001Check. You got to make sure when you, Mr. Ridenberg, when you talk, you got to talk into the mic. And this is for anybody here, too. So if you don't talk into the mic, no one at home will be able to hear you. So you really have to eat it. Yes, I'm really making sure that the folks at home can hear us. Yeah, it sounds like it's working now. Anyone from the public that would like to speak, just please remember to sign in in the back. Thank you. Back by the. back by the cart. Call the meeting to order at 631 and we'll start with the salute to the flag. Any agenda changes? Okay, no agenda changes. So move on to privilege of the floor. Remember, please confine your comments to three minutes and please
002be respectful. Yes, sir. Please confine your comments to three minutes and please remember to be respectful. So first up, we have Cliff Bradshaw. Yes, sir. All right, can you, okay. Last time, I don't think I was heard very well. All right, this is my appeal to the New York State Commissioner of Education. On March 21st, I sent a request to Principal Marvin asking that the book Lawn Boy by Everson be removed from the Duanesburg High Digital Library. This adult book is laced. With profanity and has a strong pedophilia grooming theme, the book is accessible to all ninth grade students and up at DCS. On April 13th, Superintendent Niedermeyer sent me a letter declaring that the committee deemed this book to be, quote, appropriate and of sound literary merit. That the, quote, objected to sexual material
003was not the dominant theme. He went on to say that, quote, the district will maintain such literature in its digital library. There may be people watching this meeting that are too young. Well, I'm saying the content may not be appropriate for some people. It is requested that the New York State Commissioner of Education... Investigate Jonathan Everson's Lawn Joy book, Half Lawn Joy by Everson removed from the Duaneburg Library system, and take such other actions that the commissioner needs just in front. You have been served. Okay, the next name I have here that indicated they wanted to speak is D, and forgive me, I may mispronounce that, D. DeGilly. Thank you. Yeah, actually, could we look at the microphone? Because it doesn't appear to be working 100% right now. Sorry, please bear with us for a
004minute here. We want to make sure everyone can hear what you say. My name is Daryl DeGilly. I live in the school district on Cole Road. The last board meeting I attended was March 22nd, where Mr. Rivenberg reviewed some of the budget. It was still in draft mode. He made a comment that where the tax increase will only be 1.8%, and I think he referenced that there's currently 7.8% current inflation and that the 1.8% tax increase was good under these circumstances. During part of the rest of the meeting, Superintendent Niedermeyer, he... spoke about a high school experience he had with his basketball team. I didn't quite get the whole thing, but his point boiled down to not all the children in the school district may be able to afford to participate in extracurricular activities and
005that there must be a way or that he would like there to be a way for the school to help those children. that can't afford maybe the sneakers that everyone else is wearing on the team or whatever else, school trips, whatever you mentioned. These two points to me, Mr. Rivenberg and Superintendent Niedermeyer, they seem to be contradictory to each other. In this inflation right now, in this economy, where families, some parents, maybe they drive two cars and they each, at least the mom and the dad, spend maybe $50, $60 more a week to pay for gas to go to their jobs. So there's certainly, if they couldn't afford new sneakers for the teen, for their children before, they're not going to be able to afford them now. But then how can we say there's just
006a 1.8% tax increase? You had the option to approve a 0%. You had the option to think about these families that are on the fringe before the inflation, before the tax increase, and trying to help these students that may otherwise fall through the cracks. And you, I think, from the last board meeting that you all voted to approve the budget that was put forth, either someone is speaking a little insincerely when they made those statements on March 22nd, or maybe you just don't know how the cause and effect of these things happened with these families. But I'm surprised that the board... thought that the 1.8% tax increase was acceptable, especially during these times. And especially on the... Excuse me, your time has elapsed. My time has elapsed? Those three minutes... Okay, well, you get my
007point, right? I think we've heard you, yes. It just seems physically irresponsible to, on one hand, try to find some social... Excuse me, ma'am. Time has elapsed. I'm sorry. ...social ways to help children. Thank you. Thank you. The next person indicated they want to comment is Avis Sanchez. Okay. Good evening. Board of Ed, Superintendent Niedermeyer, community, parents, thank you all for coming tonight. I just also wanted to point out a similar observation that Dee had observed before me and some inconsistencies that appear to be happening within the school district and leadership. Recently, the school board had passed a DEI policy, diversity, equity, and inclusion. And my understanding that is to keep everything equal and as equitable as possible. Well, recently, I just received a packet in the mail from the elementary school principal for my
008child to be admitted to the UPK program. And in the bottom, it says, District Registrar Joanne Boyd you can contact students who qualify for free lunch and reduced lunch will have priority the program for the program with the remainder of slots going to first come first serve my challenge is to you how is this being inclusive how is this being equal you are obviously segregating children by their economic status that's not right thank you I really don't respond, but there is a quick answer to that, and that's because the UPK program is funded through a grant that requires that. The last person I have that's indicated they wish to speak is William Park. I don't even need the microphone, I don't think. What's that? Okay. I think the issue here for this board is that
