001Okay, are we ready everyone? Our apologies for being a little behind schedule. We try to start right on time, but with all the excitement of this evening's critical thinking expo, we're a little behind schedule. So, we would go ahead and get started. If you could all join me, please for a pledge to the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. And we will start this evening with a report of the superintendent, Dr. Burn. Good evening and thank you for joining us for our May 6th board of education meeting. Tonight is the annual budget hearing for the 2526 school district budget and we also have a presentation on critical thinking. So
002I will keep my report brief as I know we have a lot of ground to cover. Our last board meeting was just one week ago but we're coming into the busy season in school life. So we have a number of events in the meantime. Last Monday was the Ry High School vocal and percussion concert and the orchestra band concert was last Wednesday. So, we've officially kicked off spring concert season. The last day of classes for the seniors was last Friday, and the students enjoyed a senior walkout parade through the school halls and an ice cream truck, courtesy of the PO. The Midland Fair was this past Saturday. My apologies for my poor weather forecasting this Saturday. I did my best. Uh, and we are looking ahead to the Milton Fair on May 17th. Our high
003school students are waiting into AP exams this weekend next. And there are elementary field trips and end of school socials galore to look forward to. The 2526 school district budget road show continues. Since our last meeting, we've spoken at the RMSPO meeting to the seniors at Ryre, the Milton School PTO meeting, and today at the Midland School PTO meeting. This Thursday, we'll be at the Osborne Retirement Community. Always one of my favorite stops on the tour. And next Thursday, we'll be at the high school PO meeting. I'm looking forward to seeing many community members and hopefully answering all their questions about the budget and the school district. The focus on excellence budget newsletter is at the printer and will soon be hitting mailboxes across Ry. Lots of details. Every year we put this newsletter with
004information about the budget vote and board of education trustee election and mail it to every postal address in the 10580. It will also be posted on the district website this Friday. May 1st was National School Principles Appreciation Day. Today is National Teacher Appreciation Day and tomorrow is National School Nurses Day. I know the parent organizations do a great job of celebrating and recognizing our principles, teachers, and school nurses and that many parents have reached out directly to say thank you. So, I hope they're feeling appreciated. I want to add my thanks and the board's thanks to that chorus of voices. Our next board of education meeting is Tuesday, May 20th. Not coincidentally, the day of the annual budget vote and board of education election. We'll also be celebrating student musicians who participated in NISMA competitions
005and festivals that evening as well. And that concludes my report for this evening. Okay. Thank you, Dr. Burn. Now, we will move on, pardon me, to the hearing of the public on the 2025 2026 proposed budget. Dr. Burn. Okay. So, we have as we've been out in the community talking about the budget and sharing the details with the community, we have been um sorry, my computer is not going onto the board has been funky with the attachments. So, as we've been out uh talking with the budget, it is important to share that this proposed budget that the community will vote on on May 20th maintains all current programs and services. It is a fully tax cap compliant budget. It has a budget to budget increase of $2.45%. The current budget is 110.5 million and the
006proposed budget 2.45% increase is 113.2. 2 million. There's a few notable programming shifts that uh I'd like to just review. We've presented all of this information throughout the spring. We have two additional high school teachers in support of the launch of the new international balora program. We have a new school districtwide director of school counseling and student wellness. We have one reduction of a physical education teacher at secondary level. Um, we have two wonderful physical education teachers who are retiring this year and it is not necessary to fill both of those positions. So, we'll only be filling one. And we have one additional school custodian who will support the added 12,000 square ft for the new additions at Midland and Osborne. And that position will be shared across the two schools. We have a few
007notable facilities and security updates as well within the budget. Over at Osborne School, there is a roof replacement for the cafeteria. Uh the roof has uh ended its it's reached its lifespan. Uh has some leaks and is in need of a full replacement. We will begin the process of upgrading our security cameras throughout the district. We first started installing security cameras 7 years ago and as you know the way technology changes, it is necessary to begin replacement of those original cameras. We will continue the process of enhancing the portable radio connectivity and functionality throughout the district. We have been working closely with the Ry police on improving the portable radio communications and that enables us to have communication across all buildings and the district office and with the police department through our handheld radios without
008having to pick up phones. We have connectivity across the community and we will be adding the Sto locking system and the PA lockdown system into the installation of the new wings at both Midland and Osborne. I won't be going through all of these charts, but we have throughout the process this spring. But for our expenditure summary, this is where you see the 2.45% budget-to-budget increase. You have the proposed budget of 113.2 million, the approved budget, the current budget of 110 million, and that is a difference of $2.7 million. Our revenue summary. So, as we um always look at the different components of the budget, the great majority of our budget support comes from local property taxes. The residential and commercial tax base, which makes up in this uh coming budget, the property taxes of the
009113 million will be $12.3 million. Our state funding is approximately $3.3 million. It's actually a little bit of an increase over last year. It's the first time we've had an increase in a while. We also have some the use of $2.7 million in fund balance. We have our utility taxes and county sales tax which also offset some of the budget uh and add to those revenue sources. So with the two components of the budget, you have the state sources, the taxing sources are one side of it, and you have the tax levy, which is the local property owners and the commercial property owners who contribute to what's known as the tax levy. That increase is 3.66%. Again, this is a tax cap compliant budget. And within that, it is an estimate estimated taxable assessment. And
010this is based on information we receive from the independent tax assessor in the city of Rye of 133,43,000. That leads us to an estimated tax rate per thousand of assessment of 767.0291. And that information will be updated as we get to July 1st when the tax warrant is issued. and we will get that information from the tax assessor. So, uh, the next step in the budget process beyond the hearing tonight is on May 20th, which is the budget vote and trustee election from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. here at Ry Middle School in the gymnasium. There'll be plenty of parking in front of the school, and we hope to see everyone out to vote on that day. Thank you. Sure. Okay. Thank you, Dr. Burn. So, at this time, it is um the hearing of
011the public. So, for those people in the audience who have come to share any thoughts that they have on the proposed budget, we invite you to the podium at this time, please state your name, your address, and if you are here with an organization, and please limit your remarks to three minutes, and we will have the district clerk set the timer. If anyone would like to come forward to make comments about the 2526 school year budget, please feel free. Come ahead. Thank you. Hi, I'm Sharon Mantel. I live at 42 KBY A. I have a seventh grader at RMS and a fourth grader at Osborne. I'm finishing my second year as PTO president at Osborne. And before I pass the baton, I'm honored to stand here before you tonight. We know there are many moving
