001Good evening. We have previously called the board of education meeting to order. So, please join me in saying the pledge. Well, good evening and welcome everybody to uh our May 7th board meeting. Uh tonight we have the wonderful opportunity to both recognize and to celebrate our high school science research program. Uh this program is led under the incredible guidance and leadership and direction of Mr. Peter Robinson and Miss Rebecca Goldfisher. So I want to thank uh both Rebecca and Peter uh for the incredible uh support that they provide uh to our students uh over this three-year program. Uh so this three-year program uh for the board who's maybe learning about it for the first time uh is a three-year college level uh science research uh course uh that uh is taught here at the high
002school. But as you heard with some of your interactions with our students uh is supported through mentorships and professional um investigation through our colleagues uh at the university level. Uh and so at the end of our students senior year, uh our students have the opportunity to present uh three years of research findings and their conclusions and auh to a variety audience uh both here at school uh in their senior presentations and then also out in the communities uh and at competitions. Uh so you're going to learn a little bit about that in a few minutes. Uh so as you heard tonight uh and any opportunity I've had to hear the the science uh research presentations, I'm always just blown away uh by the professionalism and the expertise of our students really become the content experts
003uh you know at a at a very high level through their research presentations and I think as seniors who are getting ready to graduate and go off to college uh you know this course and experience they've had uh has has obviously um uh given them so much confidence I think with now being ready to interact with their faculty uh at the university level and already have done just incredible uh research which you'd be so proud of. So, so it's my pleasure and and and the pleasure of the board of education uh to congratulate and to recognize uh all of our science research students and especially to thank our teachers uh for their incredible efforts uh throughout the year. So, uh now I'm going to turn it over uh to Danielle Belton Wales. uh she's going
004to talk a little bit about the course and some of the wonderful achievements. Uh and uh we're going to introduce each of the students to the board of education. Uh and we want to make sure we get a nice group picture here at the end. All right. So, you got to see uh get a little taste of some of the work that they do. Um, but we're not just here to recognize the amazing work that they do over the science research for the past three years, but to tell you a little bit about the past competition that they have recently been in. So, over the past two years, 32 of these students represented our district at the Regeneron Greater Capitol Region Science and Engineering Fair, competing against nearly 120 of the region's most talented young
005scientists. and hopefully you got a little taste, but truly their results and their work is nothing short of remarkable everything they've done. So together they earned top honors nearly $4,000 in reward in awards and after two consecutive years RPI has awarded two of our students, Annie Marsh and Isabella Bonet Bonetatabus a $50,000 scholarship. Three of our students, two this year and one last year, have earned grand prizes and the opportunity to advance to the International Science and Engineering Fair. So that's widely regarded as a world's premier global science competition for high school students. It's very competitive. So this year, Ava A and Isabella Bonitadapus will travel to Phoenix, Arizona later this month on an all expenses paid trip to represent our school on the international stage [applause] and it's just it's amazing what the whole
006group has really done. Um, the International Science and Engineering Fair brings together top young scientists from more than 70 countries, showcasing the very best of the next generation of innovators. Earning a place at this competition is far more re far more than receiving an award. It is an entry into an elite arena where students present original cutting edge research to worldrenowned scientists and compete for significant scholarships and recognition. So this achievement is an extraordinary honor reflecting not only the individual excellence of these students but also the strength, rigor, and impact of our science research program as a whole. So, what I'd like to do is present each of our science research students with a certificate to honor the amazing work they have done um both at the Greater Capitol Region Science and Engineering Fair and
007overall throughout their work in this program. So, first up, Isabella Barrett. So, if Isabella could come up, she's not here. Oh, okay. Yes. And that's okay. And we want to say their names as well. So just let me know if I say a name that isn't able to come up. Lockin Bergen. Excellent. So do we want to do we'll have you just stay right up Isabella Bonetabus. [applause] And I don't believe these couple of students are here, but just to recognize them, Abigail Collins, Grace Dearia, Orisa Gelani, Victoria Gavasta, Amelia Hall, and do I have Daniel Hancock. Excellent. Congratulations. I believe Eli Helic wasn't able to make it. Uh, Rose Janicki, [applause] Erin McGregor, Annie Marsh, [applause] Congratulations, Fiona Mccle Congratulations Rei Nuraporum. Congratulations Ava Aul [applause] Kyros Robert and I don't believe Anna Sandu
008is here or Maxwell Vogle. Congratulations [applause] All right. So, you're more than welcome to stay for the entire business meeting, but here's your opportunity because I know you're very busy uh as students that uh feel free uh you can you can That's right. So, you're you're good to go. Thank you very much for coming tonight. [applause] Sure. Oh, separate. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Could I please get a motion to approve the minutes for April 16th and April 21st, 2026? I see Angie and a second by Lee. Is there any discussion? Okay, seeing none, all in favor? That's unanimous. Could I please get a motion to accept tonight's agenda? I see Lee and a second by Tony. Is there any discussion? Okay, seeing none, all in favor? That's unanimous. This brings us to our
009first public comment period. Are there any members of the public who wish to address the board? All right, seeing none, there will be a second public comment period at the end of this meeting. And now on to board committee reports. Do we have any board committee reports tonight? Angie, I just want to report out that um property committee is done meeting for the year. We did not meet, we don't have a May meeting, but I wanted to thank um Dave and John for a great year and a very enjoyable committee to sit on and all the great work that they did. Um I also love the meeting that I sat in on. Is there any other committee report from any board member? Okay, that brings us to student member reports. Um this week we received
010updates from all six elementary schools, the middle school and the high school. From Caroline Street, they're saying congratulations to the fifth grade students that participated in the Olympics of the visual arts and for their first place finish. National School Nurses Day is on Wednesday, May 6th. Division Street would also like to congratulate their students who participated in last week's OVA competition and earned third place in the photography category. They are also proud of the Project Pride Club members for presenting their work at the Student Voices event last week. Students in grades three through five showed great effort and perseverance while completing the Math State CBT assessment this week. They're looking forward to an exciting week ahead, including the VIP lunchons and PTA home run derby at Dorothy Nolan. A thank you goes to the members
