001Good evening everyone. I call this meeting to order. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you for joining us this evening. Please be advised in the event of fire emergency and alarming sound. Please note all emergency exits and evacuate well away from the building. At this time, we request everyone please turn your cell phones to silence. Thank you for your cooperation. You're going to start our meeting today with additions, deletions, and changes to the agenda. Dr. Chanel, >> there are no additions, deletions, or changes this evening. >> Thank you. We will move on to consent agenda. Consent agenda [clears throat] resolved that
002the board of education upon the recommendation of the superintendent approve the consent agenda items as listed 1 through six. May I have a motion, please? >> I'll make it. >> Motion by Becca. [snorts] Second. >> Yep. >> Second. John. Any discussion? All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? It's carried. 70. We're going to move on to communications. We're going to start with correspondence. Um, Becca, can you please start with for us? >> Sure. The elementary school hosted their first Raider 5 celebration of the year. 29 students have earned all five of their Raider 5 stickers this year. The Raiders and their family were honored at a special ice cream social event to se to celebrate was hosted by the principal, Mrs. Meyer, and the assistant principal, Mrs. Asa. Each student was presented
003with a certificate and their last sticker, excuse me, all five all the time. The event also included a video highlighting their hard work, leadership, and commitment to living out our Raider values every day. Be kind, be safe, be accepting, be respectful, and treat others the way you want to be treated. The video had students and staff speaking about what each of the 29 speaking about each of the 29 Raiders. Congratulations to these students for setting the standard and showing what it truly means to be a Raider. I was at this celebration. Two of my boys were honored there. They got all their stickers. They were so excited. It was so fun. Um, the kids were all really into each other and into it. The video was fantastic. It had the students and teachers talking about
004these kids and they all just glowed when they were recognized. So, it was a wonderful time and Mrs. Meyer and Mrs. Ascuit did a fantastic job with that. Congratulations to our varsity wrestling team and their coaches on bringing home section 5 class B3 championship block. All RA our Raiders were greeted at the monument in the cold for [laughter] a celebration of their victory. Several Raiders competed last weekend at super sectionals where senior Jackson Pak placed first in his weight class. Jackson will continue to represent Calonia Mumford at the New York State Wrestling Tournament this weekend in Albany. Good luck, Jackson. Our high school math team, led by coach Mrs. Giri, finished in third place in their division for the season. Senior Raiders Julia Wasilo and Jacob Wy finished in the top 15 in the division,
005and they will advance to the regional level. Freshman Raider Mattie Titus also won a medal for being the top scorer in the division at the ninth grade level. Congratulations to our math team representatives. >> Our high school student council sponsored a Raider spirit week in the week leading up to February break, complete with daily spirit dressup days and culminating with a schoolwide pep rally. Thank you to our student council leadership and their adviser, Miss Chapman, for organizing this annual tradition for our Raiders. >> Thank you. Um I'm going to continue on with another point of pride. Uh we just had a summary from the administrative team in our workshop from 4:30 to about 5:45 called student achievement and academic excellence. As some of you may know, we have endeavored on a literacy goal as a
006board and um sort of tasked our team, superintendent and administrators, teachers, support staff, everyone to increase our literacy rates. Um and we have a lofty goal of 80%. Um, we just got our first presentation on that and I just want to say I'm I'm really encouraged by what we saw. I appreciate the administrative team in taking this risk, the teachers, support staff. Um, thank you. I'm I'm encouraged to see what is more is to come. So, thank you very much. Um, as you all probably saw, I sent an email yesterday about um the thought exchange regarding the GVET superintendent hire. So, as we know, Kevin McDonald is retiring. They are starting to engage in the [snorts] transition process for that and have rolled out a tenative plan for that. There's a thought exchange that they
007were all encouraged to participate in. Sent that to you. I think is open through March 6th. So, please go and do that before it closes. Um, sort of looking at characteristics of the next superintendent, OC's um OC superintendent. Uh, finally want to sort of summarize some of this the work the board's done. We have planned three workshops, four workshops. Three or four [laughter] to count. three or four workshops for the board to do some additional work outside of meetings. We just did our third. Um, one of those workshops was developing our board goals. And one of those goals that we developed was to really increase communication between the community and the board itself. Um, we've started a survey. If you've not done it, please please do it. Um, it was on the postcard that was
008mailed out last week. I believe that was last week. Um, but it's a survey sort of eliciting feedback on budget development and what the community priorities are. Um, the board is committed to hearing what the community has to say and that was one avenue for us to do that. We've also set up three sessions. Um, they are March 5th, March 18th, and April 2nd where you can come and talk to the board about budget development, ask questions, hear our perspective. really just want to hear from you at those um one hour in length meetings. The board is committed to being at those. You can expect to see Becca and myself on March 5th. Um John Bickford on March 18th and Peggy Rol and Arie on April 2nd and possibly other board members. So >> yeah,
009I'll be there on the 18th too after compact. >> Okay. And uh Liz Dietrich on the 18th. John and Liz. Um, so thank you to the board for going above and beyond and and volunteering more of your time. Um, appreciate that. Next, we were going to go to board committee reports. Who met for committees? >> Facilities met. >> Okay. >> And it's just going through the way the project as it's going and moving forward. >> Okay. as expected. >> Any compact meetings? >> That's what happens when you have two meetings in one. >> Yes. >> Uh not been a lot of time since our last meeting. >> Uh we will move to guests of the board when and we have the top 10. Very excited to see some students in here. The top 10 in
010our graduating class this year. And I will >> absolutely I'm very excited and honored to welcome um our top 10 representatives, those that can be here tonight. So I won't put you all on the spot. I will have you all come up and please stand together down here quickly. I just have a couple questions I'm going to ask each of you. No pressure. [laughter] >> They can handle it. >> They sure can. Yeah, just stand kind of in a line. Yeah, we should we should. [applause] >> Um, so what I'll have you do is real quick just say your name and then your future plans if you have any yet. Um, I'm Hannah Harmon and I plan to attend Nazareth University to study music therapy. My name is Margaret Jones and I also plan to
