001No, it's not in here. Um, can everybody please stand for the pledge of allegiance? >> Oh, oh, hold on. Wait. I gota I reconvene work session meeting at 6, what is that? 40 42. U, the board is returning from executive session where employment history of particular people, matters made confidential by federal and state law and matters leading to the appointment of particular person were discussed. Will you all please rise for the pledge? Thank you. Um, may I have your attention for a brief announcement? Upon fire alarm activation, immediate evacuation to the closest emergency exit is required. The emergency exits are located over there. Please exit away from the building so not to interfere with fire department and proceed to the evacuation areas. Please follow the school's official directions. Once assembled outside the building, everyone must
002wait until the school officials give it all clear before re-entering the building. Will the clerk please call the role? >> Robert Zachary. >> Yep. Here. >> Rodney C. Pearson Proctor Sherwood Dudley >> here. Smith this evening. Laura White >> here, >> Rick B. White >> here, Noah Kin >> here, >> and there. >> Okay. Um, does the clerk have any additions or deletions to the agenda? >> Yes. The MDK fellow stand and deliver presentation has been pulled from the agenda and a discussion topic regarding rescheduling the March 10th, 2026 regular meeting to March 11th, 2026 has been added to the agenda. >> Okay, great. Um, so I have a few comments and district announcements real quick. The board of education will hold a regular meeting on Tuesday, March 10th at 6:30 p.m. in the SIS
003music room, nominating petitions to elect one member to the board of education for a 4-year term commencing on July 1st, 2026, are expiring and expiring on June 30th, 2030 to secede Germaine Smith, whose term expires on June 30th, 2026, are now available by contacting the district office. completed. Petitions must be returned by 5:00 pm on Monday, April 20th. Uh, March Madness week is taking place this week at the high school. It was Adam Sandler day yesterday. Was that what I heard? I saw everybody wearing their gym shorts and puffy coats walking around. Um, um, tomorrow night is the whole thing, right? At the school or th Thursday? Right. Thursday night. All right. Um, artwork from Southampton High School students is currently on display at Southampton Cultural Center. Southampton Arts Association winner exhibit through March 8th.
004The SHS Italian Club is hosting Italian night tomorrow night, March 4th at 6 PM in the SHS cafeteria to fund raise for their Italian trip. Um, the audit and finance committee will meet Thursday, March 5th at 3:30 in the district office. The shared decisions making committee will meet on Thursday, March 5th from 7:30 to se uh from 5:30 to 7:00 in the SIS library. Um the SHS PTO will be holding a fundraiser for scholarships on Friday, March 6th at Shippies from 6:00 to 9:00. Um all JB and varsity sports are set to begin on Monday. We're supposed to be outside with baseball. Little bit of snow could be an issue. Um and Mr. John Durant, the creator of Southampton's admissions process podcast, will presenting college admissions information in the SHS auditorium at 6 PM on
005Monday, March 9th. So, hope everybody can attend the Italian night tomorrow and the PTO fundraiser on Friday. It should be. So, um that's all I got. So, we have no program presentations, which takes us right into our work session topic. So, uh Mr. McNo, the floor is yours. And Dr. Morell, um, welcome here. >> Thank you, President Epley. Um, good evening, um, board of education, esteemed board of education members, um, district community. Um it is um just uh a great opportunity to begin to discuss what our um 26 27 district budget um will look like. I'm very excited about all the opportunities that we will offer students, the um alignment to the district strategic plan and um and all those things that we know that our students need um that make them highly uh capable,
006competent, and um great civic leaders and learners in our community. I'm extremely proud of the yman's job of Mr. Gene and go and putting together um the uh framework for this budget and um putting together the the details um of this budget working collaboratively. We have worked collaboratively with our principles, our assistant principles, our district administrators um everyone um to make sure that we uh create a balanced budget, one that puts and centers students first. um a budget that also centers our community first. And so we'll get into a little bit about what that means for our tax levy and how we will meet the needs um for that tax levy. Um first of all I would just like to bring to your attention some of the high lever budgetary items that we are um
007considering for the 2627 school year as we move into um our various work sessions. So this is work session number one and um we hope to give you as many details as possible about where we are headed with the budget so that everyone is informed and our board can make the best decisions. Um again aligning um to our district strategic plan, the four pillars of that plan, student achievement, social emotional learning, our steam, science, technology, engineering, arts and math and culturally responsive education remain the tenants um the pillars of our work um in our district moving forward. We are also um going to ensure that we have ensured that the budgetary items we are including in the budget is aligned to that district strategic plan as well as um the portrait of a graduate which
008will be a reality for all of us next year coming from New York State where we are um um we are definitely charged with creating and presenting projectbased performance assessments, multiple pathways for graduation and CTE pathways that could be afforded our scholars. And as we launch that portrait over a graduate, which is also part of our district strategic plan, we're going to need a steady focus on training on providing opportunities for teachers, for students, for families to understand where New York State is going with New York State Inspires and Portrait of a Graduate. Um I want to put out there it doesn't mean we're getting rid of regent exams but we have to um at this point next year um the state is requiring that we do think about how all students learn and maybe
