001Good. >> Good evening everyone. Um, thank you for coming tonight. Uh, can I have a motion to uh accept the minutes of the March meeting, please? >> Motion. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Um, tonight's a great is is a great meeting. It's one of our favorite of the year. um we get to honor our amazing faculty and uh administrators and staff with uh with the tenure. Um so it's something that we all always look forward to. Um and you know you guys are really I think at the end of the day what makes the school so great. Um so thank you to you all in advance of uh of the presentations later. Um, we also have a uh budget referendum coming up in May and um this is the first time
002that we'll be asking for an override. Uh, other districts have already done this. Um, and it's something that we've always tried to avoid, but inflation has finally caught up with us and um, as much as we hate to ask, we do need your support, uh, the community support in passing this budget. Um there was really not anything to cut that would have avoided um anything uh being taken away from programming um or from the great uh faculty that we have here. So it's it's a really important budget to pass because uh people here expect a certain level of education uh educational programming for their kids and uh we hope the community will come out and support that uh in May. Uh with that Rachel, >> thank you. So, I am honored to uh introduce Louise
003Jacobs, our exeicio student board member with her report this evening. Hi everyone. Um I just have a few updates about what's been going on in the high school recently. Um first off, the high school band concert was Wednesday, April 15th. Um it was a huge success from what I heard. Uh the Bronx Teacher Association, the Art Club, and the Social Issue Awareness Club in collaboration with the New York Presbyterian Hospital hosted a blood drive today, and many high school students um donated blood. The high school studentr run play is this Thursday and Friday at 7:00 p.m. It's called An Actor's Nightmare. The high school orchestra concert um is Wednesday, April 29th, and the high school chorus concert is Thursday, April 30th. Freshman the freshman transition program is still going very strong. Um we've been having
004pushins about every month and this week there was a push in about the importance of healthy relationships. Next week is the last full week of classes for seniors and then there will be two weeks of APs starting on May 4th and then there will be a week of senior activities followed by three weeks of shadowing for seniors and seniors are currently working on their proposals for their shadowing hours. And then finally, um, that might be it. Actually, that's all I have. Thank you. >> Thank you, Louise. >> Thank you. Have a good day, guys. >> Have a good night. Um, it's now my pleasure to introduce uh Miss Anne Meyer, who's our assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction. I've asked her to speak this evening. Um, we welcomed uh educators from New Zealand and Australia
005last week and um I wanted you to hear a little bit about that uh this evening from an so thank you. >> Thank you Dr. Kelly. I'll try to speak loudly because it's a big space. Um so as Dr. Kelly said, "A week ago, we hosted a group of secondary educators from Australia and New Zealand, and I was so impressed and proud of the high school classrooms we visited. I wanted to share a bit about the morning." So, this was literally a week ago. Um, in English 9 with Miss Dearman, students were deconstructing narrative architecture. They were asked why might an author choose to use a nonlinear timeline. And in that question, they explored how disrupting chronological flow can reframe a reader's perspective and deepen the narrative's emotional or thematic resonance. Then we went to
006Miss Lansscale's 10th grade English class where students were challenged to look beneath the surface of the text to explore the psychological internalization of trauma. The do now for our 10th graders was what happens when someone cannot escape their own thoughts. The cognitive groundwork prepared students to navigate the invisible forces at play in Lady McBth's saliloquis requiring them to analyze not just what Lady McBth said but the emotional complexities that drive her behavior. We then moved on to our AP US history course with Miss Gambino where she had facilitated a silent conversation where students were using primary texts to discuss civil disobedience and nonviolent protest in order to prepare to grapple with the social change uh related to their study of the civil rights movement. We visited Mr. Denser's AP Physics 1 course where students were
007tackling pendulum motion, but they were doing it using a retention activity that was designed to help them access information they had studied earlier in the year that would allow them to reactivate those pieces of information to prepare for the AP exam and multi-step problems. In AP literature, Miss Daguardi was using March Madness with poetry where each round they began with 64 poems and voted out half of them >> every round. And we went into the round of 16 where students had reread those 16 problem those 16 poems through a different lens at each round of the process. And when we were in there, they were looking at um poetic devices within the poems. I think that we saw how um professionals use recursive reading when understanding depth in uh revisiting a text with complex layers
