001Good evening. I need a motion to call our public session into order. >> Motion, Kelly. Second, Tom. Uh, discussion. All in favor? Okay. I'm going to ask everyone to please rise, pledge. I just want to say everybody knows where they were 24 years ago today. It's always going to be fresh in our minds and I hope that we can find some of the strength and unity we found after that tragedy as now. Okay, moving on with our meeting tonight. Um some correspondence that we received from the um since the last meeting. A lot of this we will be addressing later on in the meeting. Um we had um an email regarding um safety concerns um and on the our report um some questions about the kindergarten orientation and um we had an acknowledgement um and
002a thank you regarding the return of our aids for the kindergartens into the classrooms. We had some questions about building use um and we were um invited to the pep rally and the homecoming. Hope to see I'm going to be attending the pep rally. I will be away for homecoming. I don't know about everybody else. Um and um also a a question about how we were going to recognize 911 at the meeting tonight which we just did. Okay, turning it over superintendent schools. >> All right, good evening everyone. Welcome to our board meeting. Thank you to those of you who are here with us in person as well as those who are watching from home. Uh we had a very exciting week, a very successful week uh two weeks of uh school so far. So
003we're going to go through a couple of different things. We're going to just do a little quick jaunt around the district about what was going on. Uh we're going to review the communication protocol that was sent home to all families so that we could best support our families in getting uh what they need as quick as possible. Uh we are going to do a safety and security update. I know with a lot of the items in the news, uh we want to make sure that our families know how serious we take security and safety. And so we're going to hear from our director of security as well as um the company that uh services our district. Um we're also going to just re-recognize the high school because we did so in the summer, but now
004that everyone's around, we want to make sure we recognize the high school for their recognition that we'll talk about in a bit. Highlight the color run, uh review some board of education goals with our cabinet, and then uh topics for board meetings for the remainder of the school year. So uh let's get started. Uh so we started uh in uh September 2nd and 3rd with our faculty and staff. We opened with a meeting in the middle school with all of our faculty uh just to welcome everyone back and set the tone and the frame for the year which is on caring and learning and making sure that we're always aiming for our goals together and our goals are really about caring about our students and supporting them in their learning. Uh and then they broke
005off into faculty meetings with their principles and then department and grade level meetings over two days. Also getting ready with technology, getting classrooms ready, uh setting up uh a whole host of things, uh trainings for our for our staff uh as we prepared for the school year. We also had a uh a strong uh full day training for our security team, our entire security team that was run by Covert Security, which you'll hear about in a little bit. It was just a really successful two days of getting ready for school. And then we had the first day of school. And I just want to say that it was really wonderful to get into all of the classrooms and all of the uh buildings over the last two weeks. Uh every building was just joyful and
006happy. We had parties at the elementary schools where kids were kind of meeting their their mascots, whether it was Sunny the Duck or Lincoln the Lion or Lightning the Lion or um the Fox, his name is Flash. Thank you very much. Uh and then at the middle school and high school uh people welcoming uh the students uh for a new experience with a cell phone ban. Um so far we walking around the buildings uh it seems really nice. Uh kids are in class. They're engaged. They've always been engaged in class because phones were never allowed in classes. Uh they had to put them on a caddy. But now we're seeing kids walking and talking to each other making eye contact in the hallways and uh playing fun games at lunch whether it's foosball or throwing
007bag bean bag toss games. And it's just really nice to see. I also was in the main office today and saw a par a student who wanted to uh call their parent. They went right in, said they needed to call their mom about an issue. The kid went in, made the call, arranged something, and then left, and it just seemed to work perfectly fine. And uh we just seem really happy with that. So, a lot of smiling faces. I see one of our um our students is in the audience. You're up on the screen there, my friend. And uh you were the first I want to >> Liam, I want to thank you because you were the first student in the high school to greet me. you came right up and shook my hand. So,
008there it is. Uh and I appreciated a healthy happy hello from you when to start the school year. Um so, you're welcome. So, it was really just joyful. And I uh then this week was around the schools just uh getting into classrooms and really starting to see kids digging into learning. A lot of small groupoup instruction at the elementary schools, a lot of group work at the middle school, and a lot of really hands-on learning experiences going on. I saw a fantastic geometry lesson at the the started at the high school today. um just really on all levels uh high quality instruction. So I just want to thank our faculty, our staff, our principles, our cabinet team uh and and our families for helping uh with that. We did have a little bit of a
009busing uh issue in the beginning of the first two days at the elementary schools. We had some late buses. Um some of it was just kindergarteners needing extra time to figure out how to get on the bus, get buckled in, and then get home. But um we also had at the high school a student got on the wrong bus, so we took him home first and then went to the middle elementary school. So, the buses were late that day. We've rerouted that and we think we've solved those problems. So, we're we're uh we're up and running. So, thank you for your patience to those families who who had a couple late buses on the first two days. Um and I want to just turn it over to our student representative, Mr. Artusa. Do you just
010want to give a little uh you know, talk about how things went at the high school and in the district from a student perspective? >> So, I guess fortunately, I don't really have much to say. Um, I guess because last year we were already used to putting them in the pockets already. It really wasn't like a huge adjustment. Um, I asked a lot of my friends, a lot of people I know, the like prevailing sentiment was that it's not really a big deal. Like nobody's too upset about it. There's just some like minor annoyances. Like for me, my sister, I don't know if she has to go to like tennis practice one day or not. So if I have to drive her home, like I just have to wait until the end of that period.
011But um, really that's all I have to say. It's been smooth. It hasn't really caused any problems. >> Well, glad to hear it. >> Thank you. Um All right. Um and just for those of you at home or um in the audience, uh we do have a communication protocol which we put out this summer at the end of the summer just to help parents. This is not to avoid having you talk to me or to any of my cabinet members. It's really about how do you get the fastest information and the fastest resolution and solution to a problem. And really, we feel the most effective way to resolve a problem if you're feeling like something's going on or you need information is go right to the source. So, start with the teacher or the original
012source where you might get the information or have the issue. And that person is the most capable of solving it because they're in it with you and your child. Uh if you're not satisfied though, the next step would be a chairperson, guidance counselor, social worker, school psychologist, or if it's a sports related item, the athletic director if it's related to a coach. But again, talk to the coach or the teacher first. Then we go to the next step in the process. If you're still feeling like things aren't the way you need it to be, we have assistant principles and principles at the secondary or the principal at the elementary. Um, and we also have if it's a special education or 504 related item, uh, we have the director or assistant director of special education. Um,
013and then of course any of us here at central office really want to help you. Miss Demiola for an instructional purpose, Mrs. Mris for a PPS issue, Mr. Bartell's for a finance issue, Miss Watson for a personnel matter. And this really goes for anybody in the community, whether it's a parent, student or a staff member. This is the chain of command to follow uh before you get to me and or Facebook because if you go to Facebook first, you'll get a lot of stuff, but it might not be the best stuff to get you where you need to go to get the problem solved. So it we really we really are just asking everybody and we're going to keep redirecting people to start with the source because the source is where the solution lies because
014if you call me I'm just going to have to call the principal who then has to call the chairperson who then has to call the teacher to then call you to then solve the problem. So that's just um a little helpful uh direction and we hope that uh this helps with efficiency and getting everybody what they need because again we care deeply about your kids. We don't want you or your children or staff members or anyone to be upset for a very long period of time. We want it to be resolved as quickly as possible. Um, okay. The other thing that I think is on people's mind is safety and security because we want to make sure uh that we have what we need and that our kids are in a secure uh and safe
015environment. Uh, so I want to introduce our head of security uh Mr. Ellerbomb and uh our covert security chief Mr. Flynn. >> Good evening everyone. First, I'd like to thank the board and allow me to ask the district's loss. Recently I was able to meet and teachers. So while we were there we discussed security locks. So prior to the start of the year after the next classified district was enrolled just all those lines have been tested to the start like sitting down and many of the new requirements that were being placed uh on the district by the state. Um something that was very good to see was everything was already in place for just a couple of things. We had to make a few adjustments, but we had a very good plan. Um, I'd like
016to thank all the building principles, everybody sitting down with me right before the school year. We were going over the building level confidential plans for each school. Um, all those plans have been submitted to the state. Um, also the principles, they're working with a new drill log this year and that's something to help them uh just plan out the drills a little more effectively. Um at the start of the school year has been very busy and all the principles and staff have been doing a great job. Uh they're doing all the drills like we're supposed to be doing. Um I attended several drills throughout the district. Um one in particular was at Cherry Avenue and I'd like to compliment Dr. Ryan and her whole staff on that. So we conducted a lockout drill. Um when
017we did that drill, we coordinated with the Suffach County Police Department, the communication section. We utilized the ray app and we utilized the lockdown system in the building. So everything that is in place and all the enhancements that we'd made in the entire district, it all came together and everything was working as it should be. So I my compliments to her and her whole staff on that. And one other thing was just before the school year started, um, all the schools are issued the New York State emergency response terms, the new placards, and the building maps for each school were also updated to show where the AEDs are and emergency shut offs. >> And I just want to compliment you guys. When we went through our building walks, uh, we were checking every single door
018and every single door in the district was locked and closed. And, you know, every once in a while, like in years past, we might have found one or two. There were none. Everybody was following the protocol and I just want to thank you because you were the person who was heading spearheading that and I thank you for that. >> Thank you. And I I just wanted to say one thing uh that I feel like has been a huge upgrade in security is visibility. Um I see uh Mr. Elder Bomb everywhere. I see him at schools. I see him on the playgrounds. I see him um you know there was an issue with an athletic you know team the other night and you know he wasn't on duty and and he was up there and handling
019it for us. Uh, so I I think the visibility just upgrade has been obvious and >> and there was a situation at Cherry on on the drop off where we had a kindergarter who who went for a run because he didn't want to go in the building and uh Lisa, Dr. went one way and Mr. Elderbomb was there and he went the other way and they and the parent was there and it all worked out and it just was nice to see security involved with the buildings like that to help a child who just was a little confused for their first day of school. Yeah, and I'll also reiterate with our building visit. Um I I do go around and I check uh doors and uh see if anything's uh propped open and like Dr.
