[6:50] Good evening everyone. Uh, welcome to tonight's board meeting. If you would

[6:54] all please stand and join me in the pledge.

[7:16] like to have a moment of silence for the following individuals. Archie Green Jr.,

[7:21] a graduate of the North Syracuse Central School District. Beverly Girth, a

[7:25] graduate of the North Syracuse Central School District. Sharon May, a graduate

[7:29] of the North Syracuse Central School District. Peter Beron, a graduate of the

[7:34] North Syracuse Central School District, and Leonard Leonard Mowens, a retiree of

[7:39] the North Syracuse Central School District.

[7:48] » Thank you.

[7:53] Um, I want to talk about one of these people because it's really history in

[7:57] our in our school district again and that's Leonard Mowens. Lenny Mowens says

[8:03] everybody knew him and called him coach. Um, he coached at North Syracuse when it

[8:09] was North Syracuse High School, the Northmen from 1967 to 78, 11 years. His

[8:14] record was 136 wins, 75 losses. He coached his very first year, John, who

[8:22] later became a coach um for CNS. Um he won the Anadog County Championship. We

[8:30] used to call it that long time before you guys were born. Then they would have

[8:33] the city county championship and then um the section three championship.

[8:39] Started his career in Liverpool but ended it in North Syracuse. But if you

[8:43] read what he said, he was a lifelong educator, a mentor, and a good friend to

[8:50] everybody. And I talked to a few teachers because I wanted a little more

[8:53] information. So yes, he was the basketball coach. And when we had North

[8:58] Syracuse in Cicero, we had doubled the teams. So getting gym space was very,

[9:03] very difficult. But he always shared gyms. Even though it was basketball, he

[9:09] would share with the track team, with the volley team. you know, he didn't say

[9:13] somebody, "Oh, I'm sorry. I've got this gym." Somebody that really, and I was a

[9:18] young person teaching in this building, and I would go to the games, and you had

[9:23] to be at the junior high school by 4:00 for a 7:00 game because

[9:30] guess who we played? We played Danny Shayes for JD and Pete whole

[9:36] handfuler. There were great people that we played from other schools. And Lenny,

[9:42] if you know anything about Georgetown and the white towel, Lenny had a white

[9:46] towel and boy, it hit the floor a lot of times, but he was a great guy and thank

[9:51] you for a moment of silence for him. >> Can I just add something because I just

[9:55] I have a connection there because Go ahead. I'm from a little, you know, I

[10:01] but I had the opportunity. He was my coach at uh basketball. I I won't say

[10:06] what year, but it's in that span of 68 to 78 that you met. So, u I did get to

[10:13] know him and we had some time that I won't drop their names, but

[10:19] one of them went on to be a football player at SU little while and they took

[10:23] the number 44 out of retirement for him. Trivia question. Do you know who that

[10:27] was? >> Robinson. So, our job was to get a

[10:31] rebound and give it to Mandel. [laughter]

[10:35] » Yes. He was football, but he played basketball also. So, yeah, he was a he

[10:39] was a great guy. I got to know him there. Yep.

[10:44] » Thank you, Bob. >> Um, I have two uh proclamations that I'm

[10:49] going to read and then we'll hand out some certificates for those that are

[10:52] here. First one we have is mainten maintenance and operations appreciation

[10:56] week. The appearance of our buildings and grounds has a significant impact on

[11:00] the environment for suitable learning for our students, working conditions for

[11:04] district employees, and as a sense of pride for our community. The maintenance

[11:08] and operations department employees contribute to the school, family, and

[11:11] community by upholding professional work standards, receiving timely training,

[11:16] and approaching all tasks in a strong collective spirit of teamwork, which

[11:20] contributes to their overall work effectiveness. They exhibit diligence,

[11:24] patience, and professionalism in adjusting to new challenges and

[11:27] situations that occur in the school buildings and grounds. To honor the

[11:31] maintenance and operations department employees of the North Syracuse Central

[11:34] School District and their accomplishments, I'm Michael Morizio,

[11:38] president of the Board of Education of the North Syracuse Central School

[11:40] District. On behalf of the board, express our deepest gratitude and hereby

[11:44] declare the week of September 14th, 2026 through September 18th, 2026 as

[11:50] maintenance and operations appreciation week to be celebrated with appropriate

[11:54] educational activities. Do I have a motion for that proclamation?

[11:59] and Mark. Any questions?

[12:03] Animous. Next, we have our IT professionals

[12:08] appreciation day. The effective use of technology has a significant impact on

[12:13] the learning environment for our students, working conditions for

[12:15] district employees, and the ability of our schools to effectively serve our

[12:19] community. The information technology department employees contribute to the

[12:23] school family and community by maintaining reliable and secure

[12:26] technology systems providing timely support and training and approaching all

[12:30] tasks with a strong collective spirit of teamwork which contributes to the

[12:33] overall effectiveness of our district. They exhibit diligence, patience,

[12:37] professionalism, and adaptability in responding to new technologies, cyber

[12:41] security challenges and in many situations that occur throughout our

[12:44] schools. To honor the information technology department employees of the

[12:48] North Syracuse Central School Districts and their accomplishments, I'm Michael

[12:52] Morizio, president of the board of education of the North Syracuse Central

[12:55] School District. On behalf of the board, express our deepest gratitude and hereby

[12:59] declare September 15, 2026 as information technology professionals

[13:05] appreciation day to be celebrated with appropriate educational activities. Do I

[13:09] have a motion for that? Bob and Paul. All those in favor? That's unanimous. Uh

[13:15] if we have anyone from M and it would please come

[13:49] Again,

[13:57] thank you guys for all that you do. Next, I'd like to invite Jason up for an

[14:02] AI update on what we're doing here in our schools.

[14:10] Welcome, Jason.

[14:50] How's that? All right, here we go. Um, before I get into AI, I want to

[14:55] reiterate how much our team does for this district. Um, they make me look

[15:00] real good. Um, I tell them all that a successful day is a day that they that

[15:05] we aren't thought of. Uh, which can be kind of lonely sometimes. So, I do

[15:09] appreciate the board recognizing the team and everything they do. They do a

[15:14] tremendous amount to keep this uh to keep this place running. So, thank you.

[15:19] Um, all right. So, humans, [sighs]

[15:23] we are a very inquisitive bunch, aren't we? We're always looking for the next

[15:27] big thing. We're always inventing new things, discovering new things. Uh, and

[15:32] when I started thinking about talking about this, I kind of went back to, you

[15:36] know, when we discovered fire, I'm sure the social webs at the time were saying,

[15:41] "That's hot. It can burn you. It can destroy things." And other people were

[15:45] saying, "Yeah, but if you try to stake over that or brought some of it into the

[15:48] cave on a cold night, like, you know, fire can be good and it can be bad.

