Sounds like a dance party.
action. >> Good evening everyone. I'd like to call to order the April 9th, 2026 work session of the Groten Harmony Union School District. Item 1.2, approval of the agenda. Recommended action be resolved. of the board of education hereby approves the agenda as presented. >> So moved >> second >> on the question. All in favor? >> I >> opposed abstain. Motion carries. Item 1.3 recognition of the National Technical Honor Society students. And for this I'd like to turn it over to Dr. Lauren Debec. We're the 40. >> So, I have the honor of introducing our four CHS students who were recently inducted into the National Technical Honor Society. The Honor Society mission is to advocate for and empower all students to pursue the skills needed to build their careers and the global workforce. It has been recognizing outstanding student achievement in career and technical education since 1984 and supports the next generation of
leaders focused around core objectives of career development, leadership development, service and recognition. These four students are examples of what success in schools can look like and we are so proud of their energy and sustained exploration of their passions that has led to an incredible learning experience at the Boseis Tech program. There are students who have truly taken advantage of what our district has to offer and created their own pathways. So, I'll start by introducing two students who were unable to attend this evening due to sports and work obligations. Um, but I still want to take a moment to recognize their incredible accomplishments. So, firstly, Avery Bradley who is a student in our cos in the Bosey's cosmetology program. And the words that come to Avery first is professional, which may sound strange talking about a high school student, but she is truly a consmate professional.
Um, she is also committed and caring. She's focused on the work in her program. She's always prioritizing it over any other choice. If there's a special event happening at a school, she will be the first to email and say she needs to be at her Bosey's program. She is a leader of our student activism club and she has been a leader in planning the 10th annual Take Back the Night event which is actually next Thursday at 6:30 p.m. Um, so hopefully some of our community members can join. Um, but overall what Avery is known for is just being the most caring person and friend. So congratulations to Avery. Next, I'd also like to recognize Sophia Misiti, who also is not here tonight. She is part of the prestigious New Visions Health Program at Boseies. She has always wanted to go into nursing. I think she's been talking about that um since I met her and the program has really opened her up to specialties. So,
she was reflecting recently that she's been able to observe surgery she didn't even know existed, never thought she'd have access to, and she is now actually considering pediatric nursing as a result of her experiences. She is a resilient, smart, hardworking student, and we're very proud of this. Congratulations, Sophia. And next I would like to introduce and celebrate Bodie Portoy who is here tonight. Is part of the law enforcement program at Boseies and he has truly found his passion and voice there. He um he does a lot of community service. He's very involved in travel and community service. Um, and he has also been involved in four sports here over the years. So, if he somehow manages to balance it all, we have to think he just ran here from practice. Um, but what we know about Bod is that when he cares about something, he cares very deeply about it and puts his his whole soul into it. And I think he's found his
passion and his voice of so proud to see him grow and develop there. So, congratulations And finally, our fourth student that we want to recognize tonight is Brooke Nusbam, who is part of our child development program at Bose. Brooke is an incredible person. She is passionate about supporting and giving voice to students with disabilities. Like Avery, she is a leader of our student activism club and has been a key part in planning multiple years of our Takeback the Night event. Brooke is a truly special, resilient person and leader. And I think that the best summary I can give is that Brooke is the kind of person I would want to be my children's teacher. Truly. So congratulations Avery Bodie Brooke um and Sophia. Um and now I'd like to introduce Neil Bole the Bose superintendent. Thank you. I feel like I was just here a couple weeks ago. I think I was, but thank you always on behalf of our board
and it's really tough to follow that act, but thank you for sharing your students with us because it's an incredible partnership. Uh, but this is a little unique. So, we have about 1,500 kids that go to career in technical education and only about 80 receive this recognition. So, it truly is an honor and it's very difficult to achieve this status. So immediately a background of how it occurs, but being inducted at the National Techn Honor Society is a powerful reflection of Bosey's mission, service and innovation through partnership. The National Tech Technical Honor Society honors students who not only excel in our CC programs, but who also excel at their skills and service to others, strengthen our schools, supporting local businesses, and contributing to our broader community. And we heard four great examples with quality students and what they represent. So their innovation does not happen in isolation. It is cultivated
throughout meaningful partnerships among dedicated educators, industry mentors, higher education, families and community leaders. So tonight we celebrate students who bring our mission to life. Demonstrating when service inspires innovation and partnership creates opportunity, extraordinary outcomes are possible. So to each of you being recognized this evening, we're incredibly proud of all your accomplishments. We look forward to what you're going to bring to this world ahead and we know we're in good hands. So, congratulations to Avery, Bod, Brooke, and Sophia on your well-deserved honor. Now, Mr. Hab, who we have the privilege of sharing, the Bosey's board member has a few words as well. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Neil. And thank you, Laura. Thank you even more so to the students who we honor tonight. And I just want to say as somebody who has been for the last few years a member of the PNW Boseis board of ed and
thinking about the relationship that Boseies has to the success of students it's really it it really is important and in a way almost humbling hearing what Dr. Bubac said about how the students who attended who have gone to Bosei such as Bodie found their passion found what it is that they want to pursue in life through this program that we as Harmon support. we send our our our students there if they want to follow through uh in those areas and whether it may be something like and and one of the things that Neil did not mention is the wide variety of program offerings in uh career and technical education from animation to architecture to carpentry to construction engineering, culinary arts, fashion design, graphic design, HVAC, um medical assistance, microcomput technology, sports medicine, veterary medicine, um and urban forestry. All of which are things that students as they come to the
high school may have an interest in or may want to see if they have an interest in and Boseis provides that ability for those students to find their passion to excel and particularly when we're talking about Avery Sophia Bod and Brooke who I got to meet when I attended the induction ceremony. I really think it is a testament to their success and quite frankly to our district to be able to provide those opportunities to our students. So, I'm very pleased to be here and to have you here.
We're gonna just ask I think our our Nths honores if you don't mind standing over there where um superintendent boy is just have a photograph of you guys and your families with the superintendent and the Let's talk
about
You just get ready. Leave it.
Thank you J.
Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Thank you.
Um so our meeting uh item 1.4 is our leaders of tomorrow presentation and recognition. I will then turn it over to Dr. Lord back. This is why I love my job because I get to do this. But thank you all for being here tonight. Um, the leaders of tomorrow. As I was thinking about introducing you guys, I think what I can summarize is that it's a story of students who are dreamers and doers, which is something that we really value in our school and our district. Um, and class may actually went back in my email to find this. She emailed after having a meeting initiated by two of our high school students, including Nikki. Um, and she said, "I had a very productive meeting with two high school students a couple weeks ago regarding a multi-age leadership program they would like to start here at CCT. They attended our spring school counseling advisory council meeting where the topic of behavior management and self-awareness
um, in third and fourth graders came up. Nikki and another student, Ellie, um, who's no longer at the high school, reached out to me after the meeting wanting to discuss an idea they had. So, we met. I'm attaching a copy of the draft proposal they sent me this week, which was a very impressive proposal. I am quite impressed and excited for what this could become. This was written entirely by them. So, from that email last May, Nikki, Thomas, Ila, and their adviserss, Mrs. Boling, and Miss Trudeau created something special and lasting. They took what started as an idea, a conversation that came from a committee meeting and they turned it into a program that started as a pilot program, but I don't think we can call it a pilot any longer. I think it has turned into a program with broad impact for upwards of 80 high school students and hundreds of CCT students regularly throughout the year. We couldn't be more impressed with
their leadership, initiative, followth through, and talent. It's really, it's hard to capture just how much they've done, how committed they are in such a short period of time. I remember walking into one of the planning meetings in the community room this year and it was buzzing with small work groups and Nikki and Ila and Thomas were kind of floating around facilitating planning groups that were then going to get um deployed to different classrooms at BC and it was just something really magical to see how they were truly leading it. Um but I want to turn it over to them um because they have so much to be proud of and share. Thank you guys. Congratulations. >> Well, first of all, I would like to say thank you so much to the board of ed for allowing us to come here and really show you our work. We are super proud of it and we just can't wait for you to see it. Um, we want to start by just
introducing ourselves. Um, and just so you guys can get to know who we are. Uh I am Mickey Murkerjee. I am the president and the co-founder of Leaders of Tomorrow. And uh obviously I would like to thank my co-president Ellie Schwab who has since uh left the district. Um but she has had a really important role in this and helping me create this club as well. So I would like to thank her too. >> Hi everyone. I'm Lila Ascar and I'm the vice president. >> Hi everyone, I'm Thomas Cornell and I'm the student adviser. >> Hi everyone, I'm Robin Woolly. school counselor at CCT and lucky enough to be the one that Nikki brought his idea to and um I'm so happy to support them along with Mr. Dell. >> And I'm Mr. Dell and I was the uh last recruit, but um really excited to be part of something that came so organically and came from the students and is really so studentled. And as you see tonight, I think you're going to be
really impressed with all the hard work that they put in and their ideas and their ability to actually implement it in a productive way. >> So I know Dr. Eubc touched on this, but I would like to really uh zone in on how we were founded and the story behind it. Um so as mentioned, this was a idea that came from the school counseling advisory committee uh led by Mr. Maxim at the high school. Um, I really got to know Miss Woolly there. She was part of it from CCT and we were looking at data specifically in CCT and uh the incident reports that came from the past year and we were really discussing how those incident reports can be used to bring those numbers down and to really make an improvement uh in the classrooms and just overall within the student population and together as a team. Um, and so Miss Wley came up to Ellie and I afterwards and she asked us, "How do you think how I guess how do I put this?
>> I think it was what what would have made a difference for you when you were in third and fourth grade?" >> And Ellie and I really said we would have loved to seen some more uh high school participation and just participation from older students as well. Um, I know when I was younger, I was definitely a part of these incident reports. several times. >> I have I have no recollection of that, >> but um I know I definitely would have benefited from some guidance from high schoolers um just from the older kids as well because you know we all have looked up to them at some point. Um and so that's really how this idea came to be. Um Ellie and I set up a meeting with Miss Woolly a few weeks later in her office and we started taking it from there and we really we came up with the draft the day of. We sent it out to the high school administration and to the CT administration and 6 months later we are
now here. Um and so I'm I'm really happy with what's this what this has become. So, as Nikki was saying, um the one thing that he and Ellie would have loved when they were in the shoes of CT students is to see high schoolers and someone who they looked up to almost as like a role model come down to CCT and really connect with them. And so I we think that um the main purpose of leaders of tomorrow is to be a a peer mentorship program that kind of bridges the gap between high schoolers and CT students. And we strive to empower younger students um and see themselves as future leaders in their communities and outside of their communities by fostering confidence and character within them. And we do this by creating lesson plans that we can share um to our CT students every Tiger Tuesday when we go down there. And obviously we also aim to facilitate leadership and build um confidence within our high school
students because not only do we want to foster leadership within our CT students but we also want to make sure that our high school students are taking away something important that they can also apply to their future uh careers, university and so on. >> All right. So, what do we do? Every we have bi-weekly meetings here at Croharmman High School in the community room. This occurs every probin Thursday where we debrief on past presentations at CCT and talk about what Miss Trudeell came up with as the rose bud and thorn, which is a very a very good system where students talk about what went well, what could go better, and where they could improve. and and the students they all get together and they love it how they get to create something with their friends new lessons and talk about that as such. >> And specifically every uh Tiger Tuesday and every planning session uh the groups will have a specific topic that we would
like them to focus on when presenting to the CT students and they really develop their lesson plans and their presentations around that topic. Um, for example, our most recent one with the fourth graders, we did friendship and with the third graders, we did handling strong feelings and emotions. And we really try and look for uh topics that will resonate, especially in the younger grades and in third and fourth grade students um that they can really apply in their classrooms uh going forward. And I think uh something that is so special about these bi-weekly meetings is how uniting it is for everyone, especially after we have these debriefs when we're going down uh to C every Tiger Tuesday and we kind of get to have this share out of what people accomplished, maybe a quick little shout out. And I really think that it kind of brings us together as a whole and really showcases that we have something to be
super proud of. All right, we talk about what goes on inside of CHHS. We Miss Woolly came up with the amazing idea of having students organize themselves on paper where they want to go. Recently for recess, we've had them organized into black tops or and like the jungle gym, the the green climbing equipment, and the field during the spring. And they all love it. We like to try and keep the groups in the classrooms between three and six students. And >> um also if you look on the screen the um left hand side you can see uh students writing on pieces of whiteboard or pieces of white paper. Basically, uh, the last few meetings when we've been planning to go take our trip down to the next Tiger Tuesday, we've categorized these students into specific places at recess so that we're not all clumped together and we really make sure that every student is touching a specific part of recess to make sure we
connect with every single uh, CT student. And I think this was a really nice addition to the working um lessons or working sessions that we've been doing because it allows um our high school students to kind of be with different people and we make sure that um as a program we are not setting a bad example by clumping ourselves together. And I think that's really important. >> And just to clarify what Miss Willia just passed out. So these are the this is an example of a lesson plan uh entirely created by a group that had gone to CCT and presented to the students. Um included is their actual template and uh also their slides uh in their presentation. And so that is really what the high school students are doing uh in the 45 minutes that they have during extracurricular period. And it's really amazing to see how almost all of that time goes to their work and how passionate they are about really
creating something special for the students that they go into the classrooms and see and visit. >> And I think it's it's important to note that like we're asking when Miss Trudeell came up with this template, we're asking these students and we started from the beginning to say here's a lesson plan template. We want you to outline what you're going to do with the students. They had we had very little time to introduce it to them and they took off and and made it their own. And a lot of these kids do a lot of this work on their own time because we only have 45 minutes every other week and most of the time we have two meetings in between the Tiger Tuesdays which doesn't give them a lot of time. Um and not everybody can come to every meeting because most of these kids are involved in multiple activities. Um, so it's I mean we're asking these kids to do things that are not necessarily easy. Um, and they're kind of learning on
their own and that speaks volume like Yes. >> Just to give you an idea, we gave them a small template, asked them to look through something that many adults don't even look through. I wanted we wanted them to create a lesson that would reach children of an age they've sort of left to be able to reach to them in a way that's going to be meaningful with an activity with an understanding that not everyone in that classroom is going to be at the same exact place and how are you going to be able to get entrance for every student in that classroom and how are we going to support them and then we're building in those no matter what you do kind of skills you're going to need them which is time management self-reflection, vocabulary in regards to are you speaking above them, below them, are you keeping them engaged. Um, we we ask them to create hooks. We ask them to each take on roles and to see themselves
valued within a team. And teamwork, I I think we all know, is probably one of the most satisfying, but it is one of the hardest things to get done well. And when you look at the pictures, it doesn't even come close to show you how amazing they were at creating groups for themselves, being responsible about owning their own self-worth within a group and saying, "I'm going to be great at this. I really need to work on that." And they they as each group lifted and made sure they took care of each other and then spread out and took care of the students that they were working with. So, next we're going to move on to the part of Leaders of Tomorrow that I am the most proud of, which is our work uh inside the Tiger Tuesdays and inside CCT. Um so, as Leila mentioned before and Thomas, uh we start off uh during recess. Uh this is where the third and fourth graders, they go out, they play, and they have their lunch as well. And
we wanted to specifically see them at recess and lunch and not just in the classrooms because we wanted this to be a program where we got to know the students that we were working with. And we wanted the students that we were working with to get to know us. And as leaders and as people who are going to be talking to them and teaching them things, we would like them to know us and know why we are there. And so this recess and lunch period is for our high school students to really go connect, have fun, uh unleash their inner childhood um with our CCT students. Um uh as you can see in in our first image, um this is a group of some of our freshman students. Um and they're it appears playing maybe patty cake with a bunch of our CT students. Um, and I just watching everyone and seeing how everyone's just broken off and gone with their groups playing Gaga basketball on the jungle gym. The seessaw, this the
spinny thing that was added into the playground that I did not know was there. Um, it's really amazing to see how the high school students um are really connecting with that younger generation and are really taking the time to get to know the people that they are going to be presenting to and leading. and the lunch monitors would like to know if they can come over every day on the Gaga because those that's >> we do a great job managing Gaga >> can we get a little competitive um and I think that with the recesses and lunch is such an integral part of this program and these trips down to Tiger Tuesday because it really allows not only our students but the CT students to get acclimated to the environment they're about to be in and prepared for um these older students to come in and teach them certain lessons which brings us into the classrooms. So after about a 20 to 30 minute period outside and in the lunchrooms, we head
into the classrooms and our program breaks up into groups of about five or six. And each group has their lesson plans ready and they go in with only 20 minutes to not only present um their lesson but also to facilitate an activity which is very hard when you think about it. um they have a very tight schedule, but they've been doing a great job and we're very proud of them. Uh as you can see on the right hand side, these are some of the activities that we've been doing. Each activity correlates to the lesson plan that they were assigned. Um this has been um there's been a plethora of different but very interesting activities that teachers and students have really loved and and gained a lot of um new skills from. Yeah. >> Uh we're going to go into leadership development now. And I think this is something that um we're really passionate about because as leaders, one of the most important factors of being
leaders is making sure that your teammates uh feel valued and they feel that they are making a contribution um to this program or the the idea. So when we when we say leadership development, we kind of mean honing in on how our high school students have developed um take what they've taken away from this kind of program. So it's really nice because each volunteer has some autonomy over how they can kind of go about their activity and their lesson plan. We're not uh being kind of over helicopter. Uh >> we try not to micromanage >> we try not to we try not to micromanage which can be hard for some of those type A students. But um we give them a lesson plan as Miss Willie passed out and we kind of tell them go at it do whatever presentation you want as long as it correlates uh nicely to the to the topic. But we let them um we let them create their own presentation and their own lesson plans and we let them kind of
take liberties with each topic and I think this is really important because it allows them to kind of take their own leadership in their own stand which is uh which is our purpose and so it's really nice to see how our students have developed and how they have even gained confidence and car built character within themselves and see some of these people who may have been a bit more timid or shy in the beginning or may not have stepped up as kind of that group leader and really seen them like flourish in this environment. >> Yeah, exactly what Leila was saying. We when creating this program, we really wanted it to be a mutual relationship between the CCT students gaining uh knowledge from us while we also are gaining leadership experience with them. Um and we we just we think it's so important that the high school students are gaining something from this. And so watching a lot of people that I had
never actually like seen I've never worked with before and just seeing them do so well with these kids. It's been so rewarding to watch. Um, and we're so proud of every single one of them because what they're doing and the amount of time that they're spending on these lesson plans and the amount of time they take out cuz we all know that on Tiger Tuesdays some of them could just go home, but they really they care enough to go to C and work with the students. And so now we want to zone in on some of our accomplishments. And in our six months of being a club, uh we have over 80 student volunteers from the high school that have attended that attend meetings regularly on the Croin Thursdays. As Thomas mentioned, um we have connected with over 250 C students across three grades at CCT. Um leaders of tomorrow has emerged as the largest club in Croin Harman High School, which we are very proud of. Um, and we have
really bridged the gap between C, CHHS and CCT, which we hadn't really seen before. Um, and we are so excited to keep it going. >> And I just want to say when we were in the initial stages of planning this and Nikki and Ellie had brought their um, proposal to me and we were like, "All right, well, how many kids are we going to need to be able to do this like faithfully?" And so we're like, "All right, our our goal is to get 35 to 40 students to commit because if we have six sections of third grade, we need to be able to put at least five kids in knowing somebody's." And we were like, "Are we going to be able to do that?" And we're like, "Well, let's let's try." And I don't think any of us sitting here ever imagined so many kids would be interested and so many kids would commit to spending their time doing this. Um so I think this is far exceeded anything we had imagined. >> Yeah, I totally agree. I think a really
big accomplishment is the retention rate in this program and how it's not a low commitment program. We're meeting bi-weekly. We're spending two out of our three Tiger Tuesday sessions every single Tiger Tiger Tuesday to take a bus down, be with be with kids, present to kids, and then take a bus back. And some may even have a third Tiger Tuesday session, which is a lot for high schoolers with when they're also balancing um work, uh athletics, and so it's really nice to see how many students are committed to this program. And it really goes to show how much this program, how much of an impact this program has made on them. >> Yeah. And you can kind of see it on our faces in that picture there from the club fair. We had, if you look at it, >> yeah, we were not expecting the amount of people that we got. And I remember we met the next day and we're like, well, we sort of need to rearrange how we're
going to play this because we were we were astonished by the amount of people that were so interested and so excited to be a part of a program that connected with the CT students. And um yeah, we're we're so grateful for >> two buses now coming coming down instead of one. So >> we've expanded to second grade. >> Yes, we are expanding the second grade. That's kind of amazing. >> All right, we'd like to talk about experiences and takeaways. So as Nikki and Leila mentioned before, this isn't only for elementary school students, but high school students alike. They create friendship bonds between elementary school students. Nikki has made this sort of collage here to demonstrate everything. All the high school students with elementary schoolers, whether it's ranging from the black top at recess to activities in classrooms and lunch, they all just create this bond. Maybe little siblings or kids you see around, just
familiar faces you'll see walking throughout Croin at sports activities. And maybe they'll see their favorite athlete that they've seen at a game that day. They get to talk to them and create a bond with the the older generation. Seeing since elementary school, students see us as role models. Bigger bigger like their parents but not as but still students here. But still but still students. They they they like to see us as role models how we act. So, and growing up in schools don't teach you everything in the social aspect. So, we'd like to transfer what we learned 10 years double our age to today they are to um just maybe what they'll expect and how to be a leader, how to make people want to enjoy your presence and raise the overall spirit when you enter the room. And I have to say there are always unintended kind of consequences whether positive or negative coming out of programs. And so
in our house system down at CCT um I'm one of the house leaders for the House of Empathy. And I want to say after our February house day, I had three fourth graders come up to me and say, "Mrs. Willie, can can we help you with anything? Can we help you?" you know, and I said, "Well, do you want to help us plan for the next house day?" And they were like, "Yes." And so they ended up giving up a couple of like their well, not giving up their lunch and recess, but coming to me during their lunch and recess and planned what they wanted to do during house day, which included those three students leading a group. They picked out the book. They wanted to have all the fourth grade leaders read to their squads that we have. So I gathered the fourth graders said, "All right, who wants to read?" Almost all of them said me. And so we had a whole um about 10 different groups with fourth graders reading to the kids.