020Ferris said uh this is the first year there was zero zero open doors and all closets everything was secure and uh it was a noticeable uh change. Thank you. >> Thank you. the um the test that went on the um at um at Cherry Avenue where you were able to like make sure that everything was in place. Will that take place periodically at all the schools throughout the year or is that like a huge undertaking that gets like a spot check? >> We can do that at every single school. Um this happened to be the first one that I went to that we were utilizing it. It was very early in the year. We're only in like day seven right now or >> No, no, I just said I just said >> but no, everybody
021has it. We can all do it. It's just bringing everything together. Yeah, I think it would be a good dry run. It doesn't have to be in the next, you know, three days, but like over the course of the year just to make sure that everything we think is in place is in place. Um is always good to check at least once a year. >> So, you may have noticed when you walk up to the building now, there's a new sign that's out there. It says if you see this light flashing, we've activated our emergency response plan. So, this was something some people weren't even aware of the light. So, we put this out there so it's a little more visibility. Um, and if you're walking up to the building, you know that we're conducting
022a drill or it's an emergency. >> Also wanted to just comment on the signs at the high school for the bus coming in by the gym. >> Um, I feel like that's making things run more efficiently up there. There's not a bunch of cars, even though I used to like to go up there, but now there's not a not a bunch of cars there blocking the buses or obviously if there was an emergency or something. So, and um actually today there was a security guard there enforcing that um prior to the game, so that was good, too. So, thanks. >> Thank you. >> Okay, I'll add um so when we went on the tour of the buildings, Desmond was actually the one that noticed at Sunrise Drive, you know, kids were out for recess and
023there was a security guard out there and that must be so comforting to parents. So, thank you. >> Yes. Thank you. Thank you. >> Okay. And uh now Mike Flynn from CO security. >> Uh good evening everybody. And uh first of all, I just want to acknowledge the students with the ceremony in the beginning of the uh of the board meeting. Uh very touching and an outstanding job. Uh great remembrance. So uh I'd be remiss not to mention that. But um I wanted to give uh as the board knows uh several months ago um the company started on an overall uh vulnerability assessment. Um we met in uh miday in executive session um with the board to give a um a brief uh a brief update and the you know an assessment is never never
024done. So what I wanted to do tonight is u you know give an ongoing um analysis and again the thing about the vulnerability assessment since it is a vulnerability assessment what I talk about in public is a global aspect of how the uh of how the assessment process uh takes place. Um and I think uh you know Mr. Elbomb and you know the district and the building principles have made uh my life a whole lot easier when I come here you know to give that update. Um the initial uh the initial overview um you know was uh we gave a number of uh a number of recommendations and we do our assessment we break it down basically into four points. um the highly trained personnel, um drills, planning, um technology, and then infrastructure. And looking
025at uh infrastructure, you know, out of those um out of those four um those disciplines as far as preK12 security, we look at approximately 32 uh 32 bullet points. The initial uh assessment, there was a number of recommendations and and the positive part about the recommendations really uh relied upon a part of um you know, mo most of it was did not ne necessitate a big fiscal expenditure. It had to do with um recommendations as far as um processes and and and things of that nature and the district has done a very impressive job in a very short period of time. Um things don't h don't change overnight because we talk about processes. It is matter of fact as you know training and getting everybody acclimated to cultural change. I think, you know, it it
026bears acknowledgement when the the comment comes as far as the doors in the closed and locked position, you know, and I do understand I've been in the world of K12 uh ed education security for the better part of 20 years after my prior 20 years. So, I do understand the changing culture and working behind closed and locked doors, but inevitably it is, you know, it is the um the chief, the least expensive fix to really enhancing the safety and security. So, accolades on that end. So these 32 bullet points were broken down. Uh we broke them down in in a way of uh red, yellow and green. And initially there weren't a number of recommendations. I'm I'm um very pleased to say that over a very few uh uh months that both the administrators and
027the staff itself, the teachers have been um you know wonderful in making a lot of these things uh these things happen. So Mike has made mention of some you know some of the uh some of the improvements on each one of these uh each one of these pieces but um I think it bears worth uh acknowledging what's happened on the technology part and I know some of the board members were asking about some of the things that's been done on that end and I'm a huge fan of technology but it comes down to the boots on boots on the ground which is really uh really important bringing that together but technology uh department the board had invested a lot of money in some real cutting edge technology and again it was just about processes and
028putting these things uh these things together. You know, Mike mentions the uh the lockown system, the save hotlines, that active shooter hotline direct to yapank to PD um rave putting um putting uh rave in the hands of of many people who uh who may want it. So, these things were huge um huge huge piece uh of enhancing the safety and security. Um behavioral threat assessment, which we you know, we've been speaking about with uh with staff members. Um you know, a number of a number of different items. um maximizing and looking at uh utilization of AI and how AI can fit into your your technology you know moving forward with that technology on a very fiscally responsible uh responsible way. Um and then you know as Mike mentioned ensuring the drills are practiced and critiqued.
029you know um drills can be um inconvenient so to speak but one of the things early on that we uh looked at how are the dr uh drills being conducted and some of them as I said can be inconvenient we call it drills for preparedness versus drills for compliance you know and they do that 12 drills during a year but making sure that they're thinking outside the box when they're doing them and the buildings have been doing such that and as an example of the latest drill that has uh taken place initially when it takes place everything may not go 110% but the critique that takes place afterwards so can continue to do them at the remainder of the buildings in a uh in a productive way is uh is on the agenda for in
030enhancing that uh talking to the staff about situational awareness and thinking outside the box as I've mentioned talking about budgetary considerations so the district doesn't get in a situation where they've got a very robust um technology security technology collaboration but not having to come to the administration or the board and say listen this is this is what's uh need right now. So, the district has a well thought out going forward. Um, Mike mentioned some of the training and, you know, when we spoke about it in May, you know, March 31st, um, deescalation and CPI training that was done in house for some of the staff. Um, AED CPR uh, training on a superintendent's conference day in in March. Um, and again, I want to thank the uh, the security staff here because um, when we
031uh, when we got the staff together for those four hours on on September 2nd, it was refreshing to see the turnout. And you know, you've got you've got individuals in the security staff a lot of experience. Some of them are retired only a year or two and some of them retired more than that. And it's a it it's as important if you retired one or two years as if you retired 15 or 20. Believe me, I know because every day the the plans are evolving. So we had a good you know we had a good day half a day together. We'll continue that as Mike says going forward. our syllabus which is um it fits into the 8 hour uh 8 hour New York State Security Guard syllabus but it is specifically germaine to K12
032security. So we talk about the annexes and and responding to emergencies not just in preK12 but how does it how does it uh relate to uh Sable School District and that's the level of enhancement that's necessary. Um you know there's been been things in the news out there about and you just made mention superintendent made mention about a little guy a little girl who didn't want to wouldn't want to go to school that day. Uh we spoke about elopment um on September 2nd. It you know it's part of the conversation. It's part of our plan. You know uh we all learned a very long time ago from my end it was always about oh keep the bad guys out keep the bad guys out. We have to keep the good little ones in too. So
033uh we talked about elopment and the responsibility of security as far as uh as far as elopment and those um so we've got a number of things planned going forward. Want to bring the continue to bring these things uh bring these things together. Talking about a tabletop and you know Mike made mention about the plans. Um plans although there are dates that the um that the state sets plans are never done. They're always you know if you say that you know September 1st October 1st all right we're compliant because of but plans are always fluid and the state has continued to um you know uh open up additional annexes the transportation annexes Mike made mention cardiac emergency response plan. So um we don't wait until the next year and several times throughout the year we'll
034open up those plans take a look at it you know notify the state make updates as uh as need be. That's just a that's just a good part of the process. Um the other recommendation that we made and I just want to I I need to acknowledge those volunteers on the district-wide safety committee. I say volunteers especially members of the board who sit there for nothing here and nothing there. Um but you know when you get a good group together and it is a good group but one of the recommendations we made there is talking about a potential subcommittee. I'm sorry Mr. Bartell's and you assistant superintendent being a part of that. But in a lot of places they you know they give it at the end of the committee they give it to one
035person and say here put this plan to uh you know put this plan to bed but it should be a subcommittee and u Mr. Elder Bomb M you know Mr. Bartell somebody from pupil personnel services who has that expertise in mental health and social and emotional well-being should be a part of it and it's always good to have a a staff member such as a English teacher on there to help us along in the process. Paul you take it from the 20 down to four and uh and it really it really helps the process along. So, it's one of the things where we are recommending going forward. But all all in all, in a very short period of time, um the district has has really done a a whole lot in in a fiscally responsible
036way. So, I just want to acknowledge on that and there's been no for us there's been no impediments along the way as far as the recommendation process. >> Thank you. Any questions for either gentlemen? >> Can I? >> Yeah. Yeah. I just want to interject just because you mentioned about the PPS office. Um, recently we had a leadership team meeting with all the district admin and some of our PPS staff members, our social workers did a significant amount of work. Mr. Elderbomb was there. They created a red binder. If anyone's heard of prepare training from the National Association of School Psychologists, she put to our social worker put together an extensive binder that was reviewed with all the principles, each and every psych and social workers, guidance counselors. Um, it will be reviewed with them,
037but it really goes through how to respond and how to prepare from a mental health lens when there is a crisis. And it's something that I would like to present to the board in the community in the future. But it's very detailed and each principal is going to be going over that with their PPS staff. It outlines all the roles of a crisis team in each building and really mental health triage, not only prevention, but if we have to respond to something um any number of crises, how to do so. So, it's something we're very proud of. A lot of time was poured into that and just something that we're going to continue to expand. >> Yeah. And I think it really dovetales nicely with the safety security plan, but also our uh instructional plans
038in the building. So um thank you to the PPS department and the the work that you guys did there. >> Our impression. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Thank you. >> Um and just to re uh re-recognize because it's September and maybe some of us were away on vacation. I want to congratulate the high school staff. They were named in the US World News and World Reports as a top high school, a top eight% of high schools in the nation, top 11% of high schools across New York State, and number eight overall in Suffach County. And we're just so proud of our teachers and staff and our students for uh working hard and being diligent and um and achieving this honor. So, let's just give Miss Bricker and the high school a hand. [Applause] And next year,
039we'll have a different slide, but we won't talk about it again until Okay. Uh, do you want to update us on just the color run? >> I think just a reminder, it's our fifth annual color run. It's a really nice event. Gets the community get together to kick off a new school year. So, just a reminder, Saturday, September 27th, so the week after homecoming, doors will open at 9:30 a.m. Um, the run will start at 10. We hope everyone can come and enjoy. It's on the fields behind the Sable Middle School. So, thank you to Dr. Castorro um always a gracious host for these events and we hope to see everyone there. >> Thank you. Okay, so uh now we're going to just do a little review of the goals because one of the jobs
040of the board of education is to set goals for the school district and we have five goals and I just wanted to do a little bit of a history of where they came from and then each uh assistant superintendent will kind of review uh one aspect of the goals in their area. But if you remember four years ago we got together and we asked our staff why did you become teachers? what do you believe in? And we asked our principles, why did you want to be a principal? And what do you believe in? We asked our board of education, why are you on a board of ed? And what do you believe in? And we came up with beliefs and we really came up with things that I think were meaningful to us as a
