001[Music] [Applause] [Music] Good evening everybody and welcome to West Sica Central School District board meeting Tuesday, April 8th, 2025. Um, thank you for being here. We're going to start with the pledge, please. If I can have the students from Allenale come on up and lead us. My Illandale friends, you're welcome to come up here to the microphone and lead us through the pledge. Thank you. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. That was one of the best ones yet. Definitely top 10. Start with roll call. Looks like everyone's here, but we'll double check verbally. Vincent, present. Jeremy, present. Sarah, present. Mara, present. Florine, present. Laura, present. Ed, present. And
002of course, I want to close present. Thank you. I will hand it uh over to the school spotlight. Okay, great. Well, I would like to ask our friends from Alenale Elementary to come back up. Um we are doing a spotlight on Alenale this uh this evening and we are thrilled to have these students and and thank you to all the special guests who helped to drive our students here tonight. We appreciate you being here as well. And thank you Mrs. Quinn for your help in arranging this. Dr. Quinn, excuse me. [Applause] How can I go? Hello, we are the elements from Alendale Elementary. We are all in fourth grade. I'm Aubrey. I'm Aaliyah. I'm Julia. I'm Harper. I'm Skyler. I'm Sophia. I'm Gabe. I'm Bailey. I'm Finn. I'm Amelia. Our goal is to brighten the
003lives of others through community service. On the following slides, you will see some of our accomplishments this year. We worked with Legislator Ligo to collect toiletry items for US veterans. Here are some pictures of posters we made for the ptl event of Regal Cinema in December. We made cards and a small and small crafts for nursing home residents to brighten their holidays. They sent us a nice card. Here's some pictures of posters that we made for the P ptl winter fest. We love making posters. In March, our club collected several boxes of snack and activity items to stock the shelves out of shies. This was our favorite drive of the drive of the year. We collected so many items. Over 20 boxes. We made posters and then organ and then organized the donations as they
004came in. It was fun. Here are more pictures from our children's hospital drive. Some of us were even able to deliver the items to Oshai. We still have so many things that we want to do this year to spread kindness to our Ellen family, such as encourage other students to have a growth mindset, promote schoolwide events by making posters, being role models for other students. Thank you, Lighthouse Rock. Thank you. Thank you, Mrs. Kurs, Dr. Quinn, and the amazing students of Ellenale Elementary. to a board president's report. Thank you. Thanks for coming. Thank you. I'm happy to share my superintendence report. If you could please pull that up. So, since our last meeting, we had the long month of March. So, I feel like we have many wonderful things to share about the good work
005that's happening in our schools and I'm happy to just highlight a few of those items in my superintendence report. Uh, first of all, on March 7th, we had our superintendence conference day and uh it was a day full of learning and events for not only our faculty but also our staff. This is a picture of the mobile museum of tolerance uh that was on site at West Senior High School. our faculty and staff got to experience this and there's already plans in the works uh to bring this mobile museum back to our schools so that our students can also experience this. We had um a variety of activities for folks to participate in. And I'd like to thank Kate Welker, Kim McCarten, and all of our uh district directors under the leadership of Karm Persico
006for their uh involvement in planning that day to make it a very worthwhile day for everyone. a little bit of feedback from our superintendent conference day. Our employees were asked to rate their overall satisfaction with the uh superintendent's conference day and you can see the ratings uh were very high and we also wanted to highlight some of the positive feedback that was shared from our superintendent conference day. Uh people appreciated having choice and options uh to guide their learning on that day. The mobile museum was certainly a hit of the superintendent's conference day and teachers also appreciated learning related to their content area. So, as an example, we had a training in the Texas Instruments calculators that was designed for our math teachers. And then I was able to share a state of the district
007address to promote communication and to share with our employees some of the latest developments and things that we're working on as a school community. and I held two of those sessions, one targeting our faculty and administrators and the other that was for members of our CSEA. We also asked for feedback to help guide planning our future learning and superintendent conference days. And you can see a variety of the items that have been requested for our consideration for upcoming superintendence conference days. And we'll be taking that feedback into consideration as we plan our next conference days. want to highlight some of the wonderful things that are going on in our schools. Uh right now we have our district-wide art show that's taking place at the West Senica Community Center. You're welcome to go and view over
008250 pieces of art that will be on display now through May 15th. On Friday in this very room, we had our district-wide 24 math challenge. For those of you who may not be familiar, 24 is a math game that requires children to think quickly and to utilize their math facts and automaticity of knowing their math facts to come up with 24 as the solution. And so throughout uh the district, we had top fourth and fifth grade students that came together for a 24 math tournament. I have never seen students so enthusiastically engaged and having fun while doing mathematics. So, it was an awesome event on Friday. Thank you to those teachers um and those that were involved in planning the event. Our high school students got to experience Hall of Famer Thurman Thomas uh who
009spoke with our student athletes this month and had a really powerful message for them. Members of our board of education, I'd like to thank board members Beient, Maloney, and Berilich for visiting West Senior and seeing our West Designs course, which is a new class that we launched this fall. And um really this course has our students engaged in all aspects of design and production. So we got to learn how our students go about designing things, creating and processing orders, taking quotes, the actual production of items in West Designs, quality control and customer service. So they are learning from idea to production and delivery. Uh what it takes to run a small business and this small business is running out of West Senior High School. So, an incredible engaging and hands-on learning experience for our students
010and we got to witness that firsthand. We had students from East Senior who uh just returned from a learning experience in France. This has been 19 years um of a commitment that Mr. O'Donnell has made with a school in France where every other year uh we visit France with a group of our students and get to actually visit a school in France and on alternate years students from France come and visit East Senior High School. So this year it was our turn to go to France and our students and teachers had a rich learning experience uh not only to visit in school in France but al also engage in sightseeing, cultural experiences and other opportunities that can really only be um experienced when you're immersed in the culture and in the language. So many thanks
011to our teachers for making that possible. I'd also like to highlight um some of our students who recently competed in the Buffalo History Museum's competition. Um one of our seniors at uh East Senior, Hope Hearns, actually took first place and will be going on to the state level competition. And we also had East Middle School students who participated in this uh but this was the junior division for the middle school level. and our students from East uh Middle School walked away with both a second place and a third place finish. So, congratulations to them for that engaging competition. I had the pleasure, as I'm sure some of you did, to see Something Rotten Jr. at East Middle School. I have to admit, I was not familiar with this musical, and it was amazing. The students
012were awesome. It was a fun and funny musical, and the students really shined on stage. So, congratulations to the cast and crew at East Middle for Something Rotten Jr. Some other events that we had throughout the month, uh, Alenale welcomed Irish dancers to celebrate at their school prior to St. Patrick's Day. Mrs. Brady. Congratulations to her and many thanks for a universal prek field trip that our prek students were able to participate in at Gymnastics Unlimited where they were engaged in activities to develop their gross motor skills and their core development. Our second graders at Northwood had a trip um to the Erie County Fairgrounds for a farmtotable learning experience and they also got to do some taste testing of maple syrup and Northwood. Many thanks to their PTO for their support of a steam
013fair that was held in the evening at Northwood Elementary School. um a lot of involvement of stakeholders from teachers and parents to pull off that night and to make it an amazing event. West Elementary has continued their commitment to service learning this year. Um this is really a sweet uh event that they were engaged in. There's an organization called White Whiskers, which is an animal sanctuary for aging dogs, and they created homemade um blankets where they tied the blankets for the senior dogs, and this was led by our um students that are in the 812 program. So, our special education students have really engaged in various service learning projects throughout the year, and often they're able to involve the whole school community in that event. Winchester Potters also had a field trip this year to
014the Erie County Fairgrounds that took place last month and they also hosted colleagues from Mville. I really wanted to feature and spotlight this because it is a great sense of pride when other schools throughout Western New York are coming to West Sakica to find out what we are doing. And so our colleagues at Winchester Powders were able to host teachers from Mville to learn about our reading instruction and the benchmark instructional resources that we have adopted. They came and visited on two different days. One where they focused on uh spending time shadowing classrooms in the primary grades and then they returned again on March 31st to visit our upper grades, grades three through five classrooms. Uh so many thanks for that professional collaboration. In many of our schools, we had March into Literacy events that
015took place throughout the month. March into Literacy's goal is to promote reading and to promote reading among our students and also in homes with families. Several of our students uh or schools rather had the one school one book program. There were book giveaways, a March Madness of book titles um that took place throughout our schools really with the goal to help promote reading. And then I just wanted to give a brief update. Uh last week we had our strategic planning committee that met. We are honing in on our upcoming goals uh through our strategic plan where we have focused on four pillars of our strategic plan. a pillar of focusing on the learning environment for our students, character and citizenship, literacy, and student and family engagement. And these pillars are really aligned with New York
016State's portrait of a graduate and the pathways to graduation. So, we're really looking at building future ready students that can have opportunities to prepare them for career and college should they choose college after graduating. Finally, I'd like to update you on some upcoming events. Uh, we do have our spring recess next week, April 14th through the 18th. We have a board of education work session planned for April 22nd. Our next redistricting committee is scheduled for April 24th and we will get to celebrate our students of excellence from both East and West High School at the students of excellence dinner on April 29th. So, thank you, Mr. obedient. You didn't you didn't mention your big taste test at West Middle. How could I forget that? When I participated I was a VIP judge in the eighth
017grade ground beef challenge. Eighth graders were challenged. Uh ground beef was provided to them, but they did have to create a recipe that involved two vegetables, spices, and a $10 budget. So, um I was a little nervous, but I was pleasantly surprised. Our our students did an amazing job. I got to taste test four different awesome recipes that our students created and got to give feedback on them. Um they did a wonderful job and I was honored to be part of that. Excellent. Thank you. Okay, I'm going to move on to the board president's report and I just want to take a minute and mention May 20th. Everyone um put that in your calendars and any person you bump into that is a part of our community uh remind them May 20th big day. Um,
018not I'm not worried about necessarily how you vote. I want everyone to come out and vote how they feel is right. Um, I believe polls are open for budget voting and all that from 7:00 a.m. till 9:00 p.m. Um, doors close at 9:00 p.m. and then uh the counting counting of the ballots starts. Um, so again, we're looking for uh we're putting our budget up. We're putting uh purchasing some buses. Um, very important uh work done with our theaters. And there's two board seats that are um vacating, which there's two options for people, two opportunities for people to uh gain a seat on the board, and it's a three-year term. Um the biggest thing I just want to point out is if anyone has any questions, any concerns, any ideas, questions why they want to
019vote or how they, you know, reasons they should vote this way or the other way, reach out to people in the community, reach out to your principles, PTA leaders, reach out to the board, superintendent, um reach out to anyone and get some questions out there. We're doing our best to share some information, but um it's a very important vote and I'm looking forward to uh some large participation in the community. So, that's my report and thank you for doing that. We'll move on to public comments. Um I believe we have one person signed up. Anyone else? We'll get to you after. U Mr. Mahalik Joe, would you like to come up, sir? Thank you. Um I'm going to read my uh little statement I read and once I do that, if you want to just
020give your name again and address for the record. Sounds good. Okay. The board will now entertain public comment for 30 minutes with each speaker given three minutes. When called, please step up to the podium, which you did wonderfully, um, and state your name and address. Please be respectful in your comments and do not divulge any personal or confidential information. Thank you. All right. Good evening. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. My name is Joe Mahalik, uh, from 330 Hilltop Courts. And uh I'd like to state uh you know my family's highly involved in West Sico Schools and the community. I understand the redistricting is not on the agenda tonight, but I feel it's a top priority for a lot of uh parents in the district right now. I'm here as a parent of three
021children attending West Sonica Schools. All three tonight. They're participating in events. My two boys are playing baseball, one at West Middle and the other one at West Senior. My daughter is at Alenale's family fun night right now where my wife is running the event and uh she's been teaching the district for 19 years. Uh right now our children are uh they're thriving in school on the west side of the district uh socially, academically, and emotionally. And my family decided to move to West Enica specifically for our current schools. Our children have built strong friendships and a stable support system. These relationships are not just social. They are essential to the emotional well-being and confidence. Uprooting them now would mean disrupting these bonds at a crucial time in their development. Emotionally, stability is key. We built
022relationships that help our children feel supported and connected. And change like this could bring anxiety and unnecessary stress affecting their overall mental health. I'd like to add if my family happened to live on the east side of the district and attended those schools, I'd feel just as strongly and everything I mentioned previously would still apply. I'd like to thank the board for the time that they're putting into this project and the committee for volunteering. Uh there's a lot of hours are spent going over community feedback and concerns. So, thank you all for that. I understand the district's goals. After speaking with dozens of affected families, I can confidently say we are all hoping the committee and board will consider alternatives that maintain current school boundaries and that do not displace students to the other side
023of the district. Thank you. Thank you, sir. [Applause] Um I believe that's the only name on the list. Is there anyone else uh in the room tonight or in the hallway that would like to come up and speak? Um when you come on up, if you just uh give your name and address and you have up to three minutes. Thank you. My name is Faith Hackett Solar. Live at 104 West Hulan. Thank you. Dear members of the school [Applause] board, I hope this letter finds you well. I am writing to bring to your attention some concerning scenarios that have hap that have recently come to my attention regarding the treatment of the students within our school district. I believe it is crucial for us to address these issues to ensure the well-being and protection of
024all students. Firstly, I would like to present three scenario that have happened. Number one, parent of a 10th grade student reached out for assistance after their daughter had undergone back surgery and was out of school for several weeks. During a phone conversation with a teacher, the teacher made disparaging remarks stating that the child was too stupid to graduate high school, let alone go to college. before hanging up. This type of behavior is unacceptable and damaging to students self-esteem and academic motivation. Number two, another parent shared their experience with a freshman son who faced expulsion for something that happened at their own home. not nothing to do with school. After changing schools and working hard, he is now the proud member of the National Honor Society. two years later. So this raises the questions about the
025long-term impact of punitive measures on students futures and the importance of providing support rather than exclusion. And lastly, there is a troubling report of a junior student who was aggressively handled by a school resource officer resulting in physical harm. Such actions raise serious concerns about the treatment of students and the protocols in place for managing specific misconduct. In light of these incidents, I urge the school board to consider implementating implementing restorative justice programs similar to those at Randolph Academy. These programs focus on open dialogue and conflict resolution rather than punitive measures, fostering a healthier environment for students, children, and teachers alike. No system is perfect, but I really believe that restorative justice could go a long way in helping with a lot of the problems that the students face. Biggest one being all the bullying.