And then my three girls led a discussion of in front of 70 students to um of that book. And so and it was just and I I'm convinced it was like from seeing the high school students leading those lessons and and interacting that's where this idea came from with them. Um so it's just it's nice to see the trickle down. >> I think what if I could describe my experience um with this program in one word it would probably be rewarding. And I say that because in many aspects, one, going down to CCT and having kids run up to you and be so excited to see you because they remember you from last time. I think that's so rewarding cuz it kind of shows how much of an impact you made in your lives that they could even remember you cuz they're always running around. They have so much energy. Um, and I think that's really nice and also rewarding to see my friends and all these students who who may have had some uh maybe weren't
as focused in some of our meetings but really locked in and took the lead on these projects and in classrooms. Just seeing them be in their element and really be able to kind of connect with these with these younger students. And I think that's so rewarding for us because it's hard to try and get 50 students together and try and facilitate each group at a time. Everyone's doing different things and it can it can be challenging. But to see but to just walk through each hallway and to see everyone doing their own thing and doing it and performing it so well, I think that is just one of the biggest takeaways and one of the greatest experiences I've had with this club. I think for me, uh, since the beginning, since May of 2025, I I definitely knew that this program was going to go somewhere. I just didn't realize, uh, how big it was going to get, and I'm eternally grateful for that. Um, I think back when I was
planning with Miss Woolly and Ellie, um, again, Miss Woolly mentioned we were hoping for around 35 40 students. We thought that might have even been a stretch and then we'd have to go back to the drawing board and replan how this was going to go. And I think from the day of the club fair, we hit the ground running and we didn't really have time to take a step back and look at it and say where do we need to focus? I think this entire process has just been about adapting to different circumstances. you know, we have 80 different high school students that we are organizing and obviously, uh, they they have their own schedules, they have their own trips, they have their own teachers to see. And so, a lot of what I've taken away from this is how rewarding it can be to see a program that you've created and seeing how the students that you have brought into this have blown this program into what it is today. and to really see and
I mean to be completely honest, Leila Thompson and I, we are the officers of this club, but it's really the high school students that make this their own. Um, it's obviously, as we said earlier, it's entirely their work that's being presented. And so, just seeing my classmates and seeing my peers and seeing my friends um, do amazing work in these classrooms, it's it's so rewarding to see. And I would say that that is my takeaway. Um, yeah. >> Thomas, do you want to add anything? >> Tom, sure. Yeah. So, this is my first time being an officer of a club and just like as Leila and Nikki said, it's a growing experience for everyone. I love how the students all come together. They're excited. Today, I even had a few ask if we had a club meeting today because they were they were looking forward to it. I told them they're going to have to wait until next week, unfortunately. But yeah, I love working with Leila and
Nikki along with Miss Trudeell and Mrs. Woolly to create this program and I'm looking forward to what it what it will become in the future because we want this to keep going and have it thrive and grow. >> I think Thomas led us right into our next section which is about what we want Leaders of Tomorrow to be in the future. Finishing out the year uh looking into next year. Um so we hope to finish this year off strong. We have two more Tiger Tuesdays coming up and we don't plan on doing anything differently. We're so excited with what it's become and uh second grade. >> Oh, actually that's partially true. Uh we are expanding to second grade fully. We had experimented with second grade. We had a few classrooms go in um but we had just finished our lessons with the fourth graders and so now we're going to move on to second graders. And next year, we hope to make this a schoolwide thing at CCT um where we really get to
go into all five grades, K through five or four time, uh not at the same time, of course, um but really just touch all the grades and focus on what they need. Uh we want to work with the teachers a lot more um and make sure the lessons are specialized to their classrooms. Um, and so the students that are going into each classroom know what to expect when they enter those classrooms and how they can format their lessons to fit uh this C students needs. Um, and so we are really just excited for uh finishing out this year. We hope to do some more fundraising. Uh, maybe get some club shirts. That would be really great. Um, and part of that has come from our uh lanyards that we misfy had gotten us. Um, to identify a high school student from a C student because nowadays it can be very hard, you know, sometimes. I mean, these C students are very tall, >> but when they're all sitting down at the lunch tables, it's like, wait a minute.
>> So, Miss Mully Missy bought us these lanyards. Um, and and mystery doll, of course. Um, and so we spent some of our meetings really designing ours um, and making them fun for the CT students to look at. Um, and I think >> and know our names. >> Yeah. >> Um, yeah. And I think that leads us into the question portion of our presentation. We want to thank you so much for having us again tonight. This was a huge honor and a big deal for us as a program especially with our first year. Um and yeah, we really want to thank you all. >> Thank you. >> Now we would love to hear from you guys if you have any questions for us, >> comments. >> Um we are excited to answer you. >> Yeah, just to start off, I don't really have a question. I would just want to say Ananaka Watnagar and I were fortunate enough to come visit on Tiger Tuesday to see you all at work and I came away with two impressions. One, and you mentioned both
of them. One was how organized the high school students were as they presented their lessons to the elementary school students and how they kept those students attention in a way possibly that is more happens more than when the teacher is there. Um but that keys into the second observation which was which is that the reaction of the students to the C students to Euphobia particularly out in recess to see how the kids really you know connected to the high school students who were um playing with them whether it was Gaga or kicking a soccer ball around or whatever. It was really it was really heartwarming to see everybody involved. There were no not one kid was kind of wandering off by themselves. And the last thing, and I hadn't really focused on this until the presentation tonight, is what you and your fellow club members have gotten out of this experience, which I think says a whole lot about how
wonderful this club and this program is. And I'm so glad that it will continue because I know it's not just 12th graders. So, it's not one of those things that's going to disappear when somebody graduates. Um, and something that I hope will expand as we've been talking about for years to come. >> Thank you. >> Um, hi. I I I just want to say um I mean just one comment at the outset that this presentation was amazing. You guys did so great and we we get a lot of presentations in this room and I think this was probably the best one I've seen. Um your your your poise and your passion and your um clarity is is amazing. Uh so thank you for being here. I know that wasn't easy and I'm sure um but you you gave us a lot of wonderful information and I think inspired us um to you know just continue doing the the work that we do. So thank you so much for that. Um I also just on the program itself of course that it is truly
amazing how you and I and I love the the point you made and the reality of the program that it is sort of a mutually beneficial program right that it it you can see of course it benefits the the CCT students but the ways in which you are sort of um taking a leadership role and creating a program and managing young people and you know facilitating and all that those huge skills that are going to serve you uh in immeasurable ways even after you especially after you leave high school. Um and so my questions are really geared towards and you touched on this a little bit in the story like sort of the origin story of the program of like how you thought of it and and sort of the guidance that you got um from you know your your uh from the teachers. But could I I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about like a little bit more about like what sort of elements of the high school sort of supported you in this because it
it feels to me like a lot of it was you right and taking the initiative and sort of seeing um the opportunity but also seeking out assistance from faculty and others right and so I was wondering if you could elaborate a little bit more on what that looked like and then also the recruitment like It's awesome that you guys thought it would be a smaller program and then you've got a lot of interest and excitement. Like if you could talk a little bit about the why of that like was it how you were doing the outreach? Was it you know like how you were pitching it? How you were structuring the the outreach? Like just interested in how you got to that success. So um those are my questions and thank you again. So I can uh speak to the faculty support and uh we we were really happy uh and excited that the high school faculty especially and the administration from the high school was so uh supportive of
our idea. Um obviously there was a new schedule in the high school this year that included these three new Tiger Tuesday sessions and we really didn't know what those were about but we did know that we wanted to go to C on those Tiger Tuesdays. And so immediately we reached out to Miss Fiorini, uh, Miss Woolly and I did, um, and she responded to us very quickly. Um, and was really able to give us an idea of how it would work if we had planned it on those Tiger Tuesdays. And from there, we did a lot of communicating with her, a lot of bugging her, asking her very simple questions. Um, but we really we got a ton of support from her. And then obviously Dr. Dubac and Mr. Maximum have been really amazing in getting this club and the awareness out and uh we obviously thank them so much for their support. But we would really like to say that the administration especially in the high school has been so supportive
um of this club and has really given us ideas and has helped us promote this club and get the word out to other students. Um, and so I think in those in those starting days, we sent a bunch of emails. We had a bunch of coordinating. Um, and we were really able to get all of our questions answered. Um, and that's how we came up with the structure for the program. And and we also the CCT administration obviously had to be willing to accept bus loads of high schoolers in um and have been very very supportive of this program too. >> Yeah. I think the great thing about our high school is that they're willing to support you and be on your team and take you far um as long as you are motivated and you kind of have that initiative. And I think that's exactly what Nikki and Ellie and Miss Williams Trudeau had and that's what got the ground running on this. And then touching on your second question kind of about that why
and how we acquired so many um students so quickly. I think the club fair was a really big was kind of the how we recruited so many so fast. And right before I remember being at that table, I was going between like three other three clubs and Miss Woolly kind of said, "Have that elevator pitch ready so that you can cuz high school students don't have a very a very um long attention span. You got you got to get them and you got to reel them in." So we kind of had a little elevator pitch to them and we' attract we'd attract groups at a time. And once groups started crowding around our table, I think that's what got other people um kind of interested, everyone's like, "Oh, what's this? What's this?" And so once we kind of had that elevator pitched down and we started pitching to our student to these students what it was about. And when we mentioned that volunteer hours were involved, that was the big that was the
big hook. Yeah. The big incentive that got people um really interested because there's not many clubs where you can um get volunteer hours and get a lot of volunteer hours. And so that was a really big a really big why and one of the reasons why so many kids joined. >> And I think another part of this Leila touched on it, but uh was these kids these students were so excited that they were going to be able to go and travel and see a bunch >> and go to CCT. A lot of them have siblings at CCT. A lot of them babysit for kids at CCT. So they were just really excited to take some time off from school and go down to C and just play. Um, and I will say at the club fair we became great business people. So it could be an elevator pitch for you. >> Also that idea of leaders and people kind of seeing that this club it's sure we have officers but everyone in this club is a leader in their own way. And I
think that's something that the students really value because in high school and when you're applying to colleges, it's really important to have those um to for colleges to kind of see you as a leader and how you are a leader in your community, in your school. And to see how this program has allowed everyone to become a leader in their own way and kind of take initiative um was really was really a >> yeah it was really a >> driving factor. >> Yeah. Driving factor. Um, one more thing that I would like to add is we this year, very unfortunately, we don't have any 12th grade students, but next year with every grade moving up one and incoming freshman, we expect this program to expand quite a bit more. So, we're looking forward to that. But with the the new students joining on and by word of mouth, they'll hear how amazing it is and they'll want to join in. And we have a nice mix of ninth graders, 10th graders, and 11th graders.
I can't say it's heavy in every in any one grade level. So, it's nice to see that that kind of diversity in grades, too. And all of those students, like the ninth graders are grouping with the 10th and the 11th graders, and so they get to interact with students of other grades, too. >> Sounds like three buses next year. So, I think we might >> maybe we will be able to do all >> there is a great >> It's nice to see also when the kids started they made it they might have had one idea of why they wanted to be part of this but it's really interesting to see as it unfolds through the year the changes of why they come. So, some of them did want certain things that maybe they were interested in credits or maybe they were interested in hanging with their own friends and being able to go there. Some of them really were excited to go back to home as they called it and they got to see their older their their
well not older let me not get older but their prior teachers and with that suddenly they got to meet new teachers and they got to see things that weren't there before and it almost became another layer of family. So, it looked like you were getting reunions. And it's really interesting to see when they get off the bus and they're in the first couple of times we did it, they were slowly getting off the bus and looking around and and trying to see things. And now they're just like straight through the building. They know where they're going. And it's almost kind of funny because their fans are waiting for them at the gates outside. I don't know if you, some of you were there saw it. And they're waiting as if this is a date that they're really impressed with. And the teachers are really excited, too. And we've been stopped multiple times. Why not my classroom? When are we going to have them? And they're requesting and
asking to see them. And they're happy to see that. And so to see the layer, it's almost like an onion that just keeps blooming and it's beautiful. >> I just want to say, wow. I mean, your presentation has blown us away. to piggy back on what Theo was saying. This is definitely one of the more engaging um presentations that we've seen specifically because as a board when we support the work of the district to expand on like the the schedule at the high school or anything like that, we hope that you know those spaces will be filled with things that offer opportunity for you to shine, which you're clearly doing in this in this role. um and to give back, which you're also doing. Um so I want to thank everybody for coming tonight. I'm not by any means cutting off comments, but I just wanted to get their comment in. And I just want to say we're really proud of you. So thank you. Thank you for being
here tonight. Thank you for taking up the night to be here. Thank you to everybody who is supporting this work. Um it's wonderful to even hear about it from your voices. Um so thank you. >> Thank you. THANK YOU. NO, I DID just a real quick comment. Um, because I've heard about this a lot through this year with the high schooler in my in my own house. Um, but it's been it's so nice to hear from hear how it was created, hear the real work that you guys have done to put into this and the way that you've been able to engage your peers to be so interested and to want to keep coming back. um cuz like you said it it is a really reciprocal um you know beneficial relationship for for both sides. Um so I think just thank you so much for for this program and I'm I'm so excited to see how it grows and expands next year. Um but it really wonderful the last word. >> Oh you want to put in the last word? Um
just want to say how inspiring your work is and you're you you have and you will be leaving a huge mark on not just the elementary school but on your fellow high schools and that's the thing you should be very very proud of. Um I know I am as a board very proud of the work that you guys are doing. I'm sure your your parents here are super proud and just keep up the great work. You have bright futures ahead of you. >> Thank you. >> Wanted to ask. >> Yeah. I just um I just wanted to mention that when I got the call regarding the need for transportation okay tell me give me the details and I thought oh my god I love that sounds like a wonderful program so then when I got the invitation for the learning walk I said to everyone in my office I said I don't care what is happening in this office make sure that I get there because I don't care much so I make sure I get to that learning walk And I was so
inspired by just forget about I mean your your coordination of activities, your planning, your commitment. Um I just I love the idea. We are human beings that thrive on connection, right? The more positive connections we make, the better shot we have. So I just love it. Thank you so much. I just want to add, you know, when we talk about leadership, one of the measures is legacy and the idea of being a part of work that's bigger than any one of us and will outlast any one of us. And so when we think about the impact that you're creating now, you're you're creating a legacy here that's uh incredibly special. And so I just want to say thank you. We're really proud. >> Thank you. >> Um congratulations. This was fantastic. And um you know one of the things that I was thinking about while you were presenting was like you know you took a challenge you saw like a need that was out there and you took a risk approach
other leadership try to pull together get support and then like you gave them a template that you know professionals use and then you kind of were like here we go and then one of the things that really struck me was like I think Leila you talked about how um all the students were involved and And you know, I looking at the pictures and like we've seen other presentations about um classes that have very diff different groups of students for a lot of different reasons and you guys, you know, mentioned that and it's really really hard to really create inclusive experiences um that really celebrate the whole community and people can see themselves in that and I think it's really beautiful that you've created this experience for a whole lot of people. So congratulations. Thank you. >> Right. I think I need to be the last one because um for me, Neil and I and Denise and Steve and a few of us and Rachel
also, we were all there for that um right thing. We're there for that learning walk. And I think the minute that I got there, I was like, "This is big. This is big." And for us, we were very glad that you're able to, you know, bring this to the board because one of our goals this year, um, as a board has been to really elevate and focus on student experiences so that the entire community can see what the benefits are of some of the things that you all have talked about in terms of having a schedule that allows that flexibility in terms of being in a small school district where you can literally go from the high school to the elementary school and back in a short period of time and accomplish so so much. I think for all of you just that day that at least for me the day that I was there what I saw in the classroom was I've known all these children here from when you were children now they're young
adults but it's like to see people that I think for us as a district as a family we've seen you grow up we've seen you come all the way to this point where now you are the leaders >> coming back to CCT where you first started was it was really really magical I think for me um as a parent and as a board trustee and just a person who's been involved in the schools to see that but also to see for you all this is Like for the three of you sitting here, it's junior year. It's like a tough year to be able to see you out there and the joy that you were experiencing doing Gaga and being on basketball court and just having that sort of opportunity to take a break from your day and then have that enjoyment and then shift it towards the instruction that we saw you doing in those small groups. Alison's absolutely right. It was like the the way that you were reaching each student, the way that the activities were designed to get the
kids standing up, to get motion, to engage. This type of leadership, it's not common. It was really, really remarkable. I think you all, it's like, you know, you've developed these strong teaching skills. You've developed these strong collaborative skills. And my favorite favorite thing about it is that as you have also said yourselves, every single person who is participating in this club is a leader. And it's wonderful to be able to see our students giving themselves that opportunity. this the way that you all have supported your colleagues has also been really exemplary. I think it's just fantastic work. I know we're all really proud of you and again, thank you so much for giving your time and for, you know, being here until 8:30 on a Thursday night and you have so much else on your plate. We just can't thank you enough. Thank you FOR you guys. >> Yes, please. It wasn't very good. >> Do you want pictures with the parents
behind?