011attend Nazareth University to study occupational therapy. >> I'm Julia Wasoko. I plan on attending Lee McCrae College to study preeterary medicine and minor in wildlife rehabilitation and compete on the cross country and track teams. Ladies and gentlemen, you're valictorian. [laughter] >> Where is that? >> What were you going to minor in, dear? wildlife rehabilitation. >> And where is that school? I'm not familiar with it. >> It is in North Carolina amongst the Blue Ridge Mountains. >> Oh, fantastic. >> We're losing her. The brain drain. [laughter] >> She'll be back. Her family's right over there. >> Um, I'm Emma Broen. I'm going to Stony Brook next year to study political science and run track and field. >> I'm Laura Reynolds. I'm going to an immersive Spanish school in Wajaka, Mexico called Roablanca to study missions in
012Spanish. >> That's where my son is right now. >> Really? >> Yes. For two weeks. >> Uh I'm Austin Chanel. I plan on continuing my education in college for biomedical engineering. >> Good. >> Fantastic. And just one more question I have of each of them. You offer so much to our school. Obviously academically you stand at the top of your class, but talk a little bit about something else that you're super proud of as part of your legacy that you're going to leave here behind the count when you graduate. What's your [laughter] favorite thing that you do? Your favorite thing that you do? Simple, simple question. >> Um, mine would have to be musical. >> Um, I really like being the president of Spanish club. We've planned a lot of events and I just have
013a really good time with it. >> Um, I've just really enjoyed being involved in everything that I have been from, um, athletics to the musical to various clubs. Yeah. Um, I'm treasure of Spanish club. The Spanish club's really fun. So, probably that. >> I'd probably say musical along the Spanish club. >> I would have to say president of student council. It's been a great experience. >> Good. So, again, these are the cream of the crop for our class of 2026. So, PROUD. [applause] You have any questions or anything [applause] you want to add or congratulations. >> Thanks for your hard work. Next, we're going to move on to public forum. Public forum is next on the agenda. This portion of the agenda is for district residents, district staff, and or parent guardians of students to
014speak to the board. However, the board members will not respond. This is a time for the board to listen and when appropriate, a response will be provided to the speaker. Individuals who wish to speak must sign in, state their name, and address prior to speaking and limit their comments to three minutes. Comments or questions naming specific personnel or students are to be addressed privately to protect the rights of individuals. All speakers are to conduct themselves in a civil manner. Obscene language libalist statements, threats of violence, statements advocating racial, religious or other forms of prejudice will not be tolerated. We have not had someone on our public forum agenda um in quite some time. So I haven't you haven't heard me read that recently, but that's something we read before anyone comes to to speak. Um,
015Mr. Tate, >> while he's coming forward, is it okay if the You keep coming, please. Is it okay if the students that are in the musical go back to music? >> If you if you [laughter] have to leave, I normally am better at doing that. >> They're all asking me and we're all out of here. Just a second. [laughter] >> Thank you guys. Congratulations all the >> parents can stay [laughter] killed. >> [laughter] >> Yeah. How's that feel? >> Sorry about musical rehearsal. You'll hear them singing through the wall in just a moment. [laughter] [clears throat] >> All right, Mr. Tate, you're up. >> All right. Um, so I pretty much was just wanting to see about any chance or potential for my daughter to be able to play uh, flag football with uh, Leroy
016school. Flag football is not something that Cow Mom does participates in. However, there's 21 schools in um Monroe County that participate in it and Avon and uh Avon and Leroy both participate in girls flag football and um Avon I'm pretty sure won like the section section 5 championship last year. So, it's like it's it's growing to be like a really big popular sport. It's going to be happening in this up and cominging summer Olympics. flag football is and uh for the like for men's and guy and girls. But um my daughter uh has been like reaching out to Mr. Bicardo and and asking and inquiring, hey, are we going to get it? She's been doing it for the past two years. When are we going to get a flag football team? And uh there's just
017been murmurss. He's just like, oh, I don't know if we're going to be able to. I don't know if uh like if we can, you know, staff it or I don't know if we we're going to lose too many players. Either way, like at the end of the day, what it boiled down to was just that, you know, we're just not going to run it right now. So, which which is fine. Told her, you know, sometimes things just aren't going to go your way. However, since um Calom already does so many sports with Leroy already, and I mean, uh she wants to participate in this sport that Leroy does like do. I was just like I wanted to know if there was a chance for her to be able to participate in this sport that
018she so desires to participate in um you know with with the Leroy team. So, [clears throat] yeah, she really wants to do this and I'm just advocating for her because this is something she never thought she'd be able to do. So, >> very cool. Thank you. Thank you. Next, we will be moving to superintendent report. >> All right. First up for me, I'm going to invite um principal Marcelo back and she is going to go through our uh first semester regent results. [clears throat] So, just a quick look at I've created a data table for you. So what you'll see um if we table up so just the categories you'll you'll see the exam name the number of students who took the exam um who passed and who failed and then you'll look at the
019passing rate percentage this includes both the 65% for all students as well as if students qualify for the 55% low pass option they are also in the that uh percentage and then also the mastery rate percentage which means an 85% % or higher. So, this gives you a look at how our students performed this year in January. Um, you can see our numbers there enrolled, which means the students that took the class um or the students that took the exam, sorry. Um, and then I I would like to draw your attention to the passing rates because they're great. Um, super proud of those 100%. um anything, you know, above 85% is is what we're aiming for. Uh geometry and chemistry are our two lowest. Those are difficult classes that we challenge students to take. Um
020so, you know, students are sitting in those classes and they're learning and we may not see the 100% pass rate, but we're seeing students be challenged. So, those numbers are certainly something we'll keep an eye on and continue to monitor as we move forward. But, um overall, our students are are performing well. I'm also super proud of those mastery rates that get up into the 50%. That's pretty incredible. So those students really are teachers really students and teachers deserve to be celebrated for all of their hard work because our students are really not only performing to pass but performing really well as well. So on the next slide I just have a little bit of a breakdown of some of our celebrations. >> [snorts] >> So, as mentioned, um, one of our building goals this
021year related to literacy does look at our pass rate and our mastery rate of exams. Um, so we're hoping to get to an overall pass rate of 88% by the end of the year. Currently at 87, so we have a little bit of work to do there. And then that mastery rate, we're aiming for overall 35% and we're sitting at 31. So, we still have the June cycle to take into consideration, but we're right right in that range. Um and then again celebrating those exams that have those high passing rated passing rates and then the mastery rates as well. Um again geometry and chemistry those are our two tough ones. So keeping an eye on those focusing on those and making sure that you know that's not a common trend that we're seeing every year.