012parts, estimates, and iterations that go into the budget preparation and we say thank you. I'm speaking on behalf of Osborne, Midland, and Milton PTO's when I say we stand behind this proposed budget for many reasons, and I'll highlight just a couple of them. We are grateful that it's tax cap compliant. Last year's override was much needed and we know it was important to raise the additional funds. This year, it's nice to have it be a more predictable increase for families. Security is top of mind for parents, and adding the Sto locks and PA system to the new wings at Osborne and Midland, making it as secure as the rest of the building is important to us. Plus, you can fix the leaking cafeteria roof at Osborne. We are also excited that this budget includes hiring
013a director of counseling. I've been really impressed with the workshops that Emma McCabe has led in my son's classroom at Osborne and I brought a few of them to kind of show off some of this sort of DBT, conflict resolution, coping skills work he's done and brought home. He really enjoys the classroom sessions and we all appreciate the continued focus on this area. We wholeheartedly support this budget. Thank you, Dr. Burn, for all you've done for our schools. You'll be missed. Welcome, Dr. Murray. We're excited for your continued and growing leadership. And thanks to everyone at the district behind the scenes, business office, technology, curriculum, coaching, facilities for keeping our schools running safely and productively every day. And thank you to the board for your countless hours of volunteerism and your commitment to our children
014and to Ry. I'm sure we never say thank you enough. Well, thank you Sharon for all that you do at the PTO. It's greatly appreciated. It is all one big working system together. Is there anyone else? Please feel forward. Hi, good evening. My name is Rhonda Gilroy and I'm speaking here tonight as the current co-president for the Ry Fund for Education and also as a parent of two Rye High School students and an incoming Rye Middle School student. I live at 12 Dogwood Lane. I'm here to voice my support for this year's school budget. This budget is more than a financial statement. It underscores the district's dedication to the Ry commitment to the students, faculty, staff, administration, and the community. As you know, the mission of the RIY fund for education is to enrich the
015educational experience of our students through grants that support innovation and instructional needs. We exist to supplement where the school budget cannot. But we can only exist if there is a solid foundation of public support for our schools. When the district's budget is strong, responsible, and constructive, that allows our grants to be truly effective. This budget will ensure that synergism. It is tax cap compliant, maintains all programs, and allows for small class size to complement the world-class public education we are fortunate to have in this town. It also funds implementation of two important instructional programs that RF has contributed to the responsive classroom program and the renowned international balorate program. It also provides funding for safety and and um facility repairs. Overall, this budget will provide the funding necessary to attract and retain talented educators, provide
016materials and instruction for modern, highquality learning, and safe facilities, important aspects of education that I believe will help all students find their passion and purpose. I extend my huge and sincere thanks to the board of education and administration for their hard work in continuing to balance fiscal responsibility and our children's best interests. Thank you. Thank you, Rhonda. Any other members of the community here tonight to speak? Yes, please come forward. Hi. It's going to be short and sweet. That's okay. We'd love comments. My name is Sarah Dokensky. Um, I live at 14 Harding Drive. Um, uh, I'm a parent of a fourth grader and a first grader at Osborne and I'm currently one of the co-presidents of RAISE RISE all-inclusive special education parent group. I'm here tonight in support of the proposed budget for the
017202526 academic year. This year's budget is tax cap compliant and fiscally responsible. It focuses on maintaining and strengthening all programs, supporting small class sizes, and allowing for the continued support and growth of our students, faculty, and staff. The Rise City School District is committed to providing an academic environment that is equitable and inclusive for all students. I'd like to thank all of you for your continued diligence, time, and dedication to our children. Thank you. Thank you very much, Sarah. Any other members from the community? on the budget. Okay. Seeing none, we will close the hearing of the public with just a reiteration of Dr. Burn's statement before May 20th, 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. in the middle school allpurpose room. Lots of parking and a great time to see your community members out and about
018someplace different other than the grocery store or Target or Starbucks or any of the other places you may run into your friends. All right, moving on. We will now move on to the hearing of the public for a discussion of modifications to the volunteer firefighters tax exemptions. Miss Peruio, thank you. Um I am here tonight to talk about um an opportunity for us to modify the existing um volunteer firefighter and ambulance worker um tax exemption that we currently have in place. Recently, the Westchester County has modified their version of the same tax exemption that's offered at the county level. It's also sitting before the city for modification at the city level. And now I'm asking the board to follow suit and make those same exemptions. Um what it allows for is fire uh volunteer firefighters
019or ambulance workers living in Rye but serving other neighboring communities to have opportunity for the same exemptions of their counterparts who actually serve in the community of Rye. Um, this would expand that exemption and allow for more opportunity for our community to serve not only Rye but the larger county. Great. Uh, as just to reiterate, as it stands now, we have an exemption, but you must live in Rye and serve in which by definition for the ambulance crew in particular, Ry does not have their own ambulance. Correct. It was a it is a tri area crew. So that correct is a limiting factor unfortunately for those individuals. Correct. And and just one clarifying question. Sure. The you you said it was um it's already been adopted by the at the county level. Correct. And the
020city level or is the city has the city they're they're in process. Correct. Okay. Okay. And so, Miss Perio, for the purposes of business tonight, we are having our first hearing of the public and then we will so presuming we will that this is successful and we can take the next step. I would come to you on the May 20th busy night um with a resolution for the board to modify the existing exemption to include what we just spoke about. Okay, great. Does the board have any questions about this issue? Okay. This is a p hearing of the public. So, if there are members here in the public that are here this evening to discuss the volunteer firefighter ambulance crew memorandum uh tax exemption, please feel free to come forward. Again, state your name, address,
021and if you are representing an organization. Seeing nobody coming forward, we will uh close the hearing and then move forward with uh coming back with a resolution on May 20th. Great. Thank you, Miss Puchio. All right, moving forward. So now we are here for the presentation and discussion critical thinking. Dr. Murray. Okay. Thank you. Good evening everyone. Um, tonight we were very happy to host our critical thinking exposition which showcased uh and highlights the work that we are doing around critical thinking in our district. We've we have done this expo the last few years and so we're delighted to bring you new projects and new learning tonight. Um the projects that we that were featured in our expo are either one of the authentic projects that were designed as part of our district-wide work this
