001Oh, that's better at speak. Um, welcome to everyone. Uh, I'm calling into to order the Tuesday, June 3rd, 2025 heling board of education business meeting. Um, please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge 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 for all. Okay. President Clemens here. Vice President Valentine here. Trusty Copper here. Trustee Clemenson here. Um, so I don't believe we have any modifications to the agenda. So may we have the recommended action to approve the agenda, please? It resolved that upon the recommendation of the interim superintendent of schools. The board of education hereby approves the agenda as written. May we have a motion, please? So moved. Second. All those in favor? I any
002opposed? So, our next meeting, the board's next meeting will be a workshop meeting on June 17, 2025. We're going to be starting a little bit earlier at 6:15 because after we call the meeting into order, we'll then go into a recess to celebrate all everyone who's getting tenure. It's a sort of a annual tradition that we have for the last meeting of the year. Um and in addition, the workshop topic for that evening um will be the steam program planning update. So that's very exciting in light of our upcoming capital project. Um we have uh some great presentations tonight and so I'm going to be really brief with my comments just to say that there are many great things happening in the district. June is a very busy time as school comes to a close
003and so an enormous thank you to all of the staff, faculty and administrators who are putting in extra work to make sure everything goes smoothly and students are having just lots and lots of great end ofear activities. So that's it for me. Okay, just a few brief uh updates. I did in my Friday update mention that transitioning with our incoming superintendent, Dr. Duffy is going very well. Uh to date, I've had five half-day transition meetings. Uh her district has been very generous in allowing her to be here on site. We've done some work remotely. Just this afternoon, we met with our school attorney. So, I introduced her and we talked about different topics that that we were, you know, dealing with uh in transition. Uh additionally, next week, she will be here. We are uh
004Dr. Kishian is is transitioning our incoming special education director, Dr. Dr. Duffy plans to join us as well. I also believe she will be attending graduation and she's trying to uh also join us for a few other events. There's a lot of enthusiasm and we've covered a broad range of topics. I mean all the important things, capital project, our u new uh prek program which is something very exciting, future goals like transitioning to a 5 through8 middle school. We've really covered a lot of ground and uh that's been very positive. Might I add? Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, just to add to that, um, Dr. Duffy has been so responsive and responsible at the same time, I know she's managing, you know, a very demanding job in our current district to make sure that she hits
005the ground running. So, even though July 1 is her first day, that's going to be the the day that the board has this reorganization meeting. And then we plan to she's she's working with me um uh to plan the board's retreat for the summer. So, it is really very much appreciated all the work that she's doing. And just a few student recognitions. As Peggy said, this is a time of year where there are a lot of celebrations, a lot of recognitions, and I I've been so impressed. Uh we we've actually there's so many that we had to split up a bit, but uh Peggy uh Tom Tom Cunningham and I attended the uh Carol F. Johnson Scholastic Achievement Dinner, which has been going on for 57 years. Very exciting. It brings together all of the
006validictorian and saludiatoran graduates from around the region. I want to say there's about 85 districts represented. So, board presidents, superintendent, administration, as well as students. So, our star students, I just want to give a shout out. Valadictorian Mark Furbo as well as saludiatoran Scotia Hartford were there. And what a pleasure just to learn about their their college plans, their career and life plans. and just two super impressive kids and and I look forward to hearing more from them at at graduation. I I'm sure they're planning very exciting speeches. Then last week I did attend the senior dinner at the Factoriia at Charles Point. It was my first time there. Um the senior uh our high school senior of the year is Dominica Awan. And uh it was just a great relaxed get together of all
007of our seniors. Families joined us recognizing students and and signing yearbooks and and it's just a wonderful tradition and it was it was something very nice and I think unique to to our district. I've never seen that before. And lastly, um, Senator Rob Rson was here on May 30th and he presented awards, youth leadership awards to five students and I just again want to give them a shout out. Juniors Alexander Delposo, Louisa Shimming and Owen Sullivan Hope and also seniors Robert Fryark and Scotia Hartford. They all were personally presented with an award from the senator uh for their leadership in the community, in the school, and for outstanding scholarship. So that that was a great honor and he spent about 30 minutes talking to them about leadership and giving back to their community. So congratulations
008to all of those students and maybe that's a perfect leadin to another student recognition that we have this evening. Dr. Clemens, would you like to uh introduce Oh, sure. um so yeah so who we have here tonight is um Castra Daisley and his uh family along with Dr. Greg Brown, assistant superintendent of PNW Boseies, Joss Thompson, uh the Boseies communication specialist, Mike Pulvin, Fox from the the Fox Meadow High School supervisor, and Martin Karns, uh a teacher, although is everyone I I think that's everybody here. Great. Yes. So, if you all would please come up and make this presentation, we'd really appreciate it. These are always you're the star of the evening, my friend. So, I've got the privilege of starting and I just I wrote a couple notes here. I just wanted to say
009good evening. Would you mind standing up? Oh, yeah. Yes. That way the camera gets official podium even for my good side. Um, but I just wanted to say good evening to to the Hing board, uh, Superintendent Hobano, um, and the community members that are here. Uh I am I'm Greg Brown. I'm the assistant superintendent at PNW Boseies and it's really my privilege tonight um to talk a little bit about one of our students Casper who's here with his family who we're so proud of. Um, as you may know, for more than 40 years, the mission of PW Boseies has been service and innovation through partnership. And we can't do any of that without all of you and without partnering with you and the families and the communities that we serve. So, I just wanted to
010say we value the partnership. We thank you so much for helping us be a part of your students experiences. Um, and it's just so valuable. So, with that being said, it's uh my privilege. I'm going to introduce we had a little bit of a we did rock paper scissors at the beginning, right? And and so I'm gonna introduce Mr. Karns who's Casper's uh English teacher to say a few words about this young man. And and again, thank you from PW. Thank you. Casper Daisley has been an exemplary student throughout his ninth grade year and has made a lasting impact on our campus through his academic excellence, collaborative spirit, and natural leadership. According to his teacher, Martin, Asper approaches his studies with exceptional diligence and intellectual curiosity. He consistently demonstrates a strong work ethic and a
011genuine passion for learning that sets a high standard for his peers. His thoughtful engagement in class discussions and his commitment to mastering complex material reflect his deep dedication to academic success. Equally impressive is Casper's collaborative nature. He thrives in group settings, contributing meaningfully while encouraging others to share their perspectives. His ability to listen actively and support the learning of those around him enhances the educational experience for his entire cohort. Beyond the classroom, Caster is passionate about the outdoors, has a part-time job working on a farm, and has great aspirations for the future. Whether through informal mentorship, group projects, or student government, he consistently models integrity, inclusivity, and initiative. Casper's presence enriches our school community and his influence is felt well beyond his academic contributions. For these reasons and many more, Casper Daisley deserves the title
