001I'd like to call this meeting to order. March 10th, regular meeting of the Board of Education. May we all rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. Public safety announcement. Fire exits are located at the sides of the room in the front and back. In the event of a fire, you will hear a fire alarm. At that time, please move in a calm and orderly fashion to the nearest exit. Now at this time is there a motion to open public speaking motion made by cough second by Rivera all in favor any opposition or abstentions Hearing none motion carries We will now have speaker number one to the podium Good evening. I would like to make an announcement on Thursday March the 26th 2026, we will have the fifth annual Regent Judith Johnson Shiro's. This is a great
002celebration and I'm pretty sure that many of you might have seen the videos that the children of East Ramapo have done and that's where they highlight these 14 women. These women show the diversity of this community. The contribution of these sheroes have made the East Ramapo Central School District a better place for all our wonderful students. The next thing that I would like to share was the fact that I understand last week there were three finalists for the superintendent search, and many of the other districts, the community have a chance to meet the finalists. And this way, the board could see how the finalists interact with the community. And this has not been the case. And I think that that's something that you should consider. If you're going to make that kind of decision, you
003should see how that person interacts with the community. Thank you. Thank you. That concludes public speaking. We will now have information and reports from the superintendent. However, Ms. Rulusco is not here this evening with us, but we will have Mr. Gandhi in her place. Thank you. Thank you vice president McGill good evening everyone so on behalf of interim superintendent Anna Rulisko I would like to thank the Board of Education and our community for being here tonight My name is Babin Gandhi and I'm the assistant superintendent for technology and I'll be facilitating the superintendent's report this evening as Miss Rulisko isn't able to be here. We'll begin with several updates from across the district So the first update is a transportation update and I'm gonna I'm gonna ask mr. Stark how to provide us an update
004with transportation. Sure. Thank you Mr. Gandhi the just briefly we have been explaining for the last few meetings that the district is moving forward with an affidavit system for collecting the non-public transportation applications for the 2026-27 school year that is an optional system on the part of the non-public public schools we've had quite a good response from them in terms of that the affidavit process allows for each participating non-public school to apply for transportation on behalf of its parents and students once those parents and students have authorized the school to do that for them a meeting was held with the non-public school administrators at the community outreach center last week to answer questions and provide clarification on the way that process is being handled and working and it was a very very good meeting where
005a lot of things were cleared up there were some some questions as to what specific types of Proof of residency could be used and so on and so forth. So a lot of those things were cleared up It was a very productive meeting and we are looking forward to Receiving the affidavits as they're being finalized by many of the schools right now for that April 1st date Thank You. Mrs. Stark Again, I want to take a moment to congratulate our students and staff at Kaki a steam Academy for their wonderful performance of Annie jr. This past weekend It's always exciting to see the incredible talent of our students on display I also want to remind our community that several upcoming performances will be taking place across the district including Productions at Rompah High School Spring
006Valley High School Chestnut Ridge Middle School and Pomona Middle School Admission to all of these performances is free, and we encourage everyone in the community to come out and support our students and the arts program throughout the district. Next, we'll hear an update regarding kindergarten registration for the upcoming school year from Ms. Rincon Tomizawa. Thank you very much. Good evening, everyone. This is just a reminder that kindergarten orientation is opened. We encourage all of our families with children who are five years old on or before December 1st to please come and register. Our doors are open. You can find information on our website to register. Thank you in the next Some exciting news again. It is just a reminder as power as part of our ongoing efforts to improve communication with families The district will
007soon be transitioning from remind to parents career for all district school and classroom communications ParentSquare will allow families and staff to receive updates, messages, and important information in one centralized platform. We encourage all families to make sure the contact information with their school is up to date so they can continue to stay connected with the district, their school, and their child's classroom. Again, we're still in the implementation phase right now, and we'll provide an update at every board meeting and other district events. Thank you. At this time, we'll hear from Ms. Marconi about the district math audit initiative. Thank you. Good evening. So we just wanted to share that we are engaging in a math audit in the district We're partnering with MGT impact solutions to conduct a district-wide math audit We're asking for parent
008input and we have a survey here for parents that is going to be opened until April 10th So we encourage parents to share their voices so we can get your feedback on math instruction in the district to help us with the math audit. There's a QR code here and you can also obtain it on the website. The next slide, we have some wonderful event that took place in the district. Quick question, if I may. Sorry. I'm sorry, Mr. Gandhi, I apologize. Is that also going to be in multiple languages, that survey? Oh, that's wonderful. I just wanted to clarify. Thank you. No problem. So yeah, wonderful event that took place across the district and Mr. Kravitz will briefly just discuss how it went. Thank you very much. Right before the February break, the school district
009participated in the Rockland Read-In, which was an opportunity for a lot of our schools to have volunteers and community members come in and read with our children. It was a day oftentimes filled with pajamas, snacks, community members, and a whole lot of books. I had a chance to read at ECC in Mr. Grubel's class. But it was a highlight for me to be out of the office, but it was certainly a highlight for the district to have so many community members take part. So it was a great day. Thank you, Mr. Kravitz. So as we continue celebrating Women's History Month, we will now hear an update on the upcoming Shiro's event from Mr. Rincon Tomisawa. Thank you, Member Ms. Anderson, for sharing. To tell the community a little bit more about this initiative, the East
010Ramapo Central School District is holding the Regent Judith Johnson's Shiro Celebration to honor women who have made significant contributions to our community and public education. The students who participated in this initiative researched and recorded biographies of these shiros, highlighting their leadership journey and the impact they've had on our community and education. These videos are being shared daily throughout the month of March, both within the district and in our social media platforms. The project fosters student research skills, presentation development, and connections to real-world community leaders. It provides students with powerful examples of women dedicated to improving opportunities for all. The initiative culminates, as Ms. Anderson shared, with a celebration on Thursday, March 6th, here at the PLCC, and all the details you can find on our website. This initiative celebrates Women's History Month by expanding learning
011beyond the classroom and encouraging our students to see themselves as future leaders. So congratulations to all of our students who participate in this project. Thank you and at this time I would like to take a moment to recognize and thank our building and grounds team Over the past several winter storms. They work tirelessly to ensure that our school grounds sidewalks and facilities Remain safe and accessible for students and staff so the dirt their dedication and hard work Often happen behind the scenes and we truly appreciate everything they do for our district. Thank you And this is a reminder just to the families, the parent-teacher conferences will be held on Friday, March 13. There will be no school for all K-12 students and conferences will take place during the daytime. Individual schools will provide families with
012additional details regarding scheduling appointments and families are encouraged to contact their child's school for more information if needed. Next slide, we'll hear an update from Ms. Keevey. Thank you. As our public speaker noted earlier, the superintendent search has been underway for some time. Thanks to the commissioner's recommendation, we used BOCES as the search consultant. They selected 12 candidates after their review that fit the requirements. Six were presented to the monitors for their feedback in January. Monitors agreed on four of those candidates to present to the school board. The BOCES search team did that on January 27th, and the board selected three of those four candidates for a first round of interview. That first round interview was on Thursday, February 26th. BOCES kept the fourth candidate in reserve just in case and it was fortunate because
