001this is a special presentation from the brighton central school district board of education good evening everyone and welcome to the brighton central school district board of education business meeting and budget hearing for may 11 please take note that the board of education the brighton central school district in response to the continuing emergency circumstances caused by the covid19 pandemic and consistent with the new york state governor's executive orders including but not limited to executive order 202.1 is conducting its scheduled public business meeting and budget hearing this evening on may 11 2021 at 7 pm to be held via zoom and also on the district website through the webinar streaming function the public wishing to offer public comments shall be allowed to do so by participation of video in zoom teleconference and we will explain in a
002moment the methodology for commenting this evening further the public is encouraged to offer its comments in writing comments questions statements can be offered in writing to the board of education by mail or email you can email any of us directly or our board clerk district clerk kim lanza fame and all of our contact information is included on the district website tonight's meeting is a little bit different in structure and i want to explain uh it is a required part of our meeting this evening the first part is a required legal budget hearing so we're going to hold a budget presentation in that budget hearing first public participation will happen after that and here's what we would like you to do this evening first up will be comments or questions on the budget as part of
003the budget hearing and then after we take those comments we will take any other comments that members of the public brighton residents wish to offer so if you wish to make a comment either on the budget or on any other matter this evening we ask that you go in the chat function at the bottom of the zoom screen sign into the chat feature put your name and your address and if you wish to answer ask a question or make a comment on the budget please write budget we will take those comments and questions first and then we will take the remaining public uh input that is that is provided and i will remind folks after the budget presentation and the update that we're going to do the reminder to folks on the budget i will
004remind everyone again as far as public participation i remind folks that you have three minutes to speak uh that it's not technically a q a session we will answer certainly budget questions to the best of our ability and they cannot be related questions or statements cannot be related to specific individuals or specific students and we ask everyone to be respectful and cordial and maintain decorum uh during your time speaking so with that i will turn it over right now to dr mcgowan and we will review again the proposed 2022 budget and then we will hold uh open comment period from members of the public who wish to ask a question on the budget dr mcgowan thank you very much i appreciate that and as i begin i would like to thank all of you for
005your work in leading us in this budget process and of course the financial student is unrivaled frankly in the area and frankly throughout the state as well and so we appreciate all of his work to put together such a effective and efficient spending proposal i'm going to walk through some of the details but let community members know that on the budget tab on our website there's a significant amount of information in greater detail we're happy to answer any questions at any time and dig further into any number this is a broad overview and then of course we'll answer questions that you may have this evening as well but this is not some of the more detailed information that people may be looking for they're more than welcome again to contact us or dig into that
006further on the website i'll begin by just mentioning to you in terms of what we are presenting there's a quick revenue summary here tonight appropriation by function and object some budget detail by function and summary of staffing and all this great detail again is available online also the property tax report card is also available to you new york state report card fiscal accountability summer assessors report and administrative compensation information in great detail is all available at that link on the bottom of the page bc bcsc.org backslash budget uh tonight let me explain to you first of all our budget summary the adopted budget last year versus this year has a five percent change or 4.7 million dollars and how does that break down in the following ways first total revenues other than real property taxes
007so that excludes the tax levy are up 896 thousand dollars unrestricted foundation aid up 2.1 million dollars and that was really the the towel the tape or the story for this year a significant increase in foundation aid that's 60 percent of what we would be do we're exceptionally grateful for the work that's been done in our community dr claire mclaughlin has advocated tirelessly and brought along with her the fight for brighton group as well as our elected representatives senator cooney assembly member clark have done really an excellent job in advocating this position and making a big big difference and the promise is that we will be at 80 percent next year and 100 the year after that in previous presentations we've detailed our concern and our cautions over revenues in the state of new york
008being able to match that promise but we will wait and see and hope that that does uh come to fruition and plan for that accordingly also in terms of a revenue our building aid that will begin uh to come in at a greater level which is something we've been waiting on we'll go up 1.5 million dollars if you remember we had what we called that big lift of our debt service and now we will have revenues matching that lift as well we will be able to consequently because of some of those increased revenues reduce our reliance on the appropriated fund balance so to get through the rainy day we used rainy day funds to the tune of 4.3 million dollars in last year's budget and next year we're able to go down to 2.9 million
009dollars that's so helpful because remember that's our savings account and if you're over committed and using savings to pay for ongoing expenses that eventually runs out it causes a structural deficit that can't be overcome and causes major cuts long term so to be able to reduce our reliance on that while still giving back tax dollars from one year to the next that were raised from a previous levy is important but over reliance on that can be problematic and our non-property tax revenues then total 3.1 million dollars increase year over year that the result of that then the gap that has to be filled is in the tax levy and that's 1.5 million dollars being proposed the change in the levy then being 2.85 at this point remember this is a spending plan that voters vote
010on we inform you of what the impact on the levy could be the rate then is determined later by how much then that levy actually ends up needing to be once all dollars are finalized after the spending plan is approved and when the board sets the levy in august and the rate also depends on the total property values in the property levy as they're provided to us by outside entities important to point out in red at the bottom this is not in excess of the tax cap let me repeat that we are under the cap it is not in excess of the tax cap and on the right hand side the pie chart breaks down what the additional budget allocations uh for next year are mandates and contractual obligations 37 new and reinstated programs 36
