SOUTH COUNTRY CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT BOARD MEETING 04/20/2026 PART 1

001We welcome everyone to be here to observe the meeting of the Board of Education. It is held in public in view of the public, but it's It is for the board to meet with administration and tonight to receive um a budget presentation. The agenda will include, after the budget presentation, an opportunity for public participation, which will follow our usual rules of 3 minutes per person with comments um in which the board and administration will listen to the comments. Normally, we uh permit 30 minutes per public participation. Um but we will see how that goes this evening. Right after the public participation, this meeting, the public meeting, will be recessed in order for us to go in with with an anticipated motion to enter into executive session. It is not anticipated that there will be anything

002to report after the exact after the executive session. We will now start our meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance and I'd ask Trustee Ross to please I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. And to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Please note the emergency exits at the rear of the auditorium, as well as two exits to the side of the board table. In case of an emergency, please exit in an orderly fashion to the outside. This is a smoke-free and vape-free school district. Smoking and vaping is not permitted in the building or anywhere on school grounds. It is also a hate-free and bully-free school district. As I mentioned earlier, that the meeting of the board is held in public

003so 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 to permit the board to conduct the business of the district. This includes no outbursts 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 conduct of business will be escorted from the auditorium by security. Now, Um, we go to um items for discussion action, the budget presentation. Thank you for the mace. I'm going to ask Mr. Bellante to join me at the podium to save some time. Good evening. Before we begin, we just wanted to say that we continue to listen closely throughout

004this process and we've worked to be responsive to what we've been hearing from the community. What we heard loud and clear is that people want us to preserve our programs to the greatest extent possible. And the truth is it is nearly impossible to rank programs by value because so many of them matter deeply to different students, families, and members of this community. That is exactly what made this work so difficult. Our goal has been to protect as much of the student experience as we can, preserve as much staff as we can, while also addressing the real financial challenges in front of us. As part of that work, we are making further reductions in our administrative team. Those aren't easy decisions. They do create concern as we communicated with the trustees. But with more than $8

005million in Pardon me. But with more than $8 million in reductions already identified, there were simply not many places left to go. These decisions reflect the reality of where we are and our efforts to preserve programs and opportunities for students as much as possible. Please know that we're fully fully committed to seeing this through. We've been working diligently to this end over the weekend and we're still in touch with the state education department. And Mr. Bellante was in touch with our bond counsel and our financial advisors as we continue to try to secure a path forward with respect to funding for the remainder of the school year. And he'll be providing an update shortly. We're also continuing our efforts to lobby for our special act legislation with our elected officials, state and department, BTA and

006NYSED, and all other stakeholders to make sure we clear path forward. With that, I'll turn the microphone over to Mr. Bomonti and his presentation. Thank you, um Superintendent Santana, and welcome everyone. Uh last week, we presented quite a bit information as to where we are in the budget process, and basically what some of the strategies are for going forward. So, if you'll just give me a second here, I'll try to Just give me a minute here. I apologize. Okay. So, this evening, uh we're going to present a very shorter version of what we had last week. Uh we spent a lot of time going through the options. So, what I would like to do is I would like to begin by summarizing where we were at the last meeting. Uh and this is only six

007slides that we have. It's not 22 like last week, so we should be able to go through this pretty quickly, and then uh open up the meeting for the board of ed and uh the community to ask questions. Uh we all talked about special act legislation and the importance of why we're pursuing this. And basically, as you know, we have a 3-year problem. It started 24-25, carried over 25-26, and now in 26-27. So, with that, the only way that we're able to close that $8.7 million deficit that we have in the current 25-26 year is with special act legislation. And as the superintendent had indicated, we've been very busy over the weekend dealing with bond counsel, dealing with the State Education Department, and um I'd like to say this evening that I'm more optimistic than

008I was last week with the state helping us navigate the 25-26 current deficit. And I say that because I have had extensive conversations with the leadership up at SED, who is introducing the legislation on behalf of the school district to obtain the special act financing for the current school year. And that is a very positive situation to be in. But nonetheless, it's never over till it's over, and we have to anticipate that should the legislation not make it into the governor's budget, we still need to move forward because we're so close towards the rolling towards the end of the school year, and next this coming Wednesday, the board has to adopt a budget. We have to know what we're doing with the financing. We cannot finish this 25-26 year with a deficit. So, there's many

009different types of financing that comes into play. I'm not going to go into detail at this meeting with each one, but just so the community is aware, we're looking at what's referred to our tax anticipation notes, which we borrow every year. We're looking at all types of deficit bonds, deficit notes, deficiency notes that will legally enable us to close the deficit this year and not finish the year with overspending the voter approved budget. That is key. That is our mission. From a cash flow standpoint, we're looking at everything. We're looking at things called revenue anticipation notes. Those type of things are cash flow only. They do not close the deficit. They help us meet our obligations. They help us pay our bills. In addition to that, the good news, the state of informed us that

010they are moving forward with a $7 million advance of our general aid, which again is going to help us out considerably on our cash flow side. So, not to confuse you with all of this, but just to point out the number of different variables that the district is working with in order to fix this for the current 25-26 school year. And then one of the things that we talked about, if we don't get the special act legislation, unfortunately, there are some short-term options that help us close the budget gap for this year, 25-26. But, those options, in my opinion, are not in the best interest of the school district. For the reason being, it may get us through 25-26, but because of the way it's structured short-term, it moves that $8.7 million payment to the

01127-28 school year. So, we don't want to kick the can down the road. We want to resolve this problem once and for all. And, with the plan that we have in place, both for 25-26 and 26-27, we should be able, hopefully, to address and eliminate the deficits completely, and then start out with the 27-28 year with somewhat of a clean slate. Nonetheless, the district still has to be very conscious of their cost-saving strategies going forward, and be able to build budgets within their revenues. So, enough said on 25-26 and where we are. This is where we left off last week. We presented draft four of the budget. It was a $150.7 million. It was a $3.5 million increase, and was 2.43% spending. Um, over the last uh week, we we sat down and we came

012up with a few additional reductions. We call it now draft five, because we are doing this live with the community, so we're getting getting to see the changes that have been made through each draft of the budget. So, in draft five, we were making two additional administrative uh reductions. One being the director of the NL and another is a assistant principal that is leaving the district and we will not be looking to replace that position. Uh those particular items, salary and fringe benefits, we have an opportunity to save another $394,000 which uh is something that we uh presented to the community for draft five and to the board. Um I need to say as a school administrator for many years and I think it it's very important for the community to understand that we have

013eliminated seven administrators from the school budget. Okay? And as the superintendent mentioned, there is a concern of sustaining programs and growing programs and building programs without the appropriate supervision. But nonetheless, we recognize the fiscal crisis, but we also have to ask ourselves at what cost? Because going forward, we have to build responsible budgets that the district is going to be able to sustain going forward. Okay? It can no longer be one-shot deals. We need to fix one year at a time. This is indeed a long-term approach and um the administrative oversight is a very important piece. Let me just throw that out there for information purposes only. The other thing that came out from discussions with the community is the district's elimination of late buses. And there was a grave concern about opportunities that students

014may have at the end of the day and whether they were able to get back and forth to home. So after a lot of consultation um and discussion, we decided that we'd like to take that piece and add it back to the budget. So, this way if those things remain and the opportunity remains for the students, they will have a means to get back and forth to school. So, what that specifically means, you may remember early on we did reduce four late buses where we saved over 400 some of thousand. Therefore, we took out the rest of the late buses. We are now recommending to restore them. So, this would provide both the in-district and the out-of-district transportation. Specifically, we're talking about restoring the late buses at the high school, the 2:40, the 3:30, the

0154:00, and the 5:30. We're talking about restoring the middle school 3:30, 4:30, 5:00, and the 3:30 at Franklin Long. That comes with a cost of $172,000. So, the net reduction is another $222,000 reduced from the draft four budget, which brings us down to the draft five budget of $150.5 million. So, what does that mean for the taxpayer? It means that at this particular point, we would still be piercing the cap. The tax levy pierce the cap tax rate would go from the 13.76 that we presented at the last meeting down to 13.45. Okay? The $150.5 million budget is a 2.28% spending increase over the current year. It still carries the 5.67 deficit. Now, every time we reduce the budget, that deficit goes down as we've seen from previous previous budget presentations. So, if we take

016that deficit and fund it upon the tax levy, that's where we come up with the 13. 45%. Um and that would mean that for this 26-27 school year, there'll be no more deficit. We have resolved the deficit. And there will be no further reductions other than those things that we've talked about through the budget process. And I think to put this piece into context, the state has already come out and said to the district that they are not interested in giving us any special act legislation relief for the 26-27 school year. So, we remain very optimistic in these 12 in the 12th hour that we're able to get something for 25-26 current year, but for this budget year that we're going to be presenting for the community, we will not be getting any relief from

017New York State. And that has been very clear. So, that is why we are presenting these options to the community. I'd like the community to also bear in mind that early on the board adopted a resolution to be presented to the community on transportation, and that would change our private school transportation from 25 miles down to 15 miles. It will be a $900,000 savings upon the budget if passed by the community, and when you factor those numbers into the above where we were or where we are, it would bring the tax rate down to about 12.19% or about $85 a month. And you may remember that at the last meeting where we were we were talking about um it was about $99 a month. So, we have made strides going forward and um that is

018where we are at this point. So, the rest is um I'm sorry. I'm not sorry. Oh, yeah. God, I thought I was done. So, basically so just to recap the the options that we had and we we talked about. So, the first one was we now know that the deficit is 5.6 million 5.67 million dollars to get down to the cap. And so, if the board and the community says, "No way that we want to consider piercing the cap. We want you to go to the cap." We have to go in and we have to cut another 5.67 million. There's no choice because we cannot present a budget to the community that has a hole or is not balanced on both the expenditure and the revenue side. And that's the purpose of special act legislation

019to help us fill that gap. One of the options we talked about at the last meeting was more of a compromise position. Go in and cut 3 million dollars from the budget. Brings the budget down. It brings the proposed tax levy down to 9.26% from where we were at 9.57. So, what I need to say now, which is very important, because over the budget process we reduced the budget probably by close to $9 million. And a lot of it was really around the fringes. To cut any further than where we are, we will be into the meat and the bones, if you will. So, we really made it our conservative effort to preserve as much of the core instructional program as possible. At the last meeting, you saw I put up a slide with those

020particular things that if the district did need to go and look further, where some of the reductions in consideration could be made. And then, the option that we were at this evening was just funding the deficit on the tax levy, which bringing us to again 13.45% without that transportation referendum. So, the last thing I just want to mention is that, you know, if we if the first budget goes down and if the board decides to put up a second budget and make reductions, you are going into the meat and the bones of the budget. It will impact the instructional program. And if that budget goes down, you go right to a contingency. And I emphasized this at the last meeting. All bets are off. There's no further discussion. You go right to the current year

021tax levy, which is $71 million, $71.4 million. Okay? That will hurt because if you look at where we are now, to get to a contingency budget, we will need to cut $9,617,250. And again, that is fact. There is no room in there for, um, you know, any type of adjustments or relief from the state, if you will. That's where we would need to be. So, it it is very important that the community understand the implications and where we are at this point and, um, what we are trying to do in preserving the rest of the instructional program, um, without having to go in, as we heard the community say, and make additional cuts. So, with that, I think I'm good. Uh, open it up to the board for any questions they may have. Thank you.

