Board of Education, Regular Meeting

1. 0:28e e e e e e e that everyone stand for the fedge allegiance I pledge alance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and Justice all thank you I would like to make a motion to accept the agenda as presented second all in favor Missy Mark here gr Christ ders here Lauren Jones wette Jones yeah Cal Lewis here thank you at this time we do need an early executive at 63 for the purpose of the employment history of particular person or persons oh sa back e e e e e for e [… repeated text trimmed] put the time at the
2. 25:21end so we exit executive session at 624 second sorry okay pres um presentations Focus Media well good evening you guys can hear me okay right it's good to see everyone we're actually working for the district for 13 months now so a lot of familiar faces some new faces is my col Josh suers by the way CEO of Focus Media and my colleague Stu shinsky is here I know he's a familiar face stays late at the board meetings so I we thought it with the new school year coming the new budget it would be helpful to do a presentation about who we are uh just as a reintroduction uh it's always good the touch base some of the things we're
3. 26:17working on for the district and how we think we can help the district going forward so we appreciate the brief time there's only 40 slides I want to kidding uh if I'm over 15 minutes Dr pennyman is going to give me the hook so and Susan helped me out with this presentation as well because he's on a day-to-day so thank you again for the chance to to come out today okay just a little bit about us uh I started Focus 22 years ago as a radio broadcaster and served as a casino marketing executive for a long time and well not that long I'm pretty young but uh learned a lot in a lot of different areas and I thought that uh we had the
4. 26:50chops to start a PR and marketing firm and over the last 20 years uh we we had we served several clients in education and one of our which I'll touch on one of the ways we meet school districts are during difficult times where there's a crisis and then we find a relationship and of oftentimes continue what we're doing similar to what we did here in Hudson so a little a back background about us so we do it all and we do it inhouse from uh writing uh press releases media relations advertising campaigns branding uh and we work in a lot of different uh Industries besides education uh we do work we do work in gaming we work in uh Healthcare uh just
5. 27:28probably 20 different Industries over the years and we think because we don't just do one industry like education we're able to take best practices for many Industries and stay ahead of the curve so that's one of the things and I'll touch on a couple of those things that uh we've done for school districts around the state uh a little bit about who we work for uh we we've worked for districts all over the all over the state uh we do quite a bit in Westchester New York uh and we work and the populations of all those districts are are very are very unique so there's not a cookie cut approach with working with each district and they all have
6. 28:02very very different needs uh so Mount buron schools New Shell schools um Edgemont uh we've worked uh with private private schools and I'm going to touch on in a minute about what we do on school bonds and we're very proud of what we do there so uh by way of example with school bonds and budgets oftentimes or even a budget or aund million Bond whatever those things might be uh they're challenging and misinformation or other people in the community defining what your plans are uh sometimes can can kill a project kill a budget whatever it may be so we work with districts to get uh to get their message out in a thoughtful comprehensive way that communicates for
7. 28:44the community about what they need to know now bonds and budgets uh there's no persuasion allowed but you can still do an education campaign so that you're the source of information and they also develop a community relations program that really uh creates an open dialog uh two examples we first met new relle schools they're a very large District they have they have 10,000 students and they had a bond uh that failed uh uh by a two to1 morgin and after it failed they said well we need help we need some outside counsel they had an in-house Communications person as well and what we did is we did a much more comprehensive campaign that touched people in different ways oftentimes
8. 29:21school districts they send out their budget newsletter they have a few hearings and and that's the extent of it well we made a couple of videos we used Facebook to promote it and then we even did a paid uh boosting campaign of the video and we got 50,000 views of that video uh and we were able to Target it just within that school district we did the same in Mount Vernon they they had a bond that failed and it was a $16 million proposition and we did some very Innovative things that most school districts don't do so we apply that uh of we very often apply that to other Communications that we do for school districts uh crisis Communications to
9. 29:56not only diffuse situations in the public but also make sure a school district is the source of information and is Crisis ready reputation management it's very important for school districts to uh act in a transparent way uh and you know remind the community and also brand itself with the community that they're invaluable and we oftentimes see I keep you saying offensive you have to you know take the hook on me uh we uh we we very much work with school districts uh to ensure that uh if they're not acting in a transparent way or if they can do better we're the we're the outside people they always can we we we uh we always tell we
10. 30:29we always tell plain and simple and we've had some good successes there um you know certainly uh strong Communications on key issues such as safety and making sure parents know all the good that you're doing here you'd never want a family or a stakeholder in the community to say well I didn't know
11. 30:46that I never hear about all the good things happening in the district people hear about some of the challenging things but if you promote the good people want to live here people want to be part of the school district and you know that's super important I know Dr pennyman in this board is looking to affect change and you know continue to do good things here in the school district make sure the community knows about it and Dr pennyman has certainly uh uh created a lot of new Communications initiatives this year and that really is the step in the right direction uh you know uh certainly spotlights on students academic achievements those are all a lot of good things that have been amped up this year.
