BOE Business Meeting 2026-1-12

001Call this audit committee meeting to order and note that all board members are present. We were joined by superintendent Dr. Patrick and members of his administrative cabinet Welcome to all those who have joined us this evening either in the audience on the live stream or via zoom At this point in time and anyone like to make it in motion to appoint honorary Adams as secretary pro tem Leah, thank you a second Okay, amber. Thank you any discussion Okay, that motion carries and the time is 6.31. Thank you. The item on the agenda for this meeting is the auditor's report, which I think we are here to hear with respect to the health care aspects. Andrew, turn it over to you. Yeah, Dimitri Benzelaskas from our internal auditors at Milwaukee Smith is here to present the

002internal audit report on health insurance program. This is an internal audit, focused audit from the 24-25 audit cycle. And following Dimitri's presentation, we'll, of course, answer any questions, but then Megan, Troy, and I will try to talk about the corrective action plan we have in place, which is also on the agenda. Good evening, everyone. Thank you for having me here today. I'm Dimitri Banteliskas. I'm a partner at Naraki Smith. We are the district's internal auditors. And as Andrew mentioned, we're here to present the results from our internal audit cycle on the district's health insurance benefits. which, you know, that pertains to our internal audit services for the fiscal year 24-25. Before I go into the report, I just want to do a quick recap because this is for the 24-25 year. This cycle completes and,

003you know, makes the districts in compliance with the internal audit function, you know, for the state. As you know, the internal audit function requires a risk assessment and a cycle review, and we complete both. So we are in compliance for 24-25. For 25-26, we are in the process of updating our risk assessment. We completed interviews. We have reviewed records. So we are in the process of drafting the report that we will share with the management team as well. So for the topic today, our internal audit cycle on the district's health insurance benefits, the audit objective was to determine the internal controls and the procedures pertaining to this area and making sure that they're adequate and the duties performed are done and thus safeguarding the district's assets. And the audit score was as of December of

00425. A little bit about our audit process. We start with a planning phase where we discuss the audit scope and the timeline with the management team. From there, we issue our document request, and then we conduct our field work by interviewing key people, key personnel. So we met with your Super 10 for business, your Super 10 for human resources. also with your personnel clerk and also with representatives you know from your third party administrator specifically you know through uh umr and one digital We obtain and analyze records. In the report, you'll see details about records that we reviewed. But in general, we looked at the district bargaining unit agreements. We looked at your reports generated from your system, from Envision, but also your reports that are generated from your third-party administrator. And the outgrowth of

005this analysis was us drafting a report about the health benefits, eligibility, and enrollment, about the coordination of benefits and the claims processing, and our analysis of claims. Within the report, We have also attached the detail exhibits. There are narratives of the other procedures within each of these three areas. So you, the board, and the administration has adequate information about the process and the internal control environment. The report is more geared towards giving you a brief summary, but our observations and our recommendations. So as a result of our analysis, we do have a couple of observations and recommendations regarding the district's health insurance benefits. Specifically, on the benefits, eligibility, and enrollment, we observed, like we did some testing and analysis of health insurance employee records, and we noted certain individuals who were missing. documentation pertaining to

006like the other coverages and you know the enrollment forms and you know in the report we describe our recommendation to review those personnel files uh making sure that they have like all the benefit enrollment forms and the documentation you know We recommend the district to develop a specific checklist for the health insurance benefits. That way, to make sure that the health insurance benefits file within the employee personnel file is all complete. We also... We also have an operational type of observation and recommendation where we believe it will create efficiencies within the whole process where the employee information is captured within the Envision system, within your financial application system. But it's also like transmitted, you know manually to your third party administrator and we're suggesting here for the district to consider developing and configuring you know

007these two systems to like automatically you know communicate when there's an enrollment one system to upload that information directly to the next one that way you know there is less risk of like data errors, but it also like increases the efficiency. We also have another recommendation regarding the district's bargaining unit agreement with the teachers association that there is specific language regarding the spousal health insurance coverage and it calls for teacher spouse. but it is, you know, as the district's practice, you know, to cover all employees, not just a teacher spouse. It means, like, any employee spouse. So we simply here recommend to update that language to reflect the current process instead of just saying teacher spouse, like employee spouse. And then we also have... an observation recommendations in the area based on our analysis of

008you know the claims where here we looking for you or more to provide information you know to the district on a quarterly basis of any claims that have been denied you know so the HR department is aware of those, can verify, but also may have some corrective actions if any claims are denied, like to see and understand what the reasons are. And this could be a situation where the district needs to have a discussion with the employee and maybe find a way to approve a claim in the future. You know, those were the observations and recommendations that we had in the report. As I mentioned, the report has three sections, and there was one section pertaining to the coordination of benefits where we... Did spend a lot of time you know in this area. You

009know we had a lot of meetings deal with your third party administrator and your And one digital as well your consultant and to understand you know the process of the coordination of benefits and making sure you know that the claims process is done accordingly to the agreements that the district has with the third party administrator. We believe the controls are in place and we don't have a recommendation in this area. So overall, regarding health insurance benefits, inherent risk is high. What I mean by that is that outside of any controls in place, outside of any oversights, this could be a high risk that the reports generated from either system within the district or the third party administrator could be wrong, could have data errors. Based on our analysis, through the review of the records, through

010our interviews, our control risk, specifically for the district, we assess it as low. However... Based on the observations or recommendations that we discussed, you know, we still believe there's room for improvement Which we are planning to revisit, you know within a year or so To you know discuss, you know these recommendations and assess you know the implementation, you know status And I know the district has developed its corrective action plan. We discussed it. It looks good. It looks that the controls will be in place. But some of them need a coordination between the district and the third party. So that's why I think it's fair to leave a little time before we report back on the implementation status. This was our presentation. I would like to know if you have any questions. Thank you. So

011my question is, when you did the observation about missing documents and you took a sample size of 20, right? Is that what that was? Of 20 active employees. 20 active employees, and there were like 11 issues, right, with that group? Yeah, like there was like nine pertaining to some missing documentation and three to pertaining missing signatures on the enrollment forms. Would you consider that a large, like a large group within the group that had missing documents? It seemed to me like it was over half, but there was some. So we did have the conversation with your management team about this and these recommendations, sorry, these observations pertain to employees who were hired within the district. within the prior administration, we did look at the other ones that didn't have any exceptions and they were all

012from current period and they did not have any exceptions. So that for us, we see that the risk is low for ongoing forward basis, looking at the controls and the risk, we don't see that there was any concerns for... new employees since the controls like the enrollment forms, the signatures, and the documentation was there in those files. Thank you. First, thank you for your report. We've been eager to hear from you, so I appreciate your sharing your information with us tonight. Sort of following up on Leah's question, but so the nine without supporting documentation and the three missing signatures were, that's 12 records, 12 unique records. It's not nine. and some of those three might have been part of those same all servicing right because there were 20 individuals so you're saying within the 20

013individuals 12 of them the documentation i have to look the exact work papers if there's any like overlap right overlaps you know but we count these incidents as you know separately like nine because missing documentation three because of missing signatures because there are two in in our perspective there are two different controls We want to make sure documentation exists, but we also want to see the documentation is complete too. Okay. And you said anything from the documents you sampled from the current administration did not have errors. These were all previous administrations? That is correct, yeah. We didn't see any exceptions for the employees who were processed by the current administration. And so this, I know we haven't spoken about the corrective action plan yet, but it's a risk rating of moderate. So what is the

014risk associated with, for example, not having a signature on a form? Okay. So it is still a moderate because we still have observations even from the prior administration. But the fact that we saw the current administration followed its procedures, it wasn't raised to a high. The reason that it's moderate though is like, you know, it is because if you have a legal document of an enrollment form and it's not signed, you know, then you want to make sure that the liability, you know, is corrected, you know, by obtaining, you know, the proper forms or the signature. So that's something that, you know, we... want to see if the district can go back and identify, we have identified them, go back and try to get the proper documentation. And Amber, just to jump in, that's one

015of the reasons why the corrective action plan is moving forward. We're going to sample 10% each year, really looking at those folks who were hired. I mean, some of the employees that were on that list were hired potentially 30, 35 years ago. So I was going to wait until you spoke about that, but I was assuming that you're going to focus on employees that have been around. That would be our, you know, to look at that group. You know, obviously when Drew came into my role, he put in place a, you know, a very. serious approach and process that i've inherited fortunately so looking back to those folks to to make sure that 10 sampling is um that their information is all there and up to date do we know what percent of our employees

016were hired i guess before drew was in the role do you probably could i know that i don't know off the top of my head no yeah Just to answer a question you asked earlier, per the work papers that were shared previously with us, of the nine that were missing documents, two of them were also missing signatures. Okay. So there was overlap on two of the three. So it's really 11 errors. Okay. Thank you. I should note that I believe subsequently upon looking at the files, none of the employees that were missing documentations were deemed to be ineligible for health insurance, which would have been the real financial risk. So I just wanted to clarify that. And the missing signature could have been all the other documents were in place, birth certificates, marriage license, and

017just the sign. You know, it hadn't been signed or they had skipped that part. Okay. And I'm happy to go through some of our responses. I just mentioned our first one for the first recommendation. Looking at the second recommendation, which was about data transmission between Envision and UMR. So we are investigating if this data transmission is possible between Envision and UMR. And so we'll be working with Jeannie Crowley to make sure and her team to determine if it is feasible. And then if it is, make a plan going forward, obviously. on a workload from my office having to only input one time and from an error perspective it makes sense to have that single point of data entry for us as well. In terms of the third recommendation related to the change in language for

018teacher spouse, so we've already communicated that with our legal counsel to advise him of this change in the bargaining agreement so that'll be a change moving forward. There was some feedback related to the district developing an enrollment checklist related to our spousal verification form, and so we're going to work with our health plan consultant to update and review our enrollment checklist. Our goal is to make sure we're requesting the most appropriate supporting documentation as it relates to spousal enrollment. So currently spouses may join and use our health plan as their primary insurance if they are required to pay more than 20%. of the premium of their employer's coverage so we want to make sure working with our healthcare consultant that we are asking for the appropriate documentation There was a recommendation that the district develop

019annual recertification process. So, again, we're going to work with our consultant to develop an annual recertification process for all employees on the plan, and this will involve a discussion with our health advisory committee as a point of entry to get feedback from that group about how that process. It's not necessarily a simple undertaking, so we want to do it right and work with all of our bargaining units and our employees who are using the plan. What exactly is recertification, just making sure everyone's eligible to continue in a given year? Correct. And family members, you know, there could be questions that, should your spouse be on the plan? Has there been a change in, you know, marriage status? Has there been births? Those kinds of things would indicate, you know, part of the recertification. Really like

020an attestation that they're coming back to their, you know, this is who should be on the plan, according to. That was actually going to be my question. is that happening now so when an employee joins they determine whether they're contributing or not there's no currently annual certification i know it's a complex requirement and i appreciate your explaining it yeah no not every year we don't we don't have that in place here in terms of um but but every year when we send out we have open enrollment uh that's usually around this around november for for the upcoming uh the upcoming calendar year so we do ask for that information if someone is joining the plan And people know that obviously if there is a change in the status of their family that they are to

021let the HR office know to make those changes. Okay. So it might be incorporated into an annual enrollment. A little bit more of a formal structure. Just, you know, we have this expectation and people are really, you know, good about informing us, but lives get busy and sometimes things get missed. So having that process would, you know, would actually require that people say. yes, this is who should be on the plan and here are the guidelines just as a review and reviewing the spousal verification and then committing to that. And that's part of this corrective action plan, determining what process makes sense. Right, working with our health care consultant to ensure that we can put that in place. Great. Thank you. And then our last recommendation related to quarterly basis getting a sample of denied

022claims for audit verification. So we've already connected with UMR on this to request this information. So starting at our next health advisory committee at the end of January, they're going to provide these quarterly denied claims reports for us. So we'll hear the first one in a couple weeks at our January meeting. Very responsive, UMR. Okay. Are there other questions? Yeah, that is one of the reasons why we want to partner with our health care consultant. It can be challenging. We want to make sure, as there have been plans out there that have high deductibles and variability, we want to make sure that we are getting accurate documentation for people who are joining. Not every plan is written like ours in terms of like a percentage of the premium, and so it gets a little more

023complex. We do have our employees when their spouses are joining their plan. their spouse's employer has to complete part of the verification form that says, yes, in fact, this is what is provided on our health care side of things. So that is a requirement. But we are looking to see is that sufficient or is there other documentation that we could request that would better help us to make those decisions. I'm just curious, what is the process if there is a divorce or a death or some sort of change of circumstance to ensure that we're not covering people that should not be covered. Yeah, so I think, I mean, we handle those probably a little differently. So if one of our employees were to pass away, their spouse would remain on the plan for three months.

