Board of Education, Regular Meeting

1. 0:28e e e e e e e e at 601 maxone to please rise pledge aledge Al to the United States of America to the Republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all.
2. 4:21Thank you. Mar here, Amanda grer here, chette Jones here, Calvin Lewis Here, Matthew here Walker.
3. 4:49Thank you. I'd like to make a motion to accept the agenda as present. Second, all in favor, okay.
4. 5:02Presentations who the represent.
5. 5:05Good evening. um so first off um there's some things with the senior class. um we've collected all of our seniors information including our photos and our quotes so our yearbook Club is in full swing um which is great.
6. 5:18um there uh the class of 202 2025 is also um selling bun cakes as a fundraiser uh to help get prom tickets down and also our senior dues for our trip and different things like that.
7. 5:36uh the Hudson Music Department is also selling cinnabuns um across the district uh so yeah. um uh this Thursday our environmental Club is going to a citizen climate Lobby. I don't know exactly where it is but um yeah the environmental Club be go into that.
8. 5:58uh today and the 21st uh are the auditions for our school musical Annie um so if anyone wants to audition please do. um this Saturday is the volleyball tournament hosted by The Varsity Club and National Honor Society.
9. 6:19um there's sign ups online there's Community like uh uh divisions you can play in. um there's three levels of play I know to non-competitive and then a competitive.
10. 6:32um the student council uh this Thursday at our meeting we'll be working with uh Hudson's mayor on the comprehensive plan um so he's going to come in and uh speak to us and ask us some questions and ask for input.
11. 6:52um and then oh yeah also winter sports have begun their tryouts so um uh boys volleyball girls and boys basketball and I think uh bowling have all begun. um swimming swimming and charting as well sorry.
12. 7:15um in oh moving into December before the next board meeting I think um on the 10th uh well on the next board meeting the 10th uh there's going to be a blood drive hosted by by Varsity Club um throughout the school day ran by Varsity Club members and um helped supported by them and then the day before that on December 9th model un will be hosting a mini model un just for students within uh the district or and within the high school which is a lot of fun.
13. 7:46um and I think the final thing is oh next Monday our mock trial team will be hosting its first practice case um which are very exting about.
14. 8:00Thank you.
15. 8:00Thank you, is the model you mock trial those after school or during, those are after school, okay great.
16. 8:14rer presentation from C Smith.
17. 8:21So good evening, I'm usually loud enough but I think with since we're streaming I need to use is the mic. um we are here tonight to present ruler at the elementary school. This is year number three of utilizing ruler. um this was something that we brought in as we looked at kids struggling with to to be able to handle their emotions and what can we do to support our students socially and emotionally.
18. 8:51So ruler is an evidence-based program, it is out of Yale um and so it's um there's an acronym. It's recognizing emotions understanding the causes and consequences labeling expressing and then finally regulating our emotions, right, and there's a little more depth in each of those but I'm just going over the surface as we do this tonight with you guys.
19. 9:19um this is something we've embraced at the elementary school over time. We started with the faculty and we did our introducing the mood meter. How do you want to feel at school and I think it you know we've been able to help to all the kids and the staff to start to be able to regulate their emotions in a better manner.
20. 9:41There's a couple parts or anchor tools as I would call them. There's the charter in every classroom, there's a charter and the students have input and it's how do you want to feel at school. We as a faculty created a charter in a faculty meeting. We did uh you know one of those where you identify the words that you want to feel and they get bigger and smaller as they go and so we looked at what does our faculty want to feel at school. You know it's just not being safe, it's happy or it's you know those other emotions.
21. 10:14Remember there are all different emotions and that's one of the real values I also find a ruler is teaching kids to identify emotions to learn vocabulary to go along with that because I think we all know life is hard and you're going to going to go through a lot of different challenges and for kids to be able to gain these skills is essential.
22. 10:35So we have the charter then we have the mood meter and they're going to talk more about the mood meter but I love the mood meter. My son is now in third grade, when he first started coming home in kindergarten and telling me it was yellow I thought it was a bad thing and then I realized like that's high energy and high pleasantness, I'm like oh and so like but it really it has a lot of value.
23. 10:56Our team utilizes this uh called how do you feel and we identify to each other our feelings so we can support one another.
24. 11:05Then there's the meta moment. What is the meta moment, it's like stop and think right before you act. It really trains people to respond to emotional triggers in more effective ways right because we all have things that trigger us. Someone who chews too loud, that noise that someone makes, you know whatever it is that can be a trigger and learning how to deal with that is something that kids need to do so they need to be able to stop and think.
25. 11:34And then the blueprint is just what it sounds like. How are you going to move forward, what does that structure look like. It's so the kids know how to plan to solve interpersonal conflicts and this goes right along with restorative practices and is really just you know meshes perfectly that kids are able to identify the feelings and we're also able to work things out so that students in the long run learn how to solve conflict because I think we all know when the kids are young we're there to support them but as they get older those conflicts need to lie with them and they need to be able to Sol solve with their
26. 12:12peers why right so classrooms have more positive CLI have a better appli less bullying increased in ATT attendance less suspensions you know one of the things about ruler a lot of the data comes out of the New Haven School where they utilize ruler and so that is you know a demographic of it's a challenging Urban school and so they've shown a lot of pieces that ruler is effective um students with ruler schools experience fewer attention problems better academic performance more autonomy and Leadership less anxiety and depression.
27. 12:51and so they also report more warmth and connectedness between teachers and students because that's what we want right we're teaching kids build relationships because that's really what life is about and if we're not teaching kids that at the elementary level and then the Junior High in high school they're not going to be prepared for life.
28. 13:10so this how do we feel out I have to say it's so useful we're working towards our grade levels doing it because you know we had one of the people on our team one morning and she punched in as red and you know I stopped and I grabbed her coffee in a bagel and brought it in and you know checked in and she's gone now but said Megan you know like what can I do for you right you know what's going on how can we help you and just knowing that and that act that somebody did for her frightened her whole day you know she had had a rough night with the kids the kid had been sick kind of stuff but it really can be important to um help us to look at how our how our peers how our friends are and check in on one another.
29. 13:52I encourage you as a board check in with each other before the board meeting tell each tell you how you're feeling it identifies patterns the super neat things so my son does this cuz he saw me do it and he does it twice a day but there are all these videos that go along with it and the kids can really use them and I know I keep using personal examples but my wife is also a social worker at high school and so she they use ruler she utilizes the videos all the time the kid comes into her office upset they identify the feeling she gives them and the kid watches the video and most times the kids are like that was really helpful you we don't always have time right not every crisis can we solve for kids so really find this to be a useful app it is on either the app store or the Google Play.
30. 14:40so the importance of core routines right there are three core there there are things that are core routines mood meter check-in morning meetings and Charter checkins um so every morning you're going to check in we then have morning meeting in our building where we talk we introduced ruler lessons we talk about the vocabulary we talk about how to problem solve we introduce those pieces one of the great things with ruler is it comes with pre-built lessons that the teachers can adapt to make sure kids are getting that emotional learning.
31. 15:15and so um as I said they share with restorative practices um and you know that core routine that the kids do the utilizing the the charter check in make sure the kids are feeling safe feeling connected at school and I think that was the is that the last slide for me Christine okay and I'm gonna hand it over to Mrs Van who is another member of our ruler te.
32. 15:46so like Mr bman said we have our checkins so when the kids so I just want you to know that my class is a I'm a special teacher it's a life skills class ruler has made a huge difference in CL um my students walk into the class classroom they sign in on which quadrant how they're feeling and um then um as the day goes on we have a morning meeting and we all discuss we discuss our feelings and this is including my staff too everybody in the classroom checks in.
33. 16:18and what what Mark had said about staff it has made a huge difference with my staff um my staff the other day was really upset about that had happened earlier in the day and she ended up verbalizing it and verbalizing it to the whole group and we spoke to her about it and it was just great it was great to hear her feelings and how she was feeling about it and then after we discussed it she um felt better and then moved herself into the the yellow quadrant.
34. 16:49um but what's really cool is is that a lot of the kids in my some of the kids in my classroom have a difficult time communicating themselves other and when we first started doing ruler one of my students who has autism would say I feel happy because all my friends are at school today and that would be every single day he would say I feel happy because all my friends are at school today and it's just it's incredible because now he's saying I am excited because tomorrow is Veterans Day you know it's like just so sweet or I am excited because I get to audition for the school play.
35. 17:30and it just like just has evolved and it's great that kids are coming in and there you know we may discuss it all in a group we all get in a circle and we all hear each other's feelings and then as the day goes on we check in again and sometimes they're like I don't feel happy anymore and they'll erase their name off the yellow and they'll they'll put it in the red and then we'll discuss it again so it's just great my students can verbalize how they're feeling it's decreasing um Outburst that may happen in the classroom and they get to hear each other and support each other so you know the moon meter check-ins have just been really really great for for my class.
36. 18:16do I hit the middle button no right mention this okay.
37. 18:30um some of the things for the morning meetings that we've done is we've also Mark talk talked about the classroom Charter so we all got together as a group and we discussed how we want to feel in the classroom and how what can we do to feel that way what are some things we can do so we have that posted in my classroom and all my students signed this Charter and we revisit it we revisit it maybe once a dayit a couple of times during the week just saying so are we meeting our Charter like are are
38. 19:04we following these particular things that we wanted to follow and um sometimes we revise it so an example that just recently happened is is one of my couple of my students are on the playground and um they were one little kid gave the finger to the other kid they took it as the middle finger and they got really upset and then the next thing you know one kiding call me trash so we ended up meeting together and talking about it and then revisiting the um the charter and adding things to the Charter like what could we do so that we can feel better as as a classroom community so we added things to it like maybe we can give each other a high five that will make us feel happy and maybe we we need to stop calling each other names so we added that to our Charter.
39. 19:55um um the blueprint we also use in our classroom we um have used it when there is a difference when two kids are having differences and if they're calm and ready to talk then we meet together and they one student listens to another student's feelings and then vice versa and there's you know no judgment you just listening to how each other feels and um and then we move forward move move forward and um try to resolve the the conflict.
