001just a little bit and I'll turn it over to the superintendent to take it from here for a moment. >> So, we will finish up our budget presentations and uh we'll start with Miss Smith in the high school. >> Uh good evening everybody and happy St. Patrick's Day. >> Yes. And um I feel slightly antilimactic that I have my own building level presentation uh because there's very little new uh because you've been so generous um over the years and um the two things that I just wanted to point out to you that um are new for next year uh one is in our science department and we are adding a new elective course in our science department that is forensic science And uh our students are very excited about it. We have about uh 75
002students signed up for the course already. Um and with any new science course, as we know, a huge piece of a science course is the lab equipment. And with forensic science, uh we would like to purchase for the sake of the integrity and interest of the course new lab materials because a lot of the uh lab materials are unlike our traditional classes um in science. They're high interest and almost mock crime scenes in a lot of ways. Um, so we're asking for an increase of $5,000 to support uh that new course and curriculum and that lab uh those labs and the courses. I don't think we will need that full thing, but I think it's safest to budget for that. Um, and I certainly think that is a worthy endeavor and um, an area that
003our students are very interested in across the board. you know, whether they're going into medicine or they're going into um criminal law, whatever the case may be. >> Yeah. >> Um the second thing that you are quite familiar with because you've heard a lot about it over the past two years is our uh robotics competition trip, which we are so excited about because they are leaving Thursday uh to compete Friday and Saturday um at Fostra for the first robotics competition. As you remember, we joined Sag Harbor last year and our students did very well and then we were o able to field our own team this year and they will be competing for the first time um on Friday. So, um they're very excited and um very nervous, but they're going to do great. Um
004so uh the expense there has been we have been able to piece together um things to support them this year uh through um both district funding and also through the generosity of our community as you've seen those robotics donations come through the board agenda. Um but we would like to formalize it next year so that we can ensure it continues. So the cost there would be uh twofold. The registration for uh to enter uh is $6,500 and with that you get all of the equipment for the bot I'm told it's called is the correct terminology and then the second piece is the funding for the trip itself which is also about $6,500. So um I think it would be best for uh the growth of our robotics team the Bonic Box to include that in
005our budget. Sounds worthy to me. >> Yes. Okay. And other than that, it is uh business and budget as usual. >> I just have one quick question. >> Yes. >> Um the yonder there's some replacements for yonder. Do you think that'll be recurring every year or I know it's new. So find your way. >> It is recurring but a fraction of the original cost. So the original cost was close I forget the exact number 50. >> Um and the combination of renewal as well as replacement is closer to 10,000. >> Okay. We got 13 from the state. Is there any indication, Sam, that the state's going to do the same thing? That was a onetime thing. That big $13,000 they gave us. >> I think that was >> Well, thank you for that. That's appreciated.
006>> I hand them in at the end of the year and we're going to keep them here. >> Existing pouches. >> We not replacing all of them every year, right? >> Yep. We would collect them at the end of the year. I don't think they want them over the summer. >> Parents do. >> We'll let you uh and then uh hopefully be able to reuse a lot of them and then >> some will break, some will go, whatever. But I just was curious if that's something we'll expect going forward. That is that a rough idea of what we will >> a rough idea of what it would be annually. >> Um but again not the 50 closer to the 10. >> Yeah. >> Sam, when you see somebody asking for another 11 >> see what
007you can do button. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you >> what is that? computer is small. >> In honor of St. Patrick's Day, this presentation's modeled after the Irish goodbye. So, I'll go a chance to look at the budget that looks pretty similar because it really hasn't changed much uh since last year. Overall, there was an increase of 1.196%. And this is basically the rising cost of supplies and materials. Um, it's also earmarked um some funds, some equipment funds to replace uh a mower for grounds and uh after this winter definitely going to take a closer look at all our snow throwing equipment. >> Yeah. >> How that do >> put through the gamut. Yeah. >> Right. Yeah. >> Um and that is pretty much it. I just I also like to say
008that I'm just I'm very proud of the work uh that crews have been able to do. the grounds crew for uh maintaining their exterior of the buildings and play surfaces, custodial staff for keeping our buildings and classrooms so clean and the maintenance team and everything the working order and all while taking on special projects. >> No, it's great. >> It was a rough >> between the plowing and the shoveling and the sanding and the mess that comes in >> the best that comes in the door, you know, from >> Thanks to your staff and and your group for doing what they did because it was a lot to do. anybody did your own at home, you have an idea, then you get to go home and do it at your own house when you get
