Teacher urges PE compliance; community member asks board to reinstate mentor program

Two public commenters addressed the board during the public-comment period on Feb. 10.

Wolfgang Lero (speaker 7) introduced himself and said he serves on the program’s advisory board. He asked the district to meet with the program’s coordinator, Susie Kosaks, and to consider reestablishing a mentor program that ran before the pandemic at Boynton Middle School and that Lero would like to expand to Boynton and Ithaca High School.

Kindergarten teacher Nancy Braun (speaker 10) made a detailed, actionable request: she asked the board to task district administration, in collaboration with the Ithaca Teachers’ Association, to bring the district into compliance with New York State physical-education requirements for kindergarten through fifth grade. "New York requires that students in K through 3 get daily instruction in PE," Braun said, and "the state mandates 120 minutes per week, whereas our students get an average of 100 minutes per week." She framed the request around legal compliance, student health, mental well-being and equity.

Board members thanked both speakers, noted the items would be placed on committee agendas and invited staff to follow up with the presenters. Speaker 6 said the district would consider curriculum-committee review and possible presentations to clarify current practice and needs.

Why it matters: The PE request raises a compliance gap the teacher said affects all elementary students’ instructional minutes; the mentor-program ask involves community partners seeking clearer district engagement and a formal path to present their proposal.

Next steps: Staff and the relevant committees will arrange follow-up meetings and consider the requests in curriculum and agenda-review discussions.