Um if they can somehow manage to to scoot five runs across in this fifth in this bottom of the fourth and then get three quick ones uh to start the fifth. Um but, you know, also this this is a beauty in playing a full seven, right? Get more at bats, get people more experience. Um so, we'll see how coach Sasso plays this one out and and maybe Grafton will not even allow that to happen, right? You never know. Some good defense and some good pitching could could shut could shut the Clockers offense down here. Exactly, anything could happen. Clocker sent nine batters to the plate last inning. Ava Vendetti led off the third inning, she'll lead off the fourth, and she smokes it out to left field, way back there, and it's down off the base of the fence. She is in the second base standing up with a double.
That being said, I mean we did reduce in our budget process uh 73 individual line items uh to the tune of $1.2 million. Uh there was um a lot of pencil sharpening as the euphemism goes through the process and um bless you. So ultimately as you know the town council made a $300,000 reduction to our budget um and throughout the winter and into the early spring here uh things evolve. Um we talked earlier about the cleaning contract cost higher than anticipated. God bless you. We've had some savings on an insurance line and so we spent 2 hours on May 21st really walking through a number of um recommended edits that we're making to the budget for adoption for July 1st. Um and I want to just quickly hit on some of the highlights in our budget uh the one of the the question I've received the most is will this allow us to add the half team at Dodd and it will.
Um sometimes we don't see them u but we want to be sure that we show gratitude where gratitude is due. Um thank you to the teachers. Um when you start out every school year you get we get the raw material at the end of the year. You give us a polished set of good kids. Uh, and we thank you for the work that you do. Above all, thank you to the parents because without you, we won't be seeing all these kids in our schools. I'm glad that you trust our ch trust your children to us and we'll continue to do the best we can. We are not making huge promises because every child comes with a special gift and we just have to find ways to meet their needs. And um and I thank the fellow board members uh because it's been a journey this this um academic year.
We have quite a few here. So, okay. The first recipient is Chase Klein. Bradley Douly, Sophia Gujard, Mary Abraham, Mesa Jacques, Benjamin Keller, >> Joel Langley, Thomas Moss, McKenzie Martin, Joshua Milton, Hanu Na, Alyssa Potter, Aman ready, Ka Rodderelli Torres. Alex Wood, Campbell Woods, Owen Yang, And finally, Gracie Yoast. Students, you are so lucky to live in such a caring community. Please thank your donors who have given so generously and congratulations to the class of 2026. Thank you. Good evening, Viking families. My name is Jada Weissaki. I'm one of the counselors here at Pleasant Valley High School, and it's my honor and privilege to present this next series of scholarships. California Baptist University President's Academic Scholarship. This scholarship is awarded or excuse me, awards $17,000 per year to incoming freshmen who have a cumulative weighted high school GPA between 3.9 and 3.99. The award is renewable annually.
I'll I'll go in a sumo suit with some of my, you know, long-time adversaries. I think that would generate a lot of money. >> [clears throat] >> Uh you got a couple now, Joe. You can you would get in that ring, too. No, actually, let's talk about it. New business. >> like like the corporate partnerships, that's something I'm I'm interested in. I know that years and years ago um I heard a rumor that Nike was willing to sponsor this the future. >> true. Yeah, so something like that. I mean but how does that work? It can't be a commissioner going out to do it. We'd be in in violation of ethics, so >> That board didn't I sat in that meeting. That board didn't want to put the Nike logo on the middle of the of the stadium. But, you could put the logo somewhere because we have the one Clifton logo right in the center.
We just raised taxes 2% this year. Um we're already having to make tough decisions when it comes to positions and and that's having a real impact on students. But, to go and, you know, turn around and and, you know, spend funds on things quite frankly we don't need to spend funds on. We haven't spent funds on in the past when we've done this operation. Um not only does it tell the community that we don't trust ourselves as a board to do the job that we are entrusted to do, but it's also just a mismanagement of the funds that they trust us to manage. Um I understand it would be ideal to have, you know, the top-notch professionals come in, advise us, and lead us to the best candidate for the job, but, you know, ultimately government is about making tough decisions with strained resources, and that is the task that we are charged with.
She just missed a four-bagger there. Yeah, really nice to see Ava get a hold of that one. She needed that one. That was a great hit. That was way over the left fielder's head. One hops to the fence for another easy stand-up double. I believe that might be Ava's 10th double of the season. Uh she's up there in the league leaders in doubles, clearly leads the Clockers. She's She's been hitting doubles all year along. Here comes Kyra. Walked last time. RBI groundout her first time. That one bounces in there, but a good stop behind the plate by Martinez. So, the Clockers quickly another runner into scoring position on the first pitch of the inning. They've been all over the first pitch. Really like to see Kyra get a hold of one here. That one's upstairs. Two balls, no strikes. >> 2-0 right now. She just walked.
