001All right, we call this meeting to order at 6 o'clock. Um, evacuation procedure for emergency. We have exits here, back there, and the door we all came in. Uh, please rise for the pledge of lead to the republic stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Mr. Jackson here. Mrs. Snder here. Mrs. Gendron here. Mrs. Ferris here. Mr. Dro here. And Mrs. Geller excused. Thank you. Like to turn the presentation over to Superintendent. Thank you very much. Um so before we begin, I have some great news that I want to share. So today uh there was a gathering at Coahost High School at 3:30 to uh find out what the um who was going to make it into the Proctor Awards. And um we have been nominated our our high school
002performance of the descendants for three different areas. Um well best supporting actor Carmen Tarlo and best supporting actor Ray Phillips and best musical tier C. So, we will find out on May 10th at Crafters. Um, you know, how uh how we do. Um, just for those of you who had the opportunity, it was just an amazing amazing show. Um, just such wonderful, you know, actors and performance and big thank you to the directors and just wanted to share that hot off the press. speakers. So, so following that we have uh some questions came up from the last uh few meetings. Um and so we have CSR chain Turner to uh to address some of them. I'm turning it over to Thank you. Paul Neerson, project architect of CSR and we've met almost everyone here today.
003So, to be in front of you again today. You have a slide and the board has the materials as well. Okay. Just you know. Yep. So, um I'm here today this evening to report that we opened bids for the additional site work uh contract the other week or so ago was on March 19th. There were three bids that were submitted. Dustin paving, Newcastle paving and Shaker Flats, Shaker Flats is the low bidder, including the base bid and then there were five. So graphic here today we haven't had to show to you. So the orange color is the base area. The paving and drainage back behind the high school that puts the kitchen receiving area that the underground drainage storm collection ties into the system going around the new paving extending out around the maintenance garage
004area out to where the circle is by the rest of the drive which is rendered in no color on the screen that's part for the current contract work this summer. So, so the whole part of this contract work as well as the work along Mick. So, the orange is the base area. So, that's that piece. That also includes eight additional parking spaces up the multi-purpose field area where there is there's a a concrete pad that now sort of extends off that area. So it's additional apartment spaces plus some turnaround space. So that's the base and then we have the the alternates. So alternate number one is re millilling and repaging the me parking lot in front of the school building. It's roughly 110 current spaces. No change in parking. It's basically milling what what's there
005now putting down new top coat and then reigning striping. Alternate two is the smaller parking space. Alternate number three is the batting cage out of the um third baseline. So batting cage drive up that direction. includes not only batting cage itself but include furniture surfacing a chain link fence surrounding the cage conduit or electrical run to that area from the building that's why they're kind of extended back so that's the building the electrical itself will be issued to the current contractor as an allowance the current electric contractor for the capital project. So that's solvent number three. Alternate number four improvements to the fencing moving a section of fencing that's the north side includes the west side of the purpose field and then replacement of the fence along drive it includes some [Music] ele six feet
006and then it jumps up to 8 ft I believe along with the the outfield portion of the baseball field and then instead of following all the way out to the end of Man Hanky Drive, it curves in to meet up with the third sign baseball. So that's alternate number four. Yeah. So that three alternate four is the fencing and then alternate five is the um it's hilling and topping Harmony Hill playground area or play surface area. basketball courts of course and that sort of stuff. It also includes some under drainage at the perimeter of the house equipment area. So that's alternate number five. Any questions about the scope of work? If we did do alternate number three, would we also make sure we at a minimum left a tape in there so we could pull
007through for a scoreboard in the future? Yes. Yeah. Yep. So there's there's conduit that has to be pulling conduit or pulling electrical through it. We could use we could leave the the draw string in there. The contract installs it with a draw string and the electrical pulls their wiring through pull additional drawings. anything we can do to future proof. Um in our graphic we we we started looking at it take further development. Um but the potential for adding additional parking and then raising concern for the communityration um where can we add additional parking on the site? Uh so currently to the east of the main parking lot there's a little bit of green area. Some people may not know that the underground storm collection chamber system there. So parking over the top of it is
008not really easy but it may be feasible. Just may have a higher price tag than soils but there's potential for adding some parking spaces there. And the other botanical areas, there's a a little tree wooded area, smaller parking area that could be expanded out for future parking. Again, not part of the current bid, but it's something that we'd like to do is, you know, make a recommendation that the next time we meet Shaker Pass under contract. Uh well they haven't submitted their schedule. We can just find out how much we're going to take but um they see initiative that's being in the summer. We'll narrow down in more detail schedule once we know. What's our process for deciding what we're doing, what we're not doing, reviewing bids? So, we review the bids against the budget
009and we're within budget. So, we're in the position where we could accept all of the low bids uh should we choose to. If we're not happy with any of the specs, then we could go back to the drawing board. So the way it is currently if we accepted all the bids those future areas could be developed as part of a future. Correct. Yeah. The billing and topping is really something to prolong the life of those the existing parking areas. now expanding out. Um, you're not really going to undo what's happening. If we decided later that we wanted to add a second batting cage, we did think about locations. Could you point? Yeah. Yes. Potentially second batting cage could be added on parallel to to the one batting cage that's part of the scope. The caveat
010there is it does start to get hillside. have to be have to be looked at. Another possible option as discussed fully investigating a gap with possible location over the softball area. Does that address everybody's concerns? There was also questions about the lights and I know that you did provide the last time I met Yeah. um provided some graphic that's been shared but can be shared evaluating the existing pipel and when would the time frame for that be? Um so that will design both and we can talk about it facilities commit larger committee when you're talking about doing the uh the lights and stuff on metal hickey way have you looked into um doing any energy [Music] um with Naerta looking um on like an on-site energy manager and having all the lightings availated and everything.
