001Okay, we're going to call the meeting to order. This is the Wednesday, August 13, 205 meeting of the board of education. Stand 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. First order of business is the acceptance of the agenda. Can I get a motion, please? >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> All in favor? >> I. Any oppose? The agenda is accepted. >> Next item is the consent agenda resolution number 011 2025 items on the consent agenda. Can I get a motion, please? >> Yes. >> Second. Any discussion on the consent agenda? >> Those in favor? I. Any opposed? Consent agenda is approved. Next item is public uh comments. Do we have any none of the
002public speak? >> Okay. Thank you. And then we're now on to finance reports, Nikki. >> Okay. Um so the budget status report you will see on the share drive. Um just like every week we have the budgetary transfer report only has two transfers this um this week. Nothing's over 10,000 but I would like the resolution anyway just in case. >> Okay. So we're looking at resolution approving the current budgetary treasure report as presented by school. This is motion second. Any discussion on this? All those in favor? I >> any opposed? Resolution is approved. >> Thank you. And the weekly warrants are on as well. Um I did just want to update you. We had our 2024 25 week long on-site audit last week. Um they it went very well. It was an intense four days.
003They left a day early. So that was great. And there are minimal items left that we need to send them. Um, every school receives some of the reports in September, but we are on track with what's left to actually be completed the end of September or October this year. So, that one will fingers crossed it stays that way, but we're going to come. Um, the next few that I have, two resolutions are both related to the upcoming school taxes. or I'm not really sure how Cindy presented these last year. Um, so I'm not sure how you'd like me to go through it, but all the first one is to confirm tax roles and authorize the levy, which uh was approved, our budget approved was not to exceed $25,577,281. And we are um under that slightly
004with some of the audited taxes that we received from counties. Um I'm not really sure how. >> So we'll go resolution 013 2025 to confirm tax rules and authorize the tax levy motion. >> Second, >> however you want to order. >> Do we have any questions or concerns on the actual tax? Okay, getting none. All those in favor? I >> I >> oppos. Resolution carries. >> Thank you. And the next one is um the approving concerning tax warrant items. um approving the concern and tax war and that is one that actually needs a formal motion second and a roll call. is the same standard one to say that we're collecting a total sum of taxes in the same amount previous page and um we will be using fund balance to reduce the tax levy as
005was presented >> resolution under 014 tax motion please second >> last four clerk to do a roll call vote Mark, >> yes. >> Justin Gar, >> yes. >> Joe Henderson, >> yes. >> Mike Martin, >> yes. >> Cory Thirstston, >> yes. Thank you. >> All business capital update. >> Well, by looking out the window, you can see that we're moving right along. Uh I've been at a conference this week, so I was back. I said I'd be back at 12:30 and Chris was in my office at 12:32. Apologize for being late. Uh for an update. There's a really nice article in the aderond gallery enterprise about where we are and we continue to be on time both here at the field and at Petroa. We do have a bid in Petroa. That place has been
006torn apart. We've gotten abatement done. New floors are in. I think the cafeteria was finished today. If not finished today, will be finished tomorrow. So >> 98% done. So it will be finished for tomorrow. Um, does it look nice? >> Yeah, it looks really >> good. So, they've done an excellent job. Uh, because we have ceiling units, all the unit beds have been replaced that need to be replaced. Some of those are ceiling units, so they're moving right ahead with the replacement of the ceilings. Had to be do some ceiling work. Um, and unents are all in. They are all piped. They're on. They're testing the system. They've had some leaks actually, not with the new piping, but with the old piping. who says that's very typical when you switch over that you find leaks
007in your old piping >> and you rattled everything. >> Exactly. Right, Tori. So, he was not concerned about it. Thought they' done an excellent job. So, by next week and the week after they and now all of it is pneumatics, which means it can be controlled. At first, you can do some control in your room. We used to in the olden days put snow packed uh paper towel on there and we used to do but now you actually can do some slight adjustment in each room. It won't let you swing 30 degrees but you can do some individualization but it is all controlled by computer now and it was not at um control. We had all sorts of kinds of different things. So part of our big project, the 18.75 was to try and update
008all of our HBAC work and we're pretty close. We have a couple of units that were not done. One is out here in the shop that's waiting. That's really a bigger project than just remove and replace. That's going to need some design work for the next the next capital project that we do. But again, that 98% has all will all be done. That on top of our new boilers that we got at Provo will hope for some good savings on that. So, Petro is coming right along. Um, as you know, we're always short staffed and are going in the grounds department. They are doing the very best they can to get those floors waxed. The new floors that go down need five days of drying before you can put the wax down. Um, they're short
009staffed. It's going to be down to the wire, but we're feeling pretty confident we will get there. Um, asking our staff has done a nice job of just updating them with here's what this week is showing. So, some will be coming in kind of last minute to get into the room, but we're doing the best we can to move it along. So, that project is moving and going to close up. Uh, and the short field, as you can see, is moving and we are still hopeful to be able to play our girls varsity soccer game on it. Thursday the 4th or 5th of September as our first game out there. Won't be completely done. As you know, we're doing some work on the tennis court um because we need staging locations. We can't really use
