001Welcome everyone. Sorry for the delay. We had a couple of hiccups with our internet Wi-Fi. I believe that we're not going to be live streaming today. We're going to record and post it later. So, uh, welcome back. Can I, uh, please have a motion to exit the executive session and re-enter the public meeting. Michelle, second by Bill. All in favor? That is everyone. Let's all please rise for the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America 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 in the back and the side say exit. This is a smoke-free building. Smoking or vaping is not permitted. We'll move right into our approvals. First
002approval of the night is a board of education meeting minutes of February 10th, 2025. 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 dated February 10th, 2025. Can I have a motion? Teresa, second by Tom. All in favor? That is everyone. We have FYIs 2, three, four, five, and six. Any questions by board members? Right. We're moving on to the internal audit corrective action plan. It is upon recommendation from the superintendent of schools that the board of education accept the corrective action plan formulated by the district in response to the internal audit report audit completed in 2023 2024 addressing employee attendance. Can I have a motion? Annie and Bill. Thank you Annie. All in favor?
003That is everyone. Moving on to the treasures report. It is my recommendation from the superintendent of schools that the board of education accept. Sorry, I'm not opening. It's my recommendation from the superintendent of schools that the board of education approve the January 2025 treasurers report. Can I have a motion? Tom, Teresa, all in favor? That is everyone. And then the warrants again. Look at yours. Is yours open? I wear glasses, but I can't see that. It is my recommendation from the superintendent of schools that the board of education approve the attached warrants which are certified for payment on February 12th, 2025 and February 26, 2025. Can I have a motion? Bill Annie. All in favor? That is everyone. It looks like we may have to go to paper. This is how we used to do
004it when I first started in 2012. We're moving on to board communications. I'll start out with some communications. Um, first thing is Mocktrol team has made it to the county tournament for the 10th consecutive season. Um, this year they're the seventh seed. The first round will be against East Hampton at the Cole Hallen Court complex. It's usually a fun experience when they make it to the uh court complex because they actually get to see a real judge in front of a real courtroom. Little nerve-wracking, but our our team walks in there with a lot of swagger, a lot of confidence. Uh, and they are really uh hyped up about winning the entire thing. So, Wednesday. Yeah, Wednesday. They usually start around 3:30. The courtroom assignments, we don't know yet until we get there. Uh the
005district will be rolling out applications for the position of student board of education. That means a student will be sitting up here with us. Uh that application should be out by 3 March 26 and March 27. It'll be rolled out through our social security social security our social studies department. All applications by students will be due by April 11th. And now I open up the podium to all other board members. Um I just wanted to congratulate our music and fine art departments. Um I had the opportunity to sit in on the symphonic pops concert. Um and it was just truly amazing. Um for those of you who aren't in attendance or don't know, it was um a combination of our it was intergenerational experience. It was our symphonic orchestra playing with the symphonic pops orchestra
006and it was breathtaking. Honestly, it was really impressive. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Um and I think you know having a child who participated um the bonds that they made were unbelievable with the older um orchestra and uh it was just truly a wonderful experience. So thank you to our fine art and music department for that. And I just wanted to congratulate our um schamia participants. I was also able to attend one of the Scamia concerts and truly again and it's a lot of hard work. It's it's u intense on our music teachers because I know that they uh try to help our students prepare as best that they can but it is a lot of independent work um and they only have three rehearsals and they put on just a phenomenal concert
007um each time. And a shameless plug for our theater departments, we have two exciting performances coming up. Um, Finley Junior High on the 21st and 22nd will be performing a Once Upon a Matt address. And then Mean Girls uh at the high school on March 28th and 29th. Um, and also just the band parents association is having a pancake breakfast. So, um, on April 5th, I believe that is at the Hside Fire Department. It's an integral fundraiser for our kids and our marching band who are always well seated in a competition season. So, come out and support them. I just wanted to uh not steal anybody's thunder here talking about the success of our uh uh winter sports, but the girls uh varsity uh basketball team had two amazing playoff games. Uh one of the
008most exciting basketball games that I ever had the uh opportunity to watch. Uh and uh it's a just shout out to all the seniors that are going there and a new group of girls that are coming up. So uh that was all very exciting. Uh also the uh men uh the the booster club uh is continuing to selling banners that we see uh stretched around the uh the field. It's a a great show of support for from the community if you'd like to purchase one. Uh a lot of very visual uh good if you want to have your name of your business or family out there. And uh also we're having uh signups uh happening shortly for uh summer camp for uh the uh for the sports for this coming summer if you're looking to
009fill up the schedule for your kids. I have one plug. Uh the happy galler is March 20th and there are tickets still available. So if you haven't bought your ticket um please join us to celebrate Mr. Schwenderman and um our fabulous uh photographer Mr. Darren Reed. No one else. It's all yours, Mr. Superintendent. Good evening, everyone. So, we're back to our backup plan, which is paper, which is always exciting. That's why we always need to have a backup plan. Um, I do just want to mention I had the pleasure of attending the New York State Council of School Superintendent Conference, and it was packed with learning and networking. I had the pleasure of attending workshops on many topics. UPK funding, the fiscal and political outlook for public schools, first amendment protections, leading during a time
010of uncertainty, budget and finance, and the list goes on. It was really a tremendous learning experience. Our Frost Valley kids had a wonderful field trip last week. Uh we definitely had some uh interesting experiences with the ride back, so we appreciate the patience of our sixth grade families. Uh there was a tree that was down when the bus was arriving to pick up 20 minutes out and because of the remote location they had to travel two hours in a different location in a different route in order to pick up the students. So it did delay things uh pretty significantly but the kids were safe and having a great time. They had two extra hours at Frost Valley. They got a bag lunch and everyone went made it home safely. I would like to thank Mr.
