BOE Meeting 3/10/26

001Mhm. >> Mhm. >> Good evening everyone. Okay, we need a motion to approve the minutes of the regular Board of Education meeting of 21026. Steve. Patty. All those in favor? It's everyone. Okay. Dr. Farley. >> Hey, hello. Good evening everyone. First of all, I'd like to start off by congratulating our junior high school students who participated in last week's production of Willy Wonka. I had the wonderful opportunity to see our students during their dress rehearsal on Wednesday and I know many of our board members and community members enjoyed their performances on Thursday and Friday evening. Well done to the junior high school um teachers that were all involved, all of our students that were involved. Um your hard work, your dedication, and your commitment to the production were obviously clearly evident in your performances. I

002would also like to take a moment to congratulate our senior high school students who participated uh in the culture night um the prior week, right? Um same thing, Mr. Reese and high school students um spent several months preparing for the special event um that of course um turned out to be an incredible evening celebrating many cultures represented um in our school district family. Truly a wonderful example. We had uh Mr. Amato up there dancing, too, >> [laughter] >> um with the crew. Uh and a wonderful example of student leadership, collaboration, and pride in our diverse community. Nicely done to everyone at the junior high school and senior high school who helped make these events so successful. And after uh Greece's report, we're going to jump right into our teams' presentations cuz we have several extensive

003presentations for our board tonight. >> Good evening, everybody. On February 27th, 2026, I got the pleasure of attending the Long Island Regional Student Forum hosted by BOCES alongside two of my peers, Sophia De Ciero and Owen Blair. Um at the forum, I got to speak with various students from different school districts across across Long Island um 9th to 12th grade. And we talked about four main topics. We talked about academic pressure, school environment, future and career planning, and mental health, and how our schools do with these topics individually. Um we came together as groups and discussed what our schools do well, what they don't do so well, and what we want to see more of. Um Overall, it was a very reflective experience that gave myself and others a chance to know the world outside

004of our own schools and hear ideas and suggestions from others. Some key points we discussed were the importance of every student finding an adult in in their school that they can trust and talk to, the weight that GPA should or shouldn't hold, the pros versus cons of the phone ban, the importance of advertising the resources that our schools offer, and the vitality of our mental health resources in our school buildings. Um overall, this is a really beneficial experience for me and my peers, and I think everybody that attended. And I really really think that it would be beneficial for West Babylon to continue sending students here each and every year because I personally, and I know my peers, got a lot out of it. >> Thank you. >> I'm so glad that the team went.

005What was the I mean, how many students do you think were there? Approximately? >> Oh. I heard it was >> Probably like 200, maybe more. It was a lot. It was a lot. And there were principals there, superintendents, like Yeah, it was really really really interesting. Yeah. >> Awesome. Good. I'm glad. >> Thank you for attending on our behalf. >> Okay. Very good. All right. So, we are going to jump right in. We have Ms. Yuderajpi, one of our fearless leaders, coming up to the mic right now, who will provide an update for our board on our you know, again, a mid-year review of our ENL department. Take it away. Just make sure your mic is on so everyone hears you at home. So, press the button. >> Now it's on. Now it's on. Good.

006Okay. So, tonight I'm going to talk about our ENL mid-year review. Should I use the mouse for this? Oh. Okay. So, right now, currently in the district, we have 316 ENL students. Our top language is Spanish by far. And then the second runner-up is Haitian Creole, but I'm going to go over that for later in the slides. Um K-5 Oh. >> [laughter] >> Um K-5 we have seven teachers. They're all dual certified, so we can provide um pull-out service. Um 6-12 we have six teachers and they're also all dual certified ELA and ENL, so they provide um the English class as well as the ENL. Um so it's great that all of our ENL teachers all are dual certified. Um Okay. Um here's our breakdown by grade. Um 7th grade, if you see, we only

007have 10 ENL students, which is a shock a shock for us Babylon. This is my 20th year here and that's a very low number for us. Um our 12th grade has 30 students. We're generally around 17, 18, 19 ENL students. Um if you go to the next slide, I broke it down by our Spanish numbers by grade. This number is important because um according to the state, once we hit 20 students of the same language, we're supposed to start to consider um bilingual. And then if we have that number for consecutive 2 3 years, then we have to. So West Babylon's in a unique situation where we hover around that 20. For at the start of the school year, third grade was at 19. Now we're at 22. So I can never definitely say that

008we're going to have more than 20. So every year the state kind of questions our numbers in a certain certain grades. You can see 10th grade has 21. 12th grade for the past 2 years we've been above 20, but then they graduate. And then we've been getting an influx of children that are like 18 19 years old when they start here in West Babylon. So that's why that number is high. But overall, we're not like a Brentwood where we can say we consistently have over 20 in each grade we need a bilingual program, but we are getting close in some grades. So I just wanted to >> Mhm. >> make everyone aware of that. Okay, next one. So, here um is our ENL students by language. And what I did here is I did the

009household language. So, we use a program at West Babylon called eSchool, which houses all our data, um assessments, attendance, household language, which is where I pulled this report. So, 617 of our students, district-wide, are is Spanish-speaking household. And that comes to 17.8% of the West Babylon population. So, that's a large percent you have a Spanish-speaking household. Um Our next one, there's 55 Haitian Creole students. So, if you compare them, 617 Spanish to our next language, it's there's a big difference. And then I was shocked to see Urdu cuz they're not in ENL really anywhere, Urdu students, but we still have the household that's speaking Urdu. And then Polish, and right behind Polish is Ukrainian and Turkish. They were like 31 and 30. Um here are some programs that we run. Um we do Rise and

010Read in all our elementary schools, which is a wonderful program. The parents come in about eight times a year. They have coffee and breakfast with their students before school in the school library, and we have bilingual books. And um it's really nice to see the parents in there, the librarians in there, the teachers in there, the principal pops in. It's just a nice comfortable way where the parents can ask questions and feel part of the school. Um in the summer, we run a K-5 2-week um elementary program. We go on a field trip, they have snacks, they learn with their friends, the kids love it, the teachers love it. It's it's fun. And it helps the students maintain their English. Cuz when they go home, they're speaking in their home language. So, it gives them

011a little piece of the summer where we're back in English. Um 6-12 during the summer, we run um small group tutoring and Regents prep as needed. This past summer, we had two students that did not graduate in June cuz they failed the Regents and they graduated in August because we um did prep with them over the summer. So, that's also very nice. What? >> Summer title? >> Title three. >> That Here we are. So, um we which One other slide I had, which I I don't know where it is, but um in the secondary we also run um parent academy once a year where the parents come in and they celebrate their students' learning. Um we talk about the town of Babylon came in last year talked about summer programs. We do a senior celebration

012at the high school where we celebrate our seniors, kids that have tested commanding out of ENL. So, there's some other programs, but in our title grant which we're not guaranteed to get this next year. Um we have not got word that we're going to get it next year and this is how we fund all of West Babylon's ENL programs. Um we have currently have around 37 38,000 dollars. Um 15,000 about dollars is slotted for our ENL summer program. Um 5,000 dollars it says purchase services. Those are things such as language line, which we um use to communicate with our ENL families. Um the Rise and Read program, the parent academy, the senior celebration. Um we use the Benchmark Express program, which is supplement to the Benchmark program that elementary schools use. We purchase all of

013this stuff through the Title III grant. So, if we don't have that money next year, it's going to be very sad. Um I also wanted to bring up um when we have a students that need to be tested for special at testing and it has to be bilingual, cuz if the student's native language is sp- say Spanish, it's a New York State law that they have to be tested bilingually. We don't have anybody in district that can do that testing, so we have to send it out to BOCES. Currently this year we've only had four students tested and it cost us five over $5,000. That's only four students. Last year, we had 14 students tested. So, you could see that number was much higher last year, and it potentially has uh can grow this year,

014depending on who we need to test. So, I would love for next for when we're hiring, um so, mental health, speech, if we could hire our own bilingual staff, in the long run, this would help us save money cuz if we had bilingual psychologist or bilingual speech therapist, we would be able to do our testing ourselves. And then, a lot of times when our students are tested bilingual bilingually, the therapy is recommended in Spanish, like Spanish speech therapy, and we can't provide that. They get They get therapy, but they get it in English. Um we've had uh just this past week, I had a parent reach out to me. They're having She's having trouble with her daughter. She ran away from home. She doesn't want to come to school. She's asking for the social worker's

015phone number, and we don't have a bilingual social worker. So, I have to um you know, recommend places outside of the school community. I say we have a social worker it's here, but they're not bilingual. So, the town of Babylon offers Spanish-speaking therapies, but I would love in the future if we could start to build our bilingual population cuz West Babylon's Spanish population is growing in the 20 years I've been here. Um another thing that I I've seen um presented through BOCES and other districts are utilizing, they hire someone through CSE as a bilingual like community liaison. So, this person would help with PTA meetings, board meetings, CSEs, and they have a direct line from the district. So, when a Spanish-speaking I would love Spanish for West Babylon. Spanish-speaking um family registers, they would get

016this person's dedicated phone number, and this person would work alongside myself and the principals and be able to answer questions about the school, about the community, about registration, about testing, and it's a cost-effective way for the district to have a bilingual um connection. And um that's all I have. One thing I didn't put in the slides, but maybe everyone wants to know, this is our last year of the NYSESLAT, which is our state exam. The state is switch- switching to a WIDA, which is more of a nation-wide um exam. So, that's going to be an interesting switch, but the state and BOCES is going to provide us with training. But, that's for the future. That's all I have for tonight. Anybody have any questions? >> Will the exams be similar? >> Uh the exams are

017similar. They're still four uh sections, so we get the children get tested in reading, writing, listening, and speaking. So, there's still the four exam you know, areas, but the way it's presented is the WIDA is all online, where right now the NYSESLAT is paper. So, that's going to be a switch for them, but a lot of our students are participating in the state assessments, which are online, so I'm hoping it's not too different. >> It And you showed the um um languages by grade, and it looked like the later grades had more of a higher population. I know you mentioned some 18-year-olds they transfer in. Is that historically what we see, kids transferring to the dis- children transferring to the district at a later age? >> thing is they get higher in those grades because

018the students say you would say he's 18, he's going to graduate. They could stay here till they're 21. So, they don't graduate. So, say a student comes in at 17 and they only have six credits. Or they come in and, you know, not all of their credits are transferring here, or they don't have the Regents to graduate, they need to be here for longer. So, that's why those numbers get higher in the secondary. >> So, they're moving here later? >> Yeah. >> Versus >> And they're staying longer. So, typically, if you came here and say say when you're seven, you go into first grade. >> Right. >> But, say you're coming at 16, you might go into 10th grade. >> Right. >> Or you come at 17, you might go into 10th grade cuz that's

019where you >> That's where your credits lie. >> Yeah. >> So, it gets heavier. >> Question on the federal grant. Um have we always gotten it every year? >> Every year. >> Okay, so there's no reason to think that we wouldn't get it even though it's not necessarily guaranteed. >> we weren't that title three was done for next year. But now I've been hearing rumors that they might be bringing It's federal money. >> Okay. >> It's not state money. It's federal money. So. >> You had referenced the like social workers and other uh employees bilingual. Is that ever a pre-requisite? >> We recommend it. When the postings go out, it's recommended. >> When we post for those? >> We don't make it a requirement, but we, you know, indicate that it is, you know, recommended

020or, you know, we'd like to, right? But we don't make it in terms of a requirement. We've also, even in terms of our office assistants, right? Like throughout the district, throughout the buildings, we've definitely been able to increase, you know, as people retire and new people come in, right? Individuals that have a second language, and that's definitely been helpful. So, but we haven't made it a, you know, not a requirement. >> with the social workers, I think we're back to a one-to-one proportion as far as building coverage, right? You was maybe that wasn't something we we required back then, but >> We haven't required it. We We have definitely looked for and included it in terms of as, you know, it just, you know, ultimately, of course, obviously, we land with the best candidate, right?

