001anybody else does anybody else have questions um how was it at Stony Brook how many other teams did you sorry I'm getting everything wrong tonight um how many other teams were there for 48 teams were there uh two teams were from India uh quite large teams came from India this year we've had more International Teams come to that but this year I think those were the only two International Teams that came um a lot of the teams are quite large so like when we sit there and watch the teams go across the field sometimes there's over a hundred kids and over like 10 adult mentors and there's Southampton so um we did have 17 students actually attend the competition this year um it we have about 40 registered on the team and there are more
002students in the first robotics class as well that we're offering which is amazing I did catch a glimpse of them highlighting the event on News 12 a little bit were you guys wearing maroon because I think I saw you you were no Chef hats though but yeah oh black with the mer okay um I'd like to talk a little bit about my experience being on the team so right now I'm a sophomore so freshman year at the team I mean I was a freshman it was the first year I didn't I wasn't able to do that much but this year is one things really stepped up a notch for me for my role on the team so I had always been interested in coding learning how to do it and I had never really gotten
003a chance beforehand but this year because of the Necessities for the robot having to program it and all I was able to really build a strong foundation for programming and coding skills which is something I've always wanted to do and learn so in Mr so in some of Mr flug's class I'm my own time I've been able to be really proficient in Java which is what we coded this in and being on this team I don't know if I would have had the opportunity to learn it without it so being on this team really allowed me to pursue one of the things I wanted to pursue in life [Applause] yeah and to go a little bit in more depth about the coding um if you saw in the video the two periods that were active
004in the game were autonomous and telia so the autonomous absolutely everything for the first 15 seconds of the match had to be programmed by itself so if you can imagine the difficulties associated with that it was pretty challenging to get it working there was a lot of nitpicking a lot of tweaking to make sure it moved the right way turn the right way things like that and we ended up getting it working to what we wanted it to do so that was really awesome and then for the teleop section that was also a big challenge having to assign functions to each of the buttons on the controllers we used making sure everything flowed right for the drivers so they're able to control it to their hards extent it was a really big challenge trying to
005figure that out but in the end with the determination from me and the team were able to get that working very well fantastic we are extremely proud of all of you and thank you for giving up your free time this afternoon this evening to come and show us how to work this amazing robot and I just see you all moving forward with more and more success every year as you get to go back and do it again and I think but the by the looks on your faces you're all enjoying it so good for you thank you thank you thank you so much for having us a program to do your homework oh I'm sorry Proctor did you have a question or com no I didn't have a question I just have a comment first
006of all congratulations on all of your accomplishments and I just want to say I think it's amazing when we have the older students advocating for the younger students so that they can be ahead of the game so that they can be just as great as you guys are doing right now um great job Miss Mitchell it's a collective effort other mentors please stand just so everybody knows he is thank you Dr for all your support I know I make crazy with it but I love it like I'm sorry once we hit robotic season I'm like please forgive me because it was a season like January to now um but thank you everybody for your support you oh we have shirts for [Applause] everyone and also just uh I know it was stated but I cannot
007saving up the amount of time and effort that our mentors and our students put in I mean these guys are working into the evening hours on the weekends they're coming that's our teachers mentors our is supp students so when there are many other things to do these guys are in the school working long hours and hard so I know our club is typically like your 30 hours I think that was done in about the first first week or so um so just congratulations I'm just amazing everyone get a shirt thank you so much [Music] no Mor would you like to introduce our next absolutely absolutely the good news just keeps rolling in Southampton a Ste board we have a star we have many stars but we have a rord nice star amongst the ranks Christina
008Cel Dua can you please come darier my my apologies darier and also um Darren uh Mr Phillips if you can come up as well but um we're so proud of Christina she works at the Southampton Intermediate School as the family and consumer Sciences teacher she has been a Long Island fact teacher of the year let's give her she was she was presented with the award on March 21st at HRA I was at HRA on March 21st and I don't know how I didn't know but it's okay um she's uh this isn't the first time that she's been recognized for her out standing work as a classroom teacher in 2018 she was named New York agriculture in the classroom teacher of the year in the same year she was presented with a proclamation from suffle County
009Executives even bone for her Farm to school work we're extremely proud of you we understand you are an Irreplaceable and I just want to say thank you you so much for the hard work you are doing and the recognitions are an outward display of that hard work and I want to say thank you and I'll let Mr now thank you thank you so good evening it's my honor to speak on behalf of Christina duer um as you said she was recognized as the Long Island family consumer science teacher of the year for the past 10 years Christina has not only taught but inspired countless students here at sis uh her dedication to cultivating young minds in the areas of family consumer science has left a lasting impact and I'm excited to share just a few
010ways Christina's made her impact here um Christina has gone above and beyond in creating a learning environment that is both enriching and engaging she has served as an adviser of our Garden Club as well where she's integrated Hands-On experiences with Agriculture and sustainability in into her students daily lives under her guidance students have learned learned about growing freshh produce which is then usually used in the cafeteria in culinary classes um examples include lettuce Long Island cheese pumpkin squashes herbs carrots sweet potatoes and many more U all grown from our very own school garden while Christina was in charge with that um the garden to the cafeteria and the classroom program not only teaches students about food sources but also encourages healthy eating habits through the cafeteria composting project Christina has worked with students in GR
011factory8 helping them understand the importance of sustainability and waste reduction instilling values that they will carry with them beyond the classroom Christina is also been instrumental in forc during leadership and mentorship through the National jior Society where eightth graders read agricultural literacy books the fifth and sixth graders uh the initiative highlights Christine's believe in the power of peer-to-peer learning and advocacy for both agricultural education and environmental awareness um Christina has also LED efforts to give back to the community with this South Hinton animal shelter donation where she's created toys for cats teach them students compassion and value of helping others um Christina's contributions have not gone on notice um she's she's received over 13,000 maybe more in Grants more now I know I feel like once or twice a year she asked if I can
012write a supporting letter for some other Grant and she just incorporates it into her class which is just truly amazing what she's been able to do um I was hoping some of those kids might have stayed here that had her just as a testament to when when they had packed but but so anyway Christina's work extends far beyond the walls of the classroom through her tireless dedication to sustainability agriculture education Community involvement she's created an environment where students not only learn but also grow both as individuals and advocates for a better future her passion for teaching and commitment to making a positive impact on her students U is why she was deserving of this recog she is truly um she's truly a rock star ever since we hired her she's just been like so passionate
013and loves to keep come to work and teaching every day with a difficult group of eth graders at times but um I've had the opportunity to observe her many times she does so many great things one thing recently I remember was the Food Truck Rodeo is that it's called yeah that was great Derby yes that was great and um so anyway uh I just would like to congratulate Christina and hopefully she has a few words to say hi everybody um I just want to thank everybody who's supported me for last 10 years or so um I really am passionate about what I do um all family and consumer science Career and Technical education um so just thank you to everybody who supported me and you can see me on Wednesdays in the garden if anybody
014wants to come help clean up starting tomorrow um and start planting so thank you on behalf of the Board of Education and um all of the students in the district I love you um I just want to present this to you and just again say thank you and I I really really um I'm really proud thank you and I would love if we could take a picture with the board if that's okay um if we can just have come up here the board to your mind if we can come here um Jamie you're not getting out this picture [Music] yes good Christina do you want to introduce your family before you leave this is my husband uh James du this is Mason this is my mom s my dad Claus hello just wanted to add
