001Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Good evening uh everyone. Thank you for being here or watching us on the online. Uh welcome to Tuesday, October 7th, 2025 regular board meeting of the West Summit Central School District. If we can stand for the pledge, I'll have our ex official student board members lead us, please. You guys can do it right from there. >> 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. >> Thank you. [Applause] >> Move on to roll call. Start with uh Jeremy >> present. >> Sarah >> present. >> Laura >> present. >> Ryan >> present. >> Cal >> present. >> Charlotte >> present. >> Lorine >> present. >> Mara >> present. >> Me I'm here.
002Our wonderful superintendent >> present. >> Thanks. And um just to let everyone know Zach Armstrong is excused from the meeting. um he'll be uh watching the media online and then reaching out with questions about the stuff afterward. So, good to go there. We will move on to our school spotlight. >> Thank you, Mr. Beian. Good evening, everyone. It's my honor to introduce uh some folks from East Middle School. We have Jason Marioli, the school principal, Miss Farley, the assistant principal, and some student representatives from East Middle School who are our featured school at this month's meeting. I'd like to welcome them and ask them to come up to the podium. >> Thank you, Dr. Krueger and Board of Education for including East Middle School in this week or this monthly spotlight for October. I'm joined
003by my colleague, Miss Aaron Farley, and two wonderful students, Ava Mesioak and Dio Trinkle. Every single day on the East Middle campus, these two fine students exhibit the highest degree of character, school spirit, and involvement. And is my absolute pleasure to have them and give them an opportunity to share some of the exciting things taking place on our campus tonight. [Applause] Sorry. [Applause] There is always a great deal of excitement and learning happening on our East Middle campus. We are grateful for our amazing teachers and supportive community. Our spotlight, East Middle Library, Yorker's Club, Trojan triathlon, eighth grade field trips, drama club, prevention focus, East Middle dances, capstone, STEM and destination Imagination, and National Junior Honor Society. East Middle is currently celebrating Freedom to Read Week with lots of fun literacy based activities. Yesterday, everyone
004in the building participated in East Reads where we all stopped what we were doing and read together. The building was silent as everyone was fully engaged in their book. Teachers and staff had proudly displayed signs outside their doors highlighting the books they love reading, sparking meaningful conversations about the books. Celebrating freedom to read week promotes a culture of reading, encourages students to take ownership of their reading choices and re and reaffirms the fundamental freedom to explore all kinds of books. This week, this is the week uh that we have set up for our spirit week. Today, yesterday was pajama day and today was dressed as your favorite book character. Um the library has been helping students adjust to new green and free environment by providing maker space Mondays. A variety of hand-on activities are encouraged
005students encouraging students to talk to one another, problem solve, strategize, and enhance their creativity. Thank you for supporting our maker space funding here. Sorry. Um, Yorkers Club. The Yorkers Club focuses on giving back to our community and is led by the seventh grade social studies teacher, Mr. Paul Gico. This past spring, our East Middle Yorkers club focuses on focused on a garden restoration progra project to further recognize West Senica East graduate Lance Corpal Eric Orlo Orlowski who gave his life serving our country in March of 2003 during Operation Iraqi Freedom. [Applause] Erie County Legislator Lindseay Loro presented the East Middle Yorkers Club with an official Erie County proclamation for their efforts in renovate in renovating the garden. We are so proud of our classmates for such an effort on a meaningful [Applause] sorry um 4th
006annual Trojan triathlon Saturday October 4th 2025. Over 60 students from East and West Middle School participated in the swim, bike ride, and run on our East Side campus. Shout out to East Middle Health teacher, Mr. Jason Overton, for organizing such an awesome competition. Hi, >> here are some photos of our Palmer Airline singing group singing the Star Spangled Banner and our classmates participating in the swim portion of this event. Here are some more photos of our classmates biking around. Uh here's um our students running four times around the track at East High School. 8th grade Quebec trip. Wednesday, February 25th through Saturday, February 28th. During this time, we will be snowshoeing and tubing, visiting St. aunt debra and ice cave visit an ice skating and visiting an ice hotel. The ath grade Boston trip in
0072026, Wednesday, April 29th through Friday, May 1st at the We will be visiting the New England Aquarium, Freedom Trail, the Boston Tea Party, Fenway Park, and a dinner boat cruise. Thank you. A special thank you to Dr. Krueger and our West Senica Central School District Board of Education for approving these trips. [Applause] Over 140 East Middle students joined this year's drama club. Thank you to Mrs. Doro, Miss Palmer, Mrs. Ley, and Mrs. Ignesiac for creating such inviting the theatriotical opportunities for 2026 spring musical Moana Jr. has our students excited. Show dates. Friday, March 27th at 700 p.m. Saturday, March 28th at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Hosted in the East Middle Auditorium. Last month, over 70 students from the East and West Middle drama clubs visited Shayes to enjoy a dress rehearsal of The Outsiders.
008Next month, both drama clubs will bring over 80 students to see the performance of Wicked at Shaes. Thank you again for our enjoyment of these incredible opportunities. We are happy to announce that in addition to our DARE program, our sixth grade students are engaged in a prevention focused workshop where they focus on topics such as goal setting, making responsible decisions, effective communication, conflict resolution, and respect for others. Our middle school dances are Friday, October 4th for sixth grade, Friday, November 14th for 7th grade, and Friday, February 6th for 8th grade. Our East Middle School capstone course is taught by Mrs. Stacy Lutman and Mr. David Pepki. Students are currently building cardboard arcade machines that blend creativity, designs, and integrity. They will compete alongside other schools in January 2026 at the Key Center downtown in categories
009such as best name, most likely to be sold in a store, and best use of technology. These thoughtprovoking clubs are ran are run by grade six science teacher, Mrs. Rayan Zimmerman, and encourage students to engage in activities that focus such on science, technology, engineering, and math. The clubs offer opportunities to build focus on short-term challenges and also build big picture goals. The East Middle National Junior Honor Society is a service organization that focuses on creating future leaders of tomorrow. It is co-led by Mrs. Geonatada and Mrs. Sturmer. Last year, National Junior Honor Societ Honor Society students hosted two waste metal dances, made fleece tied blankets and friendship bracelets to donate to the Roswell Children's Cancer Center, wrote over 140 letters to staff members for the annual spring teacher appreciation project, volunteered at events such as
010the Trojan Triathlon, fifth grade information night, East Middle School Musical, Springfest, the Spaghetti Dinner, and the eighth grade cannon bottle. drive. The National Junior Honor Society held its first meeting of the year earlier this month where students began planning this year's service projects. At the end of the meeting, members participated in a team building activity called the leadership. We are so proud of our school. Thank you for having us. [Applause] Great job. Excuse me. Great job, Ava and Dio. You make each day an absolute pleasure. Thank you for representing our school so well and being such kind, compassionate colleague to all of your fellow learners. Thank you again. >> Thank you. [Applause] Dr. Krueger is going to lead us in a with student recognition. >> Yes. Thank you. It is my honor to recognize a
011few very deserving students at tonight's board meeting. Um first of all, if just want to get the slides up so you can see uh the wonderful students that we're about to recognize. Thank you. So, first I'd like to recognize three students from West Senior High School. Uh, these three students were very acutely aware when one of their classmates was having a medical emergency and a medical issue. Um, they assisted their classmate. They remained kind calm and compassionate and really assisted the adults, both the teacher and the nurse who responded to the scene. So, it is my honor to recognize uh Brooke Delaney, Ashley Hilts, and also Abigail Redmond. And tonight, Brooke and Ashley are in attendance for tonight's board meeting. I'd like to ask them to come up to the podium to be recognized. [Applause]
012And Brooke has a few words that she'd like to share with you all. Hello everyone. My name is Brooke Delaney. I'm not 100% sure why I'm up here speaking to all of you. Because what my peers and I did was something anyone should have done. I guess after speaking to my mom and other adults in my life, I do understand now that in a world like we have today, people don't always do the right thing so easily. Now more than ever, it is important to help someone in need. Be an act of kindness or during a medical emergency like my peer had. You never know if helping them could either save their life or change them forever. Two of my peers and I knew what to do because our guardians taught us how to respond
013if anyone was to ever have a seizure next to us. I called out to our teacher as soon as I noticed them having starting to have a seizure. Abby started counting to track how long it lasted. It is very critical to know so if they need life-saving medication, they can get it. Ashley kept helped keeping them safe from hurting themselves while convulsing until more help arrived. I was told by an adult that most people wouldn't even know what to do and not everyone remained as calm in this situation. People all around us every day have underlying conditions that others may not know about. Be aware of your surroundings and get help if you ever see anyone that might need help. Don't be the one behind the camera. In fact, don't pull it out at all.
014Don't be a bystander. Be a upstander. Be part of the solution. You can change your life in a matter of seconds if you pay attention and help them. Thank you for your time and have a fantastic rest of your evening. Remarkably high school. I'd also like to recognize Elelliana Muna and she is being recognized because uh she took the great initiative to lead a a sock drive um in honor of Carson Shanahan. Um Carson was known for wearing his crazy socks and his love of socks. and Elelliana uh started a sock drive to gather grip socks that can be worn by patients in the hospital at both Oshai and uh or Roswell Park Cancer Institute. So, it is my honor to recognize Elelliana tonight, who um had quite a successful drive here in our school
015district, but was recognized regionally at the uh Hope Rises Shine Gold event where Ford Motor Company also made a donation. And now we have uh donated over 2,000 socks all based on her initiative and her leadership. So, please join me in recognizing Elelliana. And Elelliana has a few words she would like to share. This drive that I started could not have been possible without the support that I had from so many different people. I am incredibly grateful to Dr. Krueger and the district administrators for allowing me to set up a collection box in every school. A special thank you to Mr. Keane, Miss Bonjiovani, Miss Smart, Miss Kemps, and all of my other teachers for your support and encouragement during the get a grip on cancer drive. Thank you to all of the West Senica
016public relations department for helping me spread the word through the school district's social media platform. I am thankful to the members of the West Senica community and beyond for every pair of sock donated along with all of the kind and thoughtful messages that came with each pa package delivered to my house. Thank you to Gary Dixon, the count the town supervisors as well as the West Senica Chambers of Commerce for allowing me to keep a collection box at the West Senica Community Center in order to provide a public drop off location for the community. A huge thank you to Joe, the store manager of the at the West Senica Home Depot, for my gener for generously providing the boxes, paint, and supplies needed to make this in initiative possible after my parents got me started.
