Ossining board honors staff, grants tenure and approves routine business
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Summary
At its Dec. 17 meeting the Ossining Board of Education presented the Hilda Bonovitz Distinguished Service Award, granted tenure to multiple staff members, and approved consent agenda items including minutes, an MOU, personnel appointments, policy adoptions and special-education placements.
The Ossining Union Free School District Board of Education used its Dec. 17 meeting to recognize staff, hear student presentations and clear a slate of routine business.
The board approved Resolution 4.1 to present the Hilda Bonovitz Distinguished Service Award to district employee Javier Pivall, who has served the district for about 25 years. Jared Mann presented the award, praising Pivall's reliability and citing examples such as overtime work, snow clearing and consistent support across district sites.
The board also moved up and passed agenda item 7.1, a resolution concerning professional staff tenure appointments. Administrators introduced several tenure recipients and colleagues spoke on their behalf. Brookside's dual-language teacher Jen Guzman was recognized for her classroom practice and recent role as a math lead teacher. Presenters described Guzman as a "quiet force" who builds strong rapport with students and helps colleagues grow. Two other staff members, Giovanna Alejandro (third-grade dual-language teacher) and Jonalie Alejandro (social worker), were honored for bilingual instruction, community engagement and work improving special-education processes.
In the consent portion of the meeting, the board approved a set of routine actions: minutes from previous meetings, an MOU with Touro College of Dental Medicine, treasurer and budget reports for September 2025, several change orders and fund transfers, appointments and resignations across civil-service and professional staff categories, and a recommendation list of volunteers. The board also approved Resolution 5.9 awarding the bid for classroom annex construction and rectory demolition/site work; the item passed with the chair noting the virtual trustee's hand signal in favor.
Trustee participation included a remote vote protocol: the chair asked virtual trustee Catherine Crossling to raise her digital hand and announced those raised hands as aye votes for the record. The board later adopted several policies as second readings: a workplace violence prevention policy, a policy on charging for meals and other food items, an employee breastfeeding-in-the-workplace policy and a revised local wellness policy.
Student leaders from AMD and the Ossining High School Human Rights Club opened the meeting with presentations on clubs and upcoming field trips; the board cited student involvement as a highlight of district work. The meeting concluded with committee reports on communications, policy and calendar work and the board adjourned.
Next procedural steps recorded in the meeting included follow-up budget court meetings in January to permit administrators to revise WinCap entries, ongoing project updates for the capital program and scheduled committee work on data privacy and the ex officio student policy.