[0:05] As one of our student members.
[0:07] I call the regular board meeting to order. All members of the board are present except his flesh. Doctor Singh and ex-officio student board members Obaid and Gupta. Mr.
[0:27] Bullen, would you lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag? S3:
[0:42] May I have a motion to recess into executive session to discuss employment matters related to particular persons and sale of land. Miss Flickinger and Doctor Spicer.
[0:58] All those in favor? Motion carries unanimously.
[1:05] I call may I have a motion to return the regular board meeting to public session? Mr. Boylan and Mrs. Flickinger.
[1:17] All those in favor? S2:
[1:47] This time we are there any recognitions?
[1:52] Any board members have recognitions they would like to make?
[1:58] And I understand no one has signed up for public expression. So we will move on to, um, turning this over to Doctor Brown Hall and our district safety plan.
[2:09] Thank you very much, Board President Poulin. So regarding our district safety plan, on an annual basis, the district wide safety plan must be updated with all relevant information and presented to the Board of Education for review and adoption. I will let everyone know the plan meets all the requirements of our law. Section 2801 A the public comment period commenced on July 2nd, 2026, right after our July 1st reorganization meeting. That public comment was for a 30 day period for this safety plan. Following the district's compliance with the public comment, the Board of Education is set to approve the plan this evening and is agenda item 13 D. We did get some comments about the plan. One of the comments that Assistant Superintendent Zuazo took action on was the communicable diseases that were referenced in the plan. Still have some references to Covid 19 and so Assistant Superintendent Zozo did contact Boces. We did remove those, but since it is a communicable disease plan, we kept the plan in there and just updated that section. So thank you very much for those comments that were submitted. And that's the one comment that we had to take action on through. The other comments did not pertain at all to the safety plan. And those that did, we reviewed and took action on where appropriate.
[3:27] Thank you, Doctor Bruno, at this time. Um, anyone who is with us and would like to speak on the district safety plan may approach the podium.
[3:41] And seeing no one, we will proceed back to you, doctor Brown Hall for the community update, homework, grading and reporting and disciplinary board attendance report and review of the management of our reserve funds.
[3:55] So everyone's going to have doctor fatigue after that. All he did was talk. So for our community update for August 11th, 2026. Thank you very much. Board president Pullen. The first day of school, the first day of school will be here very shortly. It is Tuesday, September 8th. It is the first day after Labor Day. All of our school back to school newsletters will be shared by the buildings in mid to late August, and for open house and event updates. Please be sure to check the Wix event calendars for your school. All the information will be updated there. I know a lot of parents are already looking for school supplies list, so our communications department has been able for all of our elementary and middle schools to link the school supply list and the reference page to the community update. So if you want to go into the community update, click your school. It will take you to the school supply page. And then you can look for whatever information you need at that time. For our high schools. Many of our teachers provide in their syllabus on the first day what students will need for that class. Alright, so that just because you don't see the high schools listed here, that's how it will take place. Now that we're into a new school year, parents, please remember that the photo and video opt out is available to submit on Wix. So if you do not want your child to be featured in photos or videos of the district or the schools or in any media opportunities, please submit. Submit the form by the end of September, please. Reminding all of our students and families that the distraction free zones remain in effect for the 2026 2027 school year. Our policy and procedures and the information can be found on the distraction free informational page. Now, per our policy and the governor's legislation, we have to submit an infractions report and that will be posted on our district website by September 1st, 2026, so any incidents of infraction related to students having the electronic device will be posted on our district website by September 1st, 2026. To remain in um in the in the policy requirements strategic planning. So the district will be meeting with stakeholders throughout the course of this coming school year to begin drafting the 2027 to 2032 Strategic Plan. Our current five year strategic plan is from 2022 to 2027, and it expires this school year. So we have 44 total members, including parents, community members, teachers, administrators, directors, district leadership team and Board of Education members that will be serving on the 2027 2032 Strategic Planning team. And as you see, this all began back in February 2026. So from February to April, we canvassed for committee members. Committee members were finalized in late spring. Our monthly planning meetings will take place from September to April and will be utilizing full day planning sessions. We will have a finished plan submitted to the Board of Education for review and a 30 day comment period in April 2027. We will take those comments in May and make any adjustments that are necessary so that the board can have a final approved plan in June and we can implement effective July 1st. So our timeline is also on the district website, and we want it to also show. We've listed the individuals, the parents and guardians, the community members, the district leadership team, the teachers, staff members, and the administrators and directors who will be part of the strategic plan for the 2027 2032 Strategic Plan. District committees. You will see as one of the superintendent goals this year. We have several committees, and one of the goals is to increase parental involvement in our committees. So we are looking for parents for additional parents or guardians to join our CSA, our safety committee, our wellness Committee, and our communications Committee. So if you're interested in joining, please email contact at Williamsville k12.org and indicate the committee you'd like to join. We will also have this reminder in September and it will be featured in our newsletters. Also, if any parent is willing to serve on these committees capital improvements. So as you all know, we are in the midst of our air conditioning project for phase one and phase two, and it's making great progress. So phase one is Country Parkway Elementary, high Elementary, and Maple West, with an estimated completion date of the end of summer 2027. Our phase two schools, Dodge Elementary, Forest Elementary and Maple East, have an estimated completion at the end of 2027. The end of fall 2027. So I want to thank the work of our facilities team, our construction managers, everyone working on these projects. Assistant Superintendent Doctor Chris McGinley with Keith Langlands, making sure this all gets moved along, and also the work of Tom and our our new assistant superintendent, Megan Matthews. So thank you all for the work to make sure that this gets done and completed in a very timely manner. You'll also see over the summer, we've had other, uh, capital improvements taking place as part of our repair reserve fund. We have the new sidewalks and parking lots were poured over the summer, and this is at Casey Middle School. So you can go past Casey and see that new work that is taking place. If you drive out in our parking lot here, you'll see the new, uh, parking lot that we have at district office. Also very happy about that. Our technology updates, our new touchscreen technology has been rolled out in all 13 of our schools, and so there's been more than 700 touchscreens installed in our classrooms over the summer. So that was a huge job, a huge accomplishment. And I thank our facilities team, our assistant superintendents, to to for making sure that that got done. Keith Langlands and his team for scheduling all this so it can all get done over the summer without any interruption to instruction communication. The district and schools will continue to share biweekly newsletters with students, families and staff. More than 137,000 views throughout the course of last school year. So those are all the data that our communication team collects. On Mondays, you will get the district newsletter every other week, and then on Wednesdays, the high school newsletter, Thursday, the middle school newsletter, and Friday the elementary school newsletters. We are aware that we have families that have students at elementary, middle and high, so we don't want to send them all on one day and have you overwhelmed with information. So we did separate it. So we thank you to the Communications Committee, the district wide communications committee that came up with that idea that we were able to implement a couple of years ago. E alert test. So as we begin this new school year, we want to make sure everyone is able to receive our alerts. So the district will conduct an alert test on Tuesday, August 18th at 11:00 Am. If you do not receive a text or email, please contact the Parent Help Desk by calling that number 716626 8058. If you've changed carriers example Verizon to T-Mobile throughout the school year and do not receive a text message, please also notify the help desk. Alerts are an automated mass notification system to inform parents, staff and students of a school emergency, school closure, or other important announcements affecting our schools. So make sure you have those alerts active so you are aware when a snow day is called. I know that's what everyone's waiting for transportation. So the district will continue using the Mirai K12 bus app. You can get it in the Apple Store or the Google Store if you do not have it installed on your phone. Busing information will be available around August 28th, and if your child rides a bus bus, please ensure they know where their pick up and drop off locations are and review policy 5710 regarding our transportation program. If you have any questions regarding arrival dismissal procedures at your school, please contact your building administrators.
