001Good evening, everyone. We need a motion to approve the minutes of the regular Board of Education meeting of 31026. Patty, Steve, all those in favor? Okay, motion passes. Okay, Dr. Farrelly. Hey, good evening, everyone. Thank you for joining us tonight. I'd like to start off by acknowledging our Science Olympiads team who successfully concluded their season at the annual state tournament in Syracuse, competing among the best student a best the best teams in New York State. The team secured two state medals placing within the top 10. So, huge congratulations to our team. Congratulations [snorts] to Joel Collazo and Julian Cruz for their seventh place in the helicopter event. >> [snorts] >> And again, Joel Collazo and Gabby Gorzynski for their eighth place medal in write it, do it. Special thanks to our Science Olympiads head coach,
002Ms. Durbin, and [snorts] assistant coaches Loretta Salerno and Carrie Reinhardt. Again, great job, everyone. On behalf of the Board of Education, in addition to acknowledging our Science Olympiads teams, congratulations to Mrs. Hetherington, Mrs. Febrero, and Dr. Falcone, who we recognized along with Nassau County and Suffolk County friends last night. Not just us, but school districts throughout the island recognized teachers, administrators, staff, right, a number of individuals for their outstanding support, right, and work within the school district. We are very fortunate to have Ms. Hetherington, Mrs. Febrero, and Dr. Falcone. I'll be posting pictures at some point tonight or tomorrow. And that's all I have for this section of the agenda. We have several presentations planned for tonight. Okay, you're going to jump to Ms. Scobbo. Ms. Scobbo. Yes. Good evening, everybody. Um, this month at
003the high school, preparation for Blue and Gold is in full swing. Um, the show is April 16th to 18th. Blue and Gold is a West Babylon tradition that has been carried through over 60 years. Um, as this year's Blue Team total team captain, I would like to personally invite you all to come watch our show and see the result of the tireless work the students have put in these past months. Um, please let me know what night you and your significant other would like to attend and I'll bring your tickets to the next meeting. Thank you. Thank you. Oh, we will be there. Dr. Farrelly. Okay, so, just to some quick reminders. First, a couple of dates coming up. So, the BOCES budget vote and BOCES Board Trustee election takes place on April 21st. The
004West Babylon budget hearing meeting date is May 5th here at 5:00 p.m. And the annual district budget vote and trustee election, May 19th, 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Administration and Santa Pog. Later on today, we do have a budget presentation. However, um we're going to start off with continuing with our department updates that we've been doing obviously the last couple of months. We will start with our K-8 music program since that's the uh presentation that is on screen. So, at this point, I would like to invite um our music fearless leaders, Mr. Heaton up and also Mr. Duran, who will present us our music program overview. >> [laughter] >> It'll take like a second to uh to Yeah. Takes a little time to warm up. Mr. Duran, there we go. Just want to make sure
005everyone at home can hear you, so. Glad to be with you all and thank you for the opportunity to uh present on behalf of the K-38 music program. I'd like to take a few minutes to share with you what music looks like for our students in grades K-8 and why the experience is so important for them and for all of us, um especially during their formative years. So, if we could go to slide two, our program overview. At the elementary level, all of our students get general music once every six instructional days. In those classes, students are really learning how to listen, uh create, and express themselves through music, uh their singing, they're moving around, they're exploring rhythms, playing instruments, starting to really understand how music works. And for many of them, this is their
006first chances to feel successful as part of something that is creative, collaborative, and shared. These students also begin learning recorder in third grade, and then in fourth and fifth grade, uh we introduce them to the band and orchestra program where they can choose to play a musical instrument. We also have a chorus program that is open to all interested students in grades four and five. So, having these music opportunities available for our youngest students is especially important. It helps make sure that every student has access to music and builds a strong foundation as they get older. I'm going to move on to the next slide, which would be our K-38 program overview. At the junior high school level, students can choose to participate in band, chorus, or orchestra. The students who are not in a
007performing group are scheduled for general music in grade seven and eight. At this stage, music really becomes more than just a class. It's a place where students learn responsibility, they learn teamwork, they learn discipline as they work towards a goal that they can be proud of. It also gives them a strong sense of belonging, and for someone like me who's been teaching middle school for so many years, I know how important that is at this age. Uh we aim to offer different pathways so that every student can participate in music in a way that works for them. We can move on. Slide four. K-5 highlights. What we've seen over the past year, uh this year has really shown how much it matters when students have more opportunities to be involved in the music program. Uh
008as you know, last year, our budget and transportation limitations uh made it difficult for us to offer uh music opportunities for our elementary students outside [snorts] of the school day. Uh these conditions, I'm pleased to say, greatly improved this year, and we were able to expand access to all of our elementary performing groups, and that greatly strengthened the structure of those programs. As a result, we've seen um dramatic increase in participation, uh greater consistency across the buildings and the grade level, and a noticeable increase in student engagement and enthusiasm. Uh moving on to the next slide, K-6 through eight highlights. Because of the reduced opportunities available to them last year, this year's sixth grade class came in with uh lower performance expectations that we usually see in our performing groups. To help offset this, uh
009we adjust we adjusted instruction to increase our focus on building basic foundational skills. Uh we also strengthened the general music curriculum in grade seven and eight with the addition of the QuaverEd music curriculum software. Um this software provides interactive experience that helps students apply some of the skills we teach in class. What we're seeing now is really encouraging, not just growth in musical skills, but in confidence, participation, and overall engagement. Our students are taking more ownership and pride in what they're doing, and that's showing up in their performance. If I can share an example with you of this, I'm very pleased to tell you that this year we had three junior high school students who earned the first chair in the seating auditions at Skameia All County Festivals, which took place uh believe it was
010last week. And these accomplishments are a true reflection of the progress that we are seeing. If I can move on to budget and spending, slide six and seven. Our budget is focused on what keeps the program running day-to-day, uh things like materials and supplies, uh repair and maintenance of district-owned instruments, which includes tuning acoustic pianos, um giving students access to opportunities offered by our professional music affiliates such as Skameia and NISM and some others. At this point in the year, our spending is on track with what we were projecting, and we continue to monitor closely, uh make sure that our budget expenditures directly support students and the needs of our program. We also look for ways to be as efficient with our spending as possible, uh for example, making the most of the instruments and
011materials we already have, and using systems that help streamline ordering and reduce delays. If I could go on to slide eight. Uh department needs and requests. Looking ahead to 2026-2027 school year, um one key priority is restoring the previously approved five-year instrument purchase plan. I'm aware that um you have all taken steps already to move forward with reinstating this plan, and I want to thank you sincerely for your support with this. Uh the plan will allow us to add new instruments, replace old instruments that are no longer usable or working, um helps to ensure that students whose families may not be able to provide an instrument can still participate in our programs. As we look beyond the next few years, an important step is establishing a sustainable long-term budget plan for instrument replacement and equipment
012needs. Having that kind of structure in place will help ensure that the program remains consistent, sustainable, and long-term and reliable, excuse me, for all students over a length of time. Additional priorities include supporting program continuity during leadership transitions within the department, maintaining student participation in our professional music affiliate programs, and restoring junior high school club music opportunities that have been reduced in previous budgets. And looking ahead, slide nine. For the remainder of this school year, our focus is on continuing strong instruction, supporting students as they prepare for our spring concerts, uh regional music festivals, uh such as our upcoming NISM festival. At the same time, we are planning for next year by prioritizing program continuity, maintaining instructional resources, and establishing a sustainable plan for the purchase and replacement of instruments and core music equipment. Uh
013in closing, slide 10, I just want to say that it's truly been a privilege to support music education in this district for all these years, and to see the impact our program has on students has been very gratifying. Um it gives students a place to feel successful, connected, and part of something meaningful, as I said before. I want to thank you all for your support. I'll be happy to answer any questions. Can I just ask you um congratulations on your retirement, first of all. You're a loss. Um can you just describe chamber chorus? What what is chamber chorus as opposed to chorus? So, chamber chorus is a group that would meet outside of the school day for some of my more advanced singers who want to have an additional experience. Um they would perform in
014a concert or sometimes we have them performing at community events like um the the Lions Club tree lighting is an example of that. Some of you have seen that. Um it really gives those kids a chance to really enjoy the art of performing um outside of the entire class that they meet with during the day. Okay. So. All right, thank you. Uh quick question. Um Yeah, congratulations on your retirement, and uh you know, also I I I know you had, I think it was maybe 2020 or 21 when you came to us and we established the um the instrument purchase plan, the multi-year deal. We got away from that, obviously, for a variety of reasons, so I apologize for the delay. I'm glad that we're back on track, and hopefully in a better place to
015continue to support the department. One of the things I I recall you saying even back then, and I think it was echoed by Mr. Heaton, was uh these days you don't have as much time for individual instruction, or where you have rooms of uh students different levels with you know, with different instruments. Um obviously, maybe back in the day, a long time ago, there was more in teachers available to do that type of level instruction. Yeah. We're probably not the only ones that have that problem. Are there any uh are there any thing that other districts are doing differently to have more individual instruction on those instruments? Not that I'm aware of. Um I think it's just a matter of the teachers being able to balance the schedules in a way that works best for
016the students. You know, obviously, we have a highly advanced student in the same group with someone who's still struggling to read music, it is challenging to teach those two students together. So, we do make changes during the year as students improve or decline. Either way, they could it can go both ways, and we will adjust the schedules to the best of our ability. Okay. But it's still not to the level it probably was. No, no. We we've we've lost a lot of sections of lesson periods over the years. A lot of it has to do with declining enrollment, but as a result of declining enrollment, it's not as easy as declining a math teacher or cutting a math teacher, because the whole program becomes impacted when you cut teachers in the arts. Yeah. Um so,
017it's different. Okay. Is there is there like internships or something that could ever be explored? You know, I know I'm probably opening up a can of worms there with a question like that, but um to assist with the lessons of the individual instruction? Um not in the I think traditional internship way that you're thinking of. >> Right. Free, I mean, yeah. Basically. >> [laughter] >> Yeah, of course. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I'm just trying to think if we can we you know, obviously, we can't get back to the staffing. We don't have the enrollment we had, but but also the staffing that we're reflecting upon. But I'm just I was just wondering, cuz it it keeps getting echoed every year. We hear it every year. Uh well, you didn't mention it this year, but um
018I do recall, you know, that they just don't have the time or the ability to give that instruction. >> Well, it's being given, it's just a challenge, as Mr. Duran shared, right, in the sense of right, that even if it may be a a small group from a numbers enrollment, right, number of students in in the group, that the the level of depending on where each student is with that instrument is can be extreme, right? Um even if it's a group of nine students or right, seven students. Um Yeah, and I will say too that the enrollment, because it's been going down, the size of performing groups is also smaller. >> Yeah. So, it gives us a little bit more flexibility with what we can do. Right. I understand. Okay. Yeah. No, no problem. Thank
019you, Mr. Duran. Thank you all. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Now entering into our secondary world, Mr. Heaton. Good evening, everybody. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to describe our program and give you updates as to where we're at and what we're looking forward to. Um Can I do this on? No, okay. Uh so, an overview of our program, grades 9 through 12. Uh we have several courses that are used by the students for graduation requirements. Those are our traditional ensembles, band, choir, and orchestra. And we also offer basic musicianship courses with the opportunity to perform on either the piano or the guitar. Uh outside of the school day, we also have several clubs that the students can participate in, most of which are performing at the Pops concert on Thursday night, our jazz