011of student council and kindness crew that shared their great work with the community at the student voices event. They are also looking forward to the HSA spring fling next week along with the spelling bee and buy one get one bookf fair at Geyser Road. Geyser was the proud host of the fourth annual student voices event where Geyser's No Place for Hate Club welcomed the largest group to date. Congratulations to the committee and everyone who helped to make it a success. 4 visited first grade to talk about pollinators and the Bentley Seed Company came to share their Let Them Be program for grades K through two where every student received seeds and got to grow their own plants. The grade four and five chorus rocked it with all the original songs. They began the process in
012October, wrote original lyrics, used AI to help with the beats, and performed an amazing concert. First grade held its annual author tea where student writing was celebrated with family and friends. The science in the community club from the high school came and taught around 30 students about water filtration and students had the opportunity to build their own filtration systems and discuss why or why not the filters worked well at Greenfield. A congratulations goes to their OVA students who scored second place in the architecture category and their HSA just held their week-long scholastic book fair and culminated the week with an evening event for families and students. Their fourth and fifth grade students put on a wonderful coral performance last week. At Lake A, their LA Voices student group decided to design a school flag that
013would represent our community as a whole. To do this, they interviewed students from every grade level, carefully analyzed their responses, and researched the meanings behind different symbols and colors. Using this information, the team designed several original flag concepts, and our school voted. They are looking forward to the results. Congratulations to the Lake A Olympics of the visual arts team. This is a first time the first time Lake House participated and they won second place in the fashion competition. A big thanks goes to the Best Buddies Club and LA Voices for sharing their work at the student voices event at Maple Lab. The students persevered and showed grit as they took their state exams. The Tang Teaching Museum visited all sixth grade art classes in April to share the work of featured artist Kathy Butterley. Students
014created sculptures inspired by her work. On April 30th, students of the Unified Physical Education class visited Farnsworth Middle School and Guilderland for a day of team building and fellowship. April also brought recess and outside lunch to Maple. This has been met with overwhelming enthusiasm as students are loving the opportunity to get outside, recharge, connect, and return to learning refreshed. Their student council continues to exemplify leadership and inclusivity by creating welcome to Maple Bags, which student council pres which counselors present to students who are now new to the district, helping them feel supported and connected from day one. Students participated in the fourth annual student voices event on April 30th. Student groups from the International Club, Best Buddies, Pride Club, Sources of Strength, Unified PE, and the Student Voices Club contributed to the event. Several students
015will be presenting this on May 20th at the board meeting. On May 1st, the French club went to Leg Elementary where they taught many French lessons to third graders. The eighth graders made it down to safe down safely to Washington DC and are having a great time. They will be visiting important landmarks such as the Washington Monument, Arlington Cemetery, and the Air Force Monument, and the Air Force Space Museum. They head home on May 8th. For staff appreciation week, Maple staff has been treated with a hearty breakfast, a taco lunch, snacks, and treats, and we will end the week with a breakfast pizza. Thank you to MAPN for providing everything to show their staff how much they are appreciated. And thank you to the amazing staff at Maple for everything they do. At the high
016school, the unified program recently held a schoolwide game for the basketball program. This spirited event showed inclusion and supported inclusion in our schools. The spring concert season has begun. Come to the high school for the next few Wednesdays to support our music program. The nth grade recently heard from a guest speaker, Steven Hill, who shared about mental health and addiction prevention. He then did breakout sessions during the health classes. Thank you to the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors. This was staff appreciation week. Student council gave the gift of coffee to every staff member in the school to show their appreciation. Thank you, staff. And the junior senior prom will be held next Saturday at the city center. We look forward to a fun and safe prom. That is all. Thank you. Thank you. Are there
017any questions for Sydney? All right, this brings us to our administrative report. Great. I got a few um announcements and some recognitions. And so the first uh each year the Aderondic area school boards association uh hosts a community service award. Uh and again, each school districts of the 31 schools have an opportunity to recognize a senior who's dedicated their time to service to both the school district and the community. Uh and so this year uh the high school uh staff has named our own Sydney Ballser. Uh will be this year's uh recipient of the Aderonic School Board Community Service Award. So there will be a dinner uh event up at the Queensbury Ho Hotel uh next Thursday night. So both Natalyia and I will be attending uh with Sydney and her parents uh to be
018recognized for all of her community service efforts uh throughout her time here in Saratoga Springs. So congratulations to Sydney. Uh and uh just as a reminder tonight we did hold the annual budget hearing at 6:30. Uh the annual budget vote and the board election uh will take place on Tuesday, May 19th. Um, and voting polls will be open from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. uh at all six of our elementary schools. Uh, we did put together a budget newsletter uh that'll be mailed home to all district residents uh in the next few days. Uh there's a lot of information regarding the budget development process uh and next year's school budget uh on our district website. Uh so and we've done about 20 to 25 uh both school and community presentations. We still have a few
019more uh scheduled for next week. Uh so if there's any community group uh that is interested in learning more about uh the school budget, uh we are more than willing to come out and speak to anybody that we can and encouraging folks to uh participate uh on May 19th. Um at our next meeting on May 20th is it a Wednesday. So it's the only Wednesday meeting that we have of the year. Uh and that's the day after uh the budget vote and board elections. Uh so uh before the May 20th meeting uh at 6:15 6:15 PM uh we're going to be hosting our annual retirement reception uh to honor and to recognize all of our retirees uh who've actually retired since last June. Uh so the there's about 30 district-wide retirees uh who have retired
020over the course of this current school year. Uh so we'll be uh celebrating all of our retirees and thanking them for their service to the school district uh at at a reception in the high school library on May 20th at 6:15 p.m. So prior to the start of the regular business meeting. Um, so typically this time of year, uh, as we're preparing for the board elections, uh, we partner with the League of Women Voters, uh, that if we have contested races, um, uh, the League of Women Voters will come in and help facilitate a meet the candidates, uh, presentation. Uh, this year we have three candidates uh, running for three seats on the board of education. Uh, so it's not a contested race, so we will not ho host um, the meet the candidates night.
