Board of Education Meeting January 27, 2026

001This is a special presentation from the Brighton Central School District Board of Education. >> Good evening. Welcome to the Brighton Central School District Board of Education meeting for Tuesday, January 27th. This meeting is called to order. I'll apologize in advance as we're continuing to adjust my allergy medicine. So, I'm nasely, and I apologize about that, and we'll just sort of work through it tonight. To begin with, as always, uh we start with public participation. Um, the rules are the same as always, which is three minutes. Uh, Karen Hatch over here will hold up a yellow card at the two minute uh 30 second mark. Um, if you want to speak, please make sure you've contacted Dan Goldman. Dan, where are you? Right there in back. Thank you. And, uh, I'll make sure I'll have a

002card up here to be able to call you. Um, and then I'm sorry, at the three-minute mark, you'll or just before the 3minut mark, you'll hear the alarm and you'll see the red card go up. Um, I've got some cards here, so I'll go ahead and begin. Uh, to begin with, Dr. Bill Bayer. >> Yeah, I'm sorry. I thank you very much. Up to the podium up here. I apologize. [clears throat] >> Good evening. I'm Dr. Bill Bayer, a longtime resident of Brighton, and my two daughters and my grandson went through the school system, and I think they had a world-class education. So much appreciative for that. But I feel that Brighton is going maybe in the wrong direction with uh put installing artificial turf fields. Um it and I think part of the problem

003is that the appropriations were approved two years ago and um a lot of we've learned a lot of things about artificial turf in those two years so that now it doesn't seem like a good idea for the safety and health of our children. Um, so we know a lot of information about that. So I think it be grounds for a reappraisal and a revote. We there's a lot of information we don't have. We we still do not have full environmental review record known as the SECQR. Uh without the complete SECQR, including the technical reports, chemical analyses, and expert evaluations, the public cannot meaningfully understand the environmental or health impacts of this project. All Brighton gave us was a ne a negative declaration and that's not enough information. Uh the law requires the underlying data be

004available for public review. We also do not know what brand of turf will be installed. This is a major gap in transparency. The the district installer Chenango Contracting is a regional representative for field turf. Field turf contains PFAS and does not publish independent testing for PCBs or other contaminants. If the district is claiming the turf is free of harmful chemicals, then the district should be able to show the independent laboratory testing verifying this. There's also the issue of infill material, which is old rubber tires. Um, if rubber infill is being used, um, the community deserves to know that rubber infill contains chemicals such as benzene, formaldahhide, and acetone, as well as heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, and chromium. We would never want lead or heavy metals in our homes. If we had lead in

005our home, we'd try to get rid of it, but the lead is in the rubber infill. Um, [snorts] and we I had a a friend of mine whose child is plays soccer on artificial field, and she says he comes home with black smears on his face and on his hands, so it's definitely transmitted. Um, these substances do not stay locked inside the turf. They become dust, stick to the skin and clothing, and wash into storm drains. We also need information about the drainage system. The district has not released the engineering details for how storm water will be managed under the new field. There's a drainage pond planned for behind the school very close to housing units and we haven't seen how runoff from the turf containing microplastic chemicals and metals will prevent it will be

006prevented from entering the groundwater. It's a major environmental concern. Uh there's also a practical alternative. The existing grass fields could be professionally regraded um reddrained and reed receded to create a natural surface that is safer, cooler and more environmentally responsible. Many districts have taken this approach with excellent results. >> Oh, that's it. >> That's two minutes. Thank you. >> Uh yeah. Okay. Then there is also the issue of injuries on the field. >> You can finish your thought. You were in the middle of a thought there. if you need to finish your thought just >> um I don't remember so but I just want to add that yeah we could regrade in the grass fields that we have now >> and we'd be able to have the grass and the um improvement with the trees

007and all that and then the other thing was that there's a high much higher rate of knee injury such as ACL tears which could ruin the career of Betsy Cox. Thank you for having us today. Once again, voice concerns regarding the turf field that continues to um move forward. From what we can tell, I think the snow has uh slowed things down a little bit. One of the things I wanted to to bring again to everybody's attention today is again, as Dr. bear mentioned this updated science that we all need to be paying attention to. Um, one of the things I think is extremely important is [snorts] for the school [clears throat] district to be honest and transparent with individuals in the community. If you go back to looking at the slide set that was

008uh is public now from November um when we first learned of the updated plan um the reasons to choose synthetic turf over natural grass have three bullets. The weather resistance playable in extreme conditions within reason as we know with our current snowfall unlimited use no need for rust regrowth. However, again, we know that with the heat islands that are um potentially created with the very hot surfaces, that is not necessarily true. Supporting multiport usage, I know when this came came up for a vote, it was mostly emphasized it would be baseball and softball. Lower maintenance compared to natural turf, that's also been debated. If you go down, not only looking at the installation, but the um need to repair, need to um redo in 8 to 10 years. We can't also measure what's happening to

009our earth when we put this all in a large landfill for many, many decades. I also wanted uh to request that the school district do a bit of update. Um the PAS fact sheet from that November slid set has uh studies for reference. uh PAS expert health panel formed by the Australian government in May of 2018. There is mostly limited or no evidence for any link with human disease and there is no current evidence that supports a large impact on an individual's health agency for toxic substances and disease registry tasked by the US Congress in May of 2018. We have all many of us have reached out to people beyond this um this town. Um, many of you have probably received on the board and in the town a letter um, very recently from Dr.

010Sarah Evans who is an expert in turf and probably one of the the renowned expert in the in the area. She we're lucky to have her in our state. Um she writes January 2026 to whom it may concern the Children's Environmental Health Center of the ICAN School of Medicine at Mount Si strongly discourages the installation of artificial turf playing surfaces and fields due to the uncertainty surrounding the safety of these products and the potential for dangerous heat and chemical exposures. In addition, recent studies demonstrating the presence of POS and microplastics in these products raise significant concerns for both human health and environmental contamination. Once again, I know we have um folks here that have PhDs, have NDEs, have all sorts of degrees. Um two last quick points. If you look at the turf and carpet

011[clears throat] product safety data sheet, that is what I can only find from the turf information. Um it says pretty much again nothing is is a problem except when you look at the disclaimer. Um when ECOR gives no guarantee that all possible measures are contained within the safety data sheet. And finally, exposure to forever chemicals linked to higher risk of gestational diabetes, major review finds. This is from January 2026. So again, if you're ignoring all of this data, this science in the name of baseball and dry feet, I really beg and ask that you start um again to think about this in a way that would be very reasonable. Um and we all really hope that you do that. So, thank you for your time. >> Thank you very much. >> THANK YOU. [applause] RALPH

012HAFNER. HELLO. UM, I'm Ralph Hefner. I live in Brighton. I have a daughter in high school, a son in middle school. They both love sports and they would likely be using the field. Um, I also am really concerned about the uh idea of uh putting or the plans of putting in uh Astroturf. uh understand the disappointment if you can't play because it's too muddy or uh the pain if you bend your ankle if something isn't quite even but uh it just doesn't conser doesn't compare to the long-term health [music] effects that Astroturf um would pose to my kids right um just you know uh there was already talk about the changing science that we learn more and more just a month ago there was an article in the Lancet that estimates by that by 2040

013in uh less than 15 years um the effects of plastics uh on human health are going to exceed those of asbestos. And so um we we can look back at the history of asbestos and how long it took to um and for the industry to accept um the negative health effects and um the [clears throat] costs that it posed on getting rid of the aesus the abatement etc. and of course the health effects on the people who were affected. Uh I really want to urge you to re-evaluate your plans um and not put it in even if it means you know uh having to pay for a contract that's not going to be fulfilled. Um there will be costs for get for taking out um uh the plastics afterwards um not even thinking about the

014um you know uh health effects. So um I've also heard that there's some hope of recouping some of the costs in terms of renting out the fields to to other sports clubs. uh maybe that's going to work in the first year but I think uh this information is going to get out in the community among uh people who do sports clubs. I suspect that the whatever case that was been made there uh is highly uh overly optimistic and um I don't think it's going to going to work out that way. So uh please re uh evaluate your plans. >> I do want to let you know there isn't a plan. We have a regular usage schedule for facility use but that's not part of the plan to recoup any kind of cost. >> Okay. Just

015take that. >> Sure. Sure. >> Thank you. [applause] >> Jim, how [snorts] hi, good evening. Nice to see you all again. Uh, thanks for letting me speak tonight. My name is Jim How. I live on Susuana Road in Brighton. Uh, I had two kids that both went uh both went through K through 12 in Brighton. Um, two of whom played varsity baseball uh on these fields. Uh, I know that you've heard a lot of concerns from a lot of different viewpoints about the fields and the athletic fields today uh and over the last few months. Uh, and I I want to say first of all, I really appreciate your willingness to set up a web page to solicit more feedback from the community about those concerns and and as well as hear from supporters. I

016think that was a really a good decision on your part and I want to thank you for that. Um I went through the web page um and I looked at a lot of the comments. I think a lot of people in Brighton, a lot of residents share the same concerns about the project going forward. So my question to you all tonight is how does the board plan to analyze the information you collected uh and respond to the concerns from the community and incorporate the public's uh feedback into the project plan. Um my request is that you'll consider an analysis of what you heard. Um that you'll respond to those concerns if there are and respond to the supporters too. Um, and that you'll also seek additional dialogue with the community about areas of concern and

017areas of support, too. Um, those those seem like fundamental to good public input processes. So, uh, I'm not looking for an answer tonight, of course, but I hope you'll consider this request. Thanks for the opportunity to speak. >> Thank you, [applause] David Mer. >> [clears throat] >> Members of the board, thank you for allowing me to speak this evening. My name is David Maser and I am a parent of two kids in the Brighton School District and I am here uh to speak in opposition to the district's proposal to convert the green space near the high school into artificial turf fields. Uh, I brought up these concerns at previous board meetings, as have dozens of other concerned residents, parents, neighbors, and health professionals. At no point has Superintendent McGawan or any of the school board

018members for that matter tried to rebut the actual concerns of community members. You've been either unwilling or unable to show that the turf on the field will truly be PAS-free. You've never argued against the fact that study after study shows that hundreds of other known chemicals are released from artificial turf into our air and our environment. You've never argued or attempted to disprove the many studies showing increased contact and non-cont sports related injuries from playing on artificial turf. You've never argued the plastic and rubber pollution from this site could make its way through the school's storm water pipes and into Allen's Creek and then Lake Ontario. The only point that you continue to come back to when pushing ahead on this proposal that could put our health and environment at risk, cost taxpayers millions of