022Um, I'm going to ask you just to repeat something. Okay. You've mentioned that already, during this budget process, there have been $9 million of cuts off of where we started. And so, does that include the mid-year cuts that were that took place earlier this year? Yes. Okay. And also, you said any further cuts are really going to cut into the activities for students, the course offerings for students, the options. It It would really cut into South Country as we've known it. Is Is my understanding that correctly? >> That is such a nice way to put it. I phrased it a little differently as to the meat and the bones. Um, so, in order for our future budgets to be sustainable, so that they are balanced, so that they um do not run into the difficulties

023encountered particularly in the last two years budgets with the um underestimation of expenses as pointed out in the controller's report. If we if the board put forth um the budget that you have here that would take us to a tax levy increase of 13.45, that eliminates this year's staff deficit, we'll have a clean slate for next year, there'll be no further cuts into programs, offerings, activities, or staff going into next year. Did I sum that up accurately? >> Are Are you referring to 27-28? Um, 26-27 going into 20 >> that is absolutely correct. If if the board and the community is comfortable where we are supporting the programs, then that is correct. And more importantly, it brings us to a point moving forward in 27-28 where we have a reasonable tax base to already have

024made up a lot of the shortfalls in revenues that we have seen in the prior years. So, um you know, and there there's other things and I I want to maybe briefly talk about 27-28 and the projections. There's been a lot of feedback and a lot of input that, you know, we need to know what's going on in 27-28. Well, that's very commendable and that's good, but before we can get a handle on 27-28, we need to establish what we refer to as a baseline because right now from 24-25 with the deficit that we finished with and the deficit that we're navigating in 25-26, we need to get that settled first. And when you get that settled, then the district is able to do meaningful projections because as you probably heard, this information changes daily.

025It changed from last Wednesday when we were here just from conversations working with SED and just conversations working with our money council. So, it's ever-changing. And we do have opportunities in 27-28 to address stability and sustainability. And some of those things, just to mention, we have probably $2.5 million worth of debt service that's falling off. So, the district's going to have to make choices what to do with some of that. And also, we've been talking about embarking on a study to see and determine the feasibility of the possible closing of a building or redistricting students. So, all of those things are alive and well. We do nothing in a vacuum. And those of you that have followed what we have been doing, you'll hopefully walk away with the idea that there's many spokes in this

026wheel and they all turn at the same time. So there are opportunities. More importantly, the controls that have been put in place in the district are monumental to what we have had in the past. The oversight, the processes, it's a it's a new look at what's being done. And not only was my role to look at everything, but it was done in concert with our external auditors and the state controller's office. So the district has really benefited from a thorough look at where we were, how we got here, and where we are going. So hopefully that will give the community a little comfort as we navigate these challenges. But this of course for 2026-2027 is one of our biggest challenges ahead of us. Perfect. So that's something we engaged in the study in terms of

027possibility to restructure the district. What we tried to do is not just look at potential reductions in the budgets, but also increasing revenue. So we have real estate. If the study yields that there could be a building that could be shut down, we redistribute students to other buildings, then there's potential of leasing that building out to other entities of the district. We'll also be looking at as some of the community members have suggested, uh bringing some of our special ed programs back. I'm a firm believer that all of our children are community to be all in sort of the same spaces, and that will also be sort of a reduction in budget, but I think more than that, I think kids should be around each other. So the work doesn't stop. That's sort of the

028point of what I'm saying. What we're proposing certainly reduces or eliminates the deficit for next year, creates a new sort of base in our our tax levy that we can sort of work from, and hopefully uh grow in this district. So, Mr. Balotti, I I I need some clarity on some of the numbers that are here between four and five. Um can you your notes showing on draft five we go to the slide here, we're asking this is provide students the opportunity for transportation back home on participation in the after school events. Now, in draft four, we had removed four of the high school late buses. Correct? No, that was in an earlier draft. There were two parts to the um the late bus transportation. The first draft that I went back, I think uh

029I believe it was around March 25th, that presentation, where we removed four late buses from the high school for a uh total price of was 400 and and 19 So, it's 416,600. Yeah, 416. So, that was pretty close. From your 80 Okay, so this was phase two of that. When we presented the first one, we were only recommending taking out the four buses. Okay? When we got and we were addressing the further um fiscal crisis in draft four, we decided that why don't we just take out all of the um late bus transportation, and 172 was the balance of that transportation. And from the feedback that we had gotten from the community, uh we understand that that would really have a negative impact on students being able to participate in after school activities, and have

030an opportunity to to it back and forth to home. So, for $172,000, we thought it was a great benefit to add back because this gives us the flexibility to not only be in school, but the out of school as well. Because when we when we had pulled it out, we would have taken all the private school and other activity transportation with it. So, this kind of restores something for the kids for additional opportunities during the school day and after school day. And the current version is adding back in those four late buses. No, the current current version, March 25th, we were taking out the four 2:30 late buses at the high school. These are two and the buses that we left in were the buses that are on this particular slide. Those were the buses

031remaining. The first the first slide, I believe, in March March 25th, there were four buses and those were the 2:30 buses at the high school. We run both 2:30 buses and 2:40 buses. Does that clarify? No? No, you So We got rid of the 2:30 and 2:40 buses in the earlier draft. Only the 2:30 buses. So And in this draft, we're adding we're taking away additional buses? No, in this draft, we're putting back the buses that we took out in draft four. If you go back to last Wednesday >> So, I have draft four in front of me. Like, what what's not adding up is the numbers. Okay. When we took out in April, we take out four buses and we saved 400 from removed $400,000 from the budget. But now this time we added

032back in the four buses, or even half the buses, we're only we're adding back 172. The numbers aren't split, so I Okay. I need a a rationalization or a justification to get If you I tried the 2:30 buses that are not listed on this list, those buses come at a cost of over $400,000. They all left at 2:30. So, if you look, those are no longer here. We kept those off the schedule. Okay. These additional buses, believe it or not, add up to $172,000. Is it the number of buses, I believe, correct me if I'm wrong, or is it the number I think we need to go to the next step. I think If If I can try to clarify this for you. The original transportation proposal, if you remember, was to eliminate all late

033buses. And the total reduction was about 608,000. And then, we looked at that and we said that that would have a significant impact on district transportation. So, we then looked at what would it be if we only take out the 2:30 buses. Why the 2:30 buses? Because the 2:30 buses are independent buses that we put at the high school to make that run. So, if we're taking out the 2:30 buses, we're able to reduce four buses at over $100,000 apiece because those buses don't run contiguous to other schools. So, sometimes best Usually, the way transportation works when you have a time slot, if you could run the bus to another time slot. So, the reason why these are the slots is because we're running the buses to the other schools. And we don't have an

034opportunity to take out four buses at $100,000 apiece. But with the 2:30 buses, we did. That's why we broke it up. So, the bottom line is, if we got rid of all of the late buses. It would total about 608,000. If we just get rid of the two 2:30 buses, we're down about 416. So, to add back these particular buses, it we're adding back only 172,000 and still providing transportation for the kids because what these buses do is they rotate from one to the other. So, it's not as if you're taking out If you look at all those routes there, the high school, you have four different times, the middle school you have three, and then at 7:00 and Frank B Long you have one. We're not eliminating seven buses. These are seven buses that

035These are buses that run in a circle. And they run pick up at different times. So, that's just the way when you're scheduling transportation and buses, that's just the way it works. Wait, but I guess I didn't Maybe I need an explanation on the buses. My understanding We We do not Are we putting We're putting We're running the buses from the high school to the middle school to the Frank to Frank B, and then they're taking children home? Uh the buses will run, pick up a group of kids, take them back, possibly come back to the high school for later run, possibly drop the kids off, come back to the middle school for another run. The difference is is the way One of the things the board asked us to do is look at the

036efficiency of transportation. Because transportation costs so much money. And in looking at that, what I'm saying to the board is we have four buses in addition that run at 2:30 that is costing the district $416,000. If we took out those four buses, we still have the remaining transportation that's on that slide. So, as far as a efficiency in scaling back and still being able to provide the service, maybe the service we were providing was just excessive. And so the worst case scenario here, if a student usually would take the 2:30 bus, maybe now they have to wait for the 2:40 bus. And if we're able to take any of these buses and run them back to get the kids earlier, we would certainly work that out with the bus company. But from a budgetary standpoint,

037we have an option again to reduce four budget four buses at $416,000. That is a significant opportunity where we are cutting around the fringes. That's really not affecting student program. And may I ask one question to help clarify? The buses that we have restored in this budget are the current buses and the current routes that we have in place now. Correct. Minus the 2:30. So we're not going to be missing students in those routes. That's my question. No, what I I what I'm questioning is I I potentially may need to question the bus contract. It does not seem rational that by cutting four buses who only transport the high school kid back and forth on a single route cost $400,000, but what we're adding four routes that are going to cover Frank B, the middle

038school, and the high school is only going to result in a cost of $173,000. From just a mileage standpoint, for those of us that are paying for gas, that that doesn't compute in my head and I may be misunderstanding it, but I'm getting We've talked about bad budget practicing before, so I may be hypersensitive about it, but I'm I have four late buses running that are saying it's only going to cost me $173,000 to run. But when I cut out four individual buses that run the 2:30 clock at the high school, then those cost me over $400,000. It doesn't seem like a balance. And that's again, it's based on the it's based on the schedule. So if the board would like, we can definitely arrange for an in-service on our scheduling and routing. But we're

039uh I I you know, I'm confident uh with the numbers. I wouldn't recommend then taking $412,000 out of the transportation budget if we needed it there to provide transportation. So we have a pretty good handle on the different routes and what the cost savings are. And I I you know, I understand your concern, but the way the buses are routed and the changing configuration, the bottom line is if we reduce those high school buses, whether they had runs prior or not, we we can't reduce four buses at over $100,000 a year. Uh and I appreciate that. I respect the numbers. And I even believe that the board had gotten the study that was done by the transportation consultant and myself. And you also have You also have that study. And I And I think I

040may have mentioned it to you as well as to others. I don't know that I have great faith in that study. Given that what we Cuz what we reduced, this is practical versus empirical or empirical evidence versus actuality, which is The last time I took a bus in this district was 38 plus years ago. My kids ride the same route. It is the same bus stops with the same people, so it doesn't make statistical sense that that bus route would be exactly the same 38 years ago when we're facing a decrease in our population. And I live at the farthest corner It's farthest my English, excuse me. The furthest corner from the district. So, I'm not doubting numbers. I'm just making sure we're we're collecting it. And my issue may come back to the bus

041contract, which I'm trying to wrap my head around. Thank you. Any other questions from board members? Yes, Madam Chair. Um Thank you, Mr. Belmonte. So, today I spent the day listening to the um recording from November 12th. When you when you brought us up to speed with four treasures reports from uh when you closed down June June um June of 2020 2025. And you put together your first Sorry, I'm feeling I'm feeling like there's a lot of feedback. Can you maybe shut your mic off? Okay. Yeah, thank you. Okay. So, and you went through the pillars of the recovery program. Cuz I wanted to compare past what we're doing here today. And so, we spoke about the overspend and we spoke about how we had to move forward with this. Is that right? Okay. So,

042what you had recommended to this board is that we had to monitor the budget. Um real-time monitoring, action was needed. We had to analyze spending trends. We had to prevent purchase orders from being being signed when money um when money uh wasn't uh when the lines were exhausted. Reduce and then reduce cost and spending and we had to be transparent. And in those three pillars of recovery you said we had to we had to exercise spending controls, revenue enhancement we had to look at revenue enhancements and structure adjustments. And so in looking at those budget lines and looking at what you recommended to us, you also said that the educational foundation was cracked and we needed a solid foundation but we had the recipe to to rebuild. And you also recommended to this board, don't

043be afraid to ask questions because what gets noticed gets changed and it was the board's fiduciary responsibility to do so. And so you said you were happy that at that time you encumbered 56% of the budget going forward and that you you had a positive outlook of where we were going. So that was in that was um December 3rd of 2025. And you said even though the money was overspent you were confident that there was no fraud, nobody took money home, the money was used on the kids. And so in looking at this budget and going forward I wanted to be assured of that and so we were asking for and to look at this budget and understanding that the community had to had to accept the budget that the that the board is going

