Board of Education Meeting - March 11, 2025

001All right. Good evening. Thank you for joining us all for this March 11th board of education meeting. If you could all join me 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. All right. And we will start this evening with a report of the superintendent, Dr. Burn. Thank you very much. Good evening and thank you for joining us for our March 11th board of education meeting. It has been exactly one month since our last board meeting on February 11th. Tonight we continue our presentations on the proposed budget for the 2025 2026 school year. This evening we will learn about the curriculum, instruction, and assessment budget along with

002the PPS and special education segments of the budget. On March 25th, we will learn about technology, athletics, and facilities portions of the budget. Tonight, we will also hold the second of two open topics forums we offer each year. We hope members of the community will join us to ask questions and provide feedback on how we are doing. Also on tonight's agenda, we will be approving the bids for the contracts to complete the construction of the new wings at Midland and Osborne schools. These are among the final pieces of the capital bond work and we can't wait to see the children enjoying the new spaces come this fall. We're in the final stages of the renovation of the softball field at the high school and middle school. The next big step is the delivery of the

003sad which is due to take place the week of March 17th or at the latest March 24th. Totally dependent on when the sod farms have sad available for us. We are looking forward to seeing the team out there practicing on the brand new field in the coming weeks. As a reminder, this coming Friday, March 14th, is a conference day. School is closed for students to enjoy their only day off in the month of March, but teachers, administrators, and staff will be hard at work. This conference day we're offering a number of courses on the technology related to AI which we'll be speaking about tonight as well as critical thinking grades four through eight math instruction uh Canva and we video applications and that concludes my report for this evening. Okay, thank you. Uh so we

004will move to our presentation and discussion number one and we will start with the budget presentation curriculum instruction and assessment. Sorry, that's where Okay, thank you. Good evening. I'll be presenting to you the curriculum instruction and assessment budget for the 202526 school year and go through what all of our areas of focus will be for next year. So the budget for curriculum instruction for the 2526 school year continues to support the right commitment in important ways. We'll continue to work towards fostering critical thinking, creative problem solving, collaboration, and effective communication. And we'll also be providing a lot of professional learning, which I'll talk about, and making sure that it's relevant and meaningful for our teachers. Um, and we will also continue to support the social emotional development of our students. And I'll talk to you

005about our program for next year. Just a reminder before we get into our next school year. Um the these are different areas of focus for this school year. Uh we did implement a new K through5 science curriculum called mystery science as well as piloted a K to2 phonics program which is UFly uh which you've heard about this year. Uh we also had implemented two new high school engineering courses robotics and modeling for engineering. We started a AP capstone program by uh starting with our AP seminar course that happened in the in the fall. Uh we are currently obtaining authorization for the international balora diploma program and we also uh implemented many different types of research-based professional learning around our world language standards and our new science standards and designing those units. um K to2 phonics

006professional learning on that as well as K to five science of reading and making sure our upper grade elementary teachers have that knowledge as well. Um mathematics professional learning K through eight. And we also spent a lot of time working with teachers this year uh continuing our critical thinking work and connecting that to designing authentic projects. Good. So for the 2526 school year um the budget and and the areas of focus that we have are connected to four of our operating standards. Uh one is providing excellence in teaching and learning. Uh it's also connected to ensuring continual instructional innovation and growth in academic and extracurricular programming by utilizing data analysis supporting this the physical and mental health of students and implementing research-based professional development. All right. So we'll start by looking at our comprehensive K

007to2 uh social emotional learning program. Um, as you're aware, we this work comes out of our SCCL committee, which is a district-wide committee, and we've been focusing on that. We've been focusing on that this year. It actually started um last year as well. So, we will continue this work and in many different ways. Um, and also just a reminder that this work is really focusing on um prioritizing student wellness, school culture, and um climate. And one of the pieces in the budget you'll notice does include hiring a K to2 director of school counseling and student wellness. And this u individual would continue the development of our uh program and would oversee the implementation of it as well as overseeing the K to2 counseling department. Um and and while they're doing that, they'd be focusing on

008the climate and culture and working not only with counselors but also with administrators in all of the buildings. We'll be fully implementing responsive classroom in all of our K to5 um rooms and we had a pretty large pilot running this year as well and we are seeing some really positive results. So we're looking forward to bringing that to all of our teachers and that would include three days of professional learning. We're expanding our DBT lessons in the middle school. So, that budget item contains professional learning uh for that as well. And we will continue next year to partner with Challenge Success. We've been with them for several years now. Um and the two teams, we have a middle school team and a high school team focusing on uh creating a sense of belonging for students.

009And so, we want to continue that work. Also, um in addition to that, we want to implement a student and staff school climate survey. And we think this is a really important part of our overall program because if we can get that into place for next year or when we when we get that into place for next year, it will serve as a baseline for us. So as we go along bringing this program in and um it will help us kind of measure our progress towards achieving our goals. I was just okay. Then the next budget item um has to do with the international balorate diploma program. Um this is the program for 11th and 12th grade students uh focusing on global education service critical thinking communication and meta metacognitive skills and we've had a

010presentation on that I think in January um it talks about how closely that is connected to the ride commitment and will really help us um further those skills with our students and students can choose across six different disciplines. Uh where we are in our course registration process is that we have students signing up for the DPU program. We have them also registering for some individual IB courses as well. So, it's nice to see those numbers coming in. Uh because our plan is to start these next school year. Uh the two item budgets that are related to this in addition to um training uh would be two additional teachers uh that are included in this budget. One would be for a social studies teacher, so with the social studies department, and the other is for computer

011science. And the social studies teacher is really um to support our high numbers we're getting for our business management course. And the computer science um is for an IB computer science uh course that's part of our DP program. And it also will help support our computer science program overall and will allow us to run all of our computer science courses including cyber security which we don't always get to run. We'll continue to focus on literacy next year. Uh we'll continue to monitor the youth life phonics program. Our literacy committee is looking at that data very closely and we'll continue to make sure that that this program is matching our needs. The literacy committee will also be um completing a grammar scope and sequence by the end of the school year that we'll implement for next

012school year. That's for grades three through five to make sure the specific lessons are in there by the time they so and they have those completed by the time they go to middle school. And then our um middle school and our high school department coordinators, our English department coordinators are currently creating a writing continuum for grades 6 through 12. And they're actually working on that during Friday's conference day. And that means they're going to be um pulling exemplar pieces and deciding on exemplar pieces for every grade level across multiple genres. So we have those as kind of benchmarks um to to um to use for to assess student writing. And we will be um focusing on artificial intelligence next year. Uh tonight we'll be discussing our guidelines. Um there is a board of education meeting

013on that on April 8th. We'll be we'll talk more about that in depth. But we want to um instruct students on what AI is and how to use it responsibly. And so we've identified three different places where students will get very specific lessons on those on that content. One is the skills for success course in sixth grade. The other is the seventh and eighth grade crosswalk curriculum. Um and that's a crosswalk between um ELA social studies and the library media specialist. And then the next course we're looking at is our nth grade composition course and reworking that content to bring more um some some AI curriculum into into that course. In addition to these very specific lessons about AI, we also want to work with students by embedding AI into the research process. And our

014fifth grade students for this year is the first year that they are going to be doing a capstone project. And part of their capstone project is research and is inquiry. And so we'll we'll be embedding AI into that. Um so starting with fifth grade also embedding it into our middle school interdisciplinary units and also um various AI um sorry various uh high school courses that have research in them and this year we started the AP capstone we'll be um com uh continuing that next year as well as we add the AP research course. So just to uh just if you can recall that the AP capstone program consists of AP seminar and AP research plus four additional AP courses. So we'll bring AP research on board next year. Um and this will give our kids

015an additional opportunity for research um especially at in the area of humanities. And then here just listed some additional professional learning that we will be offering um to our teachers next year. We continue to roll up our new science standards to our the last round here as we take on physics and chemistry. So that'll be completed by next year. Um we also will be completing our world language um courses and new units. We have um we'll continue our work with phonics funological awareness instruction K5. Um, we'll be looking at K12 literacy instruction, especially as we put those the the writing um benchmark pieces into place. We'll continue with PD with elementary mathematics. And we will also be continuing our critical thinking work and authentic project work next year as well um as teachers design additional

016projects that also include um some performance-based assessments. And there is our funding for next year. too. Girt any questions? Yeah, hi Lester. Um, thank you so much for the overview. I know we've talked a lot about it some of these at some of the meetings, but do you mind just refreshing um me about the IB program with the 16 teachers that have been trained? are they only teaching IB classes or will they be teaching, you know, other classes as well as IB classes? And then you said there's two additional teachers that have been hired and will they just be for IB courses? So teachers will teach a combination of IB courses and other courses. Sorry, the social studies um teacher teaching business management. Okay. I I think we're looking at four sections right now. Our

017final numbers aren't final, but it's it's very popular. So that teacher would teach one additional course beyond that. Um that's probably the only position I can think of where majority would be um IB just because we're growing the program so much right now. Okay. Okay. Great. And then just a question that just popped in my head about the authentic project and assessment for the teachers. Yes. Um, and you said something about rolling that into next year, but is there um not a conclusion, but is there like some type of presentation or how do they share the work that they've been doing? It's a good question. Um, so they've been designing their authentic projects and implementing them all year. During the May faculty meeting is when they'll bring their project that they've been doing along with