020band, treble choir, chamber orchestra, the guitar ensemble, and new for this year, our mariachi band. And we also offer several electives during the school day when enrollment requests are there, uh including music theory, which has an AP course as well, piano or guitar two and three, and musical theater courses in both performance and theater technology. Our main goals are to continue what was begun at the elementary and middle school levels, where we're giving the students a chance to perform advanced repertoire and better their skills, continue to develop as leaders within the program, and to support the creative expression and continued engagement in the arts that our students have. We have several ensembles. The the mariachi band actually came about, several students wanted to do something like that, uh and we were able to get it
021up and running this year. They performed at a couple of different events so far, like our culture club a few weeks ago. And uh that that group has really taken off so far. And uh there are several students who will help out running rehearsals if the uh director is unable to and there's another teacher who's around to supervise, the students will self-run ensembles to get additional performance time in. Uh if we can move on to the next slide, highlights of the first half of the school year. Um as Mr. Duran had mentioned, budget difficulties last year made it difficult to do things to the way we had been accustomed to doing them for a while. Uh and to echo what Mr. Parolillo had said in terms of the lesson group sizes, less instructional periods meant
022that the lesson groups became larger than is ideal for the individualized instruction that we were talking about. Uh what's happened this year is as a number of factors have allowed us at the high school level, we have been able to have smaller lesson groups where we can separate the students a little bit more. It's a combination, like we were saying, less students in the ensemble, which is less than ideal, but having the lesson periods within our schedules to work with has allowed us to kind of maximize resources and move the students around as best we can, so that our group sizes are a little bit smaller. And what we've seen from that is the more targeted instructional approach has helped the ensembles grow. Our winter concert, uh I felt went incredibly well, and uh several
023community members had mentioned the their their uh joy at hearing that concert, and I think that's a direct response to having the uh instructional periods working as they are this year. The increased student engagement from that also allows for more challenging repertoire, which ultimately increases student engagement and helps us with retention from year to year within the program. Uh and that can only help us in the long term. Moving on, uh as Mr. Duran had said, our our budget situation for this year, we're pretty much right on track where we expected. Um as it is a K through 12 department, uh a lot of what he said applies to the high school as well, and we're on track with where we want to be. We closely monitor the spending. Uh we're maximizing use of the
024existing instruments and materials where possible, and uh we want to ensure that our students are able to continue participating with our professional affiliates like Miss Came, Nisma, Skemia, and Listva. As we move on to uh our year-to-date expenditures, as we were saying, it's pretty much right on track with everything. And uh I don't want to repeat the same information, because I respect your time and don't want to tell you the same thing twice. So, we're going to move on to the next slide, our departmental needs and requests for the following school year. Uh again, I would like to also thank you for all of your work in helping us get the five-year purchase plan back on track. Uh it will really help the department by giving us the opportunity to get students on instruments that
025will work better without duct tape and a little bit of elbow grease to put them together sometimes. Um and if we are in a place where we can continue that in the future, uh that would be tremendous for helping our students out. Uh for the program continuity and sustainability, as Mr. Duran said, we want to ensure leadership transition with his well-deserved retirement. Uh we want to make sure that our program is able to continue operating as it has been, and whatever that's going to look like next year, we just want to make sure that there is a plan in place, because whatever happens at the K through 8 level directly impacts what's happening at the high school level as well, and we want to make sure that our program stays where it's at, if not
026improving. And looking ahead for the remainder of this year, we want to continue what we've been doing, delivering our high-quality music instruction. Uh our Skemia uh concerts took place last weekend. We had several students at the high school who participated in the band and the chorus. Uh the marching band performed at the St. Patrick's Day parade in Babylon on Sunday, uh which was a great experience. As I mentioned, we have the Pops concert coming up this week, and then our spring concerts are the first week of June, so we have a lot going on for the remainder of the year. Um we want to again plan for that leadership transition and prioritize the staffing and program needs of next year and beyond, uh maintaining the offerings that we've been able to offer our students while
027maintaining that flexibility as best we can to provide the individualized instruction where possible. And that is it from me. If there are any questions, I will be happy to answer them to the best of my ability. Hm, good. Sure. Um you know, going back pre-COVID, and then even when you and I were in band, the 9th through 12th graders were one ensemble. Um then COVID happened, separated. Now, going what Chris said about having, you know, an internship or free lessons. I mean, I remember a lot of ninth graders they would look up to the 12th graders and you know, it would help support them and and learn the music and whatnot. Are Is there any thoughts ever go back to I mean, the band as is split is so small. We if I remember correctly
028that split happened when I was still in high school cuz I was only in a 9 through 12 ensemble for a year. Okay. So it had been the '90s when we had first split it and we do appreciate the ability to have that separate track 9 through 10 and 11 through 12 because the development sometimes a ninth grader they might be looking up to the seniors but the seniors are at a level where they can perform music that the ninth graders would greatly struggle with and we want to make sure that all the students experience the same success as they can. So if we have an ensemble for ninth and 10th graders that's playing level four to four and a half music and then as juniors and seniors they can play five to level six
029and there are six levels as I'm just spouting out numbers here. The pieces are graded levels one through six. So if we have a level four four and a half and then a level five through six ensemble that gives all of those students a chance to continue to develop through their high school years and just in speaking with some friends in other districts who teach high school I know the these ensemble sizes are across Long Island in many cases. One of my best friends teaches out in Nassau County and usually Nassau County is like where everybody looks to for music and he says my 11 12 band is 35 kids. So it's it's something that's across Long Island and all of us COVID definitely did not help the the changes that we had to make
030for for health and safety reasons might not have been the best options for musical development but continuing to be around was much more important than than the musical development at that stage. So it does kind of impact where we're at today and that's something that we've all been trying to figure out how can we recruit kids back and and get the program to the numbers where it had been. And part of that as as the number of students in the district has also been changing. I believe it was last year when I presented for our program evaluation it's roughly 25% of the high school is enrolled in the music program. And our ensembles might be smaller but I think going back several years ago we were probably in that same like between 22 and 28%
031range. So if the percentages is still there and we don't have the pool to pull from that that makes it difficult also. Okay. Another question. Thank you very much. Thank you. Mr. Gerena, a request if you can send me the names of those three students that you referenced so that we can acknowledge them on the website and social media. The three students referenced with regards to ischemia. First chair. Yes, the first chair. Yes, send them over to me. >> [laughter] >> Oh, sure. Thank you. What would have been another word for free? Cuz I saw you trying to think of a way to say it and I'm unpaid now payroll positive I don't know. >> [laughter] >> Well, well, is it volunteer? I don't know. Internship. All right. All right. Next up. So next up
032we have Mrs. Alfano and the group. Come on up. Thank you for being here. Who will be providing an art department K through 12 right overall presentation. You will love all the visuals. They belong to all of our students. I'm just going to lower this [laughter] I'm a little shorter than Mr. Heaton. Good evening. I'd like to begin tonight by thanking Dr. Farley and the Board of Education for allowing me to present on behalf of the K through 12 art department. So right now I'm just going to go through a quick overview of the budget tonight. So if we're looking at all of this beautiful artwork all the artwork that you are seeing in the slideshow is all the artwork that has been done this present school year. Tonight I'm going to be discussing just
033the 25 to 26 accomplishments by building level cuz there are quite a few. The current year budget summary as well as departmental needs and proposed requests for next school year and just looking ahead for this current school year. Right now we're taking a look at the elementary art program. So our art program for K through 5 has a lot of community wide as well as school wide activities that we're involved in. All of the work that you're seeing here is all work that is done a little above and beyond as you would say for the K through 5 art teachers. So this is stuff that is taking their lunch and prep as well as before and after school involvement. So if you look at the poster contest there's quite a few poster contests from this
034school year as well as school involvement. Our school displays such as the Board of Education week as well as some community artwork displays in the library. So we do have an ongoing collaboration with Carice Mitchell at the library. So she is the she's the children's coordinator at the library. So right now if you take a look at the beautiful artwork that's displayed there those are current school year displays from our elementary different buildings. We do have an upcoming one also in April for Santapogue. The junior high also has a lot of program highlights. One of which is a recent. So we won one award last year for the Suffolk County Water Authority art contest winner. So that was Zara Gomez. This was done in May and then she actually just won so hot off the
035press the Town of Babylon poster contest. So this is something that we should be recognized tomorrow actually at the Town of Babylon. So Zara Gomez again and she won first place in the ages 11 to 19 which is astounding. So I'm really looking forward to see what comes of her future. As far as our school involvement we do have face painting with St. Baldrick's. So St. Baldrick's happened on Friday. So our art workshop which is our seventh grade advanced class did participate in that. We also have quite a few poster contests from this school year. Obviously our Town of Babylon poster contest we only did have one entry for the junior high level so that was very impressive that Zara did win that. We also worked in partnership with the PTA for the gold contest
036as well as some school displays. Obviously as you can take a look there is a thumbnail on the bottom left hand corner of one of our wonderful students with a charcoal portrait that is also recognized in the back of the board room here as well as some community displays. So the bottom middle is our art workshop display for the month of Dinovember actually. So it's called Dino for dinosaur November at the public library. So that was some beautiful artwork that you'll see on another slide as well as the Doodle for Google entries which we like to get involved in each year with our studio art class which is our advanced eighth grade class. At the senior high school art program level we do have quite a bit of community involvement as well as some school
037involvement. Currently we had our National Art Honor Society induction ceremony today actually. So we inducted 11 new members of that. There is a lot of community service that goes involved with that. So if you look look under the community involvement the mural design for Smith Point is an ongoing collaborative in progress mural design that's actually going to be working with the selected students and with a professional artist who will actually be creating the artwork which will be done in the near future. They also have participated with Valentine's Day cards at Brookside Multicare Nursing Home holiday centerpieces. All of this is due to they need 30 community service hours just in the genre of art in order to be able to continue their membership. So it really is wonderful. We also have a lot of school
038displays. So if you take a look at the top right corner that is one of James Fulton who's an art teacher at the high school. He has these beautiful brownstones that are framed right now in the hallways. They're really a nice sight to see if you're able to take a look at that. And then we also have our wonderful fine arts gallery which we're very appreciative to have that also this year to continue display artwork. So right now we do have some wonderful artwork that's on display and the one on the bottom left hand corner is also featured from the month of October and November. One of our new initiatives this year in partnership with the West Babylon Public Library was something that we are calling community coloring pages. So what these are is exactly
039how it sounds. They are very large scale black and white images that have been done with our upper level classes as well as some of our art clubs. And what's happening is they're creating these beautiful pieces that are just black and white and then they're sent up to the library and then they're displayed on tables within the children's section of the library and then community members are coming up to coloring them. I actually have brought my own children over there. So it varies in range. So you can see from some of the pictures we have like little children to older adults. So it really is a nice community program that we hope to continue in the near future. Another curricular highlight that I would like to take a look at is our art workshop program.
