001like to call this meeting to order audience you can be seated they're gonna they're gonna um have two additional songs that they are gonna sing for us tonight so thank you very much wow thank you that was amazing that was so beautiful that was amazing thank you okay good evening everyone again fire exits are located in the size 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 common orderly fashion to the nearest exits we will now I'm sorry. Mr. DeCarlo is going to present. Couple of awards. Thank you very much President Rose, board trustees. As you can see tonight when you see the show choir from around the district, that's the beginning of these students getting involved
002in music and the arts and then when we see it, you'll hear me talk a little bit about Pomona and their musical, This Is Where It Starts. So I want to thank the board and the community for all your support and understanding how important the arts are here at East Ramapo. So thank you very, very much. Now I have the opportunity to present to you two award recipients, one from... Ramapo High School and the other from Spring Valley High School, they were awarded recently the Embrace, Empower, and Embody Award at the 11th Annual Visionary Luncheon. And what's important about these two incredible students at both our high schools, this is the first year that marks a special milestone for the Embrace, Empower, and Embody community, that it's their first inauguration of a scholarship. that is
003presented to high school seniors, and they're awarded $1,000 worth of scholarship. And tonight we have both principals and one of our honorees here. So I'm going to first call up our principal from Ramapo High School, Ms. Rode October Cooper. And she's going to talk a little bit about Jaden Kong, who was our recipient at Ramapo High School, a little bit about Jaden, what he's going to be doing in his future. So without further ado, I turn it over to you. Good evening, everyone. Thank you for allowing me to be here to present on behalf of Jaden. Jaden happens to be one of our star scholars at Ramapo High School. He applied to practically all of the colleges that he applied to, he actually got in. His goal is to become an engineer. He will be
004attending Georgia Tech in the fall. Got into Columbia, got into Stony Brook in terms of their STEM program, and got some money in addition to all of this. We are very proud of Jaden. He is truly a remarkable young man and he's not here today because he's actually studying for his AP exams. So it speaks to the caliber of students that he is. So I certainly will make sure that he receives this. Thank you again for the opportunity to present this on his behalf. Of course, absolutely. Thank you and congratulations, Jayden. Our next award recipient. is Destiny Jean Louise from Spring Valley High School. I'm gonna have the Spring Valley High School principal come up. Mr. Frank Carlson, I'm gonna ask Destiny to also come up. Thank you so very much. Mr. Carlson's gonna talk
005a little bit about Destiny and her journey through Spring Valley High School, and then we'll hear a couple of words from Destiny. Mr. Carlson? So I had the opportunity to meet Destiny this year. I think she was one of the first students that I met. And every day Destiny comes in with a big smile on her face and she carries that positive energy throughout the course of the day. Destiny is, if we just looked at her academic success, we wouldn't be doing her justice. Destiny is a leader in every aspect of the word. Destiny, whether she's involved in a club or student leadership. If she's involved in it, you know she'll be in the office asking for things, advocating for her students. If she's not involved in it, somehow she's involved. But Destiny is a
006pillar in our community at Spring Valley High School. I think the best way I could sum Destiny up is she's part of our principal circle. And we were talking, and there's some of the younger students, and I really wanted them to have her perspective and hear from her. And the best way I would summarize Destiny is I'm a father of three young children, and if my children carry themselves the way Destiny carries herself, with the dignity and pride and the courage and just the ability to advocate for herself and others, I would be very proud. So we are extremely proud to present Destiny with this award, and I will let her share where she's attending college because she's doing a fine job. So congratulations, Destiny. Hi, my name is Destiny Lewish-Dean, and I will be
007attending the University of Miami for Aerospace Engineering. So if you remember, you know, we talk about East Ramapo, and these are the type of students that we have here at this school district going to some of the best schools and colleges in the country. And we want to thank you, the community, for your support, of course, your parents for all that they do. And we know you're going to do great things, and we're so proud of your accomplishments now, and we're sure you'll be doing a lot of great things in the future. So, again, congratulations, and thank you, President Rose. Thank you, Mr. DeCarlo. Congratulations, Destiny. Okay, we will now, before we move on to public speaking, meaning that the first part of the meeting is a public hearing on the proposed 25-26 budget, we
