001testing one. Testing one. My apologies, folks. We're going to be delayed about 15 minutes. We just have a medical emergency done. Good evening everyone. We apologize for the delay. Uh this is our Wednesday, June 18th, 2025 board of education meeting. At this time, we would ask you to please rise as Hazel leads us in the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you so much. Uh, Miss Jano, any changes to the meeting agenda? There are no changes. Thank you. All right, that brings us to the best part with our student and staff recognition. We will begin by asking Mr. Kevin Finer to join us at the microphone, please. [Applause]
002Good evening. I'd like to thank the board of education, our central administration, and the community for taking the time tonight to honor some of our teams and individuals who competed this past spring. Ward Melville had a great spring sports season with many varsity teams making the playoffs. Our girls lacrosse team made it to the county championship game for the second year in a row, but unfortunately lost the heartbreaker game in overtime. Our boys track team had several runners who were county champions and some participated at the state level. This spring we had several students earn all league, all county, all-American special awards and we even had students compete at the state level. Most importantly, every single student uh every single athletic team was a New York State scholar athlete team. Because of this, for the
003sixth year in a row, Ward Melville will earn the scholar athlete school of distinction award from the New York State Public High School Athletic Association for having all of our teams be scholar athlete um earn scholar athlete status from this past school year. Ward Melville just wrapped up one of the most impressive sports year and it may have been one of the best in our athletic history. I said the same thing last year, but somehow our teams and coaches outdid themselves again and had another banner sports season. To recap our year in sports, Ward Melville won 14 team league titles, appeared in nine team county championship games, won seven county championship games, won several individual county championships, appeared in four Long Island Championships, won three Long Island Championships, appeared in five state championships, won three
004team state championships, and John Seafford won an individual track state championship. Most schools are lucky enough to have a few teams make the playoffs, but somehow we're always able to go very deep and uh some teams are only maybe win one county championship or one title here and there. Some schools may dominate in a particular sport year after year, but as you can see, we are so successful across all of our sports. I have said it before and I'll say it again. We are starting to run out of space in the gym to hang and display all of our awards. At this time, we will now specifically honor a few student athletes for their great athletic achievements. At this time, I'd like to introduce some of our spring boys track team, including JJ Elsynor, Andrew
005Snu, Anthony Anatol, Tim Brown, and Jonathan Seafford. If you could come up to the front, please. Yep. Don't be shy, guys. You could stand right in front. Unfortunately, our track coach, Ryan Duca, could not be here tonight. Uh, nor Jonathan Seafford as he's uh at the News Day All Long Island uh press shoot. So, I'll read Coach Duca speech. At this year's Spring Track County Championships, we had four individuals and one relay team win their respective events and claim the title of county champion. In the 100 meter dash, junior JJ Elsynor ran a personal best in the finals of 10.94 seconds on his way to his first spring track county win. JJ also placed second in the 200 meter dash run in a time of 22.15 seconds coming up just.1 seconds shy of a second
006county championship. Senior John Seafford won the 800 meter run in a time of 1 minute 57 seconds. Junior Anthony Anatol won his first county championship in the 1600 meter run, finishing with a time of 4.28. Senior Tim Brown defended his county championship by winning winning the 30,000 meter steeple chase for the second consecutive year with a time of 10 minutes. The 4x8 meter relay consisting of Seafford, Anatol, and two won the event by 10 seconds running a time of 8.20. This past weekend, Jonathan Seafford and Anthony Anatol represented Ward Melville at the New York State Championships, where both athletes ran a personal best. John finished fourth in the two-mile and fifth in the mile, while Anthony finished 21st out of 54 runners in the two-mile with a time of 9.20. Congratulations to our boys track
007members who raced a great championship and uh continue to raise the bar for future uh track athletes. Congratulations, boys. [Music] [Applause] Okay. And now I'd like to introduce our girls golf coach, Nicole Connelly, with our county champion, Ella Gerard. [Applause] Thanks, Thank you. Good evening, everybody. Thanks for having us. I knew Ella meant business this season when I would show up at the golf course for postseason practice and she would already be there practicing her short game. Anyone who plays golf knows that's where you win tournaments, which is exactly what Ella did this season by winning her second county championship title at Middle Island Country Club by five strokes. She also led the team to a second place overall finish at counties, a league championship, which is no small feat as she encouraged her teammates
008throughout the entire season, whether helping them make swing adjustments, giving strategies around the green, or simply saying, "We got this." At the state championship in Rochester, Ella grinded her way to a 12th place 12th place finish amongst the best golfers in New York at Wildwood Golf Club. What some people may not know about Ella is that she is so much more than a golfer. She'll go on to compete in the powerlifting national championships in Atlanta at the end of this month. She's also a standout student who has been working feverishly to get her highest score possible on the SAT so she can attend her dream school of University of Florida. Ella is also an amazing piano player who uses her talent to bring the joy of music to the local veterans home. To say Ella
009Gerard's an amazing person is no exaggeration. She's hardworking, dedicated, caring, funny, focused, and never gives up. And she also intro introduced me to Crumble Cookies, which was a really a big problem for me. She's a born leader, and I'm so proud of all she's accomplished. Congratulations, Ella, on another successful season of high school golf. [Applause] Okay. And now I'd like to introduce our softball coach, Joe Burgerer, and his softball player, Avery. Avery. Uh, where's Bicki? [Applause] Good evening, distinguished members of the board of education, Superintendent Dr. Scandlin and athletic director, Mr. Kevin Finity. It is my pleasure and great honor to recognize an exceptional student athlete, Miss Avery Whisbicki. Just last night, Avery was named the League 2 defensive player of the year, an outstanding accomplishment made even more impressive by the fact that she's
010only a freshman. Avery has quickly earned the respect of opposing coaches across Suffach County for her outstanding defensive skills and fearless play. One moment that stands out happened during a home game against Beayshore. A ball was hit deep into the gap and Avery at full speed tracked it down despite knowing she was closing in on the fence. She made the catch, colliding hard with the fence in the process. When I rushed out to check on her with blood pouring from her lip, she simply looked up and said, "I'm good." That kind of grit and determination speaks volumes about her character. And she was good. Avery's leadership has also been recognized as she was named team captain, a rare and prestigious honor for a freshman. She's also an all league gymnast. But her impact goes well
011beyond the field. During her annual during our annual charity game, Avery raised nearly $600 on her own to support domestic abuse awareness, a major contribution toward our team's $10,000 total. In the classroom, Avery is just as dominant. She's a proud member of the National Junior Honor Society and the World Language Honor Society, maintaining excellence in her academics. Avery embodies everything we value in a Three Village athlete. Intelligence, athleticism, compassion, generosity, and humility. Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in recognizing an extraordinary young woman, Miss Avery Whisbicki. [Applause] Okay, I'd like to now call up our boys tennis coach, Eric Sussen. [Applause] Good evening. Uh, thank you, Central Administration, Board of Education, and Mr. Trinity for taking the time to recognize all the athletes tonight. Um, I've been lucky enough to stand up here for many
012years now, being a proud coach of numerous tennis players. Tonight, I just wanted to give praise to one of my graduating seniors, Sashank Penabat. Unfortunately, like some of the other athletes, he's at Newsuesday right now getting pictures for the All Long Island News Day team. Um, Shashank just recently returned from the New York State High School Championships where he earned fifth place in the singles tournament, which was nothing short of amazing play over three days. This achievement follows his two third place finishes in doubles his freshman and sophomore year along with his incredible run last year where he won the New York State doubles championship. where Neville will miss a great one, but Shashank Shashank's name is and will be forever cemented on numerous signs, banners, plaques, and trophies so that his success will never
