Board of Education Meeting January 13, 2026

001will call the meeting to order. Uh I will start the meeting by inviting up our BBS hallway greeters to who are also going to lead us in the pledge. So when I call your name, if you guys want to walk up to the front and you guys are going to lead us in the pledge. So, Finley Bees, Kian Braun, Ethan Corkran, Chase Partridge, Sawyer Thurber, and Henry Thirsten. Why don't we Why don't you guys line up right over there? >> They're coming all the way to the >> Y I should have been more specific. My fault. That's fine. That's fine. That's fine. Stop meeting. How about you stop right there? Perfect. And then the rest of the audience, if you would join us in standing. And when I point to you guys, if you guys

002can lead us in the pledge. Ready? Can everybody see me? >> I pledge alce 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 very much. You may be seated. You may return to your seats. Well done. And for our uh for for those who who just led us to the pledge, first of all, thank you. It's their option along with their families if they wish to stay for the entire proceedings tonight. Uh certainly uh we thank them for for for being here. Okay. Well, getting started, we'll jump right into the department and building reports. And I'm for this entire section, I'm just going to hand it over to Mr. Adams who's going to

003see in a moment. >> Sounds good. Welcome everybody. Thanks for uh for coming out, but certainly as we we have our our board meeting at uh at Boston Valley today. It's my pleasure to introduce to you Mrs. Lowour, who is the principal of Boston Valley Elementary School, and we're going to hear a little bit about some of the uh some of the >> Yeah. Yeah, >> some of the amazing things going on in Boston Valley. And I think you're going to really like the the the focus on on connecting kids together and certainly connecting uh the uh the building focus of Boston Valley with uh with what we do as a district. >> Am I appropriately placed for where you need to be? Okay, perfect. Um so you know that we create building plans over

004the summer that just kind of guide the work that our buildings are going to do. So I just wanted to highlight one area of focus for us. So there are two success criteria. When we came together over the summer, the core team members and the folks who were with me working on our voting plan that we decided we were going to focus on more intentionally this school year. So it really was work that we were already doing, but we thought we could take it further. So the two success criteria that we decided to focus on, the first one is that our eyes and minds are open to seeing and celebrating the things that make us unique while also embracing our collective strengths as a learning community. So really recognizing um sure we have differences and

005the ways that we're unique and special, but we're stronger together and that we demonstrate an appreciation and desire for human interaction through meaningful experiences. So, one of the things that we needed to happen here at Boston Valley that we knew would exemplify that we were really living those success criteria was that we wanted to make sure that we were creating shared experiences, shared experiences with our special and general education students with an understanding that the door opens both ways. So when you think about integration and inclusion, like typically you think that that's happening for the benefit of the student with special needs, but we fully recognize here at Boston Valley that that benefits everybody. When we bring our general and special education students together in all of the spaces where we live and learn here

006at Boston Valley, there are benefits to everyone and we really have seen that take off. Um, I have to tell you, Kayla has helped me well helped Kayla put together a video. Um I I thought of all the things that I wanted to see in it. Um we had staff members who volunteered to speak about the work that they're doing and the experiences and the successes that we are seeing as we create those shared experiences for our students and for our staff members and she captured it perfectly. I've watched it a couple of times and I do believe that I've cried every time I've watched it. Um but they are tears of joy like and tears of pride because the work can be very hard but when you have a group of people who come

007to this building every day and they are dedicated to that mission and it's important to them and they they see the benefits of it. The work can be hard sometimes but it also becomes very easy because it feels so good for all of us. And so I have to tell you, a lot of the beautiful video that Kayla created, the things that you're going to see in that video are not happening. I I can't take credit for those. They are happening because of the staff members and the teachers and all of the people who work in this building who really have made a commitment to bringing those success criteria to light that I shared with you. And we are seeing beautiful things happen here. Um the comfort, >> yes, >> Henry's agreeing with me. the

008comfort level of our students um as they come together, the way that they seek each other out. You're going to see in the video that the action the interactions between them are genuine and and truly like they all are seeking it out and desire it. So, um I really don't have much else to say about it because you really just have to see it in action. So, I think you know the the best thing would be to play the video and if you have any questions for me after I'm happy to talk more about it. Um, but it really does speak for itself and the staff members again who are doing the work um were interviewed for this and say some absolutely incredible things that really speak to the success that we're seeing and their

009commitment to what we're doing. >> My name is Amy Judge and I'm a kindergarten teacher here at Boston Valley. I'm Caitlyn P and I am a K to2 self-contained teacher at Boston Valley Elementary. Throughout the school year, um there are many opportunities that we try to create inclusive opportunities for both classes to join together. Each year it does look a little bit different depending on the kids, but by the end of the year the kids really do view the kids from both classes as one class. They are their friends and we do all of that together. Some of the activities that we do are any special events that are held at the grade level. Caitlyn's kids are always welcome to come down and join. Um, and they actively participate in the whole group activity. They

010also join us for all of our field trips. I think it's really all about creating like a space where all of the students feel welcome and valued and really just a whole part of our school community. We just started something fun too where we're inviting um you know the kindergarten, first and second grade classes into my room as well. Kind of work on those social emotional and language pieces as well. I'm Beth Walters. I'm a speech language pathologist at Boston Valley School. In speech therapy we do small um social skills groups. So it might be like within the classroom. I might push in and do things in the room. And we have a group called lunch bunch which um starts usually in like second or third grade and it's an integrated group. So it's it'll

011be a few of our um students with special needs and then we bring in their peers and um it's it's lunchtime, right? What what better time to learn social skills. What's pretty amazing is our our peers, our buddies who become the teachers. I really become the facilitator in that group and I just watch them um not only help them with the social skills but with communication um giving them opportunities um to express themselves asking them to clarify things. Some of our students are non-verbal. Um they might have communication devices. They might be difficult to understand even when they are verbal and um because of that there's like a perception like oh they can't play Uno. Um and you know I try to bring in like these age appropriate games and it's like it's so awesome

012to watch when they realize oh they you know they know how to match and they they can play this game and they just are communicating a little differently. >> My name is Ashley Kellerin. Um, I teach the special class grades 3, 4, and 5 at Boston Valley. We try to take advantage of all the opportunities that we can for our students, and that looks different depending on our students abilities and needs. Uh, we do things like recycling every Fridays. Um, and that's a great way for our students to get out across the building, the hallways, interact with other um, peers. You know, it's not just about how we integrate our students into GenEd. That's only part of it. It's really also how we provide opportunities for those students to come in so that we can

013have those deeper connections for our students. It's really important for them to have positive peer role models um and they have opportunities to see people their age uh communicate and they have opportunities to practice different social skills. And then the other side of it is uh the benefits for the gened students that they have an opportunity to interact with our students because our students sometimes engage in behaviors or they're loud or they might have questions about what our students are doing. Um, being able to find opportunities to integrate our students with GenEd gives us the opportunity for those kids to ask their questions um, and to kind of model like, uh, this student is loud, but that actually means that he's happy, like he likes what he's doing. So, if you see him in the

014hallway and he's doing this, you know, he might be happy. It's not anything to be concerned about. on the playground. They might um use sign language that they've learned that we've used with some kids or they might initiate um like we have uh communication devices for some of the students and they might kind of initiate pressing some of the buttons and by the end of the year they figure out how to interact with each other. they become part of these classes, which is nice. And even as we're like walking down the hallway, all of the students will say hi to the students. Um they'll invite them to play on the playground. Like it's been really nice to see um all of those friendships that are being built. Just the other day we were playing Uno

015and a student um who had a communication device was not understanding um the question and the buddy in fifth grade typed it in, had it talk and then as soon as he saw the visual that is what prompted him to attend and I was just like oh my job is done. The one thing that we've done so far um that went really well was our Christmas party. We invited students into our classroom and that way we can help to control the environment, you know, and help our students be successful and help meet their sensory needs while they're interacting with peers. Um, and it really gave the opportunity for those kids to come in and see what it is that we do every day and what our classroom's about. Um, and to really get to interact

016with our students. We feel that it's important to create these inclusive opportunities because the kids are all at the same grade level. So throughout their time here in Hamburg, they are going to be in integrated with each other, there's going to be several different activities, and there students with disabilities. their students with different social emotional needs, students with different academics, and no matter what classroom they're placed in, no matter what school they're at here in Hamburg, they all have an opportunity to learn from each other, whether that's collaboratively um through showing kindness, um showing showing each other how to do different academic skills, showing empathy, and really just our goal is to develop that understanding that everybody has differences, but everybody has something really positive to bring to the table. >> Instead of making the

017child change for the world, you should make the world change for the child. Parents where they realize they have a child that has special need learning. Um, you know, the fear is that they're always going to be different and not accept it. I have on more than one occasion said, you know, nobody nobody wants inclusion more than this building at Boston Valley, right? We look for those opportunities and um it's a small community and we just um we embrace it early on. And is here by the way and one of our teacher um I really can't say it any better than the folks who who spoke in video other than to tell you like I just think it's so unique the approach that we're taking that we really are trying to make every space in

018this building a space where everyone has a sense of belonging and there is that those those shared experiences and connections that we're developing and the understanding that it it is still all about learning because the The way that we embrace this the most is teaching our kids that it's okay to ask questions and be curious and learn about other people because they do have questions and it's important to help them understand. Um, and again that you know you you think that we do this because of the support that we're giving our students with special needs, but we do this out of support for all of our students because that acceptance and embracing of other people's uniqueness, I think, is probably the greatest gift that we can give them. um in the time that they spent

