001of the South Colony Board of Education is called to order. Roll call. TJ is excused. Blakeley, excuse me. Brian Casey, >> Stephanie Kogan is here. Vincent Fenzo. >> Rose Giggly, >> here. >> Jennifer Hulahan here. >> Michael Keane here. >> David Keel here. >> Christopher Larby is excused. Robert Misk here. Let's all stand for the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Agenda item number three. This is the reading of the regular minutes of the meeting of January 13th and the special minutes of January 20th, 2026. Are there any questions, comments, edits? Hearing none, I will take a motion to approve Mr. Keane. A second, Miss Giggleello. On the motion
002made by Mr. Keane, seconded by Miss Giggleello that the minutes of the regular meeting of January 13, 2026 and the special meeting of January 20th, 2026 be approved. All in favor? >> Any opposed? Motion carries 720. Agenda item number four, superintendent update. Dr. Perry. >> Yes. Good evening. Thank you. Uh first vessel up to our girls basketball team tonight. uh facing Shaker. Uh both teams are uh undefeated in the league. So best of luck to our girls team. Uh state of the district uh presentation has been released to the public on YouTube, but please check out that state of the district. There is an 8minute version. If you're looking for a shorter version, I think the full length is about 43 minutes, 45. There's some outtakes. Um we we had a good time. We appreciate
003our communications department uh helping us through that and putting that together. So, thank you to Dana and Carer and thank you to my cabinet for helping us put that together. Uh, capital project uh making good progress on Veater. Uh, lately with the cold weather, we've got some holdups on putting the concrete slabs in, which will be the next big piece. We got to get the temperatures up above freezing, which I think the rest of the country is hoping for as well. But that's is progressing well. If you haven't been by Ver Library, we're looking at that progress this summer. We look forward to the St. Creek Auditorium uh being the major portion of the capital project. So, just some things that are ongoing with our capital work. Uh Chili Cookoff, thank you to our IARE
004students. Uh thank you to um our our community members for participating, for volunteering, for bringing the supplies. Congratulations to those award winners. a lot of really good chili and a lot of good mac and cheese and just a nice event. Thank you also to the village for hosting this again. Great venue and uh a super job by all. >> Although Mr. Catch Dorian did a uh one one taste and it did, >> you know, if I look and see his lowest score, it's a little disappointing. >> I don't think it was associated with any particular group. >> He was pretty kind. I thought most scores. >> That's all I had. >> Was that your first Thank you very much. >> How much did I have? >> We made I think a little bit over $2,000.
005>> Excellent. >> Congratulations. All right. Agenda item number five, new business. >> Giggly yellow. >> I got a chance to pop back in my kindergarteners and read a book and then we got to make a snowflake. A lot of fun. Does a great job. um parent is wonderful and she has some support in the classroom which is great now she has 22 students and quite a few L's so at that age it's a lot >> it's a lot >> and then um love chili cook off and mac and cheese and I really enjoyed our visit to Col Academy >> yes good I had that too all right very good next Mr. Mason. >> Uh yeah, I had a chance to go to the uh colony chamber dinner last week. >> Okay. >> And the main
006uh award winner was our own colony, Jonathan Rudat. Um gave a great speech. >> Um town supervisor Crummy gave a great speech and uh Mr. Rudat's speech at the uh accepting the speech was I'm expecting award was really good. Yeah, message was great. So it was nice. >> Thank you for sharing that. That's really great. I was not aware of that. Very good, Mr. Keane. Um, also got to attend Colony Academy, got to go to the Chili Cookoff. Um, I also made my way to um, wrestling senior night. I did go to wrestling at the mall. Mr. Mastiani had given us an invitation, unfortunately, at the mall. The other team chose not to oppose him. So, um, but he it was a, um, newfound respect for for the sport. It's >> um a lot of
007effort and strength obviously go goes in and um watching a young man who was battling some type of leg injury and he fought and fought and fought and got himself the the W at the end. So >> kudos there. I did want to go back um with regards to the state of the district video. I am curious um there was a lack of inclusion with board leadership. I don't know if um if you can share um why that partnership was um >> uh it was not uh any intentional we were looking for a different format first couple years we did not have uh the board officers involved or board president involved this year I think we were just looking for Q&A with the cabinet and it was just a format we had done so was
008not intended >> and then um I also like the uh data dashboard that's that's out there. >> Yeah, >> it does look like some things are maybe still being tweaked because I was looking at >> um one grid and it just kind of kept going back and forth. So, I figured it's a work in progress. >> Yeah. >> But lot of good information out there to to kickstart >> some of the things that we've been asking. >> Yeah. And on as a separate note with that too, the website looks to be refreshed too. So, that looks really nice now with the the the grids are not there anymore. So, that looks really nice. Um, chili cookoff, really great. Thank you so much, Vincent. I know you've worked hard on that and all your cohorts in
009IARE, that was always a terrific night. Uh, Colony Academy, that was just terrific. Thank you to all those who work over there and who attend classes over there. Hopped on to the uh Connie Central High School PTSA meeting last night. It was virtual. How could I not? School of Han also attended. It's always great to see everything carrying on over there. Um, I think that was that was Oh, and thank you for the snow day. I don't think you had much of a choice. >> It was a whopper. >> Mr. Dubbridge was at the chili cookoff and he guaranteed it was going to be snow day. >> You didn't have a choice. >> Thank you to our uh real meteorologist out there for the tips on that. But >> so when did the crew get
