001Good evening everyone. Please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance, to the flag, of the United States of America. And to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. At this time it is our public input on agenda and non-agenda items. I welcome any members of the audience to speak at this time. Mr. Carmello, you want to give your update? Thank you. So, I want to just give the update on the reorganization with Wynantskill. Moving along at our last board meeting, as you know, we had our, presentation from the consultants. They did a really great job of, summarizing where we started and where we are now. Our petitions are being approved tonight. We needed to get 712. Were up over 1000. You'll see. The
002resolution really just says exceeded 1000. We didn't want to get too specific, but I think we're 1029 or something at this point. So is that right? 1041 excellent. So, did a great job of doing that. It's like 45% over, over the amount we wanted. Superintendent Yodis is here again tonight. She had to get 170 ish and got well over 300, which is almost 75% more than she needed to get. So, really great showing of community support, which is what the petitions were all about. We had our biweekly check in this morning with, the consultants and Questar BOCES, Doctor Cruz, and SED, it was a really, really productive meeting. Talked about the petition process, talked about where we are from now. The consultants, feel like they'll be done with the whole report. They said it's upwards
003of 160 pages or something. But they'll be done. They think on Monday, ready to submit to state ed. State ed committed to almost immediately looking at it and and trying to review it. And within a couple of weeks, being able to give them feedback and get back to them. And when we left the meeting today, it seems like by the end of this month, we'll have an answer from SED that there, you know, hopefully recommending that we move forward. That will mean the one new item I think we heard today, was that and I texted everybody, thank you for your responses. That we have to have another joint board meeting, which was fine. We scheduled it. At least tentatively right now. Both boards agreed that, Tuesday, February 10th works. Now we're going back and make
004sure, Doctor Cruz and SED representatives will be available for that. And the consultants already said they could be available. So that'll be one last joint meeting. It won't be as in-depth as the summary that we got on the 17th and that the Wynantskill board got on the December 18th meetings. But it'll be kind of a little executive summary of of what the report says. It'll be a probably be I assume, links to where you find that report and, you know, it'll be available by that time for people to have read and or want to read. And then we will schedule the vote, which, right now, you've heard we're we're trying to do the end of March. Tuesday, March 31st is our goal. I don't think that's definite yet, but if the timeline works the way
005they talked this morning, we'll still be able to meet that, so I'll keep you posted. But, it's really been kind of a smooth process. And, And we'll keep moving on. So thank you. Any questions? So the vote will take place before. Budget vote. Yeah. Okay. It's a great question, Matt. Intentionally. Really? Not for our budget. Our budget won't change too much one way or the other. I mean, a little bit maybe. Mister Hotaling and I have already started talking about this year's budget development. And knowing that that money is on the horizon. We could probably be a little less conservative this year if it does get voted. Yes, but really, for, Wynantskill’s budget, it's going to be a two different budgets, right? So, we purposely tried to pick it early enough. March 31st. It was
006about as early as we can make it, even if it bounces until early April. That gives Mary and her board about if it goes down about 2 or 3 weeks to, you know, do the alternative budget, which you've, as you've heard in these presentations, will mean a six plus percent increase in taxes in the Wynantskill community, a lot of cuts and some drastic things that might have to happen. So, purposely had to have it before the May regular budget vote, so that, Mary and her board can make some budget decisions. So, I don't want to put words into her mouth, but during the budget development process, what we've talked about is they'll have to probably have two different budgets going. If it passes, it will look like this. If it doesn't pass, it'll look like
007this. And so that would give her some time to regroup. If it does go down. Other questions. Thank you. Thanks, guys. Mr. DiNovo, do you want to provide us with the November financial update? Sure. All the accounts are reconciled. Revenues and expenses and all funds are still on track with the budget. I should be able to start putting projections on the monthly reports, starting with the January's report. I have the internal auditors in my office for the last two days. Everything seemed to go smoothly, and we'll be sure to send those reports on when they're available. I want to thank everybody in my office that helped, gather all the requested information. We should be able to get W-2s and 1099s out within the next couple of weeks. And completing any calendar year end filing. And
008that's all I have to report at this time. Okay. Thank you. Any questions? All right. We can move over to the agenda. Motion on the floor for approval of minutes from December 17th, 2025. Second discussion. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Superintendent recommendation. Human resources staff matters unclassified and classified under unclassified motion on the floor for consent agenda. Items one through ten. Second discussion. All those in favor. Aye. Opposed. Under classified motion on the floor for consent agenda. Items one through five. Any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Under superintendent recommendations. Programs. Motion on the floor for consent. Agenda. Items one and two. Second. discussion? All those in favor? Opposed? Under superintendent recommendations. Business finance. Motion on the floor for consent agenda items one through three. Okay. Discussion. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed?