011percent debt and capital 20 and all other being the summary of spending by object in terms of millions and where the biggest chunks for us are in terms of spending salaries wages up 3.6 percent that does not mean all members of our organization are or any for that matter receiving a raise of 3.6 percent it means that total dollars paid that given area in the budget will go up 3.6 based on the number of people employed and how much is being spent in that area there are of course contractual increases but that doesn't mean that the increases are to each individual 3.6 percent the total spending in that area is up that benefits are up 6.7 percent that's actually less than what the health insurance cost increase would be but that's the total number of
012plans that have to be budgeted for and other benefits up six point seven percent supply of services of five percent both these four and a half percent important to note debt and transfer is up 22 again that's the lift around our capital project as well and then transfers into other budget lines this breaks down to a three-part budget summary it's important to take a look at those green bars in the back that is where the bulk of our spending should be that is in the program side that is the money that is spent on programs for children that is 77 of our spending flat is the administrative cost that's 10 if we go all the way back to 1213 that's been 10 in the budget each year and now we see the increase 12 last
013year and up 13 in the capital area again as we lift for that debt service to pay for the capital projects approved in 2017 by our community then once approved not just by the community but through the state ed department and construction began the actual borrowing happened and that's where that spending in capital then begins to go up and now we have revenues to begin to match that also in terms of aid which has also helped us in terms of our long-term outlook our revenue sources last year 67 property taxes and i'm very glad to say because of the increase in foundation aid and other revenues property taxes make up now 65 percent instead of 67 percent we always would like to be would like to see that be lower of course our community we
014recognize pays the lion's share of the cost for their children's education out of local property taxes and we're hopeful over time that will be able to be reduced especially as we see revenues to the district increase and how does that break down as we mentioned of course foundation aid is 8.2 million dollars last year was 8.2 million dollars and the big difference between being foundation aid going up to 10.3 um in this current year on the right-hand side of your screen and you can see also transportation aid will go up as well about two hundred thousand dollars just less than two hundred thousand dollars hundred seventy thousand dollars um other aids that will come into the district will increase as well as well as other revenues uh boces will be increased as well that's based
015on cost from the previous year and our building aid then will go up as well capital project that we're asking for the community to improve as well a small capital project small in terms of the dollar amounts the good news for the community is it matches building aid that's coming in now with the debt service and this particular authorization we're asking for permission to spend 3.6 million dollars would be offset by use of capital reserve as well the current balance in our capital reserve is 7.6 million dollars we would propose to draw down 1.5 million dollars and the new debt authorization we would ask to take on is 3.6 million dollars and this would allow us to do gun rehab for the lockers in the locker room site work at the high school in the
016front of the building and that's largely the brick facade as we walk up i remember this past sunday seeing a lot of people sitting there during the farmers market enjoying some mother's day food truck fare on cracked sidewalk that's really in rough shape that really needs to be repaired it's something that that has to happen and this allows us to do that again offset by other revenue no impact on the tax levy the pa head end system needs to be replaced with high school as well the pool bleachers are in need of an upgrade as well as the hvac at the pool new filtration systems in the pool we need to replace or we'd like to replace stadium lights with led lights at the high school middle school of course that will provide more energy
017efficiency over time and better lighting renovations and improvement to the high school maker space we also have a significant donation from an alum foundation which will detail in a future meeting that helps offset some of that cost as well and partial roof replacement at the middle school so again that would all be able to be done without an impact on the tax levy we recognize that every dollar actually has an impact over time but in terms of the tax levy being proposed this year it's offset by other revenue in the capital reserve what is the impact on property tax cap i'm sorry property taxes reading from left to right if you take a look at the per thousand taxable assessed value in it was 25.99 per thousand in brighton and in pittsburgh 26 the estimated
018rate again this isn't until property values are finalized the total assessment rules given to us in brighton we would expect that to be 26.69 per thousand and in pittsburgh 27 87 per thousand plus a dollar 35 per 1000 one-time reassessment because of it the equalization decreased to 95 in 2020 which happened after that calculation after we had gone out with our taxes our tax bills two people last year we discussed this during the year at meetings and in previous budget presentations this is a one-time correction that instead of assessing people through the year the board made the decision the district recommended doing that in this year's tax bill instead the resulting estimated tax bill increase in the town of brighton is 70 cents per thousand increase 70 cents per thousand of assessed value that equates
019to for a hundred thousand dollar home seventy dollars two hundred thousand dollar home hundred forty dollars three hundred thousand dollar home two hundred ten dollars remember that equalization rate is expected to decrease to 95 percent the resulting tax estimated tax bill increase in pittsford for the town of pittsford excluding that re-levy amount that dollar 35 that i mentioned to you is a dollar eighty seven per thousand of assessed value hundred thousand dollar home hundred eighty seven dollars two hundred thousand three hundred seventy five dollars three hundred thousand dollar home 562 dollars and again the equalization rate is expected to decrease to 91 reading again because these are posted for people to read through each of the numbers i just would like to read to you for official record and comment while this sits on the
020screen the intended use of each of the schedule of reserves on the right-hand side proposition one requests withdrawal of 1.5 million dollars remember that is from the capital fund that i mentioned to you we would also request to fund future instructional technology purchases from the capital technology fund we would request to maintain balance to replace buses purchased in 1819 from the capital bus purchase reserve we would plan to re-evaluate required balance based on availability of federal funds for the unemployment reserve our insurance reserve we would suggest paying for the unbudget replacement of instructional hardware devices and uninsured judgments and claims associated with the child victims act the tax search already claim we would expect to use to pay for unbudgeted tax security judgments the employee benefits accrued liability otherwise known as heblar for those accountants