010it all cleaned up? It must have been quite a bad. >> Our our staff came in three different times uh for clean up. Then they were here uh two different times during the bulk of the storm and then uh even the following day when we did have school, they were back cleaning up, knocking the snow snow banks down and >> uh you got to keep up with those storms. You can't wait till 15 inches of snow. Our plows just can't handle it. So uh they were they retired. They worked hard and we appreciate everything we do appreciate. Yes, >> there were some uh schools unfortunately had to have delays because of community uh uh cleanups and things of that and in our our town. Kudos to our town and to our uh our staff for
011helping to get those things done. >> I just happen to think that was a day after that you went to see uh Senator Ashley. Was there anything different about that? >> Um very similar conversation to Assembly Member Ste. Um we did talk uh about priorities. Uh we did talk a little bit about the uh village um proposal to have the um speed cameras installed but very preliminary approach at this point in time. There's some um restrictions that you need to have um designated school speed zones which we don't currently have within town or the village. So that would be something that they would have to put in place and there's a limitation on where they can be put uh within a certain distance of the school. So you could not put it on Central Avenue
012if you're trying to impact Saddlewood. It would be on Laurely Drive where you've got speed homes now. So we'll have to work out some of those logistics to see if it gets to that point. But it needs uh not only the proposal from the village or the town, but also legislative authority to include that. Are the ones in Albany only during school hours that that's reduced to like >> 10 20? They're all >> all the time. >> Six o'clock. >> Um I'm not sure where they when they start in the morning, but they definitely go until six o'clock at night. Um Monday through Friday. >> Yes, speak from experience. Um Vincent >> um just repeat what um Giggle Yellow and everybody said Dr. Perry um back was made a success. We made over $2,000 and
013a big thank you to Mr. Casey for all the support and help that night and organizing the event. Um I cared had pay us for the dress last week. >> Um and we uh received over 170 dresses >> and those are all going to Proctors for March I think I believe it's March 3rd. I cook well. But um that was another great morning with and also big thank you to Cara and Dana for their help that morning too. Uh next week is our winter spirit week with our pep rally on Friday. That is going to be I believe starts at one o'clock. Everyone's welcome to watch it. It's always a very fun time. And then lastly, good luck to our girls and boys tonight against Shaker. And I know I know the girls game is
014a very high stakes game. Good morning. >> Thank you very much, Mr. Casey. >> Again, to piggy back on the uh chili and mac and cheese cook off, people that come to it see how well it's run and everything like that, but I don't think they realize behind the scenes. Uh kudos to to Vincent and his team. They were there at 12 1:00 start setting up the tables getting everything organized and in 45 minutes they had the entire gym transformed into the chili cookoff that we all saw that attended and then when it was over tough getting people out of there to leave on a certain time they don't want to stand around in the talk but again under Vincent and his team's leadership in about an hour that place was completely emptied, cleaned, garbage
015was taken out, floors were swept. We only had one person leave their wallet and she came the next couple of days to get it. But it was immaculate. They did a wonderful job. So, if you would trans let them know what I thought on how well they did it. We had to keep whipping them into shape a little bit. They were kind of tired by the end of the night. Um, but they got it done. So, kudos to you and and your uh your leadership team getting it done. So if you convey that on behalf of the board and especially myself. All right. So it was well attended. They had a great time. >> Great time. >> And apologies to Mr. Casey for setting the alarm off. >> It happens. It happens. At least the
016fire department didn't call. >> All right. Thank you very much. Anyone else? Very good. All right. Agenda item number six, communications. Do we have any? All right. Agenda item number seven, board committee reports. Up first, letter A, academic athletic hall of fame. This is Mr. Keel and Mr. Keane. Um, you have the the hyperlink, but Mr. Keel, would you have any comments? And then the same for Mr. Keane. I would just like to say that the AC no the athletic hall of fame nominations run through I believe February 28th. Is that correct? They are year round. You can nominate anytime at all, but the ones for this upcoming uh selection season end on February 28th. So, if anybody has any thoughts about someone who should be honored in the uh athletic hall of fame, we
017would appreciate those nominations. >> And then Mr. Keane for the academic >> um I don't think we've launched ours yet, right? >> It it is uh >> it's scheduled. >> It is on >> Yeah, but I know advertise marketing wise, >> correct? >> We we haven't pushed it other than than than the link. Um, and just one thing for those listening at home, you know, we did discuss there's a a need for some add some female candidates into um, we didn't get to talk last time, but you have some softball players that you coached that likely deserve a enshrinement. >> Excellent. >> I nominated >> there we go. >> Former student who was in the newspaper recently, so hopefully that she'll get recognition for. >> Good. Very good. All right, letter B policy and this
018is 4110 the student attendance calendar for 2026 2027. Dr. Perry, do you have anything to comment on this? >> Uh, this is a 184day calendar. Um, it uh does go back to four half-day parent teacher conferences. Uh the last time we had um shared some of the drafts the conference day for one of the parent teacher conference days was in January. Uh feedback from the teachers was to move it to late October. So that was the change here. Um but otherwise uh staff will come back before Labor Day, just one day. Uh we'll have a second uh staff development day on the Tuesday after Labor Day and students will start school on Wednesday, September 9th. So it's a late start to the school year. Seems to be aware of but overall pretty pretty good calendar.
