Haldane Board of Education - April 22, 2025 PART 1

001Um, hello and welcome to the Tuesday, April 22nd, 2025 held Board of Education workshop meeting. I'm calling the meeting to order. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and all. Um yes. Okay. President Clemens here. Vice President Ballentine here. Trusty McN here. Trusty Copper here. Okay. Next on the agenda is the approval uh of the agenda, but I'm actually going to make a motion to make a slight modification for the board to go into a very brief executive session to discuss um uh input that we've received from the district's council. So, I'm going to make that motion and and we'll actually put it in right after this. will go

002out briefly and come back. Um, may I have a second, please? Second. All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Right. So, that's we've modified the agenda. So, now I'm actually going to make a motion to go into executive action. May I have a second? Second. All those in favor? I. Any opposed? All right. We will be back. Um, all right. So, now comments from the school board president. That's me. Um, so the housing board of education will conduct a business meeting on Tuesday, May 6 at 7 o'clock here in the middle school high school library. Um, and it's actually a important meeting even though it's a business meeting. We're going to have a presentation from Ola Consulting who did our NAERTA flex tech study where they really went through the whole district um and uh

003worked to identify um areas where we could possibly implement energy efficient um measures along with their costs and the potential for cost savings. So, that's something we've been hearing about for a while. And so, we'll have that presentation um at our next meeting. The only other thing I wanted to say, um I did text the board this. So, I went to the middle school play, which was great, but before I went, I got a text from our incoming superintendent, Dr. Duffy, saying that she was going to be I was like, "Oh, great." Like, I'm see her. I'll say hi, whatever. I walk in, she's standing at the table where Daniel Peek McCarthy is selling tickets, handing out programs and introducing herself to everybody who comes into the auditorium, which I thought was a very nice

004thing for her to do. And then she and I sat today together during the play and had a chance to visit. And the play was really great and fantastic. Um, that is really um we have a lot to cover in the meeting, so I'm keeping my my um comments short. I'll hand it over to Mr. Albano. Okay. Good evening. I will also uh keep my comments brief. First, just starting with the state uh budget. No news, no budget yet as of this evening. Um but the good news is we really uh expect that the um proposed educational funding will at least remain at at the levels that the governor proposed or possibly a small increase because both the assembly and the senate have recommended some increases in some different areas. The holdups seem to be

005related to discovery law, mental health policies, nothing really related to education. So, uh we are confident in in the budget that we present uh later this evening that the numbers are conservative and and and we will res receive at least the amount that we we have uh considered into into the budget thus excuse me. Um Peggy and I on April 7th, it's it's been a while since we we've gotten together for a board meeting. On April 7th, uh we attended a regionalization meeting uh hosted by Putnham, Northern Westchester, Boseies. Districts across the um 18 component districts were there, board members as well as superintendent. And the topics covered were prek, transportation, workforce development, ENL programming for older students, that 18 to 21 age range, and and how we could support them more effectively. uh SEAL,

006mental health, school security resource officers uh were all on the table. This is this list may grow, but it was just the start of a brainstorming and we're looking for, you know, either policy changes or funding and collaboration in all of these areas um that can can mutually benefit districts uh in in the region. So those discussions will continue in early May and we look forward to to what results emerge from that. Can I pop in? Absolutely. So one of the things that became really clear in talking about it was already there the everything mentioned are certainly things that are important to the constituent districts. But it also just became clear already and we know this how PNW Boseies already is really does such a good job of really facilitating collaboration across um member districts

007and so that was a nice thing to you know to recognize how much they're they're already doing or we're doing I guess. Sure. uh related to our architectural design presentation this evening. Uh good news, we we met with our consultant Highland Electric Fleets and Central Hudson Gas and Electric uh about two weeks ago. They were here on site and uh related to our transition to EV buses, they assured us that they could run a transformer directly behind the bus garage um at no expense to the district. So, High Highland Electric, I'm I'm excuse me, Central Hudson would incur that expense and then the district would simply need to trench AC across the road probably about 50 or 60 ft. Adam, we talked about that. We were worried that potentially we would need to run electricity

008from 9D. So, we've confirmed that that's not necessary. It'll be much more affordable. So, the unknowns still are the EPA grant. We still have not heard. We're hoping within a few weeks we hear about the EPA uh funding and then of course if that comes through we will pursue NAERTA funding. But um with both grants this would definitely be a feasible project. Again reminder we we are uh pursuing four electric buses. Uh it would not be for this upcoming school year. It would take at least two years if everything fell into place for those buses to to hit the roads. Also, I just want to say I had the honor to join Mrs. Sniffen and Mrs. uh Cotchin at the Westchester County Youth Awards Ceremony uh a couple of weeks back and uh one of

009our students Christian Barrett and Josephine Foley Hedland were honored with uh students throughout the county. Um, beautiful ceremony, uh, outstanding students, and you know what struck me, they they they educated me a bit because I wasn't so familiar with youth court here here in Putham County, but what an outstanding program. And our students talked about how you they've done many community service projects and do a lot of volunteerism, but that that was the single most interesting and engaging and rewarding activity that they participated in. So Christian's here. I know he's making a presentation shortly, but we're very proud of of him as well as Joseph being the the really outstanding students. And lastly, one of our teachers, Michelle Kadaro, uh our high school social studies teacher, um has uh won an award and a very

010prestigious award from the Westchester Lower Hudson Valley Council for Social Studies Teachers. Um she has won the award is the outstanding high school social studies teacher award and um she's being honored let's see it's on May 21st uh at Manhattanville College in Reed Cancel uh Reed Castle excuse me uh and basically uh the the the announcement states that this honor recognizes her exceptional dedication innovation teaching innovative teaching practices and commitment to fostering a deep understanding of social studies among students. Her work exemplifies the very best in our profession and her efforts have clearly made a lasting impact on students and colleagues. So, uh we're very proud of her and uh I'm sure Mrs. Sniffen uh will be celebrating this uh wonderful with her. Yes. Okay. Great. Thank you so much. Um, now it's time for

011our uh monthly update from student advisors. And so this month we have Christian, I hope I say your name right, Ferrer, uh, who's the senior class president and Jake Powers, who's the senior class vice president. If you would come up, we'd appreciate it. Okay. So, I'm going to start up off about talking about our Holiday and Varsity golf team. Um, we're already halfway through the spring golf season and uh this is one of the largest, if not the largest varsity golf teams in Calding history. Uh, we have over 30 students participating in the sport. Um, we've had three matches so far and despite our lack of experience, we've found ways to perform against schools like Arlington, Clarktown South, and Henrik Hudson fans. In our joint match uh vers Hen Hud and Clarktown South, we were

012able to outscore Hen by just one stroke. Um, we've had our recent losses to Lakeland Panis and Arlington, but we hope to bounce back later this week in our matches against Putinham Valley and Hendrick Hudson. Um, as a senior who has been on the team for all four years of high school, um, it's been amazing to see the team grow in size and skill. Uh, now I'd like to talk about the how they and drama production into the woods, it was amazing. I saw it twice. Um, from the beginning um to the end of each and every performance uh, everybody in this in the crowd was cheering and laughing. uh with three shows from March 21st and March uh to March 23rd, including an understudy performance on March 20th. The cast and crew did an

013amazing job. And my brother Owen Powers uh played Cinderella's Prince in his biggest role yet um with Holiday Drama and he did an amazing job. Very nice. Jacob's Golf Co-ed. It is. Okay. Thanks. And where do you go practice? We practice at how or sorry um Highlands Country Club. Yeah. Okay. Uh I wanted to talk about the senior class trip to Philadelphia at the end of last month. Uh the student council uh Jake and I along with everyone else decided on Philadelphia. Uh so we were able to go to the city for three days where we we saw the Liberty Bell and we were we got to visit the historic Christ Church. We went to Betsy Ross's house in the National Constitution Center, uh, where I saw the Bill of Rights in a big glass

014box with fancy lights. Uh, we we went to a 76ers game and then we also went to the Eastern State Penitentiary penitentiary and we got to go through uh two or three wings. We we went inside the cells. Um, so that was very cool. Uh on the final day, we went across the river to Camden, New Jersey for a tour of the uh the battleship New Jersey. Um and I think I can speak for everyone when I say that it was a very good trip and it was definitely a big highlight of the senior year. Uh I had prepared something about the award dinner, but that was kind of stolen from it. Sorry. I want to talk more uh in depth about youth court for a minute. Um sign your kids up. You can join