012of student of distinction. He represents the very best of what we hope to nurture in our students, intellect, compassion, and a commitment to collective success. Wow. has a certificate student of distinction uh which is awarded to Casper in recognition for your outstanding leadership skills, academic progress, community spirit and then we have a medal which is for excellence and on the back we got student distinction. So congratulations honored work. All right. So, we took a quick break to have some photographs to document that very special presentation. Beth Casper. Um, now, uh, another special presentation which is from Highland Electric Fleet. Do you want to do Yes. introduction? Sure. Sure. We um have been working with Highland Electric for um most the most of the school year. Um and we've made some really great progress on our
013uh initiative to to hopefully at some point in the future transition to electric buses. So Pat uh Wearham and and Emily Parish have been on site. met remotely and they're going to give the board a brief uh overview of the work that has been done thus far and potentially uh some um how they can support us in the future if if some of our funding comes through. So please welcome Wait, we don't want to blow. Awesome. Thank you so much for having us this evening. Um we're really excited to be here. Um I'm Emily Parish. I'm a senior manager on the fleet solutions team at Highland and I'm here with Pat Worm. um he's an associate online team. Um we will go through a brief presentation, try to keep it brief. There's a lot of
014information and you know we typically get a lot of questions so we're happy to dive in and and uh answer. Um so I think so we'll start off with a little bit of background about Highland and what we do as a partner. Um we'll dive into some of the potential economics of what what a project could look like um looking into the future um as the district considers transitioning to an electric fleet. Um so the first few slides are really about Highland, what it what we do um why we do it. So um Highland was really created to solve a lot of the complexities of going electric and make it simpler and more affordable for a district to transition. And so this is kind of a graphic um of an overview of what we do.
015So on the left side of the screen you can see that you know there are districts are really good at operating their fleets, getting their their uh students to school. Um they've been doing it for a long time when you're looking at transitioning to electric. There's a lot of other things that you have to consider, right? How do you install charging infrastructure? How do you know what chargers to install? How do you ensure your vehicles are being charged every day? How do you pay for for these things? So, Highland um really assists, right, with kind of consulting, finding um grants and funding sources and then ultimately as an implementation partner and a a long-term partner to ensure that these projects are successful. Um we work all over the country. We're headquartered in uh Beverly, Massachusetts
016and have a big focus in the northeast. Um the this is a map of all of our projects. Um we have more than um you know 40 50 school district and municipal partners at this point. Um a big part of what we do is support districts to apply for grants at you know no commitment to working with us but we know grant funding um and finding funding sources is a huge component of making this affordable. Um so that you know that thus far that's what we've partnered with you all to apply for some grant funding and we'll we'll um go through what that what that could look like and right just scoping um understanding what what is required working with the stakeholders to figure out what's required. Um so in terms of specifically for for
017the district here and other districts in New York State, there are a few different funding buckets. Um when it comes to supporting transitioning to an electric fleet, you have the federal level through the EPA clean school bus program. You have the state level. The state um is really invested in, you know, districts transitioning as as there is a mandate to to transition. Um and a lot of the electric utilities in the state also have funding programs. Um so we've kind of looked at the available sources through all these programs. Um we have applied for some and we'll show you how how that really impacts um what this project could cost. It really um helps to pay a lot of these funding sources help to pay down the high capital cost of going electric. Um right
018electric school bus is almost three times the cost of a diesel bus. And then you also have infrastructure you have to install. Um, specifically on the EPA program, um, we worked with Hallane to apply to the they call we call it the fourth round of funding. There's been five rounds. Um, and you know, we are very optimistic that that the funding will be awarded. Um, but we are currently waiting to to see when that will be awarded. Um we're hoping it's over the next couple months and you know there's obviously been a lot of change which with the federal administration but there's been no indication that they're nixing this program or not no longer planning to fund it. Um we have a big market development team that that works at Highland and we're you know
019we have we're part of a big coalition and we're doing a lot of work um in Washington to ensure these these funding sources are still available as well as there are tax credits um that we've incorporated into our pricing as well on the vehicle and on the infrastructure side. So we're focused on making sure this funding is is still around. Um so hopefully we get some news about that um within the next couple weeks. There's also a big program through New York State. Um, it's a rolling program. There's a ton of funding available. So, you know, if if we move forward with this, we'll work with you all to apply for that program through the the bus dealership. And then there's utility funding as well. So, your utility provider, Central Hudson, um, has a program
020that covers a certain percentage of the cost of the infrastructure. Um, so a lot of this can get complicated, but we just try to kind of navigate it for our partners and ensure we're getting all the funding that that is available, right? Um, and we can talk about how all these funding streams look in in the overall economics of the project. Um, to dive into what what Highland actually does as an implementation partner, right, we talked about some consulting, some grant um grant work. We um typically partner with a school district or a municipality to provide a long-term services contract, usually eight 8 to 15 years. Um we'll talk about what the term length is in in New York State, but essentially we provide equipment and services um as I mentioned to make it easier
021and more affordable to go electric. So we provide the vehicles themselves built to your specifications. um we don't manufacture the vehicles, we partner with local dealerships. Um and then we also implement the the infrastructure itself. So these are capital costs associated with the electrification project. Um, again, we use grant funding to reduce those capital costs and then we'll finance the remaining capital costs over this 8 to 12year contract again to make it more affordable so that the district is not outlaying capital upfront in order to to implement this type of program. Um, the goal is to have the contract length um fit the life of the vehicle, right? So that you're just paying for it as you're using it over time. along with these um you know capital costs, we also provide services that support
022the operational side and it's kind of all packaged together. So on the services side, right, we're installing the charging stations and then we're maintaining them and making sure they operate for the entire um length of the contract. Um the software is a a super big part of making these types of projects successful. So we provide software. We teach you how to use it, how to manage it properly. Um we also typically provide the fueling itself. So we pay for your electricity and we we essentially fix your fueling cost for the life of the contract. Um the the kind of last bucket here and this is a lot of information and sometimes you know takes a little bit to digest but the last bucket here is support on the vehicle maintenance side. So essentially we provide
023a bumper-to-bumper warranty on the vehicles themselves again to make sure they work for the for those 8 to 12 years. It's it's a performance-based contract in that sense, right? We're our our job is to ensure you have electric vehicles that can take kids to and from school and we kind of deal with all the complexities of managing the different vendors that are involved in in this type of program. Um, so it's a little bit like a lease because you're you're kind of leasing buses, but you get a lot more than that. You get the infrastructure and you get you get a lot of services. Um, so in exchange for all of these things, a district typically pays us a fixed annual fee for the life of the contract. So you you know exactly what you're
