SOUTH COUNTRY CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT BOARD MEETING 05/26/2026 PART 1

001To the flag of the United States of America to the stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [cough] Please note the emergency exits. They're at at the back on either side and up front. Their doors on either [cough] side. Please leave in an orderly fashion as quickly as possible in case of an emergency. This is a smokefree and vapefree school district. Smoking and vaping is not permitted in the building or anywhere on school grounds. This is also a hatefree and bullyfree school district. Meetings of the board of education are held in public so that the public can observe but it is not a meeting with the public. However, the board will provide for public participation later in the meeting. There must be decorum in the audience so as to permit

002the board to conduct the business of the district. This includes no outburst or comments from the audience. Any breaches of this decorum will result in a warning and upon a second occurrence the person or persons interfering with the conduct of business will be ex escorted from the auditorium by security. That's our standard expectation. I'm not saying it because I anticipate that we will have to resort to that. This meeting does not follow our usual agenda. You notice that it's a shortened agenda. We have on the agenda our budget presentation and following following that um there will be u an opportunity for the board to hear comments from the public. So at this point I'm going to turn the meeting over to our administration for the budget presentation. >> Thank you very much. Um, ladies and

003gentlemen, tonight's a big night. We had a vote, community spoke, and um there is going to be a little bit of a change here tonight because the community spoke loud and clear and we said we'd come back and show you a contingent budget. Now, you are going to hear about the contingent budget. But before you do, the presentation is going to show you something before the contingent budget. Because quite frankly, the contingent budget is so draconian and we lose local control. When you go to a contingent budget, the state says you must do this, you must do this, you must do this. It's not going to be an easy night. And the next few months are going to be challenging. But the bottom line is, and I'm very proud of the board of education, we

004just had a very intense conversation, and we were all united in. We want to put South Country back on solid financial footing and provide the programs for our students that we have provided. Now, all we ask is your patience. Mr. Belmont is going to do a presentation in a second and then people that have a chance to come to the mic. We also had people I wish at the [clears throat] end of the public participation we received about a dozen emails just under I think it was 11 and we'll address them at the end of your comments. So with this it's time for Mr. Belmont to, you know, we spent the whole weekend together. We got to know each other very well. And I do want to publicly thank the board for their support. These

005folks have been here, been through it, and they keep coming back, and they want this fixed. And I want to thank um Jason, Jackie, and John because nobody should have to spend that much time with me over the weekend. All right. So, thank you very much for coming. Thank you for your patience. And most importantly, you'll see at the end, everybody's in the community is going to have a chance to communicate with us and express their opinion. So sit back, enjoy the presentation. I should say enjoy, listen carefully, and these are the first steps back to recovery. Thank you. >> Okay, guys, that's the wrong presentation. Today is May 26. Well, thank everyone for joining us while we uh go through some technical corrections here. Um, I would be remiss if I didn't thank my

006central office colleagues for the amount of time in a very short period of time that we were able to sit down and put something together. So, with that, um, a special thanks to Mr. Hudsman and Jackie Mohagen for their efforts along with spending the weekend with our new superintendent of schools. It certainly was very enlightening. Uh I get to spend more time with him than I did with my wife over the last three days. So with that, okay, this is the budget. So uh thank you all again and Okay. So, as the superintendent has indicated, we heard the community loud and clear, this was no doubt a um unprecedented uh message that was sent to the school district. uh when you have a 71% no vote. So with that we uh we have a mission

007to go forward and to present a plan to the community. Okay. So before we get into the budget piece, I think it really is important to review the fiscal plan and where we are in the deficit. As the community knows, we did receive special act legislation of $11 million and also a general fund advance of $7 billion. One of the things that was uh very prominent in one of our last presentations was the fact that one of the community members, if I can advance this slide, one of the community members asked the question, what are we going to do to ensure that this situation does not happen again? And [clears throat] these are some of the safeguards that were put in place with the special act legislation. And I think it's this is a very

008very important piece for the community to understand. So we can say with great confidence that the fiscal oversight is in place besides what we did internally, besides of the internal controls that were made, the changes in the business authors, the communications. Um, this particular legislation puts that fiscal oversight in place and what that means is beginning for the 2627 school year through 20545. I hope I'm here then, but maybe not. So, you can see that's period of 30 years in a row. district's chief fiscal officer is required to monitor all district budgets and prepare quarterly financial reports. So, as we said previously, this money that the district agreed to accept comes with a significant amount of strengths. So, what does the district have to do on a quarterly basis? It's very comprehensive. We have to

009summarize the budget data. We have to provide individual budget line and item activities. We have to provide a comparison between actual and budgeted revenues. And the same thing on the appropriation side. We have to identify unfavorable variances including revenue overestimations and expenditure underestimations. We have to recommend remedial or corrective action from the superintendent or the chief fiscal officer if we happen to run astray. And we have to provide quarterly a trail balance and general ledger prepared with the governmental account standards and the controllers guidelines. So as you can see the reporting requirements are very comprehensive and in the legislation it tells us when we have the resour so it's not subjective at the end of each quarter September December March and June we have 60 days to provide that information and who do we provide

010it to in the [snorts] bottom right you see that the submissions doesn't just go to one particular person. It starts out with the board of education. It goes to the New York State Division of Budget. It goes to the office of the state controller. It goes to the commission of education. It goes to the chair of the Assembly Ways and Means Committee. And it goes to the chair of the Senate Finance Committee. So that is a pretty impressive group of people that this has to be done on a quarterly basis for a period of up to 30 years. Okay? And the budget oversight as you see is going to be consistent with the legislation as was passed. So, having said that, and the community now has a better understanding as to what the fiscal oversight

011is, just to bring the community up to speed on where we are in the process, we already have received the $7 million advance in general on May 18th from the state education department. That has helped us considerably in meeting our year end obligations. We had a sale of a bond anticipation note that took place on May 20th. We dated those bond anticipation notes for a period of one year and the I'm happy to say that the net interest cost to the district was 4.035%. And I'll get to why that's so important um as we go forward. We plan on closing on this particular uh ban on May 28th and the at the [snorts] time that the ban matures on May 28th, 2027, we will convert that to a long-term number. And at the time we

012get to that point in 2027, Board of Education can determine whether they would want neither a fiveyear term, a seven-year term, or a 10year term. These particular bonds can be funded up to a period of 10 years. So more importantly the standard and pause global bar on the on the bottom we had spent several days working with standard and pores based on the district district's fiscal crisis. I was very pleased that we were only knocked down two notches from a double A rating to an A+ rating. [cough] And that was only because of the fiscal plan that was put in place and a short period of time that the district reacted to implement the plan to cover a three-year period. They did add a cabinet on it. We were placed on what they call credit

013watched negative. And what that means for the district was that they were very happy to see what we did, but they said we need to see the plan materialized more. We want to see what happens with the voter approved budget on May 19th. Okay. So what credit watch negative means to the district that standard and pores has the right within 90 days to modify our credit rating. Okay. So I'm happy to say that when we sold those bond anticipation notes and received a 4.0% okay that did not come into play. It was based on a higher credit rating for the school district. Now, we have a whole year until those bonds mature and depending on what our credit rating will be is going to determine what the possible interest cost could be to the district.

014So, that's the update on the debt financing and where we are at this particular point. We'd like to jump into the budget discussion. if I can get my clicker to work. And I guess the question is where do we go from here? We know that the budget failed. We know that it failed overwhelmingly. Message sent. We know the transportation proposition passed. So what we have on the first line there is that the failed budget on May 19th. We know that the transportation referendum passed. So we're able to reduce that budget by $900,000 to come up with a new baseline as we start this discussion. So basically what we're going to show you this evening is what is entailed to get down to the cap to reduce that failed budget by 5,670,000 less than 900 that

015was already approved by the community. And then going beyond that, if the district was to end up on contingency, we would have to reduce another 4 million from that budget. At this point, I think it's a clear uh expectation that based on what the community has said at the May vote that there's little or no interest in trying to pierce the cap again. So probably the best and the most conservative thing for the dishment is to look at a budget that may be at the cap at that 5.52%. Now that is the property tax cap. You know many of you may think that hey the property tax cap is 2%. But we all know that if you go back to some of the other presentations, there's a very calculation that we go through to get

016to the cap, there's a significant amount of pluses and minus, debt service, state aid, pilot payments, etc., etc. So, our calculated cap, which has been verified by the controllers's office, is 5.52%. and that requires a 50% majority vote by the community. It does not require the district to pierce together. So, the first thing that we're going to start out with, we're going to present this in um the way the budget is normally presented to the community, the administrative, program, and capital portions. Okay. Now before the first section that we're going to get to is the administrative portion and I would just like to recognize that this is the component of the budget that represent the infrastructure that's necessary to ensure that the district remains financially accountable, legally compliant and operational and operationally functional. Following these

017reductions, the district believes that the administrative component reflects a lean and responsible level of spending necessary to support the educational programs and overall operations at South Country. So with that, you can see that we are suggesting to get to that level at the count that we reduce the administrative budget by $616,000. That includes a reduction in the area of security 530,000. >> That includes the elimination of conference and travel of over 25,000 postage 10,000 and reduction of clerical substitutes of 35,000 and a reduction of clerical overtime of 15,000. Now, we know, and let me state right up front, none of these decisions are easy. And I also want people to understand that when the community passes a budget, they're passing a plan. These type of things as the budget goes as the district goes through

018the budget year these things are not necessarily written in concrete. The district has the flexibility to prioritize and change what's necessary and things that happen on an emergency basis and otherwise. Perfect example. We may have a boiler that fails. Currently, we're undergoing that situation right now. Unfortunately, that's not in the budget, but we still have to address it. As long as we have an approved spending plan from the community and we stay within that approved appropriation, we have the option to address the priorities of the district. And I think that's a a very very important distinction as we talk about these cuts and reductions because they are significant. That was my grandson. Today's his fifth birthday. So anyway, so moving to the program budget. I think that I want you to see four slides on

019program change. So I think this statement really hits home. I know it hits home for me and I know it hits home to my colleagues that we are the ones that have this together. So the program component represents a very significant significant and difficult decisions that would materially impact instructional opportunities and overall student experience here at South Country. [clears throat] That's obvious. We're stating that up front. The cumulative effect of reduced staffing, elimination of co-curricular activities, reduction in technology replacement, decreased transportation access, scale back athletics and student support opportunities extend beyond a single fiscal year. We talked about in the past when you're making these kind of reductions, it's a multi-year recovery plan. That's not subjective. That's not false. That's fact. When you're dealing with the things that we are dealing with now, it will

020be a multi-year recovery plan. So such reductions will have lasting implications on student engagement, academic programming, extracurricular participation, and the district's ability to fully support student growth and achievement. But that's only to say where we are now. That doesn't mean that we don't have an opportunity to rebuild over the years and put these things back in place where needed and necessary. So again, I thank you for your patience, but um these type of pieces are going to be very >> [clears throat] [snorts] >> So, we're going to begin at [snorts] the um and I see a typo up there already. The program section is $4.7 million that we're going to be recommending reductions. It's a total reduction of 34 uh FTE positions, not 23. So, and we're going to go through them as we go

