001Good evening everyone. Welcome to our Wednesday, June 3rd, 2026 board of education meeting. At this time, I would ask you to please rise as Katie leads us in the pledge. >> Thank you so much, Miss Shmano. Any changes to our meeting agenda? >> No changes reported. >> Okay. Thank you so much. So, we will go to the great part of the evening, do our recognitions. We'll turn it over now to Dr. Scandan. >> Thank you very much. So, our first we have a series of awards tonight with a lot of students being honored here this evening. So, we're very proud of all of them. Uh the first award is the Bob Feller Act of Valor Foundation. So, from their website, the Bob Fellow Act valor foundation is named after the Hall of Fame pitcher and
002World War II veteran. It is focused on carrying forward the values of service, sacrifice, citizenship and legacy. And they wish to accomplish these things in three ways. Champions of valor program and the there are several things that they actually do in this program. We have a few students that we want to honor here tonight. And since I'm doing the announcement on this, you you can come up and then we'll give out the awards as you as we come around and Sue and I will come around and take pictures with you. So first is Kate Geronda. [applause] Oh, that'd be great. Thank you. Stand right there. All right. Next is Brendan Miller, [applause] Grace Scolero. [applause] Natalie Scalero, [applause] Gus Seagull, [applause] and Gracie Stewart. [applause] Congratulations >> a little bit like standing next to a
003little bit. >> [applause] >> Yeah. >> All right. Good. I want to make sure. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations again and we will turn it over now to Dr. Biscari. >> Uh thank you. At this time I'd like to invite up Mrs. Prada and Miss Farley our um principal and assistant principal at a talk at elementary to recognize our students in um who achieved um uh recognition in the first and math tournament. Good evening everyone. Tonight we are so excited to come together to acknowledge and celebrate three outstanding mathematicians from Satake Elementary School who were the winners of the New York State Education Department's first in math competition. Mrs. Lisa Wall, our math AIS teacher, brings a true passion and love for mathematics that has not only supported our students, but has also encouraged and inspired her
004colleagues to participate in this competition. We are so very grateful to the families and staff members who have encouraged and supported these students every step of the way. This achievement truly reflects a strong partnership between school and home. First in math is a program made available to our students through a grant from the new through the New York State Education Department. It provides engaging standard-based online math games and activities at no cost to schools or families. Students engage in interactive game-based learning while also building essential grade level math fluency and problem solving skills. Earlier this year, the New York State Education Department partnered with First in Math to host a statewide elementary math tournament. On March 19th, students in grades 1 through five across New York complete competed in a virtual regional qualifying round based
005on the fast-paced 24 game series where quick thinking and strong number sense are key. New York State was divided into 10 regions and we are proud to share that Satake Elementary School advanced to the state tournament this year. These incredible students earned trophies from First in Math and their achievement also brought home a plaque and a $1,000 prize for Satake Elementary School. But the excitement doesn't end there. On June 13th, these students will travel to Albany to proudly represent Satake Elementary School as they compete for the state championship and an opportunity to bring home another trophy, another plaque, and a $5,000 prize for our school. These students have been working diligently arriving before school to practice with Mrs. Wall as they prepare for this exciting competition. And now the moment we've been waiting for. It
006is my absolute honor to introduce our Satake Elementary School first in math student winners along with their teachers. In Mrs. Peek's class, come on up, Mrs. Peek. We have Mishika Shreastava. And we >> [applause] >> And we also have Alexander Zervos who was not able to join us this evening. In Mr. Deanzo's class, come on up, Mr. Deanzo. We have Sam Handel. Congratulations. [applause] Congratulations and best of luck. We are so incredibly proud of you and all that you have accomplished. Come on up. >> [applause] >> Thank you. All right, congratulations. I don't I don't I think that we'll be seeing those students up here again at some point in their academic career. Uh but we're very proud of you. Congratulations. At this time, I'd like to invite up our um our principal of the
007high school, Mr. Helonia, to introduce our National Merit Scholars. [applause] Good evening everybody. [clears throat] It's my pleasure to once again recognize five of Melville's most gifted students for their performance in the NA National Merit Scholarship Con competition. We honored these students as semi-finalists in the fall and we're back again to honor them tonight as finalists in the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Competition. If you recall, of the 50,000 students identified as high achieving, uh, only 16,000 are named semi semi-finalists, which represents less than 1% of the nation's high school graduating seniors. In order to advance in the competition and to be named a finalist, our students had to submit a detailed scholarship application, including SAT or ACT scores that confirmed the high performance they achieved on the PSAT NMSQT exam, a recommendation and endorsement from
008a high school official, a personal essay, a record of continued outstanding academic performance, and I'm very proud to share that all five of our semi- finalists were named 2026 National Merit Scholarship Finalists. So, please join me in congratulating Ted Lee, Julian Mau, Michael Retac, Tina Jing, and Eric Jang. Come on up. [applause] Come on up. Eric and Tina, come on up. And then from this group of amazing young men and women, we did have one student, Eric Jang, who was chosen as a National Merit Scholarship Award winner. Eric is one of only 6,500 students nationwide who earned this incredible distinction. The National Merit Scholarship Corporation has awarded Eric with a $2,500 scholarship. Eric, congratulations. [applause] [applause] Congratulations on the bottom right. They know my alphabet. There you go. Congratulations. >> We'll take a picture together.