040As I stated earlier this is our seventh grade advanced class which we are very grateful to have been able to run a section of this this year. Just to kind of cover a little bit about what this class is. This is our advanced level seventh grade program which is going to teach more advanced techniques. So in looking at this if you look at the bottom row where it notes there's dinosaurs from the month of November they have A B C and D. Those actually correlate with the above row. So student A correlates with the dog above it for student A. So you can see that the bottom row is actually work that was done prior to instruction. So I do teach this class. So it is a wonderful class not just because I teach it
041obviously but because it really has wonderful curricular highlights. So you can see the growth of the students. Work that's on the bottom row was done before any prior instruction from myself. So it's just their basic understanding from sixth grade with value as well as their seventh grade art course if they had it at that time. So if you look at the growth from like just student A to student A above with the animals it really is quite impressive. So there's a little bit of data with that. As far as the senior high school, this is all artwork done by our AP course, which we are also very grateful that that was brought back this school year, and we hope to continue that into next year. This class is our AP level where it's really going
042to give you more of that college level artwork. These students are working in collaboration with one another, and just that, if you think of like a varsity sports team, it's like a varsity art program, right? So, we're trying to build that. So, they're working together. They all have the same caliber of actual art talent, and they're working together and really creating this wonderful unique environment. In terms of the art budget, so if you take a look at here, you're going to see that we have the junior high school online one, then the senior high school in the middle row, as well as the K-12 art um supply materials budget. We do not have a K-5 art and supplies materials budget. That is under the school building levels with the principal that delegates how much is
043for each building for art. In terms of the actual budget expenditures, we were right on track this year. We did have one unexpected expenditure, which is not going to be a recurring expense, which is very good because it was $10,000. This was due to the New York State phone free law. So, in the past with our photography program at the high school level, we did use cell phones to take photos. We did have a few cameras that were utilized by the teacher themselves that brought it in to expose them to the equipment, but most of the work was done with cameras on their phone, excuse me. Then from there, the work was then developed in terms of online manipulation with the actual Chromebooks and with computers. So, now due to the fact that we couldn't
044use those, we did have to have a curricular adjustment, which was actually a very positive thing because now they're working with cameras. They're exposed to the actual functions of the cameras, so it really has been a very great positive, and that is a non-recurring expense, so we'll be able to maintain that for the future. As far as departmental needs and proposed requests, um in terms of the elementary, right now we do have quite a few kilns in the district. The kilns, which is for those of you that may not be aware, that's what's cooking the clay. We haven't really had an elementary ceramics program in quite a few years, um primarily due to the fire at South Bay, which was a long time ago, but since then we didn't have it established where we were
045using those kilns um district-wide. So, since then we did have some curricular changes. So, I would like a chance to kind of discuss the needs with each building with um with also Dr. Farrelly, as well as Mr. Payne, and just really determine what our future needs are for the program to see if we want to continue this, in which case they would need to be maintained, or if we feel that it's not necessary for the future. As far as another concern that really arose this year was our K-5 model for the traveling art teacher. So, right now we do have one teacher that teaches in five respective buildings, four elementary schools and one junior high. Um in some days she is teaching in three buildings. There are two days in which in the K-5 6-day
046cycle in which she is in two buildings. As you can imagine, this is a very taxing um position to be in because it really involves you being involved with six different email chains, six different preparation of materials, six different preparations of students and classes. So, it really is a very challenging schedule. Um I would love for that to be reconsidered um really for the benefit of the students overall. At the junior high, um due to the real wonderful success of the artwork shop program, I would love to see an additional section if that is at all possible. In the past, prior to the 2021 um budget, we did run two sections of this class. So, this class um usually have a group of 28 students for a total of 56 students. If we were able
047to continue this, I would love to see um that 56 student mark met. Um this year, after not having it for 5 years, we did have 42 applicants, which is actually very strong considering this was only established at the end of June last year. So, we really had 1 week to get those students together. Um so, I would love to see this program continue. I think this would be a wonderful um filler Excuse me, not filler, but really is a kind of like our junior high sports. As I related that to sports, I I was a D1 athlete, so I I'm right there with you. Um but if you think about it as a junior high program, if we're able to build that now, that is only going to help us build our art program
048at both the at the senior high school level. Um another um a value Excuse me, another proposed request is for next year is to re-evaluate the K-12 chairperson model. I will talk about that further on the next slide. At the sixth grade art club was not run this year. Um that was not due to budget reasons, however, it is affiliated with the budget because there were other clubs that did run in lieu of sixth grade art club. Sixth grade art club usually services about 120 students. We do a lot of community service projects, so that not running this year did hurt us a little bit in that respect. So, I would love to see that um promote more art interest in the future if we are able to run that. At the senior high school,
049right now um I would love to also see the opportunity to have a repair budget. Um we've had a lot of ongoing issues with our kiln uh since last May. That being said, our kiln is finally working, so I do need to make an adjustment for that slide. So, we're very happy that it is working, but as you can imagine with 112 students this year in the ceramics program, not having a kiln working at about, let's say, five projects per student, that's quite a lot of um material that is not being um completed right now. So, we are looking for ways to complete that for the rest of the school year now that it is working, but um to have a maintenance budget really would be very helpful because we would be able to get
050someone in to to service the kiln and other non-recurring expenses such as our um airbrush program with air compressors and such. Another um request for next year would be to take a look at some of the classes that did not run in the past, such as basic ceramics or AP art history, as well as printmaking. Um as I said, if we can circle back to the art K-12 chairperson model, um taking a look at the current responsibilities, um just to highlight a few. Um as you may know, so I do teach full-time, so in I'm teaching a full five um schedule. Right now, I actually am covering another class, so it is six schedule six classes per day, which does not leave a lot of time for the planning and implementation of some of our
051art initiatives. In terms of art department meetings, while we have a K-12 program, I do have to run three separate meetings per um every time. This is due to our union and our contracts. We can't have teachers come prior to a certain time, and we can't leave um after a certain time. So, it does make things very challenging. I have to attend a lot of district level meetings that are just related to my chair duties. You'll see in the concerns that I did have 55 meetings just until actually today that were chair-related um duties that I had to attend to. So, it does get very taxing. This also in turn causes to have um subs for a lot of my classes, so I have to had Excuse me, I did have 15 coverages so far
052this year where I was not able to be there for my students due to those meetings. Um some of the other concerns that really arise are in terms of the curriculum. So, to oversee six buildings effectively really does take time. Um I should be pushing into those elementary buildings, as well as the senior high school. However, the senior high school and junior high school do take up a lot of time due to those um meetings, as I said earlier, and I am not able to really push into the elementary buildings as much as I have in the past. It is very, very difficult, and to really oversee the teachers in action and seeing what they're teaching and how they're teaching to really benefit the K-12 program is really important. The positives of the release time
053would be to plan effectively, obviously with that curriculum, push into classrooms, helping new teachers. We've had many leave replacements, as well as part-time teachers, which has taken up a lot of time where I do need to push in, help the teachers with curriculum, make any adjustments that might be needed to really help support our students and staff. Um right now, um if I had that release time, I would be able to observe those teachers and help them a little bit more and support them. We would also have a little bit more time for planning new initiatives, which I love, but unfortunately, just due to time, it's very difficult. We do have a district-wide art show um on the plan, which is something I will speak about a little bit further on the next slide, I
054believe. So, looking ahead for 2025-2026 for the rest of the school year, um as I was just referring to the K-12 district art show, so this is something that has been in a planning process for the last 2 years. It was approved by um Mr. Payne. However, just due to the time and the idea of implementing this, this would be a select K-12 show. It has been very difficult. Our hope is to have add this into the calendar for the next school year, so it is on there, and we will be able to plan accordingly. We also have some mural cleaning, which is going to be coming up for the Bricks and Minifigs. If you're not familiar with that, if you don't have young children, it's the LEGO Store in West Babylon, so it's very
055popular. We are very excited to have an upcoming mural, which will be done by our eighth grade advanced studio art class. We do have also some community coloring pages coming up, as I talked about earlier, community art participation, one in which those animals that you saw, the dogs and cats from our workshop, to display those with our um Babylon Animal Shelter, cuz those were all student work that was done with work from Babylon Animal Shelter. Excuse me, with references from Babylon Animal Shelter. Um and we have some library displays also coming up for the remainder of the school year. Um if you take a look in the center, we have quite a few art shows, so we're very excited. Um all of which will be sent out individualized um invitations for all of you, so
056we hope that you can join us at at one, if not all of them, that would be wonderful. And then just in terms of our anticipated challenges and solutions, as I said earlier, our kiln has been fixed, so I don't anticipate that there will be any continued maintenance for this school year. However, um for the future, because um this was something that was not um planned for, I do want to just keep that in mind that it may be a concern with our budget moving forward. Also, with the airbrush class, our airbrush class, if you're not familiar with that, that is where they're taking stencils and they're using paint that's being sprayed through a compressor. It is wonderful, however, that has not been maintained in about 15 years. So, it really is at the point
057where we need to kind of re-evaluate that because moving forward, we may need to see some adjustments um for the actual equipment. And I would just like to thank you for the opportunity to speak on behalf of the K-12 art department. All of the work that you're seeing on this slide is actually all of our ceramics coursework, just so you have an idea of the level of artwork that we're talking about. So, thank you very much, and if you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer it at this time. When When you mentioned the equipment, is that I obviously there's might like with the kiln, there may be there may or may not be needs in the elementary, I think you said. Um when when do we find out cost of that stuff, or
