001Good evening and welcome to our business meeting of May 22nd, 2025. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance 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. Um, I'm going to open it up for um public comments on any of the listed agenda items. Seeing nobody, um, the treasures report for March 2025 is available in the business office. And then we're going to move to the consent agenda. Resolve to approve consent agenda items 2 through 8 as appears on the consent agenda portion of this agenda. Second questions or comments. The agenda includes cseps placements, amending the substitute listing, approving unpaid hours for various staff members, authorizing the superintendent of schools to enter into
002various agreements, one of which is the town use of the buses during the summer camp, a health insurance agreement with the retiree, health and welfare with Lakeland, and a release and settlement agreement for a PPS student, approving entering into an agreement with Boseies Risk Operations Center, uh approving two unpaid leave of absent requests, approving surplus items for sale, auction, or disposal. And we're approving budget transfers of over $25,000 during the period April 17th till May 20th. Any other questions or comments? Um, I just want to comment that, uh, the town is going to be paying us to use the buses, so that's actually revenue, right? Correct. Okay. Um, all in favor? opposed extensions. The resolution passes. Um reports, students, Aiden, we're going to let you go first after much congratulations and we're glad to see
003you here. Great. Glad to be here. So, last week or earlier this week, the IB and AP testing has finished up at the high school. So, the students are officially checked out. Yesterday, the uh high school chorus concert was in the pack. So, big congratulations to all those students. sounded great. Uh, speaking of that, this coming Wednesday, May 28th, is the high school band concert in the pack at o'clock. Tomorrow is the midpoint of the fourth quarter in the high school. It's crazy. It's almost over. Uh, June 4th is the senior award night um at in the pack at 7 o'clock. And then uh today we had a presentation from the sheriff's department about online safety and that was given to all the students. That was a good presentation. And this is the senior's last
004meeting or my last meeting because the next board meeting is on the night of prom. So I won't be here. And uh so yeah, that's it. All right. Thank you. Oh, that makes me sad. Congratulations on being so close to the end. Yeah. We'll miss you at prom. Yeah, you want pictures, please. Say, maybe if you send us a picture in your tuxedo, we'll just beam me up on the on the screen so we can check out. Yeah, Zoom meeting from the phone right here. That's it. Well, I you know I I would I didn't realize that this was going to be your last meeting. Really? There's not another one in June. They're done. One in June and the other one's after the school year. Well, it's like session I think the last second last
005day of school. So really um coming. Student reps are so important to us. Um, and we are so grateful that you've been here and shared your thoughts and ideas. Um, I know that you um explained things to the rest of the student body. Um, so you really were a representative from the board. Um, and hopefully we'll get somebody just as good next year. Aiden, thank you very much. Even if your mother made you come tonight. No, she didn't know there was a meeting. I had to tell her where I was going. But you know, it was quite the experience being on the board and it was something you know, you know, I'm glad I had this opportunity and you know, it was good being here. Thanks for welcoming me with such, you know, are you
006done with government service? Yeah. Drawing a line. I want no part of this. Yep. Actually, to me, this is I don't know this kind of service is exciting. Um, so, um, but but I know that it can be. There were times a couple years ago when if it was a board meeting night, I'd be like, "Oh, I don't want to go." Um, so I know that how that can be. But, um, not this year. Yeah. Okay. Dr. Luck. Thank you. Did he steal all your thunder? No, I got some other stuff. Um, all right. Good evening, everyone. So, I want to begin by thanking the community and all those who came out to cast the ballot. So, this uh Tuesday at the Wii hours, actually this Wednesday, the early hours of Wednesday morning about 12:30
007a.m., uh we finished our uh counting of the ballots. And I'm happy to report that all three propositions uh on the ballot were passed. So, the school budget passed by a vote of 1,200-67 to 963, the capital improvement project 1306 to 921, and the library budget 1301 to 916. Also want to congratulate both Janette Yeder and Sam Olivaro for being reelected to the board of education. I guess it's a congratulations, right? Yes. Just making sure. Um, so our I guess our our big takeaway was we saw a tremendous increase in the number of voters who came out, which was our goal all along. I think the district did a tremendous amount of work leading up to the budget. I wanted to thank our district facilities planning committee, our communications and finance subcommittees that really came
