12/14/15 BOE Meeting

Public Comments and Response Notes:

Below are notes taken from the Public Comment portion of the BOE meeting.  They are not verbatim.  The time of each comment is provided for further review in the video. 

-57:59 Speaker 1: I am here tonight because I wanted to address something that Mr. Zopf said at the November 23rd board meeting regarding parent involvement in our school district.  You mentioned that these are business meetings for the district, and of course you are correct about that, but they are also meetings where we get to hear a lot about what’s happening in our schools like we’ve heard tonight and a lot more than that.  We review programs PTO reports etc.   I come to these meetings because I am interested in the business of the district. I want to see how my elected board members vote and how my money is being spent etc. Mr. Zopf (and you know not to single you out you seem like a nice guy) but at this meeting you suggested that parents should instead be attending the scheduled superintendent forums to discuss issues and ask more complicated questions that we might have about the district. You mentioned low attendance at the last two forums and you told parents that it doesn’t send a good message that people really are interested in finding out what is going on in the district.  Well, as you have noticed we have a broad number of parents at board meetings every two weeks.  I myself have talked to teachers, administrators, even former board members who have expressed that this is the most parent involvement they have ever seen in the district.  Someone even said that this is the most they’ve ever seen in their entire careers.  I personally often have to hire and pay a babysitter so that I can attend these meetings.  My husband works for a large corporation.  He’s never home for dinner most of his day is spent in meetings with upper management.  Most days he has to sit through several meetings and is forced to work overtime in order to get his work done.  My point here is that more meetings isn’t necessarily a real solution to the parental involvement in the district.  I’m here because I want to see you do your business I’m not able to watch the Board of Ed. Vote at a superintendent’s forum.  I’m not able to make a statement for the public record or have our leadership answer me on public record at a forum.  And I am not willing or able to pay another babysitter so I can attend another meeting.  You are all volunteers I appreciate that I know how that is.   I volunteer extensively in this community as well.  I’m on the board of the Weeplay Project, I’m active in the PTO at Sargent, I’m a mom, I’m an artist, most days I feel like I invented overworked and underpaid.  So I appreciate what you are doing here.  Much has been said from this board about wanting to have a culture of respect and I hear you.  The board wants to have a respectful relationship with the parents rather than an adversarial one and I agree with that.  But respect works both ways.  When you say it doesn’t send a good message that the parents are not attending these off the record forums who is this message being sent to?  I ask because every week after a board of ed meeting parents are watching our comments and statements and many of them reach out to me and say thank you for speaking out wondering how they can get more involved so I don’t’ think it’s the parents that are sending the bad message.  –Time is up-

-1:01:16 Mr. Zopf: I just want to say that you know I apologize if you misinterpreted my comments of if I said them incorrectly.  I wasn’t trying to discourage the people who are coming to this meeting what I was pointing out is that we have other forums which are better suited to asking questions that require long and complicated answers.  You know like I said this is a business meeting where we are trying to get through a whole thing and so I said I certainly don’t want to discourage people from coming here and watch us in operation, but there are certain questions that people ask that are complicated questions that are better suited for a forum where you just go back and forth and that is all I was trying to say.  

​-1:01:57 Speaker 2: I was also at the last policy meeting and one of the policies that was on the agenda but the board didn’t get to was the parent involvement policy and I have a couple of questions about how it’s written.  There are parts that are in italics and asks for examples about what our district is doing to fulfill the goals of the policy and I wondered if this was something that was going to be discussed in the policy and actually filled in for the policy when it gets reprinted.  I only recently discovered that parental involvement is actually required by the law especially in the case of title 1 districts and the policy states that parental involvement is “essential to student achievement and thus encourages such involvement in school educational planning and operations.”  I am wondering if this plan is included in the district improvement plan or if it’s a plan in it’s own right.  I’d love to hear Dr. Walkley and the Board Member’s thoughts on how this district is doing with drawing parents in to be more involved.  In fact the policy states that the board along with it’s superintendent and other appropriate staff will conduct with the involvement of parents an annual evaluation of content and effectiveness of this parental involvement policy and the improvement of academic quality of title 1 schools including the identification of barriers to greater participation by parents and activities under this policy and the revision of parent involvement policies necessary for more effective involvement to facilitate this review the district will conduct the following activities and there is a blank… And I’m just wondering if that is going to be written.  Seven years ago I was very involved with the former superintendent Dr. Aefsky's Parent University and that was actually fairly successful.  We had over I think 150 parents the first time we did it but it was a lot of work and you Mr. Zopf were in there also.  So I think that is kind of great but I think well if no one is coming to the forums maybe I think family fun nights are really well attended so maybe that’s a place to be where the parents are.  Sometimes parents are as you all know very busy and sometimes you have to come to the parents.  I also just wanted to mention a great book I’ve been reading called “Beyond the Bake sale” I actually picked it up because I thought it was about fundraising, which obviously I’m very excited about.  It’s really about parent involvement and how parent involvement is essential to a successful district and it actually made me think totally differently and the one thing it says is the first thing we have to think is that every single person thinks that they want the best for their children. We all need to think of that.

