001for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the rep for it stands one nation IND for great group assembled here tonight I'll thank everybody who's joining us uh in person and thank you also for those who are tuning in um at this time we are going to have a public hearing for the proposed Capital project Jason K good evening everyone good evening wash rinse repeat is what Kyle mention May a little bit of that for those uh that have seen the last couple of weeks presentations but we are here to talk about your proposed Capital Improvement project and uh what we've been starting with is a video that's been produced for the district and so let's start with that Tina I think you've got
002that Watertown city school district is excited to share details about a transformational proposal 110 million Capital project that will make our school safer stronger and more sustainable all with no tax impact for our community this project is about ensuring our students have the best possible environment to learn grow and succeed we're focused on three critical priorities keeping students warm safe and dry during the last four years of watert high school one major thing that has made it difficult for me to focus is the extreme temperature consistencies with these upgrades it would remove this distraction for a more comfortable learning environment for myself and my peers teaching social studies here at Cas Middle School for the past 19 years and I've come to understand that our schools are the heart of our community maintaining them as
003essential for our students future this project addresses aging infrastructure modernizes essential systems and ensures that we're meeting today's safety and accessibility standards many of our buildings are in need of updates this project will replace updated heating systems repair roofs and upgrade Windows and insulation to keep our schools warm energy efficient during water towns harsh Winters keeping students safe is another top priority project includes enhancements like secure entrances and updated fire alarms to ensure everyone feels secure while in our schools feeling safe at school helps us focus on learning the proposed upgrades like secure entrances and updated fire alarms will make sure our schools continue to be a safe place for students in sou every day such as my younger siblings who will go throughout these buildings long after I have graduated and of course keeping
004our schools warm and dry is essential repairs to roofs and masonry will protect our facilities from water damage preserving them for generations to come while upgrades to our boilers and hbag systems will keep our students warm in their classroom so how does this work with no tax impact the district is leveraging State Building Aid and Reserve funds to do this project that means we can address these critical needs without adding any Financial burd for tax payers I've been an educator here at North Elementary for 23 years I know how impactful this project will be for our entire School Community one of our most jobs as Educators is to keep students safe so that's why I believe that this Capital project is important for both the safety and the education of our students this isn't just
005about fixing what's broken it's about creating a brighter future for our students while ensuring water toown remains a great place to live and learn after all our children are our future we are excited to partner with you on this journey stay informed and make your voice heard by voting on March 25th together we can make a lasting difference for the lives of our students our schools and our community the second trailer second trailer's out already so as Tina pulls up the pre presentation the video does a great job of explaining the vision mission for the project as well as document documenting photographs and images of what some of the challenges are so the purpose for me tonight is to talk a little bit more about the process what was involved to get to where we
006are with the proposal as well as talk a little bit more specifically about what each building will include as far as renovations right so starting with the timeline for what we've been working on as a committee and there's a lot of folks that have been part of this process uh I keep referring to the left side of the page uh in these presentations as a starting point so going back to December or of 2023 our team kicked off the proc process by going through a building condition survey um that process is a state required uh surveying essentially process that ultimately allows schools to understand what the opportunities and challenges are for each of their facilities and so as part of that survey that kickoff we met with various folks from the St staff Administration to
007really understand what things were going on relative to the everyday needs of of these buildings and so from that St starting point we then moved to interviews uh again there were lots of folks involved with us from building principles Food Service custodial staff it Athletics and various other folks that were part of the committee uh to again give us feedback in us meaning King King as well as our Engineers um to really understand what was going Onin each of the facilities from that standpoint moving into the spring of 24 our team was boots on the ground into each of these spaces looking for our own with our own eyes and looking talking um more specifically what these issues were from that standpoint we had a really good assembly of all the information that was part
008of um the building condition survey it was then a process of starting to prioritize and understand what the the highest needs were we mentioned in the last meeting around $200 million was identified as part of the building condition survey and the project that's being presented is 110 so obviously there had to be some dialogue and discussion excuse me relative to highest priority needs so um spring summer 2024 advisory committees were assembled representing the students Administration as well as the Board of Education and specific questions were asked about what were the highest priorities from those different stakeholder groups that information was then rolled into a smaller committee that essentially included District administration our team as well as construction managers uh to ultimately rank those highest priority items and so what we have tonight and actually we'll
009go to the next slide we have a bit of a technical just here for a moment make sure better you doing this than me lots of friends tra so the culmination of all that feedback as well as inspections led to the summary sheet and I know it's difficult for everyone to see but there are boards that will be placed in various buildings so that you can see this that QR code that we quickly through it's an opportunity for folks to uh essentially visit the site website and see that information more specifically so I won't speak too much to this slide to the right is the project financials which Ben mesona with fisc advisers will speak to in a few minutes and I will I will go go right into each of the buildings start with
010a high school and so one of the things I'll speak to at a high level for all of these buildings is that Energy Efficiency is something that we want to be looking at obviously student safety we want to be looking at all of the aspects that ultimately address these concerns that are essentially with systems that are well beyond their useful life and so as I've described in the past each slide is set up similarly um site components are the top portion middle is the building components Architectural Components and then lastly is the mechanical electrical Plumbing um for the high school and again these are going to be similar for each of the buildings the site components are really associated with parking lots and the need to essentially reconstruct those everyone driving in tonight likely had
011to dodge a pothole or two getting in and so those systems are much need of repair it need to be replaced as part of the project included with that for the high school specifically is the track that then is beyond its useful life you can see in some of the images although it's tough to to read from back here um cracks and different issues that are starting to form on the track that need to be replaced part of the project especially from a site perspective is dealing with ADA compliance as well as improving improving drain AG one of the other aspects as far as the project that's going to be consistent that you'll hear quite a bit is dealing with any kind of hazardous materials sobus and things like that we get into mechanical systems
