Board of Education Round Table Meeting 4/3/25

001All right. Good evening. It is 7:15 to order members present. We'll start to flaggis and justice for all. We're going to open up with the first public comment and this is for consent agenda items only. So there's two consent agenda items. Do anyone sign up for? No. Okay. Thank you. All right. Consent agenda A and uh consent agenda B. I'm going to group those together. If there's no objection, um can I get a motion for consent agenda A and B? Motion by Frank. A second. I'll second. Second by Andrea. Um Andrea. Yes. Frank. Yes. Kenny Kim. Yes. And I'm a yes as well. Uh the next is the budget workshop and the bud budget presentation from Dr. Good evening everybody. Thank you for being here. Before we begin, I will start by saying I can't

002imagine that anybody here is going to be happy with what we have to share with you tonight. Um that said, give us the opportunity to go through our presentation, explain what we have to share with you. Um let the board have some conversation and then we will open it up to public comment. Thank you again for coming this evening. We're still in the budget development stage and what we're presenting tonight is just that the context where we sit today so that the wise decisions can be made. This draft is about reductions but it is also about planning for the longterm future. We're going to begin with a revenue update. We all have to stretch a little to get where we need to be. We went back looked at his revenues and said where can we

003stretch it? I spoke on other budget nights about budgeting and risk you select your number. You would like to select a number that you feel reasonably certain will come in. You go up a little bit maybe it could come in higher. That's a little more risky. You go a little bit more could come in higher. You're getting a little more risky. You do not want too many high risk items in either your revenue or your expensive budget because that is increasing the chance it will not match. That being said, we did go back and look at some categories and said where where can we maybe get some excess? Where might it come in a little higher? And there are some lines that we increase to get to where we are now, which is $24.5 million,

004which is still only a 2.12% increase over the revenue last year. Where do we stand right now? came with all the items that it takes to run the district in one budget and said there is $2.7 million deficit. We had work to do tonight. We still have a $1.7 million deficit. As we go into this presentation, it's important to know that there will be a final New York state budget. Revenues may increase and this will not restore budget items. it will not be enough to make our current situation sustainable. Just a quick update on the state budget. Um the budget was due April 1st. They did not meet that deadline. In April 1st, they did a two-day extender that lasted through today. And as of today, they have passed another extender through Monday. The reason

005I'm saying that is that very number, which is the 1.5 million we picked up to run the current year's budget. That means our revenue is projected to be 1.5 million short and we had to take it out of our savings and our reserves to run the 2425 budget. So this current budget does not match the revenue. And now we're going to look at it for a second year. So for comparison, for context, where are we? Is the is our budget too big? Is it reasonable? all of those pieces that are asked in this draft two budget. We're about 700,000 above the current year budget and that is a 2.6 increase. I'm still reminding you that that includes this carrying of a $1.5 million in our savings that could be partially used before the year's end.

006We look at the revenue side, there's that half million dollars again, that 2.12 increase. So those two are not matching. Our expenses are exceeding our revenue. When we look at the current budget, I said we carried that 1.5 million into 2425 from our savings to run the budget. However, we still have 1.6 million available in unencumbered balance. So despite many things going on in the business office, straightening out processes, making sure that staff understand proper protocol, talking to staff about what purchases need and are we really spending wisely for the right reasons, all of those things going on very consistently, I might say. Um, we will not end this budget with 1.6 million that sits there now because our historical spending suggests we will not. So you're not going to break a cycle in one

007single year. there are uh purchases that are on cycles they should not be purchasing toward the end of the year rather than the beginning. So we're going to see large chunks of money come out of this budget which may or may not be covered. I think we've done a better job so we could land a little higher than I'm going to show you in a minute but I do not believe we'll end with 1.6 6 million to get to this 1.7 deficit because that first budget included everything it would take to run the school as it was. We moved 2.5 staff members into our title and IA grants. We continue to be over reliant on grant funds because it holds core staffing. Grants are not intended for core staffing. are intended for new initiatives. So,

008you can truly try new things that benefit the special populations those grants were intended to benefit. However, we're going to, you know, there's a trade-off there. We had some staff members in there. We could carry them another year to transition this difficult situation. We're also going to collect indirect costs, which hasn't been done consistently before in the past. So when you get a grant, you are running a program for the state. You're running a program for the federal government. They picked the initiative. They told you what you want to do. You get a little translation of how you want to do it. But it's their initiative. So the we're using the school building, our electricity, all of it to run a government initiative. And that allows us at Berlin to take 3% off the top

009of that grant and collect his revenue to help run all the lights that goes toward doing what the state has asked us to do. That's not a large amount. For us, it's going to be around 13 to 15,000. Why do you have that 1 million available? Some people might look at that and say, well, your your budget is too big. You overt tax the public. You laid off people you should not have. That is not true. Let's look at the numbers and whether it should be this way or not. So our final expense in 2324 was 24.5 million. We had about 60,000 in carryover POS making the total expense for that year 24.6 million. You look at the number below which is our actual revenue for the same year. The difference between the money we

010spent, the money we took in was 14 and a half thousand in a budget of 24.5 million. That is all that was left in the balance. The reason we are now again going to have to pick up money is because there was no excess, no real excess in this budget. Had there been access, we would have made wise long-term planning decisions such as which reserves should be funded, should we prepare for a capital project? Do we expect um unemployment in a workman's account? Where can we put this money that is wise for our future? But we can't really do that right now because we're still picking up borrow money per se. So last year that budget was gap was closed with reserves and fund balance and we still have that 1.6 remain. Let's talk about

011why budget projections must reasonably account for expected and known costs including the projected increases as well as cash flow and contingency values. Things can go wrong with facilities. We may need to hire new staff because of IEPs and they have new placements. They have may have new students coming to the district. There are many things that could change. And if we picked a budget that we really felt only had $14,000 of stretch room in it, that would be very dangerous. We would immediately be our savings. So what is reasonable? If all goes as planned, funds should be available at the end of the year. How much should be? There are varying opinions on this, but generally between three and 5% of your total budget. So our that would either be that 800,000 there or the

0121.3 million. We still have maybe 1.6. We believe some of that 1.6 will still be spent. You probably will be somewhere around that 1.3. Another factor you have to take into account is the level of risk. When you have turnover in a district in leadership roles, you are running at higher risk and you may want to carry more contingency money because people do not have the historical knowledge that they that would benefit from to make tighter decisions. So I said this coming budget the draft two is just about 700,000 greater than last year. Is that unreasonable in a year? You look at our historical spending. We have one low year there in the 1920 year. That was the year that the co funds began and I imagine some roles were supplanted. They used to be

013in the general fund. We put them into grant money and it looked like we didn't spend as much. Every other year was at least a million dollars. So if we fully expended this budget, we would have spent 1.4 million more than the year before. So to come to you and say we've taken the budget, we worked on it. We got it down to 700 increase in the coming year is a lot just to even get there because most schools will go up a million dollars even of our size. We looked at these assumptions in a prior board meeting. So grants are over the co grants. will still receive our title funds and our IDA funds which are for very special purposes, but we will not see funds like the funds again. What we do know

014is that we will receive foundation aid from year to year and that the law allows us to go to that 2% cap that is often talked about. So if we take this year's foundation increase which is 2% and the maximum legal cap which is 2% the numbers along the bottom show first what we expect to receive as an increase in 2526 and every number thereafter shows if that pattern were to continue with new revenue what we would be looking at. So they're all in the 400,000 range just below that. Okay, we're going to do our best to prepare for 25 26, but there's going to come a year once we settle this budget, and we're still looking toward the next one. We're looking at the long-term, multi-year implications of the decisions we make today on

015how we're going to build this budget. There is an estimated base salary increase, those things that are due because of contracts, longevities, credits of $300,000. That does not include insurance. It doesn't include supplemental pays. It doesn't include overtime. It doesn't include the two contracts that we need to settle in the coming year and the increases that will come with that. The good news is that we do have some reserves. And as we look at these reserves, I want you to think about what could be a temporary solution. It's not wrong to have a temporary solution. might be a transitional solution might be a better phrase for that. But we also need to think about a stabilization plan for the long term because you can't keep carrying temporary solutions that run out as temporary options. So

016as we look at these reserves, I'll tell you what they are and where we have some flexibility, why we may or may not want to use them. The workman's comm we are self-insured. We do work with a third party company that manages the claims for us, investigates the claims for us, but when a claim comes in, we pay that claim 100%. And this is the values that they have told us to carry because an outstanding claim. But when a claim is outstanding, it either could be settled below that amount, it could be settled that amount, it could be settled at a greater amount than that. So I would not suggest taking anything from the workers's compressor. Unemployment insurance, you're also self-insured in that area. So that means when someone applies for uninsur, unemployment insurance, they

017go to the state, the state sends us the bill, we reimburse the state for it 100% amount. How much do we see that a year? Well, if we are laying over people, we should expect to see an increase. This per year to date, we spent, I think, about $9,000. So, we see we've got $560,000 sitting there. That lasts us a while unless many people are unable to find a new job. So, there's wiggle room on it. When we look at the unemployment reserve, oh, here you can tell the ERS reserve. There we go. Uh, that is our largest reserve right now. It's a little bit high. So, any of those funds can be used to pay all or a portion of the New York State employee benefit. The non-certified teachers or everyone else who works

018for a school district is eligible for ERS. Our bill at the moment is projected to be about $550,000. We can appropriate it up to that amount to run this budget. And while that is, I would say in my opinion, people with very a bit overfunded, another option for us to think about is where else in this budget are we underfunded? Should we move the money around for other protections is a bigger conversation, but I just want to say some of those things. TRS is one of those areas. How are we contributing to it as we should? Most people will contribute the max which is 2% of all the surf people's salaries and when you get to 10% you have to stop can't put any more there's employment line the amount we have in there now

019does not even cover one year maybe not even half that one is underfunded I would not recommend using money from that to run the budget employee benefit liability this is money that is reserved only for separation and we can't predict in our budget building who may or may not choose to retire or find a new job or quit or who maybe need to be asked to leave any of those things. When they happen, if there's a separation, they may receive vacation payout or other benefits whether they're monetary or 403b. This is for that because we can't predict who when it's going to happen. It protects us from it. We could see maybe about four people retire with the sums that they take with them and that would be one. I wouldn't think we're that either.

