001[Music] Good evening everyone. Thanks for coming. We are going to call the meeting to order. If everyone can rise for the pledge, please. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. [Music] >> Thank you. Um item 1.03 approval revision of agenda. I'd like to make a motion to add an executive session at the end of the meeting um for the purpose of talking about the superintendent search and second. Thank you, John. All in favor hand. Thank you. Uh is there anything else anybody like on the agenda? Okay, thank you. Item 1.04. So, we have some recognitions for tenure tonight. So, I will go up to that one of the microphones. [Music] So, as I just think you guys can hear as I call your name. If you guys want to
002make your way up to the front so we can recognize you appropriately, um, greatly appreciate it. Good evening. Tonight, the board of education is proud to recognize 15 faculty members who have earned tenure this month. Thank you for your excellence in teaching and dedication to the students of Fateville Manlance. Please come forward as we call your name to accept a token of the board's appreciation. Janine Abbottz, Bryce Billiard, [Applause] Shannon Burns. [Applause] Congratulations, [Music] Jake Klene. Busy time of year. Cody Cosby, Kelly Dervish, Larry, [Applause] Sarah Elliot. [Applause] Kimberly Coobbler, Lindsay Leighton, Stephanie Patel. [Applause] [Music] Laura Penn. Oh, that seems I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna call it I'm gonna call her name 10 years from now and see if she's doing that same thing. Tuk Fan. Nicole Prudholm, [Applause] >> Amy Raymond, and finally
003Shannon Schmidel. probably all grading papers and such. Thank you. Congratulations to all of you. [Applause] So, in addition, uh the board is also pleased to recognize one of our spring 2025 track and field students. To win a state championship in the 200 meter race is an outstanding accomplishment. The board is proud to have such an excellent student athlete in our district. Congratulations to Nikita Greyville Dominesko. Please come forward to accept a token of the board's appreciation. >> Congratulations. [Applause] Okay. If those of you who were recognized would like to leave, feel free. It's not it's okay. Or you're welcome to stay. We'd love to have you, too. But it is a busy time of year and it's a beautiful beautiful night out. So, thank you for coming. All right. Now, we have a few reports
004and presentations. Item 2.01 is a presentation. Um, Superintendent Ty will present information on the goals of the town of Manley Police Department's relationship with the school district and school resource officers Damen Golden and Mitch Grogan will present information on the school resource officer program. Thank you, President Fitzgerald. I could call our sire to the front for the presentation. We're delighted to have uh both officers Golden and Grogan with us. They are the Cyros. They're augmented with special patrol officers, retirees that help also provide support in all of the buildings. As the board knows, the goals of the program are I can wait. As the board knows, the goals of the program uh with the Cyros uh and that's what's going to focus on their presentation tonight is to establish relationships. I worked in a district
005where it was a revolving door and uh I know that in my time here we've worked hard to have a steady influence and uh consistency so that those relationships are built over time. The sire will also foster educational programs and activities that increase student knowledge and respect for the function of law enforcement. The Cyros will work cooperatively with the teachers and they certainly embed themselves into the fabric of the different buildings as well as the SPOS's. If necessary, the Cyros will be our conduit for conducting criminal investigations and being that link with the town of Manalas Police Department. The Cyros will work with the school administrators. They don't handle discipline, but they certainly contribute and will be contributing in the days ahead with the facilities committee to go through our safety and security audits as
006well. And finally, the Cyros will serve as a mentor and role model for students attending the district. They are in our case school information resource officers, and that's important to the students. may not be important to us, but they're a conduit to be able for the students to ask questions. So, without further ado, I know the board had asked for uh presentation. We did it a few years ago and that's when uh we were kind of justifying the program. If you remember, we were adding a cyro or an SPO per year just to help the community not have that sticker shock. Believe it or not, years ago, uh we only had one cyro and it's expanded and certainly the tragedies that have happened throughout the nation have uh helped support us as we go forward
007and it's nothing that we wish on our worst enemies, but having them as a presence uh is very important. So the earlier presentation was more to justify uh the importance of expanding the program. Tonight's will focus on the things that they're doing as we continue the program going forward. So gentlemen, without further ado, I'll turn it over to you. >> Thank you, Dr. Ty, for taking my whole presentation. Appreciate that. >> That's what you get for sending it to me ahead of time. >> Duly noted. Duly noted. Good afternoon, board members. Um, as you know, I'm Officer Golden. This is Officer Grogan. you know, the taller drink of water over here. So, okay, today we're just going to talk about a little bit about the program and where it stands today and kind of what
008we do. So, so right now um as it stands, um the program has uh Cyro, myself at the high school, um Officer Grogan will be joining me soon at the high school. Um we have an SPO which are retirees um usually in the police in some fashion. Um they're outfitting every uh elementary we have here. We have Winter at Fael. We have Espo um Pack. He's over at Enders and we have uh Pierce >> Pierce M. >> Pierce is at M. Um, and right now the way it stands with Eagle Hill and Wellwood, we have our two of our uh patrol officers who have cyro experience and they're fully trained. They are uh going in and out on different shifts to um help out over at Wellwood and Officer Grogan is taking full duties here
009at Eagle Hill while I man the high school for now. So, a little bit about our responsibilities. Um, the main function of our program is to maintain a full-time presence in the high school and every school um within the township. Our daily function is to meet with the students and staff both formally and informally to provide guidance, training, consultation and crisis intervention to include building student and staff safety, student mental health counseling, teaching classes with law, drugs, alcohol, career choices and health. uh conducting video surveillance uh with our camera systems um and working with our our team here um to continue to provide full coverage and safety throughout inside and out of buildings. Um we do lock down drills, fire drills, bullying education, internet safety, um directing traffic in the mornings and and uh our
010evening events. Um we are security for our sporting and after school events and of course crime prevention to include investigations. So what does all that mean? What do we really do besides trying to find out where the staff is hiding all the free donuts? Shout out to M Road Fat Fridays. Um so our security we maintain a visual presence on school property. Uh directing the traffic and uh getting to the point of single point entry within the schools. Again working with IC um we're just switching over our new camera system. So we work closely with them um to work on the recognitions and and uh the full coverage that we need to uh do investigations and make sure we can maintain full coverage over all the schools. um with crisis intervention. We train and we
011certify um in the CIT. I'll speak more on that a little later. Um we're also immersed in verbal judo and other avenues for deescalation deescalation and tactics to assist with the mental health um any crisis situations and provide uh transportation for outsour outside resources. which means um there could be situations where if a a student needs to go see an outside resource, we can provide that transportation. We also work with parents and we can help utilize and make it a safe environment for them to go to and for whatever they need. Um we have the threat assessments, the drug and alcohol intervention. Um the monitoring what the monitoring is is we'll work with um we used to have the Raptor system and that is switching over but if the we work and we have uh
012our full list of of any um sex crime offenders uh whether they should be in or around the school. Sometimes we have parents with complicated situations with uh parental um guidance for uh their child if they should or should not be there. So we work with the housework resources and the school to maintain that language to make sure kids can go to and fro without any hindrances. Um also we investigate crimes and uh you know we conduct programs u so we work with parents outside of school um to have their kids in any type of educational or or training programs help them get through whatever crisis they may go into. And again, one of the main things we do to maintain a top level of providing service is we train. Um, NASRO, the National Association
013of School Resource Officers is where our police department does most of its functions. We get sent there wherever it is. Um, and that is the base training to become a school resource officer. From there it spiders out to all these other um national leading uh organizations um to get further education to work and understand the kids and their teenage brain um to work on our deescalate deescalation skills to work on our training to provide training for others to keep our stop the bleed and our first aid CPR training up to the top level and also introduce new things like Narcan kits and um tourniquets uh to the school and something we can provide to continue to make sure we have the best and what we need for immediate assistance. >> And just expounding on that,