[15:53] Let's let's kind of learn how to use it." Um, and then I, you know, kind of

[15:56] fast forward a little bit to cars. Very dangerous. Probably the most dangerous

[16:00] thing I do on a daily basis. I got a 20-mi drive back to Marcellus after

[16:04] this. And it's probably the most dangerous thing I do. We invented cars.

[16:08] It wasn't one person. It was a lot of people. And probably at the time, people

[16:12] were saying, "Ah, those go real fast." And they can be dangerous. And probably

[16:17] other people were saying, "Yeah, but it saves a lot of time. You can get there

[16:20] faster and and do other things with your time." So, you know, fire cars and now

[16:25] we got this thing called AI. Um, if you paid attention to the news recently,

[16:30] there's a lot of conversations around AI. Um, both good, both bad. Uh, last

[16:36] week I saw that they were saying, you know, in in 10 years there's a 10%

[16:40] chance that it'll wipe all of us out. That's pretty bleak. Um, I look at that

[16:45] same stat and say, "Yeah, but maybe there's a 90% chance that it cures

[16:49] cancer or does something similar." Um, so I don't really have any ability to

[16:57] control any of those things around how fast we go, what we're looking at. You

[17:02] know, right now what I've seen with AI in the world is that there's a group of

[17:06] people saying we need to slow down. And personally, if we slow down right now,

[17:11] AI is pretty good for what I do. And I could be entertained and do a lot of

[17:16] things pretty quick, you know, pretty well. There's other people that say we

[17:19] have to speed up. And it kind of reminds me of the Cold War where it's like, oh,

[17:23] we have to stay ahead of someone else. If we don't stay ahead of them, then

[17:27] we're going to fall behind. So, you know, again, that's all nuanced. What I

[17:32] can control and what I can work with folks on here in this district in this

[17:36] moment is the assumption that AI is here. It's here for as long as it's

[17:43] going to be here. And our children that we have in our district are going to be

[17:48] living in a world with AI. I didn't invent it. I can't get rid of

[17:53] it. All I can see that it's here and it's something that we need to help our

[17:57] children understand to drive rather than hide in a closet and pretend that it's

[18:02] not there. So, we've been working for ever since AI became a thing a few years

[18:08] back. I worked with Chris Ley. We put together a guiding document. I've worked

[18:12] with the policy committee. We put together a board policy. So, we're doing

[18:17] all kinds of work around AI and it's to the point now where I can't hold it

[18:22] back. I don't have an AI switch on my dashboard anywhere. Every company,

[18:29] every, you know, every company out there is embedding more and more AI into what

[18:35] we do. And it's not an easy flip of a switch. It's become very like baked into

[18:41] everything that we do and everything that we have. So, our my plan that I put

[18:46] together, so this is a website that I put together to share with folks um

[18:50] around how we as North Syracuse and this wasn't only me. I didn't do this in a

[18:57] vacuum. We have the steam team that we've had conversations around how we

[19:02] work with AI. I've been to district steering a number of times to talk about

[19:06] AI. So, this isn't Jason Clark just putting this up there. This has been a

[19:11] lot of people involved in the conversation. Switch hands here. Um, so

[19:18] our approach to AI is it's here. We have students that need to understand how to

[19:25] use it because it's here to stay for now. If it takes us all out in 10 years,

[19:31] I my crystal ball is cloudy on that. I have no idea if that's the case or not.

[19:35] But I don't want to spend the next 10 years not teaching people for that

[19:40] inevitability or whatever happens. It, you know, we need to be aware and and

[19:44] look at it and be proactive. So, we need to prepare our kids for a world

[19:51] with AI, but we cannot forget about the human piece to AI. We're all

[19:56] inquisitive. We all learn things. We all learn how to do different things. So my

[20:01] big thing with AI is we should all keep in mind the human side of this and make

[20:07] sure that we're addressing AI with and so I I put this together.

[20:38] All right. So, our focus with AI is um putting the

[20:44] human first and I put together three commitments to

[20:50] guide the use of AI. One is human thinking comes first. uh AI should be a

[20:55] thought partner and a collaborator not a replacement for human thinking and and

[21:00] student thinking. We need to use it responsibly. So protect follow

[21:06] assessment expectations and be very transparent with your use of it. I am

[21:11] very unapologetic with when I use AI. This website it was a collaboration with

[21:15] myself and chatbt. Um but we also the third uh commitment we have to question

[21:22] everything. Uh, I don't know how many videos I've seen recently where I'm

[21:26] like, "Well, that's AI. That's AI." And to the point where I don't, it's gotten

[21:29] so good, I don't know what's AI and what's not. It's basically whether it's

[21:33] funny or not or entertaining, I guess. But we have to question everything,

[21:37] verify, and improve. um when we use AI with students and in the classroom,

[21:45] we also the the group also developed a kind of a a way teachers in the

[21:51] classroom can identify what assignments are able to be done with AI. and we put

[21:59] together uh this graphic

[22:05] that is kind of a gradient of when and when not to use AI. So red light, no AI

[22:11] at all, just the students working together, thinking and coming up with an

[22:15] answer. And then it's a gradient because you have some nuance between that and

[22:20] the green light. The green light, full open AI, no problem. Go for it. Um just

[22:25] site your sources and and be transparent about it. So this is something that the

[22:30] steam team, myself, other administrators put together as kind of a a guiding

[22:34] preced, you know, guiding document around how to use AI

[22:39] um in the classroom as an approach to AI

[22:45] kind of a crawl, walk, run, drive scenario where we are a our and I've

[22:54] said this before, our AI of choice in this district is Gemini

[23:00] just because it's Edlaw [snorts] 2D approved. None of the other AIS will

[23:06] sign off on the student privacy piece around um AI like JBT won't do it.

[23:13] Claude won't do it. Gemini is our only one that is approved for use with

[23:17] students and it fits nicely into our Google Workspace uh area. Google has

[23:23] said we can turn on. So when I say AI, I'm pretty much referring to just the

[23:28] Gemini chat box that where you type in your questions to Gemini. I can turn

[23:33] that on at the kindergarten level if we deemed that to be the case. I don't

[23:37] think that's necessarily the right call um just yet or ever. Um we put together

[23:43] kind of a a guidance around how this would be rolled out at each of the

[23:49] building levels. Uh so at the youngest it's teacher driven teacher-led teacher

[23:54] experience with the students working alongside them. In the the middle

[23:59] schools more of a structured approach maybe using some more things like uh

[24:04] Google gems um Gemini notebook things like that. The junior high a little bit

[24:10] more freedom and then the high school eventually you know having access to the

[24:14] chat box and and interacting with them with uh AI that way.

[24:23] Um I can I think yeah go ahead. >> I want to go back to what you just said.

