001Good evening everyone. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge algiance 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. >> Good evening everyone. At this time it is our public input on agenda and non-aggenda items. I welcome any members of the audience to speak at this time. >> Quicker than you thought. Probably >> here or >> right up here. >> Hi. >> Hello. Hello. >> Hi, I'm Haya Malone. I'm the president of the Wersville Teachers Association. Um, on behalf of the Wersville Teachers Association, I just wanted to make a statement of gratitude for the welcome we've received from the Troy City School District, including the board of education and especially from Superintendent John
002Carmelo and the Troy Teachers Association who have made us feel like active and valued participants in this process. Traditionally, when a school district is annexed, the teachers of that district do not have much choice or much of a voice in the decision. We appreciate Troy's willingness to work with us and make us feel comfortable with this possible transition. Finally, I think it's also important to note that the WTA met to discuss the possible merger when it was first brought to our attention and before we knew how Troy would receive us. Without knowing the future of our jobs and what might happen to us in this situation, we all realized that the opportunities that would be provided for our students far exceeded anything that our small school with the budgetary issues we face could ever provide.
003We took a vote and almost 100% of members voted to support this merger and we hope to have the support of both communities at the time of the vote in the spring. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else? Okay, Mr. Carmelo. >> Uh, thank you. That's a good good one to follow right there. Uh, so I'll give a quick update. Uh, merger process is going along uh, very well. Uh, we continue to have our weekly meetings with Dr. Cruz and her staff and state ed representatives and our consultants who will be speaking later tonight. Uh, the petition process is in full swing and kind of winding down. At Wine and Skill, that process ends this week on Thursday. At Troy, our process for the petition signatures will go through the Christmas break and end
004on January 5th. Uh both districts already have gotten uh uh significantly more than the required number, which is a great sign. Uh thank you to Kayn for her comments. Uh it has been a pleasure working with them uh and talking through uh all the possibilities um that we uh have in front of us if this thing goes through. Uh there will be a little bit of downtime and I think maybe Brian and Bob will talk about that a little bit tonight. Uh they're giving a recap uh at the end of our meeting tonight. Um but I just want people to be aware once the petition process ends. They'll be putting a final report together uh mid January. uh the commissioner's office has committed to getting that report back the decision back to us in three
005or four weeks which takes us to early February and then the vote is uh tenatively right now scheduled for March 31st which is the last Tuesday in March. So from the time of uh maybe early January through March, it'll be a little bit quiet um but doesn't mean it's any less exciting for what's in front of us. >> Okay. Thank you. All right. At this time, I'd like to welcome Miss Danvido McI to come up and give us a presentation on school. All right. Good evening, everyone. Good evening. So, tonight is a special night. It's an opportunity for me to represent school 18 and talk to you about all of the amazing work that goes on there. Um, school 18 is on the rise. So, here we go. We always start off with our district
006mission statement. Um, because all of the decisions we make um follow this. So, our district mission is this Tri City School District will provide a strong and educational a strong educational and social foundation to graduate all students college and career ready. In addition to that, school 18 has its own vision statement. I might have to hold this. >> You can hold it. >> All right. I just need to use my hands. All right. Thank you. That feels better. And I'm sorry for my back over here. All right. So, school 18's vision statement. We exist to provide equitable learning opportunities to meet the diverse needs of each student. We are committed to create an environment that allows students to realize and reach their full potential while fostering a lifelong love of learning. Our demographics like in
007and out. >> No. All right. You're good. Just sounds it. All right. Our total enrollment varies a little bit. Um we're on the lower side at about 302, but we we have a couple more students just got sent our way today. But anyhow, uh we have we are one of the five we are one of two out of the five elementary schools that have the honor of hosting our English language learners. So we have about 38 English language learners. We have a variety of students who have IEPs for various reasons and we have students with 504s and then 137 of our students are um economically disadvantaged. So we have some diversity going on in our building. It's always nice to have an idea of like, you know, what what does a school look like? >>
008So, our team, this was Halloween. Every year we dress up as do most of our elementary schools. And we couldn't get another picture outside of the the Halloween. So, bear with us. Um, this is the team. These are the people that are coming to school every single day. And they're coming to school prepared. They're coming to school planned. They're coming to school with your children, our children in mind. they are doing the heavy lifting and um if it wasn't for all of these people, our children would not be getting the amazing education that they're getting and that I I'm so happy to talk about um this evening. So teachers, staff, and their expertise are one piece to why we're on the rise and why our students are um performing better and better. This next slide
009is um something you've probably seen already, our board of education, but what it shows us is that we continue to grow. We've made incremental gains over the last 10 years and there are a variety of reasons why we've made those gains. Again, the team this the staff and um more information to come. So just last year we increased so in in the past 10 years we've increased by 44%. And that's really wonderful. This past year, we had the the greatest gain in a year, which put us at the uh state average. And um I can't thank our people enough for for doing that. And um that's coupled with our families working really hard with our children at home as a as a team to um ensure that our children can be the best that they
010can possibly be. And then in math, we've also made some wonderful gains. Um we've uh grown by 34% in the past 10 years. and we are only seven points away from the state average. So, we're going to keep um working on all of that great work. So, curriculum and instruction, I'm going to stay on this slide a little bit, so relax. All righty. This is one of my favorites. So, anyhow, we're highlighting tonight just a few of the um the resources we're using. However, I would be remiss without starting off with that we teach the New York State academic learning standards. and the learning standards articulate what all students should know and be able to do as a result of skilled instruction in the subject areas. So the curriculum resources are here a few that
011we're going to focus on this evening. Curriculum resources are how we teach the state standards. So beginning with the units of study, we're in our eighth year of the implementation of the units of study for reading and writing supported by embedded professional development. Additionally, supported by the instructional coaches in our building in each of our buildings and that has led to measurable gains in student performance and increased test scores. the long ongoing stability of excellent resources to teach the state standards which have turned into higher gains and student proficiency rates increasing. Next, we have a new resource new to school 18. This is our first year implementing UFly. uh the early feedback from our teachers and students indicates high engagement and a positive reception and we're looking forward to working more with that resource. And
