Members Present
Dr. Archer
Mrs. Austin
Mrs. DeForest
Mr. Gross
Mrs. James Murad
Mr. Leach
Ms. McKenney
Mrs. Souser
Mr. Zoghby
Ms. Ajerari (Student Board Member)
Administration Present
Dr. Smith. Superintendent
Mr. Reyes, Assistant Superintendent
Mr. Franz, Assistant Superintendent
Mr. Furlong, Interim Business Administrator
Others in attendance: Connie Zhang, Jessica Chopra, Jasmine Ho
Mrs. DeForest called the Board Meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. in the Board Room of the District Office and via Zoom.
Red Ram Recognition
Mrs. DeForest recognized the Boys’ Cross Country team as they competed in the State Cross Country Championships, the Boys’ Volleyball team for winning the New York State Championship and student athletes Kayla McQuaid, for placing 25th in diving preliminaries for the State Championships and Gwen Lister for placing 15th in the State Swimming Finals for the Breaststroke. Mrs. DeForest recognized and congratulated the student athletes who signed their National Letters of Intent on November 9th. She also recognized and congratulated Coach Jim Lawton for his amazing career coaching indoor/outdoor track and cross country. Mr. Lawton coached for 51 years, 45 seasons as a head coach. She thanked him for his years of coaching at J-D. Mrs. DeForest thanked the High School band and orchestra students and Mr. Blumenthal for a wonderful concert on November 16th and lastly she recognized the following participants in the All-State Ensemble: Grace Culligan, Ebun Oguntola and Alessio Vega.
Community Comment Time #1
None
Approve Consent Agenda
Mr. Gross moved and Mrs. Souser seconded the approval of the Consent Agenda.
Mrs. McKenney asked to move the Internal Claims Auditor’s Reports out of the Consent Agenda as she had questions.
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- Superintendent’s Personnel Recommendations and New Substitute
- CPSE and CSE Recommendations
- Overnight Field Trip Request
Mrs. Austin explained that a family member was on the personnel recommendations and that she would still like to vote if there was no objection by other Board members. There were no objections.
Motion carried. (9-0-0)
Superintendent’s Personnel Recommendations – November 21, 2022
INSTRUCTIONAL
Change in Status Appointment
Name and position: Colleen Paige, Occupational Therapist; from probationary to regular substitute
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- Location: District
- Salary: $60,363.00 (B-M+53) prorated to $41,232.48
- Certification: Occupational Therapist
- Effective: December 1, 2022 through June 30, 2023
Appointment
Name and position: Tara Taylor, Guidance Counselor; regular substitute
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- Location: Jamesville Elementary
- Salary: $57,943.00 (B3-M+24) prorated to $39,981.36
- Certification: School Social Worker (in process)
- Effective: November 22, 2022 through June 23, 2023
Request for Retirement
Name, assignment, location, and effective date:
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- Lee Krukowski, Technology Teacher, High School, June 30, 2023
Request for Leave of Absence
Name, assignment, location, type of leave and effective date:
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- Cara Goldberg, Physical Education Teacher, High School, unpaid, 2023-2024 school year
- Sunnet Placito-Raymond, Guidance Counselor, Middle School, unpaid, November 21, 2022 through January 27, 2023
- Molly Schunck, Guidance Counselor, Parental Leave, paid and FMLA, April 6, 2023 through June 16, 2023
Resignation
Name, position, location, and effective date:
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- Katie Zuercher, School Nurse, Middle School, December 2, 2022
Extra Duty Assignment – Intramurals – Middle School – 2022-2023 School Year
Name, assignment and stipend:
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- Dan Glazier, Intramurals, $63.45
- Mitzi Longway, Intramurals, $232.65
Extra Duty Assignment – Extended Season –Fall Coaching
Name, assignment and stipend:
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- Daniel Law, Soccer, $828.00
- Matt Murphy, Soccer, $1,432.00
- Tracey Fishkin, Gymnastics, $761.00
- Jake Cline, Volleyball, $1,617.00
- Andrea Heil, Volleyball, $1,134.00
- Paul Valentino, Golf, $564.00
- Jeff Ike, Cross Country, $1,704.00
- James Lawton, Cross Country, $2,091.00
- Emily Rowles, Cross Country, $1,842.00
- Eugene Sul, Tennis, $2,349.00
- Robert Bewley, Swimming, $2,352.00
- Katherine Richey, Swimming, $1,203.00
Extra Duty Assignment – Winter Coaching – 2022-2023 School Year
Name, assignment and stipend:
