001We're good. We got a lot done >> two hours a little rush at the end. Oh my god. lot going on tonight. I got it a little bit Is that the right time? >> How could that be wrong? Good. Okay. Sorry about that, guys. We're >> We're about six or seven minutes late. Apologize. >> Okay. We need a motion to approve the minutes of the regular board of education meeting of 11:25 2025. >> Kathy Frank. All those in favor? Okay. Motion passes. Dr. Farley. >> Okay. Good evening everyone. Thank you for joining us tonight. This week, our West Babylon families, our staff and faculty members will receive notification from our facilities office with regards to our lead in water testing results. In accordance with New York State Department of Health, the regulation specifically relating to
002lead testing in school drinking water. Uh the school district completed an updated inventory of all of our water outlets in the district and another round of sampling of all applicable water outlets. As you may be aware, the district previously conducted largecale lead testing back in 2016 and also in 2020. Testing was performed by our certified environmental consulting and laboratory testing firm. Following best practices, of course, and out of an abundance of caution, we as a school district chose to test not only the portable uh water outlets such as like the regular drinking fountains and sink used um the sinks throughout the district that are used for food preparation, but we also uh selected additional um outlets, non-portable outlets that are typically not intended for drinking, right, to be part of the testing process. So those
003although these outlets are not designated for consumption, we elected to include them right to address in the rare circumstance in which someone might attempt to drink from an unintended water source. In compliance with New York State Department of Health regulations and our established remediation protocol, any outlet that tested above the state level's action level of five parts per billion was immediately removed from service, secured, and otherwise restricted until appropriate corrective action or remediation is completed. Just as an FYI, the allowable lead level, right, has been reduced from 15 parts per billion to five parts per billion, right, which means that more fixtures now qualify for corrective action, you know, in in all schools. These outlets uh will remain out of use until remediation is completed and follow-up testing confirms that the outlet is safe for
004use. A complete list of all the effective outlets along with the district's response actions and status updates will be available on the district website for public review this week. We actually just um finalize the letter and all the necessary paperwork that not only will be posted on the website but will also be sent to our residents via parent square. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to our facilities department using the contact information that will be included in the letter and also on our website. We appreciate your partnership as we continue to ensure a safe and healthy learning environment for all of our students, staff and faculty members. And then uh as we come to a close of this calendar year, can't believe it. Um some ways I can believe
005it. I want to take a moment to extend my heartfelt wishes to our entire West Babylon school community. To our students, thank you. Thank you for the joy, the curiosity, and the energy that you bring into our schools each and every day. I hope that this holiday break provides you with much time to rest, to recharge, and to enjoy meaningful moments with your families and friends. And we of course look forward to welcoming you back refreshed and ready for the new 2026. To our board, to our families, to our staff, staff and faculty members. Thank you. Thank you for your continued partnership, for your support, and your dedication to our students. Your commitment to our schools and to one another is what makes WB a strong and caring community. On behalf of the board of
006education and the administration team, I wish everyone a happy and peaceful holiday season, a safe and enjoyable recess, and a happy and healthy new year. That's all I have for this section. >> Miss Gold, you're up. >> Sorry. >> Okay. Good evening, everyone. Um, last week I got the opportunity to visit the school that I was a student at when I was in elementary school, JFK, which some of the students I visited are sitting right before us. Um I attended the students student council meeting for the fourth and fifth graders um on th last Thursday and they were preparing to sing holiday songs to the residents of the nursing home next door which um is a JFK tradition that I participated in when I was in fifth grade and it's something that I never forgot.
007Um, I always believe that it's extremely val extremely valuable to teach the students of our district to be kind to others and to make an effort to brighten someone's day. Um, because those are the lessons that stick with us way past the p past the classroom, excuse me. Um, one of the most important things that teachers do for us as students, or at least that teachers have done for me, is teach me how to be intelligent both inside and outside of the classroom. So, um I also would like to mention that students um at the school, sorry I didn't get the chance to speak with any students that were affected by the um consolidation of schools, but I got to speak with a lot of students that have made at least one new friend due
008to the consolidation. And I'm proud to report that every school I visited, the students have not only been smart and dedicated, but kind and considerate individuals who have welcomed whatever students were displaced with open arms. >> Okay, this point we are going to pivot. We have several presentations scheduled for tonight. Uh, I would like to invite Miss Vanloo, principal of JFK Elementary School, to the podium to introduce members of JFK's SQT team, some of our JFK superstars, uh, who will be presenting an exciting and impactful building initiative. Good evening everyone. Happy holidays. Um, Superintendent Dr. Farrellly, Mr. Pillo, Board of Education, Central Administration. I am so happy to be here with you today with student members of our school quality team. I'm going to introduce them. Fiona McCulla, Anna Odardi, Connor Buffa, Tastrosis, Olivia Montoro,
009and Grady Manx. Some of the students were with us last year as fourth graders and moved up to be fifth grade SQT members. So, they were here when we started this idea that they're going to be telling you about today. Um, so I'm going to turn it over to them because they are the founders of this idea. They generated this idea. I love it. Parents were crying and so happy over it. So, I'm going to have them tell you more. Would it be okay for me to pass the mic this way or you need them to come to the mic? >> Whichever way you feel most comfortable. >> Okay, you guys want to move be a little bit and then we'll just I'll hold it for you. >> The story of JFK's toy shop. In
0102024, during a school quality team meeting, while discussing ways we can serve and make our school a better place, a student proposed the idea of creating a toy shop. SQT students became excited about decorating an area of the school where parents could shop for what they wanted to give their children for the holidays instead of just giving bags of toys to families in need. JFK's Toy Shop with the help of our school social worker, Miss Miss Alviana, our school psychologist, Miss Saul, our school nurse, Miss Dailyaly, our SQT parent, Miss Odardi, and other adults. We went to work to create JFK store shop. We asked classes to help by making decorations for JFK shop. We stayed after school to decorate and set up the toy display. When parents came to shop, we played holiday music
011to get them in the holiday spirit. Although we didn't get to meet the parents, the adults told us that they love JFK toy shop. The feedback was so positive that we decided to do it again this year. >> Yesterday, we stayed after school to decorate the toy shop. It was so much fun. >> A shopping experience to remember. Today, as we speak, Parents are shopping for their children for the holidays. Mrs. Dailyy and Miss Alviano are at our school helping our parents to select the best toys for their children. The only difference between our shop and a regular store is that everything is free. >> And you can look at the video on the screen. Also, >> JFK families and community members donated so many items to help us create JFK's toy shop is a
012great idea that we that was started by our school quality team. We decided to do it for a second year in a row because it was a fun, thoughtful way that we can make the holidays brighter for our families in need. As a school, we worked together and I achieved our goals serving others and spreading holiday cheer. Happy holidays. Great job. You can tell from the pictures the students really had a lot of fun. And this idea actually was started by Dominic Conno who's now in sixth grade at the junior high school. But we continued and some of our students here today participated last year and then this year as well. But I I just believe that it provides a personal touch to what we are already doing, right? We're already serving in the community.