017Lastly, I wanted to thank the Shanahan family, Miss Jessica, and Mr. Bob. Thank you for allowing me to carry out the sock drive in memory of Carson and for allowing me to share his inspiring story so publicly in order to raise awareness for pediatric cancer. Carson's light touched so many lives and his memory will always continue to shine. On Monday, I will give Oshi and Roswell Hospitals about 3,000 pairs of grip socks with crazy designs that Carson would have loved. I know that with each pair of sock that will be given to patients, a little bit of Carson's character, kindness, strength, and courage will be felt among them as they continue to fight a battle that no children, no child should ever have to fight. With your continued support, I hope to do this grip
018sock drive again next September. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. [Applause] Great. Move on to our student exeicio board member report. Charlotte, >> hello. As some of you may know, uh, this week starts the beginning of homecoming week. Uh, on the east side, it's a little bit different. West and East don't do the exactly the same things, but it's still homecoming. Um, we start off with theme days every single day consisting of class color, ages day, soccer mom versus barbecue dad, green and gold, jersey day, and anything but a backpack. On Wednesday, we'll have a powderpuff game, which is uh juniors versus seniors play flag football. seniors most of the time win. Um and then normally after would follow a bonfire, but this year due to the fire band across New York State,
019the bonfire will be cancelled. Um on February, sorry, on Friday during school, there'll be the annual pep rally consisting of games and honoring all of the sports team captains and then ending the week with the dance on Saturday from 7 to 10. Um, as upcoming events, there's a Connect Life blood drive on October 17th from 8:00 to 1 in the East Senior Gym. Uh, student council fall craft show on October 25th. There's over a 100 crafters that take part in this event. All the money raised goes to student council that helps fund other activities in our school and our clubs. Um, and then at the end of the month, we'll host the West versus East football game, Friday, October 24th. Nice. >> Same thing on the west. Homecoming week, we got themes and then blood
020drive this week as well in collaboration with connect life. And then last week we had a college fair for all juniors and seniors interested which displayed many local colleges. And that's all I got. Not much. Thank you, Kell and Charlotte. >> Thank you. And uh now you >> Thank you. I'm happy to share my superintendent report with you and some um updates throughout the district. I'd like um to begin though by recognizing someone who is very special in the West Saka community. Um many of you may know Tim Jalooski and the impact that he has had on the West Saka Central School District. Tim was a founding father of our academy program and he served um and donated and devoted countless hours to supporting our academy program. Um from fundraising efforts to events to trying
021to recruit other local business leaders to expand internship and workplace learning opportunities for our students. He uh selflessly dedicated himself to supporting our students and our academy program. And I'd like to ask that we honor Tim with a moment of silence. Thank you. I'd also like to um recognize some of our employees of the district. First, Ashley Benetto, who is a West Senior Fizzed teacher and a coach in the district, was recently inducted into the Orchard Park Athletic Hall of Fame. So, we wish her congratulations. I'd also like to recognize our board of education. October is board recognition month and I'd like to thank on behalf of our entire school district, our board of education for your volunteerism, for your dedication, for your time, your energy, all that you give to support our students and
022our school district. And we have some some gifts for you tonight as a small gesture of our appreciation. The note cards that you have are all student artwork uh that we've created into note cards for you and a box of goodies as well for you to enjoy as just a small token of our appreciation. So, thank you very much for all that you do. Uh just a few highlights from around the district. We held our Gary Geyser Run on September 20th for fourth and fifth grade students. Northwood Elementary kicked off the school year with a welcome back carnival. Our elementary students took a field trip to the farm and you'll see uh many students here that are in our expanded program when we welcome back uh special education students into the district and looked for
023opportunities to expand programming for them. Also, we recently uh had Westfest at West Middle School which had a tremendous turnout. A lot of students and families came out for that enjoyable evening event. Uh you heard in the East Middle School um presentation tonight the recognition that they received from Erie County legislator Lindseay Lagorio and they received a proclamation for their excellent work um to remember one of our fallen heroes uh Lance Corporal Eric Orlowski and uh the art students there at East Middle School spruced up the memorial that we had in that place and so we we recognize and celebrate them for their hard work. Our middle school drama club got to see the um final dress rehearsal of The Outsiders at Shaes. So, they got a little behind thescenes look at the final dress
024rehearsal before it was curtain up for Sha's uh first night of that showing. I also want to recognize we had some amazing food drives that went on uh this fall both at East Senior High School and at West Senior High School. West Senior specifically, uh, their drive was the huddle for hunger. And while we were not the winning school district in Western New York, uh, nonetheless, they raised a tremendous amount of non-p perishable food items to benefit Feed More of Western New York. Our marching band is having an amazing fall season. I wanted to note there that recently in a competition in Lancaster they placed second and posted the third highest score in their class across the entire state. Um out of the the entire scores that were posted that weekend. So they are having
025a phenomenal season and um later in my upcoming events I've highlighted an upcoming competition of our marching band in case you'd like to to visit them. Our fall sports season is well underway. Notably, our football teams are doing amazing. Our cross country team is having an amazing uh season. So, if you haven't had a chance to come out to an event, as our student representatives mentioned, we have homecoming weekend uh coming up with Friday night. So, hopefully you can get out and enjoy a game and support one of our sports teams. Wanted to just highlight a few upcoming events. West Middle School has a chicken barbecue fundraiser coming up on October 9th, this Thursday. We also have our annual Dig for a Cure, which is a volleyball um volleyball game that is a fundraiser to
026raise funds for breast cancer through the American Cancer Society. Our students mentioned, I think Charlotte had mentioned the annual E Senior Student Council uh fall craft show, which is a wonderful annual event which usually gets a tremendous response and turnout in our community. Also this fall, later this month in October, West Senior will present their fall drama, which is Little Shop of Horrors. Uh tickets are available on sale at the door, and that's October 24th and 25th. I have all of the events um that are, you know, some of many that we have going on this month that I wanted to highlight for you. It's an amazing time in the school district. We have fall concerts that are going to be starting up uh later this month. So hopefully uh you'll have an opportunity to
027experience the amazing things that our students do on the field and in our auditoriums and stages. Thank you. >> Thank you. Okay, we're um we're going to change things up just a tiny bit. So, we have we have public comment section coming up and we're actually going to have a second public comment section after I believe item number 12. So, the first public comment section we're going to do it on items that we are voting on today and that would be from items basically 4 through 12 on the agenda. Um I'm not going to stop anyone from speaking on anything they want to speak, but that'd be cool if we could focus on that. uh any comments on things we're voting on and then the later public comment section we will uh have after our
028um discussion board of education discussion on the redistricting and long range plan. So um this will allow us a little bit of um separation as far as things we're voting on versus things that we're just finding out about because there'll be no vote taking place on that this evening. So that being said, I will ask if anyone wants to come up to the podium. I do have a signup sheet here and um Mr. Mr. Vanderlip is on it. Would you like this one, sir, or the latter one? >> I don't know if I'll stick around that. >> Well, thank you for being here. >> Oh, thank you. I appreciate uh the opportunity that the board provides the community to speak and and certainly uh provide our insights and uh it's fantastic to have the students
029as part of that as well. So I did want to speak to the main topic of tonight's meeting which is you know the reconfiguration of the elementary schools in our district and the significance and getting this right. Uh I choose the term reconfiguration because as I have constantly stated in my time as a board member and prior to that this is the action which is absolutely needed uh in order to rightsize our buildings uh balance class sizes provide students and teachers with the appropriate learning environment um unify our community and create real professional learning communities. We need to establish primary, elementary, and middle school buildings in our district. We need consistent configuration and continuity of services on both sides of town. So to be clear on what I am proposing now, what I proposed as
030a member of the redistricting committee in 2022, again in 23, last year 24, and here tonight is that um we stop looking at moving lines around and pulling neighborhoods apart and instead design preK to 2 buildings at um Northwood, Windot, Allenale and that we make Clinton and West Elementary here our actual elementary schools. This would allow children to grow up together. It would allow teachers uh in the same grade levels to work together and we'd stop using buildings like the one that we're currently sitting in to house children at a place that was never designed to serve. Um instead, let's use our buildings to create spaces which foster friendships. unify neighborhoods and create a school climate where um you know a love of learning is born and hopefully blooms. Um and I would ask just
031one more small favor. I'm hopeful that our board members will engage in public conversation on this topic tonight and again illustrate that uh transparency is not just a campaign slogan or something we say but really one of our core principles. >> Thank you sir. [Applause] So, uh, Vince is pretty familiar with the statement that I should have read before he came up, and I'll I'll read it now. Um, the board will now entertain or previous to Vince coming up. Public comment for 30 minutes. With each speaker given three minutes when called, please step up to the podium and state your name and address. Please be respectful in your comments and do not divulge any personal or confidential information um for example names of people or um situations. So uh that being said, is there anyone
032else that would like to come up now? Um we again we will have a second one later. Okay, great. Thank you. We will move on. Next number three is our presentations, our external audit report. Um, if we're going to call them up to this podium to do the report now. Okay, if you guys want to come up, we can go through our external audit report. >> Dresser and Mi, sorry about that. >> And I believe the board has uh the packets in front of them. I know they were emailed ahead of time, but um Good evening. Uh, good evening. Matt Montelo from Dresser MKI. We're here to present the uh results of the district's external audit for the year ended June 30th, 2025. So, we have a PowerPoint presentation to go go through that overview.