009a state test isn't for every student and that's what the portrait of a graduate will allow us that opportunity to see what are other measures and pathways for students to receive excellence in education and go on to college and careers. We also have our new reading program launch that has been considered in this budget. We're looking at um our I Ready Magnetic and MOS and we have to have um we have a program launch um pilot launch this year at the uh elementary school. We started with our kindergarten teachers and we started with substantive training for them in the launch of the pilot and then we moved through to our uh first, second, third and fourth grade teachers and did a full pilot and um substant substantial training is occurring right now um to support
010in the implementation of that program as we also consider all of our dual language program transformation and highlights. um and that has been considered. We um this year also um have adopted the fifth and sixth grade math uh program which would be our I Ready uh classroom math program. We need to make sure our teachers are trained. We have right the right supports in place materials and we are also considering now that we are aligning our fifth and sixth grade math that we need to look at a math um program adoption. So, our teachers already do a really good job in um math, but we want to align all systems so that there is a strong math program um prek12. Um and so the professional development that will be um um administered throughout um the
0112627 school year will definitely align to those programs that I mentioned and um to um shore up our teachers with their knowledge base to hone in on um all those things that we know are best practices for foundational learning uh literacy skills and learning and especially as we attend to the needs of our multilingual learners and our special needs children. Um our aligned afterchool interventions and enrichment are also um um something that we are looking at attentively as we um think about our budget and how we best serve the needs of our students in our community. Moving on to our literacy initiatives um for 2627 already talked a little bit about the pilot but it is based upon the science of reading which was also a state mandate but it's also the best practice for
012instruction for literacy for our kids. So the state didn't have to tell us to do it. We did it because we know it's right. And so this year, we're going to ensure that our teachers are, you know, receiving that ongoing training to implement for all of our children best practices in reading and math instruction. Um, again, resources for afterchool um intervention and enrichment opportunities also connected to literacy because we want to be able to support students who are in need, but also we want to elevate. There are many students who are um gifted and talented and need enrichment and it's not always about an intervention but what about those kids who are actually excelling and what kinds of gifted and talented and science and um you know steam opportunities and academic opportunities are we offering
013for all of our children. Updates to classroom libraries. We already began to look at that. Last year was rising voices. We are now looking at their bilingual component of rising voices to make sure that we actually have um books in our classrooms that support the needs of our dual language program and all learners in the classrooms. And that also includes um how we are supporting our English language learner literacy um supports. So in in that we're looking at in alignment to the district strategic plan where we're looking at sheltered intervention observation protocols. We know that teachers need training for that for our multilingual learners, but we know that it's also literacy initiative that is really, really important for all of our kids. And again, as we look at the dual language program, we've been on
014that journey since October. Um, we've heard from our parents, we've heard from our students, we've heard from um our um community about what is, you know, what is needed in our dual language program. You know, we saw some data last month um that showed that um our students in our dual dual language program, they're doing quite well, but how do we enhance that? And that will be a a great conversation for literacy with our new reading program this year as well. Professional development. We're looking to ensure with all these programs that our teachers are shored up and have the confidence and have the resources and the tools that they need to implement the programs that we are talking about. Um and so we have our professional development, our summer institute for literacy and numeracy development,
015um implementation of again our science of reading, looking at data driven instruction and standards aligned instruction as well as steam. And so we um we know that when we look at data and we act on our data that we actually see enhancements. And we saw that last year as we saw our um math in um our ELA scores jump in our intermediate school as well as our elementary school. Um some in some cases 10 and 14%. We want to continue with that. We want to continue growing um and making sure that all of our students are meeting the benchmarks. Um again social emotional learning and restorative justice supports we started last year want to continue with that and integrating steam and an effective use of artificial intelligence. There's a lot out there right now about
016artificial intelligence but we need an aligned program in our district to address you know artificial intelligence in a systemic way and some of that work is underway and we want to make sure that we complete it by the end of 26 27. Again, culturally responsive education supports um and effective instructional supports for our multilingual learners are key highlights of our budgetary actions this year. Also, um educational enrichment supports includes, you know, we started with our sensory rooms. We want to we know some schools are in a better place than others. want to en enhance those rooms. Make sure those rooms are doing what they need to do, but also provide the training that teachers need. So, you don't, you know, have to be a social worker or a school psychologist to actually utilize that room.