[24:28] So access to the

[24:34] not what I think people like AI is in a lot of things. When somebody says AI,

[24:42] I've had a hard time getting a definition of what people think that is,

[24:45] but the best I've come up with is to turn on AI is to allow access to the

[24:50] chat feature in Gemini. >> That would occur in high school.

[24:56] » Other not on right now. >> The other but it would that's where the

[24:59] plan >> that's where we're headed.

[25:00] » The other ones I just wanted to make sure I heard it clearly are teacherled

[25:03] experiences. I know it says that for K4 but Yep.

[25:07] » Five, seven, and eight, nine. I know eventually go to the high school.

[25:11] » Yeah. >> Um

[25:14] » guided. >> Yes.

[25:15] » Not turned on for their access. >> Well, there there's I there are little

[25:19] things that I can turn on in different programs to give a little bit more

[25:23] access, but as of right now, we're looking at just the like chat feature

[25:28] with Gemini at the high school level and then various levels of accessibility um

[25:35] at the younger grades. >> I'm sorry to interrupt. I don't want to

[25:38] have you roll back after I ask a question.

[25:40] » Not a problem. Not a problem. So, like I said, it's kind of a tiered approach uh

[25:44] where we're not going to flip a switch and turn it on, turn everything on, but

[25:48] again, like I said, it's it's hard to not turn not to have some bleed uh into

[25:54] this. Um AI is part of um

[26:03] standards. The computer science and digital fluency standards have an AI

[26:06] component and I just put those in here. Those standards are funny. They're

[26:10] actually old um and came out before AI. So there there is a piece there are

[26:16] pieces in there about how to use AI with students. Um and I and I link them in

[26:21] here. And again, this site is something that is going to be a resource for us.

[26:25] Probably one of the biggest uh things with using it in our district is that

[26:32] our version of Gemini is different than the Gmail version of Gemini. So right

[26:40] now our students are using AI 100%. They're using AI. They're using it with

[26:45] their personal accounts unmonitored, unfiltered.

[26:50] If we have students using our instance of Gemini, it's built into our workplace

[26:56] environment and it's monitored and it's treated differently. None of that

[27:02] information that our students use is used to have the the model grow. And if

[27:09] students happen to be in there and ask about violence or self harm or things

[27:14] like that, it will actually put the brakes on that conversation and give

[27:18] them resources saying, you know, this this isn't something that I want to

[27:23] engage with. Here are some resources. Find an adult. Like there are definitely

[27:27] guard rails in place with our version of Gemini compared to the Gmail.

[27:36] And basically, you know, again, it doesn't have to be used in every

[27:39] assignment. So, that's kind of where we are with AI. It's it's and I've I've

[27:45] never done this before. None of us have ever done this before. Uh we're having

[27:48] conversations in a lot of different places. Um but it's really what I what I

[27:54] will leave you with is I really want to focus on keeping the human experience

[27:57] part of this and using the technology to help learn and grow alongside

[28:02] uh that. Well, that's kind of where we are with

[28:07] AI. Questions, thoughts? >> Jason, can you just talk a minute about

[28:13] uh the offerings that we've provided uh for people to be trained and things like

[28:19] that over the last maybe two, three years and where we're with that?

[28:22] » Yep. So Danielle Barrett, our uh instructional technology coach, over the

[28:27] past three summers, I've basically told her to focus on doing AI training. And

[28:33] she has offered um numerous trainings uh over the summer. Basically, she's put

[28:40] together, I think, four trainings each summer and then given those trainings

[28:45] twice. So, eight trainings over the course of the summer. and she's really

[28:50] focused a lot on how to use AI well with students and how to actually teach with

[28:57] AI and put together some amazing uh programming. I don't have the numbers

[29:00] right off the top of my head, but um every one of her sessions are

[29:06] booked. They're, you know, weight list full. And um it's they've been very

[29:12] popular summer trainings. I've sat in and I've learned some things. um she

[29:16] does a she does a wonderful job at putting those together. So, we have had

[29:19] a focus on that. Um and you know, she's gone out and she she meets with teachers

[29:25] one-on-one. There's been a lot of uh a lot of different people we've worked

[29:29] with that are interested and want to start using it a little bit more and are

[29:32] eager to find out how best to do that.

[29:39] Yeah, my ignorance is going to come out when I

[29:42] ask these though. I've dabbled with Gemini because I have

[29:47] um so you can ask Gemini a question but

[29:51] then we have the notebook where he can load in.

[29:55] » Yeah. >> Is that what we're talking about using

[29:56] or are we talking about? >> Yes. So So with Gemini there's there's

[29:59] three three parts of Gemini that I I would I would say Gemini has three parts

[30:04] that we can use with students in different ways. So there's notebook uh

[30:07] sorry it used to be called Notebook LM. This summer they rebranded it to uh

[30:13] Gemini Notebook. And so what Gemini Notebook is is that's kind of the

[30:17] training wheels of using AI where the teacher puts in all of the information

[30:23] that they want the AI to use. It leverages the technology for all of

[30:30] world the world's knowledge to just those documents that the teacher put

[30:34] into that um notebook. So, it's a it's a a closed system where you can upload

[30:42] five PDF documents and students can ask questions of those five PDF documents

[30:46] and that's the only information that's used by the large language model to get

[30:51] a question back. So, it doesn't go to the world. Then the other next step

[30:57] which would be the, you know, you kind of take the training wheels off and

[31:00] they're riding a bike which would be a gem. So, a gem is something where a

[31:06] teacher puts in a large um prompt telling the gem what it should do. So,

[31:15] you know, for example, you could have a a gem that is a Benjamin Franklin and

[31:20] students could interview Benjamin Franklin based on the prompt that the

[31:24] teacher put in to that gem. And that gem only does that job. it will only pretend

[31:31] that it's Ben Franklin. Then the next, you know, the the keys to the car would

[31:36] be a full open chat with Gemini. That's like the most open it can be. And then

[31:43] that's prompt generation back and forth and they they ask questions of the large

[31:48] language model contained within our um sandbox. So within our Google workspace,

[31:55] which is not the same as it's still protected more than like a regular G um

[32:01] you know Gemini through Google would be. >> Um

[32:06] » yeah, I just I have I I launched the U

[32:13] yesterday the report you referenced it earlier the three what is the you know

[32:17] it wasn't just anybody it was the three CEOs of the largest upfront AI

[32:20] companies. Yep. all expressing this caution.

[32:24] » Yeah. >> And kind of, you know, freaks me out.

[32:26] So, I'm I'm assuming, [laughter] >> you know, I I watched those movies from

[32:31] way back when. >> Yeah.