022Um and then I'll looking at those mastery rates and bumping those up too. So super proud of our kids and our teachers this January for the work they did. >> Any questions for me? I want to say um it's been over the last few years a real concern with the a turnover we've seen in the teaching profession. Um and it's a relief and really something to be celebrated the passing rates we're seeing with these new pieces and the existing pieces that we we have um between the teachers and students. So congratulations. That's a great accomplishment. >> Absolutely. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you. Next up for me, uh Liz Liz Dah asked me to just speak a little bit tonight about the survey. So again, she did that a little bit.
023I'm going to do that here uh just by sharing some statistics that we have so far. Right now, the survey that the board has been disseminating out into the community. We've done the elementary chorus concert, the middle chorus concert, the high school uh concert, so that the board had an opportunity to meet people, greet people, ask them in person to fill out that survey. We then sent that same survey out. Um, it's gone out through the mail, through a postcard. I think we talked about ways to deliver the survey and some of the things we know to be limitations for us. If we were to use our social media to push out any kind of survey, you wouldn't be able to um keep folks that don't live in the community from responding to the survey.
024So, we're trying to make sure that we actually push the survey out into individual homes. Uh, we have seen an uptick since the postcard went out, which is good. Uh we still only have 105 respondents though, so we would love to get more folks responding to our survey. Again, that part of the board's goal was to um to create two-way communication. The survey is not your typical survey. Uh since we are using a platform that allows us to use AI to help us interpret some of our data, folks can write in the cells anything that they want. So, you're not limited to characters, you can tell us what you're thinking. Uh, so even though it does ask some specific questions, it's open-ended enough that the board should be able to capture the voice of the
025community. And I just want to encourage everyone watching and everyone in the room, if you've yet to fill out that survey, um, to do so. Thank you, >> Becky. Can I ask a quick question? Of course. Is it pushed out through parent square as well? I can't I can't remember that. >> I have not pushed it out through parent square. We can do that. >> Just with a easy instead of a QR, maybe just an easy link to because you know see on a device, how do you scan it? >> Sure. Sure. Agreed. Thank you. >> Of course, Dr. Chan, are you done with Superintendent? >> I am. Thank you. Thank you. >> We're going to move to old business. No. >> Yes, we are. [laughter] >> I'm moving right along. [clears throat] We're going
026to move to old business. Number one, approval of revisions to board policy. Resolved that the board of education upon the recommendation of superintendent approve the revision to board policy number 5681 school safety plans. May I have a motion please? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Okay. Any discussion? >> All in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? It's carried. 70. Number two. Adoption of budget guidelines for the proposed 2026 2027 annual school budget. Resolved that the board of education upon the recommendation of the superintendent approve the budget guidelines for the proposed 2026 2027 annual school budget per board policy number 5110 budget planning and develop. May I have a motion please? >> I'll make it. >> A second. >> Second. [clears throat] Liz Dietrich. Um any discussion? All in favor say I. I. Any opposed?
