001Heat. Heat. Hello everybody. Welcome to Tuesday, May 12th, 2026 budget hearing of West Smokica Central School District. If we can begin with the pledge to the flag, Jason, would you lead us, please? Algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Good job. You can get your picture with the superintendent later. Moving to roll call behind. Zack, >> I am here. >> Jeremy Rosa. Sarah will be joining us in a little while. So, we will mark here. Laura >> present. >> Ch >> present. >> Adam is Did you get an email or anything or No, >> He's coming. All right. He'll be joining us in a little bit. >> I think at 5:15 he's
002joining us. >> Ryan will probably be joining us shortly. Cal >> present. Loren texted that she will be joining us shortly. >> She's on her way. So, Mara >> present >> and I am here again. >> Dr. Ker here. >> Excellent. We all are all here. So, at this time, um I'm going to make a ask for a motion for the superintendent evaluation and contract negotiations to be done in executive. >> I'll make a motion to go in executive session. Second. Mara second. Any discussion on that? >> All in favor? I. >> Anyone opposed? So, passes 50. Okay, everybody. We're going to go into executive for a short period of time just to take care of a few things. Feel free to hang out and mingle and enjoy yourselves and we'll be back. Our goal
003is to be back at about 5:15. Thank you. >> Okay. May I have a motion to reopen the meeting? >> I'll make a motion to reopen the meeting. Laura second. >> Any discussion. Okay. All in favor? I. Anyone opposed? Passes 6. There. >> Thank you. >> Now, >> wonderful. Thank you. Um, it is my honor to introduce some of our colleagues and students from the Winchester Potter Elementary School. They are this uh board meeting's school spotlight. Jamie Knight is the principal of Winchester Potter Elementary. I will turn it over to Mrs. Knight and the students and staff from Windpot. I don't think the kids were prepared for their first college level public speaking course tonight. Um, but great great experience nonetheless. So, thank you all for coming. I know you're here for different reasons, but
004also some of you are here to celebrate our school. So, my name is Jamie Knight. Um, and this year our school really prioritized kind of examining student and family engagement and just looking at ways that we can connect our students and families so that they feel seen and valued and heard. Um, we did some work internally through some PLC work at the building level and obviously at the core of that was just our student voice uh through our student council. So they are here for us tonight and far more important message from them. So joined by them is Mrs. Rejuski and Mrs. Swack our student council advisors who do great work all year long with our kids. And I am going to turn it over because they are far more prepared than me as you
005can see. Are you ready, Mr. Zachary? All right. You're going to use that microphone, buddy. Okay. >> Good evening, Dr. Krueger, members of the board of education, and members of the West Sico community. My name is Zachary Sakoski. I am a fourth grade student at Winchester Potter Elementary. We are here tonight to share some of our fun and amazing things we do at our school. Hello, my name is Jackson Joy and I'm a fourth grade student at Winchester Potter Elementary. We have many clubs for the students to sign up for. Some of the clubs include garden club, lacrosse club, board game club, and yearbook club. In yearbook club this year, we helped design the cover for the student yearbook. Hello, my name is Ka Ball and I attend Winchester Park Elementary School. We do have
006many clubs that the students can attend after school. I would like to tell you about Steam Club. In Steam Club, we built with hashtags, use coding and robots. My favorite part was doing the robots. We got to control them with our tablets and make them talk. Hello, my name is Logan Cumins and I am a fifth grade student at Winchester Potter's Elementary School. I enjoy being a part of the morning show. We have morning show anchors. They talk about what is for lunch, current events like Black History Month and birthdays. When we get a book report, we give that student a chance to read the report. Sometimes the primary students choose morning show joke or a weather report as a prize in the school store. We have to help them with some of the words
007when they come up. Hello, my name is Alex Hamill and I am a fifth grader at Winchester Potter Elementary School and also a part of the morning show. I'll explain our jobs as background crew of the morning show. We have two cameras. Camera one controls the shot for the longer announcements and guest speakers. Camera two controls the lock down or main shot for the introduction and closing of the morning show. We also have an extra. The extra is mainly used to fill in for someone that is absent or if something comes up and we need an extra person. We also have an input director that changes the input from cameras to slides. >> Hello, my name is Rosa Rodriguez. My name is Hannah Zip and we are both fourth grade at Winchester Potter Elementary. Today
008we are going to talk about pep rallies. >> When you walk into the pep rallies, the prek students are there to cheer us on. They have pom poms and everything. Another thing you will see at pep rallies is all of the shields each grade has made. Each grade is able to decorate their shields at the beginning of the year. The staff members are also a part of the pep rallies. They have to play games at well. At the last pep rally, they had a relay lace with a blue between their legs. We also wear specific colors according to our grades. >> Fourth grade wears blue. >> Those are all the cool and unique things we do at our pep rallies. >> Hello, my name is Henrietta Bergmaster and I am in third grade at Winchester
009Potters. I would like to talk about our student of the month parades. They occur at the end of each month and they are fun. We have winners from each class for possum attendance and pathfinder awards too. Our student of the month parade is also a chance given to receive an award from our special area teachers. Given out each month is an award for being an awesome artist, magnificent musician, super sportsmanship, and for being a brilliant bookworm. Hello, my name is Amelia Montelon and I am in third grade at Winchester Potter Elementary. Tonight we are going to talk to you about some of our after school events. First, we have a fall fest which happens in the fall. We have activities that take place in the cafeteria like eating cider and donuts. In our courtyard, we
010have a costume contest. In the gym, we have fun games like bowling. In the hallways, we have trick-or-treating. We also had a winter fest event and a glow dance. At the end of the week, we will have a school day steam event as well as a fun steam night that families can attend after school. One of our newest celebrations this year was Veterans Day. On the morning show the week before Veterans Day, we watched slides to give us information about this important holiday. Hello, my name is Connor Burch and I am in third grade at Latresa Pers Elementary. At our Veterans Day assembly, the student council presented some facts about Veterans Day and recognized all the branches of the military. We also had a guest speaker that came to talk to us about service. Students
011invited family members from the military, both retired and active members came to enjoy the assembly with us. Miss Knight also arranged the Google Meet with one of the fathers who is currently deployed. We helped keep this a secret, so the kids were so surprised to see him on the screen and talk to him. We'll have a studentled flag day ceremony in June to commemorate one of our nation's most important symbols. This concludes our student council presentation. We were very excited to share with you the wonderful events and activities that we get to participate in at Winchester Potters. Thank you and have a good night. Remember, Winchester Potters, we are respectful, responsible, and ready to learn. >> Thank you. Mr. Swag, how old is Winchester Potter's TV? >> Um, we started um it started maybe about
012four or five years ago or years ago >> when we moved to the old building. We had always tried it at the other building, but it just didn't work. So, yeah. So, we just started it there. Um, Mr. homes happened to have a background because he used to work for a cable company in the area. So, he was able to secure it. Um, actually, I just saw Jeff probably knows how long it's been because I know he >> Yeah, I remember a long time ago was at Winchester. I don't know if Potter's had anything. So, I was just curious if >> Yeah. So, we just kind of combine the two. Um, so they still come down for the pledge in the morning. They say the pledge all together, then there's a quick break and then