012then Eureka Math Squared, this is our fifth year with this resource and we also receive embedded professional development instructional coaches support which has helped propel our student achievement and raise test scores and math. We have our Carolina science science and PNW Boseie social studies I'm not going to get into this evening. You're probably all very happy. So all students receive tier one whole group and small groupoup instruction with these resources to learn the state standards. So what do we do with all that? Well, so our teaching and learning is meaningful. We have students building stamina. We have students having literate conversations. They're being taught foundational skills. They're learning academic vocabulary across math and ELA. Instruction is differentiated through small groupoup teaching daily targeted interventions. Acceleration strategic use of resources technology to excel learning. Expert teacher
013align. Expert teachers align the interventions to the core instruction to ensure that our students are consistently matched with appropriate texts and learning experiences that maximize engagement and growth. Why do our children grow? Well, the the standards and the curriculum and the resources, but you need to be expert to to make sure that the children are engaged in the learning. So, teacher expertise is huge. It's one of the key indicators of any student success. So through your support, we have continued professional embedded development and opportunities to go to conferences and and so many different ways for our teachers at at at every level to continue to grow so that they're lifelong learners so that they're constantly being bringing the best to our children. So their expertise allows for and and draws out highquality gap closing instruction
014for our students. So we thank you for your support with all of that and the coaches. I'm fortunate our whole school is fortunate. Ever since the coaching um began, the instructional coaching began with our district. Um the the two coaches we have at school 18 have been been with us throughout. So we have consistency. We have relationships that they have built. Diana Carrie, Deanna and Carrie, Diana Clark and Carrie Testo, they have built relationships with the staff and have been able to get them to trust them so that on a daily basis they are planning with their with our teachers. They're um helping them analyze student data. They're providing the staff with feedback. um they are helping the teachers use data to inform future instruction. They're intentionally planning with the teachers differentiated small group instruction
015to make sure that we're meeting the needs of our diverse learners and we are so fortunate to have them and your support with that. >> Are they here tonight? >> They are here tonight. Mr. Carmelo, would you please stand, ladies? >> Thank you very much. All right. Um, I think I'm good there. I went on. All right, let's talk about our step. All right, we had two strategies. One was a key strategy for instruction, the other a key um non-instructional strategy. And um I'll try to go easy. So basically everything that I just said to you about the curriculum is what's going on academically. We are we are we are committed we are committed in our school improvement plan in our SE to provide all students with targeted differentiated instruction. And I just talked about
016that and I can talk more about that if you'd like. No. All righty. And then our non-instructional key strategy is that students will build social emotional skills through restorative practices, mentoring, and through zones of regulation. So, this is where I have to really lean into um our social emotional team and and a couple of our people are here tonight, so I'm going to kind of like um move around a little bit. So, I'm going to I'm going to move on, but I'll be circling back to the non-instructional when I talk about my our social emotional. All right. We also have an equity goal, and our equity goal is to increase the academic achievement and proficiency rates for our subgroup of students who are black by 10%. We are doing well as a whole school, as
017you saw, our scores. However, we can do better specifically with our subgroup. Our the way we're measuring our success with all students, but specifically our group is through our fountain ofel benchmarks three times a year and our fall, spring, and spring I ready diagnostics and reading and math and of course the New York State assessments. How are we meeting that equity goal? Um, we provide after school tutoring to our students in our subgroup and to other students as well. We have an attendance improvement specialist, Miss Neto, along with our pupil services team that provides extra support and um small group instruction to make sure our students are getting to school and supporting them to want to come to school. Social emotional check-ins every morning. It's like they're like making laps. Each of them take two
018grade levels and they're just checking in with all of our students, but specifically any students might be struggling. And there's lunch bunch groups. And then we have our stronger connection mentoring program which we've made sure that all of our students in our targeted subgroup are getting everyone's in. Everyone's all in and this is above and beyond what everybody else gets. So uh we have a very good um plan and um we're we're doing it. Now, I don't have a psychologist that's until until January because, you know, we just we lost one and we finally get a new one and we're so happy. But we um we have Jamila and Erica and Elaine and Elaine and Erica are here tonight and these ladies make sure our children are in a really good place each day. Obviously,
019the teachers are in the classroom and they're checking in with the zones of regulation with the children, but these three ladies are going around and they're looking at that zones chart and going, "Hm, I need to have maybe spend a few more minutes with so- and so." They're also outside with us looking to see who is not happy getting off that bus. And they scoop them right up and they go and have a little chatter. Sometimes just walking to the classroom is is uh is enough, you know, it gives them enough of time. But up here it it shares how there's secondst step um lessons. There's uh every month we have these wonderful assemblies and a part of that assembly is the character ed and the ladies here. They always lead that and they're teaching
020our children about how to be better citizens and about character traits and I don't know they're just amazing. So you want them to stand up too? >> All right ladies, Elaine and Erica and Jamila. She's a little not feeling well. She's a little under the weather. That's why she's not here today tonight. And um we have restorative practices going on. We have mindfulness um social emotional team collaboration. And these ladies and all the staff are making sure our children are ready to learn because if they're not ready to learn, all of the expert teaching is falling on deaf ears. But that's not happening. All right. Thank you ladies. All right. Sabers is an assessment that everybody in the district uses in elementary school. I'll speak only to that gives us an idea in addition to
021what we see every single day as educators. So this year, this fall, we have 87% of our students at low risk for needing some extra help when it comes to helping them regulate. And that's an increase from 2023 and 2024. And I have to believe it's all of the work that our teachers and staff are doing with restorative circles and with the zones and with our people services team being there every single day working together with everybody. So, we are thankful for that. Our attendance, Miss Neto, we thank you. Um, we have her part-time. We share her with school 16 and we are very fortunate to have her. Uh, she also works with our pupil services team and our our secretary to make sure that uh we're getting kids to school and if there's a