017There's ways to utilize that room with your students um if you know how, if you know how. So, we want to provide that adequate training for for our teachers um around those rooms. And again looking at an alignment of steam across our district again supporting our students who need intervention and also advancing those students who need intervention and it's advancing those students who are gifted and talented and need a lot more. So we're looking at coding and robotics and music and the arts and our afterchool programs. We have looked at an alignment um a downsizing of programs that we no longer need and an alignment of programs that we do want to see. So, we have K12 alignment of like coding and robotics. We do a great job with robotics at the high school. We
018want to make sure that our littles, our younger kids in the elementary and middle school um instruction, scientific instruction um so that when they move on, they're already ready for our excellent robotics club uh at the high school. And with that with those um with those um um priorities in mind, but also making sure that we have a budget that is um acceptable for our board and our community and a budget that meets the needs of students but does not um raise that tax levy up too high. Um we are on our journey to coming to a balanced budget. And with that, I turn it over to Mr. Ming who has done an excellent job of putting this budget together. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Mor. I'm going to have to move to the
019podium because I can't see the screen. >> Okay. >> Good evening everyone. Um, I want to start out by um apologizing to um Noah and Mattea um in building up budget binders. I forgot about them. I truly apologize. We did not make binders for you. So, to make up for that, um I'm willing to have a special session for the two of you. If you want to come to my office, we can sit down and go over the budget together. I think it it would be a good lesson in you learning about the budget process. Um just let me know reach out to my office and let me know when you're available to do that. Um so I want to begin by first of all thanking u all the collaborators who helped me build this
020budget um by starting with Dr. Morurell for her guidance um Dr. is on um all three principles that we work very collaboratively to build the budget. Um they build their own build building budget but we also look at the big picture. Um all the directors who had input who had their individual budgets. So again that work is a team effort. It's I'm the one who crunched the numbers but ultimately I wouldn't be able to do it without their collaboration. Um I want to start out by um giving you an overview of the enrollment um and the trend of the enrollment. Uh this is no surprise to anyone that you know our enrollment has been trending down for the past I want to say seven or eight years maybe more. Um the 26 27 is a
021projection of what I expect us to land at since the the enrollment has always been um on a downward trend. So I projected the total district enrollment of 1075. Again that this doesn't include prek um because we do the budget for K to 12. PreK is not included in the counts. Um I projected a Tahoe enrollment of about 80 students uh Native American 63 from the current 66 and preK 44. Uh that would be a net reduction of 29 students or about 3% of the overall enrollment. >> I just want we have um.5 students on that last slide. It says the enrollment from Taco is 98.5. Is that what is it half to >> Well, it's possible because we have some students on Taco that goes to Boseies. Okay. >> So, if they spend half
022a day in Boseis, they would essentially be with us for half a day. >> Okay. All right. >> Uh the tax cap compliance. So the by state law um we have to meet the state tax cap which is 2% for this year. If a district decide to go over the tax cap they need what they call a super majority vote which is 60% of the votes. Thankfully we never had to do that. Um there are several districts that go over their tax cap. Southampton is not one of them. and hopefully during my tenure here it will never be that the case. So the established tax cap for this year is 2%. It has been at 2% for the past several years because of the high rate of inflation. Um we also have a local component
023in the U budget that allows you to grow the budget. Um the allowable growth factor for 2627 is 1.0052 0052 or 0.52%. We also have the ability to exclude certain items in the calculation of the tax levy uh and the total capital um and mostly it has to do with um the amount of money you spend in capital expenditures. And for the upcoming year, we are allowed to exclude about $3.7 million from the uh calculations of the tax levy. Uh the initial proposal for the tax levy for the 2627 is $65,488 um 022 which represent a net increase of 648,396 or 1% of the 2526 tax levby amount. Initially we were actually targeting a 0% growth but after conversations with the members of the um audit and finance committee and the need of the budget