013We're already giving and doing. But to have parents come in and shop as if it were, you know, a real store is is really really nice and thoughtful and a great idea generated by our students. So, thank you. >> Okay. So, one question for you. >> How did it make you feel when you saw your ide something that way. I'd like to call you the most special. I know those giants, right? Thank you, Amanda. Yes, picture. Keep it up. Are we excited about the break? >> Anyone excited about everyone? as I look around these students are also involved in so many district initiatives. So huge thank you for all that you said you're welcome to continue and join us for the rest of the meeting. I would like to at this If you'd like to
014excuse yourself, you may. >> At this point, I would like to uh invite Miss Kelly up to the podium. We have our first department presentation of the season. It's a little intimidating after how wonderful that last presentation was. >> JK superstars. >> They were wonderful. >> But right up there, uh, one of our department chair superstars, Miss Kelly, is now going to provide the board with a presentation highlighting library department updates along with proposed budget needs for 2627 school year. So, take it away, Miss Kelly. >> Thank you so much. And on behalf of the library department, thank you for having us for this presentation. Um, so to get started tonight, my plan is to provide you with a broad overview of what we do as the library department here at WB and to just
015review a few budgetary pieces. So, as a department, we are leaders in AI. We love to foster love of reading through many different ways, um, free reading, readalouds, and more. We teach digital literacy, research, coding, and more. and we love to collaborate with teachers, public library, anybody who wants to collaborate with us. Um, some of our key programs at the elementary level, we have elementary rise and read. At the secondary level, we have a library internship program. And districtwide, we do hour of code. In regards to library services, we provide PD for teachers and staff. That may be, you know, with different names, databases and donuts, lunch and learns, and individual meetings throughout the year. So some highlights for the first half of the year and I did include the very end of last year
016as well just because we are very early in this year. So in regards to some of our major accomplishments, we have been collaborating with teachers for many different purposes that includes new databases that we purchased, free Boseies coaster programs provided to us through its AI tools and more. With the closure of Forest Avenue, we are still sorting through and interfiling books from that library. Um, we're also settling students, making sure that they all have access to databases because things might have changed as they move from one school to the other. One of the wonderful things that came this year is that all elementary schools now have the same databases. So that if they were at one school that had certain databases, they now have those same databases where they went. In regards to other accomplishments,
017our last big one is our updating of collections. We've been looking closely at our collections to make sure that they are as new as possible, that we're giving the best books to students, and in doing so, we are obsoleting very aged and worn titles to bring up the average age of our collections. In regards to new initiatives, we have the high school internship program at the the high school library. We actually have 15 interns now, and they come pretty regularly. um we don't want it to ever interfere with class time, but they come on their free time, they help out and they're wonderful. We also have the vocational program coming in. Uh K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K through eight,
018we have breakout edu, which is a new database and the lock of the day is something that's been adopted by many librarians and teachers throughout the district and K8 schools all have 3D printers now. So all of our librarians are using them with students and the the junior high schools actually started a 3D printer club. We've had quite a few successful projects at the elementary school. We have the um read across America program. That's all elementary. We have the bubble wand party that was spring 2025 where students actually made their own 3D printed bubble wands which was pretty cool. Santa Pog, the great readaloud. We had our district wide districtwide nights of AI secondary and elementary at the end of last year. Forest Avenue, the invention convention, which was the end of last year. South
019Bay cardboard arcade. The junior high school started up their annual PS I Love You Book Fairies book drive. And the high school at the end of last year successfully did their pet pet volunteer program series. Another big thing is the high school digitized all yearbooks from 1958 to 2025. So, all of these yearbooks are now available to the entire West Babylon community through the West Babylon Public Libraries page. In regards to awards and recognitions, Lauren Flores, she received the asset bright light award at the end of last year and Michelle Statfeld, our junior high librarian, presented at both ASET at the end of last year and and lights. All right, budget time. So, in regards to our current year budget summary, we are um at this point we've spent $67,598. If you look at the
020chart, you could see the different book bud uh the different budgets broken up by what they are. So, we have a book budget, supply budget, database budget, and flet budget. At this time, no areas are tracking over or under, and there will be no major end ofear variances or adjustments. At most, some POS may come a little bit under if we have to swap some book out books out, but it'll it will only be a few dollars here and there. And there are no unexpected expenses. We have received some assistance from Jessica Leavinsky in regards to manipulatives for for special education students. Whatever schools haven't gotten them yet, she has um pulled to see what we need for next year. Teresa Taplan's um always supported us too with the Suffach Edge grant. At the end
021of last year, we did receive money and this is how we've gotten our 3D printers. Cost efficiencies. We end up getting buildingwide database um rebates because we are doing um we're purchasing for more than one school. So, they do give us a little bit of a um discount. Just to show what we do have library database wise, I did put this chart together. You can see what the high school has, the junior high school has, and what all of the elementary schools have. In regards to our budgets, Flet is different than a library databases. Flet covers our catalog, which is called Destiny, and it also helps us provide um helps us to purchase scanners and barcodes. We also supplement our databases with the Boseies Koser programs. It pays $500 and we get free programs in
022um in return that are ed 2D compliant. um for example that's like Canva. So when it comes to departmental needs, one of the things that are essential is an increase in our database budget each year. We've received an increase each year um for the time that I've been a chairperson and this helps to account for the 2% increase that most databases make yearly. It's essential for us to keep what we have and to maintain. In addition, we would love if we can maintain or increase our book budget. Um, we hope to keep what we have or gain more. The more money we receive for books, the more books we can get into students hands. At this point, the collection of our the collection ages range between 1994 and 2004. In order to bring our collection
023ages up, we do need to get rid of outdated and worn books and replace them with newer books. In regards to price changes, I did put a little example up so you could see that in December of 2021, our range was from about $19 to 34 for high school non-fiction books. Now that range is from $35 to $52. So there has been a a big increase in how much a book costs. So other than the state minimum of allocated money for library books, it would be beneficial if we could purchase more. Once again, additional money goes to more books in student hands. On average this year, we were able to purchase 191 books in each building with the current budget of 22,500. I would really love to see us buying closer to more. I would