-1:05:01 Christine Galbo:  the speaker asked about the process for policy review so I wanted to comment on that piece.  Yes, the policy as you saw has the recommendations that come from NYSBA things that are in gray are notes for the board and things that are in italics or bold are sort of decisions that they suggest are made at the local level.  So the policy has been sent to us has a core and then pieces to discuss so certainly the section about the process for the annual evaluation and all those things that’s something that we want to go over but we did want to give a little more time.  We had a short amount of time left at that meeting as you know.  So we will be looking at that in February.  (Is this a brand new policy)  This is not a brand new policy.  There is a policy already.   

Dr. Walkley:  and parent involvement discussion is in the Title 1 Grant.  And there is a part of that grant where a plan must be inserted. 
 
Melissa Thompson:  Just to clarify, this is what was handed out on that night and our prior policy was policy was 3251 so this policy 1900 once it’s discussed at the policy committee and then brought back to the board will replace policy 3251.  

-1:06:51. Speaker 3:  I have three things and I will try to get it under the three minutes.  Dr. Walkley the APPR is and has been a hot topic since it’s inception.  The governor through legislation as we all know changed the way the APPR is to be done.  Would you be willing to give a workshop at an upcoming board meeting and explain the various components of it?  For example scores, SLO’s, lesson plans, archival material.  Also can you share what part of the APPR is negotiated between the district and the teachers association?  What are the differences between the APPRs for teachers and administrators and finally is there an evaluation in place for coaches, advisors and other appointments for extra pay or is that a case where if you’ve done it in the past or previously you continue to be appointed. Also, on tonight’s agenda under the employment for professional staff item D you have IRP review teachers at Beacon High School effective date January 4- January 25th 2016 and item E is for IRP January RCT prep effective January 4- January 25th 2016.  Do these programs run at the same time and if so how will those teachers whose names appear on both lists fulfill those obligations to both programs?  And finally, Meredith had brought up the point about parent involvement communication I guess sometime in the beginning of the year the board appointed a parent communicator for $1500 does that count toward the parent involvement in terms of parent communications.

-1:09:33 Dr. Walkley:  We just recently appointed our parent communicator I think it was at the last board meeting and she will be working with us to set up additional parent opportunities.  I’m glad you gave me a list of your APPR questions I didn’t get them all but I can certainly provide information on another day. 
(Inaudible, talking about workshop, she says she certainly can)
That’s a question I think we need to ask Dr. Sieverding he has recommended those people to provide that particular service and it is during the same time but it would most likely be different nights.  

-1:10:50 Speaker 4: I attended the High School Players Christmas Carol it was done very nice and it was quite a spectacle.  We had a little problem Friday night with the audio but the students were told if anything malfunctioned you keep going and they did so they did what they were to do.  I thought the Santa Claus was terrible.  For the simple fact that it’s first impression and I don’t think he even had the word first so you can do better next time with making a better Santa Claus or a different Santa Claus next year.  That’s not a joke just so you know folks.  Last time I was here we had a meeting a safety meeting.  It was myself, Dr. Walkley, Bill Zopf, Craig from the Poughkeepsie journal was here and the next day San Bernardino happened.  We all know what happened in San Bernardino right folks?  It’s the norm. It’s the norm now.  Know how to get out.  Know two ways of getting out.  Get out.  Now we teach our students ABC’s and 123’s and you need to start telling our students how to get out of the building fast.  My comments need no reply tonight.

no comment

-1:12:46 Speaker 5:  At a recent BOE meeting I’ve been asking about district procedure on test refusals.  I’ve been asking about this for a while you know it’s a topic I’m interested in and interested in hearing about.  I do feel that it’s very important for the district to include parent stakeholders in the decision making process for this.  I was encouraged at the last meeting and when the superintendent indicated that there would be a meeting coming that would be discussing this issue and so my two question are what was the result of this meeting and can you please report on the status of the Beacon City School District’s plan on how parent test refusals will be handled as the school year progresses and secondly how will this plan reflect the priorities of parent stakeholders.

