001critical time. I'd like to at this time introduce John Belmont who's going to speak to the district's finances. Mr. Bill Monty. >> Thank you, Superintendent. Welcome everybody. President Hayes. Thank you. Um just like to start out by um sharing with everyone my experience so I have a good idea of who I am and what I'm all about. and I know that I'm presenting to the board as well. Um I have 34 years experience as a school business official. Uh my last um opportunity was at Sable Schools where I was assistant superintendent for 23 years, a very long tenure. Uh prior to that I had experience at Middle Country Schools, which was the third largest suburban school district in New York State. So I do have quite a comprehensive uh business background uh in public education.
002Um first I would like to thank the board of education for the opportunity to report on district finances for the 2425 school year. Uh we know that there's been a lot of um information that has been circulating and unfortunately a lot of it uh has not been accurate. And I think that just to echo I think some of the things that the superintendent had indicated um in my experience over the years anytime you have a situation where you're dealing with um situations in finance or questionable finance the most important thing is to ensure that you have accurate information. Be as transparent as possible in as a timely situation as you possibly can. And I think that that's what the district is um is doing here. Um you know, I commend the board of education to
003their approach in looking at this. Um I look at it as a three- tier approach. You know, it's not a single effort. Um and it speaks to the seriousness of what has happened here within the district. The three pure approach that I'm referring to is first and foremost bringing in somebody with the level of experience that's able to come into the district uh analyze and dissect the financial happenings and come to some quick conclusions as to what what's been going on. In addition to that the u the second tier is the work of your external auditor which is normally annually. But what happens in a situation like this if there's any determination of um any financial things that are not accurate or maybe questionable your external audit auditors automatically expand their scope of order. Okay.
004So that's something that's put in place uh automatically. So that's your your second tier of um investigation and support. And thirdly, the board has taken the uh initiative to bring on a forensic order to take a deeper dive uh from the ground level and to really try to determine the hows and the wise. Okay. So comprehensive plan is currently in place. Um, I talked about the accuracy and the integrity um, and also the misinformation on social media. So, I'm hoping this evening that uh, our goal is to present information to the community about what we have done so far and the internal controls that have been put in place. Um I joke that this is my day number six and you know I jumped into this and within a couple of days we had a
005pretty good handle on what was happening and why. So I'd like to you know report that to the board and to the community for the sake of being transparent and sharing the information that we have at this particular point in time. Um first thing I did on day one we spent a sign I spent a significant amount of time meeting with the business office staff and central office. It's incumbent that I had a grounding and um and some time to learn the roles and the responsibilities of those within the business office and central office because if I'm going to make any type of evaluation or um investigation, you know, I need to know who's who and who's responsible for what. Next, I took a deep dive in both the expenditure and the revenue sides of
006the budget for the 24-25 school year. Uh, this is something that had to be done because of the um concerns and the allegations of overexpending a voter approved budget. And at the end of that time, uh, within probably two two and a half days, uh, we were able to complete what's referred to the district's annual financial statement, which is the SD3, what gets filed with the state education department. So that G gave us a really, really good snapshot of how we ended up with the 2425 school year. Um once I had that information, I comm immediately communicated that to our external auditors at Colin and Denowski. Um they are in the process of compiling the um audited financial statements. You've heard this about 10 times already. Um I personally have had opportunity to speak with
007a senior partner on the account and go over the data that we provided him so he can complete his uh annual uh fiscal audit of the school district. Um, I'm happy to report that the work that we did in the district in those couple of days. Um, uh, Mike Leone had gotten back to me, the senior partner, in about a day and a half and we had an opportunity to discuss and he had verified that the district's findings were correct and the financial statements that we prepared that are going up to SED for the state aid department uh, and the information uh, Mr. Leoni needs to complete the audited financial statements. So, we did good. We narrowed it down. We got the answers. Okay. So, this is where we are. The budget was overexpended by
008$3.49 million. Okay. And I know that there were numbers, you know, even before I came to South Country, it was, you know, kind of ironic that I heard numbers of five million, 7 million. And at one point I heard numbers of 27 million. I was like, well, you know, you know, South Country only spending $27 million. We have some real serious issues here. But, you know, thank God, you know, that was not the case. Um, you know, and and I think I need to say at this point that through all of the very my initial days and uh preliminary review and investigation of the district's finances. I you know I can I can say that I do not believe that there was any flaw or there was any theft. Okay, this this has to do
009with budgeting unanticipated expenses and things that happened in the business office that may not have been handled in a timely fashion. You know, I can say that because prior years, those were my responsibilities and those responsibilities need to be taken seriously when it comes to the finances of a school district. So, we determined that the budget was overspended by um 3.49 49 million. So now the next question I would ask from a very global perspective, what does that mean for the 2425 school year? Where does that leave us? Okay, so not getting too much into the granular stuff of the county. Uh at the end of the day what you what the school district does is they take their actual revenues received their actual expenses incurred and you put that against your existing savings account
010or your fund balance and reserves. So in this case if you look at the uh 2425 school year you'll see that our expenditures exceeded our revenues by 16.2. 2 million. Okay. Now, so essentially we can assume that $16.2 million was used to fund a portion of your 2425 budget. It does not mean the district is bankrupt. The district still has reserves and fund balance because when you start out the year, the district had about $31 million in fund balance and reserves. Okay? When that 16.2 comes out of there that we used to cover our programs, instructional and support programs, you're left with about 15.3 million. So the good news is that the district still has money in reserves to the tune to 15.3 million. The problem is is you cannot continue on this particular uh
011strategy. You need to closely align your revenues and expenses. We cannot withstand another year as this removing so much from fund balance and reserves. So that's going to entail a very enhanced management of the district budget and things that have to be put in place to control expenses and to manage things very closely. Okay. So I guess some people are going to ask so okay so where did we overspend? Okay. There were certain things that happened during the school year that was very transparent. Okay. There were unanticipated expenses that came in in transportation. Normal for a school district. There was unanticipated expenses came in in the area of transportation. Happens all the time. There was unanticipated expenses in the area of special education. When you have special education students come in, they go through IEPs.
012They have certain level of services. The district is required to pay for that. Okay? And you have no choice but to pay for that. So those are some of the challenges that led to the overspending. Okay. Um suffice to say maybe the approach and the um the management of those situations should have happened earlier in the school year so they could have been addressed. Um I'm saying that because we can't sugarcoat that. Uh what should have been done is now being put in place. Um some of the other observations that I that I that I notice that seems to be isolated in 2425 year. Um I want to give everybody a sense of assurance that from my perspective at this point this is not a situation that was prevalent in prior years and continued. Okay.
013And I went back and I looked at years going back from 2021 and I wanted to go back to the district's financial statements. And um the one document that I looked at which is from the audited financial statements is called the district's official statement. And it was the last official document that was put together for the district's TAN borrowing recently, the 27.5 million TAN borrowing. And there's a page on there that gives five years of the district's audited balance sheet information. And the first thing I did is I went to the bottom, I wanted to see the district's fund, balance, and reserve. And from 2021 right to um 23 24, the district's fund balance and reserve was over $31 million in each one of the years. Okay. So it tells me that whatever happened in
014expenditure and reserves, the district did not spend down the reserve. This problem did not exist in prior years. This is not something that um that really was carried forward. So it is in my opinion an isolated situation. Uh it's an unfortunate situation, but it has happened. Um and we need to address it. So what have we done so far? Uh in the six days that um I have been here uh including today preparing for this um there's been a lot of investigative work. Um one thing that we're going to recommend is the reporting to the board of education. It's imperative that the board of education gets financial reports and treasurers reports in a timely fashion. It's not acceptable for the board to have to wait two or three months for a report um before the
015board of education gets those reports. Um those reports should be thoroughly vetted by the business official and the business office. There should be no negative balances on the appropriation side of the balance sheet. If the budget is being monitored correctly, any spending shortages, if you will, or overages need to be covered with a budget transfer. Those budget transfers need to be done immediately and they need to be processed with the budget to eliminate those negatives. So, what we've put in place so far on those new procedures in the business office, the board will be receiving timely uh finance reports, treasures reports. So when one month one month ends, we anticipate that by the 15th of the following month, the board will have their their financial documents. Those financial documents will not contain any negatives. Okay?