009done here. So, we appreciate it for sure. >> I would also too, I'd like to to thank thank the board and administrator for the continued support. So, it's been instrumental in getting the big ticket items done. >> That's good. That's helpful. >> Yes. Thank you. >> That's all I got unless any questions. That's easy. Thank you. Thanks, guys. Janine, >> they save all our questions for the first time. Uh, first I want to thank the board of ed for your commitment to commitment to technology um in the district. Um, that helps us serve the staff and students as best as we possibly can. Um, as you will see in this year's proposed budget, there are minimal increases for the upcoming school year. Um, we've worked and will continue to work in close uh proximity with
010the building administrators, instructional facilitators, and staff to make sure that we're meeting technology needs in a uh thoughtful and sustainable manner, but also placing uh the district safety at the highest priority. Um, I am especially excited to uh roll out MacBooks for all students and grades 9 through 12th and 26 27th school year. This year we successfully provided all of our staff at the high school with MacBooks um and provided some ongoing and high quality professional learning to support that implementation which went is went and is still going really really well. Um MacBook books offer a longer lifespan, better battery life, uh better resale value and long term. So we anticipate less budgetary need for student computers over the next three years as a result of this initiative. Um, and then finally, I'd like to
011share that the tech department has been releasing a monthly newsletter called talking points from the tech office. It's received tremendously positive feedback, and we look forward to continuing to provide that kind of communication as a way to support and connect with the district as of >> welcome. Thank you for your first uh presentation to the people. >> It's you guys are amazing. So, thank you. >> Well, no. And Luke, um, did you tell her that that I want a MacBook too? Because just for here, it would be great. Just send it. Just send it. >> God damn. >> Thank you. Thank you, >> Colette. Since they took so long, I'll be real quick to be happy. >> Hello, and thank you for having me and thank you for everything that you all do. Um, I
012do want to say, uh, my budget does have an increase of about $250,000, which the majority of that is going towards cost purchases. >> Uh, so we get ahead of the curve and the EV issue that we're all facing. >> Yes. >> And uh, >> and the rest is just spread out through fuel. the the changing cost of the fuel issues are you know always going to be a problem and you know a lot of the parts that we need but other than that um I think we're study as we go uh we do have a new shared service with Satronic which we're very happy to do and uh you know continuing with springs and shelter so we're pretty happy about that. So, how much are we increasing like budgeting ahead for gas and stuff?
013>> So, there's approximately 15,000 which would probably be sufficient since we haven't utilized all of our Okay. >> How often do we get service to fill up our tax? >> Uh, they come once a week. Every Wednesday. I know it's Wednesday because >> what kind of a price increase has has there been? So over the past month it has increased at about 70 cents a gallon. >> Colette, do we still sell uh gas diesel to our sending district? >> We do right now. Uh Springs is a regular. They come in all the time and Mont comes in every once in a while as well. >> What are you thinking on buswise? I know it's been talked about, but what are we what are we going to do for this year? >> So, we have four
014uh buses on Florida >> and I know we were waiting for some. How are we doing? Are they >> They just came in. I have uh four buses that just arrived. We will be having the coach bus. Uh >> yes. How's that going? >> September. >> Supposed to be March. >> Yeah. You know, it's like anything else you order. You just can't tell. And >> every time I don't get a quick response, I know it's not a good answer, but I am on top of them and >> we understand. >> Excuse me. >> We understand. >> Thank I appreciate that. But the other buses are coming in a little quicker, which is a nice thing. So, >> I'm sure everybody's ordering buses right now. >> We need to stockpile. >> I think what happens, and
015Sam explained it to me, is you know, like why why we given you all this money, why can't we get our buses? Well, we're ordering three buses and let's say Mod Pok is ordering or some of the bigger first student might be ordering 50 100 >> buses. They're ordering 3,000. >> Yeah. So, we're right at the bottom of that, but I mean the turnaround time's been what we we 18 months I think we >> Yes, it was it was really bad for a bit. It has improved. So, the minute I say I want buses, they get our name in there and the turnaround is pretty quick. >> Good. Good >> right now. Okay. >> Everything's that way. No, I know the one coach. >> Thank you very much. >> It's going to be huge for
016the kids. >> It's tremendous. >> Thank you. Well, you do. We appreciate it. >> Y All right. So, uh, this is the, uh, final final bond presentation. So, today you'll be asked to approve the propositions. Um, I want to take, you know, this opportunity to thank Sam and his office for all their hard work. um you know our our councel our bond attorney our architect Mike Guido uh I'm not going to kill you and bore you with the stuff I but this is the important stuff that we do have expiring debt um you know again it's it's good practice to replace expiring debt with new debt uh the district has determined that we had this how it all started they had $64 million uh of debt issue between uh 28 and 30 that will create
