001thank you we are now back in Open session for those who weren't here when I called to order originally this is the Thursday June 20 2024 regular business meeting of the Saratoga Springs City School District Board of Education welcome would you now uh join me for in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance there we are 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 liy and justice for all and we start with uh Dr Patton and some athletic team recognitions well good evening everyone uh thank you for coming out this is our our last regular business meeting of the current school year uh so again want to start by thanking the board uh for their outstanding leadership throughout the course
002of the school year uh and thank you for the um tremendous Community participation uh that we get throughout the year from our students from our parents from community members uh so again it's always nice to have uh students here with us to kick off uh any of our uh regular business meetings so this has become almost uh a common place uh at the end of the season uh we seem to be doing this uh uh each at the end of each um Sports season in recognizing state championship teams uh and our Runners uh here in Saratoga Springs uh continue to do amazing things um uh n the track and cross country and indoors uh and uh obviously they work very hard as a team uh pushing each other uh every single day to get better
003uh and want to thank coach zenetti and Coach Conley I see coach hook over there uh but the tremendous efforts of our coaches and the dedication uh and the time that they spend with our student athletes away from their families uh just to provide outstanding opportunities uh for for our Runners uh throughout the course of the school year I want to thank our parents uh again for your time and commitment and your dedication obviously to uh supporting our student athletes uh throughout the year U many of you travel all over the the state and the country um providing opportunities for uh for your uh Sons to be able to participate so uh this is quite an honor most school districts can go several years uh until we have the opportunity to uh recognize state championship
004teams and uh again because of just the incredible support and effort uh dedication of our coaches and student athletes uh this has become pretty Common Place uh here in Saratoga Springs something that we definitely do not take for granted so I'm going to turn over Mr Goodson our director of Athletics uh physical physical loation and health is here uh with our coaches uh and tonight we are recognizing our 4 by 800 state championship boys Relay Team yeah so if we could have the coaches come forward please and just to Echo some of these same sentiments as Dr Patton I definitely want to thank our parents thank our student athletes for all the support that you provided your students over this year and definitely thank you all the coaches for all the time you given then
005the coaches will call up the kids they have little certificates for them and we'll take a group photo so this was a great year for these young gentlemen because uh as Dr Pat said it's come a common place especially for these young men who won the State title in Cross Country they won the State title in the 4X indoor track and now they're the state champions once again in outdoor track and we had a great state meet I just want to recognize one other athlete Daren pic who's been on the board all year he actually ran a fantastic time at the state meet as well so 9904 in the 3200 was awesome uh but for our 4 by unfortunately three of them are seniors I'd love to see them continue on with the team they're
006just a joy to coach they're a joy to be with so without further Ado the 4 by 800 meter state champions Owen blazel Charlie dybala Luke d and Jake burn the most the most recent for our seniors awesome so now back to the mundane uh I do need uh please a motion to approve the meetings meeting minutes from the June 6th meeting I have a John bugman second John Ellis any discussion all in favor that is looks like8 nothing with one abstention from trustee Alor or sorry do you want to vote no okay abstention um similarly I need a motion to accept this evening's agenda as presented uh Natalia second Beth all in uh any discussion all in favor same as last time Bobby 8 Z with one abstention from trusty elor um which brings
007us to public comment and we do have some uh on behalf of the board I want to thank all community members in attendance tonight for your engagement we truly value input from the community and are grateful you are here please note that board of education meetings in New York state are not public meetings with real-time dialogue between officials and Spectators they are board meetings held in public where we conduct the business of the board with one another but do so visibly so that maximal transparency and information sharing with the public can be achieved there is no conversation between the board and the public during our meetings however we do provide two public comment periods during which speakers May address the board to share information and opinions that may inform our work we are eager to
008hear your voices and opinions if your statement or question question requires followup the appropriate District official will be in touch outside the confines of this meeting to enable an efficient environment in which the board can complete the meeting's planned agenda the first public comment period is limited to 30 minutes total while the second comment period has no official time limit the ground rules for public comments include asking speakers and the audience to conduct themselves in a civil and constructive manner we are invested in hearing your voices and ask that you model the same respectfulness we expect from the students of our district we do not allow comments about specific individual employees students or trustees whether they are complimentary or not and whether they are identified by name or some other indicator of who they are
009we also ask that you be succinct and try not to repeat previous speakers in order to allow more people the opportunity to address us we now open the first public comment period each speaker is allotted a maximum of 3 minutes and the period is limited to 30 minutes total the first three slots are always reserved for students of the district should any wish to speak to the board and I do see I think a group might are you going to come up as a group a a group will come up um and and speak to the board first before you address the board please clearly state your name uh first up is our group of students Addison Kenny Mia Wisher and Holly McDonald hi I'm Holly McDonald hi I'm Addison Kenny hi I'm Mia Wisher
010um so first off the summers at the high school have to wait for the sports bus coming from Maple La middle school and usually athletes arrive 30 minutes after practice has already started at Skidmore losing valuable practice time for majority of the team skore needs to get in in the water further practice several times a week at 4:30 this impacts our ability to compete with the better teams in our sections the Skidmore pool is also rented out by a local club team until closing after skidmore's practice so changing the time isn't possible if we want to get there on time we need to find our own rides and arrange car pools for a swimmer a standard practice usually runs 2 and 1 half hours but we were limited to an hour and a half to
0112 hours because we use Skin War pools and their team uses the pool for practice right after ours so being late cuts into our already condensed practice schedule driven by skin more swim team plus there's almost no other place for us to swim because of this little to no availability at the YCA as underclassman without any cars we had to arrange rides and find places to put our swim bags every morning this was really stressful when rides change and in the morning getting things organized many times I was lucky that my grandfather would pick me and a few customers up and bring us to the pool this went on for two years until I was able to get my license at the beginning of this year as a junior being that I drove this year
012I could bring some teammates but being a junior I was faced with the additional challenges of not being able to park on school grounds and struggling with the Ci's toour parking limit on most of the side streets next to the high school I had to park blocks away and at the end of the day my teammates and I would rush to our cars to get to practice as soon as we could my parents even reached out before the start of the school year about the parking issue and because of construction Administration was unable to give Juniors parking spots when the season was more than halfway through I was able to apply and get Junior parking but it was still a race to get over the skim more safely and use our valuable pool time we
013understand getting a pool may be difficult but I watch the football baseball and other sport teams transition easily from class to practice I can only hope that by getting a pool other swim athletes will not have to endure added stress and be able to practice as an athlete and student our swim team has competed in sectional every year and have produced numerous College athletes and state championship contenders all with a rented pool our large competition teams such as Shen NY Shaker Gilder Troy and many other have campus pools and the ability to directly train on campus we contend with them and many times talk them but having a pool would give us the ability to step into the Next Generation as far Asing at the high school and I need to wrap up by stating
014I am a Red Cross certified lifeguard and water safety instructor my interactions with families and young swimmers have made me aware of the increasing need to teach people water safety the children I work with come with limited understanding of pool safety and undeveloped swimming skills there is a need for swim instruction and early intervention to keep children safe and develop our swim program swimming ends up being a lifelong activity and Years After High School the gift of swimming can help a person stay physically fit and healthy you allowing us the time toep the for thank you uh next up is Andrew bow I am generous oh sure thanks all good thank you all good we can start the clock and you're on Mr B thank you very much uh we've met before um I'm very
