001Penny and Derek, I'm not going to capture you in this meeting. For the sake of presentation. Okay, we will be starting shortly. >> [laughter] [clears throat] >> Okay, it is 7:18. Six board members present. Please stand as we salute the flag. Special events the flag of the United States of America. And to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. At this time, we will do the announcement of the 2026-2027 budget vote and election results. Okay, proposition one Berlin Central School District 2026-2027 budget. The budget proposition failed with 210 yes votes and 213 no votes. This is for the 2026-2027 budget of $26,799. Sorry, $799,600. The proposal included a 2.03% increase over the current year and a tax levy increase of 2.16, which is at the
002allowable tax cap. Proposition two bus propositions. Proposition purchase of two school buses, 60-60 vehicles, at a cost not to exceed $355,000. yes votes, 189 no votes. Back to pass. Board of election educate Board of Education election. One candidate sought election to two open Board of Education seats. One candidate for re-election and one open seat with a write-in. Brandon Swat is our first candidate who got a total of Excuse me. 230 votes yes. Our second candidate was a write-in candidate, Nicholas Borden. And he received 64 votes. I will now read all the write-in candidates. Jen Hunt, Trevor Borden, Nicholas Borden, Anne Snowdy, Gerard Russell, Cyril Grant, Luke Smith Smith, Patrick Henry, John Cereal, Mary Grant, Nicole Russell, Nancy Vincent, Jared Bracey, Matt Myers, John Mum, Wayne Goodloe, Annette Bell, Paul Raider, Reggie Penny, Daryl Maxon, John
003Jones, Arthur Smith, Donald French the third, Karen Day, Christie Hopson, Derek Gardner, Audrey Vanderhoof, Daniel Hunt, D McVey, Todd Hewitt, Lauren Saunders, B Dodge, Amy Reeder, Christopher Shorter, Gretchen Google, Bruce Tate, Mark Cooley, Haley Maxon, and Laura Holden. Those were all our writings. Thank you, Rachel. This time we've got presentations and student reports. I'll ask you to present them. He's not here. Oh, I have the report right here. All right, good evening everyone. They have fellows report. Student report. Um for May 20th, 2026. At the beginning of the month, student council had a great trip to Philadelphia. They got to see Independence Hall, the Declaration of Independence was signed almost 250 years ago. They saw the Liberty Bell and enjoyed a ghost tour. The students in attendance had a great time and learned a lot.
004Following week, eighth graders also visited the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island in New York City. The middle school and high school band and choir students had their spring concerts this month, and went uh to compete at the Trails and Thrills in Massachusetts. Also, all had a great time. Last Saturday, the school hosted the annual wellness fair. There were lots of vendors and clubs were able to share their creations to the community. Student council was also able to plant native trees that were donated by the Department of Environmental Conservation, and it was a great success. This past month has gone by very quickly, and with the end of the year events now in full swing. This week is spirit week, also exciting time for students. Students are dressing up and partaking in mini games, like
005rock, paper, scissors challenge, where students are given one necklace and they challenge others to win the necklaces. It's a great way to see students interact with others they don't usually speak to. The week will wrap up with color wars tomorrow, with each grade dressing in select color and yard games at lunch. As a junior, my classmates and I are working hard to button up the final details for prom, which is at Liberty Ridge Farm next Friday. Local emergency services are all helping to present a mock accident, mock crash. We also have speakers coming in to talk about distracted, destructive driving to keep safety in the minds of all prom attendees. The PTO booster clubs are helping class of 2027 have a fun and safe place to go after the prom. We have a long weekend
006this weekend ahead, and students are very excited for the nice break for the final few weeks of the school year. I do apologize as I was unable to attend the meeting tonight due to a prior commitment. Thank you very much. Truly well. >> [laughter] >> This time we'll open it up to Ariel Gilbert and H Generation Book Club. >> So that kind of give you one. I know it's kind of a little bit of a turnaround presentation on supporting student well-being in the digital age. So the literacy leadership team on our sixth grade our mission this year was to read the ancient generation and then we also shared that with staff. They could sign up for the book club. We got books for the staff. And then on March 13th, we had like a PD
007day and we'll talk a little bit Why this word matters. So we've seen a lot of rising student anxiety, poor mental health, impact on focus, their sleep, their social skills. Many students are struggling to focus and retain information. A lot of this is coming from being on technology for extended times. And that is also from the ancient generation. It kind of gives you an idea of some of the mental illnesses and the rise of the time over the years. If you look at that gray band, that's when the iPhone was introduced and that's like the big phone era that we talk about at that time frame. So we wanted to build a bridge between home and school. We realized we could really lay out the picture. So, we did two things, the professional development in
008March and then a community book club as well. So, this was actually one of the most meaningful PD experiences that I've ever had. The whole year we were really excited about getting together to talk about the book. We had people you know cross paths in the hall and they're like, "Hey, what part are you on?" So, there was a lot of anticipation. Once we were able to sit down with 20 teachers, they discussed the whole book. We would sit around in the library and discuss what we were seeing because of the strings. And one of the things that we talked about was things like reduced attention span. We're asking them to do very rigorous things with reading, writing, and math numbers, and they're just really struggling to maintain that that focus. They were seeing a
009lower frustration tolerance. So, they're getting you know fed up. They'll they'll see things like behavioral issues, work avoidance, anxiety, and shutting down. Uh things like social conflict from things that are happening online outside of school that are related to the classroom. We're having to you know help them with resolution. They're struggling with those types of things in conjunction. And an increased need for reassurance, too, with the ability to handle those more rigorous tasks in the classroom. So, as As we read Teacher was coming out in the microphone. As we read it through the book, we realized that the book really does argue these cases. Like why we're seeing this in classrooms today. Why we're seeing this in students. Cuz as many of you are parents in the district, parent teacher, right here like I have
