Board of Education Meeting March 26, 2025

001Welcome. So, uh, let's first hear from our student representative who has some updates for us. Yes. All right. Take it away. Okay. March. March has been another outstanding month at OS. We celebrated Women's History Month and the beginning of Ramadan, a a sacred time of fasting, reflection, and community for many in our school. A special thank you to Miss Aguilar and Mr. Garon along with the Human Rights Club for organizing our annual Women's History Month celebration which will take place on March 27th in the auditorium during periods 7 through 9. We are honored to welcome our very own social worker, Miss Jimenez, as our key note speaker. A huge shout out to two incredible students, Taia Carver and Sayia Bell, for rec for excuse me, for organizing a STEM networking event to highlight women's contributions

002to science. This special women's history month event will be held on March 29th at Austining Riverworks. This month also featured several exciting celebrations and events. We recognized our incredible school social workers during social work week by providing gift cards in honor of the impact they make every day. AVID and New York GearUp students continued their college tours exploring postsecary opportunities. A big thank you to Miss Clifford and her support staff and students for organizing Rock Your Socks Day to raise awareness for World Down Syndrome Day. Incoming grade nine parent night is happening tonight at OS. And on Friday, March 28th, NBC producer Dan Slepian, author of the Sing Singh Files and the four-part series Singh Chronicles will be speaking about his work highlighting the wrongfully convicted and incarcerated. OS students from Sunni Race, Sunni Doing

003Time, and the Human Rights Club will attend this powerful presentation along with students from Peak Skill High School. March marks the start of our spring sports, bringing excitement and energy to our student athletes. Four outstanding students, Jonathan Abzun, Denise San Martin, Aki Williams, and Ree Caparelli were honored with the Pride Award, which recognizes students for their dedication, leadership, and positive contributions to our school community. This month also kicked off Unified Bowling, promoting inclusivity and teamwork through sports. The Human Rights Club created and distributed paper flowers to women in the building in honor of Women's History Month. A beautiful gesture of appreciation and recognition. Congratulations to Annelise Morettto Rodriguez, Jonathan Poso Viznet, and Aaron Moro for participating in the mock assembly in Albany as part of the Angelo Del Toro Puerto Rican Hispanic Youth Leadership Institute.

004A special thank you to Mr. Tiveres and Mr. Corporon for leading this important work. Congratulations to our students who complete competed in the Sunni Albany inaugural science research symposium. Congratulations to Haley McIntyre first place, Mary Lori, second place, and Sophia Magaz with third along with an honorable mention to Alex Ligan. Congratulations to our OS DECA team for their success at the New York DECA 65th annual state career conference in Rochester. Special shout out to J Justin Brookner, Maline Manorino, Zara Frius, Ariana Aora, Natalia Santa Cruz, and Sabrina Heis for earning medals. A huge thank you to our dedicated advisors, Miss Jacobe and Miss Pavik, and to all our students who participated. Our student equity leaders and adviserss participated in the New York State uplifting all students statewide conference at Boseis, furthering their commitment to equity

005and inclusion. A huge shout out to our mock trial team who made it all the way to the semi-finals. Thank you to their adviserss, Miss Manorino and Mr. Nino for their leadership. Congratulations to Owen Brennan and Camry Wells on receiving awards for their outstanding commitment to community service and human rights. Thank you to their adviserss, Miss Aguular and Mr. Garon, for their guidance and support. We are incredibly proud of our Regeneron Westf winners. A huge thank you to Mr. Picaro and Miss Holmes for their dedication. We had three fourth place winners, four third place winners, seven second place winners, and five first place winners. A special congratulations to Tearsa McInwire, winner of the Genius Olympiad, and Rhys Scaparelli, our ISF finalist. Another round of applause for Reese Caparelli for winning the Regeneron Westchester Science and

006Engineering Fair with her groundbreaking research on the impacts of road noise on bird communication. An incredible achievement. Congratulations to our science research students who participated in New York State Science and Engineering Fair. Five of our seniors competed among the best in the state. A special congratulations to again Reese Scaparelli and Daniela Cordderero, third place in life sciences. Vincent Chang for third place in physical science. Mary Lori, second place in life sciences, and Sophia Maguay's first place in life sciences. An extra round of applause for Sophia, who also won the grand prize, an all expense paid trip to ICE 2025. Isn't that incredible? To close out our club highlights. Incredible. We are thrilled to announce that our robotics team has qualified for the first robotics world championship in Houston, Texas. This is an another incredible achievement

007and we wish them the best of luck as they compete on the world stage. Mr. Evans and the OS chorus visited AMD to perform for the eighth graders, giving them a preview of their music electives available at OS. Mr. Whitehead showcased our students incredible talents by organizing the AP art showcase. If you haven't yet, be sure to stop by the art gallery on the second floor of OS. Our students creativity and hard work are truly outstanding. A big shout out to our OS band and their director, Mr. Vargas for representing us proudly in both the Terrytown and New York State St. Patrick's Day parades. Bravo to Mr. Denzio, Mr. Evans, teacher S, excuse me, Shazano, and the entire cast and crew of our spring musical, the Adams family. Their hard work and talent shined on

008stage. A huge thank you to the National Honor Society and their adviserss, Mr. Cook and Miss Love, for hosting a fantastic se senior citizens prom. a beautiful event that brought joy to our community seniors. A special thanks to Mike Rrisco music for speaking with our OS students about career opportunities in the music industry. And that concludes my report for March. Thank you for listening. You need a drink of water after that. There's a lot going on. Thank you, Aaliyah. Aaliyah. Aaliyah, that is quite a comprehensive, thoroughly researched and exciting report. Angela, maybe maybe we could add some pictures and images and she could do a voice over. I'd love to get that out on social media. Well done. Thank you. Well done. Well done. All right. So, thank thank you again. Right. And so many

009incredible things. Like, just think about what she shared. I know there's a lot going on, right? A lot of great stuff happening. Um, so I'll turn it over now to Miss Fox Alter for her superintendent update. Okay. So, I I I certainly can um cannot um outdo what Aaliyah just did, which with her wonderful report. I just want to do a couple of shoutouts though of celebrating the impact of um strong female leaders and initiatives that help uplift the next generation. Our director of student success analy was honored to attend the New York State. my sister's keeper launch with colleagues from Peakskill and Portchester along with Chancellor Young, the commissioner attendant and Senator Shelley Mayor. So we are so proud of our awesing team representing there and uh the work of my sister's keeper launch.

010Uh this past sata Saturday our amazing volunteers including students and staff and the OECTA came together to build planters for the first step of a Brookside outdoor garden center. Thank you for that. Um I also want to thank um um our students and the staff as they participated in the New York State uplifting all students statewide conference at Boseies. uh great conversations, great discussion, collaboration with educators from across the state of New York and explored ways to foster inclusivity and equity in our schools for all of our kids. Um just to um just if today was emblematic of like what this month has been like. I think from the second we arrived till literally the second before this board meeting, we had events, celebrations, we had a um dinner at Roosevelt where um some of

011our incoming um Dr. Novver attended because she saw it as a way to welcome some of the uh fifth grade parents to AMD. And then we were having we had our students of distinction here this evening and then many of those parents were heading over to the high school for an orientation this evening. So there was a lot going on in our schools today. We had our OTAA contract negotiations as well. So lots of really a busy busy busy busy day few days actually on many levels. So I want to thank everyone for their support and help. And I just want to thank our wonderful students who work throughout the district all day involved in so many activities. So just a reminder um that we are closed on Monday. You heard Aaliyah explain the celebration

012of Ramadan and uh Monday the 31st is in observance of Eid. We wish everyone who celebrates a joyful and blessed holiday. Oh, and also if you're going through your closets, we have started uh we're looking up for our new or gently used prom attire. Last last year's prom popup shop was a huge success. So, if anyone has anything, they can donate for our prom popup shower. Uh popup shop. We are um donations can be dropped off at Executive Boulevard on the ground floor between now and April 22nd. Um and again reminding everybody that prek registration is taking place. Please visit our website for more details. Great. Thank you Christine. Thank you Mary. Um so our work session item for tonight and our equity item is the uh budget continued discussion for this year. Um I'll

013turn it back over to Mary to kind of recap where we're at. Maybe we we don't have a whole presentation again tonight. So it's meant intended I think just mostly to be a discussion space. Yeah. Correct. Okay. Okay. So I think we have some updates and information from the the last meeting. I know there were questions sent earlier today. Um we we we literally like went straight. We might not be able I think a good many were able to address. We did take a look at them. So um from the team here like to start Maria. Great. Thank you. Good evening. Um I will respond to the questions that were asked earlier today. Um the question of how does Frontline differ from branching minds. Frontline is our comprehensive uh school administrators software where it houses

014our attendance. It houses our evaluation. It houses our professional growth and professional learning. So it monitors all all that data for us. Um, branching minds is our platform. Bless you. Plat uh branching minds is our MTSS multi-tered systems of support platform where our um all our student data is gathered. Uh we group our children depending on their need. Our uh academic intervention teachers go in, we group our children based on that data and we then um provide intensive and very deliberate and intentional services to our children depending on their need and depending on what tier of intervention they may require. Uh so it does help us tier our children as well um in tier two and tier three. It also allows our classroom teachers which is the first level of intervention um in the classroom.