014the Manley Police Department really does take um a lot of effort to make sure that we are up to date on all the latest trainings that are available. Um NASRO doesn't just offer the opportunity for just a one-time training. It is also continual every year. So you have your basic training and then your advanced training and there's continuing education for any new law updates that may be coming out. Um it's something again with the uh stop the bleed that we also are being trained in this on a yearly basis on top of all these other trainings as well. We have inservice training um on a monthly on a monthly basis except for in the summer. Oh, not to als um we also uh we meet monthly with uh members of the DA's office uh CAC
015um and other school resource officers throughout Anadaga County um to compare notes uh to see whatever latest trends to see what we can do in each and every building to assist each other and uh keep our knowledge up on whatever latest trend. One of the main things we focus on um is the mental health. Uh as far as the policing world um everything is shifting more into this category of mental health, whether it be someone we're dealing with. It's not just someone who may be having a bad day, but they could have some sort of mental health issues. So our department puts every uh resource officer in SPO through the IAT and uh CIT training through New York State. Um and we deal with situations that can help us be better prepared for, you know,
016any thoughts of suicide idealizations, mental illness, homicidal thoughts or threats, extreme emotional duress. Whenever the school needs us to respond in those situations, we're ready. And I think every school has obviously it's um there's different things that happen in an elementary school compared to a middle school compared to a high school. Um, I've been here at Eagle Hill for the last three years and although maybe sometimes I don't deal with the same challenges that maybe Officer Golden does, I can say that um the mental health training that I've received um has helped immensely in my time here um at Eagle Hill and being able to relate and talk to the students in maybe a way that I wouldn't have been so familiar with prior to that training. [Music] So, another major function that we provide
017for our school is everybody's favorite, traffic safety. Um, so obviously, um, if you have kids in the district, you may have seen us out, you know, waving buses in or stopping cars, um, to and from school. Um, but one of the things we also do, we work with our transportation department. Um, if everybody probably remembers last year, we had a huge passing the bus incident. Um, but what you might not have known is for years we've been working with the district. Any situation that happens on the bus, whether it be a fight on the bus, a crisis situation, or anywhere within our town, a car passes a bus with the stop signs out, they will contact me. I will get that video footage and we will find um, Officer Groen here was the officer who
018handled that case last year. Um, and that got a lot of press and a lot of news. But we also wanted to make sure you understood this is something we do on an everyday basis. We do it for years and it works out great. >> And as part of the um traffic safety portion of it, I'm sure like we're out there um educating at the beginning of the school year, we're handing out flyers to uh people in the district, letting them know that we will be conducting traffic safety um speed checks um throughout the year. Um this past week we did conduct a heavy saturation of the FM school district school zones to make sure >> seen us >> you might have seen us. I was out there um conducting that enforcement. Um again not
019just we're not out there just for the purposes of ruining somebody's day. We do an education portion first to give people the opportunity and know that we're going to be out there and then the actual enforcement portion of that. So there's also um you'll see things like you know we have educational portions where we teach for driver safety for young drivers aspiring to get behind your vehicles and hopefully not put dents in them. Um but we also do things what I like to call the parking lot patrol. So up at the high school obviously we have a lot of new drivers and I just try to make sure I'm out there so they understand just because it's a parking lot doesn't you get to take the whole space. You have to be aware of people
020backing out. Um try to maintain a visual concept for them so they understand the stop sign means you must stop. Um and also, you know, school grounds has a uh speed that they would like, you know, to go at and I think um with me being out there helps them maintain that speed, keep them in check, which don't So we also one of the things we focus on here at uh for my department is community policing. Um we have a lot of programs um for the town of police that we run and with the school resource officers. We get to take part in those programs and be an additional asset for uh the kids in uh in our school district. Um we have a cadet post program which I ran for a few years. take
021the youth who are interested in law enforcement, being police officer. They get to do some of our training. They get to learn some of the ways we look and we process. Um we you might see them like uh directing traffic with us at a parade. Um so they they get to ride in our cars with us. They get to learn some of our ways and and u through this program we have quite a few officers who transcended from being student to now are partners with us police officers. So that's excellent program. um talk a little bit about >> Yeah. And they and they also meet um they also meet monthly. That's something that can be started when they're 14 years old. Um and we have them continue right on right through till they're graduates. So
022again, we have numerous members of our agency. One of them just got promoted to be a sergeant. Um who has benefited too. That's right. U who benefited greatly uh from the program. Um also up on top of um this the main police department PBA um is heavily involved in uh different programs like the heroes and helpers um which was used to be shop with the cop um also stuff the cruiser events. So, for back to school supplies, you might have seen me um standing out in front of Target a few weeks ago um asking uh people for donations, and I can say our community has been more than gracious um in providing uh numerous back to school supplies for um a lot of underprivileged children that may not have been able to get those supplies
023otherwise. Our heroes and helpers event um has been, I think, a really great um success in the past as well. um and being able to take these kids shopping uh for Christmas presents where otherwise they may not have have received them. And we do have a scholarship that we provide um to uh I think two students in the district uh regarding if they're interested in law enforcement. Uh we do provide um two $1,000 scholarships I believe is it >> total >> 500 500 each uh to two uh students that were interested in pursuing a career in law enforcement. on top. We also with the PBA, we also uh are involved in the turkey basket giveaway for Thanksgiving. Um again to uh work with uh TOPS to be able to provide meals to families that uh
024who maybe would not be able to get them otherwise as well. And of course um you will see us at some of the sporting events a couple years ago. Um there was a guy doing a crazy thing in a police uniform at a varsity football game something like that. Um but we love the community. We love the kids and we love being so what is the goal? The goal ultimately as Dr. Tyrie said is building that bridge of trust. Um is promoting the positive interactions with the students and community. um being a sounding board for them whether they have questions uh regarding law enforcement or not, even life. Officer Broen and I, we are fathers. Um we can uh relate to some of the things that the parents may be dealing with or the kids
025maybe we can help bridge the gap in the communication. Um because social media can a lot of times put a big halt in what they're trying to communicate to their parents or vice versa. um we learn how to communicate with them through studying the teenage brain and understanding what life looks like through their eyes and then you know bringing a little more concrete common sense to uh their thought process. Um we also uh we communicate with the parents um and um we try to help them if there's any questions or things that may related to drugs or alcohol again with the online bullying or social media posts that sometime lead into things that could be criminal. Um we can talk with them, we work with them, we work with our school principles and we make
026sure that line of communication is always open. And just playing off that bridge of trust, I said that I've been here for the last three years, but I'm going to be transitioning probably within the next month or two up to the high school. Um, I was able to get up there uh today for a little while in my transition period. But it's been really really neat for me to be able to make relationships with the kids for the last three years and then to see those kids now in the high school um where you already have that relationship established and they feel comfortable with having you there and maybe feel comfortable about coming and talking to you as opposed to somebody else. So that concludes our presentation unless you have any questions. Going to make
027it easy on you. >> Well, first of all, thank you for everything that you do in our schools. For anybody that um doubts the effectiveness of it, go to graduation and see what the most requested selfies are. um because we know who they're with. Um you you had mentioned that you meet regularly with the DA's staff and your local peers about trends. I'm just curious if there are any specific ones that we should be aware of or that more importantly that we can assist you with and if so what what can we do to better assist you? >> Well, the two majors is probably the most recognizable vaping. Um, and as vaping evolves, we try to keep up with the trend of it. Um, companies tend to try to well, they they seem to get
028ahead if we figure out how um, one of the issues with vaping is kids are figuring out how to waste them. Um, so what you may think is just nicotine is not. Um, there are additives added to it. Um, and what we try to educate the kids on is the vaping is a chemical based through oil. That is not something that should be in your body. Um, there are, at least last time I checked, there were 12 deadly chemicals inside of every package of what they may think is just pure nicotine. Um, and the other the other one is the mental health. um just navigating through the umbrella of social media brings a lot of um thinking processes that are usually not their own. They will follow them like they are. Uh navigating and fighting