044to put forward but now they're being asked to fund the deficit. And they should be assured that they're funding a deficit that wasn't wasteful spending. And so, the board, me, other members of the board, were asking for personnel lists so that we could look for perhaps where there is more overstaffing because we had to cut teachers. And maybe there was other areas that had overstaffing and maybe we could do more with those. From what I'm seeing with this budget, and we did we did get a personnel list, but it was only the BTA and the BTAA. It It wasn't any of the other bargaining units. So, that puts me at a loss as to see where are there other areas that perhaps there is overstaffing. So, we didn't get that. And what we're looking at

045here tonight doesn't show me where we look where Not we. We didn't look at it. Where administration looked at it. We have only two other positions that are in draft five for cuts. And now we have to go to We have less than 48 hours to go back out to the community and say fund a 13.45% budget to make up for the deficit so that we can have no other cuts. And we You have to trust us that there might be other waste in there, but we don't know where it is because we're not seeing it, even though we were given these three pillars of spending control, revenue enhancement, structural adjustment, but we But I don't see where we've done that by what you have presented here today. And this is not personal. But I

046don't see where we've done it. Now, also in that meeting in some of the comments from the residents we were chastised at that meeting we were violating the open meeting law. And we did it again today. Because this document was put up for the public to read at 4:00 at 10 minutes after 4:00 today. So, the board didn't get it early, the community didn't get it early. It's supposed to be up 24 hours prior to the meeting, and we constantly don't give the board an opportunity to see it beforehand, and we don't give it to the public. One of the other items that you had mentioned too that you advise the board to do, and the administration is supposed to give us an opportunity to be is transparent. And we're not. Time after time after

047time. And here we are again with draft five from last Wednesday, and this board asked for an additional meeting to give you another shot. And this goes to you, too, Mr. Superintendent. Especially to you. Give us another shot at finding where you can do more with less. And in my opinion, draft five didn't do it. So, where are How are we supposed to go in and convince the public that 13.45% is enough to plug the deficit, and and Let me back up. I'll I'll say that again. So, one one of the items that I had asked for repeatedly, and we finally got it, was our fleet. Because I had said, if we're supposed to end and spending was cut off in what month was spending cut off? February? It was cut off November and then

048March was a hard cut off. November. So, November of 2025. Right? But yet there was a brand new pickup truck walking around or driving around. I don't know when that purchase it was it was a 2025. So, when we said Hold on. You You did better. Unfortunately not. So, when you said the money wasn't taken, the money wasn't spent, but the money was spent on the kids. Was it spent well? Money wasn't taken out of the district, but the money was spent on the kids. The 2025 Chevy Silverado for maintenance cost $71,694. So, $694. So, $72,000. That could have cost That That's That's the price of a pretty good teacher. Um so, it did affect It did affect the kids because that's the cost of a teacher. And so, when we were supposed to be

049cutting spending at that point, I don't know if it was What at the beginning of the year or at the end of the year, but when we were supposed to be cutting back because we already knew we had the overspend and the next year we should have been cutting back, we weren't doing that. And And it took me It took me months. And I got double-talked about this this uh this truck. Because first it was no, we didn't buy it. And oh, we didn't put it on the road. We We bought it in March, but we didn't put it on the road till November. So, technically it wasn't really you know, it wasn't really you know, it wasn't really a purchase uh at that at that time. And it's just It's that It's that kind

050of It's that kind of double-talk that wastes our time into what we have to do. So, back to this draft five from last Wednesday to to Monday, we could have done a lot better. We And I believe me, I don't want to make any more cuts. I'm not I'm I'm not suggesting that. Even though I know we have to, it's less than I want to suggest. But this didn't do it. This absolutely didn't do it. We have We have clerical positions, we have maintenance positions. They're all valuable. Don't get me wrong. Every single one of them is valuable. But we're at a critical mass, and we have to do more with less. And we asked you to look at central, and and again, these are yes, I see, they're administrative positions, but there's nothing from

051central to do more with less, and we just didn't do it. So, here we are 48 hours 48 hours we have to give this public a budget, and this is not the budget that they're going to pass. Testimony. So, we did look at every collective bargaining unit across the district. In terms of our maintenance staff, and custodial staff, we're already at the minimums. We did reduce our clerical staff, which was presented by Mr. Huntsman. But yeah, we looked at all four to see where we could make reductions. I also want to emphasize that seven administrative positions were cut, leaving us really I don't even know if I can say with certain sense of confidence with the minimum number of administrators we need to operate a school district of our size. So, those cuts were also

052significant. In terms of the truck that we see an extensive that truck was bought not this year, but the prior year. Our current truck that maintenance crew used to plow and do other maintenance work was corroded to the point where you can see the street underneath the floorboards. So, that was part of the equipment budget. When you do have to replace your equipment, that's a part of what we're doing in school districts. So, that truck wasn't a luxury item. It came equipped with a full plow and other rigs to help us uh navigate the school district. Um I don't know if you wanted to add anything else, Mr. Bommarito. Um yes, I like to clarify a couple of comments. It's you know, I keep asking myself and reminding myself why I came to South Country

053as an independent person to help the district. And every step in the way in this review of the budget, I have to say in public that I disagree with your assessment. And I'm not ashamed to say that. And I stand here tonight to defend what I have done for this district and not be a piece of political gamesmanship. I'm sorry. I have worked my tookus off to bring these these items to the board with the least amount of impact to the instructional program. Trustee Fliz, you say that we're not transparent. Every position I just put the presentation up from the last meeting. It talks about transportation. It talks about staffing. It names additional positions. The presentation that was done on April 1st, it names every position. There were 55.5 positions that were reduced. Administration, clerical,

054security. That list was provided to the board. There is no cover-up here. I was charged with bringing forward a 26-27 budget that really represents this district's program, and that's what I had done. >> You don't have to raise your voice at me. You have to You don't raise your voice at me. It's frustrating. Do not have I told you it was a mischaracterization. Do not raise your voice at Good for you, Mr. Bellmore. Thank you. Okay. Folks, I'm sorry. Okay, but let me just say one thing. There's a little bit too much uh gamesmanship here right now. I didn't really want to speak much today. I'm kind of done. A lot of people have seen all my social media posts. You've seen all the targeting of me and others. You've seen old vendettas being taken

055out now. And our children will be collateral damage. We don't need this. This is nonsense. You don't give a personnel list with salaries out to board members while you're talking about cuts so they don't target individuals. Okay? That's what's happening here. Does any staff member who's sitting in this room want the board going through and saying, "That person makes too much money. Let's cut their job." Is that the place we want to be? Is that how you want us to develop the budget? This is a horrible situation. Nobody can Nobody can debate that. A group A part large portion of our community is going to be disenfranchised no matter what happens here. No matter what happens here. Whether it's taxpayers who can't afford it or whether it's family who wants services for their students. The

056words fraud, theft, corruption has been thrown around too much. And it's distracting us. It's distracting the people who don't sit here and sit in this sewer every day because they don't want to be there. It's distracting and scaring young families who are about to start their time in South Country schools. Let's start talking honestly and stop the gamesmanship. It's destroying this community. If you want to take your pound of flesh out of me, go ahead. I'm standing here. I thought about resigning today. And I ripped up my resignation because I'm not going anywhere. Because of people like that who just want to fulfill vendettas. Okay? Folks, let's argue later. We have to get this done. Come take your pound of flesh after the vote. If you want to vote no, vote no. If you want

057to vote yes, vote yes. Understand what we do and what we're about and what our capabilities or excuse me, our limits are and what our role really is. This nonsense political gamesmanship and trying to deflect attention away from anyone else's roles here is hurting us. This isn't worth it. Also, just want to quickly add that um our budget process was overlooked by the State Controller's Office. In fact, there's still people from the State Controller's Office in our district office. All the numbers that Mr. Bomarti has presented have been vetted and looked over again by the State Controller's Office. They actually looked over 3 years worth of budgets. So, again, the calculations for transportation, the way we looked at staff reductions was all vetted by the State Controller's Office. Even when we engaged in staff reductions,

058we provided all that information to them so they can provide their own oversight and feedback. So, I do believe that this is a credible budget, the numbers are credible, and I want to thank Mr. Bomarti's diligence and work. He's put in a lot of hours, and I know it because we work across weekends, and I'm not saying that for any empathy, but the amount and volume of work that we've been doing providing all the stakeholders, they're going to have a role in sort of forging a path ahead, um it's been monumental. And I mean it like the officials, the state officials, other stakeholders, um it's been incredible work. Not only that, but the scrutiny that we've been under by the controller's office, which we welcome because again, it gives us another set of eyes to

059ensure we're doing things right. We've also implemented a lot of changes in the business office, the way we do things and structures and human resources. All those things have been happening live. And it's been daunting. But I'm not complaining about it because it's worth it. What we're doing is trying to preserve our district, trying to preserve our programs, and we're doing it for our students. We're doing it for the staff who support them every day. And that's really the bottom line. None of this is easy. I can appreciate that the feelings in this community. I think that they span way before I came here, but I'm not focused on those feelings. I'm focused on solutions moving forward and trying to forge a path ahead. That's what I said at the beginning of the school year,

060and that's what I'm committed to. Again, working with Mr. Bomonti, and the controller's office, other stakeholders, to ensure that what we're proposing is valid and vetted. And if anything, what we want to do is really preserve what makes our school district special. We looked at every collective bargaining unit, we looked at all the districts. Going through staff reductions last year was a horrific experience, especially for those people affected. Even if they landed on their feet, it was still terrible. Doing it again is heart-wrenching. And we didn't take lightly. We did everything possible to minimize the impact, but we knew we had this deficit that we had to deal with, and we looked at every possible thing to reduce. Again, reducing the budget by almost over $8 million was was a monumental task. And when you

061look at our program offerings for next year, they're pretty much intact. But it was a monumental task, and I want to thank John Bomonti for the his diligence, the long hours he spent trying to make this happen again with the least impact on our students. Thank you, Mr. Superintendent. And I have one thing that I just want to add for the community. And that's it. There's a lot of individuals that are saying, you know, what's going to guarantee that this isn't going to happen again? Part of the restrictions and the requirements that when SED gives you an advance of your general aid borrowing as well as the governor's office gives us approval special act legislation, there is constant oversight and reporting. It does not stop. The reporting gets done on a quarterly, semi-annual, and annual

062basis. So, to answer those questions, the oversight doesn't stop. The outside organizations from the controller's office, they need to certify the deficit before we actually go ahead and borrow. So, there's a lot of oversight that goes in to make sure that the district maintains the cost forward to sustain its programs and what the state has lent us money for. So, I think that's a very important piece for the community to know. Mr. Belmonte, if I could follow up on just the last week is the first time I've heard of the $7 million aid advance. Was that something that occurred since last Could you put some details to that as to being promised? Um yes. We've never committed. That's what It was never committed. It was always one of the options we discussed. But at that

063point, where are we from it being committed? Uh that is correct. Uh we were looking at various options from cash flow to the necessary borrowing to close the deficit. One of the things that we worked with the state with very closely with the opportunity to either borrow on our general aid or our lottery aid. Borrowing on our lottery aid comes with some restrictions and limited amounts that we can borrow. We then moved to the discussion with the state on an advance of our general aid. And I'm happy to say that as of late Friday, the individual that superintendent and I have been working with over at SED sent us an email that was very promising with a application for obtaining $7 million worth of our advance on our general aid. Now, as I mentioned previously,

