Board of Education, Regular Meeting

1. 0:00Right, and you have seen that enrollments there too have been going down. We had a local college that's closing in April, I believe the College of St. Rose, due to low enrollment. Now something that's happening in our region and across the state and in the nation as well is that there is a CTE spike, so there's more interest in CTE programming.
2. 0:29The narrative around career technical education has been changing in the state and in the nation, because as you know, uh, we have, we, the workforce in a lot of the trades, they are ready to retire and we need a new workforce. And our bis programs are preparing those students for that workforce. So we have had an increase in our enrollment in the last years and the continues to go up.
3. 1:01Similarly, in special education we also have an increase in enrollment. Um, and I, I, I wanted to highlight this as well. You see that there was a drop and after the pandemic and it has continued now to go back up. And now I'm going to, uh, turn it over to Dr. n Meer to talk about some of our programs.
4. 1:26Hi, I'm Jim. Um, I oversee a lot of the instructional programs at Questar 3 bosi. So, uh, one of those programs is CTE. Um, one of your board members is also part of that program as well. She's a work-based learning coordinator at Klein. Um, but we have, uh, a really, uh, incredible career in technical education program at both of our major centers, and we also have a CTE program at another center in Durham.
5. 1:51Um, so we have, uh, you know, many programs that you might be familiar with, um, from your knowledge of CTE in the past, of some kind of tried and true standard programs like auto tech and, uh, culinary arts and cosmetology. But we also have lots of new programs as well. So we do have an aviation program which we're very proud of at, uh, our Hudson campus. We also have, um, programs like, uh, Pathways in education and a new education program that we're, uh, hoping to start at Hudson in the fall.
6. 2:25We're also, um, we have a welding program which is, uh, heavily in demand at our, uh, Klein campus, and we'll be opening up a new one in a renovated space in our tro campus, um, this fall. So we're really excited about how CTE is going, and we also have a career studies program. So career studies is a program for students for whom, um, perhaps like CTE is a little bit too rigorous. They need a little bit more individualized attention, small group attention that they might need.
7. 2:55We also have a youth apprenticeship program, which is a, a pretty fantastic opportunity for kids to actually get paid as they're learning their craft. They can apply to be an apprentice at, uh, one of several businesses, um, depending on their field, and actually become a paid apprentice that works, um, over the summer and, um, is essentially an employee. So we have had students who have gone through the youth apprenticeship program and that then even been hired by the places where they're serving their, um, their apprenticeship.
8. 3:27But we have a guest with us tonight. This is Kenny Jackson. So Kenny Jackson is in the, uh, culinary arts program. He didn't just decide to wear the hat. So I, I, I know Kenny a little bit from other sessions that he's given. I've eaten his food and, um, so I just wanted him to have a chance to talk to you about what his CTE program means to him.
9. 3:53Yeah, uh, my name is Kenneth Jackson. I go here to Hudson High, use the mic. I also go to Donald R. Klein School too. Uh, going there has helped me a lot with my passion. My passion was always food. Uh, for so many years I've been looking for programs like this, like Clubhouse, who have prepared me for all my future to come.
10. 4:22And one of the things that has helped me a lot is bosis 3. They have helped me with getting accepted into the colonary Institute of America. They're helping me potentially even get into the Johnson and Wales, which is a another really good culinary school in Ro Rhode Island. Just so many good experiences. Uh, right now our chef is away for maternity leave, but she will be back by the end of June.
11. 4:51But we have Mr. Gibbs who's, he's making sure we know all the stuff we need to know before we go out into the world, not just taxes or credit cards, even of course food, um, but we're going to be making sure we're hitting all the seafood topics, all the baking topics. It, it's just a really good program, and if any of your kids are interested, I would definitely go for it cuz it's helped me a lot personally.
12. 5:21So Kenny just actually got done with his competition.
13. 5:28So I did just finish my competition. It was over this weekend at, uh, the col Institute of America. We were competing against New York and Vermont schools. Uh, we didn't get number one because of some instances, but we did get 200, we got 225 out of 250 points. Uh, and the dessert I made was Iva skyver, which, uh, with a raspberry sauce and basil and oranges on the side, plated nicely.
14. 6:00And actually one of the judges said your plating was too perfect, and I and my chef was surprised too was like I've never heard that before. But we, we did really good. It was a really nice experience, and this school of course helped us with a lot of that, and I really thank you. Yeah.
15. 6:28We also have, um, a couple of really unique high schools as part of Questar 3. One of those high schools is stem high school. So stem high school is really unique. It's, um, a high school that's on, uh, Hudson Valley College, um, Hudson Valley Community College campus. Um, it's one of I think two in New York that is a, is a high school on a college campus.
16. 6:49Um, it's a, a, a very, we have a, a very unique and deep partnership with Hudson Valley. Um, we're also building our partnership with Columbia green Community College as well and have a program there that I'll talk about in a bit. But, um, this is a unique program because it's a both a early college high school program and a ptech program.
17. 7:12Um, because of those funding streams, students are able to earn an associates degree at the same time they're earning their Regents diplomas, um, at no cost to them. So they get to earn lots of credits, and they can, depending on their program, they can even stay for another couple of years after
18. 7:29After graduation uh to make sure that they get that associates degree um the uh they do select a major um they they go on lots of trips to uh different places around the area uh that support their careers of choice um like I said students um do earn lots of college credits as part of this program um and uh it's just a really incredible place. We have three grades there now uh three full grades there now I should say um and next year we'll be inviting our new ninth grade cohort so we'll have a full high school but we do have some seniors who will be graduating this year um and one of them comes from your school district so Jackson fuches is actually at stem high school now and he's going to talk a little bit about his experience.
19. 8:18Yes um as you said I'm Jackson fukes. I found out about stem over the summer of 9th grade from friend of mine and I ended up biting the bullet and trying to go to stem which was probably the best experience of my life has been very interest a very interesting very I would say interesting and useful program. I went in there not knowing really what I want to do besides wanting to really go into building or designing something. I chose the civil engineering pathway which was the closest thing to to what I wanted and thanks to that pathway I've now have 19 credits in college from Hudson Valley and currently have a 30 ogpa.
20. 9:12I would even say that's the biggest part of stem I think biggest part is the community and the whole different feel of high school. I wouldn't even say the college is just a minor part of it it is a major part but I would say that whole Community has been more I would I use the term accepting because not because well more or less because of how different the environment is instead of going in like 30 kids in a classroom you might have 10 20 similar Concepts similar things but with different ways of teaching it more Project based which has been very fun which has been very interesting.
21. 9:57It had some very interesting project projects all the teachers are very wonderful and very use and very thoughtful and kind people and taught me a lot about how a the world works and B how to be better as an engineer shout out to all the [Applause] teachers.
22. 10:22So stem high school students take some classes in the actual High School building and some on campus in college classroom rooms with other college students. They get to use all the college amenities uh tutorial centers the Campus Center the library all those things so for all intents and purposes they are college students um. Another really unique um uh program that we have is Tech Valley high school so I served as the principal of tech Valley High School for five years um. Tech valy High School is a wall-to-wall Project based learning uh school um it is uh was founded in 2007 so it's now one of the kind of most mature project-based learning schools certainly in New York um but in its Network which is called new tech Network um of Project based schools it's really become kind of a lighthouse school for all of those other programs to come and see how we do things there um.
23. 11:16It is a stem focused High School um it doesn't have that same um Early College PC funding stream as the other so while kids can earn associates degree while they're in high school um that is something that isn't paid for directly so that's one big difference between Tech Valley and stem High School um. However there is uh 100% uh graduation rate there and has been for a long time um. I should say that both of these schools both stem high school and and uh Tech Valley High have a a pretty high percentage of students um you know students with disabilities um pretty uh average compared to the schools around us percentage of you know students with econom iic needs and so um these are you know pretty much normal populations that would be at any school so they're not students who are selected because they had the highest GPA in Middle School um it's just average school students who you know through a different model find uh success.
24. 12:17So Tech valy High School students also do uh extensive internship experiences um where they uh kind of learn their purpose is uh over the course of four years and they interact with a lot of students. One thing that's very interesting at both of these schools is that students aren't just evaluated on their regular core coursework but they're also evaluated on these essential job skills like self-direction and agency and communication and those are things that appear on students uh grade reports and transcripts and every time they open their um their uh you know platform where all their assignments are they can see how they're doing in all of these different areas.
25. 13:02I also want to talk a little bit about New Visions so New Visions is a really interesting program set of programs um that are located at different college campuses um around the area so we have many different New Visions programs. Unlike the other programs that I mentioned these programs do have uh pretty uh a pretty serious kind of uh admissions process where some selection have to be made based on uh student performance during the first three years of high school. So the students who are in New Visions programs uh are generally students um who are in the top 20% of their of their class and know what they want to do for their career.
