001[music] Chris, how you feeling? >> Oh, yeah. Hi. >> This summer, staff have been working. >> Good evening and welcome to >> to prepare our buildings and grounds for students in the fall. Our grounds are looking better than ever, and I am excited for our students to experience them. Hey, [music] hey, hey. >> [music] [music] >> Good evening and welcome to the August 5th Mount Vernon City School District Board of Education work session. May you please stand for the pledge. I pledge >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Roll call. Trustee Brown, >> present. >> Trusty Kelly. >> Trusty Mcdana, >> present. >> Trusty Middleton, >> present. >> Trusty Peterson, >> present.
002Trustee Scott, >> Trusty White, >> VP Mitchell, and President Marabel >> present. Okay, we have a quorum. >> We will begin with a presentation from transportation by Mr. Larry Lee Fiber. Dr. Strickland, would you like to introduce him? >> So, good evening community and uh trustees, President Marble. Uh just to let you know uh this work session we are focusing on uh upgrades uh to our transportation system um as well as um giving you a preview of the special education services uh in the Mount Vernon City School District. Um there's a lot of progress that has been made and there is a lot of progress that still needs to be made. Um, I would just continue to uh ask that you just write down your questions and uh address them to me and then I
003will be sure to if we don't have the response this evening within 48 hours get you a response uh that you would uh hopefully understand. Thank you. >> If you do not have Dr. Strickland's email, at the end of the meeting we will post the email for Dr. Strickland as well as an email address that will get to every single solitary school board member trustee as well as the district clerk. So you will have that at the end of the session. There will be a slide for that. Thank you. Hello everyone. Hi. It's a pleasure to meet you. I haven't met most of you and I'm happy to be here because I've had an opportunity over the past few months to learn some some stuff about Mount Vernon and their transportation operations. And so that's
004why I'm here because I want to talk to you guys about it and answer any questions that I can. And so here we go. This was like a 50,000 foot view flying over Mount Vernon, which is the the cluster of blue in the center. And I've thought that I still do that Mount Vernon is where it's at. It's beautiful Westchester County. It's so close to New York City. I mean, it's a really cool place to be on Earth, you know. But when you zoom in on it, get lower in that plane, you can start to see the distribution. Those dots are the students as they are, they call it geocoded. They have x and y coordinates where they live. And they're all the heck over the place. Over 7,000 students are attending the public schools,
005right? The private schools, the special ed uh institutions, the parochial. They're pretty evenly and pretty densely distributed throughout the district. And we've got the neighbors, the Yons, the Bronx, the Bronxville, we got Tugo, Pelum. Um, pretty cool. We're even connected by one little point with New Rochelle. You guys probably know that these are our neighbors and they can be helpful and uh we can cooperate with them in terms of transportation opportunities. And so that's why right away I want to know who's our neighbor, you know, when it comes to busing. So the 16 Mount Vernon schools of this past year have been reduced to 13 schools for 2526. And so Leader Honor Parker, they're now a part of our history curriculum at Mount Vernon. But the public school students largely rely upon public transportation to
006get to school or they walk or they catch a ride with family or friends. But it's the special education students that sometimes designate special transportation needs and that's where the transportation show really goes here. Um, and we a previous speaker was talking about the the cost of special education students being I think she said it was like $30,000. Was that right? Which is a lot. You know what? New York State spends more educating its students than any other state. And guess what? They also spend more than any other state in transporting their students, which is something that I've strived to improve in the districts that I've served, and it's what I aim to do [clears throat] here, serving you. Um, so the transportation costs though are enormous, just like the $30,000 education costs for students.
007I wouldn't be surprised if our costs approach $20,000 just to transport them. You know what I mean? And there are states that it costs less than $20,000 to educate the students. Forget about transporting them, you know? So, it's uh something where it begs attention, you know, it and so that's what I'm trying to do. Now, when we look at the district, this is last year, guys. So the 12 elementary schools scattered the students are but in clusters as you can clearly see that there are geographic regions that fairly nicely define each school's attendance boundary and so we've got the colors grouped. However, if we filter out the gen ed students, you can see that the colors are just dispersed all across the map. And that's because the students that attend the programs, the special education
008programs at our district um are not necessarily strategically placed. They haven't been in the past. And so one big hope is that uh this year and maybe in future years that more focus could be um taken uh on that effort so that the programs that are serving the students might be able to be more closely related to the geographic distribution of the students that need them. But that's tough to do. It's easier to say than to do, that's for sure. But it took 600 special ed students. It took over 78 buses, guys, to get that job done. And it doesn't take too much math work to realize that's less than eight kids a bus, you know, and the buses, by the way, the have at least a capacity for 16 students. And so it's like,
009uhoh, we've got room to improve there, you know? And so that's immediately where my attention went. Just looking at the routes though, guys, and I know it's not something that you do, but these dots that are on the map now are the bus stops for given trips. The trips are colorcoded. And this is five elementary routes for BTA, which is one of the elementary schools. And you can see that the students are all over the district, of course. um going to BTA and there's a little bit of overlap of the routes but they're not completely scattered either. Um, and if we look at the another school, Denzel, we had five elementary trips for that school. And there was some overlapping too, but the students were again coming from all over the district to go to
010Denzel, which is the little pink building in the middle. Um, and Parker, it was the same thing. Parker's lower on the this map um towards the bottom south part of the district, but the six trips that went to Parker were sometimes nicely grouped, but there was some overlapping as well. And so Mount Vernon needs money and nobody's surprised to hear that. And a plan was formed like we just talked about to close three of the schools of the 16 schools and the remaining 13 schools to redistrict those student assignments and that has been done. Mount Vernon arranges transportation as we talked about only for the special ed students. So the gened students take public transportation and other means to get to school. But I was called late last school year to see if I could
011help reduce costs. So that's why I'm here. And by rerouting with a focus on efficiency, guys. And then by testing the rerouting, we did find savings. I mean, it was justified. And we actually implemented them for the high school. Now, it was late in the year, you know, so everyone's got their stops, you know, families all have their work plans scheduled, you know what I mean, to to accommodate their students, pick up and drop off times in the morning and afternoon. And so even though there were savings that were found in many schools by re-evaluating the routes, we had a chance to implement them with the high school and to make sure that it wasn't just smoke and mirrors kind of thing like no there were savings and we enjoyed them for the last couple
012months for at least one school. So I know that there are efficiencies that we can enjoy and so um so what while we were rerouting oh yeah last year the programs were being strategically redistricted and a new approach was employed to um to try to restrict busing only to the special ed students who had a physical or mental need you know for transportation, not just a globally assigned transportation for all specialed students because many of them are are fully capable of managing with other transportation arrangements and even walking to school. And so we wanted to at least explore those possibilities. And so what was talked about was a 1.5 mile kind of like a walk zone around each school. Now New York State has a law and they say if you're an elementary student and
013you live more than two miles from school, you need a bus. It's a district's obligation. And it's the same thing for high school. If you're in high school and you live more than three miles from school, you get a bus. And that's sounds pretty reasonable, but we wanted to hedge that direction, but not quite so harshly because walking three miles is kind of rough, you know, but it what was talked about was 1.5 miles. And it seemed like it was a plausible thing, you know, definitely less than the state law mandate, but could we at least talk about walk possibilities for some students? I don't know. Hey, it's it's up to you. Um, so tra the transportation saving stage, I believe, has been set. Three things. One, the thoughtful geographic repositioning of special ed programs
014in specific schools. That's number one. Number two is implementing potential walk zones. And another strategy, which would be group stops that I'm going to talk about right now. And number three, that we do the routing instead of the bus contractors. because in the past it's our bus contractors that have designed the routes and nothing against those guys. They've been very um they've been awesome at serving the Mount Vernon students I think in looking at the history of it. It's just that they may not share our need to save money by reducing the number of buses that we're using, guys. And so with me focused on that, maybe it will help us for our routing costs because it really comes down to how many buses, you know, that's the that's the price of it. So, we've
015got the triple threat poised to rock for 25 26 and we're doing our best to turn it into a home run, but um some of the special ed program placement decisions are still being finalized, but we need that information as soon as we can so we can make informed routing decisions that we can then share with the bus contractors and then they can do dry runs, they call it, with no kids, but to test it and make sure that they're doable, you know, and then assign them to drivers and all of that kind of stuff. And we've got to send out notifications to the parents and the families and all of that kind of stuff. But this is a first goround for us because in the past the contractors have done the routes. So now
