001As always, let's stand. There we go. And wait for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [snorts] Good evening. Welcome to our first of several May meetings. Um, this is teacher appreciation week. I wish I could read everyone's name and individually recognize each teacher who makes a Jericho education so special, but I will not. Hopefully, you already extremely appreciate you already feel extremely appreciated and on behalf of the board, I thank each of our educators. I also want to thank our various PTA groups that organize teacher appreciation lunches as we are about to begin those events at the elementary schools. Some quick items. As AP testing continues
002into next week, good luck to all of our sophomores, juniors, and seniors. We will have another special board meeting, which you all look forward to this Monday, the 11th, beginning at 6:30, to address section 7,000 of our policy manual. Given there are only two candidates running for the board's two open seats in the May 19th election, I do not believe the PTA will be hosting a meet the candidates event that evening. While I love a good election, it is rewarding to know that the community has such confidence in this board's judgment and actions that there is no contested seat this year. I know we will all work to maintain that confidence and trust with one key component being a willingness to openly discuss any issue or concern any member of the community wishes to raise
003at these public meetings. However, we will have the mandatory budget hearing meeting on Tuesday, May 21st at 700 p.m. in the little theater. We will review the proposed budget for the 26 27th school year and the capital project. I'm sorry, May 12th. Dyslexic, I apologize. Budget hearing will be on May 12th, one week before our election. May 12th at 700 p.m. Um, we'll review the budget for the 2627 school year and the capital projects for which the district is asking for residential resident approval. This includes resident approval to use funds already in reserves explicitly set aside for capital projects in capital reserve 5. As any informed person who follows this board understands, any money spent from capital reserve 5 requires separate voter approval. This administration, this board and the district cannot spend that money without
004such approval. Finally, we will discuss the establishment of Capital Reserve 6, which will be governed by the same spending restrictions I just outlined as well as the separate budget for the Jericho Library. Now, moving on to fun business. Our entire community and particularly our Kant community has been eagerly awaiting our first piece of business this evening. So I will quickly read the motion and then turn it over to Dr. Kravitz to make the introduction. We're going to go to schedule G in today's board packet. Whereas the following named administrator is recommended for appointment to a probationary term by superintendent of schools in accordance with the education law section 3012 subdivision 1 littleb. Now therefore be it resolved that the following be appointed to the position indicated the annual salary and the period set forth for
005the grand reveal I turn it over to our superintendent Dr. Robert Kravitz. Thank you so much Mr. I am pleased to share that tonight in our audience we have uh our new principal at Camp Elementary. Congratulations to Lauren. [applause] Miss joins us from the Marin Union Free School District where she has served with distinction as the principal of Chadssworth Elementary School for the past four years. A native of Long Island, Lauren is returning home and brings with her a strong track record of leadership, dedication, and commitment to student success. Also working with a New Jersey superintendent neck, I might add. Yes, we are so lucky. We are excited about the future and look forward to partnering with all of you as we continue to build [cough] strong foundation established by Dr. Joe Sapienza. We extend
006our sincere appreciation to Dr. Zapienza for his leadership and wish him continued success and fulfillment in his new central office role. Thank you to all of the Jericho Jericho community for your ongoing support and commitment to all of our students. So, welcome. Welcome. [applause and cheering] Do I jump the gun? Do I have a motion? Thank you, Mrs. Citron. Second. Thank you, Mrs. Wardoff. Would you like to repeat or go? We're good to go. Any other discussion other than congratulations to Mrs. Sharpsky? [applause] All in favor? Unanimous. Thank you very much. While we are addressing schedules and already had a brief detour to the May 19th election, let's quickly return to schedule GG election. Whereas superintendent schools has recommended the following persons for service as indicated now therefore be resolved that the following appointed to
007serve as clerks or inspectors to May 19th, 2026 district election and paid accordingly. It is the last schedule. Do I have a motion? Thank you. M second. Thank you, Mr. Jin. All in favor? Any discussion? All in favor? We are now set for our May 19th election. Good luck, Mr. Emanuel. I would like again to turn the meeting over to Dr. Kravitz to introduce our presenters this evening. Good evening everyone. Again, we are very proud to have the TLE group who has been working within our district for our strategic planning. uh this evening and we'll go over what the survey looked like, what the questions we asked and glean some information from there as well as start to help draft our goals for the upcoming 2627 school year. So I welcome Jim McGman and Michelle
008from the TL group. Thank you. [applause] Okay, Michelle's gonna hand out some papers. And I just want to again thank the board. It's nice to meet the board in person. I know we met virtually and we've met some of the members at the forums, but it's nice to see everyone all together and to be a part of your meeting tonight. And uh we have enjoyed our work thus far and look forward to our continued work uh in the Jericho schools. So tonight we are going to give uh an overview of the uh process itself uh some of the results and the priorities that came out of those results and thought exchange. Uh we're going to talk a bit about the sore analysis which is the structure in which uh we used to look at the
009results and to guide uh the thought questions that the community had and then uh as Dr. Travis mentioned uh really exciting share goals and objectives uh that we believe will get us uh launched on our first year of a three-year plan and then what next steps uh will follow. So as a review, this is the strategic plan process. Phase one is discovery. That's consultations and the sore analysis. And that's what we did uh here right here in this room uh for a couple of live forums. We did some virtual forums. Uh we've had discussions with administration. And that's all part of the discovery that goes into uh the analysis that occurs uh the sore analysis uh which looks at strengths, opportunities, aspirations and results. And that's a little bit of the structure that we'll talk
010about in a minute that was utilized. Uh so we've completed phase one and phase two uh is the goal setting and the public presentation. So that's where we are tonight. We're right in phase two. Uh phase three uh will be the actual implementation of the first year plan on a page. The the uh goals that kick off the the long-term plan uh that uh strategically will help the district reach what the community has identified as its priorities. And then phase four is the coaching uh component. Uh because the uh most important piece obviously is that you don't just have a plan but the plan goes into action and uh we will be there to uh work with folks as they tailor the plan to the specific uh local school communities that they lead within the
011Jericho school district and with central administration. So, just to break down uh where we've been right now, uh we've had the forums as I've mentioned. Uh there have been templates and samples that were shared to kind of get us moving in that direction. There's been a web page. Thank you, Maggie, for keeping that so detailed for us. Uh just to keep make sure that the whole community sees this as a very transparent process. That's uh very important to the work that we're doing and that we've been uh tasked with by the administration to make sure that every step along the way all the thoughts that were shared whether they were the highest rated thoughts or not are shared uh through the web page and that all the steps of the process uh are there for
012the uh school community to look at whenever they want to consult it. uh the strategic plan template, our goals and objectives and action steps on one page uh which we continue to call plan on a page, making it very accessible, very usable uh to put it out in front uh of folks uh throughout the school year in all the different uh arenas in which they operate uh so that this plan is truly alive. and then the public presentation uh to the board which we are doing tonight and I'm sure you will see us again which we look forward to in the future. Thank you and good evening. In your folders uh what we provided the trustees is on the left side is just a slide deck uh as well as a sample of the goals
013and objectives that are drafted that we will share with you this evening. on the right side are uh the results of each of the exchanges from the store analysis. So uh we wanted to make sure that the trustees had each of the individual thoughts that were shared as a result of the strengths uh the opportunities the aspirations and the results. This is the data that is posted on your web page right now which was the first exchange that went out. But just to review it because it was a big part of creating the goals and objectives just as the store was and as an overview of the uh original question which was really what are the priorities first and foremost there was a solid participation that had occurred through this exchange and I think what's
014really nice is you had 351 individual thoughts that were rated but you had over 700 people that individually went in and raided. So while they may not have contributed an individual thought they were a part of the feedback circle and this is where you can find the data and certainly um we will I'm assuming the sore analysis results will be also posted now that it's presented to the board as well. So in the priorities, some of the key guiding priorities that all stakeholders recognized were recruiting the best teachers, a world-class teaching force, putting in front of the students in Jericho, uh computers and online management really had a very strong presence across all of uh the questions and you'll see that in the goals and objective piece, which we'll talk about a little bit later
015on. student engagement and increasing hands-on engagement and work. And then again related to the computer and online management, there was a heavy uh feedback cycle around limiting Chromebook access and ensuring that web pages were um educationally appropriate and not gaming. [clears throat] Here is an example of just the top rated thoughts which you will see fit into those priorities that we had talked about. And again, all of the thoughts are listed right now on the website for anyone to review publicly. When we dove a little bit more deeply into that, we really were able to pull out some themes from those top priorities and um making sure that homework is meaningful came out as a significant theme as well as uh revisiting the robotics club really found itself across the themes. uh ensuring that artificial
016intelligence is utilized in a responsible and educational way uh came across as a significant theme and again uh revisiting the computer games that we had talked about social emotional learning which we'll dive a little bit more deeply in in the sore analysis and ensuring that parent communication remains at the forefront. So the sore analysis is when we had hosted each of the forums and that's where um to the trustees you see a lot of paper in front of you but it really we wanted to make sure that you were able to see each individual thought that was contributed against across all stakeholder groups. So the first question on the sore analysis uh were the strengths and what we've done for each of the questions is really created a two to three slide overview uh to
017give you a flavor of what the priorities were identified by stakeholders but certainly um Jericho was identified by uh the largest strength was of course dedicated staff. uh you saw across the themes that the staff were really um the engine of ensuring that the students were learning and that came across loud and clear and very highly rated. Another strength was the supportive environment and not only um a collaborative community but the strong relationships across the community and all stakeholders and then parental involvement was seen as a significant strength a very active parent community and that being of course another primary engine of the success of the community regarding academic excellence. Of course that goes without saying. I mean Jericho is the top rated school district and you had seen that the the top areas that
018stakeholders had really identified in academic excellence was the rigor um and ensuring that those standards continue to be high standards of excellence driving national rankings uh an expansive range of opportunities for students and then really focusing on college prep and leadership for challenges. um and I will will go through the challenges but one of the questions we had asked were what are the the opportunities right what are the greatest challenges that the schools are facing so in that area student engagement was identified as a key challenge in really in the sense of making sure that we continue to increase student engagement through teaching methods um reducing pressure you'll see that as a theme throughout that delicate balance of academic achievement and decreasing pressure and ensuring that teaching methodology is remaining innovative. Uh maintaining the high
019Yes. Are you taking questions now? Sure. For student engagement, are are you sure and I'm not saying you're not. I just want to show that when you're talking about increasing student engagement. They're talking about in-class engagement and they're not talking about school community engagement. So they are talking about in-class making sure that we are maintaining the in-class was the theme that was really pulled as a priority. The getting kids to pay attention in class. Nope. Uh that's a great question. I'm glad you asked that clarifying question. The focus when we had pulled the the thoughts was really making sure that classroom instruction continues to be engaging and innovative. It was not as a challenge that our students are not engaged. That was not the challenge at all. It was really making sure that we're engaging
020our students in a manner that is staying with the most innovative teaching strategies. So really linked into STEM robotics and maintaining um that was really the gist maintaining the course of engagement. Um and we'll you I think you'll be able to see it go a little bit further through but again making sure that there's a balance of high academic standards and wellness was also identified as a key challenge and then reg reducing screen over reliance. I would say this bottom priority links into the top priority as well. So that was another component. There was a lot of when you pulled the threads and looked at the threads, there was a lot of connection between technology and engagement and um feedback saying, you know, reducing in-class technology, ensuring that in-class technology is not focused on gaming,
021that we're not circumventing any networks, and that we're maintaining the course on the content in the classroom. There was a lot of feedback about um finding that balance between paper and pencil and and technology straight through. So that first and that last are are truly linked. None of them had spoken about students not being engaged in content. It was more or less of how do we maximize that and find that perfect balance. Another area of um of opportunity I will say but certainly identified as a challenge was really making sure that there's the balance of stress and anxiety and content. Um so whether it is um the competitive feel or expanding social emotional learning opportunities that came across uh loud and clear and giving students tools to find that balance in a way that doesn't
022detract from their academic experience but it may provide additional measures. Um and then uh parental pressure was an area that was also identified as a challenge in talking about uh community workshops and how do we really find that balance with it. Discipline and support was an area making sure that student behavior is managed fairly and consistently. Implementing uh district-wide initiatives to really look at any bullying behaviors that may or may not be happening. and then um continuing to make sure that any students that require specialized support are getting that support primarily in the areas of special education and ENL had really ENL had risen to the the top of a lot of the feedback as well. So, continuing on the uh continuum of the soar, strengths, opportunities, aspirations, and uh aspirations don't necessarily mean things
023that have to be different. Um aspirations uh from the community can be things that the community wants to see that's already in place remain in place. uh they could be things that are new and that are increased and sometimes they can be things that uh we may aspire to see less of. But basically this is where the the sore analysis starts to move into the helpful planning the ideas for what the objectives and the goals can say. And so here in the aspirational themes uh it begins and this dovtales with one of the the last things we said in the in the prior category mental health and well-being um better pressure uh management and mental health support for kids and really uh prioritizing that in terms of the aspirations for the district continuing and this