015It also allows us to see that data in real time and it also provides an opportunity for collaboration and communication between the services being provided outside of the classroom in a standalone and the services that are being provided inside the classroom um in a whole group setting. Um so it would be accurate to say that that front line is pretty much a a personnel adult management tool and and um branching minds branching minds is more about instruction students and instruction. Um so front so front line doesn't touch any student data. We're not inputting any No sir. None whatsoever. It does. Sorry it does. Um Front Front Line is formerly IEP direct. So there is a portion that company so there is a dropdown where IEP direct formerly IEP direct is um inputed into that system.

016So we utilize that portion of Frontline in order to create IEPs for our students and 504 plans. And under the umbrella of Frontline because Front Line is the major company the organization uh we also have forecast fives that that is housed un uh under the frontline company and Frontline forecast 5 is our data analytical. We are transferring from shifting from um Tableau to forecast five and we're in the midst of doing that. So thank you for that. Forgot they were bought out as all companies do anymore. one company's buying out other pieces, but front line for us by and large has been for a long time um a personnel HR management and they bought Kim mentioned IEP direct which used to be its own standalone product made 25 years ago by a school psychologist out

017in Long Island who no longer had to be a school psychologist after he did it. Exactly. And also front lines if I can just share an experience that we had. Uh we're expanding the use of front lines. So for March 13th our superintendent conference day we planned a for our secondary staff because our elementary staff was engaging our parents and uh parent teacher conferences. Our secondary staff we created a conference style day for them of learning. So we used frontline as a way to register. We g we provided a choice board and we had our staff actually register and choose uh through our front line. So we're expanding the use um of our frontline service. So front there's nothing in frontline that overlaps then with branching minds like you can't make front line the branching

018mind solutions and take one out or the other. We need both things. Yes sir. Okay. Thanks. Yeah. The other question was regarding summer programs. Uh so we currently as um our superintendent uh shared in our pre uh last week's meeting uh our summer programs for the past couple of years has been uh we've been very fortunate to have grants to support us. Um this year obviously with all the grand sun setting we were able to shift the funding for summer school into our um into our our budget our general fund. Um there's two there's actually three but the question was regarding the elementary the elementary uh learning academy we call it the summer learning academy um is focused on incoming kindergarteners through incoming fifth graders. Our AMD is focused on incoming sixth graders through incoming

019eighth graders. And the uh criteria is at the moment is those children that need additional support and that bridge across the summer to help help them continue their learning. Uh so that is the focus and the criteria for our children being selected. And then there's another level in the event that we don't have enough whether for whatever reason, we also um then expand it a little bit more to those that may need less support but still need support. So it's a way of us to continue the learning from the the closing of the this current school year to the opening and of the next school year. So, and what we do is also um in order to prepare them for their incoming grade, we actually use our ARC uh themes. So, they are getting that

020front-loaded for them and they're building that experience so that when they enter their new grade, um they have that vocabulary. They're rich already in those experiences and it's very projectbased. So, it's fun learning. Come visit us. So, that's great. So will you be or can you track the success of that? For instance, are you you know baseline say okay student X is here he or she needs help. We've now taken them through these summer programs. Let's see how they're tracking through the course of the year to attribute back to how the summer programs doing. So Mr. Milstein, yes. What we do is we identify our children. Um they are actually our tech team creates summer classes for us. So we're able when we create our rosters and then we monitor them. Absolutely. Um and we

021use the June data. So our NWA data, our ERA and anal data and our teachers are provided the time, our summer school teachers are provided the time to analyze their data so that they can be very intentional in their planning through their projects interd disciplinary approach. So, yes. And I think there was a question about the photocopying. Alita figured that out a while ago. We should have updated the information, but Alita, so the page that is being referred to is page 26 in the budget book. And that that code is actually specific for um contractual expenses at the schools. So that 2020 code does not include um district-wide uh copers. Um and it's actually budgeted in a separate area amongst different budget codes. So um 65,000 of that will be coming out um because it's

022budgeted elsewhere in that in that in that area. So I know there was a great question about um um the Boseis programs um um the kids the the trades how we which I think it we love about Boseis programs um but Bosey's programs are um at a cost I think they're probably roughly 13 I I'll say roughly and let Alita give me the individual for every student we send they're between 12 and $13,000 to do it and there's a waiting list for kids to join the Putinham Northern Westchester Boseies because they have more demand than they have space to do that which actually lends to the great project we're doing here in uh Austining to create CTE type classes of robotics engineering in our high school in the new addition. But yeah, sorry to just

023back to the photo cover. So are we saying 60? We just found $65,000 because it actually is elsewhere. So that other line, it was a duplicate essentially or no, there's not going to be any savings from the budget that you saw. It's just been adjusted. So it's being allocated amongst those different codes. I I guess um Okay, maybe I'm not following. So we said that that 89,000 whatever that photocopier thing is not photocopying but you're it's not just photocopying it's just photocopying for 2020 which is defined as principal's office. Okay. So that budget is going to go down by 65,000 right because it's it's already being split somewhere else. Right. So if that line comes out you're saying 65,000 down you're saying the 65,000 that was needed for that is actually already elsewhere. in the

024budget. I I like I said before, the last time we met, I've been changing codes and updating codes to say tonight that there are $65,000 additionally available. I cannot say that. Okay. I cannot say that because we've been updating codes um since the last time we met. Okay. But that line is going to go down by 65,000. Correct. it will not appear there in the budget because it's being split amongst different codes including district-wide codes. So there's money for special ed, there's money for personnel, there's money for business office. That's all in different codes and not in this code. So you're saying you might be moving that 65,000 to other codes. Correct. Okay. Correct. So you need the 65,000 you're saying but just not in that line. You might move it other line. Okay. And

025I did look at the expense overall district-wide and and it demonstrates where we're paying the the bill and it's actually the bill is the bill goes to CVS, Connecticut Business Systems because they they manage it. Um it doesn't go directly to Xerox. So I looked at the overall expense by doing a vendor transaction report um to make sure that the expense is not increased as dramatically as it's seen here. Um, in 2022 23 we spent 67,000. In 2324 we spent 72,000. In 2425, which is this year, we spent 49,000. To date, as of March 2025, so when you annualize that, that comes in the neighborhood of between 64 to 67,000 for this school year for for CBS districtwide. So, okay. So it is about 64 to 65,000 on photocopying. So can you just clarify I

026mean what do we use? Is that for student use? Is that for admin districtwide? So it's it's office use, central office use, it's for department use, it's for um principal use in their offices and also teachers use in the bigger copier rooms within the buildings. Okay. Um, I'm not a photocopying expert, so I don't know how that rates up. It It does sound like a fairly I mean, you know, that's a staff person for something on photocopying, so I don't know if that's in line. All I know is I see a lot of the digital stuff. Again, I'm only looking at anecdotally. There's not a lot of photocopy papers coming home. So, I I just don't know. And and that's a consultant, right? So, that's probably not an inexpensive charge. I just don't know if

027that's something that's like yeah that's what it is or again there's a way to explore that further. Do we need as much photocopying I guess is you know the overall question. So we it's um a monthly amount per month. So I I don't want to quote but I think it's in the neighborhood I shouldn't quote. There's a monthly amount that we pay up to. We've never exceeded that amount. um the CBS contract it's either it has been through Boseies or um state contract so we get the best price and I believe we have in the neighborhood of uh 60 60 machines districtwide um and those machines are also used for scanning um so we do scanning to our desktops um and then I know my department We do checks, uh, stubs, um, purchase orders and

028things like that, but, uh, there's an amount per month that we have access to, um, with the contract through CBS. Okay. I mean, I again, I'm not a photocopying expert. I'm not and I'm not picking on that line. Seems like a high number, right? 60,000 a year for photocopying. Maybe, maybe not. We don't own the machines, right? They're they're leased out. So, service contract and everything. I don't know. I know. We mentioned with the principles today. I mean, I Kim could speak to the point that we have some students whose IEPs require things to be blown up that require certain color. There are sometimes things that are in our consumables that don't have enough space. So, we would use that to copy as long as we're following copyright law. Um I the district made a

029big effort of moving from printers to photocopying. For th you those of you who know the math around xeroxing versus printing. It's far more cost-effective to xerox rather than use individual printers in classrooms. So these were efficiencies that were built in pre my arrival when I saw it here. Um the principles do enjoy the flexibility of being able to xerox when they choose to um and having materials available and the and the only thing that the district pays for is the staples and um the paper um and we get the paper through state contract as well. So the the the service comes with the use of the copers, um the maintenance of the copers and the toner. Brookside come home with like piles of papers, so many papers. And um as class parents, you're not

030allowed to use the school's printers. A lot of teachers will let you know that that you have to do it yourself. So just I guess a heads up that school resources aren't going towards stuff like class parents. Yeah. I mean I think we don't send Chromebooks home up after grade five. So in the early grades or my experience is there's tons of papers coming homework packets but that doesn't travail the district. But I don't know Alita and it's hard because of the rising cost of things. But we went through like a whole printer analysis and basically bringing those down and shifting to like the Google classrooms and the postings and stuff. So there was a savings in the past that was significant on that. I don't know like if we go back and look maybe

031it was a couple hundred thousand or maybe because costs have escalated at 65 like it's hard like with vendors you always tend to find out like even when you drop consumption considerably the cost levels out but um it may be worth to try to go back a bit and take a look at that. I think maybe some of what you're asking is stuff that like when we were in tougher times we went to places like that because we were trying to avoid cuts to classrooms right so but you know I guess the question your question is in terms of just you know the usage now it'd be kind of in intellectually interesting to see are we have we reduced the amount of page printouts from like you know eight years ago kind of thing six