015passionate about the swimming pool for Saratoga School District my daughter was a swimmer for many years it benefited her physically uh socially and definitely academically as well because you learn a lot of discipline and you learn how to deal with management too a coach is like a manager so it's good life training so very broad set of things why do I why did I hand you an Excel spreadsheet well I am a numbers guy and I've been in meetings recently where people have said oh you don't provide any data well here's the answer here's the data the data comes from the New York Education website it's a spreadsheet from them it's great it shows some districts it shows the the levies that are imposed by those districts it shows the enrollment numbers and we've added
016which of these areas around here have swimming pools the two kind of headlines you know when you're reading a newspaper you most people only read the headlines so I'll read you the headlines the headlines are Saratoga Springs has a large enrollment compared to skti Albany we're a pretty large enrollment here but we don't have a swimming pool for the school district why is that Saratoga Springs has the third largest tax levy in this group and it's pretty it's a group around this area it's representative I've not biased the data but it doesn't have a swimming pool for the school district we are not short of money in this school district and I really just want to make the point safety academic achievement benefits for other athletes not just swim athletes recovery from injuries these are
017all the benefit benefit to the community have you tried going to the Y to do lap swimming you can't get a spot I was sent to by one of the girls here she said hey why don't you do the walking Lane so you had me I'm very fit I run 5K races now is in the walking Lane about 30 30 seconds waiting to try and get waiting to try and get a swim we lack swim capacity in this school district so this is about the Community it's including it's not just the students it's all of us and it's visitors potentially thank you for listening to me I hope my passion came across but if someone says oh they don't have the detail I'll give you even more detail if you want thank you thank you
018next up is Mike Panetta good evening thank you for this opportunity I'm going to expand a little bit on what you've heard recently for the past couple people um I'm Mike pett I'm in the district here I have three daughters here two at the high school and one at Maple Middle School i' like to bring a light in important topic I think is great consideration by our schools and that's water safety and Equitable access to pools we're fortunate to live in an area that has an abundance of nature with access to waterways for boating swimming and other outdoor recreation what is missing is consistent access to and less financial burden for individuals and families to pools has anyone ever tried to reserve L the why once again you you pay your fee you get access
019to their app and as apps go they're not the most technology stable nor userfriendly app that's been developed if you figure out how to navigate the app you can try to reserve a lane forget it at the same day you got to plan 40 hours in advance and hope that one of the seven maybe 10 45 minute spots is open for you to be and this it's in your time frame simply said it's frustrating the talk on their pool deck that I've had with some community members is that it's the same and the community members are looking for and hoping for a better option as a school district It's Our obligation to provide Equitable opportunities to our students and community in fact it's one of the pillars of Pathways of vision statement important skills like
020water safety learn to swim lifelong Fitness are left to the Community Resources and to our families to make the choice to join and be taught not to mention drawning is the second leading cause of death in the United States among kids between the ages of 5 to 14 years old families should not to have should not have to choose between paying for that or something else that needs to be provided for their family schools similar to Saratoga Springs have one and in some cases multiple pools for their students and Community use swim lessons and water safety instruction are part of the physical education curriculum and mandated for kids to attend opportunities for the communities to pool for lifelong Fitness are also provided along with lifeguard certification classes and competitive swimming and Diving teams the advantages
021of having a pool far outweigh the fiscal impact we might contend with when it literally could be a matter of life and death It's Our obligation to provide Equitable access we owe it to our community to take an honest and hard look at this issue This is Our obligation to our community and one that could have tremendous impact for future Generations here in Saratoga Springs thank you for your consideration thank you next up is Laura defend derer good evening I hardly know any of you because I lived here for less than a year I'm a Navy spouse um and I have three children here in the school district one at the high school level one at Maple and then one at geyser so I have that whole bus schedule thing to compend with um but
022all three of my children have swam in the past we moved here last year from Florida where every high school has a pool that's understandable they're all outdoor pools it's different down there it's very very competitive and so everyone has a pool before that we lived in Colorado Springs where each of the high schools in Colorado Springs had a pool before that we lived in Falls Church Virginia where the school the high school had a pool before that we lived in chivista California with multiple high schools all of which had a pool so I moved here knowing that there was a large population of students since I saw that the high school has over a thousand students and based on my experience I expected that the high school would have a pool and was very
023surprised when I found out that they did not and I've spent time talking to parents of other swimmers coaches who have lived here and their other children have already graduated from the Saratoga Springs School District and I don't completely understand why Saratoga Springs doesn't have a a pool and I'm hoping that perhaps the board could provide some transparency on things that I've been told that the that the county provided some funds to the YMCA back when the one on West AV was being built to help them build the pool and so the one at Maple AB was not constructed instead and that the YMCA said that they would provide some opportunity for the school district to use it for competitive swimming and then once it was built decided that they needed the income that they
024could get from charging for swim lessons and things like that instead and therefore did not provide it um I guess except during covid when the boys team was allowed to swim after the YMCA was closed which as a parent I've got to say I'm not sure I consider reasonable so I came here tonight while my children are swimming at the YMCA by the way um just to say that I really hope that if you are considering putting in a pool that you will do it that you'll find the money that you'll work it out with the YMC that you'll do something so that these kids don't have to bust over to Skidmore and spend the whole season fundraising um because that's an extra burden that they shouldn't have to bear when so many other teams
025don't I can understand a minimal amount of fundraising and I don't know exactly how much we're paying Skidmore but it's enough that we did a heck of a lot of fundraising more than I would expect so as someone who has the perspective of having lived all over the country I want to say I was surprised that you don't have a pool and even though I won't be here if you do get one I hope you do anyway so thank you for your time thank you our last speaker in the first uh public comment period is Mark Crockett we need a pool that's not my subject but sounds like we do never thought about the safety aspect I but it makes sense um first of all I want to thank the board for serving this year
026many of you know me but I've kind of disappeared for a year but I just want to touch on a couple topics tonight I wanted to thank all of you for serving specifically recognize John Ellis and Amanda who are leaving the board and uh just one a couple items um Dr Patton probably a year or so ago when we were upgrading this District was upgrading their website I said you know why don't we put the curriculum on the website uh since a lot of us were asking for curriculum information Freedom of Information Act going through that whole gyration and that still hasn't happened and uh so I think transparency so so parents can see what's being taught should be there um and it was interesting to me that two of the candidates who uh are
027going to be joining the board here shortly ran on a policy of I'll call it non-transparency that basically parents didn't need to be involved didn't need to know what was being taught and and also maybe parents shouldn't understand if there's gender actions being taken now to me that's ridiculous okay as as a grandparent now parent before parents should be involved they shouldn't run the school they they don't they don't have to teach the classes the teachers are great but what's being taught should be available to the parents and they should have a say if parents shouldn't be involved why is there a school board the school board is elected by the parents the taxpayers of the city school district so in my mind taking actions with a student that could hurt them physically or emotionally
