001Um, welcome to the Tuesday, January 6, how Board of Education business meeting. It's nice to see so many people in the audience. Uh, I am calling the meeting to order. Please stand for the pledge of >> allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice. Actually, before you do that, I'm actually just going to say for anybody who is watching the the meeting online, you actually aren't watching us. You are just hearing us because there's an issue with the video. So, that's for whoever is listening to this on YouTube. Okay. So, now >> roll call. >> Okay. Uh, President Clemens >> here, >> Vice President Valentine >> here, >> Trusty Mcnal >> here, >> Trustee Copper >>
002here, >> Trustee Clemenson >> here, >> and um, Student Representative Sanders >> here. >> I don't believe we have any revisions to the agenda. So, may we have the recommended action to approve the agenda? Be it resolved that upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools, the board of education hereby approves the agenda as written. >> May we have a motion, please? >> Thank you. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I. Any oppose? >> All right. So, our next meeting is going to be a workshop meeting on Tuesday, January 20th at 7 o'clock here in the middle school library. Um and it's going to be the annual presentation from our director of curriculum and instruction which is going to focus sort of so technically by policy week there needs to be a presentation
003of the state assessments to the board every year but we always take that opportunity to sort of dig in deeper um and so we'll be hearing from uh Mr. Elder about that. Um the only comment I have to say um tonight before I hand it over to Dr. Duffy is that um the board we did our midyear evaluation with Dr. Duffy um on December 16th. Um these midyear evaluations are informal. They give the board a chance to get together and reflect on how the year is going. Gives the superintendent a chance to reflect on how they're doing. And then it gives us the opportunity to collectively come together and talk about things. And I'll I'll say that um you know the board is really very excited and very pleased with all the hard work that
004Dr. Duffy has done. She can speak for herself, but our take is that she's very glad to be here and excited about the work that she's been doing and that's ahead of her. Um and we, you know, things are going to really pick up and we look forward to um our continued work together. So thanks very much for taking the opportunity to be with us. All right. Any comments Dor um from you? >> So I'm so happy to see a couple of students in the audience tonight. So thank you so much for coming. Appreciate having you nice to have student energy in the crowd. So happy new year and welcome back. I can't believe that it's already January and we're kind of in are we almost at the second half of the year? I'm looking
005at Julia just about is almost couple weeks. So, lots of great things have already begun for the school year, but I'm really looking forward to have spending my first winter and spring here in Helane and to experience all things that we have the opportunity to be engaged in. Um, tonight we're going to be having a presentation um on transportation and so Paul Oberbog is here from the on or from on the bus transportation. Did I say that correctly? I'm like adding words. Um, so Paul is really not um new to Howane in terms of he's been really taking a look at transportation in the spring and also again in the fall. And he's learned quite a bit about the different aspects of transportation. And tonight the presentation is going to be a lot of information
006and very informative. and it'll be the first conversation of a few if not many as we go because he's going to be sharing uh best practices, our current practices, state regulations, uh things we can consider in terms of policy, staffing, and that type of thing. So, we're very happy to have Paul here tonight with us. And this is directly tied into our district goals. So, we have five goals this year that we're working on as a district. And this is district goal number four. Um, so a lot of information. It'll be informative and what we might have more questions than answers tonight and that's okay. We'll continue the conversation as we go. I did just want to provide a brief update on electric buses. So, this is something that the district has been looking into
007since last year. So, our previous uh superintendent was working on trying to get grants through the government. Um, they are delayed at this point. So, there's different cycles with the grants. So, I am kind ofounding the group that's helping us with uh the grants. So in lie of that what I'm doing is meeting with them next week. This is Highland Electric to see are there other funding sources. So we do need to know we have to have some funding before we can move forward. The state is also um introducing a waiver if districts can't meet some of the necessary requirements and so we'll work through that as we go. I will continue to update the board. It's still on my mind. Excuse me. It's top of mind but I'm really waiting for some funding sources
008to kind of help us. >> Right. Actually, so this raises a qu. So when we first started talking about this 2027 sounded so far away, >> but now it's not because now this year we'll be talking about the 2627 school year. So does that mean so normally when we in the spring of 2027 the district would have a proposition to purchase a bus, >> right? >> It currently the mandate is that it would have to be in even next year it would have to be an electric bus. Is that correct? Right now, with the state offering the waiver, what we're understanding is there's an opportunity perhaps that that is extended depending upon if we get the waiver or not. So, reaching out to local districts, most districts are kind of in the same spot in
009terms of do we have the funding and Paul can talk a little bit probably more to this as well. Do we have the funding and what are their plans? So, as a superintendent group, we meet monthly and this is a topic of discussion like what are people doing? So, it's kind of ebbing and flowing as we go. >> Okay. Yeah. >> Okay. And um I'll talk a little bit later. We do have a couple of retirements. Um we have four staff members who are retiring either the end of January or the end of June. As soon as we get to that, I want to take a moment just to acknowledge their time. >> That's it for now. >> All right. So now we're moving to our update from our Exopicio student board members. Thanks for
010being here, Max. >> Of course. So on the last day before winter break, I was supposed to go down to the middle and elementary schools and quickly meet with do Miss Jam and Dr. Silky, but there was a snow day. So I don't have as many updates for that. But in the high school right now, college planning for juniors is just beginning and the college planning night is on the 8th and ironically most early decision and early action decisions have been released. So some students are already committing to schools. We have senior internship presentations are beginning I think actually tomorrow. Teachers for their Christmas spirit decorated their Christmas doors and there was a big debate if Die Hard is a Christmas movie or not. >> Um there was a celebration of Jane Austin's birthday which
011was very fun. I got the chance to go in there for a little bit. And then there was also a survey released for locker importance in the high school. And I haven't gotten the results back of that, but I'm going to go see cuz the teachers want to promote use of them in the staff because it declutters hallways and stuff. And then the winter dance is coming up in February. International Club had a candy cane sale raising money for UNICEF. and the Leo Club ended their Kongsgiving sale with a record in the past 5 years and they did a donation to a local shelter in Beacon and the winter um musical show and play were a big success. So that's all I have for tonight. >> I would just like if I may to publicly
012congratulate our exeicio student board member on early decision acceptance to Brown University. Max, I know that you have um been looking at that school for a long time and you have put in the work. You've been committed. So, I just want to give big congratulations >> I'm looking forward to the locker uh results. Do any students use their lockers? >> I think maybe some freshman, but I it's kind of like a thing that just like I guess like people at how they just don't use lockers. Like I was told when I first came to high school like people don't use their lockers. You just carry your backpack around >> and your big well whoever wears big winter coats. >> Yeah. >> Well, we look forward to those survey results. >> Great. Okay. So, now we're
013going to move to our special presentation um which is the transportation audit funding. So, here we go. Thank you for being here. Good evening. My name is Paul Overb and I represent the onbus transportation planning program which is uh coming out of the Franklin Essex Hamilton Boseies way up by the Canadian border in Malone. Uh that is not where I work thank goodness but that's where uh the mothership is if you will and what we are here to talk about is a transportation related study for efficiency purposes as well as highly focused on the safety of your pupil transportation and the students that ride your yellow buses within the district. And with that uh we want to look at several things. Uh but by way of introduction uh I want to provide some credibility uh
014to say that I've been driving a school bus since 1991. I worked my way up uh the ladder. Uh interesting story is I graduated from college in 1990. Did not land a successful uh position being leaving with a bachelor of science. Uh so with that I started driving a school bus because I have no student loans to pay. You'll figure that out real soon. Uh student loans to pay back. So I started driving a bus and basically worked my way up into a management position starting at with a contractor going to a district as a dispatcher going to a district as a supervisor for seven years. uh working at PTSI as a consultant, a curriculum development writer and presenter for two years before going to the department of motor vehicle where I was spent 10
015years working for the governor's traffic safety committee which was basically a highway safety initiative where they take federal dollars and put them into communities to keep highway roads safe. Part of those things were buses and I was responsible for the buses as well as car seat installation. And then um in basically 20 what was it 13 maybe? Now let's do the math. I was there from 8 to 18. Um and then in 2018 I went to SED as the state director of pupil transportation and I was the one responsible for the $2.4 4 billion dollars that come out in transportation aid uh for the past five and a half years before I left and went to on the bus and with the Boseies. So I have a little yellow in my background. You can tell
016um a lot of ties in the closet. Uh but yet we're here to talk about the study and based on that we want to talk about six points. basically the purpose, the policy, the school site safety, which is a key issue, staffing, the fleet, and then the summary. So, feel free to interrupt anytime if you have questions. Um, and we'll go through, as mentioned by Dr. Duffy, this was one of your goals for the year. Number four, to really look at your transportation and to assess its um current safety status as well as its expense. Um, and as you think about the coming in of electric school buses, um, they are basically running about $450,000 to $500,000 a piece. That does not include the charging stations. That doesn't include the infrastructure. It doesn't include everything
017else that you need to plug it in. Um, so if you're running an EV vehicle, you understand that um, there needs to be some kind of power source. Um, and with these buses, some of the meters are going to be really running. But with that, that's a whole other topic. We'll talk about it a little bit later. Um, and then we want to really help you as you desire to support that mission that the district has as you prepare the students to succeed. And where does the student day begin? It begins with the yellow school bus. When they get on the bus and they come to school and if they come to school on a yellow school bus, they should come in a way which is the safest and most efficient way for the district.