024and then they could join the plan by paying COBRA for a period of time. For a divorce, we really are beholden on the employee to let us know that there is a divorce and for them to remove their spouse at that point. You know, that's one of those things that we don't have that information. That's not made, you know, to us on a regular basis, but that recertification process could help. Just as a reminder, here's where, you know, here's where we should be if there's been a change in your family structure. Okay, thank you very much. Thank you, too, as well. Thank you for having us, and thank you for your team for helping us with this audit. I know there was a lot of meetings, a lot of documents, so we're very thankful to

025work together and show the results to the board. So, again, thank you very much, and I hope you enjoy the rest of your night. Thank you. Thanks so much. So the agenda for the audit committee includes the recommendation to the board to approve the audit, and if that resolution is passed by the board, we would put the acceptance of the audit on the board's agenda at the next board meeting. Right, but there is an action item for the committee, which I think is the next item, which I believe is Laura. I move that the board adopts the following. Resolved that the audit committee recommends that the Board of Education accepts the internal auditor's report and management's corrective action plan for the 2024 to 2025 fiscal year as presented. Is there a second? Yeah. Okay. Any

026discussion? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. That motion carries. And now would someone like to make a motion? adjourn the Saudi committee meeting Susie thank you amber second any discussion all those in favor please say aye aye you guys have it and the meeting is adjourned into the business meeting starts now 6 55 p.m. good evening I call this business meeting to order a note that all board members are present you're also joined by superintendent dr. Patrick and his administrative cabinet Thank you to all joining us in person on the live stream on Zoom. It's time to welcome our students back to school and everyone else, and I hope everyone had a joyful and restorative holiday break. This is the first board meeting of 2026, and I do want to wish everyone all

027the best in this new year. May the new year bring good health and fulfillment and happiness with your friends, your family, and your loved ones. Prior to this business meeting, the board did hold an audit committee meeting. and we heard from our internal auditors regarding our health insurance plan and we also reviewed a corrective action plan for items identified by the auditors. The Audit Committee voted to accept the audit and the corrective action plan and recommend that the Board of Education accept the report and the corrective action plan as presented. Both of these will be included in the Board's agenda as action items this evening. January, just to remind everybody, is the beginning of the county year and also the start of a budget season on the state level, which we always follow very closely.

028Tomorrow, January 13th, Governor Hochul is expected to deliver her State of the State Address. Her executive budget is due to be released later this month, and we always pay careful attention to that for its potential impact on schools. Also this evening, we're going to be talking a little bit about board advocacy. So board advocacy can take many forms, individually or through meetings with our government officials. On the part of the district, Superintendent Patrick is actively involved in certain organizations and our own board member Susie Hahn is a member of the West Cheshire School Board Association and the New York State School Board Association. which are also advocacy organizations. Through these organizations and through other methods, there are opportunities for the board to engage in advocacy and support legislation that meets the needs of our students,

029as well as avoid legislation that might impose unfunded mandates that would be difficult for us to deal with. So we kind of cover the gamut with respect to our advocacy, and at this meeting we'll be considering some potential advocacy opportunities. I also want to call out at this meeting that we are in the midst of our capital bond process, which has been underway now for a number of months. And I know that it may seem to many that this seems to be coming up out of the blue, but in fact this has been an ongoing process. And there's actually a lot of information that's been accumulated about what we've been considering and the specific items that we've been considering for this bond, all of which is available to review and consider on our school board

030district website. There's actually a specific locale where you can find information about the capital bond if you click on it. actually quite a lot of information, maybe too much to digest in one short viewing. But if you find yourself with many hours, you could look at all of it, or you can try to skim it, or listen starting with this meeting on our discussion, which will summarize where we've been so far. And also, I just want to point out, you know, with respect to this process, I mean, and this is on a personal level, I mean, so Scarsdale, obviously, has been around for a long time. In fact, there's now a short film that's out by the Scarsdale Historical Society on the history of our schools. They really started from humble beginnings in a one-room

031schoolhouse over 240 years ago, I think 17... 80 or thereabouts was when it started. As a community, Scarsdale has always highly prioritized education, going back even that far. And we have always supported the growth of our schools over the last 240 years and hopefully into the next 240 years at least. I think we've supported the schools to the point where Scarzell has become a model for what a good or great public school system can be, as demonstrated by our schools consistently winning national Blue Ribbon Awards and our students achieving enviable standardized test scores in college admissions that rival or exceed those of many private schools who have significantly greater resources and can be very selective in their admissions. We come now to a crossroads with respect to our consideration of the bond. where we have

032an exciting opportunity before us to secure successful future for our schools, continued successful future for our schools, and also for our community, hopefully for the next 20 years and longer. The improvements that we might be able to implement if we're able to successfully pass the bond will be extensive, affecting student learning and experience in many ways. At a basic level, this work will elevate the student learning experience, bringing necessary upgrades and enhancements to our buildings. the lack of which would over time result in less of a functional experience for our students as the buildings deteriorate and become less functionally generally. This would be to the detriment of everybody. I personally and I hope others are excited to be part of this wonderful opportunity to confirm our opportunity and commitment to the future of our children

033and the continued vitality and leadership of our schools in matters of public education. I believe we should all be proud in this community. of what has been accomplished with our schools so far. But I also believe we can and must do more to continue to make sure that we are a school district that others will look to for leadership and as a measure of what is possible for a public school to be. So I hope we all keep those things in mind as we consider these capital bond projects and what we believe is necessary in connection with the work to be done. Finally... I'd like to acknowledge the first Board Coffee of the Year, which took place on January 9th, and we'll hear more about that later. And I'd like to invite the community to

034attend our second Board Coffee, which will be held on February 4th. There will be another opportunity for an invitation. Don't worry. February 4th at 7 p.m. here in this room. And the Board looks very much forward to meeting with community members and fostering communication and transparency through these informal get-togethers. And with that, I turn it over to Drew. thanks Jim thank you very much for those words I really appreciate them and I add my wishes for a good evening to everybody and welcome to our first board meeting of the 2026 calendar year and I like Jim hope everybody had a wonderful break and has off to a great start for this new year Tonight, we will be presenting and discussing the feedback from the most recent capital projects bond survey that closed this past Friday.

035I want to express my deep appreciation to our community for the continued engagement in this process and for participating in our survey during a time when it would have been easy to disconnect over the break. Our response total of 834 eclipsed our October survey by six responses. Both surveys represent the highest level of response I can recall in my 10 years working in this community. As a point of reference, the total number of votes cast in last year's budget vote in board election was 746. Interestingly, the number of residents as opposed to staff or student responses in the most recent survey was 745. almost identical to last year's vote tally. To be clear, this is a very unscientific comparison between two very different processes, but I do think it signals a positive level of engagement.

036I look forward to discussing this feedback a bit later tonight, and I want to give a public shout-out to high school senior Sam Weston, who's in the audience, who's been interning in my office this month and helped with the data analysis. Thank you, Sam. January is a busy time of year with lots of planning hard to believe but for the 2026-27 school year including online kindergarten registration which opens this Thursday January 15th current residents who expect to have a child attending kindergarten during the 2026-27 school year are encouraged to complete this process between the 15th and the 30th of January although prospective kindergartners may register at any time before the start of the school year completing this process early helps to ensure a smooth screening and placement process children whose fifth birthday falls on or

037before december 31st of 2026 may register for the 2026-27 school year If you're unsure which school your child should attend, please reach out to my office. Contact Nunzia Morrow at 721-2444, or you can email the word registrar at scarsdaleschools.org. And we're also poised to enter the heart of our budget development process, so I thought I would take a few moments to outline some key dates and steps in that process for those tuning in. on November 17th of last year the board held a special meeting to invite community input on budget priorities for the coming school year on January 26th our next board meeting will be the budget development and staffing recommendations portion of the process on February 2nd will be a business meeting and potentially a public forum on capital projects on February 9th will

038be the first of three budget study sessions followed by budget study session number two on March 2nd and budget study session three on March 16th which would include sort of a complete 2026-27 budget plan and full presentation at the board business meeting on March 23rd will likely be a public budget forum and review of the draft budget plan And then at the board business meeting on April 13th, we would expect to see the board adopt the 2026-27 budget so that a number of important benchmarks can be met prior to the May 19th budget vote. So I know it's a... Hard to believe it's here, but I thought it was important to preview those upcoming meetings. And then in closing, two important dates to note will be closed Monday, January 19th, in observance of Martin Luther

039King Jr. Day, and Tuesday, January 27th, is International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Thank you, Jim. I do. Thank you, Jim. On Friday, January 9th, Colleen and I hosted the board coffee in these rooms, 170-172. We enjoyed hearing from nine residents. The upcoming bond was on the mind of a few residents who offered a number of thoughts and posed questions. Topics discussed included questions about the timing of our bond as it relates to the Village Bond and a subsequent discussion on the importance of investing in our infrastructure. There were discussions around how taxpayers had been engaged and the importance of clear and accurate communication from the district and the board. Although three attendees had come with bond topics in mind, the remainder of the attendees either came to listen or discuss other topics. These topics included free

040lunch, student wellness, building community among teens, high school class size norms, and pathways to higher level classes in the high school. The meeting wrapped up a little after 11 a.m. with thanks for engagement and interest and a reminder to complete the survey. I very much appreciate the engagement from those who take the time to attend these meetings. The informal conversations are informative and a pleasure to attend as a board member. On a personal note, this January begins my last six months of service on the Board of Education. I am completing the end of my second term on the Board, and as is Scarsdale tradition, I plan to retire from the Board of Education at the end of my term on June 30, 2026. I have found the work incredibly rewarding and encourage interested parties to

041consider getting involved and learning more about serving on the Board of Education. Thank you. Thank you, Amber, and we will have an opportunity to formally say goodbye to you, I guess, in May. You might want us to hurry it up, but no, we're going to wait until May, or even June, whenever it is. Okay, anyone else have a report? Okay, Bob. Yeah. On January 7th, the Capital Project Steering Committee reconvened to discuss any shifts in scope. the survey results at that time. I won't take the time tonight to discuss the details since we have an update on our agenda tonight but I think it's important for the community to know that we are making every effort to be as transparent as possible and to thoughtfully explain to the community and staff what is in and

042out and why. Drew explained that once the board approves the final scope, an organized campaign will be launched to ensure that the details are explained as clearly as possible so everyone can make an informed decision. I have not prepared any remarks similar to Amber, but I will echo her words about I am also completing my second term. For me, it's been really wonderful. I know we've had our moments, but I've really considered it an honor to be a part of the team here. And so end of June, you'll see my back of my head. But I really do encourage people to consider joining the board. It's a lot of work, but I don't think there's probably any opportunity which is so impactful to the community. So it's very rewarding, and I'm really pleased to have

043had the opportunity to do it. Thank you. Thanks so much, Bob. And anyone else with a report? Students? So we wanted to start off our report by detailing some important and exciting events that were happening at the high school over the last few weeks. So this Saturday, the high school drama club presented two student directed one act plays for the Scarsdale community. It was an amazing event to showcase the talent of SHS students as directors, actors, and theater technicians. On Tuesday, the high school held a hot topics discussion during lunch focused on the arrest of Nicolas Maduro and the tension between the United States and Venezuela. This meeting both helped to educate students on current events and gave them a safe space to discuss and learn from one another. And finally, last Friday, SHS held

044its Winter Pep Rally after it was delayed for winter break. The rally was a great way to show Raider pride and cheer on our incredible student-athletes who work really hard. And so then regarding the bond before break and then a few days last week, Lucy and I were able to hang up posters with QR codes for the bond survey with the intent of improving student responses to gain that important feedback. To that end, as we finalize the bond and its scope, the majority of the student perspectives that I've been seeing generally are supportive of the project due to the expansion of creative learning spaces, the LRC wing reestablishment for the high school, definitely the AC heating for large spaces for sports team, and overall I think that they're glad to see that the bond's implications,

045like President Dugan was saying earlier, are very student-focused, both educationally and socially. So that's all we have. Thank you so much and now I believe it's time for cabinet updates and we have one update from Eric Thank you. I have a quick and happy update the Dora jar sensors are now functioning in five of our schools and are Currently sending messages to our safety monitors by text and by email and we are Figuring out our procedures to make sure those are always followed up on but all is working and working well as of this time The high school and Fox Meadow are included in the bond for the athletic fields and that has received initial Capital project for the bond. But yes the high school turf. I guess this is a business update just not

046getting here we have received architectural engineering approval on the turf project which the door Josh since at the high school we're just waiting on the final building permit for that capital project in the current budget okay so now we're going to move to item six hearing from those present and I will read the preamble members of the public are cordially invited to speak on district related items or other non-personnel related matters during two separate public comment periods When it is your turn to speak, please state your name, address, and if you are speaking on behalf of an organization. For those commenting remotely, please mute the live stream voice, turn on your camera, and then unmute yourself. Speakers will be asked to conclude their remarks after four minutes and will be given a verbal cue at

047the three-minute mark. If at this point the speaker has additional comments, they may send them in writing to the board via email at boardofed.scarsdellschools.org. The public comment period is reserved for comments only. the board will not engage in dialogue the board reserves the right to respond to comments and questions at its discretion either during response to public comment or at a later time in place response to public comment will take place after the first and second public comment periods and with that is there anyone in the audience who'd like to make a public comment good evening board so nice to see you tonight convened my name is ralph gear I'm a resident of Scarsdale, residing at 38 Greenacres Avenue. I'm here to represent the Scarsdale Youth Lacrosse Association and ISO Independent. You know, I really

048just want to mention how disappointing it was to have the turf fields excluded from the bond project going forward. After many years of consideration, community feedback, presentations, this was, I think, low-hanging fruit that was excluded. And it's to the detriment of all the athletes who reside outside of these walls. I think a part of any academic curriculum is both the mind and the body. And really, when you talk about the fields and the opportunity to be outside on our terrific weather we have sometimes here in the Northeast, it's nice to see them in the fall. But so many times in the winter and the spring, we're excluded from those outside activities. And as a result, our children don't have the same opportunities to thrive as local communities. Many towns in our area have athletic fields