021So, in its place tonight, we wanted to give each of the three candidates the opportunity to introduce themselves uh to the board and to the community. Uh and so, the the following three individuals will be on the May 19th ballot. So, I'm going to turn it over to Bobby uh for some introductions and have uh the candidates have the opportunity to introduce themselves. Sure. Thanks, Mike. Um so, we have Beth Braxton with us tonight. Um and Anita Drowski and Lauren Allen. uh unfortunately could not be here with us. So I have a prepared statement uh that she has provided that I'll read on her behalf. Uh but before I do so, I'll turn it over to Beth and then we'll turn it over to Anita uh for their statements and then I'll read Lauren's statement
022that she's provided. Good evening. Thank you Dr. Patton and my fellow board members for the opportunity to reintroduce myself to our community this evening. My name is Beth Fogerty Braxton. I'm a licensed mental health counselor and professor of counseling at Sunni Aderandac where I serve as chair of the counseling division. I am the proud parent of three children who attended Saratoga Springs Schools, Will, Jack, and Claire Braxton. I run a small private practice primarily serving women and collegeaged students navigating life transitions. In my free time, I enjoy reading, knitting, making sourdough bread, and rowing competitively with Saratoga Rowing Association, and I have the blisters to prove that. Most of my career has been in education, including roles at a public middle school and high school in Virginia. I have worked at Sunni Aderandac since 2007.
023At the college, I oversee mental health services, teach in and coordinate the first year experience program, supervise three clinicians, manage our department's budget, and work with campus leadership to assess students mental health needs. I recently facilitated several campus initiatives focused on strategies to protect the health and wellness of our campus community. I was elected to the board of education in 2023. During my first term as trustee and currently as vice president of the board, I have worked hard to serve our district with dedication and integrity. I have served on the finance committee, the district DEI committee, and I am the current chair of the evaluation committee. I have supported key initiatives, including the orientation for new board members and student trustees. I am a Saratoga Springs native, growing up in a family that values education
024and lifelong learning. My mother was a teacher in this district for over 30 years, and my father has a voracious appetite for knowledge. He enrolls regularly in Skidmore's senior audit program. I have dedicated my professional life to helping individuals feel more connected and resilient in the face of life's challenges. The work I do requires patience, empathy, active listening, and collaboration. I bring all of these qualities to my service as a trustee. I am committed to strengthening our public schools and to ensuring equitable and inclusive access to a quality education for each and every student. I have invested a great deal of time learning what it means to be a responsible board member and I look forward to serving our community for a second term. Thank you. And now turn it over to Anita. Okay. Um
025[clears throat] Beth, great statement. Mine is nothing like that at all. Thank you. Um but I'll introduce myself u to you. My name is Anita Strowski and I'm a retired middle school science teacher. So people will spell my name, my last name wrong, so I'm just going to introduce it. It's Strowski. It's three action verbs. Stab, row, ski. So there's not any extra Rs or anything like that. Strowski. All right. So I'm I taught for over 30 years middle school science and I was blessed to see science research um out there was fabulous. I enjoy interacting with students. That's I love I love that. But I'm going to advocate for middle school science. There's also middle school science competitions that you can uh have students participate in. Just to let you know, that's where I'm
026coming from. Um anyway, so I've taught for 30 years, over 30 years. I retired. I need to keep my hand in education. I love school. I am dedicated to education. This seems the na the next step for me to be part of Saratoga Springs School Board. Um I am not a native Saratogian. I grew up in the Midwest, but I've been living in Saratoga and enjoying Saratoga for over 30 years. So I enjoy it. I want to be part of it. I volunteered for a number of things in the community. This again seems the natural step for me. the next step. Um, along with me being a science middle school science teacher, I can say that I'm a national board certified teacher. I'm also a New York State master teacher ameritus. So, I've done variety
027of things in education. I've also been a field supervisor for pre-ervice teachers in the in their work. I look forward to volunteering on the board and I know I have a lot to learn, but I'm willing to do that and spend the time to do that. Thank you very much. Great. Thank you. Thank you both. Um, and now I will read uh Lauren Allen's uh prepared statement because unfortunately she could not be here tonight. She had a conflict. I apologize that I am unable to attend tonight's board meeting and thank you sincerely to Dr. Patton and the board for the opportunity to introduce myself to the community. I am passionate about ensuring that every student in the Saratoga Springs City School District develops a love of learning, is included, and knows they are a valued
028member of their school and wider community. Only when students can be their authentic selves can they thrive academically and socially. As a professional educator, as a professional in education, excuse me, and more recently as a parent of a child who attends SSCSD, I believe that the value of public education cannot be understated. It is foundational in the lives of our students, families, and communities. I am active in Dorothy Nolan's homeschool association, serving previously as a room parent and currently on the Dorothy Nolan's Building Equity Leadership Team. and as arts and education liaison. Through these opportunities, I have been fortunate to experience firsthand the dedication of educators, staff, and administrators. In addition to these personal experiences, I bring my over 15 years of experience in education and related areas with my professional focus on students with
029disabilities and neuroincclusive practices. I am a New York state licensed psychologist and behavioral analyst, a nationally certified school psychologist, and a boardcertified behavioral analyst doctoral BCBA. I completed my doctorate in school psychology at the University of Southern Mississippi and my pre-doal internship and post-doctoral fellowship in behavioral psychology at the Kennedy KGER Institute John's Hopkins School me school of medicine. I previously served as the program director at the Ivy Mount School in Maryland where we used an interdisciplinary [clears throat] model to educate autistic and neurode divergent students receiving special education services aged elementary through 22. I currently serve as an assistant professor program coordinator for the master of science and applied behavioral analysis graduate program and assistant director of the center for autism advocacy research education and supports cares at Sunni Empire State University. In these
