001East Hampton Union Free School District. You are live. Good evening. Welcome everyone. Can I have a motion to open the meeting? I make the motion. Second. All in favor? Please rise for the pledge. Yeah. So, we are going to start tonight with the budget hearing. So many people here to see this budget presentation. It's very exciting. All right. So, good evening. Uh order medic gives me great pleasure to introdu uh introduce the budget for the 2526 school year. Um as you can see our district goals have remained uh the same and consistent. Our focus has been on student learning and student social emotional growth. Uh you'll be happy to hear the current budget as it is put together maintains all existing programs, our continue academic programs for all buildings and support supports the needs of
002all of our buildings and departments. and it also balances the needs of our taxpayers. So these are just a few of the things uh on the screen. Our main our we have a very comprehensive program at the high school which is our our advanced placement program, our science research program, our club program, our extracurricular and co-curricular rather extensive. Uh we highlight our automotive and culinary CTE programs there which will all continue. Uh the middle school, we are looking forward to the dual language program progressing into our middle school. Um we have some renovations that have occurred in all of our buildings. Uh John Marshall uh some of our expanded instrumental uh lessons during their school day. Classroom furniture uh has just been purchased and it's in all of the buildings. Uh again, some collaboration with
003some outside agencies and expanded reading opportunities for all of our students. again uh and the board's very uh well aware of our commitment here to social emotional learning and mental health support. Uh we pride ourselves on it and that is uh substantially maintained in this current uh budget. Included in that is the growth of our univer uh unified athletics program which I believe they had a game tonight. The away game uh game is and a bunch more games coming up. uh facilities. One of the things we've used and uh Sam will hit on this a little bit in the budget is our repair reserve. Uh we've done multiple hearings. I'm sure everybody here has seen all the detailed presentations uh because they're very exciting. But what the repair reserve has allowed us to do is
004keep up maintenance on our facilities uh repair replace uh inoperable uh equipment. And so we get we don't get to a point where all of a sudden most of our stuff or a lot of our uh our properties are in disrepair. Um you saw that at John Marshall parking lot. Uh our new security cameras. We do that with our buses. East Tampa. The bus fleet is gra is replaced yeartoear. We purchase buses on a yearly basis in order to uh maintain our uh existing fleet. Uh this also allows us not to replace 35 buses at once. Um, as you may know, we've talked a bit about this a lot. Our shared services uh continue with all of our districts. We are bringing in substantial revenue uh for the East Hampton Union Free School District and
005the taxpayers uh with our shared service contracts. The benefits for our district who do uh partake in these um contracts is they don't have to hire people and pay benefits. So, it's worked. It's really working out both uh for both uh entities. uh highlights again preserves all the academic programs prek through 12. It contains funds for a possible new medical access uh assistant program for careerbound e uh eastampton high school students. We've expanded our dual language and it allocates money for a boiler repair uh replacement at John Marshall. I shouldn't say repair, we've given up and that because it is in disrepair and um Sam will talk a little bit about that in his uh his piece. So, uh, I'm going turn it over to Sam to get into all the nitty-gritty details of our
006budget. Thank you very much. I'm very excited about the budget. I know the reason why you're not here showed interest. So, this is the this is the proposed budget. Obviously, the board has spent a number of meetings putting this together and other sessions. So, just to highlight the you know, obviously the number that sticks out is that second line with transfer of the funds. That's where we're appropriating money for the boiler. As we've discussed many times, thanks to the hard work of our great Greg Coobell and our maintenance mechanics, we have made it through the winter with this boiler. Certainly touch and go for a couple of days. It's not going to last anymore. So, we really need to replace it now. The board has previously declared it to be an emergency. Appropriating the funds
007now is how we're going to replace the boiler, John Marshall. So this money that you see there, this huge increase is solely for the the money that has to be appropriated uh to our capital fund in order to expend the budget. If the voters approve this the budget, they will by extension approve the replacement of the boiler there. That's also worth noting that we did have to actually cancel school one day. Not this year, but the previous year almost came pretty close this year. And again, I want to publicly thank our our main staff and and Greg for, you know, making sure that they held this thing together as long as it could as long as it could go. Uh the existing boiling dates from the early 80s, yeah, the taxpayers have gotten their money's