>> Okay, my turn. >> Yeah. Oh, yeah. >> Can I ask for one more picture, though? Can you guys kind of turn around? I don't take a picture with the board in the back. Is that okay? >> Sorry.
Thank you. Thank you. THANK YOU GUYS. THANK YOU. WE appreciate you being here. >> Thank you, parents. >> Yeah, it was unfortunately a low turnout. Anyways, we just broke it into groups and talked about >> today.
for coordinating with both these students and and certainly opening us tomorrow. Uh I know and for Dr. Dubath taking the time to and for um our district for Bashia setting up the room and and and everything to to allow these two presentations tonight. I want to just take a moment and thank you all for doing that. I'M just going to make a quick uh change to the agenda if possible. Um I think I have to do that motion. I want to just move our boards to the end of the meeting if that's possible. >> Um so uh recommended action that um item 2.1 order be moved. Um, I forgot my computer's on the screen. Um, to the end of the consent agenda after item 6.21 second. >> Other questions? All in favor? I >> opposed abstain. Motion carries. So, returning to our idea. Moving back to reports, we're moving item 2.2, the 2026 2027 budget ports, building level and people personnel budgets. And for this, I will turn the
discussion over to Superintendent Walker. >> Thank you, Mona. Good evening again to everyone and thank you for everyone who is watching from home. I'll be brief because we have five uh phenomenal building leaders and our wonderful assistant superintendent PBS who are going to uh speak in some great detail about the various aspects of the budget presentation. But I just want to mention at the outset what I try to share each year about the budget which is of course it's a function of dollars and cents but it's also a demonstration of vision and of values. Um, and I encourage the community as they they hear these presentations tonight, uh, and look at the entire arc of the of the budget process, um, to pay particular attention to in a difficult budget year when we're not able to add new staff, how many new opportunities for students are still going to be added as a result of this budget. I think it's a really special
and unique thing. It's a testament to the outstanding work of the six people who will be presenting tonight as well as many, many, many, many others. Uh and you'll also see evidence of kind of the fruits of the labor and the work that's been done here over the past few years, the support from the board of education and the way that that's now translated into student success academically, socially and emotionally uh and really all aspects of the student experience. So thank you to everyone who's been involved in putting this together. Thanks to our building leaders uh for being here this evening and more importantly for leading the work. So I'm happy to turn it over to them beginning with our team at city team Harry and Craig. Thank you. And I will say that is a tough act to follow. >> I was literally going to say the same thing and it wasn't even going to be a piggyback. It was going to be at the
same time. >> Piggy back. Piggy back. And Anna got on the piggy back tonight, too. >> Um, but also I couldn't agree with Theo more. Like, of all the presentations you watch, that was truly the finest presentation. And I enjoyed all the, you know, the comments afterwards. That really is a beautiful thing. And that's why we're here and that's why we have the budget. So that I think that was a great way to start the night off >> as we work elbow to elbow. >> That's it. >> Thank you. So we want to thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight on the proposed 2627 budget. Our presentation tonight, as you can see on the screen, begins with a wordle. Wordle is something that a lot of our classroom teachers use when you want to describe a topic, describe a theme with many words. So if you look closely at the words on the tiger paw, those are our significant points of pride that we've had on our journey so far with our vision. Words
like culture, innovation, passion, multi-age, dynamic, thoughtful risk-taking, collaboration, scheduling, learning spaces, hiring, teacher leadership, instructional coaches, and even elbow to elbow are just some of the words that come to mind. Take a moment, read them over. There's a lot in there. So, >> I'm looking for >> me, too. No, I I just That was >> when we were brainstorming that did not >> It always comes up. >> I did give you that. >> So, we're ready for our next slide. So, this is just one of our standard slides that kind of breaks things down into those dollar and cents things that um you know really encompass the budget when you think of budget. But to Steve's point, we want to focus more on the what the budget supports. But just a couple of uh points on this slide. When you look at some of the differences in some of the adopted and proposed and the changes, um our curriculum and
development changes are mainly around uh PD opportunities that we want to offer more broadly to teachers and to teachers of different disciplines. Um we have recently had um some of our special area teachers, music, PE and art particularly requesting the opportunity to broaden their connections and broaden their um collegic circles in the state. So a lot of the state offered um PD are overnight and in different parts of the state. So we've accounted for travel and the ability to say yes to teachers attending that. Additionally, our um instructional coaches belong to regional collegic circles and those come at a price too. But again, we want to be leaders in this area but also have our teachers connected to other um colleagues in the region. Supervision changes are mainly around contractual um obligations. Teaching line, you'll see contractual, you'll see an addition of some um newer versions of some of the textbooks that
we use for our literacy instruction. and furniture. Um, our teaching and special schools budget code, there was an adjustment there and it also reflects summer salaries, school counseling. Um, the 2025 s budget was higher than we projected was higher than what we actually used. We've had a lane change in our um, psychological psychology services and our co-curricular. We have added a new co-curricular morning program in addition to our drama program that the fourth grade did for the first time this year with their success with Spongebob. So that's you know the nuts and bolts kind of thing. Um this pie chart just is basically the same information with what a percentage is allotted for. I think that one is is fairly self-explanatory >> there for just a moment. Over the years, our budget has supported the vision map. The proposed budget this year looks to continue this journey. This slide demonstrates the evolution of
the vision map at CCT. You can see the 24 25 our present year 25 and 26. But I'd like to focus on the third column 26 27. So some of the things we're focusing on this year is a kindergarten math and movement curriculum which will be new for next year. inviting parents in for learning walks, a new round of innovative learning spaces focused on our ICT classrooms, hands-on Hegrity resources. Those are hands-on resources for our students with early literacy. The creation of a CCT report card committee and the communication of the CCT comprehensive literacy framework, including a new literacy philosophy. Something we take a lot of pride in is the third and fourth grade ELA proficiency. Um if you look at this since we've started with our vision map, we've had a steady increase in both our third and fourth grade um assessment scores for the English language arts. And something we are very particularly
proud of is for the last year shown last year 2425 we had a 17% increase for our third grade over the state average and a 25% increase for fourth grade over the state average. Uh and one thing we do want to point out, we talk a lot about the vision map and what we're doing with the vision map and social emotional learning and about these innovative learning spaces and all these multi-age teaming. But at the end of the day, when we align to the vision map, you can see that we are increasing our academic rigor and our academic success. >> And I think it's important also to note, yes, this is focused on the ELA proficiency. Um, but our math scores have also gone up and are above state averages. And so that's something that we'll talk more in depth about, but I wanted to make sure that people realize that this is across disciplines, not just at Focus on ELA. >> Okay. And back in the fall, we were here talking
about the school climate data. As you know, our schools take the uh survey um two times a year. And one of the things we do want to point out is if you look at the numbers up on the board, our students feel emotionally safe when they're at school, right? They feel like they have a belonging. What a great example, as we talked about with our leaders of tomorrow with now you have students of all age groups feeling like they belong. Not only as you noticed the last one, feel like they had a trusted adult in the building, but now they have a trusted adult who's a student at another building. So, I can't wait to see what these numbers are going to look like next year when we go to do this survey. And that's one thing we're particularly proud about. I know Carrie and I believe strongly in when students feel safe and comfortable in school, in class, that's when great things happen. That's when they're taking those risks.
That's when they're willing to go the extra mile. So, we're very proud of those numbers and what it means for our students. >> I love this next slide. Um, this was put together earlier in the year when we were talking about a focus on student achievement, but I keep going back to this because in the center of everything we do is our students and their achievement is so important. But because of the budgets that have been supported over the past few years with the addition of additional professional learning, our you know push for thoughtful risktaking, our ITAB and interdisciplinary experiences, all of those things are kind of happening around student achievement, but they have allowed us to keep an eye on that at the same time as being able to say yes to some really amazing innovative new experiences. for our children. And you know, if we haven't hadn't changed our AIS and support staff, we wouldn't
have as many support people being able to say yes to programs like leaders of tomorrow or skills-based AIS groups or any of those types of things that come along with following the vision, but with that focus on student achievement. So this I just love this cuz it kind of really beautifully illustrates our journey and what's at the center of what we do. So what I did here was just we looked at the vision map. I wanted to just give some specific examples of how every decision we make, every new thing that we do, everything we are truly excited about at CCT aligns with the vision map. So for next year, the proposed budget will align with the vision map in the following ways. Um you'll see that it says research recess nature garden. We have since changed the name of that. Um it is now called the CCT nature space. We did not want it to be just focused on the concept of recess or use the word club in the title because it is not a
club. It's open to everybody. all classes, all students will have the opportunity to take advantage of that garden space. Um, and it's not just during recess, it's throughout the day. It really is an outdoor classroom, an extension of our building. Um, and we're very excited about what opportunities that will bring. our math and movement. Um it we've been making some investments in our mobile math mats um and literacy maths so that students can incorporate movement and physical activity into their learning. Um again we are looking at our master schedule again this happens a lot and we have different iterations but each time we do it it's with purpose it's with thought and it's with a goal in mind. So our master schedule next year will go from a 6 day letter cycle to a fiveletter day cycle. Um and we are making some changes to the way we present world language to our K through four students. Um with examine
with assessment and grading we want to look at the intention of our report cards and look at using our uh survey results that we sent out to families earlier this year to help guide what a future report card will look like. really excited about um and we mentioned it earlier um our integrated co-e classrooms and our ELELLL classroom will be getting some new innovative furniture and what we've asked our teachers to do is to really focus on when they're looking at classroom design and looking at classroom furniture is to do it through the lens of how will this new furniture improve my instructional practice. not let me look at this furniture and oh my gosh that looks so cool, that looks so fun or that looks, you know, um but more, okay, if we still are looking for ways to promote parallel teaching and station teaching in an ICT classroom, what do we need to put in place for them to be able to do that?
So, it's really through that lens of how will this improve our instructional practice? So, we're really excited about that. We're also um going to continue to make upgrades to the CCT playground which we know has been an ongoing point of discussion and we're excited about being able to do that. Um and we I have one of the things I did was put out a survey earlier in January about communication and transparency. We didn't get a huge amount of response on that. So, actually tomorrow's newsletter, we'll be reputting out the survey to solicit further information from the community so that we can make changes that are um to better suit our community needs. Um we've noticed recently an increase in teachers pursuing different field trips and making connections for those field trips to um curriculum in the classroom. It's we were just talking about it today. We are seeing a huge increase in each grade level wanting to take
different trips. I just approved today fourth grade being able to go to the um Fair Mountain Zoo. They're reading a book about whether it makes sense to have zoos or not. Is it cool or is it helpful? They're going to be reading a novel as a entire grade about that and then going and seeing what the zoo is like at Fair Mountain. It's a rehab zoo. So that's a neat spin on a zoo and it'll help them with their p persuasive writing unit. So again, these abilities to say yes to field trips, collaborations, the startup, the tiger club, the club theater moving into its second year. Um so these are all areas that you can look at that really focus on the pursuit of passion and exploration, reimagining schooling, and creating a culture of well-being. And we are very excited to have um the opportunity to present these aspects of the budget that are not dollars and cents, but what really impacts our students and their experience?
Oh, >> I can we do questions for C now? Yeah. >> Yeah. I think it's easier to do it right after the school because it's fresh in our heads. >> Anyone? I have a few. I'll start. You guys want to >> um I know that you mentioned that one of the points that you were going to continue to work on was the the 20 and looking at the slide the 26 27 one of them I saw was monthly principles coffees. >> Um are those only held in the morning or they held different? >> It varies. It varies depending on the topic. So some are in the We've done two evening ones so far this year. Um, and we've done two, we have a third morning one coming up, but they are all video. And the first thing we do before we even um, start to prepare for those principal coffees is we solicit the topics from the community. And then once we've identified a topic for a specific date, we send out a questionnaire like a survey for parents so that even if you
can't attend, but you have a question, your question is incorporated into our presentation. But we do vary it because we've heard from both sides that a working parent has trouble coming during the day, but at night parents have trouble getting away with their by having young kids at home. So that's why we switch it back and forth. >> Yeah. Um and then you said that you were moving to a 5day letter schedule and that there would be a change regarding the world language. So could you just >> Yeah. So we've been having a lot of sorry >> a lot of focus and we've been actually working with a consultant from Boseis on the model of an elementary world language program and our focus has been on less time at one given sitting period and more frequency. So by the with the program that we're proposing for next year, I don't want to say it's a final yet because we're still working on it internally, but what we're leaning
toward is going back to more what we had prior to specials um world language being incorporated as a special. It'll be uh more frequency, shorter duration of time for each period. So, a class may see Senor or Coco a couple days in a row for a duration of time and then have some time off while another class rotates in. Um, and it'll be pushing in instead of pull out. So, the um, Senor Popoka will be going into the classrooms collaborating with the teachers more. It will not be a prep time for teachers. teachers will remain in the classroom so that co-eing can happen where it's applicable and senior can connect more to the curriculums of each individual classroom. So again it'll be more like a 20inut period with more frequency >> which was how it operated a number of years ago. Correct. Part of it just for a little historical background. Part of what drove us to having spe uh world language added as a special was because
of there was a period of time a few years ago where we had six sections of most grade levels and so having a sixth pull out special based on the number of grade classes we had made more sense. We're now down to more of a five. So it it actually the timing is perfect because we don't have to worry about that outlier class all the time. >> It will just happen with third grade once a week. >> And my last question is just regarding field trips. Um are those happening still across the grades so that every classroom in that grade is having the same experience? >> Not always the same. Not there is usually one common one that every class say everyone is going to the Katona Museum. now. But if a teacher or two teachers, like I have two second grade teachers that came and said, "Can we do this together?" I'm not saying no to them. So there is the universal experience on the grade level, but if somebody's doing something that's a
little bit more passion based or connected to something that they're doing in their room and there's a field trip that they can do to enhance what they're working on, I've not said no to that. I'm sorry, just to follow up to that is when when that happens, are are there still sort of like I guess equitable numbers of of those types of experiences? >> They may or may not be in the building like they may not be leaving the building for same experience, but each class is doing things that are unique to that class, but there is the universal experience. But I I have not sat down and said that if you know Mr. Shapiro and Mr. McCarth miss want to take their class here. Then the rest of the four of you have to come up with another place to take your kids. So they all have the one universal experience but we have not mandated that everybody do the same number if it's connected to something they're doing individually in their
room. >> I guess the question would be if you know thinking about like as we're looking ahead because this is something that's come up for us. I think we have talked about at C. It would be interesting to think if there's like a mechanism to think about how teachers could you know have like latitude with like the things that they want to do but maybe ensure that um across classroom students do have equitable experiences because I think you know just like thinking back about it's like in the olden days when my kids read CBT there were we were at a different place in a different time so there were a lot more of those sort of universal like signature CBT experiences and I think it's good to have grown and like moved away from like the things that we always used to do because we don't have to do it that way anymore. Um, but I I think one of the questions that we're certainly hearing from in the
community is this idea of like why does this class get to do something in our class and and I think it would be I think from my perspective just thinking about like that student experience. Um, it might be interesting to see if there's a way to, you know, not make it rigid but sort of like look at it as an opportunity for teachers to really lean into like saying like this is something that I've been wanting to do. giving that little bit of a prompt. Maybe that would help um sort of balance that out because I think that is something that's come up in our conversations here before and I I think I would say for me I think it's worth looking into as well. >> I think that cuz this is the first year that I've seen every grade level be more enthusiastic about getting back out and taking field trips. And I think that one of the ways that's been kind of posed for now and for the public to hear is that we have some newer teachers that
are not familiar with the area. They're checking out new things and kind of like piloting it. Like if they're going here, we're going to come back and let the rest of our team know how this went and how it connected. And you know, I'm not opposed I'm certainly not opposed to having equal ex number of experiences, but at the same time, I don't want to hold back from somebody trying something new, coming back and providing feedback and and their opinion and how did this go? Was it worth it? That type of thing. Yeah, the partnership idea sounds like a good solution to that. Like as you said, like having having you know partner classes do something like that. It's a great way to sort of expose people. >> Yeah. A follow up to that question. Um even we've been having these pilot programs now run for a few years have within CCT has there been a kind of assessment of which ones were huge successes that over time we want to
say okay well this this worked really well for this class can we should we be thinking about standardizing that for the grade >> you talking about for field trips >> any passion pursuit that the teachers have kind of led over the last few So for for field trips I would say this is the first year like we're living it as we speak with some of our newer faculty trying different things. So that is hard to answer. But as far as some of the passion pursuits, what started out as just a passion pursuit for one teacher, I'll give an example was the maple sugar ring with library. That was Renie collaborating with one teacher at one time. Now it's Renie does it with the entire second grade because it was successful and because other teachers saw, oh my god, that was so cool. That's a great experience. So to your answer to your question, yes, I would say that um the another example that just flitted into my head and left was um
>> well, I would jump right ahead to the IT. As you know, we're now we're in year four of the IT and that has really kind of changed and been revised that started out as passions of our specials teachers and how they were going to deliver that passion to grade levels, then work as a whole grade levels. So once again, that entire grade level had that same experience which was kind of uniform across the board. It just happened at different times. And of course, as you've known, you've known, we've had reiterations of that each and every year. And I think one of our other, you know, passions when K and I started our passion was we wanted to bring all of our students together K to 4 and our house system. And once again, that has developed and changed a little bit every year. So I think that's the beauty of these things. We see how they work and then we kind of see where it takes us. Uh, one thing I do want to mention about
the field trips. I remember last year when we were presenting, we talked about one of our schedule changes also and we removed the blocks in our schedule last year. So for this current school year, the only thing that students have scheduled is their lunchtime and when they go to specials and of course starting that time of the day. So throughout the day, there no longer is an ELA block or a math block. So the teachers have a lot more say in what they do during the day. So it's a lot easier now to plan those field trips because they have that flexibility in the day. Oh, I'm going to miss this. I can make it up or guess what? I can combine the social studies in an ELA lesson. So it kind of lends to taking more trips and also you know teaching in a more um say um uh interdisiplinary fashion. Thank you. Um so is is there a standardized evaluation process that see the the building leaders go through
to assess to say yes something that that worked well let's talk about it more next year >> I don't know if it's standardized I know we take we do surveys we take feedback from the staff we take feedback from um students uh and it's really driven by especially when we talked about passion like what does her staff want to do or Even um I know that Robin mentioned with our house system, a lot of our house activities are driven by a student pastor, what they would like to see their house do or what they want to present to their house. So as far as I think we're kind of evaluating that with the house system almost on a you know month-to-month basis with what these students are coming up with their passions or with it we had a lot of say on the-fly evaluation you know this lesson really worked or you know what we learned about this for our next collaboration or I want to try this but I want to try it with an art class next
time instead. So, I think a lot of it is kind of we're learning as we're going, but it certainly takes into consideration the student feedback and the staff feedback. >> Thank you. >> It's all about engagement. >> Yeah. question. >> I have one just one question which I sort of I think Carrie sort of answered already, but I just wanted to comment to say I think in terms of the um the increase in budget for curriculum development supervision, it's great to hear that we're making opportunities for our teachers available to go out and be able to do the work that they want to do beyond the district. I know there's been a lot of internal building collaboration and sort of like, you know, teamwork in terms of informing each other best practices. But I think what I've heard just being for example on the literacy committee this year and also having been at CBT Still team planning council which I was able to attend today is that there
is definitely like a a not I don't want to say hunger because I would suggest that it's like a deficiency but it's like there's a strong desire I think on the part of our teachers to also get out and like learn more and continue to improve the way that they're working. So, I think it's wonderful that we're able to budget for that, but it would be really nice to hear next year as we get a little bit further along if you feel like there's some highlights or things people haven't been able to do before. Like when you came back and told us about the Hegerty training and all those specifics, I think it would be great for the board to be able to hear sort of like where that's going. And um and then just the other thing I think really quickly because I think you know folks have been sort of like curious about like you know like how do these things get funded? How do they get developed? Um the question um one of the questions
I had just looking at the budget for school and library media is what does that sort of like cover? Does that cover just mostly like the library itself? Does it cover classrooms? Like how does that exactly work in terms of how you guys budget >> that the budget for the library and our my library media budget is strictly for books and materials for the library. Right. So our in a a different budget line is uh each grade level has classroom book designation. So if a teacher comes to me and says I need these books for my classroom library that's separate from the C library budget. Um, but 100% of the budget for the CCT library goes to either CCT books >> or the materials to fix the books when they break like the book tape and those materials. Um, she also uses some of her budget for the bookmarks that the kids get when they go into the library. But it is 100% handson books and materials. there's no program there's no technology
um aotment of our CCT budget for library used for those purposes. >> So on that just wondering and maybe this is a good segue to some of the things going on in the library with our um renovations. There are other things I know that I believe that are now in the library right media printers, 3D printers so on which gives additional opportunities to you know to the books that are there is that the cost of that for those supplies and materials within media or comes from somewhere else. I can honestly tell you that since I've been the principal at CCT, I have not used any of the CCT budget for anything other than so I can say that like our Ozobots and the stuff for coding and that comes from a lot of grants that that we've received. The 3D printers I believe I don't want to be misqued on this came from technology budget not a CCT budget. Um, please don't if I misquoted that. I know it did not come out of my CCT library budget.
