001We're back up. Back up. Yes. Yeah. Kathy, you have it. Just discussing July. What about June? June's over. No, for next June. Oh, sorry. It states June 11th and I was given another one that I thought was updated that said June 18th. So, what is the date? Next year. I thought you said June 18th. That needs to be adjusted because we need to adjust the date for June 18th because if it's earlier a lot of the students won't have finished their seasons and the whole sports awards. So let me stop. I I'll just do that one separate so we can have a discussion and we can adjust it. Um so um can I have a motion for 6.01 01 meeting dates to amend them. Well, first we'll motion and then we'll discuss and we'll we'll
002amend them at that point, right? Yeah, sure motion. All right. Thank you, Desmond Tom. Second discussion. Now we can make the amendments. Yeah, the dates are wrong. There's two There's two incorrect dates. Two dates have to be changed. Yeah. Okay. open then amend then approve. So but I guess we need to confirm the dates. Correct. So make the motion to amend then discussion then we can vote on. Okay. Motion to amend meeting dates 2526. Two dates that we are amending. First is in the July date of 2025. We're amending July 22nd to July 29. And in June 2026, we are amending June 11th to June 18th. Motion. Can I have a second? Kelly second. Discussion. Discussion. We have to change the meeting from the 22nd to the 29th so that we have 30 days after
003the No, that's not the reason to change the 22nd. The auditors are coming on the 29th. So, we wanted to move the meeting so the auditors could give their auditing report on the 29th. No, no, we did. Use your microphone, please. Yes, we Yeah, I know. Okay. today so we don't have any problem with the 30 days. We'll have plenty of time for the 30 days. The moving of the meeting for the 29th was so that our external our internal auditors could give you an an audit report on the date that they could be here. Okay. So, people just know that was going on. We had a action plan to vote for the school safety policy. We were going to do it on June 22nd. We had to change that date because the auditors are
004coming on June 29th. July, sorry, July 29th. And it made more sense to be there. So, we moved the approval of the school safety plan to tonight so that we didn't have a problem with 30 days that we needed to do it prior to the August meeting, the August meeting. So, that was taken care of by moving that to tonight's agenda. And we are going to move the 22nd to the 29th so we all can be here for the auditors. Everybody understand? Okay. So, um, motion to approve. We did that. Well, the other the other date the other date that you're talking about was the June date for next June. The last meeting of the year was the 11th. We do sports awards. We the sports season won't be completely over. So, we can't give
005out awards if kids haven't received them. So, we're moving it to the 18th. Okay. Okay. So, next year's dates, July was going to be moved the 22nd to the 29th, June the 11th to the 18th. Um, all in favor? Motion carries. A motion to approve the amended resolution. Yes. Now you're approving. Let me try again. Motion to approve the amended resolution. Desmond Tom. Discussion. All in favor? Motion carries. The amended motion carries. All right. Remember that grace I asked for? I'm going to need a little bit. Okay. Um All right. So, we have more on this meeting to approve. Um going to um ask for a motion to approve 701. Oh, wait. Sorry. Going. Yes. 701. He's 702. Yeah. The student is 702. Just Just do 702 by itself. Yeah. So 701. Motion. Second. Second.
006Discussion. All in favor. 701 carries. Motion 702 is the swearing in of the schoolboard member. Student school. Student. Okay. Motion to uh for 702 that's to approve our exicio student member. Can I have a motion? Motion. Tom Kelly. All in favor? All right. [Applause] Just want to explain before everyone goes um you know for those at home we are having a student member on the board of education who's sitting on the board. I want to congratulate Anthony Artusa who's about to be sworn in as our student member. So, [Applause] Swear to support the United States of York. Congratulations. You got a seat here. Yes. Yes. Anthony, sorry. Anthony, please come join us at at at our table. You are now welcome. You even have a sign with your name on it. Yeah. Okay. Kodak moment.
007Anthony, we'd like to welcome you to our table and we look forward to hearing your um you bringing your knowledge and perspective from the student body. I'd like to thank Kathy Van Dorne for working with the um high school principal, Mrs. Bricker, and the high school high school staff and and having an election and and choosing you. And um we um again look forward to hearing from you and chime in anytime you feel you need. Yes. Which which we all seem to have a problem with. Um, okay. Um, now we can, um, move a little quicker. So, um, a motion to approve 703 through 7:34. Can I have a motion? Motion. Can I have a second? Second. Discussion. Okay. All in favor? Motion carries. Next one. A motion to approve. Wow. Okay. A lot of
008swearing in tonight. Who we swearing in? Yes. All right. Thank you, Amy. That's okay. New York. Congratulations. [Applause] Thank you. The official Amy Deanola Swearian All right, last one. You promise, right? Okay. Okay. Motion to approve 801 through 1012 9:01. We would have Oh, sorry. Motion to move 901 to 10 through 1012. Can I have a motion? Second. Desmond. Tom. Desmond. Any discussion? All in favor? Motion carries. Okay. Now I need a motion to adjourn this public hearing. Second. James Kelly. Discussion. All in favor? It's business meeting then business meeting first? Yes. Okay. So, I motion call to order or I need a motion to start. Call order. All right. Okay. I need a motion to call our business meeting to order. Motion. Kelly Tom. Um, discussion. All in favor? Motion carries. We are now
009in the b business portion of tonight's meeting. Get to my agenda first. Okay, we already started with the pledge, so we don't need to recover that. Um, we are going to move to correspondence. Um, we've had some correspondence um over the past uh couple of weeks. Um so first we had an email received from the president of the Greater Icelip Association regarding the um building of the South Bay Village Development Project also known as Island Hills. We're going to discuss that during our board discussion. So um that will come up at that part. Um we received a historical newsletter about Savil Schools from Hal G. Brown of the Sable Alumni Association which we greatly appreciated. Um, we also received emails regarding um the civil way civil service is appointed and what the rules are that
010govern the appointments in those hirings. We received um correspondence regarding middle school sports and um the policies among that. Um we received two emails uh regarding the hot days in school which we all um experienced last week. Um and I already mentioned the Allen Hills part. Um all three of those things that I mentioned, civil service, middle school sports, and uh heat in schools, Dr. Ferris is going to address during his um his piece of the meeting. Um so, um and we'll discuss the Island Hills during ours. Can I just say something? Sure. Um yeah, this is a really cool resource. It's published by uh Virginia Lee Lasser. That was the the piece that um Christina mentioned with Hal Brown. He's the president of Disable Alumni Association. and they're officially nonprofit. She's a retired professor
011and the style of it is pretty cool. It's similar to the if you're familiar with the Sable Historical Book. There's a picture and then there's a caption, but she really goes through kind of a close history of Sable Schools and Sable community. It's awesome. You know, I'm not sure how she's going to distribute it. Uh it's available publicly in Sable Alumni Association, but it's just a real neat cool picture. And um I want to thank Miss Bricker because Miss Bricker and the librarian in the high school uh really found some archival data and really gave this a lot of teeth. I really appreciate Micker. Thank you very much. [Applause] I look forward to reading through it. Okay, moving on to the superintendent of schools report. Okay, good afternoon, good evening everyone. Thank you for coming.