030roles the values of dignity, respect and promoting autonomy are central. Through CARES, I have had the opportunity to collaborate with Saratoga organizations on various neuroinclusive initiatives to ensure all individuals are welcomed and included in their communities. I am also a third generation union member currently represented by the United Professions. Along with my husband Mike and our three boys, we enjoy being outside year round and all that this wonderful community has to offer. I look forward to serving the board of education as as SSCSD continues to deliver equitable and inclusive education for every student and support educators. As a trustee on the BOE, I will look I would look forward to acting in a manner that promotes transparent and accountable decisionmaking and maintains public trust. Thank you. [applause] Well, again, thank you to each of the
031three candidates um again for volunteering for this tremendous service to our school district and to our community. Uh and we look forward to them uh starting uh their new terms uh on July uh 1st. Uh so tonight we do have one formal presentation. Each year the board of education uh hears from um a few of our district leaders on our every student succeed act, the ESSA update. Uh and that's our accountability and improvement. Um that opportunity to present data on our our student success uh through the obviously tremendous efforts of our teachers and administrators across the district. Uh so I'm going to turn over to Lisa and Michelle and Danielle and Abby. Uh, and before I do that, uh, I do want to recognize and congratulate Michelle Whitley who is here tonight, uh, Michelle just
032last night, uh, was appointed to be the new superintendent of schools at the Southlands Falls Central School District. So, I want to thank Michelle, uh, again for the tremendous job that she has done as both a principal of Geyser Road Elementary School and as our director of K12 humanities and elementary instruction. Uh it's going to be an honor to be able to work with her and continue to work with her as a colleague, as a superintendent of one of our neighboring school districts. U so we're super proud of her. Uh know that she's going to do a wonderful job. Uh and congratulations on your on your new position. [applause] So I'll turn it over to to Lisa and the full team. Good evening everyone. We are excited to be here to talk uh about our
033accountability update. Every year um we have uh the the district and our schools are measured on uh certain criteria. So we are here to update you on that criteria. Um, it's called the Every Student S Succeeds Act or ESSA. Um, and we are unveiling our new um, mission and vision statements that we worked on uh, that you adopted a few meetings back. Um, and again, the information that we're going to share primarily about academics um, really supports the um the mission for all students um preparing them for this rapidly changing world we live in and that we value um a safe welcoming learning environment um rigorous learning and uh relationships are a key to that. All right. So, just a reminder that the data that we're looking at tonight is from 2024 2025. Okay. So,
034ESSA focuses on um the uh ensuring that throughout our country that nationwide um students are being held accountable and schools are being held accountable uh for their growth and achievement. um in a fashion that does not that it does not matter what their zip code is or where they live. Um it's meant to even the playing field and it goes back to national legislation that was first passed in the 60s. This is the most updated version. Again, it's public school accountability. And then as always, New York adds their spin on it. Uh and so ours obviously has um New York's take on accountability and again it looks at not only um student achievement but growth and progress. So just a little bit on what those indicators are. Um for elementary and middle school, we look
035at um five different uh accountability indicators. A weighted average achievement and that's looking at your English, math, um and science work, um achievement, and then course subject performance uh in each of those individual areas. There's different algorithms for it. um student growth compares uh one year to the next um within the um academic areas. Um English language proficiency from our English language learners and then an attendance uh component which Aby's going to talk a little bit about how that shifted um this year in terms of the accountability indicator. At the high school level, it's very similar except for um for the weighted average achievement, you have social studies included in there. Um you also have the core uh subject performances, graduation rate obviously is a key and that's based on four, five and six year
036graduation rates. Uh attendance and also the uh yellow box on the end college career and civic readiness. So that was brought back and that includes uh looking at how we prepare students for life after high school and not only the college part um which that does include looking at regions diplomas, advanced designations, AP courses, um college courses, but career uh our career and technical education pathways and civic readiness. you hear um talk when Michelle S um gives the high school report in the fall about the seal of civic readiness, the seal of biiteracy and again those are just different ways that um we ask students to show what they know and um it's an opportunity to show that they're prepared for life beyond high school in more than simply the academics. that is uh new
037this year. Forgot about my transitions. Um but those are the ones that were new or brought back. So how are we doing? Uh drum roll. The bottom line is we are doing very well. Uh these um acronyms here in the triangle are indicators um that rate each district and uh within the districts, the schools in it. and we are an LSI local support and improvement. So that is the highest level that you can achieve uh for accountability. So that really means that as a district and at the school levels, we are doing um a very good job of trying to continuously support our teachers in supporting our students growth and achievement on those factors that we just mentioned. Um I I am happy to send you a cheat sheet of what all of those other
038acronyms mean. Um but they get significantly more complex um and requirements for what schools uh need to do um in order to really try and improve their um learning and teaching for students. So I'll send you the cheat sheet on that. Um bottom line is we are doing um very well. I'm going to turn it over to Abby who's going to talk a little bit about our data uh for enrollment and attendance. So, just as a reminder, all the data we're looking at tonight is directly from the state report card which is on the state website. So when we're looking at the numbers, everything is as of bed stay, which is that first Wednesday back in October each year, which is that snapshot time each year that the date state takes so that it's a
