CHUFSD Board of Education Work Session 8/27/26

Good evening. I'd like to call to order the August 27th, 2026 work session of the Croin Harmon board of uh Croin Harmon free school district board of education to order. Starting with item 1.2, the approval of the agenda. Be it resolved that the board of education hereby approves the agenda as presented. >> So >> on the question, all in favor? I opposed abstain. Motion carries. Moving into our first order of business, item 1.3, the president's report. So good evening and welcome to the members of our community in the audience. Not so many tonight. Hopefully some watching the live stream and listening at a later date. It is wonderful to be back in the CHH CHHS library and debuting our new updated sound system. To those of you who are joining via the live stream or recording this evening, please reach out and let us know if you're hearing an improvement and contact us anytime you encounter difficulties with video or audio quality

going forward. We are very excited and I hope you'll see a difference. I'm going to open tonight with an overview of tonight's agenda. This year, each of our meetings is going to open with a president's report, a superintendent's report, and board reports. Previously, these reports were delivered monthly, but going forward, we'd like to keep our community informed of news and developments in a more timely manner. After that, we'll be discussing the district's tech reset and cell phone policy implementation for the new school year. We're also going to discuss and consider adopting the proposed energy performance contract, formally appoint a few new staff members who joined us yesterday, and conduct other new and ongoing business. With our students returning to school next Tuesday, September 1st, this has been a busy week for the district, and you'll be hearing more about those preparations from Superintendent Walker

during his report. For my part, I had the honor of representing the board of education at a few key events this week. It was a delight to meet our new faculty members at Monday's new teacher orientation where my fellow trustees Allison Samuel and Betsy Leair joined me for a lovely lunch with the new teachers, their assigned mentors, all our building principles and assistant principles and the administrative team. Yesterday morning, I joined the district's entire staff for the annual welcome breakfast in the high school gym to kick off superintendent conference days. And yesterday evening, I had the best time ever at the DJ dance party new family welcome community openhouse extravaganza hosted by assistant superintendent Rachel Depal and the pupil personnel services team. Betsy was there with her family as well and I hope we'll hear about the bus ride during your report. The event was so well attended and I was

really thrilled to meet so many new families and students. Welcome again to all of you. I'm going to turn it over now to Superintendent Walker to tell you more about the opening of school and other exciting things. >> Thank you, Anamaka. Good evening to everyone. Uh, and welcome to the 202627 school year. U, it's a privilege and an honor once again to get a chance to be a part of this tremendous team. And on Tuesday morning, as we shared with the staff this week, uh, the staff of this district do an incredible and special thing. We open the doors of all of our schools and say to every school age child in our community, you're welcome here. You're challenged here. You're supported here. You're accepted here. You're inspired here. It's a beautiful, beautiful message uh and a great promise uh to our student to their families that we look forward to to making making good on as we begin this year. So, it may or

may not be a surprise that the week before students arrive is actually the busiest week of the school year, I think, for for everybody. And no matter how much prep work occurs during those first six or six or seven weeks of summer, this week uh becomes the time to get everything ready. And I'm incredibly pleased to report that if we needed to open tomorrow, we could. And that's a testament to the work of so many folks, people in this room and so so many others. Uh outstanding job by Brad and the facilities team. Uh but once again, going to get a chance to open our doors to to students who know the building safe uh and secure our staff and safe and secure in our buildings. beautiful inspiring spaces thanks to the the great work. So, thank you for that. Uh the clerical team, uh the administrative team, the aid team, everyone who's involved in all of this work during the summer, uh truly spectacular, spectacular job. So, we

can't wait for Tuesday. That is um aside from graduation, one certainly the the highlight of the year and there's nothing that places that kind of energy of seeing all 1600 of our students where they belong back to school. So, we look forward to that on Tuesday morning. Uh, and so, let's talk uh quickly about what happened this weekend and how I got to cover these events, but I'll cover from my perspective as well. I want to thank Laura um for an outstanding job facilitating and coordinating the two-day teacher orientation. Thanks to Ellen as well to our entire administrative teaming that we had a chance to welcome about 12 or 13 new members of this faculty uh ranging from CCT up through the high school. Um it's a terrific opportunity obviously for us to get a chance to know them but as importantly for them to get get to know each other to get to know our work and our community. So they spent time

thinking through our vision map with our instructional coaches as Nam mentioned board members other administrators their mentors we had great conversations about how they get themselves ready within the classroom space for the beginning of the year how they themselves to the to the community to their parents to students. uh spent some time thinking about technology it role in in education here. So it was a a jam-packed whirlwind two days for them and took a bus tour of the community. Uh but they're ready and they're excited and they're ready to add to an already amazing faculty here. So we're thrilled to welcome our new on Tuesday uh this week in addition to the second day of new teacher orientation simultaneously we also have the curriculum coordinator and instructional coach retreat. Thank thank you again to all of our administrative team and teachers who were a part of that. That's a full day of really great

conversation about what we want teacher leadership to look like in our system going forward. Uh thinking through uh curriculum work and how we can make that better accessible and more forward facing to our community technology philosophy and implementation. wonderful conversations there that we'll hear some of the fruits of that labor uh later this evening and a great opportunity for to position all of them to lead the kind of transformative work that we know our system continues to uh to benefit from. So, thank you to all of them for their hard work on Tuesday. And then yesterday morning, aside from the first day of school, the energy that's associated with having all 300 or so members of the staff in the same place at the same time, greeting each other after eight or nine weeks apart is really hard to describe. There's a there's absolute wonderful feeling that's involved in that. It's a genuine privilege to get a

chance to address that group along with Namico from Lana. Heard from Brad and the rest of the team introducing new members of of faculty and staff. We spoke a bit about the hero's journey, Odyssey, uh not only in terms of pop culture and of course the literary function, but how that relates to the trajectory of our district and where we're heading and what we have to learn and how we continue to improve. So that was the first of our two superintendent conference days yesterday and today that culminated uh with a tremendous amount of work this morning among each faculty at each building. Two or three hour meetings all together thinking through all the district goals, board goals, building goals, all of that work preparing the faculty for the great work at the beginning of the year. And last night I had the I had the honor of getting a chance to be there as well. Um, absolutely wonderfully attended,

beautifully brought event. The energy in the space was fantastic. It was great to get a chance to meet parents and students that ranged from incoming kindergarten up through students who are going to be new here at the high school. Uh, found that I had really cool connections with some of them. One of the families and I used to live in the same building uh in Terry Town a few years ago. Uh, and so it's just it's a beautiful way to welcome some wonderful families and students to our community. But I want to give Rachel a chance to Thank you. Um, so I think what really made this event special was the outpour of support from our partners in the community. So Croin PD was available and they were present. uh Guiding Eyes, ASO, uh Croin Little League, a few of our afterchool programs in the village as well as our PTAs, CHAMPS, SEPTA. So, we had a nice wide representation of community resources to share with the

new families that may not know where to look for certain, you know, resources. So, Joe Pascarelli DJ the event. He is a hype man. So, if anyone needs a DJ, please reach out to Joe Pascarelli. [laughter] um we lost track of the amount of people that attended but at 38 families RSVP but then with the as a result of the parent square we had a you know a whole another group of parents come but they really had an opportunity to connect with each other. A lot of our incoming kindergarten families were able to find other families that may have the same teacher assignment. So they were able to make a connection prior to the first day of school which was great. So we look forward to doing this for then every August or early September depending >> to allow for that opportunity to make those connections um within the school community. So thank you all for for those that attended and all of our community agency partners that were able

to volunteer their time. Thank you >> and bravo to Rachel. Thank you for your vision and your leadership in putting that together. Great. Great job. Shifting gears for a moment, I want to take a couple of minutes along with Laura to address um a topic that frankly I haven't heard a lot of discussion about in our community at this point, but I know in speaking to other superintendents around the region u is one that um districts certainly throughout our region, throughout the state and across several states across the country are dealing with and it relates to the US News and World Report rankings, right? something that we don't tend to comment on publicly because methodologies and these sorts of things and how they rank um districts and schools across different publications tends to vary widely and I know we've shared information with the board about the fact that we view the methodology here to be fundamentally flawed in a

number of ways right districts can manipulate um the rankings by doing things that we think negatively impact kids right like ending open enrollment for AP courses forcing kids to take regions exams they don't have to those kinds of things. Um, but be that as it may, uh, the background here, and we learned about it after it happened, of course, unfortunately, along with every other district in New York State, is that on a a somewhat regular basis every every few years, the College Board, right, who coordinate the advanced placement exams, uh, asks the state education department for permission to share AP data with US News and World Report. Typically, SED, the state education department has said yes. This time, they said no, right? due to data privacy concerns. Obviously, data privacy is a conversation we've had in a robust way in this community and certainly in many others. So, the backstory here is um what happens is

data gets collected both on in an aggregate and also on a student level. So, what US News and World Report does is they'll say we're not we're interested not just in in the aggregate how kids at Croen Harman High School did, but we're also interested in how an individual student who took multiple APs did across those APs. Right? So, for example, a student if I took three APs here two years ago, which is there's a lag in the data and did well in all three of those, that helps us in the US News and World Report rankings because that starts to feel more personally identifiable. The state education departments explained to districts that they refused to share that data. So what happens then is that has a significant our district and every district that implements the advanced placement AP model in a significant way. And so what happened was that's that's 40% of the calculation of the ranking. And so the

implication for a district like ours is last year I think we were ranked 80th in the state. This year we're 295th. Um we dropped precipitously I think we were 800th in the country. Last year we dropped to 9,000th, right? While while simultaneously the scores went up, right? So, um, we wanted to share that information just by way of some context for the community that again, this is why we don't spend a lot of time investing in these sort of third-party rankings of our schools. Um, we spend much more time thinking about the kind of data we've shared with the community and with the board. um as well as the sort of data that AP themselves shares uh and the the platinum level recognition that the high school received last year for not only performance which is the the major part of the calculation but also access of students to AP exams. Laura, did you want to add anything? >> If you go back one slide, two slides

now. Um if you look at the um if you look at this scorecard, you can see our raw score is 49.15. So that's they actually gave give gave all New York schools that do only AP. Um you can choose AP or IB. So whatever your school decides to do. For whatever reason IB was released by New York State. >> Can you just clarify just for people who are listening at home what IB is so that everyone knows it since we don't have it. Sorry Laura. Thank you. IB is the international balorate um program which is a sort of like an AP program that's more on an international level and there are a small number of schools in our area that offer IB but the bulk of the schools around here um offer AP exams. So what you're looking at on the left here is the Hudson Valley rankings and think there's some schools on there that would come as a surprise being in that top list to many. Um, and what they all have in common with the exception of one

in that list is that they offer IB exams. Um, so they were given kind of that mathematical advantage whereas all of us that offer APs got a zero factored in for 40% of our score. So the raw score there that you're looking at for us is 49.15 whereas at this time last year it was 97.25. So you kind of get a sense of what that looks like. Thank you very much for going into detail with that. I guess like um maybe not now, but I would assume then this would impact a lot of our other schools in the region. So I'd be curious like how we compare with them because if everybody was hit like it didn't hit us in about Yeah. >> Yeah. We've we've had that day um we had an extended conversation with all the superintendents in the region with the Bosei superintendent who's our representative up at up at SED um and ask slash um demanded um a clarifying public statement from SED. There was a >> it's linked here. This is a section of

it. Um it's a three-page Q&A response. We've asked for something that's a bit more condensed and a bit more aggressively shared publicly. Um we haven't gotten that yet from the state. We'll continue to pursue that. Several districts, I know Yorktown, Chapaqua, others um have put out clarifying statements around this because they've experienced the same sort of drop. Uh we'll plan to do that tomorrow, but wanted to make sure we had this forum to discuss it briefly this evening before we we shared that. >> Well, I'll just say I appreciate that we're I know Betsy, you have a question. I appreciate that we're sort of getting getting to um hear the backstory on this because clearly the communication didn't happen statewide. and noting the slide here that says there are four states I guess four states in the United States that are not participating in this and we know also just from hearing again

