CHUFSD Board of Education Regular Meeting - October 10, 2024
Two, one, action. Good evening. I'd like to call the October 10 Board of Education at the Portland Highland Community School District Board of Education to order. Please rise for the vote of allegiance. Action that the board of education approves the agenda as presented.
Thank you. Omar, the question sorry, Do you make a turn on your mic?
Good recommendation. Right. What what did I say? All opposed. Think. Close. Same. Have a quick one. We have prior Davies to present the other financial statements for fiscal year twenty four.
I have to make sure that mic is on. Hello? Good evening. Prior to this meeting, I met with the audit committee, which is a requirements We issued this report to finance the savings. It's in draft form pending your approval. And within the report, with the independent auditor report, there are three pages that contain our opinion, which is the only pages that actually belong to us. Everything else in the staffing and districts. And in the independent auditor report, we issued what's known as an unmodified opinion, also a clean opinion. It's the best opinion that you can receive.
No. Not the draft report. Okay. But once the full report is issued, it will come directly to the board. Okay.
Reports that we really discussed in the meeting. One was the financial subject which we can review in detail. There is the expert classroom activities report. Then there is report, you know, that is important to those of the government's which is the board. Within that report, there can be significant deficiencies, material weaknesses, or control efficiencies. There were no significant deficiencies and no material weaknesses. There were a few control efficiencies. Two of them had to do with the timeliness of deposits. And the state recommends that all deposits be made within seventy two hours. We've shambled both the actual classroom activity receipts and the district's receipts. And there were, in one case, three deposits that were not deposited timely, and in the other case, there was one that deposited was not deposited timely. These are known as controlled efficiencies, and for the most part, it's information that we're required to reach out to the board so they're aware of the deficiencies. The other one that there was a the miscellaneous special revenue fund, there were a few accounts that remain that remained inactive during the year. Other than that, the audit went very well. There are no issues, and the financial statements can be issued tomorrow. Any questions? I didn't have any.
Alan, thank you very much for the audit. I just would also like to commend the business office staff, beginning with Barry Gamzon, our treasurer, Kelly Lent, specifically Sue Camilleri, hands our our accounts payable and Lisa Ross, who hands us our our payroll. So, Alan, in our audit committee meeting, you had mentioned that there's a, a report that comes out from state that needs to be incorporated into our financial statements that came out Labor Day of May. So in conjunction with that, so that report that needed to be incorporated to that on top of the fact that the state says that we need to submit our report with board approval and finalization by October 15. Right? So the timing of that is challenging considering we just received our our draft report. So the board has two pathways that we can go. We can approve it this evening. These are audited independent financial statements that were issued by our external auditor. We can move forward and approve the minutes and get the final reports afterwards, or we could miss the deadline and not approve them until our next board meeting and then submit to the state late. And those are really our only two options.
I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I Alan, what what are you what is going on in your other districts?
We wanted about 45 school districts and discussing the status of where we are with other partners today. I believe there's probably six that it would be late. Two years ago, I had a situation where the assistant superintendent for business is probably a minor stroke, and we couldn't and we wanted everything on time. Actually probably, at one over 10. It's in a month. We have to do that volume. There were no those consequences. If there is a irregularity in one year where you borrow it, it's basically unwritten one month wage period.
What we could do is we could submit them to the state when we get the final draft. We could submit them to the state, meet the deadline, but not submit the board resolution. At which point, they'll probably come back to us and say that you did not submit your board resolution, and we could have it on the agenda for our next meeting.
There there's another option, which is oh, I'm sorry. What's the deadline again? October 5. October 15, which is five days from now. The alternative would be to would be to have a special meeting. We did just need a form before. So so how would that happen?
Right. The fourteenth is day. It's And we have to meeting on the fifteenth. And we have to meeting evening on the 15th Floor. Not not on the.
Right? That's Yeah. Could do it at the we could do it at the board do it at the board repeat board retreat and submit it before midnight.
We can do this. Let me ask. Do we have do you have everything you need? I mean, there's no resolution on the agenda for this evening.
There is, actually. Yeah. That's why we're asking for the supporting materials for it. Yeah. So
okay. If we're put it I mean, we have a form today. Right? The the I think any questions that arise, like, the audit are aren't going to change the audit. The audit report is the audit report. Mhmm. So and that one option is that we can also just have the resolution to accept the the audit, and then we can always have time to ask questions and clarification. Yeah. Perfect. Yeah. If you are comfortable. What's the recommendation of the audit committee?
The recommendation of the audit committee is to if there's a resolution on the table today, let's pass it.
Seems reasonable now. Thank you. And I assume on here that if if you had questions or you know? Well, as Omar said, the audit itself isn't gonna change. I think, you know, as part of our due diligence, we do wanna have an opportunity to read it, but it is, a finished report. So it's just to to have the materials, I think, is appropriate. Okay.
Yeah. Final report? Final report? There's a few my past management. Right. Before
So then I could get the final report out in electronic form to the full board. Mhmm. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Perfect.
Anything else? No. I just wanna say she's too humble to mention it, but unqualified or an opinion like this doesn't happen by accident. And so I wanna thank and recognize Denise for outstanding leadership and over some of this.
Well, now we're going to present's report. Ana isn't here today, but she did give me a report to share with the the public. Fiscal year is well underway with successful back to school nights throughout the district. Please check ParentSquare for information regarding upcoming parent conferences, school photos, and yearbook information. Our three PTSAs and the our three PTAs and the PTSA at the high school ask for your continued support. Members of the board will be attending the upcoming New York State School Board Association Conference in New York City on October 20 through the twenty second, and we look forward to reporting community regarding our experiences there and meeting other board members throughout the state. The board will be meeting for our second retreat on 10/15/2024 to continue to discuss our roles, trustees, and develop norms and practices for this board. We'll also be working through our board development committee to develop goals, focus upon the goal that we should focus be focusing upon within the fiscal years for school year 2425. We hope to present those at an upcoming board meeting. The Croton-Harmon Education Foundation is hosting their annual Dine Around event on November 9. Please check their website for information regarding this treasured community event.
