BOE Business Meeting 2022-5-9

001(bright music) [ Good evening and welcome to everybody, friends and family. And of course, to our honorees tonight. We haven't had a packed house like this in a long time. It's really excellent to see everybody. And please, please make yourself comfortable, as comfortable as you can. Well, good evening to everyone assembled and to those watching along at home. As many of you know, the first week in May is celebrated annually as Teacher Appreciation Week. And this week on Wednesday, May 11th, we celebrate National School Nurse Day. I'd like to start this evening by taking a moment to acknowledge the incredible work of every one of our teachers and nurses. And of course, alongside them are the hundreds of colleagues working in and out of the classrooms in supporting roles, who along with our teachers and

002nurses make the Scarsdale schools such special places for children to learn and to grow. As I wrote to the faculty and staff at the end of last week, what you do, how you do it, and why, is noticed and deeply appreciated. Your work is essential to enabling the children in your care to reach for their full potential. Of course, many members of our school community also expressed their appreciation last week. And I think I can speak for the faculty and staff in expressing thanks for the gestures of support and gratitude curated by our PTA partners, not just last week, but throughout the entire school year. Thank you. This evening we are also celebrating 10 teachers and two administrators who are marking a very special milestone as they're being recommended for tenure. Achieving tenure is a

003significant accomplishment in the career of an educator. The action that will take place tonight, the conferral of tenure, cannot happen before a teacher, counselor or administrator successfully completes a trial or probationary period of employment. The quality and effectiveness of a probationary educator's performance is gauged against professional standards. In Scarsdale, we use the multidimensional Principal Performance Rubric to evaluate our administrators and Charlotte Danielson's "Framework For Teaching" to guide our teacher evaluation process. The Danielson Framework describes effective practice across the domains of planning and preparation, the classroom environment, instruction, and the area of professional responsibilities. Our appraisal system relies on a wide variety of inputs to inform a decision to recommend tenure, including multiple formal clinical observations annually, inclusive of a discussion, reflection, written report conducted by supervisors. For administrators, these observations include school visits and or

004observations of meetings. An observation by an assistant superintendent or director. Numerous informal drop-in observations by supervisors and evaluators. Formal and informal mentoring. A year end conference, written appraisal assessment of progress, and rating each year. (voice echoes) A portfolio of artifacts. Give it a second. A portfolio of artifacts, (echoing ends) documenting professional practice with written commentary and reflection by the teacher. Feedback from parents and other parts of the school community and an administrative review panel attended by district administrators, building administrators, supervisors, and Board of Education members each year. We believe that the rigors of the tenure process are commensurate with the importance of the achievement. The work of supervision and evaluation is ongoing and is essential to the continuous development of all educators. We also believe in the importance of career long reflective practice. The portfolio

005reflections written by tenure candidates speak volumes about their commitment to this reflective practice. Their words better than mine characterize the quality of talent we have in our schools. Notably, several of these reflections include thoughts on the pandemic's impact on teaching and learning. And I'm gonna share some of those reflections without attribution to preserve the privacy of folks. So one of the questions we pose is a brief one, but it's complex in it's simplicity. "Why do you teach?" One of our tenure candidates tonight responded: "I teach because I believe there isn't a more rewarding occupation than one can give children the confidence to become anything they desire in life. Once my students have confidence in themselves, this will enable them to strive for and accomplish any goals they set for themselves. As a teacher, I get

006to help my students achieve their goals daily. Every day, I have the chance to inspire a child and I do not take that opportunity lightly. The lessons I teach have a distinct purpose to allow my students to learn through discovery." Another teacher wrote: "When beginning to write this reflection on why I teach I decided to look back at my first year of submission. Just out of curiosity, I decided to look at the revision history of that earlier document. The last edited date was February 26th, 2020, just a few days before we closed in March of 2020. In the two years that have elapsed, my work looks drastically different. 'Why I teach' however, remains the same. The primary purpose of teaching is to show one's love for learning and to grow through one's work while supporting

007others to learn and grow in turn. I've done that during my time as a member of the Scarsdale community." We also ask faculty to describe how they create a culture and climate for learning. This question was asked and answered by some of our candidates last year, during hybrid learning. This response was particularly poignant: "This year, my student's happiness was my motivation for growth. Faced with the pandemic, our students were asked to navigate technology and rely on executive functioning skills that are still developing, all of this while mourning the loss of pure interactions and grappling with increasing academic demands. I attempted to be a constant for those students who I've worked with over the past three years. I found that in order to do this, I needed to not only show up, but also rise up.

008I greeted all of my students at their classrooms to make a connection. I made sure they could see my smile, hear my laugh and feel success. Even on the darkest days they needed to feel safe and heard. That meant making time for check-ins and small talks in our session. It meant reaching out to families to evaluate what was needed at home, and making my students feel that behind the mask, there were people rooting for them here at school." Finally, we seek candidates reflections on their own professional growth and lifelong learning. I'll share two excerpts to this question. The first: "What I did not know in my first year of 2018/19 was what an unpredictable few years would follow." I think we could all say that. (laughing) "All thanks to the COVID 19 pandemic. I did

009not foresee how a global health crisis would upend all of our careers and force us to be even more flexible, creative, and present for our students. As unimaginable as this pandemic has been, it has inevitably played a large role in shaping me into the teacher I am today and strengthening my previously held beliefs about what it means to be an educator and a colleague. Quite frankly, I'm a better teacher because of it." And a second reflection: "On a personal note, I continue to foster my own growth by taking advantage of opportunities around me. Over the summer, I took STI classes about the LATI classroom and supporting students with anxiety. Last spring, I participated in 'The Skillful Teacher", which helped me develop checklists so students clearly knew expectations for assignments or activities. When we were teaching

010remotely, I took numerous STI classes to try new technology and hear from other teachers about how to best support students during the pandemic. This fall, I began a Master's degree, pushing myself to learn about how schools work from the top down. Whether remote or in person, I continue to make connections with my colleagues, receiving advice and learning from those who've been in the Scarsdale Schools much longer than me. I'm always looking for new opportunities, whether for my own progress or so I can better support my students." Whew. Those are powerful reflections. I think these reflections serve to demonstrate the level of practice and professionalism, care and commitment, exhibited by our teachers. So it's my absolute pleasure to introduce, without reservation, the teachers recommended for tenure. So I'll ask Karen and Amber to go up and

011distribute a flower to each of our candidates as they come up. And if possible, we'll ask everyone to begin to form a line so that Michelle Verna who's back there, can maybe take a picture of the Tenure Class if that's okay? And I'm gonna announce names alphabetically by school, starting with the elementary level, okay? So our first tenure candidate tonight, from Edgewood, in the tenure area of Music, Jennifer Giustino. (applause) Also from Edgewood, in the tenure area of Remedial Speech, Jill Rappaport. (applause) On to Quaker Ridge in the area of General Special Education, Christin Palladino. (applause) Also from Quaker Ridge, also in the General Special Education Tenure tenure area, Shannon Smith. (applause) Also from Quaker Ridge, in the area of Physical Education, Caitlin Nolan. (applause) Not here? That's fine. From Scarsdale Middle School in the

012Science tenure area, Talya Holtzer. (applause) Also from Scarsdale Middle School, a colleague in the science department, in the Science tenure area, Benjamin Turner. (applause) From Scarsdale High School in the tenure area of English, Kimberly Summerfield. (applause) (low cheering) Also from Scarsdale High School in the General Special Education tenure area, Meredith Dutra, (applause) And a districtwide colleague of ours in the tenure area of School Psychology, Shana Gliksman. (applause) And if you can hang tight for just a second, it's also my privilege to recognize two extraordinary leaders this evening. Chris Welsh serves as one of the trio of Assistant Principals at Scarsdale High School. (applause) And I would just add that in a very short time, Chris has established himself as a trusted, highly capable, deeply committed leader who has among other things, helped Scarsdale High School

013navigate the intricacies of remote and hybrid learning over the course of the pandemic. So congratulations, Chris. And last, but certainly not least, is my colleague and friend Dr. Edgar McIntosh. (low cheers) (applause) Over the past four years, Edgar's led some very challenging work in the area of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment, and throughout, he's kept the needs of students at the forefront while never forgetting what it means to be a teacher in a classroom with all the myriad responsibilities. He's gained the trust of our educators and reaches decisions through respectful discourse and dialogue. Congratulations, Edgar. (applause) Maybe Michelle will get a picture? Hi, everyone look at me. Smile like you're expecting something. (laughing) Thank you. Yay! (applause) (chuckling) Congratulations everyone. (indistinct chatter) Yes, sir. (soft applause) We do have an action item here on the agenda.

014I'll turn it back to Karen. Okay. So I believe it's over to Carl actually, yeah. Carl? Okay. "I move that, based on the satisfactory completion of the probationary period, the Board approve the recommendation of the Superintendent to confer tenure to the individuals just listed." Is there a second? Yes. Second. Any discussion? That was the most seconds we've ever had! (laughing) Take note. We're all very happy! All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? No. Motion passes. Congratulations! (applause) (indistinct chatter) (chuckling) (laughing) Hooray! (applause) Just before we recess this part of our meeting tonight, I also just want to, on behalf of the Board extend our serious congratulations to all of you who've just attained tenure. And we know receiving tenure is a significant achievement and involves a lengthy process that is rigorous, comprehensive, and thoughtful. We are

015so fortunate to have so many talented and dedicated professionals, like all of you, who are passionate about education, and work so hard every day on behalf of our students to ensure that they have excellent educational experiences and outcomes. A heartfelt thank you for your commitment to them and to our schools. Thanks so much. (applause) Congratulations. And unless you want to stay for our budget hearing, statutory budget hearing, we invite you to continue with your evening at home. Thanks again. (people chattering) (laughing) Take care! (indistinct chatter) Okay, bye-bye. (door closes) So, can I have a motion from the Board to move us to the Statutory Budget Hearing? So moved. Or seconded. Second. Okay. So first by Jessica, second by Carl. All in favor? Aye! Okay, so now we'll move to Item 3, Statutory Budget Hearing and

016Stuart will lead us through the first part. I sure will. Yep. So this is a Statutory Budget Hearing. We do this every time at this year. It sort of puts the bow on the budget before it goes forth to the District residents for the vote on the third Tuesday of each May. So it's generally just a general overview. So just a reminder, this proposed budget for next school year is slightly over 173 million 173,291,393. That's a 3.85% increase resulting in a 3.45% levy increase, which is five basis points or about $75,000 beneath the tax levy limit. Translates into tax rate increases of 2.43% for the town of Scarsdale, and 3.68% from the town of Mamaroneck, difference due to equalization rate changes. In any given year this can change slightly skewing the tax rates between. The

017budget plan for next year. This lays out the expenditures that we just talked about. The 173,291. Again, about $6.4 million increase year to year on the budget. Our other revenues are up about $1.45 million year to year. Transfer from Reserves pretty stable. And then Assigned Fund balance 1.925 million. $700,000, actually $500,000 of that is due to the contingency budget on a total tax levy, about 3.4, not about 3.45% on the total tax levy, year to year. And again, what does this budget accomplish? Maintains high quality teaching and learning consistent with the Strategic Plan; ensures our staffing levels are consistent with current and historical philosophies and community expectations; continues to enrich our classrooms and school libraries through the purposeful infusion of high interest, diverse and engaging fiction and non-fiction texts; elevates District focus on the social