058how does that How do we calculate what that is? Well, she mentioned that in terms of the elementary kiln, we first have to have a discussion >> even need the program, right. Find another one you said has to be maintained constantly in the older grades. >> Sure. So, um just to give you an idea, so right now the maintenance of this kiln, we did have to um bring someone in. We weren't sure at first if this was an electrical component, so if there was something more of a building-related concern. So, I have been working with Michael Judas um since last May in regards to that. So, it was determined that it was a kiln issue, so we did bring in someone just um who is a kiln specialist. Um the bill for that, which we
059just received, was $2,400. Um we're hoping that's a one-time fee, and just to give you an idea, if we were to replace the kiln, it's about $4,000. Um so, it's one of those where you really have to determine what would be the best to continue maintenance of that or to buy a new kiln at that point. It might be a good idea to have a backup, which is something we've discussed, just in case we do have an issue that occurs like we did this year where we were not able to use that kiln, especially when we have such wonderful ceramics um students that are really excited for this class. But, um just due to the fact that we were not able to cook that kiln, so if you're not familiar with clay, you do have
060to cook it in a kiln prior to do something called a glaze, which would then really firm out that clay, and then it's usable. Um because they couldn't kiln um cook that kiln Excuse me, cook that clay, we weren't able to move it. It's very very very fragile. So, even we did bring some of the clay down to the junior high school to see if we could use that kiln, but just in traveling, a lot of those pieces broke. Um so, it is something where you really need it very close by. Um so, just in terms of the future needs, um as we said to with Dr. Farrelly, I don't anticipate us having to make any decisions for next year at all with the kiln, but really just evaluating whether this is something we want
061to have at the elementary because most districts do have kilns at the elementary um level um in the past like when I first started, we had working kilns in every program every elementary building, and it was something that was part of our curriculum. But, like I said, um it really is something where I would like to figure it out for the future. Sure. And what about the airbrush airbrush equipment? >> Airbrush equipment, right now the compressor needs, so if we were to just replace the compressor, it's about $375. So, that might be a smaller fee for this school year, but really to maintain that equipment, we also would have to kind of contact more of someone that's really more familiar with that equipment to see if we can get in like more of an expert
062in that um area in that field just to evaluate that. Thank you so much for coming. >> It really is beyond impressive, right? Like the work of all of our students. It just Yeah. Apple pie. That's crazy. All right. So, thank you to our music department and our department leaders. Thank you for leading our our departments. And again, you know, they didn't They mentioned it a little bit. Um I want to emphasize, right, that these are um department chair leaders that oversee and manage multiple buildings, right? Staff members in multiple buildings, budgets in multiple buildings, needs in multiple in multiple buildings. Um so, I thank you for all that cuz I know that that's certainly an an added piece, right, to your leadership role when you have to manage um so many different aspects, right,
063but across districts. So, thank you. All right. So, at this point we are going to um start our budget presentation for the evening. We have it there. Let's just kind of pivot over. Okay. All right. So, I will kick us off, and then Ms. Galante um will start at some point. So, um just by way of recap, we have had several board meeting budget presentations, right? We divided it up by various different components. And today's meeting kind of puts all three components together, right, with all of the modifications that we've been doing up to date as information has come in. Um as the board is aware, right, there will still be additional changes that happen, right? Most recently, we received some retirement notifications, right? Anything that's kind of come in in the last couple of
064days, you know, hasn't been, you know, adjusted. That will be reflected, right, in our next um budget presentation. So, this is reflecting kind of where we are um or where we were, I should say, as of like Thursday or so of last week. So, some of our key budget component increases that we've referenced referenced beforehand, right, are uh projected health insurance um increases. And again, this is not just for our district, this is for other districts, right? Um we are projecting again, depending on which aspect of health insurance, increases between 12 and 15%. Our whole region, right, is projecting again similar percentage percentages uh based on the information that we have. So, for us, that's about a $1.9 million so increase, right, um across various different lines as it relates to health insurance. From a
065teachers' retirement system, we've talked about this beforehand, you know, approximately about, you know, over $500,000 um change there, right? The rate there is 8.24% from an E and R ERS perspective. Again, these are all the very similar numbers that we've shared beforehand, 119,000, and contract transportation in particular, an increase of 1.6 um percent for contract transportation. In prior presentations, we reflected that simultaneously we've also had a decrease in in-district transportation as a result of that shift from in-district to contract. Next slide, please. From a student services perspective, we are um this particular looking at in terms of the 2026-2027 school year, right? When we combine our uh tuition lines, right, in student services, professional services lines, right, uh across the board for next year's budget, we're looking at about a $1.1 um million dollar increase
066specifically as it relates to student services budget lines. Um next year, and we mentioned this beforehand in a prior meeting, we split out some budget lines as it relates to occupational education, right? Uh general education students, and student services um special education student programs. Um just to delineate that out, to crystallize, you know, in terms of the tuition um rates associated with both of those programs. That's all related to those 2280 codes, again split out by student services and general education now. These are areas that we ref- erenced um as part of our administrative component, those remain the same, right? From an um architectural fee, right, we discussed the $35,000 increase there. Legal fees, approximately 76,000. Uh we made some changes to our um district clerk lines as it relates to voting um with the
067change in the Suffolk County Board of Elections, right, uh process that we previously discussed. We're anticipating an increase of about 10,000 there. One change there, and actually you'll see in kind of as part of the title on the um top line, right, in parentheses with an asterisk, I have uh anything with an asterisk is kind of with an update, right, from kind of February and March um board meetings, right? So, I just wanted to kind of touch on those. You know, we previously had talked about and had previously included um that I wanted to um increase, right, on the B&G personnel. Right now, as we stand right now, the staffing remains the same, right? I don't have that added increase there. Uh we are, as I mentioned beforehand, a couple of other changes are in
068the mix. I am hopeful that by the end of all this, I'm able to kind of put that at least maybe one, right, back in there. But, right now, as we stand, we did remove that, right, from the the budget proposal. From a program component standpoint, these are all the areas that we've reflected beforehand, right? This budget maintains our increased K-5 academic intervention services that we have in place at our four elementary schools. Um the obviously our full-day kindergarten program, our district-wide athletic programs um all remain intact um exactly as they are right now. Again, that's enrollment dependent, right? If the numbers are there, then they run. Um the clubs and co-curricular um budget lines, right, as as we have in terms of this year. The mental health professional student support services that we have
069throughout our district, you know, again, thankfully we are back at a place where we're, you know, fully um staffed from that department uh lens in all of our school buildings. Our senior high school course elective offerings, those all remain as we have right now. Again, enrollment dependent, right? So, even if, you know, let's say a particular AP course, right, we have it down, it is offered. However, when um the dust settles, right, there are seven students, right, or eight students, then that course won't run. That's not a budget reason, right? That's an enrollment reason. Um our CTE BOCES high school student course offerings, that continues, and I referenced beforehand, right, that everyone that had requested, right, um is is currently in the schedule um for the CTE programs. Our SAIL elementary enrichment program that we
070started this year, right, our plan is to continue that um in our elementary buildings. The instructional IT um programs that we referenced beforehand, the physical wellness at the high school, the weight room and fitness um access for not just student athletes, but, you know, senior high school students in general. Um our plan is to continue that. The Chromebook and smart board uh replacement plan, that mean is maintained in this budget. Next slide, please. From a program component um area, again referencing uh topics that we've talked about beforehand, uh this proposed budget includes uh the junior high school academic center, right? That we um we're looking to have uh to I should say maintain, right? Cuz we this year were able to start it for a portion of the year. Uh the benchmark reading program, continuing
071that thread, right? Those are all materials and supplies and professional development with regards to our elementary reading program. Software additional software programs, right? For our students to use. Obviously, this is in collaboration with um our teachers and our departments, right? Through curriculum CNI uh department. Adding additional software programs, cybersecurity, enhancing that area, PA system. This is a slide um specific to that. This is for the senior high school. That is an absolute um need um and safety topic there. Um so, we would be looking to replace place in its entirety, right? Our PA system at the uh high school. The MTSS LinkedIn software program that we talked about um in I believe two different presentations um for our um tracking, right? In our our student data um in terms of our MTSS program. And summer
072incoming K program, maintaining that as well. One change there from prior presentations, right? We had talked about not a summer school program, but we had talked about the Regents offerings, right? So, that is not um included in this. Um we do have some title one funds that we may be able to use for this purpose for eligible students, right? But it wouldn't be to offer Regents exams to all students, right? Who uh maybe fail a Regents exam during the summer. There would be opportunities to do that through, right? BOCES and other sites, and we would communicate out um that out with families, but that part of it um is a change from a prior presentation. Again, from a program component um umbrella, right? Uh we did and we talked about this beforehand from a music
073department perspective. We're establishing the multi-year purchasing plan, right? One of the things and if um you recall during the last meeting, I think we were at like about a $2 million budget gap, right? So, in the last couple weeks um as we adjusted different things, it was making adjustments to close that $2 million gap, right? So, still not um not close out in any programs, right? Maintain all of the programs that we talked about. Um we basically took a look at all of the different areas that we were looking to um enhance. And we we reduced each one of those or quite a number of them, right? To try and close the gap, right? But not wipe out in its entirety, right? Um one over the other. So, you'll see again in some different areas
074with the asterisks, right? Um some slight um adjustments that we made. So, from a music department perspective, we do have the instrument reinstatement plan. However, that now reflects 10,000 as opposed to 20,000. Um the technology department, that remains the same. The library um increase there, again, those were minor, right? 2,500, right? Um the sale program in terms of materials and supplies, that remained the same. And just as a reminder, that's 20,000, but that's divided into the four buildings, so that's really 5,000 per building, right? Um and then the district-wide field trips in terms of um doubling the budget, that remained the same because as you recall, we talked about that the current allocation didn't allow for um for really most of the trips to happen because the entrance fee for each student were higher, right?