039consistent point to look at. So the numbers you're looking up here for our overall historic enrollment are from bed stay and we do include bed stay of this year on here even though the rest of the data is from previous years. This slide here is giving the subgroup breakdown, that historical snapshot of our enrollment. We've looked at a lot of enrollment data over the last year. Uh so this is just that snapshot in time. Uh no significant changes uh to really point out um across the board. The first indicator we're going to look at for accountability is that of the new attendance indicator, previously known as the chronic absenteeism rate. So you'll notice that now in the past the state only looked at those students who are chronically absent in the score. Now all students
040count and are looked at within the formula. So now based on a student's attendance rate you'll see that there's four levels. There's a big formula behind this. Students are worth a value in the formula depending on how well their attendance is in school. because it's the first year we have an indicator score this year and we'll look forward to monitoring and seeing how that shifts moving forward. But to give you a more consistent number, this is what chronic absenteeism has looked like historically at this meeting. Every year we've done a year-over-year snapshot. So here is our year-to- date April snapshot for the last five years of our chronic absentee rate by the buildings. And this is a huge celebration. We've spent a lot of time really focusing on our tier one preventative services in attendance
041and we're seeing the results in that shift. If you look at the elementary specifically, we are getting really close to precoid attendance numbers. We've had a couple months that we've actually hit the numbers we've been at previously. So very excited and I know Jen Warner will be coming to a future presentation to really talk about those tier one interventions she's been putting in place to support. That's just, you know, opportunity just for huge recognition and support for just the total team effort from our classroom teachers willing to make those phone calls home to encourage, you know, daily attendance to Jen Warner, you know, making those home visitations throughout the course of school years. Our counselors, our social workers, our nurses, the principles, it it literally is a total team effort. Uh, and again, those results
042again when you compare to what you maybe some other surrounding districts is really something that we should be proud of and um and and again appreciate the support from our parents who also you know see the value of the importance of daily attendance at school. I'm going to hand this over to Dr. Whitley to talk about our ELA data. Thank you so much. Um so we are excited to share with you as you can see from the graphs that our performance on the 38 uh New York State ELA assessments continues to show a consistent increase. Um, and we're going to share with you our math data as well, but just to take a look at some of the uh pieces behind this data. Uh, Abby just talked a little bit about the increase in attendance.
043Um, in addition to that, the social emotional practices um and focus on mental health over the past five years. And, uh, we have been implementing new programs and any When you implement a new program, it takes about three to four years to see um the impact of that. And that's what you're seeing here in this particular slide. We have uh put together additional training and professional developments to focus on our subgroups particularly our students with special needs and our English language learners. uh a lot of the work that we have done has been through MTSS interventions and culturally responsive instruction. So we expect to see this trend continue. Okay. So this is we every year we share with you the comparison to regional schools and as you'll see we're um about an 8% differential in
044the region right now but that has increased and we expect to see a consistent increase over the next few years given all of the um capacity building that we've been doing in terms of expertise across our curriculum and with our teachers and uh with attendance as well. to focus on one particular subgroup. Uh we want to take a look at our English language learners. And throughout the district, we'll take a look at two slides, one for elementary and one for secondary. The top of the graph shows you the number of students tested each year. And the bottom of the graph shows the progress rate. So you can see the number of students that we have there. And you'll see a steady increase over time in terms of their progress rate from 3 % to 56%
045when we live across the elementary and secondary. We are particularly proud of that work because in over the past three years we have been collaborating with Dr. Sarah toffee who's working not only with our L teachers but also with our classroom teachers to promote best practices to support students that are multil- language learners. Uh we've had a bit of a shift um in terms of the number of languages spoken within the district and the types of languages. We do have 32 languages within our school district and the top five are listed here for you. And what we are noticing um during this period of time over the past year is that we have more students moving um from state to state that are coming in not particularly from other countries at this point. That's a
046newer trend recently. Um now I'll share it with Dr. Bton Wales who will talk with you about math. All right. So looking at similar similarly for math 3 through eight some trends uh we some see some great results over the past four years looking at that growth in proficiency um up to 76%. Um we see the growth in each of our subgroups uh economically disadvantaged English language learners and students with disabilities. Um as well as looking across are uh racial and ethnic ethnic subgroups. Um one thing that's important to note is that the eighth grade students who are taking regions algebra do not take the eighth grade assessment. So they're not part of that data which I think even shows uh more um the growth. Now looking at that across the region at comparable schools
047uh we're right in that pack of the top performers there. Um so it's always exciting to see when the hard work of the teachers around the curriculum and and assessment and instruction um shows through that those state numbers. As was mentioned at the beginning, one of the newer indicators the state has added is around student growth. Um so that is looking at student growth across subgroups over a two-year period. So that will be an accountability measure. It was one of the accountability measures back before CO and that they have now added it back in. So we'll see what we have that baseline year and then we'll start to monitor and see how that looks. So we wanted to put a reminder in here as we're kind of finishing up this year's cycle of third through
