Board of Education, Regular Meeting

1. 2:30Everyone stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisible with all. Thank you.
2. 2:58Mark Deace here. Amanda Grubler here. Kirsten Guffson here. Willlette Jones here. Calvin Lewis here. Matthew Marer here. Leia Walker here.
3. 3:16Um yeah, I'd like to make a motion to add a a first executive session um for the purposes of discussing a particular person's uh employment history before we approve the agenda.
4. 3:34Second. Second. All in favor and make a motion to accept the agenda with that one change.
5. 3:45Sorry, is this I don't think my mic's on. Hello. Hello. Okay. Uh for those following, we just added an early executive session uh for the purposes of discussing the employment history of a particular person or persons and now we're accepting the agenda with that change. All in favor?
6. 4:09Okay. Presentations.
7. 4:16James. Miss Hughes. Yeah. Sorry. Yeah.
8. 4:30Good evening, members of the board, superintendent Dr. Pennymen, teachers, staff, community, um parents, students, both virtual and in person. Um I just first wanted to start off um by thanking you for allowing me time with you tonight. My name is Deanna James Hughes. I'm the newly appointed director of student services for Hudson City School District. Um this evening I'm going to be sharing with you the New York State Department of Education suspension review analysis. Um, this analysis, although it is coded for the 2024 2025 school year, it uses the 2023 2024 school data.
9. 5:30And although new to the district, I'm going to be interpreting the data as such. And I also um am happy to share and give credence also to my predecessor, Miss uh Kim Liebolt in continuing the work. Firstly, I'd like to acknowledge our six keys for school improvement that always um layers our practice.
10. 6:07our objectives for this presentation. This presentation will share the purpose of NISED's SQUA team. Now, SQUA um broken down is the special education quality assurance team. So, it's a division under NISED um that is commissioned to look at suspension data as it pertains to students with disabilities. So, I'm going to excuse the typo. I'm going to provide an overview for you uh regarding SQA's evaluation process um to fill familiarize you with that. Um I'm also going to share with you key findings and recommendations.
11. 6:51I'm going to present a plan to address areas of development that we can use to strengthen our current procedures and practices in service for all students. And I'm going to emphasize for all students because although SQUA is specific to students with disabilities, um the data is applicable to both general ed and students with disabilities in terms of practice and also um when SQA does these reviews, they review under general education pro provisions firstly before proceeding with the students with disability provisions which will be explained in its entirety.
12. 7:35So, the SQA suspension review purpose, it is um quite uh a healthy bit, but I've broken it down um for you tonight. So, when we talk about the SQA suspension review, what are the essential things that we need to know? What's the context? Right? because um it it may not it may or may not be familiar with you and basically the SQA suspension review is an official evaluation. It's commissioned by NISED's um SQA team and what they do is they look at um districts policies, procedures and practices.
13. 8:24um school districts are notified by NICED um whether or not um that they qualify for a suspension review by the regional SQL office. And the way they do that is by looking at if there are one or more years of data that show that there's a significant discrepancy in suspension of students with disabilities.
14. 8:48Why are they doing that? Well, results from the review provide district staff a better understanding of the regulations so that they may develop improvement strategies. So, it's not an I gotcha, it's a how can I help you, right? Um, so we have this extra level of support to help us um move forward.
15. 9:16Now there's different buckets that they look in terms of their evaluations. One is dispro disproportionality in terms of long-term suspensions of students with disabilities versus their general education only or neurotypical peers. There's another um category that they look at which is disparities by race or ethnicity and this is inclusive of all races, right? So it's not specific to any one race. It's just do they notice any disparities.
16. 9:55And lastly, they look at other indicators of disproportionality in discipline that affect students with disabilities. Now, you may be wondering, well, how did we get here? Right?
17. 10:11There was a historical shift statewide in 2023. And what happened is in 2023, the federal government issued a series of regulations and they said, "These are things that we want to put in place." and they handed over to our state of New York and multiple districts at simultaneously had to catch up with the plans that were already put in place on the federal level. So, I want you to bear in mind that what we're looking at is fairly new statewide and it's something that a lot of districts are working towards in order to move their districts forward.
18. 11:01to give you a little bit uh better understanding concretely in terms of the review. Here's the review at a glance.
19. 11:11The review examines district discipline policies and procedures, implementation practices um in terms of the rate of daily policy adherence. So we, you know, they look at policies at a whole, but then they all on the macro level, but then they also look at how does what does this look like on a day-to-day basis. They also look at use of positive behavior supports um in in lie of suspensions. And in terms of their purpose and goals, they spread them out in um these three areas. They're looking at non-compliance um whether it be systemic on a on a large broad-bas or child specific on an individual basis. They also provide technical support to help districts design corrective action. Um because again this
20. 12:12is something that is new as of 2023. They're also um their other purpose is to reduce long-term suspensions and discipline disparities among students with disabilities because we want our children to be here, right? They we want them to be here with us. We know that positive outcomes um come about when um they are they're more with us than not. Um so looking at historically marginalized groups and putting all of that um together. Now possible outcomes of a review and support. NICED offers training resources. I'm happy to report that the secret team um over these last two months I've developed very positive relationships with them and they are very open and supportive in saying you know if you if
21. 13:09you would like us if the community would like us to come we are more than welcome we are more than happy to come and sit with you uh plan professional development anything you need we're just a phone call away which is beautiful because they're evaluating us based on federal criteria, right? But they also know um they have keen expertise as to how to get to where we want to be. Um so we're we're we're very blessed to have that support in them. Um they follow up on reviews for long-term improvement and in sustainability. So this isn't the group that says, you know, hey guys, I really need you to work on this. Here are the things. Here are the rubrics. good luck.