016They should not contain any negative balances. If you're monitoring your budget and you're doing it appropriately, you eliminate the element of surprise. Okay? This situation should never ever ever happen again. Okay? And um so the financial reporting is one uh the proper monitoring of expenditure and obligations. So we're going in and what I mean by that is that um when we go into the new year um and we look at what's happening now the one of the the only saving grace that that I that I really appreciate is that we're early in the school year. So knowing what happened in 2425, we have the opportunity to go back in the current year 2526 and I have the opportunity to dissect the budget. I have the opportunity to see how that budget was put together, what
017was put in the budget lines. I have the opportunity to project what the district's obligations are, okay, and determine, do I have a problem in the current year of budget, okay? And again, the saving grace is is that we're early on in the school year. So if we run into that situation, we look for other avenues in the budget that we can make the appropriate budget transfers because that's totally permissible. Keep in mind that a budget's a plan. It's a breathing living document. It's not set in stone. So you are able to in to move between budget codes for that reason. There are things that come up and it's normal within a school district. So that is going to happen. Um, we're going to also review and we already started doing that the best practices
018with the business office staff. Um, you know, business office staff, they're they're they're great people here. Uh, I really really enjoyed working with them. They are they are knowledgeable and I'm lucky to have some of the people with the knowledge and skills that they have, especially the um the uh treasurer and especially the people in payroll. Those are key departments. um they're experienced, they know what they're talking about, and we speak the same language. So, that's very very important. Um we're implementing a heightening monitoring process. As I said, it's going to be more of a contemporaneous basis. It's going to be people are going to be looking at transactions more uh frequently. We are not going to allow uh codes to be created in a negative. If a purchase order is being created, if a
019requisition is being done and there's not money in the code, that requisition is going to go back to the person that's trying to put it in and they're going to be told, "Put a budget transfer in." Okay? If you don't get a budget transfer, we're not cutting the PO. Okay? These are these are simple, basic best practices, business office should be happening. Put those things in place. You never get into this situation again. Okay. um the financial reports um that uh the board gets um is it's important and we're recommending uh with the help of the superintendent that in every monthly report the board should put that it's going to be on the board's agenda. The board should discuss it either the superintendent or the business office spend three minutes, five minutes. I'm not talking
020going into the granular stuff of accounting or what's happening, but it should be just presented what's in the report. You have your bank statements. All your bank statements have been reconciled. Board of Education. Um there's all your cash balances. We have positive. When you look at all your appropriation and your spending reports for your general fund, your capital fund, your debt service, they they're all they're all positive. You have no negatives. Um we're in the black. We're doing well. And any questions? That's all it takes. Sometimes, you know, when it comes to budget and finance, especially budget time, and you know, people, they're like, "Oh god, another budget presentation. Here we go." And then you get to the budget hearing and I see everybody, you know, when you presenting, you see the eyes glaze and
021they say, "Oh man, can we talk about the good stuff now, the fun?" But anyway, this is a necessary evil. Um, you know, I I believe in all the years that I've been doing this, we are here for the kids. And I really really believe that your fiscal foundation has to be solid to support your educational program because if your fiscal foundation is cracked, your educational program is not going to survive. Okay? So it's that important. And um I I I've always, you know, that's how I that I led all all these years. So, um, so in just in closing, as we continue to work collaboratively with the external order and forensic auditor, um, I'm certain that we're going to be adding additional controls and best practices. Uh, we already have started that process um,
022with the attorney and with myself. We have had conversations with the forensic auditor and they're um they're actually in process of working and we're hopeful that uh very shortly we'll have a preliminary report to the board or an interim report to the board as to their activities. Um this is something that we're going to stay on top of. It's something that we're going to work collectively. This is not a one-man show. This is not about what I do and then what the external auditors do and then what the forensic auditors do. we all collaborate together. We all, you know, because we all offer certain um certain avenues that would make this uh valid and bring back the credibility to what this district needs for the budget. So, with that, I thank you for the opportunity.
023Hopefully, I wasn't too long-winded. My wife tells me I always am, but you know, I felt it was important, especially at this time, to try to get um as current information out as possible and where we are. I'm happy to entertain any questions. >> I have one. Is there anything that you need for this board to be doing at this point to help move this process forward? And I'm thinking in terms of the board sets policies. Is there a policy that we ought to be looking at to make this process easier? Um off the top of my head, I think one of the things that we will uh eventually get to look at is the existing policies and I think that um if if the board has enough trust and confidence in what I do
024and people that know me, you I will keep the ball moving. Um and I seem to have that kind of reputation. But um so I I am on top of it and uh if I do need any help and support I will certainly come back to the superintendent and uh and the board be happy to you know to address that. But thank you for thank you for that. That's important. >> I have um questions. >> Yes I wasn't sure if I saw trust no hand up. Okay, Trustee Biz. >> Thank Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you very much for being here. Um, your reputation is uh very well spoken of out there and I do appreciate you coming in to help us at a time that uh we desperately need it. I was one of
025those who questioned the uh treasures report on repeated occasions because uh from the world I come from, we don't have negative balances in our treasures report. We always make a direct budget transfer before hand. Um, and I could never understand it and I and I uh I was frustrated at always being told it was just accounting. Um, it's not just accounting, is it? >> It's uh it's accounting and it's management and internal controls. >> Okay. Um, so I appreciate you clarifying that we should never see a negative balance on a treasures report. Isn't that correct? >> That is correct. >> Thank you. Um, and >> that's always been my professional opinion. >> Thank Thank you. Um, I appreciate the compliments that you give our staff. We do we do very much appreciate our staff. I
026I would appreciate going forward. However, this board did go to great stakes to hire a forensic investigator. So, I would appreciate you going forward not make any generalizations about what you feel is has uh happened or not and let the forensic investigators determine that. >> Absolutely. because um if there is if anything has happened to have misled this board, we want the forensic investigator to determine and hold those people accountable because this action that has happened and the situation that we are in, like you said, we are here for the kids. We are here for our staff and we are here for the community. And if this board was misled, people who misled us will be held accountable. that is something that that I as a trustee will make sure happen. Um the the treasures
027report are very important and they are a a way of determining that we were going off the rails. And in indeed in um in May we were reading May 21st, the day after we passed our budget, we were reading a March report and that's where the signs were. But it was already after we approved the the voters uh the the budget for the next school year and by then it was too late. So I do thank you for recognizing albeit a little too late that the signs were there and the treasures report is the way to pick it up and we have to be more diligent about the the treasures report going forward to pick up what we should have we should have picked up. Trusty Feliz, I'd like to um I'd like to assure
028you and the board that um in doing this at audits for many many years and being involved in finance um just to clarify my role with the forensic auditor um in conversation I am providing information that they request they are doing. They're independent. I am not providing them information steering them in any direction. As I said, I truly believe that the integrity of this process is the three tier approach. And at the end of the day, we're all going to get together and we're going to say whatever John Belmonte came up with, whatever the auditing firm came up with, and whatever the forensic auditing company comes up with, we're all on the same page. But I we I do recognize that independence and I want you to be assured that that will not be compromised
029from my office. >> I appreciate that. Thank you very much. >> Trustee Pacimi question. Um Trustee. No. Trusty Dilla. >> No. Then we thank you very much. >> Thank you >> and we look forward to hearing from you again. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Belvanti. One of the things I want to stress again is just, you know, the seriousness to which we're taking this and assure the board that, you know, there's going to be full cooperation from our administrative team to allow the forensic auditors to work independently. Um, just in the last six days, I have to say this just in terms of uh the impact Mr. Belmont's already made, um, there's really been a learning experience. I do recommend that the board consider and we've had these discussions a special meeting just so
030that we better understand the treasurer's reports so that to Sheriff Alisa's uh point that we understand what they mean things that we can look for so we could be better equipped to provide the oversight that we've been charged with. So I'm excited at the process um talking that we're in this situation and that this situation brought us to this point and I'm really confident about the steps that we're taking moving forward. Um, and I also want to continue to emphasize that um, we are here for kids and we are here for learning. It's really important that we don't lose sight of that and we don't lose sight of the fact that, you know, we're still operating in the school district and a lot of great things are still happening in our school district that involve
