0016 o'clock. I'd like to call the regular board meeting to order. I guess first order of business is to entertain a motion to adjourn to executive session to discuss a personnel matter. >> I'll make a motion. >> Thank you, Don. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Cindy. All those in favor? >> I be adjourned till 6:30. back to order. If everyone could please stand for the pledge. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Um, as far as board members, we have five of seven here. Mr. Baglioli and Mr. Priori will not be in attendance this evening. Uh, first order of business, could I get a motion
002to approve the agenda for tonight? >> I'll make a motion. >> Thank you, Trisha. Do I have a second? >> I'll have a second. >> Thank you, Adrian. All those in favor? I carries. Um, in our packet, we have one set of meeting minutes uh for both the public meeting and executive session for February 9th. Unless there's any uh edits or comments, could I get a motion to approve? >> Thank you, Cindy. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Trisha. All those in favor? I carries. Okay. Uh, next up, announcements. Does anybody have any announcements? >> Uh, I have an announcement. >> Go ahead. Um this Thursday is the SEAF faculty basketball game at 6:30. Um it's where the teachers play each other for a fun game of basketball to raise money
003for SEF. Um it starts at 6:30. You can come pri or at 5:30 for food. Um there's about 60 different prizes or experiences for kids. Many of the coaches donated summer camps. Um we have, you know, lunch with the super pizza lunch with the superintendent, prom tickets, graduation reserve seats. So, we have prizes for everyone. So, it's a great event. Um, and that's Thursday at 6:30. >> Thank you. Anybody else? I just have uh one thing I'll just read quickly. Mr. Priori provided to me to share uh with him not being in attendance this evening. So, I'll just read it as he sent it. Um, it was a pleasure to represent the Clarence Central School District at the capital conference in Alb on February 10th and 11th as part of the a 25 person delegation
004from the Erie County Association of School Boards Legislative Committee. Overall, there were close to 300 New York State School Board members in attendance. Uh, he had the opportunity to meet with um new Senator Jeremy Zelner, Assembly members Paul Bolognia, Bill Conrad, Karen McMahon, and representatives of Senator Gallivan. um and the Senate and Assembly staff member chairpersons of the education committee. He lobbied on our behalf for foundation aid and against zero emission buses and unfunded mandates. He generally felt uh that the legislators understood our our position and uh were hopeful for their support uh with those and getting a budget passed on time. So that is what Dennis shared. All right, moving forward. um correspondence. I think we have one item of correspondence. >> We have our correspondence from the Buffalo Jewish Federation. Uh Wendy Gerson
005reached out. She wanted me to extend a thank you to the Grand School District for their continued support and participation um in their programs um including the kindness suitcase, educators conference, the museum of tolerance um guest speakers and um as well as student speakers. So they wanted to um send their uh thankful to district for that continued support and participation. >> Thank you Cindy. And uh I'm not aware of any unfinished business which will then bring us to board reports and I know we have a number of updates here. Um Don, do you have anything for CISF? >> I don't have anything to add in addition to what Trisha already reported during the announcement session. >> Okay, thank you. Uh uh Trisha, safety team meeting. Do you have an update? >> Uh yes, we had
006a safety team meeting uh this Thursday. members of both Erie County Sheriff's Office and the state troopers were in attendance and we are thankful for their service and time and collaboration with the district. Updates from the various building level and safety teams were given. Um some of the examples Clarence Center and Mrs. Buffammani collaborated with the county and the fire department to come up with a solid plan if a fire alarm is activated during unprecedented challenge such as cold rain or even a blizzard. Um Sheridan Hill faculty meetings had CPR training. CHS uh is working on a communication plan if they have to relocate students um to CMS in an event of emergency. Um at Clarence Middle School, they're stressing consistency during lockdown drills with their faculty, staff, and students. Uh we also did a
007little activity where there was a break a breakout tabletop discussion. Um we were doing a school safety situation and there were four different groups. um faculty staff was one, administrators was two, law enforcement and parents. And we it was interesting to see how each would handle the situation a little bit differently. So that was very formative. >> Thank you, Trisha. Um did anybody have any updates or for attendance on parent teacher organization meetings? >> Can I ask one question on the safety update? Are we not going to use the church anymore then or will we have to? >> We're still looking at it. So, um, if the high school had to evacuate and use an off-site location, historically there's been a relationship with a Presbyterian church. U, there could be a case where we needed
008to get students and staff out of the building and that would be the most logical place. In terms of a safe space for us, the middle school would likely be that location. So, for us, it's do we have a process in place where if we had to relocate students based on the situation, we could either go to the middle school place. >> So, we're just adding the middle school thing. >> Correct. Yeah, >> thank you. >> And obviously a space that comes just with larger gathering areas for our student enrollment, uh, easier in and out for buses and that sort of stuff. >> I have two PTO updates, both provided by Dennis Priori. I was out of town for the um, February 12th meeting of the Clarence High School PTO and pro postprom. So Dennis
009was kind enough to attend in my absence and he provided some notes which I'll summarize. Um Dennis provided an update to the group on the developing uh budget for next school year and his recent lobbying trip to Albany with the Erie County Association of School Boards. A postp prom update was shared and officers noted the need for new volunteers to serve as PTO officers beginning in 2026 27. The group also discussed a possible new school picture company and a possible joint PTO and SEF fundraiser. The second meeting was Dennis's um usual commitment to the Sheran Hill PTO meeting which he attended on March 3rd. It included updates on recent school initiatives and upcoming events including a call for volunteers and sponsors for the color run and fifth grade promotion. Dennis shared a board of education