029through that has been the biggest challenge. And then when you add vaping on top of that and all of the things that are being added to them and their thought process of it's okay because it's not uh they like to use terms like an old cancer stick like a cigarette and they don't even realize the cigarettes are actually healthier than what they're doing in the rapid pace that it takes for a chemical adjective to have an effect in your body. And most of them don't even realize that they have any um health issues with breathing, lungs, or even in the body. Like no one knows, not a doctor, no one knows what the chemical reaction will be when that stuff gets in your body as opposed to thinking it's okay because it looks cool, looks
030cleaner, it looks sleek. So that's been our biggest battles so far. Anybody else have any questions? Thank you both for coming and thanks for being additional trusted adults that build take so much time to build connections with our students. That's really important. So, >> thank you. [Applause] >> Okay. >> Item 2.02, 02. We have a presentation from the food services department. So, Assistant Superintendent Corbin and food service director Brian will present information on the district's food service program, including participation in school breakfast and national school lunch programs. >> Awesome. Thank you. Well, thank you for having us. Uh, this was a topic that kind of we've been talking about maybe about a year, year and a half, give or take. Um it kind of started during the point where uh we started looking at the
031middle school and uh having discussions in regards to kind of what that program would entail. Uh we'll talk a little bit about it. That kind of what I was going to go through tonight was kind of how we got to be where it started kind of back in time. Uh some of kind of where we've gotten to and then maybe a little bit about kind of where we're going have a little bit of dialogue and then kind of go from there. So the first thing I started with here is the actual federal programs themselves. You can see here the school breakfast program. Uh I tried to provide kind of the definitions from that aspect. So I know it's a little bit wordy but that way uh you can kind of have that information. And the
032second one being the actual national school lunch program. Uh so those are the two federal programs kind of when you hear us reference anything to do with regards to program itself that shows you what's being referenced. You can see the acronyms uh the SBP for school be breakfast program being the top one and then the NSLP. And you'll see that kind of as we go through when we talk more about it. So the school breakfast program and the lunch program. Uh again here you can see it's fedally assisted meal programs operating in public and nonprofit private schools and re residential uh childcare institutions. It provides nutritionally balanced lowcost or free breakfast lunches to children. How the programs work down there at the second bullet. Participating schools receive cash subsidies as well as nutritious 100% domestic
033foods known as USDA foods for reimburseable meal they serve. In exchange, schools and institutions must serve lunches that meet the federal meal pattern requirements and offer them at a free or reduced price to all eligible ch children. And I underlined there that must serve lunches that meet the federal meal pattern requirements. And we'll talk a little bit more about that. So participation in the free and reduced school breakfast and lunch children may be determined categorically eligible for free meals through participation in certain federal assistance programs. This is kind of probably referenced from a Medicaid perspective as you can kind of see there in parenthesis. Children can also qualify for free or reduced size school meals based on their household income and family size. A lot of information here, but I kind of want to put
034it just so people can kind of see how involved it is from a from a a dollars and cents perspective. So, children from families with incomes at or below 130% of federal poverty level are eligible for free meals. those from families with incomes between 130 and 185% of the federal poverty level are eligible for reduced price meals. Schools may not charge children more than 40 cents for a reduced price lunch. So there's a lot involved in regards to that and to the program in regards to who's eligible and things of that nature. And that was really kind of driving that point of when people talk about it, it's not just a real quick uh easy calculation. There are some there are some components to it. So the universal free school meals program. So, this is
035the new program uh Governor Kathy Hokll signed in legislation. It was part of the 26 enacted budget to create a universal school school meals program. And you can see in that second bullet, beginning with the 2526 school year this fall, every p public school student in the state is eligible to receive free breakfast and lunch regardless of their family's income. Schools that were not currently enrolled in the federal meal programs must have applied to the New York State Education Department Office of Child Nutrition by July 31st, 2025 to participate in the 2526 school year. So, there is a deadline. It was at July 31st. You can kind of see down below to it that fourth bullet where I've got uh written in italics there, free meals during the COVID, excuse me. That's the deadline for
036the nutrition. The fourth one, this was kind of talking a little bit about the past where I didn't know if people uh some of the questions or or different things we talked about a little bit. There's references to kind of we've seen this in our past within schools. So, this note is is the sense that free meals during the COVID time period allowed schools per a waiver to provide free meals without nutritional guidelines. So, i.e. they allowed schools to serve regular meals in addition to certain alleart items that wouldn't normally be allowed per guidelines. that's different than what's being offered right now. And that's kind of a keynote just to uh let folks know. But again, we'll talk a little bit more about kind of some of those other uh opportunities. So, FM, how'd we
037get here? Uh the food service history. So, the school breakfast program and the national school lunch program, the programs goes back several years. I think I was probably just personally leaving here somewhere around that 2012 2013 program. That was during the healthy hunger-free kids act. Uh some folks would remember it during the Obama administration with Michelle Obama. Uh some folks would reference it more towards the whole wheat, less sugar, salt, things of that nature. Then certain products were required to be mandated with those ingredients being the whole wheat, less sugar, salt. And then there was a huge push at that time uh in the industry for for uh manufacturers to produce that type of product. So, I spent a little time talking to uh the business administrator who was here back then during it and
038he wanted to remind me to let you guys know uh during that time frame. One of the things they struggled was you didn't have many manufacturers that produce it at that point. It was done very quick. There wasn't a lot of uh time given to those folks to produce stuff. So, the stuff that was put out from a from a product perspective was a lot different than what it probably is today from this choices from that aspect. So during that 201213 uh time period, FM made a choice to ban the federal lunch and breakfast programs at both the middle school and high school levels. And it was really based on more of a student input. I believe there were discussions in regards to that from what I'm told at least uh from from like I
039said the person that that had my position at that time. The intent of the shift was intended to provide more of a student voice and choice with meal choices while we're trying to maximize participation. Uh school breakfast program and national lunch program were approved. meal options were much more limited compared to what students were accustomed to having. So again, backing up that comment I made a minute ago. Those changes have stayed in place until the current school year. So that's kind of how we got here. So for the middle schools, uh we returned to the federal program for this current year, 2526. So what does that provide? It provides free meals for all students in 2526 as part of the universal free school meals program, which Governor Hulk will provide. As I indicated, there's additional
040revenue for the food service program. I think it's give or take somewhere in the 80 to $100,000 mark. National guidelines for the school breakfast program and national school lunch program met most of our meal snack choices at the middle schools. So the products that we were providing out at those middle schools. We had a long discussion went through a lot of the products and tried to determine what was going to be an alternative if we went back into the program and was it going to be somewhat similar? Was there going to be a lot of disparities between what was being offered versus what kids liked, what we could offer? And at the time it wasn't determined there was a lot of difference. U a little bit was pre-Brian. Some of it during Brian's watch we
041went through we actually talked to some of the manufacturers. We talked to Hershey. Uh we spent time talking to other schools and talked to their directors of programs that were already in it. What are you guys offering? Here are some of the things that we knew wouldn't qualify. Uh from a Gatorade type thing to different uh you know drinks, things of that nature. And then we kind of got a list together and kind of figured it out and went through and kind of defined here was what was going to be those kind of comparables. We felt pretty comfortable that there would still be stuff where uh it was voice and choice. So the meal snack choices that were not allowable as part of the federal program, they had that comparable alternatives for those student choices.
