The Board of Education Meeting of March 11, 2026

001I'd like to call to order the Wednesday, March 11th, 2026 board of education. Stand us to the standy for all. Right. Um, our superintendent has some updates, so I'm going to turn it over to her. >> All right. Good evening. Um, I'm excited at this point to give the board of education and our community an update on our contra construction project, particularly the Austining CTE renovation which is taking place in the former church. It's part of phase three of the project at the high school. If you've been tuned in or if you've taken a look at some of our our materials on the website, you know that we have a phase one zero, a phase um two, we have a phase one, and then a phase 2, and then a phase three. It's a complex

002project. It has many layers. It's about joining this facility to the physical high school itself. And since we have a wonderful thriving high school with tons of programs, we have to make sure we have swing space. We have to have space for kids to continue to grow and to learn and not disrupt the educational program. One of the aspects of phase three will be renovating this um 19th century church that the former church that the board of education purchased. Um we have a lot of information on the website about that. And for those of you who've been in the church or are familiar with it, you do know that being a former church, there is a ton of stained glass. There are a few regular glass windows, but there are almost 50 stained glass windows.

003Windows interior, windows that are on the outside, huge windows, um, and very small windows. So, what do we do with them? Right. So tonight's conversation is to present to the board of education some options after we've had experts come in uh stained glass restorers, our architects and engineers and after three or four hours of meeting on this, this is where we fall. So I'm excited to present this to the board. Okay, just for everyone's um background and information, the former church has two layers. Uh it has um the lower uh the layer which is on top which is your ground floor layer and it the main uh what's called nave or sanctuary. Um and it has a small chapel off to the side. Both of them are quite tall. Um they used to have religious

004education classes in the chapel area as well as small religious services. And um south of the chapel area you'll see the entrance to the old educational center which will be um demolished during spring break and um it connects then to the where Austining high school property after that. The below uh picture here is the second story of it because there are some ste second story rooms and small offices and balconies that were used when it was a church but we're going to renovate those spaces. So, it's important. That's why this picture is here in the little tiny print there and in red you will see the windows that are numbered, right? Uh you really do need to um I had to the PDF just kind of zoom in a lot, but every single one of

005these have been looked at, examined, and numbered and um in detail. When I say they look at stained glass windows, they're looking at the frame, the original frame from the 1880s. They looked at the lead that holds every single piece of stained glass together to create that window. They looked at the caulking around the window. And importantly, they looked at the outside stone facade surrounding the windows. We got permission from the New York State Historical Preservation Office to do this work. In with that permission though is that we have to maintain the openings for the windows. We can't close a window. We can't cover it up or brick it up. And if you've been to the church, if you take a look at it, you'll see there's beautiful stonework around the windows themselves. So um

006we also need to be respectful of our intended usage of the space. The um the main nave area will become it got approved from New York State to be a CT edition. We get special CT aid for this and it's a career technical education program in the performing arts. Again, I want to thank our um Boseis district superintendent Neil Bole who helped achieve that additional aid for here and to identify key performing arts programs that can take place in that facility. So, when you think about that space and if those of you who remember the conversation we had about the roof, we're looking at exposing that. We're looking about having um rigging that will be standing in that space to support lighting and I'm going to be conducting dance and singing and chorus and maybe

007small theater programs. We're going to have faculty meetings in that space. The stained glass windows there are absolutely beautiful but they are single pane glass and route 9A is busy. So they do little to help with sound issues which I will need for this piece and they also do not protect the church the the former church in terms of the thermal cavity. How energy efficient is this space? um you could be go through a lot of oil which we took out in order to heat that space. We also want to make sure that the windows are modern, that they are tinted and we can conduct the instructional activities we need in the space. The small chapel to the side now I it's small in comparison to the nave but it is a twostory facility. It's

008got a balcony above it and that area we are trying to maintain the interior architectural integrity of it. There's beautiful woodwork. There were railings there. So whereas the main nave will become a modern place. It's going to have central HVAC. So when you look up you could see and many of us have been that when you've been into a very old building you could see how that happens. We're looking for flexible seating in that space. We're looking for flooring that does a great job for our students who'll be using it and flexible programming there. Through different configurations, you can seat up to um 650 individuals there depending upon you how you do it. And our architects and engineers created closet space where we would store the chairs that would be needed for such an environment.

009And the when we're doing a large scale production the stage for the production if depending upon the number if you want to have 600 plus you would put the main stage I don't think this little goes there sound you got it right there is a huge large stained glass window between Route 9 and there but that will become a stage area for our program and classes there. Okay. So these all of these points lend the conversation about the windows. There are six windows that I'd like to bring attention to the board of education and our community. There are two very large windows. The two largest of the windows are windows that face east in the chapel area and west to Route 9. And I'll point them out. There are four what are architects call mediumsiz

010windows. However, uh they are far from medium. They are quite large uh on either side. By the way, that's my HVAC. For those of you who might be tuning in and hearing some noise, that is the bond project for um um no, I'm sorry, transfer to capital funding that the community approved to AC this building. And because we have kids in it all day, they do the work after school. Right. 1 2 3 4. Those four windows that I just pointed out are dedicated to members of the Austining community in the 1880s. There is one um that faces south. That's south. This is north. the south facing window right there, right next to the old Tiffany window that was removed. Uh, that area gets a ton of sun. It's very prominent. When you walk past

011it, you can't help but notice it. I understand why the original builders of the church in the 1880s built uh put the Tiffany glass window there, but that was dedicated. We call it the Captain Smith window, and there's a huge history behind it. Um, I can't wait to have our students research the other members of the um, Austining community who we'll have to get Joyce involved in this definitely, but who those other windows are dedicated to. So, tonight's conversation will be about six windows. That window, that one, and these four windows, the north facing windows, which would be opposite where the old Tiffany glass window hard to see if you're in that space. I barely notice them anymore. There there is the organ is there. There are other um there's another um podium there for

012a lector there. They they tend to disappear there. But um but the south facing windows south towards M and Wilton, south towards New York City. Again, the sun comes through there. Lot of weather goes through there, but they are in the worst shape of all with their their frames. The frames have um no one no one outside of painting them um and maybe every once in a while reccocking them. They are from the 1880s. They're letting wind, moisture, and rain into it. and the caulking around them. All of the 50 plus windows has asbestous in the cocking. Many of the windows have cracks in them. Some are broken, but the stained glass hasn't come out. And what I've learned about stained glass is that um the geometric patterns were back in the 1880s, as they

013are today, filler materials. you know, you would design what you want in terms of iconography in the middle and then you filled in the stained glass with geometric patterns. So, let me Right. And again, this is just a blowup of what I described, the two uh windows which we're going to discuss now, the eastacing window and the westacing window. The west facing window faces 9A. If you're at the traffic light and stop, just look up and you'll see that window, right? And the east facing window comes if you leave the high school parking lot. You come in there and you can see that you see it all the time in the chapel area for those who have been in there. Now, these two windows are the exact same size. The window frame itself, these are

014the largest of the windows. The Tiffany glass was sold by the church ahead of time. They installed a temporary window that is was installed with the same thought as the roof that we have to replace. So that's a window we have to replace. These two the decision the board can make is we can restore one of these two windows. We have money in the budget to do that. When I mean restore, it is to fix all of the lead glass, to remove the asbestous caul around it, to repair the broken pieces, and then to create a thermal cavity on the inside and on the outside, and then put a metal frame around the whole thing and get rid of the wood. It's about a $400,000 project, but we have money in the budget to restore

015in that fashion either window. And since they're both the same size, if we decide to uh Oops. Go back, Mary. Okay. If we decide to restore the one that's facing Route 9, we'll move it to the chapel area. The point we're suggesting to move it there goes back to what I said about the purpose of the spaces. The chapel area will maintain some of the look and feel, the woodwork of the period, so it fits there. The main nave will be a performing art space. I need to cover that window. I'll probably have curtains on it. It won't be open all that time. We'll have a stage there. So again, if you restore that one, well, won't see it a lot of the time. So the point being is you a window that you're going

016to restore, you want folks and all of us who might be in the space to enjoy it. All right, so that's the first one. These are the two windows in question. Now, no matter what I did, for those of you who've been in the space, these photographs don't do the windows justice, but you can see what we talk about in terms of geometric patterns or um repetitive patterns, whether they're floral, and how they become filler. And there are tons of smaller spaces there. There's a lot of wood framing that will have to be replaced and removed. That's why the price ticket is what it is. I'm actually a little um you know, woo thinking about taking these out to these are huge windows and you can see from these two pictures what's inside and what's

017outside and there's a little graph on the side for the board and the community to see you know the thought behind each what we call frame or panel. The frames and panels are important. So back in the day, um, whoever designed and paid for these windows, the the congregation of this church paid for the iconography in the middle of the first window that faces Route 9. And then the chapel window where you have three figures, three icons at the bottom that faces east. And if you and you can tell now what I mean by graphic filler, they added flowers. They added geometric patterns. They added geometric shapes to it all. So again, the decision is which of these two do we want to restore? And we're going to move it into the chapel because that

018room will architecturally maintain the spirit and then the integrity of that space. the woodwork, the um the balconies with the woodwork and their smaller interior stained glass windows. And again, the main nave area becomes a for lack of a better term, a blackbox theater space. So have a little bit more of that modern edgy uh type vibe in it. And we'll be using the area in front of that large window as a stage for depending upon what activity um the board, the community or the high school principal wants to have. Okay, the next four windows that we'll discuss are the four what our architects call the four medium windows. These are pretty big windows too. Quite large, right? They face again south and M. Wilton and they face north. These are the two south facing

019windows. the one on your as everyone's watching on your right as you're facing this south onto M M Wilton. Uh that's the um um that's the Captain Smith window. Um Captain Smith was a ship builder on the Hudson River here in Austin, raised his family here, and um was an active member of the congregation of this church. Um the next window is dedicated to the Washburn family. I can't wait to do a little research on what their history is. The recommendation from our architects and engineers and stained glass folks is to take the panels that have the iconography in it and any any small graphic in there. I think there's an anchor in the Captain Smith one to remove those, create an internal panel with them, backlight it in and hang it inside the restored

020building with the history of it behind it. Right. And again, the same for the Washburn family window. And these are the two northfacing windows. And again, hard to see when you're in the church because of it's a dark area faces north. It's a light doesn't come through there and the organ is over there. So again, you could see geometric patterns. You can see repetitive flowers, but the goal here would be remove the middle two pieces, the middle two panels. And there's lots that you can zoom in on that smaller panels, but again to restore them in a separate um internal stained glass frame, backlight them and then have the history of that next next to them there. This is the recommendation of our architects. The rest of the windows, the rest of the close to