020In the next several years, I expect we might have as many as school. We have our capital reserve which is only for the voter approved projects. Voters approved us for us to put the money here to save it to offset the taxes that will come from future projects that also need to be done. Not recommend moving any of that. Now, we're looking at our fund balance. That is our sort of unassigned money. We have flexible ways to spend it. And one of those flexible ways is when an emergency happens and one did happen. We have the best project at at um the elementary school that is going to cost us nearly half a million dollars that is going to take our fund balance in half. It's going to cut it in half. And so to

021protect ourselves for the coming year, we should rebuild that fund balance. We know that there are other situations in the district that at any moment could require us to take care of those. So when I mention that the ERS is overfunded in my opinion, one of the things we might choose to do is if we have no other place to get that 500,000 back, ask for the board to move it into unsigned fund balance so that we are fully insured to the maximum we can be for the coming year. Our current projected excess. So if we had excess, we would put it in these reserves. Projected the numbers right now looks to be 100,000. That's it. The budget before ended with 14,000. This one may end with only 100,000. That's what it looks like right

022now. So these are questions that really want us to think about our long-term sustainability. If we use these reserves now, how will we ensure we do not continue to use them for the same amount or more year after year? If we do it as a transition as part of a bigger plan, I can feel comfortable with that. If we do it and we don't know why or how we're going to get through it, that's a little harder because you're putting yourself at high risk. So when and how will we address it and what are the community impacts of repeating this process year after year when we know it's not a go your place. So that can be part of our plan pieces of it can be part of it but we have to be very

023mindful and strategic not just about the things we want today but what it means for the future that money. Should we move that 500? We know we're not getting 500 back. We're only getting the 100,000 at best. So, it is a multi-year problem that requires a multi-year solution. We're going to present to you a couple options. They are intended to be examples so you can help to help us visualize what this might look like. In the current school year, when you were taxed for summer and fall, the levy increase was 3.5%. This coming school year, the maximum levy by law is 2.919%. That does not require a super majority. Just the 50% plus one person would pass a budget with that tax levy in it. So if we look at their levy cap, we look

024at the potential carryover. Remember I said I think right now we have that 1.6. I'm fairly comfortable in saying, you know, by the end, once all the money is spent on the things we don't know they're going to happen yet, I feel fairly confident they'll have the 1.2 left. So, let's say we're going to roll that over. We're going to carry it over into the next budget, still appropriating our savings. That is our savings from this year. If we added a 6.4% increase, the addition to the budget would be $440,000. We had a $2.7 million deficit at the beginning of this process. Right now, we have a $1.7 million deficit. That does not solve the problem. It's just an illustration of what comes from an increase in a living. So, even with a 6.4%. If

025these numbers all stay the same, we know that some things are changing. We get new information every day, we would have to reduce an additional 35, 36,000. We'd have to look through the budget, find little places where was the least painful to shave off this and that. Option two, last year the voters approved a budget to go to 3.5% which was the legal under the legal levy cap. This year our cap is lower and part of that has to do with what happened with the emergency project. Whenever a project happens, whether it's a capital project or emergency project, any money that the state sends back to the school, must be net against the debt that goes to the taxpayers. So that lowers the taxpayer debt that we can only put in the levy the amount

026over and above what the state has given us to pay for those projects. So we went lower because we had more income coming in, but we paid that emergency project or will pay the full amount of that emergency project out of our savings. out of taxing out of our excess revenue out of our savings. But it gets returned to us taxpayer doesn't get returned to the district. Can I hop in here for a second? We did not bring you a proposal tonight at the tax cap. I don't know how we could knowing if we go out at 3.5 we have to reduce that amount and if we were to go out at 2.19 that would mean even further reductions that would impact our kids. So this budget would require 340 or we'd have to look

027at the full picture and decide what can we produce in this budget. What are we willing to do with the levy? What can we stand to do in a wise multi-year strategic plan with our reserves? Has to be part of the full picture plan. That would be the gap. What does this look like for households? Up at the top is our actual legal cash. $22.50 per thousand. That's how we report it on the tax report card. However, just to give you a couple numbers and you can go up and down depending on your own situation. For $200,000 assessed value house, that would be $4,499. For $300,000 assessed house, that would be $6,747. And these numbers are estimates based on the total average. We know that when the taxes go out, they actualize them according to

028what various towns have assessed. Some towns assess at 100%, some towns assess at 50%, some towns assess at 70%. So they have to kind of reconcile those numbers and they go up and down, but this is the average. That's what Colleen is that assess value or full market assess. So if we went to that 3.5, we would go from 2250 to 2278 per,000. And the difference between a $200,000 house in each of those is less than 50. So if we look at the other one, the $300,000 house, we're running not quite on the$100,000 for an individual household. Here are some numbers also for the 6.4. So that would be a 23 $232 per $1,000 assessed value, a $200,000 assessed value house with 4,684. and $300,000 value would be about $7,026. You can see the range

029of what the possibilities are and we could land anywhere in between depending on what the full picture solution looks like. In previous slide shows, I showed you all the calculations from year to year to year of what the tax cap looked like in which years we went up to the tax cap, which we did not, how much you left on the table, so to speak, that wasn't collected. So, here are some hypothetical questions to prepare us to think about what we are about to decide. How did yesterday's decisions impact the community today? and how will today's decision impact tomorrow's children? It's a very heavy decision, but that is what we're deciding when we decide a budget. So if the allowable tax levy had been maximized each year from 2012, that's when the tax cap was

030initiated to now, the current tax levy revenue would be 11,700,000, which is a [Music] $2467,000 assessed value versus our legal winner right now, which is at 2250 value. Hypothetically, just to say, what if we wanted to, you know, take advantage of all the things we could took advantage of that in the past and just get it back in one fell swoop which we're not suggesting. It's just hypothetical to think about the context and the numbers of what decisions do over time. You compounded all that money together and you have the tax cap where it would have been that would be nearly $19 million which would be $39.71 per thousand. So that's money that wasn't paid. There are a lot of numbers on this slide and we're about to talk about the parts that don't require

031as many numbers but have a larger implication for people. When we began this process in January, we talked about our budgeting philosophy and our principles. What did we say we would strive to do? What were the guiding principles and values? Are they still the guiding principles and values? We walked away prepared to start this process. We knew changes needed to be made to safeguard the future. We knew it would be difficult work. We knew the community members would experience a wide range of valid and true emotional reactions no matter the final outcome. We knew we needed to do this difficult order anyway. These are some slides from that first presentation to kind of presenter us what we said our philosophies and values were. Strategic direction, community values, accountability and transparency. Budget planning process places academic

032programming and operational realities in direct conversation. must work to balance a wide range of competing needs while planning for long-term sustainability. Fiscal responsibility is a shared responsibility for all students and do it for them. Inform the public. Provide opportunities for comment. Raise awareness. Here are our core values, many of which we definitely need to visit as we go through this process. Empathy, integrity, pride, perseverance, teamwork, growth mindset, all that also applies to the budgeting process. We put up our pillars and highlighting the last two columns where it talks about the facilities, the balancing of the academic programming and facilities, the fiscal responsibility and the community partnerships. We can't do this without community partnerships. We need to be in conversation with each other. We need to come to a conclusion together. We need to support each

033other. There are many sides to this. We talked about clear goals. We're talking about budgets and numbers, but we are also talking about student achievement and engagement. And that is what should guide our resource allocation. What do they need now? And what do they need five years from now? or do they need to keep 10 years from now? How do we balance those two? We said decisions will be made for the benefit of students and not for adults even though it is difficult. We said programs must be cost effective, sustainable, relevant, realistic in light of the circumstances of now. We talked about multi-year planning. consistent change through multi-year planning is preferable to any of these large swings we're seeing. We have to get on that path effectively supporting our initiatives, the ones that we have

034now, the core initiatives that will build our strong tier one instruction. Are we really doing our best to support that so that when we bring new programs, we're truly building on a strong foundation, providing services in a more coste effective manner. Sometimes we can do the same thing in a different way, a little cheaper. Maintaining fiscal integrity in the present will prevent difficult decisions in the future. Now is the part where we start looking at some of the decision some of the staffing and the reduction in programming purchasing. So I gathered some information this year um in particular about elementary class sizes across the region and in particular from our Questar Bose neighboring districts. Um and these are the districts who uh we collectively reached out to who reported um and what you see in

035this slide in the blue is the average kindergarten class size across multiple districts. What you see in the green, the 15 students, is what we anticipate our current preK students coming into kindergarten will yield next year. At present, we have 19 preK students across two sections, 10 in one and nine in the other. In addition, we have 10 additional registration packets that have been requested which could generate another 10 students for a total of 29. So I am recommending next year's kindergarten be two sections. Kindergarten now is currently three sections. Each of those sections would have 15 or fewer students in it. And the yellow bar at the end is the average across the region. Uh so we would be lower than most of the districts in the region. and lower than the average with

036that particular class size in that recommended reduction. First grade right now, let me make sure I have my accurate information. Our current kindergarten number is 36 students. I think we have one error on the slide, so bear with me here. Uh our current kindergarten is 36 students in three sections 11, 12, and 13. My recommendation is to re not to reduce two sections, but reducing it to a total of two sections. So I think it's right. I read it wrong. Um if we do that, we now have an average of 12 students in a section. by making two sections that will take us to 18, one above the average, but pretty much in line with the region. Our current first grade is 48 students in three sections of 16 each. If we were to reduce

037this to two sections, that would yield 24 students per section. While that is comparable to some other districts in the region, I am not recommending that we do that. I am recommending that we keep that cohort at three sections. Our current second grade moving into third grade is 40 students in three sections of 11, 14, and 15 or an average of 13. Right now, I would be recommending reducing that to two sections of 20 each, which again takes us in line with neighboring districts and the average. Our current third grade moving into fourth is 35 SE students in two sections of 17 and 18. I would re and putting them together obviously wouldn't be reasonable. that would be 35 students. So I'm recommending we we maintain those two sections again keeping within the average in

038our current fourth grade moving into fifth grade is 44 students in three sections of 13 16 and 15 or an average of 15. I am recommending that we reduce that to two sections of 22 each comparable to the region and slightly above the average. Keep going. So the staff reductions we have proposed in uh what we have presented to you tonight include those four uh include four elementary teachers. the three I just alluded to in the proposed reductions, we had one staff member resign that we would not replace. That would be the four total reductions. We are looking at the reduction of an English teacher and a math teacher at the middle high school, a PE teacher, a music teacher, and a CSE position, which has yet to be determined. I'm going to turn it

039back over to you for the Bose services. both these services. There was some additions and subtractions among the subtractions were our PR services. This is many things printing requests are um they might do some advertising for us. Social media for us they might send someone help our PR efforts public information efforts things we do our website to get the information out to all of you. We reduced it. We have an in-house person who's excellent bookkeeper and we use puddle software that is the software we are currently using so that the community can launch games from home. Model schools this is a service that is instructional coaching and tech integration for teachers. We have reduced one unit of model schools. EAP access is a employee program that was brought on one or two years ago in

040an effort to support staff wellness only two people today. We're reducing the Iran software. We have a cheaper solution that's offered through Boseies and we're reducing two career study seats. one was unfilled that we were paying for anyway because if you take a seat you pay for it unless another student from another school comes along and pays it. So that one we won't pay for again. Obviously, we also have a senior graduating and then miscellaneous reductions to the entire Rosie. If we could use less hours or if we could use this service um with less support from you from the people who sit in the offices or what could we do to break it down just a little bit even if it means more work for us and we went through those connections as well

041piece by piece. We are proposing some staffing increases. Uh the first being a coordinator of curriculum and educational technology. We've had multiple presentations at least in my time here looking at our our student performance across all grade levels um and had some concerns about that. Um, I want to applaud Jod for the work she's done in the short time she's been at BDS for strengthening beginning to strengthen the um, literacy program and the work that she has put into that. And Dave for the identification he's made of some need areas at the middle high school that need to be addressed. We are using some Boseie support to do that or have been, but that's a person who comes and oversees and provides oversight and guidance and direction every once in a while. Um, this would

042allow us to have somebody here to oversee the programs, the performance of students, identify areas of need, um, and be able to provide ongoing targeted professional development and guidance to our staff. K12 to boost student performance. Knowing we are limited by economies of scale, we would couple that position with educational technology. In many ways, a two for one. I'm going to turn it back over to you for the maintenance. Currently, we have 2.5 maintenance positions. One is filled, the other is remaining vacant because we cannot attract a candidate for a halftime job with no benefits. So the suggestion here because we have many things that need to be done in house based on our building condition survey is to offer this as a full-time position to attract the candidate would really help the school reduce