024is why I mentioned before it doesn't necessarily need to be something different it can be something that the community wants to see remain in place academic excellence and balance and we've heard the word balance a few times in a few different ways promoting that healthy balance between school school uh work and school life and life after school. um aspirations uh also around the theme of inclusivity and future preparedness uh community engagement where uh there's an inclusive environment where diversity and bonds are strengthened uh so that the community that Jericho has indicated they they have always felt uh remains in intact um and technology and innovation integrating uh artificial intelligence and emerging tech into the curriculum uh introducing robotics into the curriculum at the elementary schools was a specific area that was mentioned. Um so uh
025we we've kind of heard uh it's great when you see the connection between what people are saying in their aspirations and what they're saying uh in the prior levels of the sore analysis. Uh so technology was a big theme that that came up in many different ways. And then continuing with aspirations, uh looking at character and values education, character building. How can we uh continue to develop and build character alongside of academic achievement? Um so that it's not uh over uh tilted in terms of academics, but that we again see see that evenness to to our approach and holistic development. uh encouraging a well-rounded approach that encompasses social, emotional, and academic growth for every Jericho student. And some of these things like holistic de uh development and character building are going to sound alike, but
026we felt that they were distinct enough to uh to uh build them out next to each other. So, we always say the most important part of the sore analysis is are the results because these are the things that we're going to use to say whether or not this plan is effective. uh what will the results be or what are the results we expect to show that we're making progress. And in terms of asking the community for that, what we've heard is regular surveys conducted with teachers, students, and parents to ensure diverse voices within the community are heard and integrated. That there's a continuing engagement about this plan that uh there are open communication channels that actively involve teachers in the critical decision-making process. uh and uh that there's data analysis that occurs that collection of
027data and that look at data to assess progress in all the areas that are identified as goals uh and specifically in the areas of reducing student stress and anxiety levels effectively. Uh so visible milestones what will be clear measurable objectives that lead to visible improvements in student engagement and daily behavior tracking students well-being and staff morale. uh using indicators of positive and productive school climate and then regular updates to the community. And if I could just go back to this for one moment, this is a really important slide because this is how the stakeholders are saying they would like to be updated on the progress as it's going. this was coming directly from the exchange from all of the stakeholders whether staff admin um whoever it might have been community members. So this really is
028is one to lean into once everything is complete. So earlier in the presentation Jim had talked about our um producables and where we are and where we are today is really about objectives and goals and once that is finalized and and Dr. Kravitz meets and and speaks with the board and the goals and objectives feel like there's something that everyone can lean into for the defined amount of time of the plan which I think is going to be three years. Then we will move into the action steps. So the action steps will be crafted every year by the admin team and then that will be driving the work of what the district will look like for that year. There will be no surprises. Everyone will know where we're going. So the first is really leaning
029into student well-being um and creating an inclusive supportive environment that prioritizes mental health etc. The two objectives that were pulled as priorities from the data set were one researching and implementing schoolwide mental health initiatives by the 2728 school year aiming to reduce anxiety as measured by wellness assessments. with the second objective making sure that 100% of the staff is trained in mental health awareness and support strategies so there is a consistent approach. Yes. So when you say this is our strategic goal does that mean most every action we take is directed towards this goal? Yes. So for example um once this is if these are the goals and objectives that are adopted by the district then what'll happen is the admin team will define what those action steps will be for each objective so that
030we know what we're going to be accomplishing and measuring even more specifically. But every year that has to change because if it's a multi-year goal, then you basically will need different steps that we'll be committed to and hold accountable and report out to whether it's in the board report, the community report, the newsletters, making sure that those accomplishments are really everyone knows, but I'm trying to understand how you create a program where if your number one strategic goal is student well-being, how does that play into creating a high level academic environment since in many respects those two are in diametric opposition with each other. I think what it's a really good clarification to make uh strategic goal one doesn't mean it's the highest goal. It's all of the goals and you know we'll go through
031the goals uh which address various parts of what we've already uh discussed for example academics which is definitely going to be within the goals that the board's going to consider at least the ones that that have been drafted for the board to consider. So whether it's one, two, or three, it the the placement uh is not meant to say this is a higher goal than that goal. what the I think the one of the key pieces and I think what you alluded to before which is so important is that these priorities deal with uh the top areas that have been identified by the school community so that when the board has a decision to make about a various one of the varied issues that come before the board all the time and particularly if they
032have to budget monies towards it they can say does this fit into our strategic plan and is it one of the goals that we've we've identified for this year. Uh and that should be a critical consideration about supporting whatever decision is made. Not that there can't be exceptions because there are things that come up that sometimes, you know, um will surpass, you know, what's on the strategic plan. But it provides uh a basis for the board to come back to and say within this given school year, this is what we've identified as our top goals and the things that we are accomplishing and making decisions on should fit into this whenever uh possible. And the idea of the academic achievement is that that is at the top of once the plan on the page is
033done we had dialogued about that being at the top 100% because that is something that drives that Jericho is known for right so that continues with all of these things occurring simultaneously. The second goal uh in no particular order that was looked at was the resource utilization and making sure that resources are optimized for the learning environment. Now, we could certainly continue to add language about the high achieving as making sure that's a part of every goal without question. And then when you were looking at the feedback and all of the thoughts and the information that was coming back, it was really centered around classroom technology and maximizing that and making sure that, you know, there was a lot of commentary about some of the programs that were in the classroom that might have had
034more of a gaming component to it and kind of really making sure that we remove some of those items. And it was really about conducting the classroom evaluation of technology identifying the adjustments to reduce that technology where appropriate imple implementing usage policies uh to reduce non-education screen time and increase focus engagement. There was a lot of information about non-education screen time being at the forefront but the action steps are where the work is being done within those. And then the third goal was really about safety and future ready um learning environments, security measures, um AI practices and the two objectives centered around there are regarding AI and security measures. Uh and [clears throat] those were the three goals when we had dialogues. Of course, some districts may go with the fourth goal. That's always an
035option as well. these came to the forefront from the content um with the idea that student achievement certainly we can continue to state that as an explicit goal but that's really the culture of the district. So talking about all the things that are being done simultaneously to maintaining student achievement in the school district. So, I'm going to stop there before we round out and I think you guys will have dialogue about some of the goals and objectives that were drafted, but we want to be able to answer any questions on the road here or the identification of the goals and objectives of where we are thus far. Can you clarify what's the next step? It's a good question. So once the goals and objectives are adopted, if this is where the district determines to land,
036if there's a conversation that you have, you want to go back, but once the goals and objectives are finalized, then what we will do is we will work with Dr. Kravitz to set up a time to come in and work with the administrative team bringing forth these are the goals and objectives that have been identified and really having um really a half a day so to say where the administrative team is identifying the actions that they are seeing for this upcoming school year that will fit under each of those objectives. And once all of that brainstorm is done really we will work with Dr. Kravitz and anyone else at that table to really streamline and identify those action steps that would be for this upcoming school year so that this plan on the page is
037ready for publication presentation and is just it's what you'll leave with starting July one. So this work will happen over the summer and and then at what point does the community does the board get to see in a year's time we get to see this is where we're at. this is what we actually accomplished like we wrote everything out but a report card so to speak. Yes. And and that report card really goes back to what the community was saying the indicators of success have to be that they're looking for. So ideally having the action steps done before July 1st would be great. Um just because you want to start the year because things happen in the summer and it gets busier. So really you want to begin the year with that. begin all of
038the board conversations around that convocation, school meetings, school goals are should school and departmental goals ideally over the summer should be built on this plan and the action steps that are identified what however they may be whether it's qualitative and quantitative however it's organized accordingly and ready to go at the start of the year everyone knows a direction you're going then ideally you know and and this would come from how you know you decide as your communication whether it's a mid-year progress, an end of the year progress. I mean, that's really district level decision- making. But at a minimum, at the midpoint of the school year, and at the close of the school year, there should be progress reported about the action step completion. So, you know, generally, usually around December, January, the admin team
039gets together, talks about what they've done, what still needs to be done, that's reported. Uh, same thing at the close of the school year. Uh, that has to be progress monitored. Some districts may decide to put that up on the website and make sure that the community is aware. Um some again, you know, the the opportunities are bound endless, right? You can do it in the weekly board reports. It could happen in a board of education meeting in the newsletters that go out. That's that is really um at the superintendent's discretion. Yes. I apologize if I show this. You said there were 718 respondents, I think, earlier on. Do you know the makeup of those respondents? Were they all parents? Were they teachers? Were they students? So, we did not drill that down. We don't
040have that drilled down to be able to identify whether they were that's not um [clears throat] that was not a part of the exchange. But what we are I don't think it was students respond like was this sent I don't remember who it was sent to. That's what I'm trying to understand. It was mostly sent to parents. Correct. And staff I believe. Right. Yes. So staff, so when you go back to the slide, your shot, the question I had and and maybe um No, not [snorts] this the one we were at where you had before I started asking my question. The results. Yeah, the results. Okay. The first one that you had this one. Yes. It talks about student engagement and daily classroom behavior that we want to increase, improve it. I would expect that
041the staff, if they're responding to this, aren't saying, "We're doing a bad job keeping our students engaged and instilling good classroom behavior." So, I would expect that milestone came from the parents. And I'm trying to understand how the parents would know about daily classroom behavior and student engagement. So, I I'm sort of I'm not trying to question the findings. I'm trying to understand given you guys have spent a lot of time thinking about this. How do I tie that together? Unless Dr. Hardette wants to say that his people don't think his people are doing a good job. No, I would never say that. Exactly. So, I I I don't understand how we're supposed to what we're supposed to do. One thing I would caution uh everyone about is saying that anyone's doing a bad job
042because I don't I don't believe that that's a bad I wouldn't expect that that a teacher would say yes, I've got to figure out a way to improve. Yeah. might not have been from how but we did you know all members well you know we're all most of us are parents and we have probably have opinions about what happens in the classroom [laughter] so the by opening this up to the community we say every stakeholders's input is important and one of the reasons that we utilize the instrument that we do is that we also look for ratings so that this isn't a voice in the wilderness you you know that's just loud and and gets heard. Um the milestones and the well-being monitoring and right all of these pieces too will also be put out
043in front of the administration as we were saying out in front of the leadership team to craft action steps around those folks have a framework of the district in their mind. They're in the classrooms. They see the instruction that's happening. They have contact daily contact with the teaching staff. So the this has to be something that um that we hear uh and that is put into a practical um method of implementation that isn't um that isn't divorced from reality. I think that's where your at least the way I'm hearing your thoughts. We don't we we don't want to craft a plan around uh perceptions from folks who may not have firsthand knowledge of it. Um however you know to be fair too we did meet we had and we had great participation by the staff
044uh in terms of the the forum that we had with them. Um so um everybody has had input into some piece of the plan. One of the reasons we don't identify roles is we thought it it's very important to have anonymity involved in this so that people feel they can give their input without having any kind of perceived repercussions. So things that could be used necessarily to identify someone uh really we we try to avoid that so that it's just an open sle but there's a positive and a negative that could go with that. Yes. Um thank you. I think that's helpful. In terms of the anonymity piece, I was going to mention even if you were to split up the 700 plus participants by role, there's still aggregate data. So, you probably couldn't gauge,
045you know, of the cohort, how many I imagine there's a couple hundred at least parents, a couple several, you know, tens of staff at least. So I would imagine that even if you would have split it up very broadly to parent community and staff and potentially keep administration teachers within one hour, you still would be able to at least understand some of what Sam was asking in terms of inclassroom activities and who's bringing that up as a possible challenge. And in terms of all of the goals and objectives, um something like I mean student anxiety measurement, I imagine there are validated tools that we can use and I know Dr. mentioned that to us from the CTA standpoint that these are something that they've been thinking about. But do all of these objectives, not this
046one in particular, but the subsequent slides have measurable ways to look at it the idea of engagement in the classroom which right now I imagine you want a baseline and then to see how it improves. How is that measured? Because that might be another way to look at this particular area. So when we get to the action step portion of it, one of the reasons that that or one of the roles that we play in in that process is uh as the district leadership is suggesting this will work here in this part of the district, we will continue to reinforce the framework that this must be measurable. How are we going to measure that? So um as those ideas are generated uh they'll be written in a smart fashion you know uh so that the