021out there would pay for the unbudgeted payout of contractual benefits for which the reserve was intended and the retirement contribution the ers and trs reserves would fund future mandated contribution tax increases to ers not tax increases increases to ers and trs to mitigate the impact on the tax levy important to always point out to people we do not run our own retirement system we are billed by the employee retirement system of the state of new york and the teachers retirement system from the state of new york our employees fall into one of those two systems that we are billed for but we do not operate a retirement plan and finally a reminder the vote is next tuesday 7 a.m to 9 p.m may 18th and a different location this year it is at the central
022administration building go in door 4 at 2035 monroe avenue given coveted restrictions capacity in our buildings and the disruption it causes when it is at the high school and frankly to provide better accessibility for our community the vote has been moved to the central office good news kiwanis food trucks will be in the middle school bus loop uh so please come certainly at dinner time support qantas that supports many of the programs in our buildings a lot of generous scholarships for our kids etc if you like to grab dinner when you come to vocal we hope that everybody can come and participate in the vote any questions from board members regarding the budget hearing overview thank you dr mcgowan uh board members i mean this is exactly the budget we've discussed this for quite some
023time we're aware of it i don't know if anybody has anything further they would like to ask or add to the presentation appearing that we don't have anybody right now i will remind folks that are watching us that are members of the public uh that if you wish to make a comment or ask a question about the budget that you please go to the chat function at the bottom of the zoom screen and put your name and your address in there and the word budget if you wish to make a comment or ask a question on any other matter please just put your name and address in the chat function and we will call on you shortly during an expanded public participation if need be so we will do that in just a moment at
024this point i just would like to remind folks that uh as dr mcgowan said uh tuesday a week from today may 18th the budget vote in person is open from 7am to 9pm utilizing the central office building on monroe avenue plenty of parking will be available signs to guide you will be socially distant please mask up and come on in and vote and if there are any questions that you see everyone has the the in their mailboxes in brighton the brighton central school district all homes and apartments all addresses have received the budget newsletter so if you have any questions about what you've read or seen there's plenty of information on the district website but please feel free to reach out to me directly to dr mcgowan or to mr luolimo our assistant superintendent uh
025for administration and we would be happy to get back to you and answer your questions so with that uh we will offer the opportunity for questions during this budget hearing dr mcgowan or dan goldman do we have any one signed up for questions on the budget no and i'll just give people a second if that needs to ruminate and say that um your leadership and support this year but for many years in terms of very difficult budget processes is so much appreciated has been appreciated and your advocacy really has made a difference in us getting to a very different place and again lose financial stewardship um and all of our billing administrators are on the screen right now and central office administrators in terms of just really thinking how to constantly be more efficient and
026work through challenges relative to our revenue is is just so much appreciated so we're in a better place we continue to get better that's good but we've got a lot of work to do to really think about how to reimagine and continue to innovate and be a place that can support a lot of exciting programs for kids while honoring the the desires of our community and the need to reduce the burden on our community members as well and find the right balance in that and be thoughtful in our planning over a period of time so again i just want to thank everybody in the process and encourage people to come out and participate in the vote there are no people requesting to speak um on the meeting tonight okay then we will at that point
027then we will close the budget hearing portion of our meeting this evening and uh we do not have any other questions or comments either dr mcgowan for this remainder of public participation okay then we will close that portion also and again i'm sorry let me do one thing i just received a note that the chat may not be working uh so there is only one other attendee i should point out okay so if that other attendee wanted to speak now would be the time if you'd like to put that in the chat but if not that's no problem don't want to force that person no not at all and again i do remind folks that are watching this and may watch it over this next week prior to the vote on next tuesday any questions
028that anybody has please contact us and we are happy to discuss anything further um and uh again the district website has all of the banking material uh in terms of budget development and where we're going so we'll go from there great thank you we're all set okay then uh in public participation we will close also at this point in time and again if we missed you this evening if you join us late please send us your questions send us an email and we will be happy to get back to you uh board of education members then i ask you for a motion please to approve our agenda for the evening so moved second moved by karen and seconded by larry all in favor aye any opposed that's seven in favor and unopposed motion please for
029approval of the minutes from our april 27 2021 education meeting second all right i missed that one sorry susan thank you susan moved and seconded by andrea thank you very much does anyone have anything to add or delete or correct to those minutes that hasn't been previously submitted to kim all in favor please all right anyone opposed thank you the approval of minutes carries seven in favor and none opposed uh reports section this evening our financial reports uh board members we have uh financial reports loaded in our material from dr are from louis limo and from our treasurer dahlia watts including the executive summary budget status report where lou is updating us as to where we are currently especially under budget monitoring and we have gone through that we also have the quarterly report uh
030from maureen on the classroom activity funds for brighton high school and 12 corners middle school does anybody have any questions uh blue or comment on any of those reports then may we have a motion please to receive those reports it's all moved moved by larry seconded by christina all in favor all right any opposed that's carried seven in favor and none opposed thank you uh our student representative this evening stella is headed has a trek meet this evening so we're very happy for her and she uh so she's not here with us this evening so she's got an excused absence uh so we'll move on to our board of education reports the monroe county school boards association standing committees that work is beginning to wind down as you all know our labor relations last meeting