That concludes the president's report.
There's just one other thing to add that I guess you forgot just to mention, and that is we know that to have a run against on Sunday, the twentieth. And well, I know there's been a lot of fuel buzz among faculty and students, and it will be the high school will be sponsoring a lot of, starting and ending of the races here, and we have a lot of activities in and around high school, and I think we just should. I don't know if Steve my thunder, Neal. That's all. I did not add it, so fine. And if if further information will come, then the superintendent comes.
There is coordination. We'll now move to into hearing of the public. Any words of the public who should address the board may do so at the podium. Please state your name, your district address, and please keep your comments three minutes.
Hi. Name is Michelle. I'm a resident of the program at 17. I'm also founder of PASA parents against school antisemitism, which began in May 2024. We're a local grassroots organization created by the parents in district who believe that antisemitism or hate of any group has no place in our schools. We are a totally independent group, and we are not affiliated with any other group or foreign international. As of October 10, PASA includes a 167 members. Approximately, 75% of those are actually parents of current students in the district. Our goal is to be a partner with our school district in reducing moments that our students and families encounter anti Semitism. To this end, we surveyed positive members to understand the concerns and experiences of the group and presented our findings and recommendations to the trusted administration and the board of ed advocacy committee on September 11. Our recommendations were the following. One, immediately adopt the widely recognized international homocopy that under its alliance, the IHRA definition of antisemitism in order to give us a common understanding that allows us to better combat its occurrences. Two, to educate faculty, staff, and students on this definition and the accompanying contemporary examples of antisemitism. Three, to create a central and transparent tracking system of antisemitism and other instances of hate so that we have a mechanism to see trends.
And four, to include or add curriculum in practicing and encouraging civil discourse of challenging times. We are currently awaiting a response that identifies trust's plan for accountability assessment and implementation of the recommendations or a response that declines participation in this effort to to exempt the sentencing in our district. When will this be provided, this question? To both the New York State Department of Education and their committee for all students that training guide, prevention starts long before an incident occurs. Thank you.
Hi. Thank you. I'm Allison Samuels. I reside at 237 Mount Marygrove West, and I'm also a cofounder of. So on September 11, we met with we presented our findings for our our screen report, and I'd like to put on the record what some of them were. Some of the key findings that we shared with the VOAU are one that a 100% of the and it's just wanna add to the record that about fifth fifty and fifty one positive members here or contribute to this report. A 100% are concerned antisemitism is impacting students in in 2023 to 2024. Concerns about safety and belonging are leading many to modify their behaviors, and eighty percent have shared these concerns with their children who are at their school. 9% nine incidents were reported to us from December 2020 to June 2024. 50% of these incidents were not reported to you because of fears of coming forward because of potential retaliation, indifference, getting someone in trouble, etcetera. A 100% of respondents feel Shasta does not have a good or okay understanding of antisemitism and how to identify it in 2024. We summed up that Shasta's inability to identify antisemitism, its dismissive response to concerns, and ambiguous articulation of antisemitism in its DEI policy draft is eroding trust. We then put forth recommendations, need for acknowledgment and understanding of antisemitism as a problem that was a common sentiment in responses to create a restorative solution.
Since then, the BOE's response we have received is, thank you, but we look forward to working on this important problem. We do not live in a vacuum. The past year, there have been over 10,000 incidents in anti Semitism in The US, and that's been the largest that have been reported in and ADL for instance, And in this just this past Monday, we learned from our local synagogue that law enforcement was was acting upon credible bond theft threats made against synagogues to make sure our community is safe. This is where our local pre k resides. Antisemitism is not an abstract issue. It's impacting our children as just today, which brings me to ask the question. If you students in the district who are being impacted by this hatred, why aren't you showing aggressive action? Especially given that one of your goals is to foster a culture of belonging for all students. If you refuse to name or directly address a problem, then how can you even assess it or research it or diagnose it to make things better? There seems to be a double standard or to some dress for dare I say discrimination when it comes to the concern for non Jewish students. I don't think anybody came here with the intention to ignore constituents. So how did this happen?
If what I'm saying is vitally inaccurate, and I really, really hope that I'm wrong, then please correct me by concretely sharing the specific action steps you are taking and the timeline you laid out to address the problem we have brought to your attention. Thank you.
Hi. My name is Elexis Koch, and I am a concerned parent, a member of PAZA as well, and I live at 34 High Street. I do know some of you, and I look forward to getting to know all of you. Eliminating hate in schools, I believe, is a common goal for all of us, and I have loved this community But being so interested in a whole child and the social emotional component and being comfortable to come to school at your whole self is important. I'm sure you are aware about the rise in antisemitism. And although we're a small population, we are the most targeted. We're religious based hate crimes, and we're at a perfect storm of when Jewish hate increases, holidays, elections, and war in The Middle East. The best way for us to combat antisemitism and make Jew hatred socially unacceptable, which I believe we all have responsibility to do, is with education. You, the BOE, are in a unique role to help our school step up and not wait for a crisis, but it's said to proactively and intentionally help people to understand the importance of condemning Jewish hate and all forms of pain. Because our inability to do so signals to others that it's okay. That's how it spreads. I just wanted to open a dialogue with you so we can support our teachers and students in creating a society free of hate.
There are many resources many resources available to administration, faculty, and students, not just Jewish sites, the UFT, the NDA, and have partnered to create curriculum, which will help support the teachers on this sensitive and important matter. We would love to hear from you in the coming weeks about plans to address. We've been to a team and other forms of hate out of schools. I look forward to your recommendations.