026I appreciate your attention and letting me speak. Thank you. Thank you so much. Would you mind um if you're interested in making sure that our district clerk has your contact information and um and clearly we'll definitely follow up with you. Just so you are aware, I have I know of several other ones, including students being pushed down the stairs and the administration telling the parents that they can't even look at the security footage. Okay. Yeah, I I absolutely promise you that we'll reach out to you. Um please, uh phone number, email. Um, really appreciate you coming out tonight. Um, thank you. If you could stop, district clerk, it's Nicole over there. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate that. Um, anyone else like to come up? Anything? Excellent. Hello. No, no, that's okay. We don't we don't
027hit penalty points for that. Um, again, if you just name your uh name and address, please, and then you got approximately three minutes. Okay. Um, my name is Lauren Armeni. Uh, my address is 44 John Alex Drive in West Sonica. Um, I hate public speaking, so I failed out of that in school, so just take this with a grain of salt. I'll give you extra credit. I didn't go to West Sonic schools, though. So, um, I'm just very much concerned about the redistricting and reconfiguration plans. Um, I do apologize. I became very sleepy with or I guess lazy with learning about the new options. Um, we've been inundated with emails over the years about redistricting. So, when another email came through, it's like, yeah, okay, here we go. Another one. Didn't think much of it,
028but as a parent, as a business owner, I am very busy. And now that I'm finally caught up, I am absolutely horrified about what this can do. Um, now it just seems like the plans seem very rushed. I know the the committee, I know it's a volunteer position. I know they're claiming to be very transparent, but meeting minutes were just released today. Like, we don't even know what we're arguing about right now. like we don't even have time to absorb what's being said at the moment because meeting minutes from the last time were just released this morning or this afternoon. I think it was this afternoon. Um anyways um kids have our kids all of us not just one kid all of our kids have been through so much with co um we have asked
029so much of them through the years of doing remote learning and hybrid learning and they have been so well adapted over the years. We can't ask them to keep, you know, having to go with the flow and keep going with the changes. Um, I am very concerned about what this disruption can do. Um, you know, not just mental health, but their social, their emotional, everything, their academic performances over the year. I know we are all one district, but there are definitely differences between East versus West, and I feel bad saying that out loud, but there are differences. Um, I completely understand that there are some schools are bursting at the seams. I understand that there are oversized classrooms, that support services like OT and PT are being done in the hallway. So, I do understand
030that things do have to change because every kid does deserve like an equitable education, but this disruption just seems completely rushed and not appropriate whatsoever for a lot of kids. Um, it's also been said that kids don't have a vested interest in the schools that they go to and that they could be bounced back and forth. Um, we've been kind of hush- hush with our daughter. She finally has picked up on what's going on. No one has asked my kid what she wants. She does not want to change schools. She doesn't want to be bounced back and forth between the schools. Um, you know, we chose to move during CO. We were one of the crazy families that moved during CO. That was hard enough. She was in first grade. We moved into the district.
031That was so hard on her emotionally. I can't even imagine what will happen now if she gets bounced back and forth now that she's established in her schools. So that's all I got. Thank you very much. So again, um, anyone else I um, anyone else got any want to come up? So I'll I'll, um, I'm just going to say this now. Oh, sorry. We got another one. You can come up. You're good. I'll point this out now, too. I know. Um, I appreciate everyone coming out to speak. Don't forget there are ways to reach out through the um through the website, through the district website, questions, emails, uh sharing information and sharing thoughts and feelings on everything is very important. So, I know this is a nerve-wracking 3 minutes for people. Um so, anyone else
032who doesn't necessarily come to a board meeting to speak, get your thoughts out to us, please. Go ahead. Uh name and address, please. And you have up to three minutesish. Okay. My name is Christy Pilo and I live at 9 John Alex Drive. Um, I do want to first say that I have appreciated what transparency has been afforded to us. Um, not being able to be at meetings, but being able to catch up on agendas and minutes um, in the community forums has been very helpful. It makes it feel like we have a say in what's going to happen. Um, and I just hope that that continues as propositions are given forward and a decision is being made. Um, I hope that the voice of us as a community are heard as loudly as, if
033not louder than the committee that sits because our kids and us will be affected. Um, looking at the data objectively after I got over the emotional piece because our kids are affected, so it's going to be emotional. I can understand the need to figure out something different. My child is one of the 28 kids in a fourth grade class and I can't imagine what it is like to be a teacher with 28 10 year olds. Um, but what I hope is that um, we can try to keep as much consistency for these kids as we can. What concerns me and I apologize cuz some of my wind was removed when you guys took away the fourth fifth building. So, I'm kind of happy for that. So, I'm going to stumble through the rest of this,
034skipping over that. Um, but what still concerns me is the bullet point at the bottom of option one, which states that neighborhoods could be reassigned to balance enrollment. Um, it's been a concern since last year's discussions as moving a certain cohort of children across district was kind of presented, mostly because my kids would be affected by that. Um, but what I hope the board considers is that um, when purchasing a home, many families do so with great attention to detail such as what schools their kids are going to attend. um we opted to stay in West Senica and purchase where we did knowing our kids would go through West Senica west side of the district and I agree with what um you know the first speaker said in that I would have felt the same
035if it was east or west because of the age of my kids moving them in the next couple of years would be at a really devel developmental part of their life middle school it's it's already tough um I know that West En may be seen as one district but truly we are two districts operating in one town I wouldn't move to Orchard Park with the expectation of being sent to West Energ And so I hope that that's taken into consideration as we look at where these kids will continue through their their schooling. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for taking the time to come out. [Applause] Anyone else interested? Good. Okay. Again, thank you everybody and uh you know, we've got it we got the words here, but don't be afraid to email it over
036or reach out to us. Thank you. I'll move on to um what I'm going to do now is I'm going to move on to number four personnel if the board wants to get to that point please. I'm we'll save uh we'll save number three till after go through some of this important stuff. Um if I may have a motion on agenda agenda item 4 A please. I'll make a motion to approve agenda item 4 A. Excellent. May I have a second? I'll second it. Thank you. Uh Mara, Sarah, any discussion? Okay. All in favor? I. Anyone opposed? Pass 70. Move on to five. May I have a motion on agenda five? May I have a motion on agenda item 5A, please? I'll make a motion. Loren, may I have a second? I'll second. Laura second.
037Any discussion on this one? Good to go. Okay. All in favor? I. Anyone opposed? Move on to 5B. May I have a motion on 5B, please? I'll make the motion on that. Thank you. Motion to approve. Thank you. May I have a second? A second. Marlo. Second to approve. Any discussion? Okay, great. All in favor? I. Anyone [Applause] opposed? Now we'll move on to our consent agenda. If I have uh can I have a motion on consent agenda which are items 6 A through 10D. [Applause] I'm a board member two. I'll make a motion to approve consent agenda 6A through 10D. May I have a second? I'll second it. Lorine second. All in favor? I. Anyone opposed? Excellent. Passes 70. Thank you, Mr. Beed. I'm going to ask Dr. Savone to join us at the
038podium. We have some special introductions to do tonight. While he's making his way up to the podium uh under personnel recognition, I just want to highlight some of the uh personnel groups that will be recognizing uh this month and we thank them for all that they do for the school district. Par professionals appreciation day was on April 2nd and school library appreciation day was April 4th. Uh this week is National Assistant Principal Week and we will look forward to public school volunteer week, school bus driver appreciation day, and National Administrative Professionals Day later this month. So Dr. Sabone, I'll turn it over to you for some introductions um and recognition. We first have retirements. Thank you, Dr. Krueger. Board of Ed, thank you very much. Congratulations to all people uh reaching different milestones on the
039agenda tonight. Uh I don't believe any of our retirees are currently here unless I am mistaken. If are any of our currently listed retirees in present present? If so, please stand to be recognized. Did not think so. Um we will recognize obviously at our meeting typically in June as well. So congratulations. I do know one of our tenure recipients is being recognized tonight. She's joined by her building principal today. So, Alexandra uh Alexandria, are you Hi, congratulations. So, Alexandria Twitchell is being just received tenure. Uh she teaches science at West Senior and I remember when you got hired. So, congratulations on this incredible milestone. Mr. Brinker, would you like to say a few things? And Alexander, if you have anyone here that with you that you'd like to introduce as well. I made my husband.
040He wanted to be here. I told him it's a three-hour meeting. Dr. told me to stick under 53 minutes. I'll try to do. But, uh, Alex Twitchel, I know you just gave her tenure, but who is Alex Twitch? When we first hired her, she had an opportunity between three different districts. One of them was her home district. And after she interviewed with us, she she picked West Africa. And the one of the big requirements that we have is at West Senior we know you can do this job for 30 40 years as long as you like kids. So we selected Alex switcher we hire you. She loves kids. So you can never not see her at a basketball game. She does hockey right that's a big thing. She she supervises hockey games. She's at dances.
