001Good evening everyone. Today is Wednesday, May 20th, 2026. This is a regular meeting of the Board of Education of the Tuckahoe Union Free School District. Can I have a motion to call the meeting to order? I'll keep second Lou. All in favor? 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. >> We are going to start with board comments. Who would like to go first? You guys are all down there. Who would like to go first? >> I'll say my piece now. >> Yep. >> I'm going to save it for the end. For the end. >> You're going to save it for the >> No, I'm going to say
002it right now. No. I'll I'll just comment on the success of the budget vote last night. Thank you to the community for that turnout and for that overwhelming passing of the budget. It was a 72.6% approval. So, it says a lot about how the community feels about the job that's being done. So, and I wanted to also acknowledge the superintendent's um efforts especially in those week the last week or two leading up to it. There were some concerns about some of the staffing moves and he I think he very proactively um you know, made himself available and and spoke to the community and got them to a place obviously where they were comfortable. So, um kudos to you uh Superintendent Roberts. So, that's it for me. >> Uh same thing. I want to say Ben
003and Faith, you guys did a great job with the budget. As we know, there's local districts our neighboring district Eastchester did not pass their budget. Um and they're going to >> day um and long day. So, and and days leading up to it. So, thank you for all the work that you put into it. Um thank you to Ben and Faith for uh Mr. Roberts and Faith, sorry, for um all the work on your budget and congratulations on getting that passed. And Faith as well to your business office. Um all the team, Beata and Jen and I just everybody in the office who assists you with the budget. You know, great work. Um, and thank you to the community for coming out and voting um, with such strong support for the budget. It really is
004um, such a sign of the support and faith you have in the district and I just really appreciate um, everybody voting in favor for it. So, thank you. Um, next I want to thank all the candidates for running. Um, for those of you who don't know, running for Board of Ed is an extremely taxing project. It takes away so much time from your family. It is very very difficult for putting yourself out there. Um, and there are a lot of conversations and sometimes difficult conversations to be had while you're doing it. And I really just want to say thank you to all four of you for putting your hat in the ring, for going through um, what you went through in the past few weeks and um, for anyone who is willing to do that
005for our district, I just want to say thank you for the work that you put into it. Um, next is um, I had pleasure of going and attending the I missed the the band concert, I believe, but I did have the pleasure of seeing the strings concert on Monday, which was absolutely phenomenal. Um, I love the energy, I love the music selection. They did a rock-based um, music selection. It was just a lot of fun to see the high school and the middle school kids um, in that performance and uh, the son with the Scarsdale um, sonata players doing their pieces and it was just a great energy and you could really see um, what a benefit that is to the district. And um I believe that yesterday, right they went to Nisma? Yesterday they
006went to Nisma and the um the string orchestra this Illinois Sonata won gold for their performance on piece and they worked so hard on it. I mean these kids are here. Every time we have a board meeting they are in there practicing for hours in Mr. D's room. So um happy to hear that the practice paid off and that they won and I believe also our band or the jazz band won um bronze and that again is a is a really really great accomplishment. Um I also went this evening to the art show which I believe the artist is going to be up for a couple of days, right? So it is so worth going to see if you have not seen it. I suggest you stop by the library and go see it. It
007is just really great. Um some of the artwork is just really really phenomenal. I I took pictures of some of them because it's amazing to see what these kids have done and kids that you've known since they were, you know, kindergarten pre-K and then you see these beautiful pieces of art come out. Um and I was complimenting a mother on her child's artwork and she said, you know, it's so great that he can just express himself in this way. And that's what art does for for students, for anybody really. All sorts of art, whether it's musical, vocal, theater, um visual, it just is a great way for people to be able to express themselves and I'm proud to be in a district where we showcase them. Um so it's really great. Go up, take a
008look at it. Um tonight Mr. D also had some guitar players there adding to the ambiance of the night. It was It was really It was really really great. So um I just want to say that, you know, I'm proud to see everybody and what they can do and I look forward to being able to see the chorus concert which is tomorrow, right? Okay. Um and that's it. That's all for my report. Thank you. Superintendent's report. >> Okay. I think uh you >> Do you want to say it now? >> I was going to save it for >> Oh, okay. >> President Hallen may have got all the updates there, but I will uh embark on some of the same topics because they're very important to highlight and our students are doing great things. Uh
009first and foremost, to our community, thank you for coming out in full force. Uh just under 1,400 voters and record high turnout and I I really um can't say enough of of Tuckahoe families bringing their voter age children out. Um it was really a community event coming out participating in our election and um budget election and trustee election. And I really do think that the high turnout was a testament to the dedication of our tremendous candidates that were running. Um you know, the passion to be a to be leaders in this district and to continue to be leaders um and and all different capacities. Um you know, really brought people out to participate in the budget vote and that helped us to get a record high turnout as well as a a great passing rate
