Board of Education Regular Meeting 3/18/25

001It is 7:16 to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [Music] presentations. The first item is the report of the student representative. And at this time, I would like to ask Dave just to come up and make a little announcement about our student representative. [Music] Thank you, Kate, for indulging me. I ask to come up because before we begin um when you're in my positions uh you become like a proud parent for your own kids. I've been speaking to uh Madisonville really since last year but especially this year about college and um going back and forth. She doesn't know. I don't know if I'm going to go here. I don't know if I'm going to

002go there. She applied to all these places. Well, I'm proud to announce that she got accepted to the school that she wanted to go to. Should I say it or do you want to say it? I'm going to RBI. I just wanted to announce that because that's a big deal and she worked really hard for it. She deserves it and we're very proud of her. So, congratulations. Well, thank you for that. Uh, well, it hasn't only been two weeks since we last met. So, we haven't done too much stuff, but the art department hosted a color week. So, Monday through Thursday, it was a different like every day it was different colors. Like one day was neon colors or primary colors. It was it was really neat and a lot of students participated in it.

003And then uh yesterday it was St. Patty's Day and we um everyone was wearing green to show their like support for St. Friday's day and a couple kids wear orange too. Yeah. And then um today we wanted to do the uh show cancer awareness and this month was um colorctal cancer. So and that color is blue. So lots of students wear blue today. And uh last week on Thursday I think we had a math mania night and it was for pi day and we I was a part of that. We I had my own room and we had ice room and there was also a cube room and a game of 24 and like lots of other g uh rooms and it was a huge success. So many kids and like teachers were there and

004at the end of the night um Mr. Burnsley, Miss Reynolds, Mr. Ellis, Mr. Cornell, and even the whole Sienna math class got pie. So it was really fun and everyone who got the Sienna math class got the chance to get pin in their face. So it was always that's a good thing. And um teacher appreciation week is coming up and student council is working towards like teacher appreciation week and we have been telling Mr. Ros because it's a secret from them. So hopefully they'll be surprised. Um oh the student council is looking forward to the student council field trip. We are really excited to go to Boston this year. So, and oh, I would like to thank PTO for the Valley Cats field trip. And that's it. Next is the presentation to celebrate youth art

005and potential collaborations with our letters. [Music] Hello everyone. I haven't met Oh, that was really intense. Uh my name is Shannon Dell. I'm one of the art teachers. I teach uh grades 6 through 12. And we are looking to this. Okay. Do I um and we have a variety of things we want to talk about, but I wanted to introduce art letters and numbers and Steve Lawrence who is the director. Um let me just go down here. Okay. So just kind of a quick summation is the art letters and numbers is a nonprofit art organization publishing organization dedicated to promoting creative exchanges across a wide range of disciplines including architecture, visual arts, theater, art, film, music, humanities sciences and social sciences. It operates as an ongoing series of educational workshops, performances and film productions at

006their campus in April Park. So they're right over the hill. It's amazing. So I'm going to introduce We're gonna I think we should just play this and let that let that go and then I can come in after she says [Music] number. This has certainly too in the sense that our previous Uh we did six, beautiful, great books and it was a heavy lift to to do and I just thought we have to reimagine this structure so we can go far beyond six programs and still have them all interacting with each other. And this year we created a new model. We call it craft 101 with this idea of of going to the foundations of of making and acting and listening. So you see there's a text that predates the founding of arts by two

007years. I wrote it with my dear friendly uh and it was a deep dive into nature of transformation itself. We were thinking about living systems, biological evolution, species, land life and and eventually looking at many kinds of of humanities and how they transform our understanding our our evil person and that text uh was titled artist letters and numbers. Now one of the ideas we developed in context we call disciplinarity jobs thinking about relation interaction of of many disciplines. We working on these to create more robust interactions between disciplines. I mean Congress has always been about a kind of dynamic interaction of many many disciplines and this we had a with craft. We had 24 programs all simultaneously overlapping and we thought of them in five broad categories. We had construction, visual arts, performing arts, we

008have humanities and we had mechanics and all the participants could freely move between any of the programs at any time based solely on their interests and their curiosities. How the intervention work came from the importance of peripheral and what I mean is we we wanted to remove the weight of people having to decide in advance what they were going to do. You just come to the campus and enter any of the programs that spark curious and you go from there. when people wanted to try something new, we just got involved in that. And you know, I always say if if you focus too much on what is in front of you on on a goal you set in advance, you end up running after what you already knew. If if you use peripheral vision and

009you're open, you find yourself running after what you don't know. You move in directions you've never imagined before. Thank you. So, as she had mentioned, my name is Steve Lawrence. I'm director of operations and numbers. Um, I'm a retired teacher. I graduated Eagle Park in 96 uh out of high school. I wasn't an academic kid. So I ended up in the trades. I became a plumber and did that until uh I became a teacher at 31. I went to St. Rose in '09 and then uh and then eventually became an international teacher. I taught at expat schools throughout the world for 12 years. I came back from Shanghai and uh 21 and ended up uh taking a break because I'm working on a psychology PhD and I changed the heating system at our letters and

010numbers to get this side work while I was just retired from teaching and uh after I changed the heating system, David, the man who heard speaking asked me if I wanted to help build a school that would revolutionize education. Um it happened to be Nap Park where I grew up and where I live and where I returned to. And what we're doing now is collaborating primarily with uh local community groups, organizations, schools. What you had seen there at craft 101 was the network of hearts, letters, and numbers which is being built over the last 30 years. Alen's been in a park for about 13 years at the old mills. It's been there, we're still there, and we're expanding. We recently purchased the purl restaurant in a park as part of the program. Um, so QV

011Pizza that goes to a nonprofit arts institution for the record and uh this was some of the work that we did with the Sound Lake Town Library. We created a mural out there with the collaboration of the April Park students. Um, this is a tonic table project with Mr. Lee Kim there on the left, a retired water arsenal machinist, master machinist, absolutely incredible man. his aim and mission of the remaining years of his life he asked me to convey to you is all he wants to do is create tables for the community and help support the community and make it a better thing. So we have these jigs and everything set up over on the right side there. These are portable movable uh built build capabilities. This is our shop in the lower left hand

012picture there. Those are the tables. You can find that at a grafting that one's at hill the hosting hill trail. Um, but uh we we developed these these tables in collaboration with other groups. So I would love to see us being able to do something with you guys here in Burlington to make tables for your school. Uh the youth would be involved uh from a concept to design layout. The next thing we have here in respect to time we have the I love you project. U she just came by this past week. And what we're doing here is we're building the model on the top left. This is a 10-ft kiosk mosaic covered by the tiles that community members put together. They all spell I love you. And this will be unveiled at the Tula

013Festival in May in time for Mother's Day. We have local trips coming from local schools. We had two schools represented last week. So the collaboration with the youth to engage in craft workforce development could have been anything but I figured we'll do tile. We'll cut glass. I'm going to have to do that and carry on. I'm sorry folks. Uh so anyway, I for the sake of time, uh what we're trying to do with at at ALN is provide opportunities for local schools to be able to engage craft workforce development internships for youth. I could ride about 40 right off the top of my head of different disciplines and trades that we can support youth in extra called out in our youth. Uh we have the network set up to connect these youth with supportive adults

014and to maintain relationships over time and supplement your your local projects with with what we can do uh with our expertise. We're we're all educators. uh we're in this to help to uh support organizations and institutions in trying to uh develop the educational system which is uh been proven to be quite difficult to accomplish and that is in terms of the arts and actually support the community. That's my time. I don't want to question. So, do students come for a week? Do they come whole school year? Do they Good question. Yeah. So, during the summer we have what's called Craft 101. It's July 1 to August 30th. Uh really the attitude that we're taking if we could get some youth to come on site, kids or family wanted to come for a day, just come,

015just engage. um the the youth would be able to engage in programs and projects if there was some sort of project cable builds we can actually bring those on site this the youth can come there could be field trips here we have the issue with field trips so we're working through the logistics what can we do to help it is actually in many cases easier for us to come here than for them to get out park for a field trip you know um I think we're talking about with the with the I love you project I'm going to be bringing a section of kiosk here and then we're just going to take our classes for a day and the kids are going to roll through and go and do the mosaics and so um but

016in terms of the summer they can they can join on for weekl long experiences uh we provide uh outsources for for for teachers if teacher from here this is just for the record if you want to come for uh for a residency during the summer the doors open uh and we're happy to work on something with with the teachers just come crash there for a few days we're a residency we can sleep up to 42 people on site And every bed will be filled through August without a doubt. Um, so people come, they stay from anywhere from 3 months to a week. These are masters of fine arts. These are worldrenowned artists from from really from around the world. Right on site right now. We have two people from from China, one from Pakistan, and

017then hang around, you know. So, uh, we it's it's quite an international community built by big person's network. He's been a professor at the Kuba Union for many many years down in New York or renowned architectural school. So, uh, we're we are run and operated by educators. So, thank you. [Applause] Um, and just to round out that conversation, um, I think where it started was for internships and opportunities for kids that maybe can't make it into the Questar program like doing some masonry or carpentry or opportunities for them to get involved if they are not accepted or for whatever reason or another cannot be accepted into the quest program. So having something local that we can provide um opportunities for them. Okay. Thank you Jen for bring bringing this to our attention. Um, so the

018rest of the presentation is just celebrating the arts in March. It is youth art month. Um, so just kind of updating the board and everybody about what we've been doing and what we'd like to do. So um, as Maddie said, we had a a spirit week um for the whole state does the same spirit week and we you know um included ourselves this year. Okay. So um So, eighth grade always creates a an object, a common object that they enlarge sort of to bring attention to, something that would be considered ordinary and making it larger. And um students Jocelyn um Kani and Savannah made this ice cream cone that the stress was like, "Hey, you know what? Stewart's like that. and they had we sent them photos and they were going to hang it up