019Very good. Any questions on that? All right. I will make the motion on behalf of committee chair Christopher Larabby um the recommendation that the revisions made to the above stated policy 4110 be approved as presented. All in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries 720. Agenda item number eight reports for information letter A 2026 2027 budget discussion. This is Jaclyn Mallister, the assistant superintendent for management services and strategic planning will provide a brief update on the 2627 budget. Miss Mallister >> very because I haven't had a voice for two weeks and it's still not fact but just had a presentation a little bit ago. So um we reviewed a lot of this last time and before we talked about um you know transportation, athletics and um on M. So, just to review our budget priorities, you can
020see them all. Great things for our kids. Um, I wanted to bring up a couple things that we talked about in our long-range financial plan presentation and just bring them to light in our budget presentation. You know, our average budget voter approval is is higher than um schools and most schools in the area. Um, cash investments for current liabilities is a little bit low, but that's something we're working on. our fiscal stress score is zero. Um cash as a percent of monthly expenditures. We're that's just because we have um we're building up those reserves and making sure that we have that cash up. And then um the one I wanted to highlight here, which is something that we're going to have Chris talk about too in a little bit, is the turnover rate of all
021teachers is much lower than all of our schools in the state uh capital district schools and medium updates up upstate schools. So, I thought that that was a good one to highlight as we go into the retention data piece. Um, this was back on our December presentation. Um, the other pieces or things that we're working through as we go through um, you know, our operating budget deficit surplus uh, fund balance and um, an assigned and assigned fund balance. So, as we go through those, we'll talk about those more as we go forward. But just some slides from our presentation we did in December with um with the uh with fiscal adviserss I wanted to bring to your attention um updates on our financial trends. We did get state aid. I'll have that on the next
022and a slide in the future. And um federal aid, it looks like we're going to get all of our grant money which is a positive thing. We were looking at a $400 gap or $400,000 gap. 400 we could eat. Um >> 400,000 would look a little bit different, but um I'm working on our tax cut numbers and we'll have that at our um first draft. Um but you know, 2% is our growth factor and inflation is 2.7. So on the expense side, we're looking at um you know, inflation, salary trends, pension contributions. We got some official numbers as of January f January 30th. So hot off the press, employer contribution rate for TRS this year is going to be about 8.24% while last year was 9.59% but employee retirement system is going up from 16.5.
023So um teachers is going the employer contribution rate that's ECR employer contribution rate is going down for teachers but as our salaries goes up that still increases. Um and then employee retirement system 17.6 the estimate from 16.5 this year. Um, and then health insurance, we're still working through some of those, but composite rates, when you add our RX and our um, prescription and our medical together, we're about 9 to 12%. Um, here's our aid numbers. We have foundation aid increase expected of 2.7 million, which is great for um, sustainability of our programs. Uh, there's some other pieces here. This is what's um, been presented from the executive budget. Uh the a few things of note is both aids we project our own ACA based on what we think we're going to spend. So as we
024look at the negatives there that's just what's reported we will do our own projection based on what we plan on spending what we know we're spending for this year. Same thing for public excessions internally for those is just the data that they have. Um, building aid also will increase significantly for this year and next year based on our aid start that we just submitted. So the the big number to look at here for is foundation aid. The other pieces will fall into place, but um looking very good on that. The other piece is UPK the changes there which we'll get dive into more as we get to um the instructional budget. Um but they're showing our current numbers for our current enrollment. um for UPK if it went from 5,400 per student to 10,000 per
025student which is a great increase but comes with some additional things and we will talk about more of that in our instructional budget. Um but looking at grade eight numbers for South Carolina not everybody in the state is looking at these great numbers. So um sympathetic to my other colleagues but that's all that we have for tonight. We don't have anything new to share on, you know, based on the calendar, but next meeting we will have a focus on special education student support services. We will be looking at programs um that kind of thing. They'll be giving an update on programs and um any needs. Uh but we'll have updates for the board prior to that um as we get go through there. And then we'll have a budget workshop prior to our instructional uh
026budget presentation on March 10th at work. and then the rest is move. >> Jacine, can you speak to foundation aid is an increase of 2.7 million? >> We're anticipating a change of 3.3 almost 3.4 million. So what is that 6 to700,000 anticipated to be spent on? >> Oh, that's what we're building right now. So we So this is this will be part of the revenue conversation. So as we go through our entire budget development process, we will come to an end where we have our expense number and our revenue number and then that's when I present whether we have a gap or not. The growth here is not that we have extra money to spend. It's that maybe we can cover everything to spend. >> It's other expense based aids is the difference. The 600,000