22. 13:54They're in here for the long haul. Um and their support means a lot. Now, the district may also receive findings um in some cases that require corrective and or voluntary compliance plan plans. So, when they say corrective, that would be more like an initiative is made outside of, you know, the district like this is this is um the plan in detail. Um we're not in that space um at this moment. Um but they are willing to assist us in creating what Hudson needs with us should we require the support. And lastly um they help districts prevent non-compliance. So thinking about, you know, possible um issues that may come up with with uh keeping in regard to both civil rights and federal
23. 14:49education law, right, to remain in compliance. What does the review process look like with the SQA team? Again, I am happy to report um that this work didn't just start this year. Hudson City School District has been working from the beginning phase of this new transitional period for the state. It's began in October of 2023 um where SQA met with administrators. Um then they uh on 10 days later they met with student services and counseling staff moved into junior school junior high school administrators then high school administrators then an administrator's team meeting then student services counseling staff. um they met I was able to um meet with them for the all day audit which was wonderful because as someone who was new
24. 16:00to the community um I was able to ask the questions review the data with the experts um and see the areas in which we've grown and the areas in which we're emerging and then they also met for a debrief again echoing this support they didn't just drop the information and hand over a rubric and the scale score and so they were available to interpret and ask further questions. So, you know, Hudson was identified from um the initial phase of this transition, but Hudson has also been working very diligently. And when I say Hudson, I'm giving um credence to administrators, teachers, you know, our community has been really striving to do what we need to do. review methods. Again, um excuse the
25. 16:58typo. This was the 2023 2024 school da d d d d d d [… repeated text trimmed] d d d da [… repeated text trimmed] for the review that was conducted for this school year. So again to echo this school year's review was based on data from 2023 2024. Um that all day review took place on April 25th of this year. Um and there were several different data sources that were reviewed. You get a checklist of things that they're looking for. Um uh quite a few um quite a few pieces of information were pulled. um suspension compliance review, student sample charts, eSchool data, disciplinary change and placement worksheets, um individual student records, suspension letters, individualized education plans, manifestation
26. 17:54determination forms, and BIPs where applicable, right? Um so the majority of these things that you see by via bullet point were for every single student that were pulled for the purposes of this report. Um the only um change that could be is you know if a student did not have a BIP at that time. Um but basically you pulled all those pieces of information.
27. 18:21There was a lot of analysis, there was a lot of discussion and from that um they were able to complete their review with authenticity, key findings and recommendations. So I wanted to put a sidebyside analysis because we are in year two of the review.
28. 18:48The first review began in the 2022 2023 school year. Um the reviews, the folks who are doing the reviews have a rubric over several different um pieces that they're looking that are coded that have a description. Um and they and we're rated against those things in 2022 2023. Again, it goes by the data from the previous year. They were looking at data from 2021 2022. And two areas were um pinpointed for improvement.
29. 19:30One is section 2011. 14A and that section pertains to the manifestation review. So, a manifestation review um just for clarity is uh when a student is approaching uh 10 days or more um suspensions in a school year and you're looking to assess whether um are the suspensions uh due are they linked to their uh disability? Is there things that we can do to assist them in their learning process that we may have missed? or does the student require more services that are independent of their of their disability?
30. 20:13Right? Anything from, you know, uh maybe they're really working going through a hard trial right now. And so maybe they need a wraparound service that would assist them in showing up in the manner in which we would like them to show up, but they're experiencing difficulty in doing so. So a manifestation review is when you do have a conversation around the table with a team with a parent, sometimes with the students if parents or guardians are okay with that and we have a discussion much like the review with SQA. We look over different documents um and there's different pieces that we look at to determine that.
31. 20:57Um so section 2011.4A 4A um looks at that and it's trying to discern what does that relationship of their disability and behavior look like in terms of the result. Right? So, you're taking all those things together and then you're putting that um uh against what was the actual um discipline measure given, right? Um and so if um you find that the conduct so the behavior right if you find that the behavior is a manifestation of the disability right um and and then or not you know so that's what they're looking at but if if um it there's a timeliness that's required with that it has to be done uh no later um than those 10 school days And those 10 school days can be actualized either cumulatively one after the other or throughout the school year, right?
32. 22:01Um and so that's what they're looking at. Now 2011.10D um is more or less more talking about now that a disciplinary action was taken, how do we provide for the students educational needs during that time period? Right? So what does that look like? Um what does uh their tutoring look like? How are they still achieving success as a student? Right?
33. 22:32Um so that looks looks at that in several different lenses. Uh one of them being placement um um in terms of like the hours that they're provided during the week that they're guaranteed um their goals, right? because even though that they they may be suspended, they still have goals as a student. All right? They they they still are students with students with disabilities. That does not stop. And um we're still providing for them throughout the entire process.
34. 23:04Um sometimes that you know and and now you know if there is a disorder looking we're examining um with expertise the functional um behavior assessment. That's a that's a piece that becomes prior to a behavior inter intervention plan. Um so that's that piece as well. Um so again this has to do with placement um and what does that look like once a determination has been made. Now that was um the previous year.
35. 23:37This year section 2011.10D 10D was also found as an area for growth um as was 2011.4A and the initial P and the additional piece that was notice as well has to do with the parental notification. Right?
36. 24:02So when you're sitting um when you're having those uh disciplinary meetings, no later than the date in which the decision was made for a change of placement, the parent has to receive the notification. So the day a decision is made on that day of that meeting, the parent needs to know about it, right? and that has to be um and their their procedural safeguards have to be provided in tandem with that in accordance to section 200.59F. Um can I ask a quick question?
37. 24:42I was just going to say I need to pause. I just want to make sure I'm interpreting this correctly. So these are the areas that were flagged for like in need of improvement based on the report.
38. 24:52That is correct.
39. 24:52Um, and so if we read this correctly, we like didn't successfully sort of close the gap on 2011.10 and 201.4 between the first time we were reviewed and the second time because those are flagged still as needs of improvement and then there was one additional
40. 25:08Yes, ma'am.
41. 25:10area. Just want to make sure I'm reading this correctly.
42. 25:11That is correct.
43. 25:12Thank you. That is correct. Um and in my talks with the SQA team, um you know, I had the same question as you and they also con conveyed, you know, you know, this is this is a transitional phase. We do notice that Hudson City School District is using the DIP process, right? This this new transitional process. we we notice um that even though we're using the process there's areas in which we could strengthen them right um but that in terms of what is the plan of action is going to come next um so I just wanted to relay that but yes that is correct to answer your question.