015that when you come out today uh their last unit with knitting and sewing is on Full display in the display case on the way out so thank you thank you yeah thank you to Patrick for everything support yes thank you uh Patrick Mr Benson for everything appreciate you abely okay and at this time we will have a special education update from Dr dneo and so um we've been working really hard for the last five months that since Dr dneo has taken the Helm of the special education department so we're ready to share um provide an update of where we are and where we are going thank you Dr can you hear me yes well good evening everyone um thank you so much for having me here I'm excited to share about special education I know
016I was given only a certain amount of time but there is so much to say but I hope that what I am going to say will leave you with some information and if at any given time you have any questions or you need more clarification or discussion please do not hesitate to come and see me at the district office in our new place at 300 Hampton Road I just have to say that um how do I um I just love what I just experienced here with the students as well as with the teacher um who we're not sure but she might have graduated she graduated from Southampton so how great is that in 2008 so thank you thank you for that um just a couple of things um just basically um to keep you kind
017of aware um who's who in the PPS office um just acknowledging the importance of special education for all students meeting the needs of the student staff and parents having the opportunity to be initiated into your community which is great I I have to say the welcome that I have received has been tremendous and the fact that everybody knows everybody I've learned that too so I I meet people and sometimes I'm told that's my husband that's my my wife or my child and it's really exciting to be in a community where everybody knows each other and it has its pros and cons I have to be honest I'm not gonna you know lie to you but one of the things that I also want to discuss is the process of the annuals re-evaluations initials and prog
018program reviews um highlight some of the district commitments to inclusive practices that really is trying to meet the diverse needs of our students with disability as well as some refinement restructure and Alignment to the work that we're doing um so who's who in the PPS Department um I want to start off with Miss Hamilton she's our school psychologist for the elementary school who was put in the PPS office for the last couple of years and I'm grateful to have her as part of my team as well we work well together she really cares about the community the students she sees my vision and so that is something that I take really seriously and I really appreciate her as a person as well that really involves her work around working with teachers and staff and not
019just at the elementary but also across the intermediate as well as the high school I have nette Gail um who originally was with the PPS office many years ago and then went over to technology and then asked to come back and she's back with us and she works a lot around my scheduling and making sure that you know I'm on track with meetings and so forth and she specifically has been assigned one of the things that I did was to assign them to specific schools so I specifically assigned her to the high school as well as the out of District school so she works with them she's a bit more experienced she had the experience of working at the PPS off office so she comes with that knowledge and so I'm also glad that she's
020part of the team I also have a new member that started just like me Miss Erica Agera and um she's my bbal Spanish clerical secretary and she coordinates all of the elementary as well as the intermediate um CSC meetings setting those up talking with the case managers the special education Associates and also with families that need that translation when they're calling you need somebody in the office that speaks the native language as well and then I have Cindy um crumber who's my fiscal person she handles all of the purchase orders ordering supplies also of special education teachers at the schools and she really deals a lot too with the outside providers the contract um agencies and also those invoices and she works very closely with Jean who's our budget person thank you Jean um so
021what is special education I really hold special education really dear close to my heart because it's something that I really want to see um the process of it be seamless across the district the practice of providing everyone with an opportunity individuals with disability Education Act idea having the opportunity to meet with parents that are very passionate about their children and their Wellness provide a free appropriate public education for all students with disability and I have to say because I'm talking about special education it's not just that but all children even those that don't have um a disability I'm looking at everything individualized education program the IEPs that's what really guides the practice of the work that we do to support our children once they're eligible what services do we put in place to be able
022to support them to be successful I don't expect them to be forever in special education but I want them to be able to have the opportunity to have the tools and the strategy to move on to a least restricted environment what does that mean well that means that they are also in the mix with children that don't have an IEP that have the opportunity to engage why do we have to restrict there are situations where we have to go more restricted it and that is because we're looking at what services we can offer or we cannot offer in the district so I like I said I was welcom very much into the district with staff I did meet our transitional coordinator who was great to say to me Dr D you want to know what
023programs we have across the district I'm going to give it to you that's Jenifer Lewis and so I was able to say okay I need to have a picture of what is being provided across the district so one of the things with the elementary school which is grades prea 4 um classes when we say 8 to one to one that is eight children one special education teacher and one assistant in the classroom what where I came from we call them power professionals um so this is for kindergarten and grades K1 and two so it's a bridge class so where we have students that maybe require a little bit more that contain setting so when you hear 8 to1 to1 or 12 to1 to1 12 students one special ed teacher and one assistant as well the
024integrated C- teaching class when we think about that class we're thinking about two teachers we have a general ed teacher and we have a special ed teacher in that class there might be times in that class too where you're going to have a onetoone Aid helping a student but we also have children that are non in that class so we're able to integrate our children into a program such like the ICT we have reading support though I'm looking at reading across and that is something that I will talk later on about that refinement and that restructuring the elementary program at this point does not have a 15 to1 class model or resource room services but that's something that we're looking towards um to provide for our children if we could get them to read early
025on and build that Foundation then seamless process will happen as we go along in the intermediate school again not to repeat myself but they do have a 15 to1 class it's available to the grades 5 through eight and we do it as subjects as well integrated go teaching and here we have resource room and reading support as well thank you and I have to say my work has begun in the district but I have to say and I have to give a shout out to our administrators in the schools I have Dr Fernandez Dr Benson and Dr Zan and their APS who work so much and just having conversations with them and sitting about children just makes such a big difference and what makes a difference to is that I was once a principal so
026I know where they are and what they're going through so this is I thank you for that um the high school um grades 9 through 12 again providing life skills classes that 12 to 1 to1 that one class for ages 14 to 18 and the other one to 18 to 21 then we can go to 22 and that's okay but that's also helping students to be able to function outside in an environment that sometimes people are not very nice to students with disability and when I mean outside I mean in the world so helping them to have a better understanding of what it means to go to the store right what it means to go and buy something what does it mean to greet someone and I really appreciate that because they need that and
027we need to help them to become more independent so those are things that I'm looking at as well the integrated called teaching across resource room and reading support so we think about the csse review process in the website um in our website you can see this a special education um section where we talk about the process we have initials what is initials initials could come from the parent a request for an evaluation or it could come from the school every school has what we call SST which is they come together as a team to talk about students where are they in the scope of the practice of the school are they doing well they look at their Diagnostics their benchmarks they look at what services they may need before we make a referral sometimes I'll
028send back the packets with questions can you provide me with data can you provide me with an opportunity to know this child a little bit more let me go visit this child in the classroom let me go see who this child is if a parent is making a request we never turn that away but it gives me an opportunity to talk with the parents and ask them tell me why you want your child refer tell me what we can do to support I'm not quick to label children or classify them and I'm going to say that because it takes a lot but I also have to listen to my parents right I need to kind of understand because I just don't look at children by their names or by the way they look I look