010the tennis court until all the staging stuff is moved. Um, so that will not be done, but it will be done in September. And have I updated the board about the track problem? I can't remember the last time I was here. >> So, there's a problem with the track. Um, when there's a couple problems actually, there are 55 spots on the track that have some issues. Our track is fully under warranty still. Uh, began when they put the um electric under the track and drove it under the track. It actually caused a bump in the track. It looked like there was a speed bump in the track. They did all sorts of things to bring it down. Really couldn't. So, they needed to shave the track off. But we're also finding the top of the
011track in different places that that cushion that they put on it is really coming up like it should not. You rub your foot on it, pick it up, you actually can pick up. There's always some shedding like your roof. If you have a a roof, there's always a little shedding, but your lawn should not have, you know, a black circle around it of where all of your shingle pieces are coming off. So, uh, it seems that the mix was bad. They bought their mix the year that we put in our track. They bought the mix from some place. They didn't usually buy the mix. Did it for a year or two and found that that is not going well. So, uh, kudos to the track people. So, they're going to come in, they're going to
012fix the spot, which was planned that we might have some spots to fix. That was part of the project, especially where they've been running the equipment over it, built the bridge. If there's any sinking there, they'll fix that. They'll they'll put the spot back in where they had to mill it out to make it level. They will then put a sealant on this. They'll clean it and put a sealant on the whole track, which it does have down below. So, it's really another layer of sealant. and then they will resurface it with two layers of surface and repaint it for us and we start over again with a fiveyear warranty. So Chris says we could not ask for a better fix of our project. The extra layering will be very good for it. Um and
013we we get a new warranty. So that will probably not be done before um our season starts. It's a four day process if they have four days nice weather. So, we might need to move a I know we might need to move a couple things off of there that normally would be on there, but it's not going to disrupt weeks of practice or games. So, um people have been great. The work is going very well. Um Chris is a demanding boss and he's very happy with it. I can sometimes be a demanding boss. I did discuss with him the crooked uh light switches. He wanted to let me know that that was not the work of next era. They are doing an excellent job. It actually came that way and it's on his punch list
014to fix the picture. So yeah. So so we're good. I proud of the work that's being done. We have all sorts of people who drive through our parking lot, slow down and check it out. >> I don't know about you all. I've been hearing a ton of chatter in the community about it. Really excited about it. could and and the work of Petroa is also our our EPC. You just don't see it, right? Like no, nobody rushes into Petro to look at the EPC project, but it's a good project and it's good for the district, good for energy savings, >> make the classrooms a little more habitable. >> We'll see. >> You can't really tell because it's just a take out and put back, but the units that they're taking out are so old you
015can't get parts for them, right? They are anything but energy efficient. So our hope is that it will make for a more comfortable environment. No more wet paper towels on top of them. Look at them. The guilt of these people is just amazing. All about it. So So that's where we are. >> Perfect. Thank you. Next item is our superintendent search. Um we should probably discuss if we want to go what methodology I use. So networks and depth gives a great overview what they would do. Uh to kind of recap, we could do it totally in house for our own committee. Uh so all our advertising, we can hire a firm to do it or we can take advantage of both these um doing it on our behalf, which is something that is already in
016the fees we pay. So what I'd like to do is have a discussion if needed and see if we can't uh you know finalize what we're going to do so we get going down that road. I think using the resources I think it's a lot of justice when it comes to >> I agree >> those kinds of things but I can't see >> so one thing to remember and I don't remember which of us were not meeting but problem with us is we still retain full control over the process He can take or reject any of the things that have been forwarded. Uh he can be as involved or not involved as suits our needs. But Dale did an excellent job explaining what he does and how it goes. I think he made a great
017point about the market right now. And I think one of the huge benefits of our bosses is that they are kind of tuned into what's out there. So, >> who runs I don't think I was at that meeting. Who runs that process? Is >> this Dale is the is the head? Okay. >> They'll do the advertising. They'll gather the initial resumes. In terms of beyond that, we get to decide what we want to have for committee breakdowns. We want to have a committee of community members, faculty, etc. That'll be our choice. with his advice. >> Yeah. >> And then >> then they kind of shepherd the process, >> right? We get to decide if you know, do we want to have the final three go in front of these folks or how it goes, but
018ultimately the final decision rest of this group. >> Everything else is a recommendation. Joe, we also talked about um we also talked about the right but the public versus public versus closed applications. Um that was something that we needed to discuss and decide what we wanted and it can be a hybrid of both but it's it's a decision. So if if we did go with Boseis, we would probably ask D to come back in and start getting a framework and make choices based on, you know, his suggestions. >> I agree makes sense. Certainly one year out sounds like they deal with very effective. >> So So you know Dale's not new at this. He's done a lot of these surges. It might be different if we're dealing with a brand new. >> Yeah. And Dale