022year or it's a project that the teacher designed um you know as part of their course. And so tonight we're going to be presenting or um actually I've got some teachers and students joining me tonight to present two projects that um that were presented in the expo and they were developed by our teachers and so we look forward to that. We have Katie Ridley here and Daniel Hbert. She they're both third grade teachers from Milton. So welcome uh our Milton students that are joining them. And then we also have Anthony Ferrisio. She he's our English teacher from Ry High School. um and he has some students joining him as well. So, we'll hear about their projects. Our overarching goal with critical thinking is to increase the level of critical thinking across content areas in order
023to further the work of the RI commitment. Um the right commitment explicitly names critical thinking as a skill that we believe is important in the development of our students. And I think what you probably saw in the projects tonight and you will hear from um Anthony, Katie, and Danielle is it's not just the critical thinking piece that you'll see in these projects, but there is collaboration and there's creative problem solving and there is effective communication involved in these projects as well. So it really it it really kind of speaks to everything we're trying to do. Um so I hope that that comes through um their talks tonight. Uh and this is a definition of critical thinking that you've also seen uh for those of you who've been, you know, on the board the last couple
024of years. This is our definition of what it means, what it looks like in the classroom when we see teachers um fostering the skills and when we see students demonstrating the skills. Uh we see that critical thinking is the act of deliberately analyzing information to make a judgment or a decision. So there's an outcome in some way. It uses logic and reasoning and creativity to draw the conclusions and to come to some kind of understanding. And then there it also includes separate skills kind of under the umbrella of critical thinking like questioning, evaluating, interpreting and synthesizing. And over the last three actually four years we in the way we've been growing our critical thinking work is that we started just by studying what critical thinking is. This is across the district. So what is it?
025And then what are the various instructional components that are involved? And um and then that year the the teachers chose sort of like a study group based on those subtopics like feedback and questioning and reflection. And I chose those study groups and they sustained that um that topic all year and folded those skills into their instruction. From there we moved more towards from instructional strategies more to curriculum. So it was about developing critical thinking tasks which would be kind of the day-to-day um activities uh that would be taking place in the classroom. And then this year we moved to designing authentic projects and this is these are longer um longer projects. They're sustained over a longer period of time. It allows students to go deeper with the skills and also allows us to fold in
026all these other skills mentioned in the ride commitment besides just critical thinking. Um and so every teacher this year uh K to 12 designed designed or redesigned an authentic project. Some teachers took something that you know they have designed before um and they used um six elements which I'll I'll explain what those are um to deepen the level of the work. So the six elements that we use when when designing these projects, one uh is that the students create or solve a problem or perform for real purposes and audiences. So there's a real reason behind the work and that's a really important part of these projects. Um students have choice. There's an element of choice because we know choice increases engagement. There's an element of investigation or research. And you see that no matter it's
027the um the first grade, you know, the first grade projects all all the way up through the well, this is kindergarten wasn't here tonight, but kindergarten, too. There's an element of research and and and research for a real purpose and a way to grow their skills um and support their thinking. In every project, students are collaborating and they also have multimmodal experiences. They're not just getting their information in one way and they're not just presenting their information in one way. And there are also multiple opportunities for reflection um feedback, peer feedback and revision throughout the process. So those are the design elements that we use with the teachers um that started this fall. And just to talk a little bit about what that process looked like for them um it was really facilitated by administrators,
028building level administrators. um they did an outstanding job collaborating together to think about what these sessions could look like for our teachers. Um and they were facilitated during faculty meetings and during our November superintendent conference day. Um teachers left that November conference day with a majority of their work done with an outline, a framework incorporating those elements into their design. Uh they were refined during faculty meetings again led by principles and assistant principles and instructional coaches. They were given feedback along the way and then this month actually the middle school and high school just on um on Monday facilitated a reflection feedback protocol during their faculty meetings. So the teachers were asked to bring student work and they revi and they and they reflected on it thought about some possible revisions for next year. Uh
029just to give you a specific example of that, um the the middle school their their big takeaway from doing that work was that they the teacher saw that the the area around authentic audiences um was something that they struggled with because it's hard sometimes to find um what's the who's the audience that will really has a vested interest in what they investigated. Um and they also realized that they want to spend more time in the peer feedback piece and they thought that could really help move the projects along. So, the elementary schools will be doing this um later this month on the 19th. They'll be going through the same protocol. Okay. So, let's get to our first project. Uh this is so Katie Ridley, Daniel Hbert, if you guys want to come on up with
030your students and you know, let me give you the controls. Thank you. Yeah. All right. Okay. Hi, I'm Katie Ridley. Hi, I'm Danielle Hoger. Um, and our project was called Becoming a Global Citizen. Um and in this project um students took on the role of being a global citizen who understands the world and takes action. So to begin we needed to understand what is a global citizen. So girls can you tell us what's a global citizen? Go over to the microphones. A global citizen is somebody who doesn't just help their country. It's somebody who helps other countries too. A global citizen is also somebody who takes action when something is wrong. Thank you. So, um we thought about what can we do to help make the world more peaceful, sustainable and fair um and helping
031value differences, working together and taking action. So, in our project, our first step was to decide which country to focus on. And that was their first choice that they were given were they did they want to focus on Kenya, Brazil or China. Uh the next piece of our project was now that we have our country, let's get into researching it and finding everything that we can about it. So um we began to synthesize our learning across various text and platforms um including online databases um reaching out to people who have a connection with the country that we were studying. um and really getting an understanding of the culture, the history and the current challenges of those countries. Um it also really encouraged the students to think about different perspectives and different ways of life as
