001But again, you're the board of education. If you give me a directive, I'll make something happen. >> I mean, I I totally hear where you're coming from where you want to open up Pandora's box and I'm just brainstorming here and like, you know, is there a way, you know, I'm trying to think back like how we used to have computer labs before everyone had a computer? Like, is there a way we could have like just two or three computers where it's like Sports U, hey, I got to talk to mom. All right. like, you know, go there during lunch and like send mom a quick message and then be on your way. I'm trying to like do it without the same as the office. >> You could go to the nurse, the guidance office, or
002the main office and pick up the phone and call, >> right? >> Any student could do that at any time, >> right? I'm thinking about the parents who express to us that their child may be having a bad day or having like a mental breakdown or like they need to talk to their parent because they're upset. They had a fight, they broke up with their girlfriend, whatever. Like whatever reason, they don't want to be in the office talking about that in front of the secretaries. Maybe they just want to have someone listen to them for a few minutes and that's their parent, you know? I don't I don't know. I I feel like >> So, I'm just guessing what is the directive that you're looking for Mark to do? is >> I want to I
003want him to open up Sports U to every student. That's the directive I'm looking for. >> That's what you're asking us. Okay. >> Anyone else agrees with me, but that's just how I feel >> to open Sports U to to make it accessible to everybody. >> Once that genie is out of the bottle, you can't put the you can't put the genie back in the bottle. That's what I'm worried about. >> The only way to do it would be just to remove Sports You. which >> turn it right off. >> I mean, the only thing is look, Christine was part of the policymaking team, right? Tom was part of the policym team and Amy was part of the policymaking team and part of part of >> and Jillian, sorry. Yep. And and so and part
004of what you said was that that it would be revisited, right? we would leave it and we would revisit it and we've already revisited it and changed it and we had the year hasn't even started. >> This level of specific specificity is that the word um was not part of the policy discussion just to be to be clear. So this by deciding this right now we're not really affecting the policy. The idea of the policy was to get cell phones and social media and internet you know to the kids which I still firmly firmly believe in. This was a subset of questions on the how the parent student piece. >> Okay. So, Kelly is asking us and and asking Mark if we could put I'm I'm okay with that if that's what we're looking to.
005So, like in in essence of moving on like we've we've touched on everything. >> Okay. >> Are we offline? >> We're back. Yeah. >> Okay. >> Just haven't refreshed. How long have we been off? >> Uh, couple few minutes. >> Okay. >> I can tell we're all torn. Then there's no there's no good answer at this point. >> I think the best argument is if you're going to do for some, you should do for all. >> I I can't see how we That's exactly >> It's hard to argue that point. And And then but Chris's point and I believe Mark's point um is, you know, do you want to circumvent the the the real purpose of the of of the the rule in itself? And then I think that's where then we can look in
006December and and we look back and we say, "Listen, this this is what we thought. We thought it was going to be beneficial. It's been a nightmare." We take feedback from the teachers. We take feedback from the kids. We take feedback from Anthony when he's here in September and October. Um uh because honestly, he'll probably be the most valuable member at the table at that point. Um and then we we just revisit it. So, you know, >> I agree with agree with >> they're not working. >> I agree with Desmond. We have a policy in place. The governor has told us what to do. We gave that polic that group gave great thought, time, and effort to it. Um, I do have faith. I believe in our parents. I believe in our students. Let's see
007how we do and then we can revisit it. >> What do you Well, I don't think we can't do that because if it's not open to all if it's not open to all, I don't think we should. >> I'm asking that it be open to all. >> Just let's go with our policy. See what happens. No, but I was I was okay. I I don't It's either all or none >> with that, >> right? But we can't do all. >> No, we can we can do all >> that's what we're asking him to do. >> And then if the teachers come back and and and the kids come back and we just find out that it's creating more problems, then like Christine said, then we revisit it. And you know, if if we if we
008have to remove sport, we remove sports. >> So that would be for middle school and high school. You're going to allow them access to the team pe other people and their parents all day. >> And it's it's not necessarily other people >> that easy. The group like baseball would be set up baseball homes >> orchestra. >> Yeah. Home rooms. Kelly's point. You could set up like class of 2025 and have everybody in the group. >> Well, that would be that would be silly. That's defeating the purpose. It would just I think it should be home rooms. Maybe home rooms. Then you're really limiting it. >> Um I just I want to be clear. I don't want anyone to think I'm I'm not in favor of the cell phone ban. I do think it's a great