016we want a chance to try to do it. And of course, we can always change the routes after the year starts, but I would hate to do that because again, these families make arrangements. You know, they're counting on transportation being there at a certain time in the morning and and the afternoon. And so, it's harsh when we change those kinds of plans mid year, you know what I mean? So, we want to avoid that if at all possible by doing it now. So, that's our hope. Um and those placements are being f uh formalized in infinite campus the student information system and we're getting our data in transportation from infinite campus which ma should make sense because the registration processes are complete and we know that students are legitimate you know what I mean and
017deserving of our services. And then we want to be able to share, of course, with the school staff all of the transportation arrangements so they know what bus to take little Billy to at the end of the school day for crying out loud because it's kind of confusing. You know, there's just all those buses we want to be able to communicate with those guys. So, that's what we're faced with and looking forward with enthusiasm to do right now. But bus stop consolidation is something that I did want to mention briefly and that is considering corner stops and group stops instead of traditionally what's happened is it's been doortodoorville you know and that takes more time and in effect it takes more money and you know why because we have to stop at each house and
018we go slower to get the route done and therefore we're compelled to after a certain amount of time just get the heck to school even though the bus isn't loaded quite full, you know, because how long do we want students to be on buses? Of course, we don't. So, we want to keep that manageable if we possibly can. And so by carefully considering the implementation or group or corner stops as opposed to the doortodoors, it would lead to safer routes. And I know that strikes people in wrong sometimes to hear that. They say, "No, the safest place for my kids bus stop is at my do my house, my driveway." You know, and and it makes sense to think about that. But the truth is that the national statistics are very clear. The most dangerous
019thing any school bus does is make a bus stop. That's when tragedies happen. It's not when the bus is cruising down the road. And so the fewer stops statistically, the safer the the trips are, guys. And so I would love it if we would consider something about that. Of course, it's going to give greater efficiencies, greener solutions, shorter ride times, and that's the thing. If we have shorter ride times, then we have more time to make a couple more stops and fill the bus, you know, and that would lead to efficiencies, guys. So, that's where the money's at, really. It's about more fully loading the buses. All right. Well, I don't know what I'm doing here. Oh, sure. Here's an example. It's like two houses. These purple bus stops are by the little purple dots,
020which are the kids. And that and [clears throat] you can see how the path of the bus has to go down purple lane one, take a right, take a left, get the heck out of dodge. Whereas if we instead of making those two bus stops at the houses we saw this which is one bus stop where the kids one student up top has to walk what past two or three houses and the one at the bottom maybe has to cross three or four. But these this is an example where neither student has to walk even a tenth of a mile. and it'll make the bus route clearly shorter. It just has to go down and bang a left. And so that'll save time. And I think that's an one example. Here's another one. We're stopping
021nine stops all over the place, door to door, door to door. We're going up and down every darn street. Well, maybe we could consider something more like this where we're just making five bus stops instead of nine. And then we're making it so much faster and cutting right across less turns, safer routing. I think it's something that we should consider, guys. It could really help. And here's just another example. It's four bus stops. The bus is going loop-de-loop pants all over the place. And here is the same set of students with just two bus stops and getting in and out of Dodge. And so I hope those examples help you to understand what I'm talking about. And I don't know what I was doing with this slide. Bunch of numbers and stuff. It makes me
022seem like I know what I'm talking about, but [laughter] actually it really does. There there's a before and an after column here. Guys, forgive me for this slide didn't really come together as I wish, but it does show that like with Graham for example and with Grimes and Hamilton by looking at the routes last year, I was able to reduce them and [clears throat] we didn't implement them. So, we didn't get the money on it because it was towards the end of the year like I said and everything. But I know that we can do better with these routes. I I have done it and I look forward to doing it for 25 26 and hope that the impact can be as minimal as possible financially. Does that make sense? >> Do you have >>
023It does make sense. All right. Good. Well, I'd be happy to answer any questions that you may have. >> Do we have any questions? Thank you, >> Trusty. >> I have a question. >> When would this dry run be? Like we have like less than a month for school to start. So when would the dry run run run happen and how long before parents are notified once these runs are done? >> Double bingo. Um within two weeks of the start of school for both of those. If you send parent notifications too early, then it's the kind of thing that gets lost in the shuffle. It's in the mail. Oh, I can't find it. You know what I mean? But if you keep it within a couple weeks of the start of school, that's like a
024rocking time to hit people with this information. And it's a perfect time for drivers so that they're not doing a dry run a month before school starts. It's like they forgot where the heck they're going, you know? So, it's definitely double-sided right there. >> And I want to know how many blocks is 1.5 miles, [laughter] >> right? Exactly. That's a great point because as you know that some of the blocks the way they're shaped, it's long skinny suckers. You know what I mean? And so there is no answer to that question. Although I love it. I wish I could answer it. It's exactly 8.2, you know, but I don't know. because I think that's some of the the concerns I think for some of the parents. It's nice when it's warm and sunny. It's inclement
025weather that I'm considering. And it's not that I'm saying that this is not a great plan. I'm just want to weigh the pros and cons. [clears throat] >> Absolutely. And that's legitimate. And so the examples that I was showing for, you know, were just like if we keep it to a tenth or two tenths or some small mileage guys that you could envision it with respect to your own block, you know, it's like a tenth of a mile for that side. And so if we could keep it reasonable in those regards and also reasonable with respect to knowing that these students are ambulatory, they're walking around these schools and they're putting some serious mileage on their own treads. You know what I mean? And so it's not necessarily that they need to have door-todoor accommodations
026in every instance. And I think it pays for us to consider that. >> Um Dr. Strickland would like to respond and then Trustee Mcdana. >> Uh so Trustee Kelly, uh to also answer your question, one of the things that actually tends to hold up school districts is the lack of accurate information in the student information system. So a lot of times families may have moved over the summer. They've they've uh are housing with someone else now and and then the information is not updated at the school or at the district office. So, I actually wanted to use this as a plea to the listening public. Please bring your leases or your phone bills and things of that nature and get your addresses updated. Do not wait to the first day of school, the week before
027school. You have to do it now or you won't be guaranteed transportation on the first day of school. In addition, one of the things that I've also employed in my former superintendency was actually bus auditing. Looking at how many students are actually riding the bus and then saying, "Hey, do do you want to opt out uh so that we can become more efficient with that um and actually save more dollars?" We're in dire straits with monies. So, we are going to have to make a lot of those concessions and um it it's going to be absolutely necessary to help with our finances because the reason why we're facing deficits from last year, which I know Mr. Famoso told you that we're already facing, um is because your transportation budget exceeded almost I want to say
0289 million or 12 $10 million. and that is astronomical and these are some ways some quick wins that we definitely can get uh to help support uh our finances. >> I thank thank you for the presentation. Uh and I'm not sure who the best person to answer these questions would be, so I'll just put them out there. I was just looking at the contracts that are on the agenda for tonight about $28 million in bus contracts that are up there. And I looked at one for example a there's a I think 75 16 student buses at a per bus cost. So the capacity is 16 students on those buses. What have we done an audit this year to figure out how what kind of capacity we're at now on those 16 student buses >> for
029this past year? >> Yeah, >> it was about half. It was 7.7. >> 7.7. So there so there's there's definitely room to put some kids there. Now um two other questions. One is of the classified students that I see on your presentation coming up next, how many of those students about 1,600 students, how many of those students will be entitled to transportation? >> So, it would only the the students that actually need to be entitled to transportation are students with cognitive delays or uh physical delays or physical ailments, right? Um, I believe the practice currently is that if you have an individualized education plan, you then get transportation. And that's something that our special education department has been working diligently with this summer to start pulling those services away. Just because you have an IEP
030does not mean you cannot walk to school. We have some students with IEPs that play football every weekend and they're running hundreds and hundreds of yards and things of that nature. and they're taking the bus >> and they're taking the bus. Um, we've done it as a ter a form of convenience, but now this is where our dollars are going and we have to pull back and um only give it to those individuals that are um that medically needed. >> Got it. So, we'll come to some pool of students once we go through this painful process that's going to be significantly lower than 1600. A lot of times kids on their IEPs there may be restrictions in terms of the size of the bus and the number of students who ride on the bus because
031of significant behavior problems. >> So if we factor that in we're going to come in under 16. We're not going to have buses running with 16. So if it's now seven maybe realistically somewhere in the middle 10 kids in some cases they're going to be a few kids who are going to need their own transportation but a very small number. Does that all seem reasonable? >> No that seems very reasonable. Um, thank you. >> And just a FYI, so basic accounting principles >> because we had a specific allocation for transportation, you can't really budget anything less than that$ 199 million. The goal would be that we spend significantly less than 19 million and then next year we can bring down our allocated um our anticipated u revenue or excuse me, our anticipated budget for the