008and also was a lot of fun for the students. And finally, we visited a ceramics class where Miss Briggs discussed with our visitors how she uses field trips to New York City where students are able to visit museums and galleries and then tasks them with translating their observations of that professional art into their own multimedia projects. I think the important detail I want to share here regarding these visits is that I had mentioned to these teachers about 3 days prior I was coming in. So it wasn't as if teachers had created some performance for us to visit. The sophisticated work we witnessed the silent conversations the tournament style poetry analysis the cognitive retention strategies being employed in physics. These weren't special plans made for our visitors. These were just the lessons our teachers taught last
009Tuesday. Um whether it was the physical laws governing pendulum motion or the thematic layers of a poem, our teachers were consistently creating a culture of rigor. They were placing students in situations where they had to grapple with problems that did not have an immediate solution. and they were working to train our students to understand nuance, defend their reasoning and embrace complexity. I just wanted to take a moment. It was really a proud moment when we visited all these classrooms and our visitors were extremely impressed. But I just wanted to thank our faculty for the incredible skill that they used to design those engaging in intellectual environments that exist in our classrooms every day. and to thank the board for protecting the space for this work to happen. By prioritizing depth of understanding over the checkbox
010of compliance, I think we're hoping to ensure our students leave us with the cognitive tools necessary to lead and succeed in the future. So, thank you for letting me take a few moments to just share that. I mean my only you and >> you know when an uh first came into my office after touring the visitors and she was elaborating upon all of that I was like we got to go wide with this it was really >> yeah very proud moment. Thank you for sharing with everybody. >> Um so tenure candidates are next. Um this is uh probably the most important decision that a board of education makes. Um and that is whether or not to grant tenure to our faculty and administrators. Um it's a three or fouryear probationary process, one that we take
011very seriously here with multiple observations each year by multiple administrators. um and it has led this evening um to uh me asking the board about one administrator and four teachers specifically. So Eddie Lennon, our board president, and I are going to start with Miss Christine Higgins Dow. Christine, can you come up please? Good. It is in recognition of the outstanding quality of Mrs. Christine Dow's work as director of pupil personnel services that I am recommending to the board of education the granting of tenure. Since assuming this role, Christine has demonstrated exceptional leadership, deep professional expertise, and an unwavering commitment to the success and well-being of every student. Her performance has been consistently strong across all domains of responsibility, including special education oversight, student support services, regulatory compliance, and collaborative engagement with teachers, staff, students, and
012families. Christine has strengthened the district's systems of support in ways that are both thoughtful and impactful. Under her leadership, our processes have become more cohesive, responsive, and student centered. She has ensured that services are delivered with fidelity while maintaining a clear focus on an inclusion and an individualized student needs. Equally important, Christine exemplifies the values of the Bronxville Promise in both word and action. She fosters an environment where students are known, supported, and challenged, where collaboration among educators is prioritized, and where relationships with families are built on trust and transparency. Her leadership reflects a deep belief in the potential of every learner and a commitment to preparing students not only for academic success, but for meaningful, engaged lives. Christine is a respected and trusted member of our leadership team. Her professionalism, sound judgment, and integrity
013have earned the confidence of colleagues, employees, and the broader school community. Based on her exemplary performance and clear alignment with our Bronxville promise, it is my honor to strongly and enthusiastically recommend Mrs. Christine Dow for tenure as our director of pupil personnel services. SO, LET'S DO THAT. >> Can I have a motion, please? >> All in favor? All right. >> Now, Ann Meyer, our assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, will speak about Miss Ashley Chippa, our K8 math coach. Come on up, Ashley. What's the Kleenex here for as we cry? It is with great pleasure that I present Ashley Chippa to you as a candidate for tenure as our K to8 math coach. From the moment she was hired, Ashley has proven to be an exceptional leader, an innovative practitioner, and a dedicated collaborator who
014has fundamentally transformed our mathematics instruction in the elementary and middle school. Upon joining the district, Ashley engaged in a full evaluation of our math curriculum and set out to lead a search for a K to8 math program aligned with the New York State Next Generation math standards. She has been instrumental instrumental in the successful adoption and ongoing implementation of our new math program. Beyond her monumental work with the curriculum adoption, Ashley is a daily champion for our faculty and students. She regularly models math lessons, facilitates discussions based on current practices, coaches new teachers and leave replacements to ensure best practices in classroom instruction. and she actively prepares and assists teachers in collecting and analyzing student data to monitor progress, evaluate mathematical skill development, and improve stu student performance. Ashley does not just advise teachers from
