001Good evening. Welcome to the February 24th, 2026 meeting board of education and ask to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it standy and justice for all. Thank you. Item 2.01 of our agenda this evening is internal audit risk assessment report. I have a guest to present. >> Good evening everyone. Um so my name is Jennifer George from RBTC CPAs and we my firm is the internal auditor for the district. We presented a we put up together a report two reports for the board to look at. Um one was the internal audit risk assessment. The other was a focus area on extra classroom high level. Uh we had some recommendations regarding some policies, some additional information that should be posted on the website, some considerations for contingency plans, and
002also some cross trainining opportunities. On the extra classroom side, we did not identify any issues as far as the financial information. Again, we had some uh recommendations for policies and then also recommending that the district adopt a standard form for fundraising approvals, middle school and the high school. And that is the highle review. With that, we'll move on to P.01. That's comments from the public on consent agenda items only. Comments. Any board comments or questions on the consent agenda? We got all the motions to accept the consent agenda that I've written. Do we have a second? Uh with the passing of the consent agenda, the uh accept of one of our administrators walk out. >> He knew. >> Well, all right then. Um uh Mr. Jordy has some prepared words uh for Dustin, but as
003we wait for him, we just want to congratulate you. This has been done so much for us, especially started out more of a part-time position. You did so well to help even more that you worked all the way to uh full time. appreciate your willingness to keep wanting to do that and you know showing your true values all especially the last few years I know Dory was very instrumental in expressing for that so Dory we were uh just waiting for you to come back uh >> sorry I had a little more time uh well good evening everybody and uh Dustin uh Dr. Fueli um asked if I could say a few words and I I wanted to say um I'll I'll keep it to a few but um you know as as probably many of
004you know um either as parents or as students um that an assistant principal is a very unique position uh in schools and it is not an easy position. Uh Dustin started with us back in 2019 um which uh was the year that COVID hit. So he came in uh right in the middle of um a really difficult year and um he has been for me um just such a a great um partner. Um assistant principles are are unsung heroes. you know, people uh those are the phone calls that parents don't want to get. Those are difficult conversations and uh Dustin just does an amazing job with it. I mean, when I think of Dustin, uh different than me. Um Dustin stays calm and cool like pretty much all the time. You know, I have my
005moments, but Dustin, he's always stays calm. He's very methodical. He's friendly. Uh he's thorough with what he does. Um, and for a principal, having an assistant principal who's effective, and who knows how to connect with students, connect with parents, connect with the community is really important. Um, Dustin has also been a leader in many ways uh, at Todd Middle School with me. Um, whether it's the positivity project, the AVID program, he's brought in Smart Pass, uh, he leads our community connections. um he has just done an amazing job and um you know Dustin also has a coaching background and that comes in handy for his relationships with uh students and also he's been a you know a coach for us in the district and I am just so thrilled that he's getting tenure and I
006am thrilled that uh I've been able to um watch him grow as an administrator, watch him grow as a person. um he uh became a father during his tenure here and and watching all that personal stuff for him has been an amazing journey too. So Dustin, congratulations on your tenure. >> Thank you. >> Can you get this? >> Thank you very much. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Got to capture that. I'll just say thank you for all your service to the district. We appreciate all you're doing. some nice words from Mr. Dory. So, I appreciate uh that personal touch. It's one of the things that makes back such a great place. Okay, with that, I'm going to move on to item 5.01. It's the first reading of policy 3137, which is our credit cards
007and charge cards policy. board discussion, comments, questions, concerns. I don't have any either. So, um, first with that, I guess we'll move on to 7.01, which is a budget update from our business administrator. Is that No. So 5.01 not >> Okay. No problem. Thanks for appreciate it. Okay, I'll entertain a motion to accept the first reading of policy 3127 credit cards and cards. I have a second in favor. And with that, I'll move on to 701. >> Thank you very much. Um, this is going to be a very short um discussion for the 26 2027 budget. First, we'll recap where we are with the current year. Then, we'll go into some of the assumptions that we that are going into the preparation of the 267 budget. Um, including a description of the vehicle that we
008facility vehicle that we're looking to replace and the vehicle that we are looking to purchase to replace. Um, recapping the current year. Um the current year budget is 57,158788 which represents a 5.99% increase over the 24.5 budget. Um the tax levy to support the county budget is 33,665757 which represents an increase of 1.75% over the tax letter for the 425 student. Some of the assumptions that are going into um the 2627 budget are salaries which are dictated by the existing collective bargaining agreement and there will be some estimates for the contract that will be ended for June of 2026. um anticipating an increase in posting services um of 5 to 8% and that's in line with historical trend anticipating an increase of contracted transportation again based on historical trend and it's typically been somewhere between