Uh the class sizes there uh were quite steep in eighth grade and this is a welcome adjustment. It allows us to add um elementary teaching staff that we needed to maintain class sizes including uh 0.5 ML position to address our growing um multi-language learning population and some specials half-time specials people and we're working really diligently to see how we can evaluate the number of sections we have look at our enrollments what can we do to is there any way to to support pushing any of that to half-time or full-time with grant money because when we are hiring half-time it's a very competitive market for specials teachers and it's really difficult to hire people at half-time at a lower rate you know you might get somebody who's a retiree who says I will come in at half-time but that is half of a hundred thousand dollars at half-time is we just may as well hire a full-time person who's out of school at that rate so we again went through a number of line items be happy to rehash anything that that you want here but the net of these adjustments is a three hundred thousand dollar reduction in keeping with the reduction from the town between the budget that the board recommended and the budget that the town council ultimately adopted there's a three hundred thousand dollar reduction in these adjustments but again happy to answer any questions you have that maybe were uh you know accumulating from the May 21st meeting And can I just add thank you to Ms.
we have had some growing pains and I do hope that we will continue to grow and um and get to a place where we we really um uh can have a real nice conversation. It's just still a journey and we no apologies. Um we continue to have that journey because usually when you start a new relationship with each person is trying to figure out the other. Um and then thank you to the um district team. Um because uh if they don't come in the morning, we don't know where we're going. Um so we thank you all from the district team and above all um we thank ourselves for the work we continue to do and um I look forward to a great year and and I'm filled with gratitude for the students that we have found amongst us. You saw the students who spoke in a five o'clock hour.
Please help me congratulate this year's recipient, Andrew Roose. The California Baptist University Trustees Scholarship. The Trustees Scholarship at California Baptist University a is a prestigious merit-based award to incoming freshmen offering an annual value of up to $18,000. It is awarded to firsttime students who have achieved a cumulative weighted GPA of 4.0 or higher. Congratulations to this year's recipient, Foster Syncfox, Grand Canyon University's Provost and Thunder Academic Scholarship. This scholarship in the amount of $4,000 is awarded to students who demonstrate outstanding academic achievement and extracurricular involvement. Please join me in congratulating Amber Rigby for her outstanding achievement. The Chico State University Wildcat Promise Scholarship. The Wildcat Promise Scholarship is a merit-based scholarship awarded to incoming freshmen who demonstrate outstanding academic performance. Please join me in congratulating this year's recipient, Vivian Emmens. Boise State University Honors College Non-resident Scholarship. This scholarship is awarded to non-resident students accepted into the Honors College who demonstrate outstanding academic achievement and extracurricular involvement.
They could put somewhere else on the field, but that would go to finance, wouldn't it? Yeah. Yeah, let's discuss. I think it's a [clears throat] good place to start. Um I'm all for that. Listen, I I'm not sure what the reasons were why that was denied, but I'll put I'll put a Nike logo on this building if they It was the right I mean, we'll put Nike everywhere if they give us the right amount of money. We have to be careful. It's a concession. Right. Concessionary um it's biddable. It needs to go out. So, if if Nike and I don't know, Adidas want to fight over the naming rights or you also need to be concerned about um you know, when you open it up, you can't necessarily discriminate against uh folks coming in and getting naming rights. So, I mean, you have to control that fairly tightly um because you may have organizations that you may not necessarily uh really love wishing to come in and get um naming rights.
This is a very important task that we should naturally, as board members, include stakeholders in the community on. We should be That's our job. We should be going to different community organizations. We should be talking to teachers, parents, and and getting their input on on what they want to see. We should be looking at what we, as a board, setting goals, what we want to see in the next superintendent. That does not necessarily need the New Jersey School Board Association to come and tell us what we want. That's up to us to decide. Ultimately, I do believe that this is a waste of money, and I think we need to get tighter. We need to, you know, not make these kinds of decisions if we're going to continue to cry poor about our budget every year. So, um ultimately, what's most important about the superintendent search is that we find, you know, the most qualified person in the pool for the job.
I know I I get I have a scouting report here. She's got a tendency to get a little aggressive after a walk. Wants to hit the hit the ball. Hopefully, she doesn't swing at a bad pitch to take herself out of this at-bat. Here comes the 2-0. That one's popped up down the right field line, twisting foul. Another one close down this right field line. Yeah, just foul. Kyra waits on it, takes it the opposite way, just foul on the on the first base side. That would have been an easy score for Vendetti, even maybe potentially [music] two if she was able to get that down fair. Nevertheless, we've got a 2-1 count. Here comes the pitch from Welch. Kyra again down the right field line. This one's well foul off the shed down here. I thought that thing was coming aimed at our camera over here on the first baseline.
