New Rochelle board reviews Student Support Services roadmap; suspensions fall and district expands home visits, restorative practices and expanded-learning

The New Rochelle Board of Education received a detailed report from Assistant Superintendent for Student Support Services Dr. Gail Joyner and her team showing year-to-year progress on key metrics and outlining next steps for attendance, discipline and family engagement.

Joyner presented the district’s strategic roadmap goals for student support: (a) comprehensive mental health, wellness and expanded-learning supports, (b) reduced chronic absenteeism, and (c) authentic family engagement. She reviewed state-reportable suspension and absenteeism data and described new and ongoing initiatives intended to lower disciplinary removals and raise attendance and expanded-learning participation.

Key data presented - Student suspension incidents and days: school year 2022–23 showed 408 state-reportable student suspension incidents for a total of 1,737 days. School year 2023–24 declined to 355 incidents for 1,351 days, a reduction the presenters described as evidence of initial progress. - Chronic absenteeism: baseline (school year 2021–22) was 29%; it rose to 36% in 2022–23 and fell to 31% in 2023–24. - Summer and expanded-learning seats: Summer 2023 offered 1,100 seats with 706 students enrolled; Summer 2024 offered 1,220 seats with 864 enrolled. - Parent-teacher/home visits: baseline 62 visits (22–23); 136 visits in 23–24. - Food pantry and community supports (Isaac E. Young): Feeding Westchester partnership reported 1,200 families served in the year, 4,915 neighbors reached and approximately 57,159 pounds of food distributed.

Programs and initiatives described - Code of conduct revision: Joyner said the district redesigned the code of conduct to include mission/vision/equity statements, moved DASA (Dignity for All Students Act) content forward, added a civility statement, a “getting help” guide for students, and incorporated the Crown Act. Committee work included student focus groups, PTA outreach and meetings with public-safety partners. - Behavior data module: the district launched an eSchool behavior module to capture richer data (repeat incidents, location, level) to inform interventions and reduce disproportionality; presenters said the module will allow deeper analysis than state-reportable summaries. - Restorative practices: high school teams have introduced restorative circles with train-the-trainer sessions underway; Joyner said 12 staff members are in trainer development to offer in-house training districtwide. - Home visits: the district piloted a voluntary parent–teacher home-visit program (partnering with Parent Teacher Home Visit) to build relationships by asking families about their hopes and dreams for their children; Joyner and staff said home visits are voluntary, scheduled by consent and can occur in neutral public spaces if families prefer. - Expanded learning partnerships and grants: presenters highlighted collaboration with the Boys & Girls Club of New Rochelle (21st Century program), a successful LEAPS grant application enabling five-day programming, partnership with New Rochelle Fund for Educational Excellence for chess programming, and a Recovery from COVID-19 mental health grant through a Lower Westchester consortium and Southern Westchester BOCES. - My Brother’s Keeper / My Sister’s Keeper (MBK/MSKH): program leaders said MBK/MSKH served more than 1,900 students across elementary through high school activities over recent years, piloted initiatives such as library-card drives and summer word-start programming, and completed national MBK Alliance certification. - Guidance and college/career advising: the guidance director described expanded use of Naviance, a planned caseload model to align counselors with two grade levels (to be fully implemented in 2025–26), and quarterly transcript audits to reduce surprises at graduation.

Board discussion and requests Trustees congratulated staff on measurable progress and requested additional disaggregated data. Several trustees asked for future material that breaks suspension incidents down by whether they involve repeated incidents or unique students and by demographic groups (including students with disabilities and by gender). Trustees also asked for longitudinal postsecondary outcome data (college, trade schools, career placements) to track where graduates go over multiple years.

Public comment Two members of the public spoke during the public comment period. Vincent Malfitano criticized meeting timing and online broadcast information and raised concerns about district guidance documents relating to student name and gender preferences; he asked whether the district had adopted a policy permitting staff to withhold preferred name information from parents. Carla Bulbright (education chair, NAACP New Rochelle branch) praised district programs, offered NAACP support, and urged vigilance about charter-school initiatives (she referenced “Project 2025” as a perceived threat to public education and asked the district to publicize risks).

Votes at a glance - Motion to enter executive session “to meet with district counsel and discuss the employment history of particular persons” — moved by Miss Williams; seconded by Lewis; outcome: carried by voice vote (board announced “Aye; motion carries”). - Motion to reconvene public session — moved by Brooks; seconded by Ross; outcome: carried by voice vote. - Personnel consent agenda (multiple personnel resolutions): moved by Williams; seconded by Vega; outcome: carried by voice vote. The board referenced resolution numbers 25‑2461 through 25‑2471, 25‑2481 through 25‑24811, 25‑2491 through 25‑2497 and 25‑2511 through 25‑25113 (as announced orally); details were on the consent agenda and the recommended actions were approved. - General consent agenda resolutions (numbers 25‑251 through 25‑260): motion made and seconded (movers not clearly recorded in the transcript); outcome: carried by voice vote. - Motion to adjourn — moved by Castellano Minaya; seconded by Ross; outcome: carried by voice vote.

Ending: Board members said they will continue implementation of the strategic roadmap and planned to return with additional disaggregated suspension and postsecondary outcome data. The board set its next meeting for Tuesday, Feb. 4 at Trinity Elementary School.