032transportation line. Um, so those contracts are spending up to a certain amount, just an FYI, but we've already allocated that in the budget. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome, >> Trusty Scott. >> Excellent. >> Thank you very much. And similar to Trusty um Chris, I don't know who would answer this question, whether it be the superintendent or yourself, but we're talking about students who really need this bus transportation, correct? uh those that are, you know, physically um you know, not able to get to school. So, with that, and if we're doing corner stops, >> they're going to have to go on a corner, your bus breaks down, your bus doesn't show up, what's the communication for these parents who are now not at home, but on a corner with their child so that they know
033the bus is going to be delayed. Is there that aspect being um things? So just to answer that, I will say that if students have certain cognitive disabilities or impairments or physical impairments, some of those students are still going to get doortodoor if it if they need it in their IEP. Um we will also we're going to have to develop mechanisms for making sure that we notify families and things of that nature. I am not comfortable uh as of right now uh sharing I don't even know the bus company. I know that in previous districts, uh, the busk had an app that we actually purchased. Parents had access to the app. Me as a principal had access to the app. I knew when it was late, I was able to alert parents. We're going to
034have to figure that piece out. >> Understood. Thank you very much. >> Any other questions? >> Yeah. Um, >> Trusty Mitchell, Vice President Mitchell, >> thank you. So, first, thank you for the presentation and of course the energy. It was You were trying to figure out who was talking just now. That's all right. Sorry. >> I was. I saw you. >> Sorry. All right. No, the energy was great, but I really appreciated the presentation. Last year, we did we found ourselves in a very difficult situation where uh because timely decisions weren't made and because we weren't on top of things, we got hit with a huge contract increase that we had no choice but to partake in, it was terrible. Um so to see us trying to get ahead of it and I remember being
035on transportation committee last school year, it was revealed then for the first time that we were running way too many routes and that was inefficient. So, of course, that one meeting happened and then never again. So, I never knew where we were. So, this is good to see us here. Um, I come from a time where all the kids in my neighborhood met at one corner. It wasn't like this, but even what you put up, >> it was a long yellow bus. We all met on the corner Sanford Boulevard and Fourth Avenue. None of you know where that is. Probably you don't, but I don't mind. And we all got on that bus to come here to what is now Steam Steam School. Steam Academy. steam school. So, I think this is a great return
036to doing that and making sure that we're still saving taxpayer money. I think this is a great opportunity for us. Only question I have for Dr. Strickland is for you mentioned parents getting their addresses and things like that. What are the times when they need to do it? What are their venues and avenues to get it done? I was here at the last meeting uh work session. There were parents who were in the back who did not speak English. They were just trying to find out where their student was supposed to go to school even still. So what are we h what are we going to have and roll out to parents so that they know how to get those addresses and information to the district? >> Sure. I've asked our communications team to have
037a full-on roll out um a full court press on jumping ahead of registration. So, even in this week's jewel box, you'll see uh that we're actually taking the time to show how you register for your register your child for the Mount Vernon City School District. Uh families can come between 8 and 4 each school day. Um and uh I would say that we do need to continue with the outreach um for our uh students that speak languages other than English. That is a deficit uh within the district. However, we do have Spanish-sp speakaking typus uh that are available down uh to support any families. Um and you know, Spanish is our number two most commonly uh spoken language. And you know, we'll just we we probably will have to extend ours or do what we
038need to do to ensure that uh we have these updated addresses. Um I do know calls are being made uh constantly. Um, I mean there it's it's it's it's like a full court press and people are working and I'm walking around this building and they are working. >> Any other questions? Um, I do >> Sorry. >> Yeah. >> I just wanted to also say more one more thing. When you move to corner stops, believe it or not, the community actually steps up and it becomes more safe for students because you know that they're going to pick them up in that corner and they start watching and making sure that bus comes. So you and and and I've already I live in Mount Vernon now. Hey, um I already see the amount of community care and
039love that that is here and these corner stops are just going to enhance that. It it definitely will. >> So I wanted to make a comment about the audit public transportation which started last year. So as you said it was already started. It wasn't implemented. The other thing is we had the Google um translation. What happened to that in the district? There was something that they were using last year for registration and somebody can correct me if they want, but there was a way of them using the Google um translator >> to assist parents in >> communicating. Well, I believe the website actually can change uh to different languages. Whatever uh whatever the language that the person speaks, that's one. We do have Spanish- speaking typus. I actually did uh see an actual interaction between
040uh the typus and a parent that was registering their child. One thing we have to do is be careful with Google Translate as um you know when you're talking about um all Spanish isn't the same Spanish that our Spanish kids or our students that are Latino descent understand. So we have to be careful with it. We can use it to get by but we do have some mechanisms in place to help support those families. >> Are you using any of the parent coordinators who are also speak different languages? Um so the parent coordinators I actually met with them last week and that is something that I want to talk with you all about and uh later on today. Um they uh have been immense help for uh many of our families and uh they continue
041to be they continue to be dedicated. They're not working this summer and they they're still helping. Um and that's something that we really do need to discuss um you know about how do we um involve them more if you will. >> Trusty Peterson look like >> so quick question with that was an excellent uh presentation Mr. Fiverr. I love the energy. I loved it. Um I was going to ask you is the parent resource center open? It's no because apparently are off for the summer. So the resource center isn't open. >> That is correct. The parent resource center is not open and we're also possibly needing to relocate the parent resource center, but that is in the works. This is a late development because of spacing and things of that nature. We know that steam
042is actually increasing in its enrollment. There is space at Mount Vernon High School. We do have a few open buildings that we could possibly can think about. Uh but that that just became very new uh within probably a week. Any other questions? Um, I do have just a couple of things. Um, I noticed that you indicated that in New York State the standard is two miles as opposed to 1.5. I wanted to know whether or not there was an analysis done whether or not if we did a two a two mile based on the New York State standard and if that would provide an additional cost savings to the district. That's question one. >> I did not do that. And in fact, I didn't even do the righteous full-on analysis with respect to the 1.5
043because an unknown percentage of the students attending any given school for me at the time, you know, when I started not too long ago, um, were going to need door-to-door transportation. I don't care if they were 15 feet from the school, you know what I mean? They would need a bus. And so being uncertain as to how I could apply that 1.5, you know, broadly in terms of the fiscal impact and then the second part would be exactly what you're talking about. Trying it the other way one mile. That was my second part. >> Yeah. Absolutely. No, I mean that's the kind of data that I'm hungry to discover and to so that we can make informed decisions. That's all it is, >> right? >> Okay. And the other question is you indicated that the
044transportation company previously prepared the routes. >> True. >> And you're proposing that your company does that. >> Yes. What would be our cost savings >> or cost impact fiscal impact on that? Ye that's uh that's somewhat unknown. However, what I was demonstrating on the one slide with all the stupid numbers, [laughter] but was that there was like about a 25% kind of a reduction that I was seeing. You know, I did the ESY, which is the summer school, right? >> Yes. >> And we um there are 24 buses that have been serving that are today serving our summer school contingent in district by the way. And that they all happen to go to BTA, just one school this summer. and I did rerouting and came up with 16. Now, is that totally guaranteed doable by
045the bus company? Well, maybe that would need 17, maybe 18, >> but there would be some type of savings. >> There would be definitely no questions asked. And that's a big drop. You know, that's a 33enter. >> And so, [snorts] I'm hungry for the opportunity to try to net some kind of results, you know, tangible stuff. And my last question would be, would there be any impact on the crossing guards that would be allocated throughout the district? Would that busing impact them at all? >> Um, I have not explored that. >> Yes. So, um, I I personally, um, I'm glad you brought up that question. I don't have a comment for that. I do need to find out if we employ crossing guards or the city. So if the police department So I will um
046actually I have my meeting with the mayor in the morning um and I will bring that um to our agenda. >> My thought would be if we could save money in in any area then maybe we could increase maybe somewhere else. Thank you. Any other questions on this topic? Okay. All right. We'll move to the next item. Thanks guys. Thank you very much. >> Thank you so much. >> 2.2 the presentation on special education update by Michelle McKitty Bramley. Uh Dr. Strickland, would you like to expound on this presentation please? >> I um trustees uh to because I thought it was appropriate to have an update on the transportation. I figured, you know, we need to really talk about the aspects of special education. These are um our students that are primarily uh will be