008together and gave a voice to the community and shared ideas in which we can further engage our community because obviously we want more and more people to come out and vote each time so that this important decision is made by a majority of our community and not a very small minority of our community. So, uh we hope to continue to see a rise in poll numbers. Obviously, it's um still too close for my comfort level, but I do think that I was happy to see many families coming out and voting for the first time, and I hope that trend continues as we move forward to future um v votes to come. I do want to recognize uh many of us spoke about already the 2025 spring musical, Legally Blonde, and I had made a comment
009that they better receive some metro nominations, and they did in fact. So that performance received six six Metro uh high school theater award nominations including outstanding performance by student student critic who's Payton Farrauzi. Outstanding acting performance by a female identifying performer Haley Kron. Outstanding performance of a production number what you want. Outstanding achievement in light design Noah Platt. Outstanding performance in a cameo female identified role, Vienna Toteda. Outstanding performance in a featured female identified role, Marissa Cat Katroo as as Brooke Windam. So, uh, the other two reps who are not here, both nominated for Metro. So, congratulations to both of them. So, we are looking forward to the actual awards ceremony which is scheduled for Monday, June 2nd. And I hope that some of our hard students hard work is recognized at that event. So
010congratulations to everyone involved and uh we look forward to seeing if we take home any of those awards. Many of our students also participated this past weekend in or the weekend of May 10th in the NISMA. So Pton Valley students in grades 3 through 12 participated in the 2025 spring NISMA solo and ensemble festival. These students and their teachers have worked hard over the past several months to prepare voluntarily for a performance that will be assessed by adjudicators using a statewide rubric. And we want to congratulate and thank all of those students and teachers for their hard work. Our elementary school held its readaloud as it does each year. It was very well attended. Um we had the opportunity to gather actually some uh some second grade performers came and sang to all of the
011readers prior to going to the classrooms. That was uh great to see. And I know that everyone involved enjoyed having the opportunity to go visit some of our classrooms and read to some of our students. As Aiden had mentioned, our high school chorus concert was last evening. Uh, Miss Palmerly, Mr. Melo, and myself had the opportunity last evening to attend the lower Hudson Council school superintendent annual validictorian saludiatorum dinner. Uh, we attended with both Na Naomi and Zachary. So, we had a great time at that dinner. Uh it features uh school districts throughout the lower Hudson Valley and all of their valadictorian and saludiatorans were invited to attend. So that was a great event. Uh just a reminder for UPK, the lottery window remains open through May 30th. The random drawing of a minimum of
01232 seats will be livereamed in the beginning of June. And then all those selected will have the opportunity to register with the school district prior to June 30th for a September 2025 start. And just as a reminder, the program will be housed in the modular classrooms behind the elementary school and students must be four years of age by December 1, 2025 and reside within the Putin Valley School District. Some of the other events that have happened, we had our science research symposium, which is always an amazing event. Sophomores and juniors presenting their projects and seniors uh receiving awards uh or being recognized by their underassman peers. Uh they have a keynote speaker. So that was a fantastic uh celebration of these students hard work over the past three years. In many cases, I had the
013opportunity to attend the regional safety symposium at the Westchester County Center. Uh, lots of law enforcement as well as national speakers coming together to talk about some of the dangers that our students face. It was eye opening and um certainly left with a wealth of information, some of which I wish I never had. Uh, I'm terrified for my own kids, but the I guess knowledge is power when it comes to this stuff. So they also we also had our celebration of film. So our IB film students as well as some of our TV studio and our the infamous Dan Mahoney and Cat Schutz came together to put on a celebration of our students hard work throughout the year around the area of film. Our athletic teams are currently in sectional play. So I uh wish
014them all the best of luck and we'll certainly provide an update on how uh each of the season ends. Probably at our next meeting we'll know that information. Our eighth graders recently returned from their Washington DC trip. Uh I still remember very well my trip to Washington DC as an eighth grader here in Potna Valley. I really wanted to go for at least part of the trip this year. Unfortunately, my schedule did not allow. Uh but I'm going to make a more concerted effort next year uh to join them for at least part of the trip and uh share that experience with our students. The feedback was extremely positive and I thank all the teachers who volunteered to go down there for three days, leave their families, take a very long bus ride with lots
