001All right. Good evening and welcome. I'd like to call the Tuesday, April 21st, 2026 Board of Education regular meeting to order. Um, please rise and join me in the pledge. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> All right. Item 1.3 on our agenda is our superintendent's update. So, I'll turn things over to Mary Fox Alter. >> All right. Hi. Good evening, everyone. Happy Tuesday. You know how to remember if it's Tuesday. No, it's Wednesday. It must be a board meeting, but it's a Tuesday board meeting. All to um align with our Putinham Northern Westchester Bosey's commitment. So, I'm excited tonight to share with you a number of very important
002prouds. Um, our Austining High School students attended the Westchester County Regional Environ and team B won first place overall in the current issue category. Absolutely huge. Um, as we are speaking right now, uh, we have over 160 Austining High School students returning from their festival at Disney. Um, and they had an amazing time. I want to thank Kate Matthews uh, for all of her hard work and organization. Um, and uh, the orchestra earned an excellent rating. chorus achieved a superior rating and the band received an excellent rating and took first place in their class which is outstanding outstanding um equity and action um this Saturday um Dr. Dy um hosted where every voice lifts change event held um last Saturday at the high school and it was packed. I want to thank Dr. Daily, the
003students, the educators, and community members who came together at Austining High School to engage in powerful conversations about equity, inclusion, and student voice. Thank you to our keynote speaker, Dr. Diane Wyn from the state education department, the new executive uh executive director of the office of diversity, equity, and inclusivity. uh she gave a wonderful um short but you know the attention were uh students the audience was filled with students all the way up from park school up to high school. So she had great words she was right spot on with her inspiring messages and of course our regent Fran Wills was there supporting us through this a wonderful day. I want to thank Dr. Dy and our all of our equity fellows. A lot took place on Saturday. Um, I want to share very exciting
004news about our Austining High School robotics team, the Obots. They earned the quality award at the first robotics tech valley competition in Albany. This is an honor because it highlights excellence in engineering, design, and craftsmanship. So, very excited students. And here's just an important fun fact. The Obots are the most awarded F FRC team in Westchester County. 33 total awards across 15 season and nine trips to first championship events. Outstanding. Outstanding. Okay. Um, Projecta Alcant will hold their uh next meeting on uh Friday, April 24th at 6:30 p.m. at Park School. Um, our Brookside equity leaders had the opportunity to present to Austining Mayor Rick Leven. Now, Maria uh took my position there because I was at another event um in the county and it looked like a fantastic event. Thank you, Mary. It was
005magnificent to see our first and second graders advocate um with their advocacy and advocate for communication boards across our community. Uh and they focused on ensuring that all had access to every part of our community. >> Amazing inclusive and accessible. So congratulations to principal orducees and um it was just such a wonderful wonderful event. >> Yes, I agree. We hear a little voice there. We definitely agree. Um our Claremont fourth graders showcase their creativity and curiosity at this year's science fair. We have Eric Hang and Robert Chang among the and along with their families and staff who attended a reception at Regeneron. celebrating the top 20 Westf finalists headed to the ISF championships in 2026 in Phoenix, Arizona. During the event, Eric and Robert uh participated in a poster session where they shared their innovative
006projects with attendees and engaged with the audience. Last week, we celebrated our amazing seniors at our Pioneer League. Thank you to the girls lacrosse team and the flag football team for coming out and showing their support. So, and and Kim, thank you for your leadership in this area. We are also very proud to share that Austining High School student um Ariana Chu uh Chuni Roxanne Duffalo and Aiden Rap Eden Rapperport will be featured artists at the PKX festival in Pikipsy this weekend, April 24th and 25th. That's a huge event and it's great that we have um three students whose artwork will be represented there. Our OS prom popup shop was held this week. A huge thank you to Megan Mto Gakamo and her old prime team of family engagement specialists for all their hard work
007and making this event the success as it is. Students had a blast at our AMD 6th grade social last Friday night. And um today I was honored to be a superintendent panelist at the 2026 Hudson Valley MBK Youth Leadership Symposium held at Westchester County in White Plains. It was packed standing room only. Inspiring speakers, keynotes, students from Yoners to Newberg. Um they attended a whole bunch of terrific uh workshops. It was such a fabulous event and I was excited to be able to talk about all the great things that our program and our community does um regarding MBK. My my one of the questions I had asked in terms of the role of a superintendent um and I pulled from our long range plan. Our job is to make sure things have foundation and they
008have legacy so that you create that sustainability and make it part of all of our work. So, it was an excellent event. And last but not least, I just want to highlight the kings and queens of the court. The basketball players take stage and we are super excited to see our Claire Schnecker once again as an allstar um of our team. So, congratulations, her family. And there was a lot of great things happening in Austin over the past week. So, that's my superintendence update. Thank you so much. And, uh, it's always nice to hear the wonderful things that are happening for our students. Um, at this time, I'm going to take a motion to move up 7.1. We have a young family in the audience. It's past bedtime. So, >> I think our young family
009member said so moved. >> Second. >> Uh, any discussion? All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Abstensions. All right. Now we'll take um a motion to vote on 7.1. 7.1 reads, "Resolution regarding professional staff tenure appointments." >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Abstensions. All right. So, we've just approved some tenure. We're going to have Miss Ordus come up and introduce our tenure recipient and sing her praises. So, thank you, Miss Ordus. Come on up. Good evening, Superintendent Fox Alter, members of the board of education, and members of our Austinine community. I'm excited to present tenure this evening to Julia FSY a Brookside educator. Tenure represents years of dedication and persistence. And when I think of your journey in Austining Julia, those are the attributes that
010have you that you have exemplified since we first met four years ago. Back then you were better known as Panetta, her maiden name. And I remember vividly that before that school year ended, you sat me down and made it clear that you were invested in our students and our school community. And it showed from the relationships you built with children to your ability to foster a safe, orderly, and supportive classroom environment. You were able to create a space each year where students were seen and heard. These are the types of learning spaces needed for children to grow. One of Julia's closest colleagues at Brookside whom she created the spaces with for several years describes Julia as quote patient and loving with every student, a caring, understanding and hardworking teacher and a great partner to work
011with. Julia, tonight we also celebrate the investment you have made in your own growth as a pedagogue, the reflective stance with which you have approached teaching, your receptivity to feedback, our many conversations, and your willingness to try new things. Whether it was stepping into a math teacher leader role, or most recently stepping out of team teaching to lead a class on your own, you tame fear to take risks that are necessary for growth. Something I admire about you. You are starting a new chapter in life. Yes, you're a tenure teacher now, which means you can explore even more boldly ideas professionally, but I'm also referring to a new chapter as a mother. Julia gave birth to a beautiful baby boy named Jacob 9 months ago. And as a fairly new mom myself, once you have
012your own child, you bring another perspective to the work we do each day. I am excited for you. On behalf of our Brookside community, congratulations on this well-deserved achievement, Julia. I look forward to all that you will continue to accomplish and all of the lives that you will continue to impact. Congratulations again. You like to take a picture? >> All right. Another round of applause from Miss FY. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> You got your camera. >> That's why I was the purple. >> Yeah. Have you realized Frank Moon is as a photographer? >> Look, he's crouching. >> We need a photography committee. >> Very impressed. This is a huge honor and we're so glad that you have made a your professional home. This is it's a big deal um to kind of enter
013in this this 10-year relationship with a teacher. So, thank you again um for all the work you do day in and out and all the work you'll hopefully do uh with our kids in the future. So, we appreciate it. And this is always when I say you're welcome to stay, but you're also welcome to go and and I would definitely encourage you to go and enjoy your evening and and celebrate. >> Go celebrate. Congratulations. >> All right. Um the next portion of our meeting is for audience recognition. Is there anybody in public who wishes to speak? All right, seeing none, I don't see anybody with their uh digital hand raised, so we'll move along. Uh the next item on our agenda is our work session uh 3.1 and it is also our equity item uh