Um, but I think it's also important to to share that we are very very proud of holding on to what we as adults in the room would consider traditional library from when we were kids. You went into the library, you sat on the rug, you read a book, you had a discussion, and then you went you picked your own book off the shelf. We have held on to that at CCT because of how much we value our students having tangible books in their hand sitting on the rug and being read to and having discussions about story elements and character development and even things like this is the spine of the book, this is the intro of the book, all of that stuff. Um, so the first half of a library period for every student in every grade consists of what we would refer to as traditional library skills. Beyond that, we pride ourselves in that our library has become like a maker space. It's like the precursor to the PVC indie lab where kids do that for a
full period. So, in our library and with the renovations, it's lent itself to be able to be both that innovation space and traditional library space. Um, so when kids do things like 3D printing or working with paper and pen and glue and scissors to create a craft or learning how to do finger knitting or work using hex bugs or that clay that doesn't get all over the place, um, kinetic >> clay, you know, they get time to for free exploration while they're in there, too. Um, and I really love that we designed a library around the ability to still capture that traditional value of books and library and kids walking out of the library every single time they go with books but also having chances for free exploration and creativity. And another part of the library and what Renie does is for our K to4 curriculums, the teachers will let Renie know what she's working on and she'll pull books from the library, put them on a cart and
bring them down to the grade level of the teacher. So, not only the teacher, excuse me, not only are the children in there choosing books on a weekly basis, but there's kind of uh non-stop, you know, back and forth with Renie and our teachers. Whatever they need gets delivered to their room. So, a lot of the budget goes to supporting the curriculum through, you know, text. >> I'm sorry, just because you're talking about the library so much, I just want to say I want to say how lucky you are to have a gas in that room right now. She's a very gifted second grade teacher and it's because of her STEM interest that she was able to move out of the classroom and every student at CCT has the opportunity to work with her both with traditional books but always just like trying to find the newest and greatest, you know, hands-on thing to do. She's such a talented teacher and educator. So, um I'm sure that budget is
in good hands in her like anything that she chooses to do in that room. So, so um I have a question that's a little bit t like I was also reflecting on the previous presentation by the students. So, um there's the new garden space that's being developed and it seems my impression is the initiative has been really spearheaded by a group of parents and um there's going to be a number of parent volunteers involved with it. Um we have a number of students who are volunteering to spend time in you know the C classroom. This is great. Um I appreciated you shared with us the guidance like the the training that all the volunteers were going to go on. Um, so this is like this is like so like whenever you have a situation where you have possibly like hundreds of people being involved with a thing despite our best intentions there can be that person that does something very weird and inappropriate like I've seen that in my
figured out like despite you know so I'm just wondering like what kind of guard rail are there any guard rails in place like when we have other people coming in and developing some of the curriculum or like some of the like the students are devel. >> Absolutely. So, and I I hesitate to use the word curriculum because really what the garden uh is providing are some suggested activities seasonal that teachers can use the garden space for. So, there's no curriculum. >> Okay. Thanks for clarifying. Yeah, I want to make sure we've called it a curriculum for lack of a better word, but then I'm realizing that it's being come across like it's a curriculum that is set. It's not. So, um, and I did link it in the answer to some of the questions. It's literally like a garden guide. Like if at this time of the year if you're studying this, this is what you could do in the garden. um it it is aligned to standards
so that again there's always that backup of this connects to what I'm doing because but it is not a curriculum there's no CCT nature space curriculum um and as far as the guidelines for if a parent or a volunteer or something go there is in the uh operational guide clear set like if this happens this happens immediately if this happens this happens immediately um I have read through the operational guide, tooth and nail. The other day, I sat there with a small packet of post-it notes. Everything that I was questioned, there's a whole section that I wanted I'm going to go over with Christine Martins, our nurse, to make sure she's in alignment with the step. Like, if a kid gets a splinter, what are we doing? If a kid trips over a ledge and scrapes their knee, what are we doing? So every possible scenario that we can think of, we have created the scenario. What's the next step and how are we going to
address that? >> I would have been the kid in both of those scenarios. >> And you would have been stung by a bee by then too. So >> I just also want to clarify I'm not in I definitely do not want to insinuate any of these wonderful volunteers are actually doing it. >> No, you never you never do know. I mean, we used to have car volunteers in the cafeteria every single day. I mean, every single week serving breakfast. I mean, serving lunch before our food service, right? So, and I'm looking at moms that are sitting around the table. So, even with that, there were times, >> there were times when we did have to step in and say what we just witnessed, >> this would be the appropriate way to do it or next time you're here, please make sure you're following this protocol. So, it's not new to us. My point is that it's not new to us to have volunteers in our building interacting with our students and having to keep a very close
eye on making sure that everything stays appropriate, stays within what the purpose that they're there for. So, that's not something that's new to us. Um, but I can tell you that if and when you have, you know, a free Saturday morning with a cup of coffee and you want to read the operational guide, it literally has >> I look through it. every thing that we could have thought of together as far as even like a troubleshooting and a you know anticipating what could possibly happen, we've tried to address. >> Thank you. >> If in reading that any of you recognize something that we may not have addressed, please by all means say could you take a look at this or did you think about that because we're being as thorough as we can to make sure that everything goes well but open to uh feedback and suggestions for sure. It could be an interesting space for our soon to be um adopted everywhere New York State standards on climate
education as it came before right so it's like if you've got a space you got a place and I will tell you that if you haven't seen it already it already looks amazing and the next two weekends are huge for weekends we I stare out my window all day and go I can't believe that this has happened so efficiently and so beautifully and it That's the magic of watching even the kids out there dedicating their time after school with their parents is it's heartwarming. It's amazing. >> Aren't you glad we switched off? >> Yeah, I switched offices. I get a bird's eye view which is why we have it there too for oversight and to be right there at the uh it was funny the other day kids were in there helping after school and I just opened my window said hello talked to them about what they were doing. I mean it's it's right there. So that was intentional. >> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you both. >> I think in the spirit of our middle
school wellness, we're going to declare this seventh inning. And I'm going to tell everyone that we got to stand up. We got to get up, guys. Got to shake it out. We got to be sure we're attentive. Deep breath. I won't make you do like a mood meter check in, but we just want to make sure we're ready for >> some. Yeah, I appreciate that. >> Stretch and it has certainly been a year of um trans transition um and continued growth at at PDC. Um but our goals have remained consistent, which is exciting. So, we want um to continue to emphasize our our goal of every student feeling a sense of belonging, feeling challenged um feeling that they have a voice and have opportunities to explore their curiosities. So, when we're looking at the 2627 proposed budget, um you'll first probably notice that there is an increase in the teaching special schools line um which is attributed to our summer camp offerings and we are really
excited to bring those back and offer that summer programming again. Um so, we have waiting lists already for many of the um summer camp offerings and we're really appreciative uh to the community for making that possible. um I can defer to me some of the specifics, but COVID grants, right, have have covered that um previously. And so now that's returning to the the general budget line. Um but everything else you'll see there is is quite consistent. Um but we can speak to a couple of uh specifics in a second. You'll notice on the pie chart demo, I think um teaching right accounts for a majority of our budget at at PDC and we are very proud of that. Um, so there's nothing more important to us than who we're teaching, what we're teaching, how we're teaching it, and of course, who is teaching it. So, our instructional coaches have done a tremendous job um at PBC this year as their first year in in
that role. Um, and we're really excited about what the future holds for our faculty under their their leadership, too. Um, so that professional collaboration, the curriculum development um that has been going on all year is something really to be proud of. instructional coaches have implemented um teacher tip Tuesdays, coffee with the coaches, right? We're doing spark talks at faculty meetings and all of that has really helped to create a culture that prioritizes not just um who and what we're teaching but really emphasizing how we're teaching it. And I think um the instructional coaches have an open lab design in their classroom that really encourages visitors and allows everyone that flexibility or allows the coaches really the flexibility to push into um various grade levels, content areas um throughout the building. So we are pretty excited about all that. The rest of it is pretty self-explanatory. Um we
are also really um proud of our strong academic foundation, right? that consistent growth that we're seeing and a and a multi-year pattern of increasingly strong performance. Um it's particularly gratifying and reassuring to see that our ELA growth is not isolated to one cohort, but rather evident across multiple grade levels. Um we're excited to share some math data with you all very soon as well that that looks very similar. Um and so just a quick shout out too to three of our um seventh grade students who recently qualified for the state level competition at first in math and I've been invited to Albany to compete up there. So more to come on that um but we also believe there's really a direct correlation between the behaviors that promote learning and wellness at PBC. um our passion pursuits, our advisory um and of course sound classroom instruction um as well as experiences happening outside the classroom um that
really are attributed to this um sound test results that we're seeing here. So in addition to some solid scores, our students are demonstrating how they are becoming independent um motivated learners right through elective offerings, passion pursuits, their involvement in co-curriculars, intercolastic um sports. Shout out to two of our destination imagination teams, right? Who are qualifying for globals. Um so we're we're really always shining for our students to display consistent work ethic, um persistence, active participation in their classroom activities and discussions and it obviously pays off in so many aspects throughout our entire school community. So that is pretty awesome. Um academic success, sorry, academic access as well as success is really a priority and so we have been especially attuned to that this year. um as it was the first year of algebra for all in eighth grade um
and that is um going well in addition to the first year of science 8 being offered as well. So we have built-in support systems for success to ensure that all students are maximizing their potential especially in those two areas. Um that inquiry approach in science has really led to some great collaboration and experiences as many visitors had saw had seen at the um celebration in the the gym. Um crossgrade level um lessons around solar system and space exploration where our eighth graders are teaching our fifth graders. We've had 11th graders in our fifth grade classrooms. There's a lot of really exciting stuff going on. So um we're proud of those continued efforts um especially around the interdisciplinary experiences in humanities. Um we've been working hard with teams um across all the different areas to explore and create opportunities to continually integrate curriculum um wherever possible whether that's in unit design,
lesson planning or experience. And so there's certainly this enhanced um attention to research, writing, reading and and that is obviously um very clear through our ELA proficiency. um US News and World Report um shared with us this year that 75% of students at PDC scored at or above the proficient level for math and 73% scored at or above level for reading. And so we were named a best middle school by US News and World Report, ranked number 209 in the state of about um probably just over 3,500 middle schools throughout the state. So very exciting and and aligned with that growth for sure. In terms of our school climate um at PDC, right, we're always wanting to build momentum year overyear. Um and our performance demonstrates that effectiveness of those instructional strategies that we were we were talking about, right? Being near the top in the region is is certainly a point of of pride. It sets a a nice benchmark,
right? um for us to not only sustain but to surpass and to keep an eye on the future and that continued growth. And so when we reflect on those those benchmarks um like Omar was talking about before, right? Having some kind of you know standardized process in place to really evaluate and cyclally look at all of this stuff is going to be crucial to not only celebrating the growth but making sure we're we're recognizing all those small wins along the way. Um and continuing to offer explicit and targeted instruction based on that data. Um so we want to monitor progress. We want to provide enrichment. We want to provide intervention right as as needed. And we're going to continue to do that with a pretty status quo budget um as we have set up. And that seems to be working well. So we are proud obviously of our students, their growth. Um and we're happy that they're not just tested but but supported. And I think in
thinking about that support, we think about inclusion and belonging and and what an important role that plays um in middle school overall. Our advisories of course um continue to include the connection circle as a commonplace feature of all of those meetings. Um promoting that sense of belonging um really allowing us to have important learning uh lessons and discussions regarding acceptance, empathy, right, to to empower each student um to provide um a setting where their voice is really heard is is an important part of our work. Um we know the research on restorative circles right clearly demonstrates that this practice can be correlated to an improvement in student behavior which is always fun at the middle school academic achievement and of course school safety. So we want to um keep that at the the forefront of our work. Our teachers also value the the uh connection circle and the restorative
practice. Um they're using that frequently at faculty meetings. I think all of them actually. um and in in the classrooms. Um so strong peer relationships, emotional visibility, and supportive adult environments really are the key drivers of of student well-being in all four grades, which we talked about in um in the winter when we talked about that school climate data for sure. Um and I think we also wanted to uh talk a little bit about a new addition this year for the principal advisory committee. Um, we've had some focus groups in place as well as our electives being new this year. Um, and and we're really very successful and we're proud that the district was able to support our staff in pursuing their passions going back the last few years because those are the things that really led to these amazing course creations for our elective offerings. Um, students also had a say in what they wanted to explore
and how they wanted to pursue some things. And um we look forward to expanding those options and opportunities in 2627. Um we really hope to probably blend those experiences as well um both the electives and the passion pursuits uh next year. And so really just allowing them to continue to connect um with their interests, figure out who they are, what they like, and um give them some time and space to explore something that they love. We attribute um our teaming model at the middle school um the PBIS work, our behavioral expectations, our alliance with the ruler um program uh clubs, modified sports, town hall meetings, the multi-graded advisories, all to impacting our data in a positive way. And so the real return on investment when we're talking about budget is that our students are thriving. um and while they're here at the middle school and they leave us with a strong academic uh preparation, with confidence, with
curiosity, um collaboration skills, and and hopefully a passion for learning. Um so student voice and and agency are really important. We're thrilled to have a a studentrun middle school dance committee this year um that collaborated directly with our PTA as well as our right student council, the PAC, those focus groups really trying to enhance their voice. Um that's what's elective course cataloges right newspapers all all the fun things. So as we look towards the 2627 um school year this budget is simply not about just maintaining what we have but about sustaining and strengthening what makes PBC such a special place to learn and to grow. And so it reflects our commitment to ensuring every student feels that sense of belonging that they feel challenged um and have opportunities to explore. So the investment that we make directly um supports those experiences, those relationships um of course the
instruction that drives both the strong performance and of course that that vibrant school culture. So our students are not only achieving at at high levels, they're developing the confidence, the curiosity, and the skills they need uh for the future. So, we're excited for the community's support, continue to build on that momentum, and um ensure that every student at PDC is is seen, supported, and inspired to reach their full potential. And I think the rest of that is pretty self-explanatory. Okay. >> Thank you very much for that, Nicole. Um I did have a quick question. And I was just looking as I was looking at this last slide on the evolution of PBC. Um I did see on on humanities a middle school seal of civic readiness and I was wondering if you could tell us a little bit more about that. >> A little bit very much still in its infancy but um we had a lot of our humanities teachers um were at Booies at