009a increase of six to 8% annually. Um same thing with special education tuition increases again somewhere in that 6 to 8% range. Health insurance um a little bit better than the last presentation. It's now estimated to be somewhere between 10 and 15%. We'll get the final premium hopefully within the next month and solidify that number a little bit. um don't anticipate any debt service found in the next school year and like I stated we're looking to replace one facility here. Um some additional considerations if we're looking to add um probably one psychologist so that we would have one psychologist per building. um doing some adjustments to salaries and produ rates to reflect the anticipated increase in minimum wage that would probably take effect one of 2027. So I want to be a little bit ahead
010of and put that in the budget. Um definitely replace and old and damaged facilities equipment. Um flashing maintenance and repairs um window shade furniture smartboards and also some of the maintenance on our AC systems with the the heating system and air conditioning. Um that's become a fairly expensive proposition to maintain those things because they are getting older and they do require a lot of time and attention. um instructions, textbook, hardware software, increasingly more software in addition to the textbook. So usually there's a software component when you license for the students and for the teachers and there's also some hard copy textbooks and workbooks that are associated with that software. So that's some of the increased cost that we're looking at. The technology um data security is always a big thing. We look at that software
011subscriptions. Again, the subscriptions increase from year to year, so you're looking to increase those as well. Um, we're looking to replace a 2004 450 dump truck. Um, although it's only got 60,000 mi on it, it's got some body damage. Uh, the color hits just rotting from the frame. And you can see the overall frame deterioration just from the constant use. What we're looking or what we're looking to replace it with is a 2026 Chevy pickup truck. Um, right now we've got an estimate for state contracting approximately $75,000 to replace that. um ongoing upcoming board presentation. Uh March 10th will be the draft budget discussion. At that point, um I will be a team presenting draft numbers of what the budget looks like. Uh what the tax levy will look like. Um usually we talk about
012the the five or six big items that compose 85% of the budget. So numbers associated with that. the following meeting on the 24th, Dr. Welli will present um the recommended budget. On April 14th, we will be asking the board to adopt um the recommended budget. On May 5th, we are required by law to have a public hearing on the budget, which we will have. May 19th is the budget vote, and we will be electing um one trustee. Um, information for people who want to run for trustee is on the website and they can pick up an application and information from our local ask about the insurance. Um, that's also in there. The insurance Oh, health insurance or liability insurance? >> It's a different number than we heard last time. >> It is a different number.
013Um, we had came back with a lower number. Did we find that it's still a significant increase from what we've seen in the past that we seen in the past years somewhere between 5 and 8%. We're still looking at a minimum of 10% going forward. Um, that's just one policy. We have two other insurance carriers which are primarily for our retirees and they come in with premium increases of just under 10% as well. It seems to be no matter which insurance company that you use, whatever it is coming. It's the anticipation we might be looking at those double cases going forward. double 18. Okay, thank you. Any other questions? >> Um, I like that we try to stay very low or increase every year 1.75 and it's definitely a minor over the past couple of
014years. Uh there's still a very low amount which I appreciate. Um but with us having um significant amount that you know we're putting into our reserve funds is only my tax up way for us to get it lower than it is. I know we're probably not going to have a negative number there. 1.75 is already pretty low. Um but it's possible for us to get into >> um it would be in the long run the lower we make the levy eventually it's going to come back to us and we'll have to have a very big increase in one year. So that's why the district's philosophy is going to try to keep it as steady as we can so we don't have these large fluctuations in the back. And and I I get that. I I've
015always the past couple years. I think that makes a lot of sense. It's one of the big ways that we can do it with this market to get it any lower with everything being more expensive the way it is now. Uh the inflation everybody's fault are more expensive. Um so any help there of getting to the lowest price point. Uh some of them if we're repairing all the damage utility equipment we're able to deal with that with our current reserve function budget or classroom damage repair that's repair reserve fun um that's something I have saved to help us lower >> for the larger scale repairs we could we could definitely do some of that through the repair reserve the kinds of things that are and the budget are just kind of the one extreme thing.