012For those of you here or at home, uh we had a really uh productive week, busy week last two weeks in school with final exams, reach exams, moving up ceremonies, and uh then eventually high school graduation, which brought us to a very fitting close to the school year. Although it felt like a day in November, it was perfect weather for for graduation. Um we're going to do around the district just with the graduations real quick. I'm going to give a heat dome update as we were hit with a heat dome on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of uh of last week. and um and then I'll address the two emails that uh Miss Sarnney mentioned. So, just want to congratulate all of our teachers at Cherry Avenue, Lincoln Avenue, Sunrise Drive, and uh and Savville Middle
013School. Uh the uh end of year activities were plentiful, were student centered, were caring. Uh teachers went out of their way to show kids love and respect and caring and just sending them off to a really positive end to the school year. So, I want to thank our teachers and staff as well as our families. Uh and then the moving up ceremonies at those schools were just really uh touching, honoring students and staff uh as they moved on from elementary school to middle school and then from middle school to high school. And then of course on Friday in 62 degrees of wind uh but yet not hot sun uh we had a really wonderful uh grad high school graduation. I want to thank Miss Bricker and her administrative team, the buildings and grounds team for
014all of these events uh throughout the district. they just uh pulled it off with with unbelievable success and I I congratulate everyone involved. I also want to special shout out to the music department at graduation. The band just adds such a nice touch in the singing from the chorus students. Uh such a nice touch to the end of the school year and shows off the and showcases the talent of our students. So I just want to thank everyone for that. Uh really um just a terrific year. Thank you to everybody. Yeah, you can clap for us. So there was a heat dome on Monday and Tuesday and part of the half day on Wednesday uh which hit the schools and we were planning for that. Um we you know I coordinated with other superintendents in
015the Icelip cluster to find out what they were doing. Um we looked at uh different plans and possibilities. We conferred with the board of ed. Uh ultimately we did not feel it was appropriate to shorten the school day or close school uh just for the fact of the sheer numbers of of working parents that wouldn't be able to react quickly to that kind of move. Uh but we did meet the week before. Uh secondary schools, I want to thank Miss Bricker and Dr. Castorro. All regent exams and final exams were held in air conditioning spaces. Miss Bricker and her team and Dr. Castor and his team did an amazing job redesigning the final exam schedule the week before and then sending out notice to families the Friday before about what was uh going to happen
016there. So I thank the high school and middle school. Uh so despite the heat, they they got through that pretty nicely. Um at the elementary schools um all classes were rotated into air conditioned spaces. We met with principles beforehand. We came up with a plan for that. Um teachers were able to sign up for spaces throughout the day. It was hot. It was a really hot day and it was a really challenging day and I visited every classroom and every school and our teachers were working their tails off and our kids were were really relatively happy considering the heat and I think that's a testament to the staff and I just want to thank the staff for coordinating the movement into air conditioned spaces and also for just um helping the kids keep a positive
017mindset during very hot days. Um, but I I do really appreciate that. And the elementary principles did uh send out signals to the families about this would be the plan. We did get some emails uh stating things like our kid only had 15 minutes of air conditioning. When we looked at it, I spoke to multiple teachers and looked at the principles. There was, you know, teachers who had and staff who had two to three sessions of 40 minutes plus in air conditioning. I think there students had some three and four hours of air conditioning during the day rotating. And again, it's not a perfect system. We don't like the situation, but I think under the circumstances, uh, we did the best we could and we we had a a relatively safe and healthy day. You
018know, when I saw kids, they were playing games with their teachers. They were having ice pop parties and rotating to air conditioned spaces. Uh, and the teachers positive attitudes kept the students positive and I really think that's a testament to our our staff and I do appreciate and I I still appreciate all of our staff who kind of fought through those two days. Um in regards to middle school sports, uh we have a modified program in the middle school and we try to in um try to ensure that all students make as many teams as possible. Sometimes we have space issues andor not enough spots on a team or if it becomes that we accept too many kids on a team, nobody hardly gets any playing time because you're trying to share the playing time.
019Uh we do unfortunately in certain areas uh make cuts. Um our goal would be to not do that. And we do have three teams that we're looking at really hard. uh soccer boys, soccer girls, and boys baseball that we want to try to make adjustments to to add spots so that we don't have to make cuts in the future. But our our sports program at the middle school is a modified program, meaning we focus on skill development. Uh many of the the the games like in basketball and and football have five quarters. Uh they're not really quarters, they're five sessions, I guess you'd call them. Um so that we can get more kids into the games. But it becomes challenging in a baseball game when you have 25 students on a team. even if every
020student plays two innings, depending on the flow of the game, they might not even get an at bat. So, we really want to try to to solve that. But, uh, budgetarily, we couldn't add three extra teams in middle school, but we'd like to look at that in the future. Um, and then the last one was a civil service question. Uh, we are hiring tonight a person on the civil service list. Uh, there what we do is we're required by civil service law to uh, canvas a list. Uh, depending on the score they get, you pick from the score. However, uh we are able to reinstate people if they have been in a position, were appointed to that position and and basically got um approved and served in that position. So, the person that we're approving
021tonight uh was on that list to be uh reinstated and so it is following civil service rules, but they are not on this score list because they scored in an earlier test, were appointed on the earlier test and served in that role in a different school district. I think uh one of the things in the in the back and forth of the emails that was confusing to me at least and I think maybe was confusing to uh the the author of the email was is it is it the law that or the I guess it would be the law that you have that you have to ask those people first before going to a reinstatement. So, if there are people that are on the current list that are willing to take that position, do you
022have to go to them first or can you completely bypass that? Because that that's that's how I read that email, right? You don't bypass. So, what you do is you canvas the list and then anyone else who applies, if there's someone who can be reinstated, you can you interview. Um, so if the list has hundreds, 95s, 90s, you can you have to start with the hundreds. You can't hire a 95 if there's a hundred ahead of them uh to a certain degree. But um the the issue is that when the principal interviews the hundreds plus anyone who's offering asking to be reinstated the hiring committee can choose the best of those candidates. So in this case the best of the candidates was a reinstatement not person on the list. But the principal could have chosen
023with their hiring team any of the hundreds not 95s uh from that list but they thought this was the better candidate. Okay. And as far as the middle school sports, um, you know, I I understand baseball's baseball's different. Yeah, it it's different. But when it comes to soccer, if we're playing five quarters, I I think that's something that we could look into. If you're playing five quarters, um, you know, you you who who cares at what point, wins and losses, right, at the middle school level, we're just trying to develop talent, and you never know the kid that, you know, is 411, 75 pounds is going to grow up to be 6'3 and 215. So, um I I think if we utilize that fifth quarter as just you can play those kids that you may
024have cut, that's 11 spots right there. That's that adds 11 spots. I know sometimes, you know, listen, I I I've seen it my whole life. Some guys use that where they mix their A and B team. But and and they and you know, and they they some coaches say, "Okay, well, the fifth quarter is what whatever the score is at the end, that's who wins." And no, but it's the end of the fourth. Who cares? Yeah, we shouldn't care at Savville. we we should be uh trying to develop as many kids as we can. Um and we could utilize the fifth quarter that way and you know for so then so now that's 33 kids. Yeah. The issue is we're having 40 plus try out. So now you're getting into a zone where even the
025fifth quarter is hard to staff the whole team so to speak. So once you start Yeah. Yeah. with 40 plus and 50 you could have two teams. Well, that Yeah. Then that like I'll give you an example like in when I was principal in Pat Middle School, we played against a football team and they stomped my school like it wasn't even close. And I said, you know, that team is, you know, I said, "What's the deal?" I was giving my players a hard time, my students. They're like, "They were so big. They were so big." I'm like, I was talking to the biggest kid in the school. Like, he said, "There was a hundred kids on the football team." Over 100 kids on the football team. It was literally like every single seventh and eighth
026grade boy was on the football team. Yeah. We have a lot of numbers, no doubt. But but I think what what we what we wanted to respond to that parent and to all parents is that we do have a modified program. We do focus on skills. We happen to do well also, but we want to rotate as many kids in as possible. But once you get to like 40 plus, even rotating in five quarters, I know they're not quarters, but five sessions. Um it becomes difficult to get a kid in. Or in baseball, once you get past 26 kids, if everybody played two innings, you still might not get a bat. And that's that's not, you know, they only play seven. And they only play seven. I mean, I think it's worth analyzing the doing