031our students and our staff and teachers, our administrators that we can't lose sight of and we can't let this situation, despite its seriousness, overshadow. It's important for me as a superintendent that I communicate that message not just to the board of the community but to our staff and especially our kids who cherish the whole notion of Clipper pride who have a lot of pride in our community which is evident in some of the uh sort of things I'm going to share in my superintendence report which I'll start right now. Um I always love giving uh fall sports update. I had an opportunity to visit a couple of uh fall athletic events including our girls uh varsity soccer. They've been very competitive this year. um despite their record, Christy Dilo. Uh but we had some notable
032alumni including Samantha Dilo at one of the games and we had a great conversation just catching up and speaking to her experiences in college. I had the pleasure of attending a boys varsity soccer game which was a victory. It was really fun to watch um on a lovely uh fall afternoon. Our girls uh volleyball team uh athletic director Selli just informed me that they just clinched the playoffs. They're going to be playing Smithtown East this Saturday at Smithtown East. So, I'm going to wish them a lot of luck and hopefully they'll bring back a victory. Um, and not spoken about so much is golf. Uh, and I say top golf because Justin Tarantino, who's a senior, who's apparently hasn't played golf a lot, uh, who's ranked one of the top 20 players in Suffach County
033and the team is still competing. Uh, so I want to give a big shout out to our golfers. Um, another remarkable athlete is um, uh, Cam Howard. Cameron Howard. He just flew to Iowa to compete to see who was the number one ranked wrestler in the country. Uh, and he won uh, by a score of seven to six. And if I said 67, half our student community will go crazy. Don't know what it means on social media, but it was a hardcore victory. Um, he is literally uh, ranked number one in the country. I also want to note that he has competed in Panama and international competitions. Uh and aside from that, he's an honor student and an archer. It's it's a remarkable young man that deserves all the accolades that he's getting. We're can
034really enjoy watching his career progress. I am sure he's Olympic balance. He has to be considering the accolades and and what he's accomplished. Also, shout out to our football team who was most likely going to be going to our playoffs. One of the things I want to sort of comment about our football team is uh just their sportsmanship. Uh a couple of weeks ago we hosted a team here that didn't display the best sportsmanship at the end of a competition. Um and what I found most remarkable about that was the composure of our staff and our students. We didn't come close to mimicking some of the behaviors you observe on a field. So I just want to give a shout out to our football program. There's a picture of two football players who are at
035the girls soccer team showing support. Um they're really young student athletes, great young student athletes. So, I just want to give him a shout out and wish them luck this coming weekend and in the playoffs. Moving on to some more student accolades. I had the pleasure of attending the middle school student of the month uh uh recognition. Uh it was great to see uh young individuals recognized not just for academic for character and achievement. We invited their families over and the middle school uh created a bulletin board displaying their photos so they can feel some of that pride. And I think that's the types of things we do in our school buildings that are somewhat contagious and motivate other kids to do the same. And again, wasn't solely based on academics. It was based on
036character as well. We also had uh we give high school students accolades all the time, but we had some young musicians uh representing Frank Wong. Um, this is Bradley Vaseline, Cole Catalano, Katherine Chen, Giana Coraniano, Hazel Hartman, Heidi uh, Jordensson, and Arlo Silverman who are going to be representing Frank P. Long at this year's festival. Um, so this is the Esamia uh, Peak Music Festival. So I want to give accolades to those young musicians and wish them luck at the festival. And additionally, I finally had my first meeting of the superintendent student advisory committee at the high school. Sure. Madison Aruda who's not here tonight will speak to it. Uh it was a nice cross-section of students that sort of voiced their uh opinions on all things high school. Uh we're putting together a survey
037that will go out to the high school to garner more uh student voices. Uh which I'm really excited about. And I also want to announce that on November 5th, I'll be meeting with a contingent of students at Belport Middle School to do the same. Um, a quick recap of what we discussed with cell phones and I was happy to report that they all are seeing the benefits of the uh prohibition of cell phones during the day. I know some of them sneak it. Um, I'm not naive, but what they said, one of the young uh students actually said, "Now I'm actually reading books for leisure in the library. We're playing board games and we're actually talking to each other in the cafeterias." So happy to report that and a shout out to our um entire
038staff but just sort of um promoting uh the cell phone event and I'm hoping that it yields results because on the other side of it kids are a lot more attentive in class and I spent almost half a day uh last week in the high school and this is not an exaggeration. I didn't see one cell phone out. So u that was a pretty uh remarkable accomplishment I think. Moving on to some Hispanic Heritage Month observances. you observe Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15th to October 15th. I was able and honored to present at the high school a little historical and personal perspective of why we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month uh for uh I think I presented four times for four groups of kids. And what I wanted to emphasize that celebrations like this isn't
039not is not just about Latino students. It's about all of us encouraging people to be proud and celebrate their own particular heritage. Um, and it really was a nice event where we could kind of get together and just feel proud of who we are and what our backgrounds are. That's something I really emphasize to the students that um, everybody should celebrate who they are, where they're from, and um, and have pride in it. So, um, I had a kid kind of talking about my own experiences, which is really nice. Uh, Bport Middle School hosted an assembly program that featured some music from Latin America, and ultra adorable was the Living Wax Museum that was hosted by our dual language students at Frank P. Long. uh the kids sort of uh emulated some Latino figures from
040history and present times and actually presented um in both languages and there was a young Picasso which I thought was pretty cool. U but it was nice really to see and there were observances in all of our buildings across the district. These are just a handful of the observances that um I was able to attend with the exception of the uh middle school event that was just kind of picked out from social media. Um I also want to give a shout out to our guidance department. We hosted our fall college fair um which is really well attended. Uh I think there's nearly a hundred colleges maybe over 100 colleges in attendance. And I love giving a shout out to our culinary students that are comprised of not just our culinary students but some of our
041special needs students that work collaborative collaboratively to put together some pretty yummy and scrumptious snacks for our presenters. So that was a great event, a very successful event. So big shout out to the high school and our guidance department. But more than that, you know, one of the things that we haven't given a lot of attention to is the fact that we have a partnership with Northwell Health providing all sorts of resources to the school district, including access to a center that just opened up in Riverhead. Um, it services a few school districts, including ours. Um, aside from providing referrals for students and the ability for parents to uh access those of referrals on our website, they also have free workshops for parents and people really need to sort look into this that sort of
042span all sorts of topics. So, I'm excited to bring that to the district. Uh, it's a true partnership. Um, they also provide resources um in times of of distress. If there's ever crisis in the in the school district and we need support, mental health professionals, they are able to provide it. In terms of some community happenings, I was happy I mean not so happy to donate some blood to um for our student council. They held a community blood drive at the high school. Uh really successful as well. I think the students got a t of my participation and I was happy to do so. We also had the 2025 uh fund run uh which uh is a fundraiser for the Sean JVS scholarship. Uh really well attended attent uh event. Um, I love the fact
043that, you know, um, so many people come out to support because obviously um, you know, the, uh, memory of Sean Sabres will always be with us and he'll never be forgotten as he was such an impactful figure in our school district. Um, but, um, yeah, it was really incredible and I want to give a shout out not just of all the staff who volunteered their time, the families that came out um, to participate in the walk. It was a lovely afternoon and a big shout out also to Suffach County Police for helping with the traffic and keeping our kids safe. And of course, the South Country Ambulance Company that's always a presence in our community events uh for being there and also controlling the traffic to make sure our kids were able to navigate the
044run safely. Um tomorrow, I'm sorry, tomorrow Friday. Friday we're having our first trunk or treat event at Delport High School that's open to K to five students. It's a lot of fun. uh all of our high school students or a lot of them dress up and provide entertainment and snacks for the kids. Maybe too many unhealthy snacks, but we won't talk about that. But in addition, this year the student council is doing a food drive. So people who participate or come, we bring non-p perishables that we collected at the trunk or treat event that's occurring at Bel Park High School from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. on Friday. What I love about all these things is that it really represent community and people coming together. Um it's great seeing trustees at events, community members, staff members,