049that are turf. And as a result, they have year-round ability to play. For ours... sake the lacrosse association actually rent space at a considerable cost to our program in pelham where they have an indoor facility that we use and there are more than a few occasions in the spring where we have to reach further into our depleted budgets to accommodate the wet days and the wet days are quite common so I'm just here to express that, you know, in future years, I hope it's prioritized. Certainly when the, and I know these are two independent bodies, but when the village has a big project for the pool and there's no comment or mention of turf fields moving forward immediately in this budget, and we also have the BOE with the big budget excluding turf fields, it

050doesn't leave much room for our athletes to grow externally. And so as a result, in future years, I implore you to put turf fields at a higher priority than you did this session. Thank you very much. Okay, is there someone else with a comment? Dahlia Kahn, 114 Brown Road, and I'm speaking here on behalf of the League of Women Voters of Scarsdale. Just a very few questions. A few questions about the Edgewood Construction Project. What is the rationale for the Edgewood Construction Project? What metrics have you used to determine future enrollment figures in each elementary school in addition to the Demographer's Report? Please explain what alternatives the district evaluated to meet the current and projected spatial needs at Edgewood in lieu of constructing an addition. For example, did the district consider, one, adjusting the boundary

051between Edgewood and Fox Meadow, two, adjusting the elementary class size, or three, relocating self-contained classes to another elementary school with more space? And then just a few questions about the oil tanks. What is the plan and timeline for funding replacement of the oil tanks if admitted from the bond proposal? And how will that impact the five-year capital plan? What is the environmental risk of deferring the oil tank replacement project? And what is the total annual cost, if any, of deferring replacement of the oil tanks? What are the annual operating costs, e.g., maintenance insurance, for the existing tanks versus new tanks? Thank you. Anyone else in the audience wish to make public comment? let's go to the zoom feed uh we have one attendee with their hand raised i'll promote them now okay hi how are

052you uh for some reason the video ah good it was uh So thank you very much. Mayra Kirkendall Rodriguez, PTC Budget Study Co-Chair. Rachin and I really wanted to thank the district for all the tremendous outreach you've done in terms of reaching residents for both surveys. I myself personally am involved in a variety of organizations here in Sparsville, so I can definitely attest to the fact that I received Dr. Patrick's survey reminder multiple times. So really, thank you very much for all that. Really appreciate your efforts. Perhaps for those who may not be aware, it might be helpful when you do the actual presentation of the survey results, if you could kindly consider detailing the different organizations you reached out to so that the community is aware of the different groups that you all reached

053out to. Also, the response rate. for both the October survey as well as the January was the equivalent of five percent of registered voters so we're Curious as to whether you have a plan whether you the district or board of ed members What might you be able to do to reach out to more residents before? The board of ed actually formally votes on the on the bond because as I as I mentioned the response rate was an equivalent of 5% of registered voters and Lastly when you discuss the survey results it would be really useful if you're able to give granularity on the data as to how did residents with kids respond in terms of the scope in terms of the cost and then how does that compare with residents without kids certainly there was

054a big rise in residents without kids in the district who did respond to the january survey as opposed to the october survey but it's not clear the way the data is at the moment, you know, if there's differences as to how they may have responded. Again, thank you very much for distributing the survey. And I believe my co-chair is on, and I know sometimes there's lags, so I definitely want to let you know that I believe that she's on. Thanks again. Take care. Thank you. So going back to Zoom, is there someone else? Okay. Okay. There we go. Yes, hi. Rachna Singh, Griffin Avenue, PTC budget co-chair along with Mayra Kirkendall-Rodriguez. I would like to thank the Board of Education for hosting multiple coffee this school year. Thank you for the outreach. I would also

055like to ask for some clarification today regarding the district's claim that the $40 million of the proposed $98 million bond will be tax neutral. Tax neutrality, I understand, is not an accounting standard. It is projections based on assumptions about future interest rates, amortization schedules, and assessed property values. Since the district does not know when the new note will be floated or predict the interest rate scenario at a given time, it also cannot know what interest rate it will receive. Small differences in rates or repayment terms amortization schedules can materially change the debt service and therefore the actual tax impact. Mr. Lennon, can you please clarify how does the district support the assumption of tax neutrality before the bond is issued and the interest rate is set? How differences in amortization schedule or assessed property values

056are accounted for in this claim. Whether the district has modeled alternative scenarios to show potential increases or decreases in taxes, if the market rates or other variables different from projections. Whether the municipal advisors or the district accountant have reviewed or approved to use the term tax neutral, and if so, in what capacity. Understanding these assumptions and limitations is critical for the community to evaluate the true financial impact of the proposed bond. Could the district explain why the demographers, moving on to the demographers report, could you please, can you hear me? Okay, perfect. I see it, I hear an echo. Could the district explain why the demographers report primarily rely on cohort survival ratios from just the last four or five years of the enrollment data, rather than incorporating long-term structural trends like declining birth rates,

057limited housing starts, and shrinking household sizes? Isn't this approach inherently backward-looking, assuming recent patterns will persist unchanged? Even as demographer drivers of enrollments are shifting, how are these long-term constraints being fully integrated into the model and beyond simply extending the short-term patterns? Focusing on high school level, the most recent report projects a decline of 68 to 77 students at Scarcia High School by 2030-31 across both scenarios. Doesn't this sustained decline at the top of the system challenge the core assumption of cohort survival? If the model appears to be overstating survival rates based on these high school declines, why aren't the survival ratios being recalibrated to reflect this emerging reality? Shouldn't the professional enrollment projections always disclose uncertainty, including a standard deviation, confidence interval, and alternative scenarios like low growth or outright decline? Without these measures

058of variability, how can the community accurately assess the risk when making decisions on facilities, staffing, and long-term financial commitments such as bonds? In essence, why are we planning as if enrollment will remain stable or even grow slightly when fewer children are being born, few new homes are added, I checked the housing sorts, and older students are already exiting the system? Rather than predicting decline with certainty, couldn't the projections at least acknowledge this uncertainty, incorporate the observed high school declines into survival assumptions, and present a range of scenarios to enable informed community decisions before major financial commitments and tax hikes? Finally, given these uncertainties, has the board considered presenting multiple bond scenarios similar to the approach recently taken by the village of Scarcia? So the community can evaluate different capital and tax outcome under varying enrollment

059and financial conditions rather than a single proposed fact. Thank you for your time. Thank you. And can I ask if you, I mean, that was a lot. I don't know that we're able to get right at all down as you were speaking. I assume you're going to send us an email with these points just because it is a lot. Sure. Absolutely. Thank you. So anyone else on Zoom? Nobody else with their hand raised. let's give it a few seconds i'm informed that there is someone else in the audience who would like to make public comment uh you uh i think we don't have anyone else on zoom so please please do so at this time if you may if you will Good evening everyone. My name is Som Shetty. My address is 2 Burgess Road,

060Scarsdale. Everyone lives in Scarsdale. I am also the Heathcote PTA president and I'm here on behalf of the Parent Teacher Association to express, formally express our concern regarding the omission of air conditioning in our school's MPR, the MPRC, from the current bond scope and request it be included. We understand and appreciate the board's efforts to manage the overall bonds cost. We also recognize that the bond includes air conditioning for Heathcote's auditorium, new library, as well as other large spaces across the district. While we fully support these investments and want our sister schools, especially Fox Meadow and Edgewood, to receive these improvements, we are concerned that the decision to remove the air conditioning in our MPRC creates both health and safety issues for our students and staff, as well as an inequity in our school community.

061The current bond scope states the prioritization criteria for air conditioning includes large spaces used for multiple purposes. MPRC falls squarely within this criteria as it is a heavily used space in our building. Due to our school's small space and limited large spaces, the MPRC is used every day for lunch period for younger grades, student OT, PT, as well as after school like cooking and other enrichment activities. These occur five days a week. The space is rarely vacant. Our unique building design features large glass windows and abundant natural light. While aesthetically pleasing, these design elements significantly increase indoor temperatures during warmer months. With rising global temperatures, the lack of air conditioning and space used by hundreds of students and staff has a direct impact on their health, safety, comfort, and learning. Our after school uses a

062space 315 to 415 every day which is often the hottest part of the day in the building. Heathcote families have expressed concerns related to heat sensitivity and allergies, further underscoring the importance of providing a healthy, safe learning environment. We have made meaningful concessions by forgoing certain classroom improvements so that district-wide priorities could move forward. However, air conditioning in MPRC represents a basic necessity and not an enhancement. Moreover, the cost of installing air conditioning in MPRC is around $156,000, which will not cause a significant impact to the overall capital bonds budget. In a district like Scarsdale, providing air conditioning, instructional and support spaces should be considered a baseline standard of equity. Our students and families deserve the same fundamental learning conditions afforded to students in other schools. We respectfully urge the board to reconsider and reinstate

063the air conditioning of our MBR. Our community. Almost done. Our community has advocated this improvement for many years. We ask that the board give it a careful, thoughtful attention to Heathcote's unique needs. Also, thank you all for all the work you do. Really appreciate all the work. Thank you. Anyone else? Or is that, I think we can close public comment for now. That's good. Any follow-up? some of the public comment questions I think will be touched upon in the in the bond update presentation on the survey results yes on the December 15th agenda I included some information on the oil tank replacement cost both what it costs us now due to higher insurance premiums because of the age of our oil tanks. We think we would see about a 75% reduction in our premium in

064the health plan, excuse me, in the insurance, liability insurance for the health. I've got health on my mind, as you can tell. Oil tanks, liability insurance, it's about $19,000 a year that we pay in that premium. We also have a very high deductible, and that deductible would go down if we have a newer tank. In terms of the fiscal projections, I think it's an important one. We've spoken with the budget study shares several times now about the debt service projections. There are very many moving parts so that this is going to be an estimate until the bonds are in fact sold, whatever they are. And there's lots of input into them. The $40 million tax neutral estimate was something that we requested our municipal fiscal advisors to provide. prepare for us way back when we

065just started the bond conversation. It seems like the interest rates that they've used are still holding firm and they are really projected for out several years but essentially it's a three and three quarter percent ban, two bans issued and then the final bond at 3.92%. It's a reference point. It's a reference point. The building aid assumed is on knowing what the scope of work is going to be. So all of these things are things that we've been repeatedly saying that once we have a clear scope of work, once we have a phasing schedule in place, our fiscal advisors will be able to produce a new estimate of how the debt service may... unfold over time. But again, it is factually accurate. Until we have approved building permits with building aid ratios and actual debt being

066issued, the numbers are going to be estimates all the way through that process. The plan would be, though, to have the fiscal advisor, with the best information we have at the time, come before the board? Yes. In fact, in order to get them the most relevant data, the facilities department, our architectural colleagues at BBS, and our CM at ARIS have been working on a phasing plan based on the scope of work that's been presented to make sure that we make most effective use of the dollars that we're asking the community to support. And we will be able to provide that to the fiscal advisor, who then will... create the debt schedule again looking at that debt fall off in 2728 fiscal year to make sure we maximize that that kind of available funds in the

067budget I know the league had questions if you could forward those we'll give you written answers to those questions just like your request to the budget study chairs that's what I can hold in my mind thank you Jim so written communications please note that the Board of Education email is also viewed by the superintendent and district clerk open meetings law requires all board deliberations which may lead to action or policy changes to occur in public therefore your written communications and emails will be reported at an upcoming public board meeting a board member will respond at the earliest convenience A formal response requires that you include your full name, address, and if you are writing on behalf of an organization in the community. More detailed information regarding written communications received by the Board of Education may

068be found in today's meeting agenda located in board docs on the Starsdale Schools District website. And since our last meeting on December 15th, we've had six emails on district matters and five emails on board matters meeting board highlights and invitations. Board may conduct some of its business using a consent agenda in an effort to achieve greater efficiency at board meetings The consent agenda condenses some of the routine business of the Board of Education into a single motion Get sent agenda is prepared by the superintendent of schools in consultation with the president and or vice president of the board Items are selected for the consent agenda when the officers of the board and the superintendent believe there is no controversy regarding them The items on the consent agenda will have the same background material as ordinary

069items on the board agenda. If any member of the board feels that any item on the consent agenda requires discussion prior to action, that board member may remove that item from the consent agenda, merely by requesting same at the meeting. The exempted item then moves to the regular agenda. However, all non-exempted items would be moved, seconded, and voted upon without discussion in order to provide greater efficiency to conducting the routine items of the business of the school district. And with that, I believe Susie has the consent agenda. Thank you, Jim. In tonight's consent agenda, we have eight items. Item 10.01, minutes, education report and business meeting from December 15th, 2025. Item 10.02, personnel certified. Item 10.03, personnel non-certified. Item 10.04, education law, the 913 examination. Item 10.05, the claims audit report from December 2025. Item

07010.06, the stipulation of settlement. Item 10.07, a Heathcote Chimney Project change order. And item 10.08, to accept the consent agenda. I move that the board accept the following resolution to accept the consent agenda as presented. The capital projects bond update. I think I'd like to suggest a 10-minute biological break. Yes? Okay. All right. So we'll be back in 10 minutes. And we are here to get into Item 11, our information items, the first of which refers to capital bond. So let's start. Okay. Thank you very much, Jim. And I just want to acknowledge our partners in the back from BBS and ARIS. Thank you for being here. We appreciate that you. continue to come even when you're not presenting we love that so the focus of tonight's presentation is really on the community feedback that