028and having the parents not know is wrong and there are children they're not the district's children thank you thank you that closes the uh first public comment period there is a second public comment period at the end of the meeting uh we turn now to uh board committee reports are there any board committee reports I'm seeing a nodding head I'm seeing three at least um go ahead why don't you start thanks Tony uh although the property committee did not meet uh I typically touch Bas with John Tiner prior to the meetings just to see if there's anything interesting uh in the world of property and and Facilities to discuss and so just want to bring forward that uh starting next Thursday the day after graduation phases 2 three and four of the current Legacy project
029will be in full swing uh at the high school Greenfield and Division Street and included in this scope of work will be boilers roof work and classroom Renovations and again that'll start next Thursday thanks are there any questions for Dean on property okay uh John why don't you go next uh policy committee has um had several meetings some of the results of those meetings are on our agenda tonight you'll see a um a policy and a regulation included for first read and you'll see a policy and regulation that we're voting on to adopt tonight as uh for the second read in addition um we have been discussing the um District safety plan as we do every year and uh the policy committee has reviewed that plan and it is it is going through an extensive
030vetting process and uh will come to the board uh in the coming days any questions for John all right uh Angie all right finance committee met as well um got a few things all positive to report we um went out for and got a higher reimbursement rate through June of 2028 for our community eligibility provision which is our reimbursement for school lunches um going from 26% 27.4% and that's a really great win for us um and our budgeting we also had um our bond rating which I think was reported last um last board meeting but with the bond rating of being a double A+ is that how you say it double A+ um S&P Global and being rated very stable along with um us having 16 plus biders for a bond we recently sold um
031we're looking very positive and strong in financial shape and then our 2023 24 audit external J auditing is already underway and in the building downstairs not as we speak but every day and they did interview me as um a board represent representative on Tuesday just to talk about um our our budgeting process and and such so that is underway and on time so that is my finance committee report any questions for Angie all right thank you uh any other board committee reports I don't think so but um all right that moves us on to our final student representative reports uh elanar and Darren you're on for your final time thank you uh in advance and and we'll have some words from Dr Patton after this thank you um the high school had a smooth end
032of the year and the seniors participated in their Elementary School walkthroughs with their caps and gowns on on Monday uh which was a full iCal moment with each other um graduation for the class of 2024 will be held at spa on Wednesday June 26th at 9:00 A.M all are welcome to celebrate 13 years of hard work for our graduates um all elementary schools have had fun end of the Year celebrations including field trips Field Day Flag Day Town shows and more and like Darren talked about they also enjoyed the senior walkthroughs where stud to be graduate shared their post grad plans with the fifth grade students and answered questions before receiving treats and advice cards from the students and I did it and it was so cute and I loved it so um and then
033all elementary schools are also celebrating fifth grade moving up ceremonies and hope students have a great summer that's all thanks any questions for our student Representatives I do want to uh thank you for your year of service and your dedication uh hard work it's a lot on top of the huge impacted schedules that you you have already and uh I think as part of uh Dr Patton's uh administrative reports we'll get a little more gushy go ahead you're up might as well start with that so uh we are so fortunate here in Saratoga Springs uh to have a tradition of having student Representatives serve on our Board of Education uh it's been in place for many many years uh so when I came on board six seven years ago it was great to see that
034you know valuing the the input and participation in the feedback of our students uh at all levels but to have the opportunity as students sitting on a board governance team and and just seeing you know all of the ins and outs of of school operations uh from a leadership perspective is just an incredible experience uh for our students and uh each year we are so fortunate uh to have students who really you know understand uh but dedicate themsel uh to the role and learn about the the roles and responsibility of of being a a board trustee a student representative trustee uh so this year both Elanor and Darren uh have done just a tremendous job uh the hours that they put in at the table um being here at all of our business meetings participating
035in workshops uh you know going above and beyond uh to gather information from uh all of our principles it's great to hear the reports of all the things that are going on across the district and what I love is they really do take the time uh to make sure our elementary schools and our middle schools are represented obviously as high school students it's easy for them because they live it uh every day but they do uh you know invest a lot of their time uh making sure that all of our our schools are are represented so uh so again I want to thank them uh for their dedication and their time they've committed to it hopefully they've learned a lot uh and inspired you that someday down the line that you'd like to run for
036your own local Board of Education would be an awesome experience uh so Elanor is a senior uh so she'll be graduating next Wednesday so looking forward to congratulating her uh on her graduation and uh her plans are to head off to University of New Hampshire uh to study business so we want to congratulate Elanor so in the time that I've been here Darren actually is the first student representative to serve as a junior uh so uh we know that obviously our student schedules are incredibly busy uh academically when they're challenging themselves with the high level of coursework but also their extracurricular involvement whether it be in sports whether it be in the plays whether it be in Arts and Music uh and so as you heard from our coaches Darren is probably one of our
037most decorated Runners uh in our program who spent a tremendous amount of time uh out on the roads pounding the pavement and on our track uh but we are very fortunate uh that Darren will be returning as a senior next year uh at the high school so but again want to thank Darren uh for everything he's done serving on our our Board of Education and thank him for all his efforts this year so this is all so uh a Bittersweet uh time of year uh when we are planning for transition on the board of education not only from our students perspectives but from the adult perspective as well uh and so we have two of our board members Tonight is their last official business uh serving as trustees on the board of education so I
038want to you know take the time to thank both Amanda and John uh you know starting first with Amanda Amanda's been with the board now for three years uh and again has to put in a tremendous amount of time and effort it's great that our girls come and they I don't think they've missed too many meetings uh they've enjoyed the little snacks and different offerings and give us a pretty good critique right of of of of the of the different things that are going on uh but Amanda uh has done a great job uh obviously uh representing our Elementary St school students and and parent perspective uh she has served on the property committee uh and again just has dedicated tremendous amount of time and effort on behalf of our students here in the school
039district so we want to thank Amanda for her three years of serving on the board of education and next up is John Ellis uh John is completing his third term so in the world of a board of education trustee nine years is really an incredible accomplishment um so we are so fortunate uh to have somebody like John in our community who has dedicated so much of his time uh and effort um John and I go way back uh back in the days when I was starting as a young school counselor in Boston spa uh John and I came into the Boston spa District about the same time uh we work side by side in growing the lacrosse program down there and I know what an impact he had on the Boston spa Community uh in
040Improv proving their facilities and grounds he took really great pride in his work there uh and then so when I got to uh Saratoga Springs John had already been serving on the board uh he's a very active participant um locally in the political scene but as well as a board member really takes his role seriously uh through his participation in the adonic school boards Association uh with our Legacy planning projects uh he's been with us every step of the way uh serving our Legacy referendum and advisory committee both the first phase and again now uh he has served as the chair of the property committee uh for several years uh he knows the ins and outs of facilities and operations and obviously he's a huge advocate uh when it comes to our CCA staff and
041the important work that they do to make sure that teaching and learning can take place across the district so so nine years uh is just a commendable um you know uh thing that John has done and in dedicating his service to the board of education so want to thank John Ellis Mike let me let me just jump in and say that uh the board has uh some gifts and I've got some parting um praise for uh for John and Amanda at that I'll deliver during uh board member comments so one of the last things that I have just for our board trustees uh again what a a wonderful tradition uh as a as a board member leaves the Board of Education uh to dedicate uh their time and their service to the school district uh
