[2:54] I pledge to the flag of the United
[2:57] States of America to the standyice
[3:06] for
[3:12] Good evening and welcome to the
[3:14] September 15th meeting of the board of
[3:16] education. I'd like to welcome everyone
[3:18] back to the 2026 2027 school year. I
[3:22] know our students have been hard at work
[3:23] these past few weeks and I want to thank
[3:25] Dr. V, the cabinet, and all the admin
[3:28] for all their work this summer behind
[3:30] the scenes. We're all looking forward to
[3:33] hearing the opening of school updates.
[3:35] Um and with that I will start with
[3:39] agenda item 41
[3:42] um amendment to the superintendence
[3:44] agreement for 20 26 2027 school year.
[3:48] Can I have a motion?
[3:52] I just have to read it. Christine,
[3:58] » be it resolved that Be it resolved that
[4:00] the board of education with the
[4:01] recommendation of the superintendent
[4:03] hereby approves the motion to I'm sorry.
[4:09] Be it resolved that the board of
[4:10] education hereby approves the amendment
[4:12] to the superintendent's contract as
[4:14] attached.
[4:15] Do I have a second?
[4:17] Uh Lori. Okay. All in favor?
[4:20] Okay. Thank you.
[4:23] Okay. And uh Dr. V, I'll turn it over to
[4:26] you for your superintendent report.
[4:27] >> Wonderful. Thank you very much. Good
[4:29] evening everyone. Um so I'm going to
[4:31] give a superintendent report that is
[4:33] very much specific to uh the start of
[4:35] our school year and again to uh follow
[4:37] your sentiments. Uh Jackie, uh
[4:39] congratulations to all of our students
[4:41] who have started another academic year.
[4:43] We're so happy to have you back. Um
[4:45] thank you to all of our administrators
[4:46] and our faculty and staff for welcoming
[4:48] our students with such open arms. Um,
[4:50] and thank you to all of our families who I know have had many routine changes
[4:54] this year. Um, and many differences in
[4:57] how we are getting to and from school
[4:59] and I appreciate the continued feedback
[5:01] um to our transport transportation
[5:04] department and uh to my office as well.
[5:06] So, I just wanted to bring up a few
[5:08] things that have been recurring just so
[5:09] that you know uh our eyes are on it. We
[5:12] continue to work with our EPD as well as
[5:14] with our town. Uh, one of the first
[5:16] things is that we are still actively
[5:18] recruiting for crossing guards. Um and
[5:20] so uh the application link was sent out
[5:22] in my message um on Friday. I know that
[5:25] the EPD is also um trying to recruit
[5:27] heavily as well. Um but if you have
[5:29] community members, if you have people
[5:31] who are interested, um it's a couple of
[5:32] hours in the morning, couple hours in
[5:34] the afternoon, and we are looking for
[5:36] those crossing guards. Um that being
[5:38] said, we do have crossing guards who are
[5:40] stationed over at Anne Hutch and over at
[5:41] Webster and Wilmont in the Greenville
[5:43] area, and they will continue to be
[5:45] there. Um and we are thankful for their
[5:48] support. Um there are a few
[5:50] intersections that I've also heard a lot
[5:52] about that I just wanted to bring out.
[5:54] So one is uh we'll start with Waverly
[5:57] Hall and Maine coming up from the south
[6:00] um does get congested in the morning and
[6:01] we do have our eyes on that. Um we are
[6:04] actually looking to uh go out to RFP for
[6:06] now a small traffic study in the Waverly
[6:09] area just to help with some of the
[6:10] congestion there. Uh when that RFP is
[6:12] ready uh to go, we will be reviewing
[6:14] everything and making sure that the
[6:16] consultants know exactly what it is that
[6:18] we're looking for in terms of
[6:19] recommendations to help us alleviate
[6:21] that area. On a plus side, however, we
[6:24] opened up the Bellow Avenue entrance on
[6:26] the north uh coming section of Waverly
[6:28] and it has been working really, really
[6:30] well. Um, not only does it uh kind of
[6:33] alleviate the pressure that goes down
[6:34] into Hall, which used to be the
[6:36] entrance, it really does move faster,
[6:38] kind of like a a drive-thru where five
[6:42] cars go right up and kids are taken
[6:44] right out of the cars and then they
[6:45] swoop right out into a hall and then uh
[6:47] parents can get on with their day. So,
[6:49] the Bellow Avenue has been working well.
[6:51] Uh just a friendly reminder and I know
[6:53] that uh Miss Mandeli and Miss Oliva are
[6:55] sitting in the audience tonight as well
[6:56] that if you are coming for early drop
[6:58] off at Waverly to go right to that main
[7:00] entrance where the pergola is. Um it
[7:02] opens as early as 8:20 a.m. and if you
[7:04] pull right up into the circle it also
[7:06] helps alleviate that main avenue uh
[7:08] entrance. Uh but Waverly has been um
[7:11] getting faster each day and so that is a
[7:14] real bonus. uh Greenville, it is working
[7:17] like a welloiled machine over there with
[7:19] our back entrance and with the new
[7:21] striping with the drop off and the loop.
[7:23] Uh we are definitely get definitely
[7:24] getting more cars going in and out and
[7:26] straight down Rino has working well with
[7:29] our our families who are dropping off
[7:30] via car. Um and the new sidewalks that
[7:33] have been laid by our facilities
[7:34] department, which you'll see some images
[7:35] of later on this evening, have been a
[7:37] great um just pathway for our students
[7:39] as they're coming up from Rino Drive up
[7:41] to the uh blacktop. And I believe our
[7:44] facilities department is looking to put
[7:45] another little sidewalk in on the maple
[7:47] side of things so that um families don't
[7:50] have to go all the way up to Rishino
[7:51] when they're walking up the Maple Road.
[7:54] Um for Greenville, we did hear a little
[7:56] bit of um concern around just how
[7:58] Greenville buses were finishing out on
[8:00] that tier and then getting to Waverly a
[8:02] little late. So at this point, I want to
[8:04] thank Miss Si and Miss Nikai uh for
[8:06] working with the bus transportation to
[8:09] now get the bus students out first.
[8:11] they're alleviating and they're clearing
[8:12] out um pretty quickly. And then our
[8:14] walker second so that those buses can
[8:16] hit the road and get into their way
[8:17] relief um tier of runs right away.
[8:20] Middle school and high school uh before
[8:22] I get to an Hutch. Fascinating, but it
[8:26] worked really smoothly right from day
[8:27] one. So um I just want to commend middle
[8:29] school and high school for not only
[8:31] having the loop in the back moving as
[8:33] quickly as possible and as safely as
[8:35] possible, but also in the high sorry in
[8:37] the front of the high school. We had
[8:39] that gate open coming up Stewart and
[8:41] that flow of traffic just going two ways
[8:43] really is making a difference. Um there
[8:46] were a couple questions around why we
[8:47] don't open that gate at dismissal time
[8:49] at the high school. And the reason for
[8:51] that is it does get a little narrowed
[8:52] down towards the end um beyond the gate
[8:55] at the end of the day because the we
[8:58] start to get cars parking on both sides
[8:59] and by the time we have to clear those
[9:01] buses to go down if we have parent cars
[9:03] that are waiting in queue to get the um
[9:06] get through the gate uh buses can't
[9:08] clear. The good thing about high school
[9:10] dismissal at the end of the day is that
[9:11] it's a little different than the start
[9:13] of the day when all the students arrive.
[9:15] At the end of the day, a good majority
[9:16] of our students go off to athletics,
[9:18] they go off to clubs, they go off to
[9:20] walk with friends home, and so there are
[9:22] much fewer students um who are actually
[9:24] departing all at the same time. And so
[9:26] the car traffic is um a little less than
[9:29] the morning. Uh speaking with Mr. Welsh
[9:31] and his administrative team, those cars
[9:32] are clearing out of there at the end of
[9:34] the day pretty quickly. Um and then it's
[9:36] a quiet campus uh once students are
[9:38] gone. Um and Annne Hutch, uh Joyce has
[9:41] been working very smoothly. We are
[9:42] thankful for the SRO who is stationed
[9:44] there. Uh we're also thankful to I'll
[9:46] give Nature's Cradle a little shout out.
[9:48] Uh they've been trying their best not to
[9:50] park their cars on Joyce Road when we
[9:52] are uh at the start of the day and the
[9:54] end of the day. I know it's not perfect
[9:55] yet. Um but we are thankful that our
[9:58] community partners are working with us
[9:59] and then that front loop continues to be
[10:01] successful for not only our buses um but
[10:04] also for our parent drop off. So um thus
[10:07] far we have gotten a little faster each
[10:09] day. We've gotten a little um safer and
[10:12] smoother. And I want to thank again our
[10:14] SRO, our personnel who have been out
[10:16] there in their bright colored vests. And
[10:18] again, we are actively recruiting for
[10:19] those crossing guards. So, please do um
[10:24] recommend anybody that you might think
[10:26] would be interested. Um on the outside
[10:29] we have uh Brook and Maple and Erot I
[10:32] believe are the street uh where we have
[10:34] a push button that is on order but
[10:36] there's a supply supply chain back order
[10:38] and so as soon as EPD and the town
[10:40] receive that button I do believe they're
[10:42] going to be fixing that up. Um, we also
[10:44] know that there is a uh request for a
[10:46] full-time crossing guard at that place.
[10:48] And again, as we continue to actively
[10:50] recruit with the EPD, we will make sure
[10:52] that that is one of our top priorities
[10:53] to get that person there. Um, but thus
[10:55] far, we have EPD who has been driving
[10:57] through andor stationing there for a
[10:59] portion of time during an arrival and
[11:01] dismissal as best they can. Um we do
[11:03] have a uh stationed uh police officer at
[11:08] Wilmont and 22 uh which is one of the
[11:11] busiest intersections as the students
[11:13] come up. We have the crossing guard at
[11:15] Webster and Wilmont. They pressure the
[11:16] students up to the uh traffic officer
[11:18] and then the traffic officer makes sure
[11:20] that they can get over to Maple. So um
[11:23] that has been working well. We also now
[11:25] have a no right-hand turn out of the
[11:27] Lord and Taylor driveway. Um that's also
[11:29] helpful at the beginning at the end of
[11:31] school hours uh just to clear the way on
[11:34] those roads. Um we also have some
[11:37] conversation around that mill road right
[11:39] by the Barata restaurant um and Fiser
[11:41] Avenue. Uh we are keeping an eye there.
