Board of Education Meeting 3/26/25

001You guys are very quiet and patient. Thank you. We're just giving them time to set up in the back and we'll get started in a minute. So, good evening everyone. Thank you and welcome to our March 26 board of education meeting. At this time, I would ask you to please rise as Hazel leads us in the pledge. 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, Miss German. Any changes to the meeting agenda? No changes reported at this time. Okay. Thank you so much. So, we will go right into the happy good stuff that we love and we'll turn it over to Dr. Viscari for some recognition. Yeah. At this time, I'd like to invite up uh

002our math chairperson, uh Mr. vetro to acknowledge the outstanding achievements of some of our students in mathematics. [Applause] Good evening. I'm excited to share how two of our MAD teams performed recently in the high school mathematical contest in modeling, an international competition where teams of up to four students develop mathematical models to solve real world problems led by their amazing math teacher and adviser, Mr. Aaron Tam. This competition emphasizes problem solving, collaboration, and clear communication. This year, it attracted 155 teams from 474 schools across 20 countries and regions. We had two teams participate. Team one consisting of Amanda Lang, Sarah Woo, and Victoria Yi. Team two consisting of sisters Tina Zing and Anna Zing. Both teams performed exceptionally well. Team two earned the finalist designation, placing them in the top 5% of all competitors. Team

003one achieved the highest distinction, outstanding winner, awarded to only eight teams worldwide, placing them in the top 1%. Out of these eight outstanding winners, only three were from the United States and two were from New York. Our own team won and the team from Styesscent High School. This is an incredible achievement for our students and staff and a testament to their dedication, critical thinking, and teamwork and we are so proud of them. Congratulations. I'd like to now introduce them individually to accept their certificate. First up, Amanda Lang say Sarah Woo. Victoria Ye, Anna Zing, and Tina Zing. All right, come on. Come on. [Applause] our hearty congratulations again. Great job. Okay, on our agenda, we're going to move on to 6A, our student representative report. Hazel Kohas. Good evening, everyone. I'm eager to be back

004and give another report after several weeks. We've recently had many exciting updates in and outside of the school building. For starters, both DECA and Model UN have attended prestigious conferences recently. Our DECA club brought members to their states competition where several participants placed high enough to even qualify for this year's DECA National Conference in Orlando, Florida. Moreover, our model UN club, one that I'm actually a part of, just recently attended NISMAN, National High School Model UN, a conference where thousands of students from all over the world come together for three days of debate on various global issues and topics and work to pass resolution papers. This year, we were even able to hear an in-person fireside chat from former President Joe Biden. Speaking from my personal experience, this trip is such an eye-opening opportunity and

005invaluable experience the district allows us to be a part of. Moreover, recently students Ana Veagi, junior class representative, and Katie Erso, student government student government secretary, participated in the 2025 Long Island Regional Student Forum at Western Suffic Boseies. As members of the Ward Mobile Student Government Executive Board, they joined peers from more than 40 Long Island school districts in student led discussions addressing key issues affecting schools today, including mental health, school environments, and academic pressures, and educational methods. In some sports news, not only are spring sports now in full in full swing, we've also had even more sports wins from our last seasons. Our varsity cheer team has recently competed in and won the New York State Championship. This team, among all of our others from the fall and winter seasons, have demonstrated such elevated

006levels of talent and hard work, and it doesn't go unnoticed. In more news of student achievements, our talented science olympiad team recently placed third in the state. In addition, several students under the teach teachers Misty Lorenzo, Mr. Swarupski, Mr. Swarupski and Mrs. Weissman have earned prestigious recognition in two recent art competitions, the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards and the Italier Show. Their creativity and dedication to the arts have been acknowledged with high honors. Clearly, students in all different corners of interest are excelling, a testament to the constant hard work and not only not only of our students, but of our teachers and coaches. We've also recently seen that multiple events have proven to be a great success once again. For one, last Friday was the annual Junior Prom. This event, which took place at the

007Meadow Club in Port Jeff, brought in over 100 juniors and featured things like a DJ, a donut wall, and even a raffle to win a $100 Chick-fil-A gift card. Every year, this event is a hit, and this year was definitely no different. Also, as it's now March, seniors have officially gone on our senior trip. This is always a much anticipated event, and overall a much anticipated time of year. Again, like every other year, this successful trip to Disney in Orlando, Florida was a great way for seniors to celebrate their hard work and time at Word Melville. And I can't say it wasn't nice to miss a couple days of school. This past week, seniors attended an assembly hosted by the wife of someone affected by the disease ALS. With the an with the annual ALS

008ride for life coming up in May, we got the opportunity to learn straight from a patient with ALS as well as his wife as he spoke about the effects and living life with this disease. This eye-opening lesson was a really informative and amazing way to spread awareness before heading into this large event in just a couple months, the ALS Ride for Life. In addition, I'm eager to report on a really I'm eager to report on this really great lesson that we were able to take away from this event. Another thing um in my in um recently, this is something that I got experience that I wanted to talk about. in my AP lit class this week. Um we were able to zoom call with um the author of a poem a poem as we're in

009the thick of our poetry unit. Um this poem was called the dog the difference between a dog and a biscuit and it's by Carl Knights. We got to speak to him over the phone all the way from England as he discussed the core themes of the poem centered around his personal experience with autism and ADHD. Again, this was a valuable experience that I know left me and my entire class with lots of thoughts and many reflections. Lastly, this past weekend, students from the chamber orchestra and wind ensemble presented their annual Sunday at symphony confer concert concert, which offered a unique experience for districtwide third grade students and community members. The concert began with a per performance of classical and pop pieces, which was followed up with an instrument petting zoo, allowing the young aspiring musicians

010to interact with and play various band and string instruments. With the arrival of spring, there's constantly an array of things going on at Ward Mobile, and I'm honored to continue to report on it all. Thank you so much. Thank you, Hazel. Great job. All right, that takes us to item 6B, which is our budget advisory committee final report. Mr. Ammy Das, if you would join us at the podium, we'd appreciate it. Welcome. There's a cute duck here. Okay. Um, thank you for this opportunity to provide a summary of the BAC discussions on uh behalf of the committee. Uh, the goal of the BACE is to provide recommendations to the school's leadership and the board on the development of the 2526 budget to ensure fiscal responsibility, transparency, and alignment with the district strategic goals and priorities.

011So, there's a detailed readout. It's been submitted to the board, and I'll quickly summarize some of its findings. Wanted to start off with a few acknowledgements. We thank the board and the leadership for acknowledging and starting uh and acting on a number of recommendations from last year. We started much earlier in the year and we held off on presentations until they were specifically requested and they were very on topic to what the requests were. Uh we wanted to take a moment to thank the school leadership and the faculty and admin committees uh members for responding to any requests for information in a very timely manner. Questions were answered via email, presentations, follow-up meetings, and printed data packs. It's a lot of data to gather and deliver to the committee and we thank you for all

012your efforts in doing so. Uh from a process standpoint at each meeting the leadership and the board representatives uh presented on requested or proposed topics, answered questions from the members of the BAC and then excuse themselves for the discussions by the rest of the committee. Uh when discussions arose that would lead to conflicts of interest, most representatives of bargaining units excuse themselves after answering questions on the topic at hand. those units will likely submit a separate statement independent of this report. And uh we wanted to take a moment to thank Sher Fontana for managing communications with the district uh throughout this uh committee duration. So just to give you an idea on what we covered, we've been meeting since October and we met on a large number of topics. Some examples are class sizes and