041sable community, which is we believe in our students. We believe in meaningful relationships. We believe every child has gifts and we should help them reach their greatest potential and that struggle is essential for growth. And so these were kind of the tenants of what our initial talk to the faculty and staff was about. But then we wanted to dig deeper. So we did a 100 day study of the district and we had surveys for parents, surveys for students, surveys for faculty members. We did focus groups. I think we had over 80 parents come in and we had over um 80 or 90 uh students and 80 or 90 um faculty members uh in small f focus groups telling us what they love about Sable, what they want to continue to be great about Savil and
042what they wanted to see more of. And from this, we kind of created our roadmap for our five-year plan and the goals that we've kind of put in place over the last four years. Um, and that led to these five goals, which were connected autonomy being one, uh, curriculum and instruction being two, sense of belonging and inclusivity being three. And I have to say we've done an amazing job with our teachers and our staff and our community on these goals. Uh the fourth goal, which we're going to talk a lot about this year and make sure that this becomes something we're equally as proud of, is our fiscal planning and our communication and our transparency to the community. Um within these five goals though, I just wanted to kind of review each one, talk about
043where we are with them and where we want to head and then get feedback from the board because they're ultimately your goals and then we aim for them for you. Um, so, uh, when we kind of assessed all the data from the study, it really was clear that our community values student outcomes so that when a kid graduates our schools, they should be able to to really do these six things. They should be independent learners who know how to take responsibility for their work and get things done. Uh, they need to be caring citizens who support and care about themselves as well as others in the community and in the uh, in the world that they live in. They need to be effective communicators in writing and in verbal skill so that they can communicate
044in our world. They need to be effective collaborators because that's what 21st century jobs require. Uh with with their classmates, with their teachers, with their parents to advocate for themselves. Uh they need to be critical thinkers so that they can look at information, see different perspectives and make their own decisions about the world that they live in. And we want them to be joyful because happiness and joy affects how you act, how you interact and how you succeed. So those were the outcomes that parents, students and faculty when we synthesized it kind of said that was important to them. So goal one is really about working towards those outcomes and we call it connected autonomy and I'll tell you why in a minute but basically we want our school department and grade level policies to
045promote these six outcomes. And if we work on this together from preK all the way through 12th grade and that's woven into the curriculum that we teach and it's constantly present in the lives of our students, we know our students will be stronger in these areas when they graduate and they go on to career fields uh perhaps colleges um or the military or whatever they choose to do in their life. They'll be more prepared for it. Um so it has to be present in our goals in our department grade level policies. It has to be present in our unit plans and our lesson plans and they have to be aligned with those outcomes. The assessments that we give uh there's an old adage like you are what you eat well you are what you test.
046So if we say something's important but we don't assess it then it doesn't really as important as we say it is. So are our assessments aligned with those six desired student outcomes? Are the instructional practices that are going on in the classrooms researchbased methodologies aligned with caring and learning? because we know that when kids feel cared for, supported and safe, they engage in school and then they successfully uh engage in academics um aiming for those six desired outcomes. Um the autonomy piece becomes really important. There we go. Sorry. Because oh um autonomy is our ability to make decisions and have a say in the direction that we get run our lives. And so what all the research says is that when teachers, staff and students and families have a say in how that education goes,
047which is why we appreciate and fight for local control of our schools, uh they are more engaged in that process. So autonomy is great, but you can't have autonomy on its own because if everyone has autonomy and every classroom has autonomy and every building has autonomy without being connected to anything, then you have great individual things happening in each classroom, but they're not connected to a purpose that gets you over a 13-year period ready for the world beyond our public schools. So, it can't just be autonomy alone. It has to be connected autonomy, which is where we take these six outcomes that we're looking for and we say, "These are the things we're aiming for. How do you as a teacher, how do you as a school want to get there? And that's where our
048schools, each and every school worked in their faculty meetings with their principles and I really want to give kudos to our teachers and our principles who really led here uh created their own focus aligned with those six outcomes. So at Sable High School, they came up with the core connection, ownership, resilience, and exploration and they're building lessons and units and assessments aiming for those things and activities. Uh at the middle school they came up with their own thing which was the path persistence accountability teamwork and honesty. At Sunrise Drive they came up with the core values joy and engagement educational experiences growth mindset value and worth and there's all kinds of detail and support that goes into that work. At Cherry Avenue they came up with back to basics and that speaks to um collaboration
049being independent learners learning how to do the things that you need to do to be successful. And at Lincoln Avenue, they came up with Lincoln Learns, a culture of caring and family. Each in their own unique way has autonomy, but within a structure so that everyone's buying in and supporting what they're going after. And then the process that we go to advance ourselves forward is basically we identify what we value. What do we believe in those things that I just showed you? And then every single time we have a faculty meeting, a department meeting, a grade level meeting, we make sure that we're doing professional development and we're working explicitly towards those goals and explicitly towards those outcomes. Otherwise, the goals just sit on a wall. And there's many districts that we know of and
050many teachers will complain uh from eternity and beyond. And I was a teacher who felt this way back in when I was a teacher. We always have these goals. They go on a wall that no one pays attention to them and then we move on in our own way in our own classrooms. And that's okay. But if we want to be outstanding, we have to be aligned and we have to be purposeful and we have to be focused. We have to go after it together. So the first step is that we identified our values and what we wanted as goals. Our second step was making sure that our faculty meetings, our department meetings and our grade level meetings aim for those goals. And then the third step is that we supervise and we support and
051that we make sure that teachers and staff get what they need to get there. And um what I'm really excited about is the state has opened up APR and has abandoned that system. So now we can create our own local system and we can create an observation process and an assessment process and a supervision of teacher process that is aligned with what we value and aligned with our goals. And so when we go into the classroom it will be aligned with uh what teachers are teaching and what we're aiming for in our faculty meetings and what we set out and created together. And so we kind of if these things are in place, these three pieces, goals, professional development and supervision and support, it leads to learning curves going off the stu charts for teachers,
052which then leads to learning curves going off the charts for students. And this is researchbased and this is a very successful model. And what you do is you keep on reviewing year after year and meeting after meeting. How did the meeting go? How did the professional development go? And we come back into the classroom, see how things are going, give support, and you keep doing that over and over again. And then at the end of every year, you revisit your goals, which is what we're doing now. And then you kind of keep going through the process. You're on a constant path of growth and development, aiming for better experiences for kids. And I think everybody can agree that we're all in this for kids. But when teachers have voice, when parents have voice, when kids
053have voice in what the goals are, it leads to better outcomes for our students in the end of the day. Um, so this is what goal one was and continues to be and you have that and we can continue to work on this and build on it. And then that leads us into goal two which I'm gonna hand it over to Miss Dola. >> Okay. So goal two was focused on curriculum and instruction. Um and the the main objective in goal two was to utilize committee work to uh analyze our different programs that we have uh K12 across the disciplines um and make uh recommendations collective decisions towards uh improvement and where we'd like to go next in each of those spaces. Um, and I think a real point of pride uh in how we
054have been addressing and will continue to address this goal has been the very high level of involvement of faculty from across the district. Every teacher you see in the audience, every administrator you see in the audience tonight, and many, many, many, many more have been directly involved in this work. Um, and I'm super proud of that and I think that speaks a lot about the kind of um, school community we have here. Um, so there there were a lot of subp parts of this goal and we have really tackled these uh, headon for literacy. We've done a lot of work across the district and particularly in the PK5 realm uh, to take a deep dive into the science of reading. what is it? And um how what instructional moves do we make that are aligned
055with the best and most current research? And um and really kind of teasing out the difference between instruction and curricular materials. Uh and and really kind of getting away from the the the buzz and and the the the tension that had been surrounding that argument and getting right down into well, what is it? what moves do we make in the classroom? And so we engaged in a full faculty study um of of what that could look like? Um and now that everyone has experienced um the same professional development, uh we're ready to move into the next stage of taking a real we realigned our scopes and sequences using um a full breadth of materials that tackle all of the different competencies um in literacy and uh are going to take a good hard look at
056uh asking ourselves how well do these materials help us to complete these best practices in instruction and uh we'll be asking ourselves good questions about it and then um considering pilots if we're not satisfied or considering just making sure we're making the best use of our materials if we are satisfied. Uh so that's coming up in literacy and math. Um we've um made even better use our into mass uh products that we've had at K5 uh by realigning the scope and sequences, writing comma assessments. Um several secondary curriculum maps have been written. Um a lot of nice work being done at the secondary level as well. And in a couple of weeks, I'll be coming back with a a a deeper curricular um uh presentation and I'll be able to fill you in on all
057the great work being done there. um uh MTSS uh with all of the groundwork laid in literacy and math uh and all of the subject areas recently, we find ourselves now even better poised to take a good hard look at our MTSS system. Um more common assessments, more common instruction, more common language across the district is making it easy to stack up. Okay, this is going to be a really great segue into a well- aligned MTSS program. And so now we're really excited. We've got um our problem solving teams all about to attend um a training together using that branching minds tool that we have that captures the data that allows us to use it as a a monitoring tool. Um, and with everybody on board with that and agreements on um, pro processes and
058procedures surrounding MTSS, that's going to really tighten up our system even more than it already is and expand into the 68 level coming uh, this year. And it's just we're really excited about that. Um, and then science, social studies, and steam. Um, work being done at all levels. Uh, but the major work has been in the nextgen science learning standards. Um and so we've worked at every grade level um to ensure uh a really solid understanding of the new standards. Um and people have gotten pretty excited about it. We're going to continue the work this year and uh coming soon we'll announce like a parent university night which I think is going to be uh something that people won't want to miss. Uh so um we'll we'll share more about that later. So um a
059lot of alignment and and also you know it all ties together social studies, steam science um these subject areas have a heightened understanding of the focus on literacy. So non um uh non-fiction uh content area literacy is supported in these spaces too. Uh also in this goal uh was the request to kind of get a a solid framework uh on board for curriculum mapping and I really believe very strongly in this because this is where it all starts. Um if we can agree on a framework around which we design a course experience, you're building in a thought process for how every course gets designed and making sure the important things aren't forgotten. Um, and so we with this and we've now have over 50 course maps that are underway or even complete at this point
060with more coming every year. You have this um this infrastructure that has so many commonalities that our kids can experience things that are more consistent across their years and across their disciplines. Um, and with that system it supports we've built in a framework that incorporates strides, incorporates our building goals. um every discipline um is thinking along the same direction. So that common framework, it's everything is really well articulated horizontally and vertically um and and standardsbased and then it promotes a thoughtful design for instruction and then assessment that's connected back to the learning objectives that we established. So all of it's like it just represents a really well co um connected cohesive system. So, uh, board goal number two, we have tackled it and continue to tackle it because every every step we take, uh, gets
061us ready for the next step and there are so many more ahead. So, we're excited. >> It's Matt Chris with goal three. >> Can you click all the So, anytime I'm looking at a goal personally, I always want to say what's at the heart, what's the why, what's the principle behind it. So this BOE goal three sense of belonging and inclusivity. I also think too you'll hear some similar common themes that Miss Demiola spoke about which just talks about the coherence of all of the goals. So at the heart of this goal at its core it's creating a safe, welcoming and inclusive school environment where each student feels a genuine sense of belonging. And I would be remiss not to say just shy of 2600 students in our school district, this is no easy task.