what's happening in higher education that there are a number of higher educational institutions prominent um nationwide that have um stopped participating in providing data to US News and World Report without sort of regard to what it does to their view in terms of this particular ranking but I think because our community does you know it's it's a metric that many communities use especially especially tied to real estate values, which I think, you know, it's is that a flawed thing? Yeah, it's pretty flawed, but it's still a reality. So, I think it's really I I appreciate that we're talking about this and have an opportunity now for folks to ask questions because I think it did it did come as a um surprise to see how how just the overall picture changed within New York and within our region specifically. Betsy, >> just want to say that I deeply appreciate having this conversation. I I'm a big believer in looking at data

straight in the face and saying, "What's the context of this?" Because I also I saw it and I was like, "Huh, what's going on here?" Because I do a lot of measurement. I immediately went and how did they change the methodology? >> Yeah. >> And so I I couldn't find this. So I'm so glad to see that this is a bit of the explanation, but I did see that a lot of other schools that I would have expected to be higher ranking had also fallen. So that gave me some context. So, I just want to thank you both um and everyone for for facing this question head-on. And I think a really interesting question would be when we compare against those who also did not share AP scores, what are the things that put us a little bit further back versus a little bit further ahead of others and further contextualize the information. So, thank you so much. >> If I could share a little bit about that just because we we went through this a

lot and shared with the board last year. So um the regions um exams that are given play a role. So for example um the if you I can go back another slide Greg if you >> yeah if you look at mathematics proficiency reading proficiency and then below that would be science proficiency that comes from your first regions exam. So if you for example if you give algebra for all in eighth grade and most of your almost all of your students pass algebra for all in eighth grade very few high school students take the algebra exams so only the high school student scores factor. Um, so we saw in a district near us in their publication that they put out about the US News uh ranking, they actually contextualize why their math proficiency score looked so low even though they're a very highly performing district overall. Um, this this comes up again like with chemistry for example for our high school students. Um, once our students have met

their regent's exam requirements, their 4 plus one, they're not required to take additional exams. So, as Steve mentioned earlier, there's schools that will can try to kind of game the numbers a little bit by forcing all the kids to take an exam that they don't need for graduation, and that gives you a higher proficiency score. So, an example of that would be like US history, an exam that typically students score very well on. Almost none of our students need the US history exam to graduate because they've already met their graduation requirements at that point. Could we force them to take it to upper ranking? Sure. Um, but we don't think that that's the greatest choice for kids, >> right? >> But and to Laura's point, that context around algebra for all is something we have to be thinking about. Although the data is on a couple year lag, we'll be seeing that three or four years down the line in terms of its impact on our our

ranking related to the math proficiency. So, we'll put together and distribute a community update on this. Oh, sorry. But we'll communi uh communicate this to our broader community tomorrow. [clears throat] >> Sorry. um you know before you said that historically they have um in the rank and the New York State released uh you know how students performed across various APs. I mean, if we have that data, I mean, I as a board member would want to would be interested to be be able to see that, you know, deidentified information. Um, just even if we're not releasing it to the state to understand what's happening across classes and um, you know, as you're talking about like I understand um, like I was just going to play devil's advocate about the regions like and making it optional. um is like I totally get why we're going that direction, but I would also just like put out there as a college professor

giving students an opportunity to particip participate in a low stake but what's would be considered a low stakes exam. It's not bad practice, you know, for other things that they have to do in life. And if it does impact like other things in our community, um it might be something to just consider. I mean, I'm not I'm not I don't don't feel strongly about that, but I'm just putting it out there as another perspective on the topic. >> But a clarifying kind of question on that for that particular exam, for instance, they'd be taking the AP. Is that >> Yes, exactly. They would be taking the AP. >> So, so it's a question of of whether we're asking them to take a reg at the end of the year. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No. Well, I think Yeah. So, I mean, as a parent, like from the parent perspective, in our family, we certainly prioritize the AP and decided not to do an extra regent, but I I hear I think I think it's I think it

is a question when we're looking at these um when we're looking at these sort of metrics and sort of like how they're used um to to to modify and affect these rankings. It is a good question. >> That's a long-standing practice at the high school, not a new thing. That's way before my time at the high school. You guys remember when that changes me? >> Yeah. Well, I would just say it it could be something that it's not even every year it's required that just like maybe one each year or something like that alone. There's ways to slice and dice it that it's not as ownorous and heavy. >> Yeah. Yeah. No, I I think for me like the the reason I'm speaking to that perspective is that I have a lot of questions about the regions generally because, you know, outside of New York State, I I don't think there's great clarity on what they mean to people. And so, uh, I think that that is a perspective for families that it's like

to to determine where you're putting sort of like your, um, testing energy because it's it's it's a significant amount of energy, I think, for high school students, especially during like junior and senior year, to determine, you know, where that time is going. And you know that better than anybody else having just gone through it. So, I'm not telling you anything you don't know. [laughter] >> I'd just like to say my kids would kill me for saying what I just said. I know. So, I'm just But I'm just, you know, mine still is in my house. [laughter] >> Uh, ju so just a quick question that I think you mentioned the answer already, but how was this statement released and then what is the possibility for another kind of clearer, more robust, >> right? So, this this came out after the rankings came out and there was outcry from superintendents across the state um saying help us understand how this

happened, why it happened. Right? So there was pressure put on by various superintendent groups throughout the state that precipitated this three-page statement from SED and so the the ask has been we want something that's a bit clearer and more digestible for communities because this wasn't readily accessible nor was it widely shared by the state and contains a lot of educational jargon that we'd prefer to have clarified. So we'll do that ourselves tomorrow but we'd love to be able to link to a statement from the commissioner and the board of regents. We can't do that yet. >> Yeah. Okay. Just for followup, [clears throat] the the thing that is linked in this presentation is that publicly available if someone's watching at home, they can go to that, but it it has been uh posted widely, I think you said, by SED. The other thing that I think for us as trustees would be helpful just to sort of contextualize

this and also understand how other districts are treating it. if you said you you have um you have had access to some of their communications to their community just forformational purposes. It would be great if you could pull one or two that you think are comparable or that you think it did a good job messaging it just so we understand sort of what you know again we're all in Westchester together so it's really helpful information. >> Yeah, I'll share those in the weekly tomorrow. >> That would be great. Any further questions on this before Steve continues on? >> Okay, great. Thank you. >> Thank you for the conversation everybody. Uh and just one final um note for me. Uh we understand certainly for families that um back to school time brings with it a lot of energy and a lot of communications, right? And so certainly for families who have students in multiple buildings, you're getting welcome back letters often that are

detailed and contain links to various other things from multiple buildings plus transportation plus athletics. So I want to thank Greg uh for putting these all together, consolidating them. there now and a popup on the website uh reminding folks that school begins on Tuesday and all of the welcome back letters and information in one readily accessible place. So we're piloting that for the first time this year and hopefully is u helpful for our families as they get ready for Tuesday. So I want to say say thank you to Greg for that and obviously to our principles and administrators for putting together and sharing the information to begin with. >> I love that communication. I think sorry I just wanted to say I really really great and I know Greg you've done that a couple times this summer and we've noticed so thank you really help sorry on >> I was just wondering if you could go back to slide it's page 10 where we talk

about the AP honor role the AP gold role all of those accolades I think we kind of skipped over it >> yes >> sure yeah >> so for the past since the honoral program has been in existence with the college board high schools earned honoral status um starting in 23 the full award and then in 2024 we earned the platinum award um which is the highest level award um and I think there were only six or seven oh no it's actually two or three schools in our um region that earned that level award >> and then we earned it again in 2025 and interestingly this data that would have been used for this year's US news ranking would have come from that 2023 2024 year which is the year that we moved up to the highest level for the first time. So it just you know sort of adds insult to injury a little bit more. >> Yeah. But I think as a community we're I we are certainly grateful and I know I am and my my my own high school student

has been grateful for the opportunity to be able to take APs in 10th grade which is not something that's necessarily widely available and now it's not. So I know that's something you've experienced as well. And I think also um the just also to ensure that that there are not barriers to entry for our students who are seeking a higher um like a higher uh intensity sort of um coursework experience in high school that there aren't qualifications um or you know testing in um or even like a GPA requirement. Um I think that those are really sort of important factors in terms of our equitable approach to giving everyone an access to education. Sorry, a a question came to mind from looking at this. So, we've we've gone up in the rankings of this which is great news. Um however I think since then we is it am I correct that we're now doing some more Sunni uh >> they consider those to be this >> no they don't count Sunni exams don't

count towards news ranking >> but the Sunni we started the Sunni classes in 2024 so they were running at the same time >> okay so but so they that would also feed into this AP school honor role or Oh, okay. So, we might go down in the rankings if we're no longer offering it on site. >> No, because we're still offering all of them. The Sunnis in addition to >> Okay. Okay. Thank you. >> And we've added multiple AP courses for >> Right. Right. this past year. That's true. Thank you. >> Do you want to add anything on this? Just because I'm realizing you're not doing a report, but we are talking about, you know, this and I don't want to put you on the spot, but if you have any thoughts or questions or even want to comment on the AP, we welcome that. And if nothing that's >> Yeah, I don't think much is coming to mind. I mean, it's great to see that we have some of these accolades. Um, yeah, I think we should continue providing the

access to these AP classes. I think students really value that. Um, yeah, that's what I have to say. >> Great. Yeah. >> Okay. Well, thank you for that report and thanks for sharing all the excitement, enthusiasm, and addressing questions that may may have pro cropped up in the community about um the US Newsport rankings. We appreciate that. Moving into item 1.5, board reports. We'll kick it off with um audit. >> Nothing to report on audit. >> Thank you. [laughter] We know that the first audit meeting is going to happen a little bit later in >> January. Yep. >> Oh, January. I thought it was sooner than that. Okay. >> Am I January the last one. >> Okay, great. So, I will quickly then move into giving a report uh for to for our board governance uh committee which met on August 12th. Um as it was our first meeting of the season of the term. So, we reviewed our committee charge and structure um for the benefit of the

public. The board governance committee has had a name change um in that it is focusing um more uh specifically I think on our governance um initiatives and um and responsibilities while also taking over responsibility for um board communications which sort of is a function of how um how we govern. Um so uh we discussed um our summer retreat debriefed on that and we also discussed a plan for the fall which fall and spring actually which we'll be sharing with trustees over email. Um, we are going to develop retreat agendas that allow for a rotation of facilitators within the board to lead discussions so that we're hearing from all of our trustees and everyone sort of has an opportunity to own and participate in um these important meetings that we have throughout the year to confirm our norms, our practices and dig into issues that um relate to how we sort of do our jobs. We also began work on drafting

committee protocols to help us ensure that all of our board committees are operating under the same sort of guidelines in terms of agenda communication, minutes and recordkeeping. Um the biggest thing that we spent uh time on and we'll have more to share on this soon is we reviewed the list of recommended work session topics that came out of um our retreat with the administrative team over this summer. And we're trying to refine that into a few key target areas to present to the um to the district team so that we can determine what we want to spend um the year focusing on as work session topics. Last thing we touched on very briefly and I'll just mention it here for the benefit of the public is meet the BOE which is our opportunity that takes place before each of our meetings for members of the public to come in and sit with talk to uh interact with two trustees from the board of education

before each of our meetings is going to kick off next Thursday which is the second third the 3rd of September. Um it will take place at 6 pm in the CHHS rotunda which is the place where we've been holding it. um for the past couple of years. And um there's no need to sign up. You're welcome to just pop in, drop in, say hello, let us know what's on your mind and um hopefully after that, join us at 6:30 for our regular meeting. Um does any does anyone is there anything that I missed that you all can think of right now? Okay, so that's the report. Thank you. Over to whoever's next. Uh policy. >> Nothing to report for policy. >> Thank you. Do you want to switch these two around so that we can talk a little bit longer about technology? So, I'll turn it over to you first, Theo, for ad hoc committee on hiring, retention, and tenure. >> Okay. Um, so we did meet on August 11th at two, um, Tuesday, August 11th.