016The repair therapist usually for non routine maintenance. So it's a one time thing like if we need a major repair to one of the boilers that's not an annual thing that we could be using but to come out and have um our contractors look at the boilers for the annual inspection which is kind of replaced with two parts that has to be done in the budget. I was very good as far as replacing any furniture. What we will do is in one of the revenue pieces of the budget besides the tax learning and state aid is what's called appropriated fund balance. And what that is is for excess at the end of the school year, we can appropriate that for next year's budget in the um putting as much money in reserves. So that's something
017that I have put into the calculation for the revenue piece to cover these expenses is increasing the appropriated balance from this year and it next year. And that's one of the ways that we can help people with that appropriate And the last like a truck is not something um it's not going to carry ste Yes. 20. Right now it's 2027 has to be the last year we could buy. for that. >> Um, we didn't we're not doing it this year. We're looking we're going to evaluate the fleet to see if we need to do anything just to get us to that hurdle at 2035 in case it stays 2035. thinking that topic approached. Have you had any conversations with transportation providers to see what type of increase that they might be passing on us? >>
018They won't admit that to me yet, but they are doing the assessment to see what it's going to take to convert that conversation with them. So, they are doing that being there. Um, no. It would probably it would not be a significant increase. Thank you. With that, we'll bring it to 7.02 Elementary. All right. Uh, good evening everyone. uh do have a a few updates and I'll start off with uh we are entering into the beginning of our uh what we call kindergarten season um where we really try to get our new kindergarten families and students in as many times as we can before they're actually students at Nassau. Um, so next week we actually have our kindergarten registration and that's an opportunity before kindergarten screening uh where we allow parents to choose whether they
019want um a meeting with me with or without their students. Um, and that's kind of based off of their own comfort level and any questions that they may have. Uh, then in April we have our kindergarten screening and immediately after that we begin our placement process. Um and we actually meet with our Martha Lawrence um teachers um across the way and that's been really valuable for us over the last few years. Uh another thing that we have is uh the the book fair we've turned into our uh our buddy day where the prek students come over and they shadow a kindergarten students and they kind of walk through their schedule for the day. And then lastly, a big uh big favorite of people that happens uh either the last week of June or the first
020week of July is our kindergarten academy. So when all is said and done, uh we are kicking off a couple months here where we'll see our kind our future kindergarten students uh four times. Uh the second thing that I wanted to just touch base on, I know Dr. Danielle has talked about um AI quite a bit um and it's it's one of our our goals and so the way way it works is um Mr. Duza and I had created building goals kind of connected to the board goals um and so March 13th we have a superintendent's conference day coming up and we were able to take the survey data that came out of Mr. referral's um office and kind of tailor a professional development plan for our teachers, which we're really excited about. Um Marcela
021Burn, which I know we've we've spoken about quite a bit. Um she's incredible. Um and she sorted the data. Uh Hagen's data was similar to Nassau, but with some nuances and and some differences. So, uh we basically picked the top six areas that teachers felt that they would like support in. And we are um on the conference day um giving them opportunities to choose three of those areas. So tailored even within those six spots to the individual teachers um decision. So excited about that. Some of the areas that we're offering PD uh assessment redesign, curriculum design, differentiation. Um my favorite one which is um we have it labeled as instructional brainstorming. Um but you know I we talk about at at admin meetings we talk about um quite a bit about how we're utilizing AI
022and one of the concepts that u I kind of have a reputation for using is called sparring where you're actually um arguing with AI about a problem and they give different solutions and you go back and forth to try to make better decisions. So um I'm excited to see what Marcela has planned uh for that as well. Katherine Martino. Um, we had a uh I think a few board members. I know Mrs. Perry was there. I saw her. Um, I thought her presentation was spectacular. Um, I I've seen her live twice and then I even watched with my wife and my oldest son who's 12 the recording. Um, we had really good attendance. I think we would have been happy with um 75 and we think we had close to 100. Um Mr. Duza uh
023believes that uh his face was on at the start when all the principal spoke and he he really takes a lot of credit for that. Um but really great great message and and connected to our our work with the anxious generation. And then really the the last thing that I you know I don't I don't think we've talked about it since last spring when we proposed the idea of trimesters um at the elementary level K5. But I just I just wanted to follow up with with the board because it is kind of a different um cadence if you will to the to the year. we've been quarters forever. Um, and and the feedback that that we've received from from teachers um in regard to and teachers at Nassau are extremely extremely data driven, but the
024cycle of constant assessment, constant assessment for our youngest kids was even a bit too much for them. Um, so really positive feedback. Just wanted to follow up with the board, more instructional time, which was um our number one goal. So, thank you for uh your support with that as well. Good evening everyone. Um so, last time we were at the board, uh it was the night before our spelling meet. So, update there. We did have a fifth grade uh young man by the name of Rafford Zack who became our school B champion. Um his winning word was equestrian. So pretty impressive. The more impressive piece was uh the regional qualifier which is an online exam essentially a timed exam where it locks your computer screen and you have to rapid fire spell and define uh
025many words that never heard of before. Um they give you 50 questions. He got 40 out of 50 right which in my in my experience with spelling be champions at Hagen was the most. He just missed the cutoff uh to go to the regional qualifier. I think it was 42. So, uh we're really proud of him. He he put a lot of effort and energy in. His cousin at a school in Rochester was the school D champion. Um so, he was excited to go into the regional uh with his cousin. Neither his cousin or himself made it, but um really really proud of what Rayford did. Um we are also kind of just wrapping up our I Ready Winter diagnostic. So, I know Mr. Lynch just talked about trimesters. It does sync well and the
026fact that we give our I Ready diagnostic three times a year. Um so we're really excited about the midpoint data. We me and Mr. Lynch have data chats with our teachers to talk about where the kids have shown growth, where the kids may not show growth and what we can pivot to or strategize for the remainder of the year going into June. Um so really really important conversations around student data there. Um and things to look forward to. So, a lot of things are coming down uh the pike here. Our Odyssey of the Mind teams, both Todd and Hagen teams compete this Saturday at Goan. Um so, they're they've put a lot of time, energy, passion, sweat, and laughs into their skits and their and their um structures. So, our teams always perform well there.