013the evening of February 25th one of the three top candidates dropped out. So BOCES and the board agreed to bring that fourth person on for an interview. So three candidates were interviewed for round one on that first go round and then on February 26 the board picked two to do a second round of interviews with those two candidates were interviewed last week and The board decided on the finalist and informed the monitors of their selection as required by the monitor law then We are now the board is now waiting the monitors and the Commissioner have 10 days to respond back to the board to see if they approve of the board selection for superintendent. Assuming that they do approve it, following that the candidate would be informed and contract negotiations would be done and the
014board would approve that contract and both the board and the candidate would sign the contract. We still anticipate, and BOCES agrees, that the first day for that superintendent would be July 1st, still within the timeline expected. Now we'll transition into the next portion of our presentation today, which focuses on updates related to the 2026-2027 district budget. I'm sorry, before we move on, I just want to go back to the previous slide, only because this is the... Second, third time we're going through this process. I know this is the next steps if approved by the monitors and the commissioner. Based on past experience, what is the next step if the monitors and the commissioner does not approve the board's selection? I know we have our monitors on Zoom. Maybe Dr. Jallo. Is that Dr. Jallo? Or
015Mr. Farr? If... If the chosen candidate is not approved by the monitors and the commissioner, is that the question? Yes, correct. The next step would probably be to ask the board to recommend a second candidate. Is there a second choice? That would be the next step. Are you asking us if there's a second choice? Are you saying if there is a second choice? No, I thought your question was what would happen if the first choice was not approved? Well, the question is if the board selection is not approved by the monitors and the Commissioner what's the next steps? The next step is for the monitors to ask the board to make a second recommendation for a second candidate Trustee Charles fear has your question been answered? Thank you. Yes At this time I would like
016to invite Miss Serving cone Tommy Sawa and miss Marconi to present the instructional portion of the budget update. Thank you very much Good evening Board of Education members, our state monitors, and our community members, and our community members present here tonight. We are here to present the instructional budget for the 26-27 school year. This instructional plan is driven by multiple factors, student needs, instructional needs, curriculum needs, and ultimately the long-term strategic academic and financial plan. The plan is designed around four domains of rapid school improvement. talent development, instructional transformation, culture shift, and turnaround leadership. The East Rompah Central School District serves 9,463 students who are very talented and dedicated to succeeding. 58% of our students are identified as English language learners. 13% of our student population is also identified as students with disabilities. 62% of
017our students qualify for free and reduced lunch, and 14% of our students are deemed homeless. The story of our budget focuses on investing in our future. Across the district, we are focused on strengthening high-quality, equitable instruction so every student's needs are met. We are also aligning our academic priorities with our financial resources to ensure our investments directly support student learning. Ultimately, this work is about supporting the whole child and ensuring every student is prepared for long-term academic and personal success beyond the classroom. In year two, we are strengthening our instructional impact. Through this budget, we are making targeted investments in the systems that strengthen teaching and learning across the district. We are building the capacity of our instructional leaders and principals to support curriculum implementation, monitor student progress, and coach teachers. We are also prioritizing
018high quality instructional materials and professional development, particularly in literacy and in strengthening math instruction following the outcomes of our math audit. At the same time, the continued implementation of our multi-tiered system of support framework and our focus on data-driven instruction will ensure we are identifying student needs early and providing the right supports to help every student succeed. This slide illustrates how our multi-tiered system of support is designed to ensure that students receive the level of instruction and support they need to be successful. This reflects our intentional focus on strengthening Tier 1 core instruction. When core instruction is strong and consistent across classrooms, the majority of students are able to access grade-level learning within the general education setting. Over the past year, we have redesigned our core literacy instruction to ensure that all students receive research-based,
019structured reading instruction that builds both foundational skills and comprehension, creating greater consistency in how literacy is taught across the district. Within this framework, Tier 2 provides targeted support through small group instruction delivered through both push in and pull out services for students who need additional help. Tier 3 provides the most intensive level of intervention offering individualized support for students with more significant learning needs. Our proposed budget supports this framework by ensuring we have the staffing, instructional resources, and professional learning needed to strengthen core instruction and provide targeted support for students who need additional intervention. With this budget, we are intentionally prioritizing resources to strengthen high school teaching and learning. We are committing funds to ensure rigorous standard aligned curricula across English language arts, social studies, math, and science that prepare our students for college and
020careers. We are also investing in high quality instructional materials such as lab kits, manipulatives, and digital tools to provide equitable hands-on learning opportunities for our students. Finally, we are funding year-long professional development, coaching, and improving lab classrooms to support teachers in using these materials effectively, deepening their instructional practices, and implementing data-driven strategies through MTSS cycles and student work analysis. So what does this mean for our district and our students? Under New York State Accountability Systems, the state monitors student subgroups. of at least 20 students to ensure everyone is succeeding. If a specific group consistently shows low test scores or fails to make progress, the school is flagged for targeted support such as TSI or ATSI. These designations, my apologies. These designations signal certain students need more resources to meet state standards. However, if the school's
021overall performance falls into the bottom 5% of all schools statewide, it receives a more serious level called CSI. This stands for Comprehensive Support and Improvement and represents the highest level of state intervention. Essentially, these categories help the state identify exactly where extra funds and professional help are needed most. If an accountability subgroup with 20 or more students fails to improve for two consecutive years in a particular subject, they could potentially be identified by New York State. Currently, what every school district aims for is that all of their schools fall in the LSI category, which is local school improvement support. Currently, in our district, there are three schools that are newly identified as CSI schools this year. One school is in its third year of CSI identification. Three schools have moved from CSI to LSI, meaning
022that they are now in good standing. One school has improved from CSI to TSI status, and two schools remain identified as TSI. And so you wonder... What's in our budget to support these schools? And so for our identified schools our focus areas are on school comprehensive education plans resource alignment instructional priorities and ongoing collaboration We will work closely with our school leaders to set meaningful goals in their school comprehensive education plans ensuring a focus on high impact teaching strategies Our CSI schools will receive additional guidance and support from the New York State Education Department, and we will also strategically leverage resources like school improvement grant funding to provide targeted support and instructional materials. Our instructional priorities will continue to focus on explicit teaching, questioning techniques, and goal setting to improve student outcomes. And lastly, through
023monthly school visits, we will monitor progress, give actionable feedback, and ensure strategies are consistently implemented. Our budget also reflects targeted staff additions to support instruction and school leadership. We are adding new positions to strengthen learning and leadership. We are adding kindergarten teaching assistants at a ratio of one for every two classrooms to strengthen early literacy, differentiated instruction, and small group learning. At Hempstead Elementary, a special education assistant principal will focus on supporting over 100 students in specialized programs, ensuring equitable access and high quality instruction. And lastly, at Kakiat STEAM Academy, an additional assistant principal will support leadership across a combined elementary and middle school campus, serving nearly 900 students, enhancing instructional oversight, school culture, and program coordination. So the instructional budget presented highlights our journey, that our journey continues to improve and provide our students