019in um in Stewarts in Berlin. We just got to get the logistics going. But what's cool about it is that Stewarts give so much to us and it's a good way to thank them. They've been they gave us uh usually ice cream every year for Arts Alive and then they gave us a $300 just monetary straight up donation to the art department for us to help with our field trip costs um this year. So, um, you know, we really thank them for what they do for us. The mural at the transportation building continues. We had Tyler, uh, Hoffman, Elliot Smith, and Emma um, going over during the day to try to finish that up for the transportation department that was started last year. Um, so they're working on that starting Thursday for the, you know,

020basketball madness tournament. I do an arts madness in class. So, we're kind of talking about that for the rest of the the tournament. The Empire State Plaza Show, uh, Miss McDonald, uh, entered kids this year. It's our first time doing it. Um, it's down, you know, in the concourse. They make art about art inspired by the concourse art. Um, a lot of school districts are a part of it. It was our first time and, um, I think it went really well this year. This Thursday we have a jury regional. We've never had five students artwork uh accepted. So that's our that's our um current level that we're going to try to get every year. Um 126 out of 526 submitted, you know, we have five um out of the 138 that were um chosen. So

021we're pretty proud of that this year with some great work. awards will be on Thursday this year down at the Albany Center Gallery in downtown Albany. So, we just have a few of the pieces seen online and then the WHD art showcase, Mrs. C, Mrs. McDonald at BDS exhibit, several students artwork for youth art month that goes on their social media pages, you know, just drawing attention to not only our school but youth art month in general. SAS group. Tomorrow, it's a very busy week. Uh, tomorrow we are going to uh Russell Sage in Albany for the creative creative career expo. They do this every few years. Um and students, we only have two going this year, but um some people had some uh conflicts, but they go around and they pick three careers and

022they go and talk to people in that field um to really get the the nitty-gritty of what a job is like in the creative fields. So, um you know, that's every other year that they that Cass offers that. So, we're doing that tomorrow. Julia Shel got an honorable mention award for the national um Scholastic Art Awards this year in the drawing and illustration category with her drawing there. Um we've never entered uh these into this competition before. Um we kind of did some troubleshooting. She was our guinea pig and we look toward doing more um and entering more kids next year. and Questar, we have um Tyler Hoffman's uh Creek painting, Grace Paliter's Kiwis and um Carly Cloop's despair piece going into the Quest Star show this year. Um that reception is in April, April

0238th, I believe. And we'll see what kind of awards and um prizes that they will get. That's throughout just the the Quest Star um region. We also advocated for JD and grass um to be represented from their new visions program as well. Um they weren't originally going to um include New Visions and I was like but wait we have these really great girls that you know need their stuff shown. So we also advocated for them to be in it as well even though three is usually the max. and what's still to come. Um we are continuing our high school artists of the month award as we do multiples will be announced at the end of this month to culminate. Um myself as department chair is working very closely with Mr. Burnsley and the guidance department

024to really look at electives, getting the words out there, alternative pathways to graduation, and just getting the information to the students. we have a lot to offer here and they're not always taking advantage of that. So, um really working on getting the word out there and uh to the students. Mrs. L and I are teaching a jelly prints workshop to our lovely staff next week for PD time. Through fundraising efforts, the art kits that we sold during Christmas time and then also that check from Steuarts that we received. We're gonna go on a field trip to Mass Mocha in the park with our high school art program in April. Of course, we have our arts alive art show night here at the middle high school June 3rd and then bees has their night of the

025arts art and music combined evenings in May. Um, thank you to Miss Dunlap and Mr. Ellis for uh the new tech grant that I believe was already presented to the board. We're having lots of new technology coming our way. um if it's not already with us. And um so we're really going to evaluate our curriculum, look at more like animation and design oriented units to to further the new tech that we've been given. Right. Working with building principles for more beautifification of Berlin, getting some more student work up. You know, that's in the works of just talking about it and and seeing what we can do to liven up things. Um in addition to the ALN uh arts letters and numbers partnership uh we Mr. Ellis and Mr. Melure went to um Ignite New York

026um in Troy for a steam potential steam internship workshop programming um with our kids that are really steam oriented. Um so that's coming down the pike. And um the last thing, I'm not sure if this is already included in the budget. Um but Quest R3 has an arts and education funding. I'm not sure if it's already in the budget, but we would love to get to a financial place as a district to buy into that funding, the arts and education enrichment funding each year. Once again, I will gladly volunteer to coordinate that. Um, yeah, there's a link there and I'll make sure to share this with the um presentation with the board, but there's it's not just arts uh opportunities, there's aquariums, there's uh guest authors, there's lots of things that we could be providing

027to students both in and outside of the campus um for, you know, relatively cheap in lie of kind of our struggle with field trips that we're having. um even I know it doesn't cover meals, transportation, and um lodging, but it covers the rest of what's there um on the list. So, even if we could save our money and use the arts and med funding for like let's say museum ticket entry, then we can focus our fundraising efforts to help the transportation. Um so, it's just something that we can buy into with Questar. Um, and that can be K12, not just this building. Um, to kind of get those opportunities to our kids for cheaper. And just to culminate, um, I know a few years back I presented to the board just about, you know, um,

028the importance of the arts, increasing engagement in school, that almighty attendance rate, and, um, increasing graduation and and decreasing dropout rates. Um, so more information is there. I won't I won't go on and on about that, but um the information the research is there if you'd like to see more. So, thank you for your support. Yes. More specifically with the art letters and numbers. What do you envision the collaboration be here at? You said that you would come to visit and how often would that look like? Are you just in the beginning phase of discussing what? So far uh I've come uh we facilitated I I joined Shannon in a in a lesson in the workshop u or with here for a day personally uh we had uh last year was already this earlier this

029year it was no we we had teachers out so they came out for a visit uh we have it's it's well within our capabilities of providing uh uh continued education for teachers as well I think it's very very powerful opportunity personally uh to provide teachers with an outlet of exploration, self-discovery, uh whether it's working within the realms of education and transference into the classroom, but personal growth. Get outside of all of your elements and just discover something new for you and then you'll just be a better person. You'll have a better life experience, right? Um in terms of like actual projects, we can we can support community projects, community workshops for the for the youth to get uh experience and not only this within the arts but also with the humanities. These economic tables are

030connected with local community groups. Those murals and we had transformations exhibition every year which is uh it's it's in partnership with the no committee in our gallery. We we hold a space for people uh the arts that have been created in the spirit of recovery from opioid abuse. Whether it's a grandmother who lost a child, she made art as a way for her to work through. We opened our venue up and we were filled. We couldn't take any more applicants and this was just a community thing to get people to share their art based upon a real epidemic within our region. You know, I was concerned it was going to be a little heavy and but it was nothing but uplifting. You know, super powerful. So any way that we can support the organization in

031terms of the coming in to either push in or provide pull out opportunities like I mentioned before the idea of of mentorship for the youth. Uh you talked about opportunities you know of alternative ways of of graduation or paths career paths by we have we have a way to get them connected and maintain relationships over time in a range of disciplines. We're already doing it there. I've already asked people if they would be willing to do it from carpentry and painting to poetry and music production uh computational design or or carpentry right um it's it's a very long and nuanced discussion but it's widely so we wanted to present to the board of education first public we sitting now on computer app how best to use what they have to offer with the needs of

032our students and it's going to be a a program of short-term and long term and you know right now we're working on scheduling plus looking at this is a wonderful opportunity that we would like to take advantage of and once we sit down and really develop the plan very happy to present it with everyone here um because there's multiple layers to this. Um so this is something part of which we spoke about two weeks ago. This is part of the program of hands-on experiences and it fits right in the wheelhouse looking. Um but we'll have a much more comprehensive indepth plan to present to the board of education. [Music] um for the Clark Clark has um tuition reimbursement or not tuition um transportation reimbursement. So that's helping with our transportation cost. And then um we

033have it's $5 it's free for Clark. It's free for all chaperones. Um mass milk is free and then it's just $5 for the kids. And then you know we've been very clear with the students if you are invited to go you know if you cannot afford to we will figure it out and we have you know our club funds and other fundraising that we can pull from for that. I just suggest that you reach out to local Yes. Yeah. They do have the passes. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you so much. [Music] [Applause] Next up, class of 2025 senior trip presentation class. [Music] So, you're probably wondering why we're here again. Um, in June we presented the trip down to Rocking Forest Ranch Resort and we had all our numbers and everything. We approved it and

034we were great to go. And then we came back in September. And when I went to book it, they informed me that it was going to be $130 more per person. And I just I talked to the kids about it and we thought for that price point it just really was over the top, you know. Yes, it had a lot to offer, but it was just a lot for the kids, you know, and their families and stuff. So, uh, we got together and we've been talking about it off and on, trying to come up with plan B. And so, we finally came up with plan B. They started talking back in December with Karen Keely, who couldn't be with us tonight due to illness. But um this is what they would like to do this

035this year. So I'm going to turn it over to them. starting on Saturday, June 7th, and bringing it all the way to Monday, June 9th. Uh, Miss Day has been working with the bus garage for transportation to maybe help with cost and we're going to see if we can get the funds from the class to cover that. So, uh, the, uh, cost of the trip is we're looking at like $375 and I'll let everyone else Oh yeah, per person. Sorry. And I'll just let everyone else tell you more specifics about it. Okay. We're going to the Moose Hillock Camping Resort in Fort An, which is near the Lake George village. We're going to be staying in cabins, and each cabin holds up to eight people. And there are so many activities to do at the

036resort. On Saturday, they have a night movie, but it's in the pool. A heated pool. We're watching a movie. So that's what I'm excited about. Okay. So, some outside entertainment, we have white water rafting. So, you go in a raft down a river and everyone gets a guide on their raft. So, that's really helpful. And everyone gets a helmet and a life vest or if cuz like our boat is split between the kids. So, we have half of them want this, but then we also have the tuby. Wait, wait. Yeah, the chubby tubing adventure, which is like an indoor N it's not. It's on the river. And it also includes a guide and everyone gets a tube and a life vest as well. Hello. So our we are also planning on going to Aderondac extreme.