015afar, but actively models conferring and small group instruction as just one example directly within the math classroom. Whether she's evaluating learners who need additional math intervention or identifying those who excel and are ready for enrichment, Ashley ensures that our math program and daily instruction are precisely tailored to support all of our learners. Ashley Chippa has been a tremendous asset to the district. She has seamlessly balanced the large scale curriculum shifts involved in the implementation of a new math curriculum with the essential ground level work of coaching and supporting our teachers. It is my absolute pleasure to recommend her for tenure. Uh motion for Ashley, please. >> All in favor? >> I congratulations. >> I would now like to call up Dr. Ray Levero, our high school principal, to speak about Mr. Matthew Dell, our 612
016orchestra teacher. Please come up. So, this is on behalf of uh Mr. McCor and myself. Um, we're very happy and it gives us great pleasure to recommend Matt Dell for tenure as the orchestra teacher for grades 6 through 12. Throughout his tenure, Matt has provided highquality lessons for his students. He has been instrumental, no pun intended, in growing the orchestra program and has contributed many and has contributed meaningfully to the school community as a whole. Matt is highly dedicated to his students, taking the time to get to know every aspect of every child in his class. He is thoughtful in his care for students as well as in his planning lessons. His classroom exemplifies a student- centered learning environment where students are inspired to work towards a positive outcome in all that they do. They're
017consistently encouraged to take risks in their learning and work towards improving their performance through trial and error. Within his orchestra program, Matt promotes student leadership and ownership. Students approach their work with a seriousness of purpose, often taking ownership of their section rehearsals and warm-ups. He skillfully incorporates small groupoup practice to differentiate instruction and target specific skill development. Matt's talents and dedication have resulted in exceptional performances, one of which will be May 5th in uh Lincoln Center, and coupled with a great sense of purpose and ownership in our student work. Matt Dell is an exceptional educator whose commitment to musical excellence and student development makes him an invaluable asset to our school district, and we strongly and enthusiastically recommend him for tenure. Uh, can I have a motion for Matt Dell? >> All in favor? >>
018I. >> UM, next I'd like to call up two administrators, Mr. Joe McCor, our middle school principal, as well as Mr. Aaron Kind, our director of counseling to speak on behalf of Mr. Timothy Nelson. Please come up, Tim. Uh, Dr. Kelly and members of the school board, it is with great pleasure that we recommend Tim Nelson for tenure as guidance counselor. The counselors at Bronxville School seek to provide services that recognize and value the academic, social, and emotional well-being of each student. Counselors not only respond to the immediate needs of students, but also design programs and structures to proactively support the student body. Since day one, Tim has done just that and more. Tim joined the counseling department initially as a counselor working with fifth and nth graders. When the staffing in our middle school
019changed, we all knew Tim was the ideal candidate for his current role as middle school counselor. In short, Tim is an outstanding counselor and person. He is deeply involved in every aspect of our our school community, and suffice to say, he truly exemplifies the Bronxville promise in his work. Tim's commitment to his students is evident in his dedication to knowing every aspect of every student on his case load. He is thoughtful in his care of students as well as his planning of lessons. Um sorry uh where he considers students academic as well as social and emotional needs. He consistently advocates for practices that create supportive and enriching environment where all students feel valued and empowered to achieve their full potential. And just to add, Tim is truly a lifelong learner who is always willing to
020try new methods to engage students. He is not afraid to experiment with new techniques and ideas to meet the needs of his students. His work results in active learning and he facilitates lessons and parent workshops that allows students to critically think and analyze what they have learned. The perfect example of this experimentation can be seen through his promise project initiative within the guidance six classes. Tim empower students to design projects that give back to the community. These studentled projects have consu have consisted of creating a music video for the alma for the school alma mater, organizing sports activities for students in self-contained elementary school and special education classes, and building a kindness rock garden with first graders. To walk into Tim's office or classroom is to be in a student centered, caring, and positive learning