015of eighth graders. Uh that part I'll probably skip when I go, but uh I'm glad everybody had a great time and everybody came back safe and sound to us. So uh we looking forward to next year. We held uh our first ever community planting event at the elementary school. I have to say the turnout was outstanding. uh families and their children coming together. Many of our teachers were there helping organize and direct and our elementary school is now beautifully decorated with flowers both in pots along the stairs as well as throughout the mulch in the front of the building. We even have a few trees that we'll see how tall they grow over future years. And the calendar change is a reminder that tomorrow will now be a closure. That was a change that we
016made a couple weeks ago. Uh there will be no school in Pepa Valley for students and staff beginning tomorrow as schools will reopen on Tuesday. And just the public service announcement, our code code of conduct and district safety plan documents will be on our website and we have a public hearing scheduled for June 26. So there's a 30-day notice. That information will be available on our website and then we'll ask the board to accept those two documents on June 26th. As Aiden had mentioned, we have lots of events upcoming. Our high school band concert is scheduled for Wednesday at 7 p.m. next Wednesday. Next Thursday is our fourth grade concert. Again, 7 p.m. at the elementary school. Monday, June 2nd, fifth and sixth grade chorus. Tuesday, June 3rd, 7th and eighth grade chorus. Wednesday, June
0174th is the middle school wellness and uh career fair. Wednesday, June 4th at 7 PM is our senior awards. It's a very boring time of year around here. Thursday, June 5th is the IB banquet. If you haven't said goodbye to your families, you probably should do that now. Just you tell me we'll be back at the end of June. Um so there is something going on June 2nd, June 3rd, June 4th, June 4th, June 5th, and June 6th. It's a slightly busy week, but don't worry, the following week there's something on the 9th, 10th, 11th, please, any plans you have, dentist appointments or anything like that. 12th seems to be open right now because the 13th is the kindergarten show and then we get into the end of June. So, lots to look forward to
018and a very busy time of year. Do we know when the uh elementary field day is going to be with the bubble bus, Crystal? Do we know when the elementary school field day is going to be with the bubble bus? Sam that the bubble bus will be at field day. I do not right now remember off the top of my head when field day is. All I know is that my daughter is tasked with wearing a blue shirt. Jackie, do you June 20th? June 20th. Same day is graduation. Sam, right? So that is the same day. So at the same time, no, the bubble bus has to go home. I was going to say the bubble bus has to go home. It's not allowed to stay. No, the field days during the day school day.
019We have the graduation at night. Okay, let me put that down right now. Field day. And normally what? And you can even get a popsicle. Sam, what time does the field day? My bad. Sorry. It usually starts what? Right after school or No, during school. During school. The field day. Usually starts in the morning. All day or I can get back to you on the exact time. Probably around 9:30. Yeah, I'll get you. I want to know when the bubble bus. I was just about to say just tell them when the bus is coming. Sam only wants to know when the Volvo. You know what? I'll I'll send a message to the owners. Let you know what time. Thank you. Cool. Okay. That thing is mesmerizing. If you know they do private private parties, too,
020Sam, if you're interested, pull up to your house. If you've never seen it, I mean, and for those who wonder what the heck I'm talking about, it's this enormous wave and shower of different colored and assorted bubbles that it's mesmerizing. Barbara and I stood in the middle of it. We did last year and we were just cascading by bubbles. It was gonna come to field day just to get a picture of that. Uh while Sam is eating an ice cream sandwich and I'll have one with him. Nice. It's going to be great. Good. Thank you. That's it. That's it. Okay. Oh, for now. For now. That's it. There's like 45 things. Just don't make any plans for June. Right. Um, okay. So, we're going to move to new business. Item number one, please. Uh resolved
021on recommendation of the superintendent of schools to appoint uh Lauren D D Rubis D Rubis to a 4-year probationary term as a special education teacher commencing on September 1st, 2024 and terminating on August 31st, 2028 in the 10-year area of special education at the elementary school in step one masters of the PVFT salary schedule. Second, Mr. Rubis, whole students with disabilities. All students with disabilities uh B through two and 1 through six and childhood uh at 1 through six uh initial certifications. Second. There you go. This is good traffic. I keep them moving. Question questions or comments? All right. No. All in favor? I opposed. The resolution passes. Number two, please. resolved on the recommendation of the superintendent of schools to appoint Olivia Gai to a 4-year probationary term as an elementary teacher commencing on
022September 1st of 2024 and terminating on August 31st of 2028 in the tenure area of elementary at the middle school on step 1 MA of the PVFT salary schedule. Miss Gase holds students with disabilities 1 through six and childhood ed 1 through six initial certifications. Second questions or comments? I just want to point out that both Olivia and Lauren have been with us for the duration of the year. Each was hired as a one-year leave replacement. Uh those positions have become vacant. So we are now changing their appointment from a one-year leave replacement to a probationary appointment back to the original start date in September. Okay. All in favor? All in favor? I opposed extensions. The resolution passes. Number three, please. Resolved on the recommendation of the superintendent of schools to accept the resignation of