Uh and just to remind um for anyone who does not remember this ad hoc committee on recruiting, hiring and tenure uh was established in June of this year at a meeting of the board of education and established this committee to examine policy 9230 which is our recruiting and hiring policy uh as well as related best practices. And uh we established a committee to consist of three members of the board which is um Anatig, Anamaka and I. And um we and those three were appointed by the board president. Um we then asked for um the superintendent and assistant superintendent to join the committee um to help inform our work. Um so uh in the that August 11th meeting I would say was a lot of kind of identifying the things that we needed numerous documents and policies etc that we wanted to look at that are related to um this subject area. Um we noted that tenure of course is actually governed at the state level through state law uh and

and also through NICET rules but that there is um there there are uh recommendations on process um and communication of information that could be related to tenure. So that sort of gets to the decision-m on tenure that we could make recommendations around. Um we also talked about um sort of the overall timing here. Uh so we want to we when we um established the committee we said that we would get recommendations to the board no later than the end of this year. So December 31st of this year. That is of course the goal. Um so we affirmed that at the meeting and uh affirmed that we would make our recommendations to the full board. The full board might then kick some parts of the recommendations to the policy committee or other committees as appropriate. Um but that is um still our timeline and from now till then we will be meeting monthly. We already have our meetings already on the calendar. The

meeting for September is going to be on September 8th. Um the last thing I'd say on this is just the between now and then we are working to get a lot of different um uh pieces of information so that we can uh review and analyze before our next meeting and sort of break break down at our next meeting. So, um the current policy, the NISBO recommended policy, uh the CTA agreement on tenure, um kind of like a timeline on how we like sort of like key milestones and kind of touch points on tenure. Um and then we also uh talked about looking at what other districts are doing with regard to hiring tenure. Um so identified some uh local districts that we think would be good for us to look at. um as well as Westoot and NIH NISSBAUS um summaries of hiring policies in Westchester um for us to look at as well. Um so that's just an example of some of the things that we identified. There's more. So there's a

lot of work to do between now and then to uh and I know that we already have some uh done already. So the next meeting as I mentioned is on September 8th and then we will be meeting monthly after that with the goal of having our recommendations to this board by December 31st. >> Thank you. Over to you Omar for the ad hoc committee on technology. >> Thank you Anamica. Um so the um ad hoc committee on technology met uh a number of times. Don't remember the number top my head but we had two listening sessions where uh 12 members of the community participated uh two of whom were former students. We also uh had participation of 182 individuals that responded to the survey. Uh within that within the 182 uh 14 were teachers classroom teachers uh five were students and four were support staff. Uh we met with the administrative team on Monday to talk through kind of digest the the data that we received talk

through next steps. Uh where the committee is at this point is uh we received some feedback from the administration. We are going to be drafting a resolution um and finalizing a presentation that thank you Betsy for really doing it on your own. Uh so thank you for that and we'll be sharing it with the full board in advance of next week's meeting. Uh so the charge was to present uh to come back with a recommendation of the charge for the community advisory committee by September 3rd and we are on track of uh getting that done. Would uh you guys like to add anything or if anybody has any questions >> that we're excited to share the findings. We had a great conversation with the administration yesterday. It seemed like there was a lot of alignment. So I'm really I feel really positive about where we're headed. I just want to commend you all on a really remarkable turnout on the survey because

I know um again it demonstrates of course that there's real interest and concern about this topic within our community. But I think also you did a really good job of pushing it out and making sure that people knew about it and that there was ample time to fill it out. There was a very clear deadline and reminders. So thank you for those really robust communications. And I also want to commend all of you because we knew that we were putting a really um tough timeline and you were up against a tough line timeline to get a lot done. So, thank you for, you know, not really taking the summer off. Not that any of us have, but you in particular, I think, just hit the ground running right after our organization meeting and made a lot of this happen. And it's such important work. In fact, we're going to be hearing a little bit more about that tonight. So, it's a perfect night for us to get this initial presentation and we're

looking forward to hearing more from you, as is the whole community um at next week's meeting. So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you on behalf of all of us. Really appreciate your um ad hawking it. [laughter] So if I can I will uh we if anyone does have a liazison report we don't have formally on the agenda I want to have a chance for us to get into our work session but if there's anything that anyone wants to report you sure you want to tell us anything about that bus ride but I didn't get to go on the bus um my husband and son went on the bus I didn't get to join because my little one has an early bedtime but um they did they came walking home just on cloud nine they had a a big blast my son sat next to um a a rising kindergartener who was a little bit nervous about going to school and he was like it's going to Great. Kindergarten's so much fun. And so he was he felt good being the big kid. And

um it was a really lovely experience. It was a rowdy bus though. He couldn't hear much. [laughter] I I told Rachel I was like the main reason I went was to be able to go on the bus and then I realized that there were just I could not steal a seat from an actual child. So I waved and maybe next time I'll get to have a bus ride for some other reason. So think about that. Um Allison, >> um I attended the NISSBA advocacy meeting on Monday evening. Um and so the first part of it, um we basically just looked at what the advocacy priorities were last year and um it seems like most of them are going to be continuing forward. Um and then there was some general conversation about some of um some of the things that are impacting districts. um kind of a no surprise funding formula uh UPK, you know, and how that's impacting districts and I guess concerns about um moving forward um kind of how that might intersect with

if we're using independent providers and with the union is it like you know anyway so that was something um AI policy was a a discussion um and a little bit of discussion about how tech is being used across um schools given um the New York State Teacher Union resolution that came out. Um and then there was actually a lot of discussion about charter schools um because apparently there's one um that's putting in um for an aerospace and virtue school in Armok for 800 um people students in for their high school. So a lot of districts are very uh concerned about that. >> There's also Yeah, that's underway. Yeah, that didn't come up for some reason during the conversation, but yeah, this this new one um as well. Thank you. I will just take a quick second on behalf of um our colleague Jake who is um traveling this week um just to let you all know that he um is serving as our health and safety committee liaison

for the school board and he participated um he got his own exclusive extra special early walkthrough on behalf of the school board of our um district buildings and facilities. Uh reported that he learned a lot was able to take a look at everything that had been worked on over the summer. I know that there was also um the official walkthrough I think was today or is it tomorrow? It was yesterday. Okay. Um can I put you on the spot just to ask you rather than having me repeat sort of like what uh what Jake sent just to let us know about it. >> Yes. So the committee met or who was whoever was able to attend and we started at C. We looked at the C playground which unfortunately the equipment has not yet arrived. So that is expected to be delivered to delivered to the man or the uh the warehouse midepptember with an expected two week installation period. So we went over sort of what what the project was and uh the talks

we've had with administration as far as keeping everyone safe during recess with as little interruption as possible during that process. Uh then we took a walk down to the CT tennis courts. Uh we looked at the progress they made there. Uh conduit installation was complete. Pole bases are set. We're waiting on the light poles and fixtures to arrive. And when they do, we'll coordinate with Barry uh in the athletics department. We'll probably have to close the courts down for a day for the crane to set those fixtures. Hopefully those are operational beginning of October. Then we took a bus over to PVC and we looked at the spaces that are getting air conditioning. Um, once again, unfortunately, uh, due to manufacturer delays, those units are not going to arrive until mid October. Once those arrive, we'll look at, uh, scheduling of pulling the old units out, putting the new ones in. potentially it could be an

evening weekend's project or uh wait till the uh winter recess that's still up in the air and we'll talk about logistics once that comes in and how we move forward with that. >> Well, thank you. Thanks for serving as our as our trustee and director physical representative uh to the health and safety committee. I you know I think it's I think just for the benefit of the public everyone should know these are these are like things that really we have no control over in the current environment with the challenges like the supply chain challenges that have been ongoing for half a decade now and I think also I mean if I if I'm speaking correctly it's just things are not coming when we think that they're coming and that's that's continuing to be a challenge for all aspects of construction and repair am I right >> we we also ran into um originally we were planning to go through cooperative contracts and then there was that court

case in upstate New York where they did like a whole building renovation off of one of these contracts and got sued. So then the court stopped districts from being able to purchase uh public works projects through that method. So then we had to go to public bid. So we have been working with the manufacturer and had our equipment production locked in and then when we weren't able to go through that method of procurement and we had to go to public bid, we lost our spot which then reset us. And uh so yeah, there's a couple different things, >> lots of factors. >> Yes. But I know you all are on top of it and as Steve said earlier, everything else is like and span, ready to go. And it's great to have the timelines on all these. Thank you for sharing because I know of course these are things that are important to our CCT families, PVC families, PVC teachers, students as well. And um I know you you're here. Thank you, Brad, for being

here to talk to us about the um the energy performance contract a little bit. And just one more thing, um, we also went over, we had our, uh, state required fire inspection at the beginning of August. So, that was completed, submitted to SED, and we've received our certificates of occupancy for all the buildings. So, >> that's great. Great. I'm actually really I I like almost forgot to ask this question, so I'm glad that I did, and I think going forward, I would like to just make sure that we have a practice of having that sort of like formal facilities update before we start the school year so that everybody really knows this work is going on. All the eyes are dotted, the tees are crossed, and I know you and your team go. >> The the uh fire inspections actually on an 11-month schedule, so that way it hits at a different time each year. So, so like it just happens that that happened over the summer this year. So,

>> so what will the impact be at C? How long will the playground be closed? And what's the plan for students during recess during that time? So, it's still not finalized yet, but most likely minimal impact. Um, we'll cordon off the area and they should still be able to use some of the playground. The there will be like two days when they actually bring in the uh engineered wood fiber, which is like the fall protection where they're going to need to run a skid steer back and forth, which that those two days most likely they'll be closed. But otherwise, we should be keeping the playgrounds open, protected with a fence in between what's going on. Sounds good. Thank you. Good question. >> Okay. Um I'm happy now to turn it over to item 2.1 on our agenda, the technology reset and cell phone implementation discussion. So I'll turn it over to Superintendent Walker to kick us off. to state the obvious there's been a lot

of discussion within this space and many others in our community region state and the nation technology in our schools in our lives almost everything we continue to try to position ourselves as thoughtful leaders in this share tonight our most recent thinking around this new information for our community and I think particularly what will be tantamount to the effective elimination of iPad K2 this positions us to be ahead of and different than any other district that I'm aware of in the region shared yesterday for a couple of reasons one of them being there's going to be an expectation that can do it other districts should follow and so there will be some some response I'm sure from the rest of the district region this is product of a lot of really good thinking some really strong collaboration between faculty staff this room and our parents trying to create schools that values of our community

The work didn't end last June, right? Summer was a really opportune time for us to continue those conversations.

