001change You better Take it easy. Easy on this. short. Don't worry. That That's not I like That's what gloves. It's so hard to Good evening everyone and welcome to the Oyster Bay East Norwich Board of Education meeting this Tuesday, October 28th, 2025. Can we all please stand for the pledge of >> allegiance to the flag of the standyice for all. Thank you. like to um ask if there have been any correspondence. All correspondence received by the board of education has been responded to since the last business meeting. >> Now I'd like to turn over to our superintendent Dr. for our superintendent report. >> Hi, good evening everybody. I'd like to pass the microphone to Joavana for students report. >> Good evening everyone. I want to start tonight by giving a little bit of a sports
002update. Congratulations to the boys and girls varsity soccer teams who made the playoffs. Even though they did not win, their efforts and amazing skills should be something that they are really proud of. So congratulations. [applause] Additionally, our varsity football team won its home match on senior day. So congratulations to them and thank you to all who attended the home games at Roosevelt Field. Now I would like to discuss some inschool events that will be occurring during the next few weeks. Starting this week, on-site admissions will be held for any interested seniors. Our first on-site admission event will be tomorrow with Mercy University. Additionally, color wars and red ribbon week began and students have been participating in spirit week by dressing up for each of the week's themes. Other events that will contribute to color wars
003are also coming up. Uh for example, we will be hosting a coat drive and we will begin a food drive in November. As for red ribbon week, uh we have placed signs around the building. Students have been working on that uh hand project that I spoke about last time and announcements have been made every day on Bay News Now to remind students of the significance of Red Ribbon Week. Finally, for this week, Wind Ensemble will be having its first concert, an evening of chamber music this Wednesday. Come support these amazing students. I would also like to inform everyone that Unity Day last week was a success at Oyster Bay High School. Students and teachers wore orange to support inse inclusivity and anti-bullying. Last, but certainly not least, our school play Puffs is fast approaching. Make
004sure that you support the cast and crew by purchasing tickets and seeing the show. The incredible students involved in this production have worked really hard on this show and they have recently gone on a field trip to New York City to to see the play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, a play written by JK Rowling and has the same characters and is set in the same universe that our school play will be in. It was a truly incredible experience to watch the characters they're going to portray come to life. I was there. It was really amazing. Um, and this is all the news I have to share with you guys tonight. Have a safe and happy Halloween and thank you so much for your time. [applause] >> Thank you, Joanna. Um, I'm very excited
005to announce that the class of 2026 will be hosting a district-wide food truck festival on Monday, November 10th from 5:00 p. a.m. to 700 p.m. This event is designed to bring together families and students from across the district to celebrate our vibrant school community and foster school spirit. The festival will feature live entertainment from our local band. Some of our students are playing um interactive table tables hosted by our students clubs providing fun activities for children of all ages. This event uh not only encourages uh community participation but also highlights the incredible involvement of our students in creating a welcoming and engaging environment. Following the festival at 700 p.m. we will invite all families to attend the OEN experience at Oyster Bay Middle High School. Uh that's sort of our version of our open house.
006This event will offer families a first a firsthand look at the diverse programs and initiatives that we have available to our students showcasing the many opportunities that we have. We believe this event uh like this uh event that is uh that we are planning it will bring the school pride will bring connection among the families and celebrate the talents and enthusiasm that we have uh here in Oyster Bay. the student recognition. Um we had uh two um Oyster Bay High School students athletes Joe Enry and Andrew Janette. They received prestigious regional awards for their outstanding performance in both sports and academics. Joe Emry, uh, varsity football captain, was named, uh, Newsuesday athlete of the week after setting up a new school, uh, record, uh, by achieving 3,000 rushing yards, uh, mark. Andrew Janette, uh, captain
007of the varsity, volleyball, and robotics team, was honored as a news 12 scholar athlete. While we celebrate these accomplishments last week, it is important to reflect on what these honors bring to to our students and to our school. When they are recognized at this level, it gives me and should give all of us a tremendous sense of pride. Our district gains recognition because of the outstanding quality of the students we have. Our primary goal is to provide every student with the opportunity to shine. They are smart, respectable, and creative. And it is a joy when local news outlets and television stations recognize their hard work and talent. Seeing them succeed is the sole reason we are here. Congratulations again to Joe and Andrew. [applause] Let us be clear, the incredible achievement of our students would
008not be possible without the visionary leadership and tireless effort of our outstanding principles. October is the National Principal Month, providing a welcoming opportunity to recognize the incredible leadership within our schools across the state and the nation. I have had the distinct privilege of hiring each of our current building principles and I can say with immense pride that they are an extraordinary team of leaders. They are intelligent, creative and deeply compassionate individuals who consistently prioritize the well-being and success of every student. That dedication is truly remarkable. They invest a tremendous amount of time and energy into their buildings, often sacrificing moments with from their own families to ensure our schools are safe, supportive, and dynamic learning environment for all. The success of our district is a direct reflection of the tireless efforts. Please join me in
009extending our most sincere gratitude to our principles. We have Deborah Small over here from Theodor Roosevelt, [applause] Anastthesia Smith of Vernon, [applause] and Melissa Herman at the middle high school. [applause] Thank you for all that you do. It's a pleasure to work with you every single day. At this point, I would like to provide the board and the community with updates on our board of education goals and address several questions I've received uh recently. Um the first one is the academic committee update. The board as a subcommittee of the board, they meet from time to time. The academic committee met on October 24th uh 2025 highlighting key curriculum updates and initiative. I know that we had Miss Kuster Javani, Miss Kowalsski, and Mr. Copax who volunteered their time. So, I don't know if Mr. Copax
010want to give an update on uh on the committee. >> Sure. Thank you. Um the presentation for the curriculum committee by Dr. Harrington covered three main areas. summer curriculum highlights, superintendent conference day planning for this Tuesday, and the curriculum updates that are being worked on for this year and next year. Summer curriculum highlights included an update on the seventh grade Atlantis research, planning for the 250th anniversary celebration of the Declaration of Independence, and work to address new state exams. Plans for superintendence conference day training were also shared including young mental health training for elementary and middle level sharing of best practices um with the teachers and other innovative tools like magic school AI. Um finally curriculum updates such as plans for the integration of new graphing calculators and the use of artificial intelligence to enhance
