001Mhm. >> Good evening and welcome to our Wednesday, April 29th, 2026 Board of Education meeting. At this time, please rise while Katie leads us in the pledge. Thank you. Any changes to our meeting agenda? Yes, we have two changes. Um item 12 BB is an addition recommendation to establish the creation of the TVSAA 12-month positions. And the second one is change we're going to move items 12B and 12C to May 6th. That's due to BoardDocs being down and I just want to review it because of all the updates. Thank you. Okay. All right, so that will bring us now to our reports. We'll turn it over to Katie. Hi guys. Um thank you guys so much for coming to report for us. Um I'm super excited. We're all super excited to hear your reports. Can
002I have the elementary school students from Setauket come up to the stand? Thank you. Stand a little closer. Good evening. My name is Bree Malo. And my name is Matthew Everett. We are students at Setauket Elementary School. We are excited to be here tonight to share some of the wonderful and exciting things happening in our elementary schools across the Three Village Central School District. Across all of our elementary schools, students and teachers have been busy taking part in activities that help us learn more about our community, understand each other better, and grow as kind and respectful individuals. Our fourth grade students recently took part in the annual in in the annual Founders Day celebration. During this special event, students went on a walking field trip around the community and visited important local landmarks. They learned
003about the history of the area and the people who helped shape it. Volunteers joined along the route and shared interesting stories, making history come alive in a fun and meaningful way. April is also recognized as Autism Acceptance Month in all of our schools. During this time, students participated in activities and lessons to help them better understand autism. These activities focused on being kind, inclusive, and respectful while also celebrating the unique strengths in the experiences of individuals with autism. It was a great way for students to learn how to support one another and build a caring school community. In addition, fifth grade in all elementary schools took part in anti-hate speech lessons. These lessons were led by high school students from Ward Melville High School's Social Studies Honor Society, also known as Rho Kappa. Through these
004presentations, elementary students learned about the importance of using kind and respectful language, showing empathy, and making positive choices when communicating with others. At At Arrowhead, students attended a special autism awareness assembly led by their special education teachers. During the assembly, students learned more about how people with autism may experience the world in different ways. They also learned helpful and thoughtful ways they can be supportive, kind, and inclusive friends to everyone. Minnesauke and Nassakeag both celebrated their annual Multicultural Week, beginning with exciting assemblies from the Feelosophy Dance Company. Students enjoyed performances that highlighted different cultures through music and dance. Both schools also hosted Multicultural Nights, where families came together to share traditions, performances, and presentations from around the world. These events brought the school communities together and celebrated the diversity within each building. Nassakeag welcomed over
005100 families to their event, making it a great success. At Minnesauke, the celebration also included an art show, where student artwork was displayed throughout the building. Students and families enjoyed walking through the school and viewing the creative work. A favorite part of the evening was the glow room, where student artwork created by the students glowed in the dark. In addition, Nassakeag second grade students visited a one-room schoolhouse to learn what the school was like long ago. They even dressed in traditional clothing from that time period, which made the experience even more exciting and helped bring and helped bring history to life. The Mount Drama Club recently performed their show Be Our Guest. Students worked very hard to prepare for this performance and were excited to take the stage. The students included a variety of songs
006and dances, and students had the opportunity to showcase their talents in front of their classmates and families. The performance was entertaining and showed great teamwork and creativity. At Setauket, we are very proud to share some exciting achievements and activities. Three first grade students have been named state finalists in the First in Math competition. They will be traveling to Albany with their families to compete in the championship. We are very proud of their hard work and wish them all the best of luck. We are also currently participating in a Read-A-Thon. The students are students are are coming together to celebrate a love of reading by logging their reading time, exploring new books, and building strong reading skills. This event is also helping us raise money to purchase a book vending machine for our school. We would
007like to thank We would like to thank our families and staff for supporting us in this exciting fundraiser, which runs through May 1st. Thank you for listening and and for supporting all of the amazing learning activities happening in our schools. >> [applause] >> Thank you so much. Okay, can we have our Murphy representative please come up? Good evening, esteemed members of the board and guests. My name is Ella Cherman, and I'm an 8th grade student representative from Murphy Middle School. In the month of April, our school has been up to some amazing things. In the beginning of the month, our school's cheerleading team, as well as mixed choir, attended and performed at an Islanders game. As well as our standout student breakfast that celebrates students in our building that make the right choice and helped
008out in a time when our community needed was helped. During the week of April 20th, we held our spirit week with themes like walk a mile in my shoes, where students and staff participated by wearing mismatched shoes to raise awareness for autism. On the 22nd, we also lit it up blue for autism in our halls by wearing blue. Our 8th grade students went on their field trip to the Broadway show The Outsiders. On the 23rd and 24th of April, the PTA helped host the Scholastic Book Fair. On the 27th, Murphy recognized Autism Awareness and Acceptance Day. We held our Belonging and Fairness meetings that help students cultivate a better space to learn and play in. In tandem with this effort, we also hosted Ward Melville Ambassadors that went to all 8th grade history classes to
009talk about ways to be an upstander to racism and anti-Semitism. School leaders, like Dr. Noctical and Mr. Jansen, will be going into 6th and 7th grade classrooms to promote and continue this effort. As recently as this weekend that just passed, our Murphy Science Olympiad team placed second in Suffolk County um at the state competition, as well as previously placing first for the second consecutive year at regionals. Our music students have been working hard to perform for their workshop dates. Student ensembles, like chamber orchestra, mixed choir, and ensemble band will be getting to perform and receive feedback from professional um musicians that attend and work at Stony Brook University. And wrapping up our April activities, all 6th grade science classes had their field trip to the Cold Spring Harbor DNA Lab. They studied DNA samples and
010got to work with microscopes. Um thank you so much for having me and have a good night. >> [applause] >> Thank you so much. Uh can we have our Gelinas representative come up? Good afternoon. My name's Abigail Poplaw, and I'm currently an 8th grader at Paul J. Gelinas Middle School. It's my honor to present to you the happenings at Gelinas. I'm especially grateful to Principal Keen for allowing me to present to all of you. Last month, the students at Gelinas put on the wonderful play of Annie. These students showcased their hard work, determination, enthusiasm, and dedication when bringing this touching story to life. This performance was presented to the 5th graders when they took a field trip up here to watch. The middle school students also had the chance to come after school and watch.