010students in the district as well as seeing it points, you know, like a point, but it's arguing that child should child be shifted from play based to phone based. So, what do we do when we give our kids phones instead of going outside and playing, right? This is This is the result that we're seeing according to this book. Um less face-to-face interaction. We don't know how to Our children don't know how to interact with each other. They don't know how to socialize, how to problem solve with the children with the children. Yeah, how to collaborate, work together to solve a problem. We're seeing that in the classroom more. And then this book also argues more comparison in social navigation. So, again, those social skills, those problem-solving skills. All of this is brought up in this
011book and it really brought to light both for me as a parent side and a teacher side to see what is actually happening and coming up with our population. So, in terms of strategic planning and what we as teachers are trying to do to interact with them all is eliminating screen time, eliminating their time on the phone, so that we're doing more paper-based assignments and writing assignments. Um we're having to have them show them supporting social skills. And again, that conflict resolution and how to sit with discomfort and learning like learning in life they can be messy like it's okay. Coaching them through that, building stamina for these academic tasks that they're going to have to do. So, as a essentially the result of the book, they kind of come up with these norms that
012should be taken. Like they they they say argue. Argue. At home it's time to think up. All right. Um so, four norms for this is one, no smartphones before high school. This is the argument of Jonathan Haidt. And the research theory shows us that it's more detrimental the younger the kids are. You know, it's because of their developing brain. And number two, no social media before 16. Cuz again, we're still very developmentally dealing with the problem-solving, relationships, collaboration, and how really the who we who they are at that point in the real life. >> first before we get to do it on the screen. Absolutely. And then number three of phone-free schools from bell to bell, which This has been transformative. Like I there has not been one teacher I have spoken to who in
013this district and outside has not absolutely loved this law because we're we have plenty of fires to put out. We have plenty of challenges in the classroom. And cell phones are no longer one of them. Yeah. And this book was written before that law school. So like we could it just brings up we should today have phones in the school. Yeah. Right. Step one, done. And then number four is more independence, free play, and responsibility in the real world. This they bring up in all levels, not just early childhood, not just elementary school. Elementary through high school. I mean, how many times have you watched a movie and you see like the high schoolers like hanging out in the corner? Right? When do you have a chance When do you actually do that? Right? That's
014what they're talking about. Is having that social interaction time when you're not being supervised, but you're allowed to have those problem-solving situations. You're allowed to have that social interaction without somebody telling you how you're supposed to have it. And you can't hide behind a screen. In the real world, like you have to work those things out together. And that's where it ends. The parents I for me, um I actually after reading this book started with my son play. Right, go outside play. Really, you know, be my go-go ahead. You know, so it's trying to find that balance as a teacher and a parent. Well, you need to do this. But first, you need to go to that really center. You need to go play. You need to go solve problems. You need to go have
015fun. And then maybe you'll focus more. You know, so it's interesting trying to find that balance as I was reading this as a parent and a teacher. Just some pictures from our reading day. Yeah, it was a really great talk. It was fun because I could see like like it was a K through 12th grade, we could see the same flock of issues and concerns coming up in kindergarten, first grade, second grade, and then we were like, well, this then builds to be this in middle school, and then this builds into being bigger in high school. Yeah, it was so validating at each level. It was really validating and so good to get together and talk about it. Absolutely. As we're presenting, if you have questions, as soon as the information that you're looking at
016is Um so, we had a community event. We had a book club April 1st. Um we're really excited about this. It's the first time we've done this. Uh so, we invited families. We sent out to the community. We got libraries involved. Um they had books uh reaching to the health and nutrition now. We connected and we lent books. We got them the books. Some people wanted audios. Um so, it was really great way of, you know, collaborating and getting everybody involved and on board to really see what and how to impact the students. And also, our student council was being invited to come here, which is quite awesome too. And what that it was again playing both roles with this for me, personally, having that interaction of hearing other parents in the district, and other
017community members in the district also seeing these concerns at home. And so, you could see both sides, and it's really like trying to figure out how we could then combat that problem. It's always really good to see to hear all of those sides. And this is the childcare portion. Okay, so they think he was watching them. All right, so the community impact we were looking for a stronger education. We This is the first time doing this, so we were happy that we had, you know, people come out. We want to continue doing this. We decided either maybe with this book, or we're also looking at some other books, intentional play, books that talk about doing, you know, how to help your kids play in a way that's safe, but also to get them to work
018together to really work on those skills that they're still struggling with. Having meaningful conversations, but there was all different points of view in the book club, so that was really good in that we got to hear from the parents and their different points of view. Some parents felt technology was important to them, but they're they're finding that balance of when do we allow them technology, when is technology okay for them to use? And really just trying to have the home-school connection strengthened. That was our real big end goal of having this, and being able to have, you know, a lot of people come in and tell us after the fact that, you know, I really want to join, but we couldn't come. We'll do this again, so I can see that it's even hearing that