40. 20:33um we really in our class focus on breathing there's different very different strategies like we've gone over um different like um there's like a snowball strategy when you like breathe in and then you breathe out and you you you throw the snowball we you know they watch like different um breathing activities to learn how to calm your down um and then and then um best self reflection and
41. 21:11right so I'm Christina La I'm the school social worker and um when I found out that we were going to be implementing ruler I was really happy about it because um Everybody in the school is um trained or you know is being trained in it and in it uh it's a lot of um it's overwhelming as the social worker to um take on the social emotional learning of the whole entire building and to know that we're all doing it together and not having a curriculum where I just go in and I teach a class and then I leave and then you know and then life continues um this is embedded into um our culture so um that's you know something that I um wholeheartedly believe in.
42. 21:59um we're comfortable about talking about feelings now when at work you're not really supposed to do that right like that we don't have that kind of um you know we've been taught not to express you know what's going on at home we're taught to Barrel through and um get the work done and this is kind of breaking that down um like Mark said with the how you feel app and things like that um we're checking in on ourselves and how you know we feel and um how our um peers feel um and our colleagues so you know the students are not just benefiting from this program the staff is as well.
43. 22:40um the blueprint is uh like uh Christina said it's the conflict resolution part of um the tools that we're using so there's the four uh anchor tools and it really goes through um perspective taking like how did you feel how person feel how could they have felt in this situation and um why did you feel that way and and going through um there's a pre-conference so if a student is not ready to have a conversation with the other student you know most of times we're like we need to get this uh situation resolved so you need to sit down with me right now well if they're not ready to do that then that's not the best time to do that.
44. 23:21so um then you know we go through and we talk about um you know how did you express that feeling of being hurt or angry is that did that work for you if if it didn't work we need to work you know we need to think of something else and then um how can I uh handle the situation better so there's a couple different um Graphics that we use um depending on uh the older students or the younger students but this is you know prek to to five we're using it and the others will we'll talk about it um you know next um back justed about it but there was anyway I'll tell it is that's okay
45. 24:21um I'll tell you what it is so the menam moment is really the Stop and the pause Mark had mentioned that and it's looking are you being your best self who do you want your be who do you want your best self to be do you want to present yourself as a you know a raging lunatic or do you want to present yourself as a kind thoughtful you know um engaging person you know um with like a helpful friend how do you want how do you want people to perceive you and then the um the moment allows for you to use that it's a it's a pause so you're using that time to um utilize coping strategy so Christina had mentioned and we do talk about the different coping strategies within the curriculum um in the classrooms in terms of integrating it into lessons um
46. 25:21so it's a you know you saw it was a grid we can graph our feelings we can them a bar graph we could um write about certain feelings uh as a writing prompt in a in AA Ela um class sorry not a teacher um and talk about characters in a book this is not the pro this is not the um slide that I had in mind so that's why I'm a little bit off um but there is just a multiple multiple ways you can use it in math using the different axes you can talk about how feelings changed over time um there's just you know teachers we want teachers to be creative about it and um not have like a Jarred curriculum or Jarred lesson but to use what they're already using or do what they're already using and um try to implement the tools throughout their their lessons that already um they already have so we're trying to eliminate or alleviate the um the teachers having to do more work we want it to just be incorporated into um and and they can do that by using the language
47. 26:37as I'm Ken patch and one of the associate principles at MC Smith thank you guys for having us um I'm gon to reiterate a lot of what my colleagues
48. 26:45already talked about because it is a process that's interwoven throughout um but one thing I want to highlight and talking about the past Charter is I really appreciate how they said it's not just a tool for our students that adults are using as well and we're modeling it for our students so before we even had the classes create Charters we created a class Charter as a staff or School charter as a staff and we did that like Mr brenman said with a word cloud where people identified ways they want to feel at school and then the next part of that is after you determine how you want to feel at school which for many of us is going to be similar in fact when we did it last year and this year overwhelming responded with very similar words from one year to the next Because unless you're disagree strongly we all want to feel safe at school right we all want to feel safe at work that's something that won't change year to year um so once those feelings are identified then there's the deeper layer of how are we going to commit to each other to create those feelings to generate those feelings so not only how do we want to feel but what do we need to do to feel that way and then the third layer is when we don't feel that way what actions can we take to get back to that because that's the other piece of the mood meter we talked about if you want to stay in that feeling or you want to shift or you want to sway into another feeling so first our staff did a School charter and then we had the students um create one.
49. 28:15this is our school's from this year can everyone read it do you want me to read it you have it as well but you can see the three segments I talked about right we want to feel what we're going to do to feel that way what action steps are we going to take and when the charter gets broken because we're human and we're inevitable and we make mistakes right inevitably what are we going to do and so you can see the evolution of even our building learning the tools of ruler because last year when we made the charter they didn't mention maybe some of the r ruler strategies in the what will we do now we say take them at a moment because the teachers are starting to recogniz you can use as here and the idea that feelings and emotions are going to S and change all these are some of our classes Charters from last year examples of them so we're at a stage now where we've developed a School charter for this year and I'd say probably 70% of our classrooms have developed a classroom Charter and as Miss man SL said it's something we had aols over time and rer and the um Yale Center for emotional intelligence really stresses that it's not a one and done it's not you make the sign you hang it up and you just forget about it entirely but instead it's a working document that you return to and our hope is that like Miss V like's class many of the classrooms are sitting down and be like oh I noticed my friend something is in the red did someone break our class Charter and that's why you're feeling that way let's talk about what we can do to shift you out of the red and into yellow and the kids really come together as a collective Community to do that and they sometimes have far better ideas about how to follow the charter than even gr and then we have a Google Drive that all of our resources are in because the Yale Center for emotional intelligence as part of the program has provided us all these access to all of these doesn't last forever we're borrowing as much as we can and converting it into forms that we can continue to use beond our relationship anything else you want to add no thank you and do you have any questions
50. 30:36uh is there any data collection available for long periods of time or in a larger scale or is pattern recognition only up to the teachers
51. 30:46so you mean as a building like or as a classroom just is is it able to collect and track data it is able to depending on how you track that right so some some people use like every kid as their picture on and they go up and track their emotions right so unless the teacher is charting that they're not really taking that data if in the classrooms if they're using the how we feel app then the teachers have that type of longitude or there is like an online virtual mood meter as part of the Y website that when you use it saves your past ones so we use this at faculty meetings and we've looked at oh that's interesting when we have a facult meeting at the beginning of the the feelings might be different than at the end of the week you know like teachers or we did it in our plcs and the morning plcs everybody was yellow and then the 2 o'cl PLC everyone was like I'm exhausted I'm tired I'm so there's that piece that you can look at longevity wise and then the other cool thing because I just went to the conference so I'm geeking out on it is that the um Gale Center is continually doing research on this so again they're not static they're not like we did the research 10 years ago we published it it's done are continuously involved in research Cycles where they're studying I think they were actually looking at teachers and how teachers report their feelings on the mood meter over time and they're soon to publish that
52. 32:10you said this was the second year third year third year are there are there changes that you've made over time that you feel like are enhancing the implementation
53. 32:19so it's it's a step byep implementation so absolutely like the first year we just introduced it to faculty right then introduced it to students and they knew what the mood beer was we had some really powerful moments like we had a moment in fifth grade class where a student said something really mean about another student and everything that that kid got up and moved themselves to red and they had like a classroom discussion and it was really powerful to all the kids in there because they advocated for that other kid and now this year we're adding in all the lessons and morning meeting so yes but it's really been a measured approach we have not drastically changed any of the core
54. 33:02Things that we've to put place it's cool to start to see the transfer. I had two of Christina's students on the announcements just by chance today for tomorrow, and they were both able to take their work and these are kids again sometimes with some communication challenges that they transferred the work they've done with her to my office. Seeing my mood meter and both were able to identify for color and a feeling word, and it wasn't just happy, so they're evolving their vocabulary.
55. 33:36Um, so taking into account that it is early, like what's the long-term plan for measuring how this impacts our students? Like what are we, what are benchmarks for Success that we're looking for?
56. 33:46So we look at attendance, we look at uh discipline data, we look at you know trends of um you know playground disruptions, student set down during recess or squabbles over you know basketball or whatever. Those we have the what we call Hoops, which is where somebody sends a kid out, it's not really referral, someone just needs to talk to them. We look at tracking that as the way that we want to um see the progress that we're making, because you know you take attendance, kids want to be at school, they they want to feel this way they're feeling that way, they're going to come to school more. Same you know with discipline, the ability to S manage that emotion in use.
57. 34:27The um the sa tool, which is part of our social and emotional Behavior rating scale, there's a Myers Part which students um rate themselves and teachers um rate the students on their end as well, and we've been using that so we can use that over time. And this year just even on this year's date, I think we were like a quarter of the students that were identified last year identified this stud.
58. 34:59And and you mentioned like referral patterns, like what's been the general Trend this year? Is it feeling so this year referrals are down um, but last year we had a blip with a lot of bus referrals. So as we look year to year with some interrupted, I think honestly to truly pull from that data it's going to take a couple more years, but we can look month to month that if we exclude the bus information we are similar similarly TR down 15 18%.
59. 35:30I think you also have to look at the types of referrals that we're getting to, right? Like we're moving away from this is but from my first year here where there was a lot more interpersonal relationship. It seems to be more miscommunications that's happening now, and so I feel like that shows some growth in like they're identifying at least enough to pull back and censor themselves from making irrational decisions, but they're still having conflict.
60. 35:59Are the student inputs on on their emotions ever leading to uh teacher parent meetings or uh meetings with the student and parents? How are parents being involved?
61. 36:10So we've presented the parents, we will be doing a a parent Charter night where the parents and the students will come in and create a charter for their house um. We haven't really had honestly where like we've had a flag of a kid's emotion that we contact the parent about it. We talk about it at me teacher night, we talk about it some at conferences um, but it hasn't led to any explicit like I'm calling this parent because I'm really concerned where the check.
62. 36:40And I also think that happens because we do change our emotions, right? And often with kiddos when they're reporting the same emotion like this like story repeatedly, it's maybe that they're still developing their ability to identify where they are instead of that we EX SP all the time. Like I joked with my staff today that I'm in the yellow, like I'm hyper all the time, like excited happy Pleasant, that's just my kind of Baseline, but am I in the red sometimes? Absolutely. Am I in the green sometimes? Am I in the blue yellow? Sure.