018so that when they're there, they're ready to learn. Uh and that's what we've been preaching throughout the years. So with that, uh we do want to recommend an administrative structure where the board of ed would create the policy and then that policy would be instituted by regulations and procedures through the local cabinet or the leadership team of the principles and the facilities and and folks uh that basically run everything. Um, it's a great procedure. It's a great policy. It's a great way to sort of u communicate back and forth between that leadership team that you invest so much in as well as what the board does. Um, so currently when it comes to a walking distance, there there is not a policy uh for distance in any of the archives that I've been able to
019find or the superintendent before. Uh so with that, the policy would by law have to go back to two miles for grades uh K through eight and then three miles for grades 9 through 12. That's what's in the the education law. Uh yet you have a current practice of a half mile for K5 and one mile for 6 to 12, grades 6 through 12. And with that, um, the recommendation is basically to create a policy that would coincide with your current practice. Um, and basically, um, the commissioner has ruled that if there's a walking distance policy of a half mile, then there could be up to a half mile walking distance policy to a bus stop. Um so that is what it could be but that is not likely what happens in the real world.
020U but just so you know it could be u a possibility. Uh so what you look at a half mile radius as the bird flies um you have the picture on the left and then as you look at the students that could be impacted for the half mile elementary walk zone you have some dots and then when you try to put them together you're looking at basically that green outline which is very faint. Um so with the current practice that you have uh right now you have about 34 students that would be walking and then if you did not go to the public to vote into a policy because you do need to vote that in through um um a referendum to expend the funds then you would end up with like 89 students that
021are walking. So, um, that's where we're at looking at the elementary level. And then at the one mile limit for the high school, you can see the students on the left and the radius and the larger circle on the right. And then looking at that in comparison, you have approximately um, right now 183 students in the one mile range where if you went to the three mile range, it would be 210 students. Um, granted that the most populated areas are those within the village and those up uh outside um as you exit the school up to Main Street up that way. What direction is that? West. >> Okay. Um maybe it's east. >> East. Thank you. >> We didn't want to crouch, but we all fine. You live here. I don't. So that's great. Um,
022so if the recommendation is for the board to create a policy of a half mile walking distance for grade five, one mile policy for grades six through 12, uh, then you can adhere that new walking distance policy and use that to, uh, evaluate and clearly communicate the criteria and safety exceptions because you know that for every rule there is always a situation where there's an exception to the rule. Um, for example, uh, part of the service that we provide is child safety zone studies for New York State in school districts across uh, you know, anywhere from we've done them down on Long Island out to Buffalo and up in Albany and above. So with a child safety zone study, you would determine that the walking distance is unsafe and therefore based upon that you could
023institute a walk zone uh where the students would ride and the district would get aid. So basically, if the board decides to create a policy that adheres to the current practice, you would go to the public vote with a referendum. And then we would also recommend creating community bus stops. Uh because when you really think about it, every time you stop a school bus, it's about 30 to 45 seconds. So if you have 20 to 30 stops on a bus, do the math and figure out how long it's going to take to make those stops. You say, "Well, that's not really long." But if you have to do a high school run and then go back out and do an elementary run, it can create some difficulties where I'm sure at times if weather could
024be inclement, it could slow down the process as well. Uh so with that, uh just some food for thought. Uh there is an opt out optin program that is pretty popular across the state. And basically what that is is a program where the parent or guardian has the opportunity to opt out grades 10 K through 10, meaning that I'm going to drive my student to school. And you have quite a few already that do that at present. Um, and there's a slide that I'll go touch on that a little later. Uh, and then with your grades 11 and 12 where most of your students have permits, licenses, or friends with vehicles, they're driving and they're parking up in the student lots. Uh, so those students um so would have to opt in to say, "Yeah,
025I want to ride the bus. I don't have a car. I'm not have my license yet. um and I don't have a friend that wants to provide a ride. So with that, your opt out optin policy sort of gives you a more accurate picture of who is going to be on that bus. And by doing that, um many districts have an online fillable form. They give the caregiver the choice to have their student on and ride. And they can be changed at any time. It's not like once you say no, it's no for the rest of the year. No, you could say no, but then life happens. You know, your car breaks down and you say, well, now Johnny needs to ride the bus. So, you would contact the transportation office, request the bus, start
026picking up the student, and they would do that within 24 to 48 hours to get them back on the route, depending if they have to readjust. It could be even sooner than that. Um, but this policy seems to work out very well for districts where they are short drivers. Um, one district that has this every day walks in and there are 16 drivers short without people calling in sick. I mean, granted, they have 10,000 students in the district, but still they have 16 buses that are sitting there without drivers. and they have to notify parents that bus this bus 24, bus 63, 125, and 32 are not running today. I'm sorry. You know, so that's a real world out there in New York State and and we deal with that on a daily basis. Um,
027and it's also a real world for the nation. There is a driver shortage and for some reason, nobody wants to drive a school bus. I loved it, but maybe I'm just a little hot. But anyway, uh this is the policy that is very popular right now because of the driver shortage. And with that, it's going to give you a more accurate writership and it's going to give you less time stopping for students that you know aren't going to be there. So with that uh also with this policy is the caveat that if the student does not ride the bus for a period of time consecutively then they would be removed from the list and notification would go to the parent to say hey you haven't been on the bus for two and a half three
028weeks um have you decided to transport or are you walking or you know have you chose another mode of transportation. So, if that's the case, then you would say, "We're going to remove you and make room for other students and different things." Um, but feel free to sign back up anytime. Um, it's just a way to keep a more accurate wrership count. Um, and to do that, um, when we looked at your buses, we asked the district, uh, to do a headcount of what they were having as for how many students are you assigned to the route and how many students actually get on the bus and we amazingly found that the buses are running very well below capacity. Um, no bus exceeds 38% of the capacity at any time. Uh so when you think
029about that, you have a 66 passenger bus and you've only got it full to a third roughly. And every stop adds time and then but yet once these accurate ridership counts are established then you can combine routes, combine stops and possibly create some savings. And not only that, you're going to create an available driver that might be able to take a sports trip or might be able to cover another route. Uh it's not like anyone's going to lose their job if they're a school bus driver. If they're a professional school bus driver, they are a precious commodity and you need to really hold on to those folks. Um as Dave and I were chatting earlier, uh great appreciation is the best way to show um retention. So the recommendation is to take attendance on every
030bus route every day. Uh, so when you get off at the high school or middle school or get off at the elementary school, the driver is going to count how many kids they had. They might even there isn't there's even programs and your routing software creates programs where there are attendance sheets that the driver can just check off you know who was there, who wasn't. And then like I said after 10 or consecutive days or 15, however you wish, you know, there would be a parent notification saying we haven't seen Johnny in the past three weeks. And there might be an exception to the rule. Maybe they're over in an extended vacation or something in Europe. Uh and that's happened uh in certain places uh where they go to Europe for a month and they
031take the time out. Um and then you also can combine these routes for efficiency and aim for a a 70% capacity rate for your buses. Now, we also understand that I I think it's in here that you do not provide a late bus at this time, but you do permit high school students to ride the elementary buses home and or you permit the students that are going in for chorus or band to ride that early morning high school middle school route uh in the morning. Uh which is a great plan, great cost savings and a great opportunity to basically utilize what you have. And that 70% would give you the 30% to do that. Um so and again there are some buses in New York State that are running at about 80 90% capacity. Um
032but your buses are running very low. And then when you look at the expense of running these buses um your budget for 2526 was $1,142,939. Um there is a cost per mile formula that SEB has recommended uh through the people transportation unit u and I'm the one to blame for it. So with that um using that formula uh the district was gracious enough to show me that they were spending $3.80 per mile to operate a bus. That does not include salary of the driver or monitor attendant on the bus. It's just what it costs to run the buses. >> So you have uh four 65 passenger buses and you have a yellow 35 passenger bus, a yellow route 35 30 passenger bus and that's what it costs the district per year to operate those vehicles.