027a cost analysis of what it would be and then potentially like I think trying to be inclusive, try to find a way to get those kids involved like you know I mean because you don't want kids cut. Yeah. I can't speak for baseball but my daughters played soccer in the middle school and they did exactly what we're proposing that that they do and the the fifth quarter was often by um agreement of the the coaches from both teams. You know, sometimes in the fall the days were getting short, it was getting cold, it was the weather wasn't good. So sometimes they'd play the fifth quarter, sometimes they wouldn't. you never really knew when you got there what was going to happen. Uh but um I I don't remember the numbers being as large as as
028we're saying that they are going to be now. And we're like a victim of our own success here, right? We're such a great sports town that that the kids want to play. So, um I agree that maybe we should do cost analysis and see what the realities are. And in 2006, we did have two teams for baseball and two teams for soccer, but we also had a hund 200 plus students at the middle school at that time. But so kids were still getting cut even with the two teams. I would argue we want to have a program that doesn't cut, but we also then can steer kids to other sports. Uh we we try to, you know, so if if you do get cut from soccer or baseball, there's tennis, there's cross country, there's uh
029track and field, and those teams fill up as well. And then and then people get to continue to be on a team. Yeah, I get it. Yeah. Um I just want to chime in here because I coached middle school baseball for about five years and um it is a rough day cutting kids. Um, but you know, I had 50 kids trying out for a team. So, you could draw the line at 16, you could draw the line of 26, but you still have to draw the line somewhere. Um, unless you are doing two teams. So, I mean, if we can afford to do that, I think that's great. But, you know, there has to be a line drawn somewhere. And, uh, unfortunately, that's probably pretty much up to the coach and and the district. And,
030and what can the coach do? You know, we given him an assistant coach to help manage these players. Um, I know just from coaching it it was really hard to sub kids in and out, keep track of pitches, be the third base coach, keep count keep count, you know, it's a lot to do with one person. Um, and so, you know, we want to give kids playing time and we want to develop kids. Um, but there definitely there has to be a hard line there somewhere and I would like that line to be as far as possible that we can get it. But, you know, I think the community has to realize that too. And we also have to be fiscally responsible and focus our funds on the things that you know in a in
031a preference of order that I I wonder if there's an ability to look sort of at alternatives like a like a in-house club inter mural sort of thing because once you add a team it's not just coaches which obviously come at a cost but it's busing it's I mean there's a whole lot of other pieces umpires uniforms field space right there's a whole lot of other expenses that come so it's not just like hey hire another coach there's a whole bunch of other pieces I wonder if there's other ways we can figure out how to create internal teams or or or something to get them more playing time. Yeah. Maybe the athletic foundation is involved with it multiple particip or you could implement a JB9 at some levels. I mean, I'm sure Ryan has a
032whole bunch of ideas. Dr. Cox has been looking at this for a while and and and is really committed to to looking at it. Just wanted to ask because we want to make sure we get used to engaging if the student uh member has any thoughts on just use your mic. Great idea. Um I mean I think I agree with Tom. I mean like I feel like to a certain extent it's good to have as many as you can get on the team but it becomes like how like where's the number? Like eventually it does have to end. So yeah. Appreciate that. So simple. See, one comment, he gets an applause. You want to try that every time one of us speaks? That's going to be a very long meeting. All right. So, that's that's
033my report and my response to those things. Okay. Before we move on, does anyone want to address any of the other things that he mentioned besides the sports? Um, I just want to give a a shout out to the to the teachers um and any and SRPs and bus drivers and anybody who had to deal with that heat. It was really awful and um the the keeping the students engaged isn't easy and we know that it was uncomfortable and we um absolutely appreciate it and thank you to the STA for providing water, making sure everybody stayed hydrated which was really you know key to to trying to stay cool and um you know to the parents who you know needed to send their kids to school. we did the best we could to keep them
034comfortable and and if you were able to do alternative we understood that as well. Um so it you know it came at the end of the year uh which kind of was to our luxury right the regions were happening in the secondaries testing in the middle school so the number of kids wasn't as great but um I taught 18 years um uh and I know many of you had and this heat wave could hit in September it could hit in late May um and there is you know a law I think we should put a link to that law actually on our our uh website that starts obviously September 1st but um you know the law doesn't indicate that school has to close it says is that um we have to make alternatives to make
035our students and our staff as comfortable as possible. We'll stay committed to that. So, thank you. All right, moving on to board of ed discussion. All right, we're going to start with the island Hills development. So, we received a request from from the GIA. If you don't know, um I'm sure most of us do at this point. Uh the Greater Icelip Association is the organization that is leading the charge against the zone change um for the development of the Island Hills Golf Course. Um at one point known as Grey Barn, now it's been changed to the South Bay Village, I think is is the name of it. Um there has been a change in the original proposal at the town level and um apparently um although I haven't seen it and I can't verify it
036there has been a new proposal but there is definitely a discussion in concept um and um it calls for 189 units mixed use um home ownership um town homes for rental and regular town homes for ownership and rentals as well. Um the concerns remain the same. We did write a letter um we've written two letters from this board actually um and we know the concerns of the community are you know um taxes taxing our infrastructure you know our water our sewers um our cesspools those sort of things traffic congestion emergency response teams and this the change into the character of our community um I do want to make it clear that the way that that area is zoned anyone who moves there with children their students would not come to the Sable School District. So
037we don't have um any positive or negative effect based on that. They will all go to the connect quat school district. So it really falls in in in their jurisdiction when it comes to the educational piece. Um the um GIA has asked us to give a formal position on our um stance. They were not clear whether it was the stance on the current proposal or just the building in general. So, I'm going to also mention that on July 16th, there is a town meeting where um Reckler, who is the developer, will be presenting or um there'll be a presentation to the zoning board. Um and before we go any further, I'm going to suggest everybody put that on the calendar. It is really important that Seville and and and Bohemia and and surrounding communities show
038up in mass and voice their personal opinions. As much as this board um can make a stance, nothing is more powerful to a politician than a whole bunch of people in front of them that can or cannot vote for them or will or will not vote for them. Um so I'm going to open up to discussion to hear what everybody thinks. And the question is um are we going to write a letter? And if we write a letter, what is the letter going to say? And can we get that letter done by July 16th? Let me offer more just background information. So the right meeting on the 16th is the planning board. Planning Oh, I thought it was zoning. planning board. So I I want to give more context because um two weeks before that
039about about a week and a half ago uh ten of myself walked on a new member of that of that committee of that board um unannounced without public notice highly irregular. The person actually was secretary for the town of Iceland parks department uh when there was dumping of a 100 million pounds of construction material laced with uh toxins. Person they were probably the whistleblower. That's my suspicion. That person was walked on uh and they're on the planning board now. And then two weeks later they announced the planning board will be voting on the zone change for that property. Now, the planning board in the town of Icelip, if they say no and they shoot it down, there's no appeals process. It's dead in the water. That proposal, I'm just I'm pissed to be quite honest,
040and not to use the word that within two weeks of them walking on somebody, there's now a vote on this. It's it's just it smells really bad to me. Uh if we were going to write a letter, that's exactly what I want to write a letter on. I'm really It's just not uh a good way to conduct business. It doesn't encourage trust. Uh, the person probably is a decent person and is principled. They work for the county executive's office. Uh, the guy's probably very good, but we didn't have an opportunity to even consider it. There's no public notice. It's ridiculous. I'm not happy. I have a question. If maybe James can answer it or anyone. What fire district? West Oakdale. West Oakdale. What ambulance? Community ambulance. And what library? Uh, can because it's Canad school
041districts. Okay. Thank you. It's only traffic. I just Yeah. Oh, go ahead. Go ahead. Does anyone know um you know how the traffic is going to be routed with Lakeland Avenue right there? Like I said, the newest plan. I don't know. There's there's a concept that was that was shopped, right? If you went there, they had these open um community forums and they had like this this concept which was basically like um hand watercolor sketched sketches but the details were not included in that. So we don't know what the traffic pattern was. I mean they promised that it'll be minimal and all of those things but I don't know how you put 890 units and call it minimal traffic but that is what they are promising. I mean, this might be a question the dumb
042question, but what what is why are we writing letters as a school board? Like, why are why why are why is this a schoolboard issue? And if if you can tell me why this is a schoolboard issue because, right, like when we sit down and we make decisions, it's like, all right, how does this benefit our kids? What is the best decision for kids? And I know you're part of that group, so you're passionate about it. I don't know if James is, but obviously I know James has has always been passionate about um th this project and I'm I'm all for I'm all for the passion. I get it and but I I just know is like why why you know how I personally feel about that project versus my role as a public servant.