013teaching loads, enrollment distribution, property and plant utilization, teacher requirements and replacements, cost of benefits, capital projects, prek enrichment programs, transportation costs and plans, per pupil spending, publicly reported economic characteristics and demographics, and also factors that affects public reports that aren't necessarily consistent across all the schools. uh derivation of the tax cap, debt servicing, boseis expenditures, reserves management, club stipens and utilization reports and athletic participation. So you can see there was a lot to go through. Uh some committee members undertook a line by line analysis of the school budgets over the last four years and the proposed budget for next year to identify trends and areas of improvement. And a few of the discussions during the BAC were actioned immediately by the school leadership for further investigation rather than waiting for the committee to finish and

014make recommendations. Some examples of those are the property analysis committee which is looking at ways to utilize our unused uh real estate staffing levels and reduction of a capital budget. Um it was recommended to reduce the amount assessed for capital expenses from 3.5 million to 1.5 million especially in consideration of the bond that is likely to be issued shortly to set the stage in the development of the budget. The current proposed budget for 2526 as of March 18th, which was the last meeting we had, contains a shortfall of about $7.5 million. Uh when we had our last meeting, there was a proposal put in front of the committee uh that proposed reductions in admin, teaching staff, teaching assistants, seas, monitors, clerical, and M operations in attempts to address the shortfall. It still leaves about 1.97

015million to be addressed. Um following up the set of recommendations uh overall from the committee ideas were gathered from every member of the committee uh whether they're from the community or a presentation of different bargaining units but the actual recommendations are a product of discussions that excluded the bargaining units. The committee appreciates the leadership's efforts to rationalize staffing levels. The effect on the class sizes on grades 2 to four are most severe with class sizes approaching 27 in some cases. The BAC recommends prioritization of restoration of staff to elementary grades should monies become available. Consolidation of plants through the PAC or otherwise. The BAC recommends evaluation of the further consolidation or repurposing of the physical plants. Examples could include consolidation of elementary schools or the academy or North Country facilities. It's still to be assessed.

016On transportation, we recommend a continued evaluation uh to possibly investigate a building up of a fleet of district- owned buses and or to evaluate the transportation routes further. Not only to reduce costs uh to merge routes, but possibly to come up with a solution that is enables us to push the uh late start time even further uh than the half an hour that we've achieved for now. For the pre-K program, the BAC recommends an evaluation of an increase in the fee space for enrichment programs to make the preK program completely revenue neutral. Benefits uh there have been significant increases in healthcare costs over the last two years and this is this is fairly problematic. The BAC recommends researching customary rates and evaluating them employee contributions of this line in the contracts as they come upon

017negotiation. A larger percentage contribution may also be evaluated for family coverage compared to individual coverage. And we also recommend an evaluation of a buyback program uh for employees that opt out due to coverage from other services. Uh school start recommendation. As you can imagine, this topic was the had the most division in the group. The overall committee members present during the discussion were fairly evenly divided on the topic. There was an acknowledgement that the budget impact for this initiative is currently estimated at about a million dollars. The budget impact was considered weighed against the strong will of the community and the majority of the BAC to see SSL implemented. In the end, the community and parent representatives of the committee largely felt that the SSL should be continued to be funded as currently included in

018the budget. Reserves. The committee members were not unanimous in placing restrictions on the use of reserves. While a few members are firmly against using it in any way to make up for budget shortfalls, the rest wanted to allow the board and leadership the flexibility to make decisions on this as needed, especially as it pertains to the implementation of the start school later initiative. After the proposed cuts in staffing, the district district remains unable to identify a source of funding that can bridge the 1.971907 million uh dollar shortfall identified in the proposed budget at this time. Therefore, the BAC cannot make a finding that the proposed budget is expected to fulfill the financial and educational obligations of the district at this time. Uh there are a few recommendations for the functioning of the BOC in future

019years. One is attendance. If seated members are unable to attend a majority, they should indicate so so that they can be replaced. Uh consider an interlock with this committee on the board strategic plan so that a portion of the committee's time can be used to develop recommendations for the long-term outlook. Uh the biggest recommendation is to present a draft budget earlier in the cycle with prior year's budgets uh in digital spreadsheets to make the analysis easier and and so that we can we can be a little uh further ahead of the cycle. And uh one last recommendation is to clarify the role of the representatives of the bargaining units as members of the committee so it makes for a little more seamless discussion afterwards. Um happy to take any questions. That is all I have

020today. Well, for starters, thank you and thank you to the entire committee. It was a lot of work. Um, a lot of very forward thinking and we're extremely appreciative. So, thank you. Yes. I want to thank everybody on the committee. It was a very nice presentation. Thank you very much. I want to second what you said about the um Excel sheets and getting financial information in a a machine readable format. It's critical that you get that early and I really want to follow up. I I want to support you with that. I also getting that as soon as possible. This year in defense was an very unusual year. Okay. A much more difficult year than any previous year. Right. Nonetheless, you should be getting all that information at least a draft form of that information

021earlier. Anybody else? Okay. Well, again, thank you very much. We appreciate Thank you. Have a wonderful evening. The the board has not only received those recommendations in writing, but the recommendations from two of our other bargaining units as well. So again, we thank everybody for their hard work. And for more details on a further developed budget from even then, we turn it over in a moment to Mr. Carlson. Okay, Nick, it's all yours. Thank you, D. Okay. All right. Thanks everybody and and really thank you very much to the budget advisory committee. They were a pleasure to work Oh, do you want me to sing a song? I'm just going to move it a little bit so I can use the mouse. Sorry. That's okay. Uh the uh budget advisory committee was a pleasure to

022work with and uh we really appreciate all the all the hard work uh that they put in. uh it was a a lot of time uh they donated to the district and uh it's really appreciated. So some of what I go through uh I'll start with a bit of a recap from where we are in already in the budget process uh and then when we get to the uh staffing um proposals I'll turn it over to Dr. Scandlin and then we'll come back to me. So, we have um we've had a few uh board meetings where we've discussed the budget. The official budget workshops was March 5th tonight. Um and if you remember, tonight's board meeting was originally scheduled for last Wednesday. Uh that got changed to an exec session only so we could discuss

023some of the staffing issues related to the budget. Uh and then the the uh tonight's meeting got pushed back to uh tonight. Uh so we have tonight and then April 9th is when the board uh is scheduled to adopt the budget. The following day I submit the property tax report card to state education department. Uh May 13th um is the budget hearing and for anybody who uh has been paying attention. That date was also changed. It was originally going to be um May 6th I think May 6th. May 6th uh got pushed back to uh May 13th. Um, and budget hearing is the uh legal term what we have to call it that night. It's not uh budget's done once the board adopts it. It's really just to to discuss what's what's in the budget

024uh what what the the tax would be, the budget dollar amount would be and and so forth of what will be voted on uh at the vote. And then May Tuesday, May 20th is the budget vote. It's the third Tuesday in May. So, the tax cap, uh, and again, I've I've gone over this, uh, at previous meeting, but just to recap, uh, it's still commonly referred to as the 2% tax cap, but it's it's not necessarily 2%. One of the variables that determine what the cap is can be 2%, but it's not even always 2%. This year, that that one variable happens to be. Uh, but there are there are other variables that go into it. Sometimes the cap is more than 2%, sometimes it's less than 2%. It varies year to year and from

