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Port Washington Union Free School District board meeting, Aug 6, 2026

3 h 31 min · 4 public speakers

AI in schools ▶ 1:51:25Enrollment ▶ 1:33:41Phones in school ▶ 1:40:23

This board doesn’t post agenda times. Click a board member to jump to where they first speak; we list only members whose voice our check named. Video length 3 h 31 min.

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What happened

What happened at this meeting

Port Washington board adopts revised code of conduct, rescinds two policies 3:27:01

  • The board held a public hearing on the Code of Character, Culture, and Conduct, where board members asked about recess removal, the descriptions of behavior levels and a newly added offense called creating an unsafe environment. 1:57:27
  • During the discussion of board goals, Adam Smith said the revised goal language would be circulated and posted if everyone was okay. 3:08:31
  • Adam Smith said Policy 5695 was on for second read and would be on for approval hopefully at the following meeting. 3:12:14
  • The board later adopted the code with two revisions, striking the creating an unsafe environment line and adding a note that the student electronic devices section is pending further review, and rescinded policies 5129 and 5311. 3:27:23

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Item by item (13)
  1. Opening and executive session 0:13
    • The meeting opened with the Pledge of Allegiance and a roll call. 0:13
    • Julie Epstein made a motion to recess to executive session, and the board later returned to public session. 1:16
    • The vote to adopt the agenda was recorded as 5⁠-⁠0. 1:13
  2. Superintendent's report 1:27:53
    • Julie Epstein said the board president had been delayed and that they would fill in until the president arrived. 1:27:53
    • A district staff member said summer work, including classroom air conditioning installations, flooring, lighting and security enhancements, remained on schedule and was expected to be completed before students and staff return in September. 1:29:15
    • A district staff member said the board would be asked to appoint an interim principal of Sousa Elementary School while the search for the school's next principal continued. 1:31:25
  3. Elementary enrollment and class sizes 1:33:41
    • A district staff member said a July 29th enrollment report counted 5,018 students in kindergarten through 12th grade, 46 fewer than at this time last year. 1:33:41
    • The staff member said about 329 incoming kindergartners were 39 fewer than projected, allowing teachers to be reallocated so math AIS staffing would move from 7 to 10 teachers. 1:37:44
    • Deborah Brooks asked how likely enrollment was to rise before school opens, and the staff member said the district did not expect to need to add a section. 1:38:39
  4. First public comment period 1:39:51
    • A speaker at public comment thanked the district for adding math AIS positions and said the speaker's group questioned the need to change cell phone policy 5695. 1:40:23
    • Another speaker at public comment said the new device proposal was created without input from teachers, paraprofessionals or building administration. 1:42:59
    • Speakers at public comment described a community letter signed by more than 350 parents and asked the board to limit recreational screen use during unstructured parts of the elementary school day. 1:45:04
  5. Code of conduct public hearing 1:50:45
    • A district staff member said the most significant addition to the code is a new academic integrity section that addresses plagiarism, cheating and inappropriate use of artificial intelligence. 1:51:53
    • Sandra Alvarez asked whether data existed on removing students from recess, and a staff member said that information on whether it is tracked would be provided for the next meeting. 1:57:27
    • One board member said they supported the request for more information on recess removal, would like the language changed, and raised concerns about the vagueness of a new offense called creating an unsafe environment. 2:08:24
  6. District-wide safety plan public hearing 2:46:46
    • A district staff member said this year's plan had no changes outside of staffing updates. 2:47:06
    • The staff member said no public comments were received during the 30-day comment period and the plan would be submitted to the New York State Education Department and filed with New York State Police after adoption. 2:47:06
  7. Board goals discussion 2:49:09
    • Adam Smith reviewed last year's four board goals and asked whether the board wanted to keep, revise or replace them. 2:49:09
    • One board member said they were happy with last year's goals and was fine with them as long as the district set priorities under each goal. 2:51:18
    • A speaker asked whether the fourth goal on operations and facilities could be reworded to address forward planning, and Adam Smith said the revised language would be circulated and posted if everyone agreed. 3:03:03
  8. Meeting minutes and committee calendar 3:08:54
    • Adam Smith said no committees had met and asked the community to check the calendar rather than meeting times posted on BoardDocs. 3:09:15
    • The minutes were approved 7⁠-⁠0. 3:09:14
  9. Consent agenda 3:10:01
    • Adam Smith made a motion to approve items 12.1 through 18.1. 3:10:12
    • Adam Smith announced a 7⁠-⁠0 vote on the consent agenda. 3:10:24
  10. Donations and recognitions 3:10:31
    • Adam Smith welcomed the new interim principal at Sousa and acknowledged donations, including roughly $200,000 in Ed Foundation donations. 3:10:31
    • Adam Smith thanked the Ed Foundation for a donation of $140,000 for grants for the upcoming year. 3:10:31
  11. Personal device policy and code adoption 3:10:31
    • Deborah Brooks said the changes to the policy reinserted emergency language that the law allows a district to have and let the superintendent create regulations so there could be a process for requesting exceptions for academic use of personal devices. 3:13:30
    • Adam Smith said the time before the next meeting would be used to get feedback from stakeholders, including bargaining units. 3:15:47
    • Board members discussed a paragraph on device lists, and one board member said the whole paragraph could be taken out. 3:16:55
    • Adam Smith announced the code of conduct was approved with the changes read in, policies 5129 and 5311 were rescinded, and 5695 would be on for approval hopefully at the following meeting. 3:27:01
  12. New business 3:28:29
    • A speaker invited board members to suggest topics for the curriculum committee to study this year, verbally or by email. 3:28:50
  13. Second public comment and adjournment 3:29:38
    • Adam Smith opened a second public comment period and said the board would not recess to executive session. 3:29:38
    • The board voted 7⁠-⁠0 to adjourn. 3:30:30

Written by software from the meeting's transcript and checked sentence by sentence against it.

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Video: posted by the district as “BOE Meeting 8/6/2026”