001All right, good evening everybody. Um, we already called this meeting to order earlier before hosting an executive session. Um, so now if you could please join me in saying the pledge of allegiance. Here. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. These are not my favorite tears. Could I please get a motion to approve the minutes from October 21st, 2025? I see Tony. A second from Angie. Is there any discussion? I I feel weird off. There's a typo in my name at the end if that could be correct at some point. Thanks. Thank you. Any other discussion? Okay. All in favor? Lee, are you in favor of approving? Hey, perfect. That's unanimous.
002And then could I please get a motion to accept tonight's agenda. Okay. I see Connie and a second by Matt. Any discussion? Okay. All in favor? Okay, that's unanimous. Next, we come to our public comment. I did not see anybody who had signed up wishing to address the board. Is there anybody who wishes to address the board from the public? Okay, seeing nobody, there will be a second public comment period at the end of our meeting. We move on to board committee reports. Um, do we have any board committee reports? Matt, not a board committee, but a district committee. The DEI committee met on October uh 27th. Um, we had a pretty good turnout. There were like 25 people by my count. Um, and so we're in the process of of discussing what we did,
003what we accomplished last year and and setting up uh committees to to work on uh challenges this year. Um, the student voices event, which we've talked about before, but it'll be on uh April 30th from 6:00 to 7:00 at Geyser. And uh yeah, I think that's enough. Sorry, what day was that again? That's April 30th, 4:30 at six o'clock. Thank you. Any other committee reports? Tony? Yes. Uh like Madam reporting on a district committee, not a board committee. Um Lee and I are members of uh our liaison to dirt and uh that's the district emergency response team. Uh Dave Lamadu ran a meeting this morning that focused on behavioral threat assessment. um began with uh report outs from uh all the component schools of the district on what they're doing um uh around general safety
004things. A lot of drills and and uh questions were asked and clarifications were made. It's it's a good uh report out time. And then we we went to the meat of the the uh uh schedule which was on uh you know how the district deals with um assessing behavioral threats and uh those are uh you know anything from very minor to to um very major. And uh so we learned about categorizing threats. We learn learned about the components of uh teams that are in all the schools. There are fixed components. There are flex components um flexible components. We did uh we ran through um some scenarios and did some role playing. Um uh I was Emily uh Lee was my principal. We had um you know we we um sort of discussed uh the things
005and went through the scripts uh that are very intentional and very uh um created by Dwey Cornell and um uh it was it was really enlightening to see what processes the um professionals in the district go through uh when trying to figure out what they've got in any um in any type of uh difficult situation from from minor to major. um went through the scenarios and then that was pretty much uh uh all the time we had left. Um very very helpful today. Great. Any other committee reports, Lee? So, also not a board report, but I did attend the Maple A School Counseling Advisory Meeting. Um this was run by the Maple Lab school counselors and it was um attended by um other teachers and parents and uh two students who were amazing to come
006and attend on their day off. Um as well as myself representing the BOE. Um in the meeting we talked about the purpose of the advisory council. Um they shared their mission, vision and goals. Um we discussed some some data and talked about um the work that they're doing. Um and then they um gathered feedback and talked about the direction for um next year. There's going to be another meeting in the second half of the year. Um and they will also ask for a board representative to attend that one as well. So look for more great things from that committee. Thank you. Any other committee report backs? Okay. I have one. Um, some of us attended the uh New York State School Boards Association annual convention which was held in New York City at the end
007of October. Um, and I just wanted to share um some impressions from it. And so, uh, the first session that I went to was done by the New York State um, hang on, I've got to think what it is. The New York State Public High School Athletic Association. Um, and it was really um, educational. I learned a lot. Um, but also we did speak directly with the director about our board resolution from last school year. Um, which he was extremely complimentary of. He thought it was really great. Um, the opening session was about approaching each other with dignity rather than contempt. There was a session on courageous leadership um, which was held by uh, the New York State Education Department. Um, and they also referenced our district's resolution and praised Dr. Patton. Um, shared a
008news story from August about it. Um, the presenter said, I wrote down her quote. She said, "Many times I've said, "Yay, Saratoga Springs." Um, which is really cool to hear and, you know, a big room of our peers from around the state. Um, I also attended sessions on community engagement. Um, just about engaging the community more and scroll through my notes, I'm sorry. um updates to special education law. Um the commissioner spoke to us just about re recent initiatives including about the student reps um and the portrait of a graduate. So it was a really great event and I enjoyed it. I also wanted to share that the board did have our first SSTA liaison meeting of the year um which also went really well. We heard from quite a few teachers about um I
009guess a variety of issues across the entire spectrum K through 12 which was really informative and I thought it was a really good event. Um and we are making sure that every board member has the chance to attend at least one of those. Any other board committee reports? Okay. So the next we have student member reports. There we go. Okay, I think it's working. Is this working? Is it on? Hello. Hello. Okay, there we go. Okay, so we received updates from five elementary schools and the high school and the middle school for this week. um for Caroline Street Elementary School. Um this Friday or um I'm sorry, next Friday, November 21st, is their annual fifth grade pasta dinner night. This is a special Caroline Street tradition where over 400 guests will come to dinner while
010fifth grade students and former Caroline alum will help serve the food at Division Street Elementary School. Um a special thank you goes to their arts and education program for bringing in singer songwriter Jared Campbell for a schoolwide performance last week. His inspiring presentation taught students about resilience, kindness, and the power of a positive mindset through music. Today, there are no hate for no place for hate club held its first meeting of the year and chose a new name, Project Pride, inspired by the dragon mascot, Pride. Families participated in the first of four parent guardian conference days. And next Friday, their student council will help lead the character education assembly focused on empathy where students will also be recognized by the principal for their positive contributions to our school community. Um before the Thanksgiving break, they'll