019with us. So, and now I'm gonna stop because it makes me >> So, I hope you enjoyed that. And um that's just a little taste of of one um absolutely amazing thing that's happening here at Boston Valley because of the again because of the folks who walk into this building every morning and are committed to making that happen. Thank you. Thank you. appreciate all the efforts that went into that from building focus the environment that's created for the students and the families themselves. That imagery of the door swinging both ways is a powerful one. Thank you for that. From uh from Boston Valley, we now move on to our capital project update. Uh I know we've got Sean here to uh to deliver that. So Sean from uh from Turner Construction. Thanks for being here

020tonight. We appreciate it. >> How's everyone doing? Happy New Year. >> Happy New Year. >> As you slid pictures, you see what you got in front of you. You'll notice this is kind of going to be the last stuff about phase two. For the most part, you see a lot about phase four coming up. But couple quick things to point out would be the on the financials today. Phase four or phase two and three final cost reports, excuse me, are done. You'll notice on the big project that we've been tracking close to 29 million as we've gone along. It's the worst case scenario with all the final costs come locked in reconcile basically 20.5 million that landed along with phase three just north of 2 million that was coming in. So we're going to help

021referum overall for phase four phase 5 about 21.6 million in remaining funds. Last thing I wanted to point out to you guys too for the financials is uh at the bottom here we got a whole section. If you recall year and a half plus maybe ago there's there was some lighting bought by the district investment all the year after report successfully got all the rebates back. So essentially some% of the total cost those lights have been recouped material cost from >> change management nothing report there as promised no change orders today phase two is closed out we start tracking phase four down here as we go along bottom of that box you see the total costs we're basically holding for any potential request conditions issues we run into for phase four contingency that you see

022$30,000 for phase four along with some allowances built into the contract along as we as we start the work. Speaking of the work, phase four is basically a month away from kicking off. So see us take over that law at 138 on the pleasant side first. That's where the action will be here until we hit summer. Otherwise, I think there's some on the dock to prove later. Those are basically some consultants, the third parties that that we use on the project. It worked out that after going out for RFPs, we had four responses for environmental air monitoring, four responses for commissioning and four responses for third party material testing. The same three folks that we had on phase two came in as the lowest responsible responders to that. So they're being recommended for approval. School

023environmental, CJ Brown for commissioning the mechanical equipment and of course uh testing for materials. Those are doctor today contract those guys coming to keep the contractor as we go along open our middle you see phase two punch list we're at 85% complete so those guys are still in the building day today a few guys here and there working around wrapping up getting out of the way that has come to a close pretty quick um to the to the photos you have something happened over the last break um is basically cleaning up that giant pump room and boiler room down in the high school. Essentially cleaned everything up and did an epoxy floor coating. That'll that's a great investment that'll help your your maintenance staff keep that place clean and functioning for for decades to come.

024So that's really what you see on the first slides. Yeah. And then these pictures are up there because believe it or not, we had some mishaps when we were painting some of these rooms. These are the uh Charlotte art music. I think we replaced the blinds. That's why those are up there. Um >> you had some the old blinds that got a little bit damaged and there was the right finish. So we had the contract responsible to replace that that break. So that was our last punch item. I think the elementary school >> similar to everything else you're going to see phase two drop off. The next report we'll build but again starting in February and it'll be a two-year project and your next referendum schedule. So nothing's changed here from what you've seen previous

025questions comments concerns. >> Remind me what's the first what are we starting with on phase four? So the the the Pleasant Side Auditorium uh >> Pleasant Side take that over in February with break >> and be in there through into the fall like in October end of October giving that back over basically as a big part of the project. >> Sure. >> Full gut renovation. >> And how invasive will that be on the school operation? >> Noninvasive. So, what we've done is we've kind of taken over an entrance way right off the side there. That's >> non emergency grass point. Um the work will be on second shift >> like on the pleasant side of the out towards where the playground is kind of where the basketball side work going on during second shift. >>

026Okay. started mid all the demolition kind of move into game plan the whole building out kind of be jump around starting the summers finishing you know either before school opens up every else with the art suites music suites suites hallways bathrooms all be kind of wrapping up centered around summers in the early fall >> great and there have been all sorts of conversation that you know Colleen were part of today with regards to how the uh how the arrangement movement of of items that need to be moved because there'll be some adjustments but like it's a it's that the the idea that we can get that work started uh in February is like that is a that is a value ad beyond value ad and the just the almost like the symbolism of being able

027to work in that pleasant odd first uh that's pretty exciting. >> Any other questions? >> All right, thanks guys. Thanks. >> All right. From here and sort of ring the bell as we begin our budget season. Uh first I want to thank everybody for their um support of Christine. She'll be back with us uh for back with us next month but uh understandably not not here today. I'm just going to give an overview. Uh as questions come up. I will do my level best to answer them if I've got the answer down. uh and if it's something that I need to talk to her about and get back to on that as the entire board, I can certainly certainly do that. Uh so, um this will take us from January now till April with that

028with that with that adoption, certainly the the budget vote in in May. So, just to give a uh view of what you'll be seeing here, um we're going to go over a little bit of what the school aid runs are all about. um and then a little bit on the board of regents priorities for um the coming school year and then uh want to give you some background of what we're doing in terms of preparing for the budget both at the uh at the district level but certainly at the school and department level as well and we'll talk a little bit about next steps. All right. And uh and then we'll be uh keep in mind that February begins our budget workshop that will precede our regular budget meetings and that will be something that

029we do in February and March and April also. Okay. Uh so you can stop me with uh with questions as you need uh as as you need to and we can uh we can get going. So school aid runs in November. You get one and Christine's very good at telling me don't worry about the November run. uh it's not going to tell you too much. The big one that we look at is the one that comes out mid January and here we are in mid January. Um the governor just gave her state of the state address. The priorities have been uh have been laid out. That's the hope. That's the proposed budget that's come out. Eventually we'll get the one that the department of the budget looks at. We'll get the enacted budget eventually. So

030the first runs that we'll be taking a look at again are coming coming within a week or so. and that'll tell us a little bit more um about things that we love to talk about such as foundation aid. So that's where we are in January with the executive budget school aid runs. February we are upload like the in February the the state ed department uploads all those that that proposed budget and then the enacted budget from April. The goal being April 1st for budget adoption. Um, we know that's a uh that's a that's one that sometimes doesn't get met. Um, but uh April's the enacted state budget runs. That will really tell us the picture and then some changes that um that happen along those lines. We would see those in May. So that'll have

031an impact on us, but but our knowledge with that uh really begins now. Um, if you can see what the November state 8 runs are, the next slide that I'm looking at, um, not too much in the way of changes from 2526 aid to what was listed for us in 2627. Um, you get the slight increase in foundation aid. Uh, you get the slight increase in transportation. Um, the building aid piece. Christine has asterisk that because she works with capital markets. You might remember Rick Gansy is one of the folks who helps us as we get our information. um regarding like among other things. Uh you see him when we're planning for capital projects, but it's also our advisor throughout the year as well. Uh and then you can see there's some changes in terms

032of high cost um um in terms of uh of some of our more more high need students and then you see a slight decrease in hardware or software library. So you see your totals there. Again, Christine cautions me. I know I said before, but like don't pay too much attention to November. It's really the sort of the rubber begins to meet the road a little bit more with the January state run. >> Okay. >> The the Bosey's aid increases that strictly just based on our consumption of Bosey's resources. >> That would be my that would be my surmise with it for sure. Um you know there was something I was taking a look at today which involve the number of students we have in the career and technical programming and that increase of 16 students

033or so from one year to the next. That's, you know, roughly $10,000 a student. >> That makes sense. I just was making sure there wasn't a change in the way Bosey's aid was calculated or something. >> Uh, from here we've got our state aid categories and you see as they're listed, you've got your transportation, your building, your Bosey's aid, and then your high cost. And you can see um some smaller increase like just shown shown a little bit uh a little bit graphically there. I should not skip over that that quickly. Um, but that's just a a bar graph expression bar graph expression of that. All right. From there, we take a look at the board of regents budget and legislative priorities of 2627. Uh during my report, I'll talk a little bit about some

034of the things that the governor mentioned in her state of the state uh address today. Uh implementation for New York inspires and the different graduation measures, expansion of career technical education and aid and again the school aid and foundation aid. That's that 1.1 billion increase for 2627. We were in that hold harmless or save harmless category. We're still presuming that's going to be at that 2% level like we were last year. Whereas even though we're not growing and we might be declining a little bit. We're not going to see it decrease from one year to the next in in foundation aid. We'll still be able to get that 2%. All right. That's the that's what our what our plans are now um with it. And then you can see the uh the students with disabilities

035to cover costs until age 22. Uh from there we move to um other priorities. Um the idea of fully f uh fully funded expense-based aids. Here's the the items that are listed there. Uh there is discussion of the expansion of UPK. Um in terms of the grant expansion and the focus on higher need districts, how that would impact us. We're not sure yet. All right. We don't have those uh any anything final with regard and we haven't been able to sit down and take a look at what that would do to impact um us but uh but those are just the the listing of those priorities how that affects us in the real world we're not sure yet. All right. We just wanted to lay out what those priorities are. Was there not some discussion