021environment. Tim is a true leader who creates a place where students are inspired to work towards a positive outcome in all they do. His students are completely engaged in all forms of their learning and are encouraged to take risks and work towards improving their performance through trial and error. He facilitates lessons that require his students to be self-directed, deepen their understanding, evaluate possibilities, and construct a reason judgment. At his heart, Tim's dedication and desire to improve the academic experience and emotional experience for our middle school students makes him a critical and vital asset to the school. The guidance department, the middle school, and the community at large are undoubtedly stronger because of his presence. We wholeheartedly recommend Tim Nelson for tenure without reservation. >> Can I please have a motion for Tim Nelson? >> All
022in favor? looking at your flowers. Congratulations. >> Thank you. And last, but certainly not least, Miss Crystal Towel. And I inviting Miss Adrien Leman up to speak on her behalf. Crystal. Great. Okay. It is with great enthusiasm and enormous pride that I present Miss Crystal Tiel's candid candidacy for tenure for elementary school. Crystal began her teaching career at our school actually 10 years ago as a talented resident. In fact, she was such a star at that point that we asked her to be in a promotional video that was that was made for a residency program and featured Crystal. She then left, not because of the video, to further develop her instructional skills in a New York City public school. After four years there, Crystal rejoined our faculty as a third grade teacher. As a third
023grade teacher over the past four years, Crystal has demonstrated exceptional instructional practice. She understands how to quickly engage students in learning and sets high yet achievable goals. Her keen questioning skills enable students to delve deeper into the concepts they are learning and in turn ask their own higher level questions. One outstanding feature of Crystal's instruction is her ability to incorporate turn-and- talk opportunities during key points of a lesson. During those times, all students engage in meaningful peer-to-peer conversations that both reinforce and extend their learning. Crystal has been instrumental in fostering a strong sense of belonging for all our students in our school community. She thoughtfully incorporates meaningful learning experiences tied to cultural traditions such as cooking dumplings for the lunar new year and creating diiaots and colorful rangoli designs to explore Diwali. Crystal also demonstrates
024a deep understanding of each students individual learning needs. She implements evidence-based academic and behavioral supports to mo to promote growth while cultivating a classroom environment where students recognize and respect that everyone receives what they need to succeed. Through this strong, supportive community, students feel safe taking academic risks and are empowered to reach their full potential. Throughout the four years here, Crystal has taken on a number of leadership roles. She's been a team leader for two years and has recently taken on the position of curriculum leader. Over the past decade, Crystal has grown from a teacher resident at the start of her career into an experienced and highly skilled classroom teacher and teacher leader. Crystal is an educator who exemplifies the tenants of the Broxville Promise through her intellectual engagement, innovative spirit, and her dedication to
025building a strong community of learners who deeply care about the world around them. I strongly and confidently recommend Crystal to Wheel for tenure and look forward to all she will contribute to our school community. Uh, can I have a motion for Miss Toil, please? >> All in favor? Hi. >> CONGRATULATIONS. And as much as you are all so eager to hear about the adoption on our 2627 budget, please feel free to go celebrate with your families. So, thank you so much and congratulations again. CONGRATULATIONS. CHEERS. CONGRATULATIONS. Well done. >> I found the next course. So, I'm pleased to put before the board um these personnel action items this evening. I do want to point out um a few particular first of all um we are sad to accept the resignation of Rosanna Colonas who was
026a teacher here for three years prior to uh becoming our very first Kirsty coach. um and she has served in that role for the last 80 years. Uh we will miss her dear de dearly. We are better off um for uh the expertise she has lent us. Um, and yet bittersweet because as a result of Rosanna's um, uh, resignation, we um, we began an entire process to find a new literacy coach uh, led by an um, with Adrian certainly and Michelle's um, as well as faculty participation from middle school and elementary school. And as a result of that extensive search, we are actually recommending one of our very own and that is Megan Figueroa, who has been a teacher here for 24 years and we could not be more excited to not only give her
027this teacher leader opportunity. Um, but I think the possibilities are endless and her attributes of being able to work so collaboratively with her colleagues and administrators over the years I think is the perfect prerequisite um to be in this position um in addition certainly to her expertise in English language arts. So, um I'm not going to speak about every resolution tonight like that, but I felt like that I felt like that was warranted. Um and then uh you'll see we do have a few uh new elementary teachers uh due to retirements that are on uh this evening's agenda as well as some resignations and um the appointment of uh the new treasurer. So, I'd like you to consider this evening, please. items A through P. >> Any questions? >> Can I please have a motion