44. 26:02okay so findings um I love to learn I'm a lifelong learner and I love to be in community with people. So being with the SQA team, as I said, really allowed me to go in, learn, and ask the questions, right? Cuz although they're here to support us, we want to develop our ability to do what we need to do homegrown, right? So, I knew that if I didn't attend, the possibility of us getting a paper handed to us with no real tangible understanding was high, right? And so, um, I took advantage of it.
45. 26:49And so, just as we're going through, we were going through the data per student questions were coming off in my head. They were very amable in answering the questions. So from that I was able to gather some some more information um which was critical again um being being new to the district. Um Hudson has been actively involved in the historical shift since 2023. Um Hudson is also actively working with SQA's recommendation.
46. 27:19Um, SQA has again said that they uh want to continue in a partnership um um framework and in order for this to have lasting success, it requires a collaborative effort, right? And when I mean collaborative, I mean it's going to require district leadership, building leadership, SQA leadership, and the folks who are on the ground are teachers, right? Um we want what's best for both our staff and our students. Uh so moving forward, that is the formula. And also I just wanted to again give light to that New York State is transitioning with the federal guidelines.
47. 28:13So our next step, our intuitive step, our only step is our plan of action. I have been diligently working on a action plan and although I don't have it in the entirety shared with you today because I'm on limited time there are I wanted to share with you the different subtopics that are included uh key understandings laws guideposts discipline due process IP behavioral protocols professional development student geared supports, monitoring and accountability, community and family engagement.
48. 28:55This action plan is not the plan. This is just a plan to have further discussion with the folks that I mentioned before, right? Our building leadership, our administration leadership um and then you know with our staff as well in anticipation because we are also involved in other groups within New York State, right? that I'm going to get into in a little bit that is going to be asking for a plan. So, this is kind of um I don't want to be cliche, jumping the cart before the horse, right? But it's just basically having having things together for when the moment arrives, right?
49. 29:37Um, and so this would be a multi-phaseed action plan requiring a lot of different things, but these are the pieces that um will yield success in my estimation. So I just wanted to summarize um and and and give some recommendations, right?
50. 30:03So the compliance assurance plan for the entire district. Again, this team is designed specifically for students with disabilities, but this work will have a positive impact on both our students with disabilities and students without disabilities. And it will I know it will so because the evaluative piece comes from part 100 and ed law 3214. And those things are protections that are granted under general education requirements firstly. So before sequ even delves into students with disabilities, they evaluate on this level first.
51. 30:46Part 200 is uh in regards to the CS CE process and part 201 is in regards to students with disabilities and discipline and these are additional measures of protections for students with disabilities. Now the goal is is to not enter into corrective action. The goal is is for Hudson to meet with its stakeholders to develop a plan that is specific for Hudson and Hudson's needs. All right.
52. 31:17Um, and this is especially urgent because as Miss Sorry, Grubler pointed out, correct me if I'm not saying your name right. Gribbler. Gribbler. Thank you for that. Um, this is something that has been cited for two years in a row, right? So we don't want to continue down this road.
53. 31:41Recommendations. Um again this uh action plan was analyzed and triangulated a lot of data. Um, and I I'm recommending that uh we look at it to see what reviews may be needed, what modifications may be needed um to create a plan specific to Hudson. And this is in anticipation of NISED's pathway to change. It's a big title. It just means an action plan. They're going to be looking for an action plan.
54. 32:20um always keeping with compliance with federal law with all parties, growing positive outcomes. Now, there's several groups that are already in motion that will continue in motion. Some of the folks here today are familiar with them.
55. 32:37uh targeted skills group, that's the TSG group, the compliance review, and CCIS, comprehensive coordinated early intervening services. These are all groups with very specific measures and things that they're looking at and they all have something to do with the information in regards to the suspension review. All right. So, these are opportunities, additional opportunities that are going to be very helpful in terms of putting together um an action plan.
56. 33:16I wanted to ground us and bring it all together, right? What is the real deal? What is this all about? So our mission statement, we are in partnership with our community to advance the intellectual, social, and emotional development of all students to prepare them for college, career, and citizenship.
57. 33:45So this is just another vehicle in getting better at getting better, right? We the the secret sauce is here, right? We're just we're just going to come together to make it even better. Um, and I'd like to yield for questions.
58. 34:09Yes. Uh, I just I had a question about the uh sample size um and it being 20 students and I'm curious how that sample size is distributed throughout buildings. Um and what the total number of students like I know you said there were um like the the SQUA review services both general education and students with disabilities um but I'm assuming and I think I'm understanding that it focuses more on the students with disabilities.
59. 34:37So you said a few things. Yeah. Sorry. And if I leave any of them out let me know. Yes. But I'm going to start from the top. So the number of 20 is set by SQA. they give a cover sheet and in their cover sheet they say you know hello Hudson City School District we are going to be having communication with you um be prior to our meeting in person can you get these things together right and so with that um the 20 is indicated as the number that they're looking for now squa is specific to students with disabilities right so all 20 students were students with disabilities.
60. 35:19The way the students were selected were in terms of the number of suspensions per year. So, we started with the student who had the most and worked our way down until we reached our 20. It would so happen that within that 20, the 20 represented all three buildings. That's not to say that it would be like that in the year prior review. It's not to say it's like that in all schools, but that's just the way it all school districts, but that's just the way it panned out in terms of our review.
61. 35:55Did I miss anything?
62. 35:55Uh, no. I have another question.
63. 35:59Okay.
64. 35:59Um, am I correct to assume that the compliance assurance plans and the policy that the state um had with those plans um was set prior to SQA and it's SQA that's now I guess monitoring those policies more closely. Am I correct to assume that?
65. 36:19So um the state likes to give a lot of names for a lot of things. The compliance assurance plan is just another name for this review. Right? So when you when you when you see and read compliance assurance plan, it's this review that is conducted by SQA. Um SQUA is the group that does that is um in charge of that evaluative process. Right? And so there's multiple divisions within New York State um because we're huge um you know we call for a lot more students and comparatively with other students. So this is just one of the branches.