019Dale knows us. Those are community >> which I think is important. >> The avenues are already set up. >> Otherwise, we're just paying for that. >> We already paid for it. So, >> we'd be paying for it ourselves, >> right? >> Or we'd be paying ahead to do it. >> So, sounds to me like uh that makes the most sense in many ways for us. Again, we don't we're not giving up any control over the process. We're just having a partner in. So, can I get a motion to adopt both uh for our superintendent search? >> Second. >> Just any further discussion on this? All those in favor? I >> Any opposed? Okay. >> So, what is that? That's >> that's old business. >> Oh, that is old business. >> Would you just reach out
020to Dan? Let him know this go >> and let him know that I'll be contact. >> Okay. Item C is our district uh facilities planning committee. Prior to diving into that, at our last meeting, uh I had mentioned to you that Josh was uh on the last go around when we closing and said that I'd be willing to ask him to come and talk about things from his experience on that. Think of our memory. might not like it. But so Josh, why don't you talk about uh what you saw then and maybe some some good things that came out of it or some some you know be aware of this or look out for that type of things? >> The uh the process that is most similar to what we're looking at now is probably
021the lake clear uh committee. So um part of that committee, the superintendent ran that committee. uh there was one board member, one administrator, one supervisor, one SLTA and one CSEA and then the rest were parents. And I think the philosophy behind that was we wanted to have or not the um the superintendent at the time wanted to have uh a variety of parents in the room so that we weren't hiding any decisions or making decisions behind people's back. And I think um if you look at that committee, I think four out of the five or four out of the six parents that were on that committee uh were from Lake. And there was some tough tough discussions that were had and a lot of information that was presented. And I think at the end um
022out of the 11 or 12 members of that committee, I think 11 11 of the 12 voted to the recommendation to close to close the building. So um the mechanism to which they followed was that every meeting had like a theme. So one meeting was about transportation. So they invited everybody in that had anything to do with transportation. Uh the business official was was often there a lot of the times because a lot of it resulted in money. Um but a lot of it was done prior to the meeting. So, like if they had a transportation meeting on bus routes and they wanted to know where Joe's kids uh we want to know what Joe's current kids situation is and what it would be if we did A, B, and C. So it that committee
023leaned on a lot of the work of the people that did that every day, but they had to come in different scenarios and suggestions because they wanted to see the differences like how long is it going to be if they go to Petrova, how long is it going to be if they go to Bloomingdale and what is their what is their you know their time on the bus going to Lake Clair because the committee wanted to see all the differences. And then like the next meeting would be about uh you know um schedules. So all the administrators were invited in and we had to have all all our schedules kind of situated you know as best we could to say you know we can absorb this we can absorb this this is how this would
024look this is how many teachers we would need um and all that stuff. But I think you know the meet the meetings took place over a whole year and if they had a meeting a month you know if they had 12 meetings every meeting had like a theme and whoever ran the committee would make sure that the people coming in to present the information to the committee kind of had it wasn't like a selling point. It was like just give us the facts. we don't we don't we don't we don't really care how you feel on the topic but it was just like give us give us the nuts and the bolts and then the committee took that in and if there was any further questions after that they would you know they would reach
025out to that person um and and and ask those questions but the reason why I like that process it was the only process that I that I'm aware of but I the process was very organized and everybody knew the role of the meeting at the time like today we're just going to talk about transportation. So there was no well how many kids can we feed here? How many you know that it wasn't it wasn't those questions. The questions were just related to the topic of the meeting. And then you know as as they got further and further along obviously um at that point in time the people that were the you know the the supporters of Lake Clear quickly saw that the transition to to Prova was was heartbreaking for them. But as a as
026a committee member, they they saw the writing on the wall. And I think that's just it's a good process because people have to see the the facts, you know, they they you know, a lot of times they're just targeting personalities or decisions that they made prior to that, not not not the decisions that's at hand. I understand this this uh committee is going to have different tasks. Um, and it's not just straightforward of of does the clo uh the school close or not. It's, you know, do we do we, you know, change the the configurations of the schools or the building. So, gets a little more complicated. Um, and there might be need to be more people there at times, but I I felt like the committee of 12 or 11, whatever it was, those
027people went to every meeting and then they invited people in situationally to to give facts. Any questions for Josh? Eric, can you update the board on what you want to discuss about the uh about your grant? >> Sure. I applied to uh New York State parenting uh group that is soliciting agencies and schools wishing to implement the community cafe model. And so I applied on behalf of our district to use the community cafe model to help lead some of your work with um people who may be interested in the committee but maybe not can make a commitment to it. It would really give you an opportunity to have larger conversations with more people about their thoughts on the the closure. Um, and so that grant would come with $5,000 and that would allow uh food