Subject to was just addressed in a kind of unusual from the DEI committee, but the policy committee, I should say, that the last resolution that this award passed was a resolution regarding immigration from Islamic countries that were so that had no functioning government, no way to vet the people, and you were opposed to not allowing most people in United States. In other words, these were countries such as Somalia countries where their government has disintegrated under terrorist threat. And this board wrote a resolution saying that that was a bad thing, that our government should let people coming into The United States. And now we know that the immigration policy of the last three years, we have tens of thousands of people, all sorts of terrorists that have done in this country. And we hear hear about them being apprehended from time to time. I understand the policy of this board based upon the last committee meeting issue adoptable definition of the IHRA, but not but not put it into your policy committee into your policy statement, which perhaps is wise because one of your board members said you have to define it. And I think the proposal was is that you would make a memorial commemoration, whatever, an official statement on the antisemitism.
To the subject, is the policy of this school board should be to create great American citizens, not citizens of the world. Because we create citizens of the world and bring great versus Turkey, Palestinian versus Jew, Russian versus Ukrainian. Let them bring those grievances here, and and then you you allow them to explain each other as as groups develop. Should be created citizens in United States with the tax credits as well as. Also, a sense of unity. You know, you had created to sit back there. Forget about this. It has to do with American policy. That's something else. But you should be encouraging them, everybody, to leave their greed behind as opposed to I understand that Westpac was involved in one of the presentations at CBT. Westpac is a very old group, very old radical group in Westchester County, which is a conduit for the funding for half the half of the anti Semitic demonstrations in The United States.
Leslie Pollak, 2056 Quaker Ridge Road, mother of currently still two graduates. I just I'm here to support the people of. For those of you who did not attend that meeting that they had, I really encourage you to take the time to set up the meeting with founders. They did such a professional job that even my son took his Sunday to meet with the cofounder to find out more about it since he has an interest in it. I just wanna go on record to say that I'm disappointed. At the last meeting, I asked if there would be a new policy procedure or protocol about responding to a few of us that are here repeatedly. And, of course, I didn't hear from anyone. But I also wanna cite my personal experience of writing a long email to some administrators and board members, the entire board, about an antisemitic incident that happened with my son. And as all of you know that I expressed once before, not one of you responded publicly. One person who's not here did informally. That was very disturbing to me, and it wasn't until I wrote a follow-up email that stated to me that's an evidence of anti Semitism on the part of the board for being unresponsive because many of us have friends who are writing in about TDI. And you guys respond before meetings. You hold meetings. So I'm kind of appalled for lack of responsiveness. So I'm gonna go on record again to state that I was at board meetings.
People have repeatedly asked if there has been an inquiry or an investigation that would happen in culturally, and everyone's just silent. And, I just really hope that you have some real amazing people here. There is antisemitism in the school district. I had in writing expressed that one teacher secretly came to me and refused to divulge who that was. Now a second faculty member, Nanjew, came to me, said it's pervasive. The kids complain, and yet you had such professional research, marketing, community involvement, and there's silence. To me, it's indicative of antisemitic behavior. Thank you.
I have one student in the district and two that graduated. We've been with any staff for that one year staff. I really don't have any prepared remarks, but I wanted to lend my support to the comments that I've already been made. And I know I I hope I don't know maybe personally, but I'm I'm sure maybe get your personal time to be here because you care about the community. Want best for our kids. And so I appreciate that. And so I'm here to ask you to really focus on this issue. It's very frightening to be Jewish in the world right now, particularly frightening for those of us who have family members who went through the Holocaust and and come from a time that doesn't seem it used to seem very far away. And and for those of us that are Jewish in The United States, we never thought we were gonna have to worry about these things. But it's important for you to know how we feel. I know we're very concerned about our kids, but we want to know that they're safe. The safety physical safety is not sufficient. It's obviously critical and important. But hearing that the the police need to go to the to make sure that the pre k kids are safe, that's frightening that that has to happen in in our town. And the best way to deal with it is to be proactive and make sure that the students, the administration, the staff are aware and that there's an agreed perspective on what antisemitism is and how to address it upfront. People need to be equipped to deal with this.
And if you get out in front of it, it's the easiest way to address it. But antisemitism is insidious, and you really don't want to wait until you have a very significant event. And I will leave you with a quote that I'm sure you have all heard, but I think it's appropriate. The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. I would say for good people to do nothing. And so we would ask you to help us do something and be proactive with the policy in place and work with us. Okay?
Any other members of the public like to address the board? There there will be an opportunity at the end of the meeting to also we'll have another hearing in public. But I thank you for all the speakers that that that addressed the board. Move on now to the superintendent's report.
In addition, Amy Capelli and Sue DiLascio for everything they did to make this such a a special and memorable experience for our kids as well as Brad Kennedy and and the entire facilities department. That was a great week of of time and pride, and I'll defer the rest to you, miss. Also wanted to mention that, during chat, recently, Isabelle, you may be covering this too. Yeah. Alright. So I'll speak briefly on this. One of the things I got a chance to share with my chat was just that one of the things that makes CHHS special is the robust offering of extracurricular, co curricular, and community organizations that they get a chance to be a part of as young people. And that's really part of what helps them to make memories, and to be a part of something that they'll take with them for the rest of their lives. So the club and activity fair is a day when community organizations and extracurricular groups get a chance to come together all in the same place at the same time as CHHS. And to be there and to feel that energy is a a really special moment. So I thank you to Erica Fiorini and everyone at the high school and our community organizations for making that possible. Also wanted to shout out, again, Carrie, Michael, and Laura, three phenomenal visionary leaders. These folks are dreamers and doers. They make an incredibly complex and nuanced job appear, remarkably simple.