042we have the pathways to Innovation outside the high school uh so if you walk out to the main entrance and you look left uh for both Amanda and John uh there'll be a brick uh with their name on it as board trustees that will go into uh the pathways and so uh you'll be here with us uh and thank you obviously for uh your tremendous commitment to our school district and to our kids so look for that uh in the coming months and uh forgot to say that um Natalya will have something for uh ler and Darren during board member comments as well so just a few other uh superintendent updates um just to kind of bring the board uh up to speed of some work uh that Bobby and Jerry Keenan our director of
043uh Transportation uh and myself um obviously feedback throughout the course of the school year uh from our students from our parents and from their from our community uh with some of the struggles Transportation wise uh not only Saratoga Springs is having but every single School District in the State uh when it comes to the bus driver shortage uh and so our transportation staff has been working extremely hard this year as underst staffed as they are uh and through Jerry and Kim's leadership and working with our drivers and mechanics and routing Specialists and dispatchers um they're just they're doing an incredible job with the difficult situation uh that they're faced with every day um so whether it's our regular bus routes during the school day whether it's our after school Runs for kids to be able
044to stay after school to our Athletics runs uh field trips this year um you know we know there are challenges uh each day that our that our transportation department is faced with uh so what we have uh been working on o over the last several weeks uh and the board actually is going to be approving um a contract uh is to have a veteran group uh through the F Bois that's Franklin Essex Hamilton bosies uh both Paul overb uh Paul just retired as the New York state director of Pupil Transportation for the New York State education department and Greg diffenbach uh that he's got over 30 years of expense uh of experience uh and he uh is recently retired as the Director deputy director of administrative Management Services for cap region Bose's and Greg actually
045started his career here in Saratoga Springs uh in our business office so he's very familiar with our school district uh and the challenges in transportation so we're going to be uh working uh with them uh it's the on the bus transportation planning Service uh they have been working with about a dozen school districts just this spring uh in the State uh for a scope uh a transportation study uh for them to be able to come in it's just a fresh sh of eyes you know folks from the outside to come in uh to review our district current routing structure our tier system right now we're in a two-tier system so our our Middle School and High School arrive and dismiss at approximately the same time and then we have all six elementary schools dismissing at
046the same time so evaluating our current system versus future options and to evaluate and analyze the efficiency of of our routes uh also we we have a lot of responsibilities that the general public isn't you know completely aware of uh whether it's just getting our own kids to and from school our special ed population uh students whether it's osis or private placement uh we have many kids mckin vento or homeless students that we have uh the responsibility to transport up to 50 miles away so we have students that literally travel close to 50 miles to and from school every day that our transportation department uh is responsible for uh getting to school uh safely each day our Sports runs our late runs uh again all those after school needs that we know many of our
047kids are are participating in so opportunity to review for efficiencies and Improvement of our current processes and in practices and policies as they relate to Transportation um how do we uh become more efficient in our routes uh to help address some of the driver shortage issues uh but also at the same time maintaining some of the travel times because I don't think none of us want our kids on the bus longer than they need to um but again with a a staffing analysis of our current transportation system uh based on our needs uh again these are the real struggles that every single District I I don't think I don't have one colleague in any other District that uh right now transportation is is one of the major challenges that that school districts are facing so
048uh so they're going to be working with us over the summer and our plan is to have a presentation to the board of education at our August meeting uh with some recommendations to the school district uh things that we can look to do to improve um moving forward so um so again we're excited uh about the opportunity uh engaging our transportation department our drivers again are very interested in providing their feedback um as well as our routing Specialists and dispatchers uh just again again look at ways that we can Contin continue to improve the level of service that we can provide for our students uh and families any feedback or questions from the board on the proposal all right um just two more things uh the Board of Education uh at July 8 uh will
049be our our annual organizational meeting uh and at that time uh we are excited to welcome Deb Amry here with us as well as Matt Copan so they'll be joining the Board of Education as our new trustees uh so starting officially on July 8th when they take their oath of office Al so that July 8th organizational meeting is a Monday morning meeting it's an 8:00 meeting we only have a few morning meetings throughout the the course of the school year uh so we we will be putting a organizational meeting agenda on um board docs for the the public and the community and we typically have a short um business agenda just because there's a lot of personnel um that are still hiring processes that are still taking place and I'm sure there there'll be some
050things on the financial thing that Bobby will have on there as well so um so 8:00 will be here at the administrative building uh in this room 221 223 on July 8th for our organizational meeting first uh followed by a short um business meeting uh we typically do not have any presentation scheduled uh for our first July meeting and then finally just have the opportunity to congratulate our seniors uh who are just a few short days away from graduation uh so it was awesome to to watch them uh return to their elementary schools to do the graduation walkthroughs in their cap and gowns I think it's one of the most special things that our students have the opportunity to do I know our teachers at the El elementary schools absolutely love it when they see
051the kids come back so many years later all grown up uh and our elementary school kids get so excited to line up in the hallways and out in the playgrounds and make their signs and cheer uh so that just happened this past Monday morning uh so graduation ceremony to celebrate the class of 2024 uh is scheduled for next Wednesday June 26th uh so graduation officially will kick off uh at 9:00 a.m. um so just from the Board of Education I know between work responsibilities and other things um how many board members were planning on trying to participate just so I can reserve enough seats on stage one two three four five six seven okay so I'll I'll have seven seats so if board members uh we typically meet you know stage down the bottom right
052uh at E3 um the kids will be up on top of the hill uh ready for popping circumstance to come marching in um right at 9:00 and so our high school graduation committee has been working really hard uh in planning for uh the graduation ceremony uh so we're looking forward to the community celebration of the class of 2024 um any questions uh end of the year um tomorrow is our last day of classes for students in grades K through 8 uh we appreciate everybody's cooperation support the last three days have been very warm days uh record-breaking temperatures uh but we got great support um from our students and families and staff over the last few days it was nice yesterday to have the uh federal holiday uh as a day of uh relief uh from
053being in school and then today we did uh plan an early uh emergency dismissal for two hours uh for our elementary and middle school students uh and so I know there's a lot of activities is going on this week so uh for all the teachers who quickly you know modified their plans uh Middle School was doing their moving up ceremonies uh so everybody has been really great about working around U the challenges of of high temperatures at the end of June um so but tomorrow is our last full day of instruction K8 so our elementary middle school students will be done we have a superintend conference day for all of our staff on Monday uh Tuesday is going to be a big packing day because we do have a lot of construction uh that'll be
054beginning uh right away when students leave the building um and so uh after the graduation ceremony uh Wednesday at noon um our staff will be heading out to enjoy the summer um summer break so uh so still some busy uh times in our school but excited for uh everybody heading into the summer break questions comments great thank you all right thanks Mike and that brings us to this evening's consent agenda um for those in attendance or watching a consent agenda is a commonly used vehicle provided for by our adopted rules of parliamentary procedure Roberts rules 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
055great 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 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 fact finding that is part of their due diligence process um Natalia do we have any modifications to tonight's agenda we do not so I make a motion to approve the consent agenda in its entirety do I have a second John Ellis any discussion all right all in favor so 8 Z with uh trusty elor abstaining