12. 31:23so you know why Focus so one of a few of the points of difference we think we brought to the district over the last 12 13 months is a higher level of thoughtful communication and strategy and we had Stu is in a touch on a few minutes how we first met uh we're very media savvy so Stu is one of two of my team members in the PR department that have worked in news for more than 30 years I know Stu looks like he's 42 uh but you know that that's a real advantage and as someone who owns my firm when I can find someone of that caliber they still teach me a few things so it's really great to have that media Savvy aspect and you know if he needs to call someone at the AL Times Union he knows somebody we're going to get we're going to get fair and Balan reporting and it's it's difficult um you know to find people at this caliber.
13. 32:07we're happy to pay for it we're happy to find the best in the business and we we want to we want to find that for our clients and provide that uh we mentioned we think we bring a high level of sophistication uh certainly uh we want to learn what the school district's goals are the superintendent's goals the board's goals and make sure that we develop a marketing and PR plan uh that will publicize that and you'll notice that uh almost every meeting we have a representative for my firm here so not only we available 247 for a crisis we sometimes get phone calls at 3: in the morning because there might be a buildings thing or it might be an event um that the school district needs to have Readiness for students that come in after a tragedy we're always on the ground and always available uh for a phone call and you'll also see us here at evening meetings that's not a limitation for us we can be on site when needed and we know that's not always the case with people in our business.
14. 32:58so I'm going call Stu up he's uh once again on the ground here doing a lot of the day-to-day this is Stu shinsky our vice president
15. 33:08thank you and again thanks for the time today um so most of you know this but I'll just run it down for those of you who might not how did we meet we met last spring when there was a situation in the district where there was some incidents in some schools um that were going on social media and parents became concerned we were contacted and asked to provide some strategies on how to reach the community in a deep way first thing we did was we put out some Communications explaining the facts about what happened second thing we did was we strategized about how do we build on this and what we did with Sheryl's incredible patience and help thank you again we did weekly eblast to the community on a range of safety initiatives because we didn't want to just say well that incident incident is over let's go back to where we were no we wanted to convince the community that it was was not only not only safe in your schools there's a lot that happens every day to make it and keep it safe so this is just a couple of the quick examples um of the eblasts that we did
16. 34:11we also realized at the time well what is the crisis Communications protocols in the district and what we found out was that well they weren't necessarily organized and aligned in a concentrated way so we came up with a crisis community dations plan we created the PowerPoint we created protocols about tiers of events and how to respond to different specific situations in each type of case and we also talked a lot to The District administration about the protocols for aligned communication who would notify who and why and we came a couple of months ago and we did a training session for the leadership of the district that went through this PowerPoint and went through the protocols and um one of the key things about getting your message out there is that you want to not just have the right message but you want to make sure it's the message that you really want out there and that comes from internal communication strategizing and being consistent where what you do now what your protocols this week should be your protocols in two weeks and five weeks and six months so an organized strategic approach we offered
17. 35:22um what we do for the district now is I'm on call every day I speak to someone from the school district just about every day I'm certainly on on email with um uh many folks um every day of the week um we've helped out Dr pressy with some Dei work we helped out um uh with the newsletter that newsletter that comes out we do the design for that newsletter and I contribute writing to that and I got to say it's a heck of a newsletter because it really provides an in theclassroom perspective of what's happening every day that's really good about this school district and as someone who's not a Hudson resident but I know this area very well have having lived here for 30 years you guys have a lot of good things going on and it's important to tell that story and that's one thing the newsletter does and we worked with your team to expand that and to give it a very sophisticated look and feel but beyond all that we do crisis Communications when the football program was going through some changes we you know I was at that meeting we put out a knee blast on that we helped a statement to honor the fall athletes it's not just the crisis but it's all the good things you want to get out there um did some information for the community about Bond
18. 36:34limit changes um that came through from the state um the teachers contract we uh combined with your we collab collaborated with you on that um last spring there was an issue with one of the Productions not a big thing we were able to help with that um one of the properties that uh had been a discussion subject at previous meetings we also U provided on that certainly when Dr pennyman came on board we uh led the effort to introduce her to the community uh creating a eblast I worked with Dr pennyman on 125 Day Report publicity um you guys see me here um in the meetings as well and this little logo we're very proud to have designed that for you guys so we uh we try to offer in many ways and we we do collaborate any way and any possible way that we can and you guys know me now I'm not shy I'll suggest things hey how about about this how about that so that's him we're see steu and I are both born in Brooklyn so it's a it's a double double whammy there and by the way I said we're happy to pay for people like that I mean I'm happy to pay for people like that that can really help our help our clients.