02140 41 I think there are some that are regular. it we would re the recommendation is to remove them uh remove them completely. There is they're almost all now filled with geometric patterns and shapes. There's a whole bunch that are interior the the right here you see pictures of the interior ones. They're fine. We will re, you know, we'll repaint them, them as needed, um touch them up, but um they will become part of and we want to backlight those the ones that are interior. But for those of you who remember you're in the church, you know when you walk in, although you can't walk in it now, but the staircases when you walk in, you know, they're small stained glass here, small stained glass there. There's different different places. So the ones that are

022on the exterior, remove them um and replace with thermal either triple or double pane with argon glass in it, metal frames tinted um that will have sound attenuation capabilities. They'll fit right into the shipo required window itself with the outside stonework which we will address. And um this will give us a sound attenuation and thermal cavity. There there is no sadly market for stained glass. Alita and I were on that meeting for quite a while. There there's a lot of apparently this filler geometric leaves flowers. There are tons of places with that stuff in it. And uh with the asbestous cocking in it, you'd have to go through all of that. It is much easier to make it all part of one bid. Remove all of these. We'll tell you what's the quantities, put it

023out to bid, and then allow us to move forward than to restore. So that's the plan. Um the um and again, you have to remember that this is a public works project. It's not a historical restoration. So when we bid the windows out, we want to make sure that the p the person who bids on it understands very specifically what our ask is. Right. Um but first of all um I guess I'd like the board's feedback on the thought behind the four east, south, north, and south windows. The ones where we're recommending take the windows out. Take the whole thing out. Get rid of the geometric shapes and keep the middle patterns and whatever is written there that's dedicated to families and Austin and create the a special frame like a piece of artwork inside

024the church with the history of that window inside. That's our recommendation to the board for those four windows. >> Okay, questions from the board. Roger, you want Sure. Mary, thank you for this. Can you go to the first um set of windows just at the beginning? >> The two big ones. >> Yes, that's it. Right there. >> Right. >> Okay. So, I just want clarity. I'm just trying to understand a little bit more. >> You there, if you look at the um let's look at the picture on my right. >> Uhhuh. >> Um or or whoever's looking at this is on on the left. If you the wood pieces that kind of go up, are we saying we're keeping the that that's is that strong enough to support a So what we're going to do

025>> that's why to re we can only afford to restore one of these. >> Yeah. >> Whichever these two we want to restore. It's a full restoration, >> right? But a restoration is that restorable? Yes. Cuz Okay. I was asking that only just because it >> just the appearance from the outside does it looks like it's pretty brittle. >> The wooden frame is horrible. It's a category five. If you read on this meaning the uh the frames are terrible. Their water comes through. The cocking is filled with asbestous. But they had uh stained glass preservationists who went through both of these quite thoroughly and said they are eligible for restoration. We can do it. It will cost almost a half a million dollars to do one of them. >> Okay. >> And then we enase

026it in a um glass to protect the window and to give us our thermal cavity. And we place them in an overall metal frame after we remove the wooden frame and the caul with asbestous. >> And that includes like the more intricate detail towards the top, >> the leaded glass in there. Yes. >> Okay. because it it just I what would happen in the instances we're trying to restore it and it all kind of like does crumble because we find out that it's pretty well rotten all the way through because you don't know until you start working on it, right? >> You got you got two of them so they might pick from one to the other. >> Yeah. I that that would be my recommendation in terms of picking one or two. Maybe the

027thought being that we'll start with one and if it's successful um you know we'd have to make sure the bid is written carefully and if it doesn't survive the removal process to restore it then we go to the other one. >> Yeah. Okay. It's just I wonder like just if both of them because they they aged about the same. They seem about the same on both sides in terms of its fragility. and and clearly if the board would like, it's my recommendation to schedule a visit to the church to see them in person. Um, more than happy to do that. >> That's all I have. >> So, this is the bigger decision one, these two. >> Yeah. >> Do you want us to decide? We sounds like we have two main decisions to make. One

028regarding the four and then a decision regarding these >> two, right? Right. >> So with the four, you're asking us, do we greenlight this plan to take the pieces down and sort of reconstitute them and then put them basically like art installations in the building. >> Correct. Minus all the geo, you know, they're going to only redo the panels with the iconography or if there is a panel there with an icon like Captain Smith has an anchor in there. >> I see. like to keep the stuff that has personalization and historic value to us. >> Okay. So, you want our green light on that to begin. >> Yeah. >> Okay. I don't have a reason not to green light it. Okay. >> So, it's a green light for me. >> Okay. >> Yes. >> Unless

029you have anything else for >> No. Okay. >> So, just to clarify, 400,000 is a cost to do one of these. No, these these aren't within the budget of what we put aside for windows in the church. As is as is the big one, Rob. These two big ones. This one faces um the one on my left, right? The one on my left faces Route Nine. Okay. The one on my right faces east and it's inside the chapel area. >> Right. So these are two, >> right? >> Choice one is restore one of these. >> Correct. >> For 400,000. >> Correct. >> And that's not the cost to do the other four that whatever we're doing the other four. 400,000 for one of these. Okay. And so first question then is aside from the the

030financial piece, are there any local, state or federal requirements to do that work? Or is that what our architect recommending? Meaning, I'm not suggesting this, but if we wanted to, and they're beautiful, take these out and put like modern windows in, could we or could we not do that? >> You could. The one thing, as I mentioned before, Shipo, the New York State Historical Preservation Office, you have to have a window there. You can't cover these up. >> Okay? But you could put it, we in theory, we could take those out and put a whatever new replacement. >> And that's what we're doing in the Tiffany one window, right? The the largest window of all, which no longer is here. Um, it's got a big glass panel and wood on the top. We're going to

031replace that with a, you know, triple pane, double pane, argon filled, real glass window. >> Okay. So these are there any and I'm for forgive me if because I know you just clicked over. >> That's okay. >> Are those is there religious imagery in here? And if so if this will stay afterwards, do we have concerns that we're putting we would keep potentially religious imagery even though the building's not going to be used for religious purposes in sort of a public building? Would we be opening us up to any concerns? I don't know, establishment clause, whatever that might be. >> Absolutely not. The the the church has been de um decommissioned. So, it is no longer religious value to it at all. Right now, it's pure artistic value. The same thing could be like if

032you go and visit um you know different places or if you go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, you can you will often see religious figures there, but again, they are works of art as opposed to used for their purpose in a church. So they become then works of art, right? >> And those so so the restoration would basically net out for one of these for 400,000 to do and it would look like this but better as best taken out, right? All cleaned up, all that. That's so that's that's choice one, >> right? And and it would be if they survive the removal process, right? >> They survive. And then do we price out that other totally other end? >> All of what I'm saying fits in the budget. the architects will prepare for me

033at the end of that meeting a very detailed report and then of course we have to bid them Rob you know this is what we say will be if we put it out to bid and we don't get nibbles on it we'll be back here again to say oh that didn't go well but I have a budget that we have to align to >> sorry my question was the other end of the spec so you have the restoration what is there a cost to do the take them out maybe preserve them elsewhere not necessarily in the window but like to do a replacement window. Do we have a cost on that? >> Um, yeah. I I And again, because these two are so large, you know, if you wanted to remove them and do what

034I'm hearing you say, and correct me if I'm wrong, to take the same path as these windows. >> Yeah. >> Right. Where you just take the panels themselves. >> Right. >> I can ask the architects and engineer for the board to give me a price on that. >> Okay. I was just curious that other end of the spectrum, right? restore or just put in an Anderson or whatever that would be. >> So for for whatever reason, these four windows, the families of Austining picked what's in here and there's a story associated with it. The founders of this church, right? So like I said, I would get Joyce involved with this. I do research on it. And when you put them inside the the former to the CTE edition, um you'd have a plaque on the

035side talking about the history of that. And I'm offering to the board, you're more than welcome to come and take a tour um you know, in to take a look at it. And uh and maybe for the bigger windows, we we attempt to take both out cuz we have to restore and the decision will be made as to which one survives the removal process. That will make the decision for us. But right now, given the numbers that we have, these are all within our budget. I think remember when we had that open house, Alita Jared and I were there, we had a lot of people come by. I a question I got asked a lot about was what about the windows? What about the organ? So that was feedback I received that day. So based

036on that and based upon what our initial thoughts were, can we what can we do? What can we do? So this is the plan to approach that. I'm saying that they'll like 40 something of them are going to be removed and regular glasses going in unless someone gives us like a million dollar donation or something. >> Um I'll just keep going around the table. Frank, do you have any? Sure. Um I think it's a balanced plan in terms of trying to maintain some of the integrity of the space and the history of it and move to a more modern use of the room. You know, I think we have that. I guess if I'm talk if we're talking about the two windows, the one that goes between the east side, which would be between the

037new wing and basically the church at the end of the day, you know, in the morning, that's a really pretty window and golden at the end of the day. great light and it would give you some privacy from the classrooms that are going to be above it on the other side. So, I I I agree like it makes sense to do that window and I think that window is kind of the right window for it, but go through the process and see. Um the other side I think you have a great opportunity for some wonderful sunsets at the other side because it faces out and you you know from the upper side there you're going to see across the river with a pretty unobstructed view. So, I just think that of the I I'm glad

038to see we're leaning in this direction because I think it kind of lends itself naturally to a nice attractive window and then a nice view across the river at the end of the day for that. >> If you remember in some of the preliminary designs for the addition to this in order to mirror this, this this is the window that would be closest to that, right? It faces east. There is um a modern just um um vertical um stained glass color windows that they're going to put in there to kind of like mirror that >> that that and the colors are aligned to here in that approach. But again, the board could decide this window. Again, this window itself here, the the >> westfacing window, this one, the one that's facing Route 9, that is

039being recommended to have regular glass in it >> because of the tone, the vibe inside, the more modern, and we're going to be covering that up because we have uh plays and performances there and um you know, it'll be a stage area, but again, that that's the the reason why that would be moving, but it would be which of these would fit better east facing. >> So, I mean, as far as the two windows go, that makes sense to me. I think of the four other windows, the plan there makes sense. I I'll say >> I can give you some of the history of the Washurn window disclosure. My mother's a Washburn. There's a few lights in the family. Okay. But I, you know, I think the plan of kind of moving on from them

040and taking them out and replacing them with glass is really good. But I can certainly help fill in some of the blanks. >> Okay. Thank you. So all of the windows with the exception of one with religious iconography will be removed. >> Right. All of them will be removed. These four will we just keep the panels with the information about our Austining families on a plaque next to it and they'll be hung like a piece of art inside the renovated space. Annie. >> Um, so to kind of follow up on Rob's question, I want to make sure I'm understanding the religious iconography would stay >> for for the for the one window we're restoring. It's the full window. Correct. >> Okay. And that is okay because it is considered art since the building is no

041longer used for religious purposes. >> Right. Correct. And I let's let me just everyone familiar with Handles Messiah, right? Like it's a classic piece of and people sing it all the time in public spaces. People like people just think about it as a great piece of music, not necessarily something religious. So when it gets decommissioned, that's how people look at that, right? Yeah. >> So, if it was religious iconography from another religion, it would be the same situation. >> Exactly the same. >> Okay. Um, I don't really have a preference for which window. I think Frank's plan sounds nice with the sunset and the sunrise. And I look forward to hearing more about the washrooms. >> Yeah. Yeah. And it's interesting because going back to what Frank just mentioned, the iconography for the east facing