047there is a an accountability attached to each goal and it's very clear how that will be measured uh even to the point of saying we will use this type of instrument or this type of data collection to measure that goal. So do all the objectives that you've posed so far have the ability to turn into a smart objective? Yes, absolutely. And you had asked a great question. Very often the wellness assessments will have the component for a parent, staff member, students where you're able to really pull out components of that that do ask questions about engagement in items as such that come straight from the students. Yes. Just to go back to what Mr. Cronin was talking about the idea of this objective of engaging students. One of the things that I think we talked
048about earlier was to continue to do this that this is part of what Jericho the Jericho teachers and this the community deeply values that we can't deliver rigor [laughter] without that engagement and we keep pushing that and as most teachers [laughter] know my period three class engaging period 3 might be completely different than how I have to engage period five. So the techniques can change from year to year, but they can change from period to period. And I think as a community and as teachers, that's a great part of our desire to continue to keep learning and changing and evolving to deal with what's in front of us as we encounter different types of students, different types of technologies and changing curriculum that goes along with it. So that's um so we you picked top
049three topics out of everything. Do you have any backup plans if these topics didn't work out? So for example, do you have any scientific way to prove let's say we adopting one of the Chromebooks um 30% reduce book using how do we know scientifically that 30% of Chromebook use is going to be have a negative impact or positive impact? How are we going to come to that resol? So, and I think you're referencing the device usage policies, right? So, that's a great question and I think where we would need to start with that is having a conversation with the leadership team about what does that look like in the district, talking about the usage policies, taking a look at um how really setting guidelines right for the classroom. uh looking at filters, ensuring that the
050programs are aligned, everyone's on the same page with what we are using, what we're not using, how much time is agreed in the classroom for what that looks like. And then um certainly you're able to look, you set filters, decide what your programs are, and then administrators are really setting the tone with their departments or their grade levels about what that looks like in the classroom. But it's really defining what that looks like in its entirety. And sometimes it might even just be removing the mystery out of um opinion to a degree. So it may not be happening everywhere, but you can read the thoughts to see there is a mindset that there is uneven usage and that it might not all be engaging. So there might be an element of just bringing your community
051on the same page and all of your stakeholders with that mindset with how technology is used in the classrooms. There's also a lot of research right around um are we overusing it in classrooms and and do we need to find that better balance and there is definitely a feeling in in your community through the thought those who are engaged in the thought exchange that there might be some um finetuning on that balance. So it's our starting place and it's the information that's been brought out and we are giving that but we know that you need to have dialogue as a as a board as a team and then bring that feedback back and if we got to we have to go back to take a look at some of these and throw some out and
052say we want a priority in a different area that's okay too. So to back to Mrs. Mark's question. The next step is for the board to speak with senior management and figure out accept, reject, adjust, and then and then give you guys the go-ahhead to move forward with them to come up with the action steps that meet the objectives that supply the goals. Correct. Correct. And that is something that certainly is a district level you decide where you are with that and we will work with you no matter where you fall. And if you want us to look at some different data points or pull out different areas, we're happy to do that with Dr. for sure. That's the district goals district goals goals building goals. One day we'll get to executing goals. Doing something
053one day. We spent a lot of time creating goals. Anything Mr. Sharpstein? You're new to this. [laughter] Well, by the way, he he does this all the time, so get used to it. He had the opportunity to leave after she was granted. Yeah, that's what you should have left. [laughter] I'm glad I No, just just for tonight. I don't mean it. I agree the overall goal right I mean certainly you could have a dedicated goal that's saying you are maintaining exceeding your academic um growth but that can certainly be something that is at the top like that expectation covers everything but really this is where people's thoughts are and their hearts are right now it's top of mind for them thank you thank you so [applause] Yeah. With the blessing of the other board members,
054I think we want to excuse me evening. Anyone have a problem with that? Thank you, Miss Sen. Maybe we'll see you on Hope you have another exam Tuesday. Oh, then we won't see you Monday night. Unless you want to come. Thank you. All righty. Unfinished business table approved tableabling the second reading of the following policy. sections 1,000, sections 20,000. Section 3000 except 3271, 3280, and 3430. Section 4,000, section 5,000, except 5741, and section 6000. Do I have a motion? Thank you, Mr. Barb. Second. Thank you, Dr. Balachand. All in favor of tableing those sections and policies by vote. Thank you. New business be resolved. That the board of ed accept the first reading of the follow following policies. 3271 solicitation of charitable donations. 3280 use of school facilities. 3430 which is currently called diversity equity
055and inclusion and 5741 artificial intelligence. Do I have a motion? Thank you Mrs. Barnoff. Second. Thank you Mr. Jim. Discussion. Why don't we start with 3271 solicitation of charitable donations? I believe Mr. Superintendent, you were concerned about the appropriate guidance that you wanted in that policy. You feel that you have gotten the proper guidance and um take your time. It was there was a there were two drafts I can show. I gave it to you. There's a Boseis draft and then Mr. Goodat was kind enough to distribute his draft based on his understanding of the comments. Um, we are Does anyone The superintendent has indicated a preference for the Ingramman drafted 3271? All of these were included in the board package. Anyone have any issues with it? I just have a question. We the polic
056move from the original the part that elaborates upon like who can and who cannot solicit donations. We discussed this last time it was suggested maybe the statement should be 501c3 designated organizations or um if it's not here is it elsewhere who can and cannot solicit donations on school grounds. Well, this is with it's with the approval of the superintendent schools because in the old one it said that the board decides then so now it's just if you wanted to we could figure out a way for the second week to work determine that the superintendent um if he's going to deny a 501c3 that he's got to tell the board he's denying it or or something like that where like 501c3 automatically gets approval but maybe if he's going to deny a 501c3 he's got to
057but anybody can appeal that to the board so it's sort of that wasn't actually the part that so much who makes that decision it's just kind of like what is the decision based upon like what organizations are permitted are I think I don't have the old state organizations. No, I believe No, that was the other policy that we talked about last time. That was the one about political advertising. Well, we don't have to list that here as well. The other one was for advertising. Well, that was talking about political activities. This is we were not. So, we don't need the 501c3 language would be beneficial, but You don't need it. If you want to add it, we can. No, you're saying so if someone came in, I want to raise it for this 501c3. You
058say the superintendent wouldn't really have a basis to say no. again as long as the educational process of course then it becomes discretion which he's so discreet all righty let's go to 3280 use of school facilities just as an aside whatever made this way the agenda was not was I don't know what happened the printing. It's not the version that I sent like it's missing pages. I printed it right from the website today and it looks like it starts with page 10 of the policy and it's missing pages one and two. I don't know what I don't know what happened. Is this the one that was attached to the email? The one the attach email is fine. The one that's packet is not fine. I'm confused. I believe this discussion board. I don't know what
059I have 32. Is it 327? It's number 3270. It was 3270, but then it really is 32. So what is it? What should it be? 3270. Correct. Yes. Bose is reading number. I'm sorry. So the new draft is going to be 32. This is the one that's only like a page and a half. You're saying it should be 10 pages. I started reading that and I was attached to something where I thought that was the wrong policy and I thought you'd really taken our short brief our gravity no uh objectives to heart. No, not on not on this one. I think it should be bridg but others can others can comment. I I'm happy if anyone else knows it. I'm sure I agree with the four and if not we'll get it on a second
060read to see you have the right policy. It sounds like I know I when I printed everything I'm not going to I mean it's 10 pages I'm not going to make everyone sit here I can probably do that in two minutes but I mean I guess one question we had made rules last year this is what we didn't like the board didn't like in the last meeting we talked about how basically everything that was discussed previously was gutted and so the easiest way to fix a thing that's being gutted is to put it back in. So this is the policy that was already so like for example I don't I don't remember if that there's a 9:00 cut off like if there's like a men's basketball that's the gym like they have to leave at
0619. It used to be 11 in the old I do have the old policy here that we did in 2023. That was 11 p.m. Well, I'm just saying that that says 11 p.m. Okay, we can make it 11. I do know that there's a bunch of community people that I don't know, you know, I don't know what time the building uh during school question that I had was is it reasonable to say um organizations must provide written applications at least 45 days in advance. I thought we had to be as practical as I mean some things are practical but you remember when this policy was added there was a reason why it was the reason why no I I understand but you can do it as practical obviously an event pops up that's two weeks
062away yeah we're going to do that bar just because okay so I'll make sure the practical just another question. So this this is the same policy that um kind of like apply if we were hosting um agree to host like a debate tournament or like a multi school event, right? In that case more than 50% of the participants are not here residents. So, do we need to take that out? Well, in that situation, it might be it might be a licensing agreement which doesn't follow the follow if you don't do that. You would have it run the same as this. I don't remember having 50%. I think we had some res application requirements. Number one, at least one of the participants must be a school district residing value. Yeah, what do we want to do?
063I would bet I don't think 50% the whole purpose of it is is because it's a school district building. It's it's been paid for by the taxpayers of the school district and for one person let's say it's 100 people and one person's right. Why is one person being a jerk resident being allowed to use a jer a taxpayer facility? Yeah. So that that was a lot of school a lot of school districts, you know, actually have 75% but 50% saying if we have a debate tournament in here that's that would be through a different process. That's going to be why is that a different process? School sponsored event. School sponsored event opposed to community use facilities. Community used facilities is the basketball league that's running at night. Yeah. The little league. You don't want plain
064old bet to be [snorts] using your little league fields when they can use their little league. They can use their schools. That's the purpose of this policy. It's not for an extracurricular debate tournament that's run through the debate club or for like even again extra justic sports like your like swimming or any of that. That's not what this is. This is for outside entities who wish to use your property for events. There was like a there used to be a radio thing that used to ask the ham radio. They wouldn't fit into that formula% remember the hand people they wanted to have their their conference. Look, we also used to have there used to be doesn't exist anymore the flag football league that it ended up being mostly play in the J flag football league
065because if you think about it these these people using your facilities using your custodian using your fields using your resources your resources. Yeah. So the reason why you put you put a 50% threshold on there is that if he the people that are using this facility are Jericho residents well then that makes sense. taxpayers are going. Yeah, your taxpayer dollars are going to people who are using those. Can we somehow get information before we make this decision on who's been using it and if it's been right%arily So with this J obviously is I can't think of besides that% would be anything that school sponsor I think what Mr. very very reasonable [laughter] I mean I guess we could have the superintendent make you know Yeah, but then we can't that's a slippery slope. Only other
066ones I think are school. Yeah. It's a chess club or it's whatever it is. But I like I've been through this. So I'm with you guys on the 50%. Mr. Citron, who's who's actually who's actually diligencing the people before they walk in. Hey, you're a D res. Well, no. Anyone who went down to 50% could end up being less. Correct. But but at least we have the right to check if we realize that they're taking advantage of if they're completely lying then at least we'll have if it's two people and at least we should have it in policy. True. I have another question about the user fee. Do we charge a user fee for our facilities? We do. Where is charges? Um charges required and things that happen during the week. We're here till 11.
067So it wouldn't be like an additional charge. It's more like Saturday or Sunday. And even this building on Saturday, it's running pretty much all day anyway. But if anything requires additional facility support security for use of our facilities on days where we already have an organization requesting to use our facilities if they decide before our again there's no necessarily additional security that we will be all the other major ones and just to clarify the fees it'sable so there's no schedule but there was schedule We have traditional we have traditionally and other districts do this. We traditionally have not dance studios, private uh companies that are coming in and using the facilities there. I could see charging an actual rental fee. The ones that that we have again JA it's just there's no other school but
068we have agreements contract that's yeah they that we charge that's a license that's a license agreement. So under education 144 there's certain provision certain w certain reasons that people can use property under this facility use policy even that falls outside it such that require a license. your pool use in your pool that falls outside of I guess that we're partnering doing municipal facility this agreement solely for organizations such as men's basketball league at night interal sports little league stuff like that. That's what this is. What about um I think a couple years ago they had 150 people to do some kind of like you talking to the teachers the teachers the teacher event that caused all the commotion and the change of the policy. Well, that was actually I think the change of the policy
069really was the Chuck Schumer event, but we could contribute that. But that's what I wanted to run through a couple of examples like Mr. Jyn is talking about. So I mean my understanding is we still do those types of events for teachers which I was not aware until someone told me about that a couple weeks ago. We still run teacher educational events teacher education events where we have teachers from other districts come here. Is is this Jericho sponsored or you're talking about it's an outside organization like is not a Jericho organization. They use it different. This is I won't bring it up until someone told me it was coming up. So those things under this policy who would make that decision on head. No, it wouldn't qualify. I mean according to this if we pass
070this because it's not a school sponsor. It's not a Jericho sponsored event. If you have if you have 30 Jericho teachers and 29 teachers from other districts, it becomes a Jericho 50% event. So, who's making that decision? Technically, the superintendent of schools is the person who makes the detmination. Would he be able to turn that down if it's 50% or no? How would he know though? I'm just let res Oh, residents because it's not just Jericho teachers. That would have once again he was saying this is school property taxpayer taxpayers are paying for running the facility. There's resources. It's not Jericho teachers or Jericho employees would not qualify for that. almost said Jericho residence. Jericho residents. Yeah. Right. Of course, if they overlap, but I'll give you a couple of examples that I'm aware of.
