Board of Education, Regular Meeting transcript: FUTURE HUDSON

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0:00e 602 pm and ask everybody to please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all like to welcome Leslie as our new board Clerk and uh ask her to do roll call please.
1:23I have to get on the right meeting okay Mark toce here Amanda grer here Kirsten gipson here wette Jones Calvin Lewis here ma Matthew Macker here L Walker here great thank you.
1:56I make a motion to accept the agenda as presented second all in favor and that brings us to the student representative report
2:07good evening my name is lebona I'm the second vice president of student council I'm here instead of Thomas today this week this week students have their midterm SL reganes um on February 14th the Multicultural is holding a talent show there's auditions currently happening next week on Monday 27th model un is holding a mini session the trium musical Honor Society is holding a queen of hearts dance on February 15th the class of 2026 is holding a crispy K cream fundraiser that's it
2:39great thank you so much thank you for being here um that brings us to special recognitions right so tonight we have special recognition for four community members and during this this time um we recognize community members that have contributed to the district in some way and so the spotlight is and we give them an award called the spotlight on Excellence
3:11so for tonight's spotlights on Excellence the first person is roxan Carpenter from mental health I'm not sure if she's here tonight we also have Miss Joanne Al and from Global Partners alltown fresh we have Robin Nan yanui director of field marketing is Miss yanui here yes all right and we also have maren Rabino the manager of charitable Initiative for Global Partners alltown fresh and the reason why we're recognizing them tonight is that they gave a substantial donation to the high school school so we just want to thank you and I'd like to ask you to come forward um to receive your Spotlight on excellent certificates thank you
4:14[Applause] coming maybe tough the frame Sal everybody it is everybody okay um I can set it right now I believe oh I didn't start the meeting um Clippers you canar out about
5:52Kim here okay
6:02uh on behalf of the Board of Education and the superintendent of schools we would like to recognize the retirement of Kim Carnegie director of student services and thank her for 15 plus years of service in the Hudson City School District we wish her good health and happiness in the years ahead congratulations take a picture with himim too right all the way around the end
7:23okay at this time there's no need for an early executive session um bring brings us to Personnel agenda uh I'd like to make a motion to accept Personnel agenda items a numbers 1- 4 and Item B numbers one through five second all in favor
7:46who seconded cman thank you
7:52okay brings us to uh public forum 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 is crucial for us to hear from our community members about their concerns and issues having said that please note that the board is here to listen the public comment period is not designed to be a discussion
8:34um accordingly please do not expect the board to respond to your concerns and questions tonight this because we take your concerns and questions seriously want to have sufficient time to process and research issues if need be we will however respond to your questions and concerns at a future meeting or have the proper staff member get back to you
8:50also want to point out that under state and federal privacy laws we are unable to entertain any comments or questions about school Personnel uh we take these matters seriously and ask you go through the appropriate administrative channels uh each speaker is given three minutes Rocky pay Mr Rocky Payne
9:17good evening um Rocky pay school counselor um I know there's a presentation I think done at the last board meeting I was able to attend being ill but I feel this is overdue I wanted to give thanks and recognition to miss robinowitz and her it Department namely there have been some initiatives from the guidance Department that they've been very instrumental uh we were in our second cycle of our digital testing Administration to practice sat it went off uh very well we had the support um we also had Questar um recruitment videos and her team put together a translation um system for our students uh so it hit the equity aspect
9:56um we also are going to have the first round of our digital um digital AP exams this year and Mr Ellsworth already and I are going to meet about it so I just wanted to go on record and thank M roenitz and her team because they've been very instrumental in delivering services for our students and again I'd like to thank you Mr Reitz thank you thank you thank you P
10:21anybody else li no that's it no
10:25um brings us to the superintendent report right
10:45so good evening good evening to the board and to our community who is present tonight I'm going to speak to you about our strategic plan 2025 to 20 28 just a little bit of a background when I came last year um there was a strategic plan that was created but due to the um due to the superintendent leave-in it was never really implemented so after conversation with the board members um I decided to go in with the team and then just to revise the current strategic plan and add to it uh based on the data received
11:38so at the heart of the Strategic plan 2028 is a three-year implementation framework built on six evidence-based keys for instructional Improvement and this plan provides a clear pathway for sustained growth and success by setting goals and goals implementation and as detail in the following Pages the next few pages of the presentation we'll focus on the following strategies over the next three years
12:07they are strengthening the instructional core which will enhance teaching quality and raise curriculum standards and boost student engagement and achievement improving datadriven practices this involves using data to guide decisions identifying areas of growth tracking progress and making adjustments as needed next we're promoting a positive and inclusive School environment what will this do this will ensure a safe welcoming and supporting space for all stakeholders we'll strengthen the leadership capacity and emphasize the
12:45importance of effective leadership at every level in driving our school Improvement we will have a tiered approach to support an intervention which means a multi-tiered system of support or mtss as you often hear us refer to and finally increasing monitoring and accountability this will uphold a high standards and measures of effectiveness of our Improvement efforts so we want together to just create a school environment that not only supports academic success but also cultivate the emotional well-being of our students and so with your continued partnership we are preparing our students for bride and successful Futures.