043some of the things that could help emergencies. that staff member will be eligible for benefits. But in reality, what's happening right now is a halftime person is filling the full-time division and that person could be able to request benefits from six month look back at any should they request it. They don't that person has an it. But should we put it as one, they would also be eligible for the insurance. So there is an expense there in that regard. But there is also a benefit for those of us on the facilities committee who have seen so many little projects that if we you know service out the cost is twice as much sometimes. Two building sums this is no cost. We do carry out some buildings up now who show up every day and they're

044familiar faces for our students. If we can find two more people in the community to become building themselves could potentially save money than doing all this class coverage that we're doing that is taking teachers planning time um and then have two members who are going to be there service distance learning. This year we have a tiny little piece of distance learning that Eric was gracious enough to let us purchase even though it is a fraction of the package. Uh that was one year kind of let's get you through this kind of deal. So we are intending to pick up distance learning. What are we giving back to students? How can we keep electives? How can we offer them some opportunities? Well, distance learning offers that. We are thinking of offering college site, computer science, Spanish

045one, sports literature, web design. Along with the cost of distance learning comes some revenue. So on my earlier slide about revenue, a little side note, they said this year we expect to collect 14,500 for participating in distance learning. So one of our teachers, one of our TAs works with the kid while their kids while we're broadcasting. And as part of that service, they're sort of like they're not really um their a portion of their salary gets paid. This year we had budgeted 400,000. we will not receive 40,000. We will receive 14,500 just sub that invoice. If we have these sections where each teacher who teaches a section and another school participates in that section, we could collect payments from each of those. We don't know what degree that will happen. So in our budget right

046now we are carrying that same 40,000 that we will not get this year as a number we hope to get if we use this model IT management which we'll come back to in a later slide stabilizing costs assessing sustainability that's been focus of this conversation our plan is to maintain CTE enrollment numbers. If a student graduates or decide the program is not right for them, we suggest not filling it for now until they become more stable and actually have a multi-year plan in place. We're suggesting that any student who is enrolled in occupational studies, career studies, grad support them through graduation. And we'll continue to reassess and we'll do this year, but next year we'll reassess again. the next recess again as part of a multi-year stabilization plan so that when we do pick up

047seats we are sure of when and how we're going to do it. We plan to add um five CTE seats every year. We plan to add two STEM seats every year. Right now we have six enrolled in STEM. That put us off balance a little bit. Had you space them out a little more? We would have been more sustainable. So we have to be careful about how we do that. we get on better sight. Other efforts we continue to rightsize budget lines and recategorize items for better tracking. So an example of this is the athletic budget. It is reduced by $40,000 with very little impact to the actual programming. That is because we did take away Huddle that um software that allows you to watch videos of the games from home. It was reclassified. Some

048salaries actually moved into here. So even more than that 40,000 was reused. the athletic director, a portion of that salary sat in a grant and a secretary who supports the athletic director. Well, if that's half of her job, then that is also half of her secretary's job. So, they are more appropriately budgeted in the athletics line. But this budget still includes any historical spending, requests for services, supplies that are needed to run our athletic program in partnership with you. So right sizing to reflect the actual net cost of that merger and we tried to whittle it down to see how it went for a couple years but kept the larger sum in those lines. I see a multi-year history where there are significant values left in those lines. Nothing is cut other than the at

049this moment but they are right sized and not safely to come back to. So we are looking at picking up Merit which is part of the Boseies an IT management service and I've been sort of calling this the a full suite service versus the outart type of method. It does come at a total payout of 258,000. However, it is offset by some cost you would anyway. Currently there's one person running our entire IT operation and that is very stressful and it needs to be addressed. In addition to that, we had an IT audit that suggested when we had two people and a part-time person helping here and there that was also an unreusable workload. So this needs to be addressed. Will that cost of that micro technician who has retired and the cost of those

050car purchased services that we were bringing in house so our people have grown up could all be packaged now and that impacts the budget would be 113,000 this year. However, to the Boseies or all see a really are one year behind in the coming year the year after 26 27 they estimate a 42% return in Bosey's aid which would be around 108,000 and the net cost of that program would be 5,200 for a lot of benefit and I'll kind of skip down to the last button there um but we're going to list just yesterday we had a very nice conversation with people from there and they came to us with further savings. They said, "Hey, I see you have these services that you may not be purchasing through OC's or you may be purchasing through

051this vendor or that vendor. Let us sell you the vendors we work with who are cheaper, who we recommend. Let us pick up some of the services that are OC services and package them as part of this other package you're already considering picking up and see where we can get you." So, we're picking up benefits potentially at a reduced cost. That number may go down. That seems like they agree in some ways. What comes along with that? We've lost the technician, one person running this whole technology operation right now. We'll get a technician back five days a week. It will include enhanced network monitoring, management, and security. It includes uh support with our smart schools bond. Right now, thank goodness of Nate who is a teacher. um he's really helping to lead that charge along

052with the IT department, but they are experts in this and they have already given us some very good free advice for how we might save, how we might do it more efficiently and how we can meet a timeline goals. Um and they will be implementation partners, too. If they're going to work with us next year, they want to make sure it's done right and that everything works together and they can begin to get to know us for free right now as we go into July. It'll give us access to a network of expertise and support at multiple levels. So they have technician who comes every day and then they have somebody above that who has a little more expertise and something above that with greater expertise. It allows us a trial period in a transition

053period. We have a potential future retirement in perhaps one to two years and we need to prepare for that. That is also part of financial responsibility that we know something is going to happen that we take care of it before it happens and don't wait till that let's say June 30th day say how are we going to run our it we need to test it transition it make sure it works while we have people here on staff or the person here I should say since we have one person who can support us through that transition. We are looking in this budget to bring plumbing inhouse with a supported by a truck replacement. We have had one snowfl this past year and the estimated cost to carry that contract forward for the coming year will be

054$24,750. So that will offset the cost of bringing plowing in house. You will also potentially offset the cost of bringing plowing in house by sale of 15y old nonplow truck. Buy a better truck with a plow setup and get money back for the old one. We have some retired buses that can be auctioned and we have some scrap from the transportation department that can also be sold. Look at all those pieces that we can use to offset this cost. a state contract Chevy Silverado, right? Chevy Silverado with a PL package or something similar that cost us $1,000. We went over this in previous shows. We've added a capital outlay project again as part of our fiscal responsibility and our responsibility to maintain facilities. This project is a 100,000 project that the schools are allowed to

055do each year to keep up on maintenance to avoid the deeper, more expensive maintenance. When you leave it off for a year, you're still accepting the aid from the year before, but then the very next year get no aid. So, we have to start this process again. It'll cost us $100,000. However, that last bullet up there, the very next year, we're going to get 75% return. Every year thereafter, we will be able to do a $100,000 project of $25,000. We need to get back on that cycle because we do have daily maintenance needs, including you see the portico here, which is also our ABA entrance at elementary school. This slide has been up here a couple times, but if you didn't see it before, some of the things we are juggling in making all of

056these decisions that limit our decisions that force us into this position are that insurance increases are significant. We have been employed in 20 to 25% commercial insurance on all other things, the building, any liability, the vehicle um for a cost of potentially an additional $28,000. Then we have Bosey's increases which are somewhat of a trade-off. We're bringing things in, we're moving things out, we're getting the right services to run the district. Distance learning, we're bringing our kids some more elective opportunities. The IT full service model to support our current single person running this show and to bring us into the future and to bring many security and management benefits with it. We picked up some records management and tax collection services. The tax collection service just increased. There's nothing we can do about that. Um

057it did go through last year and we were given a significant increase for this year. records management. When I first came to the district, they said, "Let's take a tour." I went around to closets and down the basement and there are many records that are either boxed up or in piles or in their states of disarray that have not been filed. It's not been determined whether they should be thrown away or kept. That is important work. That is work that has legal implications to it and we need to fix it. So we got to bring in some services with expertise will help us go through all those piles, help us pull up the junk, tell us what we need to keep, tell us for how long we need to keep it and really get us

058set in the process that we then can carry forward by ourself in the future and we have increases in Bose special ed placements and that is just the shifting from private placements to Boseis placements. You're still spending the money, you just happen now to be spending it in Bosei program rather than private program. That last part there is just to note that our revenue our 2.112 revenue is never going to match the inflation of business services which is nearly even if we kept everything the same it's impossible challenge that we're facing. So again, the purpose of this presentation is really to be transparent to try to give people the information that we have that shows why we're making that some decision must be made and what our options are. What can we do with reserves?

059What can we do with a task cap? What can we find that we can shave off a little? All of those things can be discussed, but we need some direction. What people are willing to engage with, what are they willing to tolerate? What are they doing to support as a community? We talked about partnerships being part of our philosophy, our principle. We need partnerships with all of our voters, our community to support whatever that decision is. However painful it is, whatever it may bring back, we need support final decision when we get there so that we do not have a failed vote. have a failed vote, you have the potential to go into a contingency budget which will have much deeper cuts, but once that goes to contingency, we have no power to bring it

060back regardless of what any voter says once we get there. So, we really do need partnership. We need feedback. We need direction to make decision that's going to bring people into work on May. I'd like to open it up to the board for questions now and then for information uh you would like us to bring back to you when we next come together. Thank you. All right. So, um, couple questions. Uh, exactly how much are we budgeting for this, uh, new administrative position that you're proposing? I would say we would obviously advertise it as at a range, but our most recent administrative hires have been in the 90 to 95,000 range. Okay. Cost benefits. Cost benefits. Um the distance learning, but um what is the upfront cost? about $8,000 a part for the class for

061the whole service. Um and people do already have a portion of it and that portion is so the total impact is not actually 80,000 30,000 that reduced service they give us. Correct. We were going to have to potentially eliminate it last year. We had students signed up to take courses. Eric recognized the situation we were in last year and reduced that cost versus $30,000 last year. A portion of that cost that I'm going to use, it's either the land or land connection is also incorporated into that. So if we didn't have distance learning, we'd have to pick up that piece. And is is there more cost depending on how many classes you do or is that No, it's unlimited receiving based on student schedules. Obviously, they have to be available in the classes available and

062as Colleen indicated for every student, for every teacher we had delivering a course, we would get revenue back. Um, that varies a little bit based on the particular teacher, but the cleanest way to say it um in overall terms is if we paid 80,000 and were to offer four courses that got picked up by other schools, we would break even. And it is it a reality to think that we will be. We have four teachers very interested and who have gone through some training and conversations with this year that we have tentatively scheduled. Again, kids have to pick up those course mother, but yes, right now we have four on adopted to be delivered. Okay. Um and uh CTE uh is it from my understanding the way that I was listening to this um this

063coming year we'd have two less seats but are we looking to phase this out within the next two years there's my recommendation and I would say John being here at any point there's three different buckets of students we send out to Bosey's program there is a grouping including the CTE programming um that works on a fiveyear rolling average. Our average right now is 15. So until after five years that average changes, we will continue to pay for 15 students. Okay? So only if the average goes below 15 does that number. As long as there is 15 kids each year, it stays the same. Okay? So, we're not going to have freshman this year being told by the time we get to their junior year that they are not going to get the CTE program. What

064I am going what my recommendation is we have 15 going into senior year this year. They continue. We have 15 going into junior year this year. They finish. Right now, I believe we have 29 applicants. We don't know how many have been accepted yet. That information doesn't usually come until right before the April break, but I would suggest we limit our accepted students to 15, which means if we have more than 15 who are accepted, we would do what other districts do and run a lottery to determine who would attend. And what kind of cost savings that would keep CTE flat? Now, the other two buckets are the career studies classes and the PEK. Those are separate from the 5-year average and they come at a cost of 12 to $15,000 a student,000 per year.