008will have the budget presentation and then we'll open the floor for public speaking. So, thank you, President Rhodes. Just, again, good evening to everybody here, our families, our staff, our students, and, of course, our community members. As you know, over the last two months, we have presented our budget through a number of meetings when it came to our department meetings, so the community was able to see what the 25-26 school budget looked like. Tonight's a hearing, and we need to make sure we understand a couple of things. In this budget we put in priorities, our commitment to student success, social, emotionally, academically, and in every aspect of student life. As you are aware, this budget is at a 0% tax levy, but within that budget, we have put back positions that have been cut over
009the last decade. We've added programs. We're having support staff for our students K-12. We're looking at curriculum, professional development, enhancements in our academics, in our athletics, and a variety of different issues. as we approach the 25-26 school year. What is really important is that this budget is not just about this upcoming school year for 25-26, but we're laying out a budget that has its priorities that will be sustainable as we move forward. It's important to understand that May 20th is our vote. We want those of you who can get out and exercise your right to vote. It's really important. In this budget, there are also monies available for us to be able to do some needy repairs specifically if you uh were at the last board meeting we showed you the conditions of our parking
010lots in in our district If you saw those pictures, you can see the decay, whether it's the sidewalks, whether it's the actual parking lots themselves. We have catch basins that are basically non-functional. So within this budget, there's $5.2 million to do some needy work that we need to do as we move forward, not only for next year, but also for years to come. So we are here tonight as a part of the budget hearing. to hear some of your thoughts and comments. It's kind of interesting because the state of New York does this. Every school system, probably in New York tonight, is having the same meeting on a budget hearing. However, as you are aware, every school district's board has already adopted their budget. It's just the way it happens. Don't ask us why. It's
011been that way for many, many, many years. So I will turn it over to President Rose. Mr. Stark is available for any questions that may come up. in the presentation. Presentations have been online. Mr. Stark and myself have gone throughout the community presenting the budget. I will be going on a number of radio stations coming up in the next couple of weeks to talk about the budget because I know it's difficult for people sometimes to get out. So I'm going to be doing a couple of radio programs. I'll be at a couple of churches coming up over the next weekend. But it's important to get out there and exercise your right. Because, you know, what I hear as an interim superintendent is, well, my vote doesn't matter. That's not the attitude to have. Every vote
012counts. And if you can, get a friend, get a neighbor, whoever you may have out there in the community, both public and non-public, and come out and vote the way you think that this district should head on May 20th. So, President Rose, I thank you very much, and I turn it back over to you. Thank you very much, Mr. Zaccalo. Okay, I will now make a motion to open the floor for public speaking. Do I have a second? Second. Second by Vice President McGill. All those in favor say aye. And I'm going to pause and say motion carries. Speaker number one. Good evening. I'd like to say what a wonderful job these young little singers did. It was amazing. I'd like to point out that I got a nice video of it and, you know,
013board members looking at their phone too. Some board members, not all, just some. And, you know, you've continuously had a board member missing here for the longest time. What are the board rules? Fill the seat already. I mean, it's ridiculous. Why are we letting people get away with this? There's rules set for a reason. As you said, Mr. DiCarlo, people are saying why their votes don't count. Look at these floors. This is disgusting. I understand they're being repaired, but imagine what a lot of other schools look like when children said the nurses' rooms had big holes in the wall. Ceilings have holes and still leaking. If I'm correct, it's still like $200 million worth of repairs we need. 80-something teachers we need. New books we need. Repairs. Passing this budget this year means a lot.
