Huntington UFSD Board of Education Meeting 3/9/26

001Good evening all. Welcome to the board of education regular business meeting. Today is March 9th, 2026. Can I please have a motion to open the meeting? Teresa 1, Annie 2. All in favor? That's four of us. Our other uh board members will be here soon. It is my recommendation from the superintendent of schools that the board of education enter into executive session to discuss specific legal, collective bargaining, personnel, and other matters in accordance with the open meetings law. Can I have a motion, please? Annie one, Teresa 2. That's all four of us again. We'll return around 7:30. All right, welcome back. Can I please have a motion to exit the executive session and re-enter the public meeting, please? Teresa one, Annie 2. All in favor? That is everyone. John is unable to attend today. He

002I believe is at a Niscus meeting. >> NIS meeting. Yeah. Okay. Um can we please all rise for the pledge of allegiance? Pledge allegiance 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. In case of an emergency, please direct yourselves to the illuminated signs. Exit signs are in the back and the side. Uh, this is a smoke-free building. Smoking or vaping is not permitted. >> You're good. Okay, I'm going to go right into the approvals. It is upon recommendation from the superintendent of schools that the board of education approve minutes from the meeting of the Huntington Union Free School District Board of Education meeting dated February 9th, 2026. Can I have a motion, please? Tom one,

003Kelly 2. All in favor? That's everyone. We have a few FYIs from 2 through six. Any questions, remarks? All right. And then we move on to the treasures report. It is upon recommendation from the superintendent of schools that the board of education approve the January 2026 treasures report. Can I have a motion, please? Teresa 1, Annie 2. All in favor? That's everyone. And then the warrants. It is my recommendation from the superintendent of schools that that the board of education approved the attached warrants which were certified for payment on February 11, 2026 and February 26, 2026. Can I have a motion, please? Tom one, Jenna two. All in favor? That's everyone. We move on to board communications. I have one. I know we were going to have a lot today, so I'll just do one

004that I had in mind today. Um, as some of you remember, we have changed the budget voting schedule. Uh, the new budget voting schedule for elections will be held on May 19th from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the high school. We're no longer going to be opening from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. So, this is a reminder to the community that the voting the voting will now be from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. And now I open the mic to Emily Herrera. >> Good evening board and community members. This month, our school community has been able to celebrate some of our outstanding academic and cultural achievements. The social studies pride awards honored stu students who have shown excellence in civic engagement, historical analysis, leadership and learning. These students have shown exemplary critical thinking skills

005and have demonstrated traits of what teachers want to see in their classroom. Therefore, congratulations to all those who received an award. It speaks volumes about the type of person they are in and outside of school. We have also celebrated the National History Day award ceremony honoring students who have taken part in this year's National History Day. This year's theme is revolution reaction and reforms in history. Students have demonstrated remarkable learning and creativity and exploring and analyzing some of the most critical issues in history. The students who received first, second, and third awards for each category will be moving on to the regional competition which takes place in Hofra. We wish them luck and determination to keep on working on their research and prepare them for their presentations. The Huntington High School also celebrated the World

006Language National Honor Society induction ceremony, inducting new members who have demonstrated excellence in academics and learning in the field of world languages. This these students have demonstrated remarkable learning and achievement in their world language courses. We also celebrated World Language Week March 2nd to March 6th, a schoolwide event designed to promote cultural awareness and global appreciation. Each day featured a theme spirit activity. Monday was wear colors representing your flag, your country's flag or your culture. Tuesday was wear a shirt or clothing from a place you have visited or wish to visit in the future. Wednesday was wear an international sports jersey. Thursday was wear clothing that represents your heritage. And finally, Friday was dressed like a famous world language speaker. On Tuesday, March 4th, the language department also hosted a celebration of cultures night where

007it was an evening filled with music, dancing, and food from all around the world. Everyone was able to share and come together to celebrate their cultural traditions, bringing a sense of unity in our community. world language. We can encourage students and staff to celebrate diversity, explore cultures, and embrace the importance of our interconnected world. I also attended the St. Joseph's University student forum where upholding students from high school from high schools on Long Island advocated for issues regarding mental health, academic pressure, school environment, and career future planning. I heard various opinions and concerns that are not only prominent in their schools, but in Huntington High School as well. Students have had concerns over the unreachable standards of today's education system. Today, the standard of a student is to be part of every honor society, join

008as many clubs as possible, have a job while also juggling school work and personal responsibilities. With the new age of technology and AI, we can easily be blinded and assume people have digital minds. But that that is not the case. A student at the forum said something so significant that stuck with me and he said in a world of technology school must be human and we should work together to make school an environment where students come together with the right mindset. One is issue students face often is the amount of exams they have for one day. Exams are crucial for every class and should be taken seriously. A student who attended this event said their school coordinates a day of exams for each subject. For example, Monday's math classes give their exams. Tuesdays or English

009days and etc. I thought this idea was a great thing to think about for the future and attainable due to other schools having similar systems. Huntington has done an amazing job as a district for creating a well-rounded educational environment. However, it can and will continue to improve for the interest of the students. Thank you. >> Thank you, Emily. Before we continue, I want to congratulate you on making it to the county tournament in wrestling. Well done. Congratulations. >> Thank you. And now open it up to other board members. >> I just have a couple of quick things. I had the honor of representing Huntington up in Albany on February 11th. Had some really productive conversations with our legislators. I was able to meet with three of them. I also had the opportunity to meet the

010education chair of the education committee and that was a very interesting conversation and I brought back a lot of um day-to-day stories that I've heard from students. I'm fortunate to have had a daughter go through another coming through um and through that a lot of children uh that get my ear and tell me little bits and pieces and I think uh Mr. Benadetto really left our time together with a very clear understanding of what Huntington is. And um I don't know if it's too soon to say this, but we did get a verbal commitment for a little bit of um bullet aid for our district, which I hope comes through. Um it would be really a big win. Um and I also will be representing our district next Monday at the NISBA legislative breakfast. Um

011so it's really been a great season of advocacy. I know a lot of you have joined me and I know our superintendent and cabinet have been on a lot of different things. Um so that's it for advocacy. I know we have the Huntington High School Drama Club here today, which I'm really excited to see. I just wanted to remind everyone about the upcoming show on March 27th and 28th. It's always a fantastic show. Um, and lastly, the marching band is in their fundraising season. They've just started to fundra um for their upcoming season. And uh the first fundraiser will be this Thursday night at Nette and Georgees in town. They're having a trivia night. Um it will be uh it'll be great because well the uh MC might be related to me but um he

012does a fantastic job. He's really creative and um I think there'll be some student performances as well and then they're also hosting a pancake breakfast at the Hillside Fire Department on the 19th. So please be sure to support the marching band. >> Okay. >> I'm sorry. April. Uh, this coming Thursday is trivia night at 7 p.m. at Nette and Georgees. And then April 19th, I think, is the next fundraiser, which is at the Hellsight Fire Department. >> I just wanted to congratulate the cast and crew of the Finley Willy Wonka production. We saw it um last weekend. My daughter and I went and it was amazing. The kids were so talented. The special effects, the blueberry dress were super cool. And I was just blown away and just left feeling really excited to see them