065Well, they're in the program. Right now, we have 10th graders and 11th graders in the program. I'm not suggesting we pull any students back. We allow them to finish, so we will carry those costs, but we don't allow students to enroll until our current juniors have graduated and then we revisit it and see if we can support. Okay, I think [Music] that's I have a question on CT. If we don't all the opportunities here that the parents and the students want, what are you going to do then if we don't have the what they're looking for? Last year we lost 50 plus kids. The parents pulled them out. We don't have what the parents want. So I think you got to look at what the students and the parents want. If we want to bring

066them back in house, we've got to have the opportunities and success rates to meet what the parents are looking for or they're going to pull their students out and take them elsewhere. So, I think that's a fine line. We limit students opportunities. Were the 50 students that you're talking about that decided to leave? Do we know that was because of it's in there? I'm not getting I'm not getting into what and why. All I know is our enrollment is going down. Decisions were made and people left and I don't want to have more individuals make decisions because the opportunities and the success is not here in the school. So if we're going to keep them in house there has to be success. When I look at the presentations that we've been given on the region

067scores, you know, it questions, we have to have everything in order in this house to bring keep students in here. So, I do have concerns if we limit students opportunities. In Frank, what I would say to that at your recommendation, we actually met um principles, myself and I think Tom was in that meeting too um with Questar to assess our number our enrollment decline and we looked at our numbers and they said our numbers of students going to private was comparable to other districts. Um our homeschooled students was a little bit higher. Um but primarily our students left the district because they moved out of district and that's comparable to decreasing enrollment across the state. That's a lot of students move out of district. Um is a concern I have and I think we have

068to look at before we do the cuts. The other concern I have um I'm bringing the scope package in. I like to see all the incidentals, the labor, the fuel, the maintenance and repairs, the straight labor rates or the overtime rates because it goes into retirement, all that insurance. So, I like to see the the total package cost um for bringing it back in. I don't know if this works. Um, but do we know the average number of CP or Questar students that other districts in a similar size send? Like it's 15 kind of I would I would suspect and I don't have that information but I can certainly request that before the next time you meet that our number is probably high. If you go back to the either go back to either the

069January or the February the information that was available at that time was 2324 that I got from that slide I think they had it was 22 it was a year behind I think they have an updated one I'll see I'm pretty sure from that one we were higher than several districts around us mostly because that's what our families need our That's what creates success in our school district. I mean, these kids go to these CD programs. They're not just going to shop to learn something. They're in a 2year driven program that helps them with an alternative way to graduate. They sign contracts, have jobs when they leave that school. Or in my son's case, he got $4,000 worth of scholarships and went to college. He did that. He didn't think he was going to get

070out of high school. He graduated with honors and went to college. These programs in our community are highly important, more important than in other communities. So, we've been talking about comparing them to other communities. They're not, but they're important. So, until we're going to have something in house here, which is not realistic. That needs to be um as you as the goals were were in one of the slides, they need to be a student achievement and engagement. They need to be the benefits of the students. is every student must be given the opportunity to succeed. So we need to worry about making sure that the programs that we're offering whether they be in house the distance learning be a great opportunity or going out house which is you know the CTE programs both for the

071kids that might be at risk but also for the kids that need a little bit extra that are the ones that you know are going to be bored in our classrooms because they just have that mind. We need to make sure that they're getting those programs more than worrying about hiring in uh a new administrator because our national average of hiring administrators compared to the amount of student the decline of enrollment is absolutely ridiculous in this country. So we need to make sure we're spending the money [Applause] properly and this is not that's not putting our kids first. I just want to remind everyone that the things we put on these slides when I open this presentation I said these are thought points these are conversation I am happy for happy said what she said

072we have to consider those things that we have an administration I would say we're happy the community showed up here today we're happy to hear what you have to say we're happy to try to make it work as best we can even sometimes we can't want to be partners So it's not I don't agree with any of that either personally. I worked with CT very closely for three years but these are conversations and there are conversations on almost any topic in the slideshow and we just want to center it on the fact that it is a conversation and we have to work together to make whatever that final package if it includes more CT that will be that's the group decision then it will have less of something else. It's just balancing it. Is all

073of this uh based on you were saying you're what number is all of this based on the value number said it's not based on the right all of these numbers are they based on the cap or they based on can we go back to those so we're telling you At the beginning of this slide, he said if we if we stay at the cap right now, whittle it down a million dollars, we still have 1.75 deficit. If we stay at the cap with 50% plus one voter figured in Yes. the reductions administr the reductions and additions of everything you see is included in the expenditure. Yeah. So we went through did round one reductions came up with the 1.7 said well something more needs to happen to be a balance program we need to cut

074just there to find a way maybe the only revenue we can pick up is approved tax increases. So, if we were to go with what was proposed tonight and go out at 3.5%, we'd still have $35,000 to wheel down. If we were to go with the recommendations presented tonight and go out at 6, what was our 6.4? We would have I'm sorry, I have it back up. Yep. We would have the 6.4 4 would require another $35,000 in reductions, which quite frankly the changes in the IT that we'll know more about next week could close that gap. Um the 3.5 would require another $385,000 in action. If if we decide as a community or board or whatever of not hiring the um curriculum person, does that how does that I guess affect any other reductions

075or does that go into other lines? So, anything you we're going to ask you for your recommendations and then potentially your marching orders tonight. What do you want us to go back and do? Are there things you want us to get back? Are there things you want us to take out? And then what we will come back to you with is the new numbers. At this point, I'm intending to bring them back at the 3.5% whatever county recommends at the top end to fix the long-term problem. Now, if you tell us to come back at the 2.19 cap, then that's a lot more we're going to have to take it. So, I can't quite answer that until you give us the direction and then we can take the direction and work to get to where

076you tell us to get. I have um several questions and it has more to do with cuts to kids. What exactly does um the PE teacher cut do to our compliance as well as um I I feel kids spend so much time behind computer screens that um there's a benefit to more physical activity in a in either recess or PE um to get away from these things. So, I I just want to make sure for one that if we cut this, we stay compliance with New York State requirements as well as look at the needs of students and um the physical needs of students, not just academic there. There's something to be said about playing sports [Music] um in school with your peers. So, I just want to make sure we stay in compliance with

077those requirements because I did, you know, I took this and I did look at some of the data and I believe K through three requires 12 minutes and or 30 minutes daily. And I will tell you we are not strictly in compliance with that. We are not unlike other districts right now. What I will say is with the reduction and the reduced number of sections, we could continue to do what we are doing now in P But but we'll still be out of All right. I have concerns with that particularly with um kids needed to be moving. I have two sons that are constantly moving. Um the music teacher reduction. What specifically does that reduction look like to our students? It would definitely be the loss in opportunities that we currently have. A lot of

078our opportunities are not required, though understandably appreciated uh by many. Uh it would mean a reconfiguration of our current music staff across the district to continue to provide as much as we could. So, how does that particularly look? Are we going to take band away from kids? Are we taking music away from kids? What exactly does that look like to a student in our district? It likely would have a bigger impact on some of our four or five students uh around band. That's something we had had to talk about last year as well. Um but again, I would think for the most part utilizing the remaining staff and again we have to pick up the pieces to this. We don't know exactly what everything's going to look like at this point in time. uh just

079like in the reduction of any other department, we have to take our existing staff and see how we can reorganize them to continue to provide opportunities for this. Okay. Well, similar to what Andrea was mentioning about our community and um knowing the demographics of our community and how families function, um there isn't a lot of opportunity in our valley for kids outside of school. If you go to other districts, they have community centers. They have programs. You can take music lessons and a 15-minute commute. Um, if a parent decides, and you know, parents do pay for bands because they have to purchase the instrument. Um, they don't have that opportunity. A lot of our kids will not have the opportunity to um engage in musical instruction outside of a regular music class. And I I

080don't like that. I don't think it's um necessary for us to look at reducing a music teacher and a PE teacher and adding an administrator. It doesn't [Applause] sit to do with how um the fifth grade day was. there is a difficult transition I believe from fifth grade to sixth grade in this district and our studies have shown it over the years um and that's why we transition to the methodology of the fifth grade and having different teachers so they get that exposure to um what different classrooms are like and having more than one teacher to um experience in a day and I I just want to know how that reduction will impact fifth grade read you can get that back to me I don't need that at the moment. Um, and then the second

081grade is the other one I targeted and looking at the numbers. Um, another one that I would like to look back at. I think the rest of my questions were handled by other board members at this time. So, I'll turn back over to board members. I guess I have a question about the music. If there's a reduction in one position, would that make somebody be going back and forth between elementary and middle school. There's a potential for that. And for requirements for middle school, you can for requirements for middle school, high school to I guess fulfill their requirements and graduate. Will they have enough music classes to to pick from to fit in their schedule that obviously we're under compliance, you know, within compliance so that they can get all for students pursuing the music

082just everybody in general because I think they do need the music, right? Yeah. We would be able to fulfill the minimum requirements. Any additional board members? Oh yeah, I just have one more. Um, as you said, the the ERS seems to be overfunded at at this time. um what would be a a responsible balance to carry over year for year in that particular planning to take out the multi-year plan right I don't think we should plan and take out until you know I think if we are looking at ways to mitigate this for this year recognizing that we can't give up that value right our build is higher than $550,000 We can appropriate up to the maximum of that that would give us but we could do that for no more than three years right

083over that. So it is over funded but there are other places that are also high risk areas like our capital reserve. So it's just the whole picture plan really deciding what do we want to do? What do we want this to look like? If we are going to pick up that money because it's overfunded, recognizing some other areas are overfunded or benefits. What are we going to do next year because we chose to do the district? I mean, if if we're we're asking the community to and I think we're pretty much going to have to ask the community to um go above the cap, we have to be willing to, you know, come to a medium here. So, we are going to have to kick something else in and that seems to be an area

084in which we can do some. Obviously, we would want to do it all or a large amount at once because we might need it the next few years because things are not better tomorrow. But if we're asking the community to go over the cap, then we need to be looking at these things. If it's overfunded, then we need to at least be taking something out of that to move it to another area that would protect us in that area or choose to use it as a transitional kind of approach to get to next year. But that would likely still be that 500,000 short. Just have to be prepared for that. We have to know that it can't go on for any more than three years. and we don't want to do what led us here,

085which is not making those decisions and not knowing what it means and what comes next or what we're going to do knowing what it means. So, I'm sure be willing to work on that as you give us some direction. That's why the slides out there. The two areas of flexibility are the ERS and the unemployment insurance. Again, mitigate the risk because we need some students and our fund balance is half right now. got to rebuild the fund out, spend some money around, decide how much we're going to appropriate and recognize if we come back to the table next year, we can't keep doing it. We have to look at the puzzle pieces of the puzzle at that time and again talk about our multi-year distinct this year. Our cap for the next year should be

086higher, right? So what happens um in this couple slideshow ago I showed you the calculations for the over time that would have placed this year's revenue one million higher. Same thing happens in reverse you could say. So now we've taken that little bit and now that carries on next year's tax cap could still be 1% so would be 2%. But the amount that has been given gets carried forward and also compounds forward as a fixed toward what has already happened. It helps us step forward. Yes, it does for any other board member [Music] comment. Okay, we'll move on to Public comment. Okay. Public comment is limited to three minutes, so everyone has the opportunity to share. This time is for the public to make comment to the board as a whole. In addition to public