021But, you know, so it was part of the posting as we would like, right? The second language to be there, Spanish speaking, right? Or any other Spanish, you know, language. But ultimately, you know, if they didn't ultimately meet Yeah, it wasn't a requirement. It wasn't a >> It's just listed as bilingual. >> Yeah. >> So, so right So, right now we fill that barrier, we fill that gap by going outside. >> So, it depends on what the gap is, right? So, in terms of evaluations, outside, right? Because we don't have someone in terms of internally to do that required evaluation in terms of translating, let's say, for our families for some kind of basic information in terms of the building, we all have kind of different resources. Other people in the building that have the

022language. We also have these handy dandy devices that Mr. Right, the pocket talks right found for us and there we have them in different places for different employees to use to help translate, you know, and and communicate. Um So, it it depends it depends. Evaluations definitely go out. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Yeah. Yes. And if even with BOCES, right? Sometimes depending on the language, right? We will struggle, right? Not just us, all the school districts as well, um in finding someone that has, you know, a particular language, right? And and can obviously administer these assessments. >> Yeah, with the correct certifications, it's hard. >> Yeah. Like in in-house, we try and help the students, obviously, that are Spanish-speaking, but we're not certified social workers. So, we talk to them, we talk to the families, we

023provide them alternate resources, but we don't have certified in-house. >> And the the population of Spanish-speaking, I'm going to assume is increasing. >> Mhm. Yes. >> Year over year. >> Mhm. >> Okay. Do you see that with um any of the other lang- languages as well? >> So, for a while, and I I believe it had to do with the war in Ukraine, we got a large Ukrainian population, but that has >> That's leveled off. >> That has stopped growing. >> Okay. Okay. >> When I first started here, 20 years ago, the Turk- Turkish population was very high. That has kind of evened out, also. >> Okay. >> This year, the most we're seeing is in Spanish and Haitian. >> Okay. >> You're welcome. >> Thanks. >> Thank you, Mr. Dorasmy. All right. Um And

024we have um in the audience our next team. We're going to transition right into our student services presentation. I'd like to invite up Ms. Lavinsky. And I know in the audience we also have um Ms. Pasticlione and Ms. Levin who are in the audience. Your other team mates. Hi, Ms. Deal. I saw her somewhere. There she is. >> [laughter] >> Thank you for being here, ladies. >> You have it. >> I'm good. Yep. >> All right. >> You got all the extras, Amanda. >> Okay. Hit it. Good evening, everyone. All right. So, everyone should have a handout in front of them. Hold it up if you have it. This presentation will be a little interactive. >> here. Yes. >> [laughter] >> Okay. So, these are uh nine to 10 quotes about compliance. I want you

025to take just peruse and pick a quote that resonates with you. >> 10 seconds. When you're ready, give me your eyes. There's some fast ones here. >> [laughter] >> I had two eyes very quickly here and here. Which quote resonated with you? >> With me? >> Yeah. >> Um Good compliance systems prevent crisis. Thank you. >> Thank you. Why did it resonate with you? >> Um because I think good systems, good compliance, just avoids a lot of uh chaos at the end of the road. Yes. >> Yes. Okay. Who else wants to share? Right here. Right here. Yes. >> [laughter] >> The best organizations do not ask, "Do we have to?" They are already doing it. >> Yes. That was one of my favorites. And then we'll take one more. For you. >> Oh. Oh.

026Oh. >> Yep. >> Me? >> Yeah. >> Funny enough, it was the >> Same one. Yes. >> Yep. It was the best organizations do not ask, "Do we have to?" It's the same one. >> Yeah, right? So, I want you guys to think about the theme of compliance throughout this presentation. Compliance is the foundation of the student services department. Um all of the work that we do fit fits within the regulatory framework of part 200 and 201 and also IDEA, which is the federal guidelines that we use in order to support our students. Um we must be in compliance in order for our students to be successful and for our teachers to feel supported. All right. Next slide. All right. So, today we're going to talk about five things. Um the first piece is to

027give you an overview of the special education demographics here at West Babylon um since I've taken the helm. Um we are going to go into a deep dive into the program goals, some updates and changes that we've implemented this year. Uh next piece is the wins. what's working. And we have some proof around what's working. Then, the challenges for our department, and last but not least, the road ahead, what to expect. Um, so, next slide. So, this is our team. We're a team of 10. So, our team of 10 consists of two coordinators um that started with me this academic year. Um, that's Mary Postic Leone. She is a coordinator of out-of-district services. And then we have Cara Levin, who is the coordinator of uh CPSC, and she supports some of our elementary schools uh

028through the CSE process, K through 5. Um, at the building level, we have two chairpersons. We have Elizabeth Thiel, who's in the audience. She's the senior high school chairperson. So, she chairs and supports all of the CSE meetings uh 9 through 12. And then we have Ian Rogers, who supports the junior high school um always forget. Uh, 5 through 6 through 8. Uh, I'm so used to middle school starting at 3rd grade, but it starts at 6th year. And then we have our clerical staff. So, I want to give a big shout out to our clerical staff. Our clerical staff is the foundation of our team. They have uh been through the test of time. They've been through multiple directors, um but they have really kept the department up and running um as we've gone

029through transitions, and I'm really grateful and supportive of them. Next slide. So, our mission and vision, this is our new mission and vision statement for our department. Our mission ultimately in a few words is to provide equitable access, right? So, equity doesn't mean we all get the same things, we get what everyone needs. And in order for us to do that, we have to have a vision that includes providing clear development to our teachers and our staff, and also listening to our families so that things are transparent, and that our families trust us. And lastly, just making sure that our students get what they need in order for them to be college and career ready and just successful post uh high school when they leave West Babylon. Next. All right. So, when you think about

030our team, I want you to think about buckets. And I've been saying [laughter] this for a couple months now, but we have buckets that pretty much categorize the work that we do. And when you think about each bucket, you think about what works needs to happen, what needs to get done, and how it connects to one another. So, our overall bucket in terms of what we are legally compliant and responsible for as a school district is our CPSE program, which is for our students who are not year not here yet. They sometimes apply through our our center-based programs and daycare partnerships who are anywhere from 3 to 4 years old. And then we have our preschool students who have disabilities, and that's all a part of the CPSE process. The CSE process is our students

031who are K-12 who have a classified disability, and all of their program services and everything that is listed on that legal document that we must provide. We have our out-of-district students. We have about We have over 120 students that are placed in either private placements or BOCES placements. And those students are a large part of the work that we do in the student services department. And last but not least, we have our students who have 504 medical accommodation plans. We have a a large number of 504 students who require those services, and we have to make sure that we follow the regulations for that bucket and that group as well. Over to the right, we have our continuum of services. Here at West Babylon, we will provide if a student has an IEP parts of

032the continuum, but right now we currently offer our special class programs. We have two 8-1-2 classrooms, which is the most restrictive setting that we offer at Santapogue Elementary. Those that classroom is for students who are non-verbal, some are on the spectrum, and some are not. We have our 12-1-1 special class students. That is across a variety of grades at the elementary school and at at the high school. We also have 151 classes. Um, the next restrictive setting is the integrated co-taught classes that are taught by a certified special education teacher and a general education teacher across our K through 12. We have resource room and then we have students who just have related services only. We have a quite a number of students who just require one related service. And then last, we have our

033departments. So, that's the other bucket. These are the providers who do the related services and their work works in tandem with what we provide in the classroom. Without these required services, related services, some of our students won't make the progress that they need to make unless these services are provided. So, those are the buckets and the categories within each bucket. Big bucket, right? All right, so now we're going to ask >> I asked to ask if I could speak on this slide and she graciously agreed. >> [laughter] >> Go back to the the Pac-Man, yeah. So, here's here's the reason why I asked to speak. Just go one slide ahead. >> This one? This way? >> yeah. >> Forward, right here. >> So, this graph structure, right? The special education you're going to see population

034district represents around 20% of the students, similar you know, to what we're talking about the EL some of the EL populations, Spanish speaking. This is the budget. And for those of you that played Pac-Man, I'm going to date myself, right? If you look at this circle and you take out that green part, maybe some overlap there with the purple and the red with the aids, you get like a Pac-Man. That's the rest of the special education piece that you never see. That of course is part of our budget, but that is invisible. It's the added district, it's other services that are being provided privately out of district. Some of those materials and supplies and aids even go toward that. It's just when you put it like this, it's it's actually interesting to see that the

035visible face of special ed is a small small part of what really happens out of the district. And it's something you know Yendi, Shawn, Victoria, Jessica and myself, Mary and Tara are familiar with but for the community of course feels afforded. Putting it in perspective like this is important because some of these kids never even see West Babylon. And our goal and one of the things you know all of everyone has been wonderful supportive of is to try to get these kids back into West Babylon anyway shape or form we can. Not just for the district but for the kids. But I was struck by how much of the budget, you know, budget doesn't actually form function but it but it is a big part of our program. A huge part of special education we

036never see. So it's something to keep in mind as Jessica gives her presentation. A lot of the special education department I think she's talking about will never be physically seen in your in the district itself. >> Thank you, Scott. Um All right. So, pre-pandemic where were we? What's our classification? So there's a rumor going on. Got your attention. There's a rumor going on in Long Island that we have the highest classification rate on the entire island, Suffolk and Nassau County. Pre-pandemic we were at around 19%. So this is state this is straight from the SED website. This is where we were. We were already a high classification district. And if you want to see how we match up towards the other Western Southern BOCES schools and what their classification rates are, that's the next slide.

037>> [snorts] >> I'm so used to walking towards things but I got to stay by the mic. >> [laughter] >> So in the light red that's West Babylon. And then those are our surrounding districts in the Western Suffolk BOCES. We even before pre-pandemic we were still the largest we had the largest classification rate prior to the pandemic. All right. So, where are we now? We are 7 years almost 7 years past the pandemic. Um we are uh 2026. We are currently at a 26% classification rate. That is a quarter of our students are classified. And if you look on the right-hand side, you can see that classification rate broken down by category. So, those categories are CPSE. We have our which includes our three, four, five-year-olds who are preschools with a disability. We have our

038uh K through five piece. And then the largest number of students who are classified in the section is our 6th through 12th. So, our junior high school and our senior high school have the highest number of classified students there. But I do want to give a uh a shout-out to the high school. They've done a really nice job this year um declassifying students and making sure that students who have met their goals are declassified. So, they're not spending um the entire high school experience receiving these services. So, nice job, Liz and the high school team. So, this is where we are in terms of our 26 classification. And if you want to see it broken down even further, next slide. So, this breaks it down by service model. And it's a comparison of the previous

039school year and our current school year. So, the current school year projections are currently what we're living in up until the month of uh March. So, this is February data. That's our most recent data. So, in the blue, we have our That's from 2025 2026. And then in the red, we have our 2024 2025. Go back to the chart. Go back. So, I'll take a second to pause on this. Mr. Hanley, what do you see? What what sticks out to you in this chart? Like, what's something that you're like, "I wonder. I wonder what's going on with X." >> I apologize, by the way. I wouldn't pick that myself. >> [laughter] >> What's different? Yeah, pay attention. >> [laughter] >> Go ahead. Someone you want Someone wants to tag him in? Come on, someone be

040his lifeline. >> You want me? >> Yeah, totally. >> In this chart, what do I see? >> Totally sharp. >> I see some positive uh colors, blue. >> [laughter] >> So, it's I notice there is a uh some decreases in certain classifications. For example, ICT students 6 through 12. >> Mhm. >> Uh however, I do see some increases in an ICT setting, students K through 5. >> Mhm. >> Um but overall, I see slightly more decreases >> Yes. >> overall, and I think I passed the test. >> Yes, you did. >> [laughter] >> So, we're trending downwards, right? So, some of our students that have been receiving services for years were on the pathway to declassifying them, but we have to be clear with what those goals are, what those services are, progress monitoring, and

041we're going to get into that in this presentation. Next slide. So, we have three goals over the next couple years. The first goal is to provide excellent compliance systems. Compliance, we have to get it right. It's not a maybe, it's not, "We'll think about it." Compliance, as is written in the regulations, we have to make sure that we have systems that are set up in our department in order for our district to remain in compliance. That's our ultimate first goal. That's the goal we've been working on this entire year. Once we have our compliance systems established and they're up and running, um and they support our parents, our teachers, and our students, then we have to improve our instructional models um within the continuum. So, we have to make sure that in the integrated classroom,

042our students are being successful and teachers are trained and know what to do in that setting, the same for resource room, and the same for special class. And our last goal is around trust and transparency with our families. Um with the transition many different directors, um we've kind of lost some of our parent partnerships and we're working very hard with SEPTA and every parent that contacts our office to rebuild that trust in order for our parents to respect and believe in the work that we say we're going to do here at West Babylon. So, those are our three priorities and strategic goals um for the student services department. So, what's changed? What's different? Jessica's here, so what's different? The first piece >> Buckets. >> [laughter] >> You won't forget buckets. Okay, so the first thing

043that we're doing is to centralize systems. Every school was doing things differently. Every elementary school, the high school was doing things one way, the middle school was doing things another way, the four elementary schools were running compliance a different way, they had different understandings of the regulations by school. So, we're working really hard to centralize our guidelines, our protocols, so that they're aligned with what the law states, and then also that everyone's following we're all going in the same direction in order for us to get to the finish line, which is excellent compliance systems. So, this is an example of something called a Padlet. If you have this uh presentation electronically, you can check it out later. So, this um in addition to our Google Drive, we centralize all of our resources. We have a

044guideline for every regulation, everything that comes up. We establish clear guidelines, and then we train the folks who are responsible for facilitating those guidelines. So, we have um training for our school psychologists. They primarily facilitate the CSE meetings. They are the legal arm um when you have a CSE meeting, and they need to know what the regulations are, and they need to know what to do when certain scenarios come up. And that's the training that we provide to them monthly during our monthly school psychologist meeting. But, the centralization of resources, knowing where to find what is the um regulation around test read accommodations. Everyone should be able to know what the guidelines are and find them, and then be able to communicate them to families. So, that's the first step. We have to centralize our

045processes and protocols. Next slide. The next piece is clear roles and responsibilities. Who's doing what? When are they doing it? How does it work for initials, reevals, annuals? What is your role, and then what are you responsible for doing? So, we want to make sure that's clear, crystal clear, and that's done through this grid. So, that's also another hyperlink you can check out, and this has been shared with the department, our teachers, in order for everyone to understand what ultimately they're responsible for. So, if anything happens compliance-wise, we know who to trace it back to so that we can hold folks accountable. And also support them if they don't understand. Next piece is collaborative processes. So, this one is really close to my heart because it allows us to collaborate with other departments. So, this