028purchases. So you could feed um adults and maybe perhaps students who attended and also um incentivize attendance with a $25 gift card uh to really anywhere of our choice. So we included ideas all the way from Amazon to local grocerers so that people could have a choice of what would work for their family. So, it's just a nice way to appreciate folks for coming and also sort of guarantee some attendance and we can feed them um using uh we did we did write that it would include our own food service department but could also include local eeries just in the event that you needed to um go elsewhere. So, it's not a huge pot of money but it's enough to cover all of those things. $5,000. Um, and uh, it's a really nice method of
029collecting a lot of information from different viewpoints that might not otherwise be heard. >> So, we've committed to some public hearings in a larger format. Can you just explain the community cafe how that works? >> Sure. So your committee would decide on three questions and we would have a a notetaker at each of your tables and that person would not move through the whole cafe and you would have a facilitator. So if Mark was your facilitator, he'd welcome everybody. You actually do not introduce yourself at your table at the start of the cafe because the idea is that um I wouldn't be speaking as the community school leaison. Katie would not be speaking as the principal, right? like we would all just sort of have a a level playing field for our input and then
030the question is the same for all of the tables and your notetaker records all of the notes. You set about 10 minutes for discussion. Then you share out by uh notetaker and then you do the next question after everybody changes tables except your notetaker. So if Joe gets on a soap box at his first table, he can't continue his soap box because he's at the next table of people who who didn't hear the start of his. So it's really nice way to like get lots of information out and then at the end people naturally say, "Well, I'm a mom at such and such or I'm a, you know, like it just sort of happens." Um, but they've been very successful for community schools at the start of our work and it has been very successful
031for 21st century program ideas and ways to engage kids. >> And do you know the status of the request? >> It's been um submitted for hope and then faith. We learned yes to faith. You get out of faith. Yes. Uh and then I'll let you all know as soon as I know the good news. charge a date or daily. >> There is I can't remember it off the top of my head, but I think >> I know. I agree. The the good news is is that we didn't receive it last time. I know that sounds weird, but they called me and said, "Please apply." Actually, they offered us all of the training without any of the money, and I was like, "Thank you." But we're we're ready. >> And thank you, Erica, for uh assuming
032this on her behalf when you contact me on that do what we're trying to do anyways right >> like search partners >> any questions for Eric on the potential grant >> thank you >> yes >> so that brings us to the appointment of committee members for the 2526 school year our last meeting I had asked put together um some submissions um based on the people that that asked to be on the committee. You got a tally in the back of the what those solutions look like. Um we had agreed that the number would be three at large and Scott represented it and then uh on the district side and the guy had gone over what she thought was important of course discussing if we do something in nature not involving you excused or maybe not
033even eyesight now but we may need you to come in as a staff member and we'll weigh in on how you'd like to address this list. >> I think our biggest I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, our pretty good agreement on our staff member. We talked about three additional members of the community and the first two um in our list, you know, there's basically we go from five to three and then there's several. So I would say down to that group. Um I know I put flag for uh Tyler Elort. I think he's a good ass ass ass ass ass ass ass ass ass ass ass ass ass ass ass ass ass ass ass ass asset as far as his community experience but also looking at the budgetary issues and I think he's a
034a strong candidate because he he understands both sides of the situation. So if we were in agreement um that are five of seven, three of seven or two of the three and if we were looking pick one out of the one, two, three, four, five next grouping. Um one of the things we could potentially do is some rank voting. That would help that third spot. By that I mean you take every one of those folks that are two out of seven rank them one through sign of a board you tie them up wearing a tie that's your person Suzanne and Scott they have children like because you said there were parents not just community members but parents specifically Scott children >> I would I file the marks plan I would vote notorious comments about Tyler
035a long time. I think she'd be a fantastic addition for many reasons. But I said this last I don't I don't feel super comfortable having a open discussion of all these people just because by nature we have to say this person I don't I mean I just think it's tricky. So if we're going to do I think rank choice voting makes sense that way if you want to see where the chips fall and >> so >> do you want me to make >> Yes. So two once we've decided that >> something form should be a good form. It's just because the first two are decided by the original round and then we'll just barring the course of time. Then we'll figure out the time. >> Are we are we one more or two more? rank