033And you're doing that for a third of the capacity. So when you do the math, it's costing you quite a bit of money per pupil to transport students. Um, so we took the black route as an illustration. Um, sorry for the S's that were hanging, but yet we had 28 miles on that route at $3.80 a mile came up to a cost per run of $16.40. And then with that um figuring that out uh with the people the pupils that ride the students that ride you're spending for that one high school black AM route you're spending $66.50 per pupil. Um and then as you work that all the way down and say okay you have a black high school middle school AM black uh elementary AM. You have a black high school middle school afternoon
034route as well as the elementary. You do all that calculation. You're finding out how much the average ridership is. And out of this bus route over a two-e period, you're only transporting 70 57 students when you have 180 assigned. I don't know how they get to school, but they do. Thank goodness. Um, so what we're showing is that you're spending $50 per pupil just on this one bus route. um which is a little expensive when if you had almost 60% capacity you would lower that to $25 a student. So is that as clear as mud? >> All right. >> Um and if you have questions let us know. Um so basically potential savings would be by understanding who actually rides the bus and trying to route them in such a way that you are able
035to fill them to a greater capacity. You could reduce a bus route. And if you reduce a bus route, your average savings could be $47,000 just for the bus alone. Um you're still going to have, you know, to spend that money elsewhere if you look at other increases that are coming. um especially the electric cost um but and it's also going to help with driver shortage. So questions so far. Okay. School site safety. Uh when I was on campus for many days, I I did notice an alarming um situation where you have a lot of students intermingling with buses and buses intermingling with cars. And what the state education department has recommended for a long long time is to separate those two. We need to separate our vehicle traffic from our bus traffic. So if
036you have parent drop offs in the morning, they should be separated from the bus traffic. And also, as I was speaking with your your local DARE officer, um there was a congestion issue on the corner between Main Street and 9D. Um and they were looking at that as well and saying, "Well, how can we help fix that?" Well, I think if if you rerouted the cars and got them out of the 9D Craigside Drive, it might reduce some of that congestion. Is it going to solve it 100%. It It's going to help. Okay. I don't have a crystal ball to say this is going to be what it's going to be, but it is going to help. So, if we take the car traffic and take them off of the 9D side and bring them
037in through uh the Cedar Street side and then they can come down through Getty Hill is what they call it, which is the road, little roadway on the right side of the transportation department. And there's another name for the building as well. >> Mabel Merit. Thank you. Um, so there's a road to the right of Mabel Merritt um that people currently go up and they exit. >> If we reroute the traffic to come down that way, then everyone could get dropped off where the buses currently load in the afternoon. So by doing that um the staff vehicles would not be involved with any of the bus traffic which is always recommended and the bus traffic would be removed off an ID uh would come in off an ID. So you're having four buses, five buses.
038I think there's a bus that comes in from another district uh that's contracted. So you have six buses coming in versus the 200 and some cars that are currently coming in plus staff off of uh 90. So you basically would have your buses come in up Craigside Drive to the bus loop. They would drop the middle school off. Then they would go up to the high school, drop the high school off, and then they would go out down the bottom through 9D um and go around the block to come in and park if they were done. or they would go on to their second route and do the elementary, come in through the same way off a 90 ID and drop right off at the bus circle. Um the lineup would be right in the
039bus circle. The high school students would walk down and the middle school students would walk out. Um, and if you're a walker or a parent uh pickup, then you would exit up by that merit building and walk out that way where there's a sidewalk. Can you envision that? >> All right. uh by looking at the cars on campus, uh the district was polite enough to do a count at different locations, and we're finding that basically on a two-day count, you're averaging close to 200 cars um on a Monday and 196 on a Tuesday. So, you're averaging quite a bit of vehicle traffic on campus. >> That's just the morning. That would mean that, right? That's I just want to point that out. in the morning just in that's a really important point I think that
040because that's a lot of cars. >> That's a lot of cars. That's correct. And that could be the reason for some of the congestion down on 90D with the intersection uh because they're trying to get in and out of Craigside Drive off of 90D which backs things up. Uh so that's uh great information for the board to be aware of that if we're tracking how many vehicles are on campus, we're tracking where students are going, uh what we don't want to have happen is a tragedy of any kind. We don't want to crash and we don't want any students injured. I mean, we're concerned with the safety of the student. Um, and currently we have cars coming up Craigside coming into the bus loop and dropping their students off in the bus circle or in
041the circle if you will. And the buses are circling around the back of uh the district office and coming around by the park buses to dismiss and unload um up there uh by the sidewalk and the entrance to the elementary uh playground and high school, middle school. Basically, you have the same thing. The carbs are coming in, but they're going up around. So, they're doing maybe a middle school drop off, then they're going up and dropping off their high school kids if they're getting dropped off in the morning. Um, and we do know that uh the parking lot up top is for the students and they would just walk down to the high school. Um, but buses are still going around and you also have buses and student drivers going using the same roadway which
042also could be potentially dangerous. >> Okay. Well, with that, if we create a new traffic pattern where the buses are actually coming up Craig's side, you've got five, six buses coming up the bus loop and for the high school run and the elementary run. And then you have the cars coming in off of Cedar and then going out through um down Spaghetti Hill and out that Craigside Drive on that side on the east side, if you will. >> Yeah. Can I I just for people watching who aren't as familiar with what we've been talking about with the cap with the >> um with the keer master plan campus master plan sorry and the planning um that bus route also reflects the re of the planned redesign of of the of the roads on campus the
043site work that we're planning >> there's because there's no circle there anymore >> the same slide that we included when we went over the overview back in September October >> that not Everybody seen that? Yeah. Yeah. >> Sorry. Yes, >> that's fine. So, so with this new pattern, you're separating the buses from the cars and you're providing a nice place for students to exit their vehicles uh that are being parent dropped off and have them walk in or walk to the sidewalk um to get to the school safely. Just real quick, your suggestion would be to implement that as soon as possible though, even if that site work is not >> Well, I think what the district is doing is they are going to have a pilot, which is a marvelous idea in the springtime
044to see how this would actually come into fruition. And therefore based upon the pilot if everything seems to work of course there might be a few tweaks here and there um then they could institute that the following year if you wish. >> It's something to to pilot and test and to see. I mean it's going to take a while for people to get used to the new pattern. Um, and there's different ways that you can exit the school once after you drop your your child off because there's a couple streets that you can exit on, but only one come in on. Uh, so, >> but your suggestion is that this should happen whether or not that proposed layout exists right away. Meaning, you want you want to make sure that the buses are off of
04590D or pardon me, cars are off of 90D and only the buses are coming in off 90. Correct. >> Correct. based upon the the request from the community. >> So our plan with that would be to actually try to pilot in April. So come back from our spring break, but spend a lot of time communicating this out so that community is aware and then all hands on deck for a good couple of weeks. So we would have multiple adults gently reminding drivers where they need to go, buses, that type of thing because it is going to take the community a bit of time to change. >> I'm not sure if we have comments right now. What about do you have a recommendation for staff the staff vehicles the staff parking because they would be in
046the coming in and out of the same place as the buses >> the staff would have to the staff are going to be reduced by 200 cars you know for the most part um because the cars are currently coming up with the staff. So you're going to have staff vehicles and those four buses or say five buses. >> Yeah. which is going to greatly increase your ability to get to work and get to your parking spot without being delayed in traffic. >> Okay. >> Well, majority of the staff we stay a little bit prior to the buses getting here. Yes. >> So, that makes a big difference as well. Thank you. >> Yeah. Yeah. I like the idea of buses instead of cars using 9D. I think it's going to take a lot of practice
047as far as when we're exiting when cars are exiting the campus, then you're going to get to Mountain Avenue, turn right, and then the choice, right? You can either go Locust Ridge, Orchard, or Fishkill. Meanwhile, we do have a lot of walkers who come in that way. So, we're not completely avoiding keeping cars and walkers separate. So, I think there's going to be the need to place crossing guards in different locations because that will of course be a lot of traffic going through that neighborhood. >> That's right. >> And if it's helpful for a point of reference, uh Megan and I did meet with Mayor Foley after our capital project presentation to kind of give her a heads up that this was something that we wanted to pilot in the spring and I believe I'm