043I don't know if I can if if we should be writing letters representing the entire public without really knowing how the entire community feels because I have been in small businesses where we're always talking about supporting our small business owners in town and trying to get more small business which brings in tax revenue which which is a revenue stream for our district and they seem you know some of the one some that I talked to are like it would be great because it would be an influx of people. We all know the negatives. We all 100% I I agree with James when it comes to like these you know the these political deals and walking on I heard walking on that member I heard about it and and you know it's it it's shady 100%
044it's shady but our job is is to do what's right by kids and and we've already written the letter. So, like at what at what point do we do we say, "Hey, listen. We've written our letter. We've voiced our opinion and our opposition. Do we just say like we've done it?" I to I just want to clarify something. Um I'm not part of the GIA. I was uh president and one of the founders, James, as well of the civic association um who has worked on this as well. Um and I'll answer you. You're on the website though. I'm on the website. the one that my the one that Milin probably as a came from probably as a supporter. It says it says group member. Yeah. And I'll I well I I'll answer further your question
045Desmond to my thoughts on that but I want to let Chris speak first. Um you know people look at us as the local most closely associated board of governance for them, right? We're the smallest part of government. Um, and people, you know, they're our neighbors and they come up and they want to know where we stand on stuff like that. Um, so I I think that's why people are asking the board to do so. Um, it does affect our community and that's their view on it. Um, but like you're right, it it's not our schooling per se, but could that affect our busing situation getting kids to and from school? Sure. um you know, does that kind of dump right out into our local communities and you know, right by the Cherry Avenue soccer fields
046and all that? Absolutely. So, I mean, there's concern there for the people. Um and and like I said, if we can, you know, what do we want to see in the community, right? Or what do they want to see in the community? I guess that's the main thing. But I I hear your point about we're here for education, right? No, I'm just saying like per personal feelings aside, I I I agree with James and our our beliefs probably fall right in line with each other, but I it's this this isn't right. This isn't Desmond Magnus. This is the we're the board of education that represents everybody. I'm just trying to make sure that we all these letters and doing all these things and then they all just go out. I think in that same vein
047like about what um I'm sorry, what about what James was just saying about walking on that um that board member. I I don't know, as shady as it does sound, I don't know that that's that particular issue is something that the school is that the school board would take issue with as a as a body. I don't feel strongly sorry I don't feel strongly that we need to write a letter. I just wanted people to kind of have the facts. This is totally shady. I just am really unhappy with how they did that. Um again, you know, I don't know that this is necessary school issue. I I don't feel I don't I don't feel the need to write a letter. I'm just upset with how they're doing this. And I think that would be
048a fair compromise actually you said by uh a um what did you just say like letting people know the facts that would be a fair compromise even if it w was like a website thing like frequently asked questions or think something like that where people could go and get the the answers like the larger context for this the town of Isup is undertaking its first master plan in 70 years. I mean, it's it's something like 70 years and it's they're putting a lot of money behind it. So, you that's the again, that's the larger context, but like all of a sudden, this is like a rush job. They and they just lined up the planning board, they get somebody on there and now it's on the agenda. Like to me, it's I want people to
049know the facts. I think that's more important to me than voicing some kind of position, you know. All right, Tom. No, I just wanted to say uh to Desmond's comment that it doesn't affect us. Why do we bother? But uh indirectly it does affect us. I mean it it's at our entrance to our town. It it'll impact traffic congestion and uh you know potentially real estate values and everything. So I can understand why just like Chris said that people would look to us as leaders in the district to you know use our voice uh when we can. So, so I I I want I do want to say this. Um the um the the the the GIA has um you know has the charge of trying to educate people and get them involved and um
050you know they're looking for as much support as possible and and they look to us and I think that we did write a letter um I know that Kathy helped um to help write it and I don't know that our stance has changed much then we are concerned we remain concerned. Yeah, it was this in within this past year. Um yeah um that you know the effects of infrastructure, the traffic congestion, emergency response character of the community, uh the environmental impact does have an effect on our community and I don't think it hurts to stand with our neighboring district. Um part of West Savville does go to Kquat. So these are you know absolutely people in our community. um and just continue to urge the town to listen to its constituents. I I think that
051might be um where we can go. Um I'm sure that GIA wants a stronger stance like a strong nozzone change, but I I I'm hesitant because I although I feel like I am educated on it, I don't know that everybody on this board is. Um, so, um, I think that what we want to do is encourage the GIA, encourage the town to continue its outreach and educate as many people as possible and as a board encourage our town to go be part of the process like they come here to do. So, um, I am in favor of writing a letter because I think that we can get a message across that people need to be involved. I think it brings um awareness to the um to the issue and I think that we all should
052be pushing people to attend that July 16th meeting. Can we just keep it short and sweet and go the board does not like the current proposal being um for the 891 units um the size and scope the size and scope of this proposal. we appreciate that affordable housing is needed like like one like one paragraph um please attend this meeting can we post that up online and and have people educate themselves at the actual town. So, I just want to ask Teresa a procedural question. Um, if we agree that we will write a letter, what I would like to do is ask um if we could share the letter, last two letters that we sent so the board members who weren't here can see them. Uh, which I think is important and then craft a
053letter that reiterates that consistent stand. Do we need to approve that at the next meeting or you could approve the resolution? authorize you to send a letter and then you know either way you need a resolution. Okay. So I want to be respectful of what everybody just said. I'm not trying to push anything through. I gave my opinion. I'm going to allow you all to speak on how you want to handle this process. Do we let it lie? Do nothing. Do we um pass a resolution saying that we're approving that we're going to send a letter so we can get it out by July 16th? Do we write a letter and wait till the next meeting to approve it? And any of those what actually happened at the 16th meeting that the planning board meeting
054is considering you know presumably it's but then but then it goes to the full board as well. would go in between would be zoning. That's what that someone described to me. Planning, zoning, town council. However, if if planning said nixed it, there's no appeals process. It's done. So, but the process is planning zoning council. Yeah, there's a lot to this that I I I honestly don't know. I sort of lost it in the process as time went on. Um I don't know if it has to go back through the SRA. It's got to go back like it's a whole new project. So, they may be starting from square one. I I to me I think that's what the July 16th meeting is, but the JI has asked us to put our two cents in about
055the project as a whole in in prior to that. I mean, I can share the public. I feel like right now as we're talking, there's a lot of I'm not sure maybe this. I think it's I I just don't feel like we have a lot of solid information right now that I would feel comfortable saying, yeah, hey, let's write this letter right this moment. I I don't know. I'm not saying I'm not I'm not in favor of a letter. What I'm thinking is write a draft, you know, and then at the next meeting uh then we can, you know, we'll have more information. I mean, the person who asked us to write the letter doesn't even it's a connect member, right? Yeah. She's Yes. Nobody from our town asked us to write this. So, I
056I think I like the I like the part about encouraging like what Chris just said about encouraging people to attend the meeting um as as community members. Um, I just feel like there's a lot of uncertainty right now with what what meeting is it? When's it going to end? What what are they proposing? Is it new? Is it the old one? Hearing I mean, it's a public hearing on Wednesday, July 16th, 6 p.m. to consider the merits and to clarify the issues of the following land use applications and to review the associated environmental impacts. So, it's streamed on the internet. Anyone can you know can write a question make a public comment in that meeting they're going to be discussing the impact is to yes to the associated environmental impacts those secret rel they haven't
057been published so I guess the secret of the current plan is being reviewed is there any benefit to just sending the the second the last letter that we just sent again because I think that's pretty much stating where we stand we could send it again yeah I would I'd like everyone to like to look at it again. Um, you read the hour. Sure. Absolutely. Uh, dear town of Iel Supervisor Carpenter and board council members, we are writing on behalf of the Sable School District to again register our concerns regarding the Island Hills golf course property in Seville. As you know, Reckler Equity Partners submitted a plan to the town of Icelip in 2017. The plan sought to build 27 buildings and 1,365 units on the 114 acre property. We understand the plans for development of
058the area have since evolved. However, the proposed revisions have been presented to a very limited number of community residents and this appears to have been done by invitation only. According to the report released by the Island Hills Advisory Committee and feedback we have received from community members, there is still strong opposition to the revised plans. Population density, increased traffic, congestion, and the potential environmental impact remain the top concerns among those who have contacted us. We are again requesting more transparency and the opportunity for the general public to have their questions answered. We request a public forum at which recckler equity partners can present the current proposal and residents can ask questions. Additionally, we strongly encourage town board council members to meet with constituents and work closely with various community groups to adequately address the concerns