[12:13] We already discussed the safety plan and that is it for the community update. Are there any questions, board members, regarding the community update? Yes I do.
[12:24] Two small ones. The boards they put in. Who made them? The maker of the. The smart boards.
[12:31] Oh, the new touchscreens. Do you know that after ViewSonic.
[12:37] And the second quart, do they come equipped with a camera on them? Like, can the.
[12:43] Oh, you mean so that, uh. No. Okay.
[12:49] And so we are still our distance learning committee is still, um, working to look at that. I know that came up in the, um, the meetings that board members had with students last year. So our district distance learning committee is still working on that to see what might be able to be implemented for the 2728 school year. Thank you. Absolutely.
[13:09] I have a question.
[13:10] Please.
[13:11] The governor's legislation, in terms of infraction report what directly has to be and that is not individual schools. Is the whole district is it is it individual schools? Is it you know, your first offense second like yeah, that's a.
[13:25] Little behind that from the information we're getting. The biggest offense is if cell phone use is at the elementary bill. I'm just kidding. Know what we're going to do is really look that over to see. And we want to be sure that because our students and we're we're very pleased with the way it was rolled out in our district, our students were very compliant. Our student board members last year brought in games and had their student colleagues bringing games in the commons areas just to keep students busy. Students were able to really socialize more, so we really didn't have many infractions. We'll see what the report generates by school and that has to be listed on our website. Anything you want to add? Assistant Superintendent Susan.
[14:05] No, just that we've been compiling the data from the building principals over the course of the school year, and we just want to make sure that the data is accurate for cell phone infractions only and that any subsequent, you know, violation that happened, like insubordination or any of those kinds of things that may have could have followed a situation with cell phones. So we're compiling the data. And, uh, uh, Doctor Capuano is looking to have it from the component districts, and once they have it, they'll send it to the state for what it is that they're looking for, whether it be tweaked moving forward. Um, because, you know, some of the data might, uh. Might be, um, relevant, might be not so relevant, uh, when we're actually pulling it from whether it's best day. So it's, it was very unclear. Yeah, but we've made it consistent. And, uh, we'll provide you with all that information.
[14:55] Thank you very much. Any other questions about the community update board members? We're going to move on to our presentation, homework grading and reporting. So I'll ask our chief academic officer, our Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction, Doctor Marie Belen, to present. So this is the third summer you will have a presentation about the work of our homework and grading committee and how we're moving forward, shifting our beliefs around homework and grading. So Doctor Bellin has prepared about a ten minute presentation. And then we'll you can ask any questions after that. Go ahead, Doctor Bell, and thank you very much.
[15:32] Good evening. Um, tonight I am pleased to share an update, as Doctor Browne mentioned and our homework grading and reporting Initiative. This presentation outlines how we have moved from establishing our core principles to actively implementing practices in our schools and classrooms. Before I get started, I would like to express my gratitude to our building and district administrators, our teachers, and the Board of Education and Doctor Brown Hall for supporting this important work. So the district's homework, grading and reporting initiative prioritizes purposeful homework and an outcomes based grading philosophy that treats learning as an ongoing process rather than a final event. By emphasizing formative feedback, opportunities for purposeful reassessment, and the separation of academic achievement from non-academic behaviors, the district aims to foster consistent, equitable educational practices that accurately reflect student mastery and support ongoing professional learning and systematic implementation across grade levels and schools. As you are aware, and I know we've seen this document that's here on the screen. It's something that we have shared publicly, internally and externally with our stakeholders. Um, several years ago, an initial committee was formed. Their charge was to look at developing core principles and a set of beliefs around homework and grading. And that is the document that is on the screen. But much has been done since then. Um, I did want to address a question that had come in because it's actually a great one about one of the beliefs. So one of the things that's on the document, um, speaks to something called the ten minute rule. This is something that is spoken to widely in the research on, uh, homework and grading. Um, and while it says it's a rule, it's really meant as a general guideline that's developmentally appropriate and could be differentiated across levels of instruction at the elementary level, because oftentimes students, it's their first interaction with getting homework on a regular basis. The goal is really for teachers and staff to be able to talk to one another and calibrate what they're doing, so that the end of recipient, the student, is not overwhelmed with the amount of homework that is being received. Certainly at a high school or middle school, where courses or classes may warrant a higher number of minutes, or it might actually fluctuate from one evening to another. That's also where teens are going to talk to each other and make sure that, again, the the student is not burdened with a lot of homework from one night to another. However, there may be times, and we all recognize this, that depending on the coursework, the ten minute rule will not be ten minutes. It could be higher than that, lower than that, and there may actually be some evenings across all levels where there is no homework. So really it's the intentionality behind the work and also making sure that the burden does not fall on the student. Uh, one other item I did want to talk just briefly about is the notion of reassessment. And this one really is also one of these items that seems like a very simple statement on the surface, but actually also warrants quite a bit of discussion as far as how it actually looks and feels when it's implemented. Um, at the building level and within various classrooms. This is again where we're relying on teachers in partnership with our instructional coaches as well as our directors of Instruction to talk about where intentionally opportunities for reassessment may live and breathe, or where they present themselves, and there are certain times where it is not possible. Really, it's also to establish deadlines, reasonable deadlines that are known to our school community, both the students and, if it's appropriate, their parents about what opportunities there may be for reassessment. But really is the end goal is really to identify the evidence that is going to be necessary to determine if learning has happened and what other learning has yet to occur. So again, that comes with some discussion. So really in looking at those two items in particular, you can see why it is so important that dialogue around these items are required. So having a guidance document is just a starting point. That's where we started a number of years ago. But the idea and what you'll hear throughout the presentation is the way that again, this is coming alive at the school, which is through a lot of conversation and also through a lot of professional learning that we have both at the school level and at the district level. So in moving on throughout the 2526 school year, the district transitioned from initial awareness of the beliefs that you just saw to active reflective implementation. We move towards collective ownership, ensuring that every educator feels responsible for equity and consistency in their grading and homework practices to support this transition. Buildings utilized diverse structures to align their practices. For example, at KC Middle School, they used restorative circles to facilitate staff discussions on grading habits. Other buildings utilized faculty meetings, dedicated homework committees, and mentoring to ensure our guiding principles were reflected in the daily classroom practices.