024with the support that they need, including our teachers. This slide highlights how our plan brings everything together. We are focused on strong academics, skilled and accurate and accountable teachers, and leadership development at every level. We are providing targeted supports, interventions, and innovative practices to meet the needs of all learners. and we are also aligning these efforts with our long-term strategic academic and financial plan to ensure sustainable rigor, equity, and meaningful opportunities so every student can succeed not just in school but beyond the classroom. Thank you. Thank you. I have a question. All of this sounds great, but to my understanding from what I've heard from others, not from... leadership up top who is currently overseeing curriculum and instruction knowing that our executive director of secondary from what I heard is now assistant principal at Chestnut
025and I'm not sure what's going on with the assistant superintendent of curriculum and instructions but who is overseeing who is overseeing and or who will be overseeing curriculum and instructions How do we plan to support, how are we supporting this now and how do we plan to support it moving forward as we add more positions to the budget and expect more for the next school year? So Dr. Gonzalez, he's still our assistant superintendent for CNI, but I'm going to defer to the instructional team to go over some of the responsibilities they've taken over. I mean, so we work very collaboratively, curriculum and instruction, pupil personnel services, and multilingual education. We have regularly scheduled meetings with executive leaders, directors, assistant directors to coordinate all of our professional development, coaching, and support for the buildings. But my
026question is, who's currently in those positions to oversee the work now, hearing that they're not? These individuals are not currently in their roles in these positions. I will add that although The particular individuals you mentioned are in different positions We have our content directors who are helping and who are supporting in this work Including all of our directors across all departments to ensure that we have consistency with the plan that was set in motion for this year Instructionally as well as professional development other than that I could Not sure if I can answer any additional questions regarding particular positions But in terms of the integrity of the program for this year It is being managed by all of us in the instructional cabinet to support all of those initiatives for this year and the plans
027for next year as well Including our building principals who are part of discussions in terms of programming. Okay. Thank you So the next we'll hear from mr. Stark as he reviews the financial portion of the budget presentation Thank you, mr. Gandhi, so I'll Take us through the remainder of the presentation on the budget and my part will be dealing with Many of the numbers in terms of the revenue and the expenditure sides and then We were also asked at the last meeting to update the board on fund balance so we have that in the presentation as well, so moving on very quickly the this is the submitted calculation for the maximum allowable tax levy it is a little bit different than what was presented at the last meeting the exclusions that are added back in
028for the year at the bottom of the page are a little bit different than from the last meeting when all is said and done the calculation which includes carryover from last year in that the district did not go to the maximum allowable tax levy last year brings the maximum allowable increase to sick a little over six million dollars or three point seven one percent what that number represents is what the district could put out as a tax levy in the budget without having to go for a super majority vote. Okay? Now, that being said, the presentation that you've seen in the past two meetings with the proposed budget amounts do not go up to the maximum allowable number of 3.71. So the next piece that we're looking at is as we have discussed on a
029number of occasions our revenue budget is comprised mainly of two different very large buckets or pieces of the pie those two categories are the tax levy and the other one is the state aid so this slide is giving us a three year history of the state aid that we received from New York State the first Column that you see is from 2024 25 these are the audited Revenue numbers that we received in terms of state aid. You'll see that foundation aid was 95.8 million And that that is our formula based aid and then following throughout down the page are for the most part our expense driven aids which are based on the amount that you spend in the different categories so in 2425 we received just under 152 million dollars in aid the projection is
030in the middle column which is the projection for the year end for the current year and our projection for the the state aid that we will receive at the end of this year is approximately 175 million three hundred and twenty two approximately approximately 175 million you should note that in both the projection column and the proposal for next year's aid which was the the proposal for the 2627 aid which is comes from the executive branches proposal we have made modifications to the foundation aid we've made adjustments there and we've also made adjustments adjustments to transportation aid so We expect that we will collect an additional amount in foundation aid based upon the fact that we had projected for to receive a little bit less than what was in the projection last year based on declining
031enrollment however the enrollment that we wound up with left us with foundation a that is to be paid that is approximately 2.3 million dollars above the hundred and eight million that was in last year's revenue budget or I'm sorry the current year's revenue budget Similarly, in transportation aid, which is an expense-driven aid, we have increased costs from the rebids that occurred in the spring of last year after the budget was done. And as a result of the additional costs, we will receive back additional aid. for the additional costs that were incurred. So we added $5.6 million to the projected amount of transportation aid that we will receive for the year. Another piece of that calculation is that every three years, school districts reset something called the non-allowable pupil decimal, which is a complicated formula that
032basically is the formula used to... calculate the percentage of aid that you receive back on your transportation expenses in the recalculation of that that was done for this year that percentage changed in a way to provide the district with a greater percentage of aid on its costs as a result of that that is also not a part of the executive branch's proposal so in next year's proposed state aid we have increased the the expected transportation aid by $13.25 million. And again, because we believe that we are continuing to see declining enrollment, we've decreased the foundation aid and adjusted that by $2 million in the downward direction. Okay, so with all that being put together, we're proposing, we are estimating from the executive proposal that our state aid. revenue for the 26 27 school year will
033be just under 186 million excuse me oh so okay so this is the draft revenue budget when you put all of the pieces together as i mentioned we have Two major pot pots that are within this portion of the budget as you can see We're looking at 165 million dollars 0.9 million dollars in property tax And that is is there a way to move the picture off of there? Yeah on the zoom because it's just covering up it's a 1.9% Tax levy increase There you go and then you see that we have as we just looked at the other slide the 6.05 percent increase in In aid so when you put that together. We have in the center column, we're projecting our revenue for the year to be higher than what was budgeted for, up
034to $367 million. And then also with the increases that we are putting in for state aid and the increase in the tax levy, we're looking at an overall increase from the projected number of approximately $3.6 million, bringing the revenue the total revenue budget to 370 million 788 769. so we have shown you this slide a number of times just to continue to explain that the full value tax rate in the east ramapo central school district is the lowest of all of the school districts in the county This is the graphical representation of that. Twenty-five years ago in 2000, the district was right in the middle, and over the course of time, with few increases to the tax levy, it has gotten to be the lowest in the county. This is a chart that basically is
035the numbers as opposed to the graphical representation of that, but as you can see, the full value rate for 2025. which is the last one that is officially calculated by the New York State Office of Real Property Services. For East Ramapo is $9.45. And the next lowest is all the way on the right, which is Suffern at $15.69. And a few others are in the $16. And then you go up to $18. And North Rockland and Nanuet are both over $20 per $1,000 of assessed value. So this is a graphical representation of the breakdown of our revenue budget. And this tells a pretty interesting story based upon the two biggest sections, which are light blue is property tax. Green is state aid. So if you'll notice on the right hand portion of this slide We
036are showing the breakdown in the 2023 2024 school year and at that time property tax made up over half of the revenue budget fifty two point three percent And in that year New York State aid was making up forty five point four percent of the budget moving ahead to the proposed revenue budget for next year for the first time in maybe the history of the school district New York's state aid is now more than half of the revenue budget and property tax is now at forty four point nine percent of the revenue budget so there's been a big shift in what the largest percentage of the revenue budget is over the past three three or four budget years Okay, before you move on to expenditure budget. Um, we had acts at the last board meeting.