036on mandating full day UPK everywhere >> that it seemed like I what I took from the state of the state today was that there was a lot of talk about like that sort of that universal child care and then the expansion of UPK where I believe and correct me if I'm wrong on this where the two grants sort of turn into one grant or perhaps there's a third one. Colleen, I feel like you've got a good window on this. >> I don't know how exactly it'll work but I think they're looking to fund more universal prek. I don't know that it will be >> so it's going to come with funding. Well, we'll see what ends up happening. But yes, um the good news is it's being talked about and they're recognizing early childhood is

037where we need to place funds. So, >> one one thing that we benefit from as a district is that we offer UPK at the the half day level and the full day. We feel like that folks in our community, they they do there that there are many who who like that half day option with things. in terms of the funding of it, it seems like the full day look is getting more traction with it. But I do think it's a I think it's one of those Hamburg type priorities that is like we've got families and then we know from those conversations that that half day is an option that a lot of folks like too. Uh and we can uh I I should uh any anything else on there that you want to ask? and

038then I can go through what our budget meetings uh what we're doing at the at the schoolbased level with it. >> Uh in ter like January 22nd is a is a big date for us. That's when uh the principles and directors of various uh scopes within our within our district are going to meet uh with our with our district with our executive district office staff. Uh and that'll be on January 22nd. Those meetings are scheduled throughout the day and those are budget proposals that they have and budget requests and we take those in and we see what we can do um with those through through those sort of shared conversations. Um from there uh we've got a meeting on February 10th uh where we hear about uh what we're um going to be utilizing Boseis

039for. That's a that's an involved meeting because Boseies covers all sorts of you know every one of the the folks who work in the district represented in this room uh and table certainly uh have parts of their world that is related to Boseis. Um so that's uh that's where we we you know on the on the on the one side you're talking about technology you're talking about software and hardware on the other side you're talking about number of students for certain programs both programs that you see on CTE level and some that might be out of place out out of district type placements too. Uh there'll be a meeting with our health insurance consultant that'll be in early February to take a look at some projections for next year. Uh workers comp consortium meeting scheduled

040for the end of January. And then we have school municipal uh energy consortium. Those budget projections will happen in midFebruary as we do the delicate dance of trying to figure out what energy costs will be in the coming year. All right. So all that information is being gathered now. And as we meet more, as we meet in February, March, we'll be able to report back to you in terms of what that information is. All right. Uh this uh in terms of like the five the five bill signed by Governor Hokll in in November, this is something that Christine wanted you to have here as information. This is like in terms of of impact on us. Uh not as much like the the last the last dot point there is uh child victims act up. like

041I mean there's things that you know about and have heard about but it's not things that are that are doing a ton with uh with our in terms of our budget presentation itself. >> Okay. Uh from there our February budget presentation like you can you can focus on a couple things here. It'll incorporate what the governor talked about today in terms of that budget proposal but it's also the revenue meeting too. So this is all where we talk about all the money that's coming coming into the district in terms including the property tax levy. You'll be hearing about the property tax cap uh at that point too. We'll also have some good awareness as to where we are in terms of uh ERS and TRS or two retirement systems that our staff are involved in

042whether that's an increase or decrease. And we'll also be able to take a look and see where we're at in terms of workers comp and utilities. So when we talk about that February meeting a lot of times you talk about as the revenue side of the meeting. It's not just that, but that's it. That's it. That's that's a large part. Okay. February, we move to the March meeting. Uh, and that one we don't have a slide for, but the March meeting, it would be the expense side. All right. So, that we're just doing doing the uh the uh the other side of the ledger, so to speak, there. All right. So, next steps that Christine and her office are going to be digging into. Uh she'll be completing the salary updates uh and working those

043into the budget. take a look at all that retirement from FICA, TRS and ERS. Get that information from Boseies, utilities, uh, workens comp, health insurance expenses, and then the debt service principal and interest payments. Uh, remember that's all part of the capital project world. Uh, and that's like when we've been talking about trying to keep those balanced from one year to the next so we don't have huge undulations in terms of what that tax cap will be. Uh, we'll try to get estimate of sales tax, income tax, and other revenues. Uh and then we enter stated revenues when the funds are released and update. Uh and especially if they're they're updated in April on that. Okay. Uh that's sort of the the the format and that's you know it's very similar to and this is

044all uh information that that Christine was able to put together. Um but if you have questions on it like there's a there's there's uh there's there's some good good good expertise around the table. Certainly you can ask questions um about that. There's also uh I've got a pen uh and I'll write down the questions and can get those answers back to you, Mary. >> Um in anticipation for particularly the March presentation, >> uh I'm working off my memory here. Uh I know nothing is ever set in stone. I'm probably going to be going up running against the wire just because of the state. But when we get the presentation about uh expenses and revenue or revenues and expenses, um is there any possible way that when we get these presentations, there's sort of a A

045and B version like here's what we think is going to happen and this is what we would like to happen and this is the budget we would like to present. Here's a worstc case scenario. Like, so this is what we would do if it's much worse and this is how we would this is what we would do in the scenario that like everything gets vetoed and we're in a dumpster fire. Like is that a possibility? Yeah, I'm a feeling uh for those of us of a of a certain vintage, we recall uh former county executives, I think there was a red budget and a green budget. >> Uh that that that didn't go over as well as I as I recall uh as we perhaps would would like. I think the idea of going forward

046with a budget based on as as best we know, but in the back of our minds like that's almost that's that I almost see that as being like our finance committee is having those conversations with like here's what you know if should the should should the worst happen with things. I mean like that plan is always there but in terms of what we're what we want to propose you know there is there's a realist there's a pragmatic way of doing that. It's not just a, you know, it's not just wishful thinking that we're going to put this uh information out there. I understand like the concerns about what happens if funding gets cut in such a way. I think we would know that by that point. Um, that's my again that's that's I mean that

047that's certainly other people can weigh in on that, but I'd hesitate uh to be proposing two different budgets to have that to have that sort of like that that to to not have our our sort of our our commit to the one budget that we're recommending to to the voters. >> I see. And and what in my experience usually happens um when the governor comes out with um her proposed budget next week, uh it's not going to be that far off from what we norm what we're going to get. I mean, then kind of the dance between the legislature and the and the governor's office starts. Um but keep in mind that that is going to be the what comes from the governor is what's going to be the framework. It's not like the legislator

048can say throw down the trash. This is one we're going to do. They have to work with that. Um and there's been may been last year uh somewhat recently where actually the legislature I think increased education aid depending on what they're trying to accomplish. >> Yeah. And it's it's one thing to increase education aid is are we going to experience that increase too? >> You never you never know how how it how how it filters through. I mean, we've a lot most of us have gone to those budget uh presentations from uh um >> uh >> Little Dave Little Dave Little. Yeah. >> Uh who kind of gives you a little bit of the behind thescenes view of how how that sausage is made. >> But I think we normally do and I think Christine

049has done a decent job in the past of not trying to give us a budget presentation that's with kind of rosecolored glasses. I think she she's very pragmatic with with what she does and >> you know barring anything like what happened was it 10 12 years ago >> they decided to start clawing money back from us >> mean we have some good information usually the expense budget is the ser you know the things we want to offer services we want to offer the class sizes is there a particular concern that you'd like to address or you just want to kind of play out. >> I'm just doing like a SWAT analysis. Like I'm I'm just always trying to know like what what should I be worried? >> You all know what the the threats and

050weaknesses are better than we do. And I just want to I just want to get in your brains and be able to chew on it as well as y'all do. Let's just >> So you're trying to understand where does the money fall apart rather than what services are at risk if the money falls apart. >> No, all of it. Like I I >> the latter part's dangerous. Like it's alarmist if we start going, well, we can't have program A, B, and C if the money falls apart. If that's if we don't actually think that that's a plausible reality. You know, I I guess I just don't want to I want to be I have want to have my eyes wide open. So, I want to know like in the worst case scenario, what do I

051need to be ready to see go? Not that I want it to go. I just don't want to be like, >> yeah, >> surprised. And that's just I'm and I don't even want to be I don't anticipate it. It's just like, >> oh, okay. Well, we knew that was coming. So, like I know when I'm going to start to I know when we lose if we have to lose funding that needs to pivot to P PTSA or I need to like fund raise for it. You know what I mean? Like that's my mentality is how do I pivot? >> How do I pivot? What do I pivot to first so I know my next move, >> right? And and I guess the the idea of having, you know, disaster plans, I get that idea. I

052imagine anybody who's running a business or a home like that like that that's what that's part of the that's part of the internal workings of of of the plan and a reason that people stay up at night uh worrying about that. But right now we've got fairly good faith that uh uh that that a 2% foundation aid increase is something that we've seen pledged to us before and they've been able to follow through on it. So we want to put our planning around that and we want that recommended budget to reflect what we think is is the wisest course of action. It's not that we're planning on a 5% increase and make all sorts of uh um expenditure plans based on that. We're going to try to do that as much in reality as possible.