010update on the upcoming budget and his recent trip to Albany. Uh Mrs. Aoyo's principles reports highlighted state assessments and upcoming reading programs. >> Thank you. Anything else? Um I guess I'll finish up then. Uh I did attend the middle school PTO meeting on February 11th um where the PTO reviewed a number of upcoming events uh that they continue to uh sponsor some uh new some recurring uh such as scoops for scholars but they're also doing a grade six rocket day this year which sounded pretty exciting uh for those students. Uh and and as far as what I did, I provided updates to them on the budget and the capital project specifically went into details on the timing of the impact of the middle school building and the updates that are coming this year. So >>
011I guess I could add to that Mike that did some funding for the walk program this year. >> Thank you, Don. Um any Erie County Association School Board representative updates? >> Okay. Right. I guess with that, Dr. Frame, I'll turn it over to you for superintendent's report. >> Thank you, Mr. Fuches. U just a quick note that uh a couple of our board members had an opportunity this morning to start their week with Mr. Smith, Mr. Kiglio, Mrs. Mampy, Mr. Chambers, and a group of our AP research students. And wow, uh what an interesting, engaging hour-long presentation as they shared some of their research. Um and at the end, I think a board member capted it best when she said, "They're only juniors." you listen to them and say, "Oh my gosh, they sound like
012they're just finishing up their undergraduate degrees. Uh, and they're in their junior year, so they're talking about research methodology and data that they're collecting and whether or not it's statistically significant." And what an interesting way to start a day. So, a real moment of pride for us. So, thank you for organizing that. We're looking forward to the presentation this evening. It is the first of three formal presentations. We'll hear from our high school uh uh school team. We'll have our third budget planning update and then a student body report from Avery Collins. So with that, Mr. Smith, we'll turn things over to you. >> All right. Thank you. Um I'm going to talk about progress with purpose, safety and belonging, and excellence and action at the high school. So right now, here is a list
013um of technology integration and instruction that of some of the technology that we're integrating into our classrooms to help with instruction. Um, and though Schooly and Google Suites tend to be the most used, this is a a list of some of the other stuff if you're interested in looking at that. But what was really interesting to me is um I had a bunch of students reach out to me from the AP research class, which is why I decided to have them get together with us that uh this morning. and several of them are doing techreated research projects. So for example on this slide Caitlyn Dermy her project is called uh mind over machine how technology shapes and shifts adolescent creativity and this is some data that she has collected in her survey. She's had over
014220 responses. um how many hours in the school day do you spend using or how many hours in a day do you spend using um your screen and not including the school day with your Chromebook. And 57% are using it four hours or more. They're on their screen looking at screens for four hours or more throughout the day, not counting the time in the building on their Chromebooks. Another question is how frequently do you use AI um in school or your daily life and 38% say using it regularly. So it's interesting how many people are um actually using the technology and using AI um as they navigate through each day. And then Griffin Lmbbeck is also one of the students who was looking at technology and his research project is called uh when health becomes
015a habit impact of AI usage on high school students work ethic in Western New York and he provided a direct quote from one of the responses saying I use AI to complete insignificant assignments and busy work that I don't really have time for. sometimes a long piece of work where summarizing is needed or I know that the teacher doesn't take the time to actually read my answers. So that's that's interesting, you know, that they're willing to put that. Um but then he also surveyed our teachers and some of the things that they responded with are um AI is being used as a shortcut or students no longer think for themselves. So there's definitely concerns with the use of AI. And then EV Evelyn Nab um looked at the impact of Parolympic Instagram content on high
016schoolers perceptions of disability. But some of her initial research topics were looking at how often are you on social media? How much does social media media have an influence on you? And there's a lot of responses that show that kids are impacted by what they're seeing on social media. And when you look at uh this slide, the number of um apps that they're using for social media that they have access to, there's there's a lot that they're connected to. So the results show that there's definitely things that we need to do in our practice to help them navigate the world with technology in it. Um and I know some schools have taken this step of banning AI, but I don't know that that would be the right thing. it would probably be better to teach
017them how to use it in a in a proper way than to to cheat the system. So that's progress with purpose. The next is safety and belonging. And there's three things that I want to highlight here. Uh first, the portrait of a graduate. This is a picture of the high school faculty working on an activity to build the foundation of knowledge regarding the portrait of a graduate. We started this work with the district administrative team, all the elementary, middle, uh, and districtwide uh, administrators. We expanded it to the high school faculty and staff. And then we, uh, started to include students with the, uh, student leaders on the superintendent advisory group. And, um, this provides a safe and belonging um, atmosphere in the building because it's inviting people to be part of the process. We
018all have a voice. We're all in this together. The next one is the RISE program. We're in year two of our RISE program and our uh kids are being included in the school and these are kids that aren't that don't meet the uh traditional mold of a high school student and don't fit into the traditional mold of high school. But these kids, if you look at the photo, they created the sign uh for the uh coffee cart that we use. um they're integrated into different school activities um and they're experiencing um meaningful learning opportunities that Mr. George, our RISE teacher, is putting in place for them. And he's doing a fantastic job and we're looking forward to expanding that. Right now, it's just juniors and seniors, but we're looking at incorporating sophomores and potentially freshmen