[11:44] Uh I think the word is there are islands
[11:46] and push buttons there and so that um is
[11:49] a little bit different from some of the
[11:50] other intersections. Um but as we engage
[11:52] our traffic consultants that is also one
[11:54] area that we have our eyes set. So when
[11:56] that RFP is put together, um it will be
[11:58] interesting to see uh what some of those
[12:00] recommendations might be.
[12:03] There's been a little bit of feedback
[12:04] around the um out of school uh offschool
[12:09] district and private school uh buses
[12:11] that uh are vendored through our beep
[12:13] consortium which is the Bronxville
[12:15] Eastchester Pelum Tahoe consortium. That
[12:17] means those buses service not only our
[12:19] school district but the other districts
[12:21] as well. Um we are having some
[12:23] consolidated stops as are Bronxville and
[12:26] Takahoo. Um and I believe Pelum is doing
[12:28] something as well on their own. Pelum
[12:30] has a much larger number of students who
[12:32] are going off to those um private and
[12:34] off-d district school sites. Um but we
[12:37] are continuing to work with our SW
[12:38] Boseis vendors so that we could try to
[12:40] iron out some of the uh concerns that
[12:43] we've been hearing. We don't
[12:45] particularly manage this uh thing by
[12:47] ourselves. it is done through SW Boseies
[12:49] and the consortium allows us to uh find
[12:52] some savings with consolidated spots. Um
[12:55] so again we'll keep working on that but
[12:57] we do have uh the concerns coming in and
[13:00] we are addressing them. Um
[13:04] and then my last uh piece for the uh
[13:07] update for me is that we do have some
[13:09] upcoming financial presentations in the
[13:11] month of October. uh we will have our uh
[13:14] bond legal council and our fiscal
[13:16] adviserss who take care of our bond
[13:18] experience come present as well as our
[13:20] auditors uh in on October I think 13th
[13:23] is the date. Um so I know there were
[13:25] some questions around that. So that will
[13:26] be happening as well. Um and then
[13:29] related but now I'll throw it over to
[13:31] Dr. Meyer. Uh right at school our after
[13:34] and our before child care uh providers
[13:37] have had a little growth as well.
[13:40] >> Yes. So we have over 370 students
[13:44] participating in the before and after
[13:46] school care through right at school. Uh
[13:48] we work very closely with them in terms
[13:51] of uh communication
[13:54] uh consistency stability. Uh so we're
[13:57] excited to be able to offer that.
[13:58] There's no one no family no student on a
[14:01] wait list which was really important to
[14:03] us. and we're working with uh individual
[14:06] families if there are issues uh um that
[14:09] need additional support and uh I think
[14:12] that has helped in many ways the
[14:14] transition to um some of the new times
[14:16] and and transition with the
[14:18] transportation.
[14:29] » Yes, we can go into student information.
[14:32] Oh, okay. Great. Yep. Um, all right. So,
[14:34] then I'll turn it over to Dr. Meyer
[14:36] again. Uh, he's going to introduce some
[14:38] very special students this evening.
[14:44] » Thank you so much. So, uh, I get the
[14:46] opportunity not only to in a few minutes
[14:49] introduce some of our building leaders
[14:51] and administrators who are going to talk
[14:53] about the opening of the 26 27th school
[14:55] year, but also acknowledge some
[14:57] accomplishments we've had both right at
[15:00] the end of last year, but also in the
[15:02] last couple weeks from our students. So,
[15:05] I'm going to first invite up Miss Libu
[15:08] and Mr. Carol to introduce uh one of our
[15:12] middle school students who at the end of
[15:13] June won a very prestigious award which
[15:16] was honored last Thursday.
[15:20] >> Thank you Meer. Good evening everyone.
[15:22] Um Mr. Car and I are very proud to this
[15:25] evening welcome and we'll call her up
[15:27] right now. Uh Deafany Anise Akinsky.
[15:30] Come on up.
[15:32] [applause]
[15:37] » [applause]
[15:38] >> Daffany shared that last spring. Come
[15:40] here. Thank you.
[15:42] >> Uh last spring her mom was looking for a
[15:45] way of her to for her to submit her
[15:47] writing outside of school, which is
[15:49] always very wonderful and a beautiful
[15:51] thing to see our students flourish
[15:53] outside of the school building. We know
[15:54] they do amazingly well. We see their
[15:57] growth in their writing and their
[15:58] speaking and their math and in all the
[15:59] content areas within the building. And
[16:01] for us to see them uh win nominations
[16:05] and um really expose the work outside of
[16:08] the school is really a beautiful thing
[16:09] and something we're very proud of. In
[16:11] this case, Deafany, who is currently in
[16:13] eighth grade, won um was the winner in
[16:16] the Writer Express youth environmental
[16:18] creative writing contest and her poem
[16:20] which um she submitted was um nominated
[16:25] for this uh award. I want to
[16:26] congratulate her once again at the
[16:28] Hudson Valley Writer Center. Writing
[16:30] center, [applause]
[16:36] » what it was about. Do you want to tell
[16:38] us a little bit what your poem was
[16:39] about?
[16:40] >> Um,
[16:42] so the poem was about climate change and
[16:44] like the issues about climate change.
[16:46] Um, I wanted to write it because I care
[16:48] a lot about that topic and I think it
[16:50] should be um cared about more because I
[16:53] don't think we're caring about our
[16:54] climate, like our earth enough. So,
[16:57] that's why I wrote the poem and I'm very
[16:59] um happy that I did because I hope it
[17:01] like um engages readers.
[17:06] >> Thank you, Z. Thank you for representing
[17:08] EMS so well. [applause]
[17:13] We'll get a photo. Congratulations,
[17:28] Dafany. That's amazing. And also great
[17:30] example of uh inter interdisciplinary
[17:33] uh lens and work. So well done. We're
[17:36] excited uh to see your award and uh
[17:39] chance to honor it tonight. A second
[17:41] group of students and and they come from
[17:43] the high school uh took a test probably
[17:46] many of you have heard of and also taken
[17:48] yourself and this is a an exam we offer
[17:51] uh for um our students at the high
[17:54] school which also uh puts them in a
[17:57] position to get one of the most
[17:58] distinguished honors. So I will have Mr.
[18:02] Welsh, Dr. Gillson,
[18:04] Miss Glenn Meyer come forward to uh
[18:07] honor these three students.
[18:14] Uh, thanks Bill. So, it's my pleasure
[18:16] tonight to introduce three outstanding
[18:19] EHS students. Uh, Lucas Strauss, Govern,
[18:22] Constantinos Magnusales, and Join Zo.
[18:27] Come on up, guys. [applause]
[18:36] So, as Dr. Meer just alluded to, uh,
[18:39] these wonderful students were recently
[18:41] named semi- finalists in the 2027
[18:44] National Merit Scholarship Program. Um,
[18:47] the prestigious recognition begins with
[18:49] exceptional performance on the PSAT, but
[18:52] it represents much more than success on
[18:54] a single test. It reflects years of hard
[18:57] work, academic commitment, and
[18:59] dedication to learning. Fewer than 1% of
[19:02] US high school seniors earn semi-final
[19:05] status each year. Lucas, Constantinos,
[19:08] and Joan now have the opportunity to
[19:10] advance to finalist status and compete
[19:12] for National Merit Scholarships later
[19:14] this year. We are incredibly proud of
[19:16] all three and congratulate them on this
[19:18] well-deserved recognition. So, can we
[19:20] have a round of applause?
[19:22] [applause]
[19:28] » Great job. I think we're going to get a
[19:29] photo right here.
[19:50] » [applause]
[19:54] » Thank you. So, now we get to go to the
[19:57] start of the school year. And uh the
[19:59] start of the school year brings a lot of
[20:01] excitement um from new teachers to new
[20:03] classes to new friendships. Uh but
[20:06] before we get into those those moments
[20:08] and all the uh different opportunities
[20:10] our students have had, I do want to take
[20:13] a second to acknowledge the heroic
[20:15] effort that our administrators put in
[20:18] over the summer to make many of the
[20:21] adjustments and shifts that Dr. V
[20:23] alluded to uh and mentioned uh in her
[20:26] opening um uh presentation,
[20:29] superintendent report. And uh you know,
[20:32] each summer as an administrator, you're
[20:35] used to putting in the time and building
[20:37] those classes, building the schedules,
[20:39] hiring new teachers, uh just making sure
[20:42] all those little pieces are in place.
[20:45] But not usually you're not expecting to
[20:48] basically transform the arrival and
[20:51] departure of your students from the
[20:52] buildings. But these administrators took
[20:56] this challenge on uh without question.
[20:59] You could see them wandering the
[21:01] streets, looking at the the parking
[21:03] lots, uh reshuffling spots for their
[21:07] teachers and thinking about every
[21:09] possible way of really maximizing
[21:13] and making safe that whole process. And
[21:16] kudos to them for what they were able to
[21:18] accomplish. Um I think all of us have
[21:21] been pleasantly surprised. It's not
[21:22] without challenges there. It's not
[21:24] without some bumps, but overall uh we
[21:27] really appreciate all the work that
[21:28] they've put in, which was above and
[21:30] beyond their job. So, thank you. And
[21:34] that leads us to our schools. So, each
[21:37] of our schools had a great opening to
[21:39] the year. And what I'm going to do is
[21:40] I'm going to introduce or or welcome up
[21:42] the administrators from each of those
[21:44] buildings to talk a little bit about the
[21:47] opening of the school year and then what
[21:49] are some exciting things to look forward
[21:50] to. So, our Waverly administrators, if
[21:53] you'd like to join us,
[21:59] » thank you, Dr. Meyer.