042window, the one we're talking about, which is in the chap, it's down here at the bottom. You get all those beautiful colors from the geometric patterns up here. >> Yeah. And I think more subdued, you know, it's just, >> you know, if we really had to make a change there, maybe take some panels from other windows to kind of move away from it. But >> that's for the architects to take a look at. But I do think that window gives you a nice, >> very general vibe of just nice color. >> Sorry, which window were you pointing to, Frank? >> The one on >> this one here. See, if you take a look at it, Roger, the iconography is smaller and it's right here. It doesn't take this window here, the religious iconography is has

043a large presence in the middle of it. This one here, when you're in the space, all of these geometric patterns when the sun comes through, it's really beautiful. >> And that's that's the one that's that's root nine facing. >> No, >> this one's root nine facing root, >> right? >> Okay. >> It's almost like a kaleidoscope kind of. >> Yes. Well stated. Yeah. >> U Melissa I don't have a lot to add. I just wanted to um say I don't have a particular preference for which window, but I do think the one that everyone's leaning towards is a good idea. But I just want to thank you know you, Mary, and the team for just being considerate on how we can, you know, honor and preserve history. Um but finding that healthy balance within the,

044you know, what the building is going to be used for. So I just appreciate that. And I'm pretty sure, you know, um, even some of the opinions that were shared with you early on about what we were going to do with the windows, I'm pretty sure those people appreciate it as well. So, I think we found a healthy balance and I'm glad we were able to do this with thought. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Um, so my feelings about these two windows is I I don't know. I think I like the idea of maintaining the the west facing window toward Route 9. I think that's more I don't know. I think more eyes see it from that angle. However, I really like the window that faces east better. So, to me, it's going to be

045whatever window survives the best this process. >> Exactly. Exactly. >> I'm not going to lose sleep over which window. Personally, >> um >> and maybe neither survive and I'm going to create a piece of artwork that'll hang in front of the new windows to with geometric patterns. Right. >> Right. Um I do think it's important cuz when we were going out for the the bond related to this that was a big concern from a lot of people was u maintaining the kind of cultural context for the building, >> right? >> And uh I would like to honor that and I like the idea of hanging the panels up especially with an um an explanation, right? you know, because then it gives us the context, the history. >> Um, >> and so I I'm in favor

046of that. And I don't have a strong preference for these windows as far as which one if we can only do one. >> Um, and it might, you know, I guess and my question is what what happens if we like, here's $400,000, restore one of these windows, and neither of them survive. Like what are we just out $400,000? >> We would have to make sure that the bidding process is very specific in that procedure. Just to be clear, you know, cuz it's it's a gamble with this stuff as far as like what will be usable >> 100%. And that's why being very specific from the beginning is how we have to go about that. So that's why we're having this conversation tonight and I and bringing up the point neither of these windows might survive

047the the removal process. Right. >> That's why I asked about the wood on that. >> Yeah. >> I I didn't say this but green light. >> Okay. >> Thank you. Can I ask a quick just followup based on that? Is there an on so 400,000 we get it hopefully perfect. Is there an ongoing >> maintenance cost for these type of windows versus again traditional replacement? Like do you have to do something every year, every 5 years you have to re >> Excellent question, Rob. Excellent question. We will be putting a panel in front and inside and outside to give us the thermal cavity and to protect the window and the work that was done. >> So, thank you for asking that question. Right. >> So, there's not like you have to do something every year,

048every 5 years. >> No, I mean I it's metal. They'll have um I don't know what the frame I I don't know what they do with caul. Again, we'll we'll make sure with everything in this building, it's an old building, that we identified the issues that are required for regular maintenance. If you remember, that was part of our conversation we had about uh the roof and why we decided to take down the metal roof because I was going to have to have Jared climbing up there on a catwalk to maintain all the sprinkler systems and I don't know if I could do that or maintain that. So, again, um the thought behind it will be that question. So, and I will get more definite information from our architects and stained glass restoration folks. >> But

049to be clear, you know, regular windows require maintenance. They don't last forever, right? Like whatever windows we put in, just like windows in any building and the windows in your house eventually need to be, you know, maintained. I guess the question >> as I hear it from Rob is does this add to that? Does this increase the regular maintenance that we would need to do for any window? >> And what would be the warranty on these new windows? Right. Exactly. Y >> Okay. >> Can I Sorry, mayor. Just one question. Not specifically about this window, but related to the the the um project itself. So, um correct me if I got my fact wrong in this. Before we start doing this, do we have to start start the um connection over to the to the

050what will be the new CTE technology space? >> Yes. I mean, this whole project is layered because I need swing space for kids. Like, when I break into one area, we're going to build stuff. We're not putting furniture into it. So, having this clearly identified so we can bid it out and see where we are with money. That's one thing off the list that we don't have to worry about when we enter that period. So, that's why the architects and engineers are looking for a green light. Alita, just add to anything that I've missed here. But that's that's the point behind that. >> So, this is just a pre-work right now before before I mean because all the other work has to happen. This is right now just getting what could be an obstacle. >>

051Signed, sealed, delivered, get the cost done, bid it out, and see where we land. >> Yeah. >> Right. >> If anyone wants to take a visit, I think, why don't you send an email to the board? If I don't hear anything, I'll think that it's whichever one of these two survives the process, everyone's okay. But if anyone wants to come in person, we will obviously arrange a a visit for the board of education. >> Okay. >> I have one more question. Um, so this restoration is part of the bond? >> Yes. >> Okay. And then was this already kind of included in the bond when we went out for it or is it like we have some extra money so we can do the restoration? >> This was part of the bond given the feedback

052we receive from community members about the windows. I I can't I I I'm being honest with you right here. We can't restore all of them. It's impossible to do that. There isn't enough money. This isn't a historical project and you I couldn't the thermal cavity it's just so keeping in the spirit of what we were asked in the pre-bond period and what we did tell folks in the materials we are trying to restore to as much as possible and to respect the history of the building in a way that is sensitive. Right. >> Yeah. I know there was some concern that the district would use the full bond money even if you know things costs came under and so the public can be aware that this was already included in the original price. >> We

053windows are in the bond so it's it's and then Alita whatever we bid out we that's the only money we can use what's in the budget. if it doesn't come in, if this plan we can't get any biders for it, we're back to the drawing table with it. >> So, I think also what we would consider doing is an alternate >> um in determining which one we can. So, if this doesn't work, then we can do an alternate, right, >> for just >> the uh windows that uh Rob was talking about. >> Mhm. That's it. And then make all the others part of one. take them all out together and we'll install better windows for everyone. There'll be clear tinted glass >> and the construction manager is actually the person or group that came up

054with the budget. So that was his budget that he provided and what we presented to the uh voters. Um so that's based on what he thought at the time. So again, we would we would if it doesn't work out, either we can do an alternate before um just to get the two different prices, >> right? >> Um and see what the costs are. >> Yeah. >> So again, be trying to be respectful for what we heard from the community, what we told folks when we were going out, what we heard from individuals, and uh to kind of maintain the um the history of the building. >> Yeah. I'll share we did on those tours hear from a couple that wanted us. heard from a lot to keep all the windows. It's not practical. >> Not

055practical. >> I think there's a balance of trying to >> right >> do some and not all. >> Right. >> So for the record, I don't know people went around the table. So I'm So just for the record, I am >> definitely supportive of the a restoration. Um think they're beautiful. So, but I would call myself at this point a yellow likely green just just to get back. So, the community does hear that, you know, 400,000 to do one. If we went another way, it would cost X just so there, you know, because the bond was quite a while ago. We voted just so we have it on record for that. But I would I would support the restoration. There's no question, Mary, in my mind that you've done the right process, the right plan,

056and that is the right plan. But just just for the record, just for the community because it is it is a lot for one >> piece of a of a large project. You know, if you take the percentage 400,000 out of 210 million, it it is a chunk. So, right that that's that's where I come down on uh this one, but looks beautiful. I'd love to be able to respond. >> Yeah, I wouldn't take a green light as an signal not to answer the question already asked, right? That was already asked and I agree it's useful information. >> Okay. All right. So again, the up to be transparent to the community about where we are because we did talk about this. So that's the point for tonight and just to share direction and we'll be

057back with you to see if it works. >> Okay. >> All right. Um just I'm good with the one on the right of the big one. I answered question number two first. So >> I'm going to go back to question number one. I prefer the one on the right which has the less um >> overt uh religious imagery in it. >> Okay. Right. I think I'd be more comfortable with that. >> I'm going to go against the grain and for the one on the left. >> It's gonna >> We'll see which one We'll see which one makes it >> makes it out. Okay. >> All right. >> Okay. >> Are you good, Mary? Do you have what you need? >> That's Thank you. Yes. That was great. >> Love talking about the construction project. >>

058I know. I know. >> Do you have anything else in like as a regular update or should we just turn uh >> We're gonna turn it over to Owen, right? You ready, Owen? Good evening. Um, and I also saw that the uh the poster up on the the church was put up with the updates. So, I think that that'll be good for all the community members to see any updates about the project. >> Um, so the last couple weeks have been pretty eventful, especially in athletics at the high school. Um, and I first wanted to congratulate our girls basketball team on a successful season making it to the section finals last weekend. Uh they had an incredible season and gave us all something to root for. So congratulations to them. Also, congratulations to Charlie Fernandez

059and Carrera Dcasta for making it to the state finals for indoor track. Uh they competed last week. And then spring sports started this week for JV and varsity sports. And there was great weather to start it off. So that was that was nice. It might get back to to cold again, but it was good for good for a start. Uh last week at OHS, the athletic leadership class and Miss Castro hosted this year's special Olympics youth leadership summit. This event brought together student leaders throughout the region um for a fun and activity packed day. Uh last month throughout the month, many of our social studies classes visited the Bethany Arts Black History and Cultural Culture Exhibit. Uh, and a special shout out to some of our OS students who were leading tours for Roosevelt students

060and elementary students um throughout the exhibit. Shout out to the uh OHS business club who competed at the statewide DECA competition in Rochester last week. And last week at OS we celebrated uh school social worker week, taking some time to appreciate the necessary work they do. Shout out to our 10th and 11th grade science research students who had the opportunity to serve as judges at the middle school science fair at St. Augustine School. And thank you to our students and St. Augustines for supporting the next generation of scientists. The OS marching band is currently preparing for the upcoming Sleepy Hollow and New York City parades. So we wish them luck in their preparation and in the parades next week. Shout out to the OS mock trial team for competing in the preliminary rounds of the