0488th grade ELA and math assessments um that it's more than just an accountability measure. It's really an important part of how we look at our whole assessment system, how we look at that comprehensive and actionable data across the board. Um, so you get the idea of how it really is that consistent statewide measure, but we also use it when we look at our curricular alignment. We look at how it's aligned to the New York State learning standards. We get reports, standards analysis that we can look at across grade level that our teachers look at and that helps inform both the instruction in their classroom as well as the curriculum where we may need additional resources and such. And we look at those trends um those strengths and potential gaps across student groups so that we
049can continuously improve. It also gives us information at the student level to support student continual achievement and really help that individual student learning. So, it's much more than just the numbers up there. It's really digging into the data um and being able to use that in a way that really supports all of our students. Now, moving on to the high school and looking at the graduation data trends. Uh so, first thing that this is district graduation rate. So that also includes our students that are out district out of the high school place. Um so not just the students that are currently in our high school. Um and it's also um how they calculate it is from an August before to a June. Sometimes the state calculates graduation rate in different ways whether it's high school
050versus district. So that's why why you may see some different numbers. But this is that district view and you can see that we're doing a good job of keeping our numbers up there. Looking a little bit deeper into the trends, we see across the um different subgroups there. Um if a number of students is too low in a subgroup, the state does not calculate the percentage and that's why you will see some of the subgroups missing from up there. um that's because there's not enough students to make up that subgroup for the state to report that data. And looking across the region now, this is the high school graduation rate. And you can see and we also heard from uh the high school back in the fall just the amazing work done around operation graduation
051that has led to uh last year's high school graduation rate. um being up there and also what was mentioned was another acronym CCR CCCR college career and civic readiness. Um so we've talked about this the past couple of years. The state is now formally including that into its accountability designations. Um, and this is exciting opportunity for students to take different pathways to challenge themselves in different ways to demonstrate those knowledge and skills and experiences. And when students take advantage of those different opportunities, um, which might be additional coursework, might be advanced coursework, might be sequencing, career pathways, the district actually receives additional credit um towards our accountability designation, which is a nice way um, also to roll in that the accountability is more than just test scores. is really challenging our students in different ways
052through different avenues um to help inspire them and prepare them for life after high school, their college and careers aspect. Next, I'd like to turn it back to Dr. Cutting. So, where do we go from here? Well, a couple of comments. Um it's really important to remember that these really pretty graphs um and the representation of the information here is due to collaboration across the district um from our teachers um and especially I wanted to shout out also our attendance clerks and our our uh office staff who really also work hand in hand on uh ensuring that we know where our students are and them in. So, it truly is a collaborative effort. And while this is a a very nice, pretty presentation, it is really a lot of the work that goes into day
053in and day out um our staff showing up for our students and going above and beyond. So um the presentation makes it look easy but um we are truly appreciative and it's appropriate that it is teacher appreciation week um as well that it's it's a team effort. So um again where are we going from here? So you've heard us talk about portrait of a graduate and that's New York State's initiative so that we are truly not only saying that we're preparing students but that we are looking deeper into our curriculum, our um instructional practices and our assessments that we are um challenging students and and giving them opportunities to show what they know. And um really a lot of that comes down to making sure um bless you um we are supporting our our uh
054folks in the classrooms with ongoing timely professional learning opportunities. You've heard us um talk a lot about the academics here tonight and that academic uh portion of our multi-tered systems of supports and some of the bullets here um related to portrait of a graduate really focus on okay how can we make our learning relevant um for our students um what are those characteristics that you know we have to make sure that we're developing across the content areas you know they used to be called soft skills right but ensuring that we're doing that and that we're creating that welcoming environment. We're using those best practices and as was mentioned that we look at a variety of um ways and the timing of how we measure um and implement student assessments. Um a key part of this
055has been instructionally uh instructional technology systems including um the tools that teachers are able to use in the classroom. Um and making sure that we support that use uh responsibly, but also the behind the scenes management of data. We've never had a shortage of data. what we haven't had is easy um user user friendly access and I have to give a shout out to that um to our IT department and also to the work of um Abby in helping supply us with um access uh in a very timely manner to that and um so it's really exciting to see the fruits of all these labors um come to light. um the other pieces of our multi-tered systems of support. We all know that we need to continue to pay attention to our uh students social
056emotional um state and we're constantly looking at how we can uh improve those supports in that curriculum as well as the different engagement strategies uh whether it's behavior um or it's the continued attendance. So, we'll continue to focus on on this development and you'll about it in our um upcoming curriculum renewal um presentation in a few weeks. But um it's it's really um it's really satisfying to see a lot of these pieces coming together. Even thinking about the last board meeting and the professional learning and the teachers uh who were up here who spoke about all of those pieces, that is really what supports um the data on these slides. That's it. Thank you. Do any board members have questions? Please. Thank you all. I thought that was very um that was very interesting, very
