001our shoes. It was kind of cool. Um, you guys were like participating in like getting a golf ball across the floor every day. It was fun, you know. It was not like a regular day of school. It was interactive. We were learning. We still learning. We're still incorporating stuff, building uh social skills. It was cool. And um today um also had the opportunity to speak our 300 some uh 300 by 250 plus adults about topics in our school that needed to be addressed. And um I felt like I had a I felt like I was heard and understood more and I was supposed I was speaking for the whole entire school um whole entire high school. And uh I think that if we keep doing this, I think we'll be leading down the right direction.
002So feel it was good, >> guys. Um thank you for all that stuff that we're looking at and going forward. So yeah, um on to assistant superintendent for business. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Um so the on tonight's agenda you'll see several items on financial items. Um we met as an audit and finance committee on October 28th. Uh we actually had two meetings this time around. Uh the first meeting was to go over the regular agenda items. Then we had the secondary meeting because uh Mr. Leone wasn't available for the first uh meeting. So we had the secondary meeting for the financial statement audit so he could present his report to the audit and um finance committee and which he spoke about tonight. [snorts] Um you'll see several items on the agenda. Um there are
003some budget transfers. We have the the reports that we do on a regular basis. Um we also have um resolution um and that's to determine how the uh fund balance for this year is going to be aortioned. Um the resolution I um will point out that some of the money will be put into the reserves but the vast majority uh will go to the 4% set aside which uh Mr. Leoni um referred to earlier. Uh this is a balance that we normally carry over every year. Uh it's 4% of this current school year budget. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Awesome. Yeah. Thank you. And um we were all there for that. Um you know, we're good financial squad, so keep it going. Um assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction. >> Thank you very much, Mr.
004President. Um so we have a couple of updates and I'm first going to um just bounce off of Dr. Morell's presentation from today. Uh we did have a great staff professional development day. Everyone was here in various uh locations. We were together for many sessions and then separated out in addition to uh hearing our students this morning at the elevating student voice session. Um some other sessions that our teachers were participated in involve learning about for our prek to grade six teachers. They met with Scholastic and learned a lot about um the science of reading and they also um had an installation of some of our um portions to uh support our reading program at the elementary school. So they were learning how to implement new libraries into their program in addition to learning about
005science of reading. Our 7 to2 teachers had a session on the portrait of a graduate and learning about the um implementation, installation and everything all the the shifts that we'll be making with the portrait of a graduate um initiative from New York State. That was followed by um sessions on social emotional learning and literacy where um we one thing that we did with our staff is we showcased off some of the data that we um collected via our survey that was sent out to our community. So we had um several hundred students uh parents and teachers participate in our thought exchange survey and we had some really good feedback. So we explained the data and the findings to our teachers. After lunch, we came back and um together we worked on trying to establish a
006common definition um mission and vision for our SEAL work. Um so that work will continue in our with our stakeholders uh moving forward. And lastly also to support our teachers, we had uh a session from the EAP employee assistance program come. So, we had our EAP rep come out and um provide a closing session on employee self-care and also explained um to our employees all the benefits uh that they receive through that program with Eastern SuffK Boseies. So, they um she delivered a fantastic session that really got to the heart of SEAL for our adults as well. So, we were making sure that we were not only um taking care of our students, of course, because our students are the are what we're here for, but we also have to make sure that we're taking
007care of our staff so they can also then better support and better take care of our students. So, again, it was a great day. Um, keeping up with the the learning, last week we had our first parent university and that was led by Mrs. Williams, who um is our new administrator and director for multilingual and culturally responsive education. Um we had a nice turnout in the library here. Um we in addition to teaching parents about um our curriculum and our programs and their rights as parents, we also had a work session where we taught stu um parents exactly how to log on to our powers school system um create accounts in our parent square system so they can go into the portals, check their um check their children's grades and also um learn how to
008use our parent square system so they can communicate with their teachers. Um, also sticking with the elementary school, we did have um last week our second professional development training with I Ready and Curriculum Associates at the kindergarten level. Great session with our kindergarten teachers um for our I Ready pilot core literacy pilot at the um at the kindergarten elementary level and we're just seeing great results and great feedback so far. So more to come on that. Um, and lastly, we did um have uh leaving the weekend of 10:24, October 24th, we had our MBK and Black Girl Magic, My Sisters Keeper groups go on an amazing college tour. Uh, again, full bus of students that went um to several H.B.CU and non-HB.CU. They went to Northwork University, Hampton University, Old Dominion University, and Virginia Wesleyan
009University. Um, so they had a great session of college visits on several college campuses and also had uh, of course, some great stops along the way. So, we're very grateful for um, you know, our teachers that that led that college tour. And lastly, moving forward, um, because I know that we speak about all of our events happening, but just want to point out tomorrow, Dr. Todd Hill is leading and we are bringing back our business advisory committee to support um the work that we're doing in our counseling office, especially the work that we're doing with our work-based learning programs. Um our work-based learning program is exploding at the high school level. So, uh we're really looking to strengthen those partnerships and the work that we're doing uh at through our um counseling office with our