018emotional support of students. If you recall, this proposed budget does include additional staff to address some of those concerns? Advances in-District instructional opportunities for students with disabilities; provides a coding experience for all 6th grade students. Again, adds FTE at the Middle School in support of that. Provides materials and curriculum resources to introduce a research base and exemplary elementary math program; supports all areas of the arts through visiting artists and to share the expertise and inspire the students; supports the important continued study and development of DEI initiatives; improves the Wireless Connectivity and Communication Systems. We have money in the budget, about $125,000, for the study of all of our wifi across the District, identify trouble spots and includes a certain set of funds to address some of those issues. And it'll also give us a roadmap

019to continue to address those issues in the future. Improves and upgrades facilities as well. This slide just shows our timeline from when we started back in November, if you recall, we actually even started internally much before that. And then we started having our Community and Board discussions back in November, leading up to where we are now. And if you go to the next slide, Jerry? The big day is May 17th next Tuesday 7:00 AM to 9:00 PM. We're back into Middle School, which is great to be back at our normal spot, if you will. Definitely a lot more space over there and parking and all of that will be much easier. And that is it. Great. Thank you so much. So now we'll move to item 3.02, which is the public comment period. At this

020time, members of the public are invited to speak only on matters related to the 2022/2023 proposed budget. There will be opportunities to speak on agenda or other non personnel related matters during our business meeting a little bit later this evening. Wanted to add one extra thing. Oh, sorry Stuart. And I forgot. Yep, go ahead. Yeah, so based on our meeting last week, the Board of Education on Thursday, the auditors did mention about the $841,000. So we did not plan on that and our are always just an estimate and a projection. So, if we do not receive that money back from the IRS by that time, it will impact our ending fund balance, whatever that may be at that point in time. If that money does come back to us at some point, then that would

021go back into our total fund balance. Okay. But it could very possibly be at June 30, it could impact our fund balance when we look at those numbers. Okay. And that would be actually as of the come and do our audit. So that would be sometime in the early fall. Great. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you for that additional comment. So, as I said, if anyone from the audience would like to come to the microphone to speak right now? If not, we will turn to any remote participants we have at this time? We have one hand raised. Okay. Give me one second. That's coming. Okay. Hi, Myra. Hi, good evening. Thank you very much. Myra Kirkandal Rodriguez, Fox Meadow Road. Thank you very much for holding this meeting. I just wanted to clarify a couple of

022things related to this proposed budget. At one point, Mr. Mattey, you were speaking a little bit and then unfortunately you got cut out. So, I just wanna make sure I understood correctly. So on April 6th, the district paid 843,000 to the IRS. So this has been reduced from the fund balance in 2021/2022 budget, is that correct? So, for the 22/23 proposed budget, just would you kindly let us know what exactly is the fund to go and subtract $843,000? And then in April, the District had said it would book the penalties as a receivable and that the auditors had said this was acceptable. So I just wanna make sure was this booked as a receivable or not in the 21/22 budget? Or is this still up for debate? I did listen to the special May 5th

023meeting several times and I could not hear where the auditors had stated if the penalties had been booked as a receivable or not. So I would really appreciate a clarification if it's possible? Thank you very much, Myra, Any other hands raised? Nobody else is on right now only, no, that's just Myra returning to us. Okay. Are you comfortable giving clarification? Okay, okay. Sure. And I'll ask Jeff to step in if you wanna add some color, but I'll start. Okay. So $843,000. It would not effect or does not impact the 22/23 budget. The budget that's put forth to the voters next Tuesday. The $843,000, we did not account for that in the estimated expenditures for 21/22, so that would impact the projected fund balance. If we do not receive it, not only by June 30, but

024by the time the auditors arrive, if it's not received then that overall fund balance would be decreased because the estimated expenditures would've increased. If that makes sense? If we do then receive that 843 at some point, then it'll basically just reverse that transaction. Correct? Yeah. Okay, I guess just for other clarification. So it is booked as an expenditure right now. And if it's received before the auditor's exit, which is probably the September or October timeframe, it would be booked as a receivable as of June 30th. If that were to happen it would have no fund balance impact. But if it's not received, because it will not be received in the period that's reporting, it will not be booked as an accounts receivable. And if it is booked as an accounts receivable it'll be fully allowed,

025which basically means that it's still an expense. I hope that clarifies? Thanks. Anybody else. Are we good? Okay. Thank you very much, Jeff and Stuart for that clarification. Appreciate it. Is it worth reiterating? 'Cause there was some question, I think the way Myra's question, she referred to the 22/23 budget, and I know Stuart said it, but what she said was something about fund balance in 22/23 budget. But the fund balance is really not part of the budget. The budget is our estimate that we're asking the community to approve of income and expenses during the year July 1st, 2022 to June 30th, 2023. And those income and expenses, and that budget estimate, is just as accurate today, subject to any modifications we intentionally made, as it was before we knew about the IRS penalty, right? Correct.

026In even more detail, it's really just the expenses budget that individuals will be voting on the third Tuesday. The revenues are in support of that. Right. But yes, the fund balance is completely separate from what the vote will be. The 843 does not impact the 22/23 budget. Okay, thank you. Okay. Okay? All right, so now may I have a motion to move to our Audit Committee Meeting? So moved. Second? Second. Okay. All in favor? Aye. Okay. Now we are conducting the Audit Committee Meeting. I will note that all Board members are in attendance. They comprise the Audit Committee and if I could, under Item 4.02, have a motion to appoint our secretary pro temp, who is Amber. So moved. Second? Second. Okay. All in favor? Aye. Okay. So we are here as stated at our

027April 4th Board Meeting, the Board has called for an audit of the District's payroll tax processes, including a review of internal controls. As part of this process, we asked our current internal auditors, Cullen & Danowski to prepare a draft proposal for us. At our April 24th Audit Committee Meeting the Board reviewed and discussed this draft proposal as a potential option as we determine how best to conduct a review. And this evening we will continue that discussion of the draft proposal, which has been updated to include comparisons of 941 filings to actual payments and calendar year end reporting to the IRS, which was an additional request at our Board meeting on April 24th. At our Audit Committee Meeting, I apologize, on April 24th. So at this time I open it up to the Board, to members

028of the Audit Committee to hear their thoughts on the internal audit that has been proposed. Well, I'll make a few quick observations. First of all, I think this is an important step and I support taking it. I wanna clarify, I think it's worth clarifying, because we have gotten some feedback questioning using our current internal auditors versus somebody else. I think they had, as I understand it and certainly in the last few years that I've been on the Board, they did not audit the pay for all processes. So this isn't something where I feel a concern that they recently undertook an evaluation and didn't note issues that then came to fruition. So I think using them, I don't really don't have a concern about that. And I think it's the most expeditious way to get some

029immediate feedback, and efficient because they're familiar with the District. That having been said, I think I mentioned it before, I think this is one part of an overall look that the Board is and is going to be taking at some of these processes, not only not just who we use, but how often we ask them to audit different areas of the administration. So, I'm certainly supportive of taking the step but I do think that it's a first step into what'll be a deeper inquiry into how we evaluate these things going forward to try and prevent anything in the future. Well, I don't disagree with any of that. I do believe that Cullen & Danowski has in past reports indicated they're looking at aspects of payroll, not payroll withholding tax, which is what our specific problem

030has been recently. I mean, if you go back and look at some of their prior audit reports, there are aspects of payroll they looked into that I think were different aspects of payroll, but I wanna make sure we're clear about that. My concern is simply this, I have no reason to believe Cullen & Danowski missed something. I know that payroll withholding tax was not in their audit scope in the audits they did do. My concern, and this is reflected in, I think, best practices generally when it comes to auditing firms and internal auditing firms is that sometimes through the passage of time, auditors get too comfortable with sort of the customer as it were, the client. Not suggesting anything nefarious, simply saying that they kind of form relationships and sometimes they don't look with as

031keen an eye as they do when they're starting out afresh, with a fresh set of eyes, looking at something without any relationships coloring anything. Again, I'm not suggesting wrongdoing or anything corrupt or anything like that. This is just simply a best practice that auditing firms employ. Companies switch auditors. I think the SCC requires registered companies to switch auditors every couple of years, partly for that reason, and I don't know that there's anything that requires a school board to do it, but my own view would be that I'd be more comfortable securing a different internal auditing firm to do this work, given where we are. I'm not saying that, I'm not trying to validate criticism. I don't believe criticism specifically of Cullen & Danowski is necessarily warranted. I just think it's the best practice and one

032in the circumstances, it might behoove us to do. Other thoughts? I just wanna clarify. I think we should, I said not, in my comments, I said not only who we use, but the types of things they do. So I don't necessarily envision using them indefinitely, whether we use 'em for this project. I mean, I'm okay with it, but if we wanna, because I think some expediency is necessary, but I wouldn't end it there by any stretch. I'll share my thoughts. I think Carl's point about doing this in an expedited manner is important. I think this internal audit's important and getting the feedback. Having said that, I think the benefits that Jim talked about and bringing in a different internal auditing firm for this item are important and I would lean towards wanting to bring in

033a third party auditing firm for this. There are a number of other auditing firms that do internal audits for school districts around Westchester. So there are firms out there that are very familiar with this, very familiar with Westchester. So obviously this would delay the internal audit by a little bit, and that I do think that is a downside. I just think the benefits of a, for this item again, I agree with what Jim said. I'm not speaking about all the other work that Cullen & Danowski has done for this district, and we're gonna be talking about some of their reports later, but for this particular item, I think there would be benefits to a different firm looking at it. Can I ask, I don't know who? What does the process look like in terms of

034engaging a third party firm at this point and would you have an RFP? We'd have to do, really need to do an RFP. Yep. Okay. And what is the timeline on something like that? I mean, it's not a competitive bid. We would send it out to known firms that do the work and wait for proposals. Couple of weeks, three weeks? Okay. So the RFP could go out this week and then it would take- This week, I mean, it might be tight with everything else going on. Okay. But certainly by early next week. Okay. And then usually hear back from them then? Depends on the timeline. Probably, you'd wanna give them a little bit of time, Other thoughts? I'm very torn between the points that Jim made regarding having an outside, a new out a new

035third party auditor come in, and the points that Carl made around doing this in an expedited manner. I think that having an audit done, it sounds like, possibly not until close to the end of the school year with a new firm would be a concern for me. And I guess I wonder if there is a way to both use Cullen & Danowski in the short term, possibly have different practitioners from Cullen & Danowski who have not worked with the district in the past conduct the audit. And then for the longer range, certainly, embrace best practices by rotating who we are using as external auditors going forward. With the understanding that we might wanna review this function again in the near term. Yeah, I would like to add, I have been in touch with Cullen because