021through the presentation. Okay. The first item that we talked about previously is the 900,000 that was voted by the community on May 19th. The next item is we're looking at eliminating late buses once again. So we will not have late buses next year. Um we had originally reduced the 230 buses. Then we had made a recommendation for these lake buses and then we had added them back in and at this particular point we are making a recommendation to take them back out. On the co-curricular level we are recommending eliminating all including the districtwide interurals leaving the play productions in place. As far as additional administrative positions, the depth and the breadth of what we talked about previously, we're also recommending the two additional director positions, director of guidance, director of technology. And administratively, we do

022have a concern how the work is going to get done. But nonetheless, we will have to plan together. We will have to get it done. In the area of athletics, we're recommending the removal of JB sports, the reduction of athletic transportation, reduction in uniforms, and decrease in general. Just bear with me one. Yeah. Happy birthday. So thank you. Um so having okay then we get to music and in the area of art music we're recommending a reduction [cough] for FTEES. Um, we're recommending at the middle school and the high school a recombining and reconfiguration. We do have state minimums to consider in these particular areas for bought and music. And again with those four FTP, I just want to mention that as painful as that is, one of those positions is retiring and two of

023those positions are individuals that have resigned. So where we can't take advantage of attrition, where it hasn't directly affected a person, um we were very cognizant to do that from a humanistic approach. Um, art, we have the same thing, the elimination of three FTEES and some art electives at the high school. Family and consumer science, we're recommending the elimination of that. Uh, math interventionist, K5, this is elementary school, we're recommending the elimination of four. That still leaves two within the district. Now, we mentioned earlier about contingency. Okay. And you'll see that with contingency and some of the statements that were made earlier, how difficult it is to get to contingency because it's another $4 million on top of what we are already talking about. So under a contingent budget, a lot of these things that

024we're talking about, the music, art, and the math interventionist things, they will just actually be eliminated and we won't have those as part of the program at the secondary level. again um English increase class size at the middle school and again look at electives and remove electives math and business look at classes combine some classes and increase class size and reduce business electives at the high school. None of this is fun and it is certainly painful but nonetheless when we go back I can hear you spoke loud and clear and I guess piercing the cap is not an option. So continuing with science, the elimination of AP chem, AP physics, AP environmental and world language, uh elimination of college Spanish, French and Italian, and increasing class size, and eliminate discovering world language at middle school,

025grade six. >> [cough] >> I'm not certain why I always get to deliver good news but um so with that continuing as I said this is slide 404 for program. So now we move to technology, remove electives at the high school again considering the minimums. Um elementary counselors uh removing two elementary counselors really going back down to the state minimums in library the reduction of the elementary library position that we had restored previously in the budget process. uh special education, we do have one individual that had resigned and we will not be replacing that position. And then on the general ed side, not special ed for teaching assistance, we are recommending reducing 10 teaching assistants and um we still would have 10 in place [snorts] for the general ed program. So that basically wraps up

026the program side of things. And then when we get to the final component, the capital budget, um this is another area that well the capital spending shifts from improvements to prevention to essential operations and emergency response only. the district's ability to proactively maintain facilities, replace aging infrastructure and invest in long-term sustainability becomes significantly constraint. So what we are looking at here, ladies and gentlemen, is we're looking at reductions across the board. We're looking at reductions in administration. We're looking at reductions in program. and we're looking at reduction in capital. [clears throat] Um the reductions of this magnitude should not be underestimated. Deferring capital improvements, equipment replacement, technology investments, and preventive maintenance. It provides us immediate fiscal relief. It's very important for the community to understand that it's a oneshot deal. However, such of such reductions

027like this will create long-term operational pressures and increased future costs as the infrastructure, equipment, and systems continue to age. Throughout my whole career, I've always prided myself on the buildings and grounds component of the district being the educational foundation, if you will, for our programs. Without health and safety facilities, we have nothing because you cannot teach students productively in a failing classroom environment. When your structure, your infrastructure is not where it should be. And again, that's just, you know, where we are. We these cuts that we're making, you can see 270,000. They're not totally totally major, but it does require us to tighten our bells significantly and really choose our district-wide maintenance and improvements and only prioritize those things that are broken and fixing. And the same thing with our repairs and maintenance and improvements.

028We're going to be very selective um with that and our repairs as well. custodial overtime. We're reducing $100,000. It's only going to be on a priority basis. These are the things that you do when you have to reduce cost and tightly develop. It's going to be the 26 27 budget is going to be a very very big budget that the district is going to have to work very uh closely with administration and the board to make sure that we address all of the district's priorities. Having said all that, you can see that the the bottom line is we are going from the original budget that was defeated, which was 150 million to a revised budget after taking into consideration the 900,000 down to a budget of 1448. $2.3 million less in spending than the current

029year at this point in time and that represents a reduction in spending of 1.57%. One of the significant things that jumps out for me as your assistant search for finance is that when we look at 2526 and we see a budget of 147 and we're comparing it to what we are where we are now at a 2.3 spending decrease. We all know how we got here at 2425 and we had spending deficits. Our projected spending deficit in 2526 was $8.7 billion. That was part of the reason for the special legislation. So when we compare these numbers, we're required to show budget budget. [clears throat] But when you look at that 25 26 number of 147, we know that that number has been underestimated and that number in reality is much higher. So we are at

030a point fiscally where we have made a considerable amount of reduction just to get to this point. So so now we know what the numbers are and I know that everybody wants to know what is this going to cost me. So we put up here that this budget that's presented at the cap that reduces 5.6 6 million in further expenses. Requires a 50% majority vote carries an approximate $222 a year increase $18.50 a month. you know, recognizing some of the comments from the community previously about different homeowners with different uh assessed values, provided that chart on the side that basically increases and decreases in $500 increments so you could see where you may fall in this and what we're talking about. But suffice to say that for the average person with this budget, we're talking

031about a monthly increase of anywhere from $11 up to $25 a month. And again, I would caution the community when you trying to figure this out for yourselves, you can do one of two things. You can call my office for the county tax bill or you can go to your tax bill and look at your school tax letter. Not your total budget, not your total taxes, but only your school taxes. It's a lot of stuff that's in your tax bill that is above me on school taxes. Yes, the school taxes make up the largest share. We recognize that. We know that. Okay. When you look at your assessed value for your school district, you should be able to go to this chart and figure out um where you would fit in on this matrix. So

032challenges ahead community recovery. So, we know that um while financial reductions can occur in a single budget cycle, rebuilding the programs, capital investment, and student opportunities requires years of sustained recovery and investment. We are making a correction in our course and we are resolving a threeyear problem that did not start yesterday. It started many years ago. We all identified what the problems were and the problems are being addressed. I take you back to my beginning presentation. Please don't forget about the fiscal oversight. That to me was the the one legacy, if you will, that I wanted to leave this community that there will be fiscal oversight, that everything that we have done is not in vain and there's going to be oversight from plenty of state agencies on a quarterly basis for the next 30

033years. So with that, rebuilding the reductions um as we said is a multi-year pro process. This is not the end of the line. This doesn't mean that our kids lose everything forever. It's a new beginning. Let's look at it that way. We fixed the problems. We're paving the road. Now, it's time to rebuild. Restoration of the staffing, instructional opportunities, technology, extracurricular programs, and capital investments require sustained financial stability and strategic reinvestment and continued community support. Those of you that have been following these presentations, this I believe is number 10. There's nine of them on the website. It takes us through a whole blueprint of where we where we started in this budget process and where we are now. So there's 10 presentations and um with that it's once these reductions are implemented rebuilding the capacity

034both operational and educationally will take some time [clears throat] but accordingly we want the community to know that every effort has been made to thoughtfully balance the fiscal responsibility while maintaining and minimizing the disruption to our students and preserving the instructional mission to the district. And we say this because you just saw what we get for $5.6 million reduction. We all were not happy about that. Now, I can't even imagine having to take down another $4 million in this budget. It would be devastating. We would not have a program. [clears throat] I said this at one of the other meetings and I knew this. There's the only place to go is everything else would be wiped out. The students would come to school, they would get on the bus, go back home. $4 million. We

035just figured out 5,670,000. So, with that, I want to take a pause. There's a lot of information. We shared the facts. Now, we want to hear from the community. We're trying something new. I don't know if it's going to work or not. Um, there is a QR item up there. We put on a little Google survey and those of you that are here, you can access that with the QR code and you can respond. is basically three questions that ask about where we are now and what we presented this evening for the budget at the cap. Takes us one step further and asks whether the community will support a contingent budget and a reduction of another $4 million. And then it asks for some priorities that the district would love to have your feedback. So,

036um, with that, not only is it on the QR code, but those people that are watching from YouTube, there will be a link on the bottom, we also have a link on the district's website as well as Facebook. So, we're giving you a lot of options for feedback. Um, we anticipate having this up for about 24 hours to get immediate feedback. We're on a very constrained timeline and the board of education has to make some critical decisions whether the district is going to put up another budget June 16th or whether we're going to go on the city. Um, so with that, I think that the community input is critical as we go forward. And then this is probably the best opportunity to begin to hear from the community and their thoughts as to what was

037just presented. Um, so with that, so I got the thumbs up that the link should be up on the QR code. So again, these are our options, lad ladies and [snorts] gentlemen, and they're not easy options, but they're real. And this is [clears throat] where we are at this. So I I at this point I would open it up to the community. Could I just ask you to clarify or repeat that what needs to be done tonight [sighs] is for the board to determine a [snorts] number for a budget and you could outline a little bit about why that has to be done tonight. >> Okay, sure. Um, we are hoping tonight that we walk away with some direction because we have a very short window to meet the guidelines of the state in presenting

038another budget to the community. Um, if the board decides to adopt the budget at the capital, we have to have a resolution that the board approves allowing us to do that. We have a legal requirement where it has to be legally advertised. And when you look at a budget of June 16th and back up those dates, we would have to have a budget document completed by next Tuesday, the distribution to the community with an updated school budget notice. The following Tuesday, June 9th, we would be presenting a budget hearing to the community. basically talking about what we talked about tonight and if that budget failed what a contingency budget would look like. So that's the priority for where we are now. If the board was decided we wanted to go right to contingency it does

039not require uh the board to take any action. They could effectively adopt a budget this evening. But we're we're choosing and hoping that we don't get and go in that direction. So with that, uh again, remember that based on the law, we get two bites of the apple. The first bite was on July 19th. May 19th. I guess I'm just thinking ahead. Oh, wait a minute. That's Disney World. So it was May 19th. That was the first bite of the The second bite of the apple would be on June 16. After that, you have the whole bit of the apple. You go on contingency. There's no exemptions. There's no deductions. You go right back to the current year tax le. Okay? And that think about what we talked about earlier about that tax levy being

040underestimated to the previous two years. part of the fiscal situation that [clears throat] we just that we have resolved as we go forward. So, does that answer your question? >> So, from our perspective, it's a two-step process. Tonight we can turn [clears throat] another and we're also going to hear from the community about priorities and then there will be an opportunity for the board to have discussions about the priorities um available within the numbers that you set out for us. >> That is that is correct. I would just like to emphasize again, if the community decides that they're voting on a budget that brings us to cap, we'll be voting on a budget on June 16th as $144.8 million. That's the spending plan. Keep in mind that nothing in that budget is written in concrete.