037So we've taken a few other field trips here before. I know uh we'd had a principal list field trip to Aderond extreme. I think um one of the grades in middle school went when I was younger. Uh so we've definitely had a lot of different pe like u school groups go here before. So it's a very popular activity and almost everyone in the senior class voted on going here for our trip. Uh, so the tree course and zipline are both included in the fee. And we'll finish up the day that when we go to Aderond Extreme, we'll finish up with exploring the Lake George Village afterwards. Right. And then on our last day, we go to Great Escape, which you know, everyone loves Great Escape and we've gone there on multiple different school occasions and

038school trips. Um, so it's just a nice way to like finish off your trip and like for the feed that you see like you get all of the joys of escape. So I included the water park and also the roller coasters and all that stuff. So it's just a good way to finish it off with a ground or something. Yeah. There you go. There's Kate. She's saving it all for the stage next weekend. Oh, all right. So, as you can see, this is our breakdown, and we did it based on Okay. So, we thought we were going to do it on 25 students, but we ended up with 20 students saying that they wanted to go. uh this is a very small C class and so we put a survey out and asked them who's

039interested and what they would like to do. We gave them a bunch of different options and they were able to vote on what they were most interested in. So we're looking at 175 per person for the resort which is all inclusive. the entertainment, those outside activities, the tubby tubing or the white water rafting, um, great escape, we figure about 150. And then we're putting $50 aside for when we're out, uh, Lake George Village, if we go out to dinner or something, we want to make sure that everybody's covered. Um, then the bus, as Kyle mentioned, will be covered by the class because over the years this the two years that I've been with this crew, we've been doing a lot of fundraising and whatnot. And so Gary's money in the class account to help cut

040the cost of the trip. And we actually have a decent number of kids that would be traveling. They've already got their money. Some of them have half their money. So it's really not that um high of a price point for these guys. And that's our presentation. Any questions? When they have the money, it's the money that is the money that they have earned in their account. Yes. So when I do a class account, every student that participates in fundraisers has their own line and then when they participate, if points are awarded, so say they did the fall fest and they worked all day and they made donations, they earn so many points. At the end of the day, when we figure out the net profit, then I divide it and that's how much each point

041is worth. And that's how the kids earn their money. When we did the bottles and cans every year, the junior class gets bottles and cans from the community. Um, they pick them up at the transfer station and then deliver them to Nickelback up in Falls. If they participated in that, then they earn points from that as well. We take the total amount raised. I think this this crew was about $3,000, a little more. So, we cut that in half because technically the donation goes to everybody, but the people that do the work deserve to get a little bit more. So, we break that up. And so, yep, there's always there's always a ways to earn money. Concession sales, um, any fundraiser that we do, and we do so many. So, any other board members have

042any questions? Okay, so I need to resolution to authorize the senior trip to Lake George versus Rocking Horse Ranch Resort. Rocking Horse Ranch Resort. Can I get a motion to a motion by Sherry? A second. Second by Derek. Peggy, have you vote? Yes. Kim? Yes. Andrea? Yes. Sherry? Derek? Yes. And yes. Thank you very much. The next item on the agenda is minutes. We have minutes from our special meeting on January 22nd, 2025. And I get a motion to approve those minutes. Motion by Sherry, a second. Andrea and sorry a motion by Andrea. A second by Sher. Okay. Penny, how do you vote? Yes. Kim, I abain. Andrea, yes. Sherry, Derek. And yes, the motion passes. Okay. The minutes of a regular meeting held on February 25th, 2025. Can A motion to approve those minutes.

043I'll motion. Motion by Andrea. Second. Oh, second. Second by Kim. Um, how do you vote? Yes. Kim? Yes. Andrea? Yes. Sherry? And I also have to abstain. So, that will have to go to next month's meeting for approval. Okay, next up is policy and this is the third and final reading for policies 5684 and 5731. Can I chime in here for one second? You do not see a third and final reading yet for 5742. That is because the district-wide safety committee is meeting tomorrow and that's bus tax procedures and I just wanted them to put eyes on it before I brought it for a final. Thank you. Okay. Can I get a motion for the third and final reading of policy 5684 and 5731? I'll make it motion by Kim. A second. Second by Penny.

044Penny, have you vote? Yes. Kim? Yes. Andrea. Yes. Sherry. Yes. Derek. Yes. And Anna. Yes. Passes 6. Next up is the 2526 budget development presentation. And while Colleen is coming up to get situated, I will point out to the board that there were several revisions and updates made over the weekend. So, uh, Don did upload right the most current version. Thank you. So the draft one budget is where we look at salary projections for the coming year and any changes that may occur with salaries such as the CCA contract and any impacts that may have. We also try to do our best to go through and think of any other changes that have occurred and put them in there as a starting job. So it could be that there are some shifts along the way

045as we have more meetings and recognize, oh well maybe we have a new staff member and they need a mentor or maybe we had this many mentors and now these they don't need them anymore. Some of those costs will continue to shift as we look more closely at this budget. Now that we have a full draft, we can go through and really comb through what's on each budget line and have deeper conversations amongst administration instead. This is not new to the community. Many schools are in the situation we are in, particularly small schools where our tax base can only grow so much in a year. State aid is only growing so much in the year and we have no new revenue sources. So while we have challenges to face, each community really needs to work

046together with its strengths and consider the decisions it wants to make for their future. And that is really what we're looking at as we continue our budget discussion. There are some updates in revenue. So if you look at the tax levy, that has changed since the first presentation. And the reason for that is a 100k capital outlay project that has been added. This is um a project the schools are allowed to do up to but not to exceed $100,000 in order to help maintain facilities really. We let this go at some point in the past. When you do that, the aid drops off. So this will be us picking it up against what will be added to the tax levy. But in future years we'll get I think it's 63 73% back on that. So

047in effect we will only then be spending let's say 25k but we have to pick it back up again. Part of this larger conversation is while we're balancing our budget, while we're trying to preserve programming and think about the futures for our students, we also need to have a building that is safe for the kids to learn in. and we need to really balance those decisions against each other. Also, up in the corner there's the left hand corner, you'll see a little note. If the board were to consider going above the 2% tax levy, which is what we have here, for each 1% above that tax levy cap would be at $100,000. We talked a little bit last time about money that was left on the table, so to speak, through the years when we

048did not go up to the maximum cap. This is really the only area of the budget that the public has control over. And the only way to reclaim that money is to go above the cap and then it too will compound over time just as the loss is compounded over time. And that's a conversation that I'm sure requires a lot of thought. You'll also see, just as a reminder, should the board choose to do that, it requires a 60% super majority. A simple majority for going to this tax have the 2%. Um, is the 50 plus one, 50% plus one. But currently, we have a 2.19% increase over the prior year. And the reason that's not 2% is often is a question once the public is because your capital debt gets built into your tax

049levy. Voters have already approved purchases of buses and facilities improvements and that little extra bit is the money that we have to put in the tax loan to carry those debt bills forward. Last year I will point out because there are fluctuations in things like the economic factor that go into this formula and sometimes in the debt service the rate of taxes actually 3.5. So the rate of tax is lower this year at our cap than it was last year. You'll see some adjustments um to the debt payment. So, in order to keep our tax levy flat, um, we had to pay a little bit more in, but it will help us rebuild our fund balance over time. If we had taken the entire amount of aid for this building project back in a single

050year, it would have lowered our tax levy and the impact would be that instead of coming in slowly over time where we can absorb that impact, it just knocks that total amount which would have been something like 340ome,000 reduction to our taxes. it would really been a big hit on that tax line because when you get building aid, it must go directly against your debt and would have wiped out the debt for this one year and then would next year would have picked up again. So, we prefer to keep it level when we can. The transportation line will shift a little bit. I'm still looking at that. It is based on actual spending. So you put up your budget and you report it to the state, but you have to look at your salaries and

051all the overtime and the trips and things that are happening because of course you're only going to get hated on the actual amount spent. So right now we look like we're on target to perhaps spend a little less than the total amount in those lines. So this number did come down a little bit. I'll continue to watch it all the way up to the time of budget to see if it is safe to increase it a little bit more. At the very bottom, this is a conversation that's still in progress. Um, the sale of equipment and vehicles. We have some vehicles in the transportation department that could be sold or auctioned. We also have needs related to vehicles. We are not on a replacement plan right now and I understand some of our vehicles are

05210 15 years old. And the thought is, well, we have needs, we don't have revenue. It would be a good idea, although we could just sell those vehicles and accept it as revenue to run our budget, is also an opportunity to swap out one of those vehicles and give us some safety there. Capital outlay project. So, we had an incident at the elementary school where there was some water infiltration in the north entrance, which is also our ADA entrance. And although they have taken down the sheetrock that was hanging there and it's safe now, it needs repair. So, we are proposing that the $100,000 capital outlay be put toward improving this entry. The next several slides are to give a staffing snapshot. I didn't use exact titles and it's to kind of show you where

053the money is coming from. The largest part of any budget is salaries. We're just looking through the departments to see the snapshot of our staffing and to look at the increases that occur naturally because of the contracts that are in place. the district office the change in salary there about [Music] 30,000 operations and maintenance right now we have an open position due to our retirement and we have a 0.5 position that's really being filled through our workers doing overtime at the moment between the operation and maintenance staff and our IT staff which does still count the micro computer technician who has retired presumably you rehire that or move to some other model but that salary is in there as well is about 34,000. So Kelly just to clarify any positions that are currently unfilled but

054we anticipate likely filling or that have been vacated through retirement are still included. Yes, there will be a placeholder in there for those positions that have not been eliminated. Transportation Department, we're looking about 87,000. Berlin Elementary takes two slides. So, I'll just give you a minute to look at kind of the staffing outlay. Please do let me know if I'm going too fast. So, that's this current. Yes. So, we're looking at a total of 192,000 increase in salaries at Berlin Elementary. Middle school high school accounts for a little under 160,000 in increases. And then our district-wide staff um who are not accounted for elsewhere account for 45,000. Uh I would like to point out that people personnel services also oversees special ed which is included in the buildings but they also have our support specialists