[20:17] Building leaders empowered teachers to take the lead. Staff members were equipped with opportunities to collaboratively analyze classroom data and align their instructional standards. For example, all middle schools presented a workshop that required staff members to examine their current practices, within their grade levels and department areas. This cohesive approach ensured that the shift from theory to practice was grounded in the actual needs of our students and the evidence found in our classrooms. At the elementary level, efforts centered on integrating district beliefs into formal school goals. For example, at Maple Leafs, they incorporated the examination of best practices directly into their overarching goals to ensure long term alignment. We have also heavily focused on refining our reporting frameworks to better communicate student progress to families. This has been really a huge project. I want to talk a little bit about that, and you'll actually see some screens in a few minutes. Uh, on our secondary level at our middles and high schools, they see we have seen significant progress as well. Middle schools such as transit worked on auditing rubrics for consistency, with a goal of having 100% alignment by the coming year. High schools focused on practical applications, including tips for formative assessment and project based learning. To provide students with diverse ways to demonstrate their mastery. This is something we'll continue to hear a lot about, especially with the portrait of a graduate. And the New York State inspires plan that we are all very familiar with. Looking forward to 2627 during our upcoming school year. Our our priority remains the consistent application of the aligned practices across all grade levels and content areas. Several buildings plan to establish their own homework and grading committees, in addition to the ones already mentioned, to continuously evaluate their practices. Additionally, these efforts have been integrated into building goals to support the ongoing incremental refinement of classroom instruction. We are definitely moving out of the planning phase and into a period of sustained, aligned implementation.
[22:24] On the district level to maintain alignment. Homework and grading are now standing agenda items at director and principal meetings. We also created a district developed screencast to facilitate consistent professional reflection. That was actually part of the mandatory training that staff had to complete at the beginning of the previous school year. Departments like Ela and reading, as an example, have also posted the guidelines that you saw before and some of the supportive components on their own websites to ensure that these documents and resources are accessible for frequent reference during department meetings. So those are some of the district action steps. I'd also mention all of this information. I'm very thankful we not only post on our our board docs, it's on our website. We have a lot of resources that we are sharing directly through wits with families, so we are looking forward to a few shifts that I wanted to introduce and speak a little bit more at the table, if I may, just for a few minutes. And they involve reporting. We've talked a lot about homework, but as we have talked about before, significant updates are necessary in order for us to keep pace with these changes for the documents and our reporting structures that we share with our families, those have to be meaningful, and they have to be able to share right up front with the strengths of the student, as well as areas that they continue to work on. So this is very much in its infancy phase, but I want to give kudos and accolades to our directors in the instructional department, as well as our IT programmer, Dan Groesbeck, who helped under the guise and leadership of Doctor Chris McGinley and helping to develop a template which will end up actually being a revise, we call it progress report, but it's our report card that ends up going home to our elementary families. Right now, it's very one dimensional. There's nothing wrong with it, it just needs updating. This, however, will provide a really a multi-dimensional look at student progress. And we're also wanting to be longitudinal. So parents will be able to go back and forth between school years. Uh, also look at longevity within a subject area, for example, such as reading. So they can see over the years how a student has progressed and will also be able to be clicked on. So where you see the it's color coded also to differentiate differentiate the levels of achievement, it's actually going to be quite dynamic. So we're really looking forward to the continued evolution of this. So the next step in this is we are bringing it back to the directors the instructional directors. What they have been doing is working with our IT department and populating. What we have done is the department is really identifying the core elements of what should be reflected on such a report for parents, because you really have to look at we can't report everything. It would be quite lengthy. So really looking at those priority items and then we are going to share it with all of our teachers so that they can give some feedback before it is released to our parents. So it's going to take us still really the better part of the upcoming school year to do some of this work, but I'm very excited about it. We had aimed to do this a few years ago, and because of other things that we had to attend to, it did not occur, but we are ready to embark on this. In addition, we have also embarked on some very important work under the leadership of Mrs. Cathy Ratzel and the Special Education directors, along with colleagues from both the district and building level. We have really worked closely with our teachers and other stakeholders in the redesign of a report and progress monitoring for our students who are in our alternative settings, such as our NASA program. So that was absolutely necessary. We saw some variation in how things were being reported, and it was shared with us as a priority goal and area. And so we have partnered, and I think Kathy and the team, they've done an exceptional job. So we are finalizing that work and we are sharing with the wider school community, and we are going to be planning to implement that and share with our families and community for the upcoming school year. So very excited about that. So last but not least, because the last section really is what we're continuing. And as we know, we are all truly when we say lifelong learning, we know that that has true meaning in our school district. So while I will not mention everything because we have not only done a lot, we continue to learn quite a bit because it is important when you're making any changes on a grand scale, which this is definitely one of those areas. When you're looking at the topics of homework, grading and reporting as professional learning and support is definitely necessary for us to continue the momentum we already have and to continue the strength that we know we still have to reach. So to support our educators in the work, we have invested heavily in professional learning at the building and district level, centered on effective research based practices. We've even brought in experts, external experts such as with Rick Wormley, who is an expert in the field of many of these topics. Rick was actually here in delivering some sessions for our teachers, and some were actually a series of sessions. And the idea is you also then take them back to your classroom or school, you implement, and then you give feedback on the outcomes that you saw. So we're very excited that we've been able to undertake things of that nature. But just to give a very short