63. 37:11So something else we do is um, missley and I morning announcements do them every morning, and we've consciously shared Less Pleasant and less energized emotions that are accurate because we want a model for the kids that it's totally okay for Miss patch to you know, I am feeling really tired today because my daughter was up late last night and I didn't get as much sleep as I wanted to, but I'm still going to give you my best cells because then we're modeling that even when you have the range of emotions you can make intentional choices to slayers.
64. 38:04I would say I would think it was control if we were trying to say you had to only exist in yellow or you had to only exist in green, but instead it's about labeling and recognizing and understanding them instead of saying you have to you have to C.
65. 38:43So so sorry I'm right now it's supposed to be questions for the board okay and they want to talk they have to sign up okay I'm sorry that's okay thank you.
66. 38:52Anyone else sir? Okay, thank you very much thank for being here.
67. 39:36All right, good evening everyone H for everyone in attendance, my name is Kenny be I the proud inter high, with me is Mrs on ritte. Mrs cousins did not be here tonight was her birth, so but she was on the as well uh. Mr bman and his team did a majority of the heavy lifting our presentation so I won't sit here and bore you with some details um.
68. 40:03Obviously what is ruler as Mr bman discussed, ruler is an evidence-based transformative schoolwide social emotional program. It cultivates emotional intelligence and social emotional learning skills. Students teachers and administrators benefit from this comprehensive approach to emotional literacy. Ruler is an acronym for the five skills of em intelligence, recognizing understanding labeling expressing and regulating emotions.
69. 40:34Four keys to success of regulating emotions, self-awareness power students recognize triggers and patterns, coping strategies how do we cope with our emotions, deep breathing mindfulness positive selft talk, emotional balance maintain the equilibri challenging situations, responding thoughtfully rather than reacting impulsively. That's one of the main components that we really want to start focusing on. And resilience building, how do you bounce back from setbacks? Negative things are going to happen in everyone's life in everyone's school day. How do we bounce back from how do we reset and go about our day?
70. 41:20So at the junior high we are in a little bit different situation than the elementary school. Of first objectives when brought on as the intern principal at the junior high was to implement a social emotional program. Mr brenman at the elementary school had ruler, I believe the high school had some ruler uh training as
71. 41:41Well so it made sense to uh act with the district and develop a districtwide ruler program this main this first year. The majority of our focus is going to be on getting our staff trained and the program to faculty. When I say getting our staff trained that doesn't just mean the teachers in the classroom, it's important for us to train every staff member in the building. That's from our custodial staff to our clerical staff to teachers to teacher assistants and AIDS. It's really important that everyone is on the same using the same com common language, the same thinking process and such.
72. 42:19Um I would like to thank miss spos and miss cousins who are part training in person it took place on October 13th and 14th which one of those days was Columbus Day so they really show dedication by going to training on a school on a holiday which they had to day off. We have a few other trainings that staff is going to begin to take part in. There's another in-person training December 2nd and December 3rd, there's another online training January 13th to February 21st as well as March 3rd and April 11th.
73. 42:59The goal at the junior high is to get the majority of our staff trained whether it's in person online or to have person who attended the iners or online turn to you um but the goal is to have 100% Train by June again whether it's TurnKey in person or online. We also would like to begin to implement the mood meter for the sixth grade. The thinking behind that is because our students are coming up from the elementary school they have already been trained in the Moon beer, it makes sense to begin to implement it there and then we will begin to pass it on to the seventh and E grade but the goal is to get all staff trained and introduced and into.
74. 43:44The benefits for students as Mr brenman and his team discussed academic success, it will increase attendance, improve focus and engagement in learning, enhan problem critical thinking skills, social social relationship stronger friendship and peer connection. The thinking behind is when when we have conflict resolution we are going to have issues amongst students. If they realize how to resolve them they'll have better empathy skills, it will decrease bullying, personal growth increase self-confidence and self-awareness, greater resilience and adaptability to challenges.
75. 44:25Impact on CL reduce disciplinary issues as discussed when our students know how to conflict when they have better conflict resolution or leave to less behavior problems. Students will learn to manage emotions effectively and it will also reduce suspensions. It's really a PBIS Bas Rel on school isent relationship students students. It's also lead to a positive School culture more inclusive and empathetic School Community, increased sense of warning for all. That's why it's EX important that all of our staff get get trained on in this program.
76. 45:32Rer tools and techniques discuss teers and all staff identify communicate their emotions and the important about theer is that it should be done throughout day not just one moment in time because emotions change. Study more emotional vocabul besides being angry sad, self Awareness on how they're feeling. We also have the blueprint which is a framework for analyzing and resolving conflicts um I think it's important to note that that blueprint can be used for not only past conf s but also future conflicts, how do we go about eliminating the desire to um future conflicts.
77. 46:33Charter which is a collaborative agreement on desired classroom feelings um I would obviously like to note as Mr benman and his team discussed this isn't just a charter within amongst in the classroom amongst the teacher and students. We will also be implementing one at the junior high amongst staff uh it establishes a positive and supporting learning environment and all theom.
78. 47:04It's just that pause of self-reflection, it's like okay this has happened to me I'm take a pause take a deep breath and how do I want to see myself. I want to be angry and upset or am I going through challeng and come out on end. So all right longterm outcomes and future directions lifelong emotional intelligence, students carry ruler skills into adult into adulthood um I think it's really important that we teach our students these skills.
79. 47:46We can give them all the academic knowledge necessary to be successful in life but if our kids can't be in a room with others they can't if they can't regulate their emotions they are not going to be successful. I think it's equally important to give them the emotional skill set needed as much as the academics go um ruler Community impact, ruler graduates contribute to a more empathetic society and ongoing research continuous Improvement of ruler based on new findings um as we research the program we will begin to implement um any advances we see if based upon the needs of our students.
80. 48:36Any questions?
81. 48:38Thank you you touched on it a little bit but for uh an environment like the junior high school where students switch classrooms so frequently is the idea that each each time they go into a classroom they're checking in on the mood meter or there specific classes where that's um part of the routine or how do you imagine that coming together?
82. 48:59Um well that right now we're we're we do have a Home Room built in um in the morning so we're looking into implementing it within the first you know 10 minutes of that day perod um but that is something that is up for discussion among our staff. You know it could be as simple as you know every month having it in a different content class, you know every month September science uh October social studies and so on um so that really will begin you know that would be up to discussion right?
83. 49:28I guess similarly with the classroom Charters with each CL How does each class have a charter is it a grade level or?
84. 49:37Again that's that is one of the challenges of the junior high, obviously in elementary school they have a set teacher yeah um you know again in home room we may build that all into if we can figure out how to extend it once a mon inform. Maybe something happened in math classa now they're on the r Ina it'll give that teacher yeah.
85. 50:19And last last question I know you're students in your building are at the age now where they all have their own personal devices and there's apps that we use like stop it like is there a digital version of this or digital resource that they can use to start?
86. 50:35There was a digital um and I think Mar mentioned it there was a digital one that they can what is it called?
87. 50:57which they can also do on their homeone books as well right awesome thank you very much Mr re so thank you Mr bman and the Elementary staff Mr bear the junior high staff I think we have a pretty good understanding of what ruler is so we're not going to cash through all that um High School we're at we're at a different phase we're just going to talk about where we are we're going to go um moving forward with it.
88. 51:45so would you talk not going to go over the five rer skills they they both talked about those um how we're going to integrate the principles to our to our school staff and what the plan is implementing it going forward um step one this is our this is our ruler team in the high school right now myself Michelle Noak who science teacher and Katherine be school py psychologist so we just finished the training literally last week 1111 so I got my certificate on Friday yay.
89. 52:24so right now it was uh we did the online not the in person so for us we were doing two and a half hours every week in person as a team going over what we see high school going forward because we have so many as well as meeting with their team whether it's a zoom meeting and just going back and for just trying to get idea because high school high school does have a very different schedule elementary school.
90. 52:49so as you can see we went through all the different areas the mood meter the charters and right now we so we kind of kind of figure out what we need to do our step TW how do we roll it out this is year one for us they call it Z one because not everyone so we really need to let the staff know what who is how there you know have ownership of what who is in the classroom and also for the students we're not to students yet.
91. 53:24so we're going do mood meter then introduce the charter you know building that Charter we're going to work with the staff for them to build the charter so we can see what we feel as a staff because we are a community and we all need to be acknowledging of ourselves how we feel sometimes we may not be coming in a good how can we reset ourselves going for and then we're going to they have SLE lessons we're going to pull roll for L kind to see because right now we're trying to figure out the when those are going to happen.
92. 53:56so really to more members of the community um of our school to buy in also have students our group as well so we get from them on where they see going forward and you know give us their you of of what it tool and also set term we're doing it in our class class so we're also going to be tackling working with students that English is not first language see because you want to make sure that they are included as well.
93. 54:57and then we set up meetings dur that time also to reflect to see what is working what is not working so before we even roll out to everyone else get as many KS as possible are they going to be pick up along way sure but if we can sit down and really have reflection before we go forward to do a full full roll out so this year we're learn we all students are ruler next year we're going be bring our students with theer and then you know the end of the second I think I think big piece is a consistency from prek through 12th grade and it moving up with our students already knowing the language and have and teaching it towards that questions.
94. 55:42how is the Blu Hawk Academy a part of this integrated right in with this of Justice talking Tak already kind just that our kids are going to have a voice as well as the faculty to create a community that's positive and and welcoming to everybody so this is our chance to do that and not to like change the topic restorative wise we've started a lot more circles in the high school so like Mark's talking about at the elementary where they have CL we're doing that through people that have been trained and restored in the high school thank you.
95. 56:32so I kind of already asked this question but it feels like in order for ruler to have lasting impact there needs to be tracking of how the school as a as in total or in all is responding to the ruler program so what ideas are there for tracking and and then implementing changes and then tracking how those changes then affect the student body.
96. 57:03and on there there's a social emotional like evaluation per so we will be able to see if students are going from certain levels if they're improving in their mindset but again that it's starting right now so we may not see it at this moment but the trend maybe for theth graders their Juniors you know we can look back at their data did this progam have any effect on how they felt in school but we do have that in place that's that was part of the that somebody else had mentioned that was I think youen that Testo where you have to say how do I feel today what is this and so there was a number that was associated with that feedback.