055like social social workers, physical therapists, speech language pathologists and anybody who is sort of unaccounted for elsewhere who is a district-wide employee such as our MTSS coordinator and our half-time instructional technologist is in here as well. So if you take all those slides and you add them together, the base salaries which consist of the core salary, any longevity a staff member has earned and any credits a staff member has earned because those become permanent part of their salary. Those are what make up base and our base right now is 544,000 increase. There's a total projection from the prior year and a total projection from the coming year. Of course, we have not yet closed out this year. So, these are projections and the year-over-year change there is about $700,000, which is a difference from the

056base salary. So, why is that? Um, we've increased our budget lines looking at the trends for subs from year to year. Um, OT lines, if you have, for example, in our operation maintenance, if our regular employees are filling in as subs, then they're getting time and half. Um, also the CSEA contract was settled, so it's going to kick that up a little bit as well as the base salaries. It does not yet take into account grants. Currently, we have several staff members who sit in grants. We have to make a strategic decision about what goes in those grants and whether it's appropriate for the funding. We are currently having a review of our title funds. So this is a good thing to really do in a meaningful way for the future because we probably will

057receive some feedback on that and it is also due to some of the recoding of extra pays, health buyouts and other things. So as we've gone through the budget this year, we've looked for things that need to be tracked differently. An example of this is you might see a subline but before I came they were sort of mixed into the salary lines as well. So the sublines for 24 25 do not truly reflect our sub costs. So what I have to go through is pull the entire payroll, clean the data, look at what was the sub cost that possibly hit a salary line and then move the salary the sub lines up from there. So we'll look at that again more closely to see if those are over projected, underproed. So see if we can

058lean it down. All budgets are some degree of risk because you're estimating based on a budget that's not yet closed and you're estimating for situations that have not yet occurred. So this is our first look and we will be going through it again as a point of comparison however to see if these numbers are reasonable. If you look at the 22 to 23 against the 23 to 24 actual payroll change is $679,000. So if we're thinking year to year to year, will this continue to happen? It does appear that is so long range forecast. So our goal here is to bring this district to a sustainable future where our revenue matches our expenses and perhaps we can begin to put some money aside to look at our facilities issues that are also competing for attention.

059This table shows a few assumptions. We're assuming no new revenue. We don't know of any new revenue that's going to come along at this time. We're assuming that the 2% we have on foundation aid from the governor right now stays in place. And we're assuming that that 2% stays in place. So if you follow that over the next five years, you'll see there is not a huge increase from year to year. is not compounding quickly enough to match our salaries and this is a sustainability problem. Some of these are the same as last time. So we are going to get more final numbers on health on March 27th. I believe the locked rates will be provided. We were notified by Udica National between the last board meeting and this that there will be a 20

060to 25% increase in our insurance which looks like it's going to be about $30,000. We will be seeking quotes for that. Our Boseies increases were originally projected around 83,000. I went through the entire Boseies sheets over the weekend and added anything that was on there. Meaning if somebody had a conversation and they put in a quote, it was all entered. We have not yet gone through the Boseies bill as a team and looked at what can be reduced, what should never been on there, were there mistakes that should that are um that are should close like maybe we put aside X dollars for OT and we realized it was too much and maybe they should be less. We haven't made those adjustments yet, but that starting bill is 177 higher than the prior year. And

061of course, we know inflation is higher than our sources of revenue. So, we're going to be looking across the board at many things. We've had some conversations around um our Questar and OC services. These are also some little snapshots for you to think about. So, our CTE program is based on a 5-year average. It's not per student cost per se. They use that five-year rolling average. I divided it to come up with a student number for you to look at. Included in CTE are the actual CTE programs that you're probably thinking of when you hear CTE. You know, the auto mechanics, the culinary, it also includes new vision. So, we have 23 CTE students and three new vision students. We have been asked about Tech Valley, what the situation with that is, that is also

062a part of the five-year rolling average. And for any of these programs, a good thing to know is that if a student attends and they need any kind of extra support, that's a per student charge on top of the tuition that we pay for any of those programs. Do we get paid back on that 16,000? A portion of it. Yes. So any any program that involves staffing is not dollar for dollar aided. So sometimes you'll see I forget what our exact opposite is. It might be 63%. Let's use that as a point of discussion. Although at 63% it's 63% of the aidable value. And there you may have heard talk amongst legislators about increasing the amount of salary that can be included in these programs. And that's why it's not a direct 63% because you

063can only right now count the first 35,000 of a staff member salary in any of any of these services. So that reason we have OC's project our ending for us because it's more complicated than just looking at your bill and saying oh I get 63%. We have six students in STEM high school. I put a little star next to those who are in career studies. Right now we do not physically have four students in career studies but we took four slots because we had four students who are attending. When a student leaves a program like this, unless that program gets filled, we pay the bill. At the end, they'll reconcile it if someone fills it for part of the year. Otherwise, those students we signed up for, we pay for. So, what is the career

064studies program? So that is um a kind of a model of CT where they're doing many of the same things like auto mechanics, culinary, but they're not following necessarily the region's pathway. Put it kind of simply. We priced out summer school. I understand that summer school was very successful last year and our staff would like to continue doing that. We estimate that we'll spend about 31,000 by using the Apex Credit Recovery and a few staff members to monitor and assist students while they're on those online courses, which is also service. And just the level of success, we had students attempt 53 courses through Apex last summer and 52 of the 53 recovery. We've also been having some conversations for a while now around universal prek which we currently run through Bose service. So our cost

065for this year and the coming year are up there. We started the year with 23 students enrolled now all stay in the program. We received $6,65 per student to run the program. with the 23 students that gives us the $152,000. However, our Boseies costs are in the 190 range. So, our grant does not cover the full cost of what Boseies is charging us right now. And part of the problem is that a class maxes out at 20. So, in order to provide this prek program to 23 students, we need two sections. We're paying that um next year we're paying 95,000 for each class. So we have some decisions to make there too. Are we spending 95,000 for those remaining three students who require us to pick up another class? So we ran some numbers at

066the bottom. I'll start there. Hypothetical logo program. Thank you to Nate for earlier typing at my type pointing out my typo so I could fix it. um it's it's not so far away from our numbers right now that would justify a total change. However, the conversation we've been looking at is can we cap services? Can we have one class? That does mean that should 23 students again apply they would have to run a lottery and we could only accept 20. That's the maximum that can be in a prek class with teacher in two. However, if we do that, we will have 37,000 remaining from grant funds. You cannot use that money to run your regular budget. But what you can use it for is indirect costs. So any grant that is run by a school,

067you're running an initiative for the state. You're following their program for special purpose. And we are allowed to collect 2.6% of grant funds. There are some limitations there about what we're allowed to collect if we use the Boseies program. We could also consider um building in some small amount for oversight of the program. So that's a possibility, but that money cannot be used in the general fund. It can only be used for allowable purposes. We could pick up materials for enrichment. If we wanted to have, you know, more STEM activities for those pre-K kids, we could do that with this extra money. we can't use it for other purposes. This is the same slide you saw last month. And again, there was the impact of that emergency project. It's going to bring down our fund

068balance. If we were to have excess revenue this year, it could bring that fund balance back up, but it is impacting our ability to safely run a budget. We would have to look to our other reserves to pull money from. So these are the major categories of budget. Within each of these categories typically are several account lines. And when we go through the budget the second time, we're not going through these summary numbers. We're going through each and every little account line. So under board of education, you might have materials, might have contracts, might conferences, the poll workers or the voting. Each of these lines expands and there's a whole bunch of other numbers under it and we'll go through each and every one and look to see what can be easily made more efficient

069for various reasons and then we of course we'll look at things that are more reductions. So this is three slides to see the entire budget if you want to spend time looking at it else at another time. But our end number is really what we want to kind of wrap our heads around this first round. So $27 million, which is a 1.6 million increase over the prior year. However, our revenue did not match our expense budget last year, and it does not match this year either. So that deficit is of $2.7 million at this point. So I mentioned that some of these numbers will go up, some of them will go down based on the things we know and do not know. What don't we know right this moment? Special ed cost. The annual annual

070program reviews are still ongoing. Our health insurance final numbers end of March. We'll get that locked in. Uh we do not yet know what our IT model will be after looking at that audit report and retirement. We met today. We did have some brief discussions. you need to dig in deeper and and make decisions around it to really know how to most efficiently run it. There are a couple opportunities for different models potentially picking up most services and those are under discussion. What is the best plan for the service we need based on that audit and what is the best cost savings? Our final state aid numbers are not in. They should be in by April 1st if we have an ontime budget and then that would be added to our revenue. So that gap

071could grow smaller potentially. Our final Bosey's cost. I mentioned that I entered all the Boseies costs that were given to me. It doesn't mean that they are all approved cost and it doesn't mean we're going to keep them all. So we need to do a little work there. Some departments have had more meetings than others. So some numbers in this budget are rollover numbers. I didn't have enough information to decide whether they should go up or down. So they simply rolled over until you could have those discussions. Some other budgets had budget lines had specific needs that we considered important. So we put those numbers in there and other of the budget lines we had some static ratios say well I don't need to go to that conference this coming year. I know it's going

072to be a hard let's just take that out. So there are ups and downs in the development of the budget. Other things that really should be not at the back of our minds really at the forefront of our minds are these unfunded state mandates. Two of which are up there. What is going to happen with the classroom temperatures? What will be our obligation? Do we need to purchase AC units? When will that happen? How will we fund it? None of this is in the budget right now. Electric buses are coming down the line. We have not got any final word that there's going to be an extension, a break of any kind. So whether or not that comes, we need to begin having those conversations about infrastructure and the purchasing and replacement of buses. What

073happens next? So, we review our priorities. Of course, students are always our number one priority. We want to preserve the experience they've had and offer them opportunities. We need to find ways to do it more efficiently. We have to consider what our projection assumptions were. Well, if I assume that the sublines were continue on the same trend, was that a reasonable selection? We'll have multiple people looking at these lines and having conversations around them to see if the projectionist functions should be changed. We'll look for efficiencies. Is there duplication of effort? Are um are all of our materials needed? Did we use them all last year? We will assess reasonleness and level risk. So once we look more closely at these lines, we'll look at the percentage of change in each line and say, well,