047impacted in some way, shape, or form. And I've been very very interested uh special education is a a passion of mine. Um but I've been very interested in the profile of student uh for special education. And um we have uh director Michelle McKitty Bramley here to uh provide an overview. And I must say that there has been a lot of work happening this summer to try to really get uh things going in motion so that we can improve our student outcomes. >> Good evening, President Dr. Marble, Vice President Warren Mitchell, trustees, members of the community, and members of the audience here. Good evening. just giving a brief overview of special education uh where we are um our current numbers and where we are. So our first slide is our school age classified students. So for
0482024 is just a comparison between the two years uh was 1533 and currently poised this year is 1621 which is a percentage increase of 5%. Some of the increases can be attributed to students transferring in um as Dr. Wilkins spoke to in terms of LRE and those things are part possibly part of the reasoning for the increase in uh the number of number of classified students and CPS-C students transitioning into school age does impact the number and has caused some of the increase. you as you may or may not know there are 13 classifications put out by New York State and our top three are speech and language impairment learning disability and autism. Uh there is has been an increase in the diagnosis of students coming with a diagnosis of autism and also uh that
049are classified with autism and that has increased over the years. Committee on Preschool Education, also known as CPSC. There has been uh we've been talking about this for quite some time um with our with the committee special education committee on the increase of referral initial referrals for CPSC. I think that can also there are a number of factors that are impacting that. COVID being one has been also um an effect of those students who are now uh been in the COVID era. They are now coming along um in our school in our schools they've had you know limited exposure to um conversation and those types of thing and expo um in varying areas there's also early intervention there's also uh limited providers so students are not our babies are not getting early intervention and those
050supports in speech and OT and PT so they're coming to us and being referred at this uh preschool level which is also impacting our um increase in numbers. So we have 300 students that were classified uh 23 24 and 2425 are 317 and we're still in the process of getting the numbers for 2526. So the pandemic is really pos has been had an adverse effect not only in Mount Vernon but in many school districts are experiencing similar um needs and increases and also the lack of related service providers are also impacting uh students that are transitioning into school age because they are not getting the supports that they need at an early age to kind of mitigate some of the um needs. Uh later on our students place out of district Ood placements 119 115
051and five are pending out of district explorations. Uh we many of the students who um are in out of district placements are students who have serious medical needs some behavioral challenges that we're unable to manage within the school district due to the supports. Um but in order to reduce that we would have to increase our resources within the school district to be able to s support those students outside of the medical students who need have G tubes and things like that. Um in terms of behavioral specialists within our school district to provide the supports that those students need would help reduce the out of district placement or the recommendation for out of district. So some of the examples of the schools are Boseies PNW Boseies Ferncliff some are uh state they're all state approved. However,
052some are private um some are private and other other state schools, but we try to start with Boseies usually that's our first go-to before we proceed to the private schools. So, currently um as Dr. Wil Wilin spoke to our class ratios for K8. We have quite a number of sections of 812 um ratios which are small uh which creates a lot you know the need for many more classes more staffing uh 1212s 1511s 5:1 we have a few I we have few ICT uh programs in um two of our schools uh yes there also needs to be an increase in more uh more of a less uh more restrictive less rest excuse me less restrictive environment which we are trying to move toward towards um having more an inclusive um classroom and having students exposed
053to more of their general education peers. So that is an area of concern. There is a high number of uh restrictive settings which we are going to work to reduce all while giving students the access to the supports that they need and keeping those into consideration. So our teaching onetoone teaching utilization uh we had 107 one oneto ones or 2:1 TAS in to 2024 25 26 it has reduced uh we put some um measures into place to looking at the need for onetoone assistance or 2:1 assistance in the school. However, we need to do a bit more to ensure that students are actually in need because that is also restrictive. Having a onetoone is limiting the students independence. Uh so we're going to do a little bit more monitoring um have a little bit more
054stringent criteria in looking at the actual need. We don't want to take away what students really need, but we want to make sure that students who are getting it really need it and those who don't need that restrictive um that much support that can be taken away and other supports can be put in place in terms of supplementary aids, modifications within the class classroom, behavioral supports and we'll work that way instead of you know giving a teaching assistant. So our goals for improvement, we have quite a bit of ways to go. We're making small improvements as we as we go along. Um we have quite a ways to go but we'd like to definitely take a look at to reduce the total number of students mandates of onetoone teaching assistance by say 10% by we're
055going to you know implement more training of our cse uh chairpersons and our supervisors in order to take ensure that students who need oneto ons get oneto ones and those who really don't need oneto ons do not. We want to expand our integrated co-eing which is ICT which we've had many many years ago. Uh would like to see it come back to this way students can be with educated with their general education peers and integ and have more integration and also resource room which is a pull out program and also this is part of it reducing suspensions um that is also with LRE uh we're restricting students to just their home when they're out for suspensions. our students with um disabilities are uh disproportionately suspended at this time. So, we're working with a targeted skills
056group which I can expand on at a later date um to improve the um to reduce the number of suspensions for our SWDs. So, a couple of things have to be in place and they're being currently worked on um to reduce those numbers. So, committee on preschool um and school age referrals are are increasing. This is a pretty much of a summary. LRE remains a guiding principle. We just need to work on improving LRE overall to re you know take a look at our numbers and ensure that students are being integrated with their general education peers as much as possible. Uh we need to provide staff development to increase accountability measures to drive change and focus on inclusive practices and report progress on LRE grow goals periodically and much more frequently and ensure that we
057are following the guidelines. I thank you. Thank you so very much for that presentation. Do we have any questions, >> comments? Vice President Mitchell, >> thank you. uh Miss Bramley for the for your presentation. Um question at the end of the last school year there was a a mass amount of of terminations of TAS I believe it was and I believe the intentions were with the mentions the idea was that we were going to try to do things to rewrite all the IEPs that had oneto ones to reduce them or something like that. I remember hearing this. This was a conversation that was had and I want to understand how are we going to meet the needs? We got rising level of students that are going to need IEPs and services. What is the game
058plan now that we've released so many of these folks last year if you're aware of it? What is our game plan to meet the needs? >> Well, we don't want to we don't look at IEPs and just rewrite them and remove um oneto ones. That is not the way the process goes. we are taking a a deeper look and looking at the need and looking through data. Um we need to improve that actually. But we have looked at have through OB classroom observations, data um behavior tracking and that kind of those sort of areas to determine whether or not a student actually needs um requires a onetoone and the purposes because there were some students who received a onetoone who just had a onetoone rolling up when they may have had needs perhaps in kindergarten
059they needed it but unfortunately they have rolled up as through the years without the proper documentation. So we just wanted to ensure and we are insure trying to put measures in place to ensure that students who actually need oneto ones receive oneto ones and those who don't need that level of restriction don't have one. >> Dr. Mcdana, >> thank you. Thank you for for this presentation. And as my other question goes, I'm not sure whether this is better for you or for Dr. Strickland. I'm just looking at the trends over time. They're pretty scary. Uh I I looked at the nearest data data 2324 1,390 classified students against an enrollment of 7,649 which is a classified percent of just over 18%. Last year we had 1533 classified students enrollment dropped meaning the percentage goes up
060and again we're doing that in 20 256. So this is a very very serious very serious problem that we need to address. I do think that the number of 812s in the district and you mentioned this as well um gives us an opportunity [snorts] to to move inhouse uh and really take care of our students um more thoroughly instead of sending kids out of district placement which is a huge huge cost. Um, and now that we have the internal physical infrastructure that may be online for us, I think that's something we really ought to be considering seriously. I see a path of and another thing that we talked about and I think I recently sent you an email about this, the NYU program. So, if you can imagine a trend where we're taking our kids
061in our 151 uh 152 classes and we're looking for opportunities to strategically include them more systematically into into the general education curriculum that then we backfill. We're we're we're really pushing the envelope to get kids as included as possible. It's the right thing to do and it's a good thing to do educationally. So obviously I'm I'm looking at you because you're in the hot seat there, but but this is a this is a big long-term problem that's not going to go away and it's going to get more difficult until we turn a corner maybe a maybe a decade from now. So anyway, that's I just wanted to make that comment. >> Dr. Strickland has a comment. >> Um very salient points. Um Trusty Mcdana, I I would say, you know, decreasing enrollment but increasing uh