13:33what is the mission the mission the vision and the guiding principle so the mission is to embrace all students and Inspire them to achieve their personal best as blue Hawks and Beyond the vision is we will create a a a continually we will create and continually to nurture an inclusive learning environment that honors the many passions the cultures the talent of all of our students and as student staff and a community we commit to learning exploring and achieving together.
14:04now within every system and every organization is imperative that we have guiding principles so our our mission will be able to be achieved and also our vision will be able to be a success if we have these guiding principles they are be compassionate Foster acceptance and inclusion respect and honor student voices demonstrate respect for each member of our school community and work together believe in each other act with courage Integrity honesty and transparency be present and then to explore new ways to teach and learn.
14:52on these next uh visuals that you see is um our school profile so we have three schools we have MC Smith Elementary Hudson Junior High Hudson Senior High we have an enrollment of 1,65 and this is real time data from uh this school year we have a staff of and and we employ staff and faculty and staff of 600 employees with at least 12 years average experience the median teacher salary is $51,100 the student teacher ratio is 12 to1 with an average class size of around 20.
15:38the demographics in our school district consist of 99.4% Asian 38.2 38.2% white 14.0% multi-racial Hispanic or Latino 19.6 and black are African-American 17.6 we also have a graph on student subgroups and I just want to briefly go through that so for English language Learners we have between 150 to 160 students students with disabilities we have approximately 300 economically disadvantaged we have about a thousand students and then the homeless student population is approximately 73 so those are just numbers of what we have currently.
16:34specialized programs in the district as you know we have our Blue Hawk Academy and we also have English as a new as a new language or enl so we have a total of 148 students in English as a new as a new language or our enl classs.
16:55in 2019 the New York um state bard of Regents they launched a portrait of a graduate these graduation measures um they explore what a New York Stu State diploma should signify and to ensure educational excellence and equity for all students so our vision here in Hudson is to prepare our students with 21st century skills which allows each student to graduate and then have the opportunity to succeed with their future goals and graduation.
17:30and so today I was in a meeting and we started talking about the 22nd century the 22nd century is just five years away believe it or not so we were having uh six years away 5 2025 Yeah by 2030 so we were talking today in a meeting I was with the other superintendents which kind of just brought things full and uh full front and center like wow five years that's not that long so with this portrait of a graduate we've now got have to begin to take this portrait of a graduate and not only you know Infuse it within our district but then to use it to proactively begin to prepare for our students for the 22nd century.
18:19all right so our gradu our graduates what are they they're critical thinkers and problem solvers this is what our state said that our graduates should be according to the Ned State Board of region they should have an Innovative mindset they should understand the bigger picture they should be able to propose solutions that are mindful or have impact they should improve their thinking and analyze they should be able to assess they should be able to apply discipline thinking that is clear rational open-minded and evidence-based to become masterful problem solvers they should be able to ask questions to gain knowledge and and different perspectives.
19:02our graduates are literate across all content areas they know how to transfer knowledge they know how to use uh content knowledge in both routine and innovative ways in real world situation they're able to develop and draw from a baseline understanding of knowledge in an academic setting and the literate in Tech technology and communication skills and with the 22nd century coming in being literate in technology and communication skills is going to be very very of most of most important.
19:45our graduates what are they they're leaders they should have vision and Inspire positive action in others and themselves they should be able to recognize invest and leverage strengths to to build Collective ownership and actions they should be able to create environments with conditions that Empower others they should be able to effectively build relationships with others through trust and collaboration.