024like us to be able to purchase closer to 300. Um, with that 300, it would equate to a budget of 35,000. Another recommendation is an increase in our supply budgets. So, currently we get $200 at the secondary level and $150 at the elementary level to buy our supplies. In the chart that I put up, you can see how much each of the different library supplies costs. Um, these are consumables, which means we have to buy them yearly. Um, just book covers alone, they it adds up. So with that said, we would like to up it to 750 at the secondary level and 500 at the elementary level. It's just not enough for us to st to sustain us for the entire year without us having to make some sort of trade-off. And with that said,
025librarians at times will end up paying out of pockets for things that they desperately need. Another recommended long-term suggestion is a budget for library tech. The libraries do offer services outside of the day-to-day curriculum. And for this, we use our tech as an extra resource. We're unable to buy tech on our own is all of our all of our budgets are allocated for specific usage. So, if you look below, you can see what we've been able to get with grant funded um that are grant funded tech items. Without these funds, we wouldn't have been able to purchase any of this. So, these funds are also not guaranteed, but what we have received has been integral to the success of what we do. So if you see it's tablets, 3D printers, the filaments you use for
026the 3D printers, our Lego kits, um our dash and dot robots. So we've been very fortunate and theres has been wonderful. So upcoming projects and initiatives looking ahead, we would love to continue to develop our collection obsolete aged and damaged titles and interfile forest books. We also plan to stay on the forefront of AI updates and changes to share out with our respective buildings and the entire district. Professional development speaking, we've been very fortunate. The district has supported us in going to the asset and lights conferences through its regional institute through the district. This has been very helpful as it keeps us up to date so we are able to be on the forefront of these tech updates. In regards to challenges um funds for technology, we would love to receive funds from the district,
027but we understand that you know it might not happen for us. However, we will always explore additional grant opportunities. In regards to our database costs, our book costs cost will continue to go up and of course we're going to do the best we can with what we have, but you know, more books in students hands will be beneficial. So, thank you guys so much for having me. >> Awesome. Thank you. Any questions regards to our library programs? >> Yes. It's not the same where they're coming in and taking out fiction books to read for pleasure. We have a lot more research. So we have students coming in taking out many many non-fiction books which is why when I did the example it came to be non-fiction. Um but those are the books that are are
028circulating and even when I did a collection analysis most of my books are non-fiction to serve that purpose. >> Miss Johnson time. phone microphone um with the uh Chromebooks that same information that it stays up to date all the time that doesn't serve them better or they like to have the physical. >> It's good to have a combination of it. Um the databases do provide quite a few sources, but when we're talking about thesis papers, the databases only go so far when they're looking for specific um specific individual topics. some of them are very specific. So having those books in addition to the databases really does make a difference. Um and even when we can't support sometimes we even ask for help from the public library where we'll send a kid um just because with
029specific topics it it could be limited. >> And now if a child using the support from the public library let's just say for whatever reason that child doesn't have a library card can they take it out through the school through the library or no >> at this time? No, >> no, but we do look and we see what we have um available through, you know, our online databases, through the public libraries databases, and we always suggest if they're interested to go to the library >> on the budget as far as besides um ones that are um obsolete or need to be replenished, how do you know which direction to go to in reference to what you should purchase? >> So, we use a combination of what the teachers need. um our expertise looking at uh
030different journal articles. We work with different vendors who have, you know, specific curated lists and we we speak to our teachers, we speak to our students and we see, you know, where is there a need and that's really what guides us. We also do go to conferences, we look at award winners. So there's so many different factors that do go into it. Um but as a department, we do have um we do have a lot of conversations about this. >> So there's some research to the categories that are being brought in. Of course, totally. Yes. Process. thoroughly look at that >> place. >> Yep. >> I noticed in the um was it one of the PTA meetings in the high school like the whole section in the center there's no more bookshelves. Um what what
031were those? >> So we had we had a lot of old reference books. So what we did is for the reference books where we could find that information readily available and they were from the 60s and 70s. We took the space from the shelves to move some stuff back because we wanted to make it more of a community center for the students. Um, but we were actually able to back shift and use a lot of that extra space we had in the back. So now all of the non-fiction books that were kind of in two spots are all together and all the fiction books are together. >> Okay. >> And it's more multi-purpose now for uh student needs. >> I'll ask a quick question here. Um, I'm the techie guy. Um, what are we doing
032with with respect to AI now and what are you looking at um for the future in terms of you know to grow that what are we doing with that now >> so we are incorporating it into our digital citizenship lessons we are also um touching upon it in coding within our K um 8 curriculums up at the high school we also have the students coming in um all nth grade students come in for two different library lessons at a minimum throughout the year just to introduce them to AI to practice a little bit we have Canva Um, so while many AI tools are not Ed Law 2D compliant, Canva is. So what we're doing is we're using what the district has to be able to give them a little bit of practice and to also
033tell them, you know, there are certain ways to be responsible with it, not just take advantage. Shout out to Miss Steph Michelle who's in the back. um one of our other uh school library media specialists um who's in the room and here supporting obviously Miss Kelly and the department right with all of our department initiatives. So thank you for being here Michelle. >> Thank you so much Miss Kelly. So part of this process right again you know as we do um every year throughout the next couple months right we'll be meeting with all of our department leaders but again in conversations we thought it would be a great idea to also come to a board meeting right to not just talk about our needs but also take the opportunity to highlight all the wonderful department
034things happening so thank you for coming today >> thank you for having me >> all right so um we are now going to thank you Mr. Maddie for being here, our transportation supervisor. Yes, we have We're good. Okay, we have our Wendle team. I'm gonna test this out. See if I believe we have Bradley Flanigan and Adam Adam Kaufman with um Wendell with us. They are joining us remotely via Zoom. >> Yeah. Hey, how are you guys? >> Doing well, thank you. Does that mean you can hear us clearly? >> Yes, we can. >> Fantastic. and we can hear you. >> Awesome. >> It's cuz Savannah and Rita are doing their magic back there. All right. So, take it away. And actually, you know what? While Do you need a second or two? You're good.
035>> I think we're okay. Brad, do you want to try and share? I know you have the presentation up as well. >> Yep. >> Okay, cool. Um, so yeah, we can jump, but if you want to take two seconds to say something before we start, no problem. if you want a little bit of a prelude and reminder, right? Um so I'm losing track of timeline here. We know that um school not just school districts, right? But I'll speak specifically for school districts. There is a uh requirement, right, for school districts to move in the direction of electric vehicles, right? Um so that's what we're talking about specifically here is our transportation fleet. uh some time period ago and it may have been a year ago, it may have been a little bit more than that.