014proposed superintendent's budget for the 2627 school year. We're going to continue budget discussions and I'm going to turn things over again to Mary Fox Alter. >> All right. Going to um invite Miss Alita McCoy to the podium, our assistant superintendent for business. Good evening everyone. Um >> Oh, we up. >> Yep. >> Okay. Good evening everyone. Uh this is a a day in which uh most school districts are voting to um have their boards um adopt the budget. Um this is a legal um or statuary uh requirement throughout New York State. Um so we look forward to again presenting the budget. Um there hasn't been many changes since the last presentation. Um we still have not gotten a state um uh legislative budget approved yet. Um so we're still waiting, but we have to adopt
015the budget and once we the board adopts the budget, the numbers don't change. So, I know this is a little small to read, so I apologize, but I've been over I've discussed the revenue sources before um and they have not changed. The biggest revenue sources that we have um come from property taxes. The second biggest is foundation aid. Um and then we see uh sales tax and and and interest income. Um, so this is the breakdown of um the different revenue sources that we have and uh I just put in the definitions of those revenue sources so every everybody understands uh what they mean and where the money comes from. Uh this is an overview. Again, as I stated before, uh most of our uh funding comes from real property taxes. Uh we also get
016money from most money most the second largest source is state aid. Uh the third largest source is uh county uh sales tax and um then we have our other which includes our um interest income. So you will recall that the tax levy limit um formula is very complex and this is the formula. This is actually directly from um the controllers's website. Um it's just a PDF of what the data that I submitted in order to get to the final uh percentage increase rate which is the tax cap. Um just to point out a couple of things. Uh the 2% is only one portion of the formula. uh that is the amount of the percentage increase that school districts in New York state can go go up to and it represents the consumer price index otherwise
017other otherwise known as CPI. So that's one of the top three components. The other uh component which is very important especially foring because we have a lot of capital projects um is that we can exclude uh capital projects we can exclude debt service and we can exclude lease payments. So this allows for uh it's aing in particular um to have uh a a different percentage increase. Uh you'll you will recall last year our percentage increase our tap our cap was only 1.67 and this year based on its formula is 2.43%. So the one thing to remember or the three things to remember about the tax cap is that um it's not just 2% for every school district. In fact, it's rarely 2%. Um going up to 2.43% 43% um is something that um we uh
018believe should be done. It's our legal limit. Um the exemptions I spoke about and that's what's causing the 2.43%. Um and also our tax base growth factor. We had some minor growth um brick and mortar growth in um Austining. And then um just to be certain that you understand that your your bill may not increase by 2.43. It could be a different number. Um it it depends on your um own home's assessed value. So, the most important thing when we're talking about um foundation aid and real property taxes is that um the school district is considered to be uh wealthier than in previous years. So that means that our foundation aid has plateaued um because of um increase in our um property wealth, a decrease in our federal poverty count, a a slight dip in
019overall student enrollment, and the median household income in on aing is um outpacing consistently the Westchester County average. Um and again we know this the second largest which is foundation aid. Oh so with foundation aid we know that um we are plateauing. So the percentage increase is only 1%. Um and that's what the executive the governor's budget um is. So we're in a hold harmless position meaning that we will continue to get the amount of funding even though our demographics may continue to change. that puts us in a whole harmless state, but going forward, we're only going to get uh slight percentage increases. And so again, it was only 1% with the um governor's budget, which represents $400,000 for the school district. Um and when you look at just health insurance in increasing by 2.1
020million, you can see that the $400,000 is not enough to sustain the school district. And basically the state is shifting uh the responsibility back to property owners um instead of uh taking on that responsibility themselves since they view uh the school district as being wealthier. So the expenses are predominantly salaries and benefits. Uh 70 to 80% of the our expenses are salary and benefits. Um we do have uh s not significant but we have uh set aside money for our capital projects. We've consistently done that. You'll see that there's been a shift in our capital projects and debt service which I'll go over. Um but again the biggest areas is our interfund transfers which includes our transfer to UPK, our transfer to uh capital, our transfer to debt service. So here's the pie chart. Um
02180 88 million is in salaries. Uh the other is in benefits of 45 million. So you can see here that there's very small um uh uh money set aside for other expenses. So the I got a lot of questions because when you look at the budget, you'll see that um our debt service has gone up to $9.5 million, which is a a significant increase from prior year. Um but it's really about just shifting. So, we spent um this is going on our second year or third year of a three-year plan in order to maintain our transfer to capital line because we knew um that we would uh use the transfer to capital line, which is a $6.9 million to offset the uh debt service for the approved $210 million bond. So the strategy was to
022again prepare for the $210 million bond to make sure that 6.9 transfer to capital line uh was sustained and not uh not taken away with some other expense. So we can we continue to sustain it with one-time projects with equipment um but not recurring expenses. Uh we also are able to sustain our capital investment. So, we know we have money set aside from the fall off of the library debt. We did not use all of the 6.9 million um in our transfer to capital lines and we are also able to use some funds from our uh capital reserve. Um so again, we're preparing for debt and then we're also optimizing the tax payer impact so there's not uh big increases and decreases from year to year. You'll see in the next slide that um the
023the amount between the two categories debt and capital are exactly the same from year to year. So here is the example. The first table shows that in 2024 25 which was uh two uh uh last school year uh transfer to capital was 14.4 4 debt service was 5.1 and our capital reserve we used 7.5 so that was 12 million89867 in this school year we spent 7.4 4 in the transfer to capital line. Uh we had a transfer to debt service of 4 million. So you see that the 5.1 to the 4 million that was a libraries debt falling off. So we have to maintain that 1 million. So we move that 1 million to the transfer to capital line and that's why that number is 7.4 and not 6.9. And then again for another one-time
024expense, we put money uh aside in um the facilities code to pay for um AC air conditioning units. So again, this school year, the amount between the three codes or four codes is 12,89867. In 2627, which is next school year, uh the transfer to capital line is now 5.9. Um and the transfer to debt service is 9.9. We are not purchasing any significant equipment and we are using $3.8 million to pay for a portion of the transfer to capital. Um so again the number is 12 million89867. So the transfer to transfer to capital budget contains 1.3 million of the 6.9 that's remaining in that line 3.79 million from capital reserve and then there's remaining um debt service from the library of 8 819,000. So that's how we get to 5,961 for the transfer to capital
025budget. For the transfer to debt service budget, $320,000 from the debt service that the library already has. Um they need that because we are actually closing on their $8 million ban on the 23rd. Um, so they will we will have the school district has to pay $320,000 in interest for that ban. $4 million is our current debt service which includes our two EPC projects and um funds uh debt service from the previous bond. Uh 5.6 million is being taken from the transfer to capital line. So the total debt service is 9.9 million. So again, you'll see that there's shifts but no increases within the budget or the tax levy. So uh the superintendent's recommended recommended budget is uh an increase of 4.3. I should note that uh if we didn't have a $2.1 million increase
026in um health insurance that that number would be much lower. It would be about 3.2%. The budget that uh we're proposing is 186 337089. The tax levy increase we're suggesting is 2.43 and the unappropriated fund balance is 5.2. Uh last year or this school year, um our appropriated fund unappropriated fund balance was 6.7. So we're trying our best to wean ourselves off of um fund balance. So the bottom line for homeowners is that the right now the median assessed home value in Austining is $649,000 which is a major increase over the past 10 years. Again the proposed tax levy increase is 2.43 which is estimated of about $185 per year increase in school property taxes or $15 per month. Again this is based on the medium home value. So the uh the um Austinine board