019at some point because there are kids that are struggling at that age group that need the the support that rise can give. And then last but not least about safety and belonging are themies. while we're looking at um you know portrait of a graduate, it's basically allowing if you think about the research projects that uh you you heard about this morning um all these students that we had the 11 students pick their own path but thesemies give the the students a chance to get involved in a path that they have a passion about and help them prepare for uh college and career. So we have the academy of business and finance. We have the academy of visual and performing arts. We have project lead the way and next year um we are implementing the leadership
020academy. Bob's going to speak a little bit about that. >> Uh thank you and thank you for the support of all the academy. So we actually put out our first feeler um at freshman orientation mentioning to the incoming freshmen that while the academy doesn't start the leadership academy won't start until sophomore year. It's a good opportunity to get involved as freshmen because later on in the high school, they'll need to be in leadership positions. Uh so then we sent out a feeler to all of the parents and students of current 9th graders. Uh we have 37 students that were interested in the first course which is effective communication for leaders. So right now the kids are scheduling hoping we can get at least two sections of that and then junior year they'll take another course,
021senior year another course. But the additional requirements are going to be involvement in civic readiness, uh the community, community service, school clubs, and leadership. So, we're really excited to add add this to, you know, our our options for our students. And then next is excellence in action. And this is our unified program. So, uh several years ago, we started with um a unified club and some unified sports. And we're at a point where we've extended that to unified classes. And in the picture here, you can see um this is unified entrepreneurship class where the students are working with their peers uh on a business plan project. And then we have um our music uh unified music group pictures on the other side. We've done the polar plunge. We've done a lot of activities together. And
022if you guys remember, um, in January, we were scheduled to do a concert and Unified Music was scheduled to play for us. Um, but unfortunately the weather did not cooperate with us and we had to take that day off. And, um, now I have them here to perform for us tonight. So, Mike, can you see if they're ready to come on in so we can hear from our unified music team? And I think if the board members could come up and sit in the front row, that would be great. >> And looking at the weather forecast, >> I was just thinking every time they're scheduled to perform the weather, >> well, I think 2 to 5 in 50 mph wind gusts. I think for the safety of all of us, we should probably probably take
023the day. All all those opposed in favor. >> This is I'm in a good. >> So what I will also say is um they will be performing with the band Against Bullying at the end of April. So th this this is going to be amazing. And what's what's this? Uh, power. >> Power of love. Huie Lewis. >> But that's not tonight's song. cuz we're waiting for them to come in. My last thing was any questions. >> Are there any questions? >> I just thank you for a great morning incredible project. We had amazing students in this group. They I mean the work that they that that group was doing on their research. That's awesome. >> I don't know. >> We're just rolling. >> Rolling. All right. Hello. >> I'm here. >> You're in the middle
024by now. >> Sorry. Hi there. So, >> sorry. >> All right. Before we get going, I'm just going to say a few words before. Um, and this is our first event. Mr. Bger, Miss Reed is also um a part-time teacher of the class. We share the class. Um and I think what we did at the beginning of this year and and uh Mr. Smith really hit it hit a nail on the head when we met when we were developing a class is he mentioned that we were going to build a plane as we're flying it. And I think that is kind of held rolling. Um, I have to say about our kids here, >> um, we had five of our young ladies that signed up to be in this class. Um, they have been as
025much a teacher to me >> as to the other kids. >> And the other kids have also been a teacher to them. Um, it's really impressive how they work together. Um, and what we've been going to accomplish. Uh and just a word about the piece that we've uh written today and actually it was uh inspired by Dr. McCrae who's in attendance here. We had a conversation um last summer uh just about everybody's heartbeat and he's a cardiologist and he I asked him if he could listen to everybody's heartbeat. Could you tell the difference? And he said he would when he asked patients come in, he could tell who the person was just by their heart. And as a not only are we learning uh each other, but we'd like to uh educate you about our
026population as well. And a little public service about that is um if you don't know and we have many different abilities here um kids with Down syndrome are sometimes diagnosed with septal defect where they seep defect and a lot of times those kids at birth have to be rushed to Rochester for us and we would have the surgeon in Buffalo where they have to go at Kirk and close the older now. It's really amazing that those kids can go through that. Um, and you know, it's just something that you as a population wouldn't know about. Uh, but we're here to educate you. So, ladies, On behalf of Miss Mr. Furniture, welcome to the third board of education meeting in the first unified music program. We have been working hard. This is the inaugural year of
027our unifi program and we have learned to dance, played and growing musician. Our model within the program is one everything. Tonight we are going to perform a piece that we proposed as a group written for three days from competitive artist to show the similarities and differences in all. We learn to play loud and soft and how to begin together and how to end. We would like to thank Dr. Administration for their leadership in Mr. Park. Our amazing teachers, Mrs. Rose, Mr. F, Mrs. Dawn, Mrs. W. Silver, Mrs. Pico, and Mrs. Young. Most of all, we would like to thank our family and friends for their love and support. Enjoy our By the way, the hardest name of all that was also there. Fire and tap. Take my hand. Double heat. Heat up here. Heat. Heat.