042That's kind of what I was trying to talk about from that aspect. FM high school. So the high school and the consideration of the federal programs. So there really got to the point where we looked at the high school and the lack of comparable replacement meal snack choices that meet program requirements that were also going to have an impact on student participation. Um we didn't feel that those same comparables that were at the middle school were going to be there from the high school perspective. You're going to have certain things and I think Dr. Tyson alluded to his article where he talked about some of the different things that students have the capability to purchase. They weren't going to be able to purchase if we went into the federal program. um some of those meal
043meal and snack choices that don't meet the pre the actual program requirements that represented somewhere about 180,000. I think that represents somewhere around four or five just allocart choices by themselves. So that's some of them. I know Brian can name them kind of off the top of his head if people really want to know specifically what those ones are. Uh the new also the high school cafeteria snack shacks. These were built out I think preme probably around four years ago. uh probably through some of the help with uh the principal at the time at the high school as well as Dr. Tyson and uh Russ McCarti who was here as well and talked about what those different snack shacks and what that cafeteria was going to look like and what that design would be. Equipment
044was defined, snack shuts themselves were defined, what the corresponding work was going to be and that was really based on kind of what those offerings were going to be. So that was another piece of from the high school kind of like what was going to be offered and what those corresponding snack checks were going to be able to provide. So the last bullet universal free uh program requirements the application timeline there is another one we can do it. It's July 31st of 2026. There's questions. One of the questions would be future funding beyond this year. Will that free funding continue beyond this year? I don't know. Uh it's something that was put out there. You've heard a lot of different things where people have seen it, you know, from the political things from everything from
045the federal programs that are out there where we've talked about different things where it's going to be restricted to tariffs to all kinds of different things. I don't know what that funding will look like. Um, but that's one of the items. So, next steps and considerations would be student interaction, involvement opportunities, voice and choice. Uh, periodic meetings and student groups regarding meal options. I know Brian's already started talking about having some of those. That's something I've experienced at my previous district. There was a lot of interaction. Uh we had some real specific instruction groups. They work with international clubs, things of that nature. We actually had an international week that we provided. Uh students had a real heavy voice into kind of talking about uh working with instruction. They defined kind of some of the
046different cultures and meals that were offered and they turned around and work with the food service program and they defined uh and designed I should say uh meals for that week. So different cultures, different meals and then during that week they would go through and actually help provide the recipes and define it and then kids would vote on it and determine which ones they like best, things of that nature. So it's an opportunity kind of to have that interaction. So again, that collaboration to provide opportunities to experience foods from various uh cultures. Future funding impact, I talked a minute ago a little bit about that. Will there be funding beyond the current year? I don't know. Uh cafeteria serving impact if we change meal offerings. So the snack shacks that corresponding equipment the design of
047them what they're providing panini makers pizza ovens things of that nature that would be something that need to be considered timelines we could apply to New York state again education department office child nutrition again that deadline is July 31st 2026 and that would be to participate in 2627 and then ideally we'd like to have future discussions and that was kind of one of the next steps so I think that represented you know the most of it the one note kind of I wrote uh Cheryl was kind enough to give me as far as from a reimbursement perspective we were able to project out if we were in the program for the high school for this uh current year and be participating in it. It looked like that reimbursement amount would be somewhere around $88,000 we
048get I showed you there you know for some of the folks that you know money will play a part in this five all the card items themselves we're sitting at around $180,000. [Music] So there's kind of a difference already just in kind of what that participation looks at as far as like the free and reduce and things of that nature and you know what that that funding would be. We'd have to kind of go through that. But that's really the basis where if people were kind of wondering where we, you know, where we were, you know, how that decision was made from the middle school level to take advantage of that income and those choices kind of being very similar and then that high school, the fact that, you know, the main thing I think
049some people have asked is the product line that's offered at the high school still going to be able to be offered with going into that free program at the high school. My understanding is no. There are items in there from that alle cart perspective. if we're part of that program, we cannot serve. So, I think there's probably going to be some questions. I'll probably have Ryan come up too and kind of help me go through that if you guys are good with that. >> Go ahead. >> So, thank you. Um, can you guys, because I know this is something that has come up and you touched on it briefly, but um, the difference between the New York State program and the federal program because there have been some questions, some comments about, well, am I
050already paying for this program in New York State as a taxpayer and how is it different or the same as the federal universal lunch program? So the the New York State program piggybacks on the federal. So you have to be in order to receive funds from New York State, you have to already be in the NSLP, which would I would call the federal program, federal free lunch and breakfast program. If you're already on that, then Governor Hochel, her plan will reimburse the school district for every meal sold regardless of free or reduced. But you have to first be on that federal program, whatever they don't cover. The federal program will cover uh students that are qualified for free and reduced and then New York State's program covers the rest. So the federal is prerequisite. You
051cannot just go from straight to we're just going to go on the program. I think that was a lot of the confusion. People thought, well, can you just go on the program? It's the the to get on the NSLP is a long and it's an involved process. Um we had a short time to kind of decide and you know it's not like we could just flick a switch or log we'll fill out a form. Um, to get on that federal program, you have to submit menus. You're going back and forth. You can't have this, you can't have that. You have to get down to how many grams of protein is in your breakfast serving, things of that nature. So, to be to receive state funds, the prerequisite is you have to be on the federal
052program. [Music] Can I just I just kind of want to walk this backwards a little bit just maybe for some clarity. The federal program previously and currently reimburses the district, if I understand correctly, for each meal served under that program. Correct. >> No, it's for who qualify. So, if you filled out your freelance application, you refunded for who qualifies under that. >> Right. And then on the state the next level would requisite it's still per reimbursement per meal >> per meal sold regardless of qualification. >> Okay. So when we did this at the high school in years past to my memory and not all of us were here at the time um was that there were a significantly reduced number of students who were taking advantage of that because the meals were not let's say
053it nicely were not what they wanted them to be. So we were serving fewer meals getting fewer reimbursements. Correct. >> Correct. >> Okay. And if we're not serving enough meals to get enough reimbursements, then we don't have the funds per perhaps to provide the staff to provide the meals to feed the kids in school. >> Exactly. Right. >> Right. Still accurate. Okay. So, if if we have learned and you know, food service is not the only area. We we're trying to increase the amount of student voice and choice in everything throughout our system and and increasing levels of course at the high school in particular. So if these students, and I want to say all, we're never going to generalize all and and you know, some of us will find it more some students more
054than others, but if if the meals that are compliant with the regulations to get the reimbursement are not the meals that our students at our high school by and large would be purchasing in a sufficient quantity, then that limits our ability to serve any of them to anybody because we have to provide the the staff to be able to prepare, serve, clean up, everything else associated with with food services. So, I just I appreciate your answers to the question. I just kind of want to lay that out. Ultimately, if if the kids aren't buying the food, we're not going to get reimbursed for it and then we have a deficit that we have to make up somewhere else out of our budget to cover the food staff. >> You're absolutely correct. >> Okay. you gave
055a you gave a really good analysis on that Dan I'm glad you did. So the piece I probably should have said a little bit more and uh is a perfect segue for you. So for for folks and you know probably Jason the most with the accounting background the piece that you just hit on uh if there is a deficit in food service has to be made up that year. Uh they do not allow it to go into a negative balance. So that balance has to be covered that year usually by general fund. It is general fund. So you are pulling from some voted approved general fund account. Ideally they're all assigned whatever that expense code is that's been budgeted ideally by some you know appropriate staff etc. And there's no slush fund sitting there. So
056you're grabbing it from somewhere whatever that deficit is. So if in my case we just did the quick math whatever where I told you the five card items were 180,000 revenue you're going to get back 80,000 from that. you're chasing roughly about a h 100,000 give or take. That 100,000 has to come over from general fund to cover that deficit in that current year. Where it comes from within general fund, you know, can be it can be a decision. But that is how that works from that aspect. Just to add to that and then to push it across the goal line as a meanie joke, then the district would be compelled to raise taxes to help subsidize a program in the red. Correct. My point is is this free program is not necessarily free. It's
057only free if it's used in sufficient volume to get enough reimbursement. Otherwise, we have to pull funds from elsewhere in the budget. And you know, clearly we know and we recognize that this has varying impact on many families in our district and we're very cognizant of that and we will stay. it. But I think that the approach of let's see how this year goes with a new cafeteria, with new food stations, with new food options to see how it goes and then make a more educated decision for the following deadline based on actual numbers, actual usage, actual purchases to to make the right most informed decision. that's also fiscally responsible to our budget. Y so as it is you know that even being said that la you know second to last bullet I should say
058you you we can't do anything from the guideline perspective again until that so you will have some time now some people would say argue that did you lose a year of you know you know basically free lunch from that aspect as you're kind of hearing and explaining this if we don't hit that point where that revenue is hitting that level it will be an expense cost too general from from that and tr truly I'm fully aware this isn't just a money thing. It's more of you know that voice and choice in that aspect. So I would look forward to some kind of collaboration students etc. the board committee level whatever that is talk about it you want to go bring it in um spending a little time I I did have the opportunity you know
059with my my predecessor Mike and um at Pittsford they just brought it back um there they had a little bit of discussion you know it's one of those Mike thought that uh he wish they would have been a little more collaboration and discussion about what that impact was. I don't think they probably got to this level with the, you know, the commentary you guys just provided to give it to them. And that's something with Mike is like, I don't know if they truly understand what bringing it back is, you know, from a free aspect. So, thank you for for bringing that up, sir. >> I'm curious. As I understand it, there aren't I don't know if we're the only one, but there aren't a lot of local schools opting out this year. As part of
060the review process, we'll be we'll be looking at the schools that did take advantage of it and how they've adapted. I would imagine they would be using the same sources that we are versus say Pittsburgh, which which might have others. >> So, I'll answer that in a couple parts and just make sure I get I I answer what you what you wanted. Um, a big piece of it usually are districts that that opt out, you really need your free and lunch percentage numbers to be at a certain point. Um Pittsford I think was somewhere around 12.9% free and reduced I think were was it 19 20 17 >> so that the districts that I've been aware of from my past as well as my auditing days at schools they were usually above 30 and up.