025district to district. Uh so in our case for this coming up year, our cap is at 2.78%. Now one of the um variables uh that determines the tax cap is the amount of capital projects in next year's budget. So, we had originally we have $3 million in the uh current year's budget for capital projects and we had that in our initial uh draft for next year and that would have put the tax cap uh over 3%. Uh so, one of the recommendations from the budget advisory committee and and agreed with by the board of education was to decrease the amount in capital projects next year from 3 million to one a.5 million. And what that does is it brings the uh cap down to 2.78%. So uh the budget that we will be we will

026be putting forward for you to vote on in May will comply with that 2.78%. So state aid is still up in the air uh as it normally is at this time of year. The state budget is due April 1, but it's virtually never done on time. Um we're hoping in in recent years it's been done a few days late. Uh so we're hoping that by the end of next week the state budget will be done and we'll know what we're getting in state aid for next year. Uh there have been years ago there were there were years when when the state budget wasn't done until August. Um so hopefully that's not the case. there doesn't seem to be a lot of um difference between it's really the three um the the governor, the state senate,

027and the state assembly. Between the three of them, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of differences in what they want. So, um u it it looks like the budget will be done early April, if not actually on time. Uh but in the governor's budget proposal, also known as the executive budget proposal, our state aid uh was increasing, not including building aid because that's something different and gets factored into the tax cap uh calculation on its own. Uh our aid increase would be about $238,000. Now, we don't know what the final amount will be until the state budget is done. Normally, that doesn't mean always, but normally the final state aid amount is higher than what the governor's budget proposal was. Um, so we hope that's the case again this year. Um, now the

028uh state senate and the state assembly both released their uh budget bills and both of them are proposing an increase higher than what the governor's proposed. So, we're optimistic that our state aid will be somewhat higher than what the governor originally proposed. Um, I can't imagine it's going to be anything earthshattering, but if we get $250 to $300,000 more, that's probably the most we can hope for. Of course, if we got more than that, that would be great, but that's that's about the most we can hope for. Uh, but as I said, we'll we hope to know by the end of next week. Uh so when we started building the budget the the few of the major increases that we had to uh face this year was contractual salary increase of uh over $6 million.

029Health insurance was um uh medical costs have increased but pharmaceutical costs have skyrocketed not just for us but for everybody. Uh there's a reason why every other commercial you see on TV is for a pharmaceutical company. It's because people are sitting at home, they watch a commercial and they say, "I need that." And they go to their doctor and said, "I need a prescription for whatever and they get a prescription for it and they cost a lot of money." So, we're seeing a huge increase in our health insurance cost for next year. That's the the chief driver of this uh year's budget. Dr. McKinnon mentioned a few minutes ago that this was an unusual year uh budgeting. That's the the biggest reason why uh our transportation costs um uh which includes the the uh additional

030cost for the start schools later uh initiative uh is about a little over $1.1 million. And then other uh benefits ERS is employees retirement system, TRS's teachers retirement system, and FICA is is our share of uh the social security and uh Medicare. Um, and that's going combined those are going up by about $900,000. So then from that is where we have to get to well okay we have to we have to make some reductions to get to comply with that tax cap. That brings us to staffing and I'll turn this over turn it over to Dr. Scandlin. Yes. So in order to understand this about 75% of our overall budget is staffing. So we are in the business of educating students. So uh we have our our studentf facing population which is our teaching staff,

031our administration and our support staff. So this budget includes a reduction of elementary level teachers at 14 FTEES which includes programs such as the fourth grade IG program, third grade music and elementary health. The secondary net reduction is 17.4 FTEES. And there are increases and decreases across the three secondary schools and the academy as well in this. Um part of the reason is because the senior class going out is a class of over 500 and the incoming 10th grade which we have I know we have 9th and 10th grade going to the high school next year is smaller than that. So we have seen a lot of reductions in the secondary level because of this. We try to also keep the sixth grade class sizes because of the transition to the middle school model relatively

032small. they're averaging between 19 and 21 in those sections. Um, but in the elementary levels, we're seeing some elementary class sizes as high as 27, which is much higher than we've had in some grades in recent years. All of the reductions still comply with the average class sizes, but the ranges are significantly different in each of the five elementary schools. We're also reducing teaching assistance, 29 FTEs in these areas, not in areas that are related to uh special education. some lead teaching positions and some administrative restructuring elimination. Currently, we're looking at 10 administrative positions. Um, but we're in the process of negotiations with a couple of our bargaining units here to see if we can mitigate some of these uh some of these changes uh in these areas. So, the next slide is other reductions

033in other areas. So it's every unit uh with the exception of probably our SAC unit which is the after school and before school program um that is a self-sustaining program and our food service program which is funded and it's outside the budget so it's not an impact on the budget but other units have been impacted clerical unit uh with reductions maintenance and operations and 15 monitors. In addition, some other programs that are going to be impacted by these cuts that are going to be necessary the summer math and reading AIS programs, some co-curricular activities at the high school where we've set a bar that no clubs should be running with less than 15 students on average attendance in the clubs. We've also reduced overtime and a number of different bargaining units that are hourly waged

034employees. And we're always trying to use as much grant money as we can to offset some of the costs. The trouble for Three Village is because we are considered a high wealth district. Even though our poverty level has now grown from 4% 10 years ago to 17%, this is a dramatic change in uh the overall perception of the district, but we're still under the state guidelines considered high wealth. So with with that, so as uh Mr. D mentioned during his uh uh budget advisory committee presentation, as of the last time we met with the BAC, which was a week ago, a week from yesterday, um we were about $1.9 million uh from where we needed to be uh in various um uh reductions in the budget. Uh since then, we had last Wednesday in a

035meeting with exec session meeting with the board to discuss some staffing. Uh we uh got that down significantly. Um and so going coming into tonight uh with all these uh budget and uh staffing changes uh we've we've discussed just now uh and if our final state aid number is I use 275,000 if somewhere between um we're hoping between 250 and 300 I use 275,000. If we get that in the final state aid uh uh final state budget above what was in the executive budget proposal, then we would be about $400,000 away. Now, in exec session earlier this evening, we had some ideas, contractual ideas that we wanted to speak with the board about. Uh so we we have a a plan to to address that $400,000 um uh hopefully without any further uh staffing reductions

036or or cuts. So um as far as that goes, that that looks like the the cuts that Dr. Scandlin just went through looks like that would be for the most part what the most that we need um in order to bring the budget in uh and comply with the tax cap. And then again, that's if we get a little bit more in state aid. And that that $250 to $300,000 uh in additional state aid comes from the governor's uh budget proposal. Uh G uh gave every school district in New York a minimum 2% increase in uh one of the aid categories, biggest aid categories called foundation aid. That's where the increase comes from. Both the Senate and the Assembly are saying it should be um I forget which is which. One said 2.9%, one said

0373%. So I if either of those goes through, it would be somewhere in that $275,000 range. So um but I think that's all we'll need to do. We're still in, as Dr. Scandal mentioned, in some uh talks with some of our bargaining units. Um so maybe we can even mitigate some of the reductions, but that's that's where we are right now. Um, so, uh, as I mentioned, April 9th is when the board is scheduled to adopt the budget. So, of course, we would take any questions tonight. Um, but other other than that, now Tuesday, May 20th is the budget vote, and I'd be glad to take any questions from the board. Okay. Any specific questions about the content of the presentation? Otherwise, we'll just go right into discussion and I'll um I'll go first. I'll

038be brief. Um, I want to focus my thoughts on the reserves and start time. And I'll preface it by saying I'm a very fiscally conservative person. So, the reserves, um, that means something to me. I'm very proud of the district for building them back up. I was very proud of our district for using them for what was truly an emergency purpose, and that was to keep our schools open during COVID. So, that's sort of my bar. Is is this an emergency? Um, to the start time parents who have fought so beautifully and so hard, you're right. You are right. Our kids go to our secondary schools too early. I agree with you. My heart is with you. I just have to reconcile those two things. Um, this budget is rough. It's going to hurt everybody.