list, because I know we're pressed for time. The other items that we have shared professional learning on include, uh, Universal Design for learning, Understanding by Design, which focuses on what students should know, understand and be able to do. Assessment and grading. In the era of project based learning, which we've had, project based learning basically looked at through new eyes, especially with the portrait of a graduate. Um, we have done several book studies. Those have been very well received because, again, we know it's not just the act of reading the text, it's actually talking about those practices and seeing how your own routines align with those, those items. Um, and we also have quite a bit within subject areas. So we have done things. As I mentioned, Ela music is one area in art. So it is not exclusively just, you know, what oftentimes are considered to be more core areas. We have Core and Encore, all of which are extremely important. So these practices are not just for certain subjects or disciplines. We've also had some, for example in NL and looking at collaborative discussions and assessment practices for English language learners. So that's just really the tip of the iceberg. But there have been so many. So as you heard earlier, it was part of our mandatory training. And also these classes are also to make it differentiated for both interest purposes and also for groups and teachers within those areas to really come together and dive into this more deeply. So I couldn't be more proud of the individuals I. I'm really proud of the work and excited about our next steps as well. So looking forward to this upcoming year. Um, we are continuing to move the focus, as I said, from our strategy to alignment. We're embedding these systemically in every plans that buildings have. So again, because it's a standing item, it's inescapable, as it should be. Um, I would also mention for our assistant principals who meet regularly with our district staff, there are actually monthly meetings of APS as well. Um, it's also part of their training, which they delve into quite deeply last year. That's going to continue for this year. It's also part of our induction program as well as new teacher orientation and mentoring. So we're actually starting as soon as our staff join us. So we in essence, have actually already, you know, talked about our existing staff, but teachers who have not stepped foot necessarily into Williamsville or, you know, they're coming into teaching for the first time, they will actually have quite extensive opportunities to continue in the conversations as well. So just like any important topic, we will continuously refine our tools. We will be updating the progress reports. We're certainly going to use our stakeholder feedback to inform some of our next steps, because that continues to be very important, and certainly making sure that our schools feel very supported and having these important conversations continue. So we're looking forward to consistency. And with that has to come more conversation. Because as we all know, we have a very large district. We have a lot of stakeholders. And at the core of these are also beliefs and philosophies that are held with the individual. And really talking about that helps to take us to change, which is absolutely necessary in some case. But you also have to have things to replace your current practices if that's what's necessary, or strengthen the practices you have, or in fact, even continue the ones you have. But the more people talk to each other, we really feel like, again, this is really coming to actualize the vision and goals that we collectively have. So recognizing that the change process, in order for it to be meaningful and sustained, we promise you that these things will continue to happen. And I'm hoping that the next time we have an opportunity to talk about the topic again, I can even bring you even more examples about how it's actually happening in our schools and across our classrooms. But I want to thank you all again for your tremendous support, and I will be happy to answer any questions that the board may have.
[31:04] Thank you very much, Doctor Bell. Are there any questions our board members have about the homework and grading? And this is phase three and what we'll be doing for 2627. Are there any questions? Board member Selinger.
[31:16] I had one question. Thank you for all your work. It seems like there's been a lot of progress to create consistency and equity in the policies. I just had a quick clarifying question.
[31:31] Did you say that all of the school buildings currently have homework and grading committees, or some of them are still being formed? S7:
[31:49] Great.
[31:49] Thank you. Thank you.
[31:53] Any other questions? Board member with Scalia. Vice President Buscaglia I'm sorry.
[31:58] All right. Uh, is there any concern? Um, making sure this homework policy is done with fidelity throughout all classrooms? I mean, because that's, you know, it's tough to break a 20 year old cycle. I'll say it that way.
[32:15] So I think, you know, the points are well taken. One. And I think, you know, obviously we're in a large district even within a building. Striving for consistency is very important because having too much of a dramatic difference in the student experiences can be not the most positive thing. So I think our teachers have been extremely open to meeting, talking, you know, and really looking at the practices that are currently happening. It's actually on Earth, and really they've had more of an opportunity to collaborate to say, you know, what are you doing? How have you shared these things. So I think the change process will come as as dialogue comes. Also, you know, we've shared our expectations. We really while there may be some flexibility with some of the items, you know, great consistency is where we are, are working, you know, and putting our efforts and all of our resources into that and goal and our principles are very supportive. So when they get into those team meetings, that's one example I would give of, you know, when you see different practices. It was really talking about the impact of the practices, how they align to the beliefs. Are there suggestions for changes? And that's where our instructional staff is also very helpful, a director for the area, our instructional coaches. But yes, it's oftentimes hard to change. But you also need a replacement strategy oftentimes to make a change. And you want to see a greater impact than you've already had. And I would say we're in a very good position because many of our practices have yielded great results. Now it's really again, there's an opportunity to maintain those while also taking some of the other ones that we want to standardize, really to that next level. So is there concern on some levels? There can be, but that's where we have to be open, and there's to be enough of a risk free environment to not feel like it is a punitive measure that we're taking. But we have to for the students sake, because it's really about the end. I talked about that and a user, if you will. Our goal is around the student. So our practices have to align to something that's going to strengthen the student and family experience. So I think our teachers understand that. And actually there's also a greater, um, comfort and understanding when we're all rowing in the same direction, because when our practices are aligned. It actually allows us to have more vibrant, robust conversations and also aligned professional learning. So the change process includes some of these things because we recognize that it's not 100% in every instance, but I think it's also warranting where conversations need to be strengthened and sometimes expectations straightened as well.
