001Mhm. >> All right, good evening Springs BOE. We're live on YouTube. Phone lines are open. This meeting is being recorded. You may begin. Thank you LTV. Welcome everyone. Thank you for being here this evening. Suzanne, will you do roll call, please? I will. Eric Davidson. Patrick Brabant. And Mathilde. Kate Saris. And Dermot Quinn. All right, so we have a kind of a different start than what we did it last time. We're going to do a a budget hearing for vote coming up next week. So, for this part, we're going to hold this budget hearing concerning the proposed 2026-2027 budget. The time is now 7:09 p.m. And if there are no objections from my fellow board members, I'd like to invite Sam Schneider to give us a presentation. All right. Just real quick just so we
002don't I know you're not here for me. You're all here >> [laughter] >> excited about the other stuff, but we'll go ahead and do the special orders. Nobody's here for me. That's fine. So, briefly, there's no information no new information here this evening. We're going to go through the proposed budget that is going for the voters next week. And if anyone has any questions, we have them to discuss. I should also mention that all voters all mailboxes in Springs Pat, would you mind holding up the newsletter? Are about to receive this lovely newsletter, which has been mailed home today. So, more information can be seen in the newsletter on our website, but when we start this is the ex-proposed expenditure budget for next year. You can see we've been through all these numbers before. There
003is a decrease [cough] due to retirement of debt in the debt service line and the fund transfer line. Uh I think the takeaway here that I would like people to know about this budget is that it is property tax cap compliant, which district has not always been fortunate enough to be able to ask the voters, fortunately. Uh public has been extremely supportive of the school district in adopting a budget in the past that needed to go above the tax cap, but for the second year in a row, we are staying within the property tax cap. That is the budget there that shows where the expenditures are going. Uh you've seen the expenditure budget. How do we pay for it? That's the revenue budget. You can see the revenue there. Uh yellow box reminds you, as
004I just said, that the uh budget is property tax cap compliant. Let's talk about the state aid figure for a minute. As you know, the legislature is required to have adopted a budget for New York State by April 1st. They are not there yet. Uh so we're going with the governor's proposal for lack of any other concrete information, so we're going to go with we are told anecdotally that, you know, we could expect maybe maybe a 1% increase above that number, but as there is no enacted budget, this is the number we're going with. I'm sure you would understand for lack of any other available information, this is what we have to go with. So, you can see there the uh where the numbers are going. Uh reduction in the appropriate fund balance. Appropriate fund
005balance is money that was collected in year one that wasn't needed because contingencies in the expenditure budget were not realized, which is then applied in year two as a source of revenue. We would like to over the next few years bring this number down lower and lower. As budgets get tighter, the availability of funds at the end of the year that are unspent become more and more difficult to obtain. With a budget the size that we have here of just shy of $40 million expecting that we're going to have more than a million dollars unspent that we can use to apply to excess taxes I think a little risky. So, we're going to bring that down slowly over the next 4 or 5 years so that it can be more in line with what it
006would be perhaps a more financially responsible number. This is the ballot that people are going to be presented with. So, there's only one question on the ballot this year. It's if the voters choose to adopt the budget, that's what it is. There's a board of education election as well. I'll leave that others speak about. So, next time before we start next time next time is the last time it's in the hands of the voters on May 19th. Voting from 1 to 9 in this room. If you need an absentee ballot, the district clerk is Ann Johnson and we're more than happy to accommodate your needs. And I think those are all the all the That's the presentation. Thank you so much. Are there any questions from any fellow board members? Are there any questions from
007the public about the budget vote coming up next week or the budget itself? Going once, going twice. >> [laughter] >> Well, I thank you. I just want to thank the board for all of their hard work on this budget. I hope that this has been an enlightening process. We followed the same model that we laid out last year in terms of bringing out the budget in pieces so that the public could understand the recommendations that the superintendent were making to you in terms of the expenditure needs of the district. And I hope we have, you know, that was successful you agree was successful and we can follow this model in future years. Thank you. Appreciate it very much. Thank you for all of the budget presentations to you and Jonathan in preparing it, making it
008even simpler to understand. This goes not without a lot of work to get to this moment tonight. So, while it might seem quick it came with a lot of thought and consideration. Uh and we thank you guys for the presentation and for listening it. Without further ado, if there are no further questions, I ask for a motion to adjourn the budget hearing. Motion. And reconvene into regular session. Second motion. [laughter] All right, motion carried. We really can't wait to hear from our students. So, the time is now 7:14 p.m. Uh we are going to reconvene to public session and Mr. Kelt, would you take it away for us, please? Good evening. We have a lot of incredible things going on here at Spring Schools and uh two wonderful things about to be presented. Um we