024um for next year u the we got the um approval of the audit and finance committee and the larger uh board to go for an increase of 1% for next year and we think we can manage a budget of with a 1% growth um if certain decisions are made and we are on our way to making those decisions. Um again the local growth uh factor for the budget is 0.52% which doesn't represent a whole lot of uh funding but again we are we have made other decisions that allow us to stay within those limits. Um so this is the tax compliant actually um the entire slide is not showing I don't know why but um it shows the breakdown of the tax levy and how the calculation is made um to come up to that
02565 plus million dollars and it gives you the past two years in the calculation. Another component u of the budget is the state aid. Um as I always stress out um during this time of the year when I when I do this presentation for Southampton in particular um state aid is not a significant portion of the budget as it is for many other districts. Uh the state aid portion of our budget is only about 4% of the overall budget, but you know it's amounts to about $3.4 million. Um you know it's a significant amount of money but in as it relates to the overall budget, it's not a significant portion. Uh we did get a slight increase in the uh state aid this year of about 10.4%. However, the majority of that growth is in
026the area of the UPK, which the governor spoke about in her executive um budget presentation. The only concern I have is um the total amount that we receive is dependent of us meeting certain criteria. So, I'm very hesitant to uh be uh represent the entire amount in the budget. So optimistically when I create the budget, I left some some of that amount off the table just in case we come up short when we receive the ultimate numbers uh which we probably won't receive until the summer or perhaps. So this is a representation of the different uh components of the revenue for 2627. uh in comparison to this current year. Um again you'll see the stated um being represented as the first item. Note that the stated here is 3.468 uh in comparison to what's represented
027in this slide which is 3.7 and that's in reference to the UPK that I I spoke about earlier. you have um an estimation of the Tahoe tuition from for next year. Um also the Native American you'll see some decrease in the amounts because of the anticipated reduction in the enrollments. So I had to account for that. Um you have about $2.2 million in what I call other categories. Um and that includes a number of um revenue sources. They are smaller amounts but in totality when you add them together you'll you'll get about $2.25 million. Now um you'll notice uh some significant increases in the areas of the reserves that are being appropriated in the budget. The larger amount is the $1.1 million which came from the um sale of the uh major path property last
028year. So that money was put into a reserve and now it's being appropriated in the budget. Um I'm also appropriating from the compensated absence reserve, the uh retirement uh contribution ERS, TRS, uh unemployment, self insurance, and the workers comp. So, in comparison to last year, you'll see a significant increase in most of the categories. In total, I'm appropriating about well, I'm appropriating $3.1 million from the reserves, which allow us to go with a 1% tax levy increase. Uh otherwise, the tax levy increase would have to be significantly more. So although we were cited by the uh controllers's office for having too much reserves but you see the the the ability to appropriate those reserves into the budget help us out a lot. So when we do have fund balance we put it into the reserves
029so that in the future we can uh appropriate those reserves um in the budget. So in total we're projecting a revenue of 84,536962 in comparison to 82 million23646 for this current school year. So the overall budget increase will be will be $2.3 million or 2.8% of what it is this year. And again I'll refer you back to the tax levy portion which is limited to 1% year-over-year increase. Um so TRS and ERS um that information those are the uncontrollable cost in the budget and two of many of the uh uncontrollable costs. Um so this year the um TRS was uh at 9.5%. um it's actually being reduced in 2627 based on the projection that I received uh between 8.25 and 8.75. ERS on the other hand is going the other way. Um it was 16.5