064that's going to help us tremendously on cash flow basis. It's going to mean that we can probably borrow less on our tax anticipation notes. And as I indicated, it's a little complicated, but we should be able to borrow less on our tax anticipation notes because we have this additional revenue. And more importantly, this revenue is interest-free. It's an interest-free loan on our state aid. So, it So, as we stand right now, it's promising, but it's not guaranteed yet. It's not committed. It's the the gentleman that we spoke to has walked it into the legislature and has informed us that the district has little or no options for the current 25-26 year, and they are very supportive of this happening. The state has done this before for school districts, and we do anticipate this coming to

065fruition. As soon as the state has authorization in the state budget, uh we will be given a voucher to fill out to the superintendent to sign, and that will uh effectuate the receipt of $7 million. Hopefully, we're talking about towards the mid to late May. When we run into the situation where we need those monies to get us through the school year. Keep in mind, we have a $27.5 million TAN note that was borrowed last year that is due on May 29th. And my goal is to make sure the district does not default on that note. So, these cash flow options and this special act legislation all fits into the piece of pie, if you will, to ensure that we put all those pieces together. So, I have a couple pieces just to follow up

066so that I make sure that I'm on the same page. It took me some time to get up to this, and I've been sitting in the room. So, I want to make sure I didn't misconstrue. Now, the the the borrowing from the general fund uh is this the circumstance where we borrow from next year? We're given the money this year. Next year, we pay a very small portion of that back, and then borrow from the successive year. And it results in a lengthy time to pay it out with zero interest to us as a district. Do I have that correct? That is correct. Actually, the term is normally 30 years. Okay. So, from that end, I point that out not just because it took me a while to understand it, but for everybody to understand

067it, unlike our homes or other places, some of these financing instruments are different than we're used to. So, as been talking about them even now and we stand the promise and it looks promising but for what our book what some of these numbers are they're not committed they're not guaranteed so we're we're making choices where there still may be benefits to come down the line because this funding is as it the the other funding the special act legislation that we were talking about is bound into the New York State budget. So until New York State approves its budget that item is not guaranteed to us even though it may be promised until its passage we don't we can't realize the benefit of those funds. That is absolutely correct. And that is why we are looking

068at so many variables. That is why we are looking at every option and trying to cover every base to navigate this particular shortfall both in the current year and the subsequent year 2026 and so Appreciate it. And I point that out to everybody just so everybody understands right? Some the politics that go on inside New York that could mean the state budget isn't passed until June 1st. We have no control over that. So from that standpoint one of the things that I heard from other people in the community or talking with them and trying to explain what I understand is that even if we approve a budget 14% making up a number right? At 14% there's other things that could still happen to actually reduce that obligation so that's not necessarily the number that you're

069going to realize on your taxes. This is a ceiling so the ceiling that we're talking about is based on what we know exists today. We have some promises from New York State we have some things we're likely to anticipate but we can't bank on it. So that's some of that to realize but and for those of you who look at today's slide, understand that's what the bus proposition is. Right? Everybody understands that we put a bus proposition on the voting on the calendar, and that you were you as the public are going to vote for that. So, the but without going down to the 12.9, look at the difference in the tax cap at 13.45. We have to approve that. That includes the bus transportation for Catholic high schools. That includes that number. The minute

070you approve it, the minute it goes through on the budget, I'm sorry, on the the ballot, if it does, it then reduces the tax cap to that 12 number. So, we still have to give you that 13.5. So, remember last week when I was asked questions, asked more things, understand what we are actually going to fight over. Because if we're fighting over dollars and what our tax increases are going to be, you should understand the real numbers. And those numbers are moving, so ask the questions. Yes. I'll ask the question then because from last week's presentation to this one, the result is elimination of more administrative staff, and it reduces the tax burden on the household by how much was that per week per month? Uh previously it was about 99, so it reduces it

071about $3 a month. So, for $3 saved by the taxpayer, we have a budget now that has less administration than what we talked about last year. Correct? That is correct. And I'm asking administration is what we're left with enough to actually operate this district? So, there are different concerns. Again, I know the number seven on its face doesn't seem like a lot, but we would be left with 16 total administrators for this entire district. And that's inclusive of the building administration. So, I think a lot of the work is not seen by the public. It's not seen quite frankly by a lot of people in the organization. We have state federal mandates that are tied to funding. Um numerous state reporting mechanisms and portals and federal reporting that we engage in. Uh promoting instructional programs.

072When you think about the success our English language learners have in this district, uh you know, that's first and foremost by the teachers in the in the trenches where educating the children, but also for those administrators that help facilitate uh learning. Uh right now the state is looking to change graduation requirements for the portion to graduate. Uh we've been looking to increase opportunities for students in the high school to earn the college credit. We've really increased our repertoire of college credit bearing courses because It wasn't sufficient. Excuse me. Um and over the last three years we've made a lot of fundamental changes that have increased opportunities for students by doing work-based learning opportunities for students, by trying to focus students in getting credits through job experiences, uh by restoring practices, trying to change the culture

073of our buildings, trying to sort of change sort of the climate of our buildings so students are more productive. Uh we engaged in the strategic plan and right now we have to see where we land, but we haven't lost many of the tenants of it. You know, the academic excellence, trying to focus more on academic dis- discourse. All these things come from, you know, teachers who implement them, who do the work in the trenches, but also from administration that goes to the conferences, goes to of the learnings. And by the conferences, I don't mean traveling. I mean Zoom conferences in our offices that are run by the department using specific goals. You know, the amount of reductions certainly in the administration makes me feel uncomfortable because we're really being left with a minimal number of

074people to push all these instructional initiatives forward. But, you know, again, you know, we're trying to be as sort of equitable as possible and looking at every collective bargaining unit to sort of make these reductions. But, to answer your question, Ms. Hayes, you know, it's concerning to reduce the amount of administrators to that number, but we'll have to sort of figure it out as we push forward. We also added four teacher positions and teacher chairs at the secondary level. So, there's been a significant amount of compromise there as well. So, we're going to be looking at it. We maintained our literacy coordinators who are teachers. We maintained our math specialists, which are our teachers, to help provide that support. But, in the absence of, you know, what this board is looking at, the three directors

075who really manage three important content areas, it's humanities, it's STEM, and now E&L, but that does put us in sort of a precarious situation. Can I Let me turn this back to the role of the board where one of our obligations is to make sure that we're providing a sound basic education to every child in our district. And this this budget um permits us to continue providing the education and the services and the activities that we have today. Um and it is at a cost, and that cost is what is forth right here in the 13.45% tax increase. Um, so to me, it shows that this budget listened very closely to what the community is saying, which is students and parents want the services. Community also doesn't want to pay taxes. And this is a

076situation where you can't do both because if we reduce the taxes any further, it's going to result in these other very large reductions that were mentioned. I think you have that down as another almost $6 million. That is correct. On top of the $9 million that has already come out. Um, so it seems like it's a situation where the thing, um, if we're focused on if we're focused on the best interest of our students, this budget permits that. Um, it also means, uh, that I hope you've got enough administration in there to protect the district from the liability that can attach to some of our special programs like our, um, special ed program in particular. Um, because one thing the board has to be cognizant of is that we're protecting the district from liability and

077things like that. So, is this sufficient? It's a difficult question to answer. We didn't, uh, propose any reductions in special education. We have 23% of our students who special education students, including students who attend outside services. Uh it's a tough decision, you know, we are getting feedback from the community and the board, and so, you know, again, we're trying to make uh do more with less, and that's been our approach. I certainly uh have some reservations about eliminating an ELL director in our district, considering 22% of our students are ELLs, uh who have been making progress. So, um you know, again, I'll have welcome the board's comments on that. Um so, maybe from our vantage point, um I do think there is concern with reducing the amount of administrators, and I know there's sort of

078a narrative that's sort of anti-administration, because again, when you look at the number of teachers that were reduced, that number far uh sort of out weighs the That's not the right word. You know, we look at 40-plus teachers versus seven administrators, it seems disproportionate. Um we reduced over the last 2 years, this is including the proposals for next year, about 18% of our teaching staff. Seems pretty monumental. Um in the last 3 and 1/2 years, we've also had a decline in enrollment of about 600 students. So, you have to think about that. In terms of our administrative unit, we're surpassing 25% of our administrative unit with these cuts. Again, most of the administrators that are left behind are building administrators and they manage buildings, and they manage all operations A to Z from the building,

079from maintenance to students to staff, all the departments. The other administrator focuses on curriculum, state mandates, federal mandates, grants, and everything else that it takes to support our students. Can I make a comment to that? Um first, thank you, Mr. Monti. I know this is This is I say it every time, it's a daunting task, and we have an uphill battle ahead of us, but I want to address that exact comment about administrators. Um those of you who know me, I am an administrator, I'm a school administrator, so I am not anti-school administrator by any sense, but I'm also trying to be fiscally responsible. So, one of the questions I had back on draft one budget was what are the options we have for administration to look at X amount of administrative or cabinet scenario.

080One of the things that was mentioned was the directors. 10 years ago, my understanding was that there was only two people here and we were 10% larger in enrollment. So, why not consider that as AN OPTION? THAT'S AND THEN THE OTHER THING I WAS along with that conversation with trustees, but I'll let them speak for themselves in regards to that matter. Mike, I expressed very specifically this had to be a share of pain situation. I was told time and time over and over again by Mr. Santana that this was he could not do that in good faith. Now, here's my issue with that scenario right now. We're going out with a 13.45 or whatever it may be. Good faith? What changed from draft one to draft four that the director of being now was no

081longer needed? Why are we not considering the other three? And my question to the assistant principal, that was never a conversation of taking away another assistant principal, was it, amongst the board? That position was only being eliminated because that person decided to leave. So, my question is if we have issues in buildings, whether it's I'll be the one that says it, physical altercations or violence in our buildings, and our assistant principals are working through and through to try to combat that. I know there's been vast improvement at the middle school and things like that, but now we're taking away another assistant principal from the building that is on the ground level trying to combat those things. So, my question is where did that assistant principal position come up because it was never a conversation with

082the assistant principal being eliminated while there was conversations of the other directors. And why are we not considering There was a comment last week that Mr. Plano asked what was the total value we could save in directors. I believe the number was thrown out at 800. I think that was a little short. I think we're actually closer to $875,000 that could be saved in those four director positions. So, going out to the public with a draft five position where there's other opportunities that we could make cuts that I think that could be effectively made cuz I did ask a question in the board that to you Mr. Mr. Santana, what can a chairperson not do that a superintendent do? Now, I'm aware of APPR what they can't do is observation, but I made a very

083very specific question in regards to summer work. I was told specific specifically by you that chair people in in South Country do not do summer work. So, I did a little research. On page 60 of the BTA contract that I have it here and it's it's on public notice. You can go and go and look at it yourself as well cuz I'm guessing you weren't aware of it. Um Department chairpersons work the equivalent of one additional contractual work week per summer. So, yes, there is work available that summer work that could be done within the contract. I asked a second question is what is the cost of a chairperson for the district? Now, I was wrong. I said $7,500. I must have been looking at a contract maybe a year or two years ago. So,

084I was said, "No, it's way more than that. You don't understand the cost that all of this is going to do if we bring in chair people." The chairperson contract as of 2024 and 2025 and 2025-2026 is $8,222. So, my question is and I understand that there's coverages that have to be made and things that would offset the cost slightly a little bit more, but all the numbers that I played with in my head does not equal $875,000 that we could do better with less. And here's the question, can can a chairperson maybe do the job as as well as possibly a director? That's something to debate. I can say from the efficiency, efficiency standpoint, and financially stable question would be financially we are being more efficient. So, I would ask the question is why

085haven't we looked at that again in draft four or five? I know I know I'm not the only one speaking on this and that's an excellent question from the board that share opinion share opinion and what I would leave with that last comment that that was made that this is all being done in good faith. This is all being done in good We I cannot do this in good faith. I cannot make these changes to this My comment to that would be right now this public has no faith in the faith of the administration. So, 13.45, we have to gain the faith of the public and I don't think we've done that anywhere close to it. I do think this public will rally behind with right decisions made in draft five or it could have