031was on the april 28th meeting on evaluating staff in the virtual environment uh larry were you able to attend i was um actually a good session it was about half on zoom and half in person um you know a lot obviously is affected by what's going on with covet and distance teaching there was a lot of discussion around support for teachers the importance of supporting teachers in sort of a stressful environment and there were also the issues a number of school districts are wrestling with the issues of equity to make sure everybody has the same access and there are a couple of schools including rates that have set up a separate school what they're calling remote academy for kids who want to stay remote for health reasons or for other reasons um and then it
032was a lot on focus on measuring teachers and how to make sure we're fair with the teachers they like some teachers may not be great with the technology yet but still may be excellent teachers so we don't want to grade them just on how well they are with technology and sort of get resources there so a lot of good sort of community sharing there as you mentioned mark it was the last meeting of the year um and i would tell you that the general attitude was we all still have a ton to learn and um we've got to stay patient be open-minded and really hear feedback from both teachers and parents and students great thank you very much larry i appreciate the update on labor relations uh information exchange that met last met on april
033the 14th and that was the meeting on the superintendent's equity initiative update and julene or whoever we didn't report out yet on that meeting i don't think right you recall anybody i don't believe we we reported out i think we met the night before eating i i was not able i wasn't able to attend that one either we did it i i intended okay yeah no they uh um i'm just pulling up the notes from that um we had presentations from um kathleen grotman um joanne and tanachi sean nelms and dan white and they talked about the cultural responsive sustaining education framework developed by the board of regents um the four of them talked about the work that they were doing together um [Music] and um it was really you know people in the audience
034had questions about how they came to um have this uh this uh group i think equity educators i think that's what it was called i'm sorry i'm it doesn't i have i have some notes but i don't have all of them that's okay and you know we did i i didn't i just would have checked with you ahead of time that's my goal it wasn't you'll recall we've discussed this uh a couple of different times there's a couple of different groups affiliated with this effort county wide and the um the monroe county superintendents group you recall last year agreed and put together a plan and a program to study and build curriculum together as a group county wide and we have and have had people involved in that uh to pilot this spring uh curriculum
035at the uh at the primary and the secondary level of education and they were reporting out that night on that effort and where we are and that debbie i i didn't give you a heads up on that but and i hate to put you on the spot but we are piloting uh is it fifth grade social studies or what where are we on that right now i'm sorry actually 11th grade social studies mark and our 8th grade team is trying to figure out where because they were kind of ahead of the game as far as their unit of study so they're trying to figure out where it aligns but definitely with the eye towards next year so 8th and 11th grade so we're blending am i correct and we're blending that work along with our
036internal ongoing work absolutely bring it all together okay fantastic thank you all right thank you very much legislative committee we did meet i know something about this one because i was at this meeting so we did meet on uh the fourth of may karen and i attended and uh it felt good to actually be out in person socially distant with a bunch of vaccinated individuals and and have that meeting right karen so do you want to report out it really did you know legislative committee has been funny for the last couple weeks because you know after the budget came out it's like okay we've done our work this year right we we accomplished something um no the focus right now is on has been has turning to our federal legislators we have appointments coming up
037with people from senator schumer and senator gillibrand's office to talk about um some of the funding that's in the new is it the new transportation the infrastructure bill right for education yes right as well as a meeting upcoming with regent turner um to talk about um their vision for um new york state schools uh but it was really just a wrap up of our year you know we talked briefly like larry mentioned about the the possibility of a remote schooling option remaining in place for next year that would be optional for families who for many reasons feel like they can't return yet and what that might look like um as a partnership with each other yeah we did we we had a great conversation that way a couple of things i just want to highlight
038because these all are going to affect our work too as we move forward as school board members uh our new regent turner we are going to se we are attempting to set up a legislative committee meeting at a meeting in june to meet with regent norwood and regent turner regent turner replaces uh regent brown who had stepped down a few months ago so we'd like to meet with them we've all been talking about and seeing material from state education department really from the board of regents from the chancellor and the commissioner on the entirety of the work that they are really heavily focused on around diversity equity and inclusion curriculum and civics tied to that civics education piece and civics curriculum and there's a lot of upcoming material an opportunity for us to learn some
039information both through nisba and some other avenues but these were are going to be huge huge initiatives from the state education department specifically the board of regents directive uh to help local districts develop their curriculum around those topical areas so we are going to talk to the board of regents members about that when we meet with them and uh continue to follow up with our elected officials one item we did talk about and we didn't talk about it during budget but i do want to make the point we look forward to the future dr maryland touched on this the funding situation foundation aid rising to where it did for us this year hugely helpful but not really a windfall if the state can is able to keep its promise to elevate over the next two
040years to 100 percent foundation aid hugely impactful to brighton and the ability to help reduce the burden on local property taxpayers will be there but we have to keep people in albany's fee to the fire we all have been around enough to know that promises have been made and often not at all kept matter of fact the next budget year comes around they're not even remembered so that's an element that the legislative committee is going to continue to work on even though they've made that commitment it's in the language we know how that has occurred in the past so we'll continue to to emphasize and move forward on that so those are the three standing committees i do want to go backward just a bit before i move to the next report we did have