019is something that encourages us to do more. And we're very much at the beginning of this problem. Right? We're still like that identifying stage as a society, not just at the school, right? That's a whole bigger issue than what we have. So, takeaways. We realize that our students have attention and focus challenges. They have sleep issues or only gaining or you know, checking their Insta or whatever. Emotional dysregulation is a big problem that we have to walk them through and again, that balance. We need tech to be a wonderful tool, a wonderful tool in certain contexts. It's a tool, so we want to build their digital digital literacy while still having them able to sustain attention to these various things that we're having as I was saying home to do. So, what are the next
020steps? All right, so I'll talk about the Reclaiming Focus. Um both Ariel and I went to the same thing different days. >> [laughter] >> Um and the Reclaiming Focus Addressing Student Attention Fragmentation in the post-phone era. So, this was a PD that I found really eye-opening. It's focused on our student attention that was after [clears throat] home rules um phone ban. Right? So, this is like now we've got that in front of us and now they're sitting here going, "I don't know what to do with my hands." Right? Like I don't know what I need to do. Um so, it's it taught us some different strategies, lesson styles to deal with the attention fragmentation where they can be like, "You need short snippets, quick pieces, quick activities, but still also dealing with social interaction, collaboration,
021problem-solving. You know, you got taking gallery walks and posting on different people's work, different students' work. But it's not just a like and model way. They would keep scrolling. They had to then elaborate on why they liked it. What did they like about it? What did they want to say? What compliment did they want to give? Or what did you want to criticize? What did you want to ask? So, it's teaching them in short, quick strategies because they you don't have the attention that they used to. And then they improve their social skills as well. So, it addressed a lot of those themes that were in this book. Hopefully that helps. So, we're going to do a turn and be trained with that. Um we're also, like I said before, we're going to look at
022the next book study on intentional play. We're talking about some titles today that we're looking at to do um you know, get them out to teachers to look at now and then we'll be looking to get them back to next year. And it's been brought up a lot in the importance of writing by hand. Um that there actually is proven research that shows that writing by hand hits retaining information better. Um it helps them to you know, to engage more after they've written it. And the OT piece is definitely um a big part of the learning process of writing. So, we're going to be talking about that. OT is actually offered to do a PD on the importance of handwriting and how it affects their skills when you know, they're using their muscles. Uh we're
023exploring the digital wellness guidelines. So, we're going to be implementing the digital citizenship at all grade levels as age appropriate. I was just talking about what they need to you know, go on the internet, what are you looking for, what is something to have, that responsibility of going on the computer and things that you should and shouldn't be doing. And then expanding the family engagement, we're looking to do more book clubs, uh you know, getting the family involved in these activities. Okay. Any questions? And I'm sure you saw that we had given you your own interest inventory. There's some library resources >> [laughter] >> It was really good. I like it. Thank you. >> [clears throat] >> So, on to the >> [clears throat] >> um policies. This is the third reading for policy number
0248450. All of the comments have been captured and then the language. Are there any other questions? It's in the file. No? Okay. Then get a motion to approve the third reading to be dismissed for policy. I'll second. Motion by Frank. A second? I'll second. So, Elaine? Um Darren Kendall? Yes. Kendall? Yes. Young? Yes. Elaine? Yes. Frank? Yes. And I'm a yes. This concludes public comment. I do not think anyone signed up for the Same here. Same here. I think I think you signed up on the consent agenda. I don't think you signed up if you wanted to. No. No, he wants to do it at the next agenda. He wants to do it for this agenda purposes. I'm fine if you do that. Okay. Okay. So, I think >> So in my mind again, I
025have entitled this I apologize you won't have visuals for the audience but I'll try to make it simple to understand. I have entitled this a failure of the process. I actually wrote this before so maybe this is a for my shout out to the other side. Um you had five budget meetings. Um there is a respective dates that were listed. I actually went on YouTube and I listened to all of them. I actually counted the number of questions from the board. There was a 20 question total in this five meetings total with regards to the budget. If you take away statements, if you take away the discussions on drone soccer and the mower attachments, you're less than 15 questions. $26.8 million budget, 15 questions, five meetings. There were no advanced copies of any presentations that
026were provided to the public to uh to review the things. There were no department by department year to year expense comparisons. It's pretty important. There were a lot of discussions about various sub budget items, but there was no department by department presentation. Limited explanations were provided on why some of the actions put this one consistently below approved budgets the last three years, but again without understanding how they fall within their respective departments. They were somewhat kind of like in my opinion not necessarily helpful. The budget presentations are based on comparing actual prior budget numbers, not against actual expenses. And this is very misleading. If you look at your proposed budget that was just defeated, it's actually 9.2% higher than your projected actual expenses this year. So what was proposed to the public was, "Hey, our