011lesson design was also discussed. The presentation was very informative and really highlighted all of the work that's being done to enhance instruction and bring new learning opportunities to our students. Board members on the committee thought it would be great for the full board and members of community to hear the presentation so they can be fully informed about the great work being done in our schools. Um Dr. Yanni, is there a scheduled do we have a date yet for that presentation? uh we are planning to bring on the December meeting. >> Thank you. I I look forward to um getting to see that presentation again and having that shared with everybody. >> Thank you, Mr. Copax. I also um want to address uh the lawsuit against social media companies that has been a topic of discussion
012in our community. I've heard some concerns and misinformation and I want to provide some clarity. Our decision to join this litigation comes on no cost to the district. The France uh Law Group, I think that's how you pronounce F R A N T Z is representing us on a contingency fee basis. This means that we will not pay any legal fees or expenses unless there is a financial recovery. All costs are advanced by the legal team and they will only be reimbursed from a portion of any money we might receive from a settlement or judgment. If the case is not successful, the district will not pay a dime, a penny um to the um to the law firm. Um, in terms of the district they're involved, there are 51 districts on Long Island part of
013this um, class action lawsuit and um, we have over 1,500 nationwide. Um, at this point I would like to invite to the podium Mr. Schneider for the uh, review of the audits results. Mr. Schneider. Thank you very much. My name is Chris Schneider. I am representing RS Abrams. We are the independent external auditors for the district. As we do every year, we do our audits over your school district financial statements as well as your extra classroom activity financial statements. And we provide a series of opinions and also report at this meeting as to the results of those audits. Beautiful. In terms of our opinions on the financial statements, again, there is a financial statement for the district as a whole. There's a financial statement for your extra classroom financial statements. Um, extra classroom activity financial
014statements. The good news to report there is that there are unmodified opinions on both of those. Unmodified meaning a clean opinion or the highest level of opinion you can get in a financial statement audit. As always, I want to extend my thanks to the business office, especially to Zach and Lisa and his team. Again, there's a lot of work that goes into an audit, a lot of questions that are asked. They handle it well and gets us to this point we're able to present our results. In addition to the financial statements, there are two deliverables that we have to provide as part of our auditing standards. One of those is a management letter where we would recommend any sort of changes to internal control processes. The good news to report here consistent with this year
015and prior years is that there are no items in that letter. So again, that is worth um recognizing and acknowledging that is a big deal. That's a pretty amazing thing to accomplish in consecutive years. Beyond that, there's a second item called our governance letter. Again, this uh summarizes various things as per auditing standards, including your long-term assets and liabilities that are estimates in your long-term financial statements. Um, kind of getting ahead of myself, but there are two sets of financial statements in what we produce. One of those is your long-term outlook. The other one is more short-term, inclusive of your general fund and your voter adopted budget. Uh, good news to report here. Again, nothing really to report. It's all outlined in that governance letter. There was one item that was corrected. Again, we are
016reporting it here because of the auditing standards requiring us to do it over a certain threshold, but as to the financial statements that we'll talk about here, they are fairly stated. This item has been corrected, and the financial statements that we're talking about are appropriate and good for our analysis. The next couple slides here summarize the financial performance and position of the district at year end. This slide in particular is showing your fund balance for your general fund. Again, the general fund is where you have your voter adopted budget. There are other funds detailed in the financial statements. What this depicts is a summary of your reserves. Again, reserves are u means for setting aside monies for future expenditures as per state regulations. These are board approved. Some of these are even voter approved. Um
017that one being specifically you're restricted for capital account. Again, the voters will approve the creation of a capital reserve and also the future uses of that capital reserve each time that it's used for those eligible expenditures. Of note here, your unassigned fund balance, which is your residual fund balance, is limited to 4% of next year's budget as per state guidelines. Good news to report there as well is that the district is at that 4% which is where the state would want you to be. There are a series of other funds as I alluded to inclusive of your school lunch fund, miscellaneous special revenue fund which houses your scholarships and donations monies as well as your extra classroom activity fund monies, your capital projects fund which is where you have the activity for your various capital
018projects through the various means by which you funded those including bond monies, capital reserve, budget amounts, etc. And lastly, your debt service fund. Um there is one more fund here, the special aid fund which houses your federal and state grants. Um there is no fund balance generated by this. Hence why there's no amount shown in this slide. That's again indicative of the fact that it's reimbursement basis. Whatever you extend your reimburse for, there is no net fund balance. Um the next slides I'll I'll skip over a little bit just because we did have our detailed meeting a couple weeks back where we went through these again in detail, but I will go ahead to a depiction of your reserve activity. So what this outlines is your beginning balance at the beginning of the year, your
019funding of the reserves with your excess monies that you've generated. Again, the idea being that you are able to both use reserves during the year as shown in this use column as well as replenish those reserves for future years and future years. The slide here shows a depiction of the roll forward of that unassigned fund balance. Again, that unassigned fund balance is your fund balance capped at that 4%. There's a variety of means by which it goes up and down throughout the year, getting you to that $2.7 million, which again is right at that 4% mark as per state guidelines. The remaining slides here speak to your comparative performance year-over-year within your general fund. Again, your general fund, just to say it one more time, is that voter adopted budget. So, this is what houses
020your main operations during the fiscal year. This includes um a depiction of again fluctuations year-over-year on both revenues and expenditures. In the coming slide, there are some trends that you'll see and again, these are explained and detailed in the management discussion and analysis or MDNA that you'll see in your financial statements, which again will ultimately be on your district's website and submitted to the state. Lastly, I just want to touch upon a new accounting standard that was adopted this year and speak about one for the future. So for Gazby 101 compensated absences, this was a change to the accounting per Gaza requirements around compensated absences, which is payouts for acrewed sig vacation time. This did not affect your fund level accounting. This is just a long-term liability and a change to the estimation of that
021liability. Moving on, there is an upcoming Gazsby statement which will will generate some changes in the financial statements. Again, that will ultimately be um issued. We will report on it. It will go into your website. It'll just include some different information including um some budget to actual explanations and budgettobudget explanations in your supplemental schedules of your financial statements. So with that I will open up to the board for any questions on the presentation. >> Sure. Sure. Let me just get to that slide. Yeah. So for some more context around the capital projects fund, there are seeds of fund balance amounts here inclusive of that unassigned amount. Just to go one by one to break it down, restricted for capital projects means monies that have come from those capital reserves that have been funded in certain