013we all turn in and um we're all able to watch them from. >> Awesome. Cool. Thank you. Thank you. Great job, guys. >> Hand over to you again. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh within my superintendence report, we have our recognition of some art students um who are receiving awards tonight. So, that will be coming up in just a moment. I'd like to begin by recognizing that last week was National Teacher Appreciation Week. And I know I speak for everyone within this room and outside of this room when we express our gratitude for the amazing, talented, and dedicated teachers that we have within our school district. And I've highlighted a few of the wonderful events that our teachers experienced last week that were put on by their personnel within the school, their principal, andor the parent
014teacher organizations. So, there's some pictures here from Clinton Elementary celebrations. Um, at Winchester Potters, they had a 1990s theme and a lot of fun during teacher appreciation week. And at Northwood Elementary, their parent teacher organization had Plinko, if you remember the Plinko game where their faculty uh could earn some prizes. So again, just want to express my deep gratitude for our teachers as we recognize uh last week's National Teacher Appreciation Week. Thank you for all that you do to shape and support our students. Uh we owe you a debt of gratitude. Thank you. It is a beautiful time of year to celebrate our visual and performing arts. There are concerts galore at this time of year. Check out our district's website to see all the listings of our concerts, our bands, orchestra, coral programs are
015featured at this time of year. And in addition to that, it's a beautiful time to recognize the wonderful uh visual arts program that we have here in the district uh and our culminating art show that that uh was underway. Through that, we have some artists and artwork that we'd like to recognize. And it's my um pleasure to introduce Kim Greenway who is an art teacher in our district and also serves as our district art coordinator to recognize our students. Kim, you're welcome to come up to the microphone if you'd like. >> I have some assistance. Wonderful. Thank you. >> Hello everybody. Um the West Senica, as Dr. Krueger said, we had our annual district art show at the West Senica Community Center in the Martha Birfield RTOR atrium was a great success and um enormous
016amounts of student work and talent. Uh it's just incredible every year and every year that we put it up, we are just in absolute awe. Um our superintendent um is handing out um picked two students to receive superintendent art awards. Um, and I first want to call them up to get their awards. Msaya Harris, who's a fifth grader at Allenale, and Erlin Murphy, an eighth grader at West Middle School or East Middle School, I'm sorry. So, while our students are accepting their award, I have to say I was given the direction to choose one student to win the superintendence award and I did not follow directions. It was it was so hard to choose. The artwork was unbelievable. So, um I'm so happy to honor those two students, but truly we have some very talented
017artists and amazing art teachers that bring out that talent in them. So, it was my pleasure to recognize those students. >> Thank you. The town of West Senica and then Louise Shion, who's a founding director and art patron of the atrium, also recognize fantastic artists in West Sonica with the Martha Birfield RTOR Atrium Awards, which is an annual thing that we've been doing for the past probably four years. Um, the best of show overall this year went to Charlie Burks, an 11th grader at East Senior. Is he here tonight? Not sure if he's here. Oh, come on up. Congratulations. Charlie's work was picked overall um for the entire show and our show is K through 12th grade. We also have two awards under the emerging artist award category. Tegan Proise from first grade at West
018Elementary and Jackson Baron, a fifth grader at Clinton. Congrat Congratulations. We also have best in intermediate art, which is sixth through 8th grade. Alice Culkins, a seventh grader at West Middle, and also Dean Cody, who cannot be here tonight in eighth grader at West Middle. Um, congratulations. We also have a best in high school art, Connor McCormack, a 10th grader at West Senior. Congratulations. We also have a best in digital art, Ryan Simpson, a 12th grader from East Senior or West Senior, sorry. Congratulations. We also have a best in art skill, Owen Jeroski, a ninth grader from West Senior. Congratulations. We also have best use of color, Melena Taylor, a 10th grader at East Senior. I'm not sure if she's here tonight. We also have an award for best in ceramics, Kayn Lassuski, a ninth
019grader at East Senior. And I'm not sure if she's here either. Congratulations. We also have an honorable mention for Lily Rogaki, a 10th grader at East Senior. And we have two other students who could not be here tonight for sure. Um, Cadence Kookski, who won best in 3D art. She's a 11th grader at West Senior. And Bella Noak, an East Senior student who also won an honorable mention. I also want Oh, congratulations. I also wanted to recognize um my colleagues here today who you know again our team could not I could not do this alone and they make it possible. We all work together putting up a show with um close to 400 pieces of art every year and I'm just in amazement at their work and their hard work and dedication. Um Amanda Guida,
020she's the West Elementary art teacher. Kim Stre who's at East Middle in Northwick. Rhonda Shunk who's at West Middle, Chris Galley who's at West Senior, and Karen Zelac who's at Clinton Elementary. >> Thank you so much. And thank you again. >> Thank you, Mrs. Greenway. Thank you, >> Dr. I actually went to the atrium and checked it all out. I probably spent an hour and a half in there just walking around. It was amazing. >> Talent in art, >> but to have these kids from the school do that. It It was It looked like like professional like art museum stuff. >> That was really love that. >> It was really It was really good. It >> truly was. >> Thank you. Thank you so much. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you. And we
021certainly understand if if any families with children want to to leave and not stay for the rest of the meeting, we respect that and thank you for being here so that your student could be recognized. Continuing on the theme of celebrating the visual and performing arts, we had over 100 musicians that have been selected for various allcount performances. Um all county coral program, band and orchestra program. So again, a testament to our talented teachers in the development of our students. And in addition to that, we have two students from West Middle School's band, Magdalene Scott and Grayson Grayson Rash, who were selected statewide. Uh only 120 students at the middle school level were selected to participate in the state all honor band. So congratulations to them. Additionally, we have um been really trying to continue
022our enrichment and enhancement of student engagement. We had students that recently had the opportunity to visit the Galastano Institute. And I also wanted to recognize the efforts of our human resources department. Uh this past month, they participated in several job fairs throughout Western New York. We are actively recruiting bus drivers among other positions. Bus drivers, school nurses, teacher aids continue to be areas uh where we are recruiting. So I want to thank our human resources department for their efforts. And then lastly, um I probably could have had 12 slides that highlight all of the upcoming events at this time of year. A very busy time of year. I've highlighted some of the amazing things that are in the hor on the horizon between now and midJune. But again, please do visit our website for a
023complete listing of all of our concerts, athletic events. It is a great time of year in school and this is when we really celebrate the work that we've put in all year through awards assemblies, scholarship nights. There's a lot of those events that are coming up in the next few weeks that certainly the community is welcome to participate in. So, thank you. >> Okay, we're going to move on to our budget hearing. Um, I will invite Alyssa up and Will. You guys want to come on up and hear our budget? >> Thank you. So, the public budget hearing is a requirement put on schools prior to our budget vote. So, we will do an overview of the upcoming bud budget that our community will have the opportunity to vote on on May 19th. After we're