013be forgotten. He will continue his winning ways at South Carolina State University in the fall. Um, and on a personal note, uh, he's been my, you know, go-to guy for 5 years now. So, it's going to be really sad to to see one of, um, not just a great player, but a great person. Somebody I'm sure a lot of the coaches here tonight, you get to know a lot of the players very well on different levels. And so um it's almost like um a whole era has ended in a way, but he'll do very well next year and I look forward to finding out all his new achievements. Thank you. I would like to now call up students Kate Geronda and Rowan Golop. Come on up. Yeah, sure. You can hang out right here. Come
014on. Well, come on up. Don't be afraid. Okay. On the evening of May 29th a few weeks ago, the Suffach Sports Hall of Fame and Team Up for Community proudly honored Kate and Rowan, both juniors at Warville High School for their extraordinary commitment to community service. The recognition took place during a special event marking the launch of a new partnership between the Hall of Fame and the Team Up for Community to celebrate the achievements of student athletes who lead by example both in sports and service. This inaugural initiative marked the beginning of a new tradition to recognize two student athletes each year for their leadership, sportsmanship, and dedication to making a difference in their communities. Moving forward, honores will be celebrated annually at the Suffach Sports Hall of Fame. So, these two fine uh student
015athletes were selected uh the both of them out of all of Suffach County. And I think it's quite rare to have both a male and female selected from one high school. So they got to spend the evening with uh some excellent uh you know former coaches, athletes, uh even professionals from Suffach Sports. So I'm going to read uh why Kate and Rowan were uh awarded. Uh Kate, a junior on the girls varsity swim team, embodies selflessness, patriotism, and leadership through her dedicated volunteer work with the Bob Feller Act of Valor Foundation's Champion of Valor program. Inspired by 40 major league baseball players who paused their careers to serve in World War II, Kate spent 18 months planning, organizing, and promoting the foundation's Run for Valor race. Her efforts helped welcome 215 runners and raised over
016$12,000 for veterans. um emotional support services and therapy dogs. Kate's leadership not only honored our nation's heroes, but also inspired her peers to serve a great a cause greater than themselves. Her commitment reveals how athletic excellence can drive meaningful commitment change. Great job, Kate. Rowan, a junior on the varsity baseball team, demonstrates exceptional leadership through his devotion to education, history, and service, volunteering over 60 hours at the Three Village Historical Society. He helped bring Revolutionary War history to life, connecting visitors with the rich heritage of the Culper Spy Ring. He also served his community by preparing and delivering meals to homebound veterans, assembling donation boxes for Operation Christmas Child, and creating comfort items like stress balls and fleece blankets for animal shelters at the Emma S. Clark Library. Ronan's wide range efforts show that athletic
017success is not just one facet of his deep uh commitment to community. So, congratulations, Ronin. Congratulations. [Applause] At this time, I'd like to call our varsity girls lacrosse coach, Stephanie Baragallo, and lacrosse player, Peyton Phillips. Come on up. [Applause] Good evening. I'm so pleased to have the opportunity to talk about Payton Phillips and the accomplishments she has been able to earn throughout her time as award level varsity lacrosse player. I'd like to thank the Three Village Board of Education for taking the time to honor her, our administration for their continued support of our program, and Kevin Finity who has gone above and beyond to provide his programs with the best available resources for success. Coming into this season, many critics overlooked our team, seeing it as a rebuilding year for our program after losing a
018very talented 2024 class. Starting with offseason training, Payton made it clear to myself and her teammates that there is no such thing as a rebuilding year for Ward Melville girls lacrosse. As captain, Payton led our team to our third county championship in the last four years. In order for us to have had the successes we did, Pton was forced to take on many roles. She was a lights out player for us, earning all county honors and shutting down any scoring threat our opponents had. With Payton leading our defense, we gave up an average of only six goals a game. She was a team admin, organizing team events, practices, and fundraisers. She was a captain, often staying after with our coaching staff to work out game plans and strategies. She was a friend who many of
019her teammates went to for advice. And while doing all of this, Payton still maintained her grades as a student, boasting a weighted GPA of 102.63 during the spring term. According to US lacrosse, an all academic all-American honore is a player who exhibits exemplary lacrosse skills, good sportsmanship on the field, and represents high standards of academic achievement in the classroom. Payton has surpassed these standards and was not only a no-brainer for this national recognition, but she also was accepted to the University of Pennsylvania as a student athlete. Most are already aware the University of Pennsylvania is known as one of the most prestigious Ivy League schools in the country, but you may not know that their lacrosse team is currently ranked in the top 10 in the nation. It is a suitable spot for an individual
020who has put in so much hard work on the field and in the classroom and brought so much pride to her community. Once more, I'd like to thank Payton for all she has done and congratulate her on earning academic all-American [Applause] At this time, I'd like to introduce football player Brennan Curts. Come on up. Why don't you stand next to Payton? Each year, every athletic director from Suffach County is allowed to nominate a male and female student athlete to be considered for the annual Butch Delicave Award, which is sponsored by the economic opportunity council of Suffach County and News Day. A few weeks ago, Brennan and Peyton represented Ward Melville at this banquet where they were recognized for their athletic achievements and achievements in the classroom and community along with the other top candidates from
021across Suffach County. I will now read why Brennan and Payton were selected for this prestigious honor. Brennan is the epidone of the student athlete and all-around great kid. He leads by example on and off the field and is someone who always plays his hardest and does it with class. While his academic and altruistic accomplishments are many, he somehow found time to excel on both the football field, basketball court, and even track. Brennan has demonstrated exceptional leadership as the captain of our varsity basketball and football teams, setting a strong example for both on the field and the court. A dedicated scholar athlete and Suffach County all academic player in basketball and all Long Island and football, Brennan consistently upholds standards of excellence in academics and athletics. His leadership was instrumental in guiding his teams to successful
022playoff runs, and his on the court and field performances highlights his determination, work ethic, and impact in crucial moments. Brennan's commitment to teamwork, discipline has left a lasting remark mark on our basketball and football programs. As a result of his academic and athletic prowess, Brennan was also recently awarded the National Football Foundation's Golden 11 award. In addition, he'll be playing football at Bryant University this fall. Congratulations, Brennan. Payton has spent the past three years impressing me and everyone around her with her tremendous athletic and academic traits and qualities. Her insatiable desire to learn and be challenged is admirable. She has grown so much over the past three years with regard to her confidence and this has helped her even more. So to rise to the occasion to face tough challenges as a student and an
023athlete, Payton has consistently demonstrated leadership that goes beyond her position as a player. Whether leading by example with her work ethic during practice, mentoring young teammates, or motivating her peers during intense moments, Payton has earned the respect of her teammates and coaches alike. She's the type of leader who listens and encourages, always fostering a positive, inclusive atmosphere that allows the team to thrive as a collective unit. Her ability to inspire confidence and elevate those around her uh speaks to her natural ability as a leader. Beyond her academic and athletic achievements is Payne's character that truly sets her apart. She demonstrates integrity, determination, and a strong sense of responsibility in everything that she does. Payton will, as coach Peragal said, Payton's attend attending the University of Pennsylvania this fall and will be playing lacrosse. So congratulations