027Motion is carried. 70. We are going to move to new business. Dr. Chanel is going to do budget presentation number one for us of the proposed 2026 2027 annual school budget. All >> right. And Mr. Powell is going to join me. We're going to tag team this one. Do some co-presentation here. [laughter] All right, ladies and gentlemen. So, tonight is the beginning of our budget presentations. Um, basically this evening, I would say the highlight of the evening is going to be really learning from the administrators what some of their administrative budget priorities are going to be in terms of kind of balancing what our budget always looks like and what we might be looking to add. Uh but to get started, Brennan and I will just go through some major components of the budget and
028talk a little bit about uh sort of the costs that are driving the increases that we're going to see in some of our budget lines. Go ahead, Sher. So our our agenda this evening when we begin building our budget, we always start off by talking about our mission, vision, and beliefs. We will do that this evening. Our budget calendar, budget guidelines, the criteria that the board has established for our decision-making as we're building the budget. Um, and we will also then o do an overview for you of the 1000s, the 5000s, the 8000s, and the 9000s this evening. So, our mission, the California Munford Central School District, in collaboration with our community, takes pride in providing a safe, comprehensive, and rigorous educational experience in order for all students to graduate as ethical, responsible, lifelong learners
029who are college and career ready. When we build our budget, we actually map our budget back to this mission statement. Uh everything that we are adding to the budget, anytime we are detracting from taking from the budget, we are asking ourselves whether or not the budget keeps us on mission. Our beliefs, uh I won't read these to you. Uh these are the belief statements that the district has. I guess what I will say is in summation, our beliefs are really what the board would call what it means to graduate from Calonia Mountford with a diploma. the things that are important to us that kind of map out our priorities are listed in our belief statements. Each meeting we talk about different budget lines. So I wanted to take a moment just to talk a little
030bit about next meeting. So next meeting again we've sent a postcard out to our community and we're inviting folks to come and participate with us both in our budget meetings here and also in the three extra meetings that we've put into place to make sure the community has a chance to do two-way communication with the board. Our next meeting we will actually focus in on the instructional codes. I would say those are the most exciting codes. It's also our largest code in terms of where the money goes. Uh so we would invite folks to join us on March 10th uh to talk about instruction decision-making criteria. So the board has mapped out this decision-making criteria uh long before uh Mr. Kwell and I joined you in terms of the decision- making. So I'll just review
031a little bit of this. As we're building our budget, the board is actually asking that we maintain programs and services related to student safety, security, and wellness. Those will be present in this year's budget. Retain programs and services that support students at risk of failing or not graduating. For those that have already responded to our survey, I would tell you that I see that starting to become a trend in the survey results that our community also wants to make sure that we're taking care of the needs of individual students. retain programs or services that are supported by data and research uh which we are doing. Provide the financial means to care for the community's investment in facilities and infrastructure. So all of our budget lines that are taking care of our building, our HVAC systems,
032our roofs, all the things that that you all see are based on our decision-making criteria. And last to retain services and functions necessary to operate effectively and in accordance with the law and provide uh and preserve district initiatives. So that's actually one that as an administrative team we have to be constantly thinking about that as we launch an initiative. So for example this year out of last year's budget we have launched professional development in the area of literacy. We will not be looking to cut professional development and our support around literacy so that we can preserve the initiatives that we're putting in place. When we do have to make tough decisions, the board has outlined for us an assessment criteria. The board recognizes that cuts may in fact be necessary and has developed the following
033decision-making criteria. Services with indirect impact on student achievement. Non-mandated services and programs. functions that could be absorbed and or handled reasonably by others or by other means, programs that could be accomplished reasonably by other means. So when we are making decisions around cutting, these are the thing the these are the litmus test questions that you all have um placed for us to make sure that we're making good decisions as we make decisions and bring choices and um big picture back to the board. All right, we will get started with the first part of the budget we're going to review tonight, which is the general support lines, which you saw in that earlier slide are the 1000s. General support refers to everything that keeps the doors open and the lights on. Um, and covers everything from
034accounts payable to snow plowing. Um, so just a little bit of of what it includes for us is operations and maintenance, maintenance mechanics, custodians, cleaners, all their salaries, contractual expenditures, things like generator maintenance, elevator maintenance, plumbing, garbage removal. Um, this also includes our business office, which can include contractual services like audit services, legal services, accounts, um, purchasing, tax collection, all of those things. What you'll notice here is we have a increase over last year's budget of 7.22%. Last year the increase from 2425 to 2526 was 6.63. So a small uptick there. Uh what's responsible for that in these codes are increases to BoseI services that land in the 1000 codes. um things like legal services and uh Bosey's admin fees, inflation increases and other lines that support operations and maintenance contracts, those contracts I mentioned
035above or before. Um salary increases to these codes and inflationary increases to things like the [snorts] contracts we hold, printing services, supplies, and one of the big ones is utilities, gas and electric for the elementary and the middle high run through these lines as well. transportation. Last year we saw an increase of 5.68% from 2425 to 2526. This year we're looking at uh projecting an increase of 3.21%. Uh this increase is mainly reflecting salary increases, but this line also increases just like the 1000s did, just like general support. Um things like contractual expenditures that support our transportation department. thinking about things like routing software, um, inspections for the lifts, inspections for the fuel depot, inspections for the tools, preventative maintenance on the buses, supplies for the buses, things like tires, brakes, all of the things
036that help keep us in compliance and rolling are all things that go into that budget. I'll just use this moment to talk about transportation because one of the things that we like to think about in our budget is that in some of these budget lines when you see increases you're also going to see what we call revenue on the other side. So think teeter totter as your transportation increases go up so does the aid that that is generated on the other side. Uh so when these codes are going up only at 3.21% these are the codes that we would be comfortable with if they were the ones that escalated to 7% because they're backmapped to revenue. But you'll hear me talk about that. I'm actually going to use the the teeter totter as an example
037a lot this year when we're doing our budget development to help us understand that while we might be seeing it as an expenditure, we're also going to watch that same component happen as a revenue. Uh next up is community service. So as the board knows, we run a community continuing education program. Um our continuing education program offers things to the community like walking club. Uh we sometimes will host different events that the community is invited to. They often have to pay to come to the events, but it's minimal. Uh we try to keep those things um very cost-effective. We're seeing an increase in this line of only the 1.54%. Uh we definitely have somebody who is responsible for this. And so really that is the mechanism around contractual obligation for the increase in stipen. Actually
038before I go on to employee benefits, can I just go back a slide? I just want to talk a little bit about um something that we're also looking into. Uh I do have a meeting in April, although you don't see an increase in this budget line in terms of community ed. Uh in my meeting with April in April with the senior citizens group from Calonia, we're actually going to meet together to talk about ways to partner with one another. So they're looking for, you know, we you remember we came and asked about being able to use a school bus and maybe to transport them to some events and we learned that we were unable to do that. Uh, but my goal is to get in the room with them and begin to brainstorm what we