008worth its time. All right. So, this is the expenditure budget and obviously everything detail of this is on our website, the line by line budget. It's also in each public each of our three schools and at the public library if voters want to see more detail on that. So how do we pay for all this? That's is the revenue budget. The highlight here that I wanted to point out, Adam mentioned the shared services. So this is in addition to the funds that we receive for tuition for educating high school students. This is shared services we're doing with other districts. We're providing transportation services both in terms of busing students to school. We are repairing uh and serving as the mechan you know the auto mechanics for other districts that have their own buses but don't
009have uh maintenance shops. We share uh Greg and I each uh are through the district uh share our services with other districts to support their needs as well. So you can see that we're estimating conservatively 800 almost $840,000 coming from our partners in this. It's to their advantage because they don't have to go out and find somebody with these specialties and create their own bus garage and all the other things. And it's to the district's advantage because they're able to bring in revenue for the service that we can provide. Uh so this is the revenue of how we're pay for this. What I also want to just point out is we are tax cap compliant. Obviously last year the public the voters were very generous with the district where we when we needed to pierce
010the cap this year we are tax cap compliant. Say gosh that's a high percentage for tax cap compliant. That's because this boiler project exempts is exempt from the tax cap calculation. So we are bringing to the voters a tax cap compliant budget. Uh this is the slide that every year I I show you under protest. I hate this slide because it requires a lot of uh assumptions. This shows you what your taxes are projected to increase assuming nothing else changes. And that is a very large assumption because obviously the assessed valuation of the town changes every year. And obviously there is a chance that your assessed valuation could change depending on what you've done to your house. So the assessed value is of course not street value. This here in East Hampton I believe the
011assessor assesses property at 310 of 1% of its actual street value. So if you get your value or assessed value from your tax bill, you can estimate approximately what your increase will be. So you can see for the average home will take that $6,000 range. Per month the budget is $16.87. If you have a very specific question about your property, if you've expanded your house or you feel your value has changed, please call the assessor's office. We as school district do not make these calculations. That's why I hate this slide. So, but there it is. In addition to the budget, the ballot has three other important propositions. Go through them real fast. The first is permission to use money from the capital reserve for a playground and science research. new playground at John Marshall. Very
012interested in that. And a new science research lab person might be very interested in that here at the high school. We'll come back to those in a minute. Uh let's briefly talk about the other two. The repair reserve and the capital reserve. The district has made incredible use of these two funds over the years. List of stuff that we've done with the repair reserve. the board knows very well because I come up here and give these presentations and I think the the results show for all the wonderful things that we've been able to do without them becoming more expensive things later on. The fund was set up with a cap of how much money could be put into it. We have now funded it with the board's permission to the max that it can be
013funded. So if we want to continue to use the repair reserve, we need to have voter permission to establish a new fund. Same as with the capital reserve fund. Capital reserve was set up a number of years ago. I think in 2017 it has it is now cannot be funded anymore. Obviously we've done a lot of great stuff with it. I look out the window here the parking lot here at the high school was done was redone with uh capital fund John Marshall the new lockers the middle school. These are just some of the more recent projects that we've done with it. We cannot put any more money into it. So we are asking voter permission to establish a new fund. The last thing that we can do with this capital fund is our the
014first proposition here, the playground and science research lab. So here's what they are real fast. Obviously you saw the presentation before Aaron and working with a great team at her building and the district architect Greg and some others have put together this plan for a new playground at John Marshall. It has has a number of wonderful components that you will enjoy. Uh but you can see the large play structures all put together. We are putting an artificial turf surface under the playground. One of the things kids uh came back and something they really wanted was no more uh shredded wood and shredded wood is very difficult to maintain. This safety surface that we're posing under here is simpler to maintain. It provides a great level of safety and the kids really like it. Around the