013in in your shoes up on the big stage. um in a couple of years. So, I'm excited for all the talent that we have up and coming. I know it's always a big loss when we lose seniors and, you know, uh Josie and and all of our other seniors, but it's so exciting to see the next crop of talent come up. So, I'm excited for what's to come. That's it. And Teresa, thank you for your advocacy because I know that while you were up there, you were able to secure us an additional amount of money for one of our programs, something that we would have gotten had you not been up there. So, thank you for your advocacy, >> Beth. >> So, I will start off with a congratulations to Carmen Debar Talomeo. She is

014the Western Suffach Bosey's librarian of the year. The J Taylor Finley Middle School faculty members uh received recommendations from school administrators, teachers, um and students. And we're very proud to celebrate this accomplishment. There are several hundred librarians in Western Suffach Boseies. And the fact that Carmen, our Carmen was selected for this is quite an accomplishment and we look forward to celebrating her in May at a meeting uh at Boseis. I attended the Niscus conference last week. Um it was packed with learning and networking attending workshops on topics such as budget and finance you know the fiscal outlook that's coming curriculum and instruction updates uh with all the changes with portrait of a graduate leading during a time of uncertainty which we're at times in that time of uncertainty as we all know um and fiscal

015and political outlook for public school. So it really was a great uh couple of days of learning um while I was there Frost Valley happened. The kids had a fabulous trip filled with hands-on learning and authentic experiences. So, I'd like to thank the chaperons and those who head the program and really facilitating the trip. Uh the kids learned so much about themselves being away for those days and experiencing the outdoors and really just learning but having fun while doing it in such a hands-on way. So, that was uh wonderful for our sixth graders and we welcomed them home last Friday. In the area of athletics, today was certainly a spring season kickoff day. Uh when I finally stepped outside, I was jealous for of all the people that were outside all day. Um we are

016offering 12 varsity sports, five JV teams, and we have more than 360 students signed up for uh spring sports. So we are super excited about kicking off our season. Um the Finley signups are also underway. The tryyous for them begin on Monday, March 30th. And Finley students can choose from eight different sports. We also have the challenger program which is a type of unified program for the middle school level. Uh we have a relationship with South Huntington Harbor Fields in Lwood to be able to support that this year. Uh we'll also be hosting the Dennis Walker track and field invitational on Saturday, April 11th. We expect about 40 boys and girls teams to participate this year and it will be held at Blue Devil Stadium. Uh after installing some new apparatus to raise and lower

017the backboards and baskets on the main court at Huntington High School, we also had two extras that were uh installed at Woodhull, which now match the ones that were installed at Jack Abrams. So, we're always looking at ways that we can improve and enhance our facilities at all of our buildings. Um and we were able to do so at a relatively low cost. Uh, Huntington High School junior Ava McDonald was selected by section 11 to attend the New York State Public High School Athletic Association's annual student athlete advisory committee conference on April 16th in Albany. Ava and other other participants will discuss topics relevant to high school student athletes and develop ways to maintain a positive athletic experience. Congratulations to her on being selected. And I'd also like to congratulate Huntington senior Samuel Claren who

018swam to all state honors this weekend at the state championships in Ithaca in both the 200 medley relay and the 400 freestyle relay. Congratulations to Sam. I do want to reiterate that our budget vote, as Mr. Palasio said, is on May 9th from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. are the voting hours. We also did I say 19th? Oh, I'm sorry, 19th. I have 19th written. Um, please stop by the art show which will be displayed all day long and we also have our marquee fashion show at 400 pm and 7 pm. So, please come and check it out. In the area of robotics, I'm proud to share that our robotics team has concluded the build season and is now transitioning into competition season. Over the past several weeks, our students have dedicated countless hours to

019designing, prototyping, collaborating, and hands-on engineering experiences that truly reflect the spirit of STEM in our district. This past weekend, our students competed at Fpage High School, and the event marked an important opportunity for our team, um, especially for our younger members, giving them real world experiences from robot inspections and strategy to teamwork under pressure. We're excited that our students were able to represent our district with professionalism, innovation, and sportsmanship. We also have some news from our Lego League uh in our fifth and sixth grade teams at Jack Abrams. They advanced to the championships this year. This is the sixth grade team's third consecutive year attending and fifth grade's first year moving on to the championship round. In addition to advancing, both teams also received awards for their hard work and perseverance. The sixth grade team

020received a rising all-star award celebrating a team that the judges notice and expect great things from in the future. The fifth grade team was awarded a core values award which displays extraordinary enthusiasm and spirit. The championship was yesterday at uh Hicksville High School and the students did a great job although they did not qualify for states. In the area of fine and performing arts, I would like to congratulate Miss Greyber, uh, Miss Sims, and the Finley students on an amazing amazing production of Willy Wonka uh, this past weekend. It was so funny. I I was like doubled over several times during the play, laughing so hard. It was such a great way to spend a Friday night. Uh, they really did a fabulous job. And we're looking forward to the high school play coming up

021in a couple of weeks. Uh we also had our intergenerational pops concert on March 1st which was a great success. Um and we also had our marching band perform throughout the town in the St. Patrick's Day parade. In the area of art, I'd like to congratulate Miss Sims and her wonderful students as 10 of her eighth grade accelerated studio and art. Students were accepted into a regional art exhibition located at the atilier at Flowerfield. The opening reception was on March 7th from 12 to 2 and the artwork is on display until March 12th during gallery hours. The accepted students are Luna Ramirez, Andrew Parrot, Sydney Amar, Natalie Bushner is Campbell, Charlotte Rizzo, Ava Tortora, Julia Lenzelada, Delaney Madden, and Katherine Guch. Uh Long Island Best exhibition is Saturday, March 28th from 12 to 6 at

022the Hexure Museum of Art. And just to mention a couple of upcoming events, we have our middle school honors ensemble concert this Wednesday. On Thursday, we're bringing in a Boseis arts and ed program for all second graders of Stone Soup at the high school. Um, and then we have Skamia coming up this weekend and our high school chamber orchestra heading to Albany to take a tour the following week. Uh, and the last thing I'd like to mention is that our mock trial club made it to the Sweet 16. That will take place on Wednesday. Huntington will present the prosecution side of the case against East Icelip at 3 p.m. at Suffach Criminal Courts Complex in central Icelip. Thank you. Now we open up our meeting to public commentary. Public commentary is open to residents and

023employees of the Huntington School District. Speakers are limited to three non-transferable minutes per person. There will be a maximum of 30 minutes total for all comments. We will open it up again for a second public commentary towards the end of this meeting. Priority will be given to comments related to today's regular business meeting titled items for discussion and action. Public commentary is dedicated to sharing your thoughts with the board and your input is valued. It is meant for expression rather than dialogue. So please understand that direct discussion with board members or administration will not be part of public commentary. When you approach the podium, please identify your affiliation to the district. Whether you're a resident or an employee, use the form at the podium to sign in. Please refrain from naming any student or employees

024of the district. Public commentary is now open. All right. And again, we will come back to it towards the end for a second public commentary. >> And now what we've all been waiting for is to introduce Mr. Mike Schwenderman, who's going to do some further introductions. Just push this. Make sure you're yourself. a little bit forward. My name is Mike. I've had the pleasure of being school district. Um, tonight you're going to see it's funny and from the title of our show, you know, there are no belly. So hopefully bring what you're about to see tonight. Well, first let me thank the school board for giving us some time to perform tonight. I'd like to thank the kids for giving their time to perform tonight. And I'd like to thank all of you guys who

025are here for listening tonight. you're about to see as an excerpt of two songs. Um, one right after the ship has struck the iceberg and realizations are coming to people on board about what's to happen and then followed by a quick snippet of the finale which will lead us into the future of hope. We're missing a few cast members. We had planned for a little bit more room. So, it's going to be really a journey for all of us tonight and hopefully we don't high school drama trouble to find things. stillness darkness can't see a design reflection but a shadow not a glint of light meets the eye and we Happy Christmas on Lord. No wind. No, no, no. The wings is now the strong wind. One moment the ship was there, the next she

026was gone. Crossing all sea. May the journey sound till you're born be for this sing to me for just sing to Yeah, that's all you did. >> Thank you. Sorry. >> Very nice. >> That's great. >> Yeah. >> Computer turned off. What's that? Don't tell me. >> I didn't want anybody tripping on my camera. >> Oh, the next thing is >> you. Okay. All right. Is upon recommendation from the superintendent of schools at the board of education approve the 2026 2027 board of education meeting calendar. Can I have a motion please? Annie one Teresa 2. Questions comments. All in favor? That's everyone. Before we move on, I do just want to compliment the students who just did a phenomenal job. We were so focused on our computers that we were a miss in thanking them.