009the program that you're teaching... the kids has to do with a re-labeled critical race theory program. And I don't think that we really want to see that taught to our kids and grandkids. I certainly don't. And I think most of the people that are here don't, and a lot of the people that we've talked to in this town don't. Jim, I appreciate the meeting, the time you gave us when we came to see you. I had asked you a question about a letter. I asked if a letter had ever gone out to students from you or from the board. You said no. I was given a copy of the letter. So I felt that based on that, there was no sense in my coming back and talking to you because that pretty much told me
010what your character was. So I'm disappointed that we didn't have any kind of honesty between us. But anyway, I think that... This is going to be a problem as long as we're teaching whatever the program is I what's the name of it? DEI and it's just repackaged Critical race theory This is a program that dumps the kids down You all know that you're all part of that group evidently So I think really that's not what education is supposed to be about. In my business as an engineer, I had to have absolute numbers whenever I calculated something. I don't know how you feel that you can educate kids in this direction and not teach them reading, writing, and arithmetic. So I think really the best thing for this whole group to do is just stand down,
011resign. because you're not doing the residents of this town any favors. Otherwise, most of us wouldn't be here, and I just look for this to get even worse. Thank you. Okay. Is there anyone else that wanted to speak that hasn't, that didn't sign in? All right. Well, we'll move on. And next up is the superintendent's status report. Okay. No update. So then we move on to budget presentation. All right, can you hear me now? Tonight we'll make the budget presentation will be short because next week we will have the actual budget hearing on May 3rd. So tonight we'll just review what the board has approved for the budget to put forth for the community to vote on. And this is a breakdown of... A FEW OF THE CATEGORIES OF THE BUDGET, GENERAL SUPPORT, INSTRUCTIONAL COSTS,
012OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE, PUPIL TRANSPORTATION, MEDICAL AND BENEFITS, AND THEN DEBT SERVICE AND TRANSFERS. SO AS WE HAD TALKED THROUGH OUR WORK SESSIONS, ONE OF THE MAJOR AREAS OF INCREASES IN OUR BUDGET THIS YEAR IS ENTIRELY DUE TO MEDICAL INCREASE OR TO HEALTH INSURANCE COSTS. Instructional costs, which is a common theme looking at that 2.52% increase over the past few years. We've seen that in general because of the contracts that are in place. Also, some of the increases in transportation and the operations and maintenance sections, some of those increases are due to fuel costs increases as well. This is the proposed budget to the community is 18 million 600,000. It's a total overall increase of $715,000. It's a 4% increase overall. The tax levy increase remains from where we started from right from the beginning of
013our budget work sessions at 1.8% increase. It's a $150,945. So just a quick review of our revenue section. The property taxes is $8,536,811. And then the state aid closely at $8,812,363. So the state aid increases that we saw this year, some of our larger increases came from foundation aid and transportation aid. That foundation aid was equivalent to last year's increase at a 3%, and we hope again to see that increase next year, especially with the rising costs that we are seeing. And then in order to balance the budget, we do have that using fund balance additionally with reserve appropriation in order to come out with that $18,600,000 budget. Just to look at the the the revenue Sections of the budget and this is very similar graphic to what you will see in the budget newsletter
014the real property taxes in the state aid are the two largest amounts our Sources of our revenue for the for the district the the real property taxes at forty five point nine percent State aid at 47.41%, while other things such as, well, other things like Medicaid and other income comes from like that 1.21%. And then we have fund balance and reserves that are going to be what I just discussed on that previous slide. The expenditure section. So this is just a look at the budget expenses. So you can see the instructional costs. That's where we put the most, you know, the majority is the over $9 million just in instructional costs, operations and maintenance, pupil transportation, medical benefits, debt service, and general support. This is the three-part component budget, the administrative, the program, and the
015capital. So this is also showing that the program budget is almost three quarters of the budget, while then the capital portion and the administrative portion represent that last quarter of the budget. And then Proposition 2 on the budget vote will be to purchase two 65-passenger buses and one 30-passenger bus, and they will all be fueled by gasoline. The purchase not to exceed $315,000. At the next meeting, which is next week, May 3rd, we will have the actual public hearing. We'll go a little bit more in depth into our entire budget. Thanks, Jeff. Anyone have any questions or comments about that? We've been going over this for a number of weeks now, so appreciate your time and effort on that. All right, moving on to presentation and approval of prior Board of Education meeting minutes. approved
016minutes of april 12 2022 board meeting do i have a motion thanks teresa second francis uh questions or comments about that all in favor aye any opposed any abstentions uh standing committees did we have any committees meet okay no committee next up approve the boces administrative budget Resolved that the Duanesburg Board of Education authorizes the Board of Cooperative Educational Services of Albany, Schoharie, Schenectady, Saratoga Counties be authorized to expend the sums set forth in the administrative budget document in the total amount of $12,279,275 during the school year 2022-23. and to raise such sum by assessments to component school districts, non-component school districts, other BOCES, and other sources as required by law. Do I have a motion? Diane? Second? Tony? Questions or comments? I will note, I think our contribution is less than 1%, so we