056sorry I shouldn't have asked I should okay sorry yes uh no vote raise your hand and uh we have one no vote from trusty Alor my apologies few recognitions so on the agenda um again last meeting we had many uh appointments new appointments both administrators teachers and support staff uh so tonight we have several additional appointments uh and I just want to give a shout out Danielle learon is over there uh Danielle is a new one of our new special ed education teachers that will be joining us at Greenfield Elementary School so welcome Danielle and then there uh again there are several other um new uh folks thatly joining uh the school district at the beginning of the start of news the new school year uh in full-time probationary positions some annual appointments uh and
057some temporary uh leave of absences and then I do want to also uh in the financial uh portion of the agenda just to uh recognize a donation uh that we had um books donated uh to the school district um specifically to Maple Avenue Middle School uh and those were organized by our own Angie uh and on behalf of Sunni Empire and the United University professors uh along in a collaboration with our local Saratoga Springs Teachers Association um several books uh that were donated with a value close to $2,000 uh so we want to thank uh obviously Our Community Partners for their support of building our libraries in our schools thank you uh um that brings us to the end portion of our business meeting the first part of that is the second public comment period
058is there anyone who wishes to address the board during the second public comment period yes go ahead thanks again great meeting I appreciate the transparency I it struck me um during the public comment of the very eloquent lady whose name I don't know unfortunately very impressive she had to leave uh as she talked about Colorado she talked about Florida I thought that sounds like something familiar to me uh a lot of water a lot of nature sounds very familiar and I thought let's have a look at the adx park so it's important to note that the adak park is the largest publicly protected area in the contigous United States greater in size than Yellowstone Everglades Glacier and Grand Canyon National Park combined that's a heck of a lot of water rivers lakes where people might
059want to swim and where swimming could come in very handy I know I keep laboring this point but I felt that that uh person spoke about it's absolutely understandable that California has a pool for every school that Florida has a pool for every school well I've just given you more data and again addressing this comment that someone made at a previous meeting you don't have the detail we have the detail this is from the New York New York website we have the largest area of Natural Beauty with water around the country so that that was my first point the second point is great to hear about our bond rating that Bond rating if you don't know Bond ratings that Bond rating is like zero risk or as close to zero risk as you can get
060so I would ask the finance guy the business guy sorry business guy uh let's be creative let's let's think out the boooks this is a wealthy area we have a great Bond rating we've established the importance of needing a swimming pool when everywhere everywhere else has swimming pools and I've shown that in the data so let's let's be creative let's be let's be smart about this thank you very much thanks for listening again thank you is there anyone else all right sure my here this is a real milestone in my life could you just give us your name Bob dalala uh I live in the district I've had two boys well second one's graduating next week graduate from here it's a milestone in my life because uh I've never been to a Board of Education
061meeting and there's a lot of things here that I learned about that uh actually involve my life specifically I came here to say uh thank you to you all and the great job that you've done and my boys have had a great experience here I wanted to my son was one of the four uh Runners that got the award tonight so I wanted to see that and I wanted to also acknowledge and let everyone know what a great program that track program is it is my older son was a baseball player of varsity baseball player but the track program if you haven't been to a track meet I would highly encourage you to check it out because you want to talk about diversity equity and inclusion it happens in a track at ATT track it
062is amazing and those coaches that staff does a great job in developing individuals to be leaders in our community they they do a great job the other thing was I uh am a portfolio manager and I buy municipal bonds so and I know personally that the double A Plus rating is highly Saratoga bonds are very highly sought after so it's a great job that you you do with the finances here so I know personally I bought them myself in my job uh so it was interesting to see that that part but thank you all for everything and please support oh oh the pool sorry how could I I I couldn't get away oh you're still here I'm a swimmer I am a swimmer I I had the benefit of having a swimming pool at my
063high school and for all the reasons that everybody has said a pool I couldn't believe that there wasn't a pool here I know the traffic I swims to this day at the Y we definitely are under pooed in this community so whatever you can do for the community it would be greatly appreciated thank you thank [Applause] you all right that closes the second public comment period and moves us on to agenda planning uh board members do you have any topics I know there's one uh uh at least one uh for agenda planning just um raise your hand so I know I have a queue going if uh because I'm gonna let Connie go first since she um has one on the docket all right I guess Connie it's it's all to you okay so um
064the first first actually I have three old ones that are more of a reminder for next year I did alert uh leadership to this and these will be built into next year but just as a reminder um I did ask for an update on student parking capacity on July 27 um on June 8th I asked for an update on how the ncbi curriculum had been updated and how it's being implemented and then on February 29th I did ask from an accountability standpoint how the relationship between the SRO and our mental health professionals psychologists and social workers was working out and what the benefits to students and families have been and the last well the new um agenda planning item um is about lobbying um nisba to Lobby the state um for funding for schools so
065there is a uh draft resolution coming around um I am looking at before I read this though I'm reading I'm looking at this list of districts that have pools and some that don't um I would like to add that South Colony Central School District does not have a pool and their board is willing to do a joint sign on uh with this resolution um I was not aware about these other schools that didn't have pools uh so resolution for nisba is resolved that the New York State School boards Association shall advocate the New York swim for the New York swims initiative to be extended and expanded to include additional enhanced and targeted State funding specifically dedicated to constructing pools and K12 schools and for increased aid for operating maintenance and Staffing costs associated with these
066facilities this enhanced funding should be built into the building Aid formulas to promote Equitable and year- round access to swimming instruction for all students the rationale while students while schools are currently eligible for building a for pools the amount provided is negligible dependent on building Aid units and represents a significant barrier to the construction of pools in schools Governor hok's New York swims initiative aims to promote Equitable access to swimming and prevent drowning by providing funding for municipal pools however these pools are only operational for about two months each year limiting the opportunity for yearr round swimming instruction drownings in New York state have reached record highs with 200 13 lives lost in 2021 and more than 1,000 from 2017 to 2021 drowning is the leading cause of death among children age 1 to 4
067years old and the second leading cause of death for children Age 5 to 14 in the United States Equitable and widespread access to Safe swimming opportunities is essential for developing foundational swimming and water safety skills to prevent drownings 45% of Hispanic latino children and 64% of African-American children have little to no swimming ability according to a 2022 study published in American Academy of Pediatrics almost three4 of white children take swimming lessons but less than half of black and Latino children do black children and five and are five and a half times likely as white children to drown in swimming pools and the studies suggests that poor swimming skills in both children and their parents lack of early training and lack of lifeguards may be important factors more than a third of adults in the US
068can't swim the length of a pool and if a parent does not know how to swim there is only a 19% chance that a child in their household will learn to swim school districts are well positioned to provide comprehensive K12 swimming programs that ensure every student regardless of background has the opportunity to learn to swim throughout the entire year teaching every child to swim is a critical life skill that enhan the student safety particularly in a state like New York with abundant water body water body swimming promotes a balanced lifestyle offering rehabilitative benefits and a form of exercise that individuals of all ages can engage in countering the increasing screen time that children face today all students in New York State Should graduate high school with basic swim skills and swimming ability along with first