053>> I had a quick question on the big wild card in current year's budget transportation. >> What was the date that we put in the contract that we would know um from >> I believe that that was a we had to let each other know in March. >> So I think like either side. So, we'll know in March um what the >> requested increase >> whether or not it's the right the the uh the the standard increase with it or if it's going to be or if it's one where they want to renegotiate and then we go on go down to the RFP road again. So, if they agree to that standard rate, that is kind of we're locked into that for >> No, we would still be like we're still able to to make

054that that decision in terms of being able to move on by that. >> Either of us can move on from that contract. >> Okay. Um, will we have wrership audit results? >> Well, there there will be there needs to be two more ridership audits this year. >> Will we have at least one of those? Do we have any thus far? And will we have >> we have one from the beginning of the year. >> Okay. >> It'll take a little bit to have the midyear one. >> Okay. >> All right. And that's why we were able to consolidate a couple runs and we were able to and then add a couple months. It's a bit of a wash uh or a wash uh for sure, but but that information helps us make those decisions. >>

055Okay. that I think that's the one piece that I'm most concerned about because it was a much larger increase than I think anyone was anticipating. >> And depending on what extras we needed to add on to that, that number could be even higher. um and going into next year um knowing what we need and why we need it and why they're doing what they're doing and coming to the decisions that they're making spending our money. I think we need to understand all of those pieces. Um because a lot of stuff hasn't made sense this year just with my own um experiences and I'm a mom of four so that's one household. Um, but I think that it's a lot of money being spent and we need to understand why we're coming to the decisions we're

056coming to on these runs, how they're coming to the decisions, when they're making these runs, um, and be really thoughtful about that going into next year. >> For sure. And that's that's the the truly like on the on the management side, that's something that um that that is a that is a focus, a regular focus. And I know we can't equate um can't equate effort with results with it. Um, but that's that's that is uh without a doubt transportation is a is a is a big time daily focus of what we're trying to do better. >> Thank you. >> Sure. >> Any other >> Yeah, we good. >> Any other budget related stuff? One more in section B. >> Okay. All right. Thank you everybody. >> It's now Thank you for being so patient. We

057have our uh two two uh two partners of this from uh from Trone and Cigar and Associates. Uh these are the folks who came in to do uh an audit for us. We have Alyssa Abbott and we have Sarah Bowser who come forward and uh and share your findings. Thanks so much for uh spending time with us, not only do the audit uh thank you for the audit uh but also for the presentation tonight. >> Absolutely. Yep. So we are from Columbia. I'm Sarah. This is Alyssa. Um so we did the internal audit. We did uh Alyssa did field work back in um November before Thanksgiving. Um so as part of the internal audit this year, we focused on budget budget monitoring and budget revenue. Um looking at the internal controls over that process um

058and seeing if there's any piece points of recommendation that we have um those controls and how the controls are operating. Um so overall we found um minor overall risk in the budget budget monitoring cycle from u our review and we identified one recommendation for improvement um which is easily addressed through routine operations um of the district. Um so that recommendation um we had found that budget status reports and revenue status reports were the food service and special aid funds were not being formally provided to the board on a monthly basis. So, while the board receives um the budget and revenue status reports for general fund and the regular updates on capital projects, when there's a capital projects um going on with the district, as we saw this evening, um the school lunch fund and the

059special aid fund do not have those same reports being provided to the board on a monthly basis. The district business office is reviewing those on a regular basis. Um and we found overall that there would be a minor impact on the district because on the district if with those funds not being provided or the reports for those funds not being provided um due to the level of oversight that the business office has on those funds and the likelihood of significant variances occurring in those funds would be also low because of the monitoring being done in the business office. Um, however, we just recommend including those reports in the monthly packet that's provided to the board for um, better oversight and just more transparency for for all of you. And it will also help to kind

060of if there are any questions on reimbursements that may be coming in for the school lunch fund, anything like that. It just gives the board a little bit more of a heads up rather than just waiting for year end reports for those funds. So, any questions that you folks have for us on the internal audit for this year? >> Did you read our agenda? >> Are we doing well? We're doing better. Better already. We're the We're the most smiling recipients of an audit ever. >> Yes. I think that's the first time I've ever been thanked for auditing. >> The words in me, not Yeah. I don't know. But um one thing I actually wanted to add just on the school lunch fund in particular, it was good timing that we were out here during the

061government shutdown. So we kind of had some conversations about the delay in reimbursements. So that's an example of how something out of the ordinary could be caught earlier on if these are provided. There's not typically a ton of activity in that fund on a month-to-month basis, but those um you know delays could be identified early on. >> I had a question. Do you have a recommendation in the format that that should be delivered? >> As far as the format, that would be up to >> most uh like budget status reports and revenue status reports um come from like a they're in a prescribed format already from WCAP. Um so you could probably see them in a similar format to how you're getting the general fund reports. Um, but a lot of times it's very software

062specific depending on which software the district is using as far as how those reports are coming out. >> Thank you. >> Of course. >> Anything else? >> Any other questions? >> Really appreciate it. >> Thanks. >> Thank you. Sorry. >> And just as uh like just as a couple other a couple other points that you'll see that uh as part of the treasure report, those funds are listed in there. So you've you've had that's that's the reason why you've got so many more attachments in the treasures report this time. So uh so that take care uh so this will even though we've already started it uh Christine will also develop what they call a corrective action plan which you would then accept or we would ask you to accept uh for next meeting but you're

063seeing what that corrective action plan is already by the C fund cafeteria and the F fund federal fund which contains the grants as well. Uh we are also in the process of making a move from Windcap to a different program called Envision and there might be some more details that are associated with the reports that come from Envision when that happens over the summer. Just so you know. >> Cool. >> Okay. Moving intoformational items. We have our board briefings from our last meeting. Uh nothing in items for information. Future board of education meetings. We are at the middle school on February 10th. Uh that starts reminder, we just heard it, but I'll say it again, just starts our budget session. So, our meetings will be uh budget session will start at 6 and we will

064um we'll start the regular meeting as early as 6:30, but if our budget session goes long, we will we will use that time to to have the budget meeting and we'll start when that's complete. uh meetings and workshops. Um don't think there's anything new here. I guess you guys have lobby day coming up. So that's exciting for for you. >> So question about the next meeting. >> Sure. >> Uh we are going to because lobby day is the 11th. I know I'm going to be leaving on the 10th to get there. >> Were you thinking >> I have not made any arrangements yet. Um, but knowing it's a full day on Wednesday the 11th, it probably would make sense to go the day before. Um, >> it's Albany, right? >> Yeah. >> Alb is like

065a three-hour drive. >> Yeah. It's a whole section. >> It's more than three-hour drive. >> I'm taking the train. I'm not driving that. And I love trains. >> So, it's So, it sounds like you're proposing we move. >> I am that we move. >> So, this is the right this is the right vehicle to discuss that. Um, did it Does anyone what what would be the proposal to the day prior? >> When is February break? >> Following week. >> Yeah. So it can't be the next week. >> I would suggest we just move it a day. >> I could do Monday or >> can't move it to the next day because you guys would still be coming. Could move it to the previous day perhaps. How does Monday? That would be Monday the 9th, right?

066>> I can also do >> I don't love that Ashley's not here. I hope I don't want to like move it and snucker her out of the meeting. >> I can also do >> personally. I can do it. >> I can do it >> unless you want to just get to stay on Tuesdays. Um I mean it' be more of a delay, but go back to the 24th or move it up to the 3rd. Uh, third one I'm looking at is Armor Musical. Um, but they're also doing on Wednesday. So that's sorry that's that's just something I want to be at, but they're they're offering it too nice. I'm up for whatever. My family life is such that my wife texted me asking where I am. So apparently I didn't tell her about the port.

067So like I can like I'm like we can we can do we can do what we like here. >> I can do the third night. I think um procedurally to get everything done and what we want on the agenda. If we could look at the ninth, that might be helpful to have that week. >> I would agree. >> Um there's just a lot that we try to get done and have a process and a rhythm to get on the agenda. So it would be helpful, I think, if we have that week to still is the Super Bowl. >> Oh, the fourth. You're all right. >> Yep. Great. >> Thanks for asking. >> There's two Super Bowls. >> Well, he's talking about the parent child, of course. Then we can talk about the bills in the

068Super Bowl after that. >> Yeah. Could be a sloppy meeting on the night. All right. So, it sounds like the proposal is So, we will Do we need a Do we need a parliamentarian? Do we need an action to change a future board meeting? >> Well, since we already have the calendar on the uh >> agenda. >> Good point. >> We can just amend when we vote when we vote on the calendar. >> Great point. >> I can I can bring up something else that I've had. Oh, >> a call about regarding a March concern. >> So on on the heels of that in terms of in terms of availability on Tuesday the 10th for March. So is it possible for us to be able to go after two adjustments? >> When do we want

069to move the March meeting to? >> Think you had said later. >> What are people's appetites for a for a Thursday? >> I nothing on Thursday. So, we'd be moving March 10th meeting to March 12th. >> This is chaos. >> That works for me. >> Middle school concert. >> Our meeting. Where is that meeting? That's not at the middle school. No. February. >> February, right? >> Yeah. Okay. >> And I will I'll we'll work on I I can I can I'll confirm with Matt about that. Sure. >> Okay. So, I think we're saying Glad we paused here. So, we're we're taking February 10th, moving it into February 9th, March 10th, moving it to March 12th. Any objections before we move on from that. Okay. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. >> Yeah, I don't have a

070savor schedule, but >> focus priorities. >> Focus. >> All right. Um, so with that we covered the meetings, budget transfers. These are theformational budget transfers and then board committee reports. So I'm going to take a second here before we get into board committee reports. Um, I wanted to share some news about a board member that this board member has asked me to share. Uh, unfortunately Laura Heer will be stepping down from the board of education. So, I know this was a very challenging decision for her and one she does not enter into lightly, but my understanding is some circumstances in her private life have changed and I respect her decision. Uh, I wanted everyone to be aware of that and we'll have a brief discussion on this after the the uh board committee updates, but