027budget is 22% higher than the last year's budget." But in reality, it was 9.2% higher than your actual expenses incurred this year. If the public understood that it was 9% higher, they wouldn't have been a 50/50 vote. It probably would have been 80/20 against the budget. Secondly, your budget math just simply doesn't add up. I've already talked about it in previous presentations. I've already discussed that your student expenditures are 30% higher than the comparative districts. This bill is even though they didn't want to go over it in earlier presentations, that you continue to travel down an unsustainable path. The board has already admitted that there's no long-term operating budget in place. The UTO terminals and non-auto and non-auto tax capital increases to close your annual budget deficits. Unfortunately, the good news is your actual expenditures
028in the budget statement on the next page are actually covered by your actual revenue. But, if your actual expenditures were equal to your budget expenditures, then you'd be under severe financial pressure with little to no excess reserves available for the future. If you look quickly at the comparison, these are your actual expenditures versus your budget expenditures. And for the last 3 years, including the projection for this year, you've basically been about $1.7 million under your budget. So, what that tells you is is that your budget shouldn't be $26.8 million, it should be $24.5 million. Lastly, to have a little bit of fun with this, are we living in a Clint Eastwood movie, for those of you who like Clint Eastwood? You recall The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, and Eastwood is the good. So,
029you have managed to operate at lower actual expense levels due to unfilled roles, no use of future reserves, and other operational efficiencies. The bad, however, is if actual spending increases to budget levels, then you'll have very little future financial flexibility without large tax increases and or major cost cuts. And the ugly, which is Eli Wallach, your reserves, in that scenario, your reserves would be exhausted, and your future equipment capital needs, which in my opinion are sizable, but have no clear pathway to funding. So, when you put all that together, what it says is that there's a reason why your budget failed because it doesn't make sense. Your budget should be at 24.5 million as your baseline, not 26.8 million dollars. Operate as you operated for the last 3 years, not operate at something much higher
030than what you currently operate at. Thank you. Thank you. No problem. Do you have anybody else up? Okay. So on to the consent agenda items, which are A through J. Relating to the approval of the consent agenda items, I did send a question to Ken regarding the um extra for our the extra classroom count because I didn't see in here exactly which one was being closed and it was the SAS. That's correct. I attached it to the agenda video. Yeah. It hasn't been used since 2013. And it's being transferred to the student council. And then there was one other contract and that was for BPS. Yes. That's correct. >> That was the the contract with Pierce Health and that was for BPS. I have a question about the emergency evacuation. That's with Who do we
031call if something happens at the That's correct. And we have a similar agreement with London. No, we're required to have an agreement with a school in the event that our transportation buses are unavailable that we have a plan. The reason why I went with the school was because of the prior work that was done prior work that was done quite a bit a few years ago which wasn't completed for our personal line. So I reached out to Pat Daily he said, "Yeah, we have something here that was worked on and he and I have to complete that." So something was prior prior work that was done. So it does it is required in the updated safety plan for next year. We also agreed that you know in the event of an emergency that they have
032that we transport their students or you know provide an opportunity to to that as well. Is this a requirement of all schools? Yes. In our in our district safety plan. So Post Road reached out to to us to notify us that as of the fall we'll have to have this in place we should work out now. And this got done very quickly because we already had a lot of the work done before it. It would have been something probably going into the summer time to take all the legwork out of it. Okay, I'm just looking at Milo Johnson Elementary. Loving asked to join with us would we be doing that too? I don't know if they asked it. I don't I don't know. I don't believe you're forced to work with any other district in
033particular. So it doesn't matter if we have an agreement to work with. Cuz we go up to Post and Kilmer. That's right with the other park district. We are right adjacent of Loving elementary building. I guess that was something I wanted to have some feedback on if other schools are in the same situation. I'm looking at the distance so I have to help them. I don't think it's a cost I mean we have agreements with other districts. Yeah, I just need to clarify the candidate. This is an event that would be unforeseen unlikely emergency that would happen like a one time event that they would transport our students. Not daily. I know I know this is this is not a agreement to say I understand. But the world's coming up with one more one shot
034items which more than normal. Okay. Yeah, I can definitely reach out to Westar and inquire about that. This is also approved through the school policy and patient as well. I'm fine with it. I'm fine with it. I'm just hoping that census in other areas. Yeah, I don't think this is something that No. There is a visualization transportation that we had that we're working on with the superintendents with Westar. There's a meeting next week. Yeah, looking at efficiencies in transportation to that and I've gone to a previous meeting 2 weeks ago about this and there's another meeting coming next week. I'm not sure if Janet will be attending. I probably can't in that one, but continue dialogue around transportation efficiencies and looking at the routes in the district and what we're currently utilizing and how we
035can potentially share to your point, share. And this is all districts. This is not specific to like this with the balls for emergency buttons. This is also in the table with the transportation director, superintendent and not with Noble Park, with all the different districts. Each of us putting basically things on the table and trying to see where we have overlap. So, Janet and I, you know, we started that conversation and there's still more work to be done. So, I think that's probably more of what you're referring to cuz yeah. Yeah, that's fine. That's more of a day-to-day thing which is getting great stuff, definitely visualization efficiencies for us. Thank you. That'd be nice if we had a long two schools that match each other. private schools in the area. Other suggestions Yeah. Janet, I don't