033Uh we met previously with the audit committee and went through a detailed report on the audit and we're here to share the results for the full board. Um so, the products of our audit, we we kind of outlined the key deliverables or the final reports that you will get uh as a result of the audit. the main component being the basic financial statements. So that that's really the goal of an external audit on the financial statements is you're hiring an independent third party to provide an opinion on whether your fa financial statements are fairly stated. Um so essentially are they reliable? Can we as a board rely on our our internal records and our financials to make budget decisions to make operational decisions? So so that's why the basic financial statements getting that independent verification
034is really a key component. Um, as far as the management letter and auditor auditor communication letter, excuse me. Um, I'll outline the major components on that on a a further slide. Uh, the last component is the extra classroom activity report. So, we look at the cash receipts, cash balances, and cash dispersement of your extra classroom activity clubs. Um, going further into the audit communication, um, I touched on it a little bit, but our responsibility under our standards is to form and express an opinion on the financial statements. So, we don't take responsibility for the books and the records. That's the responsibility of management. We come in as an independent third party and provide an opinion on the financials. Um, so we do plan on moving forward with what's referred to as an unmodified opinion on
035the financial statement. So, that is a clean opinion. The best you can do from an audit standpoint. Um, we're never going to say they're absolutely 100% correct. We don't look at every single transaction of the districts, but we do believe that based on our audit, they are fairly stated. They are reliable financial statements. Um, as far as the significant items, those are disclosed in the financial statements. Not a lot of changes from the prior year. um independence. This is again a requirement of the audit and kind of the key component of an audit. Us as auditors being free of conflicts of interest. So we're objective in performing the audit and then ultimately providing that opinion on the financial statements. And then as far as other matters, we didn't have any difficulties performing the audit. No
036disagreements with management. Um no one withheld records. We were able to perform a full uh an open audit and then ultimately provide that opinion on the financials. Um any questions from the board as far as our communications uh before we get into more of the financial statement numbers. Okay. Uh we'll start with a five-year trend. This is an operation trend. Your simply your revenues versus your expenditures over the last 5 years. Um what what jumps out at you is that revenue line and the expenditure line are starting to close in and come together. So the end of 2025 almost exactly break even actually decreased fund balance about $82,000. Um so when you're looking at your revenues and expenditures of around $158 million an $82,000 decrease is very minimal almost like I said a break even
037point. Um that's not a bad place to be. That really is the goal of a school district, a local government um is to have a balanced budget. your your goal is really to provide the service and that revenue is supposed to meet you know meet those obligations. Um so the last three previous fiscal years you've been able to generate a surplus. Um certainly the revenues if you look you track the last 5 years on both the revenue expenditure side uh pretty significant increases from around 125 million to you know upwards of 158 million. So, a lot of those components are, you know, state aid, uh, real property taxes, uh, sales tax that is provided from Erie County. Um, so those major revenue sources. Uh, but really on the budget side, this is the trend that
038we've been seeing around New York State. Um, salaries, benefits, contractual costs, everything is going up based on inflation and um, you know, contractual obligations. So, this is a a fairly predictable trend. Um but right at about a break even point at the end of 25. How does that impact your fund balance or your equity position as a district? Um like I said right around your total fund balance was right around 35 million consistent with the prior year. Uh we break it into different components because these are important as far as what is available versus what is restricted. Uh so your restricted fund balances and these are your legal reserves. Uh right around $23 million. uh the major major reserves you have in place are your retirement contributions uh related to workers comp obligations and then
039capital projects. So these are set up under general municipal law and they can only be used for those purposes. Uh the unrestricted port portions about $12.5 million. Um that's broken further into different categories. One being your assigned fund balance and that's about $5.6 $6 million that you appropriate into your current budget. So during the budget process, uh you're able to appropriate fund balance to help budget balance the budget. That was about $5.6 million. There's no guarantee you're going to end up using that, but it does help keep the real property tax level at a lower level. Um and then the remaining portion I'll kind of highlight on this slide, $6.5 million, and that's unassigned. Um, so that's really the only truly available fund balance that you have as a district and that's what you can
040help uh that that helps with your cash flow. That's really the money that you have to pay your employees uh to pay your contractors and keep the district running while you're waiting for those revenues to come in. So all those major revenue sources they're oper you're operating on a lag whether it be from the state uh your real property taxes sales tax um all those th that money is not received on day one of your fiscal year. Uh so you really have to operate with that unassigned portion um to help uh you know pay your bills and pay your employees. Uh that is a focal point because there is a limit on what school districts in New York State can hold in unassigned fund balance. Uh 4% is the limit. You've been in compliance with
041that over the last 5 years. Uh so that's $6.5 million. That's essentially the max that you can hold within uh real property tax law. The last uh fund we'll look at is the school lunch fund. Um just to look at the the last 5-year trend of your fund balance within the cafeteria. Um slight increase from the prior year. A pretty stable trend over the last 5 years. Uh so a fund balance was just over $2.6 million. And that is generated that's not generated by any real property taxes. That's federal aid, state aid, and uh the cost of sales within um within that fund. So a stable fund balance within the school lunch fund. As far as our overall observations, um we did not have any or identify any material weaknesses or significant deficiencies uh in
042the audit. So those we be we would be required to put in writing if we did identify those. Um so pretty pretty um smooth audit from our standpoint, stable financial condition for the district for the year ended June 30th, 2025. Um take any questions or concerns from the board? [Applause] Okay. >> Um I sat through the, you know, our little meeting before this to go through it and um the the the money that we have the un un the un you know the reserves unassigned reserves. Um like that kind of helps us get through the beginning of the year if that's the case. We have that money to kind of pay the bills and everything till the tax revenues start coming in later in the year or the reimbursements on stuff. Y >> um it's
043you said that we're not allowed to have more than that. Um going down if we didn't have that amount, we would be going back like we did I think about 10 years ago where we had to borrow money and spend fees on interest and all that stuff. So is it it's kind of like I don't want to say a savings account for just whatever, but it's because we can't put everything on a credit card. Um so that's that money is there even though it says unassigned, it's assigned as a cushion kind of for us to carry through the year. Is that the way I'm understanding it? >> Yeah. No, I think that's right. Um I mean, essentially, if you're a business, that's your liquidity, right? >> That's your operating capital. Um that's what keeps keeps
044the operations going while your revenues are coming in. You're still paying your bills. You're still operating. Um so it is a key component. And in fact, other local governments, there's no limit on what they can hold. Um so that's that's specific to school districts. Um, so it really is a it's not a lot when you look at your budget of $158 million. Um, 4% of that is not a lot to work with. So it it's important to be at or close to that level so you don't run into those issues where you're borrowing money and incurring, you know, interest costs. You know, that that really should be put back into the the school. >> Excellent. >> And I'm assuming while we have it, we're gaining some sort of interest or something on it, right? >>
045Yeah. with rates where they are now and in the last couple fiscal years, um that's been kind of a bonus for for governments um because you are limited what you can invest in. You're not out there in the stock market with public funds, but you can go into treasuries and earn, you know, anywhere between, you know, around four to 5% has been the last couple years. So, um that's been a good bonus for for districts that you can put into your budget. Excellent. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? Okay, thank you very much. Have a good evening. >> Thank you. [Applause] >> Have a good night. Move on to number four now. Personnel. Um, if I may have a motion on 4 A, please be abolishing some classified positions. >> I'll make a motion
046to approve for >> Laura. Motion to approve. May I have a second? >> Either way, >> we'll go with Sarah this time. I heard her first. Sarah second. Is there any discussion on this? >> I believe it needs to be amended um for the abolishment of the positions. It says the assistant cook the labor part time and labor what I believe it should be cleaner and cleaner part time. [Applause] I don't know Dr. Sabone if you can speak to that or answer that question regarding the abolishment of the positions on the agenda >> because we're creating a labor on the next >> right so that's why >> what I would suggest if we make action on this tonight and if it is in fact a clerical error the way it was put on the agenda
047we can bring a revision back to the board to to correct that at the November meeting. >> Yeah realized that they No worries. And we'll we'll look into it to make sure that that's accurately uh noted here. And if we need to make a revision and take further board action to clarify that and rectify that, we certainly will. >> Thank you. Any other discussion on the matter? >> Okay. All in favor? >> I. Anyone oppose? Passes 6. [Applause] Now 4B. May I have a motion on 4B, creating classified positions? >> I'll make the motion for 4B to create classified positions. >> There you go, Loren. Thank you. Uh, may I have a second? >> A second. >> Laura, a second. Any discussion on this one? >> Yeah, I'll try that again. Um, I still think
048uh it's more valuable to not have the help or have additional maintenance mechanics. we can save a tiny bit of money. But for instance, uh we did this with the custodians and convert some of those to laborers and a labor cannot do the job of a custodian. So a lot of time the custodian takes off called and said we have to take over time for a custodian to come in cuz the labor cannot do the job by himself. So with a maintenance mechanic helper, we have jobs lined up and you need the maintenance mechanic and we only have the helper. How is that all going to kind of work out at the end of my concern? >> If I can respond to that, Mr. Beia, some of this is part of Mcbar's long range plan
049for the facilities department in that finding experienced, highly qualified individuals have has proved to be challenging. Whereas if we have a maintenance mechanic helper, we are trying to create a career pipeline and a career pathway to bring individuals in at the maintenance mechanic helper level, allow them to learn about our district to support them through training and development and with the goal and opportunity to promote from within to really create a career pipeline so that individuals can progress from cleaner to laborer to custodian or similarly from maintenance mechanic helper to ultimately a maintenance mechanic so that we can have that development pipeline and really have some career paths within within the district. We had a number of retirements where we lost tremendously skilled people without the ability to have a deep pool to be able
050to promote from within. So, some of our recent hires that we've had of executive housekeeper, for example, we're hiring external people um not growing our own within our district. And I think that will lead to recruitment and retention when we can have career paths within our district. And um I think the board is aware from Mick's presentation that he made to the board last spring of of the ultimate goal to have that career development opportunity within CSEA. But I I certainly appreciate your perspective on that. >> Any other discussion on the matter? [Music] >> All in favor? >> I. >> Anyone opposed? Passes 6. [Applause] Consent agenda. If I could have a motion item 6 through nine, please. >> I'll make a motion. >> Jeremy, may I have a second? I'll second it. >> I'm