041a comment in the chat function that was added at a later time dr mcgowan do we have that resident still available to us to comment we do and uh i would be unmuting agamevs 322 elmwood avenue you got to go right ahead welcome and and we appreciate your comment or question okay great thank you so much um i just wanted to ask and i know that this is not budget related but i do feel like there's a very limited ability to speak up we don't have in-person meetings as a lot of the other districts do but it's come to my attention that at penfield schools uh the junior high meaning sixth seventh and eighth grades are all returning full-time starting next week because they're uh doing a cohort of some sort by grade and i
042just want to know again why are we not looking at the same process i know we're late in the year but it's still precious time these are still days wasted that the kids are not getting a full return and i know we're looking at next year's budget and so forth but i'm still concerned about my kids this year and what they're missing out and how in a quite inequity of the situation where close by districts are unable are able to do this and we're not and i don't feel like we are giving our kids a fair chance in writing which is supposed to be one of the best all right well thank you for your comment and i will turn that over to dr mcgowan sure i got am i saying that correctly yes yes
043i don't want to mispronounce it uh so one thing first of all to point out it's only penfield actually so the other districts are not doing that and i did speak with their superintendent today you should know we actually went through the same process to try and determine if we could cohort in fact immediately in a way that would allow us to bring kids back right now our issue is different than theirs and so that's been the same complication that we had when we couldn't have k5 kids all come back five days fully the way pittsford could it has to do with scheduling space and the other logistics that every school has a little bit of a different twist on for example at penfield their house system is keeping kids together in tighter cohorts our
044kids because of the remote scheduling that was done this year are very much cross-teamed and cross-grade level relatively often for special areas and other classes which was not the case in penfield so their uh definition of cohort is different it is a more um liberal interpretation of the word their cohorts are going to be up to 350 and they're gauging currently their community interest or feedback on that risk level however i would go back to again we wouldn't be able to do that because our cohorts would be far larger than that and essentially if it's the entire building that's not a cohort and it wouldn't be possible for us to do that it should also be pointed out that their plan as i understand it right now means dismantling their remote program the way it
045currently exists which would not be an option for us right now either it's going to be and i don't say this as a judgment of penfield at all because every district has different considerations and it might be absolutely the right decision and for them they certainly believe it to be again very disruptive at this point and logistically we couldn't do that i want to assure you many many hours were spent logistically looking at what it would take mathematically and if it was even possible here and what the definitions of cohorts were and and if that was a possibility what we are committed to is returning fully everybody five days in person in september and thinking through when you have a chance to redesign your schedule and not cross-team kids or not cross-grade level kids what
046that cohort definition could be going into next year so if the infection rate doesn't go below 100 we wouldn't be in the same situation that's not possible disagree to do right now but it is for september furthermore we would be looking uh going the next year at the possibility of vaccinated students not counting towards the cohort and exploring with the health department if that is a loosening of the regulation that might be possible so in other words a cohort could really encompass far more when we think that a vast majority of those who are eligible will be vaccinated before september does that answer your question yeah yeah it does answer my question i guess another question is i know that they're also doing every other wednesday but i know that we as a district said
047that that was not possible or it's not worth it but like i think and i think i speak for a lot of other parents the wednesdays have not been a great experience for a lot of these kids there's a lot of down time there's a lot of cancelled zooms and so forth and i feel like i know that it's a lot of work and i feel like sometimes brighton has chosen to not you know pursue things because but i don't feel that the the public in brighton have been asked would you like to do the ones every other wednesday and i think maybe you would have gotten um you know some feedback that parents would have preferred to have one last day of instruction for some kids whether it be in person so i think
048going forward it would be nice if brighton allowed a lot more input from the public because i feel like there is very little there's little opportunity for people to join these meetings other districts are doing in-person meetings i feel like on facebook you know comes up these meetings are going live but there's very little opportunity to participate and have any discussion back and forth and i think that that is a weakness and i think seeing what's happened this year i think we need to do better to involve the community and to see what the community wants because it's our kids involved and i and i think you know they're the ones that are suffering and i know you guys have heard it all and i know everybody's trying but i do think that input is
049important and i think the public has a lot of you know good ideas and so forth so i think just shutting people out is not gonna work so that's i guess that that's it for me but thank you thank you for allowing me to speak up and i i appreciate it but it's very hard to find the zoom links i don't feel like it's very transparent i feel like you guys make it very difficult to even participate thank you for joining us and i as board president i do have a couple of comments i appreciate you joining in i appreciate you sharing your opinion however um we have held dozens of town halls thought exchanges surveys tsa gatherings going back 14 months regarding parent input board meetings are an entirely different matter they are not
050a public forum they're a business meeting of the board in public we do offer the opportunity for public participation and our zoom link and all of our information is posted well in advance it's right on the front page of the website so from that regard anyone is welcome to comment to send a note to dr mcgowan to me to the entire board to express thoughts or feelings with regard to the status of school and in-person learning dr mcgowan is communicating three times a week right now with the community on status with regard to pandemic learning updates monday videos there's plenty of information we're putting out everything we have as soon as we have it i realize that some parents do not agree with where we are right now but that doesn't mean that the information
051is not being provided so i want to be clear on that from our students dr mcgowan do you have anything else to add to that before we move on well we'll just say god i i would like to just say this to you i i would really uh love to connect with you offline and learn more about ways that we can more clearly communicate that because to mark's point we have done a lot of town halls and we have put a lot of thought exchanges out when other districts didn't and they've actually asked us for those formats and that information however that's me telling you who doesn't feel like she's been communicated with well we did it but if you didn't know that you didn't feel that and you didn't experience that then that just