011Stein for going there for the pickup to ensure that everything went smoothly and Mr. Hender for organizing the transportation which was a bit of a challenge um at the you know towards the end of the planning of the trip. Uh athletics just some updates we're fully operational at Finley with our new yoga initiative. The room is clean. Yoga mats have been purchased and a smartboard has been installed. So students will be rotating throughout this yoga experience as a unit of study. Uh registration for final forms is ongoing. Um and we're expecting that more and more parents use this system. Once you put your child's information into the system, it is such a seamless process in the future so that it is much easier. You just kind of have to sign off moving forward as opposed
012to filling out forms every year or every season. Um we have additional supplies for high school phys programs to f to provide um each of the specialized courses that we adopted last year uh with all the equipment needed. Pickle ball pickle ball court stansions and nets, rackets and balls um new court lines really doing a wonderful job to make sure that the fizz experience at the high school is really great for our students. Um because of the relatively mild winter we've had, buildings and grounds is ahead of the game in preparing fields. So, thank you to them. We also have a new tractor and grooming equipment so that our fields really should be in tip-top shape by the start of the spring season. For fine and performing arts, we'd like to congratulate Finley art teacher
013Jessica Sims and the 28th grade studio and art students who were invited to exhibit at the Adelier at Flowerfield last weekend. Uh students Emojin Thaylor took home I'm sorry, Emojin Thaylor took home the fir Oh, she's here. You want to stand up and wave? Congratulations. She took home first place for her colored pencil drawing, Blood Orange. And Billy O Oliva took home the second place prize for his charcoal drawing. Congratulations. The exhibit will be up until March 27th, and all are welcome to view the artwork of our incredibly talented students. Congratulations to the Huntington High School Orchestra on their fine performance at the intergenerational pops concert that Miss Sullivan already mentioned. 8th grade French horn student Brady Duke was awarded a Skamia summer study scholarship on Sunday who's also here tonight and that happened at
014the end of the Scamia Allount Division 2 concert. So congratulations to Brady. We'd also like to congratulate all 57 students that participated in division one, two, and three schamia all county concerts last weekend. On February 25th, Charlie Kisanti and the Huntington High School Chamber Choir hosted their first ever coffee house. The event was well attended and truly it did feel like a coffee house experience other than the bright lights in the cafeteria at the high school. Uh the ambiance was great. The students did a phenomenal job. It was really just a wonderful event. Uh on February 13th, 32 new members were inducted into the Huntington High School's chapter of the Art Honor Society. So congratulations to them. And also congratulations to the High Steppers who competed at Nationals in Orlando on February 15th. Miss Anson
015and Miss Serno were very proud of the performances there. On March 6th and 7th, Jeffrey Ber visit our primary schools with his bubble trouble program as part of our arts and education programming for this year and in collaboration with the world language department. The globalization of hiphop program was brought to the high school for grades 9 through 12 on March 7th. Some future events to mention, the Finley Middles Honors Ensemble Concert is being held on Wednesday, March 12th at 700 p.m. at Finley. Our string fiesta will be held on Saturday, March 15th at 1:30. Uh our Finley musical is coming up the weekend of March 21st, Once Upon a Mattress. Uh we also have our high school performance of Mean Girls coming up on March 28th at 7 p.m. and Saturday, March 29th at 2
016p.m. And we also have some arts and eds programs that are coming up for our elementary school students. Uh, with regard to robotics, last weekend the Huntington robotics team competed at Rockland Community College against and with 48 other teams around New York State. The team had an opportunity to go to the Regal Eagle Rampage at Beth Page High School. This event hosted 25 teams in their gymnasium, and it was a chance for the team to practice driving and test out this year's robot. It was a great opportunity for them to meet other students and network for the benefit of themselves and for the team as a whole. Another exciting event that happened was the team hosted the Dragonfacer uh anLLL team to come into the lab and present their innovation and impact award. They were
017able to ask questions and give them pointers to better prepare them for their regional championship. And this weekend, Huntington High School competed at the Hudson Valley Regional F FRC Robotics Competition, and they were a finalist in the competition, placing second out of 60 schools. So, congratulations to them. One additional thing to note, uh we have been identified as a a TSI school at Finley. Um and thus a target a it's called a target school by NICED based on several criteria, but most importantly the results of the NICED state testing for a particular small subgroup of students from last year. We had the same designation in the 2020 school year and utilized the resources to support many of the wonderful initiatives that we have today at Finley, including professional development and implementation of restorative circles, the
018honor and the honor role program. We utilize these funds to administer a climate survey at Finley so we can also take the pulse of students, parents, and staff to see ways in which that we can improve our school and the district overall. We will continue to use these school improvement grant funds to support our district goals as well as the goals set for uh Finley specifically. The SEP plan, which is the plan that we will be creating, will be posted on the website when it's completed by July 1st. And lastly, I just want to mention uh as a continuation from my comment last month, uh at a time when our federal and state governments are not in alignment, I would like to assure that we assure all that we will continue to do everything in