Thank you, Omar. Good evening, everyone. Thank you to members of the community who are here in person and those who are watching from home. It's always a pleasure to get a chance to share some of the wonderful things that are happening in our schools and around our district, particularly over these past three or four weeks with that have been so busy as the school year gets well underway. So as was mentioned earlier by Omar, it was a pleasure to have a chance to attend each school's back to school night at the September and to see and to experience myself the wonderful and welcoming environment that each of our principals, our assistant principals, our faculty, and staff have created in our classrooms and to hear their presentations and the information shared by not only our building leaders, but so many of our community groups. It's an an exemplification of what makes our school district so special when everyone comes together on behalf of our students. So thank you to everyone who made those evenings so successful. Isabelle, I totally I'll defer to you on homecoming events. I just wanna say quickly, a thank you. This is, of course, a a unique year with Spencer Field being under construction. So I wanted to, again, shout out Christine Drago, and Carla Powell from the athletics office, our coaches, our families, the Booster Club, particularly, Loriselen.
Through their experience, and their leadership, our district wouldn't be close to what it is without the three of them. So thank you sincerely on behalf of the entire school district community to each of you for your outstanding leadership and happy national principals. Want to say that earlier this week, Craig Campanaro and I had a chance to attend, what was a really remarkable and special recognition of a young lady in third grade at CET named Penny Catanio. So Penny, last year, along with many students at CET, entered a short story into a contest that began with the women's club of Peekskill in Cortland. The short story, which actually isn't that short, was called, the big project and the big problems. And so Penny, then won the women's club of Peekskill and Cortland's competition and got moved on to the Hudson Valley region competition where that short story won again. She then got moved on to the state level competition where her short story won again and then was moved on to the national, competition in Chicago where she won as well. So earlier this week, Craig and I had a chance to, help to recognize a remarkably talented and bright and confident young person who exemplifies everything we've wanted, every Tiger student. She and her her twin twin brother, Gus, had had a good time with us earlier this week. And, Penny, you are a remarkable young person, a testament to a wonderful family, and some really great teachers. And so congratulations on a on a remarkable.
No. Yeah. Could be shared? You know, we can speak to the family about that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. If I was left here, we'd love to read it. We can invite her here to read it if we
Very exciting. We'll we'll talk to Penny and and her Yeah. Also, to follow-up on Neal's comment from earlier, reminder, Sunday, October 20 is the annual Harry Chapin Memorial Run Against Hunger, which as Neal said is hosted here at CHHS. This is one of those special moments for our community to get a chance to come together, to help those within our region and beyond it. It's one of the things that makes our school district community special. I look forward again to being a part of that. I've been in training ish, and so look forward to, to running in the five k with, hopefully, many, many memory many members of the community on October 20. Also want to mention briefly that, John, Laura, Rebecca, and I were honored to be asked to present at the New York State, Council of School Superintendents Conference in Saratoga at the September on our work around the creation of the vision map and the concept of what school can be. We were genuinely thrilled by that opportunity and incredibly overwhelmed by the positive response and the connections that we had a chance to make, with folks from throughout the state during that experience. Thanks to Ellen Moskowitz, director of technology and innovation, for joining us as well, and truly honored to have a chance to represent, the work that's happened in the district over the past few years in front of that wonderful group.
And I wanted to to also mention, that I think all of us would agree that when you talk about the story of what makes a school great, that story doesn't begin or end with standardized test scores. Instead, it's, you know, it's our belief that when you allow talented and visionary faculty to innovate, to create, to take thoughtful risks, and and push on what are some traditional aspects of school, one of the byproducts you get are students who are inspired by learning for the sake of learning and not just the pursuit of a test score or the highest GPA. And I think, you know, evidence of that philosophy came to us yesterday. We were told by the college board that, CHHS for the 2324 school year has been awarded the platinum, school honor roll award, for a couple of things which are incredibly near and dear and important to our hearts, not only the high level of student achievement on advanced placement exams, but also, we were CHH CHHS was awarded the access award, which means that it's it represents, as they would call, underrepresented communities' participation in advanced placement exams. And so just to quickly give you a little background here, there are three components, all of which CHHS earned the highest level, the platinum level. The first is called college culture, which asked the school to expand, culture by enabling 80% of the graduating class to experience one AP course before graduating. CHHS achieved that at 88%.
The second is college credit, which they indicate is assisting with college affordability by enabling 50% of your graduating class to earn college credit by earning an AP exam score of three or higher. Again, the the target was 50%. CHHS achieved 76%. And the final is college optimization, which the, which the AP says is optimizing students' college readiness by creating opportunities for 15% of your graduating class to take a total of five APs across their high school years with at least one taken in ninth or tenth grade. Again, the target the highest level target in the state was 15%. CHHS achieved that at 50%. So a remarkable accomplishment and incredible credit not only to those faculty members, but to the entire faculty and staff at CHHS. And that's truly that's a school district recognition. So, it's an honor to get a chance to share that, and we'll be putting that in writing, for the entire school district community tomorrow. But congratulations to Laura, to Mark, and to the entire faculty and staff at CHS.
That is it for me.
Thank you very much, sir. Thank you, mister president Walker. I will now turn it over to the ex officio student trustee.
Hello. Good evening, everyone. So I'm here to give the board report for the student perspective. So as mister Walker said, we had homecoming week at the end of last month in September. It was from the twenty third to the twenty eighth. And at the end, on Saturday, we celebrated everything with the tiger tailgate party at CT Upper. So this was happening with football game against. And at this party, there were food shops. There was a deal like games and lots of giveaways, and it was all free for students. So one of the opportunity offered to us. So thank you to the Booster Club for making this all possible. Again, as mister Walker said, we had our club and athletics fair at CHHS on October 8, which is just a gathering of student clubs and then local volunteer organizations looking for student input. And it's just a way to see and give students the opportunity to understand what is being offered to them, what they can join, and what they can do for their community. So that was a great time. And tomorrow is the SFC annual retreat at Teton Reservation. And at this retreat, what we do is the SFC members will elect their executive board. So that's the president, the vice president, secretary of SFC. And, additionally, we will decide on theme of the year, so it's what we focus our efforts on. For example, last year's focus is building building interconnectedness between the grades.