036Uh we started to and again this is part of New York State requirement for school districts to take a look at their facilities, take a look at their vehicles and try to um analyze establish right what the needs for the school districts are right and what each school district needs to be in order to be compliant with the zero emission vehicle trans you know transition um requirement that New York State has in place right now. So at that point in time uh we met with the team that you'll be hearing with right the Wendell team. They came to a board meeting you know we talked about uh really taking a look at our infrastructure right taking a look at our vehicles and doing the study for us right um sharing with the board and administration
037what we would need to do obviously in in a planned and thoughtful uh multi-year process right to get to that point. So our team um you know we asked the team at Wendell right to proceed and do so. The board gave that authorization uh and they have been working closely with Mr. Maddie um and the transportation uh fleet also with Mr. Lojitus as well right from our facilities department uh to gather all the necessary information from our school district to be on site right um to ultimately present us with this um transition plan for the board to you know consider as part of this process. We also as a school district have been required to submit reports to the state right to share with them our our progress right in evaluating this new mandate. We
038have met those right um reporting requirements um as a result of again Wendell doing this work for us. So you gentlemen can take it away from here. >> Thank you. Thank you. Um so yes um I was actually here about a year ago presenting on what this study could be. Um and Wendell was able to get West Babylon 100% funding to go and do this study in partnership with NAERTA. Um so I appreciate the time today and the opportunity to present kind of what we found. Um so you know starting off the slide here, this is a zero emission vehicle transition plan. So it focuses on transitioning your fleet to battery electric buses which is the only available product that fits that zero emission vehicle um name there. And just a little agenda here. So,
039we'll introduce who we are. Um, we'll go through what the mandate from the state really is, some key dates, uh, and what it focuses on. Um, we will go through, uh, some of the details on the analysis that we did, the findings that are associated with that analysis from looking at the bus routes, the times, the fleet. Um we will show what we found from the PSCG's uh utility availability to provide that power and then we'll jump into how we um tried to phase out this transition, how you could potentially phase it out over time um and the associated costs um that would be there for those phases. So I'm Adam Calfman. Um I am a project manager at Wendell. I've been at Wendell for about 10 years. Um, I am an associate principal um,
040and I really supported Brad um, on the analysis and the project management, but Brad really led this study and I'll let him introduce himself here. >> Yeah, good to meet you guys. Brad Flanigan. I'm a project manager and was kind of the technical lead on this project. >> Perfect. Um, so quickly who is Wendell? Wendell is a full-ervice architecture and engineering firm, uh, energy efficiency and construction management. Those are our four core practice areas. Um, we started in a little shed, Mr. Wendell, on the bottom left, and we now have our headquarters in Williamsville, Buffalo, and we're going on about 400 employees, um, 16 offices nationwide, and our local office is in Hop Hog. So, it was a short drive over when I came to the board meeting the first time. Um, again, heavily focused
041in New York. um six total offices, but Long Island is our local office. So, um the zero emission bus mandate from New York State, it really focuses on two key dates. Um the first date that's upcoming, um to your point, it's almost 2026, which is crazy. Um is by 2027, all new school bus purchases are to be zero emission. Again, zero emission really leaves you with two options. It's battery electric buses or hydrogen buses. And hydrogen buses are not commercially available today. Um, so your our focus of the study and really your focus as a district should be on battery electric buses. Uh, the second date is by 2035. All school buses on the road, so all school buses in your fleet, not just new purchases, are to be zero emission buses. So that's about
04210 years from today. Um the Senate is requiring uh the state to identify barriers to the 2035 goal so that they can kind of navigate it and make adjustments as necessary. And we did this study in close partnership with NAERTA, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, who also funded this study. Um and they were tasked by the state to provide technical assistance to school districts um to make and navigate this transition to 100% electric buses. So NAERTA is um heavily involved. They really are um trying to help school districts understand what it will take for them to make this transition, but they're also collecting a lot of this information. The data that we put together from these reports um is collected by NAERTA. It is essentially like trended and statistically analyzed so
043that they can go back and aggregate all the different district information. different districts and different regions have different issues of of how they'll be able to make this transition and really what you know what it looks like for them. And so they uh basically collect it all together and convey to the state how it's looking what that picture is looking like for other different regions and what the biggest hurdles are and and help them try to navigate this transition. So, um, NAERTA is heavily leaned on by the state to help, uh, make this transition happen. And the data is not only for you, but it's for them to be able to convey that message back to New York State. That's kind of the feedback loop that happens. And from here, I'll pass it to Brad
044to to go into some of the findings from the actual study. >> Awesome. Yeah. So, we're going to cover now some of the West Babylon specifics. So how we went about this study is we collected data from your team on your existing fleet and the existing routes that your buses take each day. We then put those into our calculations which look at the available products in the market today. So on the bus side and on the charger side um and we we see can these routes be completed by buses that are in the market today. What we found is you guys have 32 existing route buses. So buses that are going out each day on daily routes and 31 of those 32 can be completed by buses by electric buses that are in the market
045today. That leaves one additional bus which cannot be completed which I'll touch on in just a second. Um, in these tables you can see the specific models that we're looking at and then also the associated chargers that would be needed based on the timing of the routes and how much time there is to charge versus how long the routes are to get back to that one bus that is not currently able to be completed by a bus in the market today. Um here we outline the distance that it's actually going and the bus size that would be required. We do we do anticipate that over the mandate period. So by 2035 a bus of this size will become available in the market. So for the sake of this study we have proposed that this would
046be converted later on in the transition. Can I add one thing on that which is Yep. Um just so again what we're looking at is what you know we're engineers so we're looking at design days the coldest days the most stressful conditions. Um so again when we say there's one bus that you know won't be able to address uh the routes that it has to drive. That's basically saying in the most stressful conditions during a zero degree day outside when it is wintertime we don't feel comfortable that this bus will be able to complete that route. Um you know and again so basically it means on a normal day these buses will be able to you know address all or most and and their capacities will be much larger than what we're modeling right here.
047But again, our goal is to show a stressful condition just cuz a bus can, you know, transport students on on a normal day, but it wouldn't be able to do it on a winter day. We want to make sure that's conveyed to Nicer. Thank you, Brad. >> Yeah, that's a great point. So, we're taking the the distances that the manufacturers say these buses can go and we're degrading it a lot to be conservative and make sure that on the coldest day when bus when the battery is degraded 8 years from now um that the bus can still complete the routes it needs to. The next step of our study was we looked at the on the electrical side of things. We got in contact with the utility PSEG and we asked them we brought to
048them this anticipated demand electrical demand. So how much power would be needed at the site based on of the previous steps of this study and we asked PSCG can you supply this power to the site? PSCG actually met with us out on site. They did an analysis of their own and they determined that they can provide the necessary power and it would cost them roughly $40,000 to um provide that power with a utilityowned transformer at the site. Additionally, some of this cost will get covered by incentives which I will actually start touching on right now as well. So part of um what NAERTA is trying to do is they're trying to incentivize this as much as possible um to alleviate some of the economic stresses involved. So first off looking at the buses here um