069aid CPR and water safety skills built into their education this would also increase the number of trained lifeguards of which there is a national shortage many school districts lack adequate pool space especially especially during winter months underscoring the need for swimming facilities within schools during the covid-19 pandemic swimming was one of the few activities allowed for on-site enclosed spaces highlighting the necessity for consistent reliable and accessible swimming facilities within schools the establishment of school pools provides benefits beyond the swimming program including Rehabilitation for other sports teams through aquatic therapy which AIDS recovery and maintains Fitness levels increasing the number of trains lifeguards instruction of first aid and CPR and a space for community pool use 12 months of the year by securing additional enhanced and targeted State funding for school pools and increased aid for
070operating expenses for schools with existing pools Equitable and year- round access to swimming instruction can be realized this enhanced funding should be built into the swimming aid for to the building Aid formulas to promote Equitable and year- round access to swimming instruction for all students and communities the building Aid units current number of physical education uh instructional spaces available in each school and the total student enrollment should not be factors in determining State Building aid for constructing a new pool the number of teaching stations should also not determine if a district qualifies for additional physical education teaching space including a new pool this will advance the goals of the New York swims initiative and Foster a culture of health safety and well-being for future generations and all communities so I guess I'm asking if the
071board supports a resolution to go to nisba um regarding this and then also if they're okay with other districts signing on jointly and let me just uh let me just uh remind folks who may not be aware of the the greater nisba resolution process um every year in October there's a meeting at which each district is given uh the chance to send a representative Connie has done it I've done it Angie's done it probably maybe more people in this room have done it but um at which resolutions either jointly arrived at by multiple districts or uh solely by a single District are discussed they're actually discussed by a resolution committee before that over the summer and put in a a booklet um sort of sorted by recommended by the resolution committee or not recommended by
072the resolution committee but if they have time they go through all of those uh and it's really a a chance to um direct nisa's lobbying efforts for the upcoming year one of nisa's biggest um jobs is to Lobby the state s other other agencies uh on behalf of um member districts and and sort of to reflect the needs that that we feel we have so that's what Connie's asking is to have this uh resolution go in that booklet and be sent to the resolution committee be voted on by them and then eventually if it were to pass tonight pass the resolution committee it would be in the booklet under recommended and then um it would be voted on either way actually um but if you have any questions on that that process I just I
073wanted to make sure people knew what we were doing here tonight or discussing um if you have any questions raise them John I I actually have a question about our local process so we have a resolution that's been presented on it will we be voting on it tonight or at the next meeting or or does it does it get a v a formal vote I think it's at the next meeting it would be if we gave the go-ahead you know it's sort of like other agenda planning things you know it's sort of an informal we can we can call for a hand vote if we need it but uh if we gave the go-ahead toight it would be voted on um uh next meeting is that right and that would be not at the Jan
074July it would be July 8 okay so not July because it's due on the 12th okay so yeah that's it thank you but now is the um time to ask questions or Express concerns or Express support whatever you you want to do so tonight is like can it even go on the agenda is basically and just questions for you maybe or or for for others or or concerns uh just to give you some feedback as to um where the board might be leaning Beth I'm wondering if this has come up in the Legacy planning um committee and what has that discussion entailed you mean pool for our school yes if if the issue of adding a pool to that plan has come up in or or has there been discussion about it there it's been
075one of the maing major driver conversations for district wide needs so we've drilled down to building level um some things are part of our long range facility plans uh they're building condition study so again board's going to get a full presentation from the committee in the fall um but the pool and the history of a pool a pool referendum did go to the community U Back in 20 000 uh as a separate proposition and that unfortunately did not pass that's why we don't have a pool today um so some of the the decision points of the the committee itself for recommendations the board and then ultimately decision of the board is kind of how does a a pool fit into a proposition moving forward and Connie's done a great job doing a lot of the
076research on it one of the challenges at State Ed level for financing a pool schol it does come down to those building Aid units um and so when you look at a school district of our size and the number of teaching stations that we have um some of the conversations again nothing has been finalized but some of the conversations is we would not qualify for any State Building Aid so any cost associated with building a pool would have to be a full local share you know it would be the responsibility of the taxpayers to pay fully that it wouldn't qualify any State Building aid but th those again we're preliminary information right now we're just kind of prioritizing Gathering feedback from the 40 members of the Legacy reform advisory committee and then from the committee
077would there'll be recommendations on the committee in the fall uh to the board of education and just so um just so you know unless it's maybe it's clear maybe it's not the the what we're being asked by Connie to do tonight has nothing to do whatsoever with the question of whether Saratoga Springs will get a pool basically think of tonight as do we the Saratoga Springs City School District want to um instruct nisba to make lobbying for an expansion and extension of the the swims initiative a priority of theirs in the 2425 uh school year that's really what we're doing here Darren just that like on the track team we use the pool like as much as we' run so the whole like athlete Rehabilitation and like cross training thing is like really true like
078hundreds of like other athletes and swimmers would use it before school if it existed um like I know a lot of guys and girls go to Hawai like fight for lanes and stuff um so would be nice thanks Connie and just speaking of the why um the woman with the West Point shirt on who has been to a lot of places she I think told the the story of the why the best and how and that history um and how like I I do believe the community voted the school pool down because they thought the Y pool was going to be something that it is not now so um right but we got to keep this this correct this is a very specific um ask here do we want to sign off uh Saratoga Spring
079City School District Board of Education on asking nisba or guiding nisba to make um the specific resolution that Connie uh read um part of their 2425 uh lobbying effort Dean yeah thanks Tony as you um did a great job of explaining as to kind of what it looks like when it lands and nisba lap are on their table right it goes into a binder and then it goes to a resolution committee I don't see any uh um reason that we shouldn't move forward with allowing them to ultimately make the decision of how they they push their lobbying efforts when it comes to Albany right it's going to be amongst a lot of different resolutions they're going to have to put a committee together that ultimately decides what's most important to them what they feel they
080may have the most successes with when they go to Albany I I think Connie's done a great job on this I think there's a great story behind it I think Darren jumping in there at the end to talk about uh you know the True Value to to students in general right now uh and and and the the uses for it down the road um provide enough rationale and explanation behind why I think it's worth sending to nisba and letting them categorize it and see where it goes from there any other board member um see go ahead this is a really good job thank you Connie um and I keep hesitating because I just I feel like I just don't know enough still and I my biggest question I think is are are we um is
081there a limit on how resolutions that can go forward to for advocacy by like could we put I know the deadlines to that's not going to happen from our school district I guess I would like to make sure that we are not coming across as toned up to the budget crisis that we're all facing across the state um and in advocating for a pool when we're might be cutting teachers That's My worry is that um optic and also and advocating to advocate for something that we may not be able to even afford if we're going to keep our programs that we have currently that's that's my hesitation here um on putting it Forward um thank you Connie uh and again part of it is to get Aid to build it so school districts aren't being
082stuck with the whole bill um also I would see other school districts wanting to sign on that have pools because of the maintenance of the pools and you know when they have to replace uh uh condensers and different things like that to keep things at temperature it's expensive for schools to to to keep it so I think if other schools also got uh some additional Aid they would gladly join on pushing it if they can get you know more money for their pools too does building usually count does building Aid usually um go toward upkeep or is it just building it and then it's up to us right once you build it then it's up to you to maintain it and operate IT staff yeah that's what I think um I I'll just weigh in