027is transportation aid, high cost student aid. So the foundation aid is strictly the uh amount that the governor is proposing in her budget. You still have the two houses that have to agree to that. So this is a projection right now. The projection is is positive. Um you know there are area districts that are looking at 1% um and and things like that because they had been fully funded. So this is the transition of the foundation formula working and and being fully funded. So we're we're in a cautiously optimistic stage I'd say right now. It's still really early. >> Yep. But um we'll present you know on our first draft all of the um you know where we like on our balance scale where we fall. So this is a great step towards being able
028to cover all of our expenses. But we have to look at the tax revenue that we can increase and then plus the state aid that we can get. >> Yeah. >> Equals can we get to our expenditure number or will there be a shortfall or will there be an opportunity to add programs? That's where we're building towards and that's what all the presentations get us to. >> So, it's kind of like to be determined. >> Yeah, it always early to see where that money is. >> And I misread it >> because I thought it was budget and then I back aid. >> It's aid. Yeah. >> Yeah. This is our aid projections from the executive budget. So, this could change significantly or it could change minor or none at all on the um >> on
029the uh on the I usually show you in a different format, but this one is easier. This the state aid runs are very messy. This one's a cleaner format, but it's not as official and you know the messy formula. >> The good thing is we don't anticipate going backwards from the 2.7 million, right? >> That's that's a pretty good thing. Usually the governor comes in lower than the assembly in the Senate. So if we're at that number, we're in pretty good shape if things happen. But it's balancing all those uh various department. Education is one big component of the budget. But you know, healthcare and >> yeah, salaries and then um benefits, that's our bread and butter right now. So when we get those once I get all of those projections in for our March
030uh 10th meeting, we'll have a better picture of where we're at. Um and as we go through the special ed budget next time we'll see what those needs are as well. So um not doom and gloom, not rainbows and butterflies. We're okay and this voice is not. So uh that's all I have for you tonight. All right. >> Um if that's okay. >> Any questions? >> All right. Thank you very much. Agenda item eight, letter B, HR staffing retention report. Mr. Rabalotti, >> I'm just going to connect quickly. >> There you go. Try it again, Kristen. >> You want I I can project mine. >> There we go. It's It's me, Chris. I'll just >> right in there, didn't you? Try again. >> You were delayed. So, sorry about that. All right. You want to
031connect yours and I can you plug this in? I can control. >> I'll give you my device. >> If you put that >> Yeah. Here we go. So have to adjust. This is not in presentation mode. It's just the just the um slides. All right, we'll just do it this way. All right, here we go. Um early I think it was the same meeting that Jacqueline referenced maybe in December. I was unfortunately not here early fluidium or fluite. >> Oh yeah, sure >> call that, but I was not here and a question came up about retention and data. So it triggered me to jump into some of the information that has been gathered and collected in my office but not necessarily put into a format that's digestible and understandable. So here here is yeah be
032nicer if it was in display mode. U I did share this with you so you have it. Um >> what I did what I had to do in order to construct this data and I'm going to be brief Vincent so you get to that game. I just want to tell you how data came to be. We keep track of everybody that we on board one list and then we keep track of everyone that leaves on another list. So I went through both of those lists and created cohorts based on the last 10 years. So anyone we hired in the year 2016 or later became part of a cohort. Anyone who we hired before or resigned in that time or left, whatever the case may be, retired, they aren't part of this data. This is just
033probationary on the on the instructional side, probationary teachers hired into cohorts for the last 10 years. So with the data that was, you know, on paper presented to me, I had to go through each year and whenever someone left the organization, I had to figure out what year they came in and kind of work backwards to create these cohorts with the information about who we onboarded in 201617, who left from that cohort because they didn't all leave in 201617. I had to peace meal that year by different years and then who stayed. So, this first chart is just a 10-year look at instructional retention data. And um in Canva, it's going to be my first Canva presentation. If you toggle over these, it kind of makes the other ones invisible. So, you would see that
034we hired 15, retained 12, lost three, and all the way down. >> This was a quick look at the percentages of retention. >> Chris, real quick back, I'm sorry. that for 23 24 was like a big was there a big retirement year that year or just you guys different programs or >> why we hired so many people. >> Yeah, co money >> that was when we had federal money. We were hiring a lot of staff to fill gaps and and created some new programs that we >> we just hired 22 23 24 >> year one of phase in of foundation aid. So COVID monies and then foundation aid was increased. Chris, you hit me with like control plus, you may be able to make it 125 or you know the viewing a little bit bigger.
