001Good evening. I call this business meeting of the board to order and note that all board members are present with the exception of Colleen Brown who couldn't be with us tonight. Superintendent Dr. Patrick and members of his cabinet are in attendance as well. Welcome to those in the audience today and to all those who may be viewing this meeting on the live stream. Thank you for joining us. It isn't necessarily the norm for the board to meet for a second July meeting so it is especially appreciated that everyone who is able to made the time to be here tonight. Summertime is a time for much needed rest and reconnection with friends and loved ones. It is also a time here in the district to prepare for the upcoming school year, which will be here before
002we know it. I'd like to acknowledge the work being done by our administrators, faculty and staff, charting out the next steps in the implementation of our new strategic plan, participating in professional development through our STI, and preparing our school buildings and grounds to welcome back our students in the fall. The board is also hard at work this summer, and I am grateful to all my fellow board members for their commitment to our students. At our last board meeting, the board discussed a few summer projects, and I am pleased to give the quick update that Ron, Bob, and Leah have volunteered to revisit our board's community engagement plan, and Jim, Amber, and Colleen are reviewing our gifting procedures, which went through an initial drafting process last year. Ron also volunteered to provide feedback to Super Uval,
003the superintendent evaluation platform we used for the first time this past year, and look into their board self-evaluation products. All the summer working group studies and recommendations will be presented for discussion at the board table at its end of summer meeting in August. Also for discussion then will be our board goals as well as the superintendent evaluation template, which were introduced at our last meeting. I also want to note that earlier this summer, as part of the board's oversight duties, Vice President James Dugan and myself met with District Treasurer Lisa Zareski. We discussed various aspects of the district's financial operations, including areas such as the budget process, treasurer reports, financial systems, auditors, and operations of the completed, of the business department, excuse me. We also discussed the transition of our financial software platform to Envision
004from Smarts. which is largely completed thanks to the efforts of many, including Jeannie Crowley, our Director of Technology and Innovation. Congratulations and thank you to all that made that happen. As a reminder, the Board instituted this annual meeting two years ago and believe it is an important aspect of our fiscal oversight responsibility. Thank you, Lisa, for making the time to meet with Jim and me. Lastly, a short note about our summer liaisons. In the next week or two, the Board assignments for liaisons, buddies, and committees will be finalized. These relationships with members of our cabinet, building leadership, school-related and community partners are important in informing our board work as we collaborate together in the best interest of our children. As mentioned in our last meeting, this year we are adding two liaisons, first to the
005Village Parks and Rec Committee as we continue our joint field study with the Village, as well as number two, our school technology liaison, as technology continues to innovate at an ever more rapidly changing pace. Thank you to all those who invite members of the board to their meetings and make time to connect with us. Your insights and perspectives are extremely valued by the board. Thank you also to Honoré Adams, our district clerk, for organizing all of these assignments and meetings, not just with our liaisons, but with all that goes into this particularly busy time of scheduling our upcoming year's meetings, trainings, and everything else. Thank you. And with that, I'll hand it over to you. Thank you very much Susie I appreciate it add my good evening to everybody in the audience and who might
006watch this later for those tuning in the primary purpose of this evening's meeting is to discuss and act on a recommendation to award bids related to the Scarsdale High School auditorium project a long time in coming we're excited for that we also took the opportunity to include some additional business meeting items tonight but it's a relatively short agenda and I'll keep it brief One item I also want to highlight, like Suzy did, is the important milestone that was reached this month. Jeanne Crowley, Andrew Lennon, Lisa Zareski, Megan Troy, and their respective departments led the successful cutover to the Envision Financial Management and HR software. Payroll went out successfully on July 15th, marking a huge milestone in this project. of course everybody likes to get paid while there's more work to be done this is really