022challenge or a problem, we're finding out what it is and we're coming up with a plan and getting children like the rest of the district does. So, I won't belabor this point. Um, however, we our daily average attendance is 94%. And that's really, really good. Um, it's not 100, so we're working toward that. And we do have about 20% of our students who kind of like eb in and out of being chronically absent, as you know, as the year goes on, we'll have students less because we're getting them to school here more and the percentage is goes down for those individual students. Miss Valente is our new principal assistant. Thank you for letting me have her. Letting Thank you for letting us have her. She's right in the front. Anyhow, um Miss Vali is is
023really focusing on fostering strong relationships with the students and having open communication, being collaborative. She's working with children and staff and families, maintaining consistent communication, and participating in parent meetings to ensure student success. because sometimes like all of us, you know, we get a little grumpy or we say the wrong thing or and you know, we need an adult to kind of help us see the light again. So, anyhow, that's Miss Valenni's job and she's shining brightly at it. Oh, oh, oh, oh, you told me, D, you told me. All right, so here comes the fun part. Less Jenny talking. All right. So, before I share with you what I'm going to share with you, um, basically it was a privilege to get some teachers and students to be willing to let us share tonight
024some snapshots of expert teaching and students engaged in learning because this says more than I just said. All right, so enjoy. Um, don't clap until I come back and talk a few more minutes. All right, >> here we go. >> All right, guys. So, yesterday we learned a new root word, terra. If you don't have your notebooks open already, open them up. Take a look at where you wrote down this root terra. And look at the words that you wrote down as examples that use this root terra in them. We have words like territory. We have words like terrestrial. We have words like terrain. Turn and tell your partners. What do those words all have in common? What do they all seem to be talking about? >> Yeah. >> Like is like a >> a
025field. All right, let's come together in three. >> So, Mrs. Mrs. Hornberger is a fifth grade teacher and she was um using a readaloud from our revised 3 through five units of study which has included in this version vocabulary and grammar instruction and in this lesson obviously she was focused on vocabulary. The next um the next teacher is Miss Levy and she's a third grade teacher. You're seeing the end of a writing unit. It's a student reading her writing and then getting feedback. You're not going to see the feedback. We'll have to wait till next year. Um it's there's just not enough time. Um there I I did say to Miss Levy, you know, about how many students do you have respond back to each of your students when they are sharing their writing at
026the end of a unit? And she said about six. So students are putting themselves out there. They're sharing with their classmates. They're getting feedback from their classmates throughout the unit, but at the end it's really nice to, you know, hey, how did I do? And um here we go. >> Video games teach kids hand eye coordination. They make you jump for rewards as keys, do the actions fast, and move the mouse to the computer. Like in Mario, you have to jump up to get rewards. That's why video games can teach you the handbag. It teaches kids to interact with the computer appropriately. don't end up breaking the computer. >> So, that was her ar piece of her argumentative essay. >> All right. Now, we're going to give you a little UFly. We have three different
027teachers sharing with you three different snapshots of phonics instruction. All right, here we go. >> Three sounds. You're going to put them together. Okay, ready? Good. >> Good. Let's see closely. This one's different. >> Good. All right. Now, we're going to tap the mouth. So, get ready. The word is ready. Good. So, let's touch and tap it. >> Touch and tap. Right. Good job. Now, we're going to change net so it reads set. Can you make it? Go ahead >> and change it to how you're doing that. really exaggerating it so we don't concept. >> Okay, first part of our new concept is a syllable. Syllable. Say it. >> You already know what a syllable is. You were classing. yesterday. So, this is just a little bit of practice. Okay. A syllable is a word
028or part of a word with one vowel sound with >> good. Check your body. >> As a little bit of practice, we're going to look at the picture, say the word, and then we can clap the syllables. Clap your syllables. You can feel how many times your chin moves, right? That can also help you. So, this is a robot. Say it. Let's clap it first. Ready? Go. >> Again. >> Show me how many syllables on your hand. >> How many syllables? Show me the number. Show me how many. >> How many was it? >> I could talk more about that, but I won't. >> Oh, stop. All right. Now, it's math. This is for Mr. Carmelo and Mr. Styles. Little math. >> There we go. Mr. Multip. What I want you to think about is
029what are you always about? And what did the student not do? I'm going to give you about a minute right now to talk with the person you're sitting next to and discuss what the student did wrong. All right, go. This picture should show what 25= to 26. Okay. But it's showing 20. Great job. All right. What else are you noticing? Raise your hand. Anyone noticing anything different? Yes. >> Yeah. There's only four boxes when we need to have >> five. Right. All right, we need to show fit. Okay, great. So, yeah, the students did not partition the entire area model to make equal size parts. Remember, they said 20th we want to fit. All right, we're coming into the home stretch, I promise. So, thank you to the teachers and students for sharing their um
030talents there. Lastly, I would like to share with the next slide just some of the enrichment opportunities that are afforded our students. You will probably recognize some of these from the previous elementary principles presentations. So, we have college and career exploration, steam days monthly, Odyssey of the mind, the homework, tutoring after school. I don't need to read it all to you, but is it all right? Um, our K2 after school program. We have a new art beautifification club, which is really awesome. Um, uh, you know, Grind Time, Kids First, Girls, Inc., our PTA events. We have, um, today and tomorrow, Attic Treasures, all these children shopping, um, with and without cash and going home with five gifts each. We have volunteers wrapping. It's like um it's like a little winter wonderland on the second floor
031and everyone's really happy. Uh we have junior achievement and field trips and stronger connections and we have 142 of our students involved and actively going to our afterchool programs and that's an all-time high for us which we're really proud of and we're thankful for all of the opportunities that we can provide our children after school till 4 or 4:15. So that is um that is almost a wrap. So to bring it home, as you have seen and heard tonight, school 18 students school 18 school 18 student learning is on the rise and we are going to close with one more slide with a little snippet of our kindergarten holiday show today. Just seconds, mere seconds, but I thank you. So So we can we will end a story and happy holidays. Thank you everyone. So,
032Jenny, just really quick, um, you and the team do a great job every day. We've been, uh, you guys have been very welcoming to us this year, and we've been really enjoying it. I don't know how you do it. You seem like you probably have at least 50,000 steps on your Fitbit every day if you wear one or an Apple Watch. Um, but thank you guys. This is awesome. You guys do a really good job. >> Welcome. >> Can I ask questions? Of course. >> Yes. Any questions? Yes. I >> I guess I don't know if this is for Jenny or maybe us as a district, John, but I I think this is the first time maybe I've heard about UFly. >> And you said it was new, >> somewhat newer. >> It's new this