uh some professional development and reached out to many of us in the room about their excitement um about this opportunity and how we were kind of poised perfectly for it. So, um, we've kind of start that initial research and something that they really interested in in pursuing um, at the middle level and so speak more to that like how it would blend right into the high school for sure. Um, but being able to kind of give them a little bit of a head start on some of that. >> That's great. >> Yeah, that's exciting. Thank you, you got it. >> Staying on the same slide, um, the last bullet you have assessment and feedback. Um, can you just speak a little bit more about what what you envision with that? Yeah. So, I think this year we've started to have a lot of those conversations about what um sound assessment looks like, what feedback cycles might look like. Um we've dedicated a lot of faculty meeting time
to those concepts. Um a lot of that builds off of the district committee work that we've been doing as well. Um and so really just kind of bringing it to the forefront, asking ourselves really important questions like what does it look like? Um what is sound practice? What is best practice? Um what are we doing that's working really well? giving um teachers an opportunity to collaborate around um some of those things and think about what we're doing and and how our practice is operating and um you know think about what the high school is doing, what CCT is doing and making sure that there's a K12 alignment there and that we feel good about what success really looks like in middle school and how we are defining that um and through mostly those tools of assessment. >> Thank you. Um I guess just one question that popped up for me and thank you also Nicole. I think you anticipated a lot of our
questions with just the detail that you provided on all this is really helpful. Um >> uh I guess >> two two things that you mentioned were sort of like new offerings this year. Um the electives and the principal advisory. So have you have you have you gotten a sense in terms of like your polling and feedback of students on the electives like how did those sort of hit and how they how do they sort of hit for like the entire school community? Because I think if I remember correctly right the way that you had it set up was that it was going to happen sort of in between a little bit in between was originally in between marketing periods but maybe it wasn't anymore. >> It didn't land that way entirely and ended up on the half the half days in February. >> So it's a maybe use a day where it was going to be a condensed schedule anyway. It was a great use of a half day I think. But could you tell us a little
bit just about because that was a new thing I think for last year and I don't know that you might not be ready of course to debrief. I don't know if you could even just share anything anecdotal right now. >> Yeah absolutely. I think we're having some conversations with staff. Um the information we've collected from and the feedback we've collected from students was positive. >> Of course, there's definitely a few who didn't get like their first choice and they're not happy about that. Um so we want to make sure that maybe we break up some of our teacher groups to do additional offerings so we can offer more um so kids have more of a choice and a more uh greater opportunity to get into maybe their first choice or their first two opposed to their top three. Everyone landed in their top three. Um but of course if we can do better on that we will. Um so we're we're talking about the structure and the logistics
around that. So how we can um rearrange you know teacher groups and parents to make sure we offer more things. Um we're also trying to think about how often we want to do that and this blending of the elective offering with the passion pursuit. And so um again still in its infancy um we're going to figure out a bunch of things um in terms of all of our transitions. So, we want to think about our scheduling as well in terms of um right now we have a separate advisory schedule and a zero period schedule that we've been using for passion pursuit and I think we might be primed to combine some of those um and create this in my head what I've called an orange block um but create an orange block to just um implement and leave that the same way as um and again with our six day cycle the BDF days um F days could be an orange block it would not change the schedule we would still have the same six day
cycle that we would um but be able to um offer different things at that time. We could offer electives, we could offer passion pursuits, we could offer um right clubs if we wanted to. We could um continue advisory and that would allow maybe fewer offerings but for a longer time. So we would still be able to meet all of that um and not create another schedule. I think what we've been doing over the last few years is right to meet those needs. We create it. If you build it, they will come and if you build it, they will come. And so we've created more and more and more. And I think we're primed right now to be able to say, "Hey, we might not need more. We could be a little bit more intentional, a little bit more strategic about aligning some of those." >> Thank you, that's good information. I know some of these questions are sort of like budget tangential, but this is one of the rare opportunities that we get to
sort of get that view of like >> what are you doing across the school. So, thank you for your patience with questions that are a little like, you know, not quite numbers related. >> Absolutely. I have another question along those lines with respect to um algebra for all and science in in this year. Have you found uh that you've needed to rally for student supports? I mean it's just it was such a huge undertaking. Yeah. >> Um so I just wonder like kind of supporting students or did you find that everybody's just kind of like rising to the same level? >> Nope. I think we've um you know I I think in the past we've always been somewhere it predates me but I'd say 82 to 80 87% of our kids were taking algebra and 99% of that was you know passing the regions and doing very well. Um, so that 15%ish, right, are are kids maybe who wouldn't have necessarily been in or have elected to be in algebra um
are probably struggling, right, that they're they're maybe not as motivated, not as um foundationally strong in in those areas. So, so then yeah, there's a few that we're keeping an eye on for sure. Um Mr. Reeri and Mr. Schmidt, um Miss Jameson, Miss Gendin, and Miss Brioli have made an amazing team. um they've actually maximized that lab time that we have. So what we were able to do this past year was um keep the labs time in place. We no longer needed it for living environment, but we added for algebra. So every eighth grade student gets an additional touchback uh period of every six day cycle of additional um algebra time. In addition to that, we were able to look at students individual schedules and say, "Hey, you have um XYZ day, you know, time in your schedule where you can do some small group pull out." So, we were able to do that as well. Um, and Miss Fry spearheaded a lot of that work. Um, which was super, you
know, helpful and I think really focused in on some of the foundational gaps that maybe they were seeing that we needed to address and we're at the point right now where we're kind of phasing that back. They're in pretty good shape. Um, and so we'll we'll roll from there. Um, but yeah, I think we were able to be responsive and and use the time that we had to to meet them where they are. >> That is amazing. Thank you. That was my It was always my concern. >> Thank the team for sure. >> It was always my concern. Um, so it's wonderful to hear that you're addressing all of that and that >> students are thriving. Just an observation and this is both for CT BBC maybe also the high school but what strikes me here is that the things that you've talked about are really not as superintendent said not dollar items but what they are is kind of a refinement for increase in doing things for students and the
initiatives and the um and the um desires of faculty and staff to meet those needs and think about what would work >> and what would work best and then of course everybody reviewing and refining. And I guess what we're going to be talking about in this and future budget cycles is kind of how do you do more with when you don't have more. >> And I'm I just want to applaud what occurred so far that that's that's the focus of what's being brought to us and brought to the community. >> Thank you. Thank you so much. Yeah, thank you. >> Last but not least, so similarly um to PBC and CT, we'll start with our budget overviews slide in the circuit dollars and cents. So some of the key changes you see here um include an increase in curriculum development and supervision and that accounts for our two uh stipended teacher leadership positions, the seal of biiteracy coordinator and our tiger Tuesday coordinator. Um so for
those of you who know the history or seal of biiteracy program, we've had a significant growth over many years um in that program and this stipened teacher leadership position allows us to bring it to a full program coordination role. It's really welld deserved. And similarly for Tiger Tuesday, the um the work that goes into coordinating programs like this um can't be done by one person or two people at the scale that we're doing. So this these two positions allow full programs to come to fruition. Um that increase also accounts for things like the project lead the way curriculum which you'll hear more about later in the presentation hosted workshops and training to support our new courses and guest speakers and special programs. So other changes you'll see here um the slide there's a new uh line item for teaching a special program that accounts for our summer programming um including our college
application boot camp that used to come from some co funds that's now being folded into our regular budget and the rest of the changes are all due to salary and lane changes for the various contracts and on this next slide you can see the same similar to the other schools the overall budget represented in a different way with obviously the bulk of our budget teaching. So with that sort of overview of the line items and allocations, I'm going to turn it over to Erica to talk about how the budget allows the vision to come to life. Thank you. So starting with this slide, thinking about what Neil was just saying about how we're thinking about doing more with the same. Um, and I think that really looks back to all of our planning over the last four years and how we've been able to systematically add along the way to prepare for where we are now. So this slide here represents that continued upward trajectory as a school
community. We've been in building intentionally yeartoear. And if we think back to 2324, which is the previous to this slide, that was really our planning year. We were putting the bones in place, making those structural organizational buckets, creating a staffing plan so that we would be able to bring this vision map to fruition. So in 2425, 2526, it was all about expansion and implementation. That's where we were hiring the necessary staff, rolling out these programs and courses, strengthening our programs across all the departments and building that consistency and refining. Um now as we look to 2627 this is our third year of implementation. So this year is really critical because it's about evaluation reflection and further refinement and deepening the work of what we have already established. So our goal is to ensure that we're well positioned for the next three years of growth and innovation. So just wanted to point out
when we talk about evaluating our programs we're looking at these multiple data points including our student experience. are front and center with engagement, access, the sense of belonging, our staff feedback, what's working, where we need to adjust, parent input, certainly that partnership and community perspective is necessary, standardized test data, your regions exams, AP data, other benchmarks, and how we're aligning with the roll out of New York as buyers. So, we've said this um from year to year that it's not about starting over. It's about building on what we've already established here. So, this is hopefully to ensure that our long long-term vision is sustainable and it's responsive and centered on student success because that's really the most important thing. That's why we're here. So this slide shows the evolution of the implementation of the vision map over the three years. And just to kind of
connect it to again what Neil was saying with the dollars and cents that the budget supports these programs through teacher salaries which cover positions like instructional coaching which are key part of our vision implementation that we also have professional development costs associated with any new courses project lead the way AP institutes whenever we add new AP courses the professional development that goes into building thinking classrooms the seals of by literacy and environmental sustainability which is up and coming. Um all of those things obviously funds are needed for them. So we'll speak more about those programs as we go. But if you look across I know the font is small because there's a lot of stuff going on. Um but it if you follow across you can see how they've developed over the years. And so I'm going to highlight a couple of them while we're on this slide and then we'll go into
some more detail on some of the slides um that follow. So the evolution of the instructional coaching team has really strengthened collaborative relationships both within and between departments. There's daily interactions, coachled, professional development, ongoing reflection, and it's on demand support, which is really which propelled our instruction um and opportunities for our students. The coaches have worked with close to if not 100% of the faculty at the high school. And as we welcome any new faculty members next year, that will certainly be vital um to have that support for them as well. We have introduced eight interdisciplinary courses at the high school and we um started with four of them. Just wanted to point out as we've done repeatedly that they include ICT and special class models because we want to be inclusive of all students. We are phasing out the quantitative patterns of
physical science or props because as we know it's algebra for one for all um at PBC. So that just opens up more opportunity for new interdisciplinary courses over the future years. Um I just wanted to point out a couple of highlights from our interdisciplinary courses just to give you a peek at what they're doing. Conservation Civics, which is a science and social studies course. They partnered with Open Space Institute. That's an organization that acquires private land through purchases or easements and then turns that public land um as becomes part of public parks. And they've partnered with them to create uh or plan field trips for our students. They also signed up for the New York State seedling program with the goal of helping to restore data wildlife habitat. So it's very hands-on. our bioeththics course. They are they work with district administrators on our AI policy and they're currently working on
capstone projects where they're going to take on an issue that they're passionate about and teach their peers in the class. So real world learning are is that's what's happening in these interdisiplinary classes and obviously we value that. Um, also as you know, the completion of the future facilities project gave us beautiful new spaces at the high school. And over the years, we've also been updating and redesigning classrooms. And as Carrie said, it's not simply for aesthetics, but to align with pedigogy. So we can plan to we plan to continue to design those thinking classrooms. And that means the screen is not the center of the classroom. You have furniture that's flexible so you can move that those groupings um from period to period even um vertical writing spaces and temporary writing surfaces that encourages students to think to take risks and everything is studentled in those activities. Um so now I will turn it
over to Laura for some other bullet points. So although this year is a lot about deepening and expanding on what we have put into place, we can't stop ourselves from adding a few new course offerings too. Um so we are excited to once again be bringing some new rigorous course offerings to our students. In the humanities, we are adding a theater elective. There is some real renewed interest and excitement around theater. I think a lot due to the strength of our theater productions and the leadership there. So, we're very excited to extend that learning based on significant student interest into the school day. Um, we are also adding a modern journalism class that will incorporate aspects of print media contribute to our school newspaper as well as other forms of modern journalism. And then in our STEM offerings, we are adding a project leads of engineering class, which I'll share a little bit more about project
lead the way in the next couple of slides. Um, we had also planned to offer a separate robotics course, but we are putting that on hold temporarily because there was such overwhelming interest in the engineering course. So, we're looking at options for the following year to offer robotics as a separate semester elective to hopefully hook freshmen into it since fall freshmen can take a semester elective. Now with our new schedule um and create greater interest in the field at a younger age, we are also adding two new AP courses, AP business with personal finance and AP psychology, which have been met with significant excitement from our students based on course requests. Our students have consistently expressed interest in AP psychology, some of them taking it virtually through our virtual high school platform. So now we can offer it in person and we have enough so many students interested that we're offering
two sections of AP psychology next year. Um and similarly AP business with personal finance is also about expanding access to rigorous courses but I think as an mention is a climate education requirement. There's also a financial literacy education requirement and so this course also helps us expand access to that for our students. Um, and we also have enough student interest for that course to run two sections, which is really exciting. Um, we've spent significant time in trainings and looking at curriculum, and we're really excited to see the College Board adding more course offerings that are interdisciplinary and industry based. The College Board categorizes them as career kickstart offerings, um, such as our AP business course. Um, and I want to thank Erica who really spearheaded bringing AP business to our faculty and facilitating the work that has gone into making this happen. And on this slide, you can read a little
bit more about AP business with personal finance and what the career kickstart program is. Um, and you also see a hint of the future that we're also looking at the possibility of offering AP cyber security in the following year. And I know these are dead slides. I'm sure you're not going to be able to read this all now, but we wanted to include just some data from the College Board where you can read more detail about the AP business course and see some of the industry collaboration with um associations like the Business Professionals of America and other national organizations as partners in building the course that are actually helping to co-create some of the curriculum and hands-on experiences that our students will have. and it spans a variety of disciplines including entrepreneurship, marketing, finance, accounting, and management. What are they going to take when they get to college?