017repayment schedules that are essentially ebook from the expiring debt Um that's a huge thing and that's how we started. Um and then we started uh can advance. So we had and and just to re restate this uh I had placed multiple letters in in the star. Uh we had uh over 12 months ago we we talked about what needed to be done. We had um a survey sent out. We had four bond uh uh community forums that uh were openly um open discussions with with the board and the community. Uh we also had board members myself Sam being solicited by community members on things they wanted to see in our schools. um a list of projects is drawn up from these conversations and divided into needs and wants both of which uh work together to
018ensure that we are you know going to be state-of-the-art going forward because you're not going to be able to do what we're going to be able to do for the next 30 years. Um so this is where uh we are right now and then I'm going to turn it over to Sam. So the survey was 2025 that was also sent out in the East Hampton Star. the link was sent out. Um, based on the feedback, the uh what kind of evolved from that is we put things into our $63 million, $64 million uh bond with our needs and our wants. But then there were a lot of discussions and I had spoke multiple times about uh community members and board members and other people talking about the need to build a pool out here in
019East Hampton and how important that was to this community and how important swimming and water safety is. Uh so the board in its prior meetings has put that out like let the community decide if you want that um and Sam will explain the tax increase associated with that. Um vote for it. If not, don't vote for it. Um, again, and you have your bond proposition three, the same thing. People brought up indoor athletic space with another full-size basketball court and approximately a 30 by 30 30 yard turf field. You'll see some very uh simple renderings that Mike Weto provided for us. Uh, again, that's um another thing that we said, let the committee decide you want it or you don't want it. Um, one of the things we talked about in the last meeting that's
020very important, everything hinges. Proposition one, if that passes, Proposition 2 can pass if that's voted for. Proposition three is contingent on Proposition 2 passing. So everything is basically contingent upon each other. Sam will give a little more details. We had to do this. Um, one of the things that happened was really, and we explained it in the last meeting, that if the community had voted down the pool but approved the sports facility, we would not have enough money to approve uh to put the sports facility in place because we need to attach it to the building and we would have had to put bathrooms on it, which would be ex we'd have to increase the cost of about approximately $10 million to them and we didn't want to do that. So, we kind of made
021it. Luke, do you go to the next slide? >> Okay. >> All right. Thanks. So, this is the final list of what's included in Proposition One. And obviously, as Adam said, this list was distilled down over more than a year of conversations with members of the community into the administration, the employees, parents, teachers, staff. I know Mel remember when the students were here to weigh in. So, this list represents what's included in Proposition One. The bold is what we're classifying as needs. The italics is what we're classifying as once. You can see everything is listed there. I realize this very small. I should say this entire presentation is going to be posted on our website tomorrow morning where you'll be able to zoom in and see this. But essentially what this is showing you is
022here at the high school campus where all the different projects that are outside the building are taking place. So you can see not only is there going to be significant improvement inside the building, but there's also going to be a number of different uh athletic and community spaces outside the building that are touched. We also mentioned Go ahead. Can I say Can you go back Luke one? I'm sorry. I should bring this up because it came up. We we none of the proposals included lights on the tennis court. We are not putting lights on the tennis courts. I had uh them correct that in the East Tampa store. She couldn't have been better to correct it. That's never come up and I want the board to know that. It was quoted in the article, but
023>> it's not happening. I mean, it's never been in anything. We never even talked about it. No one asked for it. No. >> So, the new the aqua blue thing. >> Yeah. Yeah. We're going to show a more zoomed in version of that just a minute. Uh, but so you'll remember from two slides ago, we talked about an expansion of the footprint at John Marshall for multi-purpose space, various classrooms, multi-purpose space intended. This shows where we are intending to put that. So the you can see the bus loops and the car pair pickup loops in this drawing and the yellow boxes are where the expansion John Marshall's uh footprint will go. >> Right. >> Go ahead. So this is the budget for proposition one. So let's be clear on this. If this is approved by