007an important early test that was successfully completed and it comes after a year of really hard work from many many individuals including those at the table so I want to publicly acknowledge and recognize the work by saying thank you and appreciate the support of the board for seeing that as a priority that that needed attention I'm just going to mention a few topics that hold the potential for advocacy and public engagement, just because they're happening right now. The New York State Education Department is currently inviting input regarding the transformations that the regions will be considering as part of their response to the Blue Ribbon Commission's work around graduation measures. for anyone interested in learning more they can just visit NYSED.gov and scroll down to trending topics and select graduation measures and all the information is
008there we'll continue to monitor that work and update the board accordingly also a bill requiring schools to abandoned classrooms when they reach a temperature of 88 degrees or higher past the legislature last session and though it's not yet been signed by the governor you know we're starting to think about what that might mean we have a meeting tomorrow to begin thinking about what impacts this will potentially have for Scarsdale and we'll certainly report out our thinking if that moves forward and gets signed And then finally, the Rockefeller Foundation is the lead agency that's been tasked with reviewing the foundation aid formula. You know, we spent a lot of time talking about the potential cuts to state aid, which did not come to fruition but are on the table for the future. The Rockefeller Foundation is
009currently holding listening sessions across the state. There was one locally last week, and one of my colleagues, Superintendent Ray Sanchez of Tarrytown, was someone who testified, and Eric and he had a discussion as an example that he was able to share of how special education costs are one example of where even districts like ours that receive very little state aid, our expenditures in those areas have necessarily had to go up significantly, and that's a factor that should be taken into account. account among many others in this topic and I'm gonna turn it over to Megan to do a few introductions I'm pleased tonight to welcome two new faculty additions to the Scarsdale School District So first we welcome Alexander Hughes who will be assigned to the Scarsdale district office as the CSE CPSC chair Alexander
010holds a BA from Hofstra University and MS in education from Queens College and an advanced certificate in educational leadership and administration from LIU Ms. Hughes is currently working in the Warwick Valley Central School District as director of special education And she's also recently welcomed a new baby to her family, so clearly knows how to juggle many roles. Congratulations on both your new position and your new addition. Thank you. and i'd like to welcome anna tomasini who'll be a 0.5 math teacher and 0.5 teaching assistant at scarsdale high school anna holds an m a b a and m a from the university of delaware she's been working as a special education teacher at elkton high in maryland and anna looks forward to joining scarsdale high school and having a positive impact on her students lives that
011will stay with them in the future so welcome anna we appreciate it thank you guys welcome so glad you could be here tonight and the board will take action on your appointments shortly welcome and thank you congratulations you don't have to stay for the rest of the meeting but you are certainly welcome to stay if you like next on our agenda is item 1.04 board member reports does anyone have a board member report for us this evening Thank you, thank you Susie. So two things to report. One is Myself, Amber, and Colleen met recently to consider proposed revisions to the policies and procedures regarding gifts approval here at the board, and we do have a recommendation and some proposed changes, which will in due time come to the board. I don't want to get into
012the details of that prematurely. I'm still mulling over some of the fine print, but we do have some proposals that we will be making. And so thanks to Amber and to Colleen for working on that with me. Also, I did want to say that I attended, along with Susie, a webinar sponsored by the National School Boards Association on the topic of the First Amendment and the Board of Education, which was very informative and I think... useful regarding the sort of guidelines and rules around respecting first amendment rights of the public and also the board and others who come before the board and speak at board meetings so that was also a very interesting and informative presentation was happy to be able to participate in that are there any other board member reports uh we'll go
013to item 2.01 or two hearing from those present First, I should ask if we have anybody from the audience who would like to speak. Oh, the preamble. Oh, I am sorry. First, I shall read the public comment 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, and this would be a good time to log in to Zoom now. 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 the three-minute mark. If at this
014point a speaker has additional comments, they may send them in writing to the board via email at boardofed at scarsdaleschools.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 and place. Response to public comment will take place after the first and second public comment periods. And with that, if there's anybody from the audience tonight who would like to make a public comment. Since there isn't, we will go to Zoom. There are currently no attendees on Zoom. Thank you, Jim. Maybe we give it a couple seconds in case people are trying to log on. Anybody join? Still no attendees on Zoom. Okay. Hopefully everybody's