052amounts to more of the same not hearing your communication so i would like to just ask you if we could connect offline if you can reach out and just help me understand if there's other ways that we can connect with you and gather your feedback certainly would be open to any other suggestions because that is important we did get a significant amount of feedback and candidly we received feedback from people about the wednesdays and made an internal instructional decision based on what we thought would make the most sense instructionally and what we were seeing knowing that that is not what everybody wanted or that everybody thought was the best but there was feedback on all sides of that issue and decided that instructionally that made the most sense for us understanding that not everybody would
053agree with that and so i would also say if there are zooms canceled please let us know that because sometimes we're aware of that and sometimes there are very good reasons for that and there are other times where we'd like to be able to follow up and find out more and try and help support that but i really would love to know more and if you'd like to connect with me i'd like to hear more about ways that we could connect with you better okay thank you thank you thank you all right following uh that we'll resume into the report section of our meeting right now the boces report we did receive a boaster's report from sora as she traditionally does for this meeting and it will be the full report will be included in
054the meeting minutes board members that you'll have for that uh putting in a number of highlights of their latest activity um moving now to our brighton teachers association report nicole welcome hi thank you um it's a short one so everybody can it won't last too long um our council rock friends we have two submissions one is about liz files first grade remote class and they had a day of space where they took virtual fuel truck field trip to the international space station they did a question and answer video they learned how to elements of space such as drinking water and running on a treadmill but most exciting was they had a parent from the class brandon mcdoll who works for l3 harris and he's part of the team that is building the telescope that launched
055that nasa will be launching later this decade so they there's an attachment to an article that he's in and when they finished one part of the telescope and then there's a photograph of mr mgdoll with the zooming with the first grade class so that was a very special day mrs tripp's first graders just finished a fiction nonfiction unit on frogs and they connected it to shared reading they used many habits of mind to do direct drawings focus on um uh writing and then parents they worked on it through book creator and parents received a copy of their book so i attached the pdf for you to hopefully take a look at that um at fres you can see they were doing some technology outside mrs harp took the um her club group one of her
056groups out they built a covid 19 compliant race track to study solar powered race cars outdoors this was a culminating activity of theirs um and students even brought in their own creations so there's a solar powered car made out of a can so great connections 12 corners the bright tones show choir participated in a dance workshop with java theater and they learn dance combinations but how movement styles are aligned with thoughts and words so you can see a few photographs of them also at 12 corners katie lambert kristen halligan um and katie camps received a nancy beck grant for the purchase of high quality diverse picture books to use in their curriculum they're going to share this with other classroom teachers to identify titles that will support other curricular goals at the high school the
057german department offered to the german students a national german exam it's a voluntary exam but many kids like to take it it's used doing with authentic video audio and written sources in german and you can receive gold silver bronze and achievement certificates if students qualify in a certain level they actually are eligible for a four-week study program to germany in the brighton they've had in brighton they've had 19 previous winners uh of that prize um uh out of the 67 students who took this year's 45 uh received recognition for performing about the national average but i don't have the list the exact list of winners yet um and then last the vhs counseling department hosted senior decision days so seniors could come to the career center complete their exit survey and make posters to hang
058outside of the counseling office they had a lot of fun and you can see some photographs of students holding up what their decisions were and then working i see they have a nice supply of candy to keep their focus um going in their photograph um and then the last piece i'm sorry i thought that was the last piece um was acquired taste the show choir they also did the workshop with jiva and learned a dance combination and then created their own and that's all i have for may lots of busy teachers in may i tried to get a lot more so it's great to share it out and thank you for the report in advance so we get a chance to take a look through it all too and follow the links and all that
059good stuff so it's always you know especially this pandemic time nicole to be able to see into the classroom is so important for us so thank you very much uh next up and i i want to highlight to the board i'm going to go back to other board member reports i skipped over that i apologize because i know a couple people have a couple things they want to bring up so uh next uh we will go to ptsa report and uh welcome eleanor hi thanks mark um so we're uh just wanted you know last week we honored four very deserving people with a lifetime membership award at our ceremony um and we wanted to thank them for all of their dedicated service to the district and community one of them is on this call dr
060debra baker congratulations um as well as off of you um and then kristen cooper physical education teacher at council rock katie massey the special education teacher at brighton high school and aaron van strom sheldon the special education teacher coordinator at the brighton high school as well so thank you all very much from all of us to all of you for everything that you do so um we uh the pdsa also hosted a meet the candidates night for the future board of education members potentially on april 29th elections again as you stated earlier will be held on may 18th from 7 a.m to 9 00 p.m so please vote currently we're celebrating asian american pacific islander heritage month we're having some story readings on may 13th this thursday and may 19th next wednesday both at 7
061p.m as well as hosting a virtual concert by international blues artist hannah pk on may 27th at 7 pm i encourage you all to check all of these out they're going to be wonderful events um there will be a food truck rodeo coming up in the bhs bus loop um and that's following the bhs senior car parade that's at 4 pm and that's all on may 22nd so please come and join us um as well as another fundraiser we're doing right now is dabella's starting tomorrow through the 16th eat at either brighton develop's location and mention that you want to support the brighton central school district or if you order online there's a code that is posted on the website and was emailed out to all of you um consider helping us out in that