071They uh one I think was happening at the beginning of this year. Uh so custodial. Um so they have a facilities organization. Just because I want to have this for Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sure. So [clears throat] they have a facilities organization and each year they they have the workshop the annual workshop for custodians in a different district. Um so when I was here we sponsored it and but there were other custodians from other uh districts that came to be a part of professional development for custodians. Um there was another this hasn't happened in two or three years but with transportation they have a bus safety um day where again it depends that each year it'll change the district this way every district is gets a chance to host it. Uh but again that's professional development
072for the transportation drivers. So what's the answer? What's going to happen those instances? I mean that's something we've done and I wouldn't want I would want district sponsoring that I would want this is for outside groups not school district not school district wanting to run wanting to run okay that's I'm just trying to clarify want to make sure that this is for outside groups okay so let's make sure that that doesn't get included so go back to the real example so state assembly then calls up and says I want to have a an event at your front circle talking about school safety which happened to you something like that. Well, what's who's making the decision on that? What's the requirement to allow that to happen? Well, in in the agree in this again depending on
073what the event we got rid of we added no political events. Oh, but but I agree. But then you get into the interpretation. Is it a political event or is it a is it is it a real safety event? Who's making that decision? That was 50% residence. That was% res that No, I'm [clears throat] saying so who's who's making that decision? Ultimately, the application process is denied by the superintendent. Okay. So So that I I understand the answer. So that's why I try. So someone calls up and files an application. Is there an application timeline in this? We have it as supposed to be 45 days before the event as practical. Obviously, you know, something might happen in which the event is scheduled 20 days ago and they need and that might not be able
074to follow. Can we add language for those type of situations where the superintendent can make the decision but the board can [cough and clears throat] get involved against it. Yeah. But if it's short notice, we're talking about short notice where it's like, oh, 8 a.m. so and so is in town and they they want to do this. I don't want to get into this situation where different everybody wants to get have their picture taken with the prom queen with the prom queen Jericho High School and you know everybody wants someone wants to announce something they want to come here and do it and we're now having a process where we're selecting who's able to do who's not able to do it because the politicians in town they call up and they say I'd like to
075do you know make this announcement here next week tomorrow And it's like okay yes and then the next guy calls up and he says no Dr. Kravitz being his discret using his great discretion. We'd never do that, but we're trying to build policy for the long term. How do we how do we compensate for that? Let me ask let me ask another hypothetical I can understand. I love hypotheticals. Um, you know, someone's trying to open a new hotel in the neighborhood and there's 100 community members who are against it. where can and they say, "You know what? We can't find a safe place to have our rally. You want to have it in the front circle of Jericho High School on a Saturday." Now, on a Saturday on a Saturday or Sunday morning and there
076and I mean I assume they're not even going to file an application, but if they're Jericho residents, do we have the ability to park buses in front of the entrance so you can't walk onto the property? Yeah. Yeah, I mean there just again you're we're we're thinking about this very specific. Absolutely. Because these are real world scenarios. What I mean by that is you're thinking about 50% residence. Do I have to allow that? You're miss there's other things in this policy that these entities have to have that we're forgetting. There needs to be insurance. They need to sign they need to sign the permit waiver. They need to have they need to hold harmless. There's a lot of other things that they might not be able to meet. But Chuck Schumer didn't sign the hold
077harmless. She didn't sign an insurance policy question, but that that event in particular again technic I'm trying to think of the best way to say it. It's not again this is he can't do a press conference on Yes. in my opinion. Yes. Which is Well, no. In my opinion, he can't do a political No, he can't do a political event on front line, but yes, it could be called a press conference. Again, that's We're still Why do Can I Can I just Why do Jericho Why would Jericho residents let's say 50 Jericho residents need insurance if we're the actual taxpayers already paying for this building? Because if they fall and get hurt on your property playing in your B playing basketball in your gym, they're going to sue the Jera school district. But that could
078happen on a Tuesday afternoon. You're absolutely right. But for the people who come onto your property at 9:00 p.m. at night to play basketball. Yes. And if they they pull a hamstring and they want to sue the school district. Yes. We want the district to make sure that they're even though they're going to be sued anyway because that always happens that there's insurance and dennification that somebody else will ultimately have to be on the hook for that because we are letting them use our property. And by ours I mean yours. I'll give you another example that happened. So no given to Mr. Vince that he gave us an answer. I told him the answer. If you you may remember this that the DEC came and did a presentation to very angry residents because of the
079plume um of chemicals that was underneath the park or something like that. And we had them to um we allowed them to come and do a presentation. Anyone was invited. It was primarily our residence, but there could have been plenty of other residents there as well. It wasn't important. It was a separate uh night. Um I mean it's not a political event. It was to talk about the safety. It was informationational. But that's another example that kind of I feel like is somewhat outside of this. I I agree with you. But at least there there wasn't a politician. There wasn't an elected official giving official that was an in my view. But I don't know a problem like if the people who are building the huge electrical lines and just escaping propels went and said
080you know what I understand there's you know community concern about this we'd like to come and give a presentation um and invite the community member wants to hear about how we're going to be ripping up 107 and causing all these delays and who's signing off on that and if it's less than 45 days because no one's planning these things 45 days and minutes. What's the process under this policy? And making decisions for Propel. You're u the Propel. They're inviting people other than Yeah. They they're saying we're we're holding an event here. They have no idea who's going to show up, but they're holding 10 across Nassau. They're like, we expect most people who show up are going to be terrible people, but there's no way for them to know in advance. There's no way to
081know. That's the same example. Yes. That's what I was saying. I'm kind of like, what do we do? Again, that would probably be signed off by the school again. Right. Who's the school then? The board or the superintendent? It's the superintendent. Again, the board doesn't have the ability to meet every five minutes to be able to approve these things. Okay. But if Okay, and that's fine. And the question then becomes, say Propel says they're not going to do, they're not going to do it on two minutes notice. They're going to say, you know, in two weeks we want to do a town hall for Jericho. They obviously can't meet the 45day requirements. And now we're into exception land. Well, no, we we put as practical. Okay. As practical. Sorry. Two weeks. Superintendent now says fine,
082we're going to allow that to happen. And I'm not using propellant. So, I want to change it to whomever. Superintendent says yes. There are a majority or all of the boards saying we don't want to be involved in this. Can the board then go back and overrule the super granted that permission? Can they do that on their own valition without anyone appealing to the board? You would have to convene a meeting and make a motion and make a formal motion just like this. Oh no, that's the same process, but they could do that on their own relation. Say, "We heard that so and so is having a meeting here. The superintendent has allowed them to use our property. We don't want to be involved with this." Board can say we're having a special meeting. They
083give notice. They meet. They say, "We do not want these people here. Don't do it." Can you sure? Perfect. was open for interpretation. That was a problem. That was a problem. It is a problem. Again, this is not for posterity. I understand. No, we care about Mr. Ben. But any um you know, this is a problem across all that. This is not a jerical problem. No, that's why I thought you'd have an easy answer for us. There's never an easy answer because it's always at the eye of the person in charge. Okay, perfect. At least we have answers and they're recorded. Anybody else on whatever we're at 3280? I'm going to mix it up and go 5741 artificial intelligence. We can hear from Mr. Jim. I save the easiest for last. So there as everyone
084seen the package there are two current suggestions. Um did both have some policy on it that we all hated? Of course there was nothing in there about it. Yes. I think Mr. Jen said it was I'm gonna miss his words. I apologize. It was awful. And that led him to create his Oh. So I have the Oh, we have both. We have yours and we have his. All right. Then I don't again you know his but they're both he's I have it in front. I'm sorry I got confused for a second. 5840. So we have three. Yes. My 5741's really 5840. I don't know where that number. Yeah. That was close. Anyway, um I guess the first question how much of this and this will then be to your policy. How much of this should
085be board policy versus how much of this should be company policy? Yeah. I I would I would tell you that you don't really want to hamstring yourself with regards to having I know that's counterintuitive to most of the policies we have here. Um but AI in general and as Mr. J I'm sure will agree with is a very fluid process. It expands and changes on a daily basis and AI platforms go all over the place and for you to have to every time something changes for you to have to do a board do a board first read and second read in order to change your policy to adopt the new AI tool that may or may not be used. It's a problem. Um but again legally of course you can you can you can be
086very restrictive in the policy. Um there are just a couple of things I know with very before before we get to Mr. Do you have a response to that? What do you have an opinion on what should be you feel board policy versus operating policy? I think um we can definitely you know like how the teacher is using it, how the students using it, we can definitely put that in code of conduct, right? We can definitely move those out. I think the most importantly I said in the email that the vendor would definitely need a policy for that because data governance is very important for the school and I agree with that 100%. Right. And the the thing is with regards to data privacy and security um generally speaking education law 2D is where your
087where your governance is. So policy not understanding the law speaks for itself for what happens. Purpa is another thing all contracts all vendors and again there's a difference between AI platforms that Jericho Union for school districts are using that's through contracts right and those contracts are going to have the provisions that we are that that are concerned you know that data privacy data security fa all those things and those vendors are signing off and most of those most of these AI companies through posties have education law 2D contracts that are already completed and they have been approved in which they have to comply. They sign the parent bill of rights and all those things. I understand but there's a difference with a policy a software company say I'm going to comply with the verba um
088law and there's a difference between AI company I'm going to comply with law so the AI technically if a company use your um use your data there's different way to use it the data can be sitting on the cloud data can be sitting our our server there's two things that the data is on our server we control the data because it's in our server we have to control. If there's on their server, they have control. Now, hold on, let me finish. When the data is on their server, that means that their server can get hacked. And you know what AI can do with the data? The hackers can use that data to manipulate and to use the different type of hackings. But um for software companies, they can't do that. Software company says, I'm I'm
089going to apply I'm not going to delete anything out and this is it. After we're done, we're going to delete it. But AI you can train on your data. So it it stays with the the model learn with it. Well the first issue and again I agree with you and I understand the concerns with the hacking and everything else. I saw there was an article in News Day recently about data privacy in schools. I I completely agree. The just the thing I have to say regarding that is with regards to these these agreements that these AI companies have to sign in the event that they're going to do business. They need to provide a data security plan in which they are setting forth how their data data is being stored, who has access to it,
090what has access and also people should not be putting in those personal data data prompts into AI through Jericho. And again, that's the issue in and of itself. And to the extent that that is happening, that's more of an issue. And that's the policy that I drafted was more more constrained to that as to what really are the prompt that should be used. Again, I could put a prompt into AI that says, "Help me draft this book report on James Madison." And again, I hope no person's actually using AI to put to create a book report on James Madison, but whatever. Um, but they're not putting in their name. They're not putting in the education, the personal identifiable information. That's addition. So here, so here's the thing. The a I think the the difference between
091AI, your understanding and my understanding is different. So what you're talking about is a student someone using AI with chat and talking you know talking to the AI and putting the information that's what you're referencing to. So I'm going to give you a second example. Um P school they're introducing some kind of an AI system called power body. So what it does is it collecting the intelligent data platform navigator school LMS. So that means power school is going to connect with AI and AI will have every single data in P school and they can do a lot with that data. Well, the good thing is power school they have their own policies. They state that they your data is yours. They will never train your data. They have those kind of policy in place. Um
092whatever is yours, you won't delete it. You you can do whatever you want with it. So that's good. That kind of vendor is considered low risk. Right now moving on to another company called Skillstrap. That's because we're paying for that company and they have safeguards in place. We're we're actually contacting them. Right. Right. But then if you go to Another company called Skillstruck, their policy is very big. It's very big. They're just saying, "Oh, um, we we comply with the verbal," but they don't mention about what do they do with the data. They don't mention about like, "Are they're not going to train your data." That would be an illegal contract. Well, I don't know. I don't That's That's the point. So, that would be that that would not be in compliance to educational, right?
093They have to do those things. They need to say what their plan is and and the DPA the data privacy officer is supposed to review that plan in order to ensure that it does meet compliance. Again, this the this policy the intent of this specific policy is really regarding the instructional use of AI in the general school districts. That's what this policy is the intent of. And so that's the reason why it's drafted or at least my at least version that I drafted is written in that such a way. regarding use of AI in school district for educational purposes. What what I can tell you is in terms of um private companies, they have a much stricter contract um requirement as well as policies for signing contract with AIS and the way that our policy
094is written is too [snorts] relaxed for school. That's what I can tell you. So if we go by the way that was written right now, I think we're going to get lost in the future. That's that's my opinion from from people like any it could be anything just students or data leaking or I mean you don't know. You don't know. I think you're taking into account the BUA and the I think that's that's exactly what I meant. But it we can't enter into a contract with any of these companies unless they're compliant with that. So that's my whole point. We need to put in the policy that make sure that they comply with sign contracts that say they're companted by this. It's sorry it's state law. So the providers have to in order to sell
095inside of a school district, you have to comply with state law. New York has some of the strictest laws, right? In order to sell to Jericho or any other district AI systems, you have to adhere to the policies according to the law. The second set of this which everyone's missing is policy is irrelevant because that law exists. The configuration side isn't within the school's purview. So even if you buy the system, if you don't configure it correctly, it's on you. It's not on Google. It's not on OpenAI. It's not on cloud. So that's what my policies. You can't policy the configuration aspects of it. That's that's a security posture that is within SOCK 2 NIS 27001 like it's it's compliance that's constantly changing. So there's yearly quarterly assessments that ensure a district is secure from
096that posture and those configurations are required by the district. So um Larkin I believe right here sorry [laughter] believe correctly sorry. So he he would ensure the the systems are configured correctly to adhere to the requirements of the district to safeguard those things which is I think a couple meetings ago I asked can we block open AI because we're not paying for open AAI but students on their Chromebook can access chat GBT. So, if you block that, you're preventing that free use of the system. The district can't be held liable for a kid using a free system in any way. That's like a kid saying, "I'm on Instagram, but they're 12, but 13 is the threshold." Like, you can't sue Instagram for that, right? Um, so the systems that the district purchases, whether it's Gemini,
097Flog, whatever, they just have to be configured correctly, and those are the only systems the kids should be able to use. No, I agree. Um that's why there's a lot of um I don't know if you get a chance to read the policy but some of the policy the points I made was to having a due diligence in configuration as well. So, um, also I think there's one of them. Let's see. They'll be outdated by the time you guys approve it. And that's and that's the problem and that's the reason why the policy that was that I provided is you would call it you call it relax. I call it more broad. And the reason I call it more broad is because again the intention of this policy is to what is the district's stance
098about the use of AI? Generally speaking, it's that you will allow it, but again under certain parameters. And again, this actually I think the most important thing here is really that people should not be putting in data points that are PII and that would prevent the issues involving the lawsuits and involving the data breach involving all that. If we put in data points that are very history specific and not I'm going to use myself for example Steve goodstep specific then there's going to be no there's going to be no issue with the use of the AI because even if it was stored in mind and whatever it's not my PII it's just my research which is a different which is a different prompt. So again, I I get your point and to m to Mr.