041We deal with contingencies. We deal with emergencies. we prioritize during the year. Some things may have to go, some things would be adjusted. Again, your budget is a plan. It needs to be a living, breathing document. That's how school districts will be. >> The next segment will be the public participation. Um, and while we're setting while we're setting that up, I just wanted to um confer with our interim superintendent. You're prepared to make a recommendation tonight with regard to the budget number. >> Yes. In that case, um I'm going to need our clerk to amend the agenda to include the resolution that we will take up after we hear from the public. We're going to do the communication now having communication first. Yes. And then we'll take the vote. I just need her to have

042a minute to be able to the agenda because she's then gonna be calling up people Um, did you did you want to speak before the public or >> I have the questions that we emailed and we address them in a lump at the end with a brief summary. >> For those who want to speak tonight, please be sure you filled out the yellow card that's available through our clerk and return them to her. Now, do you want me to call out the yellow cards? Are you going to be able to do that? >> [clears throat] >> I'm going to call four names and ask if you could come sit up front and then we'll take you in order. We have Janette Fbrezio, [clears throat] Kareem Odokon, Shannon Marshall, Carrie Garin. Our first speaker, Janette Fbrezia.

043Can you hear me now? >> My name is Jan Bazil. I am a community member. Um, I have three boys. Two of them are currently in school. One of them has graduated. Um I'm here today to talk to you about two great things. The first thing is I aside from being a community member, I'm also a school lunch director in another district. And I have seen on these slides that um we have um a budgetary um line for our C fund, which is a school lunch fund, a cafeteria fund for $25,000. So as a self operational school lunch director, I actually a profit for the district under the sea fund. Um we I know have been under a food service um management company for quite a while now and I was just hoping that you

044would maybe take this note and think about um looking into becoming self operational for the school lunch fund. Uh, currently I am making north of $700,000 in my fund. Um, which would help the district out. I understand that most of the community members don't understand the seed fund, but I hope that you would become educated on it as a board board member and that um some of that seed fund money can definitely offset some of the general fund money. For example, things such as waste management. The cafeteria uses a lot has a lot of waste. Therefore, you could potentially charge the seed funds for the waste management percentage that the cafeteria uses. Same thing with electric. It can get very creative. So, that is something that could potentially bring in some revenue to the district

045creatively. It also can take the burden off of um potentially doing upgrades to the kitchens that now the general fund does not have to bear because the C fund could bear that burden of upgrading um throughout the the years and the time of the facilities within the um school lunch part of the district. Um, my second thing that I would like to say is that um I do want to try my best to make sure that I'm trying to convey um a depiction that would be good for the whole community, but I really do want the board to continue to focus on making sure that these high school students have their CTE um portions and keep them career and college ready. So the best that you can do to preserve the programs such as AP

046classes, CTE courses that are in here, please consider to do that. THANK YOU [applause] to our first speaker. And not to interrupt, I'm going to do it before you speak. I neglected to point out that each speaker has up to three minutes. Most of the names I recognize and they're well aware of it, but just for the record, three amendments. Thank you very much. >> Uh my name's Kim. I'm a dad of two kids in the district. Um the budget newsletter is the primary means to communicate with voters. 4,000 people are not at these board of education meetings or watching online. The budget newsletter that was sent out prior to the last election did not even mention the deficit in dollar terms. It did not discuss how the district cut 18% of teaching positions in

04712 months. It did not detail program changes like elimination of sixth grade dual language program. No matter what you guys say doesn't exist. Um the the um proposed cuts to AP that were already in place under the last budget. Um, you know, this is uh, you know, the to me like how do you expect, you know, you said you you heard the community loud and clear. How do you expect the community to know what's at stake when you don't tell them what's at stake? You know, we had one slide that said, you know, if a contingency happens, all this will be cut and more. Okay, that's not how to say what's at stake to voters. This stuff that was presented today was the difference between last budget and the contingency budget should have been crystal

048clear to voters before they went to vote IN THE BUDGET. on top of that, you know, the difference between this and a contingency budget should be crystal clear to voters who are going to vote on not because there's a slide here because you mailed it to them and you said we're cutting JP, we're cutting, we're cutting this and that because yes, these things matter and I don't think that there are 4,000 people who don't care about our children's education in this community. I think that they they need to know what's at stake. Um, and there needs to be still accountability to the board that put us into this position. UM, [applause] you know, this board didn't give voters an informed choice. I spoke to parents after who voted for this proposition that you guys uh

049put on the ballot with very uh, you know, begging you guys to be clear about this, but they didn't realize that they cut taxes $900,000 to save $400,000 in net busing expenses. you know that there's a loss to our district. The outcome of the last election is that we have less money going into it wasn't a zero, it was a negative and that's so irresponsible of this board. So to think that um you know we have clarify things for the you heard us loud and clear. I don't think so. Um you know we're still not outlining everything at stake. I think um we have to if we don't do this, the fact that all of this is being discussed after the last vote is is really terrifying and you have one chance to do it

050again to make it crystal clear to people what's at stake and I I just beg you to do it. [applause] Thank you for your comments. Next speaker is Shannon Marshall. Hello. Nervous to speak, but I think it's important to speak. I have four daughters, seven and under. Um, but what I'm about to say really pertains to the older kids, especially the JV athletics department here. I grew up on Long Island and neighboring school. Belort always had the best football teams. We were always scared to compete against them in sports. How will that I just don't see how that's going to be productive for our students? I think it was 160k was that's what you're saving to cut JB sports. These students have worked so hard. My daughters are playing in the Belffort youth uh lacrosse

051league that I think Chris Ross helped put together this wonderful league. They started at age four. So these kids have been playing their whole lives. Now they're going into high school and they're not going to be able to play lacrosse. They're not going to be able to play football. I don't care if it's a year. That's a shame. That's embarrassing. And a year is a lot for these kids. These kids that want to go to college. It's not my kids because they're little. I hope this all gets figured out by then. But I'm going to speak up for the kids that are vulnerable and need this who have worked hard and they cannot GET THIS. >> [applause] >> THE OTHER THING I WANT TO ADDRESS IS that my school when there was low AP enrollment,

052they integrated that AP course into a regular course. So let's say there was low AP French, right? Then they put AP French into regular French. It's not ideal for the teachers, but the student gets to put it on their college application. What I'm seeing is elimination of things instead of discussions of how can we work with it? Can we cut the season a little bit? Can we look at further transportation costs for the athletics and just offer the sport so they can put it on their college application? Can we offer the AP sciences? Let's put the AP physics in with the regular physics. These are just some ideas that I have. I hope we can come to a resolution. I just want to speak up for the kids that they can't afford one year. They

053can't. They want to go to college. It's very competitive to go to college. If they're going Sunni, it's not easy to get in anymore. We need to SUPPORT THESE KIDS. [applause] >> [applause] >> NEXT IS CARRIE GARIN. >> HI, my name is Carrie Larin. I'm a mother of a current 10th grader and a current eighth grader. Um, I'm also an educator at William Floyd for 22 years. I won't get up here and speak, um, but I feel I need to on their behalf because I'm their advocate. Um, Mr. Bante, I say this with respect, but time to rebuild is not what my kids have right now. My son is going into 11th grade. My son has been on your website multiple times. He's your publicity. He's one of those kids. He's an overachiever. So, to

054take away AP, you're taking away his opportunity. You were told you have 11 emails. I'm one of those emails. So, in my heart, I feel that the 11 people that took their time to reach out to you, I don't feel hurt at all when I'm looking at that screen. I have a child that wants to be a biochemical engineer and the grades to do it. And you are going to limit his opportunities and it's it's heartbreaking for these kids at this point. They are the only good publicity we've had in the newspaper. [clears throat] I don't know if anybody noticed that article VERY [applause] opportunities from those children is it's criminal at this point. You need to relook at that and figure it out. You need to do like what the last speaker said, you

055need to find solutions, not just cut things, cuz you're you're hurting kids. You're hurting their future. That's what's happening. Thank you. [applause] Thank you for your time. [applause] Um the next group of speakers I have Barbara Shapsman, Corey Yablan, Buddy Lorenson, Christina, no last name. Uh, Michael Marc Marcelana, if y'all could just come up and we'll start with Barbara Shman. Hi, I'm Barbara Shzman. I was a teacher at Brook Haven Elementary School for over 20 years and I was on the school board for nine years. I have two children that went through this district from kindergarten through grade 12. I was I'm going to be on the same track as some of the previous speakers because before that I remembered something there. Somebody mentioned online about a letter that went out that said to the

056South Country community. I never received it. If I didn't happen to go online, I never would have gotten it. I've spoken to other retired teachers and other retirees. They're not included in this. It was above the blue of mine when I was on the board that not everybody has access to a computer. Not everybody has access to a smartphone. So I think something has to be done about that. So when it says South Country Community, you mean the whole community. The other thing that I wanted to mention is what two previous speakers said. I've spoken at a lot of board meetings and I'm usually not shaking. I am shaking now because I am so upset about the cuts to the electives and the AP classes. I want to know who in the district is going

057to be responsible to write to the colleges to explain why the applicants from this district have no electives and NO [applause] >> [applause] >> My children took both. They the first thing they asked on the application was put down all your extracurricular. Put down your AP classes. Put down your electives. Well, what are they going to put down? They're going to say, "I'm sorry, I couldn't take it." I think as a district, if you're going to do that, you are ruining the chances of children who want to get into certain schools. And that's not fair to anybody at all. And if you're planning on doing that, I want to see what is going to come out from the district to go to different schools with the application of these students. Thank you. [applause] And our

058next speaker is Corey Aba. Good evening. My heart hurts tonight for all of us and for all of you. You are community members and you are our friends and some of you have just been elected to a very tough coming time. Um I thank you for your efforts. This is really hard and I know that you're not facing easy decisions. Sorry, on the local uh I'm asking specifically I'd like to focus on how the administrating is going to be done to make sure that we are in compliance. Uh though I'm the mom of a seventh grade varsity wrestler and I hope that that program comes back and considers for selfish reasons that my daughter goes to state soon and can prove herself. My bigger priority is the children who are losing some opportunities and my

059priority is the loss of languages. We are in an international time. I don't know how many languages are spoken in the students and the body of this community. But I know that there are 156 languages spoken among my students in the school where I am. um losing languages here and that municipality and skills. Losing a technology director and a guidance director um are going to harm us in ways we don't even know. We need the expertise to write the ship and we need a director of ELLL. I understand that the prison's already cut. We need somebody to keep us compliant so that we aren't violating laws and bringing on lawsuits and ligiousness next year and in the years to come that we can foresee at this time. Lastly, um I spoke to or reached out

060by email to the athletic director from facilities maintenance when I was at my daughter's track meet last week and I was looking around and the broken sprinkler covers have massive holes. As if I understand it, heavy equipment goes over them and there are lawsuits waiting to happen from just teeny tiny things. Uh over time, there will be a deterioration that we cannot keep up with. So, I I know that you have a time constraint tonight. I know that you can't necessarily rip apart all of the recommendations that are handed to you and you all have just been given these choices in the last couple of days and this is difficult. Um, if we are able to re-evaluate, if anything is able to become out of the air, um, I'm sorry that I missed your opening