018student work and present it to their colleagues and we'll be taking them through a reflection process. so they can revise for next year. Got it. Great. Thank you. Yep. Great. Other questions? I have a couple questions. Um, so for the responsive classroom training that will need to happen for the remainder of the the teachers, you said it would be a three-day. Is that over the summer? Is that during the school year? We're going to use the conference days for elementary. Okay. And then the one the teachers that already took the responsive classroom training, they're going to get they'll get the advanced course. Okay. As well as the aids will get a one-day course as well. Okay. And that will also be a conference day or is that envisioning a lot of pullouts for No, it's

019conference with with that amount of teachers at the you know, you have to use the conference. So then the idea Sorry for No, go ahead. I don't want you to lose your flow, but I don't but it's silly for us to come back. So then they will or they will not be able to start the year using the responsive classroom elements. They'll get day one before the school year because we've got two days in we'll get Yes. We won't use both. They'll take we'll take one of those days and we'll get one in November and one in March. But they'll be able to start morning meeting and those practices after the first day. Okay. And so then that will be the expectation to the staff that these will be how you will be running your

020courses and then the aids will get their training when the the the day um in August in August as well because I do know that that is actually a very key component to for the school climate for AIDS because as we all know most of the problems that pop up are lunch and recess and that's when our staff is there. So it's great that they'll get that. Sorry. Go ahead. No, that's fine. Um it actually leads me to my next question. So, the the school climate survey, which I'm I'm very excited to hear about, um wanted to get a sense of how we think this is going to be different andor complimentary to kind of some of the other pieces of data that we already collect um that are maybe not totally thematic about um

021uh school climate but are related. Yep. So we do the challenge success survey which we are due to do that next year as well. That one focuses more on um kind of stress that that students are feeling and the different kind of pressures that they have on a daily basis. There is a component of that survey that has to do with belonging but it's just a question or two and we really felt like it wasn't giving us the as much data as we really need. Um we also do the pride survey. um and that one has to do more with drug and alcohol um use and so this is not focusing on that either. So so this offers us a different lens um on student wellness and the challenge success one is the stress element

022focused on it must be broader than just school. So they're looking outside of like what are all of the factors that are all factors would um contribute to they even look at sleep right amount of extracurriculars that you know uh yeah okay okay um I've lost my other question I'll I'll find it thank you while you wait I'll go um so when we and then we're going to bounce to AI and so um you know I'm always talking about the things my kids haven't gotten. And so when I look at all of the things that you're talking about in terms of instruction, explicit instruction for AI, the current 10th and 11th graders, it they're not necessarily queued up in any of this for real kind of explicit instruction. But when I think about that cohort

023of kids, they will be going to college where there will be some level of expectation. I mean in two or three years of familiarity of so is there some thinking that can I mean I see it here embedded into the high school courses but with a focus on those two cohorts those grade levels. So this is something we've been talking about at the high school and what to do with the students who haven't had those explicit skills yet. There are a few different solutions. Um just you know one one thing we're thinking about is uh the way that we run managing your future where they've got sort of a free every eight days and using that and kind of running like a little like AI seminar is one thought. Um I we just don't have

024you know solid plans in place for that. Um but it you know but that isn't necessarily related to the budget in any way but it's you know it's important work that has to be done right. Um and and you know I think our high school teachers are also at a place where they are looking towards looking you know towards bringing this into their instruction. And so um over the next their their faculty meeting in April actually is on um AI as well and thinking about um student use and how students can use it to enhance their instruction and what would a what would an assignment look like um that would be uh you know acceptable for us according to our guidelines which we'll talk about um to really further learning. So I so I do

025anticipate high school students sorry high school teachers will be um bringing more of this into their classrooms especially after we launch our guidelines. Yeah, I think it's just and and you said you're doing it and I think that's exactly what we want to ensure is that we are thinking about those kids who are not going to have you know the ninth graders in the composition but then it's those current 10th and 11th graders who will be moving on. Did you come up with your question? No, but now I have a different one. So, so I think for the I think yes the hope then is that current 11th graders which will who will be seniors next year that there will be enough um professional development that will happen around AI that they can then incorporate

026that into say um I don't know whatever whatever the social studies or English or or or anywhere where a student is needing to do some kind research, right? Um for that that senior year, right? Okay. And we have to be really explicit with students about what you what you can what you can and what you cannot do, right? And teachers have to say when is AI allowed and and for what purposes. Well, sometimes it's it's assignment dependent. I I I also think where where there's where it would be helpful to um think what might be helpful to think about is you know as we're talking about it now we're talking about how we will help students understand and learn how to use AI. So, it's not so much about um making sure they they only,

027you know, use it when it's appropriate, but how can we teach them how to use it for um the the the positive parts of it as well? Um and finding the time to do that because that would be the piece that for those those two grade levels that there isn't a natural um spot. I mean, managing your future makes a lot of sense in terms of that, but for the for the current 10th grade class, but um you know, thinking about how that would happen for the seniors. Yeah, we would really have to depend on the coursework to support it. Yeah. As well, you could um and then I guess my other question was for the director of counseling. Yes. Um, and that's somebody who's overseeing K through 12 because we now have counselors, school

028counselors at the elementary level as well as middle and and high school. Um, and so so the timing on when the um school climate survey might be able to be done would be we're think late fall, targeting late fall. Okay. And so the the idea of is whatever results you get from that, you want to be able to have some hopefully um uh not programs but things you can implement. Responses responses responses to that's a better word responses to the data for the remainder of the year and then obviously in through the following year. Do you see this happening on a yearly basis or I do twice? It's supposed to be twice a year actually. Okay. Yeah. It's a way to measure is it what what's sticking, what's not sticking, how do we pivot and

029and address. And will the this do you feel like the survey the model of survey you have is one that has a cost associated with it, not a cost associated? No, there's no there's no cost. Okay. And do you feel like that will be um something you'll be able to use into the future given however whatever responses you need feel like you need to have from the data that you receive like that it'll be able to pick up on everything that you want. I think so. I mean we're doing a pilot this spring just with a very small number of students to answer that question. Okay. Great. Yep. All right. Thank you. Yeah. Staying with the director of counseling. So every elementary school now Thank you. has uh by the way your names are are

030we switched well oh look at that and and Dr. Dr. Freberg, yours as well. Sorry, that's I'm seeing it and it's it's picking it up. Sorry. That was a test. Yeah, it's my focusing. Thank you. Sorry. So, for the director of counseling, so in the elementary schools, every elementary school has a school counselor. The middle school has three school counselors and the high school has four school counselors with one of those counselors getting additional kind of like um a coordinator position. So does that structure then remain constant or does that change now that we have a director of counseling? The structure changes. We wouldn't have the coordinator anymore. Okay. And that means that there would be a a reduction in case load for for the counselors as well because right now the coordinator has you

031know fewer students to have time to be the coordinator. So um so the the um director of school counseling would be the one to take on the coordinator responsibilities plus y uh much more than that in terms of overseeing the entire program. Right. And they will not have their own student case. No no no correct. N this is an administrator. Yep. Um I had a question on the side similar to some of the AI questions. I'm just curious if there's a plan or um hope to try and touch some of the high school students who have missed out on a lot of the curriculum that has been pushed in already and that we're focusing um next year for uh the elementary and the middle school. Um is there any hope to try and and push

032something in at the uh high school level? Um, well, we want to see what their our climate survey data looks like first, but our hunch is that it's going to be more about creating a really positive culture and belonging for students um than maybe specific SEAL skills that that um the lower grades are receiving. That's again just what I I I think is going to happen. Um, and so, you know, I've been talking with Andrew Ahara about that a lot and in terms of what are some things he can do and and give students more voice in the school and I think he's making some really good steps towards that. So, we'll see what the data looks like and it might point us in that direction, but we're looking more for kind of whole school

033um actions that we can take to shift the culture if needed. Great. All right, other questions. All right, as always, I'd say very detailed and thorough, and we appreciate it. And what's nice is it is woven into so many of the other presentations that we hear along the way. So, none of this is is it it all fits the theme and the direction that we've already been heading in. So, it's great to see that come to life. So, thank you for that. Okay. And so then we will move on to our second presentation which is people personnel services and special education. Dr. Freriedenburg thank you. Good evening. Uh, as I start off every presentation, just want to thank um the entire uh board of education, the community, and all my administrative colleagues. Uh, specifically the

034special education supervisors, Amy Osuli and Linda Flanigan, as well as all of my office assistants. uh though much of the work they do is behind the scenes, I always take this opportunity to publicly thank them for all of their hard work and dedication to support the students, families, and faculty and staff um which their work is invaluable and I'm grateful for each of them. Hi, how you doing? So tonight I will go into um pupil personnel services and special education and how that's aligned to the ride commitment. So, as you know, special education services is not just about compliance, but about fostering independence, problem solving skills, and meaningful engagement in learning for all of our students. The budget allows us to allocate resources for our students with disabilities to become effective learners through the programming