-1:14:08 Dr. Walkley:  Actually there’s been two meetings of the group the group is made up of principals and each PTO was asked to send two representatives to this meeting or committee.  The result of the meeting ist that we are working on a letter that the PTO’s can share with the parents about opting out and talking about a process.  I’m hoping that you all have heard the news today, as we talked in that particular meeting things are changing at the state level and with the governor and please check and get online and see what’s happening.  There was a board of regents meeting today where they voted on a proposal that has been given to the governor about having a moratorium on how they use testing and how they use scores and I think many of you are concerned about how they use scores that are linked to students and scores that are linked to teachers and principals and the governor has had a advisory group in which the Commissioner Elia, is a member.  There is a lot online right now and we were just talking about it with the board members about where are we because the regents made a vote today and the governor has his committee so where is that so watch the news the next couple of days and see what is happening. So who knows what is going to happen with testing but this committee will go forward.  We decided to wait until January to meet again partly because of the time of the year, but also because the board of regents does have a scheduled meeting the 13th or 15th of January.  I’m hoping there will be more clarity about how the state is going to go forward at a time.

The PTO’s selection of members they are communicators for parents and I believe that they are sharing information in their PTO meetings.

-1:17:09 Speaker 6:  My questions tonight are for the members of the school board because my direct questions to the Superintendent whose hefty salary is paid for by our tax dollars have been completely ignored meeting after meeting.  So to this full board I do want to thank you all again for your service.  You generously volunteer your time for this district and I know that this year has been a particularly rough one.  That being said you were all elected by the people of this community to represent us and our children and I feel that many of you haven’t been doing that and I would like to know why.  When the superintendent was asked when the school year started without classrooms having the proper and necessary supplies and week after week fails to come up with an answer.  I would like to know why the board doesn’t call her out on it.  When the superintendent ignores questions from community members such as what is your plan for this district which she was asked at three board meetings in a row I would like to know why our elected representatives are letting her get away with it.  When the head of the Beacon Arts and Ed Foundation who does so much to help this district makes a request at a school board meeting for help with costumes for a school play and the superintendent responds by rolling her eyes in disgust which is clearly displayed on a video, how do you not react with outrage.  You continue to throw around the word respect and you seem to forget that respect needs to be earned.  It is not earned by blatantly ignoring parents who take the time out of their busy schedules to volunteer their time for this district as well to try and fix the mess that this district is in. It is not earned by transferring 27 teachers with no explanation and expecting the community to get over it and forget it happened. It is not earned by continuing to remind us that you don’t have to allow public comment at Board Meetings.  Two meetings ago the President of the Teachers Union got up and spoke about the fact that there are teachers who feel disrespected, a sentiment that many of them have shared with me personally.   And Melissa Thompson responded by admonishing the public for applauding this comment because he showed disrespect by going over his time.  At the last board meeting Bill Zopf also admonished parents for not attending the forums and therefore not really wanting to communicate well let’s face it we all know that the forums are just an attempt to move this conversation off of the public record and keep the superintendent’s disgusted eye rolling off of the videos.  Do you really think that turning the tables on the community that elected really is the best way to handle this situation?  As the superintendent is very fond of pointing out everyone makes mistakes.  When you hired her without interviewing anyone else I’m sure that you believed that she ws the best person for Beacon but that simply hasn’t been the case.  Since she first took over and cancelled the overnight Sharpe Reservation trip things have been going steadily downhill for students, staff, and the community as a whole.  So my final question to the school board is what are you going to do about it.  I don’t expect an answer now I’m used to being ignored here anyway.  But I do hope that you are discussing these very real issues in your executive sessions and that you come up with a solution.  Because ignoring or spinning it won’t work we will not be fooled, we will not be shamed, and we will not give up.  I sincerely hope that you all have a nice holiday with your families.