20:09our graduates are also Global Citizens they should demonstrate civic responsibility Empower self and others to make differences in the local world and the community they should be able to value and respect diverse cultures cultures uh demonstrate empathy and resilience challenge an advocate themselves and the rights of others and learn from diverse literatures experience and voices.
20:35and last but not least our graduates are communicators they should be able to actively listen be flexible adapt to the needs of any audience they should be able to articulate through written and oral and non-verbal skills and to develop a digital footprint in impart knowledge and experience.
20:59our commitment to equity in developing our strategic plan we place Equity at the center of every conversation and decision our approach to including strong representation across all stakeholder group this reflects our commitment to ensuring that every student feels seen valued supported and regardless of their background Identity or circumstances as a district we acknowledged the historical inequities that have impacted our students and our community therefore our strategic plan 2028 is designed to break down barriers and Foster and actively Embrace diversity as an asset and have committed to providing each student with the access to high quality inclusive education that honors the uniqueness of of of our the unique needs and talents of all our students and one of
21:54The things that often I go place in places and I say yeah I work in Hudson that is the first thing that everyone always say Hudson wow how great you guys have such a great diverse set of students and you should be proud of that the community is diverse and so um that is something that um I am very proud of to be able to represent the district but it's also great when you go out into the community or to other meetings across the state and you're being a acknowledged for this.
22:29Also we received a call um I received an email and then a follow-up conversation with the state of New York but n said they um have asked our district because of the great work that has been done by Dr prey and the rest of our team with our de um initiatives they have asked Dr prey and I to present they're really impressed with our website they um they could have chosen any other District but out of 800 districts in New York they chose three three districts and Hudson is one of the districts that will be presenting to all of the districts across the state I believe we're doing this in March.
23:15So as you can read about our diversity equity and inclusion plan on the website you'll find that there's strategies and goals that align with the Ambitions of the Hudson City School District equity and inclusion policy which is which is on our website and so this is a commitment to equity and without reading the entire PowerPoint to you I think that basically I have portrayed the importance of that Equity played within our strategic planning.
23:51Community and stakeholder engagement community members staff and students were all inv invited to focus group to provide input on our district strengths and opportunities for growth we performed a comprehensive District data analysis including an in-depth review of culture and climate a survey that yielded responses for over from over 150 stakeholders we built a representative group of stakeholders to form strategic planning and steering committee this included leaders from the Board of Education the district the community members students and our steering committee reviewed all the data and performed strengths and weaknesses opportunities and strengths are SWAT analysis on June 18th of 2024.
24:41Using the SWAT analysis the strategic planning committee develop problem statements to shape the Strategic plan moving forward so we and so we deeply thank all of our um community members who participated um and and you can't really see that well but is a timeline on on on this where things um so the survey and the focus group um and the needs assessment were done like between J May June and July July and August and then we began to plan socialization in October and November then the steering committee um provided feedback there was an introductory meeting a vision meeting goals review and a strategy develop meeting and then we also have plan revision and feedback.
25:51So we thank all of our community members teachers uh families students and staff who contributed to develop and division of this plan so without each of their tiess efforts we could not have done it and I will stress continuously the importance of collaboration and teamwork with our community members our staff and our students.
26:13Key for school Improvement number one is to strengthen the instructional core Priority One to implement and align high quality curriculum and effective instructional technology across the district how will we measure our evidence of sex success we will use a curriculum map to demonstrate and align with state standards across the content area and grade levels we will Implement professional learning structures that encourage cross curricular grade level collaboration to improve vertical and horizontal alignment across the district we will support the effective use of instructional technology in all classrooms and across the district.
26:56Key for school Improvement number two improving our leadership capacity we will develop a standard districtwide feedback and coaching process to support principls as instructional leaders some of our evidence for Success will be to develop a classroom walkthrough protocol to measure the implementation of research based and differentiation instructional strategies across the districts we will continue to monitor teachers feedback related to instructional leaders and areas of need with biannual surveys we will have meetings that are facilitated by school leaders and we will focus on student learning and research based instructional best practices.
27:43Priority three we're going to the key for school Improvement three is improve datadriven practice our priority three is to enable teachers to utilize student learning data during professional learning to improve improve instruction in all classrooms what are the evidence of success here we will build meaningful time into all teacher schedules for student data review and collaboration in professional learning we will create data collection protocols that support standardized approach to collection and processing of student learning data we will capture ongoing feedback from teachers regarding professional learning protocols and and effective collaboration data review practices.