[32:32] » Uh even Star Trek predicted this in ' 66. So, u

[32:39] I don't want to say we're going to slow walk it, but we're going to slow walk

[32:42] it. [laughter] We've we've been Yes. We've been talking

[32:45] with all people involved, and you know, we are moving slowly. Yes. We are moving

[32:51] slowly with this. >> Well, obviously we're monitoring it and

[32:56] » Yep. Yep. >> most used all over, but I also have read

[33:00] and again what am I reading? Is it accurate? Is it reliable? I don't know.

[33:04] But there's been >> curious there have been

[33:07] » decisions and actions of governments that were based upon AI interpretation

[33:12] of data. >> Yep.

[33:13] » To make decisions on certain actions. I'll leave it at that because I don't

[33:16] want to get >> Yeah. But

[33:18] » no, I I I agree with you. Like like I said, I if if they if they pump the

[33:22] bricks a little bit right now, I I wouldn't be too upset other than

[33:27] they're, you know, the other side of it where if we slow down, other people

[33:30] aren't >> like it's it's always the you know,

[33:32] » they're worried about right >> China and they're already far ahead of

[33:36] us >> or or some you know,

[33:38] » they're very different too. >> It's like like I referred to the Cold

[33:40] War like it's it's really similar to the Cold War. Um, you know, I was I I I

[33:45] remember the oh, we got to stay ahead of Russia. We have to stay ahead of Russia.

[33:48] We have to stay out of Russia, okay? And and we had a large buildup of nuclear

[33:54] arms. Cooler head prevailed though. Like they everyone was saying the nuclear

[33:58] weapons are going to end humanity still here.

[34:02] [laughter] Like you know, and that's the thing with

[34:04] with anything we don't we don't know. But again, I you know,

[34:09] » that's >> I can't fix that. So, I can't fix that.

[34:13] I'm >> sure we'll hear more down the road.

[34:14] » Oh, I'm sure. Yeah. >> Yeah.

[34:17] » All right. All that aside, I've read a gazillion articles and everything else.

[34:21] So, >> all aside for students, is this an

[34:24] add-on cost or is it part of the educational

[34:28] » included in our workspace? >> Okay.

[34:29] » Yep. >> So, there's no because I know that there

[34:31] is an added cost in the work. >> We have not we have not moved to the AI

[34:36] um Google licensing for AI. We have we have a little bit better than free,

[34:42] » right? >> Because we're we're workspace pro. The

[34:46] next step would be work workspace pro with AI add-on. And that's a whole

[34:51] different we don't we're not ready for that. We don't need that.

[34:54] » Oh, right. I just Yeah. And believe it or not, there is a big difference

[34:58] between using this Gemini and this Ge and this Gemini.

[35:01] » I agree. >> Because Google gives you the AI. That's

[35:03] not true Gemini. Google's actually become dumber as Gemini came on board.

[35:08] But that's okay. >> Yep. Yeah. Every new project that I

[35:11] start, I hit uh I have all four AIs as a tab group in my Chrome. I hit that AI

[35:17] button and I hold job interviews for every project that I am doing and

[35:22] whether it's Gemini, ChatgPT, Claude or Grock. I basically hire a consultant

[35:27] based on their initial prompt and go from there. So I I I encourage people to

[35:31] use all of them because finally it's the same process for all the different

[35:36] programs. like if you know how to use one, you know how to use all four or

[35:40] five or perplex, you know, there's a bunch of them out there. But yeah, I

[35:42] hold job interviews on a regular basis now. Um they're just AI and who gives me

[35:47] the answer that I'm looking for

[35:52] uh information. Um Paul and I go to a summer workshop every year and I

[35:57] remember Paul two years ago we walked in and it was AI and there was a school and

[36:02] I can't remember what the school is but Dr. Ward had a superintendent here for a

[36:07] retreat. I did not go, but his tech guy was part of this. Whatever school

[36:11] district that is, his tech guy, but Grand Island superintendent. Um, you

[36:16] need to go into his program. He is big. This is the superintendent that we went

[36:21] to a presentation, not just the tech person. The superintendent was gungho at

[36:26] his district with this. So, I'm wondering how far they are and what we

[36:30] might learn from them. >> It's a good resource. Thank you. And

[36:33] » island granella. All right. Yep. Yeah.

[36:46] So, um I'm just wondering what this would look like in the perspective of

[36:50] students because right now there is a literacy crisis with um the younger ages

[36:55] and I guess this would be a generational thing because obviously I went to I went

[37:00] throughout all the school levels without AI and this is a fairly recent thing.

[37:03] So, how do you think you would implement AI in the school district without having

[37:08] students fully rely on it and not just on like the school sanctioned devices

[37:13] but devices at home? >> That's a very good point and that's a

[37:16] good question. That's why the uh you know kind of the walk crawl run um where

[37:23] the can't get my scroll to work here but um

[37:28] so this I would say approach where at the younger grades teaching to literacy

[37:34] is very important and so that's why you know we're not going to be putting in

[37:38] prompt students won't be putting in prompts in fourth grade to get

[37:42] information spit back to them um they'll they'll be working with more the like um

[37:49] notebook uh Gemini notebook things like that that are that are AI light and not

[37:54] fully like write me a paper on this topic. So that's the tiered approach.

[37:59] That's why the the crawl, walk, run, drive type of thing to to slowly as

[38:04] their skills build as a human and their learning builds that way, then we

[38:09] sprinkle in a little bit more as they learn throughout the years. That's kind

[38:14] of the idea. Yeah. And then um one more thing. So obviously this isn't a

[38:18] district policy. It's a state policy with the phones and everything, but do

[38:22] you think um kind of implementing the use of AI for high schoolers at least

[38:28] like when you're um starting this plan, do you think that will clash between the

[38:34] no phone use and using AI during school? So at that we it would still it wouldn't

[38:40] supersede the phone policy but it would they it would basically be used on the

[38:45] Chromebooks. So we we would use the schoolisssued Chromebooks um as the

[38:50] access point not phones >> right but do you think it would affect

[38:55] like the effectiveness of the phone policy with using AI and kind of just

[39:00] where that is because it's already very hard to enforce that already. Do you

[39:04] think the use of AI would make it more difficult?

[39:08] » Um, I guess it's all on how you how the how we use the devices really. It comes

[39:13] down to like if you misuse the device for what it's not intended for, then

[39:17] that's why we have, you know, the cell phone policy in place. So, it's it's all

[39:20] in how the technology is used and how it's, you know, you're taught to use it

[39:24] over the over time. Like, you know, distractions aren't new. It's it would

[39:29] it's it's a new distraction we'd have to deal with. But yeah, that's entirely

[39:33] possible, but I I don't know what that looks like.

[39:35] » Thank you. >> And you know to understand right that

[39:40] you have a lot more control over what happens on a Chromebook than you do on

[39:43] somebody's cell phone. You can't actually control somebody's cell phone.