027That was such a great preview of what we have to come uh when we all go see the Titanic in a couple of weeks. So, we're very much looking forward to that weekend of March 27th. Um, and at this time, I would like to welcome uh Miss Nancy, oh, I'm sorry, Mr. Dr. Brendan Cusack, assistant superintendent, who is going to introduce our presenter tonight. >> Good evening. Thank you so much and thanks everybody for setting aside a little time for artificial intelligence. Uh I just want to express my gratitude um both to Nancy who's uh going to be presenting for us. So I won't go into much detail uh right now, but um she and her team uh along with Mary Beth Robinette and newly to the team uh Trisha have been working diligently on

028uh a lot of things uh artificial intelligence related along with our tech mentors. So, uh, it gives me a great deal of pleasure to introduce to you our director of instructional technology, library media, data p data, data privacy, and our CIO. It's a long title. Sorry about that. Uh, Nancy, take it away. Good evening. I just want to thank the board and administration for having me here tonight. Um, it's a truly exciting time in instructional technology. AI is just exploding. Um, and it's really changing every aspect of society, including our educational landscape. So, tonight, I hope I can share with you some of the things that we're currently leveraging AI to enhance our teaching and learning in our schools. Okay. So, tonight's uh presentation, we're going to talk about our technology vision, why AI is

029so important in education, some of the resources we're using, what we're doing in terms of professional development, and then our next steps in moving forward with AI implementation. Okay, so this is our technology vision. We want to make sure every student is successful in college and career and citizenship. And we do that through equitable, engaging, and personalized learning environments. And we want to make sure that we're aim to use technology in ways that are safe, responsible, innovative, and instructionally meaningful for students. And so, how do we do that? We do that through fostering digital fluency. And that goes beyond basic technology skills. We want students to be able to create, analyze, collaborate, and problem solve using digital tools. This includes helping students become responsible digital citizens who can navigate emerging technologies like AI thoughtfully and

030ethically. We want to make sure that every student has equal access to devices, connectivity, and digital learning experiences. We want to remove any barriers to that so that all students can fully participate in modern learning environments. We promote innovative and personalized learning experiences and technology allows us to differentiate our instruction and personalized learning for all students. Tools such as adaptive platforms and AI assisted learning can help teachers meet students where they are and support their individual growth. We commit to datadriven improvement. Technology provides valuable insights that helps us make informed instructional decisions and those decisions can help us continually improve teaching and learning outcomes. We want to support our our educators. Our teachers are the most important factor in student success and we're committed to providing ongoing professional learning resources and supports. So our stu

031our educators can confidently integrate technology into their classrooms and we need to maintain a secure and reliable infrastructure in order to accomplish all of these tasks. So why is AI so important in education? Um AI is leveraging technology to facilitate and enhance our learning experiences. And so how are educators you use currently using AI in the classroom? So AI helps to support efficient lesson planning. Um teachers can quickly uh generate instructional materials and ideas and that allows educators to spend less time on preparation and more time focused on student engagement and learning. It also helps us facilitate personal learning experiences where teachers can differentiate instruction so students receive the right level of support or challenge based on their individual needs. For a multi-ingual learners and families, AI is a powerful uh translation tool. It can

032improve communication and also accessibility to materials. It ensures that all members of our community can stay connected and informed. Uh we had a AIPD a couple of weeks ago and when I was in the building recently, I ran into an ENL teacher um and she was telling me how she was using AI. So, she was taking the reading materials and she was putting them in AI and having it level the text for her students based on where they were in their language acquisition. But not only was it doing that, it was adding pictures to help support vocabulary. It was removing some of the text that was distracting for students. And she was saying how much more engaged her students were and their comprehension levels were soaring. So something like that before AI would be extremely

033time consuming for teachers and difficult to do for all the students in a classroom. So that's just one ex um example of how our teachers are currently using AI. Um, we also use AI for adaptive learning systems which adjust instruction in real time based on student performance and they can provide additional practice or challenges for students to improve their learning outcomes. It assists teachers in streamlining grading and providing timely and meaningful feedback. So think about all the time it would take stu uh teachers to grade a test. Well AI can grade the test, provide detailed information and then teachers know do I have to ret re retach a specific topic? Where can I move forward? They can do it quickly and help support teachers with instruction. Um and finally, emerging uh AI such as virtual

034and augmented reality provides experiences for students that they would never had before. It can bring complex concepts and real world environments directly into the classroom. Here, this is uh a slide that's just going to outline some of our current AI resources. So, we currently have Magic School AI. It's a platform designed specifically for educators. It provides teachers with tools that can assist with lesson planning, creating instructional materials, differentiating instruction, and generating formative assessments. And the goal is to save teachers time on routine tasks, allowing them to focus more in on instruction and student engagement. And then Google Gemini. It was developed by Google. It's an AI assistant that integrates many of the tools the educators are already using. It supports research, brainstorming ideas, content creation, and data organization. Um, and then many of our other

035software has AI infused into their programs to help support student learning. So this is just a snippet of some of the tools that are within Magic School. There are many more of the tools. Um Magic School is at Law 2D approved. It is designed to be used in educational settings with increased security for students. I wanted to point out Raina. Um that's a hot tool as you can see. Raina is a chatbot. Um, but what's nice about Magic School is teachers can take their materials and load them in to Magic School. And so Raina in her chat would only focus on the materials that the teacher has loaded into Magic School or teachers can set parameters by grade um, by content. So when students are using Raina as a chatbot, it's there are parameters in

036there to protect student in that environment. Okay. And there's a wide variety of tools in the program. Teachers can link those tools into their Google classroom so that they can help guide students in using some of the AI tools in the program. These were our smart goals. Um, we want to make sure we support student engagement and support student rigor so that we are maximizing student learning. By integrating these advanced tools, we empower educators to move beyond traditional lesson delivery, focusing instead on cultivating highdepth academic environments and more dynamic interactive student experiences. And some of those materials might be a lesson hook, uh a character chatbot, some uh for student rigor, identifying common misconceptions in student learning so teachers can address those get uh students can receive writing feedback. Okay. And this is our adoption.