014to not only the public school community but the private school community with services, transportation, everything that's needed. We still need more social workers. We still need more counselors. Teachers are leaving and teachers are coming in. It's a catastrophe. We need more programs that are going to help educate our children and further them. to become successful in the future. Children, young teens have been coming to this podium, speaking about it, inquiring about how they can be challenged, how they can have the classes that they haven't had in years back again. There's a lot that this district needs. So I'm imploring the community, those people that are here online, let's stop. the decade of not passing the budget and start understanding it's about all children whether public or private it's about all children receiving help and education
015that's needed it doesn't if this doesn't pass if then we know where the community stands and this has to be a change there has to there has to start being a change somewhere Because we cannot have a continuum of decade after decade of self-finishedness, of everybody wanting something for free and not understanding that it's about the children, the quality and equality of education that they need and deserve. And everybody knows if we need to start marching, if we need to start protesting, if we need to start saying let's shut the schools down because we can't get it, we'll do it. It's not a problem. Remember I stood here and said it will do it. I don't have a problem standing up for fighting for justice I don't have a problem standing up here fighting for
016equality For everyone not just one group Not just the minority but a whole thank you speaker number two Good evening the budget crafted by mr. DiCarlo and mr. Stark is the budget the public schools need. It addresses many of the pressing problems facing the schools. Public school children need to feel worthy. They don't feel worthy with broken lunchroom furniture, a shortage of staff for English language learners, lack of updated textbooks, buildings still in need of repair. My question is to the board. As members of the board, which is supposed to be looking out for the best interests of children, what are you doing to promote the passage of this budget, which your constituents? Thank you. Thank you. Speaker number three. Good evening members of the board today. I'm speaking on behalf of myself and Alexis
017Palencia because he couldn't make it today because he's studying for his ap's But I'm gonna start off with Alexis his point today I'd like to make take a moment to talk about the food served at Ramapo senior high school as a student I can honestly say that while the meals may not be gourmet. They're certainly decent and serve their purpose Well, they provide the essential nutrients. We need to maintain balance and healthy diets. Of course, there's always room for improvement and we should continue striving to enhance the quality and variety of what's offered. That said, the food is generally tasty and I find myself eating it regularly. As a district, we owe it to our students to keep pushing for better quality food and more nutritious options whenever possible. But to add on to that
018point as well, from what I've noticed, we haven't really moved on from the pandemic on the basis of food. We are still packaging our food in plastic containers. and not on trays that could be reusable. And I know that we're still transitioning from that point. But I want to make a point about being more eco-friendly in our schools, mainly because it also helps us gain more money in our budget. So we need to look at that as well. But that's all I want to talk about today. But I would also like to know about the point about some of the board members not paying attention because I usually am looking and reading off my phone or paper, but usually there's people looking down at their screens or at their phones. And I just want to
019acknowledge that, of course. Thank you. Thank you. Speaker number four. Good evening. My name is Chaya Rosenblum, and I have the honor of serving as the principal of Khedr Chabad of Munsee Girls' School for the past 17 years. It's a private school within the East Ramapo Central School District. Throughout these years, we've constantly had students who needed additional support, whether through speech and language services, resource room help, or psychological support. And we have always embraced that responsibility with the seriousness it deserves. I'm proud to say that historically, our support staff, provided by East Ramapo, school psychologists, speech therapists, and resource room teachers, have been exceptional. But today I come to you not with praise, but with concern. Because the system that once worked beautifully, effectively, and compassionately has been upended. The ones paying the price
020are our children. Let me begin with the role of the school psychologist. In the past, the psychologist was a critical member of our team, working closely with teachers, students, and parents, serving as a true liaison in annual reviews and child find discussions. Today, that support has been reduced to short, fragmented time slots. The psychologist is no longer allowed to serve as that liaison role, and the impact has been devastating. This year's annual review meetings Frankly, we're a nightmare. Invitations were often sent last minute, if at all. I, as the principal, and parents alike were left scrambling or left out. Meetings were scheduled without consultation with the school, with no regard for timing or coordination. The stress and disorganization caused chaos. None of it should be part of the process that's supposed to support our most