051sorry. >> I'll second it. >> Second. Okay. We do not do any discussion on consent agenda. So, all in favor? >> I. Anyone opposed? Consent agenda. Agenda passes 6. >> Thank you, Mr. Beed. I would like to invite Dr. Cerone to come up to the podium. Um, we have some individuals in attendance tonight that we would like to recognize. the board just took action on the appointment of a number of people and also the tenure recommendation of some of our uh staff. So, as Dr. Cerone is coming up, I just like to recognize um some other personnel recognition and celebrations that we will have this month to recognize and honor our employees uh and all the work that they do. So, first um the board took action on two retirees tonight. I do not believe
052that either of them are in attendance. Do you know Dr. Savone? >> I don't believe so either. Um I did not see either one of them. Sharon or Kathleen, I don't believe you're here. If you are, please stand. >> We thank them and recognize them for their years of service to the district. Thank you. >> Just trying to pull up my notes here. Thank you, Dr. Krueger, Board of Education. Uh like to first congratulate all people that are being appointed and and receiving recognition tonight. Uh tenure is a a huge accomplishment in our district, as you know. Uh, so a special congratulations to Megan, Stephanie, and Emily. Uh, I believe if you're here, could you please stand? You offer them a round of applause. Incredible accomplishment and we look forward to you working with us
053for many years to come. So, congrats. >> Congratulations. and we have several personnel appointments as listed here. It is a busy time this fall and we are very excited about that. Uh I would like to uh I know we have a new uh administrative hire here and I believe I saw Diana if you could please stand. Uh Diana Nigro will be joining our district next month as our director of professional learning and her responsibilities will be um finding ways to develop uh all of our employees um from our administrators, our teachers, civil service and continuing our mission uh towards uh being lifelong learners. So Diana comes to us from Orchard Park where she's currently the principal of Elicate Elementary. Uh you here with some family? >> Yes, my daughter. My husband had to meet with
054my son but Thank you. >> Congratulations and welcome to West Academy. >> I believe that's all I have. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Hey, what we're going to do now is um once I'm done talking, we're going to throw a 10-minute timer up there and take a recess. Um at the 10-minute mark, I'll come back and kind of uh get things settled down and we'll restart the meeting. just gives everyone a chance to maybe use the restroom or grab a drink of water. Plus, we get to meet the new hires or people that have uh you know been recognized one way or another and the board will get a chance to talk to them since we don't necessarily get to spend a lot of time in the schools during the day. So, we'll
055do that now. Thank you. We will continue now. We'll move on to number 11, new business. Um I norm do a recap now or during discussion on the um the bond resolution. >> During discussion >> Okay, great. >> Um may I have a motion on 11 A, please? >> I'll make a motion to approve 11 A. >> Mara, motion to approve. May I have a second? >> I'll second it. >> Marine second. Okay, move on to discussion. Does anyone here have anything related to it? Otherwise, I'll have Lisa do a nice recap for us on it. >> Sure. The the the resolution under new business 11A is the bond resolution. Just to remind the the board, this is for the funding of our $ 8.5 million auditorium infrastructure capital improvement project. And this authorizes the
056district to borrow the funds. It's $6.4 4 million that we are going to be borrowing so that we can invest in our auditoriums as we've outlined with the community. The remaining portion is that local share that will be covered by capital reserves that the district has so that there is no additional tax impact on our taxpayers. But this is authorizing us to do that initial borrowing and then of course we get state aid reimbursement back on this project which will pay back that bond. >> Excellent. Thank you on that. >> Sure. You're welcome. Now double check any other discussion on it. Okay. All in favor? >> I. >> Anyone opposed? Passes 6. Thank you. Thank you for that. >> Absolutely. >> Um now if unless anyone has anything specific they want broken out. If I
057can have a motion for the rest of new business, please. >> Uh yes sir. Let me just dig it up. [Applause] Okay. Okay. So, what I will do is I will take well, I'll take anything anyone wants to make a motion on, but I would like a motion on 11B through 11 J. >> I'll make a motion for 11 >> 11 B through 11 J. >> J. Yes. >> Motion to approve. >> Yes. >> Okay. May I have a second? >> I'll second. >> A second. All in favor? >> I. Anyone opposed? >> Passes. Oh, I double check if there's any discussion on anything. Was there? Okay, great. And then we'll do K separately. So, uh, may I have a motion on K, please? I will make a motion to approve K. May I have
058a second? >> I'll second. >> Laura, a second. Any discussion? Yeah, I'll reiterate what I said uh last year. I have a hard time taking all of our excess reserves or not reserves but revenues and transferring them into accounts we can't use and then asking the taxpayers for more money to pay our bills the following year. Uh I don't know how every year we end up with so much additional excess revenue. Some of it I mean looking at it some of them are adjusted accordingly after a few years but there are a few on here I I look back at it on a 5year look and some of them we adjusted some we left the same and we're bringing in usually an extra 600 to 1.1 million extra on these different areas and it's not
059reflecting that in the budget. So then we tell the public we need more money and I I I just can't support that going forward. [Applause] >> Okay. Um thank you on that. Anyone want to discuss anything else or related to that? [Applause] I'm just looking to make sure I don't have a question. Um yeah, I the only uh the only thing I want to bring up and I don't want to necessarily say disagree or agree with you on that. I do respect the opinion on it. I do I support moving some of the money into the capital reserve. Um bus reserve obviously we have to fund that to pay for buses in my opinion. Um but the capital reserve is something that um I kind of I think I was involved in us creating it
060if I'm remembering correctly using it. um the money we put in there, we then can use, if my understanding is correct on this, that can be turned into larger sums of money because we do the matching funds and we can fund the projects. If if I'm rem and Dr. Krueger, will someone throw something at me if I'm wrong, that would equate to then having like eight or 9 million to spend. >> It's it's nearly four times as much when we get our state aid reimbursement. So, a $2.5 million investment of capital reserve can actually yield us $10 million of improvements in our schools. >> So, I mean, and I do I do respect what you have to say. I just wanted to say I I like setting this money aside because this is infrastructure and
061things that that we have to do. So, setting it this way instead of taking the money in the future, um I support. But again, I also support everything spending money wisely. So, >> I I don't disagree with you on that. It's just every year. It's not just last year. Every year we do the budget. We always claim we have to take out of the reserves and raise taxes to pay the bills. And if we don't pass this budget, then we got to go to this contingency budget. And we did it again last year and I believe there's a little discrepancy on the audit report, but we had roughly $9 million in excess revenue. That's absurd to tell the taxpayers we need a couple million dollars, but hey, we brought in 9 million more than we
062expected. So, but now we're up in our reserves and now next year we're going to ask you for money again. I think that's wrong and it should not be thought that way. >> Okay. Again, I um again I I'm I'm just having conversation here. I I would rather I I believe if I'm not mistaken, we spent about 98ish% of the money we brought in. Um I believe we've spent it wisely over the last few years. Very wisely. Um, but the if I don't know if we if we would have budgeted expecting more and things went the other way, we can't adjust for that. I mean, I know 9 million and I know it's a lot and it's a lot in our community. Um, but the other way we can't correct it, but 9 million out
063of 165 million, you know, I I just it we're not we're not growing by 9 million every year, otherwise we'd have tons and tons of extra money. We're finding ways to spend it wisely in my opinion. um and spending it on things that will actually cost us more in the future. So I I I love where you're coming from and obviously, you know, just the way I look at it. Um so discussion on it. It's a little awkward. I'm not trying to argue with you. I just like to discuss things publicly. >> It was 98.7% of the budget that we >> 98.7% >> based on what we budgeted >> and I get it. You know, you don't necessarily look we spent all the money. I just I believe we spent it in good places and
064that's where I'm okay with it. And there are a lot of things that they went through in the committee meeting today with us that are done on complex formulas. So, um we're doing things based on um predictions. We set our budget based on the January state budgets for some of our funding sources. And so, uh that can change um before we pass our budget, but obviously because of needing public review and things, it's often that those those change um in a time period where we're not able to make dramatic changes to our budget. nice back and forth. Um, if there is a discrepancy or anything, if you want to catch up with me, I'd like to take a look at it, just find out um on it cuz I said I sat through the original
065meeting, too. So, any anything else? Anyone? No. Thank you for everyone's input on that. Um, all in favor of K. >> I. >> Anyone opposed? passes 521. Thank you. Looks like L. If I can Oh, that might be it. Huh? Can I have a po a motion on L? >> I'll make a motion to approve L. >> Motion to approve L. May I have a second? >> I'll second. >> Second. All in favor on L. >> Oh, any discussion? >> Well, since we're on it, I will point out the error right now. Excellent. that I believe is there uh for the entire year we get these monthly revenue reports and for the entire year the lottery and and this is a trend year to year uh is estimated at $10 million um and then for
066some reason here on the original it says we were estimating 12,250,000. So, at the end of the year, looks like we got $2 million less roughly than we did, but we actually should have received about 300,000 more than that. If you don't mind me, I don't want to interrupt. What page do you have a page number on that just so I can pull it up? >> Page 60. >> 60. Thank you. [Applause] >> I mean, I I can't answer that question. I don't know if anyone here all year would be listed at 10. >> I think it came in at 23 10,300,000 and I'm here for Yeah, it came in at 10 10,35,000 but here it says we estimated to get 12,250 which doesn't even make sense cuz historically for the past few years it's
067been a tense and why we would ever raise that would make no sense at all. So I would like some clarification on that. >> Jeremy, just to clarify, which page is it? >> 60 on the um in the packet. >> Okay. >> Got it. >> Not in the audit report. >> Um so that's where we put our total. >> Well, so Oh, do you are you looking online or are you looking on Okay. So our audit report will be online. I have a copy. Got it. >> Um from the meeting, so we can we can pull that up. And do you want to respond now or give some information? >> I I'd like to do some information on it, some background on it. Having questions in advance help us to be better prepared to respond
068to board questions at the table. So, I didn't know there was a question regarding this until moments ago, but I'd be happy to to look into this to look specifically at at any discrepancy that that you've got a question around to see if there's an explanation as to that difference and why. And I would be happy to follow up and update the board regarding that. >> Excellent. Thank you. >> Absolutely. and we'll um anything important we'll share it to the next >> is that something that we want to table or do we want to >> I mean I I'm I'm willing to vote on it. Um but >> yeah I mean it's not going to change anything but some numbers but it's >> Yeah, I'm fine voting on that as well. >> Okay. >> Yeah,
069I we're we're you know with approving the report the report report still can be fixed if there is an issue or something but it may be just a change in numbers. So we'll find out. Um any other discussion on how >> when what we're approving is accepting the opinion that's what we're approving, >> right? >> Yeah. So it's okay if >> Yeah. Okay. >> Um >> any other discussion? >> Okay. Uh may I have I have the motion? All in favor? >> I anyone opposed? Passes 6. Thank you. [Applause] do not vote on 12. So now we move on to lucky number 13. Board of Education discussion. I go right into the discussion on redistricting reconfiguration long range plan. >> Sorry, long range facilities plan. >> Thank you. Good evening everyone. I'm happy to share
070an update um after we spent time this summer gathering feedback from the board of educ education from our June meeting and really looking at this from a very comprehensive uh way for how we should best be moving forward. So just to begin with some background redistricting in our district has been studied for years at this point. Um there's been two different committees with the support of two different consultants or facilitators that have studied redistricting for more than three years in West Senica. And there's some main concerns that are driving redistricting. Specifically, the enrollment and class sizes at Clinton Elementary where class sizes right now are beyond the board guidelines. We currently have 27 to 29 students in our fifth grades at Clinton Elementary. At Allenale Elementary, our enrollment is beyond the capacity where there's not