029at their life what is going on at home why are you telling me that this kid is falling asleep in the classroom is it affecting their work yes but let me find out why they're falling asleep maybe something happening I need to find out the other thing is as a committee once a child is referred and the parent gives consent to have this child evaluated we have to do a psychological educational a social history an observation we have to have an updated physical exam and guess what maybe the child needs speech maybe the child is going to need OT maybe the child is going to be pH need Physical Therapy we have to send out for these evaluations we have to come back as a committee and this committee I'm not the only one making
030the decision and I make it clear it is a collaboration and I'm happy to have you know people that have been in meetings with me and that understand that this is a practice that that it's a collaboration I will come out and say well you know what now that we've heard from everyone because everyone has to have an input you have to have a general a teacher you have to have a special net teacher you have to have a guidance counselor if there's social emotional things going on you have to have a psychologist who's going to report on those evaluations if there's a speech evaluation you going to have a speech provider there if it's OT or PT they have to be there to report so those are the things that we look at and
031then we determine thises this child meet the eligibility to me Services we go into annual reviews annual reviews oh boy we have numbers annual reviews are for those students that already have had in IEP so we have to review it every year and what are we reviewing for to find out are they meeting the goals are they still eligible do they still need more service or they don't so those are the things we work as a team I'm happy to say that in each school we have a special education associate at the elementary we have Mr Jesse Phillips in the middle in the Intermediate School we have Megan Bennett and in the high school we have saarah Robinson so what what did I do in my first couple of weeks here was to meet with
032people get to understand how things are rolling how things were going and it is through them that my office works with them so that they can also work with the case managers who are the special education teachers at the school where we set up meetings where we get together and we have to invite everyone again the CSC the committee on special education and then we go to the re-evaluations those are three years what are we looking at so if this child has had an IEP for 3 years all right now it's time to reevaluate them let's see if the work that we have been doing is actually making a difference and guess what it could happen before at any given time but we give ourselves those three years to see if the work that has
033been put in place for these children are making a difference some of the common disability categories we have 13 classifications autism spectrum disorder death blindness deafness emotional disturbance which was also emotional disability hearing impairment intellectual disability which is also learning disability multiple disabilities Orthopedic impairment other health impairment specific learning disabilities speech or language impairment and traumatic brain injury as well as visual impairment including blood bless preschool in itself they have their classification but for this purpose here I want you just to take a glance at those classifications because what I did was look at who we have classified in this past year and still looking at data who I have to thank John who's here who was very helpful with that as well to look at what are the major classifications that we have in
034our district so this is cpsc which is the committee on preschool special education which is handled by Esther aler o'keef and she chairs these meetings I just wanted to kind of put it out there who are some of the agencies that work with us alternative for children subet County as well as um kids therapy our disability snapshot what are we looking at if you look at we have all of the classifications listed we also have our groups and when we think about our groups we think about our race group as well ethnicity um I'm not I'm looking at this but I want to bring it to where I want to talk about the classifications so we have in the elementary school we have children that are classified um in these classifications which is autis un
035learning disability multiple disabilities Orthopedic impairment other health impairment preschool students with disability those are our pre and speech or language impairment in our intermediate school if you notice from autism now we have emotional disturbance right they're a little older so we're trying to figure out what could be happening um with that social emotional peace are they feeling that they're in a place where they are in their own bodies you know in middle school Intermediate School is so different developmentally learning disability multiple disabilities other health impairment and speech and language as well in the high school we have autism we do have the emotional disability and the emotional disturbance which goes hand in hand intellectual disability learning disability multiple disability or Orthopedic impairment other health impairment and speech or language impairment so what I did was
036I broke it down and um out of those 13 classifications I'm going to tell you the ones that are the most pronounced in our district which is also setting the tone for me to start looking as how are we classifying our children and what things we need to put in place so when we look at of the 13 autism is one of the one of those that fall under the five learning disability speech and language impairment other health impairment and multiple disabilities and so that those five out of the 13 are what has the heaviest numbers of students that are classified in our district so my work is to really look at and help our schools to be able to think about how we're working with the children that they're falling into these classifications and
037what things we can do to help prevent some of those going into those classification so I just have this cartoon kind of picture there and I'm asking you please if you can what do you see it could be anyone from the audience at the point I guess he's thinking about the many over the few and not like it says if you Shuffle the ramp we can all get in okay anybody else want to add to that that's inclusive of all I'm sorry that would be inclusive of all Shing ramp can roll up the ramp or they can walk up the ramp absolutely when we meet the needs of those who are in most serious need we need the needs of all students absolutely and so I'm sorry everyone absolutely and so that when it says
038can you please shovel the ramp and the person is saying you know all these other you know kids are waiting to use the stairs when I get through shoveling them off then I will clear the ramp for you but if you shovel the ramp we can all get in and that's something called The Universal Design for Learning how do we design a system that allow allows for our children who are very diverse in their learning to be able to be successful and that's the work we have to do so when we think about refinement restructure and Alignment I'm going to be honest with you I came in wanting to get to know what has been or has not and getting to know people when you come into a system which has been functioning for a
039while or not you come in wanting to know what's going on what has been or not if something's working we're not going to fix it we're going to go with it but we're going to refine it and I'm at that stage right now I'm coming back to meet with groups of people to be able to talk about the next steps for us when I think about the district I want to say um thank you Dr moral and thank you to the board for allowing us to really enhance the work around social emotional learning I have a a book that I'm interested in kind of sharing and it's keeping the students at the center if everything that we do revolves around them and that we look at them as a whole and not just as a
040part we're going to get places building relationships and that starts with us it starts with us it starts with me in an office where I'm coming in and people are used to doing things your way and it's okay but we got to have change and change is good sometimes people don't like change and I say this to you all with due respect that if there's ever a question or anything that you need clarification that comes to you please come to me ask me I'm not I'm just a block away I'm going to wear my sneakers and start walking to the schools but please don't have hesitate my doors are open my phone number if I know people are live streaming 6 31591 4531 don't hesitate my voicemail is working but please my doors are open
041email me and know that I will get back to you thank you very much and I appreciate this time [Applause] she good first of all it's a pleasure to meet you I know we haven't had the opportunity to meet so welcome and thank you for this presentation it's very thorough I really appreciate it um my question to you is looking at the CSC review process between initials and eligibility determination what's the time frame generally so we have 60 days okay so yes um we everything we do is um through the regulations part 200 and idea um we have 60 days but we have to make sure that once we get we open that like we clock it in to IEP direct that the it starts rolling so which means we have to we have to
042create what we call a consent form which is uh pwn where we're sending it out to the parent at the language for which they speak indicating that we need to determine eligibility so we have to perform these tests which is a psychological educational social history observation we need an updated physical and if there's any other evaluations that are happening we need consent from the parent the social workers at the school this was something that um I kind of changed in a way and they were very receptive was to have the social workers not send or my office just send the initial intake form to the parents by mail because guess what I could never determine if it's going to get to them right and I could never assume and this is something that I hope