032well as um being able to really create more well-informed opinions and thinking about the solutions to some of these problems. Um we also then collaborated between the groups. All the students who chose the same country worked together in the classrooms and then we worked together with the other classes in the building at Milton who also chose that country. So everyone who studied China got together to talk about what they learned, what problems they thought were really important and possible solutions on how we could help here as Rye residents. Um Kieran, can you share the global connection of the domino effect that you thought about the microphone? So when they cut down the Amazon rainforest, it's kind of like when you set up a set of dominoes and then you knock it down. when the Amazon
033rainforest gets cut down. That's the first domino knocked over. And then it goes from the next domino to the next until the earth is polluted. And with polluted air comes polluted water. And polluted water comes to evaporate. And then it goes into the clouds and then polluted rain. And then eventually this spreads all over the earth through the Atlantic Ocean and the animals, they're not going to have a nice time. And so when they just get down the rainforest and they don't care, they ruin everyone's life. And that is a thing that everyone doesn't enjoy besides them. They're like, "We don't care." So when, as I said, the dumbers get knocked over, it goes through the whole earth and it just affects everybody's life. And eventually air becomes a priceless thing getting sold in air
034tanks. People are going to try and break into shops getting the air tanks. or the more calmer way, people just get gas masks, which is the more nice way to sell things. Thank you, Karen. Thanks, Kieran. So, we had really great conversations in our classrooms, um where students started making these kind of global connections and as Kieran did, connecting different parts of our world and seeing how they all affect one another. Um then um after doing our research and brainstorming uh students were given their next choice and this time the choice was how they'd like to present their learning. So they had the option of a podcast, a poster or a video. Um they had to collaborate a lot. They had to agree on how they'd like to present thinking about their audience. So what
035what's the purpose? Why are they trying to why are they trying to present something? Who do they want to present to? Um, so again, they had those three choices and they had to collaborate. Girls, how did it go when we collaborated? Um, it was very hard working in groups. I learned more about how to work in groups, but we had a lot of disagreements. Um, some of the strategies we used was rock, paper, scissors, and we always tried to make the work even, but I learned a lot. Thank you. Um, so we did a lot of reflecting both on um, our learning but also on how to collaborate and work in groups and they had some very honest reflections and we definitely had some conflicts that we had to work through, right? Um, the Kenya
036group even came up with a compromise because they wanted to do the video and they wanted to do the poster so they had to work it out and agreed that they actually did both projects, right? She did an excellent job. um our class all chose to do a video. So we had three videos in our class. Um so the students had to work together on creating a script based on what they learned about the country, the problem that they wanted to focus on and a solution. And then once they created that script, uh they had to learn how to use wei video to record on a green screen and then edit their own videos. So the one that we will share shortly, the students edited by themselves. Um and then once we really had this
037collective understanding of the country, we had our problems and possible solutions, um we noticed that the project actually started to take roots and become even more authentic for the students. Um they started to carry the ideas into other parts of their school day outside of just the subject of social studies. Um and for example, Kieran, can you teach us a little bit about what you thought about when we were studying penguins for reading? So when some other teachers came over, I got assigned a sheet about penguins and to learn about penguins. And so when I saw a bonus fact about penguins, I saw that they can filter out sea water and drink it without getting sick at all. And so I was thinking, well, if penguins can filter out sea water, why don't we just
038take the DNA from a penguin? So, I was thinking some scientists just go over to the Arctic and just pluck feathers out of penguin. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Um, and so they just they just turn the they just hand it over to the other scientists and they study it to try and find out how the penguins filter out the sea water. And then they just take that better than turn into a shot and see if someone turns into a penguin or not. And if it they do, it's a fail. If they don't, that might just solve the world's water crisis. And that is my idea about penguins on how penguins can save the world. So if someone in your family hunts penguins, tell them to stop cuz they might change the world. Thanks, Karen. Thank
039you, Karen. So it was really neat to see that it started extending beyond just the authentic project. um and they were making those connections like Kieran did during a reading lesson um during our animal research. Um and then we also had some students take it even further outside of the classroom and into the community. And so ladies, if you could share what you've been doing on the weekends and after school, we've been selling bracelets and we had lemonade stands. Me and my friend El, who isn't here tonight, made $30. And me and my friend Isabelle made more than $100. Me and my friend Vivian have a business called Bracelet Besties. And we sell bracelets. And that money will be donated to an organization that will help Kenny get water. [Music] Here are bracelets. here. This
040is what we use when we sell bracelets. We have my keychains, headbands, bracelets, and this is where we keep the money. Yes. Thank you. Good. So, um, it's been really rewarding for us and our fellow fellow teachers to see the students take something that we learned in the classroom and extend it to all parts of the school day and then beyond into their daily lives. um when they came back to us and said that they were making a bracelet stand, when Kieran made this connection in reading, that's really made this rewarding for us and and shown us that um through this authentic project, our students really are taking on the the role of being a global citizen who thinks about different perspectives um and thinks about the world beyond Ry New York and our connection
041and how we fit in it and how we can help one another and take action. We're really proud of them. And they did such hard work. And did you guys like the project? Yes. A lot. It was really fun. It was really fun. Especially the editing. Yes. Very cool. Oh, yep. So, we do have a video. So, um this I think it right here. No. No. Click the Oh, hold on. So, this is our video from the Brazil group. Scroll down. Then you can press [Music] [Applause] [Music] Welcome to Brazil. We are Kier, which is me. I'm Brock. And I'm Dean. I'm Nelly. I'm Liv. Visiting this country feels like a once in a lifetime experience because of all the beautiful things you can see and do here. But unfortunately they are facing a serious
042problem which could affect visits here as well as your experience in your own country. Brazil is located in South America. The capital of Brazil is Brazilia. The type of government is a federal republic. The president's first name is Louise. The currency is called Rio. Here in Brazil, they love many different sports like soccer. The best player on their soccer team, Pelle, unfortunately died in 2020 20. Brazil has won five World Cups. That's the most in the world. Pelle helped them win three. In Brazil, they call soccer football. Go. Brazil is also home to one of the biggest rainforests in the world, the Amazon rainforest. It covers almost half the country. It is also a major tourist attraction. There are many different types of animals in Brazil. Cabby bears and sloths are two of the cutest