010business alliance. So, uh, we're looking forward to that. And I apologize, that's not tomorrow. That is on Thursday. So, I want to make sure I'm giving you the right times. Um, that is taking place Thursday morning at 8:00 in the Southampton High School auditorium. >> Thank you, Dex. Good stuff. Um, we are going to move on to um our committees here. So, audit and finance, we met on 10:28, 10:30. I know Mike came to the meeting on 10:30. Chip was there one know um Ruth came. Is there anything you guys want to touch on from those meetings and all or >> Yeah, I think everything went well. Uh you know, Jean's got everything under control. I know we talked about um a few things that um that I hope we have kind of a report
011on tonight. Um, one was the um the use of the security vehicle. Uh, how we're going to use it, who's going to use it. Um, I know you guys said that you'd have something ready for me tonight. So, uh, I look forward to hearing about that. And, uh, I know we have bought it. So, really, now that it's bought, I'd like to just hear what we're doing with it. So, that that would be helpful. >> Awesome. Um, anything good? Okay. Um personnel committee met. Laura, anything? >> Hi everyone. Good evening. We met um last week on October 28th and reviewed a variety of personnel issues and our continued goal is to ensure that we have the best of the best working with our students in every building from our cafeteria aids to our custodians to
012our coordinators in the buildings. Um we'll be meeting again um in another week or two. >> All right. Awesome. Um facilities we do not meet. Wellness meant you go to that meeting or >> Okay. All right. Cool. >> Oh uh yes I don't see merger in here but yes we um we met with the merger committee on was that Monday? Um and we um we think we located a company that um can do the study for us. So, we are going to be reaching out to the company. Jean is, and we're going to set up a call with them and get all the board members on it, whoever can join on the Zoom and um go over the process, the pricing and everything like that. And um we're we're looking forward to working on this
013and actually, you know, I say, you don't know until you don't know. Like, we we got to get the study done and figure out what's going to happen with some of this stuff. So, that has been a long process. I know Tahoe is on board with getting the study going and they just appointed a new superintendent this week. So, I think it is a um a good time. So, when we we know more and we get that locked in, um we'll move on. So, that that was a big one. [laughter] I skipped right over it here. Um let's see. So, policy information, the policy committee, Laura, you guys met on 108? >> Yep. >> All right. We still we have no policies for readings, reviews, anything you guys working on. >> Uh at our last
014board meeting, I reported that we are reviewing a list of policies um that are no longer needed and need to be updated. We're focusing what we we already focused on the field trip regulations packet. Um we're meeting this Thursday of this week. So that that journey continues. So we'll have quite a report at the next board meeting. >> Okay. Awesome. Cool. All right. Um, that will bring us on to consent agenda items here. So, are there any consent agenda items from 12.01 through 12 that any member um wants to discuss or hold out for separate action? Okay. Um, so there's no no discussion. Is there any consent agenda items from 12.01 01 through 12.20 that any member wishes to hold out for second separate action. Um may I have a motion to approve consent agenda
015items 12.01 through 12.20 as presented in the agenda. >> Second. >> Um is there any discussion about any of that? We're good. We're good. All right. We're all good. Um, will the clerk please call the role for a vote? >> Robert Sakley, >> yes. >> UC Pearson, >> yes. >> Sun Sherwood, >> yes. >> Laura White, >> yes. >> Ruth Whitman, >> yes. >> Um, going to financial items. Are there any financial items on 13.01 through 13.15 that any member wishes to to discuss or has questions about? Um, I will hold out financial items 13.13, 13.14, and 13.15 for separate action. Are there any other financial items from 13.01 through 13.12 that any member wishes to hold out for SE separate action? May I have a motion to approve financial items 13.01 through 13.12 as
016presented in the agenda? >> Motion, Laura. >> Second. approved. Um, will the clerk please call the role for a vote? >> Robert Zachary, >> yes. >> Pearson, >> yes. >> Sherwood, >> yes. Laura White, >> yes. >> White, >> yes. >> Great. Um, there we go. May I have a motion to approve financial items 13.13, a recommendation to approve the following resolution? Whereas the audit and finance committee met on Tuesday, October 28th, 2025 to re review the district's year-end financial position for the 2024 2025 fiscal year. And whereas the committee recommended the allocation of the 2024 2025 unreserved fund balance in accordance with board policy, sound fiscal management practices, and the New York State regulations. Now therefore, it be it resolved that the board of education hereby approves the application of the 2024 2025 unreserved
017fund balance totaling 4,117,63916 as follows. The capital reserve for technology equipment $250,000 resulting in a total balance of $520 26,994. Teachers retirement uh reserve fund 1110,000 resulting in a total balance of 1,ion351,576. Employee retirement reserve fund 250,000 resulting in a total balance of 1,167,496. repair reserve fund 218,183 resulting in a total balance of 840 uh 25,183 unassigned fund balance 3,289,45624 representing the maximum allowable 4% of the 2025 2026 budget in the amount of 82 million um $236,46 and authoriz authorizes superintendent of school and assistant superintendent for business to execute the necessary the necessary budget transfers and accounting entries to officiate the above allocations as presented in the agenda. >> Motion second >> second approved. Um will the clerk please call the role for a vote? >> Robert Zachary >> yes. >> Rodney C. Pearson >>