66. 37:01I'm getting back I feel like there was another piece um you asked about the transitional phase right? Was that part of your question?
67. 37:08No. Um, okay. Sort of I I guess the um Sorry, but uh it'll come to you. Don't
68. 37:21No pressure. Sorry. I'm gonna I'm here. I'm not going anywhere unless you need me to.
69. 37:24Um Oh, sorry. Yeah, I thought of it. So, um, the compliance assurance plan that SEAR provided and then reviewed, I'm assuming is based off of New York State policy that was in place before them.
70. 37:40So, they're following SQA is following a rubric that is given to them by the state, right? So then when they meet with us there's there's several sections and they go down each section for every student and then based on that you know number the cumulative number or what have you they know they evaluate as to whether we've met the threshold or did not meet the threshold. Okay. All right. Thank you.
71. 38:12You're welcome.
72. 38:15When does the state
73. 38:15It's every two years they're doing a review.
74. 38:19Well, according to this state, it was it was every year. So, I think the confusion is that if you have a review, it's based on the data from the year before. Okay.
75. 38:32So, so we didn't we didn't have a review and then two years later had another review. It's um I'm again I'm sorry for the confusion. Um, but on the the slides I labeled it that way because when you get the report back, like this year's report, it says 2425 report, but it's using the data from the year prior. Okay.
76. 38:55So, and so they're always lagging in their feedback. So, our ability to respond is always going to be lagging in some sense, right? Is that
77. 39:02I wouldn't say no. I would I wouldn't I I I guess I'm the the date that's on here is April 25. So we're just now getting feedback from what they saw in data from the previous school year. I can't speak to their structures in place, but I can surmise to guess that, you know, we haven't finished out our school year. So let's say, you know, let's say we met in April, but we met for our data for this year. we wouldn't have a complete snapshot of what May and June look like.
78. 39:44So that would be, you know, something that I would put out there, but in terms of their structures, um, that's something that I would have to address with the SQA team. And, you know, I'm happy to ask that. Well, I guess I'm not I'm not sure that's what I'm getting at. If if in April of 25 they reviewed 23 24 data, would their next review be next April?
79. 40:10I can't confirm that, but it sounds intuitively. So, I I I'm just curious when the the when we would see results, I guess. Yeah, that that's a question that I would have to ask them directly because because I don't work within their department.
80. 40:27Any other questions?
81. 40:30Uh, how do you see SQUA's focus on um students with disabilities? uh impacting um suspension and um I guess suspension and other district policies for the general population students.
82. 40:51I think I need some clarification on your question. That's fine. So you're saying how do I see SQA's role in terms of their impact on general education students?
83. 41:02Yeah. I mean, in the in the slideshow, you mentioned how this has impacts on both the general population and students with disabilities. So, I'm I'm going to start with a metaphor because I think I got you. Okay. All right. I don't mean to call you off. I just don't want to lose thought.
84. 41:18So, my metaphor is this, right? Say you have a parent or a guardian, someone important in your life who is setting the example for one child in the household, right? and there's multiple children in the household, that modeling will have an effect on the other children in the in the household, right? And so there's that part of it.
85. 41:43The other part of it is that even though they're commissioned by the state to look at students with disabilities, they are also evaluating on policies that have to do that interact with general education students. And suspension is not specific to students with disabilities. Right? As a student, you can get suspended whether you um have an IEP or you don't, right?
86. 42:14So if SQA was looking at policies and procedures and looking at data and devising structures and you know thinking about and I and I don't want to put this on SQA only right because they're not the only ones who are thinking about things right we're we're as a community here thinking about things too right there's plenty of folks here and who are at home right you can't be an educator and not think about your day and not think about your students, it never ends.
87. 42:50I used to think about my students literally while I was sleeping, right? And so you're constantly thinking about how do I make it how do I make a better day? What did I do? What did I what I what did I not do? Right? And so yes, this is their title. This is what they're doing. they are experts at the rubric and noticing things but then it also comes back to us right so they're they're just giving a light lift but we're doing the heavy lifting so they're saying this is what I'm lifting this is what I'm sharing with you and then we do the analysis because the last thing we want to do is just deliver a carbon copy not specific program.
88. 43:40Hurry up and memorize this and get to work. That doesn't work, right? We want something specific to us, our needs, our students, and that requires a hard look at all of the things, right? And so although this is not a subject where we're like, you know, your initial um and I don't want to speak for you, but I'll speak for myself. You know, initially it's like this is tough stuff. I don't want to I don't want to talk about this, but it's an opportunity, right?
89. 44:15So even though it may not it may not be, you know, the things that we're happiest to discuss, it's an opportunity that is going to yield positive results in our classrooms, in our hallways, in the way we feel, in the way we're able to do our work, in the way our students are able to learn and grow, and the way we're able to learn and grow as adults, right? So, it's all the things, right? So, this isn't just a secret thing, right? This is also us taking advantage of the moment.
90. 44:54Thank you. You're welcome.
91. 44:58Any other questions?
92. 45:02Thank you. So, before I go, I know my manners and I believe in giving flowers in real time.
93. 45:13So, I wanted to say thank you, truly thank you to Hudson City's School District's Board of Education, to Superintendent Pennyman, to both our administrators districtwide and building wide, to the staff, to our students, to our community, to our partners, to our parents and our guardians. Because again, this is about us. This is about our community, right?
94. 45:45And so, yes, you know, together we can is is the mantra, right? But I want to add to that because we will. We absolutely will. So, again, thank you for affording me your time and I look forward to learning and growing with you.
95. 46:03[Applause]
96. 46:08Uh, excuse me. Uh just before the next presentation, could I quickly introduce the next year's uh student representative because I know she has to go soon. So uh next year's student rep uh next year's student representative is going to be Leabona Prova.
97. 46:29Leona is very smart and talented student who echoes many of the same things but also many extra things uh of me. She's an avid member of mockt trial tri environ. She was uh one of the first members or she was a part of the first class of harmony project if you're familiar with it um within our district. Um so yeah, she's your new student council president. Good luck Alona.