032years ago five years ago is it any significant difference I would think maybe but there's a lot of things that don't really change even with the digital moving from digital to paper. So, so I I agree with your statement, Frank, because the um design of the the um service is different than it was in past in the past. And we did save a significant amount amount of money when we um moved to this type of service. and I can look at that and and research that was more than five or six years ago longer than that. Um the other thing is we can't just take a copier out to reduce it for the budget for next year. Like it's a multi-year contract and we would still get charged. So you'd have to wait until the

033end of the contract when it expires. Um and then um you can evaluate whether or not you need as many machines. Um, and that would be a discussion with the the principles as well as other departments. So, even if we wanted to, we can't take it out. They will still charge us. Only time they can't charge us um is if the budget fails or something like that. Um, but actually, I think the board had to agree at the time when we implemented the 4-year arrangement that they would uh that the Xerox contract would be a contingent item. Uh, which it means that it has to be paid in a contingency budget. um and even if the budget fails. So, I think that language is exists somewhere when we first got on board with the um

034the new lease. We've been using them over and over again, but I believe the lease is a four or five year ex contract. And just Mary just on the Boseies point, um my question wasn't so much around can we add more Bosey's um opportunity in terms of the signups given the waiting list and the cost. My question was more around and it could be budget related if it costs for Boseies to come in to present. My point was pitching it to the board. We've talked a lot about more trade education. We know there's a demand for it. There's the tremendous need in the labor market. Do we have Boseies come in starting in elementary then to middle and then yes through high school say hi I'm Boseies and elementary kids middle school kids high school

035kids we exist and whatever whatever the presentation is I don't know what it would be but point is introducing from the earliest possibility the trades piece if there's a cost to Boseis to come and do that I guess that's a budget question if not it might be something for the board and others to consider where because we've talked about trades a lot and it's it's you know there's a big demand for them and that gives children who may not have been been thinking about it opportunity to say oh okay what's this and explore more and then we could talk about funding if we need to fund it if we got an influx which would be a great good problem to have if students even at the younger ages show interest that was more my question

036right now that yeah okay I mean um Maria you can talk about the PEK program how we end up pathways the the bottom line even for the Boseies um and any of my colleagues correct me if I'm wrong because this is going to be a balcony perspective the CTE programs that kids go to only start in their junior and senior year and they have to fulfill their New York State regions diploma requirements there will look a little different with these new pathways um and it will all be contingent upon space and room there so I would working with the high school guidance department, how do you work with kids and families to say this might be an an option without somehow tracking kids very early into that? So, it's a little tricky. Um, I will

037say that I love because we spent a good hour and a half even again today on looking at the new addition to the high school aligning with the new um pathways to graduation as having CTE options and the new um STEM we called it in the past the STEM edition, but there's actually robotics, computer, medical, and we're looking at partnerships with our local WCC. So I guess Rob trying to even think outside of the Boseies box if you will um to address the exact same point that you're thinking about um and um I know Boseis is struggling even to get space to offer what they have there but it's a great question. Go ahead Maria. No. And also just exposing our children through um like career day inviting uh speakers from different trades and different

038careers uh in order to open the pathway for gear up as we're coming up and PEK that is also every year we have a new cohort in 8th grade. So just exposing our children to align to our pillars of relevant learning and making that connection to the real world and bringing in speakers and and representatives from different um pathways. I guess to give a little bit of context too. So all districts have this conundrum in terms of Bosey's lines. How much money you know can they allocate to it? What can you do in house? At the end of the day this is a common thing. I think Austin's done a good job of making families aware. I think there's always, you know, the potential for doing more in some districts. There's probably less of an

039impetus to make people aware. It's just I'm giving you from a Bosey's perspective. We have talked about for programs where there was high demand. How could we do things in district and it in the past it came back to space and so this is where the Roosevelt conversation came into and why we looked at a new building and not face it. one of the reasons why we looked at a new building versus trying to retrofit Roosevelt because you have a brand new kitchen in Roosevelt. So you have a culinary opportunity there. You could send students to Boseis for culinary. You could have them do something here in district around that. I think a lot of the questions around the trades and shops the the challenge part of the reason that like listening used to have

040an auto mechanic shop underneath the old the lot where the library is today. The equipment that you need to do that is cost prohibitive to do for a small number. And so like the HVAC setup and electrical setup that's over at you know in Yorktown is very different than probably what you could do here. Plus there's a need for space. We've been so strapped with space at the end of the day. It just hasn't there hasn't been those opportunities. But I do think for the board and this is a summer retreat conversation perhaps and um but really like looking at Roosevelt like okay we know we've got a plan now what are the opportunities for Roosevelt at that time you know for there because you do have an opportunity of space that we have not

041had in the past and so it's it's worth talking about and could you save some money by bringing some programs back from Boseies you probably could right but then it's a matter of you're not going to offer the breadth of what it is and so how do you pick and choose and really the student demand piece, you know, making sure the counselors are talking to the students about that, especially at the secondary level is big, but like I'll give you like Boseis does a middle school program, summer camps for the students. Now, there's transportation costs, there's all kinds of stuff and if you but it would be an opportunity that you know for students to go and try out programs like that. So, I think there's a lot of ways to look at this, but

042I think you know it's a both and it's not an eitheror kind of question. And how do we find the right mix for locally? That's my two cents. The high school as well does a Boseies evening, a parent presentation um which is very um highly attended um and our numbers have grown in the Boseis program. But I love the idea dovetailing what Frank said of just being able to expand our own CTE in a 21st century CTE way. And believe it or not, the state now, we just found this out last month, the state now classifies the performing arts as a CTE program. Um, because there's so much technical with theater, with music, with with lighting, with performance, there's a lot of technology in it. So, it will be a CTE pathway. So, I think

043there's a lot to unpack there, Rob. It's a great question to have and to for us to think around. Love it. Yeah. And and what so my part was if you're looking at crawl, walk, run, my part was the trying to pitch the crawl meaning we have the high school night kambosis come talk to middle school kids and say here here's what we are here's what we do maybe even going into elementary I don't again I don't know the practicality if there's a cost then you need a signed cost of post some presentation Frank I think your idea and what others talking about the what do we do with Roosevelt how do we bring that's more of the walk run. Uh, and that's great, too. My my humble comment was around, can we just tell

044kids about it? Even those who haven't opted in to say, I want to go to this night versus you come in and say, it's an assembly. This is Boseies. And you might find kids that like, oh, that sounds pretty interesting. And then you tee them up for the high school part of that. It could be part of a career day. Yeah, I'd be happy to follow up with Jeremy Ducos um to make that an opportunity for our middle school students. At one point in time, we did look at um providing a Boseis program at the middle school. Um, one of the things that we ran into difficulty with are the required courses and when they were being offered for our students, which made it a challenge for us to send our middle schoolers to AOSI's

045program. Um, but I'm I'm happy to follow up with Jeremy Ducos to um at least start the crawling part. I would be happy to do that. Right. And I think just as fiduciaries what we have to keep in mind is you know you make a presentation to a room full of students and there's a significant cost associated with it you know you may be turning around and saying well we talked to about you but we can't offer it and that's the balance that districts have with Boseies at the end of the day because you know especially in a tax cap world and you know finding that additional money is not insignificant and so so I took the spirit to mean the potential of the different type of career and pathways. But Frank mentions a real

046important point to be able to put it out there and offer to kids. But yet I we don't both number one doesn't have the spots nor number two can we afford it. You know that that becomes a another question which I think in a summer retreat is the right place to have that conversation and talk about it and we can bring in others like they will be there for it Jeremy and the and the folks who do this work directly. Right. And so right consensus I thank you Kim for that offer. I guess the question is does the rest of the board feel there's a green light at this time to explore the introduction of Boseis and technical education beyond the high school. I don't please don't take my no please let know let's do

047this. I think it's up to the board right to consider that right and I think that's kind of outside the scope of the budget for this year which is where we're trying to keep discussions right now. Yep. Um, so like Frank said, I'm I started a little uh reminder note for myself because Frank said the word summer retreat topic. So I'm like, I'm gonna start a note and so that when those things come up that we can discuss the directionality of it at that time. Right now I want to make sure we're focused on our current budget for this year. Um, I think Alita, you wanted to talk about the lunch program and the research around that. So um I just want to remind um everyone that school lunch is not part of the general

048fund budget and as a result it does not impact the tax levy. It is uh administered, monitored, audited in a separate fund which is called C fund or the cafeteria fund. Um the only uh line item in our budget or was in our budget uh was a transfer to cafeteria line and in the past we've had about 30,000 in there and that money could only be applied for students um delinquent accounts. So if students did not pay we have to use general fund to pay C fund of those um unpaid bills. Uh we've since t taken it out because we see we're a C so we're not charging students anymore. Um but that's the only thing that line item can be used for. So with regard to setting money aside for any initiatives related to

049cafeteria um that would not be part of general fund. It has to be part of cafeteria fund. Um so we look when we look at funding initiatives through the cafeteria fund. We look at what fund balance is available through the cafeteria fund and we determine that at the end of the year. Um with regard to creating separate kiosks um to decrease the amount of time students are spending online uh you have to realize that a separate kiosk uh requires a separate person. Um, so there is a profit loss that has to be evaluated and was evaluated at at the time of the award of the bid. Um, and so if we add a kiosk, we technically would have to add another person um a c a um cashier uh to be part of that kiosk.