26. 13:42So we have classes uh like Pathways and education on the U Albany campus um in that program students um actually do uh student teaching um they learn about education um at the end of the program they actually take the TA exam so we have had uh I think 40 out of 41 students who've been in that program ended up as education Majors so these are students who know what they want to do in life um. And now um the students who for the first time last year uh graduated with uh ta certification as well so if they wanted to be Tas while they're going through college they can do that um.
27. 14:21We also have a Visual and Performing Arts program for folks who are interested in theater Visual Arts music um and that is at in Troy. We also have a stem program that is on the RPI campus those are for students who really want to be Engineers um and who can uh take engineering courses and physics at
28. 14:45RPI, um, we have a medical program that's very popular. We had 50 applicants for 15 slots in the medical program this year, and um it's a program that meets both at Hudson Valley for class and also Samaritan hospital to do rounds with um Physicians. And so students do rounds like doctors and training would would do, and they see things that um I wouldn't want to see but they are very interested in, um, but they're definitely getting an authentic experience.
29. 15:15We also have a scientific research program um on the Sunni East Campus. Uh, we have a business finance and accounting program that's new this year that's at Columbia green Community College. I really can't say enough about how uh incredible that program is, um, and so if you have students who are interested in the world of business or accounting, um, that is definitely a program to check out.
30. 15:40And we finally have the Epic program, which stands for emergency preparedness informatics cyber and Homeland Security. That is in the new ech building on U Albany campus, and so students are learning about cyber Security Homeland Security, and a lot of the students from those programs end up kind of graduating into U Alban's programs in those areas. Um, and so we're really excited about that program too, so if you have a a person who wants to be in the military or Homeland Security or law enforcement, that would definitely be a program um that they should check out.
31. 16:14So many opportunities for uh lots of different types of students, um, and so we're really proud of our offerings and we continue to develop those offerings all the time. Stay there, okay, so I I've been sharing this because you probably hear a lot about artificial intelligence and that is something that is here, it's here to stay. Um, we're using it, we sometimes just don't know that we are using it, um, but you know this is just a uh some examples of some of the um headlines in in newspapers and articles about how AI is really changing.
32. 16:54So uh go to the next slide so you can talk about theam that are coming.
33. 17:00Sure, so we have some um new programs. So we have an education careers program that we're trying to Pilot at uh Klein technical school, so that would be a two-year version of the pathways and education course and it wouldn't Focus just on uh teaching but all of the careers that we need to fill in education. So um folks who are interested in being School psychologists or social workers or uh if they're interested maybe in special education, um, those will be things that we t talk about in that program.
34. 17:29And I really uh I'm mentioning that because right now enrollment for that program looks a little low, so I'm really hoping to um uh have that program go because we have a fantastic teacher in Waiting if we have enough um student interest. And um also it's definitely something that we need in the area, we need to be creating more teachers.
35. 17:50We also have a new electrical trades program that we're starting at Gibson in Troy. Um, so we're expanding a program so we're actually uh using a warehouse, we're renovating a warehouse at Gibson um to house heavy equipment and a new welding program, and that frees up a space that we're going to put an electrical trades lab in um because we know that that is also very much in demand in our region.
36. 18:15Um, we're also introducing um uh firefighting at the Klein campus. So we have an EMT program that students will be able to take senior year as an independent one-year program, but students can now also take um a firefighting program um and bundle those two as one program if they're interested in being an EMT and a firefighter. Um, we are one of a couple of schools that are trying to introduce firefighting programs because of the need for that across our state.
37. 18:49Um, and we have some different, we have also have that welding program that I mentioned at Gibson. And then you know uh on the special ed side of things, we're doing some different things in terms of the ratio that we have in classes to make better use of the adults that we have in classrooms. A lot of our classes have uh students with a lot of onetoone AIDS, and so we're experimenting with uh how do we do special education differently for the Next Generation.
38. 19:17So this very limited menu of um ways that special ed uh self-contained classes have been offered in the past, and so we're exploring with uh integrating uh things like uh you know OT and PT within those environments as opposed to pulling out students for those kinds of classes. Um, so we have some of those things going on, and um we have uh some reading Specialists that we're introducing into our middle level programs especially.
39. 19:47So um I think one of the things that happens sometimes in our self-contained programs that students don't have some of the things that they might have at their home district, and so reading is definitely one of those things that we found a lot of benefit for when we've invested in Reading in our elementary special ed programs. Um, but we're introducing that at our middle level programs, and um you know really hope to also uh introduce more um kind of special area courses for students in those programs too so that they can also make those the kind of full communities that you have here.
40. 20:22Thank you Jim, you, and now I'm going to ask Harry to talk about the purchas.
41. 20:31Here comes the boring part of the presentation. I can guarantee you one thing, I'm not going to be as eloquent as Jackson and Kenny, so let's give them another round of applause ladies and gentlemen. I just want to say we don't pick these students to come here, it's who volunteers, and I will say that I've never, I'm always amazed about how elegant this these students are and how they can communicate flawlessly. Quite frankly, I'm jealous of them, but one day I will I I I will aspire to be just like them, so thank you thank you guys.
42. 21:10Um, so I'm going to talk about money, that's that's important but kind of boring, but let's see how. This is a Sprinkle of some of the services that you guys have, purchasing obviously Korean technical education and special education are the ones that you have it you have it prescribed uh for um last year. Uh, you purchase about $4 million worth of B's Services. Uh, 1.2 million of that was for uh students for specialist Services, uh you know to serve students High need students right. Uh, the rest of the
43. 21:54services that you purchased um you know you uh receiving what we call bosses Aid which uh your bosses Aid ratio is 42% to be ex exact 42.9%. Now you don't get AED uh 100% on on what you buy because there's some uh deductions some um some non AED expenditures. So for example anything that you purchase from us that becomes property of the of the school district uh you know it doesn't get aided, salaries over $30,000 at the boss's level they they're not being aided so your actual Aid is is more like 38% right so it's it's it's about 4% lower than uh the state state a. And then for special education services you get what they call high cost aate which is a separate category of state that you receive uh for all um uh special students um again from this list Career and Technical education special heal education those are the uh services that account for most of that $4 million doar in purchases.
44. 23:10These are some additional services that are available uh to you. The Alternative Learning Program that's a new new program that uh we're trying to start this year based on uh requests from our superintendent. We do have committees uh they bring uh uh they are pain points to the table uh they say okay we need this type of services in order to better serve our students because at the end of the day all these programs were developed because we want to provide the best education possible for our students and not everyone or every single School District can have everything right. So our our purpose is to kind of figure out what the ISS of various school districts are and then put a program together to accommodate everyone. So uh like I said the alter 11 program a new program that were developing based on the superintendent uh ask.
45. 24:03Um the next slide uh it's about our administrative budget. Uh in April of every year our component School District boards come in to vote on our uh board members to elect Questa Three B's board members but also approve or disapprove our administrative uh budget. The administ ative budget is the only part of our budget that's allocated to the component school districts B based on R resident weed average daily attendance. Um the rest of the services that you are buying from uh from the bosses they are onee contract one year you decide to purchase the service the next year you can decide I'm not going to buy that service so there's no long-term commitment uh for the actual uh Services instruction servic for example when you buy uh from the bosses. The administrative uh budget once you become a member of a bosses then that's that's something that you are being allocated the administrative cost of deposits on an annual basis based on R so the the 2425 administrative budget is going up by 1.24%.
46. 25:21Uh this is what we call a contingency level budget so that means the budget St the same same with the exception of um other post employment benefits those are promises that we made to retire r that uh is is always part of the contingency budget so that budget hasn't grown other than what the growth was in the other post employment benefits. So it stayed the same with the exception of op uh now your allocation you're going to notice it increas a little bit more it's 2.6% instead of the 1.24% the reason is because the changes in the allocation methodology that uh your allocation increased a little bit to almost 5.4% of the total budget why because your R compared to the rest of the Region's R increase uh so therefore you got a higher uh percentage allocated to you.
47. 26:16Um you know as far as uh uh credits what we do is we do credit you with any interest income that we earn any indirect uh uh charges uh to federal grants and also any kind of administrative charges that we pass on to Statewide Services. We have a number of Statewide services that we charge the districts that purchase those services and administrative fee so we can relieve the administrative fee that our components are paying that amounts a little over it's about 20% of that budget is being uh taken care of by by those type of uh charges and miscellanous other income. So the after we give you the credit the charge uh is uh is going to be about 317,000 however you're being aided on that and also any additional money that we we earn in for example interest for uh uh for administrative charges to other uh non-component school districts that's also uh get credit as a surplus refund at the end of the year.
48. 27:29So uh the net cost to you for 2425 we estimate to be about $155,000 that's about $6,000 uh or uh6 or $7,000 more than what you paid to estimate the cost to be for this current year. So that's all that I had thank you.