Um, work with faculty, work with our instructional coaches and as recently as the past couple days conversations with our teachers and teacher leaders about where we want to be as we begin this year. Um so you'll see again kind of the fruits the products of all of those conversations. Thank you. Um over these past few weeks u we're proud of where we are. We look forward um to how this is going to change the student experience and I think be responsive to what our community has been asking for um and looking for um in terms of the experience in our schools. to begin uh the evening. We want to thank very much the high school administration for being here. Um as we implemented last year the New York State um legislation around cell phones in schools. Um we knew that it was going to be a year of seeing how things worked, right? What worked well, how students responded to certain things and and what didn't work as well as we

wanted. Right. So, as we um ended the year last year, there was some update provided to the board and the community with regard to some some quantitative data and some qualitative feedback on on what worked and what didn't. And as we entered the summer and had conversations with the board, um there was uh an impetus in having the administration continue to look at that, right, refine some of our practices uh in specifically around certain spaces in the building, certain times of the day, the cafeteria and otherwise. I want to thank the administration for doing such a thoughtful job on that and thank you for being here to share with us. So, I'm happy to turn it over to them. John, Mark, and Erica, thank you. >> Thank you. Um, at the high school, our expectations for students have not changed at all in our classrooms. Just as we did last year, if parents choose to send their teens to school with a

phone, students are asked to store their phones in phone cubbies or phone stadiums when they're entering a classroom. The devices remain in those uh cabinets for the entire period. So, up on the slide, you'll see the two versions that we currently have. Many teachers stand at the door, they hold the containers, and students drop them in as they enter. Um, teachers prefer the bottom because they're easier to carry around and they're lighter because a lot of them do collect the devices as opposed to the students walking up and putting them in a particular area. Um, they typically store the container away from the door because students are not permitted to take their devices when they leave to go to the restroom. So, the location in the room makes it less tempting to grab it on your way out. The second highlighted bullet which is to strictly follow an off and away policy during free periods and community lunch

is a change for us because it was not strictly adhered to last year. Rather, we chose to focus our attention on the classrooms. However, this year we are going to enforce this second bullet at the high school level. This is the progression of consequences for student cell phone violations. It is similar to last year, but it is more streamlined. If a student is using a cell phone in the building, the teacher, administrator, or staff member will give them a verbal warning and ask them to put it in the cubby or in the backpack if they're in a common area. Um, and then from there, they'll make sure, and I should clarify that a common area, that's any place that's not a classroom. So, particularly the main hall, the ratunda, where students tend to gather. So after that verbal warning, the teacher will email the parent copy administration on that email. We'll then be able to enter it into campus to

document that warning. On the second offense, the teacher or administrator will ask the student to place the device in an envelope and put their name on it. That will be brought to the main office where the student can pick it up at the end of the day. will then again contact the parent, log that incident into Infinite Campus. On the third offense, the device will be collected in an envelope and brought to the main office, but at this point, a parent or guardian will be asked to pick up the phone. If the problem persists, the student will be asked to check the phone into the office at the beginning of the day where it will remain until the end of the day. We have utilized these consequences. last year um have held phones in the office, have had a parent come and pick up a phone. Using envelopes, logging it into IC more consistently and sending the phone to the office on the second offense will

ensure more consistency is our hope. >> So this morning we welcomed our faculty back in the building. We met with them and shared the same information with them. Uh we as far as with students, we have an opening day assembly uh and we'll be reviewing a slide that I'll show you next um with all of the students uh in that opening assembly and also again in class meetings which take place later in the week. So they'll be hearing this a couple of times um as well as from us on the ground. Um Erica also at the end of the week will be sending home a family weekly message that contains the same information. And the bottom you notice of this slide says reminders as needed. So we uh know that there will be plenty of them needed. I mean that's that's how these things work. So uh this is the slide that we are showing um to students. Um the first or first several bullets are are not new information to the students. um

uh you know we were working in the classrooms with students pretty effectively last year. That was our focus. Um and I think students are pretty pretty accustomed to the whole procedure. So you know I think that that's nothing new. Um as Erica mentioned um you know what's happening during lunchrooms and um or during lunchtime and in the main hallways in the common areas it's a little bit different. Um so you know that will that will be something that students have to get used to and understand that there it's a little bit different than last year. Um just want to mention as part of the last slide um we have a few concerns with implementation. We don't expect necessarily that it's going to be easy. I think our biggest challenge um and we will see how this goes but probably the biggest challenge will be keeping students on campus during lunch. You know if uh we have an we do have an open campus and you know I expect some

students will make the choice to leave and go someplace where they're not supervised rather than have restrictions. >> All right. Thanks Mark. So some of the changes we're implementing this year to support implement you can kind of break this down into greater coverage for more enforcement and then also connecting to like the why of the policy in order to increase buyin and student voice and advocacy around that. Um so one of our first changes is we're bringing back freshman study halls for a host of reasons helping with a transition to high school but that creates less unstructured time for our nth graders. Um, nineth graders in particular probably struggle the most with the ability to understand what is um, like cognitive offloading versus outsourcing compared to our 17 and 18 year olds. So, giving them that structured space where a teacher is supervising them in a classroom, it just helps us with

enforcement in the day versus a per a free period like they would have had last year. Um, another change for us is we're adding an additional lunch monitor. Again, our cafeteria. Not only do we have an open campus where students can leave at lunch and during their free periods, but we have this amazing cafeteria that students love, but if you haven't visited, it's there's different sections and corners. The layout is awesome, but it also makes it difficult forcement. So having an additional monitor in there and then the presence of Mark and Erica and myself especially early in the year um in order to make sure that that is a place that we're really targeting for greater enforcement is going to be really important as we begin the school year. The other place where we would have more free time last year was what we called back then Tiger Tuesdays. This year it's Tiger Learning Conferences. Last year there was three

sessions in the afternoon that students could sign up for. they would sign up for two out of those three, giving them a a free period. Right? This year, um, we now are calling them Tiger Learning Conferences, really capturing kind of the learning experiences that are happening those days. And there's only two sessions and they're mandatory. So, they will be in both of those. Again, leaving less time, less unstructured time where the supervision is more difficult to make sure our policy is being enforced and make sure students are really benefiting from the policy throughout the day. This last piece is really important to all of us and I know it's really important to probably our exeicio members on the board but how could we capture student voice in this pro in this process and most importantly student agency um we have done a lot in the past from like a teacher side on education around technology going back

10 years like that remember the first time I ever heard of the social dilemma was from one of my students who was learning about it in their health class and that was like 2017. Um but this year how could we kind of capture the work of both our concentration students um and students not like we all know as educators we have leaders in our classroom I call them organic leaders they titles they associate with their peers so some of the examples that we're looking to explore this year um through our STEM concentration an opportunity for students to explore algorithm design cognitive uh science and and the connection between those two things um an opportunity to see uh um also the opportunity to think about how to design technology for its virtues and not its vices right I think that's a very interesting and creative and critical way to explore this um especially for our our upper classmen for humanities both kids in the

concentration and without um what does it mean to live in a in a AI world like what does literacy uh look like how do we keep humanity with our tech use how do we keep human human agency with our tech use and for our civics kids. There's a host of opportunities from looking at different interest groups, power, policy, um looking at the meta settlement that just took place and the huge changes that are about to come from that. Both from uh a business perspective, but also New York State's about to get a whole bunch of money that maybe those kids can decide how would that money be used for mental health? How would that money be used um for education? and the opportunity not just to explore this but actually run workshops on one of our Tiger Learning conferences um for their peers. Like education is not the the answer. We we had teachers long before the cell phone policy using cubbies in their classroom.

We need regulations. We need a policy. We need enforcement. But especially for students that grew up with phones in a different world where we didn't have the knowledge we have today as schools, as parents, as a community. Um how could we help them as 16, 17, and 18 year olds? and not just say well it will be better for the kids five 10 years from now. >> I think um for board questions because I think that am I correct in that that was our your last slide on this guys? Yes. Okay. Um, I want to just first um first I want to say the board would like to reserve a work session with the outcome of everything that you just talked about because I think one of our our best work sessions last year was actually hearing um from our um leaders of tomorrow program students and that was work that took place over the course of the whole year. I think just everything that you've talked about first of all I want

to take all those classes um and second of all I think just to hear how that work is done and how students are thinking about it because before I turn it over to Meline I know one of the things that came up last year from our student exophysia was there was a deep engagement on the conversation of >> of what like having a cell phone as part of your life means and what sort of freedoms come from having it not be part of your life while you're in school. She articulated that to us several times, which is part of how our policy has changed and shifted and our enforcement has shifted. But before I open it up to everybody else to talk, I do want to turn it over to you, Maline, if there's anything you'd like to add after um the high school team is presented. >> Uh yeah, to me, this plan seems pretty similar to what we experienced last year. I guess the main difference I'm seeing is like a a attitude of like

let's really like adhere to these rules which I appreciate because I think at the start of the year last year it was yeah no no no uh cell phone use in community spaces like the lunchroom but I think that kind of slipped which is understandable. It's it's hard to manage so many students. Um, but I guess I it I'm wondering like who exactly it falls to to enforce this. It I guess it's dependent on like where you are. So in the classroom, uh, teachers, but yeah, sorry, I don't know if that's great enough. Yeah. So yes, in the classroom um there's a teacher during Tiger Learning Conferences where that would be there's have a community um guest. There's still a staff member who's there who's in charge of the attendance and classroom management. In the cafeteria, there'll be three lunch monitors. You'll see the three of us in the hallway main, you know, main hallway retunda. And then we also have two to three security monitors

throughout the day who are there for different shifts. And so they'll be responsible for this as well. >> Great. So uh I I'm going to take the liberty of just um exercising my role as being the person with the mic right now to just offer two comments. Sorry about that guys. I shouldn't be cutting everybody off. But first of all, thank you for the work on this and thank you for your thoughtful engagement on behalf of the board. I know that this has been a topic of discussion for all of us over the last year and I think we all recognize that last year was it was it was an opportunity for us to try something see how it goes and we had that experience. There are a couple things as I look into to the upcoming school year that I'm feeling really good about. One of those things is that 75% of the high school population has been used to this already. They are coming from PVC where their phones have never

come out of their pockets during lunchtime. They've never come out of their pockets during I mean they're not in their pockets but they've never come out during uh passing period hallway time sitting down you know on those couches on the main floor of PVC. So the the one of the things that we've been arguing as a board is that as the culture shifts within our community and students move up through the ranks. Our hope is that it's going to be easier and I think our collective hope is that it's going to be easier for us to not look at this as an enforcement issue but as a cultural change. So, with those incoming ninth graders who haven't had the practice or the experience of being able to access their cell phones during the school day, you know, let's let's see if people let's see if they can model it actually for the rest of their upper class peers. The other thing I will say is having been in the cafeteria at CHHS,

it's like the best place to be. It is so wonderful and I continue to hold the belief and people can say that it's naive but I'm gonna stick to it that the feeling of community when you walk into that room that feeling of being with your peers and the fact and again this is nothing against the wonderful lunch experiences off campus that my kids also take part in. Lunch is actually paid for by the state when you eat inside the school cafeteria. And that's an advantage for a lot of people and it's actually an important element of our school day. Not everyone can go off campus and have a delicious $15 lunch. And so I think that's that's also a factor that's going to keep people close to home. But I think the the value of the community that that space created, which was an intentional part of our vision map and our thinking about why we invested so much in that space. Let's trust that if we can and see what

happens. I think as a board we are open to of course continuing to engage in the conversation about what enforcement looks like, what the challenges are and our job is to support you all in being able to move that forward. I'll open it up now uh for questions. We'll start over on that side and just go around. >> Yeah, I think this is a lot of uh really positive development. Um one of the questions that I had had is like on the slide about cell phone policy reminders. Do you mind? Yeah, thank you. um like you know was that because this is a PowerPoint deck like was that just intended for us or was this what you intended to use for students um as somebody who deals with students as well and developed like policy um to me like like uh I I think it's important like you verbally said what the common areas are but to actually write it down here like what are the common areas because I I would imagine

because part of this there's like right now um you know somebody can get in trouble for this so we want to make sure that everybody's very clear that they don't get in trouble for doing the wrong thing. Um so I think being very clear and actually naming what is considered a common area would be helpful. Um, and then also like I I had a question about like um recording, right? And I know like it was mentioned um to us as a board that um you know in the student code of conduct, you're not supposed to be recording people without consent with their phone. I think that's an important thing to remind students, you know, um because people like record things all the time for fun, but it can also cause really real problems for people in bullying situations. So even though this is like to me correct, you know, for what for for for what this moment is by making like the if we're really trying to do a culture shift of of respect and

understanding like the implications of our actions, then really looping in the whole series of what our expectations are and why I think would be a benefit to the students so they understand like not only you're not supposed to have your cell phones out, but even here you're not supposed to be just randomly taking photos of people, you know, like that that would be a helpful thing to um and also teachers as well, you know, and do you want me to respond to that? Yeah. Yeah. >> Was it before you get to the next point? Um this is a slide for opening day and that is a very short amount of time that we have with the students where we're trying to welcome them to the school year um introduce our new staff and go through some of the exciting things that are happening in the building this year. We also then hold a individual class meetings on Wednesday and Thursday and we have and will continue to say exactly

what you're suggesting and we go over the code of conduct and we tell them very explicitly that recording um is not you know permitted. And so those those items that you mentioned are very explicitly addressed when we have our students together in a it's just one class, not the entire school in an auditorium and we break that down and we do go through that thoroughly. That's that's great to hear because like also I know orientations are long, you know, so it can be it be a lot of overwhelming things. So like making it just succinct like that and looping together is really important. Um so hopefully everybody hears it in order. >> Yes. Um yeah, but I I think there's a um a lot of a lot of positive things and I would just um echo what Anomica was saying. I think you know trusting that um you know like I I just remember some students just want to go off campus because they're so excited they have a car, you

know, like and that no the cell phone policy is not going to like impact really that like drive literally. But but in some situations it it might. But I think you really have been building a positive culture and building to try and encourage students to be there. Um so I would encourage you to be confident about that. I like the shifts to make some of bring a little bit more structure um with the freshman study halls and the tiger learning conferences. I think those really are good things and um it sounds like you have some exciting things in the works um in terms of how to build in educational opportunities around these. So I think that's that's great and I think just again and this is something that's that we'll be probably talking about next week um in our presentation about feedback we heard from the community in terms of technology. I think a big piece of this is like education and so everybody is um

everybody in our community is always understanding the implications of the choices that they're making and the why. So um some very positive developments. Thank you. >> Okay. Uh, sorry, I just forgot about the uh freshman study halls. I have it written here, but thank you for mentioning that again. I think that's a really great thing to bring back. Um, especially given uh new schedule changes and I know a lot of upper classmen have uh larger free period chunks in their day. Uh, I think it's really great to have um study halls and to show freshman students that like yes, maybe you will have these chunks that aren't allotted specifically for this, you know, later in your high school career, but you really should be using your free time in school to work on your schoolwork um and collaborate with other students and everything. So, yeah, I think that was a really great thing to bring back. So, thank you.