048going to a village meeting at some point to share that. So, she's on board to help and we can talk through prosty guards and other things that we Has there ever been thought of cedar? Can cedar be So, here's just a thought. Can cedar be made into a two-way road at a specific time, >> specifically the morning? >> And the top mountain is hot. >> Yeah. >> Can those not be one way, you know, from the hours of 7 to 9 >> like they used to do when they used to switch? >> Correct. Yeah, >> we could talk about for sure >> because it's just a wider road, >> you know. >> Yeah. Yeah, >> that's where you want people, but then I don't know that coming out making that a left, you know, might
049be because of the issue. I don't want to get into transportation stuff and sight lines and all that type of stuff. >> Just a question. >> Yeah, sure. That's great. Thank you. But that's definitely something that can be pursued with the town and the village uh to see >> what their highway department recommends. >> There must be a reason for why it is the way it is. >> Yeah. >> And I know that this report specifically focuses on the kids that are coming in and out the campus specifically, but um there are, you know, we do bus other kids, right? like it's a district responsibility to bus kids who have opted whose families have opted to go to private school and I was just wondering had you looked at any of that are you able
050to give a little bit of um you know data on how many kids are being picked up to go to private school um because I know that there's a couple buses that actually stop you know in front of their house to pick them up and I was just wondering I'm assuming that's a small piece of >> No we didn't really specifically look at that because the majority of the students are um that are in the district are going to the schools in the district. >> I was just wonder of of non >> non public 10 at most >> um basically those kids for the most part are riding in our vans. >> We have four vans. Um and it might be one or two students in there at a time. Uh we also have u
051the handicap bus that takes one of the handicapped students. Um, and there's two that ride on that particular bus. So, if it's not it's not a big number, like I said, I don't even think it hits 10. >> I was just wondering because I know that if we do, you know, move forward with the policy, depending on what what happens after the discussion, um, if if the students that I know there's out of district students as well, which I'm assuming, but the the students that are picked up, um, you know, private school, that's a different that's the same legal limit. I I believe that we're that were responsible for bus. So, I'm just wondering if that would fall under the same um policy as you know.5 miles. >> Are you talking about 0.5 miles? So,
052they would need to go 0.5 mile to a bus stop. >> They could >> or to the pool. I mean, that's something we could discuss. >> Yeah. >> Really? um from my past career at SEED. The way it would work is if a student has a desire to attend a non-public school, a private prochial school within the district or outside of the district, then they would have to apply by April 1st and it would have to be less than 15 miles from their door to that school by the route that is, you know, travel safestly. >> We can't go through private property. we can't go through, you know, backyards or whatever. Um, and I've seen a lot of that as when I was at the state education department, people said, "Well, we want to use
053this road." And I said, "What's those those do in the winter months by the town? You can't use that road." Um, or you know, the district also has the ability through the board to determine some roads unsafe school buses and school traffic. So, with that, um, they're limited to that mileage. But yes, this mileage of walking a mile through a bus stop or a half mile to a bus stop would be for non-public schools. Um, if you have a special needs student who's been placed out of district, obviously they're going to get picked up at the end of their driveway and transported through the school they're assigned to for their educational progress and success. And and I did note that there there were a conversation to be had about those students we serve who live
054in areas in which for for whom walking is not an option because there are so I mean once you get above Nelsonville there are no sidewalks like anywhere you know what I mean? So I'm I'm just curious and this is some something for us to consider is as you start to think about you know where at what point do we run into a you know the conversation with a parent where we're like well you you're parent this person who lives maybe two blocks away is going to get door-todoor service but your student is going to have to walk a half mile down the road because you have the sidewalk in front of them and how many I don't have no idea how many students there are like that >> seems wonky. >> Yeah. Yeah. I'm
055just I'm curious about how we have those conversations and since we're talking about writing it into policy, how you cover those as we come conversations too, >> right? >> Um so great discussion, great great comments and I think um just because a a roadway does not have a sidewalk doesn't mean it's unsafe. >> Yeah. Well, I mean but in as far as the law is concerned, yes. But as far as like a concerned parent, of course, that's fundamentally different in some >> and then you would you would reach out to the transportation department and you would request a school site uh school bus stop safety evaluation, right? >> Uh there's a great resource, an oldie but a goodie from SE from 1992 called safe route safe stops. And in there they have procedures to go
056by to evaluate the safety of the bus >> and what they have to walk a question back. >> Yeah. I just can you go back one slide. I just want to point something out right there. Yeah. So you know we hear talking about piloting this. I just want to mention because it hasn't come up yet. If we're piloting this this year, I think another point of reference that's important where you see the cars coming down um on the side of Mabel Merritt, remember right now that the buses are coming around that some cars are coming and students are crossing over >> that area. So if this is to be done and piloted, this is now stopping the cars and the buses from crossing the path where students are crossing to another building. So, this eliminates
057that totally. Um, you know, as the high school principal, you hold your breath when you see the high school kids pull in. You see the buses come down and you see the high school kids trying to cross all at the same time. >> Yeah, I noted that when I was here. >> Thank you. >> Right. Well, that's because we when we're talking about the cars, we keep referring to 9D, but I think that the point that I want to I I want to make more explicit is yes, that's how they may be entering or accessing the campus. But the issue is that there are according to these numbers a total of 400 cars that come onto district property during the day and and cross over different routes where stu students are are walking as well
058as staff, right? the staff who who park on that that you have just this tremendous interaction um of of pedestrians and cars which is a a big motivator for for considering these changes. I mean the traffic backup is a problem and not great and but it's it's the fact that in a very tiny campus that you have so many cars and everything that that all that brings. >> Yeah. I'd love to also and this is probably something best talk to mostly Christine about and >> but you you know I can also envision if that is the point of entry for our parents for drop off. We've had conversations with on Mountain Avenue with parents parking there and walking their young kids anyway. And I feel like this might put us back in that direction of
059parents who want to walk their kids to the blacktop because that's part of the culture parking there and then creating additional congestion that we've sort of been moving away from there as well. And just how to communicate effectively about that to make sure we ensure the parents still know that know we have to be respectful of the homes that are here and that that's also part of the >> and that's a great point to discuss with Mayor. Yeah, >> I just wanted to add to something else you had to alleviate is at the end of the day, students are coming out of the high school parking lot and sometimes they're passing right by some of the buses that are still lined up getting ready to pick up other students going up Spaghetti Hill and then
060out that way. So, by eliminating any of the buses being in that area, it would only be cars that there would be pass makes a big difference. This is food for thought. >> It's nothing that is in concrete. It's just out there for >> informationational purposes right now. >> And maybe >> um we've done similar studies like this and brought recommendations to the board and the board said, "Hey, what about and there they have the answer." >> Yeah, you might have the answer. >> Max might have the answer. Yeah, >> I was going to ask is the Craig Side drive, the other one where the cars are exiting, is that now going to become like one way for the cars just to leave >> or will that still be like a two-way? >> I think
061it is only one way now, isn't it? >> Is it on the exit by the >> No, it's by the black top there. Right by the pink S. That is currently two-way. >> Yeah. >> Oh, that would seen a car come in that way. >> Yeah. I've always seen them exit that way and I thought everybody came in up top and you know or dropped their student off at you know at the end of Craigside and had them walk in on the sidewalk. >> Yeah. I think thankfully during the school day there there aren't PE people tend to not come in that way which is lucky for us but it is >> until that's what we could do with cedar. >> Yeah that's right. Yeah, >> but again, if you have the support of the
062mayor, then you can reinforce some of these things that you've already corrected to keep them in play. >> Um, so my mistake to think that that was a one way, but now it's a two-way. Uh, you may want to do that for certain hours. >> Yeah. >> That way it would have less congestion for the parents that drop off and need to get on campus and out to work. I'm >> sorry. Yes. just discussion about encouraging people to ride the buses. >> Yeah. Perfect people on this campus and I think you know knowing a lot of the people including myself I'm to blame that three cars when my kids were in school were coming here and parking here and we live a half mile away. So shame off >> but um I was just curious
063about that as part of the conversation in terms of encouraging riding buses. >> Yeah. Right. If you need data, we can provide data to say that school buses are 10 times safer than personal vehicles. School bus drivers are trained professionally uh and have vigorous requirements to maintain their certification. >> They have a parking issue in the village and right at the school, >> right? >> So, um there's a lot that that is there to support your recommendation to say, hey, the bus is the safest mode of transportation. It's big yellow school bus. >> Yeah. >> And that'll be part of our the way we communicate everything else. I I mean I think as a parent some of it has to do with the fact of especially in the afternoon the buses aren't there long enough.