019our purview to ensure that every student and staff feel respected, valued, and treated in a dignified manner. We are a wonderfully diverse community and must continue to advocate for the neighborly, respectful, and dignified treatment of all. Any forms of bullying, harassment, or other mistreatment will not be tolerated and should be reported to your child's teacher or support staff in a building if any issues arise. This is the time for us to come together and to continue to celebrate our wonderful community. Thank you. At this moment, we will open up to public commentary. Public commentary is open to residents and employees 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
020public commentary toward the end of this meeting. Priority will be given to comments related to today's regular business meeting titled items for discussion and action. The public commentary is not intended to be a question and answer session with the board members or administration and speakers should not expect to engage in discussion with board members or administration. 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 students or employees of the district. The podium is available now for public commentary. Okay, we will have a second public commentary. We'll come back to that. Beth, as you're telling us all the great things that you were telling us, um I think about longevity, right? And
021and it reminds me of when I was in Finley because you did mention hip-hop. Hip-hop came out. My parents said to me, "Hip-hop's going to die. It's not going to last long." Right? So I remember during co I tell my wife pickle ball is not going to last. It's it's not gonna be around a long and you also mentioned pickle ball. Anyway, pickle ball is not going anywhere. I can tell you that. It's not. No, it's not. Uh Finley voices. So at this time I would like to introduce Miss Kim Musiel who is our director of fine and performing arts who will introduce our Finley voices and Mrs. Graber. Hi. Good evening everybody. To echo what Miss McCoy and Mrs. Sullivan said earlier, um, March is music in our schools month, and we have a
022jam-packed month here in Huntington between all county, multiple arts and education programs, two concerts, and two different musicals. We are looking forward to showcasing so many of our students and witnessing all of their talents. This month, I'm so happy to introduce our Finley voices who are here to perform two selections from their honors concert program, which they will sing on Wednesday night at Huntington High School at 7:00. Tonight they will be performing in this ancient house, Momosiki Ya by Ruth Morris Gray and Storm by James M. Dejardan. I will now hand it over to Mrs. Greyber and the Finley Voices. Thank you. [Music] In this house with [Music] stones [Music] grows grow in [Music] Mooney [Music] mo in this house with stones grow in the [Music] She knows the boot. She [Music] know she [Music]
023knows they are [Music] But numerous [Music] meories [Music] are carry. [Music] In this house with stones in the east. She knows grow in the east. She know she [Music] know they [Music] are numerous they are. My old [Music] meories are my old meories are [Music] [Applause] [Music] In the distance for the horizon shaking the elephants. Clouds roll over the sky. Rain flowing the earth on the horizon. [Music] If the storming [Music] sun power comes the [Music] Tempest in a galloping glory restless in a galloping gloryless in a galloping glory of war Sing the [Music] hearting rising is the storming and the Thundering Thunder with power. [Music] Mother, morning. [Applause] Join us on Wednesday at the high school for our final performance here. email. Thank you so much. [Applause] Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to
024you. Happy birthday to you. [Music] Emily. I think they said Emily said [Music] Thank you so much to our Finley students. We look forward to your performance on Wednesday evening. Have a wonderful night. For those who are exiting And now we would like to introduce Dr. Ruby Harris, assistant superintendent for finance and management services, who will pres be presenting budget draft number two for the 2526 school year. Thank you, Glenn. So tonight's budget presentation will focus in on general support, transportation, debt service, and interf transfers. This is a little recap in regards to the tax cap since insemination. Um what or inception, sorry, I had to think about that word I just used. I was like that is not it. Um what this provides is some history for the school district. You will see at
025the very bottom you will see the budget increase, the levy increase and then the allowable levy increase which uh correlates with the allowable that you see within the chart as well as the actual. Um so you will see for the 2024 25 year we were allowed 3.93%. um our actual levy was 2.93% and then for the 202526 year right now the allowable is 3.34 and we are working diligently to propose an actual amount to the board and the community. This provides uh the property tax cap calculation for the 2025 2026 school year. Uh nothing has changed since the last time we went through this line item by line item. The only thing I would uh like you to know is this has been filed with the office of state controller. There is a March 1st
026deadline date. So it was submitted um once we know what we are going to actually levy. We will go back in that system and make an adjustment um because uh news publications do like to gather data from there. So we want to make sure they have accurate information. Uh based on the calculation we are able to increase the levy by 3.34% which is the 120,953,894 uh dollars as allowable. So that is 3 million 3.9 million of an increase over what we have for the 2024 2025 budget. This provides a snapshot of scenarios. I think it's always nice um to kind of just put it out there what different percentages really mean for um the revenue side. So you will see for every.1% increase in the tax levy percentage that is an additional $117,44. uh 3.34
027is shown there because that is the max following the guideline for the tax cap calculation and then we kind of work backward. What does it look like at 3.25 3% 2.75 2.5% and then 2.225. That doesn't mean you can't land in the middle of those numbers. This is just me showing a nice breakout of not only what it means for the tax levy limit and the increase, but what it also looks like for the tax rate and the estimated tax rate dollar change. Any questions in regards to this? Okay, this provides a preview of what we've worked on in the past year. Just reminding people where the numbers were. So you'll see the 2324 adopted budget, the revenue, the tax levy limit, and where the assessed value was. You will then see the 202425 adopted
