001on the 6th, we'll come up with a date for Zoom. I'll reach out to Bill Kolas about seeing if the PTA wants to organize anything on the black top, but leave it up to him. Um, all right. So, now we're going to move into some resol resolutions related to the district meeting. So for the approval of resolution to appoint election personnel we have the recommended action. Be it resolved that upon the recommendation of the interim superintendent of schools the board of education hereby approves the resolution to appoint election personnel for the annual district meeting on May 20th 2025 as listed. May I have a motion please? So moved. Second. All those in favor? I I any opposed? Um and the approval to adopt the 2025 2026 helding school budget and proposition one for the annual
002district meeting on May 20th. And this is a roll call. Be it resolved that upon the recommendation of the interim superintendent of schools, the board of education hereby approves the proposed housing school district budget for 2025 2026 in the amount of 30,154,390 as indicated in proposition one below to be presented to voters of the Howane Central School District at the annual district meeting on Tuesday, May 20, 2020. 25 in the following abbreviated manner. Proposition one. Shall the Haldane Central School District be authorized to expend an amount not to exceed 30,154,390 during the 2025 2026 school year for the purposes shown in the statement of estimated expenditures by the board of education with such sum to be raised by levy of tax upon the taxable property of the school district. Um, and you we have to
003read it for the other proposition. We already did those. We did. Okay. Sorry. That's right. Forgot. All right. Um, all those in favor? I Sorry. Okay. We didn't do a motion. Oh, sorry. Yes. May I have a motion, please? Moved. Second. Thanks very much. Okay. President Clemens. Yes. Vice President Valentine. Yes. Trustee McNau. Yes. Trustee Copper. Yes, Clemenson. Yes. So, cut up on the propositions, I guess. Okay. Um and the approval of the property tax report card for 2025 2026. Move. We have the recommended action, please. It resolved that upon the recommendation of the interim superintendent of schools, the board of education hereby approves the attached property tax report card for 2025 2026 prepared by Miss Katherine Platt, school business manager. May we have a motion, please? So move second. All those in favor? I
004I Any opposed? Um and now um the moving into the Putinham Northern Westchester Bose's budget and then trustee candidate. So starting with the budget, may we have the recommended action, please? Yes. And the budget is a roll call. Okay. Be it resolved that upon the recommendation of the interim superintendent of schools, the board of education hereby approves the following resolution. Whereas the board of cooperative educational services of Putnham Northern Westchester County therein after Boseis has proposed its tenative administrative budget for the 2025 2026 school year. Now therefore be it resolved that the Bosey's tenative administrative budget for the 2025 2026 school year in the amount of $12,136,000 be and hereby is approved by the board. I have a motion please. So moved. Second. Okay. President Clemens. Yes. Vice President Valentine. Yes. Trusty McN. Yes. Trusty
005Copper. Yes. Trusty Clemenson. Yes. and the vote on the two PNW Bose's trustee candidates may have the recommended action. Be it resolved that upon the recommendation of the interim superintendent of schools, the board of education hereby casts a vote to fill two vacancies on the Putnham Northern Westchester Bosey's board of cooperative educational services for the period July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2028 from the following two candidates. Frank Schnecker of Austining, New York and Tina McKay of Putnham Valley, New York. Maybe have a motion. So moved second. This also roll call. Nope. All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Um, next is the PNW Bosey's regionalization meeting, but I think we talked about that during your comments. Yeah, we did. Yeah, that's great. Um it was um I was actually really glad to to go
006and to see um just see all the superintendents. They had met in advance and come up with those ideas, right? So the board members there, we were really just listening and learning. It was really the constituent district um superintendent who had come up with those list of things and it was just good to see it. And were any processes mentioned whereby these meetings could come to fruition? DC in action or how that might you know I came away with a me with a feeling maybe I misunderstood that Neil was even thinking we might not meet on May 5th because at the very end because we kind of need to wait and we wait and see because a lot of it should a lot of it really kind of depends on is there money to do
007things like so people like so transportation right so if you're one of the things that I thought was really interesting was If you're talking about all all these small districts having not having to but yes needing to transport children some children to out of district placements is there some way for people to collaborate to do that right but like that takes like somebody to coordinate it right and where does that money come from or the idea about you know preks for example like theoretically like could you collaborate more with with you know preks across districts for example or am I what am I when I feel like there were the the transportation was one of the ones oh you know some of the stuff some of the ideas with um the for English students who