011In addition, the Great Outdoors Club made a real-world impact while connecting to nature. Mr. Furlan assisted them in the creation of birdhouses specifically for bluebirds, which they showcased to Chip Hamilton, a wildlife biologist. He took the time to speak to them about how these houses will help to stabilize and support their local populations, habitats, and life inside our community. This activity provided students with a way to get connected with the environment and make a true difference. Last week at Gelinas, we were visited by various high school students at Ward Melville who gave our students an educational presentation during our history classes. They described and taught us about the impact of hate speech and provided helpful ways for students to fight back. It showed It showed the importance of being an upstander and not a bystander,
012and how we can work together to make a difference. They also provided us with a myriad of demonstrations to convey to us how harmful language can be and how it really does make a negative impact on the lives of students. Our 6th graders made real-life examples of how physics works by creating marble runs and displaying them in the library with the help of Ms. Connelly. They each created intricate systems of tunnels, ramps, and controlled drops by using spatial reasoning, persistence, and various problem-solving techniques. These projects were evaluated for functionality and design, but many students and faculty members recognized that creativity is what shows the most through these projects. On the other hand, 8th grade students, including myself, have recently created real business plans, thought outside of the box when selecting a theme, and referred to
013real issues like food safety when inventing food trucks for our Home Ec classes. These trucks were showcased in the library, where they were part of a competition in which the winner had the opportunity to bring their food ideas to life and present them to the class. As well as all these academically related subjects that have recently happened, towards the end of March, the winter sports ended and the spring sports commenced. Girls and boys Girls and boys lacrosse and track, softball, baseball, and boys tennis were part of were the sports that are now occurring here at the middle school. This year, we had around 60 girls try out for track, and their first meet was yesterday. They have another meet on Friday. Our girls and boys lacrosse programs had their first games last week, and the
014girls lacrosse team now has a new coach, Molly LaForge, in addition to Coach Rorick, who has been coaching for many years. All of the students who have decided to go out for our sports teams have already shown tremendous courage, dedication, and commitment this spring. The ELA state testing was on the 14th and 15th, where students did an impressive job showing what they had to offer. They were extremely respectful towards the proctors during this 2-hour testing period, which was greatly appreciated. The math testing was yesterday and today, and was a fantastic opportunity to just and experience the standardized testing that they will be participating in the future. Thank you very much for the extremely rewarding opportunity of speaking before you all. I hope you all have a great rest of the week. THANK YOU AGAIN. >>
015[applause] >> THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH. NOW, WE'LL have Dr. Scanlon give us her report for the Academy. So, the Academy's in the final stages of the year. They're making preparations for their last few trips and programs. Just like the high school's doing its preparations for the prom and for graduation, they're in the same venue. They actually do a a separate ceremony in this room at the end of the year for all the seniors that are graduating. So, we're very proud of the academy and all the students in it as they move forward through the rest of the year. Thank you. And Katie, before we turn it over to you for your report, I just want to say fantastic job to all of you. You are awesome. Great job. So, stay with us for Katie's
016report and then you're allowed to sneak out after. Great [applause] job. Good evening, everyone. I'm excited to share a couple updates from the past few weeks from Ward Melville High School. Our students are definitely feeling the fourth quarter flying by already. This week, our DECA members are attending their national competition where they're representing our school among top students from across the country. And this is definitely reflecting that their months of preparation, dedication, and hard work. And we're incredibly proud of their accomplishments and we wish them the best of luck. We would also like to congratulate the winners of the 12th annual Helen Stein Shack picture book contest. This contest highlights students' creativity, storytelling, and artistic talent. And the submissions this year were truly impressive. We had a couple of students from Three Village and we
017had Elizabeth Wright as the winner for the 9th through 12th grade level category. And the high school is super proud of her accomplishment. Looking ahead, we have the TBTA sports night that will take place this Friday, May 1st. And this event brings together students and staff for a night of friendly competition and school spirit, helping to strengthen connections within our school community. Last week, we hosted our art and technology show which showcased a wide range of student work from visual art to innovation and tech projects. And this event highlighted the creativity and talent of our students and it was a great success. Our spring concert series also concluded last night with a jazz band performance. This concert demonstrates the dedication and growth of our student musicians and we congratulate them on a wonderful season. In
018recognition of autism acceptance, staff will be wearing their SEPTA autism awareness shirts tomorrow. And this initiative helps raise awareness, promotes inclusion, and shows support for students of all abilities within our school. This Friday is also decision day for our seniors. So, many of our seniors are super excited that they're finalizing and celebrating their plans for the rest of their time after high school. So, whether that includes college or career path or other opportunities, it's definitely an exciting milestone that we've all been looking forward to. So, a lot of our seniors will be wearing their shirts this Friday. And finally, AP exams are beginning soon and students have been actively preparing for them with studying with their teachers and there's a lot of extra help sessions that are being offered at the high school which we're
019very lucky to have really good um staff. So, yes. That's it. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Thank you, Katie, for uh we want to wish all of these seniors good luck in their choices. I know this has been a very tough year for a lot of students in the selections process. Um but once again, Three Village has excelled in this area. A lot of wonderful acceptances. And I'm a firm believer if you want to go to college, there's a right fit for every student and the possibilities that are out there are endless. And those thinking of other possibilities as career paths, we're very proud of them as well. And picking some of those those career paths are often also difficult choices. We also have a quite a number of students who are choosing to go