074is that reasonable? If it went up very high, why? Let's talk about it. If it went up for a good reason, maybe it stays the same. If it went up and we can't really justify it, then maybe we bring it back down. Similarly, another line could have dropped. We need to know why and look at each of those to consider whether they are reasonable and whether they have enough money in them to keep us safe. So, the level of risk is really about um estimating what could happen in the coming year. You budget for what you know. We know base salaries are base salaries and we built them. But there could be other things that occur like long-term leaves. What level of risk do we take there? You put in one person who's gone for

075two months. You put in three people gone for three months. What is our trend? What is the correct number to pick there? What's the right level of risk that happens throughout the budget lines? We'll review our discretionary items where we can be painful to us sometimes but can be let go of that. And this is not as easy as it may sound like okay materials we can we can cut that or conferences yeah we can cut that but we also want to support and invest in our staff and if we cut the materials and the conferences that allow them to invest in themselves and allow them to try new things there's also a judgment there. So none of this is simple. We'll review class sizes and staffing. We'll definitely see quotes for the insurance change

076there. We have to continue to assess our facilities needs because we cannot ignore it or we'll come to a head. Should we have another emergency project like we had this year, say we had one tomorrow and it was the same amount, our fund balance would be zero. So we really need to be getting ahead of it and come up with a plan for that. We need to assess the long range impact. start thinking about what is our revenue going to be from year to year based on what we know and how can we get our expenses more in line with it because if we keep going the way we are going and we'll pick up revenues or we'll pick up reserves and it will not be very long perhaps it'll be a couple years before

077they are gone. So we really need to take action now and then of course we'll make some choices. We'll present those choices to the board and the public and we hope to have good conversations around choices. They're not easy choices. They are best when the community participates and tells us what they would like to see for their future in their community. Now come to the [Music] question. Okay, at this time we'll open it up for board member question. Anyone have any requests for additional information? I have a comment. Thank you for the very thorough presentation to us. Um it makes it a little more understandable for for us and for others. I I do have some questions when we need meet the next time. Are you going to give us a detail line item budget

078that breaks down all the details? You can in each item. So I will say that the idea of a line item budget is often not with the public. you might know what it is, but for the public consumption, oftentimes people think they'll look at a line item budget and they'll see, you know, all the um materials we're purchasing, all the equipment we're purchasing, all the services purchasing listed out. You don't see that. You still see categories like we had up there. It'll just be a little more refined, but we can get to the point where we'll bring a line by line budget. Again, recognizing that there could be fluctuations. And then my other comment is that the prek numbers are not true this year between each classroom. We have 21 minutes which there's not a

079huge influx of applicants into the kindergarten class. We're watching registration right now. It's unknown. It's one of the numbers we're following. Yeah. So you know you have to cut the prek program in actuality it's really one student that actually felt both we went to the one class model. Yes. Um and then my other request is so we have a a breakdown of classrooms in the elementary the you know classroom sizes. Um I would request the same break down classroom sizes at the middle school, high school, and then um if if it's an item that is low, just be able to be able to support why you choose to offer that class even if there's only five or six kids in that classroom because I do know I do know that there are some classes that

080will necessarily not have the high attendment because they're specialty electives and not every student wants to take calculus. Sure. Yeah, we'll be definitely looking at all coursework. I mentioned that some departments were able to meet more than others. So, that is one area we will um break down a little more in our next presentation. We have had conversations about what is it what does it mean to reduce this section? Could it be based on number? Uh could it based on performance? Maybe you have a lower enrollment because performance is not as good uh and you need the greater support there. Um, so there's a lot of things that go into that too, but we will break it down so you can see some details and understand any decisions that are being discussed. Any other questions,

081comments or request for information? Next item is public comment based on consent agenda items. All right. The order of business. Next is seven consent agenda items for A through M approval of the consent agenda items. There is one revision in personnel that is A the dollar amount per an hour needs to be adjusted to 2938 for an hour versus 2852 for an hour. And that has to do with CSA's contract negotiation. Any items to be pulled? Okay. Can I get a motion for N? Approval of consent agenda items A through M. Motion by Kim, a second. Second by Cherry. Andrea, how do you vote? Yes. Sherry. Eric, yes. Kim, yes. Honey, and yes as well. Passes 60. The next item is president's report. Are there supposed to be enough to Yeah, all right. Well, somebody

082do has kicked me out, so I will have to read my board report. Um, well, I'm happy to I don't have anything to do on the superintendent update this month because we have a new superintendent who has been integrated into our district already. Um spending time with Dr. Long and the administrative staff which is nice. Um as at the last round table we actually had discussion on academics which was a very nice change for the pace of the board to be able to talk about students and the impacts of students. Um the next few roundt meetings as well as regular meetings will be um similar in that we will be inviting staff at arts tonight. Um and I reached out to Sherry about doing a quick sports update. Um, I know that there's been um,

083there's been uh, conversations about uh, our claims owner coming in to do a update um, to the board on the reports that she presents and uh, what we should be looking for and what they mean to us. Um, so I look forward to having to other groups. this I have all um and then um the other request I have from for the board is um there's many activities that come up at the end of the year to celebrate our students. Um, if we could get a yearend activity calendar update so that you know to give us some update on the time frame um that would be nice so we could help divy up and delegate so we can have board representation at events that celebrate our students. So I would appreciate if we could get

084that. Yeah, Rachel typically does a one that kind of captures everything for the end of the school year. So we will make sure to show that. you know, please do so we can help divy up so we can be here and represent our kids and support our students. And that's all I have. Thank you. All right. I too want to acknowledge Ken Rizzo who's here with us again this evening. Ken has had the opportunity to spend some time at district. Uh he'll be here again. Uh we've kind of mapped out some days moving forward and get him out to meet folks in the district. So hopefully that will assist with the transition. Um, I'd like to comment on last Friday's superintendent conference day, acknowledge Quest R3 for coordinating the regionwide opportunity, and to Tom and

085Dave for providing opportunities on campus for specific groups that benefited more from that work that they were able to do here than they would have from the uh, regional day. to give a shout out to Nate among our own staff who actually presented to his colleagues across the region as part of that day and sharing his experience and expertise so other districts could benefit from him. Um, I'd like to acknowledge Colleen and her staff for their continued due diligence on budget development, including a thorough presentation this evening. While we still have information outstanding in the final and are awaiting the final state budget, there will likely be some difficult decisions and conversations ahead. I'm confident we're positioned though to make that from a highly informed um perspective and we'll do so in consideration of not

086only next year but long-term stabilization and performance of the district both in instructionally and facilities wise. Uh thank you to the facilities committee for their ongoing work around the emergency project at BES, the five-year facilities plan, and the proposal to include a $100,000 project as you heard about in this year's budget. Um you'll hear a little bit more detail on that during the facilities um committee report and I will ask you at that time based on that information to consider two walk-in actions that we brought this evening. I would like to recognize and acknowledge Miss Overer on achieving tenure earlier on this evening's agenda. Um, and also we'll note when we get to the dates at the end of the agenda, I am suggesting and recommending some slight adjustments based on where we are in

087budget development. Thank you. Any questions? Thank you. Tough situation here. administrative snapshots. Berlin, she is Jod is not here, but she provided you a written update, but she did provide us the update. Berlin, Middle High School and athletics. I do want to mention um doing It was uh dressed like your principal day today. So I really tried hard to take on this attire. Sh. So I just want to report um congratulations to Lillian Gardell and Kyle Colin for being selected for our section 2 senior scholar athlete for our basketball teams. So congratulations [Applause] [Music] they will attend a banquet with all the section 2 athletes being honored, called up and given uh plaques and they have a nice dinner as well. So that's something to look forward to. And then just um rolling on into

088the spring season, um we had our JV and varsity teams start Monday um for practices. They are inside. Hopefully with this nice weather, they will be out shortly. Um, I do want to thank Sarah and his crew for setting up the batting the batting cages outside and inside. So, thank you for that. Um, we also have modified sports starting Monday the 24th. So, that will be kickoff of our whole spring season. Um, for numbers, we had 126 students uh registered to play our spring sports. We offer baseball, softball, and track. Um, and then another shout out that our baseball varsity team will be competing at Coopertown at May uh 10th starting at 10:30 playing in Double Day Field. So, that's an upcoming event that we're excited about. All right. Thank you. May 10th. Yeah, at

08910:30. I just want to um thank you for all the support you gave our basketball program this season. was very well received by one of the coaches. Halftime. I was really It's nice to have collaboration between the athletes coming up and the current administration in our building. Thank you. Good evening. Want to acknowledge a couple of things before we begin. We doing budget opposite. Very important, but I don't want to forget about our capital human beings. And I look out, I see Rachel Klitsky, I see Amanda Hayes, see Rachel Harrison, I see Gilbert. I see Ellis and Karen Day. And I see Sam. Um Gretchen said as well all the way back there. Um they're the heart and soul of this building and I never want anyone ever to forget that. um each person here

090goes above and beyond and um they need to be recognized for what they do on a daily basis. So I just want to publicly say how much I appreciate that they're here and how much they do for us. The other thing uh Katie if I miss don't think I misheard you but when you were asking about class size I just want to go through that very quickly. with my part is but Rachel and I spend a lot of time um James Shaw is not here today uh on scheduling we're scheduling now for next year if you notice this year's schedule we didn't really have six period assignments we addressed that looking at scheduling and cleaning up class size is is a big topic with us in terms of not having classes that have five students

091or four students um college college classes AP classes we give a little more room. But to your point and I want to reassure the board how important that is to us that we are being costefficient and very uh what's the word I'm looking for very aware of the importance. So when we are done with the schedule, I will present to you as I just boards the class sizes to show how much time and effort that we put into that because that's a great question. It's a good point. Yeah. It's not to say that I don't support the class, it's just being cognizant. So if someone says, well, how come you are cutting here? Here's the data to back up why we didn't cut this program. 100%. I'll be honest, we're not being very effective or