018yes. >> Sen Sherwood Dudley >> yes. >> Laura White >> yes. >> Ruth B. >> Yes. >> Awesome. Next one. May I have a motion to approve financial item 13.14, a recommendation to approve financial statements in supplementaryary supplementary information and independent auditors report as the June 30th, 2025 as presented in the agenda. >> Motion second. Um, may the clerk please call the role for a vote. >> Robert Zachary, >> yes. >> U Pearson, >> yes. >> Sherwood, >> yes. >> Laura White, >> yes. and Ruth B. White. Yes. >> May I have a motion to approve financial item 13.15, a recommendation to approve the extra classroom activities, fund, financial statement, and independent auditors report as of June 30th, 2025 as presented in the agenda. >> Second, the second. Um, will the clerk please call the
019role for a vote? >> Robert Zachary, >> yes. >> Rob Luc Pearson, >> yes. >> Sun Sherwood Dudley, >> yes. >> Laura White, >> yes. and Ruth B. White. >> Yes. >> All right. We're moving on to personnel items here. Um 1401 approval resignations. Are there any personal items on 1401 1 through13 that any member wishes to discuss or has questions about? Are there any personnel items on 1401 1 through13 that any member wishes to hold out for separate action? Um, may I have a motion to approve personnel items 1401 1-13 as presented in the agenda? >> Second. >> Um, will the clerk please call the role for a vote? >> Robert Zachary, >> yes. >> Rodney C. Pearson, >> yes. >> Sunni Sherwood Dudley, >> yes. >> Laura White, >> yes. >> And Ruthie
020White Dunn, >> yes. Are there any personnel items from through 167 that any member wishes to discuss or has questions about? >> Yes. >> Um I have a bunch of 1402. So I'm just going to start with the 1402 chaperon. >> Okay. Um we had a meeting uh with with administration about the chaperons that we had talked about this blanket uh approval of chaperones and how there were problems with that blanket uh approval because of the money that we have to pay them and how many people were uh approved through the through the posting and how were they going to kind of keep track of that which at that meeting everybody was kind of on a different page and we were going to discuss um the options and really get to the bottom of that
021before we put this on here. So I want to kind of hear everybody's explanation of how we're how this is going to work and we can just you know we can describe the pitfalls also because uh I know Jean you know the payment uh through these items were a little difficult at the time maybe figured that out but um also um you know the posting that was that was in there doesn't kind of match a blanket right there's there's the posting of of some of these which is three people, three people, four people, but now we're blanketing everybody. How do we keep control of that? And my second question is if they're blanketed, how come in the agenda there are some people that are separate and put out and pulled out and actually listed as
022chaperones for X. uh this this item, this item, this item, but over here uh it's a blanket which is just hard to uh wrap my head around. I know there was a lot of problems and you guys are going to talk about it and bring back to us. So, go ahead. Well, first first of all, I'll start drinking over but I think that um I think that by having um giving the principles the opportunity to um have a a bank of personnel that they can use for shackle rather than it facilitates their ability to actually have field trips. um without those blanket approvals, it just we have to keep coming back to the board for single approvals uh multiple approvals is it's it just makes it much harder to do. So we are trying to
023facilitate that work for the principles and that they would keep up. I think it's the role of the principal to keep up with who is actually on these here trips and receiving these opportunities. I don't know if it's actually our role to make that decision. I think that the principles need to keep a running tally of who's actually getting that opportunity. So that's why we felt like the blanketed approach is will facilitate that a bit more. I think what chips are so like I understand the um like we we blanket them as SHs chaperone or SIS chaperon and I get like we don't want to have to come back for every little event and we want to be able if there's a event done in the night and we need two people to go to
024it. You can go to this bank and stuff. Um, I think Chip's question is like how do how do we prevent from like who's monitoring that and like how do we prevent from three people that are on the approved chaperon list from showing up to a sporting sporting event and then saying I'm chaperoning I'm approved and then they try to throw a pink sheet in. Is there a like policy of this is the X event and we are going to be having three chaperones for it or is it now that they're blanket approved and they go to any event that they could be viewed as a chaperone do they get paid for it and that's that's our that was the concern that we had. Um so I can discuss structure Gan will um talk about
025um the financial. So with that approval principles would have as Dr. Morel said principles have a list of approved chaperones. It's simple inter internal um document that we would keep on a spreadsheet. So our our principles know if I need two people for X event, the principal is going to inform those two people that they're chaperrons. In that spreadsheet, we have multiple dropdowns of what their payment um structure would be. So it would have the name of the event, the name of the chaperrons, and then the payment structure of who was awarded that. That way, if there's a concern or a question over any sort of submission of that, we have an internal record, an internal auditing of of who was actually assigned to which um trip or which um event at which rate. And
026that way um staff members from Jean's office can verify that because we do have certain different levels of payment now based on the teacher contract. >> So as you can see in the document the personnel document the different rates depending on how long the event is is listed under there. Yeah. So in preparing their time sheets, the person who did the chaperoning for that particular event would not only write the event, the date, but they would also specify how long that event was. And of course, the principal or the supervisor who oversaw that event would have to sign off that what's being reported is actually what happened. And that would be the education to payroll to process this person for X event that for a duration of three hours. >> Okay. >> And what that