028budget, the revenue, the tax levy, the assessed value at that time of projected. I didn't want to change information. It starts to get confusing a little bit number-wise. And then you will also see the dollar change and the percent change. So this was all of the information that was given to the community last year. This provides a budget uh draft at a glance. I do want to put forth to the board so you are aware that we do not believe that this will be what the budget increase is. This is at maximum levels. That means staffing has not been taken into consideration. Mr. Hender has completed that. He's provided that to me. You will see that in the next presentation when we go through staffing. This also incorporates you know everybody's benefits. It is us
029still working through Bosey's cost. Boseies can take a while usually to provide us with their percentage increase. So we make assumptions in there. Um this is also assuming where your um nicer will end up where um the security insurance will end up. So there's a lot of assumptions that happen given the the fact that this is our first March um budget presentation. Um a couple of things to draw your attention to. Um you will see here and you'll see it on a couple additional slides in regards to nicer uh and cyber security. I'm putting in 10% that's where they've been last year. I think the year prior to that they were closer to 15. So there is some work that needs to be done there. Uh Boseies is another line item that you will see
030a large increase. We're working through the Bose uh bill as we speak. So the next presentation will have a more in my mind realistic uh number there. But there are some things that are forthcoming that we will discuss in regards to the replacement of computers. Not only just Chromebooks but desktop computers and things that are hitting end of use of life. So everything is incorporated with that full incorporation here. It is 7.8 million of a budgettobudget increase which is 5.17%. Is there anything that is jumping off the page in which somebody has questions? Yes. C can I just clarify that the Boseies number that you're putting up there is the GNA that's separate from any program costs that we have right that's just what we pay them on top of all the services that they
031provide this is everything for Bose so the entire Bosey's code so this is going to include your special education it is going to it does include services as well okay yes that is the overall Bosey's budget we sorry go ahead yeah the utilities savings what can we attribute that the projected savings. So, um I I would say probably uh solar our the way in which we're managing um just our buildings in totality. Um really being on the ball. I I would also say the uh upgrades to boilers. um the roofing, uh upgrades, repairs or replacements, all of those things. Anything that helps keep heat in um as well as uh controlling the amount of air you need to actually utilize to cool areas is is beneficial to us. That's great that we see savings and
032we're still air conditioning our entire district. It's nice to see that. Yes. Um, and then there are areas and I I believe we talked about this when we did our building walkthroughs or building tours as we were talking about capital um in regards to the gymnasium and discussions and future projects that may be forthcoming. But the classroom spaces and instructional spaces uh are prim primarily covered and anything that isn't we are working on a list and seeing what we can do internally. Anything additional? Okay. All right. So, uh, as myself and Mrs. McCoy went through, uh, some slides, we did revamp some things to try to simplify anything we thought was hard to understand as we did this last year. So, um, one of the items, the top item is revenue at a glance. This
033just provides a easy snapshot revenue other than tax levy for the 2024 2025 in comparison to where we see it right now for 2025 2026. Um this is a conservative number. I am looking through every state aid projection and really making sure whatever the state says we are going to receive, I've cross-cheed it so we are not overestimating revenue. And then the revenue tax levy is just that it is the 2024 2025 adopted verse the maximum of uh the 3.34%. Um so I anticipate some movement there as well. And then you will see the total revenue amount. The total revenue amount is going to be what the uh district and the community passed as uh the general fund budget. And then the total revenue announce amount for the 2026 is going to be based on
034those two revenue character categories. So other than tax levy and then tax levy. So that's the 156,910,988. The next part is the draft budget. So this just allows us to very quickly see are we aligned? Do you have a access of revenue? Do you have a budget gap? And how do we move forward? So you will see for the 202526 total expenses which is what was shown a slide or two ago. And then you will also see total revenue which is just a a snapshot of what is above and it shows the dollar change. So expenses are about 7.8 million. revenue is 4.6 million. So that means there's a gap of 3.2 million at least that needs to be worked out. So this just shows you what we're really going to be working on in
035the coming weeks and in a month from now really uh presenting to the board as a balance budget. Any questions? Was this slide easy to understand? All right. So we'll keep this. Okay. So we are going to uh go as quick or as slow as necessary in regards to the um budget series. This just provides a little bit of information of what you will find underneath each budget series. So general support is just that it's the board is the district clerk. Uh the business office, HR, legal, plant operations, insurance, etc. Transportation is pretty straightforward. And then debt service and inter fund transfers. And then those are all the subcategories we'll talk about for interfont transfers. So some things had a zero dollar change which are nice. Uh other areas you will see so I'll draw
036your attention to a couple of areas on here that have zeros. Uh purchasing currently has zero. Um the reason why that is zero is I'm waiting for Bosey's information. I anticipate a change. I anticipate it being minor though. Um in regards to uh the chief admin and the HR those are just on top of whatever the increase are um we also had change in administration uh as you know so there were some salary adjustments all of that has been accounted for and uh recorded accurately here moving forward and then you also will see uh legal service and that's just on par with what I'm seeing the actual legal expenses being. So we want to make sure we budget for them correctly. Any questions for any area specifically? Okay. Uh the next slide areas the main