023ENL teacher Ariselli Kramer from the district effective June 27th 2025 as per document number 19725. Second questions or comments? All in favor? Opposed? Extensions. The resolution passes. Number four, please. resolved by the board of education to accept the final vote tally for the budget capital project board election and town library vote held on May 20th 2025 as follows. Proposition one, the budget. Yes. 1,200 U 1,267 votes. No vote. 963. The capital project. Proposition number two. Yes. Votes 1,36. No votes. 921. Proposition three. Town of Putnham Valley Library. Additional funding. Yes. Uh 1,31. No votes. 916. Board of Education candidates. Janette Yetta 1392, Sam Olivirio 1572, Wrightens 262. Second, questions or comments? All in favor? I opposed. The resolution passes. Okay, I'm going to open it up to the public on invited to speak on any
024topic. Good evening anyone. My name is Joe Ferraro and I'm got a few things. I want to thank um all the uh pole workers that put in a very long day on Tuesday. I want to thank Moren uh and Liz Broas and Dan and a bunch of other folks uh that really worked really hard to get it done. tonight. It was it was a long night and I know there were some complaints about the process and I know it's every year is going to be a learning process to figure out how to move things faster. Um but you know sometimes the results just take as long as they take. Uh and also want to thank uh the voters for the vote on the library. Uh I do want to say uh on the bond I'm
025a little disappointed that the retaining wall is not fixed yet. Um, and it I almost knocked the piece over when I came in today. And yes, I want to reiterate uh because there still seems to be some confusion. It was ice cream sandwiches, not popsicles. Okay, let's be very clear. And Sam, I'm going to bring in bubbles for you. It's going to happen. They'll be here. It's going to happen. You you you laugh. It's gonna happen. And I'm giving away a bubble maker. Okay. And thank you. Thank you, Joe. Thanks, Joe. Anybody else? Okay. Um, we have two upcoming board meetings left in this year, June 12th and June 26th. So, our June 12th meeting, we have two presentations scheduled or we're hoping to have two presentations scheduled. One, Jackie will be facilitating a presentation
026on our K12 writing continuum and we're working with Boseies uh to see if we can get someone from Boseies to share about their upcoming CTE programs and June 26 is our last meeting. No, no presentation at this time yet. Um okay, uh board member comments real fast. I just want to doc uh thank Dr. Mera. Uh I attended the chorus concert and it was awesome. I mean the kids I remember right after COVID he had maybe 10 12 kids the the year when they finally stopped wearing the mask and everybody was in school and I thought oh my god this poor program but he has built it up to such a level and it's not only him it's miss and the elementary school all these teachers recruiting these these young children and to being such
027terrific musicians just vocalist that are astounding and Jerry did something Dr. Mera did something that uh moved me very much. I had requested and you recall look to the rainbow and he played that last night and uh I I was very moved by that and they did a great job. If anybody's ever seen Finine's Rainbow, you know what I'm talking about. It's one of the most moving songs uh that any Broadway play has ever had. Look to the Rainbow. They did a superb job. Thank you, Jerry. Okay. Hi. I just wanted to commend all of our students who came out to vote at the elementary school uh on voting day. Um just so that the community knows uh our teachers uh spend some time during this season to teach students about civic engagement and the
028entire school gets a great appropriate lesson or two on the topic so that they understand um the power of casting a ballot and we had uh over 320 students vote um and I just think that's incredible. that is, you know, more than half of the elementary school. Um, they were excited to do it. Uh, lots of parents shared that they, you know, they they actually, you know, reminded the parents that they needed to vote. Um, and it was just really great. It was a great turnout. Um, for the students, uh, they also got to vote on the names of our uh, chicks. And so, do we have any updates on what that is yet? No. Okay. There were quite a few names, so it's going to take a little bit to be able to tally
029some of those. Um, some wonderful things uh and suggestions there. Chicky was a big one. So, um, we'll see who wins. Uh, but it was really really fantastic to see that many kids vote. Um, and just be excited about the process. Uh, and yes, I ice cream sandwiches has taken over the elementary school. So, we're excited to continue that. And I'd like to propose also because we did get some requests, correct Sasha? Yes. For a vote for the middle school next year. Uh some middle school students were pretty bummed out that they didn't get to vote in the elementary election. That's a good idea. Uh we are going to talk to Dr. L about that and perhaps Mr. Mccardi to see what that could look like. I also just want to thank uh Mrs. McCarti