043very seriously I could never assume that everybody's going to read and understand what they're getting so when they meet with the social workers which is great we have two in the elementary school we have two in the intermediate and we have three in the high school and they will do the initial meeting with the parents to talk about the Safeguard notices the procedural Safeguard notices their guide to special education which we also send home but they will go over it with and that is how we start we get consent and then we start everybody starts psychologist we have one which is Miss Hamilton who's with me in the elementary school we have one in the intermediate and we have one in the high school they will take it on I have to say I forgot
044to mention Dr binsky Who is working with us part-time and he's great he's doing evaluations with us he's sharing um meetings and the process is we have that amount of time to just to clarify day one is the day of consent day one is the day one is where we clock it in so let's say for instance you send me a referral that you want your child to be evaluated the first thing I'm going to do is I'm going to reach out to the principles and find out and say did you know that this parent is requesting if they don't know what I usually say is we have a 10day window to get to the parent and ask them tell me why you want your child evaluated is there anything that we can do with
045regards to interventions just to see speak to the teacher we want to know is this child doing well what could be happening if all is said that the child needs help then we clock it in and from that day that clocks in the time starts to click yeah okay thank you you're welcome go ahead I just want to say thank you for such a comprehensive and Baseline of the program what you do going over 121 ons and you know 81 ones and because parents don't know this information right and they don't feel like they can ask it and for you to give out your phone number to go over this program and lay it lay it out like you did um very impressive and very thankful and that is that piece that you can't go
046back and say well I never said that because you're holding yourself accountable absolutely community so thank you absolutely and like I I've said I'm going to um I want to introduce myself too to the shinika community as well because everyone needs to know this is not this is not a secret if parents have questions it's okay we're not going to run from that because if we run from that then what are we doing we have to be able to educate everyone and if someone doesn't understand let's just help them to understand because it's a lot when it comes to special it's not an easy task and so like I mentioned in the beginning I've been initiated and I'm still being initiated because there are things that are that are happening I'm not here to talk
047about the past I'm here to talk about what we can do now and how we can move forward but moving forward with an understanding that you have a clear sense of what you're signing to what are you signing for cassette why are you asking for this I'm not debating a parent I'm just want them to understand understand this is what it is so thank you for that I appreciate that any other questions I don't have a question I'm just pay you back off what said we were G to speak at the same time and I just want to say thank you again for your full transparency and for that amazing presentation thank you getting your feet right on the ground and R it's still happening trust me but thank you I appreciate that I really
048dok you yes and I appreciate everyone please Bor if you need me to talk to you about the process don't hesitate because what happens is sometimes people talk talk talk talk talk talk but you need to come to the source and the source is here and I don't have anything to hide and I don't have any ties to anyone right now so my only ties my only ties right now I'm going to be very honest with you it's to the children to the children and to the parents that I'm meeting because they sit with me in a meeting and I feel them and I understand and reading is something that's very important and we have to start reading reading and writing first grade they can read The Gap is going to become bigger and bigger
049okay thank you very much everyone I appreciate you [Applause] all thank you excellent presentation Dr Joo um at this time I just want I have two items so the first one is is in regards to the issue of the days the day the days that the operational unit as well as the SDA those days that they have off per contract um so it is that if we use fewer than three snow days the operational unit um is entitled to two additional days off and Marcus does a really good job of working working that out so that we always have coverage um and the um sta is also um requires uh a day off and we have three and so um I just want to let you know I'm going to be bringing on April 1
050for your consideration that we have the uh as in past practice but have the May 23rd which is the Friday before Memorial Day uh that would be District Clos and also I would like April 21 the day after Easter or after this spring recess to also be off so just to biggy back on that these are um days that we have because we did not use snow days this year so that's worked into our calendar okay that's great everybody likes another day off yep and finally um I am just so excited to um number one say that we finally have sent our uh MBK action plan to the state for approval and number two that we have Bridge Hampton as our community partner um once that's approved they are our state recognized Community partner and
051it's just been amazing working with um Miss Canon over at bridg Hampton um and they have provided um an intensive and very uh beneficial leadership development program here at the South um Hampton High School for now as they become our partners there will be other times when we have literacy initiatives that they uh work with us on um and other uh supports there's a robotics uh supports for uh um um elevating um the children of color participation in robotics I would like to see that here as well so we're really really happy to have sou uh to have bridg Hampton partnering with us and as part of the most recent leadership development program that they offered um here in District last week There's also that opportunity that if you participated in that you would be
052able to attend the NBA Nicks game and so they they provided for that um no funding has come through the district for that that this is our partner this these are how Partnerships will work and I'm so happy to have Dr Zan in there and his team um partnering with us so um we're able at this time um this is a first opportunity so we're able to offer the opportunity to the cabinet the MBK program and I want it to be fair because all of our MBK um many of our MBK young men are also on the basketball team and as I looked across the basketball team when we include the MBK there were only two boys left on the basketball team and so I felt bad about badly about that so I included the
053basketball team but there would be many other opportunities I I look forward to working to provide these elevat High leverage opportunities again and again and again with not just brid Hampton we're thankful to S who also provided for our buses and our food but um working with other um organizations as well because that's what Partners do um they work with us they see a need and they come in and they address those needs in alignment with our goals so I'm very excited about that event I'm very excited about that this came from the cabinet themselves um they wanted to do something special and I saidwell you you know you have to learn how to be kind to you know these leadership developments you heard to learn about community service and how we you know help
054in our community it's a whole it's a whole thing um that youth organizations do so I'm just happy to have bridg Hampton on um as our partner just like we have heart of the Hamptons just like we have rotary and all those clubs so I'm sorry organization so I look forward to this and um I also look forward to the bridge Hamp Child Care Recreation coming to the meeting and um presenting as our new nbk partner thank you I have a question um I I know I we kind of touched on this a couple meetings ago about the nbk program but now that we're going to the state to get being designated as an nbk um what's the word looking for community community um can you just you just um clarify so I know that
055for the high school the MBK program is strictly for the shinik because of the grant we got how long is that Grant when will it be open to other um young men of uh of color so that it's more inclusive rather than exclusive so the um the MBK grant that we currently have is was WR it's an indigenous Grant and so it was written um for the our indigenous student populations and we have that for at least another year um we are inducting um what we call fellows before the community Grant be before we became we had to become an MBK community and we're still in the stage of being approved but um once that is approved and I I I'm very uh hopeful I think we have a strong action plan that we submitted
056which I gave you all copies um we will induct fellows on May one and within that at that time we will um be inducting um not just shinok um students although we will also be inducting shinok students so the really the community component starts on May one and can you elaborate on sorry I I was just thinking what you're saying explain me again the fellows so the MBK fellows are New York state recognized um Scholars for the um my brothers K program and there is a an entire series of leadership development um programming that they do throughout the year that is state funded um you can't be in a you can't have an nbk fellow program without have being a recognized nbk Community which is also huge because there are only um I think about