[22:03] Good evening, everyone. Um, so I'm happy
[22:05] to share that Waverly is off to a
[22:08] wonderful start. On September 2nd, we
[22:10] welcomed 415 kindergarten and first
[22:13] grade students, and our opening has been
[22:15] incredibly smooth. And during these f
[22:19] first few weeks of school, our priority
[22:22] has always been building community and
[22:24] creating a sense of belonging for our
[22:25] youngest learners. We launched the year
[22:28] with our schoolwide PBIS sore assembly,
[22:31] introducing our favorite mascot, Echo,
[22:34] which uh helps us focus on building
[22:37] community, uh building classroom
[22:39] routines and procedures, and uh
[22:41] establishing those learning environments
[22:43] where children feel safe, welcomed,
[22:46] valued, and ready to learn. So, as we
[22:49] build that strong foundation, we're also
[22:51] excited about our instructional focus
[22:54] this year. Small groups, purposeful
[22:57] play, big growth. We introduced this
[23:00] focus to our Waverly staff in a very
[23:03] Waverly way through play. After sharing
[23:06] the book, What to Do with a Box, our
[23:08] faculty work together in teams with
[23:10] cardboard boxes, using their
[23:13] imaginations to build and create. There
[23:16] was a lot of laughter, collaboration,
[23:19] problem solving, and some pretty
[23:21] impressive creations.
[23:23] But behind the fund was an important
[23:25] message for our students. Children learn
[23:29] by doing. And so we're especially
[23:32] excited to partner with Sarah Lawrence
[23:35] College as we deepen this work, learning
[23:38] alongside their faculty and exploring
[23:40] how play can be intentionally woven into
[23:44] rich developmentally responsive learning
[23:46] experiences for our youngest students.
[23:50] This year we will continue to strengthen
[23:53] our high quality small groupoup
[23:56] instruction allowing teachers to meet
[23:58] children with they are and provide
[24:01] targeted responsive instruction while at
[24:04] the same time we're elevating purposeful
[24:07] play um as an essential part of the K1
[24:11] learning experience.
[24:13] This gives children opportunities to
[24:15] create, communicate, collaborate,
[24:18] problem solve, and apply their learning
[24:20] in meaningful ways. And as you can see
[24:23] from the beautiful photos, um the work
[24:26] is already happening throughout our
[24:28] classrooms here at Waverly.
[24:30] And on behalf of our Waverly staff and
[24:33] faculty, uh we believe that when we
[24:36] combine intentional teaching with the
[24:38] natural curiosity and joy of childhood,
[24:41] wonderful things can happen. So again,
[24:44] small groups, purposeful play, big
[24:47] growth. We're very excited for a great
[24:49] year. Thank you.
[24:52] [applause]
[24:56] » Thank you. to now introduce uh our
[24:59] administrative representative from Anne
[25:01] Hutch, Mesi.
[25:05] » Good evening. Laura apologizes for not
[25:08] being here tonight due to a family
[25:10] obligation. However, I am honored to
[25:13] share on her behalf.
[25:15] We first would like to thank our parents
[25:17] and guardians for their partnership in
[25:19] creating a smooth and successful arrival
[25:22] and dismissal process during the first
[25:24] few weeks of school.
[25:26] From the first day, we focused on
[25:28] building strong classroom communities
[25:30] and establishing clear expectations.
[25:33] Students began participating in morning
[25:35] meeting circles which helped them build
[25:38] relationships, develop a sense of
[25:40] belonging, and of course getting to know
[25:44] one another. Each class created a
[25:46] classroom charter. students identified
[25:49] how they hope to feel at school this
[25:52] year and the actions they will take to
[25:54] help everyone experience those feelings.
[25:57] We held our first heart assembly to
[26:00] introduce and review our schoolwide
[26:02] expectations
[26:06] and at the same time our students began
[26:10] engaging in our robust curriculum.
[26:13] We are excited to implement mystery
[26:15] science, a new science program that
[26:17] provides opportunities for hands-on
[26:20] learning. In the photos, you will see
[26:23] our fourth graders learning about the
[26:24] human skeleton. And you can see they
[26:27] applied their understanding of bones and
[26:29] joints by creating a robotic finger.
[26:33] We launched our beginning of beginning
[26:36] units in reading, writing, math, and
[26:38] social studies. Through junior
[26:41] gradebook, students are participating in
[26:43] thoughtful conversations about
[26:45] literature and strengthening their
[26:47] critical thinking skills.
[26:50] We look forward to an exciting year
[26:52] filled with meaningful learning
[26:54] experiences.
[26:55] And then we just have some upcoming
[26:57] events. Tonight, our students are very
[27:01] excited about our welcome back event
[27:03] held from by the PTA. We have back to
[27:06] school night on this Thursday, photo day
[27:10] September 25th and our fifth grade
[27:13] sports night on the 29th.
[27:17] » Thank [applause] you.
[27:20] >> Excellent. Next up, we have Greenville
[27:22] share some of the exciting things
[27:24] happening across town.
[27:28] >> Good evening, everyone. So, we've had a
[27:30] wonderful start to the school year at
[27:31] Greenville with a strong focus on
[27:34] building community and belonging.
[27:37] Through more meetings and class charter,
[27:39] students are reconnecting with friends,
[27:41] building new relationships, and
[27:43] establishing strong classroom
[27:44] communities. We've also been reinforcing
[27:47] our Greenville schoolwide expectations
[27:49] to be safe, to be kind, and to be
[27:51] responsible while jumping right back
[27:54] into learning. But most importantly,
[27:56] Greenville wants every child to feel
[27:57] welcome, valued, and proud to be a part
[28:00] of our school.
[28:04] So, these pictures really capture the
[28:06] joy of being back together. And that's
[28:09] been a real highlight of these first two
[28:10] weeks of school, just seeing our
[28:12] children gathered together on the
[28:13] playground morning and at recess time.
[28:16] Our students have been reconnecting with
[28:18] their old friends, making new ones, and
[28:20] enjoying the important moments together
[28:22] outside the classroom. and it's been
[28:24] wonderful to see them all smiling,
[28:26] playing, and feeling back at home at
[28:28] Greenville.
[28:31] We've already had a busy start to
[28:33] Greenville. We welcomed our students
[28:35] back like everyone on on September 2nd,
[28:37] but we had a wonderful back to school
[28:39] night last week um where we got to greet
[28:41] our parents and they had an opportunity
[28:43] to meet and talk with their teachers. Um
[28:45] and we celebrated picture day yesterday,
[28:47] so everyone came to school in their
[28:49] finest outfits looking adorable. This
[28:51] Friday, we're looking forward to our PTA
[28:53] back to school event, which is another
[28:55] great opportunity to bring our families
[28:56] together. And we're so grateful for the
[28:59] partnership of our families, our PTA,
[29:01] and our staff. And we're so looking
[29:02] forward to another wonderful Greenville
[29:05] great year.
[29:08] » [applause]
[29:11] » Now, before I introduce the next school,
[29:13] I just want to note you can see a a
[29:16] growing arms race of photos with each
[29:19] school as it passes. I'll just say the
[29:21] next school had over 20 slides when it
[29:24] was originally submitted to this
[29:26] presentation. Um, I don't think I have
[29:28] to say much more to introduce our
[29:31] administrators from the middle school.
[29:32] Uh, but Miss Leu and Mr. Carol, take it
[29:35] away.
[29:37] Thanks, Dr. Meyer. You made me trim
[29:39] down, but that's okay. We have a lot of
[29:41] fun at middle school. Um, starting with,
[29:43] of course, our very, very warm welcome.
[29:46] You'll see our PTA donated beautiful
[29:48] balloon arcs to help welcome our
[29:49] students. Um, the first day, which is
[29:52] always a nice way to welcome them to a
[29:54] festive and fun environment. On the
[29:56] first day, you can see that um, our
[30:00] supportive staff created a real warm and
[30:03] welcoming environment for our sixth
[30:04] graders. We just can't say enough of all
[30:07] the planning and preparation that took
[30:08] place before the students even arrived.
[30:11] Our custodial staff, our hallways were
[30:13] shining, our lockers were clean. Um, we
[30:16] also are very happy and thankful that we
[30:19] have four new student bathrooms in our
[30:21] building this year. So, that was
[30:22] available to our sixth graders
[30:24] specifically in that hallway for them.
[30:26] Um, joyful smiles always, right? We want
[30:28] to create that environment, that middle
[30:30] school where our students feel welcomed,
[30:31] we feel loved, they feel like they're
[30:33] supportive in that school environment
[30:35] during this very critical age of
[30:36] development. And of course, a shout out
[30:38] to our security back um that we see
[30:41] there, Ed, who's always welcoming
[30:42] students all year round. And um we all
[30:44] have a little fun on the first day. Of
[30:46] course, why not a selfie with the
[30:47] principal? And um we were ready for
[30:50] success on the first day. The pictures
[30:51] you see there are the teachers preparing
[30:53] the students engaging from day one.
[30:55] That's an earth science class in eighth
[30:57] grade. day one engagement in eighth
[30:58] grade ELA class as well.
[31:02] We um continue to build that community,
[31:04] sense of community during our lunch
[31:05] periods, which are by grade level. We're
[31:07] so lucky to have that team structure and
[31:09] the um exploratories time designated for
[31:12] the age groups at the middle school
[31:14] which help us build the um school
[31:16] community that we're so proud of.
[31:19] We started the first day uh the first
[31:21] week we ended with a real fun assembly
[31:24] where the students and the staff got to
[31:25] engage in a game show type of an
[31:28] experience and this helps us continue to
[31:30] create that positive school culture that
[31:32] school environment that we want the kids
[31:33] to love to want to come to school every
[31:35] day and um gets us to know the students
[31:38] and the students get to see the staff
[31:39] engage also in in a fun way to start the
[31:42] year. So again, we're very thankful for
[31:45] our partnerships with the parents to
[31:46] thanking them for that trust they have
[31:48] in us and supporting their children
[31:50] during their middle school years and we
[31:52] look forward to seeing everyone on the
[31:53] 24th at 7 for our open house. Um, and
[31:56] some additional dates here for the
[31:58] middle school include tomorrow and
[32:00] Thursday will be our school photo days
[32:02] that we u have reminded parents through
[32:05] the parent square and some text
[32:06] messages. And um we welcomed back some
[32:09] of the dates that were up there have
[32:10] already passed, but they were certainly
[32:12] successful, especially our locker setup
[32:14] night where we get to see the
[32:15] chandeliers and the magnetic wallpaper
[32:17] and locker um ladders and locker rugs
[32:20] come to play. And the design that goes
[32:22] into that is certainly um amazing to
[32:26] see. And um our sports modified sports
[32:28] began last week and the PTA is holding a
[32:32] welcome back event tomorrow from 5 to
[32:35] 7:30 in the front middle school lot
[32:36] which we welcome everyone to attend. Not
[32:39] only middle school families and students
[32:41] and of course again our back to school
[32:42] nights next week at 7. So thank you
[32:44] again for the opportunity this evening
[32:45] and for all of the support as well.