061So there was kind of that criteria where you're going to have it some of the challenges the districts uh get into a bit is maybe even some folks who are actually entitled to that corresponding free and reduced benefit they choose not to participate in it. So it's always usually a lot of trying to recognize at the district level is there something we can get that paperwork in the right hands and they could make take advantage of that program from it. So from Pittsburgh's aspect to to opt in I I you know I'm not sure exactly with it but I know what their free and reduced rate was was it 12.9 and I know he just wish for more dialogue from that aspect to kind of give the students also a chance to kind of speak
062out and talk about it. But I didn't know with this if people understood the level what Dan kind of took us down the road of of kind of like how a general fund comes in how you're going to be able to cover costs and the big piece for me is I didn't know if people understood that all cart please if you offer that free you are going to lose that alle cart and then there's a residual kind of uh bubble effect whatever you want to call it is that cafeteria being designed specifically for kind of certain things etc. Yeah, my question is really more about observing and understanding as this year unfolds how the other high schools are approaching it and if there's anything that we can learn or ascertain from it. >> Yeah, the
063only there isn't I guessing out of our local OCM Boseies, we're probably going to be the one with the lowest free and reduced percentage out of that 26 that are there. So, their consideration some of the ones that I know that have opted almost nobody has opted out. the only ones I'm aware of back in the 1213 because we had a lot of discussions at the time because the certain bigger schools with that it was like Baldwin'sville FM and I'm not even sure if anybody else opted out and it was really the concern at the time uh were those products they were going to be provided was there enough voice and choice there to give it to the student to have that participation then avoid what Dan was just talking about where you're having general
064fund supplement school lunch budget but this is a topic I'm sure you know we'll be talking a little bit more about it because it came out there's going to be concern concerns, will they continue? Because the other side of it, let's just say we choose to take on that and by July 31st we apply. If that funding dries up, what you've done there then is basically free and reduced uh is is still in play, but free meals across the board would ideally go away and then you're just locked into whatever participation is for whatever meals you can serve at that nutrition guidelines. >> Uh Brad, just another couple of things. Um, so I just think we just also need to as we're evaluating our percentage of free and reduced population may not be fully accurate.
065And so I think we just need to be aware of that because as you said, not everybody does fill out the paperwork for a variety of reasons. And so I think we just need to be aware and sensitive to that as we're making decisions. Um, and then just a clarification. So is it not possible to offer options? So, is this the is it an all or nothing program where if we in future years decided at the high school that we would like to participate, we could offer a meal option that did fall under the that was a free meal and then there was options where if students wanted to choose something else, those would be at at cost. So, you can have choice, but you're still under government guidelines, and they're not the best choices.
066And if the goal is to give the student the best possible dining experience, um, that's >> well, you know, let's it's there's >> I get that. It's tough because you see it like from my point of view and I >> my kids would choose all sorts of things, but >> for sure I'm lucky as I get to see your kids at school, see how excited they get when like, oh, I got that that new Dunkin Donuts flavor. Like, they're so happy. They work so hard, you know, and that little thing gets them through the day, you know, oh, this this pretzel and she like it's, you know, they just get so excited. You see them eating it, they're just so happy. Uh, on the government program, the things they like now all cart would necessarily
067go away. There are alternatives, but they're, you know, they're not We baked David's cookies and they're we sold almost 50,000 last year. Under the government program, we'd have to have a prepackaged uh wheat-based cookie. I've had them at first bite. It's okay. Then you start you're like this isn't great. >> So you can't have alternative options. It's everything has to fall under >> correct. It all everything you have any anywhere you sell food during the school day has to fall under those um guidelines. All the shacks we have um whatever we do with the children, it's all under those guidelines. >> And then just finally, I was wondering if this maybe I know we have a wellness committee um that we have board representation on. I wonder if that might be an avenue to continue
068the conversation about about this in the future. >> For sure. >> Thank you. >> So, u when we did look at this before we did run it by the wellness committee, we saw so much waste when we were using the other program like they would literally be trash bag trash can overflowing with with waste because kids just not did not like the taste of it. And I believe it was East Syracuse that switched over to an outside vendor. They switched up. Yes, that was one of the things we considered. I mentioned in my earlier email that um similar to what Dan was just saying about the financial implications because they couldn't afford to keep their food service staff anymore. So, they had to outservice their food service program, which is not giving you the best
069quality at all. But the kids also came home a lot hungrier, most of them, because the guidelines only allow you to give the kids certain portion sizes. So we got athletes and regular kids and they're getting very small portions of food that they don't like. So we heard from a lot of parents who are like what you know what are you giving my kids they're coming home starving eat house at home. So those are things to consider too is the portion size and the fact that you know ESM had to end up taking their program and and shipping it out. I'm glad you brought Glad [Music] Sucker and she's hungry. So, I'm spending more money than I would saving money >> and it's the food served all throughout the day. So, any fundraisers, anything during
070the day has to meet those requirements. So, that really can, you know, impact a lot of things that students want to do. >> Thank you for bringing that up because Cheryl reminded me, make sure you talk about portion sizes so now I won't get scolded when I go back to my seat. So, uh, yes, that that was was a perfect analogy. I hope that answered, you know, from from your aspect what you can do. That was the big decision looking at the middle school. Can there be something out there that's still enough to where we think they're going to participate enough to where there is that that option meets those, you know, those nutrition guidelines, etc. That was there. And if anything, you're kind of really getting a chance to see it at the middle
071school level already as Dan talked about maybe kind of see how this year goes. You get to watch it and see from the middle school level how is it going. You know, we've opted in. We got an opportunity. You get to kind of see how it's going and then it'll allow you. It's going to be a little more obviously different, you know, with the high school with some of the choices. Uh, but we'd love to have that opportunity as we talked about, you know, to collaborate with some of the student groups and, you know, bring it to the wellness committee. I did talk to Mike and he talked about, I think through that wellness committee, there was, uh, there were some kind of a committee level where they had some, you know, some options there
072with parents, etc., and kind of had, you know, some dialogue and kind of made a decision as Dan and Marissa talked about. So, that was kind of what I was envisioning. I wasn't sure which one, but Wellness would would certainly be a good fit. to stress. I'm sorry. And then Jacob portion size. The first meal, let's say I did like it and I like my four cheese sticks. First meal is free. Any subsequent ones you have to pay for. Correct. >> Correct. [Music] We're finding ourselves adding another sauce patty. um absorbing that cost. It's the right thing to do. Maybe that guideline, you know, you got to be reasonable with children. But that's another avenue you can go down when you're on the free program. How can you, you know, in good conscience give them
073a meal that they deserve, you know, is going to fill them? >> Hi. So, I'm just curious about the student voice and choice. Um, so how would you plan on kind of meeting with groups of students and kind of seeing what kind of foods they would like and how would you kind of get these groups of students? Like are you picking them and how would you pick them? Because you know you pick a want a diverse kind of group of students. So you have multiple options to pick from when making these meals. So, how would you kind of plan that out and meet with these students? >> What I've seen, and then I'm going to let him talk about what his ideas are because we haven't really gotten through it fully, but what we did,
074and I kind of alluded to that a little bit earlier, was where there was an actual uh dialogue. I I think it was with one of our clubs or two of our clubs and there actually was an active participation where the actual students came uh spoke, teachers were involved, and then our food service director was there. And what we first had to go through was kind of like how do we tie it back to instruction from their aspect they would talk about here's what we're learning about different cultures whatever it was and then they tied back to if we do it to meet the guidelines because we were actually in at the time that the district was in the program they had to then figure out if it was going to be what meals were
075going to be served how did it meet those kind of guidelines from that aspect if they could serve it you know to meet still the the program because that's what we were a part of. So from that aspect, you maybe couldn't serve everything and it you were limited a bit because of what could be offered through the program itself and then it was really more of a group participation kind of making a decision of prioritizing here's what we'd like to offer whether it be for a protein or etc. And they kind of came to an agreement of this what it was. The big thing there though is kind of I really remember it being involved like from an international club where they had different countries different foods kind of aspect. So they did a week
076of it. So they would offer different things and then there was kind of, you know, the kids got a chance to go through and here's kind of what we're going to be serving. I think they rated it the what meal they like the best at the end of the week and then the next year they went through and kind of did the same thing. So it wasn't a one-time deal. It might even been for each semester they did it. So if you had one kind of in the fall and then you had one in the spring. So Brian, I'll let you talk a little about some of your thoughts right now. So I think one of the goals we have this year as a department is starting what I call a menu chat, a monthly