010of uh 72.6% strong affirmation of our community of uh the the good things our school district is doing um and and the opportunities that we're providing for our students. And I think to many of them have been mentioned here tonight, the concerts, the awards, uh the Nisba celebrations of getting the the gold uh level four performance for our Nisba, the concerts that took place um even the the cotillion third grade recorder concert was phenomenal this earlier this week. So, a lot of great things are happening. Um speak about the arts and the uh experience of our students. I also had the privilege of speaking with some of the students about their work and what inspired them. Uh and they're just so proud. They're so proud of how they express themselves and how they challenge themselves
011and where they um even surprised themselves, you know, and they didn't think they could produce certain pieces of art and uh they're just really in awe of their own talents and were very jubilant in expressing that um to to anyone that would listen and um parents were there with with such pride and you know, couple that with the students' performance. It's a great event as well for for the art um that was taking place. A lot of great things are going on. Um, kudos to trustee Baggetti, Vice President Baggetti, um, Cassis, Mr. Argusa, and also Mr. Meran for running and and uh as talents are putting themselves out there to to continue to be leaders in this district. Uh, and congratulations to Mr. Meran and Mr. Cassis who were selected by the community to start
012their terms on the Board of Education beginning July. Uh, look forward to welcoming them on and and also we'll be celebrating uh Mr. Cassis and trustee Baggetti, Vice President Baggetti, uh for their service uh to the board and the dedicated years that they provided to Tuckahoe. Uh, I'm sure we'll continue to be leaders within our school district. So, additionally, I want to give my thanks to Ms. Dunn. Um, formally being a district clerk myself for 6 years holding that title, I know how much time and effort goes into a organizing election, working with the poll workers. Uh, it's a long long day. You're starting at 5:00 a.m. and you're going to well past 10:30 and sometimes beyond and um sometimes it can be a stressful day as well. So, she did a great job handling
013that and being really organized and uh conducting a very professional well-run election, which was great and uh kudos to you for all your efforts, Ms. Dunn. We really appreciate that. Here on uh the home front today at the middle school high school, we had a wonderful event and even our cuddle students came up for our Memorial Day celebration. First time experiencing it as as superintendent and being a part of that, welcoming our veterans, helping to educate our students about the importance of Memorial Day and the sacrifices that uh some of our forefathers have put on the line and paid the ultimate sacrifice and then um it was great to have our students read essays. Uh, our students were performing. Uh, a great community event that we had, a great school community event and and uh
014great way to honor our veterans was today. So, kudos to Mr. Cassano and our Geo advisors and all our student participants that were a part of uh running the show and facilitating of that this evening. Okay. Earlier this week I went to the town of Eastchester celebrating the American Revolution 250th anniversary and it was great to have Anaya Charity was one of our students. She read about the Battle of Pell's Pell's Point Battle and did a great job representing Tuckahoe as well as other school districts were there from Eastchester and Bronxville. So it was great to be there to support her and in addition to a lot of great things that are going on here at Tuckahoe. I'd also like to highlight over the past week the Nisbet students in the concert earning the the
015gold award and our bronze for the jazz ensemble as well. And this evening again the art show taking place in the library. If you didn't get a chance to see it, please before the meeting's over or it should be up even tomorrow and later on this week. Tremendous art from our students. Tomorrow night is our chorus concert. So we're looking forward to Miss Reedy that performance and highlighting our choral students. And I also want to congratulate all of our student athletes as they finish out the year as even while everything's going on AP exams, Regents exams, all the different academic preparations. Many of their seasons are coming to close and it's not even about wins and losses. It's just the experience that they're having with their their teammates and their families. I was able to
016attend some of the senior games and the the pageantry that goes into that, the thought, the care for our students and celebrating their success becomes very memorable moments for all of our families and students and it's great great testament to what we do as a culture here at Tuckahoe. And I think my highlight of this past week was via going to Miss Miggins class at Cottle and being a part of Shark Tank. So we have some wonderful entrepreneurs and future business young men and women that will be coming up that are were pitching their products. They really put on a great show with working collaboratively and coming up with some new ideas that will will solve many of the world's problems. So, I will definitely be investing in some of those projects and she just
017put on a great program for our students to be engaged in that. So, thank you for inviting me to that. Uh and lastly, I want to end the the agenda this evening. We have the for the board to consider and and approve later on would be the contract agreement with the CSEA. Kudos to the board. This is the third bargaining unit to settle contract providing the vote later on that the board has settled and that was one of the board's goals, one of my goals. So, it's been a lot of work, but uh kudos to all of your efforts and to the bargaining units, the leadership of all of our units to settle those contracts this year and put us in a good place for the next several years, fair contracts for our employees, but
018also very fiscally responsible agreement. So, very very pleased to put that on the agenda for your consideration. And to support our our employees and to really leave us in a good place moving forward. Thank you. >> Thank you. All comments from the business manager. >> Thank you. I just want to thank the community for the overwhelming support on passing the budget. Um it's a long process that um is not done in isolation. We have a strong administrative team that um really keeps our students in mind and everything is built around the students. So, thank you to them and Mr. Roberts and to the board. Um thank you for um to Vice President Baggett and Trustee Casson for their dedication and service to the board. And um congratulations to our new board members, um Amber Cassis