049there's a school bus voucher program. So depending on the type of bus there is a base voucher that you can get as a priority district. West Babylon would also get this additional amount for each bus that they purchase. And then there's a couple more add-ons here. The purpose of these is hopefully to try to alleviate the cost difference between the battery electric buses and your current diesel fleet. um it's not going to fully make up the difference, but it it will get it pretty close with the um with these vouchers. On the charger side, similar program here. So, a charging voucher program. Um there's a $35,000 base voucher per charger. And by doing a fleet electrification plan, which is what this is, so you now qualify for $65,000 per charger. And then on the charging
050infrastructure side, the utilities have a make ready program. So this is PSEG's program. So they will cover 100% of the costs on the utility side up to $100,000. So that $40,000 cost that I mentioned on the previous slide would be covered by the utility. And then they also cover 50% of infrastructure upgrades required for this transition on the customer side of the meter up to $100,000 as well. As Adam alluded to earlier, we kind of split this into phases to make it a little bit more digestible and help to offer an example of what this could look like phased out between 2027 and 2035. This does not hold you to anything, but this is again just kind of how we modeled it during this study. On the right side, you can see the schematic drawing
051of your existing parking facility where we are proposing for more equipment. So, we have um we have switchboards, we have charging equipment, we have a utility transformer that I mentioned coming in. We have power from the utility pole and feeding. In this phase, it would be 15 chargers and their associated buses and then fire protection upgrades as well. And the total cost of this infrastructure upgrade here would be 3.7 million. A little look at the fire protection here. So for battery electric bus fires, they don't happen any more often than diesel bus fires, but when they do happen, they burn hotter and they burn longer than diesel fires. So the idea here is bringing more water to the site so that in the case of a fire, you can douse it with with excess amounts
052of water. So additional hydrants and then sprinkler system for your maintenance bay. Phase two, continuing off of phase one. So, at this point, we would have um installed all of the major equipment pieces. So, now it would just be adding additional chargers and their associated buses. And then phase three, similar to phase two, would just be adding more chargers. So, 16 more chargers and their associated buses here. This is an example of a schedule. Um, so this is not specific to you guys, but just to kind of illustrate that there are some long lead time items involved in this transition. So, as you can see, transformers, we're seeing up to 12 month delivery lead times, switch gear deliveries, we're seeing up to 18 months. So, the point of this is just, you know, even if
053we were to get this going today, we're talking a year to two years before um equipment arrives on site and we're we're actually driving these buses. So, big picture, where does this leave you guys then? So, a phase one design, that phase one that we just looked at, that was, you know, the 3.7 million phase one. If we were to start that today, we're looking at a roughly 4 months of design for that to get stamped drawings and then total of about 24 months until Chargers, buses installed on site, ready to drive. another option that and again we are you know we want to help you guys go forward in whichever way you think is is best for the district. Um so that's why we like to also provide this um what we call a
054pilot which is kind of a smaller first step into this program. Um and we've actually implemented this at a couple districts elsewhere in the state and we're going down this path with with a few more districts as well. Um, but this pilot essentially allows you to get a couple of chargers. So, anywhere between, you know, one and five chargers depending on the electrical infrastructure at the site and their associated buses. And it allows you to avoid the major infrastructure upgrades that are required with the full phase 1 transition. So, I I laid out over here on the right side kind of an example of the economics here and how this could look. So, for for two chargers and two associated buses, um you can see there's pretty good incentive money. Um these are the incentive
055programs that we talked about. So, um and these might these will actually be even a little bit higher because you're a priority district. But at the bottom here, you can see the comparison of if you purchase two diesel buses, we're looking at roughly $240,000 versus the two battery electric buses and associated charger, um, conduit wiring to get these hooked up and installed. Um, and we're looking at about $277,000. So, I just wanted to show this too as you know, as you move forward and the district kind of considers next steps, we know that it is daunting to um think about those those large sums of money associated with the major phase upgrades. Um, so as a potential kind of first step to get a couple buses on site and start figuring out how they work,
056the maintenance, the driving, things like that. Um, this is another option that you guys can have as well. And that's all we've got here. So, I'll open it up if you guys have any questions or um, comments from this. When you did the analyzation of our current routes, it's only the the buses that we that are the in-house buses. >> That is correct. Yes, the in-house buses >> and then with the pilot program you just you just illustrated that doesn't require any additional um fire suppression. >> No. So, as it currently stands, there are no requirements for fire suppression systems with battery electric buses. We include it in our phase one because we anticipate that the state is lagging behind and there will be requirements eventually, but at this point in time, there are no
057requirements for fire protection. >> Okay. And just to add to that it, you know, again, we we feel strongly that there is, you know, proper safety protocol to follow, but when you transition a whole fleet, we feel very strongly that there is fire protection scheme that should accompany that. Um, a couple buses, it's probably less important to have an entire um fire protection plan as we outlined it. Um, for, you know, a first step of a bus, it's more um driver training and how to handle a fire at that point with two buses on site. >> Okay. You also mentioned that we were a priority school. What designates us as a priority school? >> It's a good question. >> Um, so it, you know, there's particular definitions of that. So for you guys, it's based
058on Naerta's definition of priority districts, which has to do with um factors that are a little above my head. Essentially, it's where you're standing and the students that you serve and the areas in which um you know, the students that go to your district are in. So, they have maps essentially that designate which areas are considered priority. Um, and NAERTA for you guys designates your district as serving uh, you know, priority students and and community members where you guys were able to get that 100% funded study and you would qualify for those additional funding um, buckets essentially that Brad outlined. >> Gotcha. U, what about training of the staff for bus maintenance? I mean, it's a whole new >> Yeah, it's a whole new uh, set of roles here. What how does that take place?
059>> Yep. So, a lot of the standard maintenance is the same brakes, right? Oil uh no oil changes obviously, but brakes and things that would be on a diesel bus for the beginning, right? So, at the beginning of the transition, um you would be working with your uh bus vendors essentially to do, you know, high voltage service. So if there was a battery issue, you would be calling up your bus vendor to go maintain that issue or address that issue to start. Now there is uh you know training programs that your staff can take and get qualified to do specific work and in a long term right that may be the route that's more appropriate for you guys. Um but in the shorter term you would be leaning on your bus vendor to help service
060the components that are considered um outside what they would already do. >> Right. Okay. There's no other equipment that's needed. I mean, I I guess um battery operated buses, electric buses are heavier, tires are different, right? I mean, there's there's definitely suspensions are different because of the weight. Is there added equipment costs? >> So, generally, Brad, did we look at their lifts that are on site? >> Um, I will take a look at that while you answer this, but I believe we did. >> So, the biggest impact is typically on the lift that you have to be able to do that service, like a tire change. Um, and 99% of the time the weight differences um, can be accommodated by your existing lifts, which I think is the case for you guys here. Um, so
061there's no major differences in terms of the equipment that you need in your maintenance bay to do the standard maintenance. There are different there are is different tools and equipment to work on batteries again. So again, as you took a longer look at this to be able to maintain these buses and actually do high voltage battery work or charger work, you know, that's a different conversation, but I think um to start you would be, you know, um you know, be engaging in service contracts with your bus vendor um or charger vendor to to maintain those and they have uptime requirements and they make sure that um the buses are able to be used, driven, and the buses and the chargers are able to charge those buses for 98% uptime uh guarantees essentially where they'll be