036I've been asking what's the status. So the gentleman that was here last meeting was one of the principals, Don, said that he would actually be on site, planning to be on site. And I don't recall Don being on site since I've been here. I don't know if Jeff ever? No. So that, as far as a different set of eyes. Richard Coffey, who's the other gentleman, has always been here and if anything, becomes more familiar with the routines and everything, and I certainly get Jim's and Ron's point for sure. Okay. But that would be someone different in this case. You know, hearing sort of both sides of the discussion on timing, I personally would weigh in on, because of the very limited scope of investigation, my personal bias is to expedite this as absolutely quickly as

037possible so that we can have all the information we need to move forward on the bigger picture. So while I think in a perfect world, if time were not of the essence, perhaps a month would not be such a critical timeframe. But I think under the circumstances, I am not comfortable waiting till the end of May to start this investigation. I'd like it done in a week, which I think is feasible using this group. And we can then revisit the notion of who's doing what for the longer term, but that's my personal bias. I think that Jessica articulated what I was thinking in terms of, I see the value in bringing in a new firm versus getting this done quickly. And I too lean towards getting this done quickly, especially given the limited scope. I

038would like this done as soon as possible and I think this Audit Committee has a limited charge, but we're also the Board and there's a number of items we're dealing with, and to delay addressing these issues, not doing this audit, waiting until potentially the end of June to get the results, I'd rather not. I'd rather move forward quickly. Just wanna be clear on one thing. Cullen & Danowski's own proposal states that they will not be completed till June 30th. Okay, so then I think that even drives me more towards moving forward. Yeah! No, no, thank you. You gonna get it in a week. It's not gonna happen in a week. I think that's fine. But I think that if we have to put out an RFP and we would assume that another firm would take,

039would start three or four weeks later, to me then we're not getting it done until the end of July. So that we've lost two of our Board members at that point. So, I'm gonna slightly argue against myself. Sorry! Sorry! But I mean, I, so the timing is... The there's a lot, we have a lot going on, right? Different issues that we're thinking about, I think with the audit. So let me just clarify. This specific item that we're talking about is actually only going to verify that there were essentially that the right amounts were paid at the right times. And I wanna make sure I'm saying this correctly, so Stuart or anybody cut me out. The right amounts were paid at the right times in the last, I think it was two years or so, other

040than the issues that we know about. Is that a fair assessment? Anybody? (laughs) I mean, to me and that's part of it, right? Okay. Yeah, I think for me in the business office and what I always preach is any of these audits, we use them as consults, right. Help us identify things that we could do better. So for me, not only any glaring mistakes we wanna know about, but how can we do things better so this doesn't happen again? Give us the best practices. What are we missing? That's what I would want to get out of this audit and every audit. Okay. I believe that's in the scope of work as well. Yeah, it is. It is. I'm sorry I understated it, because of course I didn't have it open on my screen. Yeah. I

041mean, I'd like to see this done. I would actually, for myself as you, as the next, as we have more things coming up in the next couple months in July and August, September, and you look at another auditor, et cetera. I would see no problem actually having them do this, some of this again, having even, and I'm not looking to spend money, but having another set of eyes on an issue. So, I think I'm still weighing, like, just get some information, let's get some feedback on this. And then if we wanna have yet more feedback, I think that would be actually possible on maybe a slightly different basis or however we wanna do that. But I think it's worth trying to get this done now. I mean, I know they said June 30th, I kind

042of would hope they would do it sooner, but I guess it would depend on what else is going on here as well as for them? How long has Cullen & Danowski been our internal auditor? Eight or nine- Since before I got here yep. Eight or nine years I believe? Yep. So I'm hearing four. I think I'm hearing that four Board members are in favor of expediency here? I guess I would like to just clarify who is doing the audit? It's Don who does intend to do our audits. Is that what you're... My communication with them so far has been, they're wondering about the status. And I said it's going to the Audit Committee this evening. In advance of that they sent me a list of items that they would want right away. So we would,

043we plan on getting that to them if this goes forward by the end of the day on Wednesday. And then Don and another audit member team member would be here on Monday. In the meantime, they would review all of those items and then do interviews and meet with members of the staff all during the day on that Monday. Okay. I'm not sure what the plan would be after that at this point. Okay. So, I will, based upon that a Board majority is, I will keep this on as a action item and we will discuss it again when we get down to our action item and take a vote on it. Yeah? Just wanna clarification on the agenda. When I updated the audit, the updated audit went onto the information item. It's still the draft item

044on the action item. So when you vote on it, you should just make sure that it's voting Oh, I should, okay. On the amended version. So before we even, it has been finalized, but are there any additional comments on that draft proposal? I mean, on the proposal as it stands right now? I just have a minor comment. I don't still personally support doing this, but if we're going to, the final bullet on the first page, it says, "discuss findings with the District administration and develop recommendations," et cetera. I would suggest it say, "discuss findings with the District administration and Audit Committee." Okay. It's not my proposal, Right, no okay. To make that suggestion. (chuckles) Okay well, so when we take a vote, we'll say, "as amended." It certainly makes sense. (indistinct) Everybody okay with that?

045Yeah. Sure. Yeah. Yes. Okay. So now we'll move to Item 404, the Corrective Action Plans. And Stuart? Right, so after each audit that is completed, the district is required to prepare a corrective action plan, whether it's an internal audit, external audit, or even the comptroller's audit that's ongoing at the moment. Once that CAP or Corrective Action Plan is developed, we bring it to the Audit Committee and then the Board of Education for approval. Once it's approved, we have to submit it to the state. It's submitted to the state through a, I would say a very, my opinion, probably some others as well, very clumsy sort of portal that's not real clear about what year is what year, and. So, trying to catch up a little bit, we historically, they have not made many comments. They're

046starting to do that, which is great I think, because they probably have increased their staffing levels. So we're getting more feedback on those. So we had some feedback that they want some more detailed information as far as, you know, instead of saying during the course of the year in 21/22, or by the end of the year they would want to know by May 15th and more clarification on actually what we're doing. So, I've gone ahead and updated those and trying to catch up a little bit. So it's a little bit more of housekeeping, but it's also is good for me to go back and revisit them. Because if you recall in internal audits, they will, at the end of them, they'll update and say where are we in that progress. Now, honestly, over the last

047couple years with the pandemic, it's been difficult to address some of these and even this year as we sort of catch up. So I'm looking forward. I mean, we have made some headway, but I'm looking forward to actually getting some of these done by the end of, through the course of this summer and into next next school year. I will say it's a little odd going back and doing some of these retroactively because you're going back and saying, we are gonna plan on finishing this and you're already sort of two years out to it. So, but I think it addresses their concerns. And again is sort of good to go back and revisit them to look to see where we are and what still needs to be done. Okay. So if these are approved, then

048these would come back to the Board meeting in June, and then I can submit them in the portal before the end of the school year. Okay. All right. So now we'll move to Item 5, Action Items. Jim, 5.01. So I guess this is (indistinct speech) Okay. Is there a second? Second. Okay, thank you. Any discussion? I just have a quick question. The financial one, I understand it's about our fund balance and it basically corrected itself. We are under 4% now, but just do we, are we supposed to have something in this document that there's a background section it's supposed to have sort of that more corrective action plan? Or am I just missing something? In the oh, in the actual Board? In the actual document. No. No. Okay. It might, maybe it's just left over

049for something perhaps? Okay. And then just at the very end, it says, talking about GASB Statement 84. It says there's no effect, but it has, it will result in a financial statement reclassification. Just make sure, there's nothing that's gonna impact any financials of the District? No, no. Okay. Yeah, again, this happened, over, well, at least one fiscal year ago, so it corrected itself. This was taken right out of the audit that statement. Okay. Thank you. Yep. Okay. Okay, all right. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay. So the motion passes. Item 5.02, Jessica? Yes. In a similar vein, this is a resolution on the Corrective Action Plans for the internal audits. Be it resolved upon the recommendation of the Audit Committee that the Board accept the Corrective Action Plans related to the 2019/20 and 2020/21

050internal audits. Second. Any discussion? One quick question about this. And this is just about actually what Stuart talked about before. Some of the target completion dates are in the past, but when we go to approve it, don't we wanna update those? It actually, again, it's very strange, because you sort of have to go back in time. I'm submitting them for that year. Now, if you go forward a year, for many of them that next year, they're gone because we actually corrected them. Okay, so when we approve 'em, if we could just remember, we'll just need to make it very clear to the community that this is we're approving something from the past here. Correct. Okay. Thank you. Very, very strange, yes. So just on, there are a couple of the items. I don't remember which

051one, but it kind of said you might have a targeted completion date, completed December 31st, 2021, but then some, it didn't say completed. It just said December 31st. Does that mean that the work is, that was the targeted completion date, but the work is ongoing, or do we think it might be just a typographical? Could have been typographical. I think I remember seeing that one in- There's a couple of those in what one am I looking at now? I don't know. 2020, 2021 AU... P? Let's see. Gimme a second. (indistinct) No, it's the one that says... It's the one that says, "Corrective Action Plan for 2019-2020 AUP final amended." Oh, you got the wrong one. On my agenda. That's 1920? Yeah, 1920. That's final amended. Sorry, I should have... No, it's okay, it's fine. I

052mean, I think they're all completed, but you know, if you go to Items 3 and 4. Targeted completion date. So at that point in time. So this is the same issue. No, but then above it, you have "Completed December 30," number two, you have, "Completed December 31st, 2021." It may have been done. Okay. By then. Okay. Yeah. I mean, I think these are all being, I'm sure I'm fairly comfortable with this item, but, Not sure which one that is. My main only concern is that it doesn't get bounced back from New York State and you have an issue with it, that's- I cannot make any promises, unfortunately. That is my goal, I do not wanna kick back again, but it just takes one person saying you're... But you think these are okay as written? I

053hope they are. Yes, yes. Okay. I spent a lot of time on them and working on them, again, trying to catch up on that, I'll go back and take a look at that, but it should make sense. Okay. I'm sorry. And Stuart, just to clarify, the reason that there was this back and forth with New York State was related to COVID? Or just that they. Is this- No, I think they have additional staff in my years of loading stuff on the portal and I haven't really done it here, but we've noticed an uptick probably in the last three years of comments on even our state aid submissions. And it's not just us, our colleagues are noticing that as well. So for many years they were short staffed. It's state aid and educational offices. I think

054maybe the uptick in staff, they're getting more focused on giving feedback, which is not a bad thing. It can be, drive you a little crazy sometimes, 'cause it seems like it's nitpicking a little bit, but at the end of the day, you know, if it makes a more complete, useful document, that's fine, but I don't think it was related to COVID. I think just they're focusing a bit more and I don't think the communication, like when they change things or comment is the greatest. So we we've worked on some internal ways to get a better feel of what's going on. I just wanna, I was just trying to understand if there was a backlog. Thank you. Yep. Okay. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? No. Okay, the motion passes. And now we'll move to item

0555.03. The proposal for the internal audit. Yeah, this relates to what we have been discussing before. "Be it resolved that the Audit Committee recommends to the Board of Education that it accept the engagement letter for detailed internal controlled testing related to the payment of payroll withholdings, in compliance with policies and procedures of the District during the period, January 1, 2020, through April 30th, 2022, to include comments by Ron" Thank you. "As per his recommendation." Second. See a second. Okay. Any discussion? I actually just wanna understand from Ron and Jim, that you're concerned for best practices outweighs the timeline. And do you have concerns about the timeline of delaying the audit? Well first let me say that and I think this was alluded to by Stuart. The draft letter. Sorry, could you turn the mic on?