077menu chat where we can bring in anybody's welcome to come, parents, students, teachers, anybody who's vested in community and they want to know um what we're serving, what else can we serve. You have suggestions, ideas, uh that's a start. There's other there's many clubs, there's different um as Brad spoke about earlier. Um there's different foods from different cultures we can offer and not being on the program enables me to easily put on if somebody says, "Here's a recipe I got. Can you put that on?" Yeah, sure. We'd love to. Um you have different cultures coming into FM and I've seen even from last year to this year and I'd love to know what you're eating and I'd love to put it on. Maybe other kids would like to um find out what it is and
078maybe they'll enjoy it too. It's a good way to expose yourself to it. We're very I think the students there have no problem coming up to me and saying, "Hey, um, can we have this or that?" And really our shacks are driven by the students. They make the menu and it's ever changing. Um, and that's how we keep it fun and fresh for them. I look at it as they're the boss. They say, "Hey, Brian, um, like they did in January, can we have paninis back? We hadn't served paninis." Um, I was still relatively new, so I was kind of figuring things out. So, I went and I found two panini presses, dusted them off, fired them up, and paninis are back and the kids are super happy. Um, and that's what we can do
079not being on the program. But, uh, to answer your question, we'd like to start with a menu chat. I'd like to get involved and I'm going to contact through administration, uh, speak with the principal when I meet with him, say, "Hey, what's the best avenue to meet with, you know, the most diverse group of people to get an accurate uh, view of what kind of foods would you like? What don't you like?" That's a that's a great question, too. You know, because we assume you like it and we keep putting it on. It's like, you know, why you keep putting on this, you know, spaghetti meatballs. We don't like that anymore. Um, somebody suggested sloppy joe. It's like, well, it's not 1985 anymore. We got to get the times, you know. But, um, there's a
080lot of avenues we can take. Um, one main scheduled menu chat a month is a great start, I think. [Music] Um just a I guess a question I had and it's probably a little bit too early to tell and I know that you know obviously the middle school and high school are are different animals when it comes to this but u you know we did make the decision to do it at the middle school so and again we're only a couple weeks in. It would be interesting. Uh I don't I don't know if you know yet whether there's been a change just because I think what's important to keep in mind is although we're looking at, you know, decisions that were being made by students and families as far as whether to buy lunch or
081not, you know, 10 years ago was, you know, based on, you know, there wasn't a lot of people buying because they didn't like the menu options or whatever. But there is um there is a a portion of that decision that's being made by families and students that is a little bit driven by value. So it would be interesting to see you know 10 years ago it was whether or not they were going to buy that lunch or not when it's free their decision about whether to take advantage of of of opting to choose that lunch. So, I it'd be interesting to see it again. Maybe it's too early, but at the middle school, are there more students now opting to to, you know, take the school lunch now that it's free than we saw in
082previous years when it was uh it was being purchased? >> The answer to that question is yes, there are more breakfast and lunch, but we are down in sales. How it play out over the year, not sure. Um, I think there is value to the federal program, the elementary and uh, middle school levels, I think. But that's where you top out. At least the high school students have different choices. You're out in life, you get a job, and you start getting used to eating different things. And if we're like, no, hey, it's Tuesday, you got to have black beans. Not eating the black beans garbage. So, we do our best to we do the best we can on the menus with being on the federal program for the kids. We got a lot of great
083cook managers come up with a lot of good ideas um with what you're limited in doing. So, I think the kids appreciate that. >> I I I I appreciate all the info on it. I know there were a lot of questions on this, but I also as as much as decisions are made in many respects for financial reasons and staffing reasons, I do just want to ground this back to make sure that it's also understood that that there was another reason for this decision that was done at the high school. And we heard it a little bit in the Cyro presentation before that that mental health and addressing stress and anxiety, especially at our high school level, is a really significant focus in this district and and has been about the mental health of our
084students and the stress levels that they're under. And we've been working to try to reverse a trend in the high school. And the trend in the high school was schedule more classes and more classes and have no lunch and have no breaks and just drive, drive, drive the students. And what we've been trying to get back to is where we had first the ability space-wise and facility-wise to be able to feed all of our students if they opted in, but then to go back to where in fact all of our high school students do in fact have a lunch period. And it runs a little counter to that whole initiative of trying to bring that availability to all of our students to help reduce their stress, to better their mental health if what we're serving
085there isn't what they want to eat. Right. >> Right. So, it's it's there's certainly fiscal implications to the decisions, but there's really important uh mental health reasons for trying to do what we're trying to do at the high school. And then we'll look at it. We'll see how it works and make decisions going forward. But I I just don't want to lose track in these discussions about the impact on the students of what we're trying to do. >> It's a great point. Thank you. Yeah, I think the big thing, you know, you guys have kind of hit it on the head. Uh, Jacob, good question. You know, how are we going to do it? Because I think you have different ways to do it and I think there's interest to do it. The one thing
086being still, you know, at the point where we are where we don't have to be in the program and if there's ideas and thoughts from students of like, hey, here's some really cool things we'd like to do, we can do it. Um, it gives that voice and choice capability. um you know for you know for going down memory lane for me my first year going into you know my previous district we were at $100,000 loss and biggest thing they do want me to resurrect it so you know we were able to do it but it was through a lot of the voice and choice and getting that kind of student impact we turned around and had a very healthy fund balance but we did a lot of involvement with that voice and choice aspect so
087I think there's opportunity I think you know to to John's point you're going to have a metric there the middle school give you a little bit to kind of do uh we're already chasing them we're kind of watching participation numbers from the breakfast and and uh and lunch aspect and kind of see what it is and I'm really excited to see what the high school I know he gets started with me bugging him you know what do you see with the snack shacks you get a lot of involvement do they like the lower one I'm curious how it's going to be the auditorium series kind of thing going down and then so it's going to be neat and I'm hoping Jacob and others will kind of take that lead and say we do like this
088you know here maybe is a change because a lot of that you're going in trying to plan for something that in fairness to Pat he's brand new Ray had kind of designed it a bit we didn't know really what it was going to look like and So we're kind of watching too. So that feedback that you guys can provide will be very important. [Music] >> Thank you both. >> Okay. Thanks everybody. >> Thank you. >> All right. Item 2.03, superintendent report. >> Thank you. The backup information is located in board docs. Item one, capital project update. The summer construction season was seasonably warm with limited precipitation. This allowed considerable progress on the 15.4 million roofing safety and security project in addition to the work on the high school's 52 million capital improvement project. New spaces
089including the expanded high school cafeteria, new enclosed courtyard, new broadcast journalism studio open to the delight of students and faculty alike. The main concourse between house one and house two is improved pedestrian traffic flow. And the new main office nurs's office suite near the single point of entry and lobby ensures a centralized presence in the knuckle of the building. As reported earlier, Sam's grant funding from New York State Assemblyman Al Stury's office provided for the installation of four electronic message boards at FM High School, the Eagle Hill Enders Road campus, the Wellwood Middle School, Fail campus, and Mott Road Elementary School in time for the start of the new year. These new signs will enhance our communication capabilities in response to the recommendations from our recent safety and security audits. Item two, school start time
090committee. Our school start time committee will rekindle their work this autumn on whether to employ a flip slide or flip and slide solution for the 2627 school year and beyond. The committee, which will now include students and their families, will work alongside our scheduling consultant, Elliot Marin Bloom, a former school administrator from the Baltimore Maryland area. I'll say it right, Baltimore, Maryland area. Uh to examine the advantages and limitations of each approach at the very least by lengthening the high school day to include the much anticipated 30-minute lunch periods that many of you referred to in our last presentation here at the high school uh will mean that we'll have to adjust the start and stop schedules for the middle uh schools and elementary schools. So we could end up pushing it later uh in
091the day if the slide option is chosen. Item next, cell phone policy and the administrative regulation. Believe it or not, it was a smooth start to the school year even with the deliver delay in the delivery of the Faraday pouches for our middle and high school students. Nevertheless, I'm pleased to report that the school district did take delivery of the cell phone pouches at the end of last week and administrators are in the process of distributing them to the students so that they may store their internet enabled devices in their backpacks if that is their preference and in accordance with the governor's uh mandate. And then last but not least, the new Chromebooks have arrived. I'm pleased to report that the Chromebooks for grades 2, five, and nine arrived last week after being imaged and
092they're in the process of being distributed to the students. And I shouldn't have said last but not least, at your stations, there is an update, the action research monograph. I'm certainly proud of the faculty that contributed this year. It's an uh an initiative that we look forward to continuing because to get student voice and choice, we need faculty voice and choice and being able to try their little bets going forward. So that uh is at your table as well as and I'll look to the good doctor in the back. The little read or small read, what are we referring to? The coffee talks experience. >> Small read experience coffee talks at your station. uh courtesy of everybody involved uh FMZN and the district is the book The Anxious Generation which I know uh has been