086to be in draft six. We have 48 hours as Cheryl has mentioned. We have to look at these options cuz like trustee um Ross said, we're possibly at 12.19 with the referendum. Could we get that down to maybe 10.5? Could we get it down to $75 a month on the assessed value? Are those options that would make this a little bit easier to attack from the standpoint of a normal average household for whether it's somebody with students in the district or not students in the district cuz we're talking about minimal numbers, but in the big picture they're the wider numbers. So, I think we have to somehow in this last 48-hour attempt gain the faith of this public to say this is a budget that I can get behind and I think it starts with

087that conversation with the director. So, So, can we ask him a question? Um really quick because I I Rob, I agree with a lot of what you said and there was two comments that I had. All right, this goes to conversations that were had with trustees throughout the weekend that I had and and I I do think that tonight my impression of tonight was that's the time to talk about that because um we do need to understand I want to hear your your response, but you know, if we're going to raise class sizes and teachers have to do more with less, you know, the administration is too. And I know how overworked the administration is and I know when we have these conversations administration and what they do and what they contribute to this district

088is sometimes overlooked and that's unfair. Um but we're past that now and and you know, there's things here that we're going to have to make some difficult decisions and I understand it's going to be hard and I know I got a feeling I know what you're going to say, you know, as to what's best for the students and the value of the education, but you know, if we don't see if we can do more with less, you know, we can't even begin to start talking about two to three years down the line bringing services back that increase that level of detail that's needed, but um I tend to agree with with uh Mr. Belsole. Yeah, and then I just add one more thing to that. And again, I've been in education myself for 20 years,

08913 years as an administrator. What I would say is They just keep going down that Um what I would say is we've had the opportunity to look at neighboring districts. I pulled up neighboring districts that have used the chair models and presented options, you know, and we've talked about it, you know, yes, in the perfect world directorship would be great. You know, we would have directors for every category. We we've eliminated STEM, we've eliminated humanities. What makes STEM less important than, you know, guidance or whatever else, special assistant director, special ed. So, I guess my question really comes down to what other neighboring districts have done. We've done it in the past. We've done it for more students, a larger population. And I understand our the comment's going to be the special ed population hasn't

090changed, and I understand that. But right now, the shared pain has to be across the board, and I think that we have to all do a little bit more with less, and I think we can do that. That's what we're here to do. But I think we would gain the trust of the public by saying we're moving in the right direction. Okay, so that was my response. So Just to I'm going to go back to that. So one additional week in the summer, directors are 12-month employees, teachers are 10-month employees. So 5 days in addition, uh it's certainly not sufficient to do all the work that goes on in the summer. In terms of the compensation, there is a little over $8,000 stipend, uh but you also have to account for 0.4 of that teacher

091salary. You know, the way to determine that is what's here. The teacher is a 0.6 teacher, 0.4 chair. So that percentage, so 40% of that teacher salary is dedicated to the chair role. So the cost is a little bit more than $8,000. Uh but we talked about the uh you know, again, I don't want to get here and get into a debate of what director is more important than the other. We're trying to reduce it, you know, staffing realities, um with the assistance of our director of curriculum and instruction, with our literacy coordinator, with our math specialist. We felt that was something that we could perhaps absorb and do more with less, to your point. Um when we look at what's left over, we are left with the director of technology, which uh usually just

092put out an article about the importance of that position with regards to safeguarding our digital infrastructure, um providing oversight to make sure we're in compliance not just with ADA regulations on our website, and anything digitally that we put out, but uh Ed Law 2D, uh and just again, cybersecurity. You know, running some attacks and all those things that takes monumental sort of supervision. But again, we've shifted to digital platforms, all of our state testing, um 3 to 8 is done digitally, um some AP exams have switched over to digital testing. So, that's an important position. Our director the athletic director is a mandated position. So, people may not know that, but that's actually a mandated position. Um and we have two administrators in charge of our special ed population. That has increased tremendously. Um I

093looked at research, too, and we've seen trends going in both directions. Some districts, Riverhead, uh and I believe Whitmore, are moving in the opposite direction from Terrace administrators because they wanted to have the access people to people who don't have to travel for hours and also work through the summer. So, we decided to do a compromise. What we did was we eliminated the director of guidance, we didn't eliminate the director of staff, but we also are appointing four chairs. A chair of ELA, chair of social studies, chair of math, and a chair of science. So, we're hoping that that configuration helps sort of supplement some of the work that's done by those directors. Um ELA, we currently have two chairs at the elementary school, and one chair at the elementary school, one chair at the

094secondary school. Again, I don't feel that comfortable with this reduction, but we have to see how it plays out. If it does play out, we're also looking to see if we use our title funds to perhaps uh fund that position. But, we can't count on that, so we have to include it in our budget. Um and I believe that covers all the directors. You know, we talk about cabinet positions. We have Reality, we have our assistant superintendent for finance and management. I think we learned that that only we need that position, but we need somebody that's going to be uh well versed in finances. Uh we've worked a lot with our experiences the last few years. Um certainly curriculum is either argued, but even making sure of the scope of that office is pretty broad.

095We talk about Title IX, we talk about compliance, we talk about health and safety, we talk about all the state mandates that go with staffing, and our human resources person also has a vital role in managing payroll, making sure our payroll is correct, weighing changes, all of the contractual obligations. I can't begin to tell you how much work and how many hours is spent with Mr. Huntsberry, Mr. Brady, for example, we just had this conversation this morning. Even as we're re-designing our APR plan, you made great headway in that regard. But we have five collective bargaining units and really is the scope of that office is pretty tremendous. Even reducing that title, which I heard suggestions, why do we need assistant superintendent, why not just have director? The compensation that is received by our assistant

096superintendent is pretty much the equivalent of that of executive director so we're talking about not a realistic or a monumental amount of savings for the school district compared to the potential cost and liability. So, you know, cabinet, we have three cabinet members, which I think is appropriate for our school district of size. Directors, we've reduced three directors. And in terms of the APs, we'll have the same number of APs at our secondary schools. We'll reduce the APs at our elementary schools. The elementary schools of our size typically don't have APs. Certainly we'll look to support that work in the coming year. So, I think reducing our administrative staff by over 25% I didn't calculate the percentage. We started with 24, we'll be down to 16 next year with both cuts. So, to follow up as

097Mr. Puccini And Mr. Phil as I just said Mrs. Santana, we there's a couple of things that as you're saying it, I think we need to see the distinction from the board. I can respect the fact that you believe, just as I've talked to Mr. Brady and he has a belief about what's supposed to be done. But when we sit here and we tell people we're at the point now this has to be objective. So, from the objective standpoint of what I mean by that is give me numbers, right? Mr. Fellows said it gives the numbers, you say it's a little different. Listen, just sitting here assuming five. So, at five to replace the five directors, and this is what I mean by objective standards. And there are other people that need to be included

098in this calculation, and those are the things we would like to hear. So, if I have $800,000 salary base for directors, and I move that to chairs, I'm going to save $800,000 off the director line. However, I'm going to incur 0.4 is going to take off the teachers. So, I'm going to end up with I need to hire two additional teachers. If I use the average salary of $100,000 a teacher for the people to fill in, whether they are filling in for just the 0.4, or there's an individual that is brought in that we've done in the past where they fill a 0.4 in one building and a 0.4 in another building, that individual then becomes full-time. The average cost is $100,000 because we have salary and benefits that go into that. If that's the

099case, then and we're looking at spending $8,000 for those respective chairs, where up five, that's $40,000 for the bonuses, or not the bonuses, excuse me, the the stipends that are put in, we're losing then or incurring $200,000 to $250,000 delta, which at the end of the day we're going to be left We're We're actually receiving on that end. Now, that's part one. The other part, and I've warned people about this from just a labor relations thing. How many of us want to be in charge of our friends? You know, that's a difficult position to put some people in. Some people are okay and they are comfortable with it. That's something that I don't think we've heard much about from the teachers other than saying that they will do the job. That is an individual or

100a group-oriented task. Somebody may be in that group that can handle it and might be a good candidate. It's something that we should try. I haven't heard any of that. I commend the teachers for saying they're willing to do it, but there's also the part of a good fit. You know, some of that was not explored, so subjectively to say the director is better, that that comes down to the person. We've heard nothing or given any input about it. We won't have those jobs where we have bad bosses and or somebody amongst us gets promoted and then they try us to tell us what to do. That can put people at odds and create or make a toxic toxic environment. So, there is some part of this. So, I I agree with my fellow trustees

101on that end that I respect your opinion to that, but you haven't brought those pieces to the table for us to be able to make that decision. It is realistic for us to say, again, everybody's had bad bosses and good bosses, that we actually can evaluate the individual people in this room and there are some teachers who are great and want to step up and do that extra work. There may not be anybody in the unit. I've heard nothing other than the unit say we're willing to do it, but nobody's given me somebody giving me some examples. Let's take a risk. And if I want to take a risk on an employee, I want to take a risk on somebody senior. I want to take a risk on somebody who's doing a good job who

102we think we want them instead. We want them to be better. Give them more responsibility. But again, that's part of the equation that's objective. We're past the point of I believe this is going to work. Show me how it's going to work. So, just a comment on that. We did provide the board of trustees a list of the responsibilities that the directors are responsible for. It's pretty extensive. Again, it's about the value added to the district by having in It's not a testament to the capabilities of teachers in our district at all. It's about the time they can commit to the tasks at hand, which again are full year tasks. These are 12-month employees versus 10-month employees with the neck for week. So, that's really the concern. I don't think I'm being subjective. I'm being

103objective about all the responsibilities, all the title grants, the mandates. Um and the district is very much different. You know, in the previous couple of board meetings, I've shown how our demographics have changed over the last 10 years. Not just in terms of the breakup of our students, but in terms of all the responsibilities and mandates that come down from the state. The Part 15 154s and Part 200s that uh sort of oversee uh ENL, special ed. There's been monumental changes. Even in the area of guidance, we have the director of guidance in terms of the different requirements for graduation, the ability of students to file appeals for Regents exams, to earn credit through work experiences. These are all things I'm managed by directors. So, it's I don't think I'm being subjective. I mean, look

104through this. There's plenty of cases of people. Um but I think I can objectively say that there is value to the work our directors do on a day-to-day basis. We we can go back and forth cuz there's there's benefits to both sides of it. And I'll I'll admit to that. Um but I will say though, and again, being in the role that I am currently in, I'm assistant principal, but I'm also the director of the largest career and tech ed program on Long Island. I do both at the same time for a stipend position. So, what I will say to that is things can be done in a creative and unique way that can make it work for both parties. And what I'll say is, and I'm not putting it down, like I said, I

105am in this curriculum, but most directors are not here for the long term. And what I'll say is, if you want to build consistency within the department, if you want to build structure and future, your teachers are the ones that have been here and here for the long term. And any district that you go to that has a chair model, that has a chair that's been there for 10, 15, 20 years, You see the steps and goals they built for the future and the tracks that they made. So, again, this is not a shot against the directors cuz directors have impact and things like that. But, if you're looking for continuity, consistency, and the building of the foundation, which I think we need more than ever, I would really strongly consider the chairperson model again

106cuz I do think that THERE ARE SO, AS SHE SAID, PERSONALLY, UH ROSS SAID IT RIGHT HERE, THE delta could be anywhere between 6 to you know, $650,000. Is that Um I don't know what the exact amount is, but I'm looking at the point being is we have people that are capable, I think, in this district to do the job. And I understand there's hesitation to do that. Um but I would have At this point, fiscally, we have to be more responsible. That's that's what I just want to go back very quickly with the assistant principal cuz this is something that Yes, this was presented to us at 4:00, I think, as Cheryl said. Um I know there were some discussions in the last meeting that we are losing somebody that is going to a