062And to me, I don't know if you ever reach completion of this goal because each and every one of those students are individual and unique. So it's ever evolving and you always have to say how is this goal going to be revamped from year to year, from day to day. Getting every student to have a genuine sense of belonging. It's tough. and but we're going to work towards that. Um go back. Okay. The district also aims to ensure that all learners and this is connected to goal two regardless of their background or their ability that they feel supported not only academically but socially. And I really think this is embodied by our district-wide wellness program strides and wi within our curriculum. And I just have that little quote at the bottom that relationships are always
063the foundation. If we think of a metaphor of a house, without the foundation, the house doesn't stand. So that's step one. So how will BOE goal three be accomplished? well that all our students have an equal access to learning and um they're respected, they're valued, they're seen, they foster characteristics of self-confidence, resilience, and independence. And to when Dr. Ferris shared that slide about each school's focus, all of these, they might be said different. Maybe it's persistence at the middle school or connection at the high school but or back to basics but they're all cohesive under the umbrella of our essential elements and they all speak to one another. Um, something that I'm super proud of in Seville is I speak to a lot of other districts um or other PPS people and I really feel
064that belonging and inclusivity is woven into our culture, our curriculum and our practices here. Sometimes we can purchase anal program or an idea and it's an add-on. I don't feel like it's an add-on in Sable. I feel like it's at the fabric of what we do. It's the DNA of our school district. Um, when our teachers do curriculum writing, now as Miss Demiola said, there's a separate section for how we're getting those social, emotional, mental health goals in, how we're addressing special education goals. So, it's really a collaborative effort. It's a work in progress, right? But it's coordination across all departments, grade levels, and buildings. oftentimes you'll hear in education, well that's the PPS office job or that's the special education office job. No, it's all of our jobs all the time. And I think
065when you start looking at it from that perspective, that's when the true magic happens. Um, and teaching methods are designed to promote autonomy, competence, and inclusion. Again, meeting the needs of diverse learners. And key and at the heart of this goal is continuous reflection and improvement. So we have a number of committees that contain staff that contain parents um administrators. We have student committees, we have superintendent roundts, a high school roundt, we've had roundts at the middle school. So I think especially Anthony too, I'm interested with this goal. I want to hear from you how we can do better because the students, yes, they're at the heart of every goal, but this one in particular. So, but I'm proud of the work we've done, and I acknowledge there's a lot more work to be done.
066>> Yeah. And I think we have a lot to be proud of in in goals one, two, and three, and I'm really grateful for the work of of both you and Mueller. So, thank you. Um, as we head into goal four, this is one that really requires our focus and attention. Um, I want to just take a moment to thank Mr. Bartell's the last three months of working with Mr. Bartell's has been very um not only educational for me but also um relieving because he has 30 years of experience in the field of school finance and he's been just absolutely phenomenal in helping us to dissect our budget, dissect our finances and really come up with a plan that is uh going to help this district and this community greatly. So I thank you Mr.
067Bartell's and uh welcome you. Go ahead. >> Thank you Paris. Okay. So, it's lots of great ideas uh in the first three goals um and from all of our administrators about moving this district forward. Um new instructional initiatives, technology initiatives, um capital improvements. Uh but to do all these things, we have to do it in a fiscally responsible manner. Um the district has had a couple of tough years. Um and I think one of the most important things uh to gain out of these last couple of years is we have to shift the expenses and the revenues. So the last few years we've been spending more than we've been bringing in. Um your fund balance that you have uh in Sabo even though it's declined by a great deal in the last few years it
068is still a lot more money than I had in my previous district with a higher budget. So I had a smaller fund balance but a higher budget. Difference was we try to get our revenues and expenditures about the same every year. You want to try to match them. So one year maybe you pick up a little money, you can add it to your fund balance. Another year you may have a a tough year. You may have a high increase in health insurance or you may have a number of um high cost special ed students you have come up that you weren't expecting. So you may take a hit and money comes out of fund balance. But in general, year to year, you want to kind of be fairly level so there's no big swings. Um,
069and that's that's kind of the key so you're not draining your reserves. And that's kind of what's been happening here in the last couple of years. So I want to try to level that off. Uh, we have to have a strategic use of our reserves. So what that means is we don't want to spend it all in the next few years. So there've been a couple of our reserves that we've taken big chunks out of. And one of them, for example, the teachers retirement system reserve. This is the last year. You're going to spend the money this year. It's done. There's no more money in that reserve. So, you know, that leaves another hole in the budget that has to be made up someplace else. So, with the other reserves that we still have, I'd
070like to kind of try to cut back on using those reserves. Instead of using a big chunk, use certain percentage of the reserve. So if you're only using a certain percentage of the reserve, it takes you a long like if you're only using 20% of the reserve every year, you know, 20% of the following year is going to be less and less and less. So you kind of wean yourself off that uh that piece of it. Um and and you can't use the reserves as an ongoing funding source because you're just going to continue to drain them. You're never going to get back to, you know, revenues higher than your expenses. Uh one of the ways we do that is we have to look at all of our available funding sources. So, one of the
071things I've done right away is to look at our state aid, which is kind of key. And there are some different tricks um that we can do to not really tricks, they're just knowing where to put the money. So, for example, um I've used this example before. Uh part of my salary, I'm in charge of transportation. Take part of my salary, put it in the transportation expense. You can get aid on my salary, transportation aid. Whereas if it's just put in the regular business office code, you get no aid on it. So that's just one example. There are other pieces um in transportation that I'm able to increase the transportation aid by just being very careful about how we enter our information on the state aid forms. You have to include all of your information.