087comment tonight, we'll be asking the public for feedback via a survey similar to last year. So, get the word out there that we will be asking the public for feedback, not just here, but through a survey. [Music] and you're gonna type for me. [Music] Hi everyone. Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak here tonight. My name is Katherine Ladman and I've been the general music teacher at Berlin Elementary School for 19 years. I'm speaking in support of Gretchen Modiset and the incredible music program that we had, excuse me, that we have here at Berlin Central School District. Gretchen came to Berlin this year and fills a huge role taking on our middle and high school choirs and corral as well as several music classes, not to mention preparing students for NISMA solos, all

088state auditions, RCSMA, all county festivals, and co-directing our drama productions. Going above and beyond is an understatement. She was a powerhouse and the music department is lucky to have her. One of the many things that I've been proud of as a music teacher here over the years is the above average musical talent of our students. As we all know, we are a small, very rural district. Despite that, we are seriously competitive when it comes to the arts. Our students are fierce musicians. They have shown themselves to be leaders again and again. Sure, many of them are naturally talented. And yes, Miss Baker and I run a strong music program at the elementary school, but it is in this building that they truly have the opportunity to shine. Our musicians are known countywide and even statewide

089for their talents. Some students are natural scientists, some mathematicians, some of our students are amazing athletes, and some are future authors. Some are brilliant artists and some are monster musicians. Each of these scholarly programs offered in our district are equally important and each of these programs motivates certain students to walk through the door each and every morning. Our beautiful community has come together in the past to save our athletic program. We must do the same for music. We've tried to piece our our music program together before with just three teachers. It was very difficult. I know personally that I wanted to do more for every student and the time is simply not there. Not to mention the impact that this would have at the building level. It would eliminate common planning times and would almost

090certainly eliminate certain opportunities for our most deserving and talented students. We've had former students visit our classrooms as education majors hoping to teach music someday soon and other students who have made careers with performing. This is because of the strong music education they received here within these walls and is something to be incredibly proud of. We cannot risk eliminating or diminishing elements of this program. And in the face of declining enrollment, we cannot give families another reason to move their children out of our district. Our students deserve better. Thank you. [Applause] Annette. Good evening everybody. Much like many of you sitting there, I am a Ron graduate and I remember about 34 35 years ago being a student in this building, pretty much a brand new building and teachers picketing before and after school because

091there wasn't a contract and then sports being cut, me being cut. But in that time, never once did I ever fear of losing my favorite teacher. So I I beg you guys to think about other ways to make cuts. And I also really urge you to look at some of those out of district placements because some of those students are getting $15,000 a year for an education while our students are maybe getting 7 to five. So I think in the past parents have had to pay tuition for their for their students who want to go to private schools. And not that I think going backwards is a great thing, but I do feel at this point I think you think about the majority and not just a few students getting what they need when we

092could be saving teachers positions with some of that tuition money. Um, and I also really think that it doesn't do anything for our students who are here. I mean, you guys have had students who were able to take advantage of AP classes, students who've done honors classes and have gone on to RPI and other colleges doing wonderful things because they were in this building and these four walls with these wonderful people who are behind me. So please, we need our teachers and maybe need to look other places for those cuts. David Keller Mullen I want to talk about the effects that the cut of Miss Mona would have on our students. Um, [Music] she really carries in taking up half of the music classes not only in the middle school but also in the high

093school. and um you know losing her we put a lot of the middle school classes and actually all of the middle school classes on our other music and um it's it would [Music] essentially not quite get rid of all of our um elective courses for the music, but it would get rid of most And a lot of students have found homes in these courses like music appreciation which I have found a home in um these past three years that I've taken it. Um, and I um, sorry. Um, and just share some facts that I found. Um, according to the American Psychological Association, music students score better in math, science, and English than their non- musical peers. Um, I myself have found a home in music and not and I feared um that I may not

094be able to see this be carried on by students in the future. Um, I worry that students may not have a may not be able to have a chance to explore path in the music department. On top of this, I'm here for our drama club because if we lose Miss Monstead, who is our vocal teacher, um we don't have anyone to teach voices for our drama. Um, so I just ask that you find try to find some other places. [Applause] Emma will buy. Hello. Uh, my name is Emma Woolly Viner. I'm a 2016 alumni of Berlin. My grandfather was the superintendent of this district. My grandmother taught at Craftton Elementary. My mother, aunts, and uncles are also all alumni of Berlin. And in 2022, I married my husband, Mr. Viner, who is a 2012 alumni

095of the school and a current teacher here in the district. The last time I gave a speech in this room was at my high school graduation. I was valid Victorian in my class and class president. I'll be honest, I don't often attend board meetings. I was at the one last year, but I did not speak. And while I'm not a parent, I have had a front row seat to the happenings of this district, both as a spouse and as a community member. When my husband graduated from college, he made the choice to return to his home district, as many teachers here have done. This district is unique in the fact that many of the teachers here are alumni and community members themselves who had their pick of schools upon earning their degrees and chose to

096return here and set down their roots in this community. Anyone here in this room who loves the future knows that the work life balance for teachers in this district is non-existent. My husband and I know that if we go out to dinner at 17 or norte, we will inevitably see a student or their parent. It will result in a long conversation. Um, there have also been many moments where my husband has had to step away from our parents at home to take late evening phone calls from parents who are getting home from work. And I have personally been witness to the hours of work put into developing curriculum and lesson planning at home to provide the best experience possible for your students with minimal resources and funding. As a student here, I was provided incredible

097opportunities because of the teachers here. Opportunities that have prepared me for both college where I graduated soon and my career afterwards. My the teachers in this district are exceptional qualified, caring professionals who give much of their free time and energy to the students of this district for very little pay and until recently with very little support from their administrators. I'd like to take this moment to personally thank Principal Burnsley and Vice Principal Reynolds for the work you've done to support our teachers as I know it has not been easy. In 2020, I watched as these teachers constantly pivoted and adjusted their curriculums to the unknowns of the pandemic, trying their best to provide students here with some sense of normaly in an unprecedented situation. In the eight years my husband has been teaching here, there

098have been numerous administrators, leaving the teachers, aids, and support staff in this building as the only constant for the students. There is a concerning amount of disorganization in this district from my perspective. I understand a lack of funding and a need to have difficult conversations firsthand as in 2022 I was personally impacted by a layoff. My layoff came months after the quote final round of layoffs and I recall the immense amount of reasonable uncertainty which means Oh wow. Okay. Sorry if you [Music] have. Thank you. Thank you. [Applause] I can give you just extra data up for you to do. Good evening. Uh Sam Colbert, art teacher, department chair, and officer. I'm speaking specifically on the proposed cuts to be made at the middle high school. Back in the fall, we surveyed students at electives.

099Only 21% of students cited that there are electives here that they want and are able to get into. It is unacceptable that the majority of students want courses but can't get in. And that is of no fault of our guidance department whose hands are tied. The more staff positions we cut at the middle high school, the more the master scheduleuler becomes a very difficult game of Tetris. The less staff we have, the more rigid and inflexible the schedule becomes, making it increasingly difficult for students to get into the classes that they want, and they end up rotting in study halls. There is already a noted difference between last year and this year. One example of the 10th to 12th grade students who signed up for art this year, only 49% got into the art class

100they wanted out of all the classes we offer. Electives are often kids reasons for coming to and enjoying school. If they don't have programs or if they can't get into them, I wouldn't want to go to school here either. To Frank's point, we should not be surprised that students and their families are actively choosing to go elsewhere, home school, private school, and are just choosing not to attend school on a regular basis. The pillars and the core values mean nothing if we don't have students. If we want programs that keep kids here and in school, we need enough staff for both elective programs and enough staff for the required sections of classes they have to take so that the master schedule can be loosened back up. Kids do not enjoy distance learning by the way

101and we can provide some Quest R3 programs here in house if we have staff pretty easily. Parents listening, do you want any all children 6 through 12 taking the same classes? No honors, no acceleration, no college courses, no elective courses other than the very basic ones required by New York because that's what has already started to happen this year in the schedule and will 100% be the situation for your children next year with cuts to any middle school high school teachers whatsoever. Those details are not in the budget presentation you see tonight. Furthermore, we cannot simply look at enrolling numbers for the middle high school like you can with BEES. The teacher to student ratio cannot be treated the same. Elementary is a one main classroom scheduling process. Students here have nine daily classes to

102schedule. Some classes are full year, half year, quarter year. It's an impossible puzzle made impossible by less staff. a schedule, by the way, that has not even been successfully drafted yet for September. We don't even know that these proposed cuts can actually work. When making these budgetary decisions, we cannot say, well, there are 45 students in 8th grade, so therefore those students can just be split into two sections. What if they need resource form? Band of Accelerated Math or Science. Sure. Yep. The rest of it you have and then and then the data. Thank you. Thank you. Hello everyone. My name is Nate Hendricks. I'd first like to thank all of you for taking the time to hear what I as a student of Berlin High School have to say. I am a senior here

103and I have attended Berlin School District my entire life. Berlin has been facing a lot of changes since co happened. A lot of teachers have been here as long as I have been. With that being said, I'm here to speak on behalf of Josh Weaver. Weaver has taught all four of my siblings. He has been a coach to my brothers and has become a trusted adult for me in this school. He is simply one of those teachers I feel most students are comfortable to confide in and go to if something is wrong. He is easily approachable, respectable, and trustworthy, which I think are good qualities in teaching. Some of you may know I had a very serious jump accident in 2020 that left me hospitalized and immobilized. I did not think I would ever be

104able to play sports again, but we kept after me. His a big encouragement is a reason I felt the confidence to play and try new sports. With his encouragement, I have been successful in my academic I mean in my competitive athletic career here. He is a good role model and I hope one day I'll be able to have the patience to deal with kids like he does. It's amazing how he is able to communicate and teach struggling kids new techniques. I've seen teachers get moved to teach classes they didn't originally go for. So, I guess my question is why are we hiring new administrators when everyone keeps saying these cuts are necessary because we have fewer kids in our school district. But getting rid of a teacher who has already built a career here is

105your idea of a good plan. Someone who already has connections with the students here. I don't believe that it is fair to displace him of his position and I think it's highly unfair to blame it on budget issues while continuing to bring in new hires. I believe there are other areas to come instead. Weaver is a teacher who deserves this position here at Berlin Central. While I know I am a senior and it's my last year here, I don't picture Berlin being half of what it could be with absence if you decide to move forward displacing them. I have a paper here with 160 signatures of students who feel the same way as I do. And I bet there'd be more if I had the time to go to every class. On behalf of all

106of us, please find a different solution. Thank you. Trevor Holtzman. Hello, my name is Trevor Holston. I'm also a senior here at um Berlin High School. The other day when I found out that our gym teacher, Mr. Lever, could possibly be cut uh that added me along with a lot of other students. And when I heard the news, I instantly felt the need to help. So me and May, we went around and we collected 161 signatures of students who would be unhappy if Mr. Weaver would no longer be their physical education teacher. A question in the slideshow that got my attention was, "How will today's decisions impact tomorrow's children?" I think that cutting a teacher such as Mr. Weaver who has qualities of teaching kids, helping kids, kids that, you know, maybe don't have a

107lot of friends or are special needs. and uh he's just he's always been there. I came to Berlin in seventh grade. Um you know, Mr. Weaver, he was just there, you know, helped me with my sports, helped me meet new people, make friends. Um yeah. So, sorry I'm not the best speaker, but um I think a lot of people would be very saddened by Mr. Weaver leaving as I have a lot of signatures to back then. That's about all I have. AJ Oley. Everybody, I want to thank you for the opportunity to talk this evening and thank you for your time. Um, there's an argument that's being made that there must be reduction of staff because of the reduced enrollment. However, in 2008, we had four school buildings, only seven administrators and 900 children, and