05730 recognized communities across the state um and so what that does they they have book studies where they read and they learn about um you know um um what it is to be a young a young man of color in in in America and how to be a leader and how you know CI Civics and citizenships and um their extraordinary experiences high level high leverage experiences um that they otherwise would probably not re um and so it also includes tutoring mentoring opportunities um it's a lot of what the shinok uh program has already laid out for us I'm I'm no expert on the nbk program but what I read about it and how Obama how Obama created this it was meant for all young men of of of color so I'm just a little surprised
058that the state has allowed our district to have a program that is exclusive and not inclusive sure so in 2018 or 19 Nick Dino actually introduced that program to the district he contacted myself and Sean Smith that started uh a group called shenok Leaders of Tomorrow and we worked with young men on shenik reservation um that were in need of mentoring um like most children are the the New York State indigenous program was specifically written by New York State education department for indigenous children there are several around the state of New York there are um I believe 13 districts in the state of New York that have an indigenous population and so across the state that indigenous population was suffering in proficiency um in scoring test scor so it wasn't just Southampton so Nick contacted
059myself and Sean and said hey there's a grant that needs to be written for indigenous children and that was the first introduction and so we took that and we wrote it and we've been running it ever since excuse me and that came in through the presentation of MC Dino actually I don't remember that but I was just I'm just I wasn't clear on that this that the pro MBK program could be race specific I thought that it was for all communities yeah so when Obama started this in 2014 it was young men of color and then States as you hear now in the education department and we want states to run that Pro New York State came up with this program this indigenous program which is actually very inclusive on territory you have children on
060ter teritory whose uh siblings may be from chinika but they're not from chinika because they came from and within that indigenous program it State native children or those from native communities that identify as native so it is inclusive in that sense but that program was specifically written and worded for indigenous children in the New York States now the nvk communities branches out to all children which is what we've been talking about for the last couple of years is expanding the program but we also needed help doing that because there's very few people working on it um so slowly that is coming to fruition now but it was and still is for at least two more years there is funding for indigenous children only but the communities expands that okay I mean I understand your explanation
061you're open to goad finish we're we're open to write other grants now so we'll we'll always have have our indigenous Grant but now by becoming a community it will be more inclusive of course but the other pieces that now we are we're opening ourselves to like the challenge Grant and other major grants so the indigenous Grant is a it's well the philosophy and the mission of the MBK program I think is a very beneficial one for for young men of color and just I just have never in our district witnessed a club that was exclusive so that's what surprises me that that was well remember the need the need from New York State said this population of indigenous children are at the bottom in certain proficiencies well that might be the case but we have
062My Sister's Keeper we have other clubs that welcome anyone who has the interest to participate and that's why communities is coming about but the grant originally was not a Southampton Grant it was New York State all right as long we're going to open it up because there are other families that do want to participate and that feel that they're being exed have many children that could benefit from the program so as long as we're we're moving into that direction what the community is all about and now it's on the state's table and I look forward to it being approved expeditiously excellent thank you and Dr Morel the cabinet your superintendent cabinet yes you can any student apply to to be part of the cabinet or how did you select those students to be in the
063cabinet or so if students like that we're not turning a student down that wants to be in a cabinet okay so that's number one I really leaned on Dr Zan because he he knows the students my requirement was that I get a diverse group of students um that want to be there um not necessarily your your you know h Ro students but students that want to have a voice um to to help me listen to them about the needs of our district because I listen to everyone but the clients that I'm serving the most are the students and so it's in critical it's critical for me to know what they're thinking how they're receiving us how they're receiving teachers how they're receiveing of everyone they are the client they are who we are serving so
064would never if a student wants to participate I just had a student jump on most recently um on the cabinet we certainly are open to that so I um I did tell Dr I asked Dr Zan if he might be able to get me across section of students that would include and be representative of the diverse student body that we serve and that's what that's what on the cab said yes absolutely thank you can ask one more question absolutely so the brid Hampton child Care Center provided the funding for the trip tomorrow yes so brid Hampton isn't trying to be an MBK Community either or they they they are they are they are Partners so are Brampton students the Brampton school or the child care center child Center Center are other students outside of our
065school joining up tomorrow the bridion Child Care Center have yeah they have students that are coming they tomorrow yeah they have 20 okay they have 20 they have their own staff yes thank you but some of those 20 are also some of our kids they they have kids from bridg Hampton Southampton they're across the board yeah there yeah I mean like I think going to an next game is great work from the kids um it's no cost to the school at all best bampton childcare donated the um the tickets on there and then um you know thank you to S and Andrea and you know they um they had a grant from the fall that was unexpected that they had the money for that was unused um so they're using that money to pay for
066the buses they're not um going in there because I know there was some concerns with them being getting taxpayer money but none of that is going towards the trip so this is a free trip not paid for by any tax dollars and the kids are going to get to go enjoy Nick game and it's great and that's that's kind of what we're trying to clarify here and it's an elevated it's an elevated experience for our students who otherwise would not I mean we do have a lot of children that go to Spain and Italy and they're going all over the place but there certainly you know we talk about uh the experiences that our students are being provided but we need to provide well-rounded experiences for all children and and again that's why this didn't
067really come in front of our board because there was no taxpayer involment on this so just want to clarify for people that had questions resources I liked how the robotics team did a lot of the students were involved in the fundraising and the grant writing that sounded like where those kids know how when they leave Southampton and they're in the workforce that they know how to do those kind of leadership skills is that something that would be included next year maybe for part of the cabinet or the ndk well I had thought about it but something I would just like to say I have attended a lot of the nbk meetings and I've listened to the young men speak just amazingly about their experiences some of them started out and wouldn't speak in front of
068crowds now they can stand up here and wow us all so if we can invite them to show us the hard work that has been already in place and that we're going to continue to expand upon I think that would be great I think any extra opportunity that we give our students to learn and in life is worth it um just have to you know get it out there get it across the board and thank you I think this is the start of something that that that's great that we'll be able to you know include different groups of kids as time goes on and I just want to point out to one more thing about the buses um they're using guys using mon talk bus company that is so it's not even Southampton bus is
069going nope nope thank you okay if there's nothing else then I'm going to throw the ball to Mr Moo for round two the exciting bu I'm sorry I made a mess of all the papers you gave me that's okay thank you madam president you're welcome I know you've been patiently waiting for the most excited part of know since I missed the last running into your office to get my binder so excited you don't have to vocalize it I can feel it thank um so this is a continuation of the my first presentation um so um the first slide is the tax cap of course uh we have to be in compliance with the New York State um tax cap um law which limits the tax capap anywhere between 1% and 2% depending on the rate
070of inflation so for the 2025 2026 school year the cap will be the maximum of 2% uh same as the previous year uh in terms of uh comparison last year the um this year the tax levy is being set at 64,8 39626 and last year the final tax levy and I want to stress the final tax levy was 62 m99 4331 because the tax levy the voters approved back in May of 2024 was a million dollars higher uh the reason why it's reduced by a million is because at the end of the school year when we complete the financial statement when we have fund balance um I usually have the discussion with the audit and finance committee as to whether or not they want to commit some of the funding left over to reduce the