022years and then voter approved to be sent to the capital projects fund. The residual balance of what you've sent over as compared to the expenditures on those projects is that balance. Unspent up proceeds. Same concept. You've issued bonds in the past. Here's what's um left over from that. And then unassigned means that there's projects that will ultimately be funded in the future either by general fund monies, capital reserve or future bond projects. So it's just indicating that you have restricted monies because those first two are restrictive and to be used only for particular projects and then the other ones that will ultimately be funded by those other means. So it's it's a reflection of timing is the way I would describe it. >> Any other questions from the board? Questions? Great. Thank you all as
023always. Appreciate it. And thank you, Zach, as always for your help. >> Thank you. [applause] >> Thank you, Dr. Yanni. We'll now move on to the approval of minutes. A motion to approve meeting as listed and attached below. Do I have a motion? Do I have a second? Any discussion? All in favor? I. All opposed. Motion carries. We'll now move on to public participation of agenda items. Opportunity for the public to be heard. Agenda items. In keeping with the philosophy of open communication and informed decision making, the VO welcomes input from the community. However, it is important to note that while the VO meets the public is not a meeting of the public. respectful input and behavior by each member of the community is appropriate and expected sorry is expected at all times and should
024observe the following rules of the BOE meetings. The BOE will listen to comments and input from the public. Debate between members of the audience andor board members will not be permitted. The board will not address personnel or individual student matters in public. No person present orally or discuss at any board meeting charges or complaints against individual employees directly or indirectly. The speaker shall identify themselves and confirm their residency in the district on the signing sheet. These are so Good evening. I have two agenda items I'd like to bring up tonight. First is agenda item 11.02, the $36,800 donation from the Oyster Bay Athletic Booster Club to Paint the Gym. Painting the Gym is a capital improvement and should be paid for out of the general fund or from the reserves. According to the district website,
025the Oyster Bay Athletic Booster is a nonprofit organization committed to supporting and enhancing the athletic programs within the school district. Their mission is to acquire special equipment beyond what the district can provide, provide merchandise to teams and athletes, raise money for senior scholarships, and host events that celebrate the achievement of the Oyster Ray teams. Since only one of you has children at this high school, the rest of you may be unaware, but in the last two years, the booster club had every athlete on all varsity teams send out fundraising links to 20 family members or friends to donate money to the booster club. In those emails sent out, they said the funds raised by the booster club directly benefit our student athletes by contributing to senior scholarships, purchasing student merchandise, apparel, and essential equipment, which
026is consistent with what is on the website. Nowhere did it say they will be providing capital improvements to any buildings or structures. At the August 26th meeting, I saw you accepted a donation for $2,152.80 from the booster club to pay for 40 volleyballs. Again, this is a a type of expense that should be paid for by the district. At what point is this going to stop? Are you guys really okay with taking funds away from all of the student athletes? This is $36. $36,000 that could potentially be used towards scholarships and make a difference in some of our students lives, but you would rather use it to paint the gym. The second item is 11.07, amendment to the superintendent's contract. I sent an email to the board yesterday morning asking for details behind the amendment,
027but I have not received a response, which is announcing that correspondents have been responded to. That's not true. According to the open meetings law, a copy leave amendment must be made available upon request 24 hours before the meeting or live at the meeting itself. Based off what I read on the policy change for 1510 tonight on agenda 11.10, I'm guessing none of you were told prior to tonight as to what the amendment is. So where is it? It's not here. There's nothing here. No, and nobody's gotten back to me. So you either have to t you have to table it because you didn't provide the the detail. The uh the painting of the gym was a donation that it was provided by the booster club. So I guess Miss Windhowen has to ask the booster
028club >> or I could ask you not to approve it and just pay for it at the general fund. The board only posts documents that are scheduled to be publicly discussed. This matter was not scheduled for public discussion. It is a matter related to the employment of a particular person and therefore the document is not required to be posted on the agenda. >> That's not what the open meeting law says. >> Tom >> [snorts] >> Good evening. I respectfully object to the statement that all correspondence has been responded to. My email to the board on September 29th entitled, "What is going on?" has not been. I will paraphrase that content. September 9th board meeting was the first of the school year yet. The superintendent update was 15 seconds long. What is going on? Where is
029the substance? Much better than the last two meetings, including tonight. Number two, lots of talk in the public about legal fees. California lawsuit against social media companies. Yet, I don't recall any public discussion or explanation at a board meeting. What is going on? Where is the transparency? Thank you for the update tonight. I asked for this four weeks ago. I hear the district is struggling to find class, parents, volunteers for drop off loop. These roles used to be fought over and highly sought after. What is going on? Where are the volunteers? I [snorts] will now add three more items. It's often mentioned that the capital projects were under budget, but I expect you can't use that surplus to paint the gym. I know that. However, in the fl in the last few months, it has
030been stated from that stage that dollars can be found in the budget if and as needs arise. The district found $20,000 over 20,000 for yonder pouches and over $10,000 for classroom scanners that did not exist last year. I expect you should look harder for $36,000 to paint the gym instead of taking it away from potential use of students. Two, the audit information posted tonight said, quote, "A material misstatement in the capital projects fund was detected. I understand it was recorded. You have a clean opinion, but there was a material misstatement. That does not sound good. Finally, there's a contract amendment for the superintendent tonight. Without the nature of the change being included in the posted materials, I simply ask again, what is going on? Thank you for your time and dedication. >> Thank you. >>
031Okay. So your first two question regarding the superintendent's update and homecoming are editorial in nature and as such I will not address those. In response to your third point the district will not be incurring legal fees. I updated the the uh community uh this evening at the regarding the lawsuit the class action lawsuit. Uh the remainder of the observation are all editorial in nature. You ask me and you send the emails to the board and you saying what is going on? What is the substance? The substance is in our classroom, in our curriculum development, in the daily efforts of our staff. True planning and transparency are reflected in our publicly approved budget and our strategic goals, not in the performative respondents. The outstanding and welldocumented achievement of our students are the only testament required. These
032results speak for themselves and are a direct reflection of the incredible collaborative work of our students, teachers and entire staff with the support of the board of education and the wider community. My focus will remain on our students and the substantive work of our district. In terms of the donation, I I explained the donation in terms of uh it's a donation from the booster club, but I also want to emphasize the fact that the painting of the gymnasium in its entirety uh cannot be done with the manpower that we have and it cannot be done in a short period of time. the enhancement uh the the the paint that the booster club is uh providing the donation that is providing uh that I'm recommending it to the board tonight is an enhancement to the gym