030for this kind of school year. It's being um projected for 17.5 in 2627. uh NISA which is um our liability insurance is um they sent me a uh an estimated premium increase of 11% for the 26 27 school year. Uh this is just a representation of the monthly cost of our um health insurance uh which we get under NIH. The annual cost for 26 um the it's by calendar year for the calendar year 2026. Uh the individual plan cost us $19,337 and the family plan cost 43 almost $44,000. I anticipate that it it it's going to be um it's going to increase in 2027. As you can see in from 25 to 26 um it went up by almost 9%. So, we can expect a similar increase for the 2027 um calendar year. So, when
031I'm doing the um budget, I can incorporate the real amounts for the 2026 school year for the first six months. But for 2027, I have to do a projection based on what what I expect the increase to be. Um so this is a slide that show you what we have currently in our reserves and uh what I plan on um appropriating in the budget and what will be left um at the end of it. So at the bottom you'll see the capital reserve. So that's um the 10-year capital reserve is usually what we present to the voters so that we can use for our projects based on my conversation in um the conversation that we had with the facilities committee. Uh Mr. Dilva is projecting to use $2.7 million of the 20 um capital reserve
032for next year. Um the technology reserve approximately 500,000 and uh we recently had a budget hearing where 480,000 was appropriated uh out of the repair reserve and the tax reduction which I alluded to earlier of 1.1 million. So some key factors to remember about this budget. Uh the total projected budget for 2627 is 84,536962. Um of that budget almost 40 million of it goes to staff salaries. Those are the contractual salaries. In addition to that, you have other salary items that are included in the budget for such as the payment for the coaches, uh substitute coverage, extracurricular activities, a number of items which amount to almost $5 million. So, pretty much about $46 million of the budget is toward um salaries. You also have French benefits which is a significant portion of the budget and
033it's a factor of the salaries. So French benefits account for about 48.5% of the salaries. Uh and French benefits tend to go up every year. So they become a larger and larger percentage of the salaries every year because that's your health insurance, that's your social security, that's your contributions to retirement, etc. Uh so the average French benefit per staff member in the district is about close to $45,000. So with an average salary per staff of 92,326 plus the average French benefits of 44788, the average employees cost is about $137,000. Again, we are no different than any other districts. Uh it's just um the salaries and the market factors. So the next steps is for us to continue to refine the budget. This is the the first draft of the budget. So we're going to continue
034to have conversations. We're going to look for additional opportunities to reduce costs wherever possible. Uh we'll be we'll continue our meetings with the directors and the principles to finalize their budget. Uh we'll also meet with the audit and finance committee to get their input uh and their feedback and review any proposed changes. And again, we're going to continue to have discussions and my next presentation will come up next week. Hopefully, we'll have a more refined budget and ultimately on the 24th, we'll have the final budget for the board to adopt. And now I'm open to any questions that you may have. Does anybody have any questions? >> You you got that noise? >> Yeah, I got you. I got you. I was very educated on what you just like I was I got a lot
035of educ education from that. Like I didn't know anything about this and to hear about this is kind of cool to see how everything works out. So >> Okay. >> Are you going to make an appointment to have a one-on-one session? >> Yes. Yes. >> Okay. Look forward to it. >> Does anybody have any questions? Um, no, I don't have any questions. I just wanted to um inform I know we're talking about artificial intelligence and getting ahead of it as administrators, board members, X, Y, and Z. I'm currently enrolled in um this is offering a artificial intelligence program for board members. So, I I don't know if you guys received it, but I can forward it to you. Take your name, please. Secondly, um I'm really interested in the offerings that could be uh potentially
036servicing our gift and talented children here and what that would look like. And lastly, just the centering room and um the supports and training and how long do we feel like that would take as a product? Because right now I feel like we're in such a a fragile space as a country, as a district, and our students are suffering. And I just really want to enhance areas and safe spaces >> for our children to become regulated and also to build trustworthy um whatever I can't think of the word build trust with different staff members so that they can feel comfortable going to them with certain situations. Um Dr. Mo, you and I did this probably off Sunday, but we did talk about um the wellness plan and um having Dr. Tahill come and give us