017actually come out pretty good on that. I think the Shen I looked up, I think they contribute like 10% of that budget. So of course they're a lot bigger. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? Moving on. BOCES Board of Education members vote. I'm going to try and combine these a little bit. Be it resolved that the Board of Education of Duanesburg Central School hereby casts its vote for the following candidates to fill four vacant seats. for the term of july 1st 2022 through june 30 2025 on the board of cooperative education services of albany schoharie schenectady saratoga counties resolve that the board of education casts its vote for the election of and there are four people running for four seats and i'm going to kind of summarize here a little bit for the
018sake of time kevin kutcher home district sharon springs Heather Soroka, home district Waterville-East City. Matt Tedeschi, home district Burn Knox-Westerlo. And Bruce Tryon, home district Cobleskill-Richmondville. Do I have a motion? Thank you. Melissa? Second? Okay. Teresa? Questions or comments? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? Moving on to financial. Accept claims. Auditors, reports. Recommendation of the Board of Education accept the claims auditor's comments on general warrant 836 dated April 13, 2022 in the amount of $144,830.09. Do I have a motion? Diane? Thank you. A second? Okay, Melissa. Questions or comments? None? All right. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? Next item, accept financial reports. Recommendation that the Board of Education accept the appropriation status, budget transfer, revenue status, treasurers, and ECA reports ending March 31st, 2022 as provided by the treasurer and
019recommended by Assistant Superintendent of Management Services. Can I have a motion? All right, Tony, second? Second. Francis, thank you. Questions or comments on that item? No? All right. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? Next item, accept contract with Middleburg Central School District. Recommendation of the Board of Education, accept the health and welfare services contract. between Middleburg Central School District and Duanesburg Central School District for the 2021-2022 school year as recommended by the superintendent and assistant superintendent of management services. Do I have a motion? Melissa? Second? Tony? Questions or comments? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? Last financial item. Approve MOU with Schenectady County Communications Center. Be it resolved that the Board of Education hereby approves the MOU agreement between the Schenectady County Unified Communications Center and Duanesburg Central School District
020for the new transportation radio communication system as recommended by the Assistant Superintendent of Management Services. This agreement shall not be binding on the parties until authorized and signed by each party's respective representatives. Do I have a motion? I am. And Teresa is second. Thanks. Questions or comments? This just gives us the ability to use the system, right? We still have to provide our own hardware? That's correct. So the county has presented us with an opportunity to take advantage of their system that they've created that's very expansive. And when they built the system, they had schools in mind. So when I had mentioned to the director of communications at the county that we were looking at trying to fix our problems with communications with our buses not being able to communicate to the transportation garage once
021they get down the hill, he said, well, we've got this new system. That's what that new tower is that you see in town. So it gives us the opportunity to jump on this 800 megahertz frequency. And this will work even outside the county, like in Burnsville? Yeah, so he actually, and I'm very thankful for what he did on his own. He actually drove the district and showed me a map and said that this is going to work. And he got a signal. And then anywhere in the county, we have the ability to communicate with our buses. So once we get the radios, we will be able to communicate a lot better throughout the district and throughout the county. There's just certain areas where bus communication is very difficult, and the system that we have is
022pretty antiquated. And so we were looking at doing something anyway, and this sort of fell in our lap as we were investigating a solution for that too. So it's pretty fortuitous. Cool. Any other questions or comments on that? All right. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? Moving on. Recommendation with the Board of Education, approve the following policies as recommended by the superintendent. Policy 3130, memorial activities, and Policy 3280, community use of school facilities. Do I have a motion? Diane, and will you second, Melissa? Thank you. Questions or comments? I know we went over these last time. All right, all in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? And we have one appointment. Be it resolved that the Board of Education hereby approves the appointment of Christina Bigg as a substitute health and PE
023teacher, master's step five. effective april 25th 2022. do i have a motion second i'll suck thank you francis any questions or comments yeah i'll any chance yes yes okay great so um so uh christine is great and um she's been at the college level for quite a long time and so as she gets back into the k-12 setting she has to reactivate certification so as soon as those certifications are reactivated i'll be recommending to appoint her to that position as a probationary tenure track basis but we're really happy to have found somebody who's certified in both health and pe and somebody who has so much experience so i think that She's going to be a really good fit. Okay. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? That concludes our regular meeting. Next we have
024a motion to move to executive session to discuss personnel and negotiation issues. I can tell you that the board won't be returning to regular business after that. I need a motion for that. Second? Teresa? Any questions or comments? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? All right. Thank you very much.