039And I think the position that we're as a board in right now is to minimize the impact on our students. So, the idea of um changing the start time makes sense, but I would beg the forbearance of the community to say maybe we could wait till next year. Um I don't want to take money out of the reserves to do that. I don't feel that's truly the emergent situation that that would call for and I also don't want to see our class sizes grow up to those 27 numbers. So, I am open to discussion. I'm going to lean heavily on my fellow trustees over these next couple of weeks on the administration, on the community. you've all got my phone number. Um, I'm willing to think about it. I'm willing to consider moderating that position,

040but right now that's where I am that no, I'm not comfortable taking money out of the reserves and I don't think doing start time this year would make sense. So, I open it up to anyone else who wants to jump in. I'm totally for start time. Um but in a situation like this, I'm a little concerned um to lose so many teachers that are face to face with our children on a daily basis to go from classrooms to 27 28 in elementary school to me is going to be very very difficult for our students of all of our mixed abilities that we have in our classrooms. So, as much as I'm forced our time, I would rather see this year the money spent back into our teachers for our students. And then hopefully things will

041brighten up next year and we'll have more money for the start [Applause] time. Dr. Perman, I have to agree with Mr. Viso. I think it's very very important of what we're talking about. Start time is important also, but it's more important to make sure we have teachers and everything else in front of the classes for the kids and to try and lower the class sizes because that will also make it easier for the teachers to teach the kids. So, I am very much in favor of what Mr. Vizo had said. Thank you, [Applause] Miss Ruffley. Hi, first I just wanted to thank administration for working probably day and night to get this budget leveled out so at least we we can look at it. Um I think everybody is in agreement that nobody wants class

042sizes especially in the elementary schools to be as large as they are. Um the smallest we can keep them is optimal. Um I do though I am in favor of keeping start times into the budget because we've been promising this for 10 years. um and that is also hurting our students. So we have this dilemma. Do we hurt our older students? Do we help our younger students and and this is where I think we need to have the discussion of the reserves. Now philosophically, I don't think we should be taking money out of the reserves at all. But what are the reserves there for? They're there for an emergency. And making sure our youngest students have the teachers that they need in a classroom is very important. So, if we took a million dollars out

043of the reserve this year and used that to reinstate as many teachers as we can in the elementary school, I would be comfortable with that. Uh, also as well, we are already putting $400,000 into the reserve because we're still paying back COVID. So, it's really only a net of using $600,000. And I'm hopeful within the next year with all the retirements that we have coming in that negating that into next year's budget is not going to uh incur any future um excessing of of anything going down in the future. Um so to do what's best for all of our students, I I think we really need to take a look at using that money out of the reserves to reinstate the teachers. Dr. McKinnon. Okay. So, the district is bankrupt in the sense that we

044can't make payroll. It's currently projected that we're going to lose approximately 80 employees. Is that a fair fair number? Correct. Okay. So, how did this happen? So, it's quite simple. If you imagine our revenue increasing like that, then our costs rose like that. They rose significantly faster. Over the last four or five years, that gap got bigger and bigger and we reached a point where we could no longer cover that gap and we went broke. To paraphrase Ernest Hemingway, you go bankrupt slowly at first and then all at once. We are at the all at once stage. It's important to note that net revenue was always going up during these last four or five years, which is a regular complaint for the local taxpayers. From my perspective, these layoffs are a very bad outcome. I

045want the school district to be a good employer and a good employer makes sure that they can meet payroll. Because of the large decline in enrollment, there has to be some matching reduction in staff levels. Ideally, however, this this would be achieved through attrition, not through layoffs. The reason cost rose so rapidly was because contracts were approved by the board that were not economically sustainable or we would not be here today. These contracts were inevitably going to bankrupt the district. It was never a matter of if, only when. The administration has done their best to put this day off as long as they could, but it was inevitable given the contracts, given the rise in revenue. This outcome is bad for students. It's bad for parents and taxpayers. It's bad for members of other bargaining

046units who agreed to more sustainable contracts. It is bad for the youngest members of the bargaining units that insisted upon these contracts. They are the ones who will bear the brunt of these layoffs. We can't fix the past. We need to make sure that this doesn't happen again. One simple change is to ensure that before the board signs off in on any significant contract, they understand the consequences for each contract. An economic and educational impact statement should be prepared that outlines whether or not the contract is financially sustainable given our revenue. This means determining whether contractual obligated cost rise more rapidly than projected increases in income. This is just basic common sense for members of the bargaining unit requesting this unsustainable contract or whether members of other bargaining units will also lose positions. In addition,

047the impact statement should address whether the unsustainable contract will harm academic programs or the health and welfare of the students. Again, this is just basic common sense. I would like to make a formal proposal for the board to vote on during the next meeting, which would basically put this in place for every contract going forward. Educational institutions have gone through an unusually favorable financial times over the last four years, which makes it very hard to explain why we are where we are right at the moment. I am very worried that this will not continue. The district's going to face some significant financial headwinds over the next four years. It is essential we get our finances in order to minimize the impact of these changes on the educational mission. Economic impact statements for contracts combined with

048long-term realistic financial projections will give the board the tools necessary to understand how best to navigate what are going to be quite difficult times ahead. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Back. So, my thoughts on the reserves is I'm I'm um sort of aware this is not a long-term solution for for whatever we do, right? Uh at best this is a short-term solution. Um the the real way to achieve cost reductions would be you know the the best way would be as was mentioned through attrition through retirements. And so by using the reserves for one year this doesn't solve the long-term problem but it'll give us one more year of retirements and attrition. Um and and and that'll hopefully allow us to to to have the sort of long-term solution to have everything within the budget.

049So in my mind, this makes sense. This is a plan that it minimizes harms both at the secondary level and at the primary level. Dr. Lee. Okay. I'll just quickly echo what Miss Rowley said. I fully agree with her. In my view, the reserve is like a saving account for our district. We have been paying relatively less um health insurance for teachers compared to other district. So we could pay back to the reserve during the past few years. Now we are hit by the new price and still we are kind of low than not we're not the highest paying. So I think it's time for us to use what we saved in the past to to contribute to that. Lastly I just want to say I don't want to choose between ch kids house with

050teachers house we have both in our mind. So that's the reason I want to use our savings account to cover the cost. Okay that's it. Thank you. So obviously we all have a lot to think about over the next couple of weeks, a lot to work through. Again, many thanks to the administration for for all of your hard work to try to whittle this down into something palatable. And um let's all just support each other and get through this somehow. It's going to be it's going to be tough. All right, we're going to move on to 7A, Instructional Material Review Committee response. Dr. Biscari, thank you. Um, on March 4th, 2025, excuse me, the instructional materials review committee met to review the book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Alax, written by Rebecca. Uh, the review

051was in response to a parental complaint received via email on January 25th. The complaint stated that the material was disturbing concerning the detail of sexual abuse and the parent felt as if it was too graphic for the grade level. The immortal life of Henry Adelax is currently being read in our advanced placement English language and composition course at the high school that consists of students in grade 11. Uh Rebecca is on the list of recommended authors for the AP English language accomposition course from the college board. The instructional materials review committee consisted of an administrator, a junior high school English teacher, a library media specialist, and a parent as per uh board policy. and all members of the committee were asked to read or reread the book prior to our meeting. The committee discussed the