49. 27:49So I want to call your attention to one pager you have um so this is a shot of the B services so you see some of the information that Harry uh just went over the this is a one year ma so4 million of purchase services in 2223. The boes they generated the um the percentage of the District budget that's compris the closy services B's Aid ratio for every dollar spent as said you get approximately 38 cents back the district share on the administrative budget and the Surplus refund. So when you purchase uh Services Harry talked about the mostes a you get that the following you look on the back you see a lot of what um Jim talked about so um and Har the purchase programs and services on the left side and then you have on the right side the number of District the different programs that Jim talked about are there any um questions from.
50. 29:10How's it determined how many seats Hudson gets in any of these um educational programs that you guys offer?
51. 29:20You want to answer that um I mean the short answer is it it depends on uh Hudson would like to send us um so there are some programs like New Visions that have caps um but generally the other programs are open um enrollment. There probably will be a time when we also have to look at um you know putting some kind of cap on stem high school ority high school enrollment um but we're not quite there yet and so we're able to take all the students like to enoll this program and then this year we're contemplating a second section if necessary some yeah. So the the really tough um the really tough course uh to right now is that new Visions medical.
52. 30:10program and I think you do have a student in the New Visions medical a lot of applicants for that and there's also a lot of demand for some of our CTE programs um for instance culinary arts is one that a lot of students want to get into and so we've had waiting lists in the past some of those programs so they basically there's an intake process uh that involves you know we go through the students who we look at you know their desire to be in the coursework we look at um um some other things like attendance and try to put in students who um you know really want those seats first um the problem is is that that we use a lot of worthy students unable to take uh you know courses that they want cosmology or culinary arts and so whenever possible now we're looking to possibly see if we can increase sections um to keep up with the demand that students have for those courses.
53. 31:12yes I just had a follow question about the attendance when you're looking at that are you waiting admission towards students that have a better attendance or maybe students that don't have such a good attendance in the regular program that could use that additional.
54. 31:27so that's a good question one of the things that we found is that um student attendance May improve if they're in a different kind of program but it's not going to be the kind of improvement that you'd like to see it's not as doesn't have that motivational effect on attendance that you might think it would although it does help some students find some relevance in a program and then they really want to attend programs but we do look at things like uh you know we're really looking at students who have not chronic absenteeism um and that will generally put them in a pretty good standing to get one of those slots as long as they haven't been had some product attendance problem so it can make pretty good to good um but it probably can't make you know chronic attendance issues into any other questions.
55. 32:24um in the past uh especially when I was coming to school quest star for me was what I thought of it was it wasn't like a junior college this seems like a lot of Junior College rhetoric um and there's there's a place where there's a gap so just like you mentioned having electrical and welding and all these service based jobs that are coming online because people are retiring most of the time children who are geared or FasTrack towards College are not going to need these programs because they're going off to colleges so wouldn't it be constructive or helpful to have students who have some of these um attendance or um low motivation issues with a regular High School be in these programs so that they can see a vision forward and see a future path forward because where where do they go.
56. 33:15no and and that's why we are creating the alternative ad program to see if we can with that program then um link it to our Career Technical LR because some of those students that have uh that have low interests or low attendance hope the hope is that we can get them excited and uh attending to the program so that they can then make transition into some of the other career Technic Jim you want to talk a little bit about that did I miss anything.
57. 33:47I don't think so yeah I think that that's it's a it's an excellent point so we need to have programs for all different kinds of kids um so there are some programs for you know kids who are really high flying honors Levels kids but there also needs to be programs for kids who haven't found their pathway yet and so we'll continue to build programming as needed until we're uh meeting their needs too so the the alide program that we're looking at doing um is not is designed to be kind of very much a career focused um Project based focused positive Community program um and that's an attempt to address some of that but you know we're always looking at ways to integrate students into um programs to help them find their thing.
58. 34:39so this alt Ed program has not come online yet.
59. 34:41no our hope is to um open in September thank you.
60. 34:45and all of our programs um uh are developed we can input of superintendent so we operate with uh superintendent input and different um um committees subcommittees we have an academic program subcommittee we have a um advocacy and Business Partnership subcommittee we have a district services subcommittee that kind of covers all of the other programming that are not instructional and then we also have uh the school the professional learning and Lead leadership of professional learning subcommittee that focuses a lot on uh professional growth for uh the entire School Community.
61. 35:32we just had a um very successful uh Regional professional development day with approximately 4,000 Educators from our region and the feedback has been very um.
62. 35:52you had a point about um you brought up in the beginning about board members being from different school districts has Hudson ever had a member from the Hudson board be on your board.
63. 36:02so um Mary gy was on the Hudson board and she is currently on our board um uh so when there's an O right now we have three open seats and three incumbents are running um but when there is a opening um we we reach out to the superintendent and we ask if there's anybody interested thank you.
64. 36:29the question was like do most of the other uh board members also serve on their District school boards or.
65. 36:33they must have yeah they must have uh served under on the uh District boards prior to the they don't need to be uh serving at that time but they had to have served on the the district uh and they can serve M yes they can m Mark man um Frank there's a few of them that are currently under component district and the is.
66. 37:10and just one more question about um amount of students enrolled is there like a a general ratio that you see of students in programs compared to like the number of students within a district that's a trend uh and is that data easy to like access where HS and Falls compared to.
67. 37:28we we could probably um we could probably because um so when I I talked about um the arada across the region we have the numbers for uh Hudson and uh we have the CT numbers for yeah so we can give you that those so I can send them to I can send them to to you have you have your actual yeah know.
68. 38:04it's like 46 students compared to like, 1600 overall like how does that compare to yeah yeah we cool
69. 38:13um in terms of uh what is it the purchase by the direct by District where do we fall in our because we you said it's 4 million right right where do we fall in terms of all the other districts in terms of
70. 38:28I think probably in line with the rest of the districts uh you know all all together we our revenues are about 90 million uh but again a lot of this um technology purchases the kind of things that is not down basis so to speak but I think you are you know comparable to to a school district your si as far as numbers conc but I will say I would say this I think I think hson is probably at advantage that close toch uh so you know we had some scenaries about 75,000 Square ft our uh R Celler uh Center which is the GI Center uh is only about 50 say has less programing that building that we have here so for example Welling we have had I've been here I've been at the bo for 30 years uh we had Welling uh since I got started 30 years ago we had we now starting a program um the uh Aviation program that's a program that's right around the corner from at the airport you don't have any comparable program uh in
71. 40:05and just just to add on the aviation program students are getting Pilots licenses at the end of their junior year and they're getting their instrument certification senior you there's uh big uh it's actually pretty impressive but big simulators within the classroom so that students can practice on any kind of aircraft they would want within the classroom but also students are going to uh richmore Aviation and and getting flight time during school so they could be you know flying in the morning coming back to your school and doing their classes in the afternoon so not an opportunity that a lot of uh schools have very few BS have that program it's a very expensive
72. 40:44because flight time is but having said that I I I I do I do recognize the fact that there's certain certain programs that are lit as far as how many students we can accommodate so I I just want to give you an update happen our client Center here on the um we we have a multiyear plan actually I just did ANP to hire the architect that we're going to be renovating that building with uh the intention to use the efficient the space as efficiently as possible so we can add more programs so we can uh deal with because 30 years AG when I went out thees marada for the old region was 44,000 students right that's how many students think about this week that's how many students were in the buildings on on an average of a day right uh we are down to 29,000 uh however technical education uh Services you know enrolments are increasing because good for good reasons yeah they're they're great programs you know more students that can go the better it is
73. 42:01um have you thought about offering um to parents at on a page
74. 42:04so we are going to be doing some adult classes can you talk about that y sure all
75. 42:12so um we we actually are developing some adult ed programs there's actually one um in C equipment that is going to start pretty soon so folks can um Lear can uh their training to get their cbls um that's definitely something that schools can benefit from but something that um you know the trucking industry and lots of other Industries can benefit from more folks that have their CDLs as we're developing the new welding facility we hope to bring an adult ad welding program online um we're looking at adult ad programs um all time
76. 42:51thank you thank you thank you again for uh the invitation and there we will get those numbers we'll get those numbers to um to the superintendent but uh so she can share with you but um you know there are other questions that come up please reach out we'll be happy to get a response thank you very much
77. 43:28any yeah e e e
78. 45:36and we're really happy that you invited us back to share our thinking about it today I want to tell you that I'm here with um the executive committee of HDC that includes Phil Foreman Phil raise your hand Phil is the treasur Nick hadad's the vice president and Paul Barrett is the secretary and this team plus some other of our board members been thinking about this building for almost a year um we we have put a lot of time and energy into um speaking to people in the community speaking to other organizations and and kind of getting a feel for what this building could be and I but before I start I just want to read you um something that I came across in our in our studies about a school building I'm going to read it because I didn't memorize it
79. 46:20one of the most revered structures in any Community is a school building School serve as landmarks make a left at the school I'll meet you at the school the parade will step off in front of the elementary school school buildings were the safe everyday places that parents took their children to learn and grow giving them experiences with other kids and other adults and where everyone marked a right of passage moving up day and graduation ceremonies the adult community members that learned in these buildings the schools represented fond memories of childhood of specific friends and teach teachers and experiences that Define them well into their adulthood and when they see the school buildings they attended it brings up a flood of private memories when schools are shuttered the Halls which once had many hours of happy conversation laughter teasing and friendships are silent and so too a part of a community history is silenced
80. 47:19according to our research of national statistics on closed Public Schools anywhere from 1 1200 to 2200 schools in America shut each year Hudson is not the only town with an empty School building but I can't scroll this okay here we go here we go sorry
81. 47:35um the question is what do you do with a closed School an old school presents some really unique challenges for one it's built for a specific use for people to arrive in the morning spend the day in the classrooms for Learning and then go home at night it isn't like a warehouse that has a large open space with multiple possible uses an empty tablet to create something brand new it isn't an old Main Street
82. 48:02office building that could be gutted and turned into Apartments an old school will usually only work as another school of a similar size or a project for an anchor tenant that needs this amount of space and can uh spend the money to renovate it. There though though the challenges are many when it comes to renovating these old schools, the opportunities for community communities are extensive with the help of visionary communities. Many of these old buildings with intriguing and important parts of their history can be preserved and reimagined for a modern purpose, and that's why we're here tonight.