108several current admin positions that that used to be staff positions. Now, we only have two school buildings and still have seven administrators and less than 600 children. So my question I want to leave you with here is why now are we expanding more expensive administrative positions? Thank you for your time. [Applause] The school budget is in trouble again. And here we are again, bleeding, sweating, crying green and cold. It's heartbreaking. Several teachers have been cut. one of whom is our wonderful new eighth grade English teacher and one of whom is our fantastic new middle high school music teacher. The English department already lost its school and a school teacher and a reading teacher at the end of last year. Further cuts will not only continue to reduce student support in the district, but they will

109also cause more strain on remaining teachers and programs. A strong wellsupported teaching staff is the backbone of any school system. If we continue to erode that support, we risk losing additional talented educators to districts that provide them with the respect and resources they deserve. Far earlier, the big picture would have indicated that the budget would need further reductions. Those who are designated with the fiduciary and ethical responsibility of seeing this big picture would not have replaced the eighth grade English teacher or the middle high school music teacher who left during the summer. adjustments would have been made at that time instead of everyone going through the process of hiring these teachers who could have kept or found more secure jobs. These teachers have quickly developed a love for Berlin and our students and our students

110for them. Cuts to staff mean fewer adults available to guide and support our students. It's not just that these amazing new teachers are losing their jobs. It's that the programs will then be reduced. This means fewer opportunities for our kids. The drama just presented a successful 6 through 12 musical Allison Wonderland Jr. Without this music teacher is in our building all day long teaching music and voice who is also willing to be a traumat advisor. These musicals will not happen. The kids weren't up there just winging it. It took a lot of work from a lot of people in the school and community. A drama's advisor stays after school between one and five extra hours almost every day. And dedicates even more time and effort at home. I don't even want to subtract our donations

111from the stipend and divide by total hours. We don't do this for money. We do this for these young people. We had 36 students involved in this musical and a total of 520 people in the audience for the three shows. I urge you to consider the immediate and long-term effects of these cuts. I urge you to explore alternative solutions. In the 11th hour last year, a board member found a line item that wasn't needed and that allowed a position to be saved. Don't cut teachers. Cut tables. They don't bleed. Thank you. Every day, the teachers in our district tell students to dream big, tackle the world with wonder, and work diligently toward their goals. We work to instill excitement and passion in students lives. We want them to dream and grow into prosperous individuals. But

112this gets harder to do when the dreams of adults in the building are being crushed. Teachers bring fresh ideas and energy into districts. They bring optimism, ideas, and inspiration to everyone. A few years ago, a beloved teacher drew quadrants and graphs on windows in her first year. Another teacher built bonds as a coach that will inspire her for lifetimes. Yet another was engaging students in ways that brought content to life, made them want to be here. But none of these student here at Start. None of these amazing teachers work here anymore. I can name nearly a dozen young and bright teachers who do not work here anymore. And it is beyond sad. Without a sustainable school environment for teachers, an entire school suffers. New ideas and fresh perspectives are gone. Teachers retreat to disillusioned corners,

113working harder to make up for the absence of the colleagues they mourn. Students wonder why teachers they started to bond with are suddenly gone completely. Gone to make up for what? more administrators to oversee less staff. When teachers disappear, not retire, disappear, the energy and culture in a building shifts. Retirements are celebrations, terminations, especially due to a budget cut, rip the breath from a school, and snatch dreams. That's what's happening now, happening again. And the extent of the pain and mistrust is unacceptable. Why did we hire a teacher in October when we were going to fire her in March? I participated in a hiring committee for a new eighth grade English teacher after earning a less than satisfactory reputation last spring. You can imagine that there were not many candidates, but when we found a

114one, she was the one because she lets our students know she cares and that she's there for them. I'm sure she's told students this year that she'll be there for them throughout their school careers. She's done that because she wants to be and they want and need her, too. But now we're suggesting to make a liar out of her. Her genuine promises to students, her words of encouragement and endearment are being stripped from her control. Her dream and her students dreams are being stripped. So, is that really what we want to be known for? Do we want to be known as the place new teachers and no teachers can trust? Do we want to be a building full of disillusioned bodies grinding away to produce burnedout results? Do we want to be a district known

115for its graveyard of dreams, corpses of careers? The future and our students future is grim if we go down this road. But I think we can do something better because last year I watched this board find room for a few less tables. I know it may not be ideal, but we can be more creative than this. Let's be known as a district that stands together and rises with creativity when times are tough. If we let go of each other so quickly, we might as well stop telling our kids to dream big and trust the process. I don't think it's time to give up on dreams so easily. And I really hope I've sparked a desire to keep dreams alive. Thank you. Middle school reading teacher and school teacher from our English department. We have been

116removed from the school's name improvement list to the progress we've achieved in our ELA and math score especially in the sixth grade ELA math where our students are performing at or higher than 50% of the schools across New York state yet we are cutting another English teacher which only needs an increase in class sizes fewer reading and MTSS classes for students we already have students that are unable to get that an English teacher harm students literacy critical thinking and college and career readiness. Yes, literacy is foundational. English skills affect all subjects, standard test scores, and future job opportunities. Our students deserve more than the bare minimum. They deserve a strong foundation for their future. Good evening. I'm speaking on behalf of the physical education department and I'm speaking to the point of the fact that

117we are not candidates for elementary school education. I was going to give you the numbers but it sounds like you already have them. Um, students should be attending PE for 120 minutes in a 5day calendar week. Right now, we are on a six- day rotation. Um, at the elementary school, we teach preK through fifth grade physical education along with two sections of adaptive PE. There are endless studies and research done that prove the positive effect that physical activity has on students from attention, engagement, behavior, and attitude. Research shows that body movement is linked to increased classroom productivity and may also promote cognitive development. In addition to the physical benefits, the social emotional learning opportunities in a kids class is immeasurable. As a district once again in the midst of a budget crisis, it is understandable

118that cuts need to be made to balance their budget. Of the positions being recommended for elimination, one is a full-time physical education position. I urge the board to take a look at this one more closely. Given the anticipated class sections, keeping two full-time physical education teachers at the elementary level would allow us to move into compliance. It would benefit the students with more physical activity. Keeping three at middle school, high school allows them to continue fulfilling all the kids and health requirements along with offering the elective PE models of fitness, traditional or sport education that our students are so fortunate to have. Unfortunately, it is inevitable that there are a lot of ways this budget crisis will negatively impact students in our district. It's obvious that our decrease in funding is also due to a

119decrease in student enrollment. As a parent of students in this district, I hope the decisions that are made have the least impact on our students. It is the special classes, beloved teachers, and unique opportunities our school provides that keep our kids wanting to be here. We want the families to want to be here in Berlin. Thank you. Good evening. That was page two, Katie. But I will tell you that I do have the numbers. I did pull all of the master schedules. Um, and I've done more math in the last 24 hours than I have my entire high school career. So, I have middle school high school numbers cons and taking in consideration two sections of six through eight consolidating all the classes to nine sections of a more traditional PE or ninth graders now

120competing against seniors. It can happen. It cannot happen. And I will also tell you trying to figure out that 68 elementary rotation if I were a parent. Oh my goodness, I can't I cannot think that parents would like that rotation. So that was patient, but I wanted to share that with you that I do have these numbers. Um, and I do want to just say again that it is disappointing that we are here again due to a budget crisis only recently brought to light that includes a reduction of eight teachers after the devastating loss in faculty over the last couple of years, especially here at the middle school high school. Where are the guardrails of our finances? Who are our stewards of the district's financial oversight? and where were they from May 19th, 2024 until

121April 3rd, 2025. If anyone stands before you and tells you these reductions will not result in elimination and disruption of electives, honors, and other programs, they are either unaware or unwilling to admit what next year's schedule will look like for our students and your children. I'm speaking here obviously as a member of the physical education department. And um on behalf of our dedicated and beloved Mr. Weaver, as well as our equally and dedicated Mr. Sour, who will inevitably be involuntarily transferred for at least part of the day to the middle school high school to cover some assignments, leaving Miss Sville, Miss Bersinger, and I with the unrealistic and impossible task of covering all the rest of the classes. As mentioned by Miss Falso, by moving to a five-day rotation and away from that ridiculous six

122day, um they will be more than a full schedule with the numbers counting considering the anticipated reduction of the grade levels and including the two prek with Cassan even covering two of Mr. Weaver's five plus classes. Miss SA is now teaching eight periods a day. I did run the numbers. All right. Um, sorry, I lost myself. Here's what the middle high school health programs will look like with the loss of Mr. Weaver, a non-year veteran teacher. I don't Mrs. Burw your time. No, we can't do that. I don't know. Three minutes for a person. All right. But if you have that electronic, can you please Yeah. Or stand 37 years ago and Josh Weaver took my place. I felt left left that feeling that we were in good hands because he's a man of high

123moral character that the boys can talk to and that's something the 15 16 year old boys need need to have. My big concern is that we are going to wind up with larger gym classes and possibly what I'm looking at at the figures up here. We wind up 40 kids in the gym class which is a real safety issue. I'm very concerned about that only because when I was teaching I had a large gym class and a kid got hurt and I was in sue because the kid broke his nose but the school district was sued because of large class sizes. So it's something to consider. Safety is a big thing especially with gym classes. I also saw a figure up there, maybe I'm being stupid, but there's uh an unemployment figure up there of

124$560,000. Why do we need that figure? Unless if we don't lay off teachers, would there be money saved? Don't know. I'm done. Um, and besides that, staff additions. Why are doing champagne tastes? We only have a beer bottle. We should be keeping the people we we want, not the people, the new people coming in. Finally, I'm going to leave you a little story. You know, some of these teachers going to remember the Dr. Young story. Kids are like there was this all these starfish and they washed up onto the beach, okay? And they couldn't get back into the ocean. And what happened was little boy came by. He picked up the starfish and he brought them back into the ocean. And the old man came by and says, "Why are you doing that, little boy?