015having a nice summer of relaxing instead of coming in on Zoom meetings. Okay. Well, then next we will move to Item 3, follow-up to public comment. Given that there was no public comment, we will then move to Item 4, written communications. And this will be Jim. Thank you, Susie. So please note 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 part a board member will respond at their earliest convenience a formal response does require that you include your full name in the communication and looking at the Communications that have been received since our last meeting
016That would be with respect to written communications concerning district matters we received three emails all of which were responded to either by myself or others on behalf of the district and then we received one written communication regarding board matters meetings highlights invitations which I did respond to Next on the agenda, moving right along, number five, the consent agenda. The board may conduct some of its business using a consent agenda in an effort to achieve greater efficiency at board meetings. A consent agenda condenses some of the routine business of the Board of Education into a single motion. The consent agenda is prepared by the superintendent of schools in consultation with the president and or the vice president of the board. Items are selected for the consent agenda when the officers of the board and the superintendent
017believe there is no controversy regarding them. The items on the consent agenda will have the same background material as ordinary items 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 business of the school district. Would anybody like to move any item from the consent agenda? No? Okay. And so then going to the consent agenda, I believe this is wrong. Thanks Susie. There are six items on tonight's consent agenda. Item 6.01
018minutes from the board organization and business meeting on July 2nd, 2024. 6.02 personnel certified. 6.03 personnel non-certified. 6.04 the Westchester Putnam School Board Association annual dues for 2024-2025. 6.05 STI courses for 2024-2025. 6.06 contracts over 20,000. Diversity and inclusion proposal, Dr. Derek Gay. And I move that the board accept the consent agenda as presented. Thank you, Ron. May I have a second? Thank you, Leah. Any, I guess we don't have a discussion. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed or abstentions? Motion carries. Thank you. Okay. So next would be information items in discussion. First being the district treasurer's report. I believe this is Lisa. Thank you. That's me quick. Okay. So the report presented tonight is for May of 2024. Started with $83 million. Took in revenue of about $26.3 million. had disbursements
019of $40.3 million, ending with approximately $71 million at the end of the month. Interest rates are still high, which we like. We're still at about 77%, 78% that are earning about 5.2 and above. So the interest rates are holding steady. So we'll hopefully keep it that way. Any questions on the basic reports? Thank you very much, Lisa. These reports are very helpful. Budget transfers? So there are quite a few transfers at year-end. We have a lot of cleanup. So that's kind of what this is I hoping these are the last but we may have some new potential that will go on the next agenda We're still finalizing those numbers for the year end. So your first transfer is for tuition. Again, your estimates at the beginning of the year are based on where we expect
020kids to be placed. There was some shuffling, and we had a few more kids placed in a private school, so that meant more tuition rates. The second one is for the amount that we contract with the village. We share services for the transportation garage and maintenance. This year we're seeing higher costs that is being attributed to higher staffing needs and replacement parts for the aging fleet that we've discussed in the past. So that requires some more money moved into that line. The next is for the year-end salary cleanup. As you can see, most of the money is being moved from other salary codes. There's one code that's a contractual code. For the most part, it's just moving the salary lines from where we thought we would need it, and it's being shuffled over to another
021code. Then we have Medicare BND reimbursement. That is a contractual reimbursement that we pay to retirees as part of their health insurance in retirement. The rates are determined on a calendar year basis, so it appears the rates went up substantially, and with retirees, it exceeded what the original projections were. The final is to add some money for Medicare costs, which again is the employer portion of the Medicare, which based on the salary adjustments that we've already presented, that shows an increase in our costs for the employer portion. Then there's one transfer for the current year, which is for special ed contractual costs, which again... We start the year with an estimate of what services we think the kids will need and then this is to kind of hone in more on where the kids are