[34:31] Thank you very.
[34:31] Much. I have two more questions. Go ahead. It's, um. Well, you talk about professional development. I think that's really important. Well, teachers have that opportunity going forward even though it's implemented. Um, to collaborate, make sure. I mean, I think it's important that, for example, at the middle school level, teams are discussing like, I'm giving this for homework tonight. I mean, I heard it in the presentation, but is that something administrators will be looking at or and that's kind of part of my second question is, um, how administrators be.
[35:05] Tracking, you know, the data points or.
[35:08] And I.
[35:08] Think.
[35:10] I think it's the both end. Right. I think it's a converse. The conversation is that Doctor Bela mentioned that administrators are having with teachers, but it's also looking at all of the structures that we have in place, in all the changing structures that we have in place to align with our new homework and grading beliefs, you know, and so our administrators do a great job doing classroom observations, having conversations with teachers. But what we also pride ourselves on is creating the time for our teachers to work with each other. What Doctor Bellon has also done this year in our first days of school, something that the union requested and Doctor Bellon worked with our administrators to make sure is in the schedule, is that there's dedicated time for teachers to get together and work together, especially when we have major shifts like this. It is very important that teachers have that time. You be an educator, you realize that. So I understand where the questions coming from and we know how important that is. So we were we were very sure to make sure we had that in the opening days of school also.
[36:10] I appreciate it. That's important, especially hearing that in ministry. You know, the first days of school administration and teachers as well. Because that's important to everyone has to be on the same page. Thank you.
[36:20] You're welcome. Thank you.
[36:22] Thank you. Christian. Yes.
[36:25] I have a question about the AI program. Like, I believe we had a conversation about this. Mr..
[36:30] Doctor Brown, artificial intelligence.
[36:32] Yes. Um, would it if we use it, if we implement it in our schools, would it affect the grading policy or in a good way or a positive way? I mean, a negative way.
[36:41] Some of the items, and it's a great question because a lot of our topics are intertwined. So I appreciate Christian bringing this up. So when we spoke in April about AI, we talked very definitively about the impact on not only just the use of the technology, but how it may impact assignments. And grading is one of those impacts. We also know that the AI, while we have tools that are protected under law to these are the only things internally that our students are using are the tools that we are legally able to use, with the understanding that a lot of the homework obviously is not done in the school building, it is really at the teacher's guidance and discretion from what is appropriate given a specific assignment. So the constructs of the assignment, what the assignment warrants and what tools are acceptable have to be framed by the teacher. And that dovetails into if it's not an acceptable tool that is used, that that does come with some conversations and potential, you know, consequences as a result that may follow depending on the circumstances. It's hard to speak to in generalities without knowing, you know, the specific instances, but really the teacher has to frame the the use and what's specific for any assignment, whether it's AI or whatever other tools or resources may be utilized.
[37:53] Absolutely.
[37:54] Our teachers are able to use the AI program or not. Oh yeah. That's all.
[38:01] No problem. Thank you very much. And you will see, one of the things in the superintendent goals is we'll be looking at AI best practices this school year also. Yes. All right.
[38:11] Thank you.
[38:12] Thank you very much. I'm going to jump forward to item six, um C which is the review of the discipline report. So when you review that report, you will see that we are very fortunate in Williamsville to not have a high frequency of severe disciplinary issues. But we recognize even the smallest disciplinary issue can affect the learning environment. The most recent data that you will see is from the 2526 school year, and there were a total of seven superintendent hearings, and that is a decrease from the 14 we experienced in 2425. So we're very proud of that. What you'll also see as a trend from the 2324 to the 2425, and now the 2526 school year, the overall number of suspensions given per building in totality at the elementary, middle and high school levels has consistently decreased. Now, there were a few exceptions and will be working with those schools to examine with their building administration what some of the reasons may have been, so that we can correct for the 2627 school year. It's also important to note that all of our buildings are using discipline data to not only guide improvements for students and staff, but to be mindful of disproportionality and strengthen the overall approach to discipline by prioritizing the expansion of our restorative practices and continue professional learning for all staff. This will aid our efforts in developing stronger relationships, promote reflection and accountability, and reduce disciplinary measures so that report is by policy available for the board every August, and you can go back and compare from previous years if you like, to see how we are improving in many of those areas. I'll jump now to item six D, which is a review of the attendance report. This by policy also is required to be presented to the board in August. So at the start of the 2526 school year, building teams participated in the work session provided by the community Schools Technical Assistance Center and Erie one Boces. The title of that workshop was Every Child, Every Day Improving Attendance in Schools. So this professional learning focused on evidence based attendance improvement practices, data analysis, and systems designed to increase student engagement and attendance. Collectively, when you examine this report and you look at the total amount of chronic absenteeism from 2425 to 2526, you will see that at every grade level, we have decreased the levels of chronic absenteeism except for our 11th graders, they stayed at 18%, so we'll be working on that also for our juniors. But every other level you will see a decrease collectively with our other initiatives. We have seen meaningful improvements in student attendance across the district and we are very, very proud of that. One of the things we know to improve student attendance is create intentionally inviting environments. With enough activities and great learning taking place in our buildings, that our schools are desirable for students to come through every day. And so we are definitely doing that in Williamsville, and we are very proud of that work. Our teachers should be proud of it, our administrators and our students. Also. Any questions about the discipline report or the attendance report? Board members.