028to approve the personnel action items? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I I DAN, budget development. Slides over there. Um, this is the last point at which we can adopt a budget for the May referendum. I've included a few sli a few slides which I think tell the budget story this year. Um uh we are I guess about a month away from the referendum and the not and due to the notices we have to give um and the hearing we have to have in early May uh this is the last opportunity to adopt a budget uh that will result in a referendum on Tuesday, May 19th. Uh the board has seen these slides before, but I you know we can't say enough um next slide please Johnny that uh I went back and looked
029at our budget since the tax levy cap was enacted in 2011 and did some analysis of where we could be or would be if we just budgeted at the cap each year. I looked at both the cumulative savings for taxpayers over that period of time and also where our budget would have been this past year. Cumulatively, we have saved taxpayers uh 15.7 million by coming in under the cap uh for over 14 years with our budget being about $2.8 million lower at the moment than it would be right now had we budgeted at the cap each year. Um the point is not to brag about how much we did not spend because spending is not our goal. Uh we ask for the resources needed for the program we want to put forth balancing the needs
030of our students and uh prudent budget practices. Uh if that was less than the tax levy cap, then so be it. What we are finding now is that inflation is so outpacing recent caps that we're struggling to keep our current programs and stay within the cap this year. Next slide, please. Our proposed budget sits at 57.6 million with a tax levy of about 58.5 million. Uh for a percentage tax levy increase of 4.8%, 8%. Our cap calculates at 1.94%. So our budget is over the cap by1,381,326. Next slide, please. So why this year? Uh the large gap between the operating budgets and inflation over the last five years is really pushing our issues this year. Healthc care benefit costs are rising at three times the rate of inflation. Um exceeding the tax levy cap this
031year with a 4.8% increase while still trailing well below recent inflation will position the district to stay under the cap for at least two years. Uh most of our peers have either exceeded the cap previously or had higher tax levy caps due to uh the composition of their assessment roles. in this budget uh to continue inflation over the last four years has increased 18 to 20% depending whether you look at the core versus the uh standard CPIU. Uh Bronxville's budget and tax levy rose 7 and 8% respectively over those years. Uh for the first time in the 13-year history of the tax levy cap, uh our budget as it stands now will require a 60% plus one supermajority for approval. Um it's it's a change from where we've been, but I think the next slide
032really shows graphically what we're talking about. You can see the um the bottom line is our enrollment. It is actually exactly where it is to the student from to 202526. Um the two lines above that are our um budget and our tax levy. They've kind of risen in tandem over that period of time. Kind of in a straight um uh you know steady as she goes. Uh the top two lines are the core and the CPIU and you can see really you know coming out of COVID after 20120 they took a sharp bend upward and you know we're actually looking for if you look at the um budget and tax levy we're looking for a comparatively small bend upward to help deal with that those that large five-year bend upward. Now, the board, they're not
033taking my word for it. We had um you know, a couple of Saturday workshops and actually workshops going starting in the fall uh reviewing the impact of uh potential cuts that the administration would consider if required to get to the tax levy cap. um you know they start we started reviewing these at the long range planning workshop in the fall and then uh uh meetings in February and March on Saturdays. It's the collective view of the administration that considering the low 1.2% tax levy increase last year and the 1.64% 64% average over the last 5 years uh despite the CPI rising at a significantly higher rate that an override of the tax levy cap be considered for the 202627 year with a final levy increase of still under 5%. In calculating the impact on a
034taxpayer in terms of the tax rate, uh we begin with our proposed levy and divide that by the preliminary assessment role which uh actually it's the final assessment role now and it's up 3.61% to 3.82 billion and we get a tax rate from that of 13.22 22 uh dollar per,000 of assessed value. The 1.02% increase in the rate from uh 202526 is due to the percentage increase in the assessment role being 2.59% lower than the projected levy increase of 4 uh 8%. So based on the 202627 preliminary rate and the levy where it sits now, a homeowners who whose property is assessed at $3 million in the current year is paying $39,262 in school taxes. While a homeowner whose property is assessed at $3 million in 2026 will pay $39,661 in school taxes. Um, you