027of education and the superintendent uh wanted to focus on making sure that the budget is um transparent. So we have been working on a digitized uh budget book. I'd like to uh give a shout out to I know I'm aging myself, but I'd like to give a shout out to Lisa Holmes who's my assistant and also um to Vanessa Tusano who is my database analyst. They worked with me rather quickly on developing this book um this digitized book. Um and I'm going to give you a peak. It's not complete completely done. Um but I'll I'll give you a peak of what it looks like. >> Okay. So, you know, let me just frame frame that conversation a little better um to give um a sense of the why behind this. So, for um many of
028you here on the board, the budget book that you've been looking at um which I encountered my first two years was is actually an Excel spreadsheet that uh was done under Dr. Phyllis Glman. Um I was used to a very different process. Um, Alita would have liked a different process. But if you think about that, you know, staff come and present their budgetto budget recommendations, requests, and then it goes into a spreadsheet and then it goes into windcap and then it goes into a place to analyze and then it finally ends up in this budget book and it becomes so many places to trace. And this year we did huge 887 codes we looked at to find actuals to actuals over a two to threeyear period. Some were easy, some were complicated because sometimes they
029got moved. Well, we need aid for that, but a principal or a director budgeted here and then it ended up going someplace different. So this goal of transparency was essential. It makes it easier for every principal, administrator, department chairperson. It makes it easier for the board. When you see this digitized budget book, every code, every descriptor, every line, and it is now done building by building, you will see that in there. We'd hoped we could have had that for the Saturday workshop, but we weren't there just yet. Um, but again, um, it it now has what I know this board asked for, and I'm just very proud of Miss McCoy and her team for putting this together. many an evening they would be here still working on this and um we've also included in all
030of this Dr. Mara's work over two years for position control. Now there might be a three or a point 4 that's fluid because once it gets printed and set it's set. So we have two data points to compare to but we might have like Miss Mauricio might say well I need I need a little of this in another building. So staffing can be a little fluid as it should be, but right now this is where it is. And you'll see it in this book by building and by uh by department and it has every single explanation based on the state and our program. So it is and in my opinion it is a great work of transparency. The community should be happy. It addresses a a board goal and again a year-long project. So thank
031you Alita. Thank you. I'm very excited, Pat. Very happy. >> Okay. Click on show. >> So, this is the first um the cover page. And again, that we haven't incorporated all of the pictures that we want. There's some dead white space that um we're going to make sure that we cover up, but this is the digitized budget book. So, this is a table of contents. You can actually go to a section um in the budget book. So, if you're looking to see um the our transparency commitment and the superintendent's letter that's here um and theing transparency commitment goes beyond what the um state requires us to do. Um so we are doing much more in this budget boat to um identify um to increase um transparency. So this is a breakdown of how we're supposed
032to present our budget um with capital administration and program. Here you'll find um the the commitment to facilities and safety. Um the projects that are part of the trans or that that are in the transfer to capital line are laid out here as well. >> Want to highlight them? >> Sure. Take off. So at park and and OS we are um improving the classroom ventilators um and replacing air handlers at no at park and OHS. And at park, we're improving classroom ventilation. Um, infrastructure renewal. We are There we go. There's, uh, infrastructure renewal. Uh, Roosevelt, we're replacing the main steam um, system uh, and retaining wall replacements at AMD to ensure ensure structure structural integrity. for safety and modernization. We're replacing all the co carbon monoxide uh detectors throughout the district and renovating restrooms at
033park and um OHS and for energy efficiency. We're replacing gym the gymnasium windows um at OHS for learn long-term savings. >> Those are those are, as many of you know, if you've been in the gym recently, you looked up at those windows, you're like, "Oh, okay. I think they're original. Um, but it's and for energy efficiency and just for quality of life, the bathrooms at park were original to the building as were there's still some at the high school and the board made a commitment about air handling, air conditioning, and we continue at along those lines. There other some adding more cameras. There are more safety features included in this budget, but these are the big ticket items including in that transfer to capital line. So that that um the transfer to uh capital line
034is comprised of these projects which is the $5.9 million that I just discussed. So this section is um the I call it the anatomy of a uh budget code in a general fund. Um this is how I worked with the administrators over the past summer during the retreat to explain um the different budget codes. So in a school uh a public school district there is a set of code like a a anatomy for a lack of a better word. Um so the first four digits of a budget code is the function. The second three digits is the object. The third two digits is the location and the last four digits is the program. So when you look at the budget book, you'll be able to see um what the codes represent. So you can flip
035back and forth. So when you see the high school, you'll know that 11, which is a location, represents the high school. When you see AMD, 12 location represents um AMD. So, this is an overview of what I discussed with regard to the transfer to capital and the debt service um lines trying to explain it even more. I will probably even shorten this so it's more clearer to the average person. This is again the revenue. And so now we start with um our school buildings. So we start with park. This is the overview of staffing that Don was able to provide. This is Brookside. This is Claremont. Roosevelt. And then we go into AMD, which is number 12. The high school, which is the biggest budget, 24 million. And now we're going to do the district
036departments. So we start with cultural arts. Then we go to facilities. Then we go to uh literacy. Then we go to mental and behavioral health which is part of um Kim Moraicio's budget. So they don't have their own separate budget. Then we go into um multi- lingual uh learners and world languages which is NY's budget. Then we go into O prime. they have their budget budget uh PE, health, and athletics, which is Kim Saxton's budget. Then we go into school counseling, which is Jeremy Duko's budget. Then we go into STEM, which is um Asa's budget. Then we go into student success, which is Annne De's budget. Um Dr. Andy's budget. Then we go into technology, which is Mike Hannah's budget. Then we go into transportation, which is Jim Mahan's budget. And then we have the
037entire budget itself. So this is the budget by function. Um so if you look at the function codes, you'll see that we start with in order starting with should be 1010. I'm missing something. Starting with 1010. So 1010 is the uh board of education. And then we go in order. 10:40 district clerk. 1060 is the annual district meeting which is the the budget vote. 1240 is a superintendent. 1310 is our code business office auditing. So we go on and on in that in um consecutive order by function. And then we also subtotal by function until you get to the last page which is a total amount of the 186 186 337089 which again is an increase of $7.6 million yeartoyear. We have our appendices that are required by the state. These two are required by
038the state. This is our grant budget. And you'll notice here that uh we are uh part in year one of the three-year uh funds that we set aside for the expiring grants or the grants that were cancelled. Um so you see that detail here. And then we have a glossery of financial terms to make things easier for people to understand. Um then we also explain the different reserves that we have and appendix F is a glossery of educational terms. Um so I took most of this information from NISED and also um Questar Boseies. Uh this appendix G is again the cap um that we are required to bring out break out the expenses which is the capital administration and program. And of course uh most of our funds um go towards program which means that
039everything that it takes to educate a student. And then this page um and this is not all of the appendices. I have to do a couple of more but this page is will show you that um the calculation when we put in the levy amount of which is actually 110 million. uh you'll see that the tax rate is actually going down by 2.8%. For Austining for Newcastle is going down by 1.97%. And for um Yorktown, it's actually going up, but you have to look at their equalization rate. So, their equaliz equalization rate is only 1.6. So, their year-to-year increase will be different. it won't necessarily be um that significant increase because you have to apply the equalization rate. So that is the the digitized budget book. So >> I think you've heard me say um
040number of times that a budget is an educational plan but it needs to have a lot of transparency for people to understand. It needs to show that it needs to increase agency with all the administrators and it must increase transparency for the board and for the community and people shouldn't have to go to an Excel spreadsheet, follow this, trace this, this code didn't align with this one. It just needed to be and all of that was like my analogy through probably oh my god since since October reminded me of a gigantic Jenga tower and if we were moving one thing you wanted to make sure that that was where it was and you had to put it back and you had to trace back two or three years codes. So now every single board member