024to Payton and Brennan for this year's award medals delicave award winners. Hold [Applause] on. Hold on. Okay. I would like to thank our parents for all their support, our student athletes and for all their hard work and our dedicated coaches. On behalf of the athletic department, thank you for providing me this opportunity to highlight these great accomplishments. It gives me great pride and pleasure to be our athletic director. Thank you. So, Mr. Finity, thank you from the administration and the board of education for all of your hard work. This was an incredible year of triumphs and championships for this school district, one that's the envy of many school districts in the state of New York, and your leadership is paramount to making it so. Thank you again. [Applause] All right, moving on to item 5B
025on our agenda. Dr. Scandlin. Excellent. So, uh, we have a awardee tonight. We invite the uh fire department from Sata to come up and John Halonia. Thank you very much. So, we're actually going to do this together. So, Violet, why don't you come on up? This is Violet Ford, everybody. High school junior at Wood High School. and we're thrilled to be here tonight to recognize Violet for her extraordinary service to the Three Village community. A story that some people may know but is spreading further throughout the community is that uh on Monday, June 2nd, while driving home from school, Violet observed two adults on the front lawn of a home and sensed that one of the men was clearly in distress. What she saw did not sit right with her. She turned her car around
026and chose to get involved and provide assistance. How many adults would have kept driving would have even known what to do in an emergency like this? It turned out the man was part of a father-son contractor team who was working on a home in Violet's neighborhood. The father was clearly in stress in distress and the son was not prepared to provide medical assistance. Using the knowledge she gained from the CPR and first aid training she has received both at Ward Melville and Gelinus. Violet jumped into action. She took control of the scene, called 911, provided medical history of the patient, called out for help from neighbors she happened to know that are in the medical field, and performed effective CPR until she was eventually relieved by responding EMTs with a mechanical chest compression device. This
027brief summary does not even begin to do justice to Violet's actions on that Monday afternoon. Listening to her tell the story in my office, I I had, you know, chills. Uh trul truly incredible for someone so young to know what to do to step in to take the action to take control of the scene to direct a 40-year-old man how he should be reacting to tell him what information he needed to provided to the EMTs to get that information out of someone who was clearly upset about the condition of his father truly is remarkable. And then to keep calm under that pressure and realize there are neighbors around who can help me also to try and get their attention and bring them also to the scene. Just truly unbelievable. The Stocket fire district and members
028of which are here tonight also recognized Violet's heroic actions. In a letter addressed to me, Mr. Stern pointed out that Violet performed incredibly effective chest compressions which is unfortunately something they not they do not often see. Right. So even from people who are trained uh you know civilians who are trained in CPR, they don't always provide it appropriately. uh and and Violet did it uh and did it with such success um you know that this patient was able to be taken to the hospital and certainly given the chance um you know to uh to get the surgery that he needed because of her smart thinking and her her calm cool collection under pressure. Uh the seasoned paramedics who responded to the scene were amazed by how well Violet handled this intense situation. Simply put, Violet
029was incredible. Coincidentally, Violet was returning home from school that day where she had been attending Miss Winer's extra help to make up an exam on the heart and cardiac conduction system as part of her human physiology class. Later that evening, she attended her first EMT training class, which she had registered for weeks in advance. So, Violet's heroic actions are the perfect example of a student who has combined her education with her passion to make a tremendously positive impact on our community. Violet, we're so very proud of you and I am certain that you have a bright future in the medical field. [Applause] You think you said it best? I mean, I just want on behalf of the the board of fire commissioners and the chiefs of the Societ Fire Department, I think it was said
030best. You know, we we teach the stuff. I should probably lower this. We teach this stuff and uh it people being empowered to do these things is really a special thing and Violet as as you know the principal said that you know really to to not only see somebody needed help we see so often people take their phones out start filming don't they don't want to get involved and Violet did the opposite and and for a young person in our community to to lead by that kind of example that gives you hope for for everyone else and that's the kind of people we're proud to have in our community. So thank you and we we look forward to your future as well as maybe a future first responder or even even more. Thank you. Thank
031you. I don't know what Thank you again. I just have one more brief recognition. Um due to the uh the tenure recognition of staff members, I wasn't here at the last board meeting when our ex official member Hazel Kohas was recognized. So I just want to take a minute and thank Hazel for her service all year long. uh as a first year principal, getting to work with somebody like Hazel every two every two weeks to prepare for these board meetings was certainly a treasure and a treat for me. Uh she did a fantastic job. Uh you would think a high school principal is a pretty busy person. It was generally Hazel's busy schedule that kept us from meeting in person. Uh as a senior, nine periods a day every day, day in out, day in
032day out with clubs after school, uh and a million other things going on. Um, but she never missed an opportunity to to touch base with me, uh, to to, you know, check in, uh, to talk about what's been going on in the school. Um, and then just being able to talk about, you know, her own plans and and where she's headed and and all the great things that she's got going on in in her own personal life. So, just, you know, from me personally, but also from W Melville High School, I want to thank you and just we have a bouquet of flowers. So, come on up, Hazel. [Applause] I guess we'll do the picture thing as well. We'll get rid of this. [Applause] And before we continue, I just want to say if any
033of you who have already been honored have to go, we totally understand. You will not hurt our feelings. Yes, I'm looking at you. Thanks, Violet. Congratulations, partners. All right, we turn it over now for item 5C. Dr. Biscari. Yes. I'd like to introduce uh Mount's principal, um, Miss Hydrrich, who's going to speak uh about some of her outstanding students and their performance on the statewide first and math tournament. Thank you. Good evening, Miss Rosenwag, members of the board of education, Dr. Scanland, and members of the cabinet. I am honored to be here tonight to recognize three outstanding first grade students from Mount Elementary School for their remarkable achievement in the first and math statewide competition. On March 20th, students in grades K through 8 across New York State and right here in the three village
034school district participated in the First and Math virtual regional tournament qualifying round. Just a few weeks later, I received exciting news from First and Math. Three of our elementary first graders had advanced to the statewide mathematics tournament held in Albany, New York on May 31st. Once selected, these students began preparing as a team. They came in early each morning to work with their teacher, Miss Ladaro, focusing on the specific skill set game they would play collaboratively during the tournament. The um competition qualifying round was done independently. So that now they had to practice working collaboratively. On the day of the competition, our students advanced to the finals. Each round challenged them not only to solve complex math problems quickly and accurately, but also to explain their thinking to the judges, detailing the strategies they used
035to approach and solve each problem. At the conclusion of the tournament, our three first grade mathematicians earned an impressive second place in the state. Thank you, Miss Laro, for your dedication and support in preparing these students. And thank you to the families of these students for their encouragement and commitment and for driving all the way up to Albany. Please join me in congratulating our exceptional students. You have made Mount Elementary School and the Three Village School District incredibly proud. Please come up. James Claire, Nate Ferdman, and Zoe Sunbachner. [Music] There we go. Congratulations. [Applause] Yes. And same goes for you guys. You don't have to stay. You're welcome to, but you don't have to stay. And congratulations again. All right. Going to 5D. Uh Dr. Scanland. So, we are very honored this evening to honor