-1:20:17 Dr. Walkley: so I would like to correct some of the information that you’ve given this evening.  First off, the Sharpe Trip was never cancelled (audience: it wasn’t cancelled and then reinstated after parents) The Sharpe Trip was never cancelled the Sharpe Trip was always on we did have a time to discuss the overnight.  It was the issue of overnight but the Sharpe Trip itself was never cancelled.  IN addition to that, if I role my eyes then I apologize for that.  I don’t, I will take a look at the videotape.  I certainly don’t recall doing that.  It may be because when I was in high school I used to do all the costumes.  I may have put my eyes up (and you are shaking your head no) but I don’t believe that I rolled my eyes.  I will look at the tape.  I used to do all the costumes for the High School where I grew up and I used to sew and as a matter of fact I was remembering when Mrs. Heuer I was remembering in particular a play where my mother who was just a little bit of a hoarder with clothing actually turned out to work out very well because there was a play where we needed a suit and a suit that she wore in college was the suit that we were able to use in the play.  So, again I apologize but I think more I was remembering my own experience with costumes.

1:22:14 Melissa Thompson: I’m not sure how best to reply you made a number of statements you know many times the board may ask questions of the superintendent after hearing the concerns of the community in other venues.  You spoke about the schools not having supplies, well the superintendent certainly isn’t in each building each day with each teacher to ensure that each one has what they need, and school start everywhere with issues with supplies or the right books.  That’s not only here in Beacon, but to think that we as members of the Board of Education didn’t ask Anne Marie or Dr. Walkley to fill us in on when those books were ordered and when they were delivered and when the supplies were received of course we ask those questions.  Do we admonish anyone for not having what they needed on that day publicly, no.  That’s not my behavior or anyone on this board of education but to think we are not asking the tough questions is mistaken.  I’ll answer to the statement I made when Mr. Burns was at the podium.  I was frustrated certainly.  The Board of Education I’m sure many of the people in this room have been at the policy committee meetings where the board not just myself but the board is very interested in respect and very interested in holding speakers to three minutes.  Now we all know that I am not the great keeper to three minutes because I want people to finish their thought or I want people to get that last question out or whatever the case may be.  But I have taken flack from the public and flack from the board that we didn’t do that so we put steps in place.  Mr. White’s doing a great job keeping everybody at their three minutes and it’s not an issue.  That night I was certainly frustrated.  Every piece of what our policy which we had just covered every piece, we will not speak beyond three minutes, we will not make statements about people, we will not raise our voices.  All of those things were done in his time.  Did that frustrate me, certainly, if it offended anyone that I was frustrated, I apologize, but I would be frustrated if he did it again.  And I might say something quite similar.

1:25:02 Kenya Gadsden: We’re not supposed to right?  (No, but if you’d like to say something) I surely would.  So, I just feel compelled to say a few things.  I think there are things happening in this district that as it relates to books that were ordered there is a process.  I want to say that there is a lot of adjusting that has happened in our last three years.  One not being on the board and this last two being here.  And what I’ve found is that there is a process and I also hear the parents saying that they want the superintendent to stay and they want to work with her but week after week that we’re here I constantly hear negativity and we try combat the negativity and try to find responses to aid us in moving forward.  I find that some of us are stuck and because we don’t speak to some of the things that are stated here they leave here as the truth.  So, when we are presenting things there is a big stickler, if you are going to present to me, present the facts that are factual.  If you have an opinion or an assumption then state that because there is a lot of confusion that we all know about.  I shy away from responding to certain people because the negative environment continues to fester so we are a board of nine people that are vested in the growth and development of our children in this district.  We are vested in seeing the parents and teachers and the administration collaborate for the good of the students.  We will have some bumps in the road.  We will have that.  We will have some disagreements.  We will have that. However, I think to continually po9nder on the same issues and ask them in an environment where we continually say you might not get the best answer t0 your question here.  Ask it elsewhere.  Not to take it off of the spotlight but to give you what you are asking for.  And so I think that we need to consider that if you ask your questions that don’t require the back and forth or the clarification out of this forum and you don’t get your answer then I think that we have another issue to deal with.  But I’m very frustrated with that I feel we are progressing and then we are digressing.  And I don’t want to do that.  I think at the end of the day everyday that passes our children are being affected by this.  So can we please consider when people are speaking search your facts out first?  Make sure that what you are hearing is factual and not opinion and then we can move on that.