019and Seth Miron. Um I do have an update. The governor's budget was finalized. Um perfect timing. So, um the state aid is increasing to 2%. So, that is good news. Um there was also some changes to the formula that puts a little more weight to um English language learners and to students in foster care. So, that is going to be built into the formula. Um in the governor's budget was also um a 5-year extension, meaning delayed for 5 years, on the zero-emission bus mandate. Um which there was a lot of advocacy around. So, um it was that by 2027 any new bus purchase had to be a zero-emission bus. That's being pushed to 2032 and full fleet conversion deadline is being moved from 2035 to 2040. Um and on another very positive note in the
020budget, um the governor um the final budget did include an increase in universal pre-K funding up to $10,000 per student um from 5,400 and um a mandate that by 2028-2029 school year all 4-year-olds whose parents want UPK, it will be required. So, um that is some positive news there. Thank you. >> Just one last thing, Robin. Um your your service to the district is going to be missed. So, I know it's on the agenda for tonight, so thank you for many years of what you gave this district. Big shoes to fill whoever takes your position next. So, thank you for your service for all these years. Thank you. Seriously. >> Um thank you, Faith. That's really good news about all those updates, especially the bus. >> The bus one. >> Bus is huge. >> That's
021huge. >> Yeah. So, that's great. Um thank you. Okay. Uh and now we have comments from community partners. >> Alex, before you start, I just wanted I forgot to mention the step up event and that was a great event. >> Oh, thank you. >> That was a lot of fun. >> It feels like it was a year ago, right? >> feel like a long time ago, but it was a great event and thank you for for putting it together and it was well attended and I hope that your fundraising did well with it. >> It did. It did. I Can everybody even hear me? I should Okay. So, that was the first thing I was going to mention. Thank you to everyone who came out. Oh, by the way, I'm Alex Campana, the president of
022SEPTA. Um whoever one came out to support the Rieza Glass Rieza Grant um event. It was wonderful. We had a great turnout. Um it just really brought the community together and got awareness to SEPTA and hopefully bring us some new members for September. Um and what was even better was seeing friends and other community people there who don't have a child with special needs and they were just there to support it. So, that was all. Um because of that event, we were able to fund four grants. We're going to be doing one in another month and then maybe a few more in September. So, it really turned out great and hopefully all of those teachers will really get to enjoy and all the kids will get to benefit from um the great grants that were
023um put in and we'll be putting out like a notice with the different types of things we were able to fund soon. Um it was wonderful and I just also want to say thank you to everyone who came for the Inclusion and Friendship Fest. It was also a great turnout. Even in the rain, everybody was there. Um we added some new things this year, the bubble bus, a few different food trucks, and um different crafts and everything was gone by the end of the night. The food trucks seemed to have done well. So, it was wonderful. Thank you. Thank you. >> Hi, I'm Sue Warnas. I'm the president of the PTA. Um I want to first give a shout out to um Allison Bamford and Teresa Tramelli who are the co-chairs of our um, community
024and school relations committee. They were the ones who um, were the brain children were were the brains behind the teacher appreciation week a few weeks ago. Um, I got a lot of great feedback about the espresso guys that were um, brought in for the teachers as well as the luncheon. Um, and so I just wanted to uh, say a special thank you to the two of them because they'll be cycling off the committee and they've done an amazing job in a row. Um, they just really stepped it up and just uh, really I think obviously we want to show our teachers and staff how much we appreciate them and I I feel like they really felt it because they were different and kind of cool offerings. So um, thanks to them. Uh, just a couple
025of things of what's coming up is next week we have the Scholastic buy one get one book fair down at Cottle um, from the 26th to the 29th. Um, there parents are able to come in at some point um, the the uh, communication went out for when they can come in and and and purchase but that's the final book fair of the year and of course the kids really enjoy that. Um, then of course on June 5th is actually a very big day because we have field day which of course is always a fan favorite for all the kids but then that night we have our 5th grade luau. Hopefully the weather holds out. We we do have rain dates for both of those but hopefully um, the 5th graders will get to have their
026um, you know, their ultimate celebration before they graduate from being Cottle Cubs. Um, and then the final thing I wanted to mention tonight is June 9th is our end of year celebration which includes our volunteer recognition, um, recognition of our lifetime achievement award honorary which is Peggy Angelo. Um, I do want to mention to the board it was a former boarder maybe maybe people might have been on the board at that time but today we went to a site visit because the event is going to be at the Bronxville Women's Club and we happened to meet the president and she mentioned how grateful she was to Tuckahoe back during COVID when the the the venue wasn't being used obviously and I think that there was a board meeting there. I don't know. I don't really
027remember that but anyway she wanted to say thank you so much to Tuckahoe for always remembering them. So Bronxville Women's Club it's a beautiful venue. That's where we're going to have the the event this year and I just wanted to kind of say to the board you know, it's it's always nice when our neighbors recognize Tuckahoe as a community and she did notice she she said how what a special community Tuckahoe is and of course we three of us agreed with her the the the programs committee that I was there with. So I just want to encourage everybody to come out. It's not just for PCA members or volunteers. We really want anybody in the community come. It's a free event. Come as you are. If you're coming sweaty from a ball field, do it.