Jazenski cuz capturing everything that we went over in that meeting in the minutes was really helpful to read over so thank you Dr. Stone can you just kind of highlight the >> yep things that are going to be made possible. Sure. Um, you know, really uh the the things that we're adding in this budget are um all staffing related. Those 77 or excuse me, 73 reductions were uh a lot of the things that are not staffing related. Um and except for um support staff. In this budget, we are um reducing multiple non-certified positions either uh in total or reducing from 12-month to 10-month positions uh in order to make sure that we're staffing our certified positions to maintain the ratios that are our targets. Um But uh um most lines are flat line reduced. Um like I said, it's just the some of the adjustments we've had since January are the um increase to the cleaning contract.
Uh those students are uh what I call uh the top of the line uh because the schools chose them to come and speak to us every board meeting and for that I say thank you. As we near the end of another school year, I first wanted to extend heartfelt congratulations to our graduating seniors, as well as all of our students promoting to the next chapter in their educational journey. These milestone moments represent years of hard work, growth, perseverance, and the support of dedicated families and staff. Earlier this month, I had the privilege of attending the San Frernardino Valley chapter of the Lynx Scholarship Gala in Ontario for that's that was my third time. The Lynx has a long and impressive history of supporting students uh in our region through scholarship opportunities and community service. And it's always inspiring to be in a room that celebrates educational achievement in such a meaningful way.
Congratulations to this year's recipient, Josie French. Montana State Achievement Award. This merit-based scholarship is offered to incoming non-resident freshmen based on their academic achievements throughout their high school career. Please join me in congratulating Jack Fredus on his wonderful achievement. Samford University Davis Scholarship and Crossland Scholarship. Applicants considered for these scholarships display a high level of academic achievement, community involvement. recipients are among an elite group of students chosen for their outstanding scholarly achievements, character, commitment to others, and to the common good. The recipient of these scholarship of these scholarships has been awarded a grand total of $19,500 for four years. Congratulations to PE's own Anna Leuk for this outstanding Arizona State University New American University Presidents Scholarship. The New American University President Scholarship is one of ASU's most prestigious merit-based awards, generally providing between $8,000 to $16,500 annually to incoming firstear students. Recipients demonstrate outstanding academic achievement and school involvement.
So, it it's something that is is possible. It's certainly something you should uh look into, Is it an RFP? Is it like an RFP? >> It is It is an RFP. So, it it's not dissimilar to, you know, going out and getting the uniforms donated by Nike or an apparel company. Um naming rights are pretty similar to that, but you do need to put some guardrails up uh and you need to be cognizant of the process. Right. And it also has to be an appropriate company, too. We don't want anything that's inappropriate. So, Yeah. Okay. So, is that a policy that we would create for that? So, um not necessarily It's not really necessarily a policy. It's just the approval of a concession a concessionary RFP to go out. So, if anyone is interested in the naming rights of the stadium, the high school gym, the the whatever, you you can put up score very common back in the in the day was the the the electronic boxes in the gyms.
I still believe we could do that. I don't think that this impacts it positive, negative. Um so, you know, we're we're we're going to work diligently on that. Um But, ultimately, we got to we got to be smarter with our money. Thank you, Aidan. If there are no other comments, I have to respond to that. Um I have to respond to that. Number one, we never did this before because we always hired from within. How many decades have we hired from within? I I think Dr. Smith was an internal hire. No. That was also COVID number one. Okay. Um and number two I'm not I have not heard from too many people that they are willing to do the heavy lifting. And number two, this is administrative school boards is not coming here to tell us what we want. They're facilitating stakeholder sessions. They are doing an online survey.
Glad that it did not hit it. It looked like it had a a an aim point for it. So, hopefully Caroline can straighten this thing out with two strikes. I don't think you want a bill in the mail for a camera. No, certainly don't. Again, we talked about it. Two strike count here for Caroline. Uh let's see if she can put her bat in the ball and keep her streak alive. Yeah, now a full count here. Here comes the 3-2. That one is into center field. Muscled down for a base hit. Vendetti gets the wave around third. She will come home to score the ninth Clockers run this afternoon. An RBI single from Caroline. That's her second run batted in this afternoon. Yeah, Caroline's able to get that one, like you said, muscled out to right center field. Nice piece of hitting with two strikes on her.
Um the uh reallocation of Title I money. Uh we were evaluating our our Title I budget and uh unfortunately we're only able to um supplement our budget and not supplant and we had been supplementing in this um iteration, so we we had to reallocate to our operating budget. Uh which does free up some money for us to be able to do other things, which is is the good news, I guess. Um we also have talked about you know the bittersweet news that Kim Dessert is retiring. We're certainly happy for her, but um as we consolidate from three schools into two, um we worked very closely, our administrative team, to identify what our needs were and how we could best meet those needs with the redistribution of our students across the district. And so we're reducing elementary principal position to an assistant principal position, keeping the um the FTE the same, full-time equivalent of our admins the same, but also reducing a position at Cheshire High School uh to reallocate that to an early childhood specialist that we'll probably talk about in personnel.