019dollars, and create potential legal and financial liabilities for local residents is the process. the 2024 referendum that included three words about artificial turf and doing the will of the voters. I'm here tonight to ask if you feel so strongly about keeping the will of the voters. Before the 2024 vote, there was a vote in 2022 [music] to purchase the parcels of land in question where you're attempting to build the artificial turf fields. In this Facebook post put out by the school district, you state that this purchase would allow the school district to quote expand its green space. After the vote, Superintendent McGowan stated in this post, and I quote, "The project is meant to protect the green space adjacent to our athletic fields. the 2022 purchase to protect the lands passed with more votes than

020the 2024 referendum. So, I'm here to ask if you care so deeply about the process about implementing the voters's will, then why are we going against the will of the voters in 2022 who voted expecting to keep this property in green space? Thank you for your time tonight. Excuse [applause] [clears throat] me. Megan Pasquant Antonio Pierce. Hello board members. Hello Dr. McGawan. Thank you for your time and thank you for the community to be here too. My name is Megan Pasquantonio Pierce and I am a graduate of Brighton. I started over at 12 Corners Nursery School and ended walking across the aisle at Eastman Theater in 2007. I then went on to St. John Fischer to get my bachelor's degree and then I went on to Harvard to get my master's degree. I am a

021proud Brighton graduate and I am proud that someday my two children who are two and five will walk across that stage as well. But I am not happy with the way the administration has handled this turf project. I take my family's health very seriously. I used to have plastic containers in our home, but once I learned about the harmful chemicals that leech into the food and water, they were out and they were replaced with PLA uh with glass and metal. I then learned about contamination in our water. And now we have a reverse osmosis water filter system. I've learned about BPAs, EMFs, PFAS that are toxic contaminants that affect our health. But I remind myself when I get a little too deep, that when we know better, we do better. I feel like I spend

022so much of my time and money trying to protect my children from these harmful chemicals. And it pains me to know that you will be putting this artificial turf full of this plastic and these chemicals not only into the land backing up to my mother's backyard on Brooklyn Drive, but also into Council Rock where small children, my children play. I hope that you are not expecting parents who love and want to protect their children more than anything to stand up, stand by and allow this because I'm here to tell you I will not. Our world is toxic in so many ways. I want to change this for us and for future generations. Please pause this turf project. Thank you so much. Thank you, [applause] >> Bobby Roser. >> Good evening, everyone. >> Good evening. >>

023I'm Bobby Roser. I moved here to Brighton in 2021. And one of the reasons I chose Brighton was because there was an alignment with my values. Um, I was a military spouse. We moved around a lot and when we decided to put down roots, Brighton became that place because of the alignment. Um, I'm here to ask the board to reconsider replacing our natural grass fields with the artificial [music] turf, especially because of all of the health risks that they have spoken about, everyone has spoken about. There is so much opposition. I am yet to speak to anyone in the neighborhood who is in in support of this. Um, I have a little note here from my daughter. She is a TCMS student in the seventh grade here. And she asked me to say that with

024all the climate concerns and rising temperatures, I was incredibly saddened by the removal of several of our mature trees. Trees cool our school grounds by as much as 10 to 20°, improve our air quality, reduce storm water runoff, and protect kids like me from UV exposure. They are not decorative. They are public health infrastructure. That is from my 12-year-old. Now, I can't quote all of the science. I don't know a whole lot about sports, but I do know about skin knees. Having lived in California for 2 years where there was so much artificial turf because of natural requirements. Um, seeing my kids play outside in the grass, which they do now so much. Um, we live on Brooklyn and they have a neighborhood group. Um, I'm not supposed to tell you the name of the

025group. Um, but they have a group and they come out and they play on that field. I'll ask them, "Where are you going kids?" And they're saying, "We're going to the field." And that for me as a parent, that's something that I want to see more of. Kids aren't going to go out and play on artificial turf. Like they're not going to go launch their little rockets that they're making there. So there are so many things that that, you know, we can quote the science on, but from an emotional standpoint for the values that I'm raising my kids with, we need to protect the environment and we need to make sure that we're leaving it well enough for them to continue protecting as well. >> Thank you. Thank you very much, [applause] >> Alexi Tatau.

026It's interesting that you've memorized my last name even though I didn't put it on the card there. But um I also wanted to voice my displeasure with this turf field project. Um, I'm not for it and I'm especially not for a pond where a a little kid can drown. Um, maybe six, seven years ago, uh, a disabled or a mentally challenged kid didn't get on a school bus or uh, uh, was left alone, wandered off and drowned in in the, u river. What happens uh when that hap what will happen what if a kid drowns in this pond this storm water retention pond? What what what accountability will happen to the administration um that undertook this? Nothing. If uh the cops can stand outside of the Baldi school district while uh kids are being massacred

027and they're just standing outside of an unlocked closed door while kids are being murdered right in front of them. And those cops have been deemed to have done nothing wrong and they they got off scot-free. There is absolutely no accountability for this school administration. And my question for the school board is where is the oversight of this administration? Do you guys just follow whatever they do? I'm guessing maybe you do something during these executive sessions, but do they give you a login to their systems so you can poke around to see is anybody stealing any money? Um is are any school lunch funds uh coming up missing the board? What what is this board doing other than uh having a love fest after the public portion and you know saying oh how great it was

028that that this principal's having this uh program or this activity where is the oversight that's visible to the public? I mean it's like you don't care. you don't ask any tough questions of these uh executives or of this management team uh during the public portion of these meetings. So what do you guys do? Why should we vote for you guys if you don't do anything to uh to rein in some of these ter terrible terrible decisions that this administration uh does? Um, and I know um there's a a New York State Education Law 312E uh paragraph 4 uh section C uh evaluation of personnel. So uh so there's a New York state education law saying that each uh parent or parents can come and look at um the teachers performance review just the rating. Well,

029McGawan put oh you have to come in person you're never going to be allowed to take that with you. Uh that was the policy uh policy 6130 on the board uh website uh a few years ago and that particular section where uh you can't uh take it with you uh is not not I can't seem to find it today but it was there a few years ago and that is in direct contradiction of New York state law and I would encourage somebody to personally sue uh these people and of course we'll be the ones paying for the results of lawsuit because there's never any accountab ability with public officials. We need to change the laws in this state and around this country so that there is criminal time for people that do terrible things that

030result in teach and students getting raped here. >> Your time is up. Your time's up. And we're not going to go down that road for my kids personally abused and there was crickets. >> Your time is done. Your time is done. >> The abuse. >> Your time is done. Your time is done. >> Who do I sue? Him. Your time is done. I have to pay. >> Your time is done. Ridiculous. >> Your time is done. >> So, just a few clarifications because a few things were said that certainly require clarification. There is not a pond. There's a storm water mitigation area that is not expected to be any uh gathering of water that would be a pond. Number one. Number two, um student loss of life in the city of Rochester was incredibly tragic.

031And I don't know because I can't speak for that district if that was a supervision issue. I'm unfamiliar other than the terrible tragedy of a child uh losing their life at that time. Um I also would tell you that everybody in this district is evaluated, myself included. That policy that you're referring to is a common adoption of the law and a policy that we receive actually from a state policy service that is existing throughout the state. um the school lunch funds, the question of that, I would let the board speak to their oversight, [clears throat] but we are rigorously audited multiple times uh over every fund in the district, every penny in the district. So again, I'll let the board speak to it, but I will say personally any accusation of malfeasants is uh something

032I should respond to and say you could not be more inaccurate. So, and and if I could also finish, to to throw in an allegation of uh sexual assault or other type of abuse happening on campus, I think is an awful accusation to make to anybody who works here and is simply untrue. So, I would say to everybody, respectfully for all the other opinions shared, when you clap for things that are that horrible an accusation and completely ungrounded, it's unfortunate and that's it's disappointing that that would happen in this space. respectfully everything else is heard and responded to and and thought through to the extent that the board can relative to this project. Mr. Davis will address how we can respond or what we would respond with and why. But I think those last pieces

033I would just ask community members that I've been a part of for a long time to reflect on things you just clapped about that are pretty horrendous uh slanderous things to say. >> I'll add a couple things. first um in in terms of how to make sure that funds aren't mis uh misused, abused, stolen, whatever the uh implication was, myself, Karen Hatch, and Dr. Christina Lee, who's not here, are all in the audit committee. We have regular reviews and independent auditors that go through the books. We had a ton of time with that uh with that activity and take it incredibly seriously. In regards to some of the comments and suggestion made today, um there will be a time in the future. I don't have a specific date when we get all that feedback from

034the thought exchange and it will be shared with the community. Somebody brought that up. So all of that thought exchange information will be shared with the community. Um and there are a number of issues that were brought up that because there are some u actions that pending actions that people are involved in that we can't respond in public. Um uh so I can't respond to some of the things that were addressed because they're going through a legal process right now. Um and none of the board members will be able to respond either. So um we the seven member board that uh do Dr. McGawan's assessment every year take that role very seriously. We have great results in this school district. We clearly have a disagreement on this project. And if you read through the thought

035exchange, there were people also in favor of the project. We're not shutting out anybody's feedback. And the reason we went back to get all that feedback was to gauge the community's just all the thoughts in regards to pluses and minuses with the project. And again, that'll be available. I don't have a date yet, but relatively shortly. And you everyone will be able to see that feedback whether they contributed to it or not for all the people who took the time and rated ideas. All of that information will be available. With that, I don't have any other names for uh public participation. Um, >> you're raising your hand. Did you fill out a card? >> I did not fill out a card. Is there still a possibility I could speak? >> Sure. Uh, Dan's right behind

036you. If you want to just fill out a card just so we have record of who spoke at the meeting, please. Um, hello. My name is Finnegan Hayes. I am a student of Brighton High School. I'm in 10th grade and I am very, very angry. Um, you just recently chopped down a 200-year-old tree fenced off the field that contained that tree and are replacing it with um, a large amount of plastic. [clears throat] Um while I am certain as are the majority of the pe people of Brighton completely certain that this is not something supported by the majority this is not something that we want. [clears throat] Um I have come to several board meetings and people have been talking at you. I have seen several people yawn several times. Um oftentimes the same person.