028Good job. >> Good job. Waiting for the email. Oh, breakfast. >> Yeah, >> it's good to leave that behind. >> That was so nice. So cute. >> Let me just uh can before you and Bob take off. I mean just a quick thank you and would have said it with the uh parents and our musicians who are here but boy that image of a heartbeat uh that's our challenge is finding a way to create a learning experience that speaks to everyone's unique heartbeat and boy you did it today. So thinking about the presentation this morning with your AP research students to ending it uh tonight just really well done. So please extend that not just to students but also to the team that's working with them for board members who may have missed. Uh not
029only was Mr. Furinger here but the music department chair, Mrs. Kohler was here, Miss Reed, Mrs. Reid was here and support staff members that work with the students every day also came to support their kids that were here tonight. Um so it's not an individual sport, it's a team sport. Um and just wanted to say job well done. So we'll give you another final round of applause. tomorrow morning. >> All right. You can stay, Ken. You don't have to run out of here. >> Ken is our weather watcher. He's our weather watcher. So, if any if anything is brewing within a thousand mile radius, >> I have a concern for >> get home safely. So, that is the uh the first of our three presentations this evening. The second is a budget planning update. Um,
030as you know, we have a series of three different uh budget planning updates. They get more specific the further into budget season we get. We will at our next uh board meeting have a detailed final budget recommendation for the board uh to consider and adopt before it is communicated and voted on by the public. Um, before getting into the individual slides though, I wanted to just offer a story and a thought from last week. Uh, we all get a lot of different emails. I know that I'm preaching to the choir. I got one from a company last week and they sent a slide deck and they said they're trying to sell something. So, it ultimately got deleted. Um, but they sent in a slide deck in a report and it was talking about the percentile
031where Clarence punches in when it comes to spending and then when it comes to academic achievement. And so, I'm reading through the different slides and I thought, "Oh gosh, is this accurate? I'm going to fact check them." And so what they were claiming was our spending is really really thoughtful and conservative when compared to other districts in New York State and our achievement is very very high. If you think back to our last board meeting, Dr. Overhalt gave a really detailed presentation on 3 through8 testing, regions testing, and AP testing. And we looked where Clarence achieves compared to other Erie County schools. And I would just make this note that when we look at achievement in in relation to area schools, it holds the same for all of upstate New York. Clarence is one of
032the highest academically achieving districts in all of upstate New York. I know this is not this is not breaking news for this team. You are well aware of academic achievement data. Worth noting though that we have a music program that performs everywhere from our unified programming here tonight to musicals in our auditorium this past weekend to Klein Kleinhand's music hall and everywhere in between over the course of a year. And when we think about athletic programming, niche ranking has Clarence is a top 10 district uh statewide when it comes to athletics. Uh just this past winter season had four different uh sectional championships. our rifle team, cheerleading team, hockey team. Uh, and I'm blanking on what the fourth one was. Uh, I should have brought notes up on that. Uh, but just supporting information for
033the strength of our athletic programming. So, we we achieve at a high level and that's important uh to our school community and our community at large. To circle back to the other claim that this report had made about spending, they had looked at per pupil spending and school districts every year have to report a lot of financial data to New York State and then they use a methodology and they rank and they communicate it in a public system, the New York State School Report Card. And so they have a number that is per pupil spending per districts. And if you go on the New York State School report card, you can see what they include and what they don't include. But at the end of the day, they report on this data and different organizations
034rank them. And so there's a news organization from the Syracuse area that ranked all of the school districts 1 through 666, highest per pupil spending to lowest. If you're talking with business officials, they'll say, well, there are some differences in terms of what's supported in the district and different parts of the state that you live in. But just consider this for a second. publicly reported financial data uh 1 to 666. Where does Clarence come on the list? 659. So when you think about a thoughtful uh way of um being fiscal stewards, it's hard to beat what this t this governance team has been able to do and to support the level of academic programming that we have here in Clarence. So just saying when we talk about putting a spending plan out, we want to
035make sure it supports our academic programs and what our community expects. And we also want to make sure that it is thoughtful of taxpayer dollars. And so as we go through this process, uh that's the balance that we're trying to find and thought it was just worth noting uh the quantitative data from that report. So with that, I'll get into some of the different slides as we take a deeper dive into some of our specific academic programs. As always, we go over an agenda. You can see that tonight we're going to do updates on expenditures. We're going to do updates on anticipated revenues. And then we're going to go a little bit further with the instructional part of our budget, the student support service side, and the athletic side and talk about next steps as
036we move further into the winter and spring. As always, we sort of follow where we are with regard to the budget timeline. You can see that this is the final of our specific study sessions and that we'll be doing a full presentation the next time that we meet. Um, and we have a a general cadence of looking at revenue and looking at expenditure and not going over the whole thing in each of the meetings, but focusing on information learned or important drivers. So, with regard to revenue, uh, I'll just share what is new and what is of note since the last time that we met. Uh, we were talking about finalizing the property tax cap. The last time that we met, we were able to get the remaining numbers. We finalized the tax cap. It
037had to be submitted to New York State by March 1st, which had happened. You can see that our tax cap limit uh for next year's budget is 3.64, which is generally where it falls or it has fallen over the past decade here in Clarence. Uh that also includes new developments. So, we know that the total amount levied uh it it may be one number, but it may come from different places. Clarence is a community that continues to experience residential growth as well as commercial growth. but it may be levied a bit differently. Uh that growth factor is a is a component of that tax cap. So that is something that is new and of note since the last time that we met. Um you can see what we anticipate uh it having with regard to