039can do. So, we talk about this campus being the hub of our community. How can we partner with different groups inside of our community to help extend that hub and make sure that everyone that wants access to our facility for different reasons? So, you know, I' I've been approached around maybe not we offer silver sneakers um in the district and things like programs like that that don't exist already in the community. Could we actually host those so that they happen on our campus and it becomes something that is a benefit to our community in general are all things that you will see me begin to do in budget development around our community service component. Our employee benefits uh so employee benefits this is everyone every single person uh that works in the district regardless what
040their role is. Um employee benefits for us in terms of increases you are going to see a large increase there of 11.68%. I want to talk about what is driving the employee benefit increase. It is health care. I ensure that you are paying attention to the news and that you are seeing what healthc care is doing all across the nation but definitely here in our local area even in the Rochester area. Uh basically what we're what we're going to experience is about an 18% increase in health insurance. Uh which is the largest driver right there inside of our employee benefit. All right, the next we're going to review debt service. Now, the number I know that's going to jump right off the page here, >> teeter totter, thank [laughter] >> is a 65.97% increase over
041last fiscal year and last year from [snorts] 2425 to 2526 that was only a well not only but compared to this 22.06%. Now, what's very important to remember here or that I want to start with is that this increase reflects the initiation of the 2025 capital project. What's even more important to mention that I want to go over right now is that because this is a capital project, what's attached to this is building aid and also there's some transportation aid as well that falls into debt service. So within this increase, $2.1 million is associated with aid that offsets this increase that comes to the school district as revenue. All right. So just to kind of put numbers to what Dr. Chanel previously mentioned, we get 84% back on building aid. We get 74% back on
042transportation aid. And while yes, these are debt service and we have to budget for those, we're receiving revenue from the state to pay for these increases. >> Any questions? >> Do you remember when it went up last year and we had to talk about the 22%? Like eventually as we get further into budget development, we'll start to pull out the numbers to to share with the community what it what portion of that 65.97% is capital project versus what was real growth in debt service, right? Not associated with the project. >> This slide is just to review a bond anticip anticipation note versus a bond. Uh what's important to remember here is a ban just allows a district to borrow only what's needed in early phases of a capital project or or a bus. Um we
043typically use bans in one-year terms and then reassess after a year to approach converting to a bond. Um and bands allow the district to issue short-term debt and then convert only the actual project costs to a bond and that becomes our long-term debt. So right now inside of this project, we're going bands annually for the project, see what the actual cost ends up at, and then we'll seek a bond. >> The band's given us our cash flow. So one thing um Brennan and I talked about to just mention this evening is that our credit rating was fantastic. And so even though we had to go out to borrow, we borrowed at a very very minimal interest rate. So congratulations on our on our ratings. Okay. And this table is just showing the current finance projects
044still on the books out through 2829. The new ones you should see or will make note of are the 2526 um principal for 12.4 million and the interest for 12.48 million. Um, these are the new payments that we'll see in the 2627 fiscal year that we wouldn't have seen prior. So, those are what's responsible for that that increase we reviewed a couple slides ago. Um, you'll notice that through 2829, these increases are pretty flat. It's a small increase annually. We work with our financial planner Bernie Donigan to ensure that this we plan these projects with retiring debt and new debt to avoid um any spikes in in debt service and um accounting for building aid on what revenue will will get to offset these costs. >> I have had a few community members ask me
045about capital projects and just thinking about how when we go out for a project, you see what's happening right with our debt service and the increase and we we need the aid come back on the other side. So again, just using that model that the reason why we've moved to an every five-year cycle is because it actually flattens our budget out completely. It helps us get down to that bottom component there where we say we're planning accordingly and when we launch capital projects that there would be no added expense to the taxpayer. Next up is um we talk about borrowing. So, one of the other ways in which we borrow with frequency during our budget development is to borrow to purchase school buses. If you'll recall last year for Proposition 2, we actually asked the
046community to approve the use of the 2023 vehicle and equipment reserve to be able to purchase a school bus, which means we did not have to finance that school bus. We purchased it using reserve money and we are still generating aid on that purchase. Uh we're going to be recommending to the board that we stick with that pattern and that proposition number two again this next year out to the taxpayers is to approve the use of a reserve uh to buy a school bus. This is your general categories now just kind of mapping them out. Um from for 20 from 20 oh that there's a typo there. It should be 2025 2025 2026 as compared to 2627. Uh so that final column in your percent change again if you go all the way down to
047the bottom there you're going to see that 17.1% in overall from last year to this year in this category but you have to take into consideration that major increase uh that you see from debt service and it is true that if we were to remove the capital project from this the real growth in these categories would be an overall of 2.54%. That does not sound right. Brennan, >> the >> Oh, I'm sorry you guys. Sherry, will you do me a favor? Will you go back to just debt service where the capital project was? I just have to fix myself. I just read the wrong note right there. >> When we're looking at debt service, there's the number that 65.97. If we were to take the capital project out of that, your real growth there, I'm
048sorry, is 2.54%. >> Okay. >> All right. Now you go back to the summary slide. My error. The last thing here is the capital outlay project. So each year as part of our of our budget development, we also launch a capital outlay project. Our capital outlay projects are capped in the state at the state of New York as $100,000 projects. Uh at least $10,000 worth of the work that will be done does have to be done inside the building. And once we slate a building for our capital outlay project, we have to stay in it. If you recall last year, we actually focused in this building and we started to replace the pneumatics, our our old pneumatic system with digital systems that's on the table again for this year. We have just uh hired a
049director of facilities and we have just finished our building condition survey and so we're probably about two weeks out from being able to tell you exactly the direction that we want to go for the capital outlay project. so that our next meeting we will revisit this with more solid uh guidance on exactly where we'd like to go. But we will be building in a capital outlay project into this budget and again it will generate aid questions for us. [laughter] >> Those were the fun. >> Taking it in. Just taking it in. >> Thanks you guys. [clears throat] Oh, Becky, I I do need to ask because it was asked around my kitchen table. Um, are we just really like hoping and praying the electric buses it's going to go away or what what >> we
050are believing that in the current state of the economy in the state of New York that for the state of New York to fund electric buses and all of what will go with them is they're either going to have to budget for it or they're going to watch >> the citizens uprise. like I I feel like that in general is what I'm hearing across the board. I see that actually already in the survey. There are a few folks that have commented uh no matter what it takes, you know, don't move in that direction. Um for us, it would be a very large endeavor, right? A very large endeavor. I do think that when we begin to consider, you know, when we get into June, if we have leftover money and we're going to start talking
051about where we might put our fund balance in terms of reserves, it's probably smart for us to begin to fund the vehicle and equipment um reserve to prepare ourselves in case it does happen. But do I hope that it doesn't happen in my time? I I do hope it doesn't happen [laughter] in my time. You hear people say, "I think I'm going to retire before then." I I hope to be retired before then. [laughter] >> I do not want to launch electric vehicles. I'm not I am not interested. >> Right. >> Yes. I think the community sentiment and and I say community and I mean school districts everywhere. The sentiment across public schools is there there is not money for this, >> right? >> And we're not going to tax our communities to do it.