024paying for, you know, the 8 to 12 year period, which, you know, a lot of folks find attractive because you're you're obviously fixing your cost and you know how to budget for for this program over the long term. Um, so that is essentially what we include. Our TESSA is a transportation equipment services agreement. That's what we call our our contract here. Um, let's see what else. So, um I think I have a slide or two before I pass it off to Pat to talk details about the economics, but um this I think is a good graphic of um our services contract compared to, you know, right, you could go electrify on your own. You could purchase vehicles, purchase equipment. You would have a higher upfront cost, right? Because you'd have to fund those things and
025then obviously you'd have to you'd have to maintain your vehicles. And you know, in year five of the contract, maybe some of or five of the the project, maybe one of your chargers totally go doesn't work anymore and you have to replace it, right? So, so in a in a world where you all uh electrify independently, you would have to, you know, deal with those types of costs and those types of almost like risks, operational risks. And with Highland, right, if a to use that same example, if a charger breaks, we have to replace it. So you're, you know, with Highland, you're you have, you know, exactly what you're paying. You're you have that yellow bar instead of kind of fluctuating costs. Um, so this is just a Oh, I I'm just checking. I have
026two more slides. Okay. So, super quick Highland project team. So, we just like this because it's a really good overview of this is just like seven of the of the like 50 people that manage our projects after they're implemented. Um, you have a customer support person. Um, you have techs that come on site. You have energy people that work for Highland that are managing your charging. You have grant specialists to make sure we're complying with all the grant programs. So, it's really a partnership where we're providing a high level of support um to ensure things are things are running smoothly. Um, and a quick note on our contract and where it stands in New York State. Um, we basically worked like three and a half years to get our contract approved by NYED um in
027New York State just because it's a little bit of a unique offering. um but it has been approved and it is currently classified as a capital lease even though there are services associated with it right and it is eligible for transportation aid which is which is great um and I think the other things on here is you know our just you know we might be getting ahead of ourselves but just to put all the information out out here so everyone's aware um our our understanding is our contract is subject to voter approval But it really just depends on, you know, how the how the district typically gets these types of things approved. Um, we're currently going through the process with another district. Um, our first in the state, right? We've worked kind of all over,
028but there's been New York's a a harder place to do business. Um, so we're working through just the logistics of getting our contract done. Um, and I think the last note here is the the current allowable lease is eight years, but there is a bill in the Senate that is being um proposed to extend that to 12 and essentially give the flexibility to school districts to choose what what they want, right? um because we feel we're confident the buses last more than eight years and we we you know are supporting being able to extend that lease so that you know it's just cheaper on an annual basis and you can um spread out those costs over a longer period of time because the buses will last longer. So that's kind of a little bit of
029background about where we fit in New York and I will pass it off to Pat before I talk too much. Thanks. So I guess just one last point on the previous slide, right? That extension term to 12 years. I think that's our understanding is that would go into effect uh next year. So it' be in 2026 just so um we're all on the same page uh there. So Carl, I know you alluded to it um earlier, but just uh for everyone's uh kind of context here, what's been going on behind the scenes, uh we were on site um back in April, so several weeks ago, u meeting with with Carl and Adam on the the Hallane side, and then we also had some folks uh from Central Hudson um on the engineering side of things
030uh come on site and and assess where we can specifically uh pull in power. Um, so here's just an overview of of our proposed uh site plan. And so as far as installations go, uh, pretty straightforward. Um, we can pull power directly from the three three-phase service line along Cedar Street. Um, just up by the garage at the top of the hill. Um, and then we'll be deploying uh, four chargers, so one charger per bus. Um, so very straightforward. Um the I think the last note would be um on the infrastructure side we would be upsizing the the panel the transformer uh etc. So if there was a need let's say in you know 2028 2029 somewhere down the line um if you were looking to deploy another few chargers um we would have enough
031capacity for kind of that phase 2 phase three etc. Um so just wanted to call that out. Um the the next point we want to dive into uh pricing and and just wanted uh to be uh you know very transparent in terms of like hey this is this is indicative um at this point we're still waiting um on final determination. Um a couple variables we mentioned the EPA funding right which is definitely a critical driver into project economics. Um the other couple points are um the actual uh bus final bus price um from the dealer from Leonard Bus. Um and then the final utility cost from Central Hudson um which is still in the kind of engineering study phase. Um we've included placeholders for each of those items. Um but just wanted to kind of
032set the table there in terms of you know what we're looking at. Um and then right made the distinction in terms of the you know EPA funding um you know whether and or not that's going to be awarded. Um so figured it would be best to present you know two different scenarios here. Um so Emily mentioned the kind of per bus per year price um that's listed at the top there. So, we can expect anywhere from, you know, the low30s to um, you know, high30s between 30 to $40,000 per bus uh, per year. Um, and so just multiply that by four would be the the annual uh, payment, the Tessa payment. Um, and then also some details in terms of the actual um, you know, mileage. This is just an assumption that that we use
033based off of how Dane's routes that you run, you know, each and every day. Um, and on an annual basis, it's about, you know, a little under 11,000 miles. Um, and what that is, right, we can always adjust up or down. Um, it just gives us, uh, the ability to kind of price in that electricity cost. And so if you said, "Hey, we need 12,000 13,000 miles." Um, we can certainly do that. It's just um would be reflected in the electricity rates. Emily, anything to add on the pricing side? Um, nope, I don't think so. And so the the the model of per bus per year can be a little abstract. And so, um, we like to also give a little bit more context in terms of what this may look like in comparison to,
034you know, what you're currently paying or, um, at least predict what that would look like if you were to go, um, with buying new diesel buses. Um, and so we're taking the angle of looking at the total cost of ownership over a long period of time. And so this is certainly a bit of a high level analysis here. Um but really the idea is that you know probably a little cliche but there's no real crystal ball um into the future. Um you know maybe you can predict what your you know diesel costs look like next year. Five years out it's pretty difficult. 10 years out even more difficult. Um and so the idea is that you know there's a scenario where everything goes perfectly according to plan. Um diesel uh prices remain pretty constant. um
035and and you know your maintenance issues don't really pop up. There's also the scenario where uh you know diesel prices spike let's say in in three or four years from now. Um and you know maintenance becomes more and more of a burden. Um, and so the reality is it's just really difficult to to assess where you're going to be in terms of that total cost of ownership. Um, 10 12 years of uh of owning a diesel bus. And you know, not really to put too much of a sales hat on, but that's kind of where the beauty of the Highland contracts is. And that's why a lot of customers um really appreciate this, you know, hedging of uh the future in terms of predictable budget cycles. And so it just gives you kind of this
036uh fixed, you know, dollar figure that you can point to in the annual budget cycle um year-over-year um and what you're going to pay. And we have I'll just mention we have like more numbers that feed into this analysis in the back of the deck. And we we also can do spreadsheets and really dive dive deep. Just wanted to give the high level for the presentation. Some of our customers really love to get super granular um in terms of like looking diving really deep into the wheats um on a spreadsheet. And so we're we're always happy to do that just really cater to to what folks are interested in. So can you go back for one second? I have a question. So you've got so first of all what does stand for? Internal combustion engine.
