001okay good evening I'd like to call to order our budget hearing for May 8th 2024 for the Boston Spa Central School District if we would like to rise for the Pledge of Allegiance I 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 like to welcome those watching on the live stream like to welcome those who are here in person if for any reason we needed to evacuate this Library there are emergency exits on either side behind me leading outside and there is the exit leading into the hallway at the front of the library I think we're ready for our presentation for okay good evening everyone so tonight is the budget hearing and for the board
002members this will be information you've heard before is requ process in state for schools to once again a final uh version of everything that has uh happened over the last three or four months in the development of the budget so let's just jump right in there through this I will be talking dri budget driver this year was medal insurance l1.1 million this has to do with incre premiums that we're seeing across all our plans the district issor a gas we had a bid on this weong to again a large consorting of over 400 and the last time this was done was right at the time of and and the prices that we locked in years were very low now years to seen that increase every year we've had to deal with it in a very
003short time here in the spring as the bids came in for those two numers pull those out of the whole budget would only be up 1.3% very very L percent so General support and of that the whole that whole section in but back to gas that's 433,000 that a hopefully forward bid for yearses are set so the issue will be the weather Construction all distri Transportation 6.1 that's a large increase but we all know what's been happening with the transportation department difficulty drivers have difficulty retaining drivers meic so a lot of changes made addal put all that together incre diesel gas the transportation the last couple years not time represent inflation ons and bus reps and tires all those we drive over 900,000 and all that goes up and ex and then contract this is
004a large incre this has to contract transp students outside the district the district is required to deliver either for special education purposes or for dento which year we expect to over $600,000 that this will come am district has to pay and of salaries up but so most of chrees systems are Char there's Insurance talked that1 d000 so those are interest rates just likees all the Mone weor for last everything and then finally other fun transfers transer to uh the special Aid fund each year and this is for um summer school and for special education sum explain the budget in the way that we normally do and the way we think about it which I just did but also we required uh I don't know why what I did I show Central off distri services empy
005like support it facili hereu asso benefits so there's a different way of looking at it helps us then let's change over to revenues this is really the confing factor of expenditures you know we would have been at% budget not completely out line with a lot of the school districts in the area especially considering inflation factors and Etc but you can only go as far as you're able to Rel to your we had two big blockers this year the biggest one right here is the state we got a decrease in our foundation and a small decrease but that changes everything because Foundation is about 26 million ofre Revenue either needs to come from somewhere else or there needs to be expenditure reductions for both that's what was accomplished this year so there was expend reduction as
006superintend explain and other things had to pick up the difference one area that up the difference is additional fund balance distri savings to the budet tax is higher than we we had gotten just 1% on our foundation this would if we had got 2% with 3.2 I mean that's just that's the uh last year was 4% the formula uh 4.12% the state formula Foundation said that that should be what they use to found AC State didn't want to do that they get to choose we don't get to choose driot anden byen by global foundaries global foundies in fact Pro for next year is some of our other smaller Pilots went a little b000 isn't Rel to Bud and this is uh tuitions so the district you know takes in and has for good 20 years
007uh offers special education programs that if the classes are not full let's say it's a 1211 group and our own students in there there's room for two students to come from other school districts school districts love to get this type of thing because if they don't offer the program and they need 1211 you still have to staff the program even if you might have five kids in so therefore we're able to draw in in kids districts we used to have 124 now we're down in the to range so this has been going down over the years unfortunately and you know who knows it's always a mix of the type of special education kids who has classes who doesn't so it comes go there's really not a lot to we know thatas so put this all
008together the inrees bud just mention miscellane large uh this is interest income so just as inflation has caused us to have a lot of increases in our costs on supplies materials Etc uh the interest earnings on the district our treasur invest that Mone ago that was about6 four years ago interest rates were essentially okay so this is just a further break this is this the ker here this is lower but you know our expenses are lower hopefully you that come our service is not changing change perent this is a this is to me is an important graph I know you know back here was a much larger portion of distri and it dropped like crazy during crisis and then here we are down we'll see what happens so part of this hearing is to put
009out some estimated tax rates and they are next year it's quite conut I just want to spend a minute on this we have one town in the stay each year at 100% Equalization so what that means for the audience is that if supposedly if your house is worth $300,000 it should be assessed of $300,000 so it's 100% in the other towns they do not do that and they are in various stages of that going down anywhere from 65% to about 80% and that will Contin to go down until they do a rebound which may not for the well it should matter because the toate taxes div number and pushes the levy across towns based on that ation it's called the Lev so that it makes up for the difference what would happen otherwi and so
010what I mean by that is let's take this this easy so charlon their Equalization down a little bit so their numbers are about the same it's sh% and here Mal sh5 but Mal's total assessments up 9% okay so when when you look at that that means that this is not a negative people Mal are not and that's the average single family homeowner should see about a 2.2% increase in their taxes so when we talk about you know the ly went up 4.1% it's really not that when go in and you do all the culations cross and what we always use here short hand is that take off what the new growth factor is in the tax cap off of the l% increase you'll get an approximate and that is exactly right for this District so