037What is the number? when it comes to that surplus So I'm gonna go over the the fund balance after the expenditures, okay, thank you So if if I don't answer your whatever the questions were at that point, please Let me know and we'll see if we can get you the answers that you need. Okay? So moving on to the expenditure side, the budget priorities, the main budget priorities for the year, student academic outcomes, and you just had a long presentation from, or I shouldn't say long, I apologize, a detailed presentation from Our two assistant superintendents sitting here and then the other two that have big parts in this budget are infrastructure improvements and transportation operations, so Just to highlight on the infrastructure improvements because we had the presentation on the academic outcomes already We have
038a five point two five million dollars in transfer from capital for the following Main items HVAC replacement and repair district-wide locations to be determined based upon need the same for exterior door replacement we have in many areas of the district in many buildings exterior doors that are either rusting not sealed properly could potentially be forced open those are the the the most important ones that we need to look at immediately and get um get those fixed so we have just just to note when we do become aware of any doors that have issues with locking mechanisms we do address those issues immediately we did have a situation like that at the beginning of the school year at chestnut ridge middle school and that was addressed immediately we will not allow our buildings to have exterior
039doors that that don't provide Safety and security for the building and then the last item there is flooring replacement at the district office then in terms of transportation operations as you know we've talked about a number of times that we've had a large increase in the transportation costs in the district that is for both public and non-public transportation we had increases in bids from the YPC contractors as well as for for the the routed contractors and then that was the same for the routed portion of our contractual Contractors for the public school students as well In addition we now have also in the budget the use of a consultant in in helping us to reorganize the Transportation Department operations as was very well publicized and very well known with the the opening of school last
040year in terms of transportation was not a smooth one and we have a very capable consultant that is in the district helping with us to reorganize the transportation department so that the operations are much smoother and that we do not find ourselves in that situation again next year Question on rebates. Yes. Why are we going for rebates when there is open contracts? available so you won't have to Figure out what your budget is going to be after the fact that after the votes So I'm not sure could you repeat the question one more time? I just want to make sure that I hear it correctly Why are we going for rebidding when there is open contracts available? Okay, so we are not necessarily going out and rebidding all contracts. That is not the case. There
041are situations where some of the vendors, so. Any open contract that is to be renewed has to be agreed upon by both the school district and the vendor so There are always situations where either a vendor doesn't want to or for a reason the the school district may not want to But we are in the process right now of offering the renewals to all of the vendors, and there could be some that need to be rebid for that purpose. There also are potentially some areas that were routed that we will be looking at the possibility of doing those on a per-pupil basis. So those conversations are also out there. It's not a matter of us saying that we're not renewing any contracts. In fact, I would anticipate that we will be renewing a great majority
042of them, but there will always be a situation where you will have to go out to bid for some. Because the issue is that after the budget is set, the rebidding comes. The issue is that after the budget is set already and it's voted on and the bidding is done. Late June. Yeah, no we are we are into we are the plan is to to Get those answers back on the renewals and get the bids out immediately so that we understand what how they've come back before the budget is is completely finalized but it won't be able to be presented to the community when will what you won't be able to present it to the community you will if it's you already presented tonight the forecast for transportation Yes, but if there's a need for
043us to come back with a modification before the budget is adopted we will have we would have the opportunity to do that if if we had an issue with bids as opposed to last year where that happened after the It actually happened after the budget vote took place. So if you don't mind going back to page 31 of the presentation 30 31 the totals the calculation for the total aids Yes. Yes Looks to me. There's an increase of Approximately 20 million dollars. Yeah, the total aid is only 10 million. I'm sorry. Could you repeat that please if I calculate I calculated all the increases Yes, for example line item a total transportation aid is 10 million. The first line item is 5 million That's already 50 million then you have another 2 million another 1
044million and yeah The total is on the bottom is only 10 million the decreases are not 10 million Trustee Koth, where are you looking again? So we can are you looking at what line the category? The increase decrease column does not appear to add up to the number at the bottom. Okay He's saying that the one two. Okay. The fourth column is not adding up to the 10 million No, that and that's correct. It doesn't add up because some of the numbers are in there. I Was actually looking at the third column and then add up neither the hundred and eighty-five that should be much more than that The third column. That the third column adds up to more than 185? I didn't calculate all of them, but I do see increases of, for example,
045total transportation aid is 60 million, increased from 50 million. That's 10 million. Then you have the one line above that is increased by 5 million. So it looks like much more than only 10 million. So or the 175 is incorrect or the 185 is incorrect. I don't know which column is incorrect. Yeah, so the the there are also changes in the adjustment lines that we have those aren't there So you see like we went from positive 2.3 for 3 million in foundation aid in 2526 and then minus 2 million that increase it decreases in there and and again so we have foundation aid in two lines there right you see that and then there's a a total for foundation aid So if you were that column is not designed to actually add up Because there
046are some things that are in there twice you have foundation a foundation aid adjustment and total foundation aid you wouldn't take the The first foundation aid line and the total foundation aid it would only be the 1 million 130 that you would add together so I can I can redo that so that it takes out the double counted lines that are in there. Do you understand what I'm saying? And I'll... Why is it presented if it doesn't add up? What are you showing the audience? Just numbers? You don't have to work so hard. Well, the intention certainly was not that, but I can see where it gets a little fuzzy in there. I will correct that and have it fixed for everybody, but the... The overall increase is the $10,614,770. I'll have that corrected for
047you. Okay? I do have a question on the page before that, page 39, regarding the tax cap. Yeah. Forgive me if I'm quoting you wrong. You mentioned that that 3.71% may not need to go for a supermajority vote. Can you help me understand that does that mean it would not have to go out to the public for a vote or so? No, no, no, so in the event that the district wanted to put out a Budget with a tax levy increase of three point seven one percent It would need to pass with a fifty percent vote if you if you went to three point seven two percent or above You would require a sixty percent vote in order to pass it. So The supermajority is for anything that you would put out to the public
048above the cap. Okay? Answer the question? Okay. So going back to the expenditure budget where we were. So we are. As has also been described in many previous meetings, we are a service organization. We provide educational services to students, so the large majority of our budget is for personnel and employee benefits. And you can see that the largest areas of the budget are in teaching, pupil services. transportation services and benefits okay but primarily it is in the areas of educating our students and benefits and then the anomaly that we have in this district is that because of the number of non-public students that we transport and do not educate we have a little bit of a different breakdown of the percentages of our budget that account for all these items so the 21.1 the 21.2
049percent that we have for transportation services is much larger than you would find in most of the other surrounding districts probably most of the districts of the state in that as I said we're transporting 45,000 students but we're not educating 35,000 of them so that makes our teaching and benefits a little bit of a smaller percentage because our transportation costs are higher does that make sense I have a question sure looking at the recent positions that were created this school year and also looking at all us where I see a lot of positions that are being created for example direct of attendance and title funded program academic intervention services from mathematics coordinator of culture and climate coordinator of attendance and accountability are these positions budgeted for The next school year. I do see that the