041She's at proms. She does everything. But she will never in front of your students, in front of your children, she'll never be angry. She'll never have a bad day. She's always smiling. She always does a good job of goodness, positive disposition. That's who she is. She'll do this job forever because she likes kids. That's what we want to retire. When we were interviewing her years ago, there were two board members on the committee, president, vice president, and they were blown away. I remember that's I distinctly remember that I just watched and listened to Larry and Diane Beers and they went off about Alex what a strong candidate how lucky we are to have her and she has not failed us. She is outstanding. That's where you just came. Okay. So you you made a really
042good decision. So thank you. Congratulations guys. On to our uh personnel appointments. I am aware of two of these individuals that are here that I'd like to introduce and then anyone else perhaps that I am unaware of I would ask you to please stand and be recognized. Uh number one is uh Jamie Knight. Jamie, can you please stand? This is Jamie is joined uh Jamie is joining us uh in in the coming weeks as the new principal of Winchester Potter Elementary School. Uh Jamie comes with an incredible amount of experience as a high school English teacher and elementary school teacher. She's currently serving as an assistant principal of the Orchard Park Central School District. She is a student centered leader who values and fosters a positive school climate. Her energy is contagious and we're so
043excited to bring you part of our leadership team. She's got a whole clan here. So Jamie, would you like to do some introductions? Yeah. So um first of all, thank you. I'm so excited. I'm fully ready to get back into elementary school. Um, as you can see, it's his life every day, so it will be no different. Um, but with me tonight is my husband, Brandon, and the night crew, which we call them. Um, Blake is our littlest, Mason over there with my dad is our middle guy, and then Mia is our daughter. And obviously joining me tonight are my two really proud parents. Um, you know, so obviously here to see this and I'm just really thankful for their support along the way as well. Um, I will say Blake was a little loud,
044but the last time we did something like this was Moana, the musical at my school, and he laughed the entire way I was talking. So, he's making really good progress. The audience loved it, of course, because I'm in the middle of the auditorium and he's down the corrupt laughing hysterically at me. So, um, just really excited to be here and thank you. I'm getting, you know, really I'm ready to be here, but it'll be a couple weeks and then um obviously I'll get to know everybody. So, thank you. Jamie and Knight family, welcome to West S. Congratulations. [Applause] Norah O'Brien, could you please stand? Hi, Nora. Nora O'Brien has just been appointed as our next assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction. Mrs. O'Brien has K12 experience, having taught at the high school level, served as
045a middle school assistant principal and an elementary principal. Her responsibilities are vast and include many district level programs such as universal prek, federal grants, technology coordinator, and district strategic plan. There's more too that we just didn't list. She's a regional leader as well who served as a Niagara Orleans Bosey's curriculum council chairperson. Nora, your energy and enthusiasm and your passion for curriculum and instruction and just school and students in general was really contagious as well in that process. So excited to work with you. Congratulations. You also have a little bit of a clan here too. So, welcome and make some introductions for us. Thank you. I'm so excited to be here and I can't wait to start. Um, I know that my district is really sad to see me go, but they're they're very proud
046and they know that this is something that I've been applying to for a while. Um, so you guys start here. Um, I did the share with me teacher and he's a coach. Um, my parents and my son Ryder who is in eighth grade. Well, Brian, welcome to West Senica. We had several appointments here tonight. We had several people reach uh uh permanent status as well. Is there anyone else that was on the agenda tonight that is present? And I would ask you to stand to be recognized. Well, I'm sure they're all watching online, so I would congratulate you as you're watching and thank you so much and congratulations. So, thank you everyone. Thank you, Dr. Cavone and congratulations to everyone who was recognized tonight. Okay. Um what we're going to do before we move back
047to agenda item number three, we're just going to take a real short fivem minute recess um just to say hello to everybody and thank you for being here and we're going to use get uh we're going to use uh use our time now so then we can focus on the last few things. Thank you so much about five minutes. Thank you. Thank you so much. Um, like I said, that was five minutes. Um, edited out the extra 10. Um, okay. We're going to move on, uh, move back a little to number three, our budget presentation. Mr. Theal, would you like to join us at the table? Yes, sir. Thank you. So, I just would like to share some updates with the board. Um this has been a cumulative presentation over the past uh few months
048really starting late this fall and updating the board of education as we had additional information regarding our school budget and the development and building of a school budget. So, as we get pieces of information, whether it's our property tax cap uh that we are required to calculate in New York State or the anticipated state aid, we continue to update these numbers as we go through this process. Uh and so it is an evolving document um and an evolving presentation leading to tonight where tonight the board of education will have the opportunity to adopt our school budget for the upcoming school year. So rather than going through slide by slide in every detail because I think both the board and the community has seen this in previous um presentations, I'm going to just highlight some things.
049At the early onset of our budget development process, we did seek feedback from the community regarding budget priorities and the feedback has been shared here of our thought exchange that we had to enlist community feedback. In addition, uh we have launched a community email signup. So, one of the pieces of feedback that we received is that those that are no longer in our school system, meaning they have children who have graduated or may not yet have school age children did not feel that same sense of uh connection and same sense of communication as those that have prek through 12 school age children. And so now our community members and residents can sign up and receive communications from the school district. So whether it's communications regarding our upcoming budget and capital improvement projects or other general
050information, uh community members can sign up to receive our emails. So this is a way that we're promoting communications within our district. Here we are tonight um as we reach different budget milestones throughout the development process. Budget adoption tonight is highlighted on the screen as April 8th tonight. And then we of course have our hearing and vote uh scheduled for our first meeting in May with the budget vote occurring on May 20th. The budget goals have been reviewed and were supported by the ed uh board of education at the onset of this process in addition to our budgetary guidelines which outlined our parameters and also our priorities regarding instructional priorities priorities related to operations and also to ensure we have long-term financial sustainability. the last communication. I really spoke to that previously with our thought
051exchange where we sought community feedback and the launch of the community email and I think simply being transparent and having updates at every board meeting has helped to satisfy the priorities that the board outlined here regarding communications on our budget. Next, um we have the salary and benefits. These are the pieces of the budget. We'll first start on the expense side and then we'll shift focus to the revenue side. So, as we've anticipated salaries and benefits and projections for next school year, we have updated numbers as we've gotten new and updated numbers. For example, most recently shared with the board at our last meeting was updates and a more fine-tuned number regarding the teacher retirement system and the contributions that we need to make to that. for our staffing. We have approached this budget as
052a staffing neutral budget. Uh if you recall one year ago, there were cuts in our staffing both teaching cuts um and cuts of our staff CSEA members. Uh we have been operating under this being as much as possible a staffing neutral budget so that we can maintain the programs and maintain the level of support and services uh that are needed in our schools. So, this gives a a historical snapshot of where we were um at the onset of the the pandemic in 2021, how our staffing numbers increased while we had COVID relief funds, and then some reductions that were made um last school year through the budget development process and where our current staff is standing. This is a snapshot of our teaching staff and a snapshot of our CSEA staff. Will, anything that you'd
053like to Is my math correct on that? That there's 231 more employees on these two categories for teachers to CSEA for 2021. I don't think it's 231 now. Um the change before the reductions would have been uh 165 plus the 34. So it would have been more like uh 131. Okay. 53 more teachers from 2000 2021 to current. Right. Yes. And some of those I think um we can speak to being that we've increased our interventionists, the number of interventionists that we have in our schools. In addition, we've made a commitment to bringing back special education programming. And so when we bring back a special education class of students with high needs, along with that often comes an increase in occupational therapy, speech therapy, physical therapy, and often teacher aid support that's needed. So as
054we've brought back special education classes in district for a variety of reasons one because it's better for our students if they can attend in district programs but two the lack of availability of out of district and Boseis placements has really necessitated that and with that has resulted in in some of these increases. Totally understand. And I just think that the aggregate is telling that in two 2021 to to current, we have 231 more employees under that were in our budget, this current budget. And what I think would also be helpful for folks would be able to see where the administrative uh what that has been since 2021, what the increase or decrease there within. Yeah. Um, I can get that information for you. I, if I recall, and will correct me if I'm if I'm
055mistaken, I believe the only net ad that we've had administratively is the addition of an assistant director at the special special education uh, level to help support special education, the increase of special education students, the number of classified students, and the number of programs in district. So, I believe the only ad that we've had administratively has been an assistant special education director, but I I will confirm that with the board. I want to make sure you're getting accurate information. Will or Dr. Cerone? A telling number. Yeah, very much so. Very much so. Anything that you would add regarding that? No, I think that you're right on the administrative side and I think the special ed numbers uh come through not only in the teacher side but on the CSEA side were the largest increases in
056teacher aids. We presently again if I'm not mistaken with this um that I'm recalling I believe we presently have 134 teacher aids uh slated to be in in next year's school budget which is an unprecedented number. And it's part and parcel of schools being asked to do more and more and more and organizations and communities having to support those those offerings. Yeah. Built in the next year's budget uh is actually in excess of 140 on the teacher aid side based on the uh increase in programming we expect for next year. [Applause] Okay. Uh this next slide is a summary of the bene benefits uh that we have for health insurance and health insurance estimates both for uh the two largest groups being of course WISA WISA and uh then the self-funded which is our CSEA.
057Anything on this slide, Will, that you'd like to highlight regarding other codes and updates to those other codes? Um no there's not. I'm good. Okay. And again, many of these slides we have discussed previously in detail. Just uh offering a final opportunity if there's any questions or points of clarity that the board would like to receive. Uh debt service, we have reviewed this previously with the board. And uh next we'll shift from the expenditure side to the revenue side of the budget. And again these numbers have been developing over the past few months. These are our revenue sources for the district. The local share which is generally taken by tax dollars. In addition to that, pilots what are which are payment in lie of taxes, sales tax and then other miscellaneous revenue items. State aid
058as you may know if you've been following the local news, we have developed our budget based on state aid projections and the initial runs that we received of state aids. uh the state has not yet adopted a budget. So we are working under projections and having to conservatively plan our budget. We cannot overestimate in this area or we will have a gap in our revenue source. And then lastly, the federal aid that we receive to help balance our budget th So those are all of the sources of revenue uh that we bring in to help build our budget and to help balance our budget. the tax levy limit calculation. This is something that is set in New York State. There's a a calculated formula as to how we arrive at that number. But for the
059upcoming school year, 2.75 is the increase in the anticipated tax levy increase, which is below the tax levy limit, which we are allowed to ask our voters to support. Anything above and beyond that takes a super majority which is 60% of your voters to support uh to vote in support of exceeding that number and we are not recommending going beyond that tax cap limit. Uh we did at our last presentation update some numbers um which were building aid numbers uh state aid building aid that was uh updated for the board of education and we discussed this at our last meeting and highlighted that for you. And then just a snapshot here of our revenue history of what was anticipated versus the actual um looking back going to 2021 to present. Will, anything that you would
060like to share regarding these slides? There's no new updated information here, so this is really a recap of things that the board has previously reviewed. Um, just that the increase in building aid is historically not impacted by the state adopted budget. So that usually impacts uh foundation aid. So, we don't have a final number on foundation aid, which is the bulk bulk of our aid, but we made an adjustment based on building aid based on February data put out by the state. And just uh I'd like to highlight the nature of the changing revenue sources. Local revenues were 60% of the budget in 2021. That's down to 54% of the budget in proposed 2026. Um with state moving from 39 to 45. So the mix of funding is changing over time. And will maybe it
061would be helpful to give some insight as as to why that's the case. Our demographics have changed as a school community. Um many of our state aids are tied to demographic information such as our free and reduced lunch population and other drivers that would help to influence those numbers. And that is why state aid is not a flat and constant number but it is more of a moving number that changes over time. Capital improvement projects the revenue that we receive back on capital improvement projects is another source um that may be a changing number over time. Okay. So um when we have our budget both the anticipated revenues and the anticipated expenditures if there is any gap there's a variety of ways in which a school district can approach a revenue gap. We may um
062receive possible state aid increase which we are hopeful for but we cannot count on that because the budget has not yet been adopted. We can employ strategies to reduce and control our expenditures and non-personnel related costs which we have done. Uh we have attempted to trim in some areas supply budget codes and equipment budget codes to the point where we think we can trim while still being responsible to those supplies and materials and equipment that are needed. Um we are looking at every position and really applying a position control um application. What that means is while we are bringing back special education programs, you will not see a dramatic increase in the number of teachers that we have uh from this year's budget to next year's budget. When we have retirements, we're analyzing those retirements
063to see can do we need to fill a position first. Is there another solution or a different way uh to go about solving this so that we can bring on special education programming or areas where we have new or increased need without having it be a continual add to the budget. And then the last way is to apply fund balance through our conservative planning uh throughout creating the budget and also being conservative throughout the year. we have not added um throughout the school year so that we can create a a surplus and fund balance to apply to any budget gap in the upcoming school year. Anything you would like to add additional to that will? No, I just to say that the uh the reductions in the other codes, the supply related codes and things
064like that did not impact the instructional side. So building building supply lists and and those kinds of dollars allocated were not trimmed. Um that we did maintain a higher than normal um allowance to buy district vehicles. We're trying to rehabilitate our district owned vehicle fleet. So assuming we can still access those vehicles given the uncertainty in the marketplace right now. That would be part of the plan for next year. So we we we were creative and moving around all those things to try to find some savings. We have not had a vehicle replacement schedule. We've had a bus replacement schedule, but a vehicle replacement schedule. So those would be vehicles mainly that are used by our buildings and grounds department. There has not been a vehicle replacement schedule. And we have a number of vehicles
065that are in illre and in need of replacement. And so that is something that we are attempting to respond to so that we can ensure we have safe, reliable vehicles um for our buildings and grounds department. Additionally, uh within our school's budget, there is an annual capital outlay project. A capital outlay project allows for a $100,000 project. Uh, think of this as a mini capital improvement project, which allows us to get 76% state aid back on this project. We've identified that one of the greatest needs that we'd prefer not to wait for the next capital improvement project are the exterior doors at Northwood Elementary School. So, we will be earmarking the capital um outlay project, that $100,000 project to replace as many exterior doors at Northwood as we possibly can, identifying those that are in