037I have seen at least once someone roll their eyes. Um I don't like that. I want to talk to you. I do not want to talk at you but I'm starting to give up hope with that. So, I have a few things to say. First of all, um it is not a question whether or not turf contains PAS. It is a fact. I guess you could argue it's a question. It's a question in the same way that um vape being just water is a question. Yes, people still think vape is just water. It's not. It's not a question. It's a fact. This is something we know. Um second of all, that um field that you fenced off, I walk to school every day. Um, I can't I can barely walk to school. Um, the the

038field is um covered in about um I would estimate a foot of snow. Um, the area I walk, I can barely get through. Um, I need you to plow it. If you have giant construction machines out there in the field, you can definitely manage to plow the field. So, it needs to have no snow because otherwise I'm not going to be able to get to school very easily and that's not a good thing for my education and my future as well as my comments. Um I mean yeah last um the field when when it when or if it is um completed I am not going to be using it ever. Um, I know um quite a few people who agree with me on that and are not going to be using it ever. Um, the

039right thing for you to do is obviously and what we've been telling you to do, pause the project, realize that what you're doing is not what the people want. Get this fixed. This is not something that we're okay with. You need to fix this. Again, not a question. Fix it. That's what you're here for. So, I mean, yeah, this you have probably one of the easiest jobs in the world right now. I'm speaking from like I I'm a kid, okay? Don't I've never had a job, but um your job is to keep people happy by doing what they want. You're a person. You should know what the other people want. If you don't know, ask. [clears throat] You asked very vaguely. Um and people said sure. And now people are saying no. So you need

040to ask again in a clear way that people will answer in a way they feel about that is unarguably what they think about what you are asking about. You need to show people's actual opinion. Okay. I have I am I am so angry and I'm I'm not alone in this. You you need to fix this. This is not this is not a question. Okay. [applause] Finia, I just want to let you know that that snow issue is being addressed and they are uh looking for a better place to put it to clear that path for a walk to school. >> Thank you. Uh seeing no others, uh I'll proceed on the agenda. Next up, you have all received the agenda and we have uh sorry, any edits, comments, or concerns with regards to this agenda?

041Motion to approve. >> So moved. >> Moved by Karen. >> Seconded by Clayton. All those in favor? >> Also the approval of the minutes from the January 13th uh January 13th education meeting. Questions or comments or edits to those minutes. Okay. Approval of those minutes or motion to approve those minutes. Excuse me. >> So moved. >> Moved by Susan. >> Second by Esther. All those in favor? >> I. Um this tonight is the last of our sort of if you will on the road again tour. We're obviously at the middle school. Uh for those who can't might be watching on TV, we're actually in the middle school library. Um and tonight we want to hear from the middle school uh a whole bunch of people in regards to the middle school. What's the work that's

042been completed? What's the work that's being planned and in process? So, I'll ask some combination of Lou, John, and our partners at campus construction to come on up and talk to that. >> Good evening. I appreciate this opportunity. Again, I'd like to introduce our um owner, architect, construction management team. We have David Hallmark here from SEI Design. We have uh Tyler Phillips and Nick Paleo uh from Campus Construction. And then we have Rob Lu, John Novelli, and certainly Mr. Davis, you sit on our uh owners team, as well myself. So tonight, uh, Tyler Phillips from Campus Construction is going to talk about, uh, the projects that we've completed, give you the before and after, celebrate some of the successes. Uh, David Hallmark is going to talk to, uh, what's in store, where our master planning

043is, some conceptual designs for the next phase of work that's, uh, that we're asking the board of education to consider. And then Dr. Edmonds will talk to her vision and things that are on her list for master planning purposes. So with that, I'd like to invite Tyler Phillips up from campus construction. Thank you. Hi, good evening. Thank you for uh having me tonight. Um first off, I just wanted to say it's a pleasure working with uh Dr. Edmonds and Neil from uh the custodian staff. Um was very uh tricky spot that we had for this project and they made it a lot easier with uh their coordination uh to get started. 12 corners um steam suite. This was a few classrooms that were um outdated and there was a lot of demo. There were walls

044taken down. Uh floor systems ripped out. You can see in the second picture to the left um that was the floor after it was completely ripped out. Um to the right >> I want to I'm going to interrupt you for a second. I can never remember this acronym. I don't want people to think this is a steam room where like you would do something like that. >> It is a sauna there. >> Okay. What what's the acronym? >> Science, technology, engineering, >> arts and mathematics. >> Thank you. >> And it is formerly the fax suite, family and consumer science. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Yes. Uh so the steam suite uh was composed of three of the old fax home uh classrooms >> and we are still teaching fax

045the fax curriculum in those classrooms currently. >> Family and consumer science. Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. >> We're just going to keep throwing it. And the facts. >> I just want I want to make sure folks understand that that's a curriculum we're still working with in this current space that we've renamed. >> Thank you. >> Cool. >> Great. Sorry. Great. Well, that's great clarification. Uh this is the the hydroponics room right here. Uh this was just the back section of one of the old classrooms. Now a small section for uh the teachers to expand with hydroponics. Uh steam suite the hallway space. So to enter in uh there was two classrooms on each side of the hallway and now there's three classrooms all within the steam suite. So there was a lot of work taking

046down the walls and making this one big space. So [clears throat] uh in the first picture you see the old corridor. In the second picture there is um some support structures for the roof system so that when we take down the wall um it keeps the whole building up. There's a lot of demo and right above a sensitive area in the main office and counseling suite. right there in the left picture, some steel was added in and then now it's a nice cleaned up um sopet for the hallway and a nice entrance for the students. Here's another area for the steam suite, the instructional area. Just showing you the before um the brand new concrete floor pour and then all the way to the right got the brand new furniture, lighting, um walls, ceiling paint.

047So this was uh the kitchen, the old kitchen, [clears throat] outdated. You have the vents in the middle of the room. Um the not really flexible space. All the case work was um there. You can't move that. New [clears throat] framed out walls. And then all the way to the right um brand new kitchen area for uh the class elevator renovation. This was a modernization. So, this is just an elevator cab replacement. Um, there were recently some issues with the elevators, so we acted upon it sooner. Uh, this work was slated for this summer and we were able to advance that and it should be wrapped up shortly upon some electrical inspections. So, you can see that a [clears throat] new updated interior and then uh the elevator kit is all up to code. stairwells.

048This is one example. We will be completing the rest of the stairwells this next summer. So on the left you can see the original treads. Um and then in the middle we had to perform abatement of all the stairwells. So that took some time. After a week we were able to get back um make steel modifications for the steps and then when the new stair treads came in we were able to put those on. So with the rest of this work, we're going to be painting the stairwells and there's a lot of handrail uh modifications so to say. So enhancements coming up scope remaining this next summer went road entry renovation. So there will be lighting, ceiling, flooring, painting and some HVAC updates. >> And that's the area we call the bubble, right? >> Yes.

049Yes. >> Yes. >> This will be completed in the summertime. some hallway work. We have the hallway right outside this library down to this the stairwell with the new stair treads up to the steam suite. And then also we have uh the maintenance hallway by the boiler room and some of the classrooms over there. Concrete sidewalk replacements in front of that bubble area. Uh this will be going on during the summer as well once uh staff and students are off campus. Okay, thank you. >> Good evening. I'm David Hall of Best Design Group. Uh thankfully the architect for the district for the high school, middle school, and Frenchwood Elementary School. Um looking at the middle school as we have thoughts [clears throat] on taking the mentally health mental health services and counseling expanding that and

050making a more secure entry. We started to look at different options. So you have that existing canopy that as hard as we tried the birds just keep finding a home. And so thought process is you know how do we modernize this entry look like an entry and tie it into a secure entry. And so we put together some options that we can start to gleam from. We have a, you know, standard entry following along with the linear sight lines of the building and going with, you know, brick and structure. We then looked at the Winton Road entrance where there's a curved entry and how does that look fitting in this space. And then we took a stab at looking at something that's not normal to the middle school with a, you know, 1900's vintage and

051how do we really stand out as an entry in modern time with that entry independent of how we structure that addition on the front to really show an entry. It's important to have sections of security come in the building. You know, you have a front lockoff vestibule. We are expanding the securityattendance area to maintain another lockoff entry. In the evenings, if the exterior doors open to the outside, you have a basketball game. The doors up to the top right there will be locked and so parents can come in, get in the basketball game, but you don't have to worry about anyone getting loose in the school. With that, you have the security office for screening people as they come in from behind a protected barrier instead of sitting out in the open. And then with

052the influx of students, you have an attendance office that's not set back in the lobby, but more on the uh entry path in. As we're looking at this and having access with parents and individuals coming into the district to meet with someone in the main office, how do we keep them from moving through the school? And so we're looking at creating some kind of access with stairs up into the office. With the expansion of the mental health and counseling services, we looked at an opportunity if we took the nurses suite and relocated it, which I'll show on the next slide. How can we take the existing office that's been kind of uh modified in district with your own funds, with your own staff over time to account your needs and look at it holistically as

053this is where we want to go and how do we accommodate that within this space. And so we looked at taking the entire existing entire space, looking at the new program requirements and how do we fit that in this space. And so this would be the renovation of the office and the counseling suite to kind of operate together the way they do now. Um this area down on the bottom right near the stair tower going down, that's where the nurs's office was. And so taking over that space is what's allowing us the expansion of the program. Nursing suite. we're looking at putting down at the main entry. Now, with those doors pushed back, we said we have access for basketball games, volleyball games, to the gym. We also want to look at having access to

054the nurses suite. You have a sick child, parent needs to come in. You can have them come in and take care of what they need without giving them access to the rest of the building. And with that nurses suite, they get a new layout, can be more efficient to how they need to be, and we can kind of lay that out. that translates to moving the PE teacher's office and their bathroom. And so we looked at how do we take the existing locker rooms that have access doors in and out with this cumbersome square footage that's inefficient use of space and how do we maximize it so that there is the same function with reduced uh needs for say door swinging and being on top of each other and having that stacking effect. And so

055on the right side you can see [clears throat] there taking that existing girls locker room where the PE teachers office are and condensing that into one large office that's more functional. [snorts] [clears throat] Another issue we had is we had a mini flood in the lobby because a skylight has failed. It's near its end of useful life and we looked at replacing it and the cost of replacing it is extremely cumbersome and as it is with any skylight you run into a period of time where it's going to fail again. And so we are looking at options on taking out the skylight as it needs to be taken out and finding LED panels that mimic daylighting and you can put anything on them. But a lot of times you put in a sky feature. So

056we added a um you know a sky look here. You could put a bright and bruin on there. There's opportunities there being an LED panel screen and then it emits a daylight level color for that feeling. On the top left that's an example of that being done in a space. And another item we're starting to look at is right now with uh parent drop off and people parking and the buses. There are troubles that you encounter when you have people pulling in and I got to get my kid out. I want to get it by the door. Then you're stacking up. You're backing out in Whitten Road. We all know 12 corners very busy. So, we looked at taking the existing parking, turning it to a oneway, which [clears throat] reduces the required width and

057is more efficient for those just looking to park. And where the bus drop off is, moving that to Whitten Road and using that space and expanding it for double lane parent drop off, using striping and the use of the staff you have out there to encourage a more safe exiting procedure and pickup procedure for children coming in the district and reducing. Yes. Does that look then more like how we pick up at Fres? Like there is a pickup lane at Fres. It's like a double line of cars pull up to the C. >> The only difference is we're going to add more striping in there so that you can see I know it's hard to see from here but there's a lot of lines there. >> That's on the Monroe app side. Yes. >> Using

058that existing bus lane that >> Using the existing bus lane path. >> Do we drop off there at all anymore? We don't. We haven't in years. Right. >> There are a couple. There are a couple. >> There are. Okay. So, we would have to kind of re-engineer that. >> Okay. All right. That makes that makes a lot of sense. >> Yeah. And having and we have the room there by reducing it. You know, right now it's a 24 foot wide path. When you go to single lane parking and we call that um chevron parking, you reduce that travel lane down to 14 ft. So that 10 ft can be absorbed and now you can have two lanes of travel and we're able to provide a six-foot area striped that this is where your kids unload.