020into the military this year. So, we want we want to acknowledge their service to our country. And going beyond, they're going to put themselves at risk right from the get-go. And for many of them, they're looking at going into boot camp almost immediately after graduation. So, it's a very tight time frame for a lot of those folks. I do want to also recognize for this charity sports night. Once we uh we made the announcement for this, encourage everyone to go out and attend the program. It's $10 to go at Stony Brook University. This goes a long way to supporting the scholarship programs for all of our students, those going from elementary to middle, middle to high school, and those going off to college. Uh the smell of Ben-Gay on Monday morning is going to be
021incredible with all the teachers and traction at the competing in the events. They get a little too competitive at night. Um but it's okay. I also want to acknowledge the fact that Mr. Jansen has chosen to sit in the back of the room next to Mr. Halonia and considering that he they announced the first place winners. So, he's between Mr. Halonia between Mr. Mrs. Keen and Mr. Jansen just as like the neutral zone in the back of the room. So, great choice, Mike. >> [laughter] >> Thank you very much. Yes. And again, thank you so much to all of our students. We love having you here. You did a great job. You made us very proud. But you don't have to stay if you don't want to. >> [laughter] >> It's okay to sneak out.
022All right, we're going to move on now to our property update. We'll turn it over to Dr. Scanlon. Certainly. So, thank you very much. Um we just want to give an update to the community on where we are with some of the the signs and the properties that we mentioned from the property analysis committee considerations. So, there's a few properties in the district that the board has been looking at. We have a 50-acre piece of property off of Mount uh that was originally intended to be the West High School. Ward Melville was supposed to be East High School and that property was supposed to be the West High School. They never built it. Uh they ran out of money at the time. We also have a piece of property off of Hawkins Road that was
023intended to be the Hawkins Road Elementary School back in the old days here. Never was built. Um and then we have a the property that's attached to the Murphy property, the old Nicolls Road administration building. And then finally, here at North Country, we have a piece of property up here. Now, we'll start backwards with this one. So, the North Country property is about a 2-acre piece of land that's along 25A that we're thinking about potentially selling off before we look at anything going on with this building. One of the major considerations though if we did anything with this building, we have to find a home for the Three Village Academy and the administrative staff that is up here at some locations. Given our uh moves that were recommended through the uh the uh school closure
024repurpose committee of moving the SAC programs into the old the buildings next year. It's currently only in that Mount. Um that's going to eat up some of the space. So, and then we have the big consideration coming in 2028-2029. It sounds like a long way off, but the governor's proposal is that the the UPK program that could be a half-day or full-day program will be a full-day program uh by 2028-2029 for all school districts throughout the whole state and with no lotteries. That means just like kindergarten, if you live in a district and you want your child to go to pre-K, they would be able to go um immediately. So, given our current requests, we have about 277 requests for our current pre-K program. Uh we're using that number to project out what it could
025potentially be in 2028-2029. That number if we use would we would require at least two more pre-K classes per building. 10 additional classrooms would be needed in order to accommodate those numbers. So, um that would also take some of the space uh currently in buildings. Uh the Nicolls Road property, we're in the process of working with uh an attorney as well to split off that land from the deed proper deeded property at Murphy. Um that's about 5 acres of land and the old admin building. That property is for sale. The the line the property sign was down was uh is still up at the property. There was some um speculation the line that the line sign was down. No, it's still there. Uh I drove past it several times during the week. So, it hasn't
026moved at all. Um just so we're clear, any of these properties still have to go for bid. Uh it's not as if we're getting offered. We are definitely getting offers on them, but there is a bid process that has to go out before any of and it has to go out to the highest reasonable bid um that we could receive on those those lands. The Hawkins Road property continues to be a something we have a sign up for lease. We're hoping to work with the town and the county on an amicable solution for what that potential use of that land either staying as is or being used for an educational purpose at some point. Um but we're open to any conversations with with the the other governments within the county and the town to work
027with us about what that could look like. It's 18 acres of land down there. So, we have a lot of land there. And it could be that it just gets preserved and is left alone. So, it's just something consideration. But the first priority right now is about the Nicolls Road building and getting that called off and then sold off. And then we can go further with the rest of the properties that we have. Thank you so much. And just an understanding of timeline, this is nothing imminent. Nothing is happening tomorrow, correct? >> Yes. [snorts] If If anyone has sold a house recently in the area in the area, I know some of them go quickly, but uh properties with municipalities don't sell that quickly. So, this isn't something that's going to happen next month or
028next week or maybe next year. We'll see just as everything is going on. Any questions? Yeah. Dr. Scanlon, uh in addition to some of the offers that we've received or considering to buy, have there been any offers for lease on either this property or the Nicolls? No. No offers for lease. So, can we also uh describe that this is unlike a private property? We cannot uh sell directly. We have to go through a process and this process is cost-based. Correct. Yes. So, it is a bid process for any of the properties that we would have put up for sale. Um and that's that's a a process that goes out. The the community will be informed about that, what would be for sale, and then responsible bidders could put in for that. Also, to separate any
029piece, we need to assessment and that's also a process that Right. It It's property, you know, even though we work we're currently working with a real estate broker, we want to do an independent assessment of the properties as well. So, the board has at least a comparison of what what the potential sale could be. Thank you. And by the way, even with that, too, the board can turn around and say, "No, we're not doing this." You know, we don't we don't it's not what we were going to get. This isn't the first time this has happened in our history. It's happened a couple of times where we attempted to sell our properties. Um as recently some of the same properties we've just described now, um but even the old Christian Avenue School, which um closed,