You know, you have your grades, and then you have the interconnectedness between, you know, ninth and tenth or eleventh and twelfth. And lastly, the TSA team will be held at CHHS for eleven years this week, and that concludes my report. Thank you. Thanks.
Thank you, Isabelle. We'll now move into new business. I'll pass it on to the policy committee to talk through a couple of first readings
That subject is pretty tightly regulated by guidance from the education department. And in our internal audit last year, the internal auditor identified the patch. There are some how should I put it? Discrepancies in how clubs that may not be active, what happens if the monies that those clubs have in their accounts and how those money should be accounted for. And if the club is inactive to distribute those funds of the inactive club to another to to at, you know, high school student bank congress and and in the other schools to the student government of those schools. One of the issues is the definition in the current policy or the statement that a club will be considered have have to basically give up its funds if it is inactive. However, we do have situations where a club may not have any financial activity, not credit taking money in or not spending money, but they actually are not being active. And so this policy, as proposed, will address that situation and to define when a quote may be considered inactive and give the principal of the school the responsibility to certify that quote is inactive, and therefore, that all these funds will be redistributed. This certainly is is designed to meet the recommendations of our internal auditor. And, certainly, if, you know, it would be consonant with the management of student activities funds as and as as expected by state education department.
through for the fourth reading. K. There are two policies that are on the agenda for first meeting. The first relates to graduation requirements policy for July and is a minor change, probably minor request by the high school administration and director of pupil personnel services to address the situation where a student may not be able to achieve the required twenty five hours of community service, possibly because that student has certain special needs that makes it impossible for them to. And to do so, many of those students are students who are enrolled in our district can receive a high school diploma, but actually receive their education out of this have those either another placement where they are not necessarily have the opportunity to do community service. And so those students rather than having the administration come to us and ask for a waiver for those students so that they can graduate with a high school diploma to have those students be considered on an individual basis by administration. Second group are students who come into our school later than ninth grade and may not have the opportunity in the short period period that they've been enrolled in our school to reach twenty five hours of community service. That's what policy four seven seven zero will do. Policy five two five two, which is entitled student activities funds management, is the policy that deals with how co curricular clubs, extracurricular clubs manage their funds.
If there are any questions, any members of the board, we will be having this for second meeting in November. And if you have any questions, the board will probably should it be directed to the policy committee. You email the district clerk or you can email me. And the policy themselves, which are in a red line and track changes form are available in the policy corner on to the DOE web page. Any questions from
our board members then? Sure. Oh, you have a question. Okay. So on you're you've added or the committee added on the second page
five two five two. Five two five two. And then active extracurricular act activity by the. But the customer activity shall be defined as what have no financial activity, and I wanted to define it as no activity. Like, the the measure that the auditors are looking at was financial. Right? But the club hadn't met but had no financial transactions. So we wanna clarify that the no activity is nonfinancial. Yeah. Okay.
Yeah. We talked about that last year. I think, actually, no, when we when this came up again, I think we didn't we didn't get that Nuance. That nuance when we reviewed the policy. But that's a really good reminder, I think.
Do you agree? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yeah. I I mean, the concern was in the same. What would so nonfinancial activity. That changed, I think, because both we were aiming at and should have picked up when we discussed this a couple weeks ago. Yep. So that that change certainly can be made before. So if there's anything else, please let us know. Oh. Excuse me.
I have a question, and then if the answer is yes, then I have a follow-up question. Sure. Does this apply or does the school give money to clubs, or is this, like, money that the clubs have raised for themselves that's going to be redistributed?
This applies to funds that the clubs have generated independently. Okay.
Right. And there are rules that each faculty adviser is aware of as to how those money should be taken in and how those money should be accounted for and and so on. But the actual management by the commissioners, both in the farm education, gonna use by not by the faculty member, but by the treasurer. And it's, you know, it's the if SFC does ping pong for a bit, right, as you do every year, that's where get the money and you you have to Yep. Manage it and spend it and that's what this requires.
The the district does provide stipends for the faculty adviser, but that's separate because that's not money that goes into the club's account.
what we're done? Actually, I do have a question. When do we expect that this will come up? When do we expect that this will come back at for a second reading?
I will assume November of this meeting that there is some reason that you feel we have to do the time October 24,
then our next I don't think it needs to be done on October 24. And and I think the next business meeting would be fine unless Denise had No.
You're good? Okay. Moving on to instructional personnel. Item 4.1, resolve recommended action, resolve of the board of education hereby approves the resignation of Taylor Rossi, teacher at Deerfield Portland Middle School, effective 09/18/2024.
On the question? All in favor? Aye. Abstain? Opposed? Motion carries. Recommended action. Resolved that the Board of Education, upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools, hereby appoints Nicole DeMascio as a one point o FTE special education teacher special education tenure area at the Purina Portland Middle School at a salary of 67,697 MA step one. Miss DeMascio is appointed to a four year probationary term as a special education teacher commencing on 09/19/2024 and probationary term ending on 09/18/2028, the tenor area of special education. Miss DeMascio has initial has initial certification in students with disabilities grades one through six. Do you wanna see it? I'll I'll Anamika, put you down. On the question? All in favor? Aye. Aye. Same. Opposed? Motion carries. And 4.3, recommended action. Result of the Board of Education hereby approves the twenty twenty four twenty twenty five New Proton Harmon High School co curricular club charter application as presented.