009Congratulations. [applause] S. Uh, and now I'd like to introduce our chairperson of science up at Wart Melville High School, Miss Kula, to recognize students um for Regeneron Science, our annual bridge building competition, and the science bolt. [snorts] >> Sorry, Dr. Kula. My apologies. >> That's okay, Dr. Biscari. That's all right. I would go back to being Miss Kula. That would be about take about 40 years off of me. That'd be good. [laughter] Hi everybody. So, this is one of the best nights of the year because we get to honor kids. But it's bittersweet because it's the end of the year and the year went very quickly. The year was very um great though because the many of our students were honored in fantastic ways. So I am here to first talk about a student who
010was honored by the Regeneron Science Talent Search. So you may or may not know that the Regeneron Science Talent Search receives applications from the country's top pre-ol researchers in over 20 distinct science and math categories. In the competition, students are judged based on a combination of personal essays and a research manuscript. This year, over 2,000 seniors submitted manuscripts to the competition, and we are proud to recognize InStar senior Tina Shung for her selection as a 2026 scholar. She was just up here for her National Merit Scholarship, winning too. Tina's computer science project was carried out through her participation in the Simon Summer Research Program at Stonybrook. A very prestigious honor in itself. In fact, so popular and thus competitive, the acceptance rate for the Simons program rivals that of Harvard's. It's about three and a
011half percent every year, which is incredible. Uh the title of uh Tina's project was exploring trust waiting for bias mitigation in multi- aent multi-armmed bandit systems. I'll just let that settle with you for a moment. [laughter] And it sought to enhance work being done with algorithms to understand how networks can discern information they are receiving, make collective decisions, and still learn while maintaining the ability to tell good information from bad, all while reducing the propagation of bias. That's a mouthful. Tina will be attending MIT in the fall. So, come on up, Tina. [applause] >> [applause] >> My dear come up. We'll take a picture. Come on up. >> [applause] >> All right. >> [sighs] >> So part of the InStar program uh in the junior year we incorporate the engineering project challenge presented by the
012bridge building competition which is sponsored regionally by the Brook Vision National Lab. The construction and testing of model bridges promotes the study and application of the principles of physics and engineering and it helps students develop hands-on skills. By participating, students gain insight in what it is to be an engineer, designing structures to a set of specifications and testing their functionality. Each year, the unique specs for the challenge are released, and our juniors work to create prototypes that can maximize the bridge efficiency. We have a crushinator in our classroom, which is a really neat machine that the tech department helped us build. It's basically a bicycle pump in a frame. Um, and we use that to measure the forces that the student designs can withstand. This year, junior Amanda Leong is honored not only for her
013first place finish at the 2026 annual bridge building competition at BNL, but for then qualifying and coming in ninth place at the international competition sponsored by the Illinois Institute of Technology. Pictures of Amanda can be found um on the district website showing her with her most efficient bridge design. And so, come on up, Amanda. [applause] CONGRATULATIONS. >> CONGRATULATIONS. Go ahead. [applause] Finally, the boys in raspberry. They sit right there in the middle. So, I also oversee the academic bowls club, which is what I like to call the real bowling team at Ward Mobile. Uh, it's made up of two groups of students who either participate in quiz bowl or science bowl. Think of it as Jeopardy on steroids. The bowls are fiercely competitive, and success requires not only vast knowledge, but extremely quick buzzer skills,
014sometimes even before the moderator has finished reading the question. The topics of physics, chemistry, the earth sciences, biology, and mathematics are all fair game in this intense, fast-moving test of skill. The 2026 Science Bowl team is recognized tonight for winning the regional competition at BNL for the fourth year in a row and their subsequent top eight finish at nationals in Washington, DC. This is an incredible accomplishment as the team improved their standing from the top 24 in the country last year, which wasn't bad, and now they're in the top eight. One fun fact about this year's competition. In this year's tournament, they handed a team from Reno, Nevada, their only loss before the finals. That team, Davidson Academy, is touted as the first public school to be established for highly gifted students. Yet, we beat
015them. We went on to uh they went on to actually finish second in the national competition. So, our team beating them was one of the most exciting matches and an impressive anecdote to their top eight finish. Please join me in congratulating the following students who are here. Eric Leo, Alan Mau, and Harry Gao. Come on up, boys. [applause] >> [applause] >> Every year, Brook Haven provides us with regional team. Harry, why don't you do a little spin there to show the shirt? There you go. Nice. I really liked this year's color. I like the raspberry. And the boys are, you know, sporting it very well. We have two other team members who couldn't be here tonight. Tina's sister, Anna. Anna Young is our chemistry specialist on the science bowl team and Jason Yin is our
016earth sciences specialist. They are both studying right now at the 2026 US National Chemistry Olympiad study camp at the University of Maryland where they are training to earn a spot on Team USA. So I'll probably be back in the fall to tell you more about that. So congratulations to Harry Allen and Eric. Well done, boys. ALL >> [applause] >> RIGHT, I HAVE LOTS OF things for you. >> [clears throat] >> There's just one more recognition that I'd like to just bring our attention to tonight. So, last night we had the three village uh volunteer service awards. This used to be the presidential volunteer service awards. So, we had a lot of students that were honored at Ward Noville High School last night from all over the district. But we had a very special announcement from
017someone in the audience who was already honored. Um, and I want to bring her up here because I want her to tell you firsthand what she's accomplished. So, Kate Donda, could you please come forward? [applause] So, if you don't know Kate, Kate has applied to the militarymies. So, um, I had the honor of writing her recommendation letters for that. So, uh, this is practice for being an officer. You're going to have to get up and speak at all these things. So, why don't you tell the audience whichmmies you've gotten accepted to? >> Um, as of last night, I've been accepted to the United States Military Academy, United States Naval Academy, United States Air Force Academy, the Coast Guard Academy, and the Merchant Marine Academy. [applause] So that has never been done in the 60s some
018odd year history of this district. So you're the first. Congratulations, Kate. Fantastic. Congratulations. Congratulations one and all. And while we are singing praises, we do want to give one more happy sad bit of news. We want to say a huge thank you to Mr. Vinnie Vizo. This is his last meeting with the board of ed. We are sadly going to have to let him go. And uh Dr. Scandal and I both wanted to say a few words. And I just want to say Vinnie, I was very green behind the ears when I first became board president. And you were my rock. You took my phone call every time. You met me for coffee. We figured it out. You've been incredibly supportive and your institutional knowledge of Three Village has been priceless. I will miss you.