036another one of our students tonight for his ability to bring a condition to the forefront in our community and in the nation. So, tonight we're honoring Edward Russo in honor of your courage, strength, and incredible voice in raising awareness for childhood proxy of speech. Congratulations, [Applause] [Music] Got it. [Applause] [Music] All right. Well, this is it. For the very last time, we're going to get our report on the high school from Hazel and an introduction to our incoming student representative, Katie Erso. So, we turn it over to you guys. Good evening, everyone, for the last time. Yes, I cannot believe it, but it's my last report that I'll be giving as the student representative on the board. On that note, I'm excited to introduce the incoming student government president and student representative, Katie Erso. Katie
037was elected into this role recently, and I can't imagine someone better for the position. Katie is currently on the board of our student government and is someone so essential to keeping the club running. From her organization, commitment, and leadership, we wouldn't be able to function without her. I know Katie is going to do an amazing job this year, next year, sorry. Going into some school events and news. As everyone knows, our regular classes have just come to a close this past Thursday at W Melville. And where there while there are still finals and regent exams going on, the last week really felt like the beginning of the summer with all of our fun festivities. Our end of year events kick had a kickstart with academic awards and scholarship night for seniors where students were awarded
038an array of different scholarships that best suit suited their personalities, interests, and future aspirations. Earlier in the week and some more senior events, many of these I talked about were senior events because I guess that applied to me. But earlier in the week, seniors also got together um in the auditorium for the much anticipated senior superlatives and senior video showing. Seeing the amazing senior video was truly such a nostalgic look back at our years in the three villages. A moment to that I think led not only myself but my peers to really reminisce on all the good that this district has brought into our lives despite the late night studying and early morning arrivals. Um moreover seeing this incredible production as well as receiving and flipping through the pages of our beautiful yearbooks made it
039so clear the dedication talent and hard work of my peers the yearbook club and the faculty who worked tirelessly to produce these pieces of art. I personally cannot even imagine the grit it took to sit down and clip together all those childhood videos and pictures or go through and perfect every detail of the books. So again, a big thank you to all who put so much hard work into them. Later in the week, seniors got a gown of school bus for many of us the last time as we headed to our elementary schools. Feeling how small these once massive buildings felt, walking through the halls and seeing the faces of such little kids, even reconnecting with many of our old teachers felt surreal. This tradition is, in my opinion, one of the best. It's so
040crazy to see how far we've all come. Um, on the last day, we got to wrap up our time at W Melville with the graduation rehearsal outside and our senior barbecue. We were lucky to have such clear skies and great weather for this day of talking with old friends, getting yearbook signatures, taking pictures, and really just taking in our last day of high school. And of course, some good food. All followed by the annual countdown at the end of the day. Again, thank you to everyone who worked so hard to make this day possible. and a shout out to the student government board who missed class all day to help out at the barbecue. Now that I've covered all those amazing senior events, I really just want to say a big thank you. My time
041in this role has been nothing short of amazing and it is truly thanks to all of you here on the board and of course Mr. Helonia who always worked around my class schedule to plan our meetings um especially in the fall. My friends think I'm crazy when I say I really do look forward to coming to these meetings and maybe even myself a couple years ago would have thought the same, but I really do. It's been so eye openening to get a greater perspective on all the behind the scenes of our district. I feel as though I now see word mobile and the three villages as a from a whole new lens. While this year has no doubt been a challenge, I'm so grateful to have had this opportunity. And so again, thank you so
042much. [Applause] Thank you again and we will miss you and we're very excited to work with you, Katie. Okay. So, we turn now to our items for board discussion and we will begin with item A. Dr. Scanland. So, the board of education charged the administration with surveying the parent community on their uh opinions on armed guards. So, the results have come in from the survey. Uh the respon we had 864 responses. Out of that, 59.6% are in favor of arming the guards. 40.4% 4% are not in favor of arming guards. Those in favor of arming the guards, 515 responses, 81.9% of them want them both inside and outside the school. 16.3% wanted them just outside the school and the remainder wanted it just inside the school. Okay. So, thank you for that. Again, just for
043those of you joining the story at this point in time, this is one data point that the board is going to look at. Um, there have been others in the past. There will be more in the future. This is part of a a robust investigation and conversation about whether um we will move towards having armed guards in our building. So at that point I open it up to the board for discussion. I I think this the survey results partially reflect the professionalism of our security staff. The fact that many are former law enforcement does provide a certain uh level of assurance to our staff and our parents. While the survey measures comfort with the idea, I still think we have to decide if it is appropriate to have armed guards in our school. It's just
044a data point. It's a nice sounding sentiment to say that you can't put a price on the safety of our students. But the unfortunate truth is that we as the school board are asked to do this impossible task. Our budget is finite and through some process for better or worse, we have decided on the division of resources in everything we do, including the specific dollar amount that we feel is appropriate to spend on student safety and security. What makes sense to me is that we should take this slice of our budget and spend it in a way that maximizes the chance of saving our students lives. And as horrific as school shootings are, they are thankfully extremely rare. I know it is grim to look at statistics, but we sadly lose far more students to
045mental health crisis, vastly overshadowing the risk from active shooter incidents. And it's not just a few more, it's hundreds of times more. Now, if the goal is to spend our finite resources to maximize our chance of preventing student tragedies, where should we be focusing our effort? In my mind, the responsible approach is to allocate our finite resources in proportion to the risk in places where they are most likely to make a difference. If you want the greatest chance of saving a life, we should be prioritizing resources on improving mental health, spending on trusted teachers and guidance counselors and not on bringing guns into our schools. Of course, the fear of active shooters is absolutely real. But if we look at the data, active shooting incidents in the US are actually going down. The FBI just
046released its latest annual report earlier this month. Last year, there were half as many active shooter incidents in the US as the year before, and this number is even below prepandemic levels. But even one incident is too much. And I'm not saying that we ignore the problem. I absolutely support the common sense measures we already have in place. We have automatic door locks. We restrict entry to our schools. We scan outsiders licenses before they come in. I have no problem showing my ID to our security staff. We have a professional security staff. Uh we have bullet resistant film on Windows and this year we added a new AI software system that continuously watches for threats using all 700 of our district cameras 24 hours a day. None of this is guaranteed to stop all situations,
047but each item reduces our risk. Even armed guards at every school or more drastic measures we're not considering like metal detectors at every entrance will not reduce the risk to zero. And I know it is uncomfortable to live with risk to know that we're not fully in control. But that is the reality of the situation no matter what we do. Now guns can have a responsible and meaningful role in our society. I've I worked for years at Wright Patterson Air Force Base and every day I drive into work and show the badge to my guards who were visibly carrying assault rifles. There was a barbwire fence around the whole base. They had signal jammers for drones and probably several dozen other security measures I don't know about. But that's a military base, right? We're here.