Like, it's moving kind of us. Yeah. Yep. So I guess, Josh, I guess, a lot of these are new clubs for this year, I guess, but, you know, a lot of these clubs and most of it, I mean, not all, did exist last year. Alright? Oh, I'm sorry. Looked at four point three. Didn't really. Yeah. New ones. Are all new. The new ones. Yeah. Okay. I'm sorry.
All I could say is that I am consistently impressed with the diversity of interests of our students and with the ideas that they have for cocurricular activities and with the school district for its willingness to to support. And I think it's what exactly it is.
That is all I think. So There's one other thing that I would add, and then just piggyback on what Josh said. I also very much appreciate the willingness of our faculty to meet the desires of students to be, you becoming faculty advisers for a great variety of fronts and extracurricular activities that we that we're able to offer.
All in favor? Aye. Aye. Same with code. Motion carries. Item 4.2. Yep. Sorry. The code 4.4. Recommended action that the Board of Education approves the twenty twenty four, twenty twenty five vote for the vote for the school as presented.
What Neal said before, I appreciate all of these individuals for stepping up and
Yes. Well, yes, because I have to abstain from this one. Well, yeah, it's 4.5. Oh, but that abstain, we can't Yeah. I was about that's what I'd say before you before we move it, I'm gonna move to table it. Well, not for the table. It's not. But
we're just gonna have to skip over unless and until Sarah shows up what we have to do is in two weeks because we cannot we have to have four yes. Yeah. We cannot have three yeses and an extension. It's Right. And I can't go on this since I'm really able to. If he's gonna put us on the agenda for Tuesday. I have one question. Yeah. Yes. Which is you said from 4.5, it was. 4.5 in the PVC. Is it two five? Four point seven. 4.7 is the one that we cannot do. Yeah. So we can do 4.5. We can 4.7.
Okay? So Okay. We do do we need to amend? No. No. Just not Just skip. No. Let's do four point five because we can. We wanna get to it, though.
No. When we get to four point seven right? Let's get to four point seven. We'll That's later. Think it's So Who's on first? Four point five.
Recommended action. The board of education approves the twenty twenty four twenty five for curricular appointments for Pure Van Portland Middle School as presented.
I have a question. I note that there is a typographical error on the destination Imagination line that should be ship. That should be Shannon, s h a n o n. Two n's, actually. S h a n n o n. Last name, Varekamp, v a r e m k a m. Varekamp.
Was that well, whatever it is, I think we can that works correctly. Misspelled. I mean, you know, the first. Thank you for that.
All in favor. Aye. Aye. Same. Posed. Local cares. 46. Work on an action that the board of education approves the twenty twenty four, 25 co curricular appointments for Gary E. Tompkins elementary school as presented.
Don't don't want any part of that. So 4.8. That's great. Recommended action. Resolved that the Board of Education hereby approves the professional development adviser appointments for the 2425 school year as presented.
Opposed? Same. Motion carries. Ongoing business. Recommended action resolved that the Board of Education hereby accepts the external audit report prepared by PKFO Connor Davies, LLP, with corrective action plans for the year ending 06/30/2024 as presented.
On the question. We had a discussion before. Yes. K. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Dain and vote. Consent agenda. Recommended action. Result of the Board of Education hereby approve the consent the consent agenda items.
I'm sorry. I was distracted because I know it was a late afternoon. Just wanted to make better. Sorry.
Six point seven just to be clear. Maybe it's just for the public benefit. Might as well. The individual, Scott Giordano, who is no longer going to be the assistant I've asked the assistant voice best for coach that will be the JV. My best for coach.
Are you talking about Scott Giordano on the other? Yes. Yes. So the the we we relatively recent within the last Yeah. I guess, five or eight years graduate.
Yes. That's fine. Yeah. I was supposed to respond. Yeah. I asked, but I know both of them. They are just not making sure what's going to be. You know what?
Because of the They have a seat. Person else. They are just wondering if it needs to be if the decision needs to be made in the minutes in some way.
accept the minutes, it's It's his legal name. Then Yeah. That's the Yeah. That's what donors hire, paperwork.
Take your order. Move in. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Same. Nose. All taken care. Moving on to our second hearing of the public. Any nominee to the public who would like to address the board, and we select the podium. Please state your name, district address, and please keep your your comments.
I'm Allison. I'm the parent of the child at CT. And so I just wanna point out the sweater that I'm wearing. There's a black sheep on that. That is how a lot of the Jewish community is feeling and broken up right now. We are feeling like we don't belong here. We feel like we are not heard. We don't feel like this board is listening to us or cares. Antisemitism is a problem here. It is a problem in this country, but it is a problem in Corona Hudson. And this board must take it seriously. It cannot go with court anymore. I was here a month ago and spoke to Omar, and I spoke to Neal at a meet and greet, and I'm really upset that I have not seen anything about antisemitism on today's agenda. Croton Posner was here in early September, gave a presentation, and that also went for it. This is not acceptable behavior. This cannot continue to be ignored. There are more than a 160 people who signed that petition to get your attention, and you're still ignoring us. I noticed that you can find nuance in language about school clubs, but you're not able to seem to find it when it comes to antisemitism and address that appropriately. Why is there no reaction from this word? Someone came out here earlier in tears. All of us have been in tears privately, but also in front of you, and there was no reaction from this board. Why is that? Is recommending that you implement several different items. These are easy. The first is to adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism immediately.
Why is that not on today's agenda? Education. Our teachers, our staff, our students need to be educated on what antisemitism is, And it can't just end there. It has to actually be enforced. We need a comprehensive system to improve the climate in our schools and in this district and be fully inclusive. That includes addressing antisemitism. Our students need our support. They need sports or they need support of the teachers and and parents, and this board must listen. So I'd like to know when will you be addressing these issues? When will you be enacting the IHRA definition of anti feminism so that there is accountability? Why do you feel that this is not something that needs to happen? Why wasn't there a notice to this entire school district on Monday when there was a bomb threat against the children at UPK? That should have gone district wide. Why was that not shared? Antifentism is in our community, and it must be addressed immediately. Thank you.