027does is I'm sorry Mr. President, but what that does is for the time sheets that are being processed, you also have a checks and balance of that. So the time sheets are now matched to our document at the buildings that basically very clearly detail the um people that were shaper running the event and the rate. So the principles have a document that should match the pay sheets going in. >> So okay, so that has to be signed off by the building head anyway for the the event and then the principles have a list of how many people already prior to the event of what's going to be happening and then instead of having to go for every event, they're already approved. >> The principles authorize who the chaffrons are for those events log in their
028sheets. Then the um those sheets go in and we can verify those sheets based on our internal document that we've been working on with the principles or I've been working >> and also make sure that everybody had a chance to right >> that and that will allow the principles to make sure there's a fair rotation of events. Now in some cases you cannot have a fair rotation of events because when you have specific music chaperon events you're going to have your music teachers there because they have to tune instruments they have to do that. So there will be a higher number as there always are of music events um and that's standard and typical but for all other events we want to make sure that there's a fair rotation of the people that are in
029there as well. So that document helps with that for the principles. I'm very skeptical to see that these ideas I think it leaves the door open for uh someone to the principles to pick who they want to pick uh or say they couldn't get a hold of this person or couldn't get a hold of that person. I'd like to see it go back to the way we had it before. It's posted, people apply, they get they get the job, right? um that seems like the most fair way to do it and the most in line way to do it because uh the the payment structure has really changed I think this year. This is new contract stuff which uh I don't know we have problems with payroll now. Uh I can see some more problems
030coming. Um so that worries me. Yeah. Yeah. And I understand. So we do have the checks and balances of the principles approving them for the events and no one can just show up at a basketball game and then put in the pay for it or you know like the events and you know that that I think the fear is the chaperon pay. And I think too is the the other thing is the the fairness of the rotation on those events. So we just had to monitor that because we've had issues in the past with people saying, "Oh, this trip is full and certain people getting certain events and it kind of seems like sometimes it's a little boy club with certain events and um we have to make sure we're monitoring those." Whatever that budget
031line is, whatever that budget number is for that, keep a good eye on it because I'd be willing to bet at the end of the year, you're going to be way over. I'd be willing to bet. But we'll see. >> Do we need to hold any of those out for separate action? >> Any of them I started writing them down. >> I was going to say we might have to go through all of them one at a time because a lot of those are most of these are chaprons, right? >> Are we are we holding them out or are we leaving? >> I say hold them out because I'm voting no. >> All right, I will continue. Um why do is there any other um personnel items here that we need to discuss and want
032to hold >> 1428 and 154. >> Okay. 128 and 124. >> Yes. 154. Sorry. All right, I'm going to start with 128. Um, >> uh, I just would like maybe we could go over the process of how we came to where we are in light of comment that was made. >> Yeah. Jean, um, Dr. Ronald, do you want to on on 128 talk about the process of the payroll there and how long we've had this job open and >> Yes. Um, this is a position that we had uh some challenges of filling that position for uh a little bit over two years. We had a couple of um candidates in the position that um didn't last for various reasons. Um the position was posted multiple times. Um the mo most recently we interviewed two candidates
033and it was unanimous that they did not meet the criteria for the position. Um then there was another candidate that came forward who is currently at another district uh who is an experienced person. She has some experience in payroll but she also had p um experience in account payable. Um she has several years and she's already in the title in the civil service title that we were looking to recruit. Um however she would not entertain taking the position at the step one which is the practice of the district going back several years. Um but we felt that there is such a critical need for the position uh after multiple discussions we decided to um offer a higher step which was step five. Um again in the clerical unit contracts it specified that there is an
034option to hire at a higher step uh with in consultation with the clerical unit and um just to be clear it's in consultation uh which we did have some conversation I u actually scheduled a meeting with the unit president um the meeting was cancelled at the last moment Um and I was is um presented with a letter that um basically you have all received um that basically you know listed their um opposition to the district hiring at the higher position. Um so again based on the critical need of the district we made the decision to hire at the higher rate and this is what you have in front of you tonight um to approve or disapprove depending on how >> Jane can you please add that we why we gave that higher rate because in
035order to come here she would have had to have taken a pay cut right >> correct the individual that we're recruiting is actually making about that salary in her current district. Actually, she was making more, but that included a stipen that she was receiving for extra extra work. >> How many years experience does this um candidate have? >> Um I would say 5 to eight years. I don't know the exact number of years, but I would say a minimum of five to eight years. I can confirm that tomorrow. Didn't she also come highly recommended from her current district? >> Uh yes. Uh we have a vendor that uh the two districts share that um you know when we inquired about her and her quality of work. She came highly recommended. Not only that we have