011That's something we certainly investigate if there's any grants available for lighting replacement. There's tons of grants available. Yeah, I mean especially when we're going to be reviewing the HBAC and everything like that. Yeah, you can get a ton of money from NAERTA. Uh, National Grid also does the lighting. So, there's a ton of money that's out there. Y, we'll look into that first. We're familiar with that. We did have some initial discussions regarding nicer grants. Um, you know, and then we'll continue to look for opportunities. This might be a silly question. So, the base bid I I see. And then the all the alternates one, two, three, and four. So when you're getting pricing for these bids, is it the base bit obviously because you that's the that's the main one and then just one
012of the alternates or you going to bid them all and then see where they come in at and then have a better make a decision that way. Correct. Yeah. So we we bid Yeah. The way So it's just five jobs or Okay. The way it is the contractors bid the base bid. That's the base contract bid. Then all the alternates add on to that. Gotcha. And you can we have the liberty to choose whether we take one and two, one, two, and three, one and four. Gotcha. Okay. We can't take the alternates without Okay. Thanks for that. Does the base bid include the drive all around the parking lot? Um, so the base only includes this orange pinkish color to drive around the parking lot is already part is already reported to the current. Okay,
013so that was already taken care of that it was done with a prior thing. Okay, thank you. Thank God. I know. [Laughter] That would be a horrible. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. You got a shot. Got a couple next. So, next is our Thank you very much. So, next is our uh budget presentations. The last of our presentations uh facilities, technology, and special programs. And I am going to start by having uh Mr. Bill Darcy um go over facilities highlights and needs. Thank you. Thanks everyone. I've met a few of you, not all of you. My name is Bill Darcy. I've acted as director of facilities for the district since early November. Uh I work most days alongside of our head custodian, a new position uh filled by Jason Cribs, who had
014a position in the district prior to that for a little while. Jason becomes my eyes and ears on the floor as I like to say during the day. He along with mechanics who operate independently of his department. Jason's been influential able to organize with me some things that we see some things that hadn't been done before. Uh his relationships with the principles and people in the schools very very positive. Uh so as we move forward you might be seeing more of Jason as well. I'll go over a few of the highlights of both the capital project and in uh in-house local projects. Start with the capital project phase one Harmony Hill bedsite elevator upgrades. Both of these elevators have been put online. Uh just tweaking both mechanical and uh cosmetic upgrades to these cars. on
015the phase 2 post high school will start with over each of the schools the turf field with studio lights bleacher softball field upgrades and partial roof everything there completed except for softball field upgrades softball field is has been accepted by us it is playable and at the end of the season it gets an outfield drainage upgrade and the dugouts need to be completed can I ask a question there dugouts What what do they have to I know cuz they look like they're done with the exception of the roof and then So what is the plan for next year? Do they have to redig that hole and redesign that whole area or is it just the roofing roof modifications to the fencing? Okay. Both the high fence the back stop and how it meets the fencing
016on the dugouts themselves. And one of the dugouts on the third baseline, uh, concrete had cracked, did not set properly. That's good. Okay. There's a small tweak about maybe adding a little bit of hard surface for the uh for the ports. Okay. Be off the grass. It's like we got to clear that up. Brought up. Why don't we just clean this up a little bit? But just so you'll see fences, roofs, and and like I said, the one side common. Okay. middle school science classrooms, bathrooms, hot water heater, plaster repairs, partial roof, all completed. Uh we've been in the science rooms uh on and off talking about small tweaks and furniture. This is helping us with the high school signs modifications that are going to happen this summer. What works? What might we change? Can
017I borrow something if you're shy in my room? So, this furniture going back and forth. This idea is going back and forth as we approach uh the renovation of that entire wing. I suppose Abram lancing exterior painted library windows and screens paint job's obvious. You can see it from miles away. We're still working on it. They're getting great next week. going in there cafeteria. So looking at that as well as classrooms have a locker group conversion into construction space windows and ADA curve all complete. If you haven't seen these two construction spaces in Harmony School, if you can someday take a walk of great use of space or reutilization space to two rooms that are quiet, private and bright. Really, I've taken people in and showed them that a few times the last few months.
018Take a look if you can sky exterior roof and skylights capital high school auditorium stage refinished and curtains replaced stage floor was resurfaced we worked together now space how to utilize and get the most out of this floor while keeping it in nice shape it's brand new apron forward sectioning u obviously finished architecturally so you have a working surface and finished section. Work together on keeping that up. Uh curtains, a new and clean and inherently flame retardant product that does not need to be flame proofed on a regular basis provided you keep that product dustfree, oil free, clean. These are inhouse our walks through the buildings with principles Peggy, Stacy, myself, and Jason. Uh what's on our minds high school stage lights partial upgrade stage lights last summer there's a small request to complete that
019this is the stage lighting not any of the common area or the house lighting all over that 80 to 90% more energy efficient than what it would replace automated so climbing is less and obviously if you're not going in the air see going The host middle school shop room refle refresh plumbing upgrades uh all completed districtwide tree room tree removal furniture upgrades clean out of storage solutions. So guys in the department talked to me a lot about the tree removal. I didn't see it, but I can see where they've been, and that's a constant eye on properties, conditions, and that's something that they will go back to, furniture upgrades, housekeeping, and the cleanout, storage, that's on. It depends on which building you go into and which department you're talking to, who's got product, what storage,
020who's got storage, but not a need for it. Is it practical to move things to another building? How much back and forth is that going to create? We're still working on a lot of that, but we have done quite a bit in these early months. Okay. Hrack scope to be determined. So looking into is all he ventilation and air conditioning within the district. We're watching mechanical costs rise. We're looking at more repair. We're looking at the fact that both labor and components parts prices have skyrocketed. Postco you see substantial increase in things like this. So what we're looking to do is take a look at the entire district, every building from an engineer's perspective. Talk to us about the age of this equipment. Talk to us about current conditions. Are we at or beyond useful