030then burnt down, and then was sold and became an entire neighborhood. So, um this isn't our first time doing this. And then I just also wanted to mention that anything that we are doing with any of these properties is going to be discussed at a board meeting. So, uh we know we saw her on social media that people thought we were doing some back deal rooms uh back deal deals back room deals um and that's not the case. So, we would have to discuss it in um open session and if we ended up selling something, there would be something we need to vote on. So, the community would know exactly what we were doing. >> The board legally is not allowed to do back room deals proper room deals or any other room deals at
031all. So, it has to be something the public would be absolutely aware of and as I said, anything that would have to be bid on, so that would be a public notice on what those bids would be as well. But probably a good opportunity to mention if the community has questions, rather than asking your friends, Or or making up or making up things. >> You can you can go to our new ask three village page and just ask. Say, "I don't understand. What does that mean? What's going on?" And we'll be happy to have somebody get back to you. Yep. Sure. All right. We will move on now unless there's any other questions. Okay. To uh to our budget, Mr. Carlson. Uh [clears throat] thank you. So, at the last board meeting, the board adopted
032the proposed budget for uh next year. Uh Dr. Scanlon and I as long as uh as well as some of the board members have been making budget presentations around the district at various meetings. Uh we have Uh we had one last night. We had several last week. We have more next week, more the week after. Monday night will be the um uh Civic Association meeting. Um so, the the presentations have been going very well. We have a lot of questions last night at Murphy. Um I guess Mr. Jansen probably an hour and a half, right? We were there. Um and um it's it's going pretty well. I mean, we'd be happy to answer any questions or address any any issues that that any of you have heard, uh but we don't have a budget presentation
033tonight. We're just going around uh doing our our road show now. Um so, All right. So, we open it up to questions, comments. I just had one clarification. Um regarding the actual percentages we got with the the tax base growth factor this year. Um I've heard around people calling it that it's a windfall this year and we should be using this money for something else, but we're using that money to not get rid of something else. So, that money is being used so we did not have to cut extra programs or staff. So, that money is going right back into It Exactly. Right. It's going right right into educational programs to prevent us from having to reduce reduce programs and services by Right. And if we had the same percentage we had last year, we
034probably would have had to end up cutting something. >> would have had to cut some more of something else. Yes. Okay. Dr. Lee. So, this year we have a lot reduction on TRS. Is this common or is this unusual? The reduction on the Teachers' Retirement System um is couple of things going on there. One, the contribution rate that they we pay a percentage of salaries at. The contribution rate for the Teachers' Retirement System is actually going down next year. On the Employees' Retirement System, it's going up. But, so the Teachers' Retirement System is going down. But, in addition to that, all of those cuz we pay a percentage of salaries of teachers and administrators into Teachers' Retirement System. So, we're reducing uh we have 21 teacher retirements. So, right away, teacher salaries are down by
035that. Um we are not replacing 18 of those. So, even we're not even hiring the replacements. So, that's even further reduction in teacher salaries. Um and uh part of our administrative reconfiguration, our uh we're making administrative reductions, too. So, all of that uh low I don't know if overall, the the salaries are lower on teachers and administrators, but it's it's not if if there is an increase, it's not much of an increase uh from one year to the next and the rate is going down. That's So, that's why the Teachers' Retirement System budget line is going is is decreasing. I see. So, next year if we have similar amount of teacher retiring, we should be able to expect similar reduction of TRS. Possibly. Yeah, well, it depends on what the rate does next year, but
036yeah, it um if the rate uh I mean, the rate could go up, you know. Sometimes it goes up, sometimes it goes down. Um but it possibly, yeah. Possibly. Yeah. >> Thank you. Just just to remind everyone who's watching at home with this uh Dr. DeBruski and Mr. Wells did a presentation on the uh teachers up for retirement over the next several years, 10 years. So, next year we're about 20. Um we have about 19 teachers that have passed eligibility at this point. So, um one of the factors that can influence that is next year is another teacher contract negotiation year. So, this current contract ends at the end of next year. So, potentially, you know, some people may decide to go because of whatever changes may occur with their contract. Um the year after
037that, it's about 40 and 40 the following year and about 50 the following year. So, over the next 10 years, as Dr. DeBruski mentioned uh before, we're looking at almost 370 of 530 teachers uh first eligible to retire. So, some major staffing changes there. And by the way, the 18 that Mr. Carlson's referring to are by attrition. It's not because we're cutting them and we're excess. They're it's by attrition. We're not we're not we don't need to replace them completely. It's not because we're laying off a whole slew of teachers. Anyone else? Yeah, I'm just curious, as you're having these meetings, are there any common threads of questions that are coming up that perhaps weren't asked here? Uh some of the same questions that we're been mentioning about the uh the staffing considerations and why
038the changes with the administrative reconfiguration. Um that took a light part of the large portion of Murphy's meeting last night. Um um Minisink wins the magic prize. They had 15 people present at the meeting. Um I wish there were a lot more than that. Um but we've had as low as four people at a meeting. So, if if the community is generally interested, if you want that personal contact, going to your local school or your child's school would be the best way to do that if you want to have that interaction. You're welcome to attend any of the meetings even if it's not your child's school there. You can go to any one of the PTA meetings in the locations. We are, as Jeff mentioned, going to the civics. And for the first time ever,