037So should we specify that? So you did so that's good. So you have two projections, right? A low diesel volatility, right? The idea that diesel costs increase but stay relatively same increase but stay relatively stable, right? And then a high diesel volatility which is there anything that's happened? I mean I guess their gas prices have really fluctuated quite a bit over the past five years that that what that bas I mean what do we have what do we have to suggest that that's a a realistic scenario that's one question and the other question is you say projected savings diesel versus highland but you're not you you don't specify which comparison are you making are you making highland compared to low diesel volatility or highland the highland land service contract compared to high diesel law. I
038don't know what what what the direction that savings is. Yeah. Um happy to address that. So um just to be clear, this total cost of ownership includes the cost of the the vehicle itself, right? In in electric world, it's infrastructure and then it's um both maintenance and and fuel costs. So if you look at just like an individual bus, right, there could you have diesel diesel volatility the fuel cost itself right um you could take a stance you think it's going to increase 2% right you think it's going to go down um also on the maintenance t side it's it's important to consider um some of the costs there right it if it could fluctuate in terms of like what you know you could get a diesel vehicle from a dealer that's like has some
039issues and the the maintenance over time is super expensive expensive, right? Um, so it kind of it just varies based on how that vehicle performs or, you know, maybe unforeseen things come up that that change the cost of of maintenance. There's parts shortages where you can't get parts and you have to outsource them separately. Um, so that's a that's another big component there. Um, and then right the savings obviously highland based on low volatility you're not you're not achieving savings. So that is just right it's supposed to be up to so in a depending on how you view the projections you could be achieving savings up to those figures. So right but it's but that so I just want to be clear that that comparison it's a comparison between highland and the high diesel volatility
040assumption not the low diesel volatility. Okay. That's what I wanted to know. Thanks. Yeah. And Pat showed some of the assumptions we had. Right. And really the point is that these are, you know, this is based on some data we've we've um obtained from a lot of districts in in the region that we've seen. But of course, it it really depends on what how you guys feel and how you view the future. So it's really just a basis for uh to understand like a framework to understand how to make the comparison, right? Yeah. I got a couple questions. Yeah. Um, so we purchase our energy the same way we purchase diesel, right? We get a municipal discount discount. Correct. And then, uh, Central Hudson. So, there's volatility in the diesel market, but there's not really
041volatility in the Central Hudson market. It goes up. Central Hudson always asks for more money. Yeah. Okay. Is that built into like I have an electric car and I save moneyish. Um cuz we pay a lot for electric here in this spot. It ain't cheap. Yeah. So I I noticed you don't have a lot of New York State, but you got to be running those numbers off of what the average cost of electric is. But you know, I noticed you had Texas. I mean, Texas got some pretty cheap oil, uh pretty cheap electric, but this area of New York because of Central Hudson actually has pretty expensive power. Yeah. Well, that's pretty aggravating and it's going in one direction. So then I So number one, your projection is based off of Central Hudson's current numbers.
042Okay. So that's good. That's helpful. Yeah. Um current number though they just put in they just won another 5%. So I mean you know of course they do. So then um that right there. So the way I look at it, without driving the bus at all, so if if we didn't move the bus, we pay a service fee of like we'd pay $160,000, $170,000 to not even drive the bus. Is that roughly what that is saying? Yeah. I'm I'm not sure. So think about the cost. So, we buy a bus, right? It's $200,000 we just put in for a bus for a diesel bus, right? Yeah. 160. Yeah. But and then um and you know, we've got our fuel cost, but and and we service our buses out. Okay. And then we you know, I
043mean, then we get the discount on the fuel, okay, because we don't pay the taxes, right? Um, and so you know the money savings whether or not we hit that or not. It so this is a pretty significant outlay to not drive a bus at all and then to ideally get it back. But then you said it wasable. It is aable. So what's that rate? Catherine would have to be a 30% ratable. I don't know. I don't want Yeah. You don't want We don't have But you have that Adidable rate and that is included in that. No, we we do not know your rate. So, you would you would add that to this cost. Yeah. Well, well, we would Well, we'd subtract it. Okay. So, we would lower that cost. But you're right now you
044have a bus voucher rate of $221,000 per bus. Yeah. If we get because it looks like the state is going to pull up what the EPA is letting go. Not not not all of it, but some of it. Yeah. Yeah. But it's right. Yeah. But you just told them so we just paid out or we you know it's 160,000 per bus possibly with tariffs it's up to 200,000. Then your bus is $600,000. You said one to three. How much is a bus? A a bus $400,000. Okay. Yeah. So, so that's where the grants come in, right? We're really we're really lowering the capital costs of the bus itself. And that's and that's a bus that lasts for And that's a bus that lasts for 12 years. Yes. Inclusive of the battery. Inclusive of the battery.