028No problem. We just want everybody to come and for the short presentation um to honor Peggy and then we're going to just mingle and enjoy ourselves for a little while as I like to say as as as people not parents, right? We we are still people so I would love for the board to attend that night as well. June 9th 7:00 at the Bronxville Women's Club. >> Thank you Susan. >> Good evening. Beth Silvestri, president of the Athletic Council. First I just wanted to shout out and echo what all of you had shared. Thank you Mr. Roberts and Faith for the thoughtful budget, all of the work and effort you put into educating the public about it. Congrats to Amber and Seth and thank you Pete and Scott for years for your years of dedication
029and service. Um tomorrow we will be featuring our final senior athlete of the on social media of the 25-26 school year. So, please check her out on social media. It's a special person. Um also just wanted to share that our annual varsity athletic awards dinner and Hall of Fame dinner will be held on June 2nd at Molino's at 6:00 p.m. It's open to the entire community. Um we will celebrate our all-league, all-section, all-state recipients as well as um our senior award recipients as well. Um and thank you to Mr. Seamus Pinto and Ms. Florio for helping make this special night possible. And uh details for that dinner are on social media and get blasted out like every week. So, um but obviously if anybody needs invite information, please reach out. Thank you. >> Thank you.
030Okay. Now we're up to first recognition of the audience. Um the Board of Education allows for public participation at its regular monthly meetings. The first recognition of the audience period is reserved for comments or questions related specifically to items on the current public meeting agenda. Each speaker is permitted one opportunity to speak for up to 3 minutes. Responses from the Board of Board or superintendent may be provided later in the meeting during the Board and superintendent comment section or may be followed up at a later date as needed. The Board and the superintendent will not engage in back-and-forth dialogue during the public comment and question portion of the agenda. Do I have anybody for first recognition of the audience? No. Okay. Um on to the consent agenda. Resolved that the Board of Education of the
031Tuckahoe Union Free School District hereby approves this of No, sorry. Oh, sorry. Which of How far are we going on the consent agenda? It's just one, just the one item? >> One, two, three. Yes, one through three. >> All right. Usually it's listed in the resolution, that's why. Um so, a motion to approve items one through four of the consent agenda. Do I have a motion? >> That's three, I believe. One through three. >> Three, sorry. One through three. Consent agenda. Do I have a motion? Lou, second. Pete. Any discussion? All in favor? Okay. Business of the Board. Certify the election results. Resolved that the Board of Education of the Tuckahoe Union Free School District certifies the results of the May 19th, 2026 annual budget vote and trustee election. The budget, yes, 1,004 votes. No,
032378 votes. Trustee election, Amber Cassis, 747 votes. Seth Miron, 768 votes. Do I have a motion? Pete, second. Joel. All of Any discussion? All in favor? Approve an MOA. Resolved that the Board of Education of the Tuckahoe Union Free School District hereby approves the MOA dated May 14th, 2026 by and between the district and the Civil Service Employees Association, hereby extending the CBA for the period of July 1, 2025 through June 30th, 2028, and authorizes the Superintendent to execute said memorandum of agreement. Do I have a motion? Scott? Who was that? Who was that? Joel? >> Joel. >> Second, Pete. Um any discussion? I just want to say thank you um to the CSEA for um the very cooperative and um very productive negotiation sessions. Um anybody else have any comments? >> I'd actually echo
033the same sentiments. Um Ms. Guzzardo, the entire CSEA negotiating team was very professional. We had great conversations. Uh really engaged in what's best for our students and in long term how we can uh create sustainability for our district and uh made some very reasonable decisions uh through the negotiating process. So, kudos to the entire team and uh coming with a very fair and reasonable agreement to put before the board. >> Thank you. Um all in favor? Excellent. That is contract number three that we have settled this year, um which does complete that board goal, and I'm very excited about that. So, thank you. Um All right. Second reading of policy. Um as a second reading of the following policies, these readings are procedural and non-action and will be taken by the board. These policies have