[39:46] » No, I have no control over everyone's cell phone

[39:48] » other than the Google if they use it for their Google email. That's about the

[39:51] only time you can control. >> But yes, the Chromebooks, the

[39:54] Chromebooks and Gemini Ncsd I have much more control over than any personal

[40:00] device. Definitely. Yep. >> I I loved your questions because I think

[40:05] that's what every educator is asking. Um, you know, once 2011 hits on a

[40:11] weekday, everything that we do in this sandbox goes out the window. And, uh, I

[40:16] think the biggest the biggest thing that we have to do, uh, AI is unavoidable.

[40:21] And I think we all know that. I think there's there's nothing that we can do

[40:24] to slow that down. I mean, the genie's out of the bottle. Even if we slow down

[40:28] development, it's not going away. You can't even do a Google search now

[40:31] without AI telling you what the search is, you know. Um,

[40:37] do we have any guardrails in place or assignments that are inputed into a

[40:44] classroom for homework assignments such that, you know, whatever that detects

[40:48] any sort I know the AI detection is bad, but is there anything that we're doing

[40:52] that that that does that? I, you know, having guardrails on during class is

[40:57] great because you're you're doing what you can to make sure the student is

[41:01] absorbing what they need to absorb. But, you know, once you're outside of that,

[41:05] you know, I find myself just asking a question to Claude or to to Grock and

[41:09] and I don't I don't research it anymore. I just ask it and it tells me and I'm

[41:13] done. So, you know, I I know that's that's got to be happening. So,

[41:17] » are we trying to >> So, I what I would say to that is yes, I

[41:21] you always have to, you know, question, reason, you know, all that stuff. Um, as

[41:25] far as the AI checkers, those are they don't work. Um, the flat

[41:30] out they they don't work. What I've been asked Danielle and for in talking with

[41:36] teachers is use other detection clues. Um, Google Docs has a great feature.

[41:42] It's a basically a time machine. It gives you the whole history of how the

[41:45] document was written. If you go into the history of a document that was turned in

[41:48] and it was a three-page paper done in 20 seconds, it's probably they're probably

[41:53] cheating in some way. Um, use those other cont, you know, bring the student

[41:58] in and have a conversation with them and have them explain their paper. if they

[42:01] wrote the paper, if they did something, they should be able to defend it and

[42:04] explain it to like so the AI checkers are not they're very fallible and I

[42:10] would hate to put the the level of scrutiny that would come to that student

[42:14] based on something that doesn't work well. Um, so using other tools like the

[42:19] history, the conversation with a student, other like detective type clues

[42:24] to see if they're using AI or not because they could put it into AI and

[42:27] then put it into another AI and say make it sound like it's wasn't written by AI

[42:31] and like you know, it's it's a never- ending.

[42:33] » Sure. You know, I think I think writing assignments there are some telltale

[42:37] signs if you're reading it if you know, you're not gonna

[42:40] » Absolutely. >> You know, but I worry about, you know, I

[42:42] worry about math assignments. You can just take a picture of a formula and it

[42:45] will tell you, you know, I just things like that. I, you know, if we're

[42:49] teaching people how to use this responsibly, doing what we can in school

[42:53] to make sure that not using AI when they shouldn't be.

[42:58] » Yeah. >> And I think the approach that you have

[43:00] is is good start. >> Yeah. And I I want to teach them how to

[43:03] use it appropriately because the second they walk across the stage, they're

[43:06] going to be using AI in their daily lives. Like their boss is going to

[43:10] expect them to use AI. So, I'd rather have them learn how to use it ahead of

[43:13] time than walk across the stage and be like, "Oh, what's this new thing?" Like,

[43:17] I'd rather have them know how to use it appropriately now than when they walk

[43:21] across the stage and become adults. So, >> like we used to we still strive for

[43:25] creating >> Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely.

[43:27] » global digital citizens. This is just another piece of that.

[43:30] » Another piece of it. Absolutely. >> Teach them how to y

[43:32] » how to use it in a in a >> Exactly. Absolutely.

[43:36] » Thank you, Jason. Is there >> anything else?

[43:39] » No, I just want to thank you. um and your team for this is not an easy

[43:43] problem to tackle. Everybody has an opinion and um it's uh something we're

[43:49] working through as a district. Um it really is a collaborative piece uh back

[43:53] and forth and uh so at the same time we want to make sure our kids are prepared.

[43:58] So that's where that's what we're trying to figure out.

[44:02] » Perfect. >> Thank you.

[44:03] » I'll give you a microphone. Can you can you leave it there, Jason? On the Jason,

[44:07] can you leave it on the table, please? Thank you.

[44:16] Okay. Um, next we'll move into our comments from the audience section.

[44:20] We've got three speaker this speakers this evening. I'd just like to remind

[44:24] you to please keep it at the three minute mark. And if you have any

[44:28] comments in writing that you want to submit to Jill, um, please do so. And

[44:32] and if you have any digital comments that you want to submit, if you email

[44:34] them to her, we will all receive those as well. Uh, first up we have Danielle.

[44:47] Welcome. Sit, stand, whatever. If you can just turn the mic on there and uh

[44:52] you're going to stand if you can just hold it a little bit.

[44:56] Welcome.

[45:00] » Good evening and thank you for allowing me a few minutes to speak. My name is

[45:04] Danielle Piol. I'm here tonight not only as a former North Syracuse early

[45:09] education parent, but as the mother of a little boy who was life was profoundly

[45:16] impacted by the program. In the summer of 2020, during the height of the

[45:20] pandemic, Logan was just three years old when he was diagnosed with epilept

[45:25] supposed to start UPK that fall. Instead, our lives became about

[45:30] seizures, medications, hospital visits, trying to and basically trying to keep

[45:34] our little boy safe. Initially started at Northster, but by the end of

[45:40] September, Logan was asked to leave due to behavioral concern. After an

[45:44] evaluation, we learned he qualified for special education, and in November, he

[45:49] began ma attending Main Street. I will never forget how difficult it was to put

[45:54] my four-year-old on the school bus and walk away.

[45:58] Logan had uncontrolled medication resistant epilepsy.

[46:03] Never knew when a seizure would happen or how severe it would be. And sending

[46:07] him to school required an enormous amount of trust. And the people at Main

[46:11] Street earned that trust. Von, Gail, Kristen, Jill, Sarah, Hammy, and so many

[46:20] other staff members didn't just see a child with that blood. They saw Logan.

[46:24] They learned him. They understood him. They supported him and they celebrated

[46:28] him. There were terrifying moments. Logan had seizure clusters at school and

[46:34] the school nurse had to administer rescue medication and call an ambulance.

[46:38] But I reme but what I remember most is knowing he was surrounded by people who

[46:42] knew what to do. Generally cared about him. And that is what makes the North

[46:48] Syracuse Early Education Program so valuable. It isn't simply a building or

[46:53] a preschool classroom. It's a community. therapists, aids, administrators, and

[46:58] families working together to meet the children where they are.