041can follow each code, can understand through the object function coding what they mean and where they are. Every principal, administrator, it's the educational plan of this district. You can have accurate totals of staff all in one place. Attached to this obviously, which was always the case, will be the school district report card. And that's the last piece. So every piece of information that everyone needs is here. in a transparent format. So, I do want to thank Alita who actually became a kindered spirit. She actually said to me, "This is something I've wanted to do for quite a while." And um and every administrator now they're smiling at me, but there we spent a lot of time in the district office going through all of this multiple times. Uh but the goal was to make sure
042that it was transparent and accurate and and everyone could follow and take a look at it. So, thank you, Miss McCoy. >> Thank you. And the other thing with the software is that we're able to see um the amount of time that people spent on certain pages, um the amount of times people visited, uh the click rates. Um so, we will have all that data to see how interesting, >> how in how transparent is successful or not successful. So, we shall see. So, thank you everyone. We'll take questions or comments. So Lita, now you can follow everybody that's actually watching reading a page. >> I know. >> All right. Questions from the board. >> Just make a comment. >> I can start with you. >> Sure. >> Alita, I just want just a quick question
043on this one. Is this a difficult thing to sustain year? Is it pretty pretty intuitive relative to this? Just a quick >> So again, I have to thank my two staff members, Lisa Holmes and Vanessa Tusano. They literally like I've been uh researching um products and um the first of all they told me they can't get it done by the Saturday meeting. Then they was trying one company was trying to charge me $60,000. So I got off the phone and I talked to Vanessa and Lisa. I said I think we can do this ourselves. So we finally found the right software. Um it's not expensive. Um, and we basically learned on the fly over the past two weeks. Um, so now we have a a a system in place and I yes, I think it
044will be sustainable in future years. It's easier. They've learned something new. I've learned something new. So yes, I believe it will be sustainable. >> And I think right, Alita, the administrators now instead of saying I don't understand where my money is, like they actually because it's straight out of WindCap. >> Oh, that's >> straight out of wind cap. I I just want to say this is I I I had said this I I think a while back and I think you had expressed a long time ago that there was you know desire to move towards just we didn't have that type of technology immediately at the time but um I really appreciate this. This is really good. >> Thank you. >> Um nicely done on that. >> Thank you. >> I'll go maybe this way.
045Catherine, do you have anything? >> No. Thank you. Rob, >> yeah, I love the flip book. Love it. level. Love it. Um, just a couple of clarification questions. Make sure I'm I'm just understanding from from my head the numbers. Um, I guess one thing in the document and I think it's on the slide I guess technically nine. It says optimize taxpayer impact. >> Yes. >> The uh the management of capital and debt. There's a line there that says the planning over three years is structured to result in no impact on the tax levy each year. Is that the bond that there's not going to be because we're saying no impact on the tax levy. So what is not having an impact on the tax levy? Is that the debt? >> So it's three lines. It's
046a transfer to capital. It's a transfer to debt service. We use equip equipment and capital reserve. So if you look at slide 10, you'll see that there's $12 million in 2425 that was used. 2526 the same 12 million and next year will be the same 12 million. So those numbers have stayed the same. So they did not impact the tax levy as a result. >> So when the $210 million bond comes on, there will be a larger debt service. However, it will be offset by the building aid. So, it will stabilize again and still have no impact on the tax levy, right? The uh the Austining public library uh debt is going to increase debt service, but that's different and separate than what we discussed with the $210 million bond. >> Got it. So, putting
047the library aside, those three lines you just mentioned all pertain to our the schools $210 million bond and those three lines and the way you structure the capital and debt that's not having an impact on the tax levy each year, right? That's what that means, >> right? But those those numbers will change once we do um the formal borrowing and we start um collecting or having to pay for debt service. But you'll remember the chart that we used it will be offset by building aid. >> Got it. And then just one other and then numbers clarification. So slide two which you list all the revenue sources. One of those revenue sources is appropriated fund balance. Right? That's appropriated fund balance. Um and then just on slide 11 it says unappropriated fund balance. Are those one
048of the same or those two are those the same thing? >> So it says appropriate appropriated fund balance on the pie chart. So the appropriated fund balance includes um with the 5.2 2 uh $829,000 that we set aside um for expiring grants, which adds up to the $6 million. >> Got it. So on slide 11 where it says recommendations budget to budget unappropriate f fund balance 5.259701. That is unappropriate fund balance not appropriated. Correct. It's all unappropriated. I'm just trying to understand the difference. >> They're all appropriated because we're appropriating funds from our fund balance towards the 200267 school year. So once the budget is approved, we actually appropriate it within within our financial statements to make sure that it's earmarked from our unappropriated fund balance. So our unappropriated fund balance is more than the
0494% we have set aside. That means that's free and it's not earmarked towards anything. So that's when we call it unappropriated. Once we earark it towards something, that means that we're appropriating it um to something. And the same is with the um the grant um funds that we appropriated in last year's. So here, appropriation for grant funding loss, that's the 829 plus the 529 on this next slide, equals the $6 million. >> Okay, thank you. >> You're welcome, >> Frank. I just This is a huge work effort. We're flipping through pages fast here with tons of codes and things. It's just really monumental what's been done. So, I know in the midst of it's kind of shocking with everything going on, we're able to get to this level of depth. I think the timing of
050it is perfect. And um you know, as we're coming off, we went through a lot of years of being underfunded. Then we got a huge influx. I mean, our our state aid went from 12 million to 58 million and that's only in the past decade. That's a huge shift, right? >> We are not going to see that kind of bump again, right? And so having this level of detail is going to be critical for future boards to make decisions across the board. So just the timing is perfect and just really want to give credit to all the staff that contributed to this and all our administrators that worked this because it's probably one of the best books I've seen from a district across the board's anywhere. So congratulations and thank you. >> Thank you. >>
051I told Alita that she should talk to the board. She could do a presentation at NISBA. I don't >> I think so. Three of them. >> Annie, >> um I have asked all my questions and you have very patiently answered them. Thank you for that. Uh I love the flip book and I'm curious what data comes of it. >> What? What? >> What data comes of it? >> Oh, the links. The clickers. >> The links. We want to we want to click it where they're looking at. >> Oh, yeah. Sure. It's >> a lunch plan. U Melissa, >> I'll just relay the similar sentiments. Great work, Alita. And um to your uh your team as well. I knew we had like gold standard here in Austining, but $60,000. You can give them a run for
052their money, it seems like, in terms of what you're able to pull off. So, I'm thank you very much for that cuz I think that the more we can make it easil easily accessible for the community to um just kind of educate themselves or follow along the process, it it alleviates a lot of misconceptions and all the back and forth and the double work that that is comes out of that. So, I really appreciate that's a no small feat to make sure that everyone has what they need to make an informed decision. So, thank you. >> Thank you. Um boy, if you had asked me like even yesterday, the day before, you know, before the um links were posted, if I could love a budget book, I don't think I would have said yes. This
053is incredible and makes the um information just so much more digestible and easier to spot and find. Um and um I just want to echo that so that the feedback is a resounding yes to the way that this is formatted. And I think that when um community members have questions about money that they will also find it easier to go through. I know just from sitting down with board members or student reps and kind of walking them through our budget book from before, it's complicated and it takes somebody kind of sitting down with you and walking you through it to to make sense of it. Not that it didn't make sense, but it um you you felt like you needed somebody to kind of hold your hand through it, right? Especially the first time. And