033year. Some schools were piloting it at a tier three level beginning with a small group a with some small uh groups of students last year. However, this school year, all elementary schools are using it as a tier one phonics program. So all students in K12 and any students who are still needing some uh phonics instruction are receiving this new uh resource to teach phonics. >> So we that's across the board. >> Yeah. Put up the Friday report and >> yeah I think it's great. I mean obviously the results show right. I mean >> well we these fly we didn't use prior so that doesn't >> I can't say it affected our results from last year. >> Last year. Okay. Got Yeah, I I um >> I say the units of study and then Eureka math
034squared and >> the expert instruction. >> That's what I would say would be the reason for our increase. >> Yeah, it's awesome. The results are a great question. >> So, and then last year you said your biggest challenge was more snacks. I think >> you know and we're still working on the snacks. It's always children are hungry. You know, when their when their brains are working hard, >> they need to eat about every hour or two. >> Mr. Hotelling is on. >> All right, perfect. We know what the first budget line is going to be now. >> We know what the first budget line's going to be now. >> Snacks. Yes, more snacks. Well, thank you everybody. Thank you. Nice job. >> Um, yes. 18. >> Yes. So, we're going to go through our normal
035agenda. We'll take a med in case anyone wants to sneak out. >> Start join. >> Thank you everyone. >> Thank you guys for coming. Have a nice Christmas. >> I don't know how they brought us into the classroom like that. >> Great job, J. >> Great job. Yes. Nice job. >> Well done. Okay. Uh motion on the floor for approval of minutes from December 3rd, 2025. >> Second. >> Discussion. >> All those in favor? >> Opposed? Under superintendent recommendation human resources staff matters under unclassified and classified. Under unclassified motion on the floor for consent agenda items 1 through six. >> Discussion. All those in favor? >> Opposed? Underclassified. Motion on the floor for consent agenda items one and two. >> Second. >> Discussion. All those in favor? >> Opposed? Under superintendent recommendations programs. Motion on
036the floor for approval of item one as listed. >> Discussion. All those in favor? >> Opposed. under superintendent recommendations business finance motion on the floor for consent agenda items one and two discussion all those in favor >> opposed under board resolution motion on the floor for approval of item one as listed discussion all those in favor >> I >> opposed under district announcements all of our future board of ed meetings will be held here at 6 p.m. Our next one will be January 7th and then January 21st we will have our Carol Hill principal presentation. Future fusibility community meetings um after this evening we'll also have one tomorrow at the Winsk board of ed meeting starting at 7 p.m. Under Troy Triumphs. This week, school 12's prek families joined us to make gingerbread houses with
037our students. It was fun and and festive experience for everyone. And on Tuesday, we welcomed 11 students from Troy Community School who visited to read books to our classes. On Thursday, students will enjoy a special visit from Santa. And each student will receive a new book. Thank you to the Troy High students who generously volunteered their time to wrap over 100 books. The the STEM bar is just wrapping up on our elementary libraries. After a month full of engaging and exciting STEM lessons for students in grades K through five, Mrs. Barnes led a series of activities for students to explore STEM activi ST STEM fields including hour of code engineering robotics and maker space activities designed to help students connect books and literature to science technology and engineering concepts. Last week, third graders read 21
038elephants and still standing to learn about the Brooklyn Bridge and how its designers help assure New Yorkers the bridge was safe. then build their own bridges out of ka planks and tested them for strength and stability. Fifth graders read Crayman, the true story of the invention of the Crayola crayon and used a variety of materials to design a crayon box that could fit exactly eight crayons while staying staying upright to be able to open and close and remove crayons and show creativity. Our Troy student ensembles are spreading holiday cheer throughout the district this week, performing seasonal tunes for our students and staff. Our Troy Middle School Jazz Ensemble and the Select Choir performed at Tro at at the Troy Middle School. The Troy High School Jazz Ensemble performed in the Troy High School library and
039the Troy High School choir and select orchestra along with several small band ensembles will visit Carol Hill School 2, 16, and 18 in Garner Dickinson on Friday. Oh, cool. >> Our boys varsity basketball is undefeated and in first place in the Colonial Council with wins over Colony, Shamant, and Marcelus. Our girls varsity team is 4-1, defeating Guilderland, Holy Names, Shyamont, and Catholic Central. Their only loss is coming against Colombia. And our varsity bowling is also undefeated at 4-0 with wins over Kohose, Ravina, Koisman, Selkerk, Shama, and Lasal. Anyone else have anything? Okay. So, with that, I will turn it over to our Schmidt partners to give an overview. So, so thank you. Uh, my name is Bob Benstein and I'm with uh Dr. Brian Schmidt. Uh we are from the Schmidt leadership group and let
040me first say following school 18 is a tall task. So uh as someone who's been in this business for a really long time that was spectacular. So congratulations to you and your staff as well as the entire board of education I think I've collectively been at probably 2,000 schoolboard meetings in my career. And that is a precision class in getting to the business at hand. So congratulations to you all and thank you everyone for joining us tonight as we have a great deal to cover about the feasibility study. You're going to hear during this presentation some significant key concepts and we've worked very hard with all of the stakeholders from Troy from Wine and Skill to come up with these key concepts that we believe are coming together both collaboratively, collectively and comprehensively. We believe
041that there is a significant amount of data that we've uncovered and are presenting both tonight as well as in a written report as Mr. Carmelo said is uh on target to be delivered within the first week or so of January and we'll talk about that process. One of the things that we're going to discuss tonight is to differentiate between obstacles and opportunities for the two systems to talk about stressors and stability not just historically but over the long hall as this possibility of annexation, merger and reorganization comes to fruition over the next several months. The goal is to build the data that's commonly understood, factually based, and relevant to keeping student voice, student needs, and student learning not just at the center, but at the bullseye of the conversation that both districts do. So, as
042we get to this study, and there if you have the handout, you see that there are a lot of slides. I am going to discuss everything in the slides, but I'm not going to touch on every single bulleted item. We're all adults and we can take information and read it. And I know back in the days in the classroom, the last thing you want to do is go bullet by bullet by bullet. So, we're not going to do that. But what we're going to do is we're going to talk about the scope and the purpose. And the scope and the purpose was to get to the data. That's the most important part. What are the facts on the ground? and how does that impact student learning? We want to make sure throughout this entire process