043animals that live there. There are also frogs, chimpanzees, and monkeys. The rainfest is important to entire global community because it provides 70% of the clean oxygen up for our earth. All the of these animals are losing their homes because of deforestation. Deforestation is when they cut down trees like what they're doing to the Amazon rainforest. It's a really big problem because a lot of animals are losing their homes and becoming extinct, especially beautiful cappa bears and sloths. This affects all of us. That's because the air will get polluted. The trees help us breathe and drink water. And with no clean air or water or food, we all get sick. When the trees get cut down, the animals lose their homes. And when the animals lose their homes, they can go endangered or even extinct. When
044the animals go extinct, it can cause an effect on the on the rainforest. And it has an effect on the animals that eat it because they lose their food source. Thank you for watching our Brazil video. We hope you learned a lot about it. Thank you so much, Miss Hullbert and Miss Ridley and and the Milton students for joining us tonight. We really appreciate you. Did wonderful work. Do you feel good? Yes. Okay. Awesome. Thank you. Okay. And up next we have Mr. Fbizio and our um who's a high school English teacher joining us with some of his students. So the project that you just saw, the third grade project is one of our authentic projects. That's how that's how it was designed. Um Anthony is um he has a something he wants to show
045you in terms of the critical thinking that he's just built into his coursework. Um and and it's particularly relevant because we've been having a lot of conversations around AI and the use of AI to enhance instruction and this is a you know a good example of how we can use AI to enhance critical thinking. So hi folks all yours. Uh so the English department at the high school and the middle school have been working for the last I think two years with Mary Mary Erinworth from uh Columbia University. Uh and the last time that Mary had come in on the last superintendent conference day, she had us working um with chat GBT. Um so your large languual language model AIS are your chat bots, your um your Geminis, your chatbts, those sorts of things. And
046um we've had as the English teachers great anxiety about um sort of AI and I personally have gone through quite a sort of range of emotions over the last couple of years. um being interested in it on a personal sense, being very very suspicious of it in the classroom. And so um we were working with Mary on a Friday and I think it was the following, it was Tuesday, I said, "You know what? I'm going to I'm going to do it. My kids are working on a paper. Uh and so let's see what's going to happen." And so by the way, I have uh three of them with me here, uh Niko, Lard, Cameron, Harwood, and uh Ara of Sha. Um and they'll jump in at some point. But really big picture um we are
047afraid of what the LLMs are going to kind of do and compromise in terms of critical thinking right as Dr. Dr. Murray had said, "We've been doing so much work over the last couple of years um to foster and critical thinking in our class and in our curriculum and as English teachers, we're worried about something that can produce language and is that going to jump over uh our students ability to do the thinking themselves." And so the project that you know we threw together really quickly was how do we design um some prompting uh to use a chatbot to make sure that the students critical thinking is central and that the AI is not giving them ideas. It's not giving them language. Um and so we really had that reservation on our way in. Um,
048and then I think it's also worth thinking about uh just some really compromised thinking around, you know, labor. You know, when when an LLM produces something, whose work is it producing? How are they not being compensated? So, we're thinking about that. Um, we're thinking about the environmental impact of uh the amount of energy it requires to to kind of have these these these technologies. And so, with all of that in mind, um, for me, it was just a matter of, you know, we're talking about it. We know it's a part of their lives. we know it's going to be a part of all of our lives. Uh, and it was a question of, you know, what does it look like in practice? And so this was really just like a first draft. Um, and so
049the students were working on a creative essay um where the the gist of it was um AP Lang is is the highest level uh writing course we offer. And uh we were talking about um using an essay using an essay topic as an opportunity to talk about um a bigger, broader, more universal idea. And so I had the students kind of come in uh prepared to get working. They had thought about their ideas. They did not know that they were going to sit down and and start working with uh chatbt. They were prepared to have one-on-one conversations with me. Uh we pulled the rug out from under them and said instead of having that conversation with me, uh you're going to have that conversation with uh it was supposed to be Magic School AI. We
050had some issues that morning and so we we kind of we backdoored our way into chat GBT uh to kind of make it happen. But um the trick here was they had their plans, they had their ideas. Um and we wanted them to work very specifically and very pointedly on um discussions of style and structure. Um it wasn't telling them what to write. They had done that work already. It was a question of I've got this idea now how do I execute it? Um and the hope was if we approached the tool um to really centralize um the students, their thinking, their ideas, um hopefully we can kind of maintain their control over that process. Um Arav was just joking with me. He's like, "Ah, do you have like like flashy pictures?" And I said,
051"No, no, no. I have pictures of your uh of your uh of your chats with chat GPT." Uh but and I understand we can't read anything that's up there. We do have copies. People were taking copies of the of the chats and the papers uh that the students worked on. But the thing that I wanted you to be able to see there uh particularly on the lefth hand side, it wasn't like they had said, "Hey, here's my idea. How do I write it?" Um that's Arav's initial prompt on the left hand side. It's it's a pretty substantial paragraph wherein he's explaining the assignment, what he intends to do, and what sort of assistance he's looking for, what sort of feedback he's looking for. Um, and the biggest thing for us is making sure that the
052kids were in full control of, you know, the quality of what they were inputting into it. Um, the amount of space that they were taking up in the chats. Um, again, you can see in all of those cases, it's it's like you're looking at a text on your iPhone. The stuff on the right hand side justified, that's that's the student. Stuff justified on lefth hand side, that's chat GBT coming back at at them. Um, in in most cases, if not all cases, um, the students are doing more writing than the um the AI is doing in all of these cases. Um, and as they move through those conversations, and it's sort of creepy to say it that way, um, it becomes this conversation that the students are having with the with the AI, um, they're
053maintaining control. They're maintaining, um, you know, the focus on their ideas. And again, I would really encourage you, if you didn't stop by, I didn't grab I'll I'll kind of pull the pull the chats back out if everybody wants to sort of flip through them on at their leisure. Um, in all of these cases, you can kind of look at what the AI is giving back to the students. It's reframing what the students have given them. And so, that was really the the gist of our work was was trying to create something where or or kind of draw the lines for the sandbox where um the students are going to maintain control. And so, we have AI on the we're playing with AI in the classroom. um this really kind of creepy scary thing that's
054giving a lot of us as educators a lot of anxiety. Um but I feel really good that um some kids did some really good thinking and they produced some really cool essays um by that. And so just a couple of reflections on my end and then I'll kind of turn it over to them if they want to kind of jump up and and and have some share some thoughts here too. Um but for me it was really important. there's been a lot of theoretical talk. Um I don't know that a lot of us were jumping at the opportunity to play with these tools in class with students. Uh and so I think it was a really important first step to just kind of do it. Like I said, had an idea on a Friday afternoon.