19. 37:45so uh I already spoke about me um uh you know Stu you know like I said you know he worked at the New York Times company ganette uh it's great to have not only uh helping our clients but Al counsel to meet so he always can grow Victor corus uh he our assistant vice president of creative who's actually going to be here today but he's wrapping up a photo shoot this is a great guy he's been with me for 12 years he runs all our creative our video production we've done videos for the school district uh and I hope he can come back up here for a meeting sometime soon and uh we do web development in house we we have another creative person here who's been with me for 14 years um Kevin green uh he helps us with email marketing he design he in design uh your email blast just a really good breath of talent at the firm.
20. 38:33so um we're currently working on a flat monthly fee there are some options that we just wanted with Dr pennyman thought we should you know share you know some of the options going forward uh typically a flat monthly fee creates a predictable cost uh and just said you know there won't be variations in Billing um and we can be steady Council available 247 uh to the district and you know certainly certainly another option is for us to have an expanded role we know you have bosies as a as a as a partner as well we as well have the ability to put an embedded person here a few days a week if that's something the district was looking to explore and when we first started we were on an hourly rate uh as needed that's certainly an option as well uh most of our clients find Value to have that flat predictable amount but we're always here to have a conversation about it so we very much appreciate our partnership and I think we're doing some meaningful things together thank you.
21. 39:29thank you very much for being here thanks for listening.
22. 39:51super budget Workshop mine's not as long or maybe it is um I'm here to talk about our preliminary budget I want to emphasize on preliminary there's a lot of things that are unknown still at this time including our state aid situation so we're going to talk about what we're what we're looking at right now and what we're looking at down the road.
23. 40:23but I first want to bring it back to what is our purpose because the budget has to have a purpose our budget is always to support the students make sure they're provided programs that are valuable to them and provide them um a good learning experience they're engaging um student focused um and all these things are topics that were covered by Dr pennyman in her 125 day um presentation and this is just to F further discuss those purposeful things that we're doing and to find that pursuit of Excellence we're strengthening our instruction and Leadership we're improving practices and we're supporting our students in interventions so what does all that mean expenses.
24. 41:10I start with expenses first our budgets usually actually built the opposite direction but I think that it's important to know where we spend our money in order to know um how we're going to pay for it all so as you can see the largest part of and I'm a visual person so I kind of did words and a picture because for me I can see what we're looking at just from the picture 42% of our budget goes to payroll 24 goes to benefits 25% goes to instructional programs what's covered under instructional programs that's going to be our general education special education Transportation maintenance of the buildings and all of our brosis programs so the brosies programs and all those things are 25% where our payroll is the other 42% and then Debt Service those are things for when we've done capital projects so all the debt we owe on doing those projects from years past.
25. 42:03here's our Revenue how do we pay for all of that 47% of our revenue is from you from our community it's our taxpayers 47% of what we pay our bills off of is from our taxpayers 45% is state aid they're very close neck and neck and then other revenues are going to be items such as um um use of reserves our fund balance and our interest earnings so in this budget I'm proposing a use of our appropriative fund balance so um some people in the audience are employees here and know that we put a spending freeze the spending freeze was in order to save money to put into next year's budget so I can help cover the cost of the loss in state a um additionally we're looking at a tax levy increase of 2% at this time but our tax cap which is our allowable limit the amount the total amount we could possibly Levy it's 3.42% however last year as everybody knows we went out 0% and Dr press or Dr pennyman and I feel that 2% is um a fair number to go out at to start with and we lost $2.9 million in Foundation a we'll talk about that in a minute.