066the greatest need so that that will be taken care of through this avenue rather than waiting, which could be several years for the next capital improvement project. Um, as Mr. obedient said in his opening comments when he mentioned the upcoming vote on May 20th, in addition to voting on the 2526 school budget, there will be a second proposition for voters which will be to uh help us maintain our fleet of buses. We do have a bus reserve fund and we will be tapping into that bus reserve fund to help our annual purchase of buses and to maintain our fleet of buses. The total 2026 proposed amount is $1,116,439. We have on the screen what we're anticipating purchasing, but I but I do have to underscore that this is what we anticipate. Um, we don't yet
067know availability of vehicles and what the impact of tariffs may be on the actual cost of a school bus. And so these numbers are based on current estimates of what both large buses and small buses cost as of our recent quote. But it it's possible that we may not be able to get all of these buses. What voters will be approving is the total dollar amount for us to spend the total at the bottom. And we will stretch those dollars as far as we can to try to get as many or all of the buses that are listed on the screen. Our goal is to get as many as possible for the dollar amount that's listed here. That's a great way to do it. I appreciate that. It seems a great way to get what
068we can. Exactly. Uh next, the third item that voters will be able to uh vote on on May 20th is our auditorium infrastructure project. This is an $ 8.5 million project that will address the theaters at both our middle schools, East and West Middle School, East and West High School, and it will address our house lighting, our stage lighting, sound system, and the rigging system in those schools that have rigging systems. Uh we met just yesterday to begin to fine-tune the design for this. Um, and it's important to underscore that these spaces are not just used for concerts and school musicals. Our auditoriums at the middle and high school level are used daily as instructional spaces. Chorus rehearsal, band rehearsal, orchestra are used daily. Some of our auditoriums are used as instructional spaces um for
069study halls or other purposes. They are regularly used for school assemblies and they are also used by our community whether it's community use for awards and events or a dance recital uh for a local dance studio. They are really um theaters that are used by our community and by our school district on a regular basis and they're currently in need of uh repairs significantly to the point where it is difficult and becoming increasingly more expensive to find replacement equipment uh and to get the needed repairs done in our auditoriums. So this will be the third item that voters will be able to vote on on May 20th. And then lastly will be the election of two school board trustees. Um their terms are up and so we have two seats that voters will be expressing
070their opinions on and that will all occur on Tuesday, May 20th in the East Senior Gym from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. I just like to pause and see if there's any questions that the board of education would like to ask of me or will u before later in the agenda you have the opportunity to vote on this year's school budget. Just one question. Thank you so much. This is really informative and um the prep work that we've done to get here uh gives me confidence that we have a pretty strong understanding of what's in the budget and how it works. So, thank you very much. Um the question just going back to the um auditorium infrastructure project, how confident are we that the um numbers won't change as a result of some of the
071external tariff discussion and other things that you mentioned with respect to the buses? Sure. Um and by all means will you're welcome to also extend to this. When we met with our architects and uh construction company which is Young and Reich Architects, they do build in some uh area for us in case there's incidentals generally when you're opening up walls or schools of our age. There may be unexpected expenses that we run into. So it is standard to build in a percentage for those unanticipated surprises that occur when you do any kind of construction in a school. In addition, we were we're very cautious about the estimates that we're receiving because we don't know the impact of of what may be as a result of tariffs. So the sound equipment, the lighting equipment, things of
072that nature. We met just yesterday to again begin to fine-tune to ensure that what we hope to accomplish through this project is going to be able to be done for that maximum cost of $8.5 million. Anything that you would add to that, Will? Just that historically when we structure our bids, we structure them with a series of what's called addendum. So there'll be a base bid which is the work we feel we must do and then there'll be a series of options after that. Obviously we want to do all of it but we'll we'll manipulate that at the closing of the bid to get us as much as we can without having the risk of going over. That's just not prudent. So we we'll we'll maintain once bids are accepted and hopefully we're doing that
073less than a year from now. uh that there's still some leeway in the budget to cover to cover any unforeseen stuff. Thank you. And just to extend what Will said um about it being a year from now, that process is if approved by voters, we would then finalize the design, submit our project to New York State Department of Ed for their approval. That approval needs to occur first before we do the work. And that's our guarantee that New York State will be giving us the state aid back on the project. So, we submit our plans to New York State for their review and approval and then we can move forward. So, it's not anticipated that this work would start until the summer of 2026 and it would likely span two summers. It would not be
074wise or prudent for us to try to do work in four auditoriums simultaneously. What may have to actually happen is we have two auditoriums, let's say a middle school and a high school auditorium where work is being done and started in the summer of 26, but that work may extend throughout the fall and winter of 26 into 27. And we may need to relocate events such as concerts from the east side to the west side or vice versa while two of our auditoriums are being renovated. And then in the next year, we would focus on the other two auditoriums and those renovations. So, we do anticipate that the work would span two school years and two summers, the summer of 26 and 27. I had a question, a couple questions actually. Uh, first, back on
075the October 8th meeting, we had that $3.2 million uh in excess revenue. If we knew there was going to be this deficit this year, why did we not just apply that entire amount to this year's budget instead of putting it into reserves that we can't touch? What what 3.2 are we talking about now? The excess revenues from 24 that we You mean in the 2025 year? 2024 year. Yep. Okay. So, we did put fund balance against this current year's budget, the 2025 budget. I understand that, but back in October, we put it into capital reserves, the bus reserve, stuff that we can't apply to this, but if we knew there was going to be a deficit, why would we take the leftover money and transfer it to those reserve accounts that we can't apply to
076this budget? Because our judgment at that time was that we have sufficient reserves in those reserves that we can tap. the the teacher retirement reserve, the employee retirement reserve, the employee benefit acred liability reserve are all reserves that are readily available to us to top and fund current operations. And then looking back on the trends, so 2020, 2021, I would say those were reasonable years. We budgeted and had roughly $700,000 left over. Now, since then, we're in the millions every single year for excess revenue. And even in those years, we had excess revenue in the millions, we're still asking for more money from the taxpayers, and we're just dumping all that money into the reserves. That is just dishonest in my in my eyes. Like, well, I'm I'm going to object to that. Uh the
077plan was during the co funding years to accumulate as much fund balance as we could knowing that when we that funding went away we would be in a different situation and that's precisely what happened. Our average tax rate increase over the last 5 years has been 1.24%. And even this year we're sitting on a surplus or an excess revenue of millions again. So that's why I have a hard time. Are we overshooting or over projecting our trend of what we think our expenses are going to be just to come up with these numbers to have the excess money at the end of the year to just dump in the reserves? Absolutely not. We we in the last fiscal year spent 99% of our budgeted [Applause] amount. I would anticipate this year we'll spend 98 to
07899% of our budgeted amount. I would rather see a budget where we budget to put into our reserves and then we come out around5 to $600,000 left over. I wish it was that simple. There are so many variables that go into a year and when you're shooting for a budget number and you come out at 99% that's not a comfortable margin in my estimation. But the fact that we've had extra revenue has been a result of our building projects and in the past a result of excess increased Erie County sales tax revenue. In this current budget year, we we raised that budget to 9.5 million. I do not know if we'll reach that in this current budget year. It's also been budgeted that way for next year. We also in prior years received excess interest
079income for many many years. We received no in interest income. There was like 1% or less paid on our excess cash um during COVID and more recently. Those rates have been they were 5%, they have now down to four and they're moving down towards three. So we we have aggre we more aggressively budgeted interest income in the current year and next year's budget. And we increased Medicaid funding in the current year and next year's budget to to meet historical trends. So that excess revenue as you described is shrinking and is now our revenue side is at equal risk with our expense side. So during COVID we did what we wanted to do and build fund balance to handle unexpected things in the future and now we're spending that fund balance to move us forward. So
080that's well when is it shrinking? I mean because we went from 2.1 and 23 to 3.2 and 24 and right now I know it's not the end of the year but based on the sheets in here we're at like 5.7 the amount of fund balance we have against our budget. No the excess revenue. Can you show me what number you're looking at? Uh it's on one of the sheet one of the other uh parts of the board page 15. No, it's not not in the budget. It's on a different further down here somewhere on the agenda. And I I know the bills aren't all paid for the year, so that number will most likely drop a little bit. But to go to the taxpayers and say, "Hey, we need $2 million to pay the bills."
081and then oh hey at the end of the year I have $4 million left over and we're just going to dump it in reserves. That's not the case in the current budget year. It's not the case. It won't be in next budget year and it won't be in the budget year after that. So you're telling me next year in October we are not going to transfer any money into the reserves? We will be absolutely transferring money around between reserves. But that'll be the board's decision. If the board wants to do capital projects in the future, it will invest in a capital project [Applause] reserve. If you're looking at the revenue sheet where it says excess and then still be to be collected, that excess in a lot of categories is sometimes offset by the monies
082yet to be collected. um we didn't receive all the star money we had budgeted for. So when you see a tax number that says we're higher by a million, look at the star number which says yet to be collected is still a million and there's no more star collections. If you're looking at interest income in some categories we're going to be over in interest income. If you're looking at uh the Erie County sales tax, I think we'll be lucky to get to the 9.5 million this year. state aid. I've already said and it's in the budget presentation. We're going to get more than we thought we were going to get because of the capital projects that were uh closed out on December 31st and we we got those numbers in February and we reported them
083to the board immediately. I think I would just additionally add that we have to have the ability to respond to emergencies in any given school year. We have an inoperable uh elevator at West Senior, an unanticipated expense that's about $75 to $80,000 in any given year. If we have a few special education students that move into district, uh that can necessitate us to increase special education staffing um and the support services along with that. One student in an outof district placement can be in excess of $200,000 per year. We cannot budget so tightly that we cannot respond to emergencies that come up. that would be irresponsible and we would be having to make mid-year cuts to respond to those unanticipated expenses. So if you liken it to your household budget, if you spend every dollar
084of your paycheck, then what happens when there's an emergency? It it's just not responsible from a budget standpoint. So we do what we can throughout the year to minimize our expenses to not be frivolous with expenses to get us to the point at the end of the year and I'm proud at the end of the year when we have funds left remaining that we can invest in a reserve which is smart long-term financial planning when we put money into reserves that is us being able to draw on that in the future so we don't have to put a burden on to taxpayers When there is needed auditorium repairs, when we have, as you saw, the bus purchase, our bus replacement schedule, we are asking voters to approve the ex the use of those re reserve
085funds, but we're not asking for any additional tax dollars. We're simply saying to the voters, do you allow us to use the money that is set aside to buy these these vehicles, these school buses? I would not suggest that we spend every dollar that is budgeted or that we are so tight in building our budget that there is absolutely no wiggle room for any unanticipated expenses. That would be irresponsible. If if that's the will of the board, then then that's feedback that's important to Will and I that has not been shared yet through the budget development process. If I could just add, well, you've done a great job of being transparent with us on the committee of where the money is going and how all of the reserves work and we've had presentations at work
086sessions and you know, it's very clear to me of of what we need to do and what the tax levy is for and when we don't use it, the detriment to the district years and decades down the road. So to the point of having this extra money, if we are being prudent stewards of our money, which I know we are, I think it speaks volumes that we do have something because we've been pulling back and we've asked departments where we can be financially fiscal and have that money. But when we look ahead at the environment of this country, we don't live in a bubble. And the fact is that $5 million, correct me if I'm wrong, that we get from Medicaid might have to be our couple million that we just put back in cuz
087that goes to those students who get Medicaid dollars. So, I think we have to be forward thinking in this. And I just want to say thank you for everything that you've done uh for those of us that are on the budget committee and just having that committee present um so that we can have a voice and understand when this stuff comes up. I don't think anything is frivolous. I'm very proud of what uh the district has done with the finances. I think the monies you're speaking of are two in two categories. One is Medicaid. That's in the general fund and it's a little over a million dollars each year. It supports uh some of the costs that we spend with special ed students. Um the other is the idea funding which is federal grants uh
088separate from title one that are focused on our special ed most needy populations. And uh those monies uh based on what's going on at the Department of Ed um are supposed to be paid directly to the state and then you know paid to us. Um that's all subject to the political winds of today. So um I'd like to bring us you know bring ah maybe I want to bring up last year. Yeah, I'll bring up last year um when there was a lot much to do about reserves and um and as a result of that when we started off this year, we began by bringing in Dr. Tims to educate us all as a board on our budget and what's responsible school budgeting and such. I don't recall per se exactly what he said in
089terms of percentages the healthy percentage to have in reserves but is there a I know there is a standard for operating um operating budgets. What is a good standard to have in your uh in your school reserves? Is there a percentage? There is. There is and I think um as a school district we have not always been up to that percentage and Dr. Tims, I think, gave us a warning as to being prudent and financially responsible to ensure that you have the reserves. Uh there's also legal limits on some of the reserves and what we can have in our reserves. Uh which is why when you have flexibility in a reserve, you can pull out out of some reserves to maintain your operating expenses. In terms of exact percentages, is that something will that you
090can shed some light on? Well, you're allowed to have 4% unrestricted, correct? Um, any well-funded district has that 4%. There are several local districts under that 4% currently. Um, and then you're supposed to have reasonable reserves with with respect to your current expense ratios. It varies from districts that have 60% of their budget in reserves to districts that have 10% of their budget in reserves. We're fortunate to have $30 million against 160 or about 20%. Uh we fall in the middle of the pack, probably slightly below the midline and the total amount of reserves we have against our appropriation budget. So those reserves to the to a large extent were built during COVID where we went from you know 26 million to 35 million in reserves and they're being depleted now. Last year for the
091audit, our restricted reserves went down by a little over a million dollars. Um, this year, our restricted reserves will continue to go down. Um, I'm hopeful to keep it as small as possible, but it could be as large as $2 million. And then I would expect the 2026 budget to also show us declining on the restricted reserve side. Uh, I think the point of Dr. Tim's presentation was to say that we had been here in West Senica before and we had failed to act uh in in a timely manner and ran down reserves to very low levels and that's not that long ago. the reserves of $3 million against a very large budget number. Um, put us in a position of having to borrow money from other sources to make it through. And now over
092the course of time and then with the use of the COVID funding, we were able to get back to a a certain level. We were off warning lists. We were off the comprollers warning list. Yeah. And those things. So, who did we borrow money from? Lacawana. No, Buffalo City Schools. Oh, they don't have any more money either. Buffalo's tapped. We would have to go to Lacawana if we ever go back again. So, I mean, I think we're we're in a position and now we we're working on a long-term plan to bring our budget to where we're not reducing reserves anymore. Where will that bottom out? You know, my hope is we're still well above uh operating norms. you know, you know, 15% of budget in reserves as opposed to the 20% number we have now.