This is a issue related to a subject at hand. I forgot this. This school has to have it some of the teachers and some of the administrators gotta have this flag, certain flags. Flags mean different things to different people. For instance, to me, when I I see a transgender flag that says that person thinks they can change their sex, change their gender, which they can't. You know, you need to build the peach signs. And it means that they support the chemotherapy and the surgical ramifications, which the organizations use that flag represent. I find that rubber hands on and cutting off appendages because you have mental illness. So I'm not one from. If a person can display those flags, a a person person can display a Jewish flag, a Catholic flag, an evangelical flag, a crucifix. Those are symbols. So certain symbols are okay. Every symbol is okay. If a person wants to demonstrate their faith, their saints, their belief system, that teacher wants to do that, they should be allowed to do that. But there are consequences for that. The teacher, person going for advice, whatever, sees that seminar, whatever it is, and they interpret it well or bad. So I recommend you seriously think about that. I know what the rage has been for the last ten years. I understand it. But it should I recommend you seriously think about the ramifications of displaying sex because if some people can do it, all people are entitled to display their symbols. Now second item on address.
We're in a housing war in Brooklyn. It's not about housing. It's about the size of the proposed housing numbers. It has nothing to do with who who's gonna live there, etcetera. It's a I've got the monstrosity, the size, and location. But one of the problems that other school districts have seen in these nine counties that were discussed in money's meeting was a lack of population, real population and student population. And the school system has something to bear in terms of guilt on that subject. If you preach environmentalist that says children are a burden and you shouldn't have children because they're a threat, that's a sin. And you're responsible for that, brother. Thank you.
Well, the advocacy chair is not here tonight, and, my, other advocacy colleague, Sarah Carrier, is actually attending on our behalf the New York State School Boards Association's annual business meeting at which she's representing us and voting on the the resolutions as they relate to legislative advocacy for this current cycle right now. So that's what's actually going on. We have not met actually since the last board reports. There's really nothing further. We have not met formally as a committee since the last board report, so there's nothing further to report from the committee.
we've already discussed, the audit committee met today immediately before this meeting to receive and discuss the draft audit reports from the ladies. Go ahead.
we've already discussed it, so there's nothing additional to report from the audit committee, and and we, we do not have the next meeting scheduled yet. Okay.
I'd be happy to do it because I think we did actually make me put something together in email. I think that qualifies me as being able to represent Go away. So thank you. Kind of that. So board development did actually meet about two weeks ago to put together sort of, like, a view to what we're hoping to be working on as as a committee to support the work of the board. First of those is, of course, our board development sort of retreat that's scheduled for next week at which we will go over. We'll have a conversation about developing norms, practices, and procedures, and making sure we're in alignment in terms of how we wanna communicate internally and externally. So it's it it should be a good discussion. You all were actually sent an agenda for review. It would be lovely if you would look at it before the retreat since it is on Tuesday. And I will also draw your attention too. You've got a sneak preview of the, board, the, fall twenty twenty four learning walks invitation calendar that our clerk put together for us to mark with our potential availability to attend some of these things. I'll make the hard pitch, which is, you know, the administrators do set aside time to make these opportunities available to us. So in order for them to happen, we have to have a couple people sign up to make it, you know, worth the time and the effort. And we encourage you, publicly at this meeting to please fill it out so that we can get them set up.
See, that's what you get when you make me a chair or something.
Oh, let's see. I have a question. So we left last week on the thirtieth. Discussion of Sarah, who is not here tonight, was asked to be the chair of the committee. We'll review the committee charge, and we talked about the goals and objectives for this year for communications. And many among them would be to see how meet the BOE has been working through this point and to consider if there are other avenues or other ways in order that the board can utilize to reach out to community members. We also talked about the possibility of having a, I should say, protocol to establish establish a protocol as to when we get information or when people say things to us at the Meet at the Meet the BOE session, how we may refer those persons who will refute refer those, questions that are raised to the appropriate person for response so that we all know that when we're sitting at that table interacting with the public, we can let the public know where we will Direct. Direct that request or question, and we'll do it. And, you know, have them more formal than just, okay. We'll sit there and make a note. And then at some point, we pass that on without having a first. We talked about possibility of having some kind of a community conversation or public forum. In years past, we have done a town hall or community cafe on particular issues.
The other day, they've been relating to curriculum or facilities or whatever, but we're thinking about how and when to have such a session in the 2425 school year. We also discussed the possibility, which is still kind of information, to develop a kind of a DOE recap, kind of very one page description to circulate to the community or publish the community or what we've done had a meeting, whether it's gonna be business meeting or business meeting. And work sessions may not. We haven't determined that yet. But so that those who don't watch the video and those who are not with us, and I mean, either by watching the video by livestream or thereafter, we'll have some idea of the subjects that we have discussed. Obviously, it's gonna take some work to determine exactly what that format will be and, you know, who will prepare it, perhaps our public relations consultant, and who will review it before it's issued. But that's just an idea to be able to get more information out to the community and be available thereafter to answer questions that somebody may have about what they've read in that. That's, in sum, what what I think we talked about, Alice.
We missed anything. Not missed anything. Just wanted to comment that that your first question, the follow-up after meet the BOE is the second item on our agenda for next week. So we'll be talking about that because it's come up, I think, in every committee Mhmm. So far. And also just to say, I'm glad to hear this idea of a BOE meeting recap is still under discussion. We'll highlight that we did spend several committee meetings last year talking about it. We're able to move it anywhere. So I I I I wish this year's committee the best in getting it to some sort of resolution because I think it's something the community is looking for and is interested in. We've talked about it a lot. Might be tentative of the talking into action.