056My mic's not on? Just wanna allude to the fact, I think Stuart, you mentioned this, the attachment to the 503, is that what we're talking about? Is not the updated letter. So even aside from the amendment that Ron had this draft letter doesn't refer to the addition that we added to their scope of work? Correct. Right. So we're not, I don't think the Audit Committee is putting aside how this vote goes. I don't think the Audit Committee is recommending this. Right. Be accepted by the Board. Sorry, thank you for that clarification. Right, okay. Yeah. To your further point, my view remains that it on this issue would be a better practice for the Board to seek another internal auditor for this work. I don't believe that, I mean, yeah, certainly it would delay things a

057few weeks. I don't know that there's any magic to June 30th. I mean, it would be great to get it all done in a week. It'd be great to get it all done in two. Ain't happening. June 30th sounds like the earliest it's gonna get done. And I think if it was June 30th, or July 16th or July 30th, I know a new Board will come in. That be as that as it may, I would be personally more comfortable with this being done the right way rather than the fast way. And not to say that they're not gonna do it right and fast, but still I think right is better than fast. So, that's kind of where my head's at. Okay. I'll just add one other. I agree with what Jim said, and that is,

058I would potentially be more compelled if this would be done by May 15th, but I feel like this is already, this proposal in front of us. I'm not, well, you would normally like to say, if I'm not an expert in this area, but it's hard to understand why this needs to take till June 30th, if we're gonna use our existing firm, do this as fast as we can, since it's already gonna take till June 30th with this proposal. I feel like we could get an RFP out. We could probably get another firm in on this same timeline. That's how, and even if we couldn't, I agree with Jim's comment. It just outweighs it from me to bring in a different firm. For again, a different firm for this item. I'm extremely on the fence. And

059I do think that the June 30th deadline gives me some pause on that because I, like Ron said, I agree that if this was May 15th, I would feel strongly about it being done expeditiously. But since it's not going to be done until the end of the school year either way, I'm not sure how useful a tool it will be to the folks who need to implement changes based upon it in the short term? So perhaps it makes more sense just to avoid any concerns about conflict and go with a neutral solution in the interest of a clear process and the most sort of unimpeachable results. Can I ask Stuart and maybe Drew, like if you have any thoughts about, you know, we're gonna get this report, whether it's actually even June 30th or June

06015th, do you feel that it would be that having it sooner, that there's issues that will be illuminated that there's value to expediency more than? 'Cause I feel it but I'm not 100% sure. And you're the ones that are gonna have to implement whatever they come up with. So I'm just kind of wondering how you feel about the expediency part of it? I know I'm putting you a little on the spot, but I just, I don't know how important it is. You know, I feel like it's important, but I'm listening to Jim and Ron and now I'm not so sure. I mean, I think it would depend if, doing the RFP, getting it, reviewing the responses, getting approved by the Board, that will take a little bit of time. And then you're also, depending on

061that firm's time at a very busy time of the year to be able to squeeze in a special project, certainly very possible, but we don't know what we don't know with that. As far as any findings, we don't know what we don't know. We have made changes based on our experience here in the last year or so and things that have come up, but we're always looking to make improvements. I would hope that whatever auditor is on site, you know, we would be picking their brain as well. We wanna wait for the final audit to say, "Hey, you should be doing this." Like, we would wanna know right away. So we could implement those changes, especially if it's something significant that we could just, you know, take on. So in that case, the sooner the

062better. And I would also say that, you know, it probably, not probably, I would recommend it is time to do an RFP. That would be my recommendation to the Audit Committee for a new firm going forward and maybe not for this, depending on the expediency, but you know, they've been here for a number of years. I think, I take Jim's comments, I agree with that, that it is important to change up and to get a different set of eyes on things, to see how things operate. You know, they bring experiences from other districts, as do our auditors, but you know, our auditors, they do get to know you, right? So I think that is important. And then I guess it's a case of what do you want to do with this particular audit at this

063time? So one consideration is that we can postpone the consideration of this particular engagement letter at this time, while we investigate the other options before us, put out an RFP. Would it be, if we are going to delay ratification of this, would it be possible to talk to them about expediting this? In other words, the June 30th, there's no question, seems like a long time to be doing this. I mean the probably- Considering the scope, but I, you know, it doesn't seem that extensive, but... The problem's get, I could see from their perspective, right? They're putting June 30th as an outside date right now. I assume they would get it done sooner if they could? We're gonna delay. And then they're gonna say, "Well now what are we gonna do 'cause we can't even start

064on it." And now it's two weeks later, so. You know, taking into account what Stuart said, again, I think I'm gonna, I think I'm still committed to trying to get it done sooner. And I expect that there'll be a completely, you know, somebody's gonna come in in the next however many months and look at this in a lot of other things. And I would, that's what I would say. For now, I'd like to see, I'd like to hear from somebody about how that, this whole aspect of the administration's functioning. And if there are any recommendations, we can deal with them as soon as possible because we've had some adjuda, and I'd like to just try to have that opportunity to address that. Do you have any additional comments? No, I agree with Carl. I think

065when I think about bigger picture, what we're gonna do, I like Stuart's idea about putting out an RFP and maybe switching up for next year with the internal audit and looking bigger picture about what functions we wanna audit. But for now I still feel that getting this done and getting this done quickly is important. I don't think it's not doing it right. I think it is doing it well. So, I'm happy to move forward with the proposal. If we do move forward with the proposal tonight, I would strongly recommend following Bob's suggestion and seeing if there's a way they could do it on a more expedited framework or time timeframe so that we would have the results as soon as possible to put in the most robust internal controls possible. I mean, sometimes, you know,

066I think we've all experienced this. You know, producing a formal report is takes a little time. It gets checked and rechecked, and drafts and re-draft. If we could expedite an oral presentation of finding so that we at least are in the loop about the situation that it exists today in the, in that area of, from a procedural point of view, would be helpful. And then obviously we want some documentation to follow up. Can I pose a question? Mm-hmm. Stuart from, in your view, would there be any benefit to having disengagement and then after we do come out with perhaps a different internal auditor in the future, repeat the engagement? Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. That might give us some insight in a way that's a little bit unique, just a suggestion. But it's also expending additional cost,

067right, too? (indistinct) But in the internal audit, we could specify the payroll function more broadly as the target area for the regular internal audit, as our first engagement with the new internal auditor. Right. Yes. The additional cost would be this audit right here. The broader payroll function Oh, it's, my mic's on, isn't it? I think it's on. Okay. So, you know, I personally struggle with why we wouldn't wait a few additional weeks and put somebody new into place to look at this. So, I am struggling with that right now, the best practices versus the making this expedited when we're not even sure that we can have it expedited, beyond, I mean, above earlier than June 30. I just wanna say one thing out loud, hope this comes out okay. But it does seem a little

068weird that we're sitting here talking about getting a new internal audit firm and about to hire a different internal audit firm, when they're probably watching us talk about bringing in a different firm after them. Not that I think it will impede their work. I just think it's an interesting discussion. So is there any interest in postponing the consideration rather than taking a vote now, that we postpone consideration of this proposal until we put out an RFP and see who is available, maybe reconvene the Audit Committee in another two weeks, is that timeframe? He's gonna need more than that because he's gonna put out Right, yeah. The RFP within two weeks and then he's gonna need at least two weeks to respond. Look, I'm not, I don't feel so incredibly strongly about this quite honestly, that

069delaying it. I mean, I just, I'd like to know that things are going the right way, but I'm not, you know, it's not mission critical. They're not gonna, I'm hoping that there's nothing sitting there that they would come up with that would be like, "Holy crap!" Oh. excuse my language. Holy mackerel! (chuckling) How could you be doing this? So, I wouldn't feel upset if we, if we delayed it, you know? I wouldn't be too put out by that. Thoughts on postponing the consideration of this? If I call for a vote- Well again, my- I know what your thoughts are. I just wanna see. Sorry. Anybody want- So I'm not gonna say it again then. Okay, yeah. I actually wanna hear your thoughts, Jim. So, you think it's, I wanna understand whether you think it's worthwhile

070to postpone? No, no. I mean, my thought is simply this, that I just don't know that we're going to be getting, I mean, if we expedite it, we get it June 15th. I mean, it's good that we'll have it on June 15th, but what will that really do that not getting it, that getting it on July 15th, wouldn't do? Unless there's like a "Moby Dick" level problem that that month of not catching it somehow means something irreversibly terrible happens? But I just, I find that to be extremely unlikely. I mean, so I just feel like you were talking about probably a month difference in getting a result. And I don't see that as being addressed. I wanna say I appreciate that you were able to use another seafood reference there for us, so. Okay. I

071think, I guess I'll call for the, I don't hear interest in postponement, then I will call for the vote. Is that what I'm doing now at this time? Just wanna confirm the Board. Okay. So I'm gonna call for the vote. So all in favor? Aye. All opposed? Opposed. Okay. So the motion does not pass. So we will look at other options going forward. Okay? Thank you very much. So now we will move to Item 6, and I'm sorry, may I have a motion from the Board to move us into our Business Meeting? Can I just have- Yes, of course. Just so I have clarification, so, Yeah. So I'm hearing that I shall put together an RFP sort of mocking this proposed work by Cullen & Danowski. I'll copy the Board of Education on that, or

072the Audit Committee on that, and then I'll give you the list of the firms that I'll be sending that out to. Do you wanna, sorry, I mean, we're talking about discussion morphed into a little bit of a discussion of generally another auditor and having them to so is it worth just getting that done now or get proposals including, they would, I assume, you send it out to them as well? And, then assigning the new auditor, this as their first item, as opposed to getting somebody to come in, having them do this and then getting somebody to come doing another RFP, getting somebody to come in, and maybe you are maybe not doing this. I feel like that would take though. I mean, (chuckles) wouldn't it be quicker if we're gonna get someone just to have

073a narrow scope, just to start out with? It probably would be a little bit quicker. I mean, in long run, less time. (chattering) I think This issue. I also think, I would also wanna hear, sorry. I would also like to hear, so if we get that engagement, I would imagine that maybe members of the Audit Committee might wanna meet with the principals who would be undertaking the work? Right. I would also just add, I think it's a bigger discussion, whether we're moving in a direction of a different audit firm or just because it's been eight or nine years, but if we do one discreet engagement with somebody else, it also gives us an opportunity to see their work and to see how that goes before embarking on a broader RFP. My only comment to Stuart

074where you said, I agree with everything you said, I would love to see us in the RFP, have a background section about sort of the issue that's before us and put in a bullet that says, and maybe this is standard, but based on that, anything else you think we should audit? I would love to hear from these firms if they think we're being too narrow or we're missing an important piece. and let's hear from them. Okay. And if I'm giving them background, they're going to need to know that we want this sooner rather than later. Yes. So what sort of backstop should I give them? (indistinct) (laughing) As soon as possible? Okay well I should (speaking together) it open- let's vote no later than July 30th, 30th, that's fair. Does that work? I think yeah.