024the voters, we're going to phase in the debt that's associated with this at the same time that the retiring debt is leaving. So there will be virtually no impact on taxes. Obviously, people need to speak to the assessor to ensure the value of their home. We'll get into that in a minute. But the debt schedules are going to be arranged so they pick up where the retiring debt leads off. The projects are going to be arranged in a way that makes sense for to balance the expenses over those three years as the debt retires and the debt picks up the needed design time and the impact on school function. We're showing you tonight, you know, the the basic designs and we've talked about this in the past. What actually goes to the state education department
025for building permits is greatly much there's much more detail than this. There's very extensive project manuals. There's very detailed drawings that all have to be done. That does not happen overnight. Sometimes the design process can take as much as a year. So we're going to be arranging the projects in a way that we can borrow at the right schedule. We can get the plans done at the right schedule and that it's not impacting what we're doing here. So for example, if we take the auditorium here at the high school because of where the auditorium is located directly in the center of the building and because we have to start in that auditorium with an abatement project meaning to pull down speestus and other demolition we can't start that in September that's a summer project right
026so we need to time these things so they make sense because life has to continue on as we move along um so that's where the budget is and you can see it's broken down again needs and once building by building for the almost $64 million. The second proposition Adam talked about got a lot of feedback from the community that they would like to at least have the opportunity to weigh in on the building the pool who would be attached to this building. Uh so it's obviously going to be used for swimming water safety instruction obviously an extremely important topic it's community and there's the point here that in addition to that we are uh able to offer a CTE program a career in teched program for students who are interested in going into pool development
027and maintenance much like we have at the transportation center for students who want to learn auto repair and auto maintenance much like we have here at the high school for students who want learn want to learn the culinary arts those who want to go into pool development and maintenance students will be able to take a CT course here. When we initially talked about this, we had a budget of 43.6 million. We have to go to 45 million. There are some additional construction costs that have become apparent as we've planned this, mostly related to the temporary items that we're going to need as this construction takes place. Because of the size of this building, it's going to take up the construction is going to take up basically half of the parking lot of the of the
028high school. It's going to have to be fenced off for construction safety. So, we're going to need to spend some money to route buses around differently to create a temporary parking lot so that we can again continue to operate this building as it normally would while we're doing this construction. And we've developed this a plan in conjunction with with Sarah Smith and the architect and Greg Belle has been instrumental figuring out how we can put this all together. The third bond proposition is for our athletic space. There's been a lot of commentary uh from our survey that people are looking for ways to remedy. In fact, there isn't a lot of indoor gym space. There's a lot of places that people can practice inside while the weather is inclement. So, we're talking about an indoor
029athletic facility that will have full-size basketball court and an indoor uh turf field that will be suitable for practice of a lot of sports that are normally played outside. Much like the pool, it'll be open to the community when students uh when it's non-school hours and will be used by the students during the day as part of their normal physical education classes. Uh and again, as Adam said, pool can only pass if Proposition One passes and the gym can only pass if if passes. >> Sam, what was the price point in fields? >> Uh it's 18 million or so, and we'll get to that in just a second. >> Right. Go ahead. So this is where we're talking about that the uh pool building and the uh indoor athletic facility will go. So this is
030the existing high school here. This is the entrance to the district office as it currently exists. It's going to be connected with a hallway that's going one of the things state education department demands to see is that you're connecting. You can't have an independent freestanding facility. You have to connect it to your existing building. So, you know, we've all parked in the district office parking lot that will now be right in the middle of the pool. And so, you can see how it's going to how it's going to come out. The bus loop that currently exists is going to make a turn here. And this area here, which is normally the bus loop, is going to turn into a pedestrian plaza. >> You have the two, it's smart to put Sam said I would do
031this whole presentation, so I will. Uh, you have two sets of locker rooms. You have a community entrance in the front. We'll work out the security stuff which we obviously aren't going to publicize. But you can see the front on the lower side is the community based locker rooms. That was a big thing that people talked about with the wine. You have your community locker rooms here. You have your entrance here. You have your school entrance for students locker rooms. Bathrooms. Uh >> classroom space up there. >> Classroom space. Pool sto uh maintenance. What do you want to call it? >> Bleachers. Bleachers for >> bleachers. Right here one diving board. It's not going to be two. Uh Mike thought I said 3 meter, there's a 1 meter. He didn't want to do 10 meter.