046is a case management tracker. It's one of the first things I created when I got here, and it's just an opportunity for us to track the processes of a student who is referred for services. We're responsible for having a 10-day meeting from the minute a parent submits an initial referral. We have that meeting, we determine if we're going to move forward with the evaluations. We need to communicate to the MTSS team that we have a student who is having difficulty. what are we doing at the building level to support those folks? But the MTSS team won't know who that student is if they're not looking at that tracker and they're not seeing, okay, we have a student who needs support. Then, we have to move into the evaluation. Those are our related service providers. They

047have to know that they have to test this student in addition to providing direct service, in addition to attending CSE meetings. So, you want to have a flow or a tracker. They have something like this in the business world called Trello, and you kind of like stand what's coming up, what's next in order for your team to effectively collaborate. And that's what the case management tracker does. It allows everyone to see the workflow of a student who is initially referred, evaluation, and what is the outcome. And then the outcome determines the type of service that we're going to provide. So, the case management tracker is something else that's new, that has changed. >> [snorts] >> Leadership updates. So, the team of 10. So, we have a distributive leadership model, and in that model, everyone has

048a role. So, in CPSE, Cara Levin, she works with Suffolk County to provide CPSE services. She works with daycares, uh center-based agencies, families who may have students that are at home and who they suspect that their child has a disability. That's the crux of her work, is to be that point person for our students who are identified as having a disability, but not school age yet. So, she manages all of the CPSE processes and all of those stakeholders who are part of the CPSE process. Right under Cara, we have Mary Postel Leon. So, Mary's role is to work with all of the out-of-district um folks. So, those are all of the different BOCES programs. I didn't know there were so many BOCES programs. We have Brennan, James E. Allen, Chestnut Hill. I was like, "Oh."

049Mary's on the phone all day working with those families because they deserve the same amount of support as the students who are here. So, Mary has to continue to collaborate with those families, both these programs, and then we have students in privately placed programs. And those privately placed programs also have their own protocols and structures that she has to work within in order to meet compliance mandates. So, Mary's primarily responsible for those out of district students. Um and then we have our CSE piece. Our CSE is our everyday. Those are the meetings, related services, making sure that our students get what they need that's listed on their IEP. Um and that's primarily done through the work of our two chairpersons at the secondary level. We don't have someone at the elementary level to support that

050process. So, Cara and I we kind of split it in half. Um but uh at the middle school and the high school level, that's done by our two chairpersons. So, they teach and they manage the compliance process. And they've been a huge help. Um I don't know how we can manage the two schools that have the highest number of classified students without the support of the chairpersons. So, I really thank and appreciate them. Right under them, wait, my vision's going. Uh so, how do we all collaborate? We have a weekly meeting. We meet every Tuesday. So, we connect our coordinators with our chairpersons and we talk about what the initiatives, what state reporting is due, what needs to happen at each school, and we kind of strategize. We've broken those meetings into 7 through 12,

051where I meet with just the chairpersons, and then the coordinators have their own check-ins each week. So, there has to be a touch point in order for us to make sure that things are moving smoothly across the continuum and within our department. And last but not least, we just also have a weekly leadership meeting in order for us to know what's happening. If we all don't communicate, we're not not to get things done. Okay, next slide. How do we support the departments and the teachers? So, the monthly meetings, they happen on Fridays with each department. So, the first Friday of each month is a behavior specialist who are working on crisis support and day-to-day just functional behavior assessments and things that our kids need in order for them to feel supported in the classroom. Our

052social workers, we're currently working on building on a SEL program and the attendance process. Our speech department, we're working on a building level speech MTSS process. We are trying to refine that process but use it through the vehicle of MTSS so that all stakeholders have a say in terms of students who need that service. And last but not least, we have a monthly school psychologist meeting. So, that meeting is where we work on creating these legally defensible IEPs and we train them on the different parts of the regulations so that they are equipped to support our families and our students in our schools. So, um the proof is in the pudding, right? I'm a numbers person. I like trackers. I like processes. I like protocols. We are projecting these services to decrease. So, what is

053working are these projections. In speech, we are projecting a reduction in the number of students that are classified with this servant service through them graduating from the service. Not for much just removing services arbitrarily, but these services, these students have met these goals and now [laughter] they no [clears throat] longer need the service. So, these are projections that show you where we are by grade for last year versus the current projections for the 2026-2027 school year. Next, paraprofessionals. We did something really strategic with our aides. Students who require behavioral support, we went through the FBA bit process. So, if aid is working with a student who has behavior challenges, they need a plan in order to support that student. So, if you have a aid for behavior, you need a bit. So, we went through

054the FBA bit process and that was opportunity to really look at what aids were needed medically and what aids were needed through behavior and that's how we were able to project downwards for power professionals. Resource room, the same thing. We have downward projected students in this part of the continuum. Next slide. And last but not least, we also have a downward uh projection for students in a special class. I did not put ICT on here cuz we have we're going up in integrated co-teaching. So, that's those are some of our wins. Now, our challenges. So, our first challenge is just human capital and capacity. We're a team of 10 and we definitely need support. We have over 800 students who are classified in our schools and we need just more arms and legs to get

055to some of these things. Sometimes if I'm I'm I'm in a legal meeting, I may be in that meeting for 3 to 4 hours and that's 3 to 4 hours that I can't use to support the schools directly. So, definitely just more human capital and capacity. The next piece is just a literacy gap. A lot of the referrals that we're receiving are students who are not reading on grade level. So, the students have they're behind grade level and parents are looking for answers. They're looking for ways in order to have our student progress and they think special education is a vehicle to go through, but we also have MTSS. So, we're working very collaboratively with that group in order to show parents we have tiered building level support that can help your student get back

056on track and they don't have to go through the special education process to get that help. Next, um, continuing gaps. We have certain parts of the continuum that we need to offer, um, in our district, specifically APE, which is adaptive physical education. We have a number of students who have physical disabilities who can't participate in PE as other students, and we need to make sure that program is known that we provide it here. I was in a meeting with an advocate last week, and they were like, "Your district doesn't have APE?" And they're kind of like scolding us, and I'm like, "No, we're working on making sure that this program is known and we have it here at the district. Um, the next piece is just we need time in order for us to build

057out our continuum, resource room, ICT, and special class for what teachers to know for teachers to know what they're doing and what curriculum to use and how to use it. We have to build out the instructional framework of that, and we need time to do that. But, we can't do that if we're spending a lot of time in like legal meetings. Um, and then the last piece is just mounting legal challenges. So, I know the board is aware of the lawsuits that have come about for things that have happened 2 years ago, 3 years ago. Um, we have legal challenges that have come up, and it's because of compliance. Um, if we don't get our compliance in order, these legal challenges will continue. So, we have to focus and prioritize part- prioritize compliance. Next slide.

058So, if you're wondering what we're going to do in order to stop some of these legal challenges, these are the areas of compliance that we're going to focus on. The case management process, so the identification, referral, evaluation, and placement of students. We want to make sure that that process is flawless, and that parents are aware of what needs to happen, and that our teams are following what the regulations say. The next piece is just uh goals. So, you can't monitor and graduate a student from services if they're they haven't met their goals. But, we have to write goals that are grade level appropriate and that meet the needs of our students. So, we have a smart goal bank and we're working on refining it. The next piece is progress monitoring. This was an area we

059were dinged on. We need to track and monitor how our students are progressing through assessments, through whatever tool or measurement that is listed in the goal. We have to make sure that we have those documents ready. If someone's filing a claim from three or four years ago, those records may have been completed. The teachers may have done it, but we have to make sure that we have systems that collect things electronically, so we're not relying on paper and human memory. Next piece is just a data recording. In order for you to progress monitor, you need to collect data. And that is something that we're working on. I know the WPPTA is working on supporting their teachers with progress monitoring. We're working on that as well. And lastly, just making sure that everyone has professional development

060on legally defensible IEPs. We had a session from our law firm during superintendent conference day for our school psychologists and chairpersons around how to have legally defensible IEPs because it is a weakness for us and we want to make sure that the documents that we're producing can stand up in court if they're ever questioned. Lastly, where are we headed? Requests and needs. My ultimate request is just K-5 CSE support. Right now, our elementary school compliance is split between Cara and I, but if I'm in a different meeting or I'm here, who's keeping an eye on those two elementary schools? So, we definitely need additional support K-5. We need to continue to work on the instructional framework and guidelines for the continuum. Thirdly, we need an intentional focus on progress monitoring. This is a reoccurring theme

061in some of our parent could do process complaints. It's just the goals and then how are we monitoring student progress towards those goals. So we want to make sure we have clear systems for that. Um we want to have a summer literacy uh partnership with Literacy Nassau. We have the quote. Um we want to train some of our teachers so that we're not spending um a quarter of a million dollars to a quarter of a million dollars to an independent provider to provide reading services. We can train our own teachers to provide these Orton-Gillingham services. So that's something we're really working towards having. And then lastly, just improve parent partnerships. I think the trust will will be rebuilt when our systems are where they need to be. So that is it. Thank you guys. Hope

062you enjoyed. Questions? >> Got some questions. >> I I hope you understand. >> Yeah, no. I see you wrote a little little book there, so. >> My first question before we go into too much is can we go to some of the graphs cuz I just couldn't read the >> please. >> The speech would be great first. What is the Y axis? That's supposed to be the percentage or pupil Yeah. I feel like speech was the easiest. Could you go back one, ma'am? I'm sorry. I think it's one or two to speech. Perfect. Yeah. Sorry. No, the other way. I'm so sorry. There we go. Yeah. >> All right. So why down here? These are the different grade levels. >> Sure, yeah. >> All right. And then up here is the number of students who

063are projected to receive the service. >> Okay. >> So in the yellow, that's what we project is going to connect the downward spiral which is who are getting the service. And then the current year of who's receiving what by grade. >> So for realistically for speech, we're increasing in the lower grades but potentially decreasing in the upper grades. Okay. Sure. Mhm. Okay, which might be part of the process, right? We're getting intervention quicker. Okay. I was just I wasn't sure if I was reading it right in terms of the count. Yeah. Um okay. For the adaptive PE, the state reg we don't need an adaptive PE instructor. We just need to make the modifications within the Okay, physical education setting. Sure. Perfect. Could you elaborate on the smart goal bank? Just to under- I couldn't

064like totally wrap my head around. Is that just like a collaborative shared kind of document or >> Yeah. So, what we did was we looked at the science of reading and like the key strands in the science of reading and then we looked at each grade level category in terms of what students need to do by the end of each grade level for ELA and mathematics and then we created up to three smart goals for each section. So, that if I am a third grade teacher and I'm looking for a reading goal on context clues, I know where to go. I don't have to make it up on my own. The ultimate goal of the smart goal bank is that it has vertical alignment. So, through each grade, you know what skills and concepts you

065need to learn and then what's where you should be. >> Cuz oftentimes it's is this appropriate for second grader they're ready grade level or whatever it may be. Okay. Um the literacy NASA is that similar to like Wilson programs all of that kind of thing? >> So, literacy NASA is a non-profit organization that we currently contract with to provide reading services to um a large number of our students. We pay them to provide these services, but they have a training component and they've partners partnered with other districts to train their teachers so the teachers can provide the service themselves. >> So, it wouldn't align with our benchmark curriculum necessarily, but children that have a classification that impairs them differently with their reading. >> Correct. So, if they have a recommendation on their IP for specialized

066reading instruction, they we could have one of our teachers provide it. >> Okay, I understood. It wouldn't because it's catered specifically to their goals. Possibly through that MTSS model in the gate of five or different. Okay, perfect. Okay. As Chris pointed out I have a long list but you go cuz I have to make sure I cross out the things out. >> [laughter] >> Um well first I just want to thank you and your team for attending SEPTA and PTA meetings. I think that the consistency in which you guys have been doing that is appreciated by the parents. Uh me being one of them so thank you to you and your team for doing that. Um you had mentioned um getting each building on the same systems. >> Yes. >> Is that going to eliminate

067or reduce the number of lapses in students that transition to a new building where the services are maybe not consistent where student received last year, the new school building didn't know they were supposed to receive. >> Correct. >> It will eliminate cuz that's kind of something you get every year. I get a couple of two or three times I hear and that's only on you know, just me being on social media. >> You you hit the nail on the head, right? Because we don't offer each um program placement at every school because we don't have enough students for that particular section, we have to have a system where everyone's doing the same thing at the same time, right? So things have to be centralized so if a student mid-year has a recommendation that moves them

068from Santa Paula to Tucker, he shouldn't have a different educational experience. The compliance process should be the same and parents should have the same experience in CSE meetings. >> So the file essentially that gets handed off is seamless. >> That's what we're working towards. That's what we're working towards. >> Okay. Another question you Okay. Okay. Um not literal language, you mean. >> [laughter] >> Terminologies. The You You had shown the the the West Babylon percentage of kids that are classified. >> Correct. >> Why do we have that number that stands out? >> There's so many different reasons. Um I think one it could I think different directors had different ways to classify students. I don't think there was always someone at home looking through numbers, looking at trends, um supporting folks and providing them with