062services that are needed. Uh it's it's a few different factors. One, um we are our our charter counterparts don't necessarily service self-contained classrooms. Um so that's one that's an obvious one uh because those are generally more difficult to uh actually um control. Um also this also tells us that we have somewhat of a tier one issue. we we really have to make sure that we're teaching students to the standards and that they are not falling behind year after year after year because then it starts showing up as a learning disability when in fact the student actually just needs to be caught up. Um and we continue to remediate a lot. That's just natural. Even when I was a teacher, I was ready to remediate if he couldn't say the word this word. I'm I'm really
063ready to write the word 400 times. And guess what? at the 399th time, he still can't say the word, right? So, we have to think about our practices as well. Um, and that's where some of our curriculum instruction um highlights are going to be. Also, making sure we have a robust MTSS system. Um I as soon as I met with uh Miss Mckitti Bramley, I asked um are we uh are we getting are are the students that are being recommended for special education actually qualifying? And the answer is no. Meaning there's not even enough data to substantiate whether or not students should be having services. and we have to make sure we're not saying hey write this letter so you know we got to make sure that we get the process going like people are
064doing those things uh unfortunately because they want to get the kids services like I always assume best intent however it's actually not helping and it's causing these exor exorbitant amount of cost and um and to an earlier point um uh vice president Mitchell uh you said something about the one to ones um Miss McKitty Bramley is correct. I would say that sometimes in some cases even in previous districts, people give out transportation and TAs, you know what I mean? When students just honestly really need to be engaged in the classroom so that they don't run out or they don't do the things that require another person to be in the room. In my tours, I was walking around schools. You wouldn't believe how many people I saw not doing much that were just paying So
065that was something where I said, "Yes, I need you to look at this and we're going to clean it up." Okay, >> Vice President Mitchell. So, in in light of what we're doing in this revamp, which is really what what it is, if we have a lower manpower and we're trying to review and rewrite IEPs that need to be rewritten because they're inefficient, >> how are we addressing the droves of students that we've been hearing about for the past, I don't know, the best, I don't know, 15 years that have not gotten their services. There are students that were owed compensatory services from when CO was brand new in here that did not receive. I've asked for audits on it so many times we won't talk, but I'm asking Dr. Strickland. I would like an
066audit so that we can get an idea. We keep hearing from parents in tears at that microphone in the street on email. My student didn't get their services. my kid got hurt in the street because and this and they're blaming this district because we weren't servicing their student with with an what their IEP mandated services. Principles are putting uh TAs substituting classrooms when they're not supposed to even though they're told not to. How are we battling all of that? >> Is that is this also going to be part of the agenda? Making sure that the TA is with their student that they're supposed to be servicing but not covering Miss So and So's class because she's out again. Um, Miss McKitty Bramley just actually talked to me about that today. That's all about expectations. That
067is that is about pure expectations. Uh, one of Okay, I'm just going to be frank. Here it is. We need to have our building leaders own all their students. The students with disabilities are not just Miss McKitty Bramley students or not just the city like the downtown students. They're they they need to own all of their students. And those things won't happen when the school leaders are holding all of their folks accountable to provide services for those students. But when you have this sped department is not large. I'm going to tell you that for the amount of numbers that we have, it is not large. And the fact that we're, you know, asking uh the director and some supervisors to do the massive amount of work to maintain those IEPs and making sure they're compliant
068is crazy. And um you know, again, uh Trusty Mcdana said, I mean, look at our numbers. That's almost 20% 20% of our population and we have a small amount of population for students with dis I mean for the individuals that touch our students with disabilities but our gened population teachers are way larger. So we're going to have to do some different things including getting students into least restrictive environments so that we're not in a space where um you actually spend more money on self-contained classrooms. Trusty Kelly. >> Um I had a question. Um I know for years we've had a compliance uh report for special education. Um where are we in basically um in compliance with that? And how do you um rectify the fact that you don't have a lot of service providers which
069keeps Mount Vernon in trouble? >> You're right. Um in terms of the compliance, I'll have to get I'll get back to you. I'll get back to you with that. In terms of the uh uh trustee Mitchell talked about the service and the compensatory services, you're right that is an area of extreme challenge for us uh with working with Boseies is our first go-to when it comes to teachers who leave or staff members who leave. We call Boseies and they're everyone in Westchester is vying for the pool at Bose at the same pool in Boseies. So there comes a there's an issue there. uh when they're unable to, we do send out letters to families and then we look for services on outside our contracted agents. We're struggling with them as well. Uh many of them
070provide uh virtual services which is not really sound or really good for many of our students. The in-person it is extremely difficult finding in-person providers. They're not willing to go to the homes. That's why homebound becomes a challenge when it comes to in person. We have many uh state complaints because of the virtual s um the virtual versus in person. The inperson it's it's I've been working tirelessly to find in person and it's extremely difficult um to find those providers. Not for a lack of effort but it's the lack of finding the providers to provide the in-person service. the virtual we're not so bad but really that that platform is really not beneficial to many of our students. >> Any other questions, follow-up questions? Um I do have um just two. Can you provide an
071explanation um for the difference between a TA and a TA because we are using them interchangeably. One is a teacher assistant and one is a teacher aid. Correct. >> So there we don't currently have aids in our district. uh aids would uh we have teach all of our teaching assistants are teaching assistants or in some districts call them para profofessionals paras. So our teaching assistants are they have credentials and they're able to provide uh support with academic instruction. AIDS would be one if student just requires uh medical someone to um help with toileting. Uh those one-to-one medical needs um pushing a wheelchair, those kinds of things would be done typically done by an aid because they are not um participating on aiding or assisting with instruction, but we do not have aids in our district.
072>> So, did someone else have a question, a comment? >> Dr. Strickland. >> So, yes. Um just being made aware of that um we're So you're asking um credentialed individuals that could teach classes are doing things that we could hire different community members for to help those students and it and it doesn't require that cost. So, that's going to be another uh I'm just finding all the lowhanging fruit um [laughter] in the budget and uh it's helping the state monitor out too. Um but that is definitely something that would need to be addressed. PAR professionals are individuals that are very capable and at times know the students, you know, themselves that can help with toileting and and supporting classrooms versus the assistance. Now, I understand why they're being pulled to teach class. They do have
073the credential. and when you're strapped, you rather use that. But if we had t teacher aids or pair of professionals, we can get into a space where the TA being pulled is not a problem because I have a aid that can support. >> Okay. One other question. Um, can you identify what the percentages are of each out of district placement? I'll get I have to get back to you with the exact percentage of do you want >> for each location especially if you start with Boseis okay you want to know the amount in Boseies and the amount [clears throat] I can get >> and and I know you indicated that you you were trying to create spaces here in district that would support those students so that we wouldn't have to outsource um the services
074um and I know you said you usually start with Boseies because that's the largest number of students that you may have um would it I I maybe I misunderstood you because I'm thinking Maybe if we started with the um services for the the lowest number then maybe we'd be able to build up or phase in to that. >> Well, right. Some of the programs like Boseies is our larger providers like PNW Boseies and we have Yeah. You know, with the state >> they have different different services, but it's just the largest provider. Okay. All right. Thank you. >> And Dr. Strickland. >> Yes. And just an FYI, there's uh an a a real challenge right now that Boseies throughout New York State are unable to service many of our students. We are going to eventually
075be forced to really figure out how we are going to service the students that we normally put out of district and and what are we going to do for them inhouse uh to service them ourselves. Um, so we're going to we're we're really going to start that process and I know that Miss McKenna Bronley uh did state that that is one of the goals and that is something that we will definitely be um adhering to and decreasing. >> Okay, any follow-up questions before we move on? hearing none. We will move on to human resources 3.1 human resources 13. >> Oh, thank you Michelle. [applause] >> Thank you. >> Okay. >> Yep. Uh so before Yes. Before we get to uh you will notice the human resources tab looks a little different. Um it we split
076up each of the different um actions that need to be done uh in human resources. It it's more clear um it's actually placed directly into the public content. um you have things right before you and uh we will continue to there's still some things that I want to keep modifying but this was a big uh win and I do want to thank um Miss um Jessica Graves for really starting uh the process. >> Thank [applause] you. Something that we have long asked for and so thank you so much because I know we've we've asked. Thank you. Okay. Are there any questions on 3.1? Any comments? Hearing none. 3.2 certified. Hearing none. 3.3 certified for coaches and extracurricular appointments. Hearing none. 3.4 hearing hearing none. 3.5 resignations. >> You need to go back to Trusty Brown.