032U but >> and you can see from the design here as we're talking about is that the bathroom space, locker room space is all part of the pool half of the structure. The gym is essentially a box which doesn't have any of that stuff which is done on purpose to control costs. So we need to make these two things. One has to be contingent on the other because if the pool were not to pass, there's no money to build bathrooms will connected to the building. >> So you won't approve it, >> right? So now we're going to show you some uh architectural renderings of what these spaces are going to look like. I want to make a big caveat here. These are early renderings. What actually will be built at the end will look something
033like this, but there may be changes. So we're starting out from a view here that is far away. You can see on the right hand side that is the existing high school. You can see the main office of the high school. Right in the center of the picture here, this is the entrance, the main entrance to the high school. The students come in. And this is where the indoor athletic facility and a gym, sorry, are all going to come to be >> with the district office behind that right. >> So you can continue to see us a little better. So now we've moved down the way. This is the high school entrance. This is where the guidance is. The Sarah's office is behind this tree here. The where we're currently standing in the library is
034going to be behind here. And this is where this building is. You'll note that the window detail here that Mike is designing is the same of the existing district office and other parts of this building. So it's all going to look seamless together. And that was the emphasis that he put in this design. Go ahead. Now we're on the other side of this building that comes out. This is the existing district office here. You can see Adam will have a view of the pool. There it is. >> Uh and this is going to be my building is the pool be on this side. The uh and the uh athletic facility gym is going to be on this side. This is going to be the entrance. We looked at the overhead floor plan a few minutes
035ago. So you can see how it's all going to come together. >> They're going to be joined, right? >> They're going to be joined. >> That's a great picture, Sam. That's >> and you can see it's all joined. There's a hallway in the middle basically separates the two sides of the building, but you can see again like example the detail of the window. It's the same window you recognize from the district office. And this I talked about the pedestrian plaza which you can see here. Sorry, >> Luke. You want to >> This is what the inside of the pool is going to look like. Let's start off from as you would enter. There can be bleachers here. There's a handicap accessible ramp. The bleachers are raised so that you can actually see what's going on
036in the pool. If you put the bleachers on floor level, you can't see anything. So, obviously, here is going to be where the locker room entrances are. Again, it's a basic design. >> What was the pool size? Did you say I'm sorry, Olympic size, right? >> It's eight lanes. It's suitable for high school and pool competitions. uh which is again why it only has the sole diamond the one m diamond board because they don't >> one m diamond board is what is done in high school competition. So now we're on the other side of the room. You can see the lanes of the pool. The bleachers here are raised >> and you have accessible ramp for those who need it. And you can see this is the entrance. We talked about the uh locker rooms.
037That's we go down that hallway to get to the two locker rooms off either side. Similar entrance right would be here for the community side of the locker room. We'll go ahead. Here's on the other side of the room. You can see appreciate the size of the bleachers to accommodate the you know the length of the pool to accommodate as many people as want to come. And you can see the depth of the pool to accommodate the diving board that will be here. Okay. This is what rough uh rendering of what the indoor athletic facility is going to look like. Be >> a net in the middle, >> basketball on this side, turf on this side. Net is going to be here to separate the two. It'll be able to raise and lower the floor.
038sorry, from the ceiling. And we've talked about various nets that could drop down depending on what you want to do. If you want to have pitching practice, if you want to have batting practice, if you want to have kicking for football, you drop down different nets to size up the >> pretty utilitarian. No bleach. >> Look at that batting. >> There are no bleaches because this is not this space is not for competition. This is for practice. >> The the floor is not a wooden floor. It's synthetic. >> No go. It's synthetic board. >> Yeah, it's a synthetic board. There's no bleachers here. It's not sized for that. It's for practice. It's not for competitive purposes. Okay. Here's the impact, the tax impact of propositions two and three. We talked about with proposition one, there's
039no tax impact because it replaces retiring debt. Propositions two and three. You can see the budget there for the pool. It's 45.6 million. For the indoor athletic facility, it's 18.5 million. So, this is where I would encourage property owners to look at their tax bill to see what the assessed valuation of their property is. We say this every time, but it deserves mention. The town's assessment of your property is not the street value of your property. In fact, the assessor's office tells me that home most homes in this community fall with an assessed value between $4 and $8,000. That is obviously not the street value. That is the assessed value. So you can see that for proposition two, the pool, let's say you have a home assessed at $6,000. The pool would cost $23 a
040year for 20 years. Proposition three, same home. It would cost 82 $8253 for 20 years. So what I people should take a look at their tax bill. they don't have it, call the assessor's office, determine what their assessed valuation is, and then use these three benchmarks as a way to determine what the tax impact will be when they are rendering a decision or how they want to vote on this. It's important to note that those figures do not include the operational cost of running a pool. We've spoken to four or five school districts that have their own pools to try to figure out it where the impact will be. We're estimating somewhere between 500 and $750,000 a year which will be offset byvenue community use of the pool. People will have to purchase a a
041membership or however you want to you know pass to use the pool and that hopes that goes to reduce those expenses but that's we're estimating what the cost will be to the expenditure budget to operate the pool. All right. So next steps obviously there's been a very lengthy secret process that has taken place over the last few months. The board has an item on its agenda later on this evening to adopt the secret findings. Uh there's two items. First is that you going to be declaring yourselves the lead agency to review the environmental impact of this of this work. The second uh resolution is to say that there is a negative environmental impact meaning there's no environmental impact to doing this negative declaration it's called. Um those are two items on uh on the agenda.