024done with the presentation, we'll pause to see if there's any questions uh from the board and then we open up if there's questions from the community that I that are in attendance. That is your right to ask questions regarding the budget that we present at tonight's budget hearing. So with that, I'd like to just highlight and summarize some of the efforts that brought us to the board's adoption of the budget and ultimately the budget that we'll present to our voters. This has been an ongoing process in development for months and we utilize um a very transparent process throughout this. We have a budget advisory committee that has been meeting regularly as we develop our budget and we've also given regular updates here at board meetings. On May 19th, our community will have the opportunity to
025vote on three propositions and also the election of three board of education trustees. Proposition one will be our school district budget for the upcoming school year. Proposition two is our capital improvement project and proposition three is the expenditure from bus purchase reserve fund. So, that is authorizing us to use funds that we have in a bus reserve account to purchase buses in alignment with our bus replacement cycle. I'm going to turn it over to our school business official, Alyssa Strauss, to share some additional details regarding the details of our budget. Thank you. So, proposition one is for annual budget vote. Um, for the 2627 school years, our proposed budget is $170,699,998. That represents an increase of uh just over two or 8.2 million or 5.05% compared to the prior fiscal year budget. Um, so there's
026three main components of the annual budget. um they all of our expenditures fall into general support program expenditures or capital expenditures. Um so you can see on this slide that um what our proposed budget is for each key component compared to the past two adopted budgets for the district. Additionally on this slide um there is a pie chart also um describing those expenditures and the percentage each percentages each fall under. So for general support really quick um those are non-instructional appropriations for services, materials and equipment that support instructional instructional programs. Um for program expenditures that is our largest expenditure category which includes personnel, instructional supplies, material and equipment. And lastly we have the capital expenditures um which what is what it takes to run our schools. So this slide just summarizes what makes up um
027each three of those components. For general support, the main increase within that category is staff and central services. Uh for program costs, we have um significant increases in instruction and instruction related to special education as well as employee benefits which are related to that. Um within that category also includes our student placement needed for our special ed programs as well as related services which significantly are projected to increase increase for next year. Additionally for capital that includes our operation and maintenance budget as well as our debt service payments. Um so that is where those fall. So this is a summary of what funds our budget. Um the main sources that fund our budget are local property tax as well as our state aid. Um within state aid, our main sources of funding include building aid,
028transportation aid, and foundation aid. Currently, the state budget has not been um passed yet. So, we are still kind of up in the air in where we're going to um land with that. Uh we have budgeted a 1% increase, but it could be more. So that's kind of in pending. Additionally, building aid, we in were able to budget a significant increase due to our final cost reports that we submitted last December. Um, so that will generate approximately $671,000 in additional aid. So this slide shows the tax levy limit calculation which we was filed with the state office of the controllers um at the end of February. Um this shows that the calculation is a maximum allowable tax levy of 2.23% or about 1.6 million. Uh it's important to note that within this budget we are
029not overriding the tax cap. So this explains the other main revenue contributor contributor property tax. Tax rates are a function of the tax levy, assessed values of properties, as well as the equalization rate for uh the municipality your property resides in. So you can see based on this estimate, a West Sonic home assessed at $62,000, which is an implied market value of $281,000 would see a 77 about a $77 uh tax increase with this budget. Uh it is important to know that assessed values and equalization rates are not finalized at this point. Uh assessed values are um final usually finalized by July 1st by your municipality. So uh this is not final information. In addition to uh proposition one within that is our budget for our capital outlay project. Capital outlay projects are limited to
030$100,000 annually and restricted to a single building and also must be completed within that fiscal year. For 2027, the proposed capital outlay project is to continue door replacement at Northwood Elementary. So, uh that was also our capital outlay for this year, but there is still work needed there and doors have been prioritized. a little bit about what happens if the budget is not passed. There's two options. Um the first option would be to bring the budget back uh to the community for a second vote or the board can adopt a contingent budget uh which is restricted in many areas. Uh so if a contingent budget is passed about $1.6 million in appropriations would be reduced from the budget and you can see a summary of where th those reductions would be on the slide. So
031that includes your capital outlay project and um equipment that is budgeted for buildings and grounds and construction. Proposition two is for a capital improvement project which has a total referendum value of a little over $80 million. We're going to have a more detailed presentation regarding this going forward. Um and priorities and goals have been being discussed, but we will touch a little bit more on that. uh closer to six o'clock. The funding sources of this project are mainly state building aid. Uh there is a district fund funds included within that. That's $4 million from our capital improvement reserve that we've been building as well as $1.2 million in other available district funds. and the remaining share, the remaining revenue needed for the project will be collected within um a local share. This slide shows what
032the potential tax impact would be. Um based on this estimate, a West Enico home assessed at $62,000. Again, implied market value of $281,000 would see about a $20 increase. It's important to note that the increase in taxes would not begin until uh fiscal year 2029. Proposition three is for our 2026 bus purchases funded by reserves. A community needs to authorize a pull from reserves. So that is why that is included as a proposition. Um, this proposition includes a purchase of four 64 passenger buses as well as one 64 passenger bus uh that is equipped with a wheelchair lift. Um, the proposed totals for this proposition are $898,459. And lastly, there is the election of the three board trustees. So, there are three seats up for the board of alle board of education and those are
033each three-year terms. So, currently there are five um candidates on the ballot as listed here. Further information can be found on the board of education website regarding the candidates. So, I would invite everyone to come out and vote on May 19th at East Senior High School. uh polls will be open 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. And again, the proposition there's three propositions. One on the school district budget, one on the capital improvement project, and one on the expenditure from bus purchase reserve fund, as well as the election of the three board of trust education trustees. Thank you. >> Thank you, Alyssa. I would like to just see if the board of education has any questions or comments before we open up for any feedback or questions from the public. And as part of our budget
034hearing, if anyone in attendance in the meeting has any questions or feedback, you're welcome to approach the podium and microphone, and we'd be happy to answer any questions that you may have. Okay. Thank you for being in attendance. Thank you, Alyssa, for your presentation. We will move on with the rest of the agenda. Again, thank you for that and thank you everybody. The rest of the agenda for the budget hearing is an adjournment. May I have a motion to adjourn the budget hearing meeting, please? >> I'll make a motion. >> Laura, a motion. May I have a second? >> I'll second it. >> Lorine second. Any discussion on it? All in favor? >> I. Anyone opposed? Okay, passes 6. Thank you. Appreciate that. And now we're going to move into our Tuesday, May 12th regular