048We're talking about schools. And school is a special place in a child's life and in our community. Schools are meant to be sanctuaries for learning. Our schools are welcoming community centers hosting concerts and plays for all to enjoy. Just last week, I attended Flag Day ceremony at my daughter's elementary school. We will continue to allow the kids to go outside for recess and we do this despite the added risk these events adds because we know that the benefits outweighs the risk. Having a daily armed presence changes the character of our schools and while I respect other perspectives I do not think it is appropriate to bring armed guards to three village. Thank you Dr. Bach. Who else would like to speak on this? Dr. since we have gone through a very tight budget season and
049the coming season might not be very flexible as well. So I would like to know the um budget impact of implementing any of the options. Thank you. Made hi. Yeah. Um, now that we've gotten two of our surveys back, I think we're at the point now that we need to see succinct plans on exactly what something would look like if we brought in armguards to our schools, if we kept them outside, um, different um, scenarios on what it would look like. Um, so before we can make any decision, we need to know exactly what something's going to look like and the procedures and the training and the safety protocols um that's going to happen. I mean, so what I would like to ask administration is for them to present that to us so we would
050better understand what that would look at before we can re really even delve into any more um conversation on that. Um, I just want to know what it looks like in every single scenario. Not just the scenario that some of us want, but the scenario that we could all look at and see what would be best for everybody in the district, if at all. If at all. Yeah. And I'll I'll kind of jump in on that. Um, there there's so much left to talk through and and I don't think there's an appetite on this board at all to feel rushed into this decision. It's it's a very big decision. We are open-minded. We understand the position of our professionals. Um, we will respect the decision of the administration, but this is a really big decision.
051So, I think beginning to to get all of that data, all of that information on what's the nitty-gritty of how this would play out on a day-to-day basis if they were outdoors only, what does it look like if they're outdoors and indoors? What would happen in this scenario? I think that's going to be great. that's going to be great to have that information and I think it's going to then generate tenfold in questions and that's okay and we'll keep the conversation going. Um I would also say this was not a oneanddone this survey to the community. We would love to hear from anybody who wants to have a conversation one way or the other. It's it's too important not to include our entire community in the conversation. So, yes, I would agree that if the
052administration could um begin to pull together that information, the financial impact, the logistics, um and and all the different ways that this would impact the day-to-day life of our students and staff, then I think we can have a more rigorous conversation and move the move the ball forward. Anybody else? Just a on the survey, I know we did have we did ask for the breakdown of like which school the children are in. I if we have that information, I' I'd like to just see the breakdown. elementary, uh, middle level, and and high school as well. Thanks. Thank you. All right. Uh, now we go to our cell phone committee. Oops. I'm so sorry. Just so we're aware, the the survey was conducted with using the oldest child's date uh, ID number, so it it may
053be skewed if people have children in multiple schools. Understood. Thank you. Thanks for the clarification. Okay, we're going to move on now to uh, get an update on our cell phone committee. Dr. Scanland. So, if you have not been aware, the border uh the uh governor of the state has put into place u something within the budget regarding cell phone usage for next year. Basically, it's cell phones or um any internet assisted device or smartwatches are forbidden from bell to bell, meaning from the beginning of the school day to the end of the school day in all schools in the state of New York starting this September. So uh in order to affect this plan there was strict guidelines on what we needed to do to proceed. We needed to involve the community in different
054areas. So we reconvened our cell phone committee that we had last year that uh put together this year's plan and the uh next step would went to the code of conduct committee which would discuss the uh impact of the policy itself and consequences and then it goes to the board of education and our attorneys for review for policy change. The time frame for this is very tight. The budget was late, the information was late. U but our deadline is finite. We must have this completed by August 1st for communication to all members of the uh ed educational community in Three Village. Parents, teachers, administrators, students, staff, everyone. Um we'll have this information by August 1st has repeated multiple times throughout the school year as often as possible as by directive. Uh we also must have
055um areas where students if they need to use a phone designated in each of our schools as well as um there are some special u pieces to this that students that may need those devices for a medical reason whether it's in a 504 or an IEP that has to be allowed as well. So there's a lot of pieces to this. So we just want to show you an update to our chart uh that we provided last year. This is what the new cell phone requirements will look like. Um, basically the elementary has not changed. It's no across the board. That is not moving at all. The junior high schools, which will be middle schools next year, and the high school will be yes before school, yes after school, and yes on buses, but no throughout
056the course of the school day. It's going to be a challenge to all of us. This is a change in the culture of all of the users of cell phones and device, internet devices. Um, students are allowed to use the districts devices. So that's the Chromebooks we issue uh to all students. Uh so again, we need to proceed very quickly with this um with the policy changes. The attorneys are have done some revision. We've responded back um and we'll have to have a a policy committee meeting next week um to review this in order to get it on the July 1st reorg meeting uh for implementation by August 1 since we do not have another board meeting between the implementation date. Thank you. any discussion or questions? Okay, thank you. So, we'll just ask you
057to stay up there and uh or you want to come back, come back here and uh we will get an update on the superintendent's task force. So, as previously reported at the last board meeting, the task force on anti-semitism, racism, and hate speech uh decided to break up into subgroups. The four subgroups are one on anti-semitism, one on Islamophobia, one on racism, and one on othering. The first subgroup, anti-semitism, had the ability to meet just a short while ago and made some recommendations um and some discussions on changes to our code of conduct. Uh and basically what we're looking to do is raise the level of discipline on these situations to commensurate to what we would do for students in possession of weapons or drugs or things of that nature. So it we already have
058a no tolerance policy. Um the other recommendation was to include language defining some of these um terms because we do have definitions from the code of conduct. Um there is some clear language from nationally recognized organizations so that there is an awareness by our students, our parents, our staff, our teachers and our administration on what these things mean. Um, so that was two very productive things that came out of the last meeting. The meeting for Islamophobia is on uh June 25th um next week at 7 p.m. in this room. Um, the meeting for uh racism will be the week of June 30th. I think it's July 2nd that week. Um, and the one for othering is the week of July uh 14th. So, they're all going to be done. We will probably have some time
059hopefully over the summer to do another meeting prior to the start of school. Um but once again since we're looking at the code of conduct the timing timeliness of this is is is good that we can put these things in place in both regards for the cell phone and for the task force. Thank you. And again room on the subcommittees if people would like to join. Yes. So what we did do was the we had 97 volunteers for the larger group. Um that group uh broke up into the subgroups. We picked 42 of the original 97. We just reached out this week to the uh people that volunteered to be on the committee, the the ones that were not selected. There were about 45 of those. If they would like to be participate on the