059They walk to the other unloading zone and there is an attendant there assisting kids as they cross that area similar to how you function at 12 corners. using assistance there. Here's a blown up of that. You can see that's the striping. So, psychologically, parents will have comfort in extending further and not stopping right at the door so your backup doesn't come under Monroe. And that striping path is a safety portion of walking down, >> accessing the cross portion where tenants are guiding kids into the building. And with the loss of parking, I've started to look at how can we gain some of that parking back because as we've noticed of late, it can be difficult to park out there. [clears throat] >> Thank you. >> Good evening. I'm excited to talk about the 10-year master

060plan. Um, as you know, I've been in this building for over 20 years, and you also know that this building is 100 years old this year. So, um, as you walk through the building, you can see very clearly what was original to the building. You also can see the different areas where, oh, this was added on and this was added on. And then you can also see like a beautiful mauve and green color scheme and things like that. Um that are all things that we are looking to brighten for lack of a better term. You know, start to bring this building um that brighten that brew and pride looking at just like the facelift piece of changing the color scheme to blue and white. You know, all of our lockers are green right now. I

061don't I can't speak to why that is the case. We were never green and white, but simple things like that, looking at as we're changing our um our entryways and we're redoing flooring, making sure that we're intentional about a consistent color scheme of blue and white through um our flooring and um the paint as we do hallways and renovate hallways. We're looking at brightenizing things, adding things in doorways to mats that have the bright and be on them. So, that's all very superficial, but those are important things that I think allow our students as middle schoolers to feel that bright and pride. So, we're really um looking forward. Tyler's been great in talking through all of those pieces with me. As we do this, how can we add that brighten element into it? As we

062do this, how can we add that brighten element into it? So, I'm excited about that, but also have had the opportunity in working with Neil and working with John and working with um Mike and Jelly to talk about also some of those like less pretty things um that are going to make us function well over the the next 10 years. So, things like um renovating our exterior doors. Um sometimes you walk past them and you can feel a really nice draft. They're safe, they're secure, uh but there's a nice draft there. So looking at energy efficiency, the same with our windows um for obvious reasons, looking at um door one entryway as we look at this new renovation that David was talking about. How are we finding a welcoming uh way that we can keep

063up with and manage um to maintain a a nice aesthetic as visitors and our students come into the building each day. Door five is that area um that's off the end of our main gym and there's the black top over there. So, part of the construction that we'll do in adding storage um we'll look at that area and how do we make sure that that's um safe and uh welcoming for our students. Also, bus loop sidewalk Tyler already talked about that's something that uh will happen. Um hopefully in the future we're doing the immediate area by door 14, the bubble door. All of that will be taken care of this summer, but then um moving down the line of where the drop off is, making sure that's safe and um and level for all of

064our students. Looking at bathrooms, um some of our bathrooms have I'm not going to say they're original um hardware in them, but they're certainly years old that need to be uh renovated, not only for efficiency, but also for aesthetics. Looking at as you walk through our building, we have obviously a lot of fire doors trying to get in line more with what Council Rock has where we have that swipe capability for staff. It's an extra security feature that people can't get through different areas of doors without that um that security pass of of the swipe cards. Um second elevator replacement. I know we talked about the first one uh which looks great and also has that swipe card capability. So, we're excited to to look at what the second one would be. And um also

065we talked about our main office renovation. The hallways we're going to kind of do systemically as I talked about, but also including that not only the flooring and looking at locker replacement and color schemes, but also looking at the lighting and the ceiling as well. All of our classrooms um over the next 10 years are going to need some work in terms of ventilators, cabinetry, and mill work. um you know, you have a building that is this large and this old and the variability from classroom to classroom in terms of temperature is is great. And so continuing to look at how do we support um the heating and cooling efficiently. Our gymnasium uh not only do we need new equipment in terms of backboards and bleachers over the next 10 years, but it is a

066space that does not have air conditioning. And uh oftentimes you think, well, it's okay because when it's warm out, kids are outside. Sometimes it's too warm to have kids outside and then it's too warm to have them inside as well. Dr. McGowan, I know you appreciated open house this year um and even at 7 8:00 at night as he was sitting through um presentations in the gym or when there's a a basketball game or a volleyball game, it gets pretty hot in there. For security reasons, we don't allow exterior doors to be open during a game like that. So you're kind of running in uh you're keeping the heat in. So looking at that, that's the cost for that is amazing. So that is not, you know, going to be something that's that's done tomorrow

067by any means. Our technology suite, we have amazing technology and we do continue to update here and there, but there are some things. Our greenhouse is going to get a new roof, but uh the infrastructure of it could be updated for sure, as well as classroom renovations and our TV studio, which is for our amazing morning show. Our abandoned chorus room, um, as Mike shared with me, the the climate improvements are very necessary, but it's also outdated in terms of the storage and what we're able to offer students for all of their instruments and needs. Uh we've continued to talk at least I know our group over the last five years about the auditorium and how do we make that the most efficient and usable space knowing fully well that the high school is our

068flagship performance area but um what do we do with our auditorium to um to make it uh usable and there's lots of different opportunities there. It also means a rooftop unit replacement for sure. We need some basic custodial upgrades as well as electrical upgrades which sound minor but they are significant. So there's kind of a balance there of aesthetics and exciting improvements in classrooms and special classroom areas but also some of that like electrical and and things like maintenance type stuff that really needs to be done to take a hundred-y old building into the next 20 50 years. >> Questions? >> Great job. The one thing I the one thing I just wanted to conclude with is to thank our custodial team here in this building, Neil. Lorgan and his team with all the construction

069that's spilled over into the start of the school year. They've just done an amazing job. Um, you know, keeping things clean, keeping things ready for school program. Just all weekend they were working on the steam suite, uh, making sure that it could open. So, I just want to recognize them and their efforts. Uh and then certainly our buildings and grounds team with um everything that they've worked through these past uh couple days with the snow and everything and make sure we're safe to open school. So just recognition to all of our buildings and grounds and custodial teams. >> John, can you pass this along? [applause] >> You obviously had the chance Lou to walk through for a little bit with the buildings and grounds team yourself Danielle. Uh really impressed with the spaces that are

070working. I think what maybe some people don't realize is there's there is some work we can do during the day during the school year and there's a lot of work we can't. So sort of like on or about June 25th, June 26, we go great guns for two straight months to get as much done as we talked about. So uh for Neil and that team puts a lot of pressure on them to sort of get after it and and get things going. So I'll echo what you said greatly appreciate all their work. But I also noticed, and I noticed this, in every building for all the principles, these folks have a lot of pride in what the building looks like. As you watch Neil walk around, pick up a piece of paper and just sort

071of uh uh do things like that. >> And there's a really good cohesion with the principles and the school leaders about what needs to be done, how can we support each other through some of that stuff. So, greatly appreciate, John, the culture that you've created in that regards just for the team to to sort of be out there. and uh if you can talk to any of the four principles and they'll all tell you how valuable their partnership is with the buildings and grounds folks. So, uh, greatly appreciate all that. And you know what we talked about for the main office area, the security entrance, we had some ideas. Some things are just going to cost too much money. [clears throat] So, we're looking at what other ideas and still basically hit the scope of

072that work. And I appreciate the creativity of everybody sitting in those rooms like, well, what else could we do? How else could this work? And, uh, final plug, then I'll be quiet. I just appreciate that Danielle and the team want to be close to the mental health team. So they're all working together for some of those kids who may have some additional needs and sort of right there. I think that's a small detail thing, but that that's actually very important. So acknowledge all that. Recognize all that. Really appreciate the work. >> Thank you. Appreciate it. >> Question other questions uh in regards to the TCMS work completed, in process, or being planned. >> Great. >> Yeah. Just thank you for all the thought thoughtful work that you put in that's shown here and the things

073that aren't shown here that you're working on. I appreciate that. >> Thank you. >> You think you can sit down, Lou, but you can't because uh we're going to talk now about the budget. Uh for those who anybody who watches the news, uh initial draft of the state budget is out and we're just starting to look at this. So Lou, it's fair to say this is a high level review at this point. Correct. >> Yes, sir. Okay. So that's exactly what tonight the objective tonight is just to set the stage for the work that needs to occur over really through mid-March before the executive budget proposal. This is just a kind of a snapshot of where our money is allocated, the cost drivers that are impacting um budget planning. Um, and it's a spirit of

074transparency of of where the money is and how we spend our money and uh how it's paid for. So, this is a visual that we show really at every budget presentation and the parts in red are just where we are in the process. So, our instructional leadership has done an excellent job identifying the needs um identifying the issues and the plans are being designed next month. The board of education will hear blueprint updates and that uh helps us tremendously in in allocating resources and identifying where the gaps may be between resource allocations and uh the resources and services that our our students need. As far as the key budget guidelines, we've highlighted a couple of the modifications from prior years. So, in the first one, um, from an accountant standpoint, it's very important to make

075sure that we're we're using reoccurring revenue streams with reoccurring expenses. We are using a little bit more fund balance in reserves this year, waiting for that revenue stream to come back in, especially as categorical aids. And we need to be mindful of that obligation and the sustainability of of revenues going forward. And then at the bottom, uh, we're looking at New York State tax cap and the long-term implications of that. Again, regardless of what the inflation rate is, it's the maximum of of 2% or the or the rate of inflation. So, we are at 2% again this year. So, that's generally the cap on new revenue um if staying within that 60% authority or authorization level as far as timeline and where we are in the budget. So, January 27th, um the purpose of this