069guidance around like what's allowable, what's not, um what can we do differently? And I think another one of the biggest pieces is the MTSS process. Um when we brought up the MTSS process at a recent CPSE um turning five training, families were like, "We've never heard of this and we did not know West Babylon offered this." So we're providing tiered level interventions that where you don't necessarily need to be classified to get an intervention. >> You You shouldn't need an IEP to get math intervention services or get additional support for reading. It's provided by the school district in the building level. And I think some of our parents think uh special education is the only vehicle to do that. Um if you have a disability, yes, we're going to provide the service, but if you

070don't If you don't and you get you're found ineligible, we should still provide you with intervention and that's what's happening now. >> Sure. No, understandable. >> I think it's important to answer the data. Without the Without the data in the past, maybe the data wasn't as sound or great. When we're using data the way the MTSS teams are and then the special education department is, it becomes that common language, which becomes irrefutable if the student needs it or not. And at least it's easily defendable. Um so if you didn't have the data, kids might have been recommended and it was, "Why should they be here?" Well, they need support. That isn't data, but that may have worked in the past or not not work, but it may have been a real reason and and there's

071strong feelings for that. But when you start to rely on the data, we're going to talk a a about that um in the future, it becomes kind of a clear piece. Do you need it or not? And what can we do if you don't need it to support you with the MTSS process? >> So, how how do when you talk about the numbers in the trend, how do you how do you how are you predicting a decrease in services needed? >> Yeah, so we have the projections and all of our providers, they started in December. They make projections based on how students are progressing towards their goals and these projections are about 90% right and then what we do is we cross-reference it with the actual CSE outcome, right? Cuz we still have a number

072of months ago of school. Um, a student may meet their goal by then and we may make a change, but we have a process to track what that looks like. But right now, this is what the providers are projecting who provide the direct service. >> The other piece is you started in terms of the annual review process, the team established a a schedule that starts earlier, right? As opposed to later on in the semester and all of them happening simultaneously, right? So, a tiered approach in terms of by level. So, some of those in terms of projections, those CSE meetings have already happened and are in the IEPs and then others are tentative, right? In accordance with you know, what was projected, but obviously again will be confirmed in the next 2 months or so.

073>> Yeah, thank you, Dr. Bell. I forgot to put that in the list. >> Last Last thing, kind of a just a general question cuz you put some of us on the spot, but [laughter] your mission statement seems very targeted. >> Yeah. >> What was your thought process behind drafting that? >> Um, just justice. Like, justice, equity, making sure that our kids have the same access as everyone else. Um, it's a civil right to read and it should be a right for them to receive their services here at West Babylon. >> Sounds good. >> Just two more. >> Yes. >> What percentage of the kids would you And then you write it off. >> Yeah. >> Were we years ago possibly classifying kids that didn't need to be classified to appease parents? Is that cuz

074that's what I kind of like >> I can't I can't speak on what what happened. Yeah. I can't speak on what happened. Yeah. >> Is part of that also what you said with our response to intervention at the time or MTSS that we didn't have those systems totally in place to give students what they needed and the gap got bigger because we didn't have those. So then a child that wouldn't need to be classified in second grade was in fourth because they didn't get any intervention for their reading, writing, whatever it may be. Well, and then the Correct. And the other side, right, is students that maybe were ready to be declassified, right, and receive some declassification support services cuz there's also that, right, generally in terms of, right, there are supports that happen after

075a student is declassified that maybe, right, um that piece of it wasn't necessarily happening, right, as a safety net, right, as well. >> Um nice to see you again, Jessica. Um nice nice presentation tonight. Um as far as your projections that you have on there, um I imagine we're also taking into consideration the future from students that are coming in from CPSE. They're going to be making that transition >> They're projected as well. So we had Cara um looked through the CPSE um for kindergarten. So, she made those projections for 26-27 for K, but we still have a number of kids who are in UPK and we're trying to figure out what that's going to look like next year. So, we are our K projections are there as well. >> Got it. And [snorts] for

076some of those that might be transitioning out of CPSE to the CSE program, um, you mentioned that not and you mentioned it before that not every student that's in the services are actually located within the district. They're at other locations. So, is it feasible to say that there are, you know, special, you know, special education students that are being taught, you know, in other schools outside of our district? And that's why I'm asking that. >> Yes. >> Um, is the problem that we don't have enough certified staff in the district or is it just >> No, it's the enrollment. Sometimes we have a maybe we have a section with just two students, right? We don't We don't have the amount of students for each part of the continuum. >> Okay. >> Um, but no, we

077have the staff. >> So, when you're going when you're >> [snorts] >> and I'm kind of kind of go back to what some of your requests were, uh, in terms of staffing, right? You want you're looking to get some more, you know, hands in the pot, if you will. Um, it's >> just just one? >> Just one. >> Okay. Um, >> No, not one hand, one person. >> One person, two hands. Yeah, well, you know. Um, thanks for that clarification. So, um, that kind of makes my question kind of moot. So, um, I thought you wanted that you were looking for some more support and from the special education side of it, but you're looking more on the administrative side. >> Correct. >> Got it. Okay. I appreciate it. Thank you. >> No worries. >>

078Just to piggyback off of what Frank said, that's due to Cara having to work so much with the CPSE. Good morning. Okay. >> So, like this week she has 19 meetings. Um, so I'm tagged into some of the elementary meetings in addition to like other things that's happening. >> psychs at times will chair those meetings. >> Correct. So, they chair all of the annual meetings, but if it's a initial, we definitely want to be a part of the process. So, when know it's a parent a request sometimes that we have to be there. >> The other piece actually that ties to this exact topic, right? And and and compliance and consistency, um you know, an an area that you have when you have too many people um in different places, right? Yes, obviously you're providing

079in terms of the professional development and the guidance in terms of the chairperson and and the um you know, who how does a child meet this criteria or not? When you have many people, then you open yourself up for more interpretations. It breaks the continuum. Right. Right, exactly, right. So, that's another piece, right? That we are, you know, um you know, navigating through, right? You know, in terms of um the CSE meetings. >> I have two little silly questions, Jessica. Please don't answer them at once. Just actually, it's really your question. I'm going to go to you. I'm going to go back to the pie graph with the BOCES just for clarity. Does that also include any services that are cuz you said you don't always see it, but that includes services here with testing,

080any of those things as well? Um bulk of it is not. Okay. Only out of district. It's not if we get like a vision consults or something like that. Related services. Understood. Okay, got it. And then back to what Chris said about the conversation of like between the buildings, is that because of 408 meetings breaking down in some capacity or is that like having a meeting prior that we all are aware of what the IEP is and all of that, is that not happening? >> No, those happen. We have We have a strong IST process. Yeah. >> The actual paperwork kind of thing. Got it. Okay. Thank you. I'm sorry. >> No, you're fine. I love questions. Thank you guys so much. Have a great day. >> and thank you to the whole team that's

081here. And student services. Well done. Good point. We definitely should have had water for her. Absolutely. All right. Mr. Payne will continue our presentations for tonight. >> So if I learned one thing Dr. Fairley, I'm going to start all my presentations with asking Mr. Hanley something. Is that okay or >> Go for it. >> [laughter] >> 27 * 422 Sean quick. All right, here we go. So So my presentation will be quicker, but you'll see a lot of overlap with what I'm saying with a lot of what Jessica said and with some of the other presenters have come up with. Um basically, I don't have a budget, right? The budget for curriculum is spread out all over the place. Uh your 21 10s, your 26 uh 26 30s. Um I'm going to give you a

082list of things that some of the other chair chairs that have come up here and some of the ones that haven't been up here will, but kind of an overview of a lot of things that affects curriculum instruction here in the district. Um you'll see the areas up there. They're self-explanatory and a lot of the things that were mentioned um are overlaps like I said with what has been asked for before. Um we'll go through it. Um but basically, the sale program is a new program. The buildings are requesting uh money, which which is a good thing, right? This year was a building year. It was a a unique phenomenal opportunity to provide this program to the elementary schools. They are building as we speak and they need some uh resources, which we've mentioned in

083the past, each building. Um registration for competitions, great great opportunities. A lot of them are online, which is nice, so we don't have to leave the building, but we can still compete. Materials for classroom projects, some of the more elaborate projects, uh robots, LEGOs, things like that. Uh they're they're expensive. Um long-term classroom equipment and website subscriptions. So, this first request, right on behalf of the uh on the sale program, is for these this new program and some sort of budget which would go under my code for supplies and registrations for them. Notice um there's more than you know, when we say five plus sections um in each building, we are starting to see a trend. Um, JFK right now where there are some grades with two sections of sale. We originally only planned on

084one. That's a good thing, but it's also more kids in the program. >> [sighs] >> Uh, this is a big one Jessica said. I'm you know, this is approximately 35,000 to 40,000 dollars, but the ability for us to record progress monitoring data over years and consistently in the same format is going to be a a game-changer for us. You know, we've seen some recent cases where we may um we might not have been able from two years back to prove some of the progress monitoring um to prove that special education students were were not meeting their goals. This system that we look we're looking at and it's finalized down to um LinkIt, which is a good system, would be district-wide. Uh, it would be used by special education teachers and hopefully MTSS teachers as well

085because it's a similar process. And it would store the information forever in the district so that if we needed to go back two, three, four years, we can get it. But also more importantly, teachers can get it like we were talking about handing off that folder, Mr. Palillo. Now the folder is digitalized. Uh, it'll also provide some recommendations for testing and services. Not services per se, but formative and summative assessments that teachers can run which will be recorded right in the system. That's a new one. You heard uh Kristie D'Erasmo mention this before. The title grants, title one is I'm going to say guaranteed, right? I'm not going to say guaranteed, but it's pretty much guaranteed. The others, title two, title three, title four, you can see the amounts. Uh, 68 uh thousand, 61 um

086the part three uh three A um 23,000. If we lose these, this is just a cautionary tale, some of it has to come out of the general fund. There's no other way. Um, you're going to see me talk a little bit in a moment about professional development and the need for it. But that professional development cost is is compounded if we lose the title money for that. That's the federal money that Chrissy Torrespi talked about in title three before. Instructional software is a big one. Um, these are some of the programs we use and essentially, um, what we're looking at is there are each year we prioritize K-12 from a district which educational software we can afford. We have a budget around 50 some thousand dollars. I know Ms. Galante is is working with Leonard

087Wright on some ways to get more money. Um, but there is a time where I have to refuse educational instructional software because I'm kind of balancing out how much money we have versus K-12 what our needs are. These are some of the programs we use. Some of these we don't use every year because one takes uh takes off from another. But Raz-Kids and Quaver Music are the ones that we probably use the most. Um, I'm going to say what everyone says to you, those costs are going up as well, but the budget generally doesn't. So each time the costs go up and we use Raz-Kids and Quaver Music, some of those other things come off the list. How's this depressing yet or going to The music and tech plan you'll hear, um, uh, from Mr.

088Heaton and Mr. Duran uh in an upcoming meeting. Um, Dr. Fairley, the board of course, uh, we've re-implemented this uh equipment plan. Um, these are the costs associated with them getting some of that equipment replenishment uh as we had talked about in past years. And here's the big one, right? Professional development. So the title grant takes care of the ones in green already. So the the green ones are already covered on the title grant. If the title grants disappear, those disappear. Um, the yellow ones are new state mandates. I say mandates because some of them right now are in question. I'll go over them. Um, but if they're implemented, and some of them already have been implemented, we have to provide professional development and and other than the title grant, which is already spoken for,

089we don't have a vehicle to do that. Uh, the science of reading, many of you have heard about. There's a tremendous amount of professional development that goes along with that. It's a It's a new program. It's a phenomenal idea and and concept, but the teachers have to receive some professional development. The new science standards, I know all of you have heard about. Um, it's definitely a a great idea. Uh, it's teaching kids at a higher level and holding more accountable, but the instruction practices have to change, otherwise you can't get to those standards. Uh, climate awareness, financial literacy, I don't know if you've heard of this. These are two new components that the state uh, education department is close to. They're vacillating a little bit, um, but putting in as mandatory components of the K-12

090curriculum. Not the high school curriculum, which you may have heard, but the K-12 curriculum. Those are going to be significant costs that are just going to be state requirements. The what The pieces in white there, the progress monitoring for um, MTSS, RTI, and special ed, you've heard Jessica talk about. Um, those are necessary pieces that we're going to have to try to to get our teachers up to speed with. They do need support with that, as Jessica said. Atlas work is our curriculum guide. SAIL, we talked about the new program. And portion of a graduate, which I think you're going to hear later on in the year. That's a whole big piece, too, that's going to be coming down that we have to help and educate our teachers and our administrators on. Okay? I told

091you to quick. Just I just asked for a lot, but I did it quickly. >> Just one Just one question on the um, on the LinkIt software that you mentioned. That 35,000, is that one Is that a one-time or is that annual? >> Annual. Um, to be fair, I I think it can go down to 30-something, but some of that 35 has some built-in PD initial PD costs that probably will go down over time. >> Okay. Thank you. >> A A question as as well. Um, that was the first question. Is it's every It's reoccurring every year? You had referenced uh, Ms. Levinsky's presentation about kids transitioning to a built new building and that software helping. >> Yes, the link it. >> But that's not Is that part of the plan she >> That's part