093presented at some of the parent informations this autumn. That ends my report. Thank you. >> Thank you Dr. Ty. Um do we have a target decision date for the school start time decisions there? >> We said we've got meetings. I'll look at our district court scheduled through uh we want an decision by Thanksgiving one way or another. So if not earlier okay >> so if we can wrap it up after the first meeting coming up this week that's fine by me. So it doesn't have to be protracted. >> And if any parents are like our students and parents already been selected to be part of that discussion or they're >> Yeah, we surveyed in Canvas and people volunteered. U we can always if people want to write to me or to the district clerk, but
094we've already coordinated calendars and schedules with those who volunteered over the spring and summer. Thank you. >> Any other questions or comments? Yeah, Craig, just real quick on the school start time. It wasn't mentioned here, but I think it's happened already. Um, conversations with our thirdparty daycare providers and community providers, have those discussions been had so that uh parents that have to enroll for before school care or after school care, if we change this schedule next year, if a vote is made a change that folks are looped into it on that side. >> That's certainly part of the conversation. as you know, that was the method to the madness of cultivating the community-based organizations that Melissa Corbin's been working with with our UP UPK providers. So, uh, that's one of the reasons of making a
095decision by Thanksgiving so we're able to roll more of that information out, but that's a good point. Thank you. >> Okay, thank you. Um, item 2.0 2.04, President's Report. Um just an update on superintendent search. So as we all know we have completed uh round one of interviews and are determining our next steps for round two and beyond. Um thank you Ann for volunteering to be the Misba voting delegate unless anyone else would very much like to do that. [Music] So, um, to support you, and we're definitely going to need to have a conversation about it at the October 3rd board meeting, but in the email that I sent today has the link to all the different resolutions. So, um, I'll remind people to pre please look at those ahead of our next meeting. X
096six. Thank you. Um, so that we can decide if there are ones that we would like to support or not. Um, go through the list. Thank you. And then finally, um, we got our letter regarding the Phil Martin Leadership Award that the board annually has sponsored. So, I'm going to be, um, requesting I'll send you guys an email if you'd like to um, make a donation towards the scholarship that we offer for a high school senior, that would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. Um Sarah had a question. Um I think you and um s um Rebecca were going to do some followups regarding having like that student group. So I was going to meet with as legislative leaison to talk about how we can get the students more involved. Have you guys had a chance
097to do that yet or is that stand right now? >> I have not. Um let's >> No, I think um We had talked about potentially engaging with the SUPA public policy class, right? I mean, we're thinking of what would be the right student group and I don't want to put you on the spot, Jacob, but if you have any thoughts um as to what students might be interested in working on the legislative liaison front, we can talk offline, too. Think about it. We'll make some progress before the next meeting. [Music] Okay. Item 2.05, reports from the committees and representation updates. Um, OCM Boseies. Marissa. >> Sure. Um, there will be more or quite a bit of information coming out soon about a facilities referendum that Boseies will be doing before the end of the year.
098So uh we are putting together some materials to send out to all the component districts about when the vote will be and what is involved in um that facilities project. So that'll be going out soon. >> Thank you Jacob. >> So on the basis of the um student council we've gone through discussion on prep homecoming as well as tailgate. Um, we've already got a t-shirt design and I last recorded. Um, right now it's being printed. Um, we've also talked about um the sales um for the dance. Um, we for the prep we again intend again going to have the prep band, dance core, cheer, and step team. Um, we also plan on having an MCformational meeting on the 25th. um on the for students um um I know the we you um we talked um
099there was a discussion about the Chromebooks distribution and how it's been a bit some issues during the beginning of the year and that they finally come in. Um that was some of the issues with especially with the freshmen and some people who um had already turned in their Chromebooks and are still waiting to be received. >> So it's good to hear update that they are coming. um cell phone cell phones as well as the law behind that. Um a lot of students are reluctant to follow the law and from what I've seen it's been the most part successful. Um haven't seen that many phones around. Um though kind of the whole tablet and computer side of things have been uh I've heard various responses. Most of the issues people had was with phones. People are
100still going to have still complain about it a little, but they are still willing to obey the law as is. Um it was interesting to see some students um bring in walkie-talkies. Yeah. Yeah. It it was interesting. um some students, you know, in accordance with the law did bring um older MP3 players that, you know, play, which yeah, technically they do follow the law. So, um so it's been interesting. Uh I've also talked to one of teachers and seen kind of with um lateness with some of the periods only being five minutes. Um there seems to be some tendency for students to be slightly late especially when moving between house one and house two even with the decongested hallways. Um fantastic. That's um just another commentary on the new hallway. It's fantastic. I've seen a
101lot less congestion especially between the art wing. So great. >> Yeah. Um so yeah, just something might want to take note for in tomorrow's meeting on the schedule. That is all I have currently. >> Wonderful. Thank you. Does anyone have any questions for JA? >> Excellent. Thank you, Jacob. All right. Public comment 3.01. So, I believe we have four community members for public comment. So, I'll start at the top. um Christine Lefkus. And just as you're coming up um just as a reminder for everyone um with public comments, it is uh the board's practice that we typically do not respond for board comment or for public comment. Um but we very much appreciate you taking the time to come speak with us. >> Hi. Um thank you for allowing me to come and speak. I
102am a parent of two children in the FM school district. Uh I wanted to talk about the free and reduced price uh the decision to decline the program now after the very thorough presentation. Um I have different questions. Some of my questions were answered, but I'm probably going to stick to my pre-prepared thoughts because I am very nervous up here. Um, so we were very excited when it was announced that the kids would get um, free meals at school, but we were very surprised and disappointed to hear that FM declined participation for the high school program. Um, because they would have had to adhere to the nutritional guidelines of the program. Um, and I just was left to wonder if that decision really benefits more students. Uh, I understand students can fill out the application
103still for the reduced price meals um and they can receive financial help if they qualify. But again, how does that benefit the students to make their families jump through hoops when they do not have to? Um, I have heard people say the kids would be divided between the halves and the have nots or if some kids get free lunch and some kids get paninis, there would be a stigma. But if there is a stigma attached to the reduced price lunch, it already exists and making it available to everyone would probably reduce that stigma. Um, right now habs would get the paninis and smoothies and habs might not get food without the proper paperwork and I wonder how that benefits students. Um, I also understand that there is no way to please everyone, but I don't
104think that should keep the conversations from happening in the community. It was announced in March and the decision had to be made by July. Maybe I wasn't plugged into the right places, but I didn't see any discussion come up to the parents if input was sought. And it would have been even better to ask the high school students their thoughts. Uh I was fortunate enough to speak with two high school students about their opinions regarding the free meals decision and when the welcome back email was sent out, and they shared very thoughtful comments with me. Uh, hearing that they brought walkie-talkies and MP3 players to school uh, solidifies that they are geniuses and we should be listening to them more often. That was wonderful. Um, one of the students said that I should speak with
105their neighbor who's a member of the board and they said their neighbor is very dedicated to the district and wants to do what's best for all students. I have never made a public comment at a meeting before tonight, but I decided to take the advice of the students and speak with you all because I think that you all have neighbors that would say that about you. I think that you all want to do what is best for the kids. Um, and I think it would have been very beneficial to have them have a voice in this discussion. I appreciate that part of the presentation that the kids will be involved from this point forward. I hope that the program continues next school year and I hope that the district will choose to participate and um
106it would be even better if the community had a chance to contribute in the future. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Very much appreciate you taking the time to speak with us. >> Thank you for having me. >> You're very welcome. Nancy Bremen, Lincoln Malac. Hi everybody. I'm Matlock. I know uh some of you from teaching your kids at some point or some other school or community functions. Some of you I don't know, but I appreciate the opportunity to be here tonight. share some of my thoughts about our elementary class sizes and why it's time to talk about reducing those numbers. I'm aware of the magnitude of this change and the constraints of making it happen. It's a it's a huge ask, which is why I'm not asking for immediate change, but rather to
107start a serious conversation about this issue and ultimately make a plan to successfully implement change. Because smaller class sizes would have short-term benefits, but more importantly, long-term benefits to every child who enters our district. Let's start with the research. There's been one large scale study done on elementary class sizes, the Tennessee Star Project. Several smaller scale studies have been done as well, and they support the benefits that were found in the STAR. Some of the benefits of the research include increased test scores, reduction of the achievement gap, and these two benefits become greater with each successive year. Kids are in smaller classes. There's fewer discipline issues and classroom disruptions. Kids are more likely to attend college. There's more opportunity for individualized attention. And there's better relationships, both student to teacher relationships and studentto student relationships.