059of the residents of Seville West Seville and the surrounding areas. Sincerely, Board of Education. Send it again. So, why don't we just send it again? This way. It goes to the planning board. Okay. Moren's name and put my name on there and just said it again. Yeah. Of resending that. Yeah, I can resend it. I'm in favor. James Kathy I think the sentiment remains the same. They recckler has not had a public forum where they've answered questions. No, but this is since those focus groups and since the change they have not that was the that was like 2016ish. Yeah. Uh that was the original that was the original. This letter was written after the focus groups. There were there were invite only focus groups. Um and they say they invited thousand people but only a
060hundred showed up. And then there is actually an interesting website where they have all of the feedback that they got. Um and since then very much crickets until all of a sudden we're now here at this planning sess this planning meeting. And um I think that's why the the GIA is feeling strongly that that is anybody that will make a statement and will will speak out against it. They're looking for that support. So I I am in favor of resending that letter reiterating it. The only thing is I don't know if this information is still correct. Is their plan still 27 buildings 1,365 units? Say 86. No. If you think that has been amended. No, no, but if you keep reading, you did it was amended, right? So we don't want to put the new
061plan in here. It's the reduced ones in there. Yeah. Okay. You didn't want to put the specific details. There is no Kelly. I mean Kathy to my knowledge there is no specific details. It's still in that conceptual phase which is I don't even understand how they're having this meeting. But so I think what Christine saying which I think is would maybe warrant keeping it. The only public plan that we've seen is those that many units. We know it's changed but they haven't released a plan yet. Okay. Maybe this is the first time we're seeing the plan. Yes. because they're looking at the secret. Maybe that's what this is. It's hard to I'm sending you guys the public notice so everyone has the same info, but um yeah, it's not I don't think it's very I
062think the the scariest part is, you know, what if something that's presented on the 16th leads to a vote and people don't have the information and I think we need to keep pushing that everybody gets more information more information and educated on it because we're not the experts on this. We're not the organization that's leading this fight. Um, and we're doing our best, but um, it doesn't seem like anyone has the information. Good. Okay. So, we're going to write we're going to send that resend that letter uh, with with Chris's name on it. Sorry, Moren. Um, um, and uh, and and move on. I do. We do. Um, do can I have a motion to Resolve the rescending of the letter to the town dated Kathy. What was it dated? from the 24 year rescending
063the same letter in its substance to the town. Can I have a motion? Motion. Chris second. Can someone second? Thank you. discussion. All in favor? Okay, motion carries. And um Kathy, if you um Kathy or or or Julie will help us look at that letter. I think we all should have eyes on it before we send it, but um we can get it to them before June July 16th. Okay. Um moving on. Hopefully that was the big one for tonight. And let's um see elementary report cards. I think Dez, that was you. Yeah, that was me. Um, I just think that uh one thing that we should uh look to do is to release uh the elementary report cards before the last day of school. So, currently they don't get put up on the portal
064until the last day of school. And so then if there's anyone that has any like if there's a parent that has a question about anything, there's no one to reach. And even if they are reaching out to the teachers via parent square, that's not fair to the teachers because this is their summer. So I I think in the future we should try just you know even if we just give it two days before we two days before we release it um on the parent portal. I think it would make everybody's life easier and you know the teachers don't have to feel pressured to answer questions over their summer and you know the parents have a have a chance to ask questions about it. I think that's a good idea. That seems logical. I'm going to
065discuss that with the elementary team and we'll we'll get back to you on that. Great. All right. Um math AIS. Um yeah it's me again. Yeah. Um, okay. So, currently I believe we're at 1.7 mark per elementary school. I was just wondering if we could look at the financials um and what what it would be to bring it back to 2.0. Um, it's my understanding that looking at the third grade cohort group, which went from third and just finished their fifth grade year, they had the two years with the math AIS, that their um numbers went from 50% on grade level to 63% on grade level, which is an increase in 13% in two years, which is a pretty solid number. Good job. So, see, Anthony, I people clap for me too sometimes. So, I
066just I I think that I I just think that it is uh worth revisiting and if we can look at the numbers and make a financially I mean um yeah, financially responsible decision, I think it is worth talking about. I only wanted to bring it back up. Listen, you know, number three and number one just popped up this week with uh the report cards, but three and four are things that people have gotten up and spoken passionately about in in the past, especially during the budget. And obviously tough decisions were made and we you know we we did the best that we could but now we're we're in a position where we can revisit some of these things and I just don't want the the community members to feel like things get brought up and
067then and then you know you know it gets passed over and then it gets forgotten about. So um I'll just blend right into No, I'd like to piggyback that. Hold on. Um, so I think the math is got lost in the budget chaos because we were looking at that and then I think that just fell to the side. But now that we have a retirement, perhaps we could do teacher money into teacher money, right? Um, I'm learning a lot about elementary school and I we do know that literacy and math is king in elementary school, right? And I think no one can argue that building foundations in math um are extremely important for future success because math one class leads to the next class from kindergarten straight through 12th grade. So I think if we
068can do this, we should do this. Yeah. I want to um emphasize that nobody wanted to cut any of those things um including the math. No, but I'm not saying as a defense. I'm just saying our plan all along was to go from one math teacher to two and we did that successfully in each elementary school because we believe in that uh for our kids. When we hit the financial issues that we had, we dropped down to one again and then we found a way if you remember through discussion and as the budget process was unfolding trying to figure out how we can restore some things. We did restore one additional math teacher to get it back to the 1.7. But I do agree that in the grand picture we want to be aiming for
069that uh two per building. Um that was always our goal and it should continue to be uh and including with literacy. Uh we wanted to have actually three reading teachers and two math teachers in each building and build on that and etc so forth. But I would just say that I would want to you know our new business officials started literally today and I want to have some time to assess where we are as a budget because there's a lot of things we want to we want him to do an audit of and I could have you speak to that just to make sure that everything is as it should be and needs to be before we make any promises or decisions to anybody. But I really want to be very careful and I want
070to make sure that as we head into next budget year, we're not doing anything like what we had to go through this year. So I again I Right. Just so we know the door is still open. Yeah. Agree. Yeah. Did you want to add to that or welcome? Sure. Thank you. Um yeah, no, I I just need to go through all the numbers. Uh the way staffing was put together for this year. Uh make sure everything is included. I've seen some inconsistencies in some of the budget lines already. So, I just want to make sure we have enough money both on the expense side and on the revenue side to cover ourselves so we don't create a bigger hole for next year. So, just need a little time to look at that. So, whatever we
071do, we're going to do it smartly and thoughtfully and and of course supporting the education. And I see a lot of our math as teachers in the room over there and and our kindergarten teachers. We love you and we want to support you further and of course we we want that. Of course we do. So, thank you. All right. So, now on to kindergarten aids. Um, are they currently are kindergarten teachers back to two hours? No, currently they have one hour uh per class and we have uh principles have the ability with floaters on days that aren't busy in the building to send additional support to each kindergarten. Yeah. So, uh when um it's Robert, right, Robert? Yeah. So, when Robert is done uh looking through everything, I think I I feel pretty strongly about
072that. One hour in a kindergarten class to me is unacceptable. So, I think that that's something that we should really look into. Again, I understand I fully understand the financial situation that we're in. I get it. Um, but at but at some point, you got to, you know, all we do is sit up here and talk about, you know, how, you know, we're building a foundation and you need to be, you know, put get as much um work in at the youngest age as you can, but a one hour a day aid in kindergarten is is unacceptable. Um, so I I think I or I hope that the doors is open for that as well and you know when Robert uh finishes his due diligence that that we can continue that discussion. I and I
073thought we I thought we discussed this and we I thought we agreed to put it back to the two. So when teachers spoke to me I was surprised. No, I thought we we said that no the preschool teachers have it mandated by by state law. The um the conversation that we had that I understood it was I was going to have principles look at it and try to use floaters to offset the time and also one of the things you brought up which I did agree with was having coordination of the time so that they were at effective time same time and the teacher can most efficiently use that right but I think we we talked about the fact that principles do have floaters and they can assign them to kindergartens unless something else is
074going on at certain times. So that would be the discretion of the principal working with the kindergarten teachers. I don't believe I said that it was going to be just put back. I guess I was listening with hopeful ears because I really thought you were reinstating that. Um, does anybody else want to comment? No, I mean I just feel it's very important to not rush through the budget um and that we make sure that we have the funds uh in order to uh safeguard the district for the future. uh we can't um you know we got to give Robert uh some time uh to to at least get into the position. Um and it would be um I would be I think it wouldn't be prudent just to right away say okay we have a