099Bain's point, the fact of the matter is I've looked at all AI policies for the past couple of years and every year, every district that's had an AI policy has had to change it substantially for the sole purpose that AI has changed. And even, you know, even some of the things that are referenced in this this policy regarding that has these legal references, some of these legal references aren't even in effect anymore just because of the fact that AI has changed. But again, I I think it's one of those things that's more operational policy opposed to board policy. Again, the board policy should be big picture. Does the school district allow AI purposes? Again, with regards to Edlaw 2D, with regards to per with regards to legal obligations, in order for us to use a
100claude or a Gemini or a paid AI program, there has to be a contract with the Ed Law 2D requirements, which includes how is data stored. Is it compliant with NIS 1.1, which for now is still in effect as of September 1, it's going to be N 2.0. How is it stored at how is it who who has it at rest? Who has access to the platform? All those things are have to be covered. That's that's fair. Um I think at at the very least we should have a policy on how teacher using AI to grade the students. That's a different issue. Dr. Hartnett, are there people using AI to grade students? Not that I know of, but I have 330 members, so I can't account for all of them. I would find that it
101just doesn't seem to make a lot of sense. I think I think I've heard some students run an essay through what AI will say about it and one of the things that when I've seen those examples are so absurdly thorough that it takes the human element out of it. So that's all I know at this point. Would I see a teacher saying, "Okay, I have a bank of multiplechoice questions and therefore I'm looking to change around some of those multiple choice questions so I can get, for example, to prevent cheating from period 3 to 7 to work in a different, you know, to to use the same material over again." Um, that's really the examples that I've encountered. Dr. Sunberg, you'd have a category. You'd have a subject area where there would be a lot
102of interpretation of interpretive essays that they might use AI to judge. Anything you've heard from your people? I I'm I'm not aware of anybody at this point using AI to grade student writing. Um, there are a number of tools that might have AI as part of their construction that might generate questions for students to take. They're more short answer or multiple choice and might be a vendor that we use. you would probably know more about them, but uh uh they're used for homework to for students to get feedback and maybe they're designed to make questions get progressively harder or easier depending on how the student is doing. They're learning tools whether or not anything from that becomes part of a grade. It's a whole other philosophical question. These sorts of things are coming. Uh I
103I think there's a difference to say you're using AI to generate questions as Dr. Hartner is saying or to score short answer or multiple choice items than there is to interpret an essay. Who's our AI committee right now? Do we have a formal committee? Right. Tech committee, but it encompasses AI as well. Mr. Jin, are you on that committee? Is anyone using in the district not to grade but to determine a student has turned in AI work? Yes. Yes. That that to me is problematic. It depends. Is it when they're making a determination as to whether it's AI work? Is it deagated? That's where the issue arises. Is the name is it attached to something? So is it a paper that says Steve Goodstat and that's being submitted? because then that becomes potentially a fura.
104Well, we have a contract I thought for turn it in or something like that which I assume would have if what you're saying is true about contracts, it would have to be under fura. And if that's the case, then that's okay. But the consistency of those tools is my biggest problem. And I don't think you could policy this, but I think it's it's something worth understanding. They're notoriously false flagging content as not original, including Gettysburg Address and many other things that are popular right now online you could search. And these tools that supposedly detect AI writing are taking some of history's greatest literary works and saying it's AI, which everyone knows is impossible. our kids could potentially be false flagged for using AI when they didn't. And that to me is I whether you're grading
105it or not or you're flagging it is problematic for the district. You're correct. So you use the word understanding uh is more important than policy. You're also correct in that. Um so situational awareness there are some situations where we have no choice. So turning in things for College Board, for example, in in our AP research class, we're required to run it through certain tools and and and we have gotten in conversations and resolve things sometimes, but it's it's um there's no policy answer to to I just want to give it's enough to say that if something gets flagged, it's not just an automatic you throw it out. There's there's there's a qualitative process that then most definitely and it really we use it as informational that we we have students as a result AP seminar
106for example the college board wants every student to run their research paper through um turn it in and turn it in not only will tell you whether they think some of it's plagiarized or used in certain ways but also will give a an an AI analysis of it too and we're well aware because We watch students write these and then we hear that it's AI. Like it goes back to what Dr. Sunberg was talking about that we're we're using this as information. We're saying this is what it's saying to you about your paper. You know, let's talk about whether there really are any issues. For for example, with Turn It In, if you leave your work cited in there, all of a sudden the percentage of what you supposedly plagiarized goes through the roof because
107they think of all that as being plagiarized because it's already reappearing material. So, there's all of these things that are problems with it. We use it only to tell the students, okay, what what was your score and let's see if there's any concerns with it. It's not and again, we watch them do it. it doesn't affect their grade at all. We're we're required by the College Board to do it. So, we do it, but we only use it to, you know, foster a discussion. And usually when it comes to plagiarizing, none of it's plagiarized because you're using sources, but it kind of tells students that you're leaning too much into not using your own writing and instead overly quoting or something to that effect or not paraphrasing. So, it becomes an informational tool, but not
108something that ever hurts the students. I think that's very important to get across. Should be a teaching tool. Anytime you're using this gear to be police and to catch cheaters, you're using it wrong. You should be using it for instruction and and even before it was an AI tool. The old turn, it was that way too. and think if that's the case, we we then we should put it put a positive that you should be using grading because I I seen teachers grading with uh the essay um in sixth grade in sixth grade. How do you know they're again I'm not looking for anything. How do you know they're grading with AI? Cuz because I double check course reference and and I literally got an AI response for for that essay. Sorry. I know. What
109do you brisk teaching? Like you could you could because I I have access to brisk teaching teaching and and what it what it does is you put um uh you put your essay into into the AI and then you you kind of go through like oh how's the writing the um the pronunciation the grammar everything and it give you a score and literally copy and paste and just oh this is your score and you've seen that from a teacher and I got it. Yeah. Exactly. I would recommend you share that information with the lady at the end of the table, Dr. Sherman. But I think as of today, and I the problem I have with that is in a year, everybody like that's the whole thing. I don't know. That's the problem. Like I don't
110I don't I'm okay if you use it to check the spelling, the grammar and everything, but the teacher needs to read the whole essay. Oh, I think the teacher will read the essay, but I think the teacher running through Exactly. They they're just like, "Oh, I I'm not going to read through 25 students essay. I'm going to let that AI run through and I'm going to whatever AI gives to me. I'm going to grade it." Well, you don't know. It should not be happening. So, it's not so much. So, it's really you don't want that to be the sole. The sole mechanism to judge a student's work should not be AI. Is that I can get comfortable with that. not tell them they can't use AI to break. But I'm not I'm saying like they
111can use AI to [clears throat] do style check, robots and everything, but they cannot use what AI tell is a B or B+ or A+ and then you okay A+ I'm going to No, we agree. I think everybody Yeah, even the like we agree with that. Yes, that's what% Okay, good. And I think and Dr. Hartnett is speaking for 330 members shaking up that also. Mr. You're going to say, can we add something like that into your thing? Your thing? Your your AI policy? I knew what you meant by Yes. I just have one comment. Uh, under student use, it says the school district permits teachers to determine whether students in their class may use AI for assignments. I didn't think that was consistent with what we were doing, that we just tell that each
112individual teacher gets to tell a student, tell their class that they can use AI for whatever they're doing. I thought that that we were telling students they can't use AI can't or can cannot use it to write an essay or to we Mike and I and Jana actually have been discussing a lot about guidelines and what kids can't do and talking about using something called like a stop gap kind of a thing where student like a teacher would post a let's say a red sign which means absolutely no AI um you know green you're allowed to use AI to system. This is, you know, we we've kind of we haven't gotten there yet, but these are some of the discussions we're having that we're having, but certainly kids can there are certain places where it
113it is appropriate. Yes. So, going going along with like the whole uh you know, AI literacy piece and using, you know, a lot of these tools for, you know, for for grading, it's not really for grading. It's it's using these tools to help start the conversation around the process of learning, right? So it's it you know essays don't get written in one draft right and a lot of these tools what they do is they actually provide you the ability to kind of assess each draft and and look back at was this a copy and pasted essay I know I'm digressing a little bit but just to kind of address some of the stuff that was said before um they let you assess how the process of that essay was written and uh yeah some of
114these tools will say oh it was like AI written and we all know like with Sam and Mike you They're not always correct, right? But um you know, as far as letting students use AI, we're looking at uh you know, the possibility of using like an AI disclosure form so that teachers require like if you did use AI, how did you use it? Uh what level like what step did you use it at? Like level zero, I didn't use AI at all. Level one, we used it for uh brainstorming or level two for creativeness. level threeite level used as a thought. What I'm thinking about is like I've had teachers tell me and you're saying now that there are uses for AI. I've been in meetings where teachers have said no, you know, students should
115not be using AI to write their paper where forget about spellch check and forget what the program is that corrects your grammar. Grammarly. Yeah, I should have remembered that when I said it's a long day. Um, like I had teachers say unequivocally, "No, my students should not be using Grammarly." And the problem I then come to is if in sixth grade the teacher's like, "Yeah, Grammarly is fine. It's going to help you with your sentence construction. It's going to help you this." And then you get to seventh grade like, "No, you can't use that." We've now they've now just lost a year to some extent of education because they haven't learned some of the basics because as everybody in 10 years will be doing they they've let they've leaned on the technology and now they're
116coming back and and now the teacher saying no no no sorry your sixth grade teacher um screwed you over because they let you use that crutch and now you're not ready for my seventh grade class. So I I'm trying to understand how you don't disadvantage certain students in that case. They're using it in fourth grade though. Like I think it's part of curriculum. Oh, no. I I know they are, but that that's what I I'm trying to understand how you do because I said there are teachers that have unequivocally said Grammarly is cheating. Well, because Grammarly like Grammarly has an AI detection tool that uses AI to unai your work. It's like it's such a backwards system. We don't have a license for Grammarly. So, that's not something that that's not an app that we
117would recommend. No license. is all the women writing essays at home. They they can download Grammarly. I mean, you know, the high school kids can have their own computers. They can download Grammarly or buy Grammarly or whatever you do with it and and use it that way. So, I'm I know there's no straight answer. There's no easy answer. I'm just trying to understand what we're telling students from class to class. The most common examples I've heard are prompts for prompts. For example, um students are writing research papers and they want to write a research paper about the United States military and then they may ask AI, can you give me 20 topics on this so I can start figuring out what are the topics I would like to research to figure out which paper I
118should lead to? In other words, it's that what Mike was talking about before of the brainstorming and where students might not have the type of background and teachers will throw that out too. It's very similar where I might give them 25 topics on something. AI may give them 25 other topics to allow them for points of exploration. That seems at least in my discussions with other teachers, the most common places are to get other ideas, to keep drawing on other ideas, to get the process started. Um, like I said, I we we're talking about technology. A lot of these problems are taken care of at times by the fact that, you know, for the last seven essays I've done are handwritten. Yes, you could scan them, but you know, that would take a lot a
119lot of work with handwriting and everything. But I will I want to make clear part of the problem that has to go on as I'm doing this kind of work. Meanwhile, right now AP students are writing in blue book which is an online approach. So by doing everything on like there's a lot of work all the AP and college board at this point demands you to be on a computer. So, as we're trying to disengage from computers at certain points, eventually I have a responsibility to put them on the computer to get them ready for test prep. So, just I I know that's a little tangent on a tangent, but as these are going to keep coming up. If Mr. Jim, Mr. Goodstead, and even Mr. Bane all in agreement that this policy works, I
120fully understand. I had the concern about the teachers grading and the staff in the section entitled school district personnel use of and can we just put in here something I don't know maybe it's probably the teacher individual teacher will make it explicitly clear in writing to students and probably something that you go home to parents saying this is my AI policy in my class for this year. It's in it's in the policy. So it says if students are permitted to use AI the assignments the use of AI would be clearly communicated by the teacher clearly communicated is sort of my issue clearly communicated in writing which is writing. Thank you. When we're talking about compliance, are we talk when we say laws, are we talking about federal law, state laws, just all [snorts] Mr. Anything
121else? Um I think we should also include I don't know that community moves so fast like every year we might get a new program page on the website [clears throat] molo page on the [clears throat] It already exists. It is amazing. You're just amazing. No, Mr. Lin has amazing. Mr. L, you are amazing. Great resource KI page. He does one more thing. What is that? I think a lot of AI companies, they have a policy that only I think it's like 13 or 14 years old, they're they're not allowed to use AI. How are we addressing that? Great question. Cuz I don't call they restrict 18 under like if you're under 18, they ban your account. They don't let you use it. Really? Yeah. Obviously, my daughter was using my account. My account got banned.
122How? Well, she was typing like the way she was. What was she doing? [laughter] She was she was she was creating a a website for for like teaching elementary school or kindergarten like that kind of class. She was recording herself and when she record herself they obviously detected and then she like oh the end of they say oh this is not for anyone under 18 they b my account I had to appeal and to prove it that was me was like my account you know I'm an adult so that happened policy no again the policy that no student should be disadvantaged by their inability to use or decision not to AI, right? But I'm just saying like I I I think that but you said applicable law. It's applicable law. So I mean I can't
123control if not going to allow your daughter to hack your account. I'm kidding. No, I'm talking about school. I'm talking about school. No, I I think I would assume that the school would have the ability to create it to be able to run a platform that allows us. So So for example, let's say a school using Gemini, right? And that's Google AI and the students can they use kumbok and kumbok have access to gemini and gemini their policy is like I don't know their policy but I'm just looking let's say the policy is 14 years old and you're not allowed to use AI and obviously a student in school is using it and say why are you guys letting my son is using that according to the policy you can't use it and s the
124school they're not I'm just making things up anything can happen but the school's already Just so the elementary students are already using Gemini, right, which is procured. That's my concern. But it's but again these are clo these are systems that they're you guys are contracting with and the solution is close the non-contracted systems and block those out. That's the the we're like focus on the ones that you're purchasing and it should be block the ones you don't purchase because you can literally go a 5-year-old can go right now and chatgre.com OpenAI and type a question and get an answer. It doesn't do age verification. It doesn't do age restriction. It has none of that. So the the problem within the school is simple. The tools you permit are permitted. The tools you don't permit are
125blocked. And that solves all of them. You don't need a policy. To Mr. B's point, I'm not concerned about what he's contracted with. It's everything else. And in in high school, the device concept, just full disclosure, my my Yeah. My my two high school students use AI. They use claw, they use open AI, and you're not going to stop them. And the reality is it's the curriculum that the teachers are teaching on AI literacy and how to use AI is what's relevant, not policy and anything else. Because the kids have it's like saying you need eight hours of sleep. the kids are up till two in the morning. You can do whatever you want. You're not going to stop the usage of AI. It's it's how the students are using it in the curriculum. Yeah.