045students coming together for good causes and in support of our school district. Um again, a lot of this can be uh followed in our uh website. I encourage people to visit our website to gain information about our programs and schools. Also visit all of our social media platforms. Um these are all contemporary posts that have been up there. So um it's really great to just peruse those and share a lot of the good things that are happening in the district. And finally, I want to thank the board of education. Last week was board appreciation week. Um, and I really want to appreciate uh or show them my appreciation for the fact that our trustees volunteered their time um to do the good work on behalf of our students and community. It's not always easy. I
046know it's challenging um especially considering some of the challenges we're facing. But I just wanted to make sure that you know the board understands and appreciates that not just my appreciation is deep, but the appreciation of our entire district community and staff. So, thank you for your commitment to the South Country School District. That concludes my superintendence report. Um, and at this time, uh, as part of our ongoing, um, sort of presentation, I want to invite our assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction to come up to talk about >> before just one question before you do that. >> Sure. >> Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. >> Um, the um, uh, Hispanic um, events that happen. We always got invited to that. We didn't get invited to that this year. How come? Yeah, I'll have to look at
047it. Wish I done deliberately. >> Okay. All right. Yeah, because that that was always a very fun event. >> And and this What's that? >> I was thinking the same. >> Yeah, we always got invited. We didn't get invited this year. >> We missed out. They always had good food, entertainment, music. >> There was no food. The music was there. Um >> Yeah. I apologize. It was It was on my calendar. Typically, that's been a practice and we invite students. >> Okay. Could we not? >> Absolutely. >> Do that again. >> Absolutely. and then student of the month. You know, that's something else I think, you know, we'd like to attend as well. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Go ahead. I don't get >> any official here. there. >> Thank you. >> All right. Thank
048you to the South Country Board of Education. Our superintendent, Mr. Santana. This data presentation was created in collaboration with directors. Our entire director team is here today and I can't thank you enough for your support and for being a part of this process and your voice. Thank you so much. and principles through collaboration with building leaders and directors. This presentation reflects their feedback, their insights, and their voices as they work directly with our teachers and students. Every slide, every goal, every action step represents the insight, dedication and shared commitment of our students from the board of education, central administration, building administration, coordinators, chairpeople, interventionists, teachers, staff, and parents and guardians. When we talk about data, we're really talking about our students and their stories and their progress and their potential. And you will see that
049and I hope to convey that in this presentation tonight. And the promise that we hold as South Country educators to help them reach their success. I >> think you were operating your laptop, not the uh >> Oh, it was me. Okay, there we go. Okay, so now I'm going to take you through the ELA and mass state assessment data for grade 3 through 8. So as you saw in our last literacy presentation, you saw the commitment from our literacy team and our teachers and administrators to really increase literacy across K through 12 and make progress in that area. So these are the steps that we're taking towards student achievement at the K through five level. At the K through five level, there are bi-weekly and monthly data analysis cycle meetings where all teams get to
050evaluate multiple data points. This ensures students are grouped by skill, making teaching responsive, targeted, and impactful. We have also provided opportunities for math, reading, and ELLL specialists to push into our extended learning time at the elementary buildings. This ensures that our students have enrichment skills. They're building their confidence. We're closing our learning gaps and we accelerate success. Teachers now have access to linkit which is our data house platform where all our data house data points are listed on one platform and they're able to easily assess it. It is an impactful because it brings all our data forms together making information and actionable for our teachers. We have also implemented excel. We are invested in progress monitoring cycles for our students and high impact instructional practices that align with our portrait of a graduate. So, as
051you will see, this is our participation rates for the ELA exam from 2024 to 2025. So you'll see in grade three that it was consistent with the students who took the ELA state assessment. Um and then we had increased participations in our other grades for students who are taking the tests. So we did see an increase in that area. For math in 2024, you will see grade three again stays consistent, but you will see grades through four through eight. From 2024 to 2025, more students took the state exam. So, we really want to look at our 3 through 8 ELA and 2024 and 2025 comparison. And proficiency in the state exams is when students are score over a three. So when we look at third grade, fourth grade and fifth grade, we see increases in
052proficiency for our students in every single grade. So that is across all the elementary buildings. And that is something to celebrate. In grades three through five, math 2024 and 2025 comparison, we are seeing in third and fourth grade again increases in student proficiency in our math assessments. In fifth grade, it remains consistent for grades five and eight. In science comparison, we're looking at for grade five a decrease. In grade eight, an increase for these science exams. The feedback that we're getting is they are re really turning into reading assessments heavy with text. So, it is very important that we are focusing on literacy and science that we ensuring proper pacing and science to increase our student achievements for grades 5 through eight. For grades 6 through 8 ELA 20 and 24 and 2025 comparison, we
053see a sixth grade, 7th grade, and 8th grade. We are strategically advancing right now student achievement in grades 6 through 8 with math by using data informed instruction targeted interventions and Il within the classroom. Now we take a look at grades sixth grade, seventh grade, and eighth grade for math. And it's important to note too that we also have more middle school optouts, but we are still being very proactive in our instruction. and student achievement. What is something to celebrate here? If we take a look at this chart, this is our ELA proficiency subgroups for grades 3 through 8. Every single one of our subgroups of students, that means all of our students have made growth in our ELA proficiency levels grades three through eight. Majority of our students in our subgroups in math made
054proficiency growth in subgroups grades 3 through 8. Okay. So we are so proud of the growth that is happening in many areas in elementary level and our secondary level but it's important to think about alignment between elementary and the secondary level. So we are strategically working on making sure that we have at the secondary level now collaboration and data cycle meetings during common planning time. So, building administration worked very hard at the secondary level to ensure that teachers have common planning time so they can collaborate together. Um, such as how they do at the elementary level when they're working in their grade level meetings. We're using now small student groups utilizing our data platforms. We have formed a secondary literacy committee. We just met with them today. They are such a passionate group of administrators,
055teachers. Um we have our library and media specialists on this committee which is including science. It is including social studies, ELA, special ed, ENL. So this team is passionate and this team is really passionate about the literacy work we're doing across all content areas to raise student achievement and literacy scores. Literacy instruction is very important right now and that's really a theme of this presentation and part of our story and we are targeting professional learning on the use of high impact instructional practices. We want students to engage in problems based learning. We want students to be effective communicators. We want there to be collaboration and student centered instruction happening in the classroom. Okay. So we are going to go through regent exam data for our humanities department. We saw great ELA growth at the regent's
056exam and that was strategic. Um so what we did was we provided students who were not proficient with two opportunities to take the exam. So for example, if a student was not proficient in January, they were able to take it again in June and that really helped them. And we saw so many more students be proficient because they had two chances to take that exam. Another part of this students who took the exam in January and wanted a higher grade and wanted to increase mastery took it again in June and they got a higher grade and that increased mastery levels. Another part of this if students pass in June in January they took one less exam in January. So that really helped them focus on their other regions exams. So it was a really strategic
057decision. Um I want to thank the administrators and teachers and directors for really being proactive with this. We saw great results in ELA. Global remains consistent and US we saw growth. these. Now I get into our English AP scores. This is AP English literature and composition and AP language and composition. It's important to note before when I talked to you about AP data is that we have open enrollment and that we were very strategic in having students be able to choose if they want to take AP courses and that has helped them take more rigorous courses even if they are not proficient on the exam. on the AP exam, they become more college and career ready and they have they're exposed to AP courses. So, we have really really strategically involved more students and encourage
058students to take more AP classes should they choose to. This is our AP seminar and AP research program that we're very proud of. AP capstone. Now we get into our social studies AP classes. AP world history modern AP US history and AP United States government and politics. Our next data shows science, technology, engineering, and our math department. So here we look at our math region scores for algebra 1, geometry and algebra 2. And now we see our science region scores. It's important to note that the biology exam was a new exam this year and our Earth Space exam was new. Feedback across Long Island emphasizes the importance of literacy specifically in these exams. Very heavy reading for students in complex texts. And again, like I said before, we are including science in the secondary literacy
