but it's pretty cool. It's really neat to look around and see that all these people are still um, you know, have an interest in our school. So, thank you. Um, thank you to all the people out that have been out in the community um, showing myself support and and you know, thank you for your time. Uh that is a tricky

161question and I also think the answer is that one of us cannot and should not significantly change what's happening in the district because the point of the board is to have nine people working together people who bring different perspectives and experience and are working as a team to make decisions about what's best for our students where I think I can contrib tribute is really thinking about well first of all bringing what I know about education from my 20 years of work in education um and also working with schools to to implement datadriven practices and embrace a culture of continuous improvement which I think that we do really well um and really just bringing my desire to serve the community and help make our schools great and um make sure that we're serving every single student

162in our district and helping them all have access to an amazing, joyful, inspiring education. Great. Um, so Jimy pretty much just said my answer word for word right there. Um, I also don't feel that um, any of us should look at it as being a significant impact on the board. I feel that we should all be able to know what we bring to the table. And I think I can just bring an an open-mindness to looking at all sides and all arguments and all discussions. Um, and being able to implement them as best fit for our schools and our children and our staff. Um, and I just want to say that we truly have wonderful teachers and administrators in our buildings and I hope to get to work with you more closely. I agree that

163we want diverse viewpoints in the room and on our board. Um but I think something that I could bring specifically is experience um using tools like our equity lens tool and applying them consistently across decision-m uh with the idea that we may not know right now what the impacts will be but when we apply this process we create long-term change. even mitigate our own biases and we generate creative solutions that we wouldn't come up with uh without asking the questions in the tool. So I'd like to think that not because of me but because of application of that tool to our decisions, we could really shift the culture um over the long term. Um what I think I bring that's significant to the board is a a really well-rounded and realistic point of view. You

164know, as I mentioned many times tonight, I I am currently in public education as a high school teacher. My wife is an elementary school teacher in the district. I'm friends with many of the teachers like Paul here. I'm seeing many of my old teachers here as well. Um but in addition to that, you know, I have a business background. Um you know, as I mentioned, undergraduate degree in accounting, worked as an accountant, I have an MBA, I'm a local business owner. Um, and like Paul, I'm a lifelong community member and I went to school here and I understand the community and its values. Um, and and what makes Rondell a special and unique place compared to a lot of places. Um, so I think that's what I would bring. So, um, being a board member,

165you're absolutely one of nine, and it's great to have, um, as, as multiple people have said, different different views, different opinions. What I think I bring is I'm not afraid to ask that tough question. I'm not afraid to disagree. I'm not afraid to be respectful in all of that, have that conversation and then change my mind. Um, identify that, oh, maybe that that someone else is right and and I need to view it differently or, you know, based on the data that I've accumulated, I think I am right um and see if other people agree. So, I have absolutely no problem um having the conversation, having a tough conversation, having a a great conversation, but all all in all being focused on the kids and the students. Um admitting when we make mistakes or when

166I've made a mistake and trying to fix it. So, um I think I bring that I bring my business background. I bring um my background um with my uh with special education and my my son um and I always look at the whole student and how everything that we do impacts everything that they do. the the the organization that I worked for opened its doors um July 2nd of 2013. I started there July 1st of of 2013. I've been there since um day one. Um, I've been a part of developing that unit from the beginning. The policies, um, everything that goes on, I've been a part of. I've got a business background also, like I said. Um, I have a company called Heines Holdings. We, uh, rent, um, a couple houses in Kingston, New York.

167I also had the opportunity to uh be a volunteer firefighter as well. Um I worked under uh Luke Cartelli. Um I went to firefighter one class. I put on all the gear. They had me crawl through a tiny tiny little hole and I said I can't do this. Um super claustrophobic. So instead, I became a certified first responder and just went through the medical class and and became a a medic. Um my educational background, I graduated from Molster County Community College with liberal arts and parallegal and um I graduated from Maris College with political science degree. I I think you know I work with people with developmental disabilities for a long time. I I think I'm, you know, really good at being part of a team. I think what I can bring is that I

168I I'm not an educator. I I haven't been part of a board, but I can bring fresh new ideas and and that's it. Thank you. I think most people say what you see is what you get. I was really honored uh working when I was on board between 20 and 23 with people who were sitting in that it's an honor working with them. You're one of you're one of nine. That's you're one of nine but you work as a team. I'm not afraid don't say to ask the hard question. I'm not afraid of [Music] um I'm not afraid to to try something new. My 49 years being a nurse and working 30 years of connections with people in this building. I'm not afraid of going up to someone first name basis, you know, asking help,