092efficient if I have a global class, global one class of four students, okay? That there's no I should be called out on that if anything like that happens. Uh but Rachel and I from now until uh you know, middle of August, we we are over it. Um the other thing we do is we get the the department chairs involved and the teachers involved. They've never really been involved with this process. we do that now and that helps out a lot with the schedule. So in the future if you want more details I'll be more than happy to do that. Um I'd like to start by acknowledging something Sher asked me at our last meeting. Um I appreciated your question very much because one one of many I asked myself seven days a week uh about

093how we meet the needs of the students in the community. I took her words to heart and I spent some time reflecting on them. Uh they supported my belief in importance of listening, truly listening to our students and adjusting our programs to meet their needs. Um that's exactly what we're focusing on here at the middle high school. We've been working closely with our students to create meaningful learning opportunities and experiences that align with their interests and goals. I did not ask Sam or Shannon to come up here, but that program is exactly aligned what we've been speaking about. We've been speaking about that for a little while in the building. So, it's becoming like, you know, part of the culture, what we can do. Um, so when I was listening to him, I was just

094like, you know, this exactly what we're trying to do. Um, you know, and also the community outreach. We've been given stewards different uniforms and shirts. Now, we're going to put Hadings down there. These are things that we're trying to do to bring the community together. All right. What I'm proud of is I didn't ask them to do that. This is all on their own. Um so I I want to you know really express to you Sherry that this is something that not just because of conversation this is ongoing. We know this. But one example I took I want to give you from our conversation I took. I said, "What are some more things, some other things that we could do?" And we had a conversation. I said, "Geez, when I was in school, I have

095two left hands, right? So, I had to do woods and all that stuff, but I enjoyed it, right? And the other kids did much better. We don't offer woods class. We are trying to take our middle school tech program in and uh increase the rigor and align it with the students wants and needs so that we build the middle school program will build the high school program. Right now in tech we're a little uh off balance. So what we're trying to do is line it. So one of the things based on our conversation I went back and said can we get a woods program for middle school students? So we're currently investigating that. Of course, that we have to do cost analysis and things like that, but it's a small example, but I want to

096show you that it was impactful what you said to yourself. I appreciate um they brought up the steam visit. Here's another opportunity. Nate, LSD Mall, and Sam Colbert, uh the department chairs for math, science, and art. Uh they went there last week. They visited I believe it was a professor from Sage. Yep. you listen um who engaged in a hands-on activity involving computer chips and if I'm not right with you please uh and other technology uh concepts they were blown away. So the kids not only learn from an expert in the field but they got to do hands-on for the next hour and a half. We'll be able to do that next year. 20 to 25 of our students will be going once a month to this program in short no cost and we'll provide

097kids lunch. So I got the the blessing from the three of them. They absolutely loved it. So we'll report out when we do next year. Um another highlight this month was Math Mania. It was huge success. I think one of the biggest numbers if it wasn't it was tied. Yeah. One of the and the kids were awesome. the kids presented. Uh we had poetry uh we had a uh the escape room uh and this this was student driven so it's great. Um a special thank you to the master department and students for making a great evening. Uh Mr. Reynolds and I uh took one for the team of event got pied in the face. I think I could smell whipped cream for about three days afterwards. I don't know if you ever got whipped cream.

098um in the nose ears, everything like that. Um so the kids loved it and we were able to raise money and again we're celebrating the students. Our mastermind's team continues to impress. We secured second place in the league. Uh and we made the playoffs. So we have March Madness and we have masterminds Madness. Uh so we'll have playoffs. We'll have it here in April. I'll give you guys updates. Uh we're going to try to get people to attend to support our students. You know, people don't normally don't go, but they deserve a lot of credit. Um this Friday, we're hosting our annual PTO dodgeball tournament, which is elementary and middle school high school. So, it's a district-wide event. Um the PTO has put a lot of energy and uh time and energy into it. So,

099I think it's going to be really great. They raise a lot of good money for it. The kids have a lot of fun. Finally, our drama clubs hard at work preparing for the upcoming production of Alice in the Wonderland, which will run from March 28th to March 30th. That correct? Thank you. Our students have been putting in incredible effort as well as our teachers and I no doubt be a fantastic show. I encourage uh the community and board members to go to at least one of the shows. Uh I guarantee you'll enjoy. Any questions? Thank you so much. [Music] people services. The cruel joke continues as I lower the mic. I do have just a brief update for you this evening. So, as Colleen had mentioned, we're kind of in the throws of annual reviews

100at this point. It's our busiest time in special education um as we hold annual reviews to plan for students with disabilities as we look at services, accommodations, and supports for next school year. Uh overall, I have to say the meetings have gone very smoothly and thanks in no small part to special education teachers and the whole department's hard work ahead of time. So, currently we're in our second our second iteration of our annual review process. So we established that process last year and then reviewed and revised it to make some tweaks for this year just to help facilitate the annual review process. Uh its intent is really just to ensure that all the needed information is gathered that we get all the input from teachers, parents and students and that the recommendations are well aligned

101to student needs. And again as a result of everyone's hard work and it does take a lot of time and and work ahead of those meetings all you know our cse meetings have been very positive. They've been very productive conversations with the team. So, I want to thank the whole department for all their hard work there. And I'll also say since I cannot contain my excitement at this point, I would like to thank the board of ed for approving the appointment of a new middle high school school psychologist. It has been a long road. Um the position has been unfilled for about a year now despite our best efforts to fill the position. But um in that same vein, I'm gonna embarrass Rachel greatly because she didn't know this was coming and she's sitting right

102there. But I'd like to thank Rachel Tlitzky, our elementary school psychologist, for her just indescribable hard work and long hours to help support the middle high school in that whole year-long gap. So I I cannot thank her enough for all of her hard work. And we're at the end of it now. The light is at the end of the tunnel for real this time. and she will also continue to support our new hire list as she starts in her new role. Thank you so much. And if we could just give Rachel a round of applause to fully embarrass. [Applause] So I just wanted to point out that this for the first time and see the confirming that also have a little description on them better understand the [Music] plainting everybody. Um, so I'll start off

103by um Megan already mentioned spring sports. So we we've kicked that off and our our sports sh shuttle is back up and running now. Um on Friday last week we had our professional development day. Um New York State requires this um two um twice a year at minimum one hour with a minimum of one hour on special needs students. So we had two topics that we went over. Uh the first one was pivotal locations which has to do with our bus stops um our universal hand signals and crossings so that all of the bus drivers using the same signals to cross um to keep our kids as safely as possible. Um we went over loading and unloading techniques and uh railroad crossings. Not that we have to use them every day but we'll make one

104sports trips that happens. Um, our second topic was on communicating for success, uh, such as, um, IEPs, um, behavioral intervention plans, um, and specific types of disabilities with those students, um, their accommodations and characteristics and how they relate to the bus and our jobs as attendants and drivers. Um, Katie, at one meeting you had mentioned about the GPS and the parent app. So, we've still been working on that. Um we've um spoken to a couple different companies. Um we just recently um spoke with Transact who we already have routing our routing sister with them, our 19A compliance platform, our maintenance and parts platform. So we have a meeting on um March 21st with them. So, we're still actively looking into that, you know, and basically it comes down to um what works best for our

105community and our parents um and what we can get the most out of for our money. And I believe that is part of the um in our budget, a proposed budget tonight. Um looking at roundabout price and what that will cost us. Um and um we have some buses um that are reaching the end of their life expectancy. So some of them um we'll be looking into um surplusing them. Um some of them may not um go surplus route. Um they may be more um scrapping but will still bring in some revenue of some sort either way. Um, and then just a touch base piece uh on the merits that we reintroduced at the character meeting for the elementary school last month. Um, that's going really well. The kids are really enjoying that. Um, drivers

106are putting up stars with the kids' names on them all over the bus and we're all excited about that. Um, some buses have even started their own reward systems um once a week for the kids. Um, they're all excited over that. um at this month's character ed assembly uh three names were pulled specifically for the bus and um the students won a prize for that. So that's all I have for tonight. Any questions? Thank you. buildings. Sorry. So, I mentioned last month about um the fact that an inspector was coming in from FM Global to do the um commercial boiler boiler inspections. Um they did do that. They didn't find any deficiencies. We were issued our new certificate. So, um, those have been posted in the boiler rooms and the next time they will be

107around is two years from now. So, um, so that worked out well. We did have a fire alarm activation. We want the board to be aware of it yesterday morning at Berlin Elementary School. There was an electric motor for a heater cabinet um, in the art music room um that overheated. It's tough to find a good 60 year old electric motor anymore, but it was an original motor. um in one of the heater cabinets and uh so the staff did a great job. Unfortunately, I had been out the night before um with fire apparatus and I've been woke up a number of times by Sonatrol. I shut my phone off and overslept, so I didn't make the alarm yesterday morning, but the superintendent and others handled it really well. I checked in as soon as

108I got here. Um and uh everything went well as far as that went. Um the classroom was closed for the day. The windows were open for v ventilation. Um I visited there last night before going home and determined that the environment was safe for occupancy this morning. The electric motor was changed along with a faulty um steam valve as well. The heater was put back together. Everything was this morning like normal. With the warmer weather, the maintenance staff has been working to fill the potholes in the entrance driveway here to the middle school high school. That work will continue tomorrow. Um, and then they'll begin with repairs to the dirt driveway surfaces at the elementary school. Um, I'm also working at this time of getting quotes or proposals for more permanent repair to the main

109driveway entrance here um at the middle school high school and using the um vendors who have been approved under the Rener County contract and I hope to have more for the board on that um next month. Um, as was mentioned earlier, this spring um sports season is here, began yesterday. We're working to take care of requests by made by the athletic director and coaches. Um the fields were checked earlier today. Um I was told that they still are quite wet and soft. So um at this point they're not ready for play and obviously we'll have to do some uh prepping for that. In the meanwhile we'll work on the track and get things ready there. Um, and it won't be long and there'll be plenty of uh spring clean up to do as far as