019I count you as a friend and I wish you and your wife, your kids, and your grandkids the best. Good times ahead because you deserve it. [applause] >> So, in addition to it being Vinnie's last meeting, it's also his birthday today. So, [laughter] so I don't know if that's a gift that you get off the board on your birthday. So, it's also the feast of St. Kevin. I just want to make sure everyone's aware of that, too. But that's another story. So, Vinnie, you and I go way back. Um, this is 26 years of working with you and knowing you. Uh, you've been an amazing uh friend, uh, administrator, teacher, uh, to everyone in this district and we are going to be gravely missed. Uh we go way back to the days with Marian Gel
020as our principal at Gelenus Junior High School and I can always remember your voice over the loudspeaker very clearly uh and precisely can never forget that you've left left a lasting legacy for everyone to emulate on this board and in this district. >> Thank you very much. [applause] So, we have a a certificate of gratitude from the district for you, and we're going to make you take a picture, so you may as well get ready. And we also have a gift from all of us on the board to say thank you. All right. And while we still have you all here, I will turn it over to Katie for her report. Hi everyone. Good evening. I'm glad to be back and I'm excited to update you all on what's been happening at Ward Mobile over
021the past few weeks. It's hard to believe how quickly the fourth quarter has gone by so fast and we're already approaching the final days of the school year. There has been a lot of great activity across the building and I'm looking forward to sharing some of the highlights with you tonight. The senior academic awards took place today at the high school where teachers were proud to recognize these hardworking students who have demonstrated outstanding academic achievement, consistency, and dedication throughout the school year. These students have gone above and beyond in their coursework, shown perseverance in challenging classes, and set a strong example for their peers both in and out of the classroom. It was a meaningful opportunity to celebrate their accomplishments and acknowledge the commitment that they have shown to their education and to the one
022level community. We are also super excited for the launch of our first annual Patriot Fest taking place tomorrow after school. This studentr run and student organized event led by student government and team ward will bring students together outdoors for an engaging experience of the battle of the classes event with games, music and social spaces spaces. Patriot fest will help foster school spirit, encourage new connections across the student body and recognize student effort. Various clubs will be actively involved in running activity tables and entertainment showcasing our strong student leadership. In preparation for Patriot Fest this week, we've been holding grade level spirit weeks and lunchtime lunchtime activities in the commons, allowing classes to earn points towards the overall grade level competition. Patriot Fest will continue this friendly rivalry with the variety of games and activities where
023students can earn even more points for their class. We are hopeful that this event will become a new annual tra tradition at Ward Mobile, and we are looking forward to seeing everyone there. Be sure to come out, support your class, and sign up for games as we celebrate an exciting end to the school year together. In addition, the career speaker series continues through the three village advisory board, providing students with a valuable insight into future pathways and professions. Over the weekend, the Warmovville High School American Sign Language Club also hosted an introductory ASL class at the Emma Clark Library, further highlighting student initiative and community engagement. On Monday night, we held our second annual Green and Gold Awards where 10 outstanding students were recognized and given the opportunity to honor 10 staff members who have
024made a meaningful impact on their lives. This special event celebrates leadership, kindness, and strong sense of community both inside and out of the classroom. It was a great evening where we were able to recognize the supportive relationship that makes Warm Novel such a positive place to learn and grow. Looking ahead, the Warm Mobile Art and Technology Show will be held on Thursday, June 4th from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. with additional viewing available on Friday, June 5th during periods 1 through 8. Our health classes also continue to partner with community organizations to raise awareness through student design messaging. As we move into the final weeks of the school year, our seniors are especially active with upcoming events including senior and teacher superlatives, the senior video, yearbook dedication and distribution, graduation rehearsal, cap and gown distribution, and
025the elementary school walkthrough. We also have senior sunrise this year, and again the senior barbecue with the final countdown to graduation on Friday, June 12th. Finally, we are really proud to recognize the boys track and field team for earning county championship titles this past weekend and an outstanding accomplishment that reflects dedication and teamwork. As the rest of the building prepares for finals and regions exams, we look forward to finishing the year strong and celebrating all of our students achievements and contributions toward. Thank you. [applause] >> Great job, Katie. Thank you so much. And I know there are finals to study for, bedtimes to be had, and a next game to watch. So if any of you don't wish to stay for the budget conversations, you do not have to. So we would let you go
026now and say thank you again and congratulations. Thank you so much. All right, Mr. Carlson, we will turn it over to you for a public hearing on the revised 202627 budget. >> All righty. Thank you. Uh so, as we all know, the uh budget on May 16th uh did not pass. So, we have to uh go up for a revote. Uh the board decided at a um a board meeting this past Friday to have uh that revote um and uh adopted the budget and I'm here tonight to go over um what that revised budget is compared to the original budget um that failed a couple of weeks ago. There's a very tight turnaround time between the first vote and second vote. Um, so we're that's why we had the the meeting. Uh, we actually had