060any of the subgroups, uh it's open for anyone to join. Uh and again, we are working with some national organizations such as the ADL, several different organizations with anti-semitism, which we're very grateful for. Uh racism, we've been reaching out to the NAACP for some assistance there. We have not heard back from their representatives yet. Islamophobia, we've been in contact with the imams last year. We're going to reach out to them as well. Um, and the othering is an actual conglomeration of different groups. And it may, that group may break out into subgroups as well once it's determined what some of those needs may be. Thank you so much. And don't turn that mic off yet. We're going to turn it over to you for the property analysis committee. So, this is a good one. I
061get to pass it a lot. So, um, the I want to be very clear, the properties analys an analysis committee was convened by the board of education early in the year to look at the properties that the school district owns uh to make recommendations and we're very grateful to the committee members uh Mr. St. Germaine Drew Shortstraw to come up and just represent the uh the present the findings from the committee for recommendations to the board of education. Thank you. You're going to go that one. Yes. Okay, thanks for having me. My first support of ed meeting. Pretty fun. Um, so we all met. We we got a a a summary from uh Dr. Scandan about the kind of the the deficit issues, the health issu the health insurance increases, things like that. the kind
062of need to explore the opportunity what what the district can do with these properties if if anything. Um so the committee was made up of a pretty good uh selection from the community. uh myself on the Three Village Civics board. Uh amongst others, we had members from the Chamber of Commerce, uh historic district advisory council, um realtors, brokers, uh site plan engineer, and we we met three times, looked at all the maps. They were, you know, they did a lot of work to explain the properties where they are, give us site maps, deeds, things of that nature. So, after three meetings, um there was no clear consensus on any of it. So, we all kind of made our suggestions and and and here's what they are. The the first one is to rent the north
063country of this building and other properties to generate revenue. Um there are opportunities to rent this already in conversations. Um some of the details are that it's there is extra space here, not all of it. We understand there's a lot of computer hardware kept here which would cost over a million dollars to move. Um so we understand giving up building is not an option but leasing it certainly seems to be and that would be the conversation kind of turned into more longerterm revenue streams. There's no quick fix to fixing this deficit with the properties. Second suggestion was to sell the property on Nichols Road. If you guys does ever know the properties I'm talking about, I really I don't know. Um the one that's kind of adjacent to Murphy there, residentially zoned. There's where there's
064the uh I guess it's being rented by the county right now, I believe. Uh that's zoned residential and it's it's believed that that would could be sold for residential development. Keep in mind all these should be sold. Our suggestion selling them as is so the school's not taking on the risk of going through um the subdividing or getting site plans for them. That's that can be a risky process that the school probably doesn't want to take on. Let that risk be on the buyer. The other one is to repurpose spaces uh either north country school or another one for the purpose of a uh school for the arts. there seems to be a big demand for that and as the conversations kind of went through if if if if the enrollment is down and there's
065a vacant building um rather than sell it. These are all zoned for other than the residential lot there there's zoned for educational purposes. though somewhat limited in the use. Um, but if we keep it in the district's hands and make revenue off of it, gives the ability to use it back in the future if we need to as well while making revenue in the meantime. Uh, there's a few other recommendations too. Um, consolidate menry schools if enrollment declines further. I think that's been a conversation regardless. Uh, sell the Hawkins Road property to the town or the county that's almost like a a sand lot up there. Um, also zoned for educational purposes only. So, it might be kind of hard to find a buyer, but hard to find a use for the school district with
066it as well. Um, avoid additional property proposals due to covenants. I mean, that was kind of a interesting recommendation, but there's a lot of um well, there's some back and forth on that one. And then retain properties for future use as much as possible. Um, in the sense if we're going to if they're going to be sold now, it would be not for real estate's high right now. Yes, but even the brokers and the realtors agree um you're selling these at a discount because you don't want the the risk associated with the subdivision site plan approvals, all that. So essentially, it's putting a for sale sign in front and seeing who buys them. Um so it would be wouldn't be maximizing the value and it wouldn't be enough to cover these deficits that uh the
067district's faced with. kind of the summary. But are you comfortable taking any questions if there are any? Of course, if you can. Anybody have any particular questions about the findings? And while they're thinking, I will just say thank you so much. I am really amazed how much knowledge came into that room and how much you guys got done in a very short period of time. We really do appreciate it. It was very different-minded people. Um, which is why we I apologize for the delays we had. Um, you know, we had to a task to come with a consensus for the last meeting and we didn't do it. So, I apologize for that. Welcome to my world, but here we are. Yeah. I I just wanted to say thank you and basically what Sue said, I
068only went to the first meeting because I just wanted to see what it was going to be about. Um, and it was amazing how all of you guys came together and all your different knowledge of different parts of the real estate universe um came to be. and and I think that you guys had very constructive um uh comments and suggestions um regardless of not if you came to a consensus. We we saw what you did and and a lot of those emails came to the board themselves. So we we can read what everybody else said. I just think you guys did a tremendous job and from the meeting that I was there, it was one of the best committee uh I would say uh board committee meetings that I attended and it was great to
069see everybody get together. I appreciate that. We're glad we're glad to out there. So, thank you. We're glad to do it and for everybody else on the committee. Thank you. Just just add one sentence. Actually, it's very beneficial for us to read different opinions. This way give us information what's the pros and cons helps a lot for us to make future decisions. Thank you for doing that. Yeah. Yeah, of course. And and a lot of this stuff isn't really um it's probably stuff a lot of people would have came up with, but having people from different backgrounds look at it helps. And obviously any one of these suggestions obviously can trigger a change in the following suggestion. So a million variables at play here as you folks know. Thank you. So I want to echo
070the gratitude to the committee all of you including you for doing this. It's not easy getting up and talking about something like this. So there's no pin for get being at your first board meeting for this. I just want to let you know that. Um but uh just to go back for the property, the Nicholls Road property is rented to um we actually have a section sent given over to Boseies in lie of them taking classroom spaces in the district. That's where the textbook center for private textbooks is located and mesh is there but it's no expense to the district for that either. Um as you mentioned that's about a 5 acre parcel over there. So whatever the going rate is at this point and as you mentioned it's a residential zoned area. The property
071at Hawkins Road is 18 acres of property. Um that as you mentioned is uh zoned for an educational purpose only. There is also a 50 acre piece of property over by Mount. That's a preserve by the district standard. Um however, there's a covenant on that property as well that it must be built whatever is built there must be a school. So it can't be anything else other than the school. So as you mentioned these are some of the restrictions. Even if the district wanted to we must comply with those things. Uh the Hawkins Road property is interesting. If we attempted to sell it for anything other than educational purpose, it reverts automatically to the town with no income to the district for that piece of property. The last piece that we're looking at right now
072is a twoacre piece of property here at North Country that faces 25A uh which is residentially zoned, but there is commercial property just um east of it. Yes, I'm trying to figure out which direction we're going here. Um so that that is possibility as well. So, um, some good news. Uh, we met last week with the Stonyie Brook School. We presented them with a proposal that what they were looking for. They were actually looking to rent eight classrooms and five offices here at North Country. Um, if this were to go through be for the 202627 school year. Um, in order to do that, we would not displace the academy. We would uh, my office, Dr. Viscari's office, Dr. Drosky's office, and Mr. Mano's offices would all move out of this building. So, we'll be nomads.