>> To colleges, they're going to have to step up. >> So, in addition to the college credit our students earn from all of the AP exams and courses that we offer, will now be up to 19 inerson um AP courses. As Erica mentioned earlier, our commitment to dual enrollment courses remains anart important part of the work of CHHS. Um, sustaining our partnerships with colleges, providing these opportunities as a key part of the work. Um, but budgetarily it also impacts us as we onboard new teachers. We have quite a few um that we'll be hiring for next year. There is um preparation and professional development that goes along with teaching the college level classes. And the board has already seen this text um in a weekly update, but I wanted to be able to also share this with the community and talk about it this forum. Um this feedback comes from a recent graduate who is currently studying at the University of Michigan Ross School
of Business. And we've been collecting data from our graduates to see how they're using their dual enrollment credits, how they're working for them, what's working, what's not working. Um so this is obviously just one example, but we're collecting it more systematically. Um, and this student shared how credits are applied and how they helped her. And in her experience, the Sunni credits helped more in her meeting requirements for her distributions and the AP credits helped for things like not having to take an additional math course that didn't fit with her interests and her major. So overall, she shared that the Sunni classes ended up for her being worth the cost in high school and ended up giving her two semesters worth of college credits that were transferred directly to the University of Michigan. I know there's sometimes questions about whether Sunni credits will transfer to private universities. That's something
that we're also tracking and want to make sure that we're sharing with the community. Um, but I think overall what she talked about is they both worked for her in different ways and her feedback aligns with our philosophy around this. We want our students to have every opportunity. So we aim to have as many AP classes co-seated with Sunni classes as possible so students can have all of the credit opportunities available to them. Um this slide delves a little bit going back to the principles of engineering course through project lead the way. So just starting here this is just an overview of what project lead the way offers um prek through 12th grade. So this is a comprehensive set of curriculum and course offerings nationally recognized. Um you'll see in the secondary track there are actually four different tracks on the on that right hand side. Uh so we're starting down in that bottom track, the
engineering track. And within that track, there are 10 different courses that you can implement. So we're just doing one of those 10 to start with um just to get a sense. And then in the biomed science and computer science tracks, there are additional sets of courses. Um this is just a a sample from the project lead the way annual most recent annual report metrics just to get a sense of the reach nationally um that we'll become a part of. Um so project lead the way is implemented nationally in over 12,000 schools. So we're we're not only implementing a course here. We're also joining a network of schools that are focused on expanding STEM opportunities and creating those opportunities to work with teachers all across the country um and expanding STEM offerings. This is a more in-depth description of the actual course that we're offering next year. Um and then some of the other courses that our students um are have
expressed excitement about. We don't know that we'll be able to offer them all at once, but these are ones that they're very interested in. environmental sustainability, principles of AI, human body systems, principles of biomedical science. And I think it's important, obviously, we're a small school and the budget really does support this breadth of course offerings and we are very fortunate um for our students in our community to be able to offer this wealth of course offerings, especially in a in a school that's small and mighty like ours. And this is uh just a slide to kind of get a sense of the scope of project lead the way and what it could look like in terms of growth over time. Spent some time with the project lead the way curriculum specialists just kind of mapping out a little bit about our vision map, what our student interests are, what our staff um interests are and um it's important obviously this is all
a gradual roll out but we have a large number of graduates who go on to study STEM related fields in colleges and careers. Um, so we already have a really strong set of students that are going into those worlds, but we think that by offering these opportunities in high school, it will only expand the numbers of kids and open up students to possibilities they may not have previously been exposed to. And of course, we can't not mention a significant point of pride um related to STEM excitement and engagement. Um we have four recent participants in the Westf regenerant science rearch research competition and three of these incredible students also earned prestigious awards through the competition and their level of interest and work that these students put in for science research is another key factor in increasing our STEM program to afford even more opportunities to invest um in programs like science research year
after year. >> Thank you. So this slide highlights how our vision and the supporting budget is translating into measurable results for our students. So we have always believed that the instructional practices and programs that have sprung from our vision would naturally lead to these excellent results. So first our region's outcomes in English. CHHS achieves an achieved a 95% proficiency rate on the English regions. This ranks us second highest among 18 districts in the Putnham Northern Westchester Boseis region which includes districts like Chapaqua Hillsboro and Brier Cliff among others. This level of performance reflects both strong instruction and consistent student support systems that includes AIS special education and ENL services. It's a team um approach. In addition, our advanced placement program continues to thrive. CHHS was one of only three high schools in the region to earn the AP Platinum Award in 2024. So
that's based on both scores and access. Nationally, this distinction is awarded to just 7% of high schools, placing us in truly elite company. And looking more closely at the AP performance, we are seeing consistently strong results across multiple subject areas. And even more encouraging, average scores are increasing in several courses, evidence that we are not only expanding access, but also maintaining quality in those courses. Access and participation are also key indicators of success because we continue to see sustained and growing enrollment in our AP courses. As we said, we're also adding AP business with personal finance and AP psychology next year. And this year we have ordered 549 exams in 23 different subjects. Um this reflects both student interest and our commitment to broadening access to rigorous coursework. So together when you look at all of these um data points, they demonstrate that our work which is
supported by the budget is aligned sustained and most importantly it's impacted student achievement at a high level. Certainly academic accolades are wonderful, but we also value the student experience along that road to success and there are many pathways to that destination. So just a review of our our climate survey. Um it's foundational in everything that we do and our students are feeling this positive strong school climate. 97% report that they feel emotionally safe at school and that's critical as Craig said because students cannot learn at high levels unless they feel safe and supported. In addition, 95% of students say they feel a sense of belonging here. That sense of connection is what drives encourage engagement in overall well-being. These outcomes are not accidental. They're directly supported by our budget priorities um and program programmatic decisions along with our amazing
supportive staff. Certainly, they're part of what that school the school climate is. And on the right side there of the slide, you'll see how we've invested in um creating the school climate. And the um community lunch is an example of that. With our expanded cafeteria space, students have time to connect, build relationships with every student. It's no longer an issue that your good friends are in a different lunch period. And so there's certainly a sense of community during the school day. We've prioritized club opportunities during the school day. So we've increased access so more students can participate even if they have after school obligations, family obligations, work, and sports. Um we've added an additional school counselor. So certainly that strengthens our ability to support students academically, socially and emotionally. We have the shared social worker, our family liaison. All of those things further the
support. Um active learning spaces which I talked about earlier in that the physical envir environment matters because it directly impacts student engagement and a feeling of wanting to be at school. chat, Tiger Tuesdays, guest speakers that helps to build community, expose students to new perspectives, reinforce a positive, inclusive culture. So, our investment in school climate is intentional. It supports not just how students feel, but how they engage and succeed every day. Academic concentrations. This is an exciting area of growth. Um this year we have 57 students who are participating engaging in a wide range of meaningful real world experience connected to their areas of interest. They go beyond the classroom give the opportunity for students to build their own unique stories and allow them to distinguish themselves. While many of the programs listed here on this slide are available
to the larger student body and they're advertised to them. concentration students participated in some unique experiences including the living history project in partnership with the Holocaust and human rights education center the court and youth advisory committee president's junior leadership council at the northern west hospital cultural educational field trips um working towards those distinctions like the seal of bi literacy and seal of civic readiness we've seen leadership on tiger Tuesdays um participation in Holocaust and human rights center student institute and events like good for girls career expo and on the right side there I think it's really powerful to see how students are reflecting on these experiences and what that means and one student shared this concentration has pushed me to be more active and out of my comfort zone speaks to our culture students growing as individuals and risktakers in our school
community. another reflected um talking about computer science. Writing these computer science papers helped me realize my interest in scientific research and this highlights the interconnectedness students making connections between disciplines and then also discovering passions. Another described her experience visiting the capital in Albany. Seeing where debates and decisions were really made helped me understand real world processes. It's a the essence of real world application, bringing learning to life in authentic ways. So these reflections reinforce that our academic concentrations are not just programs but rather transformative experiences build skills, identity, and purpose for many of our students. And we look forward to continuing this work as they're preparing for college, career, and civic life. This slide highlights an important area of state level change and how CHHS is already ahead of it. The New York um New
York State is currently reconsidering what graduation requirements should look like in the future. So, while we're still waiting on final decisions and timelines because sometimes the state is a little slow, several key ideas are being discussed and you can see those um on this slide. the CTE credits as a possibility, suns setting traditional regent exam requirements, emphasis on internships, community service portfolios, project based learning and um using those to earn credits, having one New York State diploma and district determined skills and a stronger focus on interdisciplinary studies. So while these are all proposals at the time, what's important is this. We have already positioned ourselves for these changes intentionally and proactively. And the reason for that is simple, that they're good practices. They're not just trends. They represent excellent teaching and meaningful learning and
experiences for our students. And many of the programs we've already implemented that are funded by our budget align directly with where the state is heading, including the seal of biiteracy, seal of civic readiness, and the upcoming seal of environmental sustainability. our CHES and science research programs. We've also established alternative forms of assessment beyond traditional exams. We've built community service expectations. We've created student choice through programs like choose and expanded opportunities such as science research. So all this reflects a shift toward authentic assessment, student voice and choice and real world readiness. So regardless of the final decisions from the state, we are on the right path. And just today, a retired superintendent from a high-erforming Westchester district was visiting as part of the future school leaders academy. And after listening to much of
the information about our vision and programs that you've heard here tonight, he said, "Ch is not reacting. You are leading and your community should be proud." And we are proud and we're confident that our students are already benefiting from the kinds of experiences and assessments that will define the future of New York State. It's a hard act to follow, but I'm ready to talk a little bit. So, here we go. Um, so, as you may be aware, um, we were recognized recently by Helper Helper. Um, that's the app that we use to track community service, uh, for reaching a milestone. Um, and we started working with them, uh, in 2021, midyear. Uh and since that time we have logged over 40,000 hours of community service. So you know that doesn't just happen by accident and the whole system doesn't just happen. So you know we share this with you because this really is it's part of the system and it's part of the
whole uh culture that we're building. Um so let's see if I get this right. A year ago, we were talking to you about some of the changes that we were making um to the new master schedule and some plans to introduce this uh these changes as into the way we structure our school day. Um we introduced community lunch this year and that's been one of the most popular changes um supported by all of the facility changes that happened over the course of that summer. Um we introduced an extracurricular clubs period within the school day. Uh, one of the things that we did was survey our students um to see what their reactions were to those changes. So, here's a couple of results up here on the screen for you. Uh, 89% of students report that community lunch is having a positive impact on their student experience. 77% of students saying that club time during the school day makes them more likely to attend clubs. Um, in real life, we are
really seeing that difference in club attendance. That's something that we're tracking. Um we've seen a huge increase in participation in clubs. So that that piece of the plan absolutely worked. Um Tiger Tuesdays were new this year um and have really allowed kids to explore uh different um different ideas and particularly bring people from outside to engage with our students. That's been a it's been a nice forum for that to happen. Um, we've seen seen really great participation from community members in that as well as student leadership. And I'll give you some examples of that in just a moment. Um, for next year, we're making some minor adjustments to the schedule. Really, actually relatively minor in the grand scheme of things. Um, we're just shifting the time when the extracurricular or clubs period is going to be during the day so that it doesn't butt up against lunch. This is based on
some feedback that um you know we might be able to further encourage participation in clubs if we don't kind of schedule it so that it could just become a convenient long lunch period. Right? So just kind of a structural change but you know just like everything that we did um I think taking paying a lot of attention to how it's organized really makes a difference. Um, and we're, as far as Tiger Tuesday, we're reducing from three sessions down to two, and we're going to rec require all students to participate in both of those sessions. Um, so that lengthens each of those sessions a little bit. Um, we're also going to lengthen morning classes just a little bit on Tiger Tuesday. So, that's kind of how that extra time is spread out. to come. But that's, you know, kind of a minor change, but I think will produce better participation for that those afternoon sessions in Tiger Tuesday. Um on next slide, thanks.
Uh you see some examples of one of the sessions this year in Tiger Tuesday. Um this is just one session out of, you know, this year we had three sessions. So this was just one of the of a three session offering, but you can get an idea. um leaders of tomorrow. I think that's something you've just learned quite a bit about. Um and that's a great example of a of a studentled and uh multi-age experience that was made possible through this. Uh and another session off to the right there, you see explore emotion in music. Uh, and that's an entirely student-ledd presentation by one of our students who said, "I'd like to do this for other students and developed a session and offered an entire Tuesday." >> So, really miss stop grammar time. >> Surprising. >> I would have gone to that. >> If I remember that was Mr. Demper doing a session on how to use a period correctly or something. It wasn't a period.
So, so yeah, so a really wonderful sessions that we're coming about as part of Tiger Tuesday. Um, so now thinking about all of this as a system, um, I think that's that's my big message for you tonight. Um, we we did some looking into how does this affect our students as they leave the system. So um we looking at college applications um we've seen a 16% increase in the number of college applications per student. Um that's with this year's class. Um if you look at the 2023 a average applications uh we we were submitting 8.9 applications per student and in 2026 this year's class 13.3. So there's there's been a real shift in how many applications students are submitting. Um and that's something that I I think I've written and shared some of that data with all of you as a board as well. Um the um we looked then to what is the success of those you know what what are some of the outcomes of this and we did a little
bit of a study this year. So looked at the classes from 2022 through 2025. Okay so it's 4-year period. Um and we asked how many students in those classes, how many distinct students were accepted to highly selective colleges. Uh and the number was 64. Okay. 64 distinct students. Many of those 64 accepted to multiple highly selective colleges. I see the bubble above Neil's head. >> What is a highly selective college? He's asking. >> That's one bubble. right? One of many, right? Um there is not a single ind industry standard for what is highly selected, but we chose we decided to choose for the purpose of our little study um what US News and World Report uses which is an acceptance rate um of less than or equal to 15% of the students that apply. So, we looked at all of the colleges that have an acceptance rate of 50% or less and asked how many of our students were accepted to colleges on that list. Uh, and the
answer was 64 distinct students with many of them being accepted to multiple on that list. >> How many students >> does that translate to roughly what like 12 to 15% of the student body? Like if you have like 120 a year roughly 100 depending on the% a year. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Do you have that number before the pandemic? >> I'm sure we could look for it. I mean we'd have to >> Yeah. >> pull the data but it's there. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Okay. I remember it being higher is why I'm asking. Well, I I would just say while we talk about this as a as a parent who's like going through this, there's so many things that changed about this like the number of applications fees that are waved. Um some of even these colleges when they talk about being highly selective, how they categorize their yield in terms of who they accept and how they accept them and whether they accept them on that campus or accept
them at another campus. I mean, I obviously looking at the slides and some of these books, I I would really suggest that people who want to be and I'm not suggesting you're not in, but I'm just saying to have to have an even playing field conversation about some of those numbers in terms of like comparing acceptance rates now versus acceptance rates pre- pandemic, you have to understand that the playing field has changed so vastly. It's the way the college report that from before to now. It's also not data that we this is not this is data that's being calculated. We wouldn't have been sh aggregating this data prior. We did this purposely as a deep dive to look at the data this year. So we wouldn't have >> unless we do it manually historical percentages pre pandemic not published or I think >> and you're also and I just want to add one more thing. You're also just not accounting for the fact that the cost of
college has doubled >> like Florida was $102,000 a year. Yeah, but that's irrelevant here. >> I'm sorry. >> That's irrelevant because this is about accepted, not >> Yeah, but there are students who are applying to those schools, >> not attended, >> right? But those are there are students who wouldn't apply to a school that's out of their >> financial age, >> right? >> And a big beautiful bill. Now, lending is actually capped. So, there are students that are looking at all of that data as well and families that are looking at that information. I'm just saying >> I appreciate that. I appreciate your opinion on this. Um, I'm I'm curious about this because our goal as a K- through2 system is to prepare our kids for college and curing, >> right? And if the um yeah, I mean I'm just going to reiterate that if if we're saying that 15% of our student population over the last four years attended highly selective colleges
as defined by accepted trace of 15% or less. That's a good measure. Like I that that's that's I actually think that's a really good way of classifying what a high like university is. Um, it'd be good to see what that trend looks like as a data point, right? A data point among among many that we're going to be looking at, but to see how our students um have been what opportunities are afforded to them over time, right? I just want to add this is a much broader conversation but just thinking about what we had talked about previously what you had talked about previously at the high school level relating to providing opportunities and exposure does not necessarily translate to the highly selective colleges. one example and this is once again anecdotal um last month I've had the opportunity to sit in um where my son actually did a presentation in conservation civics uh as someone who is in the area of
conservation and and forestry actually and talking to the teachers about the college acceptances of the students who are interested in that field. They are in places like um Sudan ESF, University of Vermont, Paul Smith's which are not quote highly selective colleges but for what they are seeking what they're looking for those are those college what we are hoping and what I think all of what we've talked about with principles of engineering and project lead and the concentrations is going to be for all of our students to find the place that is best for them with our help, which may be a quote highly selected college. It may not, but I I think as time goes on and even taking into account or adding to that what Anna talked about in terms of cost, that's really something that I think we need to get away from thinking of acceptance rates at highly selected colleges has a data point that has great
value to greater value than it should as to what the success of our system is. And I know this is a debate we could go on for hours or discussion >> a worthy debate >> and a worthy debate but we don't want to keep you folks here. I think if you if you look at the orange arrow there in the middle, I think the acknowledgement of both points um is to think about college acceptances are one marker of success and we're continuing to research and educate about other successful pathways which leads us to the right side of the slide. Um and >> exactly and that the the the real goal in our system uh is is to build success along the way and that success doesn't just happen right at the end stage where you're applying to college. If we've done our job along the way, we've built a system where students have enough quality experiences along the way that that application that they're making to colleges is something that's actually
quite easy to put together because you've got this portfolio of experiences that the system has helped you build all along the way. And that's what makes those applications whether it's to a highly selective school or to any college. But that's what's going to distinguish them. >> Um you know we hear this over and over again from our college preps that it's it's not about um just trying every activity that you possibly can. It's about finding your interest and your passion and being able to show that you've connected to something along the way. And if we've done I think a good job as a system and you know when you think about what you saw with concentrations um and with all the different coursework that allowing for exploration but I mean in particular the concentrations program which is kind of guiding students to to connecting to that passion as well as the community service where we've got counselors and
their teachers encouraging kids to choose something that they are passionate about and keep going back for more. Uh all of those things help to build that portfolio and show that this is a student who's found something that is about them to show in that application. Right. And I just want to add one other thing tying it back to the first presentation or recognition that we had here tonight of the students who have been inducted into the National Technical Honor Society. But there are categories of students or categories, it's not the right word. There are students for whom their path in life may not even relate specifically to these measures or these offerings, but we have to make sure that we are providing those students with the opportunity and I'm sure in a few minutes we'll be hearing from Rachel about another uh cohort of students and what we do for their opportunities. That's not to say that for students who
want to have a pathway of highly selective schools, we shouldn't be offered opportunities. I'm not suggesting that. I'm just suggesting that that percentage has changed based on what the schools are doing and not necessarily we are doing, right? like 18 classes of of students at Stanford. I mean, that wasn't I don't think the same uh statistic that existed 5 years ago. That's the component that I was trying to reflect. Not necessarily um that we shouldn't be offering students those opportunities. I also have this question that we actually don't have that data to compare pre um the there's I think a a question or maybe a concern that maybe there's a shift precoid to now in terms of the highly selective we actually don't have that data so we can't confirm or deny that it doesn't exist yet. We'd have to put it together in order to be able to um say yay or nay to that which we can certainly do.
