Croton-Harmon's students feel safer and more connected than most of their peers nationally, the district's building leaders told the Board of Education at Thursday's work session — but the high school data showed a trend administrators called concerning: students in demographic groups other than white report hurtful language, and being hurt by it, at sharply higher rates than a year ago. The fall 2025 climate survey presentation, led by Assistant Superintendent Rachel DePaul and all three building principals, filled most of the meeting. National benchmarks typically show emotional safety and belonging in the mid-70s to low 80s, declining as students age; Croton-Harmon's results at every building met or exceeded them. At Carrie E. Tompkins Elementary School, Principal Kerri Bianchi presented the school's first cohort comparison — the same children surveyed in late May and again in late September, three weeks into the year. Between administrations, "we had 61% of our students indicating that they felt respected and that increased to 73%" Read 18:20▶, Bianchi said, while reports of having their feelings hurt fell from 10% to 7.9%. Assistant Principal Craig Campanaro noted the pools differ: 110 third graders took the spring survey, 126 fourth graders the fall version. Reports of bias-related incidents ticked up slightly at CET, but follow-up answers showed children were often recalling events from earlier grades, most often on the bus or at recess — spaces the school now targets with a school psychologist and a social worker on playgrounds, modeling early intervention for lunch monitors. When young children use slurs, Bianchi said, they often do not know what the words mean; the school brings parents into the conversation. "the first time is always a teachable moment. The second time would be very different" Read 37:51▶, Bianchi said. Trustee Neal Haber asked why the survey comes so early in the year. "but at the same time, if there was a problem, you'd want to know that early on" Read 23:33▶, Bianchi answered. At Pierre Van Cortlandt Middle School, 437 of 458 students responded to the fall survey. Principal Nichole Kelly said results were consistent with last year, with belonging up slightly. "a vast majority of our students report feeling safe at school" Read 47:08▶, Kelly said. The greatest need, Kelly told the board, is the language students use toward one another; staff press an upstander culture, and more students now say they told someone. Vice President Anamika Bhatnagar said parents have asked whether students are explicitly surveyed about bullying tied to ability or neurodivergence; Kelly said open-ended responses more often involved appearance — a body shape, a hairstyle, often followed by just kidding. The high school compared fall 2024 to fall 2025 — 388 responses, up from 328 — because seniors are away in spring. Overall numbers stayed high — 97% emotionally safe, 95% with a sense of belonging — but the demographic breakdown drew the most attention. Among students identifying with groups other than white, belonging fell to 89% — 64 of the 72 such students who responded. Reports of hearing hurtful language in that group rose from 12% to 15%, and of being hurt by it to 13% — nine of 72 students — from 4% across all groups last year. "that shift in number is obviously concerning to us as a school" Read 69:29▶, Assistant Principal Erica Fiorini said, adding that the pattern lines up with what students absorb from media and current events; the school has handled more than one disciplinary incident this year involving language that "has been at a level that we haven't seen in a few years" Read 69:29▶. Principal Laura Dubak pointed to a countervailing sign: "none of the incidents that came in the descriptions in the survey were incidents that we were not already aware of and had addressed" Read 75:37▶, Dubak said — evidence, she said, that students report what happens rather than carrying it silently. The high school's newer structures drew strong marks: 89.2% of students said community lunch had a positive impact, 77% said in-school club time makes them more likely to attend, and 225 showed up for a club one recent Wednesday. Haber pressed on what the survey does not ask: "What's not in that question is sex or gender, immigration status, English language" Read 40:00▶, Haber said of the bias question. Fiorini noted the high school added gender identity this year without significantly changing results, and the board's student ex officio member suggested gender questions could be worth adding in the lower grades. Trustee Allison Samuels floated a staff version: "a sister survey of something like this from the staff and teachers perspective" Read 76:45▶, Samuels said. The in-house instrument, adopted after a national