037We're slowly I mean we're quickly gaining momentum. So, uh, you can see we started with 227 users. We're already up to 410 educators. It's over 90% of our teachers are using Magic School and uh, we had 5600 generations. We're up to over 20,000 at this point. So, our teachers are using it. And the primary drivers in this usage is instructional design, targeted differentiation, and comprehensive student support, ensuring that AI serves as a catalyst for more personalized and challenging classroom environments. And these are some of our tools. Raina as our chatbot, uh text rewriter, you can see work worksheet generator and multiplechoice quiz and assessments. Gemini has similar tools. Again, these are only a snippet of the tools in Gemini. Um because many of our educators use uh Google already, it seamlessly integrates with Google Classroom.

038Uh for Gemini, it is more of a product that will summarize information. It helps educators organize content and instruction. It can be used for research, idea generation and problem solving. Um while magic school is used K to 12 and it can be used by students and educators K to 12. Gemini can be used by educators K to 12 but for on the student side it's focused more for high school. Okay. when we're talking about AI, we always want to make sure that we're focusing on these considerations. So, we want to make sure that we um that all of our materials are adhere to all law 2D requirements that we're protecting student and staff data. That's a top priority. any AI tools we consider must comply with student privacy laws and district data security standards so

039that we're protecting um sensitive information. Again, as with educational technology, we want to make sure that AI supports uh equitable learning opportunities for all students. Our goal is to ensure that access to these tools enhances learning without widening any existing gaps. And for us, it's very important to balance AI and technology with unplugged um opportunities for students. Technology should support, not replace, human relationships that are central to our teaching and learning. And we remain committed to balancing AI with unplugged learning opportunities, collaboration, discussion, and meaningful interactions between students and educators. In December, we had computer science week and so we put together some activities for our teachers and students and we made sure when we provided that we included as many unplugged activities that focused on computer science standards as plugged activities. So that is

040definitely a focus for us. Um, we also need to realize that there is bias in AI. AI systems were trained on large data sets and in some cases the data sets may contain biases. So part of digital digital literacy is helping both educators and students recognize potential biases and think critically about AI generated content. So AI to AI tools can sometimes generate incorrect or misleading information often referred to as hallucinations. And this reinforces the importance of teaching strategies to verify information, cross-check resources, and apply critical thinking skills. And ultimately, AI should be used to enhance and deepen the learning experience, not replace them. The expertise of our educators and human elements of curiosity, creativity will always remain the center of our learning process. Okay. So, as we developed our AIPD, our goal was to build

041understanding. We wanted to focus on helping educators have a strong understanding of what AI is and how it works. This foundational knowledge allows teachers to make informed decisions about when and how AI can support instruction. I am the director of data privacy, so I don't think I can say this enough. We want to prioritize safety and privacy for our students. Um, and we need to teach our our educators and our students about protecting student data and maintaining privacy. and they have to understand which tools are approved and how to use them responsibly. So how to practice ethical use of AI? This includes understanding issues with bias, accuracy, and responsible use and helping students learn to navigate these technologies thoughtfully. We want to make sure that our PD is aligning with our curriculum and our district

042vision. So AI integration should always align with those our instructional goals and our district district's broader vision for learning technology should support what we are doing in the classroom not distracting from it. Okay. Um we want to prepare our students for digital literacy. As AI becomes more present in society. It's important that students develop the literacy skills related to AI and this includes understanding how AI works, its limitations and how it to use it as a tool for learning and problem solving. And transparency is very important for that. Both educators and students should be clear about when and how AI is being used in the learning process. AI should support um and enhance instruction but never replace it and it should never replace student thinking, creativity or the expertise of educators. And ultimately the goal

043is to ensure that the final work of students produces um products reflect their own knowledge, understanding and critical thinking. So, one of the um one of the guidelines we introduced during the PDA was the red light, yellow light, green light um guideline to help discuss how and when to use AI. What we wanted to do was to make it clear and an easy um an easy way to describe when AI can be used and not used. And we also wanted to have a common language from K through 12 around AI usage. So red light means it's not permitted. Yellow teacher permission. And finally green we're encouraging students to use AI. And some examples of those for red light to do your homework. Um that would not be allowed, sharing personal information or even plagiarism. Yellow

044would be a time where you would ask your teacher. So maybe to brainstorm an idea as a study support um or a language assistant. and green go. It can be for additional practice, creating a study guide or even putting a syllabus in to help structure when you want to attack diff different um assignments within that syllabus. So that can help structure students. Okay. And this is our timeline of professional development. So last year our uh tech mentors, library media specialists and computer science teachers were trained in magic school AI. They provided turnkey training to our teachers. Um and our teachers received foundational background skills on what AI was and how to use it. And this year we just finished up our required AIPD. Um, and we focused more on how we can use AI in

045the classroom. We did a survey to identify what teachers wanted to learn more about and what tools to use. Um, and every teacher attended a PD. We in those PDs, we put in a time, excuse me, for students um for teachers to work in the programs to use what they're doing in their classroom. And I did um I did have the opportunity to attend a lot of them and it was really wonderful to see that the teachers were working together. We kind of set it up as just 20 25 minutes for teachers to um use a tool, but what we found were a lot of teachers were collaborating, looking over their shoulders, what are you doing, how did you do that? And so it they were really engaged in the PD and we found it

046to be um very useful. And when we see how many teachers are using AI now and the generations that are happening, we see that it was a very effective PDA. And so what do we do next? What's the future of our professional development around AI? So for our teachers, we want to um introduce more of collegial circles where we teachers can come based on maybe subject area or how comfortable they are with AI. We have some teachers that are beginners and some teachers that are experts, but also allow them to have a couple of opportunities to work together where it's not two hours where maybe they're introduced to a tool. They get to use that, come back, talk to their colleagues on how they share that. Uh we had a lot of teachers asking if

047we could do collegial circles based on grade level. So those are things we're going to be looking for for next year. um as required PD we're going to have it excuse me uh studentf facing so we're going to focus on how we start introducing AI in the classroom for our students so as we conclude it's important to highlight the next steps for integration and our focus is on continuous growth responsible implementation and expand planning opportunities for students and educators. We're going to provide comprehensive and ongoing professional development opportunities to ensure teachers are building best practices for the use of and implementation of both current and future technologies. Technology is changing rapidly. So, we have to make sure we are changing with it and being able to provide PD on all different types of technology. Um

048this will include AI tools, instructional integration and responsible ethical use of AI in the classroom. We want to see the full implementation of the SAM R model. So for that um it's a technology model and the stages encourage students and teachers to use technology to move beyond traditional lessons and create entirely new learning experiences. So an example of that for modification would be instead of a standard book report students might create an interactive multi multimedia project using AI and to redefine maybe they're using VR to explore an historical event allowing them to analyze interpret and present information in ways that has not been possible before. It might be collaborating with students from another part of the world to solve a problem together. We're going to focus on student facing AI. So moving forward, we'll prioritize

049AI tools that directly support student learning such as adaptive learning platforms, personalized feedback, and interactive experiences. These tools will enhance creative thinking, critical thinking, creativity, and student agency while keeping educators at the center of instruction. And we want to develop comprehensive AI use guidelines. So, we wanted to build a foundation. We wanted to make sure we're including our teachers as we um develop those guidelines. We wanted to have a common language and technology is changing so rapidly. Um but we're at the point where we want to um develop comprehensive guidelines for the use of AI in our for both students and teachers so that we can share that and that's a priority at this point. Um the guidelines will address academic integrity, transparency, privacy, equity and ethical use ensuring all stakeholders understand how and when