064The kids are running which is insane after their last class to hopefully make that bus that's going to drop off its five kids and get back and wait for 20 minutes until elementary school is over. The timing >> is so discouraging and in It's just not there's I know so many people that oh sorry I missed the bus now you know mom has to come dad has to come or whatever like the timing has to be adjusted >> that's something that would need to change and I think that's what discourages the same thing in the morning but I agree with the community stops I mean even my my I mean right now my kids only four of them and they all beat and they walk down you know a quarter of a mile but when
065I we miss the bus and we tried to catch the bus it's like okay they're shopping here. There's something there. Everybody else sit down. Like walk. Like I used to walk. There was, you know, I mean, my school was a lot bigger, but there was 30 of us or 20 of us all at one stop. Like I think we've gotten so soft. Like just walk to one spot and you all get there. >> But the afternoon time is definitely hard with the buses, the two different times and then leaving less than three minutes after the the school bill ends. I want to make sure the board can do a good job of capturing contributors. So maybe let let's let Paul finish and then we'll move into public comment. >> Oh yeah, there. >> All right.
066Um so when it comes to staffing um the board may not be aware um of the timing of the current staff that you have. Um so you have a head mechanic who arrives at 5:30 and leaves at 2:30. But you know that your buses are dismissing and leaving after that time. If there's an issue with a mechanical issue on a bus, then then Dave has to scramble to find out how to fix it, justify, get another bus, call a company to tow it or whatever. Um, and then your dispatcher is leaving at 3:00. uh that dispatcher is the one that has the whole operational plan in her mind for the day and therefore knows where everything goes and fits. Once she leaves, that leaves with her and that's hard to communicate to the office assistant
067who's there from 3:00 to 4:00 to assist with parental calls or late buses or radio transmissions that somebody may not be there to receive a student or um there's an issue. And Paul, if I can, that office assistant position is new this year. So that's not something that we've had in place in the past, but that we were able to add to this year >> and before. I think this responsibility or issue would fall to the principles um who obviously had other issues on their plate versus transportation and and trying to figure out the routing and who's driving what route and where and when. So just understanding the timing of when they're leaving uh could be a consideration for the board to look at uh and therefore proposing that you create an assistant or some
068kind of a managerial position to help the director of facilities and transportation as well as the office assistant that you currently have which is a great addition. And then in addition to the head mechanic, add a driver mechanic um somebody who might be able to assist the director uh should an emergency arrives during the afternoon after that head mechanic has depart. It just makes sense to crossrain these folks to be able to fully provide a safe and efficient operation. God forbid something should happen. >> And Paul, before you go to the next slide, so with the staffing, um, obviously we're very mindful is such a small district. We're not looking to add multiple positions for no reason. Um, from my perspective, only been a superintendent here for six months. I'm in awe of how much
069the transportation department has been able to accomplish with our, if you go back one slide, with the small number of staff that we have. In addition to this, we have drivers that drive and then we have drivers that are drivers/cleaners depending upon what their title is. And so what I'm looking to do where if we have an opportunity is to go from our goal is and will continue to be to make sure we are safe at our students. We get them from point A to point B. We are doing the dayto-day very well in transportation, but I need someone to have eyes on the entire operation. be able to critically think behind the scenes at what else we might need, look at our data, think about compliance pieces that maybe we're not fully doing with
070our um drivers right now. So, it's really having someone look at the entire transportation department and right now we have an interim director facilities and transportation and Dave is doing a wonderful job. Um, we've had previous people in in that role. When you have someone whose title is facilities and transportation, we all know this. When you are pulled because of an emergency, you're handling the day-to-day of whatever that emergency is. We have not had a dedicated person looking at transportation in this way. And if you go to the next slide, we're working through like what could that managerial position mean and be? We have a current dispatcher. So, can we incorporate a dispatcher position with some type of managerial position in one title? So it's not another brand new person. We're trying to look from
071within, but can we be a little more strategic and a little more effective with our staffing because I am concerned that we don't have enough oversight overall. And so this study is really it's it's brought to light, I think, some of the issues that the administrators before may have been dealing with. And again, everyone does a great job. a very hardworking department, but this to me is an opportunity to look at how can we really be a little more strategic with who's in charge of transportation and who's looking at the big picture and not just that dayto-day of getting our students, which again is super important from point A to point B, but I'm really looking for more um in-depth thinking and critical thinking on some of the issues that are >> So does that
072mean so I'm just looking at it, you're you're suggesting um a shift in the dispatcher. Yes. >> And working with civil service in terms of what are the various titles. So there's a couple different titles we can consider. Um we're also looking at other local districts and comparing to our size who owns their buses, what other types of positions they have utilized. So this this will be an ongoing discussion with the board as part of our budget, you know, discussions as we move forward. I know that you know we've been through a number of director of facilities and transportation in the past certainly since I've been board and I know this is constantly a conversation we have about how larger districts have you know dedicated director for both these and sometimes our we struggle to
073find qualified candidates for this position because of the enormity of of the task. And I guess my question is is this a does this feel like some sort of would we be hiring a person who is a director of facilities who has less transportation experience perhaps whose job is to have someone report to them. So in effect this person has the expertise in an area that perhaps is not for them and can report to them you know conversation about that. >> That's definitely one way to look at it. So, we have um just thinking through the turnover of this position, we have heard from some previous directors they have left for other districts where they're only in charge of one or the other. >> Right. >> Plus, a lot of the people that we've brought
074in come in with the facilities experience, don't have transportation experience, and that's one of the things that can make the transition into the position >> and uh hard for people, right? So, it's not like there are all these people out there with all with both. It's that we exactly what I just said that we bring in people with the facilities experience and then they have to gain the transportation experience and that can be that's it's a it's hard it's complex it's hard yeah >> there are no civil service oblig tests or obligations >> yes there's a certain test for each title has a different test >> and that would include I mean this this I guess my question is this position that we are creating there is ostensively within the civil service already a designation
075for this >> yes that's what we're trying to do to stay within civil service because they're tricky up. So, we've got to try to be stay in line. >> David, do you want to add anything else? >> I just wanted to jump on her point is that in facilities, most of your facilities directors come from custodians, head custodians, uh somebody that works in maintenance, that type of thing. We don't have people that are doing that and transportation. So, you're going to get somebody who's new because you're a small district. You're not going to get somebody that's got 20 years experience. You're going to get somebody who's taken the test that's a new individual and they're not going to have, if any, transportation experience. So, by doing this, again, like you were saying, you have somebody
076that has the experience, has the knowledge. And now it's an easier transition for the director to fall into the transportation part because they have somebody that can help them, that can teach them, that can tell them things that they need to know. Good. Thank you. >> So cross training is imperative um no matter whatever you do um and that way um you know you're able to provide the safest transportation system possible. Uh looking at the bus fleet very quickly, uh you can see that uh in the Britain report that you might have received earlier in the in last year, um you would have a lot of buses that were taken out of service and what their capacities were to see that um then there is a discrepancy or a need maybe if you look at
077how you're going to manage your fleet and how you're going to construct your routes that if you don't need to run a 65 pass 66 passenger bus because you're never going to put 60ome kids on a bus, you may want to look at the 30 passengers or the 20 passengers for some of those routes. uh they will cost less and they might be a little more efficient to run than um the 66 passenger diesel bus right now that gets about 8 miles to the gallon and you know so but with that you have one wheelchair vehicle um and you have a three passenger vehicles one six passenger vehicle and I believe those are used for some of the the special needs or the non the atta district. >> Correct. For the last runs, >> right?