97. 57:48so you're going to take that a little bit later on in the year and if you're part of this ruler program to be able to reflect on your emotions so that when you take that test again maybe you shift from a level a l support as time moves on then you'll be able to feel your emotions and handle them and have a more positive outlook or just more res and then may see those numers because starting to docent all of that Anders all ofers will access toel thank you.
98. 58:43yeah one like like uh Mr Brenan and Mr bear pointed out too we should see it in attendance and and academic grades as well we're not just doing this just to um create more work it's all working towards the same goal than you thank you thank you thank you all for being here thank you he's going to be the C it's okay with glasses I can read it up close thank you.
99. 59:46I have Mr with me for this one department head in guidance couns in the high school we're going to talk about our advanced placement honors in college courses so what we're going to cover we have his high school 2024 25 profile the
100. 1:00:09About us is just talking about the district and the staff in the high school. Um, then it goes into District demographics, number of students, ethnicity. We are 72% economically disadvantage. Um, I'll cover this more after we go through the rest of these. How can a student enroll in an AP honors college class? Will cover what criteria, um, to enroll in those courses, how much does it cost our students? And then we have a breakdown by our ap's honors and college courses demographically from 2021 to 25, and then um, if you have any questions for us.
101. 1:01:00Okay, so how do we get there? The six Keys, um, these courses definitely strengthen the instructional core without question for our students, also strengthening the instructional leadership capacity. So there's there's a process to how our staff can teach these courses. It's a college course, they have to get approval by whatever College it is. If it's a AP course, it's got to go through the College Board. Again, going back to this, um, I talked about 100% of our students receive free pre lunch, they're economically disadvantage, 72%.
102. 1:01:42Below that is the grading in curriculum. This is what is required of our students to reach 22 credits and graduate. This is how they're graded quarterly, every 10 weeks, things like that. The AP courses that we offer, world history 9th grade, world history 10th grade, US History, um, biology and environmental science. The honors courses we currently offer are English 9, 10 and 11, Global 9, Global 10, US history and living environment and two things D I want and that one part.
103. 1:02:25Um, we go back the biology environmental science, they flop every other year. So this year the students are taking a bio, next year they'll take a environmental science. Also in the racial demographics, if you look um, where it says multiracial and it says roughly about 14%, also keep in mind in the multiracial you could have some students from other ethnic and racial categories embedded in that as well, so that's something just to keep in mind. And again, the one of the most key demographics, we'll hit this later in presentation, is a 72% economically disadvantage, and we'll touch on.
104. 1:03:08So up on top, the courses, uh, the college courses through Columbia green, pre-cal, calculus, comp and lit, critical issues in health, composition, General psych and introdu Introduction to Sociology. And then we also work with Sunni kobal skill, college algebra, concert band, American Sign Language 3, American Sign Language 4, um, drawing one in intro to C.
105. 1:03:36Okay, um, Mr pay, the SATs? Yep. Now the SATs, and actually I realize this is the older version right here, we actually do have the more updated one there as as the 24. But basically, the number of test takers has declined for a couple of reasons. Many schols test option, and that means you don't have to take an sat and sat to be aditt, um, I guess considered for admission. Another thing, um, is that we see some of the difference in this hores, what you have in front of you which is a more updated one, you'll see that some of the scores have actually increased, and you'll see an asteris where it says 17, that's because some students may still take the SAT in the administration in December.
106. 1:04:22Next year, when we have this fun again, we pull this information, we'll go back and we'll include that as well, so it will show that again. For the postgraduate plans, I will tell you they have a, our students have a diverse um, combination of their plans. Um, on yours you have the 24, and you'll see how twoyear colleges, fouryear College, informance, military, trade schools are known. I will tell you the time I've been here, about 16 and a half years, it's kind of amazing how time flies. I've seen increase of employment, people doing different things. The landscape of, I'm just going to go and graduate and go to college is different. We're very strategic and we use the word postsecondary plan because everyone has a different path that he or she may take.
107. 1:05:11Um, so and you'll see this, and this is just a snapshot, the again say 2024, of some of the courses, I mean colleges that are students have matriculated, and obviously there's more about your profile really should not be two.
108. 1:05:32So Mr pay, our guidance staff, we usually do it in end of January. We we're upping our schedule for next year, the the timeline, so they're actually going to do it next week. So they go into all the English classes, they talk about what we have for offerings. Um, Mr P, just want to talk about how you, the conversation you have in regards to AP honors and college courses. The key thing for especially with ap honors and college, but and weed this in a previous meeting, is student interest.
109. 1:06:06Um, prior to co, um, we would attend College Board conference, and I wear different hats. So right now this year the guidance department head, but I AP coordinator and the PSAT coordinator. And one of the things at a college conference might increase in the numbers of students enrolling in AP, and what they're talking about, we'll show, we'll definitely give you um specific numbers, is that the way that students are able to get college credit, students are able to get college credit more easily through a college Port versus AP. It's not Min AP, AP is also important, but they were saying that naturally they saw the um enrollment decreasing.
110. 1:06:47So the key is student interest, uh, the other part are teacher recommendations acad for it. Uh, Dar is going to go through a couple slides, not to read them verbatim, but it shows you how you are able to get into um an AP class or an honors class. Um, one the things I will tell you with the honors, it's fluid. What that means is let's say I start out and I'm not doing really well in my class, but all of a sudden I'm doing really really well and my grades go up, I can be considered for honors the next year, and many of our students do that. Um, so there is there's fluid, again, also with advanced placement, interest. No one, you know, if you're interested we have a good shot of taking AP.
111. 1:07:31So Derek, so this is just one example. I mean, some of the other they're much longer, I'm not read through all all of these, they're they're in your um the PowerPoint I shared out. But for this, I mean it's a 10th grade, it's a 10th grade exam, not a ninth grade exam. It's the big thing with the AP World n, and like Rocky said, if a student was showing more and more interest at as a ninth grader they.
112. 1:08:02could take AP World a now the college courses ultimately come your green has the decision if we get in so basically if a student says I want to you know I want to take a college course you need an 80 average across the board with your English classes and when we look at the college classes we have a number of students who may let's say they haven't taken ours course maybe they haven't CH take an AP but their grades have actually increased they're able to take and they do choose L course um and so this right here is English composition which is compared with English composition in literature 102 married together that gives students their fourth year of English for their senior year and that's just an example.
113. 1:09:10um once Derek goes through more slides I'll break down the cost more cost effectivess of these classes because it's pretty astounding um the cost effectivess um again Sunni cob skill years ago and I I have to give credit do okay first of all I want to say our profile every year you have that information and you put on a piece of paper it's it's like there's no exciting way to put on a few years ago we had a school counselor Miss Kate both changed the format and the current school counselor Miss Kate Miss Kate King King Davis actually helped revamp our profile.
114. 1:09:46going back to the um college courses we had students maxing out taking college courses so what happened was we had students taking 12 plus credit and they said wait a minute you can't do that if you're doing that you're a full-time college student so we're kind of like well how do we help our students we want them take more college classes but they can't be considered full-time college students so at the time past principal tiny a said what if we go out and look at another one so was teny and Stephanie forsight together work and work with Kobalt skill so they're able to split the number of credits they were getting per school.
115. 1:10:21um at the end I will give you some examples what the number of credits our students are leaving with is astounding um so that's why we have some class cost yep now for the cost long story short if you're let say agreen if you fall under the free reduced program your college and high school cost would be zero if you are a full pay you'll pay $73 per credit so basically if I were going a in a call me a green Campus and I want to take a three credit C I'm paying anywhere between 700 $800 if I fill out my um form and I'm free reduced lunch it's going to cost me zero for three college credits.
116. 1:11:06if I'm a full pay I'll hit at $73 with Still A reduced rate if I'm not a math major but if you round it up you're looking at$ 229 some dollars for three college courses and like 292 four four credit College course hobal skill again if free red you're free you're free and the in um the reduce rate is $25 per credit or $50 per credit so again you're looking at three college credit for $150 or maybe $200 that's a huge cost saving.
117. 1:11:50now so I said being here for a long time one of the things that talking about even though this is data it's kind of like living data because these numbers we kind of know who the students are you kind we're putting this together kind of hit me a little bit but I'm going to break these next couple of charts down so for the class of 2122 really class of 22 the total class with3 113 students when it says 70 students completed what this means is that 70 students at some point in time in their High School career completed either a college course ath honors course and how do you do that I look through every transcript from the class of 2022 2023 2024 and it was a long time but it was interesting to see that so 70 students out of that point in time are taking these courses.
118. 1:12:42and there goes to the next we WR down demographic sorry demographic and also Now 23 was a very small class and I remember that because everybody had to get through it you didn't have someone gradu it hurt your accountability at B time and I remember with this looking at it out of those 86 students 63 at some point in time in their career completed college AE honors courses and then next slide 24 110 students again 66 students completed college a honors coures and we broke it down demographically.
119. 1:13:17and this in this slide's a little different because other when we're talking about students this show enrollment because what happens that some of your students who are taking AP courses they may cross track and may take AP course and an honors course so it may go over and a perfect example to explain the enrollments I let our um Central Administration team know that for this year we have 42 students who are taking AP exams in in in the portal they also have 503 enrollments that means there's some students that are taking more than one AP exam.
120. 1:13:52Okay so this right here is really demonstrating the enrollment um and again with the numbers when we talk about AP this year we have three students challenging exams what that means is that we have a student challenging AP Psychology AP government and politics and a microeconomics we don't have staff that teach those subjects so what these students will do they will engag in a self-study independent on their own to prepare for these exams and we found out what was it couple meetings ago that's why we had two students who only took the calculus a they actually engag a selfstudy and they actually scored on those exams and one student was an AP schol doing.
121. 1:14:39and again these are enrollments so here are your college classes English your psych and soci your math classes um physics is not a college course where I do in there because it's high level course and we have music we we have college courses for music and we have students who are earning those college and again we dem.
122. 1:15:05um before I Jo any questions uh I had a student literally saw him this this weekend he's going to student full time and he's working part time and he said okay he's graduating year early because his college cred transfer now he transferred 21 college credits this past year I was kind of nervous last year one of my seniors a senior meeting said Mr pay my goal is to transfer 30 over 30 college credits I'm like wait a minute.
123. 1:15:32Like how are we doing this and she left with 33 college credits the other part I want to throw in the game changer is at hudon Valley the last several Summers they have a grant that they wrote that they will cover up to eight college credits for free regardless of parents income so we have students taking these college credits in the summer. So that's a cost savings number one at the reduced rate and you're going to graduate early what's next about him he's going to graduate he's going to happy about that um I could talk a lot longer but I won't um are there any questions.