075And Stuart, would it be normal or formulaic to put in an RFP like this, that there might be further opportunities for work with the District beyond this project? I probably wouldn't include that. Would not include that this time, yeah. They know. Okay. (chuckles) Great. Thank you very much, Stuart. Yep. Appreciate it. All right, so can I have a motion to move us into our Business Meeting, Item 6? So moved. Okay, so second? Second. Okay. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Okay, motion pass, I'm sorry. Any opposed? Okay. All motion passes. Okay. So I call this Business Meeting to order and I note that all Board members are in attendance in addition to Dr. Patrick and the administrative cabinet. I wanna welcome all those who are attending live or watching remotely. Thank you for joining us

076this evening. I'd like to begin by welcoming Dr. Patrick, as our Interim Superintendent. Drew, the Board unanimously selected you as Interim Superintendent because of your excellent professional credentials, your leadership expertise, your collaborative nature, your exceptional interpersonal and communication skills and your deep knowledge and a true passion for education, because you consistently exhibit an understanding of our current work, and the culture and the values of our school, and you are already familiar with so many members of our school community, and you are dedicated to the success of our students in addition to our faculty and staff. We wanted to express the great confidence that we have that you will provide important leadership and continuity in the months and the year ahead. Thank you for taking on this role. We recognize that a change in executive leadership

077is significant and therefore the Board is committed to working with and supporting you and the entire school community during this transition. Next, I would like to provide an update on the IRS matter. The Board held an Audit Committee meeting earlier just before this and we decided that we would send an RFP out for a independent third party auditing firm to provide the audit of the District's payroll tax process, including a review of internal controls. Last Thursday, May 5th. The Board held a special meeting with the District's external auditor, EFPR Group. They provided an update and a review of the accounting treatment of the IRS matter. They gave an overview of how the IRS penalties and tax payments impact the District's financial statements, the proposed budget fund balance, and confirmed the IRS matter does not affect

078the tax rate, the tax cap or the educational program proposed for our students in the 2022/2023 proposed budget. This meeting was recorded and it is available in the Board of Education video library on the District's website. Tax counsel has provided the following update for us on the Q 2021 matter, I'm sorry, the Q2 2021 matter. The revenue officer confirmed that the District's request for abatement of the Q2 2021 penalty has been assigned to the appropriate representative in their office and is making its way through the stages of the review process. In addition, the revenue officer confirmed that their request to hold any determination on a lien action until a determination on the penalty abatement request has been granted. The revenue officer has requested from the appropriate representative, a resolution on the penalty abatement request within

07930 days, and told the district's tax attorneys to follow up with her after Memorial Day if they do not hear from her earlier. Tax counsel has also provided the following update on the Q3 2021 matter. The same revenue officer confirmed receipt of the District tax attorney's letter bringing to her attention the Q3 2021 matter. And in closing, both the IRS notice and the District's response regarding the same. Because the response was not submitted directly to the revenue officer she was unable to confirm at this time the status of the processing of the response, and more importantly, the form 941 Schedule B for Q3 2021. However, the revenue officer offered to conduct some research and see if she could locate the District's response and request that the enclosed form 941 Schedule D for Q3 2021 be

080processed as soon as possible. Again, the revenue officer told the District's tax attorneys to follow up with her after Memorial Day, if they do not hear from her earlier. In addition, both the revenue officer and the District's tax attorneys have again recommended that the District begin e-filing its form 941, and the District is, and has been looking into options regarding the same. Tax counsel has provided the following update on the Q4 2020 matter. The same revenue officer noted that the District's account for Q4 2020 still showed a balance of what the revenue officer presumed to be the remaining penalties and interest. The revenue officer was not privy to any information other than that and as such could not expand upon the same. Recall though, that the appeals officer indicated that her final request and approval

081for penalty abatement would take approximately two to three weeks to process. And we have not yet exhausted that timeframe. Tax counsel will continue to follow up with the appeals officer on a regular basis. We would also, the Board would like you to know that we will provide further updates to the community as we continue to work on this matter and the investigation into it. I'd also like to share some additional comments with you pertaining to the meeting we had earlier this evening. We convened a special meeting with Scarsdale High School Student Representatives in the Scarsdale High School Learning Commons. We discussed the ways in which our students have moved forward having had the experience of the pandemic. And we also asked for any other reflections on their experiences this past year. They told us about

082how their teachers have brought them to a good place and engaged them very well. And that they continue to use technology like such as Google Classroom, and this is helping with organization. They talked about how great it is to have spaces reopened in the High School, and that they're engaged in activities that promote community, like the carnival and the junior Olympics, and Non Sibi day. They spoke to us, I'm sorry. We discussed how they create and maintain a sense of wellness and wellbeing as students here at Scarsdale High School. They spoke about how important the little things are like supportive gestures from teachers, funny joke, the therapy dogs that come to visit, snacks, even the oranges that have been attached with a note that says, "Take a piece of sunshine." They spoke about the importance

083of resources, like the LRC, the library, and the math center, and also about the new Mental Health Awareness Club. In addition, we talked about the DEI work currently being done in our schools to promote connection, inclusivity, community and belonging. We specifically discussed the DEI initiative centered on the peer-led learning plan, where our students have had the opportunity to give lessons to their classes on topics that interest them, which they tell us has helped to foster connections among the other students in their classroom. We, you know, we wanted to thank our students. We told them at the time, but I'll thank them again here now for openly sharing their thoughts. They were really incredibly articulate and candid with us and they had lots of suggestions and we thank them and we thank their faculty advisors and

084the High School administration for coming to meet with us today, because the Board truly values having this opportunity to sit and speak with our students. And a final concluding remark. Over the past weeks, we, the members of the Board and Mr. Mattey have attended PTA, PTC and stat meetings to review budget highlights and answer any questions. And they will continue attending the remaining PTA meetings this week. I wanted to thank those who gave us, attended the budget, the statutory budget hearing tonight and gave us feedback. I encourage anyone else to reach out to the Board with your feedback regarding the proposed 2022/2023 budget. And as Mr. Mattey did note during the hearing, again, I remind you our budget vote is set for next week. Tuesday, May 17th. This year, again, the location is at Scarsdale

085Middle School gymnasium, and the polls are open from 7:00 AM to and close at 9:00 PM. Thanks so much. Drew? Thanks so much, Karen. At the beginning of our tenure appointments, I made note that last week was Teacher Appreciation Week and May 11th of this week as National School Nurse day and just wanna reiterate our thanks and gratitude to our teachers, nurses and all of our employees who support the teaching and learning process throughout the District. And also to thank our PTA partners for the ways that they recognized our teachers last week and throughout the year. We really do appreciate that. It is a very, very, very busy time of year as anyone out there knows, especially if you have kids, right? And a lot of events going on. This weekend, we had at our

086elementary schools, the elementary fairs, which were not deterred by weather with lots of attendance and with maybe other activities outside not going on higher than expected attendance in some cases. This evening, just as an example, we have a number of events going on. Our girls lacrosse team is having Senior Night and their Pink Game where they're raising money for cancer. I don't know if it's still going on? Hopefully it was a win? Still going on? Okay. (indistinct) Thank you. Half time just ended. (chuckling) And one of our tenure conferies was not here tonight because she is the coach of the team. She sent her apologies, but tonight's also our Science Research Symposium at the High School, which is an incredible event. As a recovering High School science teacher myself, that was always a special event.

087And we have the beginning of many, many music events to celebrate. I know our Middle School tonight. We have our 8th Grade bands, 7th and 8th Grade jazz band, Chamber Winds, and those activities continue Wednesday with 7th Grade and Thursday for 6th Grade. So, lots and lots going on. So, we're excited. That's great. Thank you so much, Drew. So now we'll move to Item 7 the Personnel Report. Turn it back to you. Board comments (chuckles) Oh, I'm sorry. Thank you, Ron. I'm sorry. I hopped right over the Board Member Reports. So, forgive me. Do you wanna start since you? Sure. Okay, thanks. Very, very quick one. Okay. Stuart and I last week had the pleasure of presenting the budget to the Middle School PTA, and just wanted to thank the PTA Executive Committee for having

088us and for their questions and comments during the meeting. Okay. Thanks. Carl? Stuart and I presented with the Fox Meadow PTA, my alma mater, and it was really a pleasant evening and a pleasant group. And they were really welcoming and appreciative of the teachers and administration of Fox Meadow, not directly related to the budget, but a really nice, nice thing to hear, nice comments and appreciated hearing it. So, Fox Meadow teachers and administration should know it. Okay. Thank you, Jessica. Oh, okay. I also attended a meeting with Stuart on the budget for SNAP, which is the Scarsdale Neighborhood Association. And again, it was just a good opportunity to get questions and to hear how people were commenting on some of the detail about different sports requirements and turf and whatever. And I think it's just

089good to make those connections for the future. And everyone feels engaged so that we appreciated them giving us the time on their agenda. Okay. Stuart and I had the opportunity to go to Edgewood for their PTA meeting and it was great. It was their first hybrid meeting back partially in person. And so we were delighted to be able to join them for that event. Thank you. Other Board member updates this time? Stuart and I will be going to Green Acres tomorrow. (laughing) So, I can't say anything about it yet, Okay. But stay tuned! Okay, great. Thank you. I haven't been home in two weeks. Okay. (laughing) Okay. Do you wanna do safety or don't? The Safety Committee meeting was canceled on Friday. Oh, that's right. So I have no report from that. That's right. I'm

090sorry. Thank you, Jessica. No worries. Okay. All right. So now we will move to Item 7, the Personnel Report. So once again, this evening, I'm just going to highlight some of our new faculty members who will be joining us. They've some of them are here tonight and have been waiting extremely patiently in the audience. We're grateful that you stayed, but we do wanna give you a warm Scarsdale welcome. Not everyone on this list is here, but I am gonna announce everyone. So the first is we are excited to appoint Brooke Busey, who is with us this year, but will be joining us in a different position next year at Scarsdale Middle School as a new health teacher there. We have our new librarian at Green Acres Elementary School, Casey Hamm. Casey, you wanna just stand

091up and wave there. Welcome! (applause) In for a mathematics position at Scarsdale High School, Alisa Harrison will be joining us. (applause) We've got the first of a couple of psychology appointments that we'll be making this year for Scarsdale Middle School. Jessica Randall will be joining us. I'm not sure if Jessica was able, yeah, I don't think she was able to make it tonight. I'm delighted to welcome our new Director of Bands, Brian Zeller for Scarsdale High School. (applause) Welcome Brian. We will also be welcoming as a leave replacement teacher in Mathematics at the High School, Lori Bodner. Lori will be here with us. (applause) And we have a second Mathematics leave replacement teacher for the High School, Derek Davis. Derek will be with us next year. He wasn't able to be here tonight. So we're

092delighted to welcome you all to Scarsdale Public Schools and we look forward to seeing you in action. Welcome! And you don't have to stay! (laughs) (applause) We will do the consent agenda will happen, and at that point you'll be officially appointed. Yeah. You know, you can stay if you want. (laughing) (indistinct chatter) Okay. Thank you so much, Drew. So now we'll move to Item 8. Hearing from those present. Our Public Comment Preamble reads as follows: "Members of the public are cordially invited to speak on District-related items and other non-personnel-related matters during two separate Public Comment periods. When it is your turn to speak, please state your name, your address, and if you are speaking on behalf of an organization. If you're commenting remotely, please mute the live stream voice and turn on your camera on,