[32:49] >> [applause]
[32:50] >> Thank you. And last but not least, I'd
[32:53] like to invite up our high school
[32:55] administrative team to just share some
[32:57] of the highlights of the high school.
[33:05] Oh, you already did the slide. Um, so
[33:07] like everybody else, really excited
[33:09] about the the start of the year. I felt
[33:11] like it went about as well as it could
[33:13] have. Um, you know, I'd be remiss if I
[33:16] didn't thank my wonderful assistant
[33:18] principles, Dr. Gillson and Miss Glimmer
[33:20] Meyer. Um, opening any school is a huge
[33:23] task. At the high school, we have
[33:24] hundreds of classes that we have to get
[33:26] students into. Um, you know, and they do
[33:28] it with grace and really just a student
[33:32] laser student- centered focus. So, thank
[33:34] you both. Um, a few things that we're
[33:36] focusing on at EHS this year, um, our
[33:39] continued work around active student
[33:42] learning environments. Um, Caitlyn
[33:44] mentioned it earlier. It's one of my
[33:45] favorite phrases. Students learn by
[33:47] doing. Uh, this year we're also going to
[33:49] focus on authentic assessment. You know,
[33:52] that phrase has had many names. Problem
[33:54] based learning, project-based learning.
[33:57] For me, at this moment in time,
[33:59] authentic assessment is the perfect uh
[34:01] moniker for what we're trying to do when
[34:03] you juxtapose it against all of the
[34:05] artificial intelligence that students
[34:08] are flooded with. So authentic
[34:09] assessment is is a main priority for us
[34:12] this year. Uh we're really excited to
[34:14] continue our SEAL work, the revamped
[34:16] advisory program and uh peer mentoring
[34:19] as a component of that. Um I was had the
[34:22] pleasure last year to speak quite a bit
[34:23] about our advisory program. It was year
[34:26] zero. We heard plenty of feedback and we
[34:29] revamped it. Um and I'm excited about
[34:31] it. It's themed by grade level. So,
[34:33] ninth graders with a peer mentoring
[34:36] component, 39 upper classmen have been
[34:39] selected as peer mentors for our ninth
[34:41] graders. Um, their entire focus is on
[34:44] the transition to high school. 10th
[34:46] grader uh 10th grade advisory classes
[34:48] are all about executive functioning.
[34:50] 11th grade is on healthy relationships
[34:53] and 12th grade of course is on the
[34:55] transition out of high school. Um, so we
[34:57] think it's really a smart um, you know,
[35:00] change and really delivers the
[35:02] programming our students need. Um, one
[35:05] thing that you've heard me talk about is
[35:06] transferable skills. Um, the next two
[35:09] bullets here go together. We want them
[35:10] to develop skills that they can use
[35:12] beyond here. And sometimes that requires
[35:15] what we call productive struggle, right?
[35:17] It's okay to have to work a little bit.
[35:19] Um, and if it doesn't come easy at
[35:22] first, the journey is part of the
[35:24] process. uh and ultimately gets us to
[35:26] that goal. So, um I've heard the term
[35:29] ustress instead of distress. I don't
[35:31] know if that really makes too much
[35:34] sense, but we want students to welcome
[35:36] the challenge and understand that their
[35:38] education is a process. Um so, the nth
[35:42] grade schedule walkth through uh was our
[35:44] first event that the peer mentors uh
[35:47] participated in. We structure our 9th
[35:49] grade orientation, you'll see there on
[35:51] September 1st and 2nd as a two-part
[35:53] event. We think it's more effective that
[35:55] way. On the first, ninth graders can
[35:57] come and do a walkthrough of their
[35:59] schedule to ease some of the anxiety
[36:01] around coming to the building. And then
[36:03] on the night of the first day of school,
[36:05] we come together as a community for a
[36:07] barbecue. Again, the peer mentors were
[36:09] there. It provides Joe, Aaron, and
[36:11] myself with a great opportunity to talk
[36:13] to kids one-on-one, and they come back.
[36:16] We want them to feel like EHS is home.
[36:18] And after the first day of school, what
[36:20] better place to be? Um, on September
[36:22] 9th, we had our first advisory day that
[36:25] was part of the revamp program. Ninth
[36:27] graders engaged in a really fun
[36:28] scavenger hunt. 12th graders were with
[36:31] their counselors. 11th and 12th graders
[36:33] got their uh 10th and 11th graders got
[36:36] their introductory lessons. Um, Mr.
[36:38] Rampony is going to talk about a
[36:40] athletics in a little bit, but we held
[36:41] the fall athletics night uh which was
[36:43] attended by 175 or so parents um which
[36:47] was a really good first step in in our
[36:49] athletic season. On the 23rd we have
[36:52] back to school night. Um we also on the
[36:55] 23rd, not posted here, but an event that
[36:57] I appreciate each year will be holding
[36:59] our annual club fair for students to
[37:01] understand all of the offerings here at
[37:03] the high school. The 28th is our college
[37:05] fair. This year it's at Pelum High
[37:07] School. we always rotate with them and
[37:10] uh the 16th we look forward to a
[37:12] wonderful homecoming weekend in fall pep
[37:14] rally. So thank you for the opportunity
[37:16] and we look forward to a great year.
[37:18] [applause]
[37:22] » Thank you to all the schools. It's been
[37:24] a great opening to the year and we're so
[37:26] excited to share some of the uh upcoming
[37:29] events, but also opportunities of
[37:31] learning and experiences for our
[37:33] students. Uh from destination
[37:35] imagination to the expansion of National
[37:38] History Day, uh to now we're offering
[37:40] the the AP Capstone Diploma with AP
[37:43] Research being offered this year for the
[37:45] first time. So many new classes,
[37:47] exciting opportunities, and it's going
[37:49] to be a great 26 27 school year. So,
[37:52] thank you so much and thank you to the
[37:54] administrative teams for for all the
[37:56] hard work they've put in. [applause]
[38:00] Now, it's my pleasure to turn it over to
[38:02] the special education department and our
[38:05] directors to speak a little bit about
[38:07] the work the start of the school year.
[38:14] » Hi, good evening everyone. Before we
[38:16] give a brief update, we'd like to share
[38:17] a warm welcome to Miss Paresi who's
[38:19] joined our department this summer. While
[38:22] Miss Prey is not new to um is new to our
[38:25] department, she's not new to the
[38:26] Eastchester community. For the past two
[38:28] years, she has served as the assistant
[38:30] principal at Anne Hutch. Um Miss Pissy
[38:33] brings a wealth of experience and
[38:34] expertise in special education, having
[38:36] worked as a special education teacher
[38:38] and as well as previously served as a
[38:40] principal of a special education school.
[38:42] We're excited to welcome Eleni to our
[38:44] team and we look forward to the work
[38:45] that she'll contribute in her new role.
[38:48] [applause]
[38:53] Sorry.
[38:55] Okay, back to business. So, just a brief
[38:57] update regarding our um special classes
[39:00] this year. There are nine elementary
[39:02] special classes, four at Waverly and F
[39:04] and Hutch and seven special classes at
[39:07] the secondary level. Three at the middle
[39:09] school and four at the high school. um
[39:11] through a very extensive recruitment
[39:13] process. We are proud to say that while
[39:15] our programs are primarily designed to
[39:17] serve our resident students, we are
[39:19] pleased to share that we have also
[39:21] expanded our enrollment to include 10
[39:23] out of district students on a tuition
[39:25] basis. This includes six students at the
[39:28] elementary level and four students at
[39:30] the secondary level. So generating
[39:33] additional revenue for the district
[39:34] while maximizing the capacity of of our
[39:37] already existing specialized programs.
[39:42] We also wanted to recognize our ESY
[39:46] program extended school year program
[39:48] that runs for six weeks over the summer
[39:51] providing continuity of services which
[39:54] um prevent regression among our
[39:56] students. Over this course of the six-w
[40:00] weekek period, we had approximately 35
[40:02] staff members supporting and educating
[40:05] 70 students. We're so grateful for our
[40:08] staff um who work ESY and dedicate much
[40:12] of their summer to supporting our
[40:14] students. It was a great success and you
[40:16] know wonderful to host at Anne Hutch.
[40:22] » Great. And then finally, we just wanted
[40:24] to share a few curriculum enhancements
[40:27] and professional practices that we are
[40:29] continuing to build upon to highlight
[40:31] for the year um in order to continue
[40:34] achieving student and staff success. So
[40:37] um we've strengthened our supports
[40:39] through hiring a key staff member this
[40:41] year um a board certified behavior
[40:44] analyst, Miss Regina Mordella. She's
[40:46] going to be joining us districtwide
[40:47] starting in October. We're also going to
[40:50] continue our work with our department
[40:51] chairs. not only just our special
[40:53] education department chairs at the
[40:55] secondary level but all of our content
[40:56] area chairpeople
[40:58] and then this year we really have
[41:00] implemented some targeted trainings to
[41:02] ensure some consistency among procedures
[41:05] practices and regulations so we've
[41:07] started with a cohort of administrators
[41:10] um teachers related service providers to
[41:12] work on 504 CPSSE and cse trainings in
[41:17] addition we're continuing our work with
[41:19] um our CPI training this really provides
[41:22] our staff with proactive strategies to
[41:25] prevent or assist with deescalation um
[41:28] situations for challenging students. We
[41:31] also have uh had the opportunity instead
[41:34] of using CPI to be our trainer, uh two
[41:37] of our staff members have gone through
[41:39] extensive training that's called train
[41:41] the trainer to become our in-house
[41:43] trainers and actually work with our
[41:45] staff. this year all of our staff are
[41:48] reertified and refreshed for training
[41:50] every one to two years.