011wrap up the month with the fall funfest, uh featuring games and activities organized by the PBIS committee to celebrate students hard work and reinforce positive behavior. at Dorothy Nolan Elementary School. Students at Dorothy were also fully engaged in the most recent arts and education program. Um, a huge thank you goes to the students and their families for the large number of food items donated for their annual holiday food baskets. And many students in grades 1 through 5 are participating in their Beyond the Bell tutoring program, extending the reach of talented educators. The kindness crew has been going to each classroom asking students to pledge to make Dorothy Nolan a school of kindness. They will soon see the promise of all on our fall kindness tree. Uh students and families are looking forward to their annual
012turkey trot and the good citizen assemblies at the end of the month. And at Geyser Road Elementary School, again a thank you to Mr. Jared Campbell for his great melodies and positive messages. and Beyond the Bell has started and students are coming to school early or staying late to receive additional support in math and ELA. Geyser's student council held a book drive for the Saratoga Library and Glennf Falls Hospital and their No Place for Hate Club started gratitude grams in the spirit of thanksgiving and giving thanks to others. So, we didn't receive anything from Greenfield Elementary School, but from Lake A, they said their students enjoyed the performances by Mr. Jared Campbell last week where he encouraged respect and positive leadership. The school is looking forward to their annual turkey trot and three bees assembly
013at the end of the month. The PTA hosted the school's first movie madness day today during today's half day for parent teacher conferences. Students stayed to watch a movie with a popcorn intermission and the event served as a fundraiser for the fifth grade outdoor education experience. The school is excited to offer a wide range of before and after school activities including battle of the books teams and Olympics of the visual arts club beyond the bell academic support the am reading club student council and various PTA programs from Maple Lab Middle School. They said rehearsals for their musical are underway and this year's production is frozen and it will be performed in the coming months. Nearly 30 student clubs are active at Maple Avenue, meeting on Mondays and Wednesdays after school. And the Best Buddies Club
014continues to be a standout, averaging over 55 students per meeting. Arts and Education recently brought Proctor's Po on the Go program to Maple Avenue M School for 8th grade students who greatly enjoyed the experience. And last week, eighth graders attended a performance of Wicked at Proctor's which was a highlight for many students. Maple Avenue is proud to host the Girls on the Run program for the first time this year. Participants have been training since September and will complete their culminating 5K this Saturday in Albany. The school extends its thanks to the staff who helped make this program possible. At the high school, the cast and crew of the Miracle Worker presented two outstanding performances this past weekend, earning praise from the school and community. The high school collaborated with local veterans to host a panel
015event on Monday during which seven veterans spoke with social studies classes about their experiences and impact of military service. 22 student athletes were recognized during the national signing day ceremony celebrating their commitments to continue competing at the collegiate level. The school congratulates all fall sports teams on their exceptional seasons with several teams still competing in championship events. And the school's national honor society successfully hosted a Red Cross blood drive collecting an impressive 86 units of blood during a nationwide shortage. These contributions are very helpful for many first-time donors. And I myself am one of the blood drive coordinators along with Sophia Ellen. and we are very grateful for everyone who donated and helped us exceed our goal this year. Thank you. Next, we have administrative com comments. Great. Well, thank you to our student reps.
016Obviously, there's some incredible stuff going on across the district that our students and teachers and administrators are leading. Just some uh wonderful initiatives. So, we just want to thank everybody for all their participation and support. Um, I want to start off by thanking uh, Principal Jablonsky here at Dorothy Nolan for hosting the board of education tonight. Uh, prior to the meeting, we had an great opportunity to hear from our special area teachers. Uh, they had the opportunity to highlight some of the really unique opportunities uh, in the area of arts and music and in library and physical education. Uh and so again, want to thank uh all of our special uh Eerie teachers, not only here at Dorth North, but across the district of just the the impact uh that they have on our students
017and providing them just really awesome experiences uh throughout uh those um those special areas. So, thank you to uh the folks who presented to the board of education tonight. Uh just a few uh recognitions uh that our students did touch on a few of those. Uh just want to also congratulate uh all of our fall sports teams who uh many of which are are completing their seasons or getting ready to compete in sectional or state competition. Um first and foremost, thank you to our student athletes for continuing to represent um Saratoga uh Springs athletic programs with great uh Blue Streak pride. Uh thank you to all the coaches uh for all their time and their commitment um and their efforts in leading our programs and the professionalism uh and the expertise that they provide in
018supporting our student athletes. Um to our parents um again for their support and to our fans who continue to come out and support our teams as well as the booster club support. Uh we had a really successful fall season and I'm I'm sure you're going to hear from uh Mr. Goodson uh during his presentation. Uh but our teams just had an incredible fall season uh with sectional championships uh with from our girls swim and dive program, our girls golf program, girls tennis program, as well as our girls soccer program. And as I mentioned, we have many teams that are still competing uh and heading into some state uh competition. So congratulations to everybody. Uh and it doesn't take too much time off that we transition right into the winter season uh next week. Uh from