055We were doing it in class on Tuesday morning. Um I think really important piece here. This doesn't seem to be a plug-and-play tool. There was a lot of work that we needed to do and and and hopefully um someone can kind of echo this. Uh I don't think this is for every situation. It's not for every assignment, for every class, for every student. We need to be really thoughtful and really intentional about why we're using this tool um or any of these tools and how they can support the students as as thinkers. Um and the other key piece that that kind of came out of it is they were doing work on papers. I was not present, right? It was just them and their their computers, but they were asking really good writing questions. And
056I think one of my greatest fears was if you take me out of the equation, um, or you take us out of the equation, are students going to be able to kind of get to those really good questions? Um, and in all cases, I was kind of consistently blown away that students were asking really good questions. And I actually had a a writing meeting with a kid uh yesterday or maybe it was Friday during lunch uh and we were looking at a draft of a of a paper that she was writing and she said, "Can I show you something?" And so she popped open another tab and there was another chat and she said, "I I took what we did two months ago and I tried it out and we were working and she was
057working on the conclusion of an essay and that was an example of, you know, what we had tried on that random Tuesday in March. Um kind of out in the wild. she had sort of taken what happened there and kind of reapplied it. And so, um, yeah, and like I said, I think I speak for a lot of a lot of us, you know, particularly, you know, in English department, but, you know, I've talked to other teachers around the building. It's it's something that we know is in front of us. Um, it's something that we're not very sure about. Um, but, you know, I can I can say I really appreciate the opportunity to have gotten to try it, to be able to kind of share it with you. Um, I think we're we're a
058ways away from kind of knowing exactly sort of what this looks like and how this looks. Um, but but you know, I'm happy to have kind of taken those steps. I want to do any of you guys want to share anything any thoughts? Yeah. All right. Put them on the spot. Nobody's wearing any sparkly jackets. So, nice to see you all. Hope you're having a good evening. Um, I think in my opinion the first like main out like takeaway I had while working on this like essay was that you can use AI as a really good like baseline for writing like any sort of like piece or really for anything creative. Cuz if you take out the fact that yeah, okay, you're talking to something that isn't actually a human, you can use it in
059a way that's really efficient to get to an idea. Like if you want to like reach a point where okay, I understand what I'm doing with a project. I'm understand what I'm doing with a piece of writing, you can use the AI kind of as like a compatriate to talk to and see like, okay, here's an idea. I'm going to pitch this to you. What do you think about this? And it does take a lot of effort, as you saw from the previous like chats, it does take a lot of effort to get to the point where the AI can have these conversations. It's definitely different from talking to a real person where you can get to that point like near instantly obviously, but it reaches it is really helpful when in a scenario where
060you don't have access to like a teacher or a assistant where you can just ask them a question. It's just really useful. And there's obviously the fear that it can take over like jobs. it can take over like a general people, but it there's always like the amount that you can use it, the amount that you're using it to get to like the subject you want to complete. That's why we talk about it. Uh good afternoon. Um elaborating on Arav was saying is that the use of AI in the world seems almost inevitable, right? It's becoming a part of kind of every part of society as it continues to grow and improve. And we don't really know what it's going to look like in education and here in our school district. But having this experience
061of being able to practice with it in a way that's productive and in a way in which we're still in control and we're still the creatives and we're able to really get something really good out of it without sacrificing our own creativity, which is a lot of the fear with AI that it's going to kind of take away some of human originality and the products we're creating. I think it's really valuable to have that learning experience and be able to apply it maybe not even in school if that's not the way that it goes, but in the rest of our lives. Hi, I'm Cameron. Um, I want to talk about the thing that I pulled the most out of this assignment, which was the really fine line between sort of the conversation and the answers
062and how in an English class, you can't be looking for the answers when using AI for writing because that would take all the creativity and all the critical thinking out of it. And so I think that the most important aspect of using AI in education is conditioning the AI to make it so that it it is helping you and it is pulling the answers out of you rather than you pulling the answers out of it. And I thought it was interesting on the the slide about the ry commitment how the most important thing is analyzing information to grow your own ideas. And I think that that is really what I pulled out of this assignment. the importance of it is giving you ideas and it is asking you questions, but it's what you take away
063from that, not because all it wants to do is write the essay for you. That's what it's there for. That's what it wants to do for you. And so, you really have to work towards getting it to not do that because that's not its nature. And I I really enjoyed this assignment and getting it to be helpful for me. And I didn't feel like I was plagiarizing. No words in my essay ever actually came from the AI. And I think that's the most important part because I'm sure that there were people who did not do that, but that's that's their that's what they that's they're allowed to do that. But I really think that it was such an important learning tool and I really tried to focus on not just doing the assignment, but thinking
064how can I use this in other ways because I would love to come up here and say no more AI. It's bad for the environment, but that's not realistic and it's coming. And I think that it's so important to learn how to use it in a positive light rather than just, oh, I know Chachi's there. All I know is that it can give me all the answers. I'm so I think that learning how to use it in a beneficial way is super super important for education rather than just know at 2 a.m. it can write my paper for me because although that's true, it's not helpful for you in the long run. Thank you. Thanks. Thanks, guys. Thanks for having us. Yeah. Awesome. Thanks. [Applause] Thank you so much Mr. Fizio and Nico Cameron and
065Araf. Thank you so much for coming and sharing your perspectives. Um and it just I'm glad that we were able to see that project because it does add so much to our conversation around AI uh specifically thinking about critical thinking. Um so our next work our our work kind of looking forward with critical thinking as you know we are um studying AI we will be studying AI in more depth this coming school year um but in addition to that we will be continuing designing and redesigning authentic projects uh in the in next school year and we'll be looking at those six design elements again um and teachers will be reflecting on their own practice and how to incorporate more um or doing them in a way that's more beneficial for students and and results in