075retirey let's do this or something like that. Let let the administration really look at the numbers and then recommend make recommendation to the board and then we can discuss it and go from there. and further over the summer certain other things come up whether it's uh enrollment in certain classes go up and then we have to split a section or a CSES play out and we have to you know split a section of 812s so those could be additional costs we have to watch all of it at the same time and then make a good decision but we're not going to not we will be looking at it thank you yeah thank you well I'm not sure I know everyone's talking so much I I too am looking forward to you Robert checking out with
076your eagle eye and seeing how everything looks um but I just like I know I'm a board member but right now I just want to be a parent and say that I agree with the aid the kindergarten aid. I know both my children had Seleni one of the best uh kindergarten aids ever and she was in the classroom for I think it was I think it was more than two hours. She was there for a long time and she really helped them out and I know the kindergarten teachers um it's hard teaching kindergarten um and and they're our littlest ones. So, um I'm I'm hopeful, too, that we can try to make something work, but I know we have to be fiscally responsible. I'm hoping it works out. Yep. I mean, look, I'm sorry. I
077we all, right, we all like we're all using the term fiscally responsible and and I get it, but like there's a difference between being fiscally responsible and and like taking it out on kids and like not doing what's right for kids. Like I don't think anyone's proposing that. No, I know. But I just feel like we're all saying the same thing because of what happened this year. like we're scared and so we're all like saying we don't want nobody wants to go through that again, right? Like that was a nightmare for all of us, right? But I I just want to like reiterate like yeah like yes of course be fiscally responsible but like there's going to come a topic or a subject where like you can't you can't worry about the funds at that
078point. You have to do what's right. And I I do think that this is one of those things and especially when we're talking about AIDS like we're not talking about answering like FTEEs and like you know $70,000 a year employees like I think this is something that I no it's not an over I mean I think Robert's been on the job one day right you got one week today four hours so you have our aspirations but we do have to be physically responsive And again, I want to make sure he goes through the entire budget line by line, looks at everything we've planned, looks at our expense side and our revenue side, and make sure we're where we think we are before we make any commitments to anything. And then once we understand that, we'll
079present to you where we are and and there might be other items you want to look at as well. So, you have to kind of look at them all and balance them together. And what you're and what you're saying right now, like go through the budget line by line. Okay. You think that's a given? We tried that last season and it didn't work out. We've been doing it. Yes. I know. But it we had a problem with it. So, I think that's why everyone's really making a point to say like these things are important, but we have to make sure we get the budget thing right. So, let's do both. Yeah, I think we can remain committed to replacing all the things that unfortunately we had to remove. Um, and perhaps prioritizing them either by
080importance or by cost. Um it does feel like, you know, putting an hour worth of kindergarten aid is is a low budget item as opposed to adding teachers. Um and sorry, sorry teachers, but that is the reality. Uh but we need to be careful when we talk about adding sports teams and adding aids and adding teachers and and then and then and then because we want to do it all. There's not one of us that doesn't want to do it all. And we need to be careful as we go through and when we are trying to be fiscally responsible and live within our budget and worry about our fund balance at the same time that we make decisions that do have the greatest impact on kids for the lowest amount of money or or fiscal
081stress. So um I think that once Robert does look through the budget and presents what he finds, then we might need to start to prioritize where we want to put money. And there will be high priority moments where we do it immediately and then there'll be things we build into next year's budget. So can I can I ask a question to that point? Um if we are in favor as a board, could this get done by the opening school year? Do you think that's realistic? It depends on what we find. It depends on a number of factors. Um so we can discuss it again on July 28th and then we could but aids are different. increasing an eight hour is a very different type of financial thing than sure adding an additional full-time teacher. So,
082I I think it's important to take our time and get it right. Um, and some things will have to be in next year's budget and some things can be looked at now. Okay. Okay. And we're just going to be honest and direct with you about what we find and you guys will be the ultimate arbittors of what the priorities are. Thank you. Um, did you want to say anything? You don't have to. I just saw you leaning in. Well, I I just jump in, but I just wanted to say I I think by our next meeting I should be able to talk to this much more completely and be able to make some recommendations um for this year and for next year. Thank you. There was no judgment that you didn't have an answer right
083now. We're just joking. Yeah. Um okay. Uh moving on. Scope annual meeting is um August 13th. That is a welcome to new board members. Um, so I believe if if Chris can attend, um, he he should and I hope that he does. Um, and any of us who can attend with him would be a wonderful welcome to him. Um, Julie, I do plan to attend. I don't know if anybody else wants to respond now or respond during email. That's fine. You can put me down. I'll try the 13th. Oh, that thunder again. Oh, yeah. I will be attending. Thank you, Julie. Thank you. Um, all right. Um, board of education June July meeting. We already discussed this in the last meeting, but just to make it loud and clear, our meeting date was originally July
08422nd. We are moving that to July 29th to accommodate the auditors. Um, so just want to make sure that the public knows that. Um and then the claims audit report. Are there any um comments or discussion? Everything looked to be in order. There were just a couple items and they were reviewed and u then adjusted accordingly. So that's good. Thank you. I just want to also add um I think um if we can now take out our calendars, I think we should try to choose our retreat date. Um, I think it should be after the July 29th meeting. Um, so that we can use some of the July 29th meeting to discuss what that retreat will look like. Um, I am August meeting. Does anyone have it? Tuesday, last Tuesday. Okay. So, our last of
085the summer is like the week of the 11th. Is that a possibility? Wait, hold on. I got my phone up. Um, what did you say, Tom? The week of the 11th. How does that work for everybody? Sorry. Um, I can do the Well, 13th is now the scope of dinner. I can do the 11th or the 12th. Jillian, what's the last day of uh the extended school year summer school? Is it the Is it the 12th? The 11th. I think it's Tuesday or Wednesday. the 12th or the 13th. Can I just ask for more information about that? Like when does it end? Um it's a daytime event. Uh we usually meet from somewhere around 9 to 3 and then we usually will um extend and have have late lunch or dinner together. Um it has
086varied year to year. Um I'd like to get a date and then kind of throw out sort of I have an idea of what I think this year should focus around. Um but I don't think we need to have a huge discussion about it tonight. I think that we should all think about it and I want to discuss it in more detail or suggest that we discuss it in more detail on July 29th. Um but um do we have a consensus with July 11th or 12th? I I meant to August. I don't like to talk about August like rush is the summer. Oh, what day is the um adminry is the 14th 13th? Okay. All right. I can only do Monday or Tuesday. Um, I'm I'm the same. So, either one is fine for me.
087Oh, no. I'm sorry. I can only do the 11th. Sorry. The 11th works for me. 11th works. All right. Yep. Got a date. We got it. See, look at that history. Um, that means I have something on that day. I know. I know. I I'm thinking the same thing. And will that be in Bayport again? Um Bayport again. The Bayport Library again. Your pleasure. We can go anywhere you want. Yes. Um that's a beautiful place. Yeah. The Bayport Library has been very accommodating and beautiful to work at. So I I would think if we can get that that would be great. Um again I think we should discuss in more detail on the 29th. I think everyone should wrap their brain around it. I do think that the theme what I would like to propose
088is the theme be about communication um in general the communication amongst us as board members and how we um handle our business our communication with the um district um superintendent cabinet and and the staff. I know we talked about this year there were things that we wanted to send out but we didn't have them organized and calendared and we should really um work that out. um and our communication with the community and how we interact. So um I know you all I'm not alone have ideas on how we can do things differently and I look forward to kind of collaborating on that and coming up with um some some different ways um from the the same old same old so that we can change them. Um, and then also I think part of that should
089be a a smaller part of it. We should review the goals um and and look forward to to what next year will what we're going to focus on and what we're going to bring. And I think um you know I think we've already established some of that will be about reinstating some of the things that we feel like we have lost. Um I know we're going to talk about this at the next meeting but I would like to um also add that I would like to discuss the format of our meetings. Yes, I think that is included in the community part or the board part. I agree. Yep. And the length. Yes. Yes. Sorry, I'm talking as fast as I can. Okay. Uh we are done with board um discussion and moving on to public
090comment. Um this first public comment section, as a reminder, is for agenda items only. Is there anyone in the audience who would like to speak to an agenda item? Yes, seeing one. Please uh come to a microphone. I know there's a statement I'm supposed to read, but I don't have it. Okay. I appreciate you. Um, happy summer. Um, I can't tell you how happy I was to see the AIS math and the kindergarten aids on tonight's agenda. As a parent, I'm so happy to see these important topics are being talked about and not have been forgotten. First, I'd like to speak about the reduction of the kindergarten aid time. In the past, I worked for a par as a parasobosis. I've also taught kindergarten and I've been a class mom three times. I've stayed very