022actually placed and what services they're actually receiving. You kind of, you basically mentioned it, but I just wanted to highlight the budget transfer for transportation. That seems like a large number for the aging, is it basically the aging fleet needs a lot of maintenance? Yeah, we've been incurring quite a bit of overtime in particular. Before his retirement, our former head mechanic shared with me that we've been replacing transmissions for the first time in many years, and the amount of cost and labor associated with that just to keep the fleet running has been quite significant. So we're hoping that some new buses in the near future will help us kind of minimize that, but it's a concern of the age of the fleet. Thank you. Thank you so much, Lisa. Next item 7.03 would be the
023high school auditorium project. This is Andrew. I'm going to jump in before Andrew just to say this is exciting to get to this point, and I want to really thank Andrew for his laser-like focus on getting this over the finish line, along with the facilities team and our architect. But Andrew really got us to this point, and we'll see. Take it away. As always, thank you for the team recognition because it is a team issue. After a very lengthy review process, we are happy that this past week we received the approval to move forward from SED. It is an extraordinary long approval timeline right now for projects, and it certainly could have caused us some trouble. But we're happy to report that the bids that we first published in April have come back this week,
024and you will see on Resolution 8.03 the recommendation for three contractors. General contractor, electrical contractor, and mechanical contractor, the three prime trades, are being awarded this evening. As you recall, we were nervous about budgets and escalation costs and the timeline this has taken. So in the bids, there were quite a few alternates, meaning items that the district would have the ability, once the bids were received, to either add to or remove from the base contract in order for us to ensure that we could stay under budget if it became an issue. I'm happy to report. that the significant interest that we saw drove very competitive pricing. And we're lucky enough, we will be taking the ad alternates, all of them that were in the bids, which means we're going to get exactly what we originally
025designed, which is what we wanted to do. I will also highlight that we had talked at this board table about the asbestos abatement work. And I want to explain just very briefly about why we're going to do it the way we originally intended to do it, which is through the general contractor. We had hoped obviously to have SED approval of the project much earlier in July, which had we had that, we would have been able to through a cooperative. contract issued the purchase order for the abatement to start much sooner this summer. We didn't get that. So clearly the board's questions previously highlighted that by separating that contract out, it added complexity and could cause contractual issues if there was discrepancies or disagreements during the project. So we believe we've gotten a competitive price, and
026it is much more efficient for the general contractor to take that work on. So in... Alternate 1.6 for the GC. You'll see we have the asbestos payment included in there. All told, these three contracts plus the... cooperative purchasing agreement purchase order that we'll issue for this auditorium seats we are about a hundred thousand dollars below our construction cost estimates originally so that means that the contingency that we built into this project remains in place so as construction happens over the next few months if we incur any unforeseen conditions or we realize that the design we thought we wanted needs to be modified we will be able to do some of that work with those contingencies I'm very happy that in Resolution 8.03 we will have three contractors ready to go to complete this project. Very
027good news. Congratulations and thank you. We're here actually tonight because of this. And we're all happy to be here, I'm sure. Thank you all for coming this evening. This is very important, obviously, and we're happy to be here. It is wonderful news. Thank you. I want to just repeat Drew's... appreciation to you and your team for getting us here. This is great news. We were sweating a little bit. Okay, great. I had one question, Andrew. One of the topics we talked about previously, I don't remember which meeting, was the issue of whether to automate the side curtains for the acoustics treatment to make sure that the positioning was done correctly, the options are manual versus automated, and I know there was obviously a premium to automate them. It doesn't look like it's in here to
028be automated, or am I not just seeing it? Because I know that was a big number. I thought it was $350,000, so we want to... You're testing my memory of the drawings and specifications, and I wasn't here for the initial discussions. I don't recall. I believe they are electric motors. They are in. I believe so, yeah. So it's part of the base contract. Yep. So, okay, so there will not be an extra. I just want to make sure. Because I was just kind of reading through all the ad alternates, and I thought maybe there was – I was expecting to maybe see it. But if it's part of the base contract, that's why I wouldn't see it. Correct. That would make sense. I will confirm that and make sure that the information is shared. Because