033uh to to the place that we have to the gym. So it's not a regular paint. The regular paint is done on a rotational uh basis and we do that during the summer because obviously we can't shut down the gym for a month and and paint it without manpower. So uh that's that's the reason why I believe but we have to ask the booster club why that donation was put forth. Um so my main point is that there is obviously work that is done that is um specific enhancement um to to the facility. I think those are all the questions. >> Did I answer all your questions >> this past summer painted again? >> I'm sorry. >> You said it was painted. >> So the painting of the gym, right? the the specific painting of
034the gym is is not just a regular paint that goes up and it's just like a white paint um is decal is a line that goes around with the purple and gold. So, it's very specific and I believe uh that will enhance the entire gymnasium together with the banners that I will discuss it in in the uh open the um item for discussion. So, It's not a job that can be done without crew, but we want to create an environment that it it enhance the whole the old environment. Um, >> I'm sure it's going to look beautiful, but why are we taking money away from the kids? We got to be able to find $36,000. We found it for yonder pouch. >> But, Mr. Wind,000, with all due respect, I I cannot control what the
035booster club is willing to donate. >> You cannot accept it. They offer it. Okay, that's why I'm presenting it to the board. So, if the board would like not to accept it, >> thank you. >> You understand? >> We didn't address the material misstatement that was corrected. >> I will. >> Okay. >> It did. It did. We'll pull up the board materials. It says material misstatement. >> Huh? >> We can go into the attached materials. It says a material misstatement. I'll bring it up and we'll show you after the meeting. [snorts] >> [clears throat] >> I ped I can address and I'm not sure if I answer all your questions. >> But that was the last one about the material state. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Longo. >> Hi. So um just to stay
036with the booster club and the painting I understand um I sent an email to Dr. Ayani and he did explain which I understand that we paint the gym or the whole entire school probably in cycles. The question I guess in my mind is someone in the booster club wants a different color paint in the gym and that's why they're paying for it. Just to clarify that statement. It's not that it's we're asking them to pay for our cycle of paint in the gym. So if somebody asks to do something as long as they want to pay for it, they can do it. I mean, and this elaborate paint that they want done now, can we maintain that? And is that fiscally sound? So that's my question. >> If you want to stop the stop the
037clock or let me finish. Well, so I have a couple of of questions on the audit. I'm sorry. Left. So the Gatsby is changing. So does that mean that all the we have millions of dollars in UNC TRS and ERS funds. He stated that the Gatsby rules are changing. Um the reserves are changing. So are those funds going to be affected by that? We I think you've been waiting for Gatsby changes. Um, also it stated in the unassigned fund balances that it was budgeted for half a million dollars of expenditure from the TRS and the ERS fund, half a million each. And then it states in the financial statements that that million dollars went back into the fund. Well, in back into what? The general fund. Um, I'm a little confused on where that went.
038It seems like in the unassigned fund balance, we put in $8 million. We took out a lot of money to end up with $2.1 million. So maybe at another time if I can file it, we can go over it because that's a little confusing to me. He did state that he did have something on the management letter. He stated it, he flew over it and said that he discussed it and you fixed it. Um, also on the capital reserve fund. So, the capital reserve fund that we vote on as a school, as a as a community is an additional fund to handle capital reserves within the district. Are we allowed? I I think the answer is yes, but I want to just confirm it. We paid for a ban for the for the high school
039for the above um field out of that capital reserve fund. Is that truly allowed? Since that capital rever reserve fund is to be voted on, the expenditure from that fund has to be voted on by the school by the community. We vote to put money into it. We vote to pull money out of it. At the end of last year in 2024, there was an excess revenues over expenditure in exceed of $5 million that you pushed into different funds. Um, you brought the budget down, the capital reserve, the capital expenditures for the capital improvements down by $4 million, of which two and a half million you took from our fund balances within our schools in order to meet that. Is that allowed? Are you guys allowed to do that? Was that part of the management
040letter? >> I'm done. >> Yeah. So in terms of the gymnasium um the the paint that is done in the gymnasium the booster club um was willing to donate the enhancement of that gymnasium. Uh they didn't decide of the color and everything. Those are the school colors. So the entire team my entire team the principal the athletic director the deputy superintendent they met. So this is not some uh random work that is that is done. So it was under our supervision and it was a a collective effort. Um >> so in terms of >> just to clarify then on that >> they didn't come to you and say to you we want to put purple and gold stripes up there. They're purple and gold stripes and a repainting of the gym that we as a
041school district meaning the principal, the kids, the teams want but the booster club is funding. The booster club is doing a donation. >> I understand that we have Okay, I'm just asking clarification on that. So, the booster club is not recommending this painting. They're willing to pay for the the upgrade in the painting. Is that the >> the booster club is funding the donation? Is giving the money for the for the for the painting. >> Whose idea was it to paint the gym is the question, I guess. >> So, the the booster club was decided to do a donation. >> I get that. So the booster club obviously >> so the so it's the booster club who wants to change the colors in the add the the the thing in the gym or is it
042the school? >> The bus club approached myself and and then the team and decided to do a donation and one of the item was the revamping of of the gymnasium >> under their recommendation. >> But you understand that right now we're going back and forth so I didn't stop you. you understand why we're doing this. I guess >> so. Go ahead. We can we can go ahead. It was a donation and it was willing to do that paint which I'm recommending it to the board. >> So, the other you you ask a lot of questions about the the finance, right? I I don't have the book in front of me. >> Um nor that I can explain in those details on the fly. You understand? I want to give accurate information so when I'm recorded
043and reviewed and reposted then I have accurate information. So if you would be so kind to send me an email and I'll answer all of them and I will CC the entire board so they could see it. But I want to be clear on one thing. You mentioned that I took 2.5 I'm not quite sure about that question. You're making a statement on $2.5 million that I took from the the the the budget. >> No, you took it from reserves to pay for and not you personally, right? No, no, >> okay. So, it's my understanding and it was explained several months ago that in order to pay the ban on on the expense of the field up on up top here, which was about 25 27 that field that ban was play paid out of
044reserves which was stated >> that that so what I what I want to be crystal clear and if you include if you would be kind to include in your email I going to be crystal clear. >> The bond was approved for the the voters approved a capital improvement project for $29.9 million. >> Mhm. >> Okay. >> Y >> the only $2.5 million that I recall having a conversation about it was based on the fact that we came we did not spend we under budget by $2.5 million. That's the only $2.5 million that I recall. So if >> okay so >> so if to pay for the turf to pay for the entire project was funded by the capital improvement bond and we were we are under budget by 2.5 and change. That's the only $2.5