except one kind of call to Maddie. >> I double clicked. Um, so yeah, I I agree, Maddie. I think that's a that's a great point you bring up. I I also wonder and I'm I'm very looking I'm very much looking forward to you and Nikki having input on this, but you do like we have a culture right now where some of our students are are truly addicted to the games on their phones, right? And and like I experienced it as a teacher last year talking to students like, "What are you doing at lunch today?" like like they will go out some of them into their cars even and sit in their car to play the game on their phone, right? And and that's real, right? That's that's teenage life right now in our high school in the context of what they grew up in. Um, but I am interested in ways and and I think this really has to be a studentled thing because you would know best ways to do things during lunch, studentled activities during our

lunch period in that cafeteria that makes people want to connect with each other, whether it's over board games or coloring, like whatever that may be. I think there's a lot of opportunity for you and Nikki as exeicio members to find out what that is, bring that to the board, have that discussion, see what we can do to implement that because like I our cafeteria is beautiful. That is true. But there there's certainly a group of our students that will use our open campus to go on those devices. Yeah. And I think I think what you're pointing to though um John is that the the fact that like this is a it's like it's a cultural issue for all of us like to make a decision to not do the thing that's easy which is to get sucked into like just looking it you know I mean again I've talked about the strange things that show up on my phone and you will find out any better. It's like it's all better all the time. That's all it

is. Um everybody knows this about me now. You do too. Now now the entire world does in fact. Um but um but it it so that's the easy thing. The harder thing is to say it's like I'm gonna put the phone down and I'm going to I'm gonna like, you know, engage in a conversation with somebody or I'm going to talk about, you know, it's like I think some of those things it's like we have to start finding ways to practice that to develop the practice. And so I I do think it is a real uh big opportunity. I'm really I'm really grateful for the fact that we're able to talk sort of so openly about this and that we're recognizing that like no one student is alike. Of course there are people for you know there are people who are going to say it's like yeah this is great. I'm relieved to not have it in my life. And for other people, it's going to be a source of anxiety that they don't have it in their life and they

don't have it constantly sort of with them and on them and accessible. And we all know people in our adult lives who are sort of the same way. So, it's a universal thing. So, I I do want to say I really appreciate that that we're all engaging in this, that we're talking about it, that we are understanding it's not a one-sizefits-all solution. Even though the state is asking us to apply this particular solution, we have to, of course, consider and look out for what's best for our students and be paying attention. I think that's the other thing that's really coming across to me in this conversation is to know our students and to know who's going to need the extra help and who's going to need the extra guidance and you know keep coming back and engaging on this. Are there other questions from the board? >> Um yeah, I mean so thank you for approaching this so thoughtfully and um great presentation on the student voice

piece in particular. I think we've been touching on this in various ways, but that I really like the idea of like, you know, peers educating their peers on this. Um, and I and I know that I assume that there's also like similar efforts happening potentially at other districts or just like examples that you've heard of these kinds of things. And so I'm wondering whether um like how we're digging into this a bit more other than like obviously we all know who those like organic leaders are, but like providing them with some sort of like infrastructure to kind of like get their voice out there on this issue feels important. And and I know that there are people out there that like kind of do that as like a an area of expertise. And so I'm wondering if we've tapped into or plan on tapping into any of that. I can give you some examples of >> You can just switch yourself off. [laughter] >> Um, thank you for that question, Theo. So, I

can give you also a couple examples of where we've had students have the opportunity to do that last year um and in the past. So, um there's a lot of great organizations out there right now um that are that are trying to center human agency and really appropriate for high school students in technology. Um Teachai is one of them. It's like there's a whole consortium of of stakeholders involved with that I think including NISBA and PTSA I believe as well. Um but the avenues for students to do that work uh Boseies last year had their first inaugural um civic symposium where students were sent um to other educators in the area other students in the area work that they were doing. We sent students there last year. Um, we also students got to uh meet kids from other districts and and technology was was such a throughine in so many of those projects. If you're not sure what I'm talking about, imagine like science

research but for civics in a way. Um, we also have last year for example, we one of our tiger learning uh conference sessions was about social media in your brain and it was interdisciplinary in that it connected cognitive uh science and advancements in that with um business models, right? and and how this same business practices that took this best latest research and applied it first to Las Vegas and gaming and digital uh um uh gaming and betting then applied to algorithms on social media to drive your attention, right? And um imagine something that was teacher le last year by me. [laughter] Um but a mat but there it also included many of my public policy students, many of my students from student American history uh who then got really interested in that subject matter and became part of that panel that we brought down to CCT last year to talk about technology and their lives of high school students to

CCT parents. So removing some of the so much like teacher centered focus on some of the work that's already happening in so many of our courses. Um and with again with our concentrations where we really kind of in the beginning of the year I'm going to be meeting with all the kids in our concentrations. they set kind of a focus for them this year uh for every year. Now where is their opportunity to explore that topic through this technology lens right and and connecting them with studies with research um with organizations and then being for them to be able to produce something that's really meaningful to their peers to our families um to all of us. >> Um bringing us back to the Thank you for that. uh bring us back to the cell phone the the different practices we're going to implement this year. Uh this will bring will bring us closer to what the board policy envisioned. Are there any other aspects or any aspects actually of

the policy that currently aren't being implemented that we should be aware of or or talk through? >> Don't think so. Yeah, >> I guess >> one of the questions I had kind of building on that um is that in our policy there are exceptions. So, you know, on like obviously somebody has an IEP and stuff like you know like there but I guess the question I had is that there were some use cases where if a student is has an educational project or they may be able to be using that like is there a process by which the students are getting these exceptions and if that's not really happening do we still need them? >> Just piggybacking on. >> Yep. Um, at this point, most things that a student would say they needed permission, for example, I need to check my schedule. Um, that was something that we heard at the beginning of the year. And we started to think about like, okay, well, that makes sense. It's the

beginning of the year. You're going to check your schedule. You're not sure. Those things can be checked on a computer as well. Um but then we also brought an exhibit um that we printed out for all of the students um their individual schedule as well as the bell schedule that they're going to be able to attach or at least keep in a pocket of a backpack. It won't be crumbled up on the bottom. Um and that's a way one of the things that we often heard was the use for the phone at that point. if there's really an exception of something that perhaps we're not thinking about right now. Um because most things then can just happen on the computer if it's for an educational purpose that they certainly can approach um one of us to say, "I've been waiting for this text from wherever. Can I check my phone?" Sure. Right. Like you're doing it right in front of me. Um, but as of right now, I really can't imagine how many

exceptions there would be. And I guess we wouldn't know that until a student approached with a particular situation. >> Can't tell if this is on or not. It looks on. Um, the only exception that I've heard of and and can think of is related to medical. So, for example, people with diabetes who use their phone, >> right? But that's a 504 that >> and that's a >> that's something that we would they don't have to ask permission for that and then we know about that and we'll make sure that in the cafeteria for example the monitors know which students are able to use the device for that purpose. um you know >> right the state the state law also the state mandate also had a carveout for that from the very beginning which is that anyone who has a 504 plan IEP plan or another uh documented reason that the administration is aware of it's that this policy doesn't even touch on that and exp I mean it it mentions it but it

doesn't cover that usage because that's completely separate and it's actually protected under federal law for all those as well. I think what I'm hearing then just with your comments Erica is it sounds like because this is something and I'm sorry Anna have to step out for a second but we were just talking about earlier about whether we do need to revisit the the policy as it's written and it sounds to me you know I think that we should take this as a referral now that Anna is stepping back in take it as a referral to the policy committee for you all to take a look at it and determine whether if there's a feeling that this additional language that's in the policy right now um that articulates this you know possibility of an exception if that feels feels like there's too much. If it's causing confusion, then I would say the policy committee should revisit it. But it sounds to me that from a practical point

of view, the administrative team at CHHS has a real clear standard and has articulated to us here. It's going to be articulated to students. It's it's already been articulated to teachers. It will be articulated to families. There will be clarity on the very very limited reason for asking for an exception to use your cell phone in particular. Just as a reminder, we have a bring your own device policy and students also have schoolisssued devices, but they are absolutely 100% permitted to use in all open areas of the school, lunch, hallways, etc. That's part of how they complete their assignments, stay in touch, communicate with teachers, etc. And so that that isn't changing. We're really talking very specifically about the cell phone. But I think it is a it's an opportunity in terms of policy. If we feel like there's something we need to tighten up, we'd refer it to the committee to take a look at it and make

that determination. We might also want to consider just waiting and seeing how the next six months go before we, you know, make any sort of change. >> I heard it when I was coming back into the room. We can put it on an upcoming agenda and then just revisit it and like have administration in the room to see what the nuance is, if there's anything that needs to be addressed. >> Right. If there are no further questions on this, I'm gonna turn it back over to you all to get into part two. Great. >> Thank you. shifting gears uh for for a moment to the broader K12 context. U and as I as as I said earlier um I really view u from my seat where we are um as a district as u an accomplishment um on behalf of many folks but genuine community collaboration right but um led and galvanized by uh the folks who do the hardest work in the system which is those people working directly with our kids. And so from the beginning, our

orientation around this was how do we best position our faculty to be making the kinds of decisions that we know reflect not only the community's values, but our values as educators and the experiences that we want uh for our kids. And that process typically takes time, but I think we we feel good about where we've ended up. I wanted to just briefly highlight a couple of the steps since June. Uh because as we pointed out since June 10th um and from the beginning from that from the outset of that communication, we viewed that not as an end point but as a launching a launching pad for continued conversations. And I think a really critical part of the work over the past few months was bringing together that group of 25 or 30 or so members of the faculty in this space here in the library at the high school um to have some really um significant and impactful conversations about where we are and

where we wanted to be relative to to technology. So that when the June 10th communication came out uh and then subsequent messages after that, it came not just from administration but from the faculty themselves. Um and so it becomes an accountability standard not only for a director from administration but within the faculty themselves. Um and I think we saw a real shift there as we always do when we're able to to galvanize and harness the talent of the faculty behind something that we all believe in. Uh the summer was spent in really productive ways around identifying and purchasing additional resources helping to onboard them. a lot of teacher professional learning um with regard to this continued conversations with members of our community with parents uh and then again at as recently as this week that refinement right resulting in a place now where we're able to say that effectively iPad usage

