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Saratoga Springs City School District board meeting, Sep 24, 2026

1 h 07 min

Chronic absenteeism ▶ 37:06Phones in school ▶ 59:46Reading and test scores ▶ 26:38Safety, weapons and police ▶ 10:17

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 1 h 07 min.

  1. Who spoke · first speaks at
What happened

What happened at this meeting

Saratoga Springs board approves consent agenda, hears high school Pathways report 19:35

  • Board committee reports and student representative reports on school activities preceded the presentation. 7:36
  • The high school principal and assistant principals presented the annual Pathways Vision grades 9 through 12 program report, covering instructional practices, assessment work, restorative practices and student data. 19:35
  • A district staff member reported a graduation rate of 95%. 39:33
  • The board approved consent agenda items E, F and G unanimously after a motion by Dr. Leigh Wilton. 1:03:47
Item by item (12)
  1. Committee report on budget and fund balance 7:36
    • A speaker reported an expected interfund transfer to the capital fund of $3,500,000 for the '26-'27 fiscal year and an estimated unassigned fund balance of 9.93%, down from 11%. 7:36
    • Matthew Kopans said a tentative budget workshop was set for October 28 at 6 PM. 9:58
  2. District emergency response team update 10:17
    • Ashley Fogarty reported that the district emergency response team held a kickoff meeting with about 70 staff, administration and faculty. 10:17
    • Ashley Fogarty said new tools this year include Say Something, an anonymous system students can use in a crisis. 10:42
  3. Property committee report 11:50
    • Dr. Leigh Wilton said the Property Committee met on September 14 with local government officials from Saratoga and Wilton. 11:57
    • Dr. Leigh Wilton said the Property Committee discussed accepting a donation to install a communication board, a potential expansion of parking and the addition of flags to recognize veterans. 11:57
  4. Policy committee report 13:31
    • A speaker said the Policy Committee reviewed two policies presented as first reads, one on the timing of the board's organizational meeting and one on textbook selection and adoption. 13:31
    • The speaker said a typo in the textbook policy would be corrected before the final read. 14:01
  5. Student representative reports 15:06
    • Student representatives reported on open houses, assemblies and events at district schools. 15:06
    • A student representative said Geyser Road Elementary School had a full renovation of 6 classrooms and its library. 16:49
    • A student representative said the high school open house would be on October 8 at 6:00 PM. 18:16
  6. Administrative remarks and recognitions 19:35
    • A speaker welcomed a new student representative and said both student representatives would attend a full-day training sponsored by BOCES on September 30. 19:35
    • The speaker recognized 25 faculty and staff members celebrated for 25 years of service. 21:24
  7. High school Pathways program report 19:35
    • The high school principal presented with four assistant principals on how the high school supports the district pathways. 23:04
    • Assistant principals described work on high-leverage instructional practices, assessment mapping by professional learning teams and restorative practices. 26:38
    • The high school principal reported a 95% graduation rate, AP scores of 3 or higher at 90% and above, and average daily attendance of 92.7 against a goal of 93%. 39:33
  8. Board questions on the presentation 55:02
    • Matthew Kopans asked whether students who do not pass a CTE technical assessment still graduate, and a staff member said some programs have no technical assessment and the students still graduate. 56:15
    • A speaker asked how staff respond to lower graduation rates for economically disadvantaged students, and a staff member said that data is protected and not received at the building level. 57:26
    • Dr. Leigh Wilton asked whether cell phone offenses declined during the year, and a staff member said they ebbed and flowed and fewer phones were being collected. 59:31
  9. Consent agenda 1:02:21
    • Dr. Leigh Wilton moved to approve consent agenda items E, F and G in their entirety. 1:03:47
    • The consent agenda was approved unanimously. 1:03:54
  10. Public comment and agenda planning 1:03:54
    • No members of the public addressed the board during the second public comment period. 1:03:54
    • A speaker said a discussion of adding the district mission to the start of meetings would be proposed at the next meeting, since meeting format is defined by Policy 2350. 1:04:38
  11. Board member comments 1:03:54
    • A speaker thanked a returning board member who previously served nine years on the Board of Education. 1:05:36
    • A speaker thanked teachers, staff, administrators, students and families for open house events. 1:06:19
  12. Next meeting and adjournment 1:06:51
    • A speaker said the next meeting would be October 8 at 7 PM at Division Street, with the Pathways grades 6 through 8 program reports. 1:06:51
    • The motion to adjourn passed unanimously. 1:06:51

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 “SSCSD BOE Meeting 9/24/2026”