071we solicited late in December and then upon our return in January and that Feedback was based on the last discussion the board had on December 15th that included a total proposed scope of work of $98.5 million that included $25.2 million of vital infrastructure work to address health and safety priorities, meet code compliance, and address reliability and efficiencies, $58.9 million in student learning spaces. modernizing for impact improving the environment supporting smaller class sizes so the addition of classrooms is to maintain our 22 and 24 class size caps create flexibility for future programs we talked quite a bit about that and then to maintain neighborhood stability in other words we didn't go to a redistricting solution this is an alternative to to that even if that may not have actually successfully addressed our needs. 12 million in

072environmental impact through air conditioning, climate controlling are most remaining spaces and really supporting our student focus and engagement through that work. And then 2.4 million described as wellness field upgrades and drainage work including softball. dedicated softball space at Greenacres and significant drainage work at Quaker Ridge Front along Weaver Street there again so this is what the community was responding to when we posed questions to them through this through the survey we'll start with the overall respondents overall the survey was taken by more residents as a proportion and more residents without school-aged children roughly one in eight respondents left some kind of comment that was an opportunity throughout the survey not everyone availed themselves of that as I had said earlier 834 responses pretty close to last time within six the last time 641 in the

073October survey were residents this time 745 of the respondents were residents which I think is a significant increase and we also saw percent of students percent of folks responding without school-aged children increased to 19% it was at about 6% 6.6% in the first time around which I think is a signal we reached some more some portion of our community that we might describe as empty nesters more than last time so I will point out the survey was open until 4 o'clock on Friday the the slides that were posted over the weekend have been updated even as late as like 4 o'clock today so you may be seeing some new ways of looking at the same the same data including breaking it out kind of by residents and empty nesters. So we'll kind of start with

074these demographic patterns. We thought it would be interesting to look at the difference between October and January. So this is whether the respondents were students, employees, or residents. So the top is January in these slides and the bottom is October. So a larger share of the respondents were residents this time around. do you currently have school-aged children we see a decrease as a percentage and that is associated with that increase in the green section in January of folks who do not have school-aged children or their children have aged out so a larger share potentially of empty nesters responding in this time for those residents we ask what elementary zone so slight changes in respondent distribution by school zone hard to know exactly what what that means but you see that the difference there when we

075look now we broke out each of the four broad categories we started with the learning spaces the learning space work so we see a majority support for the student learning space work but lower than October the way to read this or a way to read this is the green sections reflect that these projects reflect the right balance of need and affordability for the community the blue is the projects are necessary but not sufficient And then the red is the opportunity is important, but these projects are too expansive and out of balance with respect to need and affordability. So we see that too expansive grew, yet still a majority when you add the green and the blue at about 58.5%, while 41.5% believe the projects exceed need and or affordability. This is a look, we don't

076repeat this for every single slide, but I think this is a helpful guide. When we look at this and break it out by residents only and then staff only, the staff support the Learning Spaces work. Not surprisingly, it's where they go to work every day. More, though a majority of the residents still do support. The staff supporting the projects overall is a theme throughout, so I didn't repeat that every single time. And it's obviously a smaller proportion of the overall service, but we appreciate the staff support for those projects. Another way to look at it is to take that share of the respondents who are... perhaps empty nesters or don't have kids in the school currently and so empty nesters believe the amount is too high I used quotes because it may that may not

077be the perfect description but we think it's a term people kind of understand so we use that the amount is too high while all of the residents support more strongly so this is again another it's a breakdown of the learning spaces part of the bond as proposed Some of the themes from the comments, there were 161 comments in this area out of the 800 plus responses. There's some concern that the enrollment growth that is being used to guide the proposed addition of spaces won't come to pass, making it potentially overbilled and overbilled. There's a request for thinking about redistricting, changing busing, rezoning, or class size adjustments instead of expansion. There were not large numbers of any one of these, but these are some of the themes that were hit upon. And I think they help

078us think, think about communication and otherwise. There's a sense that past projects, overestimated need, perhaps. green acres but we do know that that building is being used to it pretty much to its capacity a desire for more proof that other options have been considered there's questions about the necessity of redoing libraries and dining renovations and requests for a more specific list of must-haves versus deferable items we brought forward what we think are the must-haves that this bond presently includes what we view as must-haves. Any, you want to pause on any of the learning spaces before we move on to infrastructure? So the next area was building conditions or infrastructure projects, vital infrastructure. You see 72% support the vital infrastructure as the right balance or suggest it's not going far enough, we should do more, while

07928% believe the projects exceed need or affordability. So this is a strong area of support overall. Again, we do that breakout of so-called empty nesters. It's about a 50-50 split of the right balance and too expansive. all other residents it's about 75% support or where we should go further some key sort of themes from the infrastructure some some commented that the scope of projects seem too expansive some said the scope is appropriate some were concerned there's not enough information about the projects I do want to point out that the the slide deck It's not every detail, but there are line item descriptions of each of the cost items, cost down to as small as $1,000 or $5,000 were included in the supporting materials, the current bond scope link on our website. And then a couple

080of comments related to the oil. Concern about the oil tanks, we heard a comment on that tonight. Though we would still have a plan to work toward replacing those even outside the bond any questions on the infrastructure okay, so we go to air conditioning the learning environment the Cooling of those spaces we had a little bit more We had an extra option here So we we offered folks the option of describing the large space air conditioning our large spaces as a necessity I support the current scope That's green. Blue is I support everything included, but we should include something that was excluded back into it. The yellow is the other direction is I support air conditioning, but we're doing a little too much. And then the red is it's not a priority. We shouldn't do

081that. So one way to read this is 85% support some or all of the projects to improve, with 15% believe they're simply not a priority. Again, here's a breakout of our so-called empty nesters and all of the residents. You can see the... You know the support varies a little bit lower on the support as is but higher on the nice to have I support prioritizing some but not all from the empty nesters whereas the all other residents support perhaps going further Some of the themes here some some statements that air conditioning is essential for for health learning climate change and staff working conditions and Others who think it's overkill. It's not necessary given when school takes place Versus the hottest times of the year. We're closed in summer cost and alternatives There were some comments

082about do window units and stuff and said we have done that where just a reminder where that works as a solution I was just going to ask if you could publicly remind all of us about the New York State mandate for heat in the rooms. Yeah, so there is a law in the books that sets... have to look it up now 88 degrees I think as a as a tipping point for having to do something move kids to a cooler space we do have a plan for that and we had before that law went into place but there is clearly a recognition at the state level that the temperature in the learning environment is a factor to learning and I think we just know more about that now it's been studied more and we do

083we do see that as as a factor And there are some inconsistencies. Why are we including air conditioning in some places? Why aren't we including the middle school gym? Those are some of the types of comments. And then just concern about the noise and efficiency and long-term operating costs that come with air conditioning. We recognize that those certainly are factors that come along with it. 107 comments there. Yep, sure. So earlier tonight we heard from the Heathcote PTA Executive Committee about the multipurpose room. I didn't get a chance to look it up, but is the cost figure that was shared by the president what we anticipate would be the cost if we added air conditioning for that space? The cost estimate we had for the Heathcote multipurpose room was $156,000, including escalation, contingency, and soft

084costs. Okay, great. Moving on to the field projects, again, this question was asked a little bit differently, and we mirrored the question between the two surveys. It was pointed out to me, understandably, that we didn't ask the question. I would add a project back like we did with air conditioning. We had gone out the first time this way, so we went out the second time this way. Kind of ish a third a third a third green is improving field access is a high priority. I support the projects as is yellow is I support prioritizing one but not both of the projects and then red is It's not a priority. So that's what we see there so Some field project work is supported if not all of it and then That same comparison you see sort

085of a flip-flop between our MC nesters and other residents in the green and the red basically there's Less support among empty nesters for the projects as proposed and more support among all other residents for the projects as proposed So then we oh, sorry some some themes from the from the open-ended response There was there was support for drainage and safety projects, especially at Quaker Ridge Some people commented on turf field even though It wasn't included they commented it should be and then some Not comfortable with green acres having that varsity softball field Again 101 out of 800 folks responded. Thank you And at this moment would you mind publicly reminding us again what we discussed our last meeting when I know you talked about We talked about the removal of the SMS to our field

086But there was also the village aspect with flood mitigation that complicated the project a bit on our end So so one didn't cause the other I just want to be very clear about that So after we had made the decision the difficult decision to remove that from the scope of work We had had a conversation. I had a conversation with superintendent of public works at the village who informed me that there had been a village study on the Sheldrake flooding issues and one of the recommended improvements there which is shelved by the village it's not moving forward was a rather large water retention system and pumping system very large that would basically need a home about the size of a football field and the only reasonable location in that general vicinity would be the middle

087school field so it triggered a wondering if there's a future collaboration project there with the village that we could talk about at a future date so that we don't forever say no to the renovations at that field but maybe find a way to get to yes in the future through a collaborative approach with the village what we would not want to do is build something and I have to rip it up that's what that was my question I guess like if we were to build a turf field and then the village needed to do drainage it's their property or is it our like they could tear it out middle school is our property it is our property so they'd have to work out some sort of agreement with us I think not knowing the specifics

088of their design teams kind of It was really a suggested approach to flooding. I don't know that they could fit that work in the grass area that we were intending to keep. I think there would be a lot more design team collaboration and district and village collaboration to really get to an answer on that. I'll be very clear, too. It did not seem as though that that project was rising to a priority from the village's perspective. However, I've not. gone much deeper than the one conversation with the superintendent public works. Sorry, can I just ask one more question about the middle school field? So, you know, we heard earlier this evening some ISO support for it, but just in terms of cost, what was the cost for... proposed work there so the cost estimate for

089the turf field alone was including contingency escalation and soft costs was three million fourteen thousand six hundred twenty two dollars we also if you may recall had the basketball courts as part of that larger project and those basketball courts were about two hundred and thirty five thousand nine twenty nine okay thank you yeah and the the desire for multi-use and community benefit basically what we heard public comment tonight the support for the middle school turf field is beyond just school use it's a broader community benefit I did want to just show responses from our student respondents we did have 29 students complete the survey and Anish spoke to this a little bit earlier tonight in board member comments but these are the those four areas we just discussed shown in one figure showing where student

090support comes in in terms of these four areas whoops sorry about that you know 29 students is a small subsection of the full response but I wanted to put that up there as well I think it's, first of all, I appreciate Anish and Lucy, your work to get those students to respond, because even if it's only 29, it's still 29 students. So thank you for your efforts. I can imagine putting up posters and stuff was a lot of extra work for you. So thank you. You know, it's just interesting to me to see just what the students support or don't support. I think really even what they don't support, especially since I assume they're not the ones paying taxes. I think that that's an interesting... Interesting, just interesting to observe. A few of the students

091wrote comments. Really? And in those comments, the mention of high taxes occurred. Interesting. I guess they're listening to what's going around. So, well, thank you for doing that. We also asked about project balance. The balance refers to the four broad areas that we talked about. That's what this question was aiming to get. So a smaller majority continue to support the balance of projects. It is important to note that balance has changed. The first survey did not include the Edgewood addition, and this does. That's a difference. But we asked a variety of you could answer it in a variety of ways here Green is the balance was appropriate and sound approach red is it's not appropriate should be reduced in cost and adjusted in some way Yellow was the balance is appropriate, but the total is

092too much. So if you combine red and yellow That's sort of a it's you know too much the lighter blue is the balance is not appropriate but keep the cost range the same and the darker blue is it should be it's not sufficient it should be expanded the total scope so that may not have been the best worded question in the survey I will I will admit but it was trying to get a sense just trying to prompt people to think about the distribution across the those four broad areas Similarly, we asked a question about distribution by school. It was discussed in some length at the Capital Project Steering Committee about the... importance of having projects at all seven schools versus prioritizing schools that every student goes to middle school and high school so we

093included that green here represents sort of agreement this approach it's important to prioritize updates across all schools and this approach accomplishes that the yellow is it's important to prioritize updates that impact all students the middle and high schools should get higher priority and then the red was we should consider a different approach than the one than the one we took so 55 support that the distribution of 24 think more should go to the middle school and or high school um and then uh some feedback on that resources should go to where needs are greatest it's an observation equal spending between schools is not necessarily a responsible way to go of course we don't have that elementary schools are over someone commented are over prioritized and it is consistent that those you know spatial projects are

094concentrated at two of the elementary schools any questions on those and we conclude with the overall scope and cost we asked green is the amount is just right it reflects a balance of need and affordability Red is the amount is too high. While the opportunity is important, it's out of balance. And then blue is the amount is too low. The opportunity is too important and should be more expansive. So a smaller majority then October to support the overall cost, with 56 percent supporting it or think it could be larger, and 44 percent suggesting it's too high. Here again, we do the breakout that we've been doing in the other four areas. So here's a revisit staff here. Here's a view of the overall scope from staff on the right and residents, where if you combine