062on site that day to make sure that that that charger or bus is serviced. Do now I noticed all the chargers are located at our current uh busing facility. Do do they ever give consideration to having chargers at certain school buildings in case of an emergency or in case of a miscalculation? >> So that is called o we call that opportunity charging. So, it's not just for you guys, but you could it could be for a visiting school, right? And an athletic trip from far away where they need to charge while students are are doing their athletics. Um, so again, we have done that study essentially where we look at leveraging the existing service and existing electrical capacity at the different schools for one charger or two chargers of particular sizes. Um, that was not
063included in this study here. Um, but it is something that Wendell can do, right? And as a district and as a community, you have the ability to, you know, provide that for visiting schools. And there's a lot of talk um with the Boseies supporting this because they obviously support a lot of the different component districts that they serve. Um and so as more programs roll out, we'll keep you posted, but I think you as a district definitely have the opportunity and ability to do that um for yourself and also, you know, surrounding schools. >> Right. So, the the the uh study you did looked at the bus routes we currently have. Does it take into consideration athletics where there may be a game all the way in Southampton? Um, does it look at those distances
064as well? >> I'm going to let Brad answer that one. >> Yeah. So, we look at that as a kind of different section of this report. Um, reason being that those routes are not as predictable as your daily routes. That being said, those routes are also usually some of your longest routes that you have. Um, so we do have a section in the final report that covers um kind of at the end of the day, what what distance do buses still have in them in terms of battery capacity and what percentage of those extracurriculars which you guys had provided us can be completed. Um, so that's kind of where this report goes with that right now. >> Adams, >> the numbers were of their ability to complete the athletics. I'm sorry to put you on
065the spot right here. And again, um, this is something we could share. We did highlight it um, in our report of if there were routes that like to your point, if they were going out to East Hampton, they may not have been able to be addressed by the electric vehicles. But I know we did highlight the percentage of your extracurriculars and athletic routes that were able to be completed by these buses. And I'm putting Brad on the spot right now. So, um, >> yeah, and I am going to kick this to after and I will say I will send it over because I don't have it in front of me right now. But, um, yes, to Adam's point, we do have those. To Adam's other point, this is um kind of a topic that NAERTA
066is looking into more in terms of, you know, how could we provide opportunity charging for other districts coming to your school and for you guys going to other districts for those long routes to be able to achieve them. Um to be honest, that's one of the most difficult parts that NAERTA has run into with these transitions is this what do you do about extracurriculars and sports trips >> is the is the the way in which these different brand buses charge all the same? In other words, is the the charges universal? >> The ports. Yeah. So, there's standards around them. Um there are different charger styles in terms of like the rate of charge. Um but all these manufacturers uh follow universal charging protocols which require the ports to be essentially interchangeable. So um a 95%
067of these buses and chargers can utilize the different product ports and and dispensers and things like that. So yes, >> I have a question regarding we're talking about all the charging. um you know our transportation and as you see on the map it's right smack in the middle of a residential area got the two elementary schools how much radiation is given off from that from having that many charging stations in one spot I don't know much about charging vehicles I don't know if there's any I just >> yeah that's that's not um a particular concern in the market right now in terms of the amount of radiation I couldn't answer it off the top of my head that is something I could probably provide afterwards. But um it is you know not something that you
068know the department of transportation or um the charging technology is um essentially concerned from a health perspective. So, um, again, I can get more technical answers for you on that, but, um, I don't think that is, uh, the main focus or concern of of doing this. >> Any other questions? >> Um, I have a couple of questions. Um, I look at the charger sizes knowing the way that electric vehicles charge. Obviously, if you're looking at a charging size of 24 hours. That's going to take a long time to recharge a vehicle. How long on average are you expecting that these buses need to recharge back to 90%. If let's say they're they're fully done with their route and they take a bus out for an extracurricular activity, they come back with 10% life back, how
069long will it take to recharge that bus? >> Brad, you want me to do this or you want to take this one? >> Yeah, I can take this. Um, so yeah, what what we actually would recommend here is using a charger management system. Um, and what that does is it's going to for the for the well-being of the battery, it's going to charge the battery as low and slow as possible to get it back up to that 90% level when it's needed next. So, if it comes back at 3 p.m. and it's down to 10%, it's going to take until it leaves for its next route the next morning to get back up to 90%. Um, if you were to fully charge it, you could do it probably significantly faster in a couple of hours.
070Um, but again, for the sake of the battery life, it's best to do low and slow charging. And just to add to that, so uh you know low, you know, there is uh strategies to protect battery health, right? That's what Brad's alluding to there. Um every single one of those chargers is considered a level three charger, a DC fast charger. So what you would typically use at your house, which could be a level one, or what are some of the faster chargers for residential EVs, which could be a level two, which goes up to 19.2 kW. Um all of these that we are specified are considered fast chargers. That's just a start. Um we do specify like the right charger for the right use case. You know there are some that are 60 or 120
071kW which could do it much faster. But just to do a little math exercise here, if we did a 200 kowatt bus, some of them are less, some of them are higher and you had a 24 kowatt charger, you would be at roughly, you know, 8 and a half n hours to get a full charge. that's 100%. Um, battery technology doesn't let it go below 10% or above 90%. So, you're looking at a requirement of about 80% charge for a bus. So, if you were 80% 160, um, you'd be about 8 hours of charge for a full charge from an absolutely dead battery to a fully charged battery. 8 hours that would typically be overnight. If there was a requirement for a faster charge in the middle of the day, we would specify a larger
072charger to be able to do that at a quicker rate. Um, but again, just, you know, rough orders here. It could be eight hours to charge your bus. And, you know, the right way to do that is overnight. >> Got it. Um, what's your anticipated range in terms of miles for each bus? Let's say you take a look at the 210 kilowatt hour bus type C. How many miles are you expecting to get out of that bus? And then um just to kind of shift a little bit on the battery um you know what does the district do to protect the battery um when it's time to get in close to replacement? Is there like a warranty protection or is there something that could be done? Because obviously the the majority of the cost on
073these buses is going to be the battery packs. Um, how do we help protect ourselves so that we don't get hit in 5 to seven years after having these buses in fleet with batteries that are only at 85% capacity? >> Yep. Yep. So, good questions. Um, generally for our modeling, we are factoring in um degregation of about 10% which is on average reaches around um they warranty up to 90% of battery health for eight years. So, as part of your bus purchase, the warranty on the batteries for eight years to maintain a certain amount of battery health. Um, granted, these new age batteries have been performing even better than that essentially in the amount of hours that they're used. So, they're seeing them maintain that amount of battery percentage and usage for closer to 12
074years, which is what's considered the life of the bus. Um so again the models generally do factor in that you're going to have degragation of 10% from you know that's what we're modeling. So for many years you'll perform much better than what we're modeling. Um and then when you talk about ranges with that 10% uh that's not used on the safety factor on the low end the 10% that's not used as a safety factor on the high end the 10% degragation and cold weather conditions. We're estimating that uh 210 is about 40 miles worst case and average case about 70. Best case probably around 100 miles of uh drivable essentially usage before it would need to charge again. >> I would have expected more to be perfectly honest >> and and you could these the
075we're very conservative with what we're doing here to be honest with you. um if you talk to the bus. So again, if you need more mileage, right, there's bigger batteries here. There's green power batteries, which on average go 142 miles up to 200 miles um on a good day. Um and there's IC 315 kWh uh buses, which I believe we we uh selected a couple of, which is 61 on the low end and 101 on an average up to 150 in a best case. Um, to your point, if you speak to these manufacturers, they're going to tell you they can go even longer. Um, and they very well could. Um, but what we are modeling here is supposed to show a more conservative view at these. >> That's that's fine. Um, let me ask let