will be um nearly minimal in the at the K2 level really just for the purpose of participating in three required assessments throughout the course of the year as well as shifts that you'll hear about in terms of access in the library which will no longer be the case uh and then broader implications in 58 and 912 as well. So, I'm incredibly proud of where we are. Again, this is not done. This work is never done, but we're able to say to the community, uh, we've heard you, right? And we've created classroom environments that we think are responsive to what our broader community's values are relative to our system. So, uh, thank you to the team. I'm happy to turn it over now to a few of us who will facilitate these next few slides. >> So, say something, I'm so sorry. I just want to interrupt you because when you speak to that, I just want to like remind the community of what we were doing during COVID and the shift and how

as a large district or not large district but like a large body of professionals, you did shift and when the mandate came out, it came out over the summer for the tech limitations and we all kind of braced ourselves for it and we didn't know what it would look like and I think that We as a district came at it with a concern for students and not having these like massive changes that they would all of a sudden have to be impacted by. So, I appreciate your reset. I appreciate the thoughtfulness in the process. I know that there are a lot of people in this community that are frustrated by how it happened, but I I want to say to you that I think that as a district, it was handled very responsibly. It wasn't a knee-jerk reaction to a state mandate, an unfunded state mandate like many of our state mandates. I think that we took the time to listen to the community and we're responding in time with accurate

concern and we're continuing to evaluate how it should all play out. So from the time that that happened until now, it's literally been one year. That's it. It's been one year. We've had many discussions about this as a community. I think you've all been very agile in your responsiveness. I want to commend you all for that. I want to commend our students for also having to kind of like respond to not COVID COVID all of a sudden like responding to to all of the other things that have happened since then. But I did want to just take a moment and say that. So, thank you. So, um, as Steve mentioned, we spent a lot of time this summer, and I think I mentioned this at the last board meeting as well, working with teacher teams, particularly at CAT, but across the district, identifying hands-on instructional tools because it's one thing to say we're not using iPads, we're not using apps, but those apps

were being used for something. So, you know, it's not a matter of looking at a catalog and picking out resources. is it's thinking very carefully about what was each digital tool trying to accomplish um and how can we select materials that would better serve those goals without relying on technology. Um so this is just this can give you a sense of kind of some of the purposes that we identified and what we replaced um those previously used technological resources with. And this was a lot of research, a lot of looking at best practices, seeing what other districts are doing, looking at the research behind different tools that we selected, which I know is something that comes up a lot in the community, like what's the research behind some of the software tools. So, we're looking at it from the same stance. What's the research behind these analog tools? Um, and I think as Steve also previewed, one highlight

that's not directly on this slide, but just to point out, um, related to CCT library time, there will no longer be any use of iPads during library time at CCT um, for coding stations or otherwise. So, that will all be hands-on, read aloud, library time. And so probably the biggest shift um in this work and you know that has been spoken about a lot with the the community um following extensive collaboration with our wonderful faculty as as Steve had mentioned and our building administration um we really took some time to reflect on the instructional practices and the role of both devices and technology tools in our classroom. Um, and through these facilitated discussions led by some people in this room, led by building administration, led by teacher leaders, um, our curriculum coordinators, our coaches, um, they kind of identified the intentional purpose for the device use and and these were, um, the the required

STAR online assessments, which we do three times a year. Um, and then, you know, when appropriate, um, project-based learning experiences. And so, and that'll be kind of an ongoing, um, kind of exploration with our faculty of like building these project-based learning experiences, asking the questions around um, opportunities for technology use or options for without it. um and you know utilizing some of the the researchbased frameworks that we've been talking about at at various uh professional developments. So this really reflects our teachers commitment um to thoughtful pedagogical um shifts and focuses on hands-on student learning. Um we will continue to as a district, as a building administration team, as staff developers, curriculum coordinators provide support for our teachers um moving forward in the instructional planning, material allocation um and implementation as we continue this transition. So this is a really big

shift, but I give all credit to our amazing faculty that willing to um be so reflective in these in these decisions. Um and so for grades three to four, I think one of the one of the changes for K to2 even from the original um plan that was put out is that we won't be using iPads even for formative assessments in K2. So then jumping to 34, um we're looking at cart based access also. So no more desk storage for devices. So they won't be in seat pockets, desks kind of out and around. and they'll be stored in classroom carts or classroom storage solutions and only accessed during structured teacher-led activities that require digital tools. So, it won't be about logging into software programs to do things in grades three and four. It'll be teacherled instruction. Um, and then, you know, benefit three kind of um goes without saying the clear desks um it sends a message. It's a signal about clear

workspaces for hands-on math. you don't have hands-on tools, group problem solving, and physical books. One thing we're interested um in continuing the conversation with and we started already with the CCT third and fourth grade teams is the what formative assessment can look like in grades three and four. Um and that's a conversation that we're planning to continue and have a better sense of a plan for January. Um, and we're also really interested to see how advocacy from NISK goes towards paperbased state assessments. That's something that I think most of us are pretty pretty supportive of. Um, and uh, very curious to see what that's going to look like and then how that will help us map backwards for our assessment plan. Um, in 58 they are also really diving into some deep reflection and reimagining. um they you know spent the faculty meeting was it this morning or yesterday? The days are all mushing

together. Um talking about the shared commitments and the impact that those would have on their classroom practices and some of their routines, right? You know, one of the commitments was to not start the class period, right, with their device out. So thinking about how they need to restructure some of their classroom routines, some of the transitions, things like that. Um so they they spend their faculty meeting reviewing those, thinking about that, collaborating on the shifts that they need to make. Um and then they the at PBC they're um they have these anchor the experience right kind of motto this year for for the students so that they're like anchoring experiences across fifth grade, across sixth grade um and I guess throughout the building. So really thinking about what are those like like anchoring the experience for all fifth graders that on intentional technology use. What does that look like? How do we talk about it?

How what how do we as John was talking about how do we educate ourselves? Um they are continuing with the commitment that they made kind of mid year last year. Um fifth grade devices will stay in school. They will not be brought home. Um and with the same idea as in third grade only for like structured teacherled um activities, sixth grade devices will stay in school over the weekend. Um and over every break they'll stay in school and we're this is a reflective practice just like we did before. We're going to continue to have conversations with teachers. this is a step along the way. Um, and to think about what other ways or what other methodologies, what other instructional practices can we swap out or do better um, with with different tools. So, um, this is an ongoing conversation. So, this is where we are right now. >> And then a little bit more for grades five to eight, lab period is something

that we've talked about and has, um, come up. And so for the upcoming school year, PBC has readjusted and reevaluated the lab time so that that there are not time requirements for use of software programs. So previously it might have been, you know, you have to do 30 minutes of something like achieve 3000 or so. So now those software programs are going to be used in accordance with individual student needs, not a particular time that you must um complete as a requirement. Um in terms of classroom storage again I think Ellen addressed that already but um devices are stored in classrooms to be accessed um for teacherled activities. Substitute teachers will have clear training and expectations. It's in the substitute handbook already and they will be trained um around the expectations around device usage when a teacher is not there. Um particularly technology should not be used as a reward in any

way. Um and in terms of next steps for PVC, we're looking at devices for homework in grades six to eight um in terms of usage and practice. Um and other next steps both for PBC but really districtwide is around curriculum purchasing. So almost every program now has some kind of online content associated with it, but not all online content is created equally. So there are programs for example like Heaggerty that come with I think pretty excellent resources like slideshows used for coral reading for phonics instruction um that are quite effective. But then there are other programs that come with curricular online resources where students log in and are expected to do learning one-on-one. So that happens in programs more like like Zern for those of you who have had um students engage in that. So, we're looking at yes, every curriculum now has some kind of online component, but what's the purpose? Is it student

one-on-one access and learning, or is it meant to be whole class learning and instruction? Moving on to the high school, grades 9 through 12. Today, again, we had our first faculty meeting where we revisited the shared commitments from June. So, it is at the forefront of people's minds. our newest members. We have eight new um faculty at the high school. They were obviously a part of the new teacher academy and orientation where there was extensive um information about intentional technology use. So we are really focusing on those three bullet points in the middle because some of the the commitments don't necessarily pertain to the high school. So, as Ellen talked about at PBC, we're not going to be beginning or concluding instructional blocks with students utilizing devices. And then really being mindful about videobased lessons that are used for firsttime content teaching. So, no videos of teachers teaching. However, at

the high school level, something like AP classroom certainly is a tool that we would use that is difficult to replace. um and using technology as a regular component of substitute teacher lesson plans. A little bit different than at an elementary school where there's if the teachers out those students are there for a greater period of time. At the high school if one teacher is absent it's a 40inut block and typically all the other teachers are there but still not to make that a regular component of substitute teacher plans. And as far as our professional learning, we met with our coaches, our instructional coaches yesterday. And one of their priorities this year is about intentional technology use and how they can help to enhance lessons and thinking very thoughtfully about where you're going to incorporate the technology in a lesson. But then the idea of the students walking in and not starting on a device

or concluding the lesson with a device, helping their colleagues to come up with creative and meaningful ways to be able to to do those same sorts of um things that they were trying to accomplish with technology. So how can we utilize our instructional coaches in that? And that's something that they've identified as a priority as well. And even today at our faculty meeting, they had some time to address the faculty to let them know what their role is, particularly for new people. And that was one thing, lunch and learns, we want to be able to focus on technology. When we're meeting with you individually, that's a place where they can help as well. I just wanted to add uh beyond that um in terms of next steps as shared by Laura um we'll begin the year of course tracking right how this how this implementation works right both from a quantitative standpoint in terms of student screen time and from the the

qualitative student experience standpoint and how the faculty are responding to this. Um, beyond that, we'll be opening the doors of our schools literally to parents on a regular basis and saying, "Come on in and take a look at what's happening in classrooms, not just through the lens of technology because they won't see as much, but um from just the entire student experience um through those what we're calling parent learning walks. That was part of the message to the entire staff from me on Wednesday and from each uh members of of our building leadership today. Um, and that frankly again to to the credit of our faculty, they've embraced that concept, right? That idea of we're proud of what we're doing here. We're we're proud of these shifts. Let's have our parents have the regular opportunity to come in, see what we do, and then engage in conversations with us about it. So, again, incredible

credit to the faculty. We knew um that they would respond because they always do, right? When you give folks time to think about what our shared values are, this amazing, incredibly talented and inspired faculty will deliver every time and they have again here. Thank you. >> So before we go into board questions, just on behalf of the board, I want to thank all of you for putting together such a robust, thoughtful presentation. And I also want to um go back to Anna's point. This has been work that has been going on for this district. Actually, it's really been longer than a year because these are questions that we we that we ask ourselves as part of our practice all the time. What's the best method? What's the best curriculum? What's the best way to deliver instruction? It's part of like the core function of what you all as educators do. So, I know it's sort of it's ingrained in all of it, but I think it's

really important actually to to have started that conversation with that background. Anna, thank you for that about sort of, you know, what we are coming out of and the work that's been ongoing for the last year before we went into this um this conversation. I know that folks are going to have a lot of questions, but I want to just highlight like a couple of points. One for the benefit of the community um that I think that the comm community members have expressed concerns in the past about access to devices when um they're being kept in schools over vacations for PVC families and other families where um where this is a concern. Uh our building administrators always communicate to those families that if there is a need for a device for a family or other reason during that time period, there are ways for that to be accomplished. students have really good relationships in general with their teachers and

administrators. So, I don't I haven't heard of any issues about people or or families who need that sort of access not being able to request and get that access. So, it's an important equity um issue that has been raised by members of our community. Just want to state that since it wasn't part of the presentation. Part of the reason it isn't part of the presentation is because it's understood here, but that's why we're articulating it. The other two things I just want to point out and this is just going back to something that Laura said. I think this is like a real highlight of the work that we've just talked about here which is you know going back to that example of like the number of minutes that you have to get on a particular program. the the shift in thinking about that it's really student need-based and not just sort of like a number requirement that again I think is that shift in thinking to like