043that stakeholder collaboration was critical. We wanted to identify the key areas and in the written report, these will be called out in chapter form as we build the narrative for this report to go to the stakeholders and the commissioner of education. And it will be fundamentally driven by guiding principles that align with the stateed requirements, regulation, policy, and law. As we get I want to make sure that uh there we go. As we build this stakeholder involvement, I feel confident in saying and you'll see in a later slide there have over been over 2200 stakeholder engagements that we can verify through through this process. And so perhaps maybe if a stakeholder says I didn't know anything about it. Um, I would say we have 2,200 data points of community stakeholder engagement that suggests strongly that
044if this is unknown, it's because they're not engaged. This is a significant milestone of verification through this process. 2200 is nothing nothing short of spectacular in a very large community and a very small community. At this time of year, we wanted to make sure that we address the local needs of both the wine and skill community and the Troy community. They are separate entities, but they are very common in their strengths and attributes and as well as the successes that they have in their programs. We wanted to make sure that we had regional support from Boseies. Dr. Cruz is here from uh Questar 3 Boseies as well as David Elliot from the state education department. There has been a cross-section of individuals that have contributed to getting us to this point. Our role as the
045consultants is to design this process so that there is community engagement, community involvement, verifiable data as well as substantial stakeholder voice in this conversation and we are nearing the conclusion of a drafted study that as I said should be done within the next uh 3 weeks or so. Throughout the stakeholder engagement, we held multiple meetings and again 2,200 stakeholder involvements. We've had frequently asked questions that's generating significant significant analytics online as well as the last meeting that we had that perhaps maybe was one of our most successful meetings that was not in person that had several hundred individuals attend in real time and several hundred more participate after the fact. So, it's out there and folks are having those conversations and we know that both superintendent and the boards of education have had regular updates
046publicly. We've had the annexation email that's generated a lot of engagement with the community as well as a school choice survey, one of the major topics of this conversation. I'm not going to go through the whole timeline, but this started well over a year ago with an optimization study within the wine and skill community that asked our group to come in and say, "Help us understand our short-term and long-term needs." And as we work through this process into December, we are at the point of concluding the petition process, which has exceeded the minimum requirements that the state has demanded of this. And that's a testament to the work of the staff as well as the community members for getting the word out there. What happens after this is we finish the report. It's presented to
047Dr. Cruz and Dr. Rosa, the commissioner of education. They will provide commentary. Once that is released, then they will turn it back to the boards of education and then that will go for board action and adoption based on input from the state education department. So, how did we get here? Over a year ago, Weskill asked us to come in and take a to take a look at what they are experiencing. And we know that there are two main sources of revenue for every district. Tax levy and foundation aid. Those are WeinKills numbers from last year. But we also know that there is significant fiscal distress in weenkill caused mainly by declining enrollment over a long period of time and aid uncertainty from New York State and escalating costs. When you put minimal aid in the
048same bucket list as escalating cost and uncertainty, you get substantial fiscal stress. Additional stressors for some of those added cost and financial stressors include an uptick of 155,000, uptick of 75,000, uptick of $145,000 for a total of 375,000. Now, if we go back to the last slide, they're only getting about $150,000. They are running essentially on a structural deficit year after year after year. Last year, Dr. Tims uh from school aid specialist came in to take a look at the uh financial portfolio of the uh wine and skill community and projected a substantial approaching $2 million structural deficit by 2030. That creates an opportunity for both fiscal insolveny and instructional insolveny in the wine and skill school system during the optimization study. And Dr. Yodas will confirm this. Day one, the students stood up and
049said, "This is what's needed. This is what we want. We want a robust curriculum. We want academic rigor." What seventh and eighth grade student stands in front of a complete stranger and says, "We want more homework. We want more tests. We want more academic rigor." That is a strong commitment of the Wein skill backbone in the community that says academics matter. That student voice was the exact same commentary that the stakeholders, the adults said is they want more. Again, they want opportunity versus the fiscal obstacles that are in their current trajectory. They also wanted improvements in the ancillary things in the school system, the facilities, the buildings and grounds, athletics. And that first day, Dr. Yodas and I had a conversation and said, "You need to do something for the athletics and the co-curriculars." Instantly,
050there was a conversation between Troy and Wekill, which has a hundred-year partnership, and just a few short weeks later, spring sports created opportunities for the Witskill students, plus clubs and activities, and that has accelerated. That is one of the strongest indicators in this study of student voice translating to action. Adults may not always like that. Let's be honest, adults can be rigid and structured and stubborn, but when you listen to the student voice, it drives important decisions. We know that the additional stressors for wine and skill is the in instructional programs and co-curriculars, the facilities, student transportation, staffing and finances. Every district has a level of fiscal programmatic stress. It's just a reality. It's exacerbated in wine and skill because of their current circumstances with limited tax levy increase opportunities, limited growth, limited development. You
051can only get so much out of your residents before programs starts to get compromised. When we take a look at the instructional programs, one of the significant realities of that fiscal stress, if this conversation ends at the commissioner or at the ballot box or the wine and skill community at some point in time, is probable, not likely, not possible, probable losses of school choice, school resource officer, social work, mental health supports, increasing class sizes, remedial and math teacher programs, prek services, special areas reduced in frequency and occurrence to the state minimums, afterchool clubs, reduced buildings and grounds, reduce cafeteria staffing and compromise communication simply because there are not enough bodies to do the work that needs to be done. Fiscal stress translates to programmatic stress and that is exactly the GPS coordinates of where Wine
052and Skill is community. These are not possible. These are probable risk factors starting as early as September of 2026. Those are our realities based on all of the available data. We know that school choice as a K8 district, school choice is embedded in the DNA of the W and Skill community. We heard that from stakeholders. We heard it from students who said, "I chose school X because they have the best STEM program. I chose school Y because that's where my parents told me I'm going." School choice courses through every student's DNA and their family. It's a 100 plus year history and Troy has been a valuable partner for a 100red years with the wine and skill community. Other school choice opportunities have fluctuated over the last 25 years. They've come, they've gone, they've come back.