050AI should be used. Um, family engagement is also an important part of our next steps. Families are a critical part of our technology integration plan and we want to provide ongoing engagement opportunities to help families understand technology and the tools we're using and how they can support student learning at home. Um, so in conclusion, we aim to create a learning environment where technology and AI empower both teachers and students to reach their full potential. And these are some pictures from computer science week of our students and any questions? Sure. I mean, it's incredible that we're here, right? We're we're at a space that never thought we'd be here, not even 10 years ago. But as we roll out this computer, this AI experience in our district, do you foresee us requiring more um computing power,

051maybe updating some of our computer systems, anything like that? >> Well, we work closely with Brian Landers who um will look at all of the requirements of any of our systems. I mean, there's constant uh updates to some of our software that requires us to change different aspects of what we're allowing and not allowing and and all of the different um guidelines for that. So, that's something we're constantly looking at. And it it's a daily occurrence. In terms of upgrading our um like Chromebooks materials, we do have a plan in place for when we get the newer version of our Chromebooks so that our students have the most upto-date um technology tools. >> Great. Thank you. >> Anyone else? >> Just have one question. Okay. >> Me. Okay. Um this is really exciting. Thank you

052so much for this. From the teacher standpoint, I'm sure they're thrilled. It seems so efficient and they must just get hours back in their day um for this. But my specific question um is from the studentf facing perspective. Are there specific studentf facing platforms that you have your eye on? Like does Magic School for example have a studentf facing platform or something similar to that? >> Yes, Magic School does have a studentf facing platform. Right now we have if students are using that platform the teachers are linking into the Google classroom so they can guide them in that but um as we move forward student um magic school AI can be opened for students to use those tools independently. >> It's great. It's nice that there's like a clear road map that they can use

053without just being thrown into some of the mass market tools that we all use. So they'll have like their guard rails. I like that. And then on at the high school level, Google Gemini will also be an option. >> Great. Thank you. >> Uh wonderful presentation. Um, hope I didn't jump any of my uh fellow board members here, but I have a a few questions and it was a wonderful presentation, but perhaps they'll bring up uh uh these down the road, but how would you address the worries of parents that not only are having uh additional screen time or, you know, they're fighting at home with their own uh social media, kids with uh with all this in their hand, uh that we're utilizing um the computers uh computer technology ology even that much more

054within the class. Uh how might you allay their fears that this is something that is um you know helpful to that end. Um and that one additional step specifically about the AI comp uh uh portion of this and you addressed it with the um I guess the analogy of the uh the red light uh red light, yellow light, green light in terms of what is acceptable and what is not. Um for there's a wonderful presentation and uh as Kelly brought out before, this is incredibly helpful for teachers. uh not only just winning back time but just making better presentations because teachers will probably put in the same amount of time of work they always do but this will just be that much more efficient uh and better but um the question about the lights what's

055what's acceptable what's not for parents whose fears are not only screen time but also is this stuff like Gemini creating all of my students essays and work what is actually theirs and perhaps you can give an example perhaps of how that uh differentiates Sure, I can jump in for that. So, I don't think our goal with students is adding more screen time, but rather harnessing what they're what is already available to them. Um, I I I've been to a lot of different uh conferences and workshops over the last year and a half or so. Um, and one of the most uh profound things that I heard any of the speakers say is is that students and educators will not be replaced by AI. However, those students and teachers who don't know how to use it

056will be replaced by those who do. So, our goal is to make sure that kids and our teachers are at the very cutting edge. It is kind of a slow role because we're careful. We want those guard rail guardrails on very clearly. And so, um, Nancy and I are going to be joining the English departments, uh, 7 through 12 to talk a little bit about how to do that because in when it comes to writing, as a former English teacher, this is definitely an area where I'm very wary that, you know, we're not just saying, "Hey, let's everybody have the robots write your stuff." That's not at all what the power of AI can do. However, yes, for an example, um, one of the examples that we'll talk about with the English departments is the

057the ways in which AI can help kids become better writers. For instance, >> let's say they are given a topic for an essay and they upload their own essay into say Notebook LM and then you can take that and ask it to basically be your personal editor. And one of the uh 10 different ways that we're going to share with our English teachers to to help kids become better writers is to upload your own essay and then ask the AI to reverse outline it for you. So for instance, I take my essay, I upload it and I say, "Okay, give me an outline of what I just wrote to check for linear thinking to make sure I don't have redundancies." You can ask it about your own tone. For instance, you give it um your

058essay and you say based on what I wrote, who am I? What is the tone of my piece? And maybe that doesn't match what you're trying to project. And it will help you to go back to refine your tone to look for those redundancies and rewrite because the writing process is something that for years and years I taught as an English teacher, but we didn't have this technology. And so that student's writing partner was either another student in the class or me. In this case, you can go through multiple iterations of your own writing before it even gets to the teacher >> and you thereby learn how to edit um and become the best writer you can be. >> Yeah, thank you very much. I I think that uh this is something that is uh

059as you were talking about not only teachers you know learning down the road how they can share best practices but also you know we as a community can also share with the parents because none of us experienced AI clearly uh and we don't know how to use that tool and as parents when you're seeing you know this happen that kind of communication that was a great answer you know on on the benefits of this and how we can move forward and that was a great quote by the way >> as we were putting things together for the teachers There's I can't even count how many times that man I wish I had this when I was teaching in the classroom because it really can help kids to be better learners and writers and teachers to

060to really um you know hone their craft as well. >> Thank you. >> Um I would just like to say thank you and commend you for you know AI is here to stay as you mentioned and um it's sort of a double-edged sword right like it it has a lot of potential for great and not so great. So, I commend you for taking the time to really approach this thoughtfully um to give our students more resources. Um my only question is a silly one and just because I don't know the lingo is what is a generation? Does that mean an engagement like a >> like generative AI? >> Well, it says 5,62. >> Oh, generations. Oh, yeah. So, >> generations is that each time it's a new unique >> It would be a search, >>

061right? Exactly. that they're using it for. Got it. >> Great. Thank you. I also just want to say thank you for such a comprehensive um presentation. It was it was great. Um one of the things that I just wanted to ask and you may have mentioned already for the tool magic school. Um the Reena chatbot that you had mentioned, is that enabled for only secondary level at this time or is that K through 12 or not at all? It is a tool that can be used K through 12, but our teachers put if they are using it, put very specific parameters on there. So, it's not free range. It can only use the information that the teachers either directed to use or the information that that the teachers are putting into the program. >> Okay.

062Kind of what you were referencing before with Google Classroom. >> Yeah. Okay. Thank you so much. >> I actually have one more question that I thought of while I'm listening to you. How do you have a student like write an essay? Maybe it's a personal essay, has their name in it. How do how do we redact that information so it doesn't get generated into the AI because you know as an attorney in our firm we have a closed loop AI so that nothing ever leaves. How do we do that for for students in our district? >> So the tools that we have are in educational suite so they are secure but we are teaching students not to do put any personal information. It's a really important component as we talk to our teachers also um

063so that they are aware that no personal information can be put in. So whether that's you know using an initial instead of a student name um even removing the names of schools things like that when they are searching is very important. So that's a part of all of our professional development with our teachers. We're constantly reminding them of that and also that's something we have to teach our students. >> Great. Thank you. Thank you very much. >> Nice job, Nancy. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> On to our budget presentation. I would just like to say when I can figure out AI given these presentations, I'm going to come up here, click a button, and let let the computer do it. Um, but tonight's presentation is uh on the areas of general support,