078And then you have 120 passenger where you did have a few more of those in the past and you have about 330 passengers. One of those 30 passengers is doing the el route and then you have 162 passenger 765s and then 166. Um so looking at the fleet and talking with your head mechanic um there is a need to maybe look at some of this going down projective into the future to say well how do we want to construct the route and then what's the best vehicle to purchase to meet that need >> you have that based on the sports runs too. Well, the sports ones were going to use the bigger vehicles, correct? That you had, >> right? So, the recommendation going forward, right? So, the suggestion was to pull in, you know, on
079new acquisitions, you know, when you go out for uh proposition for new busing and our our larger buses, a large percentage of our larger buses are um have relatively low inch miles, right? Um, so then the recommendation or what could be the recommendation that you're suggesting is to go out for smaller buses if we're not going to run these 65 buses at 80% capacity >> or 70%. >> Yeah. Right. >> Okay. But then making sure that we also have the 65 for sports teams. Yeah. >> Quite a few of them that will last you quite a while. >> Right. >> Um, some of those are are fairly new. 102 is new, 103 is new. Yeah, we've we've got four vans. We have uh six of the smaller buses and then we have eight of the
080large buses. So, you have 18 in total for the fleet. >> So, the recommendation would be to update your vehicle replacement plan based upon your routing as well as replace vehicles with high mileage. There are many vehicles that may look good, but their components are starting to wear out. And we know that even with your personal vehicle, sometimes it costs more to maintain that than it would be just to replace. So, you have to do that cost comparison in the long run. And then maybe purchase some smaller vehicles to better suit the population, the needs, and the routes that you're creating or using. And then minimize the repair cost with newer buses because it's covered under warranty. And then, you know, if you want to talk about electric buses, we can do that as well.
081Um, >> well, what if we talked about that with a 20 person bus? >> You dropped the number 500,000 or 66, >> right? >> Your bus. >> What about a 20? >> Um, we're probably going to look around 300,000, >> 250,000. >> Well, that's a significant difference. >> Yeah, it is. >> It's still a high cost. >> Yeah. >> Well, that's a significant difference, >> correct? And that would be optimized to whatever runs would make more sense for that. >> So we wouldn't be sending electric bus out to Pauling for basketball. >> Right. Right. >> Unless Paul >> Yeah. >> They gota walk back. That's more than agreements districts >> to say, you know, by the mandate we have an electric vehicle. Can we charge it at your location while the game is on so
082we can get our students back home? >> Right. >> And you'll be having these reciprocal agreements uh with neighboring districts or districts you're participating with in athletic competitions for that very purpose. >> We'll be playing everybody who doesn't have central >> Hudson is going to have to to pay the bill sadly. But um again, there's a lot going on with this. It's all up in the air between what the feds are just coming out with and and what the state's doing. So, just sit tight. And >> but I do I do want to speak out. There are quite a few people in the community that regardless of what the state whether the state is going to allow us to wait or not, the the board needs to and the district needs to be aware that
083there is, you know, we've heard it. there has been a lot of strong voices in the community that want us to move forward. So just, you know, just waiting isn't necessarily the right I mean there's a there is a really there's a lot going on here. Yeah, >> absolutely. Um and you also have to be aware that they're not as inexpensive to operate as they first indicated. >> Yeah. in the state that say >> well and they're not avail I mean there's a lot of things going on people are like the weights are years in advance there's a >> yeah there's the other piece that we learned recently and that was appreciate seeing this as a recommendation um Dave and I were talking today you need to have two mechanics on the bus in case
084there I mean fixing if there's issues and things and right now we do not have two mechanics right so we were able to >> of course you have to have a diesel mechanic and wait you have to >> it's No, you have to have two mechanics working on the electric bus because god forbid the one mechanic gets shocked, the other mechanic has to be able to pull them out of underneath the vehicle or wherever they are. Yeah. Because now they're talking about using the type of gloves that Central Hudson uses when they're working on the power lines and whatnot. So there there is so much as Paul had mentioned earlier, so much that you have to look at and that we're going to be go down that rabbit hole once we get an electric vehicle.
085We got to make sure that all our ducks are in a row before we just, you know, have it on site >> in case one >> and if the community is in support of that then that's great. Um, but realize that the appreciation is different and the reimbursement is different. Right now, you get reimbursed five years for your diesel buses. It' be eight years for them. Um, and in some parts of the state, buses don't last eight years with the salt and the winter weather. Uh, so and you're actually paying for a bus that you have to replace already without getting it fully paid off. And you know, just because the bus is a certain age doesn't always mean that you still have time with it. We're constantly having our buses checked by VO and
086for any small insignificant reason, they tell us this has to be off the road until you fix that light or whatever it might be. So they're they're really very picky at looking at the buses to make sure that the buses are safe to ground. So, just because it's a it's a newer bus, you know, it doesn't mean like if the the body's rotten or the frame is rotting, they'll take you right off the road. >> Yes, indeed. So, definitely something to look at and consider and to really analyze, you know, based upon some other discussions that we've already alluded to. So, some of recommendations immediately, uh, start taking attendance to track how many students are actually riding your buses. And then to your point, yeah, encourage them to put their students on the bus, um,
087collect the data, uh, for additional riders in their morning or afternoon. So you sort of can gauge that and see a pattern. Um, I know the two weeks that we collected data was probably when there was no sports in in play, sort of that in between winter and or fall and winter. So >> intentionally so we would get a higher count of students that are actually riding the the bus in or the bus home and then cross trainin some employees and then create the walking distance policy with voter approval in May of 26 and uh go through with the safety pilot to see if this is a viable option going forward. And then long range look at the opt in opt out. Uh hire a driver mechanic position. Uh look at the managerial position. Uh
088update the fleet replacement plan. And then make some site changes based upon the pilot and then around buses using community stops build buses closer to. So we've already asked questions but if you have any other ones or thoughts try to entertain them. There I am. And if you would like a card, I'll I'll leave some cards. >> Thank you so much. >> Questions, please feel free. >> Thanks very much. >> Thank you. Perfect. Um okay. So moving into uh the first opportunity for communication for the public. So um the Hane Board of Education desires and values input from the entire school community. This first public comment session is reserved for comments on special presentations like the one that we just had or active agenda items. Anybody who wishes to address the board, we'd ask you
089to sign in and state your name for the record. Uh to keep your remarks to three minutes or less. Um discussion of district personnel. We ask you to avoid that. Um, and even though the board does not engage in dialogue during the comment sessions, we want people to know that we're listening and um, one of the reasons we ask for your name um, is so that the superintendent follow up. So again, this comment session is for active agenda items of the special presentation. Does anybody have anything else they'd like to say about the last president of the transportation? Okay. All right. So now the next thing we have on our agenda are information reports. Those are our fundamental reports for divorce to look at that we'll approve at our next um meeting. Next is consent
090agenda minutes. May I have a motion please? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I. Any opposed? Next is the consent agenda financial. May we have a motion please? >> Move. Second. >> All those in favor? >> I. Any opposed? Next is consent agenda personnel. May we have a motion, please? >> Moved. >> And I think there you wanted to make >> if I can. So bittersweet and exciting. We do have four staff members who the board just voted on their retirement. >> Um and so >> Oh yeah. >> Oh, are these news for you? >> No. All >> right. So I'm gonna start and you can add Max. Okay. So, so I'll just start by saying, you know, especially for our younger people in the audience, it's a huge deal
091when a teacher decides they're retiring, right? And some of you probably have had these teachers during your time here. So, I'm new to how I've really enjoyed getting to know everyone and especially the four people that I'm going to briefly talk about. So, Kathy Batterdsby, um, let me get my eyeglasses on. 35 years in Haldane. She was one of the first teachers I met when I was first hired. I was doing my walkabout. Um she was the teacher of our Oh, we're good. I love it. I'm going to cry with you. She was um a teacher to our elementary principal who's now her principal, but she was one of the first teachers I met and told me all about Helane and the great hiking and just the connections that she's had with kids and I
092can see from how you're all reacting she was maybe one of your one of your teachers that you had. So just wishing her lots of years of success in her next chapter, right? It's not that we retire and we don't have a whole life. There's many more things that people like to do when they retire. Um, Marca Freewald has been a teaching assistant for 29 years. And I did not get a sense of how many grades, but Julia probably can help me. She's probably been all over the district in her capacity. Um, and when she came in to tell me she was retiring, she apologized. And I'm like, oh my goodness, don't apologize to me. I'm so excited for you. Um, Allison Martin, 30 plus years. I don't know exactly how many, 32, three in
093special education. So thinking about the number of lives that just students that she has touched and Lee Pausniac 24 years in science, right? So again just we we will celebrate these teachers and staff members throughout the rest of the school year. Alison Martin is retiring the end of this month. So hopefully she can be invited back to any celebration that we have. But I wanted to take a moment just to thank them for just their many many years of dedication to our students, to our faculty, to our families, and wishing them excitement and peace and all the great things in their next chapter >> and a and a very good remainder of the school year. >> And Max, you good? >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Sorry, I should have told you ahead of time. I
094didn't I'm sorry for everyone in the audience. I didn't know that. >> Um Oh, so now we need to vote. All those in favor? I >> I Any opposed? >> All right. Um, unfinished business, the approval of the budget calendar. I think y'all looked at this in December. I think we're all okay with it. So, may we have the recommended action, please? Be it resolved that upon the recommendation of the Superintendent of Schools, the Board of Education hereby approves the Hing Central School District 2026 2027 budget calendar as presented. Uh, may we have a motion, please? >> So, moved. Second. >> And so, I already said we're all good with this. All the all those in favor. >> I Any opposed? >> All right. And the recommended action for the policy adoptions. Um, may we
095have that, please? Be it resolved that upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools, the board of education hereby adopts the revisions to policies 3271 and 7450 as attached. May we have a motion, please? >> Moved. Second. >> Um, I think you all must have talked about these. I missed the December meeting. I just really appreciate the policy committee continuing uh to work on these, you know, policies just to make sure we have our um our all our fundraising ducks in a row. So, I didn't say that last time. So, thanks for anything else. >> All those in favor? >> I I Any opposed? >> And the policy review for the next set of policies? May we have the recommended action, please? It resolved that upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools, the board
096of education hereby adopts the revisions to policy 5413, and 7522 and new policy 5851 as attached. >> May we have a motion, please? >> So moved. Second. So the subject says second readings and adoptions, but instead really this is a first reading with a plan to go ahead and adopt because these are minor >> yes >> minor editorial changes recommended by one. I just want to make sure I understood. >> No, you know what? I apologize. >> We did the first readings on these. >> We Yes, we did. So these are second readings in >> these are these are second. Okay. All right. Okay. I just want to make >> We did these in December. >> Okay. All right. I apologize for that. Um um I do I did I have the motion? I can't.