011uh the 4.1 and we had a 2% increase in new assessments so that's about a 2.1 I'm going to say about 2.2 change because star if everybody's familiar with star I hope You' all getting star or getting a check or sign uh star is actually the the uh the reimbursement is going down a littleit so that offset a little bit of that decrease so that's why I'm using 2.2 and not 2. I actually calculated using these rates all of the board members next year's tax bill and the average cost all of you is 2% so there you goates rates are in a and I a lot less this year than last year the year that we're in increased quite a bit this year it's not near um that has to the this doesn't mean that
012they're going down they're not they're going to go up they're going to see a two% increase just like everybody it depends on your house any of these places but particularly in Malta you could you could have a house that you have there's been no changes to and it was set assessed at 300,000 and if they've increased the assessments on average by your new assessment will be 330,000 so that's the new rate that that's the new amount that the rate app so that's what offsets that rate change they update it every year yeah the other towns do not update it they haven't they haven't in 20 years 2006 was the last year um because I remember because I was here they all stopped doing it before that they were all at 100% it's it's costly because
013you have to a lot of you have a long pace for an outside group to come in and do these BS um but you know eventually you'll have to do it the town I live in is at 38% probably in the fall when I get my ti it's going to be like 30% so divide 30 into your number so it's way off but again the formula knows that and takes that into account and redistributes the okay I want to point this out this is very important this is the tax the district since 2018 here the ACT this is the amount that could have been wasn't a tighter we have last last time were tight back in20 um so again significantly less and I think we're doing a great job with that this number represents all
014those changes that I talked about specifically the decrease in the pilot PS the increases Val all that goes into that that's why it's not 5.5% could this is our district goals we do for our budget goals family and Community engagement engaging our parents careers en our student experience scho multier system support consist process Lev addon not alone this building District level state ouring then we have our Capital Pro ster feed building the bud it's always Maxim return investment talk the success of our students for them to help them ACH and succeed okay um and so when we talk about maximizing the return on investment um that is really what we strive for every day um the path to education might look different for different students but at the end of the day when we're providing
015that meaningful diploma we're offering those opportunities for our kids um to really grasp and and and achieve their goals um we're also committed to providing the best opportunities to have our students reach their full potential um and committed to preserving and improving quality programs and services throughout Innovative practices so these are this is kind of our guiding uh Force when we're developing the budget um which really starts you know the vote will be in May we'll start developing next year's budget this summer um really kick it into full gear September October November um and ramp it up so for for this year and Brian's already talked about several of the budget drivers um we had the the foundation Aid uh situation um we had the pilot reduction we also had the the arpa funds that
016are due to expire at the end of August and so when you add those budget drivers together it really left us with a deficit of about $2.3 million um this year and so um you know really in December um and January um and into February we started to make plans um when the governor released the initial um Foundation Aid runs um and we saw saw you know the decrease of uh $73,000 we've kind of formulated our worst case scenario uh plan and so you know when planning that um you know Brian and and his his team did a great job of um incrementally showing you know if we don't get any increase it's this if we get 1% one and a half two two and a half up to 3% um but unfortunately as everybody
017knows we did not see an increase and so it's one thing to plan for worst case scenario it's a whole different thing to have to execute that plan um so a lot of difficult decisions needed to be made and um we looked to minimize the impact as best we could um you know as Brian showed with adding additional Foundation Aid going out at 4.1% um we also amended some of our arpa grants to include summer school which saved us about $200,000 um which allowed us to you know when we talk about reductions in force try to minimize um even though it it's pretty it's pretty bad this year um we also took a comprehensive look at our programming uh across the board k12 and that really started in September um and we we conducted a
018program review in February I was notified uh by Hudson Valley um you know great partnership that we have we still have a great partnership with them um but we they they let me know that they weren't able to house our spa Academy program which house houses students in grades 9 through 12 about 60 students there um and so with the silver lining in that is that we're able to reallocate a lot of um teachers and staff and FTE back into High School Middle School to again try to minimize the impact and be able to absorb some retirements and resignations um also the middle years uh program the IB program at the middle school um we're not going to be moving forward with that so again um that allowed us to move some of the it
019positions with help backfill some of the retirements and and absorb those retirements and resignations so that we could minimize the actual reductions um and so reductions in force again um positions absorbed through retirements we had two Elementary classroom teachers two high school classroom teachers Middle School social worker and Elementary teaching assistant um the FTE flowing back into the high school uh from Spa Academy um and the Middle School allowed us to absorb the high school classroom teachers and the Middle School social worker um so even though they're absorbed through retirements um we do have people filling those positions um positions of absorbed through resignations again this was offset um somewhat by not moving forward with the middle years's program allowing um some of those it positions to flow back into the classroom which allowed us
020to absorb some of the resignations um but we had a uh some resignations that we will be absorbing High School administrator uh high school classroom teacher middle school classroom teacher um two High School teaching assistants one Middle School teaching assistant two Elementary teaching assistants and two High School Aids and then uh one of the the more most difficult decisions uh this year um was the additional positions for reductions in force um and those this year those look like uh one Elementary Aid uh two Elementary teaching assistant two middle school classroom teachers six Elementary classroom teachers one high school it three Middle School it um and so had we not seen the increase in Foundation a we did last year we would have been in this position last year um but but we were able to