061statements about how the New York newest budget may be affecting us other than our budget vote. And most of all, I'm very sorry that the We voted down the budget. [applause] >> Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Buddy Lorenson. >> Good evening everyone. My name is Buddy Lawrenson. I have a son going into elementary school next year. I'd like to focus on several concerns regarding the school budget and the one that did not pass. First, the treasurer's salary increase of over 18% is extremely concerning, especially in a budget crisis. That level of increase is far beyond what normal taxpayers would consider reasonable or standard. I would also like to know whether this increase has been benchmarked against comparable districts with similar size and demographics and if that data can be available to the public

062for transparency. Second, the superintendent stated that everyone will need to make sacrifices. If that is the expectation, then leadership should also reflect that. In that spirit, I believe the district should reconsider the $6,000 car allowance that is especially important given the transportation services that have already been introduced following the recent Proposition 2 and additional cuts may come under contingency budget. Beyond those two points, I also have concerns about significant increases in vendor and contract costs, including some exceeding 100%. These are not typical inflationary adjustments. I would ask whether the district is consistently using competitive bidding, multiple quotes, and contract negotiations to ensure the taxpayers are getting the best possible value for their dollar. [applause] Similarly, legal expenses are increasing by nearly 20%. I would like some clarification on whether that's a standard increase and whether

063alternative legal providers or cost-saving options have been explored. I have also noticed that there's large increases in overtime across several departments. I would ask what's driving those increases. Are we talking about staffing reductions, operational needs specific to this year, or a longer term structural change? On the positive side, mailing costs I see have decreased on the original proposed budget by 14% which is a good step. However, I would encourage the district to explore even greater savings by extending expanding digital and paperless communication as many neighboring districts have already done so. I would also ask for improved budget transparency in the budget uh the budget documents. Many line items, acronyms, and descriptions are difficult for the average taxpayer to understand. A plain [clears throat] language summary alongside the formal budget would greatly improve public understanding and

064trust. Additionally, for major increases and cutting more programs for students, I would ask whether these costs are one-time expenses or they represent permanent structural costs that will continue into future budgets. Finally, closing, I understand that a budget increase may ultimately be necessary, and that is not the central issue I'm raising tonight. The issue is ensuring transparency, accountability, competitive procurement, and a clear justification for significant cost increases before asking taxpayers for even more. Thank you. [applause] >> Thank you for your comments. We have Christina. Okay. Michael uh Mars Mar is Michael Mars Leon Belport High School class of 2021. Um I am here to defend music, art, and theater programs. I would LIKE [applause] I would like to tell you about my experience as a student in this high school. I had no direction as a

065young person in this community and I found it thanks to many music and art teachers in this district. One of whom is in this room, Mr. Henry Figan. [applause] He helped me practice for Nisma. He rehearsed with me when I struggled through demanding musical productions so that I could represent my growth and the programs of this district to the best of my ability. Mr. Fagan helped me come to the real realization that I could be a musician professionally and I am forever grateful for the contributions that the music, art, and theater programs have had on my life and forever. The arts are not to be looked away from. They are critical elements of our culture and how we interact with each other. I beg of you to give attention to the arts so that other

066students in the future can find their own path and be as successful as they can and everything that they dream of every day. THANK YOU [applause and cheering] for coming [applause] and speaking to us. I have two more speakers, Sonia Anderson and Willie White. [clears throat] >> Hi, my name is Sunny Anderson. I know quite a few here. I've been an educator for 21 years. Um, I actually teach AP uh science classes and um I recognize the importance of and the value that those offer our students. So, I'm advocating tonight to not hurt the kids that have the least amount of time left in our district. The 12th GRADERS [applause] are being hurt the most and impacted the most with these cuts. And I'm not no one wins in this. There are no winners. Everybody

067losing in this. But to have the impacts at such a high at the top level for these kids, they just won't have the time to recover. And I I I have a 11th grader and I also have an eighth grader. So I am at the the back end and they've had amazing experiences throughout and the teachers are amazing. But what we're sending our kids out to, they're not going to compete the same as the kids in the other districts that are that they're um applying against. They will not, you know, my son has taken AP courses starting in ninth and tth grade and now to go backwards and to have to take regions level or on level courses is not fair. It's not instructionally sound for many of the students we have here. Extracurriculars to

068not offer those opportunities really is going to take away from our students that will not have time to get that back. It's devastating. As a parent, I am disgusted. that are frustrated and we cannot put this on the students. There have to be other places to find cuts to give them the opportunities that they deserve. They they really do. So, I just wanted to advocate for those kids more than so because they just don't have the time that they need them to have [applause] Mr. White. And after Mr. rank NC >> South Country School District. Um, my name is Willie White and I'm from the district. A lot of faces in the school. Um, some of the board members up there said, "Well, Genie, I work with him." But um all I hear is money.

069But the kids, it's the kids. It was kids like me who who came to schools for sports. Even though I had 16 brothers, but it was nothing like coming to school coming here. I achieved something here. We won a championship here, right? And That was in 1983 82. But um I love high school and if you take sports from them, it starts with JD. But it really starts out here at Mars where you got Mr. Swingy and everybody out there, kids this high playing football. Some of the kids come to school just to play sports type of stuff, just to see their friends so they can be part of. For you to take that away from them, it's not going to it's not going to end well because now you got kids out in the

070streets. >> You [snorts] got kids out there doing things that they should be doing. Some of academics being taken away from school. Kids that want to apply to college and stuff. You know what I mean? I was in military so I didn't I didn't care about school thing there [clears throat] you know what I mean but I think if you take away the sports from them I can guarantee it's going to be is not going to be the same go for high school [applause] they play here we played here and I always say to these guys all the time. But but for all is like the rock field. One year you can't get out. All these years I still come here. I still go on the field cuz nobody put me off the field. Referees

071I stand back but nobody else because I everything and they love these guys. I don't know too many of you guys up there but um I hope you do the right thing. please. And truth doesn't defend. [applause] Thank you for coming and speaking to us tonight. Mr. White Nancy Pulis Hi, I just wanted to ask the board a couple of things. Um, we went from the community spoke, but we went from 13% tax increase to five to not pierce the cap. And is this what you think the community really wanted is to just go down to I mean that you know to the 5%. Couldn't there be something in between to be considered? [applause] Okay. Um, has the board considered another transportation proposition for the students that could maybe keep some programs here, but just

072like we did for the parochial schools. It doesn't have to be permanent, but you could put it down to the limits that you know the state bare minimum for the state. Um uh and another thing is did we look into raises across the board 0% raises look at THE [applause] and they say it's not true like the treasurer she didn't get a raise whatever okay but it doesn't show that in the budget and I know that we have union contracts up this year we have three of them as a matter of fact you as the board considering I know you can't discuss it but to give everyone in the district, not just unions, every person from confidential on 0% raises to help offset some of these programs of cuts. [applause] Thank you for your comments.

073Do we have any other speakers? Did you just say you got some questions sent into you like text or >> yes something? >> I have some text that I don't know if they're here or they were watching but if I could have here these questions answered. Okay. Are all AP classes being eliminated and is dual language being eliminated? That was a question that I wasn't I'm not uh completely sure. Could that question be answered, please? >> No. So, no. No to what? So, not all AP classes are being eliminated. >> Okay. So, it's just being suggested that some >> Yes. >> And and no dual language dual language has been suggested to be eliminated. >> Language stay >> dual language is staying. Okay. So, if that person is here or if they're out there, that's

074the answer to those questions. Um, and I just want to reiterate um that the number is being proposed at the 5.5% tonight and then the suggestions that Mr. Belmont put together tonight is flexible as I understand it. Where is Mr. There he is on the end is still flexible at this point. >> Yes, as I indicated, the budget is a plan. So you have flexibility as you prioritize and as we go through the school year. >> Okay. So to the point that N I don't have to say Mrs. Poolless, right? I can say Nancy. I know we're formal here tonight, but I want to I want to give the respect to the speakers certainly. Um, but that was one of the reasons that we had the community to come in to see if there's a

075tolerance. 71% voting no against the the the budget is a big number and certainly the board that resonated with the board and and with administration that that's a hard number [clears throat] to turn around to pierce the cap again because everybody understands to pierce the cap again it requires the same 60% to vote in favor and so is there going to be a tolerance if we were to find to strike a balance in between 5.52% and I wouldn't even say that number again. >> Mhm. Please. >> Okay. Is there you know is there a number that the community would support to get us to those programs that are near and dear to the hearts. And all those programs are near and dear. And um or is the number is the is the no vote so

076strong that we can only consider the cap? That's where this trustee is at this point. Okay, that I that's what I'd like the community to understand for for me. That's where I am right now. Is the community so hard and fast at no, do not pierce that cap, be at the cap, or is there room to go somewhere in between? And if there is room for that, where? Okay, that's where we are right now. Otherwise, there's a resolution pending right now to go to the cap. And the cap is what was demonstrated to you tonight. Thank you very much. Well said. Thank you very much. Very nice to the speakers up here. Here's where we're at, folks. Um, and thank you to everyone who showed up tonight. Thank you for everybody who's watching. Do want

077to apologize up front. I know it's hard to see the screen back home. The split screen thing wasn't working, but please go online. All of the budget presentations are there. Um, oh, one more question. >> One more question was just texted in. Okay. Can we please speak to the piece that fourth grade math AIS teachers being removed and how that would impact the elementary school teacher track. Can someone speak to that because I certainly can't. There's more to the question but get somebody up. >> I think in fairness I'm going to take that one. >> Okay. because I have a list here. It was it's it's a very interesting list and every I I think every constituent group in the district has had a chance for someone to come up to this microphone which is

078very impressive. It came up in an orderly fashion. They spoke factually and from their hearts. And one of the things we spoke about at the last meeting is especially when times are tough, this is how it needs to be done. People need to come and speak and moving forward. I mean, Mr. Belmonte outlined how we have codified the inter uh and then we have a backbone for the internal mechanism to make sure this never happens again. By law, now we're going to have to report to the state and there's going to be quarterly reporting for the next 30 years. Lord knows. I hope I'm here for the last report, but please don't count on it. Um, [snorts] we we we are in the process of trying to pull this community together. We're still hitting some

079bumps. Uh, the thing the the sort of a the problem in the room is not being addressed is this is a bigger issue. You really don't want to hear this right now. So, I'm going to make myself available. I have a meeting scheduled appearance tomorrow night. Call my office if you want to come in as an individual or group. I will sit with you and we can grind into whatever you want to talk about. But across the island, declining enrollment, declining enrollment, declining enrollment meets fiscal stress. Now, this problem didn't start last week. It didn't start last year. But if you go back and look at school report cards and look at your number of students and number of employees and the amount of money we receive, corrected action should have begun 10 to 12

080years ago. And you folks have been great. I've been here for about 168 hours and you've been very kind to me. But you already have a board of education that is focused on fixing this problem. You've got an administrative, you know, the administrative team at the central office focused on fixing this problem. Um, I think we're on the way to the first steps to fixing the problem. Questions that I received, just so we make sure we do them justice, eight of the emails simply said, is there something other than contingency? That tells me tonight we planned over the weekend. We didn't see these questions till we came in this morning. We're on the right track. Some of the questions and again we're not here to necessarily answer questions in detail tonight because we've shown you

081what must happen but you've also weighed in. Um, we have someone who is asking in the first and second grade and my response to that is we're going to try to limit the impact especially on once in a lifetime events which means working from seniors back. We've heard a common theme here about seniors and academics that we now have to then go back in and have some more conversation about. Um, somebody wants to survey the parents. We're already surveying the parents. But if you do your own survey, more than likely you're going to get it could be a um you know, you could do a perfect survey and people might say, "Why are you doing a survey and not this one?" We're we're we're doing a survey. We're going to look at these results over