073will go someplace else. Um, I don't know if any of the elementary principles really want us in their building, but we're going over to one of those in order to fill that. And as you mentioned, with enrollment being what it is, as we're moving the the fifth and sixth grade um up, and we're moving the uh eighth and nth grade up, as they're going through all these changes that the high school will be a 9 through 12, the middle schools would be six, seven, eight, and elementary schools now would be prek through fifth grade. um we are looking at um smaller schools and enrollment in those areas. So something for all of us to consider. It's not off the table. Um but if we can move some of the things out of here and rent
074this space that we don't displace the neighborhood schools, that would be a priority. But I keep emphasizing it's I would rather repurpose the school as you mentioned like a school for the arts than to close it because if we ever needed it again and who knows what the population is going to be like 10 or 15 years from now it would be extraordinarily expensive especially in this tax cap era where we are to attempt to even reopen that. It would be almost impossible for a district to do that without exceeding the tax cap in some capacity. But thank you very much. One last thing I I thought I thought a a a perfect candidate would be Stony Brook University. I did meet with them and they just have too much to even consider too much
075going on in Albany and their own development to really get involved with this. So, best we could come up with. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. All right, that brings us to our public comment period. We do have one. If Kim Hansen could come to that microphone over there, we'd appreciate it. Thank you. Good evening, everyone. Um, I want to thank you for allowing me to speak tonight um to all of you this evening. As a parent of two children, one who just finished his sophomore year at Fairfield University who graduated in 2023, and my second and youngest child who's about to graduate in a little over a week, I just wanted to take a moment to publicly commend the amazing staff of guidance counselors, psychologists, and office staff in both the guidance
076office and wellness center at W Melville. I know you read the letter that I sent to administration, but I'm just wanted to share it with all of you a little more personally. Most people think of guidance as the department that creates your child's schedule, helps with college applications, and writes your letter of recommendation. But for our family, um, both of these departments have been essential into the well-being and success of our children. I'm going to get emotional, so I'm sorry. Um, for those of you that know our family, some of you know our family, some of you don't know who I am, we've had a lot of medical struggles in our life. Our daughter who's graduating um is a brain tumor survivor and the trauma she has suffered through her whole life has had a
077lasting effect on her both academically and as a visually impaired student and also emotionally. Living with anxiety is never easy for anyone. But adding to the stress of living with a chronic illness and also being a high school student with mean girls, bullying, social media, um and just trying to fit in with everyone else has made the last several years very challenging. Thanks to the amazing work of her guidance counselor and psycho and the psychologist, we have seen our daughter grow tremendously. She has learned coping strategies, how to advocate for herself, and has provided always provided with a safe space to go to when her panic was getting the best of her. The incredible staff has also been there for us, her parents, leaving the lines of communication always open, checking in on with us
078regularly and providing strategies for us to use at home, too. We are forever in debt to this department and the positive influence they have had in our family. While this is the first time I have ever addressed the board of education, I have regularly followed the liveream and have voted to support our budget every single year that I have lived in our district. And every year I lived in Longwood before we lived in this district. Um I know how difficult it is to keep all of the programs that we have and how every year it's becoming more and more challenging. I want to thank each and every one of you for all of your hard work and everything that you do every single day. You may wonder why I'm here tonight. My last child is
079graduating, which means our three village days are almost over and the programs in the district will not really have an effect on us directly. But here's a little side story about me. I have been an educator in a neighboring school district for almost 30 years starting the same year as Dr. Biscari where I teach some of the youngest kids in our district. The one thing we are seeing across all grade levels is an increase in challenging behavior and also a decrease in the children being able to use their coping strategies to help them get through those tough days. Providing support staff to our kids um not only helps them inside the classroom but also outside the classroom as well. I know you have a very very challenging task ahead of you. But on tonight's agenda,
080there are several positions throughout the district that are being accessed. um several teaching assistants. There are several um special ed aids and also teachers that are also being accessed. I understand enrollment is going down. But my only request to you, especially because one of those positions is in the guidance department, is just to really consider how these cuts will affect all of our kids, especially those that need an outlet and a safe space. I truly appreciate every single thing you have done for our children, especially Mr. Honia, who's here tonight, too. Um it means so much to us that you've helped our daughter get to do what she wants to do which is going to St. Joseph's University um where she wants to live her life as a social worker and help other kids that
081have illness and support and need support. Um thank you again so much for letting me share our feelings and I just wanted to take a moment because I know how you often hear about all the things that are negative in our district but our psychologists and social workers and guidance department is phenomenal and thank you very much. Since enrollment's down, if you just have one more child, just attempt to get more kids in this. Thank you very much for the kind words. Indeed. Thank you so much. All right, we're going to move on to our policy first reads now. We turn it over to Mr. Mistaki. Okay, so uh the policy committee has met. Uh we reviewed uh 11 policies in the 400 series. uh with those policies um they were readopting of former policies
082of the district. Most of them were grammatical changes that were made. There were a few changes to update some legal requirements that are set forth in those policies. Uh there are two policies that were also reviewed which are new policies of the school district. Uh one is the policy with regard to exeicio student board members. Uh the other is uh extreme heat condition days. Those are both changes in the law that are effective for for the following school year. I'm available to answer any questions of the board if they exist. Any questions? Okay. Thank you very much. Moving on to our consent agenda. Do we see a motion and a second? And we will begin. Uh B, Miss Dano. Uh B is the minutes from the June 4th board of education meeting. Thank you. And
083beginning with C, Mr. Carlson. Uh, thank you. Item C is authorization to increase the uh 202425 budget for the purpose of funding unanticipated mid-year health insurance premiums and emergency building repairs. Uh unfortunately, as we had to last school year when we had the um ceiling issue at the uh Sata Elementary School uh auditorium roof, um we had an emergency uh building repair at NASA this year back in August. We all remember the uh that awful flooding we have. We still see Harbor Road is still washed out. Um and that was a little over $1.7 million in damages to NASA Cake Elementary School. Uh which of course we did not budget for. So um this is uh this resolution is to authorize us to use reserves to pay for that. Uh we are in the process