021vulnerable students. But it doesn't stop there. Our resource room teacher, a beloved and essential part of our team, is no longer able to consistently teach her students. Since President's Week, she has seen her assigned students irregularly. Why? Because she's constantly pulled into meetings for students who are not hers. Randomly assigned, unpredictably scheduled, and with no regard for the time her students are losing. And these students are losing. Losing vital instruction time. losing the consistency they need, losing the chance to make meaningful progress. What's most painful is this, we had a system that worked. It wasn't broken. The students were receiving the support they needed. The teachers, psychologists, and specialists were collaborating as a team. And now, we're taking that functioning system and broken it. Needlessly, carelessly, and our children are the ones that suffer. This
022is not acceptable. We are not asking for miracles. We are asking to return to what worked, to give our professionals the time and structure they need to support students effectively, to coordinate schedules with the school, to stop pulling teachers away from the students they are meant to help, to let our psychologists do more than just check boxes. They should be part of the process, guiding it with their wisdom. This isn't just about policy. It's about people, our students, and they deserve better. Thank you. Thank you. Speaker number five. I want to thank Mr. DiCarlo and Mr. Stark for putting this budget, this budget, so equitable and so good for our students. Our parents are very grateful. They are grateful that they have thought about all the deficiencies that Islamopo has been having and the ones
023we want to achieve. We have many more questions, since this we will take it to vote and where, unfortunately, most of our parents who belong to Israel will not be able to vote. So, we are going to depend on a community that has been voting for 10 years for a failed valley. So, if we go back to that, we have to ask ourselves, what will happen if the valley doesn't pass? Porque estos planes los tenemos si es que el budget pasa, pero si no pasa, ¿cuál es el plan? Okay, so también tenemos en la póliza para el, que los dos, tenemos que tener dos estudiantes en el board. Y no los hemos visto, los queremos de esos dos estudiantes que tienen que ser parte del board, los queremos ahí. We want parents to have the
024opportunity to meet the candidates that will come for the superintendent. We want to meet them first. We don't want them to present us the day he starts here. No. We want to meet them first, we want their references, we want everything we need to know. We want to be part of the process. Last time it wasn't like that. I had to introduce you to Mr. DiCarlo the night you came here. I had to introduce you to your parents, which I didn't see. Nothing professional, being from a district. We didn't know you before. I saw you at a meeting before, but no one said you were here and you were going to be the new superintendent. So we don't want that. We want you to be fair and we want you to be a qualified person.
025We want you. We know we can't. Right? Thank you. Speaker number six. Thank you all the parents for the great work you have done. In our hearts, we can only thank you. Thank you very much. We would like you to continue so that this process that you have taken, a whole year, that has been a reform, to take pieces of ten years and build a new project that we see that it is working and you did it in a spectacular way, in a spectacular way. We just want to thank you. Por otra parte, a los otros miembros del board, les quiero decir que es muy triste nosotros tratar de depender de otras personas, que otras personas tomen las decisiones sobre nuestros hijos. Nosotros no tenemos... the democratic power to go, the majority would say they
026don't have the democratic power to go and choose for a budget. And it's more, I could tell you that 90% of the population that goes to school, parents, have no idea what a budget is, or what they vote for, or what they do. Whether they are citizens or not, they don't have the correct information. That is also a lack of information, I don't know how it could be done. to inform parents, to educate parents. We, as parents and organizations, have taken the work that does not correspond to us and we are working to try to educate parents so that they can attend meetings, to the decisions that are made here, which is very important. For my part, I just want to say that it is really very sad to depend on other people. to make
027decisions for our children because those decisions have been failed for ten years. If you were on our side, if we were on the other side, how would we feel? We would feel frustration, sadness, to see ten years lost. There are many children who want to go to my son, for example. He has to go to the Chesnary. But I listen... All the problems that exist in Spring Valley High School, the academic level that is so poor, you think that my heart is not sad to see that? And I put my son in that school or in another school in Ramapo, when the education is not good, when I want the best for my son, as I have done with my other children. I have a daughter who is a doctor, a son who also studies.