K. So 7th Floor. Policy? Policy. Policy committee met on the fifteenth, I think, September and discussed the two policies that are before us today or will before us the first reading. And we also discussed other policies that are in our in our parking lot, so to speak, to help them move forward and help each of the members of the committee maintain certain certain of those policies to shepherd them through and do research on, etcetera. One of the things that we talked about, and, unfortunately, only four of us are here today, but I just wanna put it out. The discussion is a policy that we have discussed a year ago, also two three two five concerning video conferencing of door meetings. And the discussion that we had last year well, let me step back and say, a provision of the state public office's law, open meetings as well, allows for board members to participate remotely by video conferencing if notice is given of where that individual will be and an invitation for the public to attend the meeting at that location. So for example, if I'm in New York City on business and I'm gonna be at this meeting by video conference, I will be able to say, I will be attending from my office. Anybody in public can come to my office and sit there and participate in the meeting. The and that is already in our policy two three one.
The legislature, the year for two ago, adopted a alternate means by which persons can participate without having to identify where they are going, where they will be, and inviting the public to go to that location. One of the things that we discussed at NISPA in supporting this was some people were concerned that if I say, I'm gonna be at place x, I may be telling people I'm gonna be away on vacation or my business. My house should be empty. Concerns about safety. So there are certain provisions in the law that allow for that alternative. We decided last year, I think it was, that we are not going to do that. We didn't feel it was necessary. But what was raised to for the committee to consider is if those extraordinary circumstances that might require someone not to participate include such things as illness or childcare responsibilities, then the board and and the I believe the statute had had been modified to include that as one of the historical circumstances. That might be something that might be appropriate. You're ill, but you want to participate. You know, you you're not gonna have people come in your house, and you're not going to want to come and participate when you're not feeling well or you have child care responsibility. So that's something that we were asked or or that Elizabeth presented language for us to consider. And the committee really couldn't come to a consensus for an agreement that we thought we would propose it or not.
And for that reason, it was decided at the community meeting that we basically told the board and see, you know, what the board thinks. Should we go forward? And if so, we would go forward, and if not, not. Unfortunately, we only have four of us here, and, well, two of the committee members are here. And I know, Josh, you were on the committee last year, so you can follow prior discussions. Right. I think it's something we, as a committee, would like to get a sense of the board on before we do any more work on it. But I don't know if we can get it today in the absence of, yeah, of Sarah and.
You spent a lot of time presenting it. We could get initial feedback. From it. Sure. Why not? I think it's a good idea. Yeah. We should do it. Alright. Second that. And I stated at the committee meeting, I thought it was a good idea, and I thought we should do it. So do it. So I reiterate that. So what given the fact that we have kind of a
a consensus Yeah. An obstacle forward, then at our next meeting, we will put this back on an agenda with language to to do it. Now one of the things one of the things that is different about this situation is that under the, I remember correctly, under the provisions for extraordinary means under section one zero three a before it was modified, a quorum of the committee had to be present at a physical location. And the person who was not there Doesn't count. Couldn't count for the poor. In this situation, it's a child care for disability. It is my understanding, and I've got to double check this, that that person could count towards the poor. So we will we will, you know, we will Yeah. I think it's worth bringing to the full board for discussion then.
Okay. Well, bring it to the board in in the form of policy for first reading your discussion
Okay. I will also add that where I meet other at, the ad hoc committee that's dealing with the finalization of policy zero one zero five to handle the social media policy commit on September 30, and we have completed our review of policy zero one zero five, which is that can refer to legal counsel to review before it comes to the board. We have not done any further work on social media policies that will happen in our next meeting. And it is hoped that as soon as we have those done, done meaning not just a report to the board, but also the board's consideration, and it's not getting referred back to this ad hoc committee, then the ad hoc committee will is bad. Okay. Right. We also discussed the that doing a the resolution regarding antisemitism was also discussed effectively. What? So that's really not within the purview of the head on committee, but we did discuss It would be within the purview of the board as a whole that would would
do that, and I have started working on a draft. And I would add not ready to share with anybody yet, but I started working on a draft. And I would just add as far as that's concerned, which is a matter of of policy, Once that draft is completed, you already presented our policy and agendas as if any board member can present an item for consideration and a board agenda. So a resolution like that doesn't even need necessarily to go to a committee that will decide to refer to a committee that, I guess, that will go to board officers and the district court to put on the agenda when it's ready to be presented.
I know I was not usually relying on Yeah. Yeah. On Isabelle to do that. Well, I'll just say I I was very pleased to attend as a, you know, as an observer my first meeting of the student faculty congress, and I thought it was great and really exciting to hear everyone working together and what they're excited about. And I hope you have a great retreat, Shneur.
Moving on to item 7.4. Items needed for next board of education meeting. We do have a work session on October 24. The topic we're gonna we're continuing the theme of our administration to to report on theme industry about the vision map and how different areas of the district contribute to the vision map. So the next work session will be focused on UPS and its contributions.
And what the only thing needed is make sure that on twenty fourth, fifty eight business plan. We put out that we met earlier, the resolution approved.
What's that? What what's that? The the the the person who did not get appointed to the co curricular activities because Did you get that, Denise?
abstain. So Yeah. You know, as soon as that can be approved the only thing I'm thinking is we're not really gonna have a full notice to be there on the fifteenth unless there's other things. So if it can be paid for '24 I don't see any supply for the '24.
Because we don't with John's statement. Right. No. I understand we didn't have Nora. Right. So it was just skipping. Right. But we did approve
the the audit. Oh, the audit. The audit was complete. So that we don't need to have a meeting on the imaging. We can that can wait. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Perfect. You're sure of that. Okay. I'm sure. Okay.
Any other items? Okay. Next board of education for the next meeting? With that, recommend action, board adjourn at 09:04PM.