035and services that we're able to offer here in the district. We're always working to promote inclusive practices and it helps to lead to better post-secondary outcomes for our students with disabilities whether that might be higher education, vocational training or independent living. Please the budget is aligned to the operating standards. Uh in particularly there's four if you notice the new symbols that I chose for tonight's presentation. um always enjoy your single choices. So, thank you. Um supporting the physical and mental health of students um through counseling, social work, and our psychological services. Um providing inclusive special education programming and a range of supports that meets the needs of our diverse population for students with disabilities within the district. And this allows for uh differentiated instruction within the least restrictive environment. opportunities for all students to have

036access to their age level peers and also fostering emotional regulation, self- advocacy and social skills. In terms of the implementing research-based professional development, this is ongoing many times partnering with experts to bring best practices to support the students um within the least restrictive environment. And we've done a lot of work around our targeted instruction that we've been able to provide our teaching assistants and our aids as well to ensure efficient utilization of resources and personnel. It's important to point out that we do um have data-driven uh decision making. Um, I do look to maximize the funding um that we have through our grants as well as looking at um being strategic with our staffing and our resource allocation um to meet the needs of all of our students. So, though these are our three areas

037of tonight's focus, I wanted to remind you of just a quote that you can help focus um tonight on as I go through my presentation. Every student can learn, just not on the same day or in the same way. This reminds us that education is not a one-sizefits-all, and we need individualized support to meet the unique needs of each of our learners. It's our goal to foster an inclusive and responsive system where every child can thrive. So, just to go into some of the special education programs and services, uh, this slide should look somewhat similar to what you saw last year. And one of the things I think is important to point out and to highlight is the consistency of our programs and that each year we're looking to build upon the programs that we

038have in place rather than ever changing. based upon small or individual um needs of students. So certainly we are um always responsive to the needs of our students but our um special classes um are highly structured provide our small group instruction for those learners that require that. Uh the Garnets class um really is our individual instruction that's our life skills um programming and with transition planning. Our integrated co-eing program allows our students to learn to learn alongside alongside their peers um and promotes our inclusive education that we have here within the district. Um the therapeutic support services that we have at um the middle school and high school where we partner with effective school solution um allows us to keep our students here within district. It engages them in learning um in they can remain

039in school and it helps to further develop their coping skills. The specialized reading instruction is uh for special education. It's um our direct explicit instruction um that we use the spire program for. Resource room continues to reinforce skills executive functioning and pre-teaching and reteing for the students that require that level of support. Our related services enhances our communication fine fine and gross motor skills and social skills for students that require additional support in those areas. Extended school year. We've had the partnership with the ryrec for many years now and that will continue and really has been a benefit to all of our students that they can have um an experience in the summer similar to that of their peers as well within the community. And then the unified basketball is certainly just an example where

040um we can build and foster positive peer relationships um and promote schoolwide inclusivity within the high school. So all of our programs and services ensures that all students develop critical thinking, communication and problem solving skills as the right commitment ensures that that's what we're working towards. All right, just to highlight some of the professional learning that we've done this year. Oh, sorry. Just I forgot to say all of this program is going to continue as well with the support of the budget um into next school year. On to the professional learning that we've done this year. Um so specifically, we've continued our work with DBI, our database individualization. This is our this is researchbased. It's a systematic approach for those who don't respond to our typical interventions. And so it allows um the supporting the

041science of reading and using a diagnostic tool to really target and implement um the what a student needs to make um success to have success. Uh this year for the spire reading we actually have brought in um and given additional coaching sessions to our special education teachers so that not only did they get training um they had be you know beginner to start intermediate now we're actually giving coaching so that they get feedback on the lessons that they're implementing for those students that require that through their IEPs. the co-eing which I spoke about the professional development um further enhances our inclusive practices. It improves the high quality individualized instruction um and this year was highly personalized to meet the needs of the individual teams that we had throughout the district. This has been provided not

042only by GNR, but our instructional coaches as well, which has been beneficial for not only all of our uh teachers that were involved with this, but certainly ultimately benefits all of our students within those classes. Talked a lot about DBT, the dialectical behavioral therapy. The training is ongoing. So this year we trained all of the seventh and eighth grade PE teachers in this because it is going to become part of the PE curriculum next year. So we gave all of that training. Um there is u monthly consultation that happens for the DBT lessons steps E steps E stands for elementary in grades three through five that we've spoken about and there's consultation so that the implement implementation of those skills is done with fidelity um as well as in the middle school and the PE

043teachers will be a part of that consultation as they look to implement that with within that curriculum as Uh there are students that require behavioral support. So um we partner with Eric Frantino through Northern Westchester Boseies. And with the support of his team, we're able to um improve upon our functional behavioral assessments, otherwise known as FBAs or behavior intervention plans, um BIPs. You might hear of that. Um, and so this has really helped support our students um, putting things in place so that students can continue to stay within our district and we can program for them. Our life skills classes and curriculum, we continue to partner with the holistic learning center and really we're looking to make sure that this program these students also have um, a rigorous program throughout their career here um, within

044the district. Um it really focuses on their independent living skills, the community-based program that we programming that we continue to build upon as well as the IEP uh driven transition plans that's done at the high school level. All of the learning has helped to enhance student success and creates a more equitable learning environment for all of our students. Though we spoke a little bit about some of the social emotional supports that we have in place, uh it's just important to highlight that we do have the WJCS mental health clinic at 324 Midland. I did just get an email today that we are at capacity at this time. So that has been a really great resource for the community. Um so as students and um their families are getting the supports that they needs outside you

045know we'll be able to give them the supports that they need and then they will look to um take on additional families as well. Uh the social emotional learning committee um we really focused on the DBT lessons happening in grades 3 through six. We have the school counseling advisory committee. This will continue to evaluate the counseling program and we did look at our school counseling um plan that we have to have in place through New York State which is um on our website as well if anyone's interested in looking at that. Um our school counseling program uh K12 we've really worked on increasing our communication to the parents and community through newsletters and parent universities. We um will be having an upcoming parent university for um parents regarding the DBT skills that are being taught

046at the elementary level. That's coming up in a few weeks. And the newsletters now are K12 and that comes out four times a year. I think it's important to po point out that all of the work that we do supports um and fosters all of our students emotional well-being. Uh we want to prevent promote obviously positive mental wellness. We provide early intervention when possible and we ensure that all students feel safe, supported and ready to learn. Our programming for our students allow students to thrive academically, socially and emotionally which is important to meet the needs of all of our students. Good. Additionally, um for next year, um all of the social emotional learning and the student support services will continue through next year. Uh the budget will help includes the addition of a district uh

047level director of school counseling and student wellness. And so I've listed some of the things that we um would like that uh district administrator to do. Though I've loved overseeing the counselors, it's a lot for me to do in my role as well. So I think it's important to have someone that really can focus on these areas um and then it can be weaved in all that we do um through all of our curriculum and K12. So some of the things that the director will be doing is collaborating with the building principles, talked about the um enhancing the positive climate and culture. Um certainly we talked about the school climate and culture survey which that um individual will be able to do as well. They will continue to further align the uh K through2 counseling

048and curriculum. um they'll implement the K through8 SEAL curriculum including the DBT lessons as part of the PE curriculum which I spoke about. If you remember we've worked on that over the last couple of years. So we're rolling that up so that we know um we've uh know exactly what the students have learned and where they are. So by the that will be um fully in place um through 8th grade and then the following year when we have more information in regards to our data and everything to continue to see what's necessary in terms of the high school. Um they will oversee the counselors uh certainly in collaboration with the building principles continue to enhance our parent universities communities and our night events that we have. They will support specific training to the school counselors,

049school psychologists, and social workers and continue to support the milestone transitions fifth to sixth grade, 8th to 9th grade, and then 12th grade to postsecary. Having this additional position will help align, enhance, and expand all of our student support services. It will help to ensure consistency, improve collaboration, and increase resources for all of our students. Additionally, strengthening our counseling programs, enhance school climate, improve parent engagement, and expand all of our SEAL initiatives. As I've mentioned several times, the special ed budget um supports all of the things that I've mentioned. Um in in addition to um knowing that we make intentional data data driven investments as well as decisions um we support um and ensure that all students um are in supported in all aspects of their development. This budget continues to support students through their

050key transitions and we'll continue to strengthen our programs. We're going to build upon our successes and ensure students receive the education and care that they deserve. Any questions? Great. Well, yes, I do. Um, so you've mentioned a lot of wonderful things, but your budget goes down. So, how is that possible, Dr. Um, my budget can at times be um very student specific. So the reason why it's going down is um because there's choose specific students that had um higher needs that will be um aging out. So we're not we're not this isn't a secret way of using out of programs or removing absolutely not stays as is. Absolutely not. Everything staying the same and and it allows us to continue to build upon what we've done. It just so happens that I get to say