019my strategic planning update, I just want to thank all the faculty uh staff, our students and community for providing feedback through our strategic planning process. Uh it kicked off back in October uh where we shared a thought exchange survey out to the entire school community. Uh we had over 1,200 people participate uh which is really just an incredible response uh of having folks providing feedback to the district on our strate strategic plan, our mission, our vision, our core values and beliefs and some of the action plans that we want to set up for oursel. Our current pathways vision uh has been in place for the last seven or eight years uh and has done some incredible uh things to provide some uh alignment of of initiative and programs and supports across the district uh and
020through the board's leadership uh using this opportunity uh to update our strategic plan with stakeholder participation and stakeholder involvement. Uh so with that 1,200 uh participant survey, we received a tremendous amount of uh feedback as to things that we're doing well as a district, things that we can improve upon, and then kind of what our hopes and dreams are for the future for our students uh and the opportunities that we can provide. Uh after October, uh we've had now two in-person session. uh one back on over November 6 uh where our board of education and leadership team uh had the opportunity to review all the information that came back from the community in that survey and to start to establish some themes of of some of the core values and those beliefs. Uh and then
021last night we had about 55 representatives from the community. We had students, we had support staff, we had faculty, we had uh building administrators, uh parents and community members participating. Um and I I want to thank Kevin McGawan who's been our facilitator kind of helping uh with the process. Uh Kevin has done an awesome job uh keeping the process moving and and valuing obviously all the feedback that we've received from all stakeholders. So last night's committee met for 4 hours. Uh you wouldn't think it was four hours. It went by really fast. Uh and we got a tremendous amount of uh feedback and input from all those critical stakeholder groups. Um so over the next several weeks uh we'll be gathering all that feedback and and kind of organizing in a way to present back
022to the board of education uh that we hope to kind of uh wrap up uh the process uh in January and have the opportunity by the start of the second semester uh to present um some some final uh strategic planning uh materials back to the board of education and then share it back out uh with the community. So, but again truly appreciate uh the input, the participation, the feedback uh that all stakeholders have provided uh throughout this process. Um and then finally uh November 20th uh is the next aderonic area school boards association. Our school board members for their own professional development uh participate in a variety of opportunities throughout the course of the school year. So, as much as we encourage our teachers and our support staff and administrators uh to participate in PD
023professional development, uh our board makes that same commitment. Uh so, the next meeting is actually it's a dinner meeting on uh November 20th uh at the Queensbury Hotel. It's a free dinner uh presentation this year uh this month uh sp sponsored by nicer and the focus is going to be on AI and understanding uh school board and the impact of AI technologies uh in education. So um if you're interested as board members um please let me know. Um we always try to get a few representatives to participate in the local area uh area school board association uh dinner meetings. That's what I have for tonight. So, I think we're think we're ready to turn it over for we have one formal uh presentation tonight. Uh and so John Goodson, uh Kelsey Allen, Holly Lewis, and
024and Bob Hill, as well as Jason Armstrong. And then I know we have a number of our student athlete leadership team members that are here with us tonight uh for their annual physical physical education, health, and athletics presentation. So, I'll turn it over to athletic director Goodson. All right. Thank you for having us tonight. I do want to take a moment and introduce our team. Uh, you can just Yeah, come right up. You want to just give them a little wave? We have Kelsey. We have Holly and Robert. Hi, Jennifer. Jason Armstrong. And then our students Elliot Eris and where's McKenna and McKenna. Right. So we have a nice team together tonight. And um at your table you should find our appreciation pin. I do want to take a moment and thank everybody for being
025part of the board. Um physical education and athletics. We have the privilege. We're in every building in the district. We use all facilities. Uh we couldn't have what we had if we didn't have the support of the board of education, our administrators, uh our teachers in the building level, our custodians, our facilities people, our transportation department. So really just wanted to take a moment and say thanks. A lot of times we just rush through things, but thank you for what you do in your role in allowing us to work with the kids. So Jason's going to present first on elementary PE. All right. Good evening, board. Uh, thanks for having me. Uh, I just want to get it out there. Please excuse my informal wear, uh, as I have not been home yet. So, um,
026just turn the other cheek. Appreciate it. But, um, just going to give you guys an update on what's going on in elementary PE K through five. Just an update on um, some of the initiatives and things that we've been discussing uh, as a program. Oops. Where is my Oh, where's my piece of it? The ass. Oh, I I had four slide five slides. H. Okay. All right. Um, is there any way we can get that? No, I don't know. Okay. All right. Um, so last week we met um for Superintendent Day for a curriculum renewal. Um some of the focuses that we had throughout the renewal um process is aligning our assessments between buildings. Um we're going to do an assessment inventory. Um essentially compiling everything that that we do at each building. Um and
027making sure that we're on the same level on the same page. Um it's going to give us some continuity between the district and just make sure that we're all doing the same things and we're we're um you know everybody's getting the same experience um at each at each school. Um I really wish I had my slides right now because this is uh Can Can we jump Can we jump and do this and we maybe we can I can load a different Yeah. I mean, it's just I can do it off the cuff, but it's it's not going to be very strong. Yeah. Can we tag in? Let's do it. Here, get your slides. Hi, I'm Kelsey uh Kelsey Allen. I am the DH for 6 through 12 health and PE. Um and since we saw
028you last, uh we've been doing a lot of really awesome fun things. Um we've been very busy. So, I'm going to start with the high school. Uh we were able to through the Saratoga Springs Education Foundation um get a class set of all abilities bikes last year. Um so we rolled those out in the unified classes at the high school and the middle school. Coach Bellinger, Coons, and Nizzy uh were amazing was rolling these out. Um and these bikes are adaptable in that they have um higher handlebars. Uh the students can either um stride with their feet or we can do a pedal conversion kit. Um and we also in our unified setting have um these unique peer partnerships um where we can offer additional support from peers. Um and this is just 6 through