012there's insulation and flooring and things like that that need to be uh Abad as part of our process as part of a project from a mechanical electrical stand Mechanical plumbing standpoint one of the key aspects with this project and well is as well as all of the buildings is really with the mechanical systems they're well beyond their useful life it it really is a miracle in some cases that these systems are still operating it speaks to the maintenance that's ongoing But ultimately they need to be replaced and as part of Energy Efficiency measures we want to change these systems that are steam to hot water much more controllability um easier to maintain different things like that relative to um upkeep so that's a huge component with along with all of the temperature controls aspect is
013the fire alarm system that will be replaced as part of the high school as well case very similar themes here starting with the site components because this is a single campus there's a lot of shared facilities and so we will be addressing parking lots um and I didn't mention for the high school but one of the other key aspects of this is the school underwent uh a survey a traffic study to understand how efficiently or the lack thereof um these parking lots are being utilized and how circulation both pedestrian bicycles um as well as um bus Loops parent drop off all the different aspects visitors of the school how that's working and so that study is resulting in some significant changes that are required and that will be part of the project as well so
014middle middle school asphalt replacement there is also sight lighting and ADA compliance that needs to be addressed as well building because this is a newer oh sorry you're okay from a building perspective um you know for case Middle School is the building management system because it's a little bit newer uh we don't have as extensive of Renovations as part of that project that building for HT Wy and from a site perspective because it's a shared campus we are looking at renovating the parking lots um as well as improving the playground area and the parent drop off configuration there needs to really be looked at from a building perspective one of the key aspects as we all entered into the district office secure entry is needed we need to have safe separation between students and visitors
015throughout the day so as part of this project the district office will receive a secure Vestal from a programming standpoint we are looking at the existing planetarium which is small and under utilized we want to renovate that space reimagine what that looks like and so that that component would be part of the project as well mentioned has are just materials that would be evaded from a mechanical standpoint we've lighting that would be as far as led and then building management systems right North Elementary so again from a site perspective uh there's significant need here from a site component as far as parking lots that need to be reconfigured from a safety perspective sight lighting needs to be enhanced added and drainage as well needs to be addressed the bigger component for North Elementary and we
016talked about this as well this building is in significant need because of its age because of uh ongoing Maintenance building shell itself so roof walls um really need to be addressed so Windows the roof as I just mentioned um AC investation all has to be part of this project be sure that it's watertight no further damage happens so all those components are a major part of this project for North and then ultimately from a a mechanical electrical standpoint is LED lighting and then the boiler conversion so from Steam to hot water here as well okay moving to Ohio and you're going to see the themes here here um but parking lots need to be addressed we have to include site drainage which you can see that upper right image as well as sight lighting from
017a building perspective mainy restoration is part of this window replacements as well secure vestibule so this is the second of three schools that will uh receiving a secure vestibule as part of the project and then Corridor Renovations um as I've described this building in particular has corridors that have class that separate classrooms from the main erress path and so from a code perspective we want to upgrade that and replace that glass either with more fire rated glass or potentially fill that in More Design is to come and then lastly related to this your vestibule we will have impacts on the main office and nurses spaces so those will be renovated as part of the project as well and as far as mechanical electrical Plumbing that boiler conversion will happen this building okay starbar sidewalks um
018and I I've mentioned this that it's part of capital projects which are an annual opportunity for schools to take on smaller projects with upwards of $100,000 the school has been doing those and doing site work as part of this so the balance of those sidewalks will be replaced as part of this project we're also looking at adding lighting then from a mechan or excuse me a building perspective kitchen will be renovated currently it's very unique situation how kids are sered their meals it's actually in the corridor so we're looking to reconfigure that and be much more efficient and safe for the students secure vestibule so this is um one of those buildings as well that the secure vest will be undertaken which includes main office and nurses Suite being renovated as part of that as
019well from a mechanical electrical Plumbing standpoint the boilers will be converted steamed to hot water as well as the fire alarm will be replaced nicker Bacher so nicker Bacher again parking lots need to be reconfigured and reconstructed you can see some of those images that show the deterior deterioration um 88 compliance is needed here as well from a building standpoint we're looking at classroom Renovations which are for the special education classrooms we've got some toilet rooms that are really in poor shape that need to be addressed um window replacement interior doors and then again which I mentioned in a previous building the corridor Renovations is part of the project lastly from a mechanical standpoint is the boiler conversion and then the fire alarm system than Sherman um from a site perspective we're in a lot
020better shape um but there is sight lighting that we want to introduce to this building additional sight lighting as well as ADA compliance from a building upgrade standpoint masonry restoration making sure it's weather tight toilet room Renovations window replacement classroom Renovations and to expand on that for this building there's a number of classrooms in the basement level that are from a code perspective questionable as well as just not great teaching space for students and so we want to look at ideas and opportunities for removing those kids from the base end staff removing them from the basement level and and moving them to different areas and then again from mechanical electrical Plumbing standpoint boiler conversion steamed hot water and then the fire alarm system lastly is the Massie building not student occupied which is uh challenge
021relative to eligibility for Aid does not generate Aid so one of the things that we've talking about um because the need is there in the site components replacing sidewalks and stairs and doors is that there might be other funding opportunities to utilize uh to maximize the project financials that Ben's going to speak to in a minute but ultimately the site components here are pretty much a liability and a safety concern so those are the buildings that's the scope it's there's not a lot of Frills this is warm safe try which has been introduced as part of the video um pretty pretty basic project so I let then speak a little bit on the project financials and I will answer any questions um one of the slides that Jason went over had a small pie chart
022on the right hand side and that does a very good job albeit simple job of describing the funding sources so when we're looking at this project it does get a little more complex as far as how is it going to be paid for but the big picture is the tax levy to support Capital Improvements within the district will remain neutral meaning no tax increase for this project there are three main components in funding the project the first is that we're timing it to a 2007 Bond project that is going to be falling off so those those payments are going away the other thing is you have $10 million in capital reserves the capital reserve is a voter approved Reserve which the voters had to um on the ballot I think it was a few years