061regional competition. Uh we are wishing them luck in the first round of playoffs this Thursday where they will be competing against Blind Brook as the prosecution. This Saturday, 49 science research juniors and seniors will participate in the annual Westchester Engineering and Science Fair against about 820 science students from around the region. Uh we've been practicing non-stop non-stop for about a month and are ready for this weekend and hopefully we can I can come back in a couple weeks with some good news and have a couple people going to the International Science Fair in in Phoenix in May. Next Monday, a group of 14 OS students will go to Claremont to celebrate reading month. Students will read aloud to the third and fourth graders supporting our collab collaboration between buildings. And then earlier today, um I

062just spoke with Miss Prior Groch about it. Our OHS science research liaison team visited Roosevelt um for their second visit and the expansion of the program we're working on there. And throughout the next two months, Roosevelt students will experiment experiment with slime. And they will understand how to perform a scientific experiment and draw conclusions and make hypotheses. Uh, and later in the spring, the Roosevelt students will visit the OHS science research room and present their findings and be able to talk to all the high schoolers. And lastly, our athletic leadership class will visit Brookside during their PBIS assemblies in late April, uh, presenting on what it means to be a leader both on and off the field. And the mascot will also be in attendance, so it should be a fun day for everybody. >>

063Thank you. >> All right. Thanks, Owen. I'm gonna turn things back over to Mary uh as we enter our work session, our curriculum uh review committee update. So, >> okay. All right. So, >> take it away again, Mary. >> Maria and I are uh excited to talk about this and our expectation would be that our we have three board members who were active members of this committee to certainly um chime in in on the conversation itself. So just for everyone's um reminder and it's a this presentation becomes part of board um u minutes and dialogue for future reference. The board of education last year adopted policy 4201 which establishes the work expectations and requirements for a curriculum review cycle. in in in in plainer English what that means is that a curriculum review is two

064years in length and it has an internal component a self-study and then an external component in year two. After a program undergoes the um cycle it enters into an implementation phase and then a monitoring phase. So all curricular areas will are under constant examination review um to make sure that it does what we need to do for our students. It calls for the board policy calls for a committee to steer the work to oversee the work and at the end of year two a final report is presented to the board of education. Um, in year two, the beginning of year two, we bring in a consultant. The consultant could be an expert in the field, someone from a university, someone who's done research. It could be the tri-states organization, it could be a branch of

065of our regional, the arburn or other organizations that have expertise in this particular area. year one the internal review um if any there are lots of and that that that will be a topic for our next meeting the committee meeting there's lots of research out there on how to conduct a program review um back in the day I did write the manual for Pleasantville when I was there implementing in this and what we look at and what we do we create an internal report and then we hand it over to our consultant who comes in and spends a year uh with us gathering feed feedback from teachers, from students, super important, and from community members. Um, in year the steering committee when you pick the topic to start, then creates what's called a working group

066or a subcommittee or a technical committee. Now what that means is that if you pick the area of math per se, you would certainly want math teachers, your math coordinators, your ma people who have credentials in math to sit on that committee to be doing the work. They would report back to the steering committee through different phases of that. Maria will be chairing that level of work. Um and then the outside consultant would be uh interviewed by both the steering committee and members of the technical group um that would come to the board of education at the end of year 1 for approval of this consultant. It will be well known to the community and then we'd start that work with our outside consultant who will write a formal report. The board of education will

067get that report and they will get a bunch of recommendations in it and the board could say yes or no to all of them. Right? So that's part of the process, right? And again there's an implementation phase because some things will involve money and you would have to include that in a budget process. And then of course it should be monitoring. We right now through the board of education's adopted long range plan you are monitoring all instructional areas. You you set up a process this year where all administ and last year all administrators pick goals per department. They start in the beginning of the year based on data. Um they monitor it midyear and give a report out to the community based on those goals at the end of the year to the board of

068education. So Austin is doing a great job in terms of monitoring. This enhances the work. This gives a wonderful opportunity to put a program under a microscope and analyze it from all aspects of it. And with all good questioning starts a all good all good research I'm sorry on this starts with great questioning. Um the membership of the steering committee includes and this isn't the policy right three board members but we have central office administration Kim um Maria and I sit on this committee representatives of the Austining teachers association represent representatives of the Austining administrators association and then a principal representing the elementary schools and a principal representing the secondary schools. I will always use the terminology the state education department uses separating elementary and secondary. Your budget books are actually broken up that way

069because that's how the state looks. Elementary is K6, secondary is 712. So we have rep principles represented from those two areas. And again when we have subcommittees this is a wonderful opportunity to expand participation in the process. You would have community members, students, invite more staff in. Staff could be part of the subcommittee. Staff could become part of a feedback loop, right? It's a great uh you could have roundt conversations over multiple evenings hosted by the outside consultant for different groups. Lots of opportunities for feedback and a board of education could issue a call to action to join one of these to encourage the community to join the process. To date, we have had four in-person meetings and I have to say they have been excellent. Uh we reviewed the policy. We clarified expectations and

070responsibilities. A process to pick the initial area. What do we start with? That took two meetings and then what is the cycle like for the additional years the cycle. Okay. And here it is. Right. Okay. Yeah, >> at the last meeting there was a tremendous consensus that the area we would start with and it would take two years is world language and dual language programs. Um and Nancy Dela Cruz Aoyo uh is actually very excited about this. So that's our first area. The second area is mathematics. And if you take a look, it's a two-year process. So the when you're on year two of the first one, you're going to start year one of the next one. And that's why the subcommittees and the technical groups are really important. You can't tap the same group

071of people each time. >> So you're trying to pick a different area in 28 to 30 school counseling. I really like this choice, this option. There was great conversation around that. And also it is a different layer of staff. So I don't have my elementary principles who will go this involves the these are like huge areas that I could be involved in. I'm not saying it's not the same for secondary but at secondary you've got five core major subjects. Right. In 29 to31, the area that was picked was language arts and we round out for 2030 2032 with science. >> Um I'm only chiming in because you said we should chime in. >> Yes, you should. Just to clarify, so when people see this, just because we're doing a curricular review, I want to just

072make really clear, it doesn't mean that when you see math on there, if that when it comes up, it's going to say, we're going to say, well, say goodbye to the old math program cuz we're going to get a new one. It's just a look under the hood to really examine it in a focused way how effective our current curriculum is. the recommendations that come out of that won't necessarily be to get rid of everything and start over fresh, right? So, I don't want anyone to see this and look like and think that, well, somebody's getting a brand new curriculum and has to start kind of all over again every year and it's going to be somebody else and who's getting hit. like I don't want that to be what is perceived here is just

073because we are deciding to really be intentional about um evaluating the pros and cons the strengths and weaknesses of these doesn't mean that we are throwing the baby out with the bathwater every year for whatever new subject we've decided to and also in the midst of that it builds internal capacity you learn a lot you start out like to what extent does our world language and dual language pro programs address the 21st century learning needs of our students. You start out with that that major question >> and I want to chime in there because I don't think it's obvious from the way that it that heading appears. This is also inclusive of uh English new language learner students. So whether we're meeting state mandates for those students, whether the structure, you know, our students are

074in a certain structure within our district versus another structure in our district outperforming and why. So what would a best practice be for that going forward? And it's not just although we have a Spanish dual language program, obviously it's not just limited to our our Spanish language at all. Correct. Um for as folks I know the board is aware of this but those who might be watching our audience um our dual language program does address the instructional needs of the part 154 program. Correct. So, so again that's why there's to what Katherine just mentioned there that's included very explicitly in this but globally all those areas that you see up there it is imperative that we ask the question to what extent does our math program address the learning needs of our children who are

075in the part 154. To what extent does our mathematics program address the learning needs of all children that are um regulated through the part 200 regulations? So we have to look at that for all programs as well in that. But in this particular instance which is the uniqueness of it is that we do use our dual language program to address if we didn't have it it would look different here. >> You would have a bilingual program. Correct Maria? >> Yes we would have a transitional bilingual program. >> Correct. >> Um I also wanted to add thank you for clarifying that uh Christine. Um I also wanted to add there's a lot of work going on regarding with the new uh state graduation uh New York inspires the um the criteria. So the work continues even

076though we are reviewing specific curricular areas. The work still continues science with the new assessments with bio and earth space and science next year algebra 2 physics coming up chemistry. So we are still continuing the work while we're engaging in this exceptional work. Right. Okay. So again this is just a review for our very next step. So when we the steering committee meets at what will be our fifth meeting. We're going to talk about what format and what research we're using for the internal evaluation program. um we won't be uh we we will not reinvent the wheel. there's a lot of real very strong professional materials and that out there for it and I'll make sure the committee has that well ahead of time so everyone can um take a look at it and then

077we'll select a technical group you know who's involved in um dual language or world languages at high school we have world languages we have French we have Spanish we have American sign language right so so again um this is a review of all of that I think at a public conversation there was A um here at the board table we talked about why how can we uh increase the number of our students who are getting the seal of biiteracy. So um and we we talked about the role the English regions plays in this. So having teachers involved in that would be important here as well because we want more kids to get that seal. >> Um can I add some colorway? Now it's up. I think that's my last slide. Yes. Yeah. Okay. Good. Thank

078you. >> So, I think what was really interesting to me is when we went around in the committee, um the thoughts on like what should what should be reviewed and how should it be prioritized? That information is sort of filled out blind and then um and then it's it's filled out without discussion and then uh it's sort of pulled and then discussed. Maria did all that work and so so it eliminates bias in a lot of ways but um what I thought was so interesting is that um the results were fairly consistent >> and um almost everybody whether it was one two or three almost everybody had starting um had the ENL and dual language and world language up there and then as discussions went along it we sort of realized well if we've had

079some sort of program for over 20 years in Austin and we've never really done like a deep dive. How are we then going to do a deep dive in mathematics or how are we going to do a deep dive in um science or or ELA if we don't have sort of a best practices template um first sort of as a root analysis of if you're looking for a new math curriculum, right? because maybe the audit is going to reveal that we are deficient in certain areas or we're doing great in other areas and we we want to emphasize certain things. If we don't know or that we're solid in certain underlying structures, it's going to be very difficult to analyze and pick something else. So, this was naturally kind of in everyone's top one, top

080two or three. And then as discussion went around, it sort of veered quickly to realizing this is probably a really good place to start. and then build on it from there. And that's kind of how it went down. >> Right. Thank you for that, Katherine. And again, I want to thank Maria for setting up that process and people had to pick one, two, three, and then we went through it and um and everyone explained why. I thought it was a really great conversation. So did every member of the team, by the way, teachers, administrators. >> It was also with very specific criteria that we looked through, the lenses that we looked through or curricular areas that we were recommending. questions from the board. Does anybody have any they want to start? >> Frank, >> I

