• 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
• Massiti, 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.