082the next uh you know, 48 hours. Um just one second, please. Oh, people want to start talking about the Princeton plan reconfiguration. be happy to do that in the summer. We'll look at every we're going to look at a lot of things this summer. Um but that that could get very that that can tear a community apart into itself and we're trying to get everybody together so we can have tough conversations. Busies and residency. One of the things the state has done. We don't have enough time to redo the bus thing again because the state doesn't want us holding you hostage. To do a bus referendum takes a long time and you want to make sure it's out there. This is a very condensed. I mean, we have a month. We have a month. We

083don't have enough time to give you proper notice. And I think, you know, the state gets it right. Sometimes we don't give them credit, but we should we should not be able to hold you hostage with buses on short notice. And although, you know, it would save money. Um, encouraging parents to vote by parent square and stuff like that. Really want to stay away from that. I don't want to talk about the legalities, but we want everybody to vote again. We want to put something up that people can work together with, but we we don't want to give the um appearance especially to people who such a resounding know. You talk to your friends. If you want the budget, you talk to them. If you don't want the budget, talk to them. That's how this

084works. Um title one funds absolutely looking at. So everything you have mentioned uh oh strongly encourage and this came up a couple times in conversation about class size and they can't accept anything more than 25. We're not looking to do 25 in the elementary schools. Okay. But again >> I said while >> well please I don't want to >> be hold second we're looking towards next year [clears throat] we're well aware we're well aware and if there is an anomaly based on population and where people live we'll explain it. Okay. But we are looking when you look at what we put up on the board, we we we spread the paint around. The problem is we spread we we spread the pain around. And as the things that I wrote, the problem didn't start today.

085Started years ago. We're looking at preserve especially once in a lifetime events. Again, I want to reiterate because we can't say this enough. This is a spending plan that can be just like the constitution can be amended. It can be adjusted but you have to do the you have to go through the transfer process so that there is a record of what you're doing and that helps with the transparency. Um we have codified the oversight for the next 30 years. Now we have to ingrain it as a habit. It should have been a habit before. We're going to work to ingrain that. Now, I am going to say this. You know, we are now charged with having the courage and daring to rebuild and possibly find new pathways. Now, this is painful. It is not

086easy. But the world is changing. Kids today are going to be working till the year 2080, 2090, possibly the year 2100. So we we have to now board uh we're going to have some very very tough discussions. We have heard you. People got up and spoke. They wanted to say this. They want to say this. They want to say this. They want to say this. Um it's time now for us to put together the final plan. The concern is the concern is listening and hear and and watching and watching that vote. If we try to pierce the cap, if we try to pierce the cap and we don't make it, I I don't know where you find another $4 million. I just do not. But I feel confident. I feel confident that if we we

087adopt the number we we're looking to adopt, it'll give us a strong foothold to begin the client. We asked I mean asking for 13% was a tremendous ask. And I'm not so sure if we got if we if that had passed, there would be people that would tell us business as usual is okay. The if if we pass it at the capital, we all know that business as usual is no more. And we must we must we must have a vision for the future and pay attention to every penny moving forward because the entire island is facing declining enrollment. Families are getting smaller. It's not that people are disappearing but families are getting smaller and money is getting tighter. So now it's time I I have been extremely impressed with how civil, how polite, and

088how genuinely kind and caring tonight has been. And every I've only been here since last week, but the people who want to help want to help. Now it's time. We have to make a decision because once we make this decision, we can begin to move forward together. I'm not going to lie to you and tell you it's going to be easy. But I will tell you this, when we get this done, when we get this done, it's going to be satisfying. So, are we ready, Madam President? >> That's okay. >> I have one more question. I'm sorry. No, I'm not sorry. More questions. [applause] Um, AP Capstone programs, put that on your list of uh, items to consider. >> Yeah, AP capstone, English and science. All right. Um, also before I leave this board and

089also considering other other items that were raised um, tonight about communication, every year, every board uh, runs into the the criticism and rightly so. we need to improve communications and every year we try to improve communications and every year it seems we get critiques again. So with this particular budget we need to improve communication. Um and uh and I and I also think that contributed to the 71% loss in the in in the budget. [applause] I we really we we must do that. And the and the other thing too before I leave this board, I want to do something to contribute to restoring trust between the board and the community. And so that will that will help with two things that I had asked for for the for the board that that we that we

090didn't get. And in in going forward with the number uh with the overall budget number so that we can feel so that the board feels like it contributes and even though it might be a little bit out of our lane um but in working with administration because this budget failed so significantly that we need to feel like we're a part of the of the fix which you which you mentioned and we have to make some hard decisions and I might not be around for those decisions, but the next board will that we need to look at the staffing. We have ne for two years I've been asking for this. I want to see the overtime budget and I want to see the staffing budget because we truly don't know what kind of staff. I keep

091hearing we're overstaffed, but we don't we haven't seen that staffing budget. And the board needs to sit with administration to see where is our staff. And if we I think the community would feel much better if they knew we were working handinhand with administration to know exactly where our staffing needs are and where you say we're overstaffed and and where these overtime and overruns were and where they where they could be cut. even you're you're showing that you're going to cut over time and it's like well why were you know how can we oh how can we cut them and why you know why were they overrun with um with uh budget overruns it's like you need to be more a part of the fix this time around so those are the two asks I

092have in this budget fix if I'm going to vote for this budget and this number overtime the list of overtime and the list of staff to fix this budget to rebuild trust and and truly and truly improve communication. [applause] And so I got I'm going to be really careful about this. We discussed this in executive session and I'm not allowed to tell you what we you know gets discussed in here but I think with the help of the board and the administrative team people at this table it's become painfully obvious to me where there was a breakdown in communication and the People at this table besides me have been through so much. People in the audience have been through so much. But I believe that there is we said an exec tonight about just it's

093like an artery clogged artery. There's a way that that's going to go a long way to start that process. And guess what? You know, trust is like respect. Can't buy it. You got to earn it. And we've had a breakdown. But the true test will come few weeks from now, few months from now, a year or two from now. If the ship is writed, if the ship is writed and we are moving in the right direction, and it is my personal belief after listening to everybody in here tonight, listening to people since I got here, watching the administrative team and the board work, we are taking a big strong first step. We're not trying to overstep. We're not trying to overreach. I'm saying to the community, this is the first step. And again, I always

094say, you know, jobs like this, board members, administrators, you don't get your report card till after. And when you leave, people said, "Hey, they tried their best and we made progress." That's that's good. I do believe I do believe the reasons for this will come out over time, but I do not believe anybody at this table wants to be where we are. But they're fully committed, not only now and in the future, to making sure we move forward and we never ever come back. And dare I say, we may be a cautionary tale and a shining example to others what to do. We might help others not fall into the same trap we fell into. But most important thing now is it's time. It's time to move forward. It's time to we need to have

095the parameters to to make the plan for next year. So I think it's time. And like I said, I'll say one more time. You want time with me, just simply call the office. We'll make time for you. You know, I prefer you to come in groups because if I try to do everybody individually, um it's going to take a lot of time. But I'm more than happy to meet with you in groups or individually to sort of try to help show you what's being done because this this team up here really deserves um they they're focused on they're so focused on the future right now. It's time to vote. I think we're next up to um a resolution for the legal notice for the district budget. >> Recommended by the superintendent of schools. Um resolution

096of the board of education South Country Central School District for Caven County adopted proposed May 26 special district meeting qualified a special district meeting of qualified voters shall be held. Um, >> I think I can just >> No, no, I'm looking for the number. to um for a budget hearing to be held on June 9th. The special election will be held on June 16th. I believe I can say at this point this resolution as written sets us up for the vote for the revote on the we'll have a budget hearing on June 9th and we'll have a revote on June 16. Resolution as recommended by the superintendent of schools. So this one um we have the recommendation from the superintendent. I will take um I'll have to have a motion in a second and then

097our clerk will do a roll call vote. So um upon upon recommendation of our superintendent, is there a motion to approve uh the second vote and the timing that was set forth in the resolution? Is there a motion? >> I'm sorry. >> Um >> C2. Yes. Is there is there a motion to approve item C2? Motion Trusty Pachini. Is there a second? A second >> for for Cy for the legal notice. It's item C2. Item C3 will be the number. So C2 and Vice President Dilo. And now our clerk will take the roll call vote. >> Yes. Questions or discussion? >> No, just discussion. It's >> We have a very patient uh group here tonight >> and I thank you for your patience and I appreciate the confusion that everyone's under right now. And I'm

098just having a conversation with the superintendent that uh we gave you a survey tonight. >> Yes. asked us to vote >> and we asked you to vote on a survey of what you wanted and a question came up about piercing the cap and um the superintendent's pretty confident that the community isn't going to want to pass the c pierce the cap and I have to admit I'm I'm not confident of that either. But I'm pretty confident that we confused you tonight >> by giving you a survey >> and saying, "Tell us what you want." >> And then you and then you told us >> Yeah. >> And now we're doing a vote anyway. >> Exactly. >> Hence the communication breakdown. [clears throat] >> We need more time. >> It's It's crazy. It's It's just crazy

099times. Um the problem that that we have here tonight as he is explaining and as Mr. Belmont explained we're under crunch time because of legal notices that have to go out >> and our past district clerk is nodding because she acknowledges that [clears throat] even though she supports going somewhere in between. Um and and that's and that's where we are with with this situation right now. So that's why I asked for discussion right now and so if we can just speak to the time frame that we are under um with this vote. Mr. Belmont could you just please explain the time frame again please? Uh certainly [clears throat] uh once the board adopts the budget to be presented to the community uh we need to get out a legal advertisement in our two papers ASA

100asap. Uh we have a very constrained time period to do that. Um, as of next Tuesday, we have to have a budget document prepared and ready seven days prior to the budget hearing. And the budget hearing will take place on June 9th. So, um, those are the timelines that we're currently up against. And June 16th, the following Tuesday, will be the budget vote. Give it a few more days. >> Does the survey Does the survey ask questions about um No questions. It's only >> Do you support the tax support? Do you not support? Need more information. Uh give the reductions already made to tax levy cap. Would you support additional reductions of approximately 3.9 million required to adopt it in budget? 0% tax levy increase although no one knows what that means in terms of

101programs. Yes. No. Need more information as a district moves forward. What should be the highest priority? Select two although you can actually select more. Can I interrupt you but not not rudely? My hope is that we can do a Google survey that has more information about the um issues that we've heard about tonight. the arts, the music, the sports, the >> the elementary [applause] question. The four male teachers are going to knock out an additional four elementary teachers, but nobody wants to share that with the public. [applause] the question >> okay so the roll call vote on the legal notice Christini >> Annne Hayes >> yes >> Charliz >> Deborah Dillo Yes. >> Erica Calderon. >> Yes. >> Robertetta. >> Christopher Ross. >> Yes. >> No. >> So that's five. I'm sorry. Six yeses, one