[47:03] Children with disabilities and complex needs. Having those professionals

[47:06] together creates something incredibly important. Consistency

[47:12] matters. Today, Logan is a completely different child

[47:18] from that scored that scared four-year-old little boy who walked into

[47:21] Main Street in 2020. He has overcome more than most people will ever know.

[47:26] And I truly believe NC was a part of that foundation that helped him get

[47:30] here. I'm not saying the building can never change. Buildings ch buildings can

[47:35] change, but the program should not be lost. Please don't divide the community

[47:40] among multiple elementary schools and lose a centralized inclusive model that

[47:45] has served so many children and families. Keep

[47:49] the therapist together. keep the resour keep the together because when you're

[47:56] the parent of a child who needs that kind of support

[48:01] knowing your child is surrounded by people who understand them and believe

[48:05] in them is priceless. Building may be old but with built

[48:10] inside those walls it's anything but old. It's a foundation. It's a community

[48:14] and for families like mine it's a part of our child's story we will never

[48:17] forget. Thank you. >> Thank you.

[48:25] Next we have Derek.

[48:35] Welcome.

[48:42] » Push the button. Push the button there. Thank you.

[48:46] » Hello, my name is Derek Mloud. I'm a North Syracuse alumnist and a high

[48:50] school teacher in a different school district. I'm here today to share the

[48:53] story about my daughter's first day of UPK. We knew our daughter was ready for

[48:58] school, but for weeks leading up to her first day, she had been saying that she

[49:01] was nervous, and understandably so, as a kid's whole world is now changing to

[49:04] something that they're not even completely sure of yet. I was sad that I

[49:08] couldn't be there for drop off due to it being my first day of school. But I got

[49:11] the green light to leave school early so I could be there to pick her up. I

[49:15] arrived well within the pickup window, met up with my wife, and we excitedly

[49:19] went to our daughter's classroom. I had this vision of my daughter running over

[49:22] to hug us with a big smile on her face and tell us all about her first day. We

[49:26] went to her classroom, but our daughter was not there. Our stomachs immediately

[49:30] sank. We were told they put her on a bus. We started asking questions and we

[49:34] weren't immediately given an answer as to where she was being busted to. After

[49:37] a few minutes that seemed like an eternity, they finally told us that she

[49:41] was sent to a nearby elementary school. We raced over there and had to had to

[49:46] wait in line at the main door to explain the situation to the school resource

[49:49] officer. We were eventually let in and met up with our daughter who was in the

[49:53] main office with her head down sobbing uncontrollably. Our daughter, fighting

[49:57] through tears, told us that she spoke up and said she was not supposed to go on

[50:00] the bus. Our daughter told us that she pointed out that her mother was right

[50:03] there on site waiting for her. Our daughter told us that she recited her

[50:08] address, her mother's name, and phone number just like we had taught her to do

[50:10] in the case of an emergency. Somehow between two teachers, four adults in the

[50:14] main office, one bus driver and one bus attendant. Our daughter's words were

[50:18] ignored and she was forced to get on the bus. As parents, we teach our children

[50:21] to have a voice. But unfortunately, my daughter's voice was immediately ignored

[50:24] by numerous adults the very first time she was placed in the care of strangers.

[50:29] I'm scared to be alone and I don't want to go to school is not what I was

[50:32] expecting to hear from my daughter after the first day of school. Following day,

[50:36] our daughter sadly informed us that nobody even apologized to her. I would

[50:39] have thought that it would have been addressed and she would have been

[50:41] reassured that it would never happen again. For me, the immediate fix was to

[50:45] rip out the bus pass that for some reason was placed in her backpack and to

[50:48] replace it with an index card that says no bus in big red letters. However,

[50:53] after sharing our story, we became aware that this also happened to other

[50:56] students, some as young as three years old at that same building, as well as

[51:00] students in other buildings. I realize this is a large district with hundreds

[51:03] of students at each grade level, but I was very alarmed that something like

[51:06] this could slip through so many cracks and for it to happen to multiple

[51:10] children in different buildings. What a way to make a small child feel like they

[51:13] don't matter right from the get-go. We need to be more diligent in making sure

[51:17] that students transportation information is accurate and confirm that accuracy

[51:20] before the first day of school. Parents, guardians, schools, and the

[51:24] transportation department all need to be on the same page. One possible solution

[51:28] is perhaps a simple spreadsheet with students names, transportation

[51:31] information, bus number, and transfer school as a way to catalog this data and

[51:35] for staff to quickly and easily look up a student's information if needed.

[51:39] Hopefully, we can figure out some sort of better system to avoid traumatizing

[51:42] our students in the future. Thank you for your time.

[51:46] » Thank you.

[51:51] » Next, we have Melissa.

[52:00] Welcome.

[52:06] » I'm going to um speak about

[52:14] Good evening. My name is Melissa Lewis and I'm here tonight as Hudson's mom.

[52:20] out in the hallway right now, but he was excited to come. Um, Hudson attended the

[52:27] North Syracuse Early Education Program from 2021 to 20.

[52:33] And we really can't say enough about the impact that that experience had on his

[52:39] development and on our family. Um, Hudson is autistic. When he was

[52:44] preschool aged, he was bright, curious, and eager to learn, but many parts of

[52:50] the school day were very challenging. Support with communication,

[52:57] social interaction, and managing an environment that could oftent times feel

[53:02] overwhelming to him. Early intervention matters because the pres are not simply

[53:08] a waiting period before the child begins their formal education.

[53:13] They are a critical window of development. The skills children build

[53:18] during these years become the foundation for how they communicate, learn, develop

[53:23] relationships, and participate in school life. What made Hudson's preschool

[53:29] experience so powerful was not one individual service. It was the

[53:34] surrounding him. his therapist, occupational therapist,

[53:41] speech therapist, school psychologist, vision therapist, teaching assistants,

[53:47] and other wonderful school staff were able to work together, share what they

[53:52] were seeing, and support the whole child.

[53:56] Person brought a different area of expertise, but they work toward the same

[54:00] goals. That kind of collaboration is incredibly valuable. A therapist might

[54:06] identify a need. The teacher could reinforce that skill throughout the day,

[54:11] and then Hudson could practice it naturally alongside his peers. His

[54:16] progress was not limited to an isolated therapy session. Support was woven into

[54:21] his classroom, his routine, and his relationships.