035know, I would advise all residents to see if their assessment has changed. Obviously, that would be a factor as well. Uh, for instance, if that same $3 million home increased in assessment at the same rate, uh, that the overall assessment role increased, uh, that homeowner would pay, uh, $1,832 more in 2026 27. So, everybody should calculate, you know, this their tax rate, individual uh, tax impact based on their assessments. And there we have it. That's where we're sitting right now. >> I think it's important, Dan, just to reiterate what you said about the impact of getting to the cap. Um, we looked at everything and the items that would be needed to cut are things that I think this community would not find acceptable. Um and as representatives of the community, for the school, um
036we agree that keeping class sizes down is important, that maintaining aids, you know, for kindergarten class sizes in high school and middle school, electives, coaches. Um we don't think that it would be acceptable for the community to um to uh to go that route. So, it's our recommendation that the uh everybody gets out and supports the budget. Yeah, the the cuts wouldn't be deep, but they'd be widespread. Everybody would feel pain all across the district. Any questions for Dan? Okay. Uh, can I please have a motion to adopt the proposed budget for 2627? >> Motion. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I I thank you. >> Um, thank you for that. I think um I want to thank the leadership team as well as the board uh for really doing your due diligence. Um,
037we take this very seriously. We've never asked for an override before, as Dan said, in the history of the 13-year, you know, tax levy cap. Um, and I think it's something that we really struggled with in terms of, um, you know, how do we how do we attempt to reach the current tax levy of only, you know, 1.94? Um, and it's it's pretty draconian, actually. Um, and you know, part of what we pride ourselves on in this district are the programs that make us distinctive. And we've spent a lot of time talking about that. Um, because it's something that, you know, that makes us Bronxville. And, um, those exact distinct um, qualities to the district would be at risk um, if we were to budget to the tax levy cap this coming year. Um and
038um you know that's why we think it's uh worth the community um considering this um in next year's budget. So uh I just appreciate everybody's time. We're going to be working very diligently over this next month before the May 19th vote to um inform the community, continue to inform the community um about the why and why we think it's so important. So, thank you for your time on that. >> Thank you, Rachel and Dan and finance committee. >> Well, I do have some good news. Uh the projection for surplus uh for the current year has continued to climb from the prior month due to the treasurer uh getting ahead of closing out revenues before uh the transition this week to our new treasurer. Um the billing of special education tuition to districts sending students to
039Bronxville classes. Thank you Christine. Uh borderline properties health services to other districts with students in Bronxville's private schools and robust interest revenue is pushing the surplus higher. Um the expenditure projection remains steady. Um it's it's you know a relatively tight year. reflects at least a $100,000 surplus from contracted services to go along with uh a similar surplus from salaries. I continue to be guarded concerning where overall expenditures are looking at this point for the full year as we're still dealing with uh you know inflation and uh and expend expensive winter snow cleanup. uh the overall projection of surplus has risen to over 1.3 million uh with uh nearly 1.2 million of that from revenue alone. Uh this surplus will help us maintain our bond rating as we move forward uh with our construction project this
040summer and uh give us a nice base as we head into a period that we know and have planned for a field replacement over the next you know three or four years which may come sooner than that. you know, our fields uh get a lot there's there's districts out there who don't let anybody on their fields ever. And you know, our our fields are kind of the town park, so they get a lot of use. And uh you we're starting to see a little bit of uh degradation faster than when we just had uh Chambers Field alone. Uh we got 12 years out of the first Chambers Field. I think we'll be lucky to get nine or 10 out of these. So, we're already, you know, going to start planning for for field replacement of
041either a 10-year-old Hazefield next year or even explore replacing both. I think chambers will be seven or eight at that point in time. Um, you know, we're going to look the facilities committee to look at everything. It may uh may make sense to replace one at a time. It may make sense uh you know with uh with u scaling and mobilizing just once to do both at the same time. That's that's what we'll be studying over the next year and and boards for the last decade have planned uh for field replacement coming out of the construction reserve and we should be you know this year will help us adequately fund that. >> Any questions? >> I had a question on um budget transfers. Looks like we moved some budget over to Bose central data processing
042and also about 40 to operations and maintenance. What were those two areas? >> Mike Mike Lee was running a little low due to a lot of snow removal issues. >> Okay. And let me just elaborate on that with one sentence. Um if you recall the storms are on weekends. Um so they are due time and a half and double time for all the work. So >> Yep. And uh Boseies is uh Boseies as a whole will probably be right at budget or a little under budget. It's just where those dollars get spent in the technology budget. So we're we're moving money around in the technology budget. Um >> you don't foresee it going over budget though. >> Yeah, it's not going to be over budget. But you'll you'll see a lot of transfers this time