071adequate space for us to deliver our intervention services with interventionists working in hallways, in locker rooms, and in other spaces and our enrollment at West Middle School where we have teachers or courses without designated classrooms during the instructional day. So, some possible solutions that have been explored by prior redistricting committees are redistricting, which is often simply moving students from one attendance area to another. Reconfiguration, which is really changing the ways in which we use our schools. Our elementary schools specifically right now are K to5 schools. We have two schools that also house pre kindergarten, but we have K to5 schools, 6 through eight middle schools, and 9 through 12 high schools. So, a possible solution would be utilizing those schools in different ways and reconfiguring the grade level bands within the schools. And we've been
072asked by the community, some residents who did not want us to disrupt boundaries of school attendance areas and have suggested that we consider additions onto our schools. But that is not going to be my recommendation. I don't believe it's wise for our community. We would receive absolutely no state aid on any additions that are done to our building. The state looks at the population that we have, our student enrollment, and the space that's available within our district. It would not be a wise investment for the state to invest state aid in a district that has space available. So reusing or repurposing our existing footprint would be a possibility, but putting an addition onto one of our schools would yield us in no state aid reimbursement whatsoever. But lastly, as I've pointed out here, we could
073repurpose existing spaces, remodel existing sick bases such as a pool. Recently, our community had filled in the pool at West Elementary School in this building, and it's now utilized as an auxiliary gym. We could repurpose and remodel our existing spaces within the existing footprint, such as a pool, to create more classroom and instructional spaces. So, those are possible solutions. What I want to recommend to the board of education and to our community is that we learn from past mistakes. Uh in my 16 months here in the district, I have heard feedback that that we as a district have had mistakes in the past of having short-term solutions, not comprehensive plans, a central office that is regularly moved throughout the district and currently one that is not even centralized in one location. And that we haven't
074had a long range facilities plan to account for our enrollment changes. the long-term plan for the use of our Ebenezer building, the long-term plan for our Winchester Academy, and we also have some growing issues and concerns with our transportation facility. It is a facility that is inadequate to respond to the zero emission bus mandate and it limits our ability to add more West Senica Central School District buses. As the community may know, we are reliant on two different contracted bus services to help transport our students and we don't have the facility or the capacity to add additional West Senica buses with our very landlocked transportation facility on the campus of West Senior. So my recommendation is that we don't look at this in the most simplistic way, which is redrawing lines and moving students from
075this attendance area to another attendance area. That may be a solution, but I I feel that that solution would potentially jeopardize us repeating the same mistakes of the past and that we really look at this as an opportunity to have a long range facilities plan that will not only respond to the concerns that we have around enrollment and capacity, but will also serve us long-term and well into the future. So my recommendation is that through this process we really rightsize our school enrollments and the capacity we reduce wherever possible expenses to the district and to our taxpayers through the consolidation of facilities. We maintain Bosey's revenues as much as possible. We do lease an entire building right now to Boseies and we get over $600,000 in revenue annually from Boseies. Um we would like to
076maintain a relationship to the greatest extent possible with Boseies. It benefits our students but it also brings in a revenue source to the district and then wisely enhancing our facilities for the future in response to the New York State portrait of a graduate evolving graduation requirements that we are smart and strategic in how we invest in our schools and while expanding services to our families. Lastly, and equally important, that we do this in alignment with the feedback that we've heard from our stakeholders and what I believe I've learned that our community values. No small task, right? So, with that, a little bit of background. On June 3rd, we had shared a recommendation from the redistricting committee. The redistricting committee recommended the two items that you see listed here. item number one, which is elementary base
077redistricting with middle school scheduling and room adjustments to accommodate the issues that we have at West Middle School, but it was really just exclusively elementary redistricting. The second recommendation from the redistricting committee was elementarybased redistricting with middle school repositioning and this was met with greater feedback from the community. this would disrupt the current east and west boundaries within our school community. When we made that presentation to the board of education on June 3rd, the board asked us to reconsider and to go back and look at analyzing two other options that you wanted to see if they were viable options. The first was to reposition fifth grade and pull fifth grade out of Northwood and Clinton and put fifth grade on the east side in the East Middle School campus which was the former East Elementary
078School. And then lastly on June 3rd the board asked that we re look at reconfiguring our elementary schools. would having prek to 2 and 3 to 5 schools be another way to potentially solve this problem and to utilize our schools in a different way. So on June 17th, with the feedback from the board, I made a recommendation that we take the summer to study these four options, more specifically to deeply study number three and number four to determine whether or not they are viable options and ones that we could support in a long-term way. So I'm going to summarize those four options and whether or not they are viable solutions that I'm recommending for us to consider. So, first we have the elementarybased redistricting. This would shift students who are currently attending Clinton Elementary to
079Northwood. Clinton is over capacity. Northwood is currently under capacity. And that would alleviate the capacity problems at Clinton Elementary. On the west side of town, it would reposition students who are currently attending Alenale Elementary and position those students to attend Winchester Potter Elementary. I have the large graphic of our district map here on the screen, but I want to note in the appendix of this presentation, you will see detailed and clear street maps to see exactly what streets are proposed to be impacted by that. That was feedback that we heard from the spring that that residents wanted very detailed and clear street maps and those are uh found in the appendex of this presentation. So, I've summarized some of the benefits of this particular redistricting option and some of the limitations or potential negative consequences
080of them. The bottom line is this does solve our redistricting issues. It would alleviate the pressure at Clinton and also at Allenale. It alleviates and is a viable solution for elementarybased redistricting, but it does not solve the issue that we have at West Middle School. West Middle School still has some capacity in classroom issues where we do not have teachers in designated classrooms. So this would leave the middle school um unchanged. So that is a limitation with this particular model but it is a viable solution for the elementary division. The second option uh that we had considered from the redistricting committee was that same elementarybased redistricting that I just described, but this would also extend and include a middle school solution. And this would be disrupting what is now our current east and west boundary.
081And so students who are currently living on the east side of Union Road but attending Westside Middle School and High School would instead attend East Middle School and East High School. And we are not recommending this plan. This is not my recommendation. We've heard the feedback from stakeholders this spring. uh they clearly expressed a desire to maintain the current east and west boundaries and I believe that there are other viable options to solve the capacity and enrollment challenges that we have at West Middle. I will tell you it's going to take community support to make that happen. But there are other viable options and I'll discuss those further. The third option that we were asked to explore this summer is the repositioning of fifth grade students on the east side of town. This would pull
082fifth grade out of Northwood and Clinton. Those two schools would become K to4 schools. The west side would remain K5 configuration. And what this shows is how it would change the enrollment in those schools. And I will summarize to say that this would solve the issue at Clinton. If we pull fifth grade out of Clinton, Clinton decreases in capacity. They can enjoy much more reasonable class sizes. However, this solution also would pull fifth grade out of Northwood. That is not what we need. Northwood is already underutilized. By pulling fifth grade out of Northwood, Northwood would become a dramatically underutilized building and we would take away capacity on the campus of East Middle School. And if we want to do this right with a long-term strategic plan for facility use, we have to be smart about
083how we utilize that former East Elementary School and the entire square footage that we have available at the East Middle School campus. By bringing fifth grade over to the East Middle School campus, it would truly limit our ability to solve other issues that we have in the district, such as where our central offices are located. And I've gone on record and I will still say it. I don't care where my office is located. We need to serve our students first. But if we're not thoughtful of where our central offices are, we will risk repeating the mistakes of the past. Our central offices are not centralized. They're in three different schools right now. And special education has not been strategically planned for. Special education is often put in each nook and cranny where there's space. we
084have the opportunity to really look at facility usage in a bigger sense and yes it makes it more complicated. It makes it more complex but it is the right way to go about this. So I am not recommending that we pull fifth grade out of the east side schools and put them on the campus of East Middle School because of the the ripple effect that that would cause that I don't believe is in the district's best interest. Then lastly, option four, reconfiguring of prek to 2 and 3 to five schools. What this model would potentially look like is on the west side, we would have prek to2 schools at Winchester Potter Elementary and Alenell Elementary. All grade 3 through five students on the west side would come here to West Elementary. This school was originally
085opened and designed as a junior high model. So, as a result of that, what we have at this particular building are kindergarten classrooms with no restrooms within them. There are lockers galore instead of cubbies and things that you would normally see in a kindergarten classroom. We've been using this as a K5 building, but it was truly designed as a middle school. By adopting a model where Winchester Potters and Alenale are prek to two buildings, it allows this building to be utilized for the student population that it was really designed to be. And there's some other instructional benefits that I'll highlight for you as well. On the east side, our in our vision is that prek to 2 would be at Clinton Elementary. And the reason for that is we did a class count of how
086many classes based on square footage of the classroom and how many classes have restroom facilities within the classroom and the greater number of them is at Clinton Elementary. And so the recommendation and vision would be prek to 2 at Clinton and 3 to 5 at Northwood Elementary. And again, this would solve the elementary capacity and enrollment issues. It does not address the middle school capacity issue that we have at West Middle School. So this is what the configuration would look like of the preK to 2 3 to 5 model. You'll see on the right hand side uh the population that would be uh really the entire east side would attend preK to 2 at uh Clinton Elementary, 3 to 5 at Northwood. On the west hand side you can see that dark blue boundary. North
087of that dark blue boundary would attend Winchester Potter for prek to 2. South of that dark blue boundary would attend Alenale Elementary for prek to 2. And again, as I noted before, we have zoomedin magnified views of street maps where you can see the street names in detail in the appendix of this presentation. Some of the benefits or limitations uh allow us to maintain the current east and west boundaries. It is a viable solution for addressing our elementary capacity concerns. There's some great opportunity here for us to really have specialized schools where we have early childhood centers that really focus on the needs of developmentally young students, preK to2 students and likewise intermediate schools that would focus on the needs of students in grades 3 through 5. It also has the opportunity for us to