26. 43:20so this is a breakdown of our state aid all the categories in which we get paid from the state um this Top Line is based on Census Data from 2000 that's right
27. 43:322000 and this year the governor cut the hold harmless clause which said that any amount Money Paid would not be any less than a year before she got rid of that and she also got rid of uh acknowledging the CPI at the current rate which is 4% she only gave a 2% increase on CPI so that equaled a $2.9 million decrease in our Aid in in a category that we don't control. All other categories with the exception of universal prek are expense based AIDS so we spend the money this year and next year we get the money back at a percentage some of those fluctuate based on our usage or need.
28. 44:10We had some debt change so we had a decrease in our building Aid um public excess costs that's all our special needs students uh Bose a if we decrease our bosei services we'll have a decrease in Aid in the next year total $2.8 million lost in Aid. I'm hoping on April 1st when they put out the real budget that she will restore the hold harmless Clause. I'm hoping that she restores that and gives us exactly what she gave us last year so I can fill the hole with appropriated fund balance and use of reserves. If she does that we would have an increase of $15,000 which isn't very much in state aid but like I said we're going to go out the 2% and I have other ways to fill our Gap.
29. 44:59This is just the history of our tax levy over the years. The past four years we always stay pretty in line with the tax levy last year as you can see 0% this year it's 3.4 and we're only proposing 2% which is what we the same amount that the district asked for in 2223 which yields just so everybody knows that 2% yields about $499,000 in increased revenue from that reeven line.
30. 45:29If we go out at 2% this is what that means for all the taxpayers in those area on a fully assessed home at $200,000 it's about on average probably a little bit low for the value of homes in this area but it's an even number and easy to move from up or down. So for example if you live in Greenport this year you're paying 2,487 next year with a 2% increase you'll pay 2,5 36 which equals an increase of about $50 or $4 a month and this is without Equalization rates which also changes this figure.
31. 46:09So our budget scenarios are this if we don't get the restoration of foundation Aid I have the district has a $22.26 7 million gap that um needs to I need to decrease our expenses in order to fill what we can afford in our projected Revenue. If the governor restores our Gap will be zero based on my plan as it as is proposed.
32. 46:40What are some of our unknowns April 1 we we're hoping to get the state budgets due by April 1 so what happens is the governor meets and um with all the legislatures and decides whose program she's going to support changes her original budget that she released in January and combines it with that of the executive cabinet. So my hope is she comes out with that that we get that increase. Dr Penman and I met with DD Barrett on Lobby day and we discussed all the pressures on our budget things such as outof District placements um residential placements for students with special needs that's a $2 million budget line transportation expenses is about a $4 million budget line those are things that we have to provide for students in order for them to meet their needs for their programming.
33. 47:33Um other things to consider um is going to be contract negotiations that are up this year and any outstanding Grant applications that haven't been fully funded.
34. 47:44This is our timeline going forward um we have another budget presentation coming up um the state budgets due then um we have another budget so so the budget I pres we present on April 9th will probably be more of a a fully funded a fully executed budget with whatever we get presented to us in that state budget on April 1 fingers crossed it's a positive outcome um otherwise we have to start sharpening our pencil a little bit more.
35. 48:14April 22nd is the due date for the petitions for um being placed on the ballot that's if uh if we were going to go out for a bond or anything like that which is not in plans as of right now um we have to vote on the rcg bosei budget so Bose's Quest R3 is our component budget they put out their budget school districts have to vote to approve it just like taxpayers have to vote to approve ours. Excuse me voter registration day we're holding a voter registration day here April 25th 40m in the Junior Senior High School thank you sorry I was out in the cold all day Sunday and I've uh caught a cold.
36. 49:00May 1st is School Board nomination petitions due to the district clerk by 5 p.m. uh we have a public hearing of our proposed budget so this will be the last day that we um propose a budget on May 7th and then on May 21st we'll have the budget vote. If the V budget were to be um voted down the revote day is June 18th and then we Implement that budget July one. Any questions?