83. 48:40The Hudson development Corp has a vision for how we can reinvent jonell Edwards as a Hudson Hub as a curated landscape of opportunities for inspiration education youth programs and child care services for the much needed benefit of all of Hudson Citi. We've been studying the ways to repurpose this building for all of the Hudson for the last 6 months. I said a year I think it's more like a year. It's a big project but we're certain we have the best use for the John El Edwards building and we're delighted to share our thinking with you tonight.
84. 49:10So um with that I'm gonna I don't know okay Paul is gonna Paul's gonna assist me in the slide because you know I'm bad with slides. So this is the building you're all really well familiar with some of did how many of you went to school there yeah one okay.
85. 49:28Will um we we went into the history room at the Hudson Library uh yesterday and a few days ago and we found some very interesting documents about when it opened when it was when it was first built how excited everyone was. There's some amazing brochures to get the community excited about getting behind the building of the school. So um this is the building that we've had in our thoughts and every day when I drive by it I I think to myself about the days that kids first came there as young people so go ahead.
86. 49:59We we began by looking at some of the things in Hudson that we really wanted to know more about and one thing is Hudson education. We know that you do a good job in the school system and you work really hard at doing it. Most of you are Educators and you you deal with kids every day. There are some kids in the school district that you struggle with a little bit and they don't some of them don't graduate and some of them when they graduate don't see themselves as having a pathway to a future College. Many of them do but the that don't are the ones we're sort of thinking about.
87. 50:27Um the the opportunity for a job and a career path is something that we feel this building could give some of the students in Hudson that that fall into those categories that you're all working hard to figure out what to how to solve that problem. Um and many we we you know many don't see themselves as College material but also many kids don't know how to feel on a college campus and bosis is giving that experience in a lot of ways to kids and you know Hudson uh high school and Hudson is doing the same thing with um with Bard. But we see we see this building is still having a great use for Education next.
88. 51:05There's some really fabulous educational Partnerships within hardly any distance of here. You you all know Columbia Green community college is only three and a half miles away. Um they have a lot of programs for kids who are not but they also are Reinventing how they educate kids because programs are smaller they're not two degree twoyear degree programs as much but they're training scaling in certain areas that kids can come away with a certificate that they could get a job. And they're very excited about the idea of bringing these kinds of programs to Hudson in a walkable in a walkable capacity for Hudson students also for adults.
89. 51:40Bard barart Early College they're already in Hudson they've been here for a while as you all know college for high schoolers. They offer two classes currently and you know they they have a big desire to increase that enrollment in Hudson. They do this program other places besides Hudson but they're very excited about bringing more of this to the guidance community and the school system so that they get more kids come to these program the other next slide.
90. 52:09Um The Culinary Institute of America um the har of cooking um 40 miles south of Hudson micro programs for certification. They have these programs they provide the professors the curriculum and the cour work and they come to other campuses and they can have bless you. University of Al 45 44 miles north of Hudson steam grants are available for science technology engineering engineering art and math programs. These programs could go on in this building.
91. 52:37And child care you all know about the child care dilemma in Hudson. Uh since 2009 there's been a 64% drop in regulated Child Care programs. There's a lot of child care going on regulated is a key word in that sentence. Uh there's a lot of families stubbing up grandparents aunts uncles and also lot of kids in school are asked to stay home when their parents have to work to take care of their siblings their younger siblings. So this this this child care um component in this in this school would be huge. Um it would allow parents to have reliable you know reliable employment and also en allow people to enroll in classes that would teach them things that they could go out and get you know a better job.
92. 53:22Hospitality Hudson's known for hospitality by 2026 we know that the there will be you know many needs for Hospitality Staffing from everything from from culinary to hospitality front desk Client Services hosp you know cleaning and servicing buildings. The Hudson culinary scene is growing and we've heard uh as a conservative estimate that there will be 60 to 100 new jobs. So we could have have this kind of training going on in this building uhoh how do we do this.
93. 53:58Um you know the building uh it's you know is it's five and three acres and 89,500 square ft uh it's designed by a very significant architectural firm. Whoever's whoever you know got behind this idea of building a school really picked a great firm there kind of well known. Um we've been in this building so many times with the help of the facilities people we've taken people through it. It's um in really good shape it we know we know what's wrong with it because we've been studying it for the last six months um we've gotten
94. 54:33estimates on certain aspects to upgrade it current current money updates um but in general the building is in really good shape.
95. 54:43this one is you already know this already but um it's four levels you know that we we had planed the main level we've been using a feasibility study that H to which they did in 2019 and it was a really well thought out study they worked really hard on it and we used that as our blueprint so we've been rearranging our thinking within the building but basically what they did is really still good.
96. 55:07the main level would be where where SAR we can move right out not right in but yeah pretty right in okay culinary education the kitchen's there okay you know it doesn't still have all its appliances all its Refrigeration all that but basic shell is there the hi Park people could come they could tell us what kind of classroom they wanted to make there we could figure out how to configure it so that classes could take place in there or once classes are over it could be could be used for cooking.
97. 55:41the classrooms are so wonderful they're they have beautiful windows out the back as you all probably know um you know Columbia greine Community College could use these classrooms and guard could use these classrooms and there there are many other and both of these could use these classrooms too because some of the programs they're doing are things that work in this building.
98. 56:06dayare there's rules and rigs for daycare in New York state they're much stricter than just St kids in and out of school so the rooms would have to be you know set up for the legal aspect of daycare how many kids per square inch I don't think it's done in but uh how many kids water bathrooms but the classrooms all have water and bathro so seems pretty doable to us.
99. 56:30the city government opportunity this is a tremendous um opportunity for Hudson Hudson's been laboring their administrative offices in buildings that were originally for other things and they're not on one place they're you know that you've all been in them I'm sure um but there's a tremendous economy of scale to move all city government in one place so that the building is supported but also if you go for something there's all those offices are in there the treasur the mayor they just renovated City Hall for over a million dollars and they were in the firehouse where they were waiting.
100. 57:05and uh they liked working there together they told us they got along they had lunch together and they they directed and they were more productive so one one location would be good um it also will give Hudson employees um a sense of that they're working in a in a city that's progressively thinking modern it's moving towards the future and we think that'll have a big impact on on on the city output um and and Municipal image will be better.
101. 57:37these are the buildings if they sold these three buildings that they own um and they were back on the tax RS it would generate approximately $30,000 per year in an additional School tax revenue so uh and also it would these buildings as I just said they're not really configured for what they're doing um and they would sell them and you know they would be repurposed and it would be back on to TX.
102. 58:03the council chamber could take place in here this wouldn't necessarily be a retrofitted just for the council this room could be used for other Town Hall meetings you know um hearings what whatever needs a big public space because right now there isn't a space in Hudson for people to come to a to a to an event and listen and talk so this would be good.
103. 58:24Civic offices you all know how what a what a change uh cubicles made but uh this is a perfectly great way to work and much better than what they currently are doing now.
104. 58:38the gym incredible the youth center the youth center right now is is desperately needing more space they feel they could use 11,000 square F feet not including the gym just for programs the kids are all packed together and they they can't separate them by as much as they would like to some need more homework older kids younger kids this building would provide a tremendous ability for the Youth Department to really really Implement programs that they want to do and and the youth center the youth Department's growing.
105. 59:13okay this is the feasibility study of 2019 what have we been doing all this time why are we still here um we we realize that our capacity as a board might not include the kind of thinking that we would need to really really push on this and and get to the bottom of it could we do it would we be good at it so we engaged a firm in Manhattan called denim wolf there are nonprofit they work with nonprofits like us who who don't have real estate experience they keep us on our mission which which we want to stay on we're not going to just become real estate developers but they also know how to think about a building and how to think about repurposing it and they've done it before many many times.