059committee to strengthen our cross content and prepare them better for these exams. We will be presenting our plan on the progression of STEM courses at our next teaching and learning committee. The plan aligns with the Blue Ribbon Commission on Graduation Measures, which is a statewide advisory group established by the New York State Education Department and Board of Regents to rethink what it means to graduate from Bport High School in New York State. With that being said, we will be presenting our South Country plan that provides students more support and opportunities in STEM to advance student achievement. Okay. So, something to highlight with this slide is pre-calculus. Pre-calculus was a course that we put in um for the 20 2025 school year and it was one of the few courses that school districts um implemented and
060we had 90% of students um proficient on this exam and about 55 students took the exam. So it really is something to highlight for the pre-calculus new course that we have at Bport High School. This is AP Chemistry, AP Physics, AP Biology, and AP Environmental Science, EL Bilingual and World Language Programs. So, tremendous growth and and something to really celebrate. The New York State English as a second language achievement test measures the English language proficiency of our English language learners across four major areas: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Nearly tripled growth in the number of our English language learners reaching proficiency. Acquiring academic language proficiency can take up to seven years. Reaching proficiency represents a major academic and linguistic accomplishment here and we celebrate these students. It's a beautiful event at the end of the
061year commanding celebration and it is the most well-attended parent event of the year. So this department is really focuses on the initiatives to make this happen and they are intentional at focus on writing across content areas. Now you will see data with an overall steady growth in nicelit performance as the number of our elellls tested increased. So our elellls tested in 2023 were 665 students, 703 students in 2024 and 766 students in 2025. Student achievement on the nicely continues to show steady improvement with more students moving up in proficiency levels each year. Over the past three years, the percentage of students advancing to a higher English proficiency levels has increased by 10%. The percentage of students dropping a level has decreased from 6.2% 2% to 3.7 in 2025 and a small number that continues to
062decline. So next you'll see some AP data for our world language programs. In addition to art with 100% pass rate in art, the South Country School District is very proud of our ARTA program and the awards that our students receive. 87 middle school art students have earned credit for high school studio art as well. And our music department, this highlights some of our music resignations and the honors that our music department have. So you can see through here some highlights. 39 students selected for all county grades 5 through 12 for 2024 2025 school year. Two students selected for NISMA. four students selected for Scamia Jazz ensembles in 2025. So, we're proud of our music program and how they continue to shine. In addition, Mr. Santana spoke so much about athletics and what's happening there um
063in terms of how proud we are of our athletic highlights this year. Some things to specifically highlight is top five in our South um county for most scholar athlete teams. First ever New York State girls wrestling team champions. Rising female participation is really important. How we increase family female athletes from 264 to 285 across the middle school JV and varsity programs. All our collegiate success. Again, we continue to rise with our seal of civic readiness with a 93.67 67 rate of students earning it. In addition, our graduation rate has increased by 91.3% in August 2025 from the 2021 cohort. This is an increase of 5% from the year prior. So, I'll be showing that to you shortly. 41% of our seniors graduated with a region's diploma with advanced designation. And we are really proud of
064our seal of biiteracy program. So, this is an important slide because it really shows you our total AP students from 2021 to 2025. In 2021, we had 229 students taking AP classes. And in 2025, we now have 350 students taking AP classes. So, by opening enrollment and making sure we don't have barriers for students taking courses, that is equity and that is access. And now they're being exposed to more rigorous classes if they choose to take them. The last two slides of this presentation really convey our story and the work that we are doing across K through 12 to achieve this work. This is a district-wide effort. If we look at our Bport High School graduation rate in 2023, it was 85.2% 2% to now it is 91.3%. Everything shared tonight, the data, the growth,
065the opportunities, action steps, the potential for our South Country students leads to this moment in our collective story. The steady rise in graduation gains across every single subgroup for our 2025 seniors. It is more than a statistic. It is the culmination of years of collective effort, belief, and commitment from our staff. From our earliest learners in elementary school to middle school to our high school seniors, this is the story. This really shows what dedication and opportunity looks like when our staff comes together. It is equity and action and South Country will be relentless in our pursuit to strive for excellence for all the students of South Country. So, thank you very much. >> Thank you. So, Hagen, >> one of the things I want to just sort of maybe answer is um why is participation
066rates important? >> Why are participation rates important? That's a good question. So participation rates are important because that means more students could be taking the exam. Um and that impacts our report card in terms of our proficiency levels and it also exposes students not only about test scores to taking assessments right to being used to taking a test and that those assessments help when they get to the high school. >> Could I ask a follow-up question on that? Um, is it accurate that the participation rates matter? Because if you've got a a high opt out rate, >> Mhm. >> are the students who aren't participating scored at zero for purposes of doing this calculation? So, I called the state about that and I asked that question and they were going to email me it in
067writing, but they said it does not count as a zero towards the overall report card and their profici proficiency levels. Um, it does count towards towards participation rate, but you do not get a zero. It does not count as a zero. >> Okay. So the benefit of participating now is that each student can basically be competing against themselves. So they can compare how they did in one test or one year against where they are the next. >> Sure. you know, and and they're, you know, they're taking a test prepares them for the many amount of assessments they would be taking advant of hands. >> Can we get um when we have these presentations, can we see um local and statewide proficiency levels so we can have a comparison specifically on the elementary the 38 assessments?
068Sure. >> I'd like to see where we measure up. I mean, if we can I mean, I'd like to see state levels. I don't know if I don't know if they're regional levels, >> but I'd also wonder if we have something where we can maybe took take a look at similar school districts from size, demographics to see how we're comparing >> uh as well. >> Sure. >> The other piece too to that was when we get to the regions exams, but specifically the AP, can we get number of participants that take the test in there as well? >> Sure. >> Specifically AP, right? Those are smaller numbers. When we have these big percentage jumps, sometimes that just means one or two more people back. So, it it would help to understand really how the growth
069is is working year-over-year. >> Sure. >> That's all I got. >> Can I can I touch on that as well? Just reging on that question. >> Yeah. I'm sorry. I thought you uh in the region, I know New York State um now has a major life exemption uh for regions exams. are those students I don't know what our number was from major life exceptions from the regious exams if we can get that number of percentage of students that were omitted from the exams uh and then were those numbers reflective in those reg exams as well for that year absolutely >> because I think that touches to what you said in the comparison of year-to-year basis year prior didn't have that omission >> um so I think going forward understanding how that aligns >> absolutely >>
070as well so sure okay >> hi uh my question is this is a question that I've had I I think every year that I've seen these numbers. >> Um, does the participation rate in math and science exams specifically for eighth grade take into account those students who are taking regions exams? >> So, we did that this year. Um, so we had uh algebra students take the math assessment if they chose to take it for this year. Um, which prior they did not. So, they did have the option to take it for this year. >> Okay. And >> I don't know the number off the top of my head. and very few of them actually took the exam and we looked at the percent the participation rate I think it was 52% >> for eighth grade
071so 48% of our kids were not tested um and ironically when I met with the state representative with regards to participation rates they indicated that there is some sort of effect uh proficiency rates with the opt outs probably got false information so I want to um I'm going to follow up on that as well um but yeah there's a lot of room for growth obviously we want to continue uh trucking along I the emphasis on on literacy is going to yield results. You know, we've started that intervention earlier grades because that will manifest itself to later grades. And the idea with like open enrollment and AP classes, if you're giving more access to students, these rigorous courses, whereas sometimes you might see a decline in proficiency rates, you look at the total number of kids,
072more kids are achieving um you know, three or above. But more than that, you know, they become more college uh competitive uh when they have AP courses on their um on their transcripts. And that's like sort of a equity sort of notion because when you don't have these courses you become less competitive and you can't compare and contrast yourself with students in other schools. >> So >> you have a question? >> Yeah I do with regard to the opt outs to explain to us who those opt outs are. Are they hurting us? Are they helping us? Like what what is the profile of those students who are opting out? Because one of the things we're supposed to help or do as a board is to help with the grand scheme, the big plan. How can