124. 1:16:10So you mentioned that schedules will be like starting to be drafted next week with uh students for the course course sorry um at the end of the year is there going to be another chance to change that and what if there's like a major like what if all the sophomores suddenly want to take physics at the end of the year but didn't at the beginning of the year and it wasn't even considered for the schedule like is it fluid throughout the year.
125. 1:16:34It is fluid and one thing is your your master schedule I speak more to this year is driven by your course request and that's one of the things we want to try to do it early because we tell students if you're interested in something you got to request it because if you have like a lot of numbers then that's what Mr we says you know what this is what our students want we need to offer this class and I will tell you what physics happy about physics there was a time when we didn't have physics we didn't have it now we have it so we're hoping to build that for people too. They tell you going in if there's any doubt just sign up for it yeah just oh on your interest absolutely just sign up and then like you said it is it's a it's a jigsaw puzzle after that we try to get every student every single thing they want but it comes down to it sometimes we have we have a lot of single which one offering and we juggle it constantly for months trying to make everyone get what they want but ultimately there's some that just need to make some choices.
126. 1:17:35I would just like to point out it was kind it was missing from it from the presentation but when it comes to the AP fees uh Mr Payne is very good about getting reductions for students that need it um as well as the the college or the dual enrollment courses getting those reductions but also the the college Bo test that last year we had 35 students take AP exams 25 reive Fe reduction and if you look at the math that's 71.4% and if you look at our demographic 72% economically than.
127. 1:18:09Tom you're right we do that we try our best yes.
128. 1:18:12I do have a question so and I think you kind of touched based on it um and about the AP courses versus the college courses you can clearly see the benefits of the college courses but I'm still kind of unsure of what is the benefit of the students that take the AP courses you know.
129. 1:18:34Miss K I'm putting this together I got think this is dangerous I'm the AP coordinator so I'm think you know this why I look at there are benefits number one is National recognition um I will tell you that it does help some of our students be competitive when they're applying to colleges um you know the rigor of it uh but yeah that's before they were talking about this we really weren't seeing it as much and then when I started seeing the numbers of the students taking college courses see credits it's there um but like I said I understand it's still important the other part is the possibility AP scholar. Um I will tell you and actually I'm G to share this with you if you don't mind um for a Scholars I have this broken down as well so for the last an a Scholars is when you score three or more in an AP exam so in 2122 students who were AP Scholars three out of eight students were students of color uh three Asian five white and the 2223 test Administration we had 15 students who were AP Scholars six out of 15 students are color that's 40% three Asian one multiracial two white hispanic nine white and then in 2423 we had seven students who were 18 Scholars um five out of seven were students of color three Asian one was a style of honors one multiracial. So again maybe in terms of looking competitive much but that's how I'm diplomatically answer that question.
130. 1:20:03Well I I I think you touched on AP tests are more rigorous than the college courses and and youve taken them.
131. 1:20:11I proor the exam I will say this year they're all going to be digital with with a little bit of hybd with the a bio and the digital format I'll be honest around Co when they had the digital format it the students took it but there was a problem with the submission and it was from the college where they were just fling out the last few years if PSAT has been digital Cheryl Stafford has been outstanding we just had a a digital PSAT no problems and I actually a fan of the digital D I'm a little nervous about the at this time because we're hoping that they comp the bugs out but I'm a fan the way going with the digital exam is supposed to be more streamline stud so that will be new for myself and the students this year with the AP exams being en Visual and they do it through the blook application under chomebook.
132. 1:21:03Um the the college courses are those all are they in person so are students actually going to CL green are they online how are they do.
133. 1:21:09So what happen is that your your faculty are actually adjunct instructors so they actually teach it here gotcha yeah same for kova schools yeah same abely.
134. 1:21:17And what about um The Bard program is that still going on now.
135. 1:21:23The Bard program actually we just had a very very productive um trip to Bar it was outstanding for our students they had a really good experience and we have a small number but the students who go there they have the potential to earn credit um I will tell you the Columbia green and your cob credits have a high transferability rate obviously your students going to take them put a high transferability rate amongst your private schools bar could be a little different but I will say this the bar.
136. 1:21:51staff will work with individual St do what they need to do to try to get many credits transferred but we all know sometimes that's a funny game because what happens that your credits do not transfer until after you step on a college campus so once you step on a college campus that's when your credit transfer but but people bar they try their best to transfer me I I had someone ask me about this is more of a comment not question sorry but I had someone ask me about um the relationship between an AP course and the regions courses and the regions tests um so when you are taking AP World and AP US History you are learning the AP material and still have to take the US Regions exam Regions exam um and I don't know I had someone who was kind of worried about it but the AP material transfers completely to the the regions material and in my opinion prepares you more because of how rigorous the course is um and so there is complete and total overlap between the regions material needed and the uh AP material.
137. 1:23:03yeah I I so I mean when I was in high school I opted to um take all the college credits instead of the AP classes because I took two of them didn't pass them I was like this is easier um and so I I think just like yeah the college courses are good but I think I I would just want to make sure that we're still pushing our students to take the most rigorous options out there and making sure that there's um an opportunity to to prove yourself and to to go above and beyond and not just do the the thing that's easier which I wish I didn't do.
138. 1:23:40like I said there's definitely when we out their common application there is that question compared to their peers what is the rigor of their of their um their ccul you want to choose most demand.
139. 1:23:57and I would also like to say that our school has very good Pass rates with the AP exams um especially last year I know we had I was speaking with the uh former US or AP US History teacher um she's the advisor for my mock trial team um and she was commenting on you know our school performs well on these exams with the group of students who choose to take the tests content area we had a teacher who not only exceeded the state but exceeded nation of the performance in his.
140. 1:24:35I think we're very fortunate honestly our students work hard they're trying you know they're taking tough classes and I think we have very good teachers that really want to try to get them through and try to give them the best education because they're in the business of educating all students and I think we want our students to be competitive um and help them educate any other question.
141. 1:24:55I I think um just looking at the lens of last 25 years which is my context for the district um I think we had one EP course and four or six college classes so this is you know a terrific offering I think that has shown a lot of growth for the district is there room to add more college courses.
142. 1:25:18like I said before with the schedule and S we' have to go we offer this course this year and not just rotating the classes and the reason talk about rotating and I'm apologize I'm talking too much but what happens like with AP Bio and AP environmental science it allows the students to be able to take at Dar sometimes if you have it at the same time because there's only really eight periods in in a day because you have to have lunch you can only fit so much so so for years they've been alterating the AP Bio AP environmental science so they can hit now is a gamble because maybe you're able to get it you're not but what happens you have all at the same time there's too many on too much on the menu but I will tell you that they teachers who have made comments that they are interested in teaching new college courses as well because they're see they're just seeing the benefit.
143. 1:26:14at a at a further time you mentioned the all the students uh going straight to employment or trade school and I know there's some really exciting um CTE classes and I saw even just on Facebook that there's a small engine class and some really exciting other things that are happening so um love to hear about those at some other points too.
144. 1:26:35yeah we definitely like to get more handson experience because Quest are do like they do what they can but there's only so many spots that you can break it down I just want to break this down sometimes people say like what can you do because they also take so many people yeah you know what I mean so it's almost like you have a good problem but you has been good to us well so students don't want to leave for the whole day they want to be able to try something out and not commit to it it's good that we're doing that too.
145. 1:27:06great thank you very much really appreciate it.
146. 1:27:11[Applause]
147. 1:27:50good evening I am Kim Carnegie I am your director of student services is um here at the Hudson City School District Dr pennyman asked me to um put together a presentation on special education this is going to be kind of like special ed 101 but with some of our specific numbers um so we've I've got an ambitious agenda and um so I will probably do my New Jersey thing and talk quickly um just slow me down if you need me to um so we're going to kind of cover the definition the legal framework um our current demographics the programs and services that um are on the Continuum in New York state and also we're we offer here the blueprint for improved results for students with disabilities in New York state specially design instruction um and what that looks like our state performance indicators which is the accountability system for special education um some challenges and areas for improvement we're experiencing and um future goals and vision.
148. 1:28:51so the mission of the New York State education department office of special ed is to ensure that students with disabilities have opportunities to benefit from high quality instruction to reach the same standards as all students and to leave school prepared to successfully transition to post school learning living and working there is an expectation that about 98% of the students that are classified are working towards a regular diploma the definition um of special.
149. 1:29:21education through um New York State means designed individualized or group instruction or special services or programs as defined in subdivision 2 of section 4401 of Ed law and we'll cover that in a minute um and or specialed transportation and it's provided at no cost to parents um to meet the unique needs of students with disabilities so you'll hear Faith or free and appropriate public education um so it is at no cost to parents uh this instruction includes um that that is conducted in classrooms uh in the home for students that are on home instruction potentially in hospitals institutions in any other setting.
150. 1:30:02um this instruction includes specially design instruction which we'll talk about a little bit later um also in physical education including adaptive pH physical education so here's that subdivision two and it goes into a little bit more detail about what it might look like what specially designed instruction and special education in New York state might look like it could be special classes transition Support Services resource rooms direct and indirect consultant teacher Services transition Services it could include devices such as ass assisted technology devices travel training um for students who may need to learn to take public transportation home instruction for those students who can't be in school um and then special teachers to include itinerate teachers as provided by schools of the District of residents with such terms and services to be divine defined by the resident the regulations of the commissioner.
151. 1:30:51so um specially designed instruction is provided by a special education teacher or a reading teacher if it's for reading or um a related service provider um and then further individual student needs are determined by our committee on special education and we consider the these four things the academic achievement the functional performance and the learning characteristics of students their Social Development their physical development and also any management they need in terms of the environmental setting the human resources they might need or material resources they might need to be able to go back to that definition and access the general curriculum so that they could be working towards a high school diploma.
152. 1:31:38so legally we're Bound by three major laws we're governed by the federal law of idea the New York State commissioner regulations and the Americans with Disabilities Act and we must and here is where that F or free appropriate public education comes in in the least restrictive environment for all students with disabilities and we had done this in policy last year I think Kia I think you were there um until they turn 22 except for in Hudson it's until they um finish the school year when they turn 22 um and ear or earn a regular high school diploma so if a student is able to earn their high school diploma then their education ends if they're not able to earn a a regular education uh general diploma and they're working towards a skills and achievement commencement credential such as a student who is alternately assessed um then they are entitled to stay in school through June of their 22nd birthday.