039we're actually going to Jefferson Ferry. We were invited for dinner, uh Jeff and I. So, and um we're going to be there for quite a while. I may pick out a room. Uh so, we're around. So, you know, we're we're we were very well That was a very welcoming thing. We've never had that before and we're hoping that we're able to communicate some of the things and answer some of the questions there. I'll jump in sort of on what Ami was saying just on a couple of things I'm hearing from people and and that have we we've heard at a couple of PTA meetings. So, um the first is the most common question, if you're just tuning in, wait a second, I don't understand how is the rate over 4% if we're under a 2%
040tax cap. So, go ahead give your elevator pitch on that one. Uh okay. So, the 2% tax cap, right? So, the 2% in the the name 2% tax cap comes from the what's called the levy growth factor, which is based on the inflation rate, which is as measured by the rise in the consumer price index or CPI. That number cannot be more than two. So, that's where 2% tax cap comes from. So, for this year and that the that rate is determined by the New York State Comptroller, and it's the same for every district. So, this year, the inflation rate as measured by the comptroller was 2.63%. So, it's limited to 2%. So, there's there's 2%. So, that's where we start. We have the uh as roughly mentioned, the tax base growth factor, which um
041accounts for new proper new construction in the district, and that's determined by the New York State Office of real property uh and uh services. And for us, it's another 1.19%. That's unusually high. Usually, uh we either get nothing for that or if we get some sort of an increase, it's one or two tenths of a percent, not more than a percent. In this case, it's one almost 1.2%. It's 1.19%. So, you add those together, so now we're up to 3.19%. Then we have the increase to capital projects, right? So, cuz capital projects are what's called an exclusion from the tax cap, meaning it simply whatever the tax cap otherwise is, any increase to capital projects increases the tax cap dollar for dollar. So, you we're increasing our capital projects from 1 and 1/2 million this
042year to 3 million next year. So, that is another 1 and 1/2 million on the tax levy, which is not quite a percent. We're also uh uh building aid on the state aid side has the the inverse effect on the tax cap. An increase in building aid means a decrease in the tax cap and vice versa. Uh some of our older capital projects were aging out of, you know, the the aid that we get over 15 years. So, our building aid is going down a little bit next year, so that it also increases the tax cap some. So, when you add it all together, it comes out to 4.54%. That's our cap. Now, there have been years where our cap has been well below 2% and there have been years when it's been over 4%.
043Um but, the key being that we're going out at the at the tax cap. So, our budget as put for adopted by the board that we're putting forth to vote on uh complies with the tax cap. So, it requires a simple majority. Uh meaning of the people who come out to vote, 50% plus one would need to vote yes in order for it to pass because a tie vote does not pass. So. That's where the 4.54% comes from. >> Thank you so much. That was a good elevator pitch. Very concise. Uh I have two other quick ones. This one's more for Dr. Scanlon. Um couple of people have asked at the PTA meetings, uh anything that has been taken away in the past, is there any effort to recover any of those programs or services?
044Yes, actually uh some of the things we were able to do were um bring back the TAs in the science labs in the elementary schools, which is a big help to uh the curricular program for the science in the elementary level, especially with the standards changes that are going on. This is support to the teachers there. We were also able to put the TAs back for the ISS rooms at both middle schools with the same considerations. So, those are some of the things we were and in additionally, uh another thing that we're looking to do is um swapping out the IG program with Steam 5, um bringing that in on board, uh which is cost neutral. The TAs being brought back in was cost neutral. The TAs uh for both again for the elementary science
045programs and the ISS rooms, all cost neutral. So, uh it was reductions in TAs in other areas and substitutes that will lead us to save that those funds. And then the uh switching of the Steam uh for IG, that is cost neutral from one to the other. So, um there's even a possibility that we might save some money in transportation on that, um depending on uh how many students are being transported right now. But, as we said before, that program now will serve another 400-plus students uh in the district. So, so there's some really good things being added on. Restoration, we haven't had the Steam program back in place um since before COVID. So, it's been a long while now and we had a Steam teacher in every one of our elementary schools. So, it's
046going to take us a while to get back to that. It's very hard when something comes out of a budget to put it back in. But, we have some opportunities coming forward like we said with the retirements potentially that will help us in other other factors. And the overall hope, remember as of tonight, uh there was another extension, I think it's the eighth extension to the budget with the state which was just voted on. Uh so, they still don't have one yet. Um so, we're waiting with bated breath. So, a lot of the things, as Jeff mentioned, the increase in state aid that was proposed by the governor, uh the changes to the increase for the pre-K program going up to $10,000. We would get 5,000 cuz we have a half-day program. Uh right now
047it's 5,400, which we got only 2,700 cuz it's half-day program. And also that consideration of the 20 20 29 school year for the full-day uh no lottery pre-K program. That those are all things. From what I understand, the the debate isn't about the educational components. They're going through a lot of things about the energy pieces uh right now and electrification areas. So, that's where we're sitting right now. And some of the timelines the governor has proposed extending out there. So, we're waiting with bated breath that this could come. It's April 1st. If they were my students, they'd be getting 10 points off per day for not having their assignment in on time. But, uh we're hoping that that this is resolved resolved. So. Thank you so much. And the last thing I'm hearing, which will
048either be for you, Dr. Scanlon again, or maybe for Mr. Mysteky. Um again, if you're just tuning in, I don't understand this museum proposition. Why is it going to be on the ballot? I'll take that one, Chris. Well, this was something that was submitted uh to the school board. Uh it contained the requisite number of signatures and the district is legally obligated to put it on the ballot. So, I also want to clarify that, you know, there's been a lot of uh misinformation out there about, well, the board agreed to this, the solicited this. The the board didn't solicit it. Um they the museum came to meet with the board in an exec session and explained their uh proposals. Um there was no action taken on the board to put this forward. Um the museum,