066deeper learning. Um we also uh we've done learning walks in the past. Um it's our goal to do learning walks again specifically around critical thinking. We developed a critical thinking tool a few years ago and we want to bring the tool back into the learning walks and really look at that model of professional learning as a way to grow this work as well. Um and uh and as I said, we'll be looking at um AI and how it can enhance this work. So any questions or comments? Well, first of all, all of that was dynamite and so you are the only students left and so I look at you personally and I say thank you so very much. Our youngest learners needed to head home. It's time for bed. Uh so and you please share
067with your students tomorrow how unbelievably impressed we were not only with the content but also their delivery of the information. And so it's very clear that these students have taken in the information that the work that has been done and has been produced is not at a surface. It truly is something that will be um a project, a task, an opportunity that will be in your in in your thinking and and how you develop and think as you move forward. Um all of the presentations tonight in the audi in the multi-purpose room were um really great to see the engagement of the students and the engagement of the teachers is always very impressive and very exciting to see. Um, I would say specifically to the presentation and the project at Milton, one of the things
068that I, you know, just got really excited about is when the students are talking about learning how to work in groups and this came through with another group of students that I was talking with and I said, "So, how was it?" And they said, "Well, you know, it's hard." I said, "I know it is not always easy to work with people." And they, it was a seventh grade group who said, "And we weren't allowed to pick, you know, we're not allowed on our vertical surfaces to work with our friends. We have to work with other people." And I said, "What happens when it's somebody you don't get along with?" And they said, "Well, we have to figure out how to talk with them and how to work with them." And through this work, we're the
069district is focusing on the one aspect of the ride commitment, which is the critical thinking, but it is about becoming effective communicators and collaborators, but it's also teaching those SEAL skills and it's taking these what people think of as soft skills and showing that they're not soft and in many times it is only because of those skills that you will find yourself able to be successful in an academic environment when you're working with people that you may not necessarily always get along with. You don't want to have lunch with them, but you need to do a project. And so, it's a great way to incorporate and to blend all of these really um wonderful things that we're trying to teach our students to do in one amazing shot. And I will say to the teachers,
070none of that is easy. uh we are well aware of how hard it is and we are so grateful to you all for trying things for taking something that you say I don't want this is going to be hard I'm scared it's uncomfortable and doing it with your students and also sharing that vulnerability with your students so that they know that really when your teacher says you have to do things that are you have to take a risk you have to challenge yourself they do it for themselves also So, and hopefully that makes it easier for you now to go forth and do that as well. Um, I can go on forever and I won't cuz I will. So, anyone else on the board have anything else to share? I will try. I don't have
071much of a voice, but I will try and say what I need to quickly. Um, I think that the entire expo was incredibly impressive. Um, what I walked away was how passionate every student was about the project that they were doing and how excited they were to share with with parents, with other faculty, with other students, with younger children, with older children. Um, and it really demonstrates, you know, the level of thinking that our students are capable of doing. And it's it's truly amazing that we're getting our students to that level. So, I commend all of you. It was great. So, I I will keep it short because I know we're um getting later into the evening, but um everything that both uh Val and and Jane just said, I completely agree with. And I
072think one of the things that I love about when we have these presentations and students come and talk about what they're learning is you can see how it has impacted them. And it's not just yes, I learned this because I had to. It's I'm learning this and it's something I'm going to use as I continue on in life. Um I mean clear it was clear to me with uh some of the students from Midland or sorry Milton um that it really impacted them learning about the effects of the rainforest. not just they they didn't just learn the facts about the country like it impacted them at a deeper level. And so seeing that and then hearing the high school students talk about how it really pushed them not just to have to learn how to
073figure out the prompts and move to that that deeper level, but it pushes you and you see where I want I want to retain ownership of my work. I don't want something else doing my work for me. And that is like a piece of integrity that you build as a student and that's going to carry forward in everything you do in your lives moving forward too. So the these are all the things that are just every time we have one of these discussions. it just is is so phenomenal to hear and um you know that's why it's so wonderful that we've continued down this road and we keep moving it to the next level and the next level and so I just um I appreciate all of you talking about how the the the the
074highs and the lows of doing some of this work and that's life right that's the what we're going to have every day we're going to have hard stuff and we're going to have easier stuff and we're going to have fun stuff and it's going make all of it a much better experience. So, thank you guys very much all of you. All right, thank you everybody. This has just been a fantastic presentation and a great way to start off a wonderful week. So, thank you all so very much. We appreciate it. We will now move on to the hearing of the public on non-aggenda items. We welcome and encourage our community members to address the board at this time. Please come to the podium, state your name, address, and if you are representing an organization. To
075ensure everyone has the opportunity to speak, please limit your remarks to three minutes. The board is here to listen. The public comment period is not designed to be a discussion. So, please understand that we may not respond publicly to your comments or questions at this time. We take your comments seriously and may need more time to process or research an issue. We will ensure questions will be addressed by the appropriate staff member. Sorry. Yeah. Well, yeah, here we go. Or possibly answered at a future board meeting. We will not entertain comments regarding personnel. Gosh, what's sorry regarding personnel. These are protected. Oh goodness. Or district personnel is these are protected under state and federal privacy laws. I have to use my finger when I read. I'm sorry. Please know we take personnel concerns very seriously