[54:26] Hudson learned how to participate in a classroom community, practice

[54:30] communicating, following routines,

[54:36] and becoming more independent. At the same time, his peers learn

[54:42] and experience the world in different ways. That is one of the strengths of an

[54:47] integrated school environment, and every child benefits. Today, Hudson is seven

[54:53] years old. He loves school, reading, and animals, and thrives when he has

[54:58] structure and adults who understand him. The child he is today was shaped by the

[55:04] early support that he received and by the team of professionals who recognized

[55:09] his potential and helped him build skills one step at a time. So, I

[55:14] understand that the district has difficult decisions to make, but I ask

[55:18] you to look beyond enrollment numbers and budget. Um, please consider what

[55:23] early intervention can change for a child, what a coordinated team of

[55:27] professionals can accomplish and what may be lost if families no longer have

[55:31] access to this kind of program. Main Street helped give Hudson the foundation

[55:36] he needed to grow into the student that he is today. Please protect this program

[55:42] so future children and families have that same opportunity. Thank

[55:46] » Thank you.

[55:55] Okay, we will move into our board of education committee reports.

[56:02] Mr. Thorne, >> thank you. Our first policy committee

[56:06] meeting of the uh school year will take place tomorrow here at the district

[56:10] office at 5:00 pm. >> Thank you very much.

[56:15] » Sorry. Um so very quickly our first meeting the

[56:21] legislative committee will be October 7th 5 to 6 o'clock and we're glad that

[56:26] Mia will be joining us. Um so for Boseies again I apologize I

[56:33] haven't been here um the last two board meetings but somehow I am so happy I

[56:40] went to OC's graduation at West Jennese for adult ed were two best students that

[56:48] I knew and one I really can't talk about privately but it made a difference in

[56:54] his life that he went to the program. So, thank you for letting me go to that.

[56:59] Um, we're in the search um September 9th was the deadline um for applicants to

[57:06] apply for the OCM Bosei school board I mean for superintendency and um our

[57:13] consultant is looking at the applications meeting with all the the

[57:17] applicants and then we'll be starting the process which will take us

[57:21] Christmas. >> Thank you Bob. Dr. reward.

[57:27] » Um, sure. Um, I just have three quick things. Uh, the first one, although it

[57:32] seems like it was a long time ago, our first school week was last week. Um, and

[57:37] I just want to say, um, all the reports that, and I'm sorry the gentleman spoke

[57:41] tonight had a bad experience, but for all the reports that I've heard, um, it

[57:46] was a very smooth opening for us. Um, and there were a lot of happy kids, um,

[57:51] that we had definitely seen. Um, as far as the other little bump in the road we

[57:58] had, um, we had some lakeshore testing, uh, being done, um, as far as air

[58:02] quality issues and things like that. And I just wanted to report to the board and

[58:06] the community that, um, those test results uh, deemed the air quality safe,

[58:12] but we will continue to monitor the air quality um, at Lakeshore, specifically

[58:17] when you don't live in a place for a little while. um there may be um

[58:22] moisture issues and things like that because HBAC systems haven't been on for

[58:26] a while. So, we think that's really um part of the issue um at Lakeshore. Um

[58:32] and then I just wanted to mention if you haven't seen it yet um um there was a

[58:38] Syracuse.com article today um that talked about the STEMHub

[58:43] um at CNS High School. And we think that sracuse.com for this particular article

[58:49] did a nice job summarizing uh the efforts that we have in order to

[58:54] make that a reality for our children. So, uh if you haven't read that, please

[58:58] do so. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any board comments?

[59:05] » No. Go ahead.

[59:09] » Aren't you all glad I'm back? Um so

[59:15] um yeah the I got a chance um to go over to Allen Road on the first day of

[59:20] school. Um visited with um the teachers beforehand. They were excited. Um, and

[59:26] then I stood outside and as the kids got off the buses and they do have a you

[59:32] what happens to students come to Allen Road and then they get on another bus

[59:36] and go to the Y I believe for UPK and it looked like it was organized to me. Now

[59:42] get ready, Dr. Ward. I'm thanking you for this. Um, you know how I talked

[59:46] about class sizes and I come back and I am so happy for what you did and what

[59:52] the team did down there at the end. Um, so I would ask I don't know if it's Sean

[59:57] Fehee who does this every week. Used to be Chris Ley. Um, it's now a plus one at

[1:00:03] Allen Road. You got to change the numbers. Minus one at Bear Road, a plus

[1:00:07] one at Gillette Road, and a minus um five. Still um concerned about a couple

[1:00:13] of them, but class sizes look very good. And the fourth grade at Allen Road was

[1:00:18] very pleased. Instead of having 25 and 26, they have 17 and 18. And that's the

[1:00:23] way it that's the way it should be. Um I am very concerned about the other

[1:00:30] enrollment that we're getting each week because I can't believe that our

[1:00:34] enrollment went up three to 400 kids and that's what's happened. If you I keep

[1:00:40] all these I rate back five six years and I look at classes from last year and

[1:00:46] then there's 50 more kids in the next class. How did that happen? So I don't

[1:00:50] know who does this if it's John Fehee. Um it I need to know what these numbers

[1:00:56] stand for. It is not kids in the classroom because this one is that and I

[1:01:00] would ask Dr. Ward um as all other school districts do after the beds form.

[1:01:06] Paul knows what that is. Um teachers put that in that we have a presentation by

[1:01:11] Sean Fehee on enrollment after the you know middle of October November because

[1:01:16] I'm really confused. I talked to Jill. She's confused about the numbers on this

[1:01:20] sheet. I can't believe that we have a senior class of 640 when we only had 500

[1:01:27] something in it last year in 11th grade. So, I'm just very confused about that.

[1:01:33] Um I

[1:01:37] the buses I understand. However, I was sitting in my rocking

[1:01:43] chair in the front and the last Allen Road bus left Friday at 4:27. That's not

[1:01:48] good. I don't want I didn't see it today. 4:27

[1:01:54] and it's the fourth day of school. Things should have been changed. I'm

[1:01:58] hearing that good old Micron is making our buses late on the first run. And if

[1:02:05] they're late on the first run, it goes to the second run and goes to the third

[1:02:08] run. They were very late the first day of school. There was not one bus at

[1:02:13] Allen Road at 9:00. There was not one bus at 5 after 9. The last bus was way

[1:02:18] after 9:30. This should not be happening. First day of school, I can go

[1:02:22] along with it. But on a Friday, those teachers after four days, teachers in

[1:02:27] the audience, four days of working with kids should not have to stay after

[1:02:31] school another half hour because the buses are late. So concerned about And

[1:02:36] then of course, I'm sure you all heard that the bus um lights were not working.

[1:02:40] I live at the right place, Sen Road, and um they are now working. And I want to

[1:02:46] tell you they're excellent. They are bright. They are 20 bright. You know,

[1:02:51] they're really bright. And so going to that, and I do know that's not us.

[1:02:54] That's the town. And the town went to a diff different company. Um, but I want

[1:03:00] to thank Kate. She's in the back. Um, because one of uh our parents was very,

[1:03:06] very concerned about cars going through the the you know, not

[1:03:12] having the lights and not knowing what it was. and uh he did the right thing.