029I think we did agree that we want to do the automation if at all possible. Yeah. And it looks like now it's certainly more feasible than if we were – That's right. The numbers were different. So that's all. Very good. Okay, thanks. Any other questions? Hi, Andrew. Thank you so much for your work. So as we discussed in our last meeting, is the timeline that you had originally... Hoped for still potentially going to happen the bid documents had that requirement so the contractors are prepared to Do all their work based on their contract award this evening? on Day shift until students effectively arrive back and then they will be working night shift With the anticipation that they have to staff the job Thank you, and have we found an alternate are we using an alternate
030space for any? Plays or concert prep or anything during that? Yes, so the fall theatrical performance is going to be at Iona Prep So we've got a contract in place through relationships there for the students to perform at Iona Prep this year. And I just have one more question. Do we know or when will we know do we have any state aid coming to us for this project or is that still part of the review that we just went through was a clarification on what scope of work will be deemed aidable and I think It'll be calculated based on final costs, right? So that won't be done until obviously the end of the project But there's been the only exclusion That I believe is on there Could have been the auditorium seats themselves But we
031actually one of the follow-up items I had earlier this week with SCD was to identify that they are over 50 years old they're deteriorated they're irreparable in many cases and That would deem that piece a table So we do anticipate to the maximum extent possible to get a building aid back on this project over a 15 year period I believe it is I don't have a question. I just I think it's an opportune time to just mention as we think about advocacy in the future. Correct me if I'm wrong on this, but one of the challenges that our district faces with the current aid, it's not foundation aid, but it's the building-based aid, is we get aid back based on construction costs that are really not in line with what we really face here in
032the Hudson Valley. That was my understanding from a few years ago. So I know that we're not, the state's not necessarily looking at the expense-based aids, but as we think about in the future, advocacy around foundation is in line with things that we are not necessarily, not just us, but everybody around this area are not receiving that. I think in foundation aid in particular, that's not related to this project, that's where the regional cost index that I think you might have on your mind really is a challenge for us because we're in a high-cost area. On the construction cost, they take our actual final costs and they apply our building aid ratio, and that building aid ratio is where we are receiving less than maybe some other districts because of our location and our population.
033I appreciate that clarification. So maybe if we think about, as a board administration, talking about the foundation aid, it's the regional cost index. Again, it doesn't just affect Scarsdale. It affects everyone in this region. Moving on to item 8, action items. Item 8.01, budget transfers. I believe this is Amber. Thanks, Susie. I move that the Board of Education approve the attached budget transfers that were presented earlier this evening Thank you, Amber. Can I have a second? Thank you, Bob. Any discussion? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed or abstentions? Motion carries. Thank you. Item 8.02, proposed new textbooks. And this item is Leah. I move that the Board of Education adopt the following resolution. Resolved that the Board of Education approves the attached proposed new high school textbooks as presented. And I
034have a second. Thank you, Ron. Any discussion? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed or abstentions? Motion carries. Item 8.03, the high school auditorium bid and recommendation. I believe this one is... Thanks, Susie. I move that the Board of Education accepts the bid awards for the high school auditorium project as presented. Can I have a second? Leah, thank you. Any discussion? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Item nine, gifts. Yes. I move that the Board of Education accepts with thanks the Quaker Ridge Teacher Innovation Grant of $5,000. to purchase the materials listed in the attached documents. Thank you, Bob. Can I have a second? Thank you, Amber. Any discussion? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed or abstentions? Motion carries with thanks to
035the Quaker Ridge PTA. Next, we will be moving to public comment. This is our second public comment session of the meet. I read the preamble earlier that members of the public are cordially invited to speak on district related items or other non-personnel related matters during two public separate public comment periods I won't read the whole preamble again as I read would anybody in the audience like to make a public comment this evening we go to zoom there yes Susie there is an attendee on zoom who would like to make a public comment I think we would caution the attendee who will soon be elevating as panelists to mute the live stream and turn on their video. If you could put on your video so we could see you, that would be great. And unmute yourself.