051look at this and I can do this with a a decrease. But that is really very student specific. Great. Other question. I don't want to jump in front of anybody. Um so so then just to to sort of build a little bit on that. The director of counseling position does not live in this. It does. I just want to be clear about that. Correct. Sorry. There's not any confusion around specific Oh, Gab, you want to go ahead? Salaries. any presentations that we hear tonight and in the future do not incorporate any salaries or benefits related to staffing. Right? That's a separate section of the budget al together. Right. Which was part of the original budget presentation that we did. Right. Just wanted to say it out loud. Yeah. And then going back to the DBT

052training for seventh and eighth grade PE teachers. Um, in years past, we did have DBT that was happening within PE. I can't remember the grade level. Was it all three or one? It was my first year. So, it was six years ago. Um, so we had one of our school psychologists, um, Dr. Natalie Spina at the time was actually working on her some of her work and dissertation was around it. So she actually trained the PE teachers and they implemented some lessons. Okay. So it wasn't all of the lessons and done with fidelity. So they've have some understanding of DBT. Um but we are really looking to do it on a much more consistent um basis within the curriculum with a little more structure. It sounds like to round it out and oversight. But but

053I think what's what's helpful is to know that this is sort of an extension of where that maybe first step was in looking at how DBT can play a role within schools for students um and and for teachers to help build and and um develop those skills within students. Yes. Okay. That that was my other I think that was my only other question. Thank you. Have we um are we pretty consistent now year overyear with our numbers of co-eing classes in the district? It's pretty consistent. It changes sometimes. Sometimes in some uh the elementary schools um we might need two sections in one grade depending on numbers or needs of students. But it has stayed consistent um in terms of overall total number of co-taught classes and that will remain consistent for next year um

054you know but there will be some slight changes in terms of number of sections at the grades but at this point it's a fully baked program that's up and running and has been for quite some time with quite a bit of success. Yes. You know I would agree. I I remember when it was first discussed as this brand new idea and to now it just rolls out and this is just what we're talking about. I think is phenomenal. Um, this may be actually a question more for Dr. Alma or for Dr. Burn, our director of counseling. We have a lovely laundry list of uh duties and roles and responsibilities. What kind of person in terms of certification or knowledge or experience do you anticipate being able to find to to do that kind of work?

055So there there are um lots of school districts out there that have directors of school counseling and often it is a school counselor that decides to pursue administrative certification. So it will be someone that when we're searching for it and you know we like to really search hard and long for the right people um we'll be looking for someone with a strong counseling background as well as the administrative understanding appropriate certification and that would be as part of the um talent acquisition drive. I don't want to steal Dr. Thunder, but he's already out on the road recruiting. So, he's been at several jobs fairs already, and this would be something that we'd really be promoting and proactive in a search process. So, spot on. I don't know if there's anything specific I would add. Um,

056technically, you could have any um school bu building leader, school district leader certification, but as Dr. Burn uh pointed out, we would love to have um someone with school counseling experience for sure. Great. I think that's um key and so it's just wonderful to hear. Um and then this is just um my own personal love of this is the unified basketball and is there certainly it's not something that's been highlighted or in the budget but are we ever thinking about or looking to increase because I've read about one sports team that's its bowling team which I think is super cool a unified bowling and so just is that something because I know certainly when we talk about school community and culture that is definitely an a a sporting event that brings out lots of our

057uh community members as well as our students and it's always really great to see. So I don't know if that's something we've had discussion about it and it'll continue to have ongoing discussion so that we can look to expand that. Absolutely. And our next meeting we'll be hearing from our athletics director. So maybe Oh my goodness. Okay. That's telling me those kind of little teaser. Oh little little crumb teaser. Okay. Any other questions? because it's great to hear that the U mental health clinic is now at capacity and I realize that it's you know more of a city than you know uh directly led by the district but is there anything that we can do to increase it? Uh I guess what what's the backlog? You know, do we think that everybody that has a

058need can be served or is it difficult? So we haven't had to turn anyone away at this point. Um, so we do partner with WJCS. So I did actually just reach out again to them today to see um if there's a possibility um you know we did increase the number of days um that our clinician was here to 4 days. Last year it was 3 days um which has been helpful and it's just at this point that we're at capacity. So we'll have to see really over the next month or so if that continues or if there's more families that need it. But we will um certainly do what's necessary to provide that support within the community. And just to clarify, so the funding comes through the county um not the city and through WJCS.

059So WJCS, we've worked with them on submitting applications for grant funding to support the program, which has enabled it to extend beyond what the original term was. And I do have to um uh thank Katherine Parker, our local county legislator, who has been instrumental in making sure that the funding has been there for WJCS to be in our schools. And Katherine is always checking with me u to make sure that we're getting what we need and and she is incredibly supportive in making sure that that money gets allocated every year. So it's through the Office of Mental Health, Dr. Michael Orth who's been a great uh partner to us through the county legislature and through WJCS their own private funding that they achieve and I think they're really pleased with the service they're able to

060provide through it and and I know in our conversations with with Pat Lamp our contact there they hope this continues and they continue to look for funding sources so that it can continue into the future. And as it relates to the counties, um, you know, we're on a kind of a wonky, uh, calendar, budget calendar from the rest of the world, most people's homes and businesses. So, when and how at this point is the funding looking? So, if if I have it correctly, the count the it runs January to December. So, we're funded through December of next year, but Pat has uh is very optimistic in our last conversations around funding that the funding will arrive to continue it beyond that. So, they do some work in the fall um and throughout the year to

061get additional funding to support it. And we've never even come to the place where there's been a conversation about it not being available to us. So, um, they they're really on top of that. They're they're a terrific organization in in making sure they get funding. That's great. And then, Dr. Pinberg, with that funding comes, how many clinicians do we have for 4 days? We have one clinician, but then we also have a site supervisor that also can see students. Okay, that's great. All right. Sorry, did I jump? Did I jump in on you? No, I think you got you asked what I was gonna ask. Look at that. All right. Any other questions or comments from the board? Sean, I did just have one tiny question on the uh co-taught teaching in the elementary schools.

062I don't know why, but I was under the impression that we had one co-taught class at every grade level in every elementary school. We don't um different years we have had different grades. Um really kindergarten is a year for us to really learn about our students. So typically um unless there's really a need um we would start um with a different continuum of services for those students and then first and second grade really has just varied based upon the needs of our students. Okay. Thank you. All right. Great. Anybody else? No. All right. Well, again, just in line with the work that uh Dr. Dr. Murray was talking about it is always great to be able to see those through lines and the consistency and I think Dr. Venberg you said it really well when

063we talk about with our special education population and ensuring consistency of program and finding things that work and then really kind of digging down to ensure that that can continue to stay and grow as the kids grow and as our staff grow. And so it's always great to see um the good work that's happening and then to see that connection for what we hear all year long to a budget presentation. So, thank you very much for that. Okay, so uh we are just about ready to go to our o open topics portion of the evening. But before we do that, we do have a special guest speaker here this evening or a member from a community organization who is just going to be here to share some news with us. So, Mrs. Paige, if you

064could state your name and the organization that you represent and your address, please. All right. Oh, thank you. Um, I'm Diana Paige. I live at uh 8 Do I have to type my whole address? 86 Hallstead, please. Okay. Um, and I'm here representing the Ry Fund for Education. I joined the Ryund for Education last fall as a trustee. Um, so thank you very much for having me. I'm here to tell you guys probably already know it but for the parents watching at home um there's some really exciting news about the performing arts center in the high school and the middle school which is that we are about to um undertake or continue I guess it started last summer but thanks to Dr. Burn and his vision and planning and foresight um with I think about

065$1.8 8 million from the 2019 capital improvements bond. We are um undertaking a whole new performing arts center with new seating, new stage curtains, new window blinds, new chandeliers, and importantly um regrading it to be ADA accessible, which is critical. Um Dr. Burn and his team in that process identified two additional critically needed um upgrades. I would say one was an upgraded sound system at a cost of $143,000 and one was a brand new lighting system at a cost of $183,000 and they identified $100,000 from their own budget that they could put toward this effort, but that left a shortfall of $225,000. Um, and I I think maybe more for the parents at home, but um, this is something as as somebody who's worked in the POS and and other things, I get this question

066a lot. Sometimes I even ask myself this question which is where's all the money go? Like I pay taxes. What else? Who are all these other people that need money from me and why? And what does it get spent on? But I think the fundraising for this particular endeavor which touches really all of the kids in the school system really kind of illustrates how all of these organizations are each needed and each work together. So, as I mentioned, the pack is getting about 1.8 million in construction upgrades from the bond. Um, but there wasn't enough to cover the lighting the sound system. And I think as I started to talk to parents about how do I raise this money, you know, potentially raising this money from parents, you know, one of the questions I got

067was, well, do we really need these upgrades at all? You know, and I think if you take the lighting system as an example, that system dates back to the 1980s. and the vendor who manages that has warned us that they can't always reliably source the parts to repair it. So if that system failed during a presentation or during a show or during a concert, you know, we really might just be out of luck, which is not, I think, the state that we want our school to be in for our kids. Um, and then the next question is, you know, do we need to do this work right now if we don't have the money in the budget? Do we need to do it? And I think, you know, when you talk about tearing apart the