[41:53] Um also our G&R inclusive group we
[41:56] wanted to share we are continuing work
[41:57] with that. Um this is really to enhance
[42:00] our instructional and inclusive
[42:02] practices and really focus on that
[42:05] barrierfree learning for all students.
[42:07] Primarily this year we're doing our K
[42:09] through five for the full day co-teers.
[42:12] And then lastly, this is super exciting,
[42:14] is our Teachtown curriculum. This is a
[42:17] an evidence-based practice which aligns
[42:19] with our standards and is really for our
[42:21] New York State alternately assessed
[42:23] students. Some of our other students who
[42:25] are state assess use this to supplement
[42:27] the curriculum. We piloted this last
[42:29] year in a few of our classes and we're
[42:31] really happy to say that this year we're
[42:33] doing it K through 12 in all of our
[42:35] special classes. Um,
[42:38] we also found that our New York State
[42:40] assessment results this year, which we
[42:41] just got back, um, have gone up
[42:44] tremendously due to the due to
[42:47] implementing this curriculum. So, we're
[42:49] super happy with that. Um, together, all
[42:52] of these enhancements are helping us
[42:54] build some staff capacity while
[42:56] strengthening our continuum of services
[42:58] that we provide to our students. And
[43:00] finally, we just want to take an
[43:02] opportunity to thank our SEPTA
[43:03] organization for always their continued
[43:05] support and partnership. And finally, to
[43:08] our building level administrators,
[43:10] staff, teachers, and faculty. As you
[43:12] just saw from those five building
[43:14] openings, we could not be more proud to
[43:16] have such a collaborative and inclusive
[43:17] environment for all of our students. So,
[43:20] thank you.
[43:22] [applause]
[43:27] So, next we're going to be calling up
[43:29] the facilities department and then right
[43:31] after that we have a presentation from
[43:33] athletics
[43:40] and as Mr. Sheldon gets um set up at the
[43:42] computer there and I don't know if you
[43:45] need any support for Mr. Blute or is it
[43:47] all ready to go?
[43:48] >> No, we're good to go.
[43:49] >> Okay, great. Um, I just wanted to give a
[43:51] big shout out uh to the entire
[43:53] department who worked tirelessly this
[43:55] summer uh which you'll see much of the
[43:57] work uh but on top of just the regular
[43:59] phases of capital um as well as just
[44:01] getting ready for closing down the year
[44:03] and opening up a new year uh we had all
[44:05] of the parking lot enhancements done as
[44:07] well. So thank you.
[44:08] >> Thank you.
[44:10] >> So good evening everyone.
[44:12] I always like to present this slide who
[44:14] we are. Um we maintain over 500,000
[44:18] square feet at the school district. So,
[44:20] what does that mean? That means hundreds
[44:21] of classrooms, over 3,000 student
[44:24] workstations that are cleaned every
[44:25] summer. We're roughly 40 people deep. We
[44:29] have a little less than 30 cleaners from
[44:32] cleaners to custodial workers to one
[44:34] senior to a head custodian in each
[44:37] building, a full maintenance staff and
[44:39] an office manager and myself. So, we're
[44:42] the folks that come in all summer long.
[44:45] We don't get the summer off,
[44:48] but
[44:49] we get to clean the buildings. We get to
[44:51] make them ready, and we also get to do a
[44:54] lot of cool projects. So, we're going to speak about some of that
[44:56] stuff that happens. Not everyone sees
[44:58] what happens behind the scenes, but um
[45:00] we're going to take a little dive into
[45:02] it tonight.
[45:03] So, uh we had the 20 22 capital project.
[45:09] We're now in phase five. Um we call this
[45:12] five 5C. was the smallest portion of it,
[45:15] which was the middle school bathrooms
[45:17] that Miss Leu mentioned earlier. So, we
[45:19] have four multi-person student
[45:21] bathrooms, two boys, two girls, along
[45:23] with three single-use restrooms. We also
[45:26] have a major locker room renovation
[45:27] going on in the middle school. Uh should
[45:30] be completed the first week of November.
[45:33] We also did some preemptive work at
[45:35] Greenville and Waverly for the future 5A
[45:38] and B section. So, that meant uh
[45:40] abatement work in some of the areas. so
[45:43] we could start work um this winter and
[45:46] we'll help carry through next summer. Um
[45:49] so take a quick look at that. These are
[45:52] the new middle school bathrooms. They
[45:53] came out beautiful. We are still waiting
[45:55] on mirrors. They were backorded, but
[45:57] other than that, they're fully
[45:59] operational. I think the students are
[46:00] loving them. They're clean. They're
[46:02] neat. They're new. They look just like
[46:04] many of the ones that we've put in the
[46:05] other buildings so far.
[46:08] This is where the locker room is earlier
[46:11] this week when I took these pictures.
[46:12] So, what you're looking at on the left
[46:15] is uh where the new bathroom's going to
[46:17] be in the locker room. And then there'll
[46:18] be um a uh kind of like a team room on
[46:22] the other side of it. And the picture to
[46:24] the right is the wall that they're
[46:26] framing to create kind of the studio
[46:28] space. It could be used as yoga, dance,
[46:31] um whatever the PE teachers feel is
[46:34] appropriate for this space. So, that'll
[46:35] be a nice space that's going to have
[46:37] mirrors that go around a majority of the
[46:39] room when it's all said and done.
[46:42] This is the old boiler room in
[46:43] Greenville in the annex building. I
[46:45] didn't have a before picture. I wish I
[46:47] did, but there used to be two big old
[46:48] boilers there that were no longer in
[46:50] use. We took them out. Next summer,
[46:53] we're going to get new electrical
[46:54] service that will go in that room. For
[46:55] now, we're using some custodial storage,
[46:58] but definitely repurposing the room and
[47:00] the space so it could provide the energy
[47:03] and and some of the other mechanical
[47:04] pieces for heating and ventilation
[47:07] upgrades in the building next summer.
[47:10] So phase 5 A and B is really the
[47:14] majority of the work at Waverly and
[47:16] Greenville, which is all the new HVAC
[47:18] renovations, units, uh boiler
[47:21] conversions, chillers, pumps. Um we're
[47:24] also doing the restrooms in each one of
[47:26] those buildings. Um Waverly is slightly
[47:30] smaller because we're really focusing
[47:32] the older section of the building
[47:33] because the the other section was built
[47:35] in the early 2000s, so that's all ADA
[47:37] compliant. But the the multi-person
[47:40] bathrooms on the older side will all be
[47:42] updated. Um along with domestic water
[47:45] piping that will help with our lead
[47:47] numbers, although we don't have major
[47:49] issues with that that we have filtered
[47:51] water fountains everywhere, but updating
[47:53] those things along with a majority uh of
[47:57] the mechanical units need abatement. So
[47:59] we'll take care of those things when we tear them out. and the back of
[48:03] Greenville down in the lower section of
[48:05] the annex building will get all new
[48:06] curtain wall with um film glass for the
[48:10] students.
[48:13] So part of what you don't necessarily
[48:16] see right now is the architects and
[48:17] engineers along with our construction
[48:19] manager have been working to get this
[48:22] approved by New York State Education
[48:24] Department. Waverly is approved. We're
[48:27] expecting uh Green Bail's approval uh
[48:31] shortly. We are going out to bid for
[48:33] this work in the next few weeks. So
[48:35] Waverly, we're going to bid them as two
[48:37] separate packages because it is a large
[48:39] amount of work and we feel potentially
[48:42] there might be savings if we could do
[48:44] two, but we want to make sure we have
[48:45] the right contractors for each each
[48:48] project. So we're going to bid Waverly
[48:50] first. That will come in, but at the
[48:53] same time, Greenville will go out. We're
[48:56] hoping to have all bids back before
[48:58] Thanksgiving. make a ward over the the holiday break and start construction
[49:03] the winter of 27.
[49:06] That means at night we'll be running the
[49:08] pipes in the ceilings and the areas that
[49:10] you don't necessarily see maybe some of
[49:12] the the tunnels that are there now or
[49:15] border rooms and mechanical spaces. And
[49:18] then next summer will be very busy.
[49:20] We'll retake everything out of all the
[49:22] classrooms and do the do the renovations
[49:24] as needed and the bathrooms and
[49:26] everything else we just talked about.
[49:31] So, some of the more fun things that you
[49:34] could see right now, these are all the
[49:36] projects that the facilities department,
[49:39] whether we took it on all ourselves or
[49:41] had contractors help us with. Um, I'm
[49:44] not going to read every one. We're going
[49:45] to go through some pictures so you guys
[49:46] can see it. But, as we know, we did
[49:49] major parking lot improvements at the
[49:51] high school and middle school. So, now
[49:52] we have the two-way traffic. That was a
[49:54] great idea. It worked well.
[49:56] Um, we upgraded the um,
[50:01] lock or the the bathrooms in the gym
[50:03] lobby because they weren't part of a
[50:04] capital project. Um, so we put a little of our own effort in,
[50:08] plus we had some contracted effort and
[50:10] it came out really nice. We're
[50:12] renovating a closet in room 208
[50:16] um, into a bathroom for the program
[50:18] that's in there. Uh, the chemistry fume
[50:20] hoods, which never really worked right,
[50:23] are now operational. That should be
[50:25] great for the program. We redid the
[50:28] flooring in the middle school band room,
[50:29] although that wasn't part of the
[50:31] abatement project in an earlier uh
[50:34] capital project. The flooring was very
[50:36] old. It wasn't hot, but we were able to
[50:38] replace it. Um, we now made a nice
[50:41] walkway to the turn style behind the um
[50:44] football field. It was a constant
[50:46] maintenance nightmare. Kids were
[50:48] slipping, falling, our own staff locking
[50:50] it at night. So now we have safe travel
[50:52] over to White Hall Avenue there. Um we
[50:55] put additional card access on restrooms.
[50:57] So if there is a lockdown in the
[50:59] building, the bathrooms are now safe,
[51:00] the ones that have doors. Um and we
[51:03] replace the loading duck door um at the
[51:06] kitchen. Greenville, we did our own
[51:08] project internally. We painted the gym.
[51:10] Our custodial staff did it. It came out
[51:12] amazing. I do anticipate some ceiling
[51:14] work there. So if you see the ceiling,
[51:15] it's not perfect still. Um, but
[51:18] whatever's not done in the capital
[51:19] project, we'll we'll take on probably
[51:22] not next summer, but the summer after.