021life? Where should we start by building or what components to keep this these systems uh moving into the future? Anticipating contractual increases, heating and cooling, electric gas, garbage and fuel. Just like home, just add a few zeros, rights, watching utility costs constantly. watched emails and the discussions of consortiums that service districts. So, I know they're researching and I know they're looking uh but prices north all the time. Electricity the same gas they're all obviously all tied together city move the price on us just a little bit at the end of 24. And so while we deal with that by looking at some state contract options and alternatives to see not if we want to jump out of that agreement but first if we're competitive if we're at least doing our due diligence on what it
022is we're spending for Treasury and phone privacy cost and I we cross lines constantly looking at different forms of what communication providers are sending to us, what our costs are, what it takes to run voiceover IP in six buildings, what it takes to run bandwidth in six buildings to get to the networks that he's managing every day. Three, five, and eight years ago, if you upgraded uh communication in a building, depending on your need, some of it could be very intimate right now. And it has to do with your needs, but it also has to do with a building's it has to do with the industry is as the technology changes what you need to provide changes. How you build changes. So are we in something that may be very affordable, but we could be
023getting a little more for a little more spend. We could be getting a little more for a little less spent. Where are we? Last time we hashed out both phone and internet communication plan facilities, local initiatives again internal walks we took in the fall with the principles and the begging states the things that come from that alumni gym floor in the high school full sanding refinishing and an audio system upgrade. So I'd have to look at paper because I haven't digested it yet. The district is on a system where gymnasium floors get done every year. Not every room every year and not a full sanding. Sometimes a full sanding right down beyond logos, sometimes just surface. This year alumni gym floor in the in the high school will be refinished. And the audio system upgraded
024the gym was done last week. Jumped ahead on that had product in small upgrade. Jeff Hunos to it people in school. They're very happy with that post middle school gymnasium floor surface level won't go down beyond those lines refinished and hallway lighting upgrades. When I met the former principal in the school the first day back in November, one of the first things he said to me about his building was, "Geez, if I could just brighten it up." My goal was if I could put light, if I could put paint, thinking simple requests. And a week later, I walked through this building and I said, "Geez, he's right. Just a little something. So what we're looking at is to try this in by floor price first, second or third. You can get away with more than
025one floor in one year away. If not, maybe this summer and the next summer after just to go along with a lot of what's already been done in this in this building, they were lancing courtyard clean. those inherently flame retardant stage curtains that now outfit the entire uh high school auditorium. There's a couple in the district here in Harmony Hill where the back wants to it's old. It's never going to take traditional flame retardant treatment that the curtains in the front of those two schools can still take and are certified. So, we'll change that up hopefully pretty soon. Vans Skype gymnasium floor surface level refinish Harmony Hill there's stage curve replacement districtwide various paints housekeeping everywhere we walked or we could paint that or we could make that so there's a list we actually Jason
026Crips took a second walk after we walked the buildings with the principles just to talk about so he comes back with us like this absolutely we'll do as much in the first but we've got it patient With that, any questions for me? I I just want to say and I know you weren't here when we talked about the various uh building needs assessments. Um but just so you know, you uh you changed the needle. the needles change that sometimes in the past um building conditions were brought up as an area of need and this time it was brought up as a as a highlight and a a strength. So um throughout our needs assessment meetings. So thank you. Yeah, actually I'm going to say that I very much appreciated the walkthroughs that you did at
027all the schools with the principles and the list that you had and checking everything. And even if it's a small housekeeping issue, it still needs to get recorded and looked at and it was very thorough and greatly appreciated actually and very informative. Now, my other thing is I'm going to sound like a broken record, but you have to look at the NAERTA clean green schools program. They have training for you. They have um programs where they'll come in and they'll do all of these assessments and work with you on it. Um NAERTA offers a lot of rebates on it. Troy School District is currently going through it right now. Usually they'll reimburse you for like 75% of the costs. Um I don't know if you don't know about it, but it's a great program. I
028have nicer clean green. Clean green down for you. Yep. And it's also the naerta flex text program. It's the flex tech program which is the other one. Anyone else? So I I do know that um you know also an expert on lighting. I'm just hoping that maybe you can can help the lighting in in my office to just enter lighting designer and production electrician trade. I learned big buildings from bringing shows in and out of big buildings for many many years. But along the way uh I've done architectural lighting. I've lit some museum art uh houses worship. I really enjoy the architectural probably because after many many years in the theatrical it was a different flare was a different practice even as what appears to be simple as a gymnasium hallway uh illuminating engineer society
029specifications for what these rooms need to be like we've done color and and lumin output and things like that. Yeah. No, I just I'll enjoy that. Mine's just very simple lighting to the mirrors. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And next in presenting next see I'm jump in with a proposition. That's why. Oh. Um so this is just a good spot to remind everyone that on the May ballot we will have uh three items. We'll have the annual budget. We'll have the the board election. And then we'll also have the capital reserve proposition. So again, this is just a reminder. We talked about it earlier in the season, but the proposition is to spend 2 million from our capital reserve monies. So this doesn't impact the the tax levy whatsoever. Uh it doesn't impact the
030local budget. It's just uh the authorization for us to spend uh the money from the reserve on the items that have been identified as priorities. So uh we talked about the improving of the lighting and the campus uh for high uh the high school and Harmony Hill. So the external lighting improving that um the replacement and upgrades of the auditorium lighting. So that's the that's that house lighting and the lighting over the the seats of folks who are uh watching the shows and then construction of a storage shed uh for athletics. We've we've purchased a lot of new equipment for our brand new field and we want to maintain that equipment uh and for a track uh for our track team as well. And then the enhancement of the courtyard at the high school. Uh
031so that'll be a a great space where students will be able to have lunch outside when it's nice. And they'll also be able to use that for instructional space when it's nice out. And then uh two walk-in coolers for the middle school and for Abram Lancing. Um, and that is to improve um the the program, our food service program will be able to offer uh more fresh product if we're not uh keeping the product in these small um individual coolers and we have a nice walk-in cooler where we can have fresh produce, etc. Um so again, no no impact to the to the tax levy and it'll be the the third item on the ballot this upcoming M. Thank you. And now EJ um will do our instructional technology information technology highlights and needs. Yep.