083I'm I'm torn between uh Dean's good comments and Angie's um because the dean's right there is a a built-in process for that nisba places for sifting through what I can only imagine are probably hundreds of these things and and um recommending some and not recommending others well actually it's not because they put them all in there so it's not hundreds it's probably 50 um they typically recommend in the neighborhood of 30 and 40 30 or 40 and and don't recommend you know typically 10 to a dozen um but I'm but like uh like Angie I do have some qualms about and these are speaking for myself um I I don't know enough about the goals of the swims initiative to know whether I could push a for a lobbying effort that changed or diverted funds
084that that initiative um feels should be right now that those are those are directed towards uh municipalities um I don't know enough about what they've got resource-wise to um to know whether I want to have our our uh um our our lobbying organization spend time uh pushing them uh you know on something that may be resource constricted and also um on on something that that may seems Seems more targeted uh and and sort of uh more laser focused than than a lot of the um more core level um uh uh resolutions that I've seen uh in the past that um kind of address um probably larger populations than I perceive um would be would be affected by this uh again that's my perception um you know the part of the rationale is that many school
085districts lack adequate pool space um and that's absolutely true uh you know but we know and and Angie pointed out uh they also lack things that um I feel are of greater importance if you have to triage and those you know fall in the uh areas of um staff and faculty and and program uh you know more computer science more language things like that um so that's the that's the balance that I'm uh Balancing Act I'm I'm um vacillating between and I just wanted to throw that out there um resp can I was going to wait till you I was going to wait a couple see if a few people wanted to jump in and then you could on mass I just have some questions but Connie I don't expect you to know the answer
086I'm just curious if you do so I know that you had said that the deadline for this like current part of the New York swims Act is I think the same like July 12th right so the New York swims act which we would not be applying for anyway is also due July 12th the n and they are not taking late resolution utions this year so we either get it in by July 12th or we do not the NIS deadline the nisba deadline and the New York swims deadline is the same they just happen to be the same I just wanted to clarify then um for your actual resolution which is that you're asking for well sorry you're not asking but the recommendation is that nesba advocates for New York swims to be extended and expanded
087to include you know etc etc and so I'm just wondering um when I looked at the New York swims act and I just looked it up again just to make sure it says that the current um that there's a first application period that's done on July 12th so are we expecting more application periods well this is we are not eligible for that period so I do not know there's $150 million that Governor hok felt that this was important enough to put up for municipal pools now she may not have even had school pools in her mind and I don't know if nisba says to her hey knock knock knock you know what about including schools on this and this would affect every school district even the ones that do have pools because it is saying
088give all districts more money for your pool maintenance Staffing Etc so that you don't have to cut instruction right so I hope everyone sees that as well this is truly something that can help all districts but we have to ask the answer is always no unless you ask so this is asking nisba to ask the governor to say please expand this to all schools throughout the state and if she says no she says no no that makes sense to me and I just I I guess I want to Echo what a lot of people have said which is that I feel really lucky that I got to grow up in a district with a pool and it was a really wonderful experience for me and for a lot of other you know every other student
089who got to have it as part of gym class so I just I just wanted to clarify that um and that makes sense to me and I I guess Dean I hear what you're saying and I'm like I agree John and then Connie um also uh I know there's a timeline to put in resolutions but by the time the state votes keep puts it in their budget hopefully next year you know thinking full half full um that probably won't give the school enough time if it was like this year to add it for a vote because you know the budget being so late we wouldn't even know how to get it done by this year um also the school's going to have to do you know hire The Architects cost everything like that you know
090as we're doing right now but we also have to do on that so hopefully budget and financials stress throughout this country and State improves because I'm just guessing it would take a couple years to actually get it fully like before the voters can actually say yes let's build a pool so it's not like we're going to be looking at next year or the year after just in my own opinion that it might be a couple years down the road so I think it's great to put it in to the governor or misah to put it in if they don't Lobby it well you know we we all can call the governor's office and Lobby on ourselves too so um again like I said before I don't see any school that wouldn't would say no to
091not get more money for maintenance Connie I think I covered every like mention I just wanted to answer I was really trying to answer the things that had come up and the concerns I had come up and I I think I covered them um this is an ask this is not uh we're going to do this in Saratoga clearly some people would like it to be done in Saratoga but some people maybe not and that's why people get to vote but I think it's an easier ask for even to discuss at the table whatever table you're at if you like if you know that there's a possibility that there's going to be some building Aid there or if there is some building Aid there right now it's dead in the water in Saratoga I would
092never ask taxpayers to front that 100% that would be silly but if we had building Aid and if it also included maintenance and Staffing for pools if this is so important to the governor then put our money put our money where where we would like it right in in our community so um that's all this is this is not okay yeah should we uh do you want to I think last year we kind of did a straw poll just a nods of the head to see give you an idea for what you'd be looking at next month um yes and if anyone wants to change anything I'm open for edits yeah and that I think last year that's what we did you and I took um edit suggestions uh by by email um after the
093the nod was to go forward with our resolution last year um so I'll just look around and see um looks like you've got uh a majority plus so um why don't we do that you and I can uh if if anyone has um uh any significant edits suggestions that they want to send to to Connie go ahead and then Connie and I will word Smith it and get it in the um consent agenda for uh next meeting thank you very much and then I did have one more question are are people okay with me reaching out to other districts like on this list to see if they would sign on with us okay all right thank you thanks Connie anyone else have anything for genda planning all right seeing none I guess we are at
094uh the final board member comments um event of our uh school year and our board year um before I uh turn it over to the rest of you I do want to Echo what what Mike said and um uh thank and congratulate Amanda and John John Ellis um for their service on the board um Mike stole a lot of my words but that's because they were apt and uh and and Germain to your service um Amanda I've been impressed by the uh ability to um juggle Parenthood you're one of the board members one of the few board members with small kids a lot of us have bigger ones that it's easier to you know let them uh run around and do their own thing while you're while we're serving uh but you've served your community
095uh and juggled a lot and uh I want to thank you for that and as a token uh of your uh your service to the board uh I want to give you a gift from the board and a card and John Ellis nine years of service that's you're the old man of the board well I I'm not HR would kill me right I don't have any idea how old you are um but uh I want to thank you for um you were you were here before I came on the board and um uh all accounts from before uh match what I have to say and that is that you know you've been uh a constant um devoted presence reminding us of everything from the importance of uh of things like building and grounds in your
096former career and and those who who take care of them uh to um in general being a tireless Advocate um for students and staff um all while uh not having any kids in the a lot of us you know there's a little bit of a selfish motive here right because we we've got some kids in the district and we try to see see around our own individual needs but you didn't have any kids in the in the district and you served N9 Years anyway I want to thank you very much for that we have a gift and a card the gift is in the card so it's not as big as Amanda's uh so and Natalya do you want to uh give the cards and gifts for our student reps absolutely thank you again to
097Elanor and Darren it's been such a pleasure to have you here at the table with us um we're so excited for summer break and elen are for you to go off to college and are really grateful for you putting in this time and the work that's done behind the scenes just that you can present at the table it's really really valuable to us and also to our community so thank you all right now I'll turn it over to the rest of you who else has board member comments I see Natalia's hand I'll get a queue going Angie John I'll start with Natalya Angie John Beth and then anyone else can jump in after those four go ahead Natalia yeah I wanted to say thank you for the donation of instruments um and to reiterate what