068um pack for the construction work we are doing, it makes economic sense to do this work now. It's cheaper. It saves all of us money in the long run. So, not only do we get a better facility, but we're spending money wisely if we can come up with the money to do this now. So, how do we fund the work then? Um, in this case, the Rye uh high school and Rye Middle School parent organizations stepped forward with $43,000 to fully fund the sound system upgrades. And then the Rye Fund for Education just recently, about a week ago, came forward with $183,000 to cover the new lighting system in full. Um, there's a lot of reasons that's amazing. We definitely need the lighting system. It also represents the it pushes the RYU for education's contributions

069to the school system to over $1 million in just the last two years, which is a remarkable accomplishment. And think about that. Um $1 million in just the last two years. And just to give you kind of a a quick um I guess look into some of the things that the RFVS funded, they funded $20,000 toward a STEM mad science elementary um workshop grant. They funded $44,000 toward the international baloria program professional training. So that's going to make sure that that implementation is a success when it comes online next year. Um, they funded $2,000 to help the Rye High School Newspaper Club move toward digital journalism. So, our kids are now operating in an environment that's more like what they might work in in the real world where they have a podcast studio, they have

070ring lights, microphones, soundboards. Um, I think too it's kind of interesting to note with the performing arts center that these upgrades, of course, they'll be great for the people who are speaking on stage, they'll be great for the kids who are performing on stage, but for our shows, for example, like the musical Greece, which was just last weekend, our high school kids run the crew. So, they're learning, you know, how to operate a soundboard, how to operate a lighting board, how to to run a show, and that opens the door for them to something that might be a possible career opportunity. It gives them training in a modern and relevant setting. Um, another one of my favorite grants uh that we funded recently was these tower gardens that the students um in the garden club

071had come to the RF for. And I think that that highlights another aspect which is the RF funds grants from our teachers. It funds grants from our kids. So if your kids are interested in a topic or something um that they need money to help implement, RF can make that happen. I think what's really nice about these garden towers is the kids are growing greens. They're uh teaching gardening. They're teaching nutrition and they're donating these grains to Bread of Life, which is a local food pantry that that feeds a lot of our neighbors in Westchester. So, um I won't drown on and on and on about all the great things the RF does, but I do invite everyone to look at the website for the RIY Fund for Education. Take a look and and um

072see all the great things that they're doing. Um, and I would just I guess I'd say finally, you know, as a parent, we all have the opportunity to contribute. So, you can contribute through your parent organization. You can contribute to the RI Fund for Education. You can vote for the school budget. You can actually show up at the polls and not rely on the like 125 people who do every year and just kind of hope that the yes votes outnumber the nos. Um, you can vote for capital bonds when they come up. Um, there's a lot of ways that we can support our kids. Um, what this exercise showed me is that all of them are needed in partnership because no one of them does it alone. So, thank you. Thank you so much. It's

073always good to see you. All right. So, now we will move into our open open topics forum. So what will happen is this is the opportunity where the board comes out from behind the tables and joins the public. So the board will separate into small groups to help facilitate open discussion of topics that are on the minds of our audience members. Each group will keep a record of topics of discussion, comments, suggestions, and questions as well as a list of requests for information. After 30 minutes, the group discussion will conclude and the board members will return back up to the tables and we will review for the whole audience what was discussed in their groups. The board of education will then provide a wrap-up and review and followup will take place. So, we will go

074ahead and go out into the public. See you back here in 30. All right. Thank you so much. Um so we uh did have public who came to attend our open topics forum which is always great. So we will go ahead and now um have a summary of what was discussed at the tables and then we will have subsequent followup later. So Miss Spoil you want to talk about your table? Sure. And I um will ask if either Sean or Cali wants to jump in please feel free. Um uh our at our table mainly there were just a few clarifying questions wanting to ask some more information. the um community member uh listened very carefully during our presentations about the IB program and about um AI and wanted to have um some clarifying questions about

075those. Um, one of the areas that that there was concern around was that there and and actually appreciation and a little still concern um that there is some business classes like the business management class that's now being offered and concerned that that we don't have more financial accounting types of courses available. Um we also talked about the um IB courses and students who are um at the regions level being able to access those um and uh um you know the differences between the full program diploma and the availability of courses individual courses that students could take. Um we talked about uh writing at the elementary level and um uh there was a bit concern about how much writing is done and so we talked about our experiences um with our students and knowing what our

076curriculum um includes. Um so you know encouraging if there's a need to want to see any writing that's done in the classroom to work with the teacher on that. Um and then the a introduction of AI because of um you know how much there is that is unknown still and and kind of that there's already been seen pitfalls with the introduction of the internet many years ago I think as we all have seen where that's gone good and bad um and um wanting to make sure that there were guidelines put in place and so very fortuitously we have the guidelines that we will be talking about in a little bit um here on our agenda. So, did I anything else you guys want to add? Um I thought that was a great summary. Um I

077yeah, just to add on about the questions and concerns about IB. We talked about since it is a new program, I'm sure that we're going to have a lot of presentations of how it's going and check-ins and feedback along the way since it is new. Um so, I anticipate we'll we'll hear a lot about it um next year. Okay. Okay. All right. Great. Does anybody at our table want to summarize? Oh, okay. Thank you, Mr. Shongh. I guess I will. So, at our table, we also had a conversation related to elementary writing and uh interested in what kind of program is being used, if it's a package program, the development of a curriculum uh for writing and and how uh what kind of data is being used in that development of that program. And then

078just uh general conversations about fidelity of the reading programs and ensuring that when we're using UFly and our phonics programs and Haskins to ensure that if there are still elements of the college uh teachers college reading and writing that are still in the classroom, how where and how are those being integrated into a way in which we're not diminishing the uh databased programs of UFly and those kinds of things. So, um, this community member, uh, is going to take up a great opportunity to be able to have an a meeting with Dr. Murray to be able to learn more about that. And I did encourage the community member to look at previous uh board meetings where we've had lots of great conversations and uh presentations about our reading program and really about the development that

079has taken place in the district over the last 7 years and how um instructional changes are forever happening and taking place and that there will be incremental changes uh sometimes larger changes but that we are always looking and and hoping to fine-tune and refine what we're doing to ensure that all of our students can come and participate in the instructional program that we have in the district because it is a high priority of the board to ensure that kids in our community can access the educational opportunities in our community. And so we talked about the uh creation of the salt squad and what a great experience that has been and allowing so many of our families who previously had to find program and placement other places have been able to come here and so we've

080talked about that. Am I leaving anything out? Okay, great. So we will now move on to our consent agenda. Can I have a motion to approve this evening's consent agenda? Sean Clapford, seconded by Matthew Shivvenoff. Uh let's take a look at this evening's consent agenda. Consent agenda [Music] general. Consent agenda. Fiscal construction. I do in fact have some questions and I would love to take this opportunity to turn it over to Miss Peruio and to Rob Kiggliano as well, our facilities director to be able to speak um not necessarily in some ways specifically about these, but also just kind of where these uh approvals of contracts are fitting into our larger capital bond work. So, I'm happy to report that on tonight's consent agenda, we are awarding bids for the um construction of the additions

081at Midland and Osborne School tonight. All um contracts are being awarded. So, that includes the modular build, the general construction um once they arrive, the site work that's needed, and then the MEPs, which is the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing contracts. So, I'm going to turn it over to Rob to add a little flavor if you don't mind. Uh, sure. It's been a it's been a lengthy process to get here. Uh, multiple revisions to the bid and rebid and strategizing uh breaking it apart after getting contractor feedback in terms of uh what what contractors prefer. So, we did notice that um really good contractors that u are are well suited for exterior work don't necessarily want to do the roofs, tiles, and flooring and and vice versa. So, it it culminated in multiple projects which is

082going to be um it's going to be uh a lot of information um to manage uh as well as different personalities on site. Uh we're well we're gearing up for it. I think we're well suited for it. Um I'm I'm eager to start cuz it's been um you know it's been it's been a lot of planning to get to this point. So um it it's going to be real uh in a couple weeks. So yeah, one exciting part is that the the use of modular construction. Well, in addition to being cost effective because if you recall when we originally bid out the projects, we bid them out as spec built. So they would be cut built on site. they were 110% over budget and that was just not something we can move forward with. Um,

083but the the components of each of the new wings will be constructed in a warehouse in Pennsylvania and then trucked up and put together like Legos on site, which is really exciting because there's an efficiency um in cost, there's an efficiency in time and a speed at which they can proceed that enables us to get to our target of fall 2025. five occupancy. So, we're really excited about those aspects of it. And it, like Rob and Gabby have said, it's a long time coming and a lot of different moving parts and challenges we faced along the way, but still being able to exercise the the savings and move forward on the same timeline is what's really satisfying to us. And so as it relates to a timeline, uh so part of the the bid documents

