The Board of Education Meeting: November 2024

On Tuesday, November 12, I attended this month's Board of Education meeting. I’m grateful to have been greeted by many familiar faces of our school board and to have learned lots of what’s going on in our school district recently. I was the only student in the audience of the meeting this month, which was a unique experience and it helped me to stay focused on the members’ speeches. Nevertheless, I think that in the future it would be great to get more student involvement with the meetings. I left feeling very educated and informed of many things happening around me that I was just ignorant or oblivious to. So, if you ever have a free Tuesday evening and would like to be filled in on all the pressing matters within our district, I recommend attending a BOE meeting at some point! However, personally, my entrance didn't necessarily go as planned. I may have accidentally set off the metal detector seven times on my way in before realizing just how many metal objects my backpack holds… So, if you are planning on making an appearance at a future meeting, make sure to keep in mind my… moderately humiliating experience and know the rules of entry beforehand!

Anyhow, after my detector dilemma, the meeting was opened with a nice performance of the national anthem by the Franklin Middle School choral members. Then, we were taught about the three members of the district receiving recognition awards this month. Representing the Ken-Ton elementary schools: 4th-grade student, Shaima Islam; teacher aide, Martha Kim Toney; and 3rd-grade teacher, Robyn Brydalski received the awards for November. These individuals excel in kindness, helpfulness, and generosity, creating a friendly environment for all, and they sound beyond deserving of their well-earned awards. The next award given was called the Community Connection Award, which can also go out to anyone in the district. This month’s recipient was Sorrentino’s Sports Center run by Kevin and Joe Sorrentino, who provide one-of-a-kind sports assistance to students throughout the district. Next, Franklin Elementary Principal Kia Evans made a presentation about a new math program the school recently adopted. The program was described as a better version of the old due to forcing kids to think more deeply and out of the box while sharing out their thoughts and strategies. The new program is also more hands-on, rather than the old lecture-based style which has improved engagement, understanding, and student involvement. 

Following a five-minute break taken after the math presentation, I heard lots about the way the district is trying to improve mental health among students, reduce anxiety, provide for the students and their families, and increase communication throughout Ken-Ton schools. The Superintendent explained how the Board came up with two major goals for this year: to improve District-wide engagement and dedication and to improve District-wide attendance and decrease detention and suspension rates. Some stats were provided regarding what improving attendance could do for students across the board and that there are increases in chronic absenteeism rather than just missing school here and there. The next section of the Superintendent Report included detailed feedback on the recent production of The Outsiders (he was very impressed), props to the student Board members who have done lots of work in general but this month specifically, and the severe impact of the pandemic and how its results are still obvious today. 

Finally, there was a long presentation by multiple representatives across the District giving an update on the curriculum review cycle. The different educators gave separate summaries of elementary literacy K-4, elementary mathematics K-4, secondary literacy 5-8, secondary mathematics 5-8, high school literacy 9-12, and high school mathematics 9-12. This provided very in-depth descriptions of how the learning and acceptance of new instruction is going from both English and mathematical aspects and for all ages. I found this part very interesting because of how much variety there was in the reports and since the curriculums are constantly evolving. Even since last month’s report, I learned that the teachers have made changes based on the update within just the past month. The last presentation was made regarding the evolution of AI technologies and the impact of this on student learning. This part felt long because a lot of people had opinions.  The conversation was very redundant and practically said the same things that the news says about the internet. 

The meeting closed with a moment of silence for any lost members of the Ken-Ton community and then was adjourned at exactly 8:30 p.m. People seemed to file out very quickly so I followed. However, I did enjoy the moment of reflection I took to look over my notes and process all of the information I had just learned. So, like I said before, if you ever have the opportunity to attend a Board of Education meeting in the future, I do recommend it! With that, this article is “adjourned!!” Stay tuned for next month’s report if you don’t make the meeting yourself!