153. 1:32:39one and the the little I can go back there the my little um uh quotes or the uh thank you parentheses at the bottom um this includes continuing to try new placement um on the Continuum which could include and does include in some cases in and out of state day in residential programs um and or work study programs for students we also must follow each students's IEP by providing those Services accommodations modifications and devices um which are determined at the CSC to be appropriate and necessary for them to continue to progress towards the New York State um learning standards.
154. 1:33:24we also must provide opportunities for our students with disabilities at the same level as their non-disabled peers um it it includes access and progression in general at curriculum it includes um extracurriculars uh for instance we have a student who um is deaf and he's in a specialized deaf heart of hearing program he participated in a sport we had to provide The Interpreter for that sport so we are obligated even beyond the school day to provide services so that they can participate just like their non-disabled peers would participate.
155. 1:33:58um and then also we're required in New York state to use a response to intervention model when determining a student to be eligible for classification as a student with a learning disability and receive an IEP so our RTI model is now the mtss we've talked you've had um some uh presentations about the mtss model um and it includes interventions in academics Behavior speech OT um and counseling before a school referral can be made uh for CS evaluation a parent does have the ability to make a referral but a student cannot be classified as a learning disabled student if they haven't been through and received General Ed supports.
156. 1:34:40so the Continuum of services and we have everything in our district that can be offered um we could have a student who's related service only so maybe they have a speech and language impairment and they only need spee but they're able to access the general curriculum without extra support that would be a related service only student um the next level on the Continuum of leas restrictive would be consultant teacher Services either indirect or direct indirect being the consult special ed teacher works with the teachers to support the student and direct would be working with the student to provide those Services um integrated co- teing classes special classes which are our self-contained classrooms and in our district we have um whole bunch of different ratios based on the needs of our students.
157. 1:35:25so uh from K through 12th grade our Communications life skills and Alternate assessment classes the ratios start in K to2 at 814 they go up to 1214 and then at the high school level they're 1212 so they're getting less adult support because there's an expectation that they've developed the skills to be a little bit more independent um our social emotional and behavioral classes start at 612 go to 812 go to 1211 at the secondary on the secondary campus and then our skills classes are um we have 1212s for the the little ones and then we go to 151s or 1512 depending on the needs of the student and then at the high school they're 151s.
158. 1:36:06um it should be noted that the only students that aren't working towards a regular New York State diploma is are the students in that first tier the communication life skills and alternative assessment classes all the rest of the students in these self-contained classes are still expected to pass the exams and um be exposed to and make progress in the general curriculum um we for the first time we are an outof District placement for
159. 1:36:35other local school districts we currently have five students that five school three school districts sending five students to us that they're paying us tuition for because they don't have programs in their local districts that meet the needs of those children so they contact us because doesn't have room do you have room here's the profile of the student we meet as a team to discuss the needs of the student and whether or not we think we have a program in our Continuum that would meet their that child's needs and then we either say yes or no. I've declined two students because I felt their needs were greater than we could meet um but we've accepted five so we are basically like bosies for some of the other districts in Columbia County because there's not a lot of programs out there.
160. 1:37:24so here are our demographics as of uh the beginning of November when I did this presentation for the 2425 school year so that's the counts for each of the 13 classific classification areas recognized in New York state and then the percentage of those. we at October at bedday last year we had 285 classified students this year in November we have 303 some of that is because we've classified a few students we've also received um a number of students from other districts that have moved in that already had IEPs and we're already classified.
161. 1:38:05so where do our students attend so of the 33 266 of them attend are in district schools uh two of them are parentally placed so those we have no control over these are students whose parents may work in other public school districts as teachers and they decide they want their children to go to those public schools and so um that is always an option. we have to maintain the IEP for that child because we are the District of residents but the other school provides the services and they're on the other school's accountability so how they do in school is up to the other school. so we have two students that are um in other local school districts by parent choice um we have eight only eight students at Bose when I started here 15 years ago we had almost 50 students at B in Bose programs.
162. 1:38:58um we are down to only eight students in B's programs we have 19 in approved private schools they can only go to an approved private school if Bose says no. so you can see that our numbers at bosis are pretty low because our students need a higher level of support than bosei says they can offer um and then we have four students that are residentially placed because they have needs so great that it carries over the school day beyond the school day into their um their life.
163. 1:39:29we have four students that are right now on home instruction um or one at the tutoring center that um are waiting for out of District programs but as I'll talk a little bit later we don't have enough out of District program availability to send the kids that need that level of service um so right now we have four that are home. we also have three IND District kids that are waiting for placements but we're still housing them in school so when it becomes a significant safety issue that we can't maintain the safety of the child or the other children in a classroom we put students on home instruction and that and the parent has to agree to that that's something that the parent agrees to.
164. 1:40:11so that's where students attend um I participated in um a portion of the superintendent meeting last week when um Chris Sano the um the main guy in the office of special ed um was doing a presentation and he did say that they want to see um the number of out of District plac students at 10% or lower were at 11.5 I think so we're a little bit high with those four students that were sending out of District um but not a lot of districts are a lot higher than that because they don't have those programs that we have in District. so we keep um as many students in District as we possibly can.
165. 1:40:54so this is just a breakdown from building to building um this is the K to two students at the elementary school we have 42 of note we currently have 20 or 14 um fouryear olds that will be entering kindergarten in 2526 that are classified in receiving um Services through cpsc or should be receiving Services through cpsc but there are no providers. so we do have a group of students that are currently not being receiving Services because there are no service providers in Columbia County that are available um and they will be coming to our kindergartens next year um and then we have two students that are currently being evaluated and this is where they go.
166. 1:41:36um we have some students that receive resource room and some are in co- teing um and you can see and then what I did was if we have a tuition student one of those students from another District that comes in um I put them on there so we have one student who is a first grader um in our 1212 and we have one student who um we have not actually two first graders from two different districts that are in the um in self-contained classes.
167. 1:42:09then we go on to three through five um there were 63 classified uh third through fifth graders to um pending evaluations that were in process for and there's another tuition student um in a self-contained class and that's kind of where our numbers are um.
168. 1:42:32yeah is there overlap like the ICT math and ICT Ela generally?
169. 1:42:36lot of times they'll be at the elementary school in particular the integrated C- teer typically stays with a homebased teacher and so yes but not every student that has integrated Ela need integrated MTH um so yeah um.
170. 1:42:59and then at in the special classes here we have one class that's just third graders because there were so many second graders last year that we couldn't combine them with another grade level um and then we have a four five skills class as well um. don't have we only have five students at our Behavior class which is a good thing that would be one argument I would make that ruler is working because in order to be in our Behavior class your behavior has to be pretty significant um and we are not full.
171. 1:43:31and then here is at the Junior High um we had a bubble of kids come up we have 877 in just the three grade levels of the junior high right now um and we do have another tuition student um in
172. 1:43:44our n class in that building and then the high school we have 90 90 classified students we don't have any kids in evalu process of being evaluated um and then mid year last year we lost we lost our duly certified specialed math certified teacher so that teacher was certified in math and certified in special ed and she was teaching some self-contained classes um just special ed students small class um and because she was certified in both she was able to give that instruction she left mid year we have not been able to hire a teacher that is certified in both math and special ed so we've had to put those students into a co- te model in math so there's 13 of those students and then historically by the time they get to 11th grade we don't have a lot of self-contained classes um unless it's an alternate assessment class um or a skills class but even most of those are um the students second year of science but but um there's an expectation that they're getting ready to graduate from high school in two years and there's not special ed in life so we really want our students working towards regular diplomas to become more independent and able to work in um a an integrated setting or with resource room support and that's our last tuition student he's a super senior.
173. 1:45:17so here is New York state educations Department specialized departments um blueprint for improved results um they look at these are the areas that we need to look at as we're building IEPs um self advocacy Family Partnership self- advocacy by the way helps ruler helps with that where they're able to Advocate how they're feeling um so that is is a nice segue into that Family Partnership specially design instruction research-based instruction um multi-tiered support we talked about mtss um inclusive activities expecting students be able to be inclusive with um anything that the other Stu the general students non-disabled peers are participating in um and then transition support.
174. 1:46:01I think I've talked before about our life school life skills at the high school they go off campus three days a week um they go to a farm they go to Tractor Supply they go to Goodwill they um go to the college and do kind of micro learning and some of them have in micro credentials so they have a lot of opportunity to um get some work-based learning and in fact one of our students who graduated a couple years ago was hired full-time for um at the parks department um and he works up at Olana full-time that would be a student that was an alternative specimen student not working towards a regular diploma we also have a student who graduated five or six years ago I think um who's now working in the cafeteria at the elementary school that came out of our life skills class so um there is an expect that we are going to get those students so that they can work if that's their choice.
175. 1:46:59excuse me specially designed instruction by definition is means adapting as appropriate to the needs of an eligible child under this part the content methodology of delivery of instruction um to address the unique needs of the child um and to ensure access of the child to the general curriculum so that the child can meet the educational standards within the jurisdic of public agency in other words there is an expectation that specially design instruction is going to take those students and make sure they have access to and progress in the regular curriculum.
176. 1:47:34so we can um focus on content which is what is taught allowing the student to access so do they need ad adaptations um do they need specialized instruction in a particular way um what the content and skills are our IEP goals um and how do we leverage students strengths and current knowledge as we identify how we're going to adapt the instructional content sometimes in some of our self-contained classes we look at the standards and we look at the power standards and we spend more time on some of those standards that um are more key and maybe not go into so much depth in some of the other materials if they need double time or two and a half times to learn the material.
177. 1:48:17we can also modify the methodology which is how the instruction is delivered um and I don't know you if I've ever said before maybe not with this board special ed is a service not a place so it can be in a general classroom it can be in a self-contained classroom um how are we going to do that are we going to do a small group within the General Ed classroom are they going to go out for resource room and and are there methods that are not effective for the student when they're learning so that we don't try them next year.