052appropriateness of the book in the following areas that were raised uh age level, grade level, subject and themes. Uh after extensive discussion and analysis, the committees made the following determinations uh that there were no objections to the book by any of the committee members. The content of the book was related to family and faith, progress versus pro uh privacy, uh technology and globalization, human suffering and morality and ethics. While there were small portions of the book that briefly described sexual predation, the purpose was to show how broken the family was once uh Henry added the um the subject of the book had passed away. the themes uh in the uh opinion of the group represented in the book are appropriate topics for students in the 11th grade AP level and the professional reviews which I

053also attached um recommend the book for 9th grade and up. So as the case with all resources that may be have objectional themes objectionable themes an alternative assignment is provided for students who find issue with the material uh and that was offered. Therefore, it is it it was the recommendation of the committee that the immortal life of Henrietta Lax remain in use by the AP English language and composition course and that teachers continue to provide notification to students and parents of the themes in the book and the availability of an alternative assignment if the student or parent find the book objectionable. So, that was the recommendation that we made to Dr. Scan. Thank you very much and thank you to the committee for their work. Any questions about that? Okay. All right. So survey for

054armed guards as you all know district has been in long conversation about um the possibility in the future of arming some of our security guards. Um it has been suggested um perhaps a survey would be appropriate and more specifically a conversation's been had amongst the board about surveying the staff. So the survey has been created. It is short and to the point. Do you want to describe what the survey is? It literally is actually just two questions. Are you in favor of armed guards or not? And if you are in favor of armed guards, whether they be outside, inside, or both inside and outside the school buildings. So the tool is ready. The question is now, do we want to implement? And if so, to to whom, to which population, which we're circling back on.

055So I open it up to the board for discussion. So I'm in favor of polling the staff. I I can't see any objection to doing that. And um I would like to know what they think. Okay. Others do we know um is this survey open to the whole community or a limited range? Well, that that's what we're talking about now. And I know in some conversations we've said, "Oh, let's open it up much in the way we have other surveys and then we thought this is pretty sensitive. Maybe we would just want to hear from the staff." And then there are other uh trains of thought which I sometimes have which is I'm not sure what that does because if it comes back neutral then we're making the decision. If it comes back heavily weighed

056in one direction or the other you sort of feel an obligation to follow through with that and if that's not uh jing with the will of the board the administration I don't want to feel compelled towards something that we weren't ready to do. My thinking. Just my thinking. Anybody else? Neutral. Yeah. I mean, the survey is nice and short and sweet. Um, I personally think it's probably going to come back 50/50 like most of our conversations we've been having in the community. Um, I don't think it'll hurt. I don't know if it'll help. So, I'm kind of neutral on it. I think for now I think it's a good idea to poll the staff, but I may want to see something going out to the entire community also. I'm not I have no I'm just

057on the fence right now. Okay. Anybody else? Yeah. No, I think I think what Vinnie said makes sense to me. I would say we start with the staff. Um I'm not sure about the two questions. because I think the sort of threshold that districts are asking themselves to cross is do you arm the guards or do you not on arm the guards right that's really the main thing I I would be interested in then the second one I feel is more of an operational detail that that we can discuss uh along with our you know security uh people so I would be I think we should pull the staff and I think it should just be that that first question are we crossing that threshold or not I agree again with Vinnie that we definitely

058should pull the staff and see what the staff says And uh then I would also poll the population, the parents and everybody else in the district because number one, it's going to cost money. So I think we should we should poll both both uh aspects of it and and get reviews from them. Thank you. Okay. Well, if no one objects, then I would say perhaps we do this sequentially and begin with the staff. Is that reasonable? Okay. We need a consensus of Stanley's recommendation. want to go with. Uh, so Stanley, do you Okay. So, do we want it to be the two questions as is the one that was floated around to us or do you want it limited down to the one question? All in favor of it being a single question, show of

059hands. Okay. Can I So, was it Yeah, I'm gonna go with this. It really is. That's the question. Single question. Can I say something please? I I think it is more than just one question because people are going to have different views on if they prefer to have guns inside the schools or outside of the schools. Those are also two distinct different possibilities both and we need to give them that possibility too. I agree and I think Stan, you're right. I think it is an operational decision but I think we need that information because there's a whole different animal to be talking about in or out. I think we should keep it the way we had it. Okay. So, show of hands. Oh, sorry, Dr. Lee. Oh, I agree. Okay. So, show of hands in

060favor of the two question survey as presented. One, two, three, four, five, and two who would prefer a singleton. Correct. One abstension and one who would prefer a singleton. Okay. Thank you everybody. All right, Dr. Scanland, I turn it over to you for item 7C. So, uh, we sent a letter home on Friday to the community, um, which is in response to some uptick in what we've witnessed as anti-Semitic, um, um, things going on in our community, in our schools. First thing I want to say is from Friday night when we sent out that letter, we've received a tremendous outpouring of support which makes me proud to be the superintendent of schools in this district because this community has rallied around all of us looking at this question trying to identify what we need to

061look at as a community as a whole. Um we are not immune to the things that are going on in our world. Our community is evering becoming more and more diverse and our students are exposed to more things than we ever could imagine with the use of social media. Um it's not the parents just going home and turning on a TV set or turning off a TV set anymore or putting away magazines and newspapers. Our students are have access to things that the average child when I was growing up never even knew was going on. So they're being influenced by outside forces beyond their home every single day. And as much as possible, the parents, the community members, and school have to be partners in trying to curb whatever is going on that's negatively influencing

062our population of students. The good news in one sense is that the acts recently and that we were talking with about from Friday forward be backward um there were no acts of violence or threats. Most of these incidents incurred speech and insensitive acts and remarks. It doesn't matter if it was one or it was 41. One is enough. We cannot put up with these type of things going on in our community. So the big question for all of us is since Friday and it's been an very interesting week and very busy week. Several of you in this room have been in my office um had phone calls. I greatly appreciate the outpouring of support again. Um but we have taken some tremendous steps forward. We have a lot way more ways to go at this

063point in time. We've met with some local and regional leaders. Uh there is a meeting this Friday with the head of the Westchester County Holocaust Center who we've had in our district before. Uh the Jewish Partisans Educational Foundation has also reached out to us directly. They're also meeting with me on Friday. The ADL which has been part of our educational process has been working with us. I want to thank the uh the cabinet and the administration administrative team in this district and all of our teachers for all the support they provided. Our professional development committee led by uh Dr. Viscari and Gina Varach in the district are going to be looking at some trainings for our teachers as we move forward as well. Our CDC which is not the has no relation to the CDC

064in Washington. So we start off with that. It's a curriculum development committee which looks at all the curriculums in our district for all of our discipline courses are looking at how what we're currently teaching. As I indicated in the letter, what apparently we're doing right now is not enough and we need to look at everything in totality to see what else we need to do. I also want to thank thank Dr. Con, our uh director of social studies. Uh she's been working with the interfaith uh network who's provided presentations and there's several people in the room that have been part of those presentations and in both Murphy and Gelina junior high schools. She's bringing in a uh Holocaust survivor on April 9th for the 10th grade students at Ward Noville High School. Um, and we're