036choices. >> So there's your one, two, next one. >> Thank you. >> So we're going to rank choice it. So like you're my first if there's five and then you're my first pick, you get five. >> Second choice gets four. >> I'll tally up the votes. >> Somewhere on that form, can you link to the submission so we can review the >> help? Oh yeah. >> And in terms of setting dates for the school year, >> um >> we could do a whole year's worth of dates. >> Well, I had a thought. >> How about how about the third Wednesday of every holiday? It just seems that if we're saying that's between between board meetings >> between board meetings, it's simple. Everybody will know. we'll run into a couple of oddities. But I'm just thinking
037if we're asking these people to join and then we wait till September to be able to pick what our dates are. Okay. >> Now, what if all of them can't make those dates? So, if we could say, "Here are our dates. We're asking you to join us." They could tell us right up front whether or not that work for them. >> Yeah, we can write those dates down. Send that out. >> Let's do that. That'd be great. I recommend that because we've we've wasted time on the DEI committee business >> because the first meeting is essentially a reorganization meeting and then you then you've lost a monthly >> I've learned a lot in our regrouping of that year after year that just >> having the dates allows everybody to set it >> and if we
038have to adjust >> correct correct >> is everyone comfortable with that? Yep. Sounds good. >> Especially since me going to the meeting. >> Does that work for you? >> Well, we'll see. >> Okay. >> I don't know what my third Wednesday's looked like for a year. >> I might. >> Yes. We'll announce uh because we're going to meet again in two weeks. This long break was kind of let me I'll reach out to these folks just before our meeting. >> We'll work out those details. And as always, like every committee we have, we'll try to keep you updated. I hope Gina will be able to keep uh great great notes for us so you can review those. And if anywhere along the line you have questions, feel free to call me up for board me
039and say, "Hey, let's do this. Somebody's not happy or really happy." Maybe some facilitators at our community cafes All right. So, I moving along. Um, on the new business of the 2526 district, >> just an FYI, that will be coming out. I hope to have that out on the website for public comment by Friday when I leave work. Um, I don't have it for this evening. I did a conference. Eric was going to talk about it. It was one of my to-dos when I got back, but that isn't the way my afternoon went. So, I'll try to have that ready to go. We'll put it out on the 30-day comment period. I just wanted you to know and if anybody's watching, I want them to know that we'll have it out for public comment by
040the end of the week. >> On the report, superintendent report. >> Uh, so I was speaking with Tori before the meeting and uh just mentioning our students who uh thought they would be part of the OC's CTE Health and Careers Program. We have we have 12 >> 12 total to put you on the >> tw I think 12 total and 10 are from Sir Neck Lake. >> Yeah. So we have good 10 students who are planning on participating in that program. Unfortunately they've lost their teacher. Um they're working on another teacher but at this point there's no one there. So the high school's aware of it. I'm aware of it. We've been trying to offer them some suggestions, but it's I I don't have an extra person who's hanging around. So, we're working our way
041through that. See if we can help them out, but there's absolutely no guarantees that we can support that program. >> I think Dale and his letter to the parents that you would let them know by the 15th, I think it's Friday. >> Friday. So, we're working on that, but it's disappointing. It's been a difficult It's been a difficult stop. What? It's not physician. It's a the What's the certification for that? >> Health health educator. >> You got to have a bachelor's. >> Um and most of the teachers that we've had since I've been principal, I've had, you know, obviously a medical background. Um most of our instructors have been RNs um with a bachelors and um right now it's just a 0.5 position would just be a morning position. I think they could extend it
042full day if they got somebody and they could do some other things. But I think um as you know it's tough because the medical field they're making way more money per hour than they're offering for this position. So it's tough to tough to leave a position where making more money and you know it's only 10 month I get they have to take a leave with absence or >> sounds like a retiree. >> Yeah. And and none of our So don't we have some nurses who also have the medical education? What is that? I can't remember. That's called teacher. >> Teacher. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But that wouldn't count. That's not >> It does, but then that leaves the building, >> right? >> Yeah. So >> there's just not enough people. >> That that is the
043problem. So area six dinner September 11th. Just it's in your folder. I know Gina sent it out. Um, just looking and see if anybody's interested in going. I'm not going to plug it. Okay, I am going to plug it. August 28th is ready for school. Eric is going to plug it again. If you've never been, please come. If you are available 3:45 to 7:15, please volunteer. It's It's worth your time. Just want to mention we had our administrative retreat last week. Administrators came for the first two days. We did a lot of nuts and bolts and light school year. um making sure we were aligned and had our schedules down, making some plans for the coming year. And then for day three, the administrators and supervisors came. We did quite a bit of work with
044personality. Um and then um leading teams and leadership styles. And I don't know about them, but I had a great three days, so I hope they did, too. But um that's that's always fun. and Heavenville Farm hosted us and they could not have been a better house. We had a beautiful space. We had wonderful place. They were lovely and they didn't charge us because you're nonprofit. They allow you to use the farmhouse. So, super you couldn't ask for a nicer location and just that added to the nice three days was that we were in a really nice location. So, I thank them very much for welcoming us with open arms. She even helped me cook lunch on the third day because burner wouldn't get hot. So, down came Andrew to help me warm something up.