178. 1:48:52and then also the delivery of instruction which is by whom where and when so I did mention before that the specially designed instruction supposed to be a special ed teacher but can be a reading teacher if it's teaching if they're teaching reading so um we have those conversations at CSC meetings um yes they could have a resource room with a special ed teacher but they also could access the reading instructor um for specific reading skills that we know that that reading teacher is going to be teaching so those are conversations at our CSC meeting about who is going to be the best person to provide that service um and where and when um so group size sometimes that's where we come across the self-contained um and sometimes our teachers have to learn how to do things differently because the student that shows up in front of us um has a disability that we're not used to.
179. 1:49:44so two days before the school year started this year we had a student transfer to us from another District she's blind we have any blind students we had one visually parent student student in the past so I mean it was like okay we need to get specialized materials we need to you know get um a separate monitor for the computer and a new keyboard and um that's what we do.
180. 1:50:10all right also it could be adaptive fed if the student if there's a reason for the student there's a physical disability that the student can participate in regular fed but also if there a student with significant needs such as a student with autism who may be non-verbal who might not handle a gym class of 40 kids running around that might be a reason to have adaptive fed as well and adaptive fed can happen in the general classroom with modifications or in a separate classroom as well we
181. 1:50:39different differentiate instruction we may need to adjust it down we may need to adjust it up we have a student um or had a student last year who is a student with a disability but who also was very gifted in an area so needed to make sure that he was being presented with material that would um meet some of his needs in that area um direct explicit instruction accommodations and modifications and small group or one-on-one instruction if it's necessary.
182. 1:51:07so then we get into the accountability for New York State and special education um there is a an accountability plan and every year school districts have to report on one particular indicator and it rotates this year were required to report on timely evaluation so from the day we get consent until the day we hold a CSC meeting there's 60 calendar days so we have to make sure that we meet those timelines um also we needed to get 78 surveys back um from the parent involvement survey last year and we didn't get 78 surveys back so we're going to have to re-report on that although they haven't told me that yet I just know from being around a long time that if we didn't hit our threshold they would be letting us know have to retry again this year.
183. 1:51:54um the state hasn't released the schedule Beyond this year but I just kind of went along the way it's been going for the last 10 years and anticipate that this is what we will be reporting on the next three years Beyond this year.
184. 1:52:12separate from that is the special education quality assurance uh department at special education at State um and we have been ident ified as a school district needing focused intervention and participating in targeted skills group this year for two areas um the first area is New York state alterate assessment because our participation rate is over 2% we have a bubble of students who have been moving up for five three four five six six years um in a great kind of in a Grade band and um every year we're over our 2% because of this group of kids this year they're not taking the Nisa so next year we should be below our 2%.
185. 1:53:04um and then they'll take it again in two years as a high school student but there's they want us to not have more than 2% of our students taking the alternate assessment um our percentage is at about 3%. um last year we participated in targeted skill group and we were 100% with everything that we needed to do we're doing everything right we just have a number of students that have that are just moving up through the system um our alternate assessment class in the three to five grade this year is only six students our junior high class is only six students so now we have just a few in each grade level but there's this bubble that are now in nth grade and they don't get tested in nth grade they'll get tested two years from now um that has kind of put us over that percentage.
186. 1:53:53but we'll participate in the training and hopefully they're supposed to be coming up with something new because we're already 100% compliant so to go over the same um rules and and files that we've already reviewed doesn't make a lot of sense um but we are participating in that and then the other one that we have to participate in this year is new it's the least restrictive environment um and what the state is saying is that we have too many students in District in self-contained classes for two much of their day so they want to see more push out to general education we have no idea what that training is going to look like we have no idea what the data collection is going to look at look like we have our first meeting in a few weeks um but we are we are required to participate in that um to take a look at least restrictive environment.
187. 1:54:44um so yeah um most districts that are in trouble um for least restrictive environment is because they many students out of District they don't have programs in District and they send them out we're able to keep our kids in District but they are self-contained more than 40% of their day.
188. 1:55:04so some of our challenges I've talked about these before are hard to place students so like we have one student who's death heart of hearing there is one program it is in Guilderland so every year that four student since he was in kindergarten has been driving all the way to Guilderland every day for his program um we have students with global development language and physical needs those are some of those students that are hard to place that I said are on home instruction um we have students with psychiatric needs um and significant behavioral issues that can't keep themselves safe so those are that's a challenge and part of the reason that's a challenge is further down hard to fill positions.
189. 1:55:42there are specialed schools sitting with empty classrooms because they can't find staff so they can't accept students so we have trouble filling all of our positions they're having trouble filling their positions um but when I find out that one of the places that I send my little guys the K to five students um has two empty classrooms because they can't staff them like that it's heartbreaking because it would be nice if they were in school.
190. 1:56:12um so lack of openings in out of District programs um like I said they have fewer openings because they don't have all their classes open and we're all postco having a lot more students that are experiencing a lot more disregulation in their lives and um they just can't keep themselves together um and then we have challenging behaviors of IND District students New York state says you shouldn't be suspending a kid Beyond 10 days in a full school year we have students that have hit their 10 days already so in an Ideal World you'd be able to say well maybe we could send them to the bis program but there's waiting list three to five deep for those programs.
191. 1:56:56future goals and vision I didn't really plan for this I assume you guys know I'm retiring in a couple months um but we will continue to work with the Capital District Regional Partnership Center for those areas that we are um cited for um consider development of even more specialized programs for hard topl students It's Tricky though because all of our schools are busting at the seams and we don't have a lot of space for new classrooms um and then the other piece um I think I
192. 1:57:27mentioned before there's not enough providers of cpsc so that's preschool special end so we have a student we have students that will be found eligible to receive a program or speech or OT and we say Yep they're eligible yep they should get it and there are no providers in Columbia County that are Contracting with Columbia County to provide that service so don't get service and then they show up on our doorstep. So there is a possibility of the school district applying applying to become a cpsc provider and start providing the services themselves but we would have to hire staff to do any of that work I mean you get money for it you know there is a rate that Columbia county is approved for um and my staff is tapped Mo most of my staff are um seeing more students than any other District in Columbia rler or um green counties um um on a daily basis so we would not be able to become a cpsc provider um without hiring new staff. But one thing that the district could consider is making one of our upk classes um an integrated program so then it could take six classified um cpsc students that are four um and take six of those slots away from other students um and then it would be taught by the upk teacher and a special ed teacher so there are options for the preschool.
193. 1:58:55Um most services in preschool can be offered itinerant so like if we hired a speech person um to do c cpsc they could go to the homes or they could go to their daycare centers wherever they are um but it is something that would require additional hiring and there is an application process for that um so that is something to consider. I'm assuming that in the next five years the state probably going to come down with well you're responsible anyway you guys need to provide those Services figure it out I'm not sure um I know that Columbia county is trying to get their rates raised because providers are just not coming because they can make more money in Al County than they can in Columbia County. Questions that's a lot and I talk fast.
194. 1:59:46Oh well I'd like to thank you for giving your presentation first I felt pretty ignorant walking in but thank you very much. Um I was curious what the role of the committee you mentioned was like the specifics of it okay and also who the members are not names but like roles are they teachers.
195. 2:00:02Yep absolutely so the committee on special education and there's also a committee on preschool special education um is made up of the parent the special ed teacher a general ed teacher a psychologist if needed to be there um a chair who I have a district chairperson and me and all of my psychologists are also sub chair people um and then any of the related service provider. So if Johnny is in a class and he has a special ed teacher and he also gets speech in OT when we schedule a meeting then his speech person would come and his OT person would come and his General Ed teacher would come and his special ed teacher would come um there would be a chairperson and then um a psychologist if they were re reviewing the results of an evaluation. So requires that we do a full evaluation every three years that a student is receiving Services um so that's one reason to have a meeting. Another reason to have a meeting is you have to have one meeting at least every year so it's called an annual review so we review we do those annual reviews to create the next IEP for the next year. An IEP goes from September to June or July to June if they're a summer school students.
196. 2:01:19And is that assessment you just mentioned the nysaa assessment.
197. 2:01:24No okay so in lie of State Testing students take the nysaa which is the New York State alternate assessment okay so like three through eight they have to take testing it's a nice the nice is the test. But every three years there's a psychological that that usually assesses um ability level or IQ um speech OT developmental their academic achievement so those those are the that happen every three years sear apart from the New York State Testing program.
198. 2:01:54I also had more of a data question but what is the uh how how good is our retention of these students are they able to stay within the Hudson City School District throughout um you know all 12 years or most of them.
199. 2:02:09Yes and and ideally after a few years of service we will declassify them okay and then they will become a general Leed student um with maybe a 504 plan if they have a diagnosis or um um whatever but yeah I mean at any time a student could be referred to the evaluated first services and then every three years we determine whether they still need those services or whether they can function without one.
200. 2:02:35Yeah yeah last time you presented the focus was on declassification has there been any movement.
201. 2:02:41There has not been a whole lot of declassification okay there has not been since last I think I presented in March I think we've Declassified two students but we've classified more than that so our declassification rate is pretty low yeah.
202. 2:02:57Is that a reflection of the district or is that just what it is.
203. 2:02:59It's a reflection of a lot of things um one thing could be um just instruction in general um it could be the needs of the students our students are um many of our students are significantly um challenged in terms of academic social emotional um language um. There are students that you know might be classified in another District because of their performance but they're performing like most of our students are so we would potentially not consider a student eligible for classification. Um we have found you know some of our students who have special education needs but are also SEC English as a second language students really struggle to come out of English as a second language and out of special education because there's there's so much more going on so there's lot of different things that can play into that.
204. 2:03:54And I was a little confused about the um uh drop in Bose's uh participation and rise or not rise but higher number of privates um is that a a good thing about our district that we're that we're able to keep more students.
205. 2:04:09It's more a reflection on bosis not accepting our students than it is on us keeping students in I mean we are keeping many more students in than we used to um we've created a lot of new program that
206. 2:04:22weren't here when I got here but again I've been here 15 years now um there are we do have enough programs where we keep students in to the extent that we can so when we send a student at a district there's like there's significant needs that we're not meeting um and unfortunately bosis I think at last calculation was rejecting 70% of the students we refer so they're just saying we don't have a program for your child and part of that they say is because we have so many of our own programs so they weren't able to make it in our 612 would they make it in Bosey 612 my argument would be yes because they're in a building of 40 or 50 kids and we're in a building of hundreds of kids but thank you good question.