081can start. >> Yeah. >> Um, a couple things. Um, I get the areas and the time frames. It's very kind of succinct. What is language arts? We have world language, we have dual language, and then we have language arts. So what is the definition of that in this context? >> It is the part 100 regulations of the state. So the state has clear uh outlines for language arts and it would be English language arts. Okay. In the in this dual language program here itself, kids can get their ELA and fulfill some of that through the dual language pro. So your question and your point is spoton. So it would the review of certain data for example the how our students do on the ELA, how they do on the NWEA, how they're doing in reading

082and then being able to pull out that variable and to see, you know, what program best address their needs. So we we we have to fulfill what the state says in terms of English language arts which they call language arts and then basically see we are using our dual language program and actually Frank it's not just language arts it's also mathematics and those are the two primary subject areas for elementary students >> two primary >> thank you for that and then so I guess the other piece you know there's some of this is new some of this is old. There was long range plans. There was things like when the pandemic hit, there was a lot of kind of pulling back because of the amount of time that was like, you know, the curricular reviews

083would take and all that. At the end of the day, >> the the one thing we did kind of talk about previously and had on here captured in some way or form was cultural arts >> and basically um physical education, health and wellness. And so since we're talking about subject areas, I think it would be good. Is there a way to capture the other subject areas because I presume we're not just sitting and saying this is what we're doing for the next two years and we're not touching anything in these other areas. And so >> no, they are all on monitoring to pick the next areas that go under the microscope, if you will, to go underneath this review. Yeah. >> Um you you would have physical education, you would have health, you've got um

084um music, cultural arts, you've got um a whole you could look at it from we actually then did a review in a former district. We did it for special ed and that's where we ended up when we did special ed. We brought more kids back in district and got very clear about what we wanted to do for our building and facilities. right now Kim and I I mean within my first month of meeting Kim I was like where's this where they collect so so we were able to identify right now that's the monitoring phase about we want to bring more kids back in district to have them experience here maybe we want an alt education program for kids so again that would come out of our rather than going to Boseies or if I if

085I'm limited by size there what do I have here so again special ed when we did that we did it with that lens for itself. But I have to credit Kim Mauricio. She's been moving forward on these things now, you know, without a big curricular review model. And um you know, we launched this year the program that with WCC with um Austining and uh with I'm sorry, with um Peak Skill and Terry Town. So, so again, it's just an example of whatever area I think we landed on these because these were I'm not saying there were individuals that did pick certain singleton areas, but we wanted to pick this many just to give 5 years to start, but it clearly does not mean you're going to see on on Saturday at the budget workshop, you

086know, um Kate Matthews, you're going to see clubs, you're going to see more about some art teachers, you're going to see how this district is keeping an eye and maintaining what we need to do for for students and for kids. >> And if I may, we continually we continually um enhance our curriculum. We're reviewing our scope and sequences on an on an ongoing basis in all of the curricular PE and >> No. And I know that's happening right from a balcony perspective. What would be helpful to me is here's the list of curricular areas that the district has actively working with a small blurb of this is the plans like for this year so that like okay we picked five but what was the list was the five 10 was it 10 was it 20

087like just it would be helpful just to understand and I think also have it visible to people that we're working on curriculum across the board in all the areas and it's not just this one is the one that's >> we're you know that this committee is being kind of focused on because at some point, you know, there's so many priorities that happen that it's easy to lose one versus the other. And so I just think it'd be helpful for the board, helpful for the community to just have that catalog >> and so we know maybe after these there's another there's other areas that we would hit. >> Yeah. So that's so and um I think if I I'm pulling from Asa's report right who spoke he talked about the amount of money we had to

088increase the budget last year and this year because the state launched new regent exams in science you know you'll see a decrease in that this for next year because of the work that we did monitoring taking a look what we needed to do to help and work with our students. So, so again, um, you know, it could be some of the budget items that you see in the budget book, trying to find a place for them on the website, an overview of curricular, you know, have a section there that shows all of that, too. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> Great. >> But it would be a nice task for the steering committee to come up with all the different areas in the district that they could study at some point. >> Yeah, I think that

089kind of makes it clear. We looked at what the possibilities were and these were the five that we picked. I guess we probably come to the same list, but I would just like to know the list. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> See Maria's pencil moving. >> She's taking notes on it. I did want to ask you, Frank, because I think you and I were on the board together at the time, but my working memory is the last sort of in-depth review that was presented to the board was of special education. And I was wondering if that was consistent with your recollection. Yeah, we've done at different times we've done there was a whole math review like there was I mean the quick version of like with the curriculum language and ELA and math all of

090that was done you had modules from the state then we went to teachers college and then we went to we were writing our own stuff because there was no Spanish like there's all these different iterations that have happened so like this is a kind of continuous process we did do a special education one we did the math one and that's basically how we got to the >> math and focus math and focus At the end of the day, there was like six different programs looked at, evaluated across the board. It was a committee just like this. It would have been like your two-year cycle around, and they came out at the end and said math focus, right? >> Yeah. >> Um, I'll go around. Do you have any? >> I don't have any questions. Thank

091you, >> Melissa. >> Uh, no particular questions. I know this is a new committee, so it's still, you know, still flushing out a lot of the details. I would I'm wondering because unlike the other committees, board committees, this is, you know, operating basically under the opices of a policy, a board policy. >> Um, so I'm wondering if I can get some more clarification on the third to last bullet point. end of year two final report presented to the board prior to the end of year two because it's not explicitly stated in the policy. What would be the expectation of routine updates in between then? Um at my expectation is Maria would give you know like that's what I during the two-year process a regular board updates would be presented on where we are >> and

092I think we'd also that's what I did yeah I think an open dialogue too when we give committee reports this would be part part of that as well would >> that but that's what I'm saying like since this is operating under a policy I'm wondering would it require an amendment to specify that there be some expectation of being updated before 2 years or is it just like a we just hope we'll get the update? >> I I read it as like there's going to be a big kind of like final report at the end of two years. But I expect that especially with board members present on the steering committee, we'll hear regularly through that and then through but if we we want to clarify that. >> If I can just add because Marie and

093I lived in districts where we did this for quite a long period of time is at the end of year one there would be a formal report to the board about the results of our internal study. >> Right. I I'd imagine that that's but my point is the difference between this and other committees that is that we're operating under a policy. So would it make sense to also note when an expected expected intervals of updates would happen prior to that two years, right? Sure. >> Other committees, yes, we just have kind of like a handshake agreement. We'll be updated what happens. But since this there's a whole policy attached to this one, I just think it makes sense to also point out >> um that there'll be some level of updates prior to two years.

094>> Right. And I certainly think when I create I think Illy we flagged that for the board calendar when we talk about reports that needs to be part of the annual calendar too. >> Right. >> That's basically all I had. >> Okay. Do you have any Catherine Rob Owen? >> All right. Well, thanks. >> Okay. >> Um and then what? Don't go too far, right? because we have another work session item and it's time to discuss the budget. >> Okay. >> All right. So, all right Shane, if you can find it here for me because last time I did this, this is Google Slides and I don't want to do that to Alita, make the presentation go away. Okay. Um, >> all right. So, as a lead, first of all, I want to, um, as

095Alita is going up to the podium to basically just give a brief overview of where we are. I do want to and I know I've written a lot in my updates to the board, but I want to first of all thank Alita and our um central office staff Don Don Mara for this new process that we put in place this year. There was hours of work on this. I want everyone just to understand this $187 million budget. We have over a,000 employees. Um Dr. Jamra in his first year undertook a huge position control project for the teaching staff for 500. But we have employees that are part-time employees, um, monitors, lunch monitors, uh, playground monitors, um, bus monitors, we've got teaching aids, teaching assistants, we got cafeteria worker, we've got a plethora of different and

096and in order to track and understand and follow who's got benefits, who doesn't, what's an hour, it needed another really deep dive for a position control piece. There are many ways, you know, I've been at this a long time. Um, they, you know, some school districts might just do a general update. Let's say I'm just going to do cafeteria aids, just put them someplace, and they don't really move the budget needle anyway. But in this case, we really wanted to be able to track everything. So, um, both, um, Dr. Mara and Miss McCoy have a full department to run, but in the meantime had to tackle these uh 500 employees. Dr. Mary uses the phrase, I had to open up that closet and everything came tumbling down and sorting things and and just making sure

097and and you know there intricacies in the database itself. If someone is out for an extended period of time, it looks like a vacancy. Is it real? Is it not? because the way it gets flagged in the system and then when people ask for their budget request they come through electronically but some people have an Excel spreadsheet it has to be uploaded into windcap Alita has to do the calculations and to give solid numbers you have to freeze that then you have to go back and then take a look at where it goes we are moving everything we are taking a look to make sure everything was coded we spent eight hours again today at a meeting going through sometimes Alita's team created a wonderful expel Excel spreadsheet on the um um the contractual stipens,

098the hourly workers, the curriculum overview and with all the codes. This was all new to the building principles. So there was a huge learning curve for everybody who normally they would just hand it in and then go okay and then next year look well what happens? Well, this is now an interactive process where everybody who has a budget sees it real time. And this year we actually did a 2-year backlook on tracking actual expenditures. And then we also decided that some things, you'll see this in ARC, are we going to move this over to Abose's code because we're going to get more aid on this. You're going to see in in Mike's budget that we're moving land services over to manage services through the Rick. You'll see a decrease in one of 400,000 but an

099increase in someplace else. And then that code gets us aid and I got cloud-based managed services instead of our staff having to worry about all of that. In the past, as you know, everyone did zerobased budgeting but budget to budget. This year involved two years of review of all actuals and and without a stable treasurer, without stability and accounts payable, we we basically tracked everything. You got a revised presentation today just before the board meeting because after our eighth hour meeting today and sometimes when you bring a change in everyone has entered it didn't realize that it was frozen then you upload it in it over cancelled created zeros in some place so we sit there with the big books again and go through it again multiple eyes I thought Kim was like we we've

100been at this for I I think that the principles are very kind. They just smile at me, but it's been many many meetings. So, Alita, first of all, I want to thank you for your leadership in this. This was um something that we've been working on for quite a while and we're continued to doing this uh where we've got two more meetings uh tomorrow. We got another one on Friday. They'll get the board will get a memo from me about bigger changes that you can see in this. But again, this budget now is very tight and that was the whole point. And um and um anyway, I'll give it to you, Alita, but I just wanted to put that out there before >> we started. >> Thank you so much. Um it's been a joy

101working with my colleagues, cabinet members, and of course, Mary, cuz Kim always thinks she's right, and um she's not. As as we knew today, twice she was wrong. >> Only once. But um yeah um so the presentation that's here unfortunately when I left the office I emailed uh Illy and forgot the attachment. Um so the numbers that you're seeing here is the old numbers and what I printed out for you are the um the updated numbers as >> from our 8 hour meeting today >> as of today. So I apologize for that. Um and I couldn't get it on my laptop here. So, and I don't have a card at the moment. So, um just to go into page or slide one. So, it it doesn't vary by that much what you see here and