075Um to allow for all the trips to happen. So, we've doubled that. So, what else has changed since the last budget presentation, right? Um class sections, and we shared that that that was an evolving process. So, from an elementary school perspective, right? Right now, this budget does incre- does include an increase, right? Of two teacher salaries for the elementary school level. That's specifically based on expected kindergarten enrollment. Um just as a reminder for those of you that, you know, have been part of in um uh presentations where we talked about district-wide enrollment and the BOCES projections, right? This was anticipated. That was noted, right? In the BOCES projections that, you know, this year we would be looking at, again, assuming that families send, right? Like don't choose to kind of hold back, right? For the
076kindergarten. Um [snorts] we are looking at potentially two additional um elementary sections, which equates to two additional teachers. From a secondary level, this budget increases it includes section decreases, and that's based on um declining enrollment, right? So, same process that we've been using there. We talked about this um in couple of meetings, right? The transfer to capital with regards to the PA system at the high school. Couple of other areas that were adjusted in the budget from a I guess a decrease perspective, right? Um salary budget differences, right? For all 26-27 school year new hires. So, all of the letters in which not including the letters of we received in the last couple of days, right? Um anyone that was retiring, obviously, they were removed from the budget, right? And then uh a replacement salary
077was placed in that same spot, right? And obviously, that's a different amount for someone that's exiting and has been in the district for 30-something years versus, let's say, a brand new teacher, right? Um so, those salary um those budget lines were all um decreased to reflect those. Um number of aides and power professionals, again, based on and this is still ongoing, right? Um some changes in terms of some some hallway duties. Um also some um changes in terms of students maybe recommended or not recommended for power professionals, right? So, uh based on information that we have at hand, we were we reduced some of those lines. Um and we had previously talked about the in-house transportation cost um that we continue to decrease and monitor, right? As that shift happens, the reality is that the
078contract transportation is increasing. So, I'm going to turn it over turn it over to Ms. Galante, right? So, obviously, again, in the last couple of months, we've been talking about all these different areas, you know, specifically within them. Now, it's everything kind of combined, right? In the next couple of slides. Okay, so what is a budget presentation without 13 slides of numbers? So, here we go. So, in the previous um two board meetings, when you saw these slides, that last column to the right was the actual amounts for 24-25 budget. For this presentation, we changed it. We're making it the variance between the 25-26 budget and the proposed 26-27 budget. So, that's the only difference that you'll see um on the slides, besides the the changes that were made. So, I'm not going to go
079line by line. Um only we'll we'll look at the the areas where the variances were either, you know, a high increase or a a low decrease. And so, for this slide, let's look at line 8 1040, district clerk. So, that had an increase of um 46, almost 47,000. And what drove that increase was, like Dr. Fairly said, Suffolk County Board of Elections uh decided that they were not going to run the uh budget elections for the school districts anymore. So, the school district had to take over the machines, so with that comes maintenance of the machines, the ballots, um training for the machines, things like that. And also, again, we have been shifting some um lines, especially BOCES services, to the correct budget areas where they go. So, in the previous years, the district clerk
080lines never um showed uh a BOCES charge, which they do we do have a BOCES charge, and that's for the um the ballots, the uh the signatures, the books that you have to get from from BOCES that that that provides that. So, that's kind of what drove that line um up to that amount. Ms. Galante, um I'll also share as an aside, uh Ms. McNamara and I were just chatting, right? We're going to need to adjust that line again. Ouch. Uh you know, for again, as it evolves, right? So, um we have to send out legal notices, right? So, the legal notices for the budget, every school district, you know, has to do that. As we're doing that now, right? So, Amanda was just shared of some increased costs associated, right? With some of the
081the postings of the legal notice that have to go out and for you know, different occasions. So, we chatted that once those invoices and and whatnot come through, we'll see what the total is, and then we'll need to adjust in terms of next year's budget to account for that that difference there. Again, just evolving lines, right? As this information comes through. Thank you. No problem. And then now, no, let's stay on that slide. I got one more line to look at. So, on line 8 1310, you had a reduction of about $43,000. And what drove that is in the business office. Now, that's all the expenses for the the business department. We had two retirees, and we had one employee um go over to another district. So, now you have three new employees in the
082business office. So, that drives down the uh salary costs for the department. >> yeah. So, that that's that was that. Next slide. Thank you. Again, almost the same scenario with line 1430, you have a change of a few um you had a you're going to have a retirement in June in personnel. You had someone else in personnel move to a different position in the district. So again, that drove down the salary costs in in that line. That's usually what what does the uh reductions. Now, look let's look at line 1680, central data processing. So, what was in that line that half a million dollars was a lot of BOCES charges. Like for eSchool, for Questar, for Invision, for s- Parent Square, um for a lot of things that were really in should be in various
083departments throughout the budget. Because I would like our director of IT to monitor uh all the services that we get from BOCES to make sure that what we're paying for, we're actually using. And you [clears throat] know, we all we all know we use eSchool and we're, you know, using Parent Square, but there are a lot of other BOCES charges that if it's not in his budget, he has no idea that we're paying for it. So, we took that half a million dollars and we spread it out in other departments. And some of it, for an example, went to our district clerk. Because she never had BOCES as one of her lines. So, it just makes it very transparent for everyone involved. If someone says to me, "How much do we pay for this this
084this from BOCES?" I don't have to like go fishing through all these lines trying to find that BOCES service. It's kind of clear. And another reason for changing um um the lines or adding lines is that at the end of every school year, we have to do a lot of reporting. And we do this for one report called the ST-3. And it's kind of mirrors it should mirror like the the budget numbers that you use. But not, you know, not exactly. So, sometimes again, when we do that report, we have to kind of dig into a budget code just to pull out what we should reporting on separate lines. So, this way it also will make the reporting at the end of the year easier and clearer for everyone involved. Okay? Um So, again, so
085you'll see that half a million dollars in different areas as we go through these other lines. Now, did you want to ask questions as we went slide by slide like we did last time? I did have a transportation question. I didn't want to interrupt cuz you transitioned so so smoothly to Ms. Donte, but the transportation when when when the contracted service is covering a route for you know, you get the emails the morning that they're covering a certain route. We're paying a higher rate for that coverage than we are the contracted rate the the scheduled contracted rate? Or Um It depends on which route. In some cases, yes. Okay. Cuz it's a last minute addition, is that what it would be a premium? >> it also depends, right? So, we do have a plan in
086place now where they do give us where we we planned for x number of right substitute drivers, exactly, right? >> Um so, it it depends and it also depends on whether or not that I'll call it borrowed or sub um transportation route is also shared with another district, right? Like the cost of that is different than if it was only W B. >> Got you. Okay. Uh next slide. And so, this is the last slide in the administrative component. And again, our variances really are not high. The department of the curriculum, that would be Mr. Payne's area. 2020 is our building principals, assistant principals, and everything they need to run their buildings. Again, a little decrease there um due to the fact that you consolidated last year one building. So, you just not having that
087extra principal again drives that salary line. And then the research and planning, um it was decided that we would not use BOCES for that since um we already did um we already have the plan for the next few years. And then maybe in a few years we would reach out to them again to them to do that. >> So, um that was all of the administrative component and you see it's about 7.5 million dollars for the 2026-2027 school year. Next slide. The next slide is our capital component. And um the driver here is operation and maintenance of our buildings, the our our facilities, uh which you know which you know know need a lot of work. Um and the um board has instructed our facilities director to try to do more work in house. It
088does does save the district a lot of money when we do it ourselves. We actually not long ago hired an electrician who's got you know, who's really has saved the district hundreds of thousands of dollars in the couple of months that he's been here cuz he's able to do he's licensed electrician. So, he's able to do a lot of work that we would have to call in a third party to do normally. So, that's kind of drives up that uh variance for the operations and maintenance budget. Again, it's salaries, it's all the contractual obligations for building and grounds, supplies, materials, and things like that. Um And then I guess we could look at the A9730, our bonds last Again, you had to go out the past few years to borrow some bonds for some legal
089obligations. And again, that's just the interest that we have to pay on those bonds every year. So, um your capital component um went up about $681,000 um from this year to next year with 14 million dollars for the 2026-2027 school year. Okay. So, now we go into the program component. Okay. So, the program component >> Just I'm sorry. In reference to the bonds. Yeah. What I mean what part of that is controllable as far as the budget? Well, the I from what I understand, you had to go and and ban for certain legal obligations. And once all that is done, you go out and put all those bonds into a bond. Right. >> So, right now you're just paying interest on the bonds. Got you. Last year we did pay a little bit of principal
090on on the bond cuz we had extra money in our debt service to lower it. >> Um so, but it depends when you go out what the interest rate's going to be and the term of the of the bond. >> And those borrowings were the settle the CBA. Yep. Yep. Okay. So, A 2110. So, in that line, that's that's our teaching our regular school. It's up $433,000. And just to give you an idea, it's salaries, yes, but it's not just teacher salaries, it's salaries for our substitute teachers, our aides. In that line is where we also pay for students um that go to charter schools, which is uh has been increasing from year to year our charter school enrollment. And also any foster child that comes in the district that we need to pay for.
091Um and also in that in those lines is our student conferences and field trips. Um supplies again that all the buildings need, the teachers need um for all the different disciplines, um things like that. Textbooks and things like that. So, that's that's drives the increase in that line. 2250, teaching special ed. So, again, Dr. Farrelly hit on this a little bit. When you look at this slide, it doesn't look like $114,000 is a big increase. But again, in last year or this year that we're in now, in that code was the um CTE program or the Acad program um for the special ed students. So, we pulled that out. And now that line that money is in the 2280 code together with the CTE or Acad program for our regular ed kids. So, you have
092I think about 68 children in your regular ed Acad program and 53 children in your special ed Acad program. And they're both combined in that 2280 line. So, if you really want to know how much your special ed your 2250 line went up, I think Dr. Farrelly had it on a different slide, it was about 1.1 million dollars and not 114. Okay? A little bit, you know, it's a little hard this year to compare certain things because we're moving things around. But I think it it it is cuz I know for the ST-3, the 2280 line is definitely reported separately than 2250. So, and I'm not sure in the past if it was broken out or not. Yeah, no, I I the diluting some of these lines or spreading them out is is helpful because
093I remember last year the questions that were coming in were "What's this number?" And it would be, "Well, it's for this. It's for this. It's for this. And you'd be going into these finite budget lines trying to get to that total. This maybe helps that a little bit. Definitely. Yeah. Um, quick question for you. I have a quick question about the about A2110. You mentioned that part of that line item is to pay for charter school students. Can you kind of elaborate a little bit about what it is that we're paying for for the charter school? The the state sets a tuition rate for charter schools. And if you decide to send your child to a charter school, we have to pay that tuition. In addition to the parents paying the tuition to the charter
094school as well. The parents don't pay for charter school. We do. And then do you have a dollar amount based off of the you know what what of the 33,500,000 that we're budgeting for is 300,000. 300,000? So in in news and notes I had broken down where we are for for this school year, right? In terms of the number of students, right? In the in the budget it's about 3,000 and if I recall correctly it's I'm going to round right about 15,000 in terms of right per per student. So within that line for the charter school tuition it's about 300,000. Thank you. So I guess next slide. Again, not much variance on this slide. We'll go down to computer assisted instruction 2630. Again, you see a large variance and that again is caused by moving
095a lot [snorts] of that half a million dollar BOCES charges to the IT line technology line because a lot of it did belong to IT. So again, that's what drove that line up for him not really a major increase in that line. If I'm trying to remember from before we moved we shifted things. I think his increase I don't even think it was 100 grand. I think it was pretty low. But that was due to BOCES being moved into the 2630 line. Okay. And next. 2815. $184,000 is your variance. And what are health services? So when you when we have West Babylon students attending schools outside of the West Babylon district, they can go to private school, a parochial school. They're provided in those schools with health services. That those schools then bill us back
096for those health services that those that we that they provide our students with. So again, that has been going up. I believe your private and parochial enrollment has been going up so that kind of makes sense that the health services also go up. And it's based on again the salaries that they pay their health service providers. Some districts go through BOCES to provide those health services and some have their own nurses that provide those services. So that's that that line for the health services. Those are all the contracts that you see often in almost every agenda, right? You know a an established contract with district you know XYZ, right? Hicksville school district for health services, right? That's specifically tied to all those. Yep. Okay. So let's see. Go to the next slide. And pupil transportation
0975510. Again, on that line you see a decrease of a little over $800,000. That's because a lot of your own transportation is not being used. We're switching over to the contract transportation more because of the inability of the district to hire bus drivers. They're just not around. They're just not applying. If they come, they work a little bit and then they leave. So again, if you look at the 5540 line, contract transportation, yes, that's going up 1.6 but then you could kind of offset it by that decrease of $801,000. So you do have an increase in transportation of about $800,000 because one is offsetting the other. And that's not unusual because we do plan for a couple of extra runs, buses, whatever you want to call it for the following year. You should never know.