045So, it couldn't have been her. Um, and also stepping on Eric's toes. We have been at a conference for the last couple days. Um, I didn't know what she was taking me to. The last time we went to a conference involving the fluid coalition, they had about 30 people there and it was a half day. So, she said, "Oh, I put you on I put you on uh on the stage. We're going to be part of a a group and I'm thinking I'm going to be speaking to 30 people." Uh, Ron, we were at Syracuse University in a very big room and filled the room. I I don't know many >> 500 or so. Yes. And somehow >> that's exactly what I said. >> Yeah. I was Erica, this is not what And she's like,
046"No, we don't have to prep." I'm like, "Yes, we do. We have lunches and there's 500 people looking at me. There's no seats available." But it was really an excellent excellent conference. Um I because I didn't know what to expect and came home. One of my favorite things they talked about was faith and our kids not having faith. And I don't mean religious faith. I mean hope that he told a great story about how his football coach, all the seniors graduated. Uh they only had sophomores, they had no juniors, no other seniors, and how, you know, it's going to be a great year because they were and they were small and they were going to run, but they couldn't run when they actually ran the drills. The kids could run. one of the coaches. Yeah,
047but everybody's going to think they do, so I've got these plays over here that and and they went 0 and eight for the season. But he talked about how his coach kept with every loss providing faith that what was coming next was going to be great. And at the end, of course, the kicker is that they've now lost every game of the season. He's like, "Well, what now?" And the coach is like, "Basketball starts in two weeks. It's going to be a great season, right?" like the idea of giving kids and families faith, i.e. hope in the future and how our kids have lost that somehow. That part of what we're looking at for kids and families is faith that the future is going to bring something better than what we have today. That that
048was a very powerful message and the room was shaking their head. Yes, including us. like that was a label to what we're sort of seeing with the mental health crisis is a lack of faith that tomorrow is going to be a better day than today. It was a very good conference. Sorry to take all of your your wins, but I'm glad you dragged me along. We had a good time. So, that's it. >> Perfect. Thank you, >> Josh. >> Um, credit recovery summer school ends tomorrow. Uh we had 25ish students and a quarter of them have already finished. So great success. Uh Carol Styles and and Shelley Wood did an awesome job with our kids over the summer. Uh we have Regent Review which which started uh this week a little bit next week. We
049have regent exams on August 19th and 20th. So we have a lot of staff um that have been in to uh spend their time getting our kids kids ready for the exams. Uh, we have our freshman picnic on August 26th where we invite our freshman in, they find their lockers. Um, I think yesterday I looked there was over 40 of our students uh are coming in to volunteer, which I think just goes to tell you like uh our kids are in a good spot and they want to be here to help and and help out the freshman. But um I just wanted to piggyback on what what um Diane said about our custodian. So, we're we're down one uh custodian and uh we have a student from the high school that's working for us through
050a program, through a grant maybe and um just, you know, a very calm, subdued, like low maintenance student and is just doing an awesome job. Um as you walk around the building, you'll see like uh they're working short staff, but they're they're they're hustling and they're doing a great job. So, anytime you see Vern or any of our custodians or cleaners, they have a thinkless job. Um, but they do it in this shop. So, that's all I have. >> Thank you, Brian. >> Uh, well, to piggy back on that, same thing at Prova. It's been a an interesting summer um with no students or staff around at all. Few staff here and there, but just trying to keep staff updated as to where we're at in the project. Um, because everything A has to happen
051before B and then B has to happen before C and the teachers are like M uh down the line. So you know the UN events unit events had to come out abatement had to be done. So as the UN events were going in and there was a room being abated they couldn't put that unit in which meant they couldn't hook the whole system together. So everything kind of had to happen in uh in order to the point where now we're close to being able to say, "Okay, this teacher, you you can come in on Monday. Your room, your floor is done. Your stuff is going to be moved back in. Um we're within a week to 10 days of having just about everybody um to be able to have access." So Vern and I have
052spent a lot of time together the last uh month or so. Um just like Diane said, communicating with staff so they're not like, "Oh, what's going on? When can I get in?" So it's been a different summer in that regard that it's all been really just monitoring shape of the building so that we can get our staff back in and schedules are going out to staff on Friday. Um, our mailing, student mailing goes on Monday. So, we're just putting the final touches on all of that. So, our I'm sure the phone will be ringing um after those letters get home like, "Oh, I wanted this teacher. Can you move them to this room?" >> Um, but that's fully expected and do the best we can. Eric, >> well, I know you've all been dying to
053know what is this giant thing I brought here. So, uh, Diane mentioned that, um, maybe we were on a panel speaking to Crowd 500 and, uh, when we got there, they said, "Oh, we have a a visual noteaker here at today's meeting." And I rolled my eyes. I'm like, "What is a visual noteaker? And who needs one?" >> They're awesome. >> Oh my god, it's so cool. So, this is done in live time as we're talking on the panel. There's a woman right there writing and drawing all of the things that you are presenting about. And she did like six of these. So each the keynotes, she did one for each of the keynotes. She did one for each panel. It was fascinating. And so at the end I of course went right to the
054artist and said, "What happens to your artwork?" And she's like, "Oh, I don't know. It belongs to the, you know, the people who hired me." So, I went right to Jerry and I said, "What happens to the artwork?" He's like, "Oh, it's going to Wayne County. Why do you want it?" Yes. And um we looked really good walking down uh downtown Syracuse carrying our giant. But I'm so first of all, I'm so impressed. But then it's all of our real things, right? It's Dian's stool. It's it's our food pantry and our school. It's where we started with Friday Family Swim and now we're taking bus loads of children to the dentist, right? Like it really did tell our story and um we have we at this particular conference we met so many people who are