037area that you'll see here for uh a large increase is in the area of general insurance and that is property and casualty which is really nicer. Um, as expressed before, I'm still waiting to actually receive the percentage increase as well as for them to hold their annual meeting with us. And in the area of Boseies, this is the one cost area they have provided for us. Um, in the area of Bosey's admin and capital. So that's a little bit over 5%. In total uh for the thousand series it is about 3% of an increase from 2024 25 to 2025 26. What? Remind me what public information is that PR? What's public information? Oh, I always love that line. Let me hold till I can go through my book and then I will confirm that for
038you because I don't want to misspeak. The next area is the 5000 series which is transportation. These are just a couple of reminders or updates. Um so for the 2425 year we uh had a contract extension at CPI. Um all of the buses and vans. Um for home to school are equipped with video uh visual recording equipment. Um we have been working to implement the parent app pilot program. I don't know if anybody wants to speak to that uh at any point. Feel free. Um so that we are anticipating that beginning in late March slash early April um in this uh with our contracted buses that includes 44 large buses and 65 vans. And the cost as it has been in the past is package. So, um this include the package includes uh the routes
039associated with multiple schools. So, um they have a package per the number of buses you need. They give us that and we're currently working off of I think it was a three-year originally approved contract. It allows for two extensions. So, 2425 is an extension and you'll see on the next slide that 2526 will be an extension for just public consumption. Can you tell us what the 31 private program schools what's that all about? The 31 private at the bottom. Those are just the uh the number of schools that um we have our students who are eligible for transportation. Those are the varying schools that they attend. So there are 24 special needs schools. That's our out of district placement for our special needs students. And then the private schools uh are the private schools um
040that our students attend. Okay, as expressed um this upcoming year's uh contract will be a contract extension um with the anticipation of CPI. CPI for transportation has not yet been released. Uh that'll be in the coming months. So we do make some assumptions here. Uh I think initially I was anywhere between 2.75 and three uh for different areas and then once we know that we plug the number if we know it in advance if not we'll go forward with the number and take that into consideration as we build future budgets to make sure we're not overestimating expenses. Um so here you will see the district transportation services. Um minor increase overall contracted transportation. Um this is at a little bit more than 3% so 386,000. Uh Bosey's transportation there's no anticipated increase and that's really
041based on what we're utilizing. Uh so I just usually keep uh eye on how much is being utilized each year. It's not necessarily it goes up by CPI because you don't know if you're going to use that entire amount. And then you will see that the total 5000 series is a 3.02% increase. I do put here the anticipated transportation aid ratio. So for every uh dollar that is spent that is eligible for aid um you're getting I'll say about 40 cents back. I had a question I think it's for Chris. Um, so we the parochial and private school students, those are just the students whose parents want busing, but there are people probably who live in the district that don't ask for busing that we wouldn't know about because they're not our students. So, non-public
042school transportation, there's a card that gets mailed out every single year. Um, families have until April 1st to request transportation if they planned on sending their child to a private or parochial school. um of that some families opt out of transportation um and they'll only utilize um the cost for books. So, we end up having to still have them register with our school district so that we can verify that they're residents and then we'll we'll just pay them uh the we'll pay um for their books reimbursement and we don't hold a hold a seat like we do for public for our schools. We do not Okay. Yeah. Um if you miss the April 1st deadline, um legally you do not need to offer transportation unless of course you have a vehicle that's not at maximum
043capacity. So say you're an individual who um is currently attending one school, April 1st deadline passes, they've been a resident for that past year um and they select another private school where we did not have any transportation going there, then we would not offer the transportation. Any other questions? I just wanted to comment on something that came up a lot during the strategic planning process was a discussion about late buses. Um, and if you look at the amount that we are spending on transportation, and we're fortunate to be going up 3% as opposed to years prior when it was significantly more in the double digits, uh, if we did provide, and we will look into this as part of our strategic plan request. But if we did look into this, the late buses would be
044a significant cost because it's not just late buses for our community, but also for the 31 private and parochial schools. even if there's one student at each of those 31 schools, we would have to provide an additional bus at each of those locations, which is a significant cost. So, I just wanted to point that out while we're on this slide. I also think that the uh fact that we're able to work under contract extensions works for us. Um, I have my own concerns. I'm sure Chris and I will see eye to eye on some of these, but moving forward with the electric buses as well as just what is happening in the area of securing bus drivers um and the the cost of maintaining the buses. I foresee these increases being more than CPI um
045in the future. So, we keep those things in our mind as we're planning, but there are some things that are just outside of our our no right now. So to take on something um as large, not to say it's impossible, but it has a huge financial impact. The 9,000 series uh that we're going to cover tonight is debt service and inner fund transfers. Um so just a couple of items in regards to debt service. Uh each year we borrow for a TAN, that's a tax anticipated note. Um there is an interest payment that is associated with that. Um annually the short-term borrowing has been 16 million. Uh last year the interest percentage for the 2023 24 school year was 5.25%. So I just wanted to make that very clear so people understand where some of