021offset that and do most of our reductions of force through um retirements and resignation absor those positions unfortunately with no additional increase um we we we weren't able to do that this year um all that being said you know we we were able to um create several budget goals that really tie into our district goals and help support not only our students but our staff but our community in general and so our budget goals uh this year so first one here is bridging learning gaps and continuing to provide sustainable supports through responsible consistent resource allocation and so that's something that we really had to be mindful of this year with the situation we're facing um how are we going to reallocate our current resources to make sure that we're doing right by our students um
022you know it'll certainly it'll certainly be tough um with all the reductions you know Year year-over-year we're looking at about 31 staff reductions um in those three three categories from all four bargaining units um but the result of these goals we hope are continued support for ongoing implementation of Elementary re reading math science social studies and social emotional learning curriculum continued support for curriculum initiatives at the middle school um and providing support for continued implementation of the mtss program uh that we've been working on to audit and make some adjustments to this year and we'll continue to do that our next uh budget goal was maintaining support for additional student learning opportunities and so um included here is the funding for uh about 70 students to um attend Bose CTE programming um over the years
023we've increased our internal um CTE programming it's pretty robust but we also have students who um take advantage of wish we and New Visions um a lot of the the more popular um strands there are welding um uh heavy machinery cosmetology culinary um and the nursing program over at uh New Visions and so included in the budget is uh funding for 70 students um to attend that programming um also I talked about the summer school you know moving a being able to amend um the grant allowed us to continue to run the summer school in grades 9 through 12 here at the high school and summer success K8 um so continuing to maintain and create new learning opportunities for our special education students you know as Brian pointed out um you know the the uh
024number of POS of openings that we have um that usually would be filled with outside people um asking if they could send their students here um you know you know we've seen an increase in um those spots being filled by our own students um we've seen a a drastic decrease in outplacement opportunities for our students so we' we've had to service our students inous as much as possible and so it does cause a bit of a domino effect um but we are creating an additional 121 uh 1211 self-contained classroom which will be housed at Wood Road um and we're maintaining current levels of support for our students uh in special education um this one here is geared uh more towards staff but also the direct result will be on students um so providing Dynamic and
025Innovative learning opportunities that provide um uh opportunities for engagement um and so you know we we've been able to have a pretty robust um internal um professional development portfolio um we had a fantastic superintendent's conference day in the fall we're able to offer another one um in the spring um you know our PDC um runs you know 10p part series um so we have a very robust catalog internally and and those things are geared at um trying to be Innovative and and finding areas of improvement and so some areas that we're going to be focusing on next year and years to come curriculum instruction student chronic absenteeism um staff and student wellness and diversity equity and inclusion and finally here um our next uh our last budget goal is continuing to improve our district facilities
026to ensure a safe and secure campus for our students and staff and so we're maintaining funding for our two school resource officers who have truly become a part of our school Community um and maintaining funding to enhance and improve our current infrastructure whether it be the physical structures of the school um or cyber security things like that but we want to make sure that um we are robust in how we protect not only um data but our students um and our staff and really anyone that is on our campuses whether it be inside buildings or outside um also included here is the bus garage LIF project which is uh an additional proposition and so this is something that we had hoped to include in the next Capital project but our Architects took a look um
027and said that our bus lifts are not going to make it um these things are um gigantic they're embedded uh they're about 20 years old um and they service our entire fleet um and they move so some of our buses are larger some are smaller um and these bus lifts have the ability to move um and lift I believe 65,000 tons pounds pound 65,000 lb two of them um and so this will allow us to uh replace one and then replace the other um which will keep our buses running and as we know you know KN going wood we've we've hopefully um kind of leveled off with the driver shortage but if we can't maintain our buses and can't service our buses that creates a whole different issue so um this budget goal and then
028the result will be the and so the annual budget vote and election is Tuesday May 21st and I encourage everyone to get out and vote thank you um so we'll have opportunity for questions yeah so so it's uh we call it the pel list preferred eligibility list and so whenever there's an opening um that person will get called for the next seven years and offered uh the opening based on you know certification um and the qualifications I have one that might be for for Brian as well um can you just characterize describe the differences in Staffing during the year and planning Staffing for next budget cycle between the um instructional staff and our Support Services area like you know the facilities and the bus drivers and things like that I'm not really well my understanding
029is that we have more of an opportunity to be flexible during the year and potentially plan for what the next year will be which is different than the instructional staff because you can't make changes mid year in the fall or spring or is there no difference I know okay thank you any other questions um so obviously this year um when we talk about reductions in force um there's quite a few Elementary positions so um class sizes at the elementary um I don't know the exact number uh but there's no class size average right now based on projections that breaches 24 um and and half at least half of the total class size at all grade levels are under 20 uh students per class um at the high school middle school you know there there will