037a um presentation for overall. >> She's I think she's coming next. >> Not next week. Good. Dr. Tuttle is going to come on the 24th of March for a presentation for a full presentation. But um equipping our teachers with the tools um for um really meeting the needs of students social, emotionally, and mental health. It's an ongoing um project and we're glad to have Stony Brook as a part of that model, but it's an ongoing project. It's not like it's it you're never done because there are always new things to learn. There are always new things to add on, but we always meet have to meet new challenges depending on what our students need. So it, you know, we want to just make sure teachers are prepared, right? And that they are having those conversations
038and they know how to create safe spaces and they know how to conduct circles and they and that kids feel comfortable going and speaking to a trusted adult. That's a real huge component of the district strategic plan. But it's always ongoing even, you know, after you become a teacher, you know, become a principal. It's just you can always learn more about this area because it's always ever changing. So >> you're welcome. >> Dr. T will be here. >> I was saying I really look forward to Dr. Tutill's um presentation um because it will help expand our reach to our parents. some of our staff are not aware of certain things. Um, and I really PD PD PD >> so that none of our kids could be dropped by the wayside by anyone. That's what we're
039focused on. And um, I did have a conversation with Dr. cut and we're going to just um ensure she comes and present but also um our noticing to the public will be more timely per our discussion. Thank you. >> Can I say something? >> Yeah, of course. >> Um I just want to touch on what Dr. Moral said focusing on like I know you said both like helping the gifted kids go further and then the kids who fall behind who like struggle helping them as well. And I feel like I really like that you focus on both side of the spectrums and I feel like that hasn't really like fully been exhibited before. So I really hope that we can find like a balance of helping both of them because it's so important to push
040the people who are kind of doing well in class and make sure that like they have that in them especially going into college. That's really important and helping those who fall behind is also important. So I just wanted to put that out there. But thank you. >> Awesome. Um I know we we always talk about tax rate and stuff with like per thousand. Do we have any idea of where we're going to be with that? Like we're always around like 2.3, right? >> We're not going to be that far off since um our tax lev you're not going up by that much. Okay. and but ultimately it depends on the assessment as well. >> So I'll I'll have a slide on that at the next presentation. Um but again usually we get a preliminary assessment
041from the town. I haven't gotten it yet. >> So it's probably going to be calculated based on the final assessment back in September. >> Okay, great. Which was calc what was the increase on the assessment? Do you remember? Uh, it was not significant. I want to say it was I don't want to speculate. I'll have to next. Yeah. Okay. Awesome. Um, yeah. I I just want to thank you guys. I It's been a tough budget process and still a lot more to to go. So, Dr. Morell, thank you. you know, Jean, I know uh it's a lot of work and uh you're going and and everything and and Brian and the principles, I know you guys have been meeting and going over um a lot of our clubs and staffing patterns and stuff. And as
042as you guys know, we've, you know, over the last eight years, our enrollment has gone down, you know, 400 kids. So, we're going down about 50 kids a year. I think that's leveling off when I look at the younger grades compared to some of these classes graduating where it's it's going down a little bit. But with that, that's always going to mean that we're going to have to look at programming because we don't have the numbers to support these programs. So I um I know you guys have been looking at these these things hard and you know going forward and I know you know there's discussions about even down to sports. I always take the example and you know budgeting that did really no football you know we're not budgeting you know but I know