035You know what I mean? >> That better? >> Yeah. Cool. >> Um, yeah, it definitely a bit of a blip as far as the number of people we hire. >> Retirements have seemingly been pretty steady over the course of this entire my time in the office, like 20 to 25 where we landed this year. Uh so the percentages when you take all that information from the previous slide and you look at the retention percentages year-toear the thing that jumps out to me is how tumultuous it was prior to the COVID year. I'm not saying CO saved everything. I'm just saying that's an interesting break in this. So you're going to go up and down, way up, way down, down, up, and then in that 2122 year, we get a jump and then a level and
036steady like another steady increase. So it looks as though things are stabilized a bit in 2526, which is which is pretty good to see. That up and down is just not ideal in any organization. I then broke it down into fiveyear windows so you can see what it looks like in fiveyear gaps. So from 20 the 1617 school year to 2021 we hired and here's an important number. We hired 100 people and 12 did not remain in organization. Right? The next fiveyear window 21 to 26 we hired just a tick over 200 people and 24 left. An average was 12. Seems like every hundred people we hired about 12 don't stay in the organization. So if you reverse percentage that 88% retention rate over the course of the 10-year co-work that we're looking at. There's
037the the total 30836 a little bit over 88%. Then I broke it down by uh content area just so we could look at any trends or anything that we see in content areas that may jump out at us. Honestly, there's nothing in here that really surprises me um based on where we have the most fluctuation in staffing. They're challenging areas. They really are. And that's where we've seen people um not remain in the organization for uh decisions and opportunities in other places. I don't want to spend too much time on uh the district versus the employee decision in this conversation, but it's there. It's data that we have to look at and all over. Um the the sped number certainly stands out. >> Do we you know and obviously there there's challenges. What supports do
038folks have in order to like beyond an EAP? Are there other supports if there's >> I mean beyond EAP certainly covers a lot of different areas that an employee may need if they're struggling internally or externally from the school building. I think when you're looking at what supports they have in the classroom, how much time do we spend on professional development? What type of supports are in place for the supports in that room and how how are they equipped to handle some of the new behaviors that we're seeing in students? Uh Irma has certainly helped us in that realm with PPE equipment to help protect our employees. Superintendent conference days are big. It's really challenging at times to PD support staff outside of the school day. >> It's just not ideal. When I surveyed them
039two years ago, they're like superintendent conference days, >> that's really where we want it. You know, nights and weekends is not always ideal for for people with families. So, we try to spend a lot of time uh with those opportunities. training them, talking about deescalation strategies. TCIS is a different animal. You can't really do that in a day. So, offering those opportunities to staff members to get TCIS trained and not all of them for the restraint piece, but more for the deescalation strategies that go along with it. Um, >> Christian, >> there are people who I've had conversations with that are in very challenging classrooms and when positions open up in other areas or districts that are different types of classrooms, >> they take them. >> And it's not that they're unhappy here, they just
040looking for a different type of classroom. >> Sustainability. You know, one thing uh that isn't reflective in here is we've had some special education teachers that started out as special ed teachers and then moved into a content area, moved into a classroom. So, their initial hire in the district was in special education, but they were dual certified or sometimes three or four different sorts. So, they moved in uh you know, we've got a high school math teacher who was a co-e special ed teacher for her first three years, wanted to go math. We hired her second time as a math teacher. So, that's kind of where the district decision, employee decision comes into play at times. >> Chris, why aren't there any math or science or social studies on that list? They weren't there were
041none hired. >> Um, there were none that we lost. So, I have other charts that are much larger. And to fit it on this screen, I only put in the content areas where there was resignations or lost. Otherwise, it's 100%. We've hired 11, 11 state. We hired 10, 10 state. That's good data for you to have and I can provide it to you. >> But it just there's so much information on the slide, it becomes a little hard for so if it's not on here, it's we didn't lose anybody. >> I also broke it down by building. Think that's interesting too to kind of see trends and things that are going on in different buildings. U it's a funky looking number and there was a great question that came in earlier today. wide point 3es
042and and 0.5 if someone if there's a staff member who works in multiple buildings it's not fair to give that building a 1.0 know loss if they're split. So I gave that weight to each building if it was a.33, if it was a 0.5, it was a 0 2. We do have some um ser like we have some professionals who service students in all five buildings whether it be OT, PT, speech like they're they're spread pretty thin um to get to our students. So they're point2s and so I I gave that weight to to those um those buildings. So there there's certainly um some interest in looking at that and if you're looking at the large number there it was one year and we made some really tough decisions that year. If you remove that