1:28:09 Speaker 7:  I’m back again to ask a question about the same topic.  I wondering the district’s specific plan is to ensure that all elementary students are receiving technology, media instruction in the six day cycle.  As we saw in the South Avenue report they do have Library/Media instruction.  They do not have that at Forrestal.  They do not have that at Sargent.  I believe they have something at Glenham.  What are you doing to ensure that all students are getting media?  My second question is to the director of technology.  He stated in his presentation that he has reached out to the PTSO’s of the different schools to include them in his technology committee as of now Forrestal for sure because I am an executive board member has not been reached out to.  So, I encourage him to reach out to Forrestal PTSO specifically and all of the other PTSO’s who have not been reached out to.

1:29:35 Dr. Walkley: I’m glad Mr. Burke is still here.  This past week he somewhat spearheaded the hour of code.  The hour of code was an international celebration of children doing coding in schools.  All of our schools participated in the hour of code.  Which was an hour lesson about coding computers.  When Mr. Burke approached me I asked the other schools if they were also going to participate in the hour of code and the answer I got was yes that they were all participating.  As I read about the hour of code and as I talked more with Aaron so many of the jobs in the future and he actually gave me a statistic but I don’t remember it.  So many of the jobs in the future will require students to use computers, technology and for some students to use coding or programming in the future.  The idea of teaching coding to students is not just that it’s about a future job maybe but it’s also about the thinking skill of figuring things out and making the computer do thing that you want it to do.  So this hour of coding event was a worldwide event where in schools a specific lesson, an hour lesson, about how to code a computer was given to students.  Our students in all of our schools, this was the week to participate.  On the website it said well if you can’t do last week then do this week, or do the week prior.  Fit it in your schedule because you are not going to learn coding but it’s fun and the kids enjoy it and it’s such a great thinking skill that it’s really developing our students as thinkers more so then developing our students as programmers.  So I thank Mr. Burke for bringing the hour of code to us.
 
1:31:51 Mr. Burke:  May I just add something to that.  I definitely wouldn’t say I spearheaded anything.  The other Library/Media folks in the other schools are just as excited as I am, but it is an issue that not everybody has the same amount of exposure to it.  A couple of schools have less opportunity so they’re not quite where I am or Laurie is necessarily so I do hope that it’s an issue that is looked at in the next budget or whatever the process has to be because I’d be happy to talk to anybody about what an exciting time it is and the coding and all that because I think it’s really important.  Not just to train an army of coders, but to train kids how to think like on their math test if you can find the bug in your problem and debug it it’s the same idea. So, I think it’s a really exciting time, but I definitely support and hope that the idea that there is not equity right now and that Renee has two schools to cover is a big issue, and I hope that it is looked at.
 
1:33:05 Melissa Thompson:  Mr. Burke I thank you for presenting it in just that way that is as we get in to budget season that certainly is something we need to look at and to ensure that it is equal among children.  But until we hit that budget season that isn’t something we can make corrections to. 

1:33:33 Speaker 8: The technology report that was given before.  I taught in the schools and my second career was in technology so I have a great love of it.  One of the things that I am really hoping is that part of, (there was no real explanation) is how this committee is [formed], who’s on it, or how we expand it.  I hope there is some allowance in it for all teachers to brainstorm on what technology might mean to what they do in their classrooms.  I take that from when I was teaching in an inner city school in Detroit and some teacher, before any of us had computers, but the were around, and she somehow got a computer and hooked up this project that she had read about where kids in different parts of the united states had to adopt a country and had to communicate via this amazing computer and talk to kids in other places.  I think if the teachers don’t get to sit around and brainstorm and think about what they want and this is a top down approach then you are going to miss maybe all kinds of super ideas that might come.  And it’s just a hope that everybody gets included.  Secondly, I’m hoping, that somebody will find the time to look more carefully at grants that may be out there.  It’s great that we got this one grant but I just realize when I started looking for example that Verizon had done some grants I think not in NYS but in other places where they gave whole districts mobile devices like iPads and not only that but also gave them cellular data so kids automatically were able to connect to the internet.  My guess is there’s more stuff out there and I’m hoping that we could be a little bit more aggressive and look for some of that.  Because we’re poor and we could probably get it.