043there might be an opportunity to go play in another district and we've had to fold the girls the cross for this spring because of that. So I think this is all just natural progression. Um, you know, I I took some notes here, but you know, projectively wise, um, we, you know, we did the retirement incentive to kind of clear some some salary stuff and jobs are not being replaced and, um, we're going to be saving with that. But I I apologize because a 1% increase on the on the tax levy with the budget is is really impressive. U, most schools usually max out that tax levy, which um could have been up going up to 4.81% this year. Um and a lot of schools even up the island have to pierce the cap every year
044just because the cost of you know um cost of living increases our retirement increases you know every year salaries are going up two 3%. Um our insurance with NICHA has gone up 11%. I think a lot of that has to do with those past claims that other schools have claimed against the insurance company and now everything's going up. Um health insurance has gone up 9%. night shift. Just for example, a family plans going from $3,000 a month up to $3,700 a month in uh in 2026. So, you know, we're looking at increased costs in our budget. Um insurance has gone up $900,000 from 25 to 26 just we're budgeting for um my special ed services are uncontrollable cost too and we have to budget about an extra half a million dollars for that for next
045year. Um, and with shrinking enrollments, we're a tuition, we get a lot of tuition money from other districts as well. So, you think about Tucko kids that come in for high school. Um, you know, and that number has shrunk from in the 120s to about 80s. So, we're projecting about $600,000 less in um high school revenue coming in just on top kids coming over here because their enrollment's less. So with you you got to think about $600,000 we're losing in that enrollment and we're going up $648,000 in our tax levy. So it's really just a wash on that alone. So I G I applaud you um Dr. Brian for for all this and and cutting down those costs. And really I I was talking to um a certain staff member that works at the high
046school is also on a board of the island and he asked what uh what our what we were going up on the tax levy and I said 1%. He looked at me like we were crazy. Um and he asked how we did it. I told him magic. Uh so I I'm very impressed with that. Um you know and doing that especially to neighboring districts. I talked about the the tax levy. you know, we're we're at 2.3% which means we pay about 20 2,300 per million on our assessed value um in Southampton. In comparison, I always hate using neighboring districts, but West Hampton pays um $6,160 on a million dollars of their assessed value. So, we're we're about three times less than them. Taco pays 6.3, you know, they're paying 6,300 on their million. Sack Harbor
047pays 4.58. Um, so they're paying 4,500 to our 2,300. Um, HB plays pays 12.3. So they're paying $12,000 on their million-doll assess value over Hampton Bay. East Quog is paying 10.3 uh 10.6. Um, so they're over 10,000 on that. Riverhead is over 13,000 on their million dollar assessed value. And um, Eastport South Manor pays 25.96. So, if you have a million dollar, it's on your assessed value, you're paying over $25,000 on that. So, um I see a certain principal that might live over an esports manner over there laughing. Um so, so when we talk about our our budget and where our numbers are and and stuff, um we have the healthiest tax base around. We have healthy reserves. Um we are a high we we pay well. We try to do good by employers. So,
048I Jean um I applaud you. I know it's it's a lot of work every year and and thank you guys for everything. So that's all I had on notes. I just wanted to kind of give you guys a pat on the back on stuff. So yeah. >> Um and I also want to just thank the board chair and Mr. Pearson and trustee uh Mr. Smith um for their for their support um in the audit and finance meetings. Um it really um gave us the guidance that we needed as an executive team um to bring to this community a 1% tax levy increase and a solid budget that doesn't hurt our children and enhances everything we're already doing. So without that support, we just can't do it. So I think I think you and M without
049the full board support in the end um we can't do it. and I know that they're being supportive of of of what we do with a very watchful eye. And so I just want to say thank you for all the work you're going to be doing in analyzing this budget and giving us the the um you know the corrections or um you know the go-ahads for the different things. Want to just thank you in advance for your support board. >> Yep. And we are very fortunate in the sense that we have a school district who truly support the I mean we have a community that truly support the school district because 80% of our budget is tax levy. So that's not the case for many many districts. >> Awesome. Does anybody have anything else? No.