008are um learning English as a new language who are older right like for any because of the way New York estate is set up you have all these really honestly really relatively small school districts right and so for some of these things to happen you would need there to be shared services but It takes money and coordination to do that and it's not really clear where that would come from. That was my main takeaway. Uh mine as well. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's money and and maybe some policy changes, you know, things that could potentially um go through Boseies, we could receive aid on it. Um if if we, you know, use some shared services. So um you know I think the idea to answer your question Sean is that next school year I believe
009the idea would be come up with a finalized plan from each region throughout the state presented to state ed and look we may we may learn of of proposals in other regions that maybe apply to us as well. So, so I think it'll it'll really through the course of next year I think there'll be a lot of back and forth between the state the Boseies and then hopefully there are some positive results as a result of the collaboration. Okay. Thank you. All right. So, next on the agenda um is um acceptance of a proposal from Tectonic to conduct gosh I hadn't this written down basically a geologic survey that is needed as a next step in the capital project planning recommended action. Be it resolved that upon the recommendation of the interim superintendent of schools,
010the board of education hereby accepts the letter proposal from tectonic engineering consultants, geologists, and land surveyors, DPC, dated March 11, 2025, as presented to the board at this meeting for professional surveying services in connection with the district's capital project at the Haldane Central School District campus at the fee of $18,000 for boundary topography. fee survey and $7,950 for tone out services and authorizes the board president to execute the letter agreement with Tectonic with modified general terms and conditions of agreement. May I have a motion? Moved second. um pretty straightforward a required next step that um I think Columbbo needs in particular to begin to think about pricing out some of these components. Um so all those in favor I I any opposed. So this next item on the agenda is um the approval to temporar
011temporarily suspend policy 3430, which is diversity, equity, and inclusion. This is a big deal. It's a long resolution. Um, and so I'm actually going to ask you to read the entire thing. Yes. And then we'll take a motion to discussing it. Okay. Whereas on January 21, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order entitled Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity, which in part addressed public school district diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in the context of title six of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. And whereas Title 6 prohibits discrimination based on race, color, or national origin. And whereas following the issuance of the January 21, 2025 executive order, the US Department of Education issued a February 24, 2025 dear colleague letter reaffirming the non-discrimination obligations of schools receiving federal financial assistance from the US DOE
012under title six, stating that such schools may not use race as a factor in admissions, financial aid, hiring, training, and other institutional programming, referring to DEI programs and policies, and as impermissibly granting a preference to certain racial groups, and stating an intent on the part of the US DOE to begin enforcement of the law pursuant to this interpretation no later than February 28, 2025, possibly leading to the loss of federal funding. And whereas on March 5, 2025, the offices of the attorneys general for 13 states, including New York and the District of Colombia, issued guidance disagreeing with the analysis contained in the February 14, 2025 dear colleague letter related to DEI programs. The enforcability of the US DOE's position on DEI has also been challenged in federal court. the end. Whereas in April 2025, the
013US DOE issued a directive requiring that states and local educational agencies certify by April 24, 2025 its compliance with the US DOE's interpretation of Title 6 or face the possible loss of federal funding. And whereas on April 4, 2025, the New York State Education Department issued a response to the US DOE indicating that it would not be certifying compliance with the US DOE's interpretation of Title 6 and DEI initiatives. And whereas the Haldane Central central school district currently receives approximately $450,000 in federal funding. And whereas the Haldane Central School District currently has a non-mandated policy policy number 3430 entitled diversity, equity, and inclusion that may in part be inconsistent with the US DOE's interpretation of Title 6. And whereas the possible loss of federal funding would have a devastating impact on the district's ability to
014meet the needs of its students. Therefore, be it resolved that pending clarification of the conflict between the respective positions of the state and f federal governments regarding title six and DEI, the board of education does hereby suspend policy 3430. May I have a motion, please? So moved. Second. Um, so that's a lot of words. Um, I for people watching, I feel like we should just do a little bit of a summary about what was just said and what the resolution is calling for and then give the board the opportunity to talk about it. I I can give a I can start and you can jump in. I think you have a better handle on me. So, basically, you have executive orders that were signed um after the inauguration where the administration is I think paraphrasing