076me ask you, Mr. Maddie, what's our current um mileage on a tank of gas on your average bus? >> Uh, so actually I don't have that. I do have a couple examples. still required us to fill up gas station. I mean, I would imagine we could probably get 300 miles to a tank of gas, if not more, >> you know, on a on a regular diesel vehicle as opposed to now cutting our range nearly 400%. >> You know, on that >> What's that? >> Other questions? >> Yeah, I'm sorry. I just wanted to ask the numbers you're giving us as far as miles on buses. That empty bus or fully loaded bus? >> That's a fully loaded bus. >> All right. Thank you. >> Are the uh compliance regulations the same for the companies we
077currently use outside of district? >> Yes, it is. So, your bus contractors are also um required to meet the New York State mandate. Again, when you when you talk about how it's enforced, it is is not straightforward. A lot of what is being talked about is that it will be requirements in your contract language when you go to update your RFPs. Um so when you go ask for pricing from them the next time whatever your contract is or or that term is um you know there's talk again I don't know this is not a guarantee that this is just what's being talked about right now that you know as part of your requirement to contract with that you know provider they will need to be providing an electric bus fleet for you guys. So, listen,
078there are bus contractors in Long Island that are starting to accumulate their electric buses, that are starting to learn about the technology. Um, you know, who's your provider again? I'm sorry, I forget. >> Does anyone remember their your bus contractor? >> And we also contract out >> Yeah. Do you do you remember who your contractor is? >> Suffic. Yes. So, I know them over there. uh Tino is is a gentleman who um is leading a lot of their EV work and they have buses in their fleet already that um are EVs and so they're you know on the leading edge essentially of learning about this technology and being able to leverage it in their fleet >> absolutely yes >> Mr. has a question. >> Hi everybody. Um I have a question. Uh so I just
079thought of what happens if a bus breaks down, electric bus breaks down and it needs a tow truck. Who is the tow truck operator going to be able to tow a bus or is are they trained in dealing with electric buses? And that's something I need to kind of know in case there's like a breakdown of that nature because then we're also talking about potentially procuring another contract for a tow uh meaning that they have to be experienced in dealing with electric buses as well. So, um I am not the most familiar with the tow truck technology, although I do know that there are, you know, towes that are able to tow not only diesel buses, but electric buses and vehicles that are much, much heavier than that as well. Um, but I would have
080to get you, you know, I would have to go, you know, meet with my team and get you a little bit of a better answer than that. But that's what I can give you today right now. I think it' be a different >> I mean, are there any uh contractors you know of on Long Island right now that are able to do the provide the service? >> I don't know off the top of my head. >> This will other questions. >> One more question. >> Sure. >> Um just going back to Mr. Maddie and his example of you know our kids went to Connecticut. So we use our electric bus to go to Connecticut >> and there's no charging because they don't have the same regulations there right now. Um we'd have to start contracting
081out then to coach buses and everything just gets more expensive. Well, well, let me ask this. If a bus, if an electric school bus had to make a long trip, like where would they recharge? Like I mean, I can't anticipate that you're going to have a school bus pull up at a Tesla Supercharger, right? Like like these these buses are not meant for long long range transportation. Is that right? >> These are some of the bigger questions from a state perspective, right? that are definitely being talked about not just kind of at our local level, right, but really across the board. And you talk about, you know, um other regions within New York and how spread apart, right, some of their districts are, you know, in terms of the distances between the home and the
082school, even more so, right, for for those regions. So, it's it's um I'll call it a a concern that is definitely widespread across the state that they're going to need to navigate through, right? Because the charging station, right, that has to be established, right, in terms of um the availability for these um buses to be able to charge and again even more so in those regions in New York that are the square footage is significantly different, right, than a West Babylon, a Babylon, a Deer Park. I don't know if you want to add to that but in our circle that's been part of the conversation right at that statewide concern >> right and then also the electrical grids you know ability to be able to handle the additional capacity right >> that's a major concern
083in my opinion too like will we have the electrical power to be able to support that not just for our district but for the rest of the districts that are on this island alone >> right well in our case right um the Wendell team had PSCG here right and and that is a a topic that in some regions the answer is no they have significant concerns, right? In our case, they came back and, you know, shared that they would be able to, right? I mean, like for us, they said yes, but then everybody else starts filling it out. How does that affect us? >> Absolutely. Definitely. >> Right. >> I don't know um if you guys wanted to add anything to that topic. >> No, no, I appreciate you you chiming in. That was perfect.
084Um so, nothing more to add to that. Again, PSCG is um you know their their business is to sell power and they're doing a lot of planning to make sure that they can provide that um to you know all the different districts and and users of electric vehicles. So they are very focused on it. They are doing capital planning to make sure that they can provide power and yes I agree for you guys particularly you have the available capacity. >> Thank you. concerns, big concerns about finances and disabled vehicles. Any other questions? Adam and Bradley, I can't thank you enough, right? Um, for obviously again the dedication, the time, right, and also kind of the beginning part of this, right, where we had some struggles with regards to the the study, right, to helping us
085coordinate and be able to get us the funding to do the thorough study that you didvious. Obviously a lot to digest, right? The board has the full 153 page uh document um that you guys um put together. So u we obviously will continue these discussions, right? And we'll be circling around um back for a follow-up conversation at some point in the near future. Okay. >> Excellent. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Everyone have a great holiday time. Take care and let us know if you have other questions. Okay. >> Happy holidays. Thank you. >> Thank you everyone. Dr. do you bring in the various like >> so um in your various discussions do the fire districts or fire marshals do they take do they partake in that because it changes what your local um
086that they can't just use water to put out an electric bus fire or they can't I mean I'm sure an >> or batteries, right? So >> So I know that they have that um you know the their setup there that they were saying they have the extra pump and all that but I'm just saying on more buses on the road. I just don't know if there's a different way that needs >> you know the interesting piece is exactly what he said. Um, when I first saw it here, it surprised me because to be honest, in none of the large scale um, meetings that have occurred on this topic, has there ever been an inclusion of like the fire chiefs or anything to that effect or even quite honestly bringing up the topic of adding more
087of the water supply, right, as they recommended to us, right, that you know, as part of this process and and clearly again to their point at this point is not a requirement, Right. Um, you know, however, from from their lens, they do see it as inevitable. You know, probably it will be at some point, right? But it hasn't been correct in terms of them later on, right? Building that in, right, as you're working on your infrastructure. >> Yeah. I'm just thinking it affects everybody. You know, it affects what what equipment do the districts or departments need. You know, the goes down to the clubs where okay, now they might have to budget for charter buses because we can't use school buses to get from Weston to Connecticut. like all these things are going through my
088head. It's not just >> Southampton or South Korea. >> Oh yeah, >> there are places not that far from us that PSCG has shared concerns with regards to being able to service them to do this right. So I you know I guess obviously again depending on the infrastructure depending on the area depending on what obstacles right so it is um you know interesting definitely >> a lot to digest right a lot to go through like I mentioned it's um I think it's 15 page, right, actual report. So, we'll continue to, you know, digest it, take a look at it. Needless to say, you know, as was highlighted, right? Um, a phase in plan as outlined in terms of by the team, you know, at the end of the day, those three phases was over $8