28:28Our priority for improved data literacy among teachers and school leaders what are the evidence of success our evidence will be to offer professional development and training for 100% of instructional staff to enable accuracy in interpreting student data identifying Trends and making data informed decisions we will create userfriendly tools and enhance access to student data and ensure usability to inform instruction we will build systems to evaluate the effectiveness of datadriven interventions to monitor the impact on student outcomes.
29:14Key for school Improvement number four to promote a positive School environment priority five to improve meaningful engagement with families and students what are some of the evidence of success we will improve family Presence at school events or meetings we will ensure all families attend at least one event per year we will Implement my sa RIS a Social Survey for students with 75% or more completion by S completion by surveyed students.
29:51Priority 6 we will create districtwide restorative practices embedded into classroom and school culture the evidence of success will be to develop districtwide expectations and definitions for implementation of restorative practices by subject and grade level staff and all staff and all levels Implement restorative practices in the classroom we will ensure that we create and utilize annual survey to collect student and staff feedback monitor the implementation of the restorative practices and identify areas of success and additional support.
30:29Priority seven improve feelings of safety among students and families on all campuses how will we measure our evidence of success we will Monitor and update the district code of conduct in accordance with evolving expectations for staff students and community members 100% of Staff will be trained and Implement and implementing trauma infor enforce informed practices and then we will annually utilize the Panorama survey to monitor staff student and parents on their feelings of safety. Key for school Improvement number
31:15five which is a tiered approach to school support priority eight we will create and sustain a cohesive districtwide approach to supporting students with multi-tiered system of support support or mtss. What are the evidence of success here? We will survey staff to understand current student support processes on each campus and utilize planning through committees to create and monitor a cohesive structure approach to revisions in how students are supported. We will measure the progress of benchmark assessments with particular focus on lowest on the lowest third of students that are making significant progress. We will measure and decrease the number of students referred to tier three interventions.
32:04Key for school Improvement six which is to increase monitoring and accountability, our priority number nine is to improve communication with students and caregivers about learning data informed student specific goal setting. How will we measure success? We will create a tool to help teachers unpack initial screen screening data to inform students specific goal setting processes. We will create structures to include students and families in academic goal setting processes. We will train teachers in data protocols to inform instructional decision making and differentiation.
32:49District goals by 2028, instructional Excellence, one to increase Ela math science and social studies proficiency at every level as demonstrated on state exams. We will increase the graduation rate. We will en enhance career Readiness by increasing students exposure to professional or licensed trades workplaces and educational opportunities. We will increase the number of college fairs and educational programs.
33:22A culture of student support, we will increase the attendance rate. We will decrease the dropout rate. We will reduce suspension rates and days students are suspended. We will examine and upgrade District Communications to families protocols to gauge Effectiveness. We will ensure 90% of all our students report feeling safe at school and we will increase opportunities for student and Community voice in decisionmaking processes.
33:55Datadriven accountability, we will train all academic staff to use a robust multi-tiered system of supports for data review and planning student interventions. We will measure and regularly review student progress on Benchmark and assessments with particular focus on the lowest third of students making significant progress. Measures and decrease the numbers of student referred, we will measure and decrease the number of student referred to tier 3 interview interventions.
34:29This is the end of the Strategic plan and I'd like to take this time just to thank the board for your support and participation in the plan, my executive team. I'd like to thank the principals, we had lots of teachers and my student advisory team to participate in this and um this is a working and fluid document. I will return from time to time to give updates as to where we are with the Strategic plan as we uh attain our goals and collect data. I will also have a page inserted in the Strategic plan with all of the students that participated, all of the teachers that participated, all of our exec team principles Etc, uh we'll have that listed. So I'll take any questions you may have now.
35:19Uh yeah I have two questions, um one and maybe maybe I'm being like ignorant in this but at this point like the the steering committee gave a second like gave a round of feedback cuz I remember participating in sort of the additional like the original like SWAT analysis and all of that. But when I look at the Timeline up there it t it looked like there was sort of like a round of feedback once the plan was drafted, is that something that happened already or is still happening?
35:46No the round of feedback that you gave us is part of it's implemented into the plan.
35:53Got it. So there's there's not a I guess I'm wondering like feedback mechanisms at this point, this is finalized at this point?
36:00It's a fluid and working document. So when you write a strategic plan it's never final because you have to go back review it, is this working is this not working. So it's a fluid document, so after looking at this if you have other feedback that you would like to give you know you could send it and we perfect.