046these numbers come from uh moving forward. So you will see in the uh 20 2025 2026 year um we did find that the 5,000 mark to be 500,000 wish it was 5,000 500,000 mark uh to be sufficient. We are um we know for a fact that our interest for 2024 25 is 4%. That's already known because we've already done the borrowing. Um you will also see that for school lunch fund there's been no change. Um special aid fund there has been no change. Something that was interesting uh was originally our UPK provider had sent us a letter saying they were actually going to increase the cost per slot. Um a couple weeks later we got a letter saying they weren't. So this area of the special aid fund in the event that the cost per
047child uh slot increases. This is where we would be budgeting because we do have a general fund uh set aside to cover what the grant or UPK funds will not. Um the other item to note is debt service. I wanted to note here that there will be a transfer um it's a transfer from the debt service reserve. So we have about $212,000 there that we have to use since this will be our last knock on wood our last uh debt payment. We do have to utilize that in the uh 2526 school year. So that is something that is being accounted for on the revenue side. And then the capital fund has a slight uptick of $10,000 and that is to include items that I'm going to talk about on I think it's the next slide
048or the next two slides. Any questions in the area of uh debt service and inner fund transfers? Can you just explain to us what tax anticipated notes are? So that is um you have rand tans and bands. So, uh, RAM is when you have a revenue anticipated note. That's usually when your district is a little bit more reliant on state aid. You're waiting for the money to come. TANS function very similar. Um, taxes are paid to uh or received from uh the county and given to the school district or the town and given to the school district. There's a timeline in which you pay your taxes. bills have to be paid for the school district all year round. So, we do look to see when our um short months are or months where your expenses
049exceed what you think you're going to have in revenue and we will do a borrowing to cover us. Uh there is a process in which we have to actually put together a um cash flow. It is reviewed uh by legal and it is then also reviewed by the uh financial advisors and they put that out to see what we can get out the market. Does that make sense? Yes. Thank you. Okay. And bands are bond anticipated note but we don't worry about those right now. So transfer to capital um we've done this uh every year that I've been here. That's not been long, but we've done that prior to that as well. Um, and this is a set aside that happens and we do this to do smaller projects in which the district receives aid
050on. So, you will see some possible project options here. Um, it could be interior doors, ADA, drainage, windows, playgrounds. Um, and the list goes on and on. What we are requesting for the 2025 2026 is to include some of the smoke separation doors in continuence of what was already approved uh last year. Last year was Southtown and Washington. I just actually had a follow-up meeting in regards to those today. Um and this is part of the priority one. So the priority one was a long list. We have items that were included for the use from the capital reserve. These are a couple of additional items that were smaller and we felt that we could get done with a transfer to capital. So, this will then mean all of our buildings have the smoke separation which
051will be great and fits the safety and security um that we continue to do in the school district. And then the dollar amounts that are associated are next to it. So, if you add those dollar amounts up, then you know why I asked for 260,000 instead of 250. This is a summary of everything uh that was discussed in regards to the different series. One thing um actually I have two things to note on here. Uh in regards to the 9,000 series, that also includes uh usually the benefits area that was not discussed tonight. that will be discussed at the next meeting along with staffing. So I think it's important to not confuse people when you usually see this it's a lot larger because benefits are there. These were just the um debt service and interfund
052transfer pieces. And then another item to note when you look at the total for uh the 9,000 series it looks significantly larger than what is budgeted in the future two school years. So 2425 and 2526. So what I wanted to note is that includes some actual expenses, actual interest paid on tan, actual inner fund transfers that happen, the allocation of the 250,000 for the transfer to capital and your proposition gets included for auditing purposes on there. So when you see 5.8, 8. The brunt of that is really that project uh that was approved by the community in the May 2024 vote. It already gets captured there. And then in the event, and I say this multiple times, but in the event that all of those funds are not expensed, that goes back into the capital
053reserve. Any questions? All right, our fun part. Um, this is all stuff that uh you have seen. Nothing has changed off of here. So, it's still showing the 3.6 million in regards to the 2026 capital project. Um, hitting multiple buildings with a a a nice chunk of it really focusing in on the 2022 2023 building condition survey priority list. um which is great to see that items be are being included from there and really targeting the areas of need. Um by doing this now it means that you're not going to have those emergency things uh happen so frequently in the future. This also includes phase 4, the final phase for uh stem's roof as well as outside field bathrooms. I just want to any questions, comments. This will be presented. This will be presented again,
054but at the next meeting, it will have uh there will be something under the actions area in which we will need the board to say yes, we agree with moving this forward because there are things that we have to put out uh for publications uh to the community. I'm just trying to recall, this is my fourth year on the board. Is this the last bit of roofing for the district, right? Like we've done or do we have There is one building that was uh under question in regards to the timeline and the information. So I feel comfortable saying uh seven out of eight nearly. Okay. Any other questions? Okay. So this slide is in regards to the uh new building improvement fund. So uh it would be called the 2025 building improvement fund. And this