102what is um um on your document. Um the major change is that um instead of the amount being um 7 um64928, the new number um is slightly higher. Um so it's not a huge difference. The budgetto budget increase um is 3.2%. No, 4.3%. And if um health insurance didn't increase um by 2.1 million then the number um the budget to budget will be 3.2%. Um you'll see here um the major increases uh as you would expect is salaries at 2.2. The reduction in equipment, the 700 almost 700,000 um is due to the fact that um we are not budgeting for the AC units this this upcoming year. So that's the reduction there. Um a slight uh increase in materials and supplies. Um 1.5 million in other expenses which also includes transportation. Um and you'll see

103on Saturday the increases in his budget. Um there's a small decrease in Boseies. Um the again the 2.1 medical insurance um benefits is going down half a million because TRS is going down significantly. Um the there was no major increase in the TRS um employer contribution rate. Um but there was an increase in the um employees retirement system which is ERS. The $3 million that is being reduced um from the transfer to capital is because we are budgeting um based on uh what we had in transfer to capital um with um some money that we have unused. Um, and you'll see that in debt service, um, it's offset because we are going to be borrowing our first, um, our first we are borrowing our first 12.5 million. So that's 5.6 6 million um in debt

104service that's being added. Um as you know, this line typically um the capital line typically has a balance of 6.950. Um so we still had a little bit money left over um to make sure that we sustain those funds until we have to actually move the additional 1.350 into um the debt service. The library is also in here in the debt service. They plan to take out um a bond anticipation note or we're going to take out the note um for $320,000 um but their debt fell off. So, we're adding $819,000 to the capital again to maintain that money in the budget. Um, and our current debt service is 3 million and our we have two le two EPC lease payments of 1 million. So when you combine the capital and the um the debt

105service, there's a net zero increase in the budget because in the transfer to capital budget, we're using again the 1.3 million um from the remaining 6.9. We're using 819,250 from the debt service that's coming off of the library that they don't need right now or for next year. They only need 10 million of their $30 million borrowing. And then the 3.792650 is coming from capital reserves. So again, it's an offset, no increase, zero, like we promised um the taxpayers. Um and then uh PK district contribution um it continues to rise as the PK grants um get restricted and as salaries go up. Um so we know that um looking at previous expenditures in previous years that is steadily climbing. So I had to add $250 um,000 to that code. And then um the sped I

106just I just single that out because it's called transfer to other and people most of the time don't understand that um but this is like a transfer um and it's just the extended year program um for our special ed students over the summer. Um this is a district's contribution and we get funded through uh state aid or federal aid as well. So this is the interesting page. Uh but we talked about the expenses and obviously um in order to have a balanced budget, you have to have your expenses match your revenue. So if you look at the real property tax, we have not decided or the board has not decided on what the percentage increase will be. um for the tax levy. So, I left that flat. Um you'll see the other um streams of

107revenue come from primarily um nonpropy tax distribution, which is um sales tax from Westchester County, which is 4 million um 2.3 million um in interest earnings. But you'll see that in this year it was anticipated that we would have almost 3.3. So that is a decrease of a million dollars in interest revenue that we are losing. Um when you look at the state aid um foundation aid is is of course the biggest um uh uh uh aid. It's like operating aid. Um unfortunately, well I guess fortunately um now is fully funded and our percentage increase um in foundation aid for as of um the budget that was um legislated after the budget was adopted or approved by the the school district. Um it was an increase of $3 million. However, the new runs because we

108are at the max the foundation aid increase foring was just 1%. So they consider us now as a safe harmless district, which means that the school um district will only get the percentage increase that the governor or or the final um legislature approves for foundation aid. So we will not see any more um increases um in foundation aid of that magnitude. um we're fully funded and that's going to be a problem going forward. And the other areas um we will see some increases obviously the more boseies we aid boseies uh services we use uh the more aid we get. So that's why you see that increase there. Transportation contractual costs continue to go up. So that's why you see the um increase there. um building aid. We know that number will change to offset um

109our bond when it happens, but that's not an increase to our revenue. It's an offset to the expense um once we have the debt service fully um in place. Um so those are the biggest areas where um we should be concerned going forward that we will not see um large increases in our revenue. So again, I said that the uh appropriated reserves that we're using is the 3.792650 that I referred to from um being applied to the transfer to capital line. Um that's from the um oldest reserve which was I believe in 2017. Um so there's no more money left in that reserve. Um, we do still have money remaining in our 2022 reserve. Um, our liability reserve is the reserve we established this past No, we didn't establish, we funded um this past year.

110Um, this is to offset um settlement cases. Um, and then the appropriated funding for um grant loss is $829,000. You'll remember that we set aside money um to uh uh continue to run our um MBK program, our mental health uh grant, our um New York Gear Up grant. >> Um so this is funding that we set aside, but again um it's not forever money. Um I think it's going to last us about 3 years. So what's missing here is um the increase in the levy is an unknown right now and the appropriated fund balance is an unknown right now. So the budget to budget increase again is 4.3%. Um the new budget amount is 186 337769. Um the revenue is 17845089. So that leaves us with a gap of 7,887680. So uh we plan to

111have more discussions on Saturday after the we go through the budget about um how we are going to plug in the other revenue sources. So I think um Lita and I and you've heard me say this. I think my team has heard me talk about fund balance at at Nauseium um to the point where up for 12 years in Pleasantville. We did do that. Uh my colloquial explanation of fund balance comes down to that let's say for example I have $1,000 this week as a source of money that I have to spend. So I'm I'm really good. I've clipped all my coupons. I've gotten things on sale and I ended up with $100 left over at the end of the week. What am I doing with the $100? I can take $50 of it to

112put into a reserve, a bank account, and then I can take the other 50 to offset next week's $1,000 worth of expenditures that I have to have revenue for. And instead of needing a,000, I have now this fund balance money left over cuz I was super efficient that I'm going to apply to the next week's expenses. That's in the simplest of ways of trying to you create a budget now. It's it's it's March and we're creating money to um take care of us for the next 15 months. I don't understand all the time if we have faculty that might you know go out on leave or might dis have children or there might be a change in program or a need. So you have to create some flexibility. So you when you use fund balance

113um sometimes it when you don't use fund balance sometimes people are like well I'm going to spend every penny in my code because uh I'm not going to get it next year like it's just the point. Whereas then we keep an eye on our fund balance and the philosophy was in my past and you see it in other places because I do watch as a hobby other board meetings sometimes, you know, the idea of stepping down off the use of fund balance and uh and um and basically tighten up your revenues. You have to do both. You you you have to do both your expenses, I'm sorry, and be clear with your revenues. Last year, we made a recommendation, the board adopted to have 6.7 in fund balance. Why did we do that? The state

114legislature was late. We had a sense that we're going to get more money, but we had nothing in writing. I remember those conversations. We we we had nothing in writing. Um and then many of you remember the audit me the auditors meeting last January, not this year, but the previous who said you got additional building aid, you got additional aid from sales tax. So sometimes you get additional money that ends up in fund balance because you had a crease of a one-time aid. New York State gives you aid uh sometimes when available. So sometimes you just might get a check on a project that ended I don't know 15 years ago and they just decided when money became available you would get it. So people end up with fund balance for many many different reasons.

115I would never recommend nor would Alita right at the end of the day I say I would not re because this budget eventually has my name on it but um that we would use 6.7 I I I we need to come down to closer to five which is that and Austin has a history of using fund balance and sometimes you use the fund balance and just put it all into reserves which a lot of places do so I think Alita sent that to the board so they can look at a history of that but again from our perspective here is that if we did not have that health insurance increase, if you didn't have that, this is a type of we've added some programs here. We've added additional coaches to it. We've had additional staffing.

116We've maintaining everything. We haven't cut a thing. We had contractual increases, a successful negotiation with the OTAA. And if we did not have that health insurance for a budget this size, our budgettobudget increase would have been about three >> 3.2. So the impact of that health insurance piece is um well we all know that from foundation 82 what the impact was. So so we look forward to Saturday's conversation to figure out what the levy will be. You'll get a recommendation from us. it will always be a board of education decision because that's your primary function and um and also then what the recommendation would be for fund balance to be used and obviously we have a sense of things like well we could anticipate that because we have to forecast it reminds me like a

117snow day call you have to forecast at 4:00 and look into it and just try to say I feel comfortable thinking we can hit this target about having a fund balance of this amount of money and when you have it you basically give it back to the taxpayers because it offsets your cost the next year. >> So, I just want to add one thing. Um, uh, many school districts in the area are petitioning, um, the state to set up a, um, health insurance reserve. Um, so I will share that um resolution with the board in my weekend update and I anticipate on putting it on the next uh board agenda um for us to um for the board to approve it and for to go to our representatives. >> There's a neighboring um school district

118in northern Westchester County that did a whole study on um health insurance and they hired a consultant and they're they spent 10,000. I'll make sure you get the newspaper article. They recommended nice ship the one we have the one that's going up the 2.1 million and it will save money from what they're doing right now in it. So I I in New York state we have a health insurance problem. >> Any questions? I'll go around the table. Obviously there'll be more questions on Saturday full day. I have a quick question under on the revenue page the I don't know um for can you clarify for me what is excess cost as far as revenue goes just >> it's um it's money that we receive for students that are placed out of district um they're considered

119to be high cost tuition So the state has a formula to offset that expense for the district and we get that through excess cost aid. >> Okay. Thank you. >> And every once in a while, I think Frank being on Westp knows this. Every once in a while that comes up for discussion that the state wants to cut that and we we put our antennas up like no absolutely not. Why would you cut from the most vulnerable of students? >> Can I just ask? >> Sure. Um, Alita, is it possible also for Saturday and let us know what um you can do here. Um, in in previous board meetings, we've had uh detail line items for the um reserve balances that had like the um ERS, TRS, Capital, Ablir, all all those. Could are you

120able to provide that to us? I'm sorry. >> Yeah, I can provide that. But if you have your audit um book, it's in there the balance. But I can provide it. >> Yeah, that would be great. Just just so we can have that. And then um I guess it the real true up for fund balance. You won't know that until probably like another month, right? The real true up for what fund balance will be or will you know that for this Saturday? >> I have a sense of what it is now. >> Okay. So it'll be like your best estimate based upon purchase order. Yeah, we cut off purchase orders. We stopped purchase orders recently. >> Okay. So, you're pretty much you got actual like pretty close to forecast. >> Yes. >> We have two

121more meetings, one tomorrow and on Friday. So, that's why if we knew it now, we would tell you. But >> Yep. And and then um the thing that Annie and I went down to go advocate for that's kind of like the hole that is could if it gets plugged by some active whatever um that that's kind of like that would help us tre on this um 7 million some odd. >> Yeah. the I think the the the three areas if correct me if I'm wrong um about that you went to advocate for because this is federal would have been this would be >> the consolidated grant >> the esser >> the s then the mental health grant >> and and gear up >> and gear up right so right now I want to thank the