107different district. But, we never had a conversation prior to that moment of ever taking away an additional assistant uh principal. So, I guess my question is where what changed from then to now that that's the position that we're taking away? And maybe there is some rationale behind it. And I'm okay If there is, I'm okay with it. But, I also understand the issues that we have at our building level, whether it is due to discipline and some of the other things that are going on in some of our buildings. You know, how are we going to make up for that? How are we going to change? There wasn't a conversation made about that. I wish there was a little more conversation cuz I do think there's other positions that would have been more effectively placed

108into that spot that could have offset that cost. Um you know, the middle school, I've only heard great things have happened in the last year under under Ayala. I want to keep that improvement. I don't know I I can't honestly say to the public right now where that assistant principal cut is going to occur. I know who's leaving. I don't know where we are going to take that hit. Is it at the elementary, is it at the middle school, or the high school? You know, that hasn't been shared amongst us yet. So, that would be a question of mine first, and then how are we going to address the issues that we have at the building level that assistant that assistant principal is taking care of. That cut, as I said, previously is coming from

109the elementary schools. So, we're keeping the same number of assistant principals at the middle school and high school. And again, it's about decisions. You know, at the trustees' request, we looked at our administrative unit. That's what came out of our conversation. So, we looked across the board to see what would make the least impact in our programs. And so, that's the charge we got, that's what we we followed. Again, the assistant principal piece is coming from our elementary schools, and we're maintaining our structure in the buildings. Um I I still feel like adding even the director email, I did so reluctantly, um because I do think it'll be impactful, you know. And our directors here have been here a number of years. All uh I think um all have been here at least um now

110I don't want to misspeak, but I know at least 10 years for a few of our directors, and they've been really committed to our district. None of them want to leave. So, um you know, I think that's sort of Typically, the chair role is typical for us. I started my administrative career as a science department chair. And I had the strange configuration where I was a 0.4 teacher and 0.6 administrator. So, I was in two units, which is a kind of a strange format. Um but we all saw that as a stepping stone up positions to become a building administrator, okay? And subsequent to that, I was an assistant principal, and then principal at the middle school and the high school levels. So, again, I think what we proposed is what makes the least amount

111of impact for our programs. Um and and we look at cost savings versus the value added to our district and the potential loss in terms of availability to occur because of our inability to sort of provide the supervision that the school directors do. But again, it's not a capacity topic of our teachers, it's an availability topic. If you have to teach three periods a day um out of your five, which is typical for a secondary teacher, that's taxing. You know, teaching is not easy work. A 0.6 assignment requires a lot in terms of planning, uh grading, being responsive to your students. So, to assign the monumental responsibilities that our directors have above and beyond that teaching load, um I just think it's problematic. I just have two final points and I and I see the

112audience is getting fatigued. But I just I'm going under the assumption that special act legislation is not going to happen. But I just need clarification uh from Mr. Belmonte. Is it possible we're getting it for '26-'27 or or not possible at all? And maybe for '25-'26. It is not possible for '26-'27 and it is still possible for '25-'26 based on the information that we have had last Friday through the weekend. So, what happens to '26-'27 when we don't get it? '26-'27, as we discussed, we currently have a hole of 5.67%. So, we have two options. We fund that deficit and we close that hole, put it on the tax rate, or you go back and you do $5.67 worth of additional cuts to get rid of the deficit and to bring us to the cap

113at 5.52%. So, the options are really simple. There There is no other options at that point other than a in-between option to pierce the cap and get it down below the 13.45. And we have 48 hours to figure that out? Uh yes, ma'am. Okay. All right. So, based on what Trustee Calasanz had said, and like like we have said with everything else, nothing's personal. It's dire straits here with the with the with the budget. And while we were looking for something in between the the 10% piercing of the cap and the 15 the 15% piercing of the cap, we were looking for something in the middle here that would be palatable to the to the to the residents. And um if we And again, it's not personal about the directives, and we get it, Mr.

114Superintendent, that you don't want to live without them. We get that. In a perfect world, that would be it would be great. But, if we were to go with the same $800,000 savings and $100,000 raises that were given to cabinet back when we didn't have the money and those raises never should have been given out until until it was justified that we had the raises. For almost a million dollar savings, that's probably a palatable budget that the that the uh board could get behind and the residents could get behind to support those raises, those $100,000 raises that were given out in May of 2025. Those should be rolled back along with the uh the proposal that Calasanz just announced. And I think that's something that should come back in version number What do we have

115today? Six. And something that we Draft five? Draft five, yes. We're at five. We Okay, so then then six. But, we're we're out of we're just out of options. I just don't see it going any further than that. Thank you. Thank you. I wanted to circle back and bring up something that I think I have learned from going to some uh New York State School Board Association trainings and and other trainings. My understanding is that by setting this budget of 150 million, that is what's available for administration to run the district next year. Within that, there's still the flexibility to make staff changes if they can be made going forward. So, for example, if you uh eliminated some of the director positions, but it turns out you really really need them and there's money to

116be had in other parts of the budget, can't that be moved over to fill in that line? So, my question is to Mr. Belmonte today. The budget is a flexible document, a living, breathing document that we transfer from various codes all the time. So, in there, you do have the greatest amount of flexibility, or I shouldn't say the greatest because the budget was budgeted very tightly. You have a limited amount of flexibility and when you achieve savings within a budget for various reasons, for money that you don't spend or a position may leave, somebody may leave and we don't fill it, um or we cut back on overtime, and you definitely have the flexibility to use those funds for other things. But, I really must caution the board because let's go back to our financial

117statements in 2024-2025. Not only are we sitting with a negative $1.8 million unappropriated fund balance, but our reserves are just about spent down. So, in managing the budgets going forward, it has to be a concerted effort on the board to not spend every nickel within the budget, but make an earnest effort to try to replenish some of those reserves to help support future years. Without that, you're going to have a difficult time sustaining your programs. Sorry, Mr. Bellone. I just I had a question related to that. With regard to the deficit issue, one of the things we talked about kicking we we may have to kick the can down the road for the 8.5 this year. Is there Is there Are we still looking at some of the other instruments, meaning the short-term lending or

118smaller special act legislation to address the 1.5 or up to $2 million differential because we talked about getting $7 from the general fund loan that's the zero interest, but that still leaves a gap, no? Um yes, and I just need to again differentiate. The $7 is addresses liquidity. It addresses cash flow. It does not close the deficit. The only thing that would close that $8.7 million dollars deficit is one of several things. The first being special act legislation that gives us the authority to go out and borrow and close that hole with what's considered other source financing to eliminate the deficit and then pay that note off over subsequent years. The value of the special act legislation is to give us and allow us to pay that note back over a longer period of time.

119The short-term option in borrowing a note, we have to pay it back in in the subsequent year. So, you have a long-term option with special act legislation and the short-term option with a budget note or a deficit note, which would then have to be paid back in the 2027-2028 school year. And that's what we talk about kicking the can down the road. You would have, yes, closed the deficit gap using short-term borrowing in 2025-2026. But you would have created a deficit in 2027-2028. We are trying to avoid that. We are trying to resolve the deficit by the methods of different vehicles available to us. Well, that So, that I understand. This is the This is the loan coming to the cash flow issue. Correct. >> act legislation was covering the deficit. That has to be

120created That has to be prevented. But I am also allowed to be able to plan these. If I needed to, some of that short-term that uh general fund cash flow are available to use. So if I chose to, I could use some of it to use while we reduce some of the liquidity, it could be used to address the debt in a further year because it could be and it could be used and it be used to address some portion of that debt or paying off that short the special education obligation that's kicked out there. Um you can use it to pay your bills, but again, you need to make sure that you don't create another deficit. Understood. So if your debt is one of your expenses in this coming year, the cash can be

121used for that. Understood. Follow up with get out of this other interest I had a question on. You can use it, although Yeah, the cash can be used to satisfy the the debt that exists right now. >> That's correct. The main legal obligation. To help pay off down the road to do it. From a cash flow perspective. In other words, to pay your bills. If there are no further questions, we will move on to the public participation portion. We go. So our if anyone wants to speak, we'll have 3 minutes to address comments to the board. This is not a question and answer or interactive session. It's to make comments to the board so that we Um, hear what you have to say. The comments should be limited to the budget hearing that we've had

122tonight. So, um we're going to have our um clerk tonight call out three names um to come up um and people will speak in order of which they're called. The comments um will not be permitted with to be made about individual people, whether staff or students, and um again limited to tonight's budget hearing. Decorum is expected and um we we will expect each speaker to adhere to the 3-minute rule and um then we will be able to go on to the next speaker. Normally, we hear comments for a 30-minute period. Tonight, we will see how that goes and it will be up to my fellow board members as to whether we stick with the 30-minute limitation or if it that gets extended. We can talk about that later to see how many people are wishing

123to speak. Um, our our clerk will ring a bell after 3 minutes. Please finish your sentence and step away so that we can go on with to the next speaker. All right, I think we're ready. Uh, the first speaker tonight will be Amy Clark, followed by Christine Daniels, followed by Gregory Gregory Lino, Jr. Good evening. I'm Melanie Carpin, the secondary ENL chairperson. So, I have a really good perspective on chair people. I've been the chairperson for the last 4 years. Um I'm speaking tonight not only as a teacher, like I said, but someone who works closely with our ENL program every single day. I'm in a unique position. I see both the classroom impact and the system level work that makes that classroom success possible. I want to be very clear. Eliminating the director of

124ENL is not a simple budget adjustment. It is a decision that directly affects hundreds of students, legal compliance, and the quality of instruction across the district. We serve approximately 800 English language learners. 800. So, while the population has gone down, our ENL population has skyrocketed. That is a major portion of our student population, students who are entitled by law to specific services, progress monitoring, and language development support. Those requirements don't go away if the position does. What I think is often misunderstood is this. The work of an ENL director is not visible in a single classroom at a single moment. It's systemic. It's ensuring compliance with state and federal mandates. It's overseeing nice of lot testing, placement, scheduling, and services. It's supporting teachers across buildings so that students can access grade level content while learning

125English. It's guiding curriculum, training staff, and making sure we are not putting the district at risk academically and legally. I've heard comments suggesting that these roles are replaceable. Or that the work can simply be absorbed elsewhere. Respectfully, this is the kind of This kind of thinking reflects a misunderstanding of the scope and complexity of this position. You simply cannot redistribute specialized, compliance-driven, district-wide leadership without consequences. It doesn't disappear, it falls through the cracks. And when it falls through the cracks, it is our students, our most vulnerable students, who feel it first. This is also about long-term thinking. If you remove the leadership structure that ensures quality ENL programming, we risk not only student outcomes, but potential state findings, corrective action plans, and far greater cost down the line. I understand the financial pressure the district

126is under. We all do. But not all cuts are equal. Some cuts are temporary solutions that create permanent problems. Tonight, I'm asking you, I'm imploring you to pause, to reconsider, to take a closer look at what this role actually entails before making a decision that cannot be easily undone. Because once this structure is gone, rebuilding it after damage is done will be far more difficult than preserving it now. Our ENL students deserve stability, expertise, and advocacy at the highest level. Removing this position sends the opposite message. Thank you. Hi. My name's Christine Daniels. I'm the elementary chairperson for ENL. I've been working in South Country schools for 24 years, and I've been the elementary chairperson for the past 4 years with the Um you will not find a better director for ENL. I know we

127don't always talk about personnel, but you will not find a better ENL director on Long Island, anywhere. My uh that director and I recently presented somewhere, and people came up to us from other districts asking us to have them come here to see what we're doing. So I just, you know, I it's it is personal. Um and again, what Amy was saying, I really want to reiterate, 23% of our population are ELLs. That is a huge population equal to special education. A chairperson, you know, yeah, I've been here 24 years. I'm I don't want to go anywhere either. I I will do whatever it takes to keep working here. So you'll ask me to do something when that person's gone, I'm going to do whatever I have to do. But I don't think my bargaining