057clear. Um and thank you to all the student uh all the teachers, everyone who's doing all that hard work. It was great to see um a lot of growth in so many areas. Um gotten some of those those calls when your kid isn't here. You haven't sent in a form. So, we we really appreciate that. Um, I just have a couple quick questions. I was wondering, um, you mentioned that there's a change in the home languages, the the top five or some of the top five languages, and I was wondering if that has, um, created a need to shift or or changed anything in our ability to support our students if we're doing anything differently or feel like we need to be doing anything differently because of those changes. Um, I'll ask Dr. Whitley to
058join me up here if she has some further insight. But the focus on our um ENL learners and supporting not only the classroom uh teachers but elective area teachers um to to kind of address their needs in all areas, not just a whole regular classroom setting. You want to add to that? Sure. The only other thing that I would add is that um the children that we're working with, we're working on primary um skills in English. Um so we are working at um strategies and practices to support the um comprehension in language. Um so the shift in languages of students coming in is more the work with um the parents and the families in terms of translation and um our our teachers are just um phenomenal in terms of using resources. Mr. Laamadu has provided
059us with multiple technical resources to be able to have conversations not with our registar but also with our parent teacher conferences. So it's not necessarily the actual language that the child comes in or the family comes in speaking but it's how we understand the culture of um the child and the family and how we respond to that with instructional practices. Um and I was also just wondering on um uh the student growth indicator if you could just share a little bit more about um about that. So is that just kind of looking at differences between groups or are they able to look at or are we thinking about looking at more like within uh differences within group differences? So Abby, you can support me on this one in case I mess it up, but um
060they're typically based on algorithms comparing year to year. You want to speak some more on that? So the growth will take a student that took the test last year and their tests this year and based on their growth between the two scores is what the formula is based on. So it's students only students that have had two tests within the window. Okay. So we are looking at the student level as opposed to just two two different means to get that. Okay. Great. Yeah. Thank you Tony. Yeah. One um one comment and uh compliment and then one question. Um the I loved seeing and and others have mentioned it. Mike uh underscored it. I loved seeing the uh chronic absenteeism numbers. Um we've been uh told many times and and it makes sense that um you
061know the the the work is important across the student body but the work done in the elementary years uh pays longer dividends and is easier to achieve uh at that stage than it is uh starting with with our older kids. So, I loved seeing first of all the percentages um being the lowest in in the in the elementary uh grades um because that'll just push forward and and should um uh you know should be predictors of of success uh going forward and and I I would fully expect those numbers to keep going down. But I also wanted to to say um thanks for not giving up on the high school kids, you know, because although they're the the gross numbers are the highest in terms of and that's to be expected in terms of chronic
062absenteeism, their arc is going down as well. and and it's worth I I know um I know there a lot of efforts put into that and and so uh thank you to everyone who um who who doesn't give up uh on the kids when they're they're older and they're more set in their ways and everything's a little bit harder to to achieve. Um so I wanted to mention that. Um switching then to the question part is on the um 3 to8 um assessment uh numbers. Um again great uh great uh progress in in most uh areas and and in most subgroups both at math and ELA. I like seeing that. I do I have a question about the you know the the one subgroup that just doesn't seem to uh enjoy the same upward trend
063um in both math and ELA uh are African-American and black students. And um you know I wonder my first question is sort of you know now that we know that what what do we do with that? what what kind of um what kind of conversations does does um uh looking at that data um engender? And then also I realized probably that the the graduation rates for that same subgroup, African-American black students um weren't there be probably because the cohort was too small. Do we do we at least pay attention to our we know our own numbers, right? I mean yes and and do we are we looking at the correlation there the the the the test scores and then are are we seeing the same are we seeing downstream effects in graduation rates as well
064and sort of how does that how does the data inform our our conversations internally about that? So to comment on um you know it may not appear up here because of the um the full subgroup data isn't enough to um show that but internally yes we know who those students are and so we are able to look for trends that sort of thing. Um we always do remember that that lower the the subgroup number um it it does impact um what it looks what it looks like. Um so if there's fewer students in that subgroup, the swing in their performance um also um has a larger impact. Um but that's not we we dig deeper into that and and one of the things I'll go back to is looking at our um multi-tered systems of
065support where um thanks to some of the tools that we now have for software um setting up a review of student achievement on more frequent basis bases I think might be the right word. um uh where it might be not only our um AIS providers but um looking at all students and again having data more readily available to do that. You know, we can now look at how um cohorts are trending even at the younger level and not just okay at fourth grade last year the students did this. this year at fourth grade this is how they performed. It's watching how that cohort performs at you know third grade, fourth grade, fifth grade etc. But we do have that ability now. Um it is much um more readily available to look at who are our
066students and how they are doing and then to look at what are we doing and um and that's where when you hear us talk about those multi-tered systems of support um okay, what is working, what is not working, and our teachers are doing a great job trying to make those adjustments, but we definitely are keeping an eye on those um subgroups. Angie, Tony picked my exact two topics to comment on. So, I'll just add upon that. Um, starting with the subgroup, um, I noticed that as well and really the trend I know the N small and the change, you know, it can change based on just a few students, but it doesn't really the percentage of the success compared to the success of the overall cohort does not vary greatly over the four years if