092of her plan, yes. She She was instrumental and Dr. Wright as well at bringing that to us. We We looked at two programs. That's one of the ones that we talked to Dr. Fairly about and we're finalizing it on. >> Okay. Then you had a list of software and my question is isn't there software that does several of those things? I mean, it seems like you know, it's 35,000, 20,000 probably, 40, you know, they're probably all these different recurring charges for different software. Is everyone targeted for a very specific thing? There's no >> Yes. The And And the first two you saw there, Raz-Kids um and the Quaver music are probably the most expensive. They're around 20,000 and 15,000. Those are very specific. Quaver's for music. Um it it It's a It's a curriculum piece

093where you can get sheet music put on the board, you can play it. Um they can use other aspects with it. Um the Raz-Kids is a reading program that's a supplemental piece that we use in all the elementary schools. It's It's actually a good deal when you consider the number of kids that use it. The other ones are relatively inexpensive, but they're partic- they're targeted to a particular thing. So, some of them that you saw up there if we want to go back are like designing um particular science assessment questions that are geared toward either AP or Regents based questions on the secondary level. Um so, they're they're only about 4 5,000. I say only, but those add up pretty quickly. >> Now, I I know you you you uh you guys had had done

094a lot of research on the SEL program. I think you compared to other areas. >> Right. >> So, the budget's going to 20,000, which is great. It's a a program I think everybody was for the most part hap- happy to to see added. Um my concern always becomes as we add something and then as time goes on, we cannot support it and it becomes this diminished thing and the only benefit is that we can say we have it. Is $20,000 what you're seeing other districts spend or are we actually looking at a program for it to be >> You have quality instead of quantity of things offered. >> light. So, a robotics kit. One robotics kit for one grade probably runs about $11,000. We're not going to get that. Over time, we'd like to slowly

095build them up, so we're going to push them into the each of the curricula slowly. So, right now, every single building doesn't have a robotics problem. As we get this, we might slowly buy, um, you know, part of a kit or parts of the kit and build them slowly into the curriculum. The the the the true cost on some of these things would probably be a hundred some thousand. >> Right. I just I I my concern is like when I, you know, it's such a nice addition, I hate to just see it get not become a quality. >> Right. >> You know, not become a program that is >> I I think the key piece is not just the equipment and the budget that we spend, but the support of and and the of the

096teachers and the curriculum that we're using, um, which would lend the longevity to the program. >> Okay. >> You know, and I and I do want to say, as a function of what you seen tonight with the special education and the MTSS as a district-wide piece, part of that is the SAIL component because if students don't need, um, during that elementary period, some of the services for MTSS RTI, um, they class if they get pushed into the SAIL program, which is a good thing, but the criteria for that now is district-wide. It's not buildings making decisions of who goes into SAIL. It's based on quantitative data based on I-Ready, classroom assessments, some teacher anecdotal pieces, New York State assessments. So, there's no question as to why or how kids get into SAIL. So, as kids

097increase there, it's not going to be an artificial increase, which might dilute the program. It's going to be an actual process, um, that either they qualify or they don't. >> Yeah, no, I'm speaking on behalf of of wanting it to continue and funding it properly. I mean, we saw in our school walk building walk-throughs we did >> Right. >> some students, and they were having a great time with the materials they had at that time. I can only imagine if it was you know, a >> What did What did I put there? 20? I forgot a zero, so it's 200,000 that, no, I'm kidding. >> No, I just I just hate I hate to see it, you know, eventually get something that's become squeezed because >> Right. >> Yeah, and here we paid 35,000 for

098software. You know, it's it's it's a concern cuz we always have. We don't >> You're right. >> You know. We need support all the time, so. >> I don't know if that's the right number. It's the best guess we can give under the constraints of the budget while we still maintain a robust beginning to it, but I you're right. I couldn't tell you that that's going to be the right number that's going to that's going to sustain it. >> Yeah. >> Hit it. >> Um the LinkIt, can you just explain the difference between what is offered through like Frontline versus LinkIt? What >> So, Frontline and and I'll have uh Ms. Levinsky speak as well. Frontline is more of the IEP um and the CSE process. LinkIt is the recording of the data for the

099progress monitoring and the and the particular interventions either if it's MTSS, if it's RTI, or the CSE goals themselves that it will record the individual assessments um or teachers can enter that in manually. Um and then that kind of recording will go toward Did they Did they meet or not meet what's in Frontline, which is their CSE goals, the goals themselves? >> So, the actual like day-to-day data? >> Day-to-day, week-to-week. So, so if we say a particular intervention is 10 weeks, we set it up in LinkIt as 10 weeks, and over 10 weeks you have to put the data in. >> Frontline can't do that? >> do that, no. >> It won't do that. Okay. Um and then what's your thoughts on how the staff will respond to having to do multiple >> Not well.

100I mean, it's it's going to be a new Anything new is hard. I'm not I'm not saying that to be disrespectful to the staff. Anything new becomes difficult, and LinkIt is going to be tough at first. Um you know, I don't a lot of like we mentioned, a lot of teachers may be doing this in a variety of ways. We're now going to say you're doing it all one way. Um not necessarily the same thing, but if you're if someone's doing something, everyone else has the opportunity to do it, too, cuz it's going to be up there on LinkIt. Um it's going to be a it's going to take a lot of work. >> When picturing it, do you think it's starting everywhere or like in the elementary and kind of with the 812s and

101then kind of going >> Yeah, I think starting at the elementary is the right way to do it. Um and then building up from there. We're going to We're going to We're going to use it K-12. Um, but probably for MTSS purposes starting at the elementary special education. I know Ms. Levinsky is going to use it try to start using it um, K-12. And that's going to be a huge support for teachers even though at first it's going to be hard. I think the idea that they're going to have that consistency in that one place to enter is long-term going to be much better for them. >> Okay. >> Do they Do these software companies give you an opportunity for a trial? And I'm not saying like a free trial you know, a 7-day trial,

102but a trial where you can use a sample size to determine You know, it's it once you implement something entirely then you need a module added or you need some customization. >> Right. >> And that's how they get you. >> They They get us. I mean, so they offer a pilot program. >> Right. >> Um, but by that point you you can't you know, you're doing it the year before. So we're going to pilot it this year. Um, with the idea that we're going to We still have to put it in the budget if we are going to get it next year. So when we pilot it if it's no good, we're not going to get it. Um, but by the time you buy the software you know this you're now committed. Like you sign

103up for a subscription, you're in. And because you have so much of your data and everything tied into there, it's like an insurance policy that you're going to keep it. >> Mhm. >> So but I I And the good news I think it's really good. >> [laughter] >> I think it'll I think it'll work. >> Um, the Raz-Kids benchmark doesn't have something comparable? >> Uh, >> to look into it myself but >> Raz uh, benchmark has comparable pieces. This is more of a supplemental piece if kids want to go on and read more. >> file follow the same like I don't know what those words are literacy wise, but like I know like there's a F&P numbers, letters, and then there's the like Lexile >> It It gives you It gives you levels, but the

104the big piece is it allows teachers to assign particular pieces and it allows kids to go home and just read on their own. >> Okay. >> So it's it's a digital the equivalent of a a digital library where you can just send kids home and they can read on their own too. And then teachers can track what they're reading. Um, it doesn't it doesn't do as much of the assessment piece. It's more of the providing the the uh, books at the levels that teachers want and mostly a supplemental or as classroom supports. >> And then was there anything for 812's curriculum wise that they were looking into exploring? >> No. >> Okay, just curious. >> And and you know, I'm sure there will be. At this point, you know, that that program at Santapogue is

105relatively new and the and the teachers are waist deep or higher into it. Um so, it's it's it's probably going to be a we'll be asking for it eventually. >> The last question is about the sale program. Are you kind of seen kids flip-flop in and out of it a lot or not really notice any transition? >> can't flip-flop unless um we have a district meeting and that's that's another big change we've made. Kids can't flip-flop in a particular trimester um into one program or another unless they come to a district-wide meeting with administrators where everyone agrees. Not for the purposes of trying to control it so that everyone understands why we're trying to flip-flop. >> Sure, but so like in November a kid could have gone in and then in March they could have

106gone out. >> to trimester they can, but in between trimesters, no. >> Okay. Did you find a pattern of kids a lot of that or not so much? >> Uh not so much. Uh there was some there was some back and forth and one of the pieces that we didn't anticipate would have been uh and and this is a part I didn't say would be kids that don't necessarily want to be there, but qualified to be in there. There are there are times where it happens where they are qualified, but they don't want to be there. And those are the ones we discuss. >> Did you find that's because of that like getting an extra gym or art and then we lost that? >> it's really isn't any of that anymore. There's um there is

107no more you know, I think you you at the elementary schedule we sometimes had surpluses um in some of the special areas, but phys ed there is zero. Um art there's some, but it's so fragmented that really isn't used. Um I think it's because of the work. If you know, because they're they're doing a lot of fun things, but it's also a lot of work and some of them might not want to do it. >> Thank you for painting that picture. >> You got it. It's one thing people don't compliment me for is painting, so I won't. All right. >> some samples of actually your painting. >> You do and and we don't want to show them, so thank you. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Payne. So, now um we're going to pivot to

108our budget presentation and I do believe we have Bill Jackson in the audience as well. Um Thank you for joining us today. Who will assist us right with any questions in terms of they come up when we get to our proposition section. So, before we um kick it off, just a couple of kind of housekeeping items, right? Reminders. April 21st and this information will be on every agenda, right? Until we close out in on on May 19th. April 21st is the BOCES budget vote and trustee election. May 5th is our West Babylon budget hearing. It is here in administration at 5:00 p.m. And May 19th is our West Babylon budget vote and trustee election, 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. at administration and at Santapogue. So, that'll be part of my public service announcements, right? For

109each of the meetings coming forward. All right, next slide, please. I will kick it off and then Ms. Galante will jump in midway. So, a little bit of a recap, right? During our prior Board of Education meeting, our February 10th meeting, we reviewed at that point our state aid and some revenue projection analysis, right? Again, all very tentative as those are not finalized. We talked a little bit about our We provided a little bit of our reserves overview. We established our West Babylon allowable tax levy, 2.21%, right? That is within our tax levy. What does that mean? That means that it we need a plus one, right? In terms of um for an overall budget to to pass. Um the We also talked about during that presentation and this has been posted on our website,

110the administrative component of the budget as it stood at that period of time, the capital component of the budget as it stood at that point and we began to discuss some of the program components, right? Um that we're going to focus on today. Next slide, please. Just a little bit of a recap. We kept it here um just defining in terms of the tax levy, right? At at times, right? There are individuals that maybe confuse that and think that, oh well, it's supposed to be 2% and 2% and 2%, but in reality that's is not the case, right? As you will see on the next slide, um, there is a tax levy calculation that every school district needs to, um, go through and it really depends on, you know, your prior year tax levy, um,

111the tax base growth factor, right? Your pilots, your exclusions, and those are unique to every district. Um, you know, a district's tax levy could conceivably be, you know, 4.1%, right? Or something along those lines and be within their allowable tax levy. So, again, for in our case, for the 2026-2027 school year, our levy is 2.21% and Mrs. Galante has submitted that, um, to the Office of the Controller's, right? As as was required, um, earlier this month. Next slide, please. All right. Um, so again, 2.21% within our tax levy was submitted to the State Controller's Office. So, basic framework, right? In terms of our program components, in terms of what our budget, um, maintains, right? We have our increased K-5 academic intervention services, right? Um, that were enhanced, um, you know, this year. Um, obviously our

112kindergarten program, our district-wide athletic programs as they stand right now. Obviously again, that always varies based on enrollment in terms of the specific programs. The clubs and co-curricular programs, um, that we have, our mental health support services that we have throughout our school district. Um, senior high school course elective offerings, right? Most recently, um, Mr. Leary was here and we talked about additional courses, right? So, all of those, of course, enrollment dependent, right? Um, what do I mean by that, right? If throughout our course selection process at our high school, uh, there are six students, four students that request a course, right? Then that course does not run, right? 12 is kind of that that magic number, um, for us. So, again, enrollment dependent. Our CTE, BOCES, um, high school student offerings, that continues. Um

113there was actually a question, I think it was Mr. Masciari that had um asked me and we followed up with the high school. Um at the current time for next year, we do not have any students, right, that have requested a program and that have been turned away. Right? So, no one in terms of on the on the wait list. Um or again asked to to select something different. Um the Sail Elementary Enrichment program, again that was started this year and as Mr. Payne shared beforehand, now we are, you know, adding the next component in terms of some materials and supplies to support the program. We were able to start that program, you know, with um teachers, um elementary teachers that we have um in district. Uh instructional technology programs, we talked about that. We