098So we tighten that even a little bit more. Yeah. So again, I think there may be a couple more retirements of some bus drivers coming down the pipe and again, we will look into that and tweak that even further. BOCES transportation, the last line, we don't use BOCES for transportation anymore so that's that. And the next slide. 8060. Okay. So I think Dr. Farrelly already kind of touched on these lines. Teachers retirement. Our rate is now for next year 8.24 whereas for this year it was 10.5. So the rate went down. Our contribution rate for teachers retirement is down. So that's what drove that savings. And the FICA is up. FICA is based on the taxes that we have to pay on payroll taxes. And so naturally everyone's payroll for next year contractually goes up
099a little bit. So naturally the FICA that we have to pay also increases. Next slide. And on this slide A9060. Again, health insurance. >> [clears throat] >> We went from 8% to 2% in one year to 2% 9% in another year. So now we're going from 9% and the question mark is the half the first half of 2027. What is that going to be? It's we're being told anywhere between 12 and 15%. We're kind of going around the 12% mark for the budget. Hoping that you know, it'll come in at that that that rate if not lower. That would even be nice. But that's what's driving that that up almost $2,000 that variance. Dental insurance you see went down a little bit. We had we didn't change the dental insurance but we did change out
100the agent that we use and he was able to get us a better deal for the same dental insurance and also through our vision which is just paid for by the employees. So that was a little bit of a savings on that benefit. And the next slide which is the last slide. The interfund transfer. So again, Dr. Farrelly had a slide in there that said that we were going to use $250,000 for the high school PA system. So that's part of that transfer and the rest of the transfers for special ed that you have every year to cover the cost the district cost of the special ed charges for the summer. So we're always a little short so I just raised it I think it was 300 last year to 350 for special ed and
101the other 250 is for that capital project that we're going to do for the high school PA system. And that brings the program component for next year to about $119.9 million. Next slide. And if you see if you we add up all our components together, we will have a total budget for next year of $141,539,066. 2627 proposed budget. Next slide. This this this was in at one of our other presentation. Just talks about the tax levy. Your tax levy that we we calculate is not your tax bill that you get in the mail. It's not your tax rate. It's a combination of your assessment of your home, the tax levy which gives you your tax rate and so on and so forth. If you have any kind of deductions like a veteran's exemption or anything,
102everyone has different things in their taxes. I mean that's reflected on your tax bill also. So we can't say that you know, because this is your tax levy, this is what your taxes are going to be because we don't do that calculation. That calculation is done by the town of Babylon. Everyone says the 2% tax cap, why is my levy a little higher than 2%? And we all know that that 2% is just that CPI number in the formula that can't be higher than 2%. So right now I think CPI is over 2% if I'm not mistaken and going up. But in the formula they cannot use more than a 2%. That's where it's capped. So next slide. And you'll see that in that calculation on the line 1 2 3 4 the fifth line
103down the levy allowable levy growth factor is 1.02 or 2%. That can never change as far as the the law goes now. So doing that calculation gave us a proposed tax levy of 87 million 923,724 dollars which equates to a tax levy of 2.21% for the 26-27 school year and that's the allowable legal levy that the district can can provide and it is does not need a majority a simple it only needs a simple majority vote meaning 50% plus one. Okay, we're not piercing the cap not doing anything like that simple majority vote 50% plus one. Okay. So this is a slide that shows our revenues and it's sorry it's kind of small it's even smaller on my thing. But anyway um bottom line is state aid if we did receive 1% increase in our
104foundation aid but there's a lot of talk out there that we will get another 1%. I did receive something saying that that was probably going to be a good possibility. So that really we're reflecting the 2% increase in foundation aid on our revenue side just so you know because if that other 1% comes in we still can't raise state aid we already did that. And then all the rest of your revenue that came in we are using our reserves. We are using reserves for ERS TRS workmen's comp and unemployment and we are using a we are appropriating about half a million dollars from our fund balance. Needed to do that so that we could close that two million dollar gap that we showed last last time we had the budget presentation. So now you see
105we do have a balanced budget of the 141,539,66 dollars. All right this is just a slide of the district's fund balance over the past few years and pretty much you have stayed almost you know within the 18 million range then it went down a little then up a little and then last year we were able to fund a lot of our reserves in a in a nice positive way. So it would be kind of the district's goal to keep that momentum going if possible. Some years you can some years you can't. Probably this year we will not close with that type of fund balance left. Because you have your transportation this year that was kind of not budget for exactly for what it's coming in as and no one's fault because no one knew how
106how much of contract transportation you were going to. You always have that increase in special ed that's just across every district is seeing that. And then also the health insurance you know we were on 2% whoever thought it would go up to 15% in one year. That's you know that was not anticipating you know that either. So um hopefully when we close we still will be able to fund some of our reserves and keep around you know that 20 million mark if not more depending on how much we have. Next slide. Okay. So then I was asked to to do a slide of how much of the reserves that we have been using. So in 21-22 you used like a little over two million 22-23 again they're in the same ballpark. 23-24 you did use
107a lot more of your reserves. But then again last in 24-25 then you went back down to the 2.3 million. I think this year we're in now I think you're under the two million mark that we used in this year. I think we're like 1.5 if I remember incorrectly. And in next year's um estimate right now you're again just over the 2. million. I think you're 2.3 or 2.4 that you're using. So you're you're right in the same ballpark that you've been in which is a good thing. Well I think two years ago a huge chunk was from fund balance right? The year that we had the two budget votes. Um >> It was a large percentage. Yes a higher >> percentage drives >> yeah definitely. But in reference when we look at the reserves
108just to reiterate or make sure I'm right we can only use up to what we expense from some of those reserves. >> to to correct yeah. >> Right so >> comp and those yeah. Yeah I think for me and I'm going to assume some of the others here is the rate at which we're using our reserves should not exceed the rate at which we're replenishing them. Because we're going to get into we're going to have a problem so >> That's that's the right way to use them you I mean every district does use them it's just that we cannot return to that cycle of you know especially when you know your budget is increasing and yet you're maintaining the same level but proportionally it's not the same because it's less you know percentage wise I
109think monitoring the rate of usage to what we're replenishing is going to be the key. Right because it's good to use the reserves it's that's what it's there for. >> to use your reserves. >> But not to not >> rely on it in a decline. That's going to be that's really what we you know as a board >> right? You're going to have some years where maybe a little bit more a little bit less but you should stay similar without having a lot of that 23-24 right like huge use and then unable to replenish right? Because then right correct. And that'll just keep you even you know what I'm saying? And then if you have a year there where you you know you could put even more away that's even better. But again it depends
110on on I have to say it depends on what's happening out there. Yeah you're going to get hit with those big increases and and worse things that are not even necessarily program related specifically you know it's you have to not rely on those things to keep the budget going. Yep yep. All right and that's it Dr. Farley want to All right next slide >> Next slide okay. So um generally right we're accustomed to obviously the the first proposition number one right? So that will be the budget right for our 26-27 school year. Next slide please. As Victoria Ms. Galante shared right this is our total budget um inclusive of all of the the three main component areas. Next slide please. So what happens if the proposed budget proposition does not pass on May 19th right?
111We've mentioned this you know in in prior years right? The Board of Education can do one of the following right submit a defeated budget for a revote right? It could be exactly the same budget that is presented to the community right? Or it could be a revised budget that's shared for the the revote right? For the for the community or adopt a contingency budget right? If the budget budget is defeated a second time right? The Board of Education has no choice but to adopt a contingency budget. So what does a contingency budget mean right? We are restricted right in terms of what can be included within the contingent budget right? So legally required right? We have to ensure that we operate and maintain school buildings and educational programs right? All of the legal requirements you
112know contractually preserve the property right? Ensure that the health and safety of students right and in staff right continues. What is not included right in a contingency budget? Any sort of any new equipment right that was referenced throughout various different department meetings right our budget presentations those would need to be removed from the budget right? The public use of school buildings and grounds that we currently have in place we wouldn't be able to do that um you know in terms of any sort of cost to the district as a result of public use of school buildings non-essential maintenance capital expenditures that was referenced beforehand right would not be allowed non-instructional non-unionized employee salary increases those again anything that's not tied specifically to a contract right then wouldn't proceed. So specifically for WB what does that
113mean from a dollar perspective right? That means a 0% tax levy increase right? When you compare from prior year to the new year. So So us that equates to 1.8, almost 1.9 million dollars in which the budget would need to be reduced for us to operate under a contingency budget. How would we reach, right? How would we ultimately obtain 1.9 million dollar reduction in the current budget? It is by any and all, right? A combination of all or portions of these areas that are listed here, right? The things that, you know, Miss Galante mentioned beforehand. Right? Health insurance, right? We're looking at a 1.9 million dollar increase. That doesn't change, right? Like the cost for health insurance doesn't change. The contractual obligations that, you know, doesn't change. So it would come from any combination of
114it's the Sale Elementary enrichment program and associated personnel, right? I share that because again programs are are made up by personnel. Athletics programs, whether it's junior high, JV and/or varsity, right? Or any sort of combination. Nation and all the associated section 11 fees, right? When we think of athletic programs, we think of maybe just the coaching stipends, right? But it's everything associated with that. You know, equipment or uniforms, section 11, transportation, right? There's a lot of different referees, right? Costs associated with that general those all of those budget lines. Co-curricular programs, field trips, alternative evening high school program, junior high school academic center, software programs that we've talked about, all equipment. Proposition number two, we've talked about in our prior board meetings. We are and we also had a lengthy beautiful presentation with regards to
115the junior high school construction project, right? So our proposition number two will be asking to utilize the remaining 3 million dollar funds from the 2022 capital project, right? That was done and that came in under budget. That was the high school roof, right? That was the South Bay waterline. We that project came in lower, right? Than the anticipated total amount. Which was great, right? Which left us with about 3 million dollars. During those presentations, we included in those public presentations that if we had money left over, we would go to our B list items, right? The B list items did include and talked about the back of the junior high school. So what do I mean? That whole asphalt area that is all, right? The broken up, right? The tennis courts, the basketball courts, right?
116That it's a disaster, the handball court, that whole area there was included in those presentations. It was also included in the sequa, right? That was done with regards to that and the proposition referenced those. In going through the review process with the state of education department, um several different departments approved it from the state. The finance department requested um they wanted that language of the B list items that we previously presented to the community to be formally included in a proposition, right? So this is reiterating that. Again, we we went through that process with the state as we've talked about beforehand. Their offices were going to review it, but ultimately they're going to it's going to come they're going to get back to us in a few months. We don't want to lose the opportunity
117to just have the proposition there and have our community reiterate that we can utilize those funds and that will expedite the process for the project. This I need to crystallize and will continue to repeat until that very day, right? Has no impact on the 2026-2027 budget. I repeat, no impact on the tax levy, no impact on the budget at all, right? So this is authorizing us to utilize those remaining funds which we previously already, right? Spoke to the community about at that point in time to address those facility concerns outside of the junior high school. Next slide, please. >> everybody to vote yes again. Correct. Essentially, exactly, right? So here is a picture of one of those presentations that we previously looked at and the board authorized, right? Of the um the the junior high
118school, right? So we start off with the track. That's not going to be, you know, then there's just to kind of visualize those are our bleachers, right? So it's all of that work there. So the tennis courts, right? Would be redone, the handball court would be redone, the basketball courts would be done. That area there with those tents, um What are they called again? I'm calling them tents. Thank you. The shade. >> [laughter] >> So there, right? Some some seating area. So really a nice um We know what it looks like out there, right? So redoing that whole area. I will share as we talked about there. Obviously, don't hold us to the coloring and and those pieces. Those types of specs will happen later on, but this is the general framework from a sizing
119perspective and from a what goes will go there perspective in terms of the junior high school construction program. I important to reiterate again that this has no impact, right? On the 2026-2027 budget expenditure plan or the 2026-2027 tax levy. None at all. So what happens, right? If the community votes proposition number two down, that junior high school construction project, it doesn't happen, right? The tennis courts, the handball court, you know, those pieces, that project then is not completed. We then utilize those the remaining funds from that capital project to pay off debt, right? So the areas that Miss Galante shared, right? Kind of a multi-year it gets embedded into the payoff of debt. And the junior high school construction project does not get completed. Proposition number three, right? So this is new to our discussions.