Um I agree and disagree with everybody on this. I mean, I think um having just gone through this twice and um personally um I do think there's a value in looking historically on what's happened acknowledging to Anna's point that it's complicated and to that I don't know what data you're collecting now, but it's I I'm happy to hear that there is this analysis going on um and continued interest in this. to me. Um, maybe this is a question to ask our students as they're applying to colleges like to what extent are you basing your decision on where to apply because of cost, you know, like because that is a reality. Um, I teach a lot of students that are like that who, you know, been trained to go to a highly selective college, but they just simply can't afford it. they have to like bring like money and income into their their households. Um so it is a complicated that the landscape has changed. Um but I
I do say and what I'm I'm just want to say this and I'm not saying that anybody disagrees with this but to me like you know we are about providing the most e excellent opportunities for students through education. And to me, um, what I've seen is that when we, whether it's through these, um, interdisciplinary these passion projects and through the coursework, when we're helping our students to position themselves the best they can be academically and personally, that is opening up opportunities. But what I would also say on the academic side as well as these engaged community opportunities, it does even if somebody is not applying to a selective college um preparing oneself as though if one is allows one is to apply for scholarships other mer so becomes an an equity and access issue as well. So I think that even though that may not be the bit best fit for every single student and I certainly don't think it makes sense you
know for that uh and but I still think making that our goal will provide the most amount of opportunities for our students and also so that no matter where they land up in life whether it's in a you know college or not that they have the skills to read write engage pursue whatever dreams that they have like so sorry I went on a rant about that, but I but I I so I think that these, you know, they don't have to be um viewed as at odds with each other, but really we are trying to aim in excellence with all of these. >> So just up on the board, you'll see um you know our class of 2025 list of colleges acceptances and I'm sure it's not very readable in the size 0.25. too. But >> we're in this decade of my life. >> I was over there squinting. Um but but this is available on our website. If you go to the school counseling website and um you look under about CHHS, we have our school profile there. This is a part
of that. So, you know, we have we have that very easily available up on our website. You can take a look at that. Um just kind of then linking back um to this idea that um you know it's it's a systemic approach and there's a lot of different measures of success. Um that uh you know one of the things that we started this year to do was to bring in national organizations to begin to research to be to begin our researchbased approach to looking at uh the college admissions process. Um, we brought in challenge success this year and they presented to the K12 faculty during conference day and they held a uh an excellent evening presentation for parents as well. Uh, next year uh we're looking at bringing in uh New York Times bestselling author author uh Jeffrey Celingo who's published two books on the topic. Um, and we're looking to really expand the conversation past just the northeast. >> Okay. So in closing, our budget
continues to support the investment that we've made over several years in bringing the vision map to fruition and creating the space support staffing and structures that allow us to innovate the way we have and to add to and keep adding to and deepening the breadth and depth of our students experience and access to rigorous classes and programs. Thank you. So, um I have a question about project lead the way. Um and it's the slide 33 um that kind of lays out um how you how you plan to roll out the various courses. Um so it you know like the first year you're focusing on principles of engineering and then you're hoping to roll out several more over the coming years and you know this is a budget presentation and I know our funding is is fairly flat. Um do you envision that this is like how many teachers you know how many staff and are we going to have to have like new hires? So what's the thoughts
around that? >> Really your question. So we've actually been preparing for this over the previous years. So I think it was in 2425 budget where we added an additional science teacher planning ahead for this kind of work. So ideally we would have the equivalent of that one full-time teacher teaching multiple sections of potential engineering classes. So somewhere between one to two people, not additional people. We've already kind of been planning for this for multiple years. >> So if we were to do the environmental sustainability, these others, that would be the same person or >> the same person. So this chart that you're looking at is um kind of like a pie in the sky brainstorm of what it could look like. We're not likely to do all of the things on there, but it's looking at mapping what we could do. And a lot of these would be based on student interest, right? But I think what we want to have over time is the ability to
rotate. So you might have a cohort of kids one year who are really interested in aerospace engineering and be prepared to pivot in the following year to maybe automation and robotics based on student interest so that you don't always have to have like a static course offering. Okay. >> Thank you. I have a question which actually goes K12 and it's something that I have just kind of read about and I'm wondering and not something necessarily for presentation today but something that I think I would certainly like to hear about. the New York State Board of Regents back in 2020 um adopted the plan to establish computer science and digital fluency standards which were actually um announced in 2024. that came out of the 2018 statute that said do this and I'm just wondering because we haven't really heard about that and it the standards are K12 there are certain things supposed to be done in each grade
not as part of our discussion tonight but I'm just saying I would like to hear you know and in the future how we are integrating computer science and digital fluency in our um teaching in our coursework um throughout the system so that we are meeting what we're required to do. I just have to if you could just elaborate because I am sorry with the background um regarding the general uh awards that were given how many people we had submit versus other districts if you could just cuz I think that context is just it highlights um just how outstanding some of our students performances were. So we had um four students that submitted and three of them um would receive these prestigious awards. Um and so those are students seniors who have been working on their projects for three years. So just proportionally so we might we didn't have you know 100 students that um entered into the competition but the
ratio of our students who won awards to the number um who entered is pretty significant. uh 75% of our students versus other schools who go and send 40 people and get two award winners. So, it's certainly an area that we're looking to grow and expand. We've been thinking about options of um moving toward having like one mandatory um uh submission or uh competition per year for students because there's kind of like a there's a gradual entry for sophomores, juniors, and seniors in terms of the intensity of the programs. So this is kind of our first bigger step in that direction. So I think you'll look forward to hearing more of that in the future. Our lack of questions is definitely due to thoroughess of the presentation. So not the time of the answer. Yes. >> I'm sorry. >> All questions answered. >> Yes. Yes. Thank you so much. I was like, "Who has Last but not least, >> I had about 22 slides. I'm going to
condense it into like four." >> Go for it. >> All right. >> I challenge you. In fact, >> that one should have been with my >> sounds good answer. >> So, historically, yeah. Um the PPS department has been able to maintain a relatively neutral budget. Um and I think there's many factors that contribute to that which I'll speak to later on. But as far as looking at our year-to-year comparison, you'll see there's some significant decreases in both the tuition to other public schools as well as tuition to residential schools. Our private went down a a bit. Um, so currently there are not necessarily fewer students with disabilities in the district, but one of the highlights is that we're able to maintain them in district through our specialized programming. So we are not accessing other public schools that may have more specialized or therapeutic programming to place our students in. And similarly with the residential tuition,
we have not had a student in a residential placement for over 3 years. We've always, you know, kind of had a contingency in the event that the CSSE made a recommendation for such a placement, which is a very costly um special education placement. We did have the money allocated. So this year, you'll see that with our residential, it's gone down about 48%. Um but we do keep some in the kitty just in case. Um so additionally two of our out of district students are graduating in June of 2026. We have made intentional efforts to build and expand our in district specialized programming to support our students within their home district. And that has led to us not requiring, you know, um, partnerships with other programming that are New York State approved. And with that, we also have one stipulation agreement that will be falling off or the student is graduating. So, we will no longer have that obligation in the upcoming school
year. Again, a visual representation of the budget. So, our culture of wellness our um as I present the PPS budget for the upcoming year, we're reminded of the powerful foundation that supports our school community. Those four goals that the department is focused on in the upcoming upcoming school year is to ensure equity, enhance community engagement and connection, implement specialized programming, and then provide social emotional support. So, as my colleagues have described, you know, we all did a bit of a a summary of our school climate survey by building. So, this is the overall district um highlights. 97 to 98% of our students in the district feel emotionally safe, which is significantly above the national average, which is mid to low se mid70s to low 80s. 95 to 97% of our students feel like they belong in school. And that's all, you know, attributed to the fact that we have put in a very robust social emotional
support system for our students over the course of the past few years. 13 to 15% of our students have said through that the result of the school climate survey that they have heard hurtful language at school with 3 to 4% of those students feeling that that that it was directed towards them and they have personally felt heard. Those numbers are below national norms and we should be proud of that accomplishment. Our goal is to ensure that all students feel respected and safe in program schools. We recognize there's always more work to do and again this is you know through improvement um efforts to make improvements in our reporting system as well as ensuring that our students have those people to connect with during the school year so that in the event that they have this type of information they can share it and we could respond. We focus on strengthening how adults respond in the moment to
ensure that students feel heard and supported if something does happen. and our library had our um bystander training and upstander training. So that was another effort, you know, communitywide to try to spread that training and those efforts uh those responses to certain situations. As far as our highlights, so the 2025 budget has allowed for us to kick off kick off our family resource center, onboard additional staff to support the growing need of our multilang language learners, initiate phase one of our vocational readiness program, purchase a data platform for our staff to maintain data related to academic interventions, and the continuation of our unified sports team. Last year, we proposed the creation of the family resource center. At the heart of the vision map is the belief that strong, meaningful connections are essential. We know the value that building relationships and connections
with our students and families result in a thriving school community. The F FRC celebrated its grand opening October 28th in the Tiger's Den at CCT. The Family Resource Center provides a welcoming, inclusive space where families can connect and access essential supports. Some of those supports include technology access and training, digital navigation support, student and family supports with counseling, referrals, um, tutoring, study skills, resources for families. There are workshops on parenting, financial literacy, wellness. We host cultural events and family nights to foster that community connection. And we continue to build partnerships with organizations that provide essentials to our homeschool community. Some of the events that we have hosted are listed here. Each of our schools annually hosts an ENL family literacy night. We've had some of our newest clinicians um meet with the parents of
students that are both classified, have a 504, or are um or are uh considering um you know, seeking some support for their students that are struggling through understanding my child's IEP, the annual review process. Our middle school, our high school staff, ENL staff host the middle school to high school transition, what to expect. We've done technology nights through collaboration with Dr. Moscowitz to ensure that you know all parents have access to all the necessary data pardon me access to all of the digital platforms that we utilize here. We've hosted our first ever summer camp showcase and we are currently planning our preventing summer slide event that will be paired with our summer safety event in partnership with the Crokin Police Department. So, as I mentioned, some of the key contributing factors to the um deepening of our community engagement. As a result of the board and community support, we
have been fortunate enough to strengthen our team to support the homeschool connection. Over the past three years, these key contributing factors have been essential in deepening the school's connection to the home and the community. The addition of the following bilingual staff has provided the district with an opportunity to advance advance equity by improving connection and engagement among non-English-speaking families. In 2023 24, we added a community aid worker to our staff. In 2425, a district social worker who was shared amongst our three buildings. And in this past year 2526, we had the addition of one school counselor at the high school and one school psychologist at the elementary school. This slide just captures some of the events that we have hosted in collaboration with school staff, our ENL department, community agencies, our clinical staff. Okay. So last year I referred to this
initiative as a transition support program. We have refined the name and it is now the vocational readiness program. So um this year we've engaged in a partnership with search for change SFC who support some of our students in acquiring and generalizing soft skills. Our transition support coordinators, of which we have three, those are stipended positions through a grant, are exposing students to vocational exploration through vocational assessments, interest surveys, as well as themed units of study to develop readiness profiles and generate post-secary goals and coordinated activities, which is a regulatory requirement for students with disabilities. um in which the it's the year in which they turn 15 that we need to start beginning to plan for postsecary um outcomes and goals. So there's three kind of components to our vocational readiness program this year. As I mentioned, phase one was some in-house
um workshops for some of our students, helping them with soft skills and learning the very basics of, you know, employment, careers, and so forth. But moving forward in the next year and the year beyond that, so we're looking at a three-year plan for this um program to advance. We're looking at targeted skill development which will involve job coaching to help build those um essential employability skills, employee collaboration and natural supports. Job coaches will partner with employers and that's uh with the hopes that we will be able to partner with the Rotary Club to get our word out amongst the village to look for opportunities for our students to engage in some externships and job shadowing opportunities in the village. Those coaches will partner with them and help cultivate natural workplace behaviors on the job with the students. Second bucket are work-based learning. Um so this will also involve in
goaloriented support through a job coach through structured student specific post secondary transition goals. That's going to help them focus on the actual job and skill acquisition in real world real world employment settings which is communication, self- advocacy, um timeliness, right? Um those types of things we want to encourage. They may be able to generalize them within the school environment, but those skills are essential to be being successful in a workplace. bridging the school to employment. Transition job coaching serves as a critical linkage between the school-based instruction which some of our students have received this year and then we will also be building cohorts. So initial in the fall we'll have a cohort of students doing that same soft skills training and then with the intent that in the spring they'll have some opportunities to get some on the job training and exposure in the community.
And our goal is ultimately to allow students to be able to be independent and have longterm um job retention. And as far as the externships, these structured work-based learning opportunities are meant to provide short-term supervised placements. And that's what I mean like like a semester or a half of a semester and look to allow them to be in the moment utilizing the skills that they've learned through problem solving um adaptability which can be difficult for some of our more um um fragile students, right? They're very rigid and you know they have a set um expectation and when things don't go as well they need some support in navigating those types of um shifts I guess and then encouraging communication professionalism in the workplace because they are representatives of our school community of our school system out in the community. So, we wanted to sure that we equipped them and they felt
confident enough and supported enough to be um engaged in these opportunities and experiences outside of school. And these um these pictures um photos really just capture some of the experiences that our students have been able to engage in over the past uh you know 10 months really. So um and those pictures range from elementary to high school. So we are building this program from CCT up through these types of experiences. So our goal of the PPS department is to develop strong inclusive school communities and you know through the partnership and the efforts that were described by each school and the community support and board support we have definitely you know achieved a lot of goals over the past four years. Unified sport. So this is our third year participating in the unified sports league. Um, right now we participate in both the basketball and bowling seasons and they have been excellent opportunities for
our students to learn the sport, build team, you know, build with their relationships within a teamwork and experience healthy competition because that's also a spot that we have been working on with an area we've been working on with some of our students. So through these opportunities, we are promoting equity and inclusion by ensuring students of all abilities have meaningful access to the athletics program and they are represented and have leadership opportunities in these types of programs. >> This was curling >> can be quite controversial on the Olympic level. >> Well, we're so fortunate that this is the high school >> and this was this was actually just a field trip. just wasn't part of their season. We were having some discussions through um some advocacy on the part of nurse Charlie to engage in the botchi season there. the botchi bowl season that just popped up out of nowhere, but
somehow Charlie found it. >> Botchi cords. >> There are. >> So maybe if we have a bot if we have a botchi expert out in the community if you want to come and sort of mentor >> up and dpw is like a botchi expert. So, another one of our um goals um for the upcoming year that with community support, we plan to partner with Northwell Health Services to provide collaborative and community education services that promote health, wellness, and equitable access to resources for all students and residents of the uh community. This partnership will provide us with access to services including these five areas. advisory and collaboration which includes monthly committee meetings for um our administrative staff as well as our clinical staff quarterly advisory meetings where there'll be a representative from multiple districts that are partnered with Northwell Health Services along with their um their uh
board in order to you know really discuss the needs that you and what we envision to continue to be the level of support that our community is um expressing that they need and then consultation with team members. So there are um multiple avenues for our clinical staff to reach and connect with the um professionals that work through the Northwell Health Services. There's also a component of this partnership that involves personalized community education. So we conduct a needs assessment. We share that with Northwell Health and they design like a uh community uh education plan for us which will span over the course of the 10 months of the school year. So it would be a monthly community session or workshop that would be accessible to everyone. >> Is this new or is this something that you used to partner with Boseies to get? >> It is through Boseies. It's a coser through Boseies. Yes. Um, >> it's been this is a few years. Yeah,
it's been about three years that it's been in existence, but it will be new for us if the community um supports this. So, um an hour and a half monthly ask the expert series where there will be a feature presenter on a specific topic and they have a very robust um uh catalog of possible topics that they can offer us. There will be professional development for staff, post vvention support, and administrative guidance and consultation. So, it would be like on a case- by case basis, we'd have access to um representatives from Northwell Health. And as I mentioned, those monthly educational sessions for families, virtual parent support groups, and access to virtual resources. So all of these um these features were really attractive to us and we had spoken about it earlier in the year but we wanted to get a more information about it speak to some other districts that have engaged in this partnership to kind of gauge um
you know the the value of this particular um program. And in closing, um, for the upcoming school year and beyond, we will continue to, um, enhance our behavioral supports across our district, looking at maximiz maximizing the therapeutic supports through the embedded clinical staff and supports that we have already in our um, schools. and through that capacity building of our current staff as well. The Northwell Health Partnership is something that we're really excited about and hopeful that we will be able to partner with transition and vocational readiness programs looking at increasing community- based instruction over the course of the next few years. And again you know through the requirements and the new profile of a graduate there is that workbased learning work readiness you know component that this will be able to kind of you know thread through and support job readiness classes housed
here in the school and just additionally the search for change agency that we've partnered with. It's no cost to the district. every student has to u fly through Access VR and Access VR actually is the one who um compensates Search for Change for the supports and and the plan that they developed for our students. Um we will continue to strengthen our family and school partnerships. This is something that I've um I really wished I could get off the ground over the past few years was this family academy that I had um spoken about a few years ago. Looking to establish a weekend like workshop where parents and children could kind of learn side by side, elbow to elbow. Thank you. And um you know we can look to be you know very skill specific literacy based numeracy based with a a separate component for parents where we are building their capacity so that they feel more confident in supporting the needs of their students
at home. So, I'm hoping that with some creative creative um thinking, we could get something like that off the ground this upcoming school year or um in the 2728 school year. We'll continue to improve and um recruit more community members to engage within the school community. some of our marginalized groups. You know, we have seen a higher um rate of participation in events, but we still need to help encourage certain groups of parents to be more um present and visible in more mainstream events that we have with support through interpretation and translation. We'll continue to increase our collaboration with regional agencies through our family resource center and through, you know, reviewing outcomes and projections for our special education and classified students. We'll continue to develop and refine programs here in district, but we are really taking a cons we're really making a conscious effort to increase the amount
of time that our students with disabilities spend in mainstream classrooms. And it has been going really well at our elementary school where some of our special class students are spending half of their day in an ICT or a gened class with their with their um with their peers which is a a fabulous fabulous um you know achievement as far as you know the work and advocacy of our special education teachers and case managers in advocating for opportunities for our kids and our kids are rising to the occasion. So >> they're thriving. >> They are thriving. >> They are thriving. It's amazing. >> And that's it for me. >> Question. >> I have a we question. >> Yes. >> Um so, um just going back a couple slides. I know we talked about this at great length during um during um the January presentation on assignment, but um the the statistic about 13 to 15% of students hearing hurtful language is one that I think you know stood out to us in
this conversation and it's still something that you've expressed that there's different ways of working on so um if you could just speak to a little bit it's like as you know we've moved a little bit away from January are you thinking about that in terms of budgeting at all or if not thinking about in terms of budgeting what are you thinking about? So right now there's no proposed allocation for any specific professional development related to this um only because our staff I believe has the capacity >> to address the needs of students and >> I had additionally said about our you know the allyship the bystander upstander type of training and a lot of our staff made themselves available for that evening training right >> you know so these are things that I think we have been working on are embedded in our typical school day in our clinical practices. So I I'd have to say at this time no there's no
investment being you know planned for specific professional development. However we are continuously having conversations with groups of students. You know, we just facilitated Nicole, John, and myself facilitated the student um focus group uh this week at PBC where we spoke specifically about some of the data points that were obtained through the school climate survey at PBC and really hearing from the students, you know, what they think we can do better or things that they've noticed that could help us drive, you know, and further the work. >> Yeah. >> So, it's a It's a no to, you know, proposed allocation for a specific set of training, but this work is ongoing. >> Yeah. Know, I think that's great. I think actually it's just to be able to hear that it's like we're at the point where we feel like we have the information we need now. It's just enacting it, right? And I think that's what you're sort of saying in terms of
the focus groups and then I think you had also mentioned that just also working with teachers and staff to make sure it's like we're being responsive in the moment, right, is like a change I think that you talked about a little bit as well. So that's the opposite. >> We're more aware. >> Yeah. The I think the other the other thing um just that that just popped up for me when you were talking about the um on your last slide just about the question of trying to figure out how we can get to a higher and this is again not a conversation that's really budget related but maybe to think about for like a future conversation is that the idea of getting a higher rate of participation from our families now that we have translation at some of these events. there still is that sort of question of like how are we making sure um that you know opportunities like PTA like you know enrichment things like fun
programs like performances that all of our families had access and are participating and I know I just you know I'm going to you know I'm going to say next which is I'm very grateful to you Rachel Depal for uh carrying on the mantle of cultural life because I think that that that event for our school district and pride and the entire CCT building they're going to ghosting soon, right? And not tomorrow. Let's be clear, not tomorrow. It's June 10th. Um but but again allowing, you know, making sure that the district is continuing to provide these spaces for our community and places where again all of our families can feel represented, I think is such a value for all of us together, not just on the board, but the community at large. And we know this because everybody comes to these events when we do them. So I think just to sort of think about the connection between that event and how else we can sort of whose
participation beyond that one signature event is something that we can maybe come back to >> you know at some point next school year. Carmen, even myself have kind of been struggling with, you know, with that information because at one point we were like, wait a minute, we had 28 parents at an event that was exclusively in their native language, >> right? >> But, you know, we're curious, are these the same 28 faces we will see at an event? Are they, you know, that we would expect people to um, you know, identify as an inclusive event? because we have translation there, we have materials in it, you know, in their native language, but we don't do that. So, there's like a piece of a the puzzle that we quite we haven't quite figured out yet, and it's just ongoing work that we're doing. And I think through we do have a a mom's group that Carmen and Eva facilitate once twice a month. they have established a goal the that particular
small group of parents that they want to be at more mainstream events but you know then we hope that will you know that will continue to spread you know the word so it's on our radar >> excellent thank you I don't have any questions >> I just I just wanted to make a comment on one it's it's really wonderful to continue to see how we're being a we're able to increase our services to keep more of our students in district and it's really wonderful to see and that is a huge credit to you and your team. Um and also just I I was so excited to see the the family resource center open this year. Um and see that that has been such a a great resource for our community. um and seeing that grow and some of these exciting things for the coming years with Northwell Health and with this family academy. It's just there's a lot of fantastic movement and we're we're doing a lot of great things for our kids. So, thank you. Thank you.