071tax levy and last year we reduced the tax levy by a million dollars uh so the year-over-year change from 2025 to 2026 is 1,899 295 or 3.02% again that amount may change depending on what we have left over at the end of this school year and whether or not the board want to commit some of that money to further reduce the tax Lev as you can see the prior incre um increase was reduced to 1,188 195 or 1.92% uh the next um slide is a fiveyear look back of what the total budget and the tax levy have been since 2022 and this year the total budget is being set at 82 million 23646 which is 2.3 million year over-year increase or 2.88% uh in terms of the tax levy as I mentioned in the previous
072slide uh the tax Lev is 64 million 839 626 1.8 or 1.9 million year over year increase or 3.02% uh in terms of percentage the tax impact um so basically the tax impact gives you a representation of how the uh tax rate has changed year over year so in this current year the tax rate was 2.97 uh over a th000 uh and the tax rate as it is right now for next year is 2161 uh which is a 3.02% increase if you want to look at the uh house what that is currently assessed at a million doll that would translate into U tax liability for 2026 of 2161 for $633 uh increase from the previous year and the other two amounts just represent what a $2 million assess value would be versus the median home
073value in Southampton which is 2, 21925 which uh tax liability would be for uh house assess at that value would be 4,000 3 6938 or a yearly difference of 12793 the next slide again just gives you another representation of what the tax impact will be for thousand for 2026 versus what it is for this current school year uh again um the next um sentence or the next U paragraph is about the house values and how much the tax rate would be this year versus what it was now u in the next slide I want to give you a representation of um what a tax bill would look like um from the town of Southampton and this rate is actually for another school district in within the town not Southampton and if you look at the
074taxable value for that property is $663,000 and and you'll see the highlighted section which is the tax rate for that District of 6.5 64 and the annual tax the school tax portion would be $ 4,315 70 which represent 74% of their total tax bill okay if you look at the bottom the total tax bill for that particular um house or property is 5,824 again this is for a district within the town that is not South the next slide gives you a tax bill for a house assessed at the same value within the District of Southampton so our tax rate for last year for fiscal year 2024 was 2.07 six there's a little roundoff difference in the from the previous slide but that's same house in the district would give you a tax bill a school
075tax bill of 1, 39134 which represent only 45.5% of the total tax bill the total tax bill again for a house of the same value than the previous District would be 3, 5874 so uh if you again want to do a comparative analysis the tax bill in the school district of South Hampton is much lower than that other District that shall remain nameless I [Music] name the next slide is um a reference to our capital reserve that will be under ballot for uh this coming upcoming vote um as usual we usually use some money from the bus fleet Reserve to um purchase new buses something that's new this year we're looking at purchasing a bus that is similar to a coach bus that will allow us transportation for our team sports and if we have
076out of town trips that bus will come with a bathroom it will have a luggage compartment so um I forgot to tell Dr Morel the company what what it's it's similar it's a school bus but it's built specifically to allow I don't other districts but how would you decide which team gets sorry I know Sor so this is in consideration right now it's not set in stone so we still have time to discuss but uh this is a proposal that's being put out for the public knowledge so we're looking at purchasing two well one large bus 66 passenger bus and two smaller buses 24 passenger buses and possibly the coach bus we also have a proposition to take money out of the capital reserve on the the oh sorry we have to reestablish the capital
077reserve for a bus fleet rep placement because I realize that um those Capital reserves are set for a period of 10 years so the current capital reserve for bus replacement actually expired in 2019 because it was initially set in 2009 so what that means is um whatever funding we have in the current Reserve has to be spent out and any money that we have to put into the reserve has to go into the no one once it's established we also will be using some funds from the capital reserve uh the 2017 capital reserve which is the reserve that uh Mr the silver uses for the um Capital Improvements in the school buildings so uh he has several projects listed here um I will not read them all but um he has the parking lot resurfacing
078um renovation of bathrooms I believe at the SC uh renovation of the kitchen at es refurbishment of the gym floor in this building uh purchasing a roll on freezer and single door refrigerator uh digital sore and sound board for the high school gymnasium uh the renovation of an elevator uh in first FL air conditioning installation uh at the shs uh um installation of the district office sign so it's a many projects uh to the tune of $5 million Mr mang before we go too too far why was the um bus fle replacement capital reserve not renewed in 2019 actually that was my Omission it wasn't until I actually went to the original Reserve I realized that it was set for in it was initially um established in 2009 so once I realized that I determined
079that we need to to renew it the uh next item is the reserve for the um District um the property acquisition and um that's the money that we use to purchase the new do and renovate the new do there's a balance in there of about 860,000 so we are requesting permission to use the balance of the funds to finish everything in the district office there are still some remaining uh work to do in in the building and finally the uh capital reserve for um technology replacement which uh Miss pel uses to update our equipment our technology equipment so she has several items here on purchasing of smart panels LC panels for instructional spaces workstations and servers printers and uh I believe you also have iPads and Chromebooks a sound system for the Press Box U
080Etc these are just some gra graphical representation of the budget or summary of the budget uh into the different components so the general support instruction which is the major component of the budget um Transportation uh Community Services employee benefits um and Debt Service so this is a a graphical representation the biggest component is um instruction that's you know all teachers salaries and anything that has to do with um classroom activities General support is usually your school leadership um you know pay um salaries Etc um employee benefits is also a big component of of the budget uh this is another representation in to different components is more of a Consolidated uh representation of the budget so um 76% goes into programs um 15% is capital so those are all the um that's the budget for Mr
081the silver facilities and grounds um and administrative which is 9% of the budget um the next slide uh talks about the different Revenue sources to fund the budget um New York state aid uh which represent about 4% of the overall budget the tuitions that we received from takaho uh the tuition that we receive from New York state for um the Native American student population um appropriation from the reserves and um the other multiple smaller uh funding sources and tax Lev of course which is the majority share 79% of the overall budget and this is just a pie chart representing the table that I just showed you in the previous report um tax levy 79% Taho 6% New York state aid 4% Native American 7% and a propriation from reserves 1% and all the other categories
082make up the remaining 3% and the final slide is uh basically a graphical representation of you know all the other funding sources and that has to equal to the revenue to have a balanced budget and now I'll open it up for any questions oh Mr Mingo I have so many questions for you okay so so so many questions for you um I'll start with the sound board for the Press Box didn't we recently redo the sound system I know we got the new scoreboard and correct I'm pretty sure the sound I mean the elementary school needs a new sound system if we're going to talk sound systems because she we have programs there and you can't hear a thing anybody say well so I would like you don't have to answer I'm going to go
083through my list love it problem so I would like to know the last time we updated that sound system at at the SCS at the high school field well the high school actually if you want me to speak about it and Dr Z can chime in it's in in regard to the graduation that the decision was made now well no as of the next graduation is going to be out back outside yes yes so uh we need to upgrade the Sy system if that's the the intent is to have graduation Outdoors uh so that we don't have put for we don't have to rent equipment in the future so my next question is going to be about this big bus yes how often will we use it how long is it going to sit still
084at the bus garage who gets to use it how do we choose who gets to use it and I'd rather see new windows in the elementary school gymnasium than buy a bus because on top of that hear what they're saying I can't Brea in there yeah um and I'm looking at you because you're my budget guy um so for me that bus is a big hard no Community absolutely not um I'd like to move on then to our [Music] um tuitions um maybe the next meeting you can give us an update on how much money we have received for the takaho tuition this year and also the native American to wish well you have it here um but just to you know make sure we're on track with what we've receive and where we are