027We're really excited uh to send our teams this year. And thank you to the parent volunteers that make all those teams possible. Um, it is running team season, so that's starting up very soon, which hopefully with this snow, we'll be able to get out there and run pretty soon. Um, but that sign up is open now. Last time I checked, it was open for a week and we had 80 students already signed up. So, uh, we we seem to outdo ourselves every year. I I expect nothing less this year. Uh, coming up in March, we do go to the high school. They put on an inschool concert performance for us. There are ensembles up there that's coming up March 18th and it's always a great day. Literally 10 buses take all of Hagen up to
028the high school. We could walk but all we're right there. Um and it's a great show that they put on for the kids and and the staff. We also for the first time in many many years are doing a play of our own. Uh we're doing Matilda Jr. that is going to be the shows of March 26th and March 27th going into spring break. They put a lot of time and energy into practicing. Um, there's a lot of moving parts at a stage like Hagen that hasn't been really I I found the lights today. I I was very proud of myself. She's like, "Do you know how to work these lights?" You're asking the wrong guy. But I figured it out. Um, so we have working lights, we have working sound, and uh, we're really
029excited. We have over 45 kids in the play. So, um, they put a lot of time and practice, so I'm really excited for what they can do there. And then always good to give a little update on Let Grow. So I got a leaf across my desk that made me made me chuckle, but also made me really proud. We had a fourth grade student and their project for this month was to um make their lunch every day, right? So they bring lunch, probably their parents pack their lunch every day. But the best part of the leaf is what did you learn? and she go her response was I learned that my parents have a really hard job. Um so you know it it's those kind of experiences and reflections for a fourth grader to realize
030that that's not easy to have lunch expected every day of you. Um and hopefully she continues to do that every month forward. Um so and then trips coming up. We have Sharp coming up in May. The fourth grade always goes to Albany and the Bronx Zoo for the third grade. So it's getting into the busy season for sure. Thank you everyone. Thank you. Appreciate the updates. So item 8.01 board correspondence. We have a number of emails with regard to a student issue being addressed by our administration. We have a few emails with regard to all request for addressed by our clerk and the administration. And we also received an email from students with regard to recent improvements noted in the school lunch and food program which is nice to hear. I know we've all been
031pushing for that over here on the board side. Nice to see about business. Item 8.02 is comments from the public on non-aggenda items. Public comments from non agenda items. Okay, we got 8.0 comments from the board. Any comments from the board? You want to talk about program? Um it's I thought it was different. had more of a like drive and then it was really cool that um so I definitely noticed. Anything else? >> Anything else you want to add? I guess I'll just mention one thing. I um as we approach the 250th anniversary of signing a declaration of independence the other night at the varsity boys basketball game for senior night. We had one of our students sing a national anthem and it was beautiful. She did an absolutely amazing job. huge bumps. I felt
032so proud to be respect. So proud to be American. It was just a great start to that basketball game. Just I can't say enough. With that, I'm going to pass it on over to 8.04. Comments from our superintendent. >> Good segue. Our sports team had a playoff year. So, uh, we wished him enough to hold the game tonight. There would have been, but she came here for our other team. So, we appreciate you doing that and continue to support our team. Um, we have been affected by weather. Just kind of be aware, you know, it's remind people process. It's we subscribe to weather service to facilities people. target our area to keep everybody safe. So, uh a lot of time early morning call is to try to uh get it right before update. We have
033been say lucky, but we have been able to call some the night before. That really isn't the norm, but it seems to be happening a little bit more lately. Um, but usually the balls are are pretty excited. Appreciate everyone's patience and you know from what what the reports say. I don't think we're done yet for the uh for the school year. We can only hope uh but we get into March soon. Appreciate everyone's uh patience and understanding. Great. Thank you. Item 1901, the board will vote to enter into an executive session to seek legal advice and discuss the code's pending or current litigation. Both matters are protected by attorney. Board members looking for the board join the executive session via conference. Following the executive session, the board does not anticipate conducting any further business. I
034have a motion to enter into session. Have a second. All in favor? Thank you. I'll see you next time.