030be somewhat of an increase you know when when we talk about class size at the high school middle school um when we're building those schedules the conversation starts at 24 um you know ly you know there are some classes that sometimes move into the 30 31 range but then you have the flip side where you have some classes that um are in the 15 to 16 range so it's kind of all over the place um but you know I I I can say that um we're not going to see a tremendous increase to class sizes despite having the reductions of you know 31 positions across now those aren't all teaching positions um but you know which was you know part of the disc discussion and planning and and trying to figure out where we're going
031to make up the $2.3 million deficit and I think if you did look at the certain grade levels where you grade level students and sure yeah I mean and that's all based off of projections you know we we can't really predict who we're going to see come into the district over the summer but as of right now that that's what it looks like actually that was one of my questions are these These are actual enrollments currently or predicted because we do have quite a few kids who enroll over the summer we do yeah so what what what I've shared with uh with the board are the current projections for next school year there the projections for next school year not current not this year's numbers the if a third grade class this year that projection
032is the fourth grade for next year right does that answer your question well he confused me but I think what you said so year-over-year so you're not in you're not predicting how many people are going to enroll over the summer correct if necessary you are going to do what you need to do not have humongous class sizes in the district absolutely yes it's assuming a net zero with students coming into the district and students leaving the district so what is currently the third grade next year will be the fourth grade and um what is the average class like full class size all the elementary schools together um is that is that I'd have to I'd have to just run the numbers for you I can get you that but I I if law ran the
033numbers it was under 20 no no no I mean like 200 and oh in the element like like a graduating class all of the first grade class is approximately I'd have to I'll get back to you I'll take a look at the total numbers in first grade okay but we are seeing a decrease in enrollment we we are yeah and and really that decrease you know is spread over K12 so we're not really seeing the decrease of a large number of St students per grade level it's really spread K12 okay thank you so we we've seen a decrease in Brian C wrong since 2012 there's been a pretty steady decrease in enrollment since 2012 um you know with potentially a new plant we don't know if that's going to bring more people to move into
034the district which will create more students coming into the district there's just a lot of variables there that that we can't predict okay if there's no more questions or comments from the board members now is the opportunity for the public to comment on the budget and so um I believe we do not have sign up you can just approach the podium uh state your name for our minutes and uh please share your comment or questions hi um I actually had a question about the workforce reduction that we were just talking about um I'm just wondering and speaking to other teachers from neighboring districts I know that many districts are actually hiring new teachers next year um I just spoke with a teacher today from Burnt Hills and they are hiring many teachers same thing with
035Saratoga and I was wondering why other districts are able to move um I think close to a million dollars from what I heard in one of the districts from fund reserves to hire teachers and we're actually eliminating the positions and also as a parent I'm wondering um if parents are aware that the classroom sizes that I think are now 18 averaging around um or less can bump up to 24 um I know research obviously shows that classrooms for Effective learning that's not a great thing to have that many students in a classroom especially at the lower levels um and I'm actually working I've been working consistently in one of the buildings K through five subbing and I see the issues that the teachers are already having with the class sizes at the size that they
036are and I'm just wondering what is going to happen with that increase I know that you had said that it's possible that it won't increase or that the projected numbers won't I believe at Gordon Creek at least I think that kindergarten is expected to increase next year um and again just knowing how detrimental that is not only to the teacher teachers but most importantly to the students as well by reducing these positions and now you're having four sections and then reducing it to three sections I just can't even imagine how that's going to be conducive for learning for these kids especially again at this lower level coming off of the covid bump that we had where we know that numbers and learning is kind of I'll be stunted a little bit as we are and
037now going into next year with all of these budget cuts and the workforce reduction and I think it's I mean it's sad I know a lot of these teachers personally and it's really a detriment to the district to be losing these teachers like they are so valuable and so important for the well-being of our school which I think is really I mean all of this budget and everything else what it really comes down to is teaching these kids and providing that stability and the building blocks for them to advance to the next grade level and I just I'm worried about I'm worried about our future of the district with these cuts and how that's going to affect again not only the teachers but the students as well okay um so I'll start with you know
038I can't really speak to the other districts I mean the foundation Aid formula is different for for all districts um you know we are hiring some positions mostly in special education where you know they're connected to IEPs um but as far as you know the class sizes you know we met with building leadership um when we're talking about section reductions um and taking a look at where where we're going to see the least impact on those class sizes and so you know as as I stated um we don't have any classes projected right now for next year to breach 24 um you know there there are several at least half of all the classes classes in um all four Elementary buildings are under 20 still um and we do have a few um that are