053The reality is there is a legacy of engagement between the two communities here. When we completed the optimization study, part of the reason why we recommended a discussion with Troy about the feasibility of reorganization is you have to have two willing, engaged, collaborative, collectively aligned partners. Absent that, that is why the majority of these conversations fail because there are not partnerships that are long established based on trust and reality on the ground. So we know that stakeholders want to engage in this conversation and parents and students told us time and time and time again what they wanted to hear and what they wanted to move forward with this. We did a school choice fiscal audit that will be detailed comprehensively in the study. When we look at tuition another fiscal stress because wine and skill
054is K8 $1.6 6 million nearly $1.7 million annually today of tuition costs. Next year that number would be projected to go up at least the cost of inflation because all of the tuition contracts expire at the end of this current school year in June of 2026. So that would need to be renegotiated as we look forward to that. As I said, Troy has been a dynamic partner for a 100 plus years. The other schools that have been tuition partners, four of them, East Greenbush, Brunswick, PEC, and Tech Valley, have stated both verbally and in writing that they will continue to be transitional school choice partners regardless of this outcome. That is a significant partnership agreement with the wine and skill community and potentially the reorganized community. As we've mentioned previously and was reported both uh
055privately and publicly, Averil Park has indicated that they would not honor those commitments. And as of today, that uh that designation still stands. And any uh any any changes to that um there was a universal agreement from all of the stakeholders that existing high school students would be allowed in their school choice to continue through graduation. The one part I would say is that if this does not proceed, it is a probable reality that school choice for September of 2026 by the wine and skill community based on all the available data would be substantively curtailed. That's a board decision, but with a $1.7 million tuition hit every year, it is fiscally unsustainable to continue to do that. So that is an outcome that is a very real probability for the wine and skill board to
056consider for September. Now on the other side of that coin if those are the fiscal stressors let's talk about the opportunities as part of this. We know from the existing data in Troy the additions to improve opportunities for instruction would be added coaches, content leaders, curriculum review cycles, technology liaison. There is a lot that can be added and I'm not going to go through all of these slides, but simply say there are about 15 or 18 add-ons in this that speak of the partnership, the vibrant partnership that Troy currently has with its students and its community to promote, as the principal said, gains in academics, targeted resource deployment for students who are not meeting benchmarks. That's a commitment to academics and instruction that would be predicted to continue postexation reorganization. In addition to the potential
057issues, it could be included and it would be a recommendation that post annexation recommendation, there would be a comprehensive transition team implementation and alignment and discussion over how the curriculums are aligned and how the curriculums might need additional support. looking at the students with disabilities, how do they benefit from this program in terms of space and bringing out of district students home or creating additional programs to better meet the needs of the students that may have challenges. One of the things that I think is important to note throughout this entire process is that it is very clear to us as outside individuals that the dynamic, robust, rigorous academic programs for Troy High School students is something that is really spectacular and that you as a community should be proud of. This doesn't occur in every
058community. Every high school has elements of some of this, but Troy's level is significant and engaged to promote secondary learning. We didn't see this obviously in Weenkill because they're a KA building. Their students go to multiple other locations as we've talked about. But when they come here or the students that are already enrolled here, there is rigor, there is vibrancy, and there are dynamic programs, college course offerings, project lead the way, career discovery, new vision, smart scholars, regeneration, STEM Academy, partnerships, and state-of-the-art uh tech wing that's coming online >> coming September. coming soon to a uh to a street near you >> to this street. Um and and the same can be very clearly articulated as the opportunities versus an obstacle. I'm going to go through the co-curriculars quickly. The students at Weenkill last year
059and we've confirmed as part of this feasibility study there are significant obstacles to co-curriculars in Weeden Skill. Not just staffing, not just opportunities, not just programs, but the ability to do it. I think the heart is willing and the spirit is willing, but there are so many other stressors that is just not feasible. Whereas in Troy, there are literally dozens of opportunities for students to engage. We know from a data point, when students are engaged in their academic program, they're safer. They're more engaged with instruction and learning. They come to school more frequently. And as we've heard, they ate a lot of snacks. That's a good thing. We want them here. Last spring, wine and skill directly as a result of the student voice, 40 students were able to participate in uh co-curriculars and activities
060and that has expanded this year. Wine and skill. This is pretty much it. and they rely on a popup system that says, "Hey, we want to do this. It's short-term. It's quick. It's in and out. It's not sustainable due to the other stressors that impact opportunities. Troyce clubs for the elementary, as we heard a little bit uh just a few moments ago from the principal at 8 uh 18, uh these are activities that create a more dynamic academic program. The middle school, some of the same offerings, some of the same dynamics, age appropriate, geared more towards adolescence as opposed to primary and intermediate age students. And the secondary programs are, as I said, um, spectacular. Lots and lots of things for students at the secondary level to be engaged and to create not just learning
061opportunities, but for opportunities to take their next steps as adults, whether it's prevocational career, teched, music, arts, performance, theater, uh, academic instruction, or just simply making good choices. The list is extensive. When we looked at facilities, I I would just simply say it's the halves versus the have nots. Okay. Um we looked comprehensively at the building condition survey, which is a state requirement, a five-year plan. What are your hopes, dreams, wishes, and aspirations long-term, but what are your realities today? We looked at the fiscal impact of those capital improvement projects. And we looked at stakeholder input particularly from the faculty and staff at Weenkill about what do they need instructionally in their programs. It should all drive sustainability in their facilities to promote instruction. And there's a real clear body of knowledge that says improved