106. 59:50we've had three months work with them they're really task Masters they keep us on the point they have a week we have a weekly Zoom meeting where we have assignments and we have come back with the answers so and we're good at that um we formed a building committee which is comprised of an a local engineer a local architect and um and and a a local contractor um Nick haded was involved in re rebuilding the Finish Line uh athletic Health CL into the police station so he's been down that road of repurposing a city building back up again and um these people have collaborated with us on phone calls about what we would need to do uh to to to repurpose this space.
107. 1:00:31um we developed a preliminary proor proforma is a is a financial document that tells you if the building is going to be healthy will it be a financially healthy building and we're not close to being finished with that because we have so many unknowns and part of the unknowns for us is we don't have site control over the building we don't have a deal but constantly speculating for what we changed this and that and this and that and and that will come along it's not uncommon to still have Pro for would be kind of not right yet.
108. 1:01:04um city government we talked to city government they haven't said they're moving in there we haven't talked them into that
109. 1:01:12Yet um but um we we feel that we feel that they can we can find a way to help them understand you know the benefits of it and as they there is they're wondering you know there is curious about our plans as as as we're forming them it's a big idea and I'm sure oops I'm sure they'll come around. This is where the Masones died. Okay no. Okay um tenants this is a huge issue. Um what does a tenant need when you say to a tenant how much space would you need if I gave you they'd say I don't know you know I need I need I would do this and I do that.
110. 1:01:51So we've talked at Wy green Community College they're very enthusiastic bringing some not only um you know CTE kinds of classes but also some Modern classes like drone certification and you know in a in a cannabis of whatever I don't know a path to cannabis something um and and so uh them we talked to Bard College they're very excited about it I've talked to H Park they are very excited about it there there's there there's a lot of interest and both these who I haven't been able to talk to and I didn't know who to talk to I would now I have talko I would probably be calling them up too.
111. 1:02:28Um we have engaged financial institutions um about the financial aspects of this obviously the renovation of this building will take a tremendous amount of money once we know what the pro fora is and once we know what people's needs are maybe some people could just take the classrooms we have to make the building safe and viable and that's our first and foremost effort we be doing that um and um and and that will take money there's a lot of grants for this kind of work and we have a grant writer that we've hired who's working on figuring out what grants would apply to what.
112. 1:03:01And uh it the grants as most of you probably know these kinds of Grants from the state are um you have to spend the money to get it back they be a versible grants so it would require Bank funding Bank financing for us to make the changes and we would phase the building probably because we can't afford to do it all at one time um but it's um all of the pieces of making a complicated story like this change into a really great happy ending we're working hard on every day.
113. 1:03:31And um you know we we believe that that this would be a feter in the cap of the school board and you know for having having have this vision and we also feel that um the city of Hudson so many people in Hudson would benefit from having this building delivering still what it was always giving which is you know break services to a wide range of people kid and adults uh in the future and you know we we are excited about it every day. So does anybody have any questions?
114. 1:04:05So are you so is HDC looking to entirely fund this with grants what are the funding sources that you consider?
115. 1:04:11No to the grants would well we' be looking to fund anything we could refund with the grants right so the the certainly the construction aspect of renovating the building would definitely be you know we would be looking for Grants to get but also we would financing to cover the spending it to get the job done and then the grants would pay back the Mone.
116. 1:04:29Chris can I jump in yeah Bill uh on on on the on the treasurer so I spend much time uh on worrying about the numbers worrying about the costs and and uh uh working through the possibilities.
117. 1:04:44So on on on the funding to be uh what Chris was talking about was uh going forward making sure that we create uh a safe viable space for all the the resources and I like to think of them as centers of excellence for Hudson whether it's for little kids big kids adults or anyone else uh to occupy and get the best possible uses of the building uh against our mission which is is creating opportunity for Hudson for people to do stuff to work uh to create things.
118. 1:05:37Uh that's going to take some external funding and that's hard work but it's not undoable work because we know that our uses are relevant to folks in Albany they are relevant to the major banks in the area and we're talking to all of them so a hard slog to populate that and make sure that gets done.
119. 1:06:05But from the board's point of view you all are paying a bunch uh or or some bunch to to support uh what is an empty structure and that we can get done uh pretty straight up we have the cash to do that.
120. 1:06:27Our offer includes a due diligence period as youve read and during that period we we're not starting from scratch with like figuring out what's wrong with the building that isn't our goal our building our goal is to figure out how to do the building and so that's a very different thing. Most developers come in and they have a due diligence period and they haven't had the luxury of of you know knowing the building knowing the community and knowing the the um the feasibility study which which was a hug for us usually the pap or something like that and then and then learn.
121. 1:06:58So our our mission right now in that time period is to really get the ground running find out about the costs to do what certain Renovations that we know will need to be done and um and also try to keep what's keepable because there we don't know I mean the building the H pack was turned off but maybe we turned it back on we would find that it still work it was working when that turned off. Um we're not looking at it from the negative side we're looking at it as exciting and trying to understand it.
122. 1:07:30Yeah um for me the most um appealing part would be the idea of a city center um as well as giving the Youth Department a space I can't imagine any person who's in who's a public servant not necessarily a politician could not see this as a benefit um especially when the building that the Youth Department is currently in it's less it hasn't served its its occupants since the'80s um so I I don't know why what's the delay in that part but I wish you God speed on that because I mean if you do what you're going to do and you do what you're presenting there will be many
123. 1:08:04people trying to buy your hand to get a space in that building that's the deal and you know the child care component I went and met with um families of Woodstock and also Child Care Connections and um and they they're they are so excited about this because they take maybe 100 calls a day from people about childcare and they don't have solutions they say call these daycare facilities they give them a list of names and they say maybe somebody will drop out you know that's not a good situation. also they introduced me to the idea of overnight daycare which is shift work daycare which is late hours and that requires a certain kind of um setup you know know like Cs and stuff and um and uh so that that's something that we're also looking into because a lot of the jobs in the Hudson area resence are sh so thank you.
124. 1:09:02thank you very much you very next presentation is a proposal for redesign of the c yeah we can go I think we can thank you thank you.
125. 1:09:51so tonight um Bo tion you'll hear about a proposal for Blu Hawk Academy upon my arrival here in um September we did have the bloh hawk Academy however as part of my 125 day plan it was a gathering of information and doing A needs assessment um concerning the current Blu Hawk Academy and So based on my needs assessment um I deduced that we needed to have a different structure in our Blue Hawk Academy or we need to have structure. so um from that um I empowered a te the team the Blu Hawk team along with u Mrs robinowitz and the just uh building admin from the junior high and the senior high and their team to uh work with um George Dr George Parker to come up with a proposal and a design and you'll hear more about the process and how we got here.
126. 1:11:00thank you Dr pennyman and good evening Board of Education members and Community uh this evening as Dr pennyman said we're going to speak about the blue hawk redesign proposal I'm my role is to give a brief introduction and then I'll turn it over to my colleagues. so the first thing is we'd like you to meet the team so there are some team members who are here this evening with us of course Dr pennyman Dr pressy Dr Parker Dr Parker you want to wave yep uh myself uh and Mrs Cooper and also Molly um there are some other team members uh we also included our students who were that they're not here this evening but they were part of this process okay.
127. 1:11:35um what I'd like to say is okay the team visited a few school districts and in a few moments you'll hear about the details some of them were in person some of them were virtual but our whole goal was looking at programs that had successful achiev AI it we wanted to really do that for our students. so without further Ado I'll introduce you to Molly start with Molly thank you.
128. 1:12:05you're welcome.
129. 1:12:07good evening everyone even so my name is Molly zooker and I'm the associate principal of the blue hawk Academy and it's a pleasure to be here and to share with you all and I'm really grateful for this opportunity to be able to to be a part of this Innovative program.
130. 1:12:23so why Blue Hawk Academy why did we need to start this in the first place and back in February of last year they it was decided that there were a lot of students who just weren't fitting the mold of regular education and they needed extra support they were struggling academically and behaviorally and we needed to to do something for them. so that the purpose of the whole Blu Hawk Academy was to give them extra support so that they could stay in school and so they could graduate and that that was our goal.
131. 1:12:57so where were we and where we are so back in February of 20123 we launched the original Blue Hawk Academy and that included grades 7 through 12 they had a a staggered schedule so they started later in the day at 10:00 and they finished at 4:00 they had an online program for their academics and it was a focus on relationship building and Community networking.
132. 1:13:23so looking at this year so the current school year what did we do differently we kept well what we did the same was we kept the grades grade 7 through 12 but this time we pushed into regularly scheduled classes and then they would come to the blue hawk Academy for their study halls. we were able to incorporate some Community circles either during their study halls or designated times during the month and we also were able to incorporate some career shadowing.