034been reviewed and the pop by the policy committee, and they are required by federal, state, and or educational law. Policy overview. 2210. Board organizational meeting. This is a policy revision to the time frame of the organizational meeting, which reads, "The annual reorganization meeting of the board shall be held anytime between July 1st and the Monday following July 20th." Policy 4321.12. Use of physical restraints. The district prohibits the use of corporal punishment, adverse intentions, and seclusion, and only permits the limited use of physical restraint or time out as authorized by state regulations and guidance. Prone restraint is expressly prohibited. And policy 4321.13, timeout. Timeout means a behavioral management technique that involves the monitored separation of a student in a non-locked setting and may be implemented for students with a behavior improvement plan, also known as Uh
035approve a tax anticipation a tax anticipation note. >> Wait, Allison, real quick. Uh can we talk about the policy overview or no? >> Um you can. It's just a reading book ahead. >> What do we mean by anytime between? So, this will go into effect for July 1st. So, what does that mean on that any time frame in the organizational meeting? >> From the 1st to the 20th. >> And that's hard to Could you hear him? >> From the 1st From the 1st to the 20th of July, what is it What are we saying with that statement? >> That's when it goes into effect, or is it >> So, that the new policy new regulation by the commissioner the previous language in our policy and across the state was you had to have the first
036reorg meeting the first Tuesday in the month of July, and then if you didn't follow that you had to have a resolution to extend it. So, now this is giving more latitude for the board any of boards across New York state to hold their organizational meeting between the 1st and and that the the later date of the 20th or whatever that case is. So, there's a lot more leeway to when we schedule the reorg date. >> That's good. Okay, so that's that's good because these policies have to be updated for and obviously this stems from Cottrell and the stuff that happened down there. So, I'm glad that it's being right you know, the policy is being updated after all those years. So, thank you. >> Okay. Approve a tax anticipation note. Resolved by the Board
037of Education of Tuckahoe Union Free School District in the County of Westchester, New York as follows. Section 1, tax anticipation notes, herein called notes, of Tuckahoe Union Free School District in the County of Westchester, New York, hearing called District, in the principal amount of not to exceed $3 million and any notes in the renewal thereof and hereby authorized to be issued pursuant to the provisions of Section 24.00 and 39.00 of the Local Finance Law constit- constituting Chapter 33-A of the Consolidated Laws of the State of New York, therein called Law. Herein called Law. Section 2. The following additional matters are hereby determined and declared. A, the notes shall be issued in anticipation of the collection of real estate taxes to be levied for the school purposes for the fiscal year commencing July 1, 2026 and
038ending June 30th, 2027. And the proceeds of the notes shall be used only for the purpose for which said taxes are levied. B, the notes shall mature within the period of 1 year from the date of their insurance of their issuance. C, the notes are not issued in renewal of other notes. D, the total amount of such taxes remain uncollected at the date of adoption of this resolution. Section 3. The notes hereby authorized shall contain the the recital of validity prescribed by Um, RIC ROC and its attorney That's right. RIC Um Am I on the wrong page? Sorry. Section 52.00 of the Law and shall be and shall be general obligations of the District and the faith and credit of the District and hereby pledged to the punctual payment of the principal of of the
039principal and interest on the notes and unless the notes are otherwise paid or payments provided for an amount sufficient for such payment shall be inserted in the budget on the district and a tax sufficient sufficient to provide for the payment thereof shall be levied and collected. Section 4. Subject to the provisions of this resolution and the law and pursuant to section 50.00 56.00 60.00 and 61.00 of the law the power to sell and issue the notes authorized pursuant hereto and any renewals thereof and to determine the terms form and contents including the manner of execution of such notes and the execute and to execute tax certifications relative there thereto is hereby delegated and the and to the president of the board of education, the chief fiscal officer of the district. Section 5. The notes shall
040be executed in the name of the district by the manual signature of the president of the board of education, the vice president of the board of education, district treasurer, the district clerk or such other officers of the district and shall be designated by the chief fiscal officer of the district and shall have the corporate seal of the district impressed or imprinted thereon which corporate seal may be attested by the manual signature of the district. Section 6. This resolution shall take effect immediately. Do I have a motion? >> Can you Can you read it again, please? >> Yeah, this is the first one. >> Lou, second Pete. Um any discussion? All in favor. Yes. Oh, sorry. It's a little dark in here which makes it a little harder to read for my old eyes. Um Okay.