043anomaly it's 90.4 it's like 10% increase in that building of retention. So it's it was really one year in that building not a constant pattern of people let's say. So that was a real brief look at instructional staff. After I got through instructional staff, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at support staff. Seemingly the area that turns over the most in the district, at least from my perspective, I also knew that that would be a lot more work because the numbers are greater. The numbers are much more significant. We hire many more support staff a year than we do instructional. So, a lot of information on here. And if I was Oh, in Canva, I could toggle over things and isolate. Um but you'll see the number of go too far
044the number of individuals hired the number resigned next to it retain and retention percentage similarly to the instructional side. You'll see some some patterns that are similar where um we didn't we have a good retention year and then a bad retention year and then a good retention year and a bad retention year and then it starts to become a little bit more stable in that post 2021 year. you start to see at least 50% stay, 60% stay, and it just continues to grow. So, we've stabilized on the support side if we had a similar graph of percentages like we did on the instructional side. I would say if someone's thinking, well, why is that? Why would that happen? There were also significant structural changes to the contracts of our support groups following 21 2021. So
045we started to level and compensate our support staff at a better rate than we were prior to the co year and I would say that has helped with retention. It's also helped with individuals looking to come into the organization. That change I think alone retains more food service workers, more custodians, more monitors. Those changes were significant when we started to give them a little bit larger piece of the pie when it comes to checking in budget. Um, I did do some sideby-side comparisons um as well. This Oh, I know what's happening now. All right, I'm gonna go through these really quick. These were um >> they they're they're real. Um but they I had like a view on mine skip over these. So, let me get through the 10 years of data that were here
046um and get to some of the comparison. So, I wanted a sidebyside look of um support staff versus instructional staff in those five-year windows. So, here's a here's a 10-year look. The retention percentage for support staff 57%. Over the 10 years, and I and I do see that positive trend, so maybe it'll continue to increase. On the instructional side, this is an old one, the new one should be 88%. That's what we retained on the instructional side. >> The support staff in that fiveyear look a little bit um higher on retention in that fiveyear look instructional same 80 it's going to be 88 in both of them pretty much support staff retention in the back end a little bit lower instructional on the back end those last five years a little bit above 88. um
047a little bit out of order, but here are the um positions and titles and the percentage of retention. This is why it's hard to jam a lot of those lines into one. So, I probably could have removed all the 100% here too and gave you a little bit more to see with those that have lost or we have had resignations. the areas where we tend to hire the most, you'll see school monitors, uh, clerical, custodial, and bus drivers and food service. Those are the big five. >> And, you know, the the turnover is about the same in all of those areas. It's a little over 50% with the exception of the bus garage. Uh, drivers stay at a twothirds clip. Two out of every two drivers stay, which is which is pretty cool. Uh retention
048by building. Again, same idea. Taking a look at each building and seeing if there's any trends that we can take a look at with turnover in buildings. Nothing about support staff mirrors the instructional side really. It's much different. The more people you hire in in the building, it correlates with the number of people you then question. So try a lot. Great. Try it's a lot. And there's more data that you know that I can I can push out and share today with the charts. >> Sure. >> Yeah. And I I didn't even get to dig into that. Does the new software not provide you some of these reporting supports to >> um I could probably pull some from our pre schoolfront is not going to give me that because that's not the HR version of
049how to manage staff. I could pull some information from >> Envision. >> They're not as >> I don't know. >> It's not as robust. >> There's some quirky things about it. Okay. That >> Yeah, >> I could discuss with you be like, "Oh, yeah, that could mess it up." Different dates that onboarding dates versus anniversary dates versus dates, >> right? And the the movement and and such certainly certainly interferes. So the the work that Susan and Steve do to track it was I thought the best approach to get accurate data at this point, >> right? >> But it's time to >> and part of what brought some of the questions was I think I might have been at a high school PTSA and you know they talked about some of the incidents and still having
050some of those frontline vacancies. We we've always done well with, you know, bringing a good talent as teachers and the fact that we're recognized as one of the highest paying districts is certainly going, you know, it's it's a great tool and, you know, your numbers help show the the strides that we're making in those frontline supports. But I certain you know, I think there's an equitability piece that we still have to keep building on. And you know, while we may say, you know, 4% in one contract, 4% in the other, dollars and dollars, that's not, you know, that that's not an equal match. >> Yeah. And there there's certainly other variables when you talk about support staff as far as the schedule if it works for somebody. If I'm in the night shift and I