032Uh I know Mahoney network administrator. uh one of four other one yeah one of four staff members uh Katrina Hunt Jakamo and uh Thomas O'Keefe who work in the IT department providing IT services to the district this past summer for example the fifth and ninth grade cohorts uh got 250 new Chromebooks um they're yoga style they can flip over they have touchcreens. Um, brand new three-year warranty. Uh, we also purchased some additional Chromebooks that went to the third and fourth grade um for computer-based testing. Uh, we actually did another order this spring to uh swap out some of the older nontouchs that were in those grades. And then we also are setting up uh 25 laptops for the future ready pathways um because they were getting Chromebooks previously uh and indeed was identified that uh
033laptops were a better fit. Uh interesting fact about these laptops uh once the students successfully graduate future ready pathways and go out to college laptop goes away. Um Katrina and Jen this summer uh worked on some system transitions. Uh one was synergy to school tool and schooly. Um they also work on the apex learning to egenuity transition for the high school. On my end, we switched web filters from securely. It's a little bit of a it was fun to find your way around it securely and configure things. Uh to go guardian um and it was wellreceived by the teachers because they had been using GoG Guardian a couple years ago um before the transition to secure. Also this year we completed phase two of the copier installation and we are currently using paper cut um
034which is a printer management software that uh gives us some information on pages printed. We're not checking everyone notating everyone just yet. Um but we also print release with badges. So instead of having a print job go directly to the printer and no one claim it, staff have to go um swipe their badge, enter their pin code and it will release the job. So uh savings of paper that's new. Yes. This um September. therapy. Anyways, um and then last year we worked on -ay and identified a need to uh replace our battery backups for our networking and server equipment. Um we went through that process. Uh those items will be installed next week during the break. Um we were on a NIKAD um battery lead acid battery that was roughly sorry uh 5year lifespan and
035uh with our rate funds were able to go with lithium ion which gets about 10 years. Um, and going off what Bill said earlier, uh, during the elevator renovation, uh, we connected the emergency call lines, uh, to the phone service and while doing that, we identified a need, um, to actually put them on something more reliable that we can get through NER, um, which provides us with a cellular line that has 24-hour battery. So, in case of an emergency, um, the elevators will call out and they have a 24-hour battery in case the building loses power. We're also tying those into the phone system for emergency calls in the case that the building loses internet access, which are voiceover IP phones run off. So, instead of saying please contact us via parent square during those
036times, we can actually take the call. takes the call. And in line with that, we're also looking at utilizing the phone service that Neric provides um and getting off our current vendor who uh we've had a couple issues with service dropping over the past couple years. And tying into what Bill did say about um taking a look at things as uh technology improves, we did move from older technology to newer technology with that vendor, but we still suffer some um issues with service uh configuration. Lines get broken at various points. So we're going to uh look at going with the nar. Uh we also installed a portable camera which replaces the FHS system I think it is. Um doesn't charge you a fee. And that was uh there's one in the high school large gym
037behind the bleachers up on one of the I think one of the metal posts. And then out on the press box is the outdoor and it has three lenses in it that follow movement at a local field. And then again uh for credit recovery at the high school that replaces the previously program Apex question. Our significant needs are a computer support technician full-time. Uh we again provide services to the whole district. There's just four of us. Um we're doing instructional software. We're doing computers, Chromebooks, which is pretty much a full-time job in and of itself. Um managing issues with printers, schooly, computer-based testing, um not to mention the cyber security aspects that are brought about by New York State Ed Law 2D. Uh so we need some more people to uh assist with the work
038bill. Um we're also planning as long as I think the tariffs hold off uh getting some student and staff Chromebooks. We have a 90-day grace period. So I get purchase orders in before July 8th, I think it is, right? Um, so we're going to go for the same plan as we did last year, which is uh two cohorts, the fifth grade and the ninth grade, and um add a few more in replacements for new students that districtra. Uh we're going to be ordering a few signs like areas that have projectors, but also because the high school science is being renovated this summer. Um, so we're going to put new displays in those classrooms once they're renovated and then um going for a maximum cost allowance through I think it's NICE um which is available because
039of the New York State Safe Act um where we can get reimbured on camera and security upgrades various security upgrades um so that would be very helpful to meet uh some of our needs. And then for software, we're going to be removing Funhub, which the elementary school uses, most of Mac, which is the middle school, Genitech, which is our security cameras. Uh, Gipper, it's athletics. actually going onto the Genitech, we're looking at um improving synergy through that um by tying in our door system to that uh to the Genitech and then maybe for alerts and alarms that we could utilize moving forward. Um for new software, the high school and middle school are looking at securely e hall pass. Uh we did purchase kachukos for the uh middle school high school languages uh that was
040pushed by tasani is it um our virtual French teacher. It's a gamified learning application uh to improve engagement in learning uh languages and then the high school it's doing common but we moved it to new because they are going to do it. Yeah. And then we're exploring other gamified applications that are not just tied to um languages. So edit puzzle quizzes viz viz and a couple others that are similar. Uh we're taking a look at getting onto one platform so we're not spread out across multiple platforms. the the teacher leaders and their their departments are with Jens and Jackal have been exploring these different platforms and be deciding. Thank you. Um and next up, uh Aaron, director of special programs and Karen Renessi, assistant director. Before we get started, let's all just look out the
041window and take a really nice big breath and acknowledge that we are the best. So this is our enrollment of students with IT and some students and um the important takeaway about every year is that this number is not getting smaller and we have a lot of transients We have some corn and bread os students with learning disabilities and we have people looking back and how do we have a lot of kids? We have a lot of changing kids who miss something here and then here. So um those are the kinds of things that way support those students they are involved consortional partnership with water and island sharing ideas as well as sharing related services or um putting each other's students first if we have a space those other schools need space or vice versa.