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- Joshua Paduano, Boys Modified Volleyball Coach, $3,046.00
- Christopher Parker, Varsity Asst. Indoor Track Coach, Volunteer*
*Pending completion of the certification process
Extra Duty Assignment – Spring – 2022-2023 School Year
Name, assignment and stipend:
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- Jessica Lavelle, JV Girls Head Lacrosse Coach, $4,947.00*
*Pending completion of the certification process
NONINSTRUCTIONAL
Appointments
Name, position, location, salary and effective date:
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- Jane Aliberto, Substitute Dispatcher, Transportation, $16.50/hr., November 22, 2022
- David Chrysler, Substitute Dispatcher, Transportation, $16.50/hr., July 1, 2022
Request for Retirement
Name, assignment, location, and effective date:
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- Nicholas Abdo, Bus Driver, Transportation, January 1, 2023
Resignations:
Name, position, location, and effective date:
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- Kindra Baron, Teacher Aide, High School, November 8, 2022
Internal Claims Auditor’s Reports
Mrs. McKenney asked why one report looked different than the other two. Mr. Furlong stated that we are currently working on the processes with our new internal claims auditor and will be standardizing the reports, but all the pertinent information is contained in each report.
Mrs. James Murad moved and Mrs. Austin seconded the motion to accept the Internal Claims Auditor’s Reports.
Motion carried. (9-0-0)
Minutes of November 7, 2022 Board Meeting
Mrs. Souser moved and Ms. McKenney seconded the approval of the Minutes of the November 7, 2022 Board Meeting.
Motion carried. (8-0-1) Mr. Zoghby abstained.
Board Policy – First Reading
The following policy was brought to the Board for a first reading and reviewed:
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- 6160 Textbooks, Library Materials, and other Instructional Materials
Mrs. James Murad stated this policy was updated by the policy service so that instructional materials was added to make it more encompassing. District librarians reviewed the draft and their input was included. She said changes were made to align with current practice.
Mrs. McKenney asked about the processes involved in approving a new book and Mr. Franz provided information on the introduction and objection of instructional materials. This policy will come back to the next meeting for a second reading.
New York State Comptroller’s Office Audit, Response and Corrective Action Plan
Mr. Furlong explained the Audit, Response and Corrective Action Plan written in response to the recently received State Comptroller’s Audit. Mr. Gross said the Audit Committee met and was in support of forwarding the plan as written.
Mr. Zoghby moved and Mr. Gross seconded the approval of the New York State Comptroller’s Office Audit, Response and Corrective Action Plan. (See Supplemental Minutes).
Motion carried (9-0-0).
Award of Internal Audit Contract
Mr. Furlong explained the RFP process and said the district received two responses. He indicated that both firms had great references and the decision came down to cost.
Mrs. McKenney moved and Mrs. Souser seconded the approval of the Award of Internal Audit to the Bonadio Group for the 2022-2023 school year. (See Supplemental Minutes).
Motion carried (9-0-0).
Potential Consideration for Future Meetings
Mrs. DeForest stated that school safety, SRO’s and metal detectors have been added to the list based on feedback. She said she has sent an email with the newest topics and asked the Board to rate the top three.
Mr. Leach asked for more information on SRO’s, specifically at other districts, if the SRO’s active police officers or retired police officers and what is the cost.
Mrs. Souser asked for a current update of the number of SRO’s at other districts.
There was a discussion regarding the difference between SSO’s and SRO’s as well as the role of sentries and how they are trained. Dr. Archer shared her knowledge of sentries at the Syracuse City Schools. Dr. Smith stated that most districts in the area contract with their local police department as we do with the Town of DeWitt.
Mr. Zoghby asked if we could have this topic discussed sooner rather than later and wondered if we have talked about this with the administrators of the buildings. Dr. Smith responded that they have had discussions about this and that this is the appropriate time as we head into budget season.
Treasurer’s Report
Mr. Furlong presented the Quarterly Treasurer’s Report and said we are now turning our attention to the budgeting process for 2023-2024. (See Supplemental Minutes).