035board meeting. So for the students that are in attendance, now is when you needed to be here, not an hour ago. So enjoy the rest of the meeting, guys. It is a good meeting, though. Um we also, I believe it's 6:00 we're looking to start our um forum on that. So we're just going to be delayed a little bit. They're going to put a notice up on the website. I've talked with some of them and we're good to go on that. Thank you. Um quick recap of the um of the April 21st uh we had a brief board meeting to do some voting on the Erie One Bosey's budget and two board members. Um that was really the only thing that the meeting the board meeting we held entailed. There was if I'm not mistaken
036five board members in attendance and it it all passed with a 5-0. Um so just wanted to get that out there. And earlier in the meeting we did the pledge and we also did roll call and Sarah will be joining us. um at some point in a little while. So, I will move on to our student ex official board member report. Cal, thank you. Yesterday, we wrapped up roughly a week of AP exams and a couple field trips I'd like to highlight are the architecture field trip of East and West to the Martin House in downtown designed by Franklin Wright. And tomorrow, East and West Syracuse forensic students will be participating in their crime scene reconstruction, part of their final exam, where law enforcement will give presentations and students can solve mock crimes. And then
037looking ahead, junior prom is this Friday and senior prom is May 29th at the foundry. And most sports teams have only a few regular season games left before playoff start. Oh, Charlie. >> Uh, Mr. East just finished and Ben Ben Federico was crowned Mr. East while Miles Alaska was crowned runner up. This Thursday and Friday, the East Senior Music Department will present their production of Spamfest. This is a collection of musicals and plays that are written by students and they produce them and direct them from start to finish. This uh will take place at 7:00 p.m. Children's Take Action is next week, Wednesday. This is a day students take a break from the classrooms and volunteer their time in the community at places such as fire halls, churches, and parks. Upon return to school, students
038receive a catered lunch and participate in activities such as bounce houses, and taping the principal to the wall. Uh this this year's prom is being held at the Admiral Room for juniors and seniors. This is next week, Thursday. Okay, the theme is masquerade. At the morning of prom, seniors participate in a catered breakfast, open their freshman time capsules that they made in freshman year. We wrote letters to our like future selves. It's a really cute idea. Uh we take our group photo on in the gym. Uh watch the senior slideshow and everyone walks through the elementary school that they originally went to. And then the baktalorate ceremony is held June 2nd for all seniors at the Ebenezer church. There's an ice cream social after. This is a time for seniors to reflect on the perseverance
039that they had to go through in middle school um specifically during CO. And then the blood drive is May 27th as well as spring concert and East Seniors film fest is June 3rd. >> Excellent. Well, thank you. >> And the microphone back to you. >> Thank you. I completed my superintendent report earlier, so I have no additional comments. >> I'm going to give you a check mark. You're >> okay. Thank you. Move on to public comment. Um, is there anyone here that will be making a public comment tonight? If so, I have a little speech I read. Anyone like to come up to the podium? Good to go. Excellent. On that, we saved my speech. Um, I will move on to number three, consent agenda, please. We will have if uh anyone wants to make
040a motion for consent agenda, I would appreciate that. What was it? >> I'll make a motion to approve items four through seven in the consent agenda. >> Motion to approve. May I have a second? >> Second. >> Mara second. And there's no discussion for consent. So, all in favor? >> I. Anyone opposed? Passes 5-0. So, consent agenda is good. want to go into our introductions. >> Thank you. I'm going to ask Dr. Cervone to come up to the podium as we have some special introductions tonight. As as he's approaching the microphone, I just want to say how incredibly fortunate we are um to be able to share and announce three newly appointed administrators tonight who were selected out of a very competitive candidate pool. The quality of candidates that are looking to join our team
041in West Sakica is truly remarkable and impressive. And John Cervone is going to tell you a little bit more about the three uh special people that are joining our team. >> Thank you, Dr. Krueger. Congratulations obviously to all of our appointees and those that announced their retirement that you acted on today. Thank you for your service. But with no further ado, I'd like to start by recognizing three administrators that are present today. First, Nicole Gansshaw. Nicole, could you please stand? NICOLE. >> NICOLE, are you joined today by any family you'd like to announce? >> Sure. I brought my two favorite guys with you. >> Thank you so much for being here. Congratulations. So, Nicole is our new assistant principal uh at Winchester Potter Elementary. Nicole's comes to us from New Fain Central School District where
042she currently serves as a third grade elementary teacher. Uh, obviously Nicole's well Nicole has experience early on in her career in both daycare and UPK settings over eight years of classroom teaching experience of both special ed and elementary education. She'll be joining us July 1st. Congratulations and we're excited to bring you on board, Lisa Zachanino. Congratulations, Lisa. Are you joined by any family today you'd like to introduce? >> My mom is here. My husband and kids are at home watching live. And then my Northwood family is also over here. >> Thanks for being here, mom. So, Lisa, congratulations. Lisa is being promoted as our next assistant principal, our first assistant principal at Northwood Elementary. Lisa was hired and joined our district as a special education teacher. actually started her work at West Elementary in November
043of 2019. Quickly moved over to join the Northwood team before transitioning from a classroom teacher and then she was appointed as our teacher of special assignment in the role of elementary student support specialist which she's been doing uh magnificently and she been assisting and successfully assisting Mrs. Ferry in many uh tasks and functions in the entire building for the past two and a half years. Uh it's only fitting that you continue your journey into administration at Northwood. Congratulations and we're super excited. And I'd like our next principal of Allenale Elementary, Jennifer Springer, to please stand. Congratulations. You're joined by this young man who's excited. you want to introduce >> I brought my son and my daughter and my mother with thanks ma and daughter thank you um Jent welcome to West Senica Jen comes to
044us from Lacawana City School District where she currently serves as the principal of their high school combined 25 years of experience in teaching and leadership in multiple roles including classroom teacher foreign language Spanish tenure area data and instructional coach assistant principal uh and obviously your current roles Jen's ready to hit the ground running so excited excited to bring you on board. Congratulations. Welcome to USica. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Congratulations and welcome. >> So, uh, normally at this point, I'm just going to pivot a little bit. We normally do a 10-minute recess to get a chance to meet meet you guys and talk to you guys as a board and to say hello to everybody. I'm I am going to suspend that if less anyone has an issue. Okay. So, what
045I would ask is if you guys want to stick around till the end of the meeting, we can or I would love it if you came back to a different board meeting or if we caught up with you sooner than later, but take no offense to it. Um we've had a couple of other breaks. So, um it's kind of my favorite thing to do, but I'm I'm going to bump it a little bit and we're going to move on. Um thank you and congratulations again. We we have our capital improvement project presentation that some of the community is is eager to see. So, if you want to celebrate with your families, by all means, you don't have to stay for the capital improvement project presentation. We're just trying to be timely for the community that