073we encourage those people or those students to participate more? Whether it's they're on the low end and we need to encourage them. You know, we talked about the last time or it was a little bit more rahrah for me about what you guys had done. But understanding or explaining to us to those who may not be realizing it's an opportunity to take that and to how we can help that. And if we know the numbers, it starts to help us give that picture, that profile of that student who may decide it's not that important to to do that and sort of fall to the fall to the wayside or in that gray area. >> Sure. You know, I think it it's really at the middle school level that we really need to work on in
074terms of the optouts because it increases there and just informing parents and guardians the benefits that can happen when you're taking the state assessment. um you know in terms of the skill and just sitting for a test and being able to take tests and that helps South Country that that will help um you know our SCP plan at the middle school and getting off the state list for New York State if we have more students taking the assessment. So I think it's about really communication and partnering with parents and guardians and informing them of the benefits that will happen if they take the assessment. So, if we could help that out because the other programs that we've talked about whether it's uh trade schools or other things for them to understand math is not something
075you opt out with because those numbers and those classes and those skills are just as necessary there. >> I feel like we fall a little short there with >> the regent exams and the assessments >> in high school. I think just to add on again um >> there was a negative stigma around testing last five ten years and it's kind of reshifted but I don't think we've hit that shift maybe a little bit now I think >> you mentioned communication with the parents I think we should definitely have some sort of re-evaluation of how to communicate it because we do need the kids tested um and you mentioned all of that but there was a negative statement for so long >> there was >> and I think we have to change some minds so I
076don't know >> I agree >> conversation or meeting or something that we have with We've had sort of pushes within the school buildings try to encourage parents. We just have to be more aggressive about it. >> Um you're right. You know, the the whole OPTO movement started when um the annual professional performance review was enacted, AR assessment scores were tied to teacher evaluations. So during those times, my student my students my kids were at elementary school and um I wasn't in favor of opting them out, but they would have been the only kids in our class taking tests. So for both my children, their first state assessment was a regent exam in high school. So you know the idea again, you know, we don't want to over test kids, but we need to have benchmark
077assessment to get them acclimated to process. Another thing that's a challenge is that these tests are now administered digitally, which I'm not a huge fan of, but that's the only mechanism by which we can assess children these days. Um, and a lot goes into like testing. You know, I think the mistake made a mistake in making the test um uh with unlimited time. So certain students who are anxious literally sat for whole days at their tests and they get frustrated. I think having a time limit helps actually has it's counterintuitive but I think having a time limit helps the students kind of get mad at the test and if a sit kid sits for a test and decides not to do it or just input a response it still gets counted. So you know I
078think for me and when I talk to elementary school kids who love the LL program because it actually measures their growth. So instead of them comparing contrasting themselves to their classmates who may have higher grades, they can literally see how much they've grown uh throughout the school year. So I always said, you know, measure yourself on how much you're growing. Um and obviously try to have the most growth possible. So you know, it's a mindset we try to take away the stigma with testing and the anxiety associated with it and try to have a little fun with it. I used to always argue that, you know, why are you afraid of a piece of paper but now it's it's a test on a Chromebook. Um but you know I know Brook Haven Elementary School for
079example had a whole campaign with the testing um and where the kids sort of made postits encouraging other kids. In fact the younger grades cheered on the third graders when they sent the test >> messages to each other like inspirational messages >> inspirational messages. >> Um and also not to be disheartened by a low grade if you're a student. You know it just means that you may have more work or you need to find your your sort of talents and um you know I think we just have to be encouraging and I think the mindset has to be about growth. um we're nowhere near where we should be. Obviously, we need to continue growing. Certainly happy about the graduation rate which was helped, you know, full disclosure with the um some of our students able
080to opt out of certain regions exams. We took full advantage of that. Um but yeah, you know, we have to work on several things. I think structurally we have to look at our math sequence at the high school. One of the things we don't have at Bport High School are pathways for students not to take geometry after algebra. So, in a lot of school districts, if a student doesn't show a good amount of proficiency in algebra, when by proficiency, I don't mean just passing because these tests are are graded on a scale. Um, there's other courses that could be taken as a intermediate step before they take geometry. So, they get a stronger foundation for geometry, still enabling them to get an advanced regions diploma for graduation. Um but this is something that you know
081will be presented at teaching and learning so that we can implement for the upcoming school year so that kids have a little bit more options in math so they can earn credits and find more success in courses like geometry that traditionally have been challenging to students. Um and we want to keep uh encouraging students to challenge rigorous courses. You know, I think for me personally, I think that um you know, for many years, school districts engaged in so much differentiation and not really instructing to, you know, at grade level that it worked to the detriment of the students. Uh because it was done support students to help them find success. But I recall, you know, being in middle school, um you know, I came through the ranks of being an English language learner. Um but
082I remember in middle school in seventh grade on Tuesdays we all read the New York Times not because of our political ideology but because of the uh the level of the uh the what's literally what do we call the >> Lexile >> the Lexile. Thank you director u because of the Lexile. So in our science class for example we read the science times in math they found some business section article we would read in English we read usually op-ed um and obviously in history we did the world history and um it was remarkable how much vocabulary I learned because on Tuesday I would read the New York Times as a seventh and eighth grader um and um so you know I think that's basically what we're doing is really exposing kids to grade level materials
083and let them navigate those things and those interventions have to happen in the early grades because if you're trying to catch up, you know, in secondary schools or in high school, it's not that it's impossible, but it becomes a lot more challenging. So, you know, I applaud the efforts of our literacy committee, what they're doing at our teachers at the elementary schools, and we're looking at our sequence for the high schools to just, you know, increase opportunities for student success, not because of data points, but because it's going to be beneficial to them. >> Okay. Question. >> You have a question? Well, just statement just one one more uh um comment. Thank you and thank you for all the input that every all the directors um um put into this. Um I'm I'm thinking more
084globally on the information that that I see here and um uh um about our enrollment and since we are concerned about lower enrollment and appealing to we talked about this years back appealing to our real estate agents in the in the area and taking some of the information here and the highlighting the information of the uh graduation uh athletics and the commen commencement credentials and coming up with something to appeal to the real estate agents. We even talked about having them come in and highlighting some of our featured buildings. We we talked about showing them the courtyard at Frank Pong and all the work that we put into the learning laboratory that that represents the courtyard there and the information here reminded me of that and wanting to highlight the good news that we have
085here. So I think there's a lot of information that we could work towards putting to you know extrapolating some of that information and putting together something to encourage information >> to encourage people to stay here not leave here. Uh you know we we know we have a problem that uh people are either going to private schools leaving our districts and and the people that are coming are not coming with families. >> Just can I comment really quickly? Um the guidance department has a great one pager that captures a lot of this. Who does >> the guidance department puts out a one pager highlighting a lot of these things. >> Could we could you share it with the board please? >> I think see what you what you are saying. >> I may have shared it
086in the update but I'll do it again tomorrow >> and and you share with the real estate agents here. >> No what I'm saying that's a great point because that's something that we can potentially share with real estate agents or just have a meeting with them. And I want to say that despite some you know some of our assessment score is that there are opportunities for our kids here to be really successful. We have kids are earning full scholarships to prestigious colleges. Um I just met with a high school student who's applying to Cornell, my alma mada to help, you know, write a recommendation for the student. So, you know, kids are finding success. We just want more of them to find success. >> Yeah. And we've done that before. We've created flyers and pamphlets
087for local real estate agents. >> I will say >> at the teaching and uh learning committee meeting, there was a slide that highlighted all the uh colleges that students were going to. I thought that was fantastic. >> Um, and that could also kind of enhance that piece. Um, along with all the AP and all the great things that's going on, that's a great piece to to >> one more question. And this is I know we're due for a uh dual language uh presentation, but I think one of the subgroups that I would like to kind of see would be uh the dual language cohorts and maybe in what data shows for them as far as success in testing in different areas as well. I'm not sure what level we're at as far as how many