038an impact on the tax rate. Um and just as as you know but is worth reiterating when we talk about the tax levy that is the total amount that's levied locally. When we talk about a tax rate, that's the amount per thousand dollars of assessed value uh that gets to that total tax levy. Um so our uh anticipation for what uh that tax cap would mean for our community is that it would go from 10 uh $1011 per thousand to 1036 with regard to next year's property taxes. I'm going to show a slide in just a second that um that reinforces the fact that when we generate an anticipated tax rate um almost all of the time it comes in lower than what we anticipate it being and we have reason to believe that that
039will be the same as we get into next year. And actually as I stood here and gave this presentation last year we had talked about an anticipated tax rate of being 1031 uh and it had come in at 1011. So here we're talking about an anticipated tax rate if we went out at the tax cap of 1036 uh anticipating and hoping that it would ultimately come in lower as it has tended to do in recent years. So that is uh maybe the the newest thing uh of note um followed by what we're hearing out of Albany. I know that this team has been advocating for school funding. A lot of professional or organizations have been doing the same across the state. Um, we know that in the governor's uh initial runs, there was a 1%
040guaranteed foundation aid increase for all districts. Uh, the problem with that obviously is that expenses in almost every area are going up more than 1%. And so those districts that would receive 1% are in an uncomfortable situation. So when we've talked with legislators, uh, we know that they understand this. The House budget and the Senate budget came out last week. They're recommending a minimum 2% for districts. And so we're continuing to make that argument as we talk with legislators. I would just like to acknowledge that we have a representative from Senator Gallivan's office here who it's not your first time at a board member. We always like seeing you in the crowd and we know that you do a ton on behalf of our students and and our school community when you and the senator
041head to Albany and I believe that you'll be at a round table that Senator Gallibin is holding for area superintendent on Friday afternoon. So, we appreciate your advocacy. If you can keep beating the drum for us, uh, and just emphasizing hopefully what you have seen here tonight and what you have heard here tonight in terms of the academic programs we want to be able to support and what we think are reasonable funding levels, uh, to allow that to continue happening. Um, so we're optimistic that when a budget is ultimately passed, it will come in at more than a minimum of a 1% increase uh, hopefully at least a 2% increase for school districts across New York State. Uh, and we should know that probably an April 1 budget would be a bit out of the
042ordinary just based on the last couple of years, but hopefully early April we'd have a more concrete sense of where we're heading. Uh, you can see as the second bullet, um, monies we're anticipating receiving from the federal government. We do not have reason to believe that those would change this year based on uh, different things that we hear out of the capital. uh you can see a recommendation to use $2.5 million of designated fund balance, something that we've done the last couple of years, and then no significant changes with regard to Erie County sales tax. So that's the revenue side of the budget. uh with regard to the tax cap and and what we're hearing out of Albany for the expenditure side. We're going to again focus on a couple different areas tonight, but I
043do want to just highlight a couple things that may have changed slightly or uh are worth noting as we move into this next part of our presentation. Uh you know that we're anticipating fairly significant health care costs. That's something that we're seeing industrywide, not just in the education sector, but in the private sector as well. The good news is that that number working with our outside partner is down slightly from what we've presented at the first two budget study sessions. We think that this is an accurate budgeting number as we go into next year. Um the TRS rates and ERS rates are the same as what we've reported on the last couple times that we've met. We have referenced in previous budget conversations wanting and needing to support all student interests. An important piece for
044us is making sure that if students want to participate in a vocational program, they have that opportunity. Erwan Boseies offer some world-class programs. Uh we know that they come with a cost and an expense. Um and right now we're looking at about a $200,000 increase budgetto budget. We do think that this number will level out as we think not about this coming uh fiscal year, but the year after that. Our guidance department collects data from students and the way that Boseies builds it is they actually look at the prior year's enrollment. Um so that is a driver for us although again we think that that number will even out after that. Uh when we prioritize health and safety uh we know that having a well staffed well-trained nursing team is at the very top of
045that list when it comes to keeping our kids safe. And we know that in recent years um we have not kept up with what some of the industry norms will be uh or currently are in education settings. And so we are recommending that we make Clarence more competitive when it comes to attracting and retaining members of our skilled nursing team. Uh just knowing how important that is for the the health and well-being of our students. So that would come with um a welldeserved and well-needed uh budget increase when we think about expenditures. And then for uh the student support services or special education part of our budget, you talk to anybody in K12 education, they know that it moves pretty dramatically uh from year to year just based on students and student needs. When we
046think about not just our programming offered in district, but also Bosey's programming uh private settings that may be needed to support certain students and their needs, uh there's an increase of about $900,000. So not out of the norm when we think about spending, but certainly something that we need to be watching carefully as we plan for next year's spending. Uh and that number can fluctuate at any point uh just based on learning needs that a student or students may have. So for us uh tonight we're going to do a quick look at three different areas, instruction, student support services, and athletics before talking about next steps. um we we do a a pretty um thorough job of taking a close look at our classroom ratios when we get into programming and planning for instruction for