062way and that supports all of the end of the year activities which the ptsa are very busily planning and working with all of the school administrators to make sure that we have sort of fun end-of-year celebrations after this very great year but also a very different year than we have ever experienced um and then lastly the elections for next year's ptsae board will be held at our community meeting this thursday may 13th at 9 30 a.m you must be a ptsa member to vote uh the slate has been emailed out to the community for the people that are recommended but if you would like to run you may nominate yourself on the floor that morning at 9 30 a.m um but please come out and vote and sort of see what the future of next
063year's ptsa is and that's all that i have for tonight thank you very much eleanor for reporting out we appreciate that and our our appreciate our congratulations to all four uh the inductees for the life membership night that was a wonderful evening and very deserving group and and wonderful to celebrate and you know thank you also i want to thank the ptsa building chairs it's been an extremely different difficult year for all of ptsa but for all those folks trying to make things happen in each of the buildings and try to keep special things going and help where needed it's been a really fantastic effort so we really do appreciate how far they've gone to make all those things happen and especially those as we're getting now to the end of the year activities to
064try to make things as special as possible you know during covent learning so our thanks to the group uh before we go to the superintendent report dr mcgowan i want to go back to other board member reports uh to check in with board members on activity that they've been involved with individually over the last month and i want to start with larry i know he has a construction update for us yeah as always we seem to be doing a lot of work at principal tap in school but um that is that's what it is um the uh but the playground is under construction we've got new lawn in behind the school in the addition um everything is really coming together greatly appreciate the neighbors in those neighborhoods they're getting close to the end of this
065project i'll use the football analogy right we're in the red zone we're getting close there's just really great work being done there all of the teachers everyone on principal tap and staff is to be congratulated as are the kids they've gone through a lot but the result is going to be fantastic it's almost fantastic now it just needs to finish out over the next couple months also a few of us had the chance in a socially distanced way to see some of the work that was also done at the middle school in the high school science rooms um some new uh pe rooms um we were also over at french road at one point um this whole facilities project that lou has sort of coordinated and headmastered for us the whole way we're really getting
066close to the end and there's just going to be some great great facilities for our kids um that just going to enhance the whole learning experience make things a ton better for them each of the schools leaders and the staff have had to sort of put up with different things going on sometimes off hours sometimes during school but um the community wanted this investment in the facilities and they're going to be really pleased with the result um it'll be most visible at council rock obviously because we're doing the most work there but there's just a lot of great work being done and a whole lot of again students staff and teachers are to be commended just for what they've had to put up with but we're going to have a really great result very excited
067about it fantastic thank you larry for continuing to serve in that role and update us and agree again agreed it was just wonderful for us to be as a group to be able to do that and to see uh to see inside the uh the two buildings that we had not been in recently so uh you know we we really appreciate everybody's effort getting us around and take a look so we'll continue to do that we look forward to really taking a look uh sort of this summer as uh as things really wrap up and complete and then we look at beginning some of our new new things that we have planned so other board members uh with anything to add as far as individual activity something you wanted to add to the group tonight
068julene uh yeah um i'm a member of the wellness committee and we were scheduled to have our last meeting this coming thursday the last meeting of the year and unfortunately a lot of members had multiple meetings to attend so we're going to do our work electronically looking for suggestions for what our focus will be next year but they're we're certainly very proud of the um wellness app that's that's part of our website now with all kinds of different activities for families and students to participate to hopefully bring a little calm into a few minutes of their day if they choose to partake so that's what we feel good about accomplishing this year next year to be determined thank you very much does anybody else have anything that they wanted to add to the discussion tonight
069um i have our um teacher center policy board meeting which is um tomorrow night and again we're going to be going over um sort of funding for like new opportunities for professional development for our teachers and how we can you know sort of get our teachers everything they need with some funding that we have so i'm looking forward to that great thank you sue appreciate that anyone else okay the only thing i will add is karen mentioned it earlier i've been involved and we'll continue to be about we've got zoom set up uh through monroe county school boards with uh senator gillibrand's office senator schumer today and we have one coming up with representative morelli so we continue to talk to those folks we continue to advocate for some issues with regard to the federal
070uh funding issue and a few other things at the federal level so i'll keep you posted on where that might go dr mcgowan then superintendent report not sure if i mentioned it but there's a vote on tuesday the 18th 7 a.m to 9 00 p.m please participate and qantas food trucks will be there no spaghetti this year i think about our friend gretchen often but food trucks will be there perhaps we can raise a plate to her kiwanis and participate in the vote the reopening conversation continues to be one that dominates our daily work and it will continue to do so we see no reason why we won't be fully reopened for five days for children come september and that is our commitment and we will continue to work towards that we need the infection
071rate to be lower we fully expect that to be the case but in the event that it is not we are thinking through what it would mean to think about cohorts differently scheduling differently and spend time developing a plan county-wide which is something we're now actively also engaged in that we can bring to people and say this makes more sense i mentioned earlier the idea of vaccinations playing a role in that and the more kids vaccinated the safer our environment will likely be and we hope people can participate in that conversation and that activity as well to that point on may 26 we will be hosting a vaccination clinic at brighton high school that information has been sent out it's been posted by the county but in the covet update that will go out tomorrow