009have famous poets, award-winning athletes. It's It's going to be really incredible. But before we get into any of that, I have the honor to give or pre- or share with you the reading of a proclamation honoring Whitney L. Reedlinger for all of her wonderful things. So, please bear with me for one moment because it is pretty incredible. Whereas, Whitney Reedlinger has devoted more than 20 years of exemplary volunteer service to Special Olympics, demonstrating an unwavering commitment to inclusion, dignity, and opportunity for individuals with special needs. And whereas, throughout her years of service, Ms. Reedlinger has served with distinction as both a coach and an organizer, generously giving her time, energy, and leadership to ensuring the success and growth of Special Olympic programs. And whereas, she has consistently uplifted and inspired the athletes she serves, fostering
010confidence, joy, and personal achievement, while also supporting and encouraging fellow coaches and volunteers in their shared mission. Whereas, Ms. Reedlinger has also worked tirelessly alongside families within the special needs community, building meaningful connections and strengthening a network of support grounded in compassion and respect. Whereas, through her dedication, she has brought the true spirit of sportsmanship, teamwork, and camaraderie to athletes, families, coaches, and volunteers alike, leaving a lasting and positive impact on all who have the privilege to work with her. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed that we recognize and honor Whitney Reedlinger for her outstanding service and enduring commitment to the Special Olympics community and her remarkable contributions to enriching the lives of others. In witness whereof, this proclamation is hereby issued in celebration of her achievements and in the appreciation of her continued dedication. Congratulations,
011Whitney. >> [applause] >> Very humble as Whitney is, she's going to definitely shine the spotlight on her amazing amazing achievements. [cough] Whitney, thank you. We appreciate you on that. I I appreciate it. I'm going to get my photos. Are you guys ready? >> [laughter] >> Well, that was very unexpected, but much appreciated. And please know that I do not ever do this alone. This is a large network of volunteers and family members and other coaches that have guided us through the last 20 years and it's been nothing but our joy and a pleasure. Um, I'm a little taken aback right now. So, give me a second. Um, but up here we [laughter] have some our fabulous Fantastic Four up here who have participated in multiple events this year at Special Olympics. We have right up
012here next to me is Matthew Chiquoine who has participated in bowling and track and field this year and he did a phenomenal job. This is the first time this year >> [applause] >> He did a phenomenal job. He ran the 50 meter for the first time ever and took second place off of against a person who's about my size again. >> [laughter] >> It's really amazing. He did a really wonderful job. I was very proud of him. Um, next we have Justin Chiquoine. Justin, congratulations. >> [applause] >> bowling tournament this year. He did [applause] a fantastic job. I was very proud of him. He bowled a career high. I don't remember the numbers but it was amazing. Um, his brother Randy also took gold. Randy Chiquoine, congratulations. >> [applause] >> had a spirit of competition
013with Silas and took gold and did an excellent job. Um, Randy and Justin were unable to travel to track and field with us cuz they made their first Holy Communion that day. So, we are very proud of them for that. Um, and last but not least, we have Silas Vergowski who also competed in >> [applause] >> Silas this year and Silas wanted to compete in the 100 meter race uh motivated by his friend Randy who often runs the 100 meter and who did that this year and took sec- third second place. Very proud of him. >> [applause] >> Not here tonight is Alan Flores who He a first time athlete for us this year and he competed in the bowling tournament, and he took silver, and we were very proud of him cuz that was
014a challenge for him. So, we were very happy that he did that. Um once again, I have Ms. Doyle and Ms. Decker here, who I could not do this without. They are my right and left hands. Um they have come every single weekend in the winter to practice bowling with us over [clears throat] at East Hampton Bowling Alley at the clubhouse. Thank you. See, they help me out all the time. And I am very much appreciative of them. And you guys are very appreciative too. Right? Fantastic four. Yeah? You have anything you guys want to say? Do you like doing our Special Olympics? I think next year I [laughter] think next year we're going to add some local snowshoeing with Southampton, so look forward to that. Because both Matthew's going to take a tour of
015the bowling team. >> [applause] >> So, I think we're going to join some local schools and do some bowling uh Sorry. Snowshoeing over the winter. And to finish our season this year on Thursday, we will be running the torch with the law enforcement. They run the torch that goes up to state games for Special Olympics from Montauk to the firehouse in East Hampton, and we will be able to run in the short distance with them, and we are the only district on the East End that does that. So, we're quite honored to do that. And what would you like to >> [laughter] >> And we're looking forward to that. So, thank you guys very much again for always supporting our program, and always thank you to all of our volunteers. Thank you. Congratulations, boys. >>