027a meeting last Wednesday morning. Uh, that was the uh meeting where the board decided to have a revote. And then >> was that Tuesday morning? >> Last Tuesday morning. [laughter] >> It's all blur. I know. >> One day last week we had a board meeting to that was where the board uh voted to have a revote. Um, and then this past Friday the we had a meeting uh and the board uh adopted the the revised budget. So, uh, just to give remind everybody, the original vote that we had, I think I said May 16th, it was May 19th. Uh, it's June 16th is the, uh, the revote. So, the original budget that we had put up had a 2.87% budget-to-budget increase and a 4.54% tax levy increase, which was within the cap. Uh, that that
028in fact, that was our cap, 4.54%. So since then uh well the state budget is now completed so that's that's good news. Um, and in the original uh uh governor's proposal, uh we were getting uh uh an increase in our prek aid which was uh again it was in the governor's proposal. So we weren't positive we were getting it but as it turns out that was included in the final state budget and the uh governor had in her budget proposal every district to get a minimum of 1% increase in foundation aid. So remember, state aid is an umbrella term made up of a number of categories. The biggest category is foundation aid. So we would have gotten that 1% increase and that's what was in the governor's proposal. In a final state budget, that is
029now 2%. So we'll be getting that. So that's another $290,000 more than uh what we knew about uh when we had the first budget vote. And just forformational purposes, also included in this year's state budget was mandatory uh prek, full day prek for all kids who want to come well for all the parents who want their kids to come to it starting two years from now in the 2829 school year. So that's that's very interesting. So uh again just to remind everybody the reductions that we had in the original budget we had had uh 21 teachers retiring uh which was a significant savings and of those uh positions we had 18 of those positions did not have to be uh filled. So that's a a further savings on top of that. Additionally uh there was
030a 25% across the board reduction to all discretionary budget codes. Uh that was to all administrators around the district. So that was a sizable reduction. That was all included in the original budget. Uh we also uh uh are doing a administrative reconfiguration. You saw some of that tonight during the uh the tenure uh reception. Uh moving from chairs to department directors. That piece does not save a whole lot of money. That wasn't done for budgetary reasons. That was done more for uh programmatic reasons. Uh but we're uh we did eliminate two central office administrative positions. So there's a little uh some uh savings there. Again, that was in the original budget. [clears throat] So now that we're looking for uh for a revised budget, so some of the areas to to consider for uh further
031reductions, uh I just have them listed here. So it's it's usual kind of stuff, anything uh administration, adult ed, the the uh non-mandated type of programs. I mean we have uh so field trips equipment uh the music in the parks that kind of goes along with field trips but the nine period day that's a big one. So if you think back to uh when when schools all around went from 8 period day to 9 period day it's a significant increase in staffing. So that would have the the opposite effect if we went back to an 8 period day. Pre kindergarten still is not mandated. We do have our program uh as I mentioned it's mandated two years from now but it's not yet uh for that matter kindergarten it's not even mandated yet uh so
032sports sports shuttles and further cuts to staffing all things that could be uh or we we bandied about and to see what what can we cut and what and how much should we cut for the uh revised budget to give it the best chance of passing. So just for someformational purposes and this this will be posted on our website and we put this up last week as well. Uh just to show what the student enrollment has been the last uh several years. So we we hear a lot about how well you know in the past 10 15 years how much enrollment has gone down and yes it did for a period of time it went down significantly but but in the past few years that that decline has slowed down. Um, and one of the
033things that we we'd heard a lot about too over the years was, well, with so many fewer students, how come there hasn't been less teachers and administrators? I'll get to administrators next. Uh, and that that kind of lags behind. It's that doesn't mean uh if we have 100 less students, we automatically uh reduce four or five teaching positions. But over time, as those numbers start to accumulate and decline in enrollment, uh the the reduction in in instructional uh staff starts to follow and we've seen that in the past few years as well as the administrative uh reductions uh including the uh reductions going to next year. So the uh the reductions in the now the new proposed budget that's going up for vote on June 16th. So, we're uh decreasing the amount of capital projects
034from three million is what was in the original budget to two and a half million. Uh we're uh cutting another five additional instructional staff positions plus five non-instructional staff positions. Uh we had coincidentally the night of the budget vote we had that the board accepted the resignation of a senior staff member. Uh so even though that person's being replaced is a significant savings. uh a reduction in co-curricular uh activities and field trips. So the there is a there is a minimum uh amount for uh extra classroom activities in the uh TVTA contract. Uh the reason I I suppose that it's in the contract be because uh in the past um I mean I've been here now 19 years. It's been it's been in the contract longer than I've been here. But I I assume that
035at some point way in the past uh Mr. Viso could probably answer this question. Uh there was there was reluctance on the part of boards of education at the time to to fund clubs. So that's why it got put into the uh TVTA contract in the first place. And just so you know, the amount is for the 206 27 year in the contract. The minimum amount is $166,000 and change. So we're we'd still be well more than double that. Um so it's not that it's being cut down to to nothing. Uh and then also BOSI's cultural arts. These this is not art class. This is the arts and education programs that Boseies uh will sometimes contract with Boseies for. Uh so there's a reduction in the amount of district funding towards that. Uh there was