102no. And um passes. >> Sorry. Could you read the results again? Six to one. >> Yes. >> Okay. Then um the resolution passes. Uh on the recommendation of superintendent of schools item C3 budget adoption um as written this this is uh the resolution that is for a budget of 144,8468 $846,580 And the tax second [clears throat] is five% >> 5.52% as written. Do we have a do we have a motion? >> Is there a motion to approve item C3? This is a recommendation for a budget of 144,846,580. Is there a motion to approve the expenditure of Trustee Pachi? Is there a second? A second by Rock Bellisetta. Questions or discussion? >> And we're to the clerk for a roll call vote again. >> I actually [clears throat] usually I'm very quiet up here >> and

103um I I can't be right now. Last Wednesday, I sat in the car with my daughter who's 11th grader and all she could say was how she felt the community did not like their students. It was heartbreaking for 10 minutes with tears in her eyes and me trying to focus on driving home and not getting off the road. It was horrible. I sit here tonight and I'm listening to all the cuts in the programs and think of the classes that my my daughters have gone through. My daughter is a sophomore in college, all the classes she took and how they helped her. and my senior who just [clears throat] confirmed her acceptance and the classes that she has taken and the teachers that have meant so much in their lives. I have faith in our

104community. 13 was wishful thinking and I really do wish that it passed but it didn't. I hope that our community can come to a number in the middle >> and preserve some more of these programs. >> Are you guys offering? >> You're not offering us. We lose our property. Nobody. [applause] Look, there needs to be some conversation after what we heard tonight. I do know one thing. We're going to open September 1st. Having been in situations similar to this before, one of the great concerns is how are we going to make sure our kids are competitive and get into, you know, whether they want to go to trade school, traditional college, military. Um there will be ways, there are ways and those folks in those institutions do understand that school districts do end up in

105this situation. So what I have seen in my experience in the past is that they take care of kids. Um but I know this September 1st we're not open kids are going to come back and we're going to you know this community is going to be back at the table again next spring. And look the cap is still a significant increase. That's a significant number. The problem is the decisions that we made here over the last 10 12 years um we're in a tough spot. But the fact of the matter is real true test is going to be five or six years from now when we look at what was the average tax increase over the last five or six years in the year 2032. So if we the community spoke the community spoke and

106a lot of people said hey that's we'll we can go a little bit a little bit a little bit but we can't absorb this huge number at once and we're going to have to come back next year and then this this table is going to be again saying we need to pay for our programs and we've said this is a two or three year fix. So if we ask but if we ask for too much now you know suppose look at it there's another way look at this we're asking for what we're asking now and if if things are put in place and if the you want to talk about rebuilding trust if we handle this situation correctly then next year we can go back to the second installment and the hope is that when

107you know the cuts we're ing. It's just, you know, it's like when you prune a bush or prune a tree, you want it to grow back healthier and stronger. It's a we're in a tough situation. We're in a tough situation, but we can't just focus on this year and this year alone, which is going to be another year and another year and another year. >> We're in the midst. We need to have a call though. You can't sit there and have us listen to her and not allow us to speak. You sit THERE RIGHT >> NOT PEOPLE ARE pulling out from the audience. It is right. >> We're going to have to recess. It's the business of the of the district is interrupted. >> Wait, wait one second, please. >> We can if we have

108to go back to public and you want to sign up and come to the microphone. >> I find the same thing over and over again. All of you just sit there and say the same thing over and over again. That's [applause] it. I'm trying to hear it. You Dr. Can you take the roll call vote? >> So the roll call vote for the budget adoption. Trustee Pacini >> President Trustee Feliz. >> This is the wall. Okay. Vice President Delo. doesn't care about >> Vice President Dillo. >> No. >> Trustee Calderon. >> Trustee Felisetta. >> Did he say? >> Yes. >> Trusty Ross. >> I'm sorry. No. >> So, four yeses and Oh, I'm sorry. And three nos. >> It passes. The resolution passes. So, we now have um completed business. Nothing from that end of

109the table. All right. Then is there a motion to adjurnn? >> A motion to >> Are there more speakers? >> Please, please come fill out a card. I'm sorry. Why don't you mind? Um, anyone who wants to speak needs to come get a card. Um, in the meantime, I have one speaker, AB Assari. So, hi folks. I am a mom of two in the district. Um, each time I come to these boards, I'm struck by one thing. Um there is so much expertise, insight and ideas out here in the floor. And it's not to say that there's not expertise, insight, and ideas here as well. There are. But there is this gap that I see every time in which we have thoughts and ideas about transportation, about who is being cut, about ways in which

110we can save. And it's met with this like awkwardness in which it's hard to get an answer [applause] and then you hook and then we are told um to email and we'll get answers and we email and we don't get transparent answers about you we won't. So I am always about trying to find a fix. I think it would be great to not come back here next spring. And please sir, that was frightening to me to hear we will be back here next spring to do this again. We don't need to wait until next spring to have this stilted interaction. MY idea is that we should have a board a group of kids, moms and dads, taxpayers who who meet not only in the spring but around our year with our board to talk specifically

111about fiscal cuts because we are in a place of fiscal cuts and things will will be cut. But we don't really feel like our ideas about the places to save and about what ought to be cut are being heard. And we don't trust that we can come here and be screamed at and [applause] this is this is an idea. Can we have a group that meets every month to actually talk with and advise the board about what should be cut and how we can save um funds because this does not work. And this is a way to build trust. This is a way to get all of this expertise that we have from our people who teach from our dads, our moms, our folks who are here. We need more input and this is not

112a structure that gives input as we can see time and time again. So that is where I'll stop for now. THANKS. [applause] >> [applause] >> Next is Samantha. >> Who's that? >> I'm sorry. >> Um, hi. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. I wasn't planning to um but I just wanted to say a couple of things as someone that's new um both to the school district as a parent and also new to the community. My daughter is my oldest daughter is obviously leaving her first year of kindergarten this year. And while so many things are amazing, this has just been a very disappointing year as you can imagine for all of the reasons everyone's described. And I do like to see this meeting about getting the parents and the community more involved throughout the

113year and not just now where it seems a bit contentious and adversarial and like there's actually people yelling at each other. Um, what I will say is that um, and I I don't remember who it was. Someone earlier, I think it may have been um, Superintendent Dolan made a comment regarding like the community has spoken. The community spoke without the facts, right? All they're hearing from the media is this is the biggest increase in Long Island history of 13%. They weren't given all the facts of what would be cut and they're still not giving the facts. So I think my disappointment after sitting here for the last hour or so is that almost exactly one hour ago we were given a survey. There's been no time for you to review the like we're talking right

114now about rebuilding trust. I feel like I've lost trust in the last hour. How can we be given a survey one hour ago and now you're voting on the very thing that the survey was meant to inform? I just feel like again I'm new to the district. something seems like it's missing here and I think it really would boohoo the board to get the community more involved. I think you'd be surprised that people do want an increased budget. They don't want any of these cuts even if it does make money. [applause] Um so if there's any way to be very clear layman's terms people don't understand even even right now amongst the people in this room I don't think we understand what you just voted for. Was that the contingency budget? Was that an in

115between? like it's very unclear and I just think to you all this might be you know course of business and and makes sense but there's so many people that are not familiar with these numbers are not familiar with this process and they really need to know in layman's terms what exactly is being cut and what is at stake and somehow circulate that because not everyone in the community unfortunately is tuning in right now for you know various reasons. So if there's any way to circulate this more broadly, I think that that would be really helpful. Thank you. [applause] >> Next, um, bestie. I'm sorry. Terrible. I'm very sorry. Um, I just wanted to quickly say I think what I'm frustrated in this conversation is this is our last vote before we go to contingency. And

116I think that's not being clear to the community. This vote fails, we go to contingency with an additional five. I'm losing it. But I think that's something that needs to be clear. We don't have a chance to person this one. We tried it. It failed resoundingly. We don't have a chance. And I think we just need to discuss that if we can put it at the cap, we have a chance to pass it. And it needs to pass. Everyone needs to turn it up and pass this budget and behind it, be comfortable about it. If you don't pass this, I can't have it. I'm sick to my stomach. I have three boys in the district, um, including a kindergartener. It's not an AP class. It's not a music. I mean, that's not the community I

117want to live in, and I don't think any of you want to. So, I'm just going to put it out there. um really just make it clear that it's contingency or this 5.25 there's no room for the the other one other thought that I was going to say earlier and I chickened out was I just want to make sure that we're negotiating every concession in all of our contracts. I have not heard that said at all. Um we are in a fiscal crisis. I I'm a member as well. So um but where are the concessions? Where are the retirement incentives? Where are the insurance buyouts? Where are all those little things that add up to a lot of [applause] my teachers teachers? I hear kindergarten classes of action 28. So actually that has been said

118in our dual language information session um which was also signing two weeks ago for many of us. Um that's unacceptable. Those are not where we that's not okay. So thank you all. Um [applause] I just think it needs I'm sorry. I just think it needs to be said we can't talk about contracts and and recommend concessions in public that we would get hit with an improper practice charge. And I'm looking at the union heads in here and they all they're all nodding their heads yes. So everybody understand that. Okay. We can't talk about that. Okay. Not that we don't want to. It's not you know whether it was discussed in private thought about it would be illegal. We we would get slapped with the charge pretty quickly. >> You can't discuss >> we we can't

119discuss. We can't sit here and say, "Hey, we want bargaining units to do this." >> I mean, am I if I'm wrong, somebody attorney? >> I think you're you responded to her concern. >> Yeah. Well, I just wanted everybody to understand. And um our last speaker, unless somebody else has brought a card up, Kinyana Austin. [applause] >> Hi everyone. I was going to speak tonight, but the main reason why I ran in the first place was to be the person to bridge the gap between the community and the board. Abina, I hear you and I agree with you 100%. So, my plan once I'm sworn in is to get the community involved because we want to hear what you guys have to say. You guys might have more information to share with us to help

120you guys to be better, for us to be better, and for you guys to trust us again. So, I just wanted to share that my goal is to bridge the gap between the community and the board. And I promise you that's what I'm going to do. I want everyone to have a voice. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you, [applause] Madam Chair. >> Just just one thing. I just was texted that people who texted me got answers, but those speaking didn't. >> YES. [applause] >> SO, for those who spoke and didn't get answers, do you want to ask your questions again? >> Yes. I apologize for that. >> Anybody why did you pick all the science to be cut from in a world where STEM is so important? >> Why? >> I got to throw

121that to administration. >> Okay. But thank you for that question. >> Thank you. >> Y >> um Suffice it to say that that yeah, I felt victim to answering the questions and I shouldn't have. >> We're going to come back. What happens when we get into something like this? Um, >> if we can't give an honest answer, maybe it's something we shouldn't be cutting. Maybe that's something we need to go back. If it's not, >> we're going back to I can make this promise. There are a number of things that brought up in here tonight that we're going to have to go back and reook at. >> Really shift. I think maybe we should come back to the podium and I'll stay here and answer to the best of the ability. Certain questions that were

122asked were easier to answer >> because we don't want we we we have to make some very difficult decisions in terms of where where and again where the cuts get made and what the impact is going to be and what's our ability to make up people that might miss out when they're younger. Now, we've heard about the AP. We need to go back and reook at it. There going to be several things. We're going to reook at everything and then we're going to roll this out and the community is going to vote. We are going to reook at it. As Chris said before, I didn't mention I didn't say anything about the contracts, but you don't negotiate in public. You're not allowed to and it's not it's not good. Yes, sir. If you want to

123if we if you want to speak, please come get a card and put it in order. >> Now, come forward, please, with the card and not call out from the audience. Thank you for doing that. We appreciate your time. Can we get answers? Yeah, >> that has a question. >> I'm having trouble reading the writing. First name Baker Linda Baker. [clears throat] not hitting anybody. I've been here. I grew up in this district and my um son, my my um niece and my nephew. So, my question is now you said to your I'm sorry that your daughter's disappointed, but we didn't this this the people did not disagree disappoint you. I'm sorry that the budget is cut for our kids, but what about this teachers? You want us to vote for 13% and everybody's getting

124cut. all these teachers. >> You want to make the classroom bigger. >> You want to get rid of the elementary school. Little kids fourth and fourth grade and five grade should not be going to middle school. There's too much bullying going on this and you're like saying instead now you give us two more two weeks to vote again, >> right? >> That's not that's not fair. And you told my trust and you talking about this has been going on for 14 years or whatever years. I went to I was in meeting last year and The superintendent went around talking to all the teachers that were that were they were say they might get getting laid off. All of them going to get laid off. Where are they going to get jobs? Everybody's getting laid off.