042And then the third item relevant to this on the uh relevant to this on the agenda is to adopt language that put these three propositions on the ballot for the voters to uh ask their ballots on in March even. For people who are watching at home, this is going to be on the same ballot. It's going to take place for annual budget and board of election board of education vote on the 19th of May. Voting is in the boardroom just down the hallway from noon to 8. want to vote for absentee by absentee ballot, you can contact Julie Bistrian. Her email address and the phone number are there. That's the place. And again, this presentation along with uh Mike Guido's full plan describing the projects are all going to be posted on our website and
043we're working on getting these renderings separately posted so people can see them independently on the slides of this presentation. >> Thank you, S. >> Does anybody from the board want to comment on anything? I just had some initial thoughts but does anybody else want to so I think just for people to understand how the process works unlike other municipal municipalities where we can just say yes let's do this and the board as a majority can vote for or against either your budget or uh proposals such as this. So I think it's important for people to know that there was a as Sam said an extensive period of time that passed where we see you know input from the public from our students from our staff from our administration from the board itself from everyone and
044you know >> there was a there was a student meeting that wasn't televised. >> Yes, there was. And there was one that there was one that was too right. We had because we had them here. We had them here. So, you know, I think it's just important to know that we look for as much input as we can get and, you know, I think that's important to note along with the fact that everyone gets to say what they want. You know, we put it forward and then you decide. Yes, I want to pass one. Maybe you won't want two. I don't I don't know what the answer is, but a significant amount of work went into it. And this is all based off of the public in just in general's input and and that's why
045we did what we did. Um, I think it's important to just to note that and I think as Sam said, you know, replacing the debt is important as well because it's like owning a home except that, you know, our schools is always going to be here. When we're done with it, someone else will pick up and and use it as well. So, as you keep your budget as consistent as you can. We have four buildings. You know, the the transportation building is new, so it probably doesn't need a lot now, but in 20 years when this comes around again, that might be something that needs some work. Or addition, our CT programs have been very successful. if we can continue to expand those like talking about the pool tech portion of it, you know, all
046all those things are just so important and there's a lot to this. I mean, I just encourage people to really read it and see what it includes. Yes, it's a lot of money. No one will dispute that. Uh but everything we do has to be done a specific way. When you talk about the the the hallways that connect the buildings and you know bathrooms that need to be there, locker rooms that need to be there, you know, the state has a lot of requirements that quite frankly if you were building at home, you wouldn't have to worry about it. You could have separate buildings, you could have whatever you wanted. And then you have to pay pay prevailing wage, which is another, you know, uh something that needs to be mentioned. You know, if you
047were doing the project yourself, you could definitely do it cheaper because I know that people will make that comment, but not if you're paying prevailing wage. That's the way that the systems work. It's a law. Uh and I think that people need to just understand that. I think most people do, but there's some that that don't. And you know, I I just think that that it's important to note how much input we took on this in general. And and thank to the public that did put in input into it. And if you have questions, you know, read the, you know, the documents online, talk to somebody that if you know a board member, whatever you need to do to get a question answered, please don't guess. call one of us. We'll be happily answer the
048question to the best of our ability. If we don't have the answer, I'm quite sure we'll get it. So, if you could do that, that would be tremendously helpful. >> Anyone else? >> Yeah, good points. Yeah, I mean, there was a lot of effort that went into this >> and we we really reached out to the community >> and we want their for what they want. >> I mean, that's where we came from. >> And ultimately, they're driving the car here. So this decision, all of these each of these decisions is >> solely up to the taxpayers. So >> and and there's probably no one on this board that's sitting here today that will any of them or their children will probably benefit. It's going to be closed for some of the younger board members
049with younger kids. I don't have that. >> Right. Right. But we're talking about generations. You know what I mean? But gen it's generational. So this is important I think to move Eastampton forward. If you look at the facilities that we have available to us, you know, in in our township, this will be like no other. You know, it really >> and our kids have been traveling miles and hours and becoming to us, >> major expenses to to to families on top of that to to to you know, think about when we compete to swim and the points that are deducted not having a diving board. That's been an issue that's been talked about for years and maybe a small one out of out of the whole process, but if we can make it better and
050do better, I think we should. >> I also think our children have taken us to a level where >> we we need to give that back to them. There we have some fantastic swimmers and athletes in our community and they deserve to have the facility. >> They do. our swim. We had five >> fantastic >> boys that went to the states. >> Mhm. >> And the pool that they used got closed down for two weeks before they went to the states. We had to beg, borrow, and steal to get our kids somewhere to practice. So, and they went to the states and they did very well. >> We shouldn't have to do that. Our we shouldn't have to do that for our kids. We should the facilities should be here for them. And on the
051on the same token, what we have scheduled for or what we want to do for the, you know, the high school auditorium, I mean, we just had that incredible play from last week. >> So, that's another another, you know, push forward and >> definitely and and the pool in particular, you think about the community impact of that. You take the fire departments, the police departments, the ocean rescue, people that could use that as a training facility, you know, to some extent. Of course, it's kids first, but, you know, there's a lot that can go around with that. And we're a waterfront community, but you're not going to go down to the ocean, you know, in February. There's a few that will, but most people are not going to do that. And, you know, it's it's