036want to put you on the spot, but I think comments to that conversation, you were there with me. The the visualization transportation What is it? What Just any any kind of takeaways from that? Any takeaways from that conversation we had regarding transportation? Just opportunities for us to look at working with Lebanon, Noble Park, of these are all for transportation routes to to visualize and create more efficiencies. I know there's some challenges there cuz a lot of the flows right right going to West and all right. A lot of the the schools that kids can transport to programs is a lot of them going more west. So, for us we're we we're always the first hub here. Yeah. Yeah. Which makes sense you kind of think of all the school districts to actually know we have
037and find those hubs, but it's a whole new conversation that's just getting going with West Orange and South. So, you know, it's a continuing thing that all districts are going to start looking at to see if it's something that we can actually do and build upon. I would add to that what you just said is actually a good point because I said it's a great inter district plan but you love that I just thought any opportunities to to consider sharing, you know, anything that we can share with them. You know, our district is certainly willing to have conversations. You know, given our our budget situation that we have and the challenges we face with our students is a great point. The neighbors that would certainly I would entertain those conversations and we we've had we've
038had a few of those. I think that while it's just getting going with some of this stuff, Thank you. Thank you. >> [clears throat] >> Any any additional comments? All right, then get a motion for the second agenda item. Motion by Frank, second Second by Penny. Derek, how do you vote? Yes. Penny? Yes. Kim? Yes. Elaine? Yes. Frank? Yes. And I vote yes. On to the president's report. Um just so the public knows following yesterday's vote, the board will now have to meet with the developer to review their new plan. Seven members. Okay. yesterday's vote, the board will need to move forward with developing either a new budget, placing the same budget up to vote or adopting a contingency budget. A contingency budget will place administrative restrictions on the district and its operations, and it
039will particularly impact our community and our district's facilities and programs. So, next week we have to We're going to have to have a special meeting to discuss the budget. We can set that at the end of the board meeting. I'd also like to congratulate our newly elected board member, Nick Verdic, and tell the board I'm looking forward to working with him and working together. I did reach out to him today, and he said that Rachel also reached out to him. And I appreciate he's done that he's accepted and I appreciate his willingness to serve our district and our community. As we move forward toward the end of this school year, there are many events coming up that highlight the incredible work, talents, and accomplishments of our students. We encourage the community members and families to
040take time to attend and support our students at these events. It showcases what our students have achieved this year, including tomorrow there's the basketball game for our newly formed unified basketball program at the MVP center. So, And then lastly, I think it's important to highlight members in our district that really go above and beyond, and I had the privilege to attend a field trip with Ariel Gilbert. If you ever want to get your steps in, go on a field trip with her. >> [laughter] >> She has your day packed from sunrise to when you finally sit down and relax. And I think it's important that you recognize how much work you really put in to our district. So, thank you. >> [applause] >> All right. Good evening, everyone. Just giving an update on several items.
041Very lucky to be in standing for Berlin here. Last Monday, I had the opportunity and pleasure to attend the celebration of teaching and learning at the University of Albany. I attended that event with Ariel Gilbert and Mr. Burnsley. The celebration of teaching and learning is sponsored by Questar at UAlbany and it celebrates and highlights students who are interested in pursuing careers in the field of education. We certainly need more educators in the field and we had four students who were identified as interested in exploring educational opportunities in the future who joined us. They were Annie Young, Ali Manchester, You Guys Stroka, and Jade Collen. Speaking of, you know, Collen, I don't know if I messed that up there. Collen, I'll take it. So, it was a great opportunity for our students to engage with other
042educators and leaders in the field and other students and ask great questions. It was a nice nice event. I'm grateful that Ariel and Dave were able to join us well for that. I want to recognize our teachers. May 4th through 8th was Teacher Appreciation Week. As a former teacher myself for 14 years, I'm very grateful to our educators and how hard they work to be able to do for our students each and every day in the classrooms and the partnership with the BTA. So, just want to recognize our teachers. Also, I was Transportation Recognition Recognition Day week. I'm grateful for that as well to our Transportation Department and the great work that they do as well and the leadership provided there to that staff. We really do have a very tremendously hard working staff here
043in Berlin and many of our staff travel great distances to come here each and every day to work for our students. So, I'm very grateful for that. Speaking of grateful, I'm grateful and I want to congratulate the Berlin Art Department, Jen Sell, Michelle McDonald, Sam Over, and six students whose work was showcased at the 36th year Art Teacher Association Lyndon Exhibit at the State Capitol this week. Uh I had the pleasure with Kim Baley to uh stop over and find parking. Uh we hiked it uh over to the Capitol and saw nice uh exhibit. Uh some of our students enjoyed as well. It was It was a really great way for our students to uh highlight their work, also to showcase Berlin. Uh it was a small group of students that were there and the
044word Berlin was across the screen many, many times. I was smiling looking at it each time I saw I saw the name of our students up there and their artwork and staff up there. So, kudos to our Art Department and that really makes recognition. Thank you, Kim, as well for for joining me. Uh the students who were recognized were Nora Skiddin, Emma Donkin, Lillian Von Sh- Shogan, uh Briana Klein, El El- Elma Elma, Silas Smith, and Reagan Harrison. Congratulations to all of those students. Uh budget, uh I want to congratulate Nick Burdick as well, and also Frank Zilbach on re-election. Uh I want to thank the 4,023 residents who did participate in the budget vote. As a former social studies teacher, it is very important to exercise our right to vote. Uh the proposed budget