37. 49:31Um when it comes to options for closing the Gap is are there restrictions on how much of our reserves we can use each year to fill it?
38. 49:38No only restriction is the amount of money in those reserves right um You can't use a repair you can't appropriate repair reserves reserves and you can't appropriate Capital reserves. We can appropriate debt reserves um we can appro create employee benefit acude liability which funds any retirement um what I'm proposing is workers compensation which is a a high cost item in our budget and our retirement system um so ERS is our Employee Retirement System and TRS is our teacher retirement system we have to pay by stat by Statute a portion of that retirement on a yearly basis so those are also big budget line so I'm taking from our reserves for that in this plan.
39. 50:25Any room to um reduce how much we send to bosis since a lot of our students don't go?
40. 50:30Yes the only there's an ancillary effect to that like I said the Bose's Aid is based on the expense you spend in this year so that aid number is based on what we're projecting to spend if we don't spend that next year I won't get all that Aid. Is there a balance absolutely is it worthwhile to look at 100% our B's Aid ratio isn't
41. 50:51Very high, okay, thank you.
42. 50:58Um, I know I know we've been in this position in the past where you know in March we're looking at cuts to our state aid and then come April 1st we find out that it's back, or is there any can you just offer any context from your career about times when that's happened or you've seen that happen and any indications as to like why it may or may not happen this year?
43. 51:19Sure, so the foundation Aid formula was created way back, um, and there was a point time in 2008 where they did uh Gap elimination where they also reduced Aid, um, it's always an aid category that's based on the revenue in the state at the time and it's one that they use as a negotiation tactic. So the foundation Aid coming out low was not a big surprise, um, that calculation is actually expiring and they're looking to have people get together on a board to determine how to calculate that. There's a lot of things that go into that calculation, there's a wealth ratio, there's pupil count, there's CPI, um, but they're pulling from 2000. So in Hudson I'm sure you know in 2000 was a lot different than it is today, um, our our Pro poverty rate is about 80% now, I don't know what it was back then, um, but I'm going to say it was higher or lower than it is now just as the state of the economy.
44. 52:12So typically that will increase, um, will I get the fully funded back, I don't know how they could do anything else unless she changes the CPI only, um, I'll take any little bit to get us under a million if we could, um, but honestly it's up to them and at the end of the day we don't have any control over how it how it assesses out.
45. 52:35And are there any other factors that you saw that like were adversely affecting us in these calculations this year, um, for the for the foundation Aid?
46. 52:44Yes, no, it was just those two things. She took away the hold harmless clause and she reduced the um CPI allowable growth, okay.
47. 52:51Has nothing to do with our enrollment numbers?
48. 52:52Well it doesn't reflect our current numbers but that is is it really what they pull, they pull from our poverty level and our it's a two-year average of our enrollment. Well when I went to with me at when I went to the superintendent's um conference last week and I went into a meeting with the governor's Representatives they did say that two two things they looked at if you enrollment numbers went down which in it appears from what we input that ours de, and then they also looked at the percentage you had in your reserve. They said those two eras impacted, so they did say that to us.
49. 53:34So you're correct our we're we've lost students and and um so they did look at that and then they said they also looked at schools some schools they say don't have any money in their Reserve so they may have had to, so that those were two factors that they told me that did impact um the 2.9, not it wasn't all of it that impact but that was a variable.
50. 54:02For Hudson we don't have a lot in reserves but we do have a healthy Reserve that's not excessive but anything else?
51. 54:14Thank you very much.
52. 54:22Personel agenda, I'd like to make a motion Personnel legs items a through M.
53. 54:30Second. All in favor.
54. 54:34Public form, um, ladies and gentlemen we're about to convene in the public comment period of our meeting. Although state law does not require us to hold a public comment period, we've chosen to do so because we believe it's crucial for us to hear from our community members about their concerns and issues. Having said that, please note the board is here to listen. The public comment period is not designed to be discussion. Accordingly, please do not expect the board to respond to your concerns or questions tonight.
55. 55:00This is because we take your concerns and questions seriously and want to have sufficient time to process and research issues if need be. We will however respond to your questions and concerns at a future meeting or have the proper staff member get back to at the appropriate time. Also want to point out that under state and federal privacy laws are unable to entertain any comment or questions about school Personnel, uh, please not we take these concerns very seriously.