125They have they have problems. They have kids. They have they have mortgage houses and everything. Where are they where they going to work? I was sitting there crying for those teachers and that's you want us to you want us to go for this one another one. You still getting rid of 55 teachers? THAT IS [applause] our money. We like I said a lot of people here a lot of people in this taxpayer. You got senior citizens that that have a house have their house paid off in this tax. If they lose their houses, where are they going? Everybody you go where you go, you got to pay and people leave Long Island. You go to you go to extension here. You go to um south country, you go down South Carolina, you're still going to

126do it. Where where is this at? You're talking about trusting us. Our money, our money doesn't go on trees. I let us support because you want to you want us to 5% no matter what. These teachers are losing their jobs. >> Where where are they going? >> What what what what um yes they what um experience they have? And you you're going to blame on us. I don't want the kids to lose their sports and stuff like that, but you're going to blame us because we we didn't pass something. 13% that's a lot of money for tax pay. We we're not we're not we're not a black use all our money for. >> It's just sad. It's really sad. And don't blame on the people have spoken. Don't blame on them. >> We we we

127we're trying to survive, too. And especially people that this this social security whatever they pay their taxes on the house they pay their house taxes and you're going to blame us. We're not we're not we're not putting the kids down but we're trying to survive too and it's just not fair to to focus something these teachers are losing their jobs. It's just not right and overcrowding. you just want to just be giving and not one more thing 60% of our taxes go to go to um to schools [applause] I have a quick question I know you guys have an arousal task and the community also is placing a very difficult situation um regarding some of the suggestions high scores like A8. Now I and I I just needed some concern because I'm not 100% sure

128what happened. You guys wrote a number, right? It was the 5.9%. But then you went and said that you were going to reflect on everybody's comment regarding against sports AP user programs, things of that nature. What does that mean? Does that mean that the cuts that you presented that got us to the 5.9% would now be different? Like let's suppose you're going to add an AP class. Well, you cannot do that with going above 5.9%. But then you would have to cut something else in order to fit in that AP class. And I'm not 100% sure I'm making sense. >> Yes. >> But if you are going to add some of those things, >> then something else is either a going to have to get cut or b you're going to have to go above

129the 5.9%. Now I don't end any of you and again I know the community is hurting as well but how are you going to go about doing that? That's I think what everybody [applause] was doing very up against the number the amount of money and this is where sometimes [clears throat] too much information or information we don't want to pit people against each other. Sure. >> The the AP classes that were identified had extremely low enrollment. >> now that's not to say, and we're not going to I don't want to put a value judgment on what class is more important because guess what? If one kid that did one class, the kid gets out of bed for come to school, it's [clears throat] important. But we do have to look at staffing class sizes where

130we were in the past where compare us to other places that I believe were successful and you know yes sometimes this chair I didn't [snorts] say this correctly but if all of a sudden we're talking about class sizes and then AP classes that are in the single digits run You can imagine that people are going to turn around and say, "Why are you running out of the single digits when this one is over here? Why did you cut programs?" We There is no good place to go. There is no good place to go. >> And again, I just I was just thinking this some of this anger, some of this frustration. I'm not going to lie and say, "Well, this is fine." But it's needed. It's needed. And we don't take it personally. But again,

131when you, you know, when you look at numbers for classes and kids don't sign up for them, what do you do? Well, when the numbers are in single digits and you're looking at other classes where you don't you're saying to maybe some of the younger kids, you're going to have to going to have to go a little bigger. it becomes that's the difficulty because I will tell you right now as a as an educator 40 years experience everything in that 13 was good but also I also know that look around this room and there are 25,000 pel voters I believe in town and how we make everybody you know happy and you never do it I I always say this chair if everybody needs to be equally annoyed me have something in common. Let's move

132forward together. We don't want to cut anything. We don't want to cut anything but we know we have to. But what you saw is where we're headed. But if we don't the final one is going to come out and then we're going to do the presentation and then the community is going to vote and we just we hope we hit the right number because look at us now. try to find $4 more million is if the budget goes down and remember we go a penny over the cap we got to get a 60% majority and so I apologize I apologize for initially being b I don't want I don't want to pit the elementary teachers against the high school teachers and honestly I don't want to pit sports against the arts because as I just

133said if there's one class that makes a difference for a child and it's the only class that that child loves and it gets cut. That's devastation. >> So, so we we're like I said, it is our belief that this is a first step to a process. That's all. >> [clears throat] >> Like I said, I I truly appreciate your honesty and and I'm glad to finally see your frustration and I wish you didn't have to be frustrated. I wish God, I wish you never met me because if things have been done differently 10, five, 10 years ago, you never would have met me. But I fall in love with the town. So, let's fix this. >> Back to our speakers. Monique Fitz. >> Uh, good evening everyone. Thank you for all being here. I know

134it's late and people would like to do other things if they could, but they have to be here because of the situation that we're in. Um, so, you know, I don't want to be redundant, but I do want to be in solidarity with the the teachers, the students, and the parents that already spoke today. um we have to do better and we have to be here for the children and it's it's sad that this um we're in such a dire strait but I do want to call um attention to the fact that community members have been incessantly reaching out to the board for years. This is not the first time we've been in a budget crisis. Mhm. >> We've been talking about how much development has been going on in this community that have been

135getting tax breaks instead of paying their fair share to this school. If you drive down Station Road, you see it now. Warehouse after warehouse after warehouse. Tax abatement after tax abatement after tax abatement. [applause] This is why our school is underfunded. And I don't know about the comment about AP classes being low enrolled. Um, I don't think that they're voluntary. I went to this school and I think that they pick kids for AP classes and you know, we could talk about that process. Um, and how come that's low? But yeah, I don't want to put any uh class against any other class cuz they're all important and we have a job to do. So I think Abu said it and I think Kiana said it. We have um we have enough information that we can

136provide to you all about what we need to do to go forwards and we need honest dialogue and transparency. all this back door, closed door, it gets us right back here. >> Yeah. >> And then we're here all night going back and forth with you and that's unnecessary. >> Yes. >> All right. So, you know, when we reach out, we're not reaching out because we don't have anything else to do with our lives. We are reaching out because we are trying to um talk about the canary in the mind in the in the in the mind. There is something coming down the pipe that y'all not looking at and you need to. So I I implore you to drive your cars around this South Country School District area and see how many tax breaks we

137are giving out and not getting in for our school and our students. [applause] [panting] Thank you for those comments. Buddy Lorenson. >> All right, I'm not going to read everything I wrote before I did that already. Um, do a little question by question and then you can answer them after. Um, so has the treasur's 18% salary increase been benchmarked against other comparable districts and can that data be shared? Is this blocked by the union for discussion or will I have to make a formal foil request? Are there any leadership sacrifices being made such as the $6,000 car allowance to superintendent that I mentioned before? Why are some vendor contracts increases going over 100%? Is this competitive bidding being used? Are these really the best prices to get the best value of our hard-earned tax dollars?

138Why are legal increases going up nearly 20%. Is this standard? Were lower cost alternatives being explored? Are these really the best prices to get the best value for the hardearned tax dollars? What is driving the increase in overtime? Is it the staffing changes you made or cuts, operational needs, or structural shifts? Can more traditional mailing costs be used further through expanding digital communication like other neighboring districts do already? Will the district provide a plain language budget summary for public transparency? Basically, giving everyone in layman's terms without using acronyms and terms that they may or may not understand. >> Lastly, Superintendent Dolan, [clears throat] we've heard you respond to many questions tonight regarding program cuts, but we have yet to hear from the assistant superintendent of instructional services and curriculum, Jacqueline O'Hagen. Could she please address

139the public on these concerns since we haven't heard anything from her tonight and I feel this is really something that she should be tackling since it's directly RESPONS [applause] >> I actually wrote some notes I I think I might be able to answer questions you already answered >> all right >> on the couches with uh you questions bidding Absolutely. >> All right. >> Remember Mr. uh Mr. Belmonte came here and was charged with overhauling the whole system which takes time. >> But um things like overtime and legal costs all of those things are being looked at. All right. But remember he he came into this months behind the process. The process had already started. Um there there may be recommendations for changes. But really what's going to happen is, you know, once the budget once

140we have a budget and we're locked in, we have to start looking at next year [clears throat] things like RFPs and competitive bidding. Absolutely. Just because we've got relationships over time doesn't mean you have to always continue them. I'm confident this was all done under his watch. But um the budget, an interesting thing I've written down, sat down before was budget cliffnotes. This came up at my meeting on Saturday. I'm trying to think of the gentleman's name. He was very nice, but he basically said, "I [clears throat] want to be part of this, but I don't understand." And I came in and I said, I spoke to John. I said, "Con, can we come up with good notes so people can really read the you understand the budget?" And he said, "Absolutely. Look, we have

141good, we're up to our neck right now in trying to get a spending plan for next year." Um I can assure you um that the the transportation allowance that was for former superintendent not this superintendent. Um and again we are actively looking for a superintendent who wants to be here for 5 years. I would love to say, but I'm 65 years old and and like I said, I promise the board if if things are going well and my advice or whatever happens works out well, I have no problem, you know, reminding and texting you, hey, the new superintendent, this is why you signed up for this job, keep it going. But we we need to do that. As far as Mrs. So Hayden, I will tell you right now, this has been instrumental um in

142getting information and fighting for programs. We we kept it this way tonight just to kind of simplify it. So certainly uh you know, she both her and Mr. Huntsman have been um I have to tell you instrumental in getting Mr. Belmont and I all the information we need. Um, and I do believe that those two those two sitting over there really represent the future of this district. Um, but we we made a conscious decision tonight to to focus on this chair and focus, you know, frustration, anger so that they can listen carefully and and I'm not sure exactly um, you know, they could answer the question about AP. They could answer pretty I think we're we're answering questions now. Um, which again purpose was to listen and we shifted because he wanted some answers. Um

143but I think along you know going back the digital part absolutely absolutely um we're going to look that's going to really be the charge for the summer is moving forward how can we and how can we and I I know you brought up the part about one of the ladies who spoke about committees that's always a scary word people run committees but we do have regular meetings this is the board of education meeting where you come and you speak to the board, but there are also, I think said, um, kind of reinvigorating and getting new people to want to sit on whatever types of committees that we need. You know, we'll call focus groups and um, you know, people are busy. And these are all things that got lost in the tsunami that hit, you