052So, >> good question. >> Thank you. >> Thanks. Next on new business number two, administrative priorities presentation. >> So you get us again. >> That's perfect. >> Yeah, we're going to start um with the office of curriculum instruction and technology um and I think move right into DPS. So, we'll start districtwide um on our administrative budget priorities and then move into the buildings. Yep. And the next one. Um so, truthfully, out of my office, the office of curriculum instruction and technology, we are um asking for a technology staffing increase. So, right now we have one full-time computer service assistant um who is uh a California Mumford employee and we have another assistant who is through edge. And so that assistant is here three days a week at the elementary school. So Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
053So on Tuesdays and Thursdays um between myself and our one computer services assistant uh we manage the uh technology in both buildings, middle school, high school, elementary, district office and the bus garage. And so this ask would be to increase the edgitech employee from three days a week to five. Um and so that would be an increase of $42,955 which is aidable um through edgeitech. So pretty kind of basic numbers, but I do understand that it's a big ask. Just wanted to remind you that it's eight. >> And I [laughter] do want to mention too before we get started, and I should have done it before you started, that these are your asks, right? And and when you come to the table for this, you're asking for everything that you've prioritized. Um, but doesn't mean
054it'll be approved or go through. Just so the community is watching and listening to this. >> Absolutely. That's a great point. Yeah. So we look at kind of our our data truthfully. We look at um data, instructional data, our time data, time pies, and then we make kind of our best um suggestion, recommendation, and ask to the board of education with the understanding that no is a complete sentence. [laughter] >> Thank you. You're welcome. >> This one, this ask is actually one of those efficiency ones, right? So, like thinking about if we were to spend this money, could we become more efficient in the way that we're managing our systems? There we go. All right. So, um I'm going to tie um some of these asks to our previous session where we talked um about
055the data. Extended school year is a summer program for students with disabilities separate from a summer reading or different um summer boot camps that happen. Extended school year is for students with disabilities who demonstrate significant regression following a break and need an inordinate amount of time to make up that regression. Um, if that's the case, based on those eligibility criteria, the CSSE would recommend that they participate in an extended school year program um to try to avoid that regression. And we talked um earlier about that difference between our students who are meeting um their goals and nearing their goals based on um maybe not starting starting the year having slid backwards a little bit. Um we do have a um special class in the elementary school in 811 that services uh kids with more significant
056needs and sign significant disabilities. Those students were all included in that data that I shared um with you. some of them meeting their goals, some of them nearing, some of them not. Um, so what I'm asking for is an addition of $3,000 to run our own extended school year program. Um, the cost [clears throat] of the pro program is more than that. However, like anything in special ed, um, there is a reimbursement for high-cost students. Um, extended school year is reimbured at a rate of 80%. So 80% of the cost of staffing that which would include um a special ed teacher, an aid, um and related related services, a speech and an OT um as well as a nurse uh during that six week program. Um the cost that wouldn't be re reimbured would be
057about $3,000. Um so asking for um you to consider that. And then along similar lines, like I mentioned, those are we do have students that have um a really wide gap based on disability needs um and the and the impact of their disability. Um we have a special class in 811 that when we started and introduced that program, students were at the um kindergarten, first grade level. They've grown um they are older, so they are approaching. We have a student who'll be entering fourth grade next year. Um so the needs are different. the classroom structure is different between a kindergarten and their curricular needs and a and a fourth grader. So asking for an addition of $5,000 to address um a growing the growing need and um the change in that population as well as
058considering um we're considering and working around scheduling um a special class in the middle school at the 78 level, a 151 um class to address um some needs that we've um identified there of some gaps that might need um we might need to adjust our continuum at that level. Um, and then because the only thing predictable in special education is that it is completely unpredictable, um, I'm asking for a line um, of $5,000 to address adaptive and special um, specialized supplies because when a student enters with a really unanticipated disability need, we want to be able to make sure we can meet that without um, cutting from another area and being able to offer an inclusive setting for kids who might need a piece of furniture um, or a piece of adaptive equipment we weren't
059prepared for um we have some students who are um in the district on communication devices that we've um accommodated this year. We've bought some devices and some um software that we were able to figure out and want to just have a line that we can address those needs and never have to feel like we can't offer our full program because we don't have the right furniture um for a student with um a specific type of disability. And then lastly, in just kind of thinking creatively about how we can um increase the support that we offer in different ways um with adding preschool students into the building. We know there's going to be an increase in um in evaluations and um things that that come with that population. Um a school psychologist internship um it's a
060little bit different than a student teacher or a counseling intern. A school psychologist intern is here full-time for the entire school year um five days a week. They um they require minimal supervision, minimal direct supervision. They get all their direct supervision in the first two years of their program and then the third year of the program. They're fully working in a district. Um because of that amount of work that they do as an intern, they are required to be paid for it. Um there's no there's no such thing as an unpaid intern um for for school psychology specifically. Um so we get a lot of work out of them. They'd be here um full-time, five days a week. Um so I'm um suggesting a a siphon of $10,000 for um a school psychologist intern. It
061al also offers um a pipeline for those hard to hard to fill positions. we could stay connected um with a university that has that program so that um should we find ourselves in need that we have that connection and it allows our psych our current psychologists to stay connected to the best and newest and what did you learn today >> Megan are these um in any particular order are these in order of preference or no >> no okay necessarily first question the second question your master's degree in psychology is that a three-year program >> yes So, school psychology would be their like closing third >> third year is is full internship. That's how the >> programs defined. Yep. >> I have a few questions. Um for the extended school year, uh great idea. Is there