088years of existence and what the oldest cohort may be, but I think we might be able to pull some of that data. So >> to that end, one of the things that that I find pretty cool to share is that our former L's >> are the highest performing demographic in our school district. >> They are excited about that. >> But yeah, that I I think that's but that speaks to like I think the point you're making is language instruction. When you do like targeted language instruction, how that sort of trickles into other academic areas. >> Do we have just I'm not sure what the oldest cohort is. Do we have any of our dual language kids at the re the regent level yet? >> Ninth grade. They just entered ninth grade. >> Perfect. Okay. Yeah,
089I would love to see that D because I think that's going to be testament to the program. >> Question. >> Thank you so much. [Applause] Okay, we're mo moving on to trustee and advisory committee reports. So, um I'll start with trustee Calderon. >> Sure. Um not much. Uh over the past couple of weeks, I've had the pleasure of attending a few committee meetings. I attended the policy subcommittee meeting, teaching and learning led by Mr. Pagan, which was great. Um, just got an opportunity to hear from parents, teachers, staff all about the great things that are happening in our district. Um, it's really great to see strong collaboration um and commitment across the community. >> Thank you, Trusty Feliz. >> Thank you. Uh, yeah, last uh Saturday went up to the high school to attend the
090um the fund run for Sean Shavas. And while I was there, I got to see the girls uh soccer uh for for a bit, the girls um soccer varsity soccer um game, the JV football team, and uh and then also this week was able to stop in at the girls varsity volleyball game to uh to wish them well on their senior day. Uh also, you know, just still pouring over the information about the uh finances of the district um since our last meeting. So, continuing on that. Thank you. Thank you. >> Nothing for me. Thank you, >> Trustee Felisa. >> Yeah, I just reiterate I was at the John Shabs fun run um this past week. Um growing up and knowing Sean and the family obviously it hit a little closer home at him being
091um my daughter's phys teacher at Proaven. So, it was a good it was a great experience to see all the different alumni and people that knew him to kind of gather. Uh I'm proud to say that my son, 5-year-old son, was able to run the whole way back from Brook Haven Elementary. So, uh my daughter not as much, but um it was a great experience and a lot of really um good memories that were talked about during that time. >> Just Steve Ross. Um, I've sort of decided the uh last time that we were here and I think it's going to of me doing my job or filling fulfilling my commitment about what's going on. Um, but I thought it would continue to encourage teachers. We've now seen two different presentations and there are those
092of you that I talk about things uh to in the district. I try to look at the life uh my life and and those around me is the glass is half full not half empty. So while I see progress in some of the things that were that we're doing um and I know there's always sort of job challenges and everybody fears a little but I do believe doing hard things creates sort of some competition. I think that that's something we need to start encouraging for both the teachers that you shouldn't be fearful. If you try something and shoot, aim really high and fall a little short rather than aim low and actually just hit a little bit above your target. Um I think that some of the teachers are starting to see as they do
093these things and they plan these things, the kids are following along. So, if you sort of aim high, you know, where we're where, at least I'm not gonna knock you for maybe not reaching the goal the first time, but I think you guys do a disservice because when I see people put that effort in, they get the results. Not maybe instantly, but you get those results and they're those that back you. And I hear it from parents. I hear it from other people in the community. You may not always hear it and get that reinforcement, but um you know I I think some of the opt out things and those things some I see some kids are a little afraid to try and they hear it from their friends and success is contagious. So the
094more we do the more things we get better at. They want to participate. Maybe it solves some of the opt out. But I also think there's a lot of room for us to improve. Um, my graduation rate may be at 91%. I'm always want to use a sports analogy, but the difference between a gold, a silver, and a bronze is hundreds of a second. So, all those little things add up. And the more kids we get, I mean, I hear some of the the pieces about college. And you know, listen, I'm I have a graduate degree, but those whether you're going into the military and you take your entrance exam, your job, listen, you know, if you don't care where you go, then just go and take the test. But if you want to get
095everything you can out of it, whether it's college, grad school, co the the military or a trade or a tech school, I think uh encouraging our kids to to succeed and do those other things. We see it in the music program. We see it in the sports program, there's no reason we should not see it in the classroom. Our kids are capable. Um and uh they'll they'll go to battle for the teachers if you guys, you know, raise them to that challenge. >> Just um I have a few things. Um I attended senior night for the girls varsity soccer. Um it was lovely. Um, thank you to the parents for the banners, posters, and balloons. They are much better planners than I am, even though I had a senior. I just wanted to publicly thank
096them. Um, and they broke a streak. The team won, so it was a good night for all involved. Um, I also attended via Zoom the NISBA annual business meeting where I voted on propositions um to help guide NISBA lobbying. Um, one of the things I do enjoy about that meeting, it's interesting to hear from the different districts around the state. Um there is a lot of difference between upstate and downstate. Um I participated in the second annual Shantavius Memorial Fund Run. Um the total amount raised has not been finalized yet. Um as per Dr. Raymond yesterday. Um but last year three scholarships were awarded. They're hoping to do that again this year. Um and one was used to buy a laptop for the student for school. Uh, hopping on this. Tomorrow night is Brook Haven's
097trunk or treat and Friday is at the high school. Both begin at 5. Uh, please come out, enjoy these events, candies and game for all the little ones. Um, keeping with Brook Haven, uh, please support the food pantry at Brook Haven uh, by buying flower bouquets at Stop and Shop that their price ends in 99. This is something I didn't realize. I thought it was only during special times. Apparently, it's year round. Um each bouquet purchase provides more money for the food pantry. Um which is working now with the life skills class at the high school. They come over on Mondays and help uh bag and sort the groceries that are being distributed. So you're helping families in the district. You're helping the third graders who are this is one of their projects and you're
098also helping the life skills class. So you know flowers are pretty. Um the social science committee at Brook Haven is engaging the students in civic lessons throughout the year. Um last year they voted on their favorite cookie. I was very disappointed. The Oreo one. I am a chocolate chip cookie girl. Um but this year the students will be voting on which movie they want to show during movie night. So it's signing into a PTA event and also getting kids involved with civics. Especially with elections right around the corner. It's good timing. And Brook Haven is also working, this is my last one I promise, um is working with the Boys and Girls Club on providing workshops both at the school and at the club um based on the needs presented by parents. Um some of
099the ideas include like make and take events and parent and child workshops. So I think that was worth mentioning. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. So, I also attended a couple of meetings with trustee Calder R. Um, one was the policy committee where we're continuing to plow through that binder full of policies and make sure that um we can consolidate everything. So we have all the required policies as well as state recommended policies and that it's um updated on a regular basis going forward. Um I attended the teaching and learning committee also and um was impressed at the vibrant participation of all the staff members who were there. And um I particularly did like hearing the information from the guidance director with regard to the colleges that were mentioned by trustee Calderon and
100um in addition the the rates for the award of seal of civic readiness. Those were a couple of things that really um were highlights for me. But I also participate uh appreciated hearing the presentation that the guidance director made about what's available through the Northwell Health programs and I I'm hoping that that gets more out to our student families because it can be a real benefit. Um, I also attended the equity subcommittee meeting and appreciated the fact that we broke into groups to discuss certain issues with regard to um how the equity initiatives are working within the district. And one of the main topics had to do with actively encouraging students to take the AP courses since there's open enrollment now and ways to get the students involved so that they can see that there's
101a big world out there and there's a lot of things they can be exposed to and take advantage of. So, I really um enjoyed go going to those meetings. Um that is it for my report here and I think we're next up to our public participation and guide to I have to do this guide um for public commentary. Um, any any school community member who wishes to address the board needs to complete one of these yellow cards and give it to the district clerk. Um, and we offer public commentary twice during the meeting. The first time, this one, is for agenda items only. At the end of the meeting, there will be an opportunity for speakers with regard to non-aggenda items. Comments from each speaker are limited to three minutes and the total time that
102we will spend for public session is 30 30 minutes. Comments related to a personnel matter or to indiv individuals or individual students will not be entertained in public. Public commentary is a time for the board to hear comments from the public. Not a question and answer period between the board and the public, but if asked ifformational questions requiring short answers will be addressed. The board's not going to enter into a dialogue with the speaker during the public commentary and the speaker would be referred to the appropriate um administrator to handle their requests. District residents who seek additional information will be guided to the administrator who will address their questions or concerns. So we have um the first speaker Samantha Pente. >> Welcome. >> Good morning. Oh, good morning. Good evening. My name is Sam Pari.