095green and blue, 53% support with 47% saying the amount's too high. And now a look at sort of the so-called empty nesters and all other residents. The empty nesters, 69% believe the amount is too high, with 31% supporting. And then all other residents, 58% support either the amount as it is or it should go further. then some feet Oh student responses on these same three questions I'll pause there for a moment and then the some open open-ended comments there's some sentiment that the bond is too big concern about tax increases fixed debt and affordability for retirees and households without students Costs seem inflated. We've certainly done our best to have as accurate cost estimates as possible with contingency, and that may be some of what people don't understand exactly, that there's escalation, contingency, soft costs

096that we have to include as part of this. Some requests for more transparency. We have provided line item cost estimates in all the information that's been shared for every single project that's included. And then requests for things like phasing plans, tax calculators, so you can actually see what the cost would be, cost breakdowns, concept drawings, and an updated long-range plan based on what this would do, all of which we intend to provide. So that's feedback we certainly... certainly resonates with us so two more two more slides just this is the same slide we shared but this is a theoretical slide but what could happen if the board reaches the point where they confirm you confirm the bond scope we could potentially look to a public bond forum to get public input that's something the board

097has expressed an interest in doing much like we do with the budget We'd have to make secret determinations before adopting the resolution. A resolution by mid-March would be adequate for the required steps we would need to take to line up the bond referendum with the budget referendum and board member election on May 19th. So this is the same thing in just a list form instead of a visual form. Bob mentioned in his recap of the Capital Project Steering Committee meeting that we would engage in a public information campaign. How to get more people. engaged to be aware of what they would potentially be voting on we would take that very very very seriously holding meetings I remember as we did in the 2018 bond holding meetings in locations where the work is going to be

098done in the evening so folks can come trying to be flexible in how we you know, offer perhaps Zoom, you know, as an option for people who can't get out, and printed and electronic materials that explain in broad brushstrokes but also with the detail available that we will mail and make available. All those steps would happen in that March, April, May timeframe once there's a resolution. So that is the update on the information we gathered from our community. I look forward to your discussion. Okay. Thank you. That's helpful to see. Certainly a lot of information there to digest. don't really have a lot of time to digest it. I guess one thought I had was we're talking here about confirming bond scope. I mean, we have a public comment session in February that's on the

099calendar and I guess potentially other opportunities for public comment. I mean, how confirmed is confirmed? I mean, let's just say that we think, you know, we have second thoughts about whatever we confirm. If we confirm something, is there another opportunity to revisit that? I would say that right up to the moment that the board adopts a bond resolution, well, I should say first, a secret determination, which could happen at a different meeting. So we have it scheduled for a secret resolution first and then a following meeting with the bond resolution. They can happen at the same meeting if we follow the right steps. That would be really the time with which nothing can change after that. Okay, the CEQA determination is what I think you said, but the date of when that would happen is

100not, we saw a proposed date when that would happen. Proposed March 2nd or 16th. If it happens after March 16th, we wouldn't be able to include a referendum in the May 19th election and budget vote. Okay. An already scheduled meeting with the funding attached to it. Okay, I just think it's good to have the dates. mind as we go forward in this process like what the you know sort of like deadlines that seems like a hard one a hard and hard and fast one March 16th and I'll say and if we don't hold the referendum if the if the board doesn't adopt a resolution in time to hold the referendum in May it wouldn't be my recommendation to do it in June I I think because of how people start to plan for summer and

101Start thinking about different parts of their life I'm not sure that would be my recommendation a superintendent wouldn't be to hold a referendum in in June I would I would recommend waiting until the fall Just it doesn't mean you have to do that but that I think that's where we we feel to be Fair to this community that we want to put it at a time when it's in in everybody's minds as best we can yeah right if you don't make that deadline a vote in the fall or the winter if needs more time but I would say more than anything not June July or August okay just wanted to clarify the dates that we're considering and you know the sort of very important deadlines we're considering so with that open to discussion if anyone

102wants to weigh in start off how about you ever yeah I'm happy to go first First again, thank you, Drew and Andrew, for running that survey. I think it's really helpful for us to hear from the community, and I appreciate all the community members who filled out that survey. I also appreciate the people who've come this evening. I think, you know, there were a few things within this scope that I think perhaps... for me could warrant consideration the heath coat multi-purpose room i think is is not a huge high ticket item that we could potentially still add in um but overall i think we've really received really constructive feedback from the community and i feel like a large number of people share sort of the underlying premise that we need to continue to invest in

103our schools I think what we've seen from my perspective is sort of where opinions differ, not so much whether to invest, but how to invest those dollars. From where I sit, I think that our residents have asked for things like clarity around costs, confidence that the projects were carefully scoped, and that reassurance that we're thinking about equity and where the needs are. And I think they expect good stewardship from us, our community does, and I think we've shown that. I think this bond reflects those values. You know, we've made choices. We've asked for feedback. Some projects were prioritized. Some were deferred. I think that discipline is evident in our plan. It may be frustrating for the community at times to say, oh, something was in scope and now it's no longer in scope, but that's

104because we're having conversations, we're getting feedback, and I think we're trying to be fiscally responsible to our community as a whole. I also want to acknowledge the context of this board, I mean of this bond. We know our village is simultaneously undertaking investment, a $70 million investment in the pool. They're considering redeveloping Freightway Garage. I think we all are looking at the fact that our infrastructure in Scarsdale is aging. We see it in our housing stock and the way it gets torn down. And this is the time for us to continue to invest. to have a vibrant, functional, and competitive community. Schools are not separate from that equation. In fact, they're central to it. So I believe this is a measured investment that we have been shaped by community input, that we're aligned with broader

105priorities, and we're focused on protecting what makes Scarsdale an exceptional community while positioning us for what happens next. And I do support this bond scope as proposed. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else want to go next? That was hard to follow. I'm a sixth year. I'm almost done. I know. I know. So, Leah, you want to go next? Thank you, Amber, for going first. Like Amber, and because of the advocacy that we've seen from the Heathcote PTA, and I know we heard from Maria Stiles before our principal at our principal meeting in December, and as we discussed at our last meeting, and I supported it at the time, and I still support it, because it is a multi-use space, the Heathcote MPR, and I personally think we should add the air conditioning in to this

106bond. And I know we're all being thoughtful and cautious about what to include and what to defer. And just a reminder, deferral doesn't mean it goes away, right? It's just kicking it down the road a little more. And I wouldn't want there to be kind of a glaring space in a school, which I feel like that Heathcote NPR would be without that AC. So similarly to Echo Amber, I believe the schools are the crown jewel of our community. they're central to our community. We move here for the schools, they unite us, and they enhance our lives in so many ways. And I believe we must invest in our schools. And buildings that were built 100 years ago, such as Fox Meadow and Edgewood and Scarsdale High School, were not set up or designed for teaching

107and learning as is currently taking place in public education. And I think that's an important point to remember when we're going in and renovating Fox Meadow. Edgewood and of course touching the high school as well so I just wanted to highlight that and of course we're Scarsdale and I believe we are leaders in public education I realize that this is a large bond and I've been thinking about it a lot and I know that there are many other factors at play affecting the same tax base as Amber said it seems to be we're at a pivotal moment in our community where there's investment in infrastructure and this moment is upon us. So I just wanted to say that as well and I too am comfortable and support the current scope with heat coat, multi-purpose room,

108air conditioning added in. Thank you. That was very well said. Anyone else who wants to? Yes, Laura? So, yeah, I would start by saying I really appreciate this very thorough and transparent process that involved all the stakeholders, including parents, community members, district staff, and professionals in school architectural design and building management. And this latest bond scope has gone through multiple iterations. It reflects the... consensus among stakeholders that these improvements are needed and prioritized appropriately so I echo the sense that our school buildings are where students spend most of their waking hours every day and It's a space where learning and growth happen. And our strategic plan and long-term planning all put students in the center. The sort of the value of learning and the joy of learning, it'll all benefit a lot by these learning

109space improvements and the infrastructure that supports those learning spaces. So I on the issue of the heat code multi-purpose room air conditioning I also support it and I think sort of in the in the worst case scenario where if it doesn't make it in, I believe it should be considered as a priority for maybe an annual budget, annual capital budget item. As its size, it seems amenable for that, but I would still prefer to include it in the scope. The overall BOM scope of just under $100 million is a very significant number and we all take it very seriously. When a certain item doesn't make the cut, part of the community who are impacted understandably may feel disappointed. But I just wanna say we appreciate your feedback. We thank all the engagement and I think

110I hope the community understands that this process is ongoing. Any item that doesn't make it into this scope will be sort of continuously considered in the future. So yeah, so that in conclusion, I support this scope. Thanks so much. Thank you for that those comments um who wants to go next Bobby like oh sure Well in my case I did have the opportunity to sit on the steering committee So I sat through the meetings and and for me in order to move forward I really needed to feel confident that the process was well structured and inclusive and transparent, and I think it was. So that gives me, personally, a lot of confidence. in supporting the budget. I think what, picking up on Laura's point and not to belabor the multipurpose room at Heathcote, I think

111it's important that we don't confuse not making it into the bond and not agreeing that it should be done. Because I think it's very easy to do that, feeling like, oh, we didn't make it, you know, we're not gonna. I think in particular, The 156,000, when you look at the scale of what's being done, to me feels like it potentially could be rolled into a more of an annual budget exercise. And there are a lot of projects like that. And for anyone who's looked through it will see it's not unique in that regard. So I think... For me the logic of trying to focus on some of the larger projects that require the scale to move forward. Some projects don't require that scale because they're smaller and can be handled incrementally. Some, particularly in terms

112of some of the architecture within the buildings it requires, looking at it as a big picture and it makes sense to include it in the bond. From my point of view, I feel that we fulfilled our mission, which is to be thorough, to really be inclusive in terms of speaking with people. And I really do encourage people to participate. And I think we all know that the theme here is that we believe in public education. We believe that our kids. deserve the right to sit in safe and environmentally safe buildings. And I think we fulfilled that. I think we've also managed within the scope that we have access to, to give some vision and some Future potential which I think is also very important. I won't lie. I wish there was more of that I

113Personally was pushing for some more dramatic things to be done. But I think in the context of where we are. I just feel very Comfortable that the number feels about right and that the scope feels about right Are there maybe a few things here and there that you know, we needed to rethink? I don't think there's any glaring omissions from my point of view. And I wholeheartedly will go out there and do my best to explain to people why we did what we did, why we're proposing what we proposed, and that I certainly support it as a board member. Thank you, Jim. First, I'd like to thank Sam Weston for his work on these slides, as well as Anish and Lucy for their efforts. Well done. Tasking and trusting students with this work puts front

114and center the why of this bond, and that is to provide the best educational experience for our students, to be able to continue to provide the learning spaces, to continue the Scarsdale tradition of excellence in education, and best prepare our students to be successful and happy in our ever-changing world. I'm very excited about this bond and appreciate the thoughtful, thorough process we have engaged in as a community on this work. I'd like to thank the CPSC who started their work way back last spring alongside the administration, our architects BBS and contractor ARIS facilities and building leadership for their input. I'd also like to thank in the community the PTAs. They've done a wonderful job engaging the community and advocating. All the individuals who came to our listening sessions wrote in and filled out our two

115surveys. On the Heathcote Air Condition Point, I also agree that it should be included in this bond scope. For the reasons so well articulated by the Heathcote PTA, I won't repeat them at this time. I enthusiastically support the proposed capital projects bond because it is a necessary and responsible investment in our district's future. Many of our school buildings are aging and require significant upgrades to ensure they remain safe, reliable, and efficient learning environments. At the same time, enrollment projections show growth that will place additional demands on our facilities if we do not plan proactively. Equally important, the way we teach and learn has evolved. Students and educators need flexible, modern spaces that support collaboration, hands-on learning, and the effective integration of new technology. Our schools must also address the growing importance of student mental health

116and wellness by providing environments that are supportive, inclusive, and responsive to students' social and emotional needs. This bond allows us to address these challenges thoughtfully and strategically with our students at its focus. It is an investment not only in buildings, but in educational quality, student well-being, and the long-term strength of the Scarsville community. Thank you so much. And Colleen? I don't like going last because you guys are all so eloquent speakers. That's okay because I'll go last. Okay. All right. So you're going to try to make me look good, right? Yes, I will. I'll just move on. So this has been my first bond development as a board member and as I thought about what I wanted to say I reflected both on the process and on what it brought us to this point. Scarsdale

117is more than 200 years old. Our community began with just 281 residents in 1790 and has grown to more than 18,000 today. Throughout that growth, one thing remains constant, our commitment to advocating for our students so they can grow and thrive in an ever-changing world. An investment in our students is truly an investment in our future. As we finalize this bond, it is not lost on me what we are asking our community. For residents who do not currently have children in the school system, this may feel like even a greater ask. We are asking all the Scarsdale residents to support a $98 million bond, and it is important that we clearly explain why this investment deserves that support, why a bond of this magnitude is worth the cost. In an effort to accomplish this task

118as part of my due diligence, I spoke to a number of realtors from different firms here in Scarsdale. No matter who I spoke with, the message was the same. 100% of them stated with confidence that approximately 99% of their clients moved to Scarsdale for the schools. That tells us we're doing something right when it comes to educating our students and that we must continue to meet those high expectations so families choose to move here and invest in our community. At the same time, Scarsdale's long history means our buildings are aging. Across the community, residents work hard to maintain the high standards we set for ourselves as a village. The village has already identified facilities that can no longer adequately serve their purpose, such as the pool complex. Similarly, more than 100 years of high-quality education