052something that we rely on and it's something that's important to our community. I'll stop there because I've talked enough. But >> just a reminder to vote. I think it said 12 to 12 to 8. It's 1 it's 1 p.m. 1 p.m. to 8. Well, yeah. I think we should maybe um make an effort maybe to do like we did before was to go to the different organizations in the town, you and Sam, make a presentation, maybe a couple board members basis for >> Absolutely. We'll talk tomorrow and set it up. Absolutely. >> Rotary and stuff last time. Yeah. If you have >> Tim wants to take me to dinner, >> you know, and if you have a question, the board has, you know, bae at eastamptonschools.org, I believe, if I'm not mistaken. You can ask
053a question to the board if you have a question that you want instead of guessing >> or speculating or or whatever you want to do, ask us and we'll we'll get the answer for you. >> I also think one of our most beneficial meetings about this mom was with the kids >> 100%. They told us things that I would have noticed to be honest. Like even speaking with the community, there were things that they brought to our attention that >> absolutely need to be addressed and wouldn't have known. It came right from their mouths and it won't affect them. They won't get to benefit from, >> right? Even though here when it's done, right? >> And and things change because something that they didn't want 5 10 years ago, they do today. So it's important
054to ask. >> Good. >> All right. All right. Move on. >> Thank you. Thank you guys very much. >> Thank you. >> Are we here? >> News is cool. Okay. >> We just have so you have any news at a school? >> True. >> Yeah. Excellent. >> We uh I thank Emily for prompting me last time, but I didn't take the hint. We had our musical. I thought it was >> a week later. >> It was wonderful. >> It really was. I know after it everyone says it was great, but this time it was really very special. >> Very special. Glad I could come see >> especially the student performance and that's always tricky because at you know you remember when you were in middle school and doing things in front of people is very
055difficult anyway for that age group and then singing and dancing in front of people in a costume is makes it triply difficult. But they were so comfortable and really I attribute that to Mrs. Curillo and to Mr. Granger because they are so fabulous with our kids. They get them, they excite them, and they just delivered. And I was extremely proud of the building because our the viewers in Mr. Granger prompted them really great about, hey, you're all going to see The Outsiders tomorrow, which our seventh graders are going to on Broadway, but you're going to be audience members. and he talked about etiquette and listening and that's so important to do prior to it happening. So that was just a plus all >> and that's my >> joy for the day. >> Thank you doctor.
056>> Thank you >> Sarah. >> Sure. >> Um I should have mentioned to you before that our day ended um with Greg Schaefer playing the bag pipes at this for St. Patrick's Day. a really wonderful tradition uh and uh perhaps my favorite day of the year because it always catches me by surprise. I remembered a week ago and then forgot today until I heard the background. So it was great. Um so as I was putting this together uh it dawned on me that so many things culminate in March uh which is really uh exciting and I promise I was not copying off of uh Dr. Soraniano's news to the schools, but we also had uh a tremendous play um and bravo to the whole cast and crew of Into the Woods. I mean, it was
057a breathtaking performance. Absolutely flawless. The talent on the stage collectively when they're all together is truly inspiring. Um, and the amount of talent and hard work that goes into that, particularly with our directors, Katie Shrek, Jane Freriedman, Alex Bates, Amanda Jones, Stephw Quigley, and Amanda Cathabianca. Truly, the inspiring and nurturing atmosphere that they create for our um uh for our theater students is the magic behind all of it. Um, so I'm very grateful to them and grateful for our students. Um and they will be presenting to you in April about uh all things Bonic Theater. Um so bravo to them and uh Stella will fill you in a bit more on it, but we had Bonic Science news. It is competition season. Everything is culminating now. We had students uh compete at the Long Island
058Science and Engineering Fair, LISF. Uh Stella will fill you in a bit more on that. Um but we had students come home with awards, which was really great. Um we have on Friday it is World Down Syndrome Day and our Life Skills uh crew is uh encouraging us to wear mismatch socks to support World uh Down Syndrome Day. And I will quote it from them because I don't want to mess it up. But the reason for the mismatch socks is that under a microscope, chromosomes are shaped like socks. And the mismatch socks symbolize the unique characteristics and differences that individuals with Down syndrome possess and encouraging others to embrace their individuality and diversity. So even if you're not here, we will know if you're wearing mismatch socks. Um that is uh pretty much it. We
059had a wonderful and we did it in here a wonderful bon beyond the bell series where our PTA is sponsoring a speaker series for members of the community uh folks um in careers to come in and speak with our students about their careers, their uh life path. It was excellent. We were able to get the uh John Foley who was the founder and CEO of Pelaton to come in and talk about his career and his journey with our students. It was awesome. We had about 80 students come and he was able to talk to them about things they don't hear every day. So our whole goal with this series is to expand their horizons and we certainly did that. So it was great. So I'll keep you posted on who our next speaker is going
060to be. >> Thank you. Thank you. Stella's going to do the athletic report and her report. >> So, this is from uh >> Miss Masterson. >> Oh, Miss Masterson. Um, so she says, "Happy St. Patrick's Day. Following teams are New York State Scholar Athlete teams. Bowling, swimming, boys and girls winter track, and boys and girls basketball. We would like to congratulate the following students who are this year's Suffic Zone Award winners. Fifth grade, Matthew Franco and Satie Will. Eighth graders, William Babinsky and Maria Geraldo Muyos. 12th graders, Lee Coopins and Haley Welsh. Spring sports are up and running and middle school spring sports are set to start on Monday, March 30th. Going >> and for the students, um, March Madness was this past Friday, and it went really, really well. Um, the seniors won shockingly.