093Um, in the long run, you know, over the next two to three years, I think I appreciate Jeremy asking the question though because as a as a as a taxpayer, I think we just need to be even more uh I'm not going to use the word transparent. We need to be more purposeful or intentional when we explain those things because the question's going to be asked, right? You know, Jeremy asks a question that any any board, any citizen that is to write that check should be asking, you know, and I think it's important just to also add that this is not just the opinion of Lisa and Will. There are third parties uh that look at school district budget. We brought in a school finance expert in Dr. Rick Tims to give advisement to the
094board of education and to us in our long-term financial planning. We also work with an auditor. Our auditor will give us guidance if we are either too lean or too excessive in our budget development process in the reserves. And then third is the state controller. And the state controllers's office audits school districts. And the state controllers's office would also cite our district if again we were either deemed to be in fiscal strain which is school district never wants to be in deemed as being fiscally strained or if we have excess reserve funds and so those are outside pieces of information I think that's important for the board to consider as well so that it's not just our opinion but we're also working with experts um on school finances is and to to help guide to
095ensure that we don't just make it through the 2526 school year, but that we are prepared and positioned long-term to respond to the needs that we have in our facilities. Um, which are aging facilities and continue to have needs and other needs and unanticipated expenses that undoubtedly we deal with on an annual basis. And beyond those audits were subject to review by the Securities and Exchange Commission or rated by Moody's and S&P because we sell our debt into the publicly traded marketplace. So in 60 days or less, we'll be selling 15 to$20 million of new debt to support ongoing capital projects. Um and that's going to continue to be an annual event. So, our financial condition weighs on our ability to attract people willing to lend us money and the interest rates we pay. To
096liken it to personal finances, if you have a better credit score, your interest rate is lower. It is the same for a school district. The financial health of a school district impacts our lending rate uh and and the the rate that we pay for any debt that we have as a school district. Oh, anyone else? I I want to ask about the elevator. Is that just a repair or is that a replacement like that dollar amount? Mick, can you respond to the details of that uh the ex the extent of the repair that needs to be done in order to get it operable? Well, it it wasn't unexpected compared, but uh basically the major computer board control later that so um we have an earlier coming but definitely an unexpected expense. Right. Just again, side
097note, just curious. You know, that's something we Is the elevator still within its life usefulness? Like we're not talking No, the the elevator otherwise is. Okay, cool. Okay. And the company we hire, we're on top of it, do an excellent job. So when these things pop up, um make sure if the uh computer board doesn't work well, Jay offered to do a manual kind of and it's things like that that unfortunately cannot wait until the next capital improvement project. We presently have a wheelchairbound student who is in need of using that elevator. We cannot wait until a future capital improvement project to respond to that need. So, it's it's always a balance of um meeting the needs that we have currently while also trying to have our eye on long-term financial planning. And forgive me
098for not knowing this. We just have one elevator in the building. There's two. There's two only one on both sides. Yeah, that's that. Yeah. Okay. Excellent. Thank you. Again, sorry guys, that was just a little side thing. Um any other conversation? Appreciate it. Thank you. Um good uh good questions, good dialogue, and um that brings us to new business. Thank you, Will. Thank you, Will. Thank you. Thank you, board. Um new business number 11. May I have a motion on agenda item 11 A, please? I'll make a motion to approve 11 A. Motion to approve 11 A. Laura, may I have a second? We'll second it. Sarah second. Any discussion? You want to discuss anything else in relation? Great. Okay, we're going to do a a roll call vote. One of my favorite things to
099do. Um I'll start this way and go around. Um Vince, uh it's a yay nay abstain. It's 11 a. Sorry. Yay. Yay. [Applause] Jerry. Yay. Hey. Sarah, yay. Mara, yay. Moren, yay. Laura, yay. Yay. Um, passes 70. Thank you [Applause] guys. I don't lose my place. We're now moving on to 11B. This is the uh the bus reserve fund. Um may I have a motion on 11B, please? I'll make a motion to pass 11B. Motion. I'll second. Marla second. Any more discussion on that? Um I I believe this is the first year we're doing more of a dollar amount than specific buses and that seems to add some flexibility to it. Um I appreciate that. The only question I would have, I know this is money that's already in savings that can only be spent
100on buses. Um, are are these buses like like our our buses aren't to the point where they're undrivable and we have like if we end up not being able to buy as many, we still have a cushion um of of where we are. Like if if all of a sudden prices double, like we're not in trouble. We have a little bit of a cushion. Not not that I want them to double. Yeah, it would o overall negatively impact our bus replacement schedule because we do have that bus bus replacement plan because when a bus gets to a certain number of hundred of thousands of miles andor our repairs just like your personal vehicle, you get to a point where it's not worth investing in that 10-year-old vehicle any longer. Instead, purchasing a new vehicle may
101be more advantageous. So, we could certainly get by if we're not able to purchase all of the buses that we anticipate purchasing. We want to get them all so that we can maintain our cycle because we don't want to have that be compounding over multiple years where our fleet of buses just becomes an aging fleet. Right. Okay. Thank you. And again, I'm not talking about like not being able to purchase the buses, but just not be able to purchase as many. I'm happy to hear that there's at least a little bit of flexibility because I am concerned about the cost of Cool. Anyone else? Any questions? Any discussion? Okay, guess what? We get to do another roll call though. I'll go the other way. Laura, yay. Lorine. Marla, yay. Sarah, yay. Jeremy. Vince, yay. It
102seems like all are in favor and there's no one saying no. That passes. Thank you. 70. We will move on to the ex. What if I pass? I'm sorry. Now I'm down to see. Sorry. Um, this is the one I'm waiting for. The auditorium and first structure project. Uh, may I have a motion on 11C? I'll make a motion to pass 11 C. Lori, motion to pass. Would Ed mind if Ed did a second? Excellent. I will do a second. Thank you. Any more discussion on the theaters? project. Um, I'll just discuss one more time for all the hundreds of thousands of people watching at home. Um, we're not looking at putting in heated seats and back massagers and recliners. This is literally part of the infrastructure and the safety. Talking about lighting, um, lighting
103that needs to work in order to see. I remember when we introduced our new superintendent, I believe it was almost in the dark. So, um, we are the kids are in there. They need to see and be safe. Um, and the rigging obviously is part of the structure, too. Uh, the thing I'm most comfortable with is no matter what happens with theaters, this stuff, like this stuff is going to be there for a long time and it's going to be safe. So, when we purchase it, it's a nice long-term investment. Um, so I'm happy about it. Any other I'll just add that um our redistricting plans will not impact this. Yes. Yes. I I truly believe that um these four theaters will be used no matter what we do. Um, as a board, I can
104honestly say even a future board, I'd be shocked if there was any changes with these theaters. They're used every day. So, thank you. Anyone else? Okay, do a roll call vote. Start with Vince. Wait, do the motion? Yeah, I did. I did. Yay. Jeremy, yay. Yay. Sorry, I'm excited. Sarah, yay. Yay. Marla, yay. Yay. Yay. Yay. Ed. Okay. All in favor? We pass 70. No. Excellent. We will move on to D. This is the uh this is a the notice for the annual meeting election. May I have a motion on 11D, please? Make a motion to approve my D. Sarah, a motion to approve. May I have a second? Jeremy will second that. Okay. Uh any discussion on this part? [Applause] Okay. Um, do a roll call vote. Let's see. Sarah, yay. Yay. Jeremy, yay.
105Mara, yay. Vince, check. Loren, yay. Laura, yay. Ed, 70. And the one saying no. Pass. 70. Thank you. [Applause] And I'm guessing I'm not going to read all of this, right? It's all posted online and available. Um, which is actually it's a pretty interesting read when you check it out. Here's a here's a good one. Um, 11E. May I have a motion on 11E through 11U? This one. And it's not local, so everyone's good. I'll make a motion to approve 11 E through 11U. Thank you. Uh, may I have a second, please? I'll second. Second. Mara first. for a second. Any discussion on any of this? Uh for 11 years, I would just like to thank the I apologize. Sorry. I'd like to thank the district clerk for getting some students involved with uh the
106election. I think that's great. Yeah. Yeah. Actually, I read that email again today and thank you for bringing that up. Um that's a it's that's an awesome thing. Thank you. Um hopefully we can get a report after the 18th on how it went and everything. Um thank you for doing that. Thank you for bringing it up. And obviously, I know you guys are waiting for me to point out the donations. I don't know if you guys want to stay here till midnight talking about them, but there's uh there's lots of donations on here. East Middle PTO, um Anthony Goya, if I got it right, Joya, Joya, Joya, I actually I should get that right one of these years. Danielle and Mary uh Biddilcom, Ann Bilcom, uh Roger and Marina Foster, Danielle and Gail Burgerer, parents
107of West Senior boys varsity lacrosse team. I mean, some great things. Thank you for donating to our district and helping us keep some of these things going that aren't necessarily Did I miss one? Go ahead, Sarah, help me out. Charlie Hoffman. Charlie Hoffman donated some musical equipment. Oh, that's very, very Everyone here is very important. So, thank you for pointing out Charlie. Sorry, I I need glasses. Okay, we will move on. So, again, just want to thank everybody for that. I mean, there's a lot of stuff that we can't necessarily fund out of the budget and it's really fun to point that out. Anyone else want to discuss anything? Um, just a question in terms of the contract, the level up applied behavioral analysis services. I I wasn't able to open my uh attachment there.