really looking at technology in terms of like what's the curricular expectation and what's the outcome that we're looking to get and looking at the the technology time the usage the the actual like application or content that's being used that lens I think that is one of the things we've been talking about as a board is like how to make that connection more clear for ourselves and also for our larger community that we're not just talking about sort of like technology, curriculum, and instruction as three different things because they are all part of sort of like that whole. And if we're saying that we're going to take devices and take screen time and reduce application use, the other things that we have to acknowledge are the fact that like the educational publishing environment has not pivoted as quickly as states, as quickly as school boards, as quickly as teachers unions. So the reality is is that the materials don't

exist. In fact, most of these educational publishers, and I say this having been at one for the last three years, um that there's still a focus on ensuring that they aren't delivering online content. And in fact, the focus is on delivering volume of online content, not in fact quality. And so, that's a challenge that we're going to have to deal with. It's also going to be incumbent upon us as a board and a community to actually fund whatever we need to fund to replace those materials because a computer program that you can like replicate over and over again costs a lot less in some ways and doesn't have to be replaced in the same ways as physical books, manipulatives, handouts, materials, etc. And so there is also sort of that reality that I think we have to acknowledge when we're talking about this shift. There are implications and the community has demonstrated that we're committed to it. But I think we

also have to understand that these things take a little bit of time because it's not all completely available. So before we go into trustes, I'm going to turn it over to Meline um as our student to to go first and then we'll come around the table this way. Thank you. >> Uh yeah, I think these sound like really thoughtful changes. Um, I do appreciate the um uh the no requirements on uh those uh services. I speaking from experience uh the the name well the name of a couple of these ignite something. >> Um so yeah I think that's really uh good change also. um learning. Uh I think uh often times when students have been shown videos almost uh in replacement of a day of teaching uh it feels like a day of learning lost within that class. So I think it's uh really important to try and cut back on that and that's another change that I do appreciate. >> Thanks. Further comments on So, um, as a board member, I just have

to say I'm really proud to be a part of a district who is leading and following the NISA advice in K through2 and beyond. I'm I'm really, really excited about these changes. As a parent with a kindergartener and a second grader, I'm so excited for the year that they're about to have, connecting with students in the classroom, connecting in person with their teachers. I'm I'm just really really thrilled and I'm also excited for this opportunity and so grateful to our teachers for being willing to make a shift in practice, right? Like I totally understand how during co there was a need to shift to technology and that this is going to be an adjustment. Um, but I'm really excited about the opportunity to deepen the partnership between the community and and the teachers this way because I saw personally last year how receiving paperbased things back home that my children had done deepened my ability to

see, oh gosh, he's really not getting this aspect of bonex or whatever. And it really it makes a huge huge difference. And I'm I'm also just I want to highlight um uh because it didn't come up as much is that I really am so proud to be from a community and be raising my children in a community like Croin that has been advocating for these changes and saw that they were needed and and for you all for being responsive to that. Um I'm just over the moon. I'm really really excited about this upcoming year. And just I also want to say to your point about the um manipulatives um in terms of the costs I do agree that I'm I think it's so important that you spent the time to think all right well what will be the barriers to removing the apps but a lot of the research that's starting to emerge is that the cost of maintaining devices is actually larger than those of maintaining manipulatives and paperbased

um so I I think it's definitely the right shift for for learning outcomes and um and probably for budgets Uh but I think thinking ahead to say how are what are their teachers going to do during this time that they were previously using apps was really smart and so just again thank you >> a lot of insecurity about using this microphone. [laughter] Um you said it so beautifully. Um want to echo that and just like building on uh some of the points that were were made. Um like two other things just continuing with the momentum like I I like as a board we heard that some of the uh professional development included um uh learning more about educational law and privacy data privacy laws which is great. And I think as we go forward with these conversations in terms of what is intentional technology, making sure like that that people really understand the technology like uh John you were saying before like the the addictive nature of

social media and the logorithms like the more as a community we understand you know just the reality of these technologies makes us able to um make as intentional choices as possible. And then you know um you know Laura when you were talking about you know the choice of materials and anomica you about like what is actually available ironically I'm in the process of revising my course that I'm about to teach on August 31st and it's all digital like all the material is a dig you know digital and I know particularly at the the high school the higher you go it's like it's it's we've kind of been backed into a little bit. This is where a lot of the accessible materials that we tal we were told before that were going to be accessible that you know you know that we're going to enrich everybody. Now there's like oh but maybe it would have better if it wasn't through this format you know um so and I know um one of the

things that I've heard is that you know one of the reasons why um we were as educators encouraged to use educational technology was the adaptive learning the ability to differentiate and part of that was because of labor right and class sizes. So, I just want to echo that. I think that I just respect that it it takes time to review this in a thoughtful way and that we as as as a community might be needing to rethink our some of our resource allocations to make sure that you know that everybody is supported as best as possible. Understanding that our budget situation, but like you know that that we are really supporting everybody in the best way possible. So just want to say thank you and um this is a very exciting development >> questions. All right. >> I did just want to um offer the opportunity for you to share a little bit about what a project based learning might look like because I found your

answer to that really helpful to understand. >> Sure. I give an example of a project um that we've talked about um a first grade animal research project for example that we were talking about with the C team. um yesterday I think. Um so for an animal research project they might typically use bubblegum which is an online library database. It's not an app base, it's an actual library database. But regardless if you start right now we would typically start the project with everybody going on Pebble Go and starting their research there. So, an easy shift that we talked about was the librarian would curate a a cart of non-fiction texts about a variety of different animals, lay them all out for the students. They can go through them, get their initial interest there, and then you might use something like Pebble Go for a student who wants to extend their learning beyond the book or a student who's really interested in some

rare animal that we don't have a text about. So, it's the idea of starting with it as the default starting point versus using it as an extension or deepening. >> It's actually a really great example because it also it sort of ties into that I think one of the sort of like societal things that we talked about in terms of like how we use the internet and how we use searching. You're of course going to find what you're looking for when you put in the thing that you're looking for into the thing that you're searching it from. >> Does that make sense? It I hope it does. It's like so when you when you don't have access to that variety of materials and that variety of inputs, you're learning in your experience and who you talk to and who you engage with and who you become friends with. It all becomes limited through that vein of like the like the self and like what you're bringing to it rather than those

external inputs. So you know again this is I think the thing that's so beautiful about like the way that education works. It's like you are having exposure to all these different things. And that simple shift of saying it's like research is going to start by looking at a pile of books with 50 different animals rather than typing in I think octopuses are my jam. That's what I'm starting with. It's like that's that's that's that's going to be a change. That's going to be how you come across think didn't even know that you were interested. So I think you know again thinking about like our passion for teaching which we do as parents which you all do as educators. That's what really gets us excited is that that unexpected thing that you don't know your student is going to connect to and how that that sort of traditional mode of learning and exploration actually supports that. I think it's really it's a really

important value. So it's that's a great example. Thank you so much. >> Just want to also build on that like you know also recently with the search engines they've all they've shifted and it's no longer like indexing. So it's like you're actually getting the answer to everything. So the more that we are going a little like moving away from that is actually improving learning. Yeah. >> Summarize I would use a line I think Betsy used during our ad hoc committee meeting on Monday which is position it so that technology has to earn its place at the table rather than having it be there as the default. It was if it was Alison I apologize. >> I I gave credit to the wrong person. But um we we've said that a few times since um we've said we've said that a few times since. say it makes sense as a as a broader message about how we position technology within the system. >> It's a really helpful articulation. I

like it. >> Um just want a comment not only the question, but um I really appreciate how central that this presentation seems to center student well-being. And I just want to call that out. Um I I really appreciate that. Um it doesn't always feel that way with some other work sess sessions that we may have had. Um, but this is a a huge win for students socio emotional and just general well-being. And again, I want to commend the district and uh share my appreciation and I hope we can use this as a model kind of for for future work sessions where again we're centering students um in in the work that we're doing. >> All right. Thank you. point of that if students do need access also if you need access for Wi-Fi at home I am able to give you hotspots um so families should just reach out >> great and I know that you're communicating that at a housing level yes families as well but just again so

that it's clear yes there the district has always been supportive and this is this they great practice coming out of co actually uh frankly um the ability for families to access a hot spot for wire for Wi-Fi with the support of the district at their cost. >> Yes. >> So, that's really important. >> Thanks for that reminder. >> Okay. I don't know if it's if it's helpful to take a pause if uh folks want to reset because I know we've got a busy week ahead. Uh it's possible not everyone wants to discuss the secret resolution, but that's what we're about to do. So, if you'd like to take 30 seconds to um you know, >> step out. Thank you for coming. Thank you for Thank you for the time. Happy Friday and we'll see you on Tuesday at the start of Sabul. So, while they're sort of heading out, um just because we we um we're committed to keep our meet meetings moving, we're going to move to new business item 3.1,

the secret resolution for the energy performance contact uh contract. Um recommended action be it resolved that the board of education hereby approves the secret resolution as presented. So move >> on the question. >> All in favor? >> Oh, there's a question. Yeah, thank you. >> I just want to thank Brad and Denise for we had a number of questions to make sure that we were like really engaging with the neighbors and to make sure that um that they understood what was happening, that their concerns were heard. So, I just want to really thank you for the efforts that you did in that. So I know I feel much more comfortable saying you know going to approve what's going forth now like knowing that. So thank you. >> Oh I'm going to pause for a second and say so we we are actually going to be discussing in the next agenda item the actual energy performance contract um for context. I don't I don't know that I

should be the person to explain the secret resolution. I might turn it over to you. >> Do your best because we we usually we put this on DHC to to sort of give the background but I'm happy to speak to it if you would prefer not to. Brad. So, it's the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act. So, the any projects it defaults to having to look at this and there's different types of actions, type one, type two or um one other one here, non-listed I believe. And it basically it defines project. So like if we were to go and put in an addition on uh one of the buildings and you're disturbing a whole new footprint. So there's all different scopes based upon the type of project and such. So this has been deemed a type two which is basically uh there there's no impact you know we're not cutting down trees and putting in you know all that. So it relates very specifically to the natural environment meaning like you

know existing climate landscape etc. This the the the proposed scope of this project really does cover existing school buildings, campuses and places that are not for example wetlands. >> Yeah. Um and so so as a board we just need to sort of confirm that um that that we have correctly qualified what this project is and that it does not need to go to the state um for further review of that sort of impact. That's basically what it's about. So we'll just we just need to sort of make a decision about whether we're comfortable with that characterization and then we will uh discuss a little bit further um the energy performance contract that we first brought up a couple weeks ago if that works. Okay. So, uh, any other questions on the secret piece of it by itself? Okay. Then I'm going to just ask for, uh, all in favor? I. >> Anyone opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. Moving into item 3.2, the energy

performance contract with Honeywell. Be it resolved that the board of education hereby approves the resolution to authorize an energy performance contract EPC between the Croin Croinharman Union Free School District and Honeywell as presented. >> So move. Now on the question, >> well, I think I'll turn it over to Brad to give a little bit of context for sort of what what uh conversations have taken place since we first had our discussion about this about three weeks ago and also to loop us in a little bit on the engagement with the community which Brad has been I think uh spearheading and has done a really excellent job of managing with our building neighbors. Over to you Brad. Okay. So, after the uh presentation, there was some uh comments from the board about engaging with the neighbors. So, uh Denise, myself, and Greg put together a postcard. We identified all the neighbors that are sort of directly attached to this campus

that would be within uh visual range of where the proposed solar arrays in the parking lots would be. We sent out that postcard which had um a QR code to the presentation that was given as well as we created a Google form for anyone who had questions or comments about the project that they could reach out. We had two responses to that. Um we engaged with those uh neighbors answer questions. I ended up meeting one of them. We talked about some stuff. Um, and then uh we actually I I was happily able to report to them we were actually proactively doing some lighting changes over at one of the uh parking lots which was their main concern was light and if we'd be adding additional light with these canopies which there will be additional light um under the canopies because at PVC specifically uh currently the parking lot lights are up about on the third floor of the building cast down over the parking lot. So when the