110the lawns and things go to get the grounds ready for for mowing. So, um, we've been having a lot of issues with the fire alarm transmitter at at Berlin Elementary. Um, it seems to be a phone line issue. We've had a couple of different tech technicians in from Consolidated Consolidated Communications to work on that and try to resolve it. They have not been able to. Um, so yesterday I had to go into my contact list and I got in touch with uh Tim Lansen um who actually works in their telecommunications and but has done a lot of service work over the years as well. He came in found that the um phone lines to the transmitter for which calls central station monitoring for the fire alarm at Gerland Elementary the um lines were reversed. So

111what was appearing as though the primary phone line was not actually um didn't have a dial tone at all. So the secondary um phone line was actually the one that was communicating and Sonatrol has been calling at all hours of the night from 11:00 until 5:00 in the morning for weeks now. Um and whatnot saying that there's no secondary communication back from that system. So hopefully Tim was going to file the repair ticket um when he got back to the office yesterday and hopefully they've worked on that today to resolve and restore the dial tunnel for both the primary line and the secondary line at Berlin Elementary. So hopefully going forward the alarm system will work correctly and I'll get a full night's sleep, but we'll see. Um, I've also been working with the construction

112manager from Schoolhouse, um, construction services to keep the emergency project at Veron Elementary going. Um, Moren had mentioned there are a couple of action items that we're going to propose this week or this evening. Um, and hopefully with that, we will get the work done um, and bring that project to a close by the end of next month. Um, we're also working on a number of other projects. We're installing AT&T boosters throughout the um, middle school high school to enhance the uh, communication and safety capabilities. We've gotten a price um, from an outside vendor to finish hooking those up so that we can establish um, communication. And that is not only for will give us it actually will work off a tower that's in the town of Berlin. Um, it'll give us the ability to

113have better AT&T service here in the building, but it also works with AT&T Lifenet, which is built into the radio system for the RER County Sheriff's Deputies. So, their two-way radios have not only two-way communication capability, but if they lose signal from the two-way radio aspect of things, it kicks into cellular and then they have a cellular ability built into their radios to be able to make calls using our radios. So, hopefully that will greatly enhance the safety cap capabilities as far as that goes. We're prepping to conduct the uh lead in the drinking water testing that has to be done before the end of the year. Our sample bottles came yesterday. Tim Levan will be here tomorrow so that we can discuss a schedule of when we're going to do that testing um so

114that we can get that submitted. We've got our account recreated with the laboratory where they'll be the samples will be analyzed and then we can go from there with that. Um the triannial asbestous inspection is also due this year and Tim and I spoke about that last week. Um they will request our three will be the um agency that will conduct that review again this year and update our um adher plan so that we're in compliance with that. Um I've also been working with um a number of vendors to get their invoices correct. We've been having a a very challenging time with at least one of our vendors. um and sending us um incorrect invoices. And so hopefully I can work on that tomorrow to get that resolved and we can get some cost savings

115there. So it's been busy. Any questions? Thank you. Thank you, Sarah. Good evening everybody. Um so I'm sure like everything else you've heard about the post cuts to to school lunch funding. um the advocates from the School Nutrition Association went to Capitol Hill on March 11th to meet Congress to oppose those cuts and actually asking them um you know to invest in our school lunch program instead of um making the cuts. um as part of the school nutrition association um they're they're very good about making sure that they let the government know how important the program is to our kids. Um one of the things that they have um that they're working on right now the the Senate and the Assembly have released their one house budget and they want to include full funding for

116statewide universal free meals for all kids. Um, and we would be one of the states that um in the in our surrounding area that would be one of the last states to be doing that. Um, if that was to happen um, according with my conversations with the school nutrition association, it really shouldn't impact us because we're already C. Um, and we would continue to get the same amount of funding, you know, if we were to go universal. So, um it would be for all kids to have free meals regardless of income would just be um phenomenal because you know we do have kids that um they're when when they have to pay even if they can't afford it they just they they don't want to. And so I think that it makes it easier when

117all the kids are going through the line. There's no money involved. Nobody knows anything about anybody. And it really does impact our program because I see it all the time that when we had to pay the the kids, I don't have any money. Well, it's okay. We're still going to give you lunch. But they don't understand that. So, um that's one of the things they're fighting for. So, um fingers crossed that that um that works and that we get the um investment that we need in our school lunch programs. Um I've been working on cleaning up the profit and loss statement as you guys um get a copy of that every month. Um so salary line is good. Um you saw you should have seen that the propane line has been added. So that is

118um reflected in there now. And I am working on the benefits line to make sure that all of that uh gets caught up in that as well. Um I've been working on our bids for the 2526 school year. uh there's a group that we all get together and we discuss things that our kids like but they don't like trying to get better quality, that sort of thing. So that's that's been going on for the past month. Um working on our vending sales are down. Uh right now the recommended price increase from HMBB. Our kids are kind of not really liking it. So I'm exploring new things to see if I can't get things in that they'll like lower cost. um you know so we can continue with our vending. Um I have meetings scheduled with

119high school students uh on Friday to discuss the school lunch program um to just kind of explain how the program works, get their ideas, see what you know what they're what they're thinking. Um that is Friday. Uh middle school I'm meeting with them on April 2nd. And then I was supposed to meet with Jolie, but I had to cancel because I had staff out, so I had to work in the kitchen. So I wasn't able to meet with her to set up a time to meet with some elementary school students as well. Um, Friday was uh PD day, so we met with a master instructor from child nutrition. All the staff is required certain number of hours ranging from four to four hours to 16 hours. Um, so all staff have met the requirements and

120uh we will be scheduling uh another day with this instructor in August for the next school year. Um then Friday, March 14th was Pi Day, but because there was no school for students, we did pre Pi Day on Thursday. And I want to thank um Renee Ellis and his Sienna math class because they're the ones who worked on the math problem. and um and uh so we had seven winners and um so that was that was nice to have the kids involved in the program and uh get the other students as well to be part of that. And then the last thing is I have students have started a petition to bring back Big Taggy's pizza. Um so I'm working on um some spreadsheets to get cost analysis so that we can really see if

121it's really feasible or not. Um they are not liking the other pizza that we're serving. So um we are working on that as well. Just so you know. Any questions? Question. You were talking about the aid. Yeah. We all of our kids already receive a free lunch and breakfast, right? because we're C. Right. Right. Um, so how would that impact us? It shouldn't impact us at all because we're receiving the higher rate now for being C. So what what the the school nutrition association is saying is that as long as So what I have to do, I'm required to do a a data match and what it does is it reaches out to New York State. they we pull in the information for all the students that receive, you know, SNAP and Medicaid and all

122that sort of thing. And as long as we continue to do that and pull in the students, that raises our aid. So, as long as we continue to do that, they're saying that there shouldn't be any change shouldn't be any change in our aid that we should continue as we are because we're CD now. Everybody's eating for free. universal. Everybody eats for free. Yeah. The reason I asked that because you put a note in here in the um your P&L about um an accounting error that we ended up having a reduced. So that's that was just it got recorded twice. They it got in the business office they just recorded it twice. That was the that was the issue. So it reduced my aid. I don't remember exactly how much it was. So let's say

123it was it was supposed to be 20,000. It had gotten reported as 40,000. Okay. So then it didn't necessarily reduce your age. It just was a reduction revenue. Yes. Right. The cash they reported that as cash and not correct. Yes. Yes. So that really wasn't they didn't take money away from us and ate money didn't get taken away from us. Okay. So I just wanted to clarify that we didn't actually move. No no no no. And so school, we're continually talking with school nutrition and I have a rep that I talk with and whatever and they're keeping us updated on, you know, where we're going with the universal and what they're, you know, predicting for the aid that we're we're going to be getting. So, you know, fingers crossed that we stay where we are.

124Yeah. Okay. Thank you. technology. Okay, just a couple updates because I wasn't here last month. uh fobs have been issued to the transportation staff. So, the access to their building uh was configured to allow drivers to have the additional time in case they had field trips or sporting events or something, they could still get into the building, use the bathroom or whatever they they needed to at the end. So, as far as I know, um I've received no reports that any fobs aren't functioning down there and their building is secure now. So, uh, new iPads, as Sam Culbert has already mentioned, have been received, configured, and set up with, um, each our classroom here at the high school level receiving 10 iPads each and a charging cart with new cables to go with them. Um,

125MacBooks have been received as well. This is part of the Smart Schools bond app. MacBooks have been received and David that I currently have working in my office through request star is working on configuring them where this time around we're able to join them to our domain through active directory and they're being man managed through the GMF program. So he's replacing the old MacBooks little by little about five a piece as Shannon's able to get the old data off of the old machines. Stevens kind of swapping them out, putting the new ones in place with new cables in a charging part as well in Sam's room. Uh we're hoping that this process is completed by next week by David. And the other piece of the smart school fund that we've uh received so far is

12695 desktops and uh Nate is working on securing or getting the paperwork going so that we can also now get the monitors coming in. We do have an issue with storage. So, right now the the desktops were housed in the tech hallway. Um, I had David start unboxing them and we've managed to stuff them in my my back room, but Nate's going to work on the monitors and hopefully those they'll be ordered soon and we can start placing PCs kind of willy-nilly or during definitely during the summer months. So, we also received six smartboards to continue with our replacement technology plan for the older smart boards. Um, they were bought through regular budget funds and I'll be putting work orders in to have them submitted or installed when time permits with Sarah's department and what

127rooms they're going to be installed in. I'll also be working with Sarill's secretary to train her on the door access process. She's going to assume that pertaining to the IT audit. I probably will not start that training in April because I've had to take a couple leaves. And um Chelsea will take that over entirely, but I will remain her consistent backup. I'll oversee to make sure she's got everything down pat and then still remain a backup afterwards. I will continue with the fob access piece for right now until we determine that it should go someplace else. And then that's pretty much all I have. But Nate had a couple things that he wanted to add in to do with technology. Thank you. Nothing crazy. Just um we're working still on the phone system, updates from