028I have tried to give the best education to the older ones, and I have. But here I am tied up because it doesn't depend on me, it depends on all of you. And that is frustrating. I know that it also depends on us as parents, that we instruct our children to make better decisions, to study and prepare. But when the environment doesn't collaborate, I think it's a 50% failure. Thank you. That concludes public speaking. Mr. DeCarlo? Yes, so a couple of... Questions were raised and I just want to go through them with you. Mr. Stark, if you could just let the community know what happens if the first budget does not pass, what those next steps are. Sure. In the event that the budget vote does not pass, the... The board has two options one
029one option is to go directly to contingent budget and the second is to have a Revote and the revote is a date that's set in June so Trying to be positive that that will not be the case. So we hope that we don't have to have those conversations but if we do those conversations will be had and a decision will be made and At that point we would present a second look at the budget And that would be done in the in the first meeting after two weeks from Tuesday. So the first meeting in June Okay, thank you. The second question about students on the board. So next September, by state statute, every board of education has to have a student representative who will be here every single board meeting. That's been passed by New
030York State. And then, you know, once the classes, both at Ramapo and Spring Valley, have their elections for next year, based on that, we will get representatives and they'll be on. and here on the board for every meeting that's been passed by new york state next superintendent search So you are correct years ago, right years ago Everything was called site-based right where it went through a committee there were conversations It was made up of students parents those days are gone and that's not just here at Ramapo. It's everywhere These searches are closed because of the confidentiality Right, so I clearly hear what you're saying, but this is not just unique to East Ramapo This is something that because of the nature of what's happened in education that these searches are closed, again, because of the
031issue of confidentiality. I can tell you this though, and I promise you this, whoever is chosen to be the next superintendent of schools, there will be a transition with that individual with myself. you know me I'm honest and upfront I will have honest and upfront conversations with the new superintendent whoever he or she may be so there will definitely be that transition but I just wanted to update you on it because that's the reality of what's happened in the nature of selection with regards to you know superintendents of school I think that's it, President Rose. I think for the most part I answered all those questions. Thank you very much, Mr. DiCarlo. I will now, we're going to adjourn. This is still technically the budget public hearing. We're going to adjourn this meeting and then
032we'll open up the regular meeting. So I'll now make a motion to adjourn this meeting. Do I have a second? Second by Mr. Federer. All those in favor say aye. Aye. And I'm opposed. The same motion carries. I will now open up the regular meeting. Call to order. Super good? Yeah. So just a couple of updates on some of the things that are going on. I just want to, again, thank everybody for coming to the board meetings, listening to the budget over the last almost two months. I want to thank the board for your questions, for your thoughts, for your opinions. As I said, I think it's a responsible budget that's going out to the community, and we'll see how they vote on May 20th. Of course, as you know, this week is Teacher Appreciation
033Week. Describe your teacher in three words at once. Describe your teacher in three parts or in two. Adaptive. Charismatic. Kind and funny. Funny. Understanding. Innovative. Down to earth. And compassionate. What's the most funny thing that has happened in your teacher's classroom? When we do brain break, she dances a lot. She wore a penguin. There's one teacher who's like the most serious person I know, and one day she just showed up in a crab outfit. Dig through the garbage for something a student really likes. Our teacher usually makes memes about us. Ballerina post-bite. What is your favorite thing in your teacher's classroom? Los libros. He has a lot of Funko Pops. So he has a stitch and the stitch has like a diaper. So our AP stats teacher actually comes in every single day wearing a
034new tie and the tie can range from anything having to do with calculus, Looney Tunes characters, Batman or Superman. A bell from the 1950s that he had tells a really good story. So that's a little bit of a thank you for more student population. all the work that our teachers and our staff do each and every day and although it's a special week this week we thank you for what you do each and every day because as you know It's all about teaching and learning and instruction. And the teachers that work here work hard every day and want to do the best by our students. So on behalf of myself, the Board of Education, I want to take this opportunity to thank all of our teachers and staff for all they do for our students,
035not just this week, but each and every week that they're here teaching in East Ramapo. So thank you. So summer learning I know this question came up a lot. Mr. Decarlo last year we didn't have summer school the last second are we back? Yes, we are back and as you can see we're back strong You can see that there are a number of our programs that are already full our all sports program Is full our computer science program is full our We still have some room in our STEM program, and we're working on our credit recovery program. What we were able to do, and we talked about this first come, first serve, we've worked really hard to make sure that we could get as many students as we could possibly get in to meet the