097>> We did. We just need I moved it. >> You did. Okay. Thanks. I appreciate that. >> Was on it. >> All those in favor? >> I. Any opposed? >> So, new business. The CSD CPSC recommended action. Uh recommendations. May we have the recommended action, please? Be it resolved that upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools, the board of education hereby approves the recommendations of the committees on special education and preschool special education as presented. May we have a motion, please? >> Move. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I. Any opposed? And the recommended action for the external audit report corrective action plan for exterior classroom activity. Be it resolved that upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools, the board of education hereby approves the corrective action plan for the external
098audit report the extra classroom activity accounts for the 2024 2025 school year. May we have a motion, please? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Um and so this you worked on I guess with Katherine >> did we we haven't seen this before, right? It's been such a long time since December and I wasn't here. But this all looked good. This all looked good to me. >> The extra the classroom audit extra classroom audit was, you know, was substantially good. There's just a couple minor things that they still want us to continue to work on our with our class advisors with. >> Yeah. So, this is just required by New York State. >> Yeah. >> And this is the one that's that recurring theme, right? It's always >> Yeah. Correct. Mhm. >> DNA signature is missing
099or the documentation is is missing because we're dealing with >> less well the club than classes and things like that. Yes. No. And I I we appreciate your >> continued effort because it's a it's a changing cast of characters and >> every year. Yeah. >> And when the class graduates and there's money left over, how does it get decided what that money gets used for? Normally the class is able to make a decision with what they want to do with their leftover senior trip. >> Yeah, things like that. >> They're spending it all. That's good. Okay. Thanks. >> Um, all those in favor? >> I. Any opposed? Um and okay, so now we're actually at the discussion for our visits >> for um so um before each of the buildings does their detail report. Am
100I remembering the name? >> Yeah, right. Well, a group a couple of us will go in and visit the schools. Do we have I don't have the Megan's pulling them up now. >> Yeah. So we have um the elementary visit presentation is February 24th. >> So we would want to schedule well in advance of that. Um middle school presentation is March 17th which is also when Dr. Duffy will do her jig and uh St. Patrick April >> that's part of the >> high school the high school presentation in conjunction with athletics is April 21st. >> So yeah I was just hoping we could identify who wants to do things and then I'll work on >> I'd like to do the elementary school this year. >> Yeah. >> I didn't get to do that last year.
101Okay. >> Great. >> You can't come. All right. >> Yeah. Um, I would like to do middle school again. >> Okay. >> Can I write a note to your principal for you? >> Play hookie. >> Someone could have you on their phone walking around. >> I'll take your class for the day. How's that? >> Oh, I don't want to do that. >> It's complex. >> I can do high school, too. >> You want to do high school, too? Okay. >> Maggie, what do you >> What did you do last year? >> Last year or did we do elementary last year? I did elementary last year. I did elementary. I did a couple last year. I did elementary and middle last year. >> Middle with me last year. >> Oh, it doesn't matter. I'll do You
102can do both. >> I'll do both. >> I'll do enthusiast. >> We'll do high school. >> So, we do we just have one person for high school? >> Uh, right now for high school, we have Maggie and Michelle. >> Okay. And we have for middle and for middle school. >> Right now we just have you. >> Oh, I can do middle school as well. >> Okay, great. Okay, I will reach out. I will talk with the principles and we will coordinate sometimes. >> I'm going to pretend to be Ezra. So, let's take a >> So, one of the things though we need to incorporate with this because really the the purpose of these are the bu these busy building visitations. They've been historically before the a few years ago focused more on facility. Anyway, we
103need to figure out how to integrate facilities into these >> as part of it. Okay. This year. Yeah. Yeah. >> Okay. Okay. >> Okay. So, oh, and now we want the la last discussion before we move into our second communication from the public is the retreat dates. So, I think the plan is we, as usual, we've had our summer retreat and then we're going to have our midyear, you know, evening or half day retreat. Um, I think the plan is for Dr. Duffy, Maggie, and I start to talk about some topics and then to share them. But we wanted to go ahead and get a date on the calendar. >> So, I have I have a couple of dates that I can just share and then I'll send an email out tomorrow. have your phones
104out or you want to jot these down. Um I started just with night times and we can also I believe in the past you've done a Saturday morning so I'm open if we can't coordinate at night time. Um, the couple I thought about really starting not until February was February 2nd, um, February 4th, February 9th, 11th, 12th, or 25th. >> Okay. >> So, Megan, you'll send an email and then I think and then the easiest thing will then people can just indicate what they absolutely can't >> and for we can figure out another time. >> Sounds good. Okay. So, now we're at I know this is why a lot of you all are here. We're now at the second communication from the public. So, this is actually an open communication uh session where folks are
105invited to come and talk about anything. Why don't we instead of waiting for people to write their names down, why don't you just come if you have something that you want to say, say your name um and your comment. What did you Oh, I thought there's >> my finger just was around. >> And then you can put write down your name and address afterwards. So, we're not waiting for there's not a rush. And then just as a reminder, it is the board's policy and it's a common policy among school boards because these are really business meetings for the board that we don't engage in dialogue, but we are really listening and and so um it feels a little awkward, but that's how it goes. Uh we and uh yes uh people should make their comments.