051find another opportunity that's back in the days, it's better for my family or the opportunity for more hours if I'm working in food service and four hours isn't enough and I find another opportunity. So little things like that. But I agree and I we made a conceded effort or concerted effort u concerted effort when we were doing those contracts to make sure that we didn't look at 4% in one group the same as 4% in another group. Dollar to dollar didn't make sense. So we are getting more people to apply for positions. Clerical custodial monitors like TAS like those areas that we struggled for a while. We're getting applicants. room screening, you know, five or six people for a position now where it was like, let's post it again and hope we get one. So,
052we're in a better place, but there's always going to be >> because Schoolfront does the posting for you. >> Schoolfront, we post through SchoolFront and it pushes it out into their network and also Indeed >> and every time you post it goes to the top. So, you have to kind of recreate the game so it gets back to the top. >> Um, then Indeed calls you is looking for you to spend some sponsorship money, which can be can be helpful. Three, you'd be amazed what $300 on a position will. >> All right. >> Chris, do you do an exit interview with people who leave? >> We we do offer that. We do offer they are provided with a it used to be a postcard, I think, back in the day. Now it's more of a
053Google opportunity to report your experience. In some cases, I've reached out and offered the opportunity for someone to come in if I knew there would be a reason why they'd want to come in and talk. Some take advantage of it. Some don't. Um, sometimes they know, I know, and they don't really want to take that time. They just want to be done and move on. But it's always offered. It's not always >> because there there's some who leave amicably and some who don't. So, I was just curious if you get an idea of that. us in and you know it makes sense. Usually those that would be unhappy while they're leaving want and we're here to listen because as an organization you don't grow and improve if you don't hear the things that are not
054going well. So we offer that opportunity and we've sat in >> Chris. What's the size of your team? >> Um I would say Johnny me not really. >> Oh Mike's looking to people. No, >> I have three and a half. I have one I have a part-time share with business >> who handles FMLA in service possibly any foil help I need. I haven't really had that. I kind of handle those by myself. >> And yeah, workers >> because you know Sherm recommends one staff for every 125 employees. >> Yeah, we're a little under that ratio. You kind of like pay like we have payroll and insurance and that part of business office. >> I I would say we're all kind of one. >> I know. >> And when if and when we ever move, we're
055all going to be together because we all work so codependently upon each other. So I have people labeled HR, right? >> But I talk to the business office as much as I talk to my own staff. >> We're coming off in that regard because we've been departmentalized so much. Yeah, >> where the business office is like a different world, but they he does a good job tearing those walls down and making sure >> off the top of my head there's six or six or seven. >> Wait, don't count. >> Don't say that. >> Six. Yeah, sorry. Seven or eight. We have about 10, which I think puts us in that ratio of education. >> Yeah, two payroll. >> Remember why you're here, Vincent. So because we don't we don't count payroll and and >> those
056headc counts when when I interact with other HR professionals. It's those that are focused on compensation, um health and benefits, um employee relations, you know, all those that are falling upon upon you. and you know just because it's getting harder and harder to the employ employee relations world is getting harder and harder. So just something for us to keep in mind to support you. >> Yeah, thank you. >> Um for all the instructional staff that have resigned, I know you may not have a number off top of your head. How many of these people leave education entirely? How many people do we lose to other students? I can make an educated guess for you just using the cohort number that we have now. There was 36 in the last 10 years that have left our
057organization. Maybe two have left education completely. The others get job opportunities in other districts. Maybe closer to home, maybe shorter commute administrative. >> Yep. Administrative opportunities that rare >> administrative >> that they don't. I appreciate all this. Thank you. >> Thanks, Chris. >> Sorry. >> 1410 Shaker end of one. >> All right. 1410. Let's Let's rally. >> Agenda item number nine, reports and recommendations for action. This is uh letters A through L. Let's take a look at these. Special note, I always like to take a look at the donations. The Herder Foundation of 32 Thanksgiving turkeys. Thank you very much. And a donation from the Little Family Hotel Mutel of one Mapex bell kit with stand and rolling case. Thank you very much. Any questions on any of the other items or Dr. Perry, any
058uh anything you'd like to highlight? >> Uh nothing of note. This is pretty straightforward. >> Okay. >> The compliments of the newest Detroit Piston murder family. >> Ah, the family. >> I heard that just got traded. >> Just got traded >> again. Again. >> All right. Hearing nothing. I will take a motion Mr. uh Misek sorry about that and second Mr. Keane on the motion made by Mr. Mis seconded by Mr. Keen that the above stated reports and recommendations be approved. All in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries. 720. Page number or excuse me, agenda item number 10, personnel instructions, pages 9 through 12. Mr. Robotti. >> Yeah, there's some really significant names on this list. Individuals that >> I've known since day one in this district. I it wouldn't be fair to talk about one
059more than the other, but it's just shy of 300 years of experience, 289. And they're they will dearly be missed in all their schools. Mr. Mir is is a legend that Fleill certainly missed. But so many high school staff that I spent my whole career with. I wish them all the best. It's it's definitely well well earned. I hope they enjoy the next six months and and just congratulations to them. >> Yes. >> Thank you very much. Motion, Mr. Casey. Second, Miss Giggley. On the motion made by Mr. Casey, seconded by Miss Giggleello, that the instruction personnel changes listed on the attached sheet stated February 3rd, 2026 be approved. All in favor? >> Any opposed? Motion carries 7 to zero. Agenda item number 11, personnel support ages 13- 16. Mr. Rabalotti. >> Uh, once again,