207. 2:05:05anybody else it was a lot I talk fast it was very informative I I'll likeo what Thomas said it was for a late person it was very informative.
208. 2:05:16okay thank you thank you okay there's no need for an early executive Personnel agenda any questions anyone no I'd like to make a motion to accept Personnel agenda item a 1 to 10 in items b 1 to 5
209. 2:05:47Second all in favor yeah so as part of the Personnel agenda we have um a third grade teacher Lisa small if you would stand please miss small and I just want to read a brief bio about Miss small Lisa small formerly Lisa first has spent most of her life in columb I County and is a graduate of Hudson High School.
210. 2:06:23she received her bachelor's degree from Sunni platsburg in elementary education and a master's degree in Reading at adelfa University she began her teaching career in Hudson City School District as a reading teacher and then spent many years as a fifth grade teacher she spent two years abroad teaching fifth grade at the Singapore American School in in the Republic of Singapore and in Southeast Asia.
211. 2:06:54she took a break from teaching to raise her children and during that time she was a substitute teacher she did a long-term substitute position in third grade and eventually went back to work full-time as a teaching assistant in a self-contained K through2 special education classroom for kabad Crane Central School District.
212. 2:07:17she went back to being a full-time classroom teacher in 2021 in the Troy City School District as a fifth grade teacher and then as a co-teer and intervention teacher in kindergarten and second grade she's looking forward to returning to hcsd and to teach third grade a fun fact about Miss small is that she was once music a musician in Jimmy Buffett's flight attendant on his private jet as a job welcome Miss small.
213. 2:08:01welcome and we also have Mr Malachi Walker now he in the last board meeting I believe we okayed his um employment but he wasn't able to come so he's our restorative practices specialist so I'm pleased to introduce uh Malachi Walker from Hudson New York born and raised and a Hudson alarm.
214. 2:08:22Mr Walker volunteered for Hudson Youth Department throughout his life he has served as an assistant coach for Pop Warner football for a number of years he's had over a decade of experience working with the office of Children and Families of the state of New York in a classroom setting and over a decade of supervising a resident household for people with mental disabilities.
215. 2:08:52Mr Walker worked 19 years for mha as a mentor and skill builder for young individuals um uh that were referred through the probation or DSS the MH the mha clinic and referrals through the Hudson City School District he has worked 24 years at Colombia opportunities advocating for families and their needs in the community he's network with available resources of neighbor agencies.
216. 2:09:20he's been a foster care parent for almost two decades and together with his wife welcoming children from all walks of life in their home with open arms and he truly believes and loves in love and experience is that that love and experience is one of the greatest best motivators and driving forces a fun fact is that in his senior year in high school he once jumped 212 ft in the long jump event to qualify for state state competition in track and field but was never able to attend because he got sick the day before the event welcome [Applause] MRC.
217. 2:10:11okay thank you ladies and gentlemen we're about to convene into the public comment period of our meeting although state law does not require us to hold a public comment period we have chosen to do so because we believe it's crucial for us to hear from our community members about their concerns and issues having said that please note the board is here to listen.
218. 2:10:48the public comment period is not designed to be a discussion accordingly please do not expect the board to respond to your concerns and questions tonight it's because we can take your questions and concerns seriously and want to have sufficient time to process and research issues if need be will however respond to your questions and concerns at a future meeting or have the proper staff member give back to you.
219. 2:11:08also want to point out that under state and federal privacy laws we are unable to entertain any comments or questions about school Personnel please know that we take these concerns seriously uh ask that speakers address the board rather than the audience each speaker is given three minutes.
220. 2:11:26hi my name is Wayne K I'm here to talk about my school taxes being used to murder children blow up schools in Palestine U through this board and other New York state board this fine young man here has been asking a lot of great questions and I hope he continues to ask them and doesn't take your answers no disinformation to Heart keep asking those good questions.
221. 2:11:55um who's the superintendent
222. 2:11:57I am great uh her salary is well let's just say 200 grand um
223. 2:12:05s we can't talk about Personnel matters here sir
224. 2:12:08I'm not talking about personel matters I'm talking about what people get paid so I'm allowed to talk about what that's a free and open thing for public uh employees the the teachers around 80 grand average with Benefits putting them at 105,000 and this is a school system that has 72% under you know poor people uh the imbalance is important.
225. 2:12:38um where does the money go 40 Grand approximately is being spent on every student in this school well about about a third of it goes to Banks companies in Wall Street which this superintendent represents that's why she get paid the big bucks little less than about nine% goes to Wall Street goes to Boe and Ron and loie Martin that makes the Jets that are killing
226. 2:13:09children uh blowing their little brown bodies to bits for the benefits of the employees of the school and so I'm here to say you guys should divest you guys should have divestment meetings and I am making myself available to you I've given you a card give me 10 minutes with audio visual to talk about the issues that are important which is why are we investing money in cluster munition manufacturer Tex drawn in why are we investing money in Israel discount Bank when they have killed according to the Lance at the British Journal 200,000 not 100,000 at least 200,000 citizens of Palestine these are the big questions why why why are my school taxes making kids die and why is this school board
227. 2:14:05each individual one of you backing A system that would murder so many people of color it it troubles me and my family uh are indigenous so I am connected historically gen and eraser and part of the Eraser pro pro process is this board not acknowledging and not coming forward and talking about how they are their financing is genocide just like the United States this is our this is mine because my school taxes are being used to finance this is my personal genocide raer and I resent it so please put divestment on your calendar and inform the public on how easy it is to do thank you thank youy was that iter meeting Peace church since about4
228. 2:15:21um and I'm here also to talk about that um many of the financial aspects of how war is funded is through Investments lots of different kinds of Investments and New York State teachers retirement fund does invest the money to pay retirement for teachers and a lot of that money does go to companies like Ron and Implements of war and there's there's ways to invest money and be more socially responsible and Quakers of course have been leading this charge for a long time I just feel as though even what's happening in Gaza and also in Ukraine you know now is really the time to stand up and say a little bit more about what's going on because it's a you know
229. 2:16:15Carnage as you know we can do better thank you okay attend this report good evening everyone evening some things that have been happening across the district so tonight my superintendent report is focusing in a few So speaking of harvest of the month was New York Deary and the Harvest for the month was on New York de so on the 13th of November the Food Service served up Farms assorted flavored yogurt cups at mcses and Upstate Farms yogurt parfet in the junior high and the senior high breakfast at the Junior Senior High also included fresh fruit and New York State yogurt bars the New York State milk is from S Farms and so the farm to table
230. 2:17:43class participated in the Harvest of the month by having a yogurt making class led by our own School food director so conversations with the superintendent was held and so I continue to engage the community each month as part of my conversations with the superintendent forums so on November 14th the session was attended which I was very happy about by several students so we had a robust discussion about student Behavior standards bus educational tracks for entering careers in politics and law and then the evolution of the blue hawk Academy mission so the next conversation with the superintendent is December 19th at the Hudson Youth Center um which is on 8 South Third Street I also have the conversations
231. 2:18:43with the superintendent with staff members too so that it's not only with the community but there's also members in the morning once a mon um he's a resilience educator so he has a PHD in social psychology and specializes in teaching on how you how the how youth can be more emotionally resilient um and on Wednesday the 13th the district was honored um to host Brooks gifts he spoke at all three schools and then that evening he had a session for the staff faculty and community and I think Mr M you intended that and our president M Jones was also there there was an appreciation and thanking for our veterans um so the kindness Club at the
232. 2:19:41high school which is directed by Miss Smith teamed up with um high and mighty therapeutic Writing Center and the Columbia County veter Service Agency DWI peerto peer program to bring the fourth annual veterans appreciation bagel and the barn so the event um included music from the Hudson win Ensemble tours and gifts from life skill students bagel cofes and fruit and Mr Lance's video photo Club cover and then there was the Hudson Senior High School B gave Fant performance on the Veterans Day November 11th so we've launched the flying classroom so the flying classroom is bir is a group of Hutson Junior and senior high school students they're receiving Hands-On science technology engineering and math lessons through the new flying
233. 2:20:44classroom Saturday stem pilot program which was successfully launched in October 26 2024 slots are available for additional students to participate for the remainder of the school year so be sure to contact UM the building principles and they have all the information about that and as I mentioned um about a month ago I was beginning a superintendent Spotlight on excellence and so a spotlight on excellence be given to any Community member it can be given to a staff member students Etc so and anyone can give a spotlight on Excellence to include the board staff members um so this week well the very first Spotlight on Excellence will be given to birkshire bike and Bo and the recipients are Noah corn and
234. 2:21:47Victor span are they receiving this because these great Community Partners when we received our um bike Grant where we received the bikes for the Junior High School Mr Spano and Mr corn assembled those bikes for us and so tonight we are thanking them and spotlighting them on Spotlight on excellence and I have Spotlight on Excellence award for both of you guys so first um it'll be Mr Spano come [Applause] up and also Mr Noah [Applause] my superintendent report thank you well thank you thank you both for being here thank you I would like to make a motion to approve consistance G items a bouquet seconds all in favor new business okay um these are all nisba
235. 2:23:26recommended um and required policies the changes um should be all outlined in uh in Red so easy to see what's changed on these um I didn't have any feedback other than we're still trying to the policy 0115 calls for a uh bullying prevention a task force on bullying prevention and we're just confirming what exists in the different buildings and seeing if we need to
236. 2:24:02modify language so that it reflects what our uh teams actually look like um but other than that we wanted to get feedback from the rest of the board and um move them to adopt it or next board meeting
237. 2:24:23cool so yeah take a look and uh send along any questions
238. 2:24:31no question
239. 2:24:34good
240. 2:24:39okay thank you Tracy
241. 2:24:43okay important dates December 10th 2024 Board of Education me in High School library 600 p.m. January 7th 2025 Board of Education meeting High School auditorium at 6: p.m January 21st 2025 policy committee meeting High School library 5 p.m. January 21st 2025 Board of Education meeting High School auditorium at 6 pm.
242. 2:25:18okay this time we do have a need for executive session we resolved the Board of Education enter executive session at 8:22 for the purpose of collaborative negotiation result in article 14 of the Civil Service law and to review the employment history of particular persons of persons
243. 2:25:48second
244. 2:25:48all in favor [Music] yeah
245. 2:25:55be no further business after the session thank you for being thank you

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