062an attendance requirement for the students who are eligible for that? >> Yeah. So, they are required they're we're required to um record their attendance obviously and our reimbursement is um dependent on their rate of attendance. So we the reimbursement rate would be slightly adjusted if we haven't had um our students that came maybe one day versus a student who came all 30 days. Um >> are we allowed to get a pre-commitment from those families or [snorts] I don't know how that would work. >> Yeah. Um not necessarily though. We do have like really um we have really specific conversations with families. We have had families who um their student is eligible for an extended school year. In the past, we we send um students to Boseies if they um need that. And we have really
063honest conversations about um what does your summer look like? Do can you um is this something that your your family dynamics can maintain? And families have said like, "No, we want to take the time off. Um we're not we're not interested in So, um we do we do encourage like please take take up take take this um this opportunity only if you're able to to really commit to it. >> Nice. Okay. And then the second one for the adaptive and specialized supplies line. Is this like a one-time durable equipment purchase or would it be a recurring budget line that you >> I would ask for it to be a recurring line um only because it could be a one-time purchase each year. like I can identify um things over the years that we've had to
064scramble and move money around in order to to find to um to be able to fulfill that that purchase. So I think there's always one thing I could purchase each year. >> Okay. And then uh the last one is do you have an existing relationship with the university where you could find this person relatively easily? Um I don't have a relationship yet, but I will say I had reached out when I when I went through uh my master's program many years ago. Um they they had waved the stipend for a short time. It was 2011 when schools uh were under like really serious budget cuts and it was the first thing that was going and then you had this crop of interns that needed to be paid and schools saying we're not going to pay.
065So they had waved it. So, I reach I've reached out already to um our local um universities that offer this program and have asked is it is there still an opportunity for an unpaid? They've all said no. >> Um but they all have um they've given me their timelines of when they when we should post when when interns are out seeking um and that they have a crop of interns every year. >> And that's an interview process. You're not assigned somebody, >> right? we would um choose our so you'd see it um you'd see it on the website as a as a employment opportunity that um they would apply to and we would run um interviews and hire our best candidates. >> And is the $10,000 stipend pretty standard? Is that what most schools >>
066Yeah, that's pretty reasonable of a of a district our our size um to be to be pretty standard. >> I know. >> Would they be for 12 or >> prek through 12? >> Yep. a school psychologist is able to service K uh pre-K through 12. Um so we would map out their day in any way that met our needs. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Thanks. >> Hey Terry, I have one slide this year. [laughter] A lot of times I have like three though this year. Um, yeah, I did make it a little solid, but really it's two two things that kind of intertwine. So, no surprise, um, is the development of our prek program. So, in taking consideration of what we currently have and then what we'll need is a UPK teacher full-time and
067then a UPK teacher aid. Um, again, as we know, we need two of those adults at all times with our kids where they go. And I'll just remind everybody these numbers. We always account for what it actually cost, right? So your health care costs are in here, right? All of the real cost in terms of the ad. So that's already looking at the efficiencies and pieces that we have currently and then what we'll need to make that program um move forward if we're still planning for those three full day um sections. And then rolling into um academic intervention. I've been here now quite some time and as director we definitely embarked on different ways to provide intervention services and now sitting as the principal I wanted to explore even some more options of how we
068could deliver intervention services to our students. We've been tampering a little bit and trying out different models. Um, but the one that seems to always pan out historically here and given the amount of students that we have is truly we need three interventionists to run a solid intervention program for reading and math. So when I'm talking about expertise, I'm talking about three experts that can help us move literacy forward. We've done it in many different ways. So we've staffed this differently, but for me, my magic number is three. and how we could currently get there. Right now we have two full-time interventionists and we have one halfime. That half-time will now be reallocated in a way to prek because that's where our teacher is. Um looking at the schedule and what I could accomplish. We
069could do this again. It's still three human bodies, but I could accomplish it with it being um a four and a half hour support time. So if you kind of take out lunch and planning and all of the other things, the the contractual requirements, the actual intervention time that I am trying to fill is four and a half hours in the day. So it's 0.5 position. It could be tackled with a job share. There's lots of creative ways, but for me to be able to run the program and my schedule, I do need three people. And so um that's historically how it's been. We've had up to five and then we've peacemealed with certain um availability, but in order to solidly run the program um it's three. >> That's it. That's elementary school. So, any
070questions? >> Okay. Pretty simple. >> This is fun [laughter] to ask. So, um I would love to add a full-time STEM teacher to our school. Um, I think that, you know, not only are we creating this beautiful new space that students will have lots of opportunities in, but I'd like to have someone in there to kind of, you know, aside from Liz Barbara and and this the time she has to do it now to put someone in there full-time. I think it would really benefit, especially our middle school students. It would help to build an enrichment program for them. Um, that's the direction we're heading in. We need to prepare our students for all of those things. So just to have somebody in place I think will really expand our program for our middle school
071students. Um lunch monitors. So currently um I use teachers to cover lunch duty. Um that's three teachers twice a day, six teachers a day that are pulled from home base. So that's 30 opportunities for extra support a week that students are not receiving as a result of teachers being pulled for supervision purposes for lunch duty. Um, so in order to free up content teachers to get our students the support they need during that homebased time, I would really appreciate having two lunch monitors that could come in um and and supervise our students during lunch, which puts teachers back in the classroom to be able to pull students. Um, and then finally, and I I might ask Megan to jump in and help me with support here. Um, we talked about going back to the goals.