049as Mr. Mysteky mentioned, um which is the process that practically anyone can do if they get the requisite number of signatures. The board has no ability to deny that once if they have the So, that proposition is on there. Um and that is separate and distinct from the district's budget. It has nothing to do with our budget at whatsoever. So, um so, please read that proposition carefully. We have that as one of our slides in our presentation and we do clarify that with everyone that we've met with as well. Also, just to mention um if that does pass, uh the way the taxes are collected, it will not be a separate line item on the tax bills. That's not the way Brookhaven is doing it, at least so far. Uh so, it would be added
050to the school district tax levy. Um and then we would collect the money from the town and then uh disburse it to the to the museum as we get it. Perfect. Thank you so much. But, separate and distinct, you have an opportunity to vote yes or no on our budget, yes or no on their budget. That's it. Okay. So, as long as we're talking about taxes, we will move on to our tax exemption hearing and I turn it over to Mr. Carlson again. >> [clears throat] >> So, there were um the New York State uh amended real property tax law to provide for three new tax exemptions and to make a uh change to an existing exemption. So, the three new exemptions are uh for uh 50% reduction in taxes for surviving spouses of police
051officers killed in the line of duty, surviving spouses of volunteer firefighters and volunteer ambulance workers killed in the line of duty. And uh for uh I believe it's 100% for veterans who are considered to be permanently permanent and totally disabled. As a result of service connected uh through the Veterans Administration. The uh the change to an existing exemption is to the senior citizens uh income-based exemption. If you remember a couple of years ago, uh the board authorized an increase in the income levels for that senior citizen exemption. So, um uh so, we're here We're not going to uh the plan is not to uh really discuss the senior change to the senior citizens exemption tonight. Uh that still can be discussed, of course, anytime you would like at a at a future meeting. Uh that
052one has a little more uh implication to the rest of the community. Uh just just to put it perspective, uh Mr. Doss had asked last time, uh so, the the change that we made to the senior citizen income levels from uh 2 years ago, so so, 2 years ago, there were 199 district residents who got that any one of those senior citizen exemptions. It was Again, it's a sliding scale anywhere from 5% to 50% depending on their income. And now it's up to 294. So, that's a 48% increase in the number of people who are getting the exemption and the amount of assessed value exempted uh increased by 45%. So, what the bottom line on that one is the cost to everybody else in the district for for that in for the increase, not the
053total amount of the exemption, for the increase in that exemption uh from what the old income levels, comes out to about $43 for the average taxpayer for everyone else. That's the increase in theirs. So, that's something that we can discuss more with the board if you choose uh over this this coming up school year. Uh any change to it up until um through next February would be in effect to for the 27-28 school year. Anything that you do now wouldn't be effect in in effect till then anyway. So, for the other uh exemptions though, so for the surviving spouses of either police, volunteer firefighters, or volunteer ambulance workers killed in the line of duty, it would apply uh to their uh spouses as long as it remained their primary residence. For the veterans uh considered
054permanently and totally disabled, so this So, the way the VA does something like that is not just Well, they have to be 100%. Um uh 100% disabled. Now, the way the VA does that though is you could be 100% disabled, not permanent total, and not all 100% are equal. And some things that might you might seem like it would be 100% may not be. For example, if somebody had several different conditions, injuries, whatever, from their military service. One is rated at 50%, one is rated at 30%, one is rated at 20%. So, you might say, well, that is up to 100%. Well, not the way the VA does the math. The way the Without getting into all the technical aspects of it, the way the VA does the math on that comes out to 72%,
055which rounds down to 70%. So, um so, that person would not qualify. And even if you had enough put together that came up to 100%, still has to be permanent total. That's a separate classification from the VA. and what they call individually unemployable, which is a whole another level. So, um my guess is there's not a whole lot of people that fall into that category in Three Village, but I I simply don't know. Um that one though, um while the board certainly can say yes, we're in favor of that, we'll vote on it. Um I believe come 27 28 is mandatory for all this all uh taxing authorities in New York State anyway. Um so, so the plan tonight is to talk about those exemptions that surviving spouses uh of the police, firefighters, and volunteer
056ambulance workers killed in line of duty and the veterans total permanent totally disabled. Uh if if you'd like, we can have that on the June 3rd board meeting. Um you tell us if if you're okay with that, we'll put it on the June 3rd board meeting for you to officially approve. It would still take effect for the 27 28 school year, but you can approve that now if that's what you choose to do. All right, so we'll open it up to questions or comments about any or all of the three of those exemptions. Yeah, I propose that we put it up for a vote on the next cycle. I'm for Yeah, I agree as well. Um I just wanted to clarify that we're putting it as a hearing today because we need 30 days before
057we can vote. So, that's why we're not voting tonight. We have to give 30 days for the community to hear it and then we'll be voting. That's correct and that's why I said June 3rd, not We have a board meeting next week. And then we also have the night of the budget voted meeting, but June 3rd to make it more than 30 days from now. Yes. >> So, is there any other information anybody else needs as you consider this over the next month? No, we're all good. Okay. Thank you so much. All right, we will move on now to our public comment period and we have one. If you could come over to that microphone, please, Mr. Jay Schoenfeld. Good evening everyone. Thanks for allowing me to speak. Um last time I was here was
058over the winter and I was reacting to some comments that were made at the November workshop. Unfortunately, I ran out of time, so I want to try and take us back to that a little bit. Um one of the comments that I think Dr. Scanlon made, if if if it was not a direct comment, certainly an implication, was that the community uh rejected the Princeton plan, I think, and in the surveys that were distributed at that time. And I wanted to kind of clarify that cuz I don't think that was really what happened. I would say it's it was combination of three things. I think people weren't read didn't know enough about it to really get into to under and understand it. I think some people weren't maybe weren't ready for it. And most importantly,