089million or so, right? Um, there's that factor, right? In addition to all of these unanswered questions that again, not just from our West Babylon region, but more um and not just Long Island, right, but really New York State level have to be answered. Um he did I believe he did mention in terms of in the beginning, right, the state is receiving this information. The purpose of some of these right like questionnaires and where you're at and what are some of the obstacles and have you met with PSCG is to inform the state, right, the people involved in these discussions? Um you know, will that timeline change? Will there be some variation to that? Will there be some sort of kind of half half? I don't know. Uh but they are it is part of the
090discussion and they're utilizing this uh the data points right to guide that your question of what landed us on the priority. Um I specifically asked and I also didn't get a question. I mean I was happy to see that right that we did fall into a category where we would be able to receive some additional right funding or reimbursement. You know the cost is still obviously astronomical even with right some of those. >> Well I mean think despite the questions we came up with today that Obviously, we'll need further research. The state's going to have to answer how districts are going to be spending tens of millions of dollars after incentives to to even head in this direction. Not just us, every district. >> Yeah. >> I mean, there's probably some that are like, "Yeah,
091whatever." But, um, you know, it's going to be that's going to be the biggest questions besides the tow trucks and the and the distances. I mean, those are all great questions that'll have to be answered. >> But, you know, we're not voting on this tomorrow, obviously. >> No, absolutely not. Definitely. >> To have districts spending 10 to20 million dollars uh for a project is a lot. It's an unfunded mandate. >> So that's all I had for this section. Thank you. >> At this time, I just shut it off. At this time, statement of residents on agenda items only, residents wishing to share a statement. Uh please state their name, address, and any organization they represent. They can also write their information on an index card and hand it to the assistant super superintendent of finance
092and operations. Comments of individual students or employees are not permitted. Each resident will have up to three minutes to speak with a total of 15 minutes allotted. Responses will be given after all statements. Questions needing further research will be addressed at the next meeting. Okay. No one at this time. Okay. We need a motion to approve the consent agenda. Anthony Kirsten. All those in favor. It's everyone. Okay. We need a motion to wave the first time reading and adopt policy 8112 as revised. Kathy, Katie. All those in favor. Okay. Motion to wave a first time reading and adopt policy 8115 is revised. Katie, Kathy, all those in favor. We need a motion to wave first time reading and adopt policy 8140 as revised. Patty, Kathy, all those in favor? Approved. Okay. Motion to wave first
093time reading and adopt policy 8210 as revised. Anthony Patty all those in favor everyone motion to wave first time reading and adopt policy 8210.1 is revised Frank Anthony all those in favor okay motion to retire policy 8120 John Patty all Those in favor? Okay. Bye-bye. 8120. >> Motion to retire policy 8120-R. John Anthony. All those in favor. Okay. We need a motion to retire policy 8123.2. Katie Anthony. All those in favor? Okay. Any old business? New business. Dr. Neville. >> Uh, so I'll be brief. The SQRC team met on December 5th. And here are just some brief notes that I jotted down. The first order of business was to discuss the, believe it or not, the 2026 27 school year. And it was a stimulating dialogue, but it's a rough rough rough rough rough draft
094and it has many other challenges and um stakeholders to discuss the calendar. But can you believe 2027 already? Um some building updates came from Dr. Falone. He and his staff, the deans and building advisors are taking a proactive approach and they are going to highlight the work of students who model exemplary behavior through special presentations so other students can recognize the dogooders of the building. Tuker Avenue spoke up and said that they were so impressed with the junior high school times capsule ceremony that they are beginning to work on a time capsule of their own. So they're surveying their students to see what they would want to include in the time capsule. Um Mr. Olirri and Dr. Falconee are working on a armed forces alumni project which sounds really beautiful. They're in the process of
095working with um some alumni and spreading the word through social media or word of mouth. Any alumni that has served in the armed forces, they would like their information and it's going to be uh collect all the data and there's going to be a special area in the high school where we're going to profile all those students who graduated from West Babylon that had served. So, it sounds really nice. Um then um the building the facilities maintenance and operations director spoke and he gave an extensive presentation on what's going to happen this summer in the back of the junior high school which looks really wonderful. He also talked about um moving forward taking care of some of the signage in the district that is a little deteriorated updating that. also some of the aesthetics throughout
096the district, making sure that the ed there's edging and the hedges are maintained. So, some of the easier things that we can do, we're going to keep that updated. He also talked about in the future some additional parking at um our elementary schools, in particular, Tuker and JFK. So, discussions are taking place now. some of their future goals. They're discussing with all the building administrators to bring that forward. Um and then as we heard the budgetary presentations are underway with department leaders, building administration, building administrators, and that's going to come our way. And as always, Mr. Payne provided plenty of entertainment with some of his shenanigans. So the next meeting will take place on February 26th. Thank you. >> Okay. Statement of residence. Resident must uh residents wishing to share a statement must state their
097name, address, and any organization they represent. They can also write their information on an index card. 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 three minutes to speak with a total of 15 minutes allotted. Responses will be given after all statements and questions needing further research will be addressed at the next meeting. >> Hi, I'm Kelly Connelly, five Sophia Court. I was going to try to do it without the glasses, but I'm too old. Um, I'm here tonight to raise a concern about how accommodations are currently being implemented at the junior high school. At present, the student support center SSC is used for both students who require accommodations for lunch or physical education and for students who are
098serving disciplinary consequences in school suspension and lunch detention. Because the space also functions as a disciplinary setting, students assigned there are not permitted to socialize or speak, which places students receiving accommodations in a silent and isolating environment and limits appropriate peer interaction. The purpose of accommodations is to provide equal access to education, not to segregate or penalize students with disabilities. Requiring students to access accommodations in settings that are more restrictive or less supportive than necessary, especially in disciplinary environments undermines the fundamental purpose of those accommodations. Support services should function within the least restrictive environment appropriate to a student's needs, not as an extension of discipline. The physical and social environment in which accommodations are delivered is not incidental. It is essential, especially for autistic students. Placing students who require accommodations in spaces associated with discipline
099or isolation predictably increases stress and sensory overload. For autistic students, this has a direct and significant negative impact on regulation, communication, and overall functioning. In such conditions, accommodations are not merely less effective. They're functionally inaccessible. Conflating accommodations with discipline sends a harmful and misleading message that equates disabil disability related needs with misbehavior. Students who need accommodations are not misbehaving. They're accessing supports to which they're legally entitled. When these groups are placed together, it stigmatizes disability, disencourage discourages students from using their accommodations and undermines the effectiveness of support services entirely. I'm making this request not only as a parent, but also as a person diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. I am autistic. I know firsthand how damaging it can be when support needs are treated as behavioral problems or when accessing accommodations becomes embarrassing or demoralizing.
100Many neurode divergent students will simply opt out of supports rather than be publicly separated or placed in environments that heighten stress and discomfort. I've shared this concern with a number of staff members, including building level and district level administrators, and I'm grateful for their willingness to listen. I am respectfully asking the board to consider supporting the district in separating disciplinary spaces from accommodation spaces so that students who require accommodations can access them in an environment that is supportive, appropriate, and aligned with their intended purpose. This change would uphold student dignity, align with the spirit of disability law, reflect trauma informed practices that emphasize safety and belonging, and better support neurode divergent students in accessing their education. Thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you. Have a good night everyone.