045had a 2.16% decrease, which was both in the level of the cap and amongst the lowest of all the press our public schools in terms of proposed increases. The level last year did not pass. Working with the Board of Education, we are in the process of reducing operating costs and improving efficiencies, uh and enhancing educational opportunities for our students. I am [clears throat] deeply concerned about the possibility of the district being required to go to a fallback contingency budget pending the June 16th re-vote, if the budget fails again on June 16th, we clear the district will be required to go to a contingency budget. This will be detrimental to our students as the funding for our district would revert back to a freeze from last year's budget, and that would mean potential for loss of
046significant programming. Means a loss potentially of athletics, field trips, extracurricular activities, no new equipment, community loss of school facilities, potential for loss of pre-K pre-paid programming, academic intervention for students, um and many other um programs that students really need each and every day. It is very important that um the board puts together a proposal for the community on June 16th that the community is satisfied with and we receive community feedback. Uh it's very critical that our community comes out and votes on June 16th. We had 423 people that came out and voted. However, this is a community with several thousand people in it. So, we need to have numbers that vote. It's important that we have support uh for a budget and understanding community's needs in order to pass that budget so we're not at
047contingency um after that point. I also want to mention the capital project proposal. I've been asked many times, um are is the board going to put forward a new proposal? The plan was in June. The board was uh supposed to going to hear a proposal for a new project to start that work. Um however, with the budget right now re-vote, we're going to put that probably on hold uh and you know, look to the future here for a new proposal at some point down the line, but it is critical right now that the board votes on the uh new budget. So, we are looking at that, thinking about the new proposal, but right now it's on hold at this point in time. Um last thing I want to mention here, I just want to end
048with a very positive thing. Um Dawn has been out for some time as everyone knows, and she is quite irreplaceable, but if anyone can step in those shoes, um and, you know, help fill that void on a minute's notice, it's Rachel Sredzki. And I have to express my sincere gratitude to Rachel. Rachel, if I didn't say one thing about you, you truly represent the very best of Berlin, and so grateful for everything that you've been doing to support myself and the district, and I just have to roll something here for you. I'm going to myself here. You can walk now. We don't allow that last night. So, it's I know it was nervous. Hopefully, I can turn it around. Thank you. >> [applause] >> This uh that vote yesterday would not have happened if it
049were not for Truly, would not have been organized, would not have taken place without Rachel stepping in and just doing it. So, thank you, Rachel. Thank you. Um this is all for the nature of snapshots. Um I think I mentioned before that we are in contact with the owner of the property and we've started that process. They've already been into the office once and have started to put the documents that we'll get for our final deed of purchase orders, and they will be back in the meeting next week. As we all know, the budget has failed, and there has been much commentary about the size of the budget. So, we do know that we are still on track for a 24 and 1/2 million dollar expenditure um towards the end of the year. That's the
050projection. We also know that we will have $300,000 increase in insurance. We also know that we have half a million dollars just under half a million dollars in those that were not filled that we do intend to fill. We also know that we have increases in fuel and electric and our regular salaries. So, in each year as I have presented in my slide, the auditors recommend that we have a range of flexibility for things like special needs and stream to make up any gaps like other things that may occur. And although we would agree that the budget ending with 1.7 million balance is not the goal, you use the facts that you have at the time to build the budget. So, we are looking for and our fund balance is just over a million dollars,
051which is 4% that we are allowed to hold. That is within the range of flexibility that the auditors expect you have. So, for us it's like 750 750,000 to a million um 200, we'll say. Um and that half a million that was not expended accounts for the gap between that 750 to a million 200. So, when I presented my slides, it was noted in there. If I knew all that I know now and all the things and staff changes that occurred that was anticipated to happen, the budget would have only been 3% just off from what it was projected. It is fabulous that we did not fill those positions and were able to save that money. But, if we were to budget to 24 and a half million dollars, we would undoubtedly need immediate layoff
052for insurance at very least the amount of 300,000 dollars, not even looking at things like protecting ourselves against fuel, electric, and raises. There's a lot that goes into budgets. Um but, we use all the facts that we have at the time to make the best budget that we can. We do appreciate feedback from the community and questions. I always encourage people to send me any questions and then I try to hold them into my budget slides. So, as we continue this process, I will try to do a better job on some of the things that have been suggested and look to the board for feedback on what things they would like to see. I have both been told that I have too little and too much. So, we all know we can't make everyone happy,
053but I will continue to try. Thank you, Colleen. I'll take PPS and then take success. Hello. So, the PPS office is quite busy as we prepare to or I'm sorry, as we work to prepare for the summer, for next school year, as well as work on a number of other projects that we have going on right now. So, for example, we are currently exploring a number of different partnerships with other school districts, both new and expanded. For example, we're working with Brunswick to provide our extended school year program, or ESY, to their qualifying students. So, Brunswick has sought to expand this partnership that we began last year as they look to send more students to our program in the summer. This arrangement is mutually beneficial. Brunswick gains access to an established and effective ESY program.