050application deadline is June of 2026 which means that that's for the following school year and also the positions that were created this school year have those been attached to a line item in the budget for the expenditure, so the Let me see if I understand exactly what you're saying So you're asking about two different things number one are some of the things that you're seeing on Oh loss right now those included in the budget for next year correct and then the other one was that the positions that we added in let in the current year's budget last year well this school year for this school year right are those all filled is that what the question is or so the positions that were created this year were not budgeted last year we're not budgeted we're
051not putting we're not presented in the budget that we approved for this school year In the past, what we have done is if there's positions being added or created, especially if it's attached to a line item in the budget, we would be provided with a breakdown of what those positions are, how many vacancies and positions need to be filled. That hasn't been done. So what I'm asking is that moving forward with the positions that were created, is that budgeted for next school year? properly and also for the new positions that I see on all eyes for the next school year has is that budgeted in this 2627 budget so I would like to say to you that the answer to both of your questions is yes what we are planning on doing is providing an
052update on the new positions and vacancies and so on and so forth that are in the budget at the meeting on the 24th okay so that's a part of the plan there so you will have a full presentation of that you did have that last year as part of the budget as well so the ones that were created last year were actually yes included in the line by line budget in the different areas the ones that were created for this school year was not included in the budget for example we had deans in the budget we eliminated deans and put instructional coordinators instead. What I'm saying is that what we're presenting to the voters. Want to make sure that it's accurate and if there's any changes that we let them know also that there's changes
053being made So if Dean's is now instructional coordinators You know that should be made clear and I think we have approved over 20 instructional coordinators and I know in our budget we did not have any plans to hire over 20 Dean's So I just want to make sure that wherever this money is coming from is that we're able to, you know, we're able to go back and say, okay, it's line item section 200, 2000. That way if we're audited in the future, we can explain ourselves. Okay. I completely understand what you're saying there. So, yes, we did put. number of positions that were that were listed out and some of those were changed when the implementation took place so we'll account for all of that for you when we make that presentation and as we're
054moving forward for next year I believe that our plan will show you the correct the correct titles that are in the budget and when and if these changes are being made or positions are being created. I think if that could also be shared so we know what's going on, transparency purposes, I think that would also be good because like I said, there's a lot that's being done, a lot that's being created, a lot of positions being filled and we're kind of left in the dark. So, you know, both Trustee Charles Pierre as well as Trustee Koth have brought up some very good suggestions that should take place because here in this district we do have problems with, you know, being transparent, especially to the community. So it's very important that we're taking note and that
055we adjust accordingly so that we don't have these questions and issues that are coming up in regards to even vacancies. are the positions that's on OLA's positions that we have now, new positions. We want to make sure we're transparent and again, that they're part of the budget. And as Mr. Trustee Koff stated too, it is important that our numbers are matching up appropriately because that's very, very important. Thank you. I do see now what the... This is talk said about the it includes the totals not only the Includes not only the numbers but the totals so that's why it's duplicated. But in order to present the chart, I believe it should be Presentable in the first place. I'll clean up early. Thank you. Another question that was brought up at the last few meetings I
056know we as a board have acts The number of vacancies do we have those numbers? where again we the plan was to provide that in a in a detailed presentation at the not to cut you off the plan was at every board meeting that we asked that question that it would be presented to us at the next board meeting this is the next board meeting and my question is do we have those numbers we do not have those for you this evening though Can can we make sure mr. Stark can we please make sure at the next board meeting we have those numbers because it is the case board members have been asking Thank you We were also asked about the fund balance and the reserves So I've gone back and done a historical look
057at the fund balance and where it stood and how it has grown over the past four budget cycles and what we're projecting for the end of this year. So at the end of June 30th of 2022, the district had a total fund balance of $4,625,426. It was in the year that ended June 30th, 2023, so the 2022-2023 school year. That was the year that the fund balance grew substantially for the first time. As you can see there, a number of reserves were funded with a portion of that fund balance, and the fund balance went up to $39.3 million in 2020. For in the year that ended on June 30th 2024 and this is the year that There were questions about where the district was financially and so on and so forth before I was I
058was here the fund balance grew again to 72 point 1 million in the last school year the the year my first year in the district the district I'm sorry the fund balance grew by about 2.7 million dollars additionally and then as we move toward the end of this year we are actually projecting that the fund balance will be going down to approximately sixty five point two million dollars okay and that as we have noted on a number of occasions, has a lot to do with our increased costs in the transportation area. We also wanted to go ahead. Sorry. Where is that expense coming from? I understand it's for transportation. Where did we take the money from? I'm going to show you that right now. So one of the questions that is natural to ask is
059where did this fund balance come from? So this takes a look at the breakdown of the two major portions of our revenue budget and to look at the growth in the two main areas. So essentially, if you look at state aid, which I've highlighted in the middle of this slide, you can see that in the 2021-2022 school year, the school district received $91 million in state aid. That grew small in a small jump to ninety four point six million dollars in the 2022-23 school year took a big jump in the 23-24 school year and again in 24 25 and 25 and 26 So the those three years 23 24 24 25 and 25 26 were the years in which governor Hochul had made a commitment to the state of New York to fully fund foundation
060aid, which is the largest part of our state aid. And that led to a huge increase, as you can see. What we're projecting for next year at $185 million is more than double what the district received in 21-22. Most of the fund balance that has been developed over the course of these several years has been derived from state aid as you can see the tax levy had an increase only in the 24-25 school year what we do have in the in the budget area is you know the the projection of potentially 3.1 million dollar increase so over this five to six year period, we see an increase overall in state aid of $94 million versus $11 million, $11 and change in tax levy. Was that the question that you were looking at, Trustee Koth? Trustee
061Koth. Did this breakdown explain what? Sorry, I believe my question was that if transportation I understand transportation was increased but looking at the previous page page 42 of the presentation the the actual the unrestricted funds increased to 38 million and For the projected here it will increase to 42 million yet. The total fund balance is going to decrease. So where's that? If the unrestricted funds is increased, I believe the transportation should have been taken from the unrestricted funds. So how is it that the total fund balance is decreased? Well, there are additional funds in some of the reserves that are above. And the other piece that reduces that is that... You see the appropriation for general fund revenue in the budget? So that line has increased by $22 million. That actually, when you're appropriating the
062fund balance, that takes it out of the fund balance. That's a decrease. That's a minus. So that's kind of a minus. Yeah, right, that's a minus. So that increase by $11 million, and that increase of $11 million reduces the overall fund balance. I have a question. When it comes to the if you go I think the previous page that shows the Reserve repair reserve fund and the tax this one. Yes. Okay when the board approves to establish these funds Isn't it continuous when it establishes the reserve funds correct Or do we have to establish these funds every year or every other year? Yes, the amounts that are in these funds each year. Not the amount. Once the fund is established, it's established. Depending on the type of fund, it requires board approval or voter approval.
063And there's provisions of the general municipal law, which specifically speak to the different funds that we can have, depending on what it is. the board can act to put money into it. In other cases, such as a repair reserve fund, that needs voter approval. But once the fund is established, it's established. Typically, it's established for a period of 10 years. So I'm aware of what you just mentioned. So the reason why I ask is because it was on the agenda tonight for us to approve the repair reserve fund. I see the text is still on here. Back in... 22 23 who we the board approved to establish a reserve fund and in 2025 we did it for the tax So why is it on the agenda again for us to board approve it again tonight?