98. 46:55Thank you.
99. 47:27Good evening, Hudson Bluehawk family. It feels good to stand this time and not have to speak from a chair. I'm going to talk a little bit about our grant program data. I'm going to do some data walks and our student support community team. As you know, I'm actively involved in the prior work that I did before my title change and I do support the student support team and I believe that Miss Deanna Hughes did a phenomenal job and this was her first presentation. She's hardworking and very dedicated. I enjoy collaborating with you.
100. 48:13So, table of contents, six keys to school improvement. You know, we always start with that. Uh grants, we're going to look at the 21st century afterchool program. My brother's keeper family and community engagement program feedback, Stronger Connections Panorama School Improvement Survey. We're going to look at our students today. and stronger connections, restorative practices and the student support community team feedback. We start with the six keys grant overview. Let's look at the 21st century.
101. 48:50So, I'm happy to report I'm going to stay here. I'm a walker, but I can't do that yet. Um, our target was 100 students. That's what we said to uh the 21st century learning center, community learning centers. But I'm happy to report we have 296 students who are registered for our afterchool program and about 24 of them attend regularly. We're very proud of that. So we surpassed our goal of 100 students.
102. 49:21We literally had such a waiting list. Parents wanted their students to be part of our afterchool program. We offer tons and tons of amazing activities. You saw the long schedule in January when I presented. So I won't be labor, but I'm proud of that. We have 254 students, 94% enrolled in le in at least one ELA, math, and STEM activity.
103. 49:56And we noticed that staff members, where did I get this data? Let me pause. The data comes from the Brockport Research Institute. They are our consultant and they come in at least twice during a school year. I gave you data in January. Now, I'm giving you the data since they've been here the last time. So, they literally go to each one of our buildings. They observe our program. They have a very comprehensive sheet that they fill out and that goes to the state staff members.
104. 50:34They have positive relationships with our students. They love to come back. They're all over the place. We take them on trips. You saw that from January. We're still doing it. During the breaks, we had our own Carnival cruise celebration because our students could not go on a cruise during the break. We bought brought the cruise to them.
105. 50:58They even had the dress up day. You know, on the cruise when you have that like that final night where you dress up and you have a good meal, they did that, too. So we we want them to have all kinds of experiences and I owe that dedication to Joanne Donahghue and the team. She's phenomenal. We've got a great team. So when the evaluators came, they saw all of our sites. We've got great activities going for our students.
106. 51:26They were very, very impressed with our writing center. you know that Gail Wheeler is there and Omar they do an amazing job with our students. So this is what the consultant said. The program sites director Joanne Donahghue is incredibly passionate and a wellestablished member of the community. Her ability to build personal relationships with students and staff is exemplary which allows the programming to grow. I'm very proud of our afterchool program and it has been noticed by New York State Ed department.
107. 52:08I wanted to come back to this. This is for Matt Mara. Remember in early the year we talked about the afterchool program handbook. It is finished. The part that we need to add are the tiered interventions and outcomes. They will be aligned with our code of conduct and as you know we're finishing that up so it will be ready sometime in July but I always always follow up.
108. 52:44My brother's keeper just wanted to give you some feedback from our teachers involving the we see you event. You heard about it earlier Dr. Pennyman shared. But now let's look at what the teachers feel about it. We had a wonderful, wonderful video from both of these teachers and others, but I only could choose a couple because my presentation can't be too long.
109. 53:08It was a very special day. Miss Spencer said teachers felt valued. They felt respected. And most importantly, they felt seen for all the things that they do here in the building. The kids from the MBK program and Bluehawk Academy were awesome. It was such a great day to see them smiling and happy and working hard in order to provide that awesome lunch for the teachers.
110. 53:37It was also great to see kids who were struggling in school really take value and pride in work that they were able to give this awesome experience. So, I want to say thank you to Miss Valerie Spencieri. She is the college and career teacher. The second teacher is Maximleian Schneller, Global Nine teacher. He said it was fantastic.
111. 54:07I think the kids did a great job. They were very organized. They were happy to be out there helping. It was a great chance to talk to the kids and talk to other teachers. It was a fun day that made me feel good. So once again, many thanks to our students, Larry Walker, Darren Collins, Molly Zooker, Shante Brooks, Dr. Courtright Torres, Dr. Pennyman, our superintendent, and especially the New York State Education uh Department MBK FSEP division. They gave approval for this to happen. They supported it.
112. 54:55All my brothers, Keeper, FSEP, and Blue Hawk Academy students, and especially all Hudson City School District teachers for your hard work. We see you. You are invited tomorrow, June 26, between 10:30 a.m. and noon to come back here to the high school library for the launch with confidence money skills for college and life workshop. It's very important for college students to understand how to manage finances when they get to college because believe me, credit card companies, they're going to come knocking. And we need to teach our children, our young adults, the importance of not getting a ton of credit cards. It's not free money. You must pay it back and the interest as well. So, please come. And it'll be here tomorrow from 10:30 to noon. And light refreshments will be served.
113. 55:56Panorama surveys. Let's just take a quick look. We had 259 responses from students in grades three through five. And look at the various categories and the percentages. What that means is students believe there are rigorous expectations. 65% of 259 students believe that valuing of math. 63% of the students value math. 62% value school. 56% value um have a sense of belonging, pardon me, and 51% value ELA.
114. 56:36Let's look at school safety with that same group of students. Again, we had 259 students respond. School safety 50%, cell phone impact 48%. They will have to get used to the new policy that's coming, but we will help them with that change, that process. Engagement 44%, school climate, 43%.
115. 57:04Let's look at students in grades 6 through 12. We had 200 students respond. Rigorous expectations, 49% believe that they're rigorous expectations of them. Now, let me say this. Out of the 9th grade through 12th grade students, we didn't have a large number, okay? Like 40ome students. So, the majority of the responses came from our junior high school population. Okay? Cell phone impact 30 45% valuing of school 39%. Valuing of ELA 37%. Valuing of math that means they value it 37%. Sense of belonging 28%. School climate 24%. Engagement 19%.