125You can't possibly save all these starfish." And the little boy said to him, "But at least I can save just a part of it." This is what it's about. Are we going to let these kids and these teachers be starfish and dry up on the beach, or are we going to give them back into the ocean? Thank you. Good evening, esteemed members of the for you today to express my deep admiration for coach Weaver and his advocacy for continued presence at Berlin Central School Visual School and High School. Sorry, I'm super nervous. Um, Coach Weaver's commitment to this institution is unparallel. His family legacy is woven into the fabric of this school with his father Michael Webart graduating in 1987, grandfather Alan in 1967 and great grandmother Merl in 45 all having attended and graduated

126from here. Throughout his time in Berlin coaching has dedicated himself not only to teaching but also to coaching petty ball and basketball. After completing his degree, he continued to contribute his school his skills to coaching multiple sports and serving as a substitute teacher. His dedication led him to be a long-term substitute role at both middle and high school levels. Following this, he transitioned to a part-time teacher while assisting in discipline and eventually becoming the athletic director. Even after the AB position transfer transition to an administrative role remains committed to teaching, showcasing his unwavering loyalty to the school and its students. His dedication is evident in his willingness to undertake various responsibility, even if it means a daily commute of 45 minutes. When I asked him if he would consider finding a job closer to home,

127he constantly responds, "No, my loyalty is to Brooklyn. They gave me a chance, and I love teaching the students I have. This level of commitment truly exemplifies his loyalty to this school district." Coach Weaver goes above and beyond for his students. He has provided essential toiletries, allowed students to use the boys locker room showers, and generously donated to the care closet and food drives. Recently, he even saw donations for sneakers for his students through social media. His willingness to chaper owner proms and senior trips further demonstrates his dedication to their well-being. In pursuit of excellence, Coach Weaver attends his annual physical education conference each fall, returning with innovative ideas to enhance the physical education program. His initiatives in shadowing a PE teacher at a Miller school led to the introductions of a strength and conditioning

128co course enriching the curriculum for the past two years. Moreover, coach Weaver is a supportive colleague often covered classes for co-workers in need. To many, he is more than just a co-orker. He is a friend. On a personal note, I want to highlight coach Weaver's empathy and understanding, particularly regarding mental health. He has taken the time to learn about anxiety both mine and of his students through through meaningful conversations. He has fostered connections and provided support during challenging times. One student who struggled with anxiety found soulless in their discussions with coach Weaver and their body continued to thrive even after graduation. The presence of a male physical education teacher who understands mental health is invaluable and losing Coach Weaver would be a significant loss for our community. When I married Josh, I became part of

129the Berlin family. Our son and I have been embraced by both the students, teachers, and administration here. While Josh may not have attended Berlin, his heart is deeply rooted in the green and gold, and he hopes our son will share that pride. I can send you the [Applause] Good evening. My name is William Howard. Tonight I am here to address that we should put more thought into cutting teachers. We as students understand we are in debt. But we also learned last year and we hired new employees. Students make connections with teachers and by cutting them you are taking away some student safe spaces. We as a school altogether are spending money on things we could do without. But something we can't do without is our teachers. This is on prayer steps. We as students need

130these teachers for our education. Some of the teachers that will be affected by this are Mr. Looper, Miss Senle, and Miss Hall. First off, Miss I never had her as my teacher, but I have gained a connection with her this year. I will be very sad to see her leave, and I know all of her students and other people will be upset to see her leave as well. Miss Senica has become my space face space for this year, and I can always go to her with anything. If there is ever a problem, I can always talk to her, and she will understand. If I have a free period or I need help with something, she always opens her classroom to me. Another teacher that is very important to me and many others is Miss Miss

131Hall. Miss Hall was my eighth grade math teacher and I love talking to her. She also tries to connect and be there for her students. She would always ask me when my games were and she would try to free up her schedule to come to my games. Even now that she's not my teacher, she still makes time to come time to ask when my games are and she tries to come to them. Losing her as a teacher at our school would be a bad idea and a lot of students would be upset at that choice. The last teacher I want to talk about is Mr. Lieber. Without Mr. Weieber, there won't be all these extra PE classes like the sports class and going to the wait room. I know this might not sound important, but

132it is to students to have an option on what PE class you want to be in and how competitive we are. Without Mr. Rever, PE classes are overcrowded and unmanageable. Mr. Reaver has also helped many people become good athletes and interested in sports. Without him, our PE classes would lose that little sparkle that he brings to them. We as students never asked for this and it's impacting us students. Why do you think this is fair to us? To show you how important Berlin and the students are to these teachers, I have asked them all to tell me why they don't want to leave our school. Mr. Weaver had told me Berlin is important to him because my father's family have attended Berlin since 1945. And growing up, I had always heard how much they enjoyed

133attending a small school where everyone knew everyone. I attended a high school with a graduating class of 372. When I came to Berlin 15 years ago, having the ability to build a relationship with each and every student at the middle school high school, regardless of whether I was a teacher, coach, or substitute, was what instantly made me fall in love with this district. The close-knit community that Berlin is immediately accepted me as one of their own, and I have never regretted that choice for one second. I've always felt at home in the Berlin community and I know that green and gold has always envelope for the incredible experience I've had at Berlin. It has truly been a place for all teachers to connect with students. The smaller class sizes allow me to support my students

134in becoming the best they can be and this is something I will definitely miss. As the teachers who joined to mid here, I felt warmly welcomed by both the students and staff. Making my transition. [Applause] Hi everybody. Uh this uh really quick from Sandy Hanser. Uh the loss excuse me the loss of Mr. waiver means that we cannot offer my not my her responding to emergencies class the anticipated curriculum work for independent study course in which students will receive graduation credit for each year they are members of their town's fire department that's really work for our community to keep those connections um with the strength and conditioning elective that's also gone and that's something our athletes utilize all the time they're gone period the loss of Josh will send our PE program back decades with

135larger class sizes, less sections, and no choice will be the ninth grade boy who will participate with and share a lock or room with a senior boy. A girl with body image issues has and has more interest in reading a book will be forced to participate in a more sportsbased class and that can really be hurtful. that is from Sandy Hansen. Um I'm really just talking about something that's already been addressed a little bit tonight and that's the anticipated possible um addition of an administrator. Um it's something I really don't understand and I've talked about it already this year with some administrative staff. Um we are doing really well right now. Um we we've got some issues maybe in the curriculum with with scores and data, but it's difficult to attain what growth really is.

136Um, I can tell you I've seen a lot of growth just just tonight seeing some of my current students here that normally might not anticipate something like this. Um, that's growth. It's not just what we see on tests. Um, and until we better handle our finances, I don't think we should be adding an administrator. Uh, add administrative positions at this time where we can be offering students more opportunities that brings them back in that have some buy in and that will raise our test scores. Um it's a luxury to add an administrative position. Um particularly one that has not existed quite like that before. Um doing this um in hopes of continuing an improvement is wonderful, but we're already seeing those improvements and it's an expensive position and it has less direct student impact. Are

137we going to cut teachers and then cut students learning opportunities? Um if this is really about curriculum um that isn't being created or connected without teachers. If we don't have teachers, we won't be able to connect that curriculum. Um, we can do curriculum work. We can do it in house. We have resources. Some are free. Someone from Quest R3, we can do it here. We don't need to spend that luxury. It really comes down to time. And given that time, we can do it. We can do the work. We have people on staff that have masters in curriculum. We have the resources right here. We just need the time. and that would be better for our students. Um, we have administrative support to make it happen. We don't necessarily need a curriculum director to do

138it. And just to say, didn't work out so great last time. We have one. Okay. Thank you very much, [Applause] Good evening everyone. Mrs. Gold, the band teacher here. Um, so, uh, I want to begin by thanking the board and administration for having supported our program in many ways so far. When I started here seven or eight years ago, I felt immediately welcomed and valued by the entire community. I can see quickly how supportive of the arts the district wants. The administration has helped us for two years now, writing a grant that helps us attend our chosen thrills performance trip. I could go on, but 3 minutes isn't long. I love this place and its people. So, I want to talk to you and make you understand um what will happen if we go down

139to three music teachers. The four members of the music department are currently full-time teachers who help our children grow, learn, and achieve through music. With only three, the program will dwindle. Gretchen and I are already teaching well beyond our contract. Contract is 500 a day. I'm doing eight or nine. She's doing it at least seven. That is to keep our program where it is. We are already over over wrong with work and we're trying to cut the light. So, um I've been asking for years actually for help with the band lesson load. Um this will be deeply affect both the coral and band program. We will not be able to manage this. system burn it. Even if we somehow manage the scheduling, we will not be able to be our bestselves as teachers. We will

140be burnt out. Um Frank, you mentioned not wanting to limit opportunities, here's the opportunities that would go away because we would not have time. No jazz band, no chamber choir, barely any lessons because we would be um full full um load without lessons. No all county, no nesma. Um, no area, all state, no state bands like Luke Dresky made this year to maybe state band. Um, no community service by musicians who performing in the community. Low quality, fewer or maybe no concerts, no musical director for the musicals, voices, no performances, veterans today, assemblies or graduation. Um, unpopular opinion, but 30 CTE kids versus well over a 100 music kids. They just don't think the guts show them there. Music is a sport. It is a lifeline for many kids. It is the reason they come

141to school. It is a stress relief and a discipline builder. Aren't we trying to improve attendance? Why attend if there are no electives to enrich the lives to stimulate feelings of empathy and humanity. So that is just the business part. Going to Gretchen specifically. Gretchen has not had an easy time this year. She has had a lot of struggles that were no fault of her own. And yet she still overcome overcame numerous obstacles put forth by the school and has truly become part of our music family. She put on an amazing musical 4 days ago along with Karen Bay and Christy Lamonte getting paid a piss compared to the workload. To be honest, some of our kids gave her a rough start because she was someone he knew. Yet she broke through by showing them

142how much she loved music and how much she wanted to share that love with them. Excuse me. Use a beautiful music that the kids two concerts are already and is working towards our paper and I will give you um five papers of five sheets of paper that the kids have written that I knew I would not get time. Thank you Tim. So I know more than numbers personally. You've got eight teachers that you're dismissing. Is that in the budget already that you have put for us the 2526? That's in Okay. So how much exactly are we saving by getting rid of those people face salary? Yeah, just throw that 500 500,000. So again, you know, not a supported suggestion, but we get rid of the CTE program where there's only 34 kids who are attending

143that. We save 80 adults per students from having to not being able to experience them. I'm not going to talk long, but I will say this. Josh Weaver was told that he does not have this job. The next day he came in, he didn't say a word to me about that. He asked me how my daughter was. That is who Josh Weeper is. [Applause] Hello board members and valued member valued people of the Berlin community. I'm coming to you today to discuss the music department and its future following the possible firing of Gretchen Moset. Our music department is full of talent, skill, and passion. We have had students accepted into all county, all state bands and choirs. Our students have received perfect scores on the most difficult of pieces, and our concerts and musicals are

144enjoyed by all. None of these tremendous accomplishments would have been possible without the hard work of students and teachers alike. Everyone in the department is so passionate about what they do, including Mrs. Modson. Mrs. Modson has worked so hard, leaving another job to come here and getting her New York teaching license so that she could make a difference. Only a few months in, she offered to co-direct our musical Alice in Wonderland with Mrs. Mante and Miss. Without her there, to teach us the music of the show, we likely would have been unable to have a musical at all. She was willing to help out with such a large commitment so soon into being a part of the Berlin community. She was so dedicated to her students and the show that even on days that she

145suffered intense migraines, she pushed through and managed to continue teaching and commanding the respect from 36 total kids. Her strength and passion for music is so inspiring to watch, and I'm so glad to have her as a teacher. If Mrs. Mson is forced to leave Berlin, our entire music department would suffer. If the chorus program isn't cut entirely, Miss Bodin would need to travel between the elementary and middle high schools and she would have less prep time for students to teach them to the best of her ability and students at the middle high school would no longer receive lessons. This would also impact our band as Mrs. Floyd would need to teach all general music classes, leaving no time for lessons and one-on-one time with students, and over time, our bands would suffer as a

146result. As a senior who is graduating in just a few short months, these changes may not affect me in the same way as other students, but I know so many amazing kids here who will be hurt by these decisions. I asked a few of our underassman musicians how they are feeling. One student said, "I moved here for the great music program." The student was incredibly hurt that we were willing to sacrifice one of the most successful programs here at Berlin. Another said, "If they come through with this, I will leave." Several other students felt the same. Berlin's musicians are the students who put in twice the amount of work and effort so that they continue to take the classes that they love. To take away their resources is a mistake. I know these kids and

147without the arts, they will not they will stop putting in the effort to stay eligible. It's not fair to the students here to put them through these cuts year after year. Please keep this in consideration as you make a decision on the final budget. Thank you. Hello, my name is Daniel Lenica. I am a sophomore here at Berlin and I am going to warn you I did not prepare a speech. I came to strictly I came to listen to what you guys had to say and ask questions based off that. And my first question is if you guys are so worried about giving children opportunity, why are you firing or releasing so many teachers that could give students opportunities in subjects they didn't know they could be interested in? That's number one. Um, number two,