064I was unaware that that that that took place in 22 Well, the tax one was 2025 and I believe you were here that was that was May 6 of 2025 The repair reserve was April 26 of 2022. It was brought on the agenda again March 21st of 2023 I believe acts the same question and like I said it was I noticed it was on the agenda again for tonight So if we if we've established these funds already, why are we? reestablishing So yeah, if they have been established then we wouldn't need to And my other question, July 1st, we approved a forensic audit. It is now March 10th, and I feel like we have not been provided with any update. Do we have any update on where we are with the forensic audit? I don't
065have any information on that. I know that we had a conversation earlier today. Did you reach out? Yeah, I reached out to the FAS forensics, and they indicated that they're wrapping up the report, and they should be. That makes me think. They didn't give me a time frame, but I suspect you'll see something soon. So I literally just today said, you must be thinking the same way, because I was wondering where that is, and they indicated they'd be getting something to us soon. Mean can they at least provide us with an update? I mean we are paying them for their services I think just like with any other audit where we are provided with updates from the auditors. I think I'll ask I'll email them. Okay. Thank you. Okay, so getting back to the end
066there in terms of the use of fund balance, I know that there there have been some some questions about Why haven't we used fund balance to to do this or to do that? So I wanted to give a little bit of a report on best practices and so on for the appropriate use of fund balance So a fund balance is generally Best used as a one-time resource While most district expenditures are recurring or repetitive such as salaries and benefits utilities so on and so forth Using fund balance to support recurring expenses creates a structural deficit. So what do I mean by that? Think about if you had a personal budget in your home, and in order to balance that out each year, you use some of your savings, which is what the fund balance would
067be. After a while, if you had that in there each year, what would wind up happening? You would have no more savings. And then once those were gone, now you have... budget that doesn't have enough on the revenue side to Function all of it and what do you have to do? You have to then make cuts in order to be able to to keep moving forward so That's how it can create a structural deficit It reduces the district's financial cushion needed to address unexpected costs emergencies or revenue shortfalls We saw that where you know, we have this issue with the transportation costs last year having that fund balance there allowed us to Use the fund balance to balance those costs out this year in the event that we didn't have the fund balance Again in
068the middle of the year or in the middle of that budget cycle. We might have been forced to look at cuts in other areas Once fund balance is used the district will eventually need to replace it and there's only a couple of ways that you can replace The the what you use the fund balance for so you're either going to have to replace it Through tax levy increases or other forms of revenue, which the district Doesn't really have the ability to create and in that case you then need to have program reductions or staffing cuts in order to balance And an over-reliance can create larger budget gaps in subsequent years Best practices for the use of fund balance Best for them to be used the best for it to be used for primarily one-time and
069non-recurring expenditures such as equipment purchases capital improvements not covered by capital projects technology upgrades and startup costs for new initiatives. Meaning the cost that would be involved in creating a new initiative, not the new initiative that would remain in the budget, but just the startup costs for getting it going. So that might be for like a new program. It might be the professional development to teach everybody the new... program that you have but not the cost of the ongoing program and you should avoid using fund balance to support recurring and operation so to support recurring operational costs such as salaries and benefits as we've stated okay so any questions regarding any of that lastly we have the notices regarding the budget We're also going to have some community meetings coming up and you can see
070the dates there we have the The flyer in three languages, but we will be having meetings on April 15th At the district office here on Monday April 27th I'm sorry. Mr. Stark. Can you say the time for each one? What the time? Oh, I apologize. Yes Wednesday April 15th is at 630 here Monday April 27th at yeshiva Spring Valley girls at 630 and Monday May 4th at the Chestnut Ridge middle school also at 630 and then finally the budget vote date is May 19th 2026 Trustee candidate petition and statements of expenditures forms And the deadline to file petitions is Monday, April 20th 2026 at 5 p.m. And there will be a budget hearing on May 6th 2026 that our board meeting here Again followed by the budget vote day of May 19th You have voters
071do some voter information voter registration information There as well And you must be registered to vote at least 14 days prior to the vote date So seeing that you're done with the budget presentation. I do want to go back. I do have question about Summer school and after school for next year. I know I've asked this year. What is the plan for after school? I was told that It would be we would be given an update at the next board meeting a lot of board meetings went by still to this day No update on current status of after school for this year I don't know if there's any plans for summer school if that can be provided to us that update but also is it budgeted is it in next year's budget for us to
072have after school programs and summer school summer programs for our students and if anyone can answer this question too I know we had an agreement with the MLK Center for them to start their summer program after school program with our students till this day i still haven't been we the board we still haven't been provided with an update and i understand that it's a grant i believe that they were that they receive um that they can lose and i believe this is a year three or two where we as a district have not moved forward with that program so dr shannon so daniel is that something you can address yeah i can give you some information about the um mlk it The Martin Luther King Center wrote a grant that was funded by the Office
073of Children and Family Services. It is their grant to provide after-school programs. We've been working with them quite frequently, trying to help them in implementing this program. They have had a very hard time getting staff, and that is, we've made many suggestions. Looking forward to colleges. We have posted it in our schools. We've had a few teachers, but not many teachers have applied for it. But they are just coming up short with staff. So we're in discussions with them continuously to try to help them move the program along. It's supposed to be in three of our schools. I mean, one thing I will say is that... It would be hard to find teachers closer than a school year asking them to teach an after school program when they probably have other obligations. I mean, knowing
074that this grant has been sitting for a few years, I think this is something that should have been planned during the summer so that we could have people in place by at least September, October. So what happens with that grant and that program if they don't have staffing do we just lose it or well, I Don't know what happens with it So they are the fiscal agents of the grant the MLK Center applied for it and and won the grant So it's their grant and they provide us services It's the same grant that we had a number of years ago. I don't know if you recall the Empire After School Grant. Correct. That was our grant that belonged to the district. So we were the fiscal agents. We did the hiring and the recruiting, provided
075the services. After a couple years, we contracted with an outside agency to help us do that. And that was completely staffed. It was full in the schools that we had Empire in. So what are we doing as a district to support our students? I know What outside organizations are trying to do but as a district we should be providing supports to our students K through 12 Not only during school hours, but also after school summer and providing summer programs Why did we not have something in place? Prior to the start of the school year for our students K through 12 Besides of course middle school high school sports in their usual clubs So I'll take my notes anyways. I'll share with the superintendent and so she can respond to it And if a response can
076be provided at the next board meeting on March 24th, that would be nice. Thank you. Sure. Thank you Sorry, this concludes the superintendent report. I'm gonna turn it over to vice president miss McHale to continue with the remainder of the agenda Yeah, one second. Mr. Gandhi Trustee Rivera has a question sure that he would have asked mr. Lusko Yeah, thank you. Mr. Gandhi. Thank you Madam president, we were talking last time We were talking about the snow days. It's still showing on the calendar about the 30th, 31st of March that those are make-up days. I thought there was supposed to be a waiver process, and if so, where are we with that waiver process? As far as I know, a request was made to the State Ed Department for those days. I happened to speak
077to the superintendent earlier today very briefly, and she mentioned that the response from the State Ed Department will take months. So I think she's looking at an alternative to address those two days. Apparently the State Ed Department response to the district will take months, which is obviously completely unhelpful. Spring break is right around the corner. Yeah, yeah, it would be it would from what Anna shared that that'll be far far later than that Which is not helpful at all for purposes of scheduling and planning. I I Miss it. My knowledge is purely vicarious. I don't I don't know directly but that's what our monitors have any No, well, maybe I'm sorry. I thought maybe Sean did but I know I do not So is it I have a question so let's say is it true
078that if It takes months and then let's say they deny it. Well, we have to pay back money. Is that true? Yes Hundreds of thousands of dollars a day Again, I share what I learned from the superintendent today This is a bit beyond my expertise and knowledge, but I just happen to have a quick conversation with her today And so yeah, we would So she's trying to avoid that she's looking for a solution to avoid that I don't want to over speak the for the superintendent But I think she's I think and it's trying to trying to figure out a solution to that Does there appear to be a real risk of that considering that they were state emergencies? Yeah It doesn't make a lot of sense I just want to bring up one more