120Now we have talked about little bits of this, but not formally under this process, right? In May of 2023, we asked our community and the community our community approved, right? The establishment of a capital reserve fund, right? For future facilities capital needs. The purpose of that was as we have, you know, obviously every school district by aging, right? Buildings, so that as things, right? Came up in terms of general facilities pieces, we wouldn't have to consistently go back to let's do a vote on a, you know, huge kind of capital project or whatnot to be able to solely build that and then utilize those funds for facilities needs. For reference purposes, that specific reserve now has about 5 and 1/2 million dollars, right? Miss Galante? Um So we have talked about and we had a
121our facilities presentation, right? For the school year couple of months ago, right? When we referenced kind of various different areas. Um An area that I am proposing for us to consider as part of a third proposition, right? For the community is for the community to allow us to Now the community already authorized the establishment of the reserve. That's there, right? And these funds are there. The law requires, although the community approved it and approved it for all very long list of different facilities needs, every time that we are going to utilize that capital reserve, right? We do need to have a formal proposition for the community to say, "Okay, now you can use that money for blank facilities purpose that you previously you know, they were part of the list of things to authorize to
122use it." So that's what this would be. My recommendation to the board, we've had many board walk-throughs every year, right? So you know the condition of our ceiling tiles and lighting, right? Throughout our buildings. Our facilities department has done a phenomenal job of slowly Now we did stop for a little period of time of doing some of the work internally, right? Of changing our lighting and and our ceiling tiles. So I am proposing that we our board consider adding a proposition asking our community to allow us to replace, right? Our ceiling tiles and lighting throughout the district. Again, we've done the walk-throughs, you know what they they um look like. The other area, right? Is for us to upgrade our fire and burglar panels throughout the school district. Depending on the building, some have more
123needs, right? Than others. So that would be part of that project. There's a question on the third, but I did include it there for obviously again part of the discussion. We've talked about this beforehand, right? The parking needs, right? At Tuckahoe Elementary and JFK. JFK's a little trickier, right? Um is a significant need. Not just um you know, we've talked about the the additional cars, right? Some trustees have have joined me at different points in time, right? During arrival, during dismissal, right? Because of the makeup also of how those streets, you know, are are set up, right? And lack of sidewalk in some places, right? Um the the parking in all of that area has um needs to be addressed, right? There's no other way to say it, right? People are kind of double, triple
124parked, right? And we just don't have the parking space, right? So I put a question mark there as to would that be something that would want to be added as part of this this proposition. Um again, this proposition would have zero impact on the 2026-2027 budget expenditure plan. This proposition would have zero impact on the tax levy for next year, right? This is authorizing the use the money that's already portion of the part um funding that's already in the capital reserve, right? For this reason, right? For these reasons. If we want to do that, right? So just some information and I shared with the board. So we have our facilities department, right? Our facilities director, trustees know this, right? Um We've had number of different contractors come, take a look, right? Give us some estimates.
125It's a little bit uh I'll say I'll use the word difficult, right? In terms of giving us hard numbers because in reality we're talking about oh work to happen years down the line, right? So, needless to say but important to say that they're hesitant to give hard numbers, right? You know, in terms of um estimates. Um So, in looking at right and just to kind of get frame it in terms of the 3.5 million, right? Um so, JFK specifically, right? If we're looking at the hallway ceilings and the lighting replacement at JFK, approximately 330 to 350,000, right? These numbers by the way again I have to put an asterisk. Absolutely can change. They don't have the 10% differentials. They don't account for if asbestos replacement, right? Like things like that have to be addressed, right?
126Um Tucker Avenue, right? About 220 to 240,000. Junior High School about a million 1.1 million, give or take, right? Senior High School similar, right? So, in general when we look at kind of ceiling tiles and lighting, right? We're we're in that low $3 million uh number, right? Um when we talk about the fire and burglar panels throughout the district again some buildings more than others and depending on the upgrade and depending on to what extent do we want, right? In terms of there. Um again ranging 100 to 200-ish, right? In terms of thousand um dollars, right? You know that I'm not suggesting that this is what we would do, right? But there's so many in when you look at in terms of systems it could be the alarm that goes off and it's also a
127camera connected to the digital provisions, right? There's so many add-ons, right? As part of that process. So, those numbers range there. Um so, within those categories we're at the low $3 million number already to begin with, right? Um and then again question mark, do we want to uh consider um additional parking at Tucker, at JFK, at both? Question mark. If yes and I'm doing kind of a lot of ifs and I'm going to circle back around, right? Uh then I would suggest that really that $3.5 million should be higher, right? To allow for um if we wanted that work to happen, to allow for the amount to be there. Um Um have you had any um rough estimate of what it will cost to reconfigure parking at Tucker and or JFK? Yeah, so um in
128terms of let me just go back to so um Mr. Lojudice and his Let me just go back over in the presentation that we did um at that point in time, we did have someone come over um and you know that back area I think you were with me um Mr. Eckman it was just one room or that we looked at. Um so, not necessarily reconfiguring but adding taking a space now um that's currently kind of grass area and it's really rarely ever used, right? If you've been there when the fire department comes and they do like a drill for the kids and stuff it's it's that area out there. >> about Tucker or JFK? [snorts] >> Tucker. Tucker you're talking. Right? Um so, the cost to answer your question specifically around 350,000, right? >>
129buildings or just the one? >> each one. Got it. Okay. >> Each one, right? So, that's why I'm suggesting that if we wanted to add additional parking to both Tucker and JFK, we would need to raise the authorization to pull additional funds from that reserve, right? Um higher than the 3.5 to account for that because the estimates are around 350,000. >> you said that in the reserve today is about 5.5. Correct. Got it. Okay. And again, not piercing the cap. >> bit higher, right? We were talking about it beforehand. So, the close out of the year, right? It's about five and a half and then plus interest a little bit a little bit higher but five No, and again this this this proposition is not going to pierce the cap. It's not going to have
130any effect on >> nothing to do with piercing the cap. This has nothing to do with the 26-27 budget. Nothing to do with the tax levy. This is funds that are currently sitting in capital reserve to be used for facilities purposes. That's why it was established, right? All under those um legal grounds. The community authorized that. It's now um saying to the community, okay, here are the reasons why we approved it to use it for these facility pieces. We do want to now use it for this one and that one, right? And and >> And it can only be used for capital improvements. >> only be used for that. >> Right. At the end of the day, you know, everything on this list has to get done at some point and we could >> [clears
131throat] >> we could say no and then and just in five years we're taking one of these districts taking out a $50 million bond to do things that we could have done free and clear. Um if it has to get done it has to get done. My question is we we approve it it gets approved. Let's say we get to the third item and we don't have enough. Um we don't do that item. What happens with those funds? They just They just They just sit back in there. >> Correct. Do we Is there Is it the same situation with the bond where we have to have B items or no? Like let's say we come in under budget, then it just goes back to the account. Because ultimately, right? Whatever is not listed there and
132operate it, right? Like um in the future at another vote then we would have a proposition to say we want to expend X number of dollars for um heating system. I'm going to I shouldn't say that. Windows. Windows is a better example. Yes. [laughter] Thank you. >> even know if it's daylight. I don't even know. Um so, yes, correct. Okay. Anything that we don't list in this proposition, right? And we wanted to do later on assuming it was part of the list of things that was included when the reserve was originally originally established, right? Which that included everything including the kitchen sink, right? From there, right? Um we would need it to go to our community at a vote and say oh, you know, we're doing a proposition cuz we want to utilize it for
133windows. Yeah. Thank you. Next slide, please. >> Doc. Yes. >> When would you be When would we be looking to do this work? Okay. Um Great question. >> would would we be doing the school ceiling tiles and lighting? Great question. So, the who um and the how and the time, the date, right? We wouldn't be establishing now as part of the proposition, right? So, um the proposition would be asking for the authority to use up to that dollar for those amounts. Now, the who specifically for the tiles and lighting, we know that we have a great B&G team, right? With a number of members that absolutely can do some of these hallways, right? Um that was also the trickier part in the getting the action getting some of the estimates because it's not apples to
134apples. As we know when we walk through Tucker Avenue hallway, right? Like depending on kind of what certain hallways have in place, the high school, right? Some of those ceilings varies the work needed from one hallway to another. So, some of those hallway ceiling tiles and lighting our team will be able to do and the cost will be significantly lower, right? Than in terms of some of the the contractors. But that you know, the the the who does the work, right? Would come in terms of later on cuz that would not be part of the proposition, right? You know, in terms of right? We I'd say even when we go out to bid, right? We'd have to go out to bid for the work that would be done by contractors and then we would select,
135right? The appropriate contractor to do the work. So, I would suggest again depending on the topic, um the burglar alarm and the fire that's going to be certain companies, right? Um but specifically the um obviously the the parking um additional parking if we wanted to do that, obviously that that we would you know, go out to bid, right? And and have a contractor. But specifically the ceiling tiles and lighting um our team could absolutely and we've seen their wonderful work, right? Um and it'll help us stretch out the dollar more, right? By having our team do that. But you're not talking about having this done this summer. No, definitely not this summer. Pavement, the parking lot. >> No, none of it in terms of the summer, right? So, there each one of these projects even
136though again coming through this funding source that's that that state review review process, um the testing, the da da da da, the plans, right? That whole process of a construction project still happens. We just now would know the funding source, right? Um goes to the state and then we would establish that out. Um ideally, right? In terms of the the when would be not this summer, the following one. So, what is that? 2027, right? Yes. >> Absolutely. So, that's the piece with the getting it as part of this vote. Now, there are some districts that do this on a separate kind of vote. But then there's an added cost because you're doing another vote on a separate, right? Like time period as opposed to doing it part of when you're doing your budget vote, right?