065we're hoping as this generation sadly continues to decline, um, that we don't forget, um, there is a third generation group that we're working, uh, reached out to as well for people to come in and talk about their experiences. Um, and we are looking forward to trying to provide concrete examples to the community, to the parents, to the students of ways we need to address this at every level. Even though the incidents that occurred occurred at our middle level, they begin somewhere. Whether it's elementary or at home or in the community, we have to work together to identify where it is, where we need to begin, and where we need to continue going forward forever. This is not something that's going to be a oneanddone. This conversation is going to continue on. as long as I'm

066drawing a breath in my body sitting in this role and probably as long as the people that good people that I've worked with over the past 30 years in this district will be part of that conversation and want to continue the to do it further that students in every generation beyond just this one have this consistently being addressed as we move forward with our curriculum and Dr. Mr. Scanlet, I would like to thank you and the entire administration for for your response because that was sort of um very telling moment. Bad things happen. They're heartbreaking. You didn't flinch. You looked at it. You said, "We will not tolerate anti-semitism." I'm very proud to be part of that district and very proud of the way that this is being handled and faced to face on head

067on. So, thank you. All right. At this time, we are going to begin our public comment period. Um, we pause our business. District residents who wish to speak have previously turned in their blue form. Each speaker has three minutes to address the board. You may speak only once during any given board meeting. Understand, please, for the most part, we're not going to respond to you, but somebody, the appropriate person, will follow up with you after the meeting. Um, and please remember that according to state and federal privacy laws, we're unable to entertain any comments, questions, or discussions about any particular individual student or employee. We thank you advance for your understanding. The 30 minute public period begins now at 7:58. And we call up to the microphone on that side, please, Mr. Brian Pigford. [Applause]

068Good evening, members of the board of education, superintendent, members of the Three Village community. My name is Brian Pikford. I'm a parent. I'm a longtime resident of Three Village and the proud president of the more than 700 teachers, teaching assistants, and power professionals who make up the TVTA. I stand tonight to address the difficult financial position our district faces. a position that has been exacerbated by rising health care costs and a growing deficit in spending. These fiscal challenges are not new, but they are now reaching a a point where critical decisions must be made. Decisions that will have long-lasting impacts on our students, our staff, and the overall quality of education in Three Village. As we navigate these fiscal constraints, we must prioritize what matters most. Ensuring that our students receive the very best possible

069education in classrooms that are properly staffed and supported. Unfortunately, the current financial outlook suggests that we are heading in the opposite direction. The proposed budget reductions include the loss of educators and support staff, which will inevitably lead to larger class sizes, as was indicated this evening. The research is clear. Overcrowded classrooms diminish student learning, limit individualized instruction, and place greater stress on both students and teachers. This is a direct threat to the high standards of education we have worked so hard to maintain in this district. Yet, in the midst of the financial struggles, there's a proposal on the table to spend an additional $1 million to implement a revised transportation plan as part of the Start Schools Later initiative. Let me be clear. While we all recognize the importance of student well-being and healthy school

070schedules, we cannot ignore the reality of our financial situation. At a time when we're being forced to make painful cuts that will reduce direct student services, it's fiscally is it fiscally responsible to allocate such a significant amount to transportation? The choices before this board must be guided by a fundamental principle. What will have the greatest impact on student success? Sacrificing teachers and increasing class sizes while committing over a million dollars to transportation costs is not in the best interest of our students. It's not sustainable or prudent. And on behalf of the educators of Three Village, I urge the urge the board to reconsider that spending plan. We must work together to find solutions that keep our classrooms fully staffed, protect the integrity of our academic programs, and make financially responsible decisions that put student learning

071first. Thank you very [Applause] much. Thank you, Mr. Pickrid. We call to the microphone Shelley Samson. Hello. Hello everyone. Uh, first I want to thank Dr. Scandlin very much for his letter informing our three village school district community about the anti-semitism incident that occurred at Gelenus Junior High School, the middle school in a social studies class after viewing a film on the Holocaust. I had actually prepared to say something more and you very well addressed the issue. I was listening intently to everything from things about the budget to for the teachers, those that will be laid off and staff, etc. And I think you addressed it very well. Uh so I'm going to change this and change my notes. Uh I'm just wondering how the student or students who gave this very insensitive remark how

072they are being educated about what they said. Uh any consequences that are occurring. Uh this is a teaching institution. How do we teach? How do we explain to them about free speech, a very important issue, and hateful, vengeful speech? Um, are they a repeat offender? Uh, having said other very uh bad diet tribe before this, um, are they in social media uh in different groups that are supportive of anti-semitism? While I was listening to everything that you said, not even on this topic, I started to think of possibilities, ideas that we can do to address all these different issues, but particularly on the anti-semitism. I'm thinking, did you ever think about having therapy dogs come in and have the worker with the therapy dog, the the the handler of the therapy dog work with the

073students? I am familiar with this because I happen to be uh a team with my my therapy dog. we are uh through um uh there are different organizations and I am not paid for this. This is volunteer work. So for example, I was asked to go to uh some schools uh elementary grade because I believe that's where it starts and that's where you have to stop the fermenting of all this. And I was asked to do classes. They didn't tell me on what, but I made up my own classes because of my experience and because of my age having such experiences in life and I taught about animals. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right. We call to the microphone, please. Mr. Rab, I'm sorry, Rabbi Aaron Benson. [Applause] [Music] 3,697. That was

074the number reported by the ADL of anti-Semitic incidents in the United States in 2022. In the months at the end of 2023, from the time of the attack in Israel on October 7th of that year until the end of the year, there were 3,291 incidents that took place in the United States. A tremendously sad statistic regarding the rise in anti-semitism in our country. Madame President and Superintendent and members of the uh board, I appreciate the opportunity to address you and applaud the efforts that you've made to this point. uh in addressing the issues of anti-semitism in our community. Uh above and beyond these recent reports uh we have heard about the uh rise of incidents here in our school in our schools and the following are questions that I would like to put on behalf

075of our community before you. uh the zero tolerance policy does not seem to be working in terms of the number of reported cases rising uh to this point. Uh curriculum concerns though admirable are not in my estimation the primary focus of further efforts as much as the culture in the school when it comes to having a zero tolerance policy for anti-semitism. comprehensive strategic plan, a excuse me, a comprehensive strategic plan to combat Jewish hatred in the district uh would be something very much appreciated by the community and to see how that would be implemented across all grades and buildings. uh the question in regards to the DEI program uh here in our district uh and its uh following of uh incidents regarding uh anti-semitism uh could there be an update in terms of the data

076about anti-semitism within the district to provide greater transparency and furthermore would there be a uh opportunity to review the zero tolerance policy as I've suggested it not seeming to address the issues that are taking place now. Uh it is certainly my hope to be able to work alongside of the uh dedicated leaders of our uh school district in making these changes so that all students both Jewish and non-Jewish will have the uh ability to attend school without any fear of persecution or of being targeted but rather to have our schools stand as a uh representative example for all of New York and all of our uh country uh as being a place where tolerance and where acceptance are uh are supported and encouraged and are realized. Thank you very much for your time. Thank you,

077Rabbi Anthony Dero. Please come to the microphone. If there are other speeches about the anti-semitism, I I I can defer back if there's other people. You can withdraw or we'll stay in order, but we have to go in order. Okay. I was just trying to be courteous. So, um, so, um, everyone knows who I am. Um, if you don't know who I am, I was a guidance counselor who retired 30, uh, 30 years ago. God, 30 years I've been teaching. Uh, 30 years I've been a counselor. But, um, uh, you know, I'm I'm listening to every time I come here, I'm just amazed. I'm amazed at how how well our students do. I I keep on echoing it every single time about how amazing this district is. And on Monday, uh, March 31st at 7:00,