055is just some quick facts. Uh it's a new reserve fund or account. U prior funds have reached or approaching or approaching their cumulative contribution limits. Um money may only be used for capital/f facility project upgrades. I think it's important to note that the funds that are placed in this only get taken out based on voter approval. Uh so there is a lot of voter control in that. Um it the funding source is really budget surplus and or appropriations each year. This has no impact on the tax levy or tax rate. Uh the cumulative contribution um that we were looking to seek is 15 million and it is uh also looking to seek a 10-year maximum term. Any questions? So we would have three props. Prop one being whatever the finalized budget is for 2526. Proposition
056two would be the capital reserve appropriation. So all of those items that were um listed would be included if uh the board so chooses. And then proposition three would be the 2025 building improvement fund for 15 million. And then this is just forthcoming presentations. Um, so as you've heard a couple of times from myself and others, the next meeting is March 25th and we will be talking about employee benefits and instructional staff along with some adjustments you'll see for revenue and expenses. I just want to mention that is a Tuesday and that meeting was changed from March 24th. It was approved at our last meeting. Uh, so for those of you who plan on attending either virtually or in person, it will be Tuesday, March 25th. Thank you. If no questions or comments, we're going
057to move right on to our policies. We have three policies here today. They do not require a second read. We're starting off at policy 3421, title 9 and sex discrimination, and 3421 F title 9 form formal complaint form. Yes. My recommendation from the superintendent of schools that the board of education adopt first read draft policy 3421 title 9 and sex discrimination and 3421F title 9 formal complaint form. Can I have a motion bill second by Michelle? A motion to bypass Michelle. I'll make a motion to bypass the first the second read. First by Michelle, second by second. Okay. You want me to read it? Okay. Yeah, sure. Um, so the this change um is following the federal court's decision on January 9th, 2025. Uh the 2024 Title 9 regulations have been vacated. Uh we had
058recently updated this back in August. Uh therefore, the 2020 Title 9 regulations must now be followed. Again, uh this policy originally was approved by the board on January 11th, 2021, and it reverts back to that policy. Questions or comments? All in favor? That's everyone. Policy 7554, formerly 8130, equal educational opportunities. It is upon recommendation from the superintendent of schools at the board of education adopt first read draft policy 3421 title 9 and sex discrimination and 3421F title I think it's the I didn't pick up. Yeah, hold on. It is my recommendation schools that the board of education adopt first read draft board policy 7554 formerly 8130 equal educational opportunities. Can I have a motion? Tom second by Teresa. Can I now have a motion to bypass? Annie will make the motion. Bill was seconded. Uh
059so this is also following the federal court's decision on January 9th, 2025 that the 2024 Title 9 regulations have been vacated. Therefore, the 2020 Title 9 regulations and subsequent policies that refer to Title 9 must now be followed. This is one of those um that we had recently updated uh in our past meeting. Uh the only change to this uh it's going to revert back to the old policy. Um the only difference is that it used to be form uh 8130 which we changed to 7554 because uh the recommendation was it made more sense in the board policy uh under student section. Any questions or comments? All in favor? That's everyone. Then moving on to policy 7555 educational services for married pregnant students. This my recommendation from the superintendent of schools that the board of
060education resin board policy 7555 educational services for married pregnant students which was adopted on January 13, 2025. Can I have a motion? Second by Bill. Can I have a motion to bypass? U Tom will make the motion to bypass. Second by Kelly. So this uh is also following the federal court's decision on January 9th, 2025. The 2024 Title 9 regulations have been vacated. Therefore, the 2020 Title 9 regulations and subsequent policies that address Title 9 must now be followed. As such, the language in board policy 7555 has been embedded back into board policy 7554 and this policy needs to be removed. Any questions or comments? All in favor? That is everyone. Next is Mr. Cusack. Before you get up and say anything, like to congratulate you and your family for your son's outstanding performance in
061the state wrestling tournament. I believe he got second in the state. That's an unbelievable feat. Congratulations. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you. Good evening. It is upon recommendation for the uh from the superintendent of schools that the board of education approve CSSE CPSC submissions as delineated. Have a motion. Tom, second by Teresa. All in favor? That is everyone. All right. It is upon recommendation from the superintendent of schools that the board of education approve personnel items on schedules 3, four, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 16, and 22. Have a motion Kelly, second by Teresa. All in favor? That's everyone. There's just a few announcements. Um, we're welcoming back Beth Stall, who is a recent retiree. Uh this additional 6 is going to allow our life skills students to um attend job training
062um more frequently. Uh this past year we've had uh additional special needs students move into the district and we needed to allocate some FTE which compromised uh their ability to go to on-site job training. Uh this additional 6 will make them whole so that this way they can continue to get the services uh and the exposure that they need. So thank you to the board for for doing that. Um, additionally, uh, there are a lot of really great retirees on here, but once again, I'm going to save that for, uh, our June 3rd board meeting where we'll honor, uh, all their wonderful work that they did. And then finally, there was a tenure recommendation on here, Whitney Sparrow, who used to go by Whitney Voyages. Um, she couldn't make it here tonight. However, she has