072So part of what they do is they look at eligibility for students. um they deduct a certain portion for buses that don't have eligible students um on those routes. Um one of the ways we do that is we look at all of our students on the routes. If any of them are classified as special education, we can include those as eligible students. So we had not been doing that in the past and our nonallowable rate that would get reduced was much higher than it needed to be. So I'm reducing that. So, that should bring in quite a bit more in transportation aid. Um, also we're looking at uh grants, any grants we can get. We just got a grant for $13,000 for a new oven at the middle school. Uh, we have a the school
073bus stop program, which we had in the past. We didn't pick up any money from it last year. Uh, we have another agreement on the agenda tonight. We're going to get another $25,000 from that uh for this year. And then each year if they want to renew it, we want to go back to them and say, "Look, you want to renew it. We want some money out of this." Um, reviewing all of our expenses, our expense alternatives. So, consolidate busing. We were able to reduce a bus this year. We're going to look at it again as we go through the year. Will we be able to do it, but continue to keep the bus runs at low enough times where it's not going to disrupt families and and so forth? Um it's not really an
074issue of having the number of students on the bus. I think we're in good shape there. Just the time it takes for the runs. So we're going to continue to look at those. Uh utilize Boseies for some of our services. When we purchase services through Boseies, we can get Bosey's aid on that. If we purchase service directly, we get no aid. So we district has been doing that over the last several years. There's more things we can do to bring that in there. um energy performance contract, something else the district started prior to when I got here. That's going to start to generate some savings over the next couple of years as those pieces. We have the boilers at the middle school that were just done. So, we're going to generate some savings um on
075energy this year that will also um with the solar that'll generate some electrical savings in future years and that will be at all of our buildings. Um, so that's kind of the financial focus of this fiscal planning, but there's other pieces. So we have a capital focus. We need to look at our buildings, how we maintain them, how we improve them over time. So some things we can do short term, we can get them through the budget. Other things would be longer term probably have to do a bond to get those um pieces done. uh we have to look at when that can be done. So we have over the next several years um a lot of debt service from previous bonds that are dropping off. So in the next three years we're going to
076have uh about $1.7 million in debt service drop off. So that can be used towards funding a future bond without increasing any cost to the taxpayer. you just kind of keep that line steady and you'll have that money available for debt service for a future bond. You can use it for capital projects in the meantime. But if we were able to get a bond approved for many pro, we could do many projects with that. And as number I know a lot of a lot of the administrators have different ideas for different projects they would like to do. Um but I think it's a good time now to kind of start planning for that. So over the next couple of years, uh maybe you'll have something you can do that'll address things longer term, but in
077the meantime, you can get a lot of short-term projects done with lower de lower dollar values. Um we want to maintain and improve all of our facilities. The site work, roof repairs, HBAC repairs, that can all be done within the within the budget. Um renovation of science rooms and athletic facilities. Um, we also have to have strategic use of the tax cap. So what I mean by that is when the tax cap calculation is done, there are certain pieces that are excluded from the cap and those are capital expenditures. So if there's items currently in the budget now that can be put in our transfer capital lines, which there are, there's a number of different projects that we do each year. um if we shift those into a transfer to capital loan, it's the same
078amount in the budget, but it then frees up other portions of the budget, which gives you some flexibility with the tax cap. So, you're not it's not really an increase in the budget. You're just shifting where the expenses are, where they're coded. It would then count outside the tax cap and gives you more flexibility. So without increasing anything, you're going to gain some flexibility in in how you can spend the rest of that money which you can use on staffing and everything else. Um next structural last piece is instructional focus. So again when we're incre a lot of ideas to increase programs but we can only increase programmatic staffing when it's fiscally sound. So you really have to be in a good position to do that. You don't want to add something or restore something
079one year, just have to cut it back the next year. So, first again, kind of goes back to that first piece. You have to get back to those uh revenues and expenditures kind of on the same line. Once you're back there and you have that, then you can start to look to add the additional um things into the budget that are going to be ongoing costs. Um you do that with your uh increasing fund balance. That's that's the way to keep it so you don't continue to train reserves. Uh we're going to look at all of our resignations, all of our retirements for those positions. Do we need to replace that position or can we do it in a different way or better? Um is there a full-time position that's leaving that can be done
080with the halftime position? Um, if one teacher leaves, uh, if you have a chemistry teacher that goes, do you need to replace the chemistry teacher or should you really look towards replacing that person with a physics teacher or a math teacher depending on where the interests lie um, in the different programs. Um, also look at strategic programmatic changes. So look at our enrollments. Can we reduce or combine sections? Is the interest in one program declining where interest is picking up someplace else? Maybe that's a better use of uh resources. Students interest in electives constantly changing uh what they're looking at. Students go to Boseis programs or career and occupational ed. Are there some of those types of programs that we can run here in the district to keep the kids here and at a lower
081cost? So there's lots of different pieces that we're going to go and we're going to be doing that over the year. I want to put together a longer term plan so that kind of be followed over the next few years, but my main goal right now is to get those revenues back up and expenses down so we're back into our even line. >> Thank you. And uh the final goal is just communicating about what we're doing and being transparent. And um we've kind of already begun that process over the years going to Parent Square to effectively communicate with families. Uh we just talked at the last meeting and we're going to implement reorganizing our board of education meeting so that they're more efficient uh and uh focus on uh and transparent for board member discussions
082where we have a planning session with full of discussion and then more of a business meeting that's full of business. Um creating additional committees to increase community participation. Uh there will be a policy committee. Uh Miss Deola will be heading that up and that'll be starting in I think October. And there will be a budget advisory committee. We're going to be reaching out to those volunteers shortly to invite them to our first budget advisory also starting in October. Great. And um and then we're going to share out board of ed meeting topics in advance so community members know what we'll be talking about and they can plan on coming to a meeting or listening to a meeting online. Uh we're going to have the agendas available. We're going to put the QR code so people
083can follow at home or in their seats with the agendas. And we want to provide our parents, staff and students with a clear protocol and communication guide which we put out so that everyone knows who to go to for what so they can get fast quick communication uh and uh quick responses from us in a timely manner. So um again these are the five goals as we're proposing them. We're open to discussion. Uh we do feel really proud in some areas and we feel very hopeful and excited in other areas. >> Any comments from anybody? >> Yes, I have some comments. >> Me too. >> Okay, I'll go last. Okay. Um, so Amy, I'm just so impressed with really everything you do. I was just saying to Christine, it just it just it's it blows
084my mind like how you can just have a vision and bring excitement um to the teachers and the staff and to us as a board for just revamping and bringing us up to speed with all of your organization and your visions and your just skill. Um so thank you. very thankful um for the work that you're doing. Um Jillian, you I'm very thankful for the experience that you have and your ability to just know our students so well. And um something you just said, the the plan changes all the time and even daytoday. That's so important for every kid because every everybody has a everybody can have a bad day and and everyone's not the same. So I really appreciate you being able to see everyone for who they are and help with that. Um,
085and then Robert, so grateful for you um to come here and really um give us these strategies and experience and different ideas because I think uh the district has really been lacking that in the past few years as far as our finances and I I am very hopeful as Dr. Ferish said um that we are now really in the going in the right direction and I'm I'm really excited to see where that takes us. So, thank thanks you to everybody. >> I appreciate the uh the overview and the presentation. Uh one thing that would be uh nice to have to add to it is uh maybe the milestones as we go along. You know that what we've accomplished like you know parent square that was a milestone you know in each category. This way we
086can kind of document how we're doing, how we're moving forward. >> That would be great. >> Yeah, I'm thinking around February we can kind of do an update on where we are with the goals and then we do another one in June and you know maybe twice a year kind of keep you up to date. >> Okay, great. >> Um, quickly I just want to say something about parent square. I think in terms of making communication better, parents square is like awesome. Um, I'm gonna throw my mom under the bus really quick, but >> she listen >> is very like she's not good with technology, but Parent Square is very easy. She's like, if I need to know something and she's like, "Oh, let me look on Parents Square." She's like, she she loves it.
087Um, it's very easy to like communicate with teachers, it's much better than email and everything. Keeps it organized. Um, like for me for band like football games, if we need updates or whatever quickly, parents is very easy. Um, I mean, it just keeps everything organized out of your email, you know, like immediate news if you need it. Like, you can keep it organized by who you want to hear from. It's just, it's very easy, I think. Um, it's much better than a few years ago before we had it. It's very, very good to be able to communicate with everybody. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else want to go last? >> Um, I just have a couple things. Uh on the first one, the board of goal, the board of ed goal number one, uh when
088we talked about um the autonomy, the connected autonomy, one of the things on the walkth through that I noticed was in the three elementary buildings, they actually all all three principles spoke about the other two principles. Um and they spoke about how they've been in contact and they were working together. Uh but yet you could still feel each building has its own vibe and um you know they follow the the leader, right? Buildings follow their leader and um so I thought that was pretty cool because you know you could tell that you know listen there's always competition, right? That's just inherent in people and you want to be the best. >> They're laughing right now. Jim's like I'm not competitive. >> Yeah. And and and you want you want your building to be the best.
089And you know, I'm I'm at a district with five elementary schools and, you know, I I I always want to be the best. I get it. But I I did love how that they were obviously connected and and they were on the same page and they and they did share a goal. So, I thought I thought that was pretty impressive. Um I did uh in board of ed goal, I think number three, um one of the most important things that I thought Miss MRO said was that a lot of these things start with relationships. Um, and I think that's one of the things that makes Sable special is that our teachers are um so visible in the community and they're so out there and they're willing to show up and and um you know, I
090can just speak for my son, you know, he he saw Miss Cameron, his who was his speech teacher, and he saw her at a soccer game and and he could not have been happier to see her in public and ran up to her, gave her the biggest hug and, you know, wanted to, you know, sit with her and play with her and watch the game and and uh, you know, Those are the relationships as a parent that you really look for. Um, and that's, you know, when you drop your kid off at school, uh, that makes you feel good about dropping them off. And, you know, when you're thinking about their day throughout the day, like, you know, someone like them is there taking care of your kid makes you just feel better. So, I
091thought that was one of the more important parts of of her slide. Um, and then I was just curious, um, Amy, I'm sorry, Miss Tola, uh, do we have a K5, like what is our current our current K5 reading program? >> Our K5 reading program, um, we use multiple curricular materials, um, to address each of the competency areas of literacy. Okay. So for we we're still using the um units of study that used to be teachers college uh now uh is under the company called Mossflower. >> Okay. >> Um and that's for you know a lot of the reading comprehension >> um and and all the skills that go into you know the the major areas of reading but you you know it >> supported by foundations for phonics. >> Okay. Hearity for FMIC awareness.
092We have a vocabulary program that is aligned with the units of study. So it was designed to support the texts that we know are happening in the units. So it's um it builds the background knowledge very deliberately. Um we're using uh grammar programs uh patterns of power. Um, so we're hitting all the different competency areas, but we're um using materials that had been used in the district, maybe in some places, but not others. And now what we've done, our reading teachers were just heroic this summer. They came together and um coordinated everything into a really nicely laid out plan for each grade level specifying what what was happening when to and how it was hitting every area and what each so no one had to wonder are we using this material are we what are
093we supposed to what's what's coming next you know so um so it's all in order but um a drawback, I think, to this that could potentially be overcome and a non-issue for people depending on how this all feels once we're using it in like authentically or it could be something that is um proves to be just too cumbersome is the fact that we are putting together a bunch of different materials, right? >> I don't think there's any one program that's going to hit it perfect. >> No, I mean they try, but they they usually fall short. They're either a mile wide and an inch deep or a mile wide and a mile deep. And we'll get it. That's why >> we're thinking about it, but we're but we're pretty happy right now to say, "Hey,
094let's we know what we've got. Let's give the very best shot that we can knowing what we know and then see if this is still going to be the best thing for us." >> What I what I'm really proud of of our teachers and Miss Dolola is when they went on this two-year journey of assessing our program and trying to pick a program, they looked at pilots. They could have picked a pilot and just said, "Let's go with this." They didn't because they weren't happy with any one pilot and they said, "We could probably be we could do better working on our own to patch a whole bunch of things together and make our own program within the structure of other programs." So, it's a lot more work that way, but it's I think it
095results in a better product. >> Yeah. And that was one of the other things that I was going to bring up is is that um you know Miss Dola always talks about and this is kudos to the teacher and kudos to her because she must be putting together solid PDs is that the the staff is so into professional development and and wanting of it and enthusiastic in the sessions right that is is what you bring to us and you know that's that's another like you know big thing that I think is unique in some districts is that is that the teachers really crave that professional development because they want to get better and make the product that they're putting out better. So, um that was it. That's all I had for that. Thanks though, Amy.