045million that that I recall. So I want to be crystal clear the statement that you are making right now it is not correct in my book but please email I will email the board and I would be more than happy to read it in public. So, so we could do that at next meeting because I don't remember the meeting, but if I'm not mistaken, back in the springtime when we ran a bond note to to fund our bond, our bond was at $25 million. Miss Santos and I had a conversation back and forth and it was it was 2 million or so under what was 27 million. And the statement that Miss Santos made was because we paid for the ban the bond anticipation note for the ups field from reserves. >> Well, okay. So,
046it's it's recorded. All right. And >> no, I I just want to correct. It's from the debt service fund that we pay for the band, >> not from reserves. >> So, it was from the debt service fund. It was not paid for under the bond. We did not We did not finance that because we only financed $25 million. We did. Did we finance 27 million or$2 million? >> Right. Okay. Everybody, I mean, this is the back and forth that we need to avoid. That's the reason that this is a public comment section and not a back and forth conversation. And I think by by responding and going back and forth, it devolves into this. Now, we can have transparency conversations up and down till we're blue in the face, but this is not helpful to
047anyone. We should be able to email our questions. We should have the expectation of getting reasonable responses in a reasonable amount of time. But, but this back and forth, it's the, you know, a couple of different meetings I've been at. This is why it's a public comment section of our meeting. and we really should not devolve into the back and forth because it's just getting more and more heated. So, I think that we should have questions asked and answered, which is the important part, but but having the meeting up here and and falling into this, it's just not helpful to anybody. They're not going to have those individual numbers to answer um while we're up here. We're having a meeting and those those are great questions and they deserve to be answered but I don't
048think we should be answering them up here. That's that's my piece. >> Dr. Ayani, I'll send you an email in the morning outlining everything. >> Can I can I just say to >> Thank you. Um, so I just have a question about the the painting that you're talking about with the booster club. I've been a best booster member for several years. Nancy, you were on the board when my kids joined athletics. We got we had meet there were meetings. We got emails about meetings. Since 2023, there was a new board that was formed. There are only three people that hold a position of the four in the role. There is no secretary and it was never put out to be replaced. They have held no meetings. They have sent out no emails. And we have
049not voted as members of that organization whether we want to suspend that money. Every other organization that is in out in Oyster Bay from the PTAs to the 5013C's that run by parents all vote if they're going to spend money. So I have a crisis that I can't talk about until we get to non-aggenda items. If booster club has that much money that they can throw around, I've got a long list of stuff that they could spend their money on. So, I urge you to not accept that donation at this moment because it's not where they should be spending their money either. Thank you. >> Good evening. Uh I'm Adam Samadolkski. I'm the president of the booster board uh booster club. Um glad I'm here tonight. Uh just want to clear the air. Uh we
050came to the administration. Uh as the booster board, we had a couple of concerns about uh quite frankly, we thought the gym needed an upgrade as far as the way it looked aesthetically. Uh as parents, we go to other schools, we see that uh their gyms look quite snazzy, for lack of a better word. Um branded very well, and we thought our gym needed an upgrade. Uh so we came we went to the administration told them that we had the that idea. We've actually been throwing this around for the last three years. We've had a whole bunch of ideas that we think uh could be improved and we finally started to get this one in motion. Um so just to clear the air, we came to the board with that uh we came to the
051administration with that as a board and uh we were hoping that just it would raise school spirit. Uh we thought the kids would really enjoy it. um the parents, the community. Uh it was it was as simple as that. Um if anyone else has any other questions about fundraising endeavors or anything else, I'm here till the end of the meeting, so you can come see me in the back. I'll be glad to answer any of your questions at all. I'm an open book. So, uh that's it. Thank you. I'm sorry this caused so much contention. That wasn't the case. We were just trying to snazz up the place a little bit and uh so everyone could enjoy Thank you. Everyone signed in for agenda items. Instructional personnel items resolved the recommendation of the superintendent of
052schools, the board of education, Oyster Bay, East Central School District hereby approves the instructional personal items as listed in their entirety. Do I have a motion? >> Do I have a second? Any discussion? All in favor? >> I. >> All opposed? The motion carries. We will now move on to noninstructional personnel items. resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools. The board of education of the Oyster Bay East Central School District hereby approves the noninstructional personal items as listed in their entirety. Do I have a motion? >> Do I have a second? >> Any discussion? All in favor? >> I. >> All opposed? The motion carries. We will now move on to business items. Upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools, the board of education of the Oyster Bay, East Norwood Central School
053District, hereby approves the business items as listed in their entirety. Do I have a motion? >> Do I have a second? >> Any discussion? All in favor? >> I. >> All opposed? Motion carries. We'll now move on to the approval of special services resolutions. Resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools. The board of education of the Oyster Bay East Norwich Central School District hereby approves the special services resolution as listed in their entirety. Do I have a motion? >> Do I have a second? >> Any discussion? >> All in favor? I >> I. All motion carries. We'll now move on to new business. Resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools. The board of education of the Oyster Bay East Norwich Central School District hereby approves the new business resolutions as listed
054in their entirety. Do I have a motion? >> So move. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Any discussion >> um for 11, right? New business. >> 11. >> So, as far as the donation from the booster club goes, I just wanted to weigh in on that a little bit. Um I know, you know, the we're very lucky to have the booster club to donate money and to fund events for our students. Um, and I think painting the gym, you know, adding that detail to the gym affects all students, right? Everyone would get to benefit from that. But I also think that if if it can be done with our school district money from other resources, then that would give the booster club an opportunity to pursue other donations closer more directly to
055the students. um and really honor the donations that were made by families and by people um who wanted to donate and make donations connected to the students. So I'm I'm thinking today of of of voting against that item. I don't know if we can separate this to just vote that item in in the anticipation of maybe figuring out if something different can be done allowing that the booster club to continue to have that money and maybe donate it in in another way um because maybe the school district could could do that funding for the gym. But I'd like to hear what other board members think as well. Um uh so I'm curious about the process in in the decision uh on how they spend the money, but uh so long as the booster club came
056to an agreement um and wanted to spend the money, I don't really know that, um you know, we should manage how they spend the money if they came together uh with the idea. um but without knowing their process um and without it really being called out um they came to us to make a donation um and I think that's an internal thing um I don't necessarily disagree they could spend it on other things but but that's their organization and and if I was part of an organization and and and brought together a program I hopefully that the you know booster club was behind the decision um but I wouldn't uh I wouldn't um judge you you know, how the donation was spent, if that's what they wanted to do. So, um, I'm okay with that.