030for organizing the the planting day. It was just so fantastic to see that many families and it looks beautiful. They did such a great job. Oh my gosh, it was wonderful. Wonderful day. Crystal, are there going to be ice pops in case we have students that are lactose intolerant? And so that is a topic of conversation between myself and the PTA because we did think about that. That's a good point. We did think about that. There are some students who are lactose intolerant or who have allergy to dairy. Um and so we will have another option for them that's lactoseree for sure. Okay. The class parents also a lot of the time are asked to bring things. Um so the class parents typically have been asked to bring watermelon, a case of water, and um
031I'm sure that fund will go towards ice pops. Oh, and I wanted to share we had an absentee ballot come in for a student who was not able to vote in our election on that day. And so the parent made their own absentee ballot and sent it in with their child. That's great. Fantastic. Excellent. That's incredible. take it very seriously. So, in closing, I want to just take the opportunity to thank all those who sacrificed their lives in service to this country and wish everyone a happy and safe Memorial Day weekend. Thank you. Thank you. Um, thank you. Couple of I have two things. One, we we drafted the letter and sent it to the town board asking for more cooperation or more communication. Um, so I was thinking that they have one meeting a
032month, a regular meeting, and if I if any board member can go and kind of sign up just just to be a presence, hear what they have to say. You can report to us if it's anything that has anything to do with the school, but just so that they know we're serious about trying to open those lines of communication. So, if you go to the district, um the town website, June 18th, July 16th, and August 26th are the regular meetings. So, um if you could make any of them, if you just shoot me a text or an email, um Yep, that's good. I'll put it out there so that everybody knows if somebody knows that somebody else is going, they don't need to go, you know, just anyway. So that the other thing is when
033I was on the town website, it says um and I went to calendar of events and it says if you want to be part of the calendar of events because the library is on it, other town groups are on it. If the school wanted to be on it, we should go to their website to webmasterputnham.gov and ask to be included. So that also might be a way of getting what's happening in the schools on the town website because there were several groups that you know that have a link on that site. So I just I was there and saw it. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Um, uh, Janette Yedder and I started a thank you note, um, after the vote. Well, actually before the vote was over. Um, but my question was who to send it to.
034So, I'm just going to read this because if I don't, I'm remember somebody. But so, who to send it to? Who to send the thank you email to? The over 2,000 voters who took the time to come out, call their friends, and express their feelings. We hope they will stay connected and share their ideas and questions throughout the year, and not just a yes or no on the budget. We're incredibly lucky to have a supportive group of people who worked tirelessly for months to produce a budget and capital project that focused on safety and learning of students, but always keeping Putham Valley residents in mind. I'd like to thank the library board who added signs around town encouraging people to vote for the children. Other residents offered to put up signs and volunteered their yards.
035The Putham Valley Federation of Teachers sent out flyers that gave information and support for the heart of our community, which is our school. The Putnham Valley students who brought their parents to vote and plant, who called friends and encouraged them to support the programs that they use. The facilities committee who spent many hours evaluating the original bond proposal, slimming it down and figuring out how to get the information to voters. the CSEA and its members who reached out to friends and family to encourage them to vote. Dr. Chen, her district staff and administration who answered foil requests and questions with grace and respect for the questions and the questioner. A special acknowledgement to Moren Bolino and her voting staff for all the work to make the vote of and voting a pleasurable experience. People left
036smiling. They were greeted and thanked um and they left smiling. Um, and then there's Dr. Luft. His vision for Putnham Valley Schools and students and his dedication to seeing that vision reflected in everything he does is so clear. Not just the words, but truly the child first and foremost, building a foundation for the future. And I misspelled foundation. So on behalf of the Putnham Valley Board of Education, we extend our sincere thanks for the tremendous work done to develop the district budget and all the efforts to reach out to the community and provide clear information throughout the process. We recognize the time, thought, and collaboration required to ensure that our schools are supported and our community is informed. The dedication of all of you to transparency and strategic planning is deeply valued and does not
037go unnoticed. Thank you. Okay. Um I'd like a motion to convene an anticipated executive session. So move. Second. Questions or comments? All in favor? I. There will be no business conducted after the executive session. Night.