041Approve an agreement to negotiate data privacy agreements. So, to negotiate two, okay. Whereas four BOCES uh Onondaga-Cortland-Madison BOCES, Albany- >> Schenectady-Saratoga BOCES, Madison-Oneida BOCES, and Broome-Tioga BOCES have collaborated and entered into an Article 5 General Municipal Law Inter-Municipal agreement for the purpose of improving vendor management and data security and privacy practices for school districts and/or BOCES statewide, known as the RIC One Risk Operations Center, the ROC. Whereas, the Board of Education of the Tuckahoe Union Free School District, through its affiliation with the local-based Regional Information Center, participates with the ROC and and desires for the 2026-2027 fiscal fiscal year to authorize the ROC and its attorneys to negotiate data privacy agreements and related exhibits, DPAs, and vendors and third-party contractors that include the requirements of and compliance with the New York State Education Law Section
0422-D and Part 121 regulations, collectively Ed Law 2-D, related to student personal identification information, PII, and certain teacher and principal APPR data. Whereas, the ROC partners with NYSED and Access for Learning Student Data Privacy Consortium, SDPC, and The Education Cooperative, TEC, to negotiate and approve Ed Law 2-D compliant DPAs. Whereas, the DPAs are presented to school districts and/or BOCES for final execution and do not require the expenditure of funds beyond those budgeted. Be it resolved that the Tuckahoe Union Free School Board of Education authorizes authorizes the use of the DPAs negotiated by the RIC ROC and its attorneys consistent with its needs and the needs of the students and be a further resolved that the Tuckahoe Union Free School District reserves its reserves to itself the right to make determinations regarding the use of such
043DPAs and the software and/or technology resources to which they relate and to consult with its own legal counsel to review any specific issue issues or concerns before executing any DPA. Do I have a motion? Pete, second Lou. Any discussion? All in favor? Approved cooperative purchasing contract. Whereas Ed Data is a shared service organization located in the state of New Jersey and whereas Ed Data offers cooperative procurement solutions to the public sector organizations throughout New York State. And whereas the Tuckahoe Union Free School District desires to use Ed Data time and materials cooperative purchasing contract to contract with 192 Branch Interior Services Branch Services from May 6th, 2026 through April 30th, 2027. Do I have a motion? Um Pete, second? Second Joel. Any discussion? All in favor? Accept a donation. Resolved that the Board of Education
044of the Tuckahoe Union Free School District accepts the following donations from the Tuckahoe SEPTA. Grade 3 through 5 chick hatching unit in the amount of $143.68. Grade K through 2 turtle habitat unit and dioramas in the amount of $230. Grade K through 3 admissions for ABA students to Westchester Children's Museum for the 2026-2027 school year in the amount of $300. Grade 6 through 12, take another look, musical prop and costumes in the amount of $700. Thank you for these generous donations. Do I have a motion? Lou, second. Keith, any discussion? >> I'd like to just say thank you to SEPTA from starting out this year with an idea and then coming to charter and now funding programs within our schools is phenomenal. So, a great journey that we had this year and kudos also to
045our teachers for applying for the grants to support our students. It's a great collaborative effort. So, I would just greatly appreciate SEPTA's donation and I thank the board for considering tonight. >> Thank you, SEPTA, for your donation. All in favor? Accept a donation. Resolve that the Board of Education of the Tuckahoe Union Free School District accept a donation from the Tuckahoe After School Care, also known as TASK, of two wall-mounted fans for the Cottle gym in the amount of $2,331.37. This generous donation is greatly appreciated. Do I have a motion? Lou, second. Keith, any discussion? Thank you to TASK for your generous donation. All in favor? Accept a donation. Resolve that the Board of Education of the Tuckahoe Union Free School District accept a donation from the Tuckahoe PTA towards the project to upgrade the
046lighting in the Tuckahoe Middle School High School Auditorium in the amount of $10,000. Thank you for this generous donation. Do I have Lou, second. Keith, any discussion? Thank you, PTA. I did not make a comment about the lighting without knowing >> And hopefully we have a dimmer in the lighting. We need a dimmer as well. >> Thank you. All in favor? Um personnel recommendations. Um resolved by the Board of Education um that accepts a Sorry. Resolved that the Board of Education approves personnel recommendations A through J. Do I have a motion? Scott, second Pete. Any discussion? >> Uh, yeah. First I want to say thank you to Coach Chen for many years of service to the Tuckahoe football team. Coach Chen resigned. Um we were able to get Rob McQuade. Rob McQuade is currently the
047varsity girls basketball assistant coach. Uh, Rob McQuade is one of the assistant coaches at Iona football. State championship last year for all the for the private Catholic schools which is probably one of the best football teams in New York State. Um, and Rob has now committed to come over here as a varsity football assistant coach to help John DiArco. So that's a huge thing for our football team. So congratulations to Rob and Rob's also a security monitor here in the building we appointed but just again thank you to Coach Chen and Coach John DiArco. And also for Rob to making this decision to leave Iona to come to Tuckahoe. It's a huge thing for Tuckahoe for next year. Um and we Allison and I both have boys that play football and one of my son's