054this I don't feel like it's it's necessary. It speaks for itself. Um, so this is fabulous. Um, I just want to, um, I have a couple budget related questions just to reiterate, and I think this is what Rob was asking as well. Um, you know, we made a promise to our community when we passed that uh, that bond that it would represent a 0% tax increase. And I want to be clear that the tax levy increase we're seeing now is of we're shifting money that we had already budgeted every year away from where we would save for such projects and moving it to where we can spend on those projects via debt services as I'm oversimplifying but that's the gist right >> yeah so the 2.43% 43% has nothing to do with capital or debt
055service or equipment. Has everything to do with increases in salaries, increases in um health insurance. Actually, the health insurance takes away the 2.43% increase. Um so we had to look at you'll see a lot of negatives um or decreases in this budget. >> um so that's what we had to do. Yes. >> Okay, great. Um my other question is about the tax rate. Um, flipping through to page 69. I'm looking at the bottom and maybe it's time for glasses, but um, it looks like we're looking at a a negative >> I know a negative 4.3 um, change in tax rate on page 69, but at the end of the book, I don't see that reflected on page 76. So, I'm asking for my own understanding. I was looking through the handy dandy facts and figures
056from Westp that compares, you know, the quick cheat sheet for all the school districts and uh the tax rate is listed in there. So, I was just curious. I want to make sure I understand. Are we at 1901 if we approve this budget? That's what it says on page 169. >> So, I did not put the tax rate in West Pub putt yet. >> Okay. No, I'm looking at the last year's book. >> Oh. Oh. um the one that they published that used information from last year. Um so these are the three jurisdictions of which where we collect our taxes. So the largest one is aing. So when you put in the levy amount, which is the $110 million, um you will see that when you compare it from this year, which was 19 um
057dollars per every,000. >> Mhm. >> Now for 2627 is projected to be 18.47, which is a 53% reduction, which is a 2.8 8% decrease with um uh okay >> Yorktown he heights >> it goes from again these areing is uh 100% um assessed these others have different um equalization values >> so 135 to 132 in Yorktown representing a 1.97% in the tax rate and then in Um, >> okay. >> The other Newcastle is the increase. Yorktown is a the >> So, I guess my question is, is this like, uh, just broken out by municipality, whereas on page 69, it's some sort of like if you go to page 69, um, it has just like one number. So is is that kind of the >> So this is from the assessor's office. >> Okay. >> And
058we're required to report this. We just get this information from the assessors. >> Okay. >> This is their document >> and this is foring. >> Okay. >> So >> that doesn't include Newcastle and Yorktown. >> No, those are on separate. That's that's my question is how those how those two data sets kind of each other. >> This is directly from the assessor's office. This is their data. >> Okay. >> Awesome. Thank you. >> Um and just I really I appreciate that this is a huge lift from you Alita and from everybody in your office and from all the administrators that contribute to this. Um a huge lift. I recognize that. I think it's very clear from from the work that um a lot has gone into it. So, thank you. Um, should we last last
059chance for any questions because we vote on it soon. So, we're in kind of a speak now forever. Hold your peace situation. Okay. >> Thanks for sharing that. >> Thanks for sharing it. Really? >> Yes. All right. Um, moving along to our consent agenda. Um, does anybody have anything they wish to break out from 4.1 through 4.6? Seeing none, I'll take a motion for 4.1 through 4.6. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Uh 4.1 resolution to adopt the superintendent's proposed budget for the 2026 2027 school year. 4.2 Resolution regarding the Bosey's proposed 2026 2027 school year budget. 4.3 Resolution regarding the election of Putnham Northern Westchester Bosey's board members. 4.4 Four, copy of resolution to approve the merger of gymnastics, girls ice hockey, boys ice hockey, and boys lacrosse. 4.5, resolution to approve the minutes
060of the regular meeting of February 25th, 2026. Uh 4.6, Resolution to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of March 11th, 2026. Any discussion? All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Abstensions. All right, it looks like we've got a budget adopted. >> Thank you. Yay. Thank you everybody. Uh, moving along. Uh, consent agenda, business office matters. Does anybody have anything from 5.1 through 5.4 that they wish to break out? >> Seeing none, I'll take a motion on 5.1 through 5.4. >> So moved. >> Second. >> 5.1 Resolution to approve the treasures report January 2026. 5.2 Resolution to approve the budget and revenue reports January 2026. 5.3 Resolution to accept a donation from the Austining Engineering Fund in care of NY Community Trust Austining Engineering Club. 5.4 Resolution regarding interfund transfers. Any discussion? All in favor?
061>> I opposed. Abstensions. All right. I guess I'll take a mo moving along. We're on our consent agenda curriculum and instruction. I'll take a motion for 6.1. >> So moved. Second >> 6.1 resolution to accept recommended placements for special education students. Any discussion? >> All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Abstensions. All right. Now we're on seven consent agenda personnel matters. Does anybody have anything from 7.2 through 7.18 that they wish to break out? Seeing none, I'll take a motion for 7.2 through 7.18. >> So moved. >> Second. 7.2 Resolution regarding rescending professional staff appointments. 7.3 Resolution regarding rescending professional staff appointments. 7.4 Resolution regarding rescending support staff appointments. 7.5 Resolution regarding professional staff resignations. 7.6 Resolution regarding bus attendant terminations. 7.7 Resolution regarding bus attendant resignations. Uh 7.8 Resolution regarding professional staff appointments. 7.9
062Resolution regarding bus attendant appointments. 7.10 10 Resolution regarding professional staff appointments before after school programs. 7.11 Resolution regarding support staff appointments before after school programs. 7.12 Resolution regarding professional staff appointments summer school programs. 7.13 Resolution regarding civil service staff appointments summer school programs. 7.14 Resolution regarding support staff appointments summer school programs. 7.15 Resolution regarding APR annual professional performance review accountability. 7.16 Resolution regarding PDM substitute appointments. 7.17 Resolution regarding approval of school volunteers. 7.18 Resolution regarding support staff request for a leave of absence. Any discussion? All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Abstensions. All right. Um before I read the motion and um or before I take a motion, let's discuss 8.1 the resolution to adopt policy 8130 school safety plans and teams because it's we have some first readings um on the agenda. Let me
063pull up my uh committee notes here. >> This one I think we just reformatted. Um, yes. That's why it didn't come up to the board table before because it wasn't like properly redlined if you recall that. I think from the last meeting, >> right? >> Okay. Um, does anybody want to chat about it or we're ready to take a motion? I'll take a motion on 8.1. >> So moved. >> Second. Okay. 8.1 resolution to adopt policy number 8130, school safety plans and teams as a first reading. Uh any further discussion? All in favor? >> I >> opposed abstensions. All right. Um we've got next up is our uh student health services as a first reading. Um from my notes um from the policy committee it's mostly very minor verbiage changes for example um auto injector
064regarding you know referring to an epi pen was changed to device um so that's more broad kind of more durable language I suppose but no substantive changes from our previous >> that's good >> health services >> that's a good one because where are the um there are alternatives to epi pens now. So that's actually a great >> Yeah. And I think um an addition that had been added wasn't underlined before and now it is. >> Yeah. >> Like you said, minor changes, but >> Yeah. But minor changes. Any discussion? Okay. I'll take a motion for 8.2. >> So moved. >> Second. >> 8.2. resolution to adopt policy number 5420, student health services as a first reading. Any further discussion? All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Abstensions. All right. Um, we probably could have taken
065this as a batch. I'll take a motion for 8.3. >> So moved. >> Second. >> 8.3. Resolution to adopt policy exhibit number 5420 E3, student health services exhibit as a first reading. Any further discussion? All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Abstensions. All right. Next, we have our uh timeout and physical restraint policy. Um from my notes, we needed to combine our current policy with current laws. Um and then this was approved as a first reading uh when the redlinined copy was not available. So now we have a redlinined copy. Um, Kim doesn't have anything else to add, which means I must have done a good job. Okay. >> In the last meeting, it wasn't added to the agenda, the deadline. So, this one is now. >> Yes. But we voted on a as a
066first read anyways. >> Okay. Um, I'll take I'll take it as a a batch this time. Um, I'll take a motion for 8.4 and 8.5. So moved. >> Second. Okay. 8.4 resolution to adopt policy number 4321.12 timeout and physical restraint all students as a second reading. And 8.5 resolution to adopt policy regulations 4321.12R timeout and physical restraint all students regulation as a second reading. Any further discussion? All in favor? >> I opposed abstensions. All right. We've come to our next public comment period. I'm seeing nobody here in person who may wish to speak. I mean, I'm seeing anybody online. I'm looking. >> Okay. We'll move along. >> Um, next we have uh board report and dialogue. Uh, does anybody have any um committee updates they'd like to share? There's a communications subcommittee for celebrating seniors.