no comment

1:35:47 Speaker 9: I’d like to briefly address Speaker 5 about the refusal committee that was formed.  I’m on that committee.  It is our attention that regardless of what the state hands down in January we’ll totally, and there are steps in the right direction, that there will still be a clear process for parents that choose to refuse the test. I would really like to thank the principals that have been working with us.  I feel like it’s been a team effort.  We have letters that we have formed and the elementary school has different needs than the middle school and the letter is tweaked for those two different demographics.  Parents will have access to those letters via the PTO I believe is what we decided.  It will be a letter that parents can do their own letters if they’d like, but this is a clear way for parents to send something in ahead of time stating what their intentions are.  I have been told that they will not then receive a letter saying you can’t do this your child has to do this it will be the parent’s decision.  The children will not have to speak for themselves on the day of the test. I am available for any questions as are other members of the committee.  I am also just noticing on tonight’s agenda, perhaps you will get to this further on, but in case you don’t, I am curious about the two approved consultants, Priscilla Kelly and Adriana Beckwith.  I’m hoping that is something that will be addressed.

1:37:45.2 Dr. Walkley:  The two consultants are actually for the New Covenent.  We received Title 1 monies from the state and now public schools, the state determines a small amount of money that they take from our allotment that is available if non-public schools choose to apply with us and use that money.  New Covenent is one of the schools that does apply for the money.  However, the rules of Title 1, I’m looking over at Anne Marie to help out here, I believe that first they have to choose consultants and activities that fit in under the title 1 guidelines and in addition to that that money, just like Tim was talking about earlier, we don’t have to write them a check, they run that money through us.  They earn that money through us and through the activities that they do.  So that is two consultants for their school.  They are going to be providing an after school reading program for their students. 
 
We talked about that we thought would be very helpful to parents was a presentation to find out more about testing.  Whether we like or don’t like the test we talked about having an opportunity for parents to come and learn more about the test. Learn more about the process etc.  That was something that was suggested.  It wasn’t set in stone but it may be something we’re talking more about. 

1:39:44 Speaker 10: I actually was very excited about the smart bond presentation and the idea of putting together a plan that would incorporate how the district would spend that money along with their existing budget in the best and most efficient way possible.  That is why the response about the disparity in resources available to different elementary schools struck me as a concern.  I want to hear that there is some plan in place to actually make it possible for the planning of how to spend that money, incorporating an assumption that the elementary schools are going to have resources similar to every other elementary school.  I don’t particularly want to have Forrestal be left behind because they don’t have resources in place that would actually make it possible for them to use that money as effectively as other elementary schools that do have a full time instructor or the level of units in that week that students can attend.  I’m hoping that there is something besides just a budget item but also some strategy that the district is putting together to actually try to bring up the resources to improve the capability of what’s already there, to deliver more to Forrestal schools and to be as involved as all the other schools in planning how to use the money that we’re going to see in the most effective way possible so that as an elementary school at Forrestal we can participate just as well as all the others.  I appreciate any information that you have about whether that’s in place.

1:41:59 Dr. Walkley: Last year when I started here you may know a budget is passed in April so a budget was in place when I began and at that time people started talking about the Music programs, the Art programs, and making sure that the resources are the same that can’t happen in one year. You are right it is a long term plan and with the tax cap and I know Anne Marie will be talking more about what’s happening with the tax cap this year as we get into the budget process that long range planning that you are talking about becomes more and more difficult but yes we do decide I mean that would be ideal that we had the same resources in every school and that is certainly something we want to work toward.  We become a little bit at the mercy of this tax cap and we will explain more about that.  If it wasn’t there it would be a much easier task to accomplish.  So it’s not that you are right on the money and that’s exactly what we’ve been talking about as a long-term plan to level out resources. 

1:43:28 Speaker 11: Thanks Ms. Conrad for presentation on South Ave.  You are looking for items in the budget that might offset that maybe not having the TOSA’s and having instructors would actually offset whatever the cost is to even out the disparities on the schools.  I don’t know I think this is a really important issue.  It is a perception of having one school having one advantage over the other doesn’t necessarily promote harmony within the district.  Looking at what’s in your budget now and trimming some of those things could possibly even it out.