015at 12. Um and you basically work with real uh juvenile defendants. They um and you act as defendant uh not defendants, sorry, defense counsel uh prosecution. My personal favorite role is the youth mentor. So you meet you meet with the family um like the parents and the defendant ahead of time uh and make sure they understand everything and then the day of you meet them before anything starts and you introduce them to everyone and make sure they're comfortable and they don't have any questions. So, it's it's real uh defendants. Uh they get if it's a more serious case, like we've had uh anywhere from assault to like speeding. Um so, they get recommended uh by the probation office to the Punham County Youth Bureau and then they send them to um the Philips Town Justice

016Court just down the road. Um and so we go through everything with them, what happened. I've only been on the defense side. So, we sit with them and we get like a story and paint a picture of who they are and then we pres present the case to a a a judge who is also a high school student or a middle school student. And then they decide what the best um uh like suggestive like like p not punishment but more of a restorative suggestion for them to do. So it could be anything from x amount of community service hours to going on a jail tour in Carmel. So it's a very good program. It's with the Pond County Youth Bureau and I've been a part of it since February of my sophomore year. Yeah. Thank

017you. Thank you. Apologize. Why did you all choose Phil? I mean, I think Philadelphia is fantastic, but like what like what did what's the draw for Philadelphia for the senior? I guess we kind of wanted to be a little bit different because last year they went to Boston and we had Philadelphia and Boston and I think most of us um in student council haven't been to Philadelphia. At least I haven't. Um but it's a great choice in my opinion. There's there's a lot of history in the city itself. So, it's just it was a very cool uh place to go. Yeah. And how did you guys come up with uh the idea to go to Eastern State? Uh we didn't really pick uh we picked some of the itinerary, but Gerber Chors and uh Coach

018Vadamo really organized it. Whose cell did you go in? Oh, yeah. Jake, was it Was it Al Capone? Was it you? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Do they have the models of like the guy under the sheet? Well, it was it was very cool because every cell was like like very destroyed and like very like there was just dirt everywhere and it looked like it wasn't very well maintained. But then you go to his cell and there's there's a desk and a dresser and like a phone and a very nice bed. Everything else is just like like a very thin like pad for the bed, but his is just like it's like royalty. Yeah. As far as royalty in prison, you you I know we you happened to be one of my tour guides when I was

019over at the high school and you had talked a little bit about other ways in which you serve and you discussed the mentorship program that you've participated in here in Helen. I'm just curious if you can talk a little bit about that program. Sure. So that's also through the youth bureau. Um they come I was there this afternoon actually. It's uh every Tuesday. Uh, so every high school student is welcome to join. Um, I don't know how the fifth graders I think their parents seem to sign them up, but it's every hour we go uh we meet in Miss Hartford's room. We just like today since it's Earth Day, we we made um wing chimes and we we drew with paint markers on them and you just like hang out with them, have snacks, do

020whatever they want really. They kind of we kind of let them lead it and then from there like they just decide where the conversation goes. Yeah, that's great. Thanks so much. Um, all right. So, now our um special presentation for tonight's meeting is C Arch to give us an update on the Capitol project. So, oh, Tom, I didn't see Tom walk in. So, Tom and Melissa are here. That's great. That is a tough act to follow. You have some Yeah. Where's your Where's your game? My husband's probably wearing one at the moment. I was very impressed that he said he was holding on the dispens. So, we're happy to join you all this evening and share a little bit of a progress update on the capital project. I'm sure many of you have been wondering

021what's been going on. We've been hard at work since the referendum in December. So like to share a little bit about where we are um in this process and what we've done in that time. So this is a look at our project schedule. You can see the first three bars here in the light blue are really the design phase and this is where we are right now. So we have this design phase is broken up into three different segments. We call those schematic design, design development in construction documents. That's pretty standard um for architecture and in our industry. We completed a schematic design uh report which we'll talk about in a moment and we are about halfway through our design development phase right now. As we work from left to right, we're just continuing to

022add uh detail, refine that project a little bit more. So, we start out very as it's called schematic um and work our all the way down to um the set of construction documents that are submitted to the state education department. They take some time to review and approve that project. They are your permitting agency. Then that gets uh packaged up in a bid package. Um it gets publicly bid and we award contracts. And then we'll be starting construction. Right now we're targeting a spring 2026 construction uh wrapping up at the end of the following calendar year in December of 2027. So hopefully we'll steal a little time out of this schedule. on the education department. Right now, third-party reviews are having a good impact and so the reviews that review and approval cycle is less

023than three months of what we're predicting. So, we're hoping that uh we'll steal a little bit of time, get out to bid a little bit earlier. Sherloo would like that. Um and you know, get contractors under contract much before that they're they're full up for the season for the summer. So, so that's that's a little bit of good news. So, as I mentioned, um we did recently finish our schematic design phase. Um and what that really that project process looked like um was a lot of meetings with stakeholder groups. You can see there's about six we've identified here. Different user groups that we met with. Most of these groups we met with multiple times both in person and virtually to gather a lot of information so that we are designing spaces that are well aligned

024with your instructional and programmatic needs. Um and so we met with uh different stakeholders for the student center, student support suites, meaning psychologist, social worker and such at both buildings as well as the main office components to that and state uh secure vestibules were kind of wrapped into that meeting. We talked about steam innovation spaces at both buildings. Met um with some staff for general purpose classrooms as well as an art classroom. And then we had a few separate meetings focused more on the building addition at the high school and the exterior facade and what that will look like. Um along with this process we've had regular what we call OACM meetings. That stands for owner, architect and construction manager. So we have representatives of all three of these groups at these meetings and providing

025again status updates of what's coming out of the stakeholder groups. um sharing some concept plans so they are up to date on where we are in the process and help make some administrative level decisions as well as execute um different uh information finding things. So if we need to have geotechnical reports site surveys, we talk about those type of things and then just manage the overall um process for schedule and budget at those meetings as well. We also took a few building tours. Um the staff went to Chapaqua to look at their steam innovation spaces and then a large group of us went to Marlboro Central School District and toured many of their recently finished spaces that included a lot of these um areas that we're focusing on here. So they have some newly renovated

026student support suites, some steam innovation space spaces, art classrooms. So that was a good point of reference. I know Julie attended thought that was very valuable to actually see these spaces. Um, I think you mentioned your social workers and psych social workers, psychologists. It was nice to see this is what a true student support suite can look like as far as a reception area, welcoming place for students to come in, receive counseling, what those offices look like, and really just to walk through an actual uh project because sometimes you only know what you know, and you're so used to the spaces that you have, it's nice to get a point of reference um at other locations as well. And then lastly, part of our schematic design phase is really just gathering a lot of um

027information on the existing conditions. So coming out uh photographing, measuring, identifying, and evaluating the existing spaces that you have that are being renovated or where we're connecting for um new buildings as well as getting things geared up for geotech, site survey, hazardous materials for asbestous, lead um and in investigations of that nature. So, the culmination all of all of that is what we refer to as our schematic design report. Here's just a few little snippet pages of that, but it's quite a a lengthy document. Um, there's about 90 pages that are just in narrative. And you can see we have some building elevations, enlarged plans or concept plans for some of those focus areas and supporting graph graphics. You can see some three-dimensional views here. Um there are also complement of 25 full-size drawings that

028are again schematic in nature start to identify the scope um the targeted scope for all of these areas and then there's a significant appendix that also documents all the meeting minutes and concept plans that we've reviewed throughout that entire process. So where are we now? We just wanted to share where the design progress is at this point in time. So, we'll start with the high school. You're seeing here the overall building plans of your high school. Um, if you haven't seen plans or an update in a while, you'll notice that it's no longer an octagon or a hexagon at the end of the building. We've kind of straightened this out here um for multiple reasons. We're finding that it's more efficient for spa space use within this space. And as we develop those exterior renderings,

029um you'll see in a little while, um what that has brought us to as far as what the exterior of this building will look like contextually on your campus here. Um and so at the top here, we'll look at the steam innovation spaces and wood shop. That's in the light blue there. Upper left, the orange is the student support suite for this high school area. The large green area is the student center, which we'll take a closer look at. There's also some support spaces for storage, a breakout or conference room. And then up on the second floor, we have four general purpose classrooms. In the darker blue is an art classroom. Again, additional support spaces for storage and mechanical and such in the gray. And then an additional breakout or conference room on that second

030floor. Here are updates of the exterior proposed renderings for this building edition. So again, we've moved and shifted away from that octagon. We're now representing here um a more modern take. We feel that this is still speaking to and responding to the context of your existing campus, your existing buildings, drawing from some of those materials, but is also more modern reflection of the modern instruction that is happening in this space. So this is your student center. You can see um your existing building at the end of that up to that white little column there. and then the twotory brick area with um that student support offices on the first floor and classrooms up on the second floor. And then you're seeing that new entrance to the student center. Here's a different view taken as you