060another set of retirements, some individuals who have been in the district for a long time. Uh, it got a little tricky with the numbers. Um, Holly is just a revised date. So, we we already wished her well. Yes. >> So, that's just a revised date. But between John, John and Cindy, I think we're just shy of 100. Maybe a little less than that. 75 seems like somewhere around there. But, uh, tremendous careers and just support staff really keep things moving. They really keep things moving, especially those who clean our buildings. most relatable thing you can do in a school district is clean a building. Parents know when they walk in and they see dirt. They don't know what's in the textbooks all the time. They know dirt. So, you know, thank you to John and
061John and certainly Cindy for feeding our students for over 20 years. It's truly really great work. So, best of luck to them in retirement. >> Thank you very much. Motion Miss Giggleello. Second, Mr. Casey. On the motion made by Miss Giggleello, seconded by Mr. Casey, that the support personnel changes listed on the attached sheet stated February 3rd, 2026 be approved. All in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries. 7 to zero. Agenda item number 12. Resolutions. Mr. Cash Doran. >> Yeah, I shared a nice smattering of what's going on. Lots of resolutions to make sure that we're celebrating throughout the schools. I'm certainly looking forward to participating at Read Across America Day. Um, but one thing that I wanted to to share here, I tagged on to the end, Mr. Burl had shared with me what's going
062on with No Place for Hate. And I just thought it was an interesting update at the bottom of the document. They're doing a lot of great things and I don't know that we talk about them as much uh as we do some of the other clubs and activities that are going on. And I just wanted to give them some uh some acknowledgement for the work that they're doing. Certainly it dubtales nicely into what we uh celebrated for our resolutions last time we had met and the resolutions um for for this meeting too. Read enjoy and uh certainly participate if you get the invites to to read across America. >> Definitely. Thank you very much. May I have a motion? Miss Giggleello second. Mr. Mis on the motion made by Miss Giggleello, seconded by by Mr.
063Mis that the above stated resolutions be approved. All in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries 7 to zero. Agenda item number 13. This stands out by itself. National school counseling week proclamation. Our school counselors at every level do an outstanding job for all of our students. Mr. Catadorian, would you like to speak on this also? >> Certainly. I mean, we we recognize our counselors as much as we possibly can. They're the some of the hardest workers in our building and certainly provide a guidance and support for our student population and make sure that we're putting forward the best product of students and they carry out the mission and statement of uh what our district upholds and uh we just have to have them as assets and >> no you don't need to. I think you just
064want to >> Yes. Highlight >> that. And our proclamation itself I think was spoken. You're going to be sharing that. >> The proclamation. Yes. Whereas school counselors are employed in public and private schools to help students reach their full potential. And whereas school counselors are actively committed to helping students explore their abilities, strengths, interests, and talents as these traits relate to career awareness and develop development. And whereas school counselors help families focus on ways to further the academic, career, and social, emotional development of their children. And whereas school counselors work with teachers and other educators to help students explore their potential and set realistic goals for themselves. And whereas school counselors seek to identify and utilize community resources that can enhance and complement comprehensive school counseling programs and help students become productive members of society.
065And whereas comprehensive school counseling programs are considered an integral part of the educational process that enables all students to achieve success in school. Therefore, the South Colony Central School District Board of Education does hereby proclaim February 2nd through February 6th, 2026 as National School Counseling Week. May I have a motion? Miss Giggleello. Second. Miss Hulahan. On the motion made by Miss Giggleello, seconded by Mrs. Hulahan, that the above stated proclamation be approved. All in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries 7 to zero. Thank you. Agenda item number 14, future meetings. >> Um, one item to note, we were working with Mr. Ryan on a secret review. It's a uh environmental quality review for capital project work related to the transportation center. the March 23rd policy committee may turn into a one item word meeting. So I
066I'll have more information for you on that, but that would be strictly related to the Synra uh process just to give you a little heads up. Um we would do it at 5:30 and um that was the tender date that they had looked at. So >> all right, any other questions? Do we have any other business for the regular part of the meeting? Do we have any items for an executive session? >> I'm not sure, but let's say yes. >> Let's say yes. >> Okay, we are going to Oh, may I have a motion to go into executive session, Mr. Keane? And seconded, Mr. Casey. We're going to have the motion by Mr. Keane, seconded by Mr. Casey to enter an executive session to discuss this is going to be a well it's going to
067be a policy matter relating to a specific question we have regarding a specific issue. >> Okay. >> Very clear. Is that clear as well? Thank you. All in favor? >> Any opposed? Motion carries. 7 to zero. Time is 7:32. All right. Thank you very much. This ends the regular session. Stephanie, nice job reading.