119has created its own wear and tear in our school buildings. We are at a critical point. Many systems and spaces are reaching the end of their useful life and must be addressed. Outdated HVAC systems, a lack of air conditioning, inadequate electrical capacity for modern technology, insufficient art rooms, dark and aging middle school cafeterias, and overcrowded elementary schools all negatively impact student learning and the overall student experience. We owe it to our students to address these issues and meet their needs as learners. This bond gives us the opportunity to do just that, ensuring our schools continue to provide high-quality education while maintaining Scarseal's appeal to new families. Both Fox Meadow and Edgewood are struggling to meet the needs of their students. Their buildings are aging and overcrowded. In order to preserve small class size and maintain

120neighborhood continuity, these additions are necessary, and classrooms must be updated to meet modern learning needs and safety needs. As education evolves and research continues to guide best practices, the look and function of learning spaces must evolve as well. Beyond classrooms, students learn in libraries, multipurpose rooms, auditoriums, cafeterias, music rooms, and gymnasiums. Ensuring these spaces can maintain comfortable temperature through the addition of air conditioning is a necessity, one that positively impacts every student as well as the adults that use those spaces. With that being said, I would be in support of adding the Heathco MPR back into the bond for air conditioning. Every student who moves through the Scar Seal system spends three years in the middle school. This is a uniquely uncertain and formative time in a child's life. The building itself must foster a

121sense of safety and belonging as students navigate the transition from childhood to adolescence. Spaces like the library and cafeteria are critical and making them inviting and nurturing is both important and overdue. Our students complete their Scarsdale journey at the high school where they spend four years growing into young adults and exploring their interests and passions. These years help shape who they are as learners and who they will become. Offering a wide variety of courses is essential to that development, and we cannot do that effectively with an outdated art room, a library lacking quiet spaces, and a little theater that cannot function as a flexible instructional space. Additionally, students need access to a learning resource center that supports them when they encounter challenges. A fully renovated learning resource wing will allow us to meet students where

122they are and provide the support they need to succeed. I fully understand and appreciate the costs associated with this work. I understand this is not the only bond our community is facing. However, one of the defining strengths of Scarsdale is our school system. It draws families in and it sends competent, capable, well-educated young adults out into the world. I believe that this investment in our students is the right path forward. We must also acknowledge that this bond is not just about our students. It is about our homes, our property values, our community, and the long-term strength of our village. It is an investment in Scarsdale's future that benefits all of our residents. I believe this bond, as presented, accomplishes a great deal, and most importantly, it places students and their needs at the center of

123our work. Okay, thank you, Colleen. That was very eloquently said. I am not going to have remarks that eloquent or frankly detailed, but it would actually be nice to have the detail. I'm just going to be very brief here, but hopefully say what I think needs to be said by me as the president of the board. I am actually honored to be in this position at this time to be able to help in any way I can to move this process forward. which I think is clearly for the benefit of our students, focused on our students in a laser-like way, on their experience, on their growth, on the future of their educational development in every way possible that we can support them. You try to think about what makes Scarsdale different. Others have touched on

124it. It's almost trite to say it's the schools, but it is the schools. I think that this community a long time ago made a decision that the schools here would be the best they can be um and you know decided to commit the resources to make it happen and did and it has historically happened and continues to happen and i believe it falls to all of us it's on our shoulders now as you know the fiduciaries of this district and the stewards to make sure that we have the foresightedness to support this school to support these students to support the continued excellence of scars all education I believe this bond does all of that. Could it do more? Yes. But it does what it has to do, which is to bring our students and our

125buildings and our educational experiences forward the way they need to be brought forward, addressing not just the infrastructure needs, which have to be addressed, but the learning needs and the learning adaptability to grow, to meet what are the learning challenges as we go forward in the future, and there are going to be lots of them. So I think we're absolutely doing the right thing. I'm proud to be doing the right thing here and supporting this bond. I also support the notion of throwing back in the Heathcote air conditioning because it isn't a huge spend when you look at everything else that we're dealing with here. It's actually a small portion of it. So I do support that, but over and over and everything else, I support the bond scope and I support the bond project.

126And I will support it with everything I have to give as we move forward into this challenging, I'm sure, but hopefully ultimately rewarding. season Jim thank you for your genuine and heartfelt remarks I think we've all spoken thank you really appreciate that guidance to us and just to confirm the Heathcote multi-purpose room air conditioning seems to have a majority board support to be alter the scope by that cost thank you appreciate that before we move off this topic some board members had the chance to tour the alternative school building on wayside last week and we thought it would be prudent just to have a little bit of time set aside to talk about the future of that space i'll give a little background for for the those in the public watching um or tuning in

127and then open it up to thoughts and discussion And Andrew, please cover anything you think I might have missed. The A school building, also known as the Boy Scout House on Wayside, for a long time was home to the Scarsdale Alternative School. And students met there, faculty had offices there, community meeting took place there, which is a core structure of the program. over a period of time the sort of academic direction students were taking caused them to spend more time more of their scheduled high school day in taking classes that were not necessarily part of the core a school program but were in the high school itself and over time that led to more time being spent here in this building and less time being spent in the a school building and we saw sort

128of a full shift over here in 2023 over to this at the end of june 2023 really the the regular use of the building ended we have had office space we've kept office space in that building used by our elementary curriculum coordinators and there's also a number of students who park in that space we do know from our two by two meeting with the village that the village is who owns the space and owns the property which we have a year to year use of they're interested in getting more use out of that so that's sort of spurred a conversation we have talked not in much depth or detail but about a couple of different uses since students are no longer using that space and the cost of improving that space bringing it up to

129code for student use was considered but put aside in this process the process of developing a potential capital projects bond we did not it did not rise to the level of This is a priority that must be included. It's not it's not included and we've had some ideas about moving certain functions that literally reside right across this courtyard. Our facilities team offices are there in this high school. Our Scarsdale Teachers Institute office is in this high school. Those could potentially be good functions to use in the A school, but not without a plan for changing the interior of that building to be able to accommodate a different use or function from what it is right now. people who look at the building condition survey the facility study will see approximately two million dollars worth of

130BCS items for that for that space that are not part of this they're still in there so I appreciate a number of questions that have come our way from board members particularly about I would say there's an adage or a rule of thumb that you don't ever want to give up space that you have in a school system You never know what the future might hold, and it's hard to get space back, right? And then the other one, the parking. We know parking is writ large a challenge in the village of Scarsdale, and that is certainly true in and around the environment of Scarsdale High School and those 20 to 30 spaces at the A school utilized. They're utilized by students, staff who are there too, but certainly by students. So that's just a frame

131for opening the floor to a conversation about the future of that building, knowing our, and we are, I should say we are, we do have plans underway to relocate anyway, regardless of this discussion, our elementary curriculum coordinators to Green Acres Elementary School, which they have been part of the thinking about that. Open to questions or discussion points or... I'll just say something coming you know attended the two by two meetings that you referenced you know it does seem at least to me as an participant in those meetings that the village is hungry to to get their arms in the space and do something with it I'm not sure they know exactly what they want to do I've heard adult education possibly I've heard programs for seniors different things but you know they are you know

132eager to sort of have the space and they have been willing to talk to us about what we are thinking but we haven't had much to say in terms of immediate use of the space for the reasons you've said. It requires a big investment. We don't have the money. Well, we could have the money but we're spending it on other things that are more student focused than that. Rightfully so in my opinion. So, I mean, I kind of feel like you know at least my view is if there's any way we can on a go-forward basis try to maintain a partnership with the village with respect to the space um that might be the best we can do in terms of the you know being able to to go forward i don't know that we

133can continue to say hands off leave it for us and we'll get to it eventually i just think that's not that's not a long-term position so i'm just thinking can we partner with them can we i know we have uses we want to use it for they have uses they want to use it for can we split uses can we split to some extent costs you know I'm not sure what their timing is they haven't told us I don't think exactly what their timing is in terms of when they would use it but is there an opportunity here for us to work together that's that's my thought thank you so you know I've had high school students many of us have high school students many of us are high school students and a lot of

134us work at the high school so people know that parking is at a premium at the high school I don't know what the answer is to this dilemma. I think it's very complicated obviously. I would hate to leave the parking, to lose the parking. You know, at the capital project steering committee meetings at the very beginning, BBS showed a video. They had interviewed high school students kind of asking what they would look for in a bond and a common theme which it was parking, more spaces. better parking. As we know, some of our student lots flood when there's a substantial rain event, so we have that issue already with our parking. And I know that the Village wants it back for Village programming, but I really pause because I feel like we have a parking

135dilemma as is, and I feel like losing that will really further exacerbate the problem. And it does also bring up the issue of just traffic safety. We have a lot of roads around here. They're not very wide roads. We don't have sidewalks around the school very easily. You know, even on the days we're recording off parking in the gravel lot if we have a special event, then you'll see, like, the immediate streets, you know, surrounding the school, the residential streets are flooded with cars, honestly. So I just think there's a safety traffic flow. I don't know that it's going to really get rid of the number of students. and people who need spots, they're just gonna find other places and I feel like that might exacerbate safety issues as well. Wanted to share that. Sorry,

136I was just gonna say, I appreciated the tour of this space because I do see that it's a space that's in need of work and I appreciate your comments too, Leah, because I think. they reflect it's I'm not sure I know what the answer is I struggle a little bit with the idea that you know we're building we're building spaces in our elementary schools and Fox Meadow and Edgewood and We don't have a lot of land around the high school. And I have thought at times, like, you know, where we're sitting right now, these are district offices, and it's wonderful that the district office is connected to our high school. But it is a function that could be in a different space. And this space could eventually be, these classrooms could be used for high

137school students. If we needed that space, we're right here in the space where we could expand and renovate and we could move. You know, again, this is just. very forward thinking, but to give up space that's in such close proximity to our building that we will not get back, I have concerns about that. You know, Jim, you also articulated, and I appreciate that because you and Colleen are in those meetings. I don't know what the village has in mind for that space, but I get the sense that it would also bring increased traffic. to the high school or to the high school area and I do feel like traffic around here, student safety when parents are picking up if there are not as many parking spots, there's more cars coming in, there's more students walking

138further, then you throw in some additional programming just around the corner. I think it needs to be well thought out. I don't want to rush into a plan. Perhaps it is more discussions with the village about some kind of partnership. I'm not sure I'd want students in that building as it's separate from sort of the main campus. But I think that we need to be very thoughtful before we say, yes, there are costs associated with the space, but before we say we don't see any... intermediate use sure but short-term long-term what could we do with that space I'd like to think about it a little bit more yeah so I personally had never been in the a school so that was very helpful for me to see there were a couple of takeaways one was

139which I have to say I didn't really think about which was the notion of having students in a building that wasn't secure, that didn't have all of the infrastructure that one would typically expect today for our student population, that didn't make me pause to think about what that would be used for. So I think that's a real issue, unfortunately, in today's world. I did have the, I personally left the meeting thinking that the village was very keen to move ahead for using it and I think my personal sense is we don't have an immediate need. We can't say, oh, we've thought this through. This is what we want. This really will work for us in terms of our strategic vision and goals about use of space within our own building, which I think is certainly

140a very valid way to look at it. If we can pull someone out of, say, the high school and put the facilities being a good example. But I think until we can do that, I think realistically we should just stay as close and involved as possible and make it clear that we don't want to lose access to the builder because my fear is that once the seniors and the... Some the some of the community starts using and it's going to get very hard to take it back honestly so I think we want an agreement that allows us to keep using it and keeping our Somehow whether it's using it for meeting space as a way to schedule you know some of our meetings that We don't have adequate rooms for it today. Maybe we don't

141have that. I don't know. I haven't seen that schedule. But I think my fear is, to Jim's point, they did seem very keen. I was a little surprised how, oh, well, you know, we need a space. which I didn't realize the seniors didn't have a home. I thought that was sort of taken care of. So I think we need to just stay very close to it. Other than that, I'm not sure what control we have over it. We don't have the funds at this point to initiate any kind of capital development, I don't think. I'd like to thank my fellow board members for their thoughts on this. I agree with a lot of the points made, particularly about the parking and particularly safety issues around our high school. These are new drivers, and I am

142very careful when I'm around high school myself because it is a safety issue. When we talk about an immediate need for this space, and I guess everybody's saying we don't, my one question is, you know, now that we have a common lunch in the high school, does that maybe change our, you know, and I don't know the answer to this, you know. Does that maybe change our desire for space in the high school building, bigger spaces? We talk about, in the context of the bond, how important it is for student well-being, for students to be able to gather, whether it's dining or other purposes. This is the first winter that we have the whole school in the high school for common lunch. I'd love to hear from students, you know, what is the space like

143right now? What is parking like right now? You know, I think they are related. It seems like people have more of a demand to go out now that they can for common lunch and that parking is an issue. So I would, I'd just like to learn more. I'd be ashamed if we, you know, handed off back the A school now thinking, oh, well, we don't need it right now. And then learn in a couple months from our students like. you know it'd be really great if we had more space here and i appreciate the administration's ideas about having either facilities or sci you know in the a school space to make space here i think just to address your point at least for the spacing in the high school i've definitely seen that at least