016[applause] [applause] >> Congratulations, guys. That was amazing. I'm actually lucky lucky enough to be neighbors with them in in their classroom, and they just work so hard every single day and they warm your heart no matter what. Just great kids across the board. Um in school and out of school, at board meetings, I feel like we're always discussing Miss O'Reilly and >> [laughter] >> the awards her her students earn and the great honors. And so, without any further ado, we have some really incredible things going on with Walt Whitman and the poetry contest. And of course, Miss O'Reilly's leadership for our music students here. So, without any further ado, Miss O'Reilly, thank you. Thanks for having us. So, 2026 marks the 40th anniversary of the Walt Whitman poetry contest. And it receives about 5,000 applicants
017a year. And so, I'm happy to report that our eighth graders are really building a reputation of excellence in this contest. Although we've always had a winner, I have to say we've always had at least one winner. This year, out of 1,600 entries in their category, our eighth grade students secured four out of 15 spots. So, that's against you know, >> [applause] >> schools all over the country and very [clears throat] large schools here on Long Island especially. So, um we secured four spots and two grand champions, which is the first for this year. So, we're really excited about that. The prompt this year asked students to write an original poem that captures the experience or imagination of reaching out, connecting, or seeking purpose. So, it was complicated prompts and they really rose to the
018occasion. Our students were recognized specifically for their artistry and and the strength of their voices and the judges noticed that their creativity and the depth and the originality really made their pieces memorable. And that was noted in their review by the judges. So, all four students will be recognized at the Walt Whitman May 31st. And thank you so much for welcoming us here tonight to read their amazing poems. So, our first honorable mention is Dorothy Borzek and she's going to read Unchained. >> [applause] >> Unchained. The day you lost your chains, I gained mine. The earth kept orbiting the sun like best friends playing tag. Where did my ladder go? My flame in the dark. How did our time escape? I never understood why I had to let you go. Why fate made you fade.
019I couldn't get back our old moments together. Like the nights we spent drawing on each other's arms. Now I spend nights in lonely darkness without your bright laugh, your scars on my arms. But when I look up to our sky, I see an extra star. Shining brighter than the rest. Unchained by sorrow or pain, dancing freely. And I remember what it feels like to smile with you and feel your voice. To to feel your touch. And I know I will only ever need that star. >> [applause] >> Next we have another honorable mention and this is Jefferson Mateo Nunez. It's also his birthday today. >> [applause] >> His poem is The Weight of Hope. The Weight of Hope. My backpack is heavy, but it's not the math. It is the way my dad looked at
020me this morning before he left. It is the sound of my mom's study hard. She said. When the teacher call out each name, I can feel my name before it even leaves her mouth. The bus. Right in the middle. You being over the vowels of my last name. I raise my hand. Here, I said loud. The stuff beside. The hallways are river of noise. Everyone know where they are going. I jump in. Holding my bag. Thank you. >> [applause] >> And our first grand champion, Ethan will read the traveling leaf. The traveling leaf. >> [clears throat] >> A small leaf lets go of the branch one day. Spinning slowly in the quiet air. The tree stays behind, tall and firm. But the leaf drifts without knowing where. It lands on the river for just a
021moment. Carried by the water, never still. Past rocks. Past shadows of bending trees. It keeps moving without its own will. Sometimes bumping into sticks and stones. Drifting beside another leaf. For a second, they travel together. Until the current breaks the leaf. Still. The leaf drifts forward. Patient with the path it cannot see. Because somewhere beyond the sinuous river, there must be a place it is meant to be. Thank you. >> [applause] >> And our first place grand champion winner will reading her poem at the awards ceremony on May 31st at the museum. And that's Emmaline Tran with Boundless. >> [applause] >> Boundless. A blue heron stands waiting. Isolated and distant. Quietly folded into its own shadow. Calling out to the world vast and boundless. Silence stretches across the water, long and unbroken. Even the delicate
022ripples of the waves seem to still. Tall, motionless, standing until patience could sleep no longer. The blue heron unraveling its wide gray wings, tearing loose from the shadow that once shackled it. Lifting into the open air, dancing upon the gentle wind, no longer lingering in the quiet. At last, free. Thank you. >> [applause] >> I saw the speech, so I was hoping you'd come up and say something. >> [laughter] >> They're always moving when we listen to your students' writings. And I think if you were to look at them, you would just think they're published pieces by, you know, any author of any age anywhere. And so, we're so proud of you guys, and thank you so much for sharing that. An absolutely amazing accomplishment and amazing skill of writing. So, thank you guys. Thank