036had some interactions with her in her current role at her current district and they have been all positive. uh she seems to be very thorough in her work and we think that she would um be an excellent candidate for that position with proper training and you know um with her adapting to the Southampton way of doing things. >> Thank you. >> Um I don't know if I can ask this question publicly. I think it's got to go through executive sessions. >> All right. Yeah. I mean, we she's multiple years of experience the job we're looking to fill. Um, you know, there's 14 steps in there, so we're not higher at the highest. You know, we're we're coming competitive to to match what's there. Um, she's worked with our outside claims auditor. She's done work with
037Colin and Janowski um in her current role. um it's a spot that we desperately need to fill and we're spending more than the difference on overtime every year um just trying to cover that stuff. So for us you you know in a reduction in that overtime we'll cover that and hopefully we're going to get along to our employee. She's been great. We're going to welcome her with open arms and um looking forward to it. So >> I do have one question. Yeah. Um >> I just want to address this. Um, can you tell me when we were interviewing um because we decided because it was decided to do to offer a higher rate, why what that wasn't offered to existing staff the opportunity because if it was posted at a lower rate and it was
038decided to come in at a higher rate, what is there how do we >> Well, I mean, the position has been posted um several times >> at the lower rate though >> at the lower rate but there was never indication that anybody was even interested. So if there was interest and possibly there would be a discussion of a possibility of a higher rate but since there was no interest the discussion never took place. >> Would you have attracted this person if it was just at the lower rate? I mean did she answer the call at the lower rate? >> No, she did not answer. Well, she indicated that she reached out directly to the district saying that she would be interested if she was making a comparable salary, which would uh when we consulted with
039civil service, they advised us that if we wanted to uh hire the candidate since she's already in the role as a senior account clerk, we can she can resign in her current position and she can be rehired and we can pay her at the salary that she's currently making >> and and she has the civil she's passed the civil service too and that was an issue with somebody >> serving in the >> in that position that served 12 days at one point that didn't have the title the >> correct she doesn't have to take a civil service test and that's why we had one of two options to hire her. It's the resign and rehire or she could have we could have done a transfer. the transfer would require for both districts to agree for
040a transfer. >> So that was one of the two options >> and then a current clerical employee did not have the civil service um >> that we needed. >> Well, off the top of my head, I can think of two people, three people in the district who currently have the senior account position. uh two of them are already at higher salaries. They are senior members of the unit. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Thanks. >> Uh just one other thing. I think we brought this up before when I first got on. Do we do an exit survey with these people that are coming in and then leaving so quickly? Um, I' I'd like to know, you know, why we why we couldn't retain them. Is it is it salary? Is it is it uh something
041else? You know, I'd love to know so we can kind of get get a control. I know this position has been posted, filled, posted, filled, posted, filled. Seems like there's a problem there, but you know, I'd love to know from those people on an exit poll. I don't know if we do that though. I >> we can certainly request we can't require but I can ask for that to be done by HR. >> Sure. >> To have an exit survey for our staff that are >> Yeah. I think that gives us a good idea of >> you know where we need to be better and >> uh and or or you know what works with the people that are exiting. Yeah. >> I'll put it in place. Thank you. Um I think that's everything on
042128. Now 154 was also um question brought up. Do we have >> We're just going to pull 154 out for separate action. Okay. Um All right. So let me All right, Chip. Here we go. Um, may I have a motion to approve 14.02, O2 16- 18 26- 30 32 42- 43 45- 46 50- 51 54 54- 56 61- 63 65 72- 74 79- through 82 96 through 100. Uh 102 through 105, 107 through 110, 112, 114 through 116, 119 through 120, 122, 124, 126, 131- 135, 137 through 140 40 142 through 1446 150 151 and 15 157 through 158 and 160 through 167. That's without your >> nice. Do I have a motion to approve that? motion. >> Do I have a second? >> I just want to clarify. Did you >> Those are the
043ones >> or No, >> no, those are the ones that we >> only >> those are out without the chaperone and without 128 and 12 and 154. Those are the ones were not pulled. So, do I have a second to approve that? >> Second. Um, will the clerk please call the role for a vote? >> Yes. >> Rodney C. Pearson. >> no, you >> Oh, yes. Sorry. All right. All right. I can maybe do all that work. [laughter] >> A little excited. >> Soon you sure would. >> Yes. >> Uh we're white. Yes. And Ruth B. White. Done. Yes. >> All right. Um, now may I have a motion to approve personnel items 1402, 14, 15, 19, 20, 22, 23, 25, 31, 33, 34, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 44, 47, 49, 52, 53,
04457, 60, 64, 66 67 69 70 71 75 77 78 83 84 85 86 87 89 90 92 94 95 101 106 [snorts] 111 113 117 118 121 123 125 127 29, 130, 136, 141, 145, 148, 149, 152, 153, 156, 159. >> I have a motion. Motion, do I have a second? >> Second. >> Um, will the clerk please call the role for a vote? >> Robert Zeppley, >> yes. >> Rodney C. Pearson, >> no. >> Sunni Sherwood Dudley, >> yes. Laura White. >> Yes. >> And Ruth B. White. Done. >> Yes. >> All right. Um, >> um, may I have a motion to approve personnel item 14021 128 as presented in the agenda? Motion. Have a second. >> Um, will the clerk please call the role for a vote? >> Robert Epley. >> Yes.
045>> Rodney C. Pearson. >> Yes. >> Sunher with Dudley. >> Yes. >> Laura White. >> Yes. And Ruth B. White. Done. >> Yes. >> Um, may I have a motion to approve personnel item 1402 154 as presented? >> Motion. Do I have a second? >> Second to approve. >> Oh, sorry. No, not sorry. >> To approve. >> One. >> Second. Second to approve. >> No, no, no. I thought we're voting. Oh, >> oh, the motion to vote on it. >> Um, call. >> Yeah, we'll we'll take a roll on 154. >> Okay. Robert, >> say no. >> No. >> Yes. >> Okay. Uh, Ronnie C. Pearson. >> No. >> Sun Sherwood Dudley. >> No. >> Laura White. No. >> And Ruth B. White. >> No. Um, I think we covered it all. Oh, the tabs.