076presentation is just to really highlight our starting point of the budget process. Uh there's not a final number or a gap or anything like that. It's just everything that we're working through. If you think about the financial reports that the board of education is accepting tonight, we're really only reconciled through November of that. So we have a lot more budget to actual number crunching to do to understand the accuracy of our foundation budget or of our base budget, excuse me. And from that we build on. We don't just keep adding on money. we have to understand the accuracy of this year's budget for consideration of what new resources may be required in the future. So again in the p spirit of transparency we always look at the trends in financial conditions overall we have a

077very healthy balance sheet um as a school district and you can see where the board of education has allocated money over over the past several years. So just kind of taking you quickly through it we have the blue which is our capital reserve. So that is money that's legally restricted by the voters for future investment in our buildings. So we need to be strategic about pairing that with capital dollars and capital allocations and state aid reimbursements to honor our commitment to the taxpayer that we want to maintain that car payment that Dr. McGowan always said in the 2017 payment. So what you're paying in your school tax bill will just continue reinvestment of that into our school facilities. And then within the yellow we have our our risk reserves and some of the the claims

078that are against claim outstanding claims against the district that we set aside money for for uninsured liabilities or any lawsuits and judgments that may be there. Then we have expense-based reserves. A lot of that is included in the TRS and ERS. So that's our opportunity to intervene if you will. So, if pension rates were to increase beyond the 2%, we have something that we could go to that would be a short-term financing source for that increase in rates. And then when the rates go down, we can wean ourselves off of our use of our savings account, for instance. >> And that's to protect the taxpayer overall. >> Exactly. Okay. >> So, that's where we can intervene to offset, you know, a short-term uh increase in expenditures and again pair with that short-term use of of

079financing sources. So, the bottom two is really what I want to highlight. You could see the appropriated fund balance. We were at $2.6 million for a number of years. We increased that uh in 202122 as we were looking at uh you know in the in the co years we started to wean ourselves off of that a little bit but ne last year uh for uh maintenance of uh programs and continuity of services. We used a little bit more as some of our reimburseable costs like transportation. We had a 19% increase in contract transportation after a bid. So we are using some of that money until the state reimburses us on a year lag. So I always want to point out the relationship between that appropriated fund balance and the unassigned fund balance. So that's essentially

080our unrestricted money. So the extent that the risk that we budget for in our our budget, you know, our risk uh risk provisions is what I call it. It's what we know and then what we may not know that we need to [clears throat] prepare for. To the extent that those risk provisions are not used, we give those back to the taxpayer. But if we utilize all those risk provisions and we need to replace that as a revenue source, our our opportunity then is for I'm sorry, the pointer's not going. Um we would use that light blue bar which is our unrestrict unrestricted revenue. So the relationship between those two is is really important. So then in our initial budget to actual again our our business office team on a on a monthly basis we

081close the books and we look at our budget to actual. So comparing the where we were November of 24 to November of 25 we're about a million dollars less in the risk provisions that that we we generally budget for. There's a couple things that are happening uh that we're monitoring closely and I put those in our financial reports. So we'll continue to monitor those again to assess the accuracy of our base budget as we apply assumptions going into the next year's budget. A slide that we always show in the budget is where we're spending our money and this is by the object level. So you can see as a pie chart that we heavily invested in people and the superintendent says in every budget presentation, we're unapologetic. We are a people business. We need to

082recruit and retain, you know, highquality people. So our salary and personnel costs are always going to be the primary primary driver. And then we look at some of the other costs that are inherent to every school district. When you look at our Boseies costs that are in that orangey color, you're looking at mandated services in there. And then you're looking at services to run the business operations of the district. A lot of that is the technology infrastructure that we rely on for from operations. We look at the debt and capital is [clears throat] 7% of our budget. Again, those are fixed costs that are approved by the uh by the voters of the district now. So, we're always trying to manage our debt obligations with the reimbursement in building aid. So, any increases that you

083see in building aid, which we'll talk to, are going to be paired with increased debt obligations as the um as the capital projects are administered and we're paying for those. And then we look at supplies and services, which you would say generally is uh discretionary or most discretionary. But when you look in there, um 6% of that is contract transportation. That's all mandated services, right? So, that's an obligation that the district has to to our community. We look at another 3% of that is special education tuitions and services. Again, those are all mandates within there. And 3% is utilities, insurance, and maintenance costs for the operations of our building. So, not a lot of discretion in um those and we're susceptible to rate increases just like we are as as homeowners. >> Can I ask

084a question on that? I apologize to interrupt. Um, is a a food service wrapped into supplies and services? >> No. So, this is the general fund, but the food service is a separate fund that runs as a business activity and it's accounted for separately. >> There used to be some subsidy from the general fund to school lunch uh for unpaid school lunches. Uh, but now with the universal free meals, >> that that has provided relief to the general fund. So, you'd see that as an inter fun. >> Thank you, Luke. Yep. >> Can I clarify one more one more piece of that? the idea that food service is a sort of a selfstanding thing. That's a that's a New York that's how it runs in New York State in all districts, right? So, it's not

085a decision we made to take that out. That's simply how food service is is mandated to be run in the in the state. It's supposed to the programs were supposed to fund themselves through the sale of school lunches. >> Our basis for accounting and presentation of financial information is all prescribed by the state. So there's a uniform system of accounts that these object classifications are all prescribed by the state. So it's not our judgment to where we want to code things. We have an obligation to code them consistently. That way there can be fair comparison of where districts are spending money. >> Yeah. Great. >> And >> thank you. >> When we when we talk about schools, as Larry mentioned, that's something that our our independent auditors also look at. >> Correct. >> In terms

086of how that how that's run and and how it all pans out. >> Correct. there's oversight. >> Okay. So, the next several slides I'm going to look at again disagregate the pie chart that we just looked at and look at the dollar allocations and the trends over time in that and then what we're looking at as a team as we think about rollover budgets assumptions or preliminary budget assumptions. So again, salaries and wages is our our top investment and you can see the increase disagregated by um by the service level and what we're looking at as we're going forward are contractual [clears throat] increases. So when every time we're we look at our employment agreements and our labor contracts, there's a cost analysis that's applied to that. So we have to apply those contractual increases

087and then we look in the change in mandated services and in particular we look at mandates and the changes of our student enrollments and the needs and the services that our students deserve. In this particular year we're looking at ENL and special education and related services and we're seeing that that may require additional human resource allocation to meet our student to meet our student needs. And then we look at investment uh in blueprint priorities to the extent that we have financial cap capability to do that. We want to continue and invest in our blueprint priorities. Changes enrollment, as I just said, may require shifts in in human uh capital allocations. Uh so we're we're monitoring that and we're looking at student choice is a big part of our high school program. So that's all the

088work that has to happen over these next several weeks to see what those FTE allocations are and then um our ability to to find the efficiencies to um to assess budgetary impact. Okay. And then pressure on the minimum wage. uh again um it went up uh 50 cents this past year. We weren't necessarily expecting that. So we're in a pos position now where where it's somewhat unpredictable what the minimum wages and that certainly has an impact on our collective bargaining and uh compression with um people who have been here for for a number of times. So that's a it's u something we try to address in collective bargaining. But we always have to be mindful of that initial initial bump in in the c increased cost of services. When we look at the enrollment and

089its impact on preliminary staffing allocations, you can see overall we have relative stability in our enrollment, but there are some shifts as the cohorts move through our system. So preliminary projections would show a decrease in a section at Council Rock, but an increase in a section at French Road. And we monitor that very closely. Um, just today, uh, Mr. Mr. Tapen and I had an had a conversation looking at the percentages um that we use to project enrollment to make sure that um we're considering all the trends and what the building's seeing as far as registrations and enrollments. Uh me and Miss Koggins will do the same thing and look at those percentages to make sure we have the best number so we can be as accurate as possible in our enrollment projections. When we

090look at benefits, again, the second largest um area, we're looking at budget factors uh that have a significant impact on on the preliminary budget. Again, you can see where it's disagregated. Health insurance, retirey health insurance, workers compensation, payroll taxes, and retirement contributions. So, some of these are payroll driven. So, the extent our payroll goes up, our pension obligations are going to go up. um contractual obligations are within health insurance and workers compensation is also tied to payroll. So as one goes up, you're going to see increases in the next. We have had favorable uh claims experience for workers compensation. So we're really proud of that. We we take great pride in that and that number um we're getting some relief on. But the factors within health insurance are probably the most impactful just in general

091medical inflationary trends are significant. We've had uh great partnership with our labor unions of evaluating plan alternatives and we had a number of individuals that uh considered and were incentivized to move to uh the high deductible plan from a minimum premium plan to a high deductible plan which we very much presented as a win-win. It saves our our employees money and then it also saves the district's insurance. So we always try to find our opportunities like that to partner with our labor unions uh to find those win-win scenarios. where we don't have a win-win scenario is retirey health and the changes in funding for uh Medicare supplemental plans or Medicare advantage plans uh were really outside our scope of being able to intervene in that. So the increases as the federal government changes their funding

092to the different plans um we're just really have to accept that and we there's again not a lot of room for intervention. So this year and probably the next couple of years the growth in retirey health insurance cost is going to be significant. So we'll have to find find ways in other areas to combat that in some way. And then the pension contributions I have in number three and number four, we are getting some relief on the TRS rate. It's going down from 9.59% to 8.75%. So [clears throat] even though contractual raises may increase, we're getting a little bit of relief on that employment contribution percentage that's again mandated um by the state and an obligation of ours to our employees long term. Lou, can you clarify what TRS and ERS stand for? >> Yes.