036numbers of the capacity of what we're looking at. So we're excited about it. The team is now working on transportation, getting that ready so that we can start, you know, as soon as the 4th of July break is over. So we're excited about it. um you know and hopefully it'll be a great experience for all of our students who take place in this with our summer um secondary program especially at the high school we have to wait on that a little bit because as you're aware our students are still finishing up the fourth quarter as well as finishing up their their their exams their regents exams so once we have a better understanding of credit recovery and and summer regents review will have a better number of how many students will be involved with that
037it's important to understand that we're offering this program here this year at spring valley high school ramapo high school is having its seating and auditorium redone so that's why our program at secondary for our high schools will bring at spring valley high school so we're excited to get going and then as i mentioned to you before budget vote on may 20th that is two weeks from today um please again you um use your right to to vote we know we have our award so this was brought up let me that was the one thing i missed the brain is kicking in so who's running and and what's happening so um we had four seats that were open this year um we have um three of our incumbents that are coming back um with regards to
038continuing to serve on the board I believe and if I make a mistake, please don't hit me with a right noodle. I believe Sabrina is representing her district coming back Gruber is representing his district coming back and Fe is representing his district who's not here coming back. They were all unopposed So they will be on the ballot Come Election Day and then we have from district 1 as you know, Eric Mercer young Unfortunately had a step down but we have Hiram Rivera. He'll be representing district 1 so those He's running I'm saying but I'm saying those are the four that are running I'm sorry if I misspoke those are the four that are running for those districts. So that's an update on that So again, thank you and president Rose. That's my superintendents report for
039tonight. Thank you very much. Mr. Ricardo Moving on to consent and agenda items Do I have a motion for consent and agenda items? one through ten Mr. Koth, second. Second. Second by Vice President McGill. We'll open it up for any discussion. President Rose, there are two minor corrections that need to be made in the minutes for the special meeting. Oh, are they? You got them on here? Never mind. You all good to go? Okay, we have a motion and a second. Any other comments, discussion? Hearing none all those in favor say aye aye and opposed abstain motion carries moving on to action items 1 through 24 action items 1 through 24 I have a motion motion moved by Mr. Gruber I will second we'll open it up for discussion I think before we do a
040motion and second I think for number two we need to appoint a permanent chairperson Yes, Sabrina you are correct do we have any volunteers, looking for a chairperson for the election. In the past, Sabrina has done it, but she's running. Vice President, you wanna do it? Happy birthday. What a great way to spend a birthday. Okay. I would, but it's my birthday. No, no, that's understandable. Any other volunteers? It looks like I'm... Douglas, can we have... We kinda need someone to do this. This is sort of... By law we need so well, why can I would be willing to to do a birthday cake for Miss McGill I couldn't hear that He's over here birthday cake. I could bring a cupcake for you From a cake to a cupcake you said cake first. I I
041retracted the cake. It was a cupcake I'll say why why can't Sabrina do it if she wants to? i don't i don't think there's a prohibition even though she i mean you're running right because her term is still i'm not sure why you couldn't is it a conflict of interest what's the conflict she's unopposed what it's social vote for herself she wins i mean i haven't i i haven't looked at this but off the top of my head i can't think of why she wouldn't be able to do this i mean being that we don't really have volunteers right now i mean are you going to bring me a cake unless you have like a family of like 40 people then I would love to okay I guess we can well we plan to come
042to me what kind do you like I'll go to carousel that day and pick the cake up let me know what you want oh carrot vanilla red velvet red velvet problem solved are you doing a motion for that not for the cake no the cake I think is a it doesn't require a motion All right, so Sherry, you're good? I think we can always, worst case, I think we could change it on the 20th. We can. If it doesn't work for you, we'll figure something out. Okay. Any other discussions? So I guess we'll amend motion to, Douglas, what do we need to do here? Do we need to amend it? Yeah, I think you just amend the motion to include Ms. McGill as the appointed chair. Okay, so do we need to make a motion
043to amend it? So for number two the the appointment of the chair is Sherry McGill and Then that would that go support his mr. Gruber. Would you like to amend the motion? motion number two and Vice president Sharon McGill as the chairperson and who was the second I think I seconded so, okay So I think we're good on the process standpoint Any further discussion Mr. Gruber? Yes, some explanation on the budget transfers. Eric, this is for you. We're taking out from hardware and tech, Aribol, $69, and then we are putting back $60,000. What's that $69,000 that we're taking out? Item 6, I think it's on. Budgetary transfers report. What's BOCES services? Services that BOCES was supposed to do it, and we fell short. Why would we need for BOCES a lot more money? We're adding