046Okay. Um, may I have a motion to approve the minutes of the 10725 regular meeting and 10:21 25 work session meeting as presented? >> Motion. >> Second. >> Um, will the clerk please call the role for a vote? >> Robert Zachary, >> yes. >> Rodney C. Pearson, >> yes. >> Son Sherwood, >> yes. >> Laura White, >> yes. >> And Ruthie White, >> yes. >> Great. Um, unfinished business here. I know we have 16.01. Um before we get to that, I know I just want to address that we had the coach bus that was on the agenda for tonight that we removed um I think after kind of pulling the um the board here and the operations behind the management of the schedule and storage and drivers and stuff. Um that it's better that we
047just we're going to hold off on that um for the time being. So there's there was not put on, but I I know that I had a few questions about that from people today. So right now the coach boss is all on hold and um till further notice on any of that stuff. So I just wanted to address that. So the the last thing we the other thing we have is 1601 with the annual election planning here for 2026. Um so as everybody's aware, the board of elections used to provide us with the election machines and materials. Um, I'm gonna rely on Amy for most of this conversation because she does the elections. Um, and they are no longer providing those machines for us. They've given us an option where we can put in first
048come, first serve to get those machines, but I know there's an operational fee and cost every year to do that. And um, we kind of have to have a long-term plan, but I know with our election coming up, we've done paper before. So, I'm gonna throw it over to Amy to see what we've done before and and anything like that. >> Sure. Thank you. Um, so as you said, the SU County Board of Elections aren't going to be supplying us with the voting machines uh for Universal School Vote Day. Um, the costs for, you know, they're offering to give us, like you said, on a first come, first- serve basis, um, those machines for free. Um, but there are costs involved in that. Um, the district clerk lists, has been going crazy, um, talking about
049this. Um there's a cost with um training. You know, the S County Board of Elections used to provide us with a custodian of the machine on the day of the vote that would be there to help us in case anything broke down um to, you know, just assist in that. That would no longer be the case. We would have to uh get trained on how to do that. Um and that comes at a cost. Um, we would have to pay to have the pro the machines programmed. Um, we would also have to most likely have an increased cost for ballot preparation because those machines take certain ballots that we were able to purchase through the Suffach County Board of Elections bid uh so that we would no longer be a part of that process as
050well. And then of course the transportation and the storage of those machines would be completely at the responsibility of the district. Uh they did let us know that there are uh other companies that do sell new election machines, but again the cost of buying those is exorbitant. Uh we do typically have two machines at our annual budget vote. Um one that's like a regular machine and one that is set up in case we need any that we have any voter who um has special needs like with blindness or mobility issues. um those are even more expensive than the regular machines. Um and I just noted that um in 2020 with the COVID vote, that was the year that we were required by New York State law uh to send an absentee ballot. At that time,
051we had 8,211 registered voters in the district. And then we got back uh 2,19 paper ballots that we counted on June 9th. Um, we weren't able to start that count until 5:00 pm and all of them were counted by our uh 10 election inspectors that evening by 11:30 p.m. Um, and I still have that same system that we used and created um for that vote that worked very well. And I just wanted to give you the average number of voters in the last five years is we typically have an average of 685. So quite a bit less than that number that we counted that year. And um I also did an analysis uh thanks to the system that we use with poll we can actually tell the timing of when people come in to vote.
052And my suggestion uh for this year getting this notice so late in the year um because believe it or not I actually start planning for that election um in January. um actually start planning for it much before that but you know part planning for that in January would be to utilize paper ballots for this year. I feel confident that we could do that. Um one suggestion that I have is perhaps we could shift the poll hours slightly so that it's not so late of the night. Um, right now, uh, the poll hours have typically been from 10:00 a.m. to 900 pm and, uh, we could shift it by an hour. Um, if we did that, we would need to resend resend a consent agenda item that the board approved at the July 1st reorganizational meeting
053that set the date and the time of the poll hours. Um, and we could also, you know, look at hiring uh, election staff. uh in shifts since it would be a longer day. Um so I need a chairperson and an election inspector um that would be there throughout the day, but we could hire shifts of election inspectors um from like 8:30 uh in the morning uh to 10:30, 10 at night, but we could then have five election inspectors come in around dinner time. dinner breaks and then be there to assist with the counting of the ballots after the close. That all of that added together would be a lot less than paying for these machines and u programming them, the training of them, uh the paper ballot or the the machine ballots, all of that.
054Um, so again, I just need to know what you guys would like to do, but that would be my suggestion and probably the thing that I personally would be the most comfortable with and that would give us time. A there's some talk that there might be uh some legislation that comes from New York State that prohibits the Suffach County Board of Elections from doing this to us, but we can't really count on that. And there's also talk that Suffach County Board of Elections might decide to be benevolent and change their mind in some way. Um, but again, I feel like we have to plan as if this is going to happen. Um, because really we don't have any indication that it's not going to happen. Um, so that that's my suggestion. Again, um, that's totally
055the board's decision about the polling hours and whether or not we vote by machine ballot or paper ballot. Um, but again, that that's my suggestion and I feel fully confident in my election inspectors and the system that we came up with in 2020 that I spent months and hours literally crying about, but it worked out very well. Um, I think, you know, Jean was here at the time. I hope he would speak to that. Uh, [clears throat] that it worked efficiently and well, and we had a a good outcome for counting those all those paper ballots. And I really don't think we'd have 2 2,000 paper ballots that day. That's my ask. >> My real quick, we budget for poll watchers. We've paid We've always paid that. >> We always paid for election inspectors. I
056typically don't have 10. Um we um over the years have gone down in the number of election inspectors because we utilize old systems. So originally we used to um actually have people you know like when you come in and sign a poll book and then I don't know if you know remember the dates of the election inspector actually like handwriting your name and address and all of that. And then once uh once I got through my first election, um Bold worked with me to move to uh laptops, you know, a scan pin system of signing in. And now they actually have we use tablets like like what you see at the general elections where that's actually the poll book. Um and when we use those, we need fewer election inspectors. >> And we own those
057tablets. >> We don't, but we but we uh get those from Bold. um that that would not change for this year. Those tablets would still be used for our actual poll books. So that process would not change. It would just be the matter of um people coming to vote. They wouldn't, you know, circle in the the machine ballot and feed it into a machine. It was literally they would mark their um vote on a paper ballot that we could have printed and um put it into a um a ballot box that we would then count at the end of the night. >> Um yeah, I mean personally I I hope they reverse this and do something, but I do think we have to plan. um we didn't really budget to have the machines and stuff.