042And if you look at this number of students, my takeaway is that there are well over 400 with with IE. So we if we had a building we would be the biggest school in the in the special department and um when we are looking at trying to help kids and fortunately for us Lancing and Harmony in Skype have done a really nice job working together and working with Karen and Peggy and helping um kind kind of spread out our students so we don't have anywhere that has too big of a chunk of them in the elementary. They're all relatively even 53 63 45 students in the district despite the fact in their overall areas not being the same. So that is terrific. Um, the other takeaway is the number of students that we have not
043in the district. These are all students. They're in, we put them all together, they're in more than 14 different schools outside of our district. And that includes charter schools and schools that their parents have chosen. It includes students both use consortium or students that are in place from as far west as it's connected to and um as far east as field. have two students attending Mitzfield because their needs match up with that school and no one capital. So just just so you know we are a small city but man they got voluntary and that's to keep our students here to grow. So, our um anticipated needs we and I know I'm the girl who always talks about like schoolers who are coming in, but um we currently have 12, which is down from 14, which
044was a few weeks ago because we did have a couple students move out. So, we have 12 students um coming up into kindergarten who are currently either in self-contained or integrated classes. Um when I looked at our current functional skills classes, we had 10 spots. So, my initial thought was, "Oh my gosh, we need another classroom because we have more students coming in spots." [Music] Um, an alternative program that we have come up with though to to possibly not have to go to that functional skills classroom is an integrated kindergarten class. So, I've been working with Mrs. Dera on what that could look like for Van Skype. Um it's it's exciting because a lot of schools in the area do have integrated classrooms, integrated co- teaching or integrated kindergartens. Um and it's really a a
045classroom run by two teachers, a special ed teacher and a general teacher. Um typically a couple of aids and they integrate the special education students into the classroom all day long. The the curriculum is modified. um both teachers are responsible for all the students in the class which really lends itself to a nice sense of community for the entire class. It's not split into this group's over here, that group is over there. Um so it's I think it's very exciting that that this could to us. Um so this is something that would be um piloted in van Skype and then maybe in future years we could roll out to the other elementary schools maybe even in different grade levels. Um so with students coming in they still do have those related service needs. So for
046related service, we're looking at additional speech OT and PT, not too much. Um, and what's nice is that Water Police also has a need for speech and PT um because they are going through the same thing that we are. They just have a large number of students coming in. So we would be able to share uh with them, which is nice because it it is very difficult to find somebody who's not full-time. They do not need OT unfortunately. So we would need to look for point4 OT associated students. Um I did request two onetoone mates and that's not having specific students in mind for next year but um often once the school year starts we might see that a student has very significant safety need uh that we need to address. So that is just
047in there just in case the need does arise. and then a part-time CSE chair. And this is something that came up in some of the building needs assessment meetings. It came up with the school legislation from where we have to students um have this very difficult case and we have to meet right away as Middle Street High School are saying we didn't need hear that they can just draw everything and come to this meeting. So, so just so you know, um with the um consideration of a part-time CSE chair, uh we believe it's something we could do through our 611 and 619 grants. So, it would not be, you know, impact to the budget. Those are grants that we use for um you know, students with disabilities. Um, and then I just wanted to mention
048too that right now we do share the a PT with waterfleet and I mean this year it's with mans next year waterfully. It's been working very well. It allows both districts to get a full-time employee to really attract um a larger pool of employees. So um it's a very successful successful model working together. Thank you. And um I'm sorry, but there are more slides, but not too many many more. So, I'm going to turn this over to Stacy and then Stacy, I'll take them when I feel sec. I love it. All right. So, the 2526 proposed budget. So, this number has changed since the first time we met. Excuse me. it's increased about 250,000. Um, so unfortunately the state budget has not been finalized yet and initially when we met we thought we'd have a
049final answer by now, but we don't. Um, so the expectation is hopefully we do a little bit better um than was first presented to us. Um, that's that's the thought process. Um, we do receive other aid categories that are based off of what's expensed. So, there is a little room. That's not an a total dollar figure that I'm uncomfortable with as far as not knowing the final number. Um, it's not going to make or break the budget. Um, so we increased it with the expectation that the final aid number will be better. Um, so I just wanted to make that clear. So 54,000 54,865,497 um that's going to be the proposed dollar figure uh that next time we meet you will be voting on that. So it's a 2.67% increase and it's $1.4 million overall.
050So what's in that number? Mostly it's contractual expenses. There's not a lot of new items in that figure. Uh so mostly the spend is on health insurance and pharmacy costs. Uh transportation expenses, uh utilities as our director discussed all the utilities are increasing. So um we had our trash contract but electrical, gas, uh phone systems. And then we took a a 5-year look back at uh our our GCI and it's doubled in 5 years. So the repairs because everything is aging. So that's why that HBAC audit is really important um to identify where we're at, what we need to concentrate on and what we need to focus on as a priority so that we don't have any uh surprises uh moving forward. So all these things are important and strategic as as we move forward.
051Um what is new really and we'll go through the slides but we're focusing on three main areas. So it's um alternative programming. It's health and safety security and then it's so we went onetoone um around 2020 2021. We never increased the staffing. we really do need a dedicated service to meet the new needs of the students. Um so so so that's really where that focus is. It's really student based. Just a reminder of the property tax cap. So we walked through this in February and it's actually due to the state controller in March uh March 1st. So the tax levy has not changed. Uh so what we're proposing is the 18,468672. What that means as far as revenue to offset that 1.4 million increase that I just talked about, it's $362,000 in in new revenue
052for the district. So we we do uh meet with the city. We talk about what the role might look like next year based off of our best estimates. And again, these numbers aren't final until the summer. Uh so these are estimates but uh the estimate is about on a house with an assessed value of 150,000 about $7 a month um $84 annually. So that's that's the estimates based off of what we know today. Um this is not meeting or exceeding the tax cap. So we're below the tax cap. So it'll require a 50% plus one uh in order for the the budget to pass. And uh the actual tax cap was 3.67%. So 2% is is close to half. Um from a historical uh historical trend um we've increased 1% last year and 1% the
053year before. So we've been very um cognizant of of uh what the economy looks like. Um and we're trying to be as modest as we can as we build the budget. From a revenue perspective, we're we're right sized. A few years ago, it was getting close to 50/50, and that's not where we want to be, right? So, when you combine the state aid, building aid, and federal aid, it's about 63% of our revenue source. So, we're highly dependent on state aid. So, whatever is happening at state and federal level, it's going to impact us, and it's going to impact us hard. Um so again 63% that's where that's where our focus is. Uh about 33 and a half% of our budget is property taxes and then we have pilot revenue at about 1% uh consumer