096It was awesome. >> Um I just want to speak to what Mr. Megan was saying about a sense of belonging and um like being comfortable with teachers. Like I don't think there's a single staff member in the building that feels unapproachable, right? Like Miss Bricker and Mr. Hart, I see them in the hallway every morning. Like the principal is right there. You can just go up and talk to the principal. Um, I mean I'm friends. I'm like literally I would call several teachers in the building my friends. Like that's how close we are. I mean >> and you're on the board now. >> Um I mean >> we're six days in and everybody's comfortable in class. It's like >> but you've been there forever. I mean it's really just >> I've never felt uncomfortable with
097a teacher going to class. Like it's it's nice. It's very nice just to be know that it's a good person that you're going to class with. >> Thank you. >> So to sharing >> Thank you. And just to piggy back off that, I mean, I think, you know, my kids have been in the district now for several years and I've always felt like they've had wonderful staff and curriculum and everything like that. So kudos to Jillian and Amy for doing that. Um but I um you know I'm looking forward to working with Robert on the budget advisory committee um because we are in fiscal purgatory right now but I see a light at the end of the tunnel and especially with the bond coming up and stuff like that. So there I think uh Robert
098I want to thank you for uh not bringing a shovel and bringing a ladder to get us out of this hole. >> Anyone else? He's >> You don't have to speak. >> I just want to, you know, I think it's a collaborative effort and I I really appreciate how everybody's working together to move it forward. That's great. >> No, I just I don't want to not >> Well, I feel I must if everyone is um as always, I'm just really proud of Sable Sable's teachers, administrators, everyone. Um, and it's as I just said, thanks for sharing that with us that you feel so comfortable. So that's most important. >> Thank you. Um, so I I just had some things that I thought were constructive. So not only do we work off those slides that we
099saw tonight, but we also have a document that we work off. And as I ran through the document, there were just some things that, you know, I think that it this is a living document. We're always tweaking and always looking um to make it better and and more responsive to what we're doing. Um in the in the beginning there's a whole thing about our sable student outcomes and uh actually Mark and I were speaking earlier about how we sort of hit the nail on the head on if you look at what the the state just put out of the portrait of a graduate how we really kind of were there like ahead of them. Um so I don't see any lift at all for us to get there. I think we probably have what we
100have is better. There's some um things things there that I think we allude to, but I'd like us to sort of tweak and maybe emphasize a little bit more. Um, I think that, um, when we talk about independent learners and caring citizens and working collaboratively, I would like us to have something that reflects the idea of constructive feedback and not just being able to accept constructive feedback and and and not take it like personally, but use it as a way for growth, but also to provide constructive feedback in a way that somebody could accept it and use it as a way to grow. Um, those are probably just a nuance of words. I think that we're there, but I just think it's important that we highlight that. Um, I think that also in there, again,
101we sort of hit it, but really using the word civic-mindedness. We don't actually use that word civic anywhere. Um, in we talk about community and being part of it, but I think that's really important to um some of what's going on in in the world today and understanding what civics are and what it means to be civic-minded and take civic actions. Um, so again, I we do allude to them. I just think it's something that I would like to see highlighted a little a little more. Um, I want to go specifically through um all of the goals. Um, I do notice though um and Amy, I know you're one person and you're doing a ton of brilliant work along with your teachers, but we don't mention world language anywhere in the in that section with
102the um with the um the prek curriculum instruction. And I also think that not only just world language, I mean music is there, but I think we spent a lot of time in the in the spring with our community and understand the value that they put on things like world language and music. And I just think something about like developing and expanding uh expansion of our world language and music curriculum and expanding access to cultural experiences is something that we should really look I know we do it just think it should be highlighted in our document. Um and then um the other one, the fiscal responsibility. Uh Robert, you have been absolute most valuable thing that happened to us and I would like to clone you because I know that your career is not 25
103years long, lot longer than it has had been. Um but um I think that some of the conversations that we've had and I think also should be reflected in the document is the um to identify possibilities for increases in revenue through the use of our facilities through outside organizations. we've kind of danced around it, but it's not really in there. And I just wanted to I think it should be um and I think that's more than enough criticism, not criticism, constructive feedback, and I I hope it's well taken >> for growth. Yes, absolutely. >> And since we are focused in the outcome of reflecting and growth, we accept it with open arms. >> Thank you. >> Okay. >> All right. I'm going to end mine, but I just want to say before we end, we're
104all wearing uh t-shirts tonight uh that say 988 you matter. That's because it's suicide prevention month and I just want to thank Trusty Van Dorne for um providing them. I'm sorry, did I say Miss Van Dorne, trustee trustee Van Dorne, uh trusted trust, whatever. >> And also we are wearing the American flags for um for 911. So thank you everyone for for participating in that event. Thank you. Okay, we're going to move on to board discussion and I'm actually going to go back to Kathy for a second because um I know we mentioned over the summer Kathy, but not everyone's engaged like they are now. Can you explain a little bit about where these shirts came from and and the great work that that you were able to do on our behalf? >> Okay. So
105um I guess when I first came on the board >> when I first came on the board um one of the very first meetings I don't remember how suicide came up >> there was actually an incident at the tracks on off of cherry an adult was hit yeah okay um and then I had brought up someone's name who also from Sable recently at that time took his life by death by the train and uh I just said you know we need to do something about that and I explained how and I'm sure all of you know that in Bayport they have that very different kind of fence along the railway. Um so I said we as a board should try and have that for Seville. So looking into it a little bit, um Christine was
106working with me and we were we were going different avenues to find out who could help us with this because it was so broad. And then finally I connected with someone um through MTA and she's the assistant director for government projects and safety. But it was back and forth and back and forth and then finally it clicked and a lot of back and forth and back and forth and then uh Christine and I actually took photos of all the places that I thought were very dangerous and they actually came out um someone from safety, someone from buildings, the woman the assistant director and then there was a surprise visitor um who from Rockville Center who runs a nonfor-profit organization because his son did take his life um death by a train. And um well, we
107don't have the slides because in Rockville Center they have these stones that are 4 feet by 4 feet and it has this on here with a few words and they're going to put one up on each side of Sable's train station at the landing. So, you walk up a few steps and it'll be there. Um, and that's our first step. And they looked into the distance of the fencing and it would be multi-million dollar, which they don't have for that. So, they looked into the specific areas and we think they're going to be able to put that fencing in those areas. So, that's where we're at. And the organization gave us these. >> And I'll just Yeah. So, you know what? Let me just tell you one thing though. When we were at the tracks
108and taking the photos, there were men there working on the tracks and they were like, "What are you doing?" And we were talking to one and one who was working stood up and he said, "You don't need to tell us your numbers are high." >> He knew. >> Yeah. And the one thing that you explained uh the last time was that um studies have shown >> Yes. that if you make someone aware at in the in the last moments before they make that decision >> that has a great impact. Uh yes >> and that's the idea of having the message at the at the training desk station. >> Yes. Yes. because the gentleman um he did so much research after he lost his son and that's how he started all of this because often the
109people will sit for a few minutes either on a bench what is his name I >> John O'Shea thank you um will sit on a bench and contemplate so if we have this where they're walking up and they're not going to be looking up like this they're going to be looking down and read it so Does it? 9989988, sorry, is the suicide suicide prevention number. So, it's like calling 911, but 988 will bring you to somebody who's in need if they call that number will bring them to some sort of um counsel. We'll put them online with that. So, um Kathy, great work. I think it's something that we >> Well, thank you. But you know something else I learned about that which is really interesting. Sorry. Um, so if someone should call this number,
110it will pull in your number and the area code will tell them where you're at. But what if you're on vacation? You're somewhere else. So they are looking into the technology so that they can really locate you, not by that. >> So >> I just want to add to the number is also a crisis line. So, it is suicide prevention, but it's any crisis that someone is experiencing. If they don't have access to mental health resources, anyone can call that number too and get help. >> Thank you. Um, so it is suicide prevention month. It's also drug uh prevention awareness month, right? Icelip goes purple. If you have not noticed, there's been a lot of purple lights and events going on. Jelene, Mrs. Mresses, tell us what's going on here. >> Yeah, I just a
111few quick updates. We did recognize ISIL goes purple. Um students from our anchor club at the high school helped um spread awareness by hanging purple ribbons around the town of Seville. Um over the last three to four years, we have made very concerted and purposeful efforts to address suicide prevention. We have offered tons of parent workshops. We have a really great partnership with the Christopher Carluchio Foundation who is a family from Bayport Bluepoint. Also, um there's a rep from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Katie, um we have a partnership with her. She's the Long Island chapter. Again, we have offered uh a variety of parent workshops. Also very purposeful in what we're doing with the kids now. Um it's research shows putting uh hundreds of kids in an auditorium and speaking to them that's
112not best practice. So when we bring speakers in we're doing so in much smaller groups so it's not a didactic type presentation but something where the students can have dialogue most recently at the high school um Mr. Calibri and Miss Buckley who are two of our social workers had tables set up at lunch about 988 and spreading the awareness of mental health. And then at the elementary level it's much more developmentally appropriate. We're not talking about suicide but we're speaking to children about who's your trusted adult. And these are in small groups of 20 kids with the social worker and the teacher in the classroom just so if you're not feeling right or if you hear something that upsets you that you know who's that trusted adult in your building. So, and any community event
113we do, they're fun, but they also double as wellness fairs. So anytime we do a community event in Seville, we have a variety of organizations surrounding mental health that come and table for our families. >> So if I can just for a second. So um this is the stone as you can see four feet by four feet in blue and it says your pain is real in pink in white but so is hope. Call or text 988 suicide and crisis lifeline in white. In pink, we're here. In white, we care. In pink, we'll listen. >> Thank you. >> I look forward to that going in. Yes. Thank you. Um, so I Anthony um gave us a little update on how the students feel about the cell phone policy, but is there any um anything we