133. 1:13:55some of the challenges that existed with the the initial model was the online program the academics we didn't have an academic person and so that like a designated person for the online program so that created some some issues. the staggered schedule when 237 hit and all the other students were leaving the building the Blu Hawk students were checked out mentally so that that created an issue. they also felt separated from the rest of the student population and transportation was an issue because of the staggered schedule we had some students riding on a bus for an hour and of course it was an extra cost to do the schedule that way so we made some adjustments.
134. 1:14:39and so this current year we went back to a normal day schedule and so that included regular Transportation the blue hawk students felt more connected and we were able to offer a couple cohort math sections.
135. 1:14:53now we also had had some challenges this year because we were pushing into regularly scheduled classes it meant that we weren't able to um have cohorts scheduled together for most of the classes and so because of that we weren't able to have that same sense of community. the previous year they really focused on building the culture and Community within bluehawk and that piece was lacking this year because we had to push into the regular education classes and that feedback was consistent with the students that they missed that that they want that.
136. 1:15:27so to give you a bit of a timeline of what we've accomplished over this past school year um some of the things that have been ongoing we we've been working on our development of communication and opportunities for feedback hearing from parents hearing from various stakeholders like I mentioned the students. and starting in September and October we started the Blu Hawk Academy redesign team which included Dr Parker and his Consulting and then in October and November we started networking with some different
137. 1:15:59school districts such as Newberg West Shen and kakaki Athens we also hired a driver and monitor to help with transportation and a bluehawk administrator in December and January the team continued to collaborate on the redesign of the academy and in February and March we began our implementation process. so we can as part of of that process we conducted a SWAT analysis which means We examined some of the internal and external factors that are affecting our success.
138. 1:16:31so some of the strengths that we determined was our staffing the staff that we have were able to provide relationships and build that Community with our our students from the last year and holding on to that and trying to strengthen it this year and that's honestly the power of our program is the students being able to build those relationships with the staff members. um The Academy leadership is supported by the district and building leadership so we're we're not struggling on our own we're supported by our school Community. we also have physical space if you know down in the techwing we have several different classrooms so we're able to feel like we can spread out and utilize different areas and there's a definite student interest.
139. 1:17:16I'm constantly having students coming up to me and asking hey when can I join bluehawk how do I get into this program I need this. one of some of our weaknesses we have a lack of academic instructional staff. we also have struggled with the student scheduling which is going to support our community development. so we know that some of our opportunities that we have in this um this redesign is to recreate a profile of what our Blu Hawk Academy student looks like.
140. 1:17:46we need to reset our expectations for parents and for students and we're continuing to add citizens citizenship community service and Leadership to the program. we're also revisiting the Staffing model and how we are putting together the academics. some of the threats that are part of this study is that we have a continued frustration and lack of stakeholder support for the academy and we are have feeling uh threatened with the purposeful effort to Rebrand the redesigned Academy and we need to include a mission a vision and program details.
141. 1:18:25so trying to continue with um communication we need a strategic communication plan with that we also need transparency with uh appropriate opportunities to receive and um review and receive our stakeholder feedback. so we've thought of some ways that we can work with that.
142. 1:18:45so reimagining the bluehawk academy after collaborating with the various schools and with Dr Parker and the team we concluded that a cohort model is the model that we would like to go with and it will focus on the senior high school students with an intense focus on our ninth and 10th graders. and so what that would look like is period one the students will have a check-in time that will help them to reenter get them emotionally connected to where they are and we will provide core classes within our Blu Hawk Academy space. we also want to have designated teachers to teach those courses.
143. 1:19:23that then we also want to limit the students travel by themselves which means as best as possible we want to create a shared schedule and that will help provide accountability for the students and also for the staff so we can have someone going with them they know what assignments they have they know what was going on during third period so that we can provide that additional support for these students.
144. 1:19:49so here would be an example of what um a schedule would look like like like I mentioned period one will be an emotional check-in Community Circle time to start off the day then periods two and three would be core classes held in the bluehawk academy space period four would be physical education and a science lab alternating days period five would be lunch period six and seven another two core classes happening in the Blu Hawk Academy space period eight they would travel out to an elective as a group and then period nine they would Return to the Blue Hawk space for College and Career Readiness various skills that I'll talk about later.
145. 1:20:33so then let's talk about the 11th and 12th graders we're looking at a slow release model for those students they will attend regular education classes they will still participate in bluehawk Academy community activities they will need to meet different um Credit requ Credit requirements and they will provide mentorship to our nth and 10th graders. they will also have more of a focus on the college readiness and career exploration which will be an expectation that they will do and part of those skills will be Workforce skill development resumé writing financial literacy and 21st century skill development.
146. 1:21:16so what does this student look like what kind of student are we looking for the blue hawk Academy like we said 9th through 12th graders scheduled for regular education classes pursuing a standard high school diploma they do not require specialized instruction they have average to below average attendance they have the capacity to learn but they need motivation and support to be able to achieve it which is why they need those extra therapeutic supports. they also exhibit extreme barriers to academic success which may take a variety of forms. they also don't exhibit a aggressive behavior towards staff and students.
147. 1:21:57It's really important to note that the academy is not an alternative location for students who are on short or long-term suspension and the reason for that is part of the power of the blue hawk Academy is creating that culture creating a community where the students want to come where the staff have relationships with them and they are encouraging them on a regular basis and so we want to be able to maintain that. and a lot of these students feel defeated a lot of these students feel like they're failing and they need that encouragement on a regular basis sometimes just to get them to come to school and then our staff are going to help them to move beyond that.
148. 1:22:38so what is the enrollment process look like we would start with a recommendation which can come from anyone School Personnel family members the student might say um I think that blueh Hawk might be a good fit for me that's all great we're going to give them an application they fill that out we're going to ask that applications be submitted twice a year 30 days before the start of school 30 days before the second semester. and the reason that we want to move away from Rolling enrollment is because again we are trying to create a culture and a community where we want people to feel like they belong and we're not
149. 1:23:16constantly changing the Dynamics of that that culture so after the application submitted there'll be um an elig ility review will'll conduct that by the bluehawk staff then if they are invited to an interview a family member and student will be interviewed by bluehawk Academy staff and after that if they're approved the family member and the student will both sign a contract saying that they agree to what we're asking them for because we really need that connection between the the family member and the student to make this program succeed.
150. 1:23:50now I'd like to point out that at two different times after the eligibility review and after the interview if it's deemed that a student is not a good fit for the Blu Hawk Academy then the staff and the school will still meet with the family members to discuss what supports we have in place that will still help that student because clearly they talked to bluehawk for a reason and they they said we need to support this student and so we don't want to leave them feeling like there's nothing for them in our school but this program is not for every student so we want to try to support them through that process.
151. 1:24:27so some of the enrichment activities that we want to provide continuing with the community outreach that bluehawk has been doing we want to partner with outside organizations some of our businesses nonprofits our local farms secondary education programs in the area and community service projects we've partnered in the past with Salvation Army and looking to work with the local food bank.
152. 1:24:54we'll have different rewards programs and incentive based activities and conducting industry tours we also want event participation so our students are visible to the community and it gives them an opportunity to contribute to our community.
153. 1:25:12for college readiness we want to provide college tours College admissions visits and help the students with the application process Workforce Development we want to to give our students some career exploration options job shadowing provide guest speakers 21st century skills steam coding and AI exposure.
154. 1:25:36so the blue hawk Academy staff I referenced them earlier they are truly the power of this program and so I want to acknowledge who they are and what their roles are we have Darnell Harris our driver and monitor Eric Gregory is our teachers assistant Larry Walker our restorative justice specialist Megan amandola our school counselor and Molly zooker the associate principal.
155. 1:26:02excuse me we have an open position for a social worker and we will be needing core teachers for those ninth and 10th graders so now I will pass it over to our Junior High Principal Mrs Cooper.
156. 1:26:22so good evening everyone thank you for joining us so my part in this is to focus on why is it that we have chosen to focus on Grade 9 to 12 part of the reason is because we visited two schools and both schools had only grades 9 to 12 so we wanted to model that after what we have here at um bluehawk Academy.
157. 1:26:46um we also want to start with one program and do it with Fidelity when you do something well when you start small and obviously when you do it Fidelity obviously it has the potential to grow and potential to do better other programs that we I mentioned before are only 9 to 12 and also for social and safety reasons we know that middle school students and Junior High School students we know for certain that when they at this age their emotional needs are different from the high school needs so we want to make sure that we provide them the opportunity to Foster that relationship with them before going into other places where they may not be able to may not be to their best interest.
158. 1:27:23the high school students as we mentioned before the junior high school students we mentioned before they're not at the same stage developmentally so we want to make sure we continue to Foster that relationship with them so we continue to support them.
159. 1:27:38the junior high school also um students they do not accou credit to the same level as the high school students do they of course we have some accelerated classes for earth science but we want to make sure that we continue to provide our students because with the support that they need at the junior high school.
160. 1:27:55so what does that mean for us so next step for us at the junior high school is to build our capacity to have restorative practices last year we had the first cohort of teachers and staff members who attended the restorative practice so this year we have a second cohort and the goal for next year is to implement it schoolwide.