148um, through your plans of cutting the teachers, I don't think you're I know you're not thinking of the students, and I also know you're not thinking of the teachers. These teachers are humans. They're not just things you can fire and get new ones of. They have put their time and effort into this place. I'm not speaking just off of music program. I am speaking off of every teacher that you have hired even though we are going through the financial struggles we are going through and having them come here and make relationships just to fire them a year maybe a few months later. Why the hell would you do that? There's no point. You're hiring them just to release them after they made so many connections with students. Some of them have families they're supposed to

149support. How are they supposed to do that? They don't have a job now. Some of them were working at other districts. They left just to work here. What What was your thought process? And I do have to say, I know it is not me, but if this music program, if you go through with firing or releasing the music teacher, I know it is not just me that will be leaving this building and this district. I have talked to quite a few students and I expect more than 75% of people I have talked to have agreed with me. They are leaving with me and they are not staying here. Thank you Jane. William Um, hello. My name is Lillian Mumb and I'm in 10th grade. I have come to this school since sixth grade and I

150came here for better opportunities. Um, my passions are music and sports. I've been looking at different colleges for performance arts and band. I've been looking for years for what I don't want to do and I've finally found it just this year that it's music. From what said this is the best music program in this county to lose this program, I would lose my future at Grand Patch. All of the other students are the who are the same said they would move schools. But my family does not have the enough money to move to another school. I feel hopeless. The most I can say is all this in hope that you don't make any cuts to music. Miss mod just needing her this year. I've already connected with her so much and cutting her cutting would

151be cutting a lot. Teachers are more most important to me in the class. If you are truly listening and care, you will take this into consideration. Whatever decisions made, I can't stop that. But it will greatly affect me and many others, many others who don't just do music, but sports and extra active piece. I also would like to say some things for someone who did not want to come up. I won't say their name because it's private, but they came to Berlin as a last resort. They have moved around so many schools, but nothing has made them more happy than Berlin. They cannot put into words how wonderful doing this program is. They've started theater in sixth grade on YouTube and going from a Catholic school where they only sing two songs every year to

152a school with not only music but band programs, band programs and other programs for select singers and instrumentalists is incredible. It's that's not even mentioning theater. They were so incredibly ecstatic when they found the theater program. And what made it better was the friends made along the way. They'd like to thank everyone. The teachers in this program. They find it insulting that a school with such an amazing music and drama department would rather cut would rather cut it than admit that they've put too much money into other things that are not that successful. They both sports and arts are very important in different ways. We shouldn't be favoring one or another. They would like to add more, but they believe they have made their point. Thank you. And thank you for listening to all of

153our stories. I hope you take this into consideration. [Applause] dear community board members and students. I don't know if many of you have had the opportunity to meet Gretchen Madison or witness the way she has impacted our community, but I hope by the end of this you will have a better idea of who you would be hurting for. If you know Miss Monet, you know that she's incredibly hardworking and dedicated to her students. Julen has combed struggles the struggles of having to gain the trust of an entire student body because she came into a position that held so much value to the students. The previous core teacher, Leslie Ellis, spent spent the 12 years she was here developing this program, building meaning uniform with her students and providing a space that enables students to engage

154in their passion for singing in music. Her contributions to the outstanding success of our music department is part of the legacy she left behind in moving. On top of her own adjust adjustments to this huge undertaking, Miss Marisa has been patient and receptive through all of her time while here while working to uphold the traditions and commitments of our former chorus teacher. This includes all concerts, our annual Caroline fundraiser and other fundraisers, performance opportunities for events like children drills and all county our school musical and the list goes on. The grit and persistence that it takes to step into a role like hers, knowing how much our music programs mean to our community is in indicative of her value as part of our community. I've watched my teacher take every curveball thrown at her, letting

155it affect, not letting it affect the success of her students. A list of some of her students achievements this year include so three C course members are auditioning at the highest level for NISMA um which will qualify them for consideration in the all state music festival. There were a total of 16 students accepting to participate in the fall and winter all county festivals of the school year partly because we have some of the highest scores numbers that we've had enabling us to send more kids. We've had three students qualify and two students attend the area all state festival in November based on their high school scores. And we've had we had three students participating in the rent in the RCSMA scholarship festival in May. One of whom is qualifying for a college scholarship due to

156their continuation of performance. Our high school chorus and chamber choir have invol have are involved in community service performing at Grafton Senior Center in December as well as supporting other areas of interest in our school including signing the national anthem at our school's events. Um I'm going to skip ahead a little bit. Um Miss Miset upholds our school's ability to even offer many of these programs all of these programs. Without her and her role in the school, the music teachers left without her would be stretched too thin to be able to provide the time and focus that is necessary to continue offering the resources to pursue these achievements. I want to mention her essential role in the success of our drama club this year as well. Not only did she help direct the show, she

157also taught all of the music. And I'll send this along. Thank you. [Applause] I would like to thank everyone that came up here to give us public [Music] real quick. No, I don't real quick. Just sign in first. Okay. So many of you know who I am. I'm a 2018 alumni. Um, and I can tell you right now between cutting the budget for the PD department, cutting Mr. Weaver, I hope you have a lawsuit and a liability fund along with all the rest of your funds because I can tell you by bringing Mr. sour up from the elementary school only part-time to hear and leaving Miss Hansing or Miss Burmeer as the main and PE teachers for the high school and having no male watching the locker rooms. I hope you're ready for harassment lawsuits

158and sexual harassment lawsuits assaults. It only takes one word, one sentence to be in a very deep situation. as many of you not know. So, Mr. Connley, he helps with budgeting classes and to this day, I used every single part of his class that he taught when I graduated. And as you know, the PE department is very, very, very consolid they're unified. I got hurt on the last day of school. I got knocked out on PE in the up in the upper soccer field and every single physical education teacher dropped what they were doing and came out and made sure I was all right while they were loading me into the ambulance. They made sure what I had. They made sure everything and they crossed up every single part on their list to double check.

159They double checked afterwards. They called my house. They let my parents know, hey, if you need anything, we're here. The PE department and also the M music department is more than just a number. They're teachers who will give anything to help their students. You're you're not just giving you're not just giving numbers. You're giving people's lives. People not just people like not just the teachers. You're giving the students their whole livelihoods. Their whole some people Mr. receiver is so many kids best friends that they they look forward to going whether it's day one, day two, they look forward to having him as PE teacher. Mr. Ple, he's touched the lives of I can't even tell you how many kids and he's turned so many kids lives around just for the wrestling program when he was

160involved. It's you have you guys have no idea how many like people that you want to cut how long they've built and how deep their iceberg really goes. So, and I can tell you that distant learning it doesn't work. I took two distant learning classes when I was in high school and the bell schedules never matched up. Not once. 90% of the classes you only got maybe 20 minutes, maybe 15 minutes of matching with the other school districts before you had to go. Thank you. Executive session. I think Katie before we go session though Colleen and I need some guidance from you. Sure. Let's go down this slide. Um I think it's very clear. Thank you. Um I think it's very clear. Um, some of us had the questions about it. Um, this administrative position

161just it's not in this budget. It the community doesn't want it. The teachers don't want it. The students don't want it. We need that money to go towards the students, their programs, their teachers. Um, so as far as I'm concerned, you know, that administrative position really needs to be taken out of this uh budget before we get the next draft. I do think um we do need to look at the distance learning just because $80,000 this year it just might not be there and I don't picture this year us making the revenue to make that up. [Music] [Applause] I just had my questions earlier about the problem. Um the real dilemma here is the shortfall of the state revenue. Years past the state revenue was quite a bit larger than it is now. And when

162you break the tax levy and you break the state revenue, the state revenue was ahead of tax levy. Now it's the other way around. So it's nice to come in here and talk to the board, but what you need to do is you need to get a hold of bottom. You need to make a point known in all. You got to get out. You got to get all of your senators, your congressmen, whoever. Cutting state education and the funds are capp what you can do unless you do a supermajority. So, it's kind of backwards. So, you need to get a hold of Bobby. You need to put the pressure on a um to change the representation if they don't fund education properly. We only have so much control here and we can sympathize with you

163but bottom line is you know work against the wall budget goes down you really have a problem so I'm asking each and everyone to send messages to a lot but students also you have the power use it get a hold of a and if you want call the media media in and ask the media to send your message to Albony. Students actually have more power than teachers and the residents. So I'm asking you to do that and that'll help. Um I would say the administrative position. Um I would say the administrative position help the um the um to look at the district learning. I would say the same um as Andrea and Penny if we could look at a situation where we're not hiring an administrator to see how that helps in putting back any

164staff. Um I'm torn on the distance learning and that our Um, students that want either honor classes or advanced classes also need some sort of opportunity. I know they're doing away a little bit with AP and going towards more college and high school. So, I'm not sure how that plays into the distance learning, but you know, they need some opportunities as well. Um, I don't know if the classes that were offered this past year, like Sienna math and uh Hudson Valley Calculus and there was another Hudson Valley class. um you know they're still going to be offered because again I think those are important maybe better than distance learning um but I do agree maybe we can look at not being the administrator and trying to restore maybe some other staff I think that we

165need to look at the PE teacher position the music teacher position and those implications on firstly compliance And um with the music teacher the electives um I as I said earlier I I need to see exactly what the fifth grade would look like. Um I've been on the board long enough to know that the cha the challenges that we have in this district with the transition from fifth to sixth are very real and the changes that we made um as a district to address those concerns. I still hold those concerns. I still think there's a transition challenge from fifth to sixth grade. Um, and I'm steadfast in knowing what that looks like for our fifth graders going into sixth grade. Um, again, I I'm going to express um the classroom sizes at the elementary school

166while, you know, 20 kids. I can see 21's pushing it. 24 is really pushing it. You don't recommend the 24? Okay. All right. Because I do not recommend a 248. Perfect. Um, and administrator position. No go for me. I cannot support a budget that we add admin while we use teachers to teach the content and the curriculum they come up with. So, those are my um comments moving forward. And I did get the line budget. Um, so I will look at that over the weekend as well. Thank you. Knowing that you have to adopt April 22nd, we have some things to do and bring back to you, I am going to propose another special meeting for next week. I think we need as much time as we can to gather and maneuver that information. And

167ideally, we would have a state budget by then as well. I would avoid next Thursdays, the top 10 dinner. I know that impacts board members and it impacts administrators. I would recommend next Wednesday evening to come back together again. I I personally can't just the Wednesday. Um I can do any other day, but I just can't. I have a fire on the [Music] 9th. Tuesday doesn't give us an awful lot of time to pull stuff together. Will it be a public meeting? Absolutely. It'll be here cafe also that night on Tuesday. Any others? Wednesday or Thursday. April 22nd. We do Monday. That's the break. Oh, yeah. Where where is the event here at six o'clock on Tuesday? [Music] Okay, thank you. So, if we did do it at 7 Tuesday. Again, that doesn't give us

168a lot of time to pull together as the board. But we don't have that. No, we have a meeting scheduled for the 22nd, but the board specifically requested this year we not be sitting at the night of adoption doing what we had to do last year. Tuesday the 8th, 7:15. Okay. Can I get a motion for an executive session related to um personnel employment of particular person? Would you refer a second? Second by Penny. Thank you. Dr. Dr. You want to just say we're not okay. We will not be going back into public session. So, we'll end the live stream.