057Um, but again, hopefully the process is there and and this is how it got to us. >> Well, you know, I appreciate both sides of this. You know, Adam, thank you so much. Um, I think every student benefits when from this type of enhancement. This is not a enhancement. I think is a good use of taxpayers money to be quite honest with you. I don't think I would support it. Um, you know, we paint with solid colors everywhere and that's probably all we would have done. So, if this something that the bus believes will bring pride and school spirit, I think there's nothing better than school spirit and I appreciate it and would I would accept it. And I also want to accept the PTA donation for the kids to go to the children's museum.
058Again, these are things we used to finance out of our budget, but we made a decision that we're not using taxpayer money in this manner. So, we appreciate these nonprofits coming in and enhancing our students education and spirit. So, thank you. >> Discussion I also would like to thank the booster club in addition to our PTAs for any donations they make. Um whether it's enhancement to our facilities um I know in the past the booster club has donated to um purchase a scoreboard whatever the purpose may be um again our PTA also running helping with class trips or running different events. appreciative of all of the volunteers of all those organizations and what they do to raise money that goes back to our students in some way or shape or form. So, um thank you
059to again booster club and our PTAs and and SEPTA for all that they do for um all of our students. So, um I would also accept the donation on behalf of the board in terms of what you're trying to do to enhance the gym for our students. So, we can then make a decision. We can remove this item and and come back and look at it a further time or for another vote if that would be acceptable to the board. >> Well, don't you need a motion to do that? I will. I mean or >> but but I would just prefer to move it off of this agenda and vote on it separately. >> Separate. >> Okay. So vote just vote that section separately tonight. >> Right. So we're going to then have a motion
060to move this from the consent agenda and it will be a separate vote. All in favor of the motion. Oh no. So I have a motion for that. Sorry. >> So moved. >> A second. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> All opposed. So the motion carries to remove um 11.03 from the consent agenda to have it as a separate vote. So now we'll go back to 11 without 11.03. Right. And again, so we're approving all of the other items except for 11.03. So >> I'm sorry. Sorry, I'm looking at the PTA one. I'm sorry. 11:02, not 03. Sorry. Um, okay. So, back to resolved upon the recommendation. We We already had motion, right? Discussion. Yep. So, now we will vote. All in favor? >> I All opposed. So, that motion carries. >>
061Just 11. 11 without 11:02. >> Okay. So that that motion is carried. >> Now we will have Okay. Now we will resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent schools. The board of education of Oyster Bay East School District hereby approves the uh 11.02 resolution. Do I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Do I have a second? Second. >> We need any further discussion. >> All in favor? >> I. >> All opposed. >> Excuse me. >> Wait, are you yes or no? >> Oh, okay. >> Okay. >> So, all opposed to two trustees. Okay. Motion uh motion carries. Now we um an item for discussions. First would like to discuss the athletic banners. >> Thank you. So, as a followup to our discussion at the March uh 25, 2025 meeting, we have been moving forward
062with the project of upgrading the athletic banners in the high school gymnasium. I have attached the original um the board has seen the presentation that I did on that day, but it's also on the board docks, so people could see it, the community could see it. But I am thrilled thrilled to announce that the beautiful new banners have arrived. Um, and I want to show you what they look like. So, the banners, you see that the the one in uh to the right uh the yellow uh they are the uh the gold that the championship the Long Island championship banners. So all the years would be listed with all the teams and then each individual team would have all the years listed and those are some of the um on the on the left on
063my left will be all the banners that used to be on the gym. So they have been uh they are down obviously. So two things I just want to follow up. One is that the banners are stored in a safe location in the school. So they didn't disappear or they are they are with us. One of the one of the comment from the public at the time that we decided to do that was to uh take pictures of the banners and what I just have a sample over here for the community to see. We taking pictures of all the banners that were in the gym. Uh we put it in the frame and the goal is to post um all these banners next to the alumni wall which is um by the courtyard. There is
064an empty wall. So all the banners would be listed over there. Um so community members have enjoyed the alumni wall. um looking at all the graduation um all the the graduating classes. So these frames would all be posted um on that on that wall on the beginning of that wall. Now the question for the board and that's why I wanted to bring as an item for discussion is that what are we doing with the with the actual banners the old banners that were that were there? Um, there are a lot of ideas. Uh, but you know, I don't want to do anything with the banners because I I don't I don't want to um just make a decision for the community because I know that our tradition is important over here and I want to
065honor that tradition. So, I want to open up to the board and decide what um what we should do with the banners in terms of um the future. Dr. D, before we begin discussion, can I just have a clarification? So the yellow banners or the gold that's going to be I'm sorry, that's championships and then lists all the sports teams that have had championships and yes, >> the Long Island Championships. >> Yes, there will be multiple of those. >> There will be multiple of those. And the other the other piece is that when you look at the yellow, there are going to be some specific ones because we had New York State champions which would be individual. They would have a individual one >> and then the purple one >> each team by each sport.