108Is there any that's to support our special education students if I'm not mistaken and I'll confirm with Jackie Fowler who I believe is in attendance that this is for a student who's awaiting placement and getting some behavioral supports in place to support that student while awaiting placement. So services Jackie's confirming services through the end of the school year. Okay. Not a new program or anything. No. No. It's to to support a student. Um, if I'm not mistaken, it would be in a one-on-one support setting while the students awaiting placement. Excellent. Very good. Thank you for confirming that, Jackie. Any other discussion? [Applause] All in favor? I. Anyone opposed? Okay, got 70. We'll move on [Applause] to board number 13, board of education [Applause] discussion. We have we do have uh Jay Brinker and Jay Winnicki
109here. Yeah, we want to we're going to be discussing the [Applause] um the exeicio student board members. Yes. Yes. So, I don't know if we want to invite them up. Be part of that discussion or we want to have our own discussion. What do you guys think? They have name tags already. Yes, we do. Invite them up. We're prepared. Okay. Mr. Brinker and Mr. Winnicki, you're welcome to join us up at the board table. Um, Mr. Winnicki and Mr. Brinker have joined us for the past two policy committee meetings. Uh, tonight's meeting that occurred at 5:00 p.m. tonight and then the prior meeting. Uh for those viewing and those in attendance, uh New York State is requiring um student voice at board tables, which which is a wonderful opportunity for our students to have representation
110and have voice at the board table. Students are allowed to be at the board table uh those designated exeicio student board members to participate in discussion, but they are not voting members of the board of education. So they will not vote on anything before the the board of education. Additionally, when the board needs to retreat into executive session to discuss confidential or sensitive information such as personnel matters, contract negotiations, things of that nature. Our student exeicio board member members would not participate in executive session. The information that they would be provided is the same information that is publicly accessible to all residents or community members, but they will be an important voice at the board table and we welcome their voice when we're discussing things that impact the students. To have student body representatives is
111really powerful and important. So uh we have been looking at a policy policy committee meeting has reviewed uh the policy committee rather has reviewed the draft policy and made some suggestions um to that end. In addition there's a selection process. How do we go about choosing who the student or students are that serve as the exeicio board members? And there's different common pathways that schools take to do this one. It can be a a dyappointed position. So for example, your senior class president could also serve as your exeicio student board member or it could be another newly created position that is by popular vote of the student body. After discussing this with Mr. Brinker, Mr. Winnicki and the policy committee, we thought this could be a new and additional leadership opportunity to students. So rather
112than it being a dulyapp appointed position, having this be something that may be of interest to the students where students could express their interest through an application. If more than one student applies, there's a selection process uh thereby with the building principles where they would ultimately be recommending the student to serve as the exeicio student board member. As you'll see in the policy, there's some criteria. It does need to be at time of application, a current sophomore or junior who has been a student in our high school for at least one year. And we anticipate having two student exeicio board members, one representing East Senior, the other representing West Senior with two alternates that could serve in their absence. And those alternates uh may be sophomores who could then transition into that role during their
113junior year. So before you you see um the application that students can complete and I'll ask Mr. Brinker and Mr. Winnicki to give some feedback regarding our discussion tonight on some of the the revisions to this application and how we anticipate the application and selection process um pursuing. Yeah. What we plan on doing is, you know, doing putting out to all the rising juniors and seniors, uh, email blast and then accepting applications by the 15th. This is a great opportunity for students to state why they want to be on the board. Uh, we're going to actually have a rubric meeting with the students. We're going to put together a committee and interview a bunch of students that want to apply, but their interest, them wanting to be on the on the board uh demonstrating what
114courses they've taken, what extracurricular uh getting some folks school and in the community to be a letter of recommend, not a letter of recommendation, but a reference uh is is another added feature that we're going to we're going to add to this. So it's it's it's a nice formalizing. Uh every September we gather with the counselors and get some names and trying to get as many kids and ultimately what happens is more kids want to be on this. They find out who's on and it's really a select few people that pick the students. Now it's the students coming to us saying we want to be on the board and then the committee using a rubric and having the students run through an application. I like this process. This is a nice a better way of
115doing what we've nice formalizing way of doing it. It's an exciting way for us to foster more leadership opportunities for the kids. um as you'll see on the application, you know, we looked at it um as far as what the students uh open response section was and said, you know, maybe we should give them some guidelines, 200 to 300 words. We wanted to make sure that the recommendation form for whether they're school staff members or community members was user friendly for them so that the students would be more likely to get them back and turned in for them. um where they could rate them in some areas, have some prompts where they must maybe write a few sentences about the student so that when we get that feedback, we get a picture of you know
116who is this candidate student um and what they can bring to the table here. It was also important for us in the committee to note that certainly like any extracurricular activity, our academic eligibility will policy will apply because the number one goal we have for all of our kids is to have them walk across that stage ready to move on to their career or their college or uh whatever opportunity they are seeking to pursue afterward. But this is going to be really great to have students sitting here participating in the discussion and you know often times they help us see the forest for the trees. So it'll be nice to have them at this table and we are putting this out to rising juniors and seniors. So we'll have a senior from each town each
117side of town but we're also going to have a sub. These students, you know what happens? They're involved in everything. So, they're not going to be able to make it 10 meetings or 12. So, we're going to have a stand in who hopefully this next year becomes your senior and then we'll do the same process for the juniors. All right. Are they going to follow the same type of uh the election like us where they would start July 1 or is this something That's what we anticipate. Actually, the board will need to um take action on that at our organizational meeting in July. Uh and so they can be present for that organizational meeting in July and then be a standing member of our board of education with their term starting in July. So, as
118I think Mr. Brinker mentioned, this draft application, we did make some revisions to it this afternoon um prior to our board meeting when the policy committee met. So, this is not the final version. and we'll make those revisions to this and anticipate getting this out to the rising juniors and seniors immediately following spring break with an anticipated deadline of May 15th to apply. And then that will give Mr. Brinker and Mr. Winnicki late May into early June to meet with students, conduct that selection process and develop their recommendation to me and the board of education as to who the exeicio student board members are that they are recommending and it would be anticipated start date in that role in July. I um want again appreciate you doing this. I I think this board has done
119a great job um even since you know I've been around um of having students involved and uh my biggest problem overall is half the time they're not able to be here because they're involved in which is amazing that all the stuff they do and clearly having nothing going on in our district other than a board meeting because everyone wants to come to a board meeting is not something that happens all the time. Um, I would ask though, I hope that having a full box here at the bottom doesn't necessarily equate to you win. Like I, you know what I mean? And I'm not implying that you guys would do it that way. But I just I hope someone who's showing interest in this who maybe doesn't play sports or doesn't, you know, um, actually has
120the same opportunity. I'm not implying you don't do that. I'm just giving you my opinion on it. Um, I do like the fact that we could have some consistency on being here. And the other thing is I want to make sure we invite the the secondary person even if they're in the audience to every meeting so we can have continuity. Um but I've loved having the kids that have sat at that table and done reports and stuff. So I think this is the next step up and I love it. I I New York State's making us do it I think is even silly because this is something this board has talked about and worked on for a while now. It could be a legal thing though. So um I appreciate it. We always get an
121an email from the from Nicole around September 10th when we're opening up schools and it's so you get a lot of students that we're we're we're asking them, right? And they're not they usually don't want to say no. So now we're asking the students who wants they're coming to us now. So the commitment's going to be there. They're going to be able to lay out their plan. Maybe talk to their volleyball coach or what whoever their game coaches are and say, "Hey, can we move a couple of these and adjust some things?" So, if they know it before instead of September 12th, first week of school, the building principles are asking them, "Do you want to be on this?" They're like, "Yeah." Hey, Mr. media. I think you're going to find you I think of
122some former students who they may only be involved in one or two things at school, but they have a deep interest in politics and local politics and all of a sudden, wow, an opportunity for me to get a seat at the table while I'm still in high school. It was going to be really interesting, I think, to more students than we may think right off the bat. I appreciate that. So, I'm excited about that opportunity. I think my question was just hopefully to highlight that that we don't have to have 15 things going on. know it and that's where that strength of that why do I want to do this is going to be real powerful. Excellent. Excellent. Um and then the other question I had is is a junior not eligible or I'm sorry
123it's going to the the the first person coming is automatically a senior and then backup could be senior junior or is it open if you get a sophomore this year who's super interested and they're the best qualified candidate dude like what's the actual protocol? We we had discussed just this evening that the application would be limited to sophomores and juniors. So that we're having individuals at the table that would be either juniors or seniors um because they do need to have one year as a student in the high school to be eligible. So a freshman would not be eligible to participate in this and giving that opportunity to students in their junior and senior year which is really their last opportunity to have this. And then any freshman or sophomore who are interested certainly they
124could attend a board meeting and then look forward to applying for this position when they get to their sophomore or junior year to serve in that role. Yes. And I I I just want to clarify. I just wasn't sure if we were going with the first person automatically a senior next year. Then the backup could be junior senior or if it's open to junior senior next year. Sophomore junior this year. Sophomore junior. Sophomore junior this year. Is anyone sophomore junior this year could be the first seat. Okay, that was my clarifying question. Sorry. Thank you. No worries. I'm excited. Do they get um do they get these? We'll see. Okay. I know Mr. Breaker tried to bring us down today and I told them no. As long as your name is short like a good
125that's what I one of the standards is how long your name is. So is is is there a description of what they're going to be expected to do. I mean this policy I see the policy but it doesn't specify what their responsibilities are like what the expectations in terms of you know attendance and what their role will be um to bring the vote like so I mean as a high school principal you're going to want them to represent the school and what is what is expected of them to bring because in the past we've had students who would report out and I don't know if that's going to be built in to the role will be will there be like a so you have a board president's report will the students have a report to
126provide each each meeting and do they know that do they do they know that going in that's all really really good feedback um one thing that I would suggest is we want to move forward on adopting the policy because of the timeliness of this but we have lots of latitude in regulation if we want to add detail in regulation. For example, a cover page that accompanies the application, I think would make a tremendous amount of sense so that we're crystal clear by completing this application. In a sense, this is what you're signing up to commit to. And we want a student who, unless they have unavoidable conflicts, we want a student who's going to be engaged and be dependable and be reliable to come to the meetings and be a representative and be the voice
127of the student body. And so we could address that in regulation with your feedback. The application itself lives in regulation as well, which we can update regulation at any times. It does not take board action to update regulation. And then the last piece of feedback that we discussed tonight at the policy committee meeting was the development of a rubric or some kind of scoring criteria so that we can have a documentation where we're actually taking that feedback through the application review process and the interview process so that we can be uh appropriately and fairly evaluating the student candidates. So, I really appreciate that feedback and I think that's something that we could have as a cover page to the application so that both the student and also if you see their parent or guardian would
128be signing off that they understand the commitment that their student is making um by volunteering for this leadership role. Yeah. Um I'll just kind of piggyback on then who's who's we um is it going to be us with the principles? Is it going to be you and your team? And I don't mind either. I was just asking what's the plan for setting that that cover like the expectations. I I can work with Nicole and I actually have a standing meeting after board meetings. So she and I will be meeting tomorrow and we'll discuss the feedback from the policy committee and the next steps that are are needed. We'll take that up your plate, Mr. Brinker and Mr. Winnicki. Thank you. We'll send you a draft for your review, of course. Um but we we can
129certainly accommodate that. No, we'll just bring you back to the next meeting. Um, any other discussion on this? Okay. I would just Would it be possible if they both are here? Could they both just sit up here and we just give the mic to whoever the primary is or do this the secondary have to sit in the audience? That's a choice of the board really. You can invite whoever you'd like to sit at the table. We would have one designated exopicio student board member and the other would be listed as the alternate. But whether you want the alternate to sit at the table or the alternate to sit in the audience, I I think the board would have flexibility in how you'd like to manage that. Personally, I would prefer him at the table just
130because I feel like they'll feel more involved and interested than if they're just tucked back in the corner. Yeah. I just want to point out um one, two, three, four, five. Uh, precoid, we used to have almost twice as many seats at this board. And there's I mean, you know, there's plenty of room. We could always shift a tiny bit and fit more more people involved in in this, too. Um, I'm just pointing it out because everyone's so far from me. I you know, probably I know why, but um, you know, it's it's it's very comfortable. So, I don't mind including more people, you know. And just for clarification, we're not going to need a bigger vote. Is it that we're choosing one from east and west and a backup from east and west? Technically,
131there's four. So, I agree with you, Jeremy, that the primary for east and primary for west. So, that would be two seats at the table and then you're saying we would make room for four. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sure. I have no objections to that. If I if I'm here next year, I support trying it out. Good to go. Anyone else got anything to say? Yeah, I like this. This is nice. Thanks for having us. Thank you both for joining us for the policy committee meetings to discuss this and and your feedback on this through the process. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you. You want to stick around for the transportation opt out discussion. Thank you guys. We'll move on. We opt out of that one. We'll move on to the actually uh we'll move on