106We're gonna ask you to come up here. >> Oh, wow. >> Yes. Yes. >> Um, hi, my name's Alex Dubro. Um, I uh just wanted to encourage the board as you enter budget season and budget planning to really consider um the tennis team and the tennis courts. Um, you know, it's a growing team. We had 14 girls this year, 10 of which I believe are in the sophomore class and have been together since they started. and it's it they've done incredibly well this past season and they're all passionate, but unfortunately um the courts are unsafe to play on at this point and it would be a real shame for this team to be separated and have to go out to um I know with other sports if we haven't been able to provide them at
107how they've had to go join another school's um uh program and they're just a great team and they work really hard and so I just wanted to just say that and and I know that um money only goes so far, but please keep the girls in mind when you're making your decisions this year. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Hi everybody. >> Hi. >> Uh my name is Jeff Silverstein. I'm here for the same reason as a lot of people in the room today. Um, and I I want to approach this um from the fact of I want to learn how to work and collaborate with this board and what's the best language and how it is how is it best for us to present our ideas that will help shape the budget as
108we move forward. Um, and it's beyond the tennis team. Tennis is a growing sport nationally. there's a lot of positive uh national support about the health and wellness of tennis as a support for the community and I think it's a really important part for us to think about it not just from the schools perspective but from the actual community's perspective as well what a an improved facility can do for the growth of the sport in the community collectively. >> Thank you very much. Thanks very much for coming. >> I'm in my sweats. I apologize. Um, I'm Katie McInness. I'm also a tennis mom and a local business owner. And um, just want to um add on that this is a real opportunity for the tennis um team as it's a growing team. It's a young
109team. It's a successful team. There's middle schoolers, a lot of interest from coming up. And um, the parents, we have a captive parent support at the moment. The girls are super participatory. Simon Dudar is beyond beyond. So we have the community um as well as um we are about to if I can mention is that okay to do the newly founded Philipstown Tennis Association and we also have been in discussion with the USA. So just to say there's an opportunity for many different pockets that we can draw from and having the school district also in a particip participating in some way would be huge. Um you know the community uses these sports. It's not just the school. So we I just wanted to highlight that this is a real moment um for tennis in particular
110that I think we could really monopolize on and and really reap the benefits because we have some eyeballs looking at us. So >> thank you very much. Okay. Should we take the students presence as as also supporting this or does one of y'all want to get up and say something? >> Well, thank you all for >> Thanks very much for coming. >> Thank you. >> Good morning. >> Okay. So, I am Christine Aalonio, not a tennis mom, but who knows, maybe in the future. My thing, which I didn't realize this wasn't talkback, but I am trying to figure out how schedules are planned and how the lunches are planned, and I feel that it needs to change. Um, I can understand. I don't think it's mandated that middle school or any of them have recess.
111And I don't understand why sixth, seventh, and eighth graders are all eating at the same time in this tiny little cafeteria. And they get 30 minutes of recess time and then they go down and have to rush 180 of them to buy their lunch and get in line. And my son came home today and told me he had barely three minutes left to eat. So, it's just it's not I know that not all 180 of those kids buy lunch, but with free lunch being implemented this year, a lot more are buying lunch. And it's just >> I guess I'm just I don't know how difficult it is for all of that scheduling. >> But if recess isn't something that is mandatory by the I don't think at middle school or high school level it's really
112needed. And I think an hour's time would be better. Maybe not an hour, but you have that time for them to be able to have that lunch because they can't even they can't buy snacks. They're all upset about that. They can't do this, you know, because the line's too long. It takes too much time. So, >> yeah, >> I don't know how that fits into all this, but >> No, it's good. Thank you for coming. And just make sure you put your name down because I know someone will want to follow up with you. >> Yeah. >> Um, scheduling in space are perennial issues at HA. have to say about the snack. >> Yeah. Okay. Thanks every very much everybody who came. >> Really appreciate it. It's great. It's a special board meeting to have
113so many people. >> And if y'all don't have if y'all don't have something to say now, there's you could write a letter to the board. You could come to another meeting. You could set up a time to talk with Dr. Duffy. It sounds like you're being >> I think we might hit someone up here. >> All right. >> Speak on behalf of the team. >> All right. >> Peggy was trying to give you an out. >> But it works. >> Your parents said no. >> Um I'm Ellie bro. >> And I'm Ella Seismore and we're both the captains of the tennis team. >> Great. >> And we just wanted to say we have a really strong community for tennis this year. We actually made it to sectionals. >> Yeah. Which was a lot of fun.
114And because our team is growing in size and also because it's mainly sophomores, um we think we'll have more participants by next year. So it would be amazing if we get funding for new courts and we all work really well together. Like just speaking, we still all keep in contact and we're still all um friendly in school, which is amazing. So it would be a shame if you know, I don't know, fell apart. And I think I want to emphasize like >> like the community our team has cuz we've all like worked so hard. We fundraised a lot. We've put in all this work and and we all really care and like I feel like we're a really good role model as a team. We never have conflicts. If there's a problem, we always try
115to talk talk it out in like in a respectful and polite manner. who we work really well and we all love and it would be such a shame to like have such a team that's a role model just not be able to do what they do and like do what they love because lack of like resources. Thanks so much for taking time to come. Um, >> is that everybody? Thanks again to everybody for coming. Um, board reflections. Well, I guess I could say this is um you know, as somebody who played tennis in high school um and a little bit beyond um we had >> D1, weren't you? D1 tennis player. >> We're only we we had six courts and I I just I like to to it's very interesting when how they we started
116the campus master plan that the person in charge of the architecture firms Tom remember his last name. Uh Ruck Hugh is a tennis dad as well and he recommended from the start six courts. So that was for our sports. So and he's that was a sticking point. Um of course it's gone out and we've gotten some community feedback tried to get as much as we could as we sort of narrowed down the different parts of the of the campus master plan but you know it's definitely food for thought. I don't know how the tennis team does it two parts. I just >> I don't it's it's unable anyway. Um, you know, it's it's lovely to hear from people and to hear, you know, hear from folks who are passionate about what they do just it
117makes it sort of worth it. Um, you know, in sports as well as ongoing session, I'm sure. >> Yeah. But well, oh, I think so. You know, and it's good to hear this now as we're going into this. I do, you know, the tennis was always part of the campus master plan. The plan was for it when we if PE for people who don't know it was a huge plan with different components and the board and I very very good reason chose to focus initially on what we thought were the most the board and the district to the focus on the most really critical needed things having to do with space and the cafeteria limitations and things like that. But we always knew that there were there were other needs and it's certainly the district's
118desire to really support um sports and extracurricular activities and tennis was always was going to be down the line, but it's not like this is coming out of the blue, right? like it's it's the the the the urgency of it and the importance of it with the growth of the girls tennis team and the success they have has certainly maybe brought it a little bit up but it's certainly you know thinking about it's great we have this team right now but really thinking about the board one of the things the board really think about is you know tennis as part of the district's shorter and longer term plan because these are big investments but it it's really very gratifying to hear that's something that the district's been able to do even though in a less
119than ideal way has been meaningful to a lot of people >> and I think we have four right slated if you look at the current >> I would add uh just couple things um for board reflections uh we we do have some league uh tennis players here so there are you know the team did well and individuals did very well which is impressive um and then uh I I think uh we had I believe we had a winter concert right prior to >> we did. It was great. >> It's fantastic. >> Had some great winter concerts. So, you know, again, the point being that uh how is a place that continues to produce exceptional talent. Um and it it it is our role as a board to support that talent as much as we can.
120>> Absolutely. Um and I mean in terms of like contributing to the budget process like which you know it's coming and you know to the public you know coming to meetings and speaking about what's important communicating with the board members with the superintendent about things that are um valuable but also just um uh the budget process is a a lengthy one. It's a monthsl long one and um uh there's lots of information available as we get started on the website where without coming to a meeting you can actually follow along with the pres you know the presentations um uh like the the printed you know presentations are available um but uh I'll actually um it seems like there is interest in you know for people to learn more about how the district makes decisions about
121budgets and so um I would encourage people who want to know to reach out to a board member to reach out to the superintendent and we'd be instead of sort of giving a a tutorial on it here be happy to have conversations with people because it's certainly the the where we want to I think it's a great place to get involved with with what the board is doing and what the district's doing. So, um be on the lookout for for for people who are interested. You know, we'd love to we'd love to reach out and talk to you about it. >> Max had a comment. Oh, I was just going to say that. Yes. >> Like I grew up in a tennis family. Like I've been playing on those courts for like my whole life
122and I like I get cuz if you think about it like you have like the Highlands Country Club courts which are in Garrison, but there's not a whole lot of other places you can play tennis near here unless you want to >> go drive to like a facility which is far away. So I feel like it is very important to keep those courts in good >> shape. Well, and I and the district really provides in addition to I mean our primary responsibility is educating students, but I think all of us here believe that another really important role of school district is to bring the community together, right? >> All right. Um >> for the students in the room, invite your friends to come to more board meetings. a lot of different things we can talk.
123>> Bring snacks. Let me know. >> All right. Um All right. So, the board is actually going to convene into executive session, which has been such a long time for the purposes of >> Negotiations. Okay. That's right. Yes. Um to discuss the negotiations. Um and so we're not going to adjourn the meeting, but we're gonna I'm going to make a motion to adjourn into executive session. May I have a second, please? Second. All those in favor?