077H Good evening. Um, as I was looking at this, I noticed that there were a lot of varying um, fees for um, not fees but uh, salary >> salary hours. Yes. And I just wanted to know why don't we just have like a base rate or is it because um, there are people who have been doing this for several years and so they get these different stepups. Um, so I was I just wanted to be clear on that because I did notice that there was varying. And then if you scroll um down, there is a scoreboard keeper. It seems like all the scoreboard keepers basically have the same, but then you have one that's just pennies away. And so I just want I like consistency, but if it is because of steps, >> then I
078get it. >> Most of these are contractual. Um that your point exactly contractual in nature and you know the contract dictate the pay. >> Okay. Thank you. >> You're welcome. Any other questions or comments? 3.5 Resignations. 3.6 Approval of recalled employees. Any questions? Trusty Kelly. >> I don't understand. Recalled employees. >> Oh, >> Dr. Strickland will >> Yes. These are students. uh these are employees or teachers that are on the PEL list um that now we've had a certain amount of resignation so we need to now start pulling off of those individuals. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Any other questions? 3.7 approval of agreements and general releases. 3.8 amended. because of the date. Any questions? Okay. 3.9 Approval of probationary appointments, permanent appointments. Any questions? 3.10 Classified permanent appointments. Any questions? 3.11 classified
079PDM substitutes >> now Dr. Strickland that was a question regarding the rate of pay for absolutely um there are different they're varying rates of pay again so Dr. District, if you could please expound on that. >> Individuals that have the higher rate of pay are certified, but they're um they're just not working every day in some way, shape, or form. What we are going to do is in the executive comment for the business meeting, make sure their uh certifications are in fact uh listed there for you. Um and then the individuals with the lower rate are individuals just with a bachelor's degree and they are um you know just want to sub in our buildings. >> Okay. Do we have um individuals that do not have bachelor degrees that are still substitutes? >> I we
080Oh, we do. >> Question. >> Come come come up, Mr. Graves. >> And the rate of pay is the uh is the same 175. Um good evening. Good evening. Um President Marbo, esteemed trustees, Dr. Strickland, his esteemed cabinet. There are um substitute teachers that work last year for certified and uncertified worked um at 175 a day. So there are some subs as permitted by New York State in previous years that are or were able to work 40 days for the year, but that's a c that was a cap on it. But since co that was lifted. So we're trying to recruit teachers um who are certified who possibly have retired from the district or other um districts who to come back into Mount Vernon to work that that's why the 225 is listed so they
081can provide consistent coverage because we do have teachers who do go out on leave or FMLA or they're just absent for whatever reason. So we're trying to get consistent coverage from people who have that subject matter expert expertise. >> Okay. Any other question was do we have individuals without a bachelor's degree that are substitutes receiving the 175 pay >> last year? Yes. Um they did receive 175 a day that they were uncertified but most of them do have bachelor's degrees and we'll provide that background information and executive content. >> Thank you. >> I have a question is kind of adjacent to what's going Sorry it's adjacent. is really um do we have a pipeline from any of this the the colleges um for teachers? Do we have we develop that? I think I heard you
082talking about it. We have >> Okay, that's what I was asking. >> Yeah, there is a um partnership with the Long Island University Hudson. Um we have had career fairs there. Um we do have quite a few candidates who are um internship eligible found. They're 50% or more completed with their program. So we do look for students um who are new um they have fresh perspectives um so we have that with LU Hudson Lehman College we're looking to work with Monroe and Iona University because Iona University does have this SLP program >> okay any other questions followup >> no problem >> thank you 3.12 human resources resignations terminations questions 3.13 leaves of absence. Any questions, comments? 3.14 human resources amended. That was for the date as well to extend it to the end of the
083school year. 3.15 provisional appointments. >> Question. Um, Trusty Scott, >> for the effective dates, is this continuous? Does it go three years? Is it a year >> from this date? >> Dr. Strickland, should this be an Azure? I mean, not an Azure, but should this be corrected as well? >> This is uh 3.15. >> No, this is um a civil service appointment. So, they're in the CSEA uh union. >> Okay. So there's a there's a whole process in terms of how they well you know that's right you know that >> this indivi this individual has actually passed the test but we're just waiting for the results because we know food service is a cons a concern for the district I needed to get it through um so you know we're just >> yes [laughter] ca
084okay >> 3.16 request for a leave of absence any questions questions. Okay, hearing none on human resources. Thank you so much, Miss Graves. >> Thank you for remaining there in case we had other questions for human resources. Appreciate that. [laughter] >> Shows your commitment. >> Yes. >> Section four, curriculum and instruction. 4.1, approval of field trips for the school year. Dr. Strickland, would you mind explaining um >> the rationale for all of them being um collective here? >> Absolutely. So, uh I believe it's in your pol it's in our policy that you have to vote on um field trips that are over a certain amount of miles. What I have requested and I actually requested it even before board leadership requested is that we actually know what schools are going where so that you're just
085not, you know, voting on a blanket. and I want that information and you will have that before the board meeting. >> Thank you. Any other questions on 4.1? Hearing none, we'll move on to section five, pupil personnel services. 5.1, approval of pupil personnel services memorandum. Any questions, comments? Hearing none, we'll move on to six section six, business office. Any questions on 6.1 approval of general funds transfer? >> Dr. Strickland, would you like to elaborate? >> So, uh, trustees, just, uh, to give you a little background on 6.1, um, our state monitor, uh, did not have a line, uh, to be compensated from. So what was done was um funds were pulled from lines uh where we've like have um that are sort of vacant right now. So for instance, our assistant superintendent for business, we
086were able to reduce that line a little bit. We're we're in the process of filling human resources. So we were able to reduce that line a little bit. We reduced uh pupil personnel as um Assistant Superintendent White just started August 1st. So, uh, we were able to do that to actually create a line so that our, uh, state monitor can be, uh, compensated and then, um, we we then are given money back from the state education department for our monitored services, but it may not be the full amount. Regardless, the line is going to be there. >> Thank you. Any questions? >> Yeah, I have a question. Just um Vice President Mitchell, >> yes, I love these. Thank you for the the backup. Thank you. So, and this I always have this question. When we
087see transfers from one portion of the budget going to other sections of the budget, does it demonstrate that when we budgeted on these lines that we're moving from, did we overbudget >> that and that generated savings or this is just our ability to just reallocate the funds? >> Um, so it's a both end. Um, it's our ability to reallocate the funds. uh because I already was talking to one of the uh business officials today and I said, you know, but that still might not cover the amount, but as you go out through the year, you're consider you're consistently reconciling your numbers. Um in addition um what I had just expounded upon is we have savings already because you budget for 12 months and if you don't have individuals in that position you can actually you
088you're overbudgeted even though you're not really overbudgeted if we had someone in you you don't see superintendence line because you I started on July 1 and my salary is accounted for in the budget. Now, if I were to start in >> August, but not uh July and you didn't have anyone for the month, the superintendent line might be on there. You know what I mean? So, that's how you uh just work with these um uh these accounts. And we need to make sure that it's clear and it's in front of you and that's why it's here. >> And the main reason the reason for the question really is we have lines in the budget and I've talked about this over the past several a couple of years now. We have lines in the budget that
089we know very well we we budgeted money for. We know we are not filling these positions some of them. And where are we with really cracking down the the budget has been it is what it is. Where are we at with determining where the lines are in this budget that money is sitting that's supposed to be allocated for certain things that we know we're not doing. And then when do we expand to the public what we've done with those funds? We have to where are we at with how we're going to create a cadence for communicating to the public the dollars in this budget like you just mentioned where we have dollars allocated and we may or [clears throat] may not use them. >> Yeah. So, uh, some of those, um, budgeted positions happen to
090be in special education, which are mandated services, and we, so we're forced to keep that position budgeted in the budget, but also forced to have funds to pay the consultants. So, in a sense, because we don't have one, we're forced to have money in both. and that actually bloat your budget and causes a lot of issues unfortunately. However, at the end of the year, you get the reconciliation that can happen and that's how actually you get funds back to start building up a fund balance and um then you you have to start looking at the vacancies. So at the end of the year, I I'm one or when we start planning for this budget, we're going to look at positions that are still vacant and say, do we need these positions or not? And if