066Yeah. >> And listing their accolades. >> Yes. So each team so in this case this is the boys spring track and field. They won the conference in 2024, division in 2024. They're all going to be listed. And um Miss McInty, our athletic and physical education director, did a wonderful job. So each side of the gymnasium will have all these banners and everything has been checked and triple check. And then our previous banners, I just understand they're being photographed and will be hung by where we've so beautifully on our first floor in the high school have all of our graduating Yes. class graduating pictures. >> The problem is the the question for the board is what do we do with the actual banner? Do we auction? Do we sell it? Uh do we uh donate? It's
067I don't want to make that decision. >> I don't want to make that decision. >> I think you should ask the public. [laughter] >> I I agree with asking the public. I think that um now that the conversation has started and it's been happening. I think we I'm sure we'll get plenty of uh recommendations on on what to do with them. >> But Mr. Ricard, the most important things that the B the banners have not been destroyed. So they all in a safe secure location. >> So is this only varsity or JB also? >> This is just the all the varsity, right? >> Just varsity. >> Yeah. >> So is there a mechanism that we could use to answer that we could gather some community? Can we put it on our school district website where
068you know, within a period of time, you know, a window of time where community members could give their input on what they would feel would be the best to do with our previous banners. Is that an option? >> Yes. or um I can I can make a a decision and then have community members come and go against that decision and they figure out that could be a possible solution. I do very well lately on those things. So, [laughter] so yes, I I can I the the the interesting thing about a survey the interesting thing about a survey is that is not done there is no fidelity with a a survey of many people. So, I can ask for continue to bring it up and I'll ask, you know, when I attend events or anybody email
069me, call me. I'm open to anything. I I I want to honor the students. >> So, to me, anything I'll do anything to make the community happy. >> Well, maybe we could even post on the website and say if people have suggestions, they could email to the to the board of the superintendent schools and this way you'll you know you'll see who's sending you the response to the suggestion if we have a sufficient amount of suggestions we could then bring them back to >> that's a great idea by monthly we do I think every month we do a newsletter update the observer goes out so I'll create a um sort of a write something in there and ask for feedback and I'll put a website an email specifically to the banners. How's that? Perfect. Okay.
070Uh the second So, thank you so much. The second update um is regarding the plaques. So, there was a question between So, there was a question between the plaques and and the letters with the pins. So, uh, Miss Mcanti, teachers, students, parents, coaches met, um, and they suggested that we should go back to the students and show survey the students again, um, with the letters and the and the pins and find out if they like the plaque or the letters and the pins. So, uh, Miss Mcinty surveyed all the, uh, physical education classes and the outcome was, um, pretty strong in terms of the plaques. So, 131, uh, voted for the plaques, 51 for the letters. So, at this point, um, my recommendation to the board is that we stay with the plaque. So that's
071a followup from last meeting and uh >> Thank you for organizing that. >> So now so now we'll move on to opportunity for the public to be on non-aggenda items. Um Georgia Good evening, members of the board of education, superintendent and administrators. Thank you for the opportunity to speak this evening. My name is Georgia Sabo Guyire. I'm a lifelong resident of Oyster Bay, a graduate of Oyster Bay High School, and a teacher of 26 years. I'm here tonight as a parent to address a serious concern about administrative interference in communication between parents and teachers, an issue that undermines trust and directly affects our children's success. At an initial parent meeting on Monday, October 20th, it was agreed upon we would temporarily use a printed form, one that I provided. Teachers would receive the forms in
072advance, allowing them to complete them without taking away class time, then hand it to our child at the end of the period. This plan provided us with the information we needed to support our child's academic progress while helping him build responsibility and self- advocacy by communicating directly with their teachers. Less than 24 hours later, the administration unilaterally changed that plan, replacing the agreed upon form with a new printed version that was too small to read, lacked the essential information needed, and would have caused our child anxiety while waiting for it to be completed. We immediately raised our concerns in writing. But instead of collaboration, we were met with push back and dismissal. Because of that, we went directly to the teachers on Thursday evening, sharing the original form and explaining that communication would should occur
073directly between teachers and ourselves. Only one teacher responded Friday morning. And later that day at 12:06 p.m., an administrator emailed myself and my son's father to say that teachers had been directed to use a new online form instead. I replied within 20 minutes before 12:30 p.m., including all 10 teachers, and clearly stated that we did not want that form to be used. Yet, no teacher responded after that. Since then, I have sent two more emails to our children's teachers, and all of them have gone answered except for one this afternoon. One teacher out of three emails. The form we provided is simple, efficient, and respectful of teachers time. It takes two to three minutes to complete and email back before the end of the contractual day, giving us as parents the information needed to support
074my son's 504 plan while preserving class time for all students. The administrator's decisions have blocked direct communication between parents and teachers and created confusion and frustration. So I ask tonight respectfully to the board, what is the district's stance on administrators interfering with or restricting direct parent teacher communication? And what is the stance of the district on teachers who fail to respond to parent emails sent in good faith to support their child? Parents and teachers must be partners. When communication is blocked or ignored, trust breaks down and students suffer. I urge the board to reaffirm its commitment to open, direct, and respectful communication between parents and teachers. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. So, I'm in the middle of a crisis which that I I couldn't talk about before because it wasn't on the
075agenda. The redesigned Butler building. On the surface, it looks like a much improved space over the old one. But when you look closer, some of the changes that have been made now kick fencing out of that because the floor no one wants it to get their holes poked in about. Um, and now I have a new problem. Cheer. So, the space has been measured and the height between the various things that hang in the ceiling. The light to the floor is 10 and 1/2 ft at its short and on its tallest is 11 ft. You're going to They're all about the same height. It's a speaker, it's a light, it's a beam, and then it's some projector thing that's also in there or the HV HVAC um that's there. So, this is obviously just a
076mathematical equation. My daughter is 5'6. When she lifts up her hands, she's now 66. She puts a five foot flyer on top of her. Add up the math. 6 foot six and 5t means you've crossed over that 10 and a half mark and you've crossed over the 11 and a half mark. So it it's obviously a very confusing thing when you don't understand the sport. But I'll try to explain to you why this is so difficult. You have to practice what they call a full out. A full out means you do the entire routine two and a half minute two minutes. Two and a under two and a half minutes. If you're doing that, you don't know the exact spot you're going to end up at. So, yes, there's some areas that are between lights