079thing. I don't know if there's an up if we have an update on it tonight and if not if it could be If we can be provided with an update at the next meeting it was mentioned a few meetings ago that We had about 900 students that are absent a day. Do we have an update on that number or how are we moving forward with that? We don't have any update right now, but this was from the December 7 meeting the chronic absenteeism correct yeah so we don't have any updates on it right now we can definitely share the update and i'm sorry notes as well so i did say that was the last thing but um i think this is the last one um as we talked about uh what schools were in good
080standing um tsis lsis uh what i did notice is that um no one mentioned the graduation rates that came out a few weeks ago i know that rample high school i want to congratulate ramapai high school for being at 88 percent um as a district we had 70 percent and i know school valley is at 59 is that something that will be mentioned at the next board meeting by our team so i can um definitely uh talk to um interim superintendent about that thank you mr gandhi i want to go back to i guess i want to maybe impress upon Ms. Velasquez and her office, even Mr. Gerhardt, to try to push state ed to give some assurances considering it was a state of emergency those days, those three days, and they are the ones
081who said, there's a waiver, apply. So I guess I want to put that on the record that we want to try to push, maybe to get them to give some assurances to that end. And I know in my conversation with Superintendent Velusco, she's definitely working on it. And I know, according to the state, they easily review all these applications end of the school year. So I know that she's working with them to get some answers. I mean, would it help if maybe parents, teachers, staff, board members advocated and sent emails to the state asking the question? I mean, I don't think it would hurt to advocate to know. How we should move as a district. I mean, yeah, that can definitely help. But again, I know she's definitely constantly in touch with them as well,
082just to find out the answers or come up with an alternative plan for the makeup days. And I believe she will be here on the 26th, which is right before spring break for the sheroes. Yeah, the makeup days are for March 30th and 31st right now. So know what I'm saying is the Commissioner will be here for the sheroes event, so Hopefully she has the answer before then. Oh, yeah, or we can ask her. Yep Okay. Thank you to Mr. Gandhi for stepping in this evening and as well as the cabinet for the information. And I know that all the questions that was given to you this evening and all the needs that we need, you know, I know that you'll make sure that we get them the next board meeting, please. Thank you. Okay,
083let's move on to consent and agenda items. I'm sorry, just one thing. So I did go back and find, Trustee Pierre Charles is correct that on... Charles Pierre. Charles, what did I say? Pierre Charles, it's Charles Pierre. Sorry, I apologize. We did, in fact, approve the creation of the tax certiorari. May 6th of 2025 during the setting of the reserves process in the conversations with the auditor it came up that that had never been created so I attribute this to my early Alzheimer's it is completely and totally my error I apologize for it but there would be no need for for us to create something that we already created in May of last year so you may want to Yeah, I got to go back to this meeting It was removed you're talking about I
084think I think when you do the action items before we do the action items will amend the agenda to remove item three of the action items Okay, so right now we're in a motion to do that right now. You're on consent. Are you? Yeah, okay All right. So at this time, I so is there a motion to accept consent and agenda items 1 through 11 1 through 11. All right, moved by Trustee Weismandel. And I will second for the purpose of discussion. I know there was a question. Trustee Charles-Pierre? Yes, I would like to amend item number 10 to remove item number 1 until the next board meeting. Do we need to Douglas make so let's make another motion to amend Consent and agenda item number 10 remove Let me get there. Yeah item 10
085Appointment number one. Yep. Thank you. Is there a motion? All right motion made by trustee Charles Pierre. Is there second? Second by, it sound like Trustee Fetter. All in favor? Aye. Any opposition or abstentions? Hearing none, motion carries. So now let's go back to consent and agenda items. I'm gonna say one through 11 still. As amended. As amended. Is there a motion? I believe that was motion made by Trustee Wisemando. Better okay better is there a second that was second by trustee cough all in favor Any oppositions or abstentions? hearing none motion carries Moving right along Let's look at action items 1 through 11. I'm sorry 1 through 13 Is there a motion to accept action items 1 through 13? I think we want to make a motion to amend action items to remove item
086three, do we not? Yes, we got to take that off. Thank you. All right, so let me go back. Action item number three, we'd like to make, yeah, I need a motion to remove action item number three. Motion. Motion made by Trustee Rivera. Second. Is there a second? Second. Second by Trustee Charles-Pierre. All in favor? Aye. Any oppositions or abstentions? Hearing none motion carries. Okay. So now let's go I need a motion for action items I'm gonna say 1 2 and then 4 through 13 is your motion. That sound like wise Mando Okay, trustee says motion made by trustee wise Mando. Is there a second? second by trustee cough Better all right. Sorry about that. You guys sound sounded like they're they're purposely doing yeah. I know they are Yeah, they are all in favor
087Any oppositions or abstentions discussion? Okay trustee Charles fear discussion. Yes, I noticed that the past few Board meetings we've had the flag football clinic on the agenda Can someone explain exactly? what that is and what exactly we're looking for. Dr. Shanahan. Thank you. This is the first time that the flag football is on the agenda. The last, you might be thinking of a soccer clinic. No, no, we rejected the RFPs the last, I think, two. So, right, so... The flag football initiative is similar to the soccer clinic at Pomona Middle School. It's funded by the extended learning time grant and it's for to supplement the after-school program there and the Saturday program. So we use it in combination with the academic tutorials that we have in reading and math. So students will do for one
088hour reading and math and homework help and then engage in either soccer or flag football. And then the other group will start with the athletics and then do the academic part and the same thing on Saturday. And it's going to cost us $64,000 for three months? Yes. I think the next question had to do with there's been changes to the numbers. Trustee Charles-Pierre, you're still on number? Eight or? No, no, number seven. Why are we just now approving these agreements? I see one is from December. The other one's from October. Is there a reason why we didn't approve this prior to now? Sabrina, which one are you looking at? Number seven, the health and welfare services, multiple school districts, the agreements. And I'm sorry, you said they were? From when did you say one is
089one is February 13th. One is February. The other one is December But they go back to I believe September Yes, so the Generally been providing these services since September, right? Yeah. Yes. So generally what happens with these agreements? It's it's at this time of year that the agreements start being Transferred back and forth between all the districts. So all of the districts that have students that are in out-of-district placements in other school districts the law requires that the home district of the student pay for a portion of the nursing and health and welfare services that are provided in the district where the children attend school so generally at this time of year the agreements start going back and forth amongst the school districts we send them out to districts that would have children that are
090placed in our district and then they are also we're receiving them from this from districts where our children are they generally so later in the year because they want we want them to reflect the proper number of students that are Getting those services. So that these that these are these are coming to the boards at this time I'm aware of from December until now. I Don't have an answer for you. I have to go back and find out that's a good job But I'm aware of how the service works. What I'm saying is the agreement was made December 1st 2025 Why are we approving it in March? Why did we not approve it back in December? Again, that's what I said. I will have to go back and determine when when it was received and
091I Mean the date the date is there. I mean, I don't see what would the date is on the contract I see that. Like I said, the only one that has a pass is the one for... I have to find out how it was received by the district and when. And if it's accurate that we received it in December, it may or may not be, but I'll have to research. So if it's not accurate that it was in December, so would that agreement date be incorrect? I didn't say that. I said I have to research it to determine whether or not that date is correct or incorrect. It could be that it was sitting on somebody's desk, but I can't answer that without looking into it further. And that's a problem that the past few
092meetings it's we've been presented with contracts and agreements from months ago That was received by the district and for whatever reason we're approving it months later Okay, I have a question for the business office I believe that the an email was sent out last week in of the week to the all the non-public schools for their title supply orders With a deadline of less than two weeks Whereas in the past the deadline was in mid-may. Can I make a suggestion Sam? Since we have a motion and a second on the action items Maybe we should vote on that and then your question we can ask your question either under new or old business Thank you. So just for the good of the order Late in the day today there was a discussion about the flag
093football clinic that There's a there's a question as to whether you know what happens if there's a smaller group of students than expected Participating and Daniel can fill in the blanks, but I share that with you because in the context of what you're asking We're approving this contract But we anticipate a an amendment at the next meeting that will just qualify a little bit in the case that there may not be as many students participating as we hope we want you to approve it tonight because This is a program that the students are very interested in starting and the folks involved are very interested in starting. So we want to approve it tonight, but there will be a small amendment just to factor in in case there aren't enough students. You know, what do those