078I'm hosting a meeting at the, uh, Satoken Firehouse to talk about the reconfiguration plan primarily, but it's getting a a lot more in-depth. Um for you for those you who don't know the reconfiguration plan um we're proposing moving our students earlier younger grades up to the middle school and then um the ninth graders the fifth graders up to the um the fifth graders moving up to the middle school as sixth graders and the ninth graders moving up to the high school. So, um, you know, it it's it's amazing because a lot of these incidences do happen at the secondary level and keeping kids younger longer is just a fact, right? Um, you know, we want to make sure our students have the best experience. And in this budget time, I know there's a number that's

079equated to the reconfiguration, and I heard it anywhere between 2, three, four, five, $600,000 that we're moving our students, but we've never had a comprehensive conversation in this community ever. And I've been on this reconfiguration hunt for the inception when Dr. The scandal brought this up um back in 2022 when we just came out of COVID and I couldn't understand why we were making changes and this kept on going and and the criticism that I'm getting is why are you starting to talk now about this reconfiguration plan? I haven't. I've been in the beginning talking about this reconfiguration plan, moving our students up now to the footprint of our high school, adding another grade level and thinking that everything is just going to be okay. And you know, we know what happens at secondary levels.

080You know, what happened at Jelenus Junior High School is completely unacceptable, but moving kids up earlier is the the idea that they'll just have to deal with it and they will do better and and giving them, you know, like these lollipop comments like you'll get more electives or you'll get more this. We have had a community that has been cohesive, strong, and our students have achieved amazing things. I'm not just telling you that. you I think you guys all know that between the academics we just had the math students that came up here that was crazy in incredible what they achieved and then you have all these other things. So if you can because I only have 25 seconds left if anybody wants to join me I'm just going to talk about the comprehensive why

081why we're moving to why was it chosen to move to this and all the other warning signs that I really believe that we are walking into not a great situation for our students. So thank you [Applause] Thank you, Mr. Gutario. Uh, Galia Laav, please. Okay. Hello everybody and uh especially to the board and to uh Kevinlin. I would like for um to stand up here without any uh written out remarks um and not offer a complaint but offer really a big uh thank you gratitude for recognizing the very important issue of anti-semitism as an educated goal. Um I am a mother of uh two children for this community who uh graduated and I've spent many years with them trying to understand if they experience anti-semitism over years. This is well before October 7th and I

082would uh the last year and I would say that it was very surprising to me that even my own children I have to say I come from Israel so they've been very well um educated in what this uh issue is about but they themselves did not even understand what anti-semitism is right they didn't understand what performs an act of anti-semitism so I wanted to ask you um much in the way of commending you for putting efforts to this and um asking at what level do you actually think that this kind of curriculum should take place? In my opinion, I think that maybe even the primary uh level would be more uh effective in trying to not only give these students an understanding of the of what implicit anti-semitism looks like. As you know, um we

083have very explicit anti-semitism in the incidents that you've raised. One incident, five incidents, a number of incidents. These are very important. But I'm much more concerned about implicit anti-semitism. Where does it where and how is it manifest? And I think that in part and thinking about how to go about this education. I agree. Thank you, Rabbi. um that we need to go well beyond just the curricula, but really maybe in role play, maybe in trying to really engage younger students to recognize not only those that are actually suffering um from anti-semitism, but also those who perpetrate those acts. So I wanted to ask you if you have thought about if your committee has thought about what age to really start at what level of our school and also I I suppose what I would like

084to do is to offer you my assistance or perhaps the opportunity for people who are very concerned with this issue to partake in your committee. Um this is something that I would personally be very interested in. I know that many uh Thank you, Miss La. Your time is up. Thank you. [Applause] Thank you very much. All right. Nicholas Himenez, please. Good evening, members of the board, community members. Nicholas Mimenez, 12 Lucille Drive, South Socket. Um, I want to start off tonight, David. Thank you for your honesty. I mean, the district is bankrupt. That was great statement. We're bankrupt by about $7.5 million. The reserves have $7 million, give or take. So, our savings can't cover our losses this year. So, for the members of the board that support dipping into that reserves, I asked them

085to follow David's other recommendation. Do the financial analysis, do the projection. We will have to pay that $1.2 2 million next year in addition to paying back the reserves. The tax cap this year 2.78%. We would have needed a 7.1% increase to meet expenses this year. If the tax cap remains flat or say goes up to 3% next year and our increases need 5%, where will that money come from next year? Um, it's all I got, but I would just like to make sure everybody thinks of that going forward. Thank Thank you very much. Uh, I think this says Deborah Parrots. Yes. Sorry about that. Thank you so much for letting me speak. I didn't plan to be here and speak. Um, but sitting in the overflow room and and hearing the suggestions I felt

086I had to come up and speak. So, first of all, I want to thank you so much for taking the anti-semitism um seriously and I I heard about um inviting Holocaust speakers which is so important and and it is unfortunate that they are dying out. Um and I welcome that they will come here and speak. It's very important for the students to hear. That being said, the Jewish people are living through history right now. I don't know how many of you know that there's a 23-year-old. He's dead, but he's in the Gaza tunnels right now. He's from Plain View. It's 30 minutes away. They have been there. I wear this every day. 537 days today. So, while it's important to speak about the Holocaust and learn about it 100%, it is also important to address

087what's happening now because that's where a lot of the anti-semitism is coming from now. Thank [Applause] you. Thank you very much. So, for the time that we have remaining and I will have you cut me off when appropriate, I have some written comments to share. This is from Kathy Beup or she says, "My name is Kathy Hanline and my connection to the district runs deeper than most. I'm not just a resident. I'm someone whose family helped build three village and I'm proud member of the first graduating class of W Melville High School's class of 1969." Just in case you're wondering if who I say I am is real, take a look at the founders's plaque in the administrative center and you will see my father's name proudly displayed. In the early 1960s, the families of

088Satake and Stony Brook faced a crisis. Port Jefferson High School announced it would no longer accept our students. Without an alternative, our children would have been bust miles away to Rocky Point or Mount Si. My parents, Frederick and Peggy Hanline, along with other dedicated community members, refused to let that happen. They worked tirelessly lobbying Albany, meeting with state officials, compiling research, and carefully designing what would become the Three Village Central School District. But they didn't just fight for a district. They fought for a structure that made sense for students. They consulted experts in child psychology and education to design a model that best supported the developmental and emotional needs of children. The result was a K to6 7 to9 10 to 12 configuration that allowed younger students to remain in a nurturing elementary setting longer,

089created a dedicated smaller space for 7th to 9th graders to transition gradually into adolescence and ensure the 10th graders entered high school at the right time when they were developmentally ready to handle its academic and social pressures. This wasn't accidental. It was intentional. It was based on research, expert consultation, and common sense. And for decades, Three Village has been one of the most successful public school systems in the state. For decades, I've been grateful for the thoughtful leadership of our school boards and administrators who have preserved and strengthened the incredible education foundation my parents helped create. No district has done a better job balancing academic excellence with a deep understanding of child development. That's why I feel compelled to speak up now. This reconfiguration is not a necessary change. Nor is it one that has

090been designed with the same care and reflection that originally built this district. When my parents fought for Three Village, they did so because students needed a better educational model, one that was built to last. Can today's board say the same? Have you consulted child psychologists and educational experts the way my parents did when they designed this system? Have you sat in classrooms and spoken to teachers off the record to hear what their students actually need? Have you clearly defined what success looks like? Not in administrative terms, but in actual student well-being and academic outcomes. Or are we simply making the change because other districts have done it? Even as those same districts struggled to accommodate the very nth grade challenges that we've already solved. This is not the time for unnecessary disruption. Co changed everything.