093The teachers retirement system is for any certificated staff and then ERS is our local employees retirement system. So that would be for a classified civil service staff. >> Thank you. >> So two different governing bodies and different rates for for each labor group. >> Thank you. >> Okay. >> Um Boseies again disagregated on that pie chart, but you can see a little bit where the resource allocations have been over the last couple of years. Again, special education is our top cost within that. And again, those are all mandated services responsive to student needs. So, as uh as students require different services or out of district placements, you know, we meet that obligation and partner with Boseies to be as efficient as possible with that. Business technology services, again, those [clears throat] are our core business

094operations. A lot of that is our contractual costs for our financial management system, our student management system, all the network security that we've invested hundreds of thousands of dollars more in to keep our network safe and to keep our student privacy um student privacy uh risks mitigated as much as possible. And then you can see the other uh instructional technology. Again, we have a commitment to a onetoone technology platform. So the repair and replacement of those devices is a significant part of our of our budget. Um and then transportation. So those out of district placements, we both we contract with Boseies. That's another mandated services that's really responsive to what our students need in transporting them to a centralbased program. Occupational education is another mandate. So to the extent that our students sign up for

095an occupational program, um you know, we support that with the tuitions through Boseies. So the Boseies is facing the same pressures that we are. I sit on the management steering for Monroe and Boseies. their retirey health costs are included in their administrative costs. So we're likely going to see a 10% increase in that administrative cost and then active and retirey health costs are through all the component districts. So that pressure is being passed through the services that we prescribed to Bosei. So again similar pressures that all districts are facing. Um so we're going to see larger than normal rate increase increases from from Boseies disegregating again our tuitions uh services and supplies again I won't belabor it but some of the things here and our ability to intervene when we looking at transport contract transportation

096again we did an RFP um bid for those we have the providers we have contractual increases for the next several years uh this year it's 3% so we're we've kind of made that lift of the first the bump of the first two years. These next couple years will be 3%. And then with the electrification of buses, we'll have to do another bid and then likely the costs of the electrification and the infrastructure and everything else will be in the next wave. So we have a couple years of a reprieve. Uh but then we could expect transportation costs to increase significantly um again as we as as for student uh will electrify their fee fleet, excuse me. Um, special education tuitions, again, mandates, utilities, and custodial. We're averaging $20,000 more in utilities this year, just like

097we are at our homes. We're seeing 20% rate increases on delivery charges. So, we're looking at ways to curb utilization um and and be responsible in that regard. And then you can kind of see all the rest of where they are in their relative impact and our ability to intervene, you know, is what we'll be exploring over the next several several weeks working with the budget managers. Debt, this is tough to see, but um the point of this is we work with our financial consultants to put these debt schedules together. That's an important part of our tax cap calculation. [clears throat] Uh so as we bring on more debt to complete the work that we've committed to the community, you know, we'll put together a financing plan to stabilize the impact on the local tax

098levy. As was talked about in the facilities update, we're looking at uh a capital project for the main time. A lot of it is to complete the work that we said we wanted to do at the middle school. Some of the work was deferred as we continued to um develop the design. Again, at the time of referendum, it's it's conceptual designs. Then we have to really get into designing it and engineering it. There was cost escalation. So, some of this work we're repackaging in this next referendum. And then we're proposing some additional scope that David Hallmark talked about with finishing the secure entrance way, moving the nurse's office down there, redoing the flooring of the um atrium, the ceilings, the skylight, um and again honoring um honoring the work needs to be do responsive to

099Dr. Enman's concerns uh with the overall program of her building. So, as we look at the performance of each of the projects and surpluses and and um what the board is accepting tonight with council rock, we have an opportunity for reinvestment just like we said. So, we have favorable bid results that we'll be able to utilize in this project to honor our commitment of no newer taxes related to capital projects. So, there'll be a lot more coming with that in the next next several weeks. Quickly on the revenue side of the budget, we are still analyzing the governor's um budget and the data that was used to uh impact that. But what I want to point out here is the top one, the foundation a formula is really the only unrestricted revenue from this. Everything

100on the right hand side of that is a reimbursement aid. So you spend more, you get more. It's really no relief to our local tax uh tax levy. So any new money in the foundation aid is what helps us support you know continued investment in program or those inflationary costs that that I talked about. Okay. So overall preliminary revenues again a lot more work to do on this but some of the the things that we're looking at and concerned about interest rates starting to come down. Last year we were really or for 2526 we were really aggressive in in um budgeting for our investment earnings but as the rates come down we knew we were going to have to start leaning back a little bit on that. So we're we're slowly backing away from that

101and likely that'll be a decrease revenue over the next next couple of years and then again a lot more accounting for where we are this year, what we expect to realize and what those assumptions will be going going into next year. But overall with the increase mostly contributed mostly attributable to an increase in building a you know from our debt we're looking at an opportunity of increased revenue of 2.96%. So when you pair that with the budget factors that I talked about and again this is not to be a final number or anything just big picture where we're starting and and to frame the work that has to happen over the next several weeks. We have on the right hand side the top budget pressures that we talked about the increase in in salaries just

102a contractual increase in salaries if it's to average about 3.5% with uh retirements and attrition and things like that. You know we're looking at $1.6 6 million an 8% increase in health insurance assuming a 10% increase in um rates offset by the migration to the high deductible plan. You know, we're carrying about 8% right now. A lot more work to do on that though. A 50% increase in retirey health insurance as it stands right now would be $2.3 million. And then if there was an average 4% increase in Boseies, that's another half a million dollars. with the two new unrestricted revenues. You know, if the tax cap is at 2% and it's going to be right around there when I finalize the cap number, but the mo we get zero increase in um property tax

103growth factor. So, Brighton is a stable community. We're not getting more for new housing or things like that. So, that's a zero this year. And then we just have the 2% inflationary adjustment. So, that generates about $1.2 million and 6% increase in foundation aid, which sounds great as a percentage. the raw dollar, gross dollars that that generates is $1.2 million. So $2.4 million of new money potentially, you know, paired with the the pressures that we're looking at on the our core expenses is is the starting point for our work over the next several months. >> So with that, you can kind of see what our next steps are. These are consistent from year to year. We will do a thought exchange. I don't know if Dr. M you want to speak to that? But I

104have a lot more work to do with the business office team and scrubbing the numbers and looking at the accuracy and the u accuracy really of the 2526 budget as a starting point for the development of the 2627 budget. >> We will launch the thought exchange prior to the February break and be able to share the results with the board uh two weeks after that. >> Thank you. [clears throat] >> Um questions and We'll be talking about this year's budget for every meeting leading up to the May vote, but as a first glance or first blush, any questions for Lou in regards to what our initial findings are? >> The other districts are facing the same pressure and retirey health cost, healthcare increases. >> Part of the regional RFP um was that we all we

105all collaborated and it was a cooperative RFP. So, it's the plan that we all subscribe to is that the risk or change from a federal government st funding standpoint. So, we're all in the same boat with that. >> Okay. And Larry and I will both attend the district operations meeting for Monro County School Board Association next month where we'll talk about what that looks like for all districts because we do all belong to this cooperative plan to try to reduce our costs. So this is even in an effort and this is potentially reduced cost than it could be. >> That adoption of the plan, the Etna plan saved the district $2 million. >> And you know, as we realize that savings and incorporate that into our budgets, if you remember just a few years ago,

106our budget benefits increase was >> maybe just a couple percentage points because we had that savings. And so once we've kind of budgeted those savings and took credit for that, now we're at the point where the escalation and the inflation is is putting the adverse um pressure on us. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions or comments? >> Have you stand there for one second, Luke, just for a second? Next on the agenda, we've got the approval of the Brighton uh central school district bid recommendation for the capital improvement project 2024 phase 2. This is for council rock. So whereas the discussions we've had before are about the work bundled together in the high school, middle school, and French road separate project uh for council rock. I'll quickly say because I was able to be

107at the bid opening the initial cost we estimated and Lou you can add to this or edit to this as you deem appropriate but we come up with here's the things we want to get done can't go out and hire a lot of people to draw the work yet because it's not approved and we say what's our estimate for the cost of this work >> and then it goes out to bid with preliminary drawings and we have estimates that we work with our partners on to sort of go what do we think this will cost and then it's an open bidding process us. You have multiple biders for electrical work, plumbing work, whatever it is. And we have a guesstimate, if you will, an educated guess what we think it'll cost. What we sort of

108saw commit on this council rock work was generally lower than what we expected. And good news was the work was desired. We're a good district to work with for a lot of the trades. They have respect for us. The work we do, a lot of that's the buildings and grounds team and Lou in terms of what we do also with campus construction. So I would tentatively say, you know, not good news because it came in a little bit lower than expected. We still got to break down a lot of that stuff. Take a look at it, see if anything was missed in terms of what was quoted on, but it was generally good uh news. So I'll ask for your approval. Lou, is there anything you want to add to that? Um just in terms

109of what I said with what we saw coming with participation. Uh again, it was it was a a bid that was um you know, soughta because it's a couple years worth of work. Uh we're starting to see where our biggest concern was of the electrical trades and we're seeing as the stadium in Buffalo is completed and we had a lot of electrical a lot of participation from electrical contractors but the GC results were extremely favorable uh given the duration of the project. So very pleased with the result and creates an opportunity to get all our al alternates done um well within budget and again allows for rein investment in in the other three schools. All of you certainly heard about a shortage of workers in the trades across sort of every category, electrical in particular.

110Um before I ask for your approval for um the bid recommendation, any questions for Lou or myself or for Kevin for that matter with regards to this council rock. [clears throat] Thank you. We appreciate approval of Brighton CSD bid recommendation for CIP 2024 phase 2 council rock CIP. >> So moved. >> Moved by Karen. >> Second. seconded by uh Clayton. All those in favor? [clears throat] >> Uh next up, we've got the approval of the non-resident tuition calendar for the 2025 2026 school year. >> Yeah, 2025 26. I think about that for a second. Thank you. >> No, 2026 27. >> Okay, I said that wrong. I apologize. 2026 2027 school year. That's next school year, not the school year we're in now. I apologize. Uh just want um um you [cough and clears throat]

111>> um again typical here different holidays we're trying to be inclusive for the entire population of Brighton. >> There are times when different holidays move to a weekend and things like that. So I'll give you a chance to comment if you want Kevin whether it's whether it's Eid or Christmas or Hanukkah or any of these things and sort of take that all into account. Um anything you want to add to that before I ask for approval? Uh just that we continue to traditionally take off Rashani Yam Kapour um Eid Dvali Junth Asian Lunar New Year and I think I think that I have listed all of them. I would point out to people that if it falls on a weekend or is anticipated to because Eid will move based on the cycle of the moon,

112>> we um then don't schedule it. So if you don't see a holiday on the calendar, it's not that we decided not to observe it with a day off. It's because it falls on a weekend. So uh Rashan is an example of course in next year's calendar of that as is Dvali as is Junth and I believe Asian lunar year also. So they all fall on a weekend in next year's calendar. uh but we will continue to focus on those holidays as those that we would be able to include in the calendar to the best of our ability every year. >> So, uh this calendar is no exception to that. Continues to have three snow days um and the appropriate number of days of school. >> Okay. However, I just realized I jumped over the

113non-resident tuition. So, I apologize. We have to do that one first. But now you've got information on the uh calendar. So, I'm going to go back for a second. I apologize to everybody. I'll believe the allergy medicine. um approval of non-resident tuition for the 2025 2026 school year. I need to make sure to to say this in the event that is needed for someone moving out of the district prior to the end of the year. So we don't have people paying money to come to go to school here that don't live in Brighton and it's a stateisssued number. So it's uh uh from that standpoint. So what I will first ask for item eight approve I'm sorry questions for the non-resident tuition uh fee approval. >> [clears throat] >> Motion to approve the non-resident tuition

114for the 2025 2026 school year. >> So moved. >> Moved by Esther. >> Seconded by Carolyn. All those in favor? >> I. >> Now we'll go to the school calendar. Um any questions with regards to the school calendar? I know you've all had a chance to look at drafts of it. >> I got some questions from students about December [clears throat] 23rd before winter break and it looks like that is for this next year. For any students still watching at home, it looks like that kicks off winter break on December 23rd. >> Correct. >> Would you like to predict the number of snow days you expect to give? [laughter] >> 17 18. That's fine. >> Okay. Motion to approve the 2026 2027 uh school calendar. >> So moved. >> Moved by Susan. >> Seconded by

115Clayton. All those in favor? >> Excuse [clears throat] me. Next up, we have the approval of financial reports which include a single audit report dated [cough] June 30th, 25, extra classroom audit report dated June 30th, 2025. Directive action plan extra classroom audit dated June 30th, 2025. And the treasures report dated November 2025. Karen, I don't remember the November date of our audit meeting with October, November, but we've got our next one on February 10th. I know um you've all had a chance to review these financial reports. Um these have to be approved uh separately as a as a cluster. Any questions with regards to these financial reports? Motion to approve. >> So moved. >> Moved by Karen. >> Seconded by Carrie Lynn. All those in favor? >> I [clears throat] will now go to reports.