093and then unmute yourself. Speakers are asked to conclude their remarks in four minutes and will be given a verbal cue at the 3-minute mark. At this point, if the speaker has additional comments, we ask that they send them to the Board of Ed at our email address, [email protected]. The Public Comment period is reserved for comments only; the Board will not engage in dialogue. We reserve the right to respond to comments and questions at our discretion, either during Response to Public Comment or at a later time and place. And there is Response to Public Comment that will take place after the first and second Public Comment periods. So at this time, if anyone from the audience would like to come speak, we invite them to do so. Good evening. Art Rublin, 22 Donellan Road, Chair of

094the Coalition for Scarsdale Schools. I think this is one of the first times I've spoken since I came off the Board in 2018, and I'm virtually sure it's the first time speaking in this room. I came home from the city early to address what I think is a very important time for the Scarsdale School District with great promise for Scarsdale students. First, I wanna say thanks to the Board, to every one of you on the Board for exceptionally hard work over the last few months. Business meetings, preparing for business meetings is hard work in of itself, but over the last few months, you've had multiple meetings off of the business meetings plus all the preparation that goes into that. You dealt with Dr. Hagerman's notice of resignation in January, budget issues, addressing the IRS situation,

095on top of regular Board business. And I just wanted to say thank you and kudos for all the good work that you've been doing. I also wanted to say congratulations to Dr. Patrick, and congratulations to Scarsdale School District for Dr. Patrick being Interim Superintendent. I'll say I'm appreciative that you're willing to do two jobs right now for the good of the District and I know you were switching hats when you did the Personal Report while also juggling other things going on in your life, including regular family responsibilities. So thank you for that. It's good to have Dr. Patrick as Interim Superintendent now before this school year ends to start what I will call a new chapter of communication, collaboration, and curriculum development in the Scarsdale School District. First, I'm confident that Dr. Patrick will be

096dedicated to robust communications with the Board. My confidence is informed by my own experience with Dr. Patrick when I was on the Board. I'm also confident in terms of Dr. Patrick communicating effectively with building leaders and faculty. From what I have seen and heard, principals, teachers, and in fact, former faculty, appear very supportive of Dr. Patrick in the Interim Superintendent role. And this is after Dr. Patrick had to negotiate a couple, I think at least a couple teacher contracts, other contracts, and dealing with COVID, and all that went into that. So I think that speaks volumes, Dr. Patrick was not too long ago, a teacher, which I think is important background, and he's got a human touch with respect to the faculty. And we saw it tonight when he came from behind, came out from

097behind the dais and went over to every tenured teacher to congratulate them personally. That was not lost on me and I'm sure it was not lost on others. And that's just emblematic of the human touch that you have, that makes a big, big difference. And I'm also confident that Dr. Patrick will be dedicated to robust communication with the community. I think it helps that Dr. Patrick is a parent of school children as well, one in High School and one in Middle School. And also he just, Dr. Patrick, just exudes accessibility. And I've already seen indications of his accessibility even in, just in the last few days. And I'm confident about Dr. Patrick's dedication in terms of moving forward on teaching and learning initiatives. I think we heard tonight, and this wasn't in my prepared remarks,

098Dr. Patrick make making a focus in terms of his remarks to the community in his first meeting as Interim Superintendent, focusing on kids, and on teaching and learning. Again, that was not lost on me. And I think in terms of teaching and learning initiatives, I think there'll be issues of basic reading, writing, arithmetic, but also issues like diversity, equity and inclusion, and sustainability, which I know you have strong background in and a passion about. And I think Dr. Patrick's background as Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum in Bedford will be helpful additional experience for Dr. Patrick. Now, as much as Dr. Patrick's positive engagement with the community will be important, so too will the communities positive engagement with him be important. (timer chimes) Excuse me, I'm almost done. It's a two-way street. And we at Coalition for

099Scarsdale Schools wanna do what we can to support Dr. Patrick's superintendency. So, to start, we'll be working hard to advocate for community members to drive over to the Middle School next Tuesday and vote Yes on the proposed district budget, 7:00 AM to 9:00 PM Strong community Yes vote on the budget will be important to Dr. Patrick's leading the district and moving forward for Scarsdale students, and also helpful to our teachers in terms of their maintaining the highest level of education for Scarsdale children. Thanks very much. Thank you very much, Art. Anyone else? Okay. So now we'll return to our remote participants. We have one hand raised. (indistinct chatter) Hi Myra, you can begin speaking. Thank you. Good evening again. Myra Kirkendal Rodriguez, Fox Meadow Road. I just wanted to state that pages 59 through 63

100in the proposed 2022/2023 budget documents, which is almost about 170 pages, so thank you very much to all of those who worked on that, but pages 59 and 63 are about the fund balance. The amount of the fund balance matters. It impacts budgets. As the District states on page 59, schools and other municipalities create a fund balance, for example, quote, "When expenditures are less than revenue as this is the case in this proposed budget," end quote, and to be ready for uncertainties. So if we're starting with a lower fund balance in 2022/2023 this will influence what revenues and expenditures can be in coming years. This in itself is a big and old challenge in Scarsdale. The District creates annual budgets without the context of long-term planning. I would get fired by my clients if I

101didn't ask them to think of annual budgets in the context of long term planning. As many residents have often stated, good communication and transparency with residents is important. It would be good to know when exactly were internal auditors, external auditors, and the District's lawyers first made aware of the penalty and lien issues? Was it 2020, 2021, or this year? Were they completely unaware of what was going on? If they had known, then unfortunately it's really time to learn some lessons and time to clean house. In early April, the District said it would book the penalties as a receivable and that auditors have said this was acceptable. Please let us know which auditor told you that it was okay to book an expense as a receivable. Was it the external auditors? Was it the internal? Do

102you need independent verification that it's acceptable under GASB 34? Also at the May 5th meeting, the external auditors repeatedly said that they were meeting with management. With whom precisely? Are there conflicts of interest if external auditors are speaking to management, which means members of the administration, some who may perhaps be under investigation by Mr. Rock? It's difficult to know since key parts of that contract were redacted. And outta curiosity, why did the Board of Education have a meeting with external auditors without allowing any public comment? We have all kinds of accounting, auditor, and financial professionals in this town. You could have really benefited from being transparent and inclusive of the great diversity of skills and expertise that we have in Scarsdale. Thank you very much for voting to get an independent auditor on this issue

103of payrolls. I see this issue all the time with clients. When significant errors or other problems happen, it's important to get fresh eyes. It's human nature, that after several years, (alarm chimes) lawyers, auditors of every kind get cozy with a client. It's just human nature. We get to know each other. We start chatting. We need fresh eyes. We need somebody who's distant. And after the IRS debacle, it's good to ask if the administration and Board of Ed have become too cozy with auditors and lawyers. And if the answer is yes, it's time to clean house. Thank you very much to everybody for their hard work on this matter. And Dr. Patrick, welcome and best of luck. Thank you so much. Thank you, Myra. (coughing) Do you wish to address anything there or we will move

104on? Okay. So let's now move to Item 10, Written Communications. I'll read the preamble. "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 their earliest convenience." These are emails that were received by the Board of Education from March 30th, 2022 through May 3rd, 2022. There were 50 emails received. 41 emails were on District matters. Nine emails were on Board matters. On District matters, three emails were related to feedback around the tri-state's consortium study of the AT program. Two were in favor of restoring AP classes and one was

105asking questions around planning for non AT courses. There was one email on a student related issue. There were two emails requesting to add Eid as school holiday. There was one email with the professional development opportunity for staff related to DEI. There were three emails with questions or feedback on the Draft Technology Plan. There was one email with a question around the search process for a permanent Superintendent. There was one email expressing delight at the appointment of Drew Patrick as the Interim Superintendent. There was one email with questions around protocols for health notices. There was one email in a FOIL matter. There were two emails providing feedback for the Audit Committee, And there were 25 emails on the IRS matter. For emails related to Board topics. There were two publications, three invitations, three emails thanking the

106Board for their actions or service and one email requesting information. Okay. Thank you so much, Amber. So now we'll move to Item 11, the Consent Agenda. This is preamble. "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. Items are selected for the consent agenda when the officers of the Board and the Superintendent believe there's no controversy regarding them. Any member of the Board who feels that an item on the consent agenda requires discussion prior to action may remove that item from the consent agenda." So I ask if any item would like to be removed before we proceed. Yeah, I would request that we remove

107Item 1217. Okay. So Mr. Duggan has requested that we remove Item 12.17, which we will do. We will move to item 13.09 as a discussion item. And we will also move that item to 14.04 as an action item. Okay. And then Ron will take us through the consent agenda. As amended, there are now 16 items on tonight's consent agenda, 12.01 through 12.05, relate to the minutes from various Board meetings, 12.06, Personnel Certified. 12.07, Personnel Non-Certified. 12.08, the Quarterly Report from the Student Activities Fund. 12.09, the Claims Audit Report from April, 2022. 12.10, Chair of the Budget Vote and Election. 12.ll, the Maintenance Bid for the District-wide Roof Repair. 12.12, Maintenance Bid for District-wide Compost Pickup. 12.13, Maintenance Bid District-wide HVAC, Refrigeration, ATC Maintenance and Repair. 12.14, Maintenance Bid Arborist. 12.15, Maintenance Bid Window Repair 12.16,

108Addendum Election Inspectors and Assistant Clerks. I move the consent agenda be accepted as presented. Is there a second? Second. Okay, all in favor. Aye. Okay. The motion passes. Do you want to continue Drew into our Information Items or should we take our wellness break and then pick up? Yeah. Why don't we take our wellness break. Everybody ready? We're going to resume and pick up with our Information and Discussion Items under Item 13. So the first one up is 13.01, the Draft McKinney Vento Policy and Proposed Changes in Existing Policy and it's the second reading of that. and Eric will lead us through that. Thank you. This is the second reading of the proposed McKinney Vento Policy along with proposed changes in four other policies as noted, which simply add corresponding language to the proposed McKinney

109Vento. If last week or last meeting there were no comments or concerns I open it up for discussion now, assuming there is not major revisions we would bring that to a clean read and in the action items on the June 6th Board meeting. Any questions? No. Okay. Thank you, Eric. Thank you. Okay, now we'll move to 13.02 and Stuart will lead us through that. Sure, so this time of year, we bring forth the tax cert reserve establishing it for the upcoming school year. So this is sort of the heads up that it'll be coming to you in June 6th. It's the only reserve that has to be established before the end of the fiscal year. Current reserve at last year end was about four and a half million dollars. That will be reduced by settlements

110this current year. And I know Jeff working on that with the town's assessors. Great. Okay. Questions for Stuart? Okay. Thank you. So we'll move to 13.03, back to Stuart, the Facilities Update. Sure. This is an update on mostly the Bond Projects. So we had put out to bid three projects, two were related to the 2018 Bond. We really only have these small projects left and they're small enough where they're difficult to get bids on. We actually combined it with another piece of work at the Middle School that has to get done. That's a canopy. If you've been over there, there's some masonry work that has to be repaired. That's not bond work since it's happened since then, we thought we'd combine them and try to attract a bigger pool of bidders and get the best