031come up the hill from the uh main building playground area as you would walk up the hill and the vantage point you would have there. So I'll just point out just so nobody's confused. So just so nobody's confused. So, your existing building, your existing high school right now ends here. Oh, I messed you up. Ends here. And then you have that stair tower that hangs off the end of the building. So, the stair tower will come out. Um, and then this is the addition is the twotory section here and then the large uh uh student center at the end. Just so everybody has has a a clear picture of of what's included in that. Again, this is the result of several stakeholder meetings, our own internal uh design and development. And then the district also

032had some interested parties, um some community members. You have a rich um an architecture and artri community here. So, we had a few community members that participated in that sharet process as well. Provided some feedback and thought process and this is where we are at this point in time. So, um, like I said, a modern reflection of the modern instruction, but still contextually appropriate for your your campus and your position here, um, attached to the high school. See some of that natural stonework and then the brick masonry and a lot of glass in the front to really capture that view. And you'll see what that looks like at the interior as well. So, here's a closer look at the plan of that proposed student center. At the top left, that pair of doors there is

033your entry from the interior of the building coming from the corridor. This is probably the point of entry that most students will be using on a regular basis. Of course, thank you. So, this is the entry point that students will generally be using uh throughout the course of the day. There is an intention that the main entrance of the building will still be used uh throughout the day. So visitors will still be going through that secure vestibule. Students as they go in between buildings will still be using that main secure vestibule. At the bottom left uh corner there, you'll see another vestibule that we've added. Those were the doors that you saw in the rendering. This is another primary entrance into the space, but one that's envisioned to really be utilized um nights, um events,

034weekends, things of that nature. you can change protocol and decide to allow students to use this in the future. Um but really the intention is that is more for um afterchool events and weekend use. The two shaded areas in beige or the tan color here we wanted to point out. So the one at the upper that kind of has a little kink to it, it's what we refer to as a learning stair. You'll start to see that in renderings in a few minutes. um that does have tiered risers to it, but it has a higher rise than a traditional stair. There is a stair next to it there, so you still have the ability to walk traditional stairs up and down, but the learning stair gives students a place to when it's cafeteria use, students

035can casually sit and lounge and eat or gather with their friends. And when this space is used in an event, it actually acts as an overflow tiered seating area for those functions. So, kind of like a an auditorium type or amphitheater type seating where you'd have tiered risers and then there's intermediate steps in between there. So, you'll start to see these in the renderings in a moment. There's also a little control booth at the back there because we're facing now orienting because we're move we've shifted away from the octagon which really didn't have any directionality to it. Now that we have this rectal linear form, we are capturing that view and we've created a very strong directionality to this space. So that tan bar at the uh bottom I guess left corner here is a

036platform. So not as high of a rise as a full stage, but it is a foot up or so and is a stage platform. So during the day there's just additional tables and chairs up there for students to sit and still eat. the entire space acts as a cafeteria. But when you have events and you want to rearrange furniture, that stage platform allows a presenter or a group to have a little bit more of a presence um as they stand in front of that area. They are standing in front of the glass. So when you want to capture the view behind them, you have the ability to do that. We're also envisioning a a large draw curtain so that if you want to conceal that view and avoid that distraction or if there are any

037glare issues, you have the ability to do that. We're also looking at ways to control light and glare through the selection of the glass. Um, and other ways we can provide shades and other ways to control that light in addition to the curtains. So, it is not just open or closed, but there are other ways to control that light as well. Um off to the top left you see a breakout room or conference room that can be used by the adjacent support suite um staff members as well as students if they're meeting in groups and uh that does have an oversight or an overview uh glass that overlooks the student center. So you'll see that in the renderings in a moment. And then to the left you also see a storage room and a um

038concessions area or a food service area that's also acts as a reception area. As people are coming in for evening events, someone could be there selling tickets, selling merchandise, handing out materials, uh paperwork, flyers, anything like that as people approach and enter the space for those evening events. But that is also where students um when this is in use as a cafeteria can serve um as a graband go type station where students can pick up um pre-prepared boxed meals, snacks, drinks, whatever you're providing in that area. And you'll see a lot of variation in the furniture. Um exact furniture has not been selected yet, but these are just some examples. um meeting the capacity that is desired by the district, but also offering students a lot of choice and variety and how they're seating. So

039whether a student wants to sit independently up against a counter or they want to sit with just one friend in a booth a little bit more intimate more like a Panera type situation or there are a large variety of twoerson fourperson tables and then larger cafeteria tables which h help us get that maximum occupancy in the space. So providing students a lot of choice and variety in addition to the learnings there. So here's a little bit more of a three-dimensional view of that. Um you can see again that glass to the left. You see that platform in front of it right now set up with some tables and chairs. And you're starting to get a three-dimensional view of what that learning stair looks like. And you see the um the little control booth center at

040the back there. You can see the stairs that come down um to get you from that upper platform landing where you're coming in from the corridor down to the lower level of the entire student center. Again, we're working with the grade of your existing hill here. So, the main level of the student center is about six feet lower than the um corridor and upper landing area. Here's a rendering of as you approach from that um after hours or visitor entrance. To the left, you're seeing that reception or concessions area. This is where students would have access to that graband go for cafeteria functions, but this is also again where you'd have the ability to sell tickets or hand out materials for those events. And you're starting to get a glimpse of the space. So, you

041can see the learning stair in the back and it's interesting and it draws people in, but it has not yet revealed itself of the whole room until you walk past that wall. We're still developing what this wall wants to be. We might bring it back a little bit and open that space up a little bit more. That's still things that we're working through the design of. You can also see the glass kind of in the center of the page there. That glass area is the breakout conference room behind there. So again, from that conference room, you'd have a little bit of view in and likely we'll have a translucent film on that. So we're allowing light but still maintaining some privacy. Here's a view from the stage platform area looking back at that learning stair.

042You can see the stone wall that um is shown from the exterior rendering now makes its way to the interior. So bringing some of that exterior material in and then otherwise providing a large volume and a nice modern space for your staff and students. And then lastly, now we're at one of the corners of the learning stair. So you can see some of that more uh to the right, but now you're looking and seeing the view that you're capturing out that large glass wall. And one more from the top of the learning stair looking down. Um again seeing the the large expansive area of the student center. Um so now moving on um we're now looking at the student support suite. I will add to the bottom right there is a key plan there. So

043if you're trying to track where we are in the building as we go through some of these spaces that is highlighted for you. So this is the student support suite. So you can see there are two entrances from the corridor. One into a large student support reception area and then a secondary one into the dean reception area. So we are separating um discipline from counseling in some way here. They are interconnected through an alternative learning space that can be used for testing in school suspension that allows um passage between them but also supervision of that space by um administrators on either side of that. And then we have five flanking offices from that student support reception area for psychologists, social workers, uh guidance and such. Um we have increased the size of this reception area

044from what our uh preliminary or original plans were in response to those tours that we took at Marboro to see what that reception area can be. It is not just someone coming in talking to a desk talking to someone at a desk and then going to an office but this may be a place where they are coming to fill out college paperwork and then there's tables um in a couch area. So whether they're waiting to meet with a counselor or they're actually conducting their own business, they might be studying, maybe this is an alternative place for students to go when they have a study hall or a lunch period. Um we want to make sure this is a welcoming space for students to feel comfortable going to a G guidance counselor or any other counselor

045here. And there's just some three-dimensional views of what that looks like in both directions. So you can start to visualize um some of the proposed furniture or just the space use. Again, furniture isn't selected at this point in time. We are showing it really to give you a better sense of space so you can visualize what an office would look like um as far as what type of desk or size desk it would accommodate, table, furniture, etc. Moving across the hall, these are the steam innovation rooms. It's divided into two spaces. You do see two separate doors there. On the left is the steam innovation lab. More of a classroom environment, but again a handson very engaging um classroom and then through that pair of doors. You connect to the wood shop area. So we're

046separating clean lab from dirty lab functions so that we don't have issues with uh dust and sawdust and things affecting computers or other technologies that you'll see in a moment. Um really these spaces are intended to be a lot of uh support for hands-on activities for your students. So there are a lot of 3D printers and computer space in the innovation room. Um some large workts, uh interactive monitors and display monitors throughout the room. So there's not just a singular point of projection for technology, but you're providing that throughout the room in multiple locations as well as a lot of whiteboard space and storage. so that these spaces are um are providing everything that you need. Additionally, the workshop area to the right now we're starting to show some of the equipment that is in