085um with that I know that some things with Federal funding are going to be changed a challenge um with the Department of Education being um obliterated um so well those would impact mostly the grants uh the Assa grants the ID grants those other federal dollars that we receive um is there a way for the next meeting or the following meeting in April to find out um what grants are out there and open that we haven't received our money and if there are any well the federal grants are what we call reimbursables so basically you have to incur the the expenses then you have to bail for them so any grants that we receive approval for we don't have the money until the end of the year when we accumulate the we can always fill out
086what they call an fs25 to get part of the money but because we don't get very a very large sum of federal dollars we get about $1.2 million do in total so typically I don't build for them until the end of the school year okay and so again because I just scrolled back a little bit installation of digital scoreboard and sound system didn't we just get a you new scoreboard at the high school that's going to be for inside the gym they want to update the ones for the basketball I'm surprised you're not argu for baseball Varsity Field I thought at the last when uh Mr Dila met with us at audit and finance the new it came up about the the new softball and varsity baseball field artificial turf and I believe we discussed
087it and we determined that maybe we'll put it on the capital reserve projects for next year because we have a slew of projects for this year and the dollar amount was getting considerably large okay so right now it's just the athletic softball fence netting y all right I'm going to think does anybody else have any more questions while I question um it's been a while since I've been we've had a facilities committee but I remember some time ago when we first I'm so happy that the elementary school kitchen is going to be redone um um but I remember when we toured the buildings a few years ago we talked about I'm going to call it the Home Room at the Intermediate School is there has been any talk about we be doing that at the
088same time with the elementary school because we need no appliances or or is that just just well not possible uh one of the conversations that that Mr Thea and I have been having and also we want to come and present it to the he's going to come and present uh his list of projects to the um audit and finance committee because we no longer have a facilities committee he's putting together a list of projects because we have two months that will be expiring in three to four years one is expiring at the end of the in June of 2028 and the other one will be expiring in June of 2029 we'll have to make a decision or whether or not we're going to go after another BN because there's a list of projects bigger projects
089that we cannot address with the capital uh Reserve that we may have to look into so those discussions will be coming very soones that include the science lot the high school uh that would include anything that needs to be uh improved in the district the bigger ticket items items okay thank you Gan I have a a question also the um so we've already had funds affected by this by the federal government unable to access funds that are used for I'm sorry we as in the district or District that funds are being held up restricted can't access the website for our after school program um at the in cination so that is already being affected access you know dra Downs to that has already stopped in some cases and so I just want to reiterate the
090importance of the funding that comes in for I don't what is the out of rate tuition for a student if you live in West Anthony you want to come to this District it's uh if it's a general Leed students it's about 32,000 if it's uh special Leed students it's 100 I want to say 10,000 okay yeah so is the yeah the school district receives about5 and5 billion dollar a year for for 5 half million for um to educate sh C children so that comes out to about 60 to 65 66,000 a year so I just wanted to to put that out there that there's a lot of funding that comes in to educate our shinika children so when we had fallen behind the proficiency curve and the testing for all these years that's why programs
091like my brother's people were implemented I just want to reiterate that um because I think that goes over people's heads we don't come here for free um there is tuition paid by the state of New York to educate CH o um just clarify did the funds that that have not that have been affected for the after school is that part of the stuff that we um like prepay when is that part of the the I think last year it was 80,000 this year it's no that's supplemental that comes directly from the state yeah that's not federal the money that was affected today is the title 7 which is a federal yes okay yes um while we on the subject um Mr Smith um we have we received a letter from the uh Council of Trustees
092last year to request for the advance of the supplemental funds the 85,000 I believe you're referred So currently the nation needs the money for the after school program however I've been holding it back because we still don't have a signed contract from the state um I wanted to get your permission as to our not in light of the news now that the title 7 funding has been frozen by the federal government is that unusual that we don't have the contract we did it's a contract year that's why but we did the appendix D correct that's part of the new that's why we did it because it's a fiveyear contract so it's up this year so they have to resign it at the state that's what so next year you wouldn't go through this because it
093would already be a signed contract for five years yes but to your question it is Tak it unusually long for them to send us the contract um I don't recall it being that long the last time we did and that 85,000 does not come out of I mean it's budgeted in but it's from the state Mon it's not coming from the budget of selling schol but if the state hasn't F I think you just said that the state hasn't funded that not that they haven't funded it no we usually have to advance it because again when I do the billing to the state I include that supplemental Grant in it so we usually the Council of truste usually send you a letter that you have to approve in order for me to release the money
094which is an advancement of that supplemented F and did the contract expired in June yes so is it it's not typical that it takes this long to get signed is it or it's been sent back for months um I sent it to them in October yeah of this year um I've sent three followup um emails oh sorry I sent it in October and I I've sent three follow-up emails to figure out when we would get the signed contract back and I was told that they're working on it and that it the first email was it takes time and they they also reminded me that the contract was due in June and you all gave it to was in October so I just is it um Mr Smith maybe you know is it a year that
095many districts are renewing like I think there's a a to go through maybe I think there's a slow out in the process and just for clarification for the public that money is not the has nothing to do with the 5.5 million tuition payments that is a supplemental fund that they give to schools that educate May their students threat it's a supplemental fund that's used for after school programming for tutoring for things like that I I don't think that the kids should suffer we should on to that but I just want to make sure that we have those funds or we're waiting to when you say that you have to release it so we have those funds no we don't have the funds we usually don't have the funds in advance we receive the funds throughout
096the year as I buil the state but we usually give it to them as an advancement but the whole conversation started from the concern of something not being of open like I think didn't you just say that you tried to yeah two separate things yeah the after school program is funded from two funding stream one is a Federal grant that Mr Ken Court usually apply for that the district manages on his behalf we go every two weeks to draw down funding based on the payrolls and expenses that he has against that Grant then we have the after school the uh supplemental fund which is the $85,000 for which they write the letter that you approved and this is what I'm requesting for you to give me permission to release that fund with the understanding that
097eventually the contract will be signed I already sent the uh claims to the state for 75% of the funds because normally I build 25% in November and then another % around March and in September I build the remaining 25% so it's usually no problem getting the funding reimbursed from the state the state says that the tuition contracts are being reviewed in the New York State controller's office in the division of budget and that these are being reviewed and they will provide us an update when that process has been completed um so so I guess doc uh Mr M go to answer your question um we should have it on the next we put together a resolution to get on to the next meeting so we can approve that yeah I'll I'll send the letter again
098and I'll put the you know make the request off okay that's next Tuesday anyway when we yeah that I ask just a general budget question since we're on the um um the expense side and I was just curious about any efficiency like when you put together the expenses for the general budget what kind of efficiencies you were able to U find like were we able to reduce any positions because of the um you know not they not replace retirees any of that did you find gen that's usually what the public is interested in hearing about what kind of um efficiencies you were able to find to keep that budget as low as possible yes so Dr Morel and Dr Bacha and I have had many conversations and look at every positions that um every retiree