[51:23] So, it gets a full renovation. We also
[51:26] did multiple projects at Greenville
[51:29] outside to make the building uh function
[51:31] better for arrival and dismissal. We did
[51:33] have some paving redone and some
[51:35] striping. We poured our own sidewalks
[51:37] over there uh from the street to the
[51:39] playground and we're uh renovating the
[51:41] loading dock. and Hutch also received
[51:44] parking lot improvements. For the most
[51:46] part, we did all this work ourselves. We
[51:48] did a lot of the striping and we poured
[51:50] a new sidewalk uh along the side of the
[51:53] building so students can get uh over to
[51:56] the arrival area uh safely.
[52:00] Waverly, we also did some major
[52:01] renovation um in the back. As Dr. V said
[52:06] earlier, Belleu is now a drop off area.
[52:09] I think it's alleviated some of the
[52:10] congestion in the area. it really has
[52:12] helped. Um, so we'll take a look at that
[52:14] in a few minutes along with some other
[52:16] minor exterior improvements and also the
[52:19] OTPT room which is kind of in the the
[52:22] lowest level of the building but it
[52:23] needed a little bit of love and we gave
[52:25] it to it this summer.
[52:28] So taking a look, this is Ann Hutch. We
[52:31] put uh stop bars all around the circle
[52:34] and we also did some yellow lining and
[52:38] created the new sidewalk that you could
[52:39] see there.
[52:42] This is Greenville.
[52:44] We repaved the upper rear parking lot,
[52:47] lined it so this drop off goes smoothly
[52:50] in the back. That is the sidewalk that
[52:52] the maintenance department poured that
[52:54] goes from the playground area all the
[52:56] way down to Gabriel Reignial Drive. So
[52:59] the student drop off in the front, they
[53:00] could walk right up to the playground
[53:01] safely. And that's the loading dock
[53:03] we're working on there. We report that.
[53:07] This is the gym. It was a lot more work
[53:09] than we anticipated to be honest.
[53:11] There's the walls are big. We had to
[53:14] take all the pads off the wall. We
[53:15] rehung them. We painted it. It looks
[53:18] really nice. I think the the bright
[53:20] white makes the place pop. It goes a
[53:22] long way. It's not on the rocks as I
[53:24] know not everyone likes our standard
[53:27] colors, but you know, I think it really
[53:30] enhances the space. It makes it look
[53:31] nice, especially when right after we
[53:33] redo the floor.
[53:35] This is the high school gym lobby. uh
[53:38] bathrooms. We were able to uh purchase
[53:40] partitions a year or two ago, but the uh
[53:43] enhancement of a drop ceiling and some
[53:45] tile floors. We put the lights in
[53:47] oursel. We did some of the plumbing
[53:49] modifications for the space really
[53:51] brightens the space up.
[53:54] This is a middle school um
[53:57] uh band room. We also uh rebuilt some of
[54:00] the uh storage for the for the
[54:02] instruments. I think it just enhances
[54:04] the space. The new floor matches many of
[54:06] the other spaces in the building. Kind
[54:08] of equitably looking a lot nicer than it
[54:10] used to.
[54:13] This is Waverly's uh rear drop off to
[54:16] the left. That's the new one off Bellow.
[54:18] It seems to be working very well. We
[54:20] also added stop bars in the um
[54:24] I believe it's Hall Avenue. Um
[54:27] so we could drop four or five cars off
[54:29] at a time there.
[54:32] Moving to athletics.
[54:34] Thank you. [applause]
[54:41] » Good. Good evening everyone. Um am I
[54:44] last? Yeah. I'll try and be brief. So
[54:48] this year we're working on um I work as
[54:51] I've stated publicly many times before,
[54:53] Mr. Welsh and I work uh closely
[54:55] together. So, we worked on uh this some
[54:58] of this together and we came up with
[54:59] stronger programs uh stronger
[55:01] communities as our focus this year is
[55:04] it's not about reinventing uh East
[55:06] Athletics. We we have a lot to be proud
[55:08] of. It's about taking a strong
[55:10] foundation and becoming more intentional
[55:12] with consistency, leadership,
[55:13] communication, school spirit, and the
[55:16] overall student athlete experience.
[55:20] Sorry guys. Um so today EHS today we
[55:25] have over 431 student athletes competing
[55:28] this fall. We offer 65 teams throughout
[55:31] the [clears throat] year in the modified
[55:32] JV and varsity levels. Uh last year we
[55:35] had a tremendous amount success at the
[55:38] section and state level and hopefully we
[55:40] can continue to build on that this year.
[55:43] But it's not about obviously wins and
[55:45] losses. We're looking, as many of our
[55:47] administrators said before, we're
[55:48] looking to build that sense of belonging
[55:51] and um the connectedness to the school
[55:54] and um building the family and community
[55:56] and and all the good stuff.
[56:00] So, our priorities
[56:03] for the year, um, again on the program
[56:06] side, we're looking again at
[56:08] consistency, communication, captain
[56:10] selections, coaching and program
[56:12] development, and the connection from
[56:14] youth programs to the varsity. Uh on the
[56:17] community side, we're looking at student
[56:18] voice, family partnership, school
[56:20] spirit, sportsmanship, and connection
[56:22] across uh across teams, not just
[56:24] supporting one team or or the major
[56:26] events, trying to get um the kids out to
[56:29] support each other uh across across the
[56:32] department.
[56:35] Mr. Welsh, I think you were going to say
[56:37] a couple words quickly about our
[56:39] committee that we formed.
[56:43] » Guys are hearing a lot from me today.
[56:45] Um, so we're really excited about the
[56:48] principal's athletic compact committee.
[56:50] It's a a multistakeholder group. Um,
[56:52] Mike, myself, student athletes, coaches,
[56:56] parents. Um, we're going to meet about
[56:58] six times this year. And really the the
[57:01] important thing here um is that this
[57:04] isn't a committee designed to respond to
[57:06] individual complaints or uh individual
[57:09] issues. We want to take a full
[57:12] programwide lens when we look at
[57:14] athletics. What themes are emerging
[57:16] across sports? Where are we really
[57:18] strong? Where do expectations vary
[57:20] unnecessarily? What practices from one
[57:23] program might benefit another? Um, the
[57:25] shift we're trying to make is the one
[57:27] that is listed at the bottom of this
[57:29] slide, moving from simply responding to
[57:32] individual circumstances, but to
[57:34] continuously examine the health of the
[57:36] entire athletic program. Um, so we're
[57:39] excited later this year to be able to
[57:40] provide an update on the great work that
[57:42] this committee is embarking upon. Um,
[57:45] and I appreciate Mike for for letting a
[57:47] principal have his fingertips in in the
[57:50] athletic world a little bit. So, thank
[57:52] you.
[57:56] So, our student athletic council, um,
[57:59] you know, this is a group that I
[58:00] oversee. Couple pictures up there. Um, I
[58:04] think McGee, uh, Miss McGee, you're both
[58:06] your student, your children were there
[58:08] last year. It's one of the more fun
[58:10] events we hold. It's the student um,
[58:12] excuse me, the senior citizen uh,
[58:15] Valentine's Day night where we feed the
[58:16] we feed them. They do the dance the
[58:18] students dance with the with the senior
[58:20] citizens. It's a great night. And the
[58:22] picture on the right is just about
[58:23] that's our u, you know, homecoming
[58:25] night. So again, looking to build that
[58:27] cross team support, but the role of the
[58:30] athletic council, again, we're looking
[58:32] for student voice there. Um, so we're
[58:35] getting representation from across our
[58:37] programs, and that's where we really
[58:39] find out what athletics actually feels
[58:40] like from the student perspective. We
[58:42] want them providing feedback, but we
[58:44] also want them to help uh culture,
[58:46] particularly around sportsmanship,
[58:49] school spirit, and cross team support.
[58:52] This year we're really going to look at
[58:54] captains just again consistency communic
[58:57] uh communication expectations. Um right
[59:00] now in the meeting and selecting of a
[59:03] captain could look different depending
[59:04] upon the sport. Some variation some
[59:07] variation is appropriate. Every sport
[59:09] has its own culture but the e the ehs
[59:12] captain should mean something
[59:14] consistently. We're going to work with
[59:16] coaches around the selection process.
[59:18] more importantly around what comes after
[59:21] selection. What responsibility does a
[59:23] captain have for communication,
[59:25] inclusion, accountability,
[59:27] sportsmanship, and team culture? We
[59:30] talked this uh about the fall sport fall
[59:32] sports parent night a couple times the
[59:34] other night. It was a good opportunity
[59:35] for me to get in front of all the the high school parents to start
[59:40] developing some common language, which
[59:42] is going to be a theme this year. again
[59:44] consistency, communication,
[59:46] sportsmanship, expectations, uh
[59:49] behavior, roles of the athletes, the
[59:51] coaches and the families and of course
[59:53] always health and safety.
[59:56] It was a successful night. After we
[59:58] after I spoke to the the parents as a
[1:00:00] group, the parents then broke out into
[1:00:02] their individual team meetings with
[1:00:04] their respective coaches and those went
[1:00:05] well. It was a well attended night.
[1:00:08] Again, something we're just trying to,
[1:00:11] you know, what we observed last year,
[1:00:13] the school spirit was lacking a little
[1:00:15] bit and we only attended certain events
[1:00:17] and we're going to work mostly again
[1:00:19] with the student athletic council on
[1:00:21] this, but you know, things like theme
[1:00:22] nights, which we already have, um, in
[1:00:26] place and we just want, you know, it's nice when you're out there on a
[1:00:30] Tuesday afternoon, uh, when you're
[1:00:32] playing more in front than just your
[1:00:34] parents. Uh it's nice to have your your
[1:00:37] um your friends there, family there,
[1:00:39] whatever. Even teachers, it's great when
[1:00:41] teachers show up to events. Kids really
[1:00:43] notice when teachers show up,
[1:00:45] administrators, just to build some
[1:00:47] excitement across uh across our sports.
[1:00:50] Um and obviously this just can't come
[1:00:52] from my office. uh the student athletic
[1:00:54] council, ego, captains, coaches, um
[1:00:57] staff, uh everybody really has a role in
[1:01:01] this and we're really going to focus on
[1:01:02] building this uh building this up this
[1:01:04] year.