050All good. Um awesome. Well thank you Jean. Um the um the only other topic we had here as a discussion topic um so I just wanted to kind of plug so next Tuesday um is our our regular meeting on 310. It's also the same night as the Long Island Championship basketball game in Farmingdale. Um, I might have ran into some administrators and staff that were at the game and were concerned about us having a board meeting the same night at board meeting at 6:30 when the game is at 5 in Farmingdale. Um, I just wanted to to see how the board members felt if everybody was available about moving and shifting that to Wednesday the 11th. We we all can't do it. I I don't want to move it if it's going to interfere with
051somebody, but I just didn't know how you guys that Okay. >> Is that I don't need Okay. So, we have two that have other commitments. Um, so I don't I don't want to have to I know we this has been because I I get it because I schedule stuff out months and ahead with my so um I don't know Thursday Are you okay? >> I don't want to. >> Okay. I don't want to. All right. stand. >> I don't want to. Are you okay with that? >> Yeah. Yeah, you guys are good. But okay. All right. Yeah, I just want to before we vote on I just want to make sure. Um All right. So, I think we're going to make a motion to move it to the Wednesday. So, uh may I have a
052motion to reschedule the meeting from 3:10 2026 to 311 2026? >> Do I have a second? >> Yeah. Um could the clerk please call the role? >> Yes. >> C. Sherwood Dudley. Yes. >> Uh Janine is absent. Laura White. >> Yes. >> And Ruth White. >> Yes. >> All right. Um so we're going to move that meeting so everybody can and that I'm hoping everybody will be there. Uh All right. So it takes us on public comments at this time. Um the board of education encourages public participation in school related matters at board meetings. Any group or organization wishing to address the board must identify a single spokesperson. The presentations should be as brief as possible. No speaker is permitted to speak for longer than three minutes. The board will not permit in public session
053discussions involving individual district personnel or students. All speakers are to conduct themselves in civil manner. Um obscene language le statements, threats of violence, statements advocating race, religious and other forms of prejudice will not be tolerated. Uh persons making presentations at the board meeting will address remarks to the president and make direct questions or comments to the board members or other district officials only upon approval for the president. So we have any brave you got any comments? Okay to watch hang. All right. Um cool. So that moves us on to action items here. Um are there any action items from 9.01 through 9.04 that any member wishes to discuss or has questions about? Nope. Um, so is there any action items from 9.01 through 9.04 that any member wishes to hold out for separate action? Nope.
054Um, so may I have a motion to approve action items 9.01 through 9.04 as presented in the agenda? Motion. Laura, do I have a second? Uh, may the clerk please call the role for a vote? >> Zachary, >> yes. >> Rodney Pearson, yes. Monique Proctor, >> Si Sherwood, >> yes. >> Laura White, >> yes. Y >> awesome. Um we're doing policies, right? >> Okay. So, um policies committees, you guys met you guys on 212 before the break. So, we have a few readings here that we have to get through. Um so, may I have a motion to review policy 2420 administrative regulations. This is for the third reading. U policy 3310 administrative regulations. Policy 4410 grouping for instruction. Policy 4430, student schedules and course loads. Policy 4531R, field trip regulations. Policy 4531-E.1, field trip exhibit
055um district field trip approval form. Policy um 4531-E.2 field trip exhibit parent approval form. Policy 4531-E.3 field trip exhibit checklist and response policy 4526.2 to webpage pol uh publishing policy 5120 school census policy 5215 student government policy 5240 student performance at community functions policy 5253 extra classroom activity fund return checks policy uh 560 student competitions and contests policy 5640 student employment for second reading as oh of this actually for a third reading as presented. Um, do I have a motion? >> Motion. Do I have a second? >> Um, any discussion on any of those policies? We're all good. Um, will the clerk please call a roll for a vote? >> Yes. >> And yes. >> Awesome. Um, we have a few policies for a second reading here. So, may I have a motion to review
056the following policies for a second reading as presented? Policy uh 6500, miscellaneous monies, cash receipts, petty cash, and bonded um employees and officers. Policy 6630, financial reports and statements. Policy 6720, bidding requirements. Policy 6720-R, competitive bidding procedures, regulations. Um, policy 7310, educational uh, specifics. Policy 8134, emergency closings. Policy 8240, traffic and parking controls. Policy 8414.6 fuel inventory. Policy 4326-E.1A limited English proficiency instructions exhibit. Policy 4326-E.1B instruction para Esttoriantes day English limit limitado um policy 4326-E.2A limited English proficiency instructions exhibit policy 4326-e.2b 2B instruction para estudientes day English liidato. All right, I got it going. There we go. Policy 4710-R.1 Southampton High School requirements for graduation andor New York State Regions diploma policy 4531 field trips and excursions. Um motion. Do I have a second? Second Sunni. Um, will the clerk please call the role for
057a vote? >> Robert Zachley, >> yes. >> Pearson, yes. >> Proctor, >> yes. >> Laura White, >> yes. And White, >> yes. >> All right. Awesome. Um, there is no need to move back to executive session. So, may I have a mo motion to adjourn the meeting at 7:37 p.m. Motion? All right. Second. All in favor? >> All right. There we go. Thank you, guys. President Nice.