023ago approved upwards of $10 million to be used for these types of improvements voters have to authorize to utilize that again so that $10 million is dedicated sitting us to the side waiting to be spent on a capital approv project then the biggest and the most important piece of the puzzle is the building Aid the district has a 93.1% building Aid ratio which means if you do an aable project you'll get 93 cents on the dollar back now any Capital project especially one um that's touching all buildings and has unable spaces such as the Massie facility inevitably there's going to be unable pieces of the project which we've accounted for so when it all boils down about 94% of the project is Aid eligible so you would kind of apply 94 time 93 once you
024multiply those two together those times 110 million that's where you get your 94 million of building Aid now building Aid does not come to the district unless you have a vo approved project so you can't just say well we'll just take that 94 million and do something else with it it must be for a voter approved Capital project for building improvements the other thing is um that we've taken great care of is that 94% of the project that's made eligible we have gone through a number of iterations to make sure that percentage is as high as we can possibly get it we want building Aid to pay for the majority of this project um as much as possible we're under very stringent limitations in regards to each and every building of the district I'll give
025you an example the North Street Elementary building you can only spend about $10.5 million on construction in that building at a fiveyear period and get eight on it so if we wanted to spend 20 million today fine you get eight on 12 that's it $8 million taxpayer expense so that those limitations apply to both construction and they also apply to site work and soft costs at each building so we had to go through various um different schemes of how are we going to maximize what we spend at each building get that 93 cents back but the bottom line and my main charge with everything that I was given is make sure it's a tax neutral project so that's why when we mentioned there's over $200 million of work it could be done how do we
026get to that one one0 number well I'm one of the reasons because I wouldn't let it go any higher because I it would have a tax increase the other thing I'll just mention you know I did say the pie chart does a really good job with simplistic job but just so everybody knows you don't get that that building Aid back in a single year right you get it back over 15 20 or 30-year period depending on if it's a reconstruction project an additions project or a new building this is all reconstruction so Aid comes back over 15 years we're going to issue bonds over 15 years The Debt Service on a yearly basis will be at or below the amount of building Aid coming back to the district and that's how we can say realistically
027there will be no tax increase for the project would you mind in the last hearing you spoke a little bit about repairs and lack of Aid with repairing Insurance the state incentivizes districts to do capital projects because you get building Aid if you are to just go mandate and fix things um as they fit as they break there's no Aid associated with that so what a $20,000 fix here on a boiler whatever it might be that's taxpayer dollar dollar for dollar um there's no incentive to let things crumble the state you understands you have facilities they need upkeep they need Capital Improvements this is the way that they get those done and I just you know I think of like nicro backer because we have some heating issues in nicro where their boilers struggle to
028get up and running we have main boiler the backup boiler um and and those are repairs that we had to do to get kids and staff back in those buildings but it's imperative that's why we said The warm safe dry it's imperative that we look at replacing these boilers many of the boilers in our buildings are 35 plus years old and so we're basically taking them together the other thing I'll mention that we mention at the last Ro hearing as well is there's uh has been talk and questions about why don't we just knock buildings down and build new ones up again so the again the state does not incentivize New York State schools to do that um it's a different approach some other states do uh and one of the buildings that was kind
029of talked about quite a bit was the high school building so I mentioned those cost allowances that are available uh for each and every building so the high schools cost allowances and again cost allowance is the amount of that you can spend within a fiveyear period and receive building it on it currently the high school is about $43 million so if you wanted to build a new You Could reconstruct the high school as it sits right now and get $43 million or you could knock it down and build a new one you get $43 million um that's it very rough numbers we priced out it would cost roughly about hundred million do to build a new high school I calculated um that would be Aid it over 30 years you would Bond it over 30
030years that would be roughly a 19% tax increase for the district that's just one building of all the buildings so it's um it's very un affordable to um build new and it is the way to um I guess the way the state would prefer it with the way the rules are set up is that you every so often do capital projects such as this one to improve your facilities um and continue that methodology As you move forward and can you just explain to the voters um at the last presentation someone asked a question as to the longev of this project and basically said that from shovel to ground it's probably going to be about seven years or so so one of the questions that has been asked to me is and can you assure the
031voters that the monies that we have secured for this Capital improvement with zero impact to the taxpayer will remain moving forward there's a concern that you know moving forward because it's going to be so many years ahead of us that our tax levy is going to be affected by this or that we'll have further taxpayer for this Capital includ yeah I can say that project there'll be no impact on the levy as far as I think the the key component is building a right is building a going to be here for the length of the project which I have it actually going out to 2047 um and the one thing I can speak to that is every school building project and I've been doing this for 25 years that has gone through the proper steps
032got your SD approval State education department approval been bid properly been aable or is always received its appal epical epical percentage building a say that three times um the other thing I like to always mention is the worst economic downturn that I've ever been a part of um throughout my career was in 2008 in 2008 there were other AIDS in New York state that were affected by the downturn the one building one Aid that stayed harmless was building it so that one stayed true so I can only really speak to past precedent and what has happened but every project I've worked on that has um done what it's supposed to do has always received its a thank you does anyone have any questions gentlemen where we excuse him for the night okay thank you guys
033very much I need a motion to move into Open Session joh John second all those in favor okay Joel any agenda changes this evening I don't have any agenda changes I just want to bring to the board's attention that they do have an updated person report with one tedit and be posted on Friday good anyone here wishing to address the board on agenda related public comments he Michelle do we have any Communications I have a couple quick things uh Mrs Atkinson at the high school has toally invited the board for the National Honor Society induction ceremony coming up on April 3D um there is anation at everybody's uh seat um in addition to that Bose's is having the ual dinner meeting on Wednesday April 2nd uh this dinner meeting is presentation of the 2526 uh
034propos Bose's budget um and if anybody's interested they could just let me know and I will sign this time I'll turn it over to Mike Morgan our athletic director with the student voice and student athletes good evening everybody we have three presentations this evening and uh we'll start tonight I have the privilege of recognizing two remarkable student athletes who are continuing their athletic careers at the Collegiate level Elena Kut and NOA Fargo first we have Alina who is a standout multiport athlete who has excelled in soccer track and most notably lacrosse lacrosse had been a part of her life since she was six years old and throughout her career her passion dedication and love for the sport have been evident a standout moment in her career came last season when her team her and her