[41:21] So for management of reserves, which is item six, this is just a very brief update because the report you have in there is from November 18th, 2025, and that is the report that highlighted the reserve and fund balance summary, reflecting the final revenues and expenditures applied to the district's reserve balances for the 2425 fiscal year. We are currently completing the year in financial close for the 2526 school year. As this process remains underway, updated reserve and fund balance information is not yet available. The plan is to present preliminary update on reserve and fund balance activity at the September Board of Education meeting upon completion of the year end closed. So that information you will have at the September 8th Board of Education meeting, which also happens to be the first day of school and the day after Labor Day. Are there any questions about management or reserves board members? Thank you very much, board president. I will turn it back over to you for your report.
[42:17] Thank you. Doctor Brown. Um, we're going to start with welcoming our new student board members at this time. And, um, we really appreciate your presence and your voice and are looking forward to working closely with you throughout this school year. Um, I know we've just started to onboard you and give you some, some supports and that will be continuing. You will have a mentor. Um, that will be Doctor Spicer sitting right next to you right now. Um, and you'll be getting get some connections made for you with through emails and so forth. And then we always have our monthly meeting of the day before the school board meeting to answer any questions. And this would be the time for you to give us a three minute update on what's happening in your schools, but you haven't been there for a while.
[43:18] But is there anything that you would like to share with us today about why you're why you decided to run, or what you're looking forward to over the next year? S9:
[43:19] My question. Go ahead.
[43:20] Sorry.
[43:20] That's all.
[43:21] Right. Yeah. Like my peers, I know that they have a lot of questions that they want to answer. So, like, I was like, thinking maybe I should do a Q&A when school starts starts up. So I, I, of course, I will probably, like, take up like an auditorium or something, but I believe that, um, hearing everybody's voice, it's like, I don't know, it's like really empowering for me because it's like I it boosts up my confidence to be like, hey, yeah, this is actually a good thing to talk about. And especially in the summer, I like to talk to friends about what I'm doing. They are like, oh, you should talk about this. You talk about that. And I'm like, yeah, it sounds interesting, I believe that everybody in the board would definitely, like, listen to what I have to say. So yeah, I'm I'm really grateful for this opportunity.
[44:08] Yeah. Grateful to have you here to you.
[44:12] Hi. I just like to introduce myself again. My name is Moksha Gupta, and I'm Williamsville East representative for this school year. Um, why? I wanted to join the board. So I wanted to join because I feel like a lot of students have an important perspective, and they have some opinions about the decisions that the board makes, and it affects them in their everyday lives that I see across the elementary, middle and high school levels. So, um, I feel as though sometimes, um, it could be a little difficult to capture traditional forms of feedback. So I think, um, having a board member and serving is really important to gather student perspectives and, uh, you know, present them to the board. So they're making the most informed decisions they can when obviously making decisions. So that was my inspiration for running for this position. Thank you.
[44:55] And thank you for doing so.
[44:58] Yeah.
[44:59] Um, hi, I'm Maya, I'm going to be a senior.
[45:01] At Williamsville North High School, and I definitely chose to run for this position to bridge the gap between students and administrators. I know, like, minor issues definitely fall between the cracks. So just make the overall experience for students and teachers and staff members more positive.
[45:17] Thank you, and we look forward to working closely with you. Any other board members have any comments about they would like to share at this time? Okay. Moving on. Um, upcoming events. We will be having our community forum on October 17th at a location to be determined, and we have a board retreat scheduled for December 2nd. Um, board members have all indicated that you are available on those dates. If anything has changed in regards to that, please let me know. Um, just looking ahead, we've had a prior meeting, um, the Board of Education Compensation Committee. Um, has I will defer to you the.
[46:04] Co-Chairs of that meeting have. Have you come to you in conclusion with that? Have you have meetings stopped? Where are we? With that process.
[46:14] We're going to compile all the information that was shared with the committee. For the September meeting, and hopefully have that up on board docs for everybody to look at. We can have a discussion then, um, with their recommendation.
[46:24] Okay. You have a discussion. And recommendation and meetings are you have completed meeting with that group. Correct. Okay. Thank you. Um, and some prior events I did attend the. Well, first of all, um, Doctor Spicer. Mrs.. Gallinger and myself did attend the law conference, along with many of our. District administrators sitting at the table and from our school buildings as well. Uh, last Wednesday and heard from a number of attorneys on what's happening in school law.
[47:00] Um, any of my colleagues wish to comment about anything that they learned? S13:
[48:08] Anything else? Um, I also attended the leadership conference in Lisboa in July and always have always enjoyed that conference for the ability to hear from the members of the state Department of Education and Commissioner Rosa. Um, her closing comment this year was don't wait for the State Department. Um, so I think listening to what's happening with our, um, homework and grading committee, I'm really very pleased to have them so far ahead on so many things, because that will suit us well as we move forward with portrait of a graduate. Um, having to look at. How are we going to evaluate all of those competencies, not just academics. So we've got our work cut out for us, and we can't depend on the state to do it for us. So, um, we are I will be attending the, um, Erie County Association of School Boards, um, dinner, back to school dinner on August 20th. And coming up, we will also have um, the state conference and then the conference here in October. And we have met several board members who will be attending that this year. Does anyone have anything else related to Casper that they would like to comment on? Okay. May I have a motion to approve and adopt the 2020 526 Board of Education guidelines for school visits as presented. Doctor Spicer, Mrs.
[49:58] Schlesinger, any discussion? S2:
[50:33] Item. Personnel. Business and finance, exceptional education, special needs and student activities. Instruction and curriculum as presented. Mr.. Bullen. Mr.. Manag any discussion.
[50:50] I just wanted to add a comment that the board has followed the proceedings regarding matters related to an individual, and we are satisfied that we can make a well-informed decision on the personnel matters included in tonight's consent agenda.
[51:04] Thank you. Any other comments or discussion? All those in favor?
[51:15] Motion carries unanimously. Congratulations to our newly appointed assistant principal at North High School, Brian McNulty, and our assistant principal at Transit Middle School, Eric Van Houten. You're welcome to say a few words at this time if you would like.