036Sorry, I'm having some complications here. How do I mute the live stream? It sounds like you have muted it. Otherwise, we'd be hearing you. Okay, so it's all good on your end? Yeah, may I begin All right. First, I wanted to thank the board for allowing this to happen and allowing members of the community to speak freely during public comment. My name is Arun Nayakar. I'm an incoming junior here at Scarsville High School. And I'm here today representing the South Asian Students for Justice, an organization that I, along with other Scarsville students, founded last summer, as well as the entire AAPI community in Scarsville to discuss an issue that resonates deeply within all of us. and that is representation. So while we make up just 17% of the population in Scarsdale, we believe obviously that
037our voice and representation matters just as much as anyone else's. And many students and parents have expressed concern specifically with our representation in the school's curriculum and through various things like courses from the elementary to the high school level. Now, this year was the first year that the school is recognized and accommodated for holidays such as Diwali, Eid, and Lunar New Year, but we believe that the school's strides toward diversity, equity, and inclusion should not simply stop at the calendar. Rather, we should look to see where improvements can be made in every aspect of the school to represent minority students and make everyone feel welcome equally. Now, I speak for many students when I say that we are in no way criticizing the school or the curriculum that our teachers offer. And we recognize how
038difficult it may be to change and adapt and expand in accordance with our DEI mission. However, we feel that this is something that needs to be addressed due to the lack of misunderstanding many students have about AAPI history, as well as the sentiments of some AAPI students, myself included, who feel that they don't belong due to how little their history is talked about beyond just surface level lessons. Now, a lack of representation not only marginalizes the experiences of many. in across AAPI history but also deprives all students of a fuller understanding of our collective history both in the states and beyond. And if we consider the current state of our curriculum I ask how many of our students have learned about the contributions of AAPI individuals in the United States and across the world beyond
039just a brief mention of things like the Chinese Exclusion Act or the Japanese American internment during World War II. Now, we say that these are important events for sure, but they are not the totality of all AAPI experiences. For example, the Supreme Court case Tape v. Hurley, which predated Brown v. Board of Education, was a very pivotal moment in the fight for educational equality. It remains largely untaught and unaddressed in many classrooms in the school. And such omissions contribute to the perception of this model minority myth and ignore the varied and rich histories of Southeast Asian South Asian, East Asian, and Pacific Islander communities. Now we offer to address this gap. We understand that the school cannot simply change the entire curriculum. However, we wanted to create conversation around this topic and urge the board
040to consider either launching a pilot program at the school that integrates AAPI perspectives through something like an elective or pushing teachers to include lessons on more diverse topics. This could begin with the introduction of literature by AAPI authors, English classes, alongside works from other minority groups. In history classes, we should include a broader range of topics, such as the contributions of AAPI individuals in things like the Civil Rights Movement and other significant historical events that are intrinsic to our identity as Americans. In conclusion, including AFK histories and experiences is not just about adding content. It is about recognizing the full scope of our nation's story and the stories of many around the world and ensuring that every student sees themselves reflected in what they learn. And by doing so, we take a crucial step toward
041creating a more inclusive and equitable educational environment for all students and faculty. Thank you. Anybody else on Zoom? There is no one else on Zoom. close this public comment period and go to follow up to public comment. Drew, would you like to make a comment? Very much appreciate our student sharing his thoughts with us about this, you know, an important topic, especially in the summer, especially on a Monday night like this. I do know we do have ongoing conversations related to that topic. I don't know, Edgar, if you want to say a few words about that. I appreciated all of his comments. thank you yes i just wanted to um you know add as well that i appreciated um arwen's comment tonight um that we always appreciate hearing from our students especially and um and
042this goes to our our continued mission to um you know not only promote our our wide initiative but uh you know to to promote a feeling of inclusion and wellness in our in our schools so thank you And one of the things that he said that I think is really important is that it isn't just about certain topics in history that are often covered, but looking across all of the different contributions and representation and wider representation of different perspectives within different communities. That conversation. Okay. And I guess now we are at wrap-up items. Do we have any? So I did thanks to modern technology check with the architects on Bob's question and the add alternate for the motorized curtains was not part of the bed spec so the manual curtains are what's included and that's
043what the architectural design is around is the manual operation of those curtains. Can I ask a question? If we don't have to use the contingency and we stay at the current budget is there a Is there a way to add that? Is there a timing where we will know how the construction is going to be able to add that if the board wanted it? I don't know certainly. I would be concerned about meeting our timeline and having a redesign for the electrician and for the architect to properly implement that. So that would be a concern I have. I can certainly ask the question. You know, picking up on what Ron is saying, I think... Unfortunately, going from the manual to the electric is much more complicated than going from the electric to the manual because