009Under board resolutions. Motion on the floor for consent. Agenda items one and two. Any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? All right. For district announcements, all of our future board meetings will be held here at 6 p.m.. The next one will be January 21st. We will have our Carol Hill principal presentation. And then on February 4th, we will have our district budget discussion and our state budget discussion will be presented by Assemblyman Mr. McDonald. Under Troy triumphs, school 14 recently completed a Fresh Start Attendance Challenge, an initiative that successfully incentivized daily attendance through student Choice. Qualifying students with 0 to 1 absences or tardies celebrated their work by choosing between a glowstick dance party or a movie and popcorn reward. These diverse options fostered a positive school culture where student presence is valued and
010celebrated. School 14 is proud of our students efforts to be present and accounted for, and look forward to building on this momentum to further decrease chronic absenteeism. We should have a glow stick dance party as our next retreat, that would be a good idea. Is this a monthly party that you guys are doing? Three times a year. Okay. We had to invite Anne Rounds back. Junior achievement will return to school 16 later this month. Continuing a valued partnership that brings real world learning into the classroom through engaging hands on lessons, students will explore financial literacy, career readiness, and entrepreneurship, helping them build foundational skills and better understand how classroom learning connects to future opportunities. This Friday, students at school 18 will experience the Freestyle Connection, a dynamic assembly that combines freestyle BMX demonstrations with meaningful
011life lessons. The 40 minute presentation focuses on responsibility and courage, reinforcing character education themes introduced earlier this week through a mix of BMX stunts, storytelling, humor and music. The program highlights positive decision making, bicycle safety, health, healthy lifestyles, and perseverance. Reynolds school team will also host its annual talent show next Thursday at 530 in the school gym. The invite, the event invites students to showcase a wide range of talents including music, dance, comedy, gymnastics, art and more. Celebrating creativity, confidence and self-expression. The Talent Show is a collaborative effort supported by the school 18 PTA. It provides an opportunity for students to perform in a positive, supportive community setting. All right. Mariana, do you want to give us some news on Troy High? Yes. Thank you. The Troy High School Rocket League team qualified for the
012state championship after qualifying for the playoffs following the regular season performance and winning their matches in the first two rounds of playoffs. The regular season in the first two rounds of the playoffs are remote, as each team logs into their respective schools and team teams compete against each other for the state championship, though the top four teams meet again and compete in person, and the host site was Syracuse University state of the art gaming facility. The team lost in semifinals. For Troy High’s door decorating contest. Seniors Tiana Harris and Hailey Guerin organized and promoted a holiday door decorating contest in December. The cost per door was $10 to enter. Over 32 doors participated, with $400 raised, over 490 students and faculty responded to the voting form, awarding a first, second, and third place winner. Tiana
013and Haley will be donating to the local Mohawk Humane Society and for the boys varsity basketball team. They've improved to 6-0 on the season with a 59 to 54 win over LaSalle, remaining undefeated and earning a seven state ranking in class Double-A Xavion Arroyo led all scorers with 22 points, while Kayne Behan added 15 points, including the game winning three pointer. The team will face Cohoes on Friday. Okay, all three of our teams beat LaSalle last night just over and the girls in the girls. That's all right. Any questions? Anyone got anything? Okay, then. Motion on the floor to adjourn our meeting. All those in favor? Have a good night.