114should know? I think it went rather well from what I heard, but do we have any feedback other than that? What >> any feedback from staff? The feedback that I have and Anthony jump in if you have any was that it was a very peaceful opening that kids were engaged with their teachers um that if kids needed to call their parents they went to the office and made calls. I saw that myself. Um I walked into the lunchrooms uh with Miss Bricker and at the high school with Mr. Castorro and Mr. Decker at the ele at the middle school and kids were engaged with playing and talking and going to recess at middle school and hanging out in the senior lounge and the regular lounge in the high school. seemed fairly pleasant and um and
115quiet during instructional time and buzzing during passing time. Do you have any? >> So, um I agree with everything you're saying and honestly some of the kids that I spoke to said they like it better not having phones. It's a just one less thing to think about, right? Um but in the senior lounge now that we're phoneless, right, the ping pong table's broken. >> I've been I've been alerted of that. >> So, it's been a big complaint. So, I'm just putting that out. >> So, I'm going to ask anyone in the community has a ping pong table they don't want, please call Miss Bricker. Uh, we also uh are looking into that and I think we're making some repairs, but um I would love to join you someday soon and and play some ping pong
116um and get some other games in that room because now that you're focused on each other, you could do things together, right? >> I just wanted to mention with regard to uh the cell phone ban, I've heard the same thing from my kids um at the high school level. definitely a welcomed um improvement. Uh I would like to thank cabinet and um Mr. Cowder on their agreement to open up email communication with those families that were interested in and it's my understanding that it's a very small amount of people that um had asked and and that's good. If we can just give a few families some peace of mind then I think that we've done our job for the day. >> Yeah, I think it was about 21%. >> Yeah. And finally, I just like
117to tell parents they might need to start investing in some watches for their kids because nobody knows how to tell time without their phones. >> We have the clocks on the wall, but they're counting by five. >> Yeah. >> All right. We It's been alluded to a couple times tonight, but we did a building walkthrough, actually walk through all five buildings um on Monday. Um would anybody like to make any comments? Um, I would just say that uh once again, I mean, walking through the district, uh, maintenance-wise, ground and maintenance, outstanding job. Um, I heard one principal like they said that the last week of the summer, it's a little chaotic. They don't they don't believe it's all going to get done, but somehow, uh, the team gets it done. And I just want to
118give a big, uh, thank you and recognize the, uh, grounds personnel and the building personnel for all their work. Good. >> Um, I just wanted to shout out I don't know I I don't remember her name, but >> Mrs. Moran. She was the STEM teacher in steam teacher at Cherry. >> Uh, she was awesome that day. She was >> everything that you want a steam teacher to be. She was so enthusiastic and I just asked really like a simple yes or no question and she dove into like her entire curriculum and I like I I didn't want to leave. I I would have stayed there all day with her and um so I think they they like they have a winner over there on her. She was awesome. She couldn't be better. So I I
119just wanted to show >> Impressive. >> Yeah. Very impressive. Yeah. >> Yep. >> I was worried you weren't going to leave so you >> um Yeah. I just want to say the same thing. watching the buildings come together. I'm in K12 Vist uh buildings across Nassau County all the time and it's always impressive our buildings um how wellkept they are and even with that the fact that there's always more work to be done. I think it's just the nature of a of a five building district six if you include this one and and the maintenance one. Um but um and also all the teachers who uh allowed us to come in and and just enter their classrooms. Their kids were buzzing. Everybody was engaged and um it was I hope that you are as happy
120to see us as we were to see you because that's why we do this job is to see what's going on in our schools and it was a good experience. >> Okay. Um anything else for board discussion? >> Um just uh one thing I just wanted to run past the board. Uh last year at this time um we had drafted a like welcome letter to the community um that we could put up on online. you know, just, you know, like uh welcoming a new person or whatever and it's signed by the president from the board of education just what we kind of like our goals and everything. So, if uh Christine could update that and then Yeah. >> Are they giving me work to do? >> Yes. >> Yeah. I I will do that. And
121that's a result because what I was doing over the weekend, I was looking at the board website and there was, >> you know, some stuff that was outdated or whatever and I was shooting some emails to, you know, clean things up and, you know, get everything up to date. >> Yeah, I think that if we all have some some time, and I know that our time is very precious, but um kind of going through the website's really important um just to have critical eyes on it. sometimes you go and you just look for the one thing that you're looking for and you kind of forget that there's like a whole other you know world going on on other pages. So I think as a board if we have anyone has some time to kind of
122look through it with a critical lens that would be helpful and um I will work on on on a letter and share it with everybody um before we decide to use it. Okay. Um some fall learning opportunities. The Nassau SUFFK school board annual resolutions meeting is uh next week at 6 PM. Um I know some of us are attending that. Um NISBBA's annual conference will take place in New York City. Um that's on October 23rd and 25th. I believe some of us are attending that as well. Um and um that's it for our our board discussion. Before we move on to uh public comment, just if you were not listening or or aware or or or caught up during the summer because it was vacation, we've changed the way that we've done things a little
123bit just to make them um more efficient and in our meetings uh more more useful because there's so much information that we need as as board members and then we want the community to have as well to make good decisions that um we think there's better and more efficient ways to use our time. So, we're going to go back to the idea of a business meeting and a a workshop meeting. So, this is considered a business meeting going forward. These meetings will be when we do student recognition and we expect more people. So, business meetings will normally take place in a larger space. We're still identifying which larger space that will be um trying to get the place with the best uh sound and and visuals. So, we're working on that, but by next meeting
124we will we will next month we will have that. Our workshop meetings are going to be more focused on specific um either curriculum or or issues going around the district that the board has asked for information on. Um our regular business meetings like this one will still have its two public comment sections. Uh we'll ask people to ask for a number uh when they come in depending on which comment section they want to um discuss. The first one will be about agenda items. Then we'll go through the agenda and then they'll the one at the end of the meeting will be for other items or additional items. Um on the workshop meetings those public comments will be uh limited to the items on that workshop. Um we've also um said that if people want questions
125answered um if you email them and and Mark went Mr. F Dr. Fur went through the the protocol. If you go through those protocols you're more likely to get your answer in a much uh more efficient fashion. Uh but if you still feel the need um to bring them public. If we have uh noticed that those questions are there, we could prepare an answer. If you just bring them up that night, we probably are going to have to wait for us to be able to respond. Of course, depending on on the complexity of the question. Um so with that said, um I'm going to ask uh did we give out numbers for the agenda section of public? Okay. Um, so let me read our uh statement. >> And for those of you who are home
126on the screen on the right corner there's a QR code. So if you want to follow along with the agenda, you can hold your phone up to the QR code and you'll get access to the agenda. >> Okay. Um, the board of education uh appreciates feedback from the community and we recognize free speech as one of our fundamental freedoms. These freedoms are not without restrictions. We follow regulations specified by law and board policy as we encourage our community members to offer public comment. According to the Sable School Board policy 12:30, we request the following. Participants in public session must demonstrate civility as they address the board. We've set 30 minutes aside for each session. The board uh reserves the right to limit or extend as we see necessary. Comments from the public are limited to
127three minutes per person. Kelly is going to be our timekeeper. Um if we do if you do go over your third three three minutes and we ask you to wrap it up, it's not personal. It's not based on what you're saying is that three minutes is allotted to each person and the fairest thing to do is to keep that consistent. Um speakers are requested to identify themselves or their group that they represent and um we will not discuss any situation or or topic that involves individual students, district personnel or other community members. So with that said, who has number one? This is for the agenda part of the um the the yes of the meeting. >> The agenda part of the agenda. >> Yes. >> I picked the wrong number, but I have one. >>
128That's okay. Come to the microphone. >> I just have a question. Can we start with? >> Yes. >> For the planning meetings going forward, it has to be the public comment has to be related to the agenda. >> Yes. So, we only have one chance per month to talk about a non-aggenda item. >> You yes, you can always send us uh you can go through the the chain of command or send it via email if you need something sooner, but yes, >> it's not urgent, but I just think >> okay, you are you are welcome each session. >> I I I look, I understand you have a concern. You are welcome to bring that up at the comment at the end of the meeting. Okay. >> Thank you. >> I'm not sure. Okay, that's fine.
129Um, so I wanted to start by thanking Robert for all of your information um, and research. I know the budget's been a huge issue and it was very educational and I'm happy to see that we're making changes now instead of a few months before the budget and hopefully this will lead to some upgrades that the school really needs. Um, so I'm here for the safety portion. Um, I'm here again. I don't want to be here again. I don't want to have to calculate how long it takes to get from my job to my children's school in case of an emergency. I don't want to have to figure out what family member is closest to home that day. And I don't want to have to take a mental picture of my children and what clothing they're
130wearing in case I have to identify them later in the day. 19 minutes. It takes 19 minutes for me to get to Lincoln Avenue from my job. And I'm lucky because I work close to home. Christine, at the beginning of today's meeting, you said that everyone remembers where they were 24 years ago today. Um, 24 years ago today, I was at Lincoln Avenue in fifth grade and the panic that ensued in every child in that school because you could feel it was tremendous. But school felt safe then and we were there because our parents said we would be safe there. And as a parent, I can't say that I feel like that anymore. And it's not because of the teachers or because of you and everything that you're trying to do, but it's because I
131feel as schools are targets and they're unprotected targets. As I speak, or maybe prior to this, there was a lockdown at a military school for an active shooting, two shootings yesterday at schools, and that's just the last two days. I appreciate all that covert is doing. I'm more concerned that it took Cobert to push basic safety measures like locking and closing doors. But we also can't be naive to the fact that Covert is here because of the parents who stood up last year and begged for something to change. And I appreciate the fact that you listened to that, but I do think we need to do more. We're not taking advantage of everything that they have to offer. School districts around us are taking security measures and precautions to keep their schools and communities safe.