094students do and how does that work? Did I get that right pretty much, Daniel? Yes, absolutely. That's in response to a conversation I had with Ms. McGill looking for... clause that had this that condition and I heard from the school that it's they're not worried about the number of students that are going to be participating but we will put something together that will describe what will happen in that case And Daniel Daniel already crafted language that would do this it sounded fine But it didn't seem appropriate to bring it to the board at the lake at 6 o'clock tonight for a 730 meeting So we'll just do a brief amendment to this a contract for the next time I believe the contract was original on the agenda. It was removed. I remember seeing yesterday a
095chart how they gonna charge Football wins it's still here. It's still here number eight My last question has to do with number 11 the agreement the moa for supervisors of business I notice with this new title, the board is approving an MOA and for the terms of the new title. And I know I've asked a question in the past where new titles were created, but we were told that the board doesn't have to approve those new titles. So I just want clarification moving forward when new titles are being created, is it supposed to be board approved or not board approved? Because I know in the past it has been board approved. So, excuse me, I can't I don't I can't speak to the past though I don't know what was explained to the board in
096the past However, this is an opportunity to add a title to a particular bargaining unit. And since we're adding it to a bargaining unit We can't just do that by ourselves and say hey bargaining unit. You're not gonna have this title. So because this This particular position was originally part of the clerical unit. However, it's evolved into this broader role, which includes supervision, particularly of the mailroom. And because of that, it makes sense for it to not stay in the clerical unit, but move into the SOB unit. But we can't just put positions into bargaining units without an MOA, which is what this does. Yeah, sorry, why are we approving the contract if you think it still might be amended so the program can get started Otherwise it's delayed for another two weeks Will we
097need to vote on the? You'll see the amendment. Yeah the amendment it doesn't change the program. It just it just qualifies in case there aren't enough students frankly the amendment is probably Built in suspenders. You probably won't even become operational because a lot of students that are interested so approving the RFP wouldn't be good enough for them to start if they had to. These are all cost-reimbursable contracts anyway, right? These are all cost-reimbursable contracts? I don't know if they're reimbursable. Are they cost-reimbursable contracts? Yeah, no, I hear you. I do not know. I don't know how the funding works. Yes, that's the case. Then when they request a reimbursement, we'll know for sure exactly. It just won't go above that number. Right. Oh, yeah, exactly. No, it's maximum. Thank you. Okay, any other questions Okay,
098I know there was a second made and I'm a motion made in a second maze. So I'm gonna say all in favor any oppositions or abstentions Hearing none motion carries and the next item on the agenda information and reports from the board back to my question What was that trustee Fetter my question was for the ordering of the title supplies I believe in the past years the deadline was between May 9 May 20th and May 20th This year it was pushed back two months with a very short notice Can anybody explain? Yeah, I can begin to explain so there there have been issues with the completion of the school district's independent audit and as a result of that we have been asked to in order to be able to close the books for each year
099to put an end to spending at an earlier date in time So that is something that was a problem at the end of last year. We did have some conversations about it. I think there may have been some confusion in terms of what went out to the nonpublics. There was a request, I believe, made by Dr. Shanahan last week to push that deadline up. We had a request from we had a request from Hirsch Horowitz. Rabbi Horowitz to consider an extension. We did have, as I mentioned, we had a meeting about transportation where I was with many of the administrators last week. During that meeting, Rabbi Horowitz asked if we would be able to extend that by a week to provide some additional time to get purchase orders, I'm sorry, requisitions into the system. approval
100I agreed to that request I can tell you that this week we have had hundreds of those requisitions coming in they have been working to get those in I have not heard back from Rabbi Horowitz on a request for a further extension which I imagine if if there if he was still hearing a lot of complaints on that he probably would have called about that but I hadn't heard that so we did extend the deadline for them there was some concern about the original one being right after a holiday where a lot of the schools were closed and people were out in the non-public so we did grant that extension We also did have a conversation during that meeting that moving forward our deadlines would be earlier in order to accommodate the the close of
101the books for the district now that being said with The federal grants. There's also an ability Once July 1st comes to start doing purchase orders again because those grants go from July 1 through I'm sorry. They go from September 1 to August 31st of each year Our closing of the books and closing payables and so on and so forth needs to be done for June 30th So there has to be a point in the middle of the grant funding year where we can't do purchase orders, but we will be able to and this was also explained to everyone that we will be able to Take additional purchase orders for the grants that end on August 31st on July 1st again to Do some additional spending and I believe they were made aware of that as
102well, correct? Yes, that's the process that we followed every year and the the publicized deadline for the non-public schools for purchases with state aid was March 20th and ultimately with the changes in pushing the deadline up and then Being a little bit flexible and moving it back It really is only a week earlier than what it was originally intended to be and this has been communicated to this and there can there be a calendar sent to the list to these no public schools in the beginning of the year with all the check run dates and all the reimbursement run dates of the of the check run dates right yeah we we we create that every year if there's a need for them to receive that we can we can provide that that's that's public information
103yes i think that's going to quiet down a lot of complaints from the public schools I'd like to share a few things since we're at this point of the meeting. Mr. Kravitz, I too was able to read to our students at Grandview and Margetts. It was a delight to nurture our future generation through the magic of reading. and thrilled to see them captivated. Thank you educators and staff for making a difference in the lives of our students. At Chestnut Ridge Middle School, I supported the students this time, where they were reading, the students were from Spring Valley Senior High School, so they were reading to the students at Chestnut Ridge Middle School, which I thought was really great. Also this past Friday, At Spring Valley High School, they celebrated Black History Month, showcasing the talents
104of our students. Even the emcee was one of the students at Spring Valley Senior High School. They also honored our living legend, Mr. Willie Worsley. Mr. Willie Worsley, just a little information about him, he's a former head coach of Spring Valley Boys Varsity Basketball team. He was the point guard in the movie Glory Road. He was the assistant. He's right now formerly the assistant track and field coach. And I do want to say a couple of things that I saw on the banner. In 1966, he was part of the NCAA championship, the Texas Western College, which he attended and played basketball. 2002, Texas Western College Hall of Famer. 2005, Rockland County Coach of the Year. 2007, Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame. 2015, inducted into the Spring Valley Hall of Fame. 2015, Coach of the Year.
1052016, New York City Basketball Hall of Fame. 2018, Rockland County Hall of Fame. 2021 Bronx Basketball Hall of Fame. And then also from 1985 to 2024, he was the Spring Valley basketball coach. Definitely a living legend that has been a part of this district for a very long time. And I can even say he was my son's basketball player. And I do want to say thank you to him for creating the man that my son is today. And him being able to continue his career playing professionally. And right now, Ricky's in Slovakia. But I want to just say thanks to Coach Willie Worsley and his staff. for the support that he had given my son throughout the years. But this man is definitely a living legend. Thank you. I have a few information updates that
106I would like to share as well. On Saturday, in the community, we celebrated International Women's Day, and I just wanna say congratulations to three of our Spring Valley students, Armel Montalus, Shakia Caston, and Genesis Valadez, on being our scholarship recipients. I also would like to congratulate our family resource coordinators who were honored at this event. We did have Miss Ford Stevens attend the event. and receive the plaque and also certificates for all of our coordinators. Next, I would like to say thank you to our East Ramapo Marching Band and our East Ramapo Show Choir for participating at the Rocking Community College Black History Month event on Saturday, February 28th. It's always great to see our students outside of the district and putting a performance on for the community. I know our RCC president enjoyed it.
107And last I would like to say congratulations to Chin Malam Matukwa and Deborah Agri Lopez from Rample High School and Pablo Manzon Lemas and Christian Vechi from Swinville on being named valedictorian and salutatorian. Congratulations to them. okay great okay now um written communications since the last board meeting the board has not received written communications future meeting dates a regular meeting is scheduled for march 24th 2026 in the plcc room in the administration building at 105 south madison avenue spring valley new york i now make a motion for us to go into executive session miss keevy To discuss matters regarding the possible settlement of a litigation matter, discuss an update on contract negotiations and possible employment or termination of particular persons. We do not expect action following. Is there a second? Sound like Trustee Weismandel. All
108in favor? Any oppositions or abstentions? Hearing none, motion carries. We will now enter into executive session. Have a good night. Okay, we're ready? Okay. Is there a motion to adjourn tonight's meeting? Okay, I heard Trustee Charles Spier second. Second by Trustee Wisemando. All in favor? Any oppositions or abstentions, anybody? Hearing none, motion carries.