059I think maybe people thought it was too much to do all at once along with the school reconfiguration. And I think on that last point, I think we were proven right that it took 3 years just to do the reconfiguration. Involving the Princeton plan probably would have added more time to it. And I think now that um closing a school is on the table, I would encourage you to revisit that if the educational attributes that you said were um were were actually better, that it would not this way closing a school when it comes will not be just a budgetary decision, but it also might actually turn out to be better educationally. So, I just wanted to put that on the record uh for tonight. Um I also was uh pleased to hear that the
060um that the district is having hearings on the school budget. Unfortunately, uh I was This is the first time hearing of that. I did sign up for school district emails and this was not in the subject of any of them. Um that that that that that you're you're new new person has been sending out. And so, I I was asking that you uh add that to the list of things for for next next cycle. That that and and knowing that these are open to anyone. Um fortunately, I'm a member of the Civic Association, so I'll get my chance Monday, but um but I think for other people, it might be easier just to either tonight doesn't work bad or you're you're closer to where the school is. Uh and it's good to know that the
061uh people who don't have children in the school would still be uh welcome in the schools for something like this. So, I would encourage you to just do a better job of publicizing that. And um I'm going to end early cuz the next topic will take more time than I have left. So, if I can come again another time, I'll be happy to do so. Thank you all. Thank you. All right, we're going to turn to our policies now. We have some second reads, Mr. Miszewski. Uh yes, uh as I reported at the last meeting, we had on for first read and now tonight we have on for second read the continuation of the 600 series. Uh it's board policy on fiscal management goals, budget planning, uh budget deadlines and schedule, dissemination of public of
062budget recommendations, uh budget hearings. Uh I'm available to answer any questions. These policies have been reviewed by the policy committee and by legal counsel. Okay, do we have any questions about any of those policies? All right, do I see a motion to approve them? A second? All in favor? No opposed, so those policies are approved. Thank you so much. And we'll move on now to our consent agenda. Do I see a motion to consider the consent agenda? So moved. And a second? All right, and we'll begin. We've removed B and C, so we go to D, Mr. Mono. D is the acceptance of the positions requesting placement of voter proposition [snorts] on May 19th ballot. That is for the Long Island Museum. It was sent to legal and they reviewed it and that's what that
063is. Thank you. And beginning with E, Mr. Carlson. Uh thank you. Item E is the appointment of our fiscal advisor for uh the 2026 27 school year. Uh this is Munistat Services. Uh they provide services uh in regard to SEC filings for a tax anticipation notes. Um the next item is the appointment of bond counsel uh also for next year. This is Hawkins Delafield and Wood. Uh they they do the legal work on all of our borrowing, uh especially our specifically our tax anticipation notes. Um the next item is donations. We have three donations. Uh the first is a check for $700 from the American Heart Association to Nassakeag Elementary School for their participation in the uh Kids Heart Challenge. Uh this uh money will be used towards the purchase of a mascot uniform for
064Nassakeag. Uh we received a donation from the Alzheimer's Association for uh copies of their book um in English and Spanish. This is a book that they uh put together uh to help adults uh speak to kids specifically ages 5 to 8 um about uh relatives that may have Alzheimer's. Uh so, we thank them for that. And then we have a scholarship check for $2,000 from the Suffolk County chapter of the New York State School Facilities Association to go to the Wood Model High School Scholarship Fund. Uh we recently uh Mr. Greski uh put together a custodial workshop for school districts um on Long Island. Very successful, a lot of professional development for our custodial staff uh and this is in recognition of of that. Uh item H is approval of a health health and welfare
065services contract with the South Huntington school district for Three Village resident students who attend private uh school or parochial schools located there. Um item I is bid extensions and renewals. This is a number of our um uh facilities related uh uh services that we use. Uh these are all extensions of um contracts at the same uh prices of the current years and these are all companies that were uh satisfied with their service. The next item is authorization uh to participate in cooperative uh bids. Uh there's a number of bids Eastern Suffolk BOCES. We use a uh for organization called uh a data services. Nassau BOCES is a number of them. New York State Office of General Services, Suffolk County, Nassau County. Uh these are all different um uh particip cooperative purchasing um groups that we
066we belong to. Uh with sometimes one contract might have the same item then a different contract for a different price. So, we use all of these to to try to get the best price we can on any of those items. Um and then oh, and some of those also it could be a piggybacking on bids that other school districts did. Uh then we have a declaration of surplus textbooks. This is for some social studies uh texts from Wood Model High School uh with outdated uh information. Uh and then the next item is the authorization for the tax anticipation note borrowing. Uh we're putting in the authorization up to $65 million. I don't we won't need to actually borrow that much. We won't know the exact amount until we get closer to the end of the
067school year and we do our our actual cash flow statement. Uh but something less than that. And then uh starting with item M through item R are our monthly financial reports for the months of January, February, March, which were reviewed earlier this evening by the board's audit committee. And there was nothing uh unusual to report in any of those. Uh included in that was our claims auditor's report for the months of January, February, March with no findings. And that's it for me. Thank you so much. All right, we turn it over to Dr. Biscari. Uh thank you. Um S is an affiliation agreement with LIU for student teachers. Uh T represents a affiliation agreement um with Stony Brook University of Health Professions for clinical placements. And U is the dual enrollment agreement with Stony Brook
068which lists specific courses that we would um be offering our students for college credit next year, which includes our uh pre-engineering CTE. So, once executed, we'd be able to send this and finalize our um our submission to New York State. Thank you so much. Any questions from anybody on the items from Dr. Biscari or Mr. Carlson? I just wanted to congratulate you on the CTE program with Stony Brook uh for this. This is excellent. Thank you. And I have to give credit to Dr. Rinaldi and all of her hard work in uh you know, setting this up and um doing doing much of the legwork. Excellent. Thank you so much. >> Just to clarify, we actually have affiliation agreements with six colleges and universities. So, it's we're on the upper end of that uh spectrum.