045We're guaranteeing that. And our buses average how many years? 10 to 12 years. Because of salt. Yeah. Because not because of the salt. The rust. Yeah. So in right instead of paying $160,000 to buy a new diesel bus. Yeah. You're paying us right like 30 $35,000 in year one. So So you have savings in year one, right? And then the comparison after year one is um right. We're financing the cost of the vehicle and then it's your fueling and your maintenance costs after that. Yeah. The only other question I would Oh, did you have a question, Michelle, before I jumped in? Um, I guess just to make sure I am clear. So, it's kind of more like a lease after 12 years. We're not our contracts up. We're not keeping the bus and then it's
046like there's a trade in. Yeah, there's there's a few different options. Um, typically we provide a buyout for the for the vehicle. Um, just to get into specifics, it has to be it's a fair market value buyout. That's how we can take tax credits which are baked into the pricing. Um or right after 12 years you might the there might not be any value to the bus right so you want to get a new one um you want to start a new contract you want to purchase the charging infrastructure from us and do this on your own. So there's a lot of different options after 12 years but right like realistically there's going to be very little value to a 12-y old bus for you all. So you might not you might not really want
047it at that point. Electric doesn't have great resale to begin with. Okay. Because it's not like an engine, you know. It's it's that comes down to the battery. Mhm. The um that you just pointed out something important though and it it just almost just floated out of my head, but 60 miles per day. Um our sports this can't be for our sports buses. This is an average of our in district transportation. It includes our No, I included our sports trips, too. Yeah. Y section one's a big section. This thing's a beast. We're averaging out, too. There's some trips that are short. Yeah. So, so, uh, the range of of these vehicles is about 120 miles in, uh, like normal weather conditions. When it gets really cold, it becomes more like 90 90. Um, we would
048never recommend a district to fully transition their fleet, you know, overnight. You need you need diesel vehicles to be able to drive long trips. But, you know, mo in most cases, the in-house AM PM routes are a perfect use case for for electric because you can, you know, they're back in the middle of the day in case they need some some um extra charging, which we all manage by software. Um so, yeah. So, we would never, you know, recommend to to electrify your fleet all at once because yes, there are instances where this this isn't going to work for for every type of use. Can I ask one more question? So the so this is based on an assumed contract term of 12 years. Earlier you all said currently New York State actually is only
049approving 8year contracts. Yes. And so if that were the case and New York State isn't going to change like how would that difference a 12 So a 12-year contract right now isn't possible. You're hoping it becomes possible. What what happens if if if New York State decides no we're going to do eightyear contracts? Yeah. So the pricing would increase because you're just not able to spread those additional capital costs over 12 years. You would just be able to spread them over. Yeah. And and just to give a ballpark, would anticipate it being in like the about like 1,500 range. So like 1,500 not 15,000. 1,500 per per. Yeah, that makes sense. Okay. Okay. But yeah, shorter financing term. So, um, and I guess one thing I'm not clear on either is the So, the way
050I've always thought about these EPA grants is that they would help buy electric buses, but instead, this sounds like this is assuming that say that the EPA grants were awarded that the grant actually really doesn't help us buy a bus. It helps us offset the costs of this these this service contract. You Yeah, go ahead. I I don't just to frame this So that's a thing that's on the is that yeah I I think yeah we probably need to be more clear on that the district basically has no obligation to high level sure so they have worked with us on the EPA grant um we haven't started the nicea because in my judgment you probably want EPA and naerta money to get to the price point that you're looking for but they also facilitated they
051were very helpful in um getting um Hudson um central Hudson here on site because we were concerned we we may need to run power from like 9D which would be very costly. So they've been incredibly helpful. They've charged the district nothing and there is no obligation. So I do believe if the funding comes through the district has has a option of going at it alone. Yes. But there's risk there. Uh, and especially because there are a lot of unknowns with with electric buses. The way I see it, and correct me if I'm wrong, is you kind of provide more of a a safety net. You know, there's a fixed expense. You know, if if we could see into the future, maybe going with the option of Highland Electric as as a partner over time could
052be more expensive. We don't know for sure, but there is some peace of mind knowing we have the full support with our first transition to electric. That does that answer? Yeah, it it definitely does. But I think my question is um more about the EPA funds can can apply to this. That was my most recent question because I always understood them as oh how they how they applied for this grant to help us offset the cost of purchasing buses, right? Which means it's an option and y'all are an option and that's but but and but it sounds like even if if the grant were awarded, it's allowable to transfer the money to Yeah, we've done it with a lot of things. Yeah. And if right if you didn't get this funding maybe this is clear
053our right our price would be like double it might be like $70,000 right because it's just there's a lot of other capital costs without any grant money without EPA. So so just one more just kind of clarification. So in my mind we're running obviously kind of two bus garages an electric bus garage and a and a diesel bus garage. Adam Adam's responsible for the diesel bus garage and then you guys are responsible for the electric bus garage. So we don't actually perform the maintenance. We partner with your dealer on the buses. That is on the charger on the chargers. We would Okay. So, we partner with the dealer because they have they have technicians um that are certified to work on the buses and then we provide training in partnership with the dealer to train
054any staff that work inhouse to perform maintenance. Um and then we really provide so we provide we facilitate that training to ensure if you have people in house if they want to work on the buses they can otherwise the dealer will work will maintain them. Um, okay. So, so what's that service fee? So, it's a it's an ex it's a full bumper-to-bumper extended warranty. Okay. Gotcha. So, we reimburse you for everything you do on the bus, right? Um, at a at a labor rate that we agree on and at and at parts cost. So, where it's really beneficial is for example for a battery, right? Yeah. Those cost $100,000 to replace. So, so we have to replace it if if something goes wrong outside of the manufacturer's warranty. So, it's an extension, right, to make
055sure that it lasts 12 years beyond what the manufacturer actually provides in terms of warranty. Okay. Yeah. Sorry for all the question in the middle, right? We're happy. I'm just curious about the training and education package. Do you train Adam one time and that's it? Or do you do the drivers need training or like say somebody replaces Adam at some point? Not that I hope that happens at all ever. Um but like I guess what's involved? What's the package include? Yeah, it's really customized. Like we are very flexible depending on what you guys want, but typically we provide definitely annual driver staff training. If there's any new drivers, um that happens right when the vehicles arrive. We make sure everyone's comfortable and then we could do it on a a annual cadence every summer when