[1:01:07] And you know, this is probably one of my
[1:01:09] biggest overarching goals is building
[1:01:11] the program pipeline. when we look into
[1:01:14] hiring varsity coaches or varsity
[1:01:17] coaches that are currently in place. Um
[1:01:19] this is a picture with me at the
[1:01:23] softball state uh semi-final regional
[1:01:26] final game last year after they won
[1:01:28] their first section championship in 35
[1:01:30] years. I happened to be watching the
[1:01:31] game and the parents brought up some of
[1:01:34] the youth players, not the modified
[1:01:35] players. They brought up some of the
[1:01:37] youth players from the little league to
[1:01:38] watch the game and I thought it was
[1:01:40] really cool and one of the parents had
[1:01:42] sent me that picture and that's really
[1:01:43] what we're looking for for those kids to
[1:01:45] travel all the way up state to watch the
[1:01:47] high school kids play to one day want to
[1:01:48] be those kids and really build, you
[1:01:51] know, that desire to really play for their town and represent their
[1:01:54] community and [clears throat] have
[1:01:56] something to look forward to. So, uh,
[1:01:58] again, our varsity coaches, we have a
[1:02:00] lot of conversations about not just
[1:02:02] coaching your varsity team and worrying
[1:02:03] about wins and losses, but how are we
[1:02:05] developing our programs at all levels.
[1:02:09] And last but not least, um, what success
[1:02:12] looks like. Um, of course, we want to
[1:02:15] win. We want to be competitive. And, you
[1:02:17] know, obviously we we all should should
[1:02:19] want that, but our definition of success
[1:02:21] for the athletic program has to be
[1:02:23] broader than wins and championships. And
[1:02:26] I have a picture up there of the new
[1:02:29] trophy cases in the in the lobby that
[1:02:31] Elliot's team helped um really transform
[1:02:34] last year with the help of the sports
[1:02:36] club raising $25,000 to get us to new
[1:02:40] trophy cases. So, we want greater
[1:02:42] consistency, clear expectations. We want
[1:02:44] captains whose titles mean something. We
[1:02:46] want positive student athlete experience
[1:02:48] and strong pathways into our programs.
[1:02:50] And on the community side, we want
[1:02:51] stronger school spirit, positive
[1:02:53] sportsmanship, productive partnerships
[1:02:55] with families, students supporting other
[1:02:57] students, and real pride in representing
[1:03:00] Eastchester. If we accomplish those
[1:03:02] things, I think the wins will the wins
[1:03:04] tend to follow, but more importantly,
[1:03:05] we'll have built an athletic experience
[1:03:07] that our students are proud of and a
[1:03:09] community that is proud to support them.
[1:03:12] Thank you.
[1:03:14] [applause]
[1:03:17] » Thank you so much, Mr. Rampony. Thank
[1:03:19] you to all of our administrators and to
[1:03:21] all of our d um department directors for
[1:03:24] uh just, you know, the anticipation of
[1:03:26] starting school is always um an
[1:03:28] administrator's, you know, not in your
[1:03:29] stomach. You're so excited. There's so
[1:03:31] much to do. Um but once the doors open,
[1:03:34] we want to see our students smiling. We
[1:03:36] want to see our students engaging in
[1:03:37] school right right away. Um and you can
[1:03:40] see from the images that they're right
[1:03:41] back to it. Um and so the next update
[1:03:44] that you hear from all of our buildings
[1:03:45] again, uh we'll be diving deeper into
[1:03:47] the academic pieces. Um but for now you
[1:03:49] know that the uh doors have been open,
[1:03:51] our arms have been wide open. Um and
[1:03:53] we're w we're happy to have everybody
[1:03:54] back. Yes. Thank you everyone.
[1:03:58] >> Okay. Before we move on, I'll just ask
[1:04:01] if any of the trustees have any
[1:04:02] questions on any of the presentations or
[1:04:04] for any of the buildings or departments.
[1:04:08] Okay.
[1:04:10] We are up to the consent agenda.
[1:04:12] Um do I have a motion for the items
[1:04:14] under the consent agenda?
[1:04:18] Rob
[1:04:25] be it resolved the board of education
[1:04:27] approve the consent agenda which
[1:04:29] includes the following. Seven approval
[1:04:31] of minutes. Eight personnel agenda. Nine
[1:04:34] committee on preschool special education recommendations. 10
[1:04:39] educational and curriculum and
[1:04:41] instruction. 11 business office
[1:04:44] recommendations.
[1:04:45] >> Thank you, Rob. Do I have a second,
[1:04:47] Sean? All in favor?
[1:04:57] Okay. Future meeting dates. September
[1:04:59] 29th, we have our board administrative
[1:05:02] retreat and October 13th is our next
[1:05:05] regular meeting. We are up to comments
[1:05:07] from the public. When you come up,
[1:05:10] please state your name and address for
[1:05:11] the record. We welcome all public
[1:05:13] comments and feedback, but please be
[1:05:15] aware that we will not exceed 30 minutes
[1:05:17] this portion of the evening and each
[1:05:19] person has a hard stop at three minutes.
[1:05:21] As a reminder, this is not a question
[1:05:23] and answer format and refrain from
[1:05:25] mentioning any individual by name. If
[1:05:28] you would like a broader discussion on a
[1:05:29] specific topic or topics, please contact
[1:05:32] the superintendent's office. Thank you.
[1:05:44] Hi, good good evening. My name is uh
[1:05:46] Radley Moss. I live at 26 Downer Avenue.
[1:05:49] I have two kids in the middle school. Uh
[1:05:52] my comments are on busing. So although
[1:05:54] some aspects of the transportation
[1:05:56] changes may be going better than
[1:05:58] expected, I don't think that should
[1:06:00] overshadow the very real impact these
[1:06:03] cuts are having on numerous families.
[1:06:05] For many in our community, the loss of
[1:06:08] busing is not a quote unquote change in
[1:06:10] routine, but the elimination of a core
[1:06:13] service that significantly affects daily
[1:06:15] life. Earlier this year, I voted yes for
[1:06:19] both budgets and very reluctantly to
[1:06:21] reduce busing. Many people I spoke with
[1:06:24] made the same choice. Not because we
[1:06:27] supported cutting busing, but because
[1:06:29] the alternative meant deeper reductions
[1:06:31] to educational programs and significant
[1:06:34] staff losses. Our community was
[1:06:37] essentially left with a poison pill
[1:06:39] choice and under different
[1:06:41] circumstances,
[1:06:42] I don't believe most of us would have
[1:06:44] supported such a substantial reduction
[1:06:46] in busing. I strongly encourage Dr.
[1:06:49] Villain Noea and the board to actively
[1:06:52] engage people across the district about
[1:06:54] what they hope to see for the 202728
[1:06:58] school year. I would like to see a
[1:07:00] thoughtful, proactive, and
[1:07:03] forward-looking plan that puts us in a
[1:07:05] path toward restoring busing in a
[1:07:08] sustainable and responsible way.
[1:07:11] On a related topic, I was surprised by a
[1:07:13] few things that were mentioned at the
[1:07:15] last board meeting regarding the vendor
[1:07:17] the district uses to calculate home to
[1:07:19] school distances. I'm one of those
[1:07:22] parents who raised concerns about
[1:07:24] discrepancies between the district's
[1:07:26] mileage determination and widely used
[1:07:29] online mapping tools. The district has
[1:07:31] told me and my wife we live 1.47 47
[1:07:34] miles from the middle school. While
[1:07:36] Google Maps shows the distance is closer
[1:07:38] to two miles. Dr. Ven explained that the
[1:07:42] vendor measures from the center of a
[1:07:44] home's driveway to the center of the
[1:07:46] school's driveway. Respectfully, this
[1:07:48] method does not reflect real life and it
[1:07:51] raises serious questions about whether
[1:07:54] busing eligibility is being assessed
[1:07:56] with a reasonable or appropriate
[1:07:58] standard. When the district's
[1:08:00] calculation differs so significantly
[1:08:03] from commonly used tools, people
[1:08:05] understandably lose confidence in the
[1:08:07] process.
[1:08:09] I also understand from what was brought
[1:08:11] up at the last meeting that the vendor
[1:08:13] has been unclear about aspects of their
[1:08:15] calculations.
[1:08:16] Because these determinations directly
[1:08:18] affect eligibility for transportation,
[1:08:22] I kindly ask that the board further
[1:08:24] updates us on the vendor's methodology
[1:08:26] and performance, especially given the,
[1:08:30] you know, shambolic issues that occurred
[1:08:32] during the roll out of transportation
[1:08:34] eligibility in August. Thank you for
[1:08:37] your time.
[1:08:38] >> Thank you.
[1:08:41] >> Any other public comment?
[1:08:51] Randy from Mort Street. Uh I want to
[1:08:54] inform the the board, especially all the
[1:08:57] members, whether they're aware that
[1:08:59] there was a meeting April 4th regarding
[1:09:02] the continuing flooding that's happening
[1:09:05] to the adjacent properties from the high
[1:09:07] school.
[1:09:09] During that meeting, we discussed a lot
[1:09:11] of things and there was action items.
[1:09:14] Now, unfortunately, there was supposed
[1:09:16] to be a follow-up meeting and I've
[1:09:19] contacted the people that were at the
[1:09:22] meeting and unfortunately I've never got
[1:09:26] a response. I called I sent emails to
[1:09:30] Dr. Villanova and to this date there's
[1:09:33] no response. There is no other form here
[1:09:36] to how to ask the question. Are we going
[1:09:38] to have this follow-up meeting? That's
[1:09:41] what I'm here for because I'm not
[1:09:43] getting any email response. So, I have
[1:09:45] to come here and ask the question.
[1:09:52] Mr. Rende, the answer in short is yes,
[1:09:54] but we are waiting on items from that
[1:09:56] list that we put together um at that
[1:09:58] meeting. So, I can follow up with you
[1:10:00] afterwards with a phone call or perhaps
[1:10:02] we could uh have a little chat before
[1:10:04] the meeting.