064transportation, debt service, and inner fund transfers. Um, these sections represent the operational backbone of the school district. uh they ensure our school functions safely, efficiently and in compliance with state requirements. So the first slide you see here is the tax cap since inception. Um at the bottom area you will also see each year our budget increase, the levy increase and the allowable levy increase. This is just a nice picture to see over 10 plus years, really closer to 15 um years, what has been the allowable levy, where we have actually ended up, as well as what our budget increases have been. Nothing in the property tax cap calculation has changed since the last time it was presented. Uh the only update I have for the board is this was submitted to the office of state

065controller. Uh, as we know, uh, we have a local, uh, paper that will like to run these numbers at some point. Once the board, uh, tells us the levy limit to move forward with, we will go in the system and update that information and then that will be public. Any questions on this? I did get AI to create a presentation. It's really cool. Uh, it's a couple minutes long. I at some point hope to share with the community, but Notebook LM provides its own uh too much of its own thoughts and it was too much, but we're getting there. So, this is a slide we've included the past couple of years when we talk about the budget. Um, but just to help people understand this a little bit better, every.1% increase in the tax levy

066percentage is an additional $120,426 in revenue. So you will see the actual rate for the 2526 school year. That is the rate that the board approved. I believe it was in October this year or 2025. And then you will see a couple different levy limit options. Um we are allowed to go to 2.76% per the calculation without needing a supermajority. So you see that there. And then we just scale it back slowly so you can kind of see the impact not only does it have to overall levy limit but as well as the levy increase and what that looks like for the tax rate. Something to note I like to say this we include it in presentations. This is based on the tax rates you see here for the different limits are based on the

067assessments that I know to date. That information changes annually. So once that change occurs, that is what the board will actually see come the we'll say like early fall and then approves. Any questions on this slide? All right. So we like to uh go back a little bit before we spring forward. Um so you will see the adopted budget for the 2425 school year as well as the 2526 school year. This also gives the tax rate at um the at those times and the dollar and percentage changes that occurred in the past. We then bring the 2526 budget information forward. So that's our adopted budget and then where we currently stand in the draft budget. I am going to highlight a couple of things so I don't forget them. Um items that are incorporated to

068date are contingencies in the areas of teachers, aids and teaching assistance. At the upcoming presentation, we will dive deeper into salaries. Uh Mr. Hender will give his component of the presentation. We'll talk about uh these positions a little bit more in detail, but those items currently are incorporated. Um, Boseies has some increases in the area of occupational education as well as special ed and a buffer because Bosey's numbers take a little bit longer for the 2627 rates to become available. So, as those are becoming available, I'm updating them behind the scenes and the next presentation should reflect a more concrete Boseis number. um TRS the percentage actually dipped which has been a benefit for us because ERS is actually increasing based on some of your tier 2 threes and fours retiring. So you have people

069in tiers five and six which have a much larger percentage of contribution um on the district's end but I will talk about that when we get to benefits. I just want to make some notes there. As well as medical insurance uh has a hefty amount there. Right now we're anticipating about 15%. I am working through those numbers with our business office to make sure that those are aligned correctly and if that number can be reduced we will do so. So just something to mark here for revenue as a glance you will see revenue other than tax levy has remained the same. that is primarily state aid. We have a lot of expense aid areas that we are deep diving into. I had a meeting this past Friday. I have a meeting tomorrow. I have a

070meeting this upcoming Friday just to get a better understanding of what is driving different uh cost drivers for the state. Um in expense driven aid areas, the thing to remember is it is based on enrollment. So, as you are declining in enrollment, you are losing aid, but they are also looking at Huntington to be wealthier than they did in the past. So, as they believe you are wealthier, then the state wants to pull back on their share. So, we're doing everything we can on our end to make sure that we're vetting the numbers, nothing is missing and speaking to those who we can to see if there are any opportunities to recoup things that may be lowering. One thing to note though that is not shown here is the 1% foundation aid. So we will

071dive deeper in future meetings on revenue, but that's why you don't see any changes there because I really want to make sure I'm giving you an accurate picture of that area. Um, this does show the expense verse revenue. So you will see in here that the tax levy uh revenue is shown here. It shows expenses uh verse revenue. So right now we are about 4.7 million uh to the negative. That will balance as it does each year. Um we have not incorporated things such as retirements um for anybody that we know information for or anything that is upcoming that will be incorporated for the next meeting. Any questions on this one? Okay. Now we will go through uh the budget series. Um, we have made a structural change. Instead of doing this by individual function

072line, so you would have, I don't know, probably 20 or 30 individual lines you're looking at, we grouped the function. So, uh, for example, board of education, district clerk, and district meetings who all fall under a 1010 code are grouped together and so forth. So, we're going to kind of go through that so it makes a little bit more sense to what the charge is instead of diving into those the weeds of it. Um, this information, if you want to get in the weeds of it, is attached as the uh draft budget um that is provided to the board and that will also be on the school district website. So, in no way are we taking information away, but we're just trying to make sure that it's easily digestible. Okay. So, I do have a

073couple of notes. Um, my thought process behind the notes was anything that increased 5% or more got a note. If you have questions, just feel free to ask. So, uh, board of education/dist administration is really based on the segregation of duties. Uh we have two wonderful people over there in the corner um who are doing a wonderful job, but we did segregate those duties a little bit more so people felt comfortable in the roles they were taking on as well as the duties that are encapsulated in those roles. And we are also taking into consideration the voting machine uh custodian fees. So there have been some things that have changed with board of elections. There are additional fees that are anticipated. So, we are just trying to budget for those. The other items. >> I

074do have a question. I'm sorry. >> Oh, sorry. >> So, I do notice that there was an election law amendment. I think it was section 3112 where they're requiring us to report. Is that an additional expense that we're going to be having >> requiring us to report >> um the results of the election under this new law? >> We have a meeting about that. Um they're offering two virtual times to attend. So, I believe uh Kim and I spoke about we're both attending them in the next couple weeks to learn more about that because that just was sent to us last week uh with minimal information. So, we are going to attend the follow-up to find out more. >> Gotcha. >> All right. That makes me feel better. I was like, did I miss something

075else? >> More mandates with less funding >> always. >> Um the other area to draw your attention to is the HR, legal services and public relations. that is just ba an adjustment based on the annual increase in utilization um primarily due to legal service cost and then we also have insurance claims and Bosey's administrative services and that is really I hate to say it this way but it's nicer property and casualty insurance um they are telling us to estimate a 14% increase there are districts that have been told higher percentages and I'm sure there for districts that have been told lower. So, we do budget for that. I would like to say anything that is budgeted for and it's not actually expensed then goes to fund balance. So, it's it's not a you're required to

076use it uh if it's budgeted there, but it's to make sure that we are prepared in the instance that it actually comes in at these percentages. So the uh total 1000 series is $16,432,867 which equates to a little bit over $800,000 of an increase. Um there are some Boseies areas incorporated in this. So if anything changes there, as I've done in the past, I usually have a slide that shows changes. I will document that so you're able to follow along. Next, we are going to do the 5000 series, which is transportation. Uh, this just gives you some reminders about the current school year. So, this year is at CPI. Um, all of our buses and vans, home to school routes are equipped with video uh recording equipment. Stopfinder is up and running. I've had the