067Um Nicole Ree asked the communications committee if any of us wanted to join. I did join. Um I didn't really participate. I wanted to hear what the kids thought and you know it just it was really nice to see how much they care about each other and how much they care about everybody feeling good around college and what they're doing you know moving forward. I don't think I said a word and it was just all of them. It was really nice to see. Oh. Um, the legislative advocacy committee met was Melissa and I met and we want to know we want to know what the board wants us to do basically. >> Sorry, say that last part. I missed it. You want to know what the >> what the board would like us to advocate
068for like where we should focus our advocacy efforts. I >> I'll throw something out. I think honestly this issue around nice ship to me is a is a big problem and I know we're looking to try to get get the them put aside monies for it but the fact that we've pretty much had our um the funds that we got through um through the state that finally we got that got eaten up by nice ship increases. That's one I'd say. The second thing too is I think the a revisit of of our um of our funding. I think there perhaps something in that that needs to be looked at because we you know there if our if it's said that our community is a little bit wealthier. I think there's also a need to kind
069of look at the the percentage of students that are also on free and reduced lunch. Um because I think that's actually a you know a metric that we ought to really look at when we're looking at fair funding. Those are just my two points. >> That's still kept track of even though everybody has free lunch. >> No, I don't think so. No. >> Oh, okay. >> I'm sorry. >> C there's a different reporting for C. So the um the indicator is economically disadvantaged which includes verbal numbers but because we're C um students don't fill out or parents don't fill out verbal applications the only time they fill them out is if they're applying for a scholarship. So it it was I mean I think Alita shared with at least we shared with me and we
070could share with the board again. There was a study done in 2016 out of New York City. The commissioner referenced it actually about how C um be under reporting it not be a full accurate representation of a district's poverty just by virtue of the fact that there is no direct outreach. So they use different variables medic Medicaid numbers >> SNAP all of those to come up with an economically disadvantaged >> right so it's a problem in the formula I know Roger brought it up the last time but it is a problem >> I know you know there's been the advocacy efforts around um revisiting the foundation aid formula and the study that came out of the Rockefeller center and you know you me and I went down to speak about that. So, I think there's
071room to see where the the ball is now in terms of like revisiting how we approach kind of an antiquated approach to figuring out who gets what. Um, so it's great that we were successful in getting the fact that, you know, a we were owed, but the formula itself is is problematic, especially for how rapidly the times are changing financially. So, >> 100%. >> Yeah. Um, something I I think I would like our legislative advocacy committee to consider is appointing an advocacy liaison to NISBA. Um, they have kind of a outreach program so we can send one of us. It doesn't really matter who obviously it would make sense for somebody on our legislative advocacy committee to be kind of the point person for legislative advocacy between NISMA and us. The position is called an
072advocacy liaison. And um the perks of being an advocacy liaison according to NISB include uh being the first to receive invitation to lobby days and in district federal legislative visits. Um there's a special newsletter and opportunities to intend attend NISBA advocacy events with your board's approval and u more detailed information to brief your board on about NISBA advocacy activities. That's something that we can consider um that we don't do now that we might. And so maybe our if with the rest of the board's permission next time you all meet maybe that can be something you discuss. >> I don't know how anybody else >> I think I think you got to one thing to think about there's pros and cons to all this and NISBA is a big tent and over the years their advocacy
073hasn't been as effective as like let's say a west putt and things where we've been able to target with a lower Hudson superintendent. So, it's always a good it's kind of always good to have a foot in each camp, but I also think you got to be realistic with some of the pieces like like Roger's point of nice ship advocacy. >> That's going to be a niche of districts that are going to be interested in that. Most like even with Westp aren't going to care about it, right, at the end of the day. >> So, there's there there's pieces there that basically just, you know, I think we've got a balance where it has. I think I think we should get the list of priorities. I think like what Andy said is we should put
074on the list. like I'll throw a couple things on the list too, but I think we should take a look at that list >> and then the committee should make a plan of how we're going to approach the year because really you got to if you want to get things locally, you got to hit that September meeting with Westpot to really kind of get people in line and you really got to be aiming towards the Thanksgiving time frame for this. And so >> I think before we commit to something, I'd like to come up with what the priorities are to determine does it really make sense to spend time at the state with an issue that maybe is going to be tough to get traction with them directly. That's all I'd say. >> All right.