035team pulled off an unforgettable Victory CBA on their senior night that Victory exemplified Alena's resilience competitive spirit and Leadership and these qualities will undoubtedly serve her well as she continues her lacrosse Journey at Belmont ABY next we have Noah Fargo whose leadership and skill have set the standard for excellence in Watertown lacrosse as a junior Noah earned First Team all North Second Team all CNY and Frontier League All-Star honors throughout his four years on varsity and nine years total of playing lacrosse no has consistently demonstrated the work ethic and determination that have not only earned him accolades but also inspired his teammates and the Watertown lacrosse Community as a whole Noah will be attending Nazareth next both Alina and Noah have given so much to Watertown and our community and we're incredibly proud to see
036them continue their athletic careers and we wish them both the best of luck as they take those next steps so thank you very much guys next up I'm going to turn the floor over to our bowling coach Kevin Durr uh the bowling team just completed their first official season as a section three inter Scholastic sport here at Watertown and within the Frontier League and it was an incredible season a lot of fun for personally me to watch um I had a great time with a couple of your matches and uh the floor is now yours Bud thank you appreciate that so as a proud school counselor at uh case Middle School um I I feel like one of my missions is to uh help students find those important connections uh to their school and to
037their community and and coaching is just you know such an incredible um opportunity to make that happen and I'm just very thankful for that um so last year we had a bilding club uh just to gauge the interest um of the you know in our in our area here and uh I was just so impressed with the the amount of talent we had and I I knew this year would be a success so as a side we still also have the the Bowling Club at case Middle School um that's been uh been running um and I'm running a few clinics with them right now to help them you know improve their scores uh so I coached two teams uh we had six students uh that were girls and the girls team and on the boys
038team uh 17 um and I've just never seen such uh dedication and commitment from such players uh they would practice all night if I let them they just just keep going and going um they all have a unique style and uh they even helped me improve my game as well learning two-handed so that that's kind of neat uh so yeah as Mike said we had a very successful season we only lost to uh Beaver River boys only lost to them our girls had a really great building year uh and for many of our players it was their first sport they ever played and this provided them with a just an incredible sense of cyclone pride and uh you know gave them something greater to belong to other than themselves which is just incredible as well
039too um so throughout this whole process I would say that uh if I had a quarter for everyone who expressed to me that they wish that this existed when they were in high school I would be kind of rich so um so just for to recognize Jack who's standing right back over here um Tyler right over here got our nice swag right there too our team actually helped create the logo which is really neat um they were in our sectional shoot off and Syracuse um that meant that they had their their averages had to be within the top five of our entire league which was incredible Tyler had a 176.50 um they were also part of our sectional team as well too um and I'm told that they they missed the State team by one
040of them missed the State team by 52 pins which is just incredible um so along with me here our captains uh Riley stand up Riley Tanner as well already selected as captains uh for next year we have Colton and Jack again here Jack was just going to say a few words about our season [Laughter] all right so this year was my first year and I think like as a coach and just as our team it just helps especially coach dur getting like a good connection with the players and improving everyone and it's like I've never bowled before this is my like first year so the team really helped like lift me up being the be top three in like the larger schools for the Frontier League and make all the individual sectionals and the team
041was just great to be on this year and thank you to Koster and all my teammates so uh we just have so many people to thank for their support but our team has a special gift for Jason Harrington uh we had heard that you were a president of a bowling team or Bowling Club a student so uh Tanner would like to present you with a special I was indeed and I was going to say that but you said it for me um yeah it was a great time and I'm so uh envious of all of you that you get to to to have that fun because it's a very fun memory and this means the world to me look at that so just to wrap this up uh you know this has been a fantastic
042opportunity for our students uh we have it within us uh to bring home a Championship uh we have it us to be sponsored too um so this is also the fastest growing sport right now in the country and uh as Mr Morgan would agree it's pretty easy to set up because you don't have to worry about space on campus and referees to pay so U I know that discussions are taking place at other schools to uh to join our league so we just want to say thank you I have a question for the the bowlers I don't know if any of you want to speak up or all of you but what made you join the bowling league what was it that inspired you to decide to join a sport and join this bowling league
043so I my mom she's right over there time she's bold and I've always gone and watched her and I kind of started picking it up just throwing the ball off my chest and um past probably four years I've taken it real seriously and I progressed and progressed and I heard about the club or the school um I decided to do it and now this year it was just a great honor to even be able to you know take the team to sectionals and go to almost States if that you know it's our first year we didn't know what we were walking into and it's just great you know it's just a great thing that we made it here you know hi dad used to B well still do not J he used to um and
044um coacher actually emailed my mom saying that she he saw me on the news a couple times and was wondering if I'd be interested in joining the club and I talked it over and decided to do it and I really enjoyed it I really enjoyed the connections I made and so when I found out they were making a team and he reached out to me again this year I was all up for it um I didn't expect to be team captain which I'm very grateful and honored to do that and I hope to do it nice performed your dad's record yet oh you don't have to comment if you it depends we are so proud of you and I look forward to getting updates and and Coach I can see that the the players are
045kind of you also and the bond you built is phenomenal and um who knows you know send me an email I might know of a business that could sponsor such a great Club um so send me an email tomorrow and I'd love love to Circle back on that really because I want one of those jackets I'm so je I looked at that and I'm not one with my so I have to figure out how I can do that but one more round of applause okay and if you were here for the student voice portion this is the time to run through the door thank you for coming guys thank you so we're just talking here while everybody's leaving I think we'll try to organize the board of education for their bow I think that's the
046only athletic EV that we could all comp really the bowling I think weely right yeah I really hope listen just take it over right here Mr cly goes with the fa committee reports thank you I don't take offense that everyone always read before I speak um but no actually it's just starts kudos to the to the athletes to mik for for bringing them and especially the Bowling Club a number of different reasons that's an excellent um Po in our district um okay so we met prior to this um then joined us to um answer any questions you had in the tax cap one of which is how exactly is calculated how do you get to the 2.44 even went through that um from there um we kind of jumped around a little bit had some