071this felt like the right time to make that announcement and I know Laura asked for some help in making it and I was happy to provide that. So, respect your decision and we'll go around the table and come back to you. Laura, so with that, Max, tough act to follow, I know. But what's happening in the high school? >> So, well, I tried to print some things out for you guys, but my printer died on me. So, I wanted to print out uh the flyers that uh Emma made for Threaded Together. >> So, but I only have three, of course. So any >> we're gonna we're gonna make that happen. >> We can make some copies for you. >> Okay, perfect. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Um so just like last year, uh

072we incorporated every school in the district and um we're going to put bins in their schools starting of the MLK week and then that's going to uh the collection is going to go like all the way until the event which is the 31st. And uh so it's starts at 9:00 a.m. It goes till 3. Um I think that's Does anyone have any questions on that? >> Can Can you remind us what threaded together like what it brings together? What what what are we threading together? >> So threaded together is um where uh we collect clothing. So every school in the district participates. We collect clothing around and then we host an event where uh it's like a giant uh community closet where people can come in and get free clothes. So, whoever they want or

073whoever wants to come in and then at the end of it uh whatever we have left, we donate it to um other charity organizations that we distribute it to less fortunate people. So, it's pretty much it. >> Awesome. they they might remember like I think our ourselves at the at the table uh >> remember Emma Peters from last year uh she really was the that generated uh she she was a big moving force on that Emma and you uh and and plenty of others are are helping to make that happen. I was able to be at a a lunchon today with some of the student government folks and uh >> to chatter about is is really exciting. The fact that is continuing is is a wonderful thing. >> Great. Thanks. Um, so for Bald, uh,

074for Bucks, uh, I got a date on that. Um, I reached out to Harrigon to, uh, see if when the cafeteria was open and, uh, I managed to get it on March 25th, which is also the date of the junior sheta's chicken dinner. So, we'll be collaborating with them. Um what's left is that I have to or we have to look for barbers do the hair cutting and um I also have to reach out to Roswell so that they can confirm everything. Do you actually need like certified barbers or just people to run the clippers? >> Because if you just need people to run the >> I'd love to run some clippers. >> The other spot on the other roll. >> Yeah. >> Oh, that's Mr. Crangle's job. >> Shrinking. Um, students are starting to

075talk to their counselors about other schedules for next year, which I'm only 17 and I'm already starting to feel old. So, I remember that. >> And I'm going into college. >> What do you think, Dave? >> Lot of sympathy right now. >> I know. >> And then we have um the MLK drive, which is the pause versus claws. So, uh, Frontier and Hamburg compete to see who can donate the most, um, non-p perishable food items, and it goes into the he heaviest amount of, uh, uh, food collected. So, besides that, I think that's all I have. >> All right. Thanks, Max. >> I'm actually gonna jump to Jess. >> Perfect. Um, so I want to start with uh this past Friday at Charlotte Avenue, we had a ultimate Bills themed pep rally. So that was

076something that was won by one of our third grade students. She actually wrote an essay um to win the ultimate um assembly pep rally for your school. So, the entire student body got to celebrate because of a third grader named Sloan. She's incredible. Um, but it was such a great day. Um, the Bills sent more than a dozen staffers. Wegman's had staffers there. They had um little sunglasses and rally towels for the kids. It was so loud and so incredible. It was such a great thing to be a part of. and to know that she wanted to share that and wanted that experience and that moment for her school. Um, I just think it really speaks to the kind of kids we have in Hamburg and their their ability to kind of see outside of

077themselves and just worry about others and care about others and want things for them as much as they want things for themselves. So, that was just um the best day ever. Um, no Bills players. The kids were wondering, "Are there Bills players?" I said, "No, they're focused on the task at hand." And obviously they did the right thing. So, um, we can continue to cheer this weekend. Um, I have been, uh, at the most recent PTSA meeting. That group is just incredible, doing incredible things around this district. Um, after that, I went to the, uh, Hamburg boosters and, um, again, another group of incredible individuals who just give their time and efforts to benefit the kids. Um, actually they were talking about new wall mats in the high school with a really great design. How

078exciting. That's going to look so great. I didn't know that the current ones were in poor condition until I then went out into the gym to watch varsity basketball. >> A gentleman to your right who's very subtly nodding right now. Probably back too. >> Very much needed. So, um, but they're just an amazing group of people doing amazing things. I've been lucky enough to attend some of the sporting events. So, I go to modified basketball girls and boys because of my kids, but I've been able to check out the boys varsity. They are very intense. Um, and then those girls teams, both JV and varsity, we just have so many amazing kids with so many amazing talents and skills. So, I'm hoping to catch a lot more in the coming weeks. Um, I did want

079to touch on the Kathy Hokll visit. Um, I want to say that I just really appreciated the messaging that she had at that visit. It was really focused on um sharing her experiences, but then really kind of putting a spotlight on the importance of peer-to-peer connections and getting these kids with each other, talking to each other, caring about each other so that they can recognize when you have a a peer that might be in need. Um, and I think that actually ties in so well with what we were seeing from Boston and just how they're really getting their kids together so they can better understand each other. There's there's these mutual needs. you know, our our gened kids really need to better understand those who are different from them and our special needs kids really

080need to integrate with kids who are of the general population. Um there's just so many benefits to both sides, but to to have the governor come and speak about that and then to see it highlighted here, I think it's really just a focus on so many. And I think that making those connections um peer-to-peer, teacher, admintoer, those are the things that really set us apart and the work we do here with so many. So I just wanted to highlight that message that came from that. Uh the last thing I want to talk about is a couple of initiatives that I'm a part of. Um one is the it takes a village 5K that is coming back this year. That will be June 6th. We um are going to host it again. the same spot outside

081of Union Pleasant. I went to the village board meeting. The village is very excited to have that back. So, last year we hosted 359 runners, which was a great number for our first time out. Um, of that number, almost half of them were youth runners, 18 and under, which is so great to get our kids um out, get them active, get them moving. Uh, if they're anything like me, the second they start running, they start dreaming because the thought for this 5K came running on my treadmill. I call it my concrete jungle in my basement. There's nothing inspiring about my basement, but the second you start moving and realizing what you can do as an individual, it just it kind of snowballs. So, it's coming back. Last year, we were able to put just shy

082of $7,000 back into um clubs, organizations that wanted a financial boost, that had things they wanted to accomplish. So, we are really hoping to expand that impact. Um and one of the largest groups to participate in that 5K last year was our Bulldog Run Club. That is a group that we formed last year after the closure of Boys on the Right track. It is so important to get these kids connected with each other offscreens after school in a safe and you know contained environment but where they can just be kids and have those normal interactions, set goals, build confidence, conflict resolution. I mean you get 20 boys in a space and we're going to have some conflicts and just resolving those conflicts um with a trusted adult. Uh, I just see so many good things

083from what we did last year. We had 97 kids last year. We are hoping to be able to offer it at every elementary school and something for our sixth graders because our sixth graders do not have access to sports in that sixth grade year, but it doesn't mean that they don't want to be moving. And when I look at the big picture, our track teams and our cross country teams, they don't make cuts. So, if we get kids running early on, that's something they can do the entire time they're here. they have a a group of people that they can be connected to and working with and inspired by their entire time in Hamburg. So, those are two of the things that I'm working on personally. I will get much more information out once I

084have it, but it's going to be it's going to be a great spring in here. >> All right. Thanks, Jess. >> I'm excited. Can you tell? >> Mary, >> I'm next. All right. got my sheet. Uh, so since we last met, uh, I did three events. I went to the esports is was that the regional >> or the finals >> finals? I went to the esports final Madden tournament. Uh, Hamburg took second place. I'm very proud of Hamburg. I'm also just generally very proud of our esports and that it exists. I'm always going to tout it because uh, sports is great. There are people in the universe like myself and like many others that sports is just not in our carts, >> but there are clubs and events that are out there. And it was

085so great to see um that student like try his absolute best. And he I mean he didn't win, but he had the support of our staff. He had the support of our superintendent and the support of his teammates who were there who sat and were there and cheered him on. And like when he he he did not feel good about his performance, but like we were there to support him and he had it it's this is a little bit personal, but I feel like there is such a stigma with still of like playing an esport or playing video games and it can be a little bit of a toxic environment. But in this case, there was a person there supporting him and he had a friend and he had the support of a peer and

086of mentors and it was good. Like all of the things that you get from a physical sport or from a club like it was all there and it was so it's all the good things that you're supposed to get out of a club out of a sport and it was like yeah >> they need funding >> almost always take the village. >> Yeah. >> So it just it felt good to see it happen. Um, Governor Hokll came, promoted student mental health. Um, we love that keeping us safe from the dark side of uh, the internet. Uh, and Dave and I yesterday, is that only yesterday? Uh, we went to see uh, invited us to see how students in our district are composting, growing and gardens, saving seeds, being change makers in our community. Um, so

087it was super great to see sustainability practices and learning happening in all of our schools. Um, and I guess I didn't understand that that's Trisha Miller is doing that in all of our schools. I knew that was happening in the growing garden and in uh, Union Pleasant. So, it was wonderful to talk to her and to see our students and the composting and the worm farms absolutely made my heart sing to see them and see them talking about that. um outcomes that I wanted to just bring the board's attention to. Um I wanted to share with a colleague of mine uh the work that Trisha Miller was doing by just sharing her website. I I just assumed it was on our district website and it is not. She is doing something that is across the