084included a a pretty detailed uh schedule which has an occupancy of fall 2025. Um, and that's one of the items that we we made clear with through the vetting process with every contractor that uh they understand the the condensed uh on-site timeline and they've all committed to to delivering on that timeline with, you know, barring any any things that are beyond our control like weather or environmental issues. But uh we've done a lot of investigation and and uh we we think that we're we're on schedule and there's no reason not to be. So, but very soon we will begin to see work. Correct. Yes, it's going to start with the the site work at both locations. Um that one contract happens to be the the same um the same outfit. So there um we think

085that's also going to it's also going to help with some coordination. Uh it's going to start with enclosing it in with a full construction fence screened in so there's less distraction and they're going to begin safely working inside that pit um at at both locations. So and that we anticipate in April. Yeah. I mean we're we've had uh we've had some um we've had meetings kickoff meetings um as early as a couple hours ago. So the intention is as soon as the ink is dried on these contracts, the submittal process begins uh you know we we still have a rigid structure that we have to follow to make sure that all all the right products are purchased and verified and and um and they secure it uh to to uh ensure that the the pricing

086is is uh in line with their bid and we're ready to start. We we anticipate second third week of April. We we think so. um all the the inactivity on or what appeared to be inactivity on site was not an indication of all the work that was happening behind the scenes. Uh but now at least it'll be uh it'll be visible. So, uh I did give the same update. I was lucky enough to be at the Ry Bar and Grill earlier today and there was a a Midland kickoff. So, I did get a hat and I promised them I was going to wear it. It's it's not an indication of a favorite cuz I don't have any favorite building. It's like it's like kids. They're all They're all the same to me. But, I wore

087the hat. So I I'm not a liar. Well, we appreciate your commitment to honesty and so that's quite helpful. Are there questions from the board at all about I guess just just as it relates to that condensed timeline and what you've put in in all of these contracts, I guess. Could you share with the community sort of what the I mean what the biggest milestones are? You know, expect excavation at this period of time. um you know the modular construction is X complete and it should be shipped at what time? Just absolutely. So, uh, starting from the delivery date is what we work back from. The the there's a construction period which happens offsite, uh, which is a 4-month period. And fortunately, that's happening behind the scenes while a foundation is being while a foundation

088and all the sites, uh, the the site and civil, which is all all the the drainage, the underground structures, uh, the underground plumbing within the foundation. uh that that's all going to be coordinated in the months leading up to the first week of July is which is uh where the modular company comes in and and cranes them onto site. So it's the I believe it's 11 modules in one and 12 in the other. Um, so it that we think is about a 7 8 day period. And then after they're dropped and bolted together, the the GC uh mechanical, electrical, plumbing, they're making all their final connections at the mate lines. Um, and that is that's probably going to take the duration of the summer. We also have some internal work. There's it uh that's coordinated

089uh internally getting the servers and and that all spun up. um work, uh I'm you know internally we're working closely with it for that. So all those elements that can't be done in the factory are done here because you can't have data runs with with splices in them. So um that's that's going to take the duration of the summer. But the the biggest one is the delivery of the the modules which is which is July. We can't do that during school. That's just way too um it just takes up too big of a footprint with the crane and and disruption. So um yeah, so all the sight civil delivery and then completion of interiors. Um you know in we're we're targeted for full occupancy. I'd imagine there's going to be um you know some punch

090list items but but again as long as it's safely occupiable um that happens with any construction project right but um we've done it well I was going to say that that was the experience at Midland and Osborne as the new spaces not new spaces but as spaces have been renovated both at the high school the middle school and any of our construction projects right it's like your own house you wait for the plates to come in, but you're still cooking in your kitchen kind of thing. Exactly. We as far back as when we occupied the science wing, um we were able to open it. Some areas weren't pretty, but they were safe. They were occupiable with fresh air and there you go. We're ready to roll. All right. And then just one other question because

091um you started off by talking about Rob how there was a lot of revisions back and forth with bids and things like that. So from a cost standpoint um knowing that you went back and forth a little bit to I'm assuming you it was to try and lower those costs as much as possible. So maybe talk a little bit to that. So I I'll leave the dollars to Gabby. Yeah. Um so it was a combination of things. Um we certainly had um an anticipated budget going in which was much less than back in 2020. Um the original bids came in higher than expected. Um and having done this a couple times now, you can kind of see the areas where when you get numbers that aren't consistent for the particular trades, you have to start

092digging in and wondering why. And as Rob alluded, when we looked predominantly at the GC numbers, um it became clear that there was difficulty around a GC having to then put in multiple layers to sub out work for the site work, right? So that naturally just adds dollars to it. Um, and speaking to some of those who did bid on that to try to better understand where those numbers were coming from because they were kind of all over the place, we quickly realized that we needed to kind of carve out the work a little differently. The challenge with that is potentially then having even more people to manage on a work site, right? Um, so it's the balance of trying to do that and frankly us doing a better job describing what the delineation of

093work should be. Um, and we did that. So we went back out and we also then structured the bid so that if someone was interested in doing it all the GC and the site work using that as an opportunity to then get some cost savings because from their perspective if they are working at two locations doing four different contracts then there would be potential for discounting there. So we did realize some of that savings the second time around. The other thing that we needed to do was spend some time vetting what the modular company was going to be delivering versus what we then were asking our mechanical, electrical, and plumbing contractors to do once those buildings got here. And you will see in the bid results some reductions on some of the contracts because we

094vetted through and made sure that we weren't duplicating efforts on both contracts. So that did give us some other opportunity to lower that modular number than where we started. And in New York State, as long as you're working with your lowest bidder, there is opportunity to negotiate and negotiate down. And we were able to do that. So from where we started with the bids back on February 4th, we realized $1.6 million in savings to where we are today. still higher than what our budget was. Um, but with a lot of effort, um, I'm I'm I feel good that I can come to you and say from a fiscal standpoint, we have looked under every couch cushion. We have checked every number on those schedules and I feel confident that we can deliver two beautiful buildings

095um and you know realize that dream finally that we were thinking about back from 2019. Yeah. So, thank you for going through that description because I think you know as as we know cuz we we sit and talk with you about budget numbers a lot. Um, we know the diligence at which this is approached and um doing that upfront work, the importance of doing those things and not not just accepting what happens to come in. So, you know, from from a from the perspective of myself as a board member and a taxpayer in the city of Bry, I I so appreciate the constant and diligent work that goes into that and making sure that everything is as fiscally um you know, advantageous as possible for the district and for the taxpayer. we have a lot

096more to do and so with every dollar we can pull out of that like it just stretches to the next thing and that is always the goal. Yes. And to and you know to secure these bids now um you know in the in the financial landscape is very important also. We had a you know we had our bonding call like we we you know we've been borrowing along the way and actually Kathy Vigo and I because we're preparing for our next borrowing you know to because again we know that we're going to need this money coming this summer. So now this is the next time we do it. Um and strategically we're looking at that as well. What's the best way to do that next borrowing? Is it starting to go to bonding or an

097additional bonding because we started last year looking at the rates for short-term versus long-term and really playing that out. We do have a strategy right now. But obviously with what we're hearing in the environment, we're keeping a close eye on it and we'll look at it again as as we keep moving forward. Right. Just appreciate it very much. You're welcome. Just um just wanted to clarify with the the two different um contracts. It appears, and I mean you tell me, but is electrical the only item that went to two different parties? It looks like electrical for Midland was TAL and neighbor for Osborne. And the reason I ask is just contractor is really busy in the summertime. They're going to have a lot of projects, you know, trying to get these folks on site to

098to execute work. when you have two then I guess there's more concentration but right but we do have two mechan two different mechanical two different plumbing and two different electrical on there do both so you'll see um J&M will be the um mechanical at Osborne and the plumber at Midland um so same contractor different focus Um, Access is your modular company for both. Um, Bertusi will be your site work for both. Nuria will be your general contractor for both. Um, so there's a mix of everything. Um there's a quite a few that we've worked with in the past. So having those, you know, relationships and familiarity with just our locations is super helpful. Um it Yeah, there's there's going to be a lot going on. Yeah, we we've uh we weighed out our options, too.