108So why now? If you couple the research with the changes we've seen in education over the past several years, they both point to reducing classes as a critical issue. My job has certainly changed over the past 20 plus years of teaching. The overhead projectors and VHS tapes are long gone. And there's also been a shift from curriculum centric to student centric with a focus on individual skills. And what a great change that is because that's why we're here for the kids. And how do we best meet each kid's individual needs? Smaller classes comes down to a simple division problem. Total number of minutes spent in the classroom divided by the number of students. Smaller classes allow the teacher more time with each student, resulting in a more efficient and effective way to meet their individual
109needs. IEPS and 504 plans are on the rise. They focus on individual needs. Bob Benstein, who presented his special education audit at last September's board meeting, mentioned that once class sizes get larger than 18 to 19 students, it's difficult to meet individual needs. And the research agrees, suggesting ideal elementary class sizes of 15 to 19 students. Last year, I had a unique opportunity to teach two sections of math. one with 24 students and one with 17. If I had more time, I'd love to share my observations about that, but I'm sure my three minutes are about up. So, I'll conclude by reiterating I'm just here to start a conversation about this issue because we are here for the kids and the only thing smaller classes can do for them is give each one of them
110a better chance at future success. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Um, Dr. Chase, would you want him to follow up with you or someone from your team? Okay. >> And then, um, finally, Joan Pelier, could I pronounce your name correctly? >> Hi everyone. Nice to see you. Um, I'll tell you a little bit. about myself first. I was a teacher in the Syracuse City School District for just under 30 years. I've been a resident here in Fatville for about 25. My daughter Noel went all the way through from Mro right through the high school and her learning experience was incredible. It really was. And um I thank all the prior superintendent and board members especially the teachers um dedicated group of individuals but I'm here for a totally
111different reason and I brought this up to many different areas to a member of the uh council here and also the town council and u now I'm bringing it directly to all of you. Okay. Um, we don't have a large portion of seniors who are either disabled or have very low economic needs. However, as baby boomers move forward, and I'm one of those end, um, that problem has become more and more critical. Unfortunately, we didn't have the good sense to invest as well as we for our children's college education. That's number one. Nor could we ever have foreseen the increase in costs, triples and quadruples that have gone up. Everything from repairs to insuranceances to money to cars. It's across the board and much of it is gouging, but it's it is what it is.
112My concern is that this school district, as wonderful as you are, has not raised the income level for reduced school tax since 2012. In order to get 50% off, you consider poverty level to be $29,000 and then it would graduate down to 5% if you made 37,391. Now folks, I know it's hard for you to believe because I see people in the store and on the streets all the time. I'm one of those people. One year after I retired and found out that my pension had been reduced to 20 years instead of 25 and was on social security for disability. I made $37,499. I was $100. I waited for that to change. the county property taxes were raised to um a consideration of 58,400 is considered now poverty level. I still have a mortgage on
113my home. I couldn't possibly buy a car. I'm trying to save up the money to have one side of my house repaired. I've lost numerous neighbors my age, my income level, because we can't maintain houses anymore. And I know that these pools are important. I would say class sizes are much more important personally as a teacher. He's right. Everything he said is correct than a $12 million pool. You've got a group of residents who have lived here their whole lives, who have put their children through schools, have volunteered in their schools, have maintained the excellence in community, and we're suffering. I would just like to share with you one thing. In the last three years, almost every school district in the area has changed what they consider poverty level, which would be 50% off their
114school taxes. West Tennessee's poverty level is $41,000. Ours is 29 and it hasn't changed since 2012. The poverty level in Liverpool, $50,000. Ours is 29 and it hasn't changed since 2004. North Syracuse poverty level $39,000. Ours is 29 and it hasn't changed since 2012. Westill poverty level $50,000. Ours is 29. It hasn't changed since 2012. ESM poverty level $50,000. ESM ours is 29 and it hasn't changed since 2012. And I've brought this up to members of board before and no one has acted on it or addressed it. My income is what it was when I was 24 years old and working at a bank. My total income right now is $41,000 a year. That's it. There's no more. Social Security goes up 3% a year. Cost of living goes up eight and a half. taxes
115go up. My My mortgage has gone from $900 to $1,300 a month. 400. What's that? Guess what? It's groceries. It's gas in my car. It's being able to repair a broken window. Because along with tax hikes, you get the assessors who then say, "Oo, we can even get more money if Houses are assessed at their highest amount that they can be 12 to 14%. And they have year after year after year after year. You put that tax hike on to a house that you bought that was $100,000 less when you bought it. We're not making ends meet. I have another neighbor across the street who's putting our house up for sale in the spring. She can't stay here anymore. It's not right. We're talking about $12 million pools and you have residents who have lived
116here and supported the school district, have raised their children, and want to stay here. We're being we're we're being traumatic. When are you going to address this? $29,000 is poverty here in Fagatville. Could any of you survive on $41,000 a year? I wonder. I have $70 a month. That's it for gas in my car. That's how strict the budget is. >> I can spend $90 a week on groceries. How many of you go in the store and only spend $90 a month on groceries? And I'm not the only one. That's the thing. You ride through Homewood and you look at how these houses are starting to be maintained and falling apart. We can't repair our homes and rather than move, we're letting them fall into decay. shame on anyone who would vote for a $12
117million pool or not reduce class sizes and not address this. Thank Thank you, Joan, for for sharing your personal experience with us. Just to clarify, we are not looking at a uh $12 million pool. Um but just we appreciate you taking the time [Music] as a teacher as a mother. I appreciate it. But [Music] how about our lives? [Music] Thank you for sharing your perspective. [Music] >> Thank you. [Music] Okay. Item 4.01, a proposed executive session. Be it resolved that the board of education of the Fateville Manla Central School District hereby enters into executive session for the purpose of discussing the employment history of a particular person information relating to a current investigation and collective negotiations. May I have a motion? Thank you. Second. Thanks, John. All in favor? Anybody opposed or abstaining? Those of
118you who are here, we will be returning your decision if you'd like to stick around. Thank you. [Music] >> 25. Be it resolved that the board of education of the Fagetville Manley Central School District hereby sorry my sorry was frozen in time. Uh, be it resolved that the board of education of the Fagetville Manla Central School District hereby approves the minutes of the meeting held on July 30th, 2025 as presented. May I have a motion, please? Thank you, Chrissy and John. All in favor? Anybody opposed or abstain? Sarah. Okay. Thank you. >> Rebecca, she's in favor. Okay. Item 5.02. Be it resolved that the board of education of the Fateville Manley Central School District hereby approves the minutes of the meeting held on August 11th, 2025 as presented. May I have a motion, please? Thank
119you, Ann. A second. Dan. All in favor? Anybody opposed or abstaining? I'm abstaining. [Music] Thank you. 5.03. Be it resolved that the board of education of the Fagetville Mania Central School District hereby approves the minutes of the meeting held on August 25th, 2025 as presented. May I have a motion? Thank you, Marissa and John. All in favor? Anybody opposed or abstaining? That one. Okay. Thank you. 5.04 4. Be it resolved that the board of education of the Fateville Manla Central School District approves the following revised reserve resolutions as presented. May I have a motion? Sarah and Rebecca. Thank you. All in favor? Anybody opposed or abstaining? Okay. Board development. We already discussed consideration. board development. Okay. Uh, be it resolved that the board of education of the Fateville Manley Central School District hereby approves the
120NISPA convention attendance as follows. Marissa Joy Nims. May I have a motion? Thank you, Chrissy and John. All in favor? Anybody opposed or abstain? Okay. Thank you. Future meetings Nothing new on that. We talked about the school start time. Um item 7.01, future meetings calendar. So you can see the schedule presentations that are coming um to a meeting near you. Um dates to remember, they're on our website now. Um so can't if there's something coming up soon. I don't recall. um lots of things, lots of curriculum for open curric open houses um all over the place. So, I'm sure I'll see many of you. Uh okay. Item 8.01, approval of the consent agenda. Be it resolved that the board of education of the Fateville Mania Central School District hereby approves the consent agenda as presented.
121May I have a motion, please? Uh Marissa. Thank you. And Jason. All in favor? Anybody opposed or abstaining? Alrighty. And item 10.01. Uh, be it resolved that the board of education of the Fateville Manley Central School District hereby enters into executive session for the purpose of discussing the superintendent search. I have a motion. Christie and Dan. Thank you. All in favor? >> No. Anybody opposed or say? >> Okay, thank you. And then after that, we're just going to adjourn the meeting. So, thank you all for coming. Have a wonderful evening. [Music] All All right.