114had Dr. Wright here and um present um some areas of of focus. The physical wellness high school um program, the weight nut room, you know, fitness program access uh for students that we um put into play this year and that is within our athletic budget, right? Um meaning uh depending on again enrollment, there are some programs that do not run and when they don't run, then we utilize that, right, to be able to afford this opportunity for for our students. The number of days again will will vary based on that. And the Chromebook and Smartboard replacement plan that Dr. Wright um talked about. Some pretty big key drivers in our program component and across all school districts, uh really, you know, health insurance increases. Again, these are the same numbers in terms of from our

115prior presentation. Uh teacher retirement system, right? These are kind of parts of other buckets that people don't kind of necessarily see or touch, right? But they are a major part of our school district, um all school districts budget, right? The employer retirement system. Those rates of increases, those are given to us, right? Um and we have to then obviously adjust accordingly. And the contract transportation, we had a transportation presentation um and and we spoke specifically about that area as well. So, these uh program component areas are um you know, they touch on each of the different departments, right? And to Mr. Palello's point beforehand, I would absolutely love, right, to probably add one or two zeros to to all of these different areas, right? Our approach, and as we have heard right all of our

116department leaders present during our board meetings, there's definitely obviously a lot that is not just, you know, needed, requested, asked, right? And we would love to continue to expand. Our approach is to really um support each of the departments by adding a portion of that, right? I would love to add the 60,000 immediately for the music department, right? Um all uniforms to be new for the athletic department, right? We we really, you know, we wouldn't be able to sustain that, we wouldn't be able to do that. So, our approach is to take a look at all of the different areas that have been um addressed and highlighted as a need, right? And add a little bit for each one of the areas, even though again certainly not not all of the needs. So, from the

117music department's perspective, reference in Mr. Payne's um presentation, and you'll hear that that next um during our next um board meeting, some of the specifics there, $20,000 for that department. The technology department request, that's really kind of a smaller area, but in reality there were the other aspects of cybersecurity, right? The all the different arms in terms of technology as well. The library department, um the sale program that Mr. Payne um just spoke about, and district-wide field trips, right? So, this year we have district-wide field trip budget lines in. We are increasing that, we're proposing in this budget, right, to double that amount, right, for each of the schools. And in looking at some of the entrance fees, it really was necessary to increase that, so that is part of the um proposed uh program

118component increase. Additional areas to highlight, right? And these are again uh just describing some of them, right? And then Ms. Galante is going to go into the uh the budget lines, you know, in which they they are a part of, right? So, our junior high school academic center, uh same thing, right? We did not have that in terms of for the full year. We're looking to establish that and again, depending on the number of days, right? In which um it is needed in which it's um provided, that's the approximate amount there. Benchmark reading again has been highlighted beforehand, right? 93,000 there. Software, again, that will not cover, right? All of the different areas. That will allow for more flexibility in the review and in the request when those come in from our departments, from our

119teachers, um you know, for us to be able to approve some of those added um you know, supports and software programs for them to be able to utilize with students. Cybersecurity we talked about. Um PA system is huge, right? Uh in particular, so this specifically is to address um this building, the senior high school. We are on our I think we've had two different demos. Um we're scheduled to have a third demo from a different company um to change that. That's a that's a significant um safety piece, right? that we need to address uh quite honestly um throughout the district, but in particular the high school. Um the the parts don't exist anymore, right? You know, in terms of our current system. Um so, it it is just it's uh not an option there anymore.

120The MTSS program that Mr. um Payne spoke about, uh the senior high school Regents um summer administration, slight change there. Um so, this is not to offer a summer school program for senior high school students who fail a course. This is specifically in terms of uh 3 days, right? Of students who fail uh Regents exam, right? To have the ability to retake that Regents exam, right? Um we are looking at that from a budget perspective, that's probably going to be closer to about a 7,000 or so now, right? And and as part of our team meetings, um we did determine that we may be able to we will likely be able to split that in half and use some of the title funds to offset that. And the summer incoming K orientation program. All right.

121>> Okay, thank you Dr. >> with the numbers. >> Do you want to ask questions for your portion? Like how do how do we want to do questions? >> Sure. We can ask questions right now. >> No, that's fine. >> The program that we're going >> And then like when you're presenting, do you want us to hold off till the end or or on a slide if we have a question? >> Maybe on the slide would be better because then we don't go back and forth easily times. >> So we all so we all know. Just a a quick question. In the calculation for the tax levy, could you just illustrate or explain what exclusions mean? >> Sure. >> Ms. Galante. >> Okay. So the exclusions are mainly from your capital, your debt service. There's

122they they could be an exclusion for your TRS or ERS, but there isn't any. There hasn't been any for many years. So it really comes down to your debt service are your exclusions. So all your debt service is added up. You have to take out your building aid because you're getting aid on that. So that if that's a formula and that comes that give you your exclusion. >> Okay, so you're kind of not penalized from a levy standpoint for those items. >> No. >> Right. >> No, because debt service, remember, no matter what happens with a school district a budget, your debt service is the first thing that will get paid off. >> Right, understood. >> Okay, that's a legal obligation. >> Okay. Just and you had also mentioned the physical wellness program in the

123high school starting that up. Do are we going to I know it was a saving we were transferring money from within that budget, so it's not increasing the budget to implement it. It's just shifting some money. Are we going to Do we monitor Does the district monitor the participation in that program? You know, if it if it if if we're saying, "Hey, we're not going to save there. We're going to just transfer the money to a new program or not put it to support something else." Because again, we're creating something new now. What point do we do we do a check and say, "Hey, you know, there's only two kids participating or there's three kids participating?" >> Well, there we do have a sign-in process, right? So, what we can do if the board would

124like but yes, right? So, that is in terms of monitor, we do know in terms of the the students, not just the number of students, but which students, right, are also utilizing it. It is something that is available not just for I'll call it student athletes that are participating in you know, football or softball, right? It's for everyone in the building. So, yes, we do have um a a sign-in process of who's utilizing that, right? And then we'll definitely take a look at that. I mean, if if there's a let's say a particular day of the week, right, that is one day the student it just is not, right, like calling the attention of the students to go there on that day, then it definitely would make sense to not run that day. Yeah. >>

125Right. Okay. Um yeah, cuz then if not, then that goes shifts somewhere else or whatever else we have to do. Then the last question I had was uh Oh, boy. Sorry. >> No, that's okay. >> Failing at my own. The the the PA system, that's for just the high school? >> That is only the high school. >> Does Well, the systems that are being looked at integrate with some of those audible security measures that we already have? You know, we have the the push buttons, they will integrate with the system. They're not going We're not going to be redoing something that's already been installed. >> Nope, that's part of the presentation and our questions of our of our team, right? Um and actually we have like they're presenting it as part of what they're sharing,

126right? Like so, you currently have the following, you know, one-button lockdown system, here is how that would work, right? Like you know, so that's all part of the discussion, yeah. >> When you say capital transfer for that expense from the capital reserve? >> No. >> Or >> No. Budget. Yep. >> Okay. We We couldn't do that with the capital reserve or that would have just be a longer process? >> Um well, we need to do this like yesterday, right, in terms of time. >> longer process. >> [laughter] >> That's the reason. I just had a >> Yeah. >> Okay. All right, sorry. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> All right. Well, thank you. And good evening, everyone. And as we've been doing, we present the budgeting components and we're going to focus on the program component

127for tonight. And I will go again, I'm not going to read line by line. I'm just going to like tell say a little bit of what's included in those lines. So, if we look at the first line, teaching regular school, that has to do with all regular ed teachers, aids, subs, their salaries, all materials for over all the subject areas, conferences that they go on, the field trips for the for the students are all included in that. So, again, it does go up, contractual obligation. You know, it raises the salaries cuz the major part of it is salaries and that's what's driving that line. The Pack Eagle Hall, again, it was raised a little bit because of the materials and supplies that they need and also the maintenance that is used a very frequently and

128they're finding that a lot more maintenance has to be done for those two areas. So, we raised that line a little. The next line is a new line, occupational ed regular ed. This was embedded in other another line in the budget and I'll tell you why I pulled it out. And I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but I was told right now ock ed where at the student regular ed student goes to to West Babylon half a day and a half a day does a program at BOCES, okay? They always been billing us by a rolling average, okay? Next year'll be the last year of the rolling average. They're going to go by student per student. So, I'm not sure how that's going to affect the amount of students that West Babylon sends

129if you have to pay individually for these students, you may have to reduce the amount of students that go, but I figured, you know, just pull it out, put it on its own line, so you have an idea of where you're going with all that, okay? So, >> It's good to definitely have it as separate. For us, it should be pretty similar, right? Because the last 2 years we've maintained the same number, right? And my understanding was that their building was on for that program was a a 2-year rolling, right? So, it should keep us pretty similar, hopefully. >> you look at the last line, the 2280, that's the outcome for our special ed, and that was on its own separate line >> Yeah. >> all these years. So, both should be on their own

130separate line, okay? So, just explain that. All right, and then let's say 2250 teaching special ed. We heard from Jessica this this evening about special ed, so now you're going to say to me, "She said special ed's going down. Why is the special ed number going up?" So, let me tell you what's in that line. It's salary, so you have contractual obligations of all the special ed teachers, the aides, all the clerical people, material supplies, conferences, tuition for your out-of-district special ed students. So, when you send them to the out-of-district schools, naturally the tuition's going to go up every year. You send them to BOCES. I know the BOCES went up 4%, so all these hundred and something students that went to BOCES, right? Even if you reduce a few of those students, >> Your

131overall >> overall it's going up 4%, so that's what what's driving the total for special ed also to to increase. Even though you're decreasing, okay? You're decreasing, but you're not decreasing, I guess, enough at this point for it to um to to stay even or to to to go down. Okay, but the increase isn't as much as it has been in the past from what I understand. So, okay. Again, student with special needs 2270. Um that's all your reading teachers. Those are all the salaries for your reading teachers. Okay? Next slide. That's just a graph. I'm a very visual person. I like, you know, graphs. I'm I'm I'm glad Jessica used pie graphs, and so now we're using bar graphs. So, that's good. Next slide. >> This is a quick quick question. On the the

132Eagle Hall, the budget increase, I know it's not in the grand scheme of things a lot. Is Is that are we anticipating or some what ifs or other targeted expenses? >> kind of maintenance that they have to do, like everything else, is going to cost them more next year than it does this year. >> Okay. No, I just it seems a significant amount. I was wondering if there was updates to especially Eagle Hall, you know, the speaker system or something like that. Is there additions >> No, I think they >> or is it just a what if? >> They are just anticipating needing more money to maintain certain things in those two areas. >> Okay? All right. Okay, so I'm I'm we're not even going to talk to the about the first one. It's a

133very minimal, and actually for this year 2526 at $2,120, we haven't even touched it yet. So, we're going to have to look into that and see if it's still going to actually be needed for next year. Uh alternative high school. Um for the past couple of years, I think you kind of stopped that program or reduced that program a little bit, and now this year it's kind of uh gearing up again because we are going to be under budgeted on that program for this year that we're in now, 2526. So, for next year, we're anticipating it being around that 59,000 mark. >> And the And the board is aware of that. Um we didn't have that in place. We didn't run it beforehand in terms of um the evening um alternatives in terms of some

134of the discipline, right, and and whatnot. And we added that into the mix, right? So, that's the That's why in terms of this year we can transfer money >> we think we're going to pay this year and just, you know, increased it. Um summer school, that $5,000, that was on someone's line. Mr. Payne, you have a $5,000 for your summer school. That's in the budget on its own line. >> For the kindergarten. Yes. >> Kindergarten, yep. >> Yep. >> Um 2610 >> are sprinkled everywhere. So >> [laughter] >> Let's keep it on there. >> 2610 um is really for your K-12 librarian salaries and clerical and some BOCES services. That actually has gone down a little bit. You may have new librarians coming in at a lower salary to begin with. Um 26 uh 11

135is the libraries. That's the materials and things that they need. They're BOCES services for uh to keep track of books going in and out of the library. 2630, computer assisted instruction. Um Dr. Wright made a presentation about that. And what was added was um additional software that is needed and also cybersecurity software uh that was also needed. So, just between those two things that that drove that up uh a good $100,000. And then you have um equipment repairs, um purchase of new uh Chromebooks, iPads uh for the incoming, I think it's sixth and ninth grades. >> right? The replacement uh process. >> So, you have all that. Um that comes in on a BOCES lease. So, their materials and supplies and any kind of equipment repairs that they have been doing for these Chromebooks. >>

136On on that on that same line, the um is the end of what the actual expense is versus the budget the the 24-25 actual expense was a lot lower than what we budgeted for this year. Where are we at or do we know? I'm going to throw in a curveball for our expenses year-to-date. >> You're in You're on budget. >> Where Where does >> When Dr. Wright did his presentation, he said he was and he anticipates to stay within budget for this year. >> Yeah. >> And I'll tell you what's driving that up and it came to light the other day at one of our meetings was that these uh Chromebooks for 6th and 9th grade, they were now what? $500 each? We're back. We were getting them for two under two. >> on the

137year, right? >> You know, it it really >> right? And then a few years before that the 200-ish. >> So, the cost of all that has gone up tremendously. Okay. So, next slide. And that'll bring us to the next slide. Okay. Attendance, those are the your um clericals or your teachers that take care of your attendance for district-wide and that's basically just contractual uh obligation increases. Guidance, again, it's all your guidance counselors throughout the district uh mainly in the junior high school and new senior high school, the clerical in those in those areas, materials and supplies, and things that they need. 25-15, health services. Again, that's all the salaries for your nurses throughout your district, supplies that they need, materials they need, um and also in there um is what we call health services that

138for other districts. So, you have West Babylon children that go to other schools in other districts. And those other districts would supply our students with health services. So, they then bill us back for those health services. >> Those are the contracts that you guys see >> Yeah, so that's in that, too, besides the salaries and all that all that. >> So, we're seeing an increase in that, then. >> Yes. >> Because of those services or because of the internal >> I think it's a it's a mix it's a mix more more students going to other schools. They're usually probably private and parochial schools with in other districts. Um and things like that. Yeah. Um and then diagnostic screening and psychological services. Uh that's the uh psychologist that you have, their salaries that you have district-wide.