122board again we have that reserve that Alita we have that money in there but if I didn't have to use that money right yeah right just think what that would do Alita said we're using 8 how much again I >> it's 800 um000 >> right so that would be 800,000 that I I'm putting the expense in but it's offset by this revenue I wouldn't need that money in that reserve if we got the grant >> yes and the other thing >> 800,000 >> the other thing with the title funds the title funds are in a different fund they're supported in a different fund which is the F fund um so you don't see that here >> um that's a different fund >> however However, um if there are reductions in the title aids and we

123have to abs general fund has to absorb that then that's when it becomes a problem. Um and you will see um increases >> in our general fund and um you should know the reason why that we are um um hold harmless right now um because our enrollment has went down. our property values have gone up and our income as um a district as far as the residents that live here has has gone up as well. So with that being said, they anticipate that the title funds will become lower because of those three um demographic changes. And and can you give us the if you have those kind of benchmarks to because I think they adjust the the I have the the what those thresholds are for, you know, based upon inflation and all the other

124>> I have the three numbers. >> Okay, that would be great. And then I guess I'll just say last thing, Mary, we definitely have to find you a new hobby if you're watching board meetings. >> I watch the good ones. Um Alita, I have a follow-up question to that. You said um as a community our income has gone up. What is that based on what? Like tax returns from last year. Okay. >> Yeah, they the state collects that data >> because I was curious if we're being um impacted at all by being a community provision school and kids not filling out like free and reduced. That's not related to this. No, it's actually that's a the the the the metric for that is the S AI P. Okay. >> Um that's what they're using. It

125does include FRPL fural. Um but they did update the census um to the SAPE um poverty indicator. So that also changed things for us. Um and then um again we are aening is a um assessed on a um 100%. Um so every year the uh assessments change um so for example I had a woman come into my office very upset and she said to me why is her tax bill going up so high and I said there was only a 1.67% six, seven% increase in the tax levy. So, I calculated that to be $400 for her. >> Um, I think her her bill went up like three or $4,000 more because her property value went up so high. So, I called I had I sat there with her. I called the assessor's office, put him

126on speaker, and he confirmed that her assessments, her assess the value of her home went up significantly, and that's what caused the increase in her property taxes. And the other thing I want again I'll mention again is that we are getting a lot of um taxerts and we have had our attorney intervene. Uh we have another big one coming up. Um and the taxert reserve, you'll see the number um but it's outpacing what we um forecasted. So that's becoming an issue. So after the after she left my office, she was going straight to the assessor's office to appeal her assessed value. >> Right. And and she would do a a SCAR, right? Yeah. Yeah. small claims assessment uh report filing to reduce her taxes which which end up being a tax shift to other you

127know we don't reduce our budget it just redistributes the the the tax levy amongst other residents >> anybody who didn't get that >> um whereas the grievance by our co-ops and condos and town houses in town are you know big ones that come through all the time they're assessed as at a commercial rate not pay 60%. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Thank you for sharing that because it is known that the tax bill, the highest portion goes to the school. So, I can see why people would assume that because their bill is going up $3,000 that it's because of the school. So, I appreciate that. >> Yeah. >> Um, going off of what Roger said, we do have an advocacy committee. Is it all helpful if one of us or somebody on the advocacy

128committee reaches out >> to our representative and asks for money that you wouldn't need in >> not saying that anything would come of it but would that be helpful or >> Yes. I mean, I think we're very concerned with the fact that the federal government seems to have what what they say, I'm using their terminology, blue states, about the federal consolidated grants because we get that money through New York State. The feds give it to the state and it comes through. So, while it might be in the federal budget, we've had words from the executive branch that they will withhold um some of the money from that state even though it's allocated because they feel that and you saw it in writing from um the United States Department of Education that the state does not

129is not aligning to the priorities of the executive branch. So, that's a concern for us here. That is a real concern. So whatever our elected officials, particularly, you know, Mike Lawler, our our senators could say, um, you know, about making sure that New York State gets the money that the federal government, that the legislators, the House of Representatives and the United States Senate put aside. >> I think also the the the the petition um for the uh health insurance reserve is important as well. So in not just sending the the letter up um but talking to them directly about that. >> Right. Right. So we wouldn't have to if we had a reserve we could help offset the impact of this $2.1 million increase in one year. >> I just want to say and I'm

130not I'm not um trying to get uh let me just say it. Um, one of my business officials was down in DC. Um, and one of my colleagues who's a business official was down in DC and they have very nice things to say about both of you. How knowledgeable you were about the district. >> I said, "Oh, okay. That's nice. Didn't come from me." >> Thank you. That's great. That's great. >> That's so nice to hear. >> That's great. >> Yeah. Especially business officials, they usually don't like share. They're not like more fuzzy about some things like that. So, that's pretty impressive. That was the first thing she had called me about something and that's the first thing that came out her mouth. I was like, "Oh, that's right. I went to DC. >> Um,

131questions from the board. >> Yep. >> Yeah. And it may not be for you answered. I think one of them already uh Alita and it may if if it's not for tonight for another day, that's fine. But I just wanted to get a sense um of what the capital reserve is going towards." And you did answer the question, right? The 8295577 is for grant funding and that includes staff, right? Like it's not just for coursework. There's staff in Okay. Um and then so yeah, just just curious about the cap what the capital would go towards and if you don't have it tonight, that's okay. Just >> um Jared's going to report on that Saturday. >> Jared's going to report on that. >> Okay. Thank you. >> That's part of his budget. >> Thanks. >> Anybody

132else draw table? Oh, thank you for addressing the stuff I sent in advance. Appreciate it. >> Just a question about the night shift rates. Is there a summary from Night Shift that you can share with us to talk about the nature of their justification for the high increase this year. There's a there's a political aspect to everything that happens in New York State, right? And so I'm just curious. Usually they give you a little summary and I think the answer is no. But do they forecast it all out the way let's say like a pension reserve or others will with a three-year look back because it just seems like we're seeing a lot of volatility and it doesn't feel great knowing that the kind of lobbying that goes on for these rates that get set.

133And so it'd be nice to see their explanation so that when we are talking to legislators, we can say, "Well, maybe you should be listening more to us than some of the other people that advocate for this rate because this is another major hit." I believe our benefits manager he goes and um they have a meetup has a meeting every year when they raise their um rates which is in December because it's uh on a annual basis not a fiscal year >> or calendar year not a fiscal year. Um so I can check with him. I know um Don told me that he may have some information and I can also check on their website. >> Frank, I'll see what I can get and I could put in my update. >> That'd be great. I

134mean, I know at one point they were floating numbers out, not this year, but in previous years they were floating numbers out in August. A lot of people were really upset with the rate increases and then they came down. Like there's there's an aspect of this unfortunately like that you need to kind of make noise in a certain way. And this just feels like >> maybe this year would have been a year, but the ship sailed, but should we look at this for next year? And that's kind of why I asked some of their forecasting, are they responsible to kind of forecast at all? because everybody's trying to work within constraints and we need this to as well. So, >> yeah, >> it was just a one year that or it's not the one year,

135but it actually happened a couple of times where where we had a nice foundation aid um chunk given to us only for there to be a $5 million increase to nice ship and they explained it as like this was the COVID clawback type of a thing. So, Okay. Anybody else? >> I think um just as we continue on just I always appreciate Alita when you provide clarification um what we found you know in years prior that it's always helpful for people to understand what precisely the impact of um the uh school budget has on you know people's taxes. I think from year to year that can get lost in translation and I think that's a really key point of context. So I would just encourage that to continue to be verbalized um in each discussion

136we have around the budget um so that there's some balance to you know how people are um digesting the information that's going to go into this year's budget. Um other than that I don't have any overarching questions. I know we'll get into the nitty-gritty on Saturday. Uh, and I look forward to that. >> All right. And I'm so I also gave you uh new budget books um because again it's down to the wire today and in looking at the budget books um printed that I gave you guys on Friday. There's um things that stood out to me um that looked that needed to be fixed. So I fixed them. Um so you should use that one instead of the one that you got on Friday. But again, it's a reflection of it's a workshop on

137Saturday. The budget is still a work in progress and um >> we continue we continue. >> All right. Moving along. We're on to our uh audience recognition for agenda items only. Meant not DC 10 minutes. I see there's no one here in person who could potentially wish to speak. I see none online who has a hand raised. Okay, we'll move on to our consent agenda. Does anybody have anything uh business of the board? Does anybody have anything from 4.1 through 4.8, excuse me, that they wish to break out? Right. I'll take a motion for 4.1 through 4.8. So moved. >> One second. >> 4.1 Resolution to adopt the revised school district calendar for the 2025 2026 school year. 4.2 Resolution to appoint additional consultants for the 2025 2026 school year. 4.3 Resolution designating the date

138of the annual special meeting. 4.4 Resolution to approve an agreement with the Westchester County Board of Elections. 4.5 Resolution to appoint Phoenix Graphics as the official ballot printer. 4.6 6 Resolution to appoint Ron's moving company as the official movers of the voting machines. 4.7 Resolution to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of January 14th, 2026. 4.8 Resolution to approve the minutes of the special meeting/executive session of January 21st, 2026. Any discussion? All in favor? >> I opposed abstensions. Uh looking now at consent agenda, business office matters. Does anybody have anything from 5.1 through 5.4 that they wish to break out? Right. Seeing none, I'll take a motion for 5.1 through 5.4. >> So moved. >> Second. >> 5.1 Resolution to approve the treasurer's report December 2025. 5.2 Resolution to approve the budget report and

139revenue report for December 2025. 5.3 Resolution regarding cooperative uh bidding with Southern Westchester Boseies. 5.4 4 resolution regarding interfund transfers. Any discussion? All in favor? >> I >> opposed abstensions. Looking now at the consent agenda, personnel matters. Does anybody have anything from 6.1 through 6.14 that they wish to break out? All right. Seeing none, I'll take a motion for 6.1 through 6.14. >> So moved. >> Second. 6.1 Resolution regarding professional staff tenure appointments. 6.2 Resolution regarding administrative staff resignations. 6.3 Resolution regarding professional staff resignations. 6.4 Resolution regarding support staff resignations. 6.5 Resolution regarding professional staff appointments. 6.6 Resolution regarding civil service staff appointments. 6.7 Resolution regarding professional staff appointments before after school programs. 6.8 Resolution regarding support staff appointments before after school programs. 6.9 Resolution regarding professional staff appointments, summer school programs. 6.10 Resolution regarding

140civil service staff appointments, summer school programs. 6.11 Resolution regarding support staff appointments, summer school programs. 6.12 Resolution regarding PDM substitute appointments. 6.13 Resolution regarding approval of school volunteers. 6.14 Resolution regarding administrative staff appointments. Any discussion? >> 614. >> Dr. Mayor. >> Oh yes, we do have a little discussion then. Sure. >> Go ahead. >> I just wanted to inform the board in the community that we are recommending a um appointment of a new Ocelene High School assistant principal, Miss Jamie John Fredo. Uh on December 4th, we posted the position. Um and by the close of the posting, 3 weeks later, we had 92 applications. Miss Langley and I conducted an initial screening of the applicant pool and selected five highly qualified candidates that met our criteria. Mrs. Langley then uh convened a stakeholder committee of