050Um, and then there's separate prep that would be involved in that kiosk. So, it wouldn't uh be financially uh possible for us without the school district taking on that expense themselves. And Woodson's not taking on that expense because they already built in the number of staff um the cost of meals um and the types of meals in their um in in the amount that they're charging the district. Uh we also went out to bid um for our food service contract and uh I think we sent it to maybe three or four and Witson's was the only vendor that responded. Um so making those types of dramatic changes to the current contract uh would require us to go out to bid. We couldn't just roll it over. Um and that might be uh a difficult position

051for the district to be in. I had seen and we did speak about this at one of the board meetings uh a vending machine. So I know there's a school district district in New Jersey um which I thought was very interesting is offering a a salad bar via um a vending machine. So basically uh the student will select the lettuce and the food will come down in a bowl and they can select a protein and I don't it probably have to be beans. Uh I don't know all the details and that would come down in a p in a bowl. Um they could select uh uh tomatoes the cucumbers. So it gives them the experience of uh eating healthy and making it choice driven. So, it's more fun and it also limits the amount of

052contact with open bars even though we do have um guard uh sneeze guards um on them. But I think that's something we can pursue and it wouldn't be necessarily uh from a perspective of reducing the time of students being online specifically in this building. But I think it's an opportunity for students to have an alternative way to enjoy different types of toppings and healthy um options. So I would love to look into that depending on how much we have available for fund balance. Uh I know and I'm going to turn it back over to you Mary about what we're doing now in AMD and Y with the lunch uh periods but um the other thing with regard to the capital project um we are looking at the 78 building and making sure um the number

053of periods that we have to have um the number of the the size of the cafeteria um is is is um going to make it so that we can accommodate grades um per period, right? So the bottom line is that Witson's not open to a pilot project on this that would be part of a contract negotiations moving forward unless we could come up with some sort of vending machine. Now obviously we're looking to do kiosk at the high school and the commons areas when we're done. So at some point it will be be a requirement and since I can't expand the 300 square foot no the 300 seating cafeteria the commons areas we need that in order to seat all kids and feed. It's going to be something we're going to have to enter into

054to do. It could also be a relocation of staff. Yes. Yeah. So, um, here at AMD, there was I had to look into it because I've, um, um, because there's another way of doing it, right? You could create four lunch periods. It would lessen the lines and lessen space. Um, but in speaking with Dr. turnover who inherited at four lunch periods, she flipped it back to three so that each grade level ate lunch together. Um and um it allowed her to be able to do a better job of student management throughout the day. So if you saw a kid during lunch period, you knew what period it was, who was on lunch, who was out on recess, as opposed to you're a fifth, you're a sixth grader, but this is seventh period lunch. Some kids

055didn't like the fact they couldn't be with their friends. So, she felt and then to schedule all of that was a little complicated. So, she switched the AMD back to for instructional reasons and student management reasons. And for her to schedule the different single tens and triple tins and double tins that she has, a three period lunch period um was the better solution. But it was a give because now the lines are a little longer and that's because you have more kids. That's the answer to that. I had to go back and research that. Does anyone have one on on this? They wanted to com because I I have comment about one about others. I have a mine is not technically in the same lane of um of your curiosity but I do have a

056question around lunch but you can if you could please you finish your thoughts you have something on what you asked. Well, I remember Melissa, right? We this I think it was you that commented around like this is whole child social emotional learning. I don't want to put your words in your mouth because it was a few quite a few months ago. But I guess my question is same thing crawlwalk run. I think we we sort of green lit at the board table like okay let's informally validate that in a 20 you know in this lunch period that yes kids are getting through the line in 15 minutes therefore they only really have five minutes to eat. Okay, check that. Let's presume we're able to do that. I guess my question Mary is and elite I

057understand the kiosk but are you saying there is no way we can pilot if we pay for it as a district finding a white and there's quite a few of the apps if you Google school lunch app there's a whole bunch of them out there so we white label the app as a pilot to say a student can pre-order it gets put out in advance are you saying the contract is so locked down that we can't go them and say, "Let's just pilot this. Let's give it a chance because guess what? When we renew with you guys, presumably there might even be more money for you here because it's going to require more staff." I guess what I'm getting at is, you know, to wait until you the you know, the scheduling seems like a

058much more in the run lift run area, right? They're waiting for the new building few years off. I guess you know when I hear it's hard contractually I don't know you're saying are we saying there's just no chance to at least do a pilot on that see if it works and then we could talk about a renegotiated contract because to me as you know this issue is certainly near and dear my heart to wait to wait to wait till the renewal and then do it once feels like again I don't know the contracts but it feels like if we went hey we want a pilot they're going to say nope your contract locked down this does not allow it you got to wait in negotiation time. So, yeah. So, what I said was um to

059add a kiosk is an expense because somebody has to manage that kiosk. There has to be a chef separate cashier there. But with regard to the software that you're talking about, we did explore it years ago and we realized that we had to upgrade our food service system to Mosaic, which was an upgraded cloud-based system and we did that. The assumption that you're making is that the students will somehow gravitate towards the app and that will reduce the number of um students online in this cafeteria. I don't think that that that's going to change because somebody still has to be here um to prepare the meals. And the other thing that we ran into was access. Not all parents will have access to that to that app. um whether it be um via phone or

060via um website. We actually looked at school districts and this was a while ago. We looked at school districts that do this work and there was some uh uh uh what's the word manual component to it in that we had to confirm um that they wanted the order. We had to get the information to Ena and her crew. Um, and now with the school district being C, which we know may not last forever, um, there's no incentive for them not to eat free meals and there's no additional incentive for them to, especially in this building because they have to eat either they're going to eat their lunch from home or they're going to eat here. So there's no incentive that would drive down um or drive actually there's no there there's there's nothing going to

061change about the the daily participation rate that we currently have by adding a app. Certainly like I said after the um we determine what the C fund budget and our fund balances we can explore um what may be available. I said that um but I don't think that it's going to have the expected outcome um with an app where students are already either they're going to eat their lunch at from home or they're going to eat that they still have to get their lunch like they still have to be at the period to to get their lunch and somebody still has to prepare that meal separate and apart even if we pay for it. Um, I I want to give Melissa the space to speak and before she does, I just want to re focus

062us. Um, because it's be it's becoming clear to me that this is not a topic super relevant to this year's budget. As you said, it's not in our budget line items. Well, I'm looking for m I'll I'll make it clear so so we can get to Melissa to speak. I'm looking to say, can we set aside some money or is there any money in the budget so we can pilot this thing next year? That's it. Is it 500 bucks? Is it a thousand? It absolutely is budget related. If the answer is if the board doesn't want to do it, I'll be quiet and move on. I But but that's what I'm looking for. Can we I I understand your point, but we won't know the answers until you pilot it. You try with 50 kids,

06320 kids, 30 kids. Do they have access? Do they not? It doesn't impact the general fund. We're talking about the general fund budget and that's a C fund budget. Do we have to right? Do we Okay, that's why I'm asking. Do we have it? Is it there? Can we? If it's a yes, great board, we decide if we want to do it. If the answer is no and it's got to come out of the general fund to do whatever, look for the app. You know, the line item is find an app to pilot to see if we can move the lunch line faster. The board decides if there's money or not. That that's what But it is budget related respectfully. That's it is that's what I'm trying to find. Do we have the money or

064can we find the money? The money will be determined at the end of the year when we determine how much fund balance we have in C fund, not A fund. You cannot fund those type of things through general fund. Okay? It has to be through C fund and that has nothing to do with the general fund budget. Whether or not we have the money available or not, we can take a look at the C fund at the end of the audit and the board will get that report and you will see what money is left over in fund balance. Okay. And ahead of that, do we need then to do any of that research? And I don't have to answer tonight, but I just, you know, again, trying to be methodical. So, we don't want

065to say, oh, we have the money. Oh, but we need to do the research because I thought that we greet the research at least with a timer to validate. Yep. 20 minutes, kids are getting five. And that way we tee up that discussion at that point. Melissa, thank you for your patience. Oh, no. Great discussion. Um and yes, thank you Rob for um you know uh remembering what I was talking about with um related to lunch. My question is more focused and I know it's technically not a general fund question but I just curious as the answer to this question because I know we were talking about the around the budget around um just contingency plans for things unexpected changes to budget and you just mentioned the C um which is great and I'm wondering

066should any unexpected funding ch funding changes happen that could impact students access to lunch is that something we would have to worry about or yes are we preparing for what that looks like. Yeah, mo most would say, okay, well, they they have to pay for their lunch. But if it's a something that just comes out of nowhere and those those students who are used to getting either free and reduced lunch or like what what happens what what is our plan if that funding gets pulled? Unfortunately, um the district cannot pay for lunches for students who would not qualify normally for free and reduced lunch. We cannot take general fund money even if it's take even if our C designation is taken away from us midyear it'll have a direct impact on those students right we

067can even if we have money left over in fund balance we cannot use that money to pay for students who may be affected by loss of free lunch so in the past what happened because there was one year before we became C that school districts that had fund balance available um the New New York State um child nutrition program provided a waiver and what that waiver was is that for school districts who could afford to pay for students it was right after COVID um and then right before C I think it was in the 22 23 school year um they allowed school districts to pay for students lunch. We already provide free breakfast at our expense through C fund. Um but some if something like that happens the only way around it is if the

068state grants a waiver and if we have the fund balance that's what we did in the past we allowed them it was for a semester I think it was spring semester started in January and so all students ate everything for free but that waiver had to be in place for us to do that right and that was through the state. Okay. Yeah. I was just curious cuz I, you know, if if families can afford to just pick up and do that, that's great. But for the families that usually would have submitted an application for free induced lunch and didn't because we have the C, but then all of a sudden it's gone. I just wanted to make sure that they it wouldn't be a hard landing. It will land. It will be hard landing. Okay.