023you. And they are actually now published authors. Yeah, they are. Their work is published in the book. Yeah, and that's pretty amazing, right? Thank you. And thank you for sharing your writing because I know it's not easy sometimes to to share such things of, you know, our our personal expression or however it comes out in words. So, it's very courageous and it's doubly courageous to share it at a board meeting. >> [laughter] >> So once again, thank you guys very much. And I will say because these board meetings I always say little thing, please don't feel compelled to stay. We're so thankful that you spend even just a little bit of time with us with your works. But as the meeting progresses if you need to get home or or do anything like that, it's
024it's not rude at all to leave whenever you like. Thank you guys. >> [applause] [applause] >> Wow, that's hard to follow. It is. Everything after this is just going to They would have just stopped everyone in the side and said they did >> [laughter] >> yeah. >> [laughter] >> It almost feels weird reading a piece that I I often read but we with respect to our our listeners at home you know and with respect to consistency as we move to our public commentary for this evening which is on agenda items only. I like to say ladies and gentlemen, we're about to convene into the public comment period of our meeting. It's absolutely crucial for us to hear from our community members about their concerns and issues. We appreciate all of your comments. While we may
025not be able to respond to your concerns and questions tonight we do take them very seriously and want to have sufficient time to process and research issues if need be so we can respond thoughtfully at a future meeting or have the proper staff member get back to you at the appropriate time. I also want to point out that under state and federal privacy laws we're unable to entertain any comments or questions about school personnel or any individual identities. On these matters we'd ask you to go through the appropriate administrative channels. And finally, we intend that our school board meeting serve as an example to our students that members of our school board and members of our community can deal with controversial issues in a civil matter and demonstrate mutual respect. In that spirit, we ask
026that all speakers and members of the audience maintain civility and respect for any divergent views that may be expressed. And we ask that speakers please address their comments to the board directly rather than the audience. Thank you. And having said that >> [laughter] >> Whitney, do you have any comments? So in LTV though, you know, we are here for callers if they are here. Going once. We we have no callers on the line at this time. Okay. Thank you so much and with that said, it looks like we are able to move on to our consent agenda. I ask for motion to approve items 5.1 and 5.2 on our consent agenda. Do I have a motion? I'll have a second. Clerk, call the names. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? None. Motion carries.
027Moving on to our business items section this evening. I ask for a motion to approve items 6.1 through 6.4 under business items on our agenda. Do I have a motion? Motion. Second? All right. Jonathan, could you review some of these items? Of course. It's a pretty light this month. 6.1 to 6.3 is our regular monthly reports. We're missing a few still just the way with the timing of the claims auditor fell. We haven't gotten all the reports from her yet. We expect to have that at the next meeting. Okay. And that's just a timing issue of how one month ended in this meeting today. 6.4 is our agreement with the town of Springs memo of understanding about the SRO, the school resource officer that we have every year. We do this annually. This is just
028updated for next year's school year. That's it. Yeah. >> [laughter] >> No, yeah, that's The SRL is um no cost to the district. Wonderful. Thank you, Jonathan. Are there any questions from the board? No. Uh so, all those in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carried. So, off to our superintendent's report and recommendations. Okay, um just as we do each month, we go over our enrollment, and our enrollment has remained steady as it has for most of the year. Since last month, we have one fewer student um in our pre-K through 8, and three additional students at the high school. And as I said, uh the enrollment has basically remained steady over the past year. And um also these last 2 weeks have been our state assessments. Our students have completed our state assessments in
029ELA, math, and science. Uh this year we did have some testing glitches. Uh so, we had to stop testing one day, and it was nothing to do with our building. It had to do with software from the state level. It happened uh basically statewide. So, we did have to uh delay our ELA testing and had it on a a separate day, but everything finally worked out, and everyone is very happy to get back in our routines and have the testing finished. And this is a very exciting time of year. Uh we have a lot of events, a lot of field trips. Um this actually just today, our third grade has visited the Morton Wildlife Sanctuary in Sag Harbor. They had a gorgeous day, and they had a really, really great time. And our fifth grade