[1:03:16] He called and got to call, you know, they told her to call her and she got

[1:03:21] back to him and explained it. Thank you, Kate. That's what communication is for

[1:03:25] in our district. She got back right away to the the gentleman because he had a

[1:03:29] little grandson going to Bear Road. So, I'm sure we'll work on those things. But

[1:03:34] the last thing, and I have to say it in public,

[1:03:38] taxes. I'm not going to say it behind anybody's

[1:03:42] back. Um, I live in the town of Clay. In the town of Salina, what we predicted

[1:03:47] went down and that's what should happen. The town of Cicero,

[1:03:52] I was bombarded at church on Sunday with $1,000 on seniors. Now, some of them

[1:04:00] have enhanced star, but $1,000. Others were 700800.

[1:04:07] Um, again, Don, it's not us. It's the assessments. Hoping that you put

[1:04:12] something on the um website explaining that we don't set the taxes as such. We

[1:04:20] set the budget. We do the budget. And it's the town that does the assessments

[1:04:25] and and they do the equalization. You have a lot of concerned parents. I don't

[1:04:29] know if anybody's notifying you, but they're notifying me. They know I'm on

[1:04:33] the school board. um six over six% is not um allowable in my estimation. Thank

[1:04:41] you.

[1:04:45] » Go ahead. >> The first week at the high school was

[1:04:48] very smooth. Like Dr. Ward said, I got to attend all three of the classwide

[1:04:53] meetings that were new this year. So alongside Miss Hill, I got to introduce

[1:04:57] myself with the rest of the administration there as well as the

[1:05:01] counselors and other resources there such as Mrs. Gver in the career center.

[1:05:06] So we were able to um emphasize the importance of extracurriculars, which is

[1:05:12] what I've been trying to do since I started this role. So um I'm excited for

[1:05:18] a good year. Thank you. >> Thank you very much.

[1:05:23] Okay, we'll move into routine action items. Do I have a motion to take A and

[1:05:27] B together as a group? Paul and Mandy. Any questions or comments? All those in

[1:05:33] favor? Thank you. And C, the declaration of

[1:05:38] marketable and non-marketable surplus. Do I have a motion to take that as

[1:05:41] submitted? Mark and Cheryl. Any questions or comments? All those in

[1:05:46] favor? That is unanimous. Thank you. Next, we have discussion action item.

[1:05:51] The first one is to approve the contract for services with an estimated cost to

[1:05:55] the district of $727,295 to authorize the superintendent to

[1:05:59] execute the contract on the district's behalf. This is for our Autodoga County

[1:06:04] School Resource Officers. Um, do we have a motion to place that before us?

[1:06:11] Carol and Mandy. Any questions, comments, discussion? All those in

[1:06:16] favor? Thank you.

[1:06:20] Next, we have a resolution to restate the North Syracuse Central School

[1:06:24] District 403b plan. I have a motion to place that

[1:06:29] resolution.

[1:06:34] Carol, any questions or comments on this?

[1:06:37] All those in favor?

[1:06:42] Next, we have a resolution to create positions

[1:06:46] for aid uh school monitors. Um,

[1:06:55] this is routine, right? Don, we've done this. Yeah. Do I have a motion to place

[1:06:59] that and Carol? Any questions or comments on

[1:07:04] this favor?

[1:07:10] Next, we have a resolution to increase substitute pay rates. Do I have a motion

[1:07:14] to approve those new rates as presented? Bob,

[1:07:20] any questions or comments on this? All those in favor?

[1:07:27] Next, we have a special board meeting that we need to set for October 13,

[1:07:30] 2026. I have a motion from the board to

[1:07:34] approve that special board of education meeting. Mandy and Mark, any questions?

[1:07:42] All those in favor?

[1:07:47] Next, we just have to acknowledge uh the appointment [clears throat] of Miss

[1:07:52] Marissa Carbone as an impartial hearing officer pursuant to part 200 of the

[1:07:55] regulations of the Commissioner of Education. Do I have a motion to

[1:07:58] acknowledge that appointment?

[1:08:02] And Paul, any questions on that? All those in favor?

[1:08:08] Thank you. Before we move into personnel, I just want to acknowledge

[1:08:12] some retirements. We have Barbara Bilcom, a bus dispatcher, is retiring

[1:08:15] with 28.6 years of service. Barb Kaza, a school bus driver, is retiring with 33.7

[1:08:22] years of service. And Darlene Nino, a school bus driver, is retiring with two

[1:08:27] years of service. So, as always, we thank them for their dedication and

[1:08:31] commitment to their community and school district and wish them a long, happy,

[1:08:34] and healthy retirement. We need an executive session before we

[1:08:38] move into personnel A, B, and C.

[1:08:48] I have a motion to uh approve personnel A as submitted. Paul

[1:08:54] and Carol. Any questions or comments on this? All those in favor?

[1:09:02] And then Yeah. and two abstensions.

[1:09:08] Next, we have personnel B. Do I have a motion to accept personnel B as

[1:09:12] submitted? Mark

[1:09:16] Paul. Any questions or comment? All those in favor?

[1:09:22] Okay, that's unanimous. Thank you. Next, we have administrative personnel report

[1:09:26] C. Do I have a motion to place that before us?

[1:09:30] Paul and Mark, any questions or comments?

[1:09:41] As I've said before to this board, I feel sorry for the Fizzad teachers in

[1:09:46] this district. They really had not have leadership since Tom Tatum left. And

[1:09:53] having uh Lindsay um the principal at at at Allen or at Smith, she's wonderful.

[1:10:00] she's vis but I feel it takes away from the kids at Smith Road. Many um

[1:10:07] students with learning needs in that school and I'll tell I'm going to tell

[1:10:12] the administration right now I will not vote for another administrator to be in

[1:10:16] that building. She's going to be out of that building. She she's involved in MST

[1:10:21] if maybe you took her off that. She's got to go meet with every fizz teacher

[1:10:25] in every building in our school district and be in charge of a school. It is too

[1:10:31] much. It is too much and I can't. And then losing um a young man from this

[1:10:37] school district and I I don't want to know why

[1:10:41] graduated from this school district and he's not going bumped up. He's going to

[1:10:45] a job that is the same. That concerns me. So, I'll be voting no.

[1:10:51] All those in favor? Opposed?

[1:10:59] Okay. Motion carries. Thank you. Next, I will move for a um motion to

[1:11:06] move into executive session for the purpose of reviewing one personnel

[1:11:08] matter with no action to follow. Do I have a second?

[1:11:12] Cheryl, any questions? All those unanimous. Thank you very much

[1:11:18] everybody.

Regular Meeting - Sep 14 2026

Transcript