046would like to see the presentation. Congratulations. >> Congratulations. And and it'll be recorded so you can go home later tonight and watch the presentation. So, you're good to go. >> Thank you. And congratulations. Okay. So, we will move on to our new business. If I can have a motion, my suggestion would be A through R. >> I'll make the motion >> Jeremy >> to approve A through R. >> Motion to approve A through R. May I have a second, please? >> A second. >> Laura, raing up points tonight. Um, Laura second. Is there any discussion on A through R? Um, in P section P we have some donations that we would like to recognize. So we have $500 from the West Senica teachers association to the reading rover program. $150 from the West Senica uh
047police benevolent association to the reading rover program. a thousand dollars from the Ebenezer United uh Church of Christ Foundation to the East Senior for the Trojan Nation activities and $1,000 uh from that Mary Biddcom to the East Senior World Language Club to be used for the Wilbur C. Biddcom Memorial Scholarship Fund. So, thank you all for your donations. >> There's uh also some really great trips in there. It's nice to see that we're getting them approved ahead of time. Appreciate that very much. You know, the trips are exciting. Any other discussion on anything before I take a vote? All in favor? I. >> Anyone opposed? >> Passes 660 6. We'll move on to any board of education discussion. I think we're pretty good on it other than I want to just put out there that
048we're going to work on tenative dates for our board of education meetings for next year. I think last year we kind of put together a nice structure that will carry over. So what we can do is kind of get it and run the dates next year to see if anything overlaps with anything weird. Put it out there. I know the final vote on something like that is not till July 1stish when we have that first reorg meeting but we can get the the work done now and then you know if something needs to be changed it can be changed. So is that everyone cool with that? >> Yep. >> Excellent. Anything else that anyone wants to discuss? I was just going to mention the legislative breakfast, but we can talk more in detail at the
049next meeting. It's not budget, just a >> nice productive meeting though. >> Yes. >> Excellent. Okay. Um I guess we'll move on to our last part of the meeting, adjournment. A motion to adjourn. >> I like motion to adjurnn. >> Laura, may I have a second? >> I'll second it. >> Lorine second. All in favor? >> I. Anyone oppose? Okay. Passes 6. Thank you guys. and everybody get excited and stay tuned for our presentation. >> Thank you. Those of you that are not staying for the capital improvement project presentation, you're welcome to leave when you're comfortable doing so. We will start the presentation on the capital improvement project in 2 minutes. this capital improvement project. We evaluated them, prioritized them, and we were able to prioritize the scope to 200 nearly $7 million that we
050will tackle over a series of upcoming capital improvement projects where we are prioritizing those things that are of greatest need. That leads us to the current project which is reflective of the greatest needs that we have in our schools. And that total is just over $80 million. Of that $80 million, you see on the screen a breakdown of what the investment would be for each of our school sites. In addition to our school sites, we also have our transportation facility listed here, which is in need of a new roof. So the the dollar amount associated with each of our physical plants is listed here, which totals the $80 million for this project. Of importance is our high school restrooms. Our high school restrooms are in need of of dire repair and replacement. Some of the
051actual facilities within them are original to the building, sinks, toilets, tiles. When we looked to renovate these bathrooms, we explored some of the the issues that we deal with in our bathrooms. We regularly deal with high schoolers who avoid going to the bathroom. They try to wait all day and avoid using our bathrooms. Our bathrooms tend to be places that students gather to vape, gather to um uh potentially vandalize. We've dealt with vandal vandalism situations, fighting, congregating, and just causing general mischief. So rather than taking the footprint and replacing the tile, the fixtures asis, we really explored is there a way to design a bathroom that would increase adult supervision and increase the safety while students are using the bathroom facilities while also of course maintaining privacy and dignity for our students who are using
052the facilities. This picture that you see on the screen is one of the first conceptual ideas that we had about a different way to design our high school restrooms. You see here that there are individual private bathrooms and to the right of this screen or the right of the picture you see a common sink so that students would be gathered at a sink for handwashing. What that would look like in our schools with the current footprint. This is the artist rendering that we had from our architect around a design that we were considering. We've received a lot of feedback on this. There was, I think, some discomfort about students of different genders being at a common sink washing hands together. And I want to be crystal clear that some of the misinformation that was put
053out there was that boys and girls would be going to the bathroom together. That clearly was not the case. there was misinformation that spread on social media. The feedback that we've received is that this um is a pretty progressive model in the view of of our community and we've received some significant concern that's been expressed to us. So we have not I want to make it very clear that this is not a final model that we are considering in this model. However, individual toilet stalls for complete privacy while individuals are using the bathroom, but a common sink area. We had a similar model that we were exploring both at East and West Senior. Where our recent uh feedback has led us to is to explore two ways that bathrooms have been redesigned to increase adult
054supervision and safety. You see on the screen pictures from the Oolleanne City School District. The Olean City School District redesigned their student laboratories and in in this model you see that both the sink and toilet are within a private stall. Similarly, our colleagues in the Pioneer Central School District renovated their restrooms. And in this hallway, there's eight individual private bathrooms that have the sink and toilet within them. And that allows an adult to monitor the bathroom in the hallway. One of our greatest challenges right now with separate boys and girls bathrooms is adult supervision. Female teachers can only enter the female laboratories. male teachers or male SRO's can only enter the mail laboratories. If we were to invest in technology such as a vape detection devices, the vape detection devices when they go off, by
055the time an administrator responds, the students scatter like mice and we are left looking at video to try to uh ascertain who was in the bathroom at that time. Some students may be guilty, some students may be innocent. Um, and it's very difficult for us to provide adequate adult supervision in a model like this. And I spoke with the Pioneer Central School District superintendent. They have an adult that monitors the hallway uh during passing time and ensures that only one student goes into the laboratory. One student goes out of the laboratory. Students have complete privacy while using the facility. They have vape detection devices within each of these private bathrooms. And with the vape detection device, the administrator gets an alert on his or her cell phone and knows that the vape detection device is
056going off in bathroom number four. Knows precision about which laboratory and the exact time whether they get there in time or whether they look at camera footage. It's a much different supervision situation than we're faced with currently. They did not have the funding to do all of their high school laboratories. So, they chose a section of their high school to renovate these laboratories. and the lavatories have been treated well and respected by the students. They have had zero issues of vandalism, of vaping, of fighting in those lavatories. Conversely, some of the lavatories that have not been renovated are where students tend to gather to continue to do that mischief. Uh so that's some examples of what local school districts have done to maintain student privacy while also increasing adult supervision. I will say that throughout
057this process we have sought feedback and we are open to adjusting our plans and our renderings. None of these are finalized yet. What happens next is when this is supported by our community, then we will work with our architects for the final drawings and the final renderings of what this will look like. But that won't come until after the community has voted in support of this project. Then we do that work with our architects and ultimately send in the plans for approval to New York State Department of Education at East Senior. In addition to the restroom uh renovations, our pool equipment, each of our four pools are in need of approximately three million $3 million worth of equipment repairs. So this would be things like the filtration system, uh the water features that we have