039in between the 20 to 24 class range um you know as far as the future of the district um again that's that's difficult to predict um you know we don't know what Foundation Aid will look like next year um we don't know um when the global Foundry plant will begin construction uh that certainly plays a part in in the pilot and and having some assessed value on that to kind of level things off um but this is something that we're constantly working on uh talking to our building administrators talking to our business office the district um and and trying to make sure that when we're faced with a difficult budget year this year we're we're really trying to impact as the as few students as possible um a lot of decisions were very difficult this
040year um but but there was no way around not having to make these decisions so is that it is pretty much a done deal that all of those I know I think I was trying to count as it was going over 15 positions will 100% be eliminated I mean that that is the plan right now unless unless something changes so what happens if I know project c s we're hoping I think everybody would hope that it's going to be lower because of that but what happens if it's not because I know obviously with global foundries in Malta I mean housing is popping up every day people are moving in so what happens if we get to a point that's not I mean if we see an influx of students that changes the formula for foundation
041Aid um so that would be that would be different um in terms of what we get from the state in that percentage of the pie for foundation Aid um and so that would be something that we'd have to look at moving forward budget to budget if our numbers started to increase um we wouldn't just stay level um at these at these rates we'd have to take a look at and see um what we would need to do to ensure that we're not seeing Elementary class sizes 25 26 30 you know like that so we we have to take a look it's tough for me to predict what's going to happen as far as you know people coming in or out I think during the first um plant um I think we saw an increase of
042what 120 to 200 students K12 after the plant was built after the plant was built years yeah so after the plant was built in three years that the the district saw about 120 to 160 additional students K12 okay um and I'm sorry I'm not well versed in the budget but the reserve funds that other districts have been I guess dipping into to cover hiring for teachers is that yeah so so Brian talked about it we increased those Reserve funds from last year to this year we we put an additional $350,000 into that budget line to help mitigate um reductions in force so the total this year was 1,550 1,5 5 550,000 so even with dipping into those Reserve funds we still have to cut that many positions and going out at 4.1% and doing everything
043we did to try to make up for as much as we could okay all right thank you question no no Vicki savini a first grade teacher Gordon Creek um I like to keep things very simple black and white when my son was four years old we moved to this District because I had just started teaching in the district and they prided themselves on class sizes doing what was right for the kids and I came from a district in Troy I had 26 kids in my class let me tell you something it's not good so when I hear now as a first grade teacher that we might be going from 18 that I have now and my 18 are a handful we have quite a handful in our building this year when I hear that we
044might be going from 18 to 20 or 24 it seems like it doesn't make a big difference but I have to ask have any of you ever taught in an Elementary classroom K1 because in K1 we are building their Foundation we are giving them those life skills we're teaching teaching them how to read we're teaching them how to write we're teaching them the foundations of math and when you have 24 kids in front of you who now you're not only dealing with some kids who really can't do the curriculum and you have to supplement for that but children who are coming in with more and more behaviors on a daily basis that we have classrooms being evacuated every single day because of those behaviors I have to wonder how these kids are going to learn
045effectively now my son's graduating this year so I could very well just like this but I can't do that because I teach here and I care about my kids and I care about my community and I'm also a realtor and I have people moving into Boston spot and when they ask me about our district I've always had Pride I can't say that I can say that anymore when my kindergarten and first grade classrooms may be at 24 I'm not lying when I say I've done this for 23 years I've worked in the toughest districts that you can imagine before I came to Boston spa and it's it's hard for me to think of 20 to 24 first graders or kindergarten students with all of the issues that we are facing today we're living in a
046different world so I feel like we have to do better we have to do better we are ballon Spa I take pride in that and my son has done well I want to see the same thing happen for these kids what are we capping these classes at for kindergarten in first grade even second grade again please keep in mind this is their Foundation I'm trying to just keep it like like real simple black and white like we really are giving them that foundation without kindergarten first and second grade let me tell you we get forgotten we do because you know it's a long time before they go up to high school and go out to college but we are their Foundation if we can't do a good job you can forget about your future so
047you're going to see more behavior problems and you're going to see more problems academically and we've come so far so truly I want to know what are we going to cap those foundational class sizes to and where are we going to find like we need to do something because not only are we losing amazing teachers and I can tell you we are the people we're losing are absolutely Stellar but now our kids are suffering too and that doesn't even bring into I know our district focuses on Wellness our teachers Wellness we do these great professional development days but honestly your teachers are going to go a little loo because we're already struggling with the behaviors and getting all the curriculum in and meeting the needs of these kids plop another four to six kids in
048there with issues it's it's going to be harsh so can we look at that like what are we capping K1 at and I'm not trying to be difficult I'm just giving you like black and white we're on the front lines we're in there every day come on down to my classroom we'll have some fun and then we'll show you some things that go on in the buildings but this is the reality of it you know and I am proud to be in Boston spa I want to remain that way yeah and what I'll tell you is is that you know I'm not going to put a hard cap on anything but we're making decisions to try to keep class size as low as we can in the situation that we're in as low as you
049can meaning 20 to 24 I I'm not prepared to put a cap on any grade level yeah but just understand what that's going to do everything that you that you've said all that has been taken into account and where we had to make decisions it's difficult and I got to say I'm I'm really concerned for where we're heading I truly am but thank you thank you for your comment certainly heard anyone else wish to have comment or questions okay that will close our public comment period then we are at a time to adjourn I have a motion to adjourn the budget hearing all those in favor I opposed we are adjourned and we are going to go right into the regular meeting so I'd like to call to order this regular meeting of the Boston