069There has to be a waiver in place for us to do that. We can't just do that as a school district. Okay. And um I was going to say something else that And again, it's another situation where the general fund balance cannot be used right in that fund. So there's some level of just kind of preparedness that would need to come on the part of if that gets pulled that all of a sudden like So what I'm I guess what I'm getting at is if those parents that would have qualified for free and reduced lunch through the application process which we don't do anymore because of the C they'd kind of just be floating out there with the whatever the price is or just dealing with that consequence until something different happened. Yeah. So, there

070is an alternative application that we can have people fill out, families fill out. They don't fill it out now, and we do have it actually. We They only fill it out now because they're trying to apply for financial aid. So, they want to demonstrate that they have a need. So, they fill out this alternative application, which is not the free and reduced application that they normally fill out. Um what we would continue to do is try to qualify under um the previous CB C um levels. Mhm. What what happened um when many school districts in the state qualified is because the thresholds changed um and there was more money available to support school districts who were like just there like we've been applying for C but we have not been at that 40% uh for

071directs and directs are those um parents who qualify for Medicaid um for SNAP for um SNAP Medicaid I guess food stamps those types of things those are direct directs. So, they don't have to apply for anything, but yes, it will be a challenge to get people and now they would fill out those applications, even the alternative ones, um because they're no longer going to be qualifying. So, I think they will fill it out and it will be a determination as to whether or not they qualify. Um, but we would start that process and we would continue to analyze even going back to the original eligibility levels. Would we qualify u will we will we be able to become a C without the additional um funding that came through um Governor Hokll's proposal? Right. Um and

072then when we uh think about that, do we have enough fund balance? Because part of C is that the district has to come up with some sort of payment. So that that money is no longer coming from the state. the district has to have enough money to say, "Okay, we can support this percentage of students eating for free, but it still has to come out of CF fund." Okay? And that's when we have that discussion during fund balance. All right? And that's at the end of the year. So that's the those are the the avenues we can take, but they will fall hard. I I personally I don't see how that can happen, but I I I don't know. But I I'll provide you with an update. I was going to provide an update um

073on Friday about C and the right about where it could fall. Thank you. Um I have a clarification question. Can you guys hear me? Yes, we can. Okay, great. Um, I guess I would be interested before we did sort of any sort of pilot program or app wondering if Alita um or Mary, whoever you think is best, is it possible to get information from the building principles who would coordinate with lunch monitors and cafeteria staff as to whether or not a they think that that would expedite the process or really like I could see if there are only two choices for lunch and both are prepared in certain percentages and it's the issue isn't ordering, it's it's just being able to physically have kids go up to the kiosks and be served. I'd like to

074know that before we went further with any any kind of pilot programming and then I would also be interested in learning whether or not that would be consistent with the goals that we're trying to achieve um with regards to a electronic devices in the schools. That's what I'd be interested in learning before making any further decisions on that. No problem. All right. I got more budget stuff, but again others. Are we good to close the cafeteria related question? I had comments. Go ahead, Frank. You have anything? No. Um, just quickly, I think the easier one, Journal News just ran an article about the C funding in districts. At the end of the day, this is an advocacy item to prepare the state to step in if the federal government cuts the funding because we don't

075want the hard landing. And you know, ideally I would say keep away from fund balance and just be there and put have a have a have, you know, if they can reserve up to 15% in the state budget, they should be able to absorb this hit across the state. So that would be my advocacy item to put in there in anticipation it could get cut. Politically, if it happens, there's probably a cost to that, but we'll see where that all falls. Um, just as far as the comments of the efficiencies and the cafeteria and all that, I'm not adverse to if there's money left in the sea fund looking at something from a policy uh from a pilot standpoint. I think the question that we have is like is there any way to move students

076through and faster? And so I'm just envisioning like, you know, when you go to a conference and you have tables of box lunches at the end of the day, is there any real time savings in serving individual students? Whereas if students pre-selected and ordered their turkey sandwiches and they pic went picked the box and checked out, would that be any faster? Or in reality, the cafeteria operation is, you know, because I know how my, you know, my kids go up and they order and they're like, "Oh, I want cheese with this." I don't reality I don't know how it's happening in the cafeteria. Like if you go up and ask for a sandwich, is it being made for you? Is there is it being pre-selected? Just some insight into I think the the spirit of

077the question is around all this is how do we get the kids out for recess to make sure that they're being healthy, right? And if there's any optimization that could be done in terms of them either submitting their lunch for the week by paper in the beginning of the week, whether they put it in via an app, it's just how can we try and move this thing through faster so we get them outside earlier because like listen, we all I mean I've heard from all my kids the line so long I don't even get a time to go outside. And that is the part that's like tough and that's what we're trying to come back to. I'm just going to say one comment and I get the idea. You want to see what what possibilities

078are available. Yeah. The other limitation with um meals is that the student has to go through the line because we have to account for every meal. So they can't just go to a a place and pick it up. I totally get that. Um but they they have to go physically through the line and have their student account. And also there's an issue with allergies. So, when you're at the cap, when you're at the um the uh the register, they literally are going into um the system that is um connected to our um student information system. And so, if a child inadvertently picks up a cup of milk or something with peanuts in it, those alerts are coming up. So, if they see it on their plate, then that gets taken away and they are not

079allowed to purchase it. So there there's reasons for um why as far as accountability and us reporting to the state our numbers why they have to go by their code by their student ID and actually physically have to go and have somebody type in their meal. Um and so because it it's accounted for and it goes straight um to child nutrition those numbers. But I understand the point and you want to see what opportunities are available. Yeah. And if you say, listen, the amount of time to serve a ch a child in a turkey sandwich, like it's not being made on site, that's actually being pulled and handed to them, that's kind of fast, right? But if there's times where it's taking time to serve, I just just I get they're going to go through

080the lines and it's going to the checkout's going to be the checkout. Is it the time to serve? Could that be kind of cut back so that overall everything went through? that that's I think the board's kind of question of how can we squeeze more juice out of the rind, you know, knowing that we need more space, you know, and that'll get better with some of that, but just and if there's an opportunity there and I wouldn't be adverse to spending some money on an app that or a system that let students pre-seelelect if pre-selection of their meal actually ended up being a benefit at the end of the day to time and if it's not, then it's a wash and it doesn't make sense to do anything. And I think that's the the cons

081the question that a few board members have had is like if you talk to the principles and you look at the cafeteria operation is there anywhere to optimize it or just it's really the checkout that's the problem and that's really where we're not going to be able to save much time. If that's the case, that's the case. But then at least we've examined this and gone through it and can at least feel better about a situation that none of us are thrilled with, which is that, you know, when kids kids miss, you know, and or have reduced recess time, that's the that's the part that we'd like to see to be able to We have a meeting with principles next week. I put it on the agenda already. Okay, great. Thank you. I'm done. Okay,

082Annie, did you have anything? Um, continued budget questions. Can any you did you have more? Yep. The demographer report is that an annual requirement and if yes or no and then and again if you don't have because I didn't put this was the one followup I didn't put in my list. So this was popped in my head. Is the demographer of report and a requirement? How much does it cost us every year? if you don't have the answers now, TBD. But that's just wanted to throw that one out there, too. I don't know what the history has been here about it. I'm sure there's a history behind this. Yeah, there is a bit of one. I mean, I think with all the facility stuff, it was done annually at the end of the day. My

083recollection, which don't hold me to, is that we didn't have to do it every year, but we did it every year as a way for the community to show that we were basically planning and we weren't overbuilding like or, you know, or doing things that didn't make sense. Um, so I I don't know. It's a good question about the cost, but the sense I have is I would probably say keep basically pulling it because when you have new developments and things coming on the books, you have some numbers coming in, but certainly we'll get the easy enough to do. I I will say this year because of the facilities project, I was asked by state ed for it. So like we're in a unique period of time actually where y um different bodies and entities

084who are looking at our numbers they want that information and not just from us they want their professionals who are certified to do it to give us that. Yeah mayor I was going to say that that it's it's a requirement for additions and it used to be an requirement but if you're building an addition they want to see those um enrollment figures and from uh somebody outside of the school district. Right. Right. and we've been doing additions all along. So that would be the only time. That goes back to what Frank said, that's why it's here. If you're doing additions, you have to have it. And just really quickly, the context, thank you, Frank, for that is for things that So, so something like that since the deviation hasn't been that much. We talked I

085know Roger went into the details like 2% deviation. You know, a full-blown report if that thing is, you know, I I assume it's not zero. It's going to be a few thousand bucks at least. Context here as you could tell where I'm trying to been going is to try to find monies here and there that we could use towards other things that we've talked about given things are tight. You know, I've mentioned personally the data scientists. I feel very very strongly with all the data programs. You really do need someone to crunch that. Doesn't look like that's going to happen. Fine. But what I was trying to do, right, piece together a few thousand bucks here, here, here, here. Maybe we can do some of this. And for the record, as you know, I haven't

086mentioned anything about staff positions, headcount, like that. Now, I haven't mentioned any comments about that. So, that's where the context is. And I do think it's helpful for the board to look at those things to find some of the monies we might be able to apply to some of the stuff other things that we want to do. Not discounting all the stuff we've done. Oh, yeah. The bond like that's big number, but just some of the other stuff. So, for something like that, if it wasn't a requirement and we could get a half of the demog demographers report, right? some those trends really haven't changed, but to your point, new developments that we need to know about and it saves us a few thousand bucks and then doesn't apply to the the app research on