063been uh, an absolute um, invaluable person in the special education department. She used to be an aid. Uh, she got promoted to a teaching assistant. um she is the most upbeat, friendliest, um willing to step in and do anything uh for our students. So, I just want to congratulate her on this wonderful milestone because she truly deserves it. And now back to Dr. Harris. Lots of good news here, I think. Yes. It is upon recommendation from the Superintendent of Schools that the board of education approve business items I through Q. Can I have a motion? Kelly, second by Teresa. Any questions, comments? All in favor? That's everyone. Michelle, I believe we have some donations. Some donations. Uh first one is the South Down Primary uh PTA is presenting a donation of $2,500 and this is
064to offset the cost of upcoming field trips. So, thank you to the South Down PTA. Uh, next is the Tanganger Deer Park Outlets is presenting a donation of $2,290 to Washington Primary. Uh, they were selected to receive this award for their school signage project through the Tanganger Kids Grants Program. So, thank you to them. And lastly, uh, Miss Janet Vicaro is presenting a donation of a buffet cramp and clarinet and an Amun soprano saxophone to the music department, and that has a total value of $1,150. So, thank you to Miss Vicaro for that. [Applause] The good news that I saw in there is that the lights came in well under budget, right? I think they were half of what we thought and that doesn't include the aidable amount. So that's great. That's good news. All
065right. So, uh, at this point we open it back up for public commentary. Same rules apply as earlier today. I mean, and Danny, I'm just gonna let you know that Michelle will let you know when there's one minute left. And I only say that because I know you can go on and on. I said Michelle was let the time the official three minute timer. I'll give you a minute uh warning. I won't give you a minute. I'll give you a minute warning. Um, dear school board, uh, this letter is on behalf of over 40 members of the clergy and also two members of the NAACP in response to some, um, anti-immigration statements that is prevalent within our schools. Uh, my name is Pastor Dan Rivera. I am the the reverend and pastor of Huntington Assembly
066of God in Huntington. Our collective responsibility is to ensure that the schools remain envir remain environments where student can learn and grow without fear of discrimination, intimidation, taunting, harassment or bullying. We are aware of recent and of recent reports of anti-immigration statements directed towards students. We are deeply concerned and strongly condemn any language or behavior that fosters a division of hostility among our youth. This behavior is contributing to reports of increased absence rates and and mental and emotional stress among our young people. It is essential that we work together uh to continue to work together to ensure that all students feel safe and supported in our schools. We as the clergy urge the local school districts to immediately address these issues by reinforcing your district's policies and New York State's Dignity for All Students Act.
067We request that this critical message be communicated to all students by administration and personally from teachers at every level. We ask that uh all reports connect to this type of behavior be dealt with swiftly and proper accountable actions. We stand with all students and families who may be affected by discriminatory statements and actions. We encourage schools to engage with parents, educators, and community leaders to reinforce the values of kindness, acceptance, and mutual respect. Together, we can build a more supportive and welcoming environment for all. In addition, we would we are our the clergy open ourselves up to discussions that will help promote cultural awareness and uphold respect and inclusion. Finally, it would be our honor to meet and ensure that these actions have been taken place to help protect our students respectfully the clergy members
068of the faith-based organizations from the town of Huntington. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Danny. Closing remarks by board members. So, it was good to see that the lights came in so much cheaper. And uh I was going to make some kind of wise comment about how much marble and granite are we going to have in those fieldhouse bathrooms at $1.6 million, but again, it's a budgeting exercise. I understand when we go out to get bids, we'll make sure that there's no marble and granite, right? And uh so yeah so and my other thing again I this is my own little soap box I step up on you know so when I ask you about the Boseies costs again they are what they pass down I find it a little bit ironic you know
069that we're going to be working to a budget with a max increase of 3.34% yet somehow the organization that we're going through that is supposed to save us money on the educational services is asking for what eight n% more we We have to figure out a way to hold them more accountable. That's my only statement because it's just, you know, it's, you know, it's 8 n% of our budget, right? So, it's but all the other school districts are seeing the same thing and it's something's just broken there. That's that's all. Okay, I'm down on my soap box. Well, it's also, you know, to to garner support for our transportation resolution as well because you you talk about transportation being 10% of our budget about. So, um it was wellreceived when Michelle and I were up
070in Albany and I think we were heard and uh we have a little bit of work to do, roll up our sleeves and um make sure that other school districts I mean everybody is affected by this throughout the state. So hopefully we can see some savings in the future. Anyone else? Well, if we're on a soap box, I'm going to say something. These the TAN expenses is really just a timing thing, right? Otherwise, we wouldn't have to spend that money. And it's not just us. A lot of all all districts have to spend that money. And if it would just release a little bit sooner, we would have an awful lot of savings there. I've been on this one for a long time. Just telling the town, collect your taxes more on a schedule akin
071to the school districts where most of the taxes you collect go. And you know what they say? Yeah. Forget about it. Yeah. Someone's got to make that 10 money, right? I just wanted to mention mention once again that we apologize we were unable to live stream tonight, but the video uh of the meeting will be posted on the website in the coming days. Thank you for your patience. If nothing further, motion to adjurnn. Teresa, second by Tom. All in favor. That's everyone. Have a good night.