050Spa Central School District Board of Education for May 8th 20124 we uh did the Pledge already at the beginning of the budget hearing so we will go right into recognition thank you Mr fno so tonight I just wanted to recognize our tremendous troop program uh over the weekend uh they were nominated for five Awards and happy to uh report that our troop won best musical for Beauty and the Beast and Zack Evans also won for best supporting actor so congratulations to troop um Zach and all the nominees and all the hard work um of our student staff pit Orchestra uh you know all total I think it's about 150 participants tremendous uh tremendous season coming off the last year we had a couple wins uh really moving in the right direction for trth and absolutely
051we want to thank our uh staff members and our um parent volunteers community volunteers who really support the program and uh make it happen um anyone who saw it was just uh very impressed with the uh quality that was put on is that it for recognition does all right we're now at the first time for public comment do we have anyone signed up for public comment thank you oh I'm sorry did was this your comment earlier that was yeah that's all I wanted to say earlier only that signed up H am I the only one that signed up yes that was just for what I okay thank you uh Student Government report good evening everyone at the high school we'd like to congratulate troop on their High School Musical Theater award where they won best
052musical in tierc for the second year in a row and Evans W best supporting actor our sports teams continue to have great seasons and sectionals will begin later this month AP and IB testing is also off to a great start in the high school starting tomorrow the class of 2024 will begin selling prom tickets tickets will be on sale during all lunches for $50 and prom will take place on Friday June 7th at Glenn Sanders Mansion finally this Saturday National Honor Society will be hosting their annual Touch of truck event from 10: to 1 at Gordon Creek we hope to see you there thank you and the touch truck is up at the complex right wonderful and um I know as we get towards the end of the year we'll be seeing new student government
053representatives for the coming year yes uh the last meeting like the day after graduation will be transferred I will not be here you okay people will be taking over all right well we look forward to the new folks and we'll see you for a few more meetings then thank you wonderful thank you and you may excuse yourselves now we're at approval of minutes may I have a motion to approve the minutes for the April 17th 2024 regular meeting any amendments or additions not hearing any all those in favor I oppose osed extensions uh the minutes are approved I have a motion to approve the minutes for the April 23rd 2024 special meeting Bose's vote second any amendments or additions not hearing any all those in favor I opposed extensions the minutes for April 23rd 2024
054are approved superintendent report thank you very much so tonight I wanted to provide uh some program updates um mainly at the high school um and so you know we just discussed program adjustments and the comprehensive um look we took um at all our programs across the board um and so uh tonight we're going to talk about a couple of program adjustments um and really you know included in this was what we talked about with Spa Academy and the middle years program um uh at the uh Middle School um but we we wanted to take a look at our programming and really try to um allocate our resources given the situation but also with our district goals and so I'll start with a physical education strand model um and so um we've seen a decline in
055participation um in physical education uh since covid and this is something that is so important to um you know mental health physic you know physical health um especially at the high school um you know our our block schedule the high school is an hour so students have the opportunity for an hour of um physical exercise uh every other day um and so with this decline the department um has collaborated with high School administration uh to develop a PE strand model and so we're really excited about this because we're going to be offering students the choice um and so students will be offered activities each quarter uh from one of three strands uh so we'll have lifetime activities team Sports and Fitness so really what we're trying to do is is find something that interests all
056our students um whether it be you know a team sport uh the weight room um you know yoga um without further Ado here so these are the lifetime activities you know disc golf yoga diamond games bad Mitten snowshoeing uh hiking pickle ball archery geo geoc catching which I don't know anything about but I think Holly's well versed in that and she's she's going to help um but really our goal here is to to have students choose what they're interested in you know the the team sports you know you have your flag football soccer speedball disc golf floor hockey these are more of your traditional things that that would happen in a PE class and then your Fitness you know Fitness introduction you know maybe maybe someone is um wants to learn how to you know
057lift weights or be a little more physically fit so they need a little introductory course um CrossFit Sports specific training for some of our student athletes you know if they're in season they can elect Sports specific training for some of the quarters where you know they they can work on um different exercises that'll help benefit them on the field and in the courts um medicon not quite sure what that is yet um but it sounds very interesting and then I like Porter four here personal fitness program creation so we want our students to leave with a Bas knowledge of Fitness but we want them to continue with that um and so they'll have the opportunity to switch after five weeks so if they pick bad mitt and it's really okay it's not for them after
058the five week period they can then choose a different thing Cooperative games or maybe they want to try floor hockey um so what that means is there's two activities per quarter if a student chooses or they can just stick with one activity for the entire quarter um and so we're just we're really hoping that this will allow our students um to be active physically um to help with that mental health component to to to get that kind of energy out stress level out help them refocus um and really develop an appreciation for potentially a new sport or a lifetime activity um and so we'll be uh implementing this fall this coming fall of 2024 um it will be 9 through 12 um co-ed classes and the PE staff and and principal Robinson have already uh