56. 55:24Um, ask speakers address their comments to the board directly rather than the audience, uh, speakers can only address items pertinent on tonight's meeting agenda during the first public comment period May address any later second, um, each member of the public is given uh three minutes.
57. 55:47Miss Peter Meer, Peter Meer, evening.
58. 55:54Um, I knowes is a good time keeper so I'm hoping I'm going to read now probably read remember real f x commercial person B. I'm I'm reading no PowerPoint and I'm here tonight to say thank you to the Hudson City school district for allowing school life media to have eight grade minus Co of course which is a disaster for just about everybody eight grade years in the district working with the children of the district on a program that I love and believe really works.
59. 56:32I'm the founder and executive uh executive director of school life media a nonprofit uh Incorporated in the state of New York in 2015. As many of you know I'm the veteran education journalist Hudson resident and former member of this school board and believe me coming to a board meeting when you start the budget talk is not a fun memory for me, uh, those were always tough times and I wish you a lot of luck.
60. 57:01Um, I presented the idea of a junior journalism program to increase student literacy to superintendent Maria subme and principal Mark brenaman and a meeting in the spring of 2016 and we introduced the program to several third fourth and fifth grade classes that that summer. The idea was to teach students the basics of jour jism how to research a subject by using the five W's and five senses how to interview subjects take notes and write a story about their research.
61. 57:35By doing journalism and I'll leave this with you tonight you can look at it, I I've been here tonight with these kinds of things and they just this will this this never ceases to warm my hearts about how how terrifically talented the kids are and I was glad that we were able to bring that. I don't do Powerpoints well but you can see this is the this is the kind of wonderful creativity we get by the kids doing these programs and it's been
62. 58:11working pretty well over the last eight years um early on um I'm going to try and cut this uh early on we decided that our medium would be pencil and paper not only because computers in those days were wildly unpredictable but because research was already beginning to show that handwriting offered a much better connection to the brain and I think when you go through these kinds of uh things you you'll you you can't help but agree um and we also discovered the journalist's job of writing and rewriting is one of the keys to retention one of the teachers toughest challenges to get the kids to remember what they have just covered in the last couple weeks and using reporters notebooks and interviewing and writing and rewriting uh it's a it's a fabulous it's a fabulous way of retaining knowledge.
63. 59:08I can remember a very light night and closing closing night of Time Magazine when I was working on a story and um Peter that's three minutes can you wrap it up please is it up yes I'll I'll thank you I can't yeah thank I just want to thank everybody Mar me the board previous boards uh for giving us this chance to have approximately 3,000 kids run through this program and hopefully and another date we're we're working on doing a good summary uh and an audit of all of our work in the last eight years and that thank you thank you it does Super prend this up so the first thing I'd like to do that's it sorry good night good luck just checking there's nobody else oh sorry.
64. 1:00:02so the first thing I'd like to do is to proudly say we were able to announce today that we were the recipients we are the recipients of the Bill's Verizon Innovative learning Grant this is a huge thing everyone you can go and look it up online not every we competed with District across districts Across America and we were able to be in the 11th cohort this is a big deal for Hudson and so I just want to thank the team you know it was a team approach from principls to to uh district office leaders to students they interviewed students I mean it's a really big deal and so all of our students for secondary schools will now be able to get their individual Chrome books but they now have builtin WiFi where when a student comes home they're able to complete their work from home um no longer will parents have to worry about do they have Wi-Fi do they need a Hotpot it's all builing we have this grant for two years and we are looking to do some amazing things uh with this Grant and with the support we're going to receive from Verizon to enhance our curriculum here in the district to make sure that we are graduating students with 21st century skills and so I'm very excited our team is excited we're celebrating the uh publication the uh eblast went out this afternoon so we have a lot to be proud of here in Hudson and we're together we can and so um one more part of my um superintendent um update tonight.
65. 1:01:57our school district was deemed by the state of New York n as a school district in need of improvement so we have three schools that supported this process and so um the junior high and the high school are are deemed LSI or folk LSI school so and the elementary school is deemed uh targeted school so what does that mean we will have to write a school Improvement plan for the elementary schools so when you look and so here tonight I have Miss kaita Adams who is a retired superintendent from Al Albany but also a person who has extensive experience with schools and schools that have been in needs of improvement so some of you might be sitting in the audience tonight as parents you might hear from me to ask if you'd like to be part of our school Improvement team um you might hear from me later on this maybe tomorrow um and also the principals will be sending out to ask for volunteer um teachers um Etc from their buildings tomorrow but I did ask Miss Adams to come and just give us a peek into how we're going to go about this process to write the school Improvement plan um for the elementary school specifically but she's going to tell you how we're tying it all in together.