030students visited Amber Waves in Amagansett, and they as well had a really beautiful day and a great time, and I was very happy they brought me back some salt with rosemary, thyme, and sage, which was It's thoughtful and sweet. Um also uh this week uh actually it was last week um all students both uh K through 8 uh participated in Hollyrock Game Show Brain F Challenge. And this was really exciting. Um, they come in and they do brain challenges and different events with students. We work with the K 2 students and the 3 5 and the 6 8 and they compete against each other. Um, often girls versus boys. Um, most often the girls beat the boys uh >> [laughter] >> surprisingly. Um, but it it's just um it's a fun time. Uh, there's a
031a lot of great trivia ques- trivia questions and it's just fun to have the kids all in a room together and really enjoy each other and have camaraderie. Um, also um this morning uh our 8th grade students um once again with Mrs. O'Reilly who we really appreciate all she does for our kids, they had the opportunity to meet with Dr. Bernie Frischman during all of their ELA classes. And he spoke with students about the his father's experiences during the Holocaust. Um, the students in 8th grade have been studying the Holocaust and the Nuremberg trials and this was a really meaningful opportunity for them to learn first hand about real life experience and historical events. And very nicely we had lunch the administration and Dr. Frischman with a bunch of students um after all of his
032presentations and they just talked to us about how meaningful and inspirational um his speaking was. He actually has a uh documentary that's going to be coming out on PBS. He's recently received an award um from the state. So, we're very very thankful that it took him 3 hours to get here from Bohemia this morning and he was quite shocked how long [laughter] it took him uh and uh so next year we encouraged him to take the train when he comes and comes to visit us. But we're very thankful um to have these experiences for our kids. Um also, as Whitney mentioned, on Thursday our Special Olympics students are going to be participating in the East Hampton Law Enforcement Torch Run. So, we encourage anyone to go by in the morning. Um it should be We
033really want to cheer our kids on. They'll be at the last leg. Um the event starts in Montauk. It's uh about 13 to 17 miles, I believe, and will end here in East Hampton, and our kids will participate in the last event. And just received athletes from law enforcement. And this is um just a really special event, and it just creates public awareness um for our Special Olympics in New York State. So, we're very thankful that we're participating in that. And just also to let you all know, this past week uh last week was Teacher Appreciation Week. Uh it was also we had a Nurse Appreciation Day. We want to specifically thank the administration and um our PTA for honoring and celebrating our teachers and our nurses. It's been um just a time to really
034reflect and think about all the hard work the employees do here in the district, and we really appreciate it about of it. Um and just as you know, as I try to if you noticed uh the building is looking better. It doesn't look like it's been graffiti'd anymore out front. If any of you noticed that when you were driving by, um the stucco and all the facias have um mostly been completed. They'll be starting on the cupola work very soon, and then the sidewalks. So, we just want to say thank you to the board and the community for really helping us to maintain our facilities and improve our facilities. Um it really does make a difference. Um sometimes you forget what it looked like prior to when it was done. And I have lots of
035old pictures, so I do remind myself that >> [laughter] >> Oh yeah, this really looks good. So, um we're very thankful and appreciative of that. And just um want to thank also the PTA has their BOGO Book Fair going on this entire week. Kids have really been enjoying uh by purchasing books and participating in that. And then just ending with as everyone knows our budget vote is next week on May 19th from 1 to 9 right here in the library. We also have our spring concert at 7:00 p.m. We encourage everyone in the whole community to come and then attend and really celebrate the arts with our kids. Thank you. Do you have to do with time for that race on that Thursday for the time? 10:30. Law enforcement usually shows up around Collins Collins
036Avenue right there by the IGA around 11:00-ish and we run that nice short little distance around that road into the firehouse. It's not an exact science but 11:00-ish is good that. Are you going to post it on the parent square website possible? Sure, we can post it on the website. purchased all of our athletes little tiny torches for the run. >> [laughter] >> Yeah. We have 12 or 15 kids doing it. It's a nice event. The kids really like to meet the officers and I think it's nice for the officers to see who they're running for. >> [laughter] >> This is going to be the year. Well, thank you very much for sharing that and thank you to the administration, our teachers, and all the support of PTA. I think they might be looking for
037some volunteers for the book fair, right? Always helpful. Our parents are always looking. But yeah, I'd be remiss if I didn't show our appreciation for everything everyone does. So having said that, we're up to our last part of the meeting, our public comment number two. This is for comments on anything, even items that may not be on the agenda. LTV, is there anyone out there? We have no callers on the line. And we're good. >> [laughter] >> There's so much pressure, you know, just being on the line um all right, well, thank you everyone. Uh I'm now going to ask for a motion to adjourn the meeting. Do I have a motion? Motion. Second. Second. All those in favor, aye. All right, motion carried.