058in the pools. In addition to that, we have a number of failing equipment pieces that need to be addressed in this project. Our fire alarm system uh throughout the district, you're going to see this on several of the school slides. Our fire alarm system is in need of replacement. At East Senior, the boiler is original to the building from the 1960s. What that means for energy efficiency, um, having a piece of equipment that is over 60 years old in our high school means that in order for that to heat the entire building, the farthest point from the boiler, the rooms that are closest to the boiler, are often too hot. So, in the winter, you will see teachers have classroom windows open because it's too hot in their classroom, but it has to the the
059boiler has to maintain that heat level in order to get the rooms at the farthest point of the the building heated. So, it is not energy efficient. We are wasting taxpayer dollars by uh maintaining this current boiler. By getting a new boiler, it will bring about energy efficiency while also allowing us to realize state aid because it's in a capital improvement project. We have some other um elements here to enhance East Senior. Throughout the project, you're going to see in several of our schools, replacement of interior and exterior doors. We have prioritized the doors that are in greatest need of replacement and have given a budget in each of our schools so that we can target the doors that are in need of greatest replacement. It is critical for us to maintain the safety and
060security of our buildings that we have reliable functioning doors and we are having ongoing issues where we are making repeated repairs to doors that simply need to be replaced. Lastly, at East Senior is the addition of a baseball and softball diamond on the campus of East Senior. You may be aware that at East Senior, they currently do not have a baseball diamond. Students at East Senior board a bus to go to a town park for their baseball practices and competitions. And having that complex on the campus of East Senior will eliminate that transportation and additional expense and allow our student athletes to be able to enjoy competing on their home campus. And I have included here these are some pictures of the current restroom facilities at East Senior. And what is highlighted on the screen
061in purple are the restroom renovations, the the stack of bathrooms on all floors of the school that would re be replaced through this capital improvement project. Next at West Senior, very similarly as I discussed the restroom renovations and pool equipment replacement. In addition, fire alarm replacement, the boiler at West Senior, some miscellaneous uh electric work that needs to be done and plumbing work. We have uh plumbing equipment and pipes that are simply leaking uh that are not reliable and are uh requiring much needed maintenance on a regular basis. In the main office and nurse's office, the air handling unit needs to be replaced and the air conditioning. Similarly, the air handling unit in the main office foyer or I'm sorry, the main entrance foyer and exterior and interior door replacement. These are pictures of the
062current existing restrooms at West Senior. And on the map of West Senior, you'll see shaded in purple is the bathrooms that would be targeted for renovation. It is a stack of student lavatories on all floors of the school. In addition, if you can see on this picture, uh the men's and women's bathrooms that are just outside of the auditorium in the front foyer at West Senior. Moving on to East Middle School. Some of the improvements that would happen at East Middle School are to convert the pool at East Middle School, which is again in need of about $3 million worth of uh equipment repairs and replacement, and convert that middle school pool to a technology steam space um so that we can have an innovative space for our students to learn. All students participate in
063technology classes at the middle school level. So every student in our middle school would have the opportunity to enjoy this new beautiful instructional space. In addition, there's some abatement that we need to do of old asbestous tile flooring in some classrooms that have been identified. a basement ramp that is at East Middle School that is in need of repair and replacement, a door replacement allowance, miscellaneous plumbing repairs, and adding some air conditioning to office space, and then replacing some damaged sidewalks on the campus of East Middle. This is a picture of the current pool at East Middle and the current technology classrooms. The pool would be filled in and that's where the new technology classrooms would go, creating steam instructional spaces. And here's some examples of steam in instructional spaces where there's the maintenance of
064still a traditional wood shop, but then also what is called a clean space, a clean classroom where students can be doing computer design and things where you want it to be a clean space where it is free of wood dust and and whatnot, where students can use equipment such as 3D printers. And you see at the bottom of this rendering, the area that's shaded in blue and red is where the pool currently is and where the new steam labs would be located. Where the current technology classrooms are at East Middle School, those instructional spaces would be replaced and in their place would be a new music suite. Um on the right hand side you see the music classrooms that we have at West Middle School and at East Senior and this would bring about equity
065to East Middle School. So they have a very similar suite of music classrooms for instru instrumental music, coral music, a general music room and some lesson practice space. Moving on to West Middle School. West Middle School would also be converting the pool, filling in that pool to create steam classrooms. At West Middle School, this is also part of our long range plan that solves our redistricting reconfiguration and capacity concerns at West Middle School. By filling in the pool at West Middle School, we are able to realize four additional instructional spaces which will alleviate the classroom capacity concerns at West Middle School. There is a boiler replacement needed at West Middle School, miscellaneous plumbing repairs, and again the interior and exterior door replacement. Here is a picture of the current pool at West Middle School and
066the existing technology classroom. The existing technology classrooms, as you can see in purple on the right of the building map, would be converted into four classrooms. Those technology classrooms are very large, and we can get four additional instructional spaces, which will help to alleviate and minimize the number of teachers that are traveling classroom to classroom and really living instructionally out of a cart. We have teachers, world language teachers, health teachers that do not have a designated instructional space. And this plan will allow us to have four additional classrooms, which is in alignment with our reconfiguration and redistricting plan that the community really spoke strongly about that they did not want us to disrupt the east and west boundary. This allows us to maintain the current east and west boundaries and create classroom capacity within West
067Middle School. This is uh where the technology classrooms would be located. Again, the blue and red shaded area is currently where the pool is. to access those new steam classrooms. There would be a corridor so students could walk down that hallway to access the two new steam classrooms and the shop. Moving on to Alenale Elementary. Alenale is in need of a fire alarm replacement. The generator is among the worst generators that we have in the district and the generator is in dire need of replacement at Allenale. some work that needs to be done to remediate the water filtration uh infiltration in the boiler room, exterior and interior door replacement, plumbing repairs, and the replacement of an interior backflow pretor in addition as site work on the campus. This is a shared campus of course with