36:19Okay and that's that that's anyone that could be from community members as well as? And then I is there a plan and I know it doesn't necessarily live in this document but um to sort of quantify some of the goals that were listed when we think about things like increasing attendance increasing graduation rate increasing proficiency on scores, um will we quantify those at some point so we know what we're actually striving towards?
36:43Sure absolutely and those could be Quantified through the goals that you have set for me as the superintendent too because we do have some Quant we do have some quantifiable numbers in there um that we had discussed as far as increase uh attendance rate by so% and that also is the goals of the principles and all of the exec team members. We all of our goals will focus around the superintendent's goals which focuses on this strategic plan.
37:18MH okay the the uh the compensation figure that was in the early slide um that was median salary for teachers or the whole dist teachers?
37:29No the teachers that's just teacher teacher median salary.
37:32What seems low.
37:32Yeah it feels like that's probably more for staff staff as a whole.
37:36Well that's I will check but that's what's been uh that's what reported the median salary for the teachers at first what I saw it says 90,000 and then we went back in and looked and it says the latest number that we have is 50 but I will double check that that's just the median salary the average salary for a teacher.
38:01Okay can you share this actual document with us as a board so we can dive into it like more deeply too?
38:06Sure thanks.
38:11And and what what what do you think the expected Cadence of updates are is this something that we review on a semester by semester basis or so we be see like is it a March and June thing or June the next update what do you think is realistic?
38:25So I would I would do I would say every quarter because that gives time to give benchmarks and after benchmarks and then we have to give another survey so at least three times a year.
38:38Great thank you any other questions? All right thank you very much.
38:52[Music]
39:00All right brings us to our consensus agenda um any questions or comments and were a few additions uh earlier today?
39:08Yeah I've got some comments on the financials that are on here okay.
39:17Um basically we're embarking on the budget process in the next few months um I think we we need to make sure as a board we're clear
39:28on uh what is going to happen and how it's going to play out um these are the First Financial reports we've seen in 10 months so uh I think we need to make sure we're getting them more often um I'm not going to dive in any numbers I know we've turned over in the business office so uh but I do think there are some procedures that might not be happening that I think we could probably benefit from uh budget transfers uh I think we need to do more timely budget transfers and make sure that that is the key to managing the budget as a whole um if we are making sure we move money around between different expenses that will make sure we don't overspend the budget in total uh last year just looking at the financial reports that are here we budgeted we moved money out of 11 different budget items and then overspent those items so something wasn't happening um to manage that part of the budget process um I think Transportation you know has been uh on my mind um I think that's going to be an issue for us as we move through the budget process we need to make sure we get a good number uh last year's actual expense for transportation was $5.1 Million but we only budgeted 4.1 this year um and I think with a timely budget transfer process those things will be more in our um whether it's us the business office there'll be more in uh the Consciousness um and so as we move into this next uh budget period we need to get a very clear idea of what we're spending on Transportation now um we haven't been budgeting workers comp in State retirement as an expenditure that's been going on for a couple years I really don't know why I guess we're probably spending it out of reserves and I think we just need to have a review of the rationale for that um um and make sure that that's still the way we should be doing it so those are those are my comments on the the finances here
41:36great that's super helpful yeah I think um you would definitely keep looking at the um fiscal policies update those wherever we can to make sure that all these uh processes are are written and set in stone and then yeah just keep working together and hopefully as we um get a new business officer in place be able to collaborate and um get the documentation that we need on a more regular basis
42:09any other questions comments um all right so make a motion to accept consensus agenda items a through J
42:28second
42:28all in favor
42:35um Leslie anybody else sign up for public comment
42:39no I have the sheet anybody else for public comment
42:44okay great um brings us to important dates the following meetings are scheduled January 11th 2025 Board of Ed meeting 6 PM High School auditorium February 25th 2025 policy committee meeting 5:00 p.m High School library February 25th 2025 Board of Ed meeting 6 PM High School auditorium um and at this time we do need a second executive session so be it resolved the Board of Education enters executive session at 6:45 p.m. for the purposes of reviewing the employment history of a particular person or persons
43:28second
43:28all in favor
43:30great uh there'll be no further business after this executive session thank you all very much for being here

Timestamps link to the corresponding moment on YouTube. Auto-transcribed, contains speech-recognition errors. Not an official record.