091involved with the school as a PCA president and I spent a lot of time in the building, the hot building at times, um, and seen firsthand how our youngest learners grow and learn. Kindergarteners are not independent. They need help with support all day long, academically, socially, emotionally, and even with basic self-care. Every child is different and every child needs something different. Aids in the classroom do not just help with prep work. They sh they build strong bonds with children, help maintain classroom a classroom so the teacher can keep teaching. They run stations. They work with small groups giving each child chances to learn and hands-on activities. This support creates calmer, more focused learning space for everyone. Right now, we're increasing class sizes, but taking away support. That doesn't make sense. My son is a walker
092at Sunrise Drive, and at drop off, I see little children nervous, sometimes crying, unsure where to enter the building. And Mrs. Gregan knows every child's name that walks in that kindergarten door. Even the older kids she greets. These children need more adult support, not less. Without a AIDS, how could one teacher meet every need of a student in her room? AIS math. Over the past two years, this program has grown. It has made a real difference. I've heard from both parents, because parents think that PTA knows everything, um, and teachers that the math pushin model has been a very positive experience. Kids are getting small group hands-on instruction multiple times a week. They're learning math in a way that makes the most sense to them, and they're building sclls early on. This kind of support,
093this kind of support helps bigger struggles later. It gives all students a stronger foundation that could reduce the need for future intervention. As a parent who child receives AIS support, I wish this program had been put in place when he was younger. It might have helped him earlier or even prevented the need for him to be pulled out of class. We must continue to support our students where it really matters, in the early grades, where the foundations of learning begin. If we want our children to be excited about school, engage in learning, and be confident in their skills, we need to make sure we have the staff and programs in place to support them. To me, that means restoring aids and support services in the elementary building. Thank you. Thank you. [Music] I I think
094you heard our previous discussion. Your comments are wellreceived. Thank you. No, thank you. Thank you. And we agree with all the supports that you mentioned. Yes. Um, anybody else? Okay, we're going to move on to the um resolutions. Um, oh yes, Anthony, I forgot. Thank you, Tom. Tell us what you feel. I mean, I can speak to the AIDS. I remember in kindergarten I had I had Mr. Delaney with Miss Gallow. was like I go into class with my two teachers as far as I was concerned with Mr. Laney and Miss Callum. Um I mean my mom is great friends with both of them. So that I think that just speaks to how much they were both there. Like I feel like they were both like a part of my kindergarten experience. So I feel
095like they're very important to have to help the teacher out when you have 35 year olds running around building. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Good answer. Two comments, two claps. Yes. Okay. Uh, moving on to the um um the recommended actions. Um, Desmond, I know there's one you want me to pull out. I jotted it down, but then when I walked away, I lost it. Uh, on schedule 4, 5025. it is. No, I'm sorry. It's all the way down in the sixes. 6.02 5025 schedule 4 50.02. So, you could do the fives first. Okay, let's do that. Fours. I didn't realize it. Four. Great. Thank you. Um, okay. So, starting with 4.01 01 and going to 5.17 like to make a motion. Do you hear a motion? Kathy second. Desmond. Any discussion? Yes, I'd like
096to discuss. I just want to make a note that we are receiving a $500 donation from the New York State Suffach Association of School Business Officials to be awarded to a senior who's going to be majoring in business, which is very generous. So, we'd like to say thank you to them for that. And we'd also like to acknowledge the Mitch Kangalloce um sustainability scholarship fund of $8,000, which is just amazing and a and a beautiful tribute to Mitch Kang Kangalloce. Um and in addition, there's also attached to that a an additional $4,000 donation to the Mitch Kangloi Athletic Scholarship Fund. So, um I I just wanted to make note of that. Thank you. Thanks for that acknowledgement. Um, and for 508, the surplus memo, you went through 510. I did. I had that on my
097list, too. Go ahead, Kathy. So, I wanted to thank I guess it's Mr. and whoever else helped him. He took a photograph of every item that we were discarding. So, the photo explaining what the item is, uh, why it cannot be used anymore, the item number for it, and I wanted to thank him and whoever helped do all of that. Yeah. I also wanted to say um and and Kathy actually you brought it up at I think it was the last meeting or the meeting before that when you read those resolutions that some of the items were tagged with numbers and some were not tagged and I think that that was like alarming like you know do we have stuff we don't know about and we not have stuff we don't know about. So um
098u Mr. Bartels, I we're hoping you'll work and uh help us figure that out as we go through our old our old stuff, figure out what we have, but that there's a going forward that there's something put in place so that doesn't continue to happen. Yeah, I want to um to that point when Kathy brought that up, I had to go back and check with Mr. Castelan about those items. He said that majority of that stuff came from the middle school basement and there was a ton of stuff dating back to the 90s that they had been trying to get rid of for years, but that no one had been processing and tagging proper. So they finally did a project with Aleni Castello uh to kind of identify everything and then put it on the
099roster for you to approve. That's why it was so large because it had not been done in 20 or 30 years. But now all that stuff has been cleaned out and we have a system now that should be in place to the point of what you just saw moving forward. Okay. Okay. Um all in favor motion passes. All right. Which one am I pulling out, Desmond? 6.02. Yeah, I I can abstain from all of 62. So, if you want to do 61. Okay. Um Um can I have a motion for 61? Second, Desmond. Um instructional schedules. Um any discussion? Congratulations to Nancy and John was retiring. Yes. Um I just wanted to mention that um I saw there was a lot of curriculum writing approved over the summer and um that's really exciting. Amy, do
100you want to talk about any of it? I'd be happy to. Um, so we, uh, our title funds from the consolidated application, title two is, um, focused on professional development and we carefully held on to um, a small sum of it knowing that uh, every year these funds expire on August 31st, which is different from the typical fiscal year. So knowing that once this summer began and through the end of the summer, we'd have some hours um that we would be able to allocate. So we had some conversations um with principles, department chairs um and we collaboratively prioritized the courses that needed to be written for the first time, rewritten, uh courses that had maybe more inconsistencies than others or just were being offered for the first time. and um teachers came up with, you
101know, creative ideas. They attended training um and everyone is poised to write maps uh for those courses and uh I don't have the number off the top of my head, but we're going to be building some new maps and adding to our catalog and we're really proud about that. Exciting. I hope that all the teachers who are involved first, thank you for the work that you're doing and um I hope you do take some time to reset before you come back in September. Okay. I just had a I just had a quick question for Mark. Um, is the the process for for resignation when like when a teacher resigns, is is that are are they able to do that through email? Does it have to be a written some something written? Is it a is
102it I I'm just wondering is there like a set process uh procedure in place for resigning? There has to be a letter of resignation. It has to be dated and signed. Okay. But they can scan it and email it to us. Okay. Like I was just curious. Okay. Um, any other discussion? Okay. Um 6.01. All in favor? Motion carries. 6 point. Sorry, is that the instruction? I want to point out that with that motion being voted on, uh, we do have two new employees joining us. One of whom is here tonight. We'd like to congratulate our special education teacher joining the middle school in the 812 program. Uh, congratulations and welcome to the family, Emma Fury. [Applause] It was a rigorous process, interview process with multiple layers and a demo lesson and uh she just
103did a wonderful job and the middle school is really excited to have you. Additionally, not here today, but certainly another um wonderful hire, a PE teacher for Sunrise Drive and for Lincoln Avenue. Uh that will be Emmy, sorry, Emma Asavda. Uh she also is an Emma and we decided this year we're only going to hire Emma's. So, and you'll meet her at the new teacher orientation as well. So, congratulations. Welcome. Welcome. Okay. 6.02. Um, could I have a motion? Motion, Kelly. Second, Chris. Um, any discussion? Okay. All in favor? Are you abstaining? Tom and Desmond abstain. Fair enough. Um, okay. 6.03 through 7.03. I'm going to do 7.02. Can I have a motion? Desmond. Second, Tom. All right. Any discussion? All in favor? All right. 7.03 are the policy reviews and adoption. Uh, can I
104have a motion? Kathy second. Tom, she's volunteering you. Um, any discussion? Yes. Is that the cell phone one? There is the cell phone one. Um, there's four of them there. Cell phone room is second review. So, that one is we are approving tonight. I just had a I just had a question about one section of it and it it was the the taking of the device. I just wanted to make sure that like the district itself was covered and maybe Resa can help, but I'm not crazy about the district will exercise reasonable care to maintain the security of devices that are held by the district but cannot guarantee the devices will be secure. I don't you ask you asking research? Yeah, I I like why like I I understand like you know the legality of
105it but what does that mean? We can't like what does that mean? We can so like if a kid So obviously it's by law we can't suspend kids right for for these for these infractions but we can what I'm reading is we can take their phone at the end after the first infraction the kid uh can come and get their phone at the end of the day. After the first infraction the parent has to come up and and get and a second sorry the parent has to come up and get it. Um why aren't why aren't we able to reasonably make sure like guarantee that they're it's in a secure place? I I think saying that you will exercise if something happened to you basically putting into writing that if something were to happen for
106that scenario. I guess I did not review this policy but I'm assuming that the motivation behind it is to say taking it from you because you are committing infractions for and therefore you're forcing a task upon the district that they didn't previously have to be responsible for. And while we're obviously they're not going to intentionally damage your property and try to keep it safe, you know, in there are situations where something could happen to it and therefore that liability would fall back with the student and not with the district because they broke the broke. Well, yeah. I mean, that's the only reason you're taking or they could accuse you of breaking the phone when you didn't and you're still not liable. Okay. You know, it's sort of like the you're you're in a classroom, Desmond.