047there as well as large workts and then some additional dedicated space for storage of their materials. and an overhead door takes you to the exterior and a small paved or concrete pad out there so that they have the ability to build um spaces build projects outside as well when the weather uh permits them to do so. So again, here's our 3D views of those. And you're starting to see in the upper right some examples of um some of the components that we're proposing here as far as sliding whiteboards that allow storage behind there, but still a whiteboard function um on those doors. So we're getting dualpurpose and really multi-purpose out of some of these spaces. The space is at a premium. We want to make sure that we're providing everything that you need. So it's

048not just a whiteboard or it's not just storage. were able to accommodate both in the same space and be more efficient with that space. And that gives you more space for 3D printers and technology for the future. And another quick rendering of that space. We're not yet applying any color. Um I didn't mention this earlier, but when we were looking at the renderings at the student center, we only threw in a couple little places of color. I think you saw a few blue accents there just to help visualize maybe where we would draw attention. Um but those things really are not developed at this point and that is really um towards the end of this phase and largely in the next design phase for construction documents where we will be selecting actual materials colors and

049where will be they will be applied. So it'll be a much more uh colorful engaging space when we get there. Moving on to general purpose classrooms. is again trying to take a modern view of what does a classroom environment look like. So um while we do have a primary teaching wall with a full wall whiteboard and interactive technology, we're also providing um a variety of furniture here and a lot of mobile furniture. So you're not seeing any built-in cabinetry here. We're providing storage or suggesting we provide storage with furniture solutions on casters. So you can rearrange these rooms. We're providing choice again, flexibility in furniture, so students are provided a more engaging and dynamic uh teaching space, not rows of students in desks and chairs facing forward, but a more interactive collaborative environment. Uh, moving

050on, I think this is the last one for the high school is the art classroom. You can see just the um the 3D view on the right there. A lot of storage needs. In this case, it is built in because we know that the storage needs for art are a little bit more fixed um for those materials but providing everything they need for large flat file paper storage um project storage, portfolios, things of that nature. And then there is an adjacent kiln room and storage room for the art program as well. And this is one of those spaces that as you move art to the high school, you free up additional space in this building for other purposes. So, by one maneuver in one building, you're actually helping yourself in two locations. Now, moving on

051to the main building. Again, you have your key plan down there on the right. That little tiny arrow shows you the main entrance. Um, so right now we're to the left of that, which is currently the side for the main office. We are again swapping the main office and the nurse. So reconfiguring this area, we now have a large public conference room right off of that vestibule and then a dedicated nurses suite with their own bathroom and then two individual staff bathrooms immediately accessed from the corridor. So staff do not have to use a stall in a student's bathroom or go through a conference room to use a bathroom. We now have two dedicated staff bathrooms accessible from the corridor. And again threedimensional views of what that would look like. And then now we see

052um on the left here the secure vestibule. We are adding a new wall and set of doors to provide a secure vestibule and a transaction window between that vestibule and the main office. We're doing a similar maneuver at the high school which we did not show but um so in both buildings you will have a secure vestibule where a visitor is contained until they uh go through the uh credential process at that transaction window and are granted access um and released into the building. You can see here uh we are providing another bathroom to support staff and students using this area. Another alternative learning space just as we did at the high school. And then here we have the principal's office, the SRO office, and a copy mail room. That copy mail room, similar to

053uh what we were doing at the high school, is the interconnect between the disciplinary or main office function and the student support suite, which you'll see as we work our way down the hall. So there's that three-dimensional view. You can now see that secure vestibule and the uh large doors there that separate you from the corridor. So your security greeter will now be in a secure location in that main office. There's also you'll see a window from the SRL office so that that that staff member can look through that window and have immediate observation of that transaction window and a quick access immediately out to the corridor. Moving down the hall, this is the student support suite for the main building. Similar scenario here with a smaller reception area, but we are entering into a

054kind of a holding area. We do have some furniture here for staff that are staff or students that are waiting to meet with someone. Some shelving for a little bit of shared storage and resources. And then six offices for your counseling staff. Here threedimensional view. You'll see some high windows on a lot of these walls because we have some inner office areas. If I go back to the first plan here, we have some offices that are up against the corridor and really don't have the ability to have an exterior window. So, you can see those high clear story windows will allow some of that natural light from the offices at the exterior to enter into that little inter uh passage or corridor and then into those offices as well. And it also gives staff and

055students in those inner offices at least a sense of space outside the room. Um even if you don't have the actual view or operable window. And then moving downstairs, the last space at the main building we wanted to highlight today is the steam innovation here. So, um this is where you currently have a um technology space and some adjacent IT space that is being multi-purposed um and and utilized I think this semester for some other purposes. I think you have some counselors down there now in a process to vacate this area for this renovation. So, again, similar to the high school, we're separating this the available space into two different zones. So, we have a clean lab and a dirty lab side. Um so on the left we have a wood shop with an overhead

056door. It is a smaller wood shop in this scenario but um supports the programmatic needs for instruction during the day as well as the ability to support um theater production of stage materials and things when it's needed for that purpose. Um but the bulk of the space here is provided for student instruction during the day in the steam lab. That's the space on the right. You have similar functions for that whiteboard and storage materials. A lot of space for 3D printers and um see your tables and chairs, seating for students as well. Just some threedimensional views of that space. Tom, if you could share a bit about our site work. And of course along with all of this, we want to make some improvements to the site and the site work components uh as part

057of uh addressing the new addition to the high school and some other needs on the campus. So just take you through it. You can see that we're really focusing on the separation of vehicular bus movements for parent drop off and pickups and bus drop off and pickups. And so we've created zones around the campus for that purpose. So you can see zones here and you can see zones here that will allow for those uh drop off and pickups and again trying to keep those very independent of one another uh for obviously safety of the students uh during the drop off and pickup zones. We're also trying to improve the ability for the students to safely uh traverse between uh the main building and the high school. Even though we're building this big addition, you're still

058going to have some pathways there. And so we're creating uh you know these areas of really new dedicated sidewalks that meet all the safety uh requirements uh to get students safely in between the buildings. You can see we're also trying to address and update some of the patio areas that are outside the buildings. So two in front of the high school. And you know I've been here I can't tell you how many times and there's always students in front of the building uh studying or reading or eating their lunch which is great. And so we really want to better define that. Uh we also have a big plaza at the front of the main building uh for uh the purpose of again making those strong pathways. You can see now we've actually added a small

059little traffic circle uh at a pinch point on the site which always is is problematic. And we do have a gated crossing here. Uh so we are able to control and limit um how vehicles move between um both the high school main building or the school side to the administrative and and and bus depot. So um all of the asphalt from here all the way through and downside drive as well as this whole loop is being upgraded. Again, we're uh looking at you know upgrading it to heavy duty pavements for the the bus the bus movements especially. We're also looking at trying to increase parking where we can. Uh we're really getting ourselves staged for the district's longerterm plan uh for eventually going full electrification of buses. Um we aren't doing anything with this parking

060lot right now. Um that wasn't in this current budget, but again, we're setting it we're setting ourselves up for future phases of this work. So that's all prepped. Everything that we're doing is considering what the long term is for that improvement. Um Tom, if I could add also, one of the other district's long-term goals is considerations for geothermal uh support for this campus. And if that were to happen, the logical place for that to occur would be behind the high school. So to be fiscally responsible, we're making sure that we're not touching that area now so it doesn't have to be disturbed in the near future if you do move in that direction. Yeah, we didn't want to put a whole new parking lot facility in and then later on with the potential for geothermal

061have to dig it all back up to do the wilds because that is really the logical location for those for those buck fields and that would be quite a few as I'm sure you're going to hear about at your next meeting with with so that'll be interesting. I'm gonna either tune in or I'm gonna because I'm gonna want to watch that as well. So, uh, I think that about covers everything that we're looking at relative to, uh, uh, to the the site improvements. And before we wrap up here, we don't have pretty pictures. These are kind of the infrastructure items that happen behind the scenes um, for our engineering teams, but just wanted to make sure we're not losing track of some of the other infrastructure items that are being improved. Um, that includes fire

062alarm system replacement, PA, intercom, and clock system replacement. uh air conditioning at the high school and then at the main building, bathroom renovations and electrical. And then lastly, before we close, we wanted to share next steps. So again, back to where we started. This is our project schedule and you can see that red bar is where we are at the midst of our design development phase and our next steps moving forward. Um, we just recently received the estimate that the Columbbo Group has prepared based on that schematic design report. So, we call that the SD estimate. We're in the process of reviewing that now and then making sure one that it is accurate and reflects our design intent, but also identifying if we need to make any decisions with that design to make sure that