088district and there wasn't anything that I could find to talk about it. there was a an old website that she had made >> and you'll see a lot of stuff regarding social media with that that's where like and a lot of linkages between things that are happening within the district and like you also see soul >> yes the other part >> a lot of little disperate things but I thought it was I thought it would be an opportunity to like I don't know there there might be an opport I don't want to tell anybody what to do but like that's an that's something to highlight it connects back to our strategic plan for providing educational opportunities and, you know, exit experiential learning. Um, and just thinking about, you know, the high school has a list

089of IST clubs that students can join and and get interested in, but obviously at the elementary level or whatever. There isn't really a a thing about that. Again, I'm not >> I'm not here to micromanage give anybody a task. That's not my job. >> But it occurred to me like this is one of those cool things that is unique, I think, to the district. And I know she's been doing this for ages now. Um, I'd love it would be nice to be able to point to that and all of the other unique things that really makes the district shine and say like this this >> and you're talking about opportunities of other places for it because it's like my feed has that you know a lot which is amazing and I see her all the

090time but you're other folks might not be able might not see it if they're just going to the website but >> precisely and if we're talking about the dangers of social media that is a third party you you know, I you hate to say like, "Oh, you want to see, you know, the giving garden?" >> Yeah. >> Meta.com, Facebook, you know, it just is like it's like a B. >> No, it's a good point. >> So, it's a thought uh an it's an idea. >> That's what I have to say about that. >> All right. Thanks, Mary. >> Tom, >> um like everybody else here, and as already been mentioned, uh we were all at uh Governor Hokll's uh speech here. I thought it was very apppropo um about mental health as we have been

091really on the forefront of that uh really led by by Colleen and Nicole Dika uh as well as our entire counseling staff in all of our buildings and um you know started you know initially the leadership of Mike Cornell who's I believe here somewhere in the back hiding. Um so I think it's just uh really outstanding. I mean, I'm really proud to be a part of something a group that really um prioritized that and prioritized it a while ago and continues to work on it. Um Laura, it's been an incredible pleasure u with you and knowing you these last whatever 12 years or so. I know you're a crier and you're going to cry, but don't you should be glad. you brought so much to this board. Um, you're an intricral piece and your presence

092will be missed and I'll miss you. >> I'm going to let Laura go last. Dave, >> um, yes, I was um with Mary last night. It was very interesting. Um um the things with the composting, you know, um and all the students were there and the teachers, you know, I heard um one of the teachers referred to as Mr. Da. Now, that is the first time I've heard him called Mr. Da. So, you know, and uh but it's he does a um a great job and all the students were there and uh the other teachers and just what a great event and well attended. Um, beet hummus. They made beet hummus. >> It was unique. It was unique. I wanted to say just we'll leave it at that. Mary was Mary didn't try it. She

093was smart. But um, >> but no, it was a wonderful thing. >> I like beet hummus. I just can't eat it without a plan. >> Yeah, that was And it was a good idea that you didn't eat. Anyways, um, but it was wonderful. Everything was wonderful. Um I I love the event with the governor. I just thought that was so great. Um you know um I see that you know um the child care thing she's doing. Um the fact that you know um Trump has you know froze 10 billion dollars from five blue states. I you know the fact that she's doing something to help with child care. I think it's great. The announcement everything was um great. I saw um another article in the paper about um SED is going to have a separate

094department on dyslexia. >> Um you know so that's going to be interesting to see you know how that is formed and what that does obviously is way overdue. um you know you have a better chance of being dyslexic than having blue eyes you know and so um um I think that uh it's so important you know we've we've seen so many experts talk about dyslexia and uh um the challenges that those students face and I think it's about time that you know SCT is is really watching it um speaking um tomorrow at Union Pleasant in the access room uh the 14th at 6:30 30 that Val uh Malookuski um Mealoo she had a long Polish name anyways Valerie um she is an expert on ADHD. She's an ADHD coach. Um that's at 6:30 at Union

095Pleasant. Now I've heard her speak twice and if you have a child or know somebody who has a child that has ADHD, you want to go to this thing tomorrow because it she will she'll get you started. She'll, you know, practical strategies for supporting your child, everything else. She's so ADHD. She's so animated and everything else. But I mean, I would tell anybody that um wants to learn more about ADHD to go tomorrow pleasant 6:30 um in the actress room. She is fabulous. Just fabulous. So, if anybody sees um you can share it on social media um you'll see it on the um the UPS the special education um um PTA's web page. If you could share that um um that would be great because it should be well attended. We have so many uh

096parents we see talking about ADHD and to uh you know just to she'll really she'll get you started and and and get you learning and understanding all about it about the superpower of ADHD and and the different strategies that you can use for supporting children. Now, Laura, um, you know, this is going to be a tough one for me, but you know, because I got emotional when I wrote it. Um, but I just get started. Tonight is a bittersweet moment for me. For the past 13 years, I've had the privilege of serving on the school board alongside someone who has been far more than a colleague. She's been my trusted partner. a steady voice of reason and a valuable and loving friend. I'll get through this. Serving on a school board is not always easy.

097Laura and I learned that our very first year. The work could be demanding the decisions difficult and the stakes. Our children's futures couldn't be harder. Through all that, she bought integrity, compassion, and a firm commitment to doing what was right, even when it wasn't popular or easy. What I remember most is just not her dedication, but how she served with respect, with thoughtfulness, and always with students at the center of every conversation. She listened carefully, asked the hard questions, and never lost sight of why we were here. On a personal level, I am deeply grateful. Over these many years, she's become my most gracious and loving friend and my trusted competent. Today together we attended meetings, seminars, conventions, and hundreds of student events. We shared challenges, disagreements, laughter, and victories. I always knew I had

098someone besides beside me who was honest, dependable, and genuinely cared. Not just about policy, but about people. Her love and compassion is part of every decision we made and is written into every policy this board approved. as you all know, my son lost a brave battle with cancer in 2024. During that struggle and in the long painful days after, there was one constant and that was Laura Heater. A loving woman who stood beside me when words were inadequate and strength felt impossible. She stood by me when grief was raw and when simply showing up felt like an act of courage. In my darkest moments, she reminded me by her actions and her love that I was not alone, even when I felt completely lost. I stand here today because of many people, but Laura is

099the one main reason I endured. Not because she took the pain away, but because she helped carry it. when it was too heavy to hold a load and for that I will always be grateful. That was a tough part. Okay. Her impact on this district will be felt long after tonight. The programs improved, the decisions made, and the example she set for leadership and fellow board members will continue to benefit our school and our community for years to come. While we will miss her voice at this table, we celebrate her legacy and wish her nothing but success and happiness in whatever comes next. On behalf of this board, the district, and personally from me, thank you for your service, your friendship, and your loving heart. You'll be missed more than we'll know. So, love you.

100That's all I got. Thanks, Dave. I should have had you go last. >> So, I have an IDA meeting tomorrow. >> Tell us about the everybody know. >> Um, >> yeah. Uh, finance committee actually met in December. We're reviewing uh some of the we reviewed some of the early budget runs that we've discussed about tonight and the audit findings as well. strategic planning is next week. Um, and then a bit of a lighter note, I was uh honored to be invited back as the pronouncer at the spelling be this year, which was super fun. George won again. >> George, >> so awesome. >> The uh >> George's final word was paparazzi, which was not the hardest word that he spelled, but of course he spelled it right. He hasn't spelled a word wrong in two

101years. So, uh, Laura, so it's it's hard sitting here tonight. It's tough to imagine, uh, tough to imagine this meeting without you. You and I have literally shared a vantage point here for for 12 years and and the last year in particular. um it's hard to say something that hasn't already been said, but I think the fact that we're repeating it is just an emphasis that it's really just part of your core. You know, I think this service um it lends itself to people like me who tend to rely on data and cold hard facts and graphs. And I think what you've brought to it is you you've been if if that's the brains, you've been the heart to this whole thing. Um you've reminded us that every budget line behind every budget line and

102every policy change is a child and a family. Um and I think a lot of times we sort of look at that as like you're you're the yin to our yang and it's a compliment. And I and I think that trivializes what you've brought. I think you've challenged us to be more empathetic and to be better leaders. And our district is stronger because of that. Um, personally, of course, I'm going to miss you, but you're I don't think you're going to Mars. So, you know, you're we're still friends. Uh, and and I'm going to miss your your steadying presence on this journey. But um with that, I I'd like to give you a chance to collect yourself and say whatever it is is on your mind, which if that's nothing, that's okay, too. I wrote

103out a little something. I'll try. I'm I'm filled with gratitude. As I said here in my last meeting with all of you, over the years, I have been in absolute awe of the dedication of our entire staff that works on behalf of students each and every day. The compassion and commitment that can be felt every time you walk through a building or every time you're at a music event or a sporting event is palpable. There are so many angels in our midst that impact our district in powerful ways. Our teachers, our support staff, our cafeteria workers, our clerical staff, our buildings and grounds, our nurses, counselors, coaches, social workers, librarians. They are the finest around. Empire done. The building administrators here gave me a great gift by letting me open their retreats. I always left