062facilities have up to a 10 to 12% increase on student achievement just by being in that type of new building and structure. The investments in facilities may not look all that glamorous. It impacts student achievement in very demonstrative ways. So the aid ratio that we looked at again halves has and have nots. Troy can do 90 cents on the dollar worth of work. Troy can do 76%. And you might think, well, that's not so bad. But over a million, 2 million, $150 million, that differential exacerbates the fiscal stress for the district that has less ability to meet those fiscal challenges to improve facilities versus the district that can get 90 cents on the dollar back if the reorganization occurs. We've talked about this extensively. Any project approved in the 10-year window once the commissioner so
063orders would be reimburseable at 98%. That's an 8% increase in aidability. And as we said here, a $10 million project, which is nothing in terms of capital projects, uh would cost the district $200,000. Take away a few zeros. If it cost you two cents to do something that would cost a dollar, I think we'd all really quickly jump on board and say, "I'll take that deal." It's a good deal for any project approved. Doesn't need to be completed in that 10-year window. That is a substantial fiscal investment that Weenkill simply cannot do. As we looked at this, we looked and we decided, okay, where's a clear benchmark to do this? We took a 10-year period from this study back. In that time, Wus School has done one project for $5 million for a roof. That's
064probably not going to drive instruction as well as $150 million in 12 capital projects at significant financial benefit for a reorganized community. And we did we previously at other meetings uh Mr. Carmelo had detailed all of that comprehensive work. We're going to list that and call that out in the study to highlight the facility differential that is growing day by day. We also looked at transportation and food service. Simple part of transportation is every student needs to be transported regardless of their demographics or concerns fiscally or instructionally. It's just a must-have. Wine and Skill has um I believe it's 12 drivers, 12 routes. Somebody calls off sick, guess what happens? Transportation's delayed. Instruction potentially gets delayed. Students don't arrive on time. Students don't get picked up on time. This fiscal insolveny creates fiscal or creates
065stressors instructionally through no fault of anyone that might get sick. So in this course of the conversation, there are very limited options when a wine and skilled driver cannot complete their roots. Troy larger, more dynamic, more uh opportunities to provide those supports can absorb those single one-time stressors much easier than a smaller system can. Currently, and we've said this before, um, and we won't get into the dynamics of the electric bus mandate. Currently, as it stands in the study, Wine and Skill has zero capacity to meet the electric bus mandate. Even with significant aid that may or may not be attached or the timeline that may or may not ultimately be enacted, Weskill is unable to complete that mandate based on their current stressors. Many districts are struggling with the EV mandate for lots of
066reasons, but in this particular case, it is not possible for that to occur. That is not just a stressor. It is a significant stressor. Currently, Troy is providing assistance. They have a route that's going to a particular location for a particular demographic of students. We skill has a student that needs to go there. Troy picks up that student, takes them there. Again, a vibrant, dynamic, collaborative partnership. And I believe I missed at no cost to wine and skill. The bus is going right by. It's just what good neighbors do. When we looked at transportation, a key consistency here in this conversation with stakeholders is everyone that is employed will remain employed. And the transportation students will continue uninterrupted for the wine and skill students. That includes public, private, agency based students with special need programming,
067Bosei students and parochial. There is a commitment because as I said just a few moments ago, every student needs to be transported. When we look at food service, the stakeholders were engaged. There's a differential between how Troy approaches food service with a partnership with Boseies versus Wine and Skill that has their own staff. Again, all stakeholders, all staff members are kept whole. Everyone stays employed. They're able to continue to do their job. And I think the key here is that um gently put, the cafeteria needs some work and help at wine and skill because of the fiscal stressors. that's less of an urgent priority in the building condition survey. If you'd like to do it and want to do it, that would be great. I think everyone would want to do that. But the reality
068is they can't because of the added cost in the aid ratio differential and the ability to put that before the voters to do that. If this uh conversation proceeds, there would be uh the opportunity for enhanced building aid at 98% to upgrade the kitchen. When we look at staffing, staffing is very complicated. There are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of unique dynamics both of the existing employees and the long-term uh employee agreements that are in place. Those have all been substantially digested and reviewed. The key is looking at the comparisons, the similarities, and the divergences between the two districts. Looking at the compensation packages for all of the employees, both past and present. They're still under collective bargaining umbrella agreements. The instructional start times, the length of the school day. If it has anything to
069do with staffing at any level and target of title, that's part of this conversation and study. And then there will be recommendations for the districts to explore. Not all of this work will occur as soon as the commissioner weighs in on this. Some of this will take an implementation period, which is why there is a transition recommendation team that needs to be put into place. And there will be some things that will be immediate, short-term, ready to go with uh a fair uh fairly short duration of attention and others will be long-term like curriculum and instruction and capital projects. When we look at the financial impact of annexation very simply you can see the differential between the budgets size and uh levy uh power is an important differential. The simple statement is Troy has a
070an economic opportunity and an engine to you to use the tax levy in the community whereas wine and skill does not. That's typical in a larger setting. there's more opportunities to engage the community to meet some of those fiscal stressors. The simple statement is Weskill does not have the tax base to absorb any of these substantial costs, which is why over time the fiscal stress has continued to grow. We took a look, as Mr. Carmelo had stated in multiple sessions, Troy has a 10-year, probably longer, but again, we're looking at it from a 10-year perspective fiscal stability profile, which means Troy has smartly, wisely, conservatively planned a long-term fiscal plan within the district to meet your instructional, programmatic, facility, staffing, and other obligation needs. Wine and skill is going yeartoear simply because they have so