015swings, you can see we're putting a port in place rubber. There's a fence around it. Surprising number of people don't realize if you walk behind your friend while they're swinging, you will get clocked in the head. So, we're putting up a fence for safety here. Uh it looks We've visited a number of different districts to help design this playground. You know, Karen, you and your team spent a long time going through cataloges to pick out the best equipment and be responsive to what the kids were asking for. The Independent Science Research Lab, you know, far from me to talk about what a great program it is. This is a comment that Adam had uh received from a teacher in the elementary school who came on the night of the demonstration of all the uh projects
016that the kids had worked on and she basically was complimenting her student about how far that student had come since she knew her as an elementary student to see what this science research program has been able to do. Obviously board is well aware our students are working with professors and researchers around the country under the direction of Dr. Forsber and and Dr. Rubito. They one of them I believe even had an article published in a peer-reviewed journal. This is the proposed science research lab that Sarah and Stephanie put together along with others to really make something that's dynamic. We're taking two existing classrooms. We're putting we're taking down the wall between them. There's a glass wall. Everything that you see here is designed not only for what the students research needs are now, but what
017their research needs are going to be 20 years from now. And it's hard to predict what research needs would be 20 years from now. And so the way we've done that is nothing is fixed to the floor. Everything is movable. So today, this is what our research needs are. You can see there's a horseshoe shape for students to do demonstrations and presentations about their work. There's a a box in the corner that had that the walls will be movable so students can talk to their professors all across the country, their cooperative professors. The only expansion to the building that we're actually doing is the box on top which is a greenhouse that was uh we were told that was extremely valued by the students who are focusing on plant sciences. So that's what we're proposing
018here at the science for the science research lab which would be good for today's students and students 20 years from now. This is the budget of what we're putting together. Everything comes from the capital reserve. There's no impact on the taxes for this project. Uh, so you can see that's what it that's where the budget is off. The only thing I have to say is the vote is on May 20th. If you need an absentee ballot, obviously our soontobe retired district clerk will be happy to help you out. And uh, I think that's it. If there's any other questions, we're happy to answer them. Okay. So, there are there are there is besides the budget vote, there's how many propositions? There are three propositions on the ballot. The playground and science research lab are one
019paired together. There's a question then on reauthorizing the repair reserve and there's a question on reauthorizing a new capital reserve. So four items al together and I support a yes vote or no. Thank god I'm not running. Thank you Sam. Thanks. Do we don't need any motions right? The budget. Yes. Okay. Do I need a motion to adjurnn the budget? We do. Yes. Second. All in favor? I And then I have a motion to reopen the reg. No, no. It's all in one one reconvene into regular. So, you're all good. So, we're all ready for news of the schools. Hi, good evening. Uh, we have some exciting events coming this week. It feels like such a really busy time of year. Um this Thursday evening we have our annual heritage fair that starts at 5:30
020p.m. Um we're just really hoping that the weather holds out. The past couple of years we've done an indoor outdoor event and it really uh makes a difference to be able to spread out outdoors. So we're hopeful to uh to be able to do that. And then on Saturday is our bike rodeo from 9 to 12. So families please come on down to John Marshall um with your bike and your helmet. It should be a great time. Tomorrow is our last we're ending our state exam. Uh well, not really ending. We're still doing nicest labs, but tomorrow is our uh state exam for science for our fifth graders. And then lastly, I just wanted to give a really heartfelt thank you to our PTA who has made this teacher appreciation week so special for our
021teachers. Um they had uh Hampton's coffee with us on Monday. The truck came up and treated the staff to coffee. Uh today they had Levane cookies in the staff room and on Thursday they're catering lunch from Smok and Wolf and Luigi's and um our staff, our teachers, our par profofessionals, our custodians, all of our support staff certainly deserve the kudos and I really want to thank the PTA for helping us you know thank our um really tremendous terrific staff at John Marshall. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening. Good evening. We uh as I'll echo what Karen said, this is a very busy month, May and also June. We have uh today was the first day of our book fair, which um is this the second goound at a new version that our PTA is sponsoring