128SED um receiving speakers and updating our smart schools on um in the portal as prices change. Uh and the only other thing we discussed today, the technology meeting, um we have a district technology committee. Um it's supposed to meet three or four times per year. We got snowed out the last two times. Uh our next meeting is Mark and I are calendars. everyone, anyone wants to attend, we do it in person and virtually um May 1st uh at 3:30. We usually hold it at the uh elementary school. Um and we do need to have a plan every 3 years and submit it to the state. We did get like an extension this year. The whole state got an extension for whatever reason. So, we don't technically have to submit this year, but we kind of

129want to just get it off our plate. Um, so we'll be meeting on May 1st and maybe one more time after and we'll be writing that plan up in submitting it as well. I think that was pretty much it. Thank [Music] you. Facilities people here. All right, I'm going to start and Colleen and Derek can chime in. Uh, Frank was on the weather. He did join us by phone tonight. Sarah was present tonight as well. Um, and Trevor was with us as well tonight. Um, so we talked provided an update on the BES project. You heard quite a bit of that from Sir this evening. Um the two outstanding pieces of that are regarding the installation of build door which we are positioned to move forward with and we have that bid in place and

130the we've already identified the contractor. The second piece is the plumbing which is really the final repairs to the situation that started this whole project. Um and we received through schoolhouse this week two quotes. Um you I think have both of those in your green sheet packet tonight. Um and the facilities committee discussed tonight which of the two and the agreement was trying plumbing and heating. Um well I know it's atypical to bring a walk-in uh resolution. If we if the board were to consider that tonight and approve that, that would potentially allow the work to be done over the upcoming April break without uh interference to instruction of kitchen operations or water. Um so I would ask you to consider that. In addition to that, as shared through updates and prior uh conversations though,

131we continue to work with SEI to finish the emergency project at BES and to uh do the necessary architectural work tied to the Smart Schools bond act and particularly the installation of the phones and the infrastructure involved there. That does require architectural input. We will finish that out with SEI, but we have mutually decided to part ways, leaving us with the need to secure architectural services for the $100,000 project that we spoke of during the budget presentation this evening. Um, again, the committee met on that tonight. Sirill and Colleen had the opportunity to meet over the last two weeks with two prospective engineer, two prospective architectural firms who can conduct that work. both of whom have experience with the district and knowledge of the building and the facilities committee uh recommended tonight that we move

132forward with recommending CSR. Again, I would ask the board to consider taking that walk-in action tonight because that would allow us to get moving forward with that project. In an ideal world, we'll get the architectural piece to get the SEB approval so that we can move forward with that. Eric, Sarah, Colleen, is there anything else you would add to that? Any questions from any of the board members on that? So, the architect is just for the $100,000 project. So, we got two resolutions on the machine. Okay. So, there's two resolutions. First is um resolved that upon the recommendation of the interim superintendent of schools, the board of education of the Burland Central School District hereby accepts the contract with CSR Architectural Services. Do we have do we have the contract for the board members facilities

133just gave us so the total for the project for the um CSR contract is a lump sum fee of $8,500 for basic services inclusive of the consultant design of these. Any other questions? And can we just make sure the board gives a copy of this? Any other questions for that resolution? Can I get um a motion to approve? Motion by Derek. A second. I'll second. A second by Kim. Penny Haringo. Yes. Kim, yes. Derek, yes. Sherry with Andrea. Yes. And I am a yes, not an enthusiastic yes, but a yes. Um the next one is um resolved that upon the recommendation of the interim superintendent of schools, the board of education of the Brown Central School District hereby accepts the win bid for the comment associated with the work at um with emergency projects and

134that is with Tri Tri Valley Clement and Heen and I believe that the board does have this um and that is a furnish and install the following attached items for a total amount of $31,800. And just for the members of the facil that aren't on the facilities committee, that total is less than what was anticipated for the public association project. That's positive news. Can I get a motion? Motion by Derek. A second. Second by Andrea. Uh Penny Penn. Yes. Kim. Yes. Derek. Yes. Sharon Andrea. Yes. And I just want to thank the work for the facilities committee. I know that you guys have had your hands full over the past uh year or so. But thank [Music] you. That's is new old business. Andrea add an item comment just I sent the policy just to

135the entire board so they had yes we had brought up the the last regular board meeting but several members weren't here so we just wanted to uh bring up again policy 7552 um basically there's portions of the policy that no longer align with um the federal uh title 9 regulations as far as women's sports run and I wanted to bring up a couple new items and new parts of this latest current news event. Um so yesterday uh the HHS um filed a uh press release um that the HHS civil rights office determined that Mains violated Title 9 by allowing males in women's sports. uh to go on further with that they didn't just violate uh Maine, they violated the high school that allowed such that to happen. Um so it is something to consider when

136we're looking at that particular particular policy. Also, uh New York State Supreme Court just last month upheld uh Nassau County's law banning uh transgender women from participating in female sports in that county. Uh so right now there seems to be a confusion on uh whether the federal executive order and the changes to the federal title N conflict with uh New York state law. Um usually when they're talking about New York state law, they're considering the proposition one that just went in this past year, which um does include uh transgender and gender identity as part of our civil rights in our constitution. Um but what is being thought now is that um that particular constitutional protection against discrimination based on gender identity does not guarantee biological males inclusion in women's sports. Uh and it does not

137supersede the protections of those same laws for female athletes and females in our schools. uh in fact it is uh widely supported now that uh it's actually discrimination against females based on their sex uh to have biological males participating in female sports. one because of the scientific um backing that it does increase um have a higher chance of females being hurt and more severely hurt when participating in physical activity with the biological males. And the other part would be fairness. Uh it does uh make opportunities for uh the biological female students competing uh against biological males in non-cont scores. again scientifically proven that they are genetically stronger and faster. Uh leading to team positions being lost, accolades being lost, uh scholarships being lost, championships being lost, and taken away. Um, one thing I wanted to

138quote was in our past uh, newsletter for our New York State School Board Association just la just uh, March 17th. Uh, Betty Rosa, our commissioner of education in New York State was uh, talking about Women's History Month. She went on to make a statement that learning about our history is also vital. Girls and young women must understand that they have not always had the same rights and opportunities they now enjoy in school and higher education in the workplace. Prior to the enactment of Title 9 in 1972, schools and colleges could legally discriminate against women in admissions, athletics, and employment, many of them did. Of course, women have made remarkable progress in the brief time that we have been allowed onto a playing field. We have shattered barriers and driving change every day in every conceivable

139field and human endeavor. But let me make it clear, women do not yet compete on a level playing field. So I just wanted to bring this up. I think that there's several parts of this um this policy that are not discriminatory towards uh females, but there are parts of it that are and should be looked at to make sure that we are meeting the standards of Title 9 uh the way it is now and making sure that we are not uh discriminating against anybody based on their size. So should we review this more discuss again or I think well I can I just want to reference and I think it's uh talks about the main ruling too the February 28th in my February 28th update to the board I shared the advice of council that

140acknowledges the challenges that boards are facing at that point um the advice was at this time they're not recommend commending significant change and there are states taking other action name and this was yesterday right they had started that process right this was investigation council said they would continue to monitor those and other relevant legal developments which may warrant any changes so certainly I can check back with them see what they have based on the information you shared tonight Andrea and if at this point they're recommending that we move forward um with review at this uh and I can share their recommendation with the board and the board can certainly decide how they wish to proceed. So our current structure is the policy committee meets has discussions and then brings the recommendations forward to the board

141for review policy. Yeah, I was going to say that's you. So when we have revisions recommended, that's what we do. And at this point, we don't have a recommended revision. I did reach out after the last inquiry to uh Eerie 1, which gives us our proposed revisions based on any updates they had. The version we had is the most updated version. Council did say they would happy to assist us in review. So if I reach back out to area one and they continue to have no revision, I will ask council if they have one. I just don't know that they are going to yet based on their recommendations. So do we need to decide if we would like to look into a revision? What's the next step here? Well, I I think the next step

142is one holds our does all our policy agree and this this was not required policy. parts of the policy are not required according to account. Did they specify which parts they did? Okay. So, can we at least put it on the agenda for next meeting? Yeah, I just don't know if I will have anything else to share with you other than the current policy. Okay. I I would like to, you know, be a little more proactive and not get sued over it. Sitting and not just because it's a difficult conversation doesn't mean we shouldn't have the conversation. And if things need to change and they need to change being quiet isn't going to do anything. So So [Music] business sounds good. Thanks. Thank you, [Music] Andrea. Any other board comment? Okay. opportunity for public comment.

143Will be signed up. Anybody signed up? Public comment. Um, round table meeting will be held April 3rd and I am recommending that that budget meeting keeping in mind the fact that our budget needs to be adopted by the board by April 22nd. You see, we have a lot of work based on tonight to do between now and then. It's going to warrant at least two discussions. Keep in mind also we have the April break in there. So the possibility of a third special meeting does exist between now and budget time. Um and because it's a budget workshop, I would recommend we hold it here for streaming purposes and to accommodate any guests. I was just going to say I would um if if we're going to make it a budget workshop to hold it in

144this building because of facilities, both space and presentation facilities. Um and then the next regular board meeting is Tuesday, April 22nd again this building at 7:15. Um again our round table in May conflicts with the CASTA awards dinner tonight and we have several nominations in awards. We haven't confirmed recipient yet but I suspect at least one of those will be recognized. So I would like to suggest foregoing the main board meeting to get staff administration board members should they so choose the opportunity to attend that awards cere it's not it's a routing so it's not we're missing the regular board meeting um and then um we also have budget hearing that in two weeks after that date yes the budget yes the budget Yeah. Okay. So, that goes over the future and locations of units.

145Executive session. We need an executive session to discuss um personnel specific personnel action. Can I get a motion to enter executive session at 9:31 p.m. Motion by Sherry, a second. Second by Derek Andrea. Yes. Sherry. Derek. Kim. Yes. Penny. Yes. and as well. Thank you for all that came out tonight. I don't anticipate take any action when you come out of executive session. Feel free to sit down and