043of year when when things get tight. We just cut off uh purchase orders uh for for most activities, not all. You know, we're still going to fund graduation and uh >> Thank you. >> have consumables. Um, but uh this is the time of year when we try and figure out where our contracted services are going to wind up and shift money around to areas that need it from areas that don't. We have uh three action items. You know, of course, the foundation um uh designated funds committee grants uh totaling $118,150.20. These grants uh were vetted by the administration and the foundation board. Um there's uh eight different ones. Um you know what can I say? It's the Bronxville Foundation. It's incredible what they do for us. B is a donation of science supplies estimated at
044a value of $15,000 from Bo Ringer Ingleheim Pharmaceuticals. Um and thanks to a Bronxville parent for coordinating this. I guess they have excess, you know, this is this is real life stuff that corporate science uses that we're getting. Um, you know, the the science teachers were ecstatic with this. And then we have a contract uh for an individual to help us out uh to chair the committee on special education or preschool education um not to exceed 100 hours at an hourly rate of $200. Uh this is just to help us out with a teacher who's on leave who handles these duties. Any questions on the action items? We take those together, Connie. >> Yes. >> Great. Can I have a motion, please, on the financial action items? >> Motion. Second. >> All in favor? >>
045I. >> Now, for the reason why this meeting is on Tuesday. Um, as a component member of Boseies, we assessed a portion of their administrative and capital budgets based on our enrollment as a percentage of all Bosey's component districts. That figure for Bronxville uh for uh this next year is 297,235 compared to 288 uh 091. Uh it's an increase of 3.17%. And this figure uh I got from them back in December. So it's included in the budget we adopted earlier tonight for next year. Each district is required to vote on the Bosey's administrative and capital budget. Uh I guess it's really the just the administrative budget. The capital budget is uh is set in stone. Um but if the budget were defeated, Boseies would be limited at their prior year budget. Similar to us, if
046if our budget were defeated two times, we'd be limited to our prior year tax levy. Um and other than these payments, we use Boseis for all facets of technology, uh our financial system, our student information software, uh hardware, our network management, firewalls, backups, etc. Um transportation management of uh of yellow buses that we contract for. uh professional development, athletic scheduling and officiating, uh recruitment and other HR services and some special education services and career and tech students on occasion and a host of other smaller cooperative services totaling over $2.4 million. We in turn receive about $800,000 in Bosey's aid against these expenditures for a net cost of 1.6 million. In my opinion, Boseies has been a valued partner over the last decade and and in the past, boards have supported uh Bosey's budgets that were
047in line with our budgets. Uh and we're also required to vote on Bosey's board candidates uh who are running unopposed. >> Sure. >> Just a comment. It's kind of weird that we that they don't incorporate these administrative expenses into their pricing for their services because I would think like when we compare right purchasing technology services through Boseies through another vendor like if you really the price you want to compare would include this like 20% markup basically. I mean, maybe we do that. Maybe we consider the administrative expense. I don't know. But do you know why they wouldn't just charge in their pricing for these for their ad their or overhead basically? >> Um, it's I think it's it's by law that they have to cut these expenditures out and put them in the administrative budget
048because we don't vote on the Bose services. We vote on their administrative budget. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Motion tor. >> Motion to approve the budget for Boseis. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. And what do we we vote on these just through a motion or >> three candidates for the election? Right. >> As Connie said, there's three candidates for the election. >> Three candidates. >> Um motion to vote for the three unopposed candidates for Bosey's election. >> It would be Cheryl Brady, Nesh Jane, and Nan Eileen me. Motion second. >> All in favor? All right. >> Are those paid possessions? >> No. >> Same pay as you. >> If it was paid, I'd put myself up for that. >> Uh, facilities. We had a uh very successful, if a complete bid opening on
049Tuesday of last week. Uh bids came in under budget in total for HVAC, electric, and general contracts combined. Uh general contract was over a million dollars under. I think electric was pretty close and HVAC um because we're going to go with the second lowest vendor for HVAC. So, that's a little over budget, but there's so much room in the general contract that it is a uh it was a success with the exception of nobody bid plumbing. And the reason for that is we had deduct alternates for the bathrooms. And if we took all the uh deduct alternates out because the bids came in too high, I think the plumbing contract would have been about $40,000. So, we're rebidding uh the plumbing contract with all the deduct alternates out because we're going to be able to