022very generously um by having every child at the middle school, regardless of need, select a free book. And then kids can still purchase books or posters or some of the other chachki with money that they bring from home. But it's really a great initiative and our librarian Stephanie Morganiano has worked really hard to select books that are obviously appropriate for middle schoolers but also attractive to them. So and they all of these come from Book Hampton as part of the the um program that the PTA has set up. Uh Book Hampton gives 20% back to the PTA of all the sales. So, it's really it's something different. It's the second year that we're doing it and um I think it's wonderful that every child, every person in the building gets a free book of their
023choice. Um so, that's these next three days. And then, uh it's also concert season for us. Um tomorrow night is the spring concert for grade 6 and that's at 7:00 in our auditorium. And then uh the following week on the 14th, also Wednesday at 7 o'clock, the grades seven and eight will have their final concert of the year. And that's always fun to see the, you know, the progress that students have made from the first concert to the second. Um, always good to see. And we have a strong troop of three really great music teachers who make all of that happen. Um, and then finally, the that following Wednesday, the 21st of May, is our Bonak on board 5K, which I mentioned I think the last time that I talked to you, you're all of
024course invited. You don't have to come to the orientation at 8:00 in the morning. But if you if you meet us at Rutan parking lot, just across from the Hunting Inn, that's our starting point. You don't have to run. You can walk if you choose. Um, we'll be there at 9ine and ready to go. and remember as hearkening back to Mrs. Parker in those days. I'm sure Dolores you may remember this um on the first one even though it rained it still happened. So we'll you know if it's lightning it will be cancelled but if it's raining we will go and I'll give you a a little preview of the t-shirt that every student will be getting this time. This is the front and and this is the 19th annual run and this is the
025back. Um, and our PTA once again was instrumental in getting a sponsor that covered the cost of the t-shirts for the whole building. So that's really it's Dr. Curollah and his toothpaste, Revitin or Revit. I'm not sure how you say it, but we really appreciate that. Um, and then finally, we'll be having the PTA will be doing their teacher appreciation, which is sort of morphed into appreciation of all the staff at the middle school. you know, our custodians, our nurse, our counselors, our teachers, our paras on Friday. Um, but I'm I'm not going to reveal what the plan is because it's a surprise. So, I'll tell you next time. And that's it for middle school. Thank you, Josh. You're welcome. M. Good evening, everybody. Uh, I'd also like to wish everyone a happy teacher appreciation
026week. uh and thank our PTSA for helping to celebrate our teachers tomorrow. Uh they will be hosting a lunchon uh tomorrow. So uh it will be delicious. Uh bless you. Uh and Adam has asked me to share with you our college acceptances which are pretty impressive. Uh we have a number of students going to top-notch universities. I don't have time to list them all. Uh but it includes Ammerst, Boston College, Bucknell, Holy Cross, Colgate, Colombia, Cornell, Harvard, Emory, um sorry, uh University of California at Berkeley, that student is particularly excited. Uh University of Pennsylvania, two students were accepted there. Um and Williams College, among, you know, some really top-notch acceptances. We had over uh 70 acceptances to the Sunni system uh including Bingmpington, Junkio, Albany, Stonybrook. And as the cost of college goes up and
027getting into the Sunni system becomes more competitive, it's more and more impressive that our students are able to compete um and continue to get into the Sunni system. And for so many as the Sunni system started, that is that makes a college education accessible. So um that is great. uh what has been really nice to see uh this year come to fruition as always but it's particularly poignant this year students who have taken advantage of our programming here taking that to the next level for example John Dunning who was in the first year of our automotive program and is very mechanical and uh has the engineering mind he's pursuing aviation at uh Eastern Kentucky University you know similarly Jiel has been on pretty much every stage on the east end uh particularly ours. He's pursuing
028music um in their honors program at purchase. You know, our science research students continuing to uh uh pursue that at the college level. So things that we um open the doors to here, they're able to take to the next level. So that's that is uh very exciting. Um we also have big news uh from drama and it's fitting that Mrs. Shrek is here tonight um because the Teenie Awards are out and were announced and we had 11 students from the play nominated for Tiny Awards for their performance in Chicago. Um everything from uh lead role to poster design to choreography and as Georgia Flight said when that news hit Bonic uh great performances take great directors. So uh bravo to our uh students and And we also have big news out of science um for