009idea. I I want that to be clear. I'm not saying that I do think the kids should not have un you know endless um access to everything. But in that on that in that same thread I also want to note that by asking for sports you we're taking the internet your phone which is this huge concept and now we're putting it down really really tiny to just these 18 kids that are on your baseball team. Okay. So, it's not it's it's not it's not a crazy thing. We're not like opening up everything again. It um I feel like we're missing that point here. >> I just I agree with what you're saying and I I want parents to be able to reach or their kids to be able to reach their parents in a time
010of need, right? Um but at the same time, like all the policy that you previously discussed, I feel like we're kind of undercutting all of that. Um, and we're kind of >> it's not just 18 because now it's 18 kids times two parents. You know what I'm saying? So with that one team now the internet. >> No, I know. But now you're already up now you're already up to 65 and you're in a group chat. So like now all of a sudden like a kid is in their Chromebook. Bing bing bing bing bing bing bing bing which is exactly want what we wanted to present. >> Do you think do we think 65 parents are going to be texting their kids all day? Do we think that? Like does that happen? Am I naive? >>
011What I'm But what I'm saying is like say as just as a coach like hey listen baseball is canceled. We don't have any gym space because other sports or whatever. And as soon as I send out as a coach every single kid is is going to go okay I got to get a ride and then the parents are going to respond to that. So right away you're in class and now you have 54 messages within five minutes. >> No it's between the parent and the student only. >> Let me clarify. >> They can talk to each other though. >> Let me clarify. >> They can but not in this case. The coach will send out a group message. Baseball club practice is canceled. The parent will get that message. The kids will get that message.
012The kid and the parent can direct message the parent only or back and forth. I'll pick you up at two or whatever it might be. You can do that. But also a kid could text another kid, hey, do you want to come with me or do you want to go over after school? Or hey, did you see that thing on Facebook last night about X, Y, and Z? And it's human nature for all of us to like get interested in what everyone has to say on their phones. >> But do you think they might do that in the hallway? >> I would hope that they would not. But I do think that once you open it up, it makes it harder to manage and it does undercut the the intent of the law. But if
013we say we're revisitive call, >> but my question is, are you saying you want to just hold it the way it is and then revisit it after we see how it goes, or are you saying you want me to use Sports U to kind of give everybody access and then see how it goes? >> Here's where I stand. I think we use Sports U, but we put it in a part of the building where kids can access it if they want it. Like I think putting it on a Chromebook and having 20 messages just fly across the screen is going to open up Amar's box. And that's what I'm really afraid of. And I don't want to dismiss Kelly's concerns because I think they're really valid. Um and that's why I think there should be
014a separate place for that to be used um if we have the room for it. That's all I'm suggesting. >> But what's the difference between that and the student going to the office and using the phone or the nurse's office? It's the same thing. and they have to go out of their way to go to a separate location which has to be manned by somebody. We have to have that device. What if there's 16 kids waiting to use two devices? That doesn't seem like a really logical idea. >> I think it's just another I think it's just a way to alleviate like you were saying 16. So like all right, some kids are hopping on the phone, some kids are you know we have five the laptops like all right I let mom know I
015got to go you know it's just another way >> and if they're late getting back to class what are they going to get in trouble? Do they get a whole pass for that? Do they get detention for being? I mean, there's a lot of >> I mean, as a reasonable teacher, that stuff happens all the time. >> Are there everybody a reason is everybody a reasonable teacher? >> So, Kelly, I have a question. So, you would like them to be able to talk to their parents during class on their Chromebook >> anytime. >> Really? Well, any >> listen, I'm not said I said this last week or last meeting. >> My son to call me up and say, "I need some cookies." No. Okay. But if some child is having a breakdown because they just
016got embarrassed by somebody in gym and they just want to talk to their mom, are you saying that they shouldn't be able to talk to their mom? >> Absolutely not. Because they'll go to a teacher because all kids have their teacher or they'll go to their guidance counselor or an assistant principal or a social worker and that person will get them in touch with their parent immediately. >> I don't know that every kid would go to a person. >> Well, you know what? kids who don't go to people. Teachers usually pick up on it that they're not okay. >> I I still don't agree with that. I still think that everybody should have access to the sports you I have two kids in the school right now and I I'll tell you I don't really
017need this for my kids because they are both in sports and if I really needed to and my daughter drives now so I really don't even need to worry about rides but I'm talking about everybody else in the community that has reached out about this. So that's why I'm just being I'm really digging my heels in here because I feel like this is a big issue. >> Okay. So if I could just see a brief polling. How many of you want me to speak to the administration about opening the sportsu concept to all students? >> I think you have to do one. >> I just I just want a yes or one three four. Okay. And how many are opposed to that? >> I'd like to start with just the policy that was made revisited