059worked on how they're going to differentiate based on either grade level um or ability level so we don't want we don't want someone you know a ninth grader matched up with seniors with different ability levels and so um our PE staff is going to be really cognizant on differentiating the different groups within these activities uh based on how many kids are there and so first preference will go to seniors and then all the way down um and I think that selection process will start by the end of the year for kids in going into grades 10 11 and 12 and then at our freshman orientation over the summer the nth graders will choose so really excited about this I think it's going to be um very beneficial for our students um also our PE staff
060um but just the the the building in general we we just haven't seen um pre-pandemic levels of participation in PE and so I'm hoping that this will really help change that um our next um program adjustment is with the high school IB program and so um again in looking at the program adjustments um you know having to make difficult decisions and really the impetus for this decision is the declining enrollment um that has started um since 2019 2020 so in the school year 2018 to 2019 we had 60 full IB students um and we've seen a drastic decline in enrollment in the IB Program um the last two years we had 12 and 10 full IB students next year were projected for 12 full IB students uh with seven of them new to the program
061uh so those are the full IB kids that would take year one and two we certainly have some students alak cart some IB classes um and and some of those courses are um higher with class numbers um but in my time as a principal seeing the decline we tried to implement some recruitment strategies I know the IB coordinator and the staff uh have really done a lot to try to recruit kids to the program to show the benefits of the IB Program um but looking at next year's course selections out of the 21 IB courses um that that will run uh 16 currently have uh sizes in the single digits for 2425 and so the flip side of that is we've seen an increase in students taking our AP classes CHS UHS um and so
062with class sizes in the single digits for the majority of those classes um we are only going to be offering year two courses next year um this will allow our current full IB students to finish the diploma program um um and then students who selected year one courses this year um will meet with school counselors uh to find an appropriate alternative course for 2425 so um year one will be phased out next year we'll complete year two to allow those students who are currently enrolled in the IB program to finish with the IB diploma um certainly not an easy decision um or one that was was made without thought and and and taking a look at the data and kind of measuring pros and cons um but you know the the any current teachers that
063won't be teaching year one next year will be reassigned based on their qualifications and their certifications you know really the Silver Lining here is that we have a lot of high quality dedicated Educators that are going to be in front of more of our students at the high school level and so I think that will have a very um a very positive impact um but you know a difficult decision to make um but truly based off of the decline enrollment and and really everything we've tried to do to um you know engage students in trying to be um more thoughtful about their course selections we're just not seeing the enrollment and we haven't for four or five years them for questions um I have several IB questions I Dr Duke and I have had many
064conversations I'm just going to make my um thoughts public um I'm very disappointed that the district is getting rid of this program it is our most rigorous program and it creates a holistic learner and I'm very disappointed that this program is going away um my first question is were the is the district going to be offering the students um to be able to go to Queensbury to if they're interested in going for full diploma we haven't was that given was that option I didn't mean to interrupt you but when when you when they spoke to the parents and the students was that offered as an option so students haven't been notified yet this is the first okay is that going to be we haven't discussed it but you know I won't leave it off the
065table when those discussions happen I'd have to get some more information on what that would look like is the district willing to consider that I I I'll have to have some conversations with you know business office and IB coordinator to see but other questions I mean not if that is not something that the district has considered yet truthfully we haven't considered that yet okay any other questions or comments all right that concludes the superintendent report uh committee reports don't believe we have committee reports um correspondence correspond to the district uh we had six total this time frame we had four emails three regarding student matters uh one regarding um AED device placement we have two calls uh both regarding student matters okay and correspondence to the board we received three emails since the last meeting
066one was regarding the budget and two regarding student matters announcements Mr Williams good evening can you hear me now the uh you've heard some of the activities that are happening in the month and there's a lot going on during the month of May the music department is presenting nine spring concerts during these next three weeks so everyone's invited to come out and see one of the concerts through the elementary schools as well as the middle school and the high school um all that information is on the website um next week we'll be doing budget presentations in the various communities so we'll be in the town of Boston on Monday May 13th at 6:30 will be in Malta community center on Tuesday at 6:30 and on Wednesday we'll be at the Milton Community Center again at
0676:30 so folks are invited to come out and to um hear some of the budget presentation like you did tonight as well as ask your questions um and we'll be doing those all three of those nights um the budget vote itself is on the 21st and along with that is the High School varsity concert um where they'll also do their senior recognition so it'll be a busy night here um at the high school facility both for the voting activities the school pride Day activities as well as the concert um the next morning we have our early college high school project exhibition so if you haven't made it out to texart to see one of those it's a really unique event um the students actually get out and present their projects um discuss with them some
068are really um you know they're top um level projects and it's really neat to talk to the kids and and hear from them directly before they they move out into into into the world um and then that evening we have our national H Honor Society induction ceremony here at 6:00 so it's just a very busy time um but that'll be in the auditorium at 6 o' the board meeting itself will start in here at 7:30 so we're going to delay it a half an hour um so folks can go to the National Honor Society and then come on up here to the board meeting that's all I'm highlighting toight thank you any other announcements for any of our Liaisons Community groups okay thank you others yes yes and that was through the BAC website Facebook