072Um, you know, literacy intervention is something that we need at the middle school and and high school level to some extent. Um, so we saw that we have several students below grade level. Um, we do have one interventionist in place. Um, but she can only see so many students. Um, we have a large number of students that could also benefit for that from that more intensive support. So, um, looking to add literacy intervention. Um, thankfully we have a a body in place now, a really talented body that we want to keep around um, in our ENL service provider. we think we can make a shift in her current role to more of a literacy specialist. So, not necessarily asking for any switch there, but definitely shifting her priority. Did I say that correctly? Anything else
073that I >> Yeah. No. Uh, so our middle high school um in looking at we've shared we've talked about ENL students and their growth. Um, at the end of the year, all um L students take an exam. their performance on that ex that exam dictates the amount of minutes that they have to have contact time with an ENL teacher. We've we've seen their growth. We know um we know they're growing at a at a really fantastic rate. They are current two full-time ENL teachers have some slight gaps in their schedule. Nothing um you know a half an hour here or there. Um, but I do anticipate once we um given the given the uh trajectory of our current students and then the shift over into this building who's moving over um from fifth grade that
074we be will be able to cover their needs with time left over and um one of our ENL teachers is literacy certified. Um, it also allows us to make sure that should we have students who move in who have ENL needs, we're able to to adjust and not get into this weird situation of where we don't need you, but now we do. Um, kind of thing. >> Yeah. You want your ENL teacher to be amazing and she's working herself out of the job, but we have a job for her, right? Our students have needs. So, it's a it's a great way again for us to consider what our needs are with our current staff and how we create some efficiency and keep great people employed. >> Absolutely. Any questions? Thank you very much. With that,
075we're going to move to our last new business item before going to executive session. Number three, approval of election inspector rates. Resolved that the board of education upon the recommendation of the superintendent approved the election inspector rates for the 2025 2026 budget vote. Head inspector head election inspector $25 an hour. Election inspector $19 an hour. May I have a motion, please? >> So moved. >> A second. >> Second. >> Any discussion? All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any oppose? >> I'll have to abstain. >> Okay. Shar. [clears throat] >> Uh that motion is carried. 60 with one abstaining. We're going to move to executive session. Resolve that the board of education adjourn to executive session at 7:01 p.m. for the purpose of discussing the following matters pursuant to public officers law. Discussions concerning
076the employment employment and employment history of particular persons and matters leading to appointment and leave of absence. May I have a motion, please? >> I'll make it. >> Second. Any discussion? All in favor say I. >> I. Any oppose? That motion is carried. 70. We will be back after executive session. >> Resolved that the board of education return to regular session at 8:06 p.m. I have a motion, please. >> I'll make it. >> Second. >> Discussion. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? That motion's carried. We're going to go through personnel number one, approval of leave of absence. Resolve that with the board of education upon the recommendation of the superintendent approve the leave of absence request of employee number 810 effective on or about June 4th, 2026 through on or about
077January 4th, 2027. May I have a motion, please? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? All in favor say I. >> Any opposed? The motion is carried. Number two, appointment of food service helper. Resolved that the board of education upon the recommendation of the superintendent appoint Brianna Harkness to the part-time civil service position of food service helper effective February 25th, 2026. May I have a motion, please? >> I'll make it. >> Second, >> Peggy. Thank you. Uh discussion. All in favor say I. >> Any opposed? That motion is carried. 70. Number three, approval of musical stipens. Resolve that the board of education upon the recommendation of the superintendent approve the following stipens for the 2025 2026 middle school high school musical as listed. May I have a motion, please? >> So move. >> Second.
078>> Any discussion? >> I'll abstain. >> I need to abstain also because my child might be involved. >> Okay. To abstaining, all in favor say I. >> I. I. >> Any opposed? But you're you're abstaining. >> Correct. [laughter] >> I don't want to say I need >> a second. >> Thanks for your support. >> Peggy, did you say >> I said second, >> Peggy? >> Thank you. >> Um all in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? That's carried. 502 abstaining. We're going to go to number four substitute resolved that the board of education upon the recommendation of the superintendent approve the following substitute for the remainder of the 2025 2026 school year. Alexis Egy. Apologize if I did not say that correctly. Elementary teacher motion please. >> I'll make it. >> I'll second
079that motion. >> Thank you. Any discussion? All in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? That motion is carried. Number five, approval of intercolastic coach. >> Make a motion to table this. >> Okay. Motion to table. Can I have a second? >> Second. >> John seconds. Thank you. >> All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed. That motion is tabled 70. Six. Approval of substitute. Resolved that the board of education upon the recommendation of the superintendent approve the following substitute for the 2025 2026 school year. Jonathan Stetter facilities. May I have a motion please? >> Second. >> Thank you. Any discussion? All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? That motion is carried 70. >> We're going to move to adjournment. Thank you all for the long evening and dedicating your
080time. resolved that the board of education adjourn the meeting of February 24th, 2026 at 8:09 p.m. May I have a motion, please? >> I'll make it. >> Second. >> All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion carried 70. I hope you all have a nice night. Thank