02912. So just speaking to that, but I'm hoping that we can trickle this down into elementary level um so that we truly are getting all kids on bikes. Um super grateful for that grant. Um moving on, we're still fitness focused even after our great flood of 2025. Um, we are still super focused on this and using all of our beautiful facilities. Um, and we were featured in a platform article, um, which is our technology that we use in our fitness, um, center and for our strength and conditioning classes. Um, and they reached out and they wanted to highlight our programming um, and our student choice specifically. So, um, great highlight and great honor to be recognized by that organization. Um, last year, amazing that we got mountain bikes at Maple A. Still celebrating that. Um
030and now we are uh fully operational at the high school as well. So um we were able to get a full class set at the high school. Um completing the vision um that we had to get bikes at all levels. Um so we've got the equipment, we've got the teachers trained, we've got storage maintenance plan in place, and now we're just focusing on the actual implementation to again ensure that all students are able to ride bikes throughout our district. Um, we have to give a shout out to the people that made this possible. Um, the Saratoga Shredders, all their donors, and specifically Anna, who is uh the president of their organization. Um, Niles and Max at Greyos who actually built all those bikes. Um, our willing teachers who t took this new unit on, uh,
031which can be kind of scary, but, um, it's awesome. Um, and then, uh, DeWalt is the brand I use for the DIY um, storage. So, shout out to that. uh brand for building the um storage for our bikes at the high school. And then our students and I'm talking quickly because I want to focus on one of our amazing students. Um one of my favorite humans, Elliot Lester is going to come up. good evening everyone. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Elliot Lester and I'm a junior at Saratoga Springs High School. Earlier this year, when I saw adventure education in my schedule for gym class, I wasn't really sure what to expect and I didn't really know how it would go. Although, after the first couple classes, I knew it
032was going to be a very fun part of my day. One of the first units we did was the mountain biking unit. And what made this experience unique was that up to this point, I had never ridden a bike during gym class. Being able to do so during the school day was extremely fun and made the experience even better. Riding a bike is a great way to disconnect from the world and enjoy the outdoors while also being active. I can say with certainty that the mountain biking unit in ed adventure education was a hit fun and worth the time, money, and effort put in to attain the bikes. Apart from the biking mountain biking unit, taking adventure as a gym class is al is also enjoyable and a good way to make friends. I believe
033it's safe to say that I am happy and content with the gym class I'm taking this year. Thank you. All right. Uh, a couple more student shoutouts. Just wanted to give recognition to our uh, unified botchi team who they were featured in a Special Olympics New York um, monthly sendout where u, they were actually the champions of the month. Um, so Adam Walsh, Emma Robson, Olivia Simon, and Owen Thomas were recognized for not only their participation on the botchi team but also for competing in the fall games. Um, so again, just everybody watches unified sports. So, um, next up, Maple A, uh, PE. So, um, our Maple A unified PE class last year was, uh, it was our first year and they were invited to a youth activation committee event. Um, this is one of
034the first ones that we've had in the area. And basically, students come and they meet other area um, students who participate in Unified. They do uh community building, sport activities, and workshops um to make sure that they know how to get um back to their schools and make them more inclusive. Um and these youth activation committees are super important to keeping our champion banner status. Um and so I give credit to coach Coons and Coach Nizzy for um being the leaders at the middle school in our unified programming. Um and another focus uh was year two was just making our mountain biking unit better at Maple A. Um I talked about the maintenance so we um have that built into our budget so it's sustainable and and then it's just uh the impact that this
035unit has had on our students is very evident and I'm hoping this video uh plays if I press this button. Okay, that's it. [laughter] So just to see the impact on students in that way uh is really special and heartwarming. So um that's it for me. I now welcome our amazing health ed teachers to speak about the most important subject. I was gonna say that. Hi everyone. I'm Holly Lewis and I'm Bob Hill. Hi. This is my 22nd year teaching at the high school and my 29th year. We we are a package. Um hi everyone. Um we uh we teach across the hallway. We stand outside a lot and we talk Yes. a lot about Yes. about the only subject you need in in school, right? Um, so Bob and I are teaching a heavy
036and what that means is we each have six sections of health education uh per semester uh ranging from 28 students to 30 students per class. Last year this started as well because we're encouraging more freshmen to take health education, which I'm pretty pumped about. Um, I've been wanting that for years, so I'm excited to have the younger folk in my class. Um, as you can see from some pictures, there's a lot of group work. There's a lot of different activities. Health education at the high school level, but also the middle school level is more skills-based. So, it's us teaching content, but then throwing the students into activities with partners, with groups, or just doing self-reflection on what we went over, but also what's going on with their health and how they're going to maintain and
037and keep a good positive health and well-being into adulthood. Um, we had guest speakers already this year. We had the prevention council come in during the drug education unit and they played drug Jeopardy as you see at the bottom picture there. They had a great time uh with the prevention council and an individual from the healing springs. This winter we will also invite Wellspring in when we go over relationships and communication and going over toxic relationships versus healthy relationships with the students as we conclude our very short semester of trying to cram as much in as possible. Um, my students at the top left in the picture are engaging in my fun Friday activities where we take mindfulness walks either outside around the building or we do team challenges per groups. So, it works on
038communication, collaboration, and teamwork and just allows the kids to take a mental health break and have some fun and get to know each other. Um Bob and I also encourage our students to do daily or weekly journals within the classroom. So again, they're reflecting on their health, their week, their behaviors, and then their goals for the following week as they go uh into the next school week. Anything else? No. Okay. So, we're having a blast with some pretty big classes. Um and we look forward to another fun semester uh coming in January pretty quick. Thank you. Hi, my name is Jen Meade. I uh teach health at the middle school with Allison Hubs, who couldn't be here tonight. Uh we see our kids for the full year, but only once every three days in the