088really specialize our student programming options. everything from assemblies that we offer students to the programs we offer and our staff development could be concentrated and really focus on a primary school and an intermediate school model. And lastly, and I would say least important is it does provide an economy of scale for more balanced class sizes long-term. We are not doing this as a money money-saving uh measure. However, when you have a very small school where the difference between three sections of third grade or two sections of four of third grade dramatically changes your class size, you don't have that benefit of economy of scale. By having a larger prek to2 building, it allows you to more balance your class sizes and not have such peaks and valleys across the district. And if you look at
089our class sizes right now, they're not equitable. If you compare compare the class sizes at Clinton to the class sizes of some other schools, they're not equitable. This would allow us to bring equity in a greater way to our class sizes. A limitation though is it would be an additional transition for our students. Students would start in one primary building for prek to 2 and then switch schools to a 3 through 5 intermediate school. they've of of course would be doing it with their entire student body, all of their friends as a cohort. But that is something that that we need to be aware of. There is substantial disruption for both students and staff. Some of our staff, take this building for example, who are teaching kindergarten here at West Elementary. If there is no
090more kindergarten at West Elementary, teachers and staff might change buildings or change grade levels. So there would be more logistical planning for us to accommodate and I think in doing so we would need the time to be able to do that well and to do that right. So my recommendation for September of 2026 is that we move forward with elementarybased redistricting option one for September of 2026. It is reasonable for us to do this and to do this well to alleviate the immediate class-size issues and concerns that we have primarily at Clinton and at Allenale. But we don't stop here. This would be, I think, a short-term solution for us. I have additional steps that I'd like to recommend, but this would be recommended for September of 26. If the board supports this recommendation from
091January of 26 through September, we really focus on transitional supports for those students who would be changing schools to ensure that we are giving them opportunities to be supported, to get to be oriented and get to know their new school and the faculty and staff within that. So, we want that time to do that right and provide appropriate supports to our students who would be looking at a shift in their schools. But this, as I said, elementarybased redistricting for September of 26 solves our elementary enrollment issues alone. It is not a solution for West Middle School or for our entire district facility needs. And so, we can't stop here. Step one would be elementarybased redistricting for September of 2026. And then I want to share with you what I'm recommending as long-term solutions that would
092be phased in over a number of years. But to be clear, elementarybased redistricting is the recommendation being put forth to the board that the board will have the opportunity to vote on on November 18th. When it comes to our other facilities and wise planning and thoughtful care that we need to put into this, we do need to be thoughtful about the future of the Winchester Academy. That entire building is currently leased to Boseies. Boseies will decrease their reliance on this building come the fall of 2027 when they open their expansion site. That is a facility that's located at the corner of Dick Road and Welden Avenue. It was a former mortgage bank call center and Boseies has uh taken over that entire facility. It will be open for students in the fall of 2027. So
093they will be moving a substantial amount of programming out of the Winchester Academy, leaving us with the question of what is the best use long-term for the Winchester Academy. I will note Bosei still wants to utilize some classrooms, but certainly not to the scope and magnitude that they have right now. Our Ebenezer building at 900 mil road currently hosts some of our central offices. We need a long-term plan for that building and I'll tell you a little bit more why uh coming up. And then the former East Elementary School, that wing on the campus of East Middle School, it also currently hosts some of our central offices. Our central offices are not centralized. They are currently in three different locations, which leads to some some challenges. our buildings and grounds department. Some are located uh
094at the Ebenezer building. Some are located in a facility on Potter's Road on the property of the Winchester Potter School and our transportation facility. Our building condition survey that we received a few months ago reflects over $10 million in needed repairs in the next 5 years to that transportation facility. It's on the campus of West Senior. It is landlocked and it's inadequate space for us to explan expand our bus fleet which really makes us reliant on contracted bus services. Our Ebenezer building at 900 mil road is a former school. It once hosted our alternative learning center but in recent years it has been occupied by adults only and no students have been in that building. Since it is not a student occupied building, we get no state aid on any capital improvements or improvements done
095to that building. The building condition survey indicates that we will need more than $20 million in needed repairs in the next 5 years in this facility. Our family supports are not centralized either. We have central registration in one location, a district social worker in a different location, and our clothing closet here at the Ebenezer building, which is very tight, landlocked. There is not much parking for anyone who comes to access this clothing closet. So, there are some better options for us to explore. I wanted to share these pictures of you uh with you. These are pictures of the Ebenezer second floor ceiling. We regularly have leaks in the ceiling. You'll see that there's a a hose attached to the roof uh that is draining into a bucket. Um no exaggeration, 10 ft next to it
096is where we house the district's network infrastructure. The district's server and infrastructure for our entire technology for our district is housed in the oldest, most ill-repaired district building. This is not a wise long-term solution for us. We will get no state aid back if we were to invest substantial money, the money that's needed in the Ebenezer building. That would fall solely on our taxpayers and the district's local funds that we have because the state will not give us state aid reimbursement on a building that's not student occupied. So, this is how we're currently using the building. You can see that there's a number of offices that are housed there. The recommendation is that we sell the Ebenezer building. We have the space and the capacity in our district to move the offices that are currently
097in this building and to relocate our server room to a facility that is either a student occupied facility or a facility that is in much better condition than where we currently hold these offices. and our district server room. By selling the Ebenezer building, it would eliminate ongoing maintenance of that building. We right now have a custodial there. We're doing snow removal, utilities, all of those things that entail when you have another property that you're responsible for. And by selling this building, we can invest the proceeds to uh alleviate future capital improvement projects and take care of that local share for our taxpayers. uh or invest in our other schools, our remaining schools that we have, our Winchester Academy, they will be uh decreasing their use of this building come fall of 2027. The recommendation for
098future use of the Winchester Academy is that we use this facility to open a comprehensive family support center which would host our director of pupil personnel services and our central registration offices, our district social worker, a clothing closet. As you may know, we have been trying to launch a boys and girls club in West Senica. This could be a beautiful host facility for a Boys and Girls Club where there is a gymnasium, a cafeteria, an auditorium, structures available that would support a Boys and Girls Club. There's other things that we have on the horizon that we want to do to support our families and the growing needs that our families have. Things like having vaccination clinics, partnering with the UB School of Dentistry, having parenting classes. There are opportunities that we could have to truly
099provide comprehensive support for our families and the changing demographics and the Winchester Academy could be a great solution and great location for this. I am still recommending however even though much of this building would be devoted to a family support center that we still have student students occupied in this building still maintaining a lease to Boseis. they've expressed an interest in having approximately six to eight classrooms that could be held at the Winchester Academy because it's critical that we keep buildings uh students in this particular building so that we get state aid on any future maintenance and improvements that we need to make. Our buildings are aging and so replacing of roofs and sidewalks and windows and HVAC and boilers, these are things that we have to be prepared to respond to. And the most
100financially prudent way to do this would be to keep some student use and occupancy in the Winchester Academy. And then lastly, the former East Elementary School, which is on the campus of our East Middle School. My recommendation is that we move central offices to one central location. It would include all of the departments that are listed there, human resources, special ed, uh, curriculum office, technology offices, and the board conference room. We have the ability to expand that footprint beyond just that one wing where we have curriculum offices currently and utilize available space on the campus of East Middle School. I'm also recommending that we consider having some of our directors not located in this facility, but actually put them uh directly with the programs that they support. So, for example, our athletic director potentially having
101the athletic director's office and her secretary located in one of our two high schools. We have the space to be able to do that. and our director of CTEMIES and work-based learning again who pretty much solely uh supports our academic programs at the secondary level to have that individual also located at a high school. These directors work directly with uh and support teachers and coaches on a daily basis. And so being smart about where people are located to help improve and enhance our daily operations with this, we need to also be mindful of capital improvement projects so we do not unnecessarily invest in buildings and rather invest in buildings in a really smart way. I've summarized for you what the building condition survey reveals in terms of the needed repairs of our four pools. These
102renovations are in today's dollars. So, let's just say hypothetically this went out to voters to improve all four pools in May of 2026. By the time it gets through SED approval and we actually work on those renovations, it could be 18 to 24 months from now. So, those dollars would certainly be higher at the time that we would actually be doing the the repairs and the needed renovations to these pools. When you see a total dollar amount of $12.6 million to invest in our secondary pools, it certainly caused us to reflect on how are we utilizing our pools? What is their role in our fizzed program? What is our community use of the pools? Is our community actively using all four pools? Are our swim teams actively using all four pools? And we quickly found
103after some analysis that we do not need to maintain four pools in our in our school district. And so to help solve the issue at West Middle School, one of our recommendations is that we do not invest in fixing and repairing the pool at West Middle School, but rather utilize that space to capture additional instru instructional space for West Middle School. Lastly, uh, for further capital improvements, we want to look at a facility, a transportation facility in a buildings and grounds department that would meet our needs long term. As I mentioned, our current transportation facility is landlocked at West Senior. It limits our ability to really come up with the best formula for us of how many district-owned buses and district employed bus drivers we have versus that which we rely on contracted bus services.
104If we have the ability to expand our fleet of buses and get greater control over our fleet of buses, um I think most parents would agree that's an enhancement in services that they would like to see. So we would like to strategically invest in our schools to maximize instructional enhancements while being financially responsible. The last thing that I am recommending that we explore are specialized high schools of choice. Specialized high schools, specialty schools, magnet schools if you will. Uh what I what I have assessed over the past year to year and a half is that we do much comparison between East and West High School. Um almost uh keeping up with the Joneses, if you will. And I'm not sure that that model is serving us well or will serve us well fiscally long term.