128unit would support me as a teacher doing the role of a director. That's not what a teacher should be doing. It's not It's not part of our contract. There is a chairperson stipend for certain things. I am doing those things. I do work that one week in the summer. But I am not doing the compliance requirements that prevent us from being uh held liable for litigation, for other things to make sure that there's co-teaching models being implemented. I'm not evaluating any of those program any of those situations. So this is something to really, really consider and I really like, as Amy said, hope you pause and think deeply about this decision. As Mr. Belmonte said, this is something that is should not be considered on the fringe. This is a core position. And I as

129as a teacher, I there's nowhere else to go. You know, I get it, but we have to think about the impact of what this is going to have on our on 23% of our students, who look whose parents don't get to come and speak a lot of times at these meetings. I did want to share the director recently received an award for the Town of Brookhaven Woman of Recognition Award, and many people wrote letters on her behalf, and I'm going to read one of the letters from a parent who, you You we don't hear a lot of ELL but a lot of families coming to these meetings. So, I'd like to read this letter. We know the director for 18 years. She was our ENL teacher. She was loving and caring to her students. She

130will always fight for us like we were her own children. Years after our son was having a hard time in school and the director was very supportive of my family. She guided us to the right path we had to take with our son. She always made sure we understood every step of the process we were taking with our son to give him the right help. I will always be thankful for her support to my family. Thanks to her help, our son is having a successful year so far and that means the world to us. Sincerely, and this is just a voice of the 23% of the families that this director serves. So, I hope you really consider our voices. Like you said, you're listening to all stakeholders. Amy and I are two stakeholders that represent

13158 teachers in this district who absolutely are in shock about this this this was supposed to go up at 4:00. Thank you. I'm grateful the first two speakers were short tonight. Came here with a prepared statement, but after listening tonight, I jotted a lot of notes. This presentation was designed to build confidence. It failed. It was horrible. It's embarrassing. You guys talk about 13.5% sounds easy when it rolls off your tongue. Huge number. Huge number for a lot of people. Extra 100 hours a month for people already paying 10, 13 It's a lot. Having said based on tonight's presentation, I said my niece is on the table for Bill Cosby for a trustee." You should turn your mic off. It's all right. As long as they can hear me, that's all. Bottom line, although we've

132heard bits and pieces over the years about fiscal problems and management of this district, it's now clear the problems are catastrophic in this school. Even in an important night like tonight, we can't even microphones to work in one of the best sound systems, by the way, and there's only two of them in the country, one here, one in the Broadway. They can't make it work. It's just as clear that the current BOE leadership and superintendent cannot navigate it. Sadly, our students and staff and taxpayers have become collateral damage because of the financial crisis that didn't need to happen. Students will lose programs, buses, and sports. Staff will lose their jobs, and that once provided These jobs once provided financial stability for them. And the community will be asked to pay more. And it may sound

133a little ridiculous, but when people having houses foreclosed, this may be enough to put people under water a little bit more that are already struggling. The damage caused by the board of education and its staff will take many years to overcome and require the combined effort of the entire community to fix. But none of that can even begin to happen without the trust being reestablished and the accountability assigned to those that have had a part in this financial collapse. In order to begin immediately rebuilding trust with the community, I'm asking the current board president, Ann Hayes, to be removed or resigned along with trustee Christopher Piccini. This cannot be done uh This can't be done with the vote tonight, actually, if they refuse to do it on their own. These individuals have the longest tenure

134on the board of education, have served multiple terms as president, and have been repeatedly warned over the years about the district's financial practices and what the result would be. They have turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to this issue until it could no longer be hidden with this burning veil of silence act. Lastly, the loss of confidence in the current superintendent. The DOE needs to immediately place the current superintendent on paid administrative leave and seek out a seasoned superintendent that has a good relationship with Albany. I don't know what Mr. Lamonte's been talking to. I've been talking to Albany, too. They don't have confidence. That's why they're not supporting us right now. We're going to get something. I want to make a motion to dissolve that damn board. And I'll leave my remarks

135with the clerk. The next speaker will be Kristen Cristy followed by Karim Olufemi followed by Owen Carney. Okay, good evening. My name is Kristen Cristy and I'm speaking to you today as a person truly invested and honestly heartbroken by what is happening in our district and what our district can potentially become as a result. I've been a teacher in this district for 25 years. I am the daughter of a former member of the Board of Education. I am a second generation alumni of Elmont High School and I am married to an alumni of this district as well. We are parents to two amazing kids, one about to graduate college and a sophomore in the high school. Both have gone through this district from pre-K until now. That being said, I am therefore a voting community

136member in this district as well as a neighbor to members of the school board. Those who know me or whose children I have had the pleasure of teaching know that I am not one to shy away from speaking my mind. Until now, I have held my tongue both at meetings and on social media because I honestly didn't see the point. Despite the professionally put together presented slides by the Board of Education, it appears that the board has decided the best way to solve our problem was to lay off an outrageous number of teachers. In addition to our newly presented budget plan, I would like to offer yet another suggestion to consider. It has been presented multiple times that our transportation cost is $14 million a year. If the district were to decide as a community

137to stop transportation for a year or even two, the savings would far outweigh the risks. Even if we had to create a morning care program in each of our buildings at the cost of $1 million, which let's all hope it wouldn't be that, that would still be a tremendous savings to our district. Parents in the district who value education and I have no doubt they will find a way to get their children to and from school and after school programs. We have had to provide our own transportation in years past and worked as a community to make sure our children got where they needed and wanted to be. Perhaps a community survey to see if parents would be willing to drive their children in lieu of losing programs or how many families would need before

138care programs would be beneficial. As a community, we have been presented with carefully assembled slides that reduce our teachers and our children to numbers, abbreviations, and percentages. Before you make a decision to vote no on the budget because you are angry or to prove a point to the members of the board and Mr. Santaniello, I want to paint a picture of the reality of what those numbers, abbreviations, and percentages actually represent. They represent an average of an additional three to five children per classroom at the start of the school year. This doesn't take into account new students that will get to the district over the course of the year. They represent a reduction or elimination of music and arts programs that have been a driving force that gets some of our students excited to come

139to school each day and showcases their many differences. They represent cutting sports programs and teams which along with our performing arts programs enable our students and their families the affordability to attend college with the aid of scholarships and incentives. They represent even lower enrollment for our district going forward as we remove AP and honors programs and parents are forced to enroll our high school students elsewhere so they can remain competitive with their peers in coveted spots at reputable colleges. If you drive around the district, there is construction. Where are the teachers going to be left when these families join our district? They also represent teachers with 10, 15, and even more years of experience in our district losing sleep every night because they won't be able to pay their mortgages and provide for their families.

140I agree that we are being asked as taxpayers to pay more and get less. But as community members, I would encourage you to remember all that these numbers and percentages stand for. When you vote for the budget, I'd like to remind you that we are not numbers, abbreviations, or percentages, but we are voting but our children and the future of our district rests upon the budget. Thank you FOR YOUR TIME. UH MY NAME IS KAREEM MOHAMMADI. I'M A PARENT of two kids here. Uh you know, Mr. Belmonte's presentation and the options set in front of us assume at a baseline we will have lost 18% of our teaching positions in this district in 12 months. Uh so when we talk about meat and bones, when we talk about providing a sound basic education, how can

141we even talk about this? Even at the best, we raise taxes up quickly pick it up. We raise taxes 14%. We are still slashing our school district into a place that is unrecognizable. You know, we talk about ask questions, Mr. Ross. You asked us to ask questions. I've been asking questions for years, and I get less and less information every single year. We ask questions. You know, we're we're told that there's going to be an impact to our AP classes, to our college electives. I asked, based on enrollment, what's the enrollment now? You know, I've had four emails to Mr. Ross, and I don't get any responses. You know, we we can argue about the fiscal impact of the proposition that's on the ballot. And I just have a question, you know, Mr. Belmonte, you

142said we're going to cut $900,000 in taxes. $900,000 in expenses. Okay, so it seems like a wash, even though we would argue we can all argue that actually we get 60 almost 60% transportation aid on that bus expense. So, we're cutting $900,000 in taxes to save a $400,000 net cost. But even if I as you told me last meeting, Mr. Santana, let's take the state aid out of it. If we cut 900,000 to save 900,000, how are we going to get nine teachers out of that proposition? And my question to the board, which nine? What are we going to bring back if that proposition goes through? We're not going to bring back anybody, because that doesn't generate income for our district. You lied to the entire auditorium of teachers who are losing their jobs. And

143when I asked you this, Mr. Santana, you told me that Mr. Belmonte had confirmed the fiscal impact of that proposition with the dep- with the controller's office, with Aaron Macarron, I have it on tape. So, I went back to Aaron Duncan, and Deputy Controller Robin Williams, and on April 16th, she wrote to me, "We have not had discussions with Superintendent or Mr. Bellone regarding the fiscal impact of the transportation referendum." Why do you keep lying to us? It's unacceptable. You know, anyway, I can go on and on and on. There's too many unanswered questions. We need to do everything we can for our students right now in our district, but this is not the way to do it. Good evening. So, um I took some notes. I didn't know if I was going to speak

144tonight. Uh it's interesting that we're talking about a violation of the open meetings law, because that was a popular topic back when I was on the board. Um and that and many of my board colleagues here seem to be kind of an unfortunate meeting of sorts. But, um if you do go with the full proposal of piercing the tax cap of 13.67%, that should be I I actually think that would be the one to go with because you need 60% anyway of the vote. So, you might as well go for the go for the max. And let the community decide. That's how it works in New York. I don't necessarily think it's the only jurisdiction other than fire districts and things like that that actually, you know, where we vote on the on the on

145the budget as a community. Let the community, you know, do your best to sell. I don't think you're doing a very good job. But, I think that you might as well, you know, put your money where your mouth is and do it. Um the transportation referendum for private school kids, just so that you know there is no private high school within 50 miles of the school district. So, essentially what you're doing is you're you're putting private school parents in an unfortunate position. You're now putting another group against each other in an already divided community. Um so, it's just something to consider because all they do is pay they do still pay taxes and they actually don't demand that much services because their kids are not in the school district. So, you're actually going to be

146adding potentially to an already expanding class size. So, that's just something to consider with that referendum. Um it's nice to now be able to you know have a talk about transportation. We have hearing with more special ed kids. They're just pitting one group against each other, right? Administrators versus teachers and so on. Um just so that I understand, so as the state ed department has not decided, it's promising but we don't know what they're going to do. So, um I've actually also heard similar things as we're not really uh you know there's no guarantees with what's going on in Waukegan. So, I don't know if we can really count on that. Um and um Mr. Balmanno said the administrative oversight is very important. That's if that didn't just start this year. Uh administrative oversight should

147never it always should be important. That's what it is. And so, if you wanted to restore confidence um in in this community and the state ed department and our elected leaders in Waukegan, um I would also I would like to suggest that you know that one of the ways that we can restore confidence that our resources be managed more efficiently and effectively is that the superintendent step down. YEAH. >> THE BOARD PRESIDENT, FORMER BOARD PRESIDENTS, who have been a part of the madness and the fiscal madness AND THE MESS. THE NEXT SPEAKER WILL BE KAREN ANN Hawkins followed by Corey Albon followed by Sal DePuma followed by Matthew Kennedy. Hello, my name is Karen Ann Hawkins and I'm a resident of this district. I have two sons, two of which are currently in the district,