069So, great work on Dr. Biscari's part and the department as well. And we're continuing to expand that for opportunities for students as we move forward. I can personally attest to that because my last two kids got to their colleges and the colleges were going, "Wait a second. You're giving me transcripts from your high school and four other four colleges or five colleges?" Yep. Yes, they are. >> we want to happen. Exactly. All right, item V, the code of conduct. We'll turn that to Dr. Scanlon and Mr. Mistecki. Certainly. So, the uh recent changes to board policy from the last board meeting on sexual harassment um leads to a change for us for the code of conduct. So, process-wise, when the board approve this this evening tomorrow we'll begin the communications process with all parents who
070will have to go back in to verify they've reread the code of conduct uh for this this change. And I know it's very close to the year. This does not take the place of the approval you're going to have to do come August again for next year. This is because we have to affect this change immediately. So, I don't know, Chris, if you want to add anything further with that. Nope, I have nothing else to add. So, how will parents be made aware? So, we'll be communicating multiple ways full through the Infinite Campus Messenger, uh school messenger, and then uh message on their actual accounts when they go in. So, there'll be multiple ways that they'll be notified. So, the the same verification process that you do each year in the beginning of the school
071year, you'll have to follow immediately for this. Okay, thank you. W, recommendations of the Committee on Special Education Subcommittee and 504 Accommodation Plan meetings as dated. And X, recommendations of the Committee on Preschool Special Education meetings as dated. And beginning with Y, Dr. DeBoskey. Yes, thank you. So, Y is the recommendation and the resolution to approve the abolishment of several positions. We have a total of 15. Uh they include chairpeople, coordinators, executive directors. And so, there's a total of 15 there. And then Z, personnel items instructional. Yeah, I'd like to make a motion to pull A4 from Z. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> All in favor of pulling that one, we'll consider it separately afterwards. Okay, thank you. Okay, so um personnel items instructional, we have two instructional uh retirements, 13 instructional
072resignations um eight instructional substitute appointments, several hourly and daily extra assignments for the 25-26 school year. And now we start our 26-27 uh instructional summer assignments, which is going to be a lot of summer enrichment and extended school year. Um next, personnel items non-instructional. We have two non-instructional retirements five non-instructional resignations. We have three non-instructional sub appointments. We have several community swim appointments. And several 26-27 non-instructional summer assignments for the extended school year program. And BB. Uh BB is uh the uh the recommendation to establish the creation of several 12-month TVSA positions, which some of them will account for um and incorporate some of the positions that we've recently abolished. Perfect. Thank you so much. All in favor of the items inside our consent agenda? No opposed, [snorts] no abstentions, so that carries. And we'll
073circle back now to the A4. Is there anyone in favor of that? Do we see a motion to approve that? All who are opposed? Any abstentions? Okay, so that motion is denied with one of one abstention. Do we have an abstention? No, okay. So, I just I didn't see Dr. Kerman and Dr. Dr. Lee, what did how did you vote? So, can you repeat that? This was um the personnel item that we pulled to be considered separately. >> This was the instructional leave of absence that We voted to move it out, right? We We just pulled it out, so this is a separate consideration. Do you want to approve that, what the person was asking for, or deny what the person was asking for? >> voted to move it out, and now we're voting Now
074we're voting on it, right? So >> in favor or against? >> against. Okay. Thank you. Okay, so unanimous. Thank you so much. And Mrs. Rosenzweig, before you finish, may I take a moment? >> Of course, you may. >> Please. So, um as is become our tradition, um I wanted to recommend uh recognize and congratulate several employees who are retiring uh certainly this year and and during the next upcoming year. Uh we have Lori Lemansky, who is uh um TA for us at at Chelini's uh for 26 years. She's She'll be retiring in June. Uh Mike Sacco, district-wide art teacher after 24 years, he'll be retiring in December. Um in addition, we have a 25-year veteran, uh Gloria uh Minlioneca. Minlioneca, okay, I got that right. 25 years. And another monitor, Babette Prinzo, uh 19 years.
075So, we wish them all congratulations, and we wish them health and happiness in retirement. Thank you. Absolutely. Happy retirement, and uh do I see a motion to adjourn? >> Move to adjourn. Second? >> Second. All in favor? All right, we are adjourned. Have a great night.