Superintendent’s Report, Dr. Smith
Dr. Smith reflected on the second part of bystander training. He said that Vera House did a pre and post training survey and will provide the administration with that information once it is received. He said that the administrators felt the training was well received by most staff and there was a feeling of appreciation for the commitment to this work. He said the District will continue to message the importance of this work. Next Dr. Smith shared information around the partnership with BOCES and the SKATE classroom at Jamesville Elementary School. He described a project based learning exercise called, accept, include and love, which included the entire building and introduced the SKATE students in a four phase project. He said we should be very proud of this activity as it demonstrated values that are held by the Board of Education. Dr. Smith said the High School participated in a pep rally last week to send off the student athletes that were participating at the state level. He said it was a celebration of coming together as J-D and that it was a great activity that was fun to watch. Ms. Aljerari added that it was a great event for the school to come together and show support. Dr. Smith reported on the student led conferences at the Middle School and said it was exceptionally well organized and that the students did a great job. He said Mr. Eldridge put out a ThoughtExchange to families for input on how the conferences went, and that the overall majority of people thought it was a valuable experience. Areas for improvement were shared, as well. Dr. Smith updated the Board on the Business Executive search plan and said that we have accelerated the process by a month. He said this may not change the start date, but hopefully will help to find the best candidate. Lastly, Dr. Smith shared upcoming events with the Board, including a presentation by Chris Sargent, aka, the Sleep Guy.
Committee Reports
Mr. Gross reported that at the last Audit Committee meeting, the corrective action plan and recommendation for the internal auditor were discussed. He said that Mr. Furlong has put together an outline of an annual schedule for the Audit Committee and that there was a discussion around a charter update. He said the Committee will meet again and bring back a recommendation for a charter to the Board.
Board President’s Report, Mrs. DeForest
Mrs. DeForest reflected on the recently held public forum. She said approximately 65 people attended and that Dr. Goodrum had great insights. She said it was great to break up into small groups for feedback and thanked Mr. Franz for running the ThoughtExchange, which is still available.
Mr. Zoghby said he felt it was incredible and helped the parents to see they are not alone and that it going to be okay. He said he had someone reach out to him to ask for more of these, but in person, not Zoom.
Mrs. DeForest reminded the Board about the upcoming December Board retreat, which will cover both Board self-evaluation and the School Climate Survey data. Lastly, Mrs. DeForest reminded the Board to finish the survey as it will include the two book options for the book study.
Student Board Member Report, Ms. Aljerari
Ms. Aljerari provided the Board with a report which included information on the school Pep Rally, the National Honors Society food drive and other plans for the future. Ms. Aljerari reported on an Umoja Club Guest Speaker, Shawni Davis, who was the first Black woman to become a master electrician in Syracuse, New York and some upcoming Student Government plans. (See Supplemental Minutes).
Community Comment Time #2
None
Unfinished and Continuing Business
Mr. Zoghby asked about Hoops for Courage and where it will take place. Dr. Smith said it takes place in partnership with ESM and it switches back and forth. Ms. Aljerari said she will get an answer to that question.
Mr. Gross commented about the test scores which were reported on Syracuse.com and asked if in fact we were cautioned about not making comparisons with other districts. Dr. Smith replied yes and explained the difference between criteria based tests and norm reference ranks. He said he is a strong advocate for not comparing districts against each other rather for how students are performing against a criteria.
Ms. McKenney asked about whether or not we have someone from SU student teaching and is the expectation that we will have another student teacher from SU next year. Dr. Smith responded that we do have a student teacher from SU that will become a permanent teacher in the fall and that we are in the process of advertising for a student teacher for the program for next school year.
At 8:20 p.m., Mr. Leach moved and Mr. Zoghby seconded the motion to adjourn to Executive Session for the purpose of discussing the employment history of particular persons.
Motion carried. (9-0-0)
At 8:49 p.m., Mrs. Souser moved and Ms. McKenney seconded the motion to adjourn Executive Session.
Motion carried. (9-0-0)
At 8:50 p.m., Mrs. James Murad moved and Ms. McKenney seconded the motion to adjourn the meeting.
Motion carried. (9-0-0)
Respectfully submitted,
William Furlong
Interim Clerk of the Board
BOARD APPROVED: December 5, 2022