036also a couple of board meetings ago. Um the board decided to add back that third uh security guard to each of the elementary schools. Uh, so now that we're redoing the budget, we're adding that into the budget for next year. So that makes the net reduction from the original budget of $1,590,000. And remember, there was also the additional state aid. So, uh, the revised budget now is a 2.2% increase over the 2526 budget and the new tax levy increase is 3.49% 49% over the 2526 tax levy. So to compare to the May 19th vote again, the budgetto budget increase May 19th was 2.87, now it'll be 2.2 and the tax levy increase was 4.54%, now it's 3.49%. [clears throat] So one of the factors that determines what the tax cap is is capital projects. So
037since we're reducing the amount of capital projects from 3 million in the original budget to 2.5 million in this revised budget, that also lowers the tax cap. So our new tax cap because of that is 4.26%, not the 4.54%. But we're still well below that with the revised tax levy increase of 3.49. So it comes out to in dollars1,379,813 below our new tax cap. That's the budget we're going out with. So if the budget if this budget doesn't pass, there's no more options. We go we go on to contingency and that means no increase to the tax levy at all. And that requires that $6,243,000 in further reductions on top of what we already have. Now the first there's remember there's still no no uh capital projects in a contingency budget. So the first two
038and a half million would be that well that would be the first two and a half million but the remainder of it would be in in further cuts to to programs. So uh exactly what well we'll be we would be discussing that uh if and when we get to that point but we've we've already made a lot of cuts um and there would have to be a lot more if this budget doesn't pass. [clears throat] So, the vote is Tuesday, June 16th at the high school. Uh, there's early voting also available. Um, and I believe we're going to be changing, do we make that official, the location of the June 16th board meeting? Yes, we're going to have the June 16th board meeting at Wood Mobile High School. Uh, mainly because we have a lot
039of student awards and uh, as we see sometimes here, we have to use the the gym as overflow. So that way we can use the auditorium. It' be a lot more room for everybody. Uh but that's where the voting is also. It works out well for us too. We'll be in the same uh uh building at least where the voting is taking place. So So that's it on the presentation. I will sit down and um take any questions anybody may have. >> Thank you so much. All right. I open it up to questions. All right, I'll ask one. Um, can you elaborate a little on what the reduction to field trips means for for a parent who's listening? What does that mean? >> Uh, well, the for the reduction to field trips and the clubs,
040uh, we would leave that up to the principles to tell us what the best way to to to do that would be, which field trips we, you know, we have no choice. So, which ones we we don't do. Um, and it could be things like, well, we used to take a coach bus, now we take a school bus. I mean, that's that could be a significant savings. Uh, it could be that, um, there's more of the cost, uh, for the participants, uh, for the, you know, for the families to pay more towards the field trips. Um, those kind of things. uh same with the with the uh co-curricular with the clubs. It could be that um we limit the the clubs to have fewer uh number of kids in them. Uh it could also be
041that those individual clubs do less trips or same kind of thing when they do a trip there's they could do do some fundraising. Of course we don't want doortodoor fundraising but it could be things like that. It could be um uh combining clubs uh because the money most of the money for the club goes towards the the adviser. So uh it could be that we combine some of the clubs. So this this opportunity is still there but but um cut down on some of the uh cost for advisors. So >> thank you. Other questions? >> Uh yes. So, does that mean we um put back community swim and adult ed into the budget? >> Uh yes. So, uh yeah. So, for anybody who was not um did not watch the board meeting on Friday, one
042of the uh original [cough] things [clears throat] we had discussed with the board on this past Friday about what to possibly reduce from this from this budget was to take out the community swim program and the adult ed program. Uh that the board said no, no, keep that in. So, uh, if anything, we'll we'll raise fees on on both of those programs, uh, to cover the additional cost. >> Thank you. >> The only thing, remember what we said last Friday evening was that, uh, the concern with the pool area is that the usage there is some of the wear and tear on the facility. So, as Community Swim comes in, um, as we're planning to prepare, remember these projects that we put up with the capital budget, by the time they are approved and back
043to us from the state, we the district cannot spend money, whether it's in a bond or in a capital budget until the voters approve it. So, uh, the speculation of why the, you know, with the bids and this, none of that can go out until the community approves the amount to be spent. So with all these projects after the budget vote hopefully whatever happens on the 16th if that goes through those projects would proceed forward we would start the process for that it could take six to nine months to get approvals back from the state education department that's not just against free village that's just the entire state's operation so some of these projects wouldn't begin until next summer uh at the earliest uh for us and that would mean that um some of these
044things would have to wait. We hope that the damage that's in there doesn't continue. Um, but the priority we have, we don't just use the pool for community swim or the swim team. It's part of the curriculum in 10th grade within our fizzed classes. So, since we've had a pool since our inception here, um, it has become an integral part of that. So, just keeping that in mind. So, if anything comes along, we just need to be prepared that that that there's u there may have to be some considerations moving forward. Dr. Lee. >> So Miss Carson, you have explained to us how the tax cap was calculated was very uh complic complicated formula. So this year the cap is much higher than what we used to have. We usually have two to three%. So