-1:44:31 Dr. Walkley:  Thanks for bringing that up.  I don’t know if you’ve been here so if I am repeating myself to you I apologize.  The TOSA’s are budgeted through Title 1 monies, which are grant monies, and there are very specific guidelines about how grant monies can be used or cannot be used.  So even though we might want to have let’s say another music teacher in the grant money that is used to pay salaries for instructional support teachers we could not do that.  So that cost is not coming from the general fund but from Title 1 funds.  

1:45:16 Speaker 12: Just to follow up on what I’ve heard.  It’s my understanding that this district can make mid-year adjustments instead of choosing to punt for the next budget cycle you could make an adjustments that are within the restrictions just to put a buzz in your ear.  But that wasn’t what I came up here.  Just wanted to wish happy holidays to the board, the administration, the parents, students, and community.  I also wanted to come up and say that I come to these meetings and ask questions because this an official record and my right as well as it is consistent with transparency of governmental law.  I am not trying to get personal in this venue.  I mentioned at the last board meeting that unequal use of in school suspension versus out of school suspensions based on race rather then severity sounds like discrimination.  This past Friday I received a report of a child that was taken by her hair and slammed against the wall by two girls known for bullying.  In this case the parent wasn’t immediately called when the event happened and the parent had to live with the frustration over the weekend and wait till school was back in session to find out more information.  I don’t believe this problem is school specific.  It may vary from school to school.  I know this bullying policy, and it’s no surprise that it includes prevention; it also includes the requirement that the board will receive an annual vetted report as well as other state requirements relevant to bullying for each building and for the district as a whole.  Based on the review of the data the board may consider further action including but not limited to the modification of this policy and additional training. It is also my understanding that Ms. Baez has instructional exercises to help improve school climate.  I would like the school district to encourage her to start a mentoring the program where parent volunteers can also help.  My name is ___ I’m trained in conflict resolution through my time in AmeriCorps which I think could be helpful.  I’m already in the NY Teach system and I would like to volunteer for something like this.  I also would like to commend the South Avenue Student Council and the Principal that was a wonderful video and I would love to hear more duration of the same throughout the district.  My question is can we work on improving the school climate for the students.

1:48:07.0 Dr. Walkley: Thank you for mentioning the good training that Ms. Baez has.  She actually has started to training in the district with social and emotional and there was a section for some of our, I think all of our teacher aides, I believe assistants (don’t quote me on that), and she also did a section from our administrative team.  So she has started to do some training in the district and I agree that it’s very important training.   I would also remind parents that if there is a concern about bullying in the school.  That they need to contact first and foremost the school principal and talk with them about what is happening.  If they aren’t satisfied with that then there is a hierarchy of people that they can speak with.  So I encourage them to address their principal or administrator and then go from there.

-1:49:25 Speaker 13:  I wanted to make sure that the Board of Education was aware that the US Dept. of Education office of Civil Rights is actively investigating the violations of Title 9 that Dr. Walkley has allowed to occur in the school.  The lead investigator told me that they have requested and have received information about the investigation from the school.  So I want to make sure that you are aware that this investigation is going on because sometimes you may not know everything that’s going on.  As far as the facts, I did submit awhile back, a whole packet to everybody which has all the detailed facts about the investigation and about the case.  Second point I have is actually a question as Mr. Zopf has stated many of the questions that come up here can be complicated and maybe should be taken outside.  We have a lot of questions tonight some were answered in detail some were not.  Why isn’t there a log of the questions that people ask written down detail.  I know some are paraphrased the log of the questions so they can be answered either verbally or in writing so that we have a record and you can say hey, we already answered that question and here is our statement.  So why is that not done?  Next question is back during the time there was voting about the TOSA positions there was extensive talk about metrics.  A lot of metrics that were going to be had, developed to track performance and the impact the TOSA’s have.  So when will these metrics be published and when will they be provided to the public so that we can see the results?

-1:51:19 Dr. Walkley:  I just want to correct some information I don’t know who you’ve been talking with but the district has sent volumes of information and has spoken on the phone with several of our staff members.  I don’t know who you are speaking with but that information is incorrect.  (audience: what information?) The information that no information was sent from the district. 
 