054utility tax at 1% and then other revenue at about half percent. This is just a reminder that uh the budget is not yet passed at the state level. They're expected to meet tomorrow and have a fourth extender with an unknown date as to how long that's going to be good for. So it it makes it difficult um to to finalize the budget, but we have a deadline. And so the next time we meet, we have to take action regardless of if the state budget has passed or not. So these are our best estimates and that's what we'll work off of. So, I'm going to go over the uh the budget highlights and you you heard from each of these these groups. Um what we did in terms of uh these slides are put the major
055items in the needs assessments. Um and at the elementary level, it was math AIS.5 for Van Skike, 1.0 know for Harmony Hill and then a special education teacher at Abram Lancing uh to provide one teacher per grade level for wind time. Um we uh we would have loved to have included these in the budget. I mean has mentioned you know um that this this is a this is a tight budget this year. Um the at Abram Lancing the special education teacher case load the case load of student needs can be met um very successfully with the current balance of um teacherto student ratio. Um this was to uh uh help enhance the what I need time when the students were working in in additional groups. Um we do understand the need for math AIS. Um
056going to continue to look at current scheduling, continue to work with our instructional coach um on training and implementation of math really looking at um tier one um instruction. Uh and then also you know if as we go down the road we do find our grants, title grants, etc. increase and you know there's some questions out there about those then um you know that's something that we would definitely definitely keep in mind. Um in terms of the middle school um campus safety monitor the 0.5 this would bring the middle school to three um campus safety monitors over the 2.5 and that would really allow us to stagger times have you know have um robust coverage you know at the end of the school day have coverage on all three uh floors you know at all
057at all times. So um math AIS again um we do understand the need there is currently a point4 math AIS uh position in the budget that we would continue. Um I know that um um Mark and Tim are going to be working with the middle school looking at the scheduling to see if there is flexibility within the current schedule to to provide more of this. We don't we don't know can't say at this time but continue to look at the current schedule and um the instructional coach who is here uh two days a week um the feedback has been very positive. She is now um also working one day a week at the high school in terms of math. So really um between you know the two instructional coaches knowing the um uh K through
05812 curriculum I think that's really going to help us in math too because those skills build right upon each other and then alternative education program and we heard the need from um both things and um you know we can go later times a little more in depth on the plan um but at this point in time this is in the budget for grades eight, nine, and and 10. And then at the high school, um you heard of the school safety director stipen. Um Laura mentioned that this would really be um districtwide uh safety director really helping to ensure that our campus safety monitors, our school safety officers, um all receive the the the training. um somebody to help really coordinate uh districtwide the schedules and then also allowing the whole team the district-wide team to
059really come together and uh have meetings and conversations and then again the alternative program. So outside of this the um uh instructional uh technologist the information technology support would be the um other addition to the budget. Uh I do want to mention I mean I think that you know over the years we have um really um done a solid job of maintaining positions within the budget to meet our student needs. And as you recall there were some um positions funded through ARP that we were able to continue in the budget to to meet our student needs. So, um, you know, I'm confident with that and with these additions that, uh, you know, we'll be able to, you know, continue to grow and our students thrive. So, Stacy, so next steps, uh, ideally New York State
060will pass their budget before we meet next time, but I don't know if that'll happen. I can't make any promises. Uh, so fingers crossed there. Um after that we have um on April 23rd we'll meet and you'll take action to uh approve the the budget to go on the ballot. Um April 28th is the deadline for board uh petitions as well as a property tax report card. Uh so I'll have that prepared for you and I'll send that to you. On May 7th, we have the public hearing and the expectation is the newsletters will be mailed out by that time. Uh so they'll go out to our residents and then May 20th is the annual budget vote and the board election. So before we go on to um further topics, knowing that at at the
061next meeting we're going to be presenting um uh this this budget to again is there other information you would like? Is there other information to add? Um questions does this summarize it? Um I know that you have the slides coming up for the the three parts and the percentage for each. So I know that my smile I don't think we added it. We just want to make sure that the information um that you have what needs you. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Um so, uh a few items left. Um before I do the ENL update, I just want to uh uh have him share some uh exciting news with you. So, we had a Rich Becker from New Albany reached out to us uh two weeks ago. Now, we met with he and some partners
062that he has with MYAI in Skenctity. uh they're engaged in a partnership and uh participating in a grant that's intended to serve 2,000 students across the Capitol region for the purpose of uh exposing them to STEM and engineering specifically all fields of engineering uh in order to increase student interest uh at the grade seven eight level. They'll be doing push-in uh programs, bringing uh speakers in, doing activities with kids in in classrooms to expose them to the various uh what could be career potential opportunities for them. um this high school program. Uh once those first cohorts of kids experience that awareness program and they call it discovery, um they will then offer those cohorts of kids an opportunity to go and work on site uh at U Albany or my be part of uh hands-on
063everyday engineering program and in programming and instruction. So, we're excited to offer that uh in the context of exposing kids not only to a field but then really giving them hands-on practical applications so that they begin thinking about career and what does all this K12 education add up to and uh as we know the field is changing out there. It's not like it used to be where votech they go off to Boseies and then some go off to to college and some go off to the military. there's a a real hodgepodge of collaboration and confluence of all three areas. Uh so the the more students are prepared and have awareness of what their skills are worth and marketable for uh the better off they'll be post high school. And so this is just but one
064avenue and we're very excited. We've Peggy wrote a a letter and signed it uh kind of committing us to being being engaged in that grant process. So they'll be getting back to us within next couple of weeks as they collaborate with the other districts that are going to partner with them. That's great. That's great. So then uh then finally and and and Stacy after me. Do you have a business update? I forgot. Oh, you do? So not finally. So almost finally um I wanted to provide uh elementary ENL update to you. So um after bringing uh this to your attention um in previous meetings there were there are like four different areas I think that you had asked about. One was parent input, one was training, one was budget and one was enrollment. So I
065just wanted to go through those areas today. So there was a parent meeting held on March 6. 19 families were invited. 12 families attended. There were families who um had students whose home school was either lancing or van Skype and there were translators in Spanish, Ukrainian, Portuguese and Chinese. Um and the principles discussed the possibility of students attending their home school next year. They stressed that it was being considered that it was you know uh decisions weren't made. um questions came up about class sizes at the other buildings programs and so they were assured that the programs um and the class sizes were were similar. Um uh transportation did come up. Um I know that was um out of the families um that were there. Uh two two families showed con concern about that but