056there's other training going on. We could do it quarterly if people feel like they need more support. We find that the drivers once they've been on the bus for like they've been driving for three or four days, they they get it. It's right. So, we want to make sure that they're comfortable and if you know there especially if there's new drivers, we need to make sure they're comfortable. Um, but there isn't like an immense amount of training needed. Um, we train Adam and his staff on the software as well. And anyone, you know, maybe you have a sustainability person that wants to pull emissions data from the software, we'll train you on how to do that. And then we have a huge repository of like on on demand training as well. So, you know, we
057have a training specialist come. We we really tailor it to to what you all want to do there. Yeah. and we can circulate some like kind of like a overview of what the the training entails and like who like you know just we we have that available. So that there's a lot of ongoing support. I'm going to stay optimistic. We were hoping we would have final word from the EPA for this meeting, but we don't and we're hearing maybe a couple of weeks. So we'll keep our fingers crossed. If everything goes well and we get it, can you give us an idea of timing and when the district would need to start making decisions, for example, if the district wants to go at this independently versus partnering with Highland Electric? And then also, you're you're
058out there working with I know a number of districts. Um, can you talk to us about the timing of of realistically obtaining electric buses? Yeah. Because I do understand there are some supply chain issues. Yeah. Um, so one piece of that I think is procurement. So a lot of folks have procured our contract via Sourcewell. It's a cooperative contracting agency. A some districts go out for for bid, right? They want some some other ideas in the market. We we're happy to support anything you all want to do there. In terms of procurement, I think the other piece is what's required by New York State Ed to approve for your district to approve the contract as a capital lease. Um, which I think everyone is learning the the process there. Um, so that to me that
059is a bigger piece um on on timing, right? Because we're we're past this year's budget cycle. So maybe that's a next year in May um conversation, right? But it takes it obviously takes several months leading up to that to make sure everything's in place um to go ahead there. Um the EPA does have typically like implementation deadlines. It's typically 2 years from award. So that should give you enough time. um the the actual implementation of the project. Say, you know, we we um make all this work and we get a contract and then it's about 10 to 14 months to actually get everything in place for the buses to be up and running. Um there are some kind of big lead time items like the bus itself, um and some electrical equipment items, right? we
060focus on ordering those right away so that we're staying on track to do construction and have everything implemented. So in that case, right, the two-year implementation implementation deadline typically works out fine because you you know it takes the district six 8 10 months to to actually like get to a plan and then it takes you know about a year to before you see the see the buses on the road. Um, I think I answered most of those questions. Yes. No, very clear. Great. So, I think yeah, the takeaway is is really I think working on kind of working backwards from that May 2026 um date in terms of the kind of the budget approval cycle. And, you know, um, capital votes don't necessarily have to be a bank. I just so you all know, right?
061like a a district for something like this could hold a capital vote especially for something like this like really I mean I I don't think there's in the fall I mean really any time it's just the co it's the there's cost associated with and planning re you know with holding the you know holding the voteing and things like that but we can do it really anytime it would be that doesn't have to be made. Yeah. Just one more question. I was looking at the numbers. It doesn't seem like there's any um scaled up savings. Meaning like you know you you see that you see basically the savings on one bus. It's the same structured savings on four buses. The way we model it. Yes. Because we So there are fixed costs on the infrastructure, right?
062So if you were just doing two buses, there'd be like a fixed fixed cost on the infrastructure only spread across two buses. Yeah. If you commit to doing four, you're spreading that across four buses and on a per bus basis, it becomes cheaper. So if we looked at this project and just price two buses, it would be more expensive. Or just price one bus, it would be it would be expensive because you're you have to pay that a bunch of that infrastructure cost anyway. Um well, it be would definitely be a less dollar amount. There's no way the infrastructure cost is the same as Yeah. So to $400,000. Sure. But to Right. I'm saying like to Right. The utility has to bring in a certain amount of minimum power anyway. And you have to you
063still have to dig the same trench. Yeah. No matter how many buses you have. So So those are the specific costs, but yes, on a scale it's lower than the $400,000 bus. It's like infrastructure typically costs like 20 to $50,000 per bus. Um so it it has some impact on the overall cost but yeah not not as much. But you all are even recommending that it to do the electrical work especially given the fact that right now New York State is hasn't deviated from the fact that they're planning to that that you wouldn't you wouldn't build you probably wouldn't build the infrastructure for one bus. to build the infrastructure with which is I think what you all were recommending right like you think about like you'd bring in this amount of electricity definitely support the
064four buses but to think about like what a phase two or phase three would be like yeah it's such minimal like additional cost to just bring in a little bit of extra conduit to serve the other chargers you might as well do that at the same at the same time yeah to to plan a little bit for for the future Okay, I think we got you all off your rhythm of the presentation. So I think we went through the last two pages anyways. Yeah, we yeah essentially just the the kind of a sample timeline which we already touched on and um just procurement which um I believe is is a member of source. So it just kind of helps um avoid just the the RFP process, right? Just being able to go through the cooperative
065program there. Um, but that's that's all the material that I think we have prepared, but happy to answer any other questions. Yeah, don't mind uh our skepticism. We have we've no in our in our community, we've had multiple electric providers, right, where they're going to flatten out our cost. Me and Peggy are on the same power and then it just evaporated. So sure it's um you know it's well at the risk of asking it I mean a a hard question but a question that the board needs to ask is so you all are an organization I assume you're a for-profit organization right like companies can go out of business like what what what like so what and it's a pretty new field I you know it sounded like you're working with what did you say
066like 40 or 50 districts throughout the country right you you've been doing this for a little while but you What what what would happen in the worst case scenario, right? Like I guess and maybe this is too technical, but like you know if we get this money from the EPA, right, that's supposed to offset the cost of our having our electric, you know, of having electric buses. And I know these are much bigger conversations need to happen, but I think that's a pretty I can imagine somebody in the community asking like what because we have never outsourced our transportation, right? I mean, it's been a real sort of source of of of not just pride for the district, but the district has done a very good job of buying buses, maintaining buses. We've had members
067of our community who've maintained these buses. I mean, it really um cost that it's been a it's that it's been a big costsaver for the district for us to do this. And so, this is a this is a different kind. You you all talk about the risk of going it alone, but this is another kind of risk. So, how do you all answer that question in a few minutes and I don't know. Yeah, of course. Um, so there's like really technical ways to get into like how are contracts structured, which I can do in in 30 seconds. Um, so we have investors that fund, right? They're high capital cost projects, so we have to fund them. Um, they approve every single contract that we sign on to. So they, you know, they own own the