arrays are there that will block that. Um so there will be uh new lighting underneath the arrays but we are going to look at once if the project's approved and we potentially might be able to lessen the broader light that's there now. Um but overall uh the feedback we had from uh anyone who reached out was positive. >> And I will chime in to add that the board also received correspondence from two community members which we promptly addressed and also shared with the administrative team. I think there was some overlap in um in who you've talked to we've talked to. So I think we've captured um the feedback so far. The important thing to remember is that there are other stages that this project has to go through before the actual work begins. Um, we now have sort of like open lines of communication through that postcard communication through this meeting and then also just from having talked to some of the neighbors, we'll

talk to their neighbors. I think we have a sense that people now know that if they do have questions who to talk to and that we're certainly accessible on that front. Brad, if you could also just explain because I know for for our district, this is not our first energy performance contract. We've done a lot of um environmentally forward work that's been really sensible in terms of our uses of solar and bringing that energy in directly to serve our building and reduce our bills. Can you tell us how this project is a little bit different? >> Yes. So uh just real quick also there is a link um that we have on the buildings and grounds p uh website where uh you can click for EPC specifically. So anyone if they're watching this meeting, there is a direct link for anyone to access that on the buildings and grounds section of the website. Um so this would be the third EPC project the district would take on. um previous ones would so

the way the uh EPC's work is a company can front the money essentially for doing improvements that then they have to guarantee that the savings produced by those um upgrades are paid back over the course of 18 years. So in the past it's it's mostly been savings based with you know this phase two there was solar so there was revenue as well this one is basically 100% uh generation so it includes a couple ways to doing that currently we are behind the meter so we purchase our power from NIPA at a pretty good rate when we produce more power than we are using we spin the meter backwards so we're only generating ating the the lower amount um through the NIPA rate. This project will put not only the new solar, the existing solar as well on the front of the meter going directly to Conad. So we'll buy low through NIPA which is all uh green energy and then we'll be selling back the green energy we produce to KED at and we'll get a

higher rate for that. Um, so there's solar at the three uh each one of the school buildings. We replaced our roofs two summers ago and um so when we did phase 2 EPC, they when they looked at the roofs, we had roofs that had to be replaced within five or so years. So you're not going to put solar on then have to remove it to replace the roof. So now that the roofs were replaced and in good condition, we can put solar on that. So there's areas at C over the kindergarten wing, um the high school and PVC as well as the ground mounted arrays in the two parking lots. And then also um at PVC there's an air conditioning component. So when we did our phase 2 capital work, we had hoped to do 11 classrooms worth of air conditioning and unfortunately when bids came back, we didn't have the funds to uh complete all that work. perfect timing with the energy performance contract uh talks and we are able to replace the four

classrooms that we couldn't fund through the capital phase 2 as part of this. Um so if it is approved those four classrooms would get the additional air conditioning. >> Yeah. I and thank you for reiterating all of this. I I said to Brad earlier that I know we went through a lot of this last week, but somehow when Brad explains it, it makes sense to me. And I think that that's a really important quality of how you communicate the work that your department and that the district has been doing on this front. So I really appreciate it because again it's it's just it's like I get it and so I really for me it's really really helpful. I hope for other people it is as well. Are there any other specific questions that folks have on this? I don't have any questions, but I did want to thank Brad for taking the time to speak to uh certainly people in my neighborhood. Um I also just wanted to say that um

with respect to this, my concern initially when we had this conversation was about the funding that was going to come from the federal government and my understanding is that the contract has been modified to um and I I don't want to use the language, but I'm going to have to use language. Um, so Honeywell guarantees the full amount of the ITC income tax credit provided the district meets its obligations of filing all documents necessary to obtain and allows Honeywell sufficient access to the site to complete the work in time to meet the deadlines of the ITC. That was something that was very important to me because absent that commitment, the district would potentially be li well responsible for a million dollars. Um, and while there is really great savings and um environmental impact in this work, a million dollars to our district is something that I seriously considered. So, I want to I want to

thank the district and specifically um assistant superintendent um Denise Harrington Cohen for making sure that that was there and also for for the our our partner in all of this to being open and amendable to making that guarantee because that was something that was very fiscally important to me. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> Yep. So, last time when we talked about this uh we had said um what was his name? >> Terry. >> Terry. Terry. Thank you. I was going to say Peter, but I knew that was wrong. Um Terry had one, you know, was expecting this last week and we had said we weren't meeting on the 20th. We're meeting today and and he had a he's like we can work with that. Is that's that timeline of you know us approving this tonight. Does that still give us give the give Honeywell and the district enough time to file all the required paperwork? >> Yeah, that so Terry Terry said this is

good. We already next step is so it's nothing's guaranteed. We still have to go to KED and he's very confident that they will be able to take on the added capacity but we um have to do KED applications which uh we gave to them preemptively to start the process if everything moved forward for today so they could hit the ground running tomorrow. Um so yes it's still right now you know everyone thinks that we can get this done the you know we have coned they have to confirm that they can do that we have to do sedd uh submission we have to do financing but right now everything uh seems to be on track that he's confident >> and that's part of Honeywell's function in this is to make sure that all those those things line up and keep moving. >> Yes. Now piggy back off Anna's point about the uh the guarantee. The guarantee is contingent on are the customer's obligation and it specifically says customer filing

requirements, timely access. Those are the main two points. So they don't say anything here about KED. >> Yeah. Well, so so we're at no we're not obligated to any money at this point. So we will find out like Coned will get back to us before we actually make the commitment to finance the money. Perfect. So >> thank you. >> I think these are all really really good questions because it sounds like a great thing to move forward on but these are contingencies that again I appreciate Anna and Omar your expertise in both of these areas to just highlight um the things that we as a district and as board have to be looking out for. Are there any other questions? One little thing I'll add just based off of my community conversation on this is I think there has been a question about um solar canopies over parking lots and everyone keeps thinking about our train station that beacon of blindness which I

love the energy but it's like it's quite a bright spot. So one of the things Brad I think you had mentioned is that we because this is something that we control will have the flexibility to either figure out whether any lighting that's necessary under those that might add to the overall sort of lighting situation at each of our school buildings which by the way they're pretty well lit. I mean you can see them and that's a safety uh it's an important safety thing especially for after school sports and activities and the fact that we use our buildings as community members after hours for a lot of things. Um but those lights you said they could be either set on a timer to go off at a certain time or dim at a certain time and also motion detection. So you have already thought about um ways to sort of mitigate the light concern which is one of the common themes that came up um from our community feedback. So, just

wanted to highlight that as well for the benefit of the public who might be listening to this for the first time. >> Um, if there are no other questions, I'm just going to ask all in favor >> I. >> Anyone opposed? Anyone abstaining? And the motion carries and uh Brad, Denise, thank you so much for all the work presentation for bringing um Honeywell in to talk to us about this and thanks to everyone for engaging in all the board's questions on this topic. >> Thank you. If you want to stick around, you're more than happy, welcome to, but >> we have we have kept across a number of things. So, thank you for being here tonight >> and good luck on for the next uh three days, four days. You'll get there. Okay, moving into item 4.1, donation. Um, be it resolved that the board of education gratefully accepts the donation of $100 from William Forini and Mary Ellen Keane as a contribution towards the Lacy Carr

Memorial Scholarship for 2027 at Croin Harmon High School. Uh, this before I go on to ask on the question, just a reminder to everyone because we did receive a few donations a couple of weeks back. This is a um contribution in in honor of a um a a late um student of our school, Lacy Carr, and it's to be awarded to a graduating student who exemplifies Lacy's qualities of including others, staying positive, and overall being a good friend and respectful student. So on the question, all in favor? >> I opposed, abstain. The motion carries. Thank you very much to William Forini and Mary Ellen Keane for your contribution and for honoring Lacy Carr's memory in this way. Item number 4.2, donation amendment. Recommended action. Be it resolved that the board of education hereby gratefully approves the donation amendment as presented. This is for the New York State Office of Information Technology Services.

Just a little bit of context if you could um for us on the Steve in absence. >> Yeah. So, this was first considered and approved by the board at the July meeting. Um, and we're we're thrilled to be able to to recommend this for approval by the board. It aligns directly with our one of our priorities, which is around data uh security uh for all of our our students and our our staff and our systems. And so, what this does obviously is with our implementation of multiffactor authentication, there are a couple of different ways that that gets executed. One is uh by downloading an app on your cell phone. uh but for you know many staff members having regular access to their cell phone and cell phone service uh here in our buildings is not a guarantee. So this would provide tokens that will uh generate that same numerical code that you then put into the uh to the computer to access our system. So um the change here is just

because there was some delay in procurement from uh the state through the vendors. So it's a modification in the cost of the tokens themselves. >> And basically the tokens are costing us less. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. So um with that said, all in favor? >> I I >> opposed. That motion carries. Moving into instructional personnel. Item 5.1. Recommended action. Be it resolved that the board of education approves the appointment of Suzanne Lewis 1.0 leave replacement position for Amanda Frioli as a special education teacher at Pier Van Courtland Middle School. effective September 14th, 2026 through November 6, 2026 to be compensated at an annual salary of 104,718 MA plus75 step 7 prrated. >> Second >> on the question. Well, we're happy to welcome back Suzanne Lewis, a former um former and well-loved special education teacher here. Um I will say all in favor >> I >> I opposed abstain. The motion carries.

Thank you Miss Lewis for coming back. Uh item 5.2 recommended action be it resolved that the board of education hereby approves the appointment of Linda Kay 1.0 O leave replacement position for Katherine Ellingsson as an ENL teacher at Pier Van Portland Middle School effective August 26, 2026 through January 31st, 2027 to be compensated at an annual salary of $11,583 MA plus 15 step 10 prrated. >> So on the question all in favor I opposed. Motion carries. Item 5.3. Be it resolved that the board of education hereby approves the appointment of Claudia de Azivo Maderos 0.6 FTE ENL teacher at Carrie E. Tommpkins Elementary School at a salary of $78,948 MA plus30 step 2 effective August 26, 2026. On the question, all in favor? I opposed abstain. The motion carries. Uh item 5.4 recommended action. Be it resolved that the board of education hereby approves the appointment of Andrew Vogel, morning math intervention

teacher, CHHS, at the rate of $55 an hour effective from September 8th, 2026 through October 16th, 2026. So >> on the question, >> I just want to thank the the district and um the high school staff and specifically Mr. Vogle for um offering this for our students. >> Absolutely. Um other comments or questions? Okay, then all in favor? >> Uh opposed? Abstain. Motion carries. Item 5.5, recommended action. Be it resolved that the board of education hereby approves the appointment of Christine Harris 1.0 leave replacement position for Elizabeth Damasi as a third grade teacher at Carrie E. Tomkins Elementary School effective August 26, 2026 through November 18th, 2026 to be compensated at an annual salary of $11,583 MA plus 15 step 10 prrated. on the question. All in favor? I opposed. Abstain. The motion carries. Welcome to all our new um personnel, many of whom started yesterday. So, thank you to the board for getting these

um instructional personnel recommendations approved so quickly. Moving into our consent agenda for the evening. Um be it resolved that the board of education hereby approves all the items under the consent agenda. >> Second. on the question there. No questions. All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Abstain. The motions carry. Moving into the closing of our meeting. I just want to um quickly say before we go into the next item because we don't have a sort of next meeting um kind of like announcement on this that our next meeting will actually be on Thursday, September 3rd, beginning with meet the BOE. Your opportunity to come meet two members of your board of education. tell them what's on your mind. At 6 pm in the rotunda at Croin Harman High School, our regular meeting will um convene at 6:30 p.m. again in the library and the board is looking forward to hearing from the school district on district goals for

the 2627 school year. So um with that, I'm going to go to item 7.1. Um, be it resolved that the board of education hereby enters into executive session to discuss the employment of a particular person or persons. On the question, the board will actually go into executive session, leave executive session, and at that point uh join the meeting. So, um, we will quickly take a vote. All in favor? >> Uh, opposed, abstain. The motion carries. Thank you to everyone and we will see you in one week. Have a great night.