111price. That did not work out too well, which is why later on the agenda, you'll see a recommendation to reject to that bid. It's like $400,000 or so over budget. So we're going to sort of break that apart. There are two piggyback type bids that have been bid out by other school districts. We're going to recommend hopping on those to get the canopy work done and the interior work. And then we're doing a small bid for the small drainage site work at the Middle School. And we hope to have all of that back to you for the June 6th Board meeting at a much lower price. And then just a reminder for the other work happening this summer. The bids have already been approved and work has already started at the High School in Quaker

112Ridge, HVAC and electrical upgrades. And then at Heathcote and the Middle School, the same type of work. High School at Quaker Ridge, that work is already underway after hours. And Heathcote and Middle School will be starting as soon as the equipment arrives. Okay, thank you. Yep. Any questions for Stuart? Can I just ask about Heathcote Jim, 'cause we've obviously heard about it a lot? Yep. We've been given an update. Shipping times are okay. The items are gonna be here for the summer. I ask that same question all the time and that's I am told yes. Okay. So I'll update you if I hear otherwise, for sure. Thank you. Yes. You'll probably hear me yelling from my office. (chuckles) Stuart, a follow up question to that. That's work, he Heathcote, Jim, the ventilator, it's work that

113can only be done over the summer, right. when the gym's not in use? It's yeah, it's a rooftop unit. So it takes major effort to get in there and it's gonna be a crane and all of that. So, right. So if it is delayed, then we have a bigger issue to deal with? Correct. We'd have to try to work around that. I have not heard that it's been delayed. Okay, yeah. So... Just checking, thank you. Yep. Okay. Now we'll move to Item 13.04, the Day Automation Proposal, and Eric will lead us through this. Thank you. This is the culmination of some of the SSEM work you've heard throughout the year, the integration of our lockdown systems with all of our emergency response systems. So this is a discussion item, but you don't see a corresponding

114action item because we've been able to procure the work through BOCES contract, which doesn't require individual Board approval, but it's obviously a large expenditure that we wanted to bring in front of the Board so you understood where we were going. Couple of really wonderful things that have come out, although a little bit delayed from when we thought we were originally going to secure this work is we were able to do it through the BOCES contract, which means we get 41% aid on the dollar for this work, so that obviously reduces the cost overall quite significantly. This work will integrate a single button lockdown system. It will allow the technology infrastructure to allow our cameras, PA, door access control and visitor management system to all speak to one another. So all of the protocols for lockdown

115required of all of those systems can be activated through the control panels that the automation will be putting into each school. It will replace all of our current card readers, as well as add additional card readers, mostly to the breezeway gym area, which right now kind of has a dearth of card readers there for entrance. The major part of this, the first proposal, which is the Phase 1 proposal will be budgeted in the current school year. And then the addendum proposal for the High School access control doors will be budgeted in a 22/23 school year. So that's where we are now. We hope that this work once this is moved forward, will happen at the end of this year, through early summer. And then ultimately at the startup of next year, we will do our

116training and integration with the staff into the new systems. Great. Let's say this is a perfect example of when we talk about BOCES and efficiencies and utilizing BOCES services when it makes sense to do so. So ahead of this, you know, going back a couple years, we did a number of interviews with a number of firms. Day Automation stood out as the firm that made the most sense, and then working with BOCES to procure that contract through them in generating the aids. So not only, yes, the service made sense. We got the vendor we wanted and we generate the aid, and it's really a win-win. Okay, great. Thanks. Any questions on this? Just as a point of understanding, this is separate from the police access to our camera system, which I am now told, the

117server will be in sometime before the end of the month, (knocks on wood) for the 37th time it was delayed and hopefully we now have an actual arrival date. And once that happens, we will be able to finish that work and get SPD in to work on their end of it and their training. Great, great. Thanks so much, Eric. So now we'll move to item 13.05, the Smart Schools Bond, and Jerry will lead us through that. Thank you very much. as Rachel and I prepare for our exit from Scarsdale we wanna make sure we wrap up projects that we began over the years and what we'd like to talk about tonight. Very briefly, only have five slides, is the Smart Schools Bond we call Phase 2. So just to give everyone an update, because it's

118been a while since 2014, this is a bond that was approved by voters during the general election in 2014 and its purpose was to allocate funds for schools, both public schools and private schools, to provide technology to improve the learning environment. As you imagine, if you think back to 2014, schools had very different technology infrastructure plans than they do now. And as all legislation sometimes does, because other people wanted more and add things onto it, later on, it was determined that this funding could also be used for what is called high-tech security, like cameras, for example. And if the District wanted to start a pre-K program. Most districts in our area did the first item, which was basically allocating the funds for instructional technology. Other things to know about this fund is that there is

119no deadline for submitting an application of fund for the funds. As a matter of fact, the fund was purposely designed to be used over multiple years. They did not predict a pandemic when the fund came out, but it is designed to be used over several years and different phases. That's the good news. The bad news is that there's no timeline for the state approving these funds when they're submitted. And I believe the last time the state met to look at funding requests was about a year ago. So, the intent was to do it quarterly, hopefully as the pandemic recedes, they'll move back into their quarterly review period. But right now we don't know. I did contact the state and they said there's no date that is set at this time And they have no other

120information on it. But despite that, we feel like we need to move forward and try and wrap this up before we move on. So you can see here, our total allocation that was given to Scarsdale was about 444,960. Our Phase 1 spending, which we used in Scarsdale to purchase our smart boards, you can see was about 244,000. And then IHM, the private school in our domain, they're entitled to funding as well and their funding was 11,952. It's based on a per pupil formula. This funding is not taken from Scarsdale and given to the private school. It's just an allocation and the public school is required to administer it. And you can see our total available funding is then around $200,000 that I believe we have left in the account. I do wanna say these numbers

121that I'm presenting to you tonight, I almost didn't present them to you in this detail because it's really my estimate based on where I think we are, but I did wanna give the Board a sense of the flavor of how we'd like to move forward. So our proposal for Phase 2, and this was actually stated back in 2018, when we put our initial proposal in was to use this funding to purchase smart boards as they start to become obsolete. So we believe that the funding that we have will give us approximately 50 smart board replacements. The smart boards that we purchased five years ago will officially go off warranty. We've about 73 of them. Doesn't mean that we have to get rid of them because they'll still be working, but, you wanna make sure that

122you plan for that obsolescence as it happens. And I've been in touch with the Principal, Tracy Keelin, at Immaculate Heart of Mary, And they would like to purchase two smart boards as well for their school, as well as a set of iPads with the remaining money. And as you can see, we are proposing to expend all of the smart school's money and really close the book on this funding source as we move forward. So what are the next steps? There is unfortunately, a fairly long on ramp to this, and that's why I wanted to present this to you tonight. I won't, Rachel and I won't see the end of this. We won't see the delivery of the equipment or anything like that, but we hope to really wrap up all the preparations that the new

123team could come on board and have to worry about this. So the preliminary plan has to be posted on the District website. You will be asked to approve the plan at a future Board meeting. The plan itself is actually a fairly lengthy document that includes not just the funding pieces, but it includes assurances that we have professional development, that we have funding for infrastructure and things of that nature. I'll be putting that together hopefully this week, and we can get that set up. And then there's a 30 day waiting period. And then there's a, what's called a Smart Schools Bond public hearing, which can take place during a Board meeting. Basically we open it up and ask if anyone from the public has a comment they'd like to make on our proposal. Last time there

124were no comments, and then hopefully it just gets adopted. And then at that point, it can be submitted to New York State via the portal that Stuart described earlier. So I wanted to give the Board an overview so you can understand the process and understand what we're hoping to do as we try and wrap up this project. Are there any questions? Okay, thank you very much. Oh. Ah, Jerry, Jerry, I understand why IHM is included in this, but for people who may not understand that, can you just summarize that in a sentence or two? Sure. For certain initiatives that the state provides, I mean, textbooks is one of them. There's actually software aid is another one. The state provides us with aid and there's an allocation based on a per pupil number. For example, with

125software aid, it's $14.98 per student that we get reimbursed. The public schools are the ones deemed to oversee the expenditure for the private schools. So just to be clear, it's not money being taken from the public schools. It's public money going to private schools, which the public school and the region is responsible for overseeing and distributing. So for example, when IHM does a software order, we do the software order for them and we pay it, but we have the reimbursement coming from the state. Same thing with this. As a matter of fact, I received a call from Tracy Keelin, who's the principal there saying that the Chromebooks that they ordered as part of the Smart Schools Bond the first time are now officially obsolete. And so they have to give them back to us 'cause

126it's considered a loan and we will do the recycling of those items. So it's just a matter of oversight. They want the public schools to oversee the private. Thank you. Okay. Thanks so much, Jerry. Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much. Now we'll move to 13.06. Proposed new textbooks for the High School and Edgar will lead us on this. Sure, I have a third text for the AT government course, held by Cammy Wright to join the two ones that I described at our last Board meetings, "Debating Reform" and "Our Path is Power." This is 2014's "Our Declaration; A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality" And this is by Danielle Allen, an author and a professor of government at Harvard University. "Our Declaration" is considered an important work that reinterprets the promise

127of American democracy for our founding text and combines a personal account of teaching the Declaration as a professor with a vibrant description of the colonial period between 1774 and 1777. The author is known as a political philosopher, respected for her work on justice and citizenship. In this text, she describes our nation's founding text to be a powerful force that changed our nation 200 years ago, but one a text that still resonates. She argues that the Declaration of Independence is a document as much about political equality as it is about individual liberty. So I support Ms. Wright's intention to analyze this engaging and intellectually challenging text with students. Great. Any questions? Sounds great. Thanks so much Edgar. And now we'll move to 13.07, the Westchester Putnam School Board Association's Administrative Budget and Board of Directors Slate

128for 2022/2023, and Jessica, who is our liaison, will lead us in this. Thank you, Karen. So the WPSBA, I'm not gonna try to pronounce it as an acronym, is one of the several organizations that we belong to that provides training for Board members. They provide initial training for onboarding new Board members and additional training throughout the year available in a by Zoom, as well as in person. At this point, we are voting on their annual budget, which we are one of the districts that contributes to, and also on a slate of officers, members and members of the Board of Directors, which they have proposed. And the exact amount of the budget has disappeared, but I will get it back momentarily. But the... Sorry, I'm having technical issues, but I'm getting it back. Do you want

129us to pull up the budget? Is that what you're looking- No, I got it Budget number, okay. I got it. And so the budget is drawn from membership dues from districts like ours, from program fees, for people who attend their programs and from sponsored advertisements, as well as from the Lower Hudson Education Coalition, which gives them administrative fees. And at this point, their proposed budget for 2022 to 2023 is $277,720. And that is up slightly from last year's budget of $272,811. Great. And so we will be voting on that as an action item. Great. Thanks so much. Any questions on that for Jessica? Okay, so now we'll move to item 13.08, our Succession Planning and Ron will lead us in this. Thanks Karen, just a quick update. The RFP for an executive search firm was