063we're in alignment with the project budget. Um, moving on, we're completing our design development phase. So, this process includes additional investigations as I mentioned earlier for hazardous materials, geotechnical um and site survey. We're continuing to develop the design, meeting with stakeholders um and progressing the design of each one of those spaces. They are still pretty conceptual. Um even though it may not look like that, um they are still pretty conceptual, but we're continuing to refine those and we'll be doing follow-up meetings with each of those stakeholder groups to make sure that our designs are reflective of um their anticipated um improvements there. And we continue uh those regular OAC meetings with the district and the construction manager to make sure we're all on the same page as the project moves forward. Our target completion date

064for this design development phase is in June. That was so impressive. I really I know really that was really So I'll stress you see a lot of emphasis on communication on regularized meetings, OACM meetings, you know, all of this. Going back to the shareholder groups, the objective is no surprises, right? We want to make sure that everything in our design is meeting the expectation of what the district wants to see when the project is completed. So that takes a lot of work and we know it takes a lot of your time as well. We're certainly appreciative of all the time that you know everybody has provided us to making sure that we're going through this process um efficiently. Um you know certainly uh thanks to the plumbo group as well uh with their role in

065this and you know doing constructibility reviews and doing the estimates and keeping everything on track kind of keeping us on it so to speak. Um but communication so I just hopefully everybody saw the emphasis on constant communication right so I haven't been part I haven't been part Megan and I haven't been part of the ongoing stakeholder groups which there have been so many but we have been part of the OACM meetings and it has been really very interesting to see how the design has changed how it was reflecting the work that the stakeholder groups were engaged in right so when we're talking about stakeholders right we're talking about really primarily folks here at the district who will be using those spaces who are the experts on knowing what those spaces should entail, how are we

066going to use them. Um, so I've been part of those groups, but I've been part of the OACM meetings and really seeing how the design has gradually shifted and shifted with um, the Arch being so responsive to the different kinds of feedback people came, you know, gave that this current design of the um, student group. Like it it's gone through some some iterations, right? And it really has been a a collaborative effort. You know, me mostly on the outside sort of, you know, watching it take shape, but it's so much information. I can't believe you gave that so smoothly. It is no practical authorship, right? That's what you say. This really has to reflect. This is val. It's not about the architect, right? It's it's about the school district and making sure it reflects your

067values and what you need for the mission of the district. So I well before I I just want to make sure we have a chance to introduce Lou Rodri because I think Maggie and Sean had met Lou but I don't think any of the others of us have had it. Well I have but so just to make for people watching right so OACM owners architects and our construction manager and so Lou has also been a part um I thought folks with might have questions about how the the you know the pricing is sort of beginning to develop. I thought there was a chance people might I'm not saying you need to ask a question but I did ask Lou to be here in case those questions were brought up. Um but yeah I sorry I

068had a quick design question um about the Could you talk a little bit there's a patio um on the other side of so the main building and there's a a bigger traffic circle and then there's a patio on that side. That's the first I'd seen of that in front of the student center. No down by the main building. Down by the main building. Yes. So kind of on the other that that's interesting. Is that you want to go back to this? Sorry. It's taking out that circle. Yeah. Well, the the existing circle is there still. So, the existing circle here, it's creating a plaza here. But it's taking out the traffic circle, isn't it? Or no, it it is. It's it's taking out your traffic circle that was there. We're creating a a cut in

069for drop offs and then that plaza receives them to this circle and then into the buildings. Okay. And that circle is not that's pedestrian. Oh, this is ped. This is the pedestrian. Yeah, the traffic circle that was here is being good. And that really cleans up and streamlines a lot of the traffic. Provides a better drop zone for uh the students as well because those have to there there are requirements for that. Yeah. I'm trying to get a feel of the flow there. So, if a parent is dropping a kid off at the high school, are they still swooping past the main building? Like they there's no choice like that still has to happen, right? So there's two potential thoughts on this and either one and I think you know district probably have to decide

070which one's going to work the best. It can be that all that all drop offs vehicular drop offs are on this side of the of the house and all the buses drop off here or you can actually do it in reverse. Either one is acceptable. But the idea is that you you don't go between those two zones during those periods. you keep the cars and the buses separated. So, and so it's really set up that you could do it in either way. And I think you know you'll you'll select one and you'll see how it works. And if you say, "Well, this is working exactly how we would like it." You'll flip the script and you'll do it the other way to see if it makes a marked improvement. It's certainly a marked improvement over

071what you have current. Yeah, it's never going to be absolutely perfect. Unfortunately, I've said it a million times. It's a challenging experience. That big hill in front of the high school. Yeah. Really? Well, I like the rectangular design much more than I thought I was going to. I was kind of bummed to hear that the octagon had been, but I really I I think it looks great. I think it the modern look really works. I think it looks really good. One point, one area of concern I just want to point out. I'm a little concerned about the um space between the um the dirty lab and the clean lab. I mean sawdust gets everywhere and I'm a little concerned as you're going through those doors swooshing the wind's going to go in and the it's

072going to settle in those 3D printers and I'm just wondering you know when it you don't want to wait too long to make design changes to ameliorate that. So it's a very good question. So that's something I've been thinking about. So I think part of that is done mechanically, right? We can put that space under positive pressure so that when those doors open up, it's always going in the proper direction, not infiltrating the clean space. So I think there's ways that we can control that. I think that's maybe more of a our director of engineering. Maybe it's a question for him. Okay. uh to to resolve to see how he's looking at the differential pressure between those two spaces absent having a true vestibility between the two which would take up far too much space.

073Yeah. And you hate to go out into the hallway and back in again, right? You do want to have there are some uh other ways mechanically that it's a great very perceptive question. Additionally, in both buildings, we've uh ident we've located the shop equipment on one end of the room and the 3D printers on the other end to gain as much separation from those as possible so that we're not providing you know both of those things on either side immediately of that door. I'm I'm curious about this is about the um support services in the main building. Uh there are two spaces that are have been omitted in this iteration. one being the the deescalation room as well as a dedicated PT and the OTPT room is there. We just didn't highlight it. So, it's

074still on that corner there. Correct. If you see where our blue shading is, that kind of L-shaped white room, we just weren't highlighting everything. And we still bathroom. Yeah. I wasn't because I know that there had been conversation about that space being used for purposes. So, we still have a dedicated OTP room. We did lose the deescalation room. Um again we are confined between the exterior wall and the corridor wall. So it's tight space and to provide all the programmatic um elements here through our stakeholder group meetings um everyone agreed that it was a sacrificial uh maneuver here to make sure that we had adequate space for these offices. Um and in most cases because this is serving your younger population, those students that need deescalation are probably being seen by a counselor not um

075you know put into a separate smaller space anyway. So um we're trying to mitigate the need for that by providing more space in these offices. In the main office space, I saw a spot where the attendance person would sit, I guess, you know, um where the where the window is going into the vestibule. Are there desks for the elementary and the middle school? I guess not the elementary, the middle school offices. There's a second off desk there as well. Um in between you can there's actually two staff members kind of like to see there's one here. Okay. The security desk is here, but there's a second. Thanks. I miss that. See it there a little bit better, too. Sometimes sometimes these help people visualize the space and sometimes it throws you off a little bit

076because we remove the walls to be able to see into the space. So sometimes you lose the context a little bit. Any other questions? Are the windows in the um high school edition, the upper windows, are they designed to be open or are they just too high up? You would never open them. Well, one of them has to open because it has to be served for rescue. So one of it has to be elevator operable. I think they probably will it all be operable but we are providing air conditioning. So So hopefully people will less need for that shoulder season you want away. Question is the full SD support uh report is that the document that's attached or is that something that access to No, that's it came in a a I'd have to go

077look. Friday Carl a couple of weeks ago. Okay. Actually, so separate. No, it was part of the Friday. Yeah, it was part of a Friday. Just separate. So, it's in the Yes. And I actually was looking at it the other day, but I can't remember. You all turned that out on March 18th, right? So, look, we go back to a couple of emails from around there. I recollect, but I couldn't remember. What you keep in mind is even since the schematic design report was was finalized, right? There have been ongoing conversations and even at this point not everything is, you know, not everything is written in stone because new concerns may come up or new ideas may arise. I mean, people are feeling pretty good about this. At that point in time, though, you're correct.