132to the above one that I skipped to get to this. um transportation opt in opt out. I know as a board for a long time to discuss these options. Um I'll just open it up to you guys first before I give my say. Anyone want to ask questions, talk about it, give ideas or do you want to give a summary of what we're discussing? Sure. for a for a bit of background. I think we are always trying to have our eye on efficiency and being as efficient as possible and feedback that that has been shared with me at this table and I'm sure you've heard from community members a a question around you know us running buses that seemingly are not full and why is that the case? Presently, we route every student on a
133bus, whether or not the student takes the bus. And and there's some prudency or some validity in that in the event of a school emergency. We want to ensure that every student has a seat on the bus so they can get home in a timely manner. However, we do know that there are students that never take a bus. Uh mom or dad may drive them on a daily basis. They carpool and they're driven to and from school. And so we have buses that are not full or at capacity. At the high school level, we have a number of high schoolers that drive themselves and their friends to school. So high school buses are often even at less capacity or they a student may be staying after school every day for athletics and seemingly never taking
134the the afternoon bus home. So, in discussing this with our transportation supervisor, Jennifer Jones, something that is done in other districts is either you opt in if you want transportation or you can opt out. And there's, I think, pros and cons that I want the board to be aware of in whichever path we may consider going. I suppose path one would be do nothing and we continue doing what we're doing, which is routing every student on a bus. Another option would be that families opt in. Basically, you tell us if you want transportation. Um, in talking with other superintendents and also transportation supervisors, that can really be laden with some risk and some problems. A family doesn't see our email. They don't complete the Google form. They don't respond. So, therefore, we don't route them
135for a bus. And then the first week of school, we have many, many people calling us saying, "We didn't see that. we need a bus and we're scrambling to respond and scrambling to reroute students on buses. I think the optin where we're telling families, tell us if you want a bus and that's the only way we route you on a bus has a lot of risk. However, I think less risky and something that that we should consider employing is an opt out. If a family knows that they will never be taking advantage of our transportation and they opt out of transportation, we will not route their child on a bus and thereby can bring about a lot of efficiency in the routing of our buses and trying to get buses closer to maximum capacity. I
136think two things um that I'd like to share with you that that we've already kind of problem solved and brainstormed is one, what if family circumstances change throughout the year? So, I anticipated I could be driving my child to and from school every day, but I have a change of employment or my work schedule changes or we have a family circumstance where I no longer have reliable vehicle. Um, in talking with Jennifer Jones, it's a something that we could adjust and respond to in probably 2 to 3 days in in most circumstances. So, it's not if you opt out, you're stuck and you can never have access to our buses for the remainder of the year. We would just need some some time to respond. And she's thinking that's days, not weeks. Um the the
137last point I think for us to consider is what if in the event of an emergency, we need to dismiss students in a timely manner. Well, at the high school level, those students who are driving themselves anyway, if we dismissed early for some water main break, gas leak, whatever the case may be, those students who drive themselves would drive themselves home at dismissal. For any students who are not routed on a bus that we would need a bus for, we would have to enact an emergency plan where we would be pulling someone like a mechanic, a head bus driver, Jennifer Jones herself, who are all able to drive to be able to deploy an additional bus to take care of those students um or potentially more than one bus to take care of those students
138who are not regularly routed on a bus to ensure we can get them home safely. So those are things that we've already tried to anticipate to work through and wanted to have an opportunity for the board to have some discussion around your feedback regarding this. Do you want us to further pursue this um as a way to increase our efficiency? Yes, please discuss. Yes. Um, yeah. I've been saying this for years, living right next door to the middle school, and my kids get routed on the bus and they walk to and from. Um, uh, I made the mistake today of trying to cut over to Fiser to get to that Delta Sonic and I was behind a bus that stopped at four houses. Not one kid came out and then went into Princeton Estates. I
139was tempted to follow it, but I was on a little bit of a just to see and get an all and I didn't even know this was on today. If you drive by any elementary school at the end of the day, Potter Road Elementary is halfway down Potter Road. West Elementary here is actually parents picking up students is a deterrent from is impedes the buses getting in to getting on time and you know there has to be a way to either you know you are you're on a bus or you're not on a bus. I get there's there's going to be times when you want to pick up your child and and parents will have that option. But if they know full well that there's no time that my child's going to need a bus,
140then allow them to opt out. And if it pick if it if it's only two stops on Fiser as opposed to four, that's an improvement. Yeah. The uh thing I would ask and I know this this is the details not now. It doesn't have to be the same like opt out totally. Um like I uh I drive to my front daughter too and my kids too. I don't pick them up. So that would I mean yes that's something that we can accommodate. In discussing this with our transportation supervisor we're envisioning a survey a Google form of some nature where you can opt out of morning transportation afternoon transportation or both. And so if you only need it one way to school, we can accommodate that. Second Tuesday of the month, that would be much more
141difficult. It's it's would have to be your regular plan. Um you you are regularly not anticipating to take the bus to or from school. Um as opposed to kind of an alternate and occasional plan. I I mean I agree with Vince even if it says a little bit but like the bus for both of uh middle school it stops to pick up multiple kids in front of my house and my kids don't get on wish they would. Um so it's not really going to save anything on my end but overall if we pick up even a couple stops throughout that's it's worth the trying. Um and then that leads to my next question. Are we dropping kids every kid at their house or are we dropping kids at corners and specified stops? I never really
142know know what our actual district policy is on that. I I don't want to give incorrect information. I'd like to follow up with our transportation supervisor and and better find out how many are getting dropped off at their driveway in front of their house versus a corner stop, a neighborhood stop. Maybe elementary versus I was going to say I think it's based on I'm just curious because I know elementary high and middle is like end of my driveway. Yeah. I I'll follow up with Mrs. Jones and I I can update the board in our weekly update. The the ironic thing here is that the more efficient we make the buses, the more likely people will be to use the bus because parents are picking up because their children are getting home an hour after they're
143dismissed and they're sitting on the bus and they're hearing things that they might not want them to hear and the parents in in the neighborhood. So, why not just go get them? So, you know, over the more efficient that we make our routing and and get our dismissal time like on time. This building never dismissed. There's never all the buses are here on time and it's just, you know, those are those are things that force parents to come and pick up their kiddo and get them home because why just lose an hour, you know. So, anything we can do efficiency-wise and make it consistent for parents, I think will be a big help. And just again, communicating with families. If you know you're not going to utilize the bus, let's get you off the route,
144you know, and if you do need to make a change, it'll take a few days. You know, in a place like Buffalo where I work, you you have transient, you have a lot of families that that change addresses. So you come in, you change address and in another week you'll get you'll get a bus and they have to understand that or if you get new enrollies enrollment stu students who enroll and it's going to take a couple days but we'll get you set up and you know with the software that they have and and the routing software um they can make things happen quickly. I just think it's a smart move that's should been a happen. Yeah, the time is time is now. I know with us having four tiers, um, any time that we
145can shave off the first runs, run one, two, and three, uh, will help avoid tier 4 buses from regularly running late. So, our hope is by really trimming things and having them be more efficient. In addition, every time a bus stops and if they're idling at the end of a driveway for even a minute or two minutes, the wasted fuel, the wear and tear on brakes with every single bus stop. So, there's a a lot of efficiency that I'm not sure it will be easy to quantify what that actually is in saved dollars. But the fewer bus stops, the less wear and tear and the greater fuel efficiency we will have. So there's that financial benefit in addition to our buses having a better chance of running on time regularly when we're not making unnecessary
146stops for children who are never riding the bus. So again, we're just discussing it now, but that kind of it seems to me like the opt out idea should be looked at. We're supporting being looked at. So I'd love to see further progress on that um however it handles. I mean, I have full faith in our, you know, bus garage leadership all the way down to them to figure this out and you obviously. Um, everyone okay with that if we just move forward, we don't really want to not do anything and we definitely don't want to opt in. Yeah, I'm I'm very supportive of this. I think it's a great idea. Um, I I like the opt uh opt out versus opt-in option for the reasons that everybody already discussed. Um, I think just making
147clear uh from a messaging perspective when people can opt back in and what the expectations are. So, if I call up and I say, "My car just broke down and it's after 5:00 and I need a bus the next day," that that's probably not going to result in somebody being able to leverage the bus, right? So, I think it's just making sure that we have clear communications as you've already noted and um ma and managing like the change change management over time, right? So, how many people are opting in over a time period? Um, do do we have the um the ability to support that? Is are there any um complaints that we're getting? That type of stuff. Just kind of monitoring that over time. And I have one question on that that we could
148expect. So, if someone were to opt out of the regular routes, that would not negate them from taking the after school activity buses. Correct. UN yes, we would still have meaning like late buses available or athletic runs, things of that nature. Right now, we're looking at it for your daily arrival, dismissal to and from school as a starting point. Maybe down the road, we explore other things, but certainly the the lion share of our transportation and potential savings of of efficiency would be on those daily morning and afternoon runs. So that's that's the starting point that we're looking to to explore further. Well, with the support of the board, I will follow up with Jennifer Jones and look to draft a communication, a survey. I can share it with you for your review. It is
149the kind of thing that we'd like to start communicating with families before the end of the school year um so that we can be messaging that and there will, I'm sure, be repeated messages um about that throughout um June and as we go into the summer. Sarah, did you have a question? Yeah, I just had a a quick question. Would this be an annual opt out? Yes. Yes, we'd be looking at it on an annual basis because one thing that that I think we may know is that, you know, based on a parents work schedule, the elementary arrival and dismissal time and bus pickup and drop off time is very different than a middle school or a high school. and what works for a family this year when their child transitions to middle school or
150high school, their family circumstances may be different. And so we are anticipating it being an annual process. And one other thing, cuz you just said that and it sparked my brain. Um, a family if they had elementary students and middle and high school students could opt out of high school but still be routed for elementary and middle. Exactly. you'd be responding for each student because your senior may be driving himself or herself, but your younger students might be relying on a bus. Thank you. Well, thank you for your support and we'll move forward on taking next steps with that. Excellent. Okay. Um, takes care of that. And I've got one more thing. I didn't know whether we wanted to get into anything concerning the redistricting situation, redistricting reconfiguration that's going on or we want to
151wait for more data. Um what are with the board? I know we had our meeting last time. So I want to bring it up now board discussion. Anyone want to discuss anything, ask questions, talk just next steps like what are what are our next steps and to reiterate to the community um and those committee members what what are the next steps to the process? We got to keep that in the in the forefront for us as well. Yeah. Um, go ahead. So, tomorrow afternoon I'm meeting with Tony Day and the elementary principles. Um, we're going to be looking at some of the recommendations that were um under consideration so that we can get elementary principles eyes on some of the the the plans that are still under consideration. So, for example, one suggestion was that
152the fifth graders that are currently here at West Elementary potentially stay here for sixth grade. So, this would become a K6 building whereas the other elementaryaries would be K5. What does that mean for space and capacity at Westell and how does that alleviate um the crunch that we have at West Middle? So, we're going to be looking at suggestions that were made following uh the most recent redistricting committee meeting and also the board of education work session. If we were to pull out just fifth grade from it, for example, from the east side, meaning fifth grade from Northwood and Clinton would go potentially to East Middle School. How does that alleviate the pressure and stress that we have mainly at Clinton Elementary? What does that mean for classes and building usage and is that enough
153by just removing fifth grade to really alleviate the pinch that we have at Clinton? So, we're going to be doing a a time tomorrow to actually study and dig into that a bit so that we can then share that as an update with the redistricting committee. The redistricting committee meets next after the spring break on April 24th. And so following that redistricting committee, um, with your support, I would anticipate and think it would be timely for for Tony to share an update with the board sometime after that April 24th meeting. um because we are still at this point hopeful that we can have final recommendations to the board for your consideration and uh consideration of adoption of a plan at the June meeting which then gives us you know a full year to work on
154logistics and details for implementation in the fall of 26. I also think if we can, excuse me, stay with that timeline of this board adopting a plan in June, there's some wisdom in that because we could have potentially two new board members come July, which wouldn't have the background and knowledge that that this board currently has regarding the work of the redistricting committee and some of the plans that have been considered and already eliminated. Yeah, I mean, you know, I I was obviously I got some feedback um from people One thing I would ask do if we could consider if we haven't already. I definitely think at some point we need to get a forum people have a chance to communicate. Um I don't necessarily know it if the like like a forum where we
155tell people what we're doing more of a forum like a listening forum. I think they were very helpful in the past um when we've been working on different things. Um, so just I don't know when I don't know what type of format, but I do think that there could be something. But I want to make it abundantly clear. Um, I think I said this before the at home people watching that'll probably watching at a later time. There's no preconceived decision made behind any closed doors. This is one of the few times I've been involved in a board where like, you know, we're not like, hey, this has got to be done. Let's just figure out how to get the parents to think they're thinking. This is actually something we don't know what we're doing yet.