091we don't need the positions, then we can reduce those positions and we figure out how to make do with what it is that we have and because we've been doing it. And that's that's how you work this process out. And that's something that um I mean I'm committed to. And uh lastly for the listening public uh you um you should have been getting treasurers reports or financial reports at the business meeting. uh that uh is supposed to begin this month. And um it it would be just a standard um you know, a standard narrative that describes how the district's finances are as well as uh the appropriations and u the deductions and things of that nature that we've spent in that month. >> I just want to say thank you to Dr. Strickland for really
092cracking down on um the budget budgetary items and we appreciate it. Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> Yeah, I was under the impression that the um >> the uh treasurer was supposed to report to the board members, not just to a committee. So, can you clarify that for me, please? >> Yes, that's supposed to happen at the board business meeting. Okay. So, you should be getting an unodudited report at each board business meeting. You move to accept it and then that's it. And it's giving your it's like giving a it's like your bank statement. Um you're you're not having those reports. And I believe that that will help the community understand where the finances are, you know, because we're going to be in a we're going to be a little strapped again. And we
093we really have to be transparent with where the money is going. And the more transparency we uh provide the community, the easier it is to really explain the needs that we have as a school district. >> Thank you. Any other questions or comments? Okay. 6.2. Approval the settlement of tax proceedings. Any questions? 6.3 Extension of transportation contracts. Any questions? Trusty Kelly, >> I just wanted to know does this um include the transportation audit? Is this >> No. No. >> No. So, okay. >> So, reme so basic accounting principles, you must appropriate the amount at least of what you spent last year for transportation. So, these are up to amounts. So, the goal would honestly be that we would come less than 8.6 6 million less than 11 million less than 715 mill,000 or is that
094million? >> No thousand so on and so forth. So we have to appropriate the amounts that we spent >> previous >> one of the things that I've I've found is there's there has been under it's there's >> underbudgeted you've been underbudgeting uh at times which causes the issue in the end or at the end of the year uh which causes the further distress. So, um these are the up two amounts. We've tasked um Mr. Fiber with um you know some humor and making sure that we really um you know get the transportation piece under control and I'm almost certain that that'll end up in the acade or the financial plan of the district. >> Thank you. Uh Trusty Scott. >> Yes. I think I had sent in some questions regarding this particular one >> where
095I was trying to figure out based on Mr. Fers's presentation as well as what we have here if the numbers would need to be as high as they were. >> And I think I got in response to that. So I'm I'm glad about that. But the other one was around the funding. >> Yes. >> Um piece of it. And I think here it speaks to maybe I think a 3% increase or something like that. >> So I was wondering if we're going to be condensing and doing all this nice jazzy stuff that uh Mr. Fiber talked about, would we still need to be increasing versus staying flat? >> So this increase actually happened across New York State. >> Okay. Um it it happens everywhere, but that this is basic inflation. Just like uh employees need
096raises every year because eggs cost $9.99 now instead of $7.99. Like uh people are they're >> they need to be more competitive with getting drivers. >> So they're also increasing in the amount of cost that they're uh charging districts. uh some of this um um much much of transportation aid is reimburseable. However, because we're still doing so much, we're still taking a large hit from transportation, but um the the goal would be that we create the efficiencies so that next year those numbers can actually decrease. >> Okay, any other questions or comments? 6.4 Four, approval of cheerleading to receive choreographic training. >> I'm happy about that >> questions. Trusty Kelly, can you explain why they I thought they had a coach. What Can you just tell me why they need a choreographer? I can >>
097uh I I can't, but I I think we want them to be good [laughter] in a nutshell. But this one I was like, it's for the babies, so I don't I'm happy. You know what I mean? >> One last year, but they went to this state. >> That I cannot answer. They went to um finals. They went away to Florida. So, a major a major um contribution to having a successful cheer program um like many other districts have and what our dis with our district is really doing a great job at becoming and you know the last two years they went to Florida having a designated um dance choreographer to teach them specific stunting skills, things like that that they see and they use when they go to these competitions that will let them get
098into first place. that it's vital to have a lot of the district. >> So, we did not have one before. >> No, we did not. >> Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Trusty B. >> And >> thank you for that explanation. >> And I want to also add that it it allows them to be credentialed so that when they attend these um national events that they already have the they will have the credentials so that they can participate and that's really important for them to gain standing when they win particular levels of competition. >> Thank you, Trusty Brown and Trusty Middleton. And I do want to say with the person who was named in our backup um prior to just kind of labeling it choreographer for those students, my nephew is at at in in the
099same group and that's Michael Middleton and and she was excellent with what she did those she still did stuff without even getting paid. And when she did get paid, it just didn't have that title to it. So she was she was great at what she was doing when she could do it. took her time and those kids went and they won competitions and I follow Michael with her and I know her so you know she did but I think right now I'll certainly give a check off to it. >> Yeah. Okay. >> All right. Trusty Kelly >> is she will she be the one who will be um um >> fulfilling this position? >> Yes. >> Your relation relation >> or at the end of the year uh which causes the further distress. So, um,
100these are the up two amounts. We've tasked, um, Mr. Fiber with, um, you know, some humor and making sure that we really, um, you know, get the transportation piece under control and I'm almost certain that that'll end up in the acade or the financial plan of the district. >> Thank you, uh, Trusty Scott. Yes, I think I had sent in some questions regarding this particular one >> where I was trying to figure out based on Mr. Fiber's presentation as well as what we have here if the numbers would need to be as high as they were. >> And I think I got in response to that. So, I'm I'm glad about that. But the other one was around the funding. >> Yes. >> Um piece of it. And I think here it speaks to maybe
101I think a 3% increase or something like that. >> So I was wondering if we're going to be condensing and doing all this nice jazzy stuff that u Mr. Fiber talked about, would we still need to be increasing versus staying flat? >> So this increase actually happened across New York State. >> Okay. Um it it happens everywhere, but that this is basic inflation. Just like uh employees need raises every year because eggs cost $9.99 now instead of $7.99. Like uh people are they're >> they need to be more competitive with getting drivers. >> So they're also increasing in the amount of cost that they're uh charging districts. uh some of this um um much much of transportation aid is reimburseable. However, because we're still doing so much, we're still taking a large hit from transportation,
102but um the the goal would be that we create the efficiencies so that next year those numbers can actually decrease. >> Okay, any other questions or comments >> or at the end of the year uh which causes the further distress? So, um, these are the up two amounts. We've tasked, um, Mr. Fiber with, um, you know, some humor and making sure that we really, um, you know, get the transportation piece under control and I'm almost certain that that'll end up in the acade or the financial plan of the district. >> Thank you, uh, Trusty Scott. Yes, I think I had sent in some questions regarding this particular one >> where I was trying to figure out based on Mr. Fiber's presentation as well as what we have here if the numbers would need to be
103as high as they were. >> And I think I got in response to that. So, I'm I'm glad about that. But the other one was around the funding. >> Yes. >> Um piece of it. And I think here it speaks to maybe I think a 3% increase or something like that. >> So I was wondering if we're going to be condensing and doing all this nice jazzy stuff that u Mr. Fiber talked about, would we still need to be increasing versus staying flat? >> So this increase actually happened across New York State. >> Okay. Um it it happens everywhere, but that this is basic inflation. Just like uh employees need raises every year because eggs cost $9.99 now instead of $7.99. Like uh people are they're >> they need to be more competitive with getting
104drivers. >> So they're also increasing in the amount of cost that they're uh charging districts. uh some of this um um much much of transportation aid is reimburseable. However, because we're still doing so much, we're still taking a large hit from transportation. But um the the goal would be that we create the efficiencies so that next year those numbers can actually decrease. >> Okay, any other questions or comments? 6.4 Four, approval of cheerleading to receive choreographic training. >> I'm happy about this >> questions. Trusty Kelly, uh, can you explain why they I thought they had a coach. What can you just tell me why they need a choreographer? I can >> uh I I can't, but I I think we want them to be good [laughter] in a nutshell. But this one I was like,