116. 57:59We have to take a look at these. Part of it may be due to that critical age. Junior high is a critical time in a child's life. But we also have to unpack that and really take a look, have discussions and find out why stronger connections. We don't really have time. Please take a moment online, click that beautiful line there so you can see a community circle between the staff and the students and hear feedback from our students regarding that process and how it made them feel.
117. 58:44student support community team. We're going to wrap it up with this. What I appreciate is our team has worked together for two years and they're really terrific. We work as a family. We read all nine chapters of the culturally responsive teaching and the brain book by Zaretta Hammond. They participated in monthly faculty meetings to discuss concepts learned in our meetings. They completed two planning days.
118. 59:13I gave them a long assignment. And here are some suggestions that they came up with, just a few out of many. They want to do more with students. Apparently, you had a check and connect years ago. They were thinking about bringing that back with small groups of students and a team member talking to the students about issues that are important to them.
119. 59:42We have Thomas here in our board meetings, but we're really strongly considering having a student representative come to our monthly student support community team meetings as well because we need to have a student's voice there along with the adults. They may not be able to stay for the whole three hours, but we do need that student voice. Also, teachers want more training and culturally responsive teaching. The last chapter in the book, which is chapter nine, has a ton of information and we are going to present that to you at a later date and it will be very, very helpful to our teachers.
120. 1:00:25Many thanks to everyone on the list. I appreciate this work. It takes a team. It takes a village. It's not me by myself. and I really appreciate all of you. Thank you for your time and have a great evening.
121. 1:00:42Can I ask a quick panorama question?
122. 1:00:45Sure. Can you share out It doesn't have to be in a presentation, but in like the board weeklys, the specific questions that go into that so we can like get a little more information on like what does it mean when kids say, you know, 52% school safety or whatever.
123. 1:00:59Yes. And can we also get year-over-year data so we see where because I know we did the panorama. We saw some data from last year.
124. 1:01:08Absolutely. Thank you, Amanda.
125. 1:01:10That will be great. The reason why I did not put it up today is just because I only had a short period, but I will make sure you see those questions and the breakdown in each area. It's a likered scale. Sometimes, you know, you know those breakdowns and you'll get to see it. It's colorcoded and everything. and I'll give you the comparison as well.
126. 1:01:32Does anyone else have any questions before I take my seat?
127. 1:01:34Yes. Will that breakdown of questions and and answers also include the percentage of students who answered each question?
128. 1:01:42Each Absolutely. Thank you.
129. 1:01:44Y and then um just a quick note maybe for next year's panorama survey. Um uh I'm assuming that um with the such like large amount of stu responses from the uh elementary school um I'm thinking there was um I guess opportunity or time in class for students to fill those out and stuff. And I'm and I'm pretty confident that that time wasn't allotted in high school uh classes and that's probably why the numbers were lower. Now, I'm also recognizing that it's very hard to to for teachers to fit in that time. But I mean, if this panorandum survey is um uh influencing policy changes or in any way affecting student life, I think that there should be um specific time allotted for stuff like this.
130. 1:02:33100%. And we did discuss it in our team meeting, our administrative meeting, ATM is what it's called, and we will continue to have those discussions. We really do need to all lot time for students to take the survey. We cannot do this work without you. We need your voice. We need your voice as well as all of the staff and and the teachers and administrators. Thank you.
131. 1:03:04Thank you.
132. 1:03:14All right. So, this is my last report. Um, I've had a great time uh this year. Uh, it's been an honor and a joy to represent um the student body. Um, thank you all for having this position and thank you to the student uh high school student body and the student council for electing me president.
133. 1:03:34Um it's been quite a while since we've had our last meeting and I haven't had an executive session with student council to collect all of the things that have happened. Um but I guess most notably um I think our last our our regences are all over. Um senior events have been going very well. Graduation is this Friday. Very excited. Um we'll also have a walkthrough of all the buildings as seniors uh Friday morning starting at the elementary school to the junior high then seeing all the teachers in the high school. Um the bakalorate uh was an hour ago started an hour ago.
134. 1:04:12Um and uh yeah I guess moving forward uh the high school or actually not just the high school but um well I guess the high school's uh Europe trip will be happening in July. I will be going. I'm very excited. Um and I hope if possible these things can continue. Um I know I'm very excited. We'll be going to Paris. Um Germany, Switzerland. Got our itinerary today actually. So very excited for that.
135. 1:04:43Um and yeah, I'm sure there's been a lot since the last board meeting, but I cannot remember it. So thank you very much everyone.
136. 1:04:51Thank you Thomas. Uh good luck at college.
137. 1:04:57Thank you.
138. 1:05:02Audit committee.
139. 1:05:04Uh the audit committee met on June 17th uh along with the superintendent, the executive director of business and finance and the treasurer. Um we've continued our review of audit comments um and the business office corrective action plans. Uh and I can report that progress is being made. Uh there are still some incomplete. Um but we're going to continue meeting and discussing them.
140. 1:05:28Okay. Thank you. Facilities.
141. 1:05:31Uh no facilities report at this time.
142. 1:05:34Thank you.
143. 1:05:36Policy uh policy meets every time there's a board meeting. Um we work today on the cell phone policy. Right. In accordance with uh New York state law. every school now needs a cell phone policy around uh no cell phone use in schools. So, we began the work on that and compiled some questions. Each school building, as I understand it, has a team that's working on giving feedback on sort of the plan that works that's age appropriate. And so, we will piece all of those together once we have that feedback back from the schools.
144. 1:06:04Um the other thing I want to note is when we in a little bit when we get to the um first read in new business the code of conduct that's here we there's the policies that are listed here are the things that are required to be reuped every year. So there's no major changes to anything there. As Dr. Pressie mentioned the revised code of conduct is in its like finalization stage. what's here is the old code of conduct just because we have to re-up that in the interim until the new one is ready in July.
145. 1:06:36So I don't want anyone here or who saw that elsewhere to be like wait what happened why are we back to the old one. Um but that's where we're at just that that has to be reoped in the interim and then hopefully in a month we will have the new one there instead.