078Yeah, I've said it before. It is a snapshot in time. The second it was printed, we still continue to develop their design. So, you know, we say pencils down, but it's, you know, for a few hours and you can I'm just I would be curious to read the notes section. That's all just we're gonna test you. So, some of what you see saw today is going to be exactly in that and then some some of what you'll see um is is different because it's continue to be developed. Great. So, we heard many reasons why we went with this design versus the octagon, but I didn't hear about um cost savings. Is that a big one? I mean, it's part of it's part of the conversation. Um, the octagon made it challenging to connect that to

079the twotory and how do you treat things? Um, and also had a larger volume, which one is going to be more costly to build, but two, it's more costly for you to heat and cool on a regular basis. So, in the vein of sustainability, this is also one of those maneuvers that we think is helping you uh lower your upfront costs and your annual maintenance costs. It was just a challenging form to attach to this building. Again, it's Yeah, I I really in favor of this direction. It's still a large volume space, but not um overly so to the point where you're heating and cooling. Aesthetically, it aesthetically that breaks up the brick because there was octagon. Yeah. Yeah. That was a lot of brick going into the sky. that helps break it up a

080hair and this truly prioritizes that amazingly that and also I think the the possibility of using the space for for other kinds of things. I mean I think you know I I think um that it's not a stage it's a it's a platform but I really can envision you know how you know the possibility of smaller more student driven you know performances um you know the opportunities for um uh yeah I mean that that kind of thing simple little coffee house right there you got to go we had some uh music staff representation at some of our stakeholder meetings too fan how how you would envision using the space and they don't envision it being a full band space but it could be a smaller quartet or a smaller you know um yeah a cat

081little cabaret performance things of that nature you could do a you know senior talent night open house Julia's going to get up on the platform and talk to everyone about financial aid you know there's a lot of different things we can do here we could have board meetings have board meetings That would be nice. And that's the challenge for our acoustical engineer to say you've got to accommodate all of these different uses and we want it to be acoustically perfect. So, and still locate a projection screen and technology so that the space is usable for a lot of different functions. Yeah. I know we're not on admin reports yet, but this seems like a more fitting place to talk about it. I think Josh Elder, you Mr. Elder, you were at the um you went

082to go to Chapelqua. I did. I second time both times. And I think you mentioned that you were looking at some of the equipment and were making some decisions about what you would like to bring to Helen. So yeah, I think the first visit was more of like conceptual ideas around the steam labs as we saw it. And then the more acute need was we needed an equipment list that actually fit both of those rooms. And so Julia actually had set up the opportunity for myself and three other teachers to go there. And we went to Robert E. Bell Middle School at Chapua. I met with the same teacher we saw the first time who was a wealth of information. And their labs are set up basically similar to how ours are in terms of

083a fabrication room and kind of a wood chopping area room. And so um you know the the very the teachers we brought had a high degree of expertise but they were just able to speak the language with this individual and just really get a better understanding of the types of um equipment need. So you like mentioned dust and everything. So there's like dustless backs that are hooked up to the machines and stuff. And I think one of the things that just to take away from that this guy talked about that was eye opening for everyone. It's not like the kids are going to be operating power saws like all day. They're actually probably never going to operate the power saw. You know what I mean? So the the dust collection is uh minimized in a

084lot of ways. So a lot of like the pre-cutting of materials is done ahead of time. So the kids are coming in not always but in general doing the assembly parts of it at that point in time. So it was it's eye opening to just see the types of uh stuff we really needed that just goes beyond the the major machinery but just all the the clamps storage like storage storage really um no I actually have one question I asked Lou to come so one of the things I thought people might have questions about is given some of the economic IC uncertainty. How is our construction manager feeling about this? And that's that's the question I have. And and for Lou, so yeah, great. Uh there's always today everybody's talking about dollars and cents. Um

085what I like to do is look at a project and let's dissect it. Let's start breaking it apart and talk about the pieces of how we would be bidding it. So the first piece is the site work. So when you look at the sitework component, we're not looking for importing stone or importing asphalt, that's all local. Right now, your site work package is hovering at three to three and a half million dollars. So take that piece. We have quaries locally. Uh so the site work component, that's a nice piece. Uh the tariff should not be affecting site work. Um asphalt is petroleum based, right? So, as long as the barrel of oil stays at $70, $80, we're going to be fine. You move to the building, the building edition, uh it's masonry, right? You have

086some steel there, but really when you look at it, local, we have uh local blockous, we have local mason like all local places that actually manufacture stone here. Um, the steel would be a component. So, is it a US uh company that we're buying steel from or is it a China company that we're buying steel from? A lot of times we try to really when we write the contract docs, we really like to push towards uh Americanmade products. So, when you look at it, when you look at the build here, what are we buying that's really going to be affected? So, it's steel and the aluminum that curtain wall that you see on the front and the windows that's aluminum. Okay. So, just to give you an idea, uh just uh three weeks, four weeks

087ago, we bid a bleacher system. The bleacher system came in at about $450,000 and just at the end of last week that bleacher company came back to us asking for a 7% increase because the whole bleacher system is aluminum. So when you look at this uh this building where where is there some potential exposure? Aluminum, right? The glazing is local, all the glass is local. All the brick is local. All of the special stone features would be local. The roofing system, uh there's been back what we had looked at had a mix of rubber and standing seam. Right now, it's it's really a shed. It's a shed roof. So, in theory, if you're not really looking at it, why spend money on a on a standing seam roof that you're not standing seam roof that

088you're not look at look at? So now we're talking about rubber, APM rubber that again we we can that we're we manufacture locally. So that's how I like to break things up. And then you look at finishes, you look carpet, paint, uh as long as we're not ordering tile from Italy for your your bathrooms, uh or special finishes. Uh what's our exposure right now? There really isn't a lot of exposure except for the aluminum and the steel. That's what I see. Mechanical. On a mechanical side, what what you see is um it's more of lead times. There is the chip side of things. We ran into this uh a while uh just just this past year where there were just we were waiting a simple unit ventilator was complete but the board that controlled it

089we were waiting for the board and that board there were there were uh the chip was manufactured uh in China or coming from across the way. So we waited for that for that and that created a long lead and it did create uh a situation where we had to just rethink how we're going to build um and then uh uh when you look at electrical uh main distribution panels right now. So we were going to do some modifications to this one here for the increase of the of course the building and we're also adding a chiller. So the MDP here as soon as we really get out to bid and really start looking at that that's going to be the first thing I'm going to be looking at say that main distribution panel right now

090I've been waiting 60 60 weeks for an MDP an upgrade. So that would be something is the buy that much different? No, it's waiting for it is is the problem. So, we be creative and and what the other thing too is that we what we can be creative here is we're not going to go out. My recommendation is you're not going to just go out when we say we're going out to bid in December. I'm not going out to bid with $23.7 million worth. Right now, you have $17.7 million here. You have another $6 million here. And then there's the site work. How do we, you know, how do we break things up and be smart about it? Let's bid that site work a little later, right? We don't need a site work contractor waiting

091two years to build. We don't want to build we don't want to bid at the end of 2025 and he's not doing work until the summer of 2027, right? Because that's really what would happen. So, we would bid that a little later. And then when you look at the work here in Maine, this really creates you have 6,300 square feet that we're touching downstairs. it. It's a nice bit package for some local contractors that maybe wouldn't be able to be able to bid that, but there are some guys that would be able to bond and bid the work that's that's in this building. So, we can be creative and control the cost, too. I mean, the I I'll be honest, this is something that I'm very very anxious about, right? And so, I I was

092really relieved to hear. I I didn't hear it in this detail, but here are some of the news that Lou had to share with us at the last OACN meeting. Of course, nothing certain right now. Nothing's ever certain, but nothing certain right now, but I thought it was I found this to be a a um anxiety reducing message, you know, that I thought that the board might want to might might appreciate hearing. So, no, thank you. Yeah. No, and it's true. You have to look at each build is a little differently. This build um is a is a special build, but the products, a lot of the products we we can get locally. We're not waiting on something to be imported. You know, when you look at all the quaries that make all the materials,

093all the stone, all the brick, all the block, we have all of that locally. The contractors got to want to do that because they're want gonna want to be federal. Yeah. And you also said something important which is there are enough smaller projects within this larger project that you can find local guys that would be willing to bid correct on it. Yeah. Correct. Yeah. I like I like this this building. It's a nice package. Um we get some some local guys bidding on it. This package here is going to draw some bigger guys, right? But again, we can get we can be versatile and and get some competitive bidding on it. And you haven't seen anything yet on the weakening dollar and purchasing power or anything like that on overall materials in the US? You

094feel right now it's steady Eddie? It's steady. Yeah. Yeah. We've been Yeah, we've been, you know, again, the example I gave you with the bleacher system, it's dramatic, but it's because that's it's just all aluminum is that's what it is. And we got hit with it right away. And that's um I haven't gotten hit with anything else besides that yet. And I'll of course I'll raise my hand the district and just say, "Hey, um there's something else coming down the pike that I feel, you know, we got to plan for." Um even with wire, you know, electrical wire, we've gone back and forth where we play the game between copper and aluminum for some reason. And aluminum, it's copper is the product that you want anyway. So if it's if aluminum becomes that high. Okay,