103I'm a teacher in our district as well as a community member. Um before I begin, I want to take a moment and say how much I appreciate all the administrators I see and work with daily. I really wish I was here to talk about the great things that are happening in Frank Pong and the dueling program. Coming up here tonight was not an easy choice. It was a difficult decision and to be honest, I am nervous. But I'm coming here out of love and I hope you can listen with your hearts and try to understand. I'm here today because I love my job and I want to make a difference. The current state of our budget is disappointing and quite frankly it's embarrassing and feels like a betrayal. My Beler pride runs deep. As an
104alumni, I chose to buy my home here, teach here, and pay taxes in a town and community that I love. The only word to describe what we are feeling is fear. Afraid of losing our jobs, afraid of starting over, afraid of weather, we are trying are being led by a sale or weighed down by an anchor. The community we the community was reassured time and time again by trustees and central administration that students would not be affected by the cuts. But I'd like to share some truths. The first truth is the majority of us teachers and community members have been kept in the dark. Little or no authentic conversations were had with people who matter the most, which are our students. Despite our hopes for a better year, we are faced with another truth. One
105that concerns every stakeholder here, the mismanagement of money. One that comes to a complete surprise to the community members, teachers, and the BA. I'd like to stress that we lost many great teachers due to last year's financial issues. yet somehow administrators saw races. In the interest of transparency, I'd like to share some observations that display ways students have in fact been affected by our leadership choices. Our literacy program, there is a severe deficit in students reading performance. This is no secret. The data shows that yet reading programs have been cut. Classroom sizes have been increased to unimag unimag manageable numbers. Yet, our leadership is looking for data and to improve across the board as by magic. Pilot piloting programs in K to5 are necessary and as rumor has it there are no longer going to
106occur due to budget restraints. Restorative practice have been removed from elementary buildings by limiting the coaching positions. Yet in years past all we heard was how they that is where the groundwork and foundation is laid. As a former coach I can say with confidence that restorative practice helps students communicate, be respectful and reflect on the conflict. Elaming eliminating this program is a huge disservice to our students at the lower grade levels. I am sure we can all agree that this is not just what happened out of nowhere that one person is not to blame for the money crisis and there's no simple answer or fix but as a district but a district is only as good as a leadership and clearly we have been let down time and time again. I ask you that we
107put our students best interest first by communicating as much as possible. Reach out to all community members not just the school community. be transparent about the findings, listen to the teachers, and address rumors and concerns head on. Thank you for >> Thank you. [Applause] Our our next speaker is Kareem Odicon. Yeah, I really want to shout out the educators that helped any of the gains that were discussed today. um and the teachers who are here um and working very hard. Um I want to remember the you know dozens of teachers and teachers assistants who helped those gains who are not here with us because this administration and this board cut their positions just months ago. Um you know the the I want to talk about um how the district talks about transparency with respect to
108its budget because that's a word that's come up every board meeting uh since uh the beginning of September. This is our fourth board meeting since the district published its um POSOS for its tan as Mr. Belmont was referring to. And it's interesting when you read this what's in here um because this has been this was published September 8th and it talks about how the district's buyer for its $25 million TAM walked away because of the district's financial um irregularities. It also talks about you know this says a $16.6 million operating deficit. Uh you know Mr. Belmonte says uh 16.2. It talks about kind of um a surprise $5 million increase in its operating deficit. I guess it's $3.5 million. Um it also talks about an action plan to address this uh situation dated September 8th.
109And it talks about implementation of a 20% reduction in non-mandated discretionary spending for the 2526 fiscal year. enacting a bud budget freeze in December 2025 for all discretionary spending, review and adjustment of transportation routes, explore ways to minimize special education costs, comprehensive review of all budget codes, preparation of monthly fiscal. Some of this we've heard. Okay. Um, you know, the the issue is that the district feels free to be transparent with its lenders while it actively hides these despite multiple requests to you, President Hayes, to you, Superintendent Santana, to provide more information to the public. Um, and you know, so not only are we not getting transparency, we're, you know, the community, teachers, taxpayers, parents, we are the most invested shareholders in this district. You have no problem talking about this information to to tan
110buyers. But when it comes to parents, when it comes to teachers, when it comes to taxpayers, um, you know, we're in the dark. And that's not transparency. No matter what you put in your um letters to the board, no matter what you put online, um you know, public confidence in this administration is at an all-time low. And not being transparent is not helping that confidence. You know, we were told just months ago that every budget line by Superintendent Santana, every budget line was combed through. We spared no expense. These are direct quotes looking at every expenditure. We looked at every contract, every uh consultant before staffing cuts. And now we're looking at a $16 million operating deficit, wiping out half our reserves, which were previously presented to us in 2026 to be over $40 million.
111Now we're saying they're going to be $15 million. This also talks about needing state legislation to access restricted reserves. This is September 8th. Why aren't we talking about this at any school board meetings? Thank you. [Applause] >> Okay. Um for consent, we're down to F and >> Y. The administration recommends approval of curriculum items for flood vins F1. >> Is there a motion to approve F1? Trustee Peletta. Second. Trustee question. Question. Uh since since we spoke in the past that um uh some some of the budget lines the the superintendent is recommending approval. This this particular recommendation does come with it some uh significant funds that are attached to it and in the past uh treasures reports that I have questioned that had negative balances uh attached to it and I was told it was
112just accounting and that we would take care of it later. Can the superintendent assure me now that we have money in the line for this particular recommendation? >> Yes. And the um again these are mandated uh sort of positions as Mr. Bonte mentioned earlier that we have to sort of administer. >> They were mandated in the 2425 budget. >> Correct. >> And we went over the budget. So here we are in the 2526 budget. I want to be assured that the recommendation you're giving assures us there's money in the line for this recommendation that you're asking us to approve tonight. >> Yeah, sure. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> More questions. >> Ready to vote? >> Just a question. So to point of clarification that regardless of whether these items were budgeted or not, given
113that they're state mandates, we would have to make room for these budgets. that these are not optional items in contained within the budget. >> Correct. >> Understood. And to the point that Mr. Belmont was making, we should make sure the money is in the line before we make the recommendation to approve. And and if the money wasn't in the line before it was brought to the board of education, the budget transfer should be made before we vote for it, not after. So the money is in the line now before we make this approval. Okay, that's what I'm trying to clarify cuz we should never ever ever vote for an approval if the money is not in the line that we have done time after time after time. It should never ever happen again. Thank you.
114>> All in favor of approving this item unanimous. >> We go to G. >> Yep. The administration recommends approval of board consent items and personnel G1 and G2. >> Is there a motion to pro to approve G1 and G2? Trustee Feliz second. Trustee Felicetta. Questions, discussion? All in favor? Again, it's unanimous. Um Okay, we have should have a a place here for non-aggenda items. So for non-aggenda items, we have one card. Uh Kareem Dan. So, as I said, uh, since September 8th, we've known that we've had, at least we published to the, you know, the financial markets that we've had these issues. Uh, we've never had a finance advis uh, you know, district finance advisory committee meeting since then. Um, you know, I was told by President Hayes that that was going to be last
115Monday. I went there and no one's there. Um you know when you go back and look at the finance advisory meet uh meetings minutes from the past there's actually no discussion of anything except um you know capital expenses like there there's actually no finance advisory committee. All right. So I I'm I'm offering myself if it starts at 7 o'clock I'm happy to to be on that advisory committee. Um I I you know I'd rather not but you know this we we we need help and we should have been meeting every week. Uh finance advisory committee um I don't understand what's going on. Um we anyway uh so that was what I wanted to say. Well, we thank you for that. And the offer is to other members of the community who would like to volunteer
116to serve on some of the advisory committees. You've heard about teaching and learning. Um we've got uh policy um >> Health and safety. Um all of those are available. So, if you know anybody in the community that's interested, contact me or um I think going through Sarah, your your assistant would be the best way. >> And the main number at district office is 730151. >> But we go and nobody's there. >> So, um closing remarks. Trusty Calderon >> for May. Thank you. >> Okay. >> Trusty Feliz, >> I think I've said enough for tonight, but thank you. >> I do have one comment I wanted to make earlier and it's just a comment. Um I know there's a million trunk or treats going on and things like that. And I know personally we cleaned out
117the closet of a million um old costumes. I don't know if any of the schools have thought of it. I wanted to talk to Madison tonight, but if there's some way we can donate old costumes for kids that may need them or you know there's a million things going on, so I don't know if any of the that's something we brought up with the >> No, Sure. I'm sure I'm not the only one that may have a trunk full of >> a great idea. Great. >> So, >> Mr. G, >> no comment. I just wanted to make one summary comment about during this process since the first week in September. Um I have appreciated this the unity of purpose that I have seen among all of my trustees and among administration and staff. And that
118the purpose here is to deliver the best opportunity we can to all the students in our district. And it comes through when we get the presentations from our teaching staff. Um when we hear the superintendent's reports about all the activities that are available to our students and the unity of purpose. We didn't get here by having a unanimous opinion about everything. Um, but we're working together for the common good and I really appreciate that. I'm gratified to be um able to see the the progress toward identifying the scope of the problem from last year and having John Belmonte give his presentation to us tonight with a a clear factualbased explanation of the numbers and um having I appreciate the deliberate approach that has been taken here uh to identify uh the amount of the overspend,
119the cause of it and the procedures that need to be in place in order for that not to happen again. So in summation, um I think that there is cause for the the glass half full becoming fuller as we look down the road. um that things will get better and um with the guidance of our administration and our um new advisor John Belmonte as well as working with our consultants, the external auditors, the forensic auditors, and any other sources that may um be pulled in to assist in this area. we're going to come out better at the end of the day than we are right now. I'm confident of that. So, thank you all very much. And I made a motion um to adjurnn. Trustee Felisetta, Trustee Ross, a second. I didn't swivel my head
120fast enough to see the second. We're ready to vote. >> Um, so all in favor, it's unanimous.