156We don't know what the decision is going to be. So, we are trying different ideas. Um, we're working through it and we're not rushing it, but also got a lot of people saying, "Oh, you're pausing it. Here you go again. This is the fourth time we're going to end." I don't believe that we are pausing anything. I believe we're looking at some options. But I can't stress enough. I'm not being forced to make a decision if it's too quick to where in a year we're regretting it. That's just me speaking to the board and to the community. I don't know that I'm pausing anything. I will not give up. If I continue on this board, I want to keep looking at this stuff, but I may not want to make a decision that's going to
157affect the entire district right away by June if it's not well thought out. So, just want to point that out to everybody. Well, we we have heard different perspectives. So, you hear tonight the perspective that the process seems rushed. Um where for me who been part of this now for four or five years get just to get to this point it doesn't seem rushed at all. It seems like a prolonged much labored process to try to come up with a solution that will make everybody happy, right? Um and I've heard people say that you know you're not going to make everybody happy. I don't know if that's true or not. Um, making people happy I don't think is part of the actual goal. Um, but we would like to people to understand the why this
158needs to be done, right? And um, you know, it's it's the 11th hour that folks are starting to realize that some of these things are going to impact me. And um a forum is a fine. You you you can do a forum. Uh we've done that in the past. Um you're going to get, you know, just just like we we've we've provided opportunities for feedback here and we had 170 um contributions to that thought exchange. Um, and as you read them, it comes from a very uh a specific area really. When you start to see the comments, they're about this building in particular and the idea of this being a 45 building and the the concerns about that. We heard concerns tonight that are annual concerns when this topic comes up. I bought my house
159because my kids were going to this school. I get it. You know, that's that's not something that's no small thing. Um, but at the end of the day, there's also opportunity to put this district into a different a different place, into a better place where the actual schools are balanced and you have configurations that make sense. And, you know, there's a lot of different a lot of different opinions, but a ton of work has gone to get to these three. And you know, and you said, you've had feedback, and I've had feedback. You know, one of the one of the ideas, the idea of moving sixth grade back into this building did not come from the committee. It was not one of the committee's three decisions. Something that came up as we're throwing around different
160ideas. And I think it's great that you're meeting with those principles. I vet that even further and really look into what what is this going to mean? this one building's going to have go to sixth grade and these kids aren't going to go to the middle school with the other kids, but we're talking about equity. You know, a lot of lot still a lot of work and a lot of real deep considerations need to be made before we go forward. And that is not a pause. That is doing the work and continuing to do the work, but also knowing that you have to at some point make a decision. Yeah. And that's why we're here. We're here to make decisions. And you know, I don't know that I'm ready to make a decision yet. I
161haven't I still haven't feel like I still feel like there's more to be digested and more to be discussed and and and and get into that deep dive as we said to like see make sure that these things are actually will this help transportation? Will this hinder the work of the transportation? Will this help, you know, with the maintenance of buildings? And are the buildings being used the right way and for the right purposes? And so those are those are bigger questions that I want to make sure that we have a full conversation on before we make that recommendation. I can agree with that. I mean again I I want everyone the point I'm making too is the decision say we make in June if we make one doesn't automatically stop. We still should continue
162whatever the decision is in June. I think we should every year look at the status of the district and where the kids are. I want I want to I want to be clear on that. I don't think we should ever stop. Just like working on the budget every year you plan a year ahead. um for so long. We stopped so long ago. Now it's just it's impossible to easily fix. If it would have been looked at every year over the years, I think we wouldn't be in this situation. Um it would have been looked at with long-term goals in mind, we wouldn't be where we are. So, um anyone else have anything to No, I just want to encourage everyone to keep getting the community to watch. So, to hear someone say that they felt
163that this was rushed was absolutely shocking at how transparent we've tried to be. And I get that, you know, you think, well, yeah, yeah, you've said it before, but we've been very vocal and, you know, you've done great work of getting things out there. There's a whole website to it. Um, I don't feel that anything has been rushed at all. And I just don't want the misconceptions in the community. You know, all of us are probably hearing, well, I hear they're doing this, I'm that. Like, we don't even know. You know, to your point, we don't know. And we need to take a wise approach to this and be smart about it. it needs done for the students. We are all here for the students. So there may be a couple inconveniences, but it's the
164greater good that we have been selected to to make this decision for. So there's not enough information. We're still collecting it. A decision has to be made for the greater good of our community so that it's not a band-aid solution as some of our children have experienced. We don't want that to happen ever again where it's a quick rush decision. So we are taking a very wise approach and you know I appreciate the information continuing to get out there. Um but yeah people have to they have to get their head out of the sand and come to meetings or watch meetings and listen to the facts versus spewing falsehood well everywhere like get the facts because there's there's nothing rushed about this. Yeah. No, but I want to be respectful to the fact that people
165have different perspectives and absolutely and and you know there are people that have been watching closely and there are those are just hearing the rumblings and it's you know it doesn't it doesn't take away from their concerns. Um it is frustrating. Um, you know, I was here last year and felt like we did an incredibly deep um and thorough uh presentation of the budget for weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks and heard that there was a lack of transparency. Well, I'd never been part of a more transparent. So the perspective from those people wasn't wrong. It wasn't wrong. It was just I saw it differently and they're just seeing it differently and they're seeing it a different time. So uh and nobody's I don't think you know the folks that spoke tonight
166aren't wrong to think that and just state that. Um, but ultimately it's going to be to us to like say, well, here's what we're trying to achieve. And I think that we still have to be, you know, big picture, long-term, strategic in those decisions. And you're right, you know, a B, you're a nurse, you use band-aids all the time, right? They're very effective for a short for a period of time, but if you have to do that, there are times when you have to put band-aids on things, right? And wait for the next. So, um I just want to make sure that the conversation continues to go and that we're respectful of the people that have put the time in and that um you know um we stick to our our objective and our goals.
167and and what I um anticipate my work with the elementary principles and Tony Day will entail tomorrow afternoon is exploring the the costbenefit analysis of some of the changes that we're talking about. So, as an example, when we look at the potential of sixth grade staying here at Westell, uh I believe we have the capacity to do that. We will confirm that. But what we will ultimately the committee and myself and the board will ultimately need to evaluate is what's the benefit of doing that and what's the cost of doing that. The school is not presently equipped with a life and careers room. It's not presently equipped with a technology room. It's not presently um you know the music and ensemble groups, band and orchestra. Would that be separate from that sixth grade experience? And
168so what on the surface level might look simple, just let sixth graders stay in their current building for another year. They love their school. It's less transition. Sure, that's a benefit and it might appease to some. However, there's also a cost of doing that. And I think we just need to be really thorough and transparent about whichever option we choose. There there might be a benefit and there might be a cost of that. and and what is going to be the best avenue for us to take kind of with eyes wide open about the the ramifications of the decisions that we're considering. So that's that's what I appreciate more than anything is before we're not being told, hey, this is what you got to do and here's why it's great and then we're not going
169to discuss the negatives. You're looking and the committee and you and everyone's looking into the here's why this could really suck and here's why this doesn't suck. What do you guys think? And I that's what I like and that's that's a major change of pace and I think people sometimes don't realize that that this is that's the way we're doing it. We're going to look at the good and the bad and then decide um cuz I would never have thought about not having um the rooms here in right well that's exactly it. So if you do this then this is what you get right? This is these are the outcomes positive negative. If you do this you get this you know some of those configurations reconfigurating all the all the buildings mean more transitions. Okay
170that is maybe a negative. I'll I'll go with you doc. It's a negative, but is it as much of a negative? But what you also get with that is you start to bring kids from the east side and the west side together or Clinton and Northwood kids instead of, oh, you live on that side of the street, so you go to Clinton, I live on this side of the street, so I go to Northwood, they can all go to school together. And maybe that creates some efficiency and maybe that creates a better community. And I'll give you that there could be opportunity and equity that comes about. So yes, two things can be true and two people can be right with opposing views. Awesome. I want to I want to take that home. Is there
171a note on that? Two people can be right and two things can be true even when when they may see things from a different perspective. Right. Well, that's my point. That's my point on all of this. um is that you know when we hear that like rush we're like we're killing ourselves to try to do this thoroughly and very thoughtfully and with great transparency. Um, so to hear that is like, but I also understand it because I understand the lives of parents who have elementary school kids and high school kids and you don't have time to, you know, watch a 30 minute show, let alone watch a three-hour board meeting. But not to mention, if you just are watching the presentations that we're dealing with, you because they're not that's not, you know, they're not
172on the committee. I mean, my brain's half fried sometimes after sitting here with Tony like, so I can't I definitely I understand you're what you're saying, but it is really difficult when you're not in the bubble to get, you know, to really understand and then you hear you hear one thing and it's just, oh my god. So, you know, and that's, you know, I said to reach out, give your opinions, give your feedback, don't be afraid. Um, I've never heard anyone say that I reached out to some people and they refused to talk to me about this thing. And and just to that end um to kind of recap, we have had a thought exchange to seek feed feedback from stakeholders. We have held already two community forums. One at the early onset of the
173process and the other just a month ago. So there has been two community forums. And I did hear also a request from at least one board member for us to consider involving student voice, which I am happy to do. I think the the delicate thing is at what point do we elicit student voice and how do we want to include student voice? I don't think it's beneficial for us to cause unnecessary angst and anxiety to kids that your school might be changing if there's no chance of them being impacted by it. So how and in what way do we involve students and in involve student voice so that we're not unnecessarily up upsetting kids who may not be facing any change whatsoever. So I I think the timing of when we roll that out maybe
174when we get to more semif final plans that the board is really evaluating might be an appropriate time to elicit student voice. I understand the idea of that, but I'm not in favor of having students speak to this topic. This is an adult topic. This is what we're we're here to make that those decisions. Um, I I heard your daughter speak at the the forum and she spoke wonderfully and articulated, you know, a wonderful sentiment and but I don't think that I would I can't honestly say I would take into consideration what a 16-year-old's going to say about go having to go to school with a kid from the east side want I'm not going to go out and go to school with the kids from the west side. I'm going to go, oh, maybe
175that's a bad idea. I just don't. But I think student voice can be heard after the decisions made. How can we help you with this transition? How what can we do to support you with these changes? I think that's when we elicit the student concerns and we address them. Really good feedback. I don't think we would let students in middle school set the lunch menu, let alone decide how we're going to do redistricting. I mean, some of them really could. I don't know. After that ground beef challenge, I might I might trust them. I might trust them. Um, Vince challenged me to see if I can keep this meeting running longer and he wins because I'm going to do it. Um, we are going to move on, if anyone's cool with this, to number 14.
176Um 14A. May I have a motion to accept the changes to policy number 1210? Uh board members nomination and election. I'll make the motion to approve 14A. Thank you. May I have a second? I'll second. Lorine, a second. Uh any discussion on it? All in favor? I. You want to post? And I believe I have to if and Nicole will correct me if I'm wrong or of course Lisa. No, we have to we're going to adjourn this meeting and then we're going to move into the um the public hearing. Great. Okay. So, uh 15. May I have a motion to adjurnn? I'll make a motion to adjurnn. Laura, I'll second. Sarah, I'll third. Vince of third, Jeremy fourth. Um all in favor. I I thank you everybody. The regular board meeting is over. [Music]