144know, that was coming coming and then it hit, you know, right around Labor Day. Um, so yeah, I I think you asked about Mrs. O'Gan. You have a specific question for her or >> uh Yeah, with the AP classes like you were mentioning, it was science. What what led to that? >> You know, we we're going to have to go back and revisit it, but the ones there are AP classes, but the ones that got cut were the ones with the very low enrollment. >> So, I have a question, please. >> Just my husband. I'm just going to piggy back off of him. Um, >> if it's okay, with the AP classes that are being cut, are students going to still have the option to self-study and challenge those exams? >> You you always have

145that option. And we're also going to look I'm a big fan of dual enrollment courses because an AP is a is a course I know you know on the paper today on the news day okay but there are we're going to look to forge tight relationships with local colleges where students can take classes and be judged on the body of work not just a one day test but again I swore I wasn't going to say that tonight because I don't want to muddy the water but that that is a I think a fairer and more cost effective way for students to begin to accumulate credits because remember that AP test if you have a bad day you wake up with a headache or something goes wrong and you don't do well in the test there's

146nowhere for you to turn so I'm not you know I am not I am not pretending that we're going to have that discussion tonight but you know um Mrs. O'Hagen is fighting very hard for curriculum Mr. Huntsman is fighting very hard to make sure we have everybody in place personnel wise and in place. So we already have foundational building blocks for the future right here in house. >> Okay, let's go back to our people who put in cards. Corey Gavlon, Carrie Pilo, Barbara Shadsman, Kenny Dean, and Patty Ray. Please come up in order. Can you hear me? >> Point of clarification to the budget promis. And this was due to a couple comments you make. Um, Mr. Um, as I understand it, you were asking us and telling us we could reformulate, go back, take

147people's um, suggestions and questions and options. Um, but do I understand correctly as a board although it was not unanimous and I recognize that but as a board you all just approved the budget for >> so do I understand incorrectly we can't go back and reform suggestions now because the line item that was proposed to us tonight with the cuts as proposed by Mr. and the crafting of everyone here um that we can't go back and reform. So can you help me with my that's my misunderstanding that's my my first thing the other thing is >> I do want to my next two minutes >> sure >> so with regard to what happened we um approved a budget of the the dollar figure that will be the dollar figure that will be voted on in

148June. Okay. >> And what was referred to is the components of that dollar figure will be adjusted based upon what we're hearing tonight or any other input that may come in. Thank you for that clarification. Um the other continuing um to bridge the gap in communication with our community. Um, I wonder if it would have been possible to tonight show us menu options, for lack of a better explanation, of here's what 5.5% looks like, here's what 6.5% looks like, here's what 7.5% looks like. So that we as a community, as you all know, you need, we are all the stakeholders here and we all have buy in. And when people are respected and able to contribute, they will be able to support and be a part of something even if they don't necessarily like it,

149they will understand and respect it and support it. So I ask for the consideration in the future um that the current school media specialists at PR firm media specialists creative writers superintendent of curriculum bridge together with the local libraries. The local libraries are retirees unions um all of our [clears throat] non school attending population they feel very left out and uninformed. And if we have a team together bridging the gap because I do not want to be married to my phone. I want to be married to my husband, not my phone. I don't want to have to watch the Facebook feed and listen and try to kind of smooth out the ruffled feathers. So I believe we need to bridge together similar to what Dr. were [clears throat] saying in a slightly different way. Really

150using our public spaces and our public options like librended by our retirees and our children and our future generation population of parents. Thank you. [applause] >> Hi, I apologize. I wasn't planning on speaking tonight. I did not dress for the occasion. Um but um so my name is Carrie Pillo and I've been a literacy coordinator here for 11 years. My husband is Nick Palo. He's been teaching here for 16 years. Um but he subbed in the district since 2002. Uh we met here and we have three little kids and um we've been in limbo wondering if one or both of us are going to lose our job and how that's going to turn our life upside down. Uh today we received an email saying that there wasn't enough time to explain who was getting cut.

151Um I thought coming here tonight I would get, you know, the facts in the answer. But what I'm really concerned about is that the questions that have been asked that directly impact our future aren't being answered. Um, and it I'm very concerned that they don't you don't seem to know the answer. Um, and how can we vote on something if you're not sure what you're voting for? Um, I want to explain that the four math interventionists that were asked about before, those interventionists being cut means that they go back into the classroom and that the four lowest teachers in seniority underneath them get cut. So that would include my husband who's been here for 16 years. And um I'm only speculating that because I'm not sure if that's really what's happening or not. I have

152to look at the seniority list and think about who's being jumped over and all of those things. Um, and I don't know if the public knows that having that many years into a career and then having to start over would really flip your life upside down. Um, so I'm just really discouraged that we're not sure of the information we're voting on. And I just want to make the point that the people that you are cutting because of what you put up there as math interventionists are people who've been in 16 17 years in this district and um, have made their homes here. So I hope you'll just take that into consideration. >> [applause] >> Um, there's been a lot of discussion about communication and this is probably going to go over like a red balloon

153to certain people, but I'm just saying anyway because that's just who I am. At one time when I was on the board, people in the audience would ask questions and board members would respond. >> Wow. >> Ask a question, somebody would respond if they wanted to. That went on for quite a number of years that I was on the board. It was discussed by board members that we were getting out of here too late. And we did. We got out of here very late. But my feeling was I got on the board to talk to the community and not look like a bunch of Stephford wire sitting at a table. [applause] [laughter] >> She knows she was on the on the board when I said that. Um, I don't know if that would help the

154community feel like they're being heard. I don't know if board members would want to do that. I think it might be a good idea and some system worked out where you could limit the amount of time that board members would respond. But I think at least that make people feel like they're being listened to. So that's my suggestion. [applause] >> Kenny. >> Hello everybody. My name is Kenny Dean. I have two children. One has since graduated from the district. one is an 11th grader. He's not going to go to any AP courses, but he does have special needs. I don't believe that he's getting what he needed. >> It's not because of the teachers, right? There's a lot of educators in this room, right? And it's not a job. It's a passion. The whole board

155here, when you're hiring somebody, you hire the best of the best. South Country School District. There's other elevated school districts, too. Well, we're South Country. We're good. You didn't hire people to get rid of them. That's what you're doing. Okay. You hired an assistant principal just this year. You cut him six months later. You stole him from New York City. >> All right. Where's he going to get a job? He's got a kid on the way. All right. Maybe the community doesn't know this. That's horrible. Horrible. How do you think that person feels? It's sandy. Two years ago, how many teachers did you cut? >> This year, how many teachers are you going to cut? And you want to cut more. The infrastructure of our buildings, security, $500,000. They want to cut out of security

156in this time of age of where national security and you got people going nuts. We have to protect our children every day. We send them to school. Look at Sandy Hook. Look at some other things that happen. All right. We want to send our kids to school. You're cutting $500,000 out of the budget. Our educators, they went to school for this. They came to South Country School District to get a great job and a great career. I own two homes in this district. Can I pay the taxes being a retired guy and I still work a side hustle? Yes, I can. But some people can't. Intent I'm sorry. 1977 I open up my first bank account and I used to keep a little log. I have this much. I put this much in, this much

157came out. I was 10 years old. We're all adults here. How did we get here? [applause] >> Thank you for your comment. And last speaker is Patty Reich. [applause] Good evening. My name is Patty Reich. I'm a parent in the district. I have two graduates from Bport and currently have a 10th grade son. Thank you for the time you're all putting into this. You're sitting up here as a board, your friends, your neighbors, you're our leaders. We have community that is hurt and um needing to be heard, needing things to be fixed. The banter a lot of time is like an attack, a receive, retort, and it's unfortunate it's like that because this has been nice to be able to go back and forth to have a little bit longer time for people to speak

158and to be able to ask questions and have them answered in person. Um, for years I would never want to email the board because I thought, "Oh, that's such a pain. So many people emailing takes a while to get back." So, it is nice to have the back and forth and I hope we have more than that. I know it's a big problem that we're dealing with. There are so many aspects of our budget and our district, but the only reason, the main reason we are here are for the kids. The most important things that happen in this district are in the classrooms, on that stage, and on the field for whatever the kids are into. and we have to protect those areas. As it keeps being mentioned here are educators. They they've made careers

159here. Um the teachers that we've seen get cut last year and this year. It's just deplorable. Uh they're just teachers that should never be let go. And I know we we have to cut somewhere, but the biggest cuts should not be coming from the classrooms, from the people that put our kids on the stages and on the fields. That's what they come for. So many different people spoke here tonight about the reason kids come to school. sometimes have to be on that field and if they're going home at 2:00, they might have nothing else and and their ship's going to sink. We have teachers that, like it was mentioned, there's four math positions up and it's not just about those four math positions and I don't wish for anyone to lose their jobs, but those

160math positions, those teachers might go into other areas and now these teachers are leaving. And do you know who these people are? And it's not about favorites. It's about look at the people that have put 17, 18, so many years into this district, the extra things they do, how late they stay, they go beyond what they mean to these students. I know you all know this, but I really, really hope that when we're readressing this next budget that's going to be up, that we can look at other ways, other places to cut. I love some of these ideas with the cafeteria idea, the shared classroom. How that would look, I don't know. putting AP in with regular but still having the AP possible to share principles between buildings may not be popular but you know

161if I couldn't pay my mortgage or my utilities I'd be immediately moving into a smaller place not staying in my same position for another year or two so I know I've heard that it takes time to close buildings but we have you know so many buildings h partially full closing one or two buildings might not be popular but that would save a lot of money and probably a lot of teachers not as many empty classrooms, pulling them together. We Frank Long has been, you know, on the chopping block and the point of contention for so long. We're we're cutting all these different things and and but yet we want our district to grow. No one's going to come here with the trouble that we're in and I'm not bashing any certain school, but with Frank

162Pong being in the news and six school all that stuff. If you're going to close something, I just wonder why would it be the school that's in our cute little village or why would it be another building? Why would it be something that's been controversial? Let OC's rent it out. Combine our teachers, keep our teachers, put us into [applause] the future, not but [applause and cheering] then people want to come to something that's maybe more desirable and then we can have an income with, I don't know, renting the building. I don't know. Just please, please carefully look at these. I don't envy your job. I thank you for all your time. You don't get paid when people don't understand that. It's completely volunteer. So, thank you for everything you're doing. But please, please really look

163at our classrooms, the teachers. Without the teachers, maintenance is important, leadership's important, but it's the teachers. It really is. We We could do okay without a couple extra admin, but you can't do without these four teachers that make all the difference in our school and all the difference for the kids. [applause] that concludes the [applause] public commentary. I'm sorry. Um I just I just wanted to sum up one thing that I I've heard and many of the people who spoke are talking to the future and I think if we can just go forward, we're looking to the future. We're looking to the future together. We all want it to be better. We're going to take a um motion to adjurnn. >> Okay. And we're going to instead of adjourning right this moment, we're going to

164uh take a motion to go back into exec for the reasons stated for the first one. Um and with a motion by trustee Calderon, a second trustee to go to exec. All in favor? Um motion is approved. We will be going into exec. We will not be coming out and making um a a decision. So that will be the will come back out just in order to close the