130released about two weeks ago through various channels and public notices. A copy of the RFP is available if anyone would like to read it. You can find it on the Scarsdale school website, under the District Information menu bar, then Board of Education. And there is a page dedicated to the Superintendent search. The proposals from search firms are due by May 20th and the Board expects to select a search firm by June 15th. And we'll provide updates as we go. Great. Thanks so much. Anyone have questions for Ron? Okay, thanks again for your work on that. All the people who are working on that. Just sorry, thanks to Stuart and Linda for helping to actually Push it out. Get it out the door and through all the channels. So thank you to Stuart and Linda from

131his office for that. That's great. Now we'll turn to the discussion item we added, 13.09, the Quarterly Treasurer's Report for Quarter ended 3/31/2022. Since Jimmy removed it, I will ask you to lead or raise your... Well, I certainly can't present it 'cause I did not create it, (chuckles) draft it, nor did I see it until it was part of this consent agenda, but I did ask for it to be removed because I was curious since it purports to go through a fairly detailed overview of cash in and out of the district throughout the quarter that it shows. Obviously, we have these tax issues, these IRS payroll issues. I wanted to confirm that the payment of our Q4 2020 tax is not reflected in this report, but I also am curious as to whether we will

132see it reflected in next quarter's report? And if so, where we would see it reflected? Okay. So, the quarterly report in front of you is through March 31st. So the payment that we made for the 842,000 tax payment was made on April 6th. So that will flow through the next quarterly report on June 30th. And it would flow through the general fund piece at this point in time. Okay. Thank you, Jeff. Any other questions on this? Thank you for the clarification, Jeff. Thanks so much. Okay, so now we'll move to Item 14, the Action Items, and the first one up is 14.01 and Jessica will lead us on this. And again, hi, we are back to the WPSBA issue. We are looking to, I guess essentially resolve to allow Karen to fill out the ballot

133on our District's behalf, supporting their proposed slate as well as their proposed budget. And this will allow them to ratify the budget that we mentioned earlier so that they can go on with offering programs as well as confirm the slate that was proposed of officers and director members for this school year. Great. Second. Okay. Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay, that motion passes. Now item 14.04 of the 2018 Bond Bid Rejection, Capital Improvements at the Middle School and Bob will do this. Sure, 14.02. It is recommended that the Board approve the resolution as presented. "Wheras, the Board of Education, in accordance with Article 5-A of the General Municipal fund has invited sealed bids for Capital Improvements at the Middle School, which bid was opened publicly on April 23, 2022; and whereas, based

134upon the excessively high amount of this construction bid when compared to the budget allowed for this bid; and therefore, be it resolved, that the Board of Education hereby determines that the low bid of Siba Contracting Corporation exceeds the budget available for this contract and therefore rejects the bid." Second. Okay. Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Okay. And it all opposed? Any opposed? Sorry. Okay. Motion passes. Now, 14.03 Proposed New Textbooks, Jim. Okay. So this just simply is a Board action item that involves approving the acquisition of some textbooks that have previously been discussed by Edgar with us relating to world languages and social studies. And it would be my proposal that the Board approve this action item. Second. Okay. Any discussion? All in favor. Aye. Okay. Any opposed? Okay. The motion passes. Ron, since you

135have the consent agenda, can I have you lead us in 14.04, which is the Quarterly Treasurers Report, for Quarter ended March 31, 2022 Yes. I move that the Board of Education accept the Treasurer's Report and investments for the quarter ending March 31, 2022. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Okay. Any opposed? Okay. The motion passes. Now we'll move to item 15.01, the Gift Proposal to High School Athletics and Carl will lead us on this. This is a proposal for a gift to support flag football and in particular girls flag football, with a gift from the Giants Foundation. So I move that we accept this gift with thanks, which is 3,750 from the, 3,750 from the Giants Foundation. Okay, is there a second? Second. Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Okay. Opposed? Okay. The motion

136passes. And now we'll move to Item 16, Public Comment. Preamble, again. This time we invite anyone who'd like to speak on District related items and other non personnel related matters. If you speak, please state your name, your address. And if you're speaking on behalf of an organization. We ask that you conclude your remarks within four minutes and we will give you a verbal cue at the three minute mark. Anyone from the audience wish to speak? Hi again, Art Rublin, Chair of the Coalition for Scarsdale Schools, 22 Donellan Road. One, I just wanna make sure I understand and the community understands what the facts are in terms of fund balance and budget, as it relates to the IRS issues. My understanding is that the estimated fund balance before taking into account the $843,000 is $23.6 million.

137So, and, it seems that there's a very good chance that the IRS will obey penalties, but even if they don't, if you take $850,000 off of $23.6 million, you end up with roughly 22.75 million. And just in looking at past years, I mean, I see, you know, 2013, it's 17.3; 2014 at 14.2; 2015, 14.4; 2016, 20.7; 2018, 19.6, And I also just look back, you know, there had been a request in the community for projections. So the five year projections that were done in 2019, the projection, at least just for sake of discussion, for 22/23 was around 16.2 million or thereabouts. So, it seems, and again, maybe I'm missing something, but $22.75 million in a scenario where I'd say against my expectations, the IRS doesn't abate the penalties, would still be a very healthy fund

138balance. And I'm not looking for any answers, but I just wanted to note that we're talking about $22.75 million, even after one would take off $843,000. So I just thought it was important to note that in terms of what I understand the facts to be. Thanks. Thank you very much. Art. Any remote participants? We have one, but they haven't raised their hands. Maybe we give them just a few seconds in case they wanna raise their hand. Okay. They did raise their hand. Okay. (indistinct) Hi Myra, you can begin speaking. Hi. Thank you. I just wanted to point out, I know it's hard to keep track of all these things, but several months ago, in fact, in November, I specifically spoke about fund balance... Hi, Thank you. I just wanted to point out, I know it's

139hard, when you look at the Moody's Methodology, I've sent it to you before and I'm happy to share it again, but the health of the fund balance is important. Already, when you look at that section, it is lower than it should be for the triple A bracket. It's not a triple A equivalent it's lower than a triple A. That's only one, of course, of the many other elements. And so it is important to monitor that because now the fund balance will be lower and so it does start to weigh on the rating and it's not something I can fully describe every step right now, because obviously there's a time limit, but I am happy to send you the methodology again and to map it to each section. And so again, the fund balance matters not

140just to today's budgets, but to all budgets. And we have to be very mindful of it because we do not want our rating to go down precisely because it increases the cost of borrowing. And we don't have a bond issue right now, but we will in coming years, as Mr. Mattey has kindly described several times. So, let's be very careful about this idea that fund balances don't matter. They're really important. We don't want our rating to go down because it increases the cost of borrowing. And if I were a Fox Meadow resident, which I am, or the Edgewood ones, it's our schools that are going to be up for renovation in a couple of years. So we don't wanna be in a situation where interest rates continue to rise, which is the trajectory presently because

141the high inflationary pressures. And we don't want that combined with a decrease in credit worthiness because it would jointly increase cost of borrowing. So fund balance does matter. And presently that part is not an equivalent of a Triple A as I said already in November. Again, thank you very much for taking everybody's perspective. I do appreciate it. Okay. Thank you so much for both of your comments. We have another, okay. Hello. Hi Bob, we can hear you. You can begin speaking. Can you hear me now? Yes. Yes, we can hear you. Please turn on the camera. Hi, it's Bob Birt, Black Birch Lane. Bob, can you turn on your camera, please? Thank you. Let me try. Oh, here we go. Okay, great. I'm driving down an interstate this time in Western Montana. Hopefully the connection

142will stay with us better than it did in Qatar at the airport. In any event, I'm concerned about a cover up of the, perhaps the cover up, last Thursday or the other day you had the outside order just come and the public was not allowed to ask any questions. And the key question that was not answered is who authorized the booking of the tax payment as an accounts receivable, when these things happened, who? Were these the outside auditors that presented last Thursday, were they the ones that authorized the accounts receivable being booked as an accounts receivable? who were the tax lawyers? These are things that the public wants to have answered. They've never been answered. Had there been public comment that meeting I would certainly ask those questions. Thank God, tonight, the Board finally, after

143a painful discussion, agreed not to hire the inside auditors to do the independent, to do the review of that audit, the internal audit without doing an RFP for outside of people to come in, which is smart, because I don't trust them to do an independent review. It's a great concern to me. I also wanna know if the New York controlled State Controller is doing an investigation of what went on here? I personally had requested that the controller come in and do an investigation, and I haven't confirmed anything since. Maybe you can elaborate on whether the controller's office has contacted the Board? But, I think the public wants the answers here. We've not been given answers. Dr. Hagerman has gone now so there should be really no issue about preserving any confidences or anything like that

144or have to worry about litigation with him. So I'd definitely like to have answers. Thank you. Thank you very much for calling in. Okay. So now we will move to any wrap up items. Anyone have any, I don't have anything to note. Okay. Drew any wrap up items to note? Okay. And meeting dates, Item 19, meeting dates for the coming month. On Tuesday, May 17th. There's the public budget vote and Board elections from 7:00 AM to 9:00 PM at the Middle School gymnasium. And there's a special meeting to certify the vote results at 9:30 PM in the Middle School gymnasium. On Monday, June 6th, there's a retirement recognition ceremony that begins at 6:30 PM in this room, 170-172, followed by a business meeting in this room and an executive session if needed. Great, thanks so

145much, Amber. So at this time in Item 20, I'd like a motion from the Board to move to Executive Session, to seek the advice of counsel on a matter that may require the Board to add an item to this evening's agenda for action. So moved. Second. All in favor? Aye. So the Board will move into Executive Session in the Grande Conference Room, and we should return shortly and we may add an item for action, okay, so. Okay. Hi, we have returned from Executive Session. Can I please have a motion to add Item 20.2, IRS documents, information item to the agenda? Yeah. So moved. And second? Second. Okay. All in favor. Aye. May I have a motion to add Item 20.3, which is a resolution to the agenda. So moved. Second. All in favor. Aye. Okay.

146So now we will turn to Item 20.2 entitled IRS documents. This is an information item. We would like to let you know that the Board has determined to release certain information and documentation associated with the IRS matter. And this information will be available tomorrow on our website under IRS matter, which is found under either the site shortcuts or the Board of Education webpage. And now we'll move to Item 20.3. The resolution that Ron will read. Sorry. I'm just reloading Board docs, Oh, that's okay. So, I'll get it. All right. Takes me a minute to refresh. That's okay. Okay. Item 20.03 resolved that the Board of Education of the Scarsdale Union Free School District approves the determination of the Freedom of Information Law Appeal filed by Josh Frankel on April 27th, 2022, in response to his

147original FOIL request sent in on April 26th, 2022, and authorizes the Board president to sign the letter of determination. Second. Okay. Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Okay. Any opposed? Okay. The motion passes. May I now have a motion to... Adjourn? (laughs) Adjourn this meeting. (laughing) Motion to adjourn. Is there a second? Second. Okay. All in favor. Aye. Any opposed? Okay. The motion passes. Thank you everyone. Have a good night.