045do you think there's one or more factors contributing to this 4%? >> Yes, there's actually three main factors that contributed towards our higher than usual tax cap. Uh the first is um uh one of the factors is called the tax base growth factor and that's to um uh reflects new construction in the district. That number is established by the New York State Office of Real Property Services. They give that number to us. So nor in a normal year uh if we get anything for that cuz we there are some years where there's no no real new construction and we don't get anything for that any additional money for that or any additional uh increase to the tax cap for that. Um but typically we might get one or two ten of a percent increase on
046the tax cap for that. This year we got 1.19%. So, not tenth of one or two ten of a percent, almost 1.2%. So, that was that was a lot higher than normal. So, that that goes right on top of that that 2% piece. That goes right on top of that. So, that's one. Another is the increase to capital projects. So I mentioned capital projects were we're reducing from the original budget of which was $3 million to $2 and a.5 million in this revised budget but that's still an increase over last year's well the current year we're in where capital project is projects is $1.5 million. So it's still an increase from that increase in capital projects increases tax cap dollar for dollar and and vice versa. And then the third factor is when there's a
047de uh any change in in building aid. So state aid as I said before is an umbrella terms number of categories. Another category of state aid is called building aid and that's tied to uh that's the 66% we get on capital projects. So we haven't been doing many capital projects since 2021 when the budget failed. But prior prior to that we had $6.6 6 million in our annual capital projects budget. So when when the budget failed in 2021, there's no capital projects in a contingency budget. So that line went to zero. So uh the the the aid that we get on those projects comes in over 15 years. So as those projects that are older, we're starting we're getting those the aid payments are finishing. We don't have new projects taking their place. So our
048building aid piece in in state aid from this year to next year is decreasing. Uh so that so that has the opposite impact on the tax cap as as capital projects. A decrease in building aid increases the tax cap and vice versa. So we have all three of those things at once. We have the increase in the taxbased growth factor which increases the cap. We have the increase in capital projects which increases the cap. And we have the decrease in building aid which increases the cap. >> That's clear. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. And I'll sort of drive out of my current lane and drive into my former lane before to say with the Boseis cultural arts programs that doesn't make sense what that is. Those are, you know, the Jared Campbell and
049the Mad Science and the programs that come in to to our schools um and sort of add some flavor and light to to the days. Those don't have to go away. you we have amazing PTAs in this district, amazingly supportive, generous PTAs in this district. So there the workaround to that is as parents start of the school year just join join your building's PTA and then you're supporting them and then they can hopefully continue to bring some of those programs in. But just just second any other thoughts on uh these changes? >> Oh before excuse me m Mr. Das before we begin just to clarify even further. So just the misperception about the the cultural arts was that some folks interpret that over cutting the music and the art program. Absolutely not the case. So
050our staffing is consistent with music and art. Those programs have been very successful in this district. They've gotten a lot of scholarships for students as they've gone through. So they they are staying in place. It's these special type programs with assemblies and things. And the reason why it's through Boseies is because just so everyone's clear, Boseies vets these uh vendors so we don't have to. So they're all given clearances so we know that they're safe to use in any school within any district in our area. Um and that that does truly help us and it's a cost savings overall. Um we do get aid back from that those things and we're still able to pull vendors off that Boseies list and use them and still would get Bosey's aid if we paid them that through
051that. um just so we're clear, but it's the amount of money the district has been budgeting within Dr. Biscari's budget with Ed services uh that has been supporting supplementing these programs over the course of years uh since back when I was in his role. So that's where the the cut is really coming from. >> No, not at all. um this reduction in co-curricular field trips. This is an extremely enriching experience for our students and the districts the districts has been extremely generous in the way these programs are funded. Um the students really enjoy them but already for many of the programs the students have I'll call them co-pays um you know as they as they cost share into this. So this reduction will likely impact that experience a significant amount. Um I I don't know
052the extent to which this is possible, but if there are open positions or impending changes um that are about to be staffed um or non-contractual events that are about to be hap happening, is there any way to delay them? Like you know, we we and this is this is an educational world, not a corporate world, so forgive me, right? But but we have the ability sometimes to just hold off positions and you know get a prorated amount of that salary back during the year to apply for other projects. Is that a possibility or is there any opening here to consider that? >> So with regard we could start from the top and work our way down. So with the administrative positions um one of the things we changed with moving from the chairs to the
053directors is they went from the chairs were 10-month positions. The directors are 12-month positions. So when anyone's looking at salaries and things now you're dividing that number instead of by 10 it's by 12 overall spreading that out. Our school year is July 1 through June 30th different than the calendar year that many businesses operate under. So some of the programs that we have are beginning on July 1. So our credit recovery program starts uh right after uh school year ends. Um the placements begin for those programs. a lot of the compliance issues don't go away. They're consistently in place. Um, even the assistant principles, which were always 12-mon positions, you know, we're we're the buildings, while the students may not be in them for the actual academic year, they're making the preparations for the next