047budget discussions but um um next really settled on the outlay project where to spend 100,000 next year um I know sidewalks is what we did in the previous years we talked about that um safety some outdoor storage however um it was determined that's not aable thanks for Ben for being in the meeting um so that's probably not um we want to pursue um playgrounds at Starbuck was another issue North was also talked about being that they have a large um list of needs fish list I guess you could say um in which there are some pretty exciting things like air conditioning in the data closet um concrete foundation Restorations um hold your applause chimney restoration reconfiguring a deadend corridor um but in all seriousness a couple things really stuck out to us U because they
048would be a little more tangible um usable for the students when be ining locker rooms usable space and old tennis courts there what used to be tennis courts there into a century space on campus discussed um see from there we talked about the possibility of adding or pursuing um getting some numbers to add some passenger vans for transportation on things such as non aable sports trips alternatives for reimbursements for various um travel as I talked about about adding um Clow trucks in um as well as other equipment that's needed for our campuses um this is part of a replacement plan and the money has been budgeted um it's not just whing to drive around BL trucks um this has been budgeted for and is needed to keep our campuses um both free of snow and
049um insulant as well um let's see I jumped to some budget discussion um direction of the budget is heading um add of personnel the increase in prices in and really everything and we talked about health insurance increases other insurances um and special education services that are needed for next year that concludes what we discussed very good anyone have any questions for col okay moving along it appears that Dr schmeel is up next superintendent school report thank you and good evening everyone and those people that are listening in uh just a positive reminder to our students and this is uh eligible for any student that's in ninth grade through 11th grade um the there is a new law in effect excuse me I can't speak um July 1 2025 to include a student on our school
050board and so those applications I had promised that those would go out following winter break those have been sent out to all of our high school students so I know we have some students diligently working on those uh just a reminder that those deadlines are April 28th the next thing on a positive note you would have heard at a couple of board meetings ago I talked about the this repair of our high school stage it's important to mention that uh many of our schools in our district benefit from the use of our high school stage um and so we are looking at during April break the stage to be emptied after everyone in this audience I know has seen mam Mia a plug for them because they're doing a great job rehearsing for that um
051and then we'll have a new stage floor so we're excited to see what that's going to look like and we know that our students will create wonderful memories as in years past on our current stage um just another plug um working with our County our County and our city um asked us to join forces on a safe rout to school um they had a face-to-face event uh it was not well attended um and so this is an excellent opportunity for community members or parents they don't have to be parents only um for anyone in the community that wants to talk about safe routes to school um that is going to they decided to make it into a webinar this time to see if they could increase some participation he would have seen us push that
052out at the district level and I also asked our principes to do the same thing uh that is this week on March 5th from 6:00 to 7 pm and that is it very good thank you much you're welcome L GNE is up next the assistant superintendent for instruction that's four things great I want to start by expressing my gratitude to the teachers in our district for working so diligent ly for our students and their commitment to embracing evidence-based teaching practices I'm in the schools a lot and every time I visit the schools I see amazing teaching and learning happening our District's growing our district is evolving and our teachers are at the heart of that Pro progress so I continue to be honored to work in such a dedicated or with such a dedicated and
053professional group of people um I also want to thank our principes every day they show up and they give our all for our students and teachers and as the instructional leaders in our building they are constantly learning and growing each month they have to attend principal's Academy with me which they have likened to a college course they say it's very difficult um their work is not easy but they support one another they work together to ensure their schools provide the very best education for their students um we continue to have our teachers participate in the science of reading professional development with the reading League the reading league has been visiting our schools to offer support um again I have to say our teachers are knocking it out of the park um we had some writing
054professional development going on over the last few months and again today and we're continuing to refine our writing portion of our literacy program um also our literacy coordinators are meeting this week to help support enhance District's literacy efforts and then finally as you know our strategic plan is our Northstar that's the guide to the work we do um significant efforts are being made to increase student engagement and achievement and last week I was able to facilitate a combined staff and student advisory discussion on student engagement uh their insights from both perspectives were thoughtful and valuable and we will continue collaborating with these groups to ensure their voices help inform our District's work thank you so much than Tina Lane up next with assistant superintendent for personnel and Student Services report February 12th I participated in
055the North Country Regional virtual career fair sponsored by the New York State Department of Labor whereby the district set up a virtual Booth online with all of our job openings potential employees browse various entities openings and we're given the opportunity to chat with me regarding our district its openings and employees potential room for career growth within our organization it was all online for three hours it was a different format we're trying some different things to guard our interest in our positions I'll also be attending the fourth annual workplace spring job fair on April 8th at the Hilton Garden in from 1: to 4 p.m. the our community Our Youth Event was held at Cas Middle School on February 27th that was last Thursday and this year's event was held in the gym case which was
056enveloped by 34 Community organizations who participated in our Wellness Fair they provided provided our audience with opportunities to learn about the wide array of resources ranging from Health Care to Parenting assistance available to the residents of our community Through the generous contributions of our seven Community donors we were able to provide transportation to the event for elementary families free dinner and snacks and free child care through the Jefferson Lewis bosies Early Childhood Program and we also were able to have fine print a local hip hop artist with over 30 years of experience bring his uplifting educating and inspiring message to our students and our attendees as well we had two keynote speakers who spoke on topics such as Internet safety and child advocacy and we had over 120 attendees at this year's event and our
057committee is already planning an better and more attended event next year I'd like to take this opportunity to recognize the many school-based volunteers who assisted to include our student MC's Connor Brown and Riley St Joseph and also a heartfelt thank you goes out to the members of The Vape cation committee who made this event an impressive success P of blank Tara Elmer Matt verdick Ashley Buckley Christine Sutton Bill lanfier Lorie Peters Stacy Netto Alexine Thomas Brown ebony Colmes and Chris Connors they showed their true dedic to the district and we also had many many other groups around the district who volunteered their time as well greatly appreciate and we're looking forward to a to an even better event next year so thank you thank you Tim last but not least the Durham with the assistant