169asking for clarifications on things. I have community, I have county connections. Um, one of my main concerns has always been the safety of the students as far as um, you know, when we talk about school shootings, things like that. I always used to think, you know, when I was sitting in my office, thankfully the state trooper's office was right next to mine, so I really felt safe. But I always thought about the people who are sitting at the main doors. Um, you know, they're the first piece, first people who would have been affected. And I fully believe that we need to protect our kids. Um, this world has really changed. And I think we did the right thing by having um the armed guards. Um, we were sitting ducks. All schools were sitting ducks for

170a long time and I think we're not that anymore. Um, people know that if there's someone in here armed, they're not going to we're not an easy target. So, I think that that really reassures me. Um I'm also a strong proponent of um technical education having been the representative on the Boseis board. As you know Boseis is going to be moving to I park 87 in September and there's going to be a ton of new programs expanded programs for our kids. My son's experience with going to Boseis and getting exposed to aviation led him to a career that he makes a lot more than his mom ever did which is good for him. But I think all our kids need need these extra skills. They're going to be workforce ready. Um go to Boseis. There

171used to be the theory if you went to Boseis, you can go to college. Well, that's not true. You can go to college after those and you can really get a great career. So I I hope that by being on the board I can act as a little bit closer liaison to really bring all the information from our move and our expansion um to the students of Rhonda so where they can have you know more options in their education and I started to learn fly airplanes at 59. So I I always tell the kids there's nothing you can't do. If you think you can't do it, go try. So I think um so in terms of successful outcome for students um I would say um for students that graduate our district um to be able

172to continue in whichever pathway makes sense for themever that we support them in whatever whatever that is. So, it's been mentioned already, but many are collegebound, some go to trade schools, some will be looking for employment directly after graduating. And all of those students um should be supported in whatever they they will endeavor. Um I've also said this before, but I believe in data when making decisions um doing research and I believe in community input. And again, when I say community, I mean everybody. Everybody. Um, and I also believe in using the equity lens tool. Um, for me, just to define equity, it means that people get what they need, that all students get what they need, that teachers get what they need to support students, that taxpayers get the information that they need, that

173staff get, but everyone gets what they need. And the equity lens tools tool helps us or board would help board members um if they used it when making decisions to make sure that all of those multiple perspectives are taken into account and that the impact of whatever the decision is that is made um is known. In other words, how would it impact folks that are sort of not in the room that are making the decision? I think it's a big responsibility. Um the role of a board member is to advocate, right? to advocate for students, for teachers, to community members. Um, and I think that's a big responsibility. Um, and I would be honored to serve. Okay. I think we've heard from everybody. Uh, we're going to wrap up this part of the meeting. Thank

174you for your thoughtful answers, candidates. Thank you for your thoughtful questions. Um, that's it. [Music] You guys need help? Good job. I think that's good, right? I couldn't think of an apple. Don't wait for Where are we? All right. All right. Let's have a board meeting. I'll probably over here. Oh, no. That was me. It's probably [Music] Where am I? [Music] We're still live. [Music] I have it down. No hot sign. No hot lights. [Music] Can you finally sit by me? I thought we ready for some of this. when you find it, bring me home. I know Christine and Jim are here. Um, but I think we can probably start with Before we start, I just want to thank Mr. Soy again for um moderating. But it is really nice when we see our our

175teachers get involved in these kinds of things. Um, my former teacher, Mr. Loots, actually always used to do this. Um, Mr. actually moved out of the area last year um um but I think Mr. did a good job filling filling issues. So thanks Mr. Soy um please join me as able for the pledge of allegiance to the United States of America and to the stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Recommended motion to approve the revised May 6, 2025 board of education meeting agenda as presented. I'll make the motion. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries. Uh superintendent's update our envisions mathematics program for grades seven and eight. uh the recommended motion that the board of education adopt this grade seven envisions mathematics program as presented. I'll make the

176motion. Second discussion. I just want to let everyone know that the curriculum committee did review this um this recommendation prior to today's meeting. It is an extension of the envision math programs. We have the grades K through six. Thank you. The committee's in support. Yeah. Appreciate all the work you guys put. I know this was a lot of work and Natalie, I know Natalie is not here. Oh, thank thank you for leading us through this. Um, you know, I think a lot of the the stuff that we've been discussing about, you know, what is our strategy for improving test scores, this is all, you know, showcasing the work that you and the committee have done. So, thank you. We're moving in my mind, we're moving on the right track, right direction. And thank you, Dr.

177Spera, for your leadership and helping get this done. Um uh so I think any any other discussion? All in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries. Uh amplify core knowledge language arts CKLA program for grades K through 8. Uh the recommended motion uh that the board of education adopt amplify CKLA program for grades K through 8 for the 2526 school year as presented. I'll make the motion. Second any discussion. Just want to mention again that we did review this on our curriculum committee. There were questions. They were answered by Miss Harges. Um and we um are very much in support of her recommendation for um to approve amplify as our ELA curriculum. Thank you. Any other discussion? All in favor? Any oppose? Motion carries. Um, public comment. Is there anyone who wants to make public comment tonight?