105it's for the babies, so I don't I'm happy. You know what I mean? >> One last year, but they went to this state >> that I cannot answer. They went to um finals, they went away to Florida. So, a major a major um contribution to having a successful cheer program um like many other districts have and what our dis with our district is really doing a great job at becoming and you know the last two years they went to Florida having a designated um dance choreographer to teach them specific stunting skills, things like that that they see and they use when they go to these competitions that will let them get into first place. that it's vital to have a lot of the districts. >> So, we did not have one before. >> No, we
106did not. >> Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Trusty P. >> And thank you for that explanation. >> And I want to also add that it it allows them to be credentialed so that when they attend these um national events that they already have the they will have the credentials so that they can participate and that's really important for them to gain standing when they win particular levels of competition. >> Thank you, Trusty Brown and Trusty Middleton. And I do want to say with the person who was named in our backup um prior to just kind of labeling it choreographer for those students, my nephew is at at in in the same group and that's Michael Middleton and and she was excellent with what she did those she still did stuff without even getting paid. And
107when she did get paid, it just didn't have that title to it. So she was she was great at what she was doing when she could do it. took her time and those kids went and they won competitions and I follow Michael with her and I know her so you know she did but I think right now I'll certainly give a check off to it. >> Yeah. Okay. >> All right. Trusty Kelly is she will she be the one who will be um >> um >> fulfilling this position? >> Yes. >> Your relation relation to you? >> No, she's not. She's saying >> Oh, that's what I'm trying to I'm sorry. I got a little confused. No, no, thank you for the explanation, but I I got a little instructor for >> Yeah. >> And
108she's good. And Okay. He was in it. >> Okay. Gotcha. >> Basically, the team was there. She did a great job and everything. >> Okay. Thank you for the explanation, trustees. Thank you. No, no. Clarifies my question. Thank you. Thank you. >> I mean, I don't mean any harm, but I'm a very competitive individual and anything that gives our children a leg up, I'm >> okay. I'm all for it. So, thank you. >> Any other questions or comments? Hearing none, we would like to um ask the board for authorization to send these items to for a consent agenda. So, I'd like to receive a motion. >> Motion second. received a first and a second. So, may I have a vote? >> All in favor? >> Any oppose? Abstain. Motion carries. >> Thank you. >> We're
109going to move on to some resolutions for this evening. >> Okay. So, I would just um we know that this is a working session and typically for our working session, we do not vote on resolutions. However, because this is new to all of us, we are working through all of the kinks and all of the challenges trying to make sure that we get to a smooth road. So, in order to do that, we are providing some grace or we would like to provide some grace. So, at this particular time, I would like for Dr. Strickland to explain why we have these resolutions and after that, I would ask for a vote from the board so that we could, if possible, to suspend the rules for this work session so that we can vote on these
110resolutions. Thank you. Thank you, President Marabel. So, uh, just as President Marabal said, the goal is not to be voting on resolutions at the board, um, at the work session. However, we are a school district and there's things that have happened. Um, there's new deadlines that are going to have to be put out, uh, there. Um, and there's, you know, simple things that have been lost and trans transition, um, things of that nature. So these resolutions, one of them 8.1 is for the actual grading of the summer school test um and proctoring. That is something that we must do and unfortunately that was not placed beforehand. However, myself and uh the uh cabinet were working on a district-wide calendar so that you would receive these things in the July meetings for August in the future.
111The next one 8.2 two was the um was the uh security um the security >> yes resolution that had numbers that were all over yes we tabled that has since been corrected um and then finally the third one uh we actually oh sorry >> I can explain >> oh the u for the third one 8.3 we had pulled the indiv individuals that were going to be transitioning into the civil service union and we missed one of those uh tabs unfortunately was which which was tab uh 10.8. >> Okay. All right. Thank you. Um thank you for that explanation. Do we have any other questions for of Dr. Strickland? >> Questions? >> Um >> questions on the res. We'll get to each resolutions individually, but if I wanted to know if you had any questions of
112Dr. Strickland. Why these are on the resolution on the agenda? Okay. >> Uh, Trustee Kelly, >> the last one. What? What? They're being moved to the civil service. So, >> that may be a uh executive session. >> Okay. >> Conversation >> and I'm fine with it. >> Okay. And then we're voting on it before I have my answer. Um what I will share with you is that there are last time we we pulled civil service has specific rules. This particular position should have been is not should not be under contract. It should be under civil service and therefore we have to resend it. We have to pull it back and so that we can present it in the proper fashion. >> So this was always a civil service uh >> it should it should have
113been. It should have been. >> It should have been, but it was not actual >> correct. And it should have been >> And so we we missed pulling. There were several that we pulled because we realized it. >> This one we missed. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. I don't think we were aware that there was a a a title for it. >> Okay. Any other questions? Okay. So, if we can have a a motion to suspend the rules for this work session in order to vote on these resolutions. >> Second. >> May I have a vote? >> All in favor? >> Any oppos? Motion carries. >> Okay. Resolution 8.1, authorization to hire staff for districtwide regent testing and scoring from August 9th to the 12th, 2025. question. >> Hold on. We have need a
114motion. >> I got you. >> You need them. That's okay. >> Any motion? >> Second. >> Okay, you got that. >> Okay. >> Questions, concerns, discussions, >> questions. >> Trustee Peterson. >> Thank you, President Marble. Um so I noticed that um a lot of when I see uh teachers who are covering certain things I see that a lot of times it's the same it's kind of like frequent flyers and I just want to make sure that we are offering you know spreading it across that all teachers are able to apply and we're looking at you know that everyone's getting a fair chance to to work these extra hours. >> That is that is something that's being monitored definitely. Um at times some people just don't want to work and some people want to work everything
115and this again not unique to Mount Vernon. Um definitely I mean even me as a principal saying people want to work and I'm sure we're making it equitable. >> Okay, Trusty Scott. The only question I have is on the the listing I see the security sub doesn't have any information next to it. >> Are you on 8.1 or 8.2? No, >> I'm on 8.1. >> Okay. >> The security sub, Jennifer. >> Yep. >> I won't say the name, but >> Yes. >> Yep. So that so because the security sub in in the event that one of the security guards aren't there then that individual can actually take the hours you know to work that day and we don't have to pull put this back through tab >> trusty brown. >> Um I so I was
116looking through the the list of names and I just wanted to make sure we didn't miss because I noticed that do all proctors do the same thing? There's no tier in a proctor. And if you look at um the last two names on the proctor, they are, you know, dollars away from all the other proctors. And I would assume that it doesn't it just >> Dr. Strickland. >> Yep. This This is also contractual. >> Okay. It's >> also contractual. >> I just didn't know if it was, you know, an a clerical error. >> It's poss it's possible those those may be aids. Yep. Assistants, teacher, TAs, rather. Mhm. >> I have a >> uh Vice President Mitchell, >> I have a question. Just do these names arrive here because the principles for their buildings submit
117them because and this make no [clears throat] mistake. This is not this is one of those type of things where um favoritism is is a part of the game and you know the principal makes the decision and so and so if you're not my favorite this year, this month then you're not going to get to do this. How do this how does this list how is this list compiled? >> Well, just we our principles are tasked with making sure that their programs and that their duties are being filled. So definitely want to assume best intent with all of our school leaders. I myself had to approve this posting. >> I went in the system and I clicked approved. So I know that these individuals were individuals that actually applied and then there is a process
118or what have you. Sometimes you don't have enough people. Sometimes you have too many people. If you have too many people then you have to do a process. But we want to assume best intent in our school leaders that we want to make sure we're spreading the love and we're giving everyone the opportunity to make a little extra funds um in the summer. But you know, I just wanted to lead from that lens. >> Got it. Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> All in favor? >> Any oppose? Abstain. Motion carries. >> 8.2. Authorization to hire security monitors for district-wide summer programs. May we have a motion? >> Motion. >> Second. >> Questions, concerns, discussions? >> Question. question too. >> Trusty Mcdana. >> Hi. >> Thank you for waiting for me to call your name.
119I'd like to give you so people know who's talking. >> Thank you. [laughter] >> Uh so just first I just want to make sure I this is budgeted. I assume this is $100,000 is in the budget for this. >> So these are uh various uh budgets. So some of it is the youth bureau paying for it. If you see in red