058superintendent operations fining we're gonna have to delay that enjoyment for just a little bit longer I'll defer to the discussion portion please okay um items for consent agenda resolve that consent agenda items A B C D and E are hereby approved motion please Don Millie all those in favor any oppos motion carries items board action that the approval of the memorandum of agreement by super of schools of the water School District Board of Education and the Jefferson County Board of Elections for the budget vote School Board elections on May 20th 2 is here by approve motion please a second sorry Lor all those in favor any oppose any questions motion resolve that an agreement buing between the city of Watertown and the Watertown city school district for a re school resource officer for the period
059of July 1 2025 and expiring one year on June 306 is here motion second any discussion favor motion just point of clarification um so now we have we're gonna have two SRO that's just a continuation of our current contract with price thank uh be it resoled upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools Dr Larry schmeel the Board of Education hereby approves the following resignations appointment term non probationary instructional probationary instructional probationary non-instructional permanent per permanent part-time substitutes non instructional spring coaching girls have a motion glan any discussion those in favor oppos motion resulted upon the recommendation of Dr Larry schmeel superintendent of schs the paid administrative leave of a non-instructional employee effective February 27 2025 is motion please second discuss all those in favor any oppos cares where is a resolution was passed by
060the board of education on January 28 2025 approving the effective date of Ashley Walters to be January 30 2025 as a provisional appointment senior typus and be further resolved that this amended resolution reflects a change in the effective date to be January 29 2025 and is hereby approved motion please L second din any discussion all those in favor iOS carries resolved at the Madison on night Abes final service commitment form for board policy Pro services for the 2526 school year as presented to the board is here by approve motion please J second Tina discussion favor any oppos motion carries so that the approval of the contract for Health and Welfare Services for the watch City School District students attending a nonpublic school School in Carthage Carthage Central School District for the school year 2425 as
061presented to the board is here I approved motion second L any discussion all those in favor any opposed motion carries resolved at the approval of extracurricular advisor Katie Taylor um advisor for the newly created drama club at case middle school is here by motion please John second I looked up and John Kane was just staring at he the jokes right per AG group to have a drama club there it is that's a good one I was trying to think on my Fe well I can say what we 47 kids that are on the list my daughter is one of them and she is so excited about this so thank you to M Taylor for taking this on and helping these kids and what a great opportunity to give our kids more theater experience into the
062high school AB okay all those in favor any those curious resolved that the appointment of Jacob reming is an ex curricular co-advisor for the Wy student council for the 2425 school year if your motion please a second Lor Lori any discussion I opposed curious it resolved that upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools Dr Larry schmeel the bids from Auctions International for 21 Canon copers um at $3,500 uh 2008 Ford F350 at $5,200 and a 2010 Ford E450 School BS at $930 is hereby approved Mo please second CH twice brother I am shocked if I I would have put 931 on that I can't believe that I missed this opportunity it cost that much to million things you know just the opportunities present I could make it a home talk about missing your big
063break I'll be thinking about that just in case she needs to live in a van yeah a bus none the last let me know if a bus ever comes up for sale okay all those in favor your PO motion carries the end of the resol hey anyone here wishing to address the board on non agenda public comment tonight perfect then Bri I think this is when I'm turning it back to you oh boy okay every one of you should have a couple of packets you'll have one that looks like this an Excel spreadsheet and then you'll have another one that's got the budget calendar on the front I want to address this packet first this packet is a draft preliminary budget and I will go over different things that we're waiting on which is why
064is only a draft in the the the fif one right like the second one in that is the total budget that includes all buildings all departments each individual one is behind it for your reference okay and some of the highlights I want to share with you um over the past couple weeks um we'll start with the with property insurance as collee had mentioned briefly during his fnf report um halor fryan is our insurance provider and they they uh use unan National as our actual insurance company um our current loss ratio this year was 176% due to the F that we had at the high school last year our loss percentage was only 40% so because it is so high there um Adam lir our rep with Taylor Franklin is reaching out to other compan such
065as Liberty Mutual to see if we can get a better rate so at this point in time um oh yes I'm sorry and and the floods over at North you had two of them this year and and the gy yes the the north the gy at North from last January um so that is one big unknown at this point but preliminarily we're estimating about a 10% increase across the board on property insurance um the next item that's a not a huge impact but just to share with you when it comes to utilities we have natural gas and electric um smck is where we hedge our electric um Supply National Grid delivers it smck has um already predicted about a 10% increase across electric supplies so that's going to be a little bit of a jump
066in the budget as well um we have a couple of contracts that are up for negotiation so we don't have any final numbers on those we're just using some rough estimates as a place figure at this point in time and of course um the admin team will be sitting down this week Thursday morning to go over every single request that every building and department has requested so when you are looking through this when you have some insomnia and you just need a reason to sleep um these numbers include every single Staffing um request that everybody has has asked for so those numbers will look a little High which is why I mentioned last week that it's it's not a very reasonable number to give to you at this point but you asked for something so
067I'm giving it to you today the only thing that I want to highlight when you talked about increases is also the additional of 6% employer contributions for health insurance yes y um just going over making sure I got my stuff when we look at um so again the the Bose's budget also has I don't know if I told you this Bose's budget has not been fully adopted yet so we don't have final numbers from bosis um those numbers right now are we estimate at a 3% increase over the current year numbers until we have those final ones and as those numbers come in the the uh budget will be tweaked so it's it's a moving project as we go along and when we're looking at um oh more yeah I get no no it's all
068over the place guys I'm sorry also included in here is um we have mentioned men before with our fund balance being almost 25% we have talked about different projects that we can use to bring that down a little bit and as um King King mentioned with our Capital project um presentation Massy Learning Center does not receive any building aid from New York State uh the their high high needs level is about1 and a half million dollars so that is included in here as part of that fund balance management okay um from a revenue standpoint um the numbers from the governor will not be available till April 1st if the budget is on time we're looking at April 1st to really solidify the New York State numbers [Music] and oh and Foundation Aid um Dr schmeel