054year. So, at least the administrative end, I would say no. Um we have already even this year in some of the positions in some of the other units held on positions with with filling them and backfilled them with subs for the time being and held. So that practice has been done in other areas and we can continue to do that in some of those other units with the cooperation mutual cooperation with the particular unions. It's not something arbitrarily we can do. Um we do have meetings set up with the other unions uh in the district other than we already met with the unions that the administrative union and the teachers union. Um and I want to remind the community for this year the teachers union took a zero and the administrative union took a hard
055zero. Uh so they didn't have any increase this year. So that helped us in this financial year to get through that. Um next year the teachers union is going to 1.9%. Jeff just to confirm. Well, it's a [clears throat] a 1% increase% the >> right. >> So that that that has helped us as well. So where we've been able to gain some concessions and different things is through that mutual cooperation and and the teachers union administrative unions are two of our bigger unions in the district over I shouldn't say the administrator's union. There's other units that are bigger than the administrative salary wise they're one of the the bigger unions. So short answer to what you're asking is no on those ends for th those areas that that we need for those positions for to
056operate and perhaps on the other ones where we could hold off on some of the other uh units throughout the district. It's not going to be a major cost savings though like in the millions of dollars per se. I >> I understand whatever we can do to reduce the impact on this line item I think the community would appreciate. >> Absolutely. >> I appreciate that. Thank you. Any other questions or comments? Dr. [clears throat] Lee. >> So, for the previous vote that voted on May uh 15th, we have online a line item. So, for the new budget, would we have something similar? >> Yes. Uh I just wanted to wait till tonight's meeting when we went over this and we'll we'll have it posted tomorrow. >> Perfect. Thank you. >> Oh, I'm sorry. uh just
057to you know for anyone who wasn't uh at or watched the meeting on Friday uh to when when uh we had the board meeting this past Friday uh we ended it with the board adopted a dollar amount of the budget but we still had $200,000 more in in reductions to make. So we hadn't that's why I didn't want to post it yet before we had the meeting uh with the board tonight. So to let everyone know that was the the uh in my presentation the five non-instructional positions that was the other $200,000. So now that we have that now I can post the line item budget. >> So within those five positions um the majority of those positions are going to be uh are going to be through attrition. So it's not as if and
058at least three of them right now it's that we're letting anyone go. It's because we have retirements in some of those units and we're just not going to backfill those positions. To your point, Mr. Das. So, that will help save off some of the cost and we're able to help us balance that budget. That does mean in some of those areas we do have to shuffle staff into different areas though. It's not as if the vacancy is has now left a void and now we have to backfill that internally somehow someway. >> Thank you. Anyone else? Okay. Thank you very much. All right. All right, we'll move along now to our public comment period. Do we see any public comments? >> No public comments were submitted. >> Thank you so much. Okay, items for board
059action. We'll turn it back over to Mr. Carlson. >> Uh this is a uh resolution that would authorize us to uh explore uh refunding of one of our outstanding bonds. I mentioned this at a previous board meeting. Um, so a bond after a certain term becomes what they call callable, meaning it can be re what it's called refunding, but it's like refinancing a mortgage. Same idea. So one of our bonds with there there were four years left on it. Uh, but it's callable now and we may be able to uh get a lower interest rate. It would not extend the term of the bond. It would still have just that four years. Uh but the initial estimate is that it could save potentially about $45,000 a year for the next four years. That's that's after
060any any legal fees to do that. So um this authorizes us to begin that process and when we go out to bit like with with a bond when anytime we we issue a bond or we we issue a note when we do our t annual tax anticipation note it goes out for bid just like when we do a construction bid. We say who gives us the lower price. Well, when it's borrowing, it's who gives us the lowest interest rate. So, um when we go out to um to sell this bond, if it's not lower than the interest rate we have now, we just say, "Okay, never mind. Forget it." Uh but if it's lower, then then it would save us some money. So, that's what this resolution is for. So, if you could vote on
061this item by itself because this has to be >> before you. So, so the for the average layman that may be watching and and all this, I tried to understand this after working with you for 14 years trying to put it into English. So, it's sort of like if you had a mortgage and you're refinancing it. >> Exactly. It's like it's called bond bonds are called it's refunding. Uh but it's it's the same principle as refinancing a mortgage for a lower interest rate. same thing except in and in this case with a mortgage you can either say you can add years on or you can keep the same term. In this case it keeps the same terms. Four years left on this bond. That would not change. >> Any questions about this? Okay. Do I
062see a motion authorizing the refunding of certain outstanding serial bonds? >> So move. >> Do I see a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? Any opposed? No abstensions. Okay. So that is approved. Thank you. [clears throat] All right. Before we move to our consent agenda, I am going to move to pull schedule A12 from item V and the non-instructional summer camp items from our consent agenda. Do I see a second on that? >> Second. All in favor? Okay. Thank you so much. We'll begin the consent agenda. Miss Dano 13B through 13E is just the minutes from the past board of education meetings. >> Thank you so much. Any questions about those? Okay, back to Mr. Carlson. >> Item G is acceptance. Uh, I'm sorry, item F is approval of health and welfare services contract.