039cycle. Um and I think you're just getting some highlights from our program. Some of the things we're excited about, they do four weekly wellness challenges over the course of the year. um when they tackle like a health goal and they [clears throat] just finished their first one where they tackled something related to nutrition and 30 of them experienced success all seven days. Another approximately 50% were successful on most days. So um hopefully they're getting something out of that and that extra practice with setting goals for themselves um helps them to apply that to their own own lives as well. Some of the other things you might see coming around, um, something we're piloting this year, our first time, is information about tech time. So the kids are exploring the role of technology in their lives,
040particularly looking at the time they spend gaming, the time on social media, um trying to be able to identify misinformation and scams, uh understanding how they might be exploited online as well as um kind of diving into the risks and benefits of AI. That's been really interesting and they've had so much to say. Um, so I thought I would get through it quicker, but they they have a lot to talk about. Um, so that's nice to see. From a survey that we did, we know that more than half of them spend three or more hours on their screens every day separate from school and another um 16% spend five or more hours. Uh, so I think it's relevant and topical for them to be thinking about how to take control of their time. Um throughout
041the course we're empowering them to become more independent, to become more uh responsible about their own choices. They learn how to use Canva as a design tool for some of their projects. Um they learned how to use it to design a health quote. They just finished contributing recipes for a cookbook. Um, and the middle school hosted a Unity Day walk this year where last year's seventh grade's mental health ads were featured in the walk uh to let them know about resources that are available to them that they can access at any time if they are struggling. Um, 15% of our students rated their health mental health as not good most of the time or always. So, we want to make sure that they have access to those services at all times. Um, another thing I
042noticed when I when I asked them questions is they do self-identify that asking for help is a challenge for them. So like 24% of them said when they're when they're struggling, they have a hard time asking for help. So we also really work hard to give them opportunities to connect with their trusted adults multiple times throughout the school year um and then cover the traditional topics that you would see covered in health class um under that skill-based lens. So, they're learning about communication, decision-m, analyzing influences, setting goals for themselves um throughout the year. So, we're excited to kind of tackle those challenges and learn from them as we as we go. They've already taught me about some video games I've never heard of. Um [laughter] so, [snorts] we're looking forward to this year and continuing
043to improve uh the program for their benefit. Thanks, So this is a followup. The date is actually correct from 2324. If you remember, we went through our athletic program review at that time when we brought in the experts from Connecticut to go through our assessment. Those are still our our main focus points. And then under each main focus point, you'll you can see updates. So you can see in 20 2526 we added the clerk position in the office and added responsibilities with the clerk. Uh we added the salt team. We actually have some representatives here today. They're going to to talk about that. I'm currently part of a national intercolastic athletic association quality program assessment to try to continue this continue this work. So this is ongoing. This has become part of our athletic department
044strategic plan. And then this is how we're going to move forward. So this is part of the national intercolastic athletic association quality program assessment. Uh basically they take every aspect of my job and I'm able to send them evidence of meeting certain standards. They literally can grade it. Uh they give me feedback on it. we can then adjust it, send it back for more feedback. Uh, so we're literally I'm working through our right from our philosophy right down to our handbooks. Uh, this has been awesome in in our office. So, we're getting great feedback on our athletic department's um strategic plan. So, I'll continue to work through this throughout this year. If I end up with a grade or if we end up as a school with a grade of 80% or higher, we actually
045get recognized next year at the national. So, so that's my goal that we do some quality work. The sport offerings um last year were able to add the the unified botchi and the girls flag football. Still the emerging programs for New York State, all of the unified sports, those continue to grow. Uh, girls flag football is starting to grow and girls wrestling. What we're studying in our league is we're looking at the potential, you know, for next year and in years down the road, adding a potential modified nine flag football program. What would it look like if we added girls wrestling? the impact it could that would have if we added JV girls golf uh modified boys golf modified tennis and then currently the section is studying what would it look like if we added
046a second girls ice hockey team in section two and obviously we've been part of those those discussions as well. Uh, I know we hear a lot about uh, attendance uh, and enrollment numbers dropping, but participation numbers have been pretty consistent and are really strong. So, we're we're really healthy in our athletic participation numbers. And then I have Aerys here to speak a little bit about his experiences with our salt program. Good evening. My name is Aris Papus. I'm a sophomore and part of the JB volleyball and tennis teams. I'm a member of the student athlete leadership team at our school run by Mr. Goodson. As part of the scholar athlete committee within the salt club, my friend Elliot and I went to MapleB Middle School last June to talk to the entire eighth grade class
047during their flex period. I shared my experiences with high school sports, how expectations and time management and time commitments are different and more demanding compared to middle school, and how to balance athletics with school work. I also encourage them to get involved in their sport community, try new activities by stepping out of their comfort zone, and asking coaches for guidance when needed. It was great to see the middle schoolers engaged and asking questions. I hope what I shared with them helps them understand what to expect as they get ready for high school sports. I am looking forward to the possibility of presenting again to this year's current eighth grade class. Thank you. Thank you. And then we have McKenna to share some of her experiences. Good evening. My name is McKenny Caprio. Um some of