099Uh like diversifying risk, so having different contractors helps with that. But I think the the efficiency that you lose. Um certainly with the with a craning operation, we're relieved that it was one contractor. Uh although it was two separate bids, they were low on both. Um it would it I could I could see that being, you know, very difficult having to coordinate that um with two different two different sites, especially if they needed to do it simultaneously. So, um, yeah, I think we're I I think it's a good balance of some different trades, but, uh, the ones that are really helpful, I think they're they it was going to the same contractor as a little bit bid. So, great. I think nimble is going to be your word for the summer. So, because not only

100will, and we'll get to this when you come before us next time, Mr. of Engalaniano. Not only will we have this work going on, but this does not stop the rest of the district from needing to do work in the summer. So, absolutely. Um, and there's other uh there's other projects and uh don't give it away. I won't give it away, but there more breadcrumbs for us everyone. More breadcrumbs, but there's transfer to capital. You're going to want to come back for the next meeting. Yes. Um there's transfer to capital projects that that are continually funded and um and we're working on those uh and and the everyday operation. So we can't lose sight of you know um cleaning and painting the building, getting ready for for the new cohort of students. So um that's

101you know that's our primary focus um when construction's done. So, well, we will be eagerly awaiting all of the good things that are to come upon us from a construction standpoint. So, we thank you both for taking a minute to help us see that. So, we move on to consent agenda fiscal. Um, I think I just for for the consent agenda of fiscal, I just want to I think it's the right one. Yes. Um, point out as we had um our guest speaker come Yes. earlier and talk about this is where the rest of the grants um that are being funded by the ry fund for education sit um and you know what's wonderful about all of these I hope people get a chance to peruse them um are the um connect the connection to

102curriculum happening at the buildings um and while some might be you know collaborations between PTO as as um Mrs. uh page talked about the district PTO and the fund. Um these are all initiated as elements uh from the faculty and staff to continually innovate for the students. Uh so I think that I just wanted to point that out since she came and spoke about um about it earlier and to that and there as you can see the and this has been talked about um in many different forms the ry fund for education is for all schools and so the listing of these grants is for all schools. So these are things that will impact kids across the district across the continuum of K to 12 faculty K to 12 and that's the great thing about

103having a foundation that they're able to help provide um funding for continuity of experiences and learning for kids and uh faculty. So very excited about that. Uh consent agenda, professional appointments. Consent agenda classified consent agenda pupil personnel services and special education. Consent agenda, curriculum, instruction, and assessment. All right, seeing no questions, uh let's take a vote on this evening's consent agenda. All those in favor? That would be seven to nothing. So, on this evening's consent agenda, we have approved the procedures and the rental of the voting machines for the May 20th school district budget and trustee vote. So, please everybody out there, make sure you mark your calendars for May 20th for the school district budget vote and trustees. We also are accepting all of the bids related to the capital bond project. We have

104an agreement with Ryolf for their facilities usage for both our boys and our girls golf team. And we are very fortunate to be in such a place uh where our public school uh golf teams have a facility so close that they're able to use. And so we appreciate the partnership with the city of Rye in making that possible for our kids. We also are um approving the participation in the competitive competitive bid process with Southwest Boseies for supplies which you know as we were speaking about our capital bond work is a great way to work on those fiscal efficiencies and to be able to find those money those pennies under those couch cushions. So we're really great to be able to participate in that. We have the acceptance of the gift from the Rye Fund

105of Education in the amount of $432,000. $432,1319. And again, it's supporting arts and academics, which is going to the work of all of our schools in the district and to the greater Ry community as well. I think one of the points Mrs. Paige talked about was the experience that the theatergoers will have and that is an experience that our students have, but then members of our community who come and participate in our community performances and get to be able to sit in a facility that is just going to be dynamite. And I will say the ADA steps are going to make me feel a lot better as a goer bringing people who aren't so nimble on their feet. it'll be really nice to have that for them. So, I appreciate it. Thank you. Um, okay.

106And that work again, just to restate, isn't possible without our great grant partners at the Ry Friend for Education. And on April 3rd is the Ry Funds Gala. I know they are sold out at this moment, but they do have a wait list for seats and for tickets. And it's a great opportunity to be able to support the work of the Ry Fund. So, please go ahead and as Mrs. page. Take a look at their website. We are also this evening accepting the retirement of Miss Martha Enis. It is with sadness that I announced the retirement of foreign language in the elementary schools teacher teacher Martha Andis after 11 years teaching in the Rice City School District. Senora Enis is retiring at the end of this year. Senora Andis joined the Rice City School District

107in 2014 as a flesh teacher at Midland School and there she stayed. During her time at Midland, she served as a teacher mentor for the 2016 2017 and 2017 2018 school years. Before coming to Ry, Martha spent nine years as a flesh teacher in the Harrison school district. From 2002 to 2005, she was the Spanish department head of saloness. No. What is Did I say it right? S. No. Whole language. Whole language. Good kid. Celisian. There we That wasn't even close. Celisian High School in New Relle. See, this is why you take risks as a learner. So, okay. A whole language. I am. I'm a whole language kid. Thank God for phones. She began her teaching career working as a half-time ESL teacher and a half-time K to2 teacher assistant in the RIneck schools. Senora

108Enis has a BA in international studies from Barry University and an MS in education English as a second language from the College of New Relle. Midland school principal Mr. Boland said of her, "We extend our heartfelt congratulations to Martha and on her years of service teaching fles at Midland School. Martha's time here has been marked by her commitment to her students as she's constantly brought enthusiasm and passion to her instruction. Her energy and dedication created an engaging classroom environment that enriched the lives of countless children. We are grateful for her contributions and wish her all the best in her future endeavors. And we wish you Miss Senora Ellis all the best in your retirement. So now we will move on to pres. No, it's information discussion AI guidelines Dr. Murray, you're taking this one over.

109All right. Okay. So, I'll just I'll begin just to give a little context to the document. And I'm joined here by Caitlyn Sassone, our director of technology. Um, so Caitlyn has been working with the district technology committee this year to draft and then revise and then revise again. Uh, and and we've received a committee received a lot of feedback um, from the committee themselves as well as different groups within the school community um, including our administrators who spent a lot of time looking at this document. Um, so it it really has been quite an iterative process putting this together. Um the purpose of it is to provide clear standards for integrating AI tools for both teachers and students while supporting our commitment to critical thinking, creative problem solving, communication, and collaboration. Um and it also

110speaks to our vision or kind of our belief that AI is a valuable tool that can uh greatly enhance teaching and learning, but we also have to make sure that we do that in a way that is um ethical and responsible. Um, so I also mentioned before that we will be doing a full AI presentation on April 8th. We also have an AI parent university um on April 23rd coming [Music] up. So if you've I think you've had some time to review the document. I don't know if there are any questions or or comments that you have about it. We were hoping to get your insights on it as well tonight. I will say in the interest of full disclosure, I am a member of the tech committee. So Dr. Sassone has heard lots of

111my commentary already and much of it has been um probably integrated or at least well thought out as it reflects uh in the document. So I certainly would encourage the rest of my board members that they have questions at this time as they are not on the committee to be able to share those questions or thoughts or musings as it were. So, I don't I don't have any specific questions. I think one of the things that I really liked about, first of all, I thought it was a very comprehensive document. I think you're really hitting the points um that are going to be necessary that we know right now. I mean, I think that's the piece of this that that's so crucial is that it's going to have to be um and you you um

112outline it in the document itself, an ongoing evaluation and re-evaluation all the time. Um I I really appreciate, you know, knowing since I've served on the technology committee, I know that not this year but other years that it includes a a cross-section of individuals. So you have faculty, you have administrators, you have um community members that give you that very um diverse set of um perspectives that are important for something like this. Um you know, I think I think we're starting off in a great place. And you know all I think the big thing is that we just have to stay you know a breast of whatever we can on this and that we you know I think one of the things that we talked about during the pres budget presentation is in these early

113phases figuring out how we can incorporate it as much as possible for um students who are not just at some of those um you know crucial points where we know there's where there's more research happening. and and things like that um in the classroom, but incorporating it more even just into everyday part of the work that that happens. So, the the the promise and the pitfalls, so to speak. So, I I just appreciated all the work that was put into it. You could tell that there was a lot of thought and um reflection that happened and so, you know, it's a it's a brand new landscape for everybody and I I think we're starting in a great space. Can I comment on one thing with that? Um, so one thing that we've been really talking

114a lot about at the technology committee and also as Dr. Murray said with other administrators, with our coordinators, with teachers when we're looking at this, really trying to keep the same stance and promise that we've been doing with technology in general. And so while this may be a new landscape for some when we think about how we're going to educate faculty and staff or students around a new piece of technology, we would never just throw something in front of students or in front of teachers without a wellthoughtout plan from our professional development team, our instructional coaches. Um, and so just wanted to keep that in the forefront of one of the things years ago that we always moved away from was that technology only belonged in like a computer lab setting in this one standstill

115environment that we would teach some bring kids to a place to learn tech and then come out of it. And so why we are trying to build pockets of educational experiences for kids in certain classes that will be helpful in their growth around AI really working with teachers as Dr. Murray said to make sure when they're thinking about lesson design and creation, just like they would embed any technology, if this fits into what they're doing, what do they need to educate and teach into before just releasing students or themselves to use that tool? And so that's something we're really focusing on cuz it doesn't just belong in one standstill isolation of a course. We really want to see it carry through in all disciplines. Um, so those are like the really big conversations that we're

116having across all administrative teams to think about where does it fit appropriately. And I will say um we're really fortunate. We have some really dynamite community members who are on this tech committee who are in this work and so they're able to speak about um AI in a way of forward thinking which is really great but also a lot of the teachers that are in that room and it would make sense are clearly interested in technology and on their own are already playing around poking around and starting to think about how this may be how you know it might be able to enhance the learning for all kids and and their own professional growth in learning. And so really the committee is is a dynamite group of people who were who are really bringing forth

117some good thinking which I think is very evident in this document. [Music] I it's a wonderful document and yes I very much appreciate as you said um you know looking for a cohesive way not just this is what you learn in you know in tech um you know and and the the applications that are available both to students and faculty um did appreciate just the the um the link through to the improved uh the approved instructional tools um it's all very clear I guess just out of curiosity is there anything that is not approved or Is there an equal list of these are you know these are not approved? Yeah. So I would say um AI is growing daily and vendors and different subscriptions and websites are always available and I think again we're trying