063Uh, this is with a another school district. This is for a three village resident student who attends a private school located in that district. Um, same kind of thing that we build for when it's the opposite way. Uh, the next item is acceptance of donations. We have four donations. Uh, one is a check for $3,000 from Suffuk Transportation Service uh to be deposited into the Ward Melville General Scholarship Fund. Uh, a check for $1,000 from the Matthew Grimaldi Memorial Fund to be used for the Matthew Grimmaldi Memorial Scholarship. A donation of $200 from the guidance department at Ward Melville High School to the Ward Melville Scholarship Fund to be used for the Lucy Barco Memorial Scholarship. Um, uh, Lucy Barco is the mom of one of the staff members in the guidance department who passed
064away. Uh, and a donation of $200 from Elizabeth Farice, who's a member of our faculty, to the Ward Mobile scholarship fund to be used for the Peter Pepler Memorial Scholarship. Uh, the next item is uh, uh, surplus equipment. We have um some various uh office uh type equipment uh that is uh all in unusable uh condition and then a whole slew of uh IT equipment that's all been um gone over by our IT department if anything usable has been uh stripped from it. Uh the item after that is declaration of surplus textbooks. Uh this is all at NASAG. I think they were cleaning out their bookroom uh and have some uh uh textbooks that are uh no longer used. Uh then items J, K, L, and M are all uh either extensions of or new
065cont or new for the year contracts with outside service providers for special education services. Is this is the time of year when we do all the redo all the new contracts for the year. So that's items uh item J is extension of contracts. K is um for uh special ed tutoring services. L is for special education services. And uh M is special education tuition contracts. And that's it for me. >> Thank you so much. Any questions about any of those items? All right. We will continue beginning with N and Dr. Biscari. >> Uh thank you. uh ends the appointment of a revision to the impartial hearing officers list that's provided by the state. Uh the next item is the approval of the 26 to 29 instructional technology plan. Miss Ruben Strong came and uh presented
066that to the board of education. Uh and it has passed by that review period. Um so we're looking for that approval. In addition, we're looking for the professional learning plan approval for 2627 which we have to update uh and also update our certificates so that we can provide uh professional development for our teachers and uh give them CTLE credit which is required for for their continued professional growth. um cure the curriculum writing projects uh for the summer uh this upcoming summer which is part of our initiative to have written curriculum in our repository for every course that's run. So we continue that project and R are the appointments of uh committees of special education for the 2627 school year. >> Thank you so much. Any questions about those? >> Okay, thank you so much. S,
067recommendations of the committee on special education subcommittee and 504 accommodation plan meetings as dated. And T, recommendations of the committee on preschool special education meetings as dated. And [snorts] beginning with you, we turn it over to Dr. Daskki. >> Thank you. You is the approval of termination of employee named and confidential schedule A, which we discussed during uh executive session uh the last time. Uh V, personal items instructional. Uh we have one instructional retirement and one adjustment to a previously approved retirement date. We have some instructional resignations, one administrative appointment, uh four professional appointments, five instructional substitute appointments, several stipens for the 2627 school year as well as daily and hourly extra assignments for the 2526 school year. Um, w non-instructional, we have five non-instructional retirements, eight non-instructional resignations, uh, one non-instructional termination, as I
068mentioned, uh, two non-instructional sub appointments, several non-instructional extra assignments, and several, um, extended school year and summer recruitments. >> Thank you so much. Any questions about those? Okay, so all in favor of those items inside of our consent agenda, any opposed? No abstensions. Thank you so much. And now we'll circle back. All in favor of schedule 812 from item V. Okay. Any opposed? And one abstension. And the schedule pertaining to summer camp. All in favor? Any opposed? Any abstensions? Thank you so much. >> So, Miss Rosenswag, before you end, I just could I make a couple of announcements for these retirements? Okay. So, first the instructional retirements. Uh we have two TAs leaving us after approximately 10 20 years. Uh we want to recognize and congratulate Tony Conland and Danielle Levy, two of our TAs.
069Um our non-instructional retirements, we have several. Um Melanie Forier, who's been a special ed aid since 2008. Cindy Mallister, who's been a special ed aid since 2011. Thomas Anito, who's been part of our M crew since 1973. Holly Slack, who has been um an office assistant with us since 2015, and Patricia Walsh, who has also been an office assistant with us since 2003. So, we want to recognize and congratulate all of them. Congratulations indeed. All right. Do I see a motion to adjurnn? >> A second. Second. All in favor? All right. We are ajourned. Thank you.