084of working with FEMA for reimbursement on that. Um the uh it's uh Jason Grevky, our facilities director, and Katherryn Klene, our uh director of business services, have been working very closely with FEMA throughout the year on this. And uh FEMA has been very helpful and they they seem to be uh confident that we will get um the majority of that money reimbured from FEMA um and that it won't take too long. I don't know what too long means. Uh but in some cases, it's years and years. uh but they they seem pretty confident that it won't take that long. Our plan would then be whatever we do get back from uh FEMA on that, go right back into reserves. And then the other item is as you know we we discussed at budget time uh
085not only did we have the the um um large in well part of the large increase in the for the budget for the 2526 year on on health insurance was that we got a uh midyear increase in health insurance. um something that's that's never happened to us before. Um and that was a mid-year increase that of course that was not budgeted for either. So uh this resolution is to authorize uh u use use of uh fund balance reserves uh for that. Uh the next item is our um annual uh Boseies contract with Eastern SuffK Boseies for shared services. Um it's kind of new that the state ed department is asking uh boards of education to uh pass a resolution approving these. So uh we could do it at the end of the year uh because
086as opposed to our initial contract with Boseies when we first put in for services this is more um because things change as the year go on. Uh so that's why we're bringing it to you now for approval. Uh the item uh item E is uh appointment of our independent external auditor. Every five years uh we must do a request for proposals otherwise known as an RFP for audit services. Now we have three separate uh CPA firms that do auditing services for us. Uh one is the uh claims auditor which um audits every single dispersement we make. Uh we also have our internal auditor which is a different CPA firm, independent CPA firm. Um that um they review a a number of different areas not and and every year that changes uh different uh procedures uh
087policies that are in place, practices uh that are in place known as risk management um and uh or risk controls I should say. and uh then the and those don't not do not have the requirement for every 5-year RFP uh just the external auditor. Um so uh five years since we did the last one. So we did the request for proposals. We only got the one proposal and that's from the uh firm that's been doing our uh audit currently. Um but we're happy with them. They do a good service for us. Uh the the external audit I think is one that generally uh auditors like doing the least uh because it's uh the least amount of money and it's tends to have the most um liability should I say uh along with it. So um
088but we're we're happy with that firm. So the requirement isn't to change the firm. The requirement is to do the RFP. So our recommendation is to award the uh contract again to um EFPR and it's on a one-year basis but it's a minimum every five years we have to do the request for proposals. Uh the next two items uh F and G are for contracts with outside service providers for special education uh services. One is an addendum to an existing contract. The other is a new contract. This is in accordance with uh uh IEPs. Um item H is acceptance of donations. We have two donations. One is a check for $350 from Christine Weissman to the Ward Melville scholarship fund in memory of her son Gregory. And the other is a check for $100 from
089Patrick and Michelle Dy to the Ward Melville senior scholarship fund. Item I is declaration of surplus equipment. We only have one thing. It's a dishwasher from the Murphy family and consumer family and consumer science classroom. And item J is uh budgetary transfers. Uh this is within the uh maintenance and operations department uh for uh utilities. Okay. Thank you so much. Any questions about any of those items? Uh quick one about the midyear health insurance increase. Is this in addition to the 5 million that we budgeted? No, that that was so so we had to increase the current year by 800,000 which factored into that eight that was part of that 5 million for next because we have that that same 800,000 we had to increase this year we or so that was a built-in increase
090for next year also and that the same 800,000 plus the other $4.2 million. So so it's not in addition to what we had talked about. Good to know. Thank you. Right. Thank you. Item K, Dr. Biscari. Uh, yeah, this is just an um updated affiliation agreement with St. Joseph's University for the clinical placement of their uh students in social work. Thank you. L, recommendations of the committee on special education subcommittee and 504 accommodation plan meetings as dated and M recommendations of the committee on preschool special education meetings as dated. And beginning with N all the way to the end, Dr. Dreski. Yes, thank you. Uh, N, personal items. personal items instructional. Uh this is where we start our um instructional retirements, instructional resignations. Uh we have one leave of absence. We have we're starting our
091instructional appointments for uh September. We have several instructional substitute appointments as well as several summer work and summer program assignments. O personnel items non-instructional. Uh we have approximately 10 non-instructional resignations. Uh one request for a leave of absence. um three non-instructional sub appointments. We have appointments for community swim uh for uh former and and new staff. Several appointments for summer wreck and several non-instructional appointments for the extended school year program. Uh uh P through T have to do with uh the contracts of agreements for the following people. Uh the superintendent of schools for 2526. Um the contract agreement for the assistant superintendent of human resources, assistant superintendent for educational services, interim deputy superintendent and director personnel. U and V are the contract agreements uh for our non-aligned athletic trainers. It's our uh both athletic trainer
092and assistant athletic trainer. Uh W and X are the memorandum of agreements for merack. Uh one is for the teacher. Uh the other is for the account clerk typist. Uh, METRA stands for the Mid East um Suffach Teacher Center and ultimately what they do for the district is they provide uh various classes, resources, equipment uh for not only some of our teachers but teachers throughout um Suffach County. Um Y is the contract agreement for our newly created um public relations specialist and um Z AA and BB. Um as the superintendent has discussed over the past uh several months um due to the enrollment decline and budgetary constraints, the district has the need uh to lay off both instructional and non-instructional staff. So the following resolutions represent the procedure to access those uh particular constituencies. So
093Z represents um the accessing of the teachers, AA represents the accessing of the teaching assistants, and BB represents the accessing of some of our non-instructional special ed aids and monitors. Thank you. And just one correction on P, it should be 2025 through 2030, just for the record. Yes, understood. All right. Any questions about any of that otherwise? Okay. All in favor? Any opposed? No abstensions. All right. That carries. And seeing nothing else, so Zoo, can I just say something? I apologize. The one thing I just wanted to congratulate and recognize our new public relations specialist. She is actually here tonight. Um, and it is Denise N. So, congratulations. Congratulations. Well done. Thank you so much. All right. On that note, do I see a motion for us to adjourn? Second. All in favor? All right.
094Congratulations. Welcome. And thank you everybody. You have a great night.