148one in ninth grade and one in fifth grade. Um, I'm also a teacher in the Kobuk School District which has a very similar population almost identical to this district and I teach first grade. Um, my concern right now is class size because as a person who has had a class that has been up to 32 students, I can tell you and I currently have 21 now, that there is a drastic impact to the student success when we start bringing class sizes up to that level. Even with a TA in the room. I had never had that but I'm very committed to meeting the needs of my students and I worked tirelessly to have that happen. And though I was able to get the growth and to help my students grow, it was supremely easier now

149that I have 21 students in my class. I'm meeting their needs in a way that would have been impossible when I had that many students. And I just would like for the board to hopefully and the administration to be able to tell us, what are we looking at when we are looking at these different budget options because I think that is very important for this community to understand. And those of us who have children in this district, it's very important to us to understand that. Because the ratio, even if you have the best teacher in the world, and I try very hard at my job to do everything my administration asked me to do. But it is you only are one person. You can only do so much. And we have been so pleased with

150the education and the experiences my children have received in this district. We have met wonderful teachers, and they are excellent. And I'm telling you, I work in a district with very, very high standards, and I still feel that way. Because I have wonderful teachers that I work with and staff, and we still feel that way about the teachers in South Country. And we thank them very much for all that they have done. And I just know personally that the teachers are the ones who will make this happen. They are the ones who will bear the brunt. They will step up because they are wonderful in this district, and I know they will do that. And they are going to be under so much pressure. So, I am imploring this community to please really think about

151go to the Facebook page. Look at those children. Look at their faces. It's very easy to drive past these buildings and just look at them. They're lumps of stone. But I'm telling you, when you walk into those classrooms, and this is a picture that has given us those pictures all year since she's been superintendent. And that is what this is all about. These children, look at their faces. Look at all the wonderful things that the teachers have done here, that the administration has let happen and has encouraged. Because this is children, these are their their lives. And many children in across districts, across this world, really. This is their place. School is their place. The teachers are their people. Please keep that in mind. Good evening. Corey Abrahams, spoken here before in the law before.

152I'm a teacher in a huge district with similar challenges in our past. Um first concern has to do with the directorship position of ENL. In a district with 22% ENL enrollment, you're not just talking about cutting a position. You're talking about state compliance. You're talking about state funding. Right? Why would you cut the person who's responsible for helping grow so much of our district growth, scores, funds, report cards, etc., tax base, home values. So, I'm going to give a a brief explanation. Years ago, I was a part of our Brentwood um redistricting plan where we were trying to get out of being an identified school, which is something that here in South Country uh we are in jeopardy of. And I I want to speak with my expertise to you, board members who may not

153have been in this position. It's anybody in the audience who doesn't understand it. Um the two populations I'm focusing on especially and ENL. So, when we have a young child sit for a 3-hour Regents and our it's our state scores, they're really impacting our funding and our enrollment things. So, when you're looking at a special ed child's score on a Regents exam, that child has a 3-hour test, but they're given 6 hours. Exhausting. Exhausting for a child who is an ENL child who has to learn English in order to take the Regents exam that a fluent child in 11th grade can get through. And now this child is maybe the third, fourth, or fifth language, 6 months in the school district, and that child has to sit through the same test as yours and mine.

154So this child doesn't let's say let's say they don't do well. Let's say they score a 35. The child is not only pulling down the state score, the Regents score, the ENL score. That one child counts against us three times due to no fault of their own other than their learning foreign five languages and they have trouble in So cutting the director who is in charge of our compliance, our state laws, and helps us in so many ways, that one particular one is in my professional and personal opinion opinion, that one is a huge mistake. Not due to knowing anybody, but that professionally will hurt us far more than than pennies, it's pounds. Um additionally, I wanted us to and this may be a little too late, sir. Um when we're looking at our class

155enrollments, we have a graduating class of 280. I think that 67, if I'm correct, AP bio sections is a bit extravagant for a 280 graduating class. Perhaps we need our students to work with guidance in the future for I'm going to finish these two sentences. To To not only do self-selection into AP, but also merit-based. It'll make our enrollment numbers more accurate, our growth scores more accurate, their college readiness more effective. Lastly, I want to make sure that any cuts that we are doing to the staff or have done to the staff are not going to now be in violation of their contracts and a special ed and ENL enrollment laws because you have minimums and maximums. And are we now with these slashes, are we now in violation of those laws? So, please take

156a look at that before voting this time. Thank you. Good evening, South Brunswick. I want to commend the Board of Ed and Central Office for making the difficult decision to cut our administrators. My mother taught me that if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it at all. But, I have to respectfully disagree with the assessment that we have cut a precarious number of administrators. Yes, we have cut seven admin, but you need to be cutting the right admin. I will echo the sentiments expressed by my colleagues that the director of ENL has a heart for our students. But, I would hope that working in education, that's true of all the employees here. I wish I shared their appreciation for the stewardship over the department. So, let me explain my position. For the

157last decade, this district has gotten quite a bit of free labor out of me, much to the chagrin of my union. First, we've been told by this individual that we are the red-headed stepchild. It has been said that if we are ignored long enough, we'd figure it out on our own. And so, we do. When you look at the Bell Road English Instagram page, that's me. I run it. For the last decade, I've helped admin after admin with scheduling our department members every year without fail from January to June and into the summer. For the last decade, I and our former French teacher have prepared the high school credit-bearing FLACS exam, stuffing envelopes, running rosters, creating the testing schedule, organizing the speaking portion of the ELA In the last decade, our director has not only

158made has not made an appearance at a single national foreign language week, which teachers coordinate and execute. And I know that there are many in here who have experienced it and have enjoyed it. Mind you, this is during the school day. Meanwhile, our music chairperson attends all 20 music concerts, which span several evenings, for no extra stipend. I have prepared the middle school budget in conjunction with our building administrators. In fact, one year our director asked us for a budget on budgetary needs with only a few days notice. But, it didn't matter because it was already done because we, the teachers, did it. For the last decade, I have helped guidance counselors and administrators implement and execute the sixth grade world language selection process, a process which was changed and undermined by the director to

159grow Spanish programs to the detriment of French and Italian. For a decade, despite countless begging, pleading, and imploring from both me and my colleagues to revert back to the process that we'd always used. It was the director who refused to staff and hire the department adequately for the last decade, hiring only Spanish certified individuals instead of the dual certified individuals we have asked for multiple times. It was me that put together the presentation and game plan to try and save the French program. The director was silent. I have been told for the last decade that the most important thing is data. So, let's look at the data. This last January, the ELA in our region, 328 kids took it, 27% failed. Of it, 16 students scored less than a 20. One child scored a three.

160Of the ones that failed, 67 are all ENL. That means 20% of all failures came from that department, which is staggering to me because when I talked to guidance counselors, they tell me we service students above state mandates. The The of madness is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Your current model is not working. Perhaps it's time for wheelchair people to have a crack at it. Trust in us, you asked who would do the job, we're already doing it. There are secretaries who are doing it and chair people have done it. THANK YOU. GOOD EVENING. MY NAME IS MATTHEW KENINGTON, 30-year teacher in the district. I'm also the instructional coach for Bellport Middle School and I'm also the senior union rep in Bellport Middle School for the past 17

161years. So, I speak tonight, I am able to speak for 100 people, not 58. I speak for 100 teachers at Bellport Middle School. And if you would go into the building and if you would talk to the teachers and if you would find it I keep hearing you say we're in Thank you. If you would talk to the teachers in the building that I represent, they will tell you a different story about the director. They will tell you a very different story. You need to be in the buildings more. You need to hear more. We get 3 minutes to explain this to you at a board meeting. There is no way I can encapsulate in 3 minutes what we live in day-to-day with the directors that we work for. But Mr. Santana gets unlimited time

162to spin it the way he chooses to spin it. And on top of public session, he then gets exact session. I would kill to have that much time to explain to you what I am witnessing day in and day out and what my ENL teachers are doing day in and day out and what my foreign language department is doing day in and day out. So, I implore you to start asking those questions. You ask parents, teachers, students to sit on various committees in this district to hire people, but not once were teachers consulted about perhaps some of these cuts and how it would impact our lives. And believe me, this this cut does not impact our lives the way some have portrayed. Please come into the buildings. I'm not sure where we get this number

163seven administrators. I like I need to do a deeper dive on that. I understand attrition. I understand replacement, but I'm going to speak to that perhaps it's not that we're cutting seven administrators, it's that we're not allocating them properly. On the building level at Bellport Middle School, we have a principal, a sixth grade principal, and one AP. It's no secret that 6th through 8th are the hardest grades to manage, the most challenging. The most challenging. That's not a Bellport, that's 6th through 8th nationwide. And you've decimated the administration in that building. It's not about cutting seven. It's not a number. It's about cutting the right number. And as far as the job being done, I was here with the model of department chairs. I have worked with three phenomenal department chairs in my career. If

164you go back and bring back the department chairs, they will work like dogs for you. They're in the trenches with the teachers. Instant instant impact on teachers and students. Not sitting in central office. Not in and out of meetings as I was told last week with PD and conferences. We've had so much PD in this district, we are PD'd out. And if PD really worked the way you all think it did, we'd be a blue ribbon school by now. We are far from that. It is time for you to listen to the teachers, the teachers that do this work daily and they are and hear what we have to say. The next speaker of the last part is Lisa DeCevia. Good evening. I have two children in the district. My husband and I are graduates.

165My parents were graduates. My grandmother worked in the district. She would have been a graduate had it existed at the time. So, according to Miss Hayes' October 24th statement to the community, on October 8th, the board had approved the contract with the Investigated Medicine Group to perform a forensic audit and root cause analysis of the overspend. We're being asked to approve a tax increase well beyond what many in this community can afford, yet we haven't seen a forensic audit fully explaining how we got here. The rumor that I heard from somebody in one of my kids' schools is that Mr. Belmonte is leaving before the end of the school year. Um, we've been unable to hire a new business official. I don't know how we'll ever be able to hire somebody in this situation. Our

166current business office has It's proven itself to be incompetent. Community has approved every budget that this administration has put forward, but now you're asking us to give even more at a time when there's nobody at the helm and no answer as to what happens to the money from the previous budgets, who is responsible for this disaster, and how the district will ensure it doesn't happen again, especially without somebody in the business office. Community members, teachers have stood up at multiple meetings, repeated what they want to be preserved and and cut from this budget. The administration has refused to listen. I thank you, Trustees Melusada and Police, for acknowledging and addressing that tonight. My heart breaks thinking about all the experiences and opportunities my kids won't have. It breaks even more and makes me suffer more.

167When I think about the teachers, the educators who nurtured my older son and will not be here for my younger one. Having said that, I'm seriously considering voting no on the budget for the first time in my life. Mainly because I feel like there is no trust between the district and the community. There is no accountability to the district management and I don't believe that you have a plan or people in place to get us out of this mess. Just as I don't believe that additional funds are going to be appropriately spent on our students and teachers. This is a tight-knit community where people take care of each other, especially our kids. I will happily take the money that the district is requesting from me in a tax increase. I'll pay for clubs, sports activities

168for my kids and other kids. I'll donate to the Boys and Girls Club, to booster clubs, to anybody else in any organization that's willing to help give our kids these opportunities. My husband and I will continue to join and support our PTA and to donate to them whatever they need to affect and help our students and our staff. So, again, before I make a decision about how I'll be voting, where are the results of the forensic audit and will they be shared with the community? We're being asked to trust you, but we've already done that and this is where we are. Thank everyone for their comments. Uh that concludes the public portion of our meeting and we will entertain a motion to go into exact session. The board will enter will consider a motion to

169enter into executive session to discuss the medical, financial, credit, or employment history of a particular person or corporation or matters leading to the appointment, employment, promotion, demotion, discipline, suspension, dismissal, or removal of a particular person or corporation and to receive the advice of counsel. Is there a motion? By trustee De La By trustee Calderon. I think Mr. Walls yes, unanimously approved. The public the meeting public meeting activity and we're we're going in