068West Elementary School and the surface the play surface that that we have uh here on the campus of West Elementary in Allenale would be resurfaced so it's uh safe for student use. It's cracking. It's deteriorating and is in need of work. There would be storm water improvements and the reconfiguration of our dropoff loop to increase traffic efficiency and safety for our students and our parents who are transporting our students to school. On the same campus of course with West Elementary, I'll highlight some of the improvements in this project for West Elementary. West Elementary through our reconfiguration plan will become a 3 to5 intermediate school and we will be expanding the cafeteria capacity to accommodate more students uh by utilizing what is currently the faculty dining area. There would be some renovations to third floor third
069floor classrooms, fire alarm replacement, addressing cracked stairs and well wall separation. Uh you may notice as you go up and down the stairs in this building, you will see that there are some stairs that are are currently somewhat unsafe and are in need of repair. Miscellaneous reping plumbing repairs and replacement, repairs to the elevator to upgrade and modernize the elevator that's within this building and an exterior door replacement allowance so that again we can target the doors that are in greatest need of replacement and address those doors on site. It would be that same tennis court reconfiguration and resurfacing that I mentioned and the drop off loop which we have uh here for you to see. We would be removing uh the garage that sits on this parking lot currently. The garage that's currently between
070Allenale and West Elementary really creates a bottleneck for traffic flow. And at arrival and dismissal, we have cars that are at times are backed up onto Orchard Park Road. This would allow multiple lanes coming in so that we have a designated bus lane and a designated parent drop off lane. Right now, it is hard for our buses to get into the campus and our buses to leave the campus because motor vehicles parent drop off is intermixed with our bus drop off. So, we would have separate lanes for buses and the parent drop off, creating a safer environment for our students and and those that are uh trying to access and navigate this bus loop. At Clinton Elementary, there is currently some classroom storage uh doors that are are unsafe and we're having to suspend them
071so that they do not drop down as students are accessing things in their coat cubbies. We would also be replacing the fire alarm system here at Clinton Elementary, an exterior grease trap that's affiliated with the kitchen at the school, replacing mortar joints, interior and exterior door replacement, and plumbing repairs and replacement. There would be some site work done for lighting, lighting to light our parking lot and driveway. The playground will be relocated. It is in need of replacement and we're going to take the opportunity to have a new playground in a new location which I'll show you on the next slide. And the playground would be fully fenced in. There would be additional site work that would include a parent drop off loop. So I want to show that parent drop off loop for you.
072at Clinton Elementary regularly every morning and every afternoon we have cars lined up on Clinton Street for nearly a half mile which creates unsafe conditions for those vehicles that are standing on the side of the road. It's an inconvenience for the neighbors whose driveways are regularly blocked at arrival and dismissal time. And our plan is to create a bus loop that goes around the back of Clinton Elementary. the bus loop uh or the parent dropoff loop rather would have gates so that those gates can be closed after morning arrival and opened for dismissal. When those gates are closed, it gives another play space for our students. Our students can enjoy bicycles and tricycles on that back bus loop that's located behind the building. And if you see the triangular shape area in the lower left
073hand uh of this rendering, that is where the the new playground would be located. Here's a conceptual uh rendering that we're working on. We are still finalizing and asking students to vote and have a voice in some of the playground equipment that we choose. So on May 19th, as part of our kids voting, our students at Allenale and West Elementary will get to vote on the surfaces uh that we have on that play space, whether it's Foursquare or Hopscotch, students will get to vote on what is on that resurfaced area. And at our three elementary schools that are having new playgrounds, we want students to have some voice and choice. So, they will be uh voting on things like the type of swing they would like or the type of slide that they would like,
074the interactive panel for their playground. So, we're excited to have our students uh be part of this process and to have a voice in in what their playground looks like. The playground will be fully fenced in as well. Moving on to Northwood Elementary, there are main office renovations that we have planned at Northwood Elementary and the development of a music space. We have a classroom that's ideal for music, but it has no sound paneling within. So, we'd like to add sound paneling to that music room so that it's not disruptive to the nearby classrooms. Also at Northwood, replacement of the fire alarm, the miscellaneous plumbing repairs that you've seen in other schools, interior and exterior door replacement, and the playground at Northwood Elementary. And I will show that to you. Uh the playground will be
075situated in a very similar location to where the playground is now. There will be both a playground and a basketball hard surface area for students to play with Northwood being a grade 3 through five building through reconfiguration. Having a fully fenced in area for students to play basketball or other sports on a sports court in addition to a playground will be a great enhancement for this school. Again, not yet finalized, but this is our early design of the Northwood Elementary playground. We are seeking again students voice and their feedback on some of the pieces of equipment of the playground. What's not shown in this uh design is that this playground will also be fully fenced in. The playground and the basketball court will also be fully fenced in. Moving on to Winchester Potters. Winchester Potters
076is really a sister school to Clinton Elementary. So many of the issues that we have at Clinton uh being the age of that building and some of the features at Clinton really are the same at Winchester Potters with the classroom storage solution uh to renovate that cubby space where students store their backpacks and coats, fire alarm system, the grease trap, mortar joints, very similar. Those are all things that you saw in the Clinton renovations. and then the playground and drop off loop at Winchester Potters as well. Again, this is a very small parking lot with a a very short driveway. And so cars regularly are backed up onto Potter's Road, which is another busy road in conveniencing not only our families and their safety, but motorists that go on on this road on a daily
077basis. So, just like at Clinton, this creates a parent drop off loop around the back of the school building. where families would enter at uh at the bottom of what's pictured here, go around that back bus loop or parent dropoff loop to drop off their students and again in in the afternoon for parent pickup. The dark green shaded area is where we envision the new playground to be and that playground would also be fully fenced in. And just like at Clinton Elementary, there would be gates at each of the entrance points and exit points of this uh parent drop off loop so that there would be no cars going through that area when school is in session. The gates would simply be open at arrival and at dismissal. And this is the early design that
078we have of the Winchester Potter playground. Students will be voting on pieces of equipment. And just like at the other two schools, this playground will be fully fenced in as well for to maximize student safety. At Winchester Academy and at our bus garage, we have some improvements that are needed to maintain those schools responsibly. There is a roof roof replacement that's required at the Winchester building, some facade repairs, enclosure of a center beam with sopet, and an upgrade of that fire alarm system. And then at the bus garage, a roof replacement at the bus garage. I think it's important to note that what is not listed in here, um, I did not mention the Ebenezer building, although that was part of the building condition survey. Our plan is to vacate the Ebenezer building. So, the
079Ebenezer building, which is located at 900 mil road, is not part of this capital improvement project because it's not part of our long range plan as a school district. As a school district, we can consolidate our footprint and consolidate what where our central offices are now into existing spaces that we have available in our current schools, allowing us to sell the Ebenezer building, reduce our maintenance, reduce our operating expenses of running that building and being really responsible to our taxpayers in investing in those buildings where we have student occupation. students occupying the building and where we're eligible to get state aid. We only get state aid back on student occupied buildings. So, dollar for dollar any of the improvements that we have to do to the Ebenezer building, which it is in need of a