061Um, but it's really great because it's a time of like group bonding and everyone really works hard um to try to get their points for the team, but we won. So, that's a lot of internet. Um, scholarships were due um last Monday and everything went really smoothly thanks to guidance. It's a really stressful time, but everything gets really consolidated really well and um they're there to help for the entire day. A lot of printing and a lot of trees were killed, but everything got um LIS and LIISF JV, which is a Long Island Science and Engineering Fair. Um, the competition competitions went really well. I wasn't able to get a list of the awards won, but I know that we did take home um some high level awards, and I'm pretty sure that Dr. F
062sent an email to all the staff, so check out for that in your emails. Um, the New York State Science and Engineering Fair is coming up on the 30th. Um so that's why we have five students that are going which I mentioned last year I mean last um meeting. Um the Spain trip is coming up which is super super exciting. It's been in the works for um more than a year at this point and we've had really consistent meetings for parents and students. Um it's all really exciting and it's crazy that it's coming up soon. So yeah, morale is very high. >> Great. Okay. So, we're at the Thank you very much. We're at the public comment portion. Does anybody have a public comment? Anything LTV, do you have anybody for a public comment? >>
063No, we have no callers on the line. >> Terrific. Thank you. So, we'll move on move on to the consent agenda. Can I have a motion to accept the consent agenda? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Any opposed? Move on to the superintendent's report and recommendations. Item number one, uh, resolve the board of education under the unit free school district approve the following appointments for, uh, to teach an additional section of instruction the 202526 school year with prorated compensation as follows. I have a motion. >> I'll make a motion. A second. >> Second. Any discussion? Leave. Uh obviously it's a late uh year lead that needs to be replaced and other internally is the way to do it. Okay. >> Great. >> All in favor? >> Any opposed? Number two. Recommend the board approve
064uh the school districts partic participating in the eastern subies joint municipal bidding program the 202627 school year. Sounds strange. Can I have a motion? >> Make a motion. Second. Sounds strange. >> 2627 it's like what? Second. >> I guess no discussion really needed standards. All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Number three. Uh resolve that the board approve the following contracts agreements for the 202526 school year and the 2026 27. I have a motion. >> I'll make a motion. >> Second. Any discussion? Most are standard and it was mentioned a transportation agreement with a neighboring district. >> All in favor? >> Any opposed? >> Number four, recommend the board to designate itself as lead agency pursuant to the impending regulations of the state environmental quality review act. I have a motion. >> Make motion.
065>> I'll second. >> Second discussion. That's what Sam was talking about earlier. >> Um for bond and our projects. All in favor? I. Any >> opposed? Number five. Recommended the board approved the contents of the environmental assessment formed EAF resulting in a non significant adverse impact to environmental environment and adopts the annex uh negative declaration. I have a motion. >> I make a motion. Second. >> Second. Any discussion? >> What we needed? >> Yep. All in favor? >> Any opposed? And number six, recommend the board approve the following additional propositions to be placed on the ballot for the 2026 27 annual district meeting and elections to be held on Tuesday, May 19th, 2026. Have a motion. >> Make a motion. >> Second. >> We've really already discussed it. >> All in favor? >> Any opposed?
066>> And we have nothing under old business or new business. You don't have anything new, right? Uh public comment. We're back to public comment again. Does anybody want to make a public comment? LTV, do you have anybody? >> We have no callers on the line. >> Great. I have a motion to adjurnn. >> Make a motion. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I thank you very much.