047a coming year. Uh so beginning in January, we start doing regular pulls of elementary projected enrollments and looking at our desired class sizes and the number of needed sections. We have cse season uh in the late winter and spring as we're looking at different special education uh programs. And then our human resources department meets with our middle school leadership team and our high school leadership team to go over course requests. And so the purpose for doing that is to make sure that our staffing levels are able to support uh the programs that we offer, but we also want to make sure that they're as efficient as they can be um in supporting a a whole number of courses. So you can see on this slide when we go into an academic year, we provide more
048than 20 courses. is at the high school level. We need to be able to provide alternative education programming in the high school, the rise program that Mr. Smith and Mr. Kiglio have talked about, as well as some of our education pathways. So, when we uh look at instruction uh for any school district's budget, the largest component is the staffing component. It should be that way in an education space. This is a people business. So, you can see a 2.65% increase. When you look at some larger swings in the equipment uh contractual and supply area, if you get into building or department level budgeting, those are the two main ca the three main categories, supplies, contractual and equipment. If you look at the dollar values that are changing yeartoyear, the dollar values may not seem as
049striking as the percentage. And the reason for that is that Dr. Grupka is working with our building level leaders, our department level leaders, so that our budget lines closely align with our anticipated expenditures. So, some of those numbers look like they're big swings. They're they they are not as large as they may seem dollar-wise. Uh, and they really are tightly connected to need. So, you can see on the largest portion of our budget, uh, expecting a 3.04% increase. Um, when we think about staffing changes at this particular point in time, we know that we'll need to add a 1.0 O classroom teacher at Harris Hill based on enrollment at the fifth grade level as well as a specialized class uh at the middle school and anticipating uh an addition over there that we'll talk about
050in just a second. Uh we'll continue to monitor our enrollment numbers uh especially at the secondary level but at that point that's where we believe we'll land. Uh the second piece is our student support services. So this would be our special education teachers, our service providers, so on and so forth. Um, you know, our commitment is that we are trying to uh meet every child's need, not just during the 10 months that uh all students are in session, but also during the summer months in what's called our extended school year program, our ESY program, uh, which will be housed at Leedu Elementary this year. Um, and we want to support academic programming in-house as much as possible for all of our Clarence students. uh and we want to do that because there are kids and
051if we can provide that academic programming here that's our goal. So when we look at our expenditures you can see the staffing uh increase you can look at the equipment increase and the contractual increase the change is really connected to Bosey's programming and out of district programming needs if we're not able to provide that learning support here in district and then a supply change. Uh so you can see the percent increase um and likely make that connection back to some of the bud uh budget drivers that we were referencing a couple months ago. Under the student support services umbrella also fall our uh counselors, our nurses, our psychologists, our social workers. There are a couple different budget uh areas here to highlight. One is the uh nursing correction that we're recommending the district make to
052make sure that we're uh competitive in the K12 sector. And then there's a double asterisk that talks about uh a loss of grant funding that's been used to support our family support center. So what may seem like a larger than reasonable increase is really not that significant an increase. It's accounting for the fact that we've lost state funding, state grant funding uh that has been used in that particular area. Uh again, as we go into the spring, we know that we'll be finalizing cse meetings so that we have a very concrete sense of what program uh placements will be needed for next year. Uh and then we also, as I had talked about before, uh will be starting a specialized class in sixth grade next year to accommodate some students that are moving from one
053of our elementary schools. Uh and at this point are planning on again the addition of a a full-time teacher and anticipate needing a full-time teacher aid uh as we get that program up and running. The third part is our athletic budget. You can get a sense of all the different teams and experiences that we provide. And I'm sure that many of us when we think back to our high school experiences, some of the most meaningful events happened on athletic fields or diamonds or rinks or in gyms. Um, and we're really proud of the program that we have here in Clarence and have asked them to be as thoughtful as possible with spending. And as you look at the different numbers, you can see that as Jason has gone over the staffing costs, the equipment contractual
054and supply costs for the athletic part uh of our budget. So really for us as we think about a spending plan for next year, it's just maintaining the programs that we have, our athletic programs as well as our unified programming uh in the areas of basketball uh and bowling uh which would fall under the athletic part of our budget. So those are the three different areas that we wanted to focus on tonight. Again, from the start, we knew that it would be a tight budget year, and we have tried to maintain uh a laser-like focus on maintaining programs and services. We really aren't talking about additions and enhancements this year. Uh the things that we have have highlighted tonight would be things uh based on number of students and student programming. Uh for next steps,
055again, to advocate with elected officials. They're right in the middle of their budgeting uh process. uh to continue to to fine-tune uh our revenue and and expenditure projections uh to begin preparing communication materials that we can share with members of our school community because they'll ultimately be asked to vote in May and then make sure that we can uh we can run an efficient vote day uh when we get to May. Uh our vote day information you can see here it's Tuesday May 19th uh same time and same place as usual that our community has become accustomed to. There would be the two different propositions, the uh 2627 school budget, the vehicle bus purchase that runs on a 10-year purchasing plan that we have, and then there are three board seats uh of individuals that
056um would serve the community from a governance perspective. Um as always, if you bump into someone and they have a question or a concern about uh a school spending plan, a budget question, uh we would ask that you point them in my direction or Dr. Dr. Grupka's direction and would be more than happy to email back and forth, have a phone conversation or meet one-on-one based on the individual's preference. So, with that, I'll take a pause to see if there are questions or comments from members of our governance team as we come through this uh third budget study session. Does any board member have any questions? I guess maybe the one thing I would just ask um I guess it's about a month from now, April 21st, is when the board would adopt the budget.