087the lunch because you said it's cafeteria fund, but if it did, we could take that and go that direction. So, I just want everyone to understand my thinking of that, why I keep looking into that as part of that. That's what way my brain works and I'm trying to look for monies to be able to do some of the other stuff we talked about. But thank you for looking into what that cost and go from there. I guess I'll get the call. Thank you. Yeah, no problem. And I think even in terms of the data analysts, I think um Don could address this with more specificity, but there are two ways of hiring individuals in public schools. We hire um administrators that happen to have the state certification. There isn't the only certification you're required

088to have is a um you know a district building a district or building level leader and there isn't any unless you happen to have had I'm kind of odd that way um a degree in technology but the vast majority of our colleagues don't have that. So the other side is the data analyst. There's actually, believe it or not, I think we have it in the budget. We upped it to a full-time. There is a civil service position of a data analyst. There's a title, a job description that the state has put out u through civil service and those salaries are set pretty much by our csea contract. But um it's um and we have to canvas the list. In the meantime, what we've been doing, you can hire a consultant to sort of bridge your

089world, but you will get dinged by civil service if you don't use their list of positions. So, right now we are um using some consultants and contrast to do the type of work that we're trying to do. We we have given some stipen. We are we up the civil service position. Uh here's hoping when the list comes out we get a good recruitment to do that level of work. and we're working with Boseies to up our own capacity as administrators to help streamline that and to use the technology. So yes, we are adding more money to the budget for that. Um but we have to go through civil service to do that. And my understanding that data analyst role though Mary was not what what I just in my brain was that someone's going to

090take the new Tableau thing take the NWA take the ARC data take the attendance take the PBIS take everything else throw it in give you a full profile of students and then be able to you know feed that back. I I didn't think that that line that said data analyst is that person doing that. it was what that gentleman was doing last year, right? That role. Tim, I believe his name was and then move that. So, if that's what that is, great. If that's not what that is, that's why I'm looking at things like photocopy and other stuff to try to piece it together. I what I'd love to see, obviously, given my background, it's it's something I have a lot of interest and energy around. But I will say though, I would want all

091administrators to have the ability once we do the technology piece of it. I don't like the fact that sometimes, I'm not saying that's true here. I'm just saying I don't like the fact that people go, "Well, that's Mary's job because she like I'm not going to like, you know, like we tend to silo things." Um, but having a a a really strong because I've had that a really strong person that understands query logic, that understands the technical pieces, that can put it together and then give it to administrators to make those decisions. That is like I've had that person. That's That's like like just But we're not we're not getting that person. Well, hope we're going to have it because it's the same sort of title. Okay. You know, fair enough. Trying to figure out

092who we're going to get. Right. Right. Right. Because I agree like everyone should have data literacy, per se, right? But, you know, you're running the district. Everyone here has got their full-time gig. Administrators are doing, you know, buildings. It's hard to do that off the side of I know that. I've I've tried and as much as I you can't because it goes to the wayside. So that's why a person you know if you get AI it great but someone just like looking at dashboards and screens like oh here's something building administrator I've seen right that's that. So if that's where we're getting potentially hopefully fingers crossed that's wonderful that's great but the person also then has to download for every single state requirement and Alita her office so there's a lot of technical pieces to

093it. So right now we're working with a consultant that hopefully is going to bridge this but it is a topic that you know personally I happen to feel it's important and um we understand but we are dealing with the world of civil service and see what happens right as a board sorry consultant and a sub yes thank you no as a board that those are discussions that we've um been having for um at least a couple of years now and I know we had the like the stop gap of the temporary kind of person do or the part-time rather person doing that. So, it's good to hear that we're trying to move to a more or finally at that stage where we can move to a more full-time person because I think that was one

094of the things that um was always discussed around whether we can thread together all these great data points that we have um to help our conceptualization of a portrait of a learner and what that looks like and how we can really fully realize that as far as um the different things that make up a a child's school experience. No, that's good. And I certainly think that if we can to add to that because I love this topic. Um even if it means we budget more for Kathy Connelly or other consultants that could work with us on a regular basis that could take this and then do that. I'm all for that too. We do have flexibility there. Right. You know, I I wonder just I I think part of the challenge you're going to run

095into here is you're talking about a data architect that can look at multiple databases and find all the unique identifiers and link the stuff up and create your dashboard reports. And the private sector is going to pay a lot more than a civil service position is or this is. And I really think if we want to move this forward, this is an opportunity to do something like regionally where we get together with a PNW or the Rick and basically say, look, there's only so many student systems, there's only so many special education systems. How do we make the connections to those and leverage AI to spit the stuff out so that we don't need to have people running the reports? Like the private sector has a tough time pulling all this together, but they are

096further ahead in this, but the salaries are much much higher. So I guess my question Mary around this is just like is there an are there learning groups that are out there? Are we part of them? Are we asking the questions? The answer may be yes to all of that. But I think each district may use six kind of core systems and there's going to be some variation within there but then they're going to have there's going to be commonality to it. Right. Right. And so how can we leverage that so that I I don't see this as really a position within the Austin district. I see this something within the Rick or within Abose that basically could consult and give you this because we all can't afford the kind of person to do that

097kind of work. Yeah. Yeah. So I certainly see right now the consultants that we're using right now. I'm anxious to sit back at at the, you know, in two months and take a look at the level of work and how it helped us or or not and to continue engage in these conversations. Yeah. Or or I would say, listen, I'll put my Bosey's hat aside. I'd say, but this would be the perfect thing to throw over to a Lin Allen or to a Jen Wilson and say, look, districts are trying to make sure they pull in all their stuff and roll it up into ways. What can you guys do as a learning group so that we can bring all the districts along? The one recommendation they came back with because that's a great point.

098I'm sorry I forgot about this was the recommendation that we have now for um forecast five that product came from that group saying this will help you enormously. So I can like so that's why we included it right Maria in the budget because it came from a lot of districts who were using it who were struggling with the same. So, it's building that system for us and our unique databases here into that that that's the year we have a project management fee, thank you to the board last year, we set aside to make this work. I'm done. Okay. Um, any other budget related questions for our work session? Um, last time we did get a majority of trustees to greenlight that 1.67, but I wanted to check in on this again as we've continued our

099budget discussions. Um, just to take another temperature check to get a green light for 1.67. Um, does anybody want to start? And I'll go around the table. I'm a green. Frank's green for 1.67. Annie Melissa. Yes. Um I am as well. Where you at? I'm agreeing on that, but I think we still have some questions on final where we're going to net out on stuff. I don't think it's going to go up than the 167, but I think we still trying to finalize some of the questions we've got here. Sure. I'm not saying like our time for questions is over and we're finished discussing the budget overall. But if we wanted to give the administration a directive about changing that number, we would want to do that on the sooner side. That's why I'm asking.

100But we're not done discussing budgets. It's not like your opportunity to ask questions is Yeah. No, it's not even so much the questions. I mean, all the questions are framed up. Are there more things that we can be more efficient? I think Roger used the example. I know he's not here. Can we sharpen the pencil more? And I guess the question back to you, Mary, do you feel in any of these line items, again, I just picked out a few that I threw out there. If if the answer is the pencils are sharpened, pencils down, this is what we got, then we could give you an answer. If there's still more opportunity, say, you know what, they're here and there. But again, it's up to the rest of the board. If the sounds like the

101rest of the board is like, no, we're good. This is it. Don't need to go looking around for any more funds or move things around, then that's, you know, that's the vote. Well, my question would be I think my question to you just to make sure I'm clear, Rob, would be because it sounds like what you're talking about is finding funds to make like parallel changes as opposed to a decrease from 1.67. So, is that what you're saying? I I do appreciate the discussions around what other options for parallel movement of funds, but I think the question was are we okay with the 1.67? So, are those two different discussions you're trying to have? because a lot of what you brought up was like can we move this here to here to do the other

102things that we want to do. So I'm just trying to just trying to understand like is that because I do appreciate the discussion around the budget itself and what we can do optimally with it. Yeah. I mean that's why it's two things valid point. It's related. So the answer is if again it sounds like this is it. This is the this is this will get us the best out you know right the best position for next year this is how much we have to spend this is what will increase the tax levy if the answer is yes and everyone else feels that way then I'm on board with that but yes can is there are there things we can move here move there to do other stuff fund more other things that I guess the

103question would be back to the administration like you know what if he had 80,000 more based on some of the stuff I just threw out there. It's a back of envelope. You would do X. I'd love to hear that. So that's why like it doesn't sound like the lunch thing needs to go that Right. Right. So, but are there are there any other things that you would want to do that if we took a little scissors and trim from other things that are not, you know, I'm not talking staff, but we could do something else. Yeah. I love to still hear that. The answer is nope. That's it. Then my hands raised and we're good to go. You you you did it better. You you you did me better than I did me. So, no,

104I just I wanted to make sure I was clear because I know Christine said we have room to talk about the budget. And so, that's what I'm thinking is that we have room to talk about those things that you're curious about while still agreeing on where we're landing with the the tax rate. So, I was just making sure I understood. Can I just clarif clarify the tax levy? um we cannot increase the tax levy because we're at the cap. The only so that yeah so even if so in your I think what you said is accurate is that it has to be parallel. Um but the 1.67 cannot go up. You would have to do an override. So if you were to identify a program or a person or or a position that you wanted