054Harpswell gains access to an additional source of revenue, and both districts benefit from reduced costs that we found through an economy of scale. We also continue to work with Cindy Harrington and Quest to support her information gathering and work as she conducts a comprehensive program review of special education to assist us in our ongoing efforts to grow and improve. While we still have plenty of school year left, planning for next year is moving forward in earnest. The annual reviews largely completed, we've been working to consolidate student needs, identify what needs to be done, and begin work determining staff assignments to meet those needs. Lastly, I'll segue into MTSS by sharing that Sam and I have been analyzing student needs data and trends, and brainstorming ways to reallocate existing resources within the MTSS framework to provide
055uh improve uh I'm sorry, to further improve their effectiveness. So, our next step at this point is to analyze and review data uh in both buildings, which will be done in the coming weeks. We're looking forward to seeing how much our students have grown this year, and once all of the assessments are complete, the data will be shared with staff, analyzed, and used to help inform decisions for the start of next school year at an individual student level, as well as drive conversations about student needs and the best way to reallocate MTSS resources to meet those needs more system- uh more systemically. Uh Sam does send her regrets that she could not be here in in attendance, but I thank her for providing the update to share with you this evening. Does anyone have any
056questions? Questions for Calvin? Thank you very much. Transportation. Good evening board and good evening community. Uh we have transportation. We would like to thank the PPO for a wonderful luncheon provided to the staff uh a couple weeks ago. We would also like to congratulate the Unified basketball team for their opportunity to play at the MVP Arena tomorrow. Uh it's going to be well attended. Uh it should be should be a good show. Um at this point in the school year, we are continuing to work on our summer outing, um getting all the kids right to get to school, and uh spring sports are winding down. We still have about 20 field trips to do. Um cross uh track and field is getting ready for their sectional meet. Uh we will have approximately 190 extra curricular
057trips this school year. Um we'd also like to give a special thanks to all the bus drivers that do those trips for us and the attendants that go on some of them also. And that's it from transportation. Thank you, Rick. Thank you. Buildings and grounds. All right. I am thrilled to be able to introduce our new facilities two director, Terry Barr. Terry, if you don't mind standing up so that the community can see you as well. Um Terry will be uh taking over responsibilities for buildings and grounds as facilities two director. It's a new title uh through civil service. He is coming to us from North Bend schools and he is uh starting with us on July 1st officially. We're very excited to spotlight him. Rachel has a spotlight going out on social media as
058well. The community can learn more about Terry and you'll see him here again in district starting on July 1st. So, I wanted to introduce him formally to the board and formally to the community as well. Welcome, Terry, to the board. All right. Technology. Berlin Elementary. >> [cough and clears throat] >> Hello. Um so, again, very busy at Berlin at Berlin Elementary School. While we are planning um for the ending of the school year, we're also looking towards the new school year as well. So, our state assessments have completed and so now we're preparing to um complete our end of the year benchmark assessment assessments. Those will be happening the week of June 8th. And then like Tom said, with the MTSS, once those assessment data is collected, our MTSS team meets to review it and
059look at the progress our students have made and then help help us prepare for our programming for next year. Um, incorporated with that, we are still working with Kim Engley and she came and worked with us today. Ariel and I sat with her and um, really looked through the schedules for classroom ELA blocks in order to incorporate the skills embedded in the new version of our reading program that we'll be, um, incorporating next year. So that was some good preliminary work that we started already for next year. Um, also Ariel and I met with the librarians from Grafton and Zeeland Town. That was a new program that we incorporated this year and it was hugely successful and I think we got really positive feedback from the librarians and they're really excited to continue that for
060next year. So we're looking at continuing those programming, tweaking it a little bit. I think they had some great ideas about incorporating more, um, collaboration with the classroom teachers and being able to really piggyback on some of the themes that they're doing in class or some of the units that they're doing. They're really working, not just coming in you know, reading and and giving that opportunity to our students, but also being a support for our teachers during that time. So we're really excited about what some of the things they um, suggested for next year. Also, um, just going to meet our community and our summer reading programs. We're going to be kind of piggybacking on their summer reading programs and we've gotten some, um, ideas on how to recognize our students for participating in the
061programs that are happening not only in Grafton and Zeeland Town, but also in Petersburg and Berlin. Um, so lots of good things happening there. And then finally our character ed committee is finalizing our plans for our final family engagement activity event of the year. So, our annual character ed family picnic is going to be June 6th from 5:00 to 6:30. Um the Scholastic Book Fair will also be taking place during that time and we will also have a color run, which was a huge success last year. Um that will also be taking place at 6:00 and that benefits our holiday hands. Thank you, Jody. Now, I'm going to turn it over to Berlin High School and the athletics. >> [laughter] >> We're going to look at the big goals tonight. So, such as taking the
062students. I think that was a home run. Really quickly before I get to this, June 9th to June 10th, the state is uh providing Regents exams that we will be taking. Those are new exams. State always provides new exams early so that we get a chance to score them and look at them, grade curves. Um and then we'll get the scores before the school year. So, June 9th, we have ELA. We really only have about 15 students off the top of my head because the test had to be taken in January and it was so successful. But on the same day, uh Mr. Rizzo had brought in a um program that was very successful in Tamarac. Um You can't use that word. I can't use the word. Sorry. You know, I'm just trying to give