050do all those bathrooms. Um and the second low bidder who we had a conference with today, the low bidder for HBAC uh did withdraw their bid. There was some discussion of that at the facilities committee meeting yesterday and um uh the second lowest bidder has indicated they will absolutely be bidding on the plug. So at least we're going to get one bid next time and I we we should get more I hope because it will be um a lot more clarity to what they're bidding on. >> That's great news. >> Thanks Dan. Uh, no action items for facilities, right? >> Nope. >> All right. We have two other action items. Um, the first is a high school trip. Um, Christina, I hope you're listening to Madrid, Valencia, and Barcelona in February of 2027. Um the
051teachers have been working hard um interviewing companies and um and decided on a company and are very excited to get this off the ground uh next winter. >> So we are looking for board approval for that. >> This is so great that you made this happen. >> Very cool. >> You took the lead. Thank you. >> You're looking for chaperons from board members. Did you >> Did you say Baron? got some experience on. >> How when was the last time Did we ever have a Spanish trip? >> Yes, >> we did. >> We took a hiatus and now we're back. >> Exactly. >> Very exciting. Thank you. Thank you for making that happen. >> Yeah. >> Um, do we need a motion on the uh Yeah. Can I get a motion to reinstate the Spanish
052trip? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I Great. Um and then uh the board um and leadership team have been working hard on um uh the whole concept of health insurance and how to try and um curve that uh expense. Um I think Dan mentioned earlier in the budget presentation that um that the premiums have increased three times the amount of inflation or something like that. So, um, uh, the board has written a letter advocating, uh, for this, um, issue and trying to bring it to the forefront of other school districts, um, specifically to, uh, Swiss Chip, which is our consortium. Um, Susan, do you want to say anything more on that? Yeah, I mean we just um Swiss Chip is a you know a group of I think 23 schools. It was formed
053in 1986. It's where we we purchase our health insurance through this consortium. It was created with um really the best goals which is to purchase more efficiently health insurance for schools and for many years saved a lot of money for school districts. Um unfortunately it hasn't the consortium really hasn't kept up with developments in more efficient delivery of health insurance um products. And so we're asking them to please, you know, with urgency to look at some alternative types of health plans so that districts have options. Um, and we've also we also just have asked them to consider some changes to their governance structure as well. But the letter is posted and transparent if anyone would like to have a look. We intend to um we've been talking about this for a long time. We've had
054conversations with Swiss Chip. Dan Carlin um is on the board of Swiss Chip, so I know he's represented us well, but we would like to kind of elevate the discussion. Um uh and I choose the word elevate um intentionally not escalate and as Rachel said also to just call it to the attention of other districts because it's a pro it's a challenge that we all share. So hopefully it will be received constructively and we can bring some urgency to solving this problem. >> Well said. >> Yep. And it is a big problem. And thank you Susan for taking the lead on this um and writing this letter. And you and Mickey have uh spent a lot of time trying to solve this problem that just keeps metastasizing and affecting our ability to um budget and
055>> keep everything in line and >> 13% increase this year, >> 11% increase next year. Um so we just we can't keep that up with the 2% tax cap. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you very much for your work on that. Um, can I get a any other questions on the letter in the resolution? Uh, can I have a motion, please, um, for the resolution? >> Motion. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Thank you. Um and the last um other action item is an agreement um that has been uh discussed and reviewed in executive session. So it asks for that motion please. >> Motion. >> Can I get a motion? >> Second. >> Yep. >> All in favor? >> I >> Okay. Committee reports. Anybody want to start? Uh, strategy and curriculum,
056finance. You guys are kind of wrapped up. No, we've got one coming up, but uh foundation PTA audits coming up. >> Audit's coming up. >> Uh, Amy Jackson is uh traveling, so she's not gear kind of halfway through the uh the grant cycle, but uh nothing to report besides that. >> Okay, PTA. No, it's been a quiet month and next month >> next month will be busy. >> Yeah, the last month of the school last meeting. >> Yep. We're looking forward to Memorial Day. >> Bring back the dunk tank. >> Pete and Mike both volunteered. >> Did you hear what I said? I got >> um Dan, you covered uh facilities. Um health and safety meets tomorrow. >> I think that's it. Yeah, thanks to the PTA and and the foundation as always and thanks
057to all you folks and congratulations again to the tenure uh candidates and successful candidates and we appreciate everything you guys do. >> Connie, anything online or >> Brad? >> Motion to adjurnn. >> Motion second. >> All in favor? >> Thank you.