132And their ch while we're sitting in Savville like we're a bubble that can't be popped. I can't change national legislation. I can't change state legislation. But I can stand in front of you and say that I really think we need to do better. It is horrific as a parent to send your kid to school. I love this town. I do think that we're safe, but I do think that we need to do more. I can't imagine what some of these parents are feeling and we're only in week two of school. I don't want it to be my kids. I don't want it to be anybody else's kids. This is highly alarming on so many different levels. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Was anyone else going to speak to this portion of the meeting? Okay,
133I'm going to move on to the um the actions of the meeting and then we'll go back to public account at the end. >> So six yes. Um so looking for a motion for 61 to 709. Motion, Tom. >> Second, Kelly. Any discussion? >> All in favor? Oh, discussion. All in favor? Yeah. Sorry. A motion passes. Um, all right. Taking by itself. Um, 7.10. Can I have a motion? >> Motion, Kathy. Second, Desmond. 7.10. Yes. Um discussion all in favor against abstain. Kelly abstains. Okay. Taking 7.11 to 7. What's 14? Can I have a motion? >> Second discussion. >> Go ahead. So, I've asked this before when we are um when we have surplus of items and we're disposing of them whatever. Do we look into if other schools can utilize what we have? >>
134In some cases, we have and in some cases when we know it's like an something that no one's going to be able to use, we we don't. But if there's a possibility, we would. >> Okay. >> Thanks. >> Oftentimes, the material is so old that it's it's not even nobody would even entertain it. Right. >> Any further discussion? No. All in favor? Motion carries. All right. Taking section um 8.00 8.01. Sorry, I can't see all of a sudden. 8.01 to 9.04. >> Motion. >> Um Chris second discussion. Yeah, I just one of the things that I was happy to see on there on the instructional schedules and I guess um the thanks goes uh to Miss Mris and Miss Miola was the mentors um for the teachers. I feel that's that's um a move in
135the right direction. I know the teachers themselves in uh speaking with them uh they they kind of have been doing this themselves for a long time where they've been looking out for each other and mentoring each other and and you know trying to make each teacher young teacher uh the best they can be. But I think this is a positive step in the right direction because every new teacher and I like some of the mentors that you know it's some of the strongest teachers in our district when you look through it. So I I think putting them in the hands of um a veteran teacher well respected that you know knows the expectations uh of a Savville teacher and that the community has of a Savville teacher. I I think that's going to go a
136long way to building the best product that we can build in the school. So I was really happy to see that up there. So thanks Amy and Jillian. >> Yeah. And I want to thank both of them for working with Jerald Dean Batterbury and the SDA because they spent a lot of time redesigning a a handbook for for mentoring, doing a mentor training and really uh buffering our our our program to be to be stronger. >> Yeah. We had a committee of people. We had SDA members a couple years ago. He was on it, some administrators. Dr. Curo was on it. So we had a whole team work together. >> Yeah. And we really were focused on if we care about caring and learning, we have to make sure our newest teachers have that support
137as well. >> Yeah. I just think, you know, one of the one of the trends that I that I well, I don't I I hesitate to call it a trend, but I I think one of the things that we need to really focus on is getting top talent and then keeping top talent and keep keeping them here and and doing the best we can to to keep them. I I I think Savo recruits itself when it comes to getting top level applicants. I think we've seen that in some of our recent hires, but then we want to keep them and uh I think that will help. I think that'll go a long way. So, I think that's a positive step. So, I was glad to see that. >> Not to prolong it, but also too,
138I just wanted to mention Miss Deiola and myself and M. Jaganti today, we're we also started a new teacher series. So, all the new teachers that were hired this year, we're meeting with them on a monthly to bionly basis just to check in on them and touch on different topics. anything they feel like they need help with something. We talked about goals for theirelves or obstacles. So, it was an amazing meeting. Kudos to all those teachers. They came so passionate and ready to have a open dialogue. So, we were really excited. We don't have a picture, but we were excited about that meeting. So, >> and if I read it right, you guys even set up mentors to mentees for perm subs and everything like that as well, right? We have one of our teachers
139who's doing the permanent subs who are new as a group. And um also something else we're really excited about in the new contract mentoring used to be, you know, it's New York State, so it's a teacher who's in their first year of teaching, but because we said Savville is such a special place in the new STA contract, it's you get a mentorship if you're a first year teacher as per New York State requirements or if you're new to Savil. So maybe you've been teaching in Garden City or Bayport Bluepoint, but you're new to Seville. So we also assigned them a mentor because every district's different and culture is important. So we made some great enhancements and um we're really looking forward to it. >> Um just real quick, switching gears, one of the things we're
140just um passing is the retirement. >> I was going to do that. >> Oh, I'm sorry. We all want to do it. We're beaming. >> I know. we want to um of Miss Julie Vicero after 21 years. Do I have that right? >> In the district, both uh working in the superintendent's office and then also as the um board of education clerk, we just like to obviously we'll we'll do this again in December, but we just want to acknowledge it now and say thank you so much for everything that you've done. [Applause] >> Yes. I always say every retiree always looks better, feels better, and is better. And uh I also want to acknowledge that we had two donations of equipment. One in particular was a apparently an antique desk which I think was very
141generous uh from uh I think Melissa or Lane. >> Yes. >> Yeah. Lane. So thank you very much for that. >> Okay. I believe after all that that's still open and we need to vote on those. >> Okay. All in favor. All right. Motion passes. All right. Upcoming dates. Beginning of the school year is always busy. Um September 20th um is the homecoming parade and the football game. The football game will be at six o'clock and I believe it will be at the field behind the high school. Will >> no turf. >> Turf. Where is it? >> Turf. >> Oh, turf. Sorry. Turf. Oh, major faux. I thought Ryan said that the other day. Um the um pep rally, although not open to the public, is going to be the day before, which is always
142fun for the kids. Um September 23rd and 24th is Rashashana. So schools are home. I like to wish everybody a happy Rashashana who celebrates. Um 27th is the strides color run as Mrs. Mis mentioned earlier. 10 a.m. at the middle school. October 7th is Young Kapor like to wish all the families who celebrate a uh easy fast on that day. And October 9th will be the board of education workshop meeting which will take place in this room. Uh, we're also beginning to >> October second. >> Did I not say second? >> 7th. I'm sorry, my contacts a little messed up right now. All right. October 2nd is um young. And again, have an easy fast if you celebrate um uh October 9th. We're also gathering at this point uh PTA um meeting dates for the
143year. And um if we can try to among us all try to make sure that there's at least one of us there would be um would be good. We can talk about that as it goes further. Um, okay. Any other dates to remember? No. All right. Moving to our second public comment. Do we have people who have a number for that, Julie? I think we have one. >> All right. Thanks. I'll leave that issue aside. >> Okay. >> Um, but essentially just the one session, the second session is the one where it be any topic is open. >> Yes. >> Okay. Get that sec. Um I'm in a very somber mood. Um and I apologize for being a little bit late today. Um was the horrific events of yesterday in Utah. Was there any mention
144of that at the meeting earlier? Did I miss anything? No illusion to that whatsoever. >> We did a general moment of silence to recognize 911. >> Of course. Absolutely. Okay. So that's the topic I wish to speak on today. >> Um as you've noticed, the flags are at half staff throughout the school district, all government buildings at all federal, state, and local levels. um flags were hast appropriately as per our president for a very tragic event that happened yesterday and it does relate to children because the man who was assassinated grievously um cared very much about and congratulations Anthony I'll use Anthony Anony's generation Gen Z he lived to help Gen Z and to further Gen Z so that's why I'm talking about this today I think much of the community isn't is very very
145upset and this needs to be said and at the end I will ask for a moment of silence I wrote a few words. As you undoubtedly know, free speech, the bedrock principle of a free society, was dealt a grievous blow yesterday, September 10th, 2025 in Orm, Utah at Utah Valley University. A renowned, muchloved, and greatly admired Lion of Generation Z engagement was mercilessly executed while just kicking off his fall 2025 ask me anything American comeback tour of college campuses. I speak of course of Charlie Kirk, the brilliant 31-year-old phenom, founder of Turning Point USA. Charlie declined at age 17 and offered admission to the prestigious Brown University. Why? Because he sensed in high school in 2012 an ethos of self censure in an educational millia leaning heavily to one side of the political spectrum. This
146prevailing wind distressingly intimidated dauntless kids into de facto silence or reluctant strategic endorsement of this or that instructor's often ardently opinionated viewpoint on topics of culture, mores, history or civics. Charlie instead elected to blaze a trail of his own to educate himself prodigiously, reading the classics with the ambitious goal of fostering an academic environment where all kids in secondary and university settings would feel at ease expressing themselves, asking questions, all the while avoiding social or academic approprium for doing so. During his landmark college campus gatherings, which grew from the tens to the thousands, students eagerly observed Charlie engaging their peers in goodnatured, by the way, Charlie was always exceptionally respectful debate on any issues they chose. In fact, his signature move was to advance those who starkly disagreed with him to the front of the
147questioning line. Turning Point USA has grown to have more than 650,000 lifetime student members. I have twice attended America Fest myself, his annual December shindig in Phoenix. These conferences are a venue to witness the best of our young people exchanging ideas and expanding their knowledge in a climate of unfettered thought and speech. So the shocking assassination of this American cultural giant is a direct assault on free speech, the foundation of a free republic. So with that in mind, I would request a moment of silence for Charlie Kirk. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you for your comments. Okay, with that I need a motion to adjurnn. I don't think we have to go into exact session. So, a motion to adjurnn. Motion second. Um, all in favor uh discussion. All in favor. All right, everybody.
148We will see you um on October 9th for our board workshop meeting.