099to determine whether or not that position has to be replaced and I believe we did identify a couple of position that did not need to be replaced for next year and we'll continue to do that up until you um adopt the budget which a week from now but if somebody was to retire let's say within the next week we would graduate that position as well first off um the sports bus would be very hard to have as a coach who has I'd love it but it'd be very hard to have one bus with four games every day it would be a disaster um anyway I just wanted to point out you know some of the stuff and we talk about the the tax rates and stuff so I went on and I got our neighboring
100districts for people to hear because there were some questions last time about Westampton compared to Southampton stuff so um as you guys know for every million on our assess value we paid $2,160 in taxes that's going to be our Levy going forward West Hampton for every million pays $ 6,160 um tucko pay $6,300 um s pays $4 4,580 Hampton pays pays $1,330 East Quag pays $1,630 Riverhead pays $13,600 and Eastport pays $2,940 so we are three times less than any of the other neighboring districts in the town of Southampton but I said it so I'm that up so when there's questions about our budget and um we're also very mindful because the town of Southampton also has a 133% increase in their budget this year that is going to affect the tax um for next
101year so we're keeping that in mind especially when we're looking at bonds and different things going this year maybe this is not the year maybe next year would be something to look forward because they had to hire a bunch of police officers and and fight the bullet and they increased their budget by 133% so it's going to be a big tax bill um but I appreciate all the work you're doing on that um we'll discuss the buses further but um I think it's all good thanks does anybody else have any questions thank you as someone to JFK on a school bus twice this week I'd love a coach bus but I don't know River a nice I think they just took a regular school bus and they painted it is it a coach bus that's
102what we call in the school world that is aach yeah I mean it could be used on a rotational basis but okay we need Windows okay um and going back to our committees I was on the um facilities committee for a long time and I don't know I kind of feel like maybe we need to revisit having that again because through a lot of this stuff um but you know that's the conversation for after I'm gone and and that came up during the ribbon cutting at the new building with about like maybe when we do the real adding bringing back the facilities committee and I I appreciate that we cut all the Committees because when I saw the list when I joined the board I had no idea how crazy it was was meeting but
103I think that's an important one that we should probably bring back yeah yeah I think we did meet we didn't meet every you know I think maybe once a month he hadig things coming anyway is there anything else no then we'll move along um to action items May I have a motion to approve the CSC cpsc committee recommendations as presented second will the clerk please call the RO for vote yes Robert Robson yes the motion is carried thank you um we have reached public comments me the Board of Education encourages public participation School Rel matters at board meetings any group or organization wishing to address the board must identify a single spokesperson the presentation should be as brief as possible no speaker will be permitted to speak for longer than three minutes the board will
104not permit in public sessions discussions involving District Personnel or students all speakers are to conduct themselves in civil manner obscene language liist statements threats of violence statements advocating racial religious or other forms of prejudice will not be tolerated persons making presentations at the board meeting will address remarks to the president and may direct questions or comments to board members or other District officials only upon approval of the president you would just tell us your name please hi madam president I'm P of Constantine lazarakis I haven't been to a board meeting for so long really long time I mean a lot of you have never heard in rant before gosh no but really I did not come here to rant tonight I came here because I wanted to say something really positive and then I heard
105how wonderfully most of our athletic teams did this year and that got me wed to rant because you know what happened with the football team this year was shameful it was shameful and it should not have been allowed the fact that 12 boys were out there playing so hard both sides of the ball that um our sister schools had their senior nights ruined because our athletes couldn't be bothered to show up and the fact that many of those athletes went on to play in other sports that's a joke when my daughter was like 12 years old and wanted to quit a totally overloaded um field hockey team she had to take a year off of the sports because she made that choice and that was her choice to make and she made it and she
106took her year off and she was held accountable the athletes who abandoned the football team were not held accountable we got a winning basketball team that's great if we can't have a football team that's life we're big we're big grown-ups we can deal with it the fact that that football team was allowed to flounder that the well-being and and school spirit of 12 super dedicated athletes was just you know neglected and Abandoned and dropped it was gross so the school should decide whether or not there's going to be a football team and if there is going to be a football team then the athletes who sign up for the football team should be required to honor that commitment cuz for the handful of kids who took it seriously it was a heartbreak and for the
107kids who had their senior nights ruin because there was no football team because our athletes couldn't be bothered to show up that was bad now why I really came tonight but a really I I really hope you guys take that to heart and um we have an amazing Athletic program it's awesome I'm so grateful my kids are a part of it but that was bad really bad the real reason I came loose because I wanted to hear Dr Duo's presentation tonight and as you know I've had a lot of wrestling with the special ed Department over the years or at least those of you who've been around a while know that um and our new um special ed director um has attacked uh my son's situation with accountability with confidence with intelligence with compassion and
108um I just wanted to say thank you to her publicly and I wanted you to know she's off to a great start and at least otally anastasian I can say she has really done a phenomenal job and we're really grateful to have her on board thank I'm gonna go home now sorry I went over my time you were exactly three minutes public speaking 101 thanks so much I don't see my name most people know my name already even those ones that's going on and if anyone here know my name I don't know why don't we don't either Miss okay because a lot of people some people that's sitting over there went disc school here so okay um I just want to say that um um I like to do special ed person before I knew
109was special ed person but I uh I will trust her my children any time any place anyway okay so thank you for great things you do I want to congratulate the robotics team which I didn't have a chance to speak because she didn't give me the first time but no problem they can hear this and I will see them individually and I will give them congratulations I just want to know I just want you know that during the summer uh star last year uh the robotics was introduced to the star kids and some of them took really good Advantage so once a week or twice a week they were able to go over to the high school and the person that really took time and trained them was Jaden and he really and the kids
110enjoyed it and so I just want you to know that um that was really really helpful for some so with some those fifth six U fifth six seventh and eighth graders get over to high school they will have had a little introduction into the robotics so I hope that we have star this summer so they can continue on and um this is a long board meeting so I'm finished if there's no other public comments I will um ask for a motion to return to Executive session pres I have I just wanted to PL the or something because we only have a few more meetings before the end of the year and um you know last year last couple of years there's been you know many conversations about keeping um kind of a pulse in the
111community in our district and we did a you know we did a um a you know a temperature check last year and being that we only have one meeting in March and then two in April and then the end of the year stuff I just wanted to point this that maybe we should really think about sending out another uh climate survey to our community just so that we're you know staying true to our you know our our a promise that we would you know keep the community um in mind and involved and that we would hear them so I I just thought it was a good idea because it's always it it always takes several meetings before we can finalize the survey and again you've got six meetings left and March only has one meeting
112and then April or you know two left so it just feels like it's gonna the end of the year is going to come upon us really quick and I don't want to lose sight of doing that climate survey I think the survey was s out through bosies last year was it no yes I can speak a little bit to that so when the last time we did a survey was uh oh gosh 2022 we did a school climate survey um and we need to do a survey actually because of the uh School Improvement Grant so what one of the things we're required to do is send a survey out to community teachers and students um so Dr Morel and I met with a few companies to go over um what kind of surveys they could
113send and we did end up deciding on um a survey platform and we are meeting with them on Thursday to go over what's included in the survey and kind of go through we're hoping to get this survey out in April because that will guide the work that we do moving forward fantastic great thank you so much great all right so anything else no okay may I have a motion to return to Executive session to discuss the employment history of a particular person moot motion all in favor session at 8:49 and I would like have a