048mission with the Syracuse to the dome so we're looking forward to a great season next year. >> It is very exciting news. Um, although I am sorry to also see Chen go. He was a huge um part of the team but that is exciting Scott. Um, my one comment is to Robin. Thank you so much for your service to the board as district clerk uh and your service to the district as um secretary to the superintendent. You've done a wonderful job and you will be missed and thank you very much for everything. Anybody else? >> I would also like to thank Robin for her guidance and service this year uh helping me in my first year as superintendent with just learning the lay of the land and a lot of the all things Tuckahoe. So
049I really appreciate it and I wish you all the best uh in your new position closer to home and a great happiness in any future endeavors. >> Yes, Robin. Yes, I as well. Robin, you know, I met Robin when she first started years ago and I said what an asset and and to this day she's lived up to everything. We've had our our moments, but they've all been positive and I wish you all the best. I really do. >> Yeah. >> I already gave my I already gave my speech. >> You tried to I was going to wait till the end, but I guess I have to do it now, but thank you, Robin, seriously for everything you've done. You've done an amazing job. Um, good friend, uh, someone you can rely on and, uh,
050I truly wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors. And congratulations. >> It's my pleasure to to serve >> Yeah, Robin, it's all been said, but I'll say it, too, because, um, obviously the years that I was board president, we worked worked together quite a bit and uh, you were very supportive and very helpful to me and I was, you know, I could call you and I'd get help and get things done, so, um, yeah, tremendous asset to the district. You're going to be missed, but we wish you the best of luck. Thank you. Thank you for your service. >> Okay. All in favor? Okay. Second recognition of the audience. The Board of Education allows for public participation at its regular monthly meetings. The second recognition of the audience period is reserved for
051comments and questions not related to items on the current public meeting agenda. Each speaker is permitted one opportunity to speak for up to 3 minutes. Responses from the board or superintendent may be provided later in the meeting or followed up at a later date as needed. The board and the superintendent will not engage in back and forth dialogue during the public comment and question portion of the agenda. Do I have anybody for second recognition of the audience? >> Hi, Beth Silvestri, 11 Gifford Street. Um, all of you with the exception of Mr. Roberts knows that um, I've been extremely passionate about special education for the last 15 years. Um, at one point I hosted uh, board members at my home with about 20 parents present um, discussing different uh, various difficulties. Um, I also serve
052as a parent member currently. So, I do attend IEP meetings and assist in behind the scenes um, in helping families advocate for services. Um, so when Allison, I don't know Mr. Roberts Roberts, if you can answer my question. One of the two things that came up at that meeting at my house as well as consistently is the training and monitoring of special education classrooms. Whether you have a dyslexic child child, an autistic child everything in between is the monitoring and the training of the teachers. Um, this has been a constant constant battle for this district. Um, so when you mention about the policy with the behavior plans and the timeout room and so on and so forth, will the teachers be required as well as administrators be required to be trained every year and have
053a sign-off every year of that? And who will be responsible for maintaining that documentation? Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else? >> Laurie Gerald, 15 Mower Street. I could not let this evening go by uh, without congratulating Seth and Amber on their successful and overwhelmingly well-fought win for our school board. I'm excited and looking forward to all of the great things that you will do to move us forward. And I also wanted to say to Robin, I'm going to miss you. You have been such an awesome awesome advocate board board clerk, awesome professional. You are amazing. And as a former board member, I know what a loss it will be to our district for you to go. And I'm so so so sorry to lose you to our district along with other wonderful administrators that we've
054had and awesome leaders we've had in the district. So, sad to see you go, too. But, I believe that we're going to get our district back on the track of making sure that we have stability with administrators and great people like Robin serving our district and most importantly, our students. Congratulations again, Seth and Amber. I wish you all the best. >> Thank you. Anybody else for a second recognition? No? Okay. We will move on to board comments. >> So, I just want to wait until the end because I knew it was going to be a long beginning. I'll keep it short. Thanks to the community. It was an amazing turnout that we had yesterday. Uh record-breaking, almost 1,400 uh voters. Um I want to congratulate Amber Cassells and and Seth Miran. Uh look forward to
055collaborating with you guys uh and doing some amazing things for our district. And uh I wanted to thank uh Faith Biata, Ben, uh for the amazing work that you guys have did uh on the budget uh and the finance committee. Anyone who's on finance committee, it was a lot of work. Uh scrutinized everything. But uh Ben's walking a little lighter these days, right? So uh thank you for that. Um I also want to uh thank uh Pete for your service, long long standing service and the time we spent on the facilities committee uh prior to becoming a board member. So thank you for that. >> Thank you. >> And now you get to relax a little bit, right? And uh to uh Mr. Bogetti, uh appreciate your your last 3 years of of hard work.