076on these matters. We would ask that you follow the appropriate administrative channels. As a reminder, the community may sub may submit written comments at any time to the board by sending those to rcsd boardschools.org. Anyone from the public want to come forward? Seeing no one coming forward, we will move on to our consent agenda. And I please have a motion to approve this evening's consent agenda. Sean Claper, seconded by Valerie Lapam. Let's take a look at this evening's consent agenda. Consent agenda general consent agenda fiscal. Consent agenda professional appointments. Consent agenda, classified appointments. Seeing no questions on the consent agenda, can I have a vote to approve this evening's consent agenda? All those in favor? That is five to nothing with two absences. On this evening's consent agenda, we have approved the budget and slate
077of officers for the Westchester Putnham School Boards Association. This is a group of local school board representatives that we are part of. It's an association that provides training, professional learning, and support for school boards and trustees. Additionally, it provides advocacy work around issues of shared interest and concerns from school districts and school boards. We're fortunate to have an association that helps us better in our job as board members. We also have uh continued staffing for our summer school, which will be up and running in just a few short weeks, which is hard to believe. So that is everything on this evening's consent agenda. So we will move forward to information and discussion. Miss Boille policy review. Thank you. So tonight we have two policies uh for our um information and discussion review. These are both
078um new policies uh that uh are a result of uh brand new laws um that were enacted um earlier this year and will go into effect uh over the summer as we get closer to the beginning of the school year. The first is policy number 2245 which is our exeicio student member of the board. Um so the intent for this policy was to provide an opportunity for students to participate in um uh more civic responsibilities and get direct experience with that as well as um being able to have more of a voice at the board table. Uh so we the policy committee sat um and did a lot of consultation with our uh high school principal because much of the discussion around this was trying to figure out how do we um figure how do
079we figure out the selection process for representatives? What does that look like? How do we how does this uh really fit into the current structures that are within the high school? And so part of that as a result of that uh we ended up with um choosing from a uh some parameters around what we could do as a small city school district when it came to um identifying students for this role. um the the recently formed um I'm going to get the name wrong, student government association that um was just started this year where students uh decided to run for student government and all of the students had an opportunity to vote on who those representatives would be. Those are the individuals that will serve in a rotating fashion on the school board for next
080year. There's a lot in this policy that identifies um what students uh can't do. Um so they are not eligible to vote on any of the uh material that we vote on. They they are not eligible to be part of any of our executive sessions. Um but they will have an opportunity to um learn about how a board functions, how we how we work as a a mun municip municipal government. Um and uh we will be working with uh Mr. Hara as well as Dr. Murray as we head into the next school year to identify um how that student voice piece can be brought to the board. Um, so this is the first draft for everyone to take a look at and see um what the language says and if there's I don't know if
081there's any questions right now. We already had two members that are very familiar with this because they were part of policy. Um, but if there are any questions as we move forward, we can certainly discuss those. Okay. This will be take effect starting July 1st. Um so the next policy is um also again one that was uh written into law and will take effect actually as of September 1st. Um and this is policy uh which is the extreme heat condition days. Um, essentially this, uh, was born out of health and safety concerns around buildings getting too warm during the summer months or those buffer ends of the beginning and and the um, end of the year when the the temperatures seem to go much higher. Um, so this outlines different things that would happen if
082a particular room reaches two different levels of degrees, what what actions the school district should take. um and uh how we would need to respond. Um there's a few choices about what we could do. In speaking with our director of facilities um about this Rob Giganiano um there was very little concern that we would not be able to address any area of the school and in fact most of the areas of the school have already cooling aspects that are um available to them especially since we did so many upgrades for our um during the capital project. It's like you knew it was coming. I know. So, well, and to that end, there are many districts in the state that So, there was there was one um state uh representative who's very excited and and passionate
083about this policy because there are so many school buildings that do not have the same facility structures that we have and they do then have these kids in these classrooms at 82, 88 and hotter. And so it's great to hear that we're at a point that our director of facilities feels that this policy while we will have the policy as required by state statute will not be a policy that we will have to actually engage with. So that's great to hear and we thank our community for that because the only reason we will not have to engage with this is because of the support of our community for that wonderful bond and then subsequent budget votes where we will continue to support the development and progression of our facilities. Okay. Anything else for that? Nope.
084That's that's it. Okay. Great. All right. All right. Uh so we now have communications to and from the board. I was there anything else at the policy meeting? Uh no, this was primarily the uh the discussion around these two policies. What will be coming as we've talked about in the past um to uh our next meeting is a review of the code of conduct. So um that will also be a substantial conversation um with some of the up up dates that we are trying to include into that document. So that's on the horizon. Next next meeting two meetings six meetings it has to be ready by has to be ready by the end of the year. So I think the first reading will be May 20th next meeting. Okay great. All right. Um we have
085future meetings. We have the audit committee and health and safety which will be next week. Are there any other communications to and from the board? Okay. Traffic and pedestrian safety is meeting on Thursday and the main item is a discussion around parking by alleged parking by Ry High School students uh several blocks away on a particular street and the residents are concerned about that. Okay. Okay. Thank you. We will make sure Mr. Shibonoff gets details about that. Great. Uh, okay. So, we are going to actually adjourn into executive session from here and we will not be coming back out to the public. But before we do so, I do just want to remind everybody the board will have a special board meeting on uh Monday, May 19th. Uh, that will be in executive session. And
086so our next public board meeting will be on Tuesday, May 20th, which just so also happens to be the budget and trustee vote, 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., but we will hold our bud our board meeting at our usual time. So we look forward in seeing you all then. Can I have a motion, please, to go into executive session? Sean Clapford, seconded by Val Lap. Thank you. All those in favor, that's five nothings. Two absence. Thank you. Catch yours.