058So I think that doing the paper ballot at this year or at least as a plan um is good to set and then knock one maybe something changes with some county in the next month or two. But I think we have to I would I would probably want to take a vote here and then um we pass to to move forward the paper and explore that. And then I I also would be open to the idea of looking into maybe some kind of machines for next year, the year after. Um I see a little use of it within maybe we could use them in the schools when we do student elections and you know student council stuff and kind of teaching the kids how to go into the bowl polling place and fill out the
059ballots and stuff. But I I know none of that is budgeted and um throwing that on us right now would be um >> it was it was a shock. And just speaking of students too, just you know, we have Noah and Matea here and and I don't know if many people know that um we can hire election inspectors as long as they're over the age of 17. And so that might be something that, you know, students might be interested in coming in and assisting um with some of the shift work for the pole hours. Um they would, you know, know we could talk about whether or not that could be community service or whether or not they get paid that, you know, that could be decided. But you know that is something that entered my
060mind especially um given now that we are pushing more for student voice and more student involvement. Um so you know that is something that we could look at. think maybe there's some kind of club of seniors that want to like volunteer and [laughter] >> um do you guys have any um we do need to take a vote on this or we need to do a resolution or you can just a vote on >> Well, well, one there's kind of two separate things that we need to decide. One is about the paper ballot. So that um and actually I I think you know like [clears throat] we could do this at the at the work session meeting or at the December meeting. Honestly, I just wanted to open up the conversation and get that. Um but
061the two things that I need you to consider um is because we did or the board did pass um the um the resolution at the July 1 meeting that that the annual election would be held use utilizing uh machine ballots and the poll hours were set. So, I'm not so sure that we want to go into a rush like right now to change that, but I would like I just wanted to make you all aware of it. Give you time to think about it a little bit and then ask that we don't wait too long to change that. But I I think it would it would be appropriate if it's okay with you, uh, President Epley, to wait until the December meeting, okay? >> And then we can kind of get a game plan together.
062Um, you guys can think about what you would like to see as far as poll hours and how, you know, you might want to see that shift work. That wouldn't necessarily all be laid out in that resolution, but if we're going to change the poll hours, it would need to be included in that resolution to change from machine ballot to paper ballot. >> Okay. So, yeah, I think we're kind of we're all on board with going to paper and um what we'll do is we'll talk to our attorney about getting a resolution, what need those words need to be, and we'll we'll get it up and going in the next by December at least for us to vote on it and and move forward with that. Um, and I I did have a conversation with
063our attorney last week kind of about this because it was going to be on the agenda. I talked to Mike um and he said because of the additional costs and stuff and we do put propositions on there with some of those museums. So we should be having conver we can have conversations with them about maybe sharing some of that cost of the election because this is going to be an additional cost in our school. So for us to host their election might be a cost to those organizations that go on um as opposition. So, um, we'll be we'll be reaching out to those organizations too to to kind of fill them in on on this all. >> Yeah. And one thing that, you know, I know Jean is coming up on budget season, so you
064know, we are going to pursue um buying or utilizing our own machines from here on out. You know, that'll definitely impact the um line items for the annual election and and what goes on there. So, you know, we'll have to start talking about once we figure out what we're definitely doing for this year, what the future looks like as far as uh budgetary planning for or buying or taking those machines and and all the the ancillary costs that go along with that. >> Awesome. Thank you, Amy. Um, all right. So, we're gonna Is that any any other unfinished business we got to discuss? We're all >> Oh, Mr. President, I'd like to um >> respond to some of the questions about the uh patrol vehicle. Um >> Oh, yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. >> Wanted to
065get clarification. >> So, in terms of who will be driving the vehicle, um it's going to be primarily the director of school safety and the senior guard supervisor. Um but occasionally, um permission may be extended to some of the senior guards and possibly the lead guards. Um, as far as where will the car be kept overnight? Um, similar to the, um, facilities vehicles, it will be kept at the DO's parking lot overnight when it's not in use. Um, and what will be the primary use of the vehicle? Um, again, it's general patrol of the campus um to travel back and forth from the elementary school and the main campus. Uh, occasionally they may need it to travel down to the bus garage as well. Um, and also uh it can be used for transporting things
066such as cones and you know other security equipment from building or for from one place to another. Um also one of the primary reasons again for purchasing the vehicle is for more visibility. For instance, when we have events, uh the vehicle, if we equipped it with strobe lights and it has uh clear marking of the district logo and the colors, basically it can be a visible sign for participant at an event that may or may not be um school community because we do have other events on school grounds. So, these are some of the um reasons why uh the vehicle is being purchased. I love uh most of those ideas. Um if this vehicle is going to be out patrolling, making a presence at school uh with guards that are putting out cones and it's