029our world food prize where we went to Cornell. Uh as we said before that they our students have the opportunity to go to Iowa. And what was really cool is the woman who runs the youth youth institute from Cornell said any of our 12 students really could have uh competed at that level. Uh, however, we only have a certain number of spots. Um, so we are thrilled that East Hampton will be sending two students, potentially four to uh De Moine, Iowa to compete at uh the next level for the World Food Prize. And our first delegate is Ginger Griffin. Um, and our second delegate is Sophie Lancasher. And our alternates are Molly Stillman and Chelsea from So, uh, we were definitely well represented. And this will be the first time in October that our students
030do go to Iowa. Actually, the second, but they last time they went um after they graduated from us. Um so um and then we have started AP testing. Everything is going well with digital testing. I'm thrilled to report the states are pretty high there. And we have our PTSA fundraiser this Friday. Great. Thank you. Thank you. You know, I just I'd be remissed in saying, you know, when Sarah reads that list, I mean, this is really a testament to this community, the teachers, the staff here that that list has evolved and what it's become because of the hard work of the pe obviously the people in this room, but the hundreds of teachers before, the hundreds of staff members. I mean, I've talked I've been visiting lots of schools just recently. I've been out and
031about and in Nassau County, too. And I put this school district against any school district. this community can get it bar none the best. But what what the people have done and the commitment to the growth of the whole child is really something to behold. And again, you know, I know there are kids who do not go to college here and go into the workforce, but they are very well prepared to be successful in that. And um I I am so very proud of of that. And it's fitting this report was given a teacher appreciation week because of what our teachers do here um and whatnot. and and I'm happy to say, you know, and and Tim, you know, I'm probably going to chase up, but they're all staying and they're not, you know, running
032because of the commute or whatever. So, I'm very proud and you should all be very proud of the work you do. It's it's very impressive. And we thank our community for supporting. Absolutely. They make it all possible. Is that the end of the schools? Kathy, do you have anything to say? I mean, I have to follow that. You're not supposed to say anything. Thank you. Uh, we're in the final third of our third season. Um, senior days are upon us, so that's very exciting. Uh, if it stopped raining, but don't worry, Mr. Ryan, there's a pool out front. Don't jump in any puddle, you won't be found. Um, with that being said, Unified started yesterday was our first home game. It was amazing. Austin Miller, I think, scored 25 points. Uh he was it was
033a very exciting day for our life skills kids. Uh they were excited all day. They're away today and then they will be back home against our arch rivals the Southampton Mariners here on uh Thursday. Want to ask about the pool? Are there any public comments? LTV on We have no one on the line so far. Okay. Does anyone here have any public comments for agenda items? Let's move on to the consent agenda. Can I have a motion to approve the I make the motion. Second. All in favor? Okay. Superintendent's report and recommendations. I'm going to do the granting of 10. Yeah, you can read it. I'll read the names. Okay. Uh recommended that upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools, the board of education hereby grants tenure to administrative and instructional staff as prescribed
034herein. resolved that in compliance with the provisions of section 312 of the education law and part 30.3 of the rules of the board of regents and upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools that the East Hampton Union Preschool District Board of Education grant tenure to the following administrative and instructional staff as prescribed here. Kathleen Masterson, director of athletics, physical education, health and driver education. Sarah Smith, high school principal. Stephanie Forsber, science. Katherine Shrek, English. Heather Shapiro, special education. Danielle Castradi, world languages. Christopher Manito, social studies. Brandon Nicks, social studies. Justin McGibney, special education. Amy Gearing, school social worker. And Abigail DS, teaching assistant. I make a motion uh that we approve that second. All in favor. You could all You don't have to step. You're going now and celebrate. Please go and celebrate. Thank
035you everybody. James Thank you. Are you switching places? Okay. Noninstructional appointment school bus driver. Recommended that the board the non-instructional appointment of Hugo to the position of school bus driver. Can I have a motion? I'll make a motion. Second. Got another bus driver. Y that didn't always happen. All in favor? Hi. Hi. Did you want to say something? I was going to say that was, you know, product of Colette and the team training people as well. So, well worth noting. Yeah. Because for a few years there, you know, somebody else train. Okay. Um, recommended that the board approve the non-instructional appointment of Maria Torres Vasquez to the provisional term appointment of office assistant Spanish speaking commencing May 7th, 2025. Can I have a motion? Make a motion. Second. All in favor? Recommended that the board