105to add, you'd have to reduce it somewhere else or increase what you're spending or spending in fund balance. So increasing fund balance and that's a one time a one-time solution. So for an ongoing, right? So the 1.67 you can increase it, right? And but I was more thinking from Rob's thinking of decreasing it. I think that's what he was kind of talking is there room for that? But I wanted to make sure his discussion points were around the parallel movement he was talking about and not a change to the actual green light that we're given on. So that's why I was trying to understand where we're at with that because if the board says I mean I I I I and again full respect of the board's responsibility in this um it will be if

106this year is challenging next year will even be more so and having a set point of 1.67 67 lowers your I draconian I'm going to use that word for the following year with the pending cuts in other places because you need recurring revenue. I I think I outlined this maybe too wordy in my in my update to everyone. The administration had a list of almost a million dollars of additional staffing. If we were going to say we have an additional 80 or $100,000 where would you like to spend it? And at this point, because we did meet with them all in November and December and listen to them and they have a list and I I I gave them this analogy when you come to see us, they're going to be three buckets. It's not

107it's not a binary. It's a three b it's three. What's a musthave, what's important to have, and what's a nice to have. And every single one of them could argue in their own way, which you want them to do, right? You want them to be the biggest advocate for their budgets. So there were some, you know, tough conversations around the table and mindful of where we we knew philosophically based on last year's um board meetings that this board wanted us to be under 2%. This is even before we ran the levy. So we looked at all of that in that light. Is it if the board said to us, "We don't believe this community can support a 1.67 levy. Can we get a list of cuts for the board to consider?" We would do that

108out of respect for my other administrative colleagues, the six principles, the directors who all have budgets. I would, you know, turn to them and ask them what would they be willing to um trim. The bottom line with this levy cut, the tax levy place, once it's gone, it's pretty much gone like forever in a sense because it's so much harder with the formula than to put something back in again because you just don't know. It's just how it works each year. So I will say that um everyone put forth and you have to it's March, right? It is March. It's March, right? It's March. I can't remember anymore. Still March. It's still March. It's March. So um we're looking even to project expenses for uh 18 months from now, like in in May of next

109year, like will we have someone who's out on leave? So principles want a level of flexibility that that gives them certain options. But again um and then there are some unknown variables we could have and and Kim mentioned in hers you could have someone who could move into district you know like we can the more constricted we have with our budgets the less flexibility we have so what's the right temperature what's the right amount of flexibility I that I understand I mean I feel that the budget is a sound representation of instructional needs it's not what what the administrators want every single administrator wanted more. Um, but we feel it's enough to move forward for next year in a way that reflects what we heard was important to the board and this community, meaning having

110it under 2%. So that that's where we land. That's in full respect for the board's role and authority in this ch decision. Right. So that's that's my that was my point. If there's something else you think that's out there for that a rough amount of money that yes, there was one of those would love to have items and therefore we can trim on some of these other places. That's to me still the open question. But overall where you've got it the big picture fine although for the record right I used to a lot of zerobased budgeting. So right you go back down you got to make the case for from zero every year. Not suggesting that here, but philosophically where we are right now, I'm on board with it. But if there's anything else you

111think you might want and we can do some of these other things, please I would say we pretty much did that with the principles and directors when they came in. So the biggest portion of the budget is obviously salaries. So we have to roll over salaries, but anything other than that, we took a really long look at um some of the additional programs and those hourlys and made significant changes to those numbers last week. Um and then the other items if it's contractual we have to roll over but everything else besides that is they input based on um new needs. Okay. So certainly we're not done like kicking the tires on this basically which is Rob I think you still want to be kicking the tires which is fine. We can still be doing that.

112I but you know I think it was important for our administrators to know if we were going to move away from 1.67 67 like it's kind of a now or never situation. So, um we can talk about the finer details and continue to do that still. Um and I also just want to take a moment as part of this discussion to encourage everybody if they missed it. Uh Westpot puts out a data sheet that has what all the other school districts are proposing to check that out. Don't let that one slip through. And Alina, I'm going to do it tomorrow. I think we're ready. We're ready now to like I know everybody sees and they're like, "Oh my god, mine isn't up there." But thank you so I can put it up to my I

113wasn't really waiting on this, but I it will be updated tomorrow with the 1.67. Okay. Yeah. No, I would I would like I benefit from that and I would like to reciprocate that. Um yeah, I mean traditionally we don't post anything until we got to a point where there's a a and that's why like you see some of a lot of districts quite honestly have the conversation what's our tax cap? Okay, that's what we're going out with. Right. I think the diligence we're doing here is important and maybe different and we probably will always lag. I would guess when you see those reports, we won't be the first ones in there, but I think that's fine. I think what I'm hearing is that we're ready. The deadline is tomorrow. I will Well, this is how

114we do things here usually. So, we're good. From a board perspective, I'll say from a board perspective. Yes. All right. Are we ready to move away from this? Are we good? Anybody I think we are part I had to step away a couple of times. That's fine. Don't worry about that. We're good. Okay. Um I'm seeing So our next item on the agenda is our audience recognition for agenda items only. It's not to exceed 10 minutes. Um I see nobody here in person in the audience. Is there anybody online who wishes to speak? Angela. Okay. So we'll move on. Next we have our uh consent agenda business of the board. Does anybody have anything they wish to break out between 4.1 and 4.3? Okay. Um I'll take a motion for items 4.1 through 4.3. So

115move uh 4.1 resolution to appoint additional consultants for the 2024 2025 school year. 4.2 2 Resolution calling for the annual budget hearing and annual district budget vote and board of election board of education election 4.3 resolution to approve the revised minutes of the special educa special meeting executive session of January 8th 2025. Uh any discussion just on 41 the ask for more ARC um consultants. I guess this I don't know if this is for you, Maria, but is this additive or was this already approved in the budget from last year? Are you asking for an additional 216 here for consultants? If that's for you, I need to see the um um it's 41. It says professional unless you want to read it Christie. It says it's 4.1 resolution to appoint additional consultants for the we

116can but she couldn't put it on the budget board tonight if there was in the budget to so this this is not additive. This was already and we're just okay. Yes. Okay. The way system goes it wouldn't got okay just just no money. Um any further discussion? Okay. Uh, all in favor? I I opposed. Abstensions. All right, we're skipping item five today. Uh, I'll take a motion for 6.1. Second. 6.1 resolution to approve recommended placements. Any discussion? All in favor? I opposed. Abstensions. Now, um before I take a motion for 7.1 through 7.16, um I don't feel the need to break it out, but we do have a tenure recipient in 7.6 who couldn't be here today. So, um I know we usually have a whole um to do about that. We can still read

117the nice things about our tenure recipient if Mary, you want to do that before we take a motion on this. Sure. So, um the um tenure recipient this evening is Nancy U Mesa and she was u employed I know Kim knows well as a special education teacher from um 2001 to 2009 and she rejoined the Austining school district in January of uh 2022 as a remedial reading teacher AMD. Nancy received her bachelor's degree from Mount St. Mary College and her master's degree from CNR. And she has taught extra periods, participated in the AMD summer program, the um star extended day program, the star program, and has been an August region's proctor, which we are so thrilled to have her volunteer to do that. So, um we're excited to have award or to put forth this

118recommendation to the board of education tonight. All right. Does anybody have anything from 7.1 through 7.16 that they wish to break out? I'll take a motion for 7.1 through 7.16. So 7.1 Resolution regard Resolution regarding rescending professional staff appointments. 7.2 Resolution regarding professional staff resignations. 7.3 Resolution regarding support staff resignations. 7.4 Resolution regarding bus attendant resignations. 7.5 Resolution regarding professional staff appointments. 7.6 Resolution regarding professional staff tenure appointments. 7.7 Resolution regarding civil service staff appointments. 7.8 Resolution regarding support staff appointments. 7.9 Resolution regarding bus attendant appointments. 7.10 10 Resolution regarding professional staff appointments before after school programs. 7.11 Resolution regarding confidential staff appointments before after school programs. 7.12 Resolution regarding support staff appointments before after school programs. 7.13 Resolution regarding support staff appointments summer school programs. 7.14 Resolution regarding PDM substitute removals. 7.15 Resolution regard

119regarding PDM substitute appointments. 7.16 resolution regarding approval of school volunteers. Any discussion? All in favor? I opposed. Abstensions. Thank you. And congratulations, Nancy Mesa. Uh we've come to our second audience recognition for any topic related to education. Seeing there are no audience members, is there anybody online? Okay. Thank you. It's time for board reports and dialogue. Does anybody have anything um they wish to share out? I can start. Our ad hoc uh NISMA NISBA presentation committee proudly submit our submitted our application. So, we're supposed to hear I think when I looked on the website in like May. So, it'll be a while probably before we hear anything about that. But um it was still cool that we did it. Uh policy committee met. Uh we uh Stephanie uh Robuk was present uh to discuss our

120personal electronic device policy. That's a work in progress. We need to have it um something approved by September 1st. So things will be forthcoming. we were kind of talking about the legal implications of how you um what happens if you have to confiscate a phone and uh the ramifications of that. So, they're in the weeds still on that. Stephanie's basically still working on that and um so that's not ready to roll out yet. Can I ask a question about that? Okay, sure. You go. Go ahead. Go ahead. So, the state budget's probably not going to be on time. There's been all kinds of conversations about the governor's plan versus what the legislature is doing. And so my only question is is like I'm guessing Stephanie's well aware and everyone's well aware of sort of the