067my quick math is and looking at the graphic is showing. So, I'm wondering if um and and I I did look at back at the percentage. So, we have 2% population that identify as black. Um, I'm sure some folks are captured in the multi- um multi-racial category as well. But if you combine the the black, African-American, and the Hispanic, that's 8% of our student population that's really performing under um pretty regularly. Um, I hope which indicates to me because I know there are multi-tiered support systems, we maybe should look at belonging, we should look at a lot of different things that are allowing or not being conducive to the success because we know it's not um it's not like we're looking at students with disability category. So I really encourage our district to look more
068holistically and really dive into that category because it just has that's the four years show um not a lot and and I know how much work is going on. So something something's happening and we really need to serve those students no matter what percentage they are of our of our district. Um the other the other my comment is again on attendance. I remember last year at this very we had our budget presentation that was set you did your presentation and I expressed dismay that we were not funding an attendance monitor that we lost through grant because we were perhaps going in the wrong direction because of the correlation between attendance and um graduation and here we are today and looking at the numbers and that those numbers have gone down. So I just want to
069say I'm so impressed by how embedded that support has clearly become across the district and in all the school district in the offices in the buildings on every campus that is allowing us to minus that person that I was so deeply dismayed that I didn't advocate for in the budget system and thought we were going to just go backwards. We did not and I that shows a holistic across the board effort. So thank you so much. Thank you. And and that's the whole intent of capacity building and making sure we're supporting people in the work and not just saying we need to do this, but how can we do it? And how can we make sure that whether it's training um the folks in the offices and empowering them and um you know having more
070of these review of of our students individually. Those are all the those little pieces that we're really trying hard and and recognize all of the people who were involved. All right, any other questions including from our student member? All right, thank you so much. Thank you. Now we turn to the consent agenda. For those in attendance or watching, a consent agenda is a commonly used vehicle provided for by our adopted rules of parliamentary procedure that allows a board to vote on a large number of items in a single motion. Typically, these are business items associated with the everyday running of the schools and their inclusion in the agenda is the result of a great deal of prior work and care by the professionals of the district. There are from time to time business items that
071by law cannot be included in a consent agenda. And when this happens, we pull those out and vote on them separately. Consent agenda items are known to trustees and the public several days ahead of the business meeting on which they are considered so that board members have the chance to ask questions of discovery and do any advanced factf finding that is part of their due diligence process. Do we have any modifications to tonight's consent agenda? We do not. So, I move to approve tonight's consent agenda items H, I, and J in their entirety. Can I please get a second? Angie, is there any discussion? Okay, seeing none, all in favor? That's unanimous. I do have just um one recognition tonight. Uh there was a retirement the board just approved uh for Barbara Freeman who's one
072of our school monitors at Dorothy Nolan Elementary School. So want to congratulate u Barbara on her upcoming retirement and thank her for her many years of service to the school district. This brings us to our second public comment period. Are there any members of the public who wish to address the board? Seeing none, do we have any agenda planning items tonight? All right. And then that brings us to board member comments. Are there any board member comments, Tony? I'd just like to thank um the uh Greenfield Elementary Homeschool Association for uh their donation of three round patio bench tables to be used at the elementary school. And also thank the um CSA CSEA unit 8456 uh gave uh $125 donation to the um district's uh drive a bus event and um to be used towards
073uh refreshment. So I'd like to thank them for that as well. And then uh just add my congratulations to Sydney on your uh community service award. Any other board member comments? Angie, add on to that. Congratulations, Sydney. That's really exciting and that's a fun dinner. So, I hope you enjoy it with your parents. Um, and I want to thank whoever was involved with getting the science um students here. That was phenomenal. It was amazing to see them present and just celebrate their accolades like we do our sports. So, thank you for doing that. depth. Um I want to echo that. Uh it was so impressive to interact with the students on their research and what an incredible opportunity um they are provided through that experience and so thank you to the teachers who um are
074involved in uh forming shaping that experience for them and they were really impressive. Loved it. I was going to say the same thing. Congratulations and um also just say how much I enjoyed the um the experience of interacting with the students. Thank you to the teachers, but also thank you to all of the mentors outside of the district um for all the work that you put in. Um I wanted to congratulate um Coach Zenetti on another successful bike rodeo. I got the chance to go and be at the raffle table tonight and there were so many kids um and so many families. It was a really amazing event and I love um I guess the work that's being done to get kids on bikes. Um I also wanted to acknowledge that there is a parent
075group in our community that is getting um kids together to bike to school. So I know that's happening for Lake AB. I know it's happening for Division Street. I'm sure it's happening for others, but it's really organized. Um, they've got really fun signs around town that are like horse themed and they're like, you know, whoa, slow down. Um, which I think are really delightful. Um, but I I really um I really love that. I think it's really amazing to have kids out in their community riding on their bikes, using that as a way to get to school, and hopefully it also helps our transportation department. Um, so yes, I love the bike rodeo tonight. Our next meeting um as the board of education will be on May 20th. So again, this is our one Wednesday
076meeting. Um the meeting is at 7 p.m. and it is in the projectbased learning center. Is that right, Mike? Um we'll let you know. It's usually based on the temperature. Um, so we'll kind of point to if we need to relocate. It's warmer than So no matter what, it will be here at the high school, but weather dependent, it will be either here or in the projectbased learning center. Um, and we will hear from our district's DEI committee that night. Um, and then for board members, the retirement ceremony is at 6:15 in the library. Um, could I please get a motion to adjurnn? I see Tony and a second from Lee. Is there any discussion? Okay, seeing none, all in favor? That's unanimous. Thank you. Have a good night.