068contract essentially and it's a performance-based contract. They have to adhere to what's in the contract. Otherwise, you know, if things are not working, the buses, right? Say Highland, say in a world Highland disappears, your contract still exists because we form an LLC for each of our projects to get really technical, which is beneficial for each district because it it it insulates you from other projects. Um, so in order to keep that LLC going, it's funded by your contract payments. Um, so that is the LLC structure is a really beneficial thing for school district. And then our investors, right, if Highland goes away, we're we're the operator. They would need to adhere to the contract, right? Otherwise, you know, if they're not doing what the contract says, it would be in default and you'd be able
069to get out of the contract. So, maybe they'd find another operator to take over the contract. But, right, like it's a it's a meaty contract that that needs to be followed otherwise you have rights to to get out of it, right? And I think high level to a way to look at it is right you're not investing upfront capital into the project. So you're you're paying annually to use a bus. So you know in a in a worst case scenario after five years something happens to us you would have paid for five years of operating costs you wouldn't have sunk you know capital into a project and then you know not had had buses. So I think I think that's how we would answer it if that makes sense. There's definitely a lot more. My
070my assumption is you own the bus or Highland or HL Highland LLC of Cold Spring, whatever, whatever you call it, could would effectively own the bus. Yeah. And then if you went under, then we could because we don't own the bus, we could turn we we would be able to, you know, sue for breach or whatever and be able to get out of it. Yeah. And there's, you know, there's things we could put in the contract that protect you all, right? Like it's part of the part of the negotiation. Um Yeah. At that point. But yeah, because one of the reasons we bust ownership, as I mentioned, is the tax credits because it's much harder for the for a district to take advantage of those tax credits because you're not a taxpaying entity. So that's
071why we that's why we own them because it's an economic it's an economic benefit. and the outsourcing question. We totally we totally understand that and I think right it's it's kind of a hybrid. We're not right there are transportation contractors that drive the bus and you're fully outsourcing the fleet. We're not doing that. We're not there's there's no intention to come in and change your operations, right? You're still driving the bus. You can do whatever you want with the bus. We can never take the bus and use it for something else. So, I think that's that's the way to I totally understand the concern, but that's the way to look at it, right? like we're we're supporting the electrification component and and providing some economic support, but we're not we're not proposing that we're taking
072over the operations. Can you share with us some of the districts in in our region that that you are working with and partnered with? Yeah. Um in in New York specifically, we're going through a little bit of a process with Scarsdale. Um they're they're a little bit of our guinea pig here. Um, but they're super interested in electrification. So, we're um, you know, our contract was included in their budget and now they're we're working through through the contract. Um, I think that's the main one right now. Hide Park. We did a charger charger installation with Hide Park. Um, so just off the river. Yeah. They have a lot of um trouble with community support for their for their electrification. Ah, yeah. Yeah. And so it's a it's a pretty mixed bag. We're also we've we're
073working with some um districts out on Long Island. Um there's support some support there. And also uh private transportation contractors is another group that we work with because like 50% of New York State outsources their fleet, but they're still going to need electric buses. They still need electric buses. So that's also that's also something we're focused on working with those transportation contractors as well. Yeah. And then in terms of like customer referrals, right, we that's something that we we do quite often, right? If if folks on your team were interested in talking to, you know, active Highland customers, be happy to put you in touch. Yeah, that's great. Good. Yeah, we took up a lot of your time. We really big deal. And I'll be honest, I um I had started to look at this
074slide deck and I realized I didn't really understand it. So, it was really great to have it presented like this. So, thank you so much. Of course. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks very much. Thank you. Thanks, guys. Thank you. Yeah. Um, and Adam's been so there's still any that was really interesting. I mean, there's a there's I feel like I have this whole new body of things I have to understand there now. Um, and thank you again for all the work. Pearl that you've done on this this year. It's really uh just really it's really great. Um all right. So communication from the public. Um I always read it so I'm going to read it anyway. So the Heling Board of Education desires and values inputs from the entire school community. This first public comment
075session is reserved for comments on any special presentations or active agenda items. For anyone who wanted to address the board, we'd ask you to sign your name. Sign in and state your name and to keep your remarks of three minutes or less. Uh we discourage dispar disparaging remarks and the discussion of district personnel. Um okie do. So, next we have on the agenda our information reports for us to review before we act on them at what will be our um I guess July 1st meeting. Um and then and then we have the next is the committee minutes for the districtwide uh safety team. So, thanks to that group for the important work that they do. Um, and oh, who takes those minutes? I'm just curious. It's from safety. It's usually me, although I happen to
076not be at this meeting. Okay. I It would be good to see I I don't know if I haven't noticed it before, but it's that the minutes didn't include who was at the meeting. That would be a useful thing to have. It normally is. I think it is normally. Okay. Yes, that makes sense. Okay. So, next we have consent agenda for the minutes from the May 20th meeting. Um, may we have a motion, please? So, moved. All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Next, we have the consent agenda financial. May we have a motion, please? So, moved. I just ask on this one. We need a second. Oh, sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Yes. Anything people want to have? There's just uh you know lots of um material regarding Heldane and Garrison uh contracts and agreements and
077just um again being a new member just curious if there's anything to be flagged. Is there anything new or drastically different from one from you know last year to this year? No, I think what's new is that we we're putting everything on at one time which I actually think is really great. I mean one of the things I even wanted to say once we had put this brought this up for discussion is that I think I actually the fact that we have these multiple agreements between Garrison and housing. So it's uh the instructional agreement for the high school students uh transportation related to to uh modified sports um shared services agreement for the 1211 the special um class that the garrison runs and um for our director of uh people personnel services and that person's
078assistant. So to support um Garrison CPSE, I think really speaks to really reminding me at least I think the the the strong collaboration there is between the two districts. So it's all all of these are things that we've had in the past is that we're putting them all on at once um at this time in the school at in the school year. But I think I think it's an important reminder about um about really the the deep collaboration that exists between school districts. This is how I personally would phrase it with sports with with with two different approaches for supporting um students uh sort of our diverse learners um as well as the um as well as you know high school students coming in from Garrison um which is I think valuable for both coming.