063the credit to Mr. Rizzo. Uh Trying to give him the Credit there. But it's a academic support program for students that are at risk. So, students will not be coming in 6th grade as well. So, 6th grade goes to the elementary, that's considered elementary for the hours. But, grade 7 through 12 ELA students coming in. Um Mr. Cornell has 22 students coming in for preparation for his final two days Regents the next day. But, students at risk students who may be in jeopardy of failing teachers I've met already. We have sent invitations out to parents. Students will come in and get very small groups of instruction, two, three students, speak five on one. So, we've sent out letters to the parents and we'll be working on this today. I'm excited about it. I know that
064Mr. Rizzo had great success with our basketball team. So, hoping to repeat that here. All right. And then, June 10th, we'll have school no school. Students that have taken algebra Regents will be over at Steven Tech in the morning. All right. Now, the really exciting stuff. We are here today to thank Mr. Rizzo and the Board of Education for allowing us to have unified sports. Uh we've had three sports. We've had bocce. I know when we had bocce, everybody was like, "Bocce?" But, great success. Then, we had bowling. And now, we have basketball. Now, Nick gets all annoyed at me because I don't care about the score. I care about students improving and then and then she does as well. But, sometimes we allow other teams to score. She tells me stop it. Yes, I
065will allow because Jules were all students at the school. Anyway, we won our first game last week in the semi-finals. Uh yes. >> [applause] >> Success to me is taking from my perspective. When we first started playing the ball before Jules, this is her reaction. Right? The ball rolled in front of her, she would go like this. I'm watching. I'm watching. Um I can't say that it didn't work with Jules during the day in terms of attacking the ball, but the last game Jules three balls in front of her, she snatched it right out of the hands of those players and she put the ball on the run, which she never would have been able to do. That's success. So, really quickly, I just want to say thank you. This is Jules and this is
066her sister Katie. Want to say >> [applause] >> Jules has played all three sports, by the way. She has played all three sports. >> Well, this is okay. And yeah, I do the same thing. Thank you. My name Did you have fun? No. And this is [laughter] someone who would not have been able to play any other sport. She never would have made a varsity or JV or modified team. So, this is the thing. You so much for giving them the opportunity to do this. And every time And I hope you all can come tomorrow because every time you go and watch a game, whether it be bocce, bowling, basketball, there's just so much camaraderie between both teams and all the players cheering each other on. That Like you can talk about it and it
067looks like it's stupid, but it's just amazing. I can't even tell you how how awesome I thank you very much. And it's coming from a mom who is really It just good to see the good sportsmanship. the players wear on game day. You know, just like any other sport, they walk around the building with pride. You know. So, thank you Mrs. Gerald for the uniforms. And she really outdid herself. Yes. We were able to design them and get them on both sides. Last thing tomorrow 7:20, all students and staff meet in the hallway. We'll announce each student by name in the uniform and they'll walk around the building and they'll be cheered on. And the deaf Leslie will be leading us out for pre-assessments before the game. So, we're really excited. Thank you for letting
068us speak. >> [applause] >> So, KB is one of our partners. Not going to make a big deal out of it but cuz I just think it's important for you to understand that not only as an athlete, Juliana is our athlete, but KB is a partner. So, Jules is getting so much out of that but yes, I think KB would say Two sisters, it's very easy. Oh, yeah. Sibling rivalry. Sometimes I want to gang to say I don't like her. All right, now talk about Um >> [laughter] >> I like that it's an all inclusive sport and everyone can be connected and help each other and I've learned a lot from the coaches and the teammates and like especially like the kids. And I like that. Thank you. So, thank you. We really do appreciate
069it. And please continue supporting our students because they are why we're here. I just want to say real quick, the linchpin in this whole thing is that down there. She has volunteered. It does not get paid. She has done all three sports. Blood, sweat, and tears. We're buying them lunch tomorrow. She came in with a bunch of salads that she made. She has been there for all three sports because of the love of the kids and the love of our alliance. I just wanted TO THANK HER. >> [applause] >> I DON'T HAVE A TON TO SAY. I JUST WANT TO SAY SPRING sports are um winding down. We have uh had some really nice senior nights for our teams. Um we have a spring sport award um June 3rd at 6:00 in New Lebanon. And
070then we also have some open for fall sports for coaching. If any of you know anyone who would be interested in coaching our programs, please reach out to me. Thank you. Any new business or comment? One on the general comment. Are we Is anybody wanting to go on and say public comment? General comment? We have to set a meeting date for next week for budgets. Is 26 Is that too late? Is that Yes. Is 27 or 26? >> You're going to set up a meeting? Is it the 26th at 6:30 for the The 26th at 6:30? Yes. So, you're using the advertisement? Yeah, we'll put it advertising now. We've got a budget forum. Budget forum, budget workshop. Sure. Budget workshop. And the location will be here at 6:30, Berlin Memorial High School. >> [clears throat]
071>> How did that work out a presentation for Tuesday? Consideration for the board. And then that's my night. And then we have another Brown student scheduled for June 2nd at the regular meeting at 6:00 p.m. Um June Yeah. Saturday. Yeah. So, we'll have to do the forum here. Yeah. And we'll just hold that meeting on the 16th. It's the whole same day. The same day is still holding on to it. Yeah. Okay. for the first office. Okay. Lastly, [clears throat] we need a um executive regarding personnel matter. I need a motion. Okay. Motion by Frank, a second. Second. Second, Penny. I'll second. Second is uh Kim. All in favor? Aye. And I do not anticipate any action being taken out here. Terry, I don't think we've got you on screen, so you can just give
072a wave. That's [clears throat] Terry. I think he was cut off before. Our new building dean uh our um director of facilities, too. Terry Mahon. Can you see him?