116Samantha, thank you so much for your patience down there. >> That's very nice of you. We'll start with our student report. Samantha. >> Um, second semester has officially begun and wrestling had their senior night on January 14th with also boys swimming and diving winning the division 2 title on the 22nd. A palooa had their concert on January 9th with all the a capella groups performing at it. At the recent DECA conference, 118 students attended, several qualifying for states that will take place in March. Model UN took place on the 10th with 36 delegates attending and nearly onethird winning awards. Executive Council is hosting the first Winter Wonderland event on January 30th where there'll be crafts, movies, music, games, and more. and Legally Blonde will have their performances February 5th through the 7th. >> Thank you

117very much. >> Thank you. [clears throat] >> Okay. Board of Education. Well, first up, we've got the Monro County School Board Association um reports. We'll start with district ops, which Karen and I attended uh last Wednesday, January 21st. That was about student suspensions. And uh the speaker from Bon Chonic was excellent. Can you remember her name? >> Is it Katie Stiffer? >> Okay. Yes. Katie Stiffler. >> Amazing. >> Yeah. Did an excellent job. Talked about a lot of different scenarios, ways to keep kids in school and uh also have them be accountable for actions and things like that. Always a very tricky balance, but just an excellent excellent speaker. Great with questions. Uh very happy to have her. That's the second time we've seen her. She talked to us about special ed before, too. >>

118I think she's a her expertise is special education. She is a frequent um presenter at Monro County Schoolboard Association law conference. Just another float if law conference comes around and you can make it. [clears throat] >> Thank you. Information exchange. >> Yes, I had the um opportunity to meet uh via Zoom on the 14th. Uh we were visited by Melissa Heatley and Allison Styles who are co-directors of the UR Medicine Department of Psych um psychiatry at the Galisano Children's Hospital and they talked about the many programs that help the school districts meet the mental health needs for all students from K through 12. Uh in particular they talked about one program called URSOS which is uh stands for supporting our students um uh which provides consultation for individual students uh school and community trainings and

119also training for parents which is a great way to keep everyone in the loop to make sure that everyone is on the same page and no one is siloed with the mental health um um help that they're getting from wherever they're getting it from. So, it was really interesting and informative meeting. >> I was there as well and one of the presenters is Melissa Heatley who has worked with our district to help establish um on-site an on-site mental health clinic here as she has in many other districts. Um just good stuff. It was a great presentation and it's very informative. >> Thank you. Legislative >> legislative legislative met in January. Uh we have to alter our Albany trip a little bit this year. will be taking a small group at the end of February instead

120of our larger field trip because um the session doesn't coincide with the superintendence conference which is a bummer this year. So we will still be going but we won't necessarily have our supers with us like we usually [cough] do. We're hoping to resume um our our usual field trip next year and we are preparing for legislative breakfast. We'll meet next week. Um, I don't we didn't have all the RSVPs yet from our local representatives, but they are usually in attendance. Um, a number of us will be there. Larry, Dr. McGowan, Dr. Gasparino, um, whoever else wants to RSVP, Lou usually often joins us. Um, we refer to it as the wedding. They're busy doing table charts, seating charts right now. Um, but stay tuned for next month and we'll tell you what we talked about.

121>> I think Samantha is coming. >> Oh, Samantha. Oh, yes, that's right. This is the first year we have >> um board of ed student reps. Since every district now has a board of ed student rep, they have also been invited. And then next year, what will be exciting is that we have a student voice section. Um students from five districts that represent east to west are um invited. And because I will be assuming um the president position from under county schoolboard association, we will have a student from Brighton invited to take part in the student voice section. >> Excellent. >> So we can look forward to that. Great. Great. >> Uh, next up from Boseies. As I will always note, we are very fortunate that our former president Mark Kanovich is our uh, rep

122to Boseies and he's provided an update for tonight and I'll hit a couple of the highlights. budget by and you heard Lou mention this before, budget reviews been ongoing since November and they have plans for the administrative capital operations and maintenance special education programs EMCC which is the Eastern mineral career center at the multi occupation focus programs. They have approved their and approved their updated districtwide safety plan. Approval of lease agreement with the Fairport Central School District for a portion of Manurva Dand School for relocation of the Monroe One ETAR program. and uh approval of lease agreement to add an additional 12,000 ft of space to the existing 17,000 ft² of space under lease at the Monroe administrative site on Pittsford Victor Road for relocation of additional non-instructional functions to provide additional space and existing

123Monroe uh one facilities. Um they've also received some updates with in regards to their quarterly administrative steering committee updates and their annual reserve plans. And as always, we greatly appreciate Mark's work on behalf of the district. Other board members reports. I'll start with Clayton. If anybody else has anything else they'd like to report, work this way. >> I was uh unable to attend the last program of valid meeting, so I don't have anything to update right now. >> Carol, >> um I attended seems like an eternity ago, December 18th, the library program review where we um looked at the survey data we we received from students and staff members across all four buildings. We were put in focus groups and we were looking at our particular strand looking for trends um and information that we

124wanted to dive into and our next meeting will be talking about recommendations. >> Great. Thank you, Esther. >> Nothing new to report. Um the schoolbased equity team for the high school uh meeting coming up this coming Thursday. Also, Brighton believes in hiring practices meeting um both happening in February. >> Okay. Thank you, Karen. Thank you, Sue. Um I had the opportunity to attend the physical education program evaluation meeting which was held last Wednesday from 9:00 to 11:00 in the morning. Um at that we had representation um from um you know K through 12 physical education instructors and health um across our district where we're creating surveys to distribute um to um our teachers involved with PE um to sort of level set our curriculum. what we offer. Um, and we're divi uh designing surveys for

125both student and teacher um about what PE, you know, should look like, what are best practices. Um, we want to be able to maintain individuality of program but also um develop some consistency. Um, and there was a lot of great discussion about um continuing education for our PE um teachers and we meet next again in March. >> Excellent. Thank you. [clears throat] Had a number of different construction meetings, but we've had enough updates on construction tonight. Completed, in process, and planned. So, I'll spare everyone that. Tomorrow night's the uh district uh executive motor school board exec committee dinner. So, I'll be at that. Uh BT Kristen Haligan. >> Thank you. Uh starting off with Council Rock. Uh the longstanding staff holiday drive at Council Rock donated $1,100 in gift cards to support Council Rock families

126in need. The generosity of staff allowed the school to support more families than ever before. Um in second grade, classes have been investigating community and identity, and students have explored their own identity as well as their peers, learning about each other and what's below the surface. Second grade extended studies. Jack and Annie from the Magic Treehouse books loaned their treehouse to the second grade extended studies cluster group so students could travel to the American West in the 1800s and learn about changes that happened. To thank Jack and Annie students created posters to share about one of the changes. Kindergarten artists created art around the theme. big idea of treasure, thinking about what is something that I treasure and made pendants out of clay that show a person, place, or object they love and want to

127carry with them. As part of their social studies communities unit, second grade classes created rural, urban, or suburban communities and roadways in the HAB lab and then programmed Bbots to drive the roadways through their community. At FRES, students in Mrs. clothes and Miss Webster's classes enjoyed a fun and festive holiday sweater decorating day. The activity brought lots of smiles and laughter and was a cheerful way for students to celebrate the season together while building classroom community. Miss Kosoff's class was joined by Mr. Hutchings, fourth grade teacher Miss Hutchings dad, who's head of grounds at Sonnenberg Gardens, and he taught the students a mini lesson on horiculture. And they then planted the three sisters, beans, corn, and squash, which will be kept at the Sonnenberg green houses this winter, brought back to Fres in the spring

128to plant in one of the courtyards. A perfect tie into the social studies unit on regional resources and crops. Third grade students and Miss Covert's extended studies groups researched careers using an AI chatbot on Magic School that gathered information from Indeed. and they then created visual aids to showcase their learning and uploaded them into Canva. Students in Mrs. Dashill's fourth grade class shared their culture with one another by creating culture flip books which allowed students to reflect on various aspects of their culture such as language, food, clothing, traditions, and holidays. And students were then able to make connections to one another. Fifth graders in Mrs. Harp's technology class used their spatial reasoning skills and computational thinking to solve Rubik's cubes on loan from Boseies. And third graders in Miss Simmons class started their robotics journey

129with Ozobots. Also using Ozobots was Mrs. Fallon, Mrs. Monikino, and Mrs. Files third graders. And they've been learning about color coding. They created roadways in a snowstorm that needed to be plowed. You could call on them, Kevin, for future plowing. Dependent on the codes used, Ozbot plowed away and collected as many snowflakes as possible with a 3D printed plow. In health class, teachers and counseling staff are working together to teach MDF safety lessons that helps kids recognize unsafe situations and understand how to seek help. Working together strengthens the consistency of messaging around safety and well-being across the school. Fourth graders in extended studies have just begun a new unit focusing on problem solving and inventing. Using maked do kits, they can design, build, and improve solutions while learning that trying, revising, and even failing are