105My recommendation is that we start to tear down this great divide that divides east and west and allow our students choice and opportunity to go to a school that has specialized programs and specialized learning environments to best meet their needs. It is strategically aligned with New York State's portrait of a graduate and pathways to graduation and would be a smart investment. So what might this look like? Well, for example, one of our schools may become a STEM specialty school that would host our life sciences academy, our engineering academy, our digital and IT media academy, and we can invest and have a state-of-the-art STEM facility for those students that are accessing those classrooms and those programs. On the other side of town, we could explore a school that specializes in the visual and performing arts where
106we invest in the spaces there to allow innovative spaces like recording studios where students can record music and podcasts and have innovative spaces where we're not saying, "Well, if this school has a recording school studio, this school also needs a recording studio." No, that's probably not the best use of our taxpayer dollars, but rather invest in our schools differently. They are unique. They are different schools and we can embrace and celebrate that and allow our students the opportunity to have choice as to which school they attend. Both high schools of course would provide a New York State uh diploma and an rich educational experience, but we already have a great number of students who travel during the day to access their academy program or to access a class that's only offered on one side of
107town. We have students doing that quite regularly already. And we're trying to provide facilities and academic programs in the same way in both schools. And I'm suggesting that we look at this with fresh eyes and possibly with a different way to approach this that in the end will serve our students better. So next steps following my presentation and recommendation to the board tonight. We are launching a public comment period that will go through the end of the month. We have a thought exchange set up where we will be able to take feedback on the presentation. For those those watching it live tonight, uh you'll be able to access this immediately. We intend to put the recording of this presentation out to our stakeholders tomorrow via email with a link to the thought exchange so that
108we can gather public comment on this prior to the board taking action which is anticipated at the November 18th meeting. Additionally, next steps. We move strategically towards vacating the Ebenezer building and working to sell that property. We move strategically to open a family support center to serve our families that would be located at the Winchester Academy with a launch date and an opening date targeted for the fall of 2027, which coincides with Boseies vacating that building. and we continue to study and move toward implementing a potential new site for our transportation and buildings and grounds that we continue to look at the prek to 2 and 3 to 5 elementary configuration and specialized high schools. So with that, I'm recommending that we do not approach this as a oneandone. That we approach this rather as
109a phasein uh process that's going to serve us well long term with the first step going into effect fall of 2026, which would be elementary base redistricting. that left-hand column, that is what I'm recommending the board take action on on November 18th so that we then have time to adequately plan and prepare and to help support any of our students who are transitioning. That is phase one that would go into effect fall of 2026. longer term, we start moving to the pieces of this long range facility plan where in September of 2027 is when we reclaim Winchester and open our family support center. We're looking at that point to move out of the Ebenezer building and sell the Ebenezer building and to move our central offices onto the campus of East Middle School in the
110former East Elementary School. And then long range planning beyond that September of 2028 and beyond would be us implementing the elementary reconfiguration of prek to 2 and 3 to 5 elementary schools and the middle school renovations to create capacity specifically at West Middle School. And that people who were passionate about us not disrupting the east and west boundary that is going to take the support of our community. And I think that our elected board trustees and I want to be responsive to the voice of the community. But if the community does not want the east and west boundary disrupted, we need to come up with solutions for capacity at West Middle School. And my recommendation is that we utilize the current pool to garner additional classroom instructional spaces. So, in the presentation that will be
111made available on our website and as I mentioned, we are going to put this out through an email to all families, you will see appendixes which have detailed street maps where you can see street uh names in zoomedin magnified ways so that we're very clear and transparent in the neighborhoods that we are considering being impacted by this. So with that, I'd like to first uh offer and entertain any feedback questions uh that the board of education may have. Thank you. >> I think the uh we can definitely tell you guys put a lot of time and energy into that. So I think if we get rid of the east west divide, I think it start earlier middle school time. uh in Tony Day's presentation, he told us everyone could fit at the East Mil middle
112building. So, if that's the route the district wishes to move forward, I think it would make more sense to have the kids all combined then and then they can choose which high school they want to go to. And my next biggest concern is and it's not a shot at uh anybody in the district is just transportation because now if you're giving kids the opportunity to go to whichever school they want to um we know we've had some issues with who we contract through and we still continue to have those issues. So I just feel it it's going to cause a big headache once we get to the transportation part. If I can just respond first to the utilization of the East Middle School campus, you're absolutely right. Tony Day and uh his facilitation and study
113did indicate that we could house all middle schoolers on the campus at East Middle School. But what that did not account for is our desire to sell and vacate Ebenezer and a plan for the Winchester building. So while it is feasible almost like the pulling out of fifth grade from Northwood and Clinton, we can do it. But what is the ripple effect and what is the the impact on the other district facilities? Which is why this is complex and complicated because of the the interconnectedness that we have of our facilities. If all middle schoolers go to the East Middle School campus, then what at West Middle School? you know, potentially that could be district offices, but we have a bond on that building right now and it needs to be student occupied. A a bond
114meaning we did capital improvement projects on the West Middle School facility where we added the music classrooms. Um, and so that's not a recommendation that that I would be able to to support or make because financially we would get no state aid back on that building if we were to vacate that building. And then I think lastly, which I I would need to explore, is what is the impact on having a very large middle school, a a middle school that's over 2,000 students, and is that is that the the model that we want? So, while it may be viable, is that really what we envision is best for our students, a middle school of 2,00 students? So, just things for us to consider and why why I I would not make that recommendation, but you're
115right, numerically it could work. >> Jeremy mentioned transportation. So, could you speak to transportation at the elementary? Um, just because we are kind of talking the long term, long range. What would that look like if we did go to that uh prek through two 3 to five model? >> Sure. If I can use Clinton and Northwood as an example, I I'm sure for most families it is most convenient if you're, you know, all your elementary kids get on the bus at the same time rather than juggling two different pickup times for your second grader versus your fourth grader. So our our initial review of this and what we believe would be the the most prudent solution and viable solution would be that we send the bus into the neighborhood at the same time picking up
116all kindergarten through fifth grade students in that neighborhood. So, if it's a family who has a first grader and a fourth grader, their children would all get on the bus at the same time and then the bus would drop off at school A, which may be Northwood, and Northwood would have a a start time that's 10 minutes earlier than Clinton. So, the bus would first drop off at school A, Northwood. the uh older students would get off the bus at school A and then the younger students would stay on and go to Clinton and they would have a start time 10 minutes later, we would do that in reverse in the afternoon. Um and whether it's the prek to 2 building that starts first or the 3 to 5 building that would start uh first,
117we would, you know, obviously work through those details. But I think the big takeaway for parents that I would want to underscore is that in that vision, it's all your elementary kids get on the bus at the same time. one school starts about 10 minutes earlier than the other school and the same at dismissal. Yeah, great question because I think that would be a hardship for families to try to juggle multiple pickup and drop off times. >> Anything else? Anyone have anything they want to discuss at this point? Questions or bring something up? >> Um, well, I know we have brought most of our most of our special ed kids back to this building. So this would allow the opportunity more classroom space um for them possibly to be in their home school. >> So
118in in our model what we've accounted for is space and capacity to house either pre kindergarten or to house special education classes. We want that space and capacity in all of our schools so that we can then say to Jackie Fowler and the special ed team, what is the best configuration model in use so our students have a continuum and and that we're not disrupting our students who truly need the most support. We should be giving them the greatest amount of support with the fewest number of transitions. But as I said in my opening, currently our special ed classes uh seemingly have gone where there is space instead of it being a thoughtful and intentional plan on where we put special ed classes. >> And um just can you touch a little bit more on
119the filling in or repurposing of the pools and what the findings were from the athletic director as far as pool use and why should you go that route? Sure. If you live with a middle schooler, high schooler, you might know how much they love swim in phys. Um, students avoid it. Uh, we get doctor's notes with all kinds of excuses as to why a child can't go in the the pool. And I I think we can empathize with that. Middle schoolers, high schoolers are dealing with with body image issues and they just are averse to swimming. Unless you're a swimmer, most middle schoolers and high schoolers are averse to going in the pool. So much so that New York State has made it where it is not a mandated part of the PE curriculum. Um
120what we've also found is if students don't know how to swim by middle school or high school, they are incredibly embarrassed with their peers um and avoid it for that reason. It is not part of the New York State curriculum. So, it's not mandated that we teach swim in middle school or high school. Our use and our analysis of both the use by our swim athletes and the community use when we look at mommy and me swim and learn to swim programs, we can still serve the needs of our students and our community. if we maintain two pools. So, the recommendation would be to eliminate and fill in two of our pools, repurpose those instructional spaces, and maintain and invest through a capital improvement project two of the other pools. So, we would go from
121four pools to two pools. The slide that I shared with you just showed the $12.1 million in capital improvement projects. However, please keep in mind that maintaining a pool is incredibly costly. The ongoing heating expenses, chlorine expenses, we have to have two adults with eyes on the pool at all times, which means a pool monitor or two fizzed teachers. It is a very costly uh way to deliver a fizzed program. And so the recommendation from our our discussion at the facilities committee is that we fill in and eliminate both the west middle school pool and the east middle school pool and look at utilizing those spaces which is over 4,000 square ft um for STEM technology art steam kinds of classes. based on their location, it would be um you know, I think of West
122Middle, for example. It's just near the gymnasium. Probably not a great location for a library, but it could be a great location for technology classrooms or art classrooms. So, that's what the facilities uh committee is discussing and working on ultimately what what will be a final recommendation to the board for our facilities. And just to kind of follow up on that, so no student athletes would be impacted. They'd still have swim team available even at the modified level, though there's no pool at the middle schools. >> Correct. >> Um I I want to piggyback on that. Um being part of that committee, the 12 or so million dollars that like would have to be if we kept all four pools. Um that's not to expand, remodel, make them beautiful, put in all sorts of fans.
123that's literally just to keep using them. Um, and that's, you know, so there's the ongoing expenses every year, but that money has to be spent in order to keep those pools open. It's not something where we're looking to put on the bleachers or a viewing center. Um, it's literally just to keep the pools open. And again, by the time we get the project going, it would be well over $12 million, not to mention the yearly cost. And I don't know what uh we talked about as far as what it costs every year to maintain the pools, but if the programming is during the day not used much. Um I personally don't think it's a great investment. Um but I think the math is like I mean it's >> you said over 10 grand just chlorine.