098Mike already said which was thank you to Sunni Empire's chapter of uup and to the ssta for the donation of books to the the maple La Middle School um and of course congratulations to the class of 2024 and happy summer break to all students staff and faculty thanks I think were you next Angie I think so um I just wanted to um thank everybody for a great governance year um it's been um wonderful and I wanted to um just thank Connie for the work on this last um and the conversation around the swimming pool um that's a lot of work you put into that so didn't want that to go missed um and I'm glad we can have good conversation around it and and still put things forward and agree on things so thanks John
099bergerman I want to thank and congratulate Elanor and Darren Elanor I'm excited for you uh going off to UNH that's going to be great and uh Darren um it's been a journey Darren lives down the street from me and uh it was just yesterday uh and now he comes flying down cuz he's on the track team and it's been fun seeing you from a different Vantage points so thank you both I want to thank and congradulate uh Amanda and John um Amanda you've always brought passion here which I respect and everybody on the board knows that being a member of the board is a household project your whole family has to support you if you're going to be here and uh we're glad we're glad you've been here but we're also glad that Annabelle and
100Charlotte have been here too always always happy to see you all smiling and just uh providing a great presence so thank you and congratulations I will use the word old man uh to talk about John uh everybody else on the board knows that suring like a year on the board is like a dog year so that like you're like 99 it's like you know so but Tony said it well you you've brought so much uh wise perspective an understanding of employees uh we're we're going to lose a lot of institutional memory and a lot of distinctive perspective when you go and um you've always been a cool ahead and as someone who doesn't always have a cool head I really appreciate that and I just thank you so much um I want to thank our
101officers that's a lot of work being president vice president thank you all for leading us through this year it's nice I feel like we've mentioned covid less often uh but it turns out there's always something so it's been we've we've rolled up our sleeves together and I thank you both and I just want to thank all the teachers and staff and hope you all have a good happy restful safe summer thanks John uh Beth it's hard to follow John bamman in comments um I also wanted to recognize um our student Trustees for um just your commitment to our meetings and our district and um I loved hearing your reports because you know you're you're bringing us information directly from the schools about all the wonderful things that are happening across the district and that's why
102we are here and that's why we're doing what we do um and so we have to deal with some of the boring stuff and dry stuff and and was just a really important part of the meetings for me to hear everything that um is going on at the the ground level at our school so thank you for being that voice and also it's hard to balance uh you know demanding academic uh schedule with everything else that you have going on so thank you for your dedication to the board um and uh I'd like to thank as the new member of the board thank you to everyone for your support um it's been a big uh learning Year big learning curve and I appreciate everyone's uh support and friendliness and um it's been an honor to
103serve with all of you so thank you thanks Beth anyone else John and then Connie did I see a hand there okay John and then Connie um first of all I just uh like to say that it was great serving N9 years on the board and uh when you talk to a lot of people out in the public they say uh well that's a thankless job sometimes it feels like it but as I always told them I go when we go into schools especially elementary schools and you see what the kids are doing and you know Mike always reminds us you know we voted on this two years ago and and this is the implementation of you know what we voted on and to to see the kids you know doing that and being excited
104about it it's the uh it's the greatest reward for not being paid uh uh also you know if you ever get a chance to be out school and the first day of school and watching the kids come in it's it's fantastic especially the little ones with their backpacks they're bigger than they are and so I would encourage any of the board members to or future board members to go out and see that and really lifts your spirits um also uh like to thank everybody on the board for you know their patience with me and and the uh the staff who I know going oh no John's talking we'll be here for an hour uh I'd like to thank them for all their work and dedication cool very quick so thank you very much for that
105it's again a lot of people that aren't seen in the the headlines that are doing a ton of work um I'd also like to thank my wife candy uh for supporting me and but she basically kicked me out of the house to go to these meetings but uh I'd like to thank her you know without her support I I wouldn't be here and uh to Mike uh like you said you know we've gone back a long ways and uh it was was great when we had the opportunity to hire you I said well I know Mike's a great guy let's let's get him in and he's passionate about the kids and everybody so thank you for all you do and the 100 hours a week work that you do know it's not a nine-to-five job
106being a superintendent so uh into our student reps you know the first time I came here on the board they had student reps and I was always flawed by how well they were and what a great job they did and how well they spoke in public you know when I think back to high school even yesterday how nervous I get speaking in public and I see these kids that come up and it's like it's amazing it really is you know it's my generation had one or two but it's like half the school can just get up and start talking and uh good luck to them and I appreciate all your work so thank you thanks John Connie um I want to congratulate um Eleanor and Darren and thank you for your work um I guess
107maybe a year from now you'll be having a conversation with your friends when you come back from college like my oldest just had about how crazy it is that when you go away and you're with other people that don't celebrate Flag Day like our school district does it's a little weird and you might be like today's Flag Day and they're like What's that like like what is Flag Day but when all of her when all my daughter when my daughter got together with all of her friends they just were reminiscing about celebrating Flag Day um so remember that I I don't know maybe you'll you and your friends will think it's weird too um John and Amanda thank you for your service um I always appreciated how both of you you you just you are
108who you are there's no veneer um I appreciate how real you are um and welcome to Deb and Matt to the board and um I hope everyone has a great summer thanks Connie anyone else I've got a couple things um I want to uh thank the administration uh for listening uh the board has has board and and the public have talked about um the need to take a look at transportation and I think the study Mike uh mentioned uh tonight is a really good first step in addressing what um numerous sectors have been saying is a a priority so um good luck with that and and thanks for for making that happen um I too uh like Connie want to welcome uh Deb amyy who's here and uh Matt copin who couldn't be here but
109it's because he's in his first state mandated uh governance training uh Deb was already able to take hers but Matt's was tonight so he couldn't join us but welcome Deb and Welcome Matt in absent um they start their orientation uh tomorrow tomorrow afternoon um and then the the last thing is it's become a a uh tradition um but one born in uh I think efficiency and and lack of surprises to um uh for board members to sort of declare their intent to to run for leadership uh at this meeting so that it's not something that comes up uh you know by surprise in the organizational meeting on July 8th um I I would like to remain in leadership uh but i' uh I'd like to uh say that I'm going to throw my hat in
110the ring for uh vice president on uh July 8th so that my name will be in that um bucket on on July 8th anyone else want to Angie sorry I guess I should have mentioned that too um I intend to throw my hat in the ring for president all right now you're your your vote doesn't count but you can email but you can email us yes um anybody else any other board member comments John I wasn't gonna uh bring this up because it's kind of a sort of sad but um I had a uh a very good friend who was uh the csca president and a bus driver in bson Spa just uh recently passed away and uh it's quick importance of what it means for bus drivers and their students that um we were
111met her after the last day of school and she was you tell she was crying cuz it's the last time she was going to see the seniors getting off her bus and you know the bus driver know these kids from kindergarten most of them from kindergarten till graduation and it it really moved me because I hadn't realized the importance of a bus driver but uh that's how these bus drivers care about their students you know and to see that I was like really amazed like that she put so much into it that you know she was like crying like they were her own kids you know going off to college so I just wanted to say that about you know bus drivers and you know the importance of it is to them thank you let
112Jerry advocating up to the end thanks John um uh could I get a motion to adjourn John bugman could I get a second John Ellis any discussion all in favor that is N9 nothing Bobby motion carries we adjourned