104each and every one of them feeling blessed that our children were in your care. Our building presentations at board meetings like tonight, Nicole, brought me the most joy. Colleen and Brent, your work ethic, your dedication to Hbury Central that there's no way it can be measured. It's so much a part of who you are. It's a part of your DNA and every single one of us is better for it. Tom, I am so thankful for the past year to have been able to work alongside of you. I admire you. I admire the way that you're navigating your own path with your own style, your own vision for the future, and the powerful relationships you make with everyone. Mike Cornell, working with you for over 10 years. It's a gift to my life I will treasure

105always. Your integrity, your leadership, your mentorship, and most of all, your friendship has made me a stronger and better person. Dave, my brother from another mother. You are kind. You are selfless. You are generous. And I love you more than I can express. Tom, you've led this board for so many years. Through difficult times, we thrived under your leadership. Your dedication was always there. Even would have been easier to walk away or throw in the towel. You stayed the course and you looked out for all of us. Cam, the time and energy that you have spent is beyond measure. You've raised the bar for us. You have high expectations and you give and you give and you give of yourself to make this board the best that it can be. Mary, Jess, Ashley, it's humbling

106to be elected. It's humbling to serve our community. And I know each of you care for our students and will make your own mark with your own passions in your own way. And I wish you all the best in your service to our community. Rich Snider, Robin List, Patty Brothers, Mike McGary. It was an honor to serve alongside all of them and they've touched my lives in different my life in different ways. Most of all to the students, all of the students, every one of whom walks through our door from different situations. Carve your own path. Lean on your school community in times of need, in times of joy, and walk in a path of kindness always. Graduation was always one of my best and most favorite things to be at. Tom, I loved the

107quotes you wo into your commencement speech and Cam, I look forward to hearing yours and being a part of many graduations to come. You can't get rid of me that quick. I am so so so so beyond blessed to be here and to be with all of you and have had such such wonderful experiences and being part of a really really special group. Thank you. Yeah. >> So, I got a couple things to say and I think we'll I think we'll make this part of the >> Laura has been first off, thank you for taking care of this. You're going to you're going to be wowed by the absorbent nature of the paper. Perhaps not. Laura and her husband Sean raised their kids. She's caretaker for mom. She has worked at Randolph Academy. She's worked

108at Global Concepts and she has been the living embodiment of our vision. You know, it's on everything that we have. It's the create, care, solve, and discover. And Laura is the care part of that through and through. Uh summer of 19, uh Laura was uh brought in for our uh administrative retreat. She started us off by talking about a story regarding the Messiah people and how their greeting is not, "Hey, how are you?" or "What's up?" But their greeting is how are the children? And that is Laura through and through and through. That is your that's uh that's your lasting gift to all of us. And for me uh there was a movie that's older now and the context is different but one of the characters says the other you make me want to be

109a better person and that's it. You know you think about Laura and you're like how can I do my work better? How can I care more? I can't get into a competition with her over caring more. Uh but I could live up to try to live up to that standard. So we got you some flowers and of course a plaque. Oh, >> I won't even say symbol for frame because it's really already framed. Uh there's this for you that's going to be dripping off as tall as me. >> Okay, that's very large. Yes. And we have uh significant appreciation proudly awarded to Laura Heater in recognition of her efforts at making the Hamburg Central School District a great place for all students to create, care, solve, discover. The HCSD community is grateful for the time

110she has served as a faithful and diligent member of the board of education. We love you. So the next obvious question with Laura's departure is what happens to the open seat we have on this board. Um so Mr. and Adams and I have been speaking about this. We've consulted with uh New York State Law. We have reviewed our policies. We've consulted with our own attorneys. Dr. Capawana who represents the commissioner in in uh in our district, NISSBA attorneys. Um they've each confirmed uh we have a number of options. Uh and we have some discretion. Um so I will quickly review what those options are. Uh, first we could hold a special election off cycle to fill the remainder of Laura's seat. So, it's already February, March. I mean, what would a special election look like?

111Maybe April. Um, I'm just guessing. We could appoint someone to the seat. Um, we would simply need a majority of the board to agree. um and that that person would assume the seat for the remainder of this year up until election time. We could leave the seat empty. We could operate as a six member board, which is totally within the law. Uh but in either of those latter two cases, uh leaving the seat empty or appointing someone, we would be adding a third seat to the upcoming election. So, and in that case, the since there are two people, there are two seats currently up, this would be the third seat. The third vote getter would get the term with the the uh seat with the least amount of term. So, the third vote getter would

112get Laura's remaining term, and then they would be back on cycle uh with the the three-year terms. Um my suggestion right now and this is just my suggestion is that we think about this. You know obviously Ashley's not here. I think we would want to have this discussion with her present uh with the entire board present really. Um but I wanted to lay out the options so everyone could consider it over the next month and maybe we open the next meeting with um or obviously early in the next meeting with a discussion about how we want to handle this. So unless there's a a violent disagreement with that, maybe we'll we'll leave that discussion there, I think. >> Okay. Mr. Adams, did you have anything else for your board report? >> Why don't I I

113I did have some, but I can I can I can share that uh another time because uh I want to be sensitive to the moment as well. I just want to share some of the things that are going on districtwide uh in the in the in terms of like events that we have coming up uh and then we can uh and then I'll turn it over to to move on with the rest of the meeting. Uh as uh as Max has told uh told you uh we have the uh the Palver Claw Fund uh uh food drive going on. So that will be that's at all of our schools and then and certainly that that can those are donation spots till Thursday but then that food will all be brought to the high school and

114uh then the food will be sort of tallied up on Monday. So that can they'll take drop off food over the course of Monday which is Martin Luther King Day as well. It's just a great shared venture between not just Hamburg and Frontier School Districts but you know the village is involved, the town's involved, there's all sorts of other groups that are involved and and certainly uh academy and finance students are involved in the volunteering. um with it as well. Uh we then go on to uh January 21st uh which is the Wednesday, we've got strategic planning. That's our districtwide uh strategic planning session um that we'll have um on on that day. Uh and um from there we get into we're getting into showtime. We're getting into the musical season and play season. Uh

115so we have at the middle school we've got March uh we've got January 29th uh 30th and 31st. They've got Spongebob going uh and then you've got Armor has uh Winnie the Pooh going on uh on on February 2nd, 3rd, and fourth. And just to juxtapose a little bit, we go from Winnie the Pooh at Armor for all of us who are following this districtwide. Then you go to the high school to a play called The Murder of Roger Akroyd, which is little, you know, little little little, you know, side by side. It's a little rough, but but Agatha Christie uh and and the the the sets are coming alive there and the kids are are are tremendously excited about it as well. So that goes on February 5th through 7th. Of course, the Super

116Bowl as you had mentioned, so sou uh that's February 4th at uh Frontier Middle School. Um so parent child connection, we thank them for that. Uh I just want to thank everybody for for their their the heartfelt uh nature of the comments and the vulnerability too. Uh it's an honor to be at this table. Okay, it's time to do a bit of business here. Um, we will move into consent and financial items E and F. So, at this time, any board member can make a request to withdraw a specific item from the consent agenda for individual consideration. Is there any such request? Seeing none, can I have a motion to approve all consent items E2 through F5? >> So moved. >> Moved by Mary, >> Second by Jess. Any discussion? Uh, I didn't want to

117pull these out for separate consideration. Just I guess more of a comment on the extended field trips that it appears we're we're approving these all kind of inner rears. >> Correct. >> I mean, yeah, I got to get I got to get the systems working better on that. Okay. >> 100%. >> Just a Yeah, absolutely. >> Administrative oversightes then or >> oversightes and and that falls to me. Okay. >> Completely with it. Okay. Uh, >> any other >> Yeah, I'd love to share some uh because we just went through E2 through five, correct? >> Let's let's approve it first and then you can do what I think you're going to do. >> Always messing up. >> Any other any other comments or questions on that? >> All in favor? >> I I >> I so

118uh E2 through F5 is approved. >> Okay, perfect. So, one of those is personnel changes. I want to acknowledge the folks who are listed here uh for their years of service for us and those are the retirements. Uh on the instructional side we have Terry Beck, Maryanne Boils, uh uh Sandra Shioan, uh Annette Coleman, John McFall, Mary Miller, and Sherry Fo. These are folks who've given uh just so much service to uh to our community and to our students. Uh and then we also have uh on the SRP side of things, uh somebody who's been um just just wonderfully influential, and that's uh Megan Reid, uh who is also putting retirement for uh for for June of of the end of this year. And then we also have a uh tenure appointment on it. Congratul

119Mr. Crank on that. So congratulations. Thank you. God. Uh moving to items G. So we'll start with Yeah. Sorry, second guessing myself there. Start with item G1. Can I This is the cardiac response plan. Can I have a motion to approve the cardiac response plan DEA's law for the district as presented at the December 8th, 2025 meeting? >> So moved. >> Moved by Laura. >> Seconded. >> Second by Mary. Any discussion? All in favor? >> I. >> All opposed? Motion passes. G2 MOA with the uh HAC. Can I have a motion to approve upon the recommendation of the superintendent a memorandum of understanding between the Hamburg Central School District and the Hamburg Administrative Council HAC regarding the APR outline and procedures for the 202526 school year? >> Moved by Laura. >> Second by Jess. Any

120discussion on this? It's just our standard >> renewal of this, right? >> All in favor? >> All opposed? >> Motion passes. G3. Can I have a motion to approve upon recommendation of the superintendent and MOA between the Hamburg Central School District and the Hamburg Teachers Association regarding the steps outline and procedures for the through 2029 school years. >> So moved by Mary, >> second by Tom. Any discussion on this approved? >> All in favor? >> All opposed? Motion passes. Yeah, I just like to thank the folks on both sides of the table with this in terms of the negotiations both on the district side and uh DHTA side. This is a absolute feather in the cap uh that were able to get this agreement in place. Now, this is something that uh um we are

121we are one of the one of the first to do so with it. It is a uh um you you've anybody who's been around education uh has certainly heard about APR an awful lot. This is our this is our movement away from it. uh and um it it came about because of the collaboration between uh I don't want to say two sides uh but collaboration between all sorts of people who care about the district and about kids. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh item G4. Can I have a motion to approve the revised schedule? Oh >> no. Uh sorry. I'm going to seek a motion to amend item G4 to also include a change of the February board meeting from February 10th to February 9th and the March board meeting from March 10th to March 12th.