077opportunity to uh see people use that. Um, this includes 44 large buses and 65 vans. And this was based on a package. You will also see our number of students that are eligible for transportation daily. Um clearly we have school eight school buildings, 32 private parochial schools and 25 special needs schools that our children are being transported to >> for the 20 I just had a question about I'm sorry about have you had conversations with the bus companies about what their packages look like? Like, you know, we've discussed at the table our, you know, resolution up in Albany to potentially allow families who know they're not going to use the busing to So, is it is it based on like how many vans, how many buses you're using, how many large van large buses, how

078many um vans you're using or Yes, it's a it's a package price for each specific number. Um, so I would say like your your buses fall in a group of package price, but it's really it's if you were to take one away, they're not going to charge you for it. So just because you years ago, so this would be five years ago now, opted into what they called a package, you get charged for the number that you're actually utilizing. So last year, the package could have had 43 large buses. You were charged for 43, not 44. >> Does that make sense? And each month that can fluctuate based on if we have a student who's attending um maybe an out of district special ed school um where we need to have another vehicle. So those

079numbers can change um each month. It's crazy. And then uh no more question. Okay. It's okay. Uh for the 2627 school year uh we did put out an RFP. We did receive two responses to that RFP. They have been reviewed and independently um evaluated by each district and then the districts came together to do a collective scoring. Uh those submissions and completions are underway. So we anticipate an award. I said the next 45 days. I think it'll be sooner than that. But I want to give us wiggle room in case anything popped up. Once uh that award happens, you'll get far more detailed information. I did not want to put anything in this presentation until that's finalized. >> Does our current provider know No, I'm I'm assuming they know that we've did the RFP. >>

080Yes. >> Yeah. It's the first time we've ever done that. >> We've we've done at least a bid. Um we did a joint RFP with ourselves and another district hoping to uh drum up some possibilities. >> Good. >> Okay. So, in the 5000 series, um, some things to take note of is, uh, the transportation contract line, you will see a dollar amount of $781,719 as well as a percent change of a little bit over 6%. Um, I will tell you in comparison to where some other districts numbers are coming in, this is fair. Um, we have incorporated some buffers here. So, I will review this a little bit more with Mr. Hender. If there's any adjustments, it will be shown on a future slide. One thing to note here, um, which goes into the aid

081car category. Last year we were at.36 cents on the dollar. This year we're at or 31 cents on the dollar. I know that doesn't seem material, but when you're looking at $13 million, that is has a material hit. Um, we are looking at that deeper. I did, as I expressed, I did have a meeting on Friday. There are some follow-up things we will be submitting to the state to hopefully have that information reviewed. >> Any questions? question then. Um the the differences that you're seeing here looking at the at the chart, we see basically a $2 million increase in the budget uh from last year to this year and then but or rather I should say less than a million dollars uh going forward here. I guess my question is given the history of not

082just arrows but we certainly had our problems with uh transportation um the past few years. what um there's a a decrease is is the stress I suppose on uh the transportation system on bus companies uh is it easing I know there's problems with uh with drivers and things of that particular nature like how are you seeing this future and I'm asking this to see if you're anticipating uh you know uh this being a bigger problem or is this an easing problem I suppose >> so a couple things to note one. What you're seeing up here is 2425's actual expense in comparison to a budget. We budgeted for 2425 more than the 11 million. So, we didn't have a 2 million increase from one year to the other. That is just you're looking at what actually

083went through out the door versus what we budgeted. Got >> another item to mention is 2425. We received a substantial credit from the bus company uh which was a one-time recognition that is in the 2425 school year. So that is also captured there which makes that expense look lower. Right. >> Um do I feel that transportation companies are stressed or is any of that easing? No, I think they're stressed and I think all of the future mandates are stressing everybody out even more. Um, bus companies are supposed to be having the conversation of what we're doing to electrify. A lot of companies are not even to that point. Um, and they're already having issues with drivers and staffing and all those things. So, I I don't foresee it easing up at all. Um, I think

084we're going to have to get very creative or uh some legislative changes probably the legislative changes need to be uh forthcoming and forthcoming quickly. Okay. Well, thanks for that heads up. No problem. >> Appreciate it. >> It's not doomsday, but there's a lot going on in the the world of uh transportation. >> Gotcha. Thanks. >> Okay. Any other questions? >> Okay. We next have debt service and inter fund transfers. We do like to just provide some information. Um as the board is aware, each year we do a TAN, which is a tax anticipated note. There is an interest payment that is tied to that. So you will see in the debt service line it shows the tan. It talks a little bit to the interest. Um that that percentage has come down. It it's been

085far higher in previous years. Um another thing to make note of the school lunch fund. We are putting $10,000 here to clear the debt for the high school being free. If you remember the first year I was here, I think it was 2023. We had a couple of months where the high school was not C eligible. Uh there is a little pocket of debt that we'd like to clear off for the food service fund and then that will in the future years go away. The food service fund is more than supporting itself. You also have some changes to the special aid fund. Uh UPK even though we know there is this possibility of 10,000 $10,000 per student that is not implemented yet. um and the actual cost of providing the service is increasing. So you

086will see funds here to help support that. And also in that line is our special ed summer and 4201. The 4201 is for um like uh your blind deaf um extreme special needs schools that are run by the state. And then yay, there's good news on here. Uh the debt service fund. So that last uh project payment or debt service payment happened this year. So that is debt that is falling off and we are not putting anything currently in its place. So you do see the uh minus $2434,000. Uh something else to mark very quickly is the capital fund for 2425. As I mentioned, you will see that those are actual. That does include our proposition number two. Uh for 3.64, you have to recognize that in the year in which the voters voted on

087it. So since it was May of 2025, it gets recognized in the 2425 year. That is an auditing requirement. >> Can lack of debt uh affect our credit rating? >> Lack of debt will not affect your credit rating of anything. I would think uh Moody's would think we look better because we are still um funding our reserves. Uh also there is a report I usually share it with uh the superintendent. I may have already done it this year in regards to what your percentage points is and where your standing is and being in good financial standing. So that comes out but no. Um, I thought you were going to ask if it impacts our tax cap calculation and it does not because we do not get to uh recognize that exclusion. So, that doesn't impact

088that either. >> But good credit does give us good percentage when we ask for those tens. >> Yes. >> Right. >> Okay. Transfer to capital. Um each year we do around 250 260,000 um transfer to capital. This provides some possible project ideas as well as what we are currently reviewing for the 2627 school year. Um as mentioned a lot of us, if not all of us were able to go over to Finley and watch a wonderful production where I was very tickled. Not to say it takes much to get me tickled, but I laughed a lot uh for that. And um one of the things that we are looking at is the Finley Middle School lighting. Um that is for one the needs of lighting as well as some safety uh concerns with the lighting

089structure. So that is something that is being reviewed as well as their sound system uh as well as the gym sound systems at Flower Hill South down in Washington. I did make a note here uh cuz people may be saying, "Well, what about Jefferson?" Jefferson's has to be completed this year because it's it's completely uh out. So that will be something that's done in the current school year. As I gain more information that will be shared with the board, but that is what we are looking at currently. Any questions on that? Okay, this is just taking everything I already mentioned and putting it in one slot before you. So you will see these three series account for 4.79 uh in regards to a percent change and 1.4 four million in regards to a dollar amount

090change. This mentions everything that I mentioned in regards to the 9,000 series, so I won't repeat that for you, but just in case some people like to jump around the slides and I wanted them to be well informed. This is the 2027 capital project proposals. Um, I'm not going to leave read through these line item by line item because I did that last meeting. Nothing has changed on this uh front area. We're really focusing on the 2022 23 building condition survey areas which will then complete those. Um and fun news, I got information from BBS that we are up on the list. So, we'll be doing a new building condition survey which will show us what we should be focusing on on the next five years. It's it's just never ending. Um so, once that