018maybe even sooner than December. >> Okay. Um I'm going to speak to my team and I'll get back to you guys uh immediately. All right. On another note, um as the school year is getting ready to begin, we just want to kind of go over the protocol for communication with our school district. We want to make sure that parents and families, as we've been talking about, have instant access to get the best results that they can when they have a concern or when they have a need. So, if you have a concern about something going on with your child, we we encourage you to talk directly to the teacher or to the original source. That person is best equipped to answer your questions and handle the situation. If you're not satisfied after talking to that
019original source, uh we have the chairpiece person, guidance counselors, social workers, school psychologists, or if it's sports related, the athletic director who you could speak to. Um if you're still not satisfied with how things are progressing, the next step would be the assistant principal or principal. or if it's a special education issue, the assistant director of special education or director of special education. And you continue down the chain if you're still not satisfied, assistant superintendent for PPS, Miss Mris, curriculum, Miss Diola or business, Mr. Bartell's. And then if you're still finding that you're not getting where you need to get to, um, the super. Yeah, it is supposed to be on the screen. So I'm thinking I'm showing people stuff, but clearly I'm not. I really need this to get fixed. It was working fine
020and it was up 10 minutes ago. >> I don't know. Is there something we have to do over here? >> No, it's on. The TV is on. trying to get >> I don't know. Bluetooth. >> Yeah, the stream is still working. >> I think you're hard connected. [Music] Can you see it on the live stream? No. Something happened when I um unplugged it. >> All right. Well, yeah, basically, um there's going to be a communication guide mailed out to families. Um, and it's going to be more specific than I'm describing with how to who to communicate with when and under what circumstances. So, if it's a sports issue, if it's a guidance issue, if it's a class issue, if it's an academic issue, if it's a bullying issue, uh you look in the guide and
021it tells you exactly who to communicate with so you can get the most uh efficient and quick responses because we want you to get a quick response and we want you to have your issue resolved right away. Um, I also have uh great news. Um I want to congratulate Principal Bricker and the entire high school faculty and staff as the high school was named a top level high school across the nation by US world uh news report rankings. Um the high school was basically ranked eight in the top 8% of high schools nationally. So of the 17,000 plus schools uh in the top 8% nationally. We were in the top 11% across New York State and we were number eight high school in Suffach County. that was measured by academics by AP enrollment by um
022graduation rate and uh and even despite those rankings if you look at the kind of things that we're doing in those school our schools it's quite amazing to see the great work of our students and our staff because you can't measure caring and support and the caring and level of support for our students is just phenomenal and I just want to give a a shout out to the faculty and staff and the high school [Applause] Uh just want to give the board a construction update. Uh the cafeteria bathrooms at the middle school are nearing completion. The partitions are being installed Wednesday followed by the remaining accessories. The cleaning crew will be in at the end of the week and they'll be ready for opening day. I do have some pictures which I will post to
023the internet and you can look at um at another time. Um also the high school bathrooms near the guidance office and the sports area in the gymnasium are uh completed. the partitions have been installed and uh the cleaning crew is doing a thorough job getting those ready and there's a minor punch list but they should all be up and running and ready to go for September as well. >> I can I just say we always at this time of year even like last week you start to look around you're like how are they ever going to pull this together and our buildings and grounds and custodial crew and their cleaners always managed to make everything ready for the first day of school. So again, I just like to acknowledge the hard work that they do
024and thank them and look forward to our buildings being clean and ready to go on one Tuesday morning. >> Great. Yep. It's really nice. Uh they do a great job and we want to thank them for that. Um the AC units at the high school, all cafeterias and the uh auditorium are now air conditioned spaces. So if there's a hot day and or if we have performances uh with the hot lights on, uh we'll be have a cooling in those spaces as well. So we're really happy about that. at the high school. Um, at the middle school, we installed a new boiler. This is part of our energy performance contract. We're in the process of fixing the other boiler and that should be ready to go by the heating season. And we have solar installation
025happening which is going to it started at the high school. So, they're putting the panels on the roof at the high school and they're going to be working their way from the high school to the other buildings one at a time and we're hoping to get that up and running as soon as possible. um that that will continue through the fall and into the winter and uh and once those are in place and operational it should see significant savings to the district related to our energy and electric bill. Um also I want to remind people that we have the Savville color mile run Saturday September 27th. Um the rain date is the 28th. The walk starts at 10 a.m. at Sable Middle School. It's a really great event and if Miss Mress do you want