015is equating DEI um with racial discrimination and therefore saying that as a result DEI policies are violations of um title six of the civil rights act. Um, as people, anybody following the news can, you know, that happened back in January and they went out to the and then the uh federal uh administration went out to the states and required that states certify that they were not that that that their districts were not um uh did not have these kinds of policies. New York State is one of the states that said that they um actually I don't even think I have a good enough command of all the ins and outs, but basically that that that it was it was inappropriate for the federal government to ask for them to to do that. And so there's
016now um basically um it's it's pending right between the state and the federal government about whether the federal government has the right to require that that districts uh uh not have these policies in place in order to qualify for um uh federal funds. And um it's all happened shockingly quickly, right? like you know uh to the extent just so that the public knows that really it's really been in the past few days that the superintendent has become uh more aware of it and and and me and then even the board um and so what at the so I guess actually at this point maybe I'll turn it over to you if you don't mind. No. Yeah, I think you did a great job of explaining it, but but basically approximately three or four years ago,
017New York State strongly recommended that all public schools adopt a DEI policy. They they didn't specify, you know, exact language that was up to individual districts. There were some frameworks put out, models put out by Erie Wosis, which most districts use. Um, so how did in 2022 adopt a DEI policy, although it's not a required policy like most districts, we we did and and embraced that. Um, however, right now the federal government, you know, is is pushing back on on DEI. the state is pushing back on the federal government and you know that that will play out however it plays out but most of our funding is is from state but a portion of it is federal funding and again you the resolution if you you heard 450,000 which is IDA money title funds as
018well as our school lunch program so that's a significant amount of money and and we're hearing from the US department of education that that could be at risk if you keep these policies in place. Um the state is saying you cannot hold withhold that funding that was approved by Congress. So our legal guidance um from our law firm is is to temporarily suspend the policy, go ahead and certify um and let this play out between the state and the federal government. um because, you know, that's just a significant amount of money that would be um really challenging for our district to to make up um the loss of $450,000. So, with that, we could open it up to to the board questions or discussion. Go ahead. No, please. Please go ahead. Well, um I mean
019I I guess part of me can't believe that we're sort of at this place, right, where we're questioning the goodness of a policy that's promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion so that all students are receiving equal and inclusive services. How however, here we are, right? and I can be comfortable I feel suspending for the time being um uh this policy to see if it can be rewritten to be in compliance and to stay true to our beliefs and I would say I would want to prioritize our beliefs and I think you know we and I have been assured that there will be no change to curriculum no change to treatment of students and I think there will come a time where we might want to get um input from the public and I would welcome that
020and that is one thing that suspending right so suspending um again at the strong recommendation of the district's council and Mr. Obana's consideration of that suspending it it just gives us an opportunity to see what's going to have what's what's going to play out but then also to to um to to more thoroughly consider what we want our next steps to be. So, thanks very much, Michelle. I mean, Michelle, you sort of I want to reiterate what you just said, but I just wanted to say that I think we're all in agreement that even in adopting or drafting this particular policy, it was really a process whereby we codified a cultural commitment that was already in place so that the policy its suspension doesn't really in any way impact how we're operating and what our
021commitments are. So that shouldn't be seen as a retraction in any way of how we are going to conduct ourselves as a district moving forward so much as a you know a genuine legal liability that we it's our responsibility to prevent the district from being exposed to point. Um, yeah. And I think what I would say is that I mean I remember I was on the policy committee with Maggie when we were talking about this and one of the things where we really were focusing on I think primarily in thinking about the policy and the culture is really how students are treated, right? idea that all students are treated, are valued, are are um are respected, are embraced, right? And that that was a practice that was going on before we even had the the