080new roof, that would be solely on our local taxpayers to to bear that and out of our general fund, our general budget. We do not believe that's wise. We would get no state aid back. So, by vacating the Ebenezer building and moving our offices onto a school campus where students are in attendance, we will be able to maximize state aid that we get back on all of these uh improvements, repairs, and replacement equipment that I've summarized for you. So, with that, the timeline, this shows the process that we've gone through going back to January. Right now we are doing the last of our series of final public meetings. We will then um have this vote one week from today. It is one of the propositions that our our residents and community will be able to
081vote on on May 19th. So from that uh just to kind of summarize where we've been, we had initial facility focus group meetings back on February 25th and 26th. We've sent out a series of capital improvement project videos to try to educate and inform our residents about the needs in our schools and how we plan to respond to those needs. Our community presentations, we had one on April 27th and of course tonight's session and tonight's session is being recorded. So if someone cannot watch it live tonight, they they will be able to access the recording. We've also tried to raise awareness through our community uh by having community mailings, backpack stuffer going home with students so that we can really ensure that our voters are aware of the needs in our schools and how we
082intend to respond to those needs. So to recap, the vote is one week from today, Tuesday, May 19th, from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. at East Senior High School in the gymnasium. We have a variety of other things going on that night such as a night at the museum um and of course the kids voting. So I hope our community comes out um to cast their vote on the referendums that are before you. I just like to pause at this point and see if there are any questions from anyone in attendance. Any feedback that you'd like to share? >> Yes, sir. >> My name is Matthew Glass. um actually didn't attend West Sonic at all. My sister did, graduated in ' 06. I went to Pioneer that you featured on your uh video there. And
083I actually just had the opportunity to tour that on my don't want to say this out loud, 15th anniversary of my graduation. the facility. They've done so many changes with adding to their tech programs and their music programs just like you're designing to do here. And the bathrooms are phenomenal. The students have given feedback, the parents and the staff to be able to have those bathrooms privately for any need for anxiety, for social pressures. take it from someone who had social pressure when he was in middle school and high school. I would have given anything to see it like that. And so to do it in today's day and age, we all know how important it is for kids. I have nieces and nephews who are coming in to elementary school. It's imperative. And to
084see what you folks are doing here as someone who doesn't have children yet makes my heart happy to know that I can raise children soon and probably move to this district because of what I'm seeing here. And I'm just a DJ and I'm just an independent salesman. I saw materials for that's phenomenal what you're doing and I hope that everything you hope to do for this budget and all the rest to come I hope it all goes through for you because it's amazing. >> Thank you. Would you like to be my spokesperson in the parking lot on May 19th? >> Absolutely. Actually, that's one of my things is public speaking and all that. So, anything you want to teach me, I'd love to >> Thank you. I I genuinely appreciate your your heartfelt message um
085and acknowledging the the work that we are try tirelessly trying to do to better our school community to make our schools you we all have visited neighboring schools and sometimes we look at neighboring schools and say why do they have this and we don't why are there whatever the facility is technology classroom the bathrooms I think we all want that for our kids here and that's what we're really prioritizing and and and fighting for while also ensuring that we are being responsible to our taxpayers. So this project um we have been conveying that this is both responsible and responsive. It is responsive to the needs of our students and responsive to our goals that we have academically around music spaces and steam spaces and playgrounds for outdoor play for our students. But also the lion
086share of this project is really those things that are critical to just responsibly maintain as any responsible homeowner would do. If your roof is in need of replacement as a responsible homeowner, that's what you do because if not, you know the detrimental outcome of that. And so, we have really tried to strike a balance. It was very challenging work for us to do to try to get some programmatic things that will benefit our students while also responsibly maintaining our schools and the facilities. So, thank you so much. I appreciate your comments. and the young the young students who gave their addresses at the end. I say young students but the graduation seniors the the different activities that I'm hearing. I mean I just feel I feel old 15 years out of high school I didn't
087get to do half of these small announcements that they made. It's incredible. So it's it makes me proud as an individual of Western New York to hear everything that's going on. Well, thank you. And I I hope if you have the opportunity, you choose West Senica and and have children here in our school community. There are great people. I I said it when I was recognizing our teachers for teacher appreciation uh that occurred last week. There are great people that care about kids in this district and it's my honor to lead the district. Thank you. Is there anyone else that would like to share feedback? We will only take positive comments like his. Um, anyone else that would like to share feedback or ask questions? >> Yes, Adam. >> I have uh two questions. Hopefully
088they're not too stupid, but uh the first one I was talking to a teacher at East Middle and he brought up the question, why are we instead of renovating if because we're renovating the tech in music rooms, why are we not keeping the music people in the music rooms and the tech people in tech rooms? I assume that's because of like the noise reduction that would be happening with the music. Is that correct? >> That is yes, that is correct. We looked at the space that was available and what is the best utilization of that space. Um when designing schools, I think being thoughtful of having the quote unquote noisy spaces together when you can have your gymnasiums near your um music classrooms to the greatest extent possible. So that was a factor of consideration
089and really filling in those pools gave us the square footage that that we wanted and needed for the technology and steam spaces. >> Okay. Thank you. And then the second one is for the I don't know if we would notice that yet, but for the playgrounds you talked about them being fenced in. Would they be open to the public for after school activities? I know like for when I was a little kid I lived very close to elementary so I know my parents would always drive me over there and have a ball. That's a a great question and and we know that the community values our playgrounds and with them being new beautiful playgrounds, we anticipate that they'll get a lot of community use. During the school day, they will not be open to the
090public and that's that's our general stance. It's hard for us to enforce that now because they are not fenced in. So, we do not want random community members on the playground when we have a class out for recess during the school day. So during the school day it will be limited to our our students use but on evening weekends during the summer we want our playgrounds to be enjoyed by our community. Uh all of our facilities are owned by our community. They are they are really the property of of our community uh and our taxpayers and residents. So they will be even though they're gated, they will not be locked and will be accessible for community use um when school is not in session. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. Great questions. Any other questions
091or feedback? Thank you very much. I appreciate your time and attention tonight and I encourage you to vote on May 19th. Thank you.