048the things I do in the high school, I'm a senior by the way. Um, I'm the president of the student athlete leadership team. I'm currently the football team manager who made it to the sectional finals this weekend. Um, awesome. Uh, I announced at the home football games and I'm a varsity lacrosse goalie and I'm also going to be helping out with the hockey team this winter. Um, overview of our program for the salt program. Um, we've done a lot in only two years of existence. We've been able to bring in mental health people to talk to our student athletes about the importance of mental health in sports and the importance of mental health and performance on the field and off the field. Um, also more about what he said about the importance of being a
049student before an athlete and just what that has. Um, we hope to get more accomplished this year in our club and just make it more like well known and just be a kind of an outlet for student athletes at the high school and also the middle school and hopefully get more people into the sporting program because playing sports is awesome and it teaches you so much. And I just wanted to say thank you to Mr. Goodson. I'm so grateful for the opportunities I've had at this school in the athletic program and how it will help me become successful in the future. Like this is what I hope to do at the next level and this school has really helped me like get a good like a good step stepping stone to the next level. Um
050so I'm just very thankful for the opportunities and I hope that we can accomplish a lot more this year um in the program and just in my experience overall. Thank you. So, I hope you hear that we have a student- centered program. I do want to highlight Josh there. Uh, he's studying the numbers. They had an outstanding swim season this year. Uh, undefeated season, winning the league, winning the section. Uh, our coaches are focused on our student athletes. Uh, those are some students at a game. Uh we have a lot of kids actually interested in photography and so they're coming to games and we're we're helping them, you know, expand that whole interest level, you know, in their their experience and that's our girls golf team after they um won the section. I want to
051highlight our our championship teams. Um we've heard it a couple times tonight. Uh but I wanted to thank our coaches and our student athletes and their families for all that they've given back to our school. So, congratulations to all of our our championship teams. And then a few programs that we're actively involved in that are New York State Public High School Athletic Association. Uh every year we send the data up to the state. Uh last year we won the school of excellence uh program again. We were one team and 1.5 points away from a school of distinction. And so that's on our radar for for this year, which would mean we'd have a 100% of our teams um as 90 or higher. Uh we're doing a lot through our leadership program with mental health. So
052we actually participated in this mental health awareness week where we shared what we were doing. So we won this banner. They sent a banner. I shared this at one of the games. We took a photo with all the kids. And so our students are doing a lot of work with with mental health awareness. Um we're also part of the state sportsmanship program. So we've been recognized for the efforts that we have in our sportsmanship programs. And then we're always trying to celebrate our student athletes. You heard about the letter of intent signing we had the other night. Uh it's the time of year where we're having our our banquetss. We celebrate them through their senior nights and then we have another nice little program in June where we highlight some seniors as well. And then
053every fall we have a hall of fame event where we bring back obviously alumni. We had another one this past year. We had a pretty special night. Awesome. All right. Great. Thank you. All right. Sorry for the hiccup. So, as I was saying, uh our curriculum renewal process starts this year. It's our uh six-year process. Uh we're in year one. Uh we met last week just to start that process and, you know, get the gears turning. So this year we're focusing on integrating our standards within the curriculum. We we already have that, but we're looking to continue to to build on that. Uh movement concepts, fitness planning, um etc. We we also met as a department. We don't we don't get to meet much as a K through 12 department, but we were able to
054discuss uh vertical alignment last week uh as well as horizontal alignment between the elementary buildings. Like I mentioned before, uh common assessments, our pacing and uh shared resources and equipment. Um we really want to emphasize uh inclusivity uh differentiation and developmentally appropriate activities for all learners. So, our assessment inventory analysis, we're looking to compile, like I said, all of our assessments from from around the district and compare and contrast. Um, we we want to see where we're similar, where we where we differ. We have a lot of great PE teachers in our elementary buildings um that do a lot of great things. So, we're looking to collaborate and and, you know, put put all those tools in into the buildings for everybody. um create consistency like I said um across the grade levels and um
055again looking to align the assessments with uh our PE standards. We also updated our report card comments um to modify or excuse me to reflect uh the New York State standards as well. Um they're not too different but they are directly linked to the standards just to uh to show that's what we're working on uh throughout the year. Uh, I won't read through them, you guys. This is that's what the parents are going to be seeing on the report cards from from now on for for our PE. And we're also moving to a one through four scale. We have a one through three right now. Um, with three being proficient, we wanted to um give that extra bump for kids that go above and beyond proficiency uh for exemplary. Now we don't have health per
056se um at the elementary buildings but we do have some health initiatives that we that we uh take part in. So our second step is our social emotional uh learning program. Um the focus of the program self-awareness, self-management, uh relationship skills etc. Um we also each year we do a family life program uh where one of our staff members will go into each of the elementary buildings and present to all fifth graders. Um the focus of the program is to help students understand human growth and development process. Um identify physical, emotional, social changes that occur during puberty and adolescence phase. Um create a safe environment where students can learn, ask important questions about their growth. Um it it's an uncomfortable conversation for a lot of kids, a lot of parents and and we we take