126I guess my question is like if we're using Google Workspace, right, access to whole suite um and Gemini imagine is a part of that. That's how they would access it. So I like the idea. I mean in a hospital system we also cannot just log into chat open. We have an AI hub that has all of this behind a firewall similar to I imagine the Google workspaces. Um, so I like the idea of shutting down at least Chromebook access to some of the other sites. It doesn't me, you know, it doesn't change what happens on your home device. That's up to parents. But, um, even with the workspace, if they're accessing Google at an age younger than 13, my understanding was that because of the generative nature of AI, there should still be some parental
127consent. I don't know if that's if that's true or not. And if as a parent we sign off on use of technology, etc. are in schools. I mean, which is part of what we're using all the time if that should be included. I don't know if there's a true if there's a law about that. But that was my understanding. This comes up honestly on the healthcare side of pediatrics. And so, it's something that we discussed from that standpoint. And I don't see why it would be very different from an education standpoint in this setting. So, if we could just find out about that, but I did think that there was something with a 13 which was mentioned by other people. Everybody's just debating these rules anyway. So, no, I'm not I I think but just
128to protect ourselves. Yeah, I think that there's something there. We have families find consent form and stuff. Sorry, I didn't mean we we do monitor and uh block. So, we use GoG Guardian, right? So, GoG Guardian monitors our website uh traffic and content. There's automatic filters for like AI tools that we turn on. like they've been creating additional uh filters in GoG Guardian to block extraneous websites that we don't approve, right? Um kids are really good at finding things that we don't block. Um but we do monitor the GoG Guardian traffic on a daily basis. Um I do have somebody on my staff that does that and we do add to the block list as we go. Um that includes gaming sites. Yeah. Uh it includes sites that kids build for games and AI tools
129as well as uh other AI sites that are out there that that we are able to find see that students are using. We do try to block as many as possible. The ones that we allow like Google we do have a a contract like an agree agreement. There's no way to control it on the MacBooks that some of the high school. That's so that's one of the the I guess it's like one of those double-edged swords, right? We want um we want our children to have like the best devices possible, but at the same time when they're bringing their own devices, it makes it a lot harder for us to manage them centrally. Um so it it's it's not good on the distraction and content side of things when you bring your own device for
130teachers and uh students in the classroom, but it's also not good on the network security side, right? because we're unable to put uh the proper security cyber security software in place to prevent like breaches, hacks, viruses, things like that. So, it's something that we do have to consider, you know, in the future. Uh but we do monitor the network. We monitor traffic and we look at various ways that we can improve uh you know, blocking things that shouldn't be used. the the Google Workspace just to answer her question and everyone again the tool you're paying for in the district has workspace admin panel which enables the district to first of all there's a youth experience under 18 for Google Gemini and there's restrictions and content filtering that the district can set within the workspace to
131further restrict usage of it so it's not the like you're not getting this whole open to the world system. You're getting a youth experience under I think whatever the age number is, but everybody can use Gemini from newborn to however old you want. Okay, we have beaten this dog. Um, so I think we're going to go back to just as an age of 13 and there is it's a supervised school. So there are mechanisms that again the school district if it's through the school district's Google account it is supervised supervised through the school district. Yes. Thank you very and we and we monitor that and we've set it up you know we've set it up appropriately and we could also uh change it if the board you know wants to make changes to to our
132settings. So I think we're at the point where we have a new 5741 that follows closely Mr. Goodstad with a couple of additions related to what were the two additions again? Teachers can't use AI to grade solely solely use it. Yes. And then also that purely communicative learning and the blank on use like I would assume that you wanted to be the assistant suit for curriculum is the person that does the approval. I think we also need wording that the teacher used AI, oh I use it for transparency for transparency or or we just assume that they're all using it at this point. We're so far in the weeds. Probably we what we're gonna do is that's going to go into operating procedure. Okay. So, we're gonna whoever's doing the operating procedure is going to
133take a lot of Mr. Jim's document and move that into operating procedure. And I still suggest you get on that AI committee or technically can we make an AI subcommittee? We used to have one. Yeah, we had well when I started I went through the list of the tech committee and the AI committee and they were generally it was like the same group. So so we put it together. Cool. Great. So we've got a 5741 which leaves us for tonight only with 3430 opportunity for all. I'll be presumptuous. In the packet there was a reddrafted version of we have we have two sort of policies in there. One we have the existing policy which was created a few years ago. I don't remember the exact year that was adopted in reference to a whole bunch
134of stuff going on in the world. Um as we talked about last time some of that had become outdated. I took a shot at writing something new. So, you know where I stand, the draft that is in the document is missing two additional phrases that were add or two additional numbers, two additional line items that were added in response to um feedback that I got from any number of people. Those two pieces are the district will continue to support a learning environment incorporates the plightes and perspectives of the historically marginalized and disenfranchised. And No. And then it was the district will continue to identify and eliminate barriers that might prevent any individual or individuals from participating in the learning process. Number eight was there in the draft. The one we're looking at says second revised
1353430, right? Yes. I sent around a new one yesterday or today. I have open number. Those things are in there. Yeah, those things are not in there. Did I send the wrong one to you people? I think you did. The one. No, but where did he keep whatever you just read? Yeah. No, three and eight were the three and seven were the two barrier. The barriers added historically on you. Yes. Those were in response to feedback that I got from very intelligent people or persons. Oh yes. Three and seven. Yes. Yes. Correct. Okay. Sorry. you were you referring to different number. Oh, I'm sorry. I did. So, yes. So, so there's now 10 pieces where there was previously eight. Um, and as I said, I tried to work in all the major points that were
136in the old policy, but without the uh politically charged language or tone that would make it or makes it un makes it unattractive to to people um to try to get people. I know you do, Mrs. Wartoff. I don't know how others feel. So, anyone have any other comments whether at this day or amongst the various crowd out there? Questions, concerns? I just I'd just like to thank you for trying, you know, being responsive to our concerns. I appreciate that. You are very welcome. And I want to agree that I appreciate you addressing all of the all most of the comments that were given and incorporating more of the feeling of the older policy. I guess I'm just concerned we got rid of having a DEI committee and but maybe I mean I think it's
137still important to have an opportunity for all committee if you want to just call it that mean and um I guess I'm just concerned I just want to make sure that the message that the board is sending by having this much condensed policy is not that we're not as open and as committed to the concept that was agreed upon and adopted a few years ago. So I just want to make sure that you know everyone in the community knows that this is a still an important priority for the board even though the policy is much more condensed and um I'd like to request that we add the concept of having a committee. I I don't have an issue with committee. I don't think it needs to be a board mandated committee. the superintendent has the
138ability if he thinks there's an issue or an issue that needs to be addressed, he's he's able to put together whatever committee he would want. I don't think it needs to be a mandated mandated concept um from the standpoint of the various rules that that would come along with that. I understand the message that we're sending and the importance of it. So while it doesn't have to be mandated um I just you know by taking away the committ I want to be sending the community a message that this is not important. I I don't think anyone would say it's not important or that their input doesn't matter. That was the benefit of the committee. that's where we have stakeholder input and can you know discuss identify concerns that are too I look I think that
139is a much bigger question as you know I've pushed it for the last five years that this district should be doing more getting more feedback from community members whether it be students parents or faculty in the past I was always met with resistance to that so I'm not sure why everyone suddenly thinks this is the only area where we should be getting feedback. So in terms of getting feedback and taking temperatures, I think we heard that tonight with the presentation that that's going to be one of the goals of of that. But the same way we're not taking in here saying that we're trying to take temperature in all these different areas because I believe everyone for the most part that right now a lot of the issues that are outlined in this policy are
140not issues that we think are serious problems in Jericho. That doesn't mean they won't become serious problems in Jericho tomorrow or two years from now. And for the they're not even if they're not problems in Jericho, it's to teach the students when they go out into the world that isn't as insulated as Jericho, how to live in a world that is has all these issues. So we're not but I don't see what does that to do with the policy? That's because that's first part of the the the DEI committee was to you know teach the kids how to live in a world that has all but the committee wasn't having direct interaction with students. Well, there were students on the committee and the committee was goal was taking climate surveys and then gau data and
141then come up teachers. I think there's you know Why would we survey the in the school? I don't think we make surveys. That's the problem. Hold on, Mr. Barangi. Go ahead. So, I appreciate the trustees having concern about the committee. It's a really fair point actually, which kind of regardless of this policy question, I don't feel committees are representative of the community and there's never an open call for parents to join committees unless they belong to a certain 501c3 in this community. and there isn't public transparency as to who is on committees. So I do appreciate the trustes concern over the committee and it's a very good comment. The only thing I'll say to that is if we go back and watch the video when we were forming the committee for DEI and I'm probably
142arguing against my own case. There was a very restricted group who was listed on that and it didn't even include going out to the public to take applications. This was one of the only committees at my urging that we ended up taking public applications for it because it was so insulated and because it was so insular. So I take your point with other committees but is as is it Dr. or Mrs. I don't remember Dr. Dr. David who was a member of that committee there was public solicitation for that committee. That being said I don't believe it needs to be a boardmandated committee. I think there's many different ways, different people and different procedures that go on to taking that temperature. I think those types of things are courage for what we do and and
143I'm not sure that there needs to be a board I I don't believe there needs to be a board mandated committee, but the miss I think we are committed to all these things. I think that's why as Dr. said people said, well, we're missing this or missing that. We got all that in here. I fully recognize the tone of this policy is a little bit different than what we had there previously, but I don't think that in my view diminishes. Thank you. I think that makes um I I appreciate the point about the committee. That was actually one of my questions too. Um I agree that there does not need to be board management committees for everything that we're thinking about. Even if we just looked at this this the goals that were outlined by
144the group here, inclusion and belonging was a big part of I think goal one or goal two. And so goal number one and so as we think about alignment, but belonging and I mean they're all they're all part of the same spectrum of safety and inclusion, right? And I think we can all respect that well-being comes from a sense of inclusion that comes from a sense of fostering belonging. So, I do think there's a benefit of having a diverse stakeholder that's looking specifically in inclusion and belonging, not just from a mental health or well-being standpoint, but also from like including diverse perspectives and curricula. I remember being in this room having one of the first meetings and thinking about all the different ways that we celebrate the various heritage months. Right now, it's May. It's
145Asian-American and Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander Heritage Month. And we talked a little bit about the contest that we had in our community that's rich with a lot of Asian perfections. It's called the Jewish artist and the Jewish artist month. Exactly. So I mean I think it's really helpful to have people thinking about it from this perspective um with diverse backgrounds because we all are addressing it in technology and web wellbeing community I imagine you know the good nutrition right there's different ways to look at it but I do think there's a loss if if the board is still committed to that the concept of really uplifting all voices and and having diverse perspectives there's a loss there say well we won't mandate or we won't really give the platform for such such a committee to
146to stay and again it it I'm not sure how other non boarding committees maintain or place the state consisting being you know a robust um sort of committee but I think that that is a loss that I how many times did the committee meet like two three times a year uh I I think it was close to half a dozen times a year uh we're we're not meeting now there's reasons we can unpack on that um but no unpacking No one back. So I I have I do have a question. Um and I'm going to just ask it of people who are more deeply involved in this work and also people who are involved in the community especially as [clears throat] it pertains to education. Um we have Sam has um in his policies rather
147than using the word equity um has listed equal access as an alternative and I don't know that this policy without using the word equity actually delivers the point that equal access does not mean equity and that just because somebody has equal access to opportunities doesn't mean that they're going to be able So I'm just wondering if that needs to be further developed in this equity. I understand but you say what that mean? It has a different meaning. I'll absolutely tell you why. I mean this is the word means something without using a word. How do we equal means like I get a laptop you get a laptop. Everyone gets a laptop. equity mean what you're blind exactly. What if you're blind? You need a different laptop, but that's covered by the laws. I mean, there's
148laws for that has nothing to do with here's my problem just just very simply. There's something online and again not AI but it's you know I got to get from the University of British Columbia. They have an equity and inclusion glossery of terms. And they have lots and lots and lots of terms. And as I talked about last time, there's lots of different definitions for equity. But here's the problem I have with it. Equity refers to achieving par in policy process and outcomes for historically and persistently or systematically marginalized people and groups. My problem is when you talk about parity of outcomes, I have no problem with parity of health, parity of things, but when you talk about parity of outcomes, I don't understand how that is something that that we should look for. And
149that's that that that's my hurdle. So get me around that hurdle and I'm there with you. The word is defined in the existing DEI policy. How is it defined there? It's not no the the one that still exists at this moment. Yeah. Equity includes but is not limited to seeking the fair treatment access opportunity for all while striving to eliminate to identify and eliminate barriers that have prevented the full participation of all groups. So I I've I've given you that definition of equal access and opportunity and identifying and eliminating barriers without using the word where others will interpret that differently. So So again, I'm not sure what the point of using the word is. If you can get the if you can get the concept across without using a word that some may find ambiguous
150or read more into it than it is, what have you lost? I think the question is is equal access the same as what we just mentioned? Um I think many folks would argue that equal access doesn't give you the equal opportunity. I mean another term would be meaningful access, right? There's many different ways you can slice this but equal access in general means that you get the same resource for every person. That's what equal means. It means the same and that doesn't always allow them to get that ability for access and opportunity. So, well, then it says all students have equal access to educational opportunities. If you you want me to change the order of the words, we can talk about that, but I'm I again I I don't I'm trying to understand what what
151we're missing. And so, like I said, as Dr. Summer said, what's the definition of equity here? It it's in there. The the exact words that we used in there for equity are in there. And my concern is when you use the word equity, you're talking about parity of outcomes. But that's defined clearly. That's not that's that's one definition. What was in the sorry that wasn't mentioned at all that I mean equity we recognize is a very um charged term in today's political supposed political climate. I get that and I I do think it's very prudent to be careful about how we use these terms in our work policies. I think that's helpful and I love the the you know the movement towards focusing on access which I think is really important and fair treatment but
152I do think that there the term equal access is not representative of everything you were discussing. So I would just ask that maybe we think of a way to frame it exactly as we've been saying. I think this conversation shows that there is more depth than the term that we that I heard and I apologize. I looked at the policy, but I'm still trying to understand what what is the what is appropriate access. You want appropriate acc. That's fine. I I I don't that's to ensure that all students have appropriate access to educational opportunities. Okay. What does that mean? Does that cooperation? What legit today? No, but it should. No, it's a legitimate question. It's an absolute. Does it create club? Does it include club creation? Our principal's already answered is here. He's rubbing his
153eyes. What? Explain to what appropriate need is. Appropriate means they need appropriate access and equal access. What's the difference in need? So, you're giving a student what they need. So students have different needs. So they don't have equal need and it's not in any way suggestive the outcome. It's just their ability to make new supports given to them to be able to access the opportunity but not necessarily saying the outcome is going to be the same to give them what they so that the outcome is the same. It's so that they can make use of the new opportunity. Even our motto see the problem is wouldn't be and again when I hear appropriate as I'm thinking about it I'm thinking separate but equal like but I I know that's not what you mean but I'm
154think what's what does that mean appropriate access you now have meaning different for every appropriate be interpreted as one kid gets more than the other then that's not equal and then that's already leading into towards you know dangerous territory because Now you're giving one kid more than the other. I see it as different and child specific. I get that. It's what the child needs. We're giving each child what they need. And that's what we do here. That's what we've always done here and we always should continue to do that. But but there again, that's when you start to the district will continue to identify and eliminate barriers that might prevent any individual from participating in the learning process. That's giving everybody the appropriate access. that that that's what I'm trying to understand like I there's
155lots of you know there's sort of two parts to this where it's like okay you want to give every kid what they need and we are in agreement on that but I think when you start getting into appropriate you you start to become saying what makes it appropriate appropriate then becomes well everybody should be able to score 95 on this test okay and and there there are different things that different needs like someone talked about if you was it a black kid or something like that. Yeah, that's different. I fully understand that process. But the the point of the matter is like you when you say appropriate appropriate for what? Appropriate so that everybody can get the A in the class. But but that's with regards to an opportunity to take advantage of the opportunities.