[51:39] Um, I would like to just extend a very, very heartfelt thank you, uh, to the wonderful administration doctor, Brian Hall. The rest of the district office. On behalf of myself and my family for giving me this really, really tremendous opportunity to both improve my professional career and to lend my talents to students and the families of Williamsville. So, uh, just, you know, on behalf of myself, my wife, my children as well, uh, just thank you very, very much. I'm really looking forward to it. Uh, just everyone has been tremendously welcoming and helpful, just in the short amount of time I've been here, from district office to, uh, Mr. Bowen and the other, uh, admin staff at North. I'm just starting to scratch the surface on what? You know, everything should be entailing with my job, but, uh, I am very, very excited. All right. I'm really looking forward to getting started and can't wait to meet the students in a couple of weeks. So again, thank you very much.
[52:28] Thank you.
[52:28] Thank you.
[52:29] Happy to have you.
[52:33] Dana is going to read a statement from Eric.
[52:45] This is not Eric Van Houten.
[52:47] This is.
[52:48] Soriano, executive director of human resources. Eric could not be with us this evening because he is still out of town, is my understanding. So Dana's going to read his statement.
[52:58] So, uh, his statement is dear. Williamsville Board of education, thank you to the Board of Education, Doctor Brown Hall, Doctor Daniel Wall, and every staff member who played a part in the interview process and selection of the assistant principal opening at Transit Middle School. I am humbled and thankful to be to have been selected. Middle school is a pivotal moment in a student's life, and I'm excited about the opportunity to ensure that all students, families and staff feel safe, heard and respected at Transit Middle School. As my family are packing up our things to make the big move back from Las Vegas to Western New York, we've constantly been reminded that we made the right decision by the helpful, proactive and professional nature of Williamsville, including Dana Floriano, Brianna Buckley, and the rest of their team. Thank you again. See you all soon. Respectfully, Eric Van Houten.
[53:44] Thank you very much, Dana. Eric, if you're watching, welcome to the team.
[53:50] And congratulations to both of.
[53:52] You. Absolutely.
[54:58] We also want to congratulate the following retirees for your service to the district Steven de la santé, a ground worker in the facilities department with 33 years of service. Congratulations.
[55:17] Wow. Right.
[55:18] Yeah. That's awesome. Awesome.
[55:20] That's wonderful. All right. Um, may I have a motion for the second reading? Review and adoption of policies 7616 pre referral intervention strategies and general education prior to referral for special education. And 7212 formally, 7618 response to intervention process as presented. Mrs. Schlesinger. Mrs. Fletcher.
[55:57] Any discussion? All those in favor? S2:
[56:01] May I have a motion for the first reading review and second reading? Review and adoption at the September 8th meeting of policies, 7132 nonresident students and 7241 student directory as presented. Mrs. Fletcher. Mr. Bullen.
[56:23] I have a question.
[56:24] Any discussion?
[56:25] Sure.
[56:26] So this.
[56:27] Is.
[56:27] The non student resident policy?
[56:31] Yes. Yes.
[56:31] So why.
[56:32] Are we changing.
[56:33] It?
[56:37] We are. We are changing it to meet the needs of our community.
[56:41] So the way I'm reading it currently, if you are a senior and you move out of the district, you can complete your senior year.
[56:49] Yes.
[56:49] So the proposed changed. The way I'm reading it is, if you leave, then I'm going to read what the policy changes. Students who move outside the district boundaries during the year preceding their anticipated graduation year may be given permission to remain in the district until graduation, so that somebody who's a junior can leave the district, remain in the district for their junior year and their senior year.
[57:14] Correct. I mean, I.
[57:16] I don't know how that's meeting the needs of the district. I mean, I think when you leave the district, you leave the district. Fortunately or unfortunately, I don't know as a board member how I then tell a student who lost a spot on a team or in the play, or lost out on a scholarship opportunity because somebody chose to move out of the district in their junior year, now gets to attend the district for their junior and senior year. So and if.
[57:47] I may, because we had thorough discussion about this. And when you say a student that chose to move out of the district, we had discussion because very rarely do students pay mortgages or get to choose where they live. So many students have things that happen to them. And so when we realize that and realize students who've been in our district, many of them their entire school life, and they move, and the way the policy reads until the end of the school year without fee or payment. After the beginning of the second semester of the year, the student's legal residence changes to outside of the school district. So we have a student that has been if we have a student that has been in this school district and this is all they know, and their family has to move in February of the year preceding their senior year, we wanted to be able to make an accommodation for a student that's in good standing, in good standing will be defined in regulation 7132, but that means a student who is on track to graduate, right? That will then go towards our number one, our graduation percentage too. So this is not a student that will incur additional costs because we have to hire more teachers or we have to have more space, right? This doesn't happen very often. But when it does happen, and we have a student that's been here their entire academic career, we want to have the ability now. The policy gives the ability to allow this to happen. In some instances it will some instances it may not depending on if they meet the good standing threshold. But we want to be able to have that ability to allow it for students who unfortunately may have financial hardship, they may be homeless for a while and then their permanent residence is outside of the district. But this is all we know. We know students experience trauma. We did not want our educational institution, Williamsville, to add to that trauma that students do unfortunately have in their lives. And we know what the research says about the number of transitions students have to go to and how they go through, and how that's not beneficial in their educational career. That's why it was being examined.
[59:58] And before you go on, Mr. Spicer.
[1:00:01] I just wanted to share, just because I was part of the policy committee conversation, um, we had a lengthy, lengthy discussion about this. For me, it was also refining the language of, say, if you just say blanket, you know, your senior year, what does that mean? So we worked we really did a lot of tooling of the language to try to make it make sense with it, because we we debated if a student's family moves in December. What does that mean? Versus if they move in February versus if they move in in the summer. So we were trying to have the language also just reflect a better idea of, um, what's what makes sense for a timeline to be? To your point, Mr. Manag, to be responsible, um, for the families in our district, but also to be mindful of, you know what, where the line in the sand was for when the student moved. And I hope to the, to the my colleagues that were at the meeting. I'm representing that conversation.
[1:00:59] Well, yeah.
[1:00:59] I'll also state that the, the language that we did include is the recommended language from Erie one Boces Policy Committee.
[1:01:10] Um, I have a question. Um, like in the three year time span, how many students would be like in the past three years? How many people would have been affected by this policy? Do you have any idea what that it's? I may be asking an unanswerable no.