079Yeah, we current and you know 56 Garrison students are currently enrolled at at Aldane which is phenomenal. Uh we you know that's those are our students and we really appreciate it. We've even shared a superintendent right how close we are. I just wanted to point out that the tuition information is in here too which has always been sort of a separate different type of discussion in the past. So, it's nice to have it in range. It's earlier than it has been. And I think that's I think we sort of deserve a little bit of um you know, we attention. It helps both schools with their budget, but this I just wanted to flag that the tuition that we're looking at for the high school students, it's actually for the eighth graders for next year. So,
080we do that in advance, right, to sort of to sort of help out budgets. But, that's something it's nice to be able to sort of look over the numbers and, you know, make sure everything's copacetic in terms of our finances as well. But, it is a year ahead. So I had to I looked at it and I'm like I had to ask you a question about that. And I and I think the thought process there is um sniffing is here. Starting I think October, Novemberish, we do um open house right for for Garrison students. I think a parent information session for parents. So that happens in the fall um with the eighth grade cohort. So to have this you know established just you know ensures that you know um those students you know have this
081option of of coming here and um yeah as Ezra points out um you know we went up by about six students year-over-year which which is you know I think a real positive thing for us. Um also I will just Michelle you did ask earlier is anything new? the transportation uh agreement is is new and it's not a financial thing. It's it's more of just a legal thing protecting both districts. Uh modified sports mergers have gone on for probably more than a half century between uh Garrison and Haldane and we've always more or less worked out transporting students back and forth in the most convenient way. So both districts have transported other district students and it's never been formalized. So for liability purposes, both the Garrison attorney and our attorney uh suggest suggested that we have
082a formal agreement in place so that that'll become an annual renewal that we can transport one another's students. Thank you for clarifying that. That is by that was side. Um all right. So for the consent agenda financial all those in favor I any opposed. Next is consent agenda uh personnel. I don't think there's anything um that we need to note about this. Um oh first though may have a motion please. So moved. Second. Um all those in favor I I. Any opposed? Um, next on the agenda is unfinished business. So, finishing our policy review for um policy 1210, the board members nomination and election first. Oh, well, board members and election, right, which is now adding this to uh include um the exeicio student board member and um the 5685 maximum temperature. So, these are
083what we talked about last time. Thank very much to Megan for implementing the conversation we had about the process that we want to implement for um having students join us uh knowing that there's bigger conversations for us to have to make sure that we are able to support those students engagement in meaningful ways. Um oh may we have the re we have the recommended action. Be it resolved that upon the recommendation of the interim superintendent of schools, the board of education hereby adopts the following Haldane Central School District policies as attached 1210 and 5685. We have a motion, please. So moved. Second. Is there anything else folks want to say about these? I should have waited my discussion beyond. Thanks to you all for putting it all together. Um, all those in favor? I I
084any opposed? Uh, new business, the cseps recommendations. May we have the recommended action, please? Be it resolved that upon the recommendation of the interim superintendent of schools. The board of education hereby approves the recommendations of the committees on special education and preschool special education as presented. We have mo a motion, please. So moved. All those in favor? I. Any opposed? All right. Next is a discussion for our next meeting, the tenure rec recognition start time. Um we I'd already announced it at the beginning. I just wanted to make sure everybody's but I I realized we haven't necessarily cleared it, but everybody that is what we did last year. Sorry about that. How dare you. Does it work? Just does work for you 615. It does. Yeah. Great. Okay. Um and that ends we have uh
085an opportunity for so we will begin at 2:15 on 17. Um a second opportunity for communication from the public um and then board reflections. I have one simple thing. I had the opportunity to go to the section one softball sports award dinner and um two of our students won great awards. One was Cali Sniffen won a Diamond 9 plus one award which recognized not only her achievements on the field but also high uh achieving GPA um SAT scores, extracurriculars. So there was only a handful of kids that got that and Cali got one. So that's a big that's a big deal. And Laney was a Laney Donahue was a league player of the year. Great. Excellent. Good. I'm glad you got scheduled back. And Algra, don't jinx it. Algra was also um pitcher of the
086league um as an eighth grader. She won that. I got to go to some girls basketball games. That was softball. Softball. That's what I meant. Oh, the basketball games you go to. He forgot their words. Three awards. Three. Yes, I meant to say softball. All right. And um I wanted to say so first I have to acknowledge that before our last meeting I had not done a thorough job of reading all of the information reports from the administrative team and later that week I was reading them and I was so impressed. I was so impressed when you saw everything at the building levels, everything that all the principles were doing to make sure that students had at at every level we're having really exciting um culminating end of year events. Um all the work that
087Dr. Caseian was doing, all the things that were happening with sports, you know, Adam speaking about all the work that he's doing, the work that Josh was doing. I mean, really, it was so it was so impressive. Um, I actually reached out. I was sorry that I hadn't read them carefully enough for that night because I thought it just spoke so highly of everything that's going on. Um, and uh, there's so much good information. I just um everyone in the district that gets like the the the Horizon's newsletter gets to see all the great things that happen, but I I still want to think about ways to share with the broader community about all the fantastic things that happen um at the district on a on a weekly basis. Yeah. Sports award, varsity sports awards
088is tomorrow and then there is right after that a PTA Strawberry Fest. Yes. Which is really Yeah. Really great. And then you know then it just calm on Friday, right? So this is a very busy time of year for what's going on. Much appreciated. Anybody have anything else? All right. Any final thoughts from you, Mr. Alo? Nope. So um the board is going to convene into executive session for the purpose of discussing the employment history of particular individuals. So um and no action will be taken at this executive session. So I am actually making a motion that we convene into executive session. May I have a second? Second. All those in favor? I I and the the board will um adjourn from executive session.