107I was in a classroom, right? Teachers are there. The even in the passing of the phone, you drop the phone, it cracks. You put it on the desk and another student walks out with it. You know, there are unfortunately things that we don't ever plan on happening, but unfortunately do. Um and um I know uh when we worked through this on the committee, um the parent there was a a good really good group of people who worked through it, and I believe that's the language that came to us as a sample um from NISBA. And I'll just say in my in my day job, it's very similar to what most districts are are implementing. I think that's a good point that that's what I was going to say. NISBO when they give us their sample
108policies, of course, we can always change it or adjust it, but that was language directly from their recommendation. Yeah. I mean, I I mean, it's clear why the language is written in there, like to, you know, to avoid Yeah. future litigation, but I just I just thought the wording was I I also want to be I just wanted to make sure. Yeah. No, no, it's a good question. Um, and I want to make clear that the entire group um, understands that this is going to be new and there's going to be some growing pains and there's going to be some um, likes and dislikes to the policy. You know, it is a law. We don't have a choice but to put it in, but we can tweak within the law and we agreed that we
109would reconvene in December, give it enough time to sort of play out and um, revisit it and see if there's anything that needs to be changed. So we, you know, this may come back um to the to the board at some point, but I think this will be um this among all issues is one where Anthony actually will be the the most uh you know, beneficial for us because he's actually going to learn it, right? Because I I I think he'll be in the trenches and and he'll, you know, he I think this is where Anony's value is going to skyrocket for us. So, buckle up, Anthony. Um, so I was just reading it now. So obviously this is state law and we like we really don't have a choice to do this or not.
110But if I'm going to speak about this year without like having the pouches and lockers and everything, I feel like we didn't have a problem. Like you just every class has the pouch on the wall. You walk in, you put your phone there. It like I really I really don't think it was a problem. Like so the good news Yeah. The we agreed the good news is that Savville was kind of halfway there by having the pouches. So the law however is a bellto bell law which means that the pouches are no longer something that we can do within from where you move from class to class with your phone. So um we know that that will be a um a learning curve and and there'll be some growing pains. Um, and you did not
111sit on on the committee. Uh, but the student who did, I'm sure you work with her, was absolutely amazing. And come September and October, you'll probably have a lot of input for us and we look forward to it. Okay. Any other discussion? Go ahead. Well, each class has a bell, right? Does it specifically say exactly the birth the first bell of the day to the last bell of the day? We keep the pouch. I don't I'm just saying let's think about it specifically our school day no enter it all right tried everyone sorry yes um okay um any other discussion on the um um policies no all right um all in favor okay u motion passes all right upcoming dates Um, our next board of education meeting is now on July 29th. Um, and we
112look forward to seeing everyone. Um, and our second public comment is anybody looking to speak about non-aggenda items or agenda items. All right, seeing no one would like to Oh, the All right. So, we're going to adjourn this meeting. open our public hearing for the next piece. God, this was a lot. All right. Um, okay. Motion to adjourn. Can I make a comment before just kind of just about Jamie Atinson? Yeah, sure. Should I? No, go ahead. All right. So, I I did want to kind of make sure the public was aware. Uh, Jamie Ason was a 2000 graduate of Sel High School. Uh, recently passed away from a 911 related cancer. Um he was the youngest 911 cancer survivor in the country. Contracted it when he was 19 uh when he was doing dispatch
113for the community ambulance. Um he started as a volunteer at 16 years old. He's the youngest chief in our history. Um he introduced the first Narcan program in New York State. Um and I think for me, you know, why I think it's especially for people uh to know about Jamie is you he did one thing for schools. I'll mention and then something uh I think that was of note um he offer he created an early college scholarship program for kids. He never went away um to college. He got a four-year degree but he never went away. And he he wanted kids to get excited about college and to have that experience and to kind of give them that joy. Um but he also wanted to help uh make a kids college application a little bit
114more competitive. Um, so we paid for an early college program to Notre Dame. So kids, juniors in high school would go for three weeks. Jamie paid for the entire thing. They'd study and they'd end up with a college credit. He wanted to change a life. Uh, he did that for, you know, a number of years. But I think for me is, you know, why what's particularly heroic about Jamie was um, you know, he he had to go to ground zero. I just think that was his nature. Um but it happened again this time where you know COVID struck. Uh Jamie was imuno compromised. He knew he could die. He went out all the time. He was appointed in 2009 for EMS. He was the Suffach County deputy coordinator for EMS services. Basically he was kind
115of like the boots on the ground for EMS for the county in the middle of the pandemic. And this is a guy that knew if he got CO he could die. And but that's, you know, he's ours. Uh his wake is was until 8:00 tonight. Um his funeral is tomorrow at St. Lawrence at 10:00 a.m. Um he's a treasure and a hero. Um I just I can't say enough good things about Jamie. Yeah. I'm just one of many people that love Jamie. Um he's one of the finest human beings I've ever known. Um I'd like to suggest since we know that his funeral services are going on as we speak, perhaps we take a moment of silence in his honor. Thank you. Okay. Going forward with a motion to adjourn this meeting. Motion. Motion. Sec.
116Have a second. Kelly Tom. Any discussion? All in favor? Okay. Moving on to our one item agenda. I promise. Um okay. Motion to um open the public hearing for to approve our statewide safety plan. Kathy and Kelly discussion. Um I did read it. Hold on. All in favor? Hold on. We didn't get to the plan yet. All in favor to open. Yes. Motion carries. Okay. Uh, call to order this meeting. And I'd like a motion to approve the district-wide safety plan. Not approving the plan. What are we doing? Just reviewing. Thank you, Risa. We are um reviewing it. We're going to discuss it. Um, and then we will open it up for a 30-day comment period before approval. And Kathy, go ahead. I just wanted to share who put this together because I read the
11763 pages and oh my goodness, it it has every little piece. It is so comprehensive. Every little piece um in place for safety for this school district. It was a comprehensive uh u collaborative effort between the director of um buildings and grounds, Dr. Mr. Castellano. who was the uh our head chief of security Mike Elderbomb and it was Ronda Messerel and Amy Deulola for the instructional uh plan. Well, it's very impressive. Thank you. Thank you. I I I wanted to say I just made a list and the committee there was all teachers on the on the committee was superintendent, cabinet members, admins, teachers, nurses, clericals, um our um board of trustee Tom Culie, teachers, parents, the Sable and West Sable Fire Department, Suffach County Police officers, our SRPs, and our bus drivers. I mean, it
118really was comprehensive. It covered everything and I think it was impressive. I agree. Anything else you notice, Kathy? Um I did make clear that um come September there were some I think September 15th and October one are some important deadlines. So we have a lot of training that has to happen with our staff and a lot of information that needs to go out to our staff, our parents and our um our our um our students. Um so we look forward to that that happening. Any other comments? Yeah, I just I wanted to kind of emphasize I'm glad it's up for review. I what I would encourage the public to do is for me and you know I think Miss Mus knows this is something I think is important. Our threat assessment team I I we
119have all the elements of one. I would like to see that formalized more. Um I think that that's the best way to actually make our school safe is to have a a formal comprehensive threat assessment team. I think we're there kind of but it's it's not as formal as what I would like to see. So I can speak to that directly actually. some of the curriculum money that uh Miss Sarnney addressed before working with Amy's office. We're actually going to work this summer part of the curriculum writing is going to address exactly that. We had members of our PPS staff that attended the prepare training or some school district calls call it the red binder which addresses threat from every angle, how to be proactive to avoid it. but then post vvention too in the
120case that something happens. So that's something that we're going to dive deeper in and that part of a threat assessment team that's a large component of it. You know I I think to kind of underscore a point like New Jersey mandated them two years ago. I think there's like something like seven or eight states that have it's mandated um for every school district. You know I I I think we have a lot of discussions. There's debates about, you know, armed guards, not armed guards, perimeter guards, not perimeter guards. And and and that for me, it's it's frustrating because if if this is the most important way to make school safe without question, having a vigilant attitude as part of a cultural norm that's upheld by every single person in the community, but that threat assessment
121team, because those are your greatest risks to student safety or students that are distressed and need interventions. So you have to come at it from a mental and you know I know Jillian knows this. So I'm glad we're moving that way and putting some curriculum money behind it. It's the most important way to make schools safe. I I I don't a lot of what we see in in public discourse is posturing. You're not doing anything to make things safe. This threat assessment makes kids safe. That's great. I'm not surprised because that's we've kind of had that mental health element always. But the more formal it is, the more the protocols are defined. I just think it it makes it more effective. Okay. So, if that plan now will go up on our website and will
122we email the link as well for review? Yes. Does anybody have any comment? Okay, seeing nobody. Um I know this is this is not really the meeting this would have went in, probably the last one, but just because it's the end, I just want to thank everyone for for listening. Um it was a lot, especially for a summer. Um and um I look forward to working in this position with my fellow board members and that we um can move forward. I think we had some really great discussion tonight. I'd like for us to continue that. Um so I would like to have a motion to adjourn. Um do we need to go into exec? I can email you details on a on a on a private matter. Okay. Is that okay? All right. So motion
123to adjurnn. Motion. Motion, Chris. Second, James. Um, discussion. All in favor? Meeting is over. See you on July 29th. Thank you all for attending. Thank you.