044to both these $300,000 that we take. Those are additional services that were planned for during the year but were not budgeted for in last year's budget. The reason for that I can't tell you, but what I can tell you is that in the current year budget it was corrected. So we took it out from transportation. We took out over a million dollars, almost $1.2 million from transportation. Right, but as you know, we're over budgeted. We know that we still have a lot left. Yep. Just interesting, there's a hardware and tech aidable. We took out $69 from them. We needed those to add, and then we put back $60,000 in there. That was just a balance. That other request is moving from? the software into the hardware line and they needed that that full amount and
045then the other was just a balance out to get to get the to to where the the amount needed to be okay and then there's another thing on the bottom school field trips and would to transport is just correcting lines what is that yes so they had so for the for the field trips the the budget is in two different parts it's um the Field trips themselves what you pay for either going to if they're going to the zoo It's what you're paying the zoo and then the other part is the transportation and that building had some higher transportation costs and lower costs for the actual Admissions so they asked to make the transfer so that they could go on Go on an extra trip they used they did lower cost things and wanted to
046do an extra one So they needed a little bit more transportation money and we underestimated the water Yes Did we have any leak or we use more water? Again, I can't really tell you what the issue with the water is. Is Matt here? Do you recall why the water bill, why we needed the $40,000 in the water line? That's our utility costs we did have I want to say six water main breaks this year We were quite over on our water usage due to that We did catch it in a timely manner, but we did have a lot of water that escaped so Our water usage was quite high this year Thank you I see an item 14 emergency declaration of Spring Valley auditorium doors. I guess it was a car accident. Are we claiming
047insurance on this from the... We already received an insurance check from the individual. Okay, great. Would you know if the RFP for forensic auditing services is still open? I'm sorry, could you repeat that? The RFP for the forensic auditing services, is it still open? So the RFP for the forensic auditing services, there were a lot of questions that were asked to clarify what was being asked for in the audit. Those questions had to go back to our attorney, and then they were... added as additional information to the RFP and the date was extended. As of the date of the original date, we had not received any responses. So with the clarifying questions being answered, the date was extended and I believe that's coming up sometime in the next week or two. Is it posted anywhere,
048the date, the new date? Is it what? Is the new date posted anywhere? It's posted on BidNet, yes. On the actual bid, it still says April 17. That was the original I'll get the I'll get the the new date for you. Thanks. Okay We have a motion and a second for items 1 through 24 all those in favor say aye And I want to pose abstain motion carries Before you move on I just want to say Congratulations to all of the individual who received tenure tonight, and I'm wishing them continued success in the years ahead Indeed. Thank you for bringing that up, Sabrina. Congratulations. Information and reports from the boards. I would also just briefly, at risk of embarrassment, want to congratulate President Rose for completing a half marathon in Brooklyn a week ago. Thank
049you. Congratulations. Thank you. And I will say as a marathoner myself, at a very, very fast time. Thank you for that. I'll start off with information reports from the board. First, as Mr. DeCarlo mentioned, this week is Teacher Appreciation Week. It's important that we take a moment to recognize the extraordinary dedication, resilience, and compassion our educators bring to their classrooms every day. Our teachers are not only instructors, they are mentors, advocates, and role models who shape the future one student at a time. Their commitment, often extending far beyond the school day, lays the foundation for academic success, personal growth, and lifelong learning. On behalf of our entire school community, we extend our deepest gratitude to every teacher for their unwavering efforts, their passion for education, and the positive difference they make in the lives of
050students and families. Thank you for everything that you do. Also, tomorrow is National School Nurse Day. So I would like to thank all of our nurses for their unwavering care, compassion, and support in ensuring the health and well-being of our students. Your work is invaluable to our school community, and we appreciate your tireless efforts to create a safe and healthy learning environment. And last... I would like to invite our community to our first East Rample Titans unified basketball game, which will be taking place at Spring Valley High School on Thursday, May 8th at 4.15 p.m. against Pearl River. Thank you. And just before the meeting started for about 10 minutes, we ran a video of the basketball team and the work that's being done, not only with them, with our advisors and our student athletes.