022policy. I mean, and not maybe that we always did it perfectly, but that that's really definitely what our goals were as a district, right? Um, and I think that that's [Music] um, and I remember even thinking at the time like, you know, I understand the the I understand that why there is a a call in some ways for the policy, but also really believing already that what we were doing did really value, you know, did really value students. Um, yeah, I don't feel like I'm being very articulate. No, I and I just wanted to re what everyone has already said before, you know, we we sat down to work on this and it was just sort of like a not an umbrella policy, but it was it was a policy just to sort of finalize
023um the work that's already being been done, which has already been said, but you know, before I even uh took my first term on the board, I had had a discussion with um high school principal Julia Sniffen about some of the work um that they do. I mean, so the work is being done, you know, on all different levels in many different ways, you know, thanks to our administrators and our staff. So, I think that we can be pretty confident in um, you know, things things evolve, but in the in the work that they're doing. So, I appreciate that and I I'll, you know, have faith in our in the people who are actually working with with our kids as well as, you know, other facets of of the district. I'm confident that that work
024is being done that needs to be done, you know, at the moment. So, I like Maggie's term. I have the faith in what is being done is being done and uh this uh this pause is a uh inadvisable decision. Uh I understand where it's coming from. Um but I don't see how it would uh change how uh we treat our students and how our faculty understands its role right and even actually you know even so I my understanding is that the hiring is a big issue around this and and I think the district's policy so what the district has worked really hard to do is to continually expand the network that we have of throughout the region to identify the most highly qualified candidates, right? And that's the work that Josh has been working so
025hard to do and doing with the support of his his his colleagues on the administrative team and I guess other teachers who are part of any search process, right? is the idea is to um is to attract um again the the the most the most qualified candidates, you know, that that come and that that's been the the focus of the of the of the districts and to and by reaching out into further places, right, to make sure that that there all kinds of people, right, might be interested in applying to to work at Heldane. Um and then at that point um uh you know again finding the people that we think can serve our community um the best and who are excited to be here. So that's so it's interesting. I don't think any of
026us really noticed a big shift in practice after the policy was adopted and I don't um because the focus has been as we've been talking about I don't anticipate there to be necessarily a big shift after policy is is paused u but then also by pausing it temporarily it gives the community I think this is important an opportunity to engage in a more meaningful conversation about this if there is a need for us to change the policy or a need for us to completely resend a policy like this and how we would want to move forward. Yep. I mean I could say as your interim superintendent in practice we are not violating title six. We do not discriminate against students or or any employees based on race, color, national origin. So, you know that I
027am very comfortable certifying this. And again, if if if the the policy is something that potentially could cause us to lose funding, um I think this is a wise decision at this point. Um all right. No one has anything else they want to say. Um all of those in favor I I I Any opposed? All right. So now then we need to um certify our compliance with the provisions of title nine of this right act six. Yeah. Oh I said yes title six. Sorry and Roman numerals. All right. So may we have the recommended action please? Be it resolved that upon I'm sorry. Be it resolved that the board of education hereby certifies its compliance with the provisions of title six of the civil rights act of 1964 and in its decisionmaking and policies consistent
028with United States Supreme Court precedent set forth in the case of students for fair admissions versus president and fellows of Harvard College 600 US 181 2023 and be And be it further resolved that the board of education hereby authorizes the superintendent of schools to execute whatever governmental certifications may be required. May I have a motion, please? So moved. Second. All those in favor? I I Any opposed? All right. The second opportunity for communication from the public. Board reflections. Just a quick note, we did hear about the golf team, but I would like to point out that we have an current undefeated softball team. Amazing. Led by Ezra's daughter on the strip, pitchers led by all of them, which is a team over 100, right? Over 100. She's She's over 150 now. But that's a team
029effort and team is hitting the ball. Great. That's actually I need some advice. I need some I need to figure out who to reach out. Maybe Tom because I there's a I want to know don't want to go to a lot of games but I want to go to like one track meet, one softball game, one baseball game. The right one to go to. Which one should I go to? So anyway, it's all sounds very exciting. It's great. Thank you for pointing that out. It was all right. All right. So that is it. Oh, actually, so we're gonna the board is going to convene into executive session for the purposes of discussing um contract negotiations with the CSEA as well as discussing um the uh employment history of um a staff member staff. Great. Um
030and so I'm going to move to go into executive session. May second. All those in favor. All right.