161. 1:28:15we have some classes where we see restive practices being implemented and we encourage our staff members who are not doing it to come in and actually see it being mod model because I think it's important that they see it so they can replicate it in their classrooms.
162. 1:28:26also we want to increase parental involvement because we do know that when parents see that their children may not be doing well we want to make sure that we support them for a very early age and continue that same progress so that when they get to the junior high they continue to be fored and create a team a tier of support from our students through branching Minds.
163. 1:28:47this is something new for our district which we're going to um speak more about but the idea behind is what interventions are there for students that are struggling how do we ensure that we have a plethora of resources for students that are struggling so that our teachers can continue to provide them with those resources that they need in order for them to become more successful.
164. 1:29:11so what do we do next so one of the things that we've done um is to create a strong recommendation process from J the junior high school to BHA and also provide the opportunity for BHA staff to interact with our students to get to know them to F to build that relationship in that Bond and provide BHA as a channel for our students that would like to attend in the fall.
165. 1:29:34so having said that we recently met with our eighth grade staff and of course with our eighth grade counselors we created a tentative list based on the criteria that was set by um bluehawk Academy we vetted the list myself and Mrs Cornell trying to figure out which which students will best fit the criteria set by ba ha and to try to create or ensure that there is that continuity in transitioning our students that will be best fitted for the program so I'm going to turn it over to miss.
166. 1:30:06so in summary I just want to
167. 1:30:09acknowledge some of the key components of our program the redesign We are continuing to have an emphasis on relationships the blue hawk staff are super crucial to that and also building relationships not just with our students but with our families as as well and Community Building within the bluehawk academy so creating that sense of community with the students also providing academic um opportunities and supports we really believe that cohort model will help the students as they travel together have a shared schedule and provide that accountability for students in those um in that model and then providing College and Career Readiness with the workforce skill development college visits and various business partners ships and as we work to strengthen our student selection process as Mrs Cooper um talked about we are collaborating with our eighth grade team which includes administrators counselors and teachers and conducting our student and parent interviews.
168. 1:31:09so our timeline moving forward from now until September we um we are starting our recruitment of staff and by April and May we hope to have our student selection for next year finished and in May and June we will talk with our parents and our students conducting interviews and receiving signed contracts by July we hope to have the completion of all of our staff hired in August we will be developing our Pro program guidelines orientation planning for new and returning students and their parents we will continue to have ongoing identification of community and business Partnerships as well as our strategic communication plan and in September we will have our student orientation and host an open house for our families.
169. 1:32:00so we'd like to offer this opportunity to the board of education to see if you have any questions for the redesign team
170. 1:32:08I have a couple sure um I was just wondering is well first how many students are we looking at
171. 1:32:17that's a great question so currently we have 29 students that are in our program and we're looking to do about 35 as we move forward
172. 1:32:27okay and then I was wondering is this like a so is this a commitment for four years so you start in nth grade and then you stay with it until 12th grade but like suppose after one year you want you don't want to do it can you like get out I guess
173. 1:32:43yeah I I would say so it's not like uh you must commit to four years or you can't join at all it's a ongoing process like is it working for you this year okay continue oh not a good fit like so not a not a four-year commitment to start
174. 1:32:57okay and then my last question is about the the teachers are you looking for four core teachers or would teachers be teaching like two subjects and will they be teaching both n9th and 10th grade
175. 1:33:10that's a great question as well so we're not looking to bring in new teachers to do this these would be teachers that are already within our school district and it would be part of their schedule oh okay mhm
176. 1:33:23yes so if you're to come down from 7th to 12th down to 9th to 12th does that mean that you will have seventh grade people who kids who finish seventh grade in the blueh hawk program this year who will not be in it for 8th grade next year
177. 1:33:36so that will happen for one student okay MH and are there support systems being developed yes there is a plan for that student
178. 1:33:48but the eighth graders who are currently in the program will transition to the nth grade yes
179. 1:33:55any yes um one thing I just wanted to say I really appreciated was hearing that you're soliciting feedback from students to help improve the program that feels so important to hear that the school is doing that in this program um and then just wanted could you say more about what the application process is like is it online is there someone in the program who helps the family fill it out if they're the ones filling it out
180. 1:34:19that's a great question we're still in the process of developing that that being being said it's yes it's going to be online it's going to be paper it's going to be whatever it looks like for that student to need to be able to apply um I've had some parents who have reached out and some students who have reached out so sending it to the direction that it needs to go and then following up where we need to and just like with anything else in our program sometimes we have to offer a lot of supports to get things to happen so we'll probably be doing a lot of that in the application process meaning we're not necessarily G to say you need to be assertive to make this happen does that answer your question okay
181. 1:35:00um I just want to say first thank you for the presentation from everyone um I'm happy to hear that this is not a program which you know socials and chatter will have you think these are the students that are unwanted or who can't focus or can't make it this is a place where they're clearly going to be taken care of and the world is hard enough like having a space in a school where you can feel like you have someone that understands you that can walk you through that can help you through when you don't have family that can do that is really important for our students I think so I just want to say thank you for that thank you
182. 1:35:33um yeah and I just go to like the SWAT analysis I agree that transparency is is really great and this is a really great start to communicating the goals of the program I wanted to ask about there's one point that is continued frustration and lack of stakeholder support for the Academy are there like specific instances or like pain points that that experienced
183. 1:35:55I just said that the socials and all that all that negative stuff you hear about but you can add
184. 1:35:58yes and and I think sometimes even within our school there were there were definitely a lot of negative feelings in the beginning towards the academy and we're really working to to Rebrand it and I I really honestly think we turned the tide we had a presentation for this on Friday uh the superintendence day Friday two weeks ago and the amount of positive feedback that I got after sharing a very similar presentation was overwhelming and so I I really think that that piece has has shifted which I'm really grateful for
185. 1:36:33yeah that's great I mean we've always like talked about this as you know we should be trying things that can work here and can be applied to all of the
186. 1:36:41programs that we do here and the more successful this is I think the everybody will benefit from right and so continuing to figure out what we need to tweak to make it better definitely any other questions no okay thank you very much thank you all we appreciate the opportunity to be able to do this so thank
187. 1:37:11[Music]
188. 1:37:18you all right stretch everybody because you got to wake up now that's really why everybody's here I mean room thank you for being here thank you oh the crowd clear right out um well thank you to all the fellow presenters for getting everybody warmed up for me um it's kind of interesting how everything that was presented today really ties into all things I'm about to talk about as well um it's kind of a nice full circle situation so just want to say thank you for all of that um I presented about two weeks ago on our proposed budget there's a few changes to this one still to come though is the state budget um the most recent feedback I've seen and read is that due to the holiday that is coming um the meetings are going to change and shift and the budget's probably not going to be on time which means hopefully April 2nd or 3rd hopefully before our next budget presentation but the crunch is on for Dr pettman and myself to give you guys something more solid um at that next budget presentation in April so let's tie it back to what we're here for our vision and our mission this is what's on our website now this is how we're our vision is right now as we're working through our strategic plan it's important to point these things out because this is the focus of all we do here including the budget I won't read it for you but this is I always like to bring it back to that Additionally the purpose the six keys to this success that Dr pennyman has already presented in 125-day plan and things in this slide this what I was tying to have already been presented tonight right so structural strengthening our instructional leadership capacity we're doing things with this Blu Hawk redesign great things with that um strengthening instructional core also blueh Hawk um improving data driven practices blueh Hawk um promoting a positive inclusive School environment we're looking at building relationships with community members looking at that building the the elementary school um increasing and monitoring accountability tying it back to bosis uh came and did their presentation that's monitoring and accountability of how we're spending our money programs we're offering for students and the tiered approach to school support interventions also what they're doing with that Hawk Academy what is our budget at a glance at this point um so all of our general fund student programs and services are are going to be maintained um what does that mean I'm we're trying to hold together what we have right now and build from there right so we're building a new foundation for how we're going to move forward um we're looking at the 2% tax levy still and um which will be below the tax cap the district tax cap which was 3% which will we'll talk about in a few more minutes and we're going to continue to invest in in classroom in instruction and student supports here's some historical data because I think this is important to also look at what our other budgets have looked like prior to this year prior to what I'm proposing um again I'm a visual person and some people are data people so I have the chart on the side here that talks about 2021 2020 2122 Etc the increases is what it was so this 1.7 76% is from 201920 to 2021 and so on so this year we're proposing about 2.28 this orange line is the percent increases the dotted line is the trend as you can see our percent increase is really on average or trending down it's important to understand what are expenses um this graph here we used last time uh this is in conjunction with that they're two separate sources of data so this talks about our data as it as it pertains to payroll