036approve the non-instructional appointment of Nally Luna Palasios to the provisional position of office assistant. Can I have a motion? I make a motion. Second. All in favor? I. recommended that the board approve the amended tenure extension of Stephanie Quickley, music teacher for the 2024 to 25 school year. May I have a motion? Second. I sorry I didn't hear first. All right. Thank you. All in favor? I don't. Recommended that the board accept with gratitude the following donations. Resolve of the board of education of the East Hampton Union Free School District. Accept with gratitude the following donations for the 2024 to 25 school year. A donation in the amount of $50,000 from the Southampton Colony of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution scholarship. Okay. a donation from the East Hampton Education Foundation
037in the amount of $7,500 to be used towards the cost of a field trip to the 911 memorial and museum for students at East Hampton High School. A donation from the Global Partners LP in the amount of $500 be used by the students in the high school independent science research program at East Hampton High School. And be it further resolved that the board of education of the East Hampton Union Free School District hereby authorizes a budgetary increase to the budget line teaching regular school materials and supplies in the amount of $500. a donation from the Kendall Madison Foundation in the amount of $5,000 to be used towards the cost of a field trip to the 911 Memorial and Museum for students at East Hampton High School. A 50ft flag pole and American flag and electrical
038lighting to illuminate the flag at night from the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 550 East Hampton. and a donation from the East Hampton Lions Club Foundation in the amount of $500 to be used by the students in the virtual enterprise program at East Hampton High School. I make one. Yeah, we did the motion in second, right? No, not yet. No, you okay. Can I second? All in favor? I thank you. That's a lot of donations. Amazing stuff. Like I said, our community is really very supportive of our district. So recommended that the board approved the first reading of the student directory information amended policy. Make a motion. Second. Updated directory. Yes, it's an update. We looked at our directory information and uh aligned it with what it should be what want to be released. All
039in favor? I recommended that the board approve contract agreements for the 2024 to 25 and 25 to 26 school years. uh the contract agreement between East Hampton Union School District and the Suffach County Department of Health for the purpose of public health emergency preparedness effective January 1st, 2025 through December 31st, 2029 in accordance with the terms and conditions set forth in set agreement and authorizes the president of the board of education to sign set agreement and the contract for receipt of federal part B flowthrough allocations between the East Hampton Union Free School District and alternatives for children for the 2425 school year in accordance with the terms and conditions set forth inside contract. Can I have a motion? I'll make a motion. Second. And these are standard. All in favor? I recommended that the board
040accept the NYC administrative review report dated April 22nd, 2025. Can I have a motion? Make a motion. I'll second. This was New York State's evaluation of our cafeteria from there. Thank you, uh, Witton. Thank you, Sam. Uh, I know it was a lot. And yeah, so they the state sends in some inspectors from SED. Every few years, they examine every part of the cafeteria program, Melissa, and Jennifer Cunningham did a lot of work to make sure this went as smoothly as it did. Okay, great. A long day. Yeah, sure. All in favor? Recommended that the board approve budget transfers for the 2425 school year. I have a motion. Make a motion. A second. All in favor? And then old business. Does anyone have any old business? New business? Yes. Uh Sam's going to give us
041an update on the new edict from the state and wits. Go ahead, Sam. Well, it's not so much from the state, but it's from Witson. Witson's is uh going to be integrating uh new food in their program that drop the use of food dye. What dies? I don't have the numbers committed to memory, but I think red 40 red, maybe yellow, too. I don't know. Uh but they they're going to be integrating these new foods over the, you know, the course of the next few months of the school year. the wellness committee. As those of you who come to the wellness committee know, uh we've been looking at ways to uh further enhance our cafeteria program to improve on the healthy eating uh of our students and Woodson's is doing its part by making sure
042that it's not serving food at So does. And then um we have voter registration day. It's Tuesday, May 13th, 8 to 4. So, they just can come into district office during those hours. Absolutely. Okay. And then a reminder that school budget vote and election day will be Tuesday, May 20th from 1 to 8. And that also is here at the district office. District office entrance. Okay. Yep. And there's reminders going out to the community over the next two weeks about the date and time of the election. Okay. Perfect. Um, and then public comments. Do we have any public comments? Still public. Okay, John. Like to wish Sandy and JP and Belinda the best. I hope they get enough votes to get elected. I think that's no problem. Um, good luck. Thank you. Okay. Can I
043have a motion to close? I move the move. All in favor?