[1:10:04] >> I appreciate that. Like I said, I just
[1:10:06] wanted to make sure that this the loop
[1:10:08] is closed because once I send emails and
[1:10:11] calls and get no response, I think
[1:10:12] that's not the appropriate way to to run
[1:10:15] the school system. That's all.
[1:10:16] Especially with this problem, we're
[1:10:18] still having floods.
[1:10:20] >> I don't know if you're aware that we've
[1:10:21] had three more floods, which means
[1:10:23] there's more erosion, which means the
[1:10:25] school is going to be paying more for
[1:10:27] the damages. Now, it doesn't mean the
[1:10:30] school, maybe the the insurance, but the
[1:10:32] taxpayers are going to be paying more.
[1:10:35] So I noticed that Mr. Shelton went
[1:10:36] through the capital expenses. No
[1:10:38] mentioning at all on how to repair at
[1:10:41] least have a sentence saying look we're
[1:10:44] looking into this issue that's going to
[1:10:46] cost some money.
[1:10:48] >> Yeah. So Mr. Rende I'll talk with you
[1:10:50] afterwards about what we had discussed
[1:10:52] in that April meeting.
[1:10:52] >> Thank you very much.
[1:10:53] >> Thank you.
[1:11:04] Good evening. Brian Miller, 30 downer.
[1:11:06] Just going to hit a couple of things
[1:11:07] just in no particular order. There's
[1:11:09] been a lot of talk about arrival being
[1:11:10] great and it has been pretty good. Uh,
[1:11:13] all things considered, dismissal has
[1:11:14] been worse. About uh arrival, I do want
[1:11:16] to note all the emails say we're doing
[1:11:18] it 25 minutes early. It's 25 minutes
[1:11:20] before the first bell. It's actually 15
[1:11:22] minutes early. Those 15 minutes have
[1:11:24] proven key despite it being labeled as
[1:11:26] something you can only use occasionally
[1:11:28] or periodically if you need a few
[1:11:30] minutes sometimes. Those 15 minutes are
[1:11:32] when everyone's arriving. By the time my
[1:11:34] daughter arrives to school, 2/3 to
[1:11:36] threequarters of the kids are already
[1:11:37] there. And that's before the three buses
[1:11:39] that still serve Greenville arrive. So
[1:11:41] just nitpicking there, but still it's 15 minutes, but it's a key 15
[1:11:45] minutes. So occasional periodic. I mean,
[1:11:47] is that actually going to persist beyond
[1:11:49] September? Hasn't been announced yet.
[1:11:51] Uh, as far as this missile, it's sort of
[1:11:53] a low-key chaos, especially on Rino.
[1:11:55] It's going as well as could be expected,
[1:11:57] I guess. But I mean, what happens when
[1:11:59] it snows? Uh, is is responsibility being
[1:12:02] taken for sidewalks, crosswalks, who's
[1:12:04] going to be clearing those between
[1:12:06] Greenville, Waverly, and all the and and
[1:12:08] Hutch and all the adjacent areas?
[1:12:10] Because it's not just clearing enough to
[1:12:12] get buses through to have school. It's a
[1:12:13] matter of clearing it to the curb. So a
[1:12:16] child who's 36 in tall can be seen
[1:12:18] because we have 36 in tall kids now
[1:12:20] walking home to school by themselves.
[1:12:22] Speaking of which, by the way, I've seen
[1:12:24] kids repeatedly almost be hit by backup
[1:12:26] cars and re cars backing up on Rino as
[1:12:28] the trunk extends over the curb. That's
[1:12:30] something no one ever had to really
[1:12:31] consider very much before. I've seen
[1:12:33] kids repeatedly almost hit the new
[1:12:34] crosswalks that were painted because the
[1:12:36] sight lines are too are too narrow and
[1:12:38] short for what actually was painted by
[1:12:39] the town because they threw paint where
[1:12:41] it needed to be put for people to know
[1:12:43] kids were going to walk there without
[1:12:44] thinking, oh, no one's used to that and
[1:12:46] there's not enough of a sighteline to
[1:12:48] see a kid this tall walking there. To
[1:12:50] our credit, I saw one kid go like this
[1:12:52] at a car. It was pretty funny if it
[1:12:54] hadn't been so dangerous. Um, as far as
[1:12:57] uh missing crossing guards, this all
[1:12:58] should have been considered long ago.
[1:13:00] the hall uh in Maine from south traffic
[1:13:02] study you're talking about. I mean it's
[1:13:04] sort of darkly comedic. That traffic
[1:13:05] study should have been done before it
[1:13:07] was ever a consideration to put up for a
[1:13:09] vote removing the buses. This is a lot
[1:13:10] of like ready fire aim stuff. This is
[1:13:12] again it's darkly comedic at best to be
[1:13:15] frank with you. Um as far as a little
[1:13:17] late you said Dr. V to uh Waverly. I've
[1:13:20] gotten emails from parents almost daily
[1:13:22] talking about how actually dismissal is
[1:13:25] getting out closer towards 4 o'clock
[1:13:27] than 3:35 which is what it was specified
[1:13:29] as being. Uh now it's just changed to
[1:13:31] 3:45 apparently today. That's been
[1:13:33] that's interesting. Um but still kids
[1:13:35] are getting home late. And by the way
[1:13:37] the day at Waverly is now extended 35 uh
[1:13:39] 28 minutes total to 3:35. So you have
[1:13:42] kids who are staying in school 28
[1:13:44] minutes longer for instruction and then
[1:13:46] you know 2530 minutes longer before they
[1:13:49] even leave school to get home. And by
[1:13:50] the way one of the first acts Dr. you
[1:13:52] had when you came here was to cancel
[1:13:54] birthdays in school to save instruction
[1:13:56] time. Now that instruction time is 28
[1:13:57] minutes longer in Waverly. Can we bring
[1:13:58] back birthdays in the classroom? Thanks
[1:14:00] very much.
[1:14:04] » Any other public comment?
[1:14:08] We have one more.
[1:14:16] » How's everybody doing? Tim Albert, uh,
[1:14:18] one Columbus Circle. Uh, my daughter
[1:14:20] Savannah goes to Waverly. I want to
[1:14:22] thank you all for your service and
[1:14:24] especially Miss Mandelly and the entire
[1:14:27] Waverly staff for making Savannah feel
[1:14:29] safe, welcome, and uh, valued.
[1:14:33] Miss Mandelli got a big hug on the first
[1:14:36] day of school because she's the best and
[1:14:39] the best dressed. Um, my daughter loves
[1:14:42] school because of the environment built
[1:14:43] by the staff at Waverly. Um, and I think
[1:14:46] that it's easy to focus on the issues of
[1:14:49] transportation early in the year, but
[1:14:52] let's see how the next weeks play out.
[1:14:54] Um,
[1:14:56] we thankfully live in a democracy and
[1:14:59] votes do have consequences and this is
[1:15:02] the result in my opinion of what
[1:15:06] happened last year. So, this is directly
[1:15:09] to you guys. Now,
[1:15:11] um I appreciate the work that goes into
[1:15:13] developing a school budget and
[1:15:15] understand the challenges and of budget
[1:15:18] of balancing education e excellence with
[1:15:22] fiscal respon responsibility.
[1:15:24] After the first budget failed and the
[1:15:27] second one passed,
[1:15:29] I believe there are opportunities to
[1:15:30] improve um communication and public
[1:15:33] engagement moving forward
[1:15:36] as planning begins for the 2027 budget.
[1:15:39] I respectfully ask the board to present
[1:15:42] not only the proposed budget for this
[1:15:44] coming year but also a multi-year fis uh
[1:15:47] financial plan that gives residents a
[1:15:51] clear understanding of what to expect in
[1:15:53] the years ahead. Predictability helps
[1:15:56] build trust and allows taxpayers to plan
[1:15:58] accordingly.
[1:16:00] The district should also expand how it
[1:16:03] communicates with the community. Whilst
[1:16:05] Facebook posts, YouTube videos and
[1:16:07] online pres presentations are useful
[1:16:09] tools, they should not be the primary
[1:16:12] method of informing residents, in
[1:16:14] today's environment where misinformation
[1:16:16] can uh quickly spread online. Direct
[1:16:19] communication through printed materials
[1:16:21] and in-person presentations is often
[1:16:24] more important and much more effective
[1:16:27] and reaches a much broader audience.
[1:16:30] I also encourage the board to establish
[1:16:32] an early budget um advisory coalition
[1:16:36] that includes not only the board members
[1:16:39] but also concerned residents and parents
[1:16:42] from across the district.
[1:16:44] These individuals can help educate their
[1:16:46] neighbors and other parents creating a
[1:16:49] broader understanding of the budget well
[1:16:51] before voting.
[1:16:53] Perhaps most importantly, every student,
[1:16:56] I'm sorry, every resident should be able
[1:16:58] to clearly understand the uh financial
[1:17:00] impact of the proposed budget on their
[1:17:02] household.
[1:17:04] Rather than asking taxpayers to estimate
[1:17:06] or perform calculations themselves, the
[1:17:10] district should provide an easy to
[1:17:11] understand example
[1:17:13] um based on actual property value and uh
[1:17:16] tax assessments whenever available. Even
[1:17:19] better, if legally and administrative,
[1:17:21] I'm sorry, administratively feasible,
[1:17:24] the district could uh create a simple
[1:17:26] online address lookup using an AI tool
[1:17:29] where residents could um enter their
[1:17:32] home address and immediately see the
[1:17:34] estimated annual tax impact of the
[1:17:36] proposed budget. When taxpayers can
[1:17:39] clearly see that the cost their
[1:17:41] household is uh relatively modest
[1:17:43] compared to the value of maintaining
[1:17:45] excellent schools, they are better
[1:17:47] equipped to make informed decisions.
[1:17:49] Transparency, accessibility, and
[1:17:51] proactive communication will strengthen
[1:17:54] public confidence and improve the budget
[1:17:56] uh process for everyone. Thank you for
[1:17:59] your time, your service, and your
[1:18:01] consideration of these uh suggestions.
[1:18:03] Thank you.
[1:18:03] >> Thank you.
[1:18:06] Any other public comments?
[1:18:09] Okay. Can I have a motion to adjurnn?
[1:18:13] Christine. Second. Sean. All in favor?
[1:18:16] Thank you. Have a good night, everyone.