095let's go back. So we do we do look at that as well. Great. Great. Thank you. Thank you so much for Yes. Thank you so much. Very exciting. Yes, it is. Really exciting. Really is. I agree. Y All right. So, thanks again. Thank you. Good night. And so now, um, yeah. Uh, budget presentation. Okay. Next presentation. Now, this you've seen a number of times, so I'll just give a quick Oops. What did I do here? Okay. Catherine, you want to As we talked or as Carl talked about at the beginning of the meeting, the state budget has not yet been finalized. Um, it did cause a little bit of concern among most districts, but we did receive guidance from uh New York State Education Department on how to make the best estimates as we await

096the final state budget. And all the guidance that we have received um supports the our initial state aid numbers from the governor's proposal. So, um I do believe that, you know, we've had tonight is the night we have we have to adopt tonight. So, we um are pretty confident in that our numbers won't go down. I mean, we can't ever obviously promise that, but we're we're pretty comfortable with the numbers that we have in there with the guidance that we were given as we await the budget. Um and again, just a reminder, our proposed tax levy increase for this year is 2.8%. If voters approve the budget, this will result in an additional 637,000 to our tax levy for a total tax levy this year of 23,412,078 or 41278. I can't say that. Sorry. Um

097now there you go. This I'll move very quickly, but just a reminder um this process really started back in December. uh all of our admin team, department chairs, curriculum leaders, you know, everyone has really weighed in and we identified, you know, some of the needs and and wants of the of the district and we really were able to to accommodate uh nearly everything that that was presented that that made sense and was aligned with the goals. So, for example, um we uh wanted to support uh an ELA program uh for our elementary school that is aligned with the science of reading. Uh that work is well underway. Um both our elementary principal with Josh Elder um are moving forward with a committee uh and and that would be selected um definitely for next year. um

098also a software platform for um RTI or a multi-tered system of supports that work is happening but a software system will make teachers principles uh much more efficient preK program we're excited uh we we filled all 18 seats I believe there are seven uh families on a waiting list um but that uh we we anticipate will be a tremendous success but there are some startup costs that the district had to do as far as curricular materials, furniture, stations within the classroom, uh some updates to our playground. So, that's all included in this budget. Uh increase in special education funding. We always are very thoughtful about projections that happened mid year. Our director of special education presented those needs and we certainly uh have a budget that will support that as well. field trip budget line.

099It hasn't been increased in in many many years. We appreciate all the work that the foundation has done to support field trips. You heard our high school students just talk about what a wonderful experience they they've had, but this is districtwide. So, it's a it's a significant increase. It doesn't cover all trips for all students. We will still be reaching out and and partnering with the foundation, but but it is an improvement. Um, also the athletic facilities improvements. One of the main ones is is dugouts on on the girls softball field. Also, uh, air conditioning in this main building. Central air will be included with all of the renovated office spaces and and and speech classrooms and support staff rooms. But the rest of the building does not have air conditioning. There is a requirement

100when rooms hit 88 degrees, students need to be relocated. At 82, you have to do some mitigation. So, this budget, we already started installing air condition air conditioning in our hottest rooms that we've identified, and that will continue into next year with this budget. Um, auditorium stage and performing performing arts uh equipment. You heard that, you know, we we had a a significant leak in the roof, plaster fell, destroyed equipment. Um, we've been jerryrigging things to try to get through our performances. It's worked but but it really is just not sustainable. So here you have 30,000. We are also anticipating that our theater program over the years has accumulated some money and and will also contribute maybe 10 to 15,000 and with that we can do some significant enhancements to to the stage. Um and

101then uh districtwide transportation system analysis. We're doing this through Boseies. There is some some aid on it when it it's completed. The preliminary meeting is set up for May, but most of this work will happen in the fall. With that information, the board then could could really make some decisions. You know, potentially you're you're transitioning to electric buses, but also routing efficiencies, things such as that. Uh hopefully you'll get some great ideas uh from the study. So I think you have a pretty comprehensive list of improvements and enhancements for the district within the budget. Okay. And uh this slide you have seen before but again we have a 2.8% increase to our tax levy for next year. Um our state aid although our foundation aid has increased for next year our expense-based aid is uh

102decreased. So we do have unfortunately a uh negative 1.04% 04% in our state aid. Um hopefully some of that will come back with when the state budget comes through, but this is what we are using for our adopted budget for tonight. Our other revenue is up by a lot. Again, we talked about this. This is primarily tuition, but it's also our uh interest income. We had been extremely conservative over the past few years with how we budgeted for interest income. And even though there is some uncertainty in the market right now, we were very comfortable in increasing our interest income revenue line for next year. And then each year we do allocate $645,000 of appropriated fund balance and $250,000 of reserves into the budget just in case we have any needs that um come up

103that we we could pay a bill by using our fund balance or our reserves if necessary. So, we are right now proposing a budget of $30,154,390, which is a 3.24% increase over the 2425 budget. Thank you. And we are at the stage in budget development where every time we present the budget, we are required to present it as in a three-part component summary. And it just does show that uh we do break down the budget into our administrative component, our capital component, and our largest piece of it is our programmatic component um which is about 70% of of the budget. So, it's just the numbers you've been seeing over the last few weeks just summarized in um and each time I do projected, I get a little bit closer because as time goes on, again,

104it's a snapshot of a time with the information that I have at that time. So, the projected numbers um this is, you know, are updated from a couple weeks ago with where I thought we would end up. And just to go through our propositions one last time for everyone, prop our regular proposition is just our budget vote. Proposition two is our vehicle purchase for one 65 passenger diesel school bus. Uh that is a tax neutral proposition because as you know uh we finance it with debt. But as debt falls off, we increase the debt so it stays flat for the tax basis. Proposition three again is tax neutral. This is the change to our capital reserve fund. As you know, we spent uh we did have a capital reserve fund with a million dollars in

105it. We the voters um approved using that $1 million as part of the capital project. This is allowing us to start up the capital reserve fund again for another 10 years and increase our allowable balance from the 1 million that we had to 3 million um maximum over you know over 10 years. And the way that will be funded is with if there is excess fund balance at the end of the year um to keep us to our 4% we this is now we'll be able to put money back into capital reserve for future use. We have two three-year terms for trustee. And our fourth, our last proposition is the Butterfield Library. Again, uh, school districts have to put a library proposition on their ballot for them if the library requests it. And the library

106has not gone out for an increase um for about 10 years and they are asking for $98,150. It will be levied um on our school taxes, but then charged directly. it's a separate line on your school tax bill and it's turned directly over to the library um in September. And just based on our tax levy increase this year of 2.8% we calculated some tax impacts on a based on different uh property market values. So, we're, as you can see, a property market value of $300,000 would have an annual tax increase of about $118. And then all the way up to a million dollar home would have a annual tax increase of $393. And tonight, we uh need to adopt the budget. It's um required. I have to turn in paperwork to the state education department

107tomorrow. And then we will have our public hearing on May 6th and then our vote on May 20th. So we are coming into the home stretch. And that is all I have. You're very familiar with those numbers. I'm sure you're very While we And while we're here, I actually just want to take the opportunity to thank the uh leadership of the Hian Arts Alliance. Well, obviously thank our district folks again, but on on Monday, Carl, Katherine, Megan, and I, and Maggie met with leadership from the Helian Arts Alliance, the Athletic Booster Club, the school foundation, and the PTA. And um, everybody was really happy to hear what was in the budget. Clearly, we had support from those folks. Um, they'll be reaching out to their membership. um and we offered to um you know support

108their communication in any way that that would be helpful. So thanks to them for that and thanks to you all for that. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Wonderful. All right. So next on our agenda is the first opportunity for communication from the public. The Helian Board of Education desires and values input from the entire school community. This first public comment session is to serve for comments on special presentations and active agenda items. For those who would wish to speak to the board, we'd ask you to sign in, state your name for the record, and keep your remarks to three minutes or less. We strongly discourage disparaging remarks and any discussion of district personnel. Um, and although we would not engage in dialogue, we would be listening and we'd ask you to leave your contact information so

109that we could follow up with you. Next on the agenda, we have um our administrator um information reports. There was so much great stuff in them. Um, I actually one of the things I I mean there's so many things that I noticed, but one of the things I just wanted to call out um was from Josh's report and actually some of the fruits of that or the hiring that the district has done and how really grateful I am that Hane is able to attract such strong candidates. You know, I I've worked in so many school districts across the country where there are just these profound staffing shortages and we are so fortunate not to um be facing them and I you know it speaks work that everybody is there anything else anybody else wanted to