122>> So moved by Laura and second by Mary. Did I do that right, Tom? I think we need to put it on the table first and then amend it, but I don't know if that really matters. >> Can we Can we get a motion to approve the amended? >> Approve the amended. >> Yeah. No, we've got we've got the motion to approve the amended uh schedule. So, any further discussion on this? >> All in favor? I >> All opposed. >> The amended board meeting schedule is approved. Item G5. Can I have a motion to approve the letter of recommendation of Turner Construction on work for the 2021 capital project phase 4 public address system contract BP48 awarding the bid to Ronco Specialized Systems Inc. totaling $92,39.14. >> So moved by Tom, second by Jess. Any

123discussion? All in favor? >> I. All opposed? Motion passes. Item G6. Can I have a motion to approve the letter of recommendation of Turner Construction on work for the 2021 capital project phase 4 commissioning project services contract awarding the bid CJ Brown PC totaling $9,762. It's a move by Tom. >> Second by Laura. Any discussion? All in favor? >> All opposed? Motion passes. Item G7. Can I have a motion to approve the letter of recommendation of Turner Construction on work for the 2021 capital project phase 4 construction materials testing and special inspection services contract awarding the bid to Enorus Group totaling $58,592.50 >> moved. So moved by Tom, second by Mary. Any discussion? All in favor? >> All opposed? Motion passes. Item G8. Can I have a motion to approve the letter of recommendation of

124Turner Construction of work for the 2021 capital project phase 4 environmental project monitoring services contract awarding the bid to Stole Environmental LLC totaling $12,500. >> So moved. >> Second. >> So moved by Mary, second by Tom. Any discussion on this? All in favor? >> All opposed? Motion passes. Item G9. Can I have a motion to approve the Hamburg Central School District report of collected taxes for Hamburg, Eden, Boston, and Orchard Park for the 202526 school year? >> So moved. >> Moved by Jess. >> Second by Mary. Any discussion? All in favor? >> All opposed. Motion passes. Item G10. Can I have a motion to approve the pharmacy benefit management agreement amendment between Hamburg Central School District and Express Scripts, Inc. effective January 1st, 2025? >> So moved by Laura. >> Second by Jess. Can we

125pause here and get an overview of >> Yeah. >> what the heck is happening? >> Yeah. So the amendment to it, like so the agreement comes into play in January 1st, 2025. Then they send us an amendment which really doesn't impact anything. uh there's like no substantive changes that impacts us. Uh we why that happened, I don't have that answer for you. I can check and see why the amendment request happened from ESI and why we would need to even act on an amendment when it doesn't impact our operations with it, but the delay with it. So, we got this a few months ago. We then send it to our attorney to take a look at to see if it makes sense that we're just going to we're going to accept that amendment. But we

126have a history of seeing contracts uh with things related to either prescription or health insurance be late and it's uh like like there's a there's a gap between when it's issued and when it goes to effect and when we approve it. That's something that our new consultant that Loi is working with, you might remember Loi Insurance um like they they're working with us to to try to speed up that process and they've been great partners for us. Um it's in in this situation is a little bit unique in terms of the amendment, but we've got tremendous amount of like that like everything that we've done with Loi so far shows that they are they are partners in good faith with us. They've really helped us through uh quite a few things. But I'm not I'm

127not I don't have a great answer for you in terms of why the delay happens with this specifically having to do with things that have to do with our healthcare that we're providing for our members. Fair enough. Any other questions? All in favor? I. >> All opposed. Motion passes. Final item, item G11. Can I have a motion that the board of education of the Hamburg Central School District upon recommendation of the superintendent of schools hereby ratifies the collective bargaining agreement and approves the funding of the agreement between the district and the Teamsters Local 264 unit effective July 1st, 25 through June 30th, 28. So moved. Seconded. >> So moved by Jess, second by Mary. Any discussion on this? >> Just applause. >> Yes. I know this was a long time coming. So much respect to

128those who spent that time. All in favor? >> I. >> All opposed. Motion passes. Uh so at this point uh we will look for public expression. Do you remember to get your name in, Mr. Follow the rules? >> Do I need to uh as our only speaker, can I skip the formalities? >> I assume I get all 30 minutes. >> Bye. >> Timer up, >> right? Get the timer on. >> Um, so I wrote stuff down. You guys said a lot of it. Um, So, I'll just say I'll say just a couple of things. As I was listening to Audi speak so well of our colleague and our friend, I thought about a couple of things. You've all seen the Madlo's hierarchy of needs, right? And there's the steps at the top there's selfactualization. And

129when you look at what they what so never meant for it to be steps, it's a journey. And and he also never meant for the end of it to be self-actualization. It's too self absorbed. What he meant for it to be a self transcendence where you give your life in the service of other people not yourself and everything that you guys talked about respect to Laura is exactly that right. It's not about Laura. It's about the students here. It's about the people who work here to serve the students. It's about her colleagues on the board. It was about supporting us. Um, you know, it's about, you know, when she came on the board bringing together a a broken district and a broken board and trying to bring it together so that we could serve the

130students of this community the way that it needed to be served. It's about, it was never about I or me. Never. It's always about the we and us and students and the community, what other people need. And you know that became over time all of us together the heart of the board and our senior leadership team for all those years and the heart of the school district. Um and and that's what we were known for. You know, we were the school district in 2017 that as a group said, "We're going to put a lot of our emphasis on on mental health of our children when others weren't. We're going to focus our strategic plan on the whole child and not spend a ton of time thinking about regent scores and that stuff, graduation rates, you

131know, they all went up anyway, you know, but but that was the ethos of the board and it was about people like Laura who, you know, it wasn't about anything other than what's the next right thing. you know how we make sure the children are well they are all well and everything that you guys all said was literally that in a nutshell the other thing that I thought about as you guys were talking is it's a book I read called inner mastery outer Impact I may have talked about this before but the author says 99% of the energy of the sun is produced by just the core the 1% when you serve on groups like this and so many of people by the Right. You look, you mentioned Mora's core. This is at the core

132of who she is. And board leadership is like a bit like an X-ray machine. Friendship is like an X-ray machine. You look right into the core of a person. When you look at the core of Laura Heater, what do you see? Right? We talk about the the kindness, but there's a ferocity to that kindness that I think people underestimate or don't appreciate. But when you see it, you know it. And that ferocity of kindness and how deeply she cares about it and how equally it's applied to everybody is really uncommon. And and I think the other thing that I thought about was you get a lot of credit for being caring and you should, but you are such a skilled, prized professional in your own right. You ask incisive questions all the time. And we

133have talked what I don't know thousands of hours, you know, over the course of of all these years and still do. And there's there's a there's a truthtelling that comes with that kindness and and that keen intellect that you always got from Laura and and that's not easily replaced. It's not easily replaced in the public sphere because there's not a lot of that. You know, there's a lot of kind of selfserving types of those kinds of things, but not that genuine intellectual and personal curiosity that Laura has for work and for the people and for the community. That is a very rare commodity in in public life. And it's not lost that it is this experience that brought us together. you know, we talk about the board meeting dates was February 10th, 2015 when I

134was appointed. Um, and you know, is that that fortunate, you know, act of the universe bringing us together that is something that I'll always always cherish. Um, you know, this school district, this community will always be better because you were here. Your mark is on everything that we've ever done. Um, and that legacy, you know, that that will live, you know, and it won't because it won't be because you wanted your name on it. It was because your heart was in it. Your heart was always in it. And and you know, it's just an amazing gift that you gave. You know, six kids, taking care of your mom, taking care of Shawn, like, you know, you did it for your kids, but more than that, you did it for everybody else's kids. You always kept

135other people's kids at the forefront, too. And everybody knew it. Everybody knew it without you saying. And you know, you're a rarity. You're just a rare commodity in public life. And I'm grateful to call you a friend and a colleague, somebody who I've learned a ton from and I still get to. So, but I could not let the opportunity pass without me coming here and saying thank you professionally. You mean a lot to me personally. You mean a lot to me. This whole experience and school district has meant a lot to me and you're going to be missed by a lot of people around Hamburg because you know everything that you put into it will remain, but it's not the same without you being here. But thank you for the time. I think it was

136my >> not quite BUT ALL RIGHT. UH, so at this time I am looking for a motion to enter into executive session for the purpose of discussing the employment history of particular people employed by the district. >> So moved by Mary, second by Tom. All in favor? I all opposed. We will enter into executive. So thank you to the audience. We will return but that will just be to adjourn. So not much reason for you to stay. Although of course you're welcome.