156But but that's what this literally what this policy says. people is not what we're talking about. But other policies govern what you're talking about. That's not DEI. So there's there's state test requirements, there's ESL requirements, there's like extra time requirements, there's all these different things that our kids get, including my kids, kids with disabilities, right, that Americans with Disabilities Act and all these other things that are not governed by DEI. the the other laws and thresholds within the state education system govern all those little things you're talking about. So why why do you maybe maybe there's a better word than appropriate. I mean you suggested meaningful like I don't know maybe even meaningful and equal access could be helpful. I just think that the term equal access is not representing clearly what this conversation has
157has shown. I think just acknowledging that equal doesn't mean the same exact thing. I think meaningful is helpful to me because it's not only that you're providing it, but it's accessible to the individual, right? Like I mean um if you put meaningful in there, it's a beautiful word, but it's an aspirational word and and it's you can't you know, can I say just so we're clear, this is talking about have equal access to educational opportunities regardless of all the things that you then see, sex, race, color, ethnicity, nationality, religion. If you want to put physical handicap saying like we're having an argument about something that's not that's not that this paragraph isn't focused on we're we're putting it in there that's saying regardless of you know whatever you whatever problem you have you're getting equal
158access to the opportunity which means in my determination that you you are going to be able to participate in that process in the ed you you're not going to be denied an opportunity and remember this policy was meant to talk about. It wasn't meant to talk about the blind kid who who didn't have it. That that's not where the genesis of this policy came from 5 years ago. It was completely in another direction and as others have pointed out as Mr. Rings point at all those things you're talking about blind kids or right is covered by other policy that is covered under like you know disabilities and whatnot. I'm talking about some of these other things that are here um that don't that are not covered necessarily with under like and whatnot. Um but that's
159what this policy was meant to cover. That's what I'm saying. I'm trying not to advocate for a position. I'm just trying to clear what position you're advocating. question. Well, I guess what I want want to think about when we're thinking about the word equity and what was originally intended to do and what maybe the board is deciding not to do anymore, but there was an there was a perspective in it. There is a perspective in in in DEI that there are some groups of people in our society that historically have not had the same advantages of others or indeed may have had historically disadvantages systemically and that we need to try and recognize those things and mitigate them in some way. Right? So, if you're saying we want to treat everybody equally, it means we're
160we're we're going to go from there. Uh, and we're going to give you the same thing and you have your chance, you know, the same as everybody else to make it. Um, I get that. That's one American view. Um, there's another one that says we have a responsibility to redress historic practices in the past. Um, and and If you're going to have a committee and you're going to research, you're going to try and figure out what those are. If you want people in your community to get together and maybe air some of their experiences uh and and say maybe we we're not going to do school exactly the way we used to do it because we have different groups of people now here who respond differently. So, it it's it's a commitment to taking a
161look at these things and and it's not because you're blind or or you have other some other kind of handicap. there's something societal and systemic and historic that we want to take a closer look at and address. So the word equity includes that and the DEI policy includes that. It's so I mean if you're saying no, we reject that and those premises that's that's fine. But I think that's what you're arguing about saying. I'll say I reject it. I reject it straight up. Okay. And now I I I I I personally think that you keep talking about groups. We have 3,200 students here. I want to look at them as individuals and I want to say whatever each individual kid needs, we're going to do it. And whether it's based on some historical prejudice, historical
162deficiency, or deficiency they have now, that's what I want to address. And that's why I took the word group and I said whatever barriers for each individual prevents them from participating in it. But the idea that this board and that this school district is somehow responsible for um fixing what some perceive or many perceive or everyone perceives as some historical wrong. Yes, I I'll say that I I do not accept that is my responsibility as a board member of the German school district. Speaking as Eric, I truly respect that view. I just you've articulated it and there's there are other views. Absolutely. Uh, and that but that's what you're really talking about. And I I actually thought that I had hoped, let me say I thought I had hoped that we had moved past what
163I felt was a reactionary environment 5 years ago to say, okay, what from that policy? Because look, there there are people who say this whole piece of paper should be thrown out. It's like it's it's a pass idea. What I do think came here from this conversation is that there are principles that this district should be committed to to for each individual student regardless of where you think they came from, where they did come from. You know what? It doesn't matter. But it's like this is what we want. We want every kid to have an opportunity to succeed here. that we are going to do our best to work to mitigate all those things. And remember, there's this whole other part where you're talking about, you know, compensating for those things. We have this whole
164thing about um, you know, we're going to incorporate the perspectives of those people that you're talking about, which again is is related to curriculum. It doesn't even have to do with the opportunity that kids are going to have to learn here. So, I, as I've always said to you, I appreciate that view. I just don't see how or why the Jericho board that's our focus. Our focus is our individual 3200 kids here and making sure each one of them has an opportunity not even opportunity each one of them will succeed. Sam going back to your other point I think the question that has been raised in the first sentence maybe possibly considering the district must ensure that all students have equal and differentiated access to educational opportunities may give that personalized nature that you just
165refer to and make that distinction that I think we're trying to make here. equal doesn't mean one size fits all mean but again I'm not saying you see I think the problem is and the opportunity isn't differentiated everybody's got the opportunity how you get to take advantage of that opportunity is is what I'm talking so when you talk about a differentiated access or what do you say have equal and differentiated access Well, that's a contradictory, but B, even if you say everybody has differentiated access, you're now providing unequal benefit. You're providing a kid something that another kid doesn't get. And I just don't I don't understand why I I I you know, there are parts of this and I could fully accept other arguments that I have, which is why it's it's morphed a few
166times. I've just the equal access to opportunity. I'm not sure what it means putting out there, but I would say, and again, most people in this room probably have more experience that I do at having multiple kids of their own, but when you have multiple kids of your own, you recognize that your kids need different things. So, you treat them fairly and equally, but that doesn't mean you give them exactly the same thing. 100%. So, I feel like I get your point and I don't know if there's a way to use language that sort of encapsulates both concepts. I have an idea. What about just even I mean I don't know if this makes this better or worse actually, but just taking out the word I appreciate your honesty but just taking out the word
167people. I'm just saying have access because if you're giving a kid access and they're able to make use of it, necessarily it's differentiated and necessarily it's specific to that kid and their needs. What about just taking out equal first read? I don't have a problem with that. I I I I figure we get things thrown at by that corner of the room if we take out, you know, access. That's like But yes, I'm happy with that. I just I I mean I don't love taking to equitable. I prefer I prefer having the word in than having it removed. I think it it reminds us that we're trying to get to a place for everyone. So is there an additional adjective not differentiated but an [laughter] I mean does meaningful equal and meaningful access to that?