110call out about that Dr. ification's not here, but I did just want to call out um on her report the thoughtfulness that um went into uh developing the vision of pupil personnel services. You know, really starting with the school vision saying, you know, we really just want to use the school vision, kids getting services are not the expectation should be no different and then really kind of incorporating ideas of universal design and some other core beliefs that guide the work of PPS. So, just wanted to call out the thoughtfulness of that. All right. Next on um is uh the we had the committee minutes and the wellness committee were there for us to um review and some of the work continued work that that group is doing which we appreciate. Um and we'll move into

111is I want to go too fast sometimes. I Good. Um, next we have the consent agenda minutes from our last board meeting. Um, may I have a motion, please? So moved. Second. All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Next is the consent agenda. Uh, financial. May I have a motion, please? So moved. Second. Second. only say um and is there anything some exciting textbooks? We were going to give a minute if you want for Julia to share some information about that. Oh, great. Yeah, that's good. Yes, it um we are looking to pilot I would call it a pilot um the human geography course um at the high school. Um we know human geography can also be associated with the University of Albany. It is an accredited uh course through Albany. It's also a college

112board accredited course, so it could be at an AP school. Um next year we're looking to pilot it. We're we're not jumping on with Albany. We're not jumping on with one college board. Um but there appears to be interest offering the course. Um we're really looking at uh units of study on population and migration, cultural geography, urban geography, political geography, rural and urban land, and economic geography. And you'll see that um in the proposed coursework, but we are aligning with college board as well. So there's an alignment, but the course is not ending in an AP exam. Down the road, open a conversation, seeing how it goes. Um, but that's where we're we're at right now with human. So there's a lot of information out there. Um, Miss Core has already started to develop her

113units of study. Um, we'll give her some time over the summer to further develop uh the course. Um, and this is part of the process as we develop new courses. We always bring the information to the board and it would be a new textbook. Um, I do have copy on my desk. I meant to bring it down. I apologize. Um, but she did go through the three course the three textbook course review process. Um, and that which follows board policy. Okay. Thank you. How many sections are one? It would be one. So um you know small school right that's what tried to offer elective courses every other year not necessarily offering the same one every year sociology is a very popular elective um in the social studies department history department um and she also teaches

114sociology so it really depends upon numbers and class sizes right like we're not seeing a reduction next year we're at right now 72 incoming freshmen and we have 74 leading seniors. So, we're not seeing a decline. Um, so it really depends on how many of those core classes we have to offer to then look at how many electives can we offer. So, this would be one of those that might alternate with something like sociology. That makes sense. Great. Thank you very much. Thank you, Julie. So, all those in favor? I I Any uh consent agenda? Personnel. May I have a motion? One minute. Second. Um I think there are a couple things we want to call out. Exciting things on our personnel agenda tonight. I'll just say briefly, we um as Peggy said earlier, we've

115been able to attract highlevel candidates. We have three faculty positions that we're recommending to the board this evening. Uh each one has has a highly qualified candidate that went through a very rigorous um selection process. So, um Miss Nicole Roas is is for elementary special education class. She comes with us uh to us with wonderful experience in both special education and reading. We also have a psychologist Dr. Avik uh Avichek. Ivichic. Ivichic. Thank you. My apologies. I I did meet meet with all of them at the final stage of the process. Um she's not only a certified school psychologist but a licensed psychologist in New York State. Has her doctorate from Hofra. Comes to us with wonderful experience. So, we are very excited to have her uh join the team. Uh and then last but

116not least, uh here joining us this evening is Nicole Murphy. And Nicole is not a stranger to How Dane. She's started as a PDM sub, worked her way up to a leave replacement ELA teacher this past year, has done outstanding work um from her colleagues as as well as her principal. Uh she's very very responsive to feedback, has a real growth mindset, pursued while here, pursued degree in in literacy and special education. So has multiple certifications which is great for a small place like nine too. Wait, yeah, really. So like that's a lot to do. Yes. At elementary and secondary. So um we are very pleased. She did go through a very rigorous process as well. It it wasn't a done deal, but um we're happy that she emerged as as our finalist and she's

117here this evening and we recommend them to you with with tremendous confidence that they will do well. Very exciting. Thanks for coming. Fantastic. All right. So, all those in favor? I. Any opposed? Really, we really appreciate it's very nice to get to meet people as they come in. So, I know you've been here for a while, but welcome. Always awesome. All right. Um Um So, now we're transitioning to new business. Um, we have the cseps recommendations. So, we have the recommended acting 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 present. Can I have a motion, please? Second. All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Uh, next we have our candidates for trustees of

118the Heling Board of Education. This is not a motion. This is just I know actually. I guess I can just say it since I know. So, um, the applications were due on Monday and we received applications from Ezra and from Sean. Those were the two that we had, I guess. Um, for us That's great. Um, and I think some this morning you all decided the order that folks are going to be in or something like that. There you go. Good oldfashioned drawing. So anyway, so we now have really the the public now knows everything that's going to be on the ballot for um May uh 20th. We have our four propositions and we have our two candidates. So uh thanks to you all for stepping up to run again. Um next is uh do we

119want to do any kind of school budget community engagement opportunities? Right. So and this would be something like um historically these aren't super well attended but I think we should actually go ahead and offer them. I mean, we did have a couple of people come when we met a few minutes before a board meeting. I would be I would be I don't think the whole board needs to come, but before the board whole board did come for the referendum. Yeah. Yeah, we did that. And and and people came and I think we could definitely send it out locally. I think we could also put a little ad in the paper. Um I certainly don't mind coming the 30 minutes like at 6:30 before our meeting on the 6. Um I don't know if there's other

120things folks think that we should I agree that they haven't historically been very well attended but we should still offer that. We should Yeah. I mean I think in particular there are a couple of things this year that it would be good for us to be able to address openly and directly since music. Yeah. Um the only other thing Oh, you know, another thing that we could do would be um to just maybe more locally maybe um choose two after school days on the playground for people to for a board member to to be at. Um I think and then send that out as an email. Sure. Yes. If we sent it as an email, it would only go to our housing community. But but those are the people who are going to be on

121the playground. I mean that that's what I was thinking. I mean that I um I And then if you want to do the 30 minutes, we could include that in an ad. I think we could do generally we do an ad reminding people about the vote anyway. So we mention it in that same I I think so. We should have the blue devil mascot there so people know that not just picking up our kid. But Ezra, you you wear the mascot out there. How can I be there and be in the class for the for the Yeah. Um I you know I I never really know exactly the the best way to do these. Um yeah, two years ago we did have a separate forum. I think last year we resolved to encouraging people to

122attend the public hearing since that's really I think what it's designed to be. Um but yes, for the referendum we did it a little bit before a meeting. So when does the mailing go out? People will receive it in that week preceding the vote. So after May 6. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's it's in the printer's hands tonight, but they can't start until we got through tonight's adoption. So, it takes a little bit. I mean, we could do a Zoom thing the week before. When you say it's going to be in people's hands the night, it should Oh, it should arrive in their mailboxes in that week before the vote. So, the vote is the week. The vote is the 20th. That's the week of the 19th. They'll get it the week before. Um,

123do we want to do and and again, this would be something that I would do with like Carl and Katherine, but do we want to offer like a a as we could as a a Zoom meeting that people could join like after work? We could. I mean, if we do registration and see what interest is in Yeah. Sometimes we try to encourage a RSVP. Yeah. Yeah. Just get a sense of that. Why don't we do that? Yeah. And so I can arrange with you all to do that on maybe even like a Thursday. Yeah, we should just pick our date and time soon if we want to put it in a print ad. Okay. Um have to be right this minute. Yeah, let's do that. Okay. Why don't Why don't we to make sure people

124have it in our hands? Let's try to do it maybe on that Wednesday night unless we but we'll fix we'll Okay. figure out the date. And if we and if we did decide to do something that was on a black top kind of open what and maybe we should ask the PTA. Yeah, that's what I was going to say. The better way to do that's instead of us arranging that, why don't I why don't um why don't I reach out to Billas? Yeah. Um and and offer to do that and one any of us could do that. Um, the I the it's not going to be available for a while, but Megan and everyone who worked on it, Katherine, Carl, the newsletter really clearly lays out the different propositions and I didn't share it with

125people because it's it wasn't super complicated, but the letter from the board also really walks people through like there are these four propositions and and and I and I think it really it un it's trying to sort of scaffold for people to help them understand what's going on and so when people have questions the newsletter is going to be a good source and actually I mean maybe we go ahead and send you all just a copy of it so that you're familiar with it too in case that would be great something Yeah I can share it electronically um so before the meeting on 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