66. 1:03:39good evening and thank you so very much to the board president and members of the board and to superintendent Dr pennyman my name is Ka G Adams and I am a retired school district superintendent as well as a 36 year educ Ator I have worked for Albany school district for the past 5 and a half years and I was before that I was in Las Vegas Nevada Clark County School District for 28 years and prior to that I served in New Orleans Louisiana in the public school system there so I really want to say thank you for this opportunity to be involved in the school improvement process here in the Hudson City School District I AMR currently the CEO of the United LLC and we are an education and business consulting firm.
67. 1:04:30I am excited to be here as we begin to navigate the New York State education department process regarding School Improvement planning and the submission of what we call the Seth which is the school comprehensive education plan my role is to work collaboratively with the Hudson City School District in this planning and submission process as you know the elementary school has been determined as a targeted support and intervention school that's the TSI and This lends itself to the school developing a school Improvement plan this process and you're going to hear me say this over and over again is a collaborative process it is not something that's done in a back room and then it's put on the table and then voila here we have it and we never look at it again it is a collaborative process and in addition to ensure that continuity of instruction and the cycle of continuous Improvement both the junior high school and the high school will be developing a school Improvement plan in a very similar process.
68. 1:05:37so what is that process first of all it is to establish your sep team the school comprehensive education plan team and this will be representative of various stakeholders from the community then we will administer a survey which goes out to parents students faculty and staff alike There Is A five-part needs assessment that we will need to complete as well and then we have to analyze all of this data and look at how it aligns with our student performance data that's
69. 1:06:13where the real work starts to happen because all of the people on these collaborative committees will then start to look at what are those interventions that we need to put in place and then what are the strategies that we need to put in place for the school comprehensive education plan once this plan is developed it's shared of course at all levels and the board will approve that or not approve it but you definitely will ask questions because the ultimate goal is to have a plan that not only the board supports but that the community and the school community supports as well and then it's submitted to the New York State Department of Education once that happens then we start with the impementation and the monitoring process of the set the requirements the survey is a requirement and all parties the students families faculty and staff have to be engaged in that survey process the internal five-part needs assessment is also a requirement the annual Improvement plan is a requirement and the the school comprehensive education plan or the set is also a requirement.
70. 1:07:24our timeline is a very tight timeline it's approximately three months from now until May my role will be to ensure that we meet those due dates and that as prescribed by the New York State education department develop this plan for the elementary school but also for the junior high and the high school in closing this will be the work of all of us working collaboratively to analyze the data the surveys and to Ure that the decisions that are made are made in the best interest of our students the work of the school Improvement and District Improvement teams will be to manifest the district's goals as outlined by the superintendent to maximize and strengthen the instructional core to strengthen the instructional leadership capacity improve datadriven practices promote a positive and inclusive School environment for all stakeholders and to increase monitoring and accountability.
71. 1:08:31it has been a pleasure meeting with you this evening I met with the leadership team earlier today and that was also so enlightening to just see the camaraderie and to see how decisions are made and the process that you go through as a leadership team to work together you could hear that every decision is based on what's in the best interest of our children so I thank you again and and I look forward to our work together on behalf of all of our students so thank you very much thank
72. 1:09:02[Applause]
73. 1:09:12you make a motion to approve consisten items a through P second all in favor
74. 1:09:35Miss thank you
75. 1:09:41okay important dates Tuesday March 26 2024 policy committee meeting 5 to 6 in high school library Tuesday March 26 2024 Community budget Workshop regular Board of Education meeting in high school library Tuesday April 9th 2024 Community budget Workshop regular board Education meeting 6:00 p.m. in the high school library.
76. 1:10:11at this time at 7:09 we do need a late executive for the purpose for the purpose of EX exempt subjects including board education rules and that yeah procedures second and procedures somebody said what I said and procedures judicial procedures okay second second no all in favor I all right thank you all for being here

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