055below the Friday Family Swim star and want to talk to us. And then we've met people who are in the bus taking kids to the dentist who want to talk to us, right? Like Niagara Falls, they want to come. Syracuse City uh school district wants us to come. We met a gentleman from I think Wayne County who's running programming that we want, right? Like we want so please come, right? That's the beauty of all of this is that uh rural schools can do what big schools do. That was also his uh Jeffrey Canada was the keynote who is like big big fancy man. Um and his that was his message. You can do our work anywhere. But I love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. >> Yeah. And ready for school is Thursday, August
05628th at 4 to 7. And we hope to see uh everyone everyone there. >> Thank you, >> Suzanne. So, tomorrow wraps up extended school year. We had about 10 or 11 students attend the summer. Uh they did a really nice job adjusting to the high school, even our little littles um because there weren't any students in trouble in the construction obviously. Um so, they did a great job. Staff was top-notch. Some of them have been doing this for 20 years. Some of them were so new that we um were able to hire a 2025 graduate who went through the new visions ed program and really fell in love with some of the work he was doing in one of our special ed classrooms at Petrova um through our the Boseis program. So that was exciting
057to have someone so as fresh out of high school who wants to go into education. Um and they just ran ran a great program this summer and did a great job. We even had an unexpected um injury from one of the the teacher who runs our highest need classroom and um was unable to continue over the summer and everyone adjusted and everyone stepped in to where we needed people to step in and it was ran without a hitch the rest of the time. Not going to want to do one more day. >> Thank you, Katie. >> Uh the YMCA in 21st century ends on Friday, so it's been really busy at Bloomingdale. Also a shout out to the custodial staff because they've had to sort of puzzle the cleaning within the room usage and so
058uh really after Friday they just had the spaces that are currently being used left to clean. So they've done a really nice job. Um yesterday I went to a PD in Malone on student discipline that was really great. So I I appreciated being able to go to that. uh 21st century um posts on August 22nd for quarter 1 and so we met today. Very excited that programming is a go and we have some really nice quality programs set to go uh K12. Our openhouse at Bloomingdale is September 2nd from 4 to 5. And also the staff has been working on revamping our PBIS and behavior system a little bit. And I meant to bring you one, Justin, because our bear paws are now called Talon tokens and has the hawk on it. And uh we've
059created a new school store called the Hawk's Nest. >> And Brian and I met our reading challenge is going to be um 10 levels of hawk of New York State hawks. The top being the red tail hawk, of course. So, we're really trying to lean into the the school mascot a little bit and kind of connect that for the littles. >> That's awesome. >> Yeah. I'll bring you a talent token next time. >> Toenail token. >> Not for not for free, right? You have to earn it. >> Yeah. You got to earn it. Yeah. You got to earn it. >> Yeah. >> Uh Justin >> Joe, >> um I don't have anything formal. I I was wondering if we could have a quick conversation about um the letter or the newspaper about play. I don't
060know if anybody saw that there's there's play ADK is going for a really big grant to do that. And I was just wondering if there's anything the school board can do to support that effort or or whether that's something we even do because it's such a be such a big gain for kids in our community. And I'm just wondering if if there's anything we can do to support that other effort for kids in the community. I'm often asked for a letter of support. >> We have this a couple of times for other things. We do that >> all the time. Okay. >> I don't even bring them to the board if they're if they're non-controversial. If the I think actually is it is it your was it Ashley who was doing something that asked for
061a letter recently if she >> Yeah. a grant for park renovation. >> Right. So if it's something that's like that, I I just write those. >> So they think it would be helpful to have our support. >> So okay, they're welcome. Chances are they'll probably reach out. So I get an email and a template and then I >> Okay. >> make it our own. >> Yeah. If you're connected to them, that's the important piece. >> Usually they write the letter. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. >> Yeah. Okay. Yeah. No, I know. >> Same letter over and over and over and over on the other end of that. >> Yeah. I usually AI it. So it's and then I try to add something specific to the district. I don't know if people really need them or not,
062but if they do, I want them to know that I at least put a few minutes >> about the project is so having lived in Rochester where the Museum of Play is and seeing how awesome that is for that community. To have something like that here in that spot be so powerful in ways in terms of creating jobs, but also something for kids to do. So I I just think um if there's anything we can um the other thing I had I'm gonna miss the next two meetings as I send my regards from Denmark. >> Okay. And then and then Washington DC. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. >> From Denmark like it. >> Yep. Um, it's actually been quite a busy month. Um, I was part of the NISBO awards and recognition Q3 and the
063Dire Board meeting. The Dire War is the largest award given uh by NISBO. Um, it's a difficult meeting. It's a long one, but it reminds us how much good there is in the state. It's also a reminder, we we talked about it after the meeting, a couple from across the state, that there are districts facing um challenges of all different kinds across the state. And when in a doubt, we need to look to each other um instead of reinventing the wheel as often as we try to. Um chances are there's some really great programs out there. Um I there's two things that kind of tie together that I'm actually going to ask for um on the next agenda. I attended the 2025 federal advocacy review. Um it's bad and we know it's bad. Um but
064they gave us some specific numbers. The highlight of which is um the current loss for New York State Department of Education is $3 billion plus 500 million for special education specifically. Um, on that note, I was asked uh by the NISPA government and external relations team to be in a meeting with congressional minority minority leader Hakee Jeff from Brooklyn. Um, I met with his staff in February when I was in Washington um as part of the American Heart Association trip. Um, they have some really specific things that they're asking from all of us. They are asking for specific things from staff. They're asking for specific things from parents. Um, and specific things from community members that I want to um give more detail on. Um, it's going to need to be a team member. Um,