118to keep that same stance when we're reviewing any tool is what's the benefit for our teachers and our students and one tool may be very similar to something else and know really trying to keep like a physical budget in place when we look at that what gives us the most bang for our buck in terms of instruction and critical thinking and designing and lesson plans and what can we use? So there's hundreds of a lot of tools out there and we're really trying to pick the ones that will provide all the supports that our students and our teachers need, but they don't have to learn 50 platforms to do that. And so Dr. Murray and I actually just got back from a conference today in Boston around AI and our um members of our professional

119learning team went and it was awesome to see all of those new things out there, but then reflecting and debriefing and saying, well, the tools we have also are already doing this and so just continuing the learning on what we have. we think will be really crucial. Um, having all tools is not going to be helpful for anyone. It's just narrowing down ways that we can use it. Um, and there are some tools out there that are better. If you're a district that supports Microsoft or if you're a Google district, you may use these tools or if you are providing certain courses or it really kind of determines what you what your need is as a district and an institution. And I think we're doing really well right now to do an evaluation of what

120the tools are. putting small little pockets in place, educating our faculty first. We've done a lot of faculty meetings this year, professional learning. We're so excited for Friday superintendent conference day because we have more learning happening on that. And then really looking at the student conversation and the tools that we are using follow our Ed Law 2D so we know they're um they're safe and they're protecting of our PII for our students. We're not just putting kids on anything. And a lot of vendors even today, they were like, "Caitlyn, cover your ears." cuz it was just put put kids on whatever and that's not our stance in within the district. We want to keep all pieces um in line when we're thinking about technology and uses and safety. Um so that's something that we're really

121standing up for and there was a great tool that we saw today and I was first on with our vendor to say we'd love to investigate this but it doesn't meet PII for New York State. How can we get it to that? And so we're just keeping that you know at the forefront of anything we're looking at. Anybody else? So I I guess the I guess my question now is how what do what do we do with these? I was just going to I was just going to say that. So, what we're going to do with these is present them to the faculty. And that's happening um at the April faculty meetings at at the elementary, middle school, and high school levels and um get them in front of teachers so that they understand the

122ways in which we're using AI and the ways that we're not. Um and and this this document kind of just comes from many conversations we've had over the past year about what we're going to do with this. And it's sort of our stance on what we how how we believe this could enhance teaching and learning. Um it's not as I mean what there going to be a lot more conversations to follow after this and a lot more professional learning. So that's what's happening next. We want to get it in in the hands of teachers, have discussions with them, and then put a professional learning plan in place so they feel comfortable with these select tools that we have because I think if you give them a lot, it becomes overwhelming and get them, you know,

123have them learn them really well so they can begin to implement them. Part of the reason I ask is because um in policy, yes, we are um continuing to do a a a review of our code of conduct which includes um obviously things around plagiarism in general. Um and then the uh idea was to include some things specific about AI. And looking at this document, it seems like this might be um an opportunity to direct people to this as a more detailed um yes framework for what what's appropriate, what's not, right? Um, and I guess we'll have to see over time how this changes and and you know, we'll have to see where we have to go with that, you know, from a policy standpoint anyway. But I think for for immediate needs, code of

124conduct is really where this lives. Yes. This this topic area lives. Yes. Right. Okay. Thank you. All right. All right. Well, thank you. Thank you. We look forward to the April presentation to learn more all about it. So that's great. Thank you very much. Okay, so we will go with communications to and from the board. Uh, curriculum council February 12th meeting. Mrs. Boil, sorry, I have to get to my notes. We had a a very lengthy conversation at curriculum council. um that was very educational about the um work that's being done at um the ninth grade level for biology for the next generation science standards which all sit at the regions um level courses and um you know the crux I think of of what I took away from it because it was really there

125was a lot of extensive couple things there's a lot of extensive work that is happening within the department to um to up to upgrade or or change our um curriculum to meet these new standards. Um and they are really focused on building the skills for students that um they will need to apply to a variety of different and the language that was used was phenomena um around the scientific um uh standards they that need to be learned within 9th grade. I'm not doing it justice by any means, but um but you know, this is all now um metriculating up from middle school, which um has already happened, and now we're heading into um 9th grade, and then I think Trisha, you mentioned earlier that next will be physics and chemistry. Um so you know one

126of the things that pondering um toward the end of the the meeting um was you know at this point this this work is all happening uh across the country not just within New York State. Um but uh these kinds of skills that these kids are going to be learning are really amazing. Um but it's it hasn't yet kind of bled into the college board yet. So it'll be interesting to see where that yes where that might go with AP courses. Um so so that was one of the areas and then the other Can I just ask a question about just that piece? Um and maybe it's more for Dr. Murray but so this is an situ. So, our current eighth graders have new science this year. And so, that cohort of students will then have

127a new science for freshman year for biology. And will then that cohort be the next new one for 10th grade. So, they're not the first ones every year. The the we have new biology this year. Okay. So, that's my question. So, it's kind of So, it's like they're they're not on the first wave of this whole science all the way through. happening and then they got it. Yeah, they've already been implementing um correct current current biology is experiencing. They will get they get new chemistry. Yeah. Uh no, they will not they won't get the new chemistry. This year's ninth grade will get the new physics. Got it. Yes. Okay. And but they won't get then the new physics, right? They won't be the first cohort, right? There is really no there is no cohort getting

128nothing but firsts, right? Great. Yes. Good. Um and then we also discussed um robotics and modeling for engineering which we also heard about a little bit earlier. Um and these are um again courses that are being um enhanced because of students coming in with higher proficiency levels into these courses. Um and one of the great things is that they are able to use uh really um uh like software that is actually being used within those industries out there in the world. So there's a uh software called Fusion 360 that in the modeling one is actually used by architects within um you know professional architects. So, it it's it's really just a great thing to hear about how this has been able to all of our engineering work has been able to move and and um

129the higher proficiency has helped to kind of push the boundaries of of these courses. So, that that was a little bit of a re-evaluation because I think it was presented you said last year that was the proposal we had first and now they've written and now they've Okay. So, so and the courses are completely full. Kids are really enjoying it and it's it's just a great uh thing to hear. That was curriculum council. Okay. Well, don't go too far. Policy. It is. You here. You know what? I'll fill in with the technology committee and all I will say is the technology committee reviewed the AI guidelines that we previously reviewed. So now policy met on February 12th. Yes. You were busy on the 12th. We were um curriculum and policy. Uh so policy we spent

130as I mentioned just a few minutes ago majority of the time again talking about um some revisions to our code of conduct. Um a lot of the discussion was around uh trying to um create uh more of a um detailed look at how we are intervening with students prior to getting to a suspension or a detention. and wanting to have um more of a process where there's growth and learning that can happen before those um types of uh disciplines need to be used. So the discussion was primarily around how do we integrate that into our current code of conduct. Um just so everyone knows the code of conduct with any revisions will be coming to the entire board. We also have to public have a public hearing about those. So, there'll be lots of time

131to review all of these changes that we've been um discussing in policy now for a while, but that was most of what we talked about. Okay, great. And it looks like you'll be meeting again as a policy committee on the 19th of March. So, we'll have another presentation after that. Is there any other are there any other communications to and from the board? Mr. Shongh, do you have anything from that transportation committee? I have a couple uh bits of feedback from the the safety committee. Um I guess probably the the most pointed one to note as it relates to um students around the high school. There were several complaints um from those living on Brookdale Place um around uh some students, I guess, parking on grass, being somewhat disrespectful towards garbage cans and recycling bins.

132Um and uh I guess just some concerns there and and I guess the the police will be keeping an eye on it. Um, and then I guess secondarily around um just concerns around congestion on Boston Post Road with kids getting dropped off, jumping fences, uh just challenges um around busy periods of time. Um I'm sure that is a a consistent theme, but they were mentioned uh a couple couple um came forward with with regard to that. Okay, great. Thank you. Perhaps uh Mr. Hara might have a great Instagram post for our seniors and juniors about parking. Perhaps may maybe they can see something come up. Just let them know that people know what they're doing or not doing as it pertains to parking and driving. So different from the Garnet parking Instagram. Yeah. Let's Yes.

133Yes, please. Okay. So with that, our next meeting is scheduled for March 25th, which is just in two weeks. You don't have a whole month off between before us again. And yes, we actually are going to have a facilities committee meeting next Tuesday. Oh. Oh. All right. Facilities on Tuesday. All right. So we'll have facilities and policy to discuss when we come back on the 25th. So that'll be great. So, we will come back here on March 25th and have budget presentations related to athletics, facilities, and technology and uh some updates on some great committee work. So, we look forward to that and we hope uh to see everyone there. Can I have a motion to adjourn this evening's meeting? Valerie Lapam, seconded by Matt Shibonoff. All those in favor, that's 7 nothing. Have a

134wonderful evening. Thanks for joining us.