168Can we can we run this through AI? Damn it. GM, you've done this on a much larger scale. Yeah. I mean, we we've had to deal with this for the last year and a half and this is what I do every day. And the ways the way that we think about this is I think meaningful access is really helpful and defining what meaningful access means. And meaningful means you're able to not only provide it, but that the person receiving it is able to use it. We use this a lot in language access, right? So when we provide interpreters in the healthcare setting, just using the interpreter doesn't mean that your everyone has equal access to it. But meaningful access means that the doctor or the pharmacist or the nurse actually uses it in a way
169that the patient can understand what they're talking about. So the term meaningful is very um is very clearly defined in the ACA actually the federal care act and then other um department of health and human services documents around what that means and I like the term I believe in the term so I don't know if that's something we can just think about but meaningful has a has a a responsibility that's birectional not just in the person who's getting the opportunity but in the person who's providing the opportunity which is what I think we're saying that we want to be able to provide it in a way that's accessible to for everyone. Um, so I like the term meaningful, but again, I'm not sure in the educational realm if that has the same um if it
170lands the same way. But meaningful and I don't love the term equal, but I I know that we're having difficult time finding an alternative. But meaningful and equal would still be a a step in the direction that I think this conversation is lending itself towards. Just a suggestion, if we talk about using and again I don't have an opinion on this at all. Um, regarding [clears throat] ambiguous words, the easiest way to fix an ambiguous word is to put the ambiguous word in find it in the policy. I know what you're saying. That's a good idea. So, you can pick whatever word you want, right? The really easiest way is to use unambiguous words. Then you can define the ambiguous word. Then it's no longer ambiguous. I like the term equity is ambiguous. Actually, I
171guess I guess the question I guess the question is in the old policy in the current policy that's in the book definition of equity. Does the board have an issue with the definition of equity as in that policy? Forget the word equity. Yes. No, not not in Sam's policy. And the old policy is it's not the definition. Equity includes but is not limited to as she is not limited to seeking fair treatment, access, opportunity, and advancement for all. But you can just change that. You can make that meaningful. You can make that whatever you want. Whatever word you want. Equity includes, but it's not to Okay. Equity includes seeking the fair treatment, access, and I'm sorry, the fair treatment, access, opportunity, and advancement for all while striving to eliminate to identify and eliminate barriers. But
172now we're saying don't use equity and plug in something else and define it. You're not using the word equity. Yes. So then we can define make it meaningful. That's your definition of meaning. Can you just plug in meaningful? Meaningful includes seeking fair treatment, access, opportunity, and advancement. I understood meaningful when you put it into the medical term. I get it. I mean I maybe you could bring us your definition from medical definition because what you said the person receiving it has to be able to use it right I mean that's that's and it probably said more eloquently that that's the only we're not talking about a service here we're talking about the opport the access to an opportunity so here she's talking about you have to have meaningful use of the interpreter I don't I
173see that as different than access using their fair access. Equal and fair. No, we're just taking out equal and fair that all students have fair access to educational opportunities. Yeah, you're you're going to have a field day with I'm going to have a field day with this one. [laughter] 100%. The minute you put this in policy, I'm I'm attacking the club. Which one are you? Which word is less likely? Like I can argue my child did not have meaningful access to creating a club at Jericho High School. But there's a change whether we use the term meaningful, fair, equal. I'm just saying like when you use the word equal, meaningful, fair in my perspective, my child did not have a fair, meaningful access to something. They have equal access. I I believe they didn't have
174equal access. and I proved it. So, let's take that out. Take that anything out. Just do access. I don't know. Dr. Herman, do you feel fair prefer? I don't know. I'm just I'm just curious because he's Well, the look I if I take what you were talking about with meaningful, right? Isn't that the idea of ensuring that barriers do not prevent individuals from getting necessary services and care? Is that a concept that you could add to this? Is there like we have that in here? We have something we have something close with barriers. We do it might all I'm trying to say is you might that might be a place to tweak that in the end, but that's probably the most basic spot. I do have to say the the policy is very inclusive of
175everything that I think everyone here is talking about. We're just asking to add one word which honestly is not going to change the fabric of this policy. So we can we could sit here another two hours arguing about meaningful or not. I get it. But as long as the meat of the policy is there, I think that's the most important thing. I think this this wasn't also a one two three thing to get here. I think it was multiple steps and multiple layers of I will say and I said that before. I appreciate that there was a serious process and even if we think about there was a lot of statements recorded about what our intentions are and our approaches. I think that's important to have out there, too. By the way, we still have
176two blanks here for who the superintendent is going to designate. It should be Hart and Stunberg. We're far away. I want to echo Dr. partner's earlier um statement that he's he's thankful that you have engaged in this earnestly and language has changed a lot over the last few weeks starting was eliminated completely to one draft and I I see it changing so I I I appreciate there's an attempt to baby steps baby steps reconcile different views even though I'm I'm still seeing a fundamental al disagreement that this can't compromise away. Um the committee as it was um did conduct a very robust comprehensive survey of nearly every student grades 7 through 12 in the school last year. and we only just started uh subjecting the data we got to analysis. And I will say that
177the work we put into it was was rigorous and the standards that we applied to the correlations we were looking at were at [snorts] very strict levels of significance that we're looking for. This is just an example. I'm not saying this is an urgent need, but one of the things that began to bubble through, and this is not a presentation of of the research of the day, but I can say this with confidence, Asian students who are the majority of this district were reporting significantly lower levels of belongingness than white students. And it's a very fascinating thing in a place like this which is so high achieving and we're looking at at an aggregate not individual kids but um but that that a majority of students um for all kinds of reasons that we have
178not begun to and may never begin to look into. um we're we're reporting a lower level in certain constructs uh that that we know are correlated with learning than than a minority of students. And it was just a really fascinating thing to begin looking at and and so to not have the the committee or to say that that correlation may not we don't care about it. We're not going to treat anybody any different. we're not going to change what we do even though we know this thing. Um there there are times to to ask these questions and and and and and look at groups and and and just looking at data is not good social science and it's not good leadership or policy. But the conversations that could come from talking about that might be
179valuable and maybe somebody else will create a committee um with without board policy and and and that might happen. But that's one of the things that you're kind of turning away from right now. And it's and it's not the kind of thing I I hope it's not something you're saying we don't think is important um or or or or we don't want to address. I I think any unhappiness or discomfort, dissatisfaction, underachievement, um disabilities, of course, we want to address it. I'm I want to say surprised by what you just said, but okay. Again, I'm not necessarily sure. I should say I I'm sure I don't think that's something that falls under a DEI, formerly DEI policy, because I I'm confused because like I said, if you've got a group that represents 80%, how does
180that deal with diversity, equity, and inclusion? Not that we're using those words. If there's clearly something there, if that's what your study found, there's clearly something there. It's got nothing to do with diversity. It's probably got nothing to do with equity and it's probably got nothing to do with inclusion. That policy, the the current policy covers this. And it's an interesting point you just made because my kids feel the exact opposite. They don't get highlighted because they're not doing the traditional Jericho stuff. Meaning, my kids aren't in band. My kids aren't in Regeneron. My kids aren't in science. But guess what? My two daughters play lacrosse. My my daughter had varsity lacrosse yesterday. I sent an email to the board that she never gets highlighted. They had their senior day. Not a single message from
181the school. Where's the equity in that? So, my point is like there's there's the flip side of it that I think is ignored. And while those kids feelings are valid, I think my kids feelings are valid as well. And the current policy doesn't cover this issue that we're talking about. So, whatever work you put in, it's still not going to fix the problem. is not especially especially when they in fact say about Asians and to be honest being as Asian myself I know DEI was the reason that we are being excluded from a lot of college so using Asian as an excuse that we need to have a DEI is completely lost to me because we're the one being targeted and excluded from college because of being agent So there is no equity for Asians.
182We're talking about he's talking about Asian he brought up Asian Asian but Asians are not being excluded in Jericho. We want to find a way to make people feel more included in Jericho. I felt I felt already felt included like we are already included. But the study perception the students did not feel included and that's that's a concern when you find out as a board member that a portion of the students don't feel included. It's our job to figure out why and do something. But how I think what we're saying is it's got nothing to do with with what we're talking about. But if the but it's got nothing to do with it. If you have 100% of the population, if you go to a country, it's 100 you go to Iceland, they're 100% and
183you take them, they're all alcoholics. I mean, is it because they feel like they're not included or they're you there's no diversity? No. It's just unfortunately it's a problem because there's 22 hours a day of of of darkness, but it's got nothing to do with that they're all Icelandic and they're all 6'2 and fond. It's like you're looking you're you're the the you're attributing this to something that's nothing to do with what this policy is about. Doesn't address it. That's the point. Like the existing policy that you guys are touting doesn't address the problems that are already existing. So clearly the policy doesn't work. Why you're trying to revert back to that policy is mindboggling because literally the kids are saying there is a problem and the problem's not fixed by the policy. We haven't
184years that pol that policy created a committee that created the survey that found those results. So I mean but that was years ago. No administer last year. So if my kids if my kid said the opposite of the 80% how would you address that? Would you say if my child said the opposite of the 80%. Of course. And that's a valid perspective too. But how do you address my question is how you have the data. How have you in the last 12 months? And I'm not blaming you, using the existing policy for DEI addressed my child's problem in this district, my four children actually. How has that been addressed with the existing policy? It hasn't. You know how it's been addressed? I come here and I'm a nuisance to the board. No, but that's the
185only that's the reality of it. The policies aren't doing what you guys intended to do. And I'm telling you that as a parent of four children, they are failing the kid. The policy has failed the children. Period. I think that's no offense overment, but I it's not I can give you examples. I've had to advocate for my children directly to administration to get what I need. Your policies don't fix the problem. Administration fixes the problem. Parent advocacy fixes the problem. A written piece of paper is not going to fix the problem. Not mutually exclusive options though, right? I mean we agree that parent advocacy um you know discussion all of this is is multi a solution can be multiffactorial but I think that's an important piece but if you're sitting there not if you're not
186me or another parent that's outspoken the hundreds of parents that text us constantly with issues because they're afraid to bring it forward the policy should technically be protecting those parents and it's not and it's not protecting the kids and adding the word meaningful probably specific. No, it'll give you a point to poke at and somebody who wants to exploit that word will exploit it and say, "My kid doesn't have meaningful X." And then you're going to have 504, whatever it is. Why does my kid not get extra time? It's not meaningful. Well, you have to go look at this policy. There's there's already policies and laws that exist for these things. Like, you're trying to shoehorn a issue that's not an issue. The more I listen, the more I honestly have less understanding the concern
187about equal access and educational opportunities. I just everybody here, we have you go to other districts, you have to apply to get into an AP class. Here, you show up, you sign, you put it down on your schedule, you're in the AP class. Here, you want to be on a team, you show up, you you try out for the team, you make the team, you don't make the team, you get out. you know, presumably you want to join a club, everybody can join the club. Yeah, form a club, but you can join a club. Um, you know, everybody wants lunch, you can go get lunch. So, everybody's got the access to everything. No one's disadvantage what they're doing with that opportunity. Everybody here, even when we're talking about meaningful and we're talking about we got
188to help this kid or that kid, that again is all going back to outcomes. We shouldn't be dictating what that outcome is. We're simply saying we're here. We're here to provide a service. We're providing boatloads of service to this. We provide that's why everybody wants to come here because you can take calc BC. We can take differential cal physics BC programming and all this other stuff. Everybody can show up here and take them. Now, that's all that first part is saying. It doesn't matter who you are, you have equal access to all those opportunities. Now, when you get to taking those opportunities, that's where the 10 points come in or really when the first five or six. We're going to get rid of the barrier. So, if you can't see, we're going to give you
189whatever translation you need. You can't speak English, we're going to give it to you. I understand the meaningful part and maybe there's a place for meaningful in one of the 10 bullet points because I understand what you're saying. But to say that we're going to give meaningful access, we want everybody to have access to whatever opportunity they have here. They have to go in. They have to take advantage of it and try to be successful. But I so I'm sort of don't know where we're trying to go. I think as Dr. Sunberg said, there's a differentiation, but other than Dr. Sunberg, I haven't heard anyone say that we're trying to remediate what some perceive as past injustices. And if someone on the board thinks that, then let's talk about it. But I believe the only
190person I've heard say that so far has been Dr. Sunberg. So So we're past that. So now we're really back to I think we spent half an hour talking about whether we're using equal meaningful affairs. So what I would suggest is in the interest of maybe we need to do some thought on this. Maybe we need to do this accept the first read and say the word that we really have circled here is equal access and maybe putting the word meaningful somewhere if not in place of equal maybe lower down where it talks about they're going to um uh students have, you know, in which students have meaningful opportunity to learn and realize their full potential instead of equal opportunity. I I don't know because maybe there's a difference between access and opportunity and and
191that would be where I get to because you know, no one wants to turn into a pumpkin at 10:30. But again, I would I would just like to add and maybe just put in the concept of a committee here and maybe it's not a mandatory, but it just for the if you like to say you're saying something like at his discretion, the superintendent could form a committee to do this. I would love that because I would like just to show that that he's smiling that it's putting on his. Okay. Okay. So, the two things that we're going to talk about and discuss for next time are one is there some if someone can I still haven't heard a better word than equal access. Maybe there's a way for Dr. Gl's word of meaningful somewhere in
192what we're trying to do. No issue with that. I I don't know what the word means. So, I have to AI it or Google it or Gemini it. And we can talk about what we want to do about a committee. The option of putting a committee in. I I don't think we'd have to say the superintendent has the option to put a committee for a DEI because he always has that option to to I understand that but this if you're talking about signaling someone yes I just feel like it's an important can all parents have meaningful access to all committees that is something we are working on not in this policy but we're working on it how many days has it been sir 310 310 I apologize to reverse 10,000 there's just so much 310
193can do to reverse 10,000. I'm sorry. Bath is bad. 11,000. No, but it's a fair point. You know, it's absolutely Hold on, Mr. Bry. It's absolutely a fair point. And it's a fair point that I'm saying that there's 315 or 310 days to reverse 11,000 is sometimes very large. There's sometimes there's hurdles that can only get crossed at some point. So, um, as as discussed for future acceptance, do we having vote? Does anyone Is everyone comfortable voting on all four policies at once or do we need to break one out because someone wants to vote against the adoption of one or more of these? I think we should break out the That's fine. I'll break out whatever. Okay. So, can I get a vote on So, we're going to change the motion now. So, do
194I have a motion to accept a first reading of 3271 solicitation of charitable donations, 3280 use of school facilities, and 5741 artificial intelligence. Do I have a motion? Second. Thank you, discussion with the changes as we previously discussed. Can I get a vote on accepting the first read? All in favor? 5. Okay. Now we move to policy 3430 now such renamed as opportunity for all. Can we get a motion to accept the first reading? Thank you Mr. Mr. Bara. Thank you Mr. Jin. Any further discussion as with the changes that we talked about and the highlights that we're going to have for our executives. All in favor of accepting the first read. I thought we were I thought we were not accepting the first read. Remember secondary first read the two issues that are open
195that we're going to think about more is are we are we going to change equal or add the word meaningful or some other word in here somewhere and are we going to put a sentence in here saying you know that at the superintendent's discretion he can form a committee to address this um and as I said this goes back to we're just trying to get so we can get to a second read and if we reject the second read the second read it's the same way we've done with all the policy we've done why do we separate this one I know you guys wanted to vote against it because just asked if you want to break it out if someone's planning to vote against it. That's why I'm happy to do whatever you want. Secretary
196just separated another 99% of this is done. There's no point to table this. This is more done than most of the policies we've accepted first reading on and this is a good step. But like I said, that's why we're breaking it out. If people don't want to accept the first read, we won't accept the first read. So there's still opportunity to make changes. Yes. All in favor of accepting the first read. Three. All opposed. Any abstensions? 32. First read accepted. Um, do any of my fellow board members, sorry, I should have been using the mic. That was accepted 3 to two. Um, with the two open items, um, do any of my fellow board members have anything they want to raise before we adjourn? Anyone who's voted three hours, anybody out there? Oh, did we?
197No, we did not. I apologize. We will very hopefully, who knows how long. Opportunity to public be heard. If you would like to make a comment or ask a question, please approach the microphone, tell us your name, and if you're representing a specific group, your affiliation. If you'd like your statement to be included in our board minutes, you must hand a written copy of your remarks to a district clerk, victim manual before leaving tonight. As always, public discussion on matters related to staff and students during which their reputation, privacy, or right to due process or those of others could in some ways be violated is prohibited. Microphone is here. Seeing no interest, that is closed. Do I have a motion to adjurnn? Thank you, Mr. Citron. Second, Mr. Jin. All in favor of adjourning, we
198will see you on Monday evening, May 11, 6:30 to discuss the 700s, 7,000. Thank you very much.