067being used that way, that's great. I don't want to see, this is just me, it being just a personal vehicle for the head of security that it sits at the office and does nothing except maybe go out for lunch and go drop some papers at the I don't want to see that. If it's going to be used for those items that you're talking about, I'm for it. I'm with it. But I don't want it to be a department head vehicle just sitting around because the next thing you know we need another department head vehicle and another department head vehicle and it it just snowballs. So for me, keep it moving, keep it on the road, let it do what it's supposed to do, but I don't want to see it sitting. And soon as I
068see it sitting, I'll be calling. We're calling everybody. >> I want to see it. >> I I agree. I mean, I think of like the homecoming, having it out there on the when it was dark. I think of when we had the haunted hallways. We had it in the front kind of direct and track helping people as a presence. Um, I see that as positive. It's going to be wrapped with security, I assume, on the side and some, you know, whatever yellow lights or blue lights or I don't know if they can have red lights on the top. >> I don't think we can't have red lights. >> Okay. Yeah. So, but it'll be something where there's a presence. So, you know, at homecoming when it was dark out of the games, there's a lot
069of kids running around. She could have that and stuff. So, I agree. We should have that. It shouldn't be just going, you know, for personal rides. So, we'll look at it. Looking forward to getting it. And, um, thank you. Um, is there anything else under unfinished business? All right. Um, so public comments will be heard at this time. Um, Board of Education encourages public participation in school related matters at board meetings. Any group or organization wishing to address the board must first identify a single spokesperson. The presentation should be as brief as possible. Speakers will be permitted to speak up for up to three minutes. The board will not allow public session discussions involving individual district personnel or students. All stu uh speakers are to conduct themselves civily. Obscene language, letter statements, threats of violence,
070statements advocating racial, religious, and other forms of prejudice will not be tolerated. Persons making presentations at the board meeting will address remarks to the president. They may direct questions or comments to the board members or other district officials only upon approval of the president. >> Hi, Jackie. >> Hi. Okay. Um I just want to uh make a few comments about today uh with the uh I said a lot of stuff earlier today so I won't be repeating everything that I said but I would like to thank the uh the children the young the high school children the presidents uh the board members here and the other ones that participated in the uh thing today that I really um enjoyed listening to you and hearing what you had to say and part of the time I
071thought you were reading my mind, but I'm glad that you said what you said and you were really honest and true to us. So, I thank you very much. that made the SEAL day or professional day really worth being there uh because you let us know what we need to do and how to do it to make rising voices. Okay. So, I just want to say thank you very much. And the other part is I what I I hope that we really do what we really need to do to explain to people what seal mean and why we need it. Now um we don't need it's not another subject. It's not something that's not natural. It's just being a human being doing what we do all the time. What we have, we are social beings.
072That's natural. And we have emotions. So, it's nothing new. It's just like I say, it's uh just something that somebody wants to do to help us be better people. So it's to help us to build on what we already know and do what we already do and help our kid children be the better people for it. So let's be the examples of what socially emotional learning literacy and all that stuff is about because we were born to be social and we all have feelings. So let's be more sensitive to our children as well of our as ourselves. And my last point is is that I still believe that if we focus on health, social health, mental health, emotional health, if we teach our children, if we put in health, I was talking to someone at
073the elementary school, they has there's no health teachers. We have no health teachers. when we look at the health and wellness of then social emotional and all the other stuff will fall in place because it's all part of it. So for next year, I hope that we seriously look at hiring a health teacher for the elementary school, intermediate school, and the high school because it's very important and all these other things that the states and everything else hand down will be taken care of because we care about the health and wellness of our children as well as ourselves. >> Thank you. I I have a question too is is my daughter behaving and being good and not running in the hallways because you have permission to to ground her. >> Well, I'll tell her that
074because she's being very good and she's she she's going to get on your case when I talk to her about that. >> Okay. Tell her you're watching. >> She she knows she she says you have to let me speak. So, all right. [laughter] Um, best we're gonna we'll head on to to comments here. I'll save mine for the end. Chip, you got anything you want to tonight? We can stop here. Sunny, you got anything? Anybody? >> The parents and the students that all gathered for um the haunted hallways. Um, there's a lot of work that went behind the scenes and it was really fun to watch the kids collaborate and decorate and a lot of teamwork and lots of candy. So, it was everybody worked really hard and I'm really grateful that everybody stepped up.
075>> 234 pounds of candy. I had to weigh all of it. [laughter] >> Laura, you got anything? >> It's so nice having Mattea and Noah here. It's just so refreshing hearing your input. Um it's just really nice and I'm so glad that both of you feel so comfortable now that you're able to, you know, give us input every board meeting. So it's just nice having you with us. Great job. >> Good. Um Noah, you have some comments for nothing tonight. Okay, T, you got anything? All right. [clears throat] Been it's been a long meeting, a lot of talking, but um yeah, we just we had a we had a great week last week, so good looking forward to it. So, went to that veteran dinner, too, and that was that was an awesome thing and
076and good turnout. So, I just want to give a shout out to that. So, um with that being said, do I have a motion to adjourn the meeting? What is that at 8 motion? I have a second. >> All right. All in favor? There we go.