072there will be more specific links and information from the county for that clinic that is a completely voluntary opportunity we are not vaccinating children it's a comment that has been made we are not vaccinating children i want to point that out i'm not a real doctor we are though offering the opportunity for people to come and be vaccinated through the county program in a pop-up event that they are supporting and that is the pfizer vaccine the good news on that is that based on fda work we are expecting the state will authorize now that the fda has and the regulatory process has begun the use of pfizer force children 12 and up that means that at that clinic we are very hopeful and frankly expecting that 12 and up will have that opportunity it's two
073weeks away a lot can happen between now and then we'll communicate very clearly about what that is but again that's an opportunity we're providing essentially the space and the chance for that to happen and county staff will come in we have some staff then here to support that but we are not vaccinating that is a county health department project we're really just glad to be a partner in that you've heard about any of your events i just want to thank the principals in the ptsa for everything that everybody has done to plan for safe but really enjoyable opportunities for kids and families as the year is ending and last but not least look after the budget for an opportunity to provide us with feedback and input on post pandemic pandemic recovery however we'd like to
074look at it um programming and to weigh in on what that could look like essentially what we're saying is we are receiving pandemic funding as is well known uh you know throughout the state in the country school districts will receive pandemic funding uh really for pandemic relief type of expenses so we have on our minds lots of different things we think would be helpful for kids and families and really meet needs that that have arisen because of the pandemic but we want to go out and ask people what they think those needs are also and ask kids families and our staff what they would like to see in terms of the types of compensatory programming we can think through uh specifically around learning loss mental health needs whatever they may be we'd really like people
075to let us know what their thoughts are so we can design programs that are very targeted very specific and remember that's a two year or so period where we would be looking to do that and implement programs but not build in long-term costs that would be an obligation for the district in the future we're looking to be very targeted and specific and designing student programs based on specific needs that are expressed to us so right after the budget vote end of next week look for that request to go out and please provide us with feedback so we can design programs that really meet your children's needs we'd like you to be a part of that conversation that's all i have we'll see you tuesday hopefully in person to participate and at the food trucks okay
076thank you very much dr miguel we appreciate the update and for those that want to take advantage of it it's fantastic that we're able to have one of those pop-up vaccine clinics right on our campus so thank you next up agenda item number seven board may we have a motion please for approval resolution of secret agreement so moved second moved by karen seconded by sue we have this previously given to us this is the required legally required uh arrangement anytime that a a project any our projects are about to be undertaken uh we have to take a look and see if anything might fit under the type 2 actions under the new york state environmental quality review act and this resolution tonight that we're seeking approval has to do with upcoming facilities improvement work so
077it's not work that's currently underway but work that's will be is it is and will be out to bid and be planned to begin for this summer so essentially we go through that process and this document is uh finding that no further review is required and that we are all set to move forward does anybody have any questions of lou or any comments on that then all in favor all right any opposed and that is seven in favor and none opposed thank you very much and that has passed uh we also tonight are pleased and i would ask for a motion please for approval of a resolution to extend superintendent dr mcgowan's contract go ahead julie moved by julene seconded by karen uh and i do uh i will make a comment on this uh
078this evening uh the board of education regularly meets with dr mcgowan to evaluate progress uh success on goals we do that a couple times a year and then at the end of the school year we evaluate him and we agree we reach agreement on his performance for that year within his contract at the end of last year we had agreed to extend and sign the documentation to extend his contract uh to create a five-year contract at that time uh which is the maximum allowable in new york state and we just needed to finish up a few details and a few loose ends that quite truthfully and frankly got put aside in the context of everything else that we were working on pandemic learning so we did uh he and i and attorneys have finished that
079work up over the last month or so brought that to the board of education and this resolution tonight essentially extends his contract and i make note for public uh consumption and from the board uh we are very very fortunate to have dr mcgowan as a leader in this district and in this community and one of the reasons that we have traditionally uh extended his contract to the five-year period is to show that appreciation and to reaffirm that commitment to him and that he has made to us and we couldn't be prouder of you dr mcgowan and your leadership and your service guiding this ship certainly under these times that we're in right now we discuss some of those issues with some of the comments that we receive we're following the rules we're keeping people safe
080you are at the lead and we are supportive of that and we really appreciate that and this is one of those ways that we go about making sure that that commitment to each other uh sustains so does anybody have any question or comment on uh you've discussed this previously and i think we're all on board i just uh say thank you i deeply appreciate the kindness the collaboration the camaraderie and say to you that the work is frankly the result of everybody on the screen and their hard work and i am deeply grateful for that as well so this is a special place to be and i'm grateful for all of it thank you and thank you so with that all in favor aye all right anyone opposed that is seven very much in favor
081and unopposed and the motion carries thank you very much folks and then finally tonight our consent agenda may we have a motion to prove the consent agenda please some move exactly by andrea and seconded okay thank you i stepped on that um and we don't have a gift to acknowledge this evening so all in favor aye all right anyone opposed that's seven in favor and none opposed on the consent agenda thank you uh dr mcgowan any matters of further matters of business for this evening no not at all thank you board members does anybody have anything else for this evening all right then we remind folks again one last time at least for us this evening uh next tuesday budget vote 7 a.m to 9 00 p.m we next meet on may 25th two mi
082two weeks from this evening so with that i'll entertain a motion for adjournment so move by larry second seconded by andrea i know we always hesitate to adjourn it's far too early all in favor aye anyone opposed no motion carried seven in favor and unopposed we are adjourned thank you very much everyone we appreciate it this has been a special presentation from the brighton central school district board of education