>> I have a PS on that which is also interesting like with this today I mean with your slide about this the family resource center is not so much a place as a concept, right? because it it the the um the for example the summer camp fair that wasn't held in the basement of C was actually held at PBC in the gym right so it's like it's the idea is is not it's just not wedded to that location now which I think it's an important thing for the community to understand it's actually like a an approach to dealing with things that families are thinking about and it covers all buildings not just one building and it covers a whole range of things that we need to be able to provide to our families not it's not limited to demographics. It's not limited to identity or language. It's actually it's it's not limited at all because it's for all families. >> Anything anything you need anything >> to just piggy back on what Sarah was
saying about how unique their work is. I had an interaction with a new staff to the district not long ago and and this teacher was saying to me how different our district is and how much empathy our students have for one another in sharing classrooms with students who have different needs at the same time. um this the teacher was struck by students being able to say like no we know this student this is what works best with that student just because they've been sharing spaces for so long because they've been in grades together they're not you know leaving they're not being put in other classrooms the integrated model um so that I was struck by a teacher saying a new teacher saying that to me like what you guys do here is very different than what happens in other places and that's a testament to all of you and all of your hard work so I want to do Sweet. >> So, this is a summary of our budget
presentation schedule. So, our next meeting will be on April 21st. That is a Tuesday. Um, and we will be voting uh to adopt the superintendent's budget along with the property tax report card and uh the BOS's admin vote as well followed by May 7th, the public budget hearing. And then don't forget to vote. Voting day is Tuesday, May 19th. Will be held at the high school between 6:00 a.m. and 900 pm. Uh we will be voting on the school district budget. Three trustee election seats and uh several propositions. We will also have the tenure celebration which will be held at 7 p.m. as well. >> Just one thing to add on those propositions. We will also be voting as a community on the library budget. >> Correct. >> And just kind of preview of coming attractions. On Monday, I went to the presentation at the library about their work towards renovating and expanding the library, which I know we're going to hear about
at our budget hearing in May. But I think that's something community should know. You know, they're talking about it. It's very, I thought, very exciting. Um, and we should all look forward to it. I just want to say um I hope what the community takes from tonight uh is evidence of a system that um continues to push for continuous improvement that that even in a year and a budget cycle where uh the personnel that increase the student uh experience still improves. Uh and that's a hallmark of a team uh that again is inclined toward continuous growth, continuous pursuit of excellence. And so I want to thank our team for your leadership and for being here tonight. Uh it's 11:10. Let's call it a full day, but coming early tomorrow. >> Thank you very much. Great job.
Oh, there's always more than one. Yeah, they're never
Moving on to new business. >> Before moving on, can I say something? Yes. >> Just want I want to retract a statement I made before. Um I shouldn't have passed judgment on a single data point. Should have known better for that. I just want to apologize. I take it back. Um I think um on just on that point, I'd love us to be more strive to be more disciplined than providing more data points so that we can kind of well not having more data points risks what I just did which was again extrapolate meaning from something that was maybe there are not there but we won't know unless we have a series of data and series of of information that we can then say okay are we even better or not where can we learn where can we improve so just want to be on saying that >> yeah but to your point I think that something that we had these obvious opportunity to access because it's a concern of the community and not
something we can work collaboratively with with >> that and I forgot >> based off of sort of like our experience at our last meeting where I think we we asked some questions that we weren't able to answer in the room where we landed for example with that conversation was to say we think we need to initiate a work session for example on technology and so I think where this is also leading And we know that it's leading to this is to also we do have like the you know we have various district committees that have been exploring some of these questions. So maybe you know thinking about what that work is going to surface and then also the questions that are coming up here. We determine a time frame to actually have again like a work session where we can actually focus in on these questions and allow everybody to to collect the data that we want to look at or at least start that process so that it be again
becomes part of practice because these questions aren't going to go away in terms of parents and families wanting to understand these matters and then also just the landscape is going to keep changing. So I think that might be a way to sort of address it with as you're saying with more data points and as you're saying also with just like the broader perspective of not just talking about that one piece of it but the the the sort of holistic view of like college and career both right yeah >> if I could just because I know we're going to go back to work but on this thinking of the communities too that I serve on assessment feedback and what success means that ties ties very directly to this question or this data point and other data points and what what does it really mean for our students? What does it mean for our staff? What does it mean for our comm parents? What does it mean for our community and have a robust
conversation? Yeah. Early next year about those >> Yeah. these I mean these are conversations that every community is struggling with, right? It's exciting to be a part of a community that is in a position to have that kind of productive conversation that producing way. So >> yeah, I would just say I don't know if we want to wait till the beginning of next year. >> Sorry. >> Well, if we can fit in between now and June 30th, great. But we have to see a bit. >> Yeah. So moving into new business item 3.1 policies for first reading I will turn it over to policy chair Neil Haber with the preface that it is 11:15 in the evening and this is just reading. >> I am not going to speak about this these policies because um is the one who had done the major work on it. We realize it's first reading. We realize it's late. The policy 2510 new board member orientation should be dealt with and completed by
June 30th because that may be necessary to put in place come July. But that having been said and with the understanding that we may have more discussion on both, let me turn it over to >> Sure. Thank Thank you. And I'll also keep it brief but also remind sort of like the group that when we do have things on the agenda for first reading, it's actually it is like the it's like the first opportunity and sometimes the only opportunity for the board to discuss and public concerns on these policies. Um so because once once we get to our second reading, the idea is that we've incorporated these changes and we're ready to adopt. So I will just talk really quickly about sort of where we are with these and then invite if folks have topline comments they can make them if they have more in-depth comments. Um I think we would ask that you refer them to the policy committee and then we talk about them there.
Policy 0000 the reason that this is up for first reading is it came under like our regular evaluation cycle um various reasons and I think what we saw was an opportunity to look at a policy that um is sort of foundational. The number is literally 0000 which means it's the original one and it is sort of the policy from which all other policies kind of derive in terms of like our vision and our philosophy. In fact, the name of the policy was originally educational philosophy. Now it's vision statement and educational proposing. So the basic idea here just so that folks sort of know why we're looking at it is this. It was a little bit long. It talked about a lot of different things. One of the ideas that we talked about in the in the committee was to condense it to something that you can really take a look at and understand at a glance a glance of three paragraphs what the district's vision is and what we're
hoping to accomplish. I think you know I will say just having thought about this a little bit more and talked to folks um the board individually um as as uh people were looking at this. It's possible that it's gotten a little too short. it's possible that we've um left some things out and so I think it's an opportunity to talk about what some of those things might be and uh you know refer those points back to policy to talk about quickly. Um I'm going to do a quick intro on the other policy too just so that my part of talking is over with and that way we can take comments on both alternately however we want to do it. Policy um 2510 uh as Neil mentioned is the new board member orientation. This is a policy that hasn't been touched for some time um in terms of um sort of what's in it and what we have tried to do as a committee. We did this the policy committee did this after consultation with board development
which helps us set our governance practices on that committee. So be sort of on both, but the board governance committee advised on some changes that would bring this policy and the language there in in line with how information is available now in terms of things being available online and different resources that we want to make available to um on uh on oncoming trustees and also to have it be reflective of the onboarding work that we've developed over the last couple of years in terms of making sure that our board is ready to receive and support new trustees. So that's the scoop for that. over comment, please. Go for it. >> Thank you. Um, so I I also really appreciate the context that you offer this. So when I was looking at this, um, I to me, um, I liked a lot of what was in I'm focusing on the educational policy, um, 000 or vision statement. Um, one of the things that I felt was missing was a
little bit of like I think it's easy to like it's easy to assume that um it's easy to assume things and to me like I've I've had experiences where you don't name certain things and all of a sudden that's that's not what anybody's focused on. So to me what was missing is like what we do that's unique to here is that this is all done through through academics and through through learning. So I would like to see um it called out a little bit more that like academic skills you know and like so there was some language from the previous policy that I thought was actually kind of helpful with that >> and also that um it's not just curios but about learning. I think it's really important to name that we are focused on people learning and that is like a a key to what we believe is the success of our students postgraduation. Um, I would like to see like um also something that says that we are making
our decisions based upon evidence and research in the field which I know that's something that's already being looked at in the district committees but to really like you know our research and evidence shifts over time and we should be open to the that those changes as we learn them and be able to pivot based upon that. Um, so to show that we value that, that the field is evolving. Um, and um, yeah, just like a a little bit more of a reference to name out. Um, like like Rachel with your presentation, I really liked how you talked a lot about like earlier when we talked a lot about um, secondary education, but you focused on a lot of other people are leading other paths, you know, so to maybe perhaps name these are what people are doing postgraduation. So when whenever we're making decisions, we're always making sure that we're checking the box of of thinking about all of our students and what they may be doing in
their various pathways post postgraduation. Um so and then I had a very very nitpicky thing on policy 2510 which is more like I guess a question. Um conceptually I I thought this made a a lot of sense. The one question I had is does it make sense to specifically name NISVA and the Westput school board? Like sometimes people prefer not to name the specific organization in different context or maybe it's beneficial. So that's just a question that I had but that doesn't have to be answered now but I guess that was a question. I think I think my answer quickly is since those are the organizations to which we belong and to which we know have for years decades been the resource that we utilize for onboarding new trustees and professional development for all trustees. I don't think it I think it's appropriate to do that. we could add >> among others >> among others because >> yeah just just because I didn't know if
it it makes it sound like that's the only source how >> it's honestly to help guide people like in perpetuity if it it's like you know what if there's a board where there's 70 new people I mean I don't know how that would happen like the way that these things are set up but it's like let's say that there's a lot of turnover there's a lot of change you want to be able to have some sort of like concrete resources here to sort of help guide people but I think among others makes sense because it's not limited it's just making sure that we cover those bases when we're introducing new to the wall. Thank you. I think it was a great suggestion. >> I'm going to say I read this a few times. >> Mhm. >> And I still look really good. >> Yeah. >> It It's very dense. It seems to be I understand the spirit and I and I applaud it. If there's a way to There's no avoiding making this bigger is what I'm trying to
get at. and and specifically calling out what I like about the original policy or the current policy is it's naming out of students and and students are unique and how they learn and that should be part of our educational philosophy and that it is a community effort and that community voice is encouraged and important >> that part is I didn't see that here. So I'd encourage to in vision or or think through how to explicitly and clearly name that. >> Yeah, I think that's that's really good feedback that I think in the effort to make things a little bit shorter. >> Yeah. >> Um >> I understand. >> Yeah, we we omitted some things. >> So you said I'm sorry. just make sure that that I've gotten this community voice and feedback and then the other piece was about the different about >> about students >> styles of learning >> while unique and learn different ways. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Great to strive to serve every student in all
of our learning modalities. H not that right now. >> I know they mentioned this independently to different members of the policy committee, but I would like to just say if you could in the interim between first and second reading make the NISBO recommended policy, the boilerplate NISBO recommended policy available um for purposes of comparison. I would appreciate that. >> Yes, for this one 0000 would necessarily have one, right? We have we we haven't I mean we can certainly look to see if there is a boilerplate policy under that specific number or educational philosophy that the the genesis of our discussion in terms of making this a little bit more concise was actually research into comparative you know comparable policies across our region. And I think one of the things that that you know, one of the things that we talked about was that the original um the previous version or the current
currently adopted version of this policy, it it it it's a lot to read through and a lot of what's in it is covered very clearly in other policies. So whether it's like you're using cross references or keeping it the length that it is, um that's something that we have to think about and talk about as as a policy committee. We don't want to remove anything, but we also want to make sure that it's something that like a person can read and understand what our schools are about and what they're here for. And that felt like it was a little bit getting lost, but clearly if there if there are key points that are getting lost, I think we surface some of them here. If folks have a little bit of time to look at this again, let's look at it again and sort of send them specific feedback about like these are the things that we feel were um elited over that we need to have brought back in. And I think that's that's what the
work is. All right, we'll do it >> and we're meeting Friday the 17th, 8 days from today. So, if you have any comments, get them to be for circulation to the committee before that. And I will say I've already gotten some comments from Allison, which I don't know if you'll have additional comments based on this discussion, but we will share that and consider >> if helpful or to the extent helpful as you make these policy. The one of the hall hallmarks of a good policy is its applicability. >> Mhm. >> Right. Having enforce it, having applied it. And again, from current version, I'm all over the place. >> I understand. Although I will say the policies that end in three zeros >> are designed to be kind of broad and aspirational with everything not aspirational but kind of philosophical with everything under it being more specific. And I will also say that we do talk in the policy committee about you
know with anything that gets presented how can it be enforced how can it be applied >> applied. So yes that's part of our discussion all the time. >> Is that it yet? >> Great. Thank you. >> Thank you. Item 3.2 Two, scissor lift for grounds maintenance bid. Recommend recommendation, excuse me, recommend action be a result of the board of education approves the bid award for the purchase of a scissor lift for grounds maintenance toal high reaching LLC. The total cost being recommended is $23,500. >> Second question, all in favor? I >> I >> opposed abstain motion carries item 3.3 side letter of agreement recommended action here the board of education hereby approves the side letter of agreement between the co and harman unified free school union free school system school district pardon me and the co teachers association as presented. So second >> um question all in favor >> I >> opposed abstain motion carries moving
into instructional personnel item 4.1 administrative personnel resignation recommended action be resolved the board of education of the crowen union free school district hereby accepts the resignation of Christine Drago director of athletics physical education health and wellness effective end of the June 30th, 2026. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Question. All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Abstain. Motion carries. Moving into donations. Item 5.1. Donation from CHHS PTSA, the high school PTSA scholarships. Recommended action. The result of the board of education gratefully accepts a donation in the amount of $4,750 from the Croharm High School PTSA as a contribution to the high school PTSA scholarship fund at Croharm High School for 2026. >> Second. >> On the question, all in favor? >> I opposed. Abstain. Motion carries. Item 5.2 2 donation. Susan McCormick from the class of 1985 scholarship fund
recommended action be resolved that the board of education gratefully accepts a donation in the amount of $25 from Susan McCormick as a contribution to the class of 1985 scholarship fund at Quilton Herman High School for 2026 to be awarded to a graduating senior who has demonstrated kindness and inclusivity within the CHHS community. So second on the question all in favor I >> opposed abstain motion carries item 5.3 donation from the Croman Democratic committee the Francis Allen scholarship recommended action be resolved that the board of education gratefully accepts a donation in the amount of $500 from the Croin Democratic committee as a contribution to the Francis Allen scholarship at Croin High School for 2026 to be awarded to a graduating student who has demonstrated commitment to or actual work on behalf of the environment or addressing climate change. >> So move second >> on the question
all in favor. >> Opposed abstain motion carries item 5.4 Four, donation from the Croman Democratic Committee, the John Habib scholarship. Recommended action be the board of education grantly accepts donation in the amount of $500 from the Croman Democratic Committee is a contribution to the John E scholarship at Croman Harmon High School for 2026 to be awarded to a graduating student who has demonstrated civic engagement and community activism. >> Second on question. All in favor? >> I opposed abstain. Motion carries. Item 5.5, donation from Princeo Contracting, Inc. The Erica Ecus Memorial Award. Recommended action be resolved that the board of education gratefully accepts a donation in the amount of $500 from the Crow Democratic Committee. I'm sorry, this needs to be amended or corrected. Uh recommended action be it resolved that the board of education group accepts a donation in the amount of
>> $1,000 >> $1,000 from Princeo Contracting Am I not clicking through? I'm sorry, >> Mer. Item 5.5 Princeo Contracting Inc. The Erica Eas Memorial Award recommended action be resolved. The board of education gratefully accepts a donation in the amount of $1,000 from Princeo Contracting LLC as a contribution to the Erica Aescus Memorial Award at Cotton Harmon High School for 2026 to be awarded to a graduating senior who is planning on continuing their education in the field of science research. Are the criteria to be considered overall average, community service, extracurricular activities, sports, and employment? >> Some move. >> Second. >> On the question. >> All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Abstain. Motion carries. Item 5.6, donation from the Crom Police Association, the officer charles rival scholarship. Recommended action be a result board of education gratefully accepts a donation in the amount of $500
from the Croman Police Association as a contribution to the officer Charles Ral scholarship at Croman Army High School for 2026 to be awarded to a graduating senior who have excelled in academic achievement has shown excellent civic and moral character and is going on to higher education in memory of officer Charles Brle. So move >> second >> on the question. All in favor? >> I >> opposed abstain. Motion carries. I just like to thank all of our generous um donors on behalf of the board and the district and our students for giving to all of these various scholarship funds. Moving on to the consent agenda. Item 6.1 approval of the consent agenda. Recommended action be resolved that the board of education hereby approves all items in the cassette agenda as presented. >> So move >> second >> on the question.
Anybody want? >> All in favor? I >> opposed. Abstain. Motion carries. So at this time we would go back and we would revisit item 2.1 board reports which we moved on the agenda unless we would like to push that to our next meeting. call given in the evening 11:36. >> So we'll save this word for the next meeting already reported. >> Yeah, we have audit today too. So >> Denise, you okay with that >> with that? >> Pushing order next meeting. >> Yeah, >> as far as audit >> as well as audit. Yeah, I I mean >> well, you know, just really quick, I think that's a good idea >> just because we we we met today and I just want to give a huge shout out for the business office, our fearless business leader, Denise Har, uh Barry Kelly. >> This is a historic >> Mhm. >> Uh internal audit review, risk, sorry, risk assessment uh >> and internal >> and internal audit with all the risks of report as low and no findings.
and also on the not only on the risk assessment but also on the actual study from the internal fantastic. more information will be shared with the the board and the next meeting will provide uh more detail on fantastic. I have to commend Barry Kelly and Thomas Thomas. Um most of the internal audit focused on uh one of our employees, brand new Thomas. He's been with us just about a year. And two of the major components of that audit were his area solely and he just blown away blind calls. Um, I just also want to say one of my takeaways from the meeting which was I was very impressed with was that a lot of the times when people hear audit they just are like this is going to be an ownorous terrible thing and like the attitude of your team to being like this is really an opportunity for us to like self assess and and like their commitment to continuous improvement and like really caring about it was like
very impressive like how that how like their attitude about something that traditionally is viewed like very very negatively or like or on from a a defense perspective. It was really viewed as an opportunity for growth. So just want to commend everybody on that and the culture you've created. >> That was such great feedback. Y so moving into the closing of our meeting. Um the board is going to enter into executive session after which we will exit executive session and we'll immediately adjourn our meeting. So at this time we are considering item 7.1 entering executive session. Recommended action be education no right entries into executive session to discuss management leading to the employment of particular person and an exempt subject involving a confidential student matter regarding a particular student. >> So move on questions all in favor abstain motion carries. So again that we will exit the session and then we will
adjourn our meeting. The next meeting of the board of education will be a business meeting that will be held on Tuesday which will be April 21st at which point the uh the community will be presented with superintendent budget. So thank you for the day.