057that on and try to take that off off their plate for them. So, thank you guys. Does anybody have any questions? Lee. Um, so first of all, I just wanted to say thank you to the students, um, Elliot, Aras, and McKenna. It was really great um to hear your um your perspectives and um you talking so eloquently about um about your experiences with athletics here. Um I know it's can be difficult to get up here and do that. So, thank you. Um I also want to say to Coach Armstrong, I want to recognize the mental toughness and uh determination [laughter] that you just showed that you could develop through sports and living through um my personal worst nightmare. Um I just had a quick question about um the mountain biking um initiative. I I think
058it's really great. The whole program is great. Um and uh hearing about the inclusive learn to read bikes in the high school in Maple was great. Um I was just wondering if there if you could share a little bit about the plans for having them in elementary uh levels if there are any um challenges or bottlenecks to doing that or where they are with that. Elementary bikes. So we do have our bikes are um strider bikes. So, they're all fundamentally based on uh balance. And so, and and the whole idea behind them is that you're going to learn to to stride and then when you're ready, pick your feet up and glide. And then when you're ready, the bikes are made so we could take the little gliders out eventually, put pedals in if we
059need to adjust seats or if we need to adjust arm um handlebars. They're they're really totally adaptable when when you have a fizzed class. Like if you were to come in here, they have the small ones over here and they have it all lined up as they as they get larger. So they're totally adaptable um bikes. Yeah, that's great. So students with any with all types of um disabilities can can can use them. The ones that you have? Yeah, I would say all if not most most students can definitely use them. Yeah, that's great. Any other questions, Connie? Um, I really just have some comments. I do want to thank the students that spoke tonight from the the salt team and congratulations to all of our teams. Um, the students obviously have been working very
060hard, but the coaches as well. Um, and we're lucky to have coaches. Um, some of our coaches really do focus on trusting the process and they don't really focus on winning, but sometimes that does work out. Um, and it does feel nice when it does. Um, I love the biking program. I think it's really awesome that we are providing opportunities for kids that may not have access to bikes or learning how to bike. Um, maybe someday we can drownproof our student body too with a pool, but I won't belabor that. Um, and I do want to acknowledge the health teachers. Um, my kids have not had Mr. Hill, but I know Mrs. Lewis um has been a topic of conversation at our dinner table. She's very professional, but you know, you make it fun and
061you know, there's cander um in the classroom, but I love how truly like you do um focus on the importance of all aspects of health and um so good job. Thank you, Beth. Um well, I also want to say thank you to our students. Um it was wonderful to hear your perspective and your hear your voices um and all the ways in which kind of athletics and your involvement um has mattered to you. Um I also really appreciate the mention of mental health in so many different ways. Um, you know, athletics has played a really important role in my family's life and um and for me personally and I think there's a fine balance between kind of the pressure that you can feel um but then all of the intrinsic ways and intrinsic um benefits
062of being a part of a team and learning how to lose and learning how to work um learning how to communicate, learning how to take direction from a coach. I mean, there's just so many ways in which I think um being involved in athletics can really um help someone's mental health. And so, I really love the way that you incorporated that into your presentation um both kind of directly kind of in your mental health awareness week and some of those initiatives, but then also the benefits that our students talked about. So, thank you all for that. Any other board member comments or questions? All right. Thank you so much. We really appreciated it. [applause] So, also just want to thank all of [clears throat] our students for awesome job in the presentation. Thanks to our
063fizzed and health teachers, uh, Mr. Goodson, uh, for your leadership. Uh, so great job, uh, tonight with the presentation and keep up the great work. Thank you. All right. 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 by law cannot be included in a consent agenda. And when this happens, we pull those out and
064vote 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. Beth, are there any modifications to tonight's agenda? There are. We have several. Um the first is personnel item H6 is modified um to reflect a um a different end date for a notification of a leave for one of our staff members. Um and then we have two uh well we have another personnel item. Um and uh actually let me read this this one first. Um we have an a modification to we are adding G4 uh which is new business and this is to approve
065the an agreement with Scott Singer and I will read uh the resolution that goes along with that. Be it resolved that the agreement by and between the Saratoga Springs City School District and Scott Singer dated November 12th, 2025 is approved and superintendent of schools Dr. Michael Patton is authorized to execute the same on the board's behalf. We then have a modification to a personnel item. We are adding item H21. This is to approve um the Saratoga Administrative Association administrative resignation. So be it resolved that the board of education accepts and approves Mr. Singer's resignation from employment for personal reasons effective the close of business on November 13, 2025. And then finally, we have an item that will be per pulled. This is personnel item uh H11. And so that will be pulled from the consent
066agenda. So with that, I would like to make a motion to approve consent agenda items G, H, and I in their entirety along with any items listed under F, modifications to the consent agenda. Can I get a second, Connie? All in favor. Okay, that's unan Oh, I'm sorry. Any discussion? Okay, that's unanimous. This moves us to our second public comment period. Are there any members of the public who wish to address the board? All right, seeing none, we're going to move to agenda planning. Um, and I know that we have one that the board was informed about by Matt. Uh, yeah, thank you. Um, so I sent you all this. Um, I'd like to at the next meeting make a motion that during the tech presentation on February 11th, the presenters include data showing how
067students whose education includes AI have better outcomes than students who educ whose education does not. Uh Ideally the presentation will site studies that look at comparable classes or schools one which uses AI directly with students and one which is not. Uh I'm interested in data that looks uh at outcomes beyond the class itself. Uh for example students who were taught using a combination of AI and human teachers had better AP lang scores than those who were taught only by a human teacher or SAT scores went up more for students whose class was hybrid AI teacher uh versus those who were human teacher only. Um, I'm not I I don't really want to hear about like students who used AI got better grades on the papers than students who didn't. Um, I want to sort of