069asked me to bring this up so last year Foundation Aid increased over 8% for this District last year and about 87 s yes and for the coming year it's only going at 3.17% and the reason behind that is when um Kathy hokel came into office um she made it her goal to make sure the schools were all fully funded for their Foundation Aid so there were a lot of districts that were um underfunded and Watertown happened to be one of them so that was a two-year process and last year was the final year of of doing the fully funded which is your 8.77% foundation AG going forward now that you're fully funded you schools are only going to get their 2% minimum or based on their New Foundation a formula which we're so we're seeing
070a we'll be seeing a at least a 5% decrease in um foundation for next year yes yep so at this that is where we stand at this point in time um I did mention at the fnf committee I will have a better um estimate for you on your fund balance level at the next meeting I have a question yes do you have a goal a percentage goal to maintain our fund balance one of the things that we've heard from our fiscal advisers is that we want to have a healthy fund balance so that it can leverage us against borrowing money so right now we're at 24% we talked about some projects that we want to dip into that currently you know reg say we have to be at 4% probably the better do 10 to
07111% so to stay at the 11% Mark have we thought about what we want that number to be the rocker Feller Institute kind of hit some you just said they hit around 10% sure whether the governor's going to act on that yet but that's the recation the one thing that we also mentioned at the fnf meeting was the idea that um in years past the district when you when you go out for a grant there has to be a sustainability piece built into the Grant and so for a lot of our position that were built into the grants they're almost like double charged in the sense that the grant was covering them in the event the grant got closed then that money would be gone and we'd have to sustain those those staffings beyond that
072so that is also it kind of overated the fund balance because of that yeah and and kudos to um Josh and Sally for planning for that and that's put the district in a in a in a good position to you know potentially deal with any you know the state aid increases aren't going to be as good as they were in the past so it's a good place to be in anything else you are welcome if you guys have any questions just give me a holler um as I said we're gonna the admin team will meet on Thursday to start going over the different building re us upcoming dates to share with everyone tomorrow W Sports banqu is at 6: p.m. order on high school and the board of education has a scheduled for Food Service
073tour 11: a.m. at Water joh High School uh Thursday the 6th case Watertown High School art show at the flower Memorial Library from 5:30 to 6:30 Friday the 7 early dismissal for grades K through 12 for parent teacher conferences and then Tuesday the 18th um we've got a policy committee meeting here at 5: and our regular regular Board of Education meeting at 6m right here HT uh start off with let's go Randy today thank you it's always good to see the students I remind us why we're here all in perspective so V was really good the only other thing I would add I'm gonna put on my other hat um the deadline for scholarships at the northern York Community Foundation is March 15 we have hundreds of scholarships from all types of students including trade
074enagement for careers um right now Watertown is in last place in Jefferson County and we want to change that pretty quick so as far as participation rate so um I would just put the the word out there to anyone who has a high school senior either to contact the Community Foundation or get on our website and apply can I ask you a question about that so any kid can any High School can apply and so are your scholarships structured by like um categories or anything or is it like one General we have lots of individual scholarships that donors have set up okay um some of them are career specific or college specific but a lot of them are for the average student so we have some Merit based but I think a lot of people
075think you got to be a top based student to get a scholarship and we have more people now that are establishing support for students who are the average student with other qualities community service Athletics those typ things so there's really something for everybody so would my daughter qualify as an applicant because she goes to boarding school if she's she's officially a resident of Jefferson County she's officially a resident so yeah she could okay you're resident of Tri County Area okay but watertown's at 7% um application right right now and you got to change that sure okay thank you thanks thanks Mr go um I really don't have a lot however does anyone remember the door you're supposed to meet at for tomorrow's number um just knock yeah I'll just keep knocking back right where's that
076um in the vs probably by the in the back okay that I know I know that part no it's hoping to be able to make that um and then actually only other thing I really had was um I appreciate Jason and Ben being here Ben being in our meeting as well and going over the proposed capital project um know Jason joked about the redundancy of it um for me it's not really like watching Groundhog Day it's it's more like watching Dumb and Dumber let me explain um I like you're waiting for a solution but for the Dum Dumber I could watch that movie over and over and over again um because but but um and the reason I say it is because um I think it's an important thing for the public you know to
077be educated on on what it is it's no thrills it's essential upgrades for the districts it's things that are needed um so if there are any questions or if you haven't heard something that you need to hear please ask someone yeah please if you have any questions please email me and we'll work to make sure everyone gets the answers what we've been trying to incorporate is we keep our presentations moving board is answering those questions in the the next presentation likey I like that and go if I can add something to that is the vote is on the same night as music in our schools so on March 25th and we have ordered additional uh machines from the county uh so that we can try to keep those lines moving and that will be in
078our band room and then at North Elementary School for the South District second thing I [Laughter] said Mrs scers I don't really have anything it was nice that bowling te was done so well I used to Bowl as well but not on a team that was like back in the day when um so we should challenge them 100% um the other thing is I went to the community event with Millie was there and Tina as well and the event was very it was done very well I'm just very disappointed in the lack of community that came I feel like I hear all the time like we don't do enough or you know people complaining about not having community events and we have them and I've been to them all and no one shows up that's
079my rant for the evening please show up if you want us to have them show up said Thank you Tina Flo um I don't have much either I do want to congratulate Mike Morgan and the bringing the kids and that bowling team they were so cute um it's nice to keep having sports or different things that the kids can relate to like the new drama club I think that's amazing um kudos to little K girl she is she is something else she makes me happy um she's something else all right she is she does she makes me happy um so I just wanted to thank the bowling team and the and Mike for organizing all that and keeping up with the kids and Bri I don't know man thank you you thing you shall receive
080wow all right let me see what I can think of to ask for it's not one of those that's all I got John Ken um so I apologize I can't be there tomorrow but I'm sure everybody will fill me in I didn't want to miss two days of school in a row I was in Albany today uh for ni Committee of 100 so I got to meet with u Mark walik and Ken blank and Bush from Lewis County and Scott Gray um and I just want to say that we we are for forunate to have some amazing state legislators that absolutely support public education in the North Country know how important it is to our our students our kids to have good quality schools um and just the conversations I I've been doing that for
081for many many years and and uh the conversations are always good but I feel like I barking up the wrong tree because those guys get it they they they know what um needs to happen for our schools to be successful so um always good to see them always get to spend a little bit of time in Albany U but they're definitely strong supporters of of public education and then just to everybody's support our Capital project come out and vote um like I said you know these are things that are going to keep our buildings standing up and safe for our kids um we'll have to worry about Frills down the road and another building project but this one is just to make sure that we can continue to provide education to our students and then