051And it's a great program. I'm so proud of all the individuals that are behind this. It's gotten tremendous support from our student athletes in our schools, the community. It's a great, great program. I'm so excited that this is the initial year in it. who said please come out and support our home game this coming thursday so thank you and i have uh an answer on that the the the date for the rfp has been modified to may 8th so it's this thursday Vice President. Thank you. So first, I would like to say happy Teachers Appreciation Week to all of our amazing teachers. I appreciate your dedication and support given to our students. Your hard work will never go unnoticed. Thank you for all you do. You know, I am so proud of our students. If
052you haven't seen an East Ramapo Titans unified basketball game, you are missing out. To see our students with special needs having the opportunity to play basketball was awesome. I was able to be at the game our Titans versus North Rockland. And it was really a special, special event. When some of our varsity and JV boys basketball players, you could see them assisting them by making sure they were in the right spots or passing them the ball to take a shot, or all the players and coaches, as well as myself, dancing to the song YMCA during halftime. It was so much fun and I want to thank Coach Lindsey Falco and Miss Bianca for all the work that you're doing with our students. I had a blast. And then it gets better. On Friday evening, the
053Ramapo dance team performed under the spotlight, showcasing their dance skills. Great job to Coach Rosie Melanin. That night, I saw freshmen, sophomores, juniors, seniors, performing to soca, jazz, contemporary, hip-hop, I might say this wrong, ama piano, African, salsa, merengue, music. Let me tell you, some of these individuals that even performed that night, our students, some of them have even started their own businesses. Such as the Allured by Aaliyah, where she does hair braiding. Muna Junkyard, where she decorates phone cases, license plates, etc. Elegant Nails by Joanna, to name a few. Let me say this, that night, our seniors were able to show us that they are somebody. Even, I want to mention the fact too that night, those same students have committed to colleges. So we need to continue to support our East Ramble Central
054students. Exercise your right to vote on May 20th. They are phenomenal and a pleasure to watch. Great job, ER. Thank you. Thank you very much, Vice President. McGill? And President Rose, just one last reminder. This Thursday, May 8th, from 4 to 6, in this very room, is our last job fair. We're looking for bilingual and TSO teachers, general ed teachers, administrators, substitute teachers, teacher assistants, speech therapists, clerical, grounds and maintenance. So if anybody's interested, this is the last of our fairs, and we've had an incredible turnout. So please come out if you're interested in working here at East Ramapo. So thank you. thank you very much mr zicarlo moving on to future meeting dates a regular meeting is scheduled for may 20th 2025. please note a different time it will be at 8 30 instead
055of 7 30 due to the election to the budget vote in the plcc room in the administration building 105 south madison avenue spring valley new york 10977 written communication since the last board meeting the board has not received written communication we will now make i will now make a motion to enter executive this executive session to discuss karina the possible employment of persons thank you do i have a second second by miss charles pierre all of the favors say aye anyone oppose abstain motion carries thank you all have a good night okay we'd like to bring this meeting back to order i'd like to make a motion to adjourn this meeting we have a second Second by Ms. Charles Peer. All those in favor say aye. Aye. And we're going to pause this demo.