066not not the remaining the remaining families. So, two out of the the 12 um they were um told that if if we made this move and they had a current fourth grader, they would be able to stay, you know, as fifth graders. So, so that was the parent um discussion. Um our ENL teachers were there, our principles were there and it and and and the feedback was positive. Um in terms of the training and uh you know, I could share there is a robust plan for training. We have um some strong in-house trainers. There's also um is it Questar Jacqueline called now? Questar three. Questar three. Um pardon oh sorry Arburn um who works um you know out of district on training um for for ELLL. Um the training um you know could begin in
067June, go over the summer and then continue year long. Um in terms of the budget um some questions were asked. So we spend approximately $300,000 on transporting students. Um however this is 90% aidable. So the following year you get 90% um of that back in terms of of aid. So um although there would be um you know although next year would mean not having to spend that 300,000 we will be getting the aid next year from this year. So that's really a rolling thing. So that amount is negligible. Um in terms of the staffing if this were to occur, I think we talked about this, the numbers at um Harmony Hill overall would decrease to the amount where that there could be a reduction in in one one grade. I I I know we shared
068the numbers with you. We showed where that would happen. So, um, if you looked at that and that would not, uh, involve any cuts because we did have a retirement and we had a a classroom teacher move to to that retirement in in reading. Um, that would equate to the cost of a ENL uh, teacher. Um we do know there would be the additional um fifth grade year at Harmony Hill. Um but feel that that could be um covered between uh you know the the teacher at Vans Skype could could likely pick pick that up, you know, unless there was a a a bigger influx. Um the one thing that I can't tell you um is will the enrollment stay consistent? I know that was um that was a question and concern. Um we did
069see our enrollment, you know, steadily rise over the past um years. Um and uh I asked Jacqueline today since we started talking this year, has it decreased? Um it's decreased by two students. We had uh one move two one move to one neighboring district, one to the other. That's that's pretty typical. Um, but I can't uh, you know, forecast at this point in time what it would look like for next school year. Um, so I wanted to just bring that back to you today. Um, and and talk to you about a a couple couple potentials. I mean, um, you know, we we heard all the positives for doing this. students in their home schools, um students in their neighborhoods, you know, the the increased strain on on one building with with having um you know,
070uh um so many students speaking so many different languages in in in there. Um so one is we feel prepared um to uh do this next year. Another option is for us to continue to watch the enrollment, see if next year if our enrollment does stay steady, looking ahead to the following year, but committing as long as there were no drastic changes um to um making this move a year from now and but providing some training throughout the whole school year. So, so that's that's where we're at. I just wanted to have the discussion with you. Peggy, and along the same lines as we um went to the parents for their opinions, um what has steps been made to the other buildings um to alleviate any concerns from this the teachers who will then have
071this on their plate um good and bad and all the things just so we have a full scope of that. Um hearing you say it's pretty budget neutral at the moment. Um, does that include PD and things like that that we know will be required at the other buildings to support this? So, there would be uh PD costs. We do get a title three ELLL grant and a title three immigrant education grant and that is where we write in our our PD costs. Um, I do know that Kim Angus went and presented at Abram Lancing. Kim is the veteran ENL teacher at Harmony Hill and um just for the preliminary discussions I think it was well it was well received um Vans Skype Jacqueline is the uh ESL coordinator so um I think you had
072some discussions with with your with your staff um so because you are so close to the to the content matter matter. Um I I I can ask the principles whether they were there to to share. Mr. Bird, how did the meeting go? Very receptive staff member lost the students. Um and so I think they're very fact. The biggest concern is we'd like the decision made. We're already talking about versus specialist next year. Um how do we divide up the the staffing talking about who wants to take special ed students for instance and then uh who will be be the person who will be most interested in the NL staff. That conversation is happening. We're just now waiting for a decision on board. I think we're ready to go. We're nervous. Um, but I think we're
073excited. We're always up a challenge. You know, I had no negative feedback. Just let's do it. Thank you. Do you think um There's no teachers all right after this in January possibility. I think in my building the biggest I would say concerning the most maybe a little anxious about is the use of the technology. So learning how to use an iPad or use the Chromebooks for the translations and interpreting for the students in there. And I know that at work um the teachers did a great job using that technology. I feel very confident that the teachers will be able to come down and shown by teachers who are more than um have the ability to learn very quickly on how to use. Thank you. I just um do you feel that if we went and
074did it this year that the teachers and your staff would feel like it was rushed on them without the proper training being done as opposed to post you know putting it off until next year since I mean it's not going to cost us any more any less anything like that. Um and everyone a full year and gives everyone a full year to acclimate to it and get the training in. pros, consum with all of our institute. I mean, we've got teachers that have done it at least haven't done. They they had classes of 25 kids in 13. So they put that beauty and they brought that those new teachers up to speed within that person. I mean obviously it can be done but do we want to continually do that to our staff is what
075I'm asking. Does our staff do they appreciate us maybe researching things and looking into them and then saying, "Okay, you've got, you know, a year or not even a year, you've got six months to do this as opposed to you've got June and July." That I guess is my question that how do we feel about our staff and pushing this on them? I think that could play into the families as well if we basically say this happening after next school year, plan for it accordingly. If you want to look for a different apartment, if you want to figure out your transportation arrangements, like it gives every Yeah. I mean, that's a huge adjustment for a parent that first of all, English isn't their first language and they may have to move, they may have to
076adjust their their work schedule, they may have to, you know, it's not just cut and dry. And I do understand that we, you know, I understand our teachers are awesome at learning and all that stuff. My concern is do we always want to just be like, okay, you got two months to do this. Have to consider too the the burden it is on Harmony Hill though vote that the reason why they want to do this. We have to weigh the benefits, the pros and cons. It's not just we don't want to burden our our staff more, but staff in Harmony Hill is already burdened, right? But if they know their relief is coming, I mean, it helps everybody prepare. We can't just go and throw to these families that now your child is going to
077a different school and they have all their resources already set up knowing what is happening. I mean, they're against the they're behind the eight-ball to begin with. I understand, but we have to think of all sides. That was the point of the family meetings was to to gauge the families response to that. And you had two two families that were brought up were concerned with that were two out of nine. That's out of 12. Yeah. Two out of 12. Thought you said only nine attended. 12 attended. I'm sorry. 19 families were invited. attendance. Um, so, so I think number one, I just wanted to talk to to, you know, make sure there was a commitment to moving in this direction. I do understand that if something happened with enrollment that was drastic, right, that would
078give us, you know, um, but but um, so the the commitment um because either way then it is, you know, a commitment to to to doing this. I feel that there have been discussions with teachers uh and and parents. So it's not it's not um going to be uh new news. Okay. And it it is just in terms of what's the best training plan, you know, what what's the best way to proceed. And just that's why I mean this discussion is a little different than some of our previous discussions. And you know, we're um you know, we're we're we're willing, ready, and able to go to either either option. I would I would say I do agree that the quicker we can make a decision that the quicker that they can get the absolutely started.