[1:01:24] And I know that too.
[1:01:28] Okay.
[1:01:29] Too. So and that's why I know um, because I also when I, you know, when this was brought forward, the, uh, board president had the policy committee convened to to examine this entire thing. Right. And I did meet with Assistant Superintendent and Doctor Staffan back, who is a director of student services, and they're the ones whose offices. This all blows through. And we did ask them to look at how many families this would affect or has affected in the past. In the last three years, it was two families.
[1:01:56] Okay. Thank you.
[1:01:57] We're not we're not talking about opening the floodgates. Well, well.
[1:02:01] I, I and I to your point, Doctor Brown. I mean, there are regulations for homeless students that are outside of this. So if you're homeless, you're not included in this. Regardless, no matter what grade you're in. You can come stay in school. So if somebody is homeless, we're not adding to if I don't support this policy, I don't want anybody to think that I'm adding to a homeless.
[1:02:22] Oh no no no no no.
[1:02:23] I, I already don't I think under a different regulation. I'm just saying that, you know, families who choose to leave the district because it's cheaper to live in another district, still get the benefit of a Williamsville education. And I think as a as a board member who's responsible to the students, the non-student taxpayers, and I understand that the students don't pay a property tax, but everybody else in the town does. I think, you know, I have to look at this from every angle.
[1:02:54] I appreciate that, Mister Pascal.
[1:02:58] Um, to on a personal note, I had a friend who left the district his senior year, and he was able. This was in place in year 2000. So, um, he's one of my good friends to this day. So I think in situations like that, people could grow apart. It could hurt relationships, ultimately hurting kids in the long haul or the long run. He also has a great job at Highmark now, and to be honest, he even says it to this day of the educational experiences and the connections he met in Williamsville.
[1:03:36] And we also talked about the investment that Williamsville has already contributed to a student who maybe have gone through their schooling all the way up to that point. Um, so it's seeing seeing through on the end of results of our investment as well. Any other discussion or comments before we take a vote? Okay.
[1:04:05] All those in favor? S2:
[1:04:27] Motion carries seven one.
[1:04:34] Under district facilities and student services, there are no matters to discuss.
[1:04:46] Does anyone have a topic that they would like to discuss under community of the whole? S2:
[1:05:09] 2026 district goals and superintendent goals.
[1:05:13] Thank you very much, board president. Once again. So you will see, what we've done historically in the district is we were sure to align our district goals with our strategic plan goals. In the past, we've had well, not in the past. When I started, we had a set up district goals, but we also were working on our strategic plan, and we decided to make sure that our district goals were aligned with our strategic plan goals. And they are. So they have become our district goals. And what we do is we make sure that we provide updates to the board twice a year in January and in June. What the board has since done, and you will, is you assign individual board members to monitor those goals and to show how the actions of the board also align with the goals that we have in the strategic plan. So those will remain, and this is the last year of those goals, because this is the last year of the strategic plan. But some of those will move forward with our new plan from 2027 to 2032. Now for the superintendent goals, you will see that those are also attached in the document for board review and by education law, the superintendent works in conjunction with the Board of Education. So if there's any changes. Board of education members would like to see, we can definitely review those. But the first and the utmost important is the development of the strategic plan this year. Second is our instructional department is they are developing documents highlighting grade level expectations. We want to have increased parental involvement on our district wide committees. And you saw in the community update, we are looking for parental involvement. Additionally, we will be implementing any of the recommendations coming from the Distance Learning Committee, uh, during this year for implementation in the 2728 school year, we are working on a graduation rate information guide so that when that presentation is done at the end of this year, all of our board members and community members will actually know and be able to look historically at our graduation data. And we're looking to enhance our artificial intelligence procedures, guidelines and best practices because as you heard from one of our student board members, There are still questions about AI and the best practices in our district, and how that can be applied for students and for teachers. Last but not least, you know that this year will be pivotal and moving forward with a lot of the work for portrait of a graduate. So we will always be looking for a state of state education department highlights. And as I say said, don't wait on them. We will be developing some of our own rubrics, some of our own, um, portfolio assessments, some of our own capstone projects, working collectively with school districts and our Erie one Boces region. I know under Doctor Bellman's leadership, some of the members of her team are also part of the portrait of a graduate um Blue Ribbon Commission Professional Learning Committee. So we get the most up to date information. Last year's administrators retreat focused on portrait of a graduate. The same for this year. So we have a lot of work that is being done on that, and that's why it is listed as continued work on the superintendents goals for the 272627 school year. Also.
[1:08:31] Any questions? Discussion.
[1:08:37] Following the that the Board of Education goals are also in board docs. Is there any discussion or edits suggested for those goals? As always, our board goals do follow being very consistent. The board goals for the the excuse me, the strategic plan goals for the district. We do have one additional goal. That's a board governance goal that is related to professional development. So we will continue with those goals. In September, we will be developing implementation plans and the assignment of people to monitor the board goals moving forward. Okay. Any other questions or discussion? May I have a motion then to adjourn the goal setting workshop and return to the regular session. You have to do that in two separate ones. First, we have to adjourn the the Mr. Bullen. Doctor Spicer. All those in favour? Motion carried unanimously. May I have a motion to return to public session? Doctor. Excuse me. I'm going to make you a doctor. Doctor? Mr. violin. I'll take Mrs. Leitch.
[1:09:55] All right.
[1:09:56] Yep. All right. All in favor? Motion carries unanimously. May I now have a motion to approve and adopt the Board of Education goals as presented in 20 D, Mrs. Klinger and Doctor Spicer.
[1:10:19] All those in favor? S2:
[1:10:35] Can we move to the podium and state your name? S2:
[1:10:55] Thank you.
[1:10:56] Thank you. Mr.. Family.
[1:11:01] Motion to adjourn.
[1:11:02] Do we have a motion for adjournment?
[1:11:04] Mr. mayor, we.
[1:11:05] Have a motion.
[1:11:06] Count again.
[1:11:07] Mr. Bullen.
[1:11:08] Oh. All.
[1:11:12] Those in favor? We are adjourned.
[1:11:16] Okay, I'm.