077that might be a safe enough distance, but the chances that you're going to get exactly between those two lights and you're not going to hit a light is pretty slim. The other thing is when you stunt you and you're lifting, you're traveling. That's how you save a stunt. You move. If you move, literally the kid's head, the flyer's head is going to hit uh one of those things up up up top. Also today I when I looked up into the lights they are literally blinding. So if my girls are go basing and they're underneath and I look up to light when they come back down they won't be able to see what they're doing. So and the floor is extremely slippery. I took off my shoe. I put on my sock and literally I could
078slide down the floor. So I don't even honestly think that once we go Miss McKenzie is going to bring a mat up there. Once we put that down I would not feel safe. You can't the mat against the wall. So, it has to say a few feet because at the edge of the mat is still your space to use in your performance. So, if you push the mat and it starts to go forward, you lose your space that you're allowed to line up for. I don't see any way that my daughter could tumble and not slide and slip on the mat. So, I don't understand how two varsity sports have now been kicked out of a space that was supposed to be improved. And was the architect who was designed this building and now put
079in these new lights? Was they told of the dual uses of this space and the different ways it was going to be used? where they explained how fencing works, how their metal strips, how they have a weapon and that it's sharp. It could poke the floor that was put down and that these lights hang so low that there is no way the the athletes can can uh use this space. So, what's going to be done? because we all know about the shortage of space in the winter season and that there is nowhere else to give extra space. >> So in terms of in terms of the ceiling and the height and everything else I I I want to be crystal clear that that height was never changed. >> Right. So I'm not >> No, no,
080let me you asked your question. So let me answer. So the height was never changed. The floor was in worse condition than the floor it is right now. The statements about that cannot be used. This was created for dual sport. This was not created for dual sport. This was created for a multiple multiple reasons. Not just sport but any activity. But just to answer your questions, the height never changed. So whatever was before it is now. So if they p You're shaking your head, but it's not. >> Do you want me to tell you? I'll tell you why. >> No, I don't need But I'm telling you >> height. I said the lights, these lights were not there before. >> They are 10 and a half and 11 feet off the ground. A child in
081a stunt becomes 12 feet. >> Miss Parades, can I finish my my response? The height was never changed on the beams. The beams are the ones that cannot change. If you if the board will come to me tomorrow and say move the beams, that's millions of dollars of change. That never changed. The light I can call an electrician and short it or change it tomorrow morning. No problem. That's not the issue. The floor that you mentioned was the same as it was before. The floor before was more slippery than the floor it is now. But the cheers are putting a mat which is taped on the ground. So when you look at the floor that is there now and you look at a gymnasium floor that's even more the gymnasium floor would be a lot
082more slippery when he's waxed and cleaned. Number one. Number two there is a solution to this problem. I move the cheerleader to the gymnasium and we will schedule at a different time. Number one. Number two, the fencing was never told they cannot be there. Th those are those are statement that are made up because of a change in schedule that people coordinated that coaches coordinated. I'm open to anything, but I want to be crystal clear on one thing. The height of that athletic center was never changed. So it worked before but doesn't work now. So I'll work with Miss Mcinty. I'll work with the cheerleading coach. I will work with the fencing coach and find a solution because I want the girls and the boys and the girls to be practicing in a safe environment.
083So all the objection that you brought up, I'm taking notes of it and I will address it tomorrow morning. >> Well, can I just ask why can't you fence on that floor? I mean, my daughter fences. I just don't I I don't understand why you can't fence on that floor. >> So, the understanding I have is that it's a foam floor and when a one of the strips were put on it after sitting there for 30 minutes, there's a mark left on like an outline. Now, you remove it and an hour later the mark disappears. But what happens when it's literally students stepping on it over and over again? What happens when they go offside and and they go into the floor? Is it going to get messed up? >> Well, but we we haven't
084seen that it's getting messed up, right? No. >> Well, I don't want it to get messed up. >> Right. But you could always put something under you could always put something under the strips if you have to, right? I mean, it's not I mean, the strips strips are heavy, but I mean my daughter's fenced on all different surfaces, but if you really think that I mean, I would like >> I hate to see a brand new floor even scratched. Miss Kowi, the strips were never used in the in the old butler building. The strips were used only when they were fencing in. Yeah. >> So they don't have they don't have practice strips then like you know because some some school Oh, when my daughter's when she's fencing is sometimes they put down these um
085not felt but sometime material strips. So no. Okay. I mean, I just wouldn't want it their weapons to poke the floor either or scratch the floor. >> Yeah, but they're going to poke a gym floor, too, right? They're going to poke any floor. I mean, unfortunately with fencing, you're dealing with metal. So, any floor that's wood and that's a softer material than a metal is going to get scratched up. So, either you say, "Okay, I'm not going to have fencing or you put them on concrete, which is even dangerous, right?" So, I don't think you can do that either. Um, but okay. But thank you. >> Thanks. I'm good at >> No, we can't give [laughter] Miss Amry Longo. So, I just want to take these my three minutes to discuss the banners. My suggestion
086is to mothball the banners. Mothball the banners. Put them somewhere in a safe secure spot where nobody will touch them for the future because who knows what tomorrow's going to bring. People change, boards change, everything changes. The community is up in arms about these banners. They are I there isn't a place I go that they're not talking about it. It is their livelihood. It some banners I think date back to 1969. Do not destroy the banners. >> No, no. I'm just making a suggestion. Mothball the banners. Find a safe place for the banners. Put them in the safe place. Let people know where that safe place is and do not touch them. It's not something in my opinion board of education or Dr. Ariani should own at this point com commit to saving the banners
087and putting them away somewhere. That would be the best thing because in five years from now they're going to want the banners back up maybe or 10 years. >> I'm just saying they they it's it's your decision is today. Tomorrow things change. So my suggestion is to save the banners, put them in a safe place. Don't discuss it at another time. Don't ask 20 people in the community because the community is deep and far and they go they live all over the place. Save the banners. You want to take them down, you took them down. You don't want to keep them up, you want new banners, that's fine. But the banners that have been here for 50 years or 60 years should be saved for those who who want to maybe put them back up
088again. That's just my suggestion. >> Thank you, Miss Longo. We'll take your suggestion in consideration along with other community members. Thank you, Adam Suski. >> Hello. Uh just wanted to highlight uh from the booster club again in addition to the uh sizable donation that we're willing to make. Uh all the other things that we've done for the student body uh besides this donation, no one is going to go without any requests that has been made of the the booster club. We've uh fulfilled 99% of them. Um so no team goes without, no student goes without. Um this generous donation I feel is just an extension of uh the kind of school that we want to be a part of, the kind of environment we're trying to raise our kids in. And um that's it. I
089just hope everybody tries to appreciate it. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you all for your comments. We will now have a motion to adjourn our meeting. Do I have a motion? >> A second. >> Second. >> Thank you everyone and have a nice evening.