068see like long long term or school term uh process. You know, I at the last last year when we had this presentation, we sort of saw how kind of how neat I guess I would say AI can be in the classroom, but we don't we don't we didn't really talk about how it actually is working in education. And so I'm hoping to get some data on that at that presentation next this year. I I you know defer to Dave, but um I think asking for data is premature right now because I don't think we're collecting that type of data. Not our data like like any studies out there that show efficacy of of this. Yeah. Anything like it doesn't have to be our school at all. Yeah. Yeah. Just when you're saying a comparison that
069Yeah. We're not. No, I I think I mean I think all of AI is pretty new in education, but so I just if we're if we're using this with our students, I I I would love to see some data that shows like we think it's going to be good for them and that's a the conversation with the Adorank School Boards Association meeting, you know, so I think we'll learn a little bit from that conversation uh from a regional perspective. But I just, you know, in talking with Dave earlier, I'm like, geez, some of the information you're asking for, we're not even scratching the surface to collect that type of data yet. So, just don't don't want to be able to not produce information, you know, because we're we're just not there collecting any of that
070yet. Yeah, I guess that was my question. Is is anyone there yet? I'm wondering. so longevity with it being so new. I would support the ask if if there's a lot of grace in what there might be out there and if I it's just so new. I don't know that we can have a longevity study with it yet or anybody not us but out there. So, I'm guessing you've seen stuff that might be out there or you're just curious to be about what is I mean, all the stuff I've seen and and I think these are all short-term studies because AI is a pretty short-term thing. I understand that, but seem to show that AI has a negative impact on student outcomes and and intellectual measures. So, I'm hoping that we have that if we're
071going to continue to use this in our schools, I'd like to I'm just want to see some data that shows that we we think it'll be good at least, if not not just like, oh, it's neat. Um, which I feel like a lot of our presentations have been like, check out this cool thing we can do. Okay. Um, Connie, and then I just want to clarify too that we'll have like a more robust discussion next time. This is just the announcement of it. Um, so you can prepare questions and etc. Go ahead, Connie. So, I appreciate your question, Matt, because it's almost like, hey, if we ask this about cell phones like 15 years ago, you know, and they're banned now. So, there's that. So, I I get the logic. I did have just a
072funny joke, bump them, like we could ask AI what studies [laughter] we could come up with, right? That exists. I'd like real data, notary data there. I I do like to Mike's point, I if I did look, I doubt there's any primary research right now that has that, but I'm sure we could get some researchers to to get on that. I mean, I guess I'll just say, well, okay, go ahead, Tony. I was gonna say I guess I'll just say that if we don't have evidence that there it's improving outcomes, then I have concerns about us using it. Um, go ahead, Tony. Yeah, I I think um I I I'm in support of what I'm perceiving to be the spirit of Matt's ask and and that is that there be awareness of um you know
073the the many and various sides of the use of AI in the classroom and in in um and and beyond the classroom. uh and that there be an intentionality to our approach to using it. Um I don't know how the data will show that, but I I'd love to see and and just a side question, February 11th, what is the what's the theme of that? Why why is that? That's the it present. Oh, that's it. Okay. So, yeah, just I'd like to piggybacking here, I'd like to see um an awareness um and a and a plan for um assessing the use the the the potential benefits and pitfalls of of using AI alongside along the lines of what Natalia just said. If if the evidence isn't there, then why are we considering using it? I'm
074not saying we shouldn't be, but I' I'd love an answer to the question of why. Um, and and if there's data that that uh that shows um trends in in student um you know uh student outcomes associated with AI, great. Uh but um I'm just kind of musing, but I I'm in support of the the general philosophy here. Yeah. I mean, I I think also sort of the the spirit of my proposal is I kind of don't want us experimenting on our kids to see if it works. I kind of want someone else to say like, "Yeah, this is probably going to help your students and not hurt your students before we start using it." So, Angie, go ahead. I was going to say, so we will have a continued discussion on this next meeting
075um which is I think December 11th um during agenda planning. So, we can continue to discuss at that point. But if anybody else wants to make a comment now, please do. Okay. Thank you. Are there any other agenda planning items? Okay. Seeing none, we'll do board member comments. Go ahead, Tony. Um, I'd like to thank uh Hannerford Helps uh for their monetary donation of $2446 uh that's going into the general supplies fund. Um uh thank you Hannerford for that. Um and then also just kind of quick uh report slash uh suggest um on the uh we we passed our our board goals tonight in the consent agenda and uh I was a member of the breakout team that talked about the student representative student voice section of that. Um we are going to uh meet
076before the next board meeting in December to talk about number three on that list which is the onboarding manual. So we're making some progress there. And then I wanted to just sort of suggest I'm by no means the final word on this, but I wanted to suggest um pursuant to number one on that list, which is that the board and somehow identify um and communicate to our student reps um suitable sections of our existing agenda for where their voices might um be expanded. Um, I'd like to suggest that that this very, um, section is a is a good starting point if you have, um, you know, ideas, uh, uh, observations, comments on anything that's important to you or to your peers, um, board member comments, your student board members, it it might be a good
077a good place to start. And I'm willing to have be told that that's not as well, but I just wanted to throw that out there. Any other board member comments? Okay. Um, seeing none, could I please get a motion to enter executive session? Um, sorry, give me one moment to discuss pending litigation and legal advice. Angie and Lee has a second. Any discussion? Okay. All in favor? That's unanimous. Um for members of the public, while we will re-enter uh public session after executive session, it will be for less than a moment and we will not take any actions in public session. Thank you so much.