057Um so this is our official tax cap is 3.64 based on all the information you've shared. I think it's said, but just to to reiterate, the assumption is >> uh from a revenue perspective that we would be going to the cap to fund everything you just mentioned relative to all correct the additional positions we need to fill based on enrollment numbers. >> Yeah, correct. And and the next time we meet will be in the middle of April. So hopefully I have final budget numbers from New York State. I believe that our uh finance and operations uh board committee will meet before that so we could uh go over any new information that may be coming out before we meet again in a full board session. Our our strong recommendation would be going out at the
058cap. Uh and again, when we do a a 10 to 12 year look back here in the district, that is a number that falls in a in a range of tax caps that we've gone out to the community for. And at a point in time where we're not talking about uh adding to program, we really are talking about maintaining program and uh the anticipated uh state numbers are coming in at 1 or 2%. Um there are just student needs that we need to make sure we're supporting. So our our strong recommendation would be to go out at 3.64% the tax cap. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. >> Uh thank you. And with that, I'll turn things over to Avery Collins for our student representative report. This past weekend, the high school drama club
059put on their annual musical 9 to5. This light-hearted comedy was brought to the stage through the hard work of stage crew, costume crew, pit orchestra, their directors, and the cast. Each night became more successful, bringing it close to the drama club season as well. Ledge View performed Susicle Kids, which was very successful as well. Winter sports also came to a close with lots of success through the oh the through the department. The boys and the girls hockey team made to the state champions as well as the cheer team performed at states. Um four Clarence students went to wrestling n uh states track runner also ran at states and then rifle student athletes also won sectional titles. Dr. Rose Berkin the daughter of a Holocaust survivor Gregory Sher Snavski spoke to middle schoolers this past month.
060Students had a chance to hear about her father's story and her own personal story about her movement to America. Students had the ability to ask questions and learn about her survivor story. The high school science Olympiad team competed at regionals where many meddled and placed high in their events. 34 medals were award awarded to students in 17 different events ranging from learning about rocks and minerals, designing a hovercraft, and studying astronomy. Students will be participating in the state championship this weekend in Syracuse. So, we wish them all luck. Five NHS students travel to Washington DC to attend a leadership conference. This conference includes students from across the globe gathered to work on their leadership skills to bring back to their schools. At this conference, the students got a chance to represent New York and Clarence
061and set an example for younger students. As the hundth day of school passed, many elementary schools celebrated this milestone. At Sheran Hill, kindergarten students put on a fashion show with special shirts to celebrate the 100th day. Ledrew kindergarteners celebrated by studying the movie 101 Dalmatians and had a day full of activity and fun. High school students who participated in Harkness and Bosei programs competed in an area 1 skills USA competition where many people meddled in events like CPR and first aid, electrical construction wiring. As well, many clearance students have also been named student of the month in programs like web technology and game programming and virtual production and design. Chemistry students at the high school competed at the national chemistry open tournament where they tested their knowledge in chemistry with students from all parts of
062the country. This merit b merit-based competition featured 60 multiple choice questions where two students tied for first, a student tied for second with other students, and four students tied for third. What an accomplishment. Sixth graders at the middle school put on a wax museum. Students researched their favorite singer singers, historical figures, pop culture figures, and celebrities to become an expert on them and become them at this museum. They received by parents, teachers, and administrators to celebrate their hard work to bring their um celebrity to life. And then the annual faculty basketball game will be this Thursday, March 19th at 6 p.m. And the admission is $2 and includes games, food, activities, and raffles. >> Great. Thank you, Avery. And wonderful job in the show this past weekend. You have found a way to get more
063out of every day than anybody else we know, from sports to music to academics. But um wonderful, wonderful job. And with that, Mr. Fuches, uh we've reached the end of the superintendent report tonight. >> Thank you, Dr. Frame. Um I guess moving forward, uh next up was public comment. We have uh no one that signed up for that. Uh which will bring us uh to finance. Dr. Grika, >> thank you. Today, I'm asking for approval of the financial reports, bills, and check warrants for the month of January 2026. Approval of the notice of budget hearing annual vote and election which also includes a bus vehicle proposition for $994,88. Approval of a resolution to appoint chairperson and vote election inspectors for the upcoming May vote. Um approval of our internal controls audit as well as the