139>> Okay. You can't jump here. >> [snorts] >> Okay. 2850 co-curricular activities. Those are your uh clubs advisors, your chaperones, and actually for this year, um we were slightly under budgeted. So, we had to figure that in plus the increase and again, it's all salary, so your salaries have gone up. Your coaches your clubs advisors and chaperones uh will be getting more money. 2855 interscholastic. Those are your coaches, uh what we pay them, your um your director of your um athletics. He's in there, the clerical, all their materials and supplies, professional services, the fees that they have to pay um throughout to to send the the ath the athletes to these different things. Section 11 10. Right? Yeah. And also BOCES services. They do have some BOCES services that they use. So that accounts for

140that increase. 10 pupil transportation. Um again, that has to do with all salaries for your director of transportation, your bus drivers, all the monitors, gasoline, maintenance of and repairs of the buses that you are using now and supplies. Um that has gone down. We all know why that's going down because you're using more contract transportation than your own transportation because of the difficulty of getting the bus drivers to do these runs for the district. So that is decreasing. Uh the bus garage, that's basically has decreased a little bit. Um but then we're looking at 55 40, contract transportation, and that's that's where your big increase is. And we understand why. Um it's kind of hard to project. We're trying um our best to project a number that you won't be short because you are short

141this year. Not enough was projected for this year. >> [clears throat] >> Um >> We also added a couple of runs >> Yeah, because they have to pick up runs when our drivers We had a few drivers retire already in the middle of the year. Um so those runs have to now be picked up by the contract transportation company. >> Um just a quick question about the gap about the um Suffolk Trans. We haven't negotiated our contract yet with them for 26 27. Have we? >> Well, you did last year. >> Okay. have >> already. So we went out for an RFP and then we have a multi-year plan in place. >> Yes. >> Oh, so we have a multi-year plan. >> Yes, you renew every year with them. You can renew every year with

142them. >> Got it. Does anything change with what's going on in the world politically, with the cost of fuel, the rising cost of fuel, and >> Well, for the contract transportation, the fuel is included. >> Okay. >> In with the bus, the cost of the bus. >> going on in the world today is not going to have a major effect on that. >> that I'm talking about was for our own buses. >> No, no, that I understood. >> Right. >> Yeah, okay. >> Okay. Thank you. >> You're welcome. And then the last one, we we are not using any type of transportation from BOCES anymore, so that we're not budgeting for that. >> That budget line was a lot higher a few years ago. >> Yeah, so we had them a number of years ago,

143um we we would use like a couple of routes here and there with them, but then we kind of transitioned away from. Yeah. >> Okay, so we're on uh line 8060, civic activities. That's your adult ed program that you run through the school. And basically that's been the same. Um some years, I guess in 2024-2025, it depends on enrollment, how many people are interested in going to the adult ed program. Um then we come to our employee retirement, which is the retirement system for all the employees in the district that are not in the TRS or teachers' retirement system. Um and that has gone up a little bit. The contribution rate is only up a little bit. It's very close to what it was this past year. So that was it. The teachers' retirement is

144actually down um because the contribution rate for this year was 10 10% and for next year it's 8.24%. So that has gone down. Uh FICA is the um the tax on the payrolls that we uh we have to pay on all the payroll uh And then workman's comp, you are self-funded for workman's comp. So, um we're anticipating an expense of $825,000, but we're going to offset that in our revenue with the our workman's comp reserve for $825,000. So, it really doesn't have an impact on the budget, so to speak. And next slide. Okay. So, life insurance, again, um depends on how many people are in the life insurance coverage, and that's what drives that up. Unemployment, again, that's being funded on the other side of on the revenue for the $50,000. So, it really doesn't

145have an impact. We um are just lowering the disability insurance by $5,000. We don't think we'll go over that. Health insurance. So, health insurance, um again, is is really um has come in with a higher increases than uh anticipated cuz we went from a 2% increase in 24 25 in the 24 year to an 11. 8% increase in 2025 26, and we're anticipating the first the first half of 2027 for that increase to be anywhere between 12 and 15%. So, it's going up. And honestly, um anyone doing this for years, um kind of anticipated it with COVID and all that and whenever anyone would say, "Oh, this is free. You don't have to pay for this medical thing or whatever." We knew down the road somewhere, somehow we're all going to pay for it. So,

146and I think that's what's driving the increases. Hopefully, they stabilize and they don't get um go too high. Uh in one of our um areas, I forget which which uh coverage, it actually went up 24% but the average between that and all these other four coverages came out to 11.82%. So, um it's something to watch, it's something to be aware of that these increases can, you know, can be significant cuz it is a significant increase. Okay. Um dental, let's see. Dental insurance was down. We uh changed um we didn't change companies, we actually changed a broker who got us a better deal with the same coverage, with the same company, the whole thing. So, that's why your dental insurance is down. >> I thought it was cuz we flossed really well in the district. >>

147Um Medicare reimbursements, um they're going they're going to go up. Um I think the average, whatever the average is, is is increasing. So, we increased that a little bit. We're just doing that now. For this year, we're giving out the Medicare reimbursement. So, once that's all done, I'll have a better picture of what we paid for this year versus what may be can happen next year. Um but like I said, they're just doing that now. Retiree opt-out, those are for the retirees who are not under the insurance of the district. They opted out and they get a some money to opt out. I think $2,000 uh each. And then also insurance opt-out. These are for our employees that also opt out of our insurance and because they have insurance through their spouse or whatever. And

148that's what that comes to. And then that interfund transfer, again, that's in that 600,000 is a 250,000 for that PA system. Okay? And then the rest of it, the 350,000 is for special is a special ed in in transfer that we always have and that's the district's portion of the special ed for summer summer sessions. We district has to pay a portion of that. So and every year, I mean it goes up a little bit and we've always like under budgeted. So I did raise it I think 50,000 this year versus what it was last I mean for next year versus what it is for this year. And that's and that's what's driving your program components to be approximately 120 .8 million dollars. You got two big drivers in there. Your your transportation, your medical.

149>> And student services. >> Mr. Payne, you want to come up and tell some jokes? >> [laughter] >> Okay. So this is the revenue slide and basically a couple of things changed. I changed a couple of the reserve amounts. I lowered I believe the workers' comp and I added some more reserve monies to this budget. And we also added I I'm hearing that for our state aid we're probably going to get we we initially got 1% in the Aid. I'm hearing normally um districts get 2 to 3%. So, to be conservative right now we're thinking we're getting on another percent, so 2%. So, I changed that in there. Other than that, um I think most of the other uh revenue stayed the same. Do we have a gap? Yes, we still have a gap. Um

150we're working on it. Um again, we we're waiting to hear hopefully from from State Aid to see if anything else is coming in. And also, uh we have to look further into certain um areas that we haven't really dug deep enough into yet. So, um >> Right. So, the last presentation we were a little over a $3 million in terms of um gap. Now we're at the $2 million, right? Um Ms. Colonche mentioned a couple of different areas. Obviously, the Medicare reimbursement, we're still finalizing some staffing pieces based on enrollment, right? Um you know, um based on in terms of our our secondary schedules, right? That come into play. In addition to that, um also the State Aid, you know, picture, right? Um as well. Uh so, some of these areas here, in particular, um

151the use of the unappropriated right fund balance, we may need to right dip into that um to be able to kind of offset right the remaining uh difference there. And again, we're going to look to uh close that up obviously, right? Um the more information we have, obviously the state piece, that's that's probably going to be an unknown. I don't know if anyone has any crystal ball in terms of New York State and and whether they'll have an on-time budget or not, right? That would be obviously very That'd be extremely appreciated by school districts if that were the case. Um but in either case, right? Those are kind of the the buckets that we are left with, you know, with some minor adjustments here and there based on some of the things that we're finalizing.

152>> So, this is the final I believe that's final slide for this presentation. I had to do with our fund balance. I was asked to do a comparison of the our fund balance of the district's fund balance for a few years. So, I went back and this is as and as you can see your total fund balance as of when we close the books in June of 2025 was was getting healthier than it had been maybe the two previous years. It looked like it was almost it was 18.5 in 2022. Then it went down, then it went up a little bit and now it's up to 22.6 million dollars. A lot of it went into your capital reserve, okay, because you have a lot of capital work that has to get done. Um heating systems

153in all your buildings and things like that. And it really, you know, will help even if you did go out for a bond at some point, you can offset your bond with the money in your capital reserve. And and you know, so that's another thing. Um again, your employee retirement system. This is why I was able to kind of put a little bit more money into the revenue side of our budget and we could probably put a little more if needed because our reserves are healthier now than they were a few years ago, which is a good thing and that's what the reserves are there for. They're there to help you get over that little gap that you have all the time because of things like health insurance going up so much or and you

154know, your transportation issue, which is like, you know, not not for every not every district is having that, but here in West Babylon that is one of the the issues that we have at this point that we have to address. >> Yeah, and then that's an area that our auditor, right, always references, right, as we as we close out, right, um, terms of our our bucks. Um, it's it's having that having that balance, right? Of course, obviously, yes, utilizing it, right? You should be utilizing it in terms of, um, when needed, but equally as important, right, is the ability to hopefully be able to kind of replenish back, right? Um, and like right now >> be a take out and put it back in. >> out and put in, take out and put in, right?

155Um, and, um, you know, as opposed to a couple years ago where we were really kind of on that downward trend and not being able to close out the year, right? In a in a position to be able to, um, put some back in. Um, so obviously again, we have our orders and we have, you know, we're taking a look at the the close out of the year. It's still very early on, even though we're in March in reality, there's some bills that lag on by about two months, right? In that in that process. Um, evaluating where we believe we will end, right? Um, and again, the plan, we've closed out. We're not allowing any expenditures to occur unless they're absolutely necessary. And the purpose for that is exactly that, right? To have some fund

156balance so then also be able to help out, right? And and offset the use in terms of the reserves. Um, so you'll see in terms of on the 24th, we will likely have some adjustments on our proposed usage of the fund balance and also the, um, undesignated, um, to be able to help close our gap out. >> Thanks. >> Um, so the next slide just talks about the budget vote and the trustee election, which is on May 19th, 2026 from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. And you have two locations, your administration building and Saddle Rock School. And I'm sure if people don't know where you're supposed to vote, you can call your district clerk and she can tell you exactly which building you should go to for the for the vote. >> [laughter] >> So

157this year, I'm going to kind of jump in, right? So we're accustomed to the general the you you know, the usual proposition number one, right? Where we are residents, right? Vote on the the budget, right? And of course, obviously, our um, trustees, right? For the '26-'27 school year. For this year's vote, you will see a second proposition, right? Now, I'm going to, as we click over into the new slide, rewind a little bit and remind our our trustees we have had several in our community, obviously, several presentations with regards to the junior high school project, right? That whole back area, the tennis courts, the handball court, the asphalt is all broken up, the concrete is all broken up, right? That entire area in the back of the junior high school, that junior high school complex,

158I'll call it. Utilizing, we've had several presentations by our architect, utilizing remaining funds, right? From our prior two capital project works, right? The prior one specifically was a 2022 capital project with regards to the senior high school roof and the South Bay waterline. When we presented those projects, we included, obviously, the estimates, right? That were provided then. Thankfully, as the work progressed, the work came in lower, right? Than the amounts that were initially projected. As we all know, whenever we present a project, it takes quite a long period of time for the actual project to start because we go through the process with the state approvals and whatnot. So, from the '22 project capital project, we have funds remaining, and also from the prior project, the 2015 project, we also had some funds remaining. So,

159we presented during those periods of time, right? That if we were to have any funds left over, that we would utilize that for, and we call them B-list items, right? And we identified and talked about the junior high school area, the asphalt back there, right? That whole complex area. That was included as part of our B-list topics of discussion, um of um items that we would utilize any remaining funds for. We came here, we presented to the board, we talked about that. We were very excited and happy. We are very excited and happy that we do have money left over from those um projects. Um in the process, right, of planning for the details of that project, we have to submit to the state any project that happens in a school district to get their

160approval and it goes through multiple different offices, right? From if it's if there's electrical needed, if there's, right, like various different approval um you know, departments, right, or groups. Uh we received approval from all of them, right, and then we received some questions with regards to um the finance and that's where we have our friend Bill Jackson in the audience to help us out. Um the from that particular office, although in the past, right, it was the same kind of language that has been used, um they are requesting that we put it back up on a proposition to request, in essence, the same thing that our community already approved of us, right, um to utilize the remaining funds from this cap these capital projects for the junior high school project. Um so, it is something

161that we have talked about beforehand that the community previously approved. However, again, some language in terms of from from the state, they are requesting that we um crystallize that a little bit more and be more specific formalizing that in the proposition. Mr. Jackson. >> My name is Bill Jackson. I'm with the law firm of Hawkins Delafield & Wood and we serve as bond counsel. Uh we were involved in your 2015 and your 2022 propositions. Um and what has transpired at the state is a project manager who oversees the approval process for capital work that would be undertaken by a school district. Um although the district had included the B-list items as part of the SEQRA review, the environmental review as in the in 2022, had included the list of the B list items in its

162public presentations uh in the lead-up to the bond vote. Um the project manager at SED took exception to some of the language in the actual propositions and um gave us the option to escalate it to the legal uh counsel at SED um with the caveat that that process could take several months to resolve. Or alternatively, and I think this is the direction they were pushing us in, was to have another vote of the community to essentially reapprove the projects that were included as part of the B list. In terms of impact, um there is no impact because the district did not utilize all of the 9.7 million dollars that was approved in 2022. And essentially, you were just using or diverting that money from um savings to use it to complete this this much-needed work.