075Interesting effort. I guess to that list I would add our title three funds which we just saw in our budget presentation or >> an issue for us and I mean probably nationally a problem for I would imagine nationally but um >> to your point if it's more um if it makes more sense to >> focus our limited >> energies locally so that our state legislators and Congress people can advocate for that. That's fine. I I I do think that there's um some merit in having somebody that's you know particularly the one that um that we went to the National School Boards Association and being a part of that advocacy. I think just being in there, being in people's faces, and having that presence there is critically important, particularly should the tide turn and be in
076favor of public schools the way that that it could be. Um, and there becomes opportunistic for the future for us to be able to advocate for more money, more funding for the things that we're trying to do, particularly considering we're doing school expansion here. So, there's a lot to this. Um, and I think there's something that we we gain from that and having our our feet in the door there. >> Totally. >> Yeah. >> Don't disagree. I I think you know the things I'll throw onto the list, mental health services. So, the the part in the state budget that has been cut under Governor Cuomo, it went from about $15 billion a year down to nine was mental health services. And that really hasn't recovered. And we're seeing we're with the loss of the federal
077funding, mental health services is the next piece here. And I think we really need to push at the state level for that. I'd throw on that. Two things locally. I think I think we should really advocate for crossing guard cameras and a light at the top of Ever Avenue going down to Park Street Park because that's a state road. There's people trying to cross that all the time. And if you're passing a bus that's on a camera, it's deterred behavior. But when you're just crossing over past cross crossing guards I've seen them get passed too many times and I've seen too many people we've had people getting killed trying to cross from the apartments over to to the uh to the park on the other side. I think we got Ban Courtland done. Kudos to
078the board. That's a huge thing. But I think we got to come back and look at that park entry. That's a really big thing. So I would say we should throw those onto the list as well unless somebody objects. >> I would add on to that just in terms of safety and driving. Um, I know this isn't totally in our jurisdiction, but there are some roads that are that do have bus stops that, you know, people speed by and there's no sidewalk. There's no clear stop. Um, so if maybe like signage there, I know on Grace Road there is a sign that just says, you know, school bus stopping ahead um in some of those areas. and just kind of reviewing what the community has submitted to us and seeing if there's stuff we can
079do to make the kids safer. >> And that sparked something else. So M. Wilton, right? We I think we've talked at the board table that people stop and drop off their kids there and they run across street like one that's not correct, right? They're not supposed to do that. And then two, I think is there I I did hear from community member that they see a police officer station there, a cruiser sometimes on M. Wilton in that area, but I don't know if that's just kind of like a deterrent or is the OPD there to direct traffic like stop, don't run across the street. >> They have directed traffic. >> They have So they are there to do that. they they they are it's just not every day but it you know and oftentimes where
080they're placed somewhere in between. So that's that's not like a state and a and a federal advocacy I don't think on Malton. I think that's a local village and and >> yeah right that's yeah I guess it's one level down from the state but and to think right the I mean I guess the question is you know based on some previous discussions here are we is it are we comfortable with what's happening there is there anything we could do we advocate at the local level Roger for more signage on Melton like if you c if you drop your kids off here you're going to get a five you know like the no littering signs $500 fines if you litter I just wonder if there is something on the local level as well as some of
081the state stuff because we know Emilton is still seems to be kind of an issue. So I just don't know it's related. It's adjacent to this but it's not state level. >> I kind of wonder like if it's something that we should talk about at the communications committee. You know I've seen other communities do like slow down campaigns. >> Yeah. >> And I think there's a few approaches to this and certainly one is you know somebody's going to get a ticket if they do it and somebody's there. But really the whole idea behind like what we're trying to accomplish which is keeping people safe, right? And so I just wonder if there's not an opportunity to even maybe get some students involved in a way of a campaign to raise their awareness to say look
082this is why we don't drop off and you don't run across lanes of traffic in conjunction like I don't think they're you know it's an either or. I think there's a both and but it kind of has the feel too of something that like let's bring awareness up around this to because it is a it is dangerous. It happens on Route 9, too. Like somebody's driving down Route 9, they just pull over and stop and you got cars right lining up behind them and they're dropping off for the high school. And so, >> yeah, >> I do think there's a there's merit to trying to get a message out a few different ways, >> right? And I to me it's indicative of a need that we are not able to meet within the constraints of
083the traffic, right? People want to just be able to pull up, drop their kids off, and keep driving, right? That's that's the the desire there. So without a safe place, absent a safe place to do that, they're doing it in unsafe places. So I wonder, you know, I it's very limited. Our are our our options for making a safer place are are so limited. It really is a pickle. And I understand I understand why people do it, but um I don't want people getting rear ended on nine or >> the community spent a ton of money to make the safe option, right? I mean that wasn't always there. that whole driveway through. So I I just think there's a a reminder. I think anybody in a rush could say, "Oh, I need to do this
084quickly." But I think if we provoke the idea that we should really, you know, think before you drop off and stop in an undesated area because it's not just you, but other people that can be impacted. I've seen it elsewhere work and I think it's not a bad, it's a positive approach and the police are going to take it, right? I mean, that's they're the ones that have the authority hopefully. >> Yeah. And to that point though, yes, there is a safe do procedure that people are supposed to be following around up and down. Some just don't want to do it. But to that point, like Yeah. And I think I think and I don't think I'm imagining this. I think there were were a couple of email blasts that went out said >> reminder.
085Absolutely. >> Don't stop them at one point. So you've done that. Great. >> There's a police officer there. Great. They also put up a digital sign that says that says >> so happen maybe it is again back to the advocacy safety sure but maybe the ramp you know there's a nudge like >> take it more like it's the carrot and stick approach because it doesn't seem to be working because I'm still hearing and seeing like people still doing it. So like >> how to get it stopped. >> It's worth putting out some signs that basically remind people in places where they drop off. This is not a safe spot to drop off. And we can certainly do it within the grounds of the school where it's the property. And we could try to put it
086with a flashy message and like, you know, and something that looks attractive, but is reminding them, hey, >> we're here to keep all your kids safe. You know, if you really don't if you can't don't have time to drop off at school, maybe have your children walk, you know? I mean, that's just give them some alternatives, right? >> Totally agree. So, it looks like we have quite the list, which is great because, you know, I was hoping that we had some, you know, directives from the board. Um, I feel inclined to just bring it up in this space and put it on the radar of the board and see what we feel going forward. Uh, no one has to particularly feel pressed to respond tonight, but I have been um speaking and I spoke up
087in our in our committee meeting as well about just the curiosities around a growing advocacy effort both from NISBA, NISCUS and I think NICE all these acronyms uh to support um growing concerns or support petitions around growing concerns of what's being uh seen as kind of like an irresponsible approach to um from the what is it the New York State always forget sorry about that the New York State what is the name what is their name the New York the state university of New York board of >> uh trustees and how they're approaching the approval of charter schools and how that >> them not following the statutes are impacting uh public school districts uh financially and I think it may behoove us as uh finances become more and more strained and we're advocating for finances
088in other areas to also look at financial impacts of what is looking like a growing trend of kind of like a a laxed process to responsibly approving charter schools and and it's a growing concern throughout the state um that is compelling districts to really um stand up, pay attention to that and and protect um you know their their uh students and taxpayers and all that around the impacts that that can bring to their community. So, I just want to put that on our radar. If no one feels inclined to respond to that tonight, I'm fine. But I think that is also a significant potential financial impact that we might want to be prepared um how we where we stand as a school district on supporting um you know um the protection of our financial interest
089of our community. >> Great idea. Um, I know you said there's no pressure to, you know, voice your opinion on it right now, but, um, I I want to thank you for bringing it up, uh, because I I would like to add that to our list of things to advocate for. Um, I'm in support of that. >> It's a very important one because the city has a cap and so guess where the charters are trying to go, >> right? So, again, Melissa, thank you. >> Yep. Okay. >> All right. I just have one quick other uh I guess it's committee thing. >> I emailed uh and you know as per the last meeting I think there was a discussion around yeah connect to the chamber of commerce. >> I emailed CC Katherine and Frank said
090hi chamber of commerce here are the three board members who are technically the liaison why not have a chat and so we're waiting here phone. >> Okay it >> thanks for the update. Um, one other thing I wanted to bring up in board dialogue just um, I could use some help from you all because it seems that more frequently lately um, emails from community members are ending up in the spam folder instead of the inbox and it's very easy for me to miss it that way. And of course, I don't want to be um I I want to hear from our community members when they email us. So, um, just um I'm making a concerted effort to check my spam more often. Um, and I could just use your help with that so that um,