124>> Yeah. I mean, and the labor and the machines and the pool covers and so I just, you know, I know you say we're closing a pool and people get all but we still have the pools and then we can fix the pools that we are using um a little more wisely and I know there's other ways to do that too through those the other ways we fund stuff too, not just capital improvement, >> capital outlay projects. Um, as I know a long time ago there was during the pools. I mean, they were in bad shape 10 years ago and we've maintained them, but you know, I think there's safety equipment in there that's going to be not well soon and rust. And so, I just I think I'd rather have two good pools than
125four not great pools, mediocre, and we're still spending the same amount of money. And if our athletics and our community ed department and the swim, you know, if they if they if they see it's viable, I support it. Um, I don't believe any of my kids have taken a full thing of swim class anytime in the, you know, in the past. So, they found ways out of it. >> Thank you so much for such a thoughtful presentation for you and your staff to put a lot of time and effort into this and I really appreciate it. Um, a couple of questions. So could you talk a little bit about the timing it the timeline that you have on that slide where it talks about the different phases? Um what would it take to get us
126to the longer range plan from a timing perspective for some of the um capital uh projects for closing the pools? And then the second part of the question is um have we thought about what we're going to do from a capacity perspective to alleviate some of the capacity of West Middle in the interim? I know we talked about teaming. I'm not I know the year just started too so I'm not sure if we have any insight into the impact of that but would love your thoughts. >> Absolutely. I'll I'll put the slide back up just so we can reference it in conversation if that's helpful. Something that uh Mr. Keane, principal at West Middle, has done is really analyzed his schedule as much as possible. He made some shifts to the lunch periods this year
127um thereby eliminating a lunch period to give him greater flexibility within the schedule. I feel like he's done the the very best he can. So that reduced the number of teachers that have to travel and do not have a designated classroom. So we've done the to the greatest extent possible in the current footprint that we have. He has employed some scheduling strategies. The reason why I've got September of 2029 and beyond, um, for example, the middle school renovations to create capacity, specifically at West Middle, is that's the earliest date that I would really anticipate, potentially September of 28, um, that we would be able to have the capacity realized through filling in of the pool because, keep in mind, this would have to go out to the voters potentially this May. Then we're subject to
128um getting our final architectural renderings. Then those architectural renderings go to New York State Department of Ed. They have to approve uh our plan of how we want to utilize this and and we need that approval process to ensure we'll get state aid reimbursement. That slows things down a bit. And so we would even if the voters approve it in May of 2026, we would not be doing the work summer of 2026. We would be starting that work summer of 2027. And then it will really be reliant on timeline, the the ability for us to do that work, how quickly can that work be done, can it be done in one summer, are we looking at it being done over multiple years? I think it's safe to to convey September of 2029 possibility that it
129could be September of 2028. >> Thank you. And and what I was getting at was the the timing in terms of the vote and the logistics of what you just described. Thank you for explaining that. >> Absolutely. >> I do have another couple questions. Um as far as the QR code for public comment, where will that be for everybody to access? Is it going to be put out on social media, on the website, email? >> So, we plan to blast it out there as much as possible. Um, we will be sending once we have the recording of the presentation done, we have the ability to push out an email to all of our parents, to our faculty, to staff. We also took in um anyone in the community who may not have students attending our
130schools. We invited the community. They had the ability to sign up for our email alerts. uh so community members who don't have a a school-aged child can also access that information. So we intend to push that out. We will make it available on social media and on our website as well. >> And as far as public comment, are you looking for public comment on the long range plan or right now just phase one for September 26? What is I didn't look at the QR code. >> That's okay. Phase one, September 26, is really what we're specifically looking for feedback for because that's what the board would be voting on on November 18th. However, it is a thought exchange. So, it allows you to give feedback um in an open-ended question way, and the open-ended question
131is referencing the long range facilities plan. >> Thank you. Absolutely. I just want to address the um the bus garage. Um so I I know we talked about the Ebenezer building and any work done there is not state aidable because there's no children there. Um we don't really have many children that attend the bus garage actually. But transportation is state aidable. Correct. >> We get transportation aid. >> Okay. Yes. So, um, that building again, the tour we did, I believe was it Frontier School or we went >> We went to Lakes Shore. >> Lakes Shore, sorry. Um, somewhere south of here. Um, so we went to Lake Shore and toured with the electric buses. The layout that they had was amazing. I don't know that we could fit a single electric bus on that property
132that we have. The way it's configured and everything. I know that's what you guys are looking at. The state mandate maybe might be changed. the timeline might be changed. I don't see it going away. Um I actually did see some benefits to electric buses. Maybe not um you know everything's perfect, but I saw some really positives to it. So if we're making use of that building in a different way, clearing up some space at West and getting a functional bus garage that's even safer for buses on site and refueling and being able to better utilize the way they park and everything. I mean, I think it's a great idea, especially if it's stateable. So, I I definitely like looking into the options there >> and certainly the good point said, I think we we know
133that the zero emission bus mandate is something that's controversial. People are for it. People are against it. The state may delay that timeline. Um, however, something that I don't think is controversial based on the feedback that I've received is that our families prefer West Senica buses with West Senica drivers. Um, and so right now being that we are landlocked at West Senior, we don't have the space and the capacity to service more buses in a a maintenance and mechanic type of sense. We are landlocked in terms of parking of buses, the parking of all of the bus drivers. We have over a hundred employees that come to that facility every day as mechanics, as bus drivers, as bus attendants, as dispatch in the office. So to have a facility that can accommodate 100 plus employees
134and our fleet of buses, we we cannot grow where we are right now. And so if that is again the the will of our community that we expand our ability to have more West Senica owned and operated buses, I think utilizing this as an opportunity. Why invest? And it our building condition survey indicates we need to invest $10 million into that facility in the next 5 years to maintain the health, safety, and functionality. Why invest in a landlocked facility? I I I don't think that's prudent for us long term. >> Where would we think about moving the transportation department to? >> So there's opportunities that we have been exploring. Um they're still in the very initial and early stages. So I won't be able to speak about them in detail, but there are opportunities and
135and properties that we have been exploring that may be viable solutions for us to have a larger piece of space in more of an industrial setting that could accommodate a transportation facility. We've also done some research on neighboring districts. Lancaster, for example, uh built a new transportation facility. Uh so we've been reaching out to neighboring districts to learn about their process and what that looked like. Um lessons learned as they went through that process. So it's something that that is in the very initial stages of us exploring, but I think long term it's something that we have to seriously consider. >> There any ideas of what we would do like with the old like if we just if we move the transportation building, what would be done with the current building? So, we'd have to
136come up with a solution for the current building. Is it in such ill repair? Great questions, by the way. I'm so impressed with our students. Um, it's in such illrepair that I think we really have to ask the question, is it worth utilizing by our district in any way? You know, an initial conversation was, should our buildings and grounds department go there? But if it's occupied by our employees, we have to ensure that it's a safe place. Um, and it would require some some work for us to continue to utilize that. But I do know particularly when we host large events at West Senior, we can utilize overflow parking and spaces, the proximity of the bus garage parking lot where mainly our employees park would be uh usable by West Senior when they host large
137gatherings there on campus. Anything else? Anyone want to talk about anything? Cal, you look like you got a whole bunch of stuff going on there. >> How many How many years you got left? One. >> One and a half. >> Sorry, you won't get to paint a parking spot in the new area over there. Um, any guys, anything else? Um, I I just want to go on record as um I've always thought we should be looking at one high school um because of the declining population or what I thought would be a declining population. Um I don't know, the more I've learned over the last few years and the more I've talked and you know threw out the ideas of a what would you call a magnet school or a uh you know specialized high
138schools um my whole idea was saving money, not necessarily forcing everyone to one building. And if we're utilizing them that way, I love the idea. Um especially if we can focus on like we bu I mean again we love our sports complexes, we love our science rooms, but we built um we built these new rooms and we do it on both sides, but then we have classes that are not necessarily full on each side of town. So, if we have like the STEM or the um and my I'm guessing because I've heard the principles and the everyone talk about it is it could be like a morning session or an every other day session. There's ways to get it where kids aren't just driving all over town. Um and then the one idea you're talking
139about with the picking up of the elementary school kids, I I'm very confident in our transportation department and you and them to come up with ways of getting the kids to the proper schools. I mean, I think it's I think it's absolutely something to look at and I would instead of, you know, pushing for say a consolidated high school, I would love to kind of wrap my hands around that. And for 10 years, I've said the exact opposite, but just spending the time with the committees and seeing what what those ideas are. I like it. I don't want to I don't want to hurt programs. I don't want to hurt sports. Like, if we have two football teams or we have two musicals going on, I'm sure there's ways to work through all that. that
140I mean just cuz one school might be a focus on that doesn't mean you know things have to stop at both schools. So, I just I I I really like the idea that it's going in and um so just want to let everyone know that >> and I just want to thank you Lisa for that was a lot of information to take in from all of the stakeholders and their feedback and clearly the research was done and I think for the first time as a parent uh and a resident and taxpayer. This is a long range plan that we can get behind knowing where the money is planning to go versus we just spent it here and now we're closing something or moving someone. So, I I really appreciate especially the the phases that you
141have on this slide that the community can take a look at and submit their feedback for us to to review in a couple weeks. >> Thank you. >> Anything else? We'll move on to 14. We will go to our public comments. Um, I believe the last time we checked the signup sheet was not signed up, but that doesn't mean we can't have anyone come up and um, speak. So, I will read my little wording one more time. The board will now entertain public comment for 30 minutes with each speaker given 3 minutes. When called, please step up to the podium and state your name and address. Please be respectful in your comments and do not divulge any personal or confidential information. Uh, is there anyone here who would like to come up? Sir, come on
142up. >> Thank you, sir. >> Thank you. Uh, Kenneth Thompson, 109 Tutor Boulevard. That's some personal information, though. So, um, a couple of things. I really don't want to be up here talking. I do think some better thought has gone into this recently, which I can appreciate, but just a couple quick things. I wanted to make sure my voice was heard and it will continue to be heard as we have these surveys that go out. The biggest thing is the whole my kids and other kids are going to see three schools from K to 5. That's a lot of disruption. So they're going to go to Allenale, let's say Winchester Potters and then West L. That is a lot of disruption and that's not I can't foresee that being what a lot of people want
143when they think about these plans, especially that short-term plan. The rest of it I can get behind long-term plan. I love that. Like that makes sense to me. As far as my kids going to three different schools with different issues, let's say, or everybody else that's out there that's not here that can't voice their, you know, their concerns right now. That's what concerns me. um by the chart that's that's out there available to us automatically that redistricting puts Winchester Potter over capacity by 13. Well, Allenale from what I saw would be over it's over three now. Now, I know there's another school involved in this too as well and that might go into that, but I just don't get short-term plan for what like is that squeeze really worth it? um when we're thinking about
144long-term stuff and we have an actual actionable plan that we can use for the future, like what's the point? I just don't get it. I'm not sure why the efforts going into something for one year and then we're going to move to the other one. Stick with the long-term plan, what we think is going to work long term. That makes sense. The high school choice thing, I guess I'll voice my opinion on that, too, really quick. Is that if you give them all a choice and they choose one school, what's the plan? We've tried this before from what I know. Other districts have tried of it. Some work, some don't. So, at least I mean, when you do the research into this, look into those things, which I'm sure you will. Um, but yeah, I
145just have that concern. I think it's great to specialize in something, but like, okay, well, now what if everybody wants to go to one school? So, um, and then lastly, the QR code. We're going to do as much as possible. The only thing I didn't hear you say you were going to do is you're going to put it in every folder in the school district. We put a lot of things that go home with kids. I see it every day. 8 and 1 half by 11 flyers, half pages, quarter pages, whatever. You're telling me that this decision isn't important to put in every folder. I 100% disagree with that and I appreciate you letting me speak. Thank you. >> Thank you for coming out. I wrote everything down. Anyone else? Anyone else want to? Anyone
146else have anything? Obviously, anyone watching at home too? You know how to do the scan? I think you know how to scan a code. Um, >> can you just tell them in case they don't? >> I don't have any idea what we do. >> Know how I I MEAN, LET'S BE HONEST, WE WANT FEEDBACK. SO, >> take a picture of it. >> You take a picture of it on your smartphone and it'll bring up a link. You tap the link. It'll take you to the site. I don't want to assume that everyone knows how to do that. >> There's also a hyperlink in the slides that you can click on. >> Thank you. >> And then there will also be the hyperlink which you can embedded in the email that you can just click on
147that hyperlink to take you to it. >> Thanks. [Applause] >> My wife will get me there. That'll be good. Anything else um with closed public comment? Anyone? I'll check with the board one more time on this. Okay. Great. Thank you. We will move on to an executive session if obviously the board approves to go to executive. Um I'll let the public know that we're going to go to executive probably if the board approves the vote here and um when we come back we will not be conducting any more voting or public business on the matter. So again, thank you everyone for coming out. Please get the voice out and if I can have a motion to go into uh executive please. The board I'll second it. >> Well, >> first second. All All in favor?
148>> I. Anyone opposed? >> Okay. So, the board will now entertain I'm sorry. We're going to go into executive session to discuss contract negotiations. Thank you.