146. 1:06:51Thank you. Okay special. Um yes, at this time I'd like to um congratulate and thanks uh Wulette Jones for nine years of uh board service. She's been a steady and guiding presence since the day I joined the board. Always advocating fiercely for our children and our community.
147. 1:07:14As many of you know, nothing happens in our schools uh without Wlette knowing about it. She's a constant presence in the lives of our students and does so much behind the scenes uh that we'll probably never know of. It's been a sincere pleasure getting to know her and her family, cheering together at football and basketball games. We're running into each other at just about every festival in Hudson.
148. 1:07:36Um also like to thank uh Leia for three years of service. Um uh first met Leia when she came to speak at a public uh comment session. I knew immediately she was a voice that we needed on the board. Um, she leads with love, family first, um, and fully shows up, uh, again, watching sports, cheerleaders, uh, celebrating homecoming queens, um, or lending her perspective to tough conversations.
149. 1:08:02Um, like Wlette, I've gotten the pleasure to know her family outside of school, uh, most of the time trying to get some food that they're serving. Um, and I know this district is better with her presence, even if she's actually from Catskill. So, um, thank you both for your service, your heart, and your commitment. You'll both be missed.
150. 1:08:24[Applause]
151. 1:08:32Um, and though, for those of you sticking around, we will have some uh cake later to celebrate Wool atte um our retirees. Um, and now I make a motion to enter executive session at 7:07 p.m. for the purposes of discussing the employment history of a particular uh person or persons.
152. 1:08:53Second.
153. 1:08:53All in favor. All right, we'll be back as soon as possible.
154. 1:22:52session at 7:21 p.m.
155. 1:22:52Second. All in favor?
156. 1:23:06Good evening, everyone. Oh, wait. We need to um we have a personnel agenda.
157. 1:23:14Oh, sorry.
158. 1:23:17That's all right. We'll just wait for the uh other two board members.
159. 1:24:22There he is.
160. 1:24:54Um, okay. Uh personnel agenda. Make a motion to approve personnel agenda items A 1- 11 and B 1-9.
161. 1:25:06Second. All in favor?
162. 1:25:12And on behalf of the board of education and superintendent of schools, uh we are excited to congratulate the following teacher retirees. Um Kristen Rutkkey 31 years 31.7 years.
163. 1:25:31[Applause]
164. 1:25:36Tonnie Quinnion 31.1 years. Michelle Zlomic 28.5 years. Patricia Kinsey, 28 years. Rosalie Cornell, 27.8 years. Janet Breast, 24 years. Dr. Julia Corel, 23 years. Diana Howard, 21 years, and Moren Sheridan, 16.7 years. And we wish you all good health and happiness in the years ahead. Congratulations,
165. 1:26:46Leslie. Did anybody sign up for public comment?
166. 1:26:47Uh, yes.
167. 1:26:51Ladies and gentlemen, Nikki Geneito. All right, ladies and gentlemen, about to convene into public comment period. Um, uh, please note the board is here to listen. Um, the public comment period is not designed to be a discussion. Uh, we take your comments and questions seriously. Uh, and we'll get back to you in the future.
168. 1:27:08Um, under state and federal privacy laws, we're unable to entertain any comments or questions about school personnel. Each speaker gets three minutes. Thanks, Vicki.
169. 1:27:26as you brought up in the last meeting. I do know that he explained a little bit about it, but I also see like an issue. I feel one last time. I also want to talk about public comments doesn't always policy updates.
170. 1:28:10I see that policy updates being done and I'm a little concerned about that on a daily basis. For example, the attendance policy that have not been talked to I feel like it looks like two people or more a little more people know exactly what's happening.
171. 1:28:50And I have a question from the last question many times came up and I've still not answered and that is um during budget season it said that retirements that retirement list that you just read off awesome people but it's very long and public wants to know which jobs are not coming back and most time. Thank you.
172. 1:29:20Thank you, Nikki. Um, yeah, hear you on the the one one meeting a month and we're going to keep an eye on it. Um, see how it goes. We always have the option of doing special meetings to make sure things get approved in timely manners.
173. 1:29:42Uh, Shannon Sullivan talk about teachers. One of the example So I have the social studies department at the We all together examines. also has to do I'm not a science teacher, social studies teacher, but I'm also educ experience specialist later on social students and teachers not at all.
174. 1:32:58This is something very was administration watched that test. I wish very exciting to see that students teach.
175. 1:34:11[Applause]
176. 1:34:16Laura Bender. Thank you. Let's please try and keep our comments to three minutes just so everybody gets a chance to speak.
177. 1:34:24Good evening everybody. Um I'm Laura Bender, social studies teacher here at the high school. This isn't my first board meeting. Um but I am speaking a new role as the new president.
178. 1:34:37I wanted to start my statement tonight with a quote that we often hear in our professional developments. People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
179. 1:34:51I need you to know that despite surface level, your teachers are feeling frustrated, unheard, and disrespected.
180. 1:35:02A few years ago, our district won a no grant that established a team of people that staff morale and retention in our district. Members involved in that process wanted to share that they found that what they found is still consistent and respect. While surface level morale boosters like coffee and cookies and monthly events are very they don't really seem to have gotten worse.
181. 1:35:34While many members have reported improvement at the building level with administrators being more present and supportive at the district level, numerous members feel disconnected and unheard. There's a growing frustration that decisions are being made without understanding what our jobs said or what we support. We need to do them well.
182. 1:35:57A clear example is how observation and were done this year. A large number of teachers were observed in the final weeks of school. Some were even observed on the very last day of classes in the high school. At that point, meaningful feedback really becomes just a formality, not a tool for growth. It tells us that our development isn't a priority despite being told what's expected in trying to advocate for positions to be kept or to be filed.
183. 1:36:31sixth grade social studies teacher. I'm trying to that I've been in discussions about we're reminded that we need to be fiscally responsible. I'm an economics teacher and I very very strongly get that. I really do. I agree. I'm just having a really hard time with the fact that overion district.