064corrective action plan associated. This year they um elected to audit the transportation department and we only had one finding. Um I'm asking for approval of the tax cap calculation and levy. Um approval of extracurricular club one extracurricular club um for students creating opportunities in prehealth education. And then um finally approval of winter community ad stipens. >> Thank you. Does anybody have any questions? Seeing none, could I get a motion to approve items F1 through F9? >> I'll make >> Thank you, Cindy. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Trisha. All those in favor? I carries. Uh, Mr. Michelle, personnel. Uh, instructional. So, in an effort to get ahead of the hiring cycle and try to find the very best to to fill some very big shoes that we're losing. Uh, prior appointments,
065we accepted 13 retirees with over 300 years of collective service. uh and one social worker substitute. P2 is a resignation of an elementary teacher appointments. This this meeting we have two regular couple regular substitutes, spring sports appointments and mentor program candidates. P4 is the second of two uh salary adjustments for our teaching staff. P5 is a notification of tenure for two instructional positions that isformational only where P6 has the notification of tenure for the three positions that you reviewed last meeting. So that is an actionable item. P7 is changes to our substitute list and P8 is a res resolutions for class coverage due to the lack of available substitutes. Thank you, Mr. Michelle. Is there any questions on the instructional portion of the agenda? Seeing none, could I get a motion to approve items P1
066through P4 and then P6 through P8? >> Thank you, Don. Do I have a second? >> I'll second. >> Thank you, Adrian. All those in favor? I carries. Uh non-instructional. >> Non-instructional. P9 amends a clerk's rate that was previously approved. P10. We have 10 resignations, four of which are for retirement purposes. Uh George Carbury has given 23 years of service to the district. He's one of our buildings and grounds people responsible for making sure our sports fields are ready for our students each year. Uh we're losing two of our nurses who have been here for quite some time. Lyn Press of 23 years and Barb Richie for 30 years and one bus driver Becky Priest 29 years. Thank you to all of them for their service to the district. Changes in status. We have New
067York helps appointments continuing as more titles are approved uh and some temporary buildings and grounds assignments. P12 is requesting extending a leave of absence. Prior appointments for this meeting, we have one clerk, a monitor, an auto mechanic, an auto mechanic helper, and one substitute cleaner. Appointments, we are appointing one cleaner. P15 has changes to our substitute list, and P16 is a resolution approving the MOAs to adjust nurse rates and add titles to CSEA contract. >> Thank you. Is there any questions on non-instructional? Seeing none, can I get a motion to approve items P9 to P16? Thank you, Cindy. Do I have a second? Second. >> Thank you, Trisha. All those in favor? I carries. Um, next up, student support services, Muska. >> The committee on special education met for 11 days and is requesting the
068approval of the recommended services for 17 students. The committee on preschool special education met for 11 days and is requesting the approval of the recommended services for 29 students. >> Thank you for that. Uh, if there's no questions, can I get a a motion to approve S1 and S2? >> I'll make a motion. >> Thank you, Adrian. Do I have a second? >> Thank you, Don. All those in favor? >> I. That carries. Uh, board development and policy. Dr. Frame, anything to note? >> Uh, four different action items. The first, our athletic director has been working with our girls varsity lacrosse coach on a planned trip to Universal uh, properties in Florida. An exciting trip for not this spring break, but next spring break. our high school orchestra is planning a trip to Pittsburgh where
069they would have uh performance I believe in a university setting uh would see the symphony in Pittsburgh and uh have a chance to tour some of the historical things in the city. Uh our annual trip uh for eighth graders to Washington DC we' approved I believe at our last meeting a middle school trip to Quebec. Um and then our school calendar and just offer a note that it has been a really tight and challenging school calendar to put together. Um and we are not the last to approve it. can talk to uh friends and colleagues in other Erie County schools. A lot are still working through details with their associations and with their parents. So, just wanted to thank our association leaders, our um uh parent representatives, our PTO presidents and our team for uh
070their flexibility and work on the 2627 calendar. So, recommending for action as well. >> Thank you, Dr. Frame. Any questions on those items? Seeing none, can I get a motion to approve B1 through B4? >> I'll make a motion. Thank you, Trisha. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Cindy. All those in favor? I that carries. All right. Uh last in our packet is a schedule of upcoming meetings and events. Uh the next a board meeting. Uh we'll be as mentioned uh previously, April 21st, and we will back be back at the middle school for that meeting. uh the week prior the finance committee will meet um to review hopefully a state budget and impact on our budget before we get to together on the 21st and we do have our annual
071form with the CSEA on March 25th. Uh barring any other items from the board I would entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> Thank you Cindy. >> Thank you Trisha. All those in favor. >> Thank you everybody. Good night. Turn it