091is underway, I will provide additional information to the board. And this also includes some facility upgrade considerations. One thing we did add uh through some discussion with others, the one behind me, he said, "Well, what does this look like, Rubes? Like, I need to see what it looks like." So, we decided maybe it made sense to share with um the community when we talked about the Wood Hall amphitheater, what it actually looks like, where the area is. Right? So you'll see here it does not take up any of the lower field space. This is really on the hill. It incorporates ADA. But I think one of the things to really highlight is we have been working intentionally to ensure that all students regardless of the grades or the locations. They have access to the experiences,

092resources, and learning environments that contribute to Huntington being top tier. Um we have some great things here at STEM being that uh courtyard area and we are looking to do the same to provide that at Wood Hall. Um so as mentioned it allows for ADA access. It includes or incorporates a structured learning space. It can be utilized for graduations, teachers taking their students outside. There's a lot that can be done here. So we thought it was important to incorporate. Any questions on this? No, I can't give you like, you know, like real drawings. I did not create this. I asked BBS to give it to me. But if you have questions and I'm not able to answer it, I'll definitely bring them back. >> This will basically mirror Abrams amphitheater. >> Yes. >> Similar. >>

093Yes. Similar. >> Uh just one thing, really appreciate the uh uh what we're doing with all our facilities. Um, and I think uh this is recognizing the differences in the two uh middle schools that we have here and uh you know everyone should feel good about the the schools that they're going to and this is going to be a wonderful addition. Um I just wanted to stress you know a few things I know as we were talking before about debt that you know we have little to no debt that's there and um that's an amazing thing we have here at Huntington. Um, and we've done an awful lot of great capital improvements, uh, you know, from fields to, uh, the restrooms outside to I'm super excited about the auditorium, which was discussed before. Uh, the,

094uh, one of the projects that we have, we we do have field lights that I'm really looking forward to them being utilized, uh, in a much more efficient way, uh, for, uh, for the community and also for our schools. really needed from everything from uh you know playoff games and football games being played and Friday night lights and all that stuff and especially the band that we have our award-winning you know marching band utilizing in that way. Um one thing we do have uh is uh we have a football field that has uh conduits already built underneath it for our lights. Um but we don't have lights on that on the football field on the main stadium. And um just an an analogy and perhaps it's a poor one to some, but I think uh

095for anybody who has uh ever taken a Long Island Railroad and gone on east side east side access um what an amazing difference it is to be able to go into Grand Central Station as opposed to Penn. Uh and uh you know once you've you've had it, you're like how is this never here? And that the thing that was most frustrating to me as I was looking at this travel into the city for all these decades, that tunnel was there. You know, the tunnels were there for 50 years and they were just never fully utilized. We have the conduits that are underneath the main stadium and I really hope that in the future um we take advantage of that um hopefully next year uh in terms of what we're able to look at or or

096at the very least have more an open discussion about it um perhaps more uh not that that opportunity doesn't present itself now. Um but uh I understand the need to keep our you know being fiscally responsible and to you look at that and other things as well such as new science rooms and things of that nature. What is state aidable um but I just want to make sure that uh you know that's something we can uh look at both from public and also here in the uh the board for future discussion. >> I've made note of those items >> and I appreciate that. Thank you. Any other questions, comments? I almost turned it off instead of turning the slide to the next. Um, we have Proposition One and Proposition two. Prop one being the 2627

097budget and proposition two being the uh capital project. So, it's really the uh allocation out of the capital reserve fund. So, our next meeting will be here March 24th. We are going to talk about employee benefits, fund transfers, and instructional staff. Um, an item to note, which has already been noted two more times, but you know, third time's the charm. Please remember that voting will be from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. in Huntington High School on May 19th. That is it. >> Thank you. >> Okay. So now we're moving on to board policy 4421. It is upon recommendation from the superintendent of schools at the board of education review first read draft board policy 4421 non-bargaining unit staff terms and condition of employment with options for further consideration or second read adoption. Any motions? We'll

098leave it for second read. Did did you want anybody else read or >> Right. >> Does somebody want to make a motion to bypass? >> I'll make a motion to bypass first read. >> Right. Any will second. Uh and then we'll make a motion to adopt it. Um all in favor? That's everyone. >> All right. Now, curriculum and instruction. >> Good evening again. It is upon recommendation from the superintendent of schools that the board of education approve cseps submissions as delineated. >> Have a motion please. Jenna one two. All in favor? >> That's everyone. >> Personnel. It >> is upon recommendation from the superintendent of schools that the board of education approve personnel items on schedules 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 13, 16, 17, and 22. Okay. >> I have a motion, please. Annie

099one Teresa two all in favor that's everyone >> I just have one quick announcement I would like to congratulate Morgan Stein who has stepped up in the capacity serving in three separate uh special ed leave replacements since the beginning of this year and she was just appointed to a probationary special ed position at Washington Primary School. So congratulations. Welcome aboard. We look forward to a wonderful future ahead. >> Good stuff. And business. Dr. Harris. One more time. >> It is upon recommendation from the superintendent of schools that the board of education approve business items I through P. >> Can I have a motion, please? Tom one, Jenna 2. Questions, comments? All in favor? That's everyone. We have a couple of generous um donations. Okay, sorry. Hold on. Getting there. Where where' they go? Here we

100go. Our first donation is um from the Huntington Athletics Community Education Fund through the New York Community Trust and they are presenting a donation of $1,000 to credit the Huntington Athletics Community Education Fund scholarship within the Expendable Trust account. So, thank you for that donation. Our very own former board member, Michelle Castera, is again presenting donations um to instruments for the Huntington High School Fine and Performing Arts Department. Um a classical guitar, an electric acoustic guitar, and a ukulele, which have a value of approximately $250. Thank you for that. Miss Jennifer Meeks is presenting a donation of 16 metal picture frames to the Huntington High School art department. The donation has an approximate value of $160. Thank you for that. And last but not least, uh Wood Hall has been doing such an amazing job

101entering every competition they possibly can. Um and they've just won a um a 48 uh in a 48 foot yacht club bench. um which will be um as a result of them participating in the Next Tracks plastic film recycling program. The donation has an approximate value of $399 and will surely beautify their school. So, thank you for that. >> So, we just approved a resolution calling on this, but to push for a law requiring that any new charter schools must be approved by a local public vote before it can open. Um and and uh it's charter schools here uh use public tax dollars but are not accountable to local voters in the same way that your traditional public schools are uh where you have uh boards uh and administration that are responsive. So I'm glad

102we we push that forward that resolution. It's important. All right, we open up the public commentary one more time. All right. If not, we will move on to closing remarks by ending. >> I just John asked me to speak on his behalf, so I'm going to do that briefly. Um, he is up at Albine today, which is why he's not here advocating precisely in part for >> resolutions like the one we just passed. So, he wanted to express his tons of happiness at the fact that we've passed a resolution um opposing charter schools without a community vote. >> Great. Thank you. Anyone else? All right. So, first time in a long time I'm going to ask for an adjournment so that we return to our executive session. Executive session is for the board of education

103uh to discuss specific legal collective bargaining personnel and other matters in accordance with open meetings law. Can I have a motion please? Anyone? Teresa two. All in favor? We will uh adjourn from our executive session. All right. Thank you. Have a good night everyone.