184. 1:36:55We're also seeing a very troubling pattern with how staffing decisions are being communicated. Several teachers found out about transfers or new teaching assignments. In some cases, colleagues were informed of this might be happening rather than a direct professional conversation. It's poor communication. It's also just a lack of basic professional courtesy.
185. 1:37:18These aren't incidents. They're really a larger issue. Teachers are feeling like members, not professionals. dedicated years to this district really and to our students and almost I spoke to the board in October about my concerns about our staff attention we've lost many veteran teachers here over the last few years if that will continue our dedication apps are handled in a way that otherwise we're not asking for perfection we're really just asking the same professional that we as Thank you.
186. 1:38:00Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
187. 1:38:05[Applause]
188. 1:38:22All right. So, good evening again everyone. Tonight, u my superintendent report, I'm going to speak about um our early bar college where we had three seniors um that received 27 college credits for over two years. Um as you can see, our beautiful students are right there. 287.
189. 1:38:55I was fortunate enough to be one of the keynote speakers for that day along with one of the superintendent. So, it was a great affair and it was it's just great to see that our students have earned many college credits going into college next year. So, keep that program going because that's important. and congratulations to the students and to uh the high school uh team.
190. 1:39:23So, we have a partnership to bring healthy meals to students this summer and so we're really promoting this. So, families are watching. Please be sure to send out this and we will continue to do this. And so you'll see it includes five days of breakfast, lunches, and they will be picked up on 41 North Street every Wednesday, July 9th until August 20th from 10:45 until 12:15. So please take advantage of that for all of our families that are here watching.
191. 1:40:04And then the high school, it was a great night. Thousands and thousands of dollars were given away to our students the annual senior award night. And so our student awards and scholarship.
192. 1:40:21And last but not least, I just want to take this time to uh I don't have spotlight on excellence, but I'm going to just spotlight uh tonight. I want to thank uh the board of education for another year of employment here and for just having me. I also want to thank um my exec team um for the work that we've done this year. We've done some great work and we are making progress and gain. I'd like to also thank um the uh building leadership, our teachers, our staff, and our students, our custodians, and our families and community as a whole. We can't do it alone, and together we can.
193. 1:41:00and our district is making progress in a lot of different areas that I'm very very proud of. This year we made national uh ed week newspaper concerning our chronic absenteeism. We also um were able to increase our student attendance this year. Um that that was great. We had that. We also continue to receive several grants that we're using and helping to offset our general funds.
194. 1:41:29Um we have um several teachers. We were able to bring back this year an AVID program that's now all sixth graders will be able to have AVID um sixth, seventh, and eighth graders this coming up year. But every every sixth grade class will now have those great AVID strategies. And that was done collectively last year. I put AVID on hold and then we were able to I asked for a team to get together. We were able to get a team together and teachers were involved and the AVID they're all going down to the convention uh this to the training this summer and now we'll have a great AVID program.
195. 1:42:07We have now a process for AIS. We put in PLC's this year. Um, we're going to continue the great work and um, we will definitely be focusing on small groupoup instruction next year, but we'll be able to let everyone know what the priorities are for next year by the time we have um, opening day in September. So, I want to thank everyone individually and collectively.
196. 1:42:35Thank you. Thank you very much. Um, for consensus agenda, we're going to pull items uh K and L. Um, so I make a motion. Hold on.
197. 1:42:50Oh, I'm sorry. Yes. Thank you.
198. 1:42:54New business. So, this is what I mentioned before. These are just re-ups of the current policies. Um, these don't have any changes from the previous year at the moment. Right. Yeah.
199. 1:43:08So, if we want to look at the attendance policy and make some changes, we would definitely welcome any uh input from the attendance team um and add it to our list of policies that we're reviewing in the upcoming year.
200. 1:43:19Um and I'll put a plug in which is that we did in the last meeting or the meeting before or that approve a policy charter that makes the policy committee open to members of the public to sit in and be speaking voices in the policy committee in general. So um in July we'll send out information.
201. 1:43:36So if family members, if teachers, other staff members, school building leaders want to be uh part of policy committee um please please come um and we'll send that out to be able to have so that we really do want to have a working group that is I think you know as has been mentioned um representatives consistently from different constituencies through across our community.
202. 1:44:02Yeah, the more the marrier. There's a lot of work to do. All right. So, now for consensus agenda, um we're going to pull K and L for the moment. Um so, make a motion to accept consensus agenda items.
203. 1:44:16Uh one one more one more. Uh we pull F. Pull F. Yes.
204. 1:44:22So, tableabling F and K. Uh pulling L for the minute. So accept consensus agenda items A through E, uh G through J and M through U.
205. 1:44:43Second. All in favor.
206. 1:44:47And then uh consensus agenda item L. uh make a motion to approve the 2025 2026 employment agreement addendums for uh Miss Shante Brooks, Miss Christy Ferry, executive director of business and finance, Dr. Elsa Courtright Torres, uh Dr. Tia Pressie, and Dr. Juliet Pennyman. We're tableabling the uh transportation amendment for the moment.
207. 1:45:18Second. All in favor to public forum. Did anybody else sign up? Leslie? No.
208. 1:45:33Um, no old business. Uh, brings us to board discussion. Anybody have anything else to add? Okay.
209. 1:45:47Um, so make a motion at 7:44 to uh suspend the meeting. Meeting dates. Sorry, I just wanted to have some cupcakes. Um, the following meetings are scheduled.
210. 1:46:06July 2nd, 2025, district reorg meeting, high school library, 6 p.m. July 15, 2025, policy committee meeting, high school library, 5:00 p.m. July 22nd, 2025, regular board of ed meeting, high school auditorium, 6 p.m.
211. 1:46:22August 5th, special education meeting, high school auditorium, 6 p.m. August 12th, 2025, policy committee meeting, high school library, 5:00 p.m. August 19th, 2025 regular board of education meeting, high school auditorium 6 p.m.
212. 1:46:42Um, now I make a motion to suspend the meeting at 7:45 p.m. um after uh after this pause for refreshments. We will be um entering in an executive session. So there'll be no other further business uh after we suspend the meeting.
213. 1:47:00Second. All in favor? All right. invite you all to join us for some cake.

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