137Um So, by doing it now then we can work towards that summer of 2027. In the absence of doing that and in the absence of doing another random vote in like the summer or October, right? Like some districts do, then we're waiting for the next May vote for the following summer cuz this work would be happening when students are not here. So, we kind of stuck with the summer construction project timeline. Yeah. So, that is why I'm suggesting and recommending that we consider it for now, right? Because then we can work to have that, you know, the plan would be then summer of 2027. So, the the the access to the funds would be approved by the community but but the timeline it's not sensitive to timeline or cost for the individual items. Like once
138we have the approval to use it, all that other information could come later on. Well, the the cost would we would be capped at the amount. >> Right. No, we're capped at the amount but the details of who the contractor would be, right? I mean we would indicate the summer of 2027. Do we include the timeline? In the budget resolution for the public I don't We'll talk in that. Yeah. I don't actually wait, I know those here. Nope. So, I have I do have a draft prop not for tonight, right? But in in speaking with, you know, Ms. Nowski, right? Um she had started to kind of draft, right? In terms of the proposition um and the draft as it sits here doesn't have the date, so that's even that would be even better, but
139we'll we'll confirm that. >> it. Okay. >> Yeah. So, what I shared with her and I think I shared with in terms of with the board via email if we feel comfortable with doing proposition number three um for this purpose and we can decide a you know kind of all those pieces, I would then suggest and recommend that we have a quick kind of a a special uh special board meeting to then approve the proposition language. Right? Like we did beforehand. Um you know as part of that. You really like having us here. I love I love board meetings, yes. >> [laughter] >> It it's just a quick one two three vote for that. It's just exactly, right? You know what? And here's why, right? Because then it helps us um you know it's crazy
140how kind of one thing impacts the other, right? Um so, we have you know with our budget vote, not just the budget vote, but all these propositions we have to have legal notice, right? I mentioned the cost of the the paper, right? The South Bay paper, the Beacon, right? And whatnot. They have timelines for their newspaper that are like 2 weeks before the actual paper comes out, right? So, that is why I would suggest that we have a short special meeting to approve the resolution language so that it could be included then in the legal notices that go out. Um So, first question, do we want to proceed with a with proposition number three to utilize capital reserves for facilities needs? Yes, sir. Yes. Second question. Let's If we can go back on one slide,
141please. Um do we Let's start off with the first two. Um do we agree that ceiling tiles and lighting throughout district um and fire and burglar panels Yes. >> would be Yes. >> the ask. >> 100%. Okay. And then the third question additional parking Trucker Avenue, additional parking JFK. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. I think it's really important to work on the parking cuz I hear that you know teachers park on the street and it's just [snorts] really the the Trucker Avenue It's a community It's not just a school parking, it's a kind of that whole community the community within the area is being affected by the basic of the living in the area. It's difficult to get through the streets. Understood. Mhm. Yeah. So, then if you say we're going to want to do the parking
142for the two schools as well you would suggest to bump that up to four? >> Correct. As I mentioned beforehand, I would suggest 4.5. Okay. Again, whatever not used remains there, right? But this is accounting for all those other contingency pieces. The 10% fees here, you know, the found whatever underground, not kind of what everyone. And then the reverse of that is it comes in lower, which we've lived through and seen it stays there. Yeah. Right? Um you know, it's no loss, you know, in terms of funding. It's just it is not used. >> Yeah, especially with the parking around the schools. It's to make it to do whatever we can to try to make it safer for not only the teachers, but for the students and the parents. 100% we should definitely do that.
143Okay. No. No, it's tough to get through there especially during school hours. Yeah. The um I know some of those items there were on the full facility review we did a few years back. Um do we have another one of those coming up? Yes. Um it is that's part of the budget actually. Yeah. You know, in terms of the architect fees associated with um the review of that, so yes. Okay. Cuz that you know it's good to get some things off the list, but I'm sure there's new things on the list as well. >> Absolutely. Absolutely. I and I'm assuming you prioritize those on there based on what's Yeah, and and the other piece, right? And again, not connected to this um but we we discussed it during the facilities presentation with Mr. Lodato, right?
144Um we are closing up on the first EPC contract, right? Um So, we've started discussions on 3.0. Right? Um so, as that one falls off, um we're going to we're absolutely on a pause now, uh but summer, right? Have those sit-downs and then come and talk to the board about the next EPC project that does not have an impact on our taxpayers. As a reminder, the EPC funds itself, right? You know, in terms of the work. Um and quite honestly, one of the biggest pieces that I am hopeful we can do there um is our our boilers, right? And those are huge, right? In terms of cost. Um again, Mike spoke about those during the meetings. Um depends on the whole project. Um ideally if that's part of that, that'll take care you know some
145significant high, you know, numbers, right? Cost factors in terms of our facilities as part of that EPC. This is obviously not a bond. We we're not we know we're not talking about a bond, but is any of this aidable back from the state? Is Is there any Um so, as long as uh there is work inside and outside, there would be aid. So, for example, the junior high school project construction project that we are you know in terms of prop number two, right? Um the technology classroom, we had a presentation earlier in the year, right? Uh the upgrades to that classroom, that's happening and that the funding for that is happening from the 2015 remaining funds from that capital project. Um but the state was fine with that approval. So, we don't have to put
146it back on in the proposition. >> but with that as a part of a bond, we're we're making payments for that, whereas with this we pay it and it's it's off. So, is it what's the state basing the aid on? Right? I mean, once we once we pay for one of these things to get done Yeah. let's say the fire systems we write the check and it's completed, right? Right. Um I'm going to double-check with you. My understanding is that it regardless of the funding source as long as you're doing inside work and combined with outside work that the aid associated for the school district still applies, but I will confirm that. >> Okay, but it would be for the one time because it's only the one bill or the one invoice. I will confirm
147that. Okay. So, proposition two and three is just a simple majority vote? Correct. Okay. Great question. Yes. From a PR perspective um I already started to meet well on prop two, but I'm going to do that now with prop three, right? To create simple one-page flyers, right? To crystallize kind of bookends. No impact to the taxes, no impact to the budget, right? Kind of all those key bulleted points so that it's crystal >> Crystallize. I know. Don't forget to turn it over and vote for prop two and three, that's true. Yeah. Yes. Uh next slide, please. Thank you. Prop four, no. Stop. No. >> [laughter] >> This is reiterating those four main points that I've I think I I have said enough. All right, so what's coming up next, team? We have our April 14th
148um meeting and of course that's way too long for me to not have a board meeting, so I just adjusted a 31st special meeting to approve that, but the 14th will be um our final budget uh presentation with some slight modifications as I mentioned beforehand, some of the things that we already know are we're going to adjust. Um as we receive those again, I'll adjust accordingly. Some of the things that I maybe was needed to reduce, we may be able to kind of bump back up, but nonetheless, that will be our our formal um final budget presentation and the final uh board review and adoption that day. That's important because then there are all these legal dates that we then quickly pivot to, right? Um from a district clerk perspective and um reporting perspective for
149all of us as well. May 5th is our public uh budget hearing that will occur here. Um I will be attending our building PTA meetings to do budget presentation. I'll have a little spot in the public library to answer questions for um you know anyone that wants to stop by. So, then we'll continue to the um just communications, right? And sending thing out through social media, through Parent Square, um obviously through our legal notices. Next slide, please. And again, a reminder to vote May 19th um here in an admin 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Okay. I'm done. Thank you, Mr. Powell. >> And we're not even done. We're not done. >> We're not adjourning. No. Okay. Statement of residents on agenda items only. Residents wishing to share a statement Resi- Residents must state their name,
150address, and any organization they represent. They can also write this information on an index card and give it to the assistant superintendent of finance and operations. Comments about individual students, employees, or individuals are not permitted. Each resident will have up to 3 minutes to speak with a total of 15 minutes allotted. Responses will be given after all statements. Any questions needing further research will be addressed at the next meeting. It it agenda item. If you have a general discussion, there's another statement at the end. Yep, okay. That's it. All right. Okay, we need a motion to approve the consent agenda. Steve, Kathy, all those in favor. That'd be one. Okay. Okay, old business. New business. Um Nope, we're not talking about the resolution. Uh which resolution? No, I um Trucker was Yeah. No, I had
151shared we because of the length of today [clears throat] that I moved it to the next one. Ah, we could we could handle it, but all right. Okay. Statement of residents. Any resident wishing to share a statement, please state your name, address, and any organization they represent. They should also write this information on an index card and give it to the assistant superintendent of finance and operations. Comments about individual students, employees, or individuals are not permitted. Each resident will have up to 3 minutes to speak with a total of 15 minutes allotted. Responses will be given after all statements. Questions needing further research will be addressed at the next board meeting. Hi. How are you? My name is Dawn Conboy. I live at 37 Beacon Lane in Babylon. Admittedly, I don't do not get to
152many meetings in person, but I do consciously try to watch the meetings online a day or two after the meeting has been held. In the last Board of Ed meeting, a resident spoke about the cancellation of skills classes in the junior high and high school. I must be honest. I was quite taken back as I had no idea or recollection of this was even up for discussion. If you can take away anything from what I'm about to say in my statement of of residents, it would be accountability. I do not understand how something so beneficially beneficial can easily be taken away. Which then led me to think, why? I don't need to define what skills classes are or what they mean to the teachers, students, or the family members of these said students. I do
153not have to remind everyone how extremely beneficial and crucial it is to have a child who is struggling on a daily basis to be able to sit in those skills classes to gain the confidence of a subject, extra help with homework or classwork, with the most important part being continued time for a test to be completed. Which leads me again to the question again of the question is, why? Why would a program that is Excuse me, [clears throat] that is so desperately needed for the special education child that already struggles to be taken away? Is it money? Is it the students? Is it the educators or is it lack of space? If it is the teachers, their contracts, or money, fix it and find it. As a parent of a varsity student, miraculously, yes, they
154do do cuts, but you always find the money. If your message is academics is always first, you need to stand by what you say and put education first above everything. Is it the student not taking advantage of the skills classes they were assigned to too seriously? Kick them out. Sorry, I know that sounds harsh, but if they don't want to be there, take it away, which leaves space for the students that not only need to be there, but want to be there. It's called accountability for your actions. Which in this day and age often gets overlooked. As the Board of Ed, who often prides themselves on doing above the bare minimum the state requires for special education students, somehow they're always getting cut, but very rarely do I hear of additional services being added back
155for them. I implore you to do the right thing right now. I do not know if this decision has already been decided, but it's never too late to reverse it. I'm not sure if any of you who sit on this board have a child that has a 504 or an IEP and have personal experience of how beneficial these skills programs are needed. But this is what I do know. We need to listen to those who speak. We need to hold accountability to whoever is making these decisions. Whatever the reason is for these cuts of these classes, fix it before it's too late. Thank you for taking the time to listen to my statement of residents and have a good night. Thank you. Exactly 3 minutes. That's first. I practiced from Lucy. Thank you. >> [laughter]
156>> Okay, there you go. That's it. Okay. You guys want to talk about anything else? Good. Okay. Need a motion to adjourn. Frank, John, all those in favor? That's everyone. Okay. I'm going to assume they'll It's everyone. All right. All right, tomorrow, yeah. Good night, everyone. Thank you. >> you so much. Thank you.