130important parts of the invention process. At TCMS, Mrs. Cole's choirs had wonderful December concerts, and they've been selecting new pieces for spring concerts. Students have also started learning guitar to help become independent vocal musicians. In general music classes, they are composing new lyrics to favorite songs inspired by wintertime and learning the guitar chords. Mrs. Bertner's art students submitted entries to the Bright Memorial Library 5 by7 postcard contest with three students earning recognition including best in show and honorable mention. In addition to other art students had their work shared with Senator Cooney's office and showcased online. Andrea Burgio and Beth Sawyer and all the TAs in room 112 have been working hard to help support hands-on exploration of and learning about weather and ancient civilizations. Students engaged with the chatbot created through magic school to ask

131questions and learn about life on the river in ancient Mesopotamia. And they also made snow and built pyramids and science and social studies lessons. For the 15th annual gingerbread house building event, students in Fra Walter's class learned about the origins of gingerbread and the stories of the brother's grim. And more than 150 students and teachers visited the German classroom to vote for their favorite house. Coach Wasserman's CrossFit classes ended the year with some gymnastics and then a heavy lift day. The gymnastics showed off skills that they've been working on for the first four months. He shared an interesting fact. 5 to 10% of middle school students in the US can safely lift their body weight. The percentage of students at the TCMS CrossFit unit that can do the same feat is 98%. Coach Canabowski shared

132that in the spirit of service on Martin Luther King Day. The Brighton boys modified basketball team worked together for a special day of giving to support the Rochester community and they prepared and donated over 120 lunches for open door mission. Extra supplies from the event were then donated to the Brighton food cupboard. TCMS strong members spent part of a day reading aloud to classes at French Road and the Fres teachers loved seeing some of their former students as student leaders in 8th grade. At the high school, English teacher Emily Trobridge shared a project for her that her students recently completed in the showcase outside the library. They created a mini museum exploring how comedy transcends time by comparing 12th Night and She's the Man. Mrs. Mets shared, "For the last three years, her class has

133been able to participate in art therapy through the spotted rabbit, and it's been a great collaboration where students get to create in a different way than they could do in art class. Mrs. Hall and Mrs. Puit implemented a poetry escape room activity in their integrated co-eing English 10 class prior to break. This lesson was designed to review key literary devices through a collaborative problem-solving format that required students to actively apply their knowledge rather than passively recall information. And the lesson was inspired by Mrs. Puit's participation in Teachfest this past summer, where she received training in Breakout .edu and learned how to design escape room style learning experiences aligned to curricular goals. In the German program monthly report, German students at Brighton were inspired by guest speaker Max Lent, class of 24. He spoke about how

134his passion for German began in Brighton's German program and was strongly sparked by his participation in the Brighton Breman exchange. The experience motivated him to pursue fluency and fully commit to language learning beyond the classroom. BHS students were highly motivated by the presentation and inspired to follow similar immersion strategies Max used in their own language learning journeys. Mr. Mr. Rizzo shared the business at DECA club had 118 students compete at the regional competition. 16 will move on to the states. The BHS book club had a successful meeting Wednesday, January 7th, where they discussed three works of literature on the topic of immigration. Over 30 people were in attendance, including members of social studies and ENL department, ENL students, mainstream students, and the director of the YA library programming at the Memorial Library. The BHS graphic

135design class visited the Kerry graphic arts collection at RIT. They had a tour of one of the world's premier libraries for graphic communication history and practice. They were able to observe students working in the shed, which is RIT's new high-tech maker space. And they viewed and discussed the work and process of Lester Beal, a leader in American modern graphic design. And lots of interesting news from the LO department at the high school. French club celebrated the holiday season and Noel with cookie decorating and French Christmas carols and a traditional French holiday dessert labouch de Noel. January 6 they celebrated epiphany or three kings day with gallette dewa the king cake. Madame Ba's classes had the pleasure of hearing about the importance of second language learning from our shin shenim. Students loved learning about their journey

136to Rochester and they also had some games for the kids to help them learn new words in Hebrew. A culminating project in Madame Ba's French three honors class students wrote an original story, a fable or fairy tale to show their understanding of how to narrate in the past tense. January 9th, Madame Bay's AP French class visited the mag to see the new exhibit entitled Frontiers of Impressionism. The World Language AMD interns joined Brighton High School ski club on the slopes January 10th. Thanks to uh Miss Naen Dykes and Mr. Falter for allowing them this opportunity. It was Mario's first time skiing. [clears throat] World language students, interns, and teachers presented at Fres to the fifth grade students where they will soon be choosing which language they want to start next year at TCMS. And the

137Teen Institute Club presented on their experience at the Heart of New York Teen Institute conference in November and the impact of the conference on themselves and their mental health, the outlook for the future, and the impact on the Brighton community. They're planning to have a friend in times event in February and continue leadership mentoring at FRES in March. Thank you. >> Deborah, anything going on? Huh? >> It [laughter] will be shorter next meeting because it's only in two weeks. >> Find some things to do over there. >> Thank you very much, Ed, as always for the pictures. >> Uh PTSA update, Dr. Castillo. >> Uh thank you. At Council Rock Primary School, the year closed with a highly successful toy drive. We were able to collect two extra-l large bins filled with presents for families

138in need. The school also hosted a summer camp camp and activity fair. We had 33 vendors and approximately 160 parents and students in attendance. January activities included a second grade movie night, a fun food Friday with sparkling pomegranate juice, and a staff meeting a staff meeting hospitality with hot cocoa bar theme. Looking ahead at Council Rock uh is preparing for its first annual STEMfest on March 13th, and we will be seeking volunteers to support this new event. At French Road Elementary School, students enjoyed multiple fun food Fridays in December and January. The PTSA also provided snacks for the staff meeting earlier this week. The summer camp and activity fair was held on January 7th for them. The yearbook cover contest has concluded with winning artwork uh with the winning artwork selected. Third grade bingo nights

139were successfully held in January with fourth and fifth grade events scheduled for the coming weeks. Additional upcoming events include a movie night on March 13th and participation in Brighton Believes Day of Caring. At 12 Corners Middle School, the PTSA supported an eighth grade activity night in December and is looking forward to hosting a sixth grade activity night on January 30th. Districtwide, fundraising efforts continue to be strong. Calendar sales are going well with nearly $4,000 raised to date. Planning is also underway for the silent auction uh parents night, which will be held at the Sheffield on April 20th. The special education committee hosted an IEP's 101 meeting earlier this month and will hold a parent open form with Deanna on February 4th. The committee also continues to share monthly newsletters highlighting community events, resources, and agency

140spotlights available via email and Facebook. The diversity, equity, and inclusion committee has no updates at this time. Uh we have received applications for the Nancy FBeck Memorial Grant Awards. Teachers, administrators, and parents can apply for the grants which are intended to fund long-term child-oriented hands-on programs and equipment that benefit the greatest number of children. Uh the PTSA has also begun transition planning. The nominating process has started and work has beun to form a nominating committee. The proposed slate will be presented at our March community meeting with elections taking place in April. >> Thank you very much. Uh Dr. McGau, >> snow days, please be prepared. People should have backup plan. It is our obligation and our duty to be open whenever we can and we try to be. So, we're hopeful that people uh understand

141our position on that issue. We have to consider the conditions, the weather conditions. Of course, safety is our first priority, but also conditions being experienced by other districts, organizations, agencies regionally. We will attempt to tell people as soon as possible, but certainly would ask people to be prepared with backup plans. Thanks, Lou for a great presentation, really going over the complexity of where we are relative to the budget. there's a lot of work to do and also to our OACM uh team and partners as Larry said for all the work that people have done to create really great spaces for our kids and continue to do and I really want to hone in on those last two reports and thinking about all of those great things. >> If you watch the beginning of the meeting

142you may not recognize that that's what 600 people commit to each and every day and their parents and families. It may sound like a love fest to some or one. It's a pretty amazing work that should be recognized and and prayed about as much as we can because it's a great experience for kids each and every day that many people commit to all the time. Thank you. >> It's a good point. Thank you. >> All right. We have [clears throat] some approval of excuse me, second read policies. I'll read each one. Not the policy, but the number. Policy 1640, the bylaws, absentee ballots, policy 5683, the non-instructional business operations emergency drills. In policy 7554, students equal education opportunities. You've had a chance for a first read, no second read. Are there any questions on these

143policies and largely updates having to requiring us to update from state regulations? Seeing none, uh, ask for a motion to approve all three of these policies. >> So moved. >> Moved by Karen. >> Seconded by Esther. All those in favor? >> I. As is almost always the case, we have a a bunch of potential savings by being in a cooperative bid process through BOSEIS with other school districts to keep our cost down. In this section, we have approval of a cooperative bid for custodial supplies, approval of a cooperative bid for medical trainer supplies, approval of a cooperative bid for health and safety supplies, and approval of a cooperative bid for food service equipment for TCMS. Any questions with regards to any of those uh cooperative bid approvals? Motion to approve. So move. >> Moved by

144Susan. >> Second by Carrie Lynn. All those in favor? >> I. >> On the consent agenda, we have approval of personnel changes, recommendations from the committee on special education, recommendations from the committee on preschool special education, some really cool field trips. Our historically black college and university trip, which will take place March 24th to 26th. Something we heard about earlier. The eighth grade French trip to Quebec City, Canada leaves tomorrow, January 28th. I think Dr. Edmonds will be on this trip, >> right? >> Bright and early. [laughter] >> Less than 12 hours for going home tonight. >> Projected to beus 18° without a wind chill. So, good luck with that. [laughter] >> And the Brighton Spanish uh exchange trip to Spain, which is February 14th to the 23rd. We also have some fundraising activities or

145what I like to call eating opportunities. Friends of the arts and bright concessions at the BHS atrium February 5th through 7th, the class of 2026, Five Guys on March 11th, and the BHS business club at Tom Walls Motor Avenue on March 9th. With regards to that consent agenda, any questions on any of these items? Motion to approve. >> So moved. >> Moved by Clayton. >> Seconded by Esther. All those in favor. Before we close, uh, thank you to Danielle, Dr. Edmonds, uh, for hosting us tonight, for Neil and the entire buildings and grounds to get the building ready. Thank you to Asher, our student, uh, Mike and Dollar Bill for getting this all set up. We just sort of walk in and do what we've got to [snorts] do. Greatly appreciate that. Um, these road

146trips are great. We get to get out and see the schools. Not all of us get into all of them all the time. So, really appreciate all the work that has to be done behind the scenes. Our thanks to our clerk for also all the setup for all of this as well. Our next meeting is February 10th back at central office. Having said that, anybody else for the good of the order? >> Motion to adjurnn? >> So moved. >> Moved by Carrie Lynn. Second. >> Seconded by Clayton. All those in favor. >> We are ajourned. >> This has been a special presentation from the Brighton Central School District Board of Education.