056You certainly rolled up your sleeves and and went to work for the kids, for the community. So thank you for that and get to spend the summer month off, right? Right? And and to uh Julie Saragusa, who uh had the nerve to put her neck out there and do what she did. Uh like Allison said, it's very difficult to run for the board of ed. It takes a lot of time, energy, and a lot of grit. So thank you guys and congratulations to uh our new board members. Thank you. >> You ready? >> I'll just I I was remiss before I didn't mention I mean I congratulated Amber and Seth, but I didn't acknowledge the other candidates. Good as everyone has said, it is a lot to put yourself out there um and it's a
057lot of work. So I definitely want to acknowledge Scott and Julie for for for running and for putting all the effort in and for again putting yourself out there and and and trying to serve and trying to uh do what's right for our community. So, I wanted to acknowledge them as well. All all four for doing what you do. It is it is really hard. Um and uh we need folks to do that. So, thank you all. Thank you all all four of you. >> Oh, one other thing. Sorry. I Before the meeting, I stopped in at the art show. The work is amazing. I encourage everybody to go. It's going to be up until Friday? >> So, right at this week. >> Right at this week. >> Yeah, I encourage you to go. Some
058nice uh nice work, beautiful work. >> It is. Anyway, it was great. Um so, I I did not say anything about Pete and Scott ending their service because they're technically not until June 30th. >> still have a little more time. >> have another at least one more meeting. You're not off the hook yet. Um either one of you. Um so, I you know, I did it wasn't that I was um forgetting to say anything. I purposely was not saying anything. Um and um you know, but yes, absolutely, you know, thank you for the service that you have put in. Um but you're not done. Um Second is um congratulations to Seth and Amber. Um It was um hard fought and difficult for you, I know. Um as I said earlier, hard for anybody running. Um
059and again, I will um look forward to working with you come July 1st. So, that's all that I have to say. Comments from the superintendent? >> Great. So, um I just want to respond a little bit to Ms. Silvestri's comments about trainings. That is an important piece and it is something that uh we are taking very seriously. One of the the recommended policies is to really ensure that we do annual trainings for every staff member. Uh we do have different levels of it. We have uh general information and policies training and then we're also going to have certain staff members that are trained with more specific responses of how to appropriately handle students that are uh in an escalated state or need appropriate care. Those things will be maintained by the personnel office. Each Each
060year we have required trainings for sexual harassment in the workplace, DASA trainings. So, this will be part of the ongoing piece that we do in addition to other trainings that the special education office need to monitor as well that are maybe more specific to individual classrooms for there. So, those are something that we're systematizing as an organization, keeping track of and as well as there is a process for recertification for certain trainings. That doesn't go for every employee, but ones that are that are called to respond to certain situations to put them in the best situation for our students. So, that will be an ongoing piece, but again making it formalized in our district through the personnel office and on annual basis that as all training should be for that. And I think some of
061the update of of our policy is something that is a board goal this year that we're doing. Looking at all of our policies, making sure that we're up to date in every area and in compliance and we're doing a full policy review which will entail a lot of the trainings and procedures throughout the district and many areas. So, more to come on policy updates and I think those will be ongoing discussions that we have with the board and with the community of areas that we continue to improve and focus on. Additionally, I wanted to also just kind of comment um I didn't highlight the the amount of work that Ms. Sparks does on the budget. A lot of hours. She eats, drinks, and sleeps it from December all the way through till it passes and
062now it's executing it. So, it never really finishes. It's an ongoing cycle. And here at Tuckahoe and and many districts, but particularly here it's a very collaborative effort. Bringing in the administrators, the teachers, working with the guidance departments, getting recommendations of what are our needs and it really starts early in the year. You start budgeting and planning for the next year right when you're turning the corner after Thanksgiving. You know, it's to kind of set ourselves up for success and and get all the quotes and really price things out and and identify what student needs are. So, it's been a great process learning and and working with the administrative team, our teachers, different staff members and for me also doing the strategic strategic plan, listening to our school community, looking at the priorities that are
063school community, our teachers, our parents have all identified and really aligning things in our budget this year to enhance programs and opportunities for students. So, that's on the horizon. So, when we talk about board work to come, that's still in the forefront of what we're doing. We've had a strategic team meeting tomorrow. We're final finalizing and refining our current plan projections and then we'll be providing a draft to the board probably around June 1st and then hopefully public presentation around June 15th. So, towards the last meeting of the timeline and goals and really look forward to engaging not only myself presenting it but all your entire strategic team, inviting them to talk about the work that we did and the work that we did with our community. So, that's that's exciting important work and I
064know that this board is really invested in that as well with all the other board communities committees that are whether it's finance, safety, our board takes a very active role which I greatly appreciate in the in the work of our district. So, kudos to to all of you and again, thank you for the support for our community. 1400 voters is tremendous. Anyway you look at it, we have a very passionate engaged community and it's it's capitalizing upon that which is very exciting. Bringing people to the table for those discussions and how we can improve our schools and and do better for our students and engaging all of our families in that conversation. So, very exciting things to come and I look forward to working collaboratively with our our new trustees coming on to the board
065and continuing great partnerships with our trustees and and their expertise and knowledge and their continued leadership which I know will take place. So, that's very exciting for me as as a first year superintendent and I look forward to the future work that we're going to engage in. >> Okay. Thank you. Okay. Motion to adjourn meeting. >> I >> Joel, second Pete. All in favor? Thank you very Very Thanks for coming. Have a good night.