079As Mr. Bird said, I mean, they just want to know yes or no. I agree. Yeah. In fairness, they wanted to know a month ago, they wanted to know two months ago, right? Exactly. Yeah. I think I mean as a board it's our job to take the educated advice from from our educators. Um what is the best step to move forward? Um I don't feel it's my job to be in the weeds on it. I just want to make sure that all the the facts are laid out and certainly for a budget. Um but the other piece is the um satisfaction of the families involved. So next steps would be agenda item for the next meeting. Is that the It's really not a It's a discussion. It's not really an item. Oh, I thought it
080was correct. I'm asking you. I'm sorry. That it's funding issue. It would be a budget item. Yeah. But it wouldn't be okay. Yeah. It wouldn't be a Got it. Good. I feel good. Um, but I do think that, you know, um, I mean, I do know we we're on vacation next week and then we have the meeting the week after after that. So, yeah, it's it's a it's a time to say either, okay, you know, yep, we're going to do this right now or um, we're going to do it that you're following it's it's it needs to be very very soon. We just need to proceed. I'm sorry about that. Wasn't that funny? like she's like this all day long. All right. So, thank you. Thank you. My turn. Your turn. My turn. Um update
081for the annual risk assessment. So, our internal auditor, Michael Wolf, did come in. he uh did the field work, but he has uh several engagements that he works on at the same time. So, there's some questionnaires that haven't made their way to us yet. So, we haven't been able to uh finalize that process. Um I reached out to him. He estimates that next week he'll get those questionnaires to us. We can get them done pretty quickly hopefully. And then he estimates the report for 4:22, which is the day before the board meeting. Um, so hoping to turn that around very quickly. Um, and have that approved because there is a deadline for New York State because this is last year's information. So, the deadline is the end of April. So, that might be an agenda
082potentially uh for the next meeting. Uh, not any fault of our own. Um, I did hear from MMB, which is our external auditors. So they're scheduled to come in at the end of May for the phase one of the audit. So that's the controls aspect. It's a couple of days they're here. They do all the testing and then they'll be here mid August for the financials. Um so that's again routine. We have um a borrowing coming up in June. So we did temporary borrowings for the capital project through bands. So those are oneear borrowings. So, this next one is going to be an actual long-term debt and it'll be uh our bond payment and this will uh normalize um our building aid as well. Um so that's expected for June. That will require uh the
083board president's signature. There's a lot of uh legal paperwork involved in that process. Uh so that's June. Um Bosey's commitment is is due for 111. Um, we're ahead of schedule thanks to treasurer Shelley Dame and it's ready for packet certified. So, she's gonna do that tomorrow. That's right. 9:30. And last but not least, we have on the agenda tonight uh our maintenance mechanic, William Maul, is retiring. So, I wanted to thank Will for his uh years of service and his dedication to the district. He's certainly been um a great part of the team and uh congratulations to Will. That's it for me. Um does the board have any item on tonight's agenda they'd like to discuss? Anything from the community on tonight's agenda they would like to discuss? All right. So, could I say I
084don't know where I'm going with before, but I missed my opportunity. So, I just want to uh just say that on the uh agenda tonight is uh Dr. Lundo's appointment. um and I am very happy that he has decided to stay with us for uh another school year and uh it's a pleasure working uh with you and I said wow so many thought thank you thank you all right then can I get a motion that the board adopts the following resolutions of the April 9th 2025 agenda 6 A through E, 7 A through J and X A through C. I'll make the motion. I'll second it. Mr. Jackson, yes. Mrs. Snder, yes. Mrs. Gendron, yes. Mrs. Paradis, yes. Mr. Gerros, yes. And Mrs. Geller, excused. All right, a couple items of note. Um, information and
085considerations. um Yankee Trails trip for high school students to attend sports business day with the Jets and Bethlehe Stadium. Um that's an exciting opportunity for both those students and their lucky teacher. I know there is that's a great opportunity 30 students. So yeah. Um and a thank you to Stuart's holiday match program for their donation. um which is going to help out with at all five schools. Um and another thank you to Proctors for their donation um for Proctor's programs for Lancing. Any comments from the board on anything not on the agenda? Uh Margaret left me one note. Um no. [Laughter] I know the League of Women Vote. She has been in contact with League of Women Voters. As we know, we have at least four petitions out for the upcoming board election um to
086discuss the possibility of doing a meet the candidates night or something along those lines. So, there will be more information follow on that. Um and do you have any UPK registration updates? I forgot something. So, uh, UPK is still, uh, Jacqueline, registration for UPK ends this week at the end of this week. Um, and then we can provide an an update, um, yeah. So, we I will provide that in the update before. Yes. Okay. Um, any comments from the audience on anything else? Absolutely. I again wanted to give a shout out about a month ago and again as a high school parenting it's not many guys that you get to go out with our kids. Um it was a great night they elevated a little bit after taking some suggestions from last year. Um so
087I just want to give a shout out to the PTO who organizes it, the CTA, all the members who play. It's incredible to see um you know the members at CTA come out on Friday night from 6:00 to I think 8:30 till it ended um playing on the teams and um you know those who didn't even play to show here watching um CNC members also participated um so again it's just all around a great night for everyone and I want to say it's particularly great because the churros get to leave high school with the first place championship. I second that thought it was a it was a great event. Awesome. He said being really disappointed in my daughter's dodgeball skills. I thought it was a great event. There was. All right. um board policy review
088of first reading policy 2245 which is the exeicio student member of the board and policy 7000 the facilities development goals um dates for future meetings will be April 23rd uh here in the middle school library along with May 7th. Um, can I get a motion to enter into executive session to discuss matters leading to thement, employment to motion, promotion, discipline, suspension, dismissal, removal of particular person or corporation and csea negotiations and a legal matter. I'll take a motion. I'll second it. Mr. Jackson, yes. Mrs. Snder, yes. Mrs. Gender. Yes. Mrs. Paradise. Yes. Mr. Dros, yes. And Mrs. Geller. All right. We do not expect to come back into session. Thank you. Thank you.