144since we started the common lunch there definitely are issues with spacing in terms of the learning commons area and the cafeteria the school for the most part has tried to make amends to that by starting new initiatives like opening up the learning of the little theater rather to eating spaces or the iLab or having the opportunity for students to ask their teachers to eat in classrooms so that's been one way to manage the space but in terms of parking I do believe that is the biggest concern and in my opinion the biggest pull to keep the a school space because like Miss Denbitzer was saying like the the large issue is that if you were to remove that parking space, you would definitely see overflow into the streets. Like, even right now, if you go

145on a day, especially when you look back in the fall when it was a sunny day and many people would probably want to drive out and go out for lunch, you would see that on Brewster, the entire, on boats on one side, it would be entirely filled with cars, and obviously... Rooster Road is not a very wide road, as you were saying, and for the amount of people that maybe want to go from that Fox Meadow area to the village, it definitely does pose a safety concern. And so I don't know what the implications of us would be if we would like to have that space back, if we would have to include something within the bond project to address that A school building, but I think for the most part, the pros of having

146that space are much more than the cons of an additional purchase, in my opinion. Also just like adding insight, I'd say I kind of agree with Anish as far as the school. I mean I see kids sitting on the floors of hallways which obviously is not ideal but I also do see empty tables at the cafeteria so I think maybe it's just like a knowledge point. I think regarding the parking at the A school, I would say no student has ever like wakes up and is like I don't want to park at A school. Like it's normally a last resort as it's pretty far away from the school building so I think as that pertains to common lunch. It's the kind of thing that now with this long period, you do have time if you

147really want to, to rush out to your car and get it in that period, but that you get back, your spot's been taken, and there's nowhere to go except for e-school. So I think that's when it becomes like a resource. you park there instead of maybe parking on the residential streets and taking up space. And I think without it, it would just either lead to more time crunches, which I guess is something that students would have to think about, or just blocking a lot of the nice Fox Meadows streets. I mean, I've been in all these meetings, so I've shared my thoughts. But I do think we should also be aware. I agree. Losing space is never the ideal scenario. I do think, Andrew, it might be helpful for people to know keeping the space

148does come also at a cost that we have to be aware of because we're heating it, we're maintaining it. So I think it would be helpful for people to understand that. Yeah, we have the facilities team. I have it open. We have the facilities team pull some information on that. And, you know, it costs us about a little over $10,000, $12,000 a year in maintenance costs. You know, we have to insure the building because it's an obligation of ours to not only because we're using it but because we have a lease requirement to do that. So there is an annual recurring cost. It's just by having the building we need to be mindful of. I think, you know. There's been a decision prior to Drew even. We just stopped investing in the space, and I

149think that has really set us up to not really have a plan and to really appropriately outfit it. It will be a significant investment that just didn't rise to the top of the list for us. Can I ask a question? So can the village make a unilateral decision to take it back? Like what's the current agreement? The way the lease is written is that either side can give 90 days notice of termination, basically, of the agreement. So they could. This is just Drew. sense from talking to the mayor and deputy mayors they they would prefer that it be mutually agreed to whatever whatever happens but technically yeah they could give us 90 days notice yeah at least 90 days before the end of the term before the end of the term of the year sorry

150so they they wouldn't if we had students in there they wouldn't displace it be within 90 days of the end of the school year for the next school year Just one quick comment that there were some discussions about possible shared use between the school and the village, but I feel like parking will pose like a challenge to shared use, right? Just want to... Yeah, I think if we think about the use of it as parking for students, that's 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., and I don't know how someone could... also expect to use the building without parking spots available I mean that's just my thought yeah the only way I could see it would be you know the village uses it from 4 p.m. to you know whatever and we use it you know from

1518 a.m. to 4 p.m. 4 p.m. or 3 30 or whatever that is so that we divvy it up the programs for the seniors or the programs for the adults you know take started for So that where the cars are, yeah, the cars are gone, and then they come in. I don't know what the appetite is for the village for that kind of splitting, especially because we don't have an exact thing to put in there until 3 or 3.30. But that's one theoretical way to do it. Any other? A theme was exploring what partnership could look like, even though we've just identified some potential barriers to that. So we'll certainly, you know, I'll take it up with the village manager. see what we can learn. Sound good? Yeah, I think, I mean, they hopefully will

152understand where we're coming from here. I mean, we're always dealing with a dearth of resources that we are always struggling to preserve and grow and to lose one is hard, especially one as used as... The parking is here, although it can't just be about parking because the village has made it very clear. It's not just about parking. So we have to come up with something else we're doing in addition to simply parking to justify our use of this space. I think that's my sense of it. Could I ask that when you talk to the village about this a little bit further, you know, I know I mentioned earlier there is a $70 million investment in the pool facility, and I believe there are going to be some community spaces there that will be built there.

153So I think it would be really helpful. You know, I take your point, Bob, about, you know, wanting a place for seniors, but I am curious because, you know, it wasn't clear to me what the vision was. from the village. I'm not expecting them to have something fully formed, but they are adding spaces in another part of town. And, you know, again, I think that obviously if we give the space back that they own, you know, we can't control what they do, but it would just be helpful to understand how many community spaces are we talking about because, again, it is still our neighbor, you know, even if it's not being used by the school. understanding the traffic flow and what's what's going in and out of there would be would be super helpful so

154if you just look into that that'd be great thank you yeah i think one of the things they shared just to answer your question bob is that they felt the seniors right now are using the girl scout house and there was some um that contract was a little um challenging i think and so they couldn't really do the renovations that they wanted to to that building so That's kind of I think where the senior comments came from but I agree in the pool complex there are community meeting rooms so that could be possible discussion point. Anything else Lucy or Anish that you would share? I'm not trying to put you on the spot. I just want to make sure you have the air time. I would just say, back to my earlier comment, if we

155were to keep the A school lot, I know there's so many pros, but do we have a good estimate about what the expenses would be for that beyond the maintenance cost? Would the village force us to do something with that space? Eventually paving, probably. that kind of maintenance of the tarmac which is expensive a very inexact answer to your precise question thank you yeah I think we're ready to move on okay item 11.02 school calendar thank you for our partners out there thank you very much we appreciate it 11.02 school calendar development we have a draft of the 2026-27 school calendar if you're looking at it you'll notice right away an unusual thing which is the plan would be to start school before Labor Day Labor Day is as late as it can be in

1562026 it's on September 7th so the plan we've put forward returns staff in the last week of August for our orientation days we call them superintendents conference days the total number of days of session we are we have to meet each year 185 inclusive of two super four superintendents conference days so we have two in August one on Election Day in November and one in March So students would return on the 1st of September. We're not technically allowed to count August days as days of session for New York State aid purposes. So it would start Tuesday, September 1st. It would include a two-week December recess. It would include a February break coinciding with the 15th, President's Day. a spring break coinciding with the week of Passover in April an extended weekend over the weekend that

157includes the holiday of Easter and then concludes on June 25th that is a the designated last day of school statewide we don't have flexibility we often get comments that it would be really nice to like let out earlier and we we unfortunately don't have that flexibility at this point in time the State Ed Department sets the 25th at least in 2027 as the last day day of school and it includes all of our contractually required holidays under our civil service contracts questions or comments yeah thank you it's always interesting to see the calendar especially when Easter and Passover sort of separate do we have a sense as to what other districts are doing or how spring sports because I know that can be sometimes a challenge when there's competitions or the breaks don't align everything's

158a draft for everyone right now including us I have seen spring break the week of March 29th and a number of drafts in the BOCES it'll take me a second to pull that up we do think about the BOCES southern Westchester BOCES is our BOCES and they put out a calendar I think theirs is scheduled in March as well I mean I'm not necessarily proposing we change anything to what we do I think it's just you know it's difficult there's no easy answers appreciate it you point out in those years where Passover and Easter are separated it causes different districts to do different things more so on those years than when they go inside exactly but I think you know we've sort of historically done this when this happened so it makes sense to me

159I'm curious too though will not be a part of the school system in December but the two-week break seems fabulous to me I know some younger families also had issues with it is this sort of a norm where you know we've had a few years of two-year breaks at the holidays attendance was not great this past the Monday and Tuesday that we held and half day on Wednesday that we had school it was quite down So from a continuity of learning standpoint, I think it is more educationally sound for us to get the most out of the 185 days because, frankly, we do alter our plans a little bit when we know only half the class is going to be there or 60% of the class is going to. It's just human nature to know,

160well, I'm going to have to revisit that anyway because half the class wasn't there, that type of thing. think we see it as a much more continuity of learning favorable approach you know it's really helpful to understand that attendance was not great on those days too so that's helpful thank you yeah thank you and just to that point I know when we discussed this years ago or when the board discussed it years ago and started kind of the two-week pattern you know we have a lot of international families in our community and a lot of them travel to see their own families and friends over that break and they appreciate the two week time period. Andrew kindly brought up the draft southern Westchester BOCES which some districts follow because they have students enrolled in programming

161there. This one's a their March break is actually March 22nd through their spring break is March 22nd through 26th just four weeks after their February break. So that poses a different kind of continuity of learning challenge. Two breaks in four weeks is tight. So just an observation. But thank you. Yeah, Anish. I wonder even from like a student perspective, I know this is just a draft, but like let's say we were to look more into the BOCES version of having it in March. I just think historically the precedent has been that when you have a break right after a break. I think teachers are also in an awkward position on testing because I think oftentimes it is easy to give these cumulative final assessments before a break just because that's what the learning has been

162leading up to. And that's just, I think, how we act. And so I think, at least from a student perspective, it would be kind of awkward to have... although maybe it would be nice but I think from an educational standpoint I think it would be awkward because you would have either teachers one kind of have to change their lesson plan maybe go a bit quickly to fit in a test before the break or what a student have to take the test after the break I do think it poses a lot of concerns that an April break wouldn't necessarily due to its distance from the winter break so I think that's a consideration to be made I appreciate that I do know that the high school has taken steps over a number of years to try

163to create the conditions where those breaks are more breaks for kids where you have less responsibilities and I think that supports what you're saying as well I also agree with what Anna said, and I think it was very insightful. I agree with what you said about how the days before breaks kind of feel fake. I think even when the break does start on a Monday, the Friday will maybe be, like, games or videos, and, like, it might be a little bit more fun. But, yes, it, like, is not, I guess, the most productive use of time. And I think particularly this year, we had those, like, that day and a half that, like, no one was there. So I think that starting earlier but then having more days is, like. way more beneficial because I

164think it's during the year that you really need those breaks and it's gonna be like a better use of school time thank you so this would come back at our next meeting on the 26th as an action item okay thanks I think that brings us to the next discussion point which is legislative advocacy you know so I guess I'm supposed to lead this discussion but I will say that I kind of feel like my own view is that I guess that something this is for something for the board to consider terms of what they want to do if anything to adopt you know let's say a cause like adopt a cause you know or maybe adopt adopt two classes what I mean however many were comfortable but I kind of view this is almost like

165give lending itself to like committee work right because something where someone could look into it you know somebody could consider gee what what is best for our district in terms of the opportunities that exist here then you know three people could discuss it and kind of like propose something or two people doesn't have to be three but I mean like less than a number of people that would require us to do it all in open meeting we get together and think about it come up with a proposal bring it to the board to talk about like what what what you know should we be pursuing I don't know I throw it out there whether we should form a committee like I'm happy to be on it, you know, but just with others, you know, about

166what. to do or what to prioritize. I mean we don't historically I think we've been somewhat reactive on this issue. I'm not talking about you Susanna, you do a lot with these organizations but I mean the board as a whole you know has been kind of reactive and sort of like if something is spoon-fed to us like write a letter about something specific that's happening like you know right away or soon or how you know something like that we do that but we don't sort of we don't adopt a project or an advocacy position on something long-term like, for example, a tax cap. Should we have a concerted effort to do something that would revise the tax cap to make it sort of less of a constraint on certain types of budgeting that we want

167to do? I mean, it's all statutory stuff that can be revised. That's just an example. Maybe we don't want to do that, but I'm just using that as one possibility. So I throw it out there. to talk about whether that's something you want to consider doing, you know, as something we haven't really done, at least not recently. Thank you, Jim. I think that's a good idea. I'd be happy to serve on this committee as well. Okay, great. I think to do a deep dive, I think that, you know, instead of trying to hash out every point on this NISPA list of priorities, it could be a good idea to do a committee. Yeah, and we can take as much time as we want. I don't want to feel rushed on this, you know, but I

168mean, this could be a long-term thing. I mean, it may not be something that gets solved in a legislative session. It could be, like, you know, do we want to, you know, find a priority that we want to sort of consistently advocate for? There are definitely things I want to advocate for in this session, but yeah. Right, right. Yeah, but with others, you know, and possibly join with others in other districts, too. I appreciate your initiative, Jim. I think it's a great idea for you to form a committee and think about what, you know, I looked through what NSBA had in this document and I thought it was really interesting. I agreed with a lot of the positions that they were proposing, so I wasn't sure which cause made sense, but I fully support forming

169a committee to, you know, take a deeper dive and perhaps propose some ideas for the board as a whole. I mean, perhaps it's obvious, but I think it's a great idea, but I think we need to coordinate with the administration in terms of, you know, I'd really, we don't have to do it tonight necessarily, but in terms of Drew or Andrew, what... where you would like us to put our effort. Obviously, we need to be in sync. I don't think we want to be going one path versus another. And I think, as we all know, Drew has a lot on his plate. So if we could support that, I think that would be a nice gesture, in keeping with our commitment to helping him do his job. Focus our energy. So sure. I think it's