069Facebook thank you other announcements okay old business don't believe we have any new business I have a motion to approve resolution number 510 appointment of chairperson Chief inspectors and election inspectors second any discussion not hearing any all those in favor I opposed extensions resolution number 510 passes I have a motion to approve resolution number 511 reorganization meeting any discussion and I just want to share this is the reorganization for the Board of Education and and it will be held on Wednesday July 10th I don't know if we have a time yet it's at 7 o'clock all those in favor I opposed extensions resolution number 511 passes I have a motion to approve resolution number 512 agreement Professional Services any discussion not hearing any all those in favor I opposed extensions resolution number 512 passes I
070have a motion to approve resolution number 5113 agreement shared services any discussion not hearing any all all those in favor I opposed extensions resolution number 513 passes I have a motion to approve resolution number 514 Award of bid Transportation any discussion not hearing any all those in favor I oppos extensions resolution number 514 passes I have a motion to approve resolution number 515 Award of bid Transportation any discussion not hearing any all those in favor I opposed extensions resolution number 515 passes I have a motion to approve resolution number 516 Award of bid General electrical and mechanical construction any discussion not hearing any all those in favor I opposed extensions resolution number 516 passes I have a motion to approve resolution number 517 obsolete equipment any discussion not hearing any all those in favor I
071opposed extensions resolution number 5117 passes I believe I saw on the list a whole bunch of those overhead projectors boy that's that that that hits you high technology back in the day the overhead projector resolution number 518 scholarship changes any discussion not hearing any all those in favor I opposed abstentions resolution number 518 passes and we very much thank the groups that um are supporting our students through these scholarships I have a motion to approve resolution number 519 acceptance of donation any discussion not hearing any all those in favor I opposed extensions resolution number 519 passes we thank all those involved at the middle school with the donation I have a motion to approve resolution number 520 acceptance of donation any discussion not hearing any all those in favor I oppose opposed extensions resolution number
072520 passes we would like to thank the foundation for engineering education for Their donation I have a motion to approve resolution number transfers any discussion not hearing any all those in favor I opposed exstension resolution number 521 passes I have a motion to approve resolution number 522 placement of students with disabilities any discussion not hearing any all those in favor I I opposed extensions resolution number 522 passes I have a motion to approve resolution number 523 placement of preschool students with disabilities any discussion not hearing any all those in favor I I opposed extensions resolution number 523 passes I have a motion to approve resolutions number 524 through 53 oh I'm sorry I have to announce that resolutions number 524 through 531 are recognized as a consent agenda for the purpose of the Board of
073Education action may I have a motion to approve the consent agenda resolutions number 524 through 531 any comment and I would just like to recognize that Mr R uh Mr rasmason is in the audience and we um congratulate him on his appointment as principal at our middle school and all those in favor I opposed abstentions the consent agenda resolutions number 524 through passes do we have any other new business not hearing any now is the second time in our meeting for public comments do we have anyone signed up for public comment we do not do we have anyone from our associations okay uh PTA PTSA updates of theal Health mon they areos Friday Cate appreciation they want to Ed neighborhood also talun 2 for details is having their teer and station neighborh Will May 1
0745 they'll trucks the high school PTSA after planning Contin volunteers pick up prizes for students help the window the lob and also still volunteers for espe end also they'll have set on the of Bud basting finally in our district are for officers for the next year wood and the Middle School are searching for officers interested thank you we have a public announcement or a public commenter someone who signed up oh I sorry yes please I'm so sorry hi it's my first meeting uh my my name is nayha Jensen I'm a parent at um I have two kids at Gordon Creek Elementary School and I just heard about the um layoffs that are affecting Gordon Creek in particular and I was just wondering if there would be specific um Communications to the parents that will be
075directly affected by that before the public budget meetings that I think um were announced are going to be at the community centers next week because I think parents would show up like no offense but I sometimes delete the emails that are like the budget I tried but it's very confusing and a lot of pages and I did go through and try to read some of the budget presentations but um I think if parents knew that their kids were going to be directly affected because honestly that's all we really have time to think about as our own kids which is tough but truth um then maybe they would come and participate and be able to ask maybe some questions and feel better informed about what is happening because the tough part is not knowing and then
076being blindsided next year when you're you know my the one of the teachers that my son had who I was really hoping my daughter had would have was laid off and I found out about it it's upsetting but um just to be well informed and as part of the parent Community I think it would be helpful if there could be maybe a more direct communication instead of it being enveloped in a large communication about a general board meeting or general budget proposal for specific uh schools that are being affected I don't know if that's against the rules or possible or any of that but at this point it's word of mouth and we are I I you know if you come to the Luther Forest soccer fields you can talk to like every parent that
077goes to word Creek but um just a suggestion and a thought but I thank you for your time andk you thank you [Applause] okay uh now it is time for our adjournment our next meeting will be on May 22nd we do have reason to go into executive session board will not be returning to open session I need a motion to adjourn to Executive session to discuss the collective negotiations with the association of teaching assistants and with the Civil Service employees Association and to discuss the employment of a particular person I'm sorry I have to ask for the motion may I have a motion to adjourn all those in favor I we are adjourned