082my other one Mama Mia make sure everybody gets out to see Mama Mia I I know how hard these kids have been working on the weekends on the evenings the hours that they've put in uh I I I have not seen a preview I have heard it's going well um but we always have phenomenal shows and I can't imagine that this one will be any different so get out and see it me too do you have a part in this one are you lying to us I didn't want it to have a negative impact on the cap funny um I have a few things uh first of all um you know Mike I think you've been doing a great job in bringing these athletes here uh Athletics is a big part of my life all
083my children are highly skilled athletes and I think that when you're bringing kids here and honoring their achievements it really breeds a lot of connection into the cycle Lo pride and they also feel that they're acknowledged so I want to thank you for continuing you've been doing this now for a few weeks and I think that's a great um show for our school we have really great kids here in terms of athleticism um the bowling team I mean those kids are amazing to sit there and say they've never done this before like I really felt the most Spirit out of them that they're genuinely engaged in something that is so wonderful so um I will buy the popcorn cuz I can't vote but I will be there in terms of the capital Improvement um project
084I've gotten several phone calls and I asked that very specific question to um Ben because people are afraid that there's zero impact on the taxpayer now but maybe down the line because it's going to take us so long there's going to be an impact and I'm glad to hear that he reiterates R in terms of past predicting the future that that's probably will not be a likely occurrence um I think that our community it's a lot of money it's $110 million but our community really needs to support this I am going to encourage everyone that I know that we need to support this our buildings are in bad shape and if we keep continue to Kick the Can down the road they're not going to be reparable so we need to really qu the bullet
085and the Frills as you said shall come later on but this is very basic to our infrastructure and we have to support this um I want to follow up on a couple of comments I I made last week Bri thank you very much for this I I think this is for me personally is very helpful for me to have some visual comparison um the meetings and all the updates that you're providing I think is going to give us an ability to make an educated um vote and support for our teachers The District administration this is very important so I know that this took a lot this is not easy to put together and I appreciate that and I will be going through it so it the paper wouldn't have been wasted um I just wanted
086to thank you you your email I asked you about coaching and what the regs were and you sent a very thorough information about that um I think there's going to be some more conversation about that but I wanted to thank you to for following up that was really nice of you to do that um the other thing I'm going to counter your perception on the youth um event that we went to I actually felt for Watertown and I I know what you're saying but I actually felt that given the weather it was well attended and I can tell you that the feedback that I got from families was very good the MC was amazing um all of the stations Lori and I walked all the stations there were services that are being offered to this
087community one in particular is a nutritional through the Cooperative Extension there's they have a new lady that they're training and she would love to get into case middle school as she shared with us and provide some nutritional counseling and and not counseling that's the wrong word education so I asked her to please reach out to the principal at case middle school so that she can get connected but she was super enthusiastic and I thought given this the day it was well attended uh the enthusiasm of the students was amazing yes we want more there was a lot of seats that were empty but I feel like we did a good job in attending that so put a positive spin on that um and the one other thing that we did Lori and I Larry and
088Tina and I saw you in the back was we attended the legislators Forum a couple of weeks ago and in this forum we were able to engage in conversation with Mark wallac Scott Gray Ken Bank blank and Bush sent Tammy who his assistant chief of staff and uh will Barkley and they I was impressed with the questions that were asked and the fund of knowledge that these school districts have like they asked a lot of really good questions and I thought the most impressive part about that Forum was that our legislators were like oh wow and I'll give you a great example we talked about the cell phone policy so the governor allotted $13 million to address the cell phone policy because it's a directive and and someone I believe was from General Brown got
089up and said we don't need your 13 millon we're not saying no to money but we don't need $13 million we already established the policy and it's working great for us and they went through the whole thing of how they've implemented this policy at Zer you can take that money and repurpose it and use it for something else so that was one of the things that was really nice and actually Bill Barkley got up and said I didn't think it was going to be that easy I had no idea that you guys wouldn't be like we don't need money to fix this problem so it was an eyeopener I was glad to be included in that I thought it was very very good um so I wanted to share that with everybody else that these
090forums although sometimes they sound like they're going to be a little cheesy it wasn't there was a lot of smart people there there was a lot of you know really great questions and I felt it was an hour well spent extremely organized extremely organized um so that's it that's all I have thank you you're welcome thank you I have an update One update uh this week um from Beth Mau he says we are thrilled to share that seven of our eight community- based organizations have utilized our instructional coach this year Kristen has been instrumental in supporting teachers and their teams in implementing the units of studies uh study for Creative curriculum and in guiding new teachers and staff in addition to providing one-on-one support Kristen collaborates with me to deliver monthly professional development studies for
091all lead teachers focusing on the units of study we also provide targeted professional development for teaching assistance and AIDS three times a year our training incorporates key District initiatives including the information processing model Cyclone 6 Norm of collaboration and The Guiding principles from New York State Office of early learning to ensure accessibility all professional development resources are housed in a centralized platform called work smarter not harder teacher fish finally we are so excited to decorate next month's bulletin board in the district office especially as we prepare to celebrate the week of the young child in April different departments decorate the bullets and for it yeah this one right over here really what month do we get I would like that because I've got great ideas I just this is my first time reading that that
092in the bus all evening um um yeah I don't really have anything uh it was great athletes and club and everybody said that um I think the great thing about the Bowling Club if you listened to what those kids said is they were like never been on athletic team we've never been and that that's what's so special about that team in this district is you don't have to fit into you know you're an athlete or you're that there's so many opportunities here and everybody should just feel good about that so thank you Dr schmeel for start that that was started this year our voters approved that and then next year we did the indoor track and just the same the amount of kids that were engaging when you look at the overall sense of belonging
093atic Su District G to continue to grow yes we are thank okay so at this time um you're in need of an executive section to discuss propos pending or current litigation motion please Millie and a second John John all those in favor sorry