tool proved too time-consuming, will be revisited this summer. Superintendent Stephen Walker closed with the instinct he said defines the district's data meetings: "you'll have 116 students respond to a question and 110 will say they feel safe in school and the instant focus is but what about the other six kids who said they weren't" Read 104:03▶, Walker said. Earlier, in board reports, the student ex officio member described an effort by sophomores and juniors, organized through the Student Faculty Congress, to revive driver's education. The program ended when the outside partner used before the pandemic shut down, and the high school cannot host one — staffing is the stated obstacle; the students' committee is exploring routing interested drivers into nearby districts' programs. "Access to driver's ed is very different than it was 20 or 30 years ago" Read 12:25▶, one board member said, noting parents often must drive children to programs in working hours. After a brief public hearing, the board authorized its second-ever repair reserve draw: $185,000 to overhaul the high school elevator, whose obsolete electrical and mechanical parts have made repairs and ADA compliance difficult, and $65,000 to replace a 20-year-old condensation return tank on the middle school's steam boiler, five years past its expected life. Assistant Superintendent for Business Denise Harrington-Cohen said "the repair reserve is currently funded at about $260,000 and it's designated for nonrecurring repairs to capital improvement or building related issues" Read 113:21▶. With the reserve drawn down, "I will likely recommend that there be a proposition on the ballot to replenish this fund at full cost" Read 117:09▶, Harrington-Cohen said. Haber credited Trustee Omar Mayyasi, who proposed the reserve years ago: "I'm so glad we've done it and we funded it and we can use it for purposes like this" Read 116:52▶, Haber said. The board also adopted an advocacy resolution urging state leaders to increase universal pre-kindergarten funding — timed to significant movement out of Albany. Walker said the district was "very pleased and encouraged to see our district state aid runs based on the governor's budget proposal reflect an allocation of $10,000 a student" Read 119:25▶ for 2026-27, which would bring Croton-Harmon in line with other local districts, though it remains subject to legislative negotiation. The district will amend its UPK request for proposals, extending the deadline to Feb. 5; a CET classroom remains a fallback, but if the increase holds, providers would use their own space. Trustee Sarah Carrier, whose advocacy committee drafted the resolution, said it showcases the district's support for the program. Haber cautioned that the name oversells it: "It's not actually universal pre kindergarten for our district or for districts that participate with this program" Read 124:35▶, Haber said. Seats are set by lottery within a state allocation of 64 seats under the governor's proposal, Walker noted. The board ratified a natural gas supply contract with Direct Energy, signed Jan. 16, and waived the advance-approval requirement of purchasing Policy 6700 because of market timing. "Our current rate is about a little over 70 cents per therm. The bid rate through direct energy was just shy of 52 cents" Read 130:30▶, Harrington-Cohen said. Switching required 10 days' notice before month's start — missing it would have cost the district February, its highest-usage month — and Harrington-Cohen agreed policy should let administrators act quickly, with notice to the board. Stop-arm cameras are on 16 district buses, about a third of the fleet; as each bus is completed, municipalities begin issuing citations to drivers who pass stopped buses. Replacing aging interior cameras in the same program saved close to $50,000, Harrington-Cohen said, and officials in Croton-on-Hudson, Cortlandt and Yorktown have been notified. Haber asked for publicity: "I don't want anybody to say I didn't know what was going on" Read 138:27▶, Haber said. The board accepted the retirement of Linda Fuerst, library media specialist at Pierre Van Cortlandt Middle School, effective July 1 — "a very well-deserved retirement" Read 140:07▶, Board President Ana Teague said. Members also approved two Croton Teachers' Association side letters — one covering math sections, one covering CET teacher Cori Martineau — plus consent items including a Feb. 13-22 Spanish exchange trip to Spain and a field hockey merger with Hendrick Hudson for 2026-27. What's next: amended UPK RFP responses are due Feb. 5, the LHEC legislative forum is Jan. 29, and a ballot proposition to replenish the repair reserve is likely as state budget negotiations decide whether the $10,000 per-student pre-K allocation holds.