091Attention spans are shorter. Social pressures are greater. Students are struggling with focus, deep reading, and critical thinking. Teachers are working tirelessly to rebuild foundational learning skills. This is not the moment to throw more upheaval into their lives. Yet, this reconfiguration will place younger students in a bigger, more overwhelming environment, add more distractions and stimulation when students already struggle with focus, and remove the stability and structure they need most. The district has framed this change around electives and club access. But is that really what these students most need? Now, my parents and their peers spent years designing this district. Three minutes is up. Thank you. [Applause] And this is from Joanna McManaman. My husband and I are both public school teachers in neighboring districts and every day we talk about how much we wish our schools

092looked like Three Village does right now. My district reconfigured to a middle school model and I can tell you firsthand the sixth graders are struggling. They are overwhelmed as the youngest students in the building and their transition has been anything but smooth. My husband teaches in a 9 to12 high school and he sees the same challenges with 9th graders. It's clear that they are the grades struggling most to adapt to the high school environment. Meanwhile, Murphy and Jelenas function in a way that feels more like a private school experience than a public one. Teachers have the space and stability to create meaningful learning environments. Students are seen and heard, supported and challenged, confident in their abilities. The culture inside those buildings is something truly special and everyone I talk to, friends, neighbors, fellow parents, knows

093it. So, the question I keep coming back to is this. Is the board truly reflecting on whether this timeline is the right move for students or simply moving forward because the plan is already in motion? If the goal is to meet students needs, shouldn't we start by looking at the students themselves? I invite you, no, I urge you to go into eth and nth grade classrooms right now. Walk the hallways, observe the students, not through reports and projections, but through real human interaction. Then talk to the teachers, not in a survey, not in a scripted meeting, but off the record in a way that allows them to be honest and reflective. Ask them where their students are right now. Postcoid learning loss, shorter attention spans, growing social pressures at a time when stability has never

094been more urgent. Because if you do, I believe you'll hear what so many parents already know. These students don't need more choices, more noise, more exposure to older kids, more distractions. What they need is exactly what they have now. Stability, focus, and direct access to teachers who truly know them. That's why so many parents are struggling to understand the urgency of this move. The district never made the case that reconfiguration would bring clear academic and social benefits. only that it would bring us into alignment with other districts and offer nth graders more electives and clubs. But is there really enough of a reason to disrupt a system that is working? Beyond that, we need to address a fundamental flaw in this process. The district has relied on scripted meetings and outdated surveys rather than real

095unscripted conversations with the people who know these students best. Then there's the mixed messaging around cost. Initially, reconfiguration was framed as a cost-saving measure. Yet, we were later told it was never really about money. Millions were allocated for renovations and now we hear that costs have been reduced. But at no point has the district directly addressed whether this plan was ever worth the financial and educational trade-offs in the first place. If saving money wasn't the goal and improving student outcomes wasn't clearly demonstrated, then what exactly has been driving this urgency? If financial conditions and community concerns have changed this drastically, how can anyone argue that due diligence is complete? As teachers, we are constantly reflecting on what success looks like for our students. We adjust, refine, and reassess based on what we see in our

096classrooms every day. Has the district done the same with this reconfiguration? Have you, as a board, asked yourselves, what does success look like? How will you know that this move has actually improved student outcomes? What measures are in place to evaluate whether this change benefit kids in the way you hope? I don't believe any teacher in our junior highs will tell you, "My student needs more choices, more distractions, more exposure to older kids. My students need a bigger screen." Three minutes is up. Thank you so much. [Applause] And lastly, this is from Danielle Alletto. My name is Danielle Alto. I'm a resident of the area and a former 3VCSA student. I graduated from Ward Melville in 2018. I want to thank the board for having this meeting and bringing the blatant anti-semitism and racism seen

097throughout our community to public attention. It's a difficult topic to address and may incite unpleasant comments and reactions, but this is definitely the right thing to do. Anti-semitism and racism have a long and ugly history in our community and it is about time we address it. Again, thank you for the work you're doing to not only educate our students but our community. This is important work and we will be stronger because of it. And that concludes our public comment period. Thank you to everybody. We will go now into our items for board action and we will begin uh by asking for a motion to approve those items in our consent agenda. Do I see a motion? So move second. Second. Okay. Items B and C. Miss Dano, here are the minutes from the February 11th

098and the March 5th board of education meetings. Thank you. And beginning with G, Mr. Carlson. Uh item D is approval of health and welfare services contract. This is a contract with the plane be old Beth Page School District for a three village resident student who is attending a private school uh located in that district. Um this is similar as when um uh students attend one of the private schools in our district that live in another district. We build them for the same kind of service. Item E is acceptance of donations. We have two donations. Uh one is a check for $500 from the interd district council of superintendent uh to the school district for a scholarship fund. This is in honor of uh Dr. Scandlin service to the uh superintendent uh council of Suffach County

099and a donation of a wooden chessboard set from the Cybec family to Minnesota elementary school. Uh they have two kids in that school. Item F is declaration of surplus equipment. We have some old uh check folding machines actually these are very old uh in my office um that we never threw away just in case. Um, and but they're they don't even make the parts for them anymore. And we'll we'll get some money back for the scrap metal from the uh office supply company. Uh, a dishwasher from the Gelinus uh family consumer science consumer science room and a MacBook computer from the Ward Mobile Art Department that has been uh stripped of any useful parts. Thank you. Any questions about any of those items? Okay, thank you. We'll move on with item G. Dr. Bascari. Uh

100G is just an affiliation agreement with Baylor University for the clinical placements of their students. Um H another affiliation agreement with the University of Buffalo and I is an appointment of uh impartial hearing officers through the updated list from the New York State Education Department. Thank you. Any questions about those items? Okay. Item J. Dr. Dreski. Yes. Submit of your approval. Is the recommendation for an administrative intern to work with Dr. Raldi and Mrs. Prada? Thank you. Any questions about that? Okay. K. Recommendations of committee on special education subcommittee and 504 accommodation plan meetings as dated. L. Recommendations of the committee on preschool special education meeting as dated. And for the rest, we turn it back over to Dr. Dusky. Yes. And personnel items instructional. Uh we continue to receive uh dribbs and drabs of

101for some uh retirements. So we have four additional instructional retirements. two teachers, two teaching assistants. We have seven instructional resignations which include subteers, teaching assistant, subt and a nurse. Uh we have the recommendation of one instructional leave of absence, nine instructional substitute appointments and appointments to several spring coaching assignments, annual extra assignments for for this year as well as hourly and daily extra assignments for 2425. Personal items non-instructional. We have five non-instructional resignations which includes sub monitors, special education aids and childcare assistance. We have one non-instructional leave of absence for one special education aid. Six non-instructional appointments which include include the addition of food service workers, special ed aid and childcare assistance and the approval for seven non-instructional substitute appointments which include club uh clerical subs, custodial subs, special education and monitor subs. in addition

102to the approval of um uh additional hours for summer recreation prep work. Any questions about any of those? Okay, thank you very much. Oh, so we have all in favor of all of the items in our consent agenda. Thank you. And that being the case, do we see a motion to adjurnn? So move. Second. All in favor. All right. Thank you everybody. Have a good night.