091I know an both Rob and Annie have reached out to me and be like, "Hey, this was in the spam. Did you see this?" And both in both instances I had not seen it. So, um, thank you Annie and Rob and please help me to make sure that that doesn't happen because people don't know when they send an email that it ends up, you know, it just ends up in the wrong folder. They just think they're being ignored. So, >> I I have a committee update. Um, >> Oh, sure. Sorry. Okay. So, um uh myself, uh Katherine and and Melissa met as the um board governance committee and uh I think we sent out an email to you all on our points of discussion, but just for the sake of openness and transparency here. So,
092we did talk about um you know the um a couple of topics and Melissa and Katherine, please tell keep me honest here if I miss anything. Um we talked about the um the student representative or the student exe officio on on our on board um in having a policy around that. I did circulate an example policy from NISVA um that we that uh probably want to look at and maybe contemplate for as part of the policy because I don't think that we have anything that's as formal as as such. Um and please keep me honest here. And also there was a uh toolkit associated with that too that um was sent out to everybody. And we also touched on um the uh the board manual. Um is that possible? I guess a question for the
093board and maybe for Illy to have that upfront page where it's just easily, you know, accessible just like right up front maybe on board docs um as well as on the district's public website. Um, I think when I went to look for it, and maybe it's just me, um, maybe, you know, maybe maybe it's a couple people, but it it's not as intuitive as to where that might be. So, it's be great to kind of like have that listed right up front, um, as to, you know, board board manual and and put that up. >> I mean, um, I'm not opposed to putting that on the public website since it's a collection of public policy already. Um uh based on your email, I did reach out to Illy and she has updated board docs. So
094for us at least, it's in the library section. So if you're in board docs and you click the arrow down below library, there's a tab that says board members. And if you click on that, um our board goals are accessible there and the board manual is now there with a link as uh as well as the um district goals. So, actually what we were proposing is to have that brought up front because it's kind of like two levels deep now, right in there. So, to bring that up to the to the to the front and and top. Um, >> what do you mean front and top? >> So, if you were going even if you wanted to like as soon as you go in right and into board docks, um, you know, if there was
095some place that was like right up there where you have meetings, um, you could have potentially even have like maybe just off either to the left or somewhere there. You know, maybe we have to look at this. I don't know. I'm I'm not going to be prescriptive about where, but just have it so it's like right there front and center. >> Just just that was just a suggestion. Again, you guys um have other opinions. Certainly happened happy for us to discuss it. >> But there just I'm just recapping suggestions uh here. Um and then I think we talked about the uh July retreat agenda. Um, and having like a centralized repository. Um, just making sure we have something that's consistent where we want to talk about what our board goals are. As people start to
096think about, we'll start putting together something as we get closer towards time, but just want to have um, here are the district goals for this year and we start with and then start to build on that for next year. Um, and then um, you know, Mary, if you had any thoughts on on some of that on some of the district goals as well. try to get some of that in advance of the retreat. So, and Melissa and Katherine, did I capture everything? Did I miss anything in in any of that? >> Um, pretty much. Yeah. Thank you, Roger. I'll just add that um yeah, to your point that's I had brought up um regarding the board manual and just curious where that lived and is there a way to just make it prominent or easily
097accessible and what that looks like. Of course, to Roger's point, you know, won't get into weed the weeds with that, but I think one of the main purposes of us spending so much time constructing that is so that it is a useful resource >> um for board members um you know, present and future. So, I think the easier it is to be able to access much like there's a policy tab that you click on. Maybe it's somewhere at the top of that tab what you click on it or something. I don't know, but that's just an idea. But I think um it's it's a very the purpose of it is so that it's an easily accessible tool um for a board member to be able to orient themselves to board norms and all those other
098things. Um that could be you know tricky situations. Um so that'd be >> a great idea to be considered. Um also with the uh exeicial board member, I had brought that up as well and revisited the discussion from when I went to the uh the NISSBA conference, the last one um in the workshop I attended with the school district that was kind of like at the forefront of having that before it was actually um you know uh you know part of like a mandate. So I think as we start to refine the process, we're only the second second time around now for this, but I think every year we learn something new. I think it is uh a good opportunity for us to start building structure around that. being a bit more we don't have
099to be into the minutia of the process but just being a bit more aware of what that looks like and be a bit a bit more connected in some way to the process or just making sure supporting there being some type of um consistent structure around that. I think even you know comparing first year to second year there this year there was the whole uh orientation that was provided by Westp which was great. Um, but I think as far as a school district, you know, what opportunities or pathways are we creating to make sure, you know, students feel um, empowered or inspired to want to have that position? Is there a structure in place to support an equitable process for that position? Um, things like that. Just making sure that we can support what that
100looks like some in some appropriate way. So, a policy, whatever. I don't know. Who knows what it looks like, but I think if we can start being intentional about making sure there's some process there. >> Yeah. >> And maybe consider I know Bose's considering a few student a couple of students at it because >> naturally you have times that they come and go and so if you have a few students interested, >> why not try to build off? >> We talked about having to. >> Yeah. Yeah, we talked about having to. I think um we were going to ask the policy committee to take a look at creating a coming up with a policy on sort of starting there and then deciding once there once we have a better understanding of a handle on how
101is this all supposed to go then um tackling whether or not we wanted more than one student and then part part of it too is I was recently asked by somebody what the process is and I didn't know the answer um and so then that sort of got me thinking well you know, we should be able to to answer that question. Um, and then it sort of went down the rabbit hole of wait, we we don't have a policy and just probably we've have been so blessed with Evan >> Owen. Sorry, it's not even like late enough to do that. >> That's the new guy just >> we've been so, you know, fortunate. um and he's been so wonderful and I think what a great time to codify it. >> I think that would help
102uh Miss Langley as well. >> Yeah, I mean I think that's the key thing because typically the high school principal has been kind of really important in that role. So >> I would be careful about whatever we put together. We want to leave a heavy influence from the from the school because that's a big important part. But I know some districts are like it's a student council president. Some districts are it's an appointee of the principal. I think there's probably some room for both kinds in some policies. >> Yeah. Yeah. So, so I think I think there probably needs to be some flexibility and we leave the administration with the ability to for when there's a year they have a few to deal with it that way. I'd be happy to ask Miss Langley for
103some suggestions after she's done this now for two years and to see what she feels would be >> appropriate. >> Um, in thinking on it just while we're sitting here regarding the manual, um, I think I would be in favor of adding it to the board section, the board of education section of the website. I think it would be useful even for I mean I know we're talk we made it with the intention of helping on board new board members but even prospective board members people who are thinking about running for the board. What is board work? And I think that this you know easier than cracking open the whole policy manual. Um it doesn't hurt to have that information further out there. So um any other board dialogue? >> Um Roger Rob and I
104did the coffee chat. >> Oh thank you. and we had not too much traffic, but we did get some feedback. Um, a TA and parent would would suggest that we shorten the time between report cards going home and parent teacher conferences to a week or so. And another parent asked, "Why doesn't the high school release the schedule ahead of time, like in the beginning of August?" >> That's all interesting. So was that was it was two people that came to the to and that was the feedback or is it more than that kids >> donuts >> which is great like all of it's good and I appreciate the time putting into it investing it's like you know and sometimes you get a bunch and sometimes you don't and so but it's >> it's a good
105message for the community and thank you for doing it you know and >> appreciate the the feedback from the community for sure >> what I would suggest is if we have tables like for any of these board chats or bar box to have our have like one of these types of things kind of at the uh just because people don't know >> so people know. >> I mean I mean it's like >> you kind of just look like you were hanging out at the library. >> They wouldn't walk away if they saw me there. >> I I wish you know I I had suggested and kind of jokingly maybe we put a sign saying I'm lonely. Please come talk to me. >> Um the board had expressed an interest in doing this more regularly. As
106far as the next time we'd be interested in doing that, I think if we want to kind of spread it out over the year, maybe like a late summer or September kind of like back to school time might be a good >> time. Does that >> sound good? I can make sure that we're teed up so that we don't have to feel like we can rush it and that our communications has enough time to really get out and put it on a calendar and stuff like that if we're looking at >> Sounds good. >> Like a fall date. >> Okay. Um, I just make a little note to myself. All right. Any further discussion in board dialogue? All right. Um, in that case, I'll take a motion to enter into executive session for the purpose
107of discussing collective negotiations pursuant to article 14 of the civil service law. >> So, second. >> Uh, any discussion? All in favor? >> I opposed. Abstensions. All right. Um, we will be entering executive session. We don't expect to reconvene. So, I hope everyone has a nice evening and we'll see you next time.