044as you are dissembling the space, it would require extensive electrical conduit to be hidden and included and cabling and the wiring to allow that to happen. It just realistically cannot happen after the fact. I mean, it could, but it would literally mean perhaps ripping out things that are finished, which clearly we don't want to do. So I would suggest we hone in on making that decision sooner than later. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I do believe we were leaning towards feeling that we did want to have it automated. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's the way I left the meeting. that initially they didn't think it was necessarily required or it isn't required but necessary. But I think when the consultant came back, I felt he was validating that there was some. It
045made sense to seriously consider having an automated. Yeah. And if others just heard it differently. I went back to my notes from the January meeting that the Auditorium Committee had, right, and it was an unresolved question, but I think my recollection is we had a discussion at that meeting where there were other things contemplated prior to my arrival in the bond discussion of things that may have been a higher priority. because of the value similar value to this item were not included in the base bit the decision was made not to include those items and to now add that after the fact it would question whether or not that was the next priority for a dollar value about $300,000 I mean not not you know I Not to make this more complicated than it needs
046to be, I think, speaking just for myself here, I believe a high priority is to improve the acoustics. I don't know whether anyone would argue with that. You might even argue it is one of the highest, if not the highest. Obviously, we want the infrastructure to be comfortable and safe, no question about that. But from a technical point of view, I think we need to think hard about that because if doing it manually is not a successful effort on our part, and I'm not saying it can't be successful, but it seems more complicated because you need the training. continually can't be people that are there and graduate and then there's no one there to do it or whatever all of which is achievable of course I mean to have that training even though it's complicated
047I think it behooves us to decide now particularly to be honest now that we've gotten the numbers I think if the numbers were stretching our our ability to do that would be one thing but it sounds like we're within that area where there could be funds. So hypothetically speaking, we haven't done the demolition yet. So at best case, by September, we might know if that contingency number that's available holds. If we were to make this decision in September, I think we would significantly jeopardize the completion of the project in January. It's my thought. I would also just... Thinking back to that conversation, auditorium rake, the rake of the seating, was another one we talked about as an example, as was we had much conversation well after the fact on the size of the dressing rooms
048and the configuration of the dressing rooms. So I think to make the decision I think would warrant a much more prolonged conversation with much more engagement than I think at this point. To have those discussions might jeopardize the timeline that we've committed to. And now that we're awarding these contracts, the timeline is in the contract. So if we hold it up, it's not the contractor's fault, it's ours. I totally agree that we're not trying to obviously disrupt that. I guess I would personally feel comfortable speaking with the – now that we've selected our contractor and construction manager, I would like – to ask the question, should we decide that we want to add this into the contract? What is the drop-dead date to not affect the schedule? And they may say it's already too late,
049in which case we have that information. I don't think any of us here are at a point where we know that for sure. I agree. It's a question, and they could look at that schedule and say, if we know by September 1st. We can do it or not. So I guess I would like to hear that at some point. Would this added scope of work require going back to SED and getting approval again? I will have to find out. I don't know. Because that would basically, given the time. If it was not contemplated in the drawings that were reviewed and approved, then the answer is yes, we would probably need to go back to SED. If it was contemplated but just not included in the bid, then that may be a different answer. So I
050have to have a pretty robust conversation with the architect, and I'll have that tomorrow. Yeah, some of this discussion was done in the auditorium bond committee and not really discussed at the full board table. So some of this is a little ahead, to be quite honest with you. So I appreciate the meeting dates for the coming month. This is Jim. Yeah, thanks, Susie. So looking forward, we have a meeting on Monday. August 26th at 6 p.m. here at Room 170-172. There's a meeting next Monday after that, September 9th, 2024. That will include a special meeting or executive session, if needed, at 5.30, and a business meeting at 6.30, again here at Room 170-172. After that is a meeting coming Monday, September 23rd, 2024. That will include a special meeting with a designated group that would
051be the STA at 5 p.m. That will take place in the high school learning commons There will be a special meeting or executive session if needed at 6 p.m. Here at room 170 172 and finally a business meeting will take place at 6 30 p.m. On that day here in room 170 172 Thank You Jim Last item would be to adjourn. Would anybody like to make a motion to adjourn this meeting tonight? Thank you, Amber. Can I have a second? Thank you, Leah. Any discussion? All those in favor, please say aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Have a good night, everybody.