Melissa Thompson: No I don’t think that was the statement that he made.  He wanted to be sure that the Board of Education was aware that the investigation was going on.  (audience inaudible)
 
Kenya Gadsden: No but I did hear him say that the lead investigator has not received and then he said something else but I don’t know what that was.  So something about the lead investigator not receiving something.  I don’t know what that was. 
 
Melissa Thompson: I didn’t hear that.  Could you clarify the statement regarding the lead investigator?

Speaker 13: I apologize if it was not clear.  So, when I talked to the lead investigator she said that the office of Civil Rights has requested information from the District and the District has responded.  So that there is an active exchange going on between the two so I wanted to make sure that it was important that it is an active and ongoing investigation. He wanted to make sure that you were all aware that that is in progress. 

-1:53:20 Dr. Walkley:  (TOSA’s) So we just had this conversation on the email so that’s very interesting that you must be thinking the same as at least one of our board members.  So, what we talked about is that there are a lot of new programs this year in the district and it might be in it would be helpful certainly to have metrics on all the new programs.  So, we will set up a schedule of presentations to share that information.

-1:54:02 Speaker 14: I have two questions, one, I really loved the film that the Student Council put together and I wanted to just mention this while it’s fresh in everybody’s mind that you got a really good look at our playground at South Avenue.  Playground with one piece of equipment provided by the district and one tiny piece of equipment that you may have seen flash by that was paid for by the PTA.  I have been at South Avenue for six years now and been a member of the PTA for six years and every year we devote most of the fundraising to trying to get something more for that playground.  If you are wondering, well we only saw a little corner of it, no you saw all of it.  That’s it.  There is a dusty field and two pieces of equipment.  So when you guys are reviewing the inequalities between all the different elementary schools I hope that gets discussed because South Avenue really gets the short end of the stick when it comes to outdoor play equipment.  The PTA this year is devoting I would say a huge amount if not all of it’s funding to try and get more playground equipment.  Which is awesome. I’m very supportive of that.  But I do think that the district needs to look at it and evaluate it a little bit more money in the budget toward something to make it equal with the other schools.  My second question, I hope I’m not to long, if you could explain how with the new Tech Bond it’s reimbursement bond, if you could just explain it to me so that I understand I a little bit better.  Let’s say we have a million dollars in the budget and we spend that much and we are reimbursed how does that free up the budget for the next year since there is money given back into that budget and not affect the tax cap.  How can we use that to our advantage? I am confused about that.  

-1:56:13 Anne Marie Quartironi: I don’t know all the particulars Mr. Facchin was pretty clear about it not being there, but as far as revenue is concerned revenue and expenditures are classified differently so the tax cap is based on expenditures.  So if we were to receive the reimbursement that would be included as revenue and wouldn’t help us with the tax cap.  That’s a general thing, I am hoping that’s not the case but that’s usually we can’t use it as a reduction as the expense we have to go forward and classify it as revenue and set the expenditures. That’s why we are not really sure how it’s going to go, and why Mr. Facchin was pretty clear about kind of moving forward.  We will benefit from getting the money but it’s just a matter of the calculations we’ll see moving forward.

-1:57:08 Speaker 15: Coordinator of the Lifted Program wanted to say a few words tonight.  She is very excited to share that we have had a beautiful jumpstart at South Avenue School, which is our first pilot program with the help of the Principal, and staff and our Lifted Team.  Our first seminar was navigating your way through South Avenue School. Our second one, which was just this past week, and it was reading readiness with our ELA teacher of South Avenue.  We are looking for parents to come out and learn from our new Parent Academy.  Our next workshops are concerning with health and Special Ed and CSE 101. And parenting tips for the new parents that are entering their new school district.  Also robocalls have been sent out and we have had very low parent engagement.  So we as the Lifted Team Program are here to help parents cope with their fears and their hopes so that their children will work better with each other and with us and the community at elementary level and also I’m very excited to be a part of the board helping you guys connecting the bridge with other parents and I hope to be seeing you for our next seminar in January. 

-1:59:06 Melissa Thompson: We thank you the Lifted Program for partnering at South Avenue School.  I read great things regarding your initial interactions.  Hopefully South Avenue is a great building and we have many great kids throughout our district and I think programs such as the Lifted Program can be beneficial to all of our kids and I look forward to the day when we can share it with everyone.