141OS staff to participate in the interview process. And throughout each stage, Miss John Fredo's candidacy rose to the top based on her leadership experience, instructional knowledge, and strong alignment with the needs of the high school community. Miss John Fredo is a motivated and empathetic educational leader with a strong commitment to creating a supportive and inclusive school culture. She brings a significant experience in instructional leadership, instructional coaching, and datadriven school improvement. She's currently serving as the director of mathematics for the Yoners public schools where she lead where she leads professional development for teachers and administrators and coordinates district-wide assessment and data initiatives aimed at improving student outcomes. She previously served as the assistant principal at the Academy for Software Engineering in New York City, where she supervised instruction using the Danielson framework, led special ed and

142ENL teams, and implemented restorative discipline practice and developed systems to monitor credit accumulation and support student progress. She holds a master of science in education and educational leadership from Hunter College and a master of arts and secondary mathematics education from teach from teachers college. She's attending a conference in Rochester this week. However, she will be invited to attend a future meeting to meet the board of uh education. So, a um posting from Miss Nicole Reese will go out tomorrow to the community Oelen High School community. But I just wanted to congratulate Jamie um and we look forward to having her meet the board at a future meeting. >> Sure. >> Welcome to Mi uh Miss John Fredo >> and congratulations to you >> and congratulations. Thanks for uh completing the search. >> Thank you. >>

143All right. Um the motion's already on the floor. So any further discussion all in favor? >> I opposed. >> Abstensions. >> Excuse me. Um we come now to seven. Our audience recognition. Again, there's nobody here in person. I can't see right now if there's anybody online who may wish to speak. Okay. Uh, so we'll move ahead and on to board reports and dialogue. Uh, did any committees meet? We'd like to hear updates on. I know communications committee met. Policy committee hasn't met. That's why we don't have any policies on our agenda. >> Sorry, I had to go to a conflict. >> I forgot about >> No, that's fine. That's why we don't have any updates there. Anybody? Any other things? >> Um, go ahead. >> No, go ahead. communications committee met and uh Nicole Reese

144reached out to um the board members on it to talk about Parent Square. Um it's going to replace all the things we use now. I don't remember all the names of them. There were a lot. Parent Square owns Remind now, so it'll all be one system. And Nicole said it'll be a lot easier. There was an issue one day where she wasn't able to get out phone calls or something and she ended up having to fix it herself and >> yeah so many of these companies got connected having an easier time right so we need a we need a solid replacement for >> I think her update mentioned that it may even save us money yes also sorry >> I think there was also a mention right there please correct me if I'm wrong that

145there's g she's looking at a new banner for the uh front page of the website too, which they're doing they did a little video reel on. >> Yes. And then um prek orientation we talked about and there was some stuff about just being mindful of photographing children um and letting families know that they have to fill out the do not photograph form every year. Um, anybody else? Frank, you were there. Anything else? >> Just a lot around the budget. There's a lot of planning. There's a ton of work that goes into that and certainly Nicole shared with the committee just the extensive things that are happening. So, appreciate the efforts there. Thanks, Ann. It's good update. >> We're also moving forward with the the student communication piece of it. Um, we're not doing the newsletter

146just yet. Um, because we're waiting for, you know, the more specifics to be figured out, but we're starting with, um, just forwarding the O blasts and the counseling blast and the specific high school blast to the students so they stay informed. But hopefully by the end of the spring, but definitely probably by next year, we'll have um, a weekly newsletter go out to students. Right, >> Melissa? you were about to update. >> Yeah. Not necessarily an update. I just wanted to throw it out there so that we can start strategizing. I know for one, the advocacy committee, a couple of meetings we've kind of thrown out there potentially doing something um in that space, but I we don't have any meetings set up. So, I'm hoping we can get that off the ground so we

147can figure out how we want to utilize that committee um in service of the district. Uh governance committee as well. We know we had one scheduled and you know unforeseen circumstances had to cancel. So I'm hoping we can get um that on the schedule. Um and then also the Hester Bman Spencer Hines committee there was some unfinished business that we wanted to uh handle. So I'm just hope I know life comes at us fast. There's a lot of different things going on. Um but I believe those fall under specifically board committees and I'm hoping that we can whatever the appropriate method of communication is is to schedule those. some dates to get those going. >> Okay. Um >> can I am I allowed to ask a question? >> Yeah, of course. >> Just so I'll

148ask of our student uh representative. How are how is um now we're what about six months? No, four five months into no cell phones. Everything all good? >> Yeah. So, um I was going to give an update. So, Miss Langley and I have been working. We're going to put out a schoolwide survey. Um really get gauging students opinions on it and how they think it can um it can improve and you know the school doesn't have a lot of leeway with it since it is a state mandate. But, you know, we're going to look at the feedback and, you know, see if we can improve in any way and look to kind of make it more cohesive throughout the schools. But, um, the survey should go out in the next month or so. And then,

149uh, I will definitely report back with a um, more comprehensive review of it. >> I'd love to hear about the uh, peer-to-peer engagements and how things how that's the interactions. Now, it's >> you can't interact just with your phone. You have to talk to one another. I mean I from what we heard in the beginning of the year there it was a lot more um from teachers especially like we heard that students were communicating with each other more um I think that would be sustained because there hasn't been any changes but um I think the survey that we put out and the feedback that we get from that um would really show uh what the opinions are and and how it's going and then again we can make changes from there if we can make

150changes Um, and just, yeah, just quickly, I know I emailed the board um, sort of right before the meeting. Um, I just don't know if it's worth another look um, quick conversation with our board attorney just to confirm around quorum specifically. We've had a few instances with board members have participated remotely. we haven't counted them into the quorum um which sometimes you know we we had to wait for meetings to start or other things just wondering if maybe the guidance has changed postcoid quick search on the New York state site government site it looks at interesting enough the the regulation 103 which governs some of this is scheduled to expire July 1 2026 I don't know if that they'll extend it I don't know you know so I don't know if that means then absolutely

151not anyone who's remote can't count a quorum will count. So I guess the question is we're all cool with it. >> Can we just check if if someone is remote on the board? Are they ever counted as a quorum part towards a quorum? Um in this case four or do they have to be in a public space versus their home? Just wanted to throw that out there because and then if if the answer is yeah they could be counted, do we have to adjust a policy to to account for that? it just may help us going forward to get a clear answer on it a few years out. >> Um, I can certainly email our attorney and ask if there's been any changes. I know that our most recent advice from her was that um,

152and this was corroborated in the link that Catherine responded with is that um, in order for us to hold the meeting, there needs to be an in-person quorum present. Um, but I'm I'm happy to email and ask if there's any update to that or any change on the horizon. There's also um you know I've attended and I would welcome anybody to attend them um you know legal updates through NISBA where they kind of run through anything that you know change any laws that have changed that impact schools and I um I've attended them I usually attend at least one a year they do one in the summer and they do one in the fall and they're um of they they have they're many hours long but they happen uh in person in summer in Albany

153And then at N the NISBA convention in the fall the day before and they're also ver virtual. You can attend completely virtually and I haven't seen anything that um cuz I would have remembered because that would be very convenient um for us if we could have a quorum. Uh I haven't seen anything but I'll email Stephanie and encourage anybody to attend if um you know anybody wants to keep up to date on like legal changes that impact the school district. >> Yeah, keep me in mind for that please. >> That's when it expires in 2026. >> Yeah. Well, the one what we're working under now is there was, you know, special obviously um kind of slap dash >> changes to laws around open meetings uh during co when everybody was holding their meetings completely virtually

154and then that expired and ever since that point we've been under these rules where um >> we need an inerson. So I'll I'll I'm happy to email her >> and um I'll I'll have the board on the email. Um, I had one other thing I wanted to bring up. Um, it had come up once before. I just I don't want to actually plan anything right now, but I just want to put a bug in anybody's ear. I think it came up during maybe a self-evaluation that we did. Um, the idea of doing some sort of uh community outreach meetings. I think um the idea bubbled up again for me uh when I saw the budget overview and we may have a lot of questions from our public. So we might want to have some just

155general listening sessions or education sessions or just you know opportunities for conversation. We've been able to make that work in the past and it might be a good idea. Yeah. coffee talk, you know, to get kind of it. I think it's helpful for me as a board member to get >> the a feel for what the community thinks about >> um the school district in general, the budget specifically, and it gives us a chance to answer questions, too. In the past, we've had kind of like a scribe. One of us will act as a scribe to record who's what what has come up. Um, and I think it would be um maybe beneficial for us this time around if especially if we end up um >> we did a thing. >> We we look to

156be in something of a I don't want to use the word bind, but we're not going to be nobody's going to be pleased. >> I think uh thrilled with a tax levy increase, which is I think where this brief budget view is going. I don't think we're looking at a cut here as far as our tax levy. So, um, safe prediction had a cut in a tax levy like >> Yeah, I I know >> I'm setting context, right? Like I mean, >> yes, >> we got zeros and we've had increases, right? So, >> we we had a slight cut one year. >> We had a negative.5 that was after Yeah. the state came back with an email, Frank, that I sent. >> Is it? >> Um, anyways, I anticipate some engagement about the budget might

157be necessary this year. >> It's always a good thing to do. >> Yeah. Um, >> we we do it like at the library. Again, >> we've done it at the library. We've done it uh at school events. The library is nice because it's a place that's open to the entire community, not just school families. No. >> Was there a year that we did that at the that that theater in the back? And I think it was like they're like, >> you know, a couple board me and but that wasn't for the bond. I think that was for something else. >> That was just a regular >> It was just a regular session. >> Yeah. This time of year is a nice time of year to have them as we're um trying to get a building.

158That's what I thought. Um, if there's a consensus that we want to organize that, I can reach out to Illy to try to set up something. >> It was I think Annie had brought was the one who had brought it up initially. >> Okay. >> In the past, we've kind of booked three dates and gotten board members that can go to it to go and >> be happy to do some one of them. >> Okay. >> Uh, I'll put in a vote for you as well. Does anybody have anything else for uh board reports and dialogue? >> Uh so I'll take a motion to enter into executive session. >> So move. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> All in favor? I >> Do you have to say what we're going in for? >> Oh, that's

159right. Thank you. Hold on. I have to sticky note. Uh the we're going into executive session for the purposes of discussing the medical, financial, credit, or employment history of a particular person or corporation or matters leading to the appointment, employment, promotion, discipline, suspension, dismissal, or removal of a particular person or corporation. Thank you for the reminder. Um did I did we vote already? >> All in favor? >> I opposed abstensions. All right. Thank you. We do not anticipate uh reconvening the meeting in public. So, thank you and have a nice night.