065that chunk of money is just the number that they have confirmed the beginning of the next year. Um, I wish I had better names on that front, but mispa is working with us. We were lucky enough to be included in that meeting. King Jeff is the only congressman in New York State that were meeting people from out of this district. I was the north country representative. There were representatives from Syracuse, Fingerlakes, Rochester, um, and a couple one more small district. So, it was a privilege to be asked to do that. On the 21st, I will be attending the DIS uh superintendent evaluation seminar. Um it not only reviews their specific program um that we may or may not want to use, but it does go over um some key information and ways to make it
066a year-long process um and some of the things that other districts are doing um as we look into our um superintendent search. It gives us some um some really good questions to ask and also be prepared as that is often part of contract negotiations. Um something that we can what would you like on the agenda? >> Um I put down the NISBA 2025 federal advocacy review. Is there a second thing? Um it's just the meeting I had with the King Jeff's office. It's so it's still all part of the government and external relations, but they're they they really clear what what's definitely happened, what's likely happening, and then gave us some really specific things. And it doesn't matter what side of the aisle you're on. Um they're finding they're getting more and more parents that
067are concerned um but don't know how to help. And one of the things they talked about Jeffy's office as well as the government relations team and on that hope front um people are feeling a little hopeless and this not only gives people a way to move forward but it gives us some specifics. So it's um the one thing that she really did tell us was that this is going to be um a thousand cuts type of situation. Um and it's going to We also so we did not appoint you correctly to be the rose the the NISBA resolution voting delegate. Is that the right title? It's the so I'm the advocacy ladies on those who um you need to vote on and be the voting delegate for the annual interested notes and the details of
068the resolutions are supposed to be. So should I also put that on the agenda review? >> I will get it. >> I don't think we resolations but it'll be >> okay. Mike report. >> Okay. I just got a couple of things as an aside. Anyone's been around knows I've been here almost daily checking on Robert Fields who does the process really interesting. Been able to talk with our three major contractor Shaker Flats who does all the site work and infill grading and next electrical contractors contracting the ones that actually do the turf stuff. and um when Chris recommended them and we were deciding who to go with, he couldn't have been more spot on. These three groups have been outstanding. They're nice people. They're every day they're cleaning up after up to themselves. There's no
069messes left. They made up, as Dian has mentioned before, a lot of time the schedule that we had to set back on. Work appears to be nothing short of first class. um angle guys on Sunday afternoon looking where to go to fish like one of them spots but uh I talked to that there uh that guy today in stock start moving on Friday but just so you got to know the people that we hired to come work for us um seem to be very quality people companies and every promise they made at the table we sat around it's this this and this they've lived up every one of jammed up on stuff. They worked it out and uh they problem solved uh together. They seem to have a good working relationship among themselves, different groups.
070So um that's good news. It's so often we go into projects and with you there always seems to be one one painful experience with a particular group or other or situation. And so far we've avoided most of that. problem solving. I think the way you want to weigh in on it is >> I agree. It's been it's been quality from start to finish and yes, we're out there a lot. So, we're in the business. It wouldn't be nice without it. Job well done >> so far. Yeah. >> Thank you for that. >> Our whole community is watching this project. So, I want to make sure that we're >> perhaps maybe our next meeting will be far enough. Maybe we could maybe Chris might be available for our meeting to take a look around. >> I
071thought we might still have some daylight after our uh executive session and I when I was here and went home they were just putting in the SL box is locked. >> Is it locked? >> Oh, that's because that's because we were all on top of it the other day. I thought Chris was gonna have a heart attack. Chris, we're all here. >> Maybe you could talk to Christopher our next meeting. >> That'd be great. >> Um, >> we'll meet after our first game. >> We go up there and uh, >> you know, the the the view from the top of press box, which is typically coaches and film crews. There's >> unar everybody's press box. >> But because we were up there, I said to Chris today, is there power? Because somebody's going to want
072to film up there. We need power up here. So no power at the moment. There will be a junction box. So but doesn't want it on the roof itself because of the water situation. So we talked about where it can go. So all right. I was illegally on the roof with my foot. >> But it was fun and it was great. >> It was your birthday. >> It was my birthday celebration and it did result in a plug. So whoever was filming up there will be glad to know. and especially dive is always >> always that's correct. So we're trying to >> there'll be something we miss but we're trying to be on top of all those unique things. >> Good news with the the quality of people that are on our campus. Okay. We
073are in need of an executive session. I can get a motion to adjourn. >> I'll thank you for that. It's item eight negotiations presenting article 14 of the civil service law. And did I ask the last person just when you leave the doors >> and second? >> Hey Erica, can I take a picture of that? >> Oh, sure. >> We're very proud. >> She was right there. really cool. >> It was so spot on that I was thinking that you did that I was like that is good. >> Like like but I mean like >> Oh, I said it's the handwriting you wish you had. >> Yeah, >> I've seen that. I've seen that a couple times. It's impressive. >> What are you gonna do with that? >> I'm gonna hang it in my office.
074>> Awesome. >> You said that was done in real time. I thought like that was >> done ahead of time. >> If you ever get a chance to see it, it's really cool. >> I never heard of that. Yeah, it's very cool.