071many other fiscal stressors. They're doing everything they can to try to keep that gap from exploding, but as we know from our projections, a $2 million deficit and underfunding in 2030 is an unsustainable level of fiscal stress without substantial cuts. And as we looked at this, the $2 million deficit in 2030 is an impactful element in the academic program and staffing and class sizes. As we mentioned earlier, when we look at this, the state aid is projected. Again, this is a calculation will come from state aid if this proceeds. This is an approximation. We know the top number is $241 million. That's pretty stable and confirmed by state ed. The aid will be based on student enrollment at the time. And again, capital projects are 98%. The question that stakeholders ask, what could the reorg
072aid be used for? Stabilize the tax levy, eliminate deficits, build reserves before the aid phases out, support program alignments and trans transition costs, facility improvements, and a liability reserve for school choices. so that school choice continues to be funded. There are structural changes on how tuition obligation is reduced. One combined budget, one less budget vote, uh uh efficiencies with communication, aid stream consolidates at the higher level. And again, Troy's aid ratio 90.2 for building aid, 90% transportation. And we've talked about this a little bit, but Troy carries existing debt on past capital projects, not just the one in 2015, but uh other projects that occurred years before that. Just this recalculation alone is estimated to be a six or seven figure savings that Wine and Skill cannot realize under its current organization structure. Mr. Carmelo
073has talked about a comprehensive long-term uh strategy for developing the budget during this fiscal uh period. It goes out the first year and then four additional years and I want to stress this at a minimum and looking at Troy's budget profile minimum should suggest longer than that 5-year period. There is great data and accountability benchmarks in Troy's budget history that is a strong data point of fiscal responsibility to promote all those programs without overburdening the community and taxpayers in the community. Mr. Carmelo had previously said that the the levy would be reduced the first year by 5%. That's an immediate savings. And then over the next four years as a minimum, a 0% increase. PreK rem uh Gardner Dickinson remains a prek8 building. It maintains the annexation of staffing levels uh that are currently in
074place. It funds additional supports and programs and other supports for students. Creates a transition program for students currently enrolled to honor that school choice expectation. and Troy will create a reserve for those additional school choice tuition costs year one. The current status of the study is the email is still open as we are completing our work and are writing the final document. Troy [email protected]. We have gotten a lot of community engagements engagements within this. some residents or stakeholders on both sides of this uh conversation have specific concerns about their child or their individual circumstances. We've shared that uh generally with the superintendants to get an answer. We've responded to every single person that has asked those questions. Um and we continue to do that. The conversation from the stakeholders in that form has been thoughtful,
075solutionoriented and for the most part very student centered. Um the petition process is currently open for Troy and uh wine and skill is closing this week I believe. Uh and as we've said uh it has exceeded the minimum requirements uh mandated by the state. So, our conclusion and recommendation, if you uh may have kind of missed me building it to this point in time, um if wine and skill maintains wine and skill for the foreseeable future, funds will run out in 24 months. The budget could remain with a 2% tax levy for 2627. They'll draw down additional reserves. School choice would be phased out almost immediately and there would be immediate and impactful staffing reductions in September based on our analysis or for the foreseeable future a 6.4% annual tax increase which requires a 60%
076majority every time every year funds still run out just a little bit later. You still drain your reserves. you quickly phase out school choice and you still have substantial reductions in staff and programs. The difference between slide one here 2% in here is how fast does wine and skill cease to exist? We're here because wine and skill faces real fiscal and instructional stressors that are on the path to insolveny both fiscally and instructionally. The Troy and the Wine and Skill boards have met informally. We've had many meetings together to create this dynamic partnership. And we have confirmed safely that Dr. Tims's recommendations and analysis last year and this summer that there will be a $2 million structural deficit in 2030, which will dramatically impact White Skills sustainability. What we learned and what we heard, Governor
077Dickinson needs to stay open. Governor Dickinson will need significant capital improvement infusions. There are added stressors with teacher retirement, employee retirement systems, operations, transportations. Costs are going to continue to rise, but the tax levy ability of Wine and Skill to meet those demands shrinks year after year after year. And school choice is a priority. We understand from the stakeholders that they want instruction to be a priority and it is and it still is and continues to be. But students want more. Staff wants more. The overabundance of petition processes is a strong indicator which is why it's part of the process to gauge support for this process moving forward. And in a short time, both districts have exceeded that level. And as a result of that, it is our recommendation and will be confirmed in writing
078that this move to the commissioner for an order of potential reorganization uh as early as January 10th, probably between January 10th and January 15th. From there, the commissioner will review the document. That's the red part. We're going to get to there real soon. Uh, and in January, the report will go to the commissioner and Dr. Cruz. We anticipate that that review will take approximately 30 days or less. New York State and the commissioner may order edits or revisions or clarifications. If so, that will be undertaken. If not, it will go back to the boards of education on or about the end of January, first week of February for the boards to accept, receive and contemplate the next steps. That's a lot. And I appreciate your attention. Uh that uh I think Brian, we're up to
079how many pages so far in the report? >> 115 without appendencies and one chapter. So, we're we're we're we've well surpassed the 100 page mark and we're still building the report to substantiate our findings with the data shared by both districts and residents. >> Great job. Great job. >> Any questions from any of you guys? >> I think just a comment. We we see wine and skill folks over here, administration, teachers, uh you know, board members, and it's hard to hear that stuff, right? I saw some tough body language and you guys taking that personal, but I think it's, you've said it before, John, takes a lot of courage to do what you guys are doing and standing up to what's right for the students and what's right for the community. And there's been a
080lot of maybe negative feedback and maybe some misinformation out there and for what you guys are doing to stand up to that and to do what's right for the kids needs to be commended as John has mentioned before. >> Thank you Josh. All right. Motion on the floor to adjourn our meeting. >> All those in favor? >> I opposed. >> Have a nice holiday, everyone. >> Thank you. Thank you everybody.