026to add anything about the event? We have a lot of vendors. We have a lot of activities and we have a lot of great things going on there. Okay. Okay. Um that uh kind of concludes the superintendent report and I'll turn it over to you. >> And I had this but >> well we'll start with the other thing first. >> Yeah. >> I'm getting Okay. Board discussion. Um we're going to start with um probably our most important item of the night and um that is that we now have an open board seat. We'd like to thank Dr. James Burch for his service and um we are now left with a decision to make. Um after referring with council, we understand that we have basically three options. One is to have a special election. Another is
027to appoint the position someone to the position. And the third is to leave the position open until the um the yeah until the next election which is when Dr. Burch's um service would have ended or would have been up for re-election to begin with. So I'd like to open it up to the board. Anyone like to add some pros, some cons or which way they are leaning um so that we can come to a decision? I mean, I think explaining to the public that there would be a cost to have a uh an election, a separate election. >> Yeah. Whether it be $10,000 or $20,000. >> Yeah. A separate election would cost about $18 to $20,000. >> I I'm my feeling is the the timing of the resignation, the financial situation we're in. Um, I
028think it's, you know, I I I really, even though there are three legal choices, I think we only have one choice and, uh, there's only one right choice and and that's to leave it blank. Uh, we we I I feel like we do a good job. We we come to consensus a lot. We have solid discussion whether we agree on things or not. And, um, I think we can operate well as a board of six until May. And then we let uh the people that are willing to put in the work to to step up and and go through the process of of running a campaign and um you know putting their best foot forward and then the best person wins in May. >> Thank you. >> I agree. >> I also agree. I mean
029at this time >> sorry I mean I also agree at this time I think there's there's no immediate need and um but if that should change like you know we wouldn't want to go down to a five member board or something like that you know um because in the past when we did have an open seat we sometimes did have uh to cancel a meeting you know because all we didn't have enough board members to come but I think at this time I think we'll be all right. Yeah, my whole thing is balance. I mean, you know, we we saw the petition online that the community had to hold a special election. Um, I don't think the community realizes how much of a financial pinch we are in. Um, to spend $18,000 to basically fill
030a board seat for probably four or five months. Um, I just think is a waste of taxpayer money that could be used better. You know, we were talking about AIDS and kindergarten or or whatever else. And you know, I the reason I ran for the board is to help serve kids. And I don't think a seven person board over six months is better than a sixperson board when we could be helping kids with that money. And that's really um and to not appoint somebody because I think that's subverting the the um will of the voters. Um I think they have their chance to speak. Um you just have to wait until the regular voting amount. Um and then you're getting the full community support behind that. whereas if you have a special election, it's going
031to cost us like $20,000 and then maybe 500 people show up and that's a fraction of what the normal voting would be anyway. So, um I respect the democracy of it all. I I I I would love to hold the special election. I wish we had the money to like just kind of throw at that and and allow somebody to be in there. Um but we don't. Um and so that's why I kind of feel the same way as Desmond. >> Yep. >> Um I agree. We should wait until May. >> Yeah, I believe that the although the petition has never been brought to the board or sent to the board, I believe it was just an election over an appointment. I don't know that it was specific as to what kind of election. Uh
032but I do agree that um the last time this happened, it happened about the same time in somebody's u length of service or or time of uh term. And um I think we can do it with a sixperson board. Um and u so I think we should wait till May. Oh, silly. Now I have an echo. >> And now I realize I hate the sound of my voice. Thank you. Okay. So, um I fig we have a consensus that we will wait keep the board um seat open until May when we get to the regional election cycle. Papers for that if people are interested in running will go out in April or March sometime in March. Um, and if something were to change between now and then, we can revisit this. >> Agree. >> Okay,
033forget it's me who keeps talking. Um, oh my, I'm done. Um, here we go. Um, yeah, this is going to be difficult without the screens. Um, so Do we want to take like a threem minute pause so we can actually do this? Correct. Like I'm fine with that. >> What we can Yeah. What we can do if if if the I don't think people will be really upset if if we go upstream we can at least discuss building visits and dates. I don't know that that's exactly the most um public thing. We could always announce who's doing what after so we can have that discussion so we don't stop the meeting. Fair enough. Okay. All right, S. Do what you got to do. Everybody at home, we will be back online as soon as possible.
034The only thing we will do while we were gone is choose the dates of who's visiting what buildings when. Um, all right. So, I I had I had asked Mark um if we could possibly do the building visits in one day instead of breaking it up over two only because last year I was unable I I can't take two days off of school. like that's tough for me and I wasn't