170a great idea Yeah, my thought was with the board this committee would articulate a couple of different areas of then consult with the district about What the district thinks about what we think? But just because I I personally think this would be a nice thing for us to be able to own Of course, not just by ourselves, of course in concert with the with the district I was just gonna it may also just to very briefly broaden the lens beyond New York State a little bit there are two very different education bills in the two houses in Washington the House bill is proposing drastic cuts to entitlement programs the title grants in particular title one two and three completely eliminates titles two and three we do get money from those grants On the other side,

171there's a bipartisan, the Senate Appropriations Committee has passed out of committee a bipartisan funding bill for education for the current fiscal year 26 that actually adds a small amount to IDEA, among other things. So there's the state context, certainly, and there's also a national context I just wanted to put out there. Thank you. That's what that's interesting here. I am I'd be happy to serve too if you need an extra person I can't tell how many are willing to serve but I'm happy to do it as well. I love advocacy I'm just thinking it should be three or less because of otherwise we'd have to do it in a public session every time we talk about this Thank you. Thank you Andrew take 11.04. So this is a second reading of policy update. We shared

172previously with the board The origin of this policy update is making sure that our policies and regulations match the uniform grant guidance from the federal government. We have to comply with those requirements because we are recipients for IDEA and some small title money. The changes reflect adding the term agent to both the policy and the regulation, just any entity that acts in our fiscal. capacity on behalf of the board and then in the regulation we also updated the gift dollar amount threshold to $75 just to make sure it's consistent with our other board policies around gifts to staff and with no other changes this is an action item tonight any questions on that okay item 11.05 is a second reading of a new policy 5550 student privacy there has been one change added to this

173from the last from the first reading which was on the December 15th if you click the link in the body of the paragraph the blue link there it's the very bottom of page one all requests to inspect surveys must be made to the building principal we added or their designee indicated in the parental notification letter so it expands principals might not be the only person could be an assistant principal it could be a district administrator that's the only change but as a result we would have a third reading unless there are other changes you'd like to suggest or inquire about any questions on that one okay thank you very much Andrew 11.06 I'll try to go quick on this one. This is an important one though for us. So over the last 30 years the

174district has operated a self-insured health insurance plan as you are all very aware about. We've talked quite a bit about. That plan is managed by Megan's office in the HR department but we also partner with a third party administrator who processes claims. pharmacy benefit manager but we also have a key resource which is a health care consultant that helps us understand the industry trends helps us advocate for our own plan with our third party administrator really helps give us an idea of what the landscape of the health industry is doing the third party administrator to task yes helps coordinate some of the reporting that's required for us to really make sure we know what we're doing when we manage our plan We felt it was important this year to do an RFP to really see

175what is out there in the marketplace in terms of services around healthcare consulting. So over the last several months, we've issued an RFP, we've done some preliminary interviews, and then it culminated with a finalist interview, which included several members of the district administration, several board members. and some representatives of our staff organizations because the health plan really is made up of a governing body that includes employees that are affected by these benefits decisions. And we're happy to share that we found what we believe to be a really strong firm that will help us kind of... manage our plan into the future despite some of the challenges we've had recently. So Risk Strategies is a healthcare consulting firm and brokerage that specializes in the public sector. Throughout the process, our strategies demonstrated an ability to meet

176the district needs around innovative cost containment, reporting strategies, as well as provide member support services through a dedicated support team who can advocate on behalf of our members, our staff, and retirees to resolve claims issues and help members navigate the complex health benefits claims process, which can be very, very difficult, especially in the self-insured plan as well that we're in right now. So this is a new service that we included in RFP and we really think will be a benefit to help us manage our plan and also help with the workload that's been continually adding to the HR office as we try to keep on top of what's going on in the healthcare environment. The scope of work that risk strategies will perform is kind of grouped into five broad categories that we included in

177the RFP. It's strategic planning and plan management, financial and actuarial analysis, vendor and renewal management, account management and advisory services. That's where you'll see that additional support system in the scope of work. And then we also added a population health and wellness program component, which would You know, we have a very well-educated and health-minded staff and retiree base, but we thought that there may be opportunities for us to really help improve health outcomes through education in that way as well. So risk strategies will provide a program for that. So the final terms and conditions of the contract are still being negotiated. We've been negotiating with them since late in December through the break and as late as this afternoon. It's really about finer details, nothing that is materially going to change our decision in this.

178So Resolution 12.01 this evening on the agenda asks the Board to award the RFP to risk strategies contingent upon the contract. contract being approved by district council at which point then the board per the resolution that we're asking you to approve would authorize me to sign that that agreement i must say that risk strategies has already begun transaction transition activities really trying to understand our program to the extent that we're able to share information with them because Obviously without the contract being signed, we want to be mindful of that. But they are really trying to ramp up to really meet our needs. And we are excited about the quality of staff and reporting that they've presented to us. So we recommend strongly that RISC strategies move forward. And I want to be very clear for

179any staff that are listening, this is not a change in our third-party administrator. So UMR will still be in place, and our prescription drug benefits will still be in place. This is a third health consultant that helps the district manage the plan, so there will be no change to any of the benefits. Except that they might have additional support when they have a claims issue, which I think all of our members would appreciate, and that's something we've heard from them. not a change in plan or health care coverage or benefits, but just additional resources available really to all of us. So thanks to Andrew for that. I'll also add that this was a difficult decision for us. Patrick Calburn from One Digital has been a really vital advocate and advisor for our plan for over

18030 years, and he was really an institution in the health plan for us. So this did not come as an easy decision for us, but we do believe that this is going to help our district manage the challenges of a self-insured plan into the future. oh sorry did you have a question too oh um thank you for that update and the board members who attended that process and other people who participated I can't remember when we usually get an update on health care. Like, in the past, I know there's the health care meetings, and I'm part of that subcommittee, but when does the board in general, and I know with this contract obviously not quite being finalized in transition time, when do you think there might be a public board review of our plan? So

181we're slated to talk about the benefits. budget in I think it's March this is a meeting that we've got scheduled that that's part of our budget conversation and in the past I believe was after our teachers negotiations we had that come in and talk about some of the plan changes that were an out shoot of that negotiation we believe we're gonna have a lot of active management conversations with risk strategies and they are willing and interested in coming to me more frequently the Board of Education. So we're hoping to have some more of those discussions with the board and even just through board communications where you'll see some of the reports that we're getting. That's great. Thank you. Thank you, Andrew. I happen to be one of the board members that got to meet with

182Risk Strategies. I was very impressed with them and think they are well positioned to move us forward through this challenging and changing healthcare landscape. Risk strategies will support our teachers and staff, navigate their claims and healthcare needs, and provide our administration with the strategic planning and financial analysis to provide the best healthcare to our staff in a way that is also financially sustainable and responsible. This comes back as an action item in a few minutes. Okay, thanks. We have two gift proposals that exceed $1,000, so they're here in the information. Both are Fox Meadow. I'm going to ask Andrew to share the gist of a conversation. You've seen a lot of proposals from Fox Meadow, and just share the gist of a conversation we had with PTC today about our process. So I think we

183uncovered that there's a little bit still of an education that needs to happen, both in my office and with the building principals and the PTAs around some of the field trip gifts in particular. We uncovered through some questions that several of the buildings, the donations from the PTA for field trips were not following the donation path. They were following more of a path like when a parent writes a check for a field trip. So we need to come back to the Board of Education with a request for approval on a small handful of donations that the PTAs would have had. No larger than about $4,500 per building, but some buildings as low as just a few hundred dollars, but it just highlighted to us that we still need to go back and do some education

184on the process there. It also spurred a conversation with the PTC and the members of the PTA at that meeting that perhaps we may want to look at handling the field trip budget lines in the PTA budgets. similar to the way we decided to handle the author visits where if they've committed to supporting a certain level of field trips have them donate that money upfront so the board can accept that and then it becomes a discussion about what field trips are going to happen in the year and if they need to go above that initial donation we can follow up with a donation at that point This was a late afternoon conversation. My office needs to think more about some of the logistics around this as well. But the challenges with scheduling, finding a date,

185collecting money, it is understandable to me why these certain donations didn't follow the path we had intended. It also makes more clear to us why Fox Meadow was having so many unique requests that really weren't probably as unique as we thought. So I just want to say thank you for doing that homework because I had noticed some of those Fox Meadow gifts and I appreciate looking into sort of what was happening. And I appreciate the idea of thinking about sort of a bucket for field trips as well because I think one thing for us at the board is having sort of transparency into what's coming ahead. And we don't always get that. That's why we've sort of... built in that extra review of gifts that are over a certain dollar amount but but getting some

186of that at one time if it's if it's feasible i think would be great just to to build that in so appreciate your thinking of that Any other questions before the proposal? Yes. I also just wanted to reiterate my appreciation for that. And just also when we are looking at these gifts with equity in mind, there are different definitions of equity or ways of approaching equity. One way that I hope to keep in mind for something especially like class trips is that we have very different sized schools with different populations. So something like class trips you would expect a large school like Fox Meadow or Quaker Ridge to maybe have a you know bigger line than larger dollar amount not necessarily per pupil but like other gifts are more you know if they're tangible and

187it's like per school you know you might not look at it that way you know like but you know so just to keep that in mind that different gifts might require different lens. Not for now, later. More just a comment, just that, you know, as a board member and a former PTC member and PTA member and leader, I'm always grateful and understand the complexity in the organization and the dedication and all that goes into gifting and all the work that they do. So many thanks, of course, always to the PTAs for giving gifts and enhancing and enriching student experience. it was a very positive conversation today with really good questions and and just to build on what you're saying Lee in the end we're just grateful you know that our partners are supporting our students

188in this way appreciate that okay so the first proposal Fox Meadow first great trip to Hudson River Museum totaling thirteen hundred and eight dollars the second item is for $1,520 science program for third graders at the Bronx Zoo. Questions on those? We'll come back next meeting as action and then we're on to action. Okay great. Item 1201 that's Bob. Yeah so I'd like to make a motion resolve that the Board of Education awards the RFP for district health care consultant to risk strategies and authorizes the assistant superintendent for business to execute the contract subject to final approval by district legal counsel as presented thank you Bob is there a second thank you Susie any discussion all those in favor please say aye aye The motion carries. We're on to 12.02. I believe that's Amber. It

189is. Thank you, Jim. I move that the board adopt the following resolution. Resolve that the board adopt policy 2160, School District Officer and Employee Code of Ethics and Regulation 2160-R, School District Ethics Regulation with Revisions as presented at the December 15th Board Business Meeting and shown in the attached clean copies. Thank You amber is there a second Thank You Laura any discussion all those in favor please say aye aye that motion carries now we're on to section 13 gifts I believe Leah is the first one Thank You Jim I move that the board adopt the following resolution resolved that the board accepts with thanks the gift of $2,098 to support the purchase of the fourth grade trip to the Lehman Center for the Nutcracker as presented in the attached letters Thank you, Leah. Is there

190a second? Amber, thank you. Any discussion? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. And that motion carries with thanks. Item 13.02. Let's see. Who is that? Is that Amber? I think it's me again. Yeah. I move that the board adopt the following resolution. Resolve that the board accepts with thanks the gift of $1,150 for the third grade in-class science program as presented in the attached letters. Thank you, Amber. Is there a second? Thank you, Susie. Any discussion? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. And that motion carries with thanks. On to 1303, which is Laura. I move that the board adopt the following resolution. Resolved that the board accepts with thanks. The gift of $1,526.65 to support World Language Day for sixth grade students as presented in the attached letters. Thank you, Laura.

191Is there a second? Thank you, Susie. Any discussion? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. That motion carries with thanks. And the last one is Susie. Thank you, Jim. I move that the board accept the following resolution. Resolved that the board accepts with thanks the gift of $25,000 to replace the storage building adjacent to Butler Field as presented in the attached letters. Thank you, Susie. Is there a second? Thank you, Laura. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. That motion carries with thanks. And we are now on to our second public comment. If anyone in the audience wishes to make a public comment at this time, please do so. Nobody is doing that so can we check on Zoom? I don't see any attendees on Zoom. Another few seconds. Okay, so we will

192move on from public comment for the evening and there's no follow up to that so wrap up items if there are any. I think we have direction and a bond and some further conversation on A school. Okay, and we'll talk about the committee for legislative advocacy. All right, so there's all that, and now I guess it's Colleen for meeting dates. Thank you, Jim. Okay, our next meeting is Monday, January 21st. We have a special meeting executive session at 8 p.m. in this room. Monday, oh, that's Wednesday. Yeah, it's Wednesday. Sorry, Wednesday, January 21st. Special meeting executive session 8 p.m. in this room. Monday, January 26th. Budget staffing recommendations and business meeting at 6.30 in this room. Special meeting executive session if needed after. Monday, February 2nd. Business meeting 6.30 in this room. Wednesday, February 4th.

193Board community coffee 7 p.m. in this room. And Monday, February 9th. Board budget study session number one. business meeting at 6 p.m. I'm so excited for that. Special meeting executive session if needed after. Thank you. And with that, I believe we can adjourn. Motion to adjourn. Amber, second. Susie, thank you. Any discussion? No. All in favor? Aye. We are adjourned.