178[Music] Uh, what I'm here for, first of all, my name is Glenn Broki. Uh I was a board member back in I guess 40 something years ago and some of the problems we had in the building are still here. But what I'm here tonight for is I have two questions. Uh back in July I think it was maybe it was in June I came to board about the problem with the school bus and so forth. Let me get my paper here. Uh, one of the things that that came I sometimes get a little confused. I'm 90 years old now. Still playing golf like this. I still get around but sometimes my speech goes. Uh, one of the things that we had back then uh was a thing on transportation. Okay. Electric school buses. Uh, I

179brought up the fact that they only had a five-year deal on these buses that Round Out used them. After that, this the company that gets them can use them for anybody. And I asked that question and it was never answered. I had another question. Uh and uh there was uh bus drivers. Bus drivers on electric school buses have to take a special class. This is so they can get the students off the bus if they have an accident because the electric buses that battery can explode. And I have a friend of mine and he lived in the district and he came home. He had a car. We're going to eat lunch and his car exploded. The whole thing was in a plane. This is what can happen to a school bus. So these bus drivers

180take this class to be allowed to take the kids off the bus in a hurry. Seconds, not minutes. And we have monitors on the bus. And I asked the question of whether these modernists should have to take the same education program or that they no response. Okay. I came to a meeting on a $214 million uh package that you had and I brought up the same question again and the school I think she was the vice president or the board president asked me who I was and said she'd get back to me. never got back to me. Wondering what's going on here. I mean, it's a simple thing. I I have a problem with this. I think the parent should have a problem with this. There's a possibility that something could happen and we have

181a monitor on the bus and doesn't know what to do. I think I don't know what to say. I think we ought to have some kind of response to your question. I know you don't answer the questions at the board meetings. I know the blue stone press doesn't cover this place. Uh people come and they ask questions. Nobody ever hears about it. That's all I had to say. [Music] Thank you, Mr. Di. Um I think it might be um a good good idea that's mentioned Dr. Fderero. Um he's he's willing to meet with you if you want to come in. Um and I think Mr. has your contact information so we can reach out to you. Chris is set up a meeting. Did you hear what he said, Jeff? Or Glenn, what was that? Did

182you hear what Chris said that they're willing to meet with you? Say it again, Chris. Why do they have to meet with you? I asked question. Why can't they give a response? They want to give this the response. Yes. So, we usually don't respond to questions in in this setting, but Dr. Scodero is certainly willing to meet with you and answer your questions um that you have. M Miss Barian can reach out to you and and work to set something up. [Music] Well, I'll make sure the public knows about I'll respond to that rather than Thank you. Uh next on the the agenda is consent agenda items 1 through 11. Recommend motion that the board of education approve the consent agenda items 1 through 11 as presented. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? Any oppose?

183Motion's carried for time. Um Nicole, do you want to start off anything more time? Um, I'd just like to thank Miss Harges and her efforts behind getting um moving forward um with adopting some tier one curriculum. I think that has been identified as as an issue for us and so I'm really grateful we're moving forward and she's worked very hard to get us where we're at. So I appreciate her efforts. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Um I um last Monday I think I was able to do a walk through at the high school and there was I'm going to call it the cow truck, but it was an agricultural truck with all the dairy farming and stuff. It was super cool. Um I got to pet a a cow, a baby cow named Samantha. Um just

184so you guys know, it was um it was great. It was through a grant. um kids got to see that whole farming piece and and how it all comes to the supermarket for those that don't have, you know, farming experience. So, that was fantastic. Um I was also able to go in and see um just observe a couple of classes and it's great to see the engagement of the students um and and what they all are bringing to the table and what the teachers are setting up for coursework. It it was it was great. So, um, we I know the last time I spoke I spoke about the elementary schools and I was able to see the high school and it was fantastic. Jim, uh, no, I don't have anything. We have a facilities committee

185committee meeting tomorrow at 4 o'clock to continue our discussions uh, on our next capital project. All are welcome to join. Uh, next Tuesday, May 13th, is our uh, distinguished award night. We will be honoring our uh, tenure faculty and staff, our retirees and our Thomas King uh, distinguished award recipients. Uh, it is at six o'clock um, in the auditorium uh, with a small reception to follow afterwards. I implore everybody to um to come and celebrate and uh as somebody mentioned before it is uh teacher appreciation week. So um thank you to all our teachers and tomorrow specifically is nurse appreciation day. So thank you to our nurses. Great. Thank you. um recommend a motion be resolved with the board of education approve the consent agenda item three as presented. I'll make the motion second. Any

186discussion? All in favor? Any oppose? Motion carries. Recommended motion that the board of education move into executive session to discuss the employment history of particular individuals and employment history of a particular corporation. I'll make the motion. Second. And he decided,