121flexibility in the air and should we wait a little bit to kind of finalize a policy or is this flexible enough that like it can handle whatever directives come down from whoever they come from? Um, I don't I don't think we're at the point yet with the policy that it's like ready to go anyways and we're just waiting on the state or anything like that. I don't Yeah, I mean, I'm just attorney time, you know, I'm just wondering is it well spent right now knowing that there's likely to be something on this which may just upturn everything we're talking about. She was there because she did she wasn't there just for this. We discussed other policies as well. Um, so she was there for the meeting and then, you know, when she's there for the

122meeting, she's in the meeting. So, we were discussing our, um, timeout and restraint policies. Um, and basically that's going to be kind of a big change because we're going to want, you know, uh, I think Kim also reviewed, and you can speak to this if you'd like to. Basically, um, our current policy and the NISMA policy, the NISMA policy that, uh, came out was preferred, but we would have to resend the old policy and replace it with a new one. They made some changes to the language that they felt I think was more respectful to students and less punitive in nature. Um, and they want to put the bulk of the details in the regulations to and keep the um policy itself broad. Go ahead. I'm just reading off of my notes, Kim. You know

123this stuff. Okay. Um, so basically a new regulation came out. Um, when that regulation came out, we made a comparison to our board of education policy that is currently noted. That current board of ed policy needed to totally be revamped due to the new regulations. Um so that's what um caused also a rewrite of that entire policy and this new policy will be aligned to the new regulations as well as it aligns to the training um and uh that we provide our staff and it updates um it's definitely more clear more specific um and I would say um really outlines a more childfriendly um policy. We also discussed our surveillance um policy. I don't I don't have the number on my off the top of my head right now. Um but we had some questions

124um or Stephanie had some questions. She looked at the policies and um she marked up the NISBA policy, but we asked her to kind of infuse the NISBA policy into our existing policy. And we also had some questions about how our policy extends to the bus. Um, and she had wanted to know if we can hear audio on the bus. I don't know if she got a question to that, but I assume we'll hear about that at our next policy committee update. So, that's what's going on there. Melissa, did I leave anything out? You did not. You covered it all. Okay. Thank you. Um, I had one other topic just to bring up because it came up briefly and then I went to look it up. Hold on here. Um it came up during budget

125discussions some complaints about um civil service and the that system and do we want to advocate for that at all that was discussed like oh this should be something we advocate for. So, I went back to look at the um NISSBA resolution that already exists and there is one resolution that's adopted that says uh resolve that New York State Schoolboards Association supports legislation to amend the current civil service system to modernize exam materials and increase the frequency of exam administration. I think that addresses the specific example that came up earlier with um some test material being out ofd and requiring um applicants to be um proficient on defunct technology for example. So, I guess my question for the board since that came up is do we feel like this resolution encapsulates what we already want

126to advocate for and NISB is already advocating for that or do we want to say should our legislative advocacy committee get together and and pen something that they think better addresses our concerns. So, you know, I think or I guess I'll weigh in if I you were the person who had made like, oh, we should and I said, oh, I'm going to look that up, so please be my guest. the I I think the way you make changes to this NISBO will have a lot of things in its advocacy agenda at the end of the day that'll cover a lot of things. I think the way you kind of bring this forward into like to the point that Don was raising is you got to make sure it's on the radar of other school districts

127in the region and then you got to make sure that those groups when they're meeting with the legislators through Westbot is basically making noise about the issue and they need to understand the issue to make effective noise. like this. But things great, but what the reality is is the blurb from the eight, you know, the the assistant superintendents for human resources and others say this is how it's hurting our ability to do it. I'm trying to hire for this. I can't because of that. If you have that one level down story, then you want to spread that amongst all the districts at the end of the day and have them talking to their legislators to kind of move it forward, right? I think if we leave it in the on the plateau and the high

128level and the balcony, it doesn't really get movement at the end of the day. we can check the box. We say, "Yeah, we're advocating for it." But I would say we're really, if we want it, we got to be a little bit more intentional about it. Okay. I know that um we get at least one or two opportunities a year that uh Westp organizes for us to communicate with um in it kind of a town hall way and it could certainly be brought up there. We could prioritize it in that way unless you Yeah, they do they do their legislative advocacy committee meeting four times. I you know, or multiple times throughout the year. I don't know where the next one is. It's in the calendar. It should be something probably brought up at that

129meeting to with having some of the meat on the bone as to why, you know, how it's an issue here, how it is. Then you get the other board members say go back and talk to your districts and find out and you get, you know, the executive director to be aware of the issue, understanding it. So, I would say it's not really waiting till like the August to put it on the list. I would say like you have multiple times throughout the year, just take the next one. I would probably give counter and bell a heads up that hey this is something that's important to us. We want to bring it up so not being blindsided in the meeting but you could always just show up and advocate for it too. But I guess the

130one takeaway is and I don't know it may have been provided. I know Don you've sent over an email and stuff but just a couple of specific examples of to this is how it hurts us like and clearly the bigger it is and the broader the tent is the better it is. So people can say yeah it's happening in my district too. Then I think as part of the whole budget process which you're at the tail end of right now in the advocacy at the state level, right? You're really trying to drive changes within civil service which are tough to do and often go together with the budget. So that's the big omnibus bill, right? So the reality is we're probably late this year for it, but it never hurts to make noise about it.

131Yeah, that's what I mean like the next oper and then and then it rolls in. And so I do think now is the right time to at least raise it. Yeah, we you know we get a basically ahead of those meetings like a list of topics like these are the things that we want to focus on. I can highlight that I can add we can add this to that list and we can put that at the top of the list if that's something that we're we want to do is I guess we're all struggling with hiring and filling positions like we're we're really hurting here and like I think that's something that should be as important as the phone situation at the end of the day which you know they're spending a ton of time

132on and I I don't think they're going to get to agreement on this but this will be the kind of thing that just slips up and ends up in a big bill that nobody realized got passed until four days later. I'm just going to take a quick note on that. Okay. Um, does anybody have anything else for Oh, board reports and dialogue. I have something, Christine. Thank you, Katherine. Go ahead. Um, I had emailed the board about this. I was just looking back through our um our board goals and hang on one second. Sorry. Um we had in our board goals that we had discussed at the beginning of the year creating a policy for curriculum evaluation and review process um supporting the BOE's responsibilities and poly policy section 4000 and um that we wanted

133it to be something that was inclusive of teachers, administrators, community members, students and utilizing the latest research. Um and so I just wanted to resurrect this. I know that we've had so much going on from at the district level and at the board level since this first came about and but it seems like now might be the right time to ask our policy committee to take a look at coming up with a draft of something for us to take a look at as a first reading. So, I just wanted to bring that up tonight. All right. I mean, it's already stated as part of our goals, right? We agreed to that. Um, so is there the only one here from the policy committee in the room right now? Uh, Lita, can we, um, put that

134on the agenda to discuss at the next policy committee? I'm sorry. I didn't know she was talking about a policy. I was not paying attention. I'm sorry. I I didn't I didn't hear anything about policy. Yes, I'm happy to attend that meeting to discuss. Okay. Um to discuss a a policy related to reviewing curriculum, right, with on a regular basis. So it might be it might be have to start. Yeah. With Maria. Um unless there's a policy that already exists, which there is not there not to our understanding and that's how it became a board goal, right? Oh, okay. I think you have to start with her. Okay. And I certainly think it's the question the big in basket questions are, you know, do you want a review cycle? Do you want a a curriculum

135and instruct um an assessment committee? There are there are many pieces to this that exist in some other districts. I mean, uh an a regular curriculum review cycle is a really good thing. A lot of places do it. We've done it for we did it for decades. But uh again, we will be prepared to go to your next Absolutely. When is I say that now when is it is it of a construction sometimes it is they are not they usually are the day after meeting tomorrow at 8:00. No, we changed it. Um um I don't think you'll be ready by then. I think we uh early. Yeah. Hold on. Yeah, I can. And I think we have a one of the reasons why I'm bringing it up or I'm re-bringing it up now is that

136I know that for example, if we were going to say that we're going to have a three to five year cycle of review of curriculum and then you're approaching going into summer retreats with staff, we would want if there were particular departments that were coming up for that slated, we would want them to know that, right? so that when it was time to finalize our agendas at the beginning of next year and our board goals for the next year that we could incorporate whatever it was that was decided here. So, I just didn't want this to sort of slip by the wayside. I just kind of wanted it to get back on everyone's radar so that we're not stuck in a situation where we are kind of behind the eightball again. Okay. So, the next

137policy committee meeting is April 3rd. So, if that's not enough time, and I suspect it probably is not, the one following is the 24th of April. April, um, Katherine, I don't know if you can hear me, but as part of this, I know we had tossed around the idea of a curriculum committee, another committee. I don't know if that's something that you were still interested in. I can't remember where we left off of that as a board if someone was going to look into it. I think I was going to look into it myself, but I don't know if that ties into this at all. I looked back through all of that discussion and came to the conclusion that this sort of like curriculum review process kind of encapsulated all of that into one. So

138my thought process was start with setting the policy of review and what that's going to look like and you know the language around that and then beyond that we can take other steps. Yeah, I I I can attend um next and Maria and I will touch base. We can attend April 3rd. I mean to give the board enough preliminary information. Yes. Sample policies, etc. Okay. Thank you, Katherine. I you have anything else? I just chime in. I'm good. Thank you. Okay. Um, anything else for board reports and dialogue? All right. In that case, I will take a motion to enter 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

139a particular person or corporation. Second. Uh, any discussion? All in favor? I I opposed abstensions.