163Uh we have run the proposition past the state education department to make sure that there are absolutely no questions this time. Um and we've been assured that if the voters do approve this proposition, uh that they will uh provide their um approval and the building permit, which is you need to move forward with the the the project. >> We didn't want to miss the opportunity of the May vote by waiting for their response, right? Because then that would then push everything off even further, right? So, yes. >> Right. And in drafting the proposition, we tried to make it very clear to the public that you had a proposition that was approved in 2022, you had the the savings as reflected on the screen, and that we're simply using that money to complete the the other

164work together with funds that were left over from the 2015 project. >> So, when you say no impact, that means that means that it's not affecting our budget in a way that we're asking to spend more. It's money basically sitting there that's been approved waiting to be used. If the if the project uh if people misinterpret it that and somehow uh feel that the junior high school looks adequate enough and it doesn't and it doesn't pass, what happens to that money? It just it just sits there. >> use it to pay off debt service, right? >> Sure. So, any any debt service that would be associated with We would just pay the debt service. Mhm. >> Right. Understood. Okay. So, it's just waiting to be spent on what It's already been approved by the voters

165previously. >> Right. >> Okay. Are you finding this to happen in other districts as well? >> In terms of having funds left over or >> state where the state's questioning >> Um I I would have to say that for a long time the state education department's facilities planning division was um understaffed. So, I don't know how much of these uh projects how many of these projects were looked at in the way that they are looking at now, uh but there has been greater scrutiny uh from from the state education department, not only here in West Babylon, but with several other districts that we're working with. >> Okay. >> You said that to me. You mentioned that to me. >> And again, just to reiterate, this has no effect on that 2.21%. >> On the tax

166levy, correct? >> No one will ever There's there's nothing that's going to say where this number is then being, you know, reappropriated to a different bucket, if you will. It's not going to affect that tax >> bracket at all. >> Okay. >> Right. >> Thank you. >> Sure. >> The other piece, you know, one one of the um we have to be very mindful and uh of of sending the message out, right? So, from a PR perspective, right? I've already spoken with our PR firm, right? For us to develop something to post on social media, right? To send it out, right? A a Q&A, right? To crystallize the exact points that we just highlighted, um you know, refer back to those presentations, right? Um but it specifically as it relates to the 26-27 budget. Definitely.

167>> And the goal is in September of 26 that it would be completed. >> So >> That's the goal. >> That's a great question, right? So, I've reached out to our um We we are looking to establish um to continue with the RFP process, but it will say contingent upon, right, the May vote. And that language will be crystal so clear as per our attorneys, right, in terms of direction to to us to ensure that we have that crystallized here, right? And by doing so, in terms of going out to bid and, you know, kind of getting that process, then we would be able to then continue, right, um our our community approves it, right? And then we can continue with our planned project to occur this summer. And the vast majority by September. I

168mean, remember, weather depending, those are all other factors, but yes, that would be the goal for the work to happen this summer. >> Okay. >> The very as in like the last person leaving graduation, right, construction starts. Construction Construction starts the moment the last person leaves the grounds on graduation, yes. Other questions? Mr. Jackson, thank you. >> Thank you, sir. >> I know. >> Thank you. Thank you. Next slide. Um so, really our upcoming Board of Education presentations, these were referenced beforehand. We have our art department our art and music department um building leaders will be here um to provide a media update and some of their budget highlights, which you've heard some of those already embedded in our presentations. And um again then uh follow-up budget presentation. And again, the April 14th, right, is

169another budget presentation and ultimately um review and adoption. All right, team. Thank you. >> Welcome. Thank you. >> To be continued. That closes up the presentations for tonight. >> That's it? >> [laughter] >> All right. At this time, statement of residents. Any resident on agenda items only, any resident wishing to share a statement residents come to the podium, state their name, address, and and an organization they represent. They should also write their They also write this information on index card and give it to the assistant superintendent of finance and operations. Comments on individual students or employees are not permitted. Each resident will have up to 3 minutes to speak with a total of 15 minutes allotted. Okay, nobody at this time. Okay. Need a motion to approve the consent agenda. Kathy, Steve, all those in

170favor? That is everyone. >> [snorts] >> Okay, policy review. We need a motion to waive the first-time reading and adopt policy 8334 as revised. Steve? Patty, all those in favor? That's everyone. Okay. Motion to waive the first-time reading and adopt policy 8520 as revised. Anthony, Frank, all those in favor? That's everyone. We need a motion to waive the first-time reading and adopt policy 2350 as revised. Kirsten, Anthony, all those in favor? That's everyone. Old business? New business? >> Hey. Um Before I jump into new business, I would like to congratulate Dr. Falcone who is in the audience and was just granted tenure. Congratulations, well deserved. >> That that walkie-talkie reaches that from the junior high? >> High school. >> Oh, high school. Oh, you're listening? All right. >> [laughter] >> Your eyes and ears everywhere.

171>> [snorts] >> Okay, so the board and I, right, received a request from our amazing Science Olympiad team to host next year's regional competition, right? The regional competition is quite the event, right? It is an all day event, every room right being utilized. It is, you know, no question about it, a wonderful event and kind of a bit prestigious also, right, to to to host it. The um event is a minimum of about 12 hours, right? Again, probably closer to 14 hours, right, when we account for some of the earlier, you know, and and after hours set up. So, there definitely certainly will be many teachers, many chaperones, many volunteers, right, from all school districts, right, that would be and that are on site. Specifically in our case, right, Mr. O'Leary and I had a

172chatted that we would also want to have a nurse, right, present. So, by way of just some dollar amounts, right, I think there's no question as to obviously the prestige and what the day is like, right, and it's a wonderful event. Whether it's if it's not hosted here and hosted somewhere else, right, our students, our team, right, we do transport them, right, to whichever location it is hosted at, so that wouldn't factor, obviously, because our students then would be here. So, from a cost perspective, the cost for the district, right, assuming, let's say, the building is not open at all, right, if it if if there's some This is next year's calendar, right, which hasn't been developed yet. The cost would approximately be about four $4,500, $4,586. That includes, again, calculating of security, about 14

173hours, right, calculating a chief custodian, calculating two custodians. Again, this is a whole building event, right, if you've been to any of the regional, right, in Hauppauge, right? Um it's in Plainview, I think, the farther here. Um it is absolutely, you know, almost every location classroom, right, um being being utilized. So, the ask of um the board, again, this is technically it's an outside entity, right, using the building, is for this to be hosted here at no at no cost. Um and again, from our perspective, the cost, right, for us, if we're not open for something else, which quite honestly, based on the amount of people, if we are, it would be probably for something small. I mean, Mr. Leary and I were chatting. Typically, kind of that would be around the date of the

174rehearsal, right, for um high school one of the high school productions. Um but that would only be for one room, and that would be for a couple of hours, right, not the 14 hours. Um so, that would If it's If it lands on that same day, it would likely be, you know, it would offset that amount. So, the question to the board is, do we want to host? And the full picture in terms of cost at most would be 48 45 4500 dollars. 4586 is >> Sure, commas in the right place, right? >> Commas in the right place. Commas definitely in the right place. 4,586 to the dollar. >> Yes. What's the What's the benefit for our district to support this? I know it's great for our kids, but is there anything else? How do

175we look? >> Well, it's definitely a nice prestigious, like, you know, the district is hosting, right, with that headline. It does get a lot of, you know, PR, right? Um so, it From the From that side of it, it'll absolutely all positive. It will definitely be I can tell you when I'm, you know, I've been in the area, right, of um the both in Hauppauge and also in the in Nassau district. Uh the Nassau one in particular, uh you know, all the surrounding areas around, right, the cars, it's Yeah, yeah. >> Do Do people can attend like families and residents can attend this or what what is this >> So, um >> Cuz they're doing these experiments in different areas, so >> Yeah, in different areas. So, I I'll have to get back to you

176on that one because there is one where they do, right? And there's there's some that not, right? Um so, I don't recall if this one they do or don't. >> Okay. >> So, you guys Right, but I'm not Yeah. >> I was just I was curious about any fundraising opportunities for the grades if students want to do that. Yeah. >> Yes. >> Oh, they did. That's right. That's right. That's right. >> Come and help. Yeah, you you're home base, right? Like so, you it is a nice opportunity for some of the other groups to be involved in different ways. Yeah. >> that that's if it's open to outside people, right? Otherwise, I guess it's the >> Well, no, because we're we're home base, so we could Yeah. It's our home, so we could definitely have

177our National Honor Society kiddos. Yeah, definitely. So, we would um reserve this now, right? Um so, then that would be a blocked out day for anything else. Um Right, it it we haven't kind of Yeah. Yep. Next year's schedule hasn't been counted yet. Uh they're starting now, right? We're going to go hot and heavy on dance competitions. Mr. Wallace loves this season. >> [laughter] >> The dance competitions. Um the date Let me go back. I have my notes on the quest, but I didn't Yes. >> Oh, okay. >> Thank you. January 31st. >> Oh, really? >> So, that's before that's before all of the dance competitions come. Yeah. They kick into gear March on. Yeah, so this number that I quoted does include for us to have a nurse on hand. Right again in in

178conversation with Mr. Leary, we talked about that we would want to have someone present for the day. Yeah. It's a great idea. Yeah, definitely. Absolutely. No, that's a great idea. Again, definitely a lot of school buses cuz it's schools, right, coming from all over. Yeah. No. It's for next year. Yep, exactly for next year. And they do need that information now, right, so then if the answer's no, then they would go go and ask another district to host. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, no, definitely. I agree. I agree. >> Good. Any any concerns, objections? We're good? >> Awesome. All right. Thank you. I will relay the message. Thank you. >> All right. Statement of residents. Any resident wishing to share a statement, please come to the podium, state your name, address, and any organization you may represent.

179You can also write this information on index card and give it to the assistant superintendent of finance and operations. Comments about individual students or employees are not permitted. Each resident will have up to 3 minutes to speak with a total of 15 minutes allotted. Anyone? That's it? >> I'm Sammy. Come on up. >> Hi. >> Okay. Christine Downey, 7 Bradish Lane. Okay, um speaking on how we're getting rid of the skills classes for next year for the junior high and high school. Okay. I'm respectfully urging the district to keep the skills class program in place. This class provides essential support for students with special education needs who are participating in inclusion classes. And it plays a critical role in helping students like my daughter succeed academically. My daughter is a special education student who spends

180the majority of her school day in inclusion classes alongside her peers. Inclusion has been extremely valuable for her both academically and socially. However, the pace and workload of general education classrooms can be challenging. And she relies on the skills class to receive the additional support she needs in order to keep up and fully participate. The skills class provides her with the time and guidance necessary to work on homework, complete assignments, and reinforce the material she is learning in her classes. It also gives her the opportunity to ask questions and receive clarification on topics she may not have fully understood during regular instruction. Equally important, the skills class helps her prepare for tests and assessments. She benefits from structured review, it helps organizing study materials and strategies that allowed her to better understand and demonstrate what

181she has learned. The class also allows her the opportunity to finish tests when she requires additional time, which is often a necessary accommodation for students with special education needs. Rather than taking away from her inclusion experience, the skills class strengthens it. It provides a support structure that allows her to be successful in her general education classes. Without this resource, students like my daughter may struggle to keep up with expectations despite their effort and potential. Maintaining the skills class program demonstrates the district's commitment to supporting all students and ensuring that those with special education needs have equitable access to academic success. I respectfully ask the board to consider the impact that removing this class would have on students who rely on it every day. Thank you for your time and your continued dedication to the students

182in our district. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> We'll follow up next meeting with any questions. >> Yes. The board >> Okay. >> The board has it. >> The board will have questions, I'm sure of it. >> If you have questions, >> Do you have the information for me? Yeah. >> Okay. All right. This time, we need a motion to adjourn. Kathy, Steve, all those in favor? That's everyone. All right. That's a quick one. >> Huh.