benefits instructional programs and Debt Service again we talked about these things in our last presentation not much has changed I was able to cut back another if you look at the last presentation it was about $660,000 more so I went through and sharpened the pencil and decreased our expens expenses just a little bit here or there General supports and instruction they kind of go together General supports are going to be things like your Administration um some of our programs some of our school Improvement instruction as is asteris and the bottom it talks about that's including our general and special education our maintenance of our plants and equipment and our facilities and our Bose's programs then you have employee benefits extrapolated transportation out because the reason why I did it this way is you can see um our Aid categories more align with how I did the chart on the left versus the chart on the right the chart on the right is how we break down our expenses so we understand where we might be able to um look closer to change decrease increase what have you and employee benefits includes health insurance retirement benefits and our federal um withholdings that we have to pay out here's that tax levy history we looked at this last time as well again our tax cap is the blue column which is the amount you could have levied the yellow column is what we are proposing to Levy or have levied I.E 0% last year 2% is what they levied in 2223 and then in 2122 this is this chart has not changed from last last time this is the proposed tax impact on a 2% increase if your house is assessed at $200,000 and we're not considering um any um Equalization rates then this is our big problem the revenue that's where we're seeing that Gap this is where I talk about state aid um again this is broken down similarly on this side it talks about our stateid as a whole our other revenues is going to be rents tuition reimbursements miscellaneous assigned fund balance and plan use Reserve so everything in the other revenues and is anything below the projected state aid anything above with including the projected state aid that's the 44% 44.8 tax levy is about 47 so we're kind of neck and neck on our tax levy which is what we get from the tax Pairs and our state aid um Reliance I thought it was important to show that we had a 10% decrease in the proposed budget from the governor in
189. 1:44:27just that one category here's our state aid numbers I'm going to tie it back to the Bose's presentation that was provided to us um earlier again you're seeing that $986,000 in our Aid category for Bose's Aid that's our reimbursable amount because we spent so much money in 22 23 that's what's the projected amount we had some decrease from proposed or projected expenses in this coming year in this current year so some things changed from 22 23 to 24 25 in our initial projection so that number is based on when I when we report in September to the state that's very rough estimates so th this number could go up or down just like um Harry was talking about when he
190. 1:45:16was up here it could be a 4% fluctuation on what you actually get um but the big number obviously is our foundation need total of decrease of $2.8 million this is what we're hoping for the restoration now I have heard in the news that perhaps some lawmakers are pushing for a 3% increase in Foundation Aid that would be a big deal um and we could change some big things in here but this is our Bare Bones budget as I show it to you right now um and this is what we're hoping for at the minimum just me talking more about that change between the restoration of the foundation Aid versus the non- restoration um we'll have a $2.2 million
191. 1:46:02gap if we don't get that additional Foundation aid restored um and we'll have no Gap if we have it what are still some of our unknowns The Bu the state budget um are out of District placements again we those meetings happen closer to the end of the school year so so where we're going to put students or what is the most least restrictive environment for them to learn can change year-over-year a student may age out of a program um things of that nature so we could be an increase in that cost or it could be a decrease in that cost all depends on those meetings they have with parents and students and teachers towards the end of the school year those
192. 1:46:46Transportation goes with that hand inand the further we have to travel the more expensive it is contract negotiations are always a big push that's part of our payroll budget line and then any outstanding Grant applications um that we still haven't been awarded big question what happens if the budget doesn't pass so say worst case scenario uh the state aid stays the way it is we have to make some major changes in our budget expenses we put that out to the out to the public and they reject it if that were to happen according to y state law we would hold that second vote and if that again isn't um approved then we go to a contingency budget
193. 1:47:31contingency budget is a more Bare Bones of what you see here um we'd have to look at eliminating any non-contractual items um most of the time this is not favorable and is not normally where you would have to go so we're not going to go too dark on that one just wanted everybody to be aware of it and then we're on to our budget timeline April 1st probably the 5th um we have another budget workshop on the 9th I hope it's the 5th um there's a lot of work to be done when I find out what when we find out what those numbers are deadline for submissions for propositions um April 23rd we're going to there will be a board meeting to vote
194. 1:48:16on the Bose's budget that is not the administrative budget the Bose's budget is going to be their entire budget so what they propose out to the to their component districts we get to vote on as a board voting day registration on April 25th the property tax report guard is due the 29th uh School Board nominations I believe that is on the uh budget newslet or the not the budget newsletter the superintendent's newsletter that was released uh we have our public hearing for our proposed budget on May 7th that'll be the finalized budget that'll be the budget the board approves to move forward with or denize and then May 21st is our proposed budget um vote the big day and there's
195. 1:49:06that revote I was talking about that's if it was passed or not passed if this fails on May 21st we have another vote on June 18th and then we implement the budget starting July 1 anybody have any questions um do we know what happens if bosis doesn't get their their budget passed I don't think I've ever known a district not to it would have to be just like um if more than half of the voters come out and say no to our budget it's the same scenario for iosis right there's component districts that are their voters it would have to be a percentage so if we said no to it doesn't mean it would be denied does
196. 1:49:51that make sense MH one vote of of the region the rentler Columbia and Green County in an Ideal World At what point would you have a like lined out categorized budget to present I'll have that at the April budget um presentation it'll be a line by line like we've done years past yep thank you it's hard to do the line by right if I don't know what the revenue is yet so we're getting there at this time we do need to have a early second yeah sorry about that for the purpose of exemp subject involving the board education rules and thetical procedures at 759 all in favor e [… repeated text trimmed] second all favor it's
197. 2:11:25late um public form TR okay thank you okay to this report all right so uh the Hudson City School District is excited to tonight we're going to celebrate our students and in and specifically we're excited to celebrate Zachary zabella for being the first student to complete a Capstone project for the New York state seal of Civic Readiness initiative the New York State education department approved the Hudson City School District to offer the Seal of Civic Readiness effective from the 2022 23 Academic Year and onwards the seal serves as a mark of Distinction aimed at acknowledging students who have demonstrated exceptional commitment to enhancing the public life of our communities it underscores a holistic approach to Civic engagement
198. 2:12:32encompassing not only Knowledge and Skills but also attitudes and real world experiences the Seal of Civic Readiness bestowed by the New York State education department holds a considerable significance for students their family Ames prospective employers and College admission officers alike it stands as a tangible Testament to a student's achievement and contributions carrying
199. 2:13:03weight on both their High School transcript and diploma this recognition serves to validate the dedication and efforts of students in fostering positive change within their communities. one notable Avenue through which which students can earn credit towards the Seal of Civic Readiness is by undertaking a Capstone project. Zachary zabella a student at Hudson senior high school has emerged as a Trailblazer in this regard becoming the first to complete such a project.
200. 2:13:40Zachary's remarkable achievement involves overseeing the planning and execution of a concrete walkway at the American Legion Post 184 as his ego Scout project. this endeavor not only showcases Zachary's leadership and organizational skills but also exemplifies his commitment to serving the community by providing safer access for a memorial garden for the veterans. Zachary's project embodies the spirit of civic responsibility and underscores the transformative impact of Civic engagement initiative way to go Zachary and in the future we will have Zachary to come and um receive something from the district and the board so we're very proud of [Applause] that.
201. 2:14:34this past week um Dr prey Mrs Rabinowitz and myself attended the league of innovative schools conference in New York which is a branch of um ver has to do with Verizon and we were very fortunate to attend the conference but not only just to attend but to be able to visit schools a school minola high school in New York um which we saw many Innovative programs um we saw wonderful portrayal of student voice which is very important um we saw a school that we know that in Hudson we can be there just like they are. the superintendent told me he's been there for 15 years so that does take time but we were able to gain some great experiences from that also just to interact with many other colleagues but to um just see ways that we know that we can improve our district and and to create 21st century skills and opportunities um that our students uh need so it it was great um you know more to come on that.
202. 2:15:54and my hope is in the future to be able to you know invite board members to attend so that you can get a first ey view of what what is expected of schools in the 21st century and just to understand the goals that will be set forth in our strategic plan. yes some people may say oh well minola is a Suburban District but to me it doesn't matter where the district is located it's what what happens in that school district throughout those six seven hours that we have the students daily so it was a great opportunity and just looking forward to get the principls more involved like I said as well as teachers and board members thank [Applause] you.
203. 2:16:49we all okay I would like to Mo make a motion to consist items a through L.
204. 2:17:04second all in favor.
205. 2:17:09CH I'm pretty sure no one else signed up thank you.
206. 2:17:19important dates Tuesday April 9th 2024 Community budget Workshop board Ed meeting 600 p.m. in high school library. Wednesday April 10th 2024 Quest start annual meeting 5:30 Quest St 3 administration building Conference Center 10 Empire State Building casson New York. Tuesday April 23rd 2024 policy committee meeting 5:00 p.m. in high school library.
207. 2:17:51Tuesday April 23rd 2024 regular board budget meeting wait